{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_41082/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_41082","id":"gutenberg_41082","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41082","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Magic","Mythology","Religion","Superstition"],"text":"The Golden Bough\n\n                     A Study in Comparative Religion\n\n                                    By\n\n                        James George Frazer, M.A.\n\n                   Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge\n\n                             In Two Volumes.\n\n                                 Vol. I.\n\n                           New York and London\n\n                            MacMillan and Co.\n\n                                   1894\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nDedication.\nPreface.\nChapter I. The King Of The Wood.\n   \u00a7 1.\u2014The Arician Grove.\n   \u00a7 2.\u2014Primitive man and the supernatural.\n   \u00a7 3.\u2014Incarnate gods.\n   \u00a7 4.\u2014Tree-worship.\n   \u00a7 5.\u2014Tree-worship in antiquity.\nChapter II. The Perils Of The Soul.\n   \u00a7 1.\u2014Royal and priestly taboos.\n   \u00a7 2.\u2014The nature of the soul.\n   \u00a7 3.\u2014Royal and priestly taboos (continued).\nChapter III. Killing The God.\n   \u00a7 1.\u2014Killing the divine king.\n   \u00a7 2.\u2014Killing the tree-spirit.\n   \u00a7 3.\u2014Carrying out Death.\n   \u00a7 4.\u2014Adonis.\n   \u00a7 5.\u2014Attis.\n   \u00a7 6.\u2014Osiris.\n   \u00a7 7.\u2014Dionysus.\n   \u00a7 8.\u2014Demeter and Proserpine.\n   \u00a7 9.\u2014Lityerses.\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                               [Cover Art]\n\n[Transcriber\u2019s Note: The above cover image was produced by the submitter\nat Distributed Proofreaders, and is being placed into the public domain.]\n\n                              [Frontispiece]\n\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATION.\n\n\nTo My Friend\n\nWILLIAM ROBERTSON SMITH\n\nIn Gratitude And Admiration\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nFor some time I have been preparing a general work on primitive\nsuperstition and religion. Among the problems which had attracted my\nattention was the hitherto unexplained rule of the Arician priesthood; and\nlast spring it happened that in the course of my reading I came across\nsome facts which, combined with others I had noted before, suggested an\nexplanation of the rule in question. As the explanation, if correct,\npromised to throw light on some obscure features of primitive religion, I\nresolved to develop it fully, and, detaching it from my general work, to\nissue it as a separate study. This book is the result.\n\nNow that the theory, which necessarily presented itself to me at first in\noutline, has been worked out in detail, I cannot but feel that in some\nplaces I may have pushed it too far. If this should prove to have been the\ncase, I will readily acknowledge and retract my error as soon as it is\nbrought home to me. Meantime my essay may serve its purpose as a first\nattempt to solve a difficult problem, and to bring a variety of scattered\nfacts into some sort of order and system.\n\nA justification is perhaps needed of the length at which I have dwelt upon\nthe popular festivals observed by European peasants in spring, at\nmidsummer, and at harvest. It can hardly be too often repeated, since it\nis not yet generally recognised, that in spite of their fragmentary\ncharacter the popular superstitions and customs of the peasantry are by\nfar the fullest and most trustworthy evidence we possess as to the\nprimitive religion of the Aryans. Indeed the primitive Aryan, in all that\nregards his mental fibre and texture, is not extinct. He is amongst us to\nthis day. The great intellectual and moral forces which have\nrevolutionised the educated world have scarcely affected the peasant. In\nhis inmost beliefs he is what his forefathers were in the days when forest\ntrees still grew and squirrels played on the ground where Rome and London\nnow stand.\n\nHence every inquiry into the primitive religion of the Aryans should\neither start from the superstitious beliefs and observances of the\npeasantry, or should at least be constantly checked and controlled by\nreference to them. Compared with the evidence afforded by living\ntradition, the testimony of ancient books on the subject of early religion\nis worth very little. For literature accelerates the advance of thought at\na rate which leaves the slow progress of opinion by word of mouth at an\nimmeasurable distance behind. Two or three generations of literature may\ndo more to change thought than two or three thousand years of traditional\nlife. But the mass of the people who do not read books remain unaffected\nby the mental revolution wrought by literature; and so it has come about\nthat in Europe at the present day the superstitious beliefs and practices\nwhich have been handed down by word of mouth are generally of a far more\narchaic type than the religion depicted in the most ancient literature of\nthe Aryan race.\n\nIt is on these grounds that, in discussing the meaning and origin of an\nancient Italian priesthood, I have devoted so much attention to the\npopular customs and superstitions of modern Europe. In this part of my\nsubject I have made great use of the works of the late W. Mannhardt,\nwithout which, indeed, my book could scarcely have been written. Fully\nrecognising the truth of the principles which I have imperfectly stated,\nMannhardt set himself systematically to collect, compare, and explain the\nliving superstitions of the peasantry. Of this wide field the special\ndepartment which he marked out for himself was the religion of the woodman\nand the farmer, in other words, the superstitious beliefs and rites\nconnected with trees and cultivated plants. By oral inquiry, and by\nprinted questions scattered broadcast over Europe, as well as by\nransacking the literature of folk-lore, he collected a mass of evidence,\npart of which he published in a series of admirable works. But his health,\nalways feeble, broke down before he could complete the comprehensive and\nreally vast scheme which he had planned, and at his too early death much\nof his precious materials remained unpublished. His manuscripts are now\ndeposited in the University Library at Berlin, and in the interest of the\nstudy to which he devoted his life it is greatly to be desired that they\nshould be examined, and that such portions of them as he has not utilised\nin his books should be given to the world.\n\nOf his published works the most important are, first, two tracts,\n_Roggenwolf und Roggenhund_, Danzig 1865 (second edition, Danzig, 1866),\nand _Die Kornd\u00e4monen_, Berlin, 1868. These little works were put forward\nby him tentatively, in the hope of exciting interest in his inquiries and\nthereby securing the help of others in pursuing them. But, except from a\nfew learned societies, they met with very little attention. Undeterred by\nthe cold reception accorded to his efforts he worked steadily on, and in\n1875 published his chief work, _Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer\nNachbarst\u00e4mme_. This was followed in 1877 by _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_.\nHis _Mythologische Forschungen_, a posthumous work, appeared in 1884.(1)\n\nMuch as I owe to Mannhardt, I owe still more to my friend Professor W.\nRobertson Smith. My interest in the early history of society was first\nexcited by the works of Dr. E. B. Tylor, which opened up a mental vista\nundreamed of by me before. But it is a long step from a lively interest in\na subject to a systematic study of it; and that I took this step is due to\nthe influence of my friend W. Robertson Smith. The debt which I owe to the\nvast stores of his knowledge, the abundance and fertility of his ideas,\nand his unwearied kindness, can scarcely be overestimated. Those who know\nhis writings may form some, though a very inadequate, conception of the\nextent to which I have been influenced by him. The views of sacrifice set\nforth in his article \u201cSacrifice\u201d in the _Encyclopaedia __ Britannica_, and\nfurther developed in his recent work, _The Religion of the Semites_, mark\na new departure in the historical study of religion, and ample traces of\nthem will be found in this book. Indeed the central idea of my essay\u2014the\nconception of the slain god\u2014is derived directly, I believe, from my\nfriend. But it is due to him to add that he is in no way responsible for\nthe general explanation which I have offered of the custom of slaying the\ngod. He has read the greater part of the proofs in circumstances which\nenhanced the kindness, and has made many valuable suggestions which I have\nusually adopted; but except where he is cited by name, or where the views\nexpressed coincide with those of his published works, he is not to be\nregarded as necessarily assenting to any of the theories propounded in\nthis book.\n\nThe works of Professor G. A. Wilken of Leyden have been of great service\nin directing me to the best original authorities on the Dutch East Indies,\na very important field to the ethnologist. To the courtesy of the Rev.\nWalter Gregor, M.A., of Pitsligo, I am indebted for some interesting\ncommunications which will be found acknowledged in their proper places.\nMr. Francis Darwin has kindly allowed me to consult him on some botanical\nquestions. The manuscript authorities to which I occasionally refer are\nanswers to a list of ethnological questions which I am circulating. Most\nof them will, I hope, be published in the _Journal of the Anthropological\nInstitute_.\n\nThe drawing of the Golden Bough which adorns the cover is from the pencil\nof my friend Professor J. H. Middleton. The constant interest and sympathy\nwhich he has shown in the progress of the book have been a great help and\nencouragement to me in writing it.\n\nThe Index has been compiled by Mr. A. Rogers, of the University Library,\nCambridge.\n\nJ. G. FRAZER.\n\nTRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,\n_8th March 1890_.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I. THE KING OF THE WOOD.\n\n\n    \u201cThe still glassy lake that sleeps\n            Beneath Aricia\u2019s trees\u2014\n    Those trees in whose dim shadow\n            The ghastly priest doth reign,\n    The priest who slew the slayer,\n            And shall himself be slain.\u201d\n\n    MACAULAY.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 1.\u2014The Arician Grove.\n\n\nWho does not know Turner\u2019s picture of the Golden Bough? The scene,\nsuffused with the golden glow of imagination in which the divine mind of\nTurner steeped and transfigured even the fairest natural landscape, is a\ndream-like vision of the little woodland lake of Nemi, \u201cDiana\u2019s Mirror,\u201d\nas it was called by the ancients. No one who has seen that calm water,\nlapped in a green hollow of the Alban hills, can ever forget it. The two\ncharacteristic Italian villages which slumber on its banks, and the\nequally Italian palazzo whose terraced gardens descend steeply to the\nlake, hardly break the stillness and even the solitariness of the scene.\nDian herself might still linger by this lonely shore, still haunt these\nwoodlands wild.\n\nIn antiquity this sylvan landscape was the scene of a strange and\nrecurring tragedy. On the northern shore of the lake, right under the\nprecipitous cliffs on which the modern village of Nemi is perched, stood\nthe sacred grove and sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis, or Diana of the\nWood.(2) The lake and the grove were sometimes known as the lake and grove\nof Aricia.(3) But the town of Aricia (the modern La Riccia) was situated\nabout three miles off, at the foot of the Alban Mount, and separated by a\nsteep descent from the lake, which lies in a small crater-like hollow on\nthe mountain side. In this sacred grove there grew a certain tree round\nwhich at any time of the day and probably far into the night a strange\nfigure might be seen to prowl. In his hand he carried a drawn sword, and\nhe kept peering warily about him as if every instant he expected to be set\nupon by an enemy.(4) He was a priest and a murderer; and the man for whom\nhe looked was sooner or later to murder him and hold the priesthood in his\nstead. Such was the rule of the sanctuary. A candidate for the priesthood\ncould only succeed to office by slaying the priest, and having slain him\nhe held office till he was himself slain by a stronger or a craftier.\n\nThis strange rule has no parallel in classical antiquity, and cannot be\nexplained from it. To find an explanation we must go farther afield. No\none will probably deny that such a custom savours of a barbarous age and,\nsurviving into imperial times, stands out in striking isolation from the\npolished Italian society of the day, like a primeval rock rising from a\nsmooth-shaven lawn. It is the very rudeness and barbarity of the custom\nwhich allow us a hope of explaining it. For recent researches into the\nearly history of man have revealed the essential similarity with which,\nunder many superficial differences, the human mind has elaborated its\nfirst crude philosophy of life. Accordingly if we can show that a\nbarbarous custom, like that of the priesthood of Nemi, has existed\nelsewhere; if we can detect the motives which led to its institution; if\nwe can prove that these motives have operated widely, perhaps universally,\nin human society, producing in varied circumstances a variety of\ninstitutions specifically different but generically alike; if we can show,\nlastly, that these very motives, with some of their derivative\ninstitutions, were actually at work in classical antiquity; then we may\nfairly infer that at a remoter age the same motives gave birth to the\npriesthood of Nemi. Such an inference, in default of direct evidence as to\nhow the priesthood did actually arise, can never amount to demonstration.\nBut it will be more or less probable according to the degree of\ncompleteness with which it fulfils the conditions indicated above. The\nobject of this book is, by meeting these conditions, to offer a fairly\nprobable explanation of the priesthood of Nemi.\n\nI begin by setting forth the few facts and legends which have come down to\nus on the subject. According to one story the worship of Diana at Nemi was\ninstituted by Orestes, who, after killing Thoas, King of the Tauric\nChersonese (the Crimea), fled with his sister to Italy, bringing with him\nthe image of the Tauric Diana. The bloody ritual which legend ascribed to\nthat goddess is familiar to classical readers; it is said that every\nstranger who landed on the shore was sacrificed on her altar. But\ntransported to Italy, the rite assumed a milder form. Within the sanctuary\nat Nemi grew a certain tree of which no branch might be broken. Only a\nrunaway slave was allowed to break off, if he could, one of its boughs.\nSuccess in the attempt entitled him to fight the priest in single combat,\nand if he slew him he reigned in his stead with the title of King of the\nWood (_Rex Nemorensis_). Tradition averred that the fateful branch was\nthat Golden Bough which, at the Sibyl\u2019s bidding, Aeneas plucked before he\nessayed the perilous journey to the world of the dead. The flight of the\nslave represented, it was said, the flight of Orestes; his combat with the\npriest was a reminiscence of the human sacrifices once offered to the\nTauric Diana. This rule of succession by the sword was observed down to\nimperial times; for amongst his other freaks Caligula, thinking that the\npriest of Nemi had held office too long, hired a more stalwart ruffian to\nslay him.(5)\n\nOf the worship of Diana at Nemi two leading features can still be made\nout. First, from the votive-offerings found in modern times on the site,\nit appears that she was especially worshipped by women desirous of\nchildren or of an easy delivery.(6) Second, fire seems to have played a\nforemost part in her ritual. For during her annual festival, celebrated at\nthe hottest time of the year, her grove was lit up by a multitude of\ntorches, whose ruddy glare was reflected by the waters of the lake; and\nthroughout the length and breadth of Italy the day was kept with holy\nrites at every domestic hearth.(7) Moreover, women whose prayers had been\nheard by the goddess brought lighted torches to the grove in fulfilment of\ntheir vows.(8) Lastly, the title of Vesta borne by the Arician Diana(9)\npoints almost certainly to the maintenance of a perpetual holy fire in her\nsanctuary.\n\nAt her annual festival all young people went through a purificatory\nceremony in her honour; dogs were crowned; and the feast consisted of a\nyoung kid, wine, and cakes, served up piping hot on platters of\nleaves.(10)\n\nBut Diana did not reign alone in her grove at Nemi. Two lesser divinities\nshared her forest sanctuary. One was Egeria, the nymph of the clear water\nwhich, bubbling from the basaltic rocks, used to fall in graceful cascades\ninto the lake at the place called Le Mole.(11) According to one story the\ngrove was first consecrated to Diana by a Manius Egerius, who was the\nancestor of a long and distinguished line. Hence the proverb \u201cThere are\nmany Manii at Ariciae.\u201d Others explained the proverb very differently.\nThey said it meant that there were a great many ugly and deformed people,\nand they referred to the word _Mania_ which meant a bogey or bugbear to\nfrighten children.(12)\n\nThe other of these minor deities was Virbius. Legend had it that Virbius\nwas the youthful Greek hero Hippolytus, who had been killed by his horses\non the sea-shore of the Saronic Gulf. Him, to please Diana, the leech\nAesculapius brought to life again by his simples. But Jupiter, indignant\nthat a mortal man should return from the gates of death, thrust down the\nmeddling leech himself to Hades; and Diana, for the love she bore\nHippolytus, carried him away to Italy and hid him from the angry god in\nthe dells of Nemi, where he reigned a forest king under the name of\nVirbius. Horses were excluded from the grove and sanctuary, because horses\nhad killed Hippolytus.(13) Some thought that Virbius was the sun. It was\nunlawful to touch his image.(14) His worship was cared for by a special\npriest, the Flamen Virbialis.(15)\n\nSuch then are the facts and theories bequeathed to us by antiquity on the\nsubject of the priesthood of Nemi. From materials so slight and scanty it\nis impossible to extract a solution of the problem. It remains to try\nwhether the survey of a wider field may not yield us the clue we seek. The\nquestions to be answered are two: first, why had the priest to slay his\npredecessor? and second, why, before he slew him, had he to pluck the\nGolden Bough? The rest of this book will be an attempt to answer these\nquestions.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 2.\u2014Primitive man and the supernatural.\n\n\nThe first point on which we fasten is the priest\u2019s title. Why was he\ncalled the King of the Wood? why was his office spoken of as a\nKingdom?(16)\n\nThe union of a royal title with priestly duties was common in ancient\nItaly and Greece. At Rome and in other Italian cities there was a priest\ncalled the Sacrificial King or King of the Sacred Rites (_Rex\nSacrificulus_ or _Rex Sacrorum_), and his wife bore the title of Queen of\nthe Sacred Rites.(17) In republican Athens the second magistrate of the\nstate was called the King, and his wife the Queen; the functions of both\nwere religious.(18) Many other Greek democracies had titular kings, whose\nduties, so far as they are known, seem to have been priestly.(19) At Rome\nthe tradition was that the Sacrificial King had been appointed after the\nexpulsion of the kings in order to offer the sacrifices which had been\npreviously offered by the kings.(20) In Greece a similar view appears to\nhave prevailed as to the origin of the priestly kings.(21) In itself the\nview is not improbable, and it is borne out by the example of Sparta, the\nonly purely Greek state which retained the kingly form of government in\nhistorical times. For in Sparta all state sacrifices were offered by the\nkings as descendants of the god.(22) This combination of priestly\nfunctions with royal authority is familiar to every one. Asia Minor, for\nexample, was the seat of various great religious capitals peopled by\nthousands of \u201csacred slaves,\u201d and ruled by pontiffs who wielded at once\ntemporal and spiritual authority, like the popes of mediaeval Rome. Such\npriest-ridden cities were Zela and Pessinus.(23) Teutonic kings, again, in\nthe old heathen days seem to have stood in the position, and exercised the\npowers of high priests.(24) The Emperors of China offer public sacrifices,\nthe details of which are regulated by the ritual books.(25) It is\nneedless, however, to multiply examples of what is the rule rather than\nthe exception in the early history of the kingship.\n\nBut when we have said that the ancient kings were commonly priests also,\nwe are far from having exhausted the religious aspect of their office. In\nthose days the divinity that hedges a king was no empty form of speech but\nthe expression of a sober belief. Kings were revered, in many cases not\nmerely as priests, that is, as intercessors between man and god, but as\nthemselves gods, able to bestow upon their subjects and worshippers those\nblessings which are commonly supposed to be beyond the reach of man, and\nare sought, if at all, only by prayer and sacrifice offered to superhuman\nand invisible beings. Thus kings are often expected to give rain and\nsunshine in due season, to make the crops grow, and so on. Strange as this\nexpectation appears to us, it is quite of a piece with early modes of\nthought. A savage hardly conceives the distinction commonly drawn by more\nadvanced peoples between the natural and the supernatural. To him the\nworld is mostly worked by supernatural agents, that is, by personal beings\nacting on impulses and motives like his own, liable like him to be moved\nby appeals to their pity, their fears, and their hopes. In a world so\nconceived he sees no limit to his power of influencing the course of\nnature to his own advantage. Prayers, promises, or threats may secure him\nfine weather and an abundant crop from the gods; and if a god should\nhappen, as he sometimes believes, to become incarnate in his own person,\nthen he need appeal to no higher power; he, the savage, possesses in\nhimself all the supernatural powers necessary to further his own\nwell-being and that of his fellow men.\n\nThis is one way in which the idea of a man-god is reached. But there is\nanother. Side by side with the view of the world as pervaded by spiritual\nforces, primitive man has another conception in which we may detect a germ\nof the modern notion of natural law or the view of nature as a series of\nevents occurring in an invariable order without the intervention of\npersonal agency. The germ of which I speak is involved in that sympathetic\nmagic, as it may be called, which plays a large part in most systems of\nsuperstition. One of the principles of sympathetic magic is that any\neffect may be produced by imitating it. To take a few instances. If it is\nwished to kill a person an image of him is made and then destroyed; and it\nis believed that through a certain physical sympathy between the person\nand his image, the man feels the injuries done to the image as if they\nwere done to his own body, and that when it is destroyed he must\nsimultaneously perish. Again, in Morocco a fowl or a pigeon may sometimes\nbe seen with a little red bundle tied to its foot. The bundle contains a\ncharm, and it is believed that as the charm is kept in constant motion by\nthe bird a corresponding restlessness is kept up in the mind of him or her\nagainst whom the charm is directed.(26) In Nias when a wild pig has fallen\ninto the pit prepared for it, it is taken out and its back is rubbed with\nnine fallen leaves, in the belief that this will make nine more wild pigs\nfall into the pit just as the nine leaves fell from the tree.(27) When a\nCambodian hunter has set his nets and taken nothing, he strips himself\nnaked, goes some way off, then strolls up to the net as if he did not see\nit, lets himself be caught in it and cries, \u201cHillo! what\u2019s this? I\u2019m\nafraid I\u2019m caught.\u201d After that the net is sure to catch game.(28) In\nTh\u00fcringen the man who sows flax carries the seed in a long bag which\nreaches from his shoulders to his knees, and he walks with long strides,\nso that the bag sways to and fro on his back. It is believed that this\nwill cause the flax crop to wave in the wind.(29) In the interior of\nSumatra the rice is sown by women who, in sowing, let their hair hang\nloose down their back, in order that the rice may grow luxuriantly and\nhave long stalks.(30) Again, magic sympathy is supposed to exist between a\nman and any severed portion of his person, as his hair or nails; so that\nwhoever gets possession of hair or nails may work his will, at any\ndistance, upon the person from whom they were cut. This superstition is\nworld-wide. Further, the sympathy in question exists between friends and\nrelations, especially at critical times. Hence, for example, the elaborate\ncode of rules which regulates the conduct of persons left at home while a\nparty of their friends is out fishing or hunting or on the war-path. It is\nthought that if the persons left at home broke these rules their absent\nfriends would suffer an injury, corresponding in its nature to the breach\nof the rule. Thus when a Dyak is out head-hunting, his wife or, if he is\nunmarried, his sister, must wear a sword day and night in order that he\nmay always be thinking of his weapons; and she may not sleep during the\nday nor go to bed before two in the morning, lest her husband or brother\nshould thereby be surprised in his sleep by an enemy.(31) In Laos when an\nelephant hunter is setting out for the chase he warns his wife not to cut\nher hair or oil her body in his absence; for if she cut her hair the\nelephant would burst the toils, if she oiled herself it would slip through\nthem.(32)\n\nIn all these cases (and similar instances might be multiplied\nindefinitely) an action is performed or avoided, because its performance\nis believed to entail good or bad consequences of a sort resembling the\nact itself. Sometimes the magic sympathy takes effect not so much through\nan act as through a supposed resemblance of qualities. Thus some Bechuanas\nwear a ferret as a charm because, being very tenacious of life, it will\nmake them difficult to kill.(33) Others wear a certain insect, mutilated\nbut living, for a similar purpose.(34) Other Bechuana warriors wear the\nhair of an ox among their own hair and the skin of a frog on their mantle,\nbecause a frog is slippery and the ox from which the hair has been taken\nhas no horns and is therefore hard to catch; so the warrior who is\nprovided with these charms believes that he will be as hard to hold as the\nox and the frog.(35)\n\nThus we see that in sympathetic magic one event is supposed to be followed\nnecessarily and invariably by another, without the intervention of any\nspiritual or personal agency. This is, in fact, the modern conception of\nphysical causation; the conception, indeed, is misapplied, but it is there\nnone the less. Here, then, we have another mode in which primitive man\nseeks to bend nature to his wishes. There is, perhaps, hardly a savage who\ndoes not fancy himself possessed of this power of influencing the course\nof nature by sympathetic magic; a man-god, on this view, is only an\nindividual who is believed to enjoy this common power in an unusually high\ndegree. Thus, whereas a man-god of the former or inspired type derives his\ndivinity from a deity who has taken up his abode in a tabernacle of flesh,\na man-god of the latter type draws his supernatural power from a certain\nphysical sympathy with nature. He is not merely the receptacle of a divine\nspirit. His whole being, body and soul, is so delicately attuned to the\nharmony of the world that a touch of his hand or a turn of his head may\nsend a thrill vibrating through the universal framework of things; and\nconversely his divine organism is acutely sensitive to such slight changes\nof environment as would leave ordinary mortals wholly unaffected. But the\nline between these two types of man-god, however sharply we may draw it in\ntheory, is seldom to be traced with precision in practice, and in what\nfollows I shall not insist on it.\n\nTo readers long familiarised with the conception of natural law, the\nbelief of primitive man that he can rule the elements must be so foreign\nthat it may be well to illustrate it by examples. When we have seen that\nin early society men who make no pretence at all of being gods do\nnevertheless commonly believe themselves to be invested with supernatural\npowers, we shall have the less difficulty in comprehending the\nextraordinary range of powers ascribed to individuals who are actually\nregarded as divine.\n\nOf all natural phenomena there are perhaps none which civilised man feels\nhimself more powerless to influence than the rain, the sun, and the wind.\nYet all these are commonly supposed by savages to be in some degree under\ntheir control.\n\nTo begin with rain-making. In a village near Dorpat in Russia, when rain\nwas much wanted, three men used to climb up the fir-trees of an old sacred\ngrove. One of them drummed with a hammer on a kettle or small cask to\nimitate thunder; the second knocked two fire-brands together and made the\nsparks fly, to imitate lightning; and the third, who was called \u201cthe\nrain-maker,\u201d had a bunch of twigs with which he sprinkled water from a\nvessel on all sides.(36) This is an example of sympathetic magic; the\ndesired event is supposed to be produced by imitating it. Rain is often\nthus made by imitation. In Halmahera (Gilolo), a large island to the west\nof New Guinea, a wizard makes rain by dipping a branch of a particular\nkind of tree in water and sprinkling the ground with it.(37) In Ceram it\nis enough to dedicate the bark of a certain tree to the spirits and lay it\nin water.(38) In New Britain the rain-maker wraps some leaves of a red and\ngreen striped creeper in a banana-leaf, moistens the bundle with water and\nburies it in the ground; then he imitates with his mouth the plashing of\nrain.(39) Amongst the Omaha Indians of North America, when the corn is\nwithering for want of rain, the members of the sacred Buffalo Society fill\na large vessel with water and dance four times round it. One of them\ndrinks some of the water and spirts it into the air, making a fine spray\nin imitation of a mist or drizzling rain. Then he upsets the vessel,\nspilling the water on the ground; whereupon the dancers fall down and\ndrink up the water, getting mud all over their faces. Lastly they spirt\nthe water into the air, making a fine mist. This saves the corn.(40)\nAmongst the Australian Wotjobaluk the rain-maker dipped a bunch of his own\nhair in water, sucked out the water and squirted it westward, or he\ntwirled the ball round his head making a spray like rain.(41) Squirting\nwater from the mouth is also a West African way of making rain.(42)\nAnother mode is to dip a particular stone in water or sprinkle water on\nit. In a Samoan village a certain stone was carefully housed as the\nrepresentative of the rain-making god; and in time of drought his priests\ncarried the stone in procession, and dipped it in a stream.(43) In the\nTa-ta-thi tribe of New South Wales the rain-maker breaks off a piece of\nquartz crystal and spits it towards the sky; the rest of the crystal he\nwraps in emu feathers, soaks both crystal and feathers in water, and\ncarefully hides them.(44) In the Keramin tribe of New South Wales the\nwizard retires to the bed of a creek, drops water on a round flat stone,\nthen covers up and conceals it.(45) The Fountain of Baranton, of romantic\nfame, in the forest of Br\u00e9cilien, used to be resorted to by peasants when\nthey needed rain; they caught some of the water in a tankard and threw it\non a slab near the spring.(46) When some of the Apache Indians wish for\nrain, they take water from a certain spring and throw it on a particular\npoint high up on a rock; the clouds then soon gather and rain begins to\nfall.(47) There is a lonely tarn on Snowdon called Dulyn or the Black\nLake, lying \u201cin a dismal dingle surrounded by high and dangerous rocks.\u201d A\nrow of stepping stones runs out into the lake; and if any one steps on the\nstones and throws water so as to wet the farthest stone, which is called\nthe Red Altar, \u201cit is but a chance that you do not get rain before night,\neven when it is hot weather.\u201d(48) In these cases it is probable that, as\nin Samoa, the stone is regarded as in some sort divine. This appears from\nthe custom sometimes observed of dipping the cross in the Fountain of\nBaranton, to procure rain; for this is plainly a substitute for the older\nway of throwing the water on the stone.(49) In Mingrelia, to get rain they\ndip a holy image in water daily till it rains.(50) In Navarre the image of\nSt. Peter was taken to a river, where some prayed to him for rain, but\nothers called out to duck him in the water.(51) Here the dipping in the\nwater is used as a threat; but originally it was probably a sympathetic\ncharm, as in the following instance. In New Caledonia the rain-makers\nblackened themselves all over, dug up a dead body, took the bones to a\ncave, jointed them, and hung the skeleton over some taro leaves. Water was\npoured over the skeleton to run down on the leaves. \u201cThey supposed that\nthe soul of the departed took up the water, made rain of it, and showered\nit down again.\u201d(52) The same motive comes clearly out in a mode of making\nrain which is practised by various peoples of South Eastern Europe. In\ntime of drought the Servians strip a girl, clothe her from head to foot in\ngrass, herbs, and flowers, even her face being hidden with them. Thus\ndisguised she is called the Dodola, and goes through the village with a\ntroop of girls. They stop before every house; the Dodola dances, while the\nother girls form a ring round her singing one of the Dodola songs, and the\nhousewife pours a pail of water over her.\n\nOne of the songs they sing runs thus\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe go through the village;\n    The clouds go in the sky;\n    We go faster,\n    Faster go the clouds;\n    They have overtaken us,\n    And wetted the corn and the vine.\u201d\n\n\nA similar custom is observed by the Greeks, Bulgarians, and\nRoumanians.(53) In such customs the leaf-dressed girl represents the\nspirit of vegetation, and drenching her with water is an imitation of\nrain. In Russia, in the Government of Kursk, when rain is much wanted, the\nwomen seize a passing stranger and throw him into the river, or souse him\nfrom head to foot.(54) Later on we shall see that a passing stranger is\noften, as here, taken for a god or spirit. Amongst the Minahassa of North\nCelebes the priest bathes as a rain-charm.(55) In the Caucasian Province\nof Georgia, when a drought has lasted long, marriageable girls are yoked\nin couples with an ox-yoke on their shoulders, a priest holds the reins,\nand thus harnessed they wade through rivers, puddles, and marshes,\npraying, screaming, weeping, and laughing.(56) In a district of\nTransylvania, when the ground is parched with drought, some girls strip\nthemselves naked, and, led by an older woman, who is also naked, they\nsteal a harrow and carry it across the field to a brook, where they set it\nafloat. Next they sit on the harrow and keep a tiny flame burning on each\ncorner of it for an hour. Then they leave the harrow in the water and go\nhome.(57) A similar rain-charm is resorted to in India; naked women drag a\nplough across the field by night.(58) It is not said that they plunge the\nplough into a stream or sprinkle it with water. But the charm would hardly\nbe complete without it.\n\nSometimes the charm works through an animal. To procure rain the Peruvians\nused to set a black sheep in a field, poured _chica_ over it, and gave it\nnothing to eat till rain fell.(59) In a district of Sumatra all the women\nof the village, scantily clad, go to the river, wade into it, and splash\neach other with the water. A black cat is thrown into the water and made\nto swim about for a while, then allowed to escape to the bank, pursued by\nthe splashing of the women.(60) In these cases the colour of the animal is\npart of the charm; being black it will darken the sky with rain-clouds. So\nthe Bechuanas burn the stomach of an ox at evening, because they say, \u201cthe\nblack smoke will gather the clouds, and cause the rain to come.\u201d(61) The\nTimorese sacrifice a black pig for rain, a white or red one for\nsunshine.(62) The Garos offer a black goat on the top of a very high\nmountain in time of drought.(63)\n\nSometimes people try to coerce the rain-god into giving rain. In China a\nhuge dragon made of paper or wood, representing the rain-god, is carried\nabout in procession; but if no rain follows, it is cursed and torn in\npieces.(64) In the like circumstances the Feloupes of Senegambia throw\ndown their fetishes and drag them about the fields, cursing them till rain\nfalls.(65) Some Indians of the Orinoco worshipped toads and kept them in\nvessels in order to obtain from them rain or sunshine as might be\nrequired; when their prayers were not answered they beat the toads.(66)\nKilling a frog is a European rain-charm.(67) When the spirits withhold\nrain or sunshine, the Comanches whip a slave; if the gods prove obstinate,\nthe victim is almost flayed alive.(68) Here the human being may represent\nthe god, like the leaf-clad Dodola. When the rice-crop is endangered by\nlong drought, the governor of Battambang, a province of Siam, goes in\ngreat state to a certain pagoda and prays to Buddha for rain. Then\naccompanied by his suite and followed by an enormous crowd he adjourns to\na plain behind the pagoda. Here a dummy figure has been made up, dressed\nin bright colours, and placed in the middle of the plain. A wild music\nbegins to play; maddened by the din of drums and cymbals and crackers, and\ngoaded on by their drivers, the elephants charge down on the dummy and\ntrample it to pieces. After this, Buddha will soon give rain.(69)\n\nAnother way of constraining the rain-god is to disturb him in his haunts.\nThis seems the reason why rain is supposed to be the consequence of\ntroubling a sacred spring. The Dards believe that if a cowskin or anything\nimpure is placed in certain springs, storms will follow.(70) Gervasius\nmentions a spring into which if a stone or a stick were thrown, rain would\nat once issue from it and drench the thrower.(71) There was a fountain in\nMunster such that if it were touched or even looked at by a human being,\nit would at once flood the whole province with rain.(72) Sometimes an\nappeal is made to the pity of the gods. When their corn is being burnt up\nby the sun, the Zulus look out for a \u201cheaven-bird,\u201d kill it, and throw it\ninto a pool. Then the heaven melts with tenderness for the death of the\nbird; \u201cit wails for it by raining, wailing a funeral wail.\u201d(73) In times\nof drought the Guanches of Teneriffe led their sheep to sacred ground, and\nthere they separated the lambs from their dams, that their plaintive\nbleating might touch the heart of the god.(74) A peculiar mode of making\nrain was adopted by the heathen Arabs. They tied two sorts of bushes to\nthe tails and hind-legs of their cattle, and setting fire to the bushes\ndrove the cattle to the top of a mountain, praying for rain.(75) This may\nbe, as Wellhausen suggests,(76) an imitation of lightning on the horizon.\nBut it may also be a way of threatening the sky; as some West African\nrain-makers put a pot of inflammable materials on the fire and blow up the\nflames, threatening that if heaven does not soon give rain they will send\nup a flame which will set the sky on fire.(77) The Dieyerie of South\nAustralia have a way of their own of making rain. A hole is dug about\ntwelve feet long and eight or ten broad, and over this hole a hut of logs\nand branches is made. Two men, supposed to have received a special\ninspiration from Mooramoora (the Good Spirit), are bled by an old and\ninfluential man with a sharp flint inside the arm; the blood is made to\nflow on the other men of the tribe who sit huddled together. At the same\ntime the two bleeding men throw handfuls of down, some of which adheres to\nthe blood, while the rest floats in the air. The blood is thought to\nrepresent the rain, and the down the clouds. During the ceremony two large\nstones are placed in the middle of the hut; they stand for gathering\nclouds and presage rain. Then the men who were bled carry away the stones\nfor about fifteen miles and place them as high as they can in the tallest\ntree. Meanwhile, the other men gather gypsum, pound it fine, and throw it\ninto a water-hole. This the Mooramoora is supposed to see, and at once he\ncauses the clouds to appear in the sky. Lastly, the men surround the hut,\nbutt at it with their heads, force their way in, and reappear on the other\nside, repeating this till the hut is wrecked. In doing this they are\nforbidden to use their hands or arms; but when the heavy logs alone\nremain, they are allowed to pull them out with their hands. \u201cThe piercing\nof the hut with their heads symbolises the piercing of the clouds; the\nfall of the hut, the fall of rain.\u201d(78) Another Australian mode of\nrain-making is to burn human hair.(79)\n\nLike other peoples the Greeks and Romans sought to procure rain by magic,\nwhen prayers and processions(80) had proved ineffectual. For example, in\nArcadia, when the corn and trees were parched with drought, the priest of\nZeus dipped an oak branch into a certain spring on Mount Lycaeus. Thus\ntroubled, the water sent up a misty cloud, from which rain soon fell upon\nthe land.(81) A similar mode of making rain is still practised, as we have\nseen, in Halmahera near New Guinea. The people of Crannon in Thessaly had\na bronze chariot which they kept in a temple. When they desired a shower\nthey shook the chariot and the shower fell.(82) Probably the rattling of\nthe chariot was meant to imitate thunder; we have already seen that in\nRussia mock thunder and lightning form part of a rain-charm. The mythical\nSalmoneus of Thessaly made mock thunder by dragging bronze kettles behind\nhis chariot or by driving over a bronze bridge, while he hurled blazing\ntorches in imitation of lightning. It was his impious wish to mimic the\nthundering car of Zeus as it rolled across the vault of heaven.(83) Near a\ntemple of Mars, outside the walls of Rome, there was kept a certain stone\nknown as the _lapis manalis_. In time of drought the stone was dragged\ninto Rome and this was supposed to bring down rain immediately.(84) There\nwere Etruscan wizards who made rain or discovered springs of water, it is\nnot certain which. They were thought to bring the rain or the water out of\ntheir bellies.(85) The legendary Telchines in Rhodes are described as\nmagicians who could change their shape and bring clouds, rain, and\nsnow.(86)\n\nAgain, primitive man fancies he can make the sun to shine, and can hasten\nor stay its going down. At an eclipse the Ojebways used to think that the\nsun was being extinguished. So they shot fire-tipped arrows in the air,\nhoping thus to rekindle his expiring light.(87) Conversely during an\neclipse of the moon some Indian tribes of the Orinoco used to bury lighted\nbrands in the ground; because, said they, if the moon were to be\nextinguished, all fire on earth would be extinguished with her, except\nsuch as was hidden from her sight.(88) In New Caledonia when a wizard\ndesires to make sunshine, he takes some plants and corals to the\nburial-ground, and makes them into a bundle, adding two locks of hair cut\nfrom a living child (his own child if possible), also two teeth or an\nentire jawbone from the skeleton of an ancestor. He then climbs a high\nmountain whose top catches the first rays of the morning sun. Here he\ndeposits three sorts of plants on a flat stone, places a branch of dry\ncoral beside them, and hangs the bundle of charms over the stone. Next\nmorning he returns to this rude altar, and at the moment when the sun\nrises from the sea he kindles a fire on the altar. As the smoke rises, he\nrubs the stone with the dry coral, invokes his ancestors and says: \u201cSun! I\ndo this that you may be burning hot, and eat up all the clouds in the\nsky.\u201d The same ceremony is repeated at sunset.(89) When the sun rises\nbehind clouds\u2014a rare event in the bright sky of Southern Africa\u2014the Sun\nclan of the Bechuanas say that he is grieving their heart. All work stands\nstill, and all the food of the previous day is given to matrons or old\nwomen. They may eat it and may share it with the children they are\nnursing, but no one else may taste it. The people go down to the river and\nwash themselves all over. Each man throws into the river a stone taken\nfrom his domestic hearth, and replaces it with one picked up in the bed of\nthe river. On their return to the village the chief kindles a fire in his\nhut, and all his subjects come and get a light from it. A general dance\nfollows.(90) In these cases it seems that the lighting of the flame on\nearth is supposed to rekindle the solar fire. Such a belief comes\nnaturally to people who, like the Sun clan of the Bechuanas, deem\nthemselves the veritable kinsmen of the sun. The Melanesians make sunshine\nby means of a mock sun. A round stone is wound about with red braid and\nstuck with owl\u2019s feathers to represent rays; it is then hung on a high\ntree. Or the stone is laid on the ground with white rods radiating from it\nto imitate sunbeams.(91) Sometimes the mode of making sunshine is the\nconverse of that of making rain. Thus we have seen that a white or red pig\nis sacrificed for sunshine, as a black one is sacrificed for rain.(92)\nSome of the New Caledonians drench a skeleton to make rain, but burn it to\nmake sunshine.(93)\n\nIn a pass of the Peruvian Andes stand two ruined towers on opposite hills.\nIron hooks are clamped into their walls for the purpose of stretching a\nnet from one tower to the other. The net is intended to catch the sun.(94)\n\nOn the top of a small hill in Fiji grew a patch of reeds, and travellers\nwho feared to be belated used to tie the tops of a handful of reeds\ntogether to detain the sun from going down.(95) The intention perhaps was\nto entangle the sun in the reeds, just as the Peruvians try to catch him\nin the net. Stories of men who have caught the sun in a noose are widely\nspread.(96) Jerome of Prague, travelling among the heathen Lithuanians\nearly in the fifteenth century, found a tribe who worshipped the sun and\nvenerated a large iron hammer. The priests told him that once the sun had\nbeen invisible for several months, because a powerful king had shut it up\nin a strong tower; but the signs of the zodiac had broken open the tower\nwith this very hammer and released the sun. Therefore they adored the\nhammer.(97) When an Australian blackfellow wishes to stay the sun from\ngoing down till he gets home, he places a sod in the fork of a tree,\nexactly facing the setting sun.(98) For the same purpose an Indian of\nYucatan, journeying westward, places a stone in a tree or pulls out some\nof his eyelashes and blows them towards the sun.(99) South African\nnatives, in travelling, will put a stone in a branch of a tree or place\nsome grass on the path with a stone over it, believing that this will\ncause their friends to keep the meal waiting till their arrival.(100) In\nthese, as in previous examples, the purpose apparently is to retard the\nsun. But why should the act of putting a stone or a sod in a tree be\nsupposed to effect this? A partial explanation is suggested by another\nAustralian custom. In their journeys the natives are accustomed to place\nstones in trees at different heights from the ground in order to indicate\nthe height of the sun in the sky at the moment when they passed the\nparticular tree. Those who follow are thus made aware of the time of day\nwhen their friends in advance passed the spot.(101) Possibly the natives,\nthus accustomed to mark the sun\u2019s progress, may have slipped into the\nconfusion of imagining that to mark the sun\u2019s progress was to arrest it at\nthe point marked. On the other hand, to make it go down faster, the\nAustralians throw sand into the air and blow with their mouths towards the\nsun.(102)\n\nOnce more, the savage thinks he can make the wind to blow or to be still.\nWhen the day is hot and a Yakut has a long way to go, he takes a stone\nwhich he has chanced to find in an animal or fish, winds a horse-hair\nseveral times round it, and ties it to a stick. He then waves the stick\nabout, uttering a spell. Soon a cool breeze begins to blow.(103) The Wind\nclan of the Omahas flap their blankets to start a breeze which will drive\naway the mosquitoes.(104) When a Haida Indian wishes to obtain a fair\nwind, he fasts, shoots a raven, singes it in the fire, and then going to\nthe edge of the sea sweeps it over the surface of the water four times in\nthe direction in which he wishes the wind to blow. He then throws the\nraven behind him, but afterwards picks it up and sets it in a sitting\nposture at the foot of a spruce-tree, facing towards the required wind.\nPropping its beak open with a stick, he requests a fair wind for a certain\nnumber of days; then going away he lies covered up in his mantle till\nanother Indian asks him for how many days he has desired the wind, which\nquestion he answers.(105) When a sorcerer in New Britain wishes to make a\nwind blow in a certain direction, he throws burnt lime in the air,\nchanting a song all the time. Then he waves sprigs of ginger and other\nplants about, throws them up and catches them. Next he makes a small fire\nwith these sprigs on the spot where the lime has fallen thickest, and\nwalks round the fire chanting. Lastly, he takes the ashes and throws them\non the water.(106) On the altar of Fladda\u2019s chapel, in the island of\nFladdahuan (one of the Hebrides), lay a round bluish stone which was\nalways moist. Windbound fishermen walked sunwise round the chapel and then\npoured water on the stone, whereupon a favourable breeze was sure to\nspring up.(107) In Finnland wizards used to sell wind to storm-staid\nmariners. The wind was enclosed in three knots; if they undid the first\nknot, a moderate wind sprang up; if the second, it blew half a gale; if\nthe third, a hurricane.(108) The same thing is said to have been done by\nwizards and witches in Lappland, in the island of Lewis, and in the Isle\nof Man.(109) A Norwegian witch has boasted of sinking a ship by opening a\nbag in which she had shut up a wind.(110) Ulysses received the winds in a\nleather bag from Aeolus, King of the Winds.(111) So Perdoytus, the\nLithuanian wind-god, keeps the winds enclosed in a leather bag; when they\nescape from it he pursues them, beats them, and shuts them up again.(112)\nThe Motumotu in New Guinea think that storms are sent by an Oiabu\nsorcerer; for each wind he has a bamboo which he opens at pleasure.(113)\nBut here we have passed from custom (with which alone we are at present\nconcerned) into mythology. Shetland seamen still buy winds from old women\nwho claim to rule the storms. There are now in Lerwick old women who live\nby selling wind.(114) When the Hottentots wish to make the wind drop, they\ntake one of their fattest skins and hang it on the end of a pole,\nbelieving that by blowing the skin down the wind will lose all its force\nand must itself fall.(115) In some parts of Austria, during a heavy storm,\nit is customary to open the window and throw out a handful of meal, chaff,\nor feathers, saying to the wind, \u201cThere, that\u2019s for you, stop!\u201d(116) Once\nwhen north-westerly winds had kept the ice long on the coast, and food was\ngetting scarce, the Eskimos of Alaska performed a ceremony to make a calm.\nA fire was kindled on the shore and the men gathered round it and chanted.\nAn old man then stepped up to the fire and in a coaxing voice invited the\ndemon of the wind to come under the fire and warm himself. When he was\nsupposed to have arrived, a vessel of water, to which each man present had\ncontributed, was thrown on the fire by an old man, and immediately a\nflight of arrows sped towards the spot where the fire had been. They\nthought that the demon would not stay where he had been so badly treated.\nTo complete the effect, guns were discharged in various directions, and\nthe captain of a European vessel was asked to fire on the wind with\ncannon.(117) When the wind blows down their huts, the Payaguas in South\nAmerica snatch up firebrands and run against the wind menacing it with the\nblazing brands, while others beat the air with their fists to frighten the\nstorm.(118) When the Guaycurus are threatened by a severe storm the men go\nout armed, and the women and children scream their loudest to intimidate\nthe demon.(119) During a tempest the inhabitants of a Batta village in\nSumatra have been seen to rush from their houses armed with sword and\nlance. The Raja placed himself at their head, and with shouts and yells\nthey hewed and hacked at the invisible foe. An old woman was observed to\nbe especially active in defending her house, slashing the air right and\nleft with a long sabre.(120)\n\nIn the light of these examples a story told by Herodotus, which his modern\ncritics have treated as a fable, is perfectly credible. He says, without\nhowever vouching for the truth of the tale, that once in the land of the\nPsylli, the modern Tripoli, the wind blowing from the Sahara had dried up\nall the water-tanks. So the people took counsel and marched in a body to\nmake war on the south wind. But when they entered the desert, the simoom\nswept down on them and buried them to a man.(121) The story may well have\nbeen told by one who watched them disappearing, in battle array, with\ndrums and cymbals beating, into the red cloud of whirling sand. It is\nstill said of the Bedouins of Eastern Africa that \u201cno whirlwind ever\nsweeps across the path without being pursued by a dozen savages with drawn\ncreeses, who stab into the centre of the dusty column in order to drive\naway the evil spirit that is believed to be riding on the blast.\u201d(122) So\nin Australia the huge columns of red sand that move rapidly across a\ndesert tract are thought by the blackfellows to be spirits passing along.\nOnce an athletic young black ran after one of these moving columns to kill\nit with boomerangs. He was away two or three hours and came back very\nweary, saying he had killed Koochee (the demon), but that Koochee had\ngrowled at him and he must die.(123) Even where these dust columns are not\nattacked they are still regarded with awe. In some parts of India they are\nsupposed to be _bhuts_ going to bathe in the Ganges.(124) Californian\nIndians think that they are happy souls ascending to the heavenly\nland.(125)\n\nWhen a gust lifts the hay in the meadow, the Breton peasant throws a knife\nor a fork at it to prevent the devil from carrying off the hay.(126)\nGerman peasants throw a knife or a hat at a whirlwind because there is a\nwitch or a wizard in it.(127)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 3.\u2014Incarnate gods.\n\n\nThese examples, drawn from the beliefs and practices of rude peoples all\nover the world, may suffice to prove that the savage, whether European or\notherwise, fails to recognise those limitations to his power over nature\nwhich seem so obvious to us. In a society where every man is supposed to\nbe endowed more or less with powers which we should call supernatural, it\nis plain that the distinction between gods and men is somewhat blurred, or\nrather has scarcely emerged. The conception of gods as supernatural beings\nentirely distinct from and superior to man, and wielding powers to which\nhe possesses nothing comparable in degree and hardly even in kind, has\nbeen slowly evolved in the course of history. At first the supernatural\nagents are not regarded as greatly, if at all, superior to man; for they\nmay be frightened and coerced by him into doing his will. At this stage of\nthought the world is viewed as a great democracy; all beings in it,\nwhether natural or supernatural, are supposed to stand on a footing of\ntolerable equality. But with the growth of his knowledge man learns to\nrealise more clearly the vastness of nature and his own littleness and\nfeebleness in presence of it. The recognition of his own helplessness does\nnot, however, carry with it a corresponding belief in the impotence of\nthose supernatural beings with which his imagination peoples the universe.\nOn the contrary it enhances his conception of their power. For the idea of\nthe world as a system of impersonal forces acting in accordance with fixed\nand invariable laws has not yet fully dawned or darkened upon him. The\ngerm of the idea he certainly has, and he acts upon it, not only in magic\nart, but in much of the business of daily life. But the idea remains\nundeveloped, and so far as he attempts consciously to explain the world he\nlives in, he pictures it as the manifestation of conscious will and\npersonal agency. If then he feels himself to be so frail and slight, how\nvast and powerful must he deem the beings who control the gigantic\nmachinery of nature! Thus as his old sense of equality with the gods\nslowly vanishes, he resigns at the same time the hope of directing the\ncourse of nature by his own unaided resources, that is, by magic, and\nlooks more and more to the gods as the sole repositories of those\nsupernatural powers which he once claimed to share with them. With the\nfirst advance of knowledge, therefore, prayer and sacrifice assume the\nleading place in religious ritual; and magic, which once ranked with them\nas a legitimate equal, is gradually relegated to the background and sinks\nto the level of a black art. It is now regarded as an encroachment, at\nonce vain and impious, on the domain of the gods, and as such encounters\nthe steady opposition of the priests, whose reputation and influence gain\nor lose with those of their gods. Hence, when at a late period the\ndistinction between religion and superstition has emerged, we find that\nsacrifice and prayer are the resource of the pious and enlightened portion\nof the community, while magic is the refuge of the superstitious and\nignorant. But when, still later, the conception of the elemental forces as\npersonal agents is giving way to the recognition of natural law; then\nmagic, based as it implicitly is on the idea of a necessary and invariable\nsequence of cause and effect, independent of personal will, reappears from\nthe obscurity and discredit into which it had fallen, and by investigating\nthe causal sequences in nature, directly prepares the way for science.\nAlchemy leads up to chemistry.\n\nThe notion of a man-god or of a human being endowed with divine or\nsupernatural powers, belongs essentially to that earlier period of\nreligious history in which gods and men are still viewed as beings of much\nthe same order, and before they are divided by the impassable gulf which,\nto later thought, opens out between them. Strange, therefore, as may seem\nto us the idea of a god incarnate in human form, it has nothing very\nstartling for early man, who sees in a man-god or a god-man only a higher\ndegree of the same supernatural powers which he arrogates in perfect good\nfaith to himself. Such incarnate gods are common in rude society. The\nincarnation may be temporary or permanent. In the former case, the\nincarnation\u2014commonly known as inspiration or possession\u2014reveals itself in\nsupernatural knowledge rather than in supernatural power. In other words,\nits usual manifestations are divination and prophesy rather than miracles.\nOn the other hand, when the incarnation is not merely temporary, when the\ndivine spirit has permanently taken up its abode in a human body, the\ngod-man is usually expected to vindicate his character by working\nmiracles. Only we have to remember that by men at this stage of thought\nmiracles are not considered as breaches of natural law. Not conceiving the\nexistence of natural law, primitive man cannot conceive a breach of it. A\nmiracle is to him merely an unusually striking manifestation of a common\npower.\n\nThe belief in temporary incarnation or inspiration is world-wide. Certain\npersons are supposed to be possessed from time to time by a spirit or\ndeity; while the possession lasts, their own personality lies in abeyance,\nthe presence of the spirit is revealed by convulsive shiverings and\nshakings of the man\u2019s whole body, by wild gestures and excited looks, all\nof which are referred, not to the man himself, but to the spirit which has\nentered into him; and in this abnormal state all his utterances are\naccepted as the voice of the god or spirit dwelling in him and speaking\nthrough him. In Mangaia the priests in whom the gods took up their abode\nfrom time to time were called \u201cgod-boxes\u201d or, for shortness, \u201cgods.\u201d\nBefore giving oracles as gods, they drank an intoxicating liquor, and in\nthe frenzy thus produced their wild words were received as the voice of\nthe god.(128) But examples of such temporary inspiration are so common in\nevery part of the world and are now so familiar through books on\nethnology, that it is needless to cite illustrations of the general\nprinciple.(129) It may be well, however, to refer to two particular modes\nof producing temporary inspiration, because they are perhaps less known\nthan some others, and because we shall have occasion to refer to them\nlater on. One of these modes of producing inspiration is by sucking the\nfresh blood of a sacrificed victim. In the temple of Apollo Diradiotes at\nArgos, a lamb was sacrificed by night once a month; a woman, who had to\nobserve a rule of chastity, tasted the blood of the lamb, and thus being\ninspired by the god she prophesied or divined.(130) At Aegira in Achaea\nthe priestess of Earth drank the fresh blood of a bull before she\ndescended into the cave to prophesy.(131) In Southern India a devil-dancer\n\u201cdrinks the blood of the sacrifice, putting the throat of the decapitated\ngoat to his mouth. Then, as if he had acquired new life, he begins to\nbrandish his staff of bells, and to dance with a quick but wild unsteady\nstep. Suddenly the afflatus descends. There is no mistaking that glare, or\nthose frantic leaps. He snorts, he stares, he gyrates. The demon has now\ntaken bodily possession of him; and, though he retains the power of\nutterance and of motion, both are under the demon\u2019s control, and his\nseparate consciousness is in abeyance.... The devil-dancer is now\nworshipped as a present deity, and every bystander consults him respecting\nhis disease, his wants, the welfare of his absent relatives, the offerings\nto be made for the accomplishment of his wishes, and, in short, respecting\neverything for which superhuman knowledge is supposed to be\navailable.\u201d(132) At a festival of the Minahassa in northern Celebes, after\na pig has been killed, the priest rushes furiously at it, thrusts his head\ninto the carcass and drinks of the blood. Then he is dragged away from it\nby force and set on a chair, whereupon he begins to prophesy how the rice\ncrop will turn out that year. A second time he runs at the carcass and\ndrinks of the blood; a second time he is forced into the chair and\ncontinues his predictions. It is thought there is a spirit in him which\npossesses the power of prophecy.(133) At Rhetra, a great religious capital\nof the Western Slavs, the priest tasted the blood of the sacrificed oxen\nand sheep in order the better to prophesy.(134) The true test of a Dainyal\nor diviner among some of the Hindoo Koosh tribes is to suck the blood from\nthe neck of a decapitated goat.(135) The other mode of producing temporary\ninspiration, to which I shall here refer, is by means of a branch or\nleaves of a sacred tree. Thus in the Hindoo Koosh a fire is kindled with\ntwigs of the sacred cedar; and the Dainyal or sibyl, with a cloth over her\nhead, inhales the thick pungent smoke till she is seized with convulsions\nand falls senseless to the ground. Soon she rises and raises a shrill\nchant, which is caught up and loudly repeated by her audience.(136) So\nApollo\u2019s prophetess ate the sacred laurel before she prophesied.(137) It\nis worth observing that many peoples expect the victim as well as the\npriest or prophet to give signs of inspiration by convulsive movements of\nthe body; and if the animal remains obstinately steady, they esteem it\nunfit for sacrifice. Thus when the Yakuts sacrifice to an evil spirit, the\nbeast must bellow and roll about, which is considered a token that the\nevil spirit has entered into it.(138) Apollo\u2019s prophetess could give no\noracles unless the victim to be sacrificed trembled in every limb when the\nwine was poured on its head. But for ordinary Greek sacrifices it was\nenough that the victim should shake its head; to make it do so, water was\npoured on it.(139) Many other peoples (Tonquinese, Hindoos, Chuwash, etc.)\nhave adopted the same test of a suitable victim; they pour water or wine\non its head; if the animal shakes its head it is accepted for sacrifice;\nif it does not, it is rejected.(140)\n\nThe person temporarily inspired is believed to acquire, not merely divine\nknowledge, but also, at least occasionally, divine power. In Cambodia,\nwhen an epidemic breaks out, the inhabitants of several villages unite and\ngo with a band of music at their head to look for the man whom the local\ngod is believed to have chosen for his temporary incarnation. When found,\nthe man is taken to the altar of the god, where the mystery of incarnation\ntakes place. Then the man becomes an object of veneration to his fellows,\nwho implore him to protect the village against the plague.(141) The image\nof Apollo at Hyl\u00e6 in Phocis was believed to impart superhuman strength.\nSacred men, inspired by it, leaped down precipices, tore up huge trees by\nthe roots, and carried them on their backs along the narrowest\ndefiles.(142) The feats performed by inspired dervishes belong to the same\nclass.\n\nThus far we have seen that the savage, failing to discern the limits of\nhis ability to control nature, ascribes to himself and to all men certain\npowers which we should now call supernatural. Further, we have seen that\nover and above this general supernaturalism, some persons are supposed to\nbe inspired for short periods by a divine spirit, and thus temporarily to\nenjoy the knowledge and power of the indwelling deity. From beliefs like\nthese it is an easy step to the conviction that certain men are\npermanently possessed by a deity, or in some other undefined way are\nendued with so high a degree of supernatural powers as to be ranked as\ngods and to receive the homage of prayer and sacrifice. Sometimes these\nhuman gods are restricted to purely supernatural or spiritual functions.\nSometimes they exercise supreme political power in addition. In the latter\ncase they are kings as well as gods, and the government is a theocracy. I\nshall give examples of both.\n\nIn the Marquesas Islands there was a class of men who were deified in\ntheir life-time. They were supposed to wield a supernatural power over the\nelements; they could give abundant harvests or smite the ground with\nbarrenness; and they could inflict disease or death. Human sacrifices were\noffered to them to avert their wrath. There were not many of them, at the\nmost one or two in each island. They lived in mystic seclusion. Their\npowers were sometimes, but not always, hereditary. A missionary has\ndescribed one of these human gods from personal observation. The god was a\nvery old man who lived in a large house within an enclosure. In the house\nwas a kind of altar, and on the beams of the house and on the trees round\nit were hung human skeletons, head down. No one entered the enclosure,\nexcept the persons dedicated to the service of the god; only on days when\nhuman victims were sacrificed might ordinary people penetrate into the\nprecinct. This human god received more sacrifices than all the other gods;\noften he would sit on a sort of scaffold in front of his house and call\nfor two or three human victims at a time. They were always brought, for\nthe terror he inspired was extreme. He was invoked all over the island,\nand offerings were sent to him from every side.(143) Again, of the South\nSea Islands in general we are told that each island had a man who\nrepresented or personified the divinity. Such men were called gods, and\ntheir substance was confounded with that of the deity. The man-god was\nsometimes the king himself; oftener he was a priest or subordinate\nchief.(144) Tanatoa, King of Raiatea, was deified by a certain ceremony\nperformed at the chief temple. \u201cAs one of the divinities of his subjects,\ntherefore, the king was worshipped, consulted as an oracle and had\nsacrifices and prayers offered to him.\u201d(145) This was not an exceptional\ncase. The kings of the island regularly enjoyed divine honours, being\ndeified at the time of their accession.(146) At his inauguration the king\nof Tahiti received a sacred girdle of red and yellow feathers, \u201cwhich not\nonly raised him to the highest earthly station, but identified him with\ntheir gods.\u201d(147) The gods of Samoa generally appeared in animal form, but\nsometimes they were permanently incarnate in men, who gave oracles,\nreceived offerings (occasionally of human flesh), healed the sick,\nanswered prayers, and so on.(148) In regard to the old religion of the\nFijians, and especially of the inhabitants of Somo-somo, it is said that\n\u201cthere appears to be no certain line of demarcation between departed\nspirits and gods, nor between gods and living men, for many of the priests\nand old chiefs are considered as sacred persons, and not a few of them\nwill also claim to themselves the right of divinity. \u2018I am a god,\u2019\nTuikilakila would say; and he believed it too.\u201d(149) In the Pelew Islands\nit is believed that every god can take possession of a man and speak\nthrough him. The possession may be either temporary or permanent; in the\nlatter case the chosen person is called a _korong_. The god is free in his\nchoice, so the position of _korong_ is not hereditary. After the death of\na _korong_ the god is for some time unrepresented, until he suddenly makes\nhis appearance in a new Avatar. The person thus chosen gives signs of the\ndivine presence by behaving in a strange way; he gapes, runs about, and\nperforms a number of senseless acts. At first people laugh at him, but his\nsacred mission is in time recognised, and he is invited to assume his\nproper position in the state. Generally this position is a distinguished\none and confers on him a powerful influence over the whole community. In\nsome of the islands the god is political sovereign of the land; and hence\nhis new incarnation, however humble his origin, is raised to the same high\nrank, and rules, as god and king, over all the other chiefs.(150) In time\nof public calamity, as during war or pestilence, some of the Molucca\nIslanders used to celebrate a festival of heaven. If no good result\nfollowed, they bought a slave, took him at the next festival to the place\nof sacrifice, and set him on a raised place under a certain bamboo-tree.\nThis tree represented heaven and had been honoured as its image at\nprevious festivals. The portion of the sacrifice which had previously been\noffered to heaven was now given to the slave, who ate and drank it in the\nname and stead of heaven. Henceforth the slave was well treated, kept for\nthe festivals of heaven, and employed to represent heaven and receive the\nofferings in its name.(151) In Tonquin every village chooses its guardian\nspirit, often in the form of an animal, as a dog, tiger, cat, or serpent.\nSometimes a living person is selected as patron-divinity. Thus a beggar\npersuaded the people of a village that he was their guardian spirit; so\nthey loaded him with honours and entertained him with their best.(152) In\nIndia \u201cevery king is regarded as little short of a present god.\u201d(153) The\nIndian law-book of Manu goes farther and says that \u201ceven an infant king\nmust not be despised from an idea that he is a mere mortal; for he is a\ngreat deity in human form.\u201d(154) There is said to be a sect in Orissa who\nworship the Queen of England as their chief divinity. And to this day in\nIndia all living persons remarkable for great strength or valour or for\nsupposed miraculous powers run the risk of being worshipped as gods. Thus,\na sect in the Punjaub worshipped a deity whom they called Nikkal Sen. This\nNikkal Sen was no other than the redoubted General Nicholson, and nothing\nthat the general could do or say damped the enthusiasm of his adorers. The\nmore he punished them, the greater grew the religious awe with which they\nworshipped him.(155) Amongst the Todas, a pastoral people of the\nNeilgherry Hills of Southern India, the dairy is a sanctuary, and the\nmilkman (_p\u00e2l\u00e2l_) who attends to it is a god. On being asked whether the\nTodas salute the sun, one of these divine milkmen replied, \u201cThose poor\nfellows do so, but I,\u201d tapping his chest, \u201cI, a god! why should I salute\nthe sun?\u201d Every one, even his own father, prostrates himself before the\nmilkman, and no one would dare to refuse him anything. No human being,\nexcept another milkman, may touch him; and he gives oracles to all who\nconsult him, speaking with the voice of a god.(156)\n\nThe King of Iddah told the English officers of the Niger Expedition, \u201cGod\nmade me after his own image; I am all the same as God; and He appointed me\na king.\u201d(157)\n\nSometimes, at the death of the human incarnation, the divine spirit\ntransmigrates into another man. In the kingdom of Kaffa, in Eastern\nAfrica, the heathen part of the people worship a spirit called _De\u00f2ce_, to\nwhom they offer prayer and sacrifice, and whom they invoke on all\nimportant occasions. This spirit is incarnate in the grand magician or\npope, a person of great wealth and influence, ranking almost with the\nking, and wielding the spiritual, as the king wields the temporal, power.\nIt happened that, shortly before the arrival of a Christian missionary in\nthe kingdom, this African pope died, and the priests, fearing that the\nmissionary would assume the position vacated by the deceased pope,\ndeclared that the _De\u00f2ce_ had passed into the king, who henceforth,\nuniting the spiritual with the temporal power, reigned as god and\nking.(158) Before beginning to work at the salt-pans in a Laosian village,\nthe workmen offer sacrifice to a local divinity. This divinity is\nincarnate in a woman and transmigrates at her death into another\nwoman.(159) In Bhotan the spiritual head of the government is a person\ncalled the Dhurma Raja, who is supposed to be a perpetual incarnation of\nthe deity. At his death the new incarnate god shows himself in an infant\nby the refusal of his mother\u2019s milk and a preference for that of a\ncow.(160) The Buddhist Tartars believe in a great number of living\nBuddhas, who officiate as Grand Lamas at the head of the most important\nmonasteries. When one of these Grand Lamas dies his disciples do not\nsorrow, for they know that he will soon reappear, being born in the form\nof an infant. Their only anxiety is to discover the place of his birth. If\nat this time they see a rainbow they take it as a sign sent them by the\ndeparted Lama to guide them to his cradle. Sometimes the divine infant\nhimself reveals his identity. \u201cI am the Grand Lama,\u201d he says, \u201cthe living\nBuddha of such and such a temple. Take me to my old monastery. I am its\nimmortal head.\u201d In whatever way the birthplace of the Buddha is revealed,\nwhether by the Buddha\u2019s own avowal or by the sign in the sky, tents are\nstruck, and the joyful pilgrims, often headed by the king or one of the\nmost illustrious of the royal family, set forth to find and bring home the\ninfant god. Generally he is born in Tibet, the holy land, and to reach him\nthe caravan has often to traverse the most frightful deserts. When at last\nthey find the child they fall down and worship him. Before, however, he is\nacknowledged as the Grand Lama whom they seek he must satisfy them of his\nidentity. He is asked the name of the monastery of which he claims to be\nthe head, how far off it is, and how many monks live in it; he must also\ndescribe the habits of the deceased Grand Lama and the manner of his\ndeath. Then various articles, as prayer-books, tea-pots, and cups, are\nplaced before him, and he has to point out those used by himself in his\nprevious life. If he does so without a mistake his claims are admitted,\nand he is conducted in triumph to the monastery.(161) At the head of all\nthe Lamas is the Dalai Lama of Lhasa, the Rome of Tibet. He is regarded as\na living god and at death his divine and immortal spirit is born again in\na child. According to some accounts the mode of discovering the Dalai Lama\nis similar to the method, already described, of discovering an ordinary\nGrand Lama. Other accounts speak of an election by lot. Wherever he is\nborn, the trees and plants, it is said, put forth green leaves; at his\nbidding flowers bloom and springs of water rise; and his presence diffuses\nheavenly blessings. His palace stands on a commanding height; its gilded\ncupolas are seen sparkling in the sunlight for miles.(162)\n\nIssuing from the sultry valleys upon the lofty plateau of the Colombian\nAndes, the Spanish conquerors were astonished to find, in contrast to the\nsavage hordes they had left in the sweltering jungles below, a people\nenjoying a fair degree of civilisation, practising agriculture, and living\nunder a government which Humboldt has compared to the theocracies of Tibet\nand Japan. These were the Chibchas, Muyscas, or Mozcas, divided into two\nkingdoms, with capitals at Bogota and Tunja, but united apparently in\nspiritual allegiance to the high pontiff of Sogamozo or Iraca. By a long\nand ascetic novitiate, this ghostly ruler was reputed to have acquired\nsuch sanctity that the waters and the rain obeyed him, and the weather\ndepended on his will.(163) Weather kings are common in Africa. Thus the\nWaganda of Central Africa believe in a god of Lake Nyanza, who sometimes\ntakes up his abode in a man or woman. The incarnate god is much feared by\nall the people, including the king and the chiefs. He is consulted as an\noracle; by his word he can inflict or heal sickness, withhold rain, and\ncause famine. Large presents are made him when his advice is sought.(164)\nOften the king himself is supposed to control the weather. The king of\nLoango is honoured by his people \u201cas though he were a god; and he is\ncalled Sambee and Pango, which mean god. They believe that he can let them\nhave rain when he likes; and once a year, in December, which is the time\nthey want rain, the people come to beg of him to grant it to them.\u201d On\nthis occasion the king, standing on his throne, shoots an arrow into the\nair, which is supposed to bring on rain.(165) Much the same is said of the\nking of Mombaza.(166) The king of Quiteva, in Eastern Africa, ranks with\nthe deity; \u201cindeed, the Caffres acknowledge no other gods than their\nmonarch, and to him they address those prayers which other nations are\nwont to prefer to heaven.... Hence these unfortunate beings, under the\npersuasion that their king is a deity, exhaust their utmost means and ruin\nthemselves in gifts to obtain with more facility what they need. Thus,\nprostrate at his feet, they implore of him, when the weather long\ncontinues dry, to intercede with heaven that they may have rain; and when\ntoo much rain has fallen, that they may have fair weather; thus, also, in\ncase of winds, storms, and everything, they would either deprecate or\nimplore.\u201d(167) Amongst the Barotse, a tribe on the upper Zambesi, \u201cthere\nis an old, but waning belief, that a chief is a demigod, and in heavy\nthunderstorms the Barotse flock to the chief\u2019s yard for protection from\nthe lightning. I have been greatly distressed at seeing them fall on their\nknees before the chief, entreating him to open the water-pots of heaven\nand send rain upon their gardens.... The king\u2019s servants declare\nthemselves to be invincible, because they are the servants of God (meaning\n_the king_).\u201d(168) The chief of Mowat, New Guinea, is believed to have the\npower of affecting the growth of crops for good or ill, and of coaxing the\n_dugong_ and turtle to come from all parts and allow themselves to be\ntaken.(169)\n\nAmongst the Antaymours of Madagascar the king is responsible for the\ngrowth of the crops and for every misfortune that befalls the people.(170)\nIn many places the king is punished if rain does not fall and the crops do\nnot turn out well. Thus, in some parts of West Africa, when prayers and\nofferings presented to the king have failed to procure rain, his subjects\nbind him with ropes and take him by force to the grave of his forefathers,\nthat he may obtain from them the needed rain.(171) It appears that the\nScythians also, when food was scarce, put their king in bonds.(172) The\nBanjars in West Africa ascribe to their king the power of causing rain or\nfine weather. So long as the weather is fine they load him with presents\nof grain and cattle. But if long drought or rain threatens to spoil the\ncrops, they insult and beat him till the weather changes.(173) When the\nharvest fails or the surf on the coast is too heavy to allow of fishing,\nthe people of Loango accuse their king of a \u201cbad heart\u201d and depose\nhim.(174) On the Pepper Coast the high priest or Bodio is responsible for\nthe health of the community, the fertility of the earth, and the abundance\nof fish in the sea and rivers; and if the country suffers in any of these\nrespects the Bodio is deposed from his office.(175) So the Burgundians of\nold deposed their king if the crops failed.(176) Some peoples have gone\nfurther and killed their kings in times of scarcity. Thus, in the time of\nthe Swedish king Domalde a mighty famine broke out, which lasted several\nyears, and could be stayed by the blood neither of beasts nor of men. So,\nin a great popular assembly held at Upsala, the chiefs decided that king\nDomalde himself was the cause of the scarcity and must be sacrificed for\ngood seasons. So they slew him and smeared with his blood the altars of\nthe gods. Again, we are told that the Swedes always attributed good or bad\ncrops to their kings as the cause. Now, in the reign of King Olaf, there\ncame dear times and famine, and the people thought that the fault was the\nking\u2019s, because he was sparing in his sacrifices. So, mustering an army,\nthey marched against him, surrounded his dwelling, and burned him in it,\n\u201cgiving him to Odin as a sacrifice for good crops.\u201d(177) In 1814, a\npestilence having broken out among the reindeer of the Chukch, the Shamans\ndeclared that the beloved chief Koch must be sacrificed to the angry gods;\nso the chief\u2019s own son stabbed him with a dagger.(178) On the coral island\nof Niu\u0113, or Savage Island, in the South Pacific, there formerly reigned a\nline of kings. But as the kings were also high priests, and were supposed\nto make the food grow, the people became angry with them in times of\nscarcity and killed them; till at last, as one after another was killed,\nno one would be king, and the monarchy came to an end.(179) As in these\ncases the divine kings, so in ancient Egypt the divine beasts, were\nresponsible for the course of nature. When pestilence and other calamities\nhad fallen on the land, in consequence of a long and severe drought, the\npriests took the sacred animals secretly by night, and threatened them,\nbut if the evil did not abate they slew the beasts.(180)\n\nFrom this survey of the religious position occupied by the king in rude\nsocieties we may infer that the claim to divine and supernatural powers\nput forward by the monarchs of great historical empires like those of\nEgypt, Mexico, and Peru, was not the simple outcome of inflated vanity or\nthe empty expression of a grovelling adulation; it was merely a survival\nand extension of the old savage apotheosis of living kings. Thus, for\nexample, as children of the Sun the Incas of Peru were revered like gods;\nthey could do no wrong, and no one dreamed of offending against the\nperson, honour, or property of the monarch or of any of the royal race.\nHence, too, the Incas did not, like most people, look on sickness as an\nevil. They considered it a messenger sent from their father the Sun to\ncall his son to come and rest with him in heaven. Therefore the usual\nwords in which an Inca announced his approaching end were these: \u201cMy\nfather calls me to come and rest with him.\u201d They would not oppose their\nfather\u2019s will by offering sacrifice for recovery, but openly declared that\nhe had called them to his rest.(181) The Mexican kings at their accession\ntook an oath that they would make the sun to shine, the clouds to give\nrain, the rivers to flow, and the earth to bring forth fruits in\nabundance.(182) By Chinese custom the emperor is deemed responsible if the\ndrought be at all severe, and many are the self-condemnatory edicts on\nthis subject published in the pages of the _Peking Gazette_. However it is\nrather as a high priest than as a god that the Chinese emperor bears the\nblame; for in extreme cases he seeks to remedy the evil by personally\noffering prayers and sacrifices to heaven.(183) The Parthian monarchs of\nthe Arsacid house styled themselves brothers of the sun and moon and were\nworshipped as deities. It was esteemed sacrilege to strike even a private\nmember of the Arsacid family in a brawl.(184) The kings of Egypt were\ndeified in their lifetime, and their worship was celebrated in special\ntemples and by special priests. Indeed the worship of the kings sometimes\ncast that of the gods into the shade. Thus in the reign of Merenra a high\nofficial declared that he had built many holy places in order that the\nspirits of the king, the ever-living Merenra, might be invoked \u201cmore than\nall the gods.\u201d(185) The King of Egypt seems to have shared with the sacred\nanimals the blame of any failure of the crops.(186) He was addressed as\n\u201cLord of heaven, lord of earth, sun, life of the whole world, lord of\ntime, measurer of the sun\u2019s course, Tum for men, lord of well-being,\ncreator of the harvest, maker and fashioner of mortals, bestower of breath\nupon all men, giver of life to all the host of gods, pillar of heaven,\nthreshold of the earth, weigher of the equipoise of both worlds, lord of\nrich gifts, increaser of the corn\u201d etc.(187) Yet, as we should expect, the\nexalted powers thus ascribed to the king differed in degree rather than in\nkind from those which every Egyptian claimed for himself. Tiele observes\nthat \u201cas every good man at his death became Osiris, as every one in danger\nor need could by the use of magic sentences assume the form of a deity, it\nis quite comprehensible how the king, not only after death, but already\nduring his life, was placed on a level with the deity.\u201d(188)\n\nThus it appears that the same union of sacred functions with a royal title\nwhich meets us in the King of the Wood at Nemi, the Sacrificial King at\nRome and the King Archon at Athens, occurs frequently outside the limits\nof classical antiquity and is a common feature of societies at all stages\nfrom barbarism to civilisation. Further, it appears that the royal priest\nis often a king in fact as well as in name, swaying the sceptre as well as\nthe crosier. All this confirms the tradition of the origin of the titular\nand priestly kings in the republics of ancient Greece and Italy. At least\nby showing that the combination of spiritual and temporal power, of which\nGraeco-Italian tradition preserved the memory, has actually existed in\nmany places, we have obviated any suspicion of improbability that might\nhave attached to the tradition. Therefore we may now fairly ask, May not\nthe King of the Wood have had an origin like that which a probable\ntradition assigns to the Sacrificial King of Rome and the King Archon of\nAthens? In other words, may not his predecessors in office have been a\nline of kings whom a republican revolution stripped of their political\npower, leaving them only their religious functions and the shadow of a\ncrown? There are at least two reasons for answering this question in the\nnegative. One reason is drawn from the abode of the priest of Nemi; the\nother from his title, the King of the Wood. If his predecessors had been\nkings in the ordinary sense, he would surely have been found residing,\nlike the fallen kings of Rome and Athens, in the city of which the sceptre\nhad passed from him. This city must have been Aricia, for there was none\nnearer. But Aricia, as we have seen, was three miles off from his forest\nsanctuary by the lake shore. If he reigned, it was not in the city, but in\nthe greenwood. Again his title, King of the Wood, hardly allows us to\nsuppose that he had ever been a king in the common sense of the word. More\nlikely he was a king of nature, and of a special side of nature, namely,\nthe woods from which he took his title. If we could find instances of what\nwe may call departmental kings of nature, that is of persons supposed to\nrule over particular elements or aspects of nature, they would probably\npresent a closer analogy to the King of the Wood than the divine kings we\nhave been hitherto considering, whose control of nature is general rather\nthan special. Instances of such departmental kings are not wanting.\n\nOn a hill at Bomma (the mouth of the Congo) dwells Namvulu Vumu, King of\nthe Rain and Storm.(189) Of some of the tribes on the Upper Nile we are\ntold that they have no kings in the common sense; the only persons whom\nthey acknowledge as such are the Kings of the Rain, _Mata Kodou_, who are\ncredited with the power of giving rain at the proper time, that is in the\nrainy season. Before the rains begin to fall at the end of March the\ncountry is a parched and arid desert; and the cattle, which form the\npeople\u2019s chief wealth, perish for lack of grass. So, when the end of March\ndraws on, each householder betakes himself to the King of the Rain and\noffers him a cow that he may make the rain to fall soon. If no shower\nfalls, the people assemble and demand that the king shall give them rain;\nand if the sky still continues cloudless, they rip up his belly in which\nhe is believed to keep the storms. Amongst the Bari tribe one of these\nRain Kings made rain by sprinkling water on the ground out of a\nhand-bell.(190)\n\nAmong tribes on the outskirts of Abyssinia a similar office exists and has\nbeen thus described by an observer. \u201cThe priesthood of the Alfai, as he is\ncalled by the Barea and Kun\u00e1ma, is a remarkable one; he is believed to be\nable to make rain. This office formerly existed among the Algeds and\nappears to be still common to the Nuba negroes. The Alfai of the Bareas,\nwho is also consulted by the northern Kun\u00e1ma, lives near Temb\u00e1dere on a\nmountain alone with his family. The people bring him tribute in the form\nof clothes and fruits, and cultivate for him a large field of his own. He\nis a kind of king, and his office passes by inheritance to his brother or\nsister\u2019s son. He is supposed to conjure down rain and to drive away the\nlocusts. But if he disappoints the people\u2019s expectation and a great\ndrought arises in the land, the Alfai is stoned to death, and his nearest\nrelations are obliged to cast the first stone at him. When we passed\nthrough the country, the office of Alfai was still held by an old man; but\nI heard that rain-making had proved too dangerous for him and that he had\nrenounced his office.\u201d(191)\n\nIn the backwoods of Cambodia live two mysterious sovereigns known as the\nKing of the Fire and the King of the Water. Their fame is spread all over\nthe south of the great Indo-Chinese peninsula; but only a faint echo of it\nhas reached the West. No European, so far as is known, has ever seen them;\nand their very existence might have passed for a fable, were it not that\ntill a few years ago communications were regularly maintained between them\nand the King of Cambodia, who year by year exchanged presents with them.\nThe Cambodian gifts were passed from tribe to tribe till they reached\ntheir destination; for no Cambodian would essay the long and perilous\njourney. The tribe amongst whom the Kings of Fire and Water reside is the\nChr\u00e9ais or Jaray, a race with European features but a sallow complexion,\ninhabiting the forest-clad mountains and high plateaux which separate\nCambodia from Annam. Their royal functions are of a purely mystic or\nspiritual order; they have no political authority; they are simple\npeasants, living by the sweat of their brow and the offerings of the\nfaithful. According to one account they live in absolute solitude, never\nmeeting each other and never seeing a human face. They inhabit\nsuccessively seven towers perched upon seven mountains, and every year\nthey pass from one tower to another. People come furtively and cast within\ntheir reach what is needful for their subsistence. The kingship lasts\nseven years, the time necessary to inhabit all the towers successively;\nbut many die before their time is out. The offices are hereditary in one\nor (according to others) two royal families, who enjoy high consideration,\nhave revenues assigned to them, and are exempt from the necessity of\ntilling the ground. But naturally the dignity is not coveted, and when a\nvacancy occurs, all eligible men (they must be strong and have children)\nflee and hide themselves. Another account, admitting the reluctance of the\nhereditary candidates to accept the crown, does not countenance the report\nof their hermit-like seclusion in the seven towers. For it represents the\npeople as prostrating themselves before the mystic kings whenever they\nappear in public, it being thought that a terrible hurricane would burst\nover the country if this mark of homage were omitted.\n\nThe same report says that the Fire King, the more important of the two,\nand whose supernatural powers have never been questioned, officiates at\nmarriages, festivals, and sacrifices in honour of the Yan. On these\noccasions a special place is set apart for him; and the path by which he\napproaches is spread with white cotton cloths. A reason for confining the\nroyal dignity to the same family is that this family is in possession of\ncertain famous talismans which would lose their virtue or disappear if\nthey passed out of the family. These talismans are three: the fruit of a\ncreeper called _Cui_, gathered ages ago but still fresh and green; a\nrattan, also very old and still not dry; lastly a sword containing a Yan\nor spirit, who guards it constantly and works miracles with it. To this\nwondrous brand sacrifices of buffaloes, pigs, fowls, and ducks are offered\nfor rain. It is kept swathed in cotton and silk; and amongst the annual\npresents sent by the King of Cambodia were rich stuffs to wrap the sacred\nsword.\n\nIn return the Kings of Fire and Water sent him a huge wax candle and two\ncalabashes, one full of rice and the other of sesame. The candle bore the\nimpress of the Fire King\u2019s middle finger. Probably the candle was thought\nto contain the seed of fire, which the Cambodian monarch thus received\nonce a year fresh from the Fire King himself. The holy candle was kept for\nsacred uses. On reaching the capital of Cambodia it was entrusted to the\nBrahmans, who laid it up beside the regalia, and with the wax made tapers\nwhich were burned on the altars on solemn days. As the candle was the\nspecial gift of the Fire King, we may conjecture that the rice and sesame\nwere the special gift of the Water King. The latter was doubtless king of\nrain as well as of water, and the fruits of the earth were boons conferred\nby him on men. In times of calamity, as during plague, floods, and war, a\nlittle of this sacred rice and sesame was scattered on the ground \u201cto\nappease the wrath of the maleficent spirits.\u201d(192)\n\nThese, then, are examples of what I have called departmental kings of\nnature. But it is a far cry to Italy from the forests of Cambodia and the\nsources of the Nile. And though Kings of Rain, Water and Fire have been\nfound, we have still to discover a King of the Wood to match the Arician\npriest who bore that title. Perhaps we shall find him nearer home.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 4.\u2014Tree-worship.\n\n\nIn the religious history of the Aryan race in Europe the worship of trees\nhas played an important part. Nothing could be more natural. For at the\ndawn of history Europe was covered with immense primeval forests, in which\nthe scattered clearings must have appeared like islets in an ocean of\ngreen. Down to the first century before our era the Hercynian forest\nstretched eastward from the Rhine for a distance at once vast and unknown;\nGermans whom Caesar questioned had travelled for two months through it\nwithout reaching the end.(193) In our own country the wealds of Kent,\nSurrey, and Sussex are remnants of the great forest of Anderida, which\nonce clothed the whole of the south eastern portion of the island.\nWestward it seems to have stretched till it joined another forest that\nextended from Hampshire to Devon. In the reign of Henry II the citizens of\nLondon still hunted the wild bull and the boar in the forest of Hampstead.\nEven under the later Plantagenets the royal forests were sixty-eight in\nnumber. In the forest of Arden it was said that down to modern times a\nsquirrel might leap from tree to tree for nearly the whole length of\nWarwickshire.(194) The excavation of prehistoric pile-villages in the\nvalley of the Po has shown that long before the rise and probably the\nfoundation of Rome the north of Italy was covered with dense forests of\nelms, chestnuts, and especially of oaks.(195) Archaeology is here\nconfirmed by history; for classical writers contain many references to\nItalian forests which have now disappeared.(196) In Greece the woods of\nthe present day are a mere fraction of those which clothed great tracts in\nantiquity, and which at a more remote epoch may have spanned the Greek\npeninsula from sea to sea.(197)\n\nFrom an examination of the Teutonic words for \u201ctemple\u201d Grimm has made it\nprobable that amongst the Germans the oldest sanctuaries were natural\nwoods.(198) However this may be, tree-worship is well attested for all the\ngreat European families of the Aryan stock. Amongst the Celts the\noak-worship of the Druids is familiar to every one.(199) Sacred groves\nwere common among the ancient Germans, and tree-worship is hardly extinct\namongst their descendants at the present day.(200) At Upsala, the old\nreligious capital of Sweden, there was a sacred grove in which every tree\nwas regarded as divine.(201) Amongst the ancient Prussians (a Slavonian\npeople) the central feature of religion was the reverence for the sacred\noaks, of which the chief stood at Romove, tended by a hierarchy of priests\nwho kept up a perpetual fire of oak-wood in the holy grove.(202) The\nLithuanians were not converted to Christianity till towards the close of\nthe fourteenth century, and amongst them at the date of their conversion\nthe worship of trees was prominent.(203) Proofs of the prevalence of\ntree-worship in ancient Greece and Italy are abundant.(204) Nowhere,\nperhaps, in the ancient world was this antique form of religion better\npreserved than in the heart of the great metropolis itself. In the Forum,\nthe busy centre of Roman life, the sacred fig-tree of Romulus was\nworshipped down to the days of the empire, and the withering of its trunk\nwas enough to spread consternation through the city.(205) Again, on the\nslope of the Palatine Hill grew a cornel-tree which was esteemed one of\nthe most sacred objects in Rome. Whenever the tree appeared to a passer-by\nto be drooping, he set up a hue and cry which was echoed by the people in\nthe street, and soon a crowd might be seen running from all sides with\nbuckets of water, as if (says Plutarch) they were hastening to put out a\nfire.(206)\n\nBut it is necessary to examine in some detail the notions on which\ntree-worship is based. To the savage the world in general is animate, and\ntrees are no exception to the rule. He thinks that they have souls like\nhis own and he treats them accordingly. Thus the Wanika in Eastern Africa\nfancy that every tree and especially every cocoa-nut tree has its spirit:\n\u201cthe destruction of a cocoa-nut tree is regarded as equivalent to\nmatricide, because that tree gives them life and nourishment, as a mother\ndoes her child.\u201d(207) Siamese monks, believing that there are souls\neverywhere and that to destroy anything whatever is forcibly to dispossess\na soul, will not break a branch of a tree \u201cas they will not break the arm\nof an innocent person.\u201d(208) These monks, of course, are Buddhists. But\nBuddhist animism is not a philosophical theory. It is simply a common\nsavage dogma incorporated in the system of an historical religion. To\nsuppose with Benfey and others that the theories of animism and\ntransmigration current among rude peoples of Asia are derived from\nBuddhism is to reverse the facts. Buddhism in this respect borrowed from\nsavagery, not savagery from Buddhism. Again, the Dyaks ascribe souls to\ntrees and do not dare to cut down an old tree. In some places, when an old\ntree has been blown down, they set it up, smear it with blood, and deck it\nwith flags \u201cto appease the soul of the tree.\u201d(209) People in Congo place\ncalabashes of palm-wine at the foot of certain trees for the trees to\ndrink when they are thirsty.(210) In India shrubs and trees are formally\nmarried to each other or to idols.(211) In the North West Provinces of\nIndia a marriage ceremony is performed in honour of a newly-planted\norchard; a man holding the Salagram represents the bridegroom, and another\nholding the sacred Tulsi (_Ocymum sanctum_) represents the bride.(212) On\nChristmas Eve German peasants used to tie fruit-trees together with straw\nropes to make them bear fruit, saying that the trees were thus\nmarried.(213)\n\nIn the Moluccas when the clove-trees are in blossom they are treated like\npregnant women. No noise must be made near them; no light or fire must be\ncarried past them at night; no one must approach them with his hat on, but\nmust uncover his head. These precautions are observed lest the tree should\nbe frightened and bear no fruit, or should drop its fruit too soon, like\nthe untimely delivery of a woman who has been frightened in her\npregnancy.(214) So when the paddy (rice) is in bloom the Javanese say it\nis pregnant and make no noises (fire no guns, etc.) near the field,\nfearing that if they did so the crop would be all straw and no grain.(215)\nIn Orissa, also, growing rice is \u201cconsidered as a pregnant woman, and the\nsame ceremonies are observed with regard to it as in the case of human\nfemales.\u201d(216)\n\nConceived as animate, trees are necessarily supposed to feel injuries done\nto them. When an oak is being felled \u201cit gives a kind of shriekes or\ngroanes, that may be heard a mile off, as if it were the genius of the\noake lamenting. E. Wyld, Esq., hath heard it severall times.\u201d(217) The\nOjebways \u201cvery seldom cut down green or living trees, from the idea that\nit puts them to pain, and some of their medicine-men profess to have heard\nthe wailing of the trees under the axe.\u201d(218) Old peasants in some parts\nof Austria still believe that forest-trees are animate, and will not allow\nan incision to be made in the bark without special cause; they have heard\nfrom their fathers that the tree feels the cut not less than a wounded man\nhis hurt. In felling a tree they beg its pardon.(219) So in Jarkino the\nwoodman craves pardon of the tree he cuts down.(220) Again, when a tree is\ncut it is thought to bleed. Some Indians dare not cut a certain plant,\nbecause there comes out a red juice which they take for the blood of the\nplant.(221) In Samoa there was a grove of trees which no one dared cut.\nOnce some strangers tried to do so, but blood flowed from the tree, and\nthe sacrilegious strangers fell ill and died.(222) Till 1855 there was a\nsacred larch-tree at Nauders, in the Tyrol, which was thought to bleed\nwhenever it was cut; moreover the steel was supposed to penetrate the\nwoodman\u2019s body to the same depth that it penetrated the tree, and the\nwound on the tree and on the man\u2019s body healed together.(223)\n\nSometimes it is the souls of the dead which are believed to animate the\ntrees. The Dieyerie tribe of South Australia regard as very sacred certain\ntrees, which are supposed to be their fathers transformed; hence they will\nnot cut the trees down, and protest against the settlers doing so.(224)\nSome of the Philippine Islanders believe that the souls of their\nforefathers are in certain trees, which they therefore spare. If obliged\nto fell one of these trees they excuse themselves to it by saying that it\nwas the priest who made them fell it.(225) In an Annamite story an old\nfisherman makes an incision in the trunk of a tree which has drifted\nashore; but blood flows from the cut, and it appears that an empress with\nher three daughters, who had been cast into the sea, are embodied in the\ntree.(226) The story of Polydorus will occur to readers of Virgil.\n\nIn these cases the spirit is viewed as incorporate in the tree; it\nanimates the tree and must suffer and die with it. But, according to\nanother and no doubt later view, the tree is not the body, but merely the\nabode of the tree-spirit, which can quit the injured tree as men quit a\ndilapidated house. Thus when the Pelew Islanders are felling a tree, they\nconjure the spirit of the tree to leave it and settle on another.(227) The\nP\u00e1dams of Assam think that when a child is lost it has been stolen by the\nspirits of the wood. So they retaliate on the spirits by cutting down\ntrees till they find the child. The spirits, fearing to be left without a\ntree in which to lodge, give up the child, and it is found in the fork of\na tree.(228) Before the Katodis fell a forest-tree, they choose a tree of\nthe same kind and worship it by presenting a cocoa-nut, burning incense,\napplying a red pigment, and begging it to bless the undertaking.(229) The\nintention, perhaps, is to induce the spirit of the former tree to shift\nits quarters to the latter. In clearing a wood, a Galeleze must not cut\ndown the last tree till the spirit in it has been induced to go away.(230)\nThe Mundaris have sacred groves which were left standing when the land was\ncleared, lest the sylvan gods, disquieted at the felling of the trees,\nshould abandon the place.(231) The Miris in Assam are unwilling to break\nup new land for cultivation so long as there is fallow land available; for\nthey fear to offend the spirits of the woods by cutting down trees\nunnecessarily.(232)\n\nIn Sumatra, so soon as a tree is felled, a young tree is planted on the\nstump; and some betel and a few small coins are also placed on it.(233)\nHere the purpose is unmistakable. The spirit of the tree is offered a new\nhome in the young tree planted on the stump of the old one, and the\noffering of betel and money is meant to compensate him for the disturbance\nhe has suffered. So in the island of Chedooba, on felling a large tree,\none of the woodmen was always ready with a green sprig, which he ran and\nplaced on the middle of the stump the instant the tree fell.(234) For the\nsame purpose German woodmen make a cross upon the stump while the tree is\nfalling, in the belief that this enables the spirit of the tree to live\nupon the stump.(235)\n\nThus the tree is regarded, sometimes as the body, sometimes as merely the\nhouse of the tree-spirit; and when we read of sacred trees which may not\nbe cut down because they are the seat of spirits, it is not always\npossible to say with certainty in which way the presence of the spirit in\nthe tree is conceived. In the following cases, perhaps, the trees are\nconceived as the dwelling-place of the spirits rather than as their\nbodies. The old Prussians, it is said, believed that gods inhabited high\ntrees, such as oaks, from which they gave audible answers to inquirers;\nhence these trees were not felled, but worshipped as the homes of\ndivinities.(236) The great oak at Romove was the especial dwelling-place\nof the god; it was veiled with a cloth, which was, however, removed to\nallow worshippers to see the sacred tree.(237) The Battas of Sumatra have\nbeen known to refuse to cut down certain trees because they were the abode\nof mighty spirits which would resent the injury.(238) The Curka Coles of\nIndia believe that the tops of trees are inhabited by spirits which are\ndisturbed by the cutting down of the trees and will take vengeance.(239)\nThe Samogitians thought that if any one ventured to injure certain groves,\nor the birds or beasts in them, the spirits would make his hands or feet\ncrooked.(240)\n\nEven where no mention is made of wood-spirits, we may generally assume\nthat when a grove is sacred and inviolable, it is so because it is\nbelieved to be either inhabited or animated by sylvan deities. In Livonia\nthere is a sacred grove in which, if any man fells a tree or breaks a\nbranch, he will die within the year.(241) The Wotjaks have sacred groves.\nA Russian who ventured to hew a tree in one of them fell sick and died\nnext day.(242) Sacrifices offered at cutting down trees are doubtless\nmeant to appease the wood-spirits. In Gilgit it is usual to sprinkle\ngoat\u2019s blood on a tree of any kind before cutting it down.(243) Before\nthinning a grove a Roman farmer had to sacrifice a pig to the god or\ngoddess of the grove.(244) The priestly college of the Arval Brothers at\nRome had to make expiation when a rotten bough fell to the ground in the\nsacred grove, or when an old tree was blown down by a storm or dragged\ndown by a weight of snow on its branches.(245)\n\nWhen a tree comes to be viewed, no longer as the body of the tree-spirit,\nbut simply as its dwelling-place which it can quit at pleasure, an\nimportant advance has been made in religious thought. Animism is passing\ninto polytheism. In other words, instead of regarding each tree as a\nliving and conscious being, man now sees in it merely a lifeless, inert\nmass, tenanted for a longer or shorter time by a supernatural being who,\nas he can pass freely from tree to tree, thereby enjoys a certain right of\npossession or lordship over the trees, and, ceasing to be a tree-soul,\nbecomes a forest god. As soon as the tree-spirit is thus in a measure\ndisengaged from each particular tree, he begins to change his shape and\nassume the body of a man, in virtue of a general tendency of early thought\nto clothe all abstract spiritual beings in concrete human form. Hence in\nclassical art the sylvan deities are depicted in human shape, their\nwoodland character being denoted by a branch or some equally obvious\nsymbol.(246) But this change of shape does not affect the essential\ncharacter of the tree-spirit. The powers which he exercised as a tree-soul\nincorporate in a tree, he still continues to wield as a god of trees. This\nI shall now prove in detail. I shall show, first, that trees considered as\nanimate beings are credited with the power of making the rain to fall, the\nsun to shine, flocks and herds to multiply, and women to bring forth\neasily; and, second, that the very same powers are attributed to tree-gods\nconceived as anthropomorphic beings or as actually incarnate in living\nmen.\n\nFirst, then, trees or tree-spirits are believed to give rain and sunshine.\nWhen the missionary Jerome of Prague was persuading the heathen\nLithuanians to fell their sacred groves, a multitude of women besought the\nPrince of Lithuania to stop him, saying that with the woods he was\ndestroying the house of god from which they had been wont to get rain and\nsunshine.(247) The Mundaris in Assam think if a tree in the sacred grove\nis felled, the sylvan gods evince their displeasure by withholding\nrain.(248) In Cambodia each village or province has its sacred tree, the\nabode of a spirit. If the rains are late, the people sacrifice to the\ntree.(249) To extort rain from the tree-spirit a branch is sometimes\ndipped in water, as we have seen above.(250) In such cases the spirit is\ndoubtless supposed to be immanent in the branch, and the water thus\napplied to the spirit produces rain by a sort of sympathetic magic,\nexactly as we saw that in New Caledonia the rain-makers pour water on a\nskeleton, believing that the soul of the deceased will convert the water\ninto rain.(251) There is hardly room to doubt that Mannhardt is right in\nexplaining as a rain-charm the European custom of drenching with water the\ntrees which are cut at certain popular festivals, as midsummer,\nWhitsuntide, and harvest.(252)\n\nAgain, tree-spirits make the crops to grow. Amongst the Mundaris every\nvillage has its sacred grove, and \u201cthe grove deities are held responsible\nfor the crops, and are especially honoured at all the great agricultural\nfestivals.\u201d(253) The negroes of the Gold Coast are in the habit of\nsacrificing at the foot of certain tall trees, and they think that if one\nof these trees were felled, all the fruits of the earth would perish.(254)\nSwedish peasants stick a leafy branch in each furrow of their corn-fields,\nbelieving that this will ensure an abundant crop.(255) The same idea comes\nout in the German and French custom of the Harvest-May. This is a large\nbranch or a whole tree, which is decked with ears of corn, brought home on\nthe last waggon from the harvest-field, and fastened on the roof of the\nfarmhouse or of the barn, where it remains for a year. Mannhardt has\nproved that this branch or tree embodies the tree-spirit conceived as the\nspirit of vegetation in general, whose vivifying and fructifying influence\nis thus brought to bear upon the corn in particular. Hence in Swabia the\nHarvest-May is fastened amongst the last stalks of corn left standing on\nthe field; in other places it is planted on the cornfield and the last\nsheaf cut is fastened to its trunk.(256) The Harvest-May of Germany has\nits counterpart in the _eiresione_ of ancient Greece.(257) The _eiresione_\nwas a branch of olive or laurel, bound about with ribbons and hung with a\nvariety of fruits. This branch was carried in procession at a harvest\nfestival and was fastened over the door of the house, where it remained\nfor a year. The object of preserving the Harvest-May or the _eiresione_\nfor a year is that the life-giving virtue of the bough may foster the\ngrowth of the crops throughout the year. By the end of the year the virtue\nof the bough is supposed to be exhausted and it is replaced by a new one.\nFollowing a similar train of thought some of the Dyaks of Sarawak are\ncareful at the rice harvest to take up the roots of a certain bulbous\nplant, which bears a beautiful crown of white and fragrant flowers. These\nroots are preserved with the rice in the granary and are planted again\nwith the seed-rice in the following season; for the Dyaks say that the\nrice will not grow unless a plant of this sort be in the field.(258)\n\nCustoms like that of the Harvest-May appear to exist in India and Africa.\nAt a harvest festival of the Lhoosai of S. E. India the chief goes with\nhis people into the forest and fells a large tree, which is then carried\ninto the village and set up in the midst. Sacrifice is offered, and\nspirits and rice are poured over the tree. The ceremony closes with a\nfeast and a dance, at which the unmarried men and girls are the only\nperformers.(259) Among the Bechuanas the hack-thorn is very sacred, and it\nwould be a serious offence to cut a bough from it and carry it into the\nvillage during the rainy season. But when the corn is ripe in the ear the\npeople go with axes, and each man brings home a branch of the sacred\nhack-thorn, with which they repair the village cattle-yard.(260) Many\ntribes of S. E. Africa will not cut down timber while the corn is green,\nfearing that if they did so, the crops would be destroyed by blight, hail,\nor early frost.(261)\n\nAgain, the fructifying power of the tree is put forth at seed-time as well\nas at harvest. Among the Aryan tribes of Gilgit, on the north-western\nfrontier of India, the sacred tree is the _Chili_, a species of cedar\n(_Juniperus excelsa_). At the beginning of wheat-sowing the people receive\nfrom the Raja\u2019s granary a quantity of wheat, which is placed in a skin\nmixed with sprigs of the sacred cedar. A large bonfire of the cedar wood\nis lighted, and the wheat which is to be sown is held over the smoke. The\nrest is ground and made into a large cake, which is baked on the same fire\nand given to the ploughman.(262) Here the intention of fertilising the\nseed by means of the sacred cedar is unmistakable. In all these cases the\npower of fostering the growth of crops, and, in general, of cultivated\nplants, is ascribed to trees. The ascription is not unnatural. For the\ntree is the largest and most powerful member of the vegetable kingdom, and\nman is familiar with it before he takes to cultivating corn. Hence he\nnaturally places the feebler and, to him, newer plant under the dominion\nof the older and more powerful.\n\nAgain, the tree-spirit makes the herds to multiply and blesses women with\noffspring. The sacred _Chili_ or cedar of Gilgit was supposed to possess\nthis virtue in addition to that of fertilising the corn. At the\ncommencement of wheat-sowing three chosen unmarried youths, after\nundergoing daily washing and purification for three days, used to start\nfor the mountain where the cedars grew, taking with them wine, oil, bread,\nand fruit of every kind. Having found a suitable tree they sprinkled the\nwine and oil on it, while they ate the bread and fruit as a sacrificial\nfeast. Then they cut off the branch and brought it to the village, where,\namid general rejoicing, it was placed on a large stone beside running\nwater. \u201cA goat was then sacrificed, its blood poured over the cedar\nbranch, and a wild dance took place, in which weapons were brandished\nabout, and the head of the slaughtered goat was borne aloft, after which\nit was set up as a mark for arrows and bullet-practice. Every good shot\nwas rewarded with a gourd full of wine and some of the flesh of the goat.\nWhen the flesh was finished the bones were thrown into the stream and a\ngeneral ablution took place, after which every man went to his house\ntaking with him a spray of the cedar. On arrival at his house he found the\ndoor shut in his face, and on his knocking for admission, his wife asked,\n\u2018What have you brought?\u2019 To which he answered, \u2018If you want children, I\nhave brought them to you; if you want food, I have brought it; if you want\ncattle, I have brought them; whatever you want, I have it.\u2019 The door was\nthen opened and he entered with his cedar spray. The wife then took some\nof the leaves and pouring wine and water on them placed them on the fire,\nand the rest were sprinkled with flour and suspended from the ceiling. She\nthen sprinkled flour on her husband\u2019s head and shoulders, and addressed\nhim thus: \u2018Ai Shiri Bagerthum, son of the fairies, you have come from\nfar!\u2019 _Shiri Bagerthum_, \u2018the dreadful king,\u2019 being the form of address to\nthe cedar when praying for wants to be fulfilled. The next day the wife\nbaked a number of cakes, and taking them with her, drove the family goats\nto the Chili stone. When they were collected round the stone, she began to\npelt them with pebbles, invoking the Chili at the same time. According to\nthe direction in which the goats ran off, omens were drawn as to the\nnumber and sex of the kids expected during the ensuing year. Walnuts and\npomegranates were then placed on the Chili stone, the cakes were\ndistributed and eaten, and the goats followed to pasture in whatever\ndirection they showed a disposition to go. For five days afterwards this\nsong was sung in all the houses:\u2014\n\n\n    \u2018Dread Fairy King, I sacrifice before you,\n    How nobly do you stand! you have filled up my house,\n    You have brought me a wife when I had not one,\n    Instead of daughters you have given me sons.\n    You have shown me the ways of right,\n    You have given me many children.\u2019 \u201d(263)\n\n\nHere the driving of the goats to the stone on which the cedar had been\nplaced is clearly meant to impart to them the fertilising influence of the\ncedar. In Europe the May-tree (May-pole) is supposed to possess similar\npowers over both women and cattle. In some parts of Germany on the 1st of\nMay the peasants set up May-trees at the doors of stables and byres, one\nMay-tree for each horse and cow; this is thought to make the cows yield\nmuch milk.(264) Camden says of the Irish, \u201cThey fancy a green bough of a\ntree, fastened on May-day against the house, will produce plenty of milk\nthat summer.\u201d(265)\n\nOn the 2d of July some of the Wends used to set up an oak-tree in the\nmiddle of the village with an iron cock fastened to its top; then they\ndanced round it, and drove the cattle round it to make them thrive.(266)\n\nSome of the Esthonians believe in a mischievous spirit called Metsik, who\nlives in the forest and has the weal of the cattle in his hands. Every\nyear a new image of him is prepared. On an appointed day all the villagers\nassemble and make a straw man, dress him in clothes, and take him to the\ncommon pasture land of the village. Here the figure is fastened to a high\ntree, round which the people dance noisily. On almost every day of the\nyear prayer and sacrifice are offered to him that he may protect the\ncattle. Sometimes the image of Metsik is made of a corn-sheaf and fastened\nto a tall tree in the wood. The people perform strange antics before it to\ninduce Metsik to guard the corn and the cattle.(267)\n\nThe Circassians regard the pear-tree as the protector of cattle. So they\ncut down a young pear-tree in the forest, branch it, and carry it home,\nwhere it is adored as a divinity. Almost every house has one such\npear-tree. In autumn, on the day of the festival, it is carried into the\nhouse with great ceremony to the sound of music and amid the joyous cries\nof all the inmates, who compliment it on its fortunate arrival. It is\ncovered with candles, and a cheese is fastened to its top. Round about it\nthey eat, drink, and sing. Then they bid it good-bye and take it back to\nthe courtyard, where it remains for the rest of the year, set up against\nthe wall, without receiving any mark of respect.(268)\n\nThe common European custom of placing a green bush on May Day before the\nhouse of a beloved maiden probably originated in the belief of the\nfertilising power of the tree-spirit.(269) Amongst the Kara-Kirgiz barren\nwomen roll themselves on the ground under a solitary apple-tree, in order\nto obtain offspring.(270) Lastly, the power of granting to women an easy\ndelivery at child-birth is ascribed to trees both in Sweden and Africa. In\nsome districts of Sweden there was formerly a _b\u00e5rdtr\u00e4d_ or guardian-tree\n(lime, ash, or elm) in the neighbourhood of every farm. No one would pluck\na single leaf of the sacred tree, any injury to which was punished by\nill-luck or sickness. Pregnant women used to clasp the tree in their arms\nin order to ensure an easy delivery.(271) In some negro tribes of the\nCongo region pregnant women make themselves garments out of the bark of a\ncertain sacred tree, because they believe that this tree delivers them\nfrom the dangers that attend child-bearing.(272) The story that Leto\nclasped a palm-tree and an olive-tree or two laurel-trees when she was\nabout to give birth to Apollo and Artemis perhaps points to a similar\nGreek belief in the efficacy of certain trees to facilitate delivery.(273)\n\nFrom this review of the beneficent qualities commonly ascribed to\ntree-spirits, it is easy to understand why customs like the May-tree or\nMay-pole have prevailed so widely and figured so prominently in the\npopular festivals of European peasants. In spring or early summer or even\non Midsummer Day, it was and still is in many parts of Europe the custom\nto go out to the woods, cut down a tree and bring it into the village,\nwhere it is set up amid general rejoicings. Or the people cut branches in\nthe woods, and fasten them on every house. The intention of these customs\nis to bring home to the village, and to each house, the blessings which\nthe tree-spirit has in its power to bestow. Hence the custom in some\nplaces of planting a May-tree before every house, or of carrying the\nvillage May-tree from door to door, that every household may receive its\nshare of the blessing. Out of the mass of evidence on this subject a few\nexamples may be selected.\n\nSir Henry Piers, in his _Description of Westmeath_, writing in 1682 says:\n\u201cOn May-eve, every family sets up before their door a green bush, strewed\nover with yellow flowers, which the meadows yield plentifully. In\ncountries where timber is plentiful, they erect tall slender trees, which\nstand high, and they continue almost the whole year; so as a stranger\nwould go nigh to imagine that they were all signs of ale-sellers, and that\nall houses were ale-houses.\u201d(274) In Northamptonshire a young tree ten or\ntwelve feet high used to be planted before each house on May Day so as to\nappear growing.(275) \u201cAn antient custom, still retained by the Cornish, is\nthat of decking their doors and porches on the 1st of May with green\nboughs of sycamore and hawthorn, and of planting trees, or rather stumps\nof trees, before their houses.\u201d(276) In the north of England it was\nformerly the custom for young people to rise very early on the morning of\nthe 1st of May, and go out with music into the woods, where they broke\nbranches and adorned them with nosegays and crowns of flowers. This done,\nthey returned about sunrise and fastened the flower-decked branches over\nthe doors and windows of their houses.(277) At Abingdon in Berkshire young\npeople formerly went about in groups on May morning, singing a carol of\nwhich the following are some of the verses\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe\u2019ve been rambling all the night;\n        And sometime of this day;\n    And now returning back again,\n        We bring a garland gay.\n\n    \u201cA garland gay we bring you here;\n        And at your door we stand;\n    It is a sprout well budded out,\n        The work of our Lord\u2019s hand.\u201d(278)\n\n\nAt the villages of Saffron Walden and Debden in Essex on the 1st of May\nlittle girls go about in parties from door to door singing a song almost\nidentical with the above and carrying garlands; a doll dressed in white is\nusually placed in the middle of each garland.(279) At Seven Oaks on May\nDay the children carry boughs and garlands from house to house, begging\nfor pence. The garlands consist of two hoops interlaced crosswise, and\ncovered with blue and yellow flowers from the woods and hedges.(280) In\nsome villages of the Vosges Mountains on the first Sunday of May young\ngirls go in bands from house to house, singing a song in praise of May, in\nwhich mention is made of the \u201cbread and meal that come in May.\u201d If money\nis given them, they fasten a green bough to the door; if it is refused,\nthey wish the family many children and no bread to feed them.(281) In\nMayenne (France), boys who bore the name of _Maillotins_ used to go about\nfrom farm to farm on the 1st of May singing carols, for which they\nreceived money or a drink; they planted a small tree or a branch of a\ntree.(282)\n\nOn the Thursday before Whitsunday the Russian villagers \u201cgo out into the\nwoods, sing songs, weave garlands, and cut down a young birch-tree, which\nthey dress up in woman\u2019s clothes, or adorn with many-coloured shreds and\nribbons. After that comes a feast, at the end of which they take the\ndressed-up birch-tree, carry it home to their village with joyful dance\nand song, and set it up in one of the houses, where it remains as an\nhonoured guest till Whitsunday. On the two intervening days they pay\nvisits to the house where their \u2018guest\u2019 is; but on the third day,\nWhitsunday, they take her to a stream and fling her into its waters,\u201d\nthrowing their garlands after her. \u201cAll over Russia every village and\nevery town is turned, a little before Whitsunday, into a sort of garden.\nEverywhere along the streets the young birch-trees stand in rows, every\nhouse and every room is adorned with boughs, even the engines upon the\nrailway are for the time decked with green leaves.\u201d(283) In this Russian\ncustom the dressing of the birch in woman\u2019s clothes shows how clearly the\ntree is conceived as personal; and the throwing it into a stream is most\nprobably a rain-charm. In some villages of Altmark it was formerly the\ncustom for serving-men, grooms, and cowherds to go from farm to farm at\nWhitsuntide distributing crowns made of birch-branches and flowers to the\nfarmers; these crowns were hung up in the houses and left till the\nfollowing year.(284)\n\nIn the neighbourhood of Zabern in Alsace bands of people go about carrying\nMay-trees. Amongst them is a man dressed in a white shirt, with his face\nblackened; in front of him is carried a large May-tree, but each member of\nthe band also carries a smaller one. One of the company carries a huge\nbasket in which he collects eggs, bacon, etc.(285) In some parts of Sweden\non the eve of May Day lads go about carrying each a bunch of\nfresh-gathered birch twigs, wholly or partially in leaf. With the village\nfiddler at their head they go from house to house singing May songs; the\npurport of which is a prayer for fine weather, a plentiful harvest, and\nworldly and spiritual blessings. One of them carries a basket in which he\ncollects gifts of eggs and the like. If they are well received they stick\na leafy twig in the roof over the cottage door.(286)\n\nBut in Sweden midsummer is the season when these ceremonies are chiefly\nobserved. On the Eve of St. John (23d June) the houses are thoroughly\ncleansed and garnished with green boughs and flowers. Young fir-trees are\nraised at the door-way and elsewhere about the homestead; and very often\nsmall umbrageous arbours are constructed in the garden. In Stockholm on\nthis day a leaf-market is held at which thousands of May-poles (_Maj\nSt\u0103nger_) six inches to twelve feet high, decorated with leaves, flowers,\nslips of coloured paper, gilt egg-shells, strung on reeds, etc. are\nexposed for sale. Bonfires are lit on the hills and the people dance round\nthem and jump over them. But the chief event of the day is setting up the\nMay-pole. This consists of a straight and tall spruce-pine tree, stripped\nof its branches. \u201cAt times hoops and at others pieces of wood, placed\ncrosswise, are attached to it at intervals; whilst at others it is\nprovided with bows, representing so to say, a man with his arms akimbo.\nFrom top to bottom not only the \u2018Maj St\u0103ng\u2019 (May-pole) itself, but the\nhoops, bows, etc. are ornamented with leaves, flowers, slips of various\ncloth, gilt egg-shells, etc.; and on the top of it is a large vane, or it\nmay be a flag.\u201d The raising of the May-pole, the decoration of which is\ndone by the village maidens, is an affair of much ceremony; the people\nflock to it from all quarters and dance round it in a great ring.(287) In\nsome parts of Bohemia also a May-pole or midsummer-tree is erected on St.\nJohn\u2019s Eve. The lads fetch a tall fir or pine from the wood and set it up\non a height, where the girls deck it with nosegays, garlands, and red\nribbons. Then they pile brushwood, dry wood, and other combustible\nmaterials about the tree, and, when darkness has fallen, set the whole on\nfire. While the fire was burning the lads used to climb up the tree and\nfetch down the garlands and ribbons which the girls had fastened to it;\nbut as this led to accidents, the custom has been forbidden. Sometimes the\nyoung people fling burning besoms into the air, or run shouting down hill\nwith them. When the tree is consumed, the young men and their sweethearts\nstand on opposite sides of the fire, and look at each other through\ngarlands and through the fire, to see whether they will be true lovers and\nwill wed. Then they throw the garlands thrice across the smouldering fire\nto each other. When the blaze has died down, the couples join hands and\nleap thrice across the glowing embers. The singed garlands are taken home,\nand kept carefully in the house throughout the year. Whenever a\nthunder-storm bursts, part of the garlands are burned on the hearth; and\nwhen the cattle are sick or are calving, they get a portion of the\ngarlands to eat. The charred embers of the bonfire are stuck in the\ncornfields and meadows and on the roof of the house, to keep house and\nfield from bad weather and injury.(288)\n\nIt is hardly necessary to illustrate the custom of setting up a village\nMay-tree or May-pole on May Day. One point only\u2014the renewal of the village\nMay-tree\u2014requires to be noticed. In England the village May-pole seems as\na rule, at least in later times, to have been permanent, not renewed from\nyear to year.(289) Sometimes, however, it was renewed annually. Thus,\nBorlase says of the Cornish people: \u201cFrom towns they make incursions, on\nMay-eve, into the country, cut down a tall elm, bring it into the town\nwith rejoicings, and having fitted a straight taper pole to the end of it,\nand painted it, erect it in the most public part, and upon holidays and\nfestivals dress it with garlands of flowers or ensigns and\nstreamers.\u201d(290) An annual renewal seems also to be implied in the\ndescription by Stubbs, a Puritanical writer, of the custom of drawing home\nthe May-pole by twenty or forty yoke of oxen.(291) In some parts of\nGermany and Austria the May-tree or Whitsuntide-tree is renewed annually,\na fresh tree being felled and set up.(292)\n\nWe can hardly doubt that originally the practice everywhere was to set up\na new May-tree every year. As the object of the custom was to bring in the\nfructifying spirit of vegetation, newly awakened in spring, the end would\nhave been defeated if, instead of a living tree, green and sappy, an old\nwithered one had been erected year after year or allowed to stand\npermanently. When, however, the meaning of the custom had been forgotten,\nand the May-tree was regarded simply as a centre for holiday merrymaking,\npeople saw no reason for felling a fresh tree every year, and preferred to\nlet the same tree stand permanently, only decking it with fresh flowers on\nMay Day. But even when the May-pole had thus become a fixture, the need of\ngiving it the appearance of being a green tree, not a dead pole, was\nsometimes felt. Thus at Weverham in Cheshire \u201care two May-poles, which are\ndecorated on this day (May Day) with all due attention to the ancient\nsolemnity; the sides are hung with garlands, and the top terminated by a\nbirch or other tall slender tree with its leaves on; the bark being\npeeled, and the stem spliced to the pole, so as to give the appearance of\none tree from the summit.\u201d(293) Thus the renewal of the May-tree is like\nthe renewal of the Harvest-May; each is intended to secure a fresh portion\nof the fertilising spirit of vegetation, and to preserve it throughout the\nyear. But whereas the efficacy of the Harvest-May is restricted to\npromoting the growth of the crops, that of the May-tree or May-branch\nextends also, as we have seen, to women and cattle. Lastly, it is worth\nnoting that the old May-tree is sometimes burned at the end of the year.\nThus in the district of Prague young people break pieces off the public\nMay-tree and place them behind the holy pictures in their rooms, where\nthey remain till next May Day, and are then burned on the hearth.(294) In\nW\u00fcrtemberg the bushes which are set up on the houses on Palm Sunday are\nsometimes left there for a year and then burnt.(295) The _eiresione_ (the\nHarvest-May of Greece) was perhaps burned at the end of the year.(296)\n\nSo much for the tree-spirit conceived as incorporate or immanent in the\ntree. We have now to show that the tree-spirit is often conceived and\nrepresented as detached from the tree and clothed in human form, and even\nas embodied in living men or women. The evidence for this anthropomorphic\nrepresentation of the tree-spirit is largely to be found in the popular\ncustoms of European peasantry.\n\nThere is an instructive class of cases in which the tree-spirit is\nrepresented simultaneously in vegetable form and in human form, which are\nset side by side as if for the express purpose of explaining each other.\nIn these cases the human representative of the tree-spirit is sometimes a\ndoll or puppet, sometimes a living person; but whether a puppet or a\nperson, it is placed beside a tree or bough; so that together the person\nor puppet, and the tree or bough, form a sort of bilingual inscription,\nthe one being, so to speak, a translation of the other. Here, therefore,\nthere is no room left for doubt that the spirit of the tree is actually\nrepresented in human form. Thus in Bohemia, on the fourth Sunday in Lent,\nyoung people throw a puppet called Death into the water; then the girls go\ninto the wood, cut down a young tree, and fasten to it a puppet dressed in\nwhite clothes to look like a woman; with this tree and puppet they go from\nhouse to house collecting gratuities and singing songs with the refrain\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe carry Death out of the village,\n    We bring Summer into the village.\u201d(297)\n\n\nHere, as we shall see later on, the \u201cSummer\u201d is the spirit of vegetation\nreturning or reviving in spring. In some places in this country children\ngo about asking for pence with some small imitations of May-poles, and\nwith a finely dressed doll which they call the Lady of the May.(298) In\nthese cases the tree and the puppet are obviously regarded as equivalent.\n\nAt Thann, in Alsace, a girl called the Little May Rose, dressed in white,\ncarries a small May-tree, which is gay with garlands and ribbons. Her\ncompanions collect gifts from door to door, singing a song\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cLittle May Rose turn round three times,\n    Let us look at you round and round!\n    Rose of the May, come to the greenwood away,\n    We will be merry all.\n    So we go from the May to the roses.\u201d\n\n\nIn the course of the song a wish is expressed that those who give nothing\nmay lose their fowls by the marten, that their vine may bear no clusters,\ntheir tree no nuts, their field no corn; the produce of the year is\nsupposed to depend on the gifts offered to these May singers.(299) Here\nand in the cases mentioned above, where children go about with green\nboughs on May Day singing and collecting money, the meaning is that with\nthe spirit of vegetation they bring plenty and good luck to the house, and\nthey expect to be paid for the service. In Russian Lithuania, on the 1st\nof May, they used to set up a green tree before the village. Then the\nrustic swains chose the prettiest girl, crowned her, swathed her in birch\nbranches and set her beside the May-tree, where they danced, sang, and\nshouted \u201cO May! O May!\u201d(300) In Brie (Isle de France) a May-tree is set up\nin the midst of the village; its top is crowned with flowers; lower down\nit is twined with leaves and twigs, still lower with huge green branches.\nThe girls dance round it, and at the same time a lad wrapt in leaves and\ncalled Father May is led about.(301) In Bavaria, on the 2d of May, a\n_Walber_ (?) tree is erected before a tavern, and a man dances round it,\nenveloped in straw from head to foot in such a way that the ears of corn\nunite above his head to form a crown. He is called the _Walber_, and used\nto be led in solemn procession through the streets, which were adorned\nwith sprigs of birch.(302) In Carinthia, on St. George\u2019s Day (24th April),\nthe young people deck with flowers and garlands a tree which has been\nfelled on the eve of the festival. The tree is then carried in procession,\naccompanied with music and joyful acclamations, the chief figure in the\nprocession being the Green George, a young fellow clad from head to foot\nin green birch branches. At the close of the ceremonies the Green George,\nthat is an effigy of him, is thrown into the water. It is the aim of the\nlad who acts Green George to step out of his leafy envelope and substitute\nthe effigy so adroitly that no one shall perceive the change. In many\nplaces, however, the lad himself who plays the part of Green George is\nducked in a river or pond, with the express intention of thus ensuring\nrain to make the fields and meadows green in summer. In some places the\ncattle are crowned and driven from their stalls to the accompaniment of a\nsong\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cGreen George we bring,\n    Green George we accompany,\n    May he feed our herds well,\n    If not, to the water with him.\u201d(303)\n\n\nHere we see that the same powers of making rain and fostering the cattle,\nwhich are ascribed to the tree-spirit regarded as incorporate in the tree,\nare also attributed to the tree-spirit represented by a living man.\n\nAn example of the double representation of the spirit of vegetation by a\ntree and a living man is reported from Bengal. The Oraons have a festival\nin spring while the s\u00e1l trees are in blossom, because they think that at\nthis time the marriage of earth is celebrated and the s\u00e1l flowers are\nnecessary for the ceremony. On an appointed day the villagers go with\ntheir priest to the Sarna, the sacred grove, a remnant of the old s\u00e1l\nforest in which a goddess Sarna Burhi, or woman of the grove, is supposed\nto dwell. She is thought to have great influence on the rain; and the\npriest arriving with his party at the grove sacrifices to her five fowls,\nof which a morsel is given to each person present. Then they gather the\ns\u00e1l flowers and return laden with them to the village. Next day the priest\nvisits every house, carrying the flowers in a wide open basket. The women\nof each house bring out water to wash his feet as he approaches, and\nkneeling make him an obeisance. Then he dances with them and places some\nof the s\u00e1l flowers over the door of the house and in the women\u2019s hair. No\nsooner is this done than the women empty their water-jugs over him,\ndrenching him to the skin. A feast follows, and the young people, with s\u00e1l\nflowers in their hair, dance all night on the village green.(304) Here,\nthe equivalence of the flower-bearing priest to the goddess of the\nflowering-tree comes out plainly. For she is supposed to influence the\nrain, and the drenching of the priest with water is, doubtless, like the\nducking of the Green George in Bavaria, a rain-charm. Thus the priest, as\nif he were the tree goddess herself, goes from door to door dispensing\nrain and bestowing fruitfulness on each house, but especially on the\nwomen.\n\nWithout citing more examples to the same effect, we may sum up the result\nof the preceding paragraphs in the words of Mannhardt. \u201cThe customs quoted\nsuffice to establish with certainty the conclusion that in these spring\nprocessions the spirit of vegetation is often represented both by the\nMay-tree and in addition by a man dressed in green leaves or flowers or by\na girl similarly adorned. It is the same spirit which animates the tree\nand is active in the inferior plants and which we have recognised in the\nMay-tree and the Harvest-May. Quite consistently the spirit is also\nsupposed to manifest his presence in the first flower of spring and\nreveals himself both in a girl representing a May-rose, and also, as giver\nof harvest, in the person of the _Walber_. The procession with this\nrepresentative of the divinity was supposed to produce the same beneficial\neffects on the fowls, the fruit-trees, and the crops as the presence of\nthe deity himself. In other words, the mummer was regarded not as an image\nbut as an actual representative of the spirit of vegetation; hence the\nwish expressed by the attendants on the May-rose and the May-tree that\nthose who refuse them gifts of eggs, bacon, etc. may have no share in the\nblessings which it is in the power of the itinerant spirit to bestow. We\nmay conclude that these begging processions with May-trees or May-boughs\nfrom door to door (\u2018bringing the May or the summer\u2019) had everywhere\noriginally a serious and, so to speak, sacramental significance; people\nreally believed that the god of growth was present unseen in the bough; by\nthe procession he was brought to each house to bestow his blessing. The\nnames May, Father May, May Lady, Queen of the May, by which the\nanthropomorphic spirit of vegetation is often denoted, show that the\nconception of the spirit of vegetation is blent with a personification of\nthe season at which his powers are most strikingly manifested.\u201d(305)\n\nThus far we have seen that the tree-spirit or the spirit of vegetation in\ngeneral is represented either in vegetable form alone, as by a tree,\nbough, or flower; or in vegetable and human form simultaneously, as by a\ntree, bough, or flower in combination with a puppet or a living person. It\nremains to show that the representation of him by a tree, bough, or flower\nis sometimes entirely dropped, while the representation of him by a living\nperson remains. In this case the representative character of the person is\ngenerally marked by dressing him or her in leaves or flowers; sometimes\ntoo it is indicated by the name he or she bears.\n\nWe saw that in Russia at Whitsuntide a birch-tree is dressed in woman\u2019s\nclothes and set up in the house. Clearly equivalent to this is the custom\nobserved on Whit-Monday by Russian girls in the district of Pinsk. They\nchoose the prettiest of their number, envelop her in a mass of foliage\ntaken from the birch-trees and maples, and carry her about through the\nvillage. In a district of Little Russia they take round a \u201cpoplar,\u201d\nrepresented by a girl wearing bright flowers in her hair.(306) In the\nD\u00e9partement de l\u2019Ain (France) on the 1st of May eight or ten boys unite,\nclothe one of their number in leaves, and go from house to house\nbegging.(307) At Whitsuntide in Holland poor women used to go about\nbegging with a little girl called Whitsuntide Flower (_Pinxterbloem_,\nperhaps a kind of iris); she was decked with flowers and sat in a waggon.\nIn North Brabant she wears the flowers from which she takes her name and a\nsong is sung\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWhitsuntide Flower\n    Turn yourself once round.\u201d(308)\n\n\nIn Ruhla (Th\u00fcringen) as soon as the trees begin to grow green in spring,\nthe children assemble on a Sunday and go out into the woods, where they\nchoose one of their playmates to be the Little Leaf Man. They break\nbranches from the trees and twine them about the child till only his shoes\npeep out from the leafy mantle. Holes are made in it for him to see\nthrough, and two of the children lead the Little Leaf Man that he may not\nstumble or fall. Singing and dancing they take him from house to house,\nasking for gifts of food (eggs, cream, sausage, cakes). Lastly they\nsprinkle the Leaf Man with water and feast on the food they have\ncollected.(309) In England the best-known example of these leaf-clad\nmummers is the Jack-in-the-Green, a chimney-sweeper who walks encased in a\npyramidal-shaped framework of wicker-work, which is covered with holly and\nivy, and surmounted by a crown of flowers and ribbons. Thus arrayed he\ndances on May Day at the head of a troop of chimney-sweeps, who collect\npence.(310) In some parts also of France a young fellow is encased in a\nwicker framework covered with leaves and is led about.(311) In Frickthal\n(Aargau) a similar frame of basketwork is called the Whitsuntide Basket.\nAs soon as the trees begin to bud, a spot is chosen in the wood, and here\nthe village lads make the frame with all secrecy, lest others should\nforestall them. Leafy branches are twined round two hoops, one of which\nrests on the shoulders of the wearer, the other encircles his calves;\nholes are made for his eyes and mouth; and a large nosegay crowns the\nwhole. In this guise he appears suddenly in the village at the hour of\nvespers, preceded by three boys blowing on horns made of willow bark. The\ngreat object of his supporters is to set up the Whitsuntide Basket beside\nthe village well, and to keep it and him there, despite the efforts of the\nlads from neighbouring villages, who seek to carry off the Whitsuntide\nBasket and set it up at their own well.(312) In the neighbourhood of\nErtingen (W\u00fcrtemberg) a masker of the same sort, known as the Lazy Man\n(_Latzmann_), goes about the village on Midsummer Day; he is hidden under\na great pyramidal or conical frame of wicker-work, ten or twelve feet\nhigh, which is completely covered with sprigs of fir. He has a bell which\nhe rings as he goes, and he is attended by a suite of persons dressed up\nin character\u2014a footman, a colonel, a butcher, an angel, the devil, the\ndoctor, etc. They march in Indian file and halt before every house, where\neach of them speaks in character, except the Lazy Man, who says nothing.\nWith what they get by begging from door to door they hold a feast.(313)\n\nIn the class of cases of which the above are specimens it is obvious that\nthe leaf-clad person who is led about is equivalent to the May-tree,\nMay-bough, or May-doll, which is carried from house to house by children\nbegging. Both are representatives of the beneficent spirit of vegetation,\nwhose visit to the house is recompensed by a present of money or food.\n\nOften the leaf-clad person who represents the spirit of vegetation is\nknown as the king or the queen; thus, for example, he or she is called the\nMay King, Whitsuntide King, Queen of May, and so on. These titles, as\nMannhardt observes, imply that the spirit incorporate in vegetation is a\nruler, whose creative power extends far and wide.(314)\n\nIn a village near Salzwedel a May-tree is set up at Whitsuntide and the\nboys race to it; he who reaches it first is king; a garland of flowers is\nput round his neck and in his hand he carries a May-bush, with which, as\nthe procession moves along, he sweeps away the dew. At each house they\nsing a song, wishing the inmates good luck, referring to the \u201cblack cow in\nthe stall milking white milk, black hen on the nest laying white eggs,\u201d\nand begging a gift of eggs, bacon, etc.(315) In some villages of Brunswick\nat Whitsuntide a May King is completely enveloped in a May-bush. In some\nparts of Th\u00fcringen also they have a May King at Whitsuntide, but he is got\nup rather differently. A frame of wood is made in which a man can stand;\nit is completely covered with birch boughs and is surmounted by a crown of\nbirch and flowers, in which a bell is fastened. This frame is placed in\nthe wood and the May King gets into it. The rest go out and look for him,\nand when they have found him they lead him back into the village to the\nmagistrate, the clergyman, and others, who have to guess who is in the\nverdurous frame. If they guess wrong, the May King rings his bell by\nshaking his head, and a forfeit of beer or the like must be paid by the\nunsuccessful guesser.(316) In some parts of Bohemia on Whit-Monday the\nyoung fellows disguise themselves in tall caps of birch bark adorned with\nflowers. One of them is dressed as a king and dragged on a sledge to the\nvillage green, and if on the way they pass a pool the sledge is always\noverturned into it. Arrived at the green they gather round the king; the\ncrier jumps on a stone or climbs up a tree and recites lampoons about each\nhouse and its inmates. Afterwards the disguises of bark are stripped off\nand they go about the village in holiday attire, carrying a May-tree and\nbegging. Cakes, eggs, and corn are sometimes given them.(317) At\nGrossvargula, near Langensalza, in last century a Grass King used to be\nled about in procession at Whitsuntide. He was encased in a pyramid of\npoplar branches, the top of which was adorned with a royal crown of\nbranches and flowers. He rode on horseback with the leafy pyramid over\nhim, so that its lower end touched the ground, and an opening was left in\nit only for his face. Surrounded by a cavalcade of young fellows, he rode\nin procession to the town hall, the parsonage, etc., where they all got a\ndrink of beer. Then under the seven lindens of the neighbouring\nSommerberg, the Grass King was stripped of his green casing; the crown was\nhanded to the Mayor, and the branches were stuck in the flax fields in\norder to make the flax grow tall.(318) In this last trait the fertilising\ninfluence ascribed to the representative of the tree-spirit comes out\nclearly. In the neighbourhood of Pilsen (Bohemia) a conical hut of green\nbranches, without any door, is erected at Whitsuntide in the midst of the\nvillage. To this hut rides a troop of village lads with a king at their\nhead. He wears a sword at his side and a sugar-loaf hat of rushes on his\nhead. In his train are a judge, a crier, and a personage called the\nFrog-flayer or Hangman. This last is a sort of ragged merryandrew, wearing\na rusty old sword and bestriding a sorry hack. On reaching the hut the\ncrier dismounts and goes round it looking for a door. Finding none, he\nsays, \u201cAh, this is perhaps an enchanted castle; the witches creep through\nthe leaves and need no door.\u201d At last he draws his sword and hews his way\ninto the hut, where there is a chair, on which he seats himself and\nproceeds to criticise in rhyme the girls, farmers, and farm-servants of\nthe neighbourhood. When this is over, the Frog-flayer steps forward and,\nafter exhibiting a cage with frogs in it, sets up a gallows on which he\nhangs the frogs in a row.(319) In the neighbourhood of Plas the ceremony\ndiffers in some points. The king and his soldiers are completely clad in\nbark, adorned with flowers and ribbons; they all carry swords and ride\nhorses, which are gay with green branches and flowers. While the village\ndames and girls are being criticised at the arbour, a frog is secretly\npinched and poked by the crier till it quacks. Sentence of death is passed\non the frog by the king; the hangman beheads it and flings the bleeding\nbody among the spectators. Lastly, the king is driven from the hut and\npursued by the soldiers.(320) The pinching and beheading of the frog are\ndoubtless, as Mannhardt observes,(321) a rain-charm. We have seen(322)\nthat some Indians of the Orinoco beat frogs for the express purpose of\nproducing rain, and that killing a frog is a German rain-charm.\n\nOften the spirit of vegetation in spring is represented by a queen instead\nof a king. In the neighbourhood of Libchowic (Bohemia), on the fourth\nSunday in Lent, girls dressed in white and wearing the first spring\nflowers, as violets and daisies, in their hair, lead about the village a\ngirl who is called the Queen and is crowned with flowers. During the\nprocession, which is conducted with great solemnity, none of the girls may\nstand still, but must keep whirling round continually and singing. In\nevery house the Queen announces the arrival of spring and wishes the\ninmates good luck and blessings, for which she receives presents.(323) In\nGerman Hungary the girls choose the prettiest girl to be their Whitsuntide\nQueen, fasten a towering wreath on her brow, and carry her singing through\nthe streets. At every house they stop, sing old ballads, and receive\npresents.(324) In the south-east of Ireland on May Day the prettiest girl\nused to be chosen Queen of the district for twelve months. She was crowned\nwith wild flowers; feasting, dancing, and rustic sports followed, and were\nclosed by a grand procession in the evening. During her year of office she\npresided over rural gatherings of young people at dances and merrymakings.\nIf she married before next May Day her authority was at an end, but her\nsuccessor was not elected till that day came round.(325) The May Queen is\ncommon in France(326) and familiar in England.\n\nAgain the spirit of vegetation is sometimes represented by a king and\nqueen, a lord and lady, or a bridegroom and bride. Here again the\nparallelism holds between the anthropomorphic and the vegetable\nrepresentation of the tree-spirit, for we have seen above that trees are\nsometimes married to each other.(327) In a village near K\u00f6niggr\u00e4tz\n(Bohemia) on Whit-Monday the children play the king\u2019s game, at which a\nking and a queen march about under a canopy, the queen wearing a garland,\nand the youngest girl carrying two wreaths on a plate behind them. They\nare attended by boys and girls called groom\u2019s men and bridesmaids, and\nthey go from house to house collecting gifts.(328) Near Grenoble, in\nFrance, a king and queen are chosen on the 1st of May and are set on a\nthrone for all to see.(329) At Headington, near Oxford, children used to\ncarry garlands from door to door on May Day. Each garland was carried by\ntwo girls, and they were followed by a lord and lady\u2014a boy and girl linked\ntogether by a white handkerchief, of which each held an end, and dressed\nwith ribbons, sashes, and flowers. At each door they sang a verse\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cGentlemen and ladies,\n      We wish you happy May;\n    We come to show you a garland,\n      Because it is May-day.\u201d\n\n\nOn receiving money the lord put his arm about his lady\u2019s waist and kissed\nher.(330) In some Saxon villages at Whitsuntide a lad and a lass disguise\nthemselves and hide in the bushes or high grass outside the village. Then\nthe whole village goes out with music \u201cto seek the bridal pair.\u201d When they\nfind the couple they all gather round them, the music strikes up, and the\nbridal pair is led merrily to the village. In the evening they dance. In\nsome places the bridal pair is called the prince and the princess.(331)\n\nIn the neighbourhood of Brian\u00e7on (Dauphin\u00e9) on May Day the lads wrap up in\ngreen leaves a young fellow whose sweetheart has deserted him or married\nanother. He lies down on the ground and feigns to be asleep. Then a girl\nwho likes him, and would marry him, comes and wakes him, and raising him\nup offers him her arm and a flag. So they go to the alehouse, where the\npair lead off the dancing. But they must marry within the year, or they\nare treated as old bachelor and old maid, and are debarred the company of\nthe young folk. The lad is called the bridegroom of the month of May (_le\nfianc\u00e9 du mois de May_). In the alehouse he puts off his garment of\nleaves, out of which, mixed with flowers, his partner in the dance makes a\nnosegay, and wears it at her breast next day, when he leads her again to\nthe alehouse.(332) Like this is a Russian custom observed in the district\nof Nerechta on the Thursday before Whitsunday. The girls go out into a\nbirch-wood, wind a girdle or band round a stately birch, twist its lower\nbranches into a wreath, and kiss each other in pairs through the wreath.\nThe girls who kiss through the wreath call each other gossips. Then one of\nthe girls steps forward, and mimicking a drunken man, flings herself on\nthe ground, rolls on the grass, and feigns to go fast asleep. Another girl\nwakens the pretended sleeper and kisses him; then the whole bevy trips\nsinging through the wood to twine garlands, which they throw into the\nwater. In the fate of the garlands floating on the stream they read their\nown.(333) In this custom the r\u00f4le of the sleeper was probably at one time\nsustained by a lad. In these French and Russian customs we have a forsaken\nbridegroom, in the following a forsaken bride. On Shrove Tuesday the\nSlovenes of Oberkrain drag a straw puppet with joyous cries up and down\nthe village; then they throw it into the water or burn it, and from the\nheight of the flames they judge of the abundance of the next harvest. The\nnoisy crew is followed by a female masker, who drags a great board by a\nstring and gives out that she is a forsaken bride.(334)\n\nViewed in the light of what has gone before, the awakening of the forsaken\nsleeper in these ceremonies probably represents the revival of vegetation\nin spring. But it is not easy to assign their respective r\u00f4les to the\nforsaken bridegroom and to the girl who wakes him from his slumber. Is the\nsleeper the leafless forest or the bare earth of winter? Is the girl who\nwakens him the fresh verdure or the genial sunshine of spring? It is\nhardly possible, on the evidence before us, to answer these questions. The\nOraons of Bengal, it may be remembered, celebrate the marriage of earth in\nthe springtime, when the s\u00e1l-tree is in blossom. But from this we can\nhardly argue that in the European ceremonies the sleeping bridegroom is\n\u201cthe dreaming earth\u201d and the girl the spring blossoms.\n\nIn the Highlands of Scotland the revival of vegetation in spring used to\nbe graphically represented as follows. On Candlemas day (2d February) in\nthe Hebrides \u201cthe mistress and servants of each family take a sheaf of\noats, and dress it up in women\u2019s apparel, put it in a large basket, and\nlay a wooden club by it, and this they call Br\u00fcd\u2019s bed; and then the\nmistress and servants cry three times, Br\u00fcd is come, Br\u00fcd is welcome. This\nthey do just before going to bed, and when they rise in the morning they\nlook among the ashes, expecting to see the impression of Br\u00fcd\u2019s club\nthere; which if they do they reckon it a true presage of a good crop and\nprosperous year, and the contrary they take as an ill omen.\u201d(335) The same\ncustom is described by another witness thus: \u201cUpon the night before\nCandlemas it is usual to make a bed with corn and hay, over which some\nblankets are laid, in a part of the house near the door. When it is ready,\na person goes out and repeats three times, ... \u2018Bridget, Bridget, come in;\nthy bed is ready.\u2019 One or more candles are left burning near it all\nnight.\u201d(336)\n\nOften the marriage of the spirit of vegetation in spring, though not\ndirectly represented, is implied by naming the human representative of the\nspirit \u201cthe Bride,\u201d and dressing her in wedding attire. Thus in some\nvillages of Altmark at Whitsuntide, while the boys go about carrying a\nMay-tree or leading a boy enveloped in leaves and flowers, the girls lead\nabout the May Bride, a girl dressed as a bride with a great nosegay in her\nhair. They go from house to house, the May Bride singing a song in which\nshe asks for a present, and tells the inmates of each house that if they\ngive her something they will themselves have something the whole year\nthrough; but if they give her nothing they will themselves have\nnothing.(337) In some parts of Westphalia two girls lead a flower-crowned\ngirl called \u201cthe Whitsuntide Bride\u201d from door to door, singing a song in\nwhich they ask for eggs.(338) In Bresse in the month of May a girl called\n_la Mari\u00e9e_ is tricked out with ribbons and nosegays and is led about by a\ngallant. She is preceded by a lad carrying a green May-tree, and\nappropriate verses are sung.(339)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 5.\u2014Tree-worship in antiquity.\n\n\nSuch then are some of the ways in which the tree-spirit or the spirit of\nvegetation is represented in the customs of our European peasantry. From\nthe remarkable persistence and similarity of such customs all over Europe\nwe are justified in concluding that tree-worship was once an important\nelement in the religion of the Aryan race in Europe, and that the rites\nand ceremonies of the worship were marked by great uniformity everywhere,\nand did not substantially differ from those which are still or were till\nlately observed by our peasants at their spring and midsummer festivals.\nFor these rites bear internal marks of great antiquity, and this internal\nevidence is confirmed by the resemblance which the rites bear to those of\nrude peoples elsewhere.(340) Therefore it is hardly rash to infer, from\nthis consensus of popular customs, that the Greeks and Romans, like the\nother Aryan peoples of Europe, once practised forms of tree-worship\nsimilar to those which are still kept up by our peasantry. In the palmy\ndays of ancient civilisation, no doubt, the worship had sunk to the level\nof vulgar superstition and rustic merrymaking, as it has done among\nourselves. We need not therefore be surprised that the traces of such\npopular rites are few and slight in ancient literature. They are not less\nso in the polite literature of modern Europe; and the negative argument\ncannot be allowed to go for more in the one case than in the other.\nEnough, however, of positive evidence remains to confirm the presumption\ndrawn from analogy. Much of this evidence has been collected and analysed\nwith his usual learning and judgment by W. Mannhardt.(341) Here I shall\ncontent myself with citing certain Greek festivals which seem to be the\nclassical equivalents of an English May Day in the olden time.\n\nEvery few years the Boeotians of Plataea held a festival which they called\nthe Little Daedala. On the day of the festival they went out into an\nancient oak forest, the trees of which were of gigantic girth. Here they\nset some boiled meat on the ground, and watched the birds that gathered\nround it. When a raven was observed to carry off a piece of the meat and\nsettle on an oak, the people followed it and cut down the tree. With the\nwood of the tree they made an image, dressed it as a bride, and placed it\non a bullock-cart with a bridesmaid beside it. It seems then to have been\ndrawn to the banks of the river Asopus and back to the town, attended by a\npiping and dancing crowd. After the festival the image was put away and\nkept till the celebration of the Great Daedala, which fell only once in\nsixty years. On this great occasion all the images that had accumulated\nfrom the celebrations of the Little Daedala were dragged on carts in\nsolemn procession to the river Asopus, and then to the top of Mount\nCithaeron. Here an altar had been constructed of square blocks of wood\nfitted together and surmounted by a heap of brushwood. Animals were\nsacrificed by being burned on the altar, and the altar itself, together\nwith the images, were consumed by the flames. The blaze, we are told, rose\nto a prodigious height and was seen for many miles. To explain the origin\nof the festival it was said that once upon a time Hera had quarrelled with\nZeus and left him in high dudgeon. To lure her back Zeus gave out that he\nwas about to marry the nymph Plataea, daughter of the river Asopus. He\ncaused a wooden image to be made, dressed and veiled as a bride, and\nconveyed on a bullock-cart. Transported with rage and jealousy, Hera flew\nto the cart, and tearing off the veil of the pretended bride, discovered\nthe deceit that had been practised on her. Her rage was now changed to\nlaughter, and she became reconciled to her husband Zeus.(342)\n\nThe resemblance of this festival to some of the European spring and\nmidsummer festivals is tolerably close. We have seen that in Russia at\nWhitsuntide the villagers go out into the wood, fell a birch-tree, dress\nit in woman\u2019s clothes, and bring it back to the village with dance and\nsong. On the third day it is thrown into the water.(343) Again, we have\nseen that in Bohemia on Midsummer Eve the village lads fell a tall fir or\npine-tree in the wood and set it up on a height, where it is adorned with\ngarlands, nosegays, and ribbons, and afterwards burnt.(344) The reason for\nburning the tree will appear afterwards; the custom itself is not uncommon\nin modern Europe. In some parts of the Pyrenees a tall and slender tree is\ncut down on May Day and kept till Midsummer Eve. It is then rolled to the\ntop of a hill, set up, and burned.(345) In Angoul\u00eame on St. Peter\u2019s Day,\n29th June, a tall leafy poplar is set up in the market-place and\nburned.(346) In Cornwall \u201cthere was formerly a great bonfire on\nmidsummer-eve; a large summer pole was fixed in the centre, round which\nthe fuel was heaped up. It had a large bush on the top of it.\u201d(347) In\nDublin on May-morning boys used to go out and cut a May-bush, bring it\nback to town, and then burn it.(348)\n\nProbably the Boeotian festival belonged to the same class of rites. It\nrepresented the marriage of the powers of vegetation in spring or\nmidsummer, just as the same event is represented in modern Europe by a\nKing and Queen or a Lord and Lady of the May. In the Boeotian, as in the\nRussian, ceremony the tree dressed as a woman represents the English\nMay-pole and May-queen in one. All such ceremonies, it must be remembered,\nare not, or at least were not originally, mere spectacular or dramatic\nexhibitions. They are magical charms designed to produce the effect which\nthey dramatically represent. If the revival of vegetation in spring is\nrepresented by the awakening of a sleeper, the representation is intended\nactually to quicken the growth of leaves and blossoms; if the marriage of\nthe powers of vegetation is represented by a King and Queen of May, the\nidea is that the powers so represented will really be rendered more\nproductive by the ceremony. In short, all these spring and midsummer\nfestivals fall under the head of sympathetic magic. The event which it is\ndesired to bring about is represented dramatically, and the very\nrepresentation is believed to effect, or at least to contribute to, the\nproduction of the desired event. In the case of the Daedala the story of\nHera\u2019s quarrel with Zeus and her sullen retirement may perhaps without\nstraining be interpreted as a mythical expression for a bad season and the\nfailure of the crops. The same disastrous effects were attributed to the\nanger and seclusion of Demeter after the loss of her daughter\nProserpine.(349) Now the institution of a festival is often explained by a\nmythical story of the occurrence upon a particular occasion of those very\ncalamities which it is the real object of the festival to avert; so that\nif we know the myth told to account for the historical origin of the\nfestival, we can often infer from it the real intention with which the\nfestival was celebrated. If, therefore, the origin of the Daedala was\nexplained by a story of a failure of crops and consequent famine, we may\ninfer that the real object of the festival was to prevent the occurrence\nof such disasters; and, if I am right in my interpretation of the\nfestival, the object was supposed to be effected by a dramatic\nrepresentation of the marriage of the divinities most concerned with the\nproduction of vegetation.(350) The marriage of Zeus and Hera was\ndramatically represented at annual festivals in various parts of\nGreece,(351) and it is at least a fair conjecture that the nature and\nintention of these ceremonies were such as I have assigned to the Plataean\nfestival of the Daedala; in other words, that Zeus and Hera at these\nfestivals were the Greek equivalents of the Lord and Lady of the May.\nHomer\u2019s glowing picture of Zeus and Hera couched on fresh hyacinths and\ncrocuses,(352) like Milton\u2019s description of the dalliance of Zephyr and\nAurora, \u201cas he met her once a-Maying,\u201d was perhaps painted from the life.\n\nStill more confidently may the same character be vindicated for the annual\nmarriage at Athens of the Queen to Dionysus in the Flowery Month\n(_Anthesterion_) of spring.(353) For Dionysus, as we shall see later on,\nwas essentially a god of vegetation, and the Queen at Athens was a purely\nreligious or priestly functionary.(354) Therefore at their annual marriage\nin spring he can hardly have been anything but a King, and she a Queen, of\nMay. The women who attended the Queen at the marriage ceremony would\ncorrespond to the bridesmaids who wait on the May-queen.(355) Again, the\nstory, dear to poets and artists, of the forsaken and sleeping Ariadne\nwaked and wedded by Dionysus, resembles so closely the little drama acted\nby French peasants of the Alps on May Day(356) that, considering the\ncharacter of Dionysus as a god of vegetation, we can hardly help regarding\nit as the description of a spring ceremony corresponding to the French\none. In point of fact the marriage of Dionysus and Ariadne is believed by\nPreller to have been acted every spring in Crete.(357) His evidence,\nindeed, is inconclusive, but the view itself is probable. If I am right in\ninstituting the comparison, the chief difference between the French and\nthe Greek ceremonies must have been that in the former the sleeper was the\nforsaken bridegroom, in the latter the forsaken bride; and the group of\nstars in the sky, in which fancy saw Ariadne\u2019s wedding-crown,(358) could\nonly have been a translation to heaven of the garland worn by the Greek\ngirl who played the Queen of May.\n\nOn the whole, alike from the analogy of modern folk-custom and from the\nfacts of ancient ritual and mythology, we are justified in concluding that\nthe archaic forms of tree-worship disclosed by the spring and midsummer\nfestivals of our peasants were practised by the Greeks and Romans in\nprehistoric times. Do then these forms of tree-worship help to explain the\npriesthood of Aricia, the subject of our inquiry? I believe they do. In\nthe first place the attributes of Diana, the goddess of the Arician grove,\nare those of a tree-spirit or sylvan deity. Her sanctuaries were in\ngroves, indeed every grove was her sanctuary,(359) and she is often\nassociated with the wood-god Silvanus in inscriptions.(360) Like a\ntree-spirit, she helped women in travail, and in this respect her\nreputation appears to have stood high at the Arician grove, if we may\njudge from the votive offerings found on the spot.(361) Again, she was the\npatroness of wild animals;(362) just as in Finland the wood-god Tapio was\nbelieved to care for the wild creatures that roamed the wood, they being\nconsidered his cattle.(363) So, too, the Samogitians deemed the birds and\nbeasts of the woods sacred, doubtless because they were under the\nprotection of the god of the wood.(364) Again, there are indications that\ndomestic cattle were protected by Diana,(365) as they certainly were\nsupposed to be by Silvanus.(366) But we have seen that special influence\nover cattle is ascribed to wood-spirits; in Finland the herds enjoyed the\nprotection of the wood-gods both while they were in their stalls and while\nthey strayed in the forest.(367) Lastly, in the sacred spring which\nbubbled, and the perpetual fire which seems to have burned in the Arician\ngrove,(368) we may perhaps detect traces of other attributes of forest\ngods, the power, namely, to make the rain to fall and the sun to\nshine.(369) This last attribute perhaps explains why Virbius, the\ncompanion deity of Diana at Nemi, was by some believed to be the sun.(370)\n\nThus the cult of the Arician grove was essentially that of a tree-spirit\nor wood deity. But our examination of European folk-custom demonstrated\nthat a tree-spirit is frequently represented by a living person, who is\nregarded as an embodiment of the tree-spirit and possessed of its\nfertilising powers; and our previous survey of primitive belief proved\nthat this conception of a god incarnate in a living man is common among\nrude races. Further we have seen that the living person who is believed to\nembody in himself the tree-spirit is often called a king, in which\nrespect, again, he strictly represents the tree-spirit. For the sacred\ncedar of the Gilgit tribes is called, as we have seen, \u201cthe Dreadful\nKing\u201d;(371) and the chief forest god of the Finns, by name Tapio,\nrepresented as an old man with a brown beard, a high hat of fir-cones and\na coat of tree-moss, was styled the Wood King, Lord of the Woodland,\nGolden King of the Wood.(372) May not then the King of the Wood in the\nArician grove have been, like the King of May, the Grass King, and the\nlike, an incarnation of the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation? His\ntitle, his sacred office, and his residence in the grove all point to this\nconclusion, which is confirmed by his relation to the Golden Bough. For\nsince the King of the Wood could only be assailed by him who had plucked\nthe Golden Bough, his life was safe from assault so long as the bough or\nthe tree on which it grew remained uninjured. In a sense, therefore, his\nlife was bound up with that of the tree; and thus to some extent he stood\nto the tree in the same relation in which the incorporate or immanent\ntree-spirit stands to it. The representation of the tree-spirit both by\nthe King of the Wood and by the Golden Bough (for it will hardly be\ndisputed that the Golden Bough was looked upon as a very special\nmanifestation of the divine life of the grove) need not surprise us, since\nwe have found that the tree-spirit is not unfrequently thus represented in\ndouble, first by a tree or a bough, and second by a living person.\n\nOn the whole then, if we consider his double character as king and priest,\nhis relation to the Golden Bough, and the strictly woodland character of\nthe divinity of the grove, we may provisionally assume that the King of\nthe Wood, like the May King and his congeners of Northern Europe, was\ndeemed a living incarnation of the tree-spirit. As such he would be\ncredited with those miraculous powers of sending rain and sunshine, making\nthe crops to grow, women to bring forth, and flocks and herds to multiply,\nwhich are popularly ascribed to the tree-spirit itself. The reputed\npossessor of powers so exalted must have been a very important personage,\nand in point of fact his influence appears to have extended far and wide.\nFor(373) in the days when the champaign country around was still parcelled\nout among the petty tribes who composed the Latin League, the sacred grove\non the Alban Mountain is known to have been an object of their common\nreverence and care. And just as the kings of Cambodia used to send\nofferings to the mystic Kings of Fire and Water far in the dim depths of\nthe tropical forest, so, we may well believe, from all sides of the broad\nLatian plain the eyes and steps of Italian pilgrims turned to the quarter\nwhere, standing sharply out against the faint blue line of the Apennines\nor the deeper blue of the distant sea, the Alban Mountain rose before\nthem, the home of the mysterious priest of Nemi, the King of the Wood.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II. THE PERILS OF THE SOUL.\n\n\n    \u201cO liebe fl\u00fcchtige Seele\n      Dir ist so bang und weh!\u201d\n\n    HEINE.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 1.\u2014Royal and priestly taboos.\n\n\nIn the preceding chapter we saw that in early society the king or priest\nis often thought to be endowed with supernatural powers or to be an\nincarnation of a deity; in consequence of which the course of nature is\nsupposed to be more or less under his control, and he is held responsible\nfor bad weather, failure of the crops, and similar calamities. Thus far it\nappears to be assumed that the king\u2019s power over nature, like that over\nhis subjects and slaves, is exerted through definite acts of will; and\ntherefore if drought, famine, pestilence, or storms arise, the people\nattribute the misfortune to the negligence or guilt of their king, and\npunish him accordingly with stripes and bonds, or, if he remains obdurate,\nwith deposition and death. Sometimes, however, the course of nature, while\nregarded as dependent on the king, is supposed to be partly independent of\nhis will. His person is considered, if we may express it so, as the\ndynamical centre of the universe, from which lines of force radiate to all\nquarters of the heaven; so that any motion of his\u2014the turning of his head,\nthe lifting of his hand\u2014instantaneously affects and may seriously disturb\nsome part of nature. He is the point of support on which hangs the balance\nof the world; and the slightest irregularity on his part may overthrow the\ndelicate equipoise. The greatest care must, therefore, be taken both by\nand of him; and his whole life, down to its minutest details, must be so\nregulated that no act of his, voluntary or involuntary, may disarrange or\nupset the established order of nature. Of this class of monarchs the\nMikado or Dairi, the spiritual emperor of Japan, is a typical example. He\nis an incarnation of the sun goddess, the deity who rules the universe,\ngods and men included; once a year all the gods wait upon him and spend a\nmonth at his court. During that month, the name of which means \u201cwithout\ngods,\u201d no one frequents the temples, for they are believed to be\ndeserted.(374)\n\nThe following description of the Mikado\u2019s mode of life was written about\ntwo hundred years ago:(375)\u2014\n\n\u201cEven to this day the princes descended of this family, more particularly\nthose who sit on the throne, are looked upon as persons most holy in\nthemselves, and as Popes by birth. And, in order to preserve these\nadvantageous notions in the minds of their subjects, they are obliged to\ntake an uncommon care of their sacred persons, and to do such things,\nwhich, examined according to the customs of other nations, would be\nthought ridiculous and impertinent. It will not be improper to give a few\ninstances of it. He thinks that it would be very prejudicial to his\ndignity and holiness to touch the ground with his feet; for this reason,\nwhen he intends to go anywhere, he must be carried thither on men\u2019s\nshoulders. Much less will they suffer that he should expose his sacred\nperson to the open air, and the sun is not thought worthy to shine on his\nhead. There is such a holiness ascribed to all the parts of his body, that\nhe dares to cut off neither his hair, nor his beard, nor his nails.\nHowever, lest he should grow too dirty, they may clean him in the night\nwhen he is asleep; because, they say, that which is taken from his body at\nthat time hath been stolen from him, and that such a theft doth not\nprejudice his holiness or dignity. In ancient times, he was obliged to sit\non the throne for some hours every morning, with the imperial crown on his\nhead, but to sit altogether like a statue, without stirring either hands\nor feet, head or eyes, nor indeed any part of his body, because, by this\nmeans, it was thought that he could preserve peace and tranquillity in his\nempire; for if, unfortunately, he turned himself on one side or the other,\nor if he looked a good while towards any part of his dominions, it was\napprehended that war, famine, fire, or some great misfortune was near at\nhand to desolate the country. But it having been afterwards discovered\nthat the imperial crown was the palladium which by its mobility could\npreserve peace in the empire, it was thought expedient to deliver his\nimperial person, consecrated only to idleness and pleasures, from this\nburthensome duty, and therefore the crown is at present placed on the\nthrone for some hours every morning. His victuals must be dressed every\ntime in new pots, and served at table in new dishes: both are very clean\nand neat, but made only of common clay; that without any considerable\nexpense they may be laid aside, or broken, after they have served once.\nThey are generally broke, for fear they should come into the hands of\nlaymen, for they believe religiously that if any layman should presume to\neat his food out of these sacred dishes, it would swell and inflame his\nmouth and throat. The like ill effect is dreaded from the Dairi\u2019s sacred\nhabits; for they believe that if a layman should wear them, without the\nEmperor\u2019s express leave or command, they would occasion swellings and\npains in all parts of his body.\u201d To the same effect an earlier account of\nthe Mikado says: \u201cIt was considered as a shameful degradation for him even\nto touch the ground with his foot. The sun and moon were not even\npermitted to shine upon his head. None of the superfluities of the body\nwere ever taken from him, neither his hair, his beard, nor his nails were\ncut. Whatever he eat was dressed in new vessels.\u201d(376)\n\nSimilar priestly or rather divine kings are found, at a lower level of\nbarbarism, on the west coast of Africa. At Shark Point near Cape Padron,\nin Lower Guinea, lives the priestly king Kukulu, alone in a wood. He may\nnot touch a woman nor leave his house; indeed he may not even quit his\nchair, in which he is obliged to sleep sitting, for if he lay down no wind\nwould arise and navigation would be stopped. He regulates storms, and in\ngeneral maintains a wholesome and equable state of the atmosphere.(377) In\nthe kingdom of Congo (West Africa) there was a supreme pontiff called\nChitom\u00e9 or Chitomb\u00e9, whom the negroes regarded as a god on earth and all\npowerful in heaven. Hence before they would taste the new crops they\noffered him the first-fruits, fearing that manifold misfortunes would\nbefall them if they broke this rule. When he left his residence to visit\nother places within his jurisdiction, all married people had to observe\nstrict continence the whole time he was out; for it was supposed that any\nact of incontinence would prove fatal to him. And if he were to die a\nnatural death, they thought that the world would perish, and the earth,\nwhich he alone sustained by his power and merit, would immediately be\nannihilated.(378) Amongst the semi-barbarous nations of the New World, at\nthe date of the Spanish conquest, there were found hierarchies or\ntheocracies like those of Japan. Some of these we have already\nnoticed.(379) But the high pontiff of the Zapotecs in Southern Mexico\nappears to have presented a still closer parallel to the Mikado. A\npowerful rival to the king himself, this spiritual lord governed Yopaa,\none of the chief cities of the kingdom, with absolute dominion. It is\nimpossible, we are told, to over-rate the reverence in which he was held.\nHe was looked on as a god whom the earth was not worthy to hold nor the\nsun to shine upon. He profaned his sanctity if he even touched the ground\nwith his foot. The officers who bore his palanquin on their shoulders were\nmembers of the highest families; he hardly deigned to look on anything\naround him; and all who met him fell with their faces to the earth,\nfearing that death would overtake them if they saw even his shadow. A rule\nof continence was regularly imposed on the Zapotec priests, especially\nupon the high pontiff; but \u201con certain days in each year, which were\ngenerally celebrated with feasts and dances, it was customary for the high\npriest to become drunk. While in this state, seeming to belong neither to\nheaven nor to earth, one of the most beautiful of the virgins consecrated\nto the service of the gods was brought to him.\u201d If the child she bore him\nwas a son, he was brought up as a prince of the blood, and the eldest son\nsucceeded his father on the pontifical throne.(380) The supernatural\npowers attributed to this pontiff are not specified, but probably they\nresembled those of the Mikado and Chitom\u00e9.\n\nWherever, as in Japan and West Africa, it is supposed that the order of\nnature, and even the existence of the world, is bound up with the life of\nthe king or priest, it is clear that he must be regarded by his subjects\nas a source both of infinite blessing and of infinite danger. On the one\nhand, the people have to thank him for the rain and sunshine which foster\nthe fruits of the earth, for the wind which brings ships to their coasts,\nand even for the existence of the earth beneath their feet. But what he\ngives he can refuse; and so close is the dependence of nature on his\nperson, so delicate the balance of the system of forces whereof he is the\ncentre, that the slightest irregularity on his part may set up a tremor\nwhich shall shake the earth to its foundations. And if nature may be\ndisturbed by the slightest involuntary act of the king, it is easy to\nconceive the convulsion which his death might occasion. The death of the\nChitom\u00e9, as we have seen, was thought to entail the destruction of the\nworld. Clearly, therefore, out of a regard for their own safety, which\nmight be imperilled by any rash act of the king, and still more by his\ndeath, the people will exact of their king or priest a strict conformity\nto those rules, the observance of which is necessary for his own\npreservation, and consequently for the preservation of his people and the\nworld. The idea that early kingdoms are despotisms in which the people\nexist only for the sovereign, is wholly inapplicable to the monarchies we\nare considering. On the contrary, the sovereign in them exists only for\nhis subjects; his life is only valuable so long as he discharges the\nduties of his position by ordering the course of nature for his people\u2019s\nbenefit. So soon as he fails to do so the care, the devotion, the\nreligious homage which they had hitherto lavished on him, cease and are\nchanged into hatred and contempt; he is dismissed ignominiously, and may\nbe thankful if he escapes with his life. Worshipped as a god by them one\nday, he is killed by them as a criminal the next. But in this changed\nbehaviour of the people there is nothing capricious or inconsistent. On\nthe contrary, their conduct is entirely of a piece. If their king is their\ngod, he is or should be also their preserver; and if he will not preserve\nthem, he must make room for another who will. So long, however, as he\nanswers their expectations, there is no limit to the care which they take\nof him, and which they compel him to take of himself. A king of this sort\nlives hedged in by a ceremonious etiquette, a network of prohibitions and\nobservances, of which the intention is not to contribute to his dignity,\nmuch less to his comfort, but to restrain him from conduct which, by\ndisturbing the harmony of nature, might involve himself, his people, and\nthe universe in one common catastrophe. Far from adding to his comfort,\nthese observances, by trammelling his every act, annihilate his freedom\nand often render the very life, which it is their object to preserve, a\nburden and sorrow to him.\n\nOf the supernaturally endowed kings of Loango it is said that the more\npowerful a king is, the more taboos is he bound to observe; they regulate\nall his actions, his walking and his standing, his eating and drinking,\nhis sleeping and waking.(381) To these restraints the heir to the throne\nis subject from infancy; but as he advances in life the number of\nabstinences and ceremonies which he must observe increases, \u201cuntil at the\nmoment that he ascends the throne he is lost in the ocean of rites and\ntaboos.\u201d(382) The kings of Egypt, as we have seen,(383) were worshipped as\ngods, and the routine of their daily life was regulated in every detail by\nprecise and unvarying rules. \u201cThe life of the kings of Egypt,\u201d says\nDiodorus,(384) \u201cwas not like that of other monarchs who are irresponsible\nand may do just what they choose; on the contrary, everything was fixed\nfor them by law, not only their official duties, but even the details of\ntheir daily life.... The hours both of day and night were arranged at\nwhich the king had to do, not what he pleased, but what was prescribed for\nhim.... For not only were the times appointed at which he should transact\npublic business or sit in judgment; but the very hours for his walking and\nbathing and sleeping with his wife, and, in short, performing every act of\nlife, were all settled. Custom enjoined a simple diet; the only flesh he\nmight eat was veal and goose, and he might only drink a prescribed\nquantity of wine.\u201d Of the taboos imposed on priests, the rules of life\nobserved by the Flamen Dialis at Rome furnish a striking example. As the\nworship of Virbius at Nemi was conducted, as we have seen,(385) by a\nFlamen, who may possibly have been the King of the Wood himself, and whose\nmode of life may have resembled that of the Roman Flamen, these rules have\na special interest for us. They were such as the following: The Flamen\nDialis might not ride or even touch a horse, nor see an army under arms,\nnor wear a ring which was not broken, nor have a knot on any part of his\ngarments; no fire except a sacred fire might be taken out of his house; he\nmight not touch wheaten flour or leavened bread; he might not touch or\neven name a goat, a dog, raw meat, beans, and ivy; he might not walk under\na vine; the feet of his bed had to be daubed with mud; his hair could be\ncut only by a free man and with a bronze knife, and his hair and nails\nwhen cut had to be buried under a lucky tree; he might not touch a dead\nbody nor enter a place where one was burned; he might not see work being\ndone on holy days; he might not be uncovered in the open air; if a man in\nbonds were taken into his house, he had to be unbound and the cords had to\nbe drawn up through a hole in the roof and so let down into the street.\nHis wife, the Flaminica, had to observe nearly the same rules, and others\nof her own besides. She might not ascend more than three steps of the kind\nof staircase called Greek; at a certain festival she might not comb her\nhair; the leather of her shoes might not be made from a beast that had\ndied a natural death, but only from one that had been slain or sacrificed;\nif she heard thunder she was tabooed till she had offered an expiatory\nsacrifice.(386)\n\nThe burdensome observances attached to the royal or priestly office\nproduced their natural effect. Either men refused to accept the office,\nwhich hence tended to fall into abeyance; or accepting it, they sank under\nits weight into spiritless creatures, cloistered recluses, from whose\nnerveless fingers the reigns of government slipped into the firmer grasp\nof men who were often content to wield the reality of sovereignty without\nits name. In some countries this rift in the supreme power deepened into a\ntotal and permanent separation of the spiritual and temporal powers, the\nold royal house retaining their purely religious functions, while the\ncivil government passed into the hands of a younger and more vigorous\nrace.\n\nTo take examples. We saw(387) that in Cambodia it is often necessary to\nforce the kingships of Fire and Water upon the reluctant successors, and\nthat in Savage Island the monarchy actually came to an end because at last\nno one could be induced to accept the dangerous distinction.(388) In some\nparts of West Africa, when the king dies, a family council is secretly\nheld to determine his successor. He on whom the choice falls is suddenly\nseized, bound, and thrown into the fetish-house, where he is kept in\ndurance till he consents to accept the crown. Sometimes the heir finds\nmeans of evading the honour which it is sought to thrust upon him; a\nferocious chief has been known to go about constantly armed, resolute to\nresist by force any attempt to set him on the throne.(389) The Mikados of\nJapan seem early to have resorted to the expedient of transferring the\nhonours and burdens of supreme power to their infant children; and the\nrise of the Tycoons, long the temporal sovereigns of the country, is\ntraced to the abdication of a certain Mikado in favour of his\nthree-year-old son. The sovereignty having been wrested by a usurper from\nthe infant prince, the cause of the Mikado was championed by Yoritomo, a\nman of spirit and conduct, who overthrew the usurper and restored to the\nMikado the shadow, while he retained for himself the substance, of power.\nHe bequeathed to his descendants the dignity he had won, and thus became\nthe founder of the line of Tycoons. Down to the latter half of the\nsixteenth century the Tycoons were active and efficient rulers; but the\nsame fate overtook them which had befallen the Mikados; entangled in the\nsame inextricable web of custom and law, they degenerated into mere\npuppets, hardly stirring from their palaces and occupied in a perpetual\nround of empty ceremonies, while the real business of government was\nmanaged by the council of state.(390) In Tonquin the monarchy ran a\nsimilar course. Living like his predecessors in effeminacy and sloth, the\nking was driven from the throne by an ambitious adventurer named Mack, who\nfrom a fisherman had risen to be Grand Mandarin. But the king\u2019s brother\nTring put down the usurper and restored the king, retaining, however, for\nhimself and his descendants the dignity of general of all the forces.\nThenceforward the kings or _dovas_, though vested with the title and pomp\nof sovereignty, ceased to govern. While they lived secluded in their\npalaces, all real political power was wielded by the hereditary generals\nor _chovas_.(391) The custom regularly observed by the Tahitian kings of\nabdicating on the birth of a son, who was immediately proclaimed sovereign\nand received his father\u2019s homage, may perhaps have originated, like the\nsimilar custom occasionally practised by the Mikados, in a wish to shift\nto other shoulders the irksome burden of royalty; for in Tahiti as\nelsewhere the sovereign was subjected to a system of vexatious\nrestrictions.(392) In Mangaia, another Polynesian island, religious and\ncivil authority were lodged in separate hands, spiritual functions being\ndischarged by a line of hereditary kings, while the temporal government\nwas entrusted from time to time to a victorious war-chief, whose\ninvestiture, however, had to be completed by the king. To the latter were\nassigned the best lands, and he received daily offerings of the choicest\nfood.(393) American examples of the partition of authority between an\nemperor and a pope have already been cited from the early history of\nMexico and Colombia.(394)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 2.\u2014The nature of the soul.\n\n\nBut if the object of the taboos observed by a divine king or priest is to\npreserve his life, the question arises, How is their observance supposed\nto effect this end? To understand this we must know the nature of the\ndanger which threatens the king\u2019s life, and which it is the intention of\nthe taboos to guard against. We must, therefore, ask: What does early man\nunderstand by death? To what causes does he attribute it? And how does he\nthink it may be guarded against?\n\nAs the savage commonly explains the processes of inanimate nature by\nsupposing that they are produced by living beings working in or behind the\nphenomena, so he explains the phenomena of life itself. If an animal lives\nand moves, it can only be, he thinks, because there is a little animal\ninside which moves it. If a man lives and moves, it can only be because he\nhas a little man inside who moves him. The animal inside the animal, the\nman inside the man, is the soul. And as the activity of an animal or man\nis explained by the presence of the soul, so the repose of sleep or death\nis explained by its absence; sleep or trance being the temporary, death\nbeing the permanent absence of the soul. Hence if death be the permanent\nabsence of the soul, the way to guard against it is either to prevent the\nsoul from leaving the body, or, if it does depart, to secure that it shall\nreturn. The precautions adopted by savages to secure one or other of these\nends take the form of prohibitions or taboos, which are nothing but rules\nintended to ensure either the continued presence or the return of the\nsoul. In short, they are life-preservers or life-guards. These general\nstatements will now be illustrated by examples.\n\nAddressing some Australian blacks, a European missionary said, \u201cI am not\none, as you think, but two.\u201d Upon this they laughed. \u201cYou may laugh as\nmuch as you like,\u201d continued the missionary, \u201cI tell you that I am two in\none; this great body that you see is one; within that there is another\nlittle one which is not visible. The great body dies, and is buried, but\nthe little body flies away when the great one dies.\u201d To this some of the\nblacks replied, \u201cYes, yes. We also are two, we also have a little body\nwithin the breast.\u201d On being asked where the little body went after death,\nsome said it went behind the bush, others said it went into the sea, and\nsome said they did not know.(395) The Hurons thought that the soul had a\nhead and body, arms and legs; in short, that it was a complete little\nmodel of the man himself.(396) The Eskimos believe that \u201cthe soul exhibits\nthe same shape as the body it belongs to, but is of a more subtle and\nethereal nature.\u201d(397) So exact is the resemblance of the mannikin to the\nman, in other words, of the soul to the body, that, as there are fat\nbodies and thin bodies, so there are fat souls and thin souls;(398) as\nthere are heavy bodies and light bodies, long bodies and short bodies, so\nthere are heavy souls and light souls, long souls and short souls. The\npeople of Nias (an island to the west of Sumatra) think that every man,\nbefore he is born, is asked how long or how heavy a soul he would like,\nand a soul of the desired weight or length is measured out to him. The\nheaviest soul ever given out weighs about ten grammes. The length of a\nman\u2019s life is proportioned to the length of his soul; children who die\nyoung had short souls.(399) Sometimes, however, as we shall see, the human\nsoul is conceived not in human but in animal form.\n\nThe soul is commonly supposed to escape by the natural openings of the\nbody, especially the mouth and nostrils. Hence in Celebes they sometimes\nfasten fish-hooks to a sick man\u2019s nose, navel, and feet, so that if his\nsoul should try to escape it may be hooked and held fast.(400) One of the\n\u201cproperties\u201d of a Haida medicine-man is a hollow bone, in which he bottles\nup departing souls, and so restores them to their owners.(401) The\nMarquesans used to hold the mouth and nose of a dying man, in order to\nkeep him in life, by preventing his soul from escaping.(402) When any one\nyawns in their presence the Hindus always snap their thumbs, believing\nthat this will hinder the soul from issuing through the open mouth.(403)\nThe Itonamas in South America seal up the eyes, nose, and mouth of a dying\nperson, in case his ghost should get out and carry off other people.(404)\nIn Southern Celebes, to prevent the escape of a woman\u2019s soul at\nchildbirth, the nurse ties a band as tightly as possible round the body of\nthe expectant mother.(405) And lest the soul of the babe should escape and\nbe lost as soon as it is born, the Alfoers of Celebes, when a birth is\nabout to take place, are careful to close every opening in the house, even\nthe keyhole; and they stop up every chink and cranny in the walls. Also\nthey tie up the mouths of all animals inside and outside the house, for\nfear one of them might swallow the child\u2019s soul. For a similar reason all\npersons present in the house, even the mother herself, are obliged to keep\ntheir mouths shut the whole time the birth is taking place. When the\nquestion was put, Why they did not hold their noses also, lest the child\u2019s\nsoul should get into one of them? the answer was that breath being exhaled\nas well as inhaled through the nostrils, the soul would be expelled before\nit could have time to settle down.(406)\n\nOften the soul is conceived as a bird ready to take flight. This\nconception has probably left traces in most languages,(407) and it lingers\nas a metaphor in poetry. But what is metaphor to a modern European poet\nwas sober earnest to his savage ancestor, and is still so to many people.\nThe Malays carry out the conception in question to its practical\nconclusion. If the soul is a bird on the wing, it may be attracted by\nrice, and so prevented from taking its perilous flight. Thus in Java when\na child is placed on the ground for the first time (a moment which\nuncultured people seem to regard as especially dangerous), it is put in a\nhen-coop and the mother makes a clucking sound, as if she were calling\nhens.(408) Amongst the Battas of Sumatra, when a man returns from a\ndangerous enterprise, grains of rice are placed on his head, and these\ngrains are called _padiruma tondi_, that is, \u201cmeans to make the soul\n(_tondi_) stay at home.\u201d In Java also rice is placed on the head of\npersons who have escaped a great danger or have returned home unexpectedly\nafter it had been supposed that they were lost.(409) In Celebes they think\nthat a bridegroom\u2019s soul is apt to fly away at marriage, so coloured rice\nis scattered over him to induce it to stay. And, in general, at festivals\nin South Celebes rice is strewed on the head of the person in whose honour\nthe festival is held, with the object of detaining his soul, which at such\ntimes is in especial danger of being lured away by envious demons.(410)\n\nThe soul of a sleeper is supposed to wander away from his body and\nactually to visit the very places of which he dreams. But this absence of\nthe soul has its dangers, for if from any cause it should be permanently\ndetained away from the body, the person, deprived of his soul, must\ndie.(411) Many causes may detain the sleeper\u2019s soul. Thus, his soul may\nmeet the soul of another sleeper and the two souls may fight; if a Guinea\nnegro wakens with sore bones in the morning, he thinks that his soul has\nbeen thrashed by another soul in sleep.(412) Or it may meet the soul of a\nperson just deceased and be carried off by it; hence in the Aru Islands\nthe inmates of a house will not sleep the night after a death has taken\nplace in it, because the soul of the deceased is supposed to be still in\nthe house and they fear to meet it in a dream.(413) Again, the soul may be\nprevented by physical force from returning. The Santals tell how a man\nfell asleep, and growing very thirsty, his soul, in the form of a lizard,\nleft his body and entered a pitcher of water to drink. Just then the owner\nof the pitcher happened to cover it; so the soul could not return to the\nbody and the man died. While his friends were preparing to burn the body\nsome one uncovered the pitcher to get water. The lizard thus escaped and\nreturned to the body, which immediately revived; so the man rose up and\nasked his friends why they were weeping. They told him they thought he was\ndead and were about to burn his body. He said he had been down a well to\nget water but had found it hard to get out and had just returned. So they\nsaw it all.(414) A similar story is reported from Transylvania as follows.\nIn the account of a witch\u2019s trial at M\u00fchlbach last century it is said that\na woman had engaged two men to work in her vineyard. After noon they all\nlay down to rest as usual. An hour later the men got up and tried to waken\nthe woman, but could not. She lay motionless with her mouth wide open.\nThey came back at sunset and still she lay like a corpse. Just at that\nmoment a big fly came buzzing past, which one of the men caught and shut\nup in his leathern pouch. Then they tried again to waken the woman but\ncould not. Afterwards they let out the fly; it flew straight into the\nwoman\u2019s mouth and she awoke. On seeing this the men had no further doubt\nthat she was a witch.(415)\n\nIt is a common rule with primitive people not to waken a sleeper, because\nhis soul is away and might not have time to get back; so if the man\nwakened without his soul, he would fall sick. If it is absolutely\nnecessary to waken a sleeper, it must be done very gradually, to allow the\nsoul time to return.(416) In Bombay it is thought equivalent to murder to\nchange the appearance of a sleeper, as by painting his face in fantastic\ncolours or giving moustaches to a sleeping woman. For when the soul\nreturns, it will not be able to recognise its body and the person will\ndie.(417) The Servians believe that the soul of a sleeping witch often\nleaves her body in the form of a butterfly. If during its absence her body\nbe turned round, so that her feet are placed where her head was before,\nthe butterfly soul will not find its way back into her body through the\nmouth, and the witch will die.(418)\n\nBut in order that a man\u2019s soul should quit his body, it is not necessary\nthat he should be asleep. It may quit him in his waking hours, and then\nsickness or (if the absence is prolonged) death will be the result. Thus\nthe Mongols sometimes explain sickness by supposing that the patient\u2019s\nsoul is absent, and either does not care to return to its body or cannot\nfind the way back. To secure the return of the soul it is therefore\nnecessary on the one hand to make its body as attractive as possible, and\non the other hand to show it the way home. To make the body attractive all\nthe sick man\u2019s best clothes and most valued possessions are placed beside\nhim; he is washed, incensed, and made as comfortable as possible; and all\nhis friends march thrice round the hut calling out the sick man\u2019s name and\ncoaxing his soul to return. To help the soul to find its way back a\ncoloured cord is stretched from the patient\u2019s head to the door of the hut.\nThe priest in his robes reads a list of the horrors of hell and the\ndangers incurred by souls which wilfully absent themselves from their\nbodies. Then turning to the assembled friends and the patient he asks, \u201cIs\nit come?\u201d All answer Yes, and bowing to the returning soul throw seed over\nthe sick man. The cord which guided the soul back is then rolled up and\nplaced round the patient\u2019s neck, who must wear it for seven days without\ntaking it off. No one may frighten or hurt him, lest his soul, not yet\nfamiliar with its body, should again take flight.(419) In an Indian story\na king conveys his soul into the dead body of a Brahman, and a hunchback\nconveys his soul into the deserted body of the king. The hunchback is now\nking and the king is a Brahman. However, the hunchback is induced to show\nhis skill by transferring his soul to the dead body of a parrot, and the\nking seizes the opportunity to regain possession of his own body.(420) In\nanother Indian story a Brahman reanimates the dead body of a king by\nconveying his own soul into it. Meantime the Brahman\u2019s body has been\nburnt, and his soul is obliged to remain in the body of the king.(421)\n\nThe departure of the soul is not always voluntary. It may be extracted\nfrom the body against its will by ghosts, demons, or sorcerers. Hence,\nwhen a funeral is passing the house, the Karens of Burma tie their\nchildren with a special kind of string to a particular part of the house,\nin case the souls of the children should leave their bodies and go into\nthe corpse which is passing. The children are kept tied in this way until\nthe corpse is out of sight.(422) And after the corpse has been laid in the\ngrave, but before the earth has been filled in, the mourners and friends\nrange themselves round the grave, each with a bamboo split lengthwise in\none hand and a little stick in the other; each man thrusts his bamboo into\nthe grave, and drawing the stick along the groove of the bamboo points out\nto his soul that in this way it may easily climb up out of the grave.\nWhile the earth is being filled in, the bamboos are kept out of the way,\nlest the souls should be in them, and so should be inadvertently buried\nwith the earth as it is being thrown into the grave; and when the people\nleave the spot they carry away the bamboos, begging their souls to come\nwith them.(423) Further, on returning from the grave each Karen provides\nhimself with three little hooks made of branches of trees, and calling his\nspirit to follow him, at short intervals, as he returns, he makes a motion\nas if hooking it, and then thrusts the hook into the ground. This is done\nto prevent the soul of the living from staying behind with the soul of the\ndead.(424) When a mother dies leaving a young baby, the Burmese think that\nthe \u201cbutterfly\u201d or soul of the baby follows that of the mother, and that\nif it is not recovered the child must die. So a wise woman is called in to\nget back the baby\u2019s soul. She places a mirror near the corpse, and on the\nmirror a piece of feathery cotton down. Holding a cloth in her open hands\nat the foot of the mirror, she with wild words entreats the mother not to\ntake with her the \u201cbutterfly\u201d or soul of her child, but to send it back.\nAs the gossamer down slips from the face of the mirror she catches it in\nthe cloth and tenderly places it on the baby\u2019s breast. The same ceremony\nis sometimes observed when one of two children that have played together\ndies, and is thought to be luring away the soul of its playmate to the\nspirit-land. It is sometimes performed also for a bereaved husband or\nwife.(425) In the Island of Keisar (East Indies) it is thought imprudent\nto go near a grave at night, lest the ghosts should catch and keep the\nsoul of the passer-by.(426) The Key Islanders believe that the souls of\ntheir forefathers, angry at not receiving food, make people sick by\ndetaining their souls. So they lay offerings of food on the grave and beg\ntheir ancestors to allow the soul of the sick to return or to drive it\nhome speedily if it should be lingering by the way.(427)\n\nIn Bolang Mongondo, a district in the west of Celebes, all sickness is\nascribed to the ancestral spirits who have carried off the patient\u2019s soul.\nThe object therefore is to bring back the patient\u2019s soul and restore it to\nthe sufferer. An eye-witness has thus described the attempted cure of a\nsick boy. The priestesses, who acted as physicians, made a doll of cloth\nand fastened it to the point of a spear, which an old woman held upright.\nRound this doll the priestesses danced, uttering charms, and chirruping as\nwhen one calls a dog. Then the old woman lowered the point of the spear a\nlittle, so that the priestesses could reach the doll. By this time the\nsoul of the sick boy was supposed to be in the doll, having been brought\ninto it by the incantations. So the priestesses approached it cautiously\non tiptoe and caught the soul in the many-coloured cloths which they had\nbeen waving in the air. Then they laid the soul on the boy\u2019s head, that\nis, they wrapped his head in the cloth in which the soul was supposed to\nbe, and stood still for some moments with great gravity, holding their\nhands on the patient\u2019s head. Suddenly there was a jerk, the priestesses\nwhispered and shook their heads, and the cloth was taken off\u2014the soul had\nescaped. The priestesses gave chase to it, running round and round the\nhouse, clucking and gesticulating as if they were driving hens into a\npoultry-yard. At last they recaptured the soul at the foot of the stair\nand restored it to its owner as before.(428) Much in the same way an\nAustralian medicine-man will sometimes bring the lost soul of a sick man\ninto a puppet and restore it to the patient by pressing the puppet to his\nbreast.(429) In Uea, one of the Loyalty Islands, the souls of the dead\nseem to have been credited with the power of stealing the souls of the\nliving. For when a man was sick the soul-doctor would go with a large\ntroop of men and women to the graveyard. Here the men played on flutes and\nthe women whistled softly to lure the soul home. After this had gone on\nfor some time they formed in procession and moved homewards, the flutes\nplaying and the women whistling all the way, leading back the wandering\nsoul and driving it gently along with open palms. On entering the\npatient\u2019s dwelling they commanded the soul in a loud voice to enter his\nbody.(430) In Madagascar, when a sick man had lost his soul, his friends\nwent to the family tomb, and making a hole in it, begged the soul of the\npatient\u2019s father to give them a soul for his son, who had none. So saying\nthey clapped a bonnet on the hole, and folding up the soul in the bonnet,\nbrought it to the patient, who put the bonnet on his head, and thus\nreceived a new soul or got back his old one.(431)\n\nOften the abduction of a man\u2019s soul is set down to demons. The Annamites\nbelieve that when a man meets a demon and speaks to him, the demon inhales\nthe man\u2019s breath and soul.(432) When a Dyak is about to leave a forest\nthrough which he has been walking alone, he never forgets to ask the\ndemons to give him back his soul, for it may be that some forest-devil has\ncarried it off. For the abduction of a soul may take place without its\nowner being aware of his loss, and it may happen either while he is awake\nor asleep.(433) In the Moluccas when a man is unwell it is thought that\nsome devil has carried away his soul to the tree, mountain, or hill where\nhe (the devil) dwells. A sorcerer having pointed out the devil\u2019s abode,\nthe friends of the patient carry thither cooked rice, fruit, fish, raw\neggs, a hen, a chicken, a silken robe, gold, armlets, etc. Having set out\nthe food in order they pray, saying: \u201cWe come to offer to you, O devil,\nthis offering of food, clothes, gold, etc.; take it and release the soul\nof the patient for whom we pray. Let it return to his body and he who now\nis sick shall be made whole.\u201d Then they eat a little and let the hen loose\nas a ransom for the soul of the patient; also they put down the raw eggs;\nbut the silken robe, the gold, and the armlets they take home with them.\nAs soon as they are come to the house they place a flat bowl containing\nthe offerings which have been brought back at the sick man\u2019s head, and say\nto him: \u201cNow is your soul released, and you shall fare well and live to\ngray hairs on the earth.\u201d(434) A more modern account from the same region\ndescribes how the friend of the patient, after depositing his offerings on\nthe spot where the missing soul is supposed to be, calls out thrice the\nname of the sick person, adding, \u201cCome with me, come with me.\u201d Then he\nreturns, making a motion with a cloth as if he had caught the soul in it.\nHe must not look to right or left or speak a word to any one he meets, but\nmust go straight to the patient\u2019s house. At the door he stands, and\ncalling out the sick person\u2019s name, asks whether he is returned. Being\nanswered from within that he is returned, he enters and lays the cloth in\nwhich he has caught the soul on the patient\u2019s throat, saying, \u201cNow you are\nreturned to the house.\u201d Sometimes a substitute is provided; a doll,\ndressed up in gay clothing and tinsel, is offered to the demon in exchange\nfor the patient\u2019s soul with these words, \u201cGive us back the ugly one which\nyou have taken away and receive this pretty one instead.\u201d(435) Similarly\nthe Mongols make up a horse of birch-bark and a doll, and invite the demon\nto take the doll instead of the patient and to ride away on the\nhorse.(436)\n\nDemons are especially feared by persons who have just entered on a new\nhouse. Hence at a house-warming among the Alfoers of Celebes the priest\nperforms a ceremony for the purpose of restoring their souls to the\ninmates. He hangs up a bag at the place of sacrifice and then goes through\na list of the gods. There are so many of them that this takes him the\nwhole night through without stopping. In the morning he offers the gods an\negg and some rice. By this time the souls of the household are supposed to\nbe gathered in the bag. So the priest takes the bag, and holding it on the\nhead of the master of the house says, \u201cHere you have your soul\u2014go (soul)\nto-morrow away again.\u201d He then does the same, saying the same words, to\nthe housewife and all the other members of the family.(437) Amongst the\nsame Alfoers one way of recovering a sick man\u2019s soul is to let down a bowl\nby a belt out of a window and fish for the soul till it is caught in the\nbowl and hauled up.(438) Among the same people, when a priest is bringing\nback a sick man\u2019s soul which he has caught in a cloth, he is preceded by a\ngirl holding the large leaf of a certain palm over his head as an umbrella\nto keep him and the soul from getting wet, in case it should rain; and he\nis followed by a man brandishing a sword to deter other souls from any\nattempt at rescuing the captured soul.(439)\n\nThe Samoans tell how two young wizards, passing a house where a chief lay\nvery sick, saw a company of gods from the mountain sitting in the doorway.\nThey were handing from one to another the soul of the dying chief. It was\nwrapped in a leaf, and had been passed from the gods inside the house to\nthose sitting in the doorway. One of the gods handed the soul to one of\nthe wizards, taking him for a god in the dark, for it was night. Then all\nthe gods rose up and went away; but the wizard kept the chief\u2019s soul. In\nthe morning some women went with a present of fine mats to fetch a famous\nphysician. The wizards were sitting on the shore as the women passed, and\nthey said to the women, \u201cGive us the mats and we will heal him.\u201d So they\nwent to the chief\u2019s house. He was very ill, his jaw hung down, and his end\nseemed near. But the wizards undid the leaf and let the soul into him\nagain, and forthwith he brightened up and lived.(440)\n\nThe Battas of Sumatra believe that the soul of a living man may\ntransmigrate into the body of an animal. Hence, for example, the doctor is\nsometimes desired to extract the patient\u2019s soul from the body of a fowl,\nin which it has been hidden away by an evil spirit.(441)\n\nSometimes the lost soul is brought back in a visible shape. In Melanesia a\nwoman knowing that a neighbour was at the point of death heard a rustling\nin her house, as of a moth fluttering, just at the moment when a noise of\nweeping and lamentation told her that the soul was flown. She caught the\nfluttering thing between her hands and ran with it, crying out that she\nhad caught the soul. But though she opened her hands above the mouth of\nthe corpse, it did not revive.(442) The Salish or Flathead Indians of\nOregon believe that a man\u2019s soul may be separated for a time from his body\nwithout causing death and without the man being aware of his loss. It is\nnecessary, however, that the lost soul should be soon found and restored\nto the man or he will die. The name of the man who has lost his soul is\nrevealed in a dream to the medicine-man, who hastens to inform the\nsufferer of his loss. Generally a number of men have sustained a like loss\nat the same time; all their names are revealed to the medicine-man, and\nall employ him to recover their souls. The whole night long these soulless\nmen go about the village from lodge to lodge, dancing and singing. Towards\ndaybreak they go into a separate lodge, which is closed up so as to be\ntotally dark. A small hole is then made in the roof, through which the\nmedicine-man, with a bunch of feathers, brushes in the souls, in the shape\nof bits of bone and the like, which he receives on a piece of matting. A\nfire is next kindled, by the light of which the medicine-man sorts out the\nsouls. First he puts aside the souls of dead people, of which there are\nusually several; for if he were to give the soul of a dead person to a\nliving man, the man would die instantly. Next he picks out the souls of\nall the persons present, and making them all to sit down before him, he\ntakes the soul of each, in the shape of a splinter of bone, wood, or\nshell, and placing it on the owner\u2019s head, pats it with many prayers and\ncontortions till it descends into the heart and so resumes its proper\nplace.(443) In Amboina the sorcerer, to recover a soul detained by demons,\nplucks a branch from a tree, and waving it to and fro as if to catch\nsomething, calls out the sick man\u2019s name. Returning he strikes the patient\nover the head and body with the branch, into which the lost soul is\nsupposed to have passed, and from which it returns to the patient.(444) In\nthe Babar Islands offerings for evil spirits are laid at the root of a\ngreat tree (_wokiorai_), from which a leaf is plucked and pressed on the\npatient\u2019s forehead and breast; the lost soul, which is in the leaf, is\nthus restored to its owner.(445) In some other islands of the same seas,\nwhen a man returns ill and speechless from the forest, it is inferred that\nthe evil spirits which dwell in the great trees have caught and kept his\nsoul. Offerings of food are therefore left under a tree and the soul is\nbrought home in a piece of wax.(446) Amongst the Dyaks of Sarawak the\npriest conjures the lost soul into a cup, where it is seen by the\nuninitiated as a lock of hair, but by the initiated as a miniature human\nbeing. This is supposed to be thrust by the priest into a hole in the top\nof the patient\u2019s head.(447) In Nias the sick man\u2019s soul is restored to him\nin the shape of a firefly, visible only to the sorcerer, who catches it in\na cloth and places it on the forehead of the patient.(448)\n\nAgain, souls may be extracted from their bodies or detained on their\nwanderings not only by ghosts and demons but also by men, especially by\nsorcerers. In Fiji if a criminal refused to confess, the chief sent for a\nscarf with which \u201cto catch away the soul of the rogue.\u201d At the sight, or\neven at the mention of the scarf the culprit generally made a clean\nbreast. For if he did not, the scarf would be waved over his head till his\nsoul was caught in it, when it would be carefully folded up and nailed to\nthe end of a chief\u2019s canoe; and for want of his soul the criminal would\npine and die.(449) The sorcerers of Danger Island used to set snares for\nsouls. The snares were made of stout cinet, about fifteen to thirty feet\nlong, with loops on either side of different sizes, to suit the different\nsizes of souls; for fat souls there were large loops, for thin souls there\nwere small ones. When a man was sick against whom the sorcerers had a\ngrudge, they set up these soul-snares near his house and watched for the\nflight of his soul. If in the shape of a bird or an insect it was caught\nin the snare the man would infallibly die.(450) Among the Sereres of\nSenegambia, when a man wishes to revenge himself on his enemy he goes to\nthe _Fitaure_ (chief and priest in one), and prevails on him by presents\nto conjure the soul of his enemy into a large jar of red earthenware,\nwhich is then deposited under a consecrated tree. The man whose soul is\nshut up in the jar soon dies.(451) Some of the Congo negroes think that\nenchanters can get possession of human souls, and enclosing them in tusks\nof ivory, sell them to the white man, who makes them work for him in his\ncountry under the sea. It is believed that very many of the coast\nlabourers are men thus obtained; so when these people go to trade they\noften look anxiously about for their dead relations. The man whose soul is\nthus sold into slavery will die \u201cin due course, if not at the time.\u201d(452)\n\nIn Hawaii there were sorcerers who caught souls of living people, shut\nthem up in calabashes, and gave them to people to eat. By squeezing a\ncaptured soul in their hands they discovered the place where people had\nbeen secretly buried.(453) Amongst the Canadian Indians, when a wizard\nwished to kill a man, he sent out his familiar spirits, who brought him\nthe victim\u2019s soul in the shape of a stone or the like. The wizard struck\nthe soul with a sword or an axe till it bled profusely, and as it bled the\nman to whom it belonged languished and died.(454) In Amboina if a doctor\nis convinced that a patient\u2019s soul has been carried away by a demon beyond\nrecovery, he seeks to supply its place with a soul abstracted from another\nman. For this purpose he goes by night to a house and asks, \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d\nIf an inmate is incautious enough to answer, the doctor takes up from\nbefore the door a clod of earth, into which the soul of the person who\nreplied is believed to have passed. This clod the doctor lays under the\nsick man\u2019s pillow, and performs certain ceremonies by which the stolen\nsoul is conveyed into the patient\u2019s body. Then as he goes home the doctor\nfires two shots to frighten the soul from returning to its proper\nowner.(455) A Karen wizard will catch the wandering soul of a sleeper and\ntransfer it to the body of a dead man. The latter, therefore, comes to\nlife as the former dies. But the friends of the sleeper in turn engage a\nwizard to steal the soul of another sleeper, who dies as the first sleeper\ncomes to life. In this way an indefinite succession of deaths and\nresurrections is supposed to take place.(456)\n\nThe Indians of the Nass River, British Columbia, think that a doctor may\nswallow his patient\u2019s soul by mistake. A doctor who is believed to have\ndone so is made by the other doctors to stand over the patient, while one\nof them thrusts his fingers down the doctor\u2019s throat, another kneads him\nin the stomach with his knuckles, and a third slaps him on the back. If\nthe soul is not in him after all, and if the same process has been\nrepeated upon all the doctors without success, it is concluded that the\nsoul must be in the head-doctor\u2019s box. A party of doctors, therefore,\nwaits upon him at his house and requests him to produce his box. When he\nhas done so and arranged its contents on a new mat, they take him and hold\nhim up by the heels with his head in a hole in the floor. In this position\nthey wash his head, and \u201cany water remaining from the ablution is taken\nand poured upon the sick man\u2019s head.\u201d(457)\n\nOther examples of the recall and recovery of souls will be found referred\nto beneath.(458)\n\nBut the spiritual dangers I have enumerated are not the only ones which\nbeset the savage. Often he regards his shadow or reflection as his soul,\nor at all events as a vital part of himself, and as such it is necessarily\na source of danger to him. For if it is trampled upon, struck, or stabbed,\nhe will feel the injury as if it were done to his person; and if it is\ndetached from him entirely (as he believes that it may be) he will die. In\nthe island of Wetar there are magicians who can make a man ill by stabbing\nhis shadow with a pike or hacking it with a sword.(459) After Sankara had\ndestroyed the Buddhists in India, it is said that he journeyed to Nepaul,\nwhere he had some difference of opinion with the Grand Lama. To prove his\nsupernatural powers, he soared into the air. But as he mounted up, the\nGrand Lama, perceiving his shadow swaying and wavering on the ground,\nstruck his knife into it and down fell Sankara and broke his neck.(460) In\nthe Babar Islands the demons get power over a man\u2019s soul by holding fast\nhis shadow, or by striking and wounding it.(461) There are stones in\nMelanesia on which, if a man\u2019s shadow falls, the demon of the stone can\ndraw out his soul.(462) In Amboina and Uliase, two islands near the\nequator, and where, therefore, there is little or no shadow cast at noon,\nit is a rule not to go out of the house at mid-day, because it is supposed\nthat by doing so a man may lose the shadow of his soul.(463) The Mangaians\ntell of a mighty warrior, Tukaitawa, whose strength waxed and waned with\nthe length of his shadow. In the morning, when his shadow fell longest,\nhis strength was greatest; but as the shadow shortened towards noon his\nstrength ebbed with it, till exactly at noon it reached its lowest point;\nthen, as the shadow stretched out in the afternoon, his strength returned.\nA certain hero discovered the secret of Tukaitawa\u2019s strength and slew him\nat noon.(464) It is possible that even in lands outside the tropics the\nfact of the diminished shadow at noon may have contributed, even if it did\nnot give rise, to the superstitious dread with which that hour has been\nviewed by various peoples, as by the Greeks, ancient and modern, and by\nthe Roumanians of Transylvania.(465) In this fact, too, we may perhaps\ndetect the reason why noon was chosen by the Greeks as the hour for\nsacrificing to the shadowless dead.(466) The ancients believed that in\nArabia if a hyaena trod on a man\u2019s shadow it deprived him of the power of\nspeech and motion; and that if a dog, standing on a roof in the moonlight,\ncast a shadow on the ground and a hyaena trod on it, the dog would fall\ndown as if dragged with a rope.(467) Clearly in these cases the shadow, if\nnot equivalent to the soul, is at least regarded as a living part of the\nman or the animal, so that injury done to the shadow is felt by the person\nor animal as if it were done to his body. Whoever entered the sanctuary of\nZeus on Mount Lycaeus in Arcadia was believed to lose his shadow and to\ndie within the year.(468) Nowhere, perhaps, does the equivalence of the\nshadow to the life or soul come out more clearly than in some customs\npractised to this day in South-Eastern Europe. In modern Greece, when the\nfoundation of a new building is being laid, it is the custom to kill a\ncock, a ram, or a lamb, and to let its blood flow on the foundation stone,\nunder which the animal is afterwards buried. The object of the sacrifice\nis to give strength and stability to the building. But sometimes, instead\nof killing an animal, the builder entices a man to the foundation stone,\nsecretly measures his body, or a part of it, or his shadow, and buries the\nmeasure under the foundation stone; or he lays the foundation stone upon\nthe man\u2019s shadow. It is believed that the man will die within the\nyear.(469) The Bulgarians still observe a similar custom. If they cannot\nget a human shadow they measure the shadow of the first animal that comes\nthat way.(470) The Roumanians of Transylvania think that he whose shadow\nis thus immured will die within forty days; so persons passing by a\nbuilding which is in course of erection may hear a warning cry, \u201cBeware\nlest they take thy shadow!\u201d Not long ago there were still shadow-traders\nwhose business it was to provide architects with the shadows necessary for\nsecuring their walls.(471) In these cases the measure of the shadow is\nlooked on as equivalent to the shadow itself, and to bury it is to bury\nthe life or soul of the man, who, deprived of it, must die. Thus the\ncustom is a substitute for the old custom of immuring a living person in\nthe walls, or crushing him under the foundation stone of a new building,\nin order to give strength and durability to the structure.\n\nAs some peoples believe a man\u2019s soul to be in his shadow, so other (or the\nsame) peoples believe it to be in his reflection in water or a mirror.\nThus \u201cthe Andamanese do not regard their shadows but their reflections (in\nany mirror) as their souls.\u201d(472) Some of the Fijians thought that man has\ntwo souls, a light one and a dark one; the dark one goes to Hades, the\nlight one is his reflection in water or a mirror.(473) When the Motumotu\nof New Guinea first saw their likenesses in a looking-glass they thought\nthat their reflections were their souls.(474) The reflection-soul, being\nexternal to the man, is exposed to much the same dangers as the\nshadow-soul. As the shadow may be stabbed, so may the reflection. Hence an\nAztec mode of keeping sorcerers from the house was to leave a vessel of\nwater with a knife in it behind the door. When a sorcerer entered he was\nso much alarmed at seeing his reflection in the water transfixed by a\nknife that he turned and fled.(475) The Zulus will not look into a dark\npool because they think there is a beast in it which will take away their\nreflections, so that they die.(476) The Basutos say that crocodiles have\nthe power of thus killing a man by dragging his reflection under\nwater.(477) In Saddle Island (Melanesia) there is a pool \u201cinto which if\nany one looks he dies; the malignant spirit takes hold upon his life by\nmeans of his reflection on the water.\u201d(478)\n\nWe can now understand why it was a maxim both in ancient India and ancient\nGreece not to look at one\u2019s reflection in water, and why the Greeks\nregarded it as an omen of death if a man dreamed of seeing himself so\nreflected.(479) They feared that the water-spirits would drag the person\u2019s\nreflection (soul) under water, leaving him soulless to die. This was\nprobably the origin of the classical story of the beautiful Narcissus, who\npined and died in consequence of seeing his reflection in the water. The\nexplanation that he died for love of his own fair image was probably\ndevised later, after the old meaning of the story was forgotten. The same\nancient belief lingers, in a faded form, in the English superstition that\nwhoever sees a water-fairy must pine and die.\n\n\n    \u201cAlas, the moon should ever beam\n    To show what man should never see!\u2014\n    I saw a maiden on a stream,\n    And fair was she!\n\n          \u201cI staid to watch, a little space,\n    Her parted lips if she would sing;\n    The waters closed above her face\n    With many a ring.\n\n          \u201cI know my life will fade away,\n    I know that I must vainly pine,\n    For I am made of mortal clay,\n    But she\u2019s divine!\u201d\n\n\nFurther, we can now explain the widespread custom of covering up mirrors\nor turning them to the wall after a death has taken place in the house. It\nis feared that the soul, projected out of the person in the shape of his\nreflection in the mirror, may be carried off by the ghost of the departed,\nwhich is commonly supposed to linger about the house till the burial. The\ncustom is thus exactly parallel to the Aru custom of not sleeping in a\nhouse after a death for fear that the soul, projected out of the body in a\ndream, may meet the ghost and be carried off by it.(480) In Oldenburg it\nis thought that if a person sees his image in a mirror after a death he\nwill die himself. So all the mirrors in the house are covered up with\nwhite cloth.(481) In some parts of Germany after a death not only the\nmirrors but everything that shines or glitters (windows, clocks, etc.) is\ncovered up,(482) doubtless because they might reflect a person\u2019s image.\nThe same custom of covering up mirrors or turning them to the wall after a\ndeath prevails in England, Scotland, and Madagascar.(483) The Suni\nMohammedans of Bombay cover with a cloth the mirror in the room of a dying\nman and do not remove it until the corpse is carried out for burial. They\nalso cover the looking-glasses in their bedrooms before retiring to rest\nat night.(484) The reason why sick people should not see themselves in a\nmirror, and why the mirror in a sick-room is therefore covered up,(485) is\nalso plain; in time of sickness, when the soul might take flight so\neasily, it is particularly dangerous to project the soul out of the body\nby means of the reflection in a mirror. The rule is therefore precisely\nparallel to the rule observed by some peoples of not allowing sick people\nto sleep;(486) for in sleep the soul is projected out of the body, and\nthere is always a risk that it may not return. \u201cIn the opinion of the\nRaskolniks a mirror is an accursed thing, invented by the devil,\u201d(487)\nperhaps on account of the mirror\u2019s supposed power of drawing out the soul\nin the reflection and so facilitating its capture.\n\nAs with shadows and reflections, so with portraits; they are often\nbelieved to contain the soul of the person portrayed. People who hold this\nbelief are naturally loth to have their likenesses taken; for if the\nportrait is the soul, or at least a vital part of the person portrayed,\nwhoever possesses the portrait will be able to exercise a fatal influence\nover the original of it. Thus the Canelos Indians of South America think\nthat their soul is carried away in their picture. Two of them having been\nphotographed were so alarmed that they came back next day on purpose to\nask if it were really true that their souls had been taken away.(488) When\nMr. Joseph Thomson tried to photograph some of the Wa-teita in Eastern\nAfrica, they imagined that he was a magician trying to get possession of\ntheir souls, and that if he got their likenesses they themselves would be\nentirely at his mercy.(489) An Indian, whose portrait the Prince of Wied\nwished to get, refused to let himself be drawn, because he believed it\nwould cause his death.(490) The Mandans also thought that they would soon\ndie if their portrait was in the hands of another; they wished at least to\nhave the artist\u2019s picture as a kind of antidote or guarantee.(491) The\nsame belief still lingers in various parts of Europe. Some old women in\nthe Greek island of Carpathus were very angry a few years ago at having\ntheir likenesses drawn, thinking that in consequence they would pine and\ndie.(492) Some people in Russia object to having their silhouettes taken,\nfearing that if this is done they will die before the year is out.(493)\nThere are persons in the West of Scotland \u201cwho refuse to have their\nlikeness taken lest it prove unlucky; and give as instances the cases of\nseveral of their friends who never had a day\u2019s health after being\nphotographed.\u201d(494)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 3.\u2014Royal and priestly taboos (continued).\n\n\nSo much for the primitive conceptions of the soul and the dangers to which\nit is exposed. These conceptions are not limited to one people or country;\nwith variations of detail they are found all over the world, and survive,\nas we have seen, in modern Europe. Beliefs so deep-seated and so\nwidespread must necessarily have contributed to shape the mould in which\nthe early kingship was cast. For if every individual was at such pains to\nsave his own soul from the perils which threatened it from so many sides,\nhow much more carefully must _he_ have been guarded upon whose life hung\nthe welfare and even the existence of the whole people, and whom therefore\nit was the common interest of all to preserve? Therefore we should expect\nto find the king\u2019s life protected by a system of precautions or safeguards\nstill more numerous and minute than those which in primitive society every\nman adopts for the safety of his own soul. Now in point of fact the life\nof the early kings is regulated, as we have seen and shall see more fully\npresently, by a very exact code of rules. May we not then conjecture that\nthese rules are the very safeguards which on _\u00e0 priori_ grounds we expect\nto find adopted for the protection of the king\u2019s life? An examination of\nthe rules themselves confirms this conjecture. For from this it appears\nthat some of the rules observed by the kings are identical with those\nobserved by private persons out of regard for the safety of their souls;\nand even of those which seem peculiar to the king, many, if not all, are\nmost readily explained on the hypothesis that they are nothing but\nsafeguards or lifeguards of the king. I will now enumerate some of these\nroyal rules or taboos, offering on each of them such comments and\nexplanations as may serve to set the original intention of the rule in its\nproper light.\n\nAs the object of the royal taboos is to isolate the king from all sources\nof danger, their general effect is to compel him to live in a state of\nseclusion, more or less complete, according to the number and stringency\nof the taboos he observes. Now of all sources of danger none are more\ndreaded by the savage than magic and witchcraft, and he suspects all\nstrangers of practising these black arts. To guard against the baneful\ninfluence exerted voluntarily or involuntarily by strangers is therefore\nan elementary dictate of savage prudence. Hence before strangers are\nallowed to enter a district, or at least before they are permitted to\nmingle freely with the people of the district, certain ceremonies are\noften performed by the natives of the country for the purpose of disarming\nthe strangers of their magical powers, of counteracting the baneful\ninfluence which is believed to emanate from them, or of disinfecting, so\nto speak, the tainted atmosphere by which they are supposed to be\nsurrounded. Thus in the island of Nanumea (South Pacific) strangers from\nships or from other islands were not allowed to communicate with the\npeople until they all, or a few as representatives of the rest, had been\ntaken to each of the four temples in the island, and prayers offered that\nthe god would avert any disease or treachery which these strangers might\nhave brought with them. Meat offerings were also laid upon the altars,\naccompanied by songs and dances in honour of the god. While these\nceremonies were going on, all the people except the priests and their\nattendants kept out of sight.(495) On returning from an attempted ascent\nof the great African mountain Kilimanjaro, which is believed by the\nneighbouring tribes to be tenanted by dangerous demons, Mr. New and his\nparty, as soon as they reached the border of the inhabited country, were\ndisenchanted by the inhabitants, being sprinkled with \u201ca professionally\nprepared liquor, supposed to possess the potency of neutralising evil\ninfluences, and removing the spell of wicked spirits.\u201d(496) In the\ninterior of Yoruba (West Africa) the sentinels at the gates of towns often\noblige European travellers to wait till nightfall before they admit them,\nthe fear being that if the strangers were admitted by day the devils would\nenter behind them.(497) Amongst the Ot Danoms of Borneo it is the custom\nthat strangers entering the territory should pay to the natives a certain\nsum, which is spent in the sacrifice of animals (buffaloes or pigs) to the\nspirits of the land and water, in order to reconcile them to the presence\nof the strangers, and to induce them not to withdraw their favour from the\npeople of the land, but to bless the rice-harvest, etc.(498) The men of a\ncertain district in Borneo, fearing to look upon a European traveller lest\nhe should make them ill, warned their wives and children not to go near\nhim. These who could not restrain their curiosity killed fowls to appease\nthe evil spirits and smeared themselves with the blood.(499) In Laos\nbefore a stranger can be accorded hospitality the master of the house must\noffer sacrifice to the ancestral spirits; otherwise the spirits would be\noffended and would send disease on the inmates.(500) In the Mentawej\nIslands when a stranger enters a house where there are children, the\nfather or other member of the family takes the ornament which the children\nwear in their hair and hands it to the stranger, who holds it in his hands\nfor a while and then gives it back to him. This is thought to protect the\nchildren from the evil effect which the sight of a stranger might have\nupon them.(501) At Shepherd\u2019s Isle Captain Moresby had to be disenchanted\nbefore he was allowed to land his boat\u2019s crew. When he leaped ashore a\ndevil-man seized his right hand and waved a bunch of palm leaves over the\ncaptain\u2019s head. Then \u201che placed the leaves in my left hand, putting a\nsmall green twig into his mouth, still holding me fast, and then, as if\nwith great effort, drew the twig from his mouth\u2014this was extracting the\nevil spirit\u2014after which he blew violently, as if to speed it away. I now\nheld a twig between my teeth, and he went through the same process.\u201d Then\nthe two raced round a couple of sticks fixed in the ground and bent to an\nangle at the top, which had leaves tied to it. After some more ceremonies\nthe devil-man concluded by leaping to the level of Captain Moresby\u2019s\nshoulders (his hands resting on the captain\u2019s shoulders) several times,\n\u201cas if to show that he had conquered the devil, and was now trampling him\ninto the earth.\u201d(502) North American Indians \u201chave an idea that strangers,\nparticularly white strangers, are ofttimes accompanied by evil spirits. Of\nthese they have great dread, as creating and delighting in mischief. One\nof the duties of the medicine chief is to exorcise these spirits. I have\nsometimes ridden into or through a camp where I was unknown or unexpected,\nto be confronted by a tall, half-naked savage, standing in the middle of\nthe circle of lodges, and yelling in a sing-song, nasal tone, a string of\nunintelligible words.\u201d(503) When Crevaux was travelling in South America\nhe entered a village of the Apalai Indians. A few moments after his\narrival some of the Indians brought him a number of large black ants, of a\nspecies whose bite is painful, fastened on palm leaves. Then all the\npeople of the village, without distinction of age or sex, presented\nthemselves to him, and he had to sting them all with the ants on their\nfaces, thighs, etc. Sometimes when he applied the ants too tenderly they\ncalled out \u201cMore! more!\u201d and were not satisfied till their skin was\nthickly studded with tiny swellings like what might have been produced by\nwhipping them with nettles.(504) The object of this ceremony is made plain\nby the custom observed in Amboina and Uliase of sprinkling sick people\nwith pungent spices, such as ginger and cloves, chewed fine, in order by\nthe prickling sensation to drive away the demon of disease which may be\nclinging to their persons.(505) With a similar intention some of the\nnatives of Borneo and Celebes sprinkle rice upon the head or body of a\nperson supposed to be infested by dangerous spirits; a fowl is then\nbrought, which, by picking up the rice from the person\u2019s head or body,\nremoves along with it the spirit or ghost which is clinging like a burr to\nhis skin. This is done, for example, to persons who have attended a\nfuneral, and who may therefore be supposed to be infested by the ghost of\nthe deceased.(506) Similarly Basutos, who have carried a corpse to the\ngrave, have their hands scratched with a knife from the tip of the thumb\nto the tip of the forefinger, and magic stuff is rubbed into the\nwound,(507) for the purpose, no doubt, of removing the ghost which may be\nadhering to their skin. The people of Nias carefully scrub and scour the\nweapons and clothes which they buy, in order to efface all connection\nbetween the things and the persons from whom they bought them.(508) It is\nprobable that the same dread of strangers, rather than any desire to do\nthem honour, is the motive of certain ceremonies which are sometimes\nobserved at their reception, but of which the intention is not directly\nstated. In Afghanistan and in some parts of Persia the traveller, before\nhe enters a village, is frequently received with a sacrifice of animal\nlife or food, or of fire and incense. The recent Afghan Boundary Mission,\nin passing by villages in Afghanistan, was often met with fire and\nincense.(509) Sometimes a tray of lighted embers is thrown under the hoofs\nof the traveller\u2019s horse, with the words, \u201cYou are welcome.\u201d(510) On\nentering a village in Central Africa Emin Pasha was received with the\nsacrifice of two goats; their blood was sprinkled on the path and the\nchief stepped over the blood to greet Emin.(511) Amongst the Eskimos of\nCumberland Inlet, when a stranger arrives at an encampment, the sorcerer\ngoes out to meet him. The stranger folds his arms and inclines his head to\none side, so as to expose his cheek, upon which the sorcerer deals a\nterrible blow, sometimes felling him to the ground. Next the sorcerer in\nhis turn presents his cheek and receives a buffet from the stranger. Then\nthey kiss each other, the ceremony is over, and the stranger is hospitably\nreceived by all.(512) Sometimes the dread of strangers and their magic is\ntoo great to allow of their reception on any terms. Thus when Speke\narrived at a certain village the natives shut their doors against him,\n\u201cbecause they had never before seen a white man nor the tin boxes that the\nmen were carrying: \u2018Who knows,\u2019 they said, \u2018but that these very boxes are\nthe plundering Watuta transformed and come to kill us? You cannot be\nadmitted.\u2019 No persuasion could avail with them, and the party had to\nproceed to the next village.\u201d(513)\n\nThe fear thus entertained of alien visitors is often mutual. Entering a\nstrange land, the savage feels that he is treading enchanted ground, and\nhe takes steps to guard against the demons that haunt it and the magical\narts of its inhabitants. Thus on going to a strange land the Maoris\nperformed certain ceremonies to make it _noa_ (common), lest it might have\nbeen previously _tapu_ (sacred).(514) When Baron Miklucho-Maclay was\napproaching a village on the Maclay Coast of New Guinea, one of the\nnatives who accompanied him broke a branch from a tree and going aside\nwhispered to it for a while; then going up to each member of the party,\none after another, he spat something upon his back and gave him some blows\nwith the branch. Lastly, he went into the forest and buried the branch\nunder withered leaves in the thickest part of the jungle. This ceremony\nwas believed to protect the party against all treachery and danger in the\nvillage they were approaching.(515) The idea probably was that the\nmalignant influences were drawn off from the persons into the branch and\nburied with it in the depths of the forest. In Australia, when a strange\ntribe has been invited into a district and is approaching the encampment\nof the tribe which owns the land, \u201cthe strangers carry lighted bark or\nburning sticks in their hands, for the purpose, they say, of clearing and\npurifying the air.\u201d(516) So when two Greek armies were advancing to the\nonset, sacred men used to march in front of each, bearing lighted torches,\nwhich they flung into the space between the hosts and then retired\nunmolested.(517)\n\nAgain, it is thought that a man who has been on a journey may have\ncontracted some magic evil from the strangers with whom he has been\nbrought into contact. Hence on returning home, before he is readmitted to\nthe society of his tribe and friends, he has to undergo certain\npurificatory ceremonies. Thus the Bechuanas \u201ccleanse or purify themselves\nafter journeys by shaving their heads, etc., lest they should have\ncontracted from strangers some evil by witchcraft or sorcery.\u201d(518) In\nsome parts of Western Africa when a man returns home after a long absence,\nbefore he is allowed to visit his wife, he must wash his person with a\nparticular fluid, and receive from the sorcerer a certain mark on his\nforehead, in order to counteract any magic spell which a stranger woman\nmay have cast on him in his absence, and which might be communicated\nthrough him to the women of his village.(519) Two Hindoo ambassadors, who\nhad been sent to England by a native prince and had returned to India,\nwere considered to have so polluted themselves by contact with strangers\nthat nothing but being born again could restore them to purity. \u201cFor the\npurpose of regeneration it is directed to make an image of pure gold of\nthe female power of nature, in the shape either of a woman or of a cow. In\nthis statue the person to be regenerated is enclosed, and dragged through\nthe usual channel. As a statue of pure gold and of proper dimensions would\nbe too expensive, it is sufficient to make an image of the sacred _Yoni_,\nthrough which the person to be regenerated is to pass.\u201d Such an image of\npure gold was made at the prince\u2019s command, and his ambassadors were born\nagain by being dragged through it.(520) When Damaras return home after a\nlong absence, they are given a small portion of the fat of particular\nanimals which is supposed to possess certain virtues.(521) In some of the\nMoluccas, when a brother or young blood-relation returns from a long\njourney, a young girl awaits him at the door with a _caladi_ leaf in her\nhand and water in the leaf. She throws the water over his face and bids\nhim welcome.(522) The natives of Savage Island (South Pacific) invariably\nkilled, not only all strangers in distress who were drifted to their\nshores, but also any of their own people who had gone away in a ship and\nreturned home. This was done out of dread of disease. Long after they\nbegan to venture out to ships they would not immediately use the things\nthey obtained from them, but hung them up in quarantine for weeks in the\nbush.(523)\n\nWhen precautions like these are taken on behalf of the people in general\nagainst the malignant influence supposed to be exercised by strangers, we\nshall not be surprised to find that special measures are adopted to\nprotect the king from the same insidious danger. In the middle ages the\nenvoys who visited a Tartar Khan were obliged to pass between two fires\nbefore they were admitted to his presence, and the gifts they brought were\nalso carried between the fires. The reason assigned for the custom was\nthat the fire purged away any magic influence which the strangers might\nmean to exercise over the Khan.(524) When subject chiefs come with their\nretinues to visit Kalamba (the most powerful chief of the Bashilange in\nthe Congo Basin) for the first time or after being rebellious, they have\nto bathe, men and women together, in two brooks on two successive days,\npassing the nights in the open air in the market-place. After the second\nbath they proceed, entirely naked, to the house of Kalamba, who makes a\nlong white mark on the breast and forehead of each of them. Then they\nreturn to the market-place and dress, after which they undergo the pepper\nordeal. Pepper is dropped into the eyes of each of them, and while this is\nbeing done the sufferer has to make a confession of all his sins, to\nanswer all questions that may be put to him, and to take certain vows.\nThis ends the ceremony, and the strangers are now free to take up their\nquarters in the town for as long as they choose to remain.(525) At Kilema,\nin Eastern Africa, when a stranger arrives, a medicine is made out of a\ncertain plant or a tree fetched from a distance, mixed with the blood of a\nsheep or goat. With this mixture the stranger is besmeared or besprinkled\nbefore he is admitted to the presence of the king.(526) The King of\nMonomotapa (South-East Africa) might not wear any foreign stuffs for fear\nof their being poisoned.(527) The King of Kakongo (West Africa) might not\npossess or even touch European goods, except metals, arms, and articles\nmade of wood and ivory. Persons wearing foreign stuffs were very careful\nto keep at a distance from his person, lest they should touch him.(528)\nThe King of Loango might not look upon the house of a white man.(529)\n\nIn the opinion of savages the acts of eating and drinking are attended\nwith special danger; for at these times the soul may escape from the\nmouth, or be extracted by the magic arts of an enemy present. Precautions\nare therefore taken to guard against these dangers. Thus of the Battas of\nSumatra it is said that \u201csince the soul can leave the body, they always\ntake care to prevent their soul from straying on occasions when they have\nmost need of it. But it is only possible to prevent the soul from straying\nwhen one is in the house. At feasts one may find the whole house shut up,\nin order that the soul (_tondi_) may stay and enjoy the good things set\nbefore it.\u201d(530) In Fiji persons who suspected others of plotting against\nthem avoided eating in their presence, or were careful to leave no\nfragment of food behind.(531) The Zafimanelo in Madagascar lock their\ndoors when they eat, and hardly any one ever sees them eating.(532) The\nWarua will not allow any one to see them eating and drinking, being doubly\nparticular that no person of the opposite sex shall see them doing so. \u201cI\nhad to pay a man to let me see him drink; I could not make a man let a\nwoman see him drink.\u201d When offered a drink of _pombe_ they often ask that\na cloth may be held up to hide them whilst drinking. Further, each man and\nwoman must cook for themselves; each person must have his own fire.(533)\nIf these are the ordinary precautions taken by common people, the\nprecautions taken by kings are extraordinary. The King of Loango may not\nbe seen eating or drinking by man or beast under pain of death. A\nfavourite dog having broken into the room where the king was dining, the\nking ordered it to be killed on the spot. Once the king\u2019s own son, a boy\nof twelve years old, inadvertently saw the king drink. Immediately the\nking ordered him to be finely apparelled and feasted, after which he\ncommanded him to be cut in quarters, and carried about the city with a\nproclamation that he had seen the king drink. \u201cWhen the king has a mind to\ndrink, he has a cup of wine brought; he that brings it has a bell in his\nhand, and as soon as he has delivered the cup to the king he turns his\nface from him and rings the bell, on which all present fall down with\ntheir faces to the ground, and continue so till the king has drank.... His\neating is much in the same style, for which he has a house on purpose,\nwhere his victuals are set upon a bensa or table: which he goes to and\nshuts the door; when he has done, he knocks and comes out. So that none\never see the king eat or drink. For it is believed that if any one should,\nthe king shall immediately die.\u201d(534) The rules observed by the\nneighbouring King of Kakongo were similar; it was thought that the king\nwould die if any of his subjects were to see him drink.(535) It is a\ncapital offence to see the King of Dahomey at his meals. When he drinks in\npublic, as he does on extraordinary occasions, he hides himself behind a\ncurtain, or handkerchiefs are held up round his head, and all the people\nthrow themselves with their faces to the earth.(536) Any one who saw the\nMuato Jamwo (a great potentate in the Congo Basin) eating or drinking\nwould certainly be put to death.(537) When the King of Tonga ate all the\npeople turned their backs to him.(538) In the palace of the Persian kings\nthere were two dining-rooms opposite each other; in one of them the king\ndined, in the other his guests. He could see them through a curtain on the\ndoor, but they could not see him. Generally the king took his meals alone;\nbut sometimes his wife or some of his sons dined with him.(539)\n\nIn these cases, however, the intention may perhaps be to hinder evil\ninfluences from entering the body rather than to prevent the escape of the\nsoul. To the former rather than to the latter motive is to be ascribed the\ncustom observed by some African sultans of veiling their faces. The Sultan\nof Darfur wraps up his face with a piece of white muslin, which goes round\nhis head several times, covering his mouth and nose first, and then his\nforehead, so that only his eyes are visible. The same custom of veiling\nthe face as a mark of sovereignty is said to be observed in other parts of\nCentral Africa.(540) The Sultan of Wadai always speaks from behind a\ncurtain; no one sees his face except his intimates and a few favoured\npersons.(541) Amongst the Touaregs of the Sahara all the men (but not the\nwomen) keep the lower part of their face, especially the mouth, veiled\nconstantly; the veil is never put off, not even in eating or\nsleeping.(542) In Samoa a man whose family god was the turtle might not\neat a turtle, and if he helped a neighbour to cut up and cook one he had\nto wear a bandage tied over his mouth, lest an embryo turtle should slip\ndown his throat, grow up, and be his death.(543) In West Timor a speaker\nholds his right hand before his mouth in speaking lest a demon should\nenter his body, and lest the person with whom he converses should harm the\nspeaker\u2019s soul by magic.(544) In New South Wales for some time after his\ninitiation into the tribal mysteries, a young blackfellow (whose soul at\nthis time is in a critical state) must always cover his mouth with a rug\nwhen a woman is present.(545) Popular expressions in the language of\ncivilised peoples, such as to have one\u2019s heart in one\u2019s mouth, show how\nnatural is the idea that the life or soul may escape by the mouth or\nnostrils.(546)\n\nBy an extension of the like precaution kings are sometimes forbidden ever\nto leave their palaces; or, if they are allowed to do so, their subjects\nare forbidden to see them abroad. We have seen that the priestly king at\nShark Point, West Africa, may never quit his house or even his chair, in\nwhich he is obliged to sleep sitting.(547) After his coronation the King\nof Loango is confined to his palace, which he may not leave.(548) The King\nof Ibo (West Africa) \u201cdoes not step out of his house into the town unless\na human sacrifice is made to propitiate the gods: on this account he never\ngoes out beyond the precincts of his premises.\u201d(549) The kings of\nAethiopia were worshipped as gods, but were mostly kept shut up in their\npalaces.(550) The kings of Sabaea (Sheba), the spice country of Arabia,\nwere not allowed to go out of their palaces; if they did so, the mob\nstoned them to death.(551) But at the top of the palace there was a window\nwith a chain attached to it. If any man deemed he had suffered wrong, he\npulled the chain, and the king perceived him and called him in and gave\njudgment.(552) So to this day the kings of Corea, whose persons are sacred\nand receive \u201chonours almost divine,\u201d are shut up in their palace from the\nage of twelve or fifteen; and if a suitor wishes to obtain justice of the\nking he sometimes lights a great bonfire on a mountain facing the palace;\nthe king sees the fire and informs himself of the case.(553) The King of\nTonquin was permitted to appear abroad twice or thrice a year for the\nperformance of certain religious ceremonies; but the people were not\nallowed to look at him. The day before he came forth notice was given to\nall the inhabitants of the city and country to keep from the way the king\nwas to go; the women were obliged to remain in their houses and durst not\nshow themselves under pain of death, a penalty which was carried out on\nthe spot if any one disobeyed the order, even through ignorance. Thus the\nking was invisible to all but his troops and the officers of his\nsuite.(554) In Mandalay a stout lattice-paling, six feet high and\ncarefully kept in repair, lined every street in the walled city and all\nthose in the suburbs through which the king was likely at any time to\npass. Behind this paling, which stood two feet or so from the houses, all\nthe people had to stay when the king or any of the queens went out. Any\none who was caught outside it by the beadles after the procession had\nstarted was severely handled, and might think himself lucky if he got off\nwith a beating. No one was supposed to look through the holes in the\nlattice-work, which were besides partly stopped up with flowering\nshrubs.(555)\n\nAgain, magic mischief may be wrought upon a man through the remains of the\nfood he has partaken of, or the dishes out of which he has eaten. Thus the\nNarrinyeri in South Australia think that if a man eats of the sacred\nanimal (totem) of his tribe, and an enemy gets hold of a portion of the\nflesh, the latter can make it grow in the inside of the eater, and so\ncause his death. Therefore when a man eats of his totem he is careful to\neat it all or else to conceal or destroy the remains.(556) In Tana, one of\nthe New Hebrides, people bury or throw into the sea the leavings of their\nfood, lest these should fall into the hands of the disease-makers. For if\na disease-maker finds the remnants of a meal, say the skin of a banana, he\npicks it up and burns it slowly in the fire. As it burns the person who\nate the banana falls ill and sends to the disease-maker, offering him\npresents if he will stop burning the banana skin.(557) Hence no one may\ntouch the food which the King of Loango leaves upon his plate; it is\nburied in a hole in the ground. And no one may drink out of the king\u2019s\nvessel.(558) Similarly no man may drink out of the same cup or glass with\nthe King of Fida (in Guinea); \u201che hath always one kept particularly for\nhimself; and that which hath but once touched another\u2019s lips he never uses\nmore, though it be made of metal that may be cleansed by fire.\u201d(559)\nAmongst the Alfoers of Celebes there is a priest called the _Leleen_,\nwhose duty appears to be to make the rice grow. His functions begin about\na month before the rice is sown, and end after the crop is housed. During\nthis time he has to observe certain taboos; amongst others he may not eat\nor drink with any one else, and he may drink out of no vessel but his\nown.(560)\n\nWe have seen that the Mikado\u2019s food was cooked every day in new pots and\nserved up in new dishes; both pots and dishes were of common clay, in\norder that they might be broken or laid aside after they had been once\nused. They were generally broken, for it was believed that if any one else\nate his food out of these sacred dishes his mouth and throat would become\nswollen and inflamed. The same ill effect was thought to be experienced by\nany one who should wear the Mikado\u2019s clothes without his leave; he would\nhave swellings and pains all over his body.(561) In the evil effects thus\nsupposed to follow upon the use of the Mikado\u2019s vessels or clothes we see\nthat other side of the divine king\u2019s or god-man\u2019s character to which\nattention has been already called. The divine person is a source of danger\nas well as of blessing; he must not only be guarded, he must also be\nguarded against. His sacred organism, so delicate that a touch may\ndisorder it, is also electrically charged with a powerful spiritual force\nwhich may discharge itself with fatal effect on whatever comes in contact\nwith it. Hence the isolation of the man-god is quite as necessary for the\nsafety of others as for his own. His divinity is a fire, which, under\nproper restraints, confers endless blessings, but, if rashly touched or\nallowed to break bounds, burns and destroys what it touches. Hence the\ndisastrous effects supposed to attend a breach of taboo; the offender has\nthrust his hand into the divine fire, which shrivels up and consumes him\non the spot. To take an example from the taboo we are considering. It\nhappened that a New Zealand chief of high rank and great sanctity had left\nthe remains of his dinner by the wayside. A slave, a stout, hungry fellow,\ncoming up after the chief had gone, saw the unfinished dinner, and ate it\nup without asking questions. Hardly had he finished when he was informed\nby a horror-stricken spectator that the food of which he had eaten was the\nchief\u2019s. \u201cI knew the unfortunate delinquent well. He was remarkable for\ncourage, and had signalised himself in the wars of the tribe.... No sooner\ndid he hear the fatal news than he was seized by the most extraordinary\nconvulsions and cramp in the stomach, which never ceased till he died,\nabout sundown the same day. He was a strong man, in the prime of life, and\nif any pakeha [European] freethinker should have said he was not killed by\nthe _tapu_ [taboo] of the chief, which had been communicated to the food\nby contact, he would have been listened to with feelings of contempt for\nhis ignorance and inability to understand plain and direct evidence.\u201d(562)\nThis is not a solitary case. A Maori woman having eaten of some fruit, and\nbeing afterwards told that the fruit had being taken from a tabooed place,\nexclaimed that the spirit of the chief whose sanctity had been thus\nprofaned would kill her. This was in the afternoon, and next day by twelve\no\u2019clock she was dead.(563) An observer who knows the Maoris well, says,\n\u201cTapu [taboo] is an awful weapon. I have seen a strong young man die the\nsame day he was tapued; the victims die under it as though their strength\nran out as water.\u201d(564) A Maori chief\u2019s tinder-box was once the means of\nkilling several persons; for having been lost by him, and found by some\nmen who used it to light their pipes, they died of fright on learning to\nwhom it had belonged. So too the garments of a high New Zealand chief will\nkill any one else who wears them. A chief was observed by a missionary to\nthrow down a precipice a blanket which he found too heavy to carry. Being\nasked by the missionary why he did not leave it on a tree for the use of a\nfuture traveller, the chief replied that \u201cit was the fear of its being\ntaken by another which caused him to throw it where he did, for if it were\nworn, his tapu\u201d (_i.e._ his spiritual power communicated by contact to the\nblanket and through the blanket to the man) \u201cwould kill the person.\u201d(565)\n\nNo wonder therefore that the savage should rank these human divinities\namongst what he regards as the dangerous classes, and should impose\nexactly the same restraints upon the one as upon the other. For instance,\nthose who have defiled themselves by touching a dead body are regarded by\nthe Maoris as in a very dangerous state, and are sedulously shunned and\nisolated. But the taboos observed by and towards these defiled persons\n(_e.g._ they may not touch food with their hands, and the vessels used by\nthem may not be used by other people) are identical with those observed by\nand towards sacred chiefs.(566) And, in general, the prohibition to use\nthe dress, vessels, etc., of certain persons and the effects supposed to\nfollow an infraction of the rule are exactly the same whether the persons\nto whom the things belong are sacred or what we might call unclean and\npolluted. As the garments which have been touched by a sacred chief kill\nthose who handle them, so do the things which have been touched by a\nmenstruous woman. An Australian blackfellow, who discovered that his wife\nhad lain on his blanket at her menstrual period, killed her and died of\nterror himself within a fortnight.(567) Hence Australian women at these\ntimes are forbidden under pain of death to touch anything that men use.\nThey are also secluded at child-birth, and all vessels used by them during\ntheir seclusion are burned.(568) Amongst some of the Indians of North\nAmerica also women at menstruation are forbidden to touch men\u2019s utensils,\nwhich would be so defiled by their touch that their subsequent use would\nbe attended by certain mischief or misfortune.(569) Amongst the Eskimo of\nAlaska no one will willingly drink out of the same cup or eat out of the\nsame dish that has been used by a woman at her confinement until it has\nbeen purified by certain incantations.(570) Amongst some of the Tinneh\nIndians of North America the dishes out of which girls eat during their\nseclusion at puberty \u201care used by no other person, and wholly devoted to\ntheir own use.\u201d(571) Again amongst some Indian tribes of North America men\nwho have slain enemies are considered to be in a state of uncleanness, and\nwill not eat or drink out of any dish or smoke out of any pipe but their\nown for a considerable time after the slaughter, and no one will willingly\nuse their dishes or pipes. They live in a kind of seclusion during this\ntime, at the end of which all the dishes and pipes used by them during\ntheir seclusion are burned.(572) Amongst the Kafirs, boys at circumcision\nlive secluded in a special hut, and when they are healed all the vessels\nwhich they had used during their seclusion and the boyish mantles which\nthey had hitherto worn are burned together with the hut.(573) When a young\nIndian brave is out on the war-path for the first time the vessels he eats\nand drinks out of must be touched by no one else.(574)\n\nThus the rules of ceremonial purity observed by divine kings, chiefs, and\npriests, by homicides, women at child-birth, and so on, are in some\nrespects alike. To us these different classes of persons appear to differ\ntotally in character and condition; some of them we should call holy,\nothers we might pronounce unclean and polluted. But the savage makes no\nsuch moral distinction between them; the conceptions of holiness and\npollution are not yet differentiated in his mind. To him the common\nfeature of all these persons is that they are dangerous and in danger, and\nthe danger in which they stand and to which they expose others is what we\nshould call spiritual or supernatural, that is, imaginary. The danger,\nhowever, is not less real because it is imaginary; imagination acts upon\nman as really as does gravitation, and may kill him as certainly as a dose\nof prussic acid. To seclude these persons from the rest of the world so\nthat the dreaded spiritual danger shall neither reach them, nor spread\nfrom them, is the object of the taboos which they have to observe. These\ntaboos act, so to say, as electrical insulators to preserve the spiritual\nforce with which these persons are charged from suffering or inflicting\nharm by contact with the outer world.(575)\n\nNo one was allowed to touch the body of the King or Queen of Tahiti;(576)\nand no one may touch the King of Cambodia, for any purpose whatever,\nwithout his express command. In July 1874 the king was thrown from his\ncarriage and lay insensible on the ground, but not one of his suite dared\nto touch him; a European coming to the spot carried the injured monarch to\nhis palace.(577) No one may touch the King of Corea; and if he deigns to\ntouch a subject, the spot touched becomes sacred, and the person thus\nhonoured must wear a visible mark (generally a cord of red silk) for the\nrest of his life. Above all, no iron may touch the king\u2019s body. In 1800\nKing Tieng-tsong-tai-oang died of a tumour in the back, no one dreaming of\nemploying the lancet, which would probably have saved his life. It is said\nthat one king suffered terribly from an abscess in the lip, till his\nphysician called in a jester, whose antics made the king laugh heartily,\nand so the abscess burst.(578) Roman and Sabine priests might not be\nshaved with iron but only with bronze razors or shears;(579) and whenever\nan iron graving-tool was brought into the sacred grove of the Arval\nBrothers at Rome for the purpose of cutting an inscription in stone, an\nexpiatory sacrifice of a lamb and a pig was offered, which was repeated\nwhen the graving-tool was removed from the grove.(580) In Crete sacrifices\nwere offered to Menedemus without the use of iron, because, it was said,\nMenedemus had been killed by an iron weapon in the Trojan war.(581) The\nArchon of Plataeae might not touch iron; but once a year, at the annual\ncommemoration of the men who fell at the battle of Plataeae, he was\nallowed to carry a sword wherewith to sacrifice a bull.(582) To this day a\nHottentot priest never uses an iron knife, but always a sharp splint of\nquartz in sacrificing an animal or circumcising a lad.(583) Amongst the\nMoquis of Arizona stone knives, hatchets, etc., have passed out of common\nuse, but are retained in religious ceremonies.(584) Negroes of the Gold\nCoast remove all iron or steel from their person when they consult their\nfetish.(585) The men who made the need-fire in Scotland had to divest\nthemselves of all metal.(586) In making the _clavie_ (a kind of Yule-tide\nfire-wheel) at Burghead, no hammer may be used; the hammering must be done\nwith a stone.(587) Amongst the Jews no iron tool was used in building the\ntemple at Jerusalem or in making an altar.(588) The old wooden bridge\n(_Pons Sublicius_) at Rome, which was considered sacred, was made and had\nto be kept in repair without the use of iron or bronze.(589) It was\nexpressly provided by law that the temple of Jupiter Liber at Furfo might\nbe repaired with iron tools.(590) The council chamber at Cyzicus was\nconstructed of wood without any iron nails, the beams being so arranged\nthat they could be taken out and replaced.(591) The late Raja Vijyanagram,\na member of the Viceroy\u2019s Council, and described as one of the most\nenlightened and estimable of Hindu princes, would not allow iron to be\nused in the construction of buildings within his territory, believing that\nits use would inevitably be followed by small-pox and other\nepidemics.(592)\n\nThis superstitious objection to iron perhaps dates from that early time in\nthe history of society when iron was still a novelty, and as such was\nviewed by many with suspicion and dislike. For everything new is apt to\nexcite the awe and dread of the savage. \u201cIt is a curious superstition,\u201d\nsays a recent pioneer in Borneo, \u201cthis of the Dusuns, to attribute\nanything\u2014whether good or bad, lucky or unlucky\u2014that happens to them to\nsomething novel which has arrived in their country. For instance, my\nliving in Kindram has caused the intensely hot weather we have experienced\nof late.\u201d(593) The first introduction of iron ploughshares into Poland\nhaving been followed by a succession of bad harvests, the farmers\nattributed the badness of the crops to the iron ploughshares, and\ndiscarded them for the old wooden ones.(594) The general dislike of\ninnovation, which always makes itself strongly felt in the sphere of\nreligion, is sufficient by itself to account for the superstitious\naversion to iron entertained by kings and priests and attributed by them\nto the gods; possibly this aversion may have been intensified in places by\nsome such accidental cause as the series of bad seasons which cast\ndiscredit on iron ploughshares in Poland. But the disfavour in which iron\nis held by the gods and their ministers has another side. The very fact\nthat iron is deemed obnoxious to spirits furnishes men with a weapon which\nmay be turned against the spirits when occasion serves. As their dislike\nof iron is supposed to be so great that they will not approach persons and\nthings protected by the obnoxious metal, iron may obviously be employed as\na charm for banning ghosts and other dangerous spirits. And it often is so\nused. Thus when Scotch fishermen were at sea, and one of them happened to\ntake the name of God in vain, the first man who heard him called out\n\u201cCauld airn,\u201d at which every man of the crew grasped the nearest bit of\niron and held it between his hands for a while.(595) In Morocco iron is\nconsidered a great protection against demons; hence it is usual to place a\nknife or dagger under a sick man\u2019s pillow.(596) In India \u201cthe mourner who\nperforms the ceremony of putting fire into the dead person\u2019s mouth carries\nwith him a piece of iron: it may be a key or a knife, or a simple piece of\niron, and during the whole time of his separation (for he is unclean for a\ncertain time, and no one will either touch him or eat or drink with him,\nneither can he change his clothes(597)) he carries the piece of iron about\nwith him to keep off the evil spirit. In Calcutta the Bengali clerks in\nthe Government Offices used to wear a small key on one of their fingers\nwhen they had been chief mourners.\u201d(598) In the north-east of Scotland\nimmediately after a death had taken place, a piece of iron, such as a nail\nor a knitting-wire, used to be stuck into all the meal, butter, cheese,\nflesh, and whisky in the house, \u201cto prevent death from entering them.\u201d The\nneglect of this precaution is said to have been closely followed by the\ncorruption of the food and drink; the whisky has been known to become as\nwhite as milk.(599) When iron is used as a protective charm after a death,\nas in these Hindu and Scotch customs, the spirit against which it is\ndirected is the ghost of the deceased.(600)\n\nThere is a priestly king to the north of Zengwih in Burma, revered by the\nSotih as the highest spiritual and temporal authority, into whose house no\nweapon or cutting instrument may be brought.(601) This rule may perhaps be\nexplained by a custom observed by various peoples after a death; they\nrefrain from the use of sharp instruments so long as the ghost of the\ndeceased is supposed to be near, lest they should wound it. Thus after a\ndeath the Roumanians of Transylvania are careful not to leave a knife\nlying with the sharp edge uppermost as long as the corpse remains in the\nhouse, \u201cor else the soul will be forced to ride on the blade.\u201d(602) For\nseven days after a death, the corpse being still in the house, the Chinese\nabstain from the use of knives and needles, and even of chopsticks, eating\ntheir food with their fingers.(603) Amongst the Innuit (Eskimos) of Alaska\nfor four days after a death the women in the village do no sewing, and for\nfive days the men do not cut wood with an axe.(604) On the third, sixth,\nninth, and fortieth days after the funeral the old Prussians and\nLithuanians used to prepare a meal, to which, standing at the door, they\ninvited the soul of the deceased. At these meals they sat silent round the\ntable and used no knives, and the women who served up the food were also\nwithout knives. If any morsels fell from the table they were left lying\nthere for the lonely souls that had no living relations or friends to feed\nthem. When the meal was over the priest took a broom and swept the souls\nout of the house, saying, \u201cDear souls, ye have eaten and drunk. Go forth,\ngo forth.\u201d(605) In cutting the nails and combing the hair of a dead prince\nin South Celebes only the back of the knife and of the comb may be\nused.(606) The Germans say that a knife should not be left edge upwards,\nbecause God and the spirits dwell there, or because it will cut the face\nof God and the angels.(607) We can now understand why no cutting\ninstrument may be taken into the house of the Burmese pontiff. Like so\nmany priestly kings, he is probably regarded as divine, and it is\ntherefore right that his sacred spirit should not be exposed to the risk\nof being cut or wounded whenever it quits his body to hover invisible in\nthe air or to fly on some distant mission.\n\nWe have seen that the Flamen Dialis was forbidden to touch or even name\nraw flesh.(608) In the Pelew Islands when a raid has been made on a\nvillage and a head carried off, the relations of the slain man are tabooed\nand have to submit to certain observances in order to escape the wrath of\nhis ghost. They are shut up in the house, touch no raw flesh, and chew\nbeetel over which an incantation has been uttered by the exorcist. After\nthis the ghost of the slaughtered man goes away to the enemy\u2019s country in\npursuit of his murderer.(609) The taboo is probably based on the common\nbelief that the soul or spirit of the animal is in the blood. As tabooed\npersons are believed to be in a perilous state\u2014for example, the relations\nof the slain man are liable to the attacks of his indignant ghost\u2014it is\nespecially necessary to isolate them from contact with spirits; hence the\nprohibition to touch raw meat. But as usual the taboo is only the special\nenforcement in particular circumstances of a general rule; in other words,\nits observance is particularly enjoined in circumstances which are\nsupposed especially to call for its application, but apart from such\nspecial circumstances the prohibition is also observed, though less\nstrictly, as an ordinary rule of life. Thus some of the Esthonians will\nnot taste blood because they believe that it contains the animal\u2019s soul,\nwhich would enter the body of the person who tasted the blood.(610) Some\nIndian tribes of North America, \u201cthrough a strong principle of religion,\nabstain in the strictest manner from eating the blood of any animal, as it\ncontains the life and spirit of the beast.\u201d These Indians \u201ccommonly pull\ntheir new-killed venison (before they dress it) several times through the\nsmoke and flame of the fire, both by the way of a sacrifice and to consume\nthe blood, life, or animal spirits of the beast, which with them would be\na most horrid abomination to eat.\u201d(611) Many of the Slave, Hare, and\nDogrib Indians scruple to taste the blood of game; hunters of the former\ntribes collect the blood in the animal\u2019s paunch and bury it in the\nsnow.(612) Jewish hunters poured out the blood of the game they had killed\nand covered it up with dust. They would not taste the blood, believing\nthat the soul or life of the animal was in the blood, or actually was the\nblood.(613) The same belief was held by the Romans,(614) and is shared by\nthe Arabs,(615) and by some of the Papuan tribes of New Guinea.(616)\n\nIt is a common rule that royal blood must not be shed upon the ground.\nHence when a king or one of his family is to be put to death a mode of\nexecution is devised by which the royal blood shall not be spilt upon the\nearth. About the year 1688 the generalissimo of the army rebelled against\nthe King of Siam and put him to death \u201cafter the manner of royal\ncriminals, or as princes of the blood are treated when convicted of\ncapital crimes, which is by putting them into a large iron caldron, and\npounding them to pieces with wooden pestles, because none of their royal\nblood must be spilt on the ground, it being, by their religion, thought\ngreat impiety to contaminate the divine blood by mixing it with\nearth.\u201d(617) Other Siamese modes of executing a royal person are\nstarvation, suffocation, stretching him on a scarlet cloth and thrusting a\nbillet of odoriferous \u201csaunders wood\u201d into his stomach,(618) or lastly,\nsewing him up in a leather sack with a large stone and throwing him into\nthe river; sometimes the sufferer\u2019s neck is broken with sandal-wood clubs\nbefore he is thrown into the water.(619) When Kublai Khan defeated and\ntook his uncle Nayan, who had rebelled against him, he caused Nayan to be\nput to death by being wrapt in a carpet and tossed to and fro till he\ndied, \u201cbecause he would not have the blood of his Line Imperial spilt upon\nthe ground or exposed in the eye of Heaven and before the Sun.\u201d(620)\n\u201cFriar Ricold mentions the Tartar maxim: \u2018One Khan will put another to\ndeath to get possession of the throne, but he takes great care that the\nblood be not spilt. For they say that it is highly improper that the blood\nof the Great Khan should be spilt upon the ground; so they cause the\nvictim to be smothered somehow or other.\u2019 The like feeling prevails at the\ncourt of Burma, where a peculiar mode of execution without bloodshed is\nreserved for princes of the blood.\u201d(621) In Tonquin the ordinary mode of\nexecution is beheading, but persons of the blood royal are strangled.(622)\nIn Ashantee the blood of none of the royal family may be shed; if one of\nthem is guilty of a great crime he is drowned in the river Dah.(623) In\nMadagascar the blood of nobles might not be shed; hence when four\nChristians of that class were to be executed they were burned alive.(624)\nWhen a young king of Uganda comes of age all his brothers are burnt except\ntwo or three, who are preserved to keep up the succession.(625) The\nreluctance to shed royal blood seems to be only a particular case of a\ngeneral reluctance to shed blood or at least to allow it to fall on the\nground. Marco Polo tells us that in his day persons found on the streets\nof Cambaluc (Pekin) at unseasonable hours were arrested, and if found\nguilty of a misdemeanour were beaten with a stick. \u201cUnder this punishment\npeople sometimes die, but they adopt it in order to eschew bloodshed, for\ntheir _Bacsis_ say that it is an evil thing to shed man\u2019s blood.\u201d(626)\nWhen Captain Christian was shot by the Manx Government at the Restoration\nin 1660, the spot on which he stood was covered with white blankets, that\nhis blood might not fall on the ground.(627) Amongst some primitive\npeoples, when the blood of a tribesman has to be shed it is not suffered\nto fall upon the ground, but is received upon the bodies of his fellow\ntribesmen. Thus in some Australian tribes boys who are being circumcised\nare laid on a platform, formed by the living bodies of the tribesmen;(628)\nand when a boy\u2019s tooth is knocked out as an initiatory ceremony, he is\nseated on the shoulders of a man, on whose breast the blood flows and may\nnot be wiped away.(629) When Australian blacks bleed each other as a cure\nfor headache, and so on, they are very careful not to spill any of the\nblood on the ground, but sprinkle it on each other.(630) We have already\nseen that in the Australian ceremony for making rain the blood which is\nsupposed to imitate the rain is received upon the bodies of the\ntribesmen.(631) In South Celebes at child-birth a female slave stands\nunder the house (the houses being raised on posts above the ground) and\nreceives in a basin on her head the blood which trickles through the\nbamboo floor.(632) The unwillingness to shed blood is extended by some\npeoples to the blood of animals. When the Wanika in Eastern Africa kill\ntheir cattle for food, \u201cthey either stone or beat the animal to death, so\nas not to shed the blood.\u201d(633) Amongst the Damaras cattle killed for food\nare suffocated, but when sacrificed they are speared to death.(634) But\nlike most pastoral tribes in Africa, both the Wanika and Damaras very\nseldom kill their cattle, which are indeed commonly invested with a kind\nof sanctity.(635) In killing an animal for food the Easter Islanders do\nnot shed its blood, but stun it or suffocate it in smoke.(636) The\nexplanation of the reluctance to shed blood on the ground is probably to\nbe found in the belief that the soul is in the blood, and that therefore\nany ground on which it may fall necessarily becomes taboo or sacred. In\nNew Zealand anything upon which even a drop of a high chief\u2019s blood\nchances to fall becomes taboo or sacred to him. For instance, a party of\nnatives having come to visit a chief in a fine new canoe, the chief got\ninto it, but in doing so a splinter entered his foot, and the blood\ntrickled on the canoe, which at once became sacred to him. The owner\njumped out, dragged the canoe ashore opposite the chief\u2019s house, and left\nit there. Again, a chief in entering a missionary\u2019s house knocked his head\nagainst a beam, and the blood flowed. The natives said that in former\ntimes the house would have belonged to the chief.(637) As usually happens\nwith taboos of universal application, the prohibition to spill the blood\nof a tribesman on the ground applies with peculiar stringency to chiefs\nand kings, and is observed in their case long after it has ceased to be\nobserved in the case of others.\n\nWe have seen that the Flamen Dialis was not allowed to walk under a\ntrellised vine.(638) The reason for this prohibition was perhaps as\nfollows. It has been shown that plants are considered as animate beings\nwhich bleed when cut, the red juice which exudes from some plants being\nregarded as the blood of the plant.(639) The juice of the grape is\ntherefore naturally conceived as the blood of the vine.(640) And since, as\nwe have just seen, the soul is often believed to be in the blood, the\njuice of the grape is regarded as the soul, or as containing the soul, of\nthe vine. This belief is strengthened by the intoxicating effects of wine.\nFor, according to primitive notions, all abnormal mental states, such as\nintoxication or madness, are caused by the entrance of a spirit into the\nperson; such mental states, in other words, are regarded as forms of\npossession or inspiration. Wine, therefore, is considered on two distinct\ngrounds as a spirit or containing a spirit; first because, as a red juice,\nit is identified with the blood of the plant, and second because it\nintoxicates or inspires. Therefore if the Flamen Dialis had walked under a\ntrellised vine, the spirit of the vine, embodied in the clusters of\ngrapes, would have been immediately over his head and might have touched\nit, which for a person like him in a state of permanent taboo(641) would\nhave been highly dangerous. This interpretation of the prohibition will be\nmade probable if we can show, first, that wine has been actually viewed by\nsome peoples as blood and intoxication as inspiration produced by drinking\nthe blood; and, second, that it is often considered dangerous, especially\nfor tabooed persons, to have either blood or a living person over their\nheads.\n\nWith regard to the first point, we are informed by Plutarch that of old\nthe Egyptian kings neither drank wine nor offered it in libations to the\ngods, because they held it to be the blood of beings who had once fought\nagainst the gods, the vine having sprung from their rotting bodies; and\nthe frenzy of intoxication was explained by the supposition that the\ndrunken man was filled with the blood of the enemies of the gods.(642) The\nAztecs regarded _pulque_ or the wine of the country as bad, on account of\nthe wild deeds which men did under its influence. But these wild deeds\nwere believed to be the acts, not of the drunken man, but of the wine-god\nby whom he was possessed and inspired; and so seriously was this theory of\ninspiration held that if any one spoke ill of or insulted a tipsy man, he\nwas liable to be punished for disrespect to the wine-god incarnate in his\nvotary. Hence, says Sahagun, it was believed, not without ground, that the\nIndians intoxicated themselves on purpose to commit with impunity crimes\nfor which they would certainly have been punished if they had committed\nthem sober.(643) Thus it appears that on the primitive view intoxication\nor the inspiration produced by wine is exactly parallel to the inspiration\nproduced by drinking the blood of animals.(644) The soul or life is in the\nblood, and wine is the blood of the vine. Hence whoever drinks the blood\nof an animal is inspired with the soul of the animal or of the god, who,\nas we have seen,(645) is often supposed to enter into the animal before it\nis slain; and whoever drinks wine drinks the blood, and so receives into\nhimself the soul or spirit, of the god of the vine.\n\nWith regard to the second point, the fear of passing under blood or under\na living person, we are told that some of the Australian blacks have a\ndread of passing under a leaning tree or even under the rails of a fence.\nThe reason they give is that a woman may have been upon the tree or fence,\nand some blood from her may have fallen on it and might fall from it on\nthem.(646) In Ugi, one of the Solomon Islands, a man will never, if he can\nhelp it, pass under a tree which has fallen across the path, for the\nreason that a woman may have stepped over it before him.(647) Amongst the\nKarens of Burma \u201cgoing under a house, especially if there are females\nwithin, is avoided; as is also the passing under trees of which the\nbranches extend downwards in a particular direction, and the butt-end of\nfallen trees, etc.\u201d(648) The Siamese think it unlucky to pass under a rope\non which women\u2019s clothes are hung, and to avert evil consequences the\nperson who has done so must build a chapel to the earth-spirit.(649)\n\nProbably in all such cases the rule is based on a fear of being brought\ninto contact with blood, especially the blood of women. From a like fear a\nMaori will never lean his back against the wall of a native house.(650)\nFor the blood of women is believed to have disastrous effects upon males.\nIn the Encounter Bay tribe of South Australia boys are warned that if they\nsee the blood of women they will early become gray-headed and their\nstrength will fail prematurely.(651) Men of the Booandik tribe think that\nif they see the blood of their women they will not be able to fight\nagainst their enemies and will be killed; if the sun dazzles their eyes at\na fight, the first woman they afterwards meet is sure to get a blow from\ntheir club.(652) In the island of Wetar it is thought that if a man or a\nlad comes upon a woman\u2019s blood he will be unfortunate in war and other\nundertakings, and that any precautions he may take to avoid the misfortune\nwill be vain.(653) The people of Ceram also believe that men who see\nwomen\u2019s blood will be wounded in battle.(654) Similarly the Ovaherer\u00f3\n(Damaras) of South Africa think that if they see a lying-in woman shortly\nafter child-birth they will become weaklings and will be shot when they go\nto war.(655) It is an Esthonian belief that men who see women\u2019s blood will\nsuffer from an eruption on the skin.(656)\n\nAgain, the reason for not passing under dangerous objects, like a vine or\nwomen\u2019s blood, is a fear that they may come in contact with the head; for\namong primitive people the head is peculiarly sacred. The special sanctity\nattributed to it is sometimes explained by a belief that it is the seat of\na spirit which is very sensitive to injury or disrespect. Thus the Karens\nsuppose that a being called the _tso_ resides in the upper part of the\nhead, and while it retains its seat no harm can befall the person from the\nefforts of the seven _Kelahs_, or personified passions. \u201cBut if the _tso_\nbecomes heedless or weak certain evil to the person is the result. Hence\nthe head is carefully attended to, and all possible pains are taken to\nprovide such dress and attire as will be pleasing to the _tso_.\u201d(657) The\nSiamese think that a spirit called _Khuan_, or _Chom Kuan_, dwells in the\nhuman head, of which it is the guardian spirit. The spirit must be\ncarefully protected from injury of every kind; hence the act of shaving or\ncutting the hair is accompanied with many ceremonies. The _Khuan_ is very\nsensitive on points of honour, and would feel mortally insulted if the\nhead in which he resides were touched by the hand of a stranger. When Dr.\nBastian, in conversation with a brother of the king of Siam, raised his\nhand to touch the prince\u2019s skull in order to illustrate some medical\nremarks he was making, a sullen and threatening murmur bursting from the\nlips of the crouching courtiers warned him of the breach of etiquette he\nhad committed, for in Siam there is no greater insult to a man of rank\nthan to touch his head. If a Siamese touch the head of another with his\nfoot, both of them must build chapels to the earth-spirit to avert the\nomen. Nor does the guardian spirit of the head like to have the hair\nwashed too often; it might injure or incommode him. It was a grand\nsolemnity when the king of Burmah\u2019s head was washed with water taken from\nthe middle of the river. Whenever the native professor, from whom Dr.\nBastian took lessons in Burmese at Mandalay, had his head washed, which\ntook place as a rule once a month, he was generally absent for three days\ntogether, that time being consumed in preparing for, and recovering from,\nthe operation of head-washing. Dr. Bastian\u2019s custom of washing his head\ndaily gave rise to much remark.(658)\n\nAgain, the Burmese think it an indignity to have any one, especially a\nwoman, over their heads, and for this reason Burmese houses have never\nmore than one story. The houses are raised on posts above the ground, and\nwhenever anything fell through the floor Dr. Bastian had always difficulty\nin persuading a servant to fetch it from under the house. In Rangoon a\npriest, summoned to the bedside of a sick man, climbed up a ladder and got\nin at the window rather than ascend the staircase, to reach which he must\nhave passed under a gallery. A pious Burman of Rangoon, finding some\nimages of Buddha in a ship\u2019s cabin, offered a high price for them, that\nthey might not be degraded by sailors walking over them on the deck.(659)\nSimilarily the Cambodians esteem it a grave offence to touch a man\u2019s head;\nsome of them will not enter a place where anything whatever is suspended\nover their heads; and the meanest Cambodian would never consent to live\nunder an inhabited room. Hence the houses are built of one story only; and\neven the Government respects the prejudice by never placing a prisoner in\nthe stocks under the floor of a house, though the houses are raised high\nabove the ground.(660) The same superstition exists amongst the Malays;\nfor an early traveller reports that in Java people \u201cwear nothing on their\nheads, and say that nothing must be on their heads ... and if any person\nwere to put his hand upon their head they would kill him; and they do not\nbuild houses with storeys, in order that they may not walk over each\nother\u2019s heads.\u201d(661) It is also found in full force throughout Polynesia.\nThus of Gattanewa, a Marquesan chief, it is said that \u201cto touch the top of\nhis head, or any thing which had been on his head was sacrilege. To pass\nover his head was an indignity never to be forgotten. Gattanewa, nay, all\nhis family, scorned to pass a gateway which is ever closed, or a house\nwith a door; all must be as open and free as their unrestrained manners.\nHe would pass under nothing that had been raised by the hand of man, if\nthere was a possibility of getting round or over it. Often have I seen him\nwalk the whole length of our barrier, in preference to passing between our\nwater-casks; and at the risk of his life scramble over the loose stones of\na wall, rather than go through the gateway.\u201d(662) Marquesan women have\nbeen known to refuse to go on the decks of ships for fear of passing over\nthe heads of chiefs who might be below.(663) But it was not the Marquesan\nchiefs only whose heads were sacred; the head of every Marquesan was\ntaboo, and might neither be touched nor stepped over by another; even a\nfather might not step over the head of his sleeping child.(664) No one was\nallowed to be over the head of the king of Tonga.(665) In Hawaii (the\nSandwich Islands) if a man climbed upon a chief\u2019s house or upon the wall\nof his yard, he was put to death; if his shadow fell on a chief, he was\nput to death; if he walked in the shadow of a chief\u2019s house with his head\npainted white or decked with a garland or wetted with water, he was put to\ndeath.(666) In Tahiti any one who stood over the king or queen, or passed\nhis hand over their heads, might be put to death.(667) Until certain rites\nwere performed over it, a Tahitian infant was especially taboo; whatever\ntouched the child\u2019s head, while it was in this state, became sacred and\nwas deposited in a consecrated place railed in for the purpose at the\nchild\u2019s house. If a branch of a tree touched the child\u2019s head, the tree\nwas cut down; and if in its fall it injured another tree so as to\npenetrate the bark, that tree also was cut down as unclean and unfit for\nuse. After the rites were performed, these special taboos ceased; but the\nhead of a Tahitian was always sacred, he never carried anything on it, and\nto touch it was an offence.(668) The head of a Maori chief was so sacred\nthat \u201cif he only touched it with his fingers, he was obliged immediately\nto apply them to his nose, and snuff up the sanctity which they had\nacquired by the touch, and thus restore it to the part from whence it was\ntaken.\u201d(669) In some circumstances the tabooed person is forbidden to\ntouch his head at all. Thus in North America, Tinneh girls at puberty,\nCreek lads during the year of their initiation into manhood, and young\nbraves on their first war-path, are forbidden to scratch their heads with\ntheir fingers, and are provided with a stick for the purpose.(670) But to\nreturn to the Maoris. On account of the sacredness of his head \u201ca chief\ncould not blow the fire with his mouth, for the breath being sacred,\ncommunicated his sanctity to it, and a brand might be taken by a slave, or\na man of another tribe, or the fire might be used for other purposes, such\nas cooking, and so cause his death.\u201d(671) It is a crime for a sacred\nperson in New Zealand to leave his comb, or anything else which has\ntouched his head, in a place where food has been cooked, or to suffer\nanother person to drink out of any vessel which has touched his lips.\nHence when a chief wishes to drink he never puts his lips to the vessel,\nbut holds his hands close to his mouth so as to form a hollow, into which\nwater is poured by another person, and thence is allowed to flow into his\nmouth. If a light is needed for his pipe, the burning ember taken from the\nfire must be thrown away as soon as it is used; for the pipe becomes\nsacred because it has touched his mouth; the coal becomes sacred because\nit has touched the pipe; and if a particle of the sacred cinder were\nreplaced on the common fire, the fire would also become sacred and could\nno longer be used for cooking.(672) Some Maori chiefs, like other\nPolynesians, object to go down into a ship\u2019s cabin from fear of people\npassing over their heads.(673) Dire misfortune was thought by the Maoris\nto await those who entered a house where any article of animal food was\nsuspended over their heads. \u201cA dead pigeon, or a piece of pork hung from\nthe roof was a better protection from molestation than a sentinel.\u201d(674)\nIf I am right, the reason for the special objection to having animal food\nover the head is the fear of bringing the sacred head into contact with\nthe spirit of the animal; just as the reason why the Flamen Dialis might\nnot walk under a vine was the fear of bringing his sacred head into\ncontact with the spirit of the vine.\n\nWhen the head was considered so sacred that it might not even be touched\nwithout grave offence, it is obvious that the cutting of the hair must\nhave been a delicate and difficult operation. The difficulties and dangers\nwhich, on the primitive view, beset the operation are of two kinds. There\nis first the danger of disturbing the spirit of the head, which may be\ninjured in the process and may revenge itself upon the person who molests\nhim. Secondly, there is the difficulty of disposing of the shorn locks.\nFor the savage believes that the sympathetic connection which exists\nbetween himself and every part of his body continues to exist even after\nthe physical connection has been severed, and that therefore he will\nsuffer from any harm that may befall the severed parts of his body, such\nas the clippings of his hair or the parings of his nails. Accordingly he\ntakes care that these severed portions of himself shall not be left in\nplaces where they might either be exposed to accidental injury or fall\ninto the hands of malicious persons who might work magic on them to his\ndetriment or death. Such dangers are common to all, but sacred persons\nhave more to fear from them than ordinary people, so the precautions taken\nby them are proportionately stringent. The simplest way of evading the\ndanger is of course not to cut the hair at all; and this is the expedient\nadopted where the danger is thought to be more than usually great. The\nFrankish kings were not allowed to cut their hair.(675) A Haida\nmedicine-man may neither cut nor comb his hair, so it is always long and\ntangled.(676) Amongst the Alfoers of Celebes the _Leleen_ or priest who\nlooks after the rice-fields may not cut his hair during the time that he\nexercises his special functions, that is, from a month before the rice is\nsown until it is housed.(677) In Ceram men do not cut their hair: if\nmarried men did so, they would lose their wives; if young men did so, they\nwould grow weak and enervated.(678) In Timorlaut, married men may not cut\ntheir hair for the same reason as in Ceram, but widowers and men on a\njourney may do so after offering a fowl or a pig in sacrifice.(679) Here\nmen on a journey are specially permitted to cut their hair; but elsewhere\nmen travelling abroad have been in the habit of leaving their hair uncut\nuntil their return. The reason for the latter custom is probably the\ndanger to which, as we have seen, a traveller is believed to be exposed\nfrom the magic arts of the strangers amongst whom he sojourns; if they got\npossession of his shorn hair, they might work his destruction through it.\nThe Egyptians on a journey kept their hair uncut till they returned\nhome.(680) \u201cAt T\u00e2if when a man returned from a journey his first duty was\nto visit the Rabba and poll his hair.\u201d(681) The custom of keeping the hair\nunshorn during a dangerous expedition seems to have been observed, at\nleast occasionally, by the Romans.(682) Achilles kept unshorn his yellow\nhair, because his father had vowed to offer it to the river Sperchius if\never his son came home from the wars beyond the sea.(683) Again, men who\nhave taken a vow of vengeance sometimes keep their hair unshorn till they\nhave fulfilled their vow. Thus of the Marquesans we are told that\n\u201coccasionally they have their head entirely shaved, except one lock on the\ncrown, which is worn loose or put up in a knot. But the latter mode of\nwearing the hair is only adopted by them when they have a solemn vow, as\nto revenge the death of some near relation, etc. In such case the lock is\nnever cut off until they have fulfilled their promise.\u201d(684) Six thousand\nSaxons once swore that they would not cut their hair nor shave their\nbeards until they had taken vengeance on their enemies.(685) On one\noccasion a Hawaiian taboo is said to have lasted thirty years \u201cduring\nwhich the men were not allowed to trim their beards, etc.\u201d(686) While his\nvow lasted, a Nazarite might not have his hair cut: \u201cAll the days of the\nvow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head.\u201d(687)\nPossibly in this case there was a special objection to touching the\ntabooed man\u2019s head with iron. The Roman priests, as we have seen, were\nshorn with bronze knives. The same feeling probably gave rise to the\nEuropean rule that a child\u2019s nails should not be cut during the first\nyear, but that if it is absolutely necessary to shorten them they should\nbe bitten off by the mother or nurse.(688) For in all parts of the world a\nyoung child is believed to be especially exposed to supernatural dangers,\nand particular precautions are taken to guard it against them; in other\nwords, the child is under a number of taboos, of which the rule just\nmentioned is one. \u201cAmong Hindus the usual custom seems to be that the\nnails of a first-born child are cut at the age of six months. With other\nchildren a year or two is allowed to elapse.\u201d(689) The Slave, Hare, and\nDogrib Indians of North America do not cut the nails of female children\ntill they are four years of age.(690) In some parts of Germany it is\nthought that if a child\u2019s hair is combed in its first year the child will\nbe unlucky;(691) or that if a boy\u2019s hair is cut before his seventh year he\nwill have no courage.(692)\n\nBut when it is necessary to cut the hair, precautions are taken to lessen\nthe dangers which are supposed to attend the operation. Amongst the Maoris\nmany spells were uttered at hair-cutting; one, for example, was spoken to\nconsecrate the obsidian knife with which the hair was cut; another was\npronounced to avert the thunder and lightning which hair-cutting was\nbelieved to cause.(693) \u201cHe who has had his hair cut is in the immediate\ncharge of the Atua (spirit); he is removed from the contact and society of\nhis family and his tribe; he dare not touch his food himself; it is put\ninto his mouth by another person; nor can he for some days resume his\naccustomed occupations or associate with his fellow men.\u201d(694) The person\nwho cuts the hair is also tabooed; his hands having been in contact with a\nsacred head, he may not touch food with them or engage in any other\nemployment; he is fed by another person with food cooked over a sacred\nfire. He cannot be released from the taboo before the following day, when\nhe rubs his hands with potato or fern root which has been cooked on a\nsacred fire; and this food having been taken to the head of the family in\nthe female line and eaten by her, his hands are freed from the taboo. In\nsome parts of New Zealand the most sacred day of the year was that\nappointed for hair-cutting; the people assembled in large numbers on that\nday from all the neighbourhood.(695) It is an affair of state when the\nking of Cambodia\u2019s hair is cut. The priests place on the barber\u2019s fingers\ncertain old rings set with large stones, which are supposed to contain\nspirits favourable to the kings, and during the operation the Brahmans\nkeep up a noisy music to drive away the evil spirits.(696) The hair and\nnails of the Mikado could only be cut while he was asleep,(697) perhaps\nbecause his soul being then absent from his body, there was less chance of\ninjuring it with the shears.\n\nBut even when the hair and nails have been safely cut, there remains the\ndifficulty of disposing of them, for their owner believes himself liable\nto suffer from any harm that may befall them. Thus, an Australian girl,\nsick of a fever, attributed her illness to the fact that some months\nbefore a young man had come behind her and cut off a lock of her hair; she\nwas sure he had buried it and that it was rotting. \u201cHer hair,\u201d she said,\n\u201cwas rotting somewhere, and her _Marm-bu-la_ (kidney fat) was wasting\naway, and when her hair had completely rotted, she would die.\u201d(698) A\nMarquesan chief told Lieutenant Gamble that he was extremely ill, the\nHappah tribe having stolen a lock of his hair and buried it in a plantain\nleaf for the purpose of taking his life. Lieut. Gamble argued with him,\nbut in vain; die he must unless the hair and the plantain leaf were\nbrought back to him; and to obtain them he had offered the Happahs the\ngreater part of his property. He complained of excessive pain in the head,\nbreast and sides.(699) When an Australian blackfellow wishes to get rid of\nhis wife, he cuts off a lock of her hair in her sleep, ties it to his\nspear-thrower, and goes with it to a neighbouring tribe, where he gives it\nto a friend. His friend sticks the spear-thrower up every night before the\ncamp fire, and when it falls down it is a sign that his wife is dead.(700)\nThe way in which the charm operates was explained to Mr. Howitt by a\nMirajuri man. \u201cYou see,\u201d he said, \u201cwhen a blackfellow doctor gets hold of\nsomething belonging to a man and roasts it with things, and sings over it,\nthe fire catches hold of the smell of the man, and that settles the poor\nfellow.\u201d(701) In Germany it is a common notion that if birds find a\nperson\u2019s cut hair, and build their nests with it, the person will suffer\nfrom headache;(702) sometimes it is thought that he will have an eruption\non the head.(703) Again it is thought that cut or combed out hair may\ndisturb the weather by producing rain and hail, thunder and lightning. We\nhave seen that in New Zealand a spell was uttered at hair-cutting to avert\nthunder and lightning. In the Tirol, witches are supposed to use cut or\ncombed out hair to make hail-stones or thunder-storms with.(704) Thlinket\nIndians have been known to attribute stormy weather to the fact that a\ngirl had combed her hair outside of the house.(705) The Romans seem to\nhave held similar views, for it was a maxim with them that no one on\nshipboard should cut his hair or nails except in a storm,(706) that is,\nwhen the mischief was already done. In West Africa, when the Mani of\nChitombe or Jumba died, the people used to run in crowds to the corpse and\ntear out his hair, teeth, and nails, which they kept as a rain-charm,\nbelieving that otherwise no rain would fall. The Makoko of Anzikos begged\nthe missionaries to give him half their beards as a rain-charm.(707) In\nsome Victorian tribes the sorcerer used to burn human hair in time of\ndrought; it was never burned at other times for fear of causing a deluge\nof rain. Also when the river was low, the sorcerer would place human hair\nin the stream to increase the supply of water.(708)\n\nTo preserve the cut hair and nails from injury and from the dangerous uses\nto which they may be put by sorcerers, it is necessary to deposit them in\nsome safe place. Hence the natives of the Maldives carefully keep the\ncuttings of their hair and nails and bury them, with a little water, in\nthe cemeteries; \u201cfor they would not for the world tread upon them nor cast\nthem in the fire, for they say that they are part of their body and demand\nburial as it does; and, indeed, they fold them neatly in cotton; and most\nof them like to be shaved at the gates of temples and mosques.\u201d(709) In\nNew Zealand the severed hair was deposited on some sacred spot of ground\n\u201cto protect it from being touched accidentally or designedly by any\none.\u201d(710) The shorn locks of a chief were gathered with much care and\nplaced in an adjoining cemetery.(711) The Tahitians buried the cuttings of\ntheir hair at the temples.(712) The cut hair and nails of the Flamen\nDialis were buried under a lucky tree.(713) The hair of the Vestal virgins\nwas hung upon an ancient lotus-tree.(714) In Germany the clippings of hair\nused often to be buried under an elder-bush.(715) In Oldenburg cut hair\nand nails are wrapt in a cloth which is deposited in a hole in an\nelder-tree three days before the new moon; the hole is then plugged\nup.(716) In the West of Northumberland it is thought that if the first\nparings of a child\u2019s nails are buried under an ash-tree, the child will\nturn out a fine singer.(717) In Amboina before a child may taste sago-pap\nfor the first time, the father cuts off a lock of the child\u2019s hair which\nhe buries under a sago palm.(718) In the Aru Islands, when a child is able\nto run alone, a female relation cuts off a lock of its hair and deposits\nit on a banana-tree.(719) In the island of Roti it is thought that the\nfirst hair which a child gets is not his own and that, if it is not cut\noff, it will make him weak and ill. Hence, when the child is about a month\nold, his hair is cut off with much ceremony. As each of the friends who\nare invited to the ceremony enters the house he goes up to the child, cuts\noff a little of its hair and drops it into a cocoa-nut shell full of\nwater. Afterwards the father or another relation takes the hair and packs\nit into a little bag made of leaves, which he fastens to the top of a\npalm-tree. Then he gives the leaves of the palm a good shaking, climbs\ndown, and goes home without speaking to any one.(720) Indians of the Yukon\nterritory, Alaska, do not throw away their cut hair and nails, but tie\nthem up in little bundles and place them in the crotches of trees or\nanywhere where they will not be disturbed by animals. For \u201cthey have a\nsuperstition that disease will follow the disturbance of such remains by\nanimals.\u201d(721) The clipped hair and nails are often buried in any secret\nplace, not necessarily in a temple or cemetery or under a tree, as in the\ncases already mentioned. In Swabia it is said that cut hair should be\nburied in a place where neither sun nor moon shines, therefore in the\nground, under a stone, etc.(722) In Danzig it is buried in a bag under the\nthreshold.(723) In Ugi, one of the Solomon Islands, men bury their hair\nlest it should fall into the hands of an enemy who would make magic with\nit and so bring sickness or calamity on them.(724) The Zend Avesta directs\nthat the clippings of hair and the parings of nails shall be placed in\nseparate holes, and that three, six, or nine furrows shall be drawn round\neach hole with a metal knife.(725) In the Grihya-S\u00fbtras it is provided\nthat the hair cut from a child\u2019s head at the end of the first, third,\nfifth, or seventh year shall be buried in the earth at a place covered\nwith grass or in the neighbourhood of water.(726) The Madi or Moru tribe\nof Central Africa bury the parings of their nails in the ground.(727) The\nKafirs carry still further this dread of allowing any portion of\nthemselves to fall into the hands of an enemy; for not only do they bury\ntheir cut hair and nails in a sacred place, but when one of them cleans\nthe head of another he preserves the insects which he finds, \u201ccarefully\ndelivering them to the person to whom they originally appertained,\nsupposing, according to their theory, that as they derived their support\nfrom the blood of the man from whom they were taken, should they be killed\nby another the blood of his neighbour would be in his possession, thus\nplacing in his hands the power of some superhuman influence.\u201d(728) Amongst\nthe Wanyoro of Central Africa all cuttings of the hair and nails are\ncarefully stored under the bed and afterwards strewed about among the tall\ngrass.(729) In North Guinea they are carefully hidden (it is not said\nwhere) \u201cin order that they may not be used as a fetish for the destruction\nof him to whom they belong.\u201d(730) In Bolang Mongondo (Celebes) the first\nhair cut from a child\u2019s head is kept in a young cocoa-nut, which is\ncommonly hung on the front of the house, under the roof.(731)\n\nSometimes the severed hair and nails are preserved, not to prevent them\nfrom falling into the hands of a magician, but that the owner may have\nthem at the resurrection of the body, to which some races look forward.\nThus the Incas of Peru \u201ctook extreme care to preserve the nail-parings and\nthe hairs that were shorn off or torn out with a comb; placing them in\nholes or niches in the walls, and if they fell out, any other Indian that\nsaw them picked them up and put them in their places again. I very often\nasked different Indians, at various times, why they did this, in order to\nsee what they would say, and they all replied in the same words, saying,\n\u2018Know that all persons who are born must return to life\u2019 (they have no\nword to express resuscitation), \u2018and the souls must rise out of their\ntombs with all that belonged to their bodies. We, therefore, in order that\nwe may not have to search for our hair and nails at a time when there will\nbe much hurry and confusion, place them in one place, that they may be\nbrought together more conveniently, and, whenever it is possible, we are\nalso careful to spit in one place.\u2019 \u201d(732) In Chile this custom of\nstuffing the shorn hair into holes in the wall is still observed, it being\nthought the height of imprudence to throw the hair away.(733) Similarly\nthe Turks never throw away the parings of their nails, but carefully keep\nthem in cracks of the walls or of the boards, in the belief that they will\nbe needed at the resurrection.(734) Some of the Esthonians keep the\nparings of their finger and toe nails in their bosom, in order to have\nthem at hand when they are asked for them at the day of judgment.(735) The\nFors of Central Africa object to cut any one else\u2019s nails, for should the\npart cut off be lost and not delivered into its owner\u2019s hands, it will\nhave to be made up to him somehow or other after death. The parings are\nburied in the ground.(736) To spit upon the hair before throwing it away\nis thought in some parts of Europe sufficient to prevent its being used by\nwitches.(737) Spitting as a protective charm is well known.\n\nSome people burn their loose hair to save it from falling into the power\nof sorcerers. This is done by the Patagonians and some of the Victorian\ntribes.(738) The Makololo of South Africa either burn it or bury it\nsecretly,(739) and the same alternative is sometimes adopted by the\nTirolese.(740) Cut and combed out hair is burned in Pomerania and\nsometimes at Li\u00e9ge.(741) In Norway the parings of nails are either burned\nor buried, lest the elves or the Finns should find them and make them into\nbullets wherewith to shoot the cattle.(742) This destruction of the hair\nor nails plainly involves an inconsistency of thought. The object of the\ndestruction is avowedly to prevent these severed portions of the body from\nbeing used by sorcerers. But the possibility of their being so used\ndepends upon the supposed sympathetic connection between them and the man\nfrom whom they were severed. And if this sympathetic connection still\nexists, clearly these severed portions cannot be destroyed without injury\nto the man.\n\nBefore leaving this subject, on which I have perhaps dwelt too long, it\nmay be well to call attention to the motive assigned for cutting a young\nchild\u2019s hair in Roti.(743) In that island the first hair is regarded as a\ndanger to the child, and its removal is intended to avert the danger. The\nreason of this may be that as a young child is almost universally supposed\nto be in a tabooed or dangerous state, it is necessary, in removing the\ntaboo, to destroy the separable parts of the child\u2019s body on the ground\nthat they are infected, so to say, by the virus of the taboo and as such\nare dangerous. The cutting of the child\u2019s hair would thus be exactly\nparallel to the destruction of the vessels which have been used by a\ntabooed person.(744) This view is borne out by a practice, observed by\nsome Australians, of burning off part of a woman\u2019s hair after childbirth\nas well as burning every vessel which has been used by her during her\nseclusion.(745) Here the burning of the woman\u2019s hair seems plainly\nintended to serve the same purpose as the burning of the vessels used by\nher; and as the vessels are burned because they are believed to be tainted\nwith a dangerous infection, so, we must suppose, is also the hair. We can,\ntherefore, understand the importance attached by many peoples to the first\ncutting of a child\u2019s hair and the elaborate ceremonies by which the\noperation is accompanied.(746) Again, we can understand why a man should\npoll his head after a journey.(747) For we have seen that a traveller is\noften believed to contract a dangerous infection from strangers and that,\ntherefore, on his return home he is obliged to submit to various\npurificatory ceremonies before he is allowed to mingle freely with his own\npeople.(748) On my hypothesis the polling of the hair is simply one of\nthese purificatory or disinfectant ceremonies. The cutting of the hair\nafter a vow may have the same meaning. It is a way of ridding the man of\nwhat has been infected by the dangerous state of taboo, sanctity, or\nuncleanness (for all these are only different expressions for the same\nprimitive conception) under which he laboured during the continuance of\nthe vow. Similarly at some Hindu places of pilgrimage on the banks of\nrivers men who have committed great crimes or are troubled by uneasy\nconsciences have every hair shaved off by professional barbers before they\nplunge into the sacred stream, from which \u201cthey emerge new creatures, with\nall the accumulated guilt of a long life effaced.\u201d(749)\n\nAs might have been expected, the superstitions of the savage cluster thick\nabout the subject of food; and he abstains from eating many animals and\nplants, wholesome enough in themselves, but which for one reason or\nanother he considers would prove dangerous or fatal to the eater. Examples\nof such abstinence are too familiar and far too numerous to quote. But if\nthe ordinary man is thus deterred by superstitious fear from partaking of\nvarious foods, the restraints of this kind which are laid upon sacred or\ntabooed persons, such as kings and priests, are still more numerous and\nstringent. We have already seen that the Flamen Dialis was forbidden to\neat or even name several plants and animals, and that the flesh diet of\nthe Egyptian kings was restricted to veal and goose.(750) The _Gangas_ or\nfetish priests of the Loango Coast are forbidden to eat or even see a\nvariety of animals and fish, in consequence of which their flesh diet is\nextremely limited; often they live only on herbs and roots, though they\nmay drink fresh blood.(751) The heir to the throne of Loango is forbidden\nfrom infancy to eat pork; from early childhood he is interdicted the use\nof the _cola_ fruit in company; at puberty he is taught by a priest not to\npartake of fowls except such as he has himself killed and cooked; and so\nthe number of taboos goes on increasing with his years.(752) In Fernando\nPo the king after installation is forbidden to eat _cocco_ (_arum\nacaule_), deer, and porcupine, which are the ordinary foods of the\npeople.(753) Amongst the Murrams of Manipur (a district of Eastern India,\non the border of Burma), \u201cthere are many prohibitions in regard to the\nfood, both animal and vegetable, which the chief should eat, and the\nMurrams say the chief\u2019s post must be a very uncomfortable one.\u201d(754) To\nexplain the ultimate reason why any particular food is prohibited to a\nwhole tribe or to certain of its members would commonly require a far more\nintimate knowledge of the history and beliefs of the tribe than we\npossess. The general motive of such prohibitions is doubtless the same\nwhich underlies the whole taboo system, namely, the conservation of the\ntribe and the individual.\n\nIt would be easy to extend the list of royal and priestly taboos, but the\nabove may suffice as specimens. To conclude this part of our subject it\nonly remains to state summarily the general conclusions to which our\ninquiries have thus far conducted us. We have seen that in savage or\nbarbarous society there are often found men to whom the superstition of\ntheir fellows ascribes a controlling influence over the general course of\nnature. Such men are accordingly adored and treated as gods. Whether these\nhuman divinities also hold temporal sway over the lives and fortunes of\ntheir fellows, or whether their functions are purely spiritual and\nsupernatural, in other words, whether they are kings as well as gods or\nonly the latter, is a distinction which hardly concerns us here. Their\nsupposed divinity is the essential fact with which we have to deal. In\nvirtue of it they are a pledge and guarantee to their worshippers of the\ncontinuance and orderly succession of those physical phenomena upon which\nmankind depends for subsistence. Naturally, therefore, the life and health\nof such a god-man are matters of anxious concern to the people whose\nwelfare and even existence are bound up with his; naturally he is\nconstrained by them to conform to such rules as the wit of early man has\ndevised for averting the ills to which flesh is heir, including the last\nill, death. These rules, as an examination of them has shown, are nothing\nbut the maxims with which, on the primitive view, every man of common\nprudence must comply if he would live long in the land. But while in the\ncase of ordinary men the observance of the rules is left to the choice of\nthe individual, in the case of the god-man it is enforced under penalty of\ndismissal from his high station, or even of death. For his worshippers\nhave far too great a stake in his life to allow him to play fast and loose\nwith it. Therefore all the quaint superstitions, the old-world maxims, the\nvenerable saws which the ingenuity of savage philosophers elaborated long\nago, and which old women at chimney corners still impart as treasures of\ngreat price to their descendants gathered round the cottage fire on winter\nevenings\u2014all these antique fancies clustered, all these cobwebs of the\nbrain were spun about the path of the old king, the human god, who,\nimmeshed in them like a fly in the toils of a spider, could hardly stir a\nlimb for the threads of custom, \u201clight as air but strong as links of\niron,\u201d that crossing and recrossing each other in an endless maze bound\nhim fast within a network of observances from which death or deposition\nalone could release him.\n\nTo students of the past the life of the old kings and priests thus teems\nwith instruction. In it was summed up all that passed for wisdom when the\nworld was young. It was the perfect pattern after which every man strove\nto shape his life; a faultless model constructed with rigorous accuracy\nupon the lines laid down by a barbarous philosophy. Crude and false as\nthat philosophy may seem to us, it would be unjust to deny it the merit of\nlogical consistency. Starting from a conception of the vital principle as\na tiny being or soul existing in, but distinct and separable from, the\nliving being, it deduces for the practical guidance of life a system of\nrules which in general hangs well together and forms a fairly complete and\nharmonious whole. The flaw\u2014and it is a fatal one\u2014of the system lies not in\nits reasoning, but in its premises; in its conception of the nature of\nlife, not in any irrelevancy of the conclusions which it draws from that\nconception. But to stigmatise these premises as ridiculous because we can\neasily detect their falseness, would be ungrateful as well as\nunphilosophical. We stand upon the foundation reared by the generations\nthat have gone before, and we can but dimly realise the painful and\nprolonged efforts which it has cost humanity to struggle up to the point,\nno very exalted one after all, which we have reached. Our gratitude is due\nto the nameless and forgotten toilers, whose patient thought and active\nexertions have largely made us what we are. The amount of new knowledge\nwhich one age, certainly which one man, can add to the common store is\nsmall, and it argues stupidity or dishonesty, besides ingratitude, to\nignore the heap while vaunting the few grains which it may have been our\nprivilege to add to it. There is indeed little danger at present of\nundervaluing the contributions which modern times and even classical\nantiquity have made to the general advancement of our race. But when we\npass these limits, the case is different. Contempt and ridicule or\nabhorrence and denunciation are too often the only recognition vouchsafed\nto the savage and his ways. Yet of the benefactors whom we are bound\nthankfully to commemorate, many, perhaps most, were savages. For when all\nis said and done our resemblances to the savage are still far more\nnumerous than our differences from him; and what we have in common with\nhim, and deliberately retain as true and useful, we owe to our savage\nforefathers who slowly acquired by experience and transmitted to us by\ninheritance those seemingly fundamental ideas which we are apt to regard\nas original and intuitive. We are like heirs to a fortune which has been\nhanded down for so many ages that the memory of those who built it up is\nlost, and its possessors for the time being regard it as having been an\noriginal and unalterable possession of their race since the beginning of\nthe world. But reflection and inquiry should satisfy us that to our\npredecessors we are indebted for much of what we thought most our own, and\nthat their errors were not wilful extravagances or the ravings of\ninsanity, but simply hypotheses, justifiable as such at the time when they\nwere propounded, but which a fuller experience has proved to be\ninadequate. It is only by the successive testing of hypotheses and\nrejection of the false that truth is at last elicited. After all, what we\ncall truth is only the hypothesis which is found to work best. Therefore\nin reviewing the opinions and practices of ruder ages and races we shall\ndo well to look with leniency upon their errors as inevitable slips made\nin the search for truth, and to give them the benefit of that indulgence\nwhich we may one day stand in need of ourselves: _cum excusatione itaque\nveteres audiendi sunt_.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III. KILLING THE GOD.\n\n\n    \u201cSed adhuc supersunt aliae superstitiones, quarum secreta pandenda\n    sunt, ... ut et in istis profanis religionibus sciatis mortes esse\n    hominum consecratas.\u201d\u2014FIRMICUS MATERNUS, _De errore profanarum\n    religionum_, c. 6.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 1.\u2014Killing the divine king.\n\n\nLacking the idea of eternal duration primitive man naturally supposes the\ngods to be mortal like himself. The Greenlanders believed that a wind\ncould kill their most powerful god, and that he would certainly die if he\ntouched a dog. When they heard of the Christian God, they kept asking if\nhe _never_ died, and being informed that he did not, they were much\nsurprised and said that he must be a very great god indeed.(755) In answer\nto the inquiries of Colonel Dodge, a North American Indian stated that the\nworld was made by the Great Spirit. Being asked which Great Spirit he\nmeant, the good one or the bad one, \u201cOh, neither of _them_\u201d replied he,\n\u201cthe Great Spirit that made the world is dead long ago. He could not\npossibly have lived as long as this.\u201d(756) A tribe in the Philippine\nIslands told the Spanish conquerors that the grave of the Creator was upon\nthe top of Mount Cabunian.(757) Heitsi-eibib, a god or divine hero of the\nHottentots, died several times and came to life again. His graves are\ngenerally to be met with in narrow passes between mountains.(758) The\ngrave of Zeus, the great god of Greece, was shown to visitors in Crete as\nlate as about the beginning of our era.(759) The body of Dionysus was\nburied at Delphi beside the golden statue of Apollo, and his tomb bore the\ninscription, \u201cHere lies Dionysus dead, the son of Semele.\u201d(760) According\nto one account, Apollo himself was buried at Delphi; for Pythagoras is\nsaid to have carved an inscription on his tomb, setting forth how the god\nhad been killed by the python and buried under the tripod.(761) Cronus was\nburied in Sicily,(762) and the graves of Hermes, Aphrodite, and Ares were\nshown in Hermopolis, Cyprus, and Thrace.(763)\n\nIf the great invisible gods are thus supposed to die, it is not to be\nexpected that a god who dwells in the flesh and blood of a man should\nescape the same fate. Now primitive peoples, as we have seen, sometimes\nbelieve that their safety and even that of the world is bound up with the\nlife of one of these god-men or human incarnations of the divinity.\nNaturally, therefore, they take the utmost care of his life, out of a\nregard for their own. But no amount of care and precaution will prevent\nthe man-god from growing old and feeble and at last dying. His worshippers\nhave to lay their account with this sad necessity and to meet it as best\nthey can. The danger is a formidable one; for if the course of nature is\ndependent on the man-god\u2019s life, what catastrophes may not be expected\nfrom the gradual enfeeblement of his powers and their final extinction in\ndeath? There is only one way of averting these dangers. The man-god must\nbe killed as soon as he shows symptoms that his powers are beginning to\nfail, and his soul must be transferred to a vigorous successor before it\nhas been seriously impaired by the threatened decay. The advantages of\nthus putting the man-god to death instead of allowing him to die of old\nage and disease are, to the savage, obvious enough. For if the man-god\ndies what we call a natural death, it means, according to the savage, that\nhis soul has either voluntarily departed from his body and refuses to\nreturn, or more commonly that it has been extracted or at least detained\nin its wanderings by a demon or sorcerer.(764) In any of these cases the\nsoul of the man-god is lost to his worshippers; and with it their\nprosperity is gone and their very existence endangered. Even if they could\narrange to catch the soul of the dying god as it left his lips or his\nnostrils and so transfer it to a successor, this would not effect their\npurpose; for, thus dying of disease, his soul would necessarily leave his\nbody in the last stage of weakness and exhaustion, and as such it would\ncontinue to drag out a feeble existence in the body to which it might be\ntransferred. Whereas by killing him his worshippers could, in the first\nplace, make sure of catching his soul as it escaped and transferring it to\na suitable successor; and, in the second place, by killing him before his\nnatural force was abated, they would secure that the world should not fall\ninto decay with the decay of the man-god. Every purpose, therefore, was\nanswered, and all dangers averted by thus killing the man-god and\ntransferring his soul, while yet at its prime, to a vigorous successor.\n\nSome of the reasons for preferring a violent death to the slow death of\nold age or disease are obviously as applicable to common men as to the\nman-god. Thus the Mangaians think that \u201cthe spirits of those who die a\nnatural death are excessively feeble and weak, as their bodies were at\ndissolution; whereas the spirits of those who are slain in battle are\nstrong and vigorous, their bodies not having been reduced by\ndisease.\u201d(765) Hence, men sometimes prefer to kill themselves or to be\nkilled before they grow feeble, in order that in the future life their\nsouls may start fresh and vigorous as they left their bodies, instead of\ndecrepit and worn out with age and disease. Thus in Fiji, \u201cself-immolation\nis by no means rare, and they believe that as they leave this life, so\nthey will remain ever after. This forms a powerful motive to escape from\ndecrepitude, or from a crippled condition, by a voluntary death.\u201d(766) Or,\nas another observer of the Fijians puts it more fully, \u201cthe custom of\nvoluntary suicide on the part of the old men, which is among their most\nextraordinary usages, is also connected with their superstitions\nrespecting a future life. They believe that persons enter upon the\ndelights of their elysium with the same faculties, mental and physical,\nthat they possess at the hour of death, in short, that the spiritual life\ncommences where the corporeal existence terminates. With these views, it\nis natural that they should desire to pass through this change before\ntheir mental and bodily powers are so enfeebled by age as to deprive them\nof their capacity for enjoyment. To this motive must be added the contempt\nwhich attaches to physical weakness among a nation of warriors, and the\nwrongs and insults which await those who are no longer able to protect\nthemselves. When therefore a man finds his strength declining with the\nadvance of age, and feels that he will soon be unequal to discharge the\nduties of this life, and to partake in the pleasures of that which is to\ncome, he calls together his relations, and tells them that he is now worn\nout and useless, that he sees they are all ashamed of him, and that he has\ndetermined to be buried.\u201d So on a day appointed they meet and bury him\nalive.(767) In Vat\u00e9 (New Hebrides) the aged were buried alive at their own\nrequest. It was considered a disgrace to the family of an old chief if he\nwas not buried alive.(768) Of the Kamants, a Jewish tribe in Abyssinia, it\nis reported that \u201cthey never let a person die a natural death, but if any\nof their relatives is nearly expiring, the priest of the village is called\nto cut his throat; if this be omitted, they believe that the departed soul\nhas not entered the mansions of the blessed.\u201d(769)\n\nBut it is with the death of the god-man\u2014the divine king or priest\u2014that we\nare here especially concerned. The people of Congo believed, as we have\nseen, that if their pontiff the Chitom\u00e9 were to die a natural death, the\nworld would perish, and the earth, which he alone sustained by his power\nand merit, would immediately be annihilated. Accordingly when he fell ill\nand seemed likely to die, the man who was destined to be his successor\nentered the pontiff\u2019s house with a rope or a club and strangled or clubbed\nhim to death.(770) The Ethiopian kings of Meroe were worshipped as gods;\nbut whenever the priests chose, they sent a messenger to the king,\nordering him to die, and alleging an oracle of the gods as their authority\nfor the command. This command the kings always obeyed down to the reign of\nErgamenes, a contemporary of Ptolemy II, King of Egypt. Having received a\nGreek education which emancipated him from the superstitions of his\ncountrymen, Ergamenes ventured to disregard the command of the priests,\nand, entering the Golden Temple with a body of soldiers, put the priests\nto the sword.(771) In the kingdom of Unyoro in Central Africa, custom\nstill requires that as soon as the king falls seriously ill or begins to\nbreak up from age, he shall be killed by his own wives; for, according to\nan old prophecy, the throne will pass away from the dynasty in the event\nof the king dying a natural death.(772) When the king of Kibanga, on the\nUpper Congo, seems near his end, the sorcerers put a rope round his neck,\nwhich they draw gradually tighter till he dies.(773) It seems to have been\na Zulu custom to put the king to death as soon as he began to have\nwrinkles or gray hairs. At least this seems implied in the following\npassage, written by one who resided for some time at the court of the\nnotorious Zulu tyrant Chaka, in the early part of this century: \u201cThe\nextraordinary violence of the king\u2019s rage with me was mainly occasioned by\nthat absurd nostrum, the hair oil, with the notion of which Mr. Farewell\nhad impressed him as being a specific for removing all indications of age.\nFrom the first moment of his having heard that such a preparation was\nattainable, he evinced a solicitude to procure it, and on every occasion\nnever forgot to remind us of his anxiety respecting it; more especially on\nour departure on the mission his injunctions were particularly directed to\nthis object. It will be seen that it is one of the barbarous customs of\nthe Zoolas in their choice or election of their kings that he must neither\nhave wrinkles nor gray hairs, as they are both distinguishing marks of\ndisqualification for becoming a monarch of a warlike people. It is also\nequally indispensable that their king should never exhibit those proofs of\nhaving become unfit and incompetent to reign; it is therefore important\nthat they should conceal these indications so long as they possibly can.\nChaka had become greatly apprehensive of the approach of gray hairs; which\nwould at once be the signal for him to prepare to make his exit from this\nsublunary world, it being always followed by the death of the\nmonarch.\u201d(774)\n\nThe custom of putting kings to death as soon as they suffered from any\npersonal defect prevailed two centuries ago in the Kafir kingdoms of\nSofala, to the north of the present Zululand. These kings of Sofala, as we\nhave seen,(775) were regarded as gods by their people, being entreated to\ngive rain or sunshine, according as each might be wanted. Nevertheless a\nslight bodily blemish, such as the loss of a tooth, was considered a\nsufficient cause for putting one of these god-men to death, as we learn\nfrom the following passage of an old historian. \u201cContiguous to the domains\nof the Quiteva [the king of the country bordering on the river Sofala],\nare those of another prince called Sedanda. This prince becoming afflicted\nwith leprosy, resolved on following implicitly the laws of the country,\nand poisoning himself, conceiving his malady to be incurable, or at least\nthat it would render him so loathsome in the eyes of his people that they\nwould with difficulty recognise him. In consequence he nominated his\nsuccessor, holding as his opinion that sovereigns who should serve in all\nthings as an example to their people ought to have no defect whatever,\neven in their persons; that when any defects may chance to befall them\nthey cease to be worthy of life and of governing their dominions; and\npreferring death in compliance with this law to life, with the reproach of\nhaving been its violator. But this law was not observed with equal\nscrupulosity by one of the Quitevas, who, having lost a tooth and feeling\nno disposition to follow the practice of his predecessors, published to\nthe people that he had lost a front tooth, in order that when they might\nbehold, they yet might be able to recognise him; declaring at the same\ntime that he was resolved on living and reigning as long as he could,\nesteeming his existence requisite for the welfare of his subjects. He at\nthe same time loudly condemned the practice of his predecessors, whom he\ntaxed with imprudence, nay, even with madness, for having condemned\nthemselves to death for casual accidents to their persons, confessing\nplainly that it would be with much regret, even when the course of nature\nshould bring him to his end, that he should submit to die. He observed,\nmoreover, that no reasonable being, much less a monarch, ought to\nanticipate the scythe of time; and, abrogating this mortal law, he\nordained that all his successors, if sane, should follow the precedent he\ngave, and the new law established by him.\u201d(776)\n\nThis King of Sofala was, therefore, a bold reformer like Ergamenes, King\nof Ethiopia. We may conjecture that the ground for putting the Ethiopian\nkings to death was, as in the case of the Zulu and Sofala kings, the\nappearance on their person of any bodily defect or sign of decay; and that\nthe oracle which the priests alleged as the authority for the royal\nexecution was to the effect that great calamities would result from the\nreign of a king who had any blemish on his body; just as an oracle warned\nSparta against a \u201clame reign,\u201d that is, the reign of a lame king.(777)\nThis conjecture is confirmed by the fact that the kings of Ethiopia were\nchosen for their size, strength, and beauty long before the custom of\nkilling them was abolished.(778) To this day the Sultan of Wad\u00e2i must have\nno obvious bodily defect, and a king of Angoy cannot be crowned if he has\na single blemish, such as a broken or filed tooth or the scar of an old\nwound.(779) It is only natural, therefore, to suppose, especially with the\nother African examples before us, that any bodily defect or symptom of old\nage appearing on the person of the Ethiopian monarch was the signal for\nhis execution. At a later time it is recorded that if the King of Ethiopia\nbecame maimed in any part of his body all his courtiers had to suffer the\nsame mutilation.(780) But this rule may perhaps have been instituted at\nthe time when the custom of killing the king for any personal defect was\nabolished; instead of compelling the king to die because, _e.g._, he had\nlost a tooth, all his subjects would be obliged to lose a tooth, and thus\nthe invidious superiority of the subjects over the king would be\ncancelled. A rule of this sort is still observed in the same region at the\ncourt of the Sultans of Darfur. When the Sultan coughs, every one makes\nthe sound _ts ts_ by striking the tongue against the root of the upper\nteeth; when he sneezes, the whole assembly utters a sound like the cry of\nthe jeko; when he falls off his horse, all his followers must fall off\nlikewise; if any one of them remains in the saddle, no matter how high his\nrank, he is laid on the ground and beaten.(781) At the court of the King\nof Uganda in Central Africa, when the king laughs, every one laughs; when\nhe sneezes, every one sneezes; when he has a cold, every one pretends to\nhave a cold; when he has his hair cut, so has every one.(782) At the court\nof Boni in Celebes it is a rule that whatever the king does all the\ncourtiers must do. If he stands, they stand; if he sits, they sit; if he\nfalls off his horse, they fall off their horses; if he bathes, they bathe,\nand passers-by must go into the water in the dress, good or bad, which\nthey happen to have on.(783) But to return to the death of the divine man.\nThe old Prussians acknowledged as their supreme lord a ruler who governed\nthem in the name of the gods, and was known as God\u2019s Mouth (_Kirwaido_).\nWhen he felt himself weak and ill, if he wished to leave a good name\nbehind him, he had a great heap made of thorn-bushes and straw, on which\nhe mounted and delivered a long sermon to the people, exhorting them to\nserve the gods and promising to go to the gods and speak for the people.\nThen he took some of the perpetual fire which burned in front of the holy\noak-tree, and lighting the pile with it burned himself to death.(784)\n\nIn the cases hitherto described, the divine king or priest is suffered by\nhis people to retain office until some outward defect, some visible\nsymptom of failing health or advancing age warns them that he is no longer\nequal to the discharge of his divine duties; but not until such symptoms\nhave made their appearance is he put to death. Some peoples, however,\nappear to have thought it unsafe to wait for even the slightest symptom of\ndecay and have preferred to kill the king while he was still in the full\nvigour of life. Accordingly, they have fixed a term beyond which he might\nnot reign, and at the close of which he must die, the term fixed upon\nbeing short enough to exclude the probability of his degenerating\nphysically in the interval. In some parts of Southern India the period\nfixed was twelve years. Thus, according to an old traveller, in the\nprovince of Quilacare \u201cThere is a Gentile house of prayer, in which there\nis an idol which they hold in great account, and every twelve years they\ncelebrate a great feast to it, whither all the Gentiles go as to a\njubilee. This temple possesses many lands and much revenue; it is a very\ngreat affair. This province has a king over it; who has not more than\ntwelve years to reign from jubilee to jubilee. His manner of living is in\nthis wise, that is to say, when the twelve years are completed, on the day\nof this feast there assemble together innumerable people, and much money\nis spent in giving food to Bramans. The king has a wooden scaffolding\nmade, spread over with silken hangings; and on that day he goes to bathe\nat a tank with great ceremonies and sound of music, after that he comes to\nthe idol and prays to it, and mounts on to the scaffolding, and there\nbefore all the people he takes some very sharp knives and begins to cut\noff his nose, and then his ears and his lips and all his members and as\nmuch flesh of himself as he can; and he throws it away very hurriedly\nuntil so much of his blood is spilled that he begins to faint, and then he\ncuts his throat himself. And he performs this sacrifice to the idol; and\nwhoever desires to reign other twelve years, and undertake this martyrdom\nfor love of the idol, has to be present looking on at this; and from that\nplace they raise him up as king.\u201d(785)\n\nFormerly the Samorin or King of Calicut, on the Malabar coast, had also to\ncut his throat in public at the end of a twelve years\u2019 reign. But towards\nthe end of the seventeenth century the rule had been modified as follows:\n\u201cA new custom is followed by the modern Samorins, that jubilee is\nproclaimed throughout his dominions, at the end of twelve years, and a\ntent is pitched for him in a spacious plain, and a great feast is\ncelebrated for ten or twelve days, with mirth and jollity, guns firing\nnight and day, so at the end of the feast any four of the guests that have\na mind to gain a crown by a desperate action, in fighting their way\nthrough 30 or 40,000 of his guards, and kill the Samorin in his tent, he\nthat kills him succeeds him in his empire. In anno 1695, one those\njubilees happened, and the tent pitched near Pennany, a sea-port of his,\nabout fifteen leagues to the southward of Calicut. There were but three\nmen that would venture on that desperate action, who fell in, with sword\nand target among the guard, and, after they had killed and wounded many\nwere themselves killed. One of the desperados had a nephew of fifteen or\nsixteen years of age, that kept close by his uncle in the attack on the\nguards, and, when he saw him fall, the youth got through the guards into\nthe tent, and made a stroke at his Majesty\u2019s head, and had certainly\ndespatched him, if a large brass lamp which was burning over his head, had\nnot marred the blow; but, before he could make another he was killed by\nthe guards; and, I believe, the same Samorin reigns yet. I chanced to come\nthat time along the coast and heard the guns for two or three days and\nnights successively.\u201d(786)\n\nIn some places it appears that the people could not trust the king to\nremain in full bodily and mental vigour for more than a year; hence at the\nend of a year\u2019s reign he was put to death, and a new king appointed to\nreign in his turn a year, and suffer death at the end of it. At least this\nis the conclusion to which the following evidence points. According to the\nhistorian Berosus, who as a Babylonian priest spoke with ample knowledge,\nthere was annually celebrated in Babylon a festival called the Sacaea. It\nbegan on the 16th day of the month Lous, and lasted for five days. During\nthese five days masters and servants changed places, the servants giving\norders and the masters obeying them. A prisoner condemned to death was\ndressed in the king\u2019s robes, seated on the king\u2019s throne, allowed to issue\nwhatever commands he pleased, to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, and to lie\nwith the king\u2019s concubines. But at the end of the five days he was\nstripped of his royal robes, scourged, and crucified.(787) This custom\nmight perhaps have been explained as merely a grim jest perpetrated in a\nseason of jollity at the expense of an unhappy criminal. But one\ncircumstance\u2014the leave given to the mock king to enjoy the king\u2019s\nconcubines\u2014is decisive against this interpretation. Considering the\njealous seclusion of an oriental despot\u2019s harem we may be quite certain\nthat permission to invade it would never have been granted by the despot,\nleast of all to a condemned criminal, except for the very gravest cause.\nThis cause could hardly be other than that the condemned man was about to\ndie in the king\u2019s stead, and that to make the substitution perfect it was\nnecessary he should enjoy the full rights of royalty during his brief\nreign. There is nothing surprising in this substitution. The rule that the\nking must be put to death either on the appearance of any symptom of\nbodily decay or at the end of a fixed period is certainly one which,\nsooner or later, the kings would seek to abolish or modify. We have seen\nthat in Ethiopia and Sofala the rule was boldly set aside by enlightened\nmonarchs; and that in Calicut the old custom of killing the king at the\nend of twelve years was changed into a permission granted to any one at\nthe end of the twelve years\u2019 period to attack the king, and, in the event\nof killing him, to reign in his stead; though, as the king took care at\nthese times to be surrounded by his guards, the permission was little more\nthan a form. Another way of modifying the stern old rule is seen in the\nBabylonian custom just described. When the time drew near for the king to\nbe put to death (in Babylon this appears to have been at the end of a\nsingle year\u2019s reign) he abdicated for a few days, during which a temporary\nking reigned and suffered in his stead. At first the temporary king may\nhave been an innocent person, possibly a member of the king\u2019s own family;\nbut with the growth of civilisation the sacrifice of an innocent person\nwould be revolting to the public sentiment, and accordingly a condemned\ncriminal would be invested with the brief and fatal sovereignty. In the\nsequel we shall find other examples of a dying criminal representing a\ndying god. For we must not forget that the king is slain in his character\nof a god, his death and resurrection, as the only means of perpetuating\nthe divine life unimpaired, being deemed necessary for the salvation of\nhis people and the world.\n\nIn some places this modified form of the old custom has been further\nsoftened down. The king still abdicates annually for a short time and his\nplace is filled by a more or less nominal sovereign; but at the close of\nhis short reign the latter is no longer killed, though sometimes a mock\nexecution still survives as a memorial of the time when he was actually\nput to death. To take examples. In the month of M\u00e9ac (February) the King\nof Cambodia annually abdicated for three days. During this time he\nperformed no act of authority, he did not touch the seals, he did not even\nreceive the revenues which fell due. In his stead there reigned a\ntemporary king called Sdach M\u00e9ac, that is, King February. The office of\ntemporary king was hereditary in a family distantly connected with the\nroyal house, the sons succeeding the fathers and the younger brothers the\nelder brothers, just as in the succession to the real sovereignty. On a\nfavourable day fixed by the astrologers the temporary king was conducted\nby the mandarins in triumphal procession. He rode one of the royal\nelephants, seated in the royal palanquin, and escorted by soldiers who,\ndressed in appropriate costumes, represented the neighbouring peoples of\nSiam, Annam, Laos, and so on. Instead of the golden crown he wore a peaked\nwhite cap, and his regalia, instead of being of gold encrusted with\ndiamonds, were of rough wood. After paying homage to the real king, from\nwhom he received the sovereignty for three days, together with all the\nrevenues accruing during that time (though this last custom has been\nomitted for some time), he moved in procession round the palace and\nthrough the streets of the capital. On the third day, after the usual\nprocession, the temporary king gave orders that the elephants should\ntrample under foot the \u201cmountain of rice,\u201d which was a scaffold of bamboo\nsurrounded by sheaves of rice. The people gathered up the rice, each man\ntaking home a little with him to secure a good harvest. Some of it was\nalso taken to the king, who had it cooked and presented to the monks.(788)\n\nIn Siam on the sixth day of the moon in the sixth month (the end of April)\na temporary king is appointed, who for three days enjoys the royal\nprerogatives, the real king remaining shut up in his palace. This\ntemporary king sends his numerous satellites in all directions to seize\nand confiscate whatever they can find in the bazaar and open shops; even\nthe ships and junks which arrive in harbour during the three days are\nconfiscated to him and must be redeemed. He goes to a field in the middle\nof the city, whither is brought a gilded plough drawn by gaily-decked\noxen. After the plough has been anointed and the oxen rubbed with incense,\nthe mock king traces nine furrows with the plough, followed by aged dames\nof the palace scattering the first seed of the season. As soon as the nine\nfurrows are drawn, the crowd of spectators rushes in and scrambles for the\nseed which has just been sown, believing that, mixed with the seed-rice,\nit will ensure a plentiful crop. Then the oxen are unyoked, and rice,\nmaize, sesame, sago, bananas, sugar-cane, melons, etc. are set before\nthem; whatever they eat first will, it is thought, be dear in the year\nfollowing, though some people interpret the omen in the opposite sense.\nDuring this time the temporary king stands leaning against a tree with his\nright foot resting on his left knee. From standing thus on one foot he is\npopularly known as King Hop; but his official title is Phaya Phollathep,\n\u201cLord of the Heavenly Hosts.\u201d(789) He is a sort of Minister of\nAgriculture; all disputes about fields, rice, and so on, are referred to\nhim. There is moreover another ceremony in which he personates the king.\nIt takes place in the second month (which falls in the cold season) and\nlasts three days. He is conducted in procession to an open place opposite\nthe Temple of the Brahmans, where there are a number of poles dressed like\nMay-poles, upon which the Brahmans swing. All the while that they swing\nand dance, the Lord of the Heavenly Hosts has to stand on one foot upon a\nseat which is made of bricks plastered over, covered with a white cloth,\nand hung with tapestry. He is supported by a wooden frame with a gilt\ncanopy, and two Brahmans stand one on each side of him. The dancing\nBrahmans carry buffalo horns with which they draw water from a large\ncopper caldron and sprinkle it on the people; this is supposed to bring\ngood luck, causing the people to dwell in peace and quiet, health and\nprosperity. The time during which the Lord of the Heavenly Hosts has to\nstand on one foot is about three hours. This is thought \u201cto prove the\ndispositions of the Devattas and spirits.\u201d If he lets his foot down \u201che is\nliable to forfeit his property and have his family enslaved by the king;\nas it is believed to be a bad omen, portending destruction to the state,\nand instability to the throne. But if he stand firm he is believed to have\ngained a victory over evil spirits, and he has moreover the privilege,\nostensibly at least, of seizing any ship which may enter the harbour\nduring these three days, and taking its contents, and also of entering any\nopen shop in the town and carrying away what he chooses.\u201d(790)\n\nIn Upper Egypt on the first day of the solar year by Coptic reckoning,\nthat is on 10th September, when the Nile has generally reached its highest\npoint, the regular government is suspended for three days and every town\nchooses its own ruler. This temporary lord wears a sort of tall fool\u2019s cap\nand a long flaxen beard, and is enveloped in a strange mantle. With a wand\nof office in his hand and attended by men disguised as scribes,\nexecutioners, etc., he proceeds to the Governor\u2019s house. The latter allows\nhimself to be deposed; and the mock king, mounting the throne, holds a\ntribunal, to the decisions of which even the governor and his officials\nmust bow. After three days the mock king is condemned to death; the\nenvelope or shell in which he was encased is committed to the flames, and\nfrom its ashes the Fellah creeps forth.(791)\n\nSometimes the temporary king occupies the throne, not annually, but once\nfor all at the beginning of each reign. Thus in the kingdom of Jambi (in\nSumatra) it is the custom that at the beginning of a new reign a man of\nthe people should occupy the throne and exercise the royal prerogatives\nfor a single day. The origin of the custom is explained by a tradition\nthat there were once five royal brothers, the four elder of whom all\ndeclined the crown on the ground of various bodily defects, leaving it to\ntheir youngest brother. But the eldest occupied the throne for one day,\nand reserved for his descendants a similar privilege at the beginning of\nevery reign. Thus the office of temporary king is hereditary in a family\nakin to the royal house.(792) In Bilaspur it seems to be the custom, after\nthe death of a Rajah, for a Brahman to eat rice out of the dead Rajah\u2019s\nhand, and then to occupy the throne for a year. At the end of the year the\nBrahman receives presents and is dismissed from the territory, being\nforbidden apparently to return. \u201cThe idea seems to be that the spirit of\nthe R\u00e1j\u00e1 enters into the Br\u00e1hman who eats the _kh\u00edr_ (rice and milk) out\nof his hand when he is dead, as the Brahman is apparently carefully\nwatched during the whole year, and not allowed to go away.\u201d The same or a\nsimilar custom is believed to obtain among the hill states about\nK\u00e1ngr\u00e1.(793) At the installation of a prince of Carinthia a peasant, in\nwhose family the office was hereditary, ascended a marble stone which\nstood surrounded by meadows in a spacious valley; on his right stood a\nblack mother-cow, on his left an ugly mare. A rustic crowd gathered about\nhim. Then the future prince, dressed as a peasant and carrying a\nshepherd\u2019s staff, drew near, attended by courtiers and magistrates. On\nperceiving him the peasant called out, \u201cWho is this whom I see coming so\nproudly along?\u201d The people answered, \u201cThe prince of the land.\u201d The peasant\nwas then prevailed on to surrender the marble seat to the prince on\ncondition of receiving sixty pence, the cow and mare, and exemption from\ntaxes. But before yielding his place he gave the prince a light blow on\nthe cheek.(794)\n\nSome points about these temporary kings deserve to be specially noticed\nbefore we pass to the next branch of the evidence. In the first place, the\nCambodian and Siamese examples bring clearly out the fact that it is\nespecially the divine or supernatural functions of the king which are\ntransferred to his temporary substitute. This appears from the belief that\nby keeping up his foot the temporary king of Siam gained a victory over\nthe evil spirits; whereas by letting it down he imperilled the existence\nof the state. Again, the Cambodian ceremony of trampling down the\n\u201cmountain of rice,\u201d and the Siamese ceremony of opening the ploughing and\nsowing, are charms to produce a plentiful harvest, as appears from the\nbelief that those who carry home some of the trampled rice or of the seed\nsown will thereby secure a good crop. But the task of making the crops\ngrow, thus deputed to the temporary kings, is one of the supernatural\nfunctions regularly supposed to be discharged by kings in primitive\nsociety. The rule that the mock king must stand on one foot upon a raised\nseat in the rice-field was perhaps originally meant as a charm to make the\ncrop grow high; at least this was the object of a similar ceremony\nobserved by the old Prussians. The tallest girl, standing on one foot upon\na seat, with her lap full of cakes, a cup of brandy in her right hand and\na piece of elm-bark or linden-bark in her left, prayed to the god\nWaizganthos that the flax might grow as high as she was standing. Then,\nafter draining the cup, she had it refilled, and poured the brandy on the\nground as an offering to Waizganthos, and threw down the cakes for his\nattendant sprites. If she remained steady on one foot throughout the\nceremony, it was an omen that the flax crop would be good; but if she let\nher foot down, it was feared that the crop might fail.(795) The gilded\nplough with which the Siamese mock king opens the ploughing may be\ncompared with the bronze ploughs which the Etruscans employed at the\nceremony of founding cities;(796) in both cases the use of iron was\nprobably forbidden on superstitious grounds.(797)\n\nAnother point to notice about these temporary kings is that in two places\n(Cambodia and Jambi) they come of a stock which is believed to be akin to\nthe royal family. If the view here taken of the origin of these temporary\nkingships is correct, the fact that the temporary king is sometimes of the\nsame race as the real king admits of a ready explanation. When the king\nfirst succeeded in getting the life of another accepted as a sacrifice in\nlieu of his own, he would have to show that the death of that other would\nserve the purpose quite as well as his own would have done. Now it was as\na god that the king had to die; therefore the substitute who died for him\nhad to be invested, at least for the occasion, with the divine attributes\nof the king. This, as we have just seen, was certainly the case with the\ntemporary kings of Siam and Cambodia; they were invested with the\nsupernatural functions, which in an earlier stage of society were the\nspecial attributes of the king. But no one could so well represent the\nking in his divine character as his son, who might be supposed to share\nthe divine afflatus of his father. No one, therefore, could so\nappropriately die for the king and, through him, for the whole people, as\nthe king\u2019s son. There is evidence that amongst the Semites of Western Asia\n(the very region where the redemption of the king\u2019s life by the sacrifice\nof another comes out so unmistakably in the Sacaean festival) the king, in\na time of national danger, sometimes gave his own son to die as a\nsacrifice for the people. Thus Philo of Byblus, in his work on the Jews,\nsays: \u201cIt was an ancient custom in a crisis of great danger that the ruler\nof a city or nation should give his beloved son to die for the whole\npeople, as a ransom offered to the avenging demons; and the children thus\noffered were slain with mystic rites. So Cronus, whom the Phoenicians call\nIsrael, being king of the land and having an only-begotten son called\nJeoud (for in the Phoenician tongue Jeoud signifies \u2018only-begotten\u2019),\ndressed him in royal robes and sacrificed him upon an altar in a time of\nwar, when the country was in great danger from the enemy.\u201d(798) When the\nKing of Moab was besieged by the Israelites and hard beset, he took his\neldest son, who should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a\nburnt offering on the wall.(799) But amongst the Semites the practice of\nsacrificing their children was not confined to kings. In times of great\ncalamity, such as pestilence, drought, or defeat in war, the Phoenicians\nused to sacrifice one of their dearest to Baal. \u201cPhoenician history,\u201d says\nan ancient writer, \u201cis full of such sacrifices.\u201d(800) When the\nCarthaginians were defeated and besieged by Agathocles, they ascribed\ntheir disasters to the wrath of Baal; for whereas in former times they had\nbeen wont to sacrifice to him their own children, they had latterly fallen\ninto the habit of buying children and rearing them to be victims. So, to\nappease the angry god, two hundred children of the noblest families were\npicked out for sacrifice, and the tale of victims was swelled by not less\nthan three hundred more who volunteered to die for the fatherland. They\nwere sacrificed by being placed, one by one, on the sloping hands of the\nbrazen image, from which they rolled into a pit of fire.(801) If an\naristocracy thus adopted the practice of sacrificing other people\u2019s\nchildren instead of their own, kings may very well have followed or set\nthe example. A final mitigation of the custom would be the substitution of\ncondemned criminals for innocent victims. Such a substitution is known to\nhave taken place in the human sacrifices annually offered in Rhodes to\nBaal.(802)\n\nThe custom of sacrificing children, especially the first born, is not\npeculiarly Semitic. In some tribes of New South Wales the first-born child\nof every woman was eaten by the tribe as part of a religious\nceremony.(803) The Indians of Florida sacrificed their first-born male\nchildren.(804) Amongst the people of Senjero in Eastern Africa we are told\nthat many families \u201cmust offer up their first-born sons as sacrifices,\nbecause once upon a time, when summer and winter were jumbled together in\na bad season, and the fruits of the earth would not ripen, the soothsayers\nenjoined it. At that time a great pillar of iron is said to have stood at\nthe entrance of the capital, which by the advice of the soothsayers was\nbroken down by order of the king, upon which the seasons became regular\nagain. To avert the recurrence of such a confusion of the seasons, the\nsoothsayers are reported to have enjoined the king to pour human blood\nonce a year on the base of the broken shaft of the pillar, and also upon\nthe throne. Since then certain families are obliged to deliver up their\nfirst-born sons, who are sacrificed at an appointed time.\u201d(805) The\nheathen Russians often sacrificed their first-born to the god Perun.(806)\n\nThe condemnation and pretended death by fire of the mock king in Egypt is\nprobably a reminiscence of a real custom of burning him. Evidence of a\npractice of burning divine personages will be forthcoming later on. In\nBilaspur the expulsion of the Brahman who had occupied the king\u2019s throne\nfor a year is perhaps a substitute for putting him to death.\n\nThe explanation here given of the custom of killing divine persons\nassumes, or at least is readily combined with, the idea that the soul of\nthe slain divinity is transmitted to his successor. Of this transmission I\nhave no direct proof; and so far a link in the chain of evidence is\nwanting. But if I cannot prove by actual examples this succession to the\nsoul of the slain god, it can at least be made probable that such a\nsuccession was supposed to take place. For it has been already shown that\nthe soul of the incarnate deity is often supposed to transmigrate at death\ninto another incarnation;(807) and if this takes place when the death is a\nnatural one, there seems no reason why it should not take place when the\ndeath is a violent one. Certainly the idea that the soul of a dying person\nmay be transmitted to his successor is perfectly familiar to primitive\npeoples. In Nias the eldest son usually succeeds his father in the\nchieftainship. But if from any bodily or mental defect the eldest son is\nincapacitated from ruling, the father determines in his life-time which of\nhis sons shall succeed him. In order, however, to establish his right of\nsuccession it is necessary that the son upon whom his father\u2019s choice\nfalls shall catch in his mouth or in a bag the last breath, and with it\nthe soul, of the dying chief. For whoever catches his last breath is chief\nequally with the appointed successor. Hence the other brothers, and\nsometimes also strangers, crowd round the dying man to catch his soul as\nit passes. The houses in Nias are raised above the ground on posts, and it\nhas happened that when the dying man lay with his face on the floor, one\nof the candidates has bored a hole in the floor and sucked in the chief\u2019s\nlast breath through a bamboo tube. When the chief has no son, his soul is\ncaught in a bag, which is fastened to an image made to represent the\ndeceased; the soul is then believed to pass into the image.(808) Amongst\nthe Takilis or Carrier Indians of North-West America, when a corpse is\nburned the priest pretends to catch the soul of the deceased in his hands,\nwhich he closes with many gesticulations. He then communicates the\ncaptured soul to the dead man\u2019s successor by throwing his hands towards\nand blowing upon him. The person to whom the soul is thus communicated\ntakes the name and rank of the deceased. On the death of a chief the\npriest thus fills a responsible and influential position, for he may\ntransmit the soul to whom he will, though, doubtless, he generally follows\nthe regular line of succession.(809) Algonkin women who wished to become\nmothers flocked to the side of a dying person in the hope of receiving and\nbeing impregnated by the passing soul. Amongst the Seminoles of Florida\nwhen a woman died in childbed the infant was held over her face to receive\nher parting spirit.(810) The Romans caught the breath of dying friends in\ntheir mouths, and so received into themselves the soul of the\ndeparted.(811) The same custom is said to be still practised in\nLancashire.(812) We may therefore fairly suppose that when the divine king\nor priest is put to death his spirit is believed to pass into his\nsuccessor.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 2.\u2014Killing the tree-spirit.\n\n\nIt remains to ask what light the custom of killing the divine king or\npriest sheds upon the subject of our inquiry. In the first chapter we saw\nreason to suppose that the King of the Wood was regarded as an incarnation\nof the tree-spirit or of the spirit of vegetation, and that as such he\nwould be endowed, in the belief of his worshippers, with a supernatural\npower of making the trees to bear fruit, the crops to grow, and so on. His\nlife must therefore have been held very precious by his worshippers, and\nwas probably hedged in by a system of elaborate precautions or taboos like\nthose by which, in so many places, the life of the god-man has been\nguarded against the malignant influence of demons and sorcerers. But we\nhave seen that the very value attached to the life of the man-god\nnecessitates his violent death as the only means of preserving it from the\ninevitable decay of age. The same reasoning would apply to the King of the\nWood; he too had to be killed in order that the divine spirit, incarnate\nin him, might be transferred in unabated vigour to his successor. The rule\nthat he held office till a stronger should slay him might be supposed to\nsecure both the preservation of his divine life in full vigour and its\ntransference to a suitable successor as soon as that vigour began to be\nimpaired. For so long as he could maintain his position by the strong\nhand, it might be inferred that his natural force was not abated; whereas\nhis defeat and death at the hands of another proved that his strength was\nbeginning to fail and that it was time his divine life should be lodged in\na less dilapidated tabernacle. This explanation of the rule that the King\nof the Wood had to be slain by his successor at least renders that rule\nperfectly intelligible. Moreover it is countenanced by the analogy of the\nChitomb\u00e9, upon whose life the existence of the world was supposed to hang,\nand who was therefore slain by his successor as soon as he showed signs of\nbreaking up. Again, the terms on which in later times the King of Calicut\nheld office are identical with those attached to the office of King of the\nWood, except that whereas the former might be assailed by a candidate at\nany time, the King of Calicut might only be attacked once every twelve\nyears. But as the leave granted to the King of Calicut to reign so long as\nhe could defend himself against all comers was a mitigation of the old\nrule which set a fixed term to his life, so we may conjecture that the\nsimilar permission granted to the King of the Wood was a mitigation of an\nolder custom of putting him to death at the end of a set period. In both\ncases the new rule gave to the god-man at least a chance for his life,\nwhich under the old rule was denied him; and people probably reconciled\nthemselves to the change by reflecting that so long as the god-man could\nmaintain himself by the sword against all assaults, there was no reason to\napprehend that the fatal decay had set in.\n\nThe conjecture that the King of the Wood was formerly put to death at the\nexpiry of a set term, without being allowed a chance for his life, will be\nconfirmed if evidence can be adduced of a custom of periodically killing\nhis counterparts, the human representatives of the tree-spirit, in\nNorthern Europe. Now in point of fact such a custom has left unmistakable\ntraces of itself in the rural festivals of the peasantry. To take\nexamples.\n\nIn Lower Bavaria the Whitsuntide representative of the tree-spirit\u2014the\n_Pfingstl_ as he was called\u2014was clad from top to toe in leaves and\nflowers. On his head he wore a high pointed cap, the ends of which rested\non his shoulders, only two holes being left in it for his eyes. The cap\nwas covered with water flowers and surmounted with a nosegay of peonies.\nThe sleeves of his coat were also made of water-plants, and the rest of\nhis body was enveloped in alder and hazel leaves. On each side of him\nmarched a boy holding up one of the _Pfingstl_\u2019s arms. These two boys\ncarried drawn swords, and so did most of the others who formed the\nprocession. They stopped at every house where they hoped to receive a\npresent; and the people, in hiding, soused the leaf-clad boy with water.\nAll rejoiced when he was well drenched. Finally he waded into the brook up\nto his middle; whereupon one of the boys, standing on the bridge,\npretended to cut off his head.(813) At Wurmlingen in Swabia a score of\nyoung fellows dress themselves on Whit-Monday in white shirts and white\ntrousers, with red scarves round their waists and swords hanging from the\nscarves. They ride on horse-back into the wood, led by two trumpeters\nblowing their trumpets. In the wood they cut down leafy oak branches, in\nwhich they envelop from head to foot him who was the last of their number\nto ride out of the village. His legs, however, are encased separately, so\nthat he may be able to mount his horse again. Further, they give him a\nlong artificial neck, with an artificial head and a false face on the top\nof it. Then a May-tree is cut, generally an aspen or beech about ten feet\nhigh; and being decked with coloured handkerchiefs and ribbons it is\nentrusted to a special \u201cMay-bearer.\u201d The cavalcade then returns with music\nand song to the village. Amongst the personages who figure in the\nprocession are a Moorish king with a sooty face and a crown on his head, a\nDr. Iron-Beard, a corporal, and an executioner. They halt on the village\ngreen, and each of the characters makes a speech in rhyme. The executioner\nannounces that the leaf-clad man has been condemned to death and cuts off\nhis false head. Then the riders race to the May-tree, which has been set\nup a little way off. The first man who succeeds in wrenching it from the\nground as he gallops past keeps it with all its decorations. The ceremony\nis observed every second or third year.(814)\n\nIn Saxony and Th\u00fcringen there is a Whitsuntide ceremony called \u201cchasing\nthe Wild Man out of the bush,\u201d or \u201cfetching the Wild Man out of the wood.\u201d\nA young fellow is enveloped in leaves or moss and called the Wild Man. He\nhides in the wood and the other lads of the village go out to seek him.\nThey find him, lead him captive out of the wood, and fire at him with\nblank muskets. He falls like dead to the ground, but a lad dressed as a\ndoctor bleeds him, and he comes to life again. At this they rejoice and\nbinding him fast on a waggon take him to the village, where they tell all\nthe people how they have caught the Wild Man. At every house they receive\na gift.(815) In the Erzgebirge the following custom was annually observed\nat Shrovetide about the beginning of the seventeenth century. Two men\ndisguised as Wild Men, the one in brushwood and moss, the other in straw,\nwere led about the streets, and at last taken to the market-place, where\nthey were chased up and down, shot and stabbed. Before falling they reeled\nabout with strange gestures and spirted blood on the people from bladders\nwhich they carried. When they were down, the huntsmen placed them on\nboards and carried them to the alehouse, the miners marching beside them\nand winding blasts on their mining tools as if they had taken a noble head\nof game.(816) A very similar Shrovetide custom is still observed in the\nneighbourhood of Schluckenau (Bohemia). A man dressed up as a Wild Man is\nchased through several streets till he comes to a narrow lane across which\na cord is stretched. He stumbles over the cord and, falling to the ground,\nis overtaken and caught by his pursuers. The executioner runs up and stabs\nwith his sword a bladder filled with blood which the Wild Man wears round\nhis body; so the Wild Man dies, while a stream of blood reddens the\nground. Next day a straw-man, made up to look like the Wild Man, is placed\non a litter, and, accompanied by a great crowd, is taken to a pool into\nwhich it is thrown by the executioner. The ceremony is called \u201cburying the\nCarnival.\u201d(817)\n\nIn Semic (Bohemia) the custom of beheading the King is observed on\nWhit-Monday. A troop of young people disguise themselves; each is girt\nwith a girdle of bark and carries a wooden sword and a trumpet of\nwillow-bark. The King wears a robe of tree-bark adorned with flowers, on\nhis head is a crown of bark decked with flowers and branches, his feet are\nwound about with ferns, a mask hides his face, and for a sceptre he has a\nhawthorn switch in his hand. A lad leads him through the village by a rope\nfastened to his foot, while the rest dance about, blow their trumpets, and\nwhistle. In every farmhouse the King is chased round the room, and one of\nthe troop, amid much noise and outcry, strikes with his sword a blow on\nthe King\u2019s robe of bark till it rings again. Then a gratuity is\ndemanded.(818) The ceremony of decapitation, which is here somewhat\nslurred over, is carried out with a greater semblance of reality in other\nparts of Bohemia. Thus in some villages of the K\u00f6niggr\u00e4tz district on\nWhit-Monday the girls assemble under one lime-tree and the young men under\nanother, all dressed in their best and tricked out with ribbons. The young\nmen twine a garland for the Queen and the girls for the King. When they\nhave chosen the King and Queen they all go in procession, two and two, to\nthe alehouse, from the balcony of which the crier proclaims the names of\nthe King and Queen. Both are then invested with the insignia of their\ndignity and are crowned with the garlands, while the music plays up. Then\nsome one gets on a bench and accuses the King of various offences, such as\nill-treating the cattle. The King appeals to witnesses and a trial ensues,\nat the close of which the judge, who carries a white wand as his badge of\noffice, pronounces a verdict of \u201cguilty\u201d or \u201cnot guilty.\u201d If the verdict\nis \u201cguilty\u201d the judge breaks his wand, the King kneels on a white cloth,\nall heads are bared, and a soldier sets three or four hats, one above the\nother, on the King\u2019s head. The judge then pronounces the word \u201cguilty\u201d\nthrice in a loud voice, and orders the crier to behead the King. The crier\nobeys by striking off the King\u2019s hats with his wooden sword.(819)\n\nBut perhaps, for our purpose, the most instructive of these mimic\nexecutions is the following Bohemian one, which has been in part described\nalready.(820) In some places of the Pilsen district (Bohemia) on\nWhit-Monday the King is dressed in bark, ornamented with flowers and\nribbons; he wears a crown of gilt paper and rides a horse, which is also\ndecked with flowers. Attended by a judge, an executioner and other\ncharacters, and followed by a train of soldiers, all mounted, he rides to\nthe village square, where a hut or arbour of green boughs has been erected\nunder the May-trees, which are firs, freshly cut, peeled to the top, and\ndressed with flowers and ribbons. After the dames and maidens of the\nvillage have been criticised and a frog beheaded, in the way already\ndescribed, the cavalcade rides to a place previously determined upon, in a\nstraight, broad street. Here they draw up in two lines and the King takes\nto flight. He is given a short start and rides off at full speed, pursued\nby the whole troop. If they fail to catch him he remains King for another\nyear, and his companions must pay his score at the alehouse in the\nevening. But if they overtake and catch him he is scourged with hazel rods\nor beaten with the wooden swords and compelled to dismount. Then the\nexecutioner asks, \u201cShall I behead this King?\u201d The answer is given, \u201cBehead\nhim;\u201d the executioner brandishes his axe, and with the words, \u201cOne, two,\nthree, let the King headless be!\u201d he strikes off the King\u2019s crown. Amid\nthe loud cries of the bystanders the King sinks to the ground; then he is\nlaid on a bier and carried to the nearest farmhouse.(821)\n\nIn the personages who are thus slain in mimicry it is impossible not to\nrecognise representatives of the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation, as\nhe is supposed to manifest himself in spring. The bark, leaves, and\nflowers in which the actors are dressed, and the season of the year at\nwhich they appear, show that they belong to the same class as the Grass\nKing, King of the May, Jack-in-the-Green, and other representatives of the\nvernal spirit of vegetation which we examined in the first chapter. As if\nto remove any possible doubt on this head, we find that in two cases(822)\nthese slain men are brought into direct connection with May-trees, which\nare (as we have seen) the impersonal, as the May King, Grass King, etc.,\nare the personal representatives of the tree-spirit. The drenching of the\n_Pfingstl_ with water and his wading up to the middle into the brook are,\ntherefore, no doubt rain-charms like those which have been already\ndescribed.(823)\n\nBut if these personages represent, as they certainly do, the spirit of\nvegetation in spring, the question arises, Why kill them? What is the\nobject of slaying the spirit of vegetation at any time and above all in\nspring, when his services are most wanted? The only answer to this\nquestion seems to be given in the explanation already proposed of the\ncustom of killing the divine king or priest. The divine life, incarnate in\na material and mortal body, is liable to be tainted and corrupted by the\nweakness of the frail medium in which it is for a time enshrined; and if\nit is to be saved from the increasing enfeeblement which it must\nnecessarily share with its human incarnation as he advances in years, it\nmust be detached from him before, or at least as soon as, he exhibits\nsigns of decay, in order to be transferred to a vigorous successor. This\nis done by killing the old representative of the god and conveying the\ndivine spirit from him to a new incarnation. The killing of the god, that\nis, of his human incarnation, is, therefore, only a necessary step to his\nrevival or resurrection in a better form. Far from being an extinction of\nthe divine spirit, it is only the beginning of a purer and stronger\nmanifestation of it. If this explanation holds good of the custom of\nkilling divine kings and priests in general, it is still more obviously\napplicable to the custom of annually killing the representative of the\ntree-spirit or spirit of vegetation in spring. For the decay of vegetation\nin winter is readily interpreted by primitive man as an enfeeblement of\nthe spirit of vegetation; the spirit has (he thinks) grown old and weak\nand must therefore be renovated by being slain and brought to life in a\nyounger and fresher form. Thus the killing of the representative of the\ntree-spirit in spring is regarded as a means to promote and quicken the\ngrowth of vegetation. For the killing of the tree-spirit is associated\nalways (we must suppose) implicitly, and sometimes explicitly also, with a\nrevival or resurrection of him in a more youthful and vigorous form. Thus\nin the Saxon and Th\u00fcringen custom, after the Wild Man has been shot he is\nbrought to life again by a doctor;(824) and in the Wurmlingen ceremony\nthere figures a Dr. Iron-Beard, who probably once played a similar part;\ncertainly in another spring ceremony (to be described presently) Dr.\nIron-Beard pretends to restore a dead man to life. But of this revival or\nresurrection of the god we shall have more to say anon.\n\nThe points of similarity between these North European personages and the\nsubject of our inquiry\u2014the King of the Wood or priest of Nemi\u2014are\nsufficiently striking. In these northern maskers we see kings, whose dress\nof bark and leaves, along with the hut of green boughs and the fir-trees\nunder which they hold their court, proclaim them unmistakably as, like\ntheir Italian counterpart, Kings of the Wood. Like him they die a violent\ndeath; but like him they may escape from it for a time by their bodily\nstrength and agility; for in several of these northern customs the flight\nand pursuit of the king is a prominent part of the ceremony, and in one\ncase at least if the king can outrun his pursuers he retains his life and\nhis office for another year. In this last case, in fact, the king holds\noffice on condition of running for his life once a year, just as the King\nof Calicut in later times held office on condition of defending his life\nagainst all comers once every twelve years, and just as the priest of Nemi\nheld office on condition of defending himself against any assault at any\ntime. In all these cases the life of the god-man is prolonged on condition\nof showing, in a severe physical contest of fight or flight, that his\nbodily strength is not decayed, and that, therefore, the violent death,\nwhich sooner or later is inevitable, may for the present be postponed.\nWith regard to flight it is noticeable that flight figured conspicuously\nboth in the legend and the practice of the King of the Wood. He had to be\na runaway slave (_fugitivus_) in memory of the flight of Orestes, the\ntraditional founder of the worship; hence the Kings of the Wood are\ndescribed by an ancient writer as \u201cboth strong of hand and fleet of\nfoot.\u201d(825) Perhaps if we knew the ritual of the Arician grove fully we\nmight find that the king was allowed a chance for his life by flight, like\nhis Bohemian brother. We may conjecture that the annual flight of the\npriestly king at Rome (_regifugium_)(826) was at first a flight of the\nsame kind; in other words, that he was originally one of those divine\nkings who are either put to death after a fixed period or allowed to prove\nby the strong hand or the fleet foot that their divinity is vigorous and\nunimpaired. One more point of resemblance may be noted between the Italian\nKing of the Wood and his northern counterparts. In Saxony and Th\u00fcringen\nthe representative of the tree-spirit, after being killed, is brought to\nlife again by a doctor. This is exactly what legend affirmed to have\nhappened to the first King of the Wood at Nemi, Hippolytus or Virbius, who\nafter he had been killed by his horses was restored to life by the\nphysician Aesculapius.(827) Such a legend tallies well with the theory\nthat the slaying of the King of the Wood was only a step to his revival or\nresurrection in his successor.\n\nIt has been assumed that the mock killing of the Wild Man and of the King\nin North European folk-custom is a modern substitute for an ancient custom\nof killing them in earnest. Those who best know the tenacity of life\npossessed by folk-custom and its tendency, with the growth of\ncivilisation, to dwindle from solemn ritual into mere pageant and pastime,\nwill be least likely to question the truth of this assumption. That human\nsacrifices were commonly offered by the ancestors of the civilised races\nof North Europe (Celts, Teutons, and Slavs) is certain.(828) It is not,\ntherefore, surprising that the modern peasant should do in mimicry what\nhis forefathers did in reality. We know as a matter of fact that in other\nparts of the world mock human sacrifices have been substituted for real\nones. Thus Captain Bourke was informed by an old chief that the Indians of\nArizona used to offer human sacrifices at the Feast of Fire when the days\nare shortest. The victim had his throat cut, his breast opened, and his\nheart taken out by one of the priests. This custom was abolished by the\nMexicans, but for a long time afterwards a modified form of it was\nsecretly observed as follows. The victim, generally a young man, had his\nthroat cut, and blood was allowed to flow freely; but the medicine-men\nsprinkled \u201cmedicine\u201d on the gash, which soon healed up, and the man\nrecovered.(829) So in the ritual of Artemis at Halae in Attica, a man\u2019s\nthroat was cut and the blood allowed to gush out, but he was not\nkilled.(830) At the funeral of a chief in Nias slaves are sacrificed; a\nlittle of their hair is cut off, and then they are beheaded. The victims\nare generally purchased for the purpose, and their number is proportioned\nto the wealth and power of the deceased. But if the number required is\nexcessively great or cannot be procured, some of the chief\u2019s own slaves\nundergo a sham sacrifice. They are told, and believe, that they are about\nto be decapitated; their heads are placed on a log and their necks struck\nwith the back of a sword. The fright drives some of them crazy.(831) When\na Hindoo has killed or ill-treated an ape, a bird of prey of a certain\nkind, or a cobra capella, in the presence of the worshippers of Vishnu, he\nmust expiate his offence by the pretended sacrifice and resurrection of a\nhuman being. An incision is made in the victim\u2019s arm, the blood flows, he\ngrows faint, falls, and feigns to die. Afterwards he is brought to life by\nbeing sprinkled with blood drawn from the thigh of a worshipper of Vishnu.\nThe crowd of spectators is fully convinced of the reality of this\nsimulated death and resurrection.(832) Sometimes the mock sacrifice is\ncarried out, not on a living person but on an image. Thus an Indian\nlaw-book, the _Calica Puran_, prescribes that when the sacrifice of lions,\ntigers, or human beings is required, an image of a lion, tiger, or man\nshall be made with butter, paste, or barley meal, and sacrificed\ninstead.(833) Some of the Gonds of India formerly offered human\nsacrifices; they now sacrifice straw-men instead.(834) Colonel Dalton was\ntold that in some of their villages the Bhagats (Hindooised Oraons)\n\u201cannually make an image of a man in wood, put clothes and ornaments on it,\nand present it before the altar of a Mah\u00e1deo. The person who officiates as\npriest on the occasion says: \u2018O, Mah\u00e1deo, we sacrifice this man to you\naccording to ancient customs. Give us rain in due season, and a plentiful\nharvest.\u2019 Then with one stroke of the axe the head of the image is struck\noff, and the body is removed and buried.\u201d(835)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 3.\u2014Carrying out Death.\n\n\nThus far I have offered an explanation of the rule which required that the\npriest of Nemi should be slain by his successor. The explanation claims to\nbe no more than probable; our scanty knowledge of the custom and of its\nhistory forbids it to be more. But its probability will be augmented in\nproportion to the extent to which the motives and modes of thought which\nit assumes can be proved to have operated in primitive society. Hitherto\nthe god with whose death and resurrection we have been chiefly concerned\nhas been the tree-god. Tree-worship may perhaps be regarded (though this\nis a conjecture) as occupying an intermediate place in the history of\nreligion, between the religion of the hunter and shepherd on the one side,\nwhose gods are mostly animals, and the religion of the husbandman on the\nother hand, in whose worship the cultivated plants play a leading part. If\nthen I can show that the custom of killing the god and the belief in his\nresurrection originated, or at least existed, in the hunting and pastoral\nstage of society, when the slain god was an animal, and survived into the\nagricultural stage, when the slain god was the corn or a human being\nrepresenting the corn, the probability of my explanation will have been\nconsiderably increased. This I shall attempt to do in the remainder of\nthis chapter, in the course of which I hope to clear up some obscurities\nwhich still remain, and to answer some objections which may have suggested\nthemselves to the reader.\n\nWe start from the point at which we left off\u2014the spring customs of\nEuropean peasantry. Besides the ceremonies already described there are two\nkindred sets of observances in which the simulated death of a divine or\nsupernatural being is a leading feature. These observances are commonly\nknown as \u201cBurying the Carnival,\u201d and \u201cDriving or carrying out Death.\u201d Both\ncustoms are chiefly practised, or at least best known, on German and\nSlavonic ground. The former custom is observed on the last day of the\nCarnival, namely, Shrove Tuesday (_Fastnacht_), or on the first day of\nLent, namely, Ash Wednesday. The latter custom is commonly observed on the\nFourth Sunday in Lent, which hence gets the name of Dead Sunday\n(_Todtensonntag_); but in some places it is observed a week earlier; in\nothers again, as amongst the Czechs of Bohemia, a week later. Originally\nthe date of the celebration of the \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d appears not to\nhave been fixed, but to have depended on the appearance of the first\nswallow or of some other natural phenomenon.(836) A Bohemian form of the\ncustom of \u201cBurying the Carnival\u201d has been already described.(837) The\nfollowing Swabian form is obviously similar. In the neighbourhood of\nT\u00fcbingen on Shrove Tuesday a straw-man, called the Shrovetide Bear, is\nmade up; he is dressed in a pair of old trousers, and a fresh\nblack-pudding or two squirts filled with blood are inserted in his neck.\nAfter a formal condemnation he is beheaded, laid in a coffin, and on Ash\nWednesday is buried in the churchyard. This is called \u201cBurying the\nCarnival\u201d (\u201c_die Fastnacht vergraben_\u201d).(838) Amongst some of the Saxons\nof Transylvania the Carnival is hung. Thus at Braller on Ash Wednesday or\nShrove Tuesday two white and two chestnut horses draw a sledge on which is\nplaced a straw-man swathed in a white cloth; beside him is a cart-wheel\nwhich is kept turning round. Two lads disguised as old men follow the\nsledge lamenting. The rest of the village lads, mounted on horseback and\ndecked with ribbons, accompany the procession, which is headed by two\ngirls crowned with evergreen and drawn in a waggon or sledge. A trial is\nheld under a tree, at which lads disguised as soldiers pronounce sentence\nof death. The two old men try to rescue the straw-man and to fly with him,\nbut to no purpose; he is caught by the two girls and handed over to the\nexecutioner, who hangs him on a tree. In vain the old men try to climb up\nthe tree and take him down; they always tumble down, and at last in\ndespair they throw themselves on the ground and weep and howl for the\nhanged man. An official then makes a speech in which he declares that the\nCarnival was condemned to death because he had done them harm, by wearing\nout their shoes and making them tired and sleepy.(839) At the \u201cBurial of\nCarnival\u201d in Lechrain, a man dressed as a woman in black clothes is\ncarried on a litter or bier by four men; he is lamented over by men\ndisguised as women in black clothes, then thrown down before the village\ndung-heap, drenched with water, buried in the dung-heap, and covered with\nstraw.(840) Similarly in Sch\u00f6rzingen, near Sch\u00f6mberg, the \u201cCarnival\n(Shrovetide) Fool\u201d was carried all about the village on a bier, preceded\nby a man dressed in white, and followed by a devil who was dressed in\nblack and carried chains, which he clanked. One of the train collected\ngifts. After the procession the Fool was buried under straw and dung.(841)\nIn Rottweil the \u201cCarnival Fool\u201d is made drunk on Ash Wednesday and buried\nunder straw amid loud lamentation.(842) In Wurmlingen the Fool is\nrepresented by a young fellow enveloped in straw, who is led about the\nvillage by a rope as a \u201cBear\u201d on Shrove Tuesday and the preceding day. He\ndances to the flute. Then on Ash Wednesday a straw-man is made, placed on\na trough, carried out of the village to the sound of drums and mournful\nmusic, and buried in a field.(843) In Altdorf and Weingarten on Ash\nWednesday the Fool, represented by a straw-man, is carried about and then\nthrown into the water to the accompaniment of melancholy music. In other\nvillages of Swabia the part of fool is played by a live person, who is\nthrown into the water after being carried about in procession.(844) At\nBalwe, in Westphalia, a straw-man is made on Shrove Tuesday and thrown\ninto the river amid rejoicings. This is called, as usual, \u201cBurying the\nCarnival.\u201d(845) On the evening of Shrove Tuesday, the Esthonians make a\nstraw figure called _metsik_ or \u201cwood-spirit;\u201d one year it is dressed with\na man\u2019s coat and hat, next year with a hood and a petticoat. This figure\nis stuck on a long pole, carried across the boundary of the village with\nloud cries of joy, and fastened to the top of a tree in the wood. The\nceremony is believed to be a protection against all kinds of\nmisfortune.(846) Sometimes the resurrection of the pretended dead person\nis enacted. Thus, in some parts of Swabia, on Shrove Tuesday Dr.\nIron-Beard professes to bleed a sick man, who thereupon falls as dead to\nthe ground; but the doctor at last restores him to life by blowing air\ninto him through a tube.(847) In the Harz mountains, when Carnival is\nover, a man is laid on a baking-trough and carried with dirges to a grave;\nbut in the grave, instead of the man, a glass of brandy is placed. A\nspeech is delivered and then the people return to the village-green or\nmeeting-place, where they smoke the long clay pipes which are distributed\nat funerals. On the morning of Shrove Tuesday in the following year the\nbrandy is dug up and the festival begins by every one tasting the brandy\nwhich, as the phrase goes, has come to life again.(848)\n\nThe ceremony of \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d presents much the same features as\n\u201cBurying the Carnival;\u201d except that the figure of Death is oftener drowned\nor burned than buried, and that the carrying out of Death is generally\nfollowed by a ceremony, or at least accompanied by a profession, of\nbringing in Summer, Spring, or Life. Thus, in some villages of Th\u00fcringen\non the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the children used to carry a puppet of\nbirchen twigs through the village, and then threw it into a pool, while\nthey sang, \u201cWe carry the old Death out behind the herdsman\u2019s old house; we\nhave got Summer, and Kroden\u2019s(?) power is destroyed.\u201d(849) In one village\nof Th\u00fcringen (Dobschwitz near Gera), the ceremony of \u201cDriving out Death\u201d\nis still annually observed on the 1st of March. The young people make up a\nfigure of straw or the like materials, dress it in old clothes which they\nhave begged from the houses in the village, and carry it out and throw it\ninto the river. On returning to the village they announce the fact to the\npeople, and receive eggs and other victuals as a reward. In other villages\nof Th\u00fcringen, in which the population was originally Slavonic, the\ncarrying out of the puppet is accompanied with the singing of a song,\nwhich begins, \u201cNow we carry Death out of the village and Spring into the\nvillage.\u201d(850) In Bohemia the children go out with a straw-man,\nrepresenting Death, to the end of the village, where they burn it,\nsinging\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cNow carry we Death out of the village,\n    The new Summer into the village,\n    Welcome dear Summer,\n    Green little corn!\u201d(851)\n\n\nAt Tabor (Bohemia) the figure of Death is carried out of the town and\nflung from a high rock into the water, while they sing\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cDeath swims on the water,\n    Summer will soon be here,\n    We carried Death away for you,\n    We brought the Summer.\n    And do thou, O holy Marketa,\n    Give us a good year\n    For wheat and for rye.\u201d(852)\n\n\nIn other parts of Bohemia they carry Death to the end of the village,\nsinging\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe carry Death out of the village,\n    And the New Year into the village.\n    Dear Spring, we bid you welcome,\n    Green grass, we bid you welcome.\u201d\n\n\nBehind the village they erect a pyre, on which they burn the straw figure,\nreviling and scoffing at it the while. Then they return, singing\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe have carried away Death,\n    And brought Life back.\n    He has taken up his quarters in the village,\n    Therefore sing joyous songs.\u201d(853)\n\n\nAt N\u00fcrnberg, girls of seven to eighteen years of age, dressed in their\nbest, carry through the streets a little open coffin in which is a doll,\nhidden under a shroud. Others carry a beech branch, with an apple fastened\nto it for a head, in an open box. They sing, \u201cWe carry Death into the\nwater, it is well,\u201d or, \u201cWe carry Death into the water, carry him in and\nout again.\u201d(854)\n\nThe effigy of Death is often regarded with fear and treated with marks of\nhatred and contempt. In Lusatia the figure is sometimes made to look in at\nthe window of a house, and it is believed that some one in the house will\ndie within the year unless his life is redeemed by the payment of\nmoney.(855) Again, after throwing the effigy away, the bearers sometimes\nrun home lest Death should follow them; and if one of them falls in\nrunning, it is believed that he will die within the year.(856) At Chrudim,\nin Bohemia, the figure of Death is made out of a cross, with a head and\nmask stuck at the top, and a shirt stretched out on it. On the Fifth\nSunday in Lent the boys take this effigy to the nearest brook or pool, and\nstanding in a line throw it into the water. Then they all plunge in after\nit; but as soon as it is caught no one more may enter the water. The boy\nwho did not enter the water or entered it last will die within the year,\nand he is obliged to carry the Death back to the village. The effigy is\nthen burned.(857) On the other hand it is believed that no one will die\nwithin the year in the house out of which the figure of Death has been\ncarried;(858) and the village out of which Death has been driven is\nsometimes supposed to be protected against sickness and plague.(859) In\nsome villages of Austrian Silesia on the Saturday before Dead Sunday an\neffigy is made of old clothes, hay, and straw, for the purpose of driving\nDeath out of the village. On Sunday the people, armed with sticks and\nstraps, assemble before the house where the figure is lodged. Four lads\nthen draw the effigy by cords through the village amid exultant shouts,\nwhile all the others beat it with their sticks and straps. On reaching a\nfield which belongs to a neighbouring village they lay down the figure,\ncudgel it soundly, and scatter the fragments over the field. The people\nbelieve that the village from which Death has been thus carried out will\nbe safe from any infectious disease for the whole year.(860) In Slavonia\nthe figure of Death is cudgelled and then rent in two.(861) In Poland the\neffigy, made of hemp and straw, is flung into a pool or swamp with the\nwords, \u201cThe devil take thee.\u201d(862)\n\nThe custom of \u201csawing the Old Woman,\u201d which is or used to be observed in\nItaly and Spain on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, is doubtless, as Grimm\nsupposes, merely another form of the custom of \u201ccarrying out Death.\u201d A\ngreat hideous figure representing the oldest woman of the village was\ndragged out and sawn in two, amid a prodigious noise made with cow-bells,\npots and pans, etc.(863) In Palermo the ceremony used to be still more\nrealistic. At Mid-Lent an old woman was drawn through the streets on a\ncart, attended by two men dressed in the costume of the _Compagnia\nde\u2019Bianchi_, a society or religious order whose function it was to attend\nand console prisoners condemned to death. A scaffold was erected in a\npublic square; the old woman mounted it, and two mock executioners\nproceeded, amid a storm of huzzas and hand-clapping, to saw through her\nneck or rather through a bladder of blood which had been previously fitted\nto her neck. The blood gushed out and the old woman pretended to swoon and\ndie. The last of these mock executions took place in 1737.(864) At\nFlorence, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Old Woman was\nrepresented by a figure stuffed with walnuts and dried figs and fastened\nto the top of a ladder. At Mid-Lent this effigy was sawn through the\nmiddle under the _Loggie_ of the Mercato Nuovo, and as the dried fruits\ntumbled out they were scrambled for by the crowd. A trace of the custom is\nstill to be seen in the practice, observed by urchins, of secretly pinning\npaper ladders to the shoulders of women of the lower classes who happen to\nshow themselves in the streets on the morning of Mid-Lent.(865) A similar\ncustom is observed by urchins in Rome; and at Naples on the 1st of April\nboys cut strips of cloth into the shape of saws, smear them with gypsum,\nand strike passers-by with their \u201csaws\u201d on the back, thus imprinting the\nfigure of a saw upon their clothes.(866) At Montalto in Calabria boys go\nabout at Mid-Lent with little saws made of cane and jeer at old people,\nwho therefore generally stay indoors on that day. The Calabrian women meet\ntogether at this time and feast on figs, chestnuts, honey, etc.; this they\ncall \u201csawing the Old Woman\u201d\u2014a reminiscence probably of a custom like the\nold Florentine one.(867)\n\nIn Barcelona on the day in question boys run about the streets, some with\nsaws, others with billets of wood, others again with cloths in which they\ncollect gratuities. They sing a song in which it is said that they are\nlooking for the oldest woman of the city for the purpose of sawing her in\ntwo in honour of Mid-Lent; at last, pretending to have found her, they saw\nsomething in two and burn it. A like custom is found amongst the South\nSlavs. In Lent the Croats tell their children that at noon an old woman is\nbeing sawn in two outside the gates; and in Carniola also the saying is\ncurrent that at Mid-Lent an old woman is taken out of the village and sawn\nin two. The North Slavonian expression for keeping Mid-Lent is _b\u00e1bu\nrezati_, that is, \u201csawing the Old Wife.\u201d(868)\n\nIn the preceding ceremonies the return of Spring, Summer, or Life, as a\nsequel to the expulsion of Death, is only implied or at most announced. In\nthe following ceremonies it is plainly enacted. In some parts of Bohemia\nthe effigy of Death is buried at sunset; then the girls go out into the\nwood and cut down a young tree with a green crown, hang a doll dressed as\na woman on it, deck the whole with green, red, and white ribbons, and\nmarch in procession with their _L\u00edto_ (Summer) into the village,\ncollecting gifts and singing\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe carried Death out of the village,\n    We are carrying Summer into the village.\u201d(869)\n\n\nIn many Silesian villages the figure of Death, after being treated with\nrespect, is stripped of its clothes and flung with curses into the water,\nor torn in pieces in a field. Then a fir-tree adorned with ribbons,\ncoloured egg-shells, and motley bits of cloth, is carried through the\nstreets by boys who collect pennies and sing\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe have carried Death out,\n    We are bringing the dear Summer back,\n    The Summer and the May\n    And all the flowers gay.\u201d(870)\n\n\nAt Eisenach on the Fourth Sunday in Lent young people used to fasten a\nstraw-man, representing Death, to a wheel, which they trundled to the top\nof a hill. Then setting fire to the figure they allowed it and the wheel\nto roll downhill. Next they cut a tall fir-tree, tricked it out with\nribbons, and set it up in the plain. The men then climbed the tree to\nfetch down the ribbons.(871) In Upper Lusatia the figure of Death, made of\nstraw and rags, is dressed in a veil furnished by the last bride and a\nshirt furnished by the house in which the last death occurred. Thus\narrayed the figure is stuck on the end of a long pole and carried at full\nspeed by the tallest and strongest girl, while the rest pelt the effigy\nwith sticks and stones. Whoever hits it will be sure to live through the\nyear. In this way Death is carried out of the village and thrown into the\nwater or over the boundary of the next village. On their way home each one\nbreaks a green branch and carries it gaily with him till he reaches the\nvillage, when he throws it away. Sometimes the young people of the next\nvillage, upon whose land the figure has been thrown, run after them and\nhurl it back, not wishing to have Death among them. Hence the two parties\noccasionally come to blows.(872)\n\nIn these cases Death is represented by the puppet which is thrown away,\nSummer or Life by the branches or trees which are brought back. But\nsometimes a new potency of life seems to be attributed to the image of\nDeath itself, and by a kind of resurrection it becomes the instrument of\nthe general revival. Thus in some parts of Lusatia women alone are\nconcerned in carrying out Death, and suffer no male to meddle with it.\nAttired in mourning, which they wear the whole day, they make a puppet of\nstraw, clothe it in a white shirt, and give it a broom in one hand and a\nscythe in the other. Singing songs and pursued by urchins throwing stones,\nthey carry the puppet to the village boundary, where they tear it in\npieces. Then they cut down a fine tree, hang the shirt on it, and carry it\nhome singing.(873) On the Feast of Ascension the Saxons of a village near\nHermanstadt (Transylvania) observe the ceremony of \u201ccarrying out Death\u201d in\nthe following manner. After forenoon church all the school-girls repair to\nthe house of one of their number, and there dress up the Death. This is\ndone by tying a threshed-out corn-sheaf into the rough semblance of a head\nand body, while the arms are simulated by a broomstick stuck horizontally.\nThe figure is dressed in the Sunday clothes of a village matron. It is\nthen displayed at the window that all people may see it on their way to\nafternoon church. As soon as vespers are over the girls seize the effigy\nand, singing a hymn, carry it in procession round the village. Boys are\nexcluded from the procession. After the procession has traversed the\nvillage from end to end, the figure is taken to another house and stripped\nof its attire; the naked straw bundle is then thrown out of the window to\nthe boys, who carry it off and fling it into the nearest stream. This is\nthe first act of the drama. In the second, one of the girls is solemnly\ninvested with the clothes and ornaments previously worn by the figure of\nDeath, and, like it, is led in procession round the village to the singing\nof the same hymns as before. The ceremony ends with a feast at the house\nof the girl who acted the chief part; as before, the boys are excluded.\n\u201cAccording to popular belief, it is allowed to eat fruit only after this\nday, as now the \u2018Death,\u2019 that is, the unwholesomeness\u2014has been expelled\nfrom them. Also the river in which the Death has been drowned may now be\nconsidered fit for public bathing. If this ceremony be neglected in the\nvillage where it is customary, such neglect is supposed to entail death to\none of the young people, or loss of virtue to a girl.\u201d(874)\n\nIn the first of these two ceremonies the tree which is brought home after\nthe destruction of the figure of Death is plainly equivalent to the trees\nor branches which, in the preceding customs, were brought back as\nrepresentatives of Summer or Life, after Death had been thrown away or\ndestroyed. But the transference of the shirt worn by the effigy of Death\nto the tree clearly indicates that the tree is a kind of revivification,\nin a new form, of the destroyed effigy.(875) This comes out also in the\nTransylvanian custom; the dressing of a girl in the clothes worn by the\nDeath, and the leading her about the village to the same songs which had\nbeen sung when the Death was being carried about, show that she is\nintended to be a kind of resuscitation of the being whose effigy has just\nbeen destroyed. These examples therefore suggest that the Death whose\ndemolition is represented in these ceremonies cannot be regarded as the\npurely destructive agent which we understand by Death. If the tree which\nis brought back as an embodiment of the reviving vegetation of spring is\nclothed in the shirt worn by the Death which has been just destroyed, the\nobject certainly cannot be to check and counteract the revival of\nvegetation; it can only be to foster and promote it. Therefore the being\nwhich has just been destroyed\u2014the so-called Death\u2014must be supposed to be\nendowed with a vivifying and quickening influence, which it can\ncommunicate to the vegetable and even the animal world. This ascription of\na life-giving virtue to the figure of Death is put beyond a doubt by the\ncustom, observed in some places, of taking pieces of the straw effigy of\nDeath and placing them in the fields to make the crops grow, or in the\nmanger to make the cattle thrive. Thus in Spachendorf (Austrian Silesia)\nthe figure of Death made of straw, brushwood, and rags, is carried out\nwith wild songs to an open place outside the village and there burned, and\nwhile it is burning a general struggle takes place for the pieces, which\nare pulled out of the flames with bare hands. Each one who secures a\nfragment of the effigy ties it to a branch of the largest tree in his\ngarden, or buries it in his field, in the belief that this causes the\ncrops to grow better.(876) In the Troppau district (Austrian Silesia) the\nstraw figure which the boys make on the Fourth Sunday in Lent is dressed\nby the girls in woman\u2019s clothes and hung with ribbons, necklace, and\ngarlands. Attached to a long pole it is carried out of the village,\nfollowed by a troop of young people of both sexes, who alternately frolic,\nlament, and sing songs. Arrived at its destination\u2014a field outside the\nvillage\u2014the figure is stripped of its clothes and ornaments; then the\ncrowd rushes on it and tears it to bits, scuffling for the fragments.\nEvery one tries to get a wisp of the straw of which the effigy was made,\nbecause such a wisp, placed in the manger, is believed to make the cattle\nthrive.(877) Or the straw is put in the hens\u2019 nest, it being supposed that\nthis prevents the hens from carrying away their eggs, and makes them brood\nmuch better.(878) The same attribution of a fertilising power to the\nfigure of Death appears in the belief that if the bearers of the figure,\nafter throwing it away, meet cattle and strike them with their sticks,\nthis will render the cattle prolific.(879) Perhaps the sticks had been\npreviously used to beat the Death,(880) and so had acquired the\nfertilising power ascribed to the effigy. In Leipzig at Mid-Lent men and\nwomen of the lowest class used to carry through all the streets a straw\neffigy of Death, which they exhibited to young wives, and finally threw\ninto the river, alleging that this made young wives fruitful, cleansed the\ncity, and averted the plague and other sickness from the inhabitants for\nthat year.(881)\n\nIt seems hardly possible to separate from the May-trees the trees or\nbranches which are brought into the village after the destruction of the\nDeath. The bearers who bring them in profess to be bringing in the\nSummer;(882) therefore the trees obviously represent the Summer; and the\ndoll which is sometimes attached to the Summer-tree is a duplicate\nrepresentative of the Summer, just as the May is sometimes represented at\nthe same time by a May-tree and a May Lady.(883) Further, the Summer-trees\nare adorned like May-trees with ribbons, etc.; like May-trees, when large,\nthey are planted in the ground and climbed up; and like May-trees, when\nsmall, they are carried from door to door by boys or girls singing songs\nand collecting money.(884) And as if to demonstrate the identity of the\ntwo sets of customs the bearers of the Summer-tree sometimes announce that\nthey are bringing in the Summer and the May.(885) The customs, therefore,\nof bringing in the May and bringing in the Summer are essentially the\nsame; and the Summer-tree is merely another form of the May-tree, the only\ndistinction (besides that of name) being in the time at which they are\nrespectively brought in; for while the May-tree is usually fetched in on\nthe 1st of May or at Whitsuntide, the Summer-tree is fetched in on the\nFourth Sunday in Lent. Therefore, if the explanation here adopted of the\nMay-tree (namely, that it is an embodiment of the tree-spirit or spirit of\nvegetation) is correct, the Summer-tree must likewise be an embodiment of\nthe tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation. But we have seen that the\nSummer-tree is in some cases a revivification of the effigy of Death. It\nfollows, therefore, that in these cases the effigy called Death must be an\nembodiment of the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation. This inference is\nconfirmed, first, by the vivifying and fertilising influence which the\nfragments of the effigy of Death are believed to exercise both on\nvegetable and on animal life;(886) for this influence, as we saw in the\nfirst chapter, is supposed to be a special attribute of the tree-spirit.\nIt is confirmed, secondly, by observing that the effigy of Death is\nsometimes composed of birchen twigs, of the branch of a beech-tree, of a\nthreshed-out corn-sheaf, or of hemp;(887) and that sometimes it is hung on\na little tree and so carried about by girls collecting money,(888) just as\nis done with the May-tree and the May Lady, and with the Summer-tree and\nthe doll attached to it. In short we are driven to regard the expulsion of\nDeath and the bringing in of Summer as, in some cases at least, merely\nanother form of that death and resuscitation of the spirit of vegetation\nin spring which we saw enacted in the killing and resurrection of the Wild\nMan.(889) The burial and resurrection of the Carnival is probably another\nway of expressing the same idea. The burying of the representative of the\nCarnival under a dung-heap is natural, if he is supposed to possess a\nquickening and fertilising influence like that ascribed to the effigy of\nDeath. By the Esthonians, indeed, the straw figure which is carried out of\nthe village in the usual way on Shrove Tuesday is not called the Carnival,\nbut the Wood-spirit (_Metsik_), and the identity of it with the\nwood-spirit is further shown by fixing it to the top of a tree in the\nwood, where it remains for a year, and is besought almost daily with\nprayers and offerings to protect the herds; for like a true wood-spirit\nthe _Metsik_ is a patron of cattle. Sometimes the _Metsik_ is made of\nsheafs of corn.(890) Therefore, we may fairly conjecture that the names\nCarnival, Death, and Summer, are comparatively late and inadequate\nexpressions for the beings personified or embodied in the customs\ndescribed. The very abstractness of the names bespeaks a modern origin;\nthe personification of times and seasons like the Carnival and Summer, or\nof an abstract notion like death, is hardly primitive. But the ceremonies\nthemselves bear the stamp of a dateless antiquity; therefore we can hardly\nhelp supposing that in their origin the ideas which they embodied were of\na more simple and concrete order. The conception of a tree, perhaps of a\nparticular kind of tree (for some savages have no word for tree in\ngeneral), or even of an individual tree, is sufficiently concrete to\nsupply a basis from which by a gradual process of generalisation the wider\nconception of a spirit of vegetation might be reached. But this general\nconception of vegetation would readily be confounded with the season in\nwhich it manifests itself; hence the substitution of Spring, Summer, or\nMay for the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation would be easy and natural.\nAgain the concrete notion of the dying tree or dying vegetation would by a\nsimilar process of generalisation glide into a notion of death in general;\nso that instead of the carrying out of the dying or dead vegetation in\nspring (as a preliminary to its revival) we should in time get a carrying\nout of Death itself. The view that in these spring ceremonies Death meant\noriginally the dying or dead vegetation of winter has the high support of\nW. Mannhardt; and he confirms it by the analogy of the name Death as\napplied to the spirit of the ripe corn. Commonly the spirit of the ripe\ncorn is conceived, not as dead, but as old, and hence it goes by the name\nof the Old Man or the Old Woman. But in some places the last sheaf cut at\nharvest, which is generally believed to be the seat of the corn spirit, is\ncalled \u201cthe Dead One;\u201d children are warned against entering the\ncorn-fields because Death sits in the corn; and, in a game played by Saxon\nchildren in Transylvania at the maize harvest, Death is represented by a\nchild completely covered with maize leaves.(891)\n\nThe supposition that behind the conceptions of Death, Carnival, Summer,\netc., as embodied in these spring ceremonies, there lurk older and more\nconcrete notions is to a certain extent countenanced by the fact that in\nRussia funeral ceremonies like those of \u201cBurying the Carnival\u201d and\n\u201cCarrying out Death\u201d are celebrated under the names, not of Death or the\nCarnival, but of certain mythic figures, Kostrubonko, Kostroma, Kupalo,\nLada, and Yarilo. These Russian ceremonies are observed both in spring and\nat midsummer. Thus \u201cin Little Russia it used to be the custom at\nEastertide to celebrate the funeral of a being called Kostrubonko, the\ndeity of the spring. A circle was formed of singers who moved slowly\naround a girl who lay on the ground as if dead, and as they went they\nsang\u2014\n\n\n    \u2018Dead, dead is our Kostrubonko!\n    Dead, dead is our dear one!\u2019\n\n\nuntil the girl suddenly sprang up, on which the chorus joyfully exclaimed\u2014\n\n\n    \u2018Come to life, come to life has our Kostrubonko!\n    Come to life, come to life has our dear one!\u2019 \u201d(892)\n\n\nOn the Eve of St. John (Midsummer Eve) a figure of Kupalo is made of straw\nand \u201cis dressed in woman\u2019s clothes, with a necklace and a floral crown.\nThen a tree is felled, and, after being decked with ribbons, is set up on\nsome chosen spot. Near this tree, to which they give the name of Marena\n[Winter or Death], the straw figure is placed, together with a table, on\nwhich stand spirits and viands. Afterwards a bonfire is lit, and the young\nmen and maidens jump over it in couples, carrying the figure with them. On\nthe next day they strip the tree and the figure of their ornaments, and\nthrow them both into a stream.\u201d(893) On St. Peter\u2019s Day (29th June) or on\nthe following Sunday, \u201cthe Funeral of Kostroma\u201d or of Lada or of Yarilo is\ncelebrated in Russia. In the Governments of Penza and Simbirsk the\n\u201cfuneral\u201d used to be represented as follows. A bonfire was kindled on the\n28th of June, and on the next day the maidens chose one of their number to\nplay the part of Kostroma. Her companions saluted her with deep\nobeisances, placed her on a board, and carried her to the bank of a\nstream. There they bathed her in the water, while the oldest girl made a\nbasket of lime-tree bark and beat it like a drum. Then they returned to\nthe village and ended the day with processions, games, and dances.(894) In\nthe Murom district, Kostroma was represented by a straw figure dressed in\nwoman\u2019s clothes and flowers. This was laid in a trough and carried with\nsongs to the bank of a lake or river. Here the crowd divided into two\nsides, of which the one attacked and the other defended the figure. At\nlast the assailants gained the day, stripped the figure of its dress and\nornaments, tore it in pieces, trod the straw of which it was made under\nfoot, and flung it into the stream; while the defenders of the figure hid\ntheir faces in their hands and pretended to bewail the death of\nKostroma.(895) In the district of Kostroma the burial of Yarilo was\ncelebrated on the 29th or 30th of June. The people chose an old man and\ngave him a small coffin containing a Priapus-like figure representing\nYarilo. This he carried out of the town, followed by women chanting dirges\nand expressing by their gestures grief and despair. In the open fields a\ngrave was dug, and into it the figure was lowered amid weeping and\nwailing, after which games and dances were begun, \u201ccalling to mind the\nfuneral games celebrated in old times by the pagan Slavonians.\u201d(896) In\nLittle Russia the figure of Yarilo was laid in a coffin and carried\nthrough the streets after sunset surrounded by drunken women, who kept\nrepeating mournfully, \u201cHe is dead! he is dead!\u201d The men lifted and shook\nthe figure as if they were trying to recall the dead man to life. Then\nthey said to the women, \u201cWomen, weep not. I know what is sweeter than\nhoney.\u201d But the women continued to lament and chant, as they do at\nfunerals. \u201cOf what was he guilty? He was so good. He will arise no more. O\nhow shall we part from thee? What is life without thee? Arise, if only for\na brief hour. But he rises not, he rises not.\u201d At last the Yarilo was\nburied in a grave.(897)\n\nThese Russian customs are plainly of the same nature as those which in\nAustria and Germany are known as \u201cBurying the Carnival\u201d and \u201cCarrying out\nDeath.\u201d Therefore if my interpretation of the latter is right, the Russian\nKostroma, Yarilo, etc. must also have been originally embodiments of the\nspirit of vegetation, and their death must have been regarded as a\nnecessary preliminary to their revival. The revival as a sequel to the\ndeath is enacted in the first of the ceremonies described, the death and\nresurrection of Kostrubonko. The reason why in some of these Russian\nceremonies the death of the spirit of vegetation is celebrated at\nmidsummer may be that the decline of summer is dated from Midsummer Day,\nafter which the days begin to shorten, and the sun sets out on his\ndownward journey\u2014\n\n\n            \u201cTo the darksome hollows\n    Where the frosts of winter lie.\u201d\n\n\nSuch a turning-point of the year, when vegetation might be thought to\nshare the incipient though still almost imperceptible decay of summer,\nmight very well be chosen by primitive man as a fit moment for resorting\nto those magic ceremonies by which he hopes to stay the decline, or at\nleast to ensure the revival, of plant life.\n\nBut while the death of vegetation appears to have been represented in all,\nand its revival in some, of these spring and midsummer ceremonies, there\nare features in some of them which can hardly be explained on this\nhypothesis alone. The solemn funeral, the lamentations, and the mourning\nattire, which often characterise these ceremonies, are indeed appropriate\nat the death of the beneficent spirit of vegetation. But what shall we say\nof the glee with which the effigy is often carried out, of the sticks and\nstones with which it is assailed, and the taunts and curses which are\nhurled at it? What shall we say of the dread of the effigy evinced by the\nhaste with which the bearers scamper home as soon as they have thrown it\naway, and by the belief that some one must soon die in any house into\nwhich it has looked? This dread might perhaps be explained by a belief\nthat there is a certain infectiousness in the dead spirit of vegetation\nwhich renders its approach dangerous. But this explanation, besides being\nrather strained, does not cover the rejoicings which often attend the\ncarrying out of Death.\n\nWe must therefore recognise two distinct and seemingly opposite features\nin these ceremonies; on the one hand, sorrow for the death, and affection\nand respect for the dead; on the other hand, fear and hatred of the dead,\nand rejoicings at his death. How the former of these features is to be\nexplained I have attempted to show; how the latter came to be so closely\nassociated with the former is a question which I shall try to answer in\nthe sequel.\n\nBefore we quit these European customs to go farther afield, it will be\nwell to notice that occasionally the expulsion of Death or of a mythic\nbeing is conducted without any visible representative of the personage\nexpelled. Thus at K\u00f6nigshain, near G\u00f6rlitz (Silesia), all the villagers,\nyoung and old, used to go out with straw torches to the top of a\nneighbouring hill, called _Todtenstein_ (Death-stone), where they lit\ntheir torches, and so returned home singing, \u201cWe have driven out Death, we\nare bringing back Summer.\u201d(898) In Albania young people light torches of\nresinous wood on Easter Eve, and march in procession through the village\nbrandishing them. At last they throw the torches into the river, saying,\n\u201cHa, Kore, we fling you into the river, like these torches, that you may\nreturn no more.\u201d Some say that the intention of the ceremony is to drive\nout winter; but Kore is conceived as a malignant being who devours\nchildren.(899)\n\nIn the K\u00e2nagr\u00e2 district, India, there is a custom observed by young girls\nin spring which closely resembles some of the European spring ceremonies\njust described. It is called the _Ral\u00ee Ka mel\u00e2_, or fair of Rali, the\n_Ral\u00ee_ being a small painted earthen image of Siva or P\u00e2rvat\u00ee. It lasts\nthrough most of Chet (March-April) up to the Sankr\u00e2nt of Bais\u00e2kh (April),\nand is in vogue all over the K\u00e2nagr\u00e2 district. Its celebration is entirely\nconfined to young girls. On a morning in March all the young girls of the\nvillage take small baskets of _d\u00fbb_ grass and flowers to a certain fixed\nspot, where they throw them in a heap. Round this heap they stand in a\ncircle and sing. This goes on every day for ten days, till the heap of\ngrass and flowers has reached a fair height. Then they cut in the jungle\ntwo branches having three prongs at one end, and place them, prongs\ndownwards, over the heap of flowers, so as to make two tripods or\npyramids. On the single uppermost points of these branches they get an\nimage-maker to construct two clay images, one to represent Siva, and the\nother P\u00e2rvat\u00ee. The girls then divide themselves into two parties, one for\nSiva and one for P\u00e2rvat\u00ee, and marry the images in the usual way, leaving\nout no part of the ceremony. After the marriage they have a feast, the\ncost of which is defrayed by contributions solicited from their parents.\nThen at the next Sankr\u00e2nt (Bais\u00e2kh) they all go together to the riverside,\nthrow the images into a deep pool, and weep over the place, as though they\nwere performing funeral obsequies. The boys of the neighbourhood often\nannoy them by diving after the images, bringing them up, and waving them\nabout while the girls are crying over them. The object of the fair is said\nto be to secure a good husband.(900)\n\nThat in this Indian ceremony the deities Siva and P\u00e2rvat\u00ee are conceived as\nspirits of vegetation seems to be proved by the fact that their images are\nplaced on branches over a heap of grass and flowers. Here, as often in\nEuropean folk-custom, the divinities of vegetation are represented in\nduplicate, by plants and by puppets. The marriage of these Indian deities\nin spring corresponds to the European ceremonies in which the marriage of\nthe vernal spirits of vegetation is represented by the King and Queen of\nMay, the May Bride, Bridegroom of the May, etc.(901) The throwing of the\nimages into the water, and the mourning for them, are the equivalents of\nthe European customs of throwing the dead spirit of vegetation (under the\nname of Death, Yarilo, Kostroma, etc.) into the water and lamenting over\nit. Again, in India, as often in Europe, the rite is performed exclusively\nby females. The notion that the ceremony was effective for procuring\nhusbands to the girls can be explained by the quickening and fertilising\ninfluence which the spirit of vegetation is believed to exert upon human\nand animal, as well as upon vegetable life.(902)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 4.\u2014Adonis.\n\n\nBut it is in Egypt and Western Asia that the death and resurrection of\nvegetation appear to have been most widely celebrated with ceremonies like\nthose of modern Europe. Under the names of Osiris, Adonis, Thammuz, Attis,\nand Dionysus, the Egyptians, Syrians, Babylonians, Phrygians, and Greeks\nrepresented the decay and revival of vegetation with rites which, as the\nancients themselves recognised, were substantially the same, and which\nfind their parallels in the spring and midsummer customs of our European\npeasantry. The nature and worship of these deities have been discussed at\nlength by many learned writers; all that I propose to do is to sketch\nthose salient features in their ritual and legends which seem to establish\nthe view here taken of their nature. We begin with Adonis or Thammuz.\n\nThe worship of Adonis was practised by the Semitic peoples of Syria, from\nwhom it was borrowed by the Greeks as early at least as the fifth century\nbefore Christ. The name Adonis is the Phoenician _Adon_, \u201clord.\u201d(903) He\nwas said to have been a fair youth, beloved by Aphrodite (the Semitic\nAstarte), but slain by a boar in his youthful prime. His death was\nannually lamented with a bitter wailing, chiefly by women; images of him,\ndressed to resemble corpses, were carried out as to burial and then thrown\ninto the sea or into springs;(904) and in some places his revival was\ncelebrated on the following day.(905) But the ceremonies varied somewhat\nboth in the manner and the season of their celebration in different\nplaces. At Alexandria images of Adonis and Aphrodite were displayed on two\ncouches; beside them were set ripe fruits of all kinds, cakes, plants\ngrowing in flower pots, and green bowers twined with anise. The marriage\nof the lovers was celebrated one day, and on the next the image of Adonis\nwas borne by women attired as mourners, with streaming hair and bared\nbreasts, to the sea-shore and committed to the waves.(906) The date at\nwhich this Alexandrian ceremony was observed is not expressly stated; but\nfrom the mention of the ripe fruits it has been inferred that it took\nplace in late summer.(907) At Byblus the death of Adonis was annually\nmourned with weeping, wailing, and beating of the breast; but next day he\nwas believed to come to life again and ascend up to heaven in the presence\nof his worshippers.(908) This celebration appears to have taken place in\nspring; for its date was determined by the discoloration of the river\nAdonis, and this has been observed by modern travellers to occur in\nspring. At that season the red earth washed down from the mountains by the\nrain tinges the water of the river and even the sea for a great way with a\nblood-red hue, and the crimson stain was believed to be the blood of\nAdonis, annually wounded to death by the boar on Mount Lebanon.(909)\nAgain, the red anemone(910) was said to have sprung from the blood of\nAdonis; and as the anemone blooms in Syria about Easter, this is a fresh\nproof that the festival of Adonis, or at least one of his festivals, was\ncelebrated in spring. The name of the flower is probably derived from\nNaaman (\u201cdarling\u201d), which seems to have been an epithet of Adonis. The\nArabs still call the anemone \u201cwounds of the Naaman.\u201d(911)\n\nThe resemblance of these ceremonies to the Indian and European ceremonies\npreviously described is obvious. In particular, apart from the somewhat\ndoubtful date of its celebration, the Alexandrian ceremony is almost\nidentical with the Indian. In both of them the marriage of two divinities,\nwhose connection with vegetation seems indicated by the fresh plants with\nwhich they are surrounded, is celebrated in effigy, and the effigies are\nafterwards mourned over and thrown into the water.(912) From the\nsimilarity of these customs to each other and to the spring and midsummer\ncustoms of modern Europe we should naturally expect that they all admit of\na common explanation. Hence, if the explanation here adopted of the latter\nis correct, the ceremony of the death and resurrection of Adonis must also\nhave been a representation of the decay and revival of vegetation. The\ninference thus based on the similarity of the customs is confirmed by the\nfollowing features in the legend and ritual of Adonis. His connection with\nvegetation comes out at once in the common story of his birth. He was said\nto have been born from a myrrh-tree, the bark of which bursting, after a\nten months\u2019 gestation, allowed the lovely infant to come forth. According\nto some, a boar rent the bark with his tusk and so opened a passage for\nthe babe. A faint rationalistic colour was given to the legend by saying\nthat his mother was a woman named Myrrh, who had been turned into a\nmyrrh-tree soon after she had conceived the child.(913) Again the story\nthat Adonis spent half, or according to others a third, of the year in the\nlower world and the rest of it in the upper world,(914) is explained most\nsimply and naturally by supposing that he represented vegetation,\nespecially the corn, which lies buried in the earth half the year and\nreappears above ground the other half. Certainly of the annual phenomena\nof nature there is none which suggests so obviously the idea of a yearly\ndeath and resurrection as the disappearance and reappearance of vegetation\nin autumn and spring. Adonis has been taken for the sun; but there is\nnothing in the sun\u2019s annual course within the temperate and tropical zones\nto suggest that he is dead for half or a third of the year and alive for\nthe other half or two-thirds. He might, indeed, be conceived as weakened\nin winter,(915) but dead he could not be thought to be; his daily\nreappearance contradicts the supposition. Within the arctic circle, where\nthe sun annually disappears for a continuous period of from twenty-four\nhours to six months, according to the latitude, his annual death and\nresurrection would certainly be an obvious idea; but no one has suggested\nthat the Adonis worship came from those regions. On the other hand the\nannual death and revival of vegetation is a conception which readily\npresents itself to men in every stage of savagery and civilisation; and\nthe vastness of the scale on which this yearly decay and regeneration\ntakes place, together with man\u2019s intimate dependence on it for\nsubsistence, combine to render it the most striking annual phenomenon in\nnature, at least within the temperate zones. It is no wonder that a\nphenomenon so important, so striking, and so universal should, by\nsuggesting similar ideas, have given rise to similar rites in many lands.\nWe may, therefore, accept as probable an explanation of the Adonis worship\nwhich accords so well with the facts of nature and with the analogy of\nsimilar rites in other lands, and which besides is countenanced by a\nconsiderable body of opinion amongst the ancients themselves.(916)\n\nThe character of Thammuz or Adonis as a corn-spirit comes out plainly in\nan account of his festival given by an Arabic writer of the tenth century.\nIn describing the rites and sacrifices observed at the different seasons\nof the year by the heathen Syrians of Harran, he says:\u2014\u201cThammuz (July). In\nthe middle of this month is the festival of el-B\u00fbg\u00e2t, that is, of the\nweeping women, and this is the T\u00e2-uz festival, which is celebrated in\nhonour of the god T\u00e2-uz. The women bewail him, because his lord slew him\nso cruelly, ground his bones in a mill, and then scattered them to the\nwind. The women (during this festival) eat nothing which has been ground\nin a mill, but limit their diet to steeped wheat, sweet vetches, dates,\nraisins, and the like.\u201d(917) Thammuz (of which T\u00e2-uz is only another form\nof pronunciation) is here like Burns\u2019s John Barleycorn\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThey wasted, o\u2019er a scorching flame,\n        The marrow of his bones;\n    But a miller us\u2019d him worst of all,\n        For he crush\u2019d him between two stones.\u201d(918)\n\n\nBut perhaps the best proof that Adonis was a deity of vegetation is\nfurnished by the gardens of Adonis, as they were called. These were\nbaskets or pots filled with earth, in which wheat, barley, lettuces,\nfennel, and various kinds of flowers were sown and tended for eight days,\nchiefly or exclusively by women. Fostered by the sun\u2019s heat, the plants\nshot up rapidly, but having no root withered as rapidly away, and at the\nend of eight days were carried out with the images of the dead Adonis, and\nflung with them into the sea or into springs.(919) At Athens these\nceremonies were observed at midsummer. For we know that the fleet which\nAthens fitted out against Syracuse, and by the destruction of which her\npower was permanently crippled, sailed at midsummer, and by an ominous\ncoincidence the sombre rites of Adonis were being celebrated at the very\ntime. As the troops marched down to the harbour to embark, the streets\nthrough which they passed were lined with coffins and corpse-like\neffigies, and the air was rent with the noise of women wailing for the\ndead Adonis. The circumstance cast a gloom over the sailing of the most\nsplendid armament that Athens ever sent to sea.(920)\n\nThese gardens of Adonis are most naturally interpreted as representatives\nof Adonis or manifestations of his power; they represented him, true to\nhis original nature, in vegetable form, while the images of him, with\nwhich they were carried out and cast into the water, represented him in\nhis later anthropomorphic form. All these Adonis ceremonies, if I am\nright, were originally intended as charms to promote the growth and\nrevival of vegetation; and the principle by which they were supposed to\nproduce this effect was sympathetic magic. As was explained in the first\nchapter, primitive people suppose that by representing or mimicking the\neffect which they desire to produce they actually help to produce it; thus\nby sprinkling water they make rain, by lighting a fire they make sunshine,\nand so on. Similarly by mimicking the growth of crops, they hope to insure\na good harvest. The rapid growth of the wheat and barley in the gardens of\nAdonis was intended to make the corn shoot up; and the throwing of the\ngardens and of the images into the water was a charm to secure a due\nsupply of fertilising rain.(921) The same, I take it, was the object of\nthrowing the effigies of Death and the Carnival into water in the\ncorresponding ceremonies of modern Europe. We have seen that the custom of\ndrenching a leaf-clad person (who undoubtedly personifies vegetation) with\nwater is still resorted to in Europe for the express purpose of producing\nrain.(922) Similarly the custom of throwing water on the last corn cut at\nharvest, or on the person who brings it home (a custom observed in Germany\nand France, and till quite lately in England and Scotland), is in some\nplaces practised with the avowed intent to procure rain for the next\nyear\u2019s crops. Thus in Wallachia and amongst the Roumanians of\nTransylvania, when a girl is bringing home a crown made of the last ears\nof corn cut at harvest, all who meet her hasten to throw water on her, and\ntwo farm-servants are placed at the door for the purpose; for they believe\nthat if this were not done, the crops next year would perish from\ndrought.(923) So amongst the Saxons of Transylvania, the person who wears\nthe wreath made of the last corn cut (sometimes the reaper who cut the\nlast corn also wears the wreath) is drenched with water to the skin; for\nthe wetter he is the better will be next year\u2019s harvest, and the more\ngrain there will be threshed out.(924) At the spring ploughing in Prussia,\nwhen the ploughmen and sowers returned in the evening from their work in\nthe fields, the farmer\u2019s wife and the servants used to splash water over\nthem. The ploughmen and sowers retorted by seizing every one, throwing\nthem into the pond, and ducking them under the water. The farmer\u2019s wife\nmight claim exemption on payment of a forfeit; but every one else had to\nbe ducked. By observing this custom they hoped to ensure a due supply of\nrain for the seed.(925) Also after harvest in Prussia, the person who wore\na wreath made of the last corn cut was drenched with water, while a prayer\nwas uttered that \u201cas the corn had sprung up and multiplied through the\nwater, so it might spring up and multiply in the barn and granary.\u201d(926)\nIn a Babylonian legend, the goddess Istar (Astarte, Aphrodite) descends to\nHades to fetch the water of life with which to restore to life the dead\nThammuz, and it appears that the water was thrown over him at a great\nmourning ceremony, at which men and women stood round the funeral pyre of\nThammuz lamenting.(927) This legend, as Mannhardt points out, is probably\na mythical explanation of a Babylonian festival resembling the Syrian\nfestival of Adonis. At this festival, which doubtless took place in the\nmonth Thammuz (June-July)(928) and therefore about midsummer, the dead\nThammuz was probably represented in effigy, water was poured over him, and\nhe came to life again. This Babylonian legend is, therefore, of\nimportance, since it confirms the view that the purpose for which the\nimages and gardens of Adonis were thrown into the water was to effect the\nresurrection of the god, that is, to secure the revival of vegetation. The\nconnection of Thammuz with vegetation is proved by a fragment of a\nBabylonian hymn, in which Thammuz is described as dwelling in the midst of\na great tree at the centre of the earth.(929)\n\nThe opinion that the gardens of Adonis are essentially charms to promote\nthe growth of vegetation, especially of the crops, and that they belong to\nthe same class of customs as those spring and midsummer folk-customs of\nmodern Europe which have been described, does not rest for its evidence\nmerely on the intrinsic probability of the case. Fortunately, we are able\nto show that gardens of Adonis (if we may use the expression in a general\nsense) are still planted, first, by a primitive race at their sowing\nseason, and, second, by European peasants at midsummer. Amongst the Oraons\nand Mundas of Bengal, when the time comes for planting out the rice which\nhas been grown in seed-beds, a party of young people of both sexes go to\nthe forest and cut a young Karma tree, or the branch of one. Bearing it in\ntriumph they return dancing, singing, and beating drums, and plant it in\nthe middle of the village dancing-ground. A sacrifice is offered to the\ntree; and next morning the youth of both sexes, linked arm-in-arm, dance\nin a great circle round the Karma tree, which is decked with strips of\ncoloured cloth and sham bracelets and necklets of plaited straw. As a\npreparation for the festival, the daughters of the head-man of the village\ncultivate blades of barley in a peculiar way. The seed is sown in moist,\nsandy soil, mixed with turmeric, and the blades sprout and unfold of a\npale yellow or primrose colour. On the day of the festival the girls take\nup these blades and carry them in baskets to the dancing-ground, where,\nprostrating themselves reverentially, they place some of the plants before\nthe Karma tree. Finally, the Karma tree is taken away and thrown into a\nstream or tank.(930) The meaning of planting these barley blades and then\npresenting them to the Karma tree is hardly open to question. We have seen\nthat trees are supposed to exercise a quickening influence upon the growth\nof crops, and that amongst the very people in question\u2014the Mundas or\nMundaris\u2014\u201cthe grove deities are held responsible for the crops.\u201d(931)\nTherefore, when at the season for planting out the rice the Mundas bring\nin a tree and treat it with so much respect, their object can only be to\nfoster thereby the growth of the rice which is about to be planted out;\nand the custom of causing barley blades to sprout rapidly and then\npresenting them to the tree must be intended to subserve the same purpose,\nperhaps by reminding the tree-spirit of his duty towards the crops, and\nstimulating his activity by this visible example of rapid vegetable\ngrowth. The throwing of the Karma tree into the water is to be interpreted\nas a rain-charm. Whether the barley blades are also thrown into the water\nis not said; but, if my interpretation of the custom is right, probably\nthey are so. A distinction between this Bengal custom and the Greek rites\nof Adonis is that in the former the tree-spirit appears in his original\nform as a tree; whereas in the Adonis worship he appears in\nanthropomorphic form, represented as a dead man, though his vegetable\nnature is indicated by the gardens of Adonis, which are, so to say, a\nsecondary manifestation of his original power as a tree-spirit.\n\nIn Sardinia the gardens of Adonis are still planted in connection with the\ngreat midsummer festival which bears the name of St. John. At the end of\nMarch or on the 1st of April a young man of the village presents himself\nto a girl and asks her to be his _comare_ (gossip or sweetheart), offering\nto be her _compare_. The invitation is considered as an honour by the\ngirl\u2019s family, and is gladly accepted. At the end of May the girl makes a\npot of the bark of the cork-tree, fills it with earth, and sows a handful\nof wheat and barley in it. The pot being placed in the sun and often\nwatered, the corn sprouts rapidly and has a good head by Midsummer Eve\n(St. John\u2019s Eve, 23d June). The pot is then called _Erme_ or _Nenneri_. On\nSt. John\u2019s Day the young man and the girl, dressed in their best,\naccompanied by a long retinue and preceded by children gambolling and\nfrolicking, move in procession to a church outside the village. Here they\nbreak the pot by throwing it against the door of the church. Then they sit\ndown in a ring on the grass and eat eggs and herbs to the music of flutes.\nWine is mixed in a cup and passed round, each one drinking as it passes.\nThen they join hands and sing \u201cSweethearts of St. John\u201d (_Compare e comare\ndi San Giovanni_) over and over again, the flutes playing the while. When\nthey tire of singing, they stand up and dance gaily in a ring till\nevening. This is the general Sardinian custom. As practised at Ozieri it\nhas some special features. In May the pots are made of cork-bark and\nplanted with corn, as already described. Then on the Eve of St. John the\nwindow-sills are draped with rich cloths, on which the pots are placed,\nadorned with crimson and blue silk and ribbons of various colours. On each\nof the pots they used formerly to place a statuette or cloth doll dressed\nas a woman, or a Priapus-like figure made of paste; but this custom,\nrigorously forbidden by the Church, has fallen into disuse. The village\nswains go about in a troop to look at the pots and their decorations and\nto wait for the girls, who assemble on the public square to celebrate the\nfestival. Here a great bonfire is kindled, round which they dance and make\nmerry. Those who wish to be \u201cSweethearts of St. John\u201d act as follows. The\nyoung man stands on one side of the bonfire and the girl on the other, and\nthey, in a manner, join hands by each grasping one end of a long stick,\nwhich they pass three times backwards and forwards across the fire, thus\nthrusting their hands thrice rapidly into the flames. This seals their\nrelationship to each other. Dancing and music go on till late at\nnight.(932) The correspondence of these Sardinian pots of grain to the\ngardens of Adonis seems complete, and the images formerly placed in them\nanswer to the images of Adonis which accompanied his gardens.\n\nThis Sardinian custom is one of those midsummer customs, once celebrated\nin many parts of Europe, a chief feature of which is the great bonfire\nround which people dance and over which they leap. Examples of these\ncustoms have already been cited from Sweden and Bohemia.(933) These\nexamples sufficiently prove the connection of the midsummer bonfire with\nvegetation; for both in Sweden and Bohemia an essential part of the\nfestival is the raising of a May-pole or Midsummer-tree, which in Bohemia\nis burned in the bonfire. Again, in the Russian midsummer ceremony cited\nabove,(934) the straw figure of Kupalo, the representative of vegetation,\nis placed beside a May-pole or Midsummer-tree and then carried to and fro\nacross a bonfire. Kupalo is here represented in duplicate, in tree-form by\nthe Midsummer-tree, and in anthropomorphic form by the straw effigy, just\nas Adonis was represented both by an image and a garden of Adonis; and the\nduplicate representatives of Kupalo, like those of Adonis, are finally\ncast into water. In the Sardinian custom the Gossips or Sweethearts of St.\nJohn probably correspond to the Lord and Lady or King and Queen of May. In\nthe province of Blekinge (Sweden), part of the midsummer festival is the\nelection of a Midsummer Bride, who chooses her bridegroom; a collection is\nmade for the pair, who for the time being are looked upon as man and\nwife.(935) Such Midsummer pairs are probably, like the May pairs,\nrepresentatives of the spirit of vegetation in its reproductive capacity;\nthey represent in flesh and blood what the images of Siva and P\u00e2rvat\u00ee in\nthe Indian ceremony, and the images of Adonis and Aphrodite in the\nAlexandrian ceremony, represented in effigy. The reason why ceremonies\nwhose aim is to foster the growth of vegetation should thus be associated\nwith bonfires; why in particular the representative of vegetation should\nbe burned in tree-form or passed across the fire in effigy or in the form\nof a living couple, will be explained later on. Here it is enough to have\nproved the fact of such association and therefore to have obviated the\nobjection which might have been raised to my interpretation of the\nSardinian custom, on the ground that the bonfires have nothing to do with\nvegetation. One more piece of evidence may here be given to prove the\ncontrary. In some parts of Germany young men and girls leap over midsummer\nbonfires for the express purpose of making the hemp or flax grow\ntall.(936) We may, therefore, assume that in the Sardinian custom the\nblades of wheat and barley which are forced on in pots for the midsummer\nfestival, and which correspond so closely to the gardens of Adonis, form\none of those widely-spread midsummer ceremonies, the original object of\nwhich was to promote the growth of vegetation, and especially of the\ncrops. But as, by an easy extension of ideas, the spirit of vegetation was\nbelieved to exercise a beneficent influence over human as well as animal\nlife, the gardens of Adonis would be supposed, like the May-trees or\nMay-boughs, to bring good luck to the family or to the individual who\nplanted them; and even after the idea had been abandoned that they\noperated actively to bring good luck, omens might still be drawn from them\nas to the good or bad fortune of families or individuals. It is thus that\nmagic dwindles into divination. Accordingly we find modes of divination\npractised at midsummer which resemble more or less closely the gardens of\nAdonis. Thus an anonymous Italian writer of the sixteenth century has\nrecorded that it was customary to sow barley and wheat a few days before\nthe festival of St. John (Midsummer Day) and also before that of St.\nVitus; and it was believed that the person for whom they were sown would\nbe fortunate and get a good husband or a good wife, if the grain sprouted\nwell; but if they sprouted ill, he or she would be unlucky.(937) In\nvarious parts of Italy and all over Sicily it is still customary to put\nplants in water or in earth on the Eve of St. John, and from the manner in\nwhich they are found to be blooming or fading on St. John\u2019s Day omens are\ndrawn, especially as to fortune in love. Amongst the plants used for this\npurpose are _Ciuri di S. Giuvanni_ (St. John\u2019s wort?) and nettles.(938) In\nPrussia two hundred years ago the farmers used to send out their servants,\nespecially their maids, to gather St. John\u2019s wort on Midsummer Eve or\nMidsummer Day (St. John\u2019s Day). When they had fetched it, the farmer took\nas many plants as there were persons and stuck them in the wall or between\nthe beams; and it was thought that the person whose plant did not bloom\nwould soon fall sick or die. The rest of the plants were tied in a bundle,\nfastened to the end of a pole, and set up at the gate or wherever the corn\nwould be brought in at the next harvest. This bundle was called _Kupole_;\nthe ceremony was known as Kupole\u2019s festival; and at it the farmer prayed\nfor a good crop of hay, etc.(939) This Prussian custom is particularly\nnotable, inasmuch as it strongly confirms the opinion expressed above that\nKupalo (doubtless identical with Kupole) was originally a deity of\nvegetation.(940) For here Kupalo is represented by a bundle of plants\nspecially associated with midsummer in folk-custom; and her influence over\nvegetation is plainly signified by placing her plant-formed representative\nover the place where the harvest is brought in, as well as by the prayers\nfor a good crop which are uttered on the occasion. A fresh argument is\nthus supplied in support of the conclusion that the Death, whose analogy\nto Kupalo, Yarilo, etc., has been shown, was originally a personification\nof vegetation, more especially of vegetation as dying or dead in winter.\nFurther, my interpretation of the gardens of Adonis is confirmed by\nfinding that in this Prussian custom the very same kind of plants are used\nto form the gardens of Adonis (as we may call them) and the image of the\ndeity. Nothing could set in a stronger light the truth of the view that\nthe gardens of Adonis are merely another manifestation of the god himself.\n\nThe last example of the gardens of Adonis which I shall cite is the\nfollowing. At the approach of Easter, Sicilian women sow wheat, lentils,\nand canary-seed in plates, which are kept in the dark and watered every\ntwo days. The plants soon shoot up; the stalks are tied together with red\nribbons, and the plates containing them are placed on the sepulchres\nwhich, with effigies of the dead Christ, are made up in Roman Catholic and\nGreek churches on Good Friday,(941) just as the gardens of Adonis were\nplaced on the grave of the dead Adonis.(942) The whole custom\u2014sepulchres\nas well as plates of sprouting grain\u2014is probably nothing but a\ncontinuation, under a different name, of the Adonis worship.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 5.\u2014Attis.\n\n\nThe next of those gods, whose supposed death and resurrection struck such\ndeep roots into the religious faith and ritual of Western Asia, is Attis.\nHe was to Phrygia what Adonis was to Syria. Like Adonis, he appears to\nhave been a god of vegetation, and his death and resurrection were\nannually mourned and rejoiced over at a festival in spring. The legends\nand rites of the two gods were so much alike that the ancients themselves\nsometimes identified them.(943) Attis was said to have been a fair youth\nwho was beloved by the great Phrygian goddess Cybele. Two different\naccounts of his death were current. According to the one, he was killed by\na boar, like Adonis. According to the other, he mutilated himself under a\npine-tree, and died from the effusion of blood. The latter is said to have\nbeen the local story told by the people of Pessinus, a great centre of\nCybele worship, and the whole legend of which it forms a part is stamped\nwith a character of rudeness and savagery that speaks strongly for its\nantiquity.(944) But the genuineness of the other story seems also vouched\nfor by the fact that his worshippers, especially the people of Pessinus,\nabstained from eating swine.(945) After his death Attis is said to have\nbeen changed into a pine-tree.(946) The ceremonies observed at his\nfestival are not very fully known, but their general order appears to have\nbeen as follows.(947) At the spring equinox (22d March) a pine-tree was\ncut in the woods and brought into the sanctuary of Cybele, where it was\ntreated as a divinity. It was adorned with woollen bands and wreaths of\nviolets, for violets were said to have sprung from the blood of Attis, as\nanemones from the blood of Adonis; and the effigy of a young man was\nattached to the middle of the tree.(948) On the second day (23d March) the\nchief ceremony seems to have been a blowing of trumpets.(949) The third\nday (24th March) was known as the Day of Blood: the high priest drew blood\nfrom his arms and presented it as an offering.(950) It was perhaps on this\nday or night that the mourning for Attis took place over an effigy, which\nwas afterwards solemnly buried.(951) The fourth day (25th March) was the\nFestival of Joy (_Hilaria_), at which the resurrection of Attis was\nprobably celebrated\u2014at least the celebration of his resurrection seems to\nhave followed closely upon that of his death.(952) The Roman festival\nclosed on 27th March with a procession to the brook Almo, in which the\nbullock-cart of the goddess, her image, and other sacred objects were\nbathed. But this bath of the goddess is known to have also formed part of\nher festival in her Asiatic home. On returning from the water the cart and\noxen were strewn with fresh spring flowers.(953)\n\nThe original character of Attis as a tree-spirit is brought out plainly by\nthe part which the pine-tree plays in his legend and ritual. The story\nthat he was a human being transformed into a pine-tree is only one of\nthose transparent attempts at rationalising the old beliefs which meet us\nso frequently in mythology. His tree origin is further attested by the\nstory that he was born of a virgin, who conceived by putting in her bosom\na ripe almond or pomegranate.(954) The bringing in of the pine-tree from\nthe wood, decked with violets and woollen bands, corresponds to bringing\nin the May-tree or Summer-tree in modern folk-custom; and the effigy which\nwas attached to the pine-tree was only a duplicate representative of the\ntree-spirit or Attis. At what point of the ceremonies the violets and the\neffigy were attached to the tree is not said, but we should assume this to\nbe done after the mimic death and burial of Attis. The fastening of his\neffigy to the tree would then be a representation of his coming to life\nagain in tree-form, just as the placing of the shirt of the effigy of\nDeath upon a tree represents the revival of the spirit of vegetation in a\nnew form.(955) After being attached to the tree, the effigy was kept for a\nyear and then burned.(956) We have seen that this was apparently sometimes\ndone with the May-pole;(957) and we shall see presently that the effigy of\nthe corn-spirit, made at harvest, is often preserved till it is replaced\nby a new effigy at next year\u2019s harvest. The original intention of thus\npreserving the effigy for a year and then replacing it by a new one was\ndoubtless to maintain the spirit of vegetation in fresh and vigorous life.\nThe bathing of the image of Cybele was probably a rain-charm, like the\nthrowing of the effigies of Death and of Adonis into the water. Like\ntree-spirits in general, Attis appears to have been conceived as\nexercising power over the growth of corn, or even to have been identified\nwith the corn. One of his epithets was \u201cvery fruitful;\u201d he was addressed\nas the \u201creaped green (or yellow) ear of corn,\u201d and the story of his\nsufferings, death, and resurrection was interpreted as the ripe grain\nwounded by the reaper, buried in the granary, and coming to life again\nwhen sown in the ground.(958) His worshippers abstained from eating seeds\nand the roots of vegetables,(959) just as at the Adonis ceremonies women\nabstained from eating corn ground in a mill. Such acts would probably have\nbeen esteemed a sacrilegious partaking of the life or of the bruised and\nbroken body of the god.\n\nFrom inscriptions it appears that both at Pessinus and Rome the high\npriest of Cybele was regularly called Attis.(960) It is therefore a\nreasonable conjecture that the high priest played the part of the\nlegendary Attis at the annual festival.(961) We have seen that on the Day\nof Blood he drew blood from his arms, and this may have been an imitation\nof the self-inflicted death of Attis under the pine-tree. It is not\ninconsistent with this supposition that Attis was also represented at\nthese ceremonies by an effigy; for we have already had cases in which the\ndivine being is first represented by a living person and afterwards by an\neffigy, which is then burned or otherwise destroyed.(962) Perhaps we may\ngo a step farther and conjecture that this mimic killing of the priest (if\nit was such), accompanied by a real effusion of his blood, was in Phrygia,\nas it has been elsewhere, a substitute for a human sacrifice which in\nearlier times was actually offered. Professor W. M. Ramsay, whose\nauthority on all questions relating to Phrygia no one will dispute, is of\nopinion that at these Phrygian ceremonies \u201cthe representative of the god\nwas probably slain each year by a cruel death, just as the god himself\ndied.\u201d(963) We know from Strabo(964) that the priests of Pessinus were at\none time potentates as well as priests; they may, therefore, have belonged\nto that class of divine kings or popes whose duty it was to die each year\nfor their people and the world. As a god of vegetation, annually slain,\nthe representative of Attis would be parallel to the Wild Man, the King,\netc., of north European folk-custom, and to the Italian priest of Nemi.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 6.\u2014Osiris.\n\n\nThere seem to be some grounds for believing that Osiris, the great god of\nancient Egypt, was one of those personifications of vegetation, whose\nannual death and resurrection have been celebrated in so many lands. But\nas the chief of the gods he appears to have absorbed the attributes of\nother deities, so that his character and rites present a complex of\nheterogeneous elements which, with the scanty evidence at our disposal, it\nis hardly possible to sort out. It may be worth while, however, to put\ntogether some of the facts which lend support to the view that Osiris or\nat least one of the deities out of whom he was compounded was a god of\nvegetation, analogous to Adonis and Attis.\n\nThe outline of his myth is as follows.(965) Osiris was the son of the\nearth-god Qeb (or Seb, as the name is sometimes transliterated).(966)\nReigning as a king on earth, he reclaimed the Egyptians from savagery,\ngave them laws, and taught them to worship the gods. Before his time the\nEgyptians had been cannibals. But Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris,\ndiscovered wheat and barley growing wild, and Osiris introduced the\ncultivation of these grains amongst his people, who forthwith abandoned\ncannibalism and took kindly to a corn diet.(967) Afterwards Osiris\ntravelled over the world diffusing the blessings of civilisation wherever\nhe went. But on his return his brother Set (whom the Greeks called\nTyphon), with seventy-two others, plotted against him, and having\ninveigled him into a beautifully decorated coffer, they nailed it down on\nhim, soldered it fast with molten lead, and flung it into the Nile. It\nfloated down to the sea. This happened on the 17th day of the month Athyr.\nIsis put on mourning, and wandered disconsolately up and down seeking the\nbody, till at last she found it at Byblus, on the Syrian coast, whither it\nhad drifted with the waves. An _erica_ tree had shot up and enfolded the\ncoffer within its stem, and the King of Byblus, admiring the fine growth\nof the tree, had caused it to be cut down and converted into a pillar of\nhis palace. From him Isis obtained leave to open the trunk of the tree,\nand having taken out the coffer, she carried it away with her. But she\nleft it to visit her son Horus at Butus in the Delta, and Typhon found the\ncoffer as he was hunting a boar by the light of a full moon.(968) He\nrecognised the body of Osiris, rent it into fourteen pieces, and scattered\nthem abroad. Isis sailed up and down the marshes in a papyrus boat seeking\nthe fragments, and as she found each she buried it. Hence many graves of\nOsiris were shown in Egypt. Others said that Isis left an effigy of Osiris\nin every city, pretending it was his body, in order that Osiris might be\nworshipped in many places, and to prevent Typhon from discovering the real\ncorpse. Afterwards her son Horus fought against Typhon, conquered him, and\nbound him fast. But Isis, to whom he had been delivered, loosed his bonds\nand let him go. This angered Horus, and he pulled the crown from his\nmother\u2019s head; but Hermes replaced it with a helmet made in the shape of a\ncow\u2019s head. Typhon was subsequently defeated in two other battles. The\nrest of the myth included the dismemberment of Horus and the beheading of\nIsis.\n\nSo much for the myth of Osiris. Of the annual rites with which his death\nand burial were celebrated we unfortunately know very little. The mourning\nlasted five days,(969) from the 8th to the 12th of the month Athyr.(970)\nThe ceremonies began with the \u201cearth-ploughing,\u201d that is, with the opening\nof the field labours, when the waters of the Nile are sinking. The other\nrites included the search for the mangled body of Osiris, the rejoicings\nat its discovery, and its solemn burial. The burial took place on the 11th\nof November, and was accompanied by the recitation of lamentations from\nthe liturgical books. These lamentations, of which several copies have\nbeen discovered in modern times, were put in the mouth of Isis and\nNephthys, sisters of Osiris. \u201cIn form and substance,\u201d says Brugsch, \u201cthey\nvividly recall the dirges chanted at the Adonis\u2019 rites over the dead\ngod.\u201d(971) Next day was the joyous festival of Sokari, that being the name\nunder which the hawk-headed Osiris of Memphis was invoked. The solemn\nprocessions of priests which on this day wound round the temples with all\nthe pomp of banners, images, and sacred emblems, were amongst the most\nstately pageants that ancient Egypt could show. The whole festival ended\non the 16th of November with a special rite called the erection of the\n_Tatu_, _Tat_, or _Ded_ pillar.(972) This pillar appears from the\nmonuments to have been a column with cross bars at the top, like the yards\nof a mast, or more exactly like the superposed capitals of a pillar.(973)\nOn a Theban tomb the king himself, assisted by his relations and a priest,\nis represented hauling at the ropes by which the pillar is being raised.\nThe pillar was interpreted, at least in later Egyptian theology, as the\nbackbone of Osiris. It might very well be a conventional representation of\na tree stripped of its leaves; and if Osiris was a tree-spirit, the bare\ntrunk and branches of a tree might naturally be described as his backbone.\nThe erection of the column would then be, as Erman interprets it, a\nrepresentation of the resurrection of Osiris, which, as we learn from\nPlutarch, appears to have been celebrated at his mysteries.(974) Perhaps\nthe ceremony which Plutarch describes as taking place on the third day of\nthe festival (the 19th day of the month Athyr) may also have referred to\nthe resurrection. He says that on that day the priests carried the sacred\nark down to the sea. Within the ark was a golden casket, into which\ndrinking-water was poured. A shout then went up that Osiris was found.\nThen some mould was mixed with water, and out of the paste thus formed a\ncrescent-shaped image was fashioned, which was then dressed in robes and\nadorned.(975)\n\nThe general similarity of the myth and ritual of Osiris to those of Adonis\nand Attis is obvious. In all three cases we see a god whose untimely and\nviolent death is mourned by a loving goddess and annually celebrated by\ntheir worshippers. The character of Osiris as a deity of vegetation is\nbrought out by the legend that he was the first to teach men the use of\ncorn, and by the fact that his annual festival began with ploughing the\nearth. He is said also to have introduced the cultivation of the\nvine.(976) In one of the chambers dedicated to Osiris in the great temple\nof Isis at Philae the dead body of Osiris is represented with stalks of\ncorn springing from it, and a priest is watering the stalks from a pitcher\nwhich he holds in his hand. The accompanying inscription sets forth that\n\u201cThis is the form of him whom one may not name, Osiris of the mysteries,\nwho springs from the returning waters.\u201d(977) It would seem impossible to\ndevise a more graphic way of representing Osiris as a personification of\nthe corn; while the inscription proves that this personification was the\nkernel of the mysteries of the god, the innermost secret that was only\nrevealed to the initiated. In estimating the mythical character of Osiris\nvery great weight must be given to this monument. The legend that his\nmangled remains were scattered up and down the land may be a mythical way\nof expressing either the sowing or the winnowing of the grain. The latter\ninterpretation is supported by the story that Isis placed the severed\nlimbs of Osiris on a corn-sieve.(978) Or the legend may be a reminiscence\nof the custom of slaying a human victim (probably considered as a\nrepresentative of the corn-spirit) and distributing his flesh or\nscattering his ashes over the fields to fertilise them. We have already\nseen that in modern Europe the figure of \u201cDeath\u201d is sometimes torn in\npieces, and that the fragments are then buried in the fields to make the\ncrops grow well.(979) Later on we shall meet with examples of human\nvictims being treated in the same way. With regard to the ancient\nEgyptians, we have it on the authority of Manetho that they used to burn\nred-haired men and scatter their ashes with winnowing-fans.(980) That this\ncustom was not, as might perhaps have been supposed, a mere way of\nwreaking their spite on foreigners, amongst whom rather than amongst the\nnative Egyptians red-haired people would generally be found, appears from\nthe fact that the oxen which were sacrificed had also to be red; a single\nblack or white hair found on a beast would have disqualified it for the\nsacrifice.(981) The red hair of the human victims was thus probably\nessential; the fact that they were generally foreigners was only\naccidental. If, as I conjecture, these human sacrifices were intended to\npromote the growth of the crops\u2014and the _winnowing_ of their ashes seems\nto support this view\u2014red-haired victims were perhaps selected as best\nfitted to represent the spirit of the golden grain. For when a god is\nrepresented by a living person, it is natural that the human\nrepresentative should be chosen on the ground of his supposed resemblance\nto the god. Hence the ancient Mexicans, conceiving the maize as a personal\nbeing who went through the whole course of life between seed-time and\nharvest, sacrificed new-born babes when the maize was sown, older children\nwhen it had sprouted, and so on till it was fully ripe, when they\nsacrificed old men.(982) A name for Osiris was the \u201ccrop\u201d or\n\u201charvest\u201d;(983) and the ancients sometimes explained him as a\npersonification of the corn.(984)\n\nBut Osiris was not only a corn-spirit; he was also a tree-spirit, and this\nwas probably his original character; for, as we have already observed, the\ncorn-spirit seems to be only an extension of the older tree-spirit. His\ncharacter as a tree-spirit was represented very graphically in a ceremony\ndescribed by Firmicus Maternus.(985) A pine-tree was cut down, the centre\nwas hollowed out, and with the wood thus excavated an image of Osiris was\nmade, which was then \u201cburied\u201d in the hollow of the tree. Here, again, it\nis hard to imagine how the conception of a tree as tenanted by a personal\nbeing could be more plainly expressed. The image of Osiris thus made was\nkept for a year and then burned, exactly as was done with the image of\nAttis which was attached to the pine-tree. The ceremony of cutting the\ntree, as described by Firmicus Maternus, appears to be alluded to by\nPlutarch.(986) It was probably the ritual counterpart of the mythical\ndiscovery of the body of Osiris enclosed in the _erica_ tree. We may\nconjecture that the erection of the _Tatu_ pillar at the close of the\nannual festival of Osiris(987) was identical with the ceremony described\nby Firmicus; it is to be noted that in the myth the _erica_ tree formed a\npillar in the King\u2019s house. Like the similar custom of cutting a pine-tree\nand fastening an image to it in the rites of Attis, the ceremony perhaps\nbelonged to that class of customs of which the bringing in the May-pole is\namong the most familiar. As to the pine-tree in particular, at Denderah\nthe tree of Osiris is a conifer, and the coffer containing the body of\nOsiris is here represented as enclosed within the tree.(988) A pine-cone\nis often represented on the monuments as offered to Osiris, and a MS. of\nthe Louvre speaks of the cedar as sprung from Osiris.(989) The sycamore\nand the tamarisk are also his trees. In inscriptions he is spoken of as\nresiding in them;(990) and his mother Nut is frequently represented in a\nsycamore.(991) In a sepulchre at How (Diospolis Parva) a tamarisk is\nrepresented overshadowing the coffer of Osiris; and in the series of\nsculptures which represent the mystic history of Osiris in the great\ntemple of Isis at Philae, a tamarisk is depicted with two men pouring\nwater on it. The inscription on this last monument leaves no doubt, says\nBrugsch, that the verdure of the earth is believed to be connected with\nthe verdure of the tree, and that the sculpture refers to the grave of\nOsiris at Philae, of which Plutarch says that it was overshadowed by a\n_methide_ plant, taller than any olive-tree. This sculpture, it may be\nobserved, occurs in the same chamber in which Osiris is represented as a\ncorpse with ears of corn sprouting from him.(992) In inscriptions Osiris\nis referred to as \u201cthe one in the tree,\u201d \u201cthe solitary one in the acacia,\u201d\netc.(993) On the monuments he sometimes appears as a mummy covered with a\ntree or with plants.(994) It accords with the character of Osiris as a\ntree-spirit that his worshippers were forbidden to injure fruit-trees, and\nwith his character as a god of vegetation in general that they were not\nallowed to stop up wells of water, which are so important for purposes of\nirrigation in hot southern lands.(995)\n\nThe original meaning of the goddess Isis is still more difficult to\ndetermine than that of her brother and husband Osiris. Her attributes and\nepithets were so numerous that in the hieroglyphics she is called \u201cthe\nmany-named,\u201d \u201cthe thousand-named,\u201d and in Greek inscriptions \u201cthe\nmyriad-named.\u201d(996) Tiele confesses candidly that \u201cit is now impossible to\ntell precisely to what natural phenomena the character of Isis at first\nreferred.\u201d(997) Mr. Renouf states that Isis was the Dawn,(998) but without\nassigning any reason whatever for the identification. There are at least\nsome grounds for seeing in her a goddess of corn. According to Diodorus,\nwhose authority appears to have been the Egyptian historian Manetho, the\ndiscovery of wheat and barley was attributed to Isis, and at her festivals\nstalks of these grains were carried in procession to commemorate the boon\nshe had conferred on men. Further, at harvest-time, when the Egyptian\nreapers had cut the first stalks, they laid them down and beat their\nbreasts, lamenting and calling upon Isis.(999) Amongst the epithets by\nwhich she is designated on the inscriptions are \u201ccreatress of the green\ncrop,\u201d \u201cthe green one, whose greenness is like the greenness of the\nearth,\u201d and \u201cmistress of bread.\u201d(1000) According to Brugsch she is \u201cnot\nonly the creatress of the fresh verdure of vegetation which covers the\nearth, but is actually the green corn-field itself, which is personified\nas a goddess.\u201d(1001) This is confirmed by her epithet _Sochit_ or\n_Sochet_, meaning \u201ca corn-field,\u201d a sense which the word still retains in\nCoptic.(1002) It is in this character of a corn-goddess that the Greeks\nconceived Isis, for they identified her with Demeter.(1003) In a Greek\nepigram she is described as \u201cshe who has given birth to the fruits of the\nearth,\u201d and \u201cthe mother of the ears of corn,\u201d(1004) and in a hymn composed\nin her honour she speaks of herself as \u201cqueen of the wheat-field,\u201d and is\ndescribed as \u201ccharged with the care of the fruitful furrow\u2019s wheat-rich\npath.\u201d(1005)\n\nOsiris has been sometimes interpreted as the sun-god; and this view has\nbeen held by so many distinguished writers in modern times that a few\nwords of reply seem called for. If we inquire on what evidence Osiris has\nbeen identified with the sun or the sun-god, it will be found on\nexamination that the evidence is minute in quantity and dubious, where it\nis not absolutely worthless, in quality. The diligent Jablonski, the first\nmodern scholar to collect and examine the testimony of classical writers\non Egyptian religion, says that it can be shown in many ways that Osiris\nis the sun, and that he could produce a cloud of witnesses to prove it,\nbut that it is needless to do so, since no learned man is ignorant of the\nfact.(1006) Of the writers whom he condescends to quote, the only two who\nexpressly identify Osiris with the sun are Diodorus and Macrobius. The\npassage in Diodorus runs thus:(1007) \u201cIt is said that the aboriginal\ninhabitants of Egypt, looking up to the sky, and smitten with awe and\nwonder at the nature of the universe, supposed that there were two gods,\neternal and primeval, the sun and the moon, of whom they named the sun\nOsiris and the moon Isis.\u201d Even if Diodorus\u2019s authority for this statement\nis Manetho, as there is some ground for believing,(1008) little or no\nweight can be attached to it. For it is plainly a philosophical, and\ntherefore a late, explanation of the first beginnings of Egyptian\nreligion, reminding us of Kant\u2019s familiar saying about the starry heavens\nand the moral law rather than of the rude traditions of a primitive\npeople. Jablonski\u2019s second authority, Macrobius, is no better but rather\nworse. For Macrobius was the father of that large family of mythologists\nwho resolve all or most gods into the sun. According to him Mercury was\nthe sun, Mars was the sun, Janus was the sun, Saturn was the sun, so was\nJupiter, also Nemesis, likewise Pan, etc.(1009) It was, therefore, nearly\na matter of course that he should identify Osiris with the sun.(1010) But\napart from the general principle, so frankly enunciated by Professor\nMaspero, that all the gods are the sun (\u201c_Comme tous les dieux, Osiris est\nle soleil_\u201d),(1011) Macrobius has not much cause to show for identifying\nOsiris in particular with the sun. He argues that Osiris must be the sun\nbecause an eye was one of his symbols. The premise is correct,(1012) but\nwhat exactly it has to do with the conclusion is not clear. The opinion\nthat Osiris was the sun is also mentioned, but not accepted, by\nPlutarch,(1013) and it is referred to by Firmicus Maternus.(1014)\n\nAmongst modern Egyptologists, Lepsius, in identifying Osiris with the sun,\nappears to rely mainly on the passage of Diodorus already quoted. But the\nmonuments, he adds, also show \u201cthat down to a late time Osiris was\nsometimes conceived as _Ra_. In this quality he is named _Osiris-Ra_ even\nin the \u2018Book of the Dead,\u2019 and Isis is often called \u2018the royal consort of\nRa.\u2019 \u201d(1015) That Ra was both the physical sun and the sun-god is of\ncourse undisputed; but with every deference for the authority of so great\na scholar as Lepsius, it may be doubted whether such identification can be\ntaken as evidence of the original character of Osiris. For the religion of\nancient Egypt(1016) may be described as a confederacy of local cults\nwhich, while maintaining against each other a certain measure of jealous\nand even hostile independence, were yet constantly subjected to the fusing\nand amalgamating action of political centralisation and philosophical\nreflection. The history of the religion appears to have largely consisted\nof a struggle between these opposite forces or tendencies. On the one side\nthere was the conservative tendency to preserve the local cults with all\ntheir distinctive features, fresh, sharp, and crisp, as they had been\nhanded down from an immemorial past. On the other side there was the\nprogressive tendency, favoured by the gradual fusion of the people under a\npowerful central government, first to dull the edge of these provincial\ndistinctions, and finally to break them down completely and merge them in\na single national religion. The conservative party probably mustered in\nits ranks the great bulk of the people, their prejudices and affections\nbeing warmly enlisted in favour of the local deity, with whose temple and\nrites they had been familiar from childhood; and the popular aversion to\nchange, based on the endearing effect of old association, must have been\nstrongly reinforced by the less disinterested opposition of the local\nclergy, whose material interests would necessarily suffer with any decay\nof their shrines. On the other hand the kings, whose power and glory rose\nwith the political and ecclesiastical consolidation of the nation, were\nthe natural champions of religious unity; and their efforts would be\nseconded by the cultured and reflecting minority, who could hardly fail to\nbe shocked by the many barbarous and revolting elements in the local\nrites. As usual in such cases, the process of religious unification\nappears to have been largely effected by discovering points of similarity,\nreal or imaginary, between various local gods, which were thereupon\ndeclared to be only different names or manifestations of the same god.\n\nOf the deities who thus acted as centres of attraction, absorbing in\nthemselves a multitude of minor divinities, by far the most important was\nthe sun-god Ra. There appear to have been few gods in Egypt who were not\nat one time or other identified with him. Ammon of Thebes, Horus of the\nEast, Horus of Edfu, Chnum of Elephantine, Atum of Heliopolis, all were\nregarded as one god, the sun. Even the water-god Sobk, in spite of his\ncrocodile shape, did not escape the same fate. Indeed one king, Amenh\u00f4tep\nIV, undertook to sweep away all the old gods at a stroke and replace them\nby a single god, the \u201cgreat living disc of the sun.\u201d(1017) In the hymns\ncomposed in his honour, this deity is referred to as \u201cthe living disc of\nthe sun, besides whom there is none other.\u201d He is said to have made \u201cthe\nfar heaven\u201d and \u201cmen, beasts, and birds; he strengtheneth the eyes with\nhis beams, and when he showeth himself, all flowers live and grow, the\nmeadows flourish at his upgoing and are drunken at his sight, all cattle\nskip on their feet, and the birds that are in the marsh flutter for joy.\u201d\nIt is he \u201cwho bringeth the years, createth the months, maketh the days,\ncalculateth the hours, the lord of time, by whom men reckon.\u201d In his zeal\nfor the unity of god, the king commanded to erase the names of all other\ngods from the monuments, and to destroy their images. His rage was\nparticularly directed against the god Ammon, whose name and likeness were\neffaced wherever they were found; even the sanctity of the tomb was\nviolated in order to destroy the memorials of the hated god. In some of\nthe halls of the great temples at Carnac, Luxor, and other places, all the\nnames of the gods, with a few chance exceptions, were scratched out. In no\ninscription cut in this king\u2019s reign was any god mentioned save the sun.\nHe even changed his own name, Amenh\u00f4tep, because it was compounded of\nAmmon, and took instead the name of Chuen-\u2019eten, \u201cgleam of the sun\u2019s\ndisc.\u201d His death was followed by a violent reaction. The old gods were\nreinstated in their rank and privileges; their names and images were\nrestored; and new temples were built. But all the shrines and palaces\nreared by the late king were thrown down; even the sculptures that\nreferred to him and to his god in rock-tombs and on the sides of hills\nwere erased or filled up with stucco; his name appears on no later\nmonument, and was carefully omitted from all official lists.\n\nThis attempt of King Amenh\u00f4tep IV is only an extreme example of a tendency\nwhich appears to have been at work on the religion of Egypt as far back as\nwe can trace it. Therefore, to come back to our point, in attempting to\ndiscover the original character of any Egyptian god, no weight can be\ngiven to the identification of him with other gods, least of all with the\nsun-god Ra. Far from helping to follow up the trail, these identifications\nonly cross and confuse it. The best evidence for the original character of\nthe Egyptian gods is to be found in their ritual and myths, so far as\nthese are known (which unfortunately is little enough), and in the figured\nrepresentations of them on the monuments. It is on evidence drawn from\nthese sources that I rely mainly for the interpretation of Osiris as a\ndeity of vegetation.\n\nAmongst a younger generation of scholars, Tiele is of opinion that Osiris\nis the sun, because \u201cin the hymns, his accession to the throne of his\nfather is compared to the rising of the sun, and it is even said of him in\nso many words: \u2018He glitters on the horizon, he sends out rays of light\nfrom his double feather and inundates the world with it, as the sun from\nout the highest heaven.\u2019 \u201d(1018) By the same token Marie Antoinette must\nhave been a goddess of the morning star, because Burke saw her at\nVersailles \u201cjust above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated\nsphere she just began to move in,\u2014glittering like the morning star, full\nof life, and splendour, and joy.\u201d If such comparisons prove anything, they\nprove that Osiris was _not_ the sun. There are always two terms to a\ncomparison; a thing cannot be compared to itself. But Tiele also appeals\nto the monuments. What is his evidence? Osiris is sometimes represented by\na figure surmounted by \u201cthe so-called Tat pillar, entirely made up of a\nkind of superimposed capitals, one of which has a rude face scratched upon\nit.\u201d Tiele is of opinion that this rude face is \u201cintended, no doubt, to\nrepresent the shining sun.\u201d(1019) If every \u201crude face scratched\u201d is to be\ntaken as a symbol of the shining sun, sun-worship will be discovered in\nsome unexpected places. But, on the whole, Tiele, like Jablonski,\nprudently keeps to the high ground of vague generalities, and the result\nof his occasional descents to the level of facts is not such as to\nencourage him to prolong his stay. \u201cWere we to come down to details,\u201d he\nsays, \u201cand to attend to slight variations, we should be lost in an ocean\nof symbolism and mysticism.\u201d(1020) This is like De Quincey\u2019s attitude\ntowards murder. \u201cGeneral principles I will suggest. But as to any\nparticular case, once for all I will have nothing to do with it.\u201d There is\nno having a man who takes such lofty ground.\n\nMr. Le Page Renouf also considers that Osiris is the sun,(1021) and his\nposition is still stronger than Tiele\u2019s. For whereas Tiele produces bad\narguments for his view, Mr. Renouf produces none at all, and therefore\ncannot possibly be confuted.\n\nThe ground upon which some recent writers seem chiefly to rely for the\nidentification of Osiris with the sun is that the story of his death fits\nbetter with the solar phenomena than with any other in nature. It may\nreadily be admitted that the daily appearance and disappearance of the sun\nmight very naturally be expressed by a myth of his death and resurrection;\nand writers who regard Osiris as the sun are careful to emphasise the fact\nthat it is the diurnal, and not the annual, course of the sun to which\nthey understand the myth to apply. Mr. Renouf expressly admits that the\nEgyptian sun cannot with any show of reason be described as dead in\nwinter.(1022) But if his _daily_ death was the theme of the legend, why\nwas it celebrated by an _annual_ ceremony? This fact alone seems fatal to\nthe interpretation of the myth as descriptive of sunset and sunrise.\nAgain, though the sun may be said to die daily, in what sense can he be\nsaid to be torn in pieces?(1023)\n\nIn the course of our inquiry, it has, I trust, been made clear that there\nis another natural phenomenon to which the conception of death and\nresurrection is as applicable as to sunset and sunrise, and which, as a\nmatter of fact has been so conceived and represented in folk-custom. This\nphenomenon is the annual growth and decay of vegetation. A strong reason\nfor interpreting the death of Osiris as the decay of vegetation rather\nthan as the sunset is to be found in the general (though not unanimous)\nvoice of antiquity, which classed together the worship and myths of\nOsiris, Adonis, Attis, Dionysus, and Demeter, as religions of essentially\nthe same type.(1024) The consensus of ancient opinion on this subject\nseems too great to be rejected as a mere fancy. So closely did the rites\nof Osiris resemble those of Adonis at Byblus that some of the people of\nByblus themselves maintained that it was Osiris and not Adonis whose death\nwas mourned by them.(1025) Such a view could certainly not have been held\nif the rituals of the two gods had not been so alike as to be almost\nindistinguishable. Again, Herodotus found the similarity between the rites\nof Osiris and Dionysus so great, that he thought it impossible the latter\ncould have arisen independently; they must, he thought, have been recently\nborrowed, with slight alterations, by the Greeks from the Egyptians.(1026)\nAgain, Plutarch, a very intelligent student of comparative religion,\ninsists upon the detailed resemblance of the rites of Osiris to those of\nDionysus.(1027) We cannot reject the evidence of such intelligent and\ntrustworthy witnesses on plain matters of fact which fell under their own\ncognisance. Their explanations of the worships it is indeed possible to\nreject, for the meaning of religious cults is often open to question; but\nresemblances of ritual are matters of observation. Therefore, those who\nexplain Osiris as the sun are driven to the alternative of either\ndismissing as mistaken the testimony of antiquity to the similarity of the\nrites of Osiris, Adonis, Attis, Dionysus, and Demeter, or of interpreting\nall these rites as sun-worship. No modern scholar has fairly faced and\naccepted either side of this alternative. To accept the former would be to\naffirm that we know the rites of these deities better than the men who\npractised, or at least who witnessed them. To accept the latter would\ninvolve a wrenching, clipping, mangling, and distorting of myth and ritual\nfrom which even Macrobius shrank.(1028) On the other hand, the view that\nthe essence of all these rites was the mimic death and revival of\nvegetation, explains them separately and collectively in an easy and\nnatural way, and harmonises with the general testimony borne by antiquity\nto their substantial similarity. The evidence for thus explaining Adonis,\nAttis, and Osiris has now been presented to the reader; it remains to do\nthe same for Dionysus and Demeter.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 7.\u2014Dionysus.\n\n\nThe Greek god Dionysus or Bacchus(1029) is best known as the god of the\nvine, but he was also a god of trees in general. Thus we are told that\nalmost all the Greeks sacrificed to \u201cDionysus of the tree.\u201d(1030) In\nBoeotia one of his titles was \u201cDionysus in the tree.\u201d(1031) His image was\noften merely an upright post, without arms, but draped in a mantle, with a\nbearded mask to represent the head, and with leafy boughs projecting from\nthe head or body to show the nature of the deity.(1032) On a vase his rude\neffigy is depicted appearing out of a low tree or bush.(1033) He was the\npatron of cultivated trees;(1034) prayers were offered to him that he\nwould make the trees grow;(1035) and he was especially honoured by\nhusbandmen, chiefly fruit-growers, who set up an image of him, in the\nshape of a natural tree-stump, in their orchards.(1036) He was said to\nhave discovered all tree-fruits, amongst which apples and figs are\nparticularly mentioned;(1037) and he was himself spoken of as doing a\nhusbandman\u2019s work.(1038) He was referred to as \u201cwell-fruited,\u201d \u201che of the\ngreen fruit,\u201d and \u201cmaking the fruit to grow.\u201d(1039) One of his titles was\n\u201cteeming\u201d or \u201cbursting\u201d (as of sap or blossoms);(1040) and there was a\nFlowery Dionysus in Attica and at Patrae in Achaea.(1041) Amongst the\ntrees particularly sacred to him, in addition to the vine, was the\npine-tree.(1042) The Delphic oracle commanded the Corinthians to worship a\nparticular pine-tree \u201cequally with the god,\u201d so they made two images of\nDionysus out of it, with red faces and gilt bodies.(1043) In art a wand,\ntipped with a pine-cone, is commonly carried by the god or his\nworshippers.(1044) Again, the ivy and the fig-tree were especially\nassociated with him. In the Attic township of Acharnae there was a\nDionysus Ivy;(1045) at Lacedaemon there was a Fig Dionysus; and in Naxos,\nwhere figs were called _meilicha_, there was a Dionysus Meilichios, the\nface of whose image was made of fig-wood.(1046)\n\nLike the other gods of vegetation whom we have been considering, Dionysus\nwas believed to have died a violent death, but to have been brought to\nlife again; and his sufferings, death, and resurrection were enacted in\nhis sacred rites. The Cretan myth, as related by Firmicus, ran thus. He\nwas said to have been the bastard son of Jupiter (Zeus), a Cretan king.\nGoing abroad, Jupiter transferred the throne and sceptre to the child\nDionysus, but, knowing that his wife Juno (Hera) cherished a jealous\ndislike of the child, he entrusted Dionysus to the care of guards upon\nwhose fidelity he believed he could rely. Juno, however, bribed the\nguards, and amusing the child with toys and a cunningly-wrought\nlooking-glass lured him into an ambush, where her satellites, the Titans,\nrushed upon him, cut him limb from limb, boiled his body with various\nherbs and ate it. But his sister Minerva, who had shared in the deed, kept\nhis heart and gave it to Jupiter on his return, revealing to him the whole\nhistory of the crime. In his rage, Jupiter put the Titans to death by\ntorture, and, to soothe his grief for the loss of his son, made an image\nin which he enclosed the child\u2019s heart, and then built a temple in his\nhonour.(1047) In this version a Euhemeristic turn has been given to the\nmyth by representing Jupiter and Juno (Zeus and Hera) as a king and queen\nof Crete. The guards referred to are the mythical Curetes who danced a\nwar-dance round the infant Dionysus as they are said to have done round\nthe infant Zeus.(1048) Pomegranates were supposed to have sprung from the\nblood of Dionysus,(1049) as anemones from the blood of Adonis and violets\nfrom the blood of Attis. According to some, the severed limbs of Dionysus\nwere pieced together, at the command of Zeus, by Apollo, who buried them\non Parnassus.(1050) The grave of Dionysus was shown in the Delphic temple\nbeside a golden statue of Apollo.(1051) Thus far the resurrection of the\nslain god is not mentioned, but in other versions of the myth it is\nvariously related. One version, which represented Dionysus as a son of\nDemeter, averred that his mother pieced together his mangled limbs and\nmade him young again.(1052) In others it is simply said that shortly after\nhis burial he rose from the dead and ascended up to heaven;(1053) or that\nZeus raised him up as he lay mortally wounded;(1054) or that Zeus\nswallowed the heart of Dionysus and then begat him afresh by Semele,(1055)\nwho in the common legend figures as mother of Dionysus. Or, again, the\nheart was pounded up and given in a potion to Semele, who thereby\nconceived him.(1056)\n\nTurning from the myth to the ritual, we find that the Cretans celebrated a\nbiennial(1057) festival at which the sufferings and death of Dionysus were\nrepresented in every detail.(1058) Where the resurrection formed part of\nthe myth, it also was enacted at the rites,(1059) and it even appears that\na general doctrine of resurrection, or at least of immortality, was\ninculcated on the worshippers; for Plutarch, writing to console his wife\non the death of their infant daughter, comforts her with the thought of\nthe immortality of the soul as taught by tradition and revealed in the\nmysteries of Dionysus.(1060)\n\nA different form of the myth of the death and resurrection of Dionysus is\nthat he descended into Hades to bring up his mother Semele from the\ndead.(1061) The local Argive tradition was that he descended through the\nAlcyonian lake; and his return from the lower world, in other words his\nresurrection, was annually celebrated on the spot by the Argives, who\nsummoned him from the water by trumpet blasts, while they threw a lamb\ninto the lake as an offering to the warder of the dead.(1062) Whether this\nwas a spring festival does not appear, but the Lydians certainly\ncelebrated the advent of Dionysus in spring; the god was supposed to bring\nthe season with him.(1063) Deities of vegetation, who are supposed to pass\na certain portion of each year underground, naturally come to be regarded\nas gods of the lower world or of the dead. Both Dionysus and Osiris were\nso conceived.(1064)\n\nA feature in the mythical character of Dionysus, which at first sight\nappears inconsistent with his nature as a deity of vegetation, is that he\nwas often conceived and represented in animal shape, especially in the\nform, or at least with the horns, of a bull. Thus he is spoken of as\n\u201ccow-born,\u201d \u201cbull,\u201d \u201cbull-shaped,\u201d \u201cbull-faced,\u201d \u201cbull-browed,\u201d\n\u201cbull-horned,\u201d \u201chorn-bearing,\u201d \u201ctwo-horned,\u201d \u201chorned.\u201d(1065) He was\nbelieved to appear, at least occasionally, as a bull.(1066) His images\nwere often, as at Cyzicus, made in bull shape,(1067) or with bull\nhorns;(1068) and he was painted with horns.(1069) Types of the horned\nDionysus are found amongst the surviving monuments of antiquity.(1070) On\none statuette he appears clad in a bull\u2019s hide, the head, horns, and hoofs\nhanging down behind.(1071) At his festivals Dionysus was believed to\nappear in bull form. The women of Elis hailed him as a bull, and prayed\nhim to come with his bull\u2019s-foot. They sang, \u201cCome here, Dionysus, to thy\nholy temple by the sea; come with the Graces to thy temple, rushing with\nthy bull\u2019s-foot, O goodly bull, O goodly bull!\u201d(1072) According to the\nmyth, it was in the shape of a bull that he was torn to pieces by the\nTitans;(1073) and the Cretans, in representing the sufferings and death of\nDionysus, tore a live bull to pieces with their teeth.(1074) Indeed, the\nrending and devouring of live bulls and calves appear to have been a\nregular feature of the Dionysiac rites.(1075) The practice of representing\nthe god in bull form or with some of the features of a bull, the belief\nthat he appeared in bull form to his worshippers at the sacred rites, and\nthe legend that it was in bull form that he had been torn in pieces\u2014all\nthese facts taken together leave no room to doubt that in rending and\ndevouring a live bull at his festival his worshippers believed that they\nwere killing the god, eating his flesh, and drinking his blood.\n\nAnother animal whose form Dionysus assumed was the goat. One of his names\nwas \u201c_Kid._\u201d(1076) To save him from the wrath of Hera, his father Zeus\nchanged him into a kid;(1077) and when the gods fled to Egypt to escape\nthe fury of Typhon, Dionysus was turned into a goat.(1078) Hence when his\nworshippers rent in pieces a live goat and devoured it raw,(1079) they\nmust have believed that they were eating the body and blood of the god.\n\nThis custom of killing a god in animal form, which we shall examine more\nfully presently, belongs to a very early stage in human culture, and is\napt in later times to be misunderstood. The advance of thought tends to\nstrip the old animal and plant gods of their bestial and vegetable husk,\nand to leave their human attributes (which are always the kernel of the\nconception) as the final and sole residuum. In other words, animal and\nplant gods tend to become purely anthropomorphic. When they have become\nwholly or nearly so, the animals and plants which were at first the\ndeities themselves, still retain a vague and ill-understood connection\nwith the anthropomorphic gods which have been developed out of them. The\norigin of the relationship between the deity and the animal or plant\nhaving been forgotten, various stories are invented to explain it. These\nexplanations may follow one of two lines according as they are based on\nthe habitual or on the exceptional treatment of the sacred animal or\nplant. The sacred animal was habitually spared, and only exceptionally\nslain; and accordingly the myth might be devised to explain either why it\nwas spared or why it was killed. Devised for the former purpose, the myth\nwould tell of some service rendered to the deity by the animal; devised\nfor the latter purpose, the myth would tell of some injury inflicted by\nthe animal on the god. The reason given for sacrificing goats to Dionysus\nis an example of a myth of the latter sort. They were sacrificed to him,\nit was said, because they injured the vine.(1080) Now the goat, as we have\nseen, was originally an embodiment of the god himself. But when the god\nhad divested himself of his animal character and had become essentially\nanthropomorphic, the killing of the goat in his worship came to be\nregarded no longer as a slaying of the god himself, but as a sacrifice to\nhim; and since some reason had to be assigned why the goat in particular\nshould be sacrificed, it was alleged that this was a punishment inflicted\non the goat for injuring the vine, the object of the god\u2019s especial care.\nThus we have the strange spectacle of a god sacrificed to himself on the\nground that he is his own enemy. And as the god is supposed to partake of\nthe victim offered to him, it follows that, when the victim is the god\u2019s\nold self, the god eats of his own flesh. Hence the goat-god Dionysus is\nrepresented as eating raw goat\u2019s blood;(1081) and the bull-god Dionysus is\ncalled \u201ceater of bulls.\u201d(1082) On the analogy of these instances we may\nconjecture that wherever a god is described as the eater of a particular\nanimal, the animal in question was originally nothing but the god\nhimself.(1083)\n\nAll this, however, does not explain why a deity of vegetation should\nappear in animal form. But the consideration of this point had better be\ndeferred till we have discussed the character and attributes of Demeter.\nMeantime it remains to point out that in some places, instead of an\nanimal, a human being was torn in pieces at the rites of Dionysus. This\nwas the custom in Chios and Tenedos;(1084) and at Potniae in Boeotia the\ntradition ran that it had been formerly the custom to sacrifice to the\ngoat-smiting Dionysus a child, for whom a goat was afterwards\nsubstituted.(1085) At Orchomenus the human victim was taken from the women\nof a certain family, called the Oleiae. At the annual festival the priest\nof Dionysus pursued these women with a drawn sword, and if he overtook one\nof them he had a right to slay her. This right was exercised as late as\nPlutarch\u2019s time.(1086) As the slain bull or goat represented the slain\ngod, so, we may suppose, the human victim also represented him. It is\npossible, however, that a tradition of human sacrifice may sometimes have\nbeen a mere misinterpretation of a sacrificial ritual in which an animal\nvictim was treated as a human being. For example, at Tenedos the new-born\ncalf sacrificed to Dionysus was shod in buskins, and the mother cow was\ntended like a woman in child-bed.(1087)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 8.\u2014Demeter and Proserpine.\n\n\nThe Greek myth of Demeter and Proserpine is substantially identical with\nthe Syrian myth of Aphrodite (Astarte) and Adonis, the Phrygian myth of\nCybele and Attis, and the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris. In the Greek\nmyth, as in its Asiatic and Egyptian counterparts, a\ngoddess\u2014Demeter\u2014mourns the loss of a loved one\u2014Proserpine\u2014who personifies\nthe vegetation, more especially the corn, which dies in summer(1088) to\nrevive in spring. But in the Greek myth the loved and lost one is the\ndaughter instead of the husband or lover of the goddess; and the mother as\nwell as the daughter is a goddess of the corn.(1089) Thus, as modern\nscholars have recognised,(1090) Demeter and Proserpine are merely a\nmythical reduplication of the same natural phenomenon. Proserpine, so ran\nthe Greek myth,(1091) was gathering flowers when the earth gaped, and\nPluto, lord of the Dead, issuing from the abyss, carried her off on his\ngolden car to be his bride in the gloomy subterranean world. Her sorrowing\nmother Demeter sought her over land and sea, and learning from the Sun her\ndaughter\u2019s fate, she suffered not the seed to grow, but kept it hidden in\nthe ground, so that the whole race of men would have died of hunger if\nZeus had not sent and fetched Proserpine from the nether world. Finally it\nwas agreed that Proserpine should spend a third, or according to others a\nhalf,(1092) of each year with Pluto underground, but should come forth in\nspring to dwell with her mother and the gods in the upper world. Her\nannual death and resurrection, that is, her annual descent into the under\nworld and her ascension from it, appear to have been represented in her\nrites.(1093)\n\nWith regard to the name Demeter, it has been plausibly argued by\nMannhardt(1094) that the first part of the word is derived from _d\u0113ai_, a\nCretan word for \u201cbarley\u201d;(1095) and that thus Demeter means the\nBarley-mother or the Corn-mother; for the root of the word appears to have\nbeen applied to different kinds of grain by different branches of the\nAryans, and even of the Greeks themselves.(1096) As Crete appears to have\nbeen one of the most ancient seats of the worship of Demeter,(1097) it is\nnot surprising that her name should be of Cretan origin. This explanation\nof the name Demeter is supported by a host of analogies which the\ndiligence of Mannhardt has collected from modern European folk-lore, and\nof which the following are specimens. In Germany the corn is very commonly\npersonified under the name of the Corn-mother. Thus in spring, when the\nwind sets the corn in wave-like motion, the peasants say, \u201cThere comes the\nCorn-mother,\u201d or \u201cThe Corn-mother is running over the field,\u201d or \u201cThe\nCorn-mother is going through the corn.\u201d(1098) When children wish to go\ninto the fields to pull the blue corn-flowers or the red poppies, they are\ntold not to do so, because the Corn-mother is sitting in the corn and will\ncatch them.(1099) Or again she is called, according to the crop, the\nRye-mother or the Pea-mother, and children are warned against straying in\nthe rye or among the peas by threats of the Rye-mother or the Pea-mother.\nIn Norway also the Pea-mother is said to sit among the peas.(1100) Similar\nexpressions are current among the Slavs. The Poles and Czechs warn\nchildren against the Corn-mother who sits in the corn. Or they call her\nthe Old Corn-woman, and say that she sits in the corn and strangles the\nchildren who tread it down.(1101) The Lithuanians say, \u201cThe Old Rye-woman\nsits in the corn.\u201d(1102) Again the Corn-mother is believed to make the\ncrop grow. Thus in the neighbourhood of Magdeburg it is sometimes said,\n\u201cIt will be a good year for flax; the Flax-mother has been seen.\u201d At\nDinkelsb\u00fchl (Bavaria) down to fifteen or twenty years ago, people believed\nthat when the crops on a particular farm compared unfavourably with those\nof the neighbourhood, the reason was that the Corn-mother had punished the\nfarmer for his sins.(1103) In a village of Styria it is said that the\nCorn-mother, in the shape of a female puppet made out of the last sheaf of\ncorn and dressed in white, may be seen at midnight in the corn-fields,\nwhich she fertilises by passing through them; but if she is angry with a\nfarmer, she withers up all his corn.(1104)\n\nFurther, the Corn-mother plays an important part in harvest customs. She\nis believed to be present in the handful of corn which is left standing\nlast on the field; and with the cutting of this last handful she is\ncaught, or driven away, or killed. In the first of these cases, the last\nsheaf is carried joyfully home and honoured as a divine being. It is\nplaced in the barn, and at threshing the corn-spirit appears again.(1105)\nIn the district of Hadeln (Hanover) the reapers stand round the last sheaf\nand beat it with sticks in order to drive the Corn-mother out of it. They\ncall to each other, \u201cThere she is! hit her! Take care she doesn\u2019t catch\nyou!\u201d The beating goes on till the grain is completely threshed out; then\nthe Corn-mother is believed to be driven away.(1106) In the neighbourhood\nof Danzig the person who cuts the last ears of corn makes them into a\ndoll, which is called the Corn-mother or the Old Woman, and is brought\nhome on the last waggon.(1107) In some parts of Holstein the last sheaf is\ndressed in woman\u2019s clothes and called the Corn-mother. It is carried home\non the last waggon, and then thoroughly drenched with water. The drenching\nwith water is doubtless a rain-charm.(1108) In the district of Bruck in\nStyria the last sheaf, called the Corn-mother, is made up into the shape\nof a woman by the oldest married woman in the village, of an age from\nfifty to fifty-five years. The finest ears are plucked out of it and made\ninto a wreath, which, twined with flowers, is carried on her head by the\nprettiest girl of the village to the farmer or squire, while the\nCorn-mother is laid down in the barn to keep off the mice.(1109) In other\nvillages of the same district the Corn-mother, at the close of harvest, is\ncarried by two lads at the top of a pole. They march behind the girl who\nwears the wreath to the squire\u2019s house, and while he receives the wreath\nand hangs it up in the hall, the Corn-mother is placed on the top of a\npile of wood, where she is the centre of the harvest supper and dance.\nAfterwards she is hung up in the barn and remains there till the threshing\nis over. The man who gives the last stroke at threshing is called the son\nof the Corn-mother; he is tied up in the Corn-mother, beaten, and carried\nthrough the village. The wreath is dedicated in church on the following\nSunday; and on Easter Eve the grain is rubbed out of it by a seven years\u2019\nold girl and scattered amongst the young corn. At Christmas the straw of\nthe wreath is placed in the manger to make the cattle thrive.(1110) Here\nthe fertilising power of the Corn-mother is plainly brought out by\nscattering the seed taken from her body (for the wreath is made out of the\nCorn-mother) among the new corn; and her influence over animal life is\nindicated by placing the straw in the manger. At Westerh\u00fcsen in Saxony the\nlast corn cut is made in the shape of a woman decked with ribbons and\ncloth. It is fastened on a pole and brought home on the last waggon. One\nof the people on the waggon keeps waving the pole, so that the figure\nmoves as if alive. It is placed on the threshing-floor, and stays there\ntill the threshing is done.(1111) Amongst the Slavs also the last sheaf is\nknown as the Rye-mother, the Wheat-mother, the Oats-mother, the\nBarley-mother, etc., according to the crop. In the district of Tarnow,\nGalicia, the wreath made out of the last stalks is called the\nWheat-mother, Rye-mother, or Pea-mother. It is placed on a girl\u2019s head and\nkept till spring, when some of the grain is mixed with the\nseed-corn.(1112) Here again the fertilising power of the Corn-mother is\nindicated. In France, also, in the neighbourhood of Auxerre, the last\nsheaf goes by the name of the Mother of the Wheat, Mother of the Barley,\nMother of the Rye, or Mother of the Oats. It is left standing in the field\ntill the last waggon is about to wend homewards. Then a puppet is made out\nof it, dressed with clothes belonging to the farmer, and adorned with a\ncrown and a blue or white scarf. A branch of a tree is stuck in the breast\nof the puppet, which is now called the Ceres. At the dance in the evening\nthe Ceres is placed in the middle of the floor, and the reaper who reaped\nfastest dances round it with the prettiest girl for his partner. After the\ndance a pyre is made. All the girls, each wearing a wreath, strip the\npuppet, pull it to pieces, and place it on the pyre, along with the\nflowers with which it was adorned. Then the girl who was the first to\nfinish reaping sets fire to the pile, and all pray that Ceres may give a\nfruitful year. Here, as Mannhardt observes, the old custom has remained\nintact, though the name Ceres is a bit of schoolmaster\u2019s learning.(1113)\nIn Upper Britanny the last sheaf is always made into human shape; but if\nthe farmer is a married man, it is made double and consists of a little\ncorn-puppet placed inside of a large one. This is called the Mother-sheaf.\nIt is delivered to the farmer\u2019s wife, who unties it and gives drink-money\nin return.(1114)\n\nSometimes the last sheaf is called, not the Corn-mother, but the\nHarvest-mother or the Great Mother. In the province of Osnabr\u00fcck (Hanover)\nit is called the Harvest-mother; it is made up in female form, and then\nthe reapers dance about with it. In some parts of Westphalia the last\nsheaf at the rye harvest is made especially heavy by fastening stones in\nit. It is brought home on the last waggon and is called the Great Mother,\nthough no special shape is given it. In the district of Erfurt a very\nheavy sheaf (not necessarily the last) is called the Great Mother, and is\ncarried on the last waggon to the barn, where it is lifted down by all\nhands amid a fire of jokes.(1115)\n\nSometimes again the last sheaf is called the Grandmother, and is adorned\nwith flowers, ribbons, and a woman\u2019s apron. In East Prussia, at the rye or\nwheat harvest, the reapers call out to the woman who binds the last sheaf,\n\u201cYou are getting the Old Grandmother.\u201d In the neighbourhood of Magdeburg\nthe men and women servants strive who shall get the last sheaf, called the\nGrandmother. Whoever gets it will be married in the next year, but his or\nher spouse will be old; if a girl gets it, she will marry a widower; if a\nman gets it, he will marry an old crone. In Silesia the Grandmother\u2014a huge\nbundle made up of three or four sheaves by the person who tied the last\nsheaf\u2014was formerly fashioned into a rude likeness of the human form.(1116)\nIn the neighbourhood of Belfast the last sheaf is sometimes called Granny.\nIt is not cut in the usual way, but all the reapers throw their sickles at\nit and try to bring it down. It is plaited and kept till the (next?)\nautumn. Whoever gets it will marry in the course of the year.(1117)\n\nOftener the last sheaf is called the Old Woman or the Old Man. In Germany\nit is often shaped and dressed as a woman, and the person who cuts it or\nbinds it is said to \u201cget the Old Woman.\u201d(1118) At Altisheim in Swabia when\nall the corn of a farm has been cut except a single strip, all the reapers\nstand in a row before the strip; each cuts his share rapidly, and he who\ngives the last cut \u201chas the Old Woman.\u201d(1119) When the sheaves are being\nset up in heaps, the person who gets hold of the Old Woman, which is the\nlargest and thickest of all the sheaves, is jeered at by the rest, who\nsing out to him, \u201cHe has the Old Woman and must keep her.\u201d(1120) The woman\nwho binds the last sheaf is sometimes herself called the Old Woman, and it\nis said that she will be married in the next year.(1121) In Neusaass, West\nPrussia, both the last sheaf\u2014which is dressed up in jacket, hat and\nribbons\u2014and the woman who binds it are called the Old Woman. Together they\nare brought home on the last waggon and are drenched with water.(1122) At\nHornkampe, near Tiegenhof (West Prussia), when a man or woman lags behind\nthe rest in binding the corn, the other reapers dress up the last sheaf in\nthe form of a man or woman, and this figure goes by the laggard\u2019s name, as\n\u201cthe old Michael,\u201d \u201cthe idle Trine.\u201d It is brought home on the last\nwaggon, and, as it nears the house, the bystanders call out to the\nlaggard, \u201cYou have got the Old Woman and must keep her.\u201d(1123)\n\nIn these customs, as Mannhardt has remarked, the person who is called by\nthe same name as the last sheaf and sits beside it on the last waggon is\nobviously identified with it; he or she represents the corn-spirit which\nhas been caught in the last sheaf; in other words, the corn-spirit is\nrepresented in duplicate, by a human being and by a sheaf.(1124) The\nidentification of the person with the sheaf is made still clearer by the\ncustom of wrapping up in the last sheaf the person who cuts or binds it.\nThus at Hermsdorf in Silesia it used to be the regular custom to tie up in\nthe last sheaf the woman who had bound it.(1125) At Weiden in Bavaria it\nis the cutter, not the binder, of the last sheaf who is tied up in\nit.(1126) Here the person wrapt up in the corn represents the corn-spirit,\nexactly as a person wrapt in branches or leaves represents the\ntree-spirit.(1127)\n\nThe last sheaf, designated as the Old Woman, is often distinguished from\nthe other sheaves by its size and weight. Thus in some villages of West\nPrussia the Old Woman is made twice as long and thick as a common sheaf,\nand a stone is fastened in the middle of it. Sometimes it is made so heavy\nthat a man can barely lift it.(1128) Sometimes eight or nine sheaves are\ntied together to make the Old Woman, and the man who sets it up complains\nof its weight.(1129) At Itzgrund, in Saxe-Coburg, the last sheaf, called\nthe Old Woman, is made large with the express intention of thereby\nsecuring a good crop next year.(1130) Thus the custom of making the last\nsheaf unusually large or heavy is a charm, working by sympathetic magic,\nto secure a large and heavy crop in the following year.\n\nIn Denmark also the last sheaf is made larger than the others, and is\ncalled the Old Rye-woman or the Old Barley-woman. No one likes to bind it,\nbecause whoever does so will, it is believed, marry an old man or an old\nwoman. Sometimes the last wheat-sheaf, called the Old Wheat-woman, is made\nup in human shape, with head, arms, and legs, is dressed in clothes and\ncarried home on the last waggon, the harvesters sitting beside it,\ndrinking and huzzaing.(1131) Of the person who binds the last sheaf it is\nsaid, \u201cShe (or he) is the Old Rye-woman.\u201d(1132)\n\nIn Scotland, when the last corn was cut after Hallowmas, the female figure\nmade out of it was sometimes called the Carlin or Carline, _i.e._ the Old\nWoman. But if cut before Hallowmas, it was called the Maiden; if cut after\nsunset, it was called the Witch, being supposed to bring bad luck.(1133)\nWe shall return to the Maiden presently. In County Antrim, down to a few\nyears ago, when the sickle was finally expelled by the reaping machine,\nthe few stalks of corn left standing last on the field were plaited\ntogether; then the reapers, blindfolded, threw their sickles at the\nplaited corn, and whoever happened to cut it through took it home with him\nand put it over his door. This bunch of corn was called the\nCarley(1134)\u2014probably the same word as Carlin.\n\nSimilar customs are observed by Slavonic peoples. Thus in Poland the last\nsheaf is commonly called the Baba, that is, the Old Woman. \u201cIn the last\nsheaf,\u201d it is said, \u201csits the Baba.\u201d The sheaf itself is also called the\nBaba, and is sometimes composed of twelve smaller sheaves lashed\ntogether.(1135) In some parts of Bohemia the Baba, made out of the last\nsheaf, has the figure of a woman with a great straw hat. It is carried\nhome on the last harvest-waggon and delivered, along with a garland, to\nthe farmer by two girls. In binding the sheaves the women strive not to be\nlast, for she who binds the last sheaf will have a child next year.(1136)\nThe last sheaf is tied up with others into a large bundle, and a green\nbranch is stuck on the top of it.(1137) Sometimes the harvesters call out\nto the woman who binds the last sheaf, \u201cShe has the Baba,\u201d or \u201cShe is the\nBaba.\u201d She has then to make a puppet, sometimes in female, sometimes in\nmale form, out of the corn; the puppet is occasionally dressed with\nclothes, often with flowers and ribbons only. The cutter of the last\nstalks, as well as the binder of the last sheaf, was also called Baba; and\na doll, called the Harvest-woman, was made out of the last sheaf and\nadorned with ribbons. The oldest reaper had to dance, first with this\ndoll, and then with the farmer\u2019s wife.(1138) In the district of Cracow,\nwhen a man binds the last sheaf, they say, \u201cThe Grandfather is sitting in\nit;\u201d when a woman binds it, they say, \u201cThe Baba is sitting in it,\u201d and the\nwoman herself is wrapt up in the sheaf, so that only her head projects out\nof it. Thus encased in the sheaf, she is carried on the last\nharvest-waggon to the house, where she is drenched with water by the whole\nfamily. She remains in the sheaf till the dance is over, and for a year\nshe retains the name of Baba.(1139)\n\nIn Lithuania the name for the last sheaf is Boba (Old Woman), answering to\nthe Polish name Baba. The Boba is said to sit in the corn which is left\nstanding last.(1140) The person who binds the last sheaf or digs the last\npotato is the subject of much banter, and receives and long retains the\nname of the Old Rye-woman or the Old Potato-woman.(1141) The last\nsheaf\u2014the Boba\u2014is made into the form of a woman, carried solemnly through\nthe village on the last harvest-waggon, and drenched with water at the\nfarmer\u2019s house; then every one dances with it.(1142)\n\nIn Russia also the last sheaf is often shaped and dressed as a woman, and\ncarried with dance and song to the farmhouse. Out of the last sheaf the\nBulgarians make a doll which they call the Corn-queen or Corn-mother; it\nis dressed in a woman\u2019s shirt, carried round the village, and then thrown\ninto the river in order to secure plenty of rain and dew for the next\nyear\u2019s crop. Or it is burned and the ashes strewn on the fields, doubtless\nto fertilise them.(1143) The name Queen, as applied to the last sheaf, has\nits analogies in Northern Europe. Thus Brand quotes from Hutchinson\u2019s\n_History of Northumberland_ the following: \u201cI have seen, in some places,\nan image apparelled in great finery, crowned with flowers, a sheaf of corn\nplaced under her arm, and a sycle in her hand, carried out of the village\nin the morning of the conclusive reaping day, with music and much clamour\nof the reapers, into the field, where it stands fixed on a pole all day,\nand when the reaping is done, is brought home in like manner. This they\ncall the Harvest Queen, and it represents the Roman Ceres.\u201d(1144) From\nCambridge also Dr. E. D. Clarke reported that \u201cat the Hawkie\n[harvest-home], as it is called, I have seen a clown dressed in woman\u2019s\nclothes, having his face painted, his head decorated with ears of corn,\nand bearing about him other symbols of Ceres, carried in a waggon, with\ngreat pomp and loud shouts, through the streets, the horses being covered\nwith white sheets; and when I inquired the meaning of the ceremony, was\nanswered by the people, that they were drawing the Harvest Queen.\u201d(1145)\n\nOften the customs we have been examining are practised, not on the harvest\nfield, but on the threshing-floor. The spirit of the corn, fleeing before\nthe reapers as they cut down the corn, quits the cut corn and takes refuge\nin the barn, where it appears in the last sheaf threshed, either to perish\nunder the blows of the flail or to flee thence to the still unthreshed\ncorn of a neighbouring farm.(1146) Thus the last corn to be threshed is\ncalled the Mother-corn or the Old Woman. Sometimes the person who gives\nthe last stroke with the flail is called the Old Woman, and is wrapt in\nthe straw of the last sheaf, or has a bundle of straw fastened on his\nback. Whether wrapt in the straw or carrying it on his back, he is carted\nthrough the village amid general laughter. In some districts of Bavaria,\nTh\u00fcringen, etc., the man who threshes the last sheaf is said to have the\nOld Woman or the Old Corn-woman; he is tied up in straw, carried or carted\nabout the village, and set down at last on the dunghill, or taken to the\nthreshing-floor of a neighbouring farmer who has not finished his\nthreshing.(1147) In Poland the man who gives the last stroke at threshing\nis called Baba (Old Woman); he is wrapt in corn and wheeled through the\nvillage.(1148) Sometimes in Lithuania the last sheaf is not threshed, but\nis fashioned into female shape and carried to the barn of a neighbour who\nhas not finished his threshing.(1149) In some parts of Sweden, when a\nstranger woman appears on the threshing-floor, a flail is put round her\nbody, stalks of corn are wound round her neck, a crown of ears is placed\non her head, and the threshers call out, \u201cBehold the Corn-woman.\u201d Here the\nstranger woman, thus suddenly appearing, is taken to be the corn-spirit\nwho has just been expelled by the flails from the corn-stalks.(1150) In\nother cases the farmer\u2019s wife represents the corn-spirit. Thus in the\nCommune of Salign\u00e9, Canton de Poiret (Vend\u00e9e), the farmer\u2019s wife, along\nwith the last sheaf, is tied up in a sheet, placed on a litter, and\ncarried to the threshing machine, under which she is shoved. Then the\nwoman is drawn out and the sheaf is threshed by itself, but the woman is\ntossed in the sheet (in imitation of winnowing).(1151) It would be\nimpossible to express more clearly the identification of the woman with\nthe corn than by this graphic imitation of threshing and winnowing her.\n\nIn these customs the spirit of the ripe corn is regarded as old, or at\nleast as of mature age. Hence the names of Mother, Grandmother, Old Woman,\netc. But in other cases the corn-spirit is conceived as young, sometimes\nas a child who is separated from its mother by the stroke of the sickle.\nThis last view appears in the Polish custom of calling out to the man who\ncuts the last handful of corn, \u201cYou have cut the navel-string.\u201d(1152) In\nsome districts of West Prussia the figure made out of the last sheaf is\ncalled the Bastard, and a boy is wrapt up in it. The woman who binds the\nlast sheaf and represents the Corn-mother, is told that she is about to be\nbrought to bed; she cries like a woman in travail, and an old woman in the\ncharacter of grandmother acts as midwife. At last a cry is raised that the\nchild is born; whereupon the boy who is tied up in the sheaf whimpers and\nsqualls like an infant. The grandmother wraps a sack, in imitation of\nswaddling bands, round the pretended baby, and it is carried joyfully to\nthe barn, lest it catch cold in the open air.(1153) In other parts of\nNorth Germany, the last sheaf, or the puppet made out of it, is called the\nChild, the Harvest Child, etc. In the North of England the last handful of\ncorn was cut by the prettiest girl and dressed up as the Corn Baby or Kern\nBaby; it was brought home to music, set up in a conspicuous place at the\nharvest supper, and generally kept in the parlour for the rest of the\nyear. The girl who cut it was the Harvest Queen.(1154) In Kent the Ivy\nGirl is (or was) \u201ca figure composed of some of the best corn the field\nproduces, and made as well as they can into a human shape; this is\nafterwards curiously dressed by the women, and adorned with paper\ntrimmings, cut to resemble a cap, ruffles, handkerchief, etc., of the\nfinest lace. It is brought home with the last load of corn from the field\nupon the waggon, and they suppose entitles them to a supper at the expense\nof the employer.\u201d(1155) In the neighbourhood of Balquhidder, Perthshire,\nthe last handful of corn is cut by the youngest girl on the field, and is\nmade into the rude form of a female doll, clad in a paper dress, and\ndecked with ribbons. It is called the Maiden, and is kept in the\nfarmhouse, generally above the chimney, for a good while, sometimes till\nthe Maiden of the next year is brought in. The writer of this book\nwitnessed the ceremony of cutting the Maiden at Balquhidder in September\n1888.(1156) On some farms on the Gareloch, Dumbartonshire, about sixty\nyears ago the last handful of standing corn was called the Maiden. It was\ndivided in two, plaited, and then cut with the sickle by a girl, who, it\nwas thought, would be lucky and would soon be married. When it was cut the\nreapers gathered together and threw their sickles in the air. The Maiden\nwas dressed with ribbons and hung in the kitchen near the roof, where it\nwas kept for several years with the date attached. Sometimes five or six\nMaidens might be seen hanging at once on hooks. The harvest supper was\ncalled the Kirn.(1157) In other farms on the Gareloch the last handful of\ncorn was called the Maidenhead or the Head; it was neatly plaited,\nsometimes decked with ribbons, and hung in the kitchen for a year, when\nthe grain was given to the poultry.(1158) In the North of Scotland, the\nMaiden is kept till Christmas morning, and then divided among the cattle\n\u201cto make them thrive all the year round.\u201d(1159) In Aberdeenshire also the\nlast sheaf (called the clyack sheaf) was formerly cut, as it is still cut\nat Balquhidder, by the youngest girl on the field; then it was dressed in\nwoman\u2019s clothes, carried home in triumph, and kept till Christmas or New\nYear\u2019s morning, when it was given to a mare in foal, or, failing such, to\nthe oldest cow.(1160) Lastly, a somewhat maturer, but still youthful age\nis assigned to the corn-spirit by the appellations of Bride, Oats-bride,\nand Wheat-bride, which in Germany and Scotland are sometimes bestowed both\non the last sheaf and on the woman who binds it.(1161) Sometimes the idea\nimplied in these names is worked out more fully by representing the\nproductive powers of vegetation as bride and bridegroom. Thus in some\nparts of Germany a man and woman dressed in straw and called the Oats-wife\nand the Oats-man, or the Oats-bride and the Oats-bridegroom dance at the\nharvest festival; then the corn-stalks are plucked from their bodies till\nthey stand as bare as a stubble field. In Silesia, the woman who binds the\nlast sheaf is called the Wheat-bride or the Oats-bride. With the harvest\ncrown on her head, a bridegroom by her side, and attended by bridesmaids,\nshe is brought to the farmhouse with all the solemnity of a wedding\nprocession.(1162)\n\nThe harvest customs just described are strikingly analogous to the spring\ncustoms which we reviewed in the first chapter. (1.) As in the spring\ncustoms the tree-spirit is represented both by a tree and by a\nperson,(1163) so in the harvest customs the corn-spirit is represented\nboth by the last sheaf and by the person who cuts or binds or threshes it.\nThe equivalence of the person to the sheaf is shown by giving him or her\nthe same name as the sheaf, or _vice vers\u00e2_; by wrapping him or her in the\nsheaf; and by the rule observed in some places, that when the sheaf is\ncalled the Mother, it must be cut by the oldest married woman; but when it\nis called the Maiden, it must be cut by the youngest girl.(1164) Here the\nage of the personal representative of the corn-spirit corresponds with\nthat of the supposed age of the corn-spirit, just as the human victims\noffered by the Mexicans to promote the growth of the maize varied with the\nage of the maize.(1165) For in the Mexican, as in the European, custom the\nhuman beings were probably representatives of the corn-spirit rather than\nvictims offered to him. (2.) Again, the same fertilising influence which\nthe tree-spirit is supposed to exert over vegetation, cattle, and even\nwomen(1166) is ascribed to the corn-spirit. Thus, its supposed influence\non vegetation is shown by the practice of taking some of the grain of the\nlast sheaf (in which the corn-spirit is regularly supposed to be present),\nand scattering it among the young corn in spring.(1167) Its influence on\ncattle is shown by giving the straw of the last sheaf to the cattle at\nChristmas with the express intention of making them thrive.(1168) Lastly,\nits influence on women is indicated by the custom of delivering the\nMother-sheaf, made into the likeness of a pregnant woman, to the farmer\u2019s\nwife;(1169) by the belief that the woman who binds the last sheaf will\nhave a child next year;(1170) perhaps, too, by the idea that the person\nwho gets it will marry next year.(1171)\n\nPlainly, therefore, these spring and harvest customs are based on the same\nancient modes of thought, and form parts of the same primitive heathendom,\nwhich was doubtless practised by our forefathers long before the dawn of\nhistory, as it is practised to this day by many of their descendants.\nAmongst the marks of a primitive religion, we may note the following:\u2014\n\n(1.) No special class of persons is set apart for the performance of the\nrites; in other words, there are no priests. The rites may be performed by\nany one, as occasion demands.\n\n(2.) No special places are set apart for the performance of the rites; in\nother words, there are no temples. The rites may be performed anywhere, as\noccasion demands.\n\n(3.) Spirits, not gods, are recognised. (_a._) As distinguished from gods,\nspirits are restricted in their operations to definite departments of\nnature. Their names are general, not proper. Their attributes are generic,\nrather than individual; in other words, there is an indefinite number of\nspirits of each class, and the individuals of a class are all much alike;\nthey have no definitely marked individuality; no accepted traditions are\ncurrent as to their origin, life, adventures, and character. (_b._) On the\nother hand gods, as distinguished from spirits, are not exclusively\nrestricted in their operations to definite departments of nature. It is\ntrue that there is generally some one department over which they preside\nas their special province; but they are not rigorously confined to it;\nthey can exert their power for good or evil in many other spheres of\nnature and life. Again, they bear individual or proper names, such as\nCeres, Proserpine, Bacchus; and their individual characters and histories\nare fixed by current myths and the representations of art.\n\n(4.) The rites are magical rather than propitiatory. In other words, the\ndesired objects are attained, not by propitiating the favour of divine\nbeings through sacrifice, prayer, and praise, but by ceremonies which, as\nhas been explained,(1172) are believed to influence the course of nature\ndirectly through a physical sympathy or resemblance between the rite and\nthe effect which it is the intention of the rite to produce.\n\nJudged by these tests, the spring and harvest customs of our European\npeasantry deserve to rank as primitive. For no special class of persons\nand no special places are set exclusively apart for their performance;\nthey may be performed by any one, master or man, mistress or maid, boy or\ngirl; they are practised, not in temples or churches, but in the woods and\nmeadows, beside brooks, in barns, on harvest fields and cottage floors.\nThe supernatural beings whose existence is taken for granted in them are\nspirits rather than deities; their functions are limited to certain\nwell-defined departments of nature; their names are general, like the\nBarley-mother, the Old Woman, the Maiden, not proper names like Ceres,\nProserpine, Bacchus. Their generic attributes are known, but their\nindividual histories and characters are not the subject of myths. For they\nexist in classes rather than as individuals, and the members of each class\nare indistinguishable. For example, every farm has its Corn-mother, or its\nOld Woman, or its Maiden; but every Corn-mother is much like every other\nCorn-mother, and so with the Old Women and Maidens. Lastly, in these\nharvest, as in the spring, customs, the ritual is magical rather than\npropitiatory. This is shown by throwing the Corn-mother into the river in\norder to secure rain and dew for the crops;(1173) by making the Old Woman\nheavy in order to get a heavy crop next year;(1174) by strewing grain from\nthe last sheaf amongst the young crops in spring;(1175) and giving the\nlast sheaf to the cattle to make them thrive.(1176)\n\nFurther, the custom of keeping the puppet\u2014the representative of the\ncorn-spirit\u2014till next harvest, is a charm to maintain the corn-spirit in\nlife and activity throughout the year.(1177) This is proved by a similar\ncustom observed by the ancient Peruvians, and thus described by the\nhistorian Acosta. \u201cThey take a certain portion of the most fruitefull of\nthe Mays [_i.e._ maize] that growes in their farmes, the which they put in\na certaine granary which they doe call _Pirua_, with certaine ceremonies,\nwatching three nightes; they put this Mays in the richest garments they\nhave, and beeing thus wrapped and dressed, they worship this _Pirua_, and\nhold it in great veneration, saying it is the mother of the mays of their\ninheritances, and that by this means the mays augments and is preserved.\nIn this moneth [the sixth month, answering to May] they make a particular\nsacrifice, and the witches demaund of this _Pirua_, if it hath strength\nsufficient to continue untill the next yeare; and if it answers no, then\nthey carry this Mays to the farme to burne, whence they brought it,\naccording to every man\u2019s power; then they make another _Pirua_, with the\nsame ceremonies, saying that they renue it, to the end the seede of Mays\nmay not perish, and if it answers that it hath force sufficient to last\nlonger, they leave it untill the next yeare. This foolish vanity\ncontinueth to this day, and it is very common amongest the Indians to have\nthese _Piruas_.\u201d(1178) There seems to be some error in this description of\nthe custom. Probably it was the dressed-up bunch of maize, not the granary\n(_Pirua_), which was worshipped by the Peruvians and regarded as the\nMother of the Maize. This is confirmed by what we know of the Peruvian\ncustom from another source. The Peruvians, we are told, believed all\nuseful plants to be animated by a divine being who causes their growth.\nAccording to the particular plant, these divine beings were called the\nMaize-mother (_Zara-mama_), the Quinoa-mother (_Quinoa-mama_), the\nCocoa-mother (_Coca-mama_), and the Potato-mother (_Axo-mama_). Figures of\nthese divine mothers were made respectively of ears of maize and leaves of\nthe quinoa and cocoa plants; they were dressed in women\u2019s clothes and\nworshipped. Thus the Maize-mother was represented by a puppet made of\nstalks of maize, dressed in full female attire; and the Indians believed\nthat \u201cas mother, it had the power of producing and giving birth to much\nmaize.\u201d(1179) Probably, therefore, Acosta misunderstood his informant, and\nthe Mother of the Maize which he describes was not the granary (_Pirua_)\nbut the bunch of maize dressed in rich vestments. The Peruvian Mother of\nthe Maize, like the harvest Maiden at Balquhidder, was kept for a year in\norder that by her means the corn might grow and multiply. But lest her\nstrength might not suffice to last out the year, she was asked in the\ncourse of the year how she felt, and if she answered that she felt weak,\nshe was burned and a fresh Mother of the Maize made, \u201cto the end the seede\nof Mays may not perish.\u201d Here, it may be observed, we have a strong\nconfirmation of the explanation already given of the custom of killing the\ngod, both periodically and occasionally. The Mother of the Maize was\nallowed, as a rule, to live through a year, that being the period during\nwhich her strength might reasonably be supposed to last unimpaired; but on\nany symptom of her strength failing she was put to death and a fresh and\nvigorous Mother of the Maize took her place, lest the maize which depended\non her for its existence should languish and decay.\n\nHardly less clearly does the same train of thought come out in the harvest\ncustoms formerly observed by the Zapotecs of Mexico. At harvest the\npriests, attended by the nobles and people, went in procession to the\nmaize fields, where they picked out the largest and finest sheaf. This\nthey took with great ceremony to the town or village, and placed it in the\ntemple upon an altar adorned with wild flowers. After sacrificing to the\nharvest god, the priests carefully wrapt up the sheaf in fine linen and\nkept it till seed-time. Then the priests and nobles met again at the\ntemple, one of them bringing the skin of a wild beast, elaborately\nornamented, in which the linen cloth containing the sheaf was enveloped.\nThe sheaf was then carried once more in procession to the field from which\nit had been taken. Here a small cavity or subterranean chamber had been\nprepared, in which the precious sheaf was deposited, wrapt in its various\nenvelopes. After sacrifice had been offered to the gods of the fields for\nan abundant crop, the chamber was closed and covered over with earth.\nImmediately thereafter the sowing began. Finally, when the time of harvest\ndrew near, the buried sheaf was solemnly disinterred by the priests, who\ndistributed the grain to all who asked for it. The packets of grain so\ndistributed were carefully preserved as talismans till the harvest.(1180)\nIn these ceremonies, which continued to be annually celebrated long after\nthe Spanish conquest, the intention of keeping the finest sheaf buried in\nthe maize field from seed-time to harvest was undoubtedly to quicken the\ngrowth of the maize.\n\nIn the Punjaub, to the east of the Jumna, when the cotton boles begin to\nburst, it is usual \u201cto select the largest plant in the field, and having\nsprinkled it with butter-milk and rice-water, it is bound all over with\npieces of cotton, taken from the other plants of the field. This selected\nplant is called Sirdar, or Bhogalda\u00ed, _i.e._ mother-cotton, from bhogla, a\nname sometimes given to a large cotton-pod, and da\u00ed (for daiya) a mother,\nand after salutations are made to it, prayers are offered that the other\nplants may resemble it in the richness of their produce.\u201d(1181)\n\nIf the reader still feels any doubts as to the original meaning of the\nharvest customs practised by our peasantry, these doubts may be dispelled\nby comparing the harvest customs of the Dyaks of Borneo. At harvest the\nDyaks of Northern Borneo have a special feast, the object of which is \u201cto\nsecure the soul of the rice, which if not so detained, the produce of\ntheir farms would speedily rot and decay.\u201d The mode of securing the soul\nof the rice varies in different tribes. Sometimes the priest catches it,\nin the form of a few grains of rice, in a white cloth. Sometimes a large\nshed is erected outside the village, and near it is reared a high and\nspacious altar. The corner-posts of the altar are lofty bamboos with leafy\ntops, from one of which there hangs a long narrow streamer of white cloth.\nHere gaily-dressed men and women dance with slow and solemn steps.\nSuddenly the elders and priests rush at the white streamer, seize the end\nof it, and begin dancing and swaying to and fro, amid a burst of wild\nmusic and the yells of the spectators. An elder leaps on the altar and\nshakes the bamboos violently, whereupon small stones, bunches of hair and\ngrains of rice fall at the feet of the dancers and are carefully picked up\nby attendants. These grains of rice are the soul of the rice. At\nsowing-time some of this soul of the rice is planted with the other seeds,\n\u201cand is thus propagated and communicated.\u201d(1182) The same need of securing\nthe soul of the rice, if the crop is to thrive, is keenly felt by the\nKarens of Burma. When a rice-field does not flourish, they suppose that\nthe soul (_kelah_) of the rice is in some way detained from the rice. If\nthe soul cannot be called back, the crop will fail. The following formula\nis used in recalling the _kelah_ (soul) of the rice: \u201cO come,\nrice-_kelah_, come! Come to the field. Come to the rice. With seed of each\ngender, come. Come from the river Kho, come from the river Kaw; from the\nplace where they meet, come. Come from the West, come from the East. From\nthe throat of the bird, from the maw of the ape, from the throat of the\nelephant. Come from the sources of rivers and their mouths. Come from the\ncountry of the Shan and Burman. From the distant kingdoms come. From all\ngranaries come. O rice-_kelah_, come to the rice.\u201d(1183) Again, the\nEuropean custom of representing the corn-spirit in the double form of\nbride and bridegroom(1184) is paralleled by a custom observed at the\nrice-harvest in Java. Before the reapers begin to cut the rice, the priest\nor sorcerer picks out a number of ears of rice, which are tied together,\nsmeared with ointment, and adorned with flowers. Thus decked out, the ears\nare called the _padi-p\u00ebngant\u00e8n_, that is, the Rice-bride and the\nRice-bridegroom; their wedding feast is celebrated, and the cutting of the\nrice begins immediately afterwards. Later on, when the rice is being got\nin, a bridal chamber is partitioned off in the barn, and furnished with a\nnew mat, a lamp, and all kinds of toilet articles. Sheaves of rice, to\nrepresent the wedding guests, are placed beside the Rice-bride and the\nRice-bridegroom. Not till this has been done may the whole harvest be\nhoused in the barn. And for the first forty days after the rice has been\nhoused, no one may enter the barn, for fear of disturbing the newly-wedded\npair.(1185)\n\nCompared with the Corn-mother of Germany and the harvest Maiden of\nBalquhidder, the Demeter and Proserpine of Greece are late products of\nreligious growth. But, as Aryans, the Greeks must at one time or another\nhave observed harvest customs like those which are still practised by\nCelts, Teutons, and Slavs, and which, far beyond the limits of the Aryan\nworld, have been practised by the Incas of Peru, the Dyaks of Borneo, and\nthe Malays of Java\u2014a sufficient proof that the ideas on which these\ncustoms rest are not confined to any one race, but naturally suggest\nthemselves to all untutored peoples engaged in agriculture. It is\nprobable, therefore, that Demeter and Proserpine, those stately and\nbeautiful figures of Greek mythology, grew out of the same simple beliefs\nand practices which still prevail among our modern peasantry, and that\nthey were represented by rude dolls made out of the yellow sheaves on many\na harvest-field long before their breathing images were wrought in bronze\nand marble by the master hands of Phidias and Praxiteles. A reminiscence\nof that olden time\u2014a scent, so to say, of the harvest-field\u2014lingered to\nthe last in the title of the Maiden (_Kore_) by which Proserpine was\ncommonly known. Thus if the prototype of Demeter is the Corn-mother of\nGermany, the prototype of Proserpine is the harvest Maiden, which, autumn\nafter autumn, is still made from the last sheaf on the Braes of\nBalquhidder. Indeed if we knew more about the peasant-farmers of ancient\nGreece we should probably find that even in classical times they continued\nannually to fashion their Corn-mothers (Demeters) and Maidens\n(Proserpines) out of the ripe corn on the harvest fields. But\nunfortunately the Demeter and Proserpine whom we know are the denizens of\ntowns, the majestic inhabitants of lordly temples; it was for such\ndivinities alone that the refined writers of antiquity had eyes; the rude\nrites performed by rustics amongst the corn were beneath their notice.\nEven if they noticed them, they probably never dreamed of any connection\nbetween the puppet of corn-stalks on the sunny stubble-field and the\nmarble divinity in the shady coolness of the temple. Still the writings\neven of these town-bred and cultured persons afford us an occasional\nglimpse of a Demeter as rude as the rudest that a remote German village\ncan show. Thus the story that Iasion begat a child Plutus (\u201cwealth,\u201d\n\u201cabundance\u201d) by Demeter on a thrice-ploughed field,(1186) may be compared\nwith the West Prussian custom of the mock birth of a child on the harvest\nfield.(1187) In this Prussian custom the pretended mother represents the\nCorn-mother (_\u017dytniamatka_); the pretended child represents the Corn-baby,\nand the whole ceremony is a charm to ensure a crop next year.(1188) There\nare other folk-customs, observed both in spring and at harvest, with which\nthe legend of the begetting of the child Plutus is probably still more\nintimately connected. Their general purport is to impart fertility to the\nfields by performing, or at least mimicking, upon them the process of\nprocreation.(1189) Another glimpse of the savage under the civilised\nDemeter will be afforded farther on, when we come to deal with another\naspect of these agricultural divinities.\n\nThe reader may have observed that in modern folk-customs the corn-spirit\nis generally represented either by a Corn-mother (Old Woman, etc.) or by a\nMaiden (Corn-baby, etc.), not both by a Corn-mother and by a Maiden. Why\nthen did the Greeks represent the corn both as a mother and a daughter? In\nthe Breton custom the mother-sheaf\u2014a large figure made out of the last\nsheaf with a small corn-doll inside of it\u2014clearly represents both the\nCorn-mother and the Corn-daughter, the latter still unborn.(1190) Again,\nin the Prussian custom just described, the woman who plays the part of\nCorn-mother represents the ripe corn; the child appears to represent next\nyear\u2019s corn, which may be regarded, naturally enough, as the child of this\nyear\u2019s corn, since it is from the seed of this year\u2019s harvest that next\nyear\u2019s corn will spring. Demeter would thus be the ripe corn of this year;\nProserpine the seed-corn taken from it and sown in autumn, to reappear in\nspring. The descent of Proserpine into the lower world(1191) would thus be\na mythical expression for the sowing of the seed; her reappearance in\nspring(1192) would express the sprouting of the young corn. Thus the\nProserpine of this year becomes the Demeter of the next, and this may very\nwell have been the original form of the myth. But when with the advance of\nreligious thought the corn came to be personified, no longer as a being\nthat went through the whole cycle of birth, growth, reproduction, and\ndeath within a year, but as an immortal goddess, consistency requires that\none of the two personifications, the mother or the daughter, should be\nsacrificed. But the double conception of the corn as mother and daughter\nwas too old and too deeply rooted in the popular mind to be eradicated by\nlogic, and so room had to be found in the reformed myth both for mother\nand daughter. This was done by assigning to Proserpine the r\u00f4le of the\ncorn sown in autumn and sprouting in spring, while Demeter was left to\nplay the somewhat vague and ill-defined part of mother of the corn, who\nlaments its annual disappearance underground, and rejoices over its\nreappearance in spring. Thus instead of a regular succession of divine\nbeings, each living a year and then giving birth to her successor, the\nreformed myth exhibits the conception of two divine and immortal beings,\none of whom annually disappears into and reappears from the ground, while\nthe other has little to do but to weep and rejoice at the appropriate\ntimes.\n\nThis explanation of the double personification of the corn in Greek myth\nassumes that both personifications (Demeter and Proserpine) are original.\nBut if we assume that the Greek myth started with a single\npersonification, the after-growth of a second personification may perhaps\nbe explained as follows. On looking over the peasant harvest customs which\nhave been passed under review, it may be noticed that they involve two\ndistinct conceptions of the corn-spirit. For whereas in some of the\ncustoms the corn-spirit is treated as immanent in the corn, in others it\nis regarded as external to it. Thus when a particular sheaf is called by\nthe name of the corn-spirit, and is dressed in clothes and treated with\nreverence,(1193) the corn-spirit is clearly regarded as immanent in the\ncorn. But when the corn-spirit is said to make the corn grow by passing\nthrough it, or to blight the corn of those against whom she has a\ngrudge,(1194) she is clearly conceived as quite separate from, though\nexercising power over, the corn. Conceived in the latter way the\ncorn-spirit is in a fair way to become a deity of the corn, if she has not\nbecome so already. Of these two conceptions, that of the corn-spirit as\nimmanent in the corn is doubtless the older, since the view of nature as\nanimated by indwelling spirits appears to have generally preceded the view\nof it as controlled by deities external to it; to put it shortly, animism\nprecedes deism. In the harvest customs of our European peasantry the\nconception of the corn-spirit as immanent appears to be the prevalent one;\nthe conception of it as external occurs rather as an exception. In Greek\nmythology, on the other hand, Demeter is distinctly conceived in the\nlatter way; she is the deity of the corn rather than the spirit immanent\nin it.(1195) The process of thought which seems to be chiefly instrumental\nin producing the transition from the one mode of conception to the other\nis anthropomorphism, or the gradual investment of the immanent spirits\nwith more and more of the attributes of humanity. As men emerge from\nsavagery the tendency to anthropomorphise or humanise their divinities\ngains strength; and the more anthropomorphic these become, the wider is\nthe breach which severs them from those natural objects of which they were\nat first merely the animating spirits or souls. But in the progress\nupwards from savagery, men of the same generation do not march abreast;\nand though the anthropomorphic gods may satisfy the religious wants of\nmore advanced individuals, the more backward members of the community will\ncling by preference to the older animistic notions. Now when the spirit of\nany natural object (as the corn) has been invested with human qualities,\ndetached from the object, and converted into a deity controlling it, the\nobject itself is, by the withdrawal of its spirit, left inanimate, it\nbecomes, so to say, a spiritual vacuum. But the popular fancy, intolerant\nof such a vacuum, in other words, unable to conceive anything as\ninanimate, immediately creates a fresh mythical being, with which it\npeoples the vacant object. Thus the same natural object is now represented\nin mythology by two separate beings; first, by the old spirit now\nseparated from it and raised to the rank of a deity; second, by the new\nspirit, freshly created by the popular fancy to supply the place vacated\nby the old spirit on its elevation to a higher sphere. The problem for\nmythology now is, having got two separate personifications of the same\nobject, what to do with them? How are their relations to each other to be\nadjusted, and room found for both in the mythological system? When the old\nspirit or new deity is conceived as creating or producing the object in\nquestion, the problem is easily solved. Since the object is believed to be\nproduced by the old spirit, and animated by the new one, the latter, as\nthe soul of the object, must also owe its existence to the former; thus\nthe old spirit will stand to the new one as producer to produced, that is\n(in mythology), as parent to child, and if both spirits are conceived as\nfemale, their relation will be that of mother and daughter. In this way,\nstarting from a single personification of the corn as female, mythology\nmight in time reach a double personification of it as mother and daughter.\nIt would be very rash to affirm that this was the way in which the myth of\nDemeter and Proserpine actually took shape; but it seems a legitimate\nconjecture that the reduplication of deities, of which Demeter and\nProserpine furnish an example, may sometimes have arisen in the way\nindicated. For example, among the pairs of deities whom we have been\nconsidering, it has been shown that there are grounds for regarding both\nIsis and her companion god Osiris as personifications of the corn.(1196)\nOn the hypothesis just suggested, Isis would be the old corn-spirit, and\nOsiris would be the newer one, whose relationship to the old spirit was\nvariously explained as that of brother, husband, and son;(1197) for of\ncourse mythology would always be free to account for the coexistence of\nthe two divinities in more ways than one. Further, this hypothesis offers\nat least a possible explanation of the relation of Virbius to the Arician\nDiana. The latter, as we have seen,(1198) was a tree-goddess; and if, as I\nhave conjectured, the Flamen Virbialis was no other than the priest of\nNemi himself, that is, the King of the Wood, Virbius must also have been a\ntree-spirit. On the present hypothesis he was the newer tree-spirit, whose\nrelation to the old tree-spirit (Diana) was explained by representing him\nas her favourite or lover. It must not, however, be forgotten that this\nproposed explanation of such pairs of deities as Demeter and Proserpine,\nIsis and Osiris, Diana and Virbius, is purely conjectural, and is only\ngiven for what it is worth.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 9.\u2014Lityerses.\n\n\nIn the preceding pages an attempt has been made to show that in the\nCorn-mother and harvest Maiden of Northern Europe we have the prototypes\nof Demeter and Proserpine. But an essential feature is still wanting to\ncomplete the resemblance. A leading incident in the Greek myth is the\ndeath and resurrection of Proserpine; it is this incident which, coupled\nwith the nature of the goddess as a deity of vegetation, links the myth\nwith the cults of Adonis, Attis, Osiris, and Dionysus; and it is in virtue\nof this incident that the myth is considered in this chapter. It remains,\ntherefore, to see whether the conception of the annual death and\nresurrection of a god, which figures so prominently in these great Greek\nand Oriental worships, has not also its origin in the rustic rites\nobserved by reapers and vine-dressers amongst the corn-shocks and the\nvines.\n\nOur general ignorance of the popular superstitions and customs of the\nancients has already been confessed. But the obscurity which thus hangs\nover the first beginnings of ancient religion is fortunately dissipated to\nsome extent in the present case. The worships of Osiris, Adonis, and Attis\nhad their respective seats, as we have seen, in Egypt, Syria, and Phrygia;\nand in each of these countries certain harvest and vintage customs are\nknown to have been observed, the resemblance of which to each other and to\nthe national rites struck the ancients themselves, and, compared with the\nharvest customs of modern peasants and barbarians, seem to throw some\nlight on the origin of the rites in question.\n\nIt has been already mentioned, on the authority of Diodorus, that in\nancient Egypt the reapers were wont to lament over the first sheaf cut,\ninvoking Isis as the goddess to whom they owed the discovery of\ncorn.(1199) To the plaintive song or cry sung or uttered by Egyptian\nreapers the Greeks gave the name of Maneros, and explained the name by a\nstory that Maneros, the only son of the first Egyptian king, invented\nagriculture, and, dying an untimely death, was thus lamented by the\npeople.(1200) It appears, however, that the name Maneros is due to a\nmisunderstanding of the formula _m\u00e2\u00e2-ne-hra_, \u201ccome thou back,\u201d which has\nbeen discovered in various Egyptian writings, for example in the dirge of\nIsis in the Book of the Dead.(1201) Hence we may suppose that the cry\n_m\u00e2\u00e2-ne-hra_ was chanted by the reapers over the cut corn as a dirge for\nthe death of the corn-spirit (Isis or Osiris) and a prayer for its return.\nAs the cry was raised over the first ears reaped, it would seem that the\ncorn-spirit was believed by the Egyptians to be present in the first corn\ncut and to die under the sickle. We have seen that in Java the first ears\nof rice are taken to represent the Corn-bride and the\nCorn-bridegroom.(1202) In parts of Russia the first sheaf is treated much\nin the same way that the last sheaf is treated elsewhere. It is reaped by\nthe mistress herself, taken home and set in the place of honour near the\nholy pictures; afterwards it is threshed separately, and some of its grain\nis mixed with the next year\u2019s seed-corn.(1203)\n\nIn Phoenicia and Western Asia a plaintive song, like that chanted by the\nEgyptian corn-reapers, was sung at the vintage and probably (to judge by\nanalogy) also at harvest. This Phoenician song was called by the Greeks\nLinus or Ailinus and explained, like Maneros, as a lament for the death of\na youth named Linus.(1204) According to one story Linus was brought up by\na shepherd, but torn to pieces by his dogs.(1205) But, like Maneros, the\nname Linus or Ailinus appears to have originated in a verbal\nmisunderstanding, and to be nothing more than the cry _ai lanu_, that is\n\u201cwoe to us,\u201d which the Phoenicians probably uttered in mourning for\nAdonis;(1206) at least Sappho seems to have regarded Adonis and Linus as\nequivalent.(1207)\n\nIn Bithynia a like mournful ditty, called Bormus or Borimus, was chanted\nby Mariandynian reapers. Bormus was said to have been a handsome youth,\nthe son of King Upias or of a wealthy and distinguished man. One summer\nday, watching the reapers at work in his fields, he went to fetch them a\ndrink of water and was never heard of more. So the reapers sought for him,\ncalling him in plaintive strains, which they continued to use ever\nafterwards.(1208)\n\nIn Phrygia the corresponding song, sung by harvesters both at reaping and\nat threshing, was called Lityerses. According to one story, Lityerses was\na bastard son of Midas, King of Phrygia. He used to reap the corn, and had\nan enormous appetite. When a stranger happened to enter the corn-field or\nto pass by it, Lityerses gave him plenty to eat and drink, then took him\nto the corn-fields on the banks of the Maeander and compelled him to reap\nalong with him. Lastly, he used to wrap the stranger in a sheaf, cut off\nhis head with a sickle, and carry away his body, wrapt in the corn stalks.\nBut at last he was himself slain by Hercules, who threw his body into the\nriver.(1209) As Hercules was probably reported to have slain Lityerses in\nthe same way that Lityerses slew others (as Theseus treated Sinis and\nSciron), we may infer that Lityerses used to throw the bodies of his\nvictims into the river. According to another version of the story,\nLityerses, a son of Midas, used to challenge people to a reaping match\nwith him, and if he vanquished them he used to thrash them; but one day he\nmet with a stronger reaper, who slew him.(1210)\n\nThere are some grounds for supposing that in these stories of Lityerses we\nhave the description of a Phrygian harvest custom in accordance with which\ncertain persons, especially strangers passing the harvest field, were\nregularly regarded as embodiments of the corn-spirit and as such were\nseized by the reapers, wrapt in sheaves, and beheaded, their bodies, bound\nup in the corn-stalks, being afterwards thrown into water as a rain-charm.\nThe grounds for this supposition are, first, the resemblance of the\nLityerses story to the harvest customs of European peasantry, and, second,\nthe fact that human beings have been commonly killed by savage races to\npromote the fertility of the fields. We will examine these grounds\nsuccessively, beginning with the former.\n\nIn comparing the story with the harvest customs of Europe,(1211) three\npoints deserve special attention, namely: I. the reaping match and the\nbinding of persons in the sheaves; II. the killing of the corn-spirit or\nhis representatives; III. the treatment of visitors to the harvest-field\nor of strangers passing it.\n\nI. In regard to the first head, we have seen that in modern Europe the\nperson who cuts or binds or threshes the last sheaf is often exposed to\nrough treatment at the hands of his fellow-labourers. For example, he is\nbound up in the last sheaf, and, thus encased, is carried or carted about,\nbeaten, drenched with water, thrown on a dunghill, etc. Or, if he is\nspared this horseplay, he is at least the subject of ridicule or is\nbelieved destined to suffer some misfortune in the course of the year.\nHence the harvesters are naturally reluctant to give the last cut at\nreaping or the last stroke at threshing or to bind the last sheaf, and\ntowards the close of the work this reluctance produces an emulation among\nthe labourers, each striving to finish his task as fast as possible, in\norder that he may escape the invidious distinction of being last.(1212)\nFor example, in the neighbourhood of Danzig, when the winter corn is cut\nand mostly bound up in sheaves, the portion which still remains to be\nbound is divided amongst the women binders, each of whom receives a swath\nof equal length to bind. A crowd of reapers, children, and idlers gathers\nround to witness the contest, and at the word, \u201cSeize the Old Man,\u201d the\nwomen fall to work, all binding their allotted swaths as hard as they can.\nThe spectators watch them narrowly, and the woman who cannot keep pace\nwith the rest and consequently binds the last sheaf has to carry the Old\nMan (that is, the last sheaf made up in the form of a man) to the\nfarmhouse and deliver it to the farmer with the words, \u201cHere I bring you\nthe Old Man.\u201d At the supper which follows, the Old Man is placed at the\ntable and receives an abundant portion of food which, as he cannot eat it,\nfalls to the share of the woman who carried him. Afterwards the Old Man is\nplaced in the yard and all the people dance round him. Or the woman who\nbound the last sheaf dances for a good while with the Old Man, while the\nrest form a ring round them; afterwards they all, one after the other,\ndance a single round with him. Further, the woman who bound the last sheaf\ngoes herself by the name of the Old Man till the next harvest, and is\noften mocked with the cry, \u201cHere comes the Old Man.\u201d(1213) At Aschbach,\nBavaria, when the reaping is nearly finished, the reapers say, \u201cNow we\nwill drive out the Old Man.\u201d Each of them sets himself to reap a patch of\ncorn and reaps as fast as he can; he who cuts the last handful or the last\nstalk is greeted by the rest with an exulting cry, \u201cYou have the Old Man.\u201d\nSometimes a black mask is fastened on the reaper\u2019s face and he is dressed\nin woman\u2019s clothes; or if the reaper is a woman, she is dressed in man\u2019s\nclothes; a dance follows. At the supper the Old Man gets twice as large a\nportion of food as the others. At threshing, the proceedings are the same;\nthe person who gives the last stroke is said to have the Old Man.(1214)\n\nThese examples illustrate the contests in reaping, threshing, and binding\nwhich take place amongst the harvesters, on account of their unwillingness\nto suffer the ridicule and personal inconvenience attaching to the\nindividual who happens to finish his work last. It will be remembered that\nthe person who is last at reaping, binding, or threshing, is regarded as\nthe representative of the corn-spirit,(1215) and this idea is more fully\nexpressed by binding him or her in corn-stalks. The latter custom has been\nalready illustrated, but a few more instances may be added. At Kloxin,\nnear Stettin, the harvesters call out to the woman who binds the last\nsheaf, \u201cYou have the Old Man, and must keep him.\u201d The Old Man is a great\nbundle of corn decked with flowers and ribbons, and fashioned into a rude\nsemblance of the human form. It is fastened on a rake or strapped on a\nhorse, and brought with music to the village. In delivering the Old Man to\nthe farmer, the woman says\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cHere, dear Sir, is the Old Man.\n    He can stay no longer on the field,\n    He can hide himself no longer,\n    He must come into the village.\n    Ladies and gentlemen, pray be so kind\n    As to give the Old Man a present.\u201d\n\n\nForty or fifty years ago the custom was to tie up the woman herself in\npease-straw, and bring her with music to the farmhouse, where the\nharvesters danced with her till the pease-straw fell off.(1216) In other\nvillages round Stettin, when the last harvest-waggon is being loaded,\nthere is a regular race amongst the women, each striving not to be last.\nFor she who places the last sheaf on the waggon is called the Old Man, and\nis completely swathed in corn-stalks; she is also decked with flowers, and\nflowers and a helmet of straw are placed on her head. In solemn procession\nshe carries the harvest-crown to the squire, over whose head she holds it\nwhile she utters a string of good wishes. At the dance which follows, the\nOld Man has the right to choose his (or rather her) partner; it is an\nhonour to dance with him.(1217) At Blankenfelde, in the district of\nPotsdam, the woman who binds the last sheaf at the rye-harvest is saluted\nwith the cry, \u201cYou have the Old Man.\u201d A woman is then tied up in the last\nsheaf in such a way that only her head is left free; her hair also is\ncovered with a cap made of rye-stalks, adorned with ribbons and flowers.\nShe is called the Harvest-man, and must keep dancing in front of the last\nharvest-waggon till it reaches the squire\u2019s house, where she receives a\npresent, and is released from her envelope of corn.(1218) At Gommern, near\nMagdeburg, the reaper who cuts the last ears of corn is often wrapt up in\ncorn-stalks so completely that it is hard to see whether there is a man in\nthe bundle or not. Thus wrapt up he is taken by another stalwart reaper on\nhis back, and carried round the field amid the joyous cries of the\nharvesters.(1219) At Neuhausen, near Merseburg, the person who binds the\nlast sheaf is wrapt in ears of oats and saluted as the Oats-man, whereupon\nthe others dance round him.(1220) At Brie, Isle de France, the farmer\nhimself is tied up in the _first_ sheaf.(1221) At the harvest-home at\nUdvarhely, Transylvania, a person is encased in corn-stalks, and wears on\nhis head a crown made out of the last ears cut. On reaching the village he\nis soused with water over and over.(1222) At Dingelstedt, in the district\nof Erfurt, about fifty years ago it was the custom to tie up a man in the\nlast sheaf. He was called the Old Man, and was brought home on the last\nwaggon, amid huzzas and music. On reaching the farmyard he was rolled\nround the barn and drenched with water.(1223) At N\u00f6rdlingen, Bavaria, the\nman who gives the last stroke at threshing is wrapt in straw and rolled on\nthe threshing-floor.(1224) In some parts of Oberpfalz, Bavaria, he is said\nto \u201cget the Old Man,\u201d is wrapt in straw, and carried to a neighbour who\nhas not yet finished his threshing.(1225) In Th\u00fcringen a sausage is stuck\nin the last sheaf at threshing, and thrown, with the sheaf, on the\nthreshing-floor. It is called the _Barrenwurst_ or _Banzenwurst_, and is\neaten by all the threshers. After they have eaten it a man is encased in\npease-straw, and thus attired is led through the village.(1226)\n\n\u201cIn all these cases the idea is that the spirit of the corn\u2014the Old Man of\nvegetation\u2014is driven out of the corn last cut or last threshed, and lives\nin the barn during the winter. At sowing-time he goes out again to the\nfields to resume his activity as animating force among the sprouting\ncorn.\u201d(1227)\n\nMuch the same ideas are attached to the last corn in India; for we are\ntold that in the Central Provinces, \u201cwhen the reaping is nearly done,\nabout a _bisv\u00e1_, say a rood of land, of corn is left standing in the\ncultivator\u2019s last field, and the reapers rest a little. Then they rush at\nthis _bisv\u00e1_, tear it up, and cast it into the air, shouting victory to\nOmk\u00e1r Mah\u00e1r\u00e1j or Jh\u00e1m\u00e1j\u00ed, or R\u00e1mj\u00ed D\u00e1s, etc., according to their\nrespective possessions. A sheaf is made up of this corn, tied to a bamboo,\nand stuck up in the last harvest cart, and carried home in triumph. It is\nfastened up in the threshing-floor to a tree, or to the cattle-shed, where\nits services are essential in averting the evil-eye.\u201d(1228)\n\nII. Passing to the second point of comparison between the Lityerses story\nand European harvest customs, we have now to see that in the latter the\ncorn-spirit is often believed to be killed at reaping or threshing. In the\nRomsdal and other parts of Norway, when the haymaking is over, the people\nsay that \u201cthe Old Hay-man has been killed.\u201d In some parts of Bavaria the\nman who gives the last stroke at threshing is said to have killed the\nCorn-man, the Oats-man, or the Wheat-man, according to the crop.(1229) In\nthe Canton of Tillot, in Lothringen, at threshing the last corn the men\nkeep time with their flails, calling out as they thresh, \u201cWe are killing\nthe Old Woman! We are killing the Old Woman!\u201d If there is an old woman in\nthe house she is warned to save herself, or she will be struck dead.(1230)\nIn Lithuania, near Ragnit, the last handful of corn is left standing by\nitself, with the words, \u201cThe Old Woman (_Boba_) is sitting in there.\u201d Then\na young reaper whets his scythe, and, with a strong sweep, cuts down the\nhandful. It is now said of him that \u201cHe has cut off the Boba\u2019s head;\u201d and\nhe receives a gratuity from the farmer and a jugful of water over his head\nfrom the farmer\u2019s wife.(1231) According to another account, every\nLithuanian reaper makes haste to finish his task; for the Old Rye-woman\nlives in the last stalks, and whoever cuts the last stalks kills the Old\nRye-woman, and by killing her he brings trouble on himself.(1232) In\nWilkischken (district of Tilsit) the man who cuts the last corn goes by\nthe name of \u201cThe killer of the Rye-woman.\u201d(1233) In Lithuania, again, the\ncorn-spirit is believed to be killed at threshing as well as at reaping.\nWhen only a single pile of corn remains to be threshed, all the threshers\nsuddenly step back a few paces, as if at the word of command. Then they\nfall to work plying their flails with the utmost rapidity and vehemence,\ntill they come to the last bundle. Upon this they fling themselves with\nalmost frantic fury, straining every nerve, and raining blows on it till\nthe word \u201cHalt!\u201d rings out sharply from the leader. The man whose flail is\nthe last to fall after the command to stop has been given is immediately\nsurrounded by all the rest, crying out that \u201cHe has struck the Old\nRye-woman dead.\u201d He has to expiate the deed by treating them to brandy;\nand, like the man who cuts the last corn, he is known as \u201cThe killer of\nthe Old Rye-woman.\u201d(1234) Sometimes in Lithuania the slain corn-spirit was\nrepresented by a puppet. Thus a female figure was made out of corn-stalks,\ndressed in clothes, and placed on the threshing-floor, under the heap of\ncorn which was to be threshed last. Whoever thereafter gave the last\nstroke at threshing \u201cstruck the Old Woman dead.\u201d(1235) We have already had\nexamples of burning the figure which represents the corn-spirit.(1236)\nSometimes, again, the corn-spirit is represented by a man, who lies down\nunder the last corn; it is threshed upon his body, and the people say that\n\u201cthe Old Man is being beaten to death.\u201d(1237) We have already seen that\nsometimes the farmer\u2019s wife is thrust, together with the last sheaf, under\nthe threshing-machine, as if to thresh her, and that afterwards a pretence\nis made of winnowing her.(1238) At Volders, in the Tyrol, husks of corn\nare stuck behind the neck of the man who gives the last stroke at\nthreshing, and he is throttled with a straw garland. If he is tall, it is\nbelieved that the corn will be tall next year. Then he is tied on a bundle\nand flung into the river.(1239) In Carinthia, the thresher who gave the\nlast stroke, and the person who untied the last sheaf on the\nthreshing-floor, are bound hand and foot with straw bands, and crowns of\nstraw are placed on their heads. Then they are tied, face to face, on a\nsledge, dragged through the village, and flung into a brook.(1240) The\ncustom of throwing the representative of the corn-spirit into a stream,\nlike that of drenching him with water, is, as usual, a rain-charm.(1241)\n\nIII. Thus far the representatives of the corn-spirit have generally been\nthe man or woman who cuts, binds, or threshes the last corn. We now come\nto the cases in which the corn-spirit is represented either by a stranger\npassing the harvest-field (as in the Lityerses tale), or by a visitor\nentering it for the first time. All over Germany it is customary for the\nreapers or threshers to lay hold of passing strangers and bind them with a\nrope made of corn-stalks, till they pay a forfeit; and when the farmer\nhimself or one of his guests enters the field or the threshing-floor for\nthe first time, he is treated in the same way. Sometimes the rope is only\ntied round his arm or his feet or his neck.(1242) But sometimes he is\nregularly swathed in corn. Thus at Sol\u00f6r in Norway, whoever enters the\nfield, be he the master or a stranger, is tied up in a sheaf and must pay\na ransom. In the neighbourhood of Soest, when the farmer visits the\nflax-pullers for the first time, he is completely enveloped in flax.\nPassers-by are also surrounded by the women, tied up in flax, and\ncompelled to stand brandy.(1243) At N\u00f6rdlingen strangers are caught with\nstraw ropes and tied up in a sheaf till they pay a forfeit. At Brie, Isle\nde France, when any one who does not belong to the farm passes by the\nharvest-field, the reapers give chase. If they catch him, they bind him in\na sheaf and bite him, one after the other, in the forehead, crying \u201cYou\nshall carry the key of the field.\u201d(1244) \u201cTo have the key\u201d is an\nexpression used by harvesters elsewhere in the sense of to cut or bind or\nthresh the last sheaf;(1245) hence, it is equivalent to the phrases \u201cYou\nhave the Old Man,\u201d \u201cYou are the Old Man,\u201d which are addressed to the\ncutter, binder, or thresher of the last sheaf. Therefore, when a stranger,\nas at Brie, is tied up in a sheaf and told that he will \u201ccarry the key of\nthe field,\u201d it is as much as to say that he is the Old Man, that is, an\nembodiment of the corn-spirit.\n\nThus, like Lityerses, modern reapers lay hold of a passing stranger and\ntie him up in a sheaf. It is not to be expected that they should complete\nthe parallel by cutting off his head; but if they do not take such a\nstrong step, their language and gestures are at least indicative of a\ndesire to do so. For instance, in Mecklenburg on the first clay of\nreaping, if the master or mistress or a stranger enters the field, or\nmerely passes by it, all the mowers face towards him and sharpen their\nscythes, clashing their whet-stones against them in unison, as if they\nwere making ready to mow. Then the woman who leads the mowers steps up to\nhim and ties a band round his left arm. He must ransom himself by payment\nof a forfeit.(1246) Near Ratzeburg when the master or other person of mark\nenters the field or passes by it, all the harvesters stop work and march\ntowards him in a body, the men with their scythes in front. On meeting him\nthey form up in line, men and women. The men stick the poles of their\nscythes in the ground, as they do in whetting them; then they take off\ntheir caps and hang them on the scythes, while their leader stands forward\nand makes a speech. When he has done, they all whet their scythes in\nmeasured time very loudly, after which they put on their caps. Two of the\nwomen binders then come forward; one of them ties the master or stranger\n(as the case may be) with corn-ears or with a silken band; the other\ndelivers a rhyming address. The following are specimens of the speeches\nmade by the reaper on these occasions. In some parts of Pomerania every\npasser-by is stopped, his way being barred with a corn-rope. The reapers\nform a circle round him and sharpen their scythes, while their leader\nsays\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe men are ready,\n    The scythes are bent,\n    The corn is great and small,\n    The gentleman must be mowed.\u201d\n\n\nThen the process of whetting the scythes is repeated.(1247) At Ramin, in\nthe district of Stettin, the stranger, standing encircled by the reapers,\nis thus addressed\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWe\u2019ll stroke the gentleman\n    With our naked sword,\n    Wherewith we shear meadows and fields.\n    We shear princes and lords.\n    Labourers are often athirst;\n    If the gentleman will stand beer and brandy\n    The joke will soon be over.\n    But, if our prayer he does not like,\n    The sword has a right to strike.\u201d(1248)\n\n\nThat in these customs the whetting of the scythes is really meant as a\npreliminary to mowing appears from the following variation of the\npreceding customs. In the district of L\u00fcneburg when any one enters the\nharvest-field, he is asked whether he will engage a good fellow. If he\nsays yes, the harvesters mow some swaths, yelling and screaming, and then\nask him for drink-money.(1249)\n\nOn the threshing-floor strangers are also regarded as embodiments of the\ncorn-spirit, and are treated accordingly. At Wiedingharde in Schleswig\nwhen a stranger comes to the threshing-floor he is asked \u201cShall I teach\nyou the flail-dance?\u201d If he says yes, they put the arms of the\nthreshing-flail round his neck (as if he were a sheaf of corn), and press\nthem together so tightly that he is nearly choked.(1250) In some parishes\nof Wermland (Sweden) when a stranger enters the threshing-floor where the\nthreshers are at work, they say that \u201cthey will teach him the\nthreshing-song.\u201d Then they put a flail round his neck and a straw rope\nabout his body. Also, as we have seen, if a stranger woman enters the\nthreshing-floor, the threshers put a flail round her body and a wreath of\ncorn-stalks round her neck, and call out, \u201cSee the Corn-woman! See! that\nis how the Corn-maiden looks!\u201d(1251)\n\nIn these customs, observed both on the harvest-field and on the\nthreshing-floor, a passing stranger is regarded as a personification of\nthe corn, in other words, as the corn-spirit; and a show is made of\ntreating him like the corn by mowing, binding, and threshing him. If the\nreader still doubts whether European peasants can really regard a passing\nstranger in this light, the following custom should set their doubts at\nrest. During the madder-harvest in the Dutch province of Zealand a\nstranger passing by a field where the people are digging the madder-roots\nwill sometimes call out to them _Koortspillers_ (a term of reproach). Upon\nthis, two of the fleetest runners make after him, and, if they catch him,\nthey bring him back to the madder-field and bury him in the earth up to\nhis middle at least, jeering at him the while; then they ease nature\nbefore his face.(1252) This last act is to be explained as follows. The\nspirit of the corn and of other cultivated plants is sometimes conceived,\nnot as immanent in the plant, but as its owner; hence the cutting of the\ncorn at harvest, the digging of the roots, and the gathering of fruit from\nthe fruit-trees are each and all of them acts of spoliation, which strip\nhim of his property and reduce him to poverty. Hence he is often known as\n\u201cthe Poor Man\u201d or \u201cthe Poor Woman.\u201d Thus in the neighbourhood of Eisenach\na small sheaf is sometimes left standing on the field for \u201cthe Poor Old\nWoman.\u201d(1253) At Marksuhl, near Eisenach, the puppet formed out of the\nlast sheaf is itself called \u201cthe Poor Woman.\u201d At Alt Lest in Silesia the\nman who binds the last sheaf is called the Beggar-man.(1254) In a village\nnear Roeskilde, in Zealand (Denmark), old-fashioned peasants sometimes\nmake up the last sheaf into a rude puppet, which is called the\nRye-beggar.(1255) In Southern Schonen the sheaf which is bound last is\ncalled the Beggar; it is made bigger than the rest and is sometimes\ndressed in clothes. In the district of Olm\u00fctz the last sheaf is called the\nBeggar; it is given to an old woman, who must carry it home, limping on\none foot.(1256) Thus when the corn-spirit is conceived as a being who is\nrobbed of his store and impoverished by the harvesters, it is natural that\nhis representative\u2014the passing stranger\u2014should upbraid them; and it is\nequally natural that they should seek to disable him from pursuing them\nand recapturing the stolen property. Now, it is an old superstition that\nby easing nature on the spot where a robbery is committed, the robbers\nsecure themselves, for a certain time, against interruption.(1257) The\nfact, therefore, that the madder-diggers resort to this proceeding in\npresence of the stranger proves that they consider themselves robbers and\nhim as the person robbed. Regarded as such, he must be the natural owner\nof the madder-roots; that is, their spirit or demon; and this conception\nis carried out by burying him, like the madder-roots, in the ground.(1258)\nThe Greeks, it may be observed, were quite familiar with the idea that a\npassing stranger may be a god. Homer says that the gods in the likeness of\nforeigners roam up and down cities.(1259)\n\nThus in these harvest-customs of modern Europe the person who cuts, binds,\nor threshes the last corn is treated as an embodiment of the corn-spirit\nby being wrapt up in sheaves, killed in mimicry by agricultural\nimplements, and thrown into the water.(1260) These coincidences with the\nLityerses story seem to prove that the latter is a genuine description of\nan old Phrygian harvest-custom. But since in the modern parallels the\nkilling of the personal representative of the corn-spirit is necessarily\nomitted or at most enacted only in mimicry, it is necessary to show that\nin rude society human beings have been commonly killed as an agricultural\nceremony to promote the fertility of the fields. The following examples\nwill make this plain.\n\nThe Indians of Guayaquil (Ecuador) used to sacrifice human blood and the\nhearts of men when they sowed their fields.(1261) At a Mexican\nharvest-festival, when the first-fruits of the season were offered to the\nsun, a criminal was placed between two immense stones, balanced opposite\neach other, and was crushed by them as they fell together. His remains\nwere buried, and a feast and dance followed. This sacrifice was known as\n\u201cthe meeting of the stones.\u201d(1262) Another series of human sacrifices\noffered in Mexico to make the maize thrive has been already referred\nto.(1263) The Pawnees annually sacrificed a human victim in spring when\nthey sowed their fields. The sacrifice was believed to have been enjoined\non them by the Morning Star, or by a certain bird which the Morning Star\nhad sent to them as its messenger. The bird was stuffed and preserved as a\npowerful \u201cmedicine.\u201d They thought that an omission of this sacrifice would\nbe followed by the total failure of the crops of maize, beans, and\npumpkins. The victim was a captive of either sex. He was clad in the\ngayest and most costly attire, was fattened on the choicest food, and\ncarefully kept in ignorance of his doom. When he was fat enough, they\nbound him to a cross in the presence of the multitude, danced a solemn\ndance, then cleft his head with a tomahawk and shot him with arrows.\nAccording to one trader, the squaws then cut pieces of flesh from the\nvictim\u2019s body, with which they greased their hoes; but this was denied by\nanother trader who had been present at the ceremony. Immediately after the\nsacrifice the people proceeded to plant their fields. A particular account\nhas been preserved of the sacrifice of a Sioux girl by the Pawnees in\nApril 1837 or 1838. The girl had been kept for six months and well\ntreated. Two days before the sacrifice she was led from wigwam to wigwam,\naccompanied by the whole council of chiefs and warriors. At each lodge she\nreceived a small billet of wood and a little paint, which she handed to\nthe warrior next to her. In this way she called at every wigwam, receiving\nat each the same present of wood and paint. On the 22d of April she was\ntaken out to be sacrificed, attended by the warriors, each of whom carried\ntwo pieces of wood which he had received from her hands. She was burned\nfor some time over a slow fire, and then shot to death with arrows. The\nchief sacrificer next tore out her heart and devoured it. While her flesh\nwas still warm it was cut in small pieces from the bones, put in little\nbaskets, and taken to a neighbouring cornfield. Here the head chief took a\npiece of the flesh from a basket and squeezed a drop of blood upon the\nnewly-deposited grains of corn. His example was followed by the rest, till\nall the seed had been sprinkled with the blood; it was then covered up\nwith earth.(1264)\n\nA West African queen used to sacrifice a man and woman in the month of\nMarch. They were killed with spades and hoes, and their bodies buried in\nthe middle of a field which had just been tilled.(1265) At Lagos in Guinea\nit was the custom annually to impale a young girl alive soon after the\nspring equinox in order to secure good crops. Along with her were\nsacrificed sheep and goats, which, with yams, heads of maize, and\nplantains, were hung on stakes on each side of her. The victims were bred\nup for the purpose in the king\u2019s seraglio, and their minds had been so\npowerfully wrought upon by the fetish men that they went cheerfully to\ntheir fate.(1266) A similar sacrifice is still annually offered at Benin,\nGuinea.(1267) The Marimos, a Bechuana tribe, sacrifice a human being for\nthe crops. The victim chosen is generally a short, stout man. He is seized\nby violence or intoxicated and taken to the fields, where he is killed\namongst the wheat to serve as \u201cseed\u201d (so they phrase it). After his blood\nhas coagulated in the sun it is burned along with the frontal bone, the\nflesh attached to it, and the brain; the ashes are then scattered over the\nground to fertilise it. The rest of the body is eaten.(1268)\n\nThe Gonds of India, a Dravidian race, kidnapped Brahman boys, and kept\nthem as victims to be sacrificed on various occasions. At sowing and\nreaping, after a triumphal procession, one of the lads was slain by being\npunctured with a poisoned arrow. His blood was then sprinkled over the\nploughed field or the ripe crop, and his flesh was devoured.(1269)\n\nBut the best known case of human sacrifices, systematically offered to\nensure good crops, is supplied by the Khonds or Kandhs, another Dravidian\nrace in Bengal. Our knowledge of them is derived from the accounts written\nby British officers who, forty or fifty years ago, were engaged in putting\nthem down.(1270) The sacrifices were offered to the Earth Goddess, Tari\nPennu or Bera Pennu, and were believed to ensure good crops and immunity\nfrom all disease and accidents. In particular, they were considered\nnecessary in the cultivation of turmeric, the Khonds arguing that the\nturmeric could not have a deep red colour without the shedding of\nblood.(1271) The victim or Meriah was acceptable to the goddess only if he\nhad been purchased, or had been born a victim\u2014that is, the son of a victim\nfather\u2014or had been devoted as a child by his father or guardian. Khonds in\ndistress often sold their children for victims, \u201cconsidering the\nbeatification of their souls certain, and their death, for the benefit of\nmankind, the most honourable possible.\u201d A man of the Panua tribe was once\nseen to load a Khond with curses, and finally to spit in his face, because\nthe Khond had sold for a victim his own child, whom the Panua had wished\nto marry. A party of Khonds, who saw this, immediately pressed forward to\ncomfort the seller of his child, saying, \u201cYour child has died that all the\nworld may live, and the Earth Goddess herself will wipe that spittle from\nyour face.\u201d(1272) The victims were often kept for years before they were\nsacrificed. Being regarded as consecrated beings, they were treated with\nextreme affection, mingled with deference, and were welcomed wherever they\nwent. A Meriah youth, on attaining maturity, was generally given a wife,\nwho was herself usually a Meriah or victim; and with her he received a\nportion of land and farm-stock. Their offspring were also victims. Human\nsacrifices were offered to the Earth Goddess by tribes, branches of\ntribes, or villages, both at periodical festivals and on extraordinary\noccasions. The periodical sacrifices were generally so arranged by tribes\nand divisions of tribes that each head of a family was enabled, at least\nonce a year, to procure a shred of flesh for his fields, generally about\nthe time when his chief crop was laid down.(1273)\n\nThe mode of performing these tribal sacrifices was as follows. Ten or\ntwelve days before the sacrifice, the victim was devoted by cutting off\nhis hair, which, until then, was kept unshorn. Crowds of men and women\nassembled to witness the sacrifice; none might be excluded, since the\nsacrifice was declared to be \u201cfor all mankind.\u201d It was preceded by several\ndays of wild revelry and gross debauchery.(1274) On the day before the\nsacrifice the victim, dressed in a new garment, was led forth from the\nvillage in solemn procession, with music and dancing, to the Meriah grove,\nwhich was a clump of high forest trees standing a little way from the\nvillage and untouched by the axe. In this grove the victim was tied to a\npost, which was sometimes placed between two plants of the sankissar\nshrub. He was then anointed with oil, ghee, and turmeric, and adorned with\nflowers; and \u201ca species of reverence, which it is not easy to distinguish\nfrom adoration,\u201d was paid to him throughout the day.(1275) A great\nstruggle now arose to obtain the smallest relic from his person; a\nparticle of the turmeric paste with which he was smeared, or a drop of his\nspittle, was esteemed of sovereign virtue, especially by the women. The\ncrowd danced round the post to music, and, addressing the earth, said, \u201cO\nGod, we offer this sacrifice to you; give us good crops, seasons, and\nhealth.\u201d(1276)\n\nOn the last morning the orgies, which had been scarcely interrupted during\nthe night, were resumed, and continued till noon, when they ceased, and\nthe assembly proceeded to consummate the sacrifice. The victim was again\nanointed with oil, and each person touched the anointed part, and wiped\nthe oil on his own head. In some places the victim was then taken in\nprocession round the village, from door to door, where some plucked hair\nfrom his head, and others begged for a drop of his spittle, with which\nthey anointed their heads.(1277) As the victim might not be bound nor make\nany show of resistance, the bones of his arms and, if necessary, his legs\nwere broken; but often this precaution was rendered unnecessary by\nstupefying him with opium.(1278) The mode of putting him to death varied\nin different places. One of the commonest modes seems to have been\nstrangulation, or squeezing to death. The branch of a green tree was cleft\nseveral feet down the middle; the victim\u2019s neck (in other places, his\nchest) was inserted in the cleft, which the priest, aided by his\nassistants, strove with all his force to close.(1279) Then he wounded the\nvictim slightly with his axe, whereupon the crowd rushed at the victim and\ncut the flesh from the bones, leaving the head and bowels untouched.\nSometimes he was cut up alive.(1280) In Chinna Kimedy he was dragged along\nthe fields, surrounded by the crowd, who, avoiding his head and\nintestines, hacked the flesh from his body with their knives till he\ndied.(1281) Another very common mode of sacrifice in the same district was\nto fasten the victim to the proboscis of a wooden elephant, which revolved\non a stout post, and, as it whirled round, the crowd cut the flesh from\nthe victim while life remained. In some villages Major Campbell found as\nmany as fourteen of these wooden elephants, which had been used at\nsacrifices.(1282) In one district the victim was put to death slowly by\nfire. A low stage was formed, sloping on either side like a roof; upon it\nthe victim was placed, his limbs wound round with cords to confine his\nstruggles. Fires were then lighted and hot brands applied, to make him\nroll up and down the slopes of the stage as long as possible; for the more\ntears he shed the more abundant would be the supply of rain. Next day the\nbody was cut to pieces.(1283)\n\nThe flesh cut from the victim was instantly taken home by the persons who\nhad been deputed by each village to bring it. To secure its rapid arrival,\nit was sometimes forwarded by relays of men, and conveyed with postal\nfleetness fifty or sixty miles.(1284) In each village all who stayed at\nhome fasted rigidly until the flesh arrived. The bearer deposited it in\nthe place of public assembly, where it was received by the priest and the\nheads of families. The priest divided it into two portions, one of which\nhe offered to the Earth Goddess by burying it in a hole in the ground with\nhis back turned, and without looking. Then each man added a little earth\nto bury it, and the priest poured water on the spot from a hill gourd. The\nother portion of flesh he divided into as many shares as there were heads\nof houses present. Each head of a house rolled his shred of flesh in\nleaves, and buried it in his favourite field, placing it in the earth\nbehind his back without looking.(1285) In some places each man carried his\nportion of flesh to the stream which watered his fields, and there hung it\non a pole.(1286) For three days thereafter no house was swept; and, in one\ndistrict, strict silence was observed, no fire might be given out, no wood\ncut, and no strangers received. The remains of the human victim (namely,\nthe head, bowels, and bones) were watched by strong parties the night\nafter the sacrifice; and next morning they were burned, along with a whole\nsheep, on a funeral pile. The ashes were scattered over the fields, laid\nas paste over the houses and granaries, or mixed with the new corn to\npreserve it from insects.(1287) Sometimes, however, the head and bones\nwere buried, not burnt.(1288) After the suppression of the human\nsacrifices, inferior victims were substituted in some places; for\ninstance, in the capital of Chinna Kimedy a goat took the place of a human\nvictim.(1289)\n\nIn these Khond sacrifices the Meriahs are represented by our authorities\nas victims offered to propitiate the Earth Goddess. But from the treatment\nof the victims both before and after death it appears that the custom\ncannot be explained as merely a propitiatory sacrifice. A part of the\nflesh certainly was offered to the Earth Goddess, but the rest of the\nflesh was buried by each householder in his fields, and the ashes of the\nother parts of the body were scattered over the fields, laid as paste on\nthe granaries, or mixed with the new corn. These latter customs imply that\nto the body of the Meriah there was ascribed a direct or intrinsic power\nof making the crops to grow, quite independent of the indirect efficacy\nwhich it might have as an offering to secure the good-will of the deity.\nIn other words, the flesh and ashes of the victim were believed to be\nendowed with a magical or physical power of fertilising the land. The same\nintrinsic power was ascribed to the blood and tears of the Meriah, his\nblood causing the redness of the turmeric and his tears producing rain;\nfor it can hardly be doubted that, originally at least, the tears were\nsupposed to produce rain, not merely to prognosticate it. Similarly the\ncustom of pouring water on the buried flesh of the Meriah was no doubt a\nrain-charm. Again, intrinsic supernatural power as an attribute of the\nMeriah appears in the sovereign virtue believed to reside in anything that\ncame from his person, as his hair or spittle. The ascription of such power\nto the Meriah indicates that he was much more than a mere man sacrificed\nto propitiate a deity. Once more, the extreme reverence paid him points to\nthe same conclusion. Major Campbell speaks of the Meriah as \u201cbeing\nregarded as something more than mortal,\u201d(1290) and Major Macpherson says,\n\u201cA species of reverence, which it is not easy to distinguish from\nadoration, is paid to him.\u201d(1291) In short, the Meriah appears to have\nbeen regarded as divine. As such, he may originally have represented the\nEarth deity or perhaps a deity of vegetation; though in later times he\ncame to be regarded rather as a victim offered to a deity than as himself\nan incarnate deity. This later view of the Meriah as a victim rather than\na god may perhaps have received undue emphasis from the European writers\nwho have described the Khond religion. Habituated to the later idea of\nsacrifice as an offering made to a god for the purpose of conciliating his\nfavour, European observers are apt to interpret all religious slaughter in\nthis sense, and to suppose that wherever such slaughter takes place, there\nmust necessarily be a deity to whom the slaughter is believed by the\nslayers to be acceptable. Thus their preconceived ideas unconsciously\ncolour and warp their descriptions of savage rites.\n\nThe same custom of killing the representative of a god, of which strong\ntraces appear in the Khond sacrifices, may perhaps be detected in some of\nthe other human sacrifices described above. Thus the ashes of the\nslaughtered Marimo were scattered over the fields; the blood of the\nBrahman lad was put on the crop and field; and the blood of the Sioux girl\nwas allowed to trickle on the seed.(1292) Again, the identification of the\nvictim with the corn, in other words, the view that he is an embodiment or\nspirit of the corn, is brought out in the pains which seem to be taken to\nsecure a physical correspondence between him and the natural object which\nhe embodies or represents. Thus the Mexicans killed young victims for the\nyoung corn and old ones for the ripe corn; the Marimos sacrifice, as\n\u201cseed,\u201d a short, fat man, the shortness of his stature corresponding to\nthat of the young corn, his fatness to the condition which it is desired\nthat the crops may attain; and the Pawnees fattened their victims probably\nwith the same view. Again, the identification of the victim with the corn\ncomes out in the African custom of killing him with spades and hoes, and\nthe Mexican custom of grinding him, like corn, between two stones.\n\nOne more point in these savage customs deserves to be noted. The Pawnee\nchief devoured the heart of the Sioux girl, and the Marimos and Gonds ate\nthe victim\u2019s flesh. If, as we suppose, the victim was regarded as divine,\nit follows that in eating his flesh his worshippers were partaking of the\nbody of their god. To this point we shall return later on.\n\nThe savage rites just described offer analogies to the harvest customs of\nEurope. Thus the fertilising virtue ascribed to the corn-spirit is shown\nequally in the savage custom of mixing the victim\u2019s blood or ashes with\nthe seed-corn and the European custom of mixing the grain from the last\nsheaf with the young corn in spring.(1293) Again, the identification of\nthe person with the corn appears alike in the savage custom of adapting\nthe age and stature of the victim to the age and stature (actual or\nexpected) of the crop; in the Scotch and Styrian rules that when the\ncorn-spirit is conceived as the Maiden the last corn shall be cut by a\nyoung maiden, but when it is conceived as the Corn-mother it shall be cut\nby an old woman;(1294) in the Lothringian warning given to old women to\nsave themselves when the Old Woman is being killed, that is, when the last\ncorn is being threshed;(1295) and in the Tyrolese expectation that if the\nman who gives the last stroke at threshing is tall, the next year\u2019s corn\nwill be tall also.(1296) Further, the same identification is implied in\nthe savage custom of killing the representative of the corn-spirit with\nhoes or spades or by grinding him between stones, and in the European\ncustom of pretending to kill him with the scythe or the flail. Once more\nthe Khond custom of pouring water on the buried flesh of the victim is\nparallel to the European customs of pouring water on the personal\nrepresentative of the corn-spirit or plunging him into a stream.(1297)\nBoth the Khond and the European customs are rain-charms.\n\nTo return now to the Lityerses story. It has been shown that in rude\nsociety human beings have been commonly killed to promote the growth of\nthe crops. There is therefore no improbability in the supposition that\nthey may once have been killed for a like purpose in Phrygia and Europe;\nand when Phrygian legend and European folk-custom, closely agreeing with\neach other, point to the conclusion that men were so slain, we are bound,\nprovisionally at least, to accept the conclusion. Further, both the\nLityerses story and European harvest customs agree in indicating that the\nperson slain was slain as a representative of the corn-spirit, and this\nindication is in harmony with the view which savages appear to take of the\nvictim slain to make the crops flourish. On the whole, then, we may fairly\nsuppose that both in Phrygia and in Europe the representative of the\ncorn-spirit was annually killed upon the harvest-field. Grounds have been\nalready shown for believing that similarly in Europe the representative of\nthe tree-spirit was annually slain. The proofs of these two remarkable and\nclosely analogous customs are entirely independent of each other. Their\ncoincidence seems to furnish fresh presumption in favour of both.\n\nTo the question, how was the representative of the corn-spirit chosen? one\nanswer has been already given. Both the Lityerses story and European\nfolk-custom show that passing strangers were regarded as manifestations of\nthe corn-spirit escaping from the cut or threshed corn, and as such were\nseized and slain. But this is not the only answer which the evidence\nsuggests. According to one version of the Phrygian legend the victims of\nLityerses were not passing strangers but persons whom he had vanquished in\na reaping contest; and though it is not said that he killed, but only that\nhe thrashed them, we can hardly avoid supposing that in one version of the\nstory the vanquished reapers, like the strangers in the other version,\nwere said to have been wrapt up by Lityerses in corn-sheaves and so\nbeheaded. The supposition is countenanced by European harvest-customs. We\nhave seen that in Europe there is sometimes a contest amongst the reapers\nto avoid being last, and that the person who is vanquished in this\ncompetition, that is, who cuts the last corn, is often roughly handled. It\nis true we have not found that a pretence is made of killing him; but on\nthe other hand we have found that a pretence is made of killing the man\nwho gives the last stroke at threshing, that is, who is vanquished in the\nthreshing contest.(1298) Now, since it is in the character of\nrepresentative of the corn-spirit that the thresher of the last corn is\nslain in mimicry, and since the same representative character attaches (as\nwe have seen) to the cutter and binder as well as to the thresher of the\nlast corn, and since the same repugnance is evinced by harvesters to be\nlast in any one of these labours, we may conjecture that a pretence has\nbeen commonly made of killing the reaper and binder as well as the\nthresher of the last corn, and that in ancient times this killing was\nactually carried out. This conjecture is corroborated by the common\nsuperstition that whoever cuts the last corn must die soon.(1299)\nSometimes it is thought that the person who binds the last sheaf on the\nfield will die in the course of next year.(1300) The reason for fixing on\nthe reaper, binder, or thresher of the last corn as the representative of\nthe corn-spirit may be this. The corn-spirit is supposed to lurk as long\nas he can in the corn, retreating before the reapers, the binders, and the\nthreshers at their work. But when he is forcibly expelled from his\nultimate refuge in the last corn cut or the last sheaf bound or the last\ngrain threshed, he necessarily assumes some other form than that of the\ncorn-stalks which had hitherto been his garments or body. And what form\ncan the expelled corn-spirit assume more naturally than that of the person\nwho stands nearest to the corn from which he (the corn-spirit) has just\nbeen expelled? But the person in question is necessarily the reaper,\nbinder, or thresher of the last corn. He or she, therefore, is seized and\ntreated as the corn-spirit himself.\n\nThus the person who was killed on the harvest-field as the representative\nof the corn-spirit may have been either a passing stranger or the\nharvester who was last at reaping, binding, or threshing. But there is a\nthird possibility, to which ancient legend and modern folk-custom alike\npoint. Lityerses not only put strangers to death; he was himself slain,\nand probably in the same way as he had slain others, namely, by being\nwrapt in a corn-sheaf, beheaded, and cast into the river; and it is\nimplied that this happened to Lityerses on his own land. Similarly in\nmodern harvest-customs the pretence of killing appears to be carried out\nquite as often on the person of the master (farmer or squire) as on that\nof strangers.(1301) Now when we remember that Lityerses was said to have\nbeen the son of the King of Phrygia, and combine with this the tradition\nthat he was put to death, apparently as a representative of the\ncorn-spirit, we are led to conjecture that we have here another trace of\nthe custom of annually slaying one of those divine or priestly kings who\nare known to have held ghostly sway in many parts of Western Asia and\nparticularly in Phrygia. The custom appears, as we have seen,(1302) to\nhave been so far modified in places that the king\u2019s son was slain in the\nking\u2019s stead. Of the custom thus modified the story of Lityerses would\ntherefore be a reminiscence.\n\nTurning now to the relation of the Phrygian Lityerses to the Phrygian\nAttis, it may be remembered that at Pessinus\u2014the seat of a priestly\nkingship\u2014the high-priest appears to have been annually slain in the\ncharacter of Attis, a god of vegetation, and that Attis was described by\nan ancient authority as \u201ca reaped ear of corn.\u201d(1303) Thus Attis, as an\nembodiment of the corn-spirit, annually slain in the person of his\nrepresentative, might be thought to be ultimately identical with\nLityerses, the latter being simply the rustic prototype out of which the\nstate religion of Attis was developed. It may have been so; but, on the\nother hand, the analogy of European folk-custom warns us that amongst the\nsame people two distinct deities of vegetation may have their separate\npersonal representatives, both of whom are slain in the character of gods\nat different times of the year. For in Europe, as we have seen, it appears\nthat one man was commonly slain in the character of the tree-spirit in\nspring, and another in the character of the corn-spirit in autumn. It may\nhave been so in Phrygia also. Attis was especially a tree-god, and his\nconnection with corn may have been only such an extension of the power of\na tree-spirit as is indicated in customs like the Harvest-May.(1304)\nAgain, the representative of Attis appears to have been slain in spring;\nwhereas Lityerses must have been slain in summer or autumn, according to\nthe time of the harvest in Phrygia.(1305) On the whole, then, while we are\nnot justified in regarding Lityerses as the prototype of Attis, the two\nmay be regarded as parallel products of the same religious idea, and may\nhave stood to each other as in Europe the Old Man of harvest stands to the\nWild Man, the Leaf Man, etc., of spring. Both were spirits or deities of\nvegetation, and the personal representatives of both were annually slain.\nBut whereas the Attis worship became elevated into the dignity of a state\nreligion and spread to Italy, the rites of Lityerses seem never to have\npassed the limits of their native Phrygia, and always retained their\ncharacter of rustic ceremonies performed by peasants on the harvest-field.\nAt most a few villages may have clubbed together, as amongst the Khonds,\nto procure a human victim to be slain as representative of the corn-spirit\nfor their common benefit. Such victims may have been drawn from the\nfamilies of priestly kings or kinglets, which would account for the\nlegendary character of Lityerses as the son of a Phrygian king. When\nvillages did not so club together, each village or farm may have procured\nits own representative of the corn-spirit by dooming to death either a\npassing stranger or the harvester who cut, bound, or threshed the last\nsheaf. It is hardly necessary to add that in Phrygia, as in Europe, the\nold barbarous custom of killing a man on the harvest-field or the\nthreshing-floor had doubtless passed into a mere pretence long before the\nclassical era, and was probably regarded by the reapers and threshers\nthemselves as no more than a rough jest which the license of a\nharvest-home permitted them to play off on a passing stranger, a comrade,\nor even on their master himself.\n\nI have dwelt on the Lityerses song at length because it affords so many\npoints of comparison with European and savage folk-custom. The other\nharvest songs of Western Asia and Egypt, to which attention has been\ncalled above,(1306) may now be dismissed much more briefly. The similarity\nof the Bithynian Bormus(1307) to the Phrygian Lityerses helps to bear out\nthe interpretation which has been given of the latter. Bormus, whose death\nor rather disappearance was annually mourned by the reapers in a plaintive\nsong, was, like Lityerses, a king\u2019s son or at least the son of a wealthy\nand distinguished man. The reapers whom he watched were at work on his own\nfields, and he disappeared in going to fetch water for them; according to\none version of the story he was carried off by the (water) nymphs.(1308)\nViewed in the light of the Lityerses story and of European folk-custom,\nthis disappearance of Bormus is probably a reminiscence of the custom of\nbinding the farmer himself in a corn-sheaf and throwing him into the\nwater. The mournful strain which the reapers sang was probably a\nlamentation over the death of the corn-spirit, slain either in the cut\ncorn or in the person of a human representative; and the call which they\naddressed to him may have been a prayer that the corn-spirit might return\nin fresh vigour next year.\n\nThe Phoenician Linus song was sung at the vintage, at least in the west of\nAsia Minor, as we learn from Homer; and this, combined with the legend of\nSyleus, suggests that in ancient times passing strangers were handled by\nvintagers and vine-diggers in much the same way as they are said to have\nbeen handled by the reaper Lityerses. The Lydian Syleus, so ran the\nlegend, compelled passers-by to dig for him in his vineyard, till Hercules\ncame and killed him and dug up his vines by the roots.(1309) This seems to\nbe the outline of a legend like that of Lityerses; but neither ancient\nwriters nor modern folk-custom enable us to fill in the details.(1310)\nBut, further, the Linus song was probably sung also by Phoenician reapers,\nfor Herodotus compares it to the Maneros song, which, as we have seen, was\na lament raised by Egyptian reapers over the cut corn. Further, Linus was\nidentified with Adonis, and Adonis has some claims to be regarded as\nespecially a corn-deity.(1311) Thus the Linus lament, as sung at harvest,\nwould be identical with the Adonis lament; each would be the lamentation\nraised by reapers over the dead corn-spirit. But whereas Adonis, like\nAttis, grew into a stately figure of mythology, adored and mourned in\nsplendid cities far beyond the limits of his Phoenician home, Linus\nappears to have remained a simple ditty sung by reapers and vintagers\namong the corn-sheaves and the vines. The analogy of Lityerses and of\nfolk-custom, both European and savage, suggests that in Phoenicia the\nslain corn-spirit\u2014the dead Adonis\u2014may formerly have been represented by a\nhuman victim; and this suggestion is possibly supported by the Harr\u00e2n\nlegend that Thammuz (Adonis) was slain by his cruel lord, who ground his\nbones in a mill and scattered them to the wind.(1312) For in Mexico, as we\nhave seen, the human victim at harvest was crushed between two stones; and\nboth in India and Africa the ashes of the victim were scattered over the\nfields.(1313) But the Harr\u00e2n legend may be only a mythical way of\nexpressing the grinding of corn in the mill and the scattering of the\nseed. It seems worth suggesting that the mock king who was annually killed\nat the Babylonian festival of the Sacaea on the 16th of the month Lous may\nhave represented Thammuz himself. For the historian Berosus, who records\nthe festival and its date, probably used the Macedonian calendar, since he\ndedicated his history to Antiochus Soter; and in his day the Macedonian\nmonth Lous appears to have corresponded to the Babylonian month\nThammuz.(1314) If this conjecture is right, the view that the mock king at\nthe Sacaea was slain in the character of a god would be established.\n\nThere is a good deal more evidence that in Egypt the slain corn-spirit\u2014the\ndead Osiris\u2014was represented by a human victim, whom the reapers slew on\nthe harvest-field, mourning his death in a dirge, to which the Greeks,\nthrough a verbal misunderstanding, gave the name of Maneros.(1315) For the\nlegend of Busiris seems to preserve a reminiscence of human sacrifices\nonce offered by the Egyptians in connection with the worship of Osiris.\nBusiris was said to have been an Egyptian king who sacrificed all\nstrangers on the altar of Zeus. The origin of the custom was traced to a\nbarrenness which afflicted the land of Egypt for nine years. A Cyprian\nseer informed Busiris that the barrenness would cease if a man were\nannually sacrificed to Zeus. So Busiris instituted the sacrifice. But when\nHercules came to Egypt, and was being dragged to the altar to be\nsacrificed, he burst his bonds and slew Busiris and his son.(1316) Here\nthen is a legend that in Egypt a human victim was annually sacrificed to\nprevent the failure of the crops, and a belief is implied that an omission\nof the sacrifice would have entailed a recurrence of that infertility\nwhich it was the object of the sacrifice to prevent. So the Pawnees, as we\nhave seen, believed that an omission of the human sacrifice at planting\nwould have been followed by a total failure of their crops. The name\nBusiris was in reality the name of a city, _pe-Asar_, \u201cthe house of\nOsiris\u201d(1317) the city being so called because it contained the grave of\nOsiris. The human sacrifices were said to have been offered at his grave,\nand the victims were red-haired men, whose ashes were scattered abroad by\nmeans of winnowing-fans.(1318) In the light of the foregoing discussion,\nthis Egyptian tradition admits of a consistent and fairly probable\nexplanation. Osiris, the corn-spirit, was annually represented at harvest\nby a stranger, whose red hair made him a suitable representative of the\nripe corn. This man, in his representative character, was slain on the\nharvest-field, and mourned by the reapers, who prayed at the same time\nthat the corn-spirit might revive and return (_m\u00e2\u00e2-ne-rha_, Maneros) with\nrenewed vigour in the following year. Finally, the victim, or some part of\nhim, was burned, and the ashes scattered by winnowing-fans over the fields\nto fertilise them. Here the choice of the representative on the ground of\nhis resemblance to the corn which he was to represent agrees with the\nMexican and African customs already described.(1319) Similarly the Romans\nsacrificed red-haired puppies in spring, in the belief that the crops\nwould thus grow ripe and ruddy;(1320) and to this day in sowing wheat a\nBavarian sower will sometimes wear a golden ring, that the corn may grow\nyellow.(1321) Again, the scattering of the Egyptian victim\u2019s ashes is\nidentical with the Marimo and Khond custom.(1322) His identification with\nthe corn comes out again in the fact that his ashes were winnowed; just as\nin Vend\u00e9e a pretence is made of threshing and winnowing the farmer\u2019s wife,\nregarded as an embodiment of the corn-spirit; or as in Mexico the victim\nwas ground between stones; or as in Africa he was slain with spades and\nhoes.(1323) The story that the fragments of Osiris\u2019s body were scattered\nup and down the land, and buried by Isis on the spots where they\nlay,(1324) may very well be a reminiscence of a custom, like that observed\nby the Khonds, of dividing the human victim in pieces and burying the\npieces, often at intervals of many miles from each other, in the fields.\nHowever, it is possible that the story of the dismemberment of Osiris,\nlike the similar story told of Thammuz, may have been simply a mythical\nexpression for the scattering of the seed. Once more, the story that the\nbody of Osiris enclosed in a coffer was thrown by Typhon into the Nile\nperhaps points to a custom of throwing the body of the victim, or at least\na portion of it, into the Nile as a rain-charm, or rather to make the Nile\nrise. For a similar purpose Phrygian reapers seem to have thrown the\nheadless bodies of their victims, wrapt in corn-sheaves, into a river, and\nthe Khonds poured water on the buried flesh of the human victim. Probably\nwhen Osiris ceased to be represented by a human victim, an effigy of him\nwas annually thrown into the Nile, just as the effigy of his Syrian\ncounterpart, Adonis, used to be thrown into the sea at Alexandria. Or\nwater may have been simply poured over it, as on the monument already\nmentioned a priest is seen pouring water over the body of Osiris, from\nwhich corn stalks are sprouting. The accompanying inscription, \u201cThis is\nOsiris of the mysteries, who springs from the returning waters,\u201d bears out\nthe view that at the mysteries of Osiris a water-charm or irrigation-charm\nwas regularly performed by pouring water on his effigy, or by throwing it\ninto the Nile.\n\nIt may be objected that the red-haired victims were slain as\nrepresentatives not of Osiris, but of his enemy Typhon; for the victims\nwere called Typhonian, and red was the colour of Typhon, black the colour\nof Osiris.(1325) The answer to this objection must be reserved for the\npresent. Meantime it may be pointed out that if Osiris is often\nrepresented on the monuments as black, he is still more commonly depicted\nas green,(1326) appropriately enough for a corn-god, who may be conceived\nas black while the seed is under ground, but as green after it has\nsprouted. So the Greeks recognised both a green and a black Demeter,(1327)\nand sacrificed to the green Demeter in spring with mirth and\ngladness.(1328)\n\nThus, if I am right, the key to the mysteries of Osiris is furnished by\nthe melancholy cry of the Egyptian reapers, which down to Roman times\ncould be heard year after year sounding across the fields, announcing the\ndeath of the corn-spirit, the rustic prototype of Osiris. Similar cries,\nas we have seen, were also heard on all the harvest-fields of Western\nAsia. By the ancients they are spoken of as songs; but to judge from the\nanalysis of the names Linus and Maneros, they probably consisted only of a\nfew words uttered in a prolonged musical note which could be heard for a\ngreat distance. Such sonorous and long-drawn cries, raised by a number of\nstrong voices in concert, must have had a striking effect, and could\nhardly fail to arrest the attention of any traveller who happened to be\nwithin hearing. The sounds, repeated again and again, could probably be\ndistinguished with tolerable ease even at a distance; but to a Greek\ntraveller in Asia or Egypt the foreign words would commonly convey no\nmeaning, and he might take them, not unnaturally, for the name of some one\n(Maneros, Linos, Lityerses, Bormus), upon whom the reapers were calling.\nAnd if his journey led him through more countries than one, as Bithynia\nand Phrygia, or Phoenicia and Egypt, while the corn was being reaped, he\nwould have an opportunity of comparing the various harvest cries of the\ndifferent peoples. Thus we can readily account for the fact that these\nharvest cries were so often noted and compared with each other by the\nGreeks. Whereas, if they had been regular songs, they could not have been\nheard at such distances, and therefore could not have attracted the\nattention of so many travellers; and, moreover, even if the traveller were\nwithin hearing of them, he could not so easily have picked out the words.\nTo this day Devonshire reapers utter cries of the same sort, and perform\non the field a ceremony exactly analogous to that in which, if I am not\nmistaken, the rites of Osiris originated. The cry and the ceremony are\nthus described by an observer who wrote in the first half of this century.\n\u201cAfter the wheat is all cut, on most farms in the north of Devon, the\nharvest people have a custom of \u2018crying the neck.\u2019 I believe that this\npractice is seldom omitted on any large farm in that part of the country.\nIt is done in this way. An old man, or some one else well acquainted with\nthe ceremonies used on the occasion (when the labourers are reaping the\nlast field of wheat), goes round to the shocks and sheaves, and picks out\na little bundle of all the best ears he can find; this bundle he ties up\nvery neat and trim, and plats and arranges the straws very tastefully.\nThis is called \u2018the neck\u2019 of wheat, or wheaten-ears. After the field is\ncut out, and the pitcher once more circulated, the reapers, binders, and\nthe women, stand round in a circle. The person with \u2018the neck\u2019 stands in\nthe centre, grasping it with both his hands. He first stoops and holds it\nnear the ground, and all the men forming the ring take off their hats,\nstooping and holding them with both hands towards the ground. They then\nall begin at once in a very prolonged and harmonious tone to cry \u2018the\nneck!\u2019 at the same time slowly raising themselves upright, and elevating\ntheir arms and hats above their heads; the person with \u2018the neck\u2019 also\nraising it on high. This is done three times. They then change their cry\nto \u2018wee yen!\u2019\u2014\u2018way yen!\u2019\u2014which they sound in the same prolonged and slow\nmanner as before, with singular harmony and effect, three times. This last\ncry is accompanied by the same movements of the body and arms as in crying\n\u2018the neck.\u2019... After having thus repeated \u2018the neck\u2019 three times, and \u2018wee\nyen,\u2019 or \u2018way yen,\u2019 as often, they all burst out into a kind of loud and\njoyous laugh, flinging up their hats and caps into the air, capering about\nand perhaps kissing the girls. One of them then gets \u2018the neck\u2019 and runs\nas hard as he can down to the farmhouse, where the dairymaid or one of the\nyoung female domestics stands at the door prepared with a pail of water.\nIf he who holds \u2018the neck\u2019 can manage to get into the house, in any way\nunseen, or openly, by any other way than the door at which the girl stands\nwith the pail of water, then he may lawfully kiss her; but, if otherwise,\nhe is regularly soused with the contents of the bucket. On a fine still\nautumn evening, the \u2018crying of the neck\u2019 has a wonderful effect at a\ndistance, far finer than that of the Turkish muezzin, which Lord Byron\neulogises so much, and which he says is preferable to all the bells in\nChristendom. I have once or twice heard upwards of twenty men cry it, and\nsometimes joined by an equal number of female voices. About three years\nback, on some high grounds, where our people were harvesting, I heard six\nor seven \u2018necks\u2019 cried in one night, although I know that some of them\nwere four miles off. They are heard through the quiet evening air, at a\nconsiderable distance sometimes.\u201d(1329) Again, Mrs. Bray tells how,\ntravelling in Devonshire, \u201cshe saw a party of reapers standing in a circle\non a rising ground, holding their sickles aloft. One in the middle held up\nsome ears of corn tied together with flowers, and the party shouted three\ntimes (what she writes as) \u2018Arnack, arnack, arnack, we _haven_, we\n_haven_, we _haven_.\u2019 They went home, accompanied by women and children\ncarrying boughs of flowers, shouting and singing. The man-servant who\nattended Mrs. Bray, said, \u2018it was only the people making their games, as\nthey always did, _to the spirit of harvest_.\u2019 \u201d(1330) Here, as Miss Burne\nremarks, \u201c \u2018arnack, we haven!\u2019 is obviously in the Devon dialect, \u2018a neck\n(or nack)! we have un!\u2019 \u201d \u201cThe neck\u201d is generally hung up in the\nfarmhouse, where it sometimes remains for two or three years.(1331) A\nsimilar custom is still observed in some parts of Cornwall, as I am\ninformed by my friend Professor J. H. Middleton. \u201cThe last sheaf is decked\nwith ribbons. Two strong-voiced men are chosen and placed (one with the\nsheaf) on opposite sides of a valley. One shouts, \u2018I\u2019ve gotten it.\u2019 The\nother shouts, \u2018What hast gotten?\u2019 The first answers, \u2018I\u2019se gotten the\nneck.\u2019 \u201d\n\nIn these Devonshire and Cornish customs a particular bunch of ears,\ngenerally the last left standing,(1332) is conceived as the neck of the\ncorn-spirit, who is consequently beheaded when the bunch is cut down.\nSimilarly in Shropshire the name \u201cneck,\u201d or \u201cthe gander\u2019s neck,\u201d used to\nbe commonly given to the last handful of ears left standing in the middle\nof the field, when all the rest of the corn was cut. It was plaited\ntogether, and the reapers, standing ten or twenty paces off, threw their\nsickles at it. Whoever cut it through was said to have cut off the\ngander\u2019s neck. The \u201cneck\u201d was taken to the farmer\u2019s wife, who was supposed\nto keep it in the house \u201cfor good luck\u201d till the next harvest came\nround.(1333) Near Tr\u00e8ves, the man who reaps the last standing corn \u201ccuts\nthe goat\u2019s neck off.\u201d(1334) At Faslane, on the Gareloch (Dumbartonshire),\nthe last handful of standing corn was sometimes called the \u201chead.\u201d(1335)\nAt Aurich, in East Friesland, the man who reaps the last corn \u201ccuts the\nhare\u2019s tail off.\u201d(1336) In mowing down the last corner of a field French\nreapers sometimes call out, \u201cWe have the cat by the tail.\u201d(1337) In Bresse\n(Bourgogne) the last sheaf represented the fox. Beside it a score of ears\nwere left standing to form the tail, and each reaper, going back some\npaces, threw his sickle at it. He who succeeded in severing it \u201ccut off\nthe fox\u2019s tail,\u201d and a cry of \u201c_You cou cou!_\u201d was raised in his\nhonour.(1338) These examples leave no room to doubt the meaning of the\nDevonshire and Cornish expression \u201cthe neck,\u201d as applied to the last\nsheaf. The corn-spirit is conceived in human or animal form, and the last\nstanding corn is part of its body\u2014its neck, its head, or its tail.\nSometimes, as we have seen, it is regarded as the navel-string.(1339)\nLastly, the Devonshire custom of drenching with water the person who\nbrings in \u201cthe neck\u201d is a rain-charm, such as we have had many examples\nof. Its parallel in the mysteries of Osiris was the custom of pouring\nwater on the image of Osiris or on the person who represented him.\n\nIn Germany cries of _Waul!_ or _Wol!_ or _W\u00f4ld!_ are sometimes raised by\nthe reapers at cutting the last corn. Thus in some places the last patch\nof standing corn was called the _Waul_-rye; a stick decked with flowers\nwas inserted in it, and the ears were fastened to the stick. Then all the\nreapers took off their hats and cried thrice, _Waul! Waul! Waul!_\nSometimes they accompany the cry by clashing with their whetstones on\ntheir scythes.(1340)\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n    1 For the sake of brevity I have sometimes, in the notes, referred to\n      Mannhardt\u2019s works respectively as _Roggenwolf_ (the references are\n      to the pages of the first edition), _Kornd\u00e4monen_, _B. K._, _A. W.\n      F._, and _M. F._\n\n    2 The site was excavated in 1885 by Sir John Savile Lumley, English\n      ambassador at Rome. For a general description of the site and\n      excavations, see the _Athenaeum_, 10th October 1885. For details of\n      the finds see _Bulletino dell\u2019 Instituto di Corrispondenza\n      Archeologica_, 1885, pp. 149 _sqq._, 225 _sqq._\n\n    3 Ovid, _Fasti_, vi. 756; Cato quoted by Priscian, see Peter\u2019s\n      _Historic. Roman. Fragmenta_, p. 52 (lat. ed.); Statius, _Sylv._\n      iii. 1, 56.\n\n    4 \u03be\u03b9\u03c6\u03ae\u03c1\u03b7\u03c2 \u03bf\u1f56\u03bd \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03bd \u1f00\u03b5\u03af, \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c4\u1f70\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03b8\u03ad\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2, \u1f15\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f00\u03bc\u03cd\u03bd\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9,\n      is Strabo\u2019s description (v. 3, 12), who may have seen him \u201cpacing\n      there alone.\u201d\n\n    5 Virgil, _Aen._ vi. 136 _sqq._; Servius, _ad l._; Strabo, v. 3, 12;\n      Pausanias, ii. 27; Solinus, ii. 11; Suetonius, _Caligula_, 35. For\n      the title \u201cKing of the Wood,\u201d see Suetonius, _l.c._; and compare\n      Statius, _Sylv._ iii. 1, 55 _sq._\u2014\n\n      \u201c_Jamque dies aderat, profugis cum regibus aptum_\n      _ Fumat Aricinum Triviae nemus;_\u201d\n\n      Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 271, \u201c_Regna tenent fortesque manu, pedibusque\n      fugaces_;\u201d _id. Ars am._ i. 259 _sq._\u2014\n\n      \u201c_Ecce suburbanae templum nemorale Dianae,_\n      _ Partaque per gladios regna nocente manu._\u201d\n\n_    6 Bulletino dell\u2019 Instituto_, 1885, p. 153 _sq._; _Athenaeum_, 10th\n      October 1885; Preller, _R\u00f6mische Mythologie_,3 i. 317. Of these\n      votive offerings some represent women with children in their arms;\n      one represents a delivery, etc.\n\n    7 Statius, _Sylv._ iii. 1, 52 _sqq._ From Martial, xii. 67, it has\n      been inferred that the Arician festival fell on the 13th of August.\n      The inference, however, does not seem conclusive. Statius\u2019s\n      expression is:\u2014\n\n      \u201c_Tempus erat, caeli cum ardentissimus axis_\n      _ Incumbit terris, ictusque Hyperione multo_\n      _ Acer anhelantes incendit Sirius agros._\u201d\n\n    8 Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 269; Propertius, iii. 24 (30), 9 _sq._ ed.\n      Paley.\n\n_    9 Inscript. Lat._ ed. Orelli, No. 1455.\n\n   10 Statius, _l.c._; Gratius Faliscus, v. 483 sqq.\n\n_   11 Athenaeum_, 10th October 1885. The water was diverted a few years\n      ago to supply Albano. For Egeria, compare Strabo, v. 3, 12; Ovid,\n      _Fasti_, iii. 273 _sqq._; _id. Met._ xv. 487 _sqq._\n\n   12 Festus, p. 145, ed. M\u00fcller; Schol. on Persius, vi. 56 _ap._ Jahn on\n      Macrobius, i. 7, 35.\n\n   13 Virgil, _Aen._ vii. 761 _sqq._; Servius, _ad l._; Ovid, _Fasti_,\n      iii. 265 _sq._; _id. Met._ xv. 497 _sqq._; Pausanias, ii. 27.\n\n   14 Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ vii. 776.\n\n_   15 Inscript. Lat._ ed. Orelli, Nos. 2212, 4022. The inscription No.\n      1457 (Orelli) is said to be spurious.\n\n   16 See above, p. 4, note 1.\n\n   17 Marquardt, _R\u00f6mische Staatsverwaltung_, iii.2 321 _sqq._\n\n   18 G. Gilbert, _Handbuch der griechischen Staatsalterth\u00fcmer_, i. 241\n      _sq._\n\n   19 Gilbert, _op. cit._ ii. 323 _sq._\n\n   20 Livy, ii. 2, 1; Dionysius Halic. iv. 74, 4.\n\n   21 Demosthenes, _contra Neacr._ \u00a7 74, p. 1370. Plutarch, _Quaest. Rom._\n      63.\n\n   22 Xenophon, _Repub. Lac._ c. 15, cp. _id._ 13; Aristotle, _Pol._ iii.\n      14, 3.\n\n   23 Strabo, xii. 3, 37. 5, 3; cp. xi. 4, 7. xii. 2, 3. 2, 6. 3, 31 _sq._\n      3, 34. 8, 9. 8, 14. But see _Encyc. Brit._, art. \u201cPriest,\u201d xix. 729.\n\n   24 Grimm, _Deutsche Rechtsalterth\u00fcmer_, p. 243.\n\n   25 See the _L\u00ee-K\u00ee_ (Legge\u2019s translation), _passim_.\n\n   26 A. Leared, _Morocco and the Moors_, p. 272.\n\n   27 J. W. Thomas, \u201cDe jacht op het eiland Nias,\u201d in _Tijdschrift voor\n      Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxvi. 277.\n\n   28 E. Aymonier, \u201cNotes sur les coutumes et croyances superstitieuses\n      des Cambodgiens,\u201d in _Cochinchine Fran\u00e7aise, Excursions et\n      Reconnaissances_, No. 16, p. 157.\n\n   29 Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_, p. 218, No.\n      36.\n\n   30 Van Hasselt, _Volksbeschrijving van Midden-Sumatra_, p. 323.\n\n   31 J. C. E. Tromp, \u201cDe Rambai en Sebroeang Dajaks,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor\n      Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxv. 118.\n\n   32 E. Aymonier, _Notes sur le Laos_, p. 25 _sq._\n\n   33 J. Campbell, _Travels in South Africa_ (second journey), ii. 206;\n      Barnabas Shaw, _Memorials of South Africa_, p. 66.\n\n   34 Casalis, _The Basutos_, p. 271 _sq._\n\n   35 Casalis, _The Basutos_, p. 272.\n\n   36 W. Mannhardt, _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_, p. 342, _note_.\n\n   37 C. F. H. Campen \u201cDe Godsdienstbegrippen der Halmaherasche Alfoeren,\u201d\n      in _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxvii.\n      447.\n\n   38 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,\n      p. 114.\n\n   39 R. Parkinson, _Im Bismarck Archipel_, p. 143.\n\n   40 J. Owen Dorsey, \u201cOmaha Sociology,\u201d in _Third Annual Report of the\n      Bureau of Ethnology_ (Washington), p. 347. Cp. Charlevoix, _Voyage\n      dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique septentrionale_, ii. 187.\n\n_   41 Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xvi. 35. Cp. Dawson,\n      _Australian Aborigines_, p. 98.\n\n   42 Labat, _Relation historique de l\u2019Ethiopie occidentale_, ii. 180.\n\n   43 Turner, _Samoa_, p. 145.\n\n_   44 Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ xiv. 362.\n\n_   45 Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ _l.c._ Cp. Curr, _The Australian Race_, ii.\n      377.\n\n   46 Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, p. 184; Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_4 i.\n      494. Cp. San-Marte, _Die Arthur Sage_, pp. 105 sq., 153 sqq.\n\n_   47 The American Antiquarian_, viii. 339.\n\n   48 Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, p. 185 sq.\n\n_   49 Ib._ p. 187. So at the fountain of Sainte Anne, near Gevez\u00e9, in\n      Brittany. S\u00e9billot, _Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute\n      Bretagne_, i. 72.\n\n   50 Lamberti, \u201cRelation de la Colchide ou Mingr\u00e9lie,\u201d _Voyages au Nord_,\n      vii. 174 (Amsterdam, 1725).\n\n   51 Le Brun, _Histoire critique des pratiques superstitieuses_\n      (Amsterdam, 1733), i. 245 sq.\n\n   52 Turner, _Samoa_, p. 345 _sq._\n\n   53 Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 329 _sqq._; Grimm, D. M.4 i. 493 _sq._;\n      W. Schmidt, _Das Jahr und seine Tage in Meinung und Brauch der\n      Rom\u00e4nen Siebenb\u00fcrgens_, p. 17; E. Gerard, _The Land beyond the\n      Forest_, ii. 13.\n\n   54 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 331.\n\n   55 J. G. F. Riedel, \u201cDe Minahasa in 1825,\u201d _Tijdschrift v. Indische\n      Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xviii. 524.\n\n   56 J. Reinegg, _Beschreibung des Kaukasus_, ii. 114.\n\n   57 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 553; Gerard, _The Land beyond the Forest_, ii.\n      40.\n\n_   58 Panjab Notes and Queries_, iii. Nos. 173, 513.\n\n   59 Acosta, _History of the Indies_, bk. v. ch. 28.\n\n   60 A. L. van Hasselt, _Volksbeschrijving van Midden-Sumatra_, p. 320\n      _sq._\n\n_   61 South African Folk-lore Journal_, i. 34.\n\n   62 J. S. G. Gramberg, \u201cEene maand in de binnenlanden van Timor,\u201d in\n      _Verhandelingen van het Bataviansch Genootschap van Kunsten en\n      Wetenschappen_, xxxvi. 209.\n\n   63 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 88.\n\n   64 Huc, _L\u2019empire chinois_, i. 241.\n\n   65 B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, _Les peuplades de la S\u00e9n\u00e9gambie_, p. 291.\n\n_   66 Colombia, being a geographical etc. account of that country_, i.\n      642 _sq._; A. Bastian, _Die Culturlander des alten Amerika_, ii.\n      216.\n\n   67 A. Kuhn, _Sagen, Gebr\u00e4uche und M\u00e4rchen aus Westfalen_, ii. p. 80;\n      Gerard, _The Land beyond the Forest_, ii. 13.\n\n   68 Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, i. 520.\n\n   69 Brien, \u201cAper\u00e7u sur la province de Battambang,\u201d in _Cochinchine\n      fran\u00e7aise, Excursions et Reconnaissances_, No. 25, p. 6 _sq._\n\n   70 Biddulph, _Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh_, p. 95.\n\n   71 Gervasius von Tilburg, ed. Liebrecht, p. 41 _sq._\n\n   72 Giraldus Cambrensis, _Topography of Ireland_, ch. 7. Cp. Mannhardt,\n      _A. W. F._ p. 341 _note_.\n\n   73 Callaway, _Religious System of the Amazulu_, p. 407 _sq._\n\n   74 Reclus, _Nouvelle G\u00e9ographie Universelle_, xii. 100.\n\n   75 Rasmussen, _Additamenta ad historiam Arabum ante Islamismum_, p. 67\n      _sq._\n\n_   76 Reste arabischen Heidentumes_, p. 157.\n\n   77 Labat, _Relation historique de l\u2019Ethiopie occidentale_, ii. 180.\n\n   78 S. Gason, \u201cThe Dieyerie tribe,\u201d in _Native Tribes of S. Australia_,\n      p. 276 _sqq._\n\n   79 W. Stanbridge, \u201cOn the Aborigines of Victoria,\u201d in _Trans. Ethnol.\n      Soc. of London_, i. 300.\n\n   80 Marcus Antoninus, v. 7; Petronius, 44; Tertullian, _Apolog._ 40; cp.\n      _id._ 22 and 23.\n\n   81 Pausanias, viii. 38, 4.\n\n   82 Antigonus, _Histor. Mirab._ 15 (_Script. mirab. Graeci_, ed.\n      Westermann, p. 65).\n\n   83 Apollodorus, _Bibl._ i. 9, 7; Virgil, _Aen._ vi. 585 _sqq._; Servius\n      on Virgil, _l.c._\n\n   84 Festus, _svv._ _aquaelicium and manalem lapidem_, pp. 2, 128, ed.\n      M\u00fcller; Nonius Marcellus, _sv._ _trullum_, p. 637, ed. Quicherat;\n      Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ iii. 175; Fulgentius, _Expos. serm.\n      antiq._, _sv._ _manales lapides, Mythogr. Lat._ ed. Staveren, p. 769\n      _sq._\n\n   85 Nonius Marcellus, _sv._ _aquilex_, p. 69, ed. Quicherat. In favour\n      of taking _aquilex_ as rain-maker is the use of _aquaelicium_ in the\n      sense of rain-making. Cp. K. O. M\u00fcller, _Die Etrusker_, ed. W.\n      Deecke, ii. 318 _sq._\n\n   86 Diodorus, v. 55.\n\n   87 Peter Jones, _History of the Ojebway Indians_, p. 84.\n\n   88 Gumilla, _Histoire de l\u2019Or\u00e9noque_, iii. 243 _sq._\n\n   89 Glaumont, \u201cUsages, m\u0153urs et coutumes des N\u00e9o-Cal\u00e9doniens,\u201d in _Revue\n      d\u2019 Ethnographie_, vi. 116.\n\n   90 Arbousset et Daumas, _Voyage d\u2019exploration au Nord-est de la Colonie\n      du Cap de Bonne-Esp\u00e9rance_, p. 350 _sq._ For the kinship with the\n      sacred object (tchem) from which the clan takes its name, see _ib._\n      pp. 350, 422, 424. Other people have claimed kindred with the sun,\n      as the Natchez of North America (_Voyages au Nord_, v. 24) and the\n      Incas of Peru.\n\n   91 Codrington, in _Journ. Anthrop. Instit._ x. 278.\n\n   92 Above, p. 18.\n\n   93 Turner, _Samoa_, p. 346. See above, p. 16.\n\n   94 Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, iv. 174. The name of the\n      place is Andahuayllas.\n\n   95 Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 250.\n\n   96 Schoolcraft, _The American Indians_, p. 97 _sqq._; Gill, _Myths and\n      Songs of the South Pacific_, p. 61 _sq._; Turner, _Samoa_, p. 200\n      _sq._\n\n   97 Aeneas Sylvius, _Opera_ (B\u00e2le, 1571), p. 418.\n\n   98 Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, ii. 334; Curr, _The\n      Australian Race_, i. 50.\n\n   99 Fancourt, _History of Yucatan_, p. 118.\n\n_  100 South African Folk-lore Journal_, i. 34.\n\n  101 E. J. Eyre, _Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central\n      Australia_, ii. 365.\n\n  102 Curr, _The Australian Race_, iii. 145.\n\n  103 Gmelin, _Reise durch Sibirien_, ii. 510.\n\n_  104 Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_ (Washington), p.\n      241.\n\n  105 G. M. Dawson, \u201cOn the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands,\u201d\n      _Geological Survey of Canada, Report of progress for 1878-1879_, p.\n      124 B.\n\n  106 W. Powell, _Wanderings in a Wild Country_, p. 169.\n\n  107 Miss C. F. Gordon Cumming, _In the Hebrides_, p. 166 _sq._; Martin,\n      \u201cDescription of the Western Islands of Scotland,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s\n      _Voyages and Travels_, iii. 627.\n\n  108 Olaus Magnus, _Gentium Septentr. Hist._ iii. 15.\n\n  109 Scheffer, _Lapponia_, p. 144; Gordon Cumming, _In the Hebrides_, p.\n      254 _sq._; Train, _Account of the Isle of Man_, ii. 166.\n\n  110 C. Leemius, _De Lapponibus Finmarchiae etc. commentatio_, p. 454.\n\n_  111 Odyssey_, x. 19 _sqq._\n\n  112 E. Veckenstedt, _Die Mythen, Sagen, und Legenden der Zamaiten\n      (Litauer)_, i. 153.\n\n  113 J. Chalmers, _Pioneering in New Guinea_, p. 177.\n\n  114 Rogers, _Social Life in Scotland_, iii. 220; Sir W. Scott, _Pirate_,\n      note to ch. vii.; Shaks. _Macbeth_, Act i. Sc. 3, l. 11.\n\n  115 Dapper, _Description de l\u2019Afrique_ (Amsterdam, 1686), p. 389.\n\n  116 A. Peter, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus Oesterreichisch Schlesien_, ii. 259.\n\n_  117 Arctic Papers for the Expedition of 1875_ (R. Geogr. Soc.), p. 274.\n\n  118 Azara, _Voyages dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique M\u00e9ridionale_, ii. 137.\n\n  119 Charlevoix, _Histoire du Paraguay_, i. 74.\n\n  120 W. A. Henry, \u201cBijdrage tot de Kennis der Bataklanden,\u201d in\n      _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xvii. 23 sq.\n\n  121 Herodotus, iv. 173; Aulus Gellius, xvi. 11.\n\n  122 Harris, _Highlands of Ethiopia_, i. 352.\n\n  123 Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, i. 457 _sq._; cp. _id._ ii.\n      270; _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ xiii. p. 194 _note_.\n\n  124 Denzil C. J. Ibbetson, _Settlement Report of the Panipat Tahsil and\n      Karnal Parganah of the Karnal District_, p. 154.\n\n  125 Stephen Powers, _Tribes of California_, p. 328.\n\n  126 S\u00e9billot, _Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne_, p. 302 sq.\n\n  127 Mannhardt, _A. W. F._ p. 85.\n\n  128 Gill, _Myths and Songs of the South Pacific_, p. 35.\n\n  129 See for examples E. B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_,2 ii. 131 _sqq._\n\n  130 Pausanias, ii. 24, 1. \u03ba\u03ac\u03c4\u03bf\u03c7\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f10\u03ba \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b3\u03af\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 is the expression.\n\n  131 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxviii. 147. Pausanias (vii. 25, 13) mentions\n      the draught of bull\u2019s blood as an ordeal to test the chastity of the\n      priestess. Doubtless it was thought to serve both purposes.\n\n  132 Caldwell, \u201cOn demonolatry in Southern India,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Society of Bombay_, i. 101 _sq._\n\n  133 J. G. F. Riedel, \u201cDe Minahasa in 1825,\u201d _Tijdschrift v. Indische\n      Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xviii. 517 _sq._ Cp. N. Graafland, _De\n      Minahassa_, i. 122; Dumont D\u2019Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et \u00e0\n      la recherche de La Perouse_, v. 443.\n\n  134 F. J. Mone, _Geschichte des Heidenthums im n\u00f6rdlichen Europa_, i.\n      188.\n\n  135 Biddulph, _Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh_, p. 96. For other instances\n      of priests or representatives of the deity drinking the warm blood\n      of the victim, cp. _Tijdschrift v. Nederlandsch Indi\u00eb_, 1849, p.\n      395; Oldfield, _Sketches from Nipal_, ii. 296 _sq._; _Asiatic\n      Researches_, iv. 40, 41, 50, 52 (8vo. ed.); Paul Soleillet,\n      _L\u2019Afrique Occidentale_, p. 123 _sq._ To snuff up the savour of the\n      sacrifice was similarly supposed to produce inspiration. Tertullian,\n      _Apologet._ 23.\n\n  136 Biddulph, _Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh_, p. 97.\n\n  137 Lucian, _Bis accus._, I; Tzetzes, _Schol. ad Lycophr._, 6.\n\n  138 Vambery, _Das T\u00fcrkenvolk_, p. 158.\n\n  139 Plutarch, _De defect. oracul._ 46, 49.\n\n  140 D. Chwolsohn, _Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus_, ii. 37; _Lettres\n      \u00e9difiantes et curieuses_, xvi. 230 _sq._; _Panjab Notes and\n      Queries_, iii. No. 721; _Journal of the Anthropological Society of\n      Bombay_, i. 103; S. Mateer, _The Land of Charity_, 216; _id._,\n      _Native Life in Travancore_, p. 94; A. C. Lyall, _Asiatic Studies_,\n      p. 14; Biddulph, _Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh_, p. 131; Pallas,\n      _Reisen in verschiedenen Provinzen des russischen Reiches_, i. 91;\n      Vambery, _Das T\u00fcrkenvolk_, p. 485; Erman, _Archiv f\u00fcr\n      wissenschaftliche Kunde von Russland_, i. 377. When the Rao of Kachh\n      sacrifices a buffalo, water is sprinkled between its horns; if it\n      shakes its head, it is unsuitable; if it nods its head, it is\n      sacrificed. _Panjab Notes and Queries_, i. No. 911. This is probably\n      a modern misinterpretation of the old custom.\n\n  141 Moura, _Le Royaume du Cambodge_, i. 177 _sq._\n\n  142 Pausanias, x. 32, 6.\n\n  143 Vincendon-Dumoulin et Desgraz, _Iles Marquises_, pp. 226, 240 _sq._\n\n  144 Moerenhout, _Voyages aux Iles du Grand Oc\u00e9an_, i. 479; Ellis,\n      _Polynesian Researches_, iii. 94.\n\n  145 Tyerman and Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels in the South Sea\n      Islands, China, India, etc._, i. 524; cp. p. 529 _sq._\n\n  146 Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 529 _sq._\n\n  147 Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iii. 108.\n\n  148 Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 37, 48, 57, 58, 59, 73.\n\n  149 Hazlewood in Erskine\u2019s _Cruise among the Islands of the Western\n      Pacific_, p. 246 _sq._ Cp. Wilkes\u2019s _Narrative of the U. S.\n      Exploring Expedition_, iii. 87.\n\n  150 Kubary, \u201cDie Religion der Pelauer,\u201d in Bastian\u2019s _Allerlei aus\n      Volks- und Menschenkunde_, i. 30 _sqq._\n\n  151 F. Valentyn, _Oud en nieuw Oost-Indi\u00ebn_, iii. 7 _sq._\n\n  152 Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, iv. 383.\n\n  153 Monier Williams, _Religious Life and Thought in India_, p. 259.\n\n_  154 The Laws of Manu_, vii. 8, trans. by G. B\u00fchler.\n\n  155 Monier Williams, _op. cit._ p. 259 _sq._\n\n  156 Marshall, _Travels among the Todas_, pp. 136, 137; cp. pp. 141, 142;\n      Metz, _Tribes of the Neilgherry Hills_, p. 19 _sqq._\n\n  157 Allen and Thomson, _Narrative of the Expedition to the River Niger\n      in 1841_, i. 288.\n\n  158 G. Massaja, _I miei trentacinque anni di missione nell\u2019 alta\n      Etiopia_ (Rome and Milan, 1888), v. 53 _sq._\n\n  159 E. Aymonier, _Notes sur le Laos_, p. 141 _sq._\n\n  160 Robinson, _Descriptive Account of Assam_, p. 342 _sq._; _Asiatic\n      Researches_, xv. 146.\n\n  161 Huc, _Souvenirs d\u2019un Voyage dans la Tartarie et le Thibet_, i. 279\n      _sqq._ ed. 12mo.\n\n  162 Huc, _op. cit._ ii. 279, 347 _sq._; Meiners, _Geschichte der\n      Religionen_, i. 335 _sq._; Georgi, _Beschreibung aller Nationen des\n      Russischen Reichs_, p. 415; A. Erman, _Travels in Siberia_, ii. 303\n      _sqq._; _Journal of the Roy. Geogr. Soc._, xxxviii. (1868), 168,\n      169; _Proceedings of the Roy. Geogr. Soc._ N.S. vii. (1885) 67. In\n      the _Journal Roy. Geogr. Soc._, _l.c._, the Lama in question is\n      called the Lama G\u00fbr\u00fb; but the context shows that he is the great\n      Lama of Lhasa.\n\n  163 Alex. von. Humboldt, _Researches concerning the Institutions and\n      Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America_, ii. 106 _sqq._;\n      Waitz, _Anthropologie der Naturv\u00f6lker_, iv. 352 _sqq._; J. G.\n      M\u00fcller, _Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen_, p. 430 _sq._;\n      Martius, _Zur Ethnographie Amerikas_, p. 455; Bastian, _Die\n      Culturl\u00e4nder des alten Amerika_, ii. 204 _sq._\n\n  164 R. W. Felkin, \u201cNotes on the Waganda Tribe of Central Africa,\u201d in\n      _Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, xiii. 762; C. T.\n      Wilson and R. W. Felkin, _Uganda and the Egyptian Soudan_, i. 206.\n\n  165 \u201cThe Strange Adventures of Andrew Battel,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages\n      and Travels_, xvi. 330; Proyart, \u201cHistory of Loango, Kakongo, and\n      other Kingdoms in Africa,\u201d in Pinkerton, xvi. 577; Dapper,\n      _Description de l\u2019Afrique_, p. 335.\n\n  166 Ogilby, _Africa_, p. 615; Dapper, _op. cit._ p. 400.\n\n  167 Dos Santos, \u201cHistory of Eastern Ethiopia,\u201d in Pinkerton, _Voyages\n      and Travels_, xvi. 682, 687 _sq._\n\n  168 F. S. Arnot, _Garenganze; or, Seven Years\u2019 Pioneer Mission Work in\n      Central Africa_, London, N.D. (preface dated March 1889), p. 78.\n\n  169 MS. notes by E. Beardmore.\n\n  170 Waitz, _Anthropologie der Naturv\u00f6lker_, ii. 439.\n\n  171 Labat, _Relation historique de l\u2019Ethiopie Occidentale_, ii. 172-176.\n\n  172 Schol. on Apollonius Rhod. ii. 1248. \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f29\u03c1\u03cc\u03b4\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u03be\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd\n      \u03b4\u03b5\u03c3\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03a0\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc\u03b7\u03b8\u03ad\u03c9\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1\u1fe6\u03c4\u03b1. \u0395\u1f34\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03a3\u03ba\u03c5\u03b8\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bb\u03ad\u03b1 \u03c6\u03b7\u03c3\u03af; \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76\n      \u03bc\u1f74 \u03b4\u03c5\u03bd\u03ac\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f51\u03c0\u03b7\u03ba\u03cc\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f70 \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c4\u03ae\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1, \u03b4\u03b9\u1f70 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03cd\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd\n      \u1f08\u03b5\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03c0\u03bf\u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u1f78\u03bd \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03ba\u03bb\u03cd\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03c4\u1f70 \u03c0\u03b5\u03b4\u03af\u03b1, \u03b4\u03b5\u03b8\u1fc6\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f51\u03c0\u1f78 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03a3\u03ba\u03c5\u03b8\u1ff6\u03bd.\n\n  173 H. Hecquard, _Reise an der K\u00fcste und in das Innere von West Afrika_,\n      p. 78.\n\n  174 Bastian, _Die Deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, i. 354, ii.\n      230.\n\n  175 J. Leighton Wilson, _West Afrika_, p. 93 (German translation).\n\n  176 Ammianus Marcellinus, xxviii. 5, 14.\n\n  177 Snorro Starleson, _Chronicle of the Kings of Norway_ (trans, by S.\n      Laing), saga i. chs. 18, 47. Cp. Liebrecht, _Zur Volkskunde_, p. 7;\n      Scheffer, _Upsalia_, p. 137.\n\n  178 C. Russwurm, \u201cAberglaube in Russland,\u201d in _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Deutsche\n      Mythologie und Sittenkunde_, iv. 162; Liebrecht, _op. cit._, p. 15.\n\n  179 Turner, _Samoa_, p. 304 _sq._\n\n  180 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 73.\n\n  181 Garcilasso de la Vega, _First Part of the Royal Commentaries of the\n      Yncas_, bk. ii. chs. 8 and 15 (vol. i. pp. 131, 155, Markham\u2019s\n      Trans.)\n\n  182 Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, ii. 146.\n\n  183 Dennys, _Folk-lore of China_, p. 125.\n\n  184 Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 6, \u00a7 5 and 6.\n\n  185 C. P. Tiele, _History of the Egyptian Religion_, p. 103 _sq._ On the\n      worship of the kings see also E. Meyer, _Geschichte des Altertums_,\n      i. \u00a7 52; A. Erman, _Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum_, p.\n      91 _sqq._; V. von Strauss und Carnen, _Die alt\u00e4gyptischen G\u00f6tter und\n      G\u00f6ttersagen_, p. 467 _sqq._\n\n  186 Ammianus Marcellinus, xxviii. 5, 14; Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 73.\n\n  187 V. von Strauss und Carnen, _op. cit._ p. 470.\n\n  188 Tiele, _History of the Egyptian Religion_, p. 105. The Babylonian\n      and Assyrian kings seem also to have been regarded as gods; at least\n      the oldest names of the kings on the monuments are preceded by a\n      star, the mark for \u201cgod.\u201d But there is no trace in Babylon and\n      Assyria of temples and priests for the worship of the kings. See\n      Tiele, _Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte_, p. 492 _sq._\n\n  189 Bastian, _Die Deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, ii. 230.\n\n  190 \u201cExcursion de M. Brun-Rollet dans la r\u00e9gion sup\u00e9rieure du Nil,\u201d\n      _Bulletin de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie_, Paris, 1852, pt. ii. p. 421\n      _sqq._\n\n  191 W. Munzinger, _Ostafrikanische Studien_, p. 474 (Schaffhausen,\n      1864).\n\n  192 J. Moura, _Le Royaume du Cambodge_, i. 432-436; Aymonier, \u201cNotes sur\n      les coutumes et croyances superstitieuses des Cambodg\u00ecens,\u201d in\n      _Cochinchine Fran\u00e7aise, Excursions et Reconnaissances_, No. 16, p.\n      172 _sq._; _id._, _Notes sur le Laos_, p. 60.\n\n  193 Caesar, _Bell. Gall._ vi. 25.\n\n  194 Elton, _Origins of English History_, pp. 3, 106 _sq._, 224.\n\n  195 W. Helbig, _Die Italiker in der Poebene_, p. 25 _sq._\n\n  196 H. Nissen, _Italische Landeskunde_, p. 431 _sqq._\n\n  197 Neumann und Partsch, _Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland_, p.\n      357 _sqq._\n\n  198 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 53 _sqq._\n\n  199 The _locus classicus_ is Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvi. \u00a7 249 _sqq._\n\n  200 Grimm, _D. M._ i. 56 _sqq._\n\n  201 Adam of Bremen, _Descriptio Insul. Aquil._ p. 27.\n\n  202 \u201cPrisca antiquorum Prutenorum religio,\u201d in _Respublica sive Status\n      Regni Poloniae, Lituaniae, Prussiae, Livoniae_, etc. (Elzevir,\n      1627), p. 321 _sq._; Dusburg, _Chronicon Prussiae_, ed. Hartknoch,\n      p. 79; Hartknoch, _Alt- und Neues Preussen_, p. 116 _sqq._\n\n  203 Mathias Michov, \u201cDe Sarmatia Asiana atque Europea,\u201d in _Novus Orbis\n      regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum_ (Paris, 1532), pp. 455\n      _sq._ 456 [wrongly numbered 445, 446]; Martin Cromer, _De origine et\n      rebus gestis Polonorum_ (Basel, 1568), p. 241.\n\n  204 See B\u00f6tticher, _Der Baumkultus der Hellenen_.\n\n  205 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xv. \u00a7 77; Tacitus, _Ann._ xiii. 58.\n\n  206 Plutarch, _Romulus_, 20.\n\n  207 J. L. Krapf, _Travels, Researches, and Missionary Labours during an\n      Eighteen Years\u2019 Residence in Eastern Africa_, p. 198.\n\n  208 Loubere, _Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam_, p. 126.\n\n  209 Hupe \u201cOver de godsdienst, zeden, enz. der Dajakker\u2019s\u201d in\n      _Tijdschrift voor Ne\u00earland\u2019s Indi\u00eb_, 1846, dl. iii. 158.\n\n  210 Merolla, \u201cVoyage to Congo,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_,\n      xvi. 236.\n\n  211 Monier Williams, _Religious Life and Thought in India_, p. 334 _sq._\n\n  212 Sir Henry M. Elliot and J. Beames, _Memoirs on the History etc. of\n      the Races of the North Western Provinces of India_, i. 233.\n\n_  213 Die gestriegelte Rockenphilosophie_ (Chemnitz, 1759), p. 239 _sq._;\n      U. Jahn, _Die deutsche Opfergebr\u00e4uche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht_,\n      p. 214 _sqq._\n\n  214 Van Schmid, \u201cAanteekeningen, nopens de zeden, gewoonten en\n      gebruiken, etc., der bevolking van de eilanden Saparoea, etc.\u201d in\n      _Tijdschrift v. Ne\u00earland\u2019s Indi\u00eb_, 1843, dl. ii. 605; Bastian,\n      _Indonesien_, i. 156.\n\n  215 Van Ho\u00ebvell, _Ambon en meer bepaaldelijk de Oeliasers_, p. 62.\n\n_  216 The Indian Antiquary_, i. 170.\n\n  217 J. Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme_, p. 247.\n\n  218 Peter Jones\u2019s _History of the Ojebway Indians_, p. 104.\n\n  219 A. Peter, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus \u00d6sterreichisch-Schlesien_, ii. 30.\n\n  220 Bastian, _Indonesien_, i. 154; cp. _id._, _Die V\u00f6lker des estlichen\n      Asien_, ii. 457 _sq._, iii. 251 _sq._, iv. 42 _sq._\n\n  221 Loubere, _Siam_, p. 126.\n\n  222 Turner, _Samoa_, p. 63.\n\n  223 Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 35 _sq._\n\n_  224 Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 280.\n\n  225 Blumentritt, \u201cDer Ahnencultus und die religi\u00f6sen Anschauungen der\n      Malaien des Philippinen-Archipels,\u201d in _Mittheilungen der Wiener\n      Geogr. Gesellschaft_, 1882, p. 165 _sq._\n\n  226 Landes, \u201cContes et l\u00e9gendes annamites,\u201d No. 9, in _Cochinchine\n      Fran\u00e7aise, Excursions et Reconnaissances_, No. 20, p. 310.\n\n  227 Kubary in Bastian\u2019s _Allerlei aus Mensch-und Volkenkunde_, i. 52.\n\n  228 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 25; Bastian, _Volkerst\u00e4mme am\n      Brahmaputra_, p. 37.\n\n_  229 Journal R. Asiatic Society_, vii. (1843) 29.\n\n  230 Bastian, _Indonesien_, i. 17.\n\n  231 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, pp. 186, 188; cp. Bastian,\n      _Volkerst\u00e4mme am Brahmaputra_, p. 9.\n\n  232 Dalton, _op. cit._ p. 33; Bastian, _op. cit._ p. 16. Cp. W.\n      Robertson Smith, _The Religion of the Semites_, i. 125.\n\n  233 Van Hasselt, _Volksbeschrijving van Midden-Sumatra_, p. 156.\n\n_  234 Handbook of Folk-lore_, p. 19 (proof).\n\n  235 Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 83.\n\n  236 Erasmus Stella, \u201cDe Borussiae antiquitatibus,\u201d in _Novus Orbis\n      regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum_, p. 510; Lasiczki\n      (Lasicius), \u201cDe diis Samagitarum caeterorumque Sarmatarum,\u201d in\n      _Respublica sive Status Regni Poloniae, Lituaniae, Prussiae,\n      Livoniae_, etc. (Elzevir, 1627), p. 299 _sq._ There is a good and\n      cheap reprint of Lasiczki\u2019s work by W. Mannhardt in _Magazin\n      herausgegeben von der Lettisch-Literarischen Gesellschaft_, xiv. 82\n      _sqq._ (Mitau, 1868).\n\n  237 Simon Gr\u00fcnau, _Preussische Chronik_, ed. Perlbach (Leipzig 1876), p.\n      89; \u201cPrisca antiquorum Prutenorum religio,\u201d in _Respublica sive\n      Status Regni Poloniae_ etc., p. 321.\n\n  238 B. Hagen, \u201cBeitr\u00e4ge zur Kenntniss der Battareligion,\u201d in\n      _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxviii. 530\n      _note_.\n\n  239 Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, i. 134.\n\n  240 Matthias Michov, in _Novus Orbis regionum ac insularum veteribus\n      incognitarum_, p. 457.\n\n  241 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4, i. 497; cp. ii. 540, 541.\n\n  242 Max Buch, _Die Wotjaken_, p. 124.\n\n  243 Biddulph, _Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh_, p. 116.\n\n  244 Cato, _De agri cultura_, 139.\n\n  245 Henzen, _Acta fratrum arvalium_ (Berlin, 1874), p. 138.\n\n  246 On the representations of Silvanus, the Roman wood-god, see Jordan\n      in Preller\u2019s _R\u00f6mische Mythologie_,3 i. 393 _note_; Baumeister,\n      _Denkm\u00e4ler des classischen Altertums_, iii. 1665 _sq._ A good\n      representation of Silvanus bearing a pine branch is given in the\n      Sale Catalogue of H. Hoffmann, Paris, 1888, pt. ii.\n\n  247 Aeneas Sylvius, _Opera_ (B\u00e2le, 1571), p. 418 [wrongly numbered 420];\n      cp. Erasmus Stella, \u201cDe Borussiae antiquitatibus,\u201d in _Novus Orbis\n      regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum_, p. 510.\n\n  248 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 186.\n\n  249 Aymonier in _Excursions et Reconnaissances_, No. 16, p. 175 _sq._\n\n  250 See above, pp. 13, 21.\n\n  251 Above, p. 16.\n\n  252 Mannhardt, _B. K._ pp. 158, 159, 170, 197, 214, 351, 514.\n\n  253 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 188.\n\n  254 Labat, _Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais en Guin\u00e9e, Isles voisines,\n      et \u00e0 Cayenne_ (Paris, 1730), i. 338.\n\n  255 L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_, p. 266.\n\n  256 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 190 _sqq._\n\n  257 Mannhardt, _A. W. F._ p. 212 _sqq._\n\n  258 H. Low, _Sarawak_, p. 274.\n\n  259 T. H. Lewin, _Wild Races of South-eastern India_, p. 270.\n\n  260 J. Mackenzie, _Ten years north of the Orange River_, p. 385.\n\n  261 Rev. J. Macdonald, MS. notes.\n\n  262 Biddulph, _Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh_, p. 103 _sq._\n\n  263 Biddulph, _op. cit._ p. 106 _sq._\n\n  264 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 161; E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und\n      Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_, p. 397.; A. Peter, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus\n      \u00d6sterreichisch-Schlesien_, ii. 286; Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld,\n      _Fest-Kalendar aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 210.\n\n  265 Quoted by Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, i. 227, Bohn\u2019s ed.\n\n  266 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 174.\n\n  267 Holzmayer, \u201cOsiliana,\u201d _Verhandlungen der Estnischen Gesell. zu\n      Dorpat_, vii. 10 _sq._; Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 407 _sq._\n\n  268 Potocki, _Voyage dans les steps d\u2019Astrakhan et du Caucase_ (Paris,\n      1829), i. 309.\n\n  269 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 163 _sqq._ To his authorities add, for\n      Sardinia, R. Tennant, _Sardinia and its Resources_ (Rome and London,\n      1885), p. 185 _sq._\n\n  270 Radloff, _Proben der Volkslitteratur der n\u00f6rdlichen T\u00fcrkischen\n      St\u00e4mme_, v. 2.\n\n  271 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 51 _sq._\n\n  272 Merolla, \u201cVoyage to Congo,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_,\n      xvi. 236 _sq._\n\n  273 B\u00f6tticher, _Der Baumkultus der Hellenen_, p. 30 _sq._\n\n  274 Quoted by Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, i. 246 (ed. Bohn).\n\n  275 Dyer, _British Popular Customs_, p. 254.\n\n  276 Borlase, cited by Brand, _op. cit._ i. 222.\n\n  277 Brand, _op. cit._ i. 212 _sq._\n\n  278 Dyer, _Popular British Customs_, p. 233.\n\n  279 Chambers, _Book of Days_, i. 578; Dyer, _op. cit._ p. 237 _sq._\n\n  280 Dyer, _op. cit._ p. 243.\n\n  281 E. Cortet, _F\u00eates religieuses_, p. 167 _sqq._\n\n_  282 Revue des Traditions populaires_, ii. 200.\n\n  283 Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 234 _sq._\n\n  284 A. Kuhn, _M\u00e4rkische Sagen und M\u00e4rchen_, p. 315.\n\n  285 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 162.\n\n  286 L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_, p. 235.\n\n  287 L. Lloyd, _op. cit._ p. 257 _sqq._\n\n  288 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalendar aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 308 _sq._\n\n  289 Hone, _Every-day Book_, i. 547 _sqq._; Chambers, _Book of Days_, i.\n      571.\n\n  290 Quoted by Brand, _op. cit._ i. 237.\n\n_  291 Id._, _op. cit._ i. 235.\n\n  292 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 169 _sq._ _note_.\n\n  293 Hone, _Every-day Book_, ii. 597 _sq._\n\n  294 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalendar aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 217;\n      Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 566.\n\n  295 Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus Schwaben_, ii. 74 _sq._; Mannhardt,\n      _B. K._ p. 566.\n\n  296 Aristophanes, _Plutus_, 1054; Mannhardt, _A. W. F._ p. 222 _sq._\n\n  297 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalendar aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 86 _sqq._;\n      Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 156.\n\n  298 Chambers, _Book of Days_, i. 573.\n\n  299 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 312.\n\n  300 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 313.\n\n_  301 Ib._ p. 314.\n\n_  302 Bavaria, Landes-und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_, iii. 357;\n      Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 312 _sq._\n\n  303 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 313 _sq._\n\n  304 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 261.\n\n  305 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 315 _sq._\n\n  306 Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 234.\n\n  307 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 318.\n\n  308 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 318; Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 657.\n\n  309 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 320; Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche\n      aus Th\u00fcringen_, p. 211.\n\n  310 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 322; Hone, _Every-day Book_, i. 583 _sqq._;\n      Dyer, _British Popular Customs_, p. 230 _sq._\n\n  311 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 323.\n\n_  312 Ib._\n\n  313 Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus Schwaben_, ii. 114 _sq._; Mannhardt,\n      _B. K._ p. 325.\n\n  314 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 341 _sq._\n\n  315 Kuhn und Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche_, p.\n      380.\n\n  316 Kuhn und Schwartz, _op. cit._ p. 384; Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 342.\n\n  317 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalendar aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 260 _sq._;\n      Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 342 _sq._\n\n  318 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 347 _sq._; Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und\n      Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_, p. 203.\n\n  319 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalendar aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 253 _sqq._\n\n  320 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalendar aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 262;\n      Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 353 _sq._\n\n_  321 B. K._ p. 355.\n\n  322 Above, p. 18.\n\n  323 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalendar aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 93; Mannhardt,\n      _B. K._ p. 344.\n\n  324 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 343 _sq._\n\n  325 Dyer, _British Popular Customs_, p. 270 _sq._\n\n  326 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 344 _sq._; Cortet, _F\u00eates religieuses_, p. 160\n      _sqq._; Monnier, _Traditions populaires compar\u00e9es_, p. 282 _sqq._;\n      B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, _R\u00e9miniscences populaires de la Provence_, p. 1\n      _sqq._\n\n  327 Above, p. 60.\n\n  328 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalendar aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 265 _sq._;\n      Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 422.\n\n  329 Monnier, _Traditions populaires compar\u00e9es_, p. 304; Mannhardt, _B.\n      K._ p. 423.\n\n  330 Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, i. 233 _sq._ Bohn\u2019s ed.; Mannhardt,\n      _B. K._ p. 424.\n\n  331 E. Sommer, _Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Sachsen und Th\u00fcringen_,\n      p. 151 _sq._; Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 431 _sq._\n\n  332 This custom was told to Mannhardt by a French prisoner in the war of\n      1870-71, _B. K._ p. 434.\n\n  333 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 434 _sq._\n\n_  334 Ib._ p. 435.\n\n  335 Martin, \u201cDescription of the Western Islands of Scotland,\u201d in\n      Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_, iii. 613; Mannhardt, _B. K._ p.\n      436.\n\n_  336 Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century_, from the MSS. of\n      John Ramsay of Ochtertyre. Edited by Alex. Allardyce (Edinburgh,\n      1888), ii. 447.\n\n  337 Kuhn, _M\u00e4rkische Sagen und M\u00e4rchen_, p. 318 _sqq._; Mannhardt, _B.\n      K._ p. 437.\n\n  338 Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 438.\n\n  339 Monnier, _Traditions populaires compar\u00e9es_, p. 283 _sq._; Cortet,\n      _F\u00eates religieuses_, p. 162 _sq._; Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 439 _sq._\n\n  340 Above, pp. 69 _sqq._, 85.\n\n  341 See especially his _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_.\n\n  342 Pausanias, ix. 3; Plutarch, _ap._ Eusebius, _Praepar. Evang._ iii. 1\n      _sq._\n\n  343 Above, p. 76 _sq._\n\n  344 Above, p. 79.\n\n_  345 B. K._ p. 177.\n\n_  346 B. K._ p. 177 _sq._\n\n  347 Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, i. 318, Bohn\u2019s ed.; _B. K._ p. 178.\n\n  348 Hone, _Every-day Book_, ii. 595 _sq._; _B. K._ p. 178.\n\n  349 Pausanias, viii. 42.\n\n  350 Once upon a time the Wotjaks of Russia, being distressed by a series\n      of bad harvests, ascribed the calamity to the wrath of one of their\n      gods, _Keremet_, at being unmarried. So they went in procession to\n      the sacred grove, riding on gaily-decked waggons, as they do when\n      they are fetching home a bride. At the sacred grove they feasted all\n      night, and next morning they cut in the grove a square piece of turf\n      which they took home with them. \u201cWhat they meant by this marriage\n      ceremony,\u201d says the writer who reports it, \u201cit is not easy to\n      imagine. Perhaps, as Bechterew thinks, they meant to marry _Keremet_\n      to the kindly and fruitful _mukyl\u2019c in_, the earth-wife, in order\n      that she might influence him for good.\u201d\u2014Max Buch, _Die Wotj\u00e4ken,\n      eine ethnologische Studie_ (Stuttgart, 1882), p. 137.\n\n  351 At Cnossus in Crete, Diodorus, v. 72; at Samos, Lactantius,\n      _Instit._ i. 17; at Athens, Photius, _sv._ \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u1f78\u03bd \u03b3\u03ac\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd; _Etymolog.\n      Magn._ _sv._ \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc\u03bd\u03ae\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b5\u03c2, p. 468. 52.\n\n_  352 Iliad_, xiv. 347 _sqq._\n\n  353 Demosthenes, _Neaer._ \u00a7 73 _sqq._ p. 1369 _sq._; Hesychius, _svv._\n      \u0394\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd\u03cd\u03c3\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b3\u03ac\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 and \u03b3\u03b5\u03c1\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03af; _Etymol. Magn._ _sv._ \u03b3\u03b5\u03c1\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c1\u03b1\u03b9; Pollux,\n      viii. 108; Aug. Mommsen, _Heortologie_, p. 357 _sqq._; Hermann,\n      _Gottesdienstliche Alterth\u00fcmer_,2 \u00a7 32. 15, \u00a7 58. 11 _sqq._\n\n  354 Above, p. 7.\n\n  355 Above, p. 94.\n\n  356 Above, p. 95 _sq._\n\n  357 Preller, _Griech. Mythol._3 i. 559.\n\n  358 Hyginus, _Astronomica_, i. 5.\n\n  359 Servius on Virgil, _Georg._ iii. 332, _nam, ut diximus, et omnis\n      quercus Jovi est consecrata, et omnis lucus Dianae_.\n\n  360 Roscher\u2019s _Lexikon d. Griech. u. R\u00f6m. Mythologie_, c. 1005.\n\n  361 See above, p. 4. For Diana in this character, see Roscher, _op.\n      cit._ c. 1007.\n\n  362 Roscher, c. 1006 _sq._\n\n  363 Castren, _Finnische Mythologie_, p. 97.\n\n  364 Mathias Michov, \u201cDe Sarmatia Asiana atque Europea,\u201d in _Novus Orbis\n      regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum_, p. 457.\n\n  365 Livy, i. 45; Plutarch, _Quaest. Rom._ 4.\n\n  366 Virgil, _Aen._ viii. 600 _sq._, with Servius\u2019s note.\n\n  367 Castren, _op. cit._ p. 97 _sq._\n\n  368 Above, p. 4 _sq._\n\n  369 Above, p. 66 _sq._\n\n  370 Above, p. 6.\n\n  371 Above, p. 71.\n\n  372 Castren, _Finnische Mythologie_, pp. 92, 95.\n\n_  373 Historic. Roman. Fragm._ ed. Peter, p. 52 (first ed.)\n\n_  374 Manners and Customs of the Japanese in the Nineteenth Century. From\n      recent Dutch Visitors to Japan, and the German of Dr. Ph. Fr. von\n      Siebold_ (London, 1841), p. 141 _sqq._\n\n  375 Kaempfer, \u201cHistory of Japan,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_,\n      vii. 716 _sq._\n\n  376 Caron, \u201cAccount of Japan,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_,\n      vii. 613. Compare Varenius, _Descriptio regni Japoniae_, p. 11,\n      _Nunquam attingebant (quemadmodum et hodie id observat) pedes ipsius\n      terram: radiis Solis caput nunquam illustrabatur: in apertum a\u00ebrem\n      non procedebat_, etc.\n\n  377 A. Bastian, _Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, i. 287\n      _sq._; cp. _id._, p. 353 _sq._\n\n  378 Labat, _Relation historique de l\u2019Ethiopie Occidentale_, i. 254\n      _sqq._\n\n  379 Above, pp. 44, 49.\n\n  380 Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Hist. des nations civilis\u00e9es du Mexique et\n      de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique-centrale_, iii. 29 _sq._; Bancroft, _Native Races of\n      the Pacific States_, ii. 142 _sq._\n\n  381 Bastian, _Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, i. 355.\n\n  382 Dapper, _Description de l\u2019Afrique_, p. 336.\n\n  383 P. 49 _sq._\n\n_  384 Bibl. Hist._ i. 70.\n\n  385 P. 6.\n\n  386 Aulus Gellius, x. 15; Plutarch, _Quaest. Rom._ 109-112; Pliny, _Nat.\n      Hist._ xxviii. 146; Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ i. _vv._ 179, 448, iv.\n      518; Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 16, 8 _sq._; Festus, p. 161 A, ed.\n      M\u00fcller. For more details see Marquardt, _R\u00f6mische Staatsverwaltung_,\n      iii.2 326 _sqq._\n\n  387 P. 54.\n\n  388 P. 48.\n\n  389 Bastian, _Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, i. 354\n      _sq._; ii. 9, 11.\n\n_  390 Manners and Customs of the Japanese_, pp. 199 _sqq._ 355 _sqq._\n\n  391 Richard, \u201cHistory of Tonquin,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_,\n      ix. 744 _sqq._\n\n  392 Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iii. 99 _sqq._ ed. 1836.\n\n  393 Gill, _Myths and Songs of the South Pacific_, p. 293 _sqq._\n\n  394 Pp. 44, 113.\n\n_  395 Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, vii. 282.\n\n_  396 Relations des Jesuites_, 1634, p. 17; _id._, 1636, p. 104; _id._,\n      1639, p. 43 (Canadian reprint).\n\n  397 H. Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 36.\n\n  398 Gill, _Myths and Songs of the South Pacific_, p. 171.\n\n  399 H. Sundermann, \u201cDie Insel Nias und die Mission daselbst,\u201d in\n      _Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift_, bd. xi. October 1884, p. 453.\n\n  400 B. F. Matthes, _Over de Bissoes of heidensche priesters en\n      priesteressen der Boeginezen_, p. 24.\n\n  401 G. M. Dawson, \u201cOn the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands,\u201d\n      in _Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for 1878-1879_,\n      pp. 123 B, 139 B.\n\n  402 Waitz, _Anthropologie der Naturv\u00f6lker_, vi. 397 _sq._\n\n_  403 Panjab Notes and Queries_, ii. No. 665.\n\n  404 D\u2019Orbigny, _L\u2019Homme Am\u00e9ricain_, ii. 241; _Transact. Ethnol. Soc. of\n      London_, iii. 322 _sq._; Bastian, _Culturl\u00e4nder des alten Amerika_,\n      i. 476.\n\n  405 B. F. Matthes, _Bijdragen tot de Ethnologie van Zuid-Celebes_, p.\n      54.\n\n  406 Zimmermann, _Die Inseln des Indischen und Stillen Meeres_, ii. 386\n      _sq._\n\n  407 Cp. the Greek \u03c0\u03bf\u03c4\u03ac\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1\u03b9, \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03c0\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03cc\u03c9, etc.\n\n  408 G. A. Wilken, \u201cHet animisme bij de volken van den Indischen\n      Archipel,\u201d in _De Indische Gids_, June 1884, p. 944.\n\n  409 Wilken, _l.c._\n\n  410 B. F. Matthes, _Bijdragen tot de Ethnologie van Zuid-Celebes_, p.\n      33; _id._, _Over de Bissoes of heidensche priesters en priesteressen\n      der Boeginezen_, p. 9 _sq._; _id._, _Makassaarsch-Hollandsch\n      Woordenboek_, _svv._ _Ko\u00earr\u00f3e_ and _soem\u0101\u00f1g\u00e1_, pp. 41, 569. Of these\n      two words, the former means the sound made in calling fowls, and the\n      latter means the soul. The expression for the ceremonies described\n      in the text is _\u00e1pako\u00earr\u00f3e soem\u0101\u00f1g\u00e1_.\n\n  411 Shway Yoe, _The Burman, his Life and Notions_, ii. 100.\n\n  412 J. L. Wilson, _West Afrika_, p. 162 _sq._ (German translation).\n\n  413 J. G. F. Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en\n      Papua_, p. 267. For detention of sleeper\u2019s soul by spirits and\n      consequent illness, see also Mason, quoted in Bastian\u2019s _Die V\u00f6lker\n      des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, ii. 387 _note_.\n\n_  414 Indian Antiquary_, 1878, vii. 273; Bastian, _V\u00f6lkerst\u00e4mme am\n      Brahmaputra_, p. 127. Similar story (lizard form of soul not\n      mentioned) told by Hindus, _Panjab Notes and Queries_, iii. No. 679.\n\n  415 E. Gerard, _The Land beyond the Forest_, ii. 27 _sq._ A similar\n      story is told in Holland, J. W. Wolf, _Nederlandsche Sagen_, No.\n      251, p. 344 _sq._ The stories of Hermotimus and King Gunthram belong\n      to the same class. In the latter the king\u2019s soul comes out of his\n      mouth as a small reptile. The soul of Aristeas issued from his mouth\n      in the form of a raven. Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ vii. \u00a7 174; Lucian,\n      _Muse. Encom._ 7; Paulus, _Hist. Langobardorum_, iii. 34. In an East\n      Indian story of the same type the sleeper\u2019s soul issues from his\n      nose in the form of a cricket. Wilken in _De Indische Gids_, June\n      1884, p. 940. In a Swabian story a girl\u2019s soul creeps out of her\n      mouth in the form of a white mouse. Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus\n      Schwaben_, i. 303.\n\n  416 Shway Yoe, _The Burman_, ii. 103; Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen\n      Asien_, ii. 389; Blumentritt, \u201cDer Ahnencultus und die religi\u00f6sen\n      Anschauungen der Malaien des Philippinen-Archipels,\u201d in\n      _Mittheilungen d. Wiener Geogr. Gesellschaft_, 1882, p. 209; Riedel,\n      _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_, p. 440;\n      id., \u201cDie Landschaft Dawan oder West-Timor,\u201d in _Deutsche\n      Geographische Bl\u00e4tter_, x. 280.\n\n_  417 Panjab Notes and Queries_, iii. No. 530.\n\n  418 Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 117 _sq._\n\n  419 Bastian, _Die Seele und ihre Erscheinungwesen in der Ethnographie_,\n      p. 36.\n\n_  420 Pantschatantra_, Benfey, p. 124 _sqq._\n\n_  421 Katha Sarit S\u00e1gara_, trans. Tawney, i. 21 _sq._\n\n  422 E. B. Cross, \u201cOn the Karens,\u201d in _Journal of the American Oriental\n      Society_, iv. 311.\n\n  423 A. R. M\u2019Mahon, _The Karens of the Golden Chersonese_, p. 318.\n\n  424 F. Mason, \u201cPhysical Character of the Karens,\u201d in _Journal of the\n      Asiatic Society of Bengal_, 1866, pt. ii. p. 28 _sq._\n\n  425 C. J. S. F. Forbes, _British Burma_, p. 99 _sq._; Shway Yoe, _The\n      Burman_, ii. 102; Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, ii.\n      389.\n\n  426 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,\n      p. 414.\n\n  427 Riedel, _op. cit._ p. 221 _sq._\n\n  428 N. Ph. Wilken en J. A. Schwarz, \u201cHet heidendom en de Islam in\n      Bolaang Mongondou,\u201d in _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche\n      Zendelinggenootschap_, 1867, xi. 263 _sq._\n\n  429 James Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, p. 57 _sq._\n\n  430 W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs of the South Pacific_, p. 171 _sq._\n\n  431 G. A. Wilken, \u201cHet animisme,\u201d in _De Indische Gids_, June 1884, p.\n      937.\n\n  432 Landes, \u201cContes et l\u00e9gendes annamites,\u201d No. 76 in _Cochinchine\n      Fran\u00e7aise, Excursions et Reconnaissances_, No. 23, p. 80.\n\n  433 Perelaer, _Ethnographische Beschrijving der Dajaks_, p. 26 _sq._\n\n  434 Fr. Valentyn, _Oud en nieuw Oost-Indien_, iii. 13 _sq._\n\n  435 Van Schmidt, \u201cAanteekeningen, nopens de zeden, gewoonten en\n      gebruiken, benevens de vooroordeelen en bijgelovigheden der\n      bevolking van de eilanden Saparoea, Haroekoe, Noessa Laut, en van\n      een gedeelte van de zuidkust van Ceram,\u201d in _Tijdschrift voor\n      Ne\u00earland\u2019s Indie_, 1843, dl. ii. 511 _sqq._\n\n  436 Bastian, _Die Seele_, p. 36 _sq._; J. G. Gmelin, _Reise durch\n      Sibirien_, ii. 359 _sq._\n\n  437 P. N. Wilken, \u201cBijdragen tot de kennis van de zeden en gewoonten der\n      Alfoeren in de Minahassa,\u201d in _Mededeelingen van wege het\n      Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap_, 1863, vii. 146 _sq._ Why the\n      priest, after restoring the soul, tells it to go away again, is not\n      clear.\n\n  438 Riedel, \u201cDe Minahassa in 1825,\u201d in _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-\n      Land- en Volkenkunde_, xviii. 523.\n\n  439 N. Graafland, _De Minahassa_, i. 327 _sq._\n\n  440 G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 142 _sq._\n\n  441 J. B. Neumann, \u201cHet Pane en Bila-stroomgebied op het eiland\n      Sumatra,\u201d in _Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig\n      Genootschap_, ii. de Serie, dl. iii., Afdeeling: meer uitgebreide\n      artikelen, No. 2 (1886), p. 302.\n\n  442 Codrington, \u201cReligious Beliefs and Practices in Melanesia,\u201d in\n      _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, x. 281.\n\n  443 Horatio Hale, _U.S. Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and\n      Philology_, p. 208 _sq._ Cp. Wilkes, _Narrative of the U.S.\n      Exploring Expedition_ (London, 1845), iv. 448 _sq._\n\n  444 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,\n      p. 77 _sq._\n\n_  445 Ib._ p. 356 _sq._\n\n  446 Riedel, _op. cit._ p. 376.\n\n  447 Spenser St. John, _Life in the Forests of the Far East_, i. 189.\n      Sometimes the souls resemble cotton seeds (_ib._) Cp. _id._ i. 183.\n\n  448 Nieuwenhuisen en Rosenberg, \u201cVerslag omtrent het Eiland Nias,\u201d in\n      _Verhandel. van het Batav. Genootsch. van Kunsten en Wetenschappen_,\n      xxx. 116; Rosenberg, _Der Malayische Archipel_, p. 174.\n\n  449 Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 250.\n\n  450 Gill, _Myths and Songs of the South Pacific_, p. 171; _id._, _Life\n      in the Southern Isles_, p. 181 _sqq._\n\n  451 L. J. B. B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, _Les Peuplades de la S\u00e9n\u00e9gambie_ (Paris,\n      1879), p. 277.\n\n  452 W. H. Bentley, _Life on the Congo_ (London, 1887), p. 71.\n\n  453 Bastian, _Allerlei aus Volks-und Menschenkunde_ (Berlin, 1888), i.\n      119.\n\n_  454 Relations des J\u00e9suites_, 1637, p. 50.\n\n  455 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,\n      p. 78 _sq._\n\n  456 E. B. Cross, \u201cOn the Karens,\u201d in _Journal of the American Oriental\n      Society_, iv. 307.\n\n  457 J. B. McCullagh in _The Church Missionary Gleaner_, xiv. No. 164\n      (August 1887), p. 91. The same account is copied from the \u201cNorth\n      Star\u201d (Sitka, Alaska, December 1888), in _Journal of American\n      Folk-lore_, ii. 74 _sq._ Mr. McCullagh\u2019s account (which is closely\n      followed in the text) of the latter part of the custom is not quite\n      clear. It would seem that failing to find the soul in the\n      head-doctor\u2019s box it occurs to them that he may have swallowed it,\n      as the other doctors were at first supposed to have done. With a\n      view of testing this hypothesis they hold him up by the heels to\n      empty out the soul; and as the water with which his head is washed\n      may possibly contain the missing soul, it is poured on the patient\u2019s\n      head to restore the soul to him. We have already seen that the\n      recovered soul is often conveyed into the sick person\u2019s head.\n\n  458 Riedel, _De Topantunuasu of oorspronkelijke volksstammen van Central\n      Selebes_ (overgedrukt uit de _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en\n      Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, 5e volgr. i.), p. 17; Neumann,\n      \u201cHet Pane en Bila-stroomgebied,\u201d in _Tijdschrift van het\n      Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, ii. de Serie, dl. iii.,\n      Afdeeling: meer uitgebreide artikelen, No. 2 (1886), p. 300 _sq._;\n      Priklonski, \u201cDie Jakuten,\u201d in Bastian\u2019s _Allerlei aus Volks-und\n      Menschenkunde_, ii. 218 _sq._; Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen\n      Asien_, ii. 388, iii. 236; _id._, _V\u00f6lkerst\u00e4mme am Brahmaputra_, p.\n      23; _id._, \u201cH\u00fcgelst\u00e4mme Assam\u2019s,\u201d in _Verhandlungen d. Berlin.\n      Gesell. f. Anthropol. Ethnol. und Urgeschichte_, 1881, p. 156; Shway\n      Yoe, _The Burman_, i. 283 _sq._, ii. 101 _sq._; Sproat, _Scenes and\n      Studies of Savage Life_, p. 214; Doolittle, _Social Life of the\n      Chinese_, p. 110 _sq._ (ed. Paxton Hood); T. Williams, _Fiji and the\n      Fijians_, i. 242; E. B. Cross, \u201cOn the Karens,\u201d in _Journal of the\n      American Oriental Society_, iv. 309 _sq._; A. W. Howitt, \u201cOn some\n      Australian Beliefs,\u201d in _Journ. Anthrop. Instit._ xiii. 187 _sq._;\n      _id._, \u201cOn Australian Medicine Men,\u201d in _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ xvi.\n      41; E. P. Houghton, \u201cOn the Land Dayaks of Upper Sarawak,\u201d in\n      _Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London_, iii. 196 _sq._;\n      L. Dahle, \u201cSikidy and Vintana,\u201d in _Antananarivo Annual and\n      Madagascar Annual_, xi. (1887) p. 320 _sq._; C. Leemius, _De\n      Lapponibus Finmarchiae eorumque lingua, vita et religione pristina\n      commentatio_ (Copenhagen, 1767), p. 416 _sq._ Some time ago my\n      friend Professor W. Robertson Smith suggested to me that the\n      practice of hunting souls, which is denounced in Ezekiel xiii. 17\n      _sqq._ must have been akin to those described in the text.\n\n  459 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,\n      p. 440.\n\n  460 Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, v. 455.\n\n  461 Riedel, _op. cit._ p. 340.\n\n  462 Codrington, \u201cReligious Beliefs and Practices in Melanesia,\u201d in\n      _Journ. Anthrop. Instit._ x. 281.\n\n  463 Riedel, _op. cit._ p. 61.\n\n  464 Gill, _Myths and Songs of the South Pacific_, p. 284 _sqq._\n\n  465 Bernard Schmidt, _Das Volksleben der Neugriechen_, pp. 94 _sqq._,\n      119 _sq._; Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 972; Rochholz,\n      _Deutscher Glaube und Brauch_, i. 62 _sqq._; E. Gerard, _The Land\n      beyond the Forest_, i. 331.\n\n  466 Schol. on Aristophanes, _Ran._ 293.\n\n  467 [Aristotle] _Mirab. Auscult._ 145 (157); _Geoponica_, xv. 1. In the\n      latter passage, for \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03ac\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9 \u1f11\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03ae\u03bd we must read \u03ba. \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd, an\n      emendation necessitated by the context, and confirmed by the passage\n      of Dam\u012br\u012b quoted and translated by Bochart, _Hierozoicon_, i. c.\n      833, \u201c_cum ad lunam calcat umbram canis, qui supra tectura est,\n      canis ad eam [scil. hyaenam] decidit, et ea illum devorat_.\u201d Cp. W.\n      Robertson Smith, _The Religion of the Semites_, i. 122.\n\n  468 Pausanias, viii. 38, 6; Polybius, xvi. 12, 7; Plutarch, _Quaest.\n      Graec._ 39.\n\n  469 B. Schmidt, _Das Volksleben der Neugriechen_, p. 196 _sq._\n\n  470 Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 127.\n\n  471 W. Schmidt, _Das Jahr und seine Tage in Meinung und Brauch der\n      Rom\u00e4nen Siebenb\u00fcrgens_, p. 27; E. Gerard, _The Land beyond the\n      Forest_, ii. 17 _sq._\n\n  472 E. H. Mann, _Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands_, p. 94.\n\n  473 Williams, _Fiji_, i. 241.\n\n  474 James Chalmers, _Pioneering in New Guinea_ (London, 1887), p. 170.\n\n  475 Sahagun, _Histoire g\u00e9n\u00e9rale des choses de la Nouvelle-Espagne_\n      (Paris, 1880), p. 314. The Chinese hang brass mirrors over the idols\n      in their houses, because it is thought that evil spirits entering\n      the house and seeing themselves in the mirrors will be scared away\n      (_China Review_, ii. 164).\n\n  476 Callaway, _Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus_,\n      p. 342.\n\n  477 Arbousset et Daumas, _Voyage d\u2019exploration au Nord-est de la Colonie\n      du Cap de Bonne-Esp\u00e9rance_, p. 12.\n\n  478 Codrington, \u201cReligious Beliefs and Practices in Melanesia,\u201d in\n      _Journ. Anthrop. Instit._ x. 313.\n\n_  479 Fragmenta Philosoph. Graec._ ed. Mullach, i. 510; Artemidorus,\n      _Onirocr._ ii. 7; _Laws of Manu_, iv. 38.\n\n  480 See above, p. 125 _sq._\n\n  481 Wattke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_,2 \u00a7 726.\n\n_  482 Ib._\n\n_  483 Folk-lore Journal_, iii. 281; Dyer, _English Folk-lore_, p. 109; J.\n      Napier, _Folk-lore, or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of\n      Scotland_, p. 60; Ellis, _History of Madagascar_, i. 238; _Revue\n      d\u2019Ethnographie_, v. 215.\n\n_  484 Punjab Notes and Queries_, ii. 906.\n\n_  485 Folk-lore Journal_, vi. 145 _sq._; _Panjab Notes and Queries_, ii.,\n      No. 378.\n\n_  486 Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ xv. 82 _sqq._\n\n  487 Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 117. The objection,\n      however, may be merely Puritanical. Professor W. Robertson Smith\n      informs me that the peculiarities of the Raskolniks are largely due\n      to exaggerated Puritanism.\n\n  488 A. Simson, \u201cNotes on the Jivaros and Canelos Indians,\u201d in _Journ.\n      Anthrop. Inst._ ix. 392.\n\n  489 J. Thomson, _Through Masai Land_, p. 86.\n\n  490 Maximilian Prinz zu Wied, _Reise in das Innere Nord-Amerika_, i.\n      417.\n\n_  491 Ib._ ii. 166.\n\n  492 \u201cA far-off Greek Island,\u201d _Blackwood\u2019s Magazine_, February 1886, p.\n      235.\n\n  493 Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 117.\n\n  494 James Napier, _Folk-lore: or, Superstitious Beliefs in the West of\n      Scotland_, p. 142. For more examples of the same sort, see R.\n      Andree, _Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche_, Neue Folge\n      (Leipzig, 1889), p. 18 _sqq._\n\n  495 Turner, _Samoa_, p. 291 _sq._\n\n  496 Charles New, _Life, Wanderings, and Labours in Eastern Africa_, p.\n      432. Cp. _ib._ pp. 400, 402. For the demons on Mt. Kilimanjaro, see\n      also Krapf, _Travels, Researches etc. in Eastern Africa_, p. 192.\n\n  497 Pierre Bouche, _La C\u00f4te des Esclaves et le Dahomey_, p. 133.\n\n  498 C. A. L. M. Schwaner, _Borneo_, ii. 77.\n\n_  499 Ib._ ii. 167.\n\n  500 E. Aymonier, _Notes sur le Laos_, p. 196.\n\n  501 Rosenberg, _Der Malayische Archipel_, p. 198.\n\n  502 Capt. John Moresby, _Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea_, p. 102\n      _sq._\n\n  503 R. I. Dodge, _Our Wild Indians_ (Hartford, Conn.; 1886), p. 119.\n\n  504 J. Crevaux, _Voyages dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique du Sud_, p. 300.\n\n  505 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,\n      p. 78.\n\n  506 Perelaer, _Ethnographische Beschrijving der Dajaks_, pp. 44, 54,\n      252; Matthes, _Bijdragen tot de Ethnologie van Zuid-Celebes_, p. 49.\n\n  507 H. Gr\u00fctzner, \u201cUeber die Gebr\u00e4uche der Basutho,\u201d in _Verhandl. d.\n      Berlin. Gesell. f. Anthropologie_, etc. 1877, p. 84 _sq._\n\n  508 Nieuwenhuisen en Rosenberg, \u201cVerslag omtrent het eiland Nias,\u201d in\n      _Verhandel. v. h. Batav. Genootsch. v. Kunsten en Wetenschappen_,\n      xxx. 26.\n\n_  509 Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay_, i. 35.\n\n  510 E. O\u2019Donovan, _The Merv Oasis_ (London, 1882), ii. 58.\n\n_  511 Emin Pasha in Central Africa, being a Collection of his Letters and\n      Journals_ (London, 1888), p. 107.\n\n_  512 Narrative of the Second Arctic Expedition made by Charles F. Hall._\n      Edited by Prof. J. G. Nourse, U.S.N. (Washington, 1879), p. 269\n      _note_.\n\n  513 J. A. Grant, _A Walk across Africa_, p. 104 _sq._\n\n  514 E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_,\n      p. 103.\n\n  515 N. von Miklucho-Maclay, \u201cEthnologische Bemerkungen \u00fcber die Papuas\n      der Maclay-K\u00fcste in Neu-Guinea,\u201d in _Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor\n      Nederlandsch Indie_, xxxvi. 317 _sq._\n\n  516 Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, i. 134.\n\n  517 Scholiast on Euripides, _Phoeniss._ 1377. These men were sacred to\n      the war-god (Ares), and were always spared in battle.\n\n  518 John Campbell, _Travels in South Africa, being a Narrative of a\n      Second Journey in the Interior of that Country_, ii. 205.\n\n  519 Ladislaus Magyar, _Reisen in S\u00fcd-Afrika_, p. 203.\n\n_  520 Asiatick Researches_, vi. 535 _sq._ ed. 4to (p. 537 _sq._ ed. 8vo).\n\n  521 C. J. Andersson, _Lake Ngami_, p. 223.\n\n  522 Fran\u00e7ois Valentyn, _Oud en nieuw Oost-Indi\u00ebn_, iii. 16.\n\n  523 Turner, _Samoa_, p. 305 _sq._\n\n  524 De Plano Carpini, _Historia Mongolorum quos nos Tartaros\n      appellamus_, ed. D\u2019Avezac (Paris, 1838), cap. iii. \u00a7 iii. p. 627,\n      cap. ult. \u00a7 i. x. p. 744, and Appendix, p. 775; \u201cTravels of William\n      de Rubriquis into Tartary and China,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and\n      Travels_, vii. 82 _sq._\n\n  525 Paul Pogge, \u201cBericht \u00fcber die Station Mukenge,\u201d in _Mittheilungen\n      der Afrikanischen Gesellschaft in Deutschland_, iv. (1883-1885) 182\n      _sq._\n\n  526 J. L. Krapf, _Travels, Researches, and Missionary Labours during an\n      Eighteen Years\u2019 Residence in Eastern Africa_, p. 252 _sq._\n\n  527 Dapper, _Description de l\u2019Afrique_, p. 391.\n\n  528 Proyart, \u201cHistory of Loango, Kakongo,\u201d etc., in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages\n      and Travels_, xvi. 583; Dapper, _op. cit._ p. 340; J. Ogilby,\n      _Africa_ (London, 1670), p. 521. Cp. Bastian, _Die deutsche\n      Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, i. 288.\n\n  529 Bastian, _op. cit._ i. 268 _sq._\n\n  530 J. B. Neumann, \u201cHet Pane-en Bila-Stroomgebied op het eiland\n      Sumatra,\u201d in _Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig\n      Genootschap_, ii. de Serie, dl. iii., Afdeeling: meer uitgebreide\n      artikelen, No. 2, p. 300.\n\n  531 Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 249.\n\n  532 J. Richardson, \u201cTanala Customs, Superstitions and Beliefs,\u201d in _The\n      Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine_, No. ii. p. 219.\n\n  533 Lieut. Cameron, _Across Africa_, ii. 71 (ed. 1877); _id._, in\n      _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ vi. 173.\n\n  534 \u201cAdventures of Andrew Battel,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_,\n      xvi. 330; Dapper, _Description de l\u2019Afrique_, p. 330; Bastian, _Die\n      deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, i. 262 _sq._; R. F.\n      Burton, _Abeokuta and the Cameroons Mountains_, i. 147.\n\n  535 Proyart\u2019s \u201cHistory of Loango, Kakongo,\u201d etc., in Pinkerton\u2019s\n      _Voyages and Travels_, xvi. 584.\n\n  536 J. L. Wilson, _West Afrika_, p. 148 (German trans.); John Duncan,\n      _Travels in Western Africa_, i. 222. Cp. W. W. Reade, _Savage\n      Africa_, p. 543.\n\n  537 Paul Pogge, _Im Reiche des Muato Jamwo_ (Berlin, 1880), p. 231.\n\n  538 Capt. James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 374 (ed. 1809).\n\n  539 Heraclides Cumanus in Athenaeus, iv. 145 B-D.\n\n  540 Mohammed Ibn-Omar el Tounsy, _Voyage au Darfour_ (Paris, 1845), p.\n      203; _Travels of an Arab Merchant_ [Mohammed Ibn-Omar el Tounsy] _in\n      Soudan_, abridged from the French (of Perron) by Bayle St. John, p.\n      91 _sq._\n\n  541 Mohammed Ibn-Omar el Tounsy, _Voyage au Ouad\u00e2y_ (Paris, 1851), p.\n      375.\n\n  542 H. Duveyrier, _Exploration du Sahara_. _Les Touareg du Nord_, p. 391\n      _sq._; Reclus, _Nouvelle G\u00e9ographie Universelle_, xi. 838 _sq._;\n      James Richardson, _Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara_, ii. 208.\n      Amongst the Arabs men sometimes veiled their faces. Wellhausen,\n      _Reste Arabischen Heidentumes_, p. 146.\n\n  543 Turner, _Samoa_, p. 67 _sq._\n\n  544 Riedel, \u201cDie Landschaft Dawan oder West-Timor,\u201d in _Deutsche\n      Geographische Blatter_, x. 230.\n\n  545 A. W. Howitt, \u201cOn some Australian Ceremonies of Initiation,\u201d in\n      _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ xiii. 456.\n\n  546 Compare \u03bc\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd \u03bf\u1f50\u03ba \u1f10\u03c0\u1f76 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03c7\u03b5\u03af\u03bb\u03b5\u03c3\u03b9 \u03c4\u1f70\u03c2 \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u1f70\u03c2 \u1f14\u03c7\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 Dio\n      Chrysostomus, _Orat._ xxxii. i. 417, ed. Dindorf; _mihi anima in\n      naso esse, stabam tanquam mortuus_, Petronius, _Sat._ 62; _in primis\n      labris animam habere_, Seneca, _Natur Quaest_. iii. praef. 16.\n\n  547 See above, p. 112.\n\n  548 Bastian, _Die Loango-K\u00fcste_, i. 263. However, a case is recorded in\n      which he marched out to war (_ib._ i. 268 _sq._)\n\n  549 S. Crowther and J. C. Taylor, _The Gospel on the Banks of the\n      Niger_, p. 433. On p. 379 mention is made of the king\u2019s \u201cannual\n      appearance to the public,\u201d but this may have taken place within \u201cthe\n      precincts of his premises.\u201d\n\n  550 Strabo, xvii. 2, 2, \u03c3\u03ad\u03b2\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b4\u1fbd \u1f60\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03cd\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2 \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bb\u03ad\u03b1\u03c2,\n      \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03ba\u03bb\u03b5\u03af\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u1f44\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bf\u1f30\u03ba\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c0\u03bb\u03ad\u03bf\u03bd.\n\n  551 Strabo, xvi. 4, 19; Diodorus Siculus, iii. 47.\n\n  552 Heraclides Cumanus in Athenaeus, 517 B.C.\n\n  553 Ch. Dallet, _Histoire de l\u2019\u00c9glise de Cor\u00e9e_ (Paris, 1874), i.\n      xxiv-xxvi. The king sometimes, though rarely, leaves his palace.\n      When he does so, notice is given beforehand to the people. All doors\n      must be shut and each householder must kneel before his threshold\n      with a broom and a dust-pan in his hand. All windows, especially the\n      upper ones, must be sealed with slips of paper, lest some one should\n      look down upon the king. W. E. Griffis, _Corea, the Hermit Nation_,\n      p. 222.\n\n  554 Richard, \u201cHistory of Tonquin,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_,\n      ix. 746.\n\n  555 Shway Yoe, _The Burman_, i. 308 _sq._\n\n_  556 Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 63; Taplin, \u201cNotes on the\n      mixed races of Australia,\u201d in _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ iv. 53.\n\n  557 Turner, _Samoa_, p. 320 _sq._\n\n  558 Dapper, _Description de l\u2019Afrique_, p. 330.\n\n  559 Bosman\u2019s \u201cGuinea,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_, xvi. 487.\n\n  560 P. N. Wilken, \u201cBijdragen tot de kennis van de zeden en gewoonten der\n      Alfoeren in de Minahassa,\u201d in _Mededeelingen van wege het\n      Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap_, xi. (1863) 126.\n\n  561 Kaempfer\u2019s \u201cHistory of Japan,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_,\n      vii. 717.\n\n_  562 Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori (London, 1884), p. 96 _sq._\n\n  563 W. Brown, _New Zealand and its Aborigines_ (London, 1845), p. 76.\n      For more examples of the same kind see _ib._ p. 77 _sq._\n\n  564 E. Tregear, \u201cThe Maoris of New Zealand,\u201d in _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._\n      xix. 100.\n\n_  565 R. Taylor, Te Ika a Maui: or, New Zealand and its Inhabitants_,2 p.\n      164.\n\n  566 A. S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_, i. 101 _sqq._; _Old New\n      Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 94, 104 _sqq._\n\n_  567 Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ ix. 458.\n\n  568 W. Ridley, \u201cReport on Australian Languages and Traditions,\u201d in\n      _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ ii. 268.\n\n  569 Alexander Mackenzie, _Voyages from Montreal through the Continent of\n      North America_, cxxiii.\n\n_  570 Report of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow,\n      Alaska_ (Washington, 1885), p. 46.\n\n  571 \u201cCustoms of the New Caledonian Women,\u201d in _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._\n      vii. 206.\n\n  572 S. Hearne, _A Journey from Prince of Wales\u2019s Fort in Hudson\u2019s Bay to\n      the Northern Ocean_, p. 204 _sqq._\n\n  573 L. Alberti, _De Kaffers_ (Amsterdam, 1810), p. 76 _sq._; H.\n      Lichtenstein, _Reisen im s\u00fcdlichen Afrika_, i. 427.\n\n_  574 Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner_ (London,\n      1830), p. 122.\n\n  575 On the nature of taboo, see especially W. Robertson Smith, _Religion\n      of the Semites_, i. 142 _sqq._ 427 _sqq._\n\n  576 Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iii. 102.\n\n  577 J. Moura, _Le Royaume du Cambodge_, i. 226.\n\n  578 Ch. Dallet, _Histoire de l\u2019\u00c9glise de Cor\u00e9e_, i. xxiv. _sq._;\n      Griffis, _Corea, the Hermit Nation_, p. 219.\n\n  579 Macrobius, _Sat._ v. 19, 13; Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ i. 448;\n      Joannes Lydus, _De mens._ i. 31.\n\n_  580 Acta Fratrum Arvalium_, ed. Henzen, pp. 128-135; Marquardt,\n      _R\u00f6mische Staatsverwaltung_, iii.2 (_Das Sacralwesen_), p. 459 _sq._\n\n  581 Callimachus, referred to by the Old Scholiast on Ovid, _Ibis._ See\n      Callimachus, ed. Blomfield, p. 216; Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_, p. 686.\n\n  582 Plutarch, _Aristides_, 21. This passage I owe to Mr. W. Wyse.\n\n  583 Theophilus Hahn, _Tsuni-Goam, the Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi_,\n      p. 22.\n\n  584 J. G. Bourke, _The Snake Dance of the Moquis of Arizona_, p. 178\n      _sq._\n\n  585 C. F. Gordon Cumming, _In the Hebrides_ (ed. 1883), p. 195.\n\n  586 James Logan, _The Scottish Gael_ (ed. Alex. Stewart), ii. 68 _sq._\n\n  587 C. F. Gordon Cumming, _In the Hebrides_, p. 226; E. J. Guthrie, _Old\n      Scottish Customs_, p. 223.\n\n  588 1 Kings vi. 7; Exodus xx. 25.\n\n  589 Dionysius Halicarn. _Antiquit. Roman_, iii. 45, v. 24; Plutarch,\n      _Numa_, 9; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxxvi. \u00a7 100.\n\n_  590 Acta Fratrum Arvalium_, ed. Henzen, p. 132; _Corpus Inscriptionum\n      Latinarum_, i. No. 603.\n\n  591 Pliny, _l.c._\n\n_  592 Indian Antiquary_, x. (1881) 364.\n\n  593 Frank Hatton, _North Borneo_ (1886), p. 233.\n\n  594 Alexand. Guagninus, \u201cDe ducatu Samogitiae,\u201d in _Respublica sive\n      Status Regni Poloniae, Lituaniae, Prussiae, Livoniae_ etc. (Elzevir,\n      1627), p. 276; Johan. Lasicius, \u201cDe diis Samogitarum caeterorumque\n      Sarmatum,\u201d in _Respublica_, etc. (_ut supra_), p. 294 (p. 84 ed.\n      Mannhardt, in _Magazin herausgeg. von der Lettisch-Liter\u00e4r.\n      Gesellsch._ bd. xiv.)\n\n  595 E. J. Guthrie, _Old Scottish Customs_, p. 149; Ch. Rogers, _Social\n      Life in Scotland_ (London, 1886), iii. 218.\n\n  596 A. Leared, _Morocco and the Moors_, p. 273.\n\n  597 The reader may observe how closely the taboos laid upon mourners\n      resemble those laid upon kings. From what has gone before the reason\n      of the resemblance is obvious.\n\n_  598 Panjab Notes and Queries_, iii. No. 282.\n\n  599 Walter Gregor, _The Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland_, p.\n      206.\n\n  600 This is expressly said in _Panjab Notes and Queries_, iii. No. 846.\n      On iron as a protective charm see also Liebrecht, _Gervasius von\n      Tilbury_, p. 99 _sqq._; _id._, _Zur Volkskunde_, p. 311; L.\n      Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_, \u00a7\n      233; Wattke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_2, \u00a7 414 _sq._; Tylor,\n      _Primitive Culture_, i. 140; Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, 132\n      _note_.\n\n  601 Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des ostlichen Asien_, i. 136.\n\n  602 E. Gerard, _The Land beyond the Forest_, i. 312; W. Schmidt, _Das\n      Jahr und seine Tage in Meinung und Brauch der Rom\u00e4nen\n      Siebenb\u00fcrgens_, p. 40.\n\n  603 J. H. Gray, _China_, i. 288.\n\n  604 W. H. Dall, _Alaska and its Resources_, p. 146; _id._ in _American\n      Naturalist_, xii. 7.\n\n  605 Jo. Meletius, \u201cDe religione et sacrificiis veterum Borussorum,\u201d in\n      _De Russorum Muscovitarum et Tartarorum religione, sacrificiis,\n      nuptiarum, funerum ritu_ (Spires, 1582), p. 263; Hartknoch, _Alt und\n      neues Preussen_ (Frankfort and Leipzig, 1684), p. 187 _sq._\n\n  606 B. F. Matthes, _Bijdragen tot de Ethnologie van Zuid-Celebes_, p.\n      136.\n\n  607 Tettau und Temme, _Die Volkssagen Ostpreussens, Litthauens und\n      Westpreussens_, p. 285; Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 iii. 454; cp.\n      _id._ pp. 441, 469; Grohmann, _Aberglauben und Gebr\u00e4uche aus B\u00f6hmen\n      und M\u00e4hren_, p. 198.\n\n  608 Plutarch, _Quaest. Rom._ 110; Aulus Gellius, x. 15, 12.\n\n  609 J. Kubary, _Die socialen Einrichtungen der Pelauer_ (Berlin, 1885),\n      p. 126 _sq._\n\n  610 F. J. Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren und \u00e4ussern Leben der Ehsten_ (St.\n      Petersburg, 1876), pp. 448, 478.\n\n  611 James Adair, _History of the American Indians_, pp. 134, 117.\n\n  612 E. Petitot, _Monographie des D\u00e8n\u00e8-Dindji\u00e9_, p. 76.\n\n  613 Leviticus xvii. 10-14. The Hebrew word translated \u201clife\u201d in the\n      English version of verse 11 means also \u201csoul\u201d (marginal note in the\n      Revised Version). Cp. Deuteronomy xii. 23-25.\n\n  614 Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ v. 79; cp. _id._ on _Aen._ iii. 67.\n\n  615 J. Wellhausen, _Reste Arabischen Heidentumes_, p. 217.\n\n  616 A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa\u2019s van de Geelvinksbaai_ (Schiedam, 1863),\n      p. 77.\n\n  617 Hamilton\u2019s \u201cAccount of the East Indies,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and\n      Travels_, viii. 469. Cp. W. Robertson Smith, _Religion of the\n      Semites_, i. 349, _note_ 2.\n\n  618 De la Loubere, _A New Historical Account of the Kingdom of Siam_\n      (London, 1693), p. 104 _sq._\n\n  619 Pallegoix, _Description du Royaume Thai ou Siam_, i. 271, 365 _sq._\n\n  620 Marco Polo, trans. by Col. H. Yule (2d ed. 1875), i. 335.\n\n  621 Col. H. Yule on Marco Polo, _l.c._\n\n  622 Baron\u2019s \u201cDescription of the Kingdom of Tonqueen,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s\n      _Voyages and Travels_, ix. 691.\n\n  623 T. E. Bowdich, _Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee_ (London,\n      1873), p. 207.\n\n  624 Sibree, _Madagascar and its People_, p. 430.\n\n  625 C. T. Wilson and R. W. Felkin, _Uganda and the Egyptian Soudan_, i.\n      200.\n\n  626 Marco Polo, i. 399, Yule\u2019s translation, 2d ed.\n\n  627 Sir Walter Scott, note 2 to _Peveril of the Peak_, ch. v.\n\n_  628 Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 230; E. J. Eyre, _Journals of\n      Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia_, ii. 335; Brough\n      Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, i. 75 _note_.\n\n  629 Collins, _Account of the English Colony of New South Wales_ (London,\n      1798), p. 580.\n\n_  630 Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 224 _sq._; Angas, _Savage\n      Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, i. 110 _sq._\n\n  631 Above, p. 20.\n\n  632 B. F. Matthes, _Bijdragen tot de Ethnologie van Zuid-Celebes_, p.\n      53.\n\n  633 Lieut. Emery, in _Journal of the R. Geogr. Soc._ iii. 282.\n\n  634 Ch. Andersson, _Lake Ngami_, p. 224.\n\n  635 Ch. New, _Life, Wanderings, and Labours in Eastern Africa_, p. 124;\n      Francis Galton, \u201cDomestication of Animals,\u201d in _Transactions of the\n      Ethnolog. Soc. of London_, iii. 135. On the original sanctity of\n      domestic animals, see above all W. Robertson Smith, _The Religion of\n      the Semites_, i. 263 _sqq._, 277 _sqq._\n\n  636 L. Linton Palmer, \u201cA Visit to Easter Island,\u201d in _Journ. R. Geogr.\n      Soc._ xl. (1870) 171.\n\n  637 R. Taylor, _Te Ika a Maui; or, New Zealand and its Inhabitants_,2 p.\n      164 _sq._\n\n  638 Plutarch, _Quaest. Rom._ 112; Aulus Gellius, x. 15, 13.\n\n  639 Above, p. 61 _sq._\n\n  640 Cp. W. Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 213 _sq._\n\n_  641 Dialis cotidie feriatus est_, Aulus Gellius, x. 15, 16.\n\n  642 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, c. 6. A myth apparently akin to this has\n      been preserved in some native Egyptian writings. See Ad. Erman,\n      _Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum_, p. 364.\n\n  643 Bernardino de Sahagun, _Histoire g\u00e9n\u00e9rale des choses de la\n      Nouvelle-Espagne_, traduite par Jourdanet et Sim\u00e9on (Paris, 1880),\n      p. 46 _sq._\n\n  644 See above, p. 34 _sq._\n\n  645 P. 35.\n\n  646 E. M. Curr, _The Australian Race_ (Melbourne and London, 1887), iii.\n      179.\n\n  647 H. B. Guppy, _The Solomon Islands and their Natives_ (London, 1887),\n      p. 41.\n\n  648 E. B. Cross, \u201cOn the Karens,\u201d in _Journal of the American Oriental\n      Society_, iv. (1854) 312.\n\n  649 Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, iii. 230.\n\n  650 For the reason see Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the\n      New Zealanders_, pp. 112 _sq._, 292.\n\n_  651 Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 186.\n\n  652 Mrs. James Smith, _The Booandik Tribe_, p. 5.\n\n  653 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,\n      p. 450.\n\n  654 Riedel, _op. cit._ p. 139; cp. _id._ p. 209.\n\n  655 E. Dannert, \u201cCustoms of the Ovaherero at the Birth of a Child.\u201d in\n      (South African) _Folk-lore Journal_, ii. 63.\n\n  656 F. J. Wiedemann, _Aus dem innern und \u00e4ussern Leben der Ehsten_, p.\n      475.\n\n  657 E. B. Cross, \u201cOn the Karens,\u201d in _Journal of the American Oriental\n      Society_, iv. 311 _sq._\n\n  658 Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, ii. 256, iii. 71, 230,\n      235 _sq._\n\n  659 Bastian, _op. cit._ ii. 150; Sangermano, _Description of the Burmese\n      Empire_ (Rangoon, 1885), p. 131; C. F. S. Forbes, _British Burma_,\n      p. 334; Shway Yoe, _The Burman_, i. 91.\n\n  660 J. Moura, _Le Royaume du Cambodge_, i. 178, 388.\n\n  661 Duarte Barbosa, _Description of the Coasts of East Africa and\n      Malabar in the beginning of the Sixteenth Century_ (Hakluyt Society,\n      1866), p. 197.\n\n  662 David Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the Pacific Ocean in the\n      U.S. Frigate Essex_ (New York, 1822), ii. 65.\n\n  663 Vincendon-Dumoulin et Desgraz, _Iles Marquises_, p. 262.\n\n  664 Langsdorff, _Reise um die Welt_, i. 115 _sq._\n\n  665 Capt. James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 427 (ed. 1809).\n\n  666 Jules Remy, _Ka Mooolelo Hawaii, Histoire de L\u2019Archipel Havaiien_\n      (Paris and Leipzig, 1862), p. 159.\n\n  667 Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iii. 102.\n\n  668 James Wilson, _A Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_\n      (London, 1799). p. 354 _sq._\n\n  669 R. Taylor, _Te Ika a Maui: or, New Zealand and its Inhabitants_, p.\n      165.\n\n  670 \u201cCustoms of the New Caledonian Women,\u201d in _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._\n      vii. 206; B. Hawkins, \u201cSketch of the Creek Country,\u201d in _Collections\n      of the Georgia Historical Society_, iii. pt. i. (Savannah, 1848), p.\n      78; A. S. Gatschet, _Migration Legend of the Creek Indians_, i. 185;\n      _Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner_ (London,\n      1830), p. 122; Kohl, _Kitschi-Gami_, ii. 168.\n\n  671 R. Taylor, _l.c._\n\n  672 E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_, p. 293;\n      _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, p. 107,\n      _sq._\n\n  673 J. Dumont D\u2019Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et \u00e0 la recherche de La\n      P\u00e9rouse, ex\u00e9cut\u00e9 sous son commandement sur la corvette Astrolabe.\n      Histoire du Voyage_, ii. 534.\n\n  674 R. A. Cruise, _Journal of a Ten Months\u2019 Residence in New Zealand_\n      (London, 1823), p. 187; Dumont D\u2019Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 533; E.\n      Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_ (London, 1851),\n      p. 30.\n\n  675 Agathias i. 3; Grimm, _Deutsche Rechtsalterth\u00fcmer_, p. 239 _sqq._\n\n  676 G. M. Dawson, \u201cOn the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands,\u201d\n      in _Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for 1878-79_, p.\n      123 B.\n\n  677 P. N. Wilken, \u201cBijdragen tot de kennis van de zeden en gewoonten der\n      Alfoeren in de Minahassa,\u201d in _Mededeelingen van wege het\n      Nederlandsche Zendelingvenootschap_, vii. (1863) p. 126.\n\n  678 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,\n      p. 137.\n\n  679 Riedel, _op. cit._ p. 292 _sq._\n\n  680 Diodorus Siculus, i. 18.\n\n  681 W. Robertson Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_, p. 152\n      _sq._\n\n  682 Valerius Flaccus, _Argonaut_, i. 378 _sq._:\u2014\n\n      \u201c_Tectus et Eurytion servato colla capillo,_\n      _ Quem pater Aonias reducem tondebit ad aras._\u201d\n\n  683 Homer, _Iliad_, xxiii. 141 _sqq._\n\n  684 D. Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the Pacific Ocean_, ii. 120.\n\n  685 Paulus Diaconus, _Hist. Langobard._ iii. 7.\n\n  686 Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 387.\n\n  687 Numbers vi. 5.\n\n  688 J. A. E. K\u00f6hler, _Volksbrauch_, etc. _im Voigtlande_, p. 424; W.\n      Henderson, _Folk-lore of the Northern Counties_, p. 16 _sq._; F.\n      Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. 258; Zingerle,\n      _Sitten, Br\u00e4uche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes_,2 Nos. 46, 72; J.\n      W. Wolf, _Beitrage zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. 208 (No. 45), 209\n      (No. 53); Knoop, _Volkssagen, Erz\u00e4hlungen_, etc. _aus dem \u00f6stlichen\n      Hinterpommern_, p. 157 (No. 23); E. Veckenstedt, _Wendische Sagen,\n      M\u00e4rchen und abergl\u00e4ubische Gebr\u00e4uche_, p. 445; J. Haltrieh, _Zur\n      Volkskunde der Siebenb\u00fcrger Sachsen_, p. 313; E. Krause,\n      \u201cAbergl\u00e4ubische Kuren u. sonstiger Aberglaube in Berlin,\u201d\n      _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Ethnologie_, xv. 84.\n\n_  689 Panjab Notes and Queries_, ii. No. 1092.\n\n  690 G. Gibbs, \u201cNotes on the Tinneh or Chepewyan Indians of British and\n      Russian America,\u201d in _Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution_,\n      1866, p. 305; W. Dall, _Alaska and its Resources_, p. 202. The\n      reason alleged by the Indians (that if the girls\u2019 nails were cut\n      sooner the girls would be lazy and unable to embroider in porcupine\n      quill-work) is probably a late invention, like the reasons assigned\n      in Europe for the similar custom (the commonest being that the child\n      would become a thief).\n\n  691 Knoop, _l.c._\n\n  692 Wolf, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. 209 (No. 57).\n\n  693 R. Taylor, _New Zealand and its Inhabitants_, p. 206 _sqq._\n\n  694 Richard A. Cruise, _Journal of a Ten Months\u2019 Residence in New\n      Zealand_, p. 283 _sq._ Cp. Dumont D\u2019Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde\n      et \u00e0 la recherche de La P\u00e9rouse. Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832),\n      ii. 533.\n\n  695 E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_,\n      p. 108 _sqq._; Taylor, _l.c._\n\n  696 J. Moura, _Le Royaume du Cambodge_, i. 226 _sq._\n\n  697 See above, p. 111.\n\n  698 Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, i. 468 _sq._\n\n  699 D. Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the Pacific Ocean_, ii. 188.\n\n  700 J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, p. 36.\n\n  701 A. W. Howitt, \u201cOn Australian Medicine-men,\u201d in _Journ. Anthrop.\n      Inst._ xvi. 27. Cp. E. Palmer, \u201cNotes on some Australian Tribes,\u201d in\n      _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ xiii. 293; James Bonwick, _Daily Life of the\n      Tasmanians_, p. 178; James Chalmers, _Pioneering in New Guinea_, p.\n      187; J. S. Polack, _Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders_, i.\n      282; Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, iii. 270;\n      Langsdorff, _Reise um die Welt_, i. 134 _sq._ A. S. Thomson, _The\n      Story of New Zealand_, i. 79, 116 _sq._; Ellis, _Polynesian\n      Researches_, i. 364; Zingerle, _Sitten, Br\u00e4uche und Meinungen des\n      Tiroler Volkes_,2 No. 178.\n\n  702 Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_, p. 509;\n      Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. 258; J. A. E. K\u00f6hler,\n      _Volksbrauch_ etc. _im Voigtlande_, p. 425; A. Witzschel, _Sagen,\n      Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_, p. 282; Zingerle, _op. cit._\n      No. 180; Wolf, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. 224 (No.\n      273).\n\n  703 Zingerle, _op. cit._ No. 181.\n\n  704 Zingerle, _op. cit._ Nos. 176, 179.\n\n  705 A. Krause, _Die Tlinkit-Indianer_. (Jena, 1885), p. 300.\n\n  706 Petronius, _Sat._ 104.\n\n  707 Bastian, _Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, i. 231\n      _sq._; _id._, _Ein Besuch in San Salvador_, p. 117.\n\n  708 W. Stanbridge, \u201cOn the Aborigines of Victoria,\u201d in _Transact.\n      Ethnolog. Soc. of London_, i. 300.\n\n  709 Fran\u00e7ois Pyrard, _Voyages to the East Indies, the Maldives, the\n      Moluccas, and Brazil_. Translated by Albert Gray (Hakluyt Society,\n      1887), i. 110 _sq._\n\n  710 Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, p.\n      110.\n\n  711 Polack, _Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders_, i. 38 _sq._\n\n  712 James Wilson, _A Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_,\n      p. 355.\n\n  713 Aulus Gellius, x. 15, 15.\n\n  714 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvi. 235; Festus, _s.v._ _capillatam vel\n      capillarem arborem_.\n\n  715 Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_,2 \u00a7 464.\n\n  716 W. Mannhardt, _Germanische Mythen_, p. 630.\n\n  717 W. Henderson, _Folk-lore of the Northern Counties_, p. 17.\n\n  718 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,\n      p. 74.\n\n  719 Riedel, _op. cit._ p. 265.\n\n  720 G. Heijmering \u201cZeden en gewoonten op het eiland Rottie,\u201d in\n      _Tijdschrift voor Ne\u00earland\u2019s Indie_ (1843), _dl._ ii. 634-637.\n\n  721 W. Dall, _Alaska and its Resources_, p. 54; F. Whymper, \u201cThe Natives\n      of the Youkon River,\u201d in _Transact. Ethnolog. Soc. of London_, vii.\n      174.\n\n  722 E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_, p.\n      509.\n\n  723 W. Mannhardt, _Germanische Mythen_, p. 630.\n\n  724 H. B. Guppy, _The Solomon Islands and their Natives_, p. 54.\n\n  725 Fargaard, xvii.\n\n_  726 Grihya-S\u00fbtras_, translated by H. Oldenberg (Oxford, 1886), vol. i.\n      p. 57.\n\n  727 R. W. Felkin, \u201cNotes on the Madi or Moru tribe of Central Africa,\u201d\n      in _Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, xii. (1882-84)\n      p. 332.\n\n  728 A. Steedman, _Wanderings and Adventures in the Interior of Southern\n      Africa_ (London, 1835), i. 266.\n\n_  729 Emin Pasha in Central Africa, being a Collection of his Letters and\n      Journals_ (London, 1888), p. 74.\n\n  730 J. L. Wilson, _West Afrika_, p. 159 (German trans.)\n\n  731 N. P. Wilken en J. A. Schwarz, \u201cAllerlei over het land en volk van\n      Bolaang Mongondou,\u201d in _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche\n      Zendelinggenootschap_, xi. (1867) p. 322.\n\n  732 Garcilasso de la Vega, _First part of the Royal Commentaries of the\n      Yncas_, bk. ii. ch. 7 (vol. i. p. 127, Markham\u2019s translation).\n\n_  733 M\u00e9lusine_, 1878, c. 583 _sq._\n\n_  734 The People of Turkey_, by a Consul\u2019s daughter and wife, ii. 250.\n\n  735 Boecler-Kreutzwald, _Der Ehsten abergl\u00e4ubische Gebr\u00e4uche, Weisen und\n      Gewohnheiten_, p. 139; F. J. Wiedemann, _Aus dem innern und \u00e4ussern\n      Leben der Ehsten_, p. 491.\n\n  736 R. W. Felkin, \u201cNotes on the For tribe of Central Africa,\u201d in\n      _Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, xiii. (1884-86) p.\n      230.\n\n  737 Zingerle, _Sitten, Br\u00e4uche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes_,2 Nos.\n      176, 580; _M\u00e9lusine_, 1878, c. 79.\n\n  738 Musters, \u201cOn the Races of Patagonia,\u201d in _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ i.\n      197; J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, p. 36.\n\n  739 David Livingstone, _Narrative of Expedition to the Zambesi_, p. 46\n      _sq._\n\n  740 Zingerle, _op. cit._ Nos. 177, 179, 180.\n\n  741 M. Jahn, _Hexenwesen und Zauberei in Pommern_, p. 15; _M\u00e9lusine_,\n      1878, c. 79.\n\n  742 E. H. Meyer, _Indogermanische Mythen_, ii. _Achilleis_ (Berlin,\n      1887), p. 523.\n\n  743 Above, p. 201.\n\n  744 Above, pp. 167, 169 _sqq._\n\n  745 W. Ridley, \u201cReport on Australian Languages and Traditions,\u201d in\n      _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ ii. 268.\n\n  746 See G. A. Wilken, _Ueber das Haaropfer und einige andere\n      Trauergebr\u00e4uche bei den V\u00f6lkern Indonesiens_, p. 94 _sqq._; H.\n      Ploss, Das Kind in Branch und Sitte der V\u00f6lker2 i. 289 _sqq._\n\n  747 Above, p. 194.\n\n  748 Above, p. 157 _sq._\n\n  749 Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 375.\n\n  750 Above, p. 117.\n\n  751 Bastian, _Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, ii. 170. The\n      blood may be drunk by them as a medium of inspiration. See above, p.\n      34 _sq._\n\n  752 Dapper, _Description de l\u2019Afrique_, p. 336.\n\n  753 T. J. Hutchinson, _Impressions of Western Africa_ (London, 1858), p.\n      198.\n\n  754 G. Watt (quoting Col. W. J. M\u2019Culloch), \u201cThe Aboriginal Tribes of\n      Manipur,\u201d in _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ xvi. 360.\n\n  755 Meiners, _Geschichte der Religionen_, i. 48.\n\n  756 R. I. Dodge, _Our Wild Indians_, p. 112.\n\n  757 Blumentritt, \u201cDer Ahnencultus und die relig. Anschauungen der\n      Malaien des Philippinen-Archipels,\u201d in _Mittheilungen d. Wiener\n      Geogr. Gesellschaft_, 1882, p. 198.\n\n  758 Theophilus Hahn, _Tsuni-Goam, the Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi_,\n      pp. 56, 69.\n\n  759 Diodorus, iii. 61; Pomponius Mela, ii. 7, 112; Minucius Felix,\n      _Octavius_, 21.\n\n  760 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 35; Philochorus, _Fragm._ 22, in\n      M\u00fcller\u2019s _Fragm. Hist. Graec._ i. p. 387.\n\n  761 Porphyry, _Vit. Pythag._ 16.\n\n  762 Philochorus, _Fr._ 184, in _Fragm. Hist. Graec._ ii. p. 414.\n\n  763 Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_, p. 574 _sq._\n\n  764 See above, p. 121 _sqq._\n\n  765 Gill, _Myths and Songs of the South Pacific_, p. 163.\n\n  766 Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Expedition_ (London,\n      1845), iii. 96.\n\n_  767 U. S. Exploring Expedition, Ethnology and Philology_, by H. Hale\n      (Philadelphia, 1846), p. 65. Cp. Th. Williams, _Fiji and the\n      Fijians_, i. 183; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the\n      Islands of the Western Pacific_, p. 248.\n\n  768 Turner, _Samoa_, p. 335.\n\n  769 Martin Flad, _A Short Description of the Falasha and Kamants in\n      Abyssinia_, p. 19.\n\n  770 J. B. Labat, _Relation historique de l\u2019Ethiopie Occidentale_, i. 260\n      _sq._; W. Winwood Reade, _Savage Africa_, p. 362.\n\n  771 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 6; Strabo, xvii. 2, 3.\n\n_  772 Emin Pasha in Central Africa, being a Collection of his Letters and\n      Journals_ (London, 1888), p. 91.\n\n  773 P. Guillem\u00e9, \u201cCredenze religiose dei Negri di Kibanga nell\u2019 Alto\n      Congo,\u201d in _Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari_, vii.\n      (1888) p. 231.\n\n  774 Nathaniel Isaacs, _Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa_, i. p.\n      295 _sq._, cp. pp. 232, 290 _sq._\n\n  775 Above, p. 45 _sq._\n\n  776 Dos Santos, \u201cHistory of Eastern Ethiopia\u201d (published at Paris in\n      1684), in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_, xvi. 684.\n\n  777 Plutarch, _Agesilaus_, 3.\n\n  778 Herodotus, iii. 20; Aristotle, _Politics_, iv. 4, 4; Athenaeus,\n      xiii. p. 566. According to Nicolaus Damascenus (_Fr._ 142, in\n      _Fragm. Historic. Graecor._ ed. C. M\u00fcller, iii. p. 463), the\n      handsomest and bravest man was only raised to the throne when the\n      king had no heirs, the heirs being the sons of his sisters. But this\n      limitation is not mentioned by the other authorities. Among the\n      Gordioi the fattest man was chosen king; among the Syrakoi, the\n      tallest, or the man with the longest head. Zenobius, v. 25.\n\n  779 G. Nachtigal, _Sahar\u00e2 und S\u00fbd\u00e2n_ (Leipzig, 1889), iii. 225; Bastian,\n      _Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, i. 220.\n\n  780 Strabo, xvii. 2, 3; Diodorus, iii. 7.\n\n  781 Mohammed Ebn-Omar El-Tounsy, _Voyage au Darfour_ (Paris, 1845), p.\n      162 _sq._; _Travels of an Arab Merchant in Soudan_, abridged from\n      the French by Bayle St. John (London, 1854), p. 78; _Bulletin de la\n      Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie_ (Paris) IVme S\u00e9rie, iv. (1852) p. 539 _sq._\n\n  782 R. W. Felkin, \u201cNotes on the Waganda Tribe of Central Africa,\u201d in\n      _Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, xiii. (1884-1886)\n      p. 711.\n\n_  783 Narrative of events in Borneo and Celebes, from the Journals of\n      James Brooke, Esq., Rajah of Sarawak._ By Captain R. Mundy, i. 134.\n\n  784 Simon Grunau, _Preussische Chronik_, herausgegeben von Dr. M.\n      Perlbach (Leipzig, 1876), i. p. 97.\n\n  785 Barbosa, _A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in\n      the beginning of the Sixteenth Century_ (Hakluyt Society, 1866), p.\n      172 _sq._\n\n  786 Alex. Hamilton, \u201cA new Account of the East Indies,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s\n      _Voyages and Travels_, viii. 374.\n\n  787 Athenaeus, xiv. p. 639 c; Dio Chrysostom, _Orat._ iv. p. 69 _sq._\n      (vol. i. p. 76, ed. Dindorf). Dio Chrysostom does not mention his\n      authority, but it was probably either Berosus or Ctesias. Though the\n      execution of the mock king is not mentioned in the passage of\n      Berosus cited by Athenaeus, the omission is probably due to the fact\n      that the mention of it was not germane to Athenaeus\u2019s purpose, which\n      was simply to give a list of festivals at which masters waited on\n      their servants. That the \u03b6\u03c9\u03b3\u03ac\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2 was put to death is further shown\n      by Macrobius, _Sat._ iii. 7, 6, \u201c_Animas vero sacratorum hominum\n      quos \u2020 zanas Graeci vocant, dis debitas aestimabant_,\u201d where for\n      _zanas_ we should probably read \u03b6\u03c9\u03b3\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c2 with Liebrecht, in\n      _Philologus_, xxii. 710, and Bachofen, _Die Sage von Tanaquil_, p.\n      52, _note_ 16. The custom, so far as appears from our authorities,\n      does not date from before the Persian domination in Babylon; but\n      probably it was much older. In the passage of Dio Chrysostom\n      \u1f10\u03ba\u03c1\u03ad\u03bc\u03b1\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd should be translated \u201ccrucified\u201d (or \u201cimpaled\u201d), not\n      \u201chung.\u201d It is strange that this, the regular, sense of \u03ba\u03c1\u03b5\u03bc\u03ac\u03bd\u03bd\u03c5\u03bc\u03b9,\n      as applied to executions, should not be noticed even in the latest\n      edition of Liddell and Scott\u2019s _Greek Lexicon_. Hanging, though a\n      mode of suicide, was not a mode of execution in antiquity either in\n      the east or west. In one of the passages cited by L. and S. for the\n      sense \u201cto hang\u201d (Plutarch, _Caes._ 2), the context proves that the\n      meaning is \u201cto crucify.\u201d\n\n  788 E. Aymonier, _Notice sur le Cambodge_, p. 61; J. Moura, _Le Royaume\n      du Cambodge_, i. 327 _sq._ For the connection of the temporary\n      king\u2019s family with the royal house, see Aymonier, _op. cit._ p. 36\n      _sq._\n\n  789 Pallegoix, _Description du Royaume Thai ou Siam_, i. 250; Bastian,\n      _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, iii. 305-309, 526-528; Turpin,\n      _History of Siam_, in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_, ix. 581\n      _sq._ Bowring (_Siam_, i. 158 _sq._) copies, as usual, from\n      Pallegoix.\n\n  790 Lieut. Col. James Low, \u201cOn the Laws of Muung Thai or Siam,\u201d in\n      _Journal of the Indian Archipelago_, i. (Singapore, 1847) p. 339;\n      Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, iii. 98, 314, 526 _sq._\n\n  791 C. B. Klunzinger, _Bilder aus Ober-\u00e4gypten, der W\u00fcste und dem Rothen\n      Meere_, p. 180 _sq._\n\n  792 J. W. Boers, \u201cOud volksgebruik in het Rijk van Jambi,\u201d in\n      _Tijdschrift voor Ne\u00earland\u2019s Indi\u00eb_, iii. (1840), dl. i. 372 _sqq._\n\n_  793 Panjab Notes and Queries_, i. 674.\n\n  794 Aeneas Sylvius, _Opera_ (B\u00e2le, 1571), p. 409 _sq._; Grimm, _Deutsche\n      Rechtsalterth\u00fcmer_, p. 253. According to Grimm (who does not refer\n      to Aeneas Sylvius) the cow and mare stood beside the prince, not the\n      peasant.\n\n  795 Lasicius, \u201cDe diis Samagitarum caeterorumque Sarmatarum,\u201d in\n      _Respublica sive Status Regni Poloniae, Lituaniae, Prussiae,\n      Livoniae_, etc. (Elzevir, 1627), p. 306 _sq._; _id._ edited by W.\n      Mannhardt in _Magazin herausgegeben von der Lettisch-Liter\u00e4rischen\n      Gesellschaft_, xiv. 91 _sq._\n\n  796 Macrobius, _Saturn._ v. 19, 13.\n\n  797 See above, p. 172 _sqq._\n\n  798 Philo of Byblus, quoted by Eusebius, _Praepar. Evang._ i. 10, 29\n      _sq._\n\n  799 2 Kings iii. 27.\n\n  800 Porphyry, _De abstin._ ii. 56.\n\n  801 Diodorus, xx. 14.\n\n  802 Porphyry, _De abstin._ ii. 54.\n\n  803 Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, ii. 311.\n\n  804 Strachey, _Historie of travaille into Virginia Britannia_ (Hakluyt\n      Society), p. 84.\n\n  805 J. L. Krapf, _Travels, Researches, and Missionary Labours during an\n      Eighteen Years\u2019 Residence in Eastern Africa_, p. 69 _sq._ Dr. Krapf,\n      who reports the custom at second hand, thinks that the existence of\n      the pillar may be doubted, but that the rest of the story harmonises\n      well enough with African superstition.\n\n  806 F. J. Mone, _Geschichte des Heidenthums im n\u00f6rdlichen Europa_, i.\n      119.\n\n  807 Above, p. 42 _sqq._\n\n  808 Nieuwenhuisen en Rosenberg, \u201cVerslag omtrent het eiland Nias,\u201d in\n      _Verhandelingen van het Batav. Genootschap van Kunsten en\n      Wetenschappen_, xxx. 85; Rosenberg, _Der Malayische Archipel_, p.\n      160; Chatelin, \u201cGodsdienst en bijgeloof der Niassers,\u201d in\n      _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxvi. 142\n      _sq._; Sundermann, \u201cDie Insel Nias und die Mission daselbst,\u201d in\n      _Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift_, xi. 445.\n\n  809 Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Expedition_ (London,\n      1845), iv. 453; _U. S. Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and\n      Philology_, by H. Hale, p. 203.\n\n  810 D. G. Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, p. 270 _sq._\n\n  811 Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ iv. 685; Cicero, _In Verr._ ii. 5, 45; K.\n      F. Hermann, _Griech. Privatalterth\u00fcmer_, ed. Blumner, p. 362 _note_\n      1.\n\n  812 Harland and Wilkinson, _Lancashire Folk-lore_, p. 7 _sq._\n\n  813 Fr. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. 235 _sq._; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 320 _sq._\n\n  814 E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_, pp.\n      409-419; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 349 _sq._\n\n  815 E. Sommer, _Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Sachsen und Th\u00fcringen_,\n      p. 154 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 335 _sq._\n\n  816 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 336.\n\n  817 Reinsberg\u2014D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 61; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 336 _sq._\n\n  818 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 263; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 343.\n\n  819 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 269 _sq._\n\n  820 See above, p. 92 _sq._\n\n  821 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 264 _sq._; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 353 _sq._\n\n  822 See pp. 243, 246.\n\n  823 See p. 15 _sqq._\n\n  824 See p. 243.\n\n  825 Above, p. 4.\n\n  826 Marquardt, _R\u00f6mische Staatsverwaltung_, iii.2 323 _sq._\n\n  827 See above, p. 6.\n\n  828 Caesar, _Bell. Gall._ vi. 16; Adam of Bremen, _Descript. Insul.\n      Aquil._ c. 27; Olaus Magnus, iii. 6; Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4\n      i. 35 _sqq._; Mone, _Geschichte des nordischen Heidenthums_, i. 69,\n      119, 120, 149, 187 _sq._\n\n  829 J. G. Bourke, _Snake Dance of the Moquis of Arizona_, p. 196 _sq._\n\n  830 Euripides, _Iphig. in Taur._ 1458 _sqq._\n\n  831 Nieuwenhuisen en Rosenberg, \u201cVerslag omtrent het eiland Nias,\u201d in\n      _Verhandelingen van het Batav. Genootsch. van Kunsten en\n      Wetenschappen_, xxx. 43.\n\n  832 J. A. Dubois, Moeurs, _Institutions et C\u00e9r\u00e9monies des Peuples de\n      l\u2019Inde_, i. 151 _sq._\n\n  833 \u201cThe Rudhir\u00e1dhy\u00e1y\u0103, or sanguinary chapter,\u201d translated from the\n      _Calica Puran_ by W. C. Blaquiere, in _Asiatick Researches_, v. 376\n      (8vo. ed. London, 1807).\n\n  834 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 281.\n\n  835 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 258 _sq._\n\n  836 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 645; K. Haupt, _Sagenbuch der\n      Lausitz_, ii. 58; Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_,\n      p. 86 _sq._; _id._, _Das festliche Jahr_, p. 77 _sq._ The Fourth\n      Sunday in Lent is also known as Mid-Lent, because it falls in the\n      middle of Lent, or as _Laetare_ from the first word of the liturgy\n      for the day. In the Roman Calendar it is the Sunday of the Rose,\n      _Domenica rosae_.\n\n  837 See p. 244.\n\n  838 E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebra\u00fcche aus Schwaben_, p.\n      371.\n\n  839 J. Haltrich, _Zur Volkskunde der Siebenb\u00fcrger Sachsen_ (Wien, 1885),\n      p. 284 _sq._\n\n  840 Leoprechting, _Aus dem Lechrain_, p. 162 _sqq._; Mannhardt,\n      _Baumkultus_, p. 411.\n\n  841 E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_ p.\n      374; cp. Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmlichesaus Schwaben_, ii. 55.\n\n  842 E. Meier, _op. cit._ p. 372.\n\n  843 E. Meier, _op. cit._ p. 373.\n\n  844 E. Meier, _op. cit._ pp. 373, 374.\n\n  845 A. Kuhn, _Sagen, Gebr\u00e4uche und M\u00e4rchen aus Westfalen_, ii. 130.\n\n  846 F. J. Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren und \u00e4usseren Leben der Ehsten_, p.\n      353.\n\n  847 E. Meier, _op. cit._ p. 374.\n\n  848 H. Pr\u00f6hle, _Harzbilder_, p. 54.\n\n  849 Aug. Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_, p. 193.\n\n  850 Witzschel, _op. cit._ p. 199.\n\n  851 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 642.\n\n  852 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 90 _sq._\n\n  853 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _op. cit._ p. 91.\n\n  854 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 639 _sq._; Mannhardt,\n      _Baumkultus_, p. 412.\n\n  855 Grimm, _op. cit._ ii. 644; K. Haupt, _Sagenbuch der Lausitz_, ii.\n      55.\n\n  856 Grimm, _op. cit._ ii. 640, 643.\n\n  857 Vernalecken, _Mythen und Br\u00e4uche des Volkes in Oesterreich_, p. 294\n      _sq._; Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 90.\n\n  858 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 640.\n\n  859 J. A. E. K\u00f6hler, _Volksbrauch, Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte\n      Ueberlieferungen im Voigtlande_, p. 171.\n\n  860 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Das festliche Jahr_, p. 80.\n\n  861 Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 211.\n\n_  862 Ib._ p. 210.\n\n  863 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 652; H. Usener, \u201cItalische\n      Mythen,\u201d in _Rheinisches Museum_, N. F. xxx. (1875) p. 191 _sq._\n\n  864 G. Pitr\u00e8, _Spettacoli e feste popolari siciliane_ (Palermo, 1881),\n      p. 207 _sq._\n\n_  865 Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari_, iv. (1885) p.\n      294 _sq._\n\n  866 H. Usener, _op. cit._ p. 193.\n\n  867 Vincenzo Dorsa, _La tradizione greco-latina negli usi e nelle\n      credenze popolari della Calabria citeriore_ (Cosenza, 1884), p. 43\n      _sq._\n\n  868 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 652; H. Usener, \u201cItalische\n      Mythen,\u201d in _Rheinisches Museum_, N. F. xxx. 1875, p. 191 _sq._\n\n  869 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 89 _sq._; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 156. This custom has been already\n      referred to. See p. 82.\n\n  870 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Das festliche Jahr_, p. 82; Philo vom Walde,\n      _Schlesien in Sage und Brauch_ (N.D. preface dated 1883), p. 122.\n\n  871 Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_, p. 192 _sq._\n\n  872 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 643 _sq._; K. Haupt, _Sagenbuch\n      der Lausitz_, ii. 54 _sq._; Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 412 _sq._;\n      Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 211.\n\n  873 Grimm, _op. cit._ ii. 644; K. Haupt, _op. cit._ ii. 55.\n\n  874 E. Gerard, _The Land beyond the Forest_, ii. 47-49.\n\n  875 This is also the view taken of the custom by Mannhardt,\n      _Baumkultus_, p. 419.\n\n  876 Vernalecken, _Mythen und Br\u00e4uche des Volkes in Oesterreich_, p. 293\n      _sq._\n\n  877 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Das festliche Jahr_, p. 82.\n\n  878 Philo vom Walde, _Schlesien in Sage und Brauch_, p. 122.\n\n  879 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 640 _sq._\n\n  880 See above, p. 260.\n\n  881 K. Schwenk, _Die Mythologie der Slawen_, p. 217 _sq._\n\n  882 Above, p. 263.\n\n  883 See above, pp. 83, 263.\n\n  884 Above, p. 263, and Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 644;\n      Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 87 _sq._\n\n  885 Above, p. 263.\n\n  886 See above, p. 266 _sqq._\n\n  887 Above, pp. 257, 259, 265; and Grimm, _D. M._4 ii. 643.\n\n  888 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 88. Sometimes\n      the effigy of Death (without a tree) is carried round by boys who\n      collect gratuities. Grimm, _D. M._4 ii. 644.\n\n  889 Above, p. 243.\n\n  890 Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren und \u00e4usseren Leben der Ehsten_, p. 353;\n      Holzmayer, \u201cOsiliana,\u201d in _Verhandlungen der gelehrten Estnischen\n      Gesellschaft zu Dorpat_, vii. Heft 2, p. 10 _sq._; W. Mannhardt,\n      _Baumkultus_, p. 407 _sq._\n\n  891 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 417-421.\n\n  892 Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 221.\n\n  893 Ralston, _op. cit._ p. 241.\n\n  894 Ralston, _op. cit._ p. 243 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p.\n      414.\n\n  895 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 414 _sq._; Ralston, _op. cit._ p.\n      244.\n\n  896 Ralston, _op. cit._ p. 245; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 416.\n\n  897 W. Mannhardt, _l.c._; Ralston, _l.c._\n\n  898 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 644.\n\n  899 J. G. von Hahn, _Albanesische Studien_, i. 160.\n\n  900 Captain R. C. Temple, in _Indian Antiquary_, xi. (1882) p. 297 _sq._\n\n  901 See above, p. 94 _sqq._\n\n  902 Above, p. 70 _sqq._\n\n  903 Baudissin, _Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte_, i. 299; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_, p. 274.\n\n  904 Plutarch, _Alcibiades_, 18; Zenobius, _Centur._ i. 49; Theocritus,\n      xv. 132 _sq._; Eustathius on Homer, _Od._ xi. 590.\n\n  905 Besides Lucian (cited below) see Jerome, _Comment. in Ezechiel._\n      viii. 14, _in qua (solemnitate) plangitur quasi mortuus, et postea\n      reviviscens, canitur atque laudatur ... interfectionem et\n      resurrectionem Adonidis planctu et gaudio prosequens_.\n\n  906 Theocritus, xv.\n\n  907 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 277.\n\n  908 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 6. The words \u1f10\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u1f20\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1 \u03c0\u03ad\u03bc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9 imply that\n      the ascension was supposed to take place in the presence, if not\n      before the eyes, of the worshipping crowds.\n\n  909 Lucian, _op. cit._ 8. The discoloration of the river and the sea was\n      observed by Maundrell on 17/27th March 1696/1697. See his \u201cJourney\n      from Aleppo to Jerusalem,\u201d in Bohn\u2019s _Early Travels in Palestine_,\n      edited by Thomas Wright, p. 411. Renan observed the discoloration at\n      the beginning of February; Baudissin, _Studien_, i. 298 (referring\n      to Renan, _Mission de Ph\u00e9nicie_, p. 283). Milton\u2019s lines will occur\n      to most readers.\n\n  910 Ovid, _Metam._ x. 735, compared with Bion i. 66. The latter,\n      however, makes the anemone spring from the tears, as the rose from\n      the blood of Adonis.\n\n  911 W. Robertson Smith, \u201cCtesias and the Sem\u00edramis legend,\u201d in _English\n      Historical Review_, April 1887, following Lagarde.\n\n  912 In the Alexandrian ceremony, however, it appears to have been the\n      image of Adonis only which was thrown into the sea.\n\n  913 Apollodorus, _Biblioth._ iii. 14, 4; Schol. on Theocritus, i. 109;\n      Antoninus Liberalis, 34; Tzetzes on Lycophron, 829; Ovid, _Metam._\n      x. 489 _sqq._; Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ v. 72, and on _Bucol._ x.\n      18; Hyginus, _Fab._ 58, 164; Fulgentius, iii. 8. The word Myrrha or\n      Smyrna is borrowed from the Phoenician (Liddell and Scott, _Greek\n      Lexicon_, _s.v._ \u03c3\u03bc\u03cd\u03c1\u03bd\u03b1). Hence the mother\u2019s name, as well as the\n      son\u2019s, was taken directly from the Semites.\n\n  914 Schol. on Theocritus, iii. 48; Hyginus, _Astronom._ ii. 7; Lucian,\n      _Dialog. deor._ xi. 1; Cornutus, _De natura deorum_, 28, p. 163\n      _sq._ ed. Osannus; Apollodorus, iii. 14, 4.\n\n  915 Thus, after the autumnal equinox the Egyptians celebrated the\n      \u201cnativity of the sun\u2019s walking-sticks,\u201d because, as the sun declined\n      daily in the sky, and his heat and light diminished, he was supposed\n      to need a staff with which to support his steps. Plutarch, _Isis et\n      Osiris_, 52.\n\n  916 Schol. on Theocritus, iii. 48, \u1f41 \u1f0c\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd\u03b9\u03c2, \u1f24\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd \u1f41 \u03c3\u1fd6\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f41\n      \u03c3\u03c0\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, \u1f12\u03be \u03bc\u1fc6\u03bd\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1fc7 \u03b3\u1fc7 \u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03b5\u1fd6 \u1f00\u03c0\u1f78 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03c3\u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u1fb6\u03c2, \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f12\u03be \u03bc\u1fc6\u03bd\u03b1\u03c2\n      \u1f14\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u1f21 \u1f08\u03c6\u03c1\u03bf\u03b4\u03af\u03c4\u03b7, \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c4\u03ad\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03bd \u1f21 \u03b5\u1f50\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c3\u03af\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f00\u03ad\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2. \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f10\u03ba\u03c4\u03cc\u03c4\u03b5\n      \u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03bf\u1f31 \u1f04\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c0\u03bf\u03b9. Jerome on Ezech. c. viii. 14. _Eadem\n      gentilitas hujuscemodi fabulas poetarum, quae habent turpitudinem,\n      interpretatur subtiliter interfectionem et resurrectionem Adonidis\n      planctu et gaudio prosequens: quorum alterum in seminibus, quae\n      moriuntur in terra, alterum in segetibus, quibus mortua semina\n      renascuntur, ostendi putat._ Ammianus Marcellinus, xix. 1, 11, _in\n      sollemnibus Adonidis sacris, quod simulacrum aliquod esse frugum\n      adultarum religiones mysticae docent_. Id. xxii. 9, 15, _amato\n      Veneris, ut fabulae fingunt, apri dente ferali deleto, quod in\n      adulto flore sectarum est indicium frugum_. Clemens Alexandr. _Hom._\n      6, 11 (quoted by W. Mannhardt, _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_, p.\n      281), \u03bb\u03ac\u03bc\u03b2\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f0c\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd\u03b9\u03bd \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u1f61\u03c1\u03b1\u03af\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\u03c0\u03bf\u03cd\u03c2. Etymolog. Magn.\n      \u1f0c\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd\u03b9\u03c2 \u03ba\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd; \u03b4\u03cd\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f41 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\u03c0\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f36\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f04\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd\u03b9\u03c2; \u03bf\u1f37\u03bf\u03bd \u1f00\u03b4\u03ce\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2\n      \u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\u03c0\u03cc\u03c2, \u1f00\u03c1\u03ad\u03c3\u03ba\u03c9\u03bd. Eusebius, _Praepar. Evang._ iii. 11, 9, \u1f0c\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd\u03b9\u03c2 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2\n      \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03af\u03c9\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\u03c0\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f10\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03bc\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03c3\u03cd\u03bc\u03b2\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd.\n\n  917 D. Chwolsohn, _Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus_, ii. 27; _id._, _Ueber\n      Tamm\u00fbz und die Menschenverehrung bei den alten Babyloniern_, p. 38.\n\n  918 The comparison is due to Felix Liebrecht (_Zur Volkskunde_, p. 259).\n\n  919 For the authorities see W. Mannhardt, _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_,\n      p. 279, _note_ 2, and p. 280, _note_ 2; to which add Diogenianus, i.\n      14; Plutarch, _De sera num. vind._ 17. Women only are mentioned as\n      planting the gardens of Adonis by Plutarch, _l.c._; Julian,\n      _Convivium_, p. 329 ed. Spanheim (p. 423 ed. Hertlein); Eustathius\n      on Homer, _Od._ xi. 590. On the other hand Diogenianus, _l.c._ says\n      \u03c6\u03c5\u03c4\u03b5\u03cd\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u1f22 \u03c6\u03c5\u03c4\u03b5\u03cd\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9.\n\n  920 Plutarch, _Alcibiades_, 18; _id._, _Nicias_, 13. The date of the\n      sailing of the fleet is given by Thucydides, vi. 30, \u03b8\u03ad\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2\n      \u03bc\u03b5\u03c3\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f24\u03b4\u03b7.\n\n  921 In hot southern countries like Egypt and the Semitic regions of\n      Western Asia, where vegetation depends chiefly or entirely upon\n      irrigation, the purpose of the charm is doubtless to secure a\n      plentiful flow of water in the streams. But as the ultimate object\n      and the charms for securing it are the same in both cases, it has\n      not been thought necessary always to point out the distinction.\n\n  922 See above, p. 16.\n\n  923 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 214; W. Schmidt, _Das Jahr und seine\n      Tage in Meinung und Brauch der Rom\u00e4nen Siebenb\u00fcrgens_, p. 18 _sq._\n\n  924 G. A. Heinrich, _Agrarische Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche unter den Sachsen\n      Siebenb\u00fcrgens_ (Hermanstadt, 1880), p. 24; Wsissocki, _Sitten und\n      Brauch der Siebenb\u00fcrger Sachsen_ (Hamburg, 1888), p. 32.\n\n  925 Matth\u00e4us Praetorius, _Deliciae Prussicae_, 55; W. Mannhardt,\n      _Baumkultus_, p. 214 _sq._ _note_.\n\n  926 Praetorius, _op. cit._, 60; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 215,\n      _note_.\n\n  927 A. H. Sayce, _Religion of the ancient Babylonians_ (Hibbert\n      Lectures, 1887), p. 221 _sqq._; W. Mannhardt, _Antike Wald- und\n      Feldkulte_, p. 275.\n\n  928 According to Jerome (on Ezechiel, viii. 14), Thammuz was June; but\n      according to modern scholars the month corresponded rather to July,\n      or to part of June and part of July. Movers, _Die Phoenizier_, i.\n      210; Mannhardt, _A. W. F._ p. 275. My friend, Prof. W. Robertson\n      Smith, informs me that owing to the variations of the local Syrian\n      calendars the month Thammuz fell in different places at different\n      times, from midsummer to autumn, or from June to September.\n\n  929 A. H. Sayce, _op. cit._ p. 238.\n\n  930 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 259.\n\n  931 Above, p. 67.\n\n  932 Antonio Bresciani, _Dei costumi dell\u2019 isola di Sardegna comparati\n      cogli antichissimi popoli orientali_ (Rome and Turin, 1866), p. 427\n      _sq._; R. Tennant, _Sardinia and its Resources_ (Rome and London,\n      1885), p. 187; S. Gabriele, \u201cUsi dei contadini della Sardegna,\u201d\n      _Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari_, vii. (1888) p.\n      469 _sq._ Tennant says that the pots are kept in a dark warm place,\n      and that the children leap across the fire.\n\n  933 See ch. i. p. 78 _sq._\n\n  934 P. 272.\n\n  935 L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_, p. 257.\n\n  936 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 464; Leoprechting, _Aus dem\n      Lechrain_, p. 183.\n\n  937 G. Pitr\u00e8, _Spettacoli e feste popolari siciliane_, p. 296 _sq._\n\n  938 G. Pitr\u00e8, _op. cit._ p. 302 sq.; Antonio de Nino, _Usi Abruzzesi_,\n      i. 55 _sq._; Gubernatis, _Usi Nuziali_, p. 39 _sq._ Cp. _Archivio\n      per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari_, i. 135. At Smyrna a\n      blossom of the _agnus castus_ is used on St. John\u2019s Day for a\n      similar purpose, but the mode in which the omens are drawn is\n      somewhat different, _Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni\n      popolari_, vii. (1888) p. 128 _sq._\n\n  939 Matth\u00e4us Praetorius, _Deliciae Prussicae_, herausgegeben von Dr. W.\n      Pierson (Berlin, 1871), p. 56.\n\n  940 See p. 274 _sq._\n\n  941 G. Pitr\u00e8, _Spettacoli e feste popolari siciliane_, p. 211. A similar\n      custom is observed at Cosenza in Calabria. Vincenzo Dorsa, _La\n      tradizione greco-latina_, etc., p. 50. For the Easter ceremonies in\n      the Greek Church, see R. A. Arnold, _From the Levant_ (London,\n      1868), i. 251 _sqq._\n\n  942 \u03ba\u03ae\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u1f61\u03c3\u03af\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c4\u03b1\u03c6\u03af\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u1f08\u03b4\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03b4\u03b9, Eustathius on Homer, _Od._ xi.\n      590.\n\n  943 Hippolytus, _Refut. omn. haeres._ v. 9, p. 168, ed. Duncker and\n      Schneidewin; Socrates, _Hist. Eccles._ iii. 23, \u00a7\u00a7 51 _sqq._ p. 204.\n\n  944 That Attis was killed by a boar was stated by Hermesianax, an\n      elegiac poet of the fourth century B.C. (Pausanias, vii. 17); cp.\n      Schol. on Nicander, _Alex._ 8. The other story is told by Arnobius\n      (_Adversus nationes_, v. 5 _sqq._) on the authority of Timotheus, an\n      otherwise unknown writer, who professed to derive it _ex reconditis\n      antiquitatum libris et ex intimis mysteriis_. It is obviously\n      identical with the account which Pausanias mentions (_l.c._) as the\n      story current in Pessinus.\n\n  945 Pausanias, vii. 17; Julian, _Orat._ v. 177 B.\n\n  946 Ovid, _Metam._ x. 103 _sqq._\n\n  947 On the festival see especially Marquardt, _R\u00f6mische\n      Staatsverwaltung_, iii.2 370 _sqq._; Daremberg et Saglio,\n      _Dictionnaire des Antiquit\u00e9s grecques et romaines_, i. p. 1685 _sq._\n      (article \u201cCyb\u00e8le\u201d); W. Mannhardt, _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_, p.\n      291 _sqq._; _id._, _Baumkultus_, p. 572 _sqq._\n\n  948 Julian, _Orat._ v. 168 c; Joannes Lydus, _De mensibus_, iv. 41;\n      Arnobius, _Advers. nationes_, v. cc. 7, 16 _sq._; Firmicus Maternus,\n      _De errore profan. relig._ 27.\n\n  949 Julian, _l.c._ and 169 C.\n\n  950 Trebellius Pollio, _Claudius_, 4; Tertullian, _Apologet_. 25. For\n      other references, see Marquardt, _l.c._\n\n  951 Diodorus, iii. 59; Firmicus Maternus, _De err. profan. relig._ 3;\n      Arnobius, _Advers. nat._ v. 16; Schol. on Nicander, _Alex._ 8;\n      Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ ix. 116; Arrian, _Tactica_, 33. The\n      ceremony described in Firmicus Maternus, c. 22 (_nocte quadam\n      simulacrum in lectica supinum ponitur et per numeros digestis\n      fletibus plangitur.... Idolum sepelis. Idolum plangis_, etc.), may\n      very well be the mourning and funeral rites of Attis, to which he\n      had more briefly referred in c. 3.\n\n  952 On the _Hilaria_ see Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 21, 10; Julian, _Orat._\n      v. 168 D, 169 D; Damascius, _Vita Isidori_, in Photius, p. 345 A 5\n      _sqq._ ed. Bekker. On the resurrection, see Firmicus Maternus, 3,\n      _reginae suae amorem [Phryges] cum luctibus annuis consecrarunt, et\n      ut satis iratae mulieri facerent aut ut paenitenti solacium\n      quaererent, quem paulo ante sepelierant revixisse jactarunt....\n      Mortem ipsius_ [_i.e._ of Attis] _dicunt, quod semina collecta\n      conduntur, vitam rursus quod jacta semina annuis vicibus \u2020\n      reconduntur_ [_renascuntur_, C. Halm]. Again cp. id. 22, _Idolum\n      sepelis_. _Idolum plangis, idolum de sepultura proferis, et miser\n      cum haec feceris gaudes_; and Damascius, _l.c._ \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f31\u03bb\u03b1\u03c1\u03af\u03c9\u03bd\n      \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7\u03bd \u1f10\u03bf\u03c1\u03c4\u03ae\u03bd; \u1f45\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1 \u1f11\u03b4\u03ae\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u1f11\u03be \u1f04\u03b4\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b3\u03b5\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c5\u1fd6\u03b1\u03bd \u1f21\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c3\u03c9\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03af\u03b1\u03bd.\n      This last passage, compared with the formula in Firmicus Maternus,\n      c. 22\n\n      \u03b8\u03b1\u03c1\u03c1\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c4\u03b5 \u03bc\u03cd\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c3\u03b5\u03c3\u03c9\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5;\n      \u1f14\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u1f20\u03bc\u1fd6\u03bd \u1f10\u03ba \u03c0\u03cc\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd \u03c3\u03c9\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1\u03af\u03b1,\n\n      makes it probable that the ceremony described by Firmicus, c. 22, is\n      the resurrection of Attis.\n\n  953 Ovid, _Fast._ iv. 337 _sqq._; Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 3. For\n      other references see Marquardt and Mannhardt, _ll. cc._\n\n  954 Pausanias, vii. 17; Arnobius, _Adv. nationes_, v. 6.; cp.\n      Hippolytus, _Refut. omn. haeres._ v. 9, pp. 166, 168.\n\n  955 See above, p. 264 _sq._\n\n  956 Firmicus Maternus, 27.\n\n  957 Above, p. 81.\n\n  958 Hippolytus, _Ref. omn. haeres._ v. cc. 8, 9, pp. 162, 168; Firmicus\n      Maternus, _De errore prof. relig._ 3.\n\n  959 Julian, _Orat._ v. 174 A B.\n\n  960 Duncker, _Geschichte des Alterthums_,5 i. 456, _note_ 4; Roscher,\n      _Ausf\u00fchrliches Lexikon d. griech. u. r\u00f6m. Mythologie_, i. c. 724.\n      Cp. Polybius, xxii. 20 (18).\n\n  961 The conjecture is that of Henzen in _Annal. d. Inst._ 1856, p. 110,\n      referred to in Roscher, _l.c._\n\n  962 See pp. 84, 231.\n\n  963 Article \u201cPhrygia,\u201d in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, ninth ed. xviii.\n      853.\n\n  964 xii. 5, 3.\n\n  965 The myth, in a connected form, is only known from Plutarch, _Isis et\n      Osiris_, cc. 13-19. Some additional details, recovered from Egyptian\n      sources, will be found in the work of Adolf Erman, _Aegypten und\n      aegyptisches Leben im Altertum_, p. 365 _sqq._\n\n  966 Le Page Renouf, _Hibbert Lectures_, 1879, p. 110; Brugsch, _Religion\n      und Mythologie der alten Aegypter_, p. 614; Ad. Erman, _l.c._; Ed.\n      Meyer, _Geschichte des Altertums_, i. \u00a7 56 _sq._\n\n  967 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 13; Diodorus, i. 14; Tibullus, i. 7, 29\n      _sqq._\n\n  968 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 8.\n\n  969 So Brugsch, _op. cit._ p. 617. Plutarch, _op. cit._ 39, says four\n      days, beginning with the 17th of the month Athyr.\n\n  970 In the Alexandrian year the month Athyr corresponded to November.\n      But as the old Egyptian year was vague, that is, made no use of\n      intercalation, the astronomical date of each festival varied from\n      year to year, till it had passed through the whole cycle of the\n      astronomical year. From the fact, therefore, that, when the calendar\n      became fixed, Athyr fell in November, no inference can be drawn as\n      to the date at which the death of Osiris was originally celebrated.\n      It is thus perfectly possible that it may have been originally a\n      harvest festival, though the Egyptian harvest falls, not in\n      November, but in April; cp. Selden, _De diis Syris_, p. 335 _sq._;\n      Parthey on Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, c. 39.\n\n  971 Brugsch, _l.c._ For a specimen of these lamentations see Brugsch,\n      _op. cit._ p. 631 _sq._; _Records of the Past_, ii. 119 _sqq._ For\n      the annual ceremonies of finding and burying Osiris, see also\n      Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 2 \u00a7 3; Servius\n      on Virgil, _Aen._ iv. 609.\n\n  972 Brugsch, _op. cit._ p. 617 _sq._; Erman, _Aegypten und aegyptisches\n      Leben im Altertum_, p. 377 _sq._\n\n  973 Erman, _l.c._; Wilkinson, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient\n      Egyptians_ (London, 1878), iii. 68, 82; Tiele, _History of the\n      Egyptian Religion_, p. 46.\n\n  974 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 35. \u1f41\u03bc\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03b5\u1fd6 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f70 \u03c4\u03b9\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u1f70 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bd\u1f7a\u03be\n      \u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03af\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2 \u1f48\u03c3\u03af\u03c1\u03b9\u03b4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c3\u03c0\u03b1\u03c3\u03bc\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03b2\u03b9\u03ce\u03c3\u03b5\u03c3\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76\n      \u03c0\u03b1\u03bb\u03b9\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03b5\u03c3\u03af\u03b1\u03b9\u03c2, \u1f41\u03bc\u03bf\u03af\u03c9\u03c2 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f70 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f70\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1\u03c6\u03ac\u03c2.\n\n  975 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 39.\n\n  976 Tibullus, i. 7, 33 _sqq._\n\n  977 Brugsch, _op. cit._ p. 621.\n\n  978 Servius on Virgil, _Georg._ i. 166.\n\n  979 Above, p. 267.\n\n  980 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 73, cp. 33; Diodorus, i. 88.\n\n  981 Plutarch, _op. cit._ 31; Herodotus, ii. 38.\n\n  982 Herrera, quoted by Bastian, _Culturl\u00e4nder des alten Amerika_, ii.\n      639.\n\n  983 Lef\u00e9bure, _Le mythe Osirien_ (Paris, 1874-75), p. 188.\n\n  984 Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 2, \u00a7 6,\n      _defensores eorum volunt addere physicam rationem, frugum semina\n      Osirim dicentes esse; Isim terram, Tyfonem calorem: et quia\n      maturatae fruges calore ad vitam hominum colliguntur et divisae a\n      terrae consortia separantur et rursus adpropinquante hieme\n      seminantur, hanc volunt esse mortem Osiridis, cum fruges recondunt,\n      inventionem vero, cum fruges genitali terrae fomento conceptae annua\n      rursus coeperint procreatione generari_; Eusebius, _Praepar. Evang._\n      iii. 11, 31, \u1f41 \u03b4\u1f72 \u1f4c\u03c3\u03b9\u03c1\u03b9\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u1fbd \u0391\u1f30\u03b3\u03c5\u03c0\u03c4\u03af\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03ba\u03ac\u03c1\u03c0\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03af\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\n      \u03b4\u03cd\u03bd\u03b1\u03bc\u03b9\u03bd, \u1f24\u03bd \u03b8\u03c1\u03ae\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2 \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03bb\u03af\u03c3\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03b3\u1fc6\u03bd \u1f00\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u03b9\u03b6\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7\u03bd \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1ff7\n      \u03c3\u03c0\u03cc\u03c1\u1ff3. \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f51\u03c6\u1fbd \u1f21\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03bb\u03b9\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7\u03bd \u03b5\u1f76\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f70\u03c2 \u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u03ac\u03c2.\n\n_  985 Op. cit._ 27, \u00a7 1.\n\n_  986 Isis et Osiris_, 21, \u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u1ff6 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c4\u03bf\u03bc\u1f74\u03bd \u03be\u03cd\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c3\u03c7\u03af\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u03bb\u03af\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c7\u03bf\u1f70\u03c2\n      \u03c7\u03b5\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1\u03c2. \u03b4\u03b9\u1f70 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u1f70 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03bc\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03bc\u1fd6\u03c7\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u03bf\u03cd\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2. Again, c.\n      42, \u03c4\u1f78 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03be\u03cd\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\u03c2; \u1f48\u03c3\u03af\u03c1\u03b9\u03b4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1\u03c6\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03c4\u03ad\u03bc\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2\n      \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03c5\u03ac\u03b6\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9 \u03bb\u03ac\u03c1\u03bd\u03b1\u03ba\u03b1 \u03bc\u03b7\u03bd\u03bf\u03b5\u03b9\u03b4\u1f74.\n\n  987 See above, p. 304.\n\n  988 Lef\u00e9bure, _Le mythe Osirien_, pp. 194, 198, referring to Mariette,\n      _Denderah_, iv. 66 and 72.\n\n  989 Lef\u00e9bure, _op. cit._ pp. 195, 197.\n\n  990 Birch, in Wilkinson\u2019s _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians_\n      (London, 1878), iii. 84.\n\n  991 Wilkinson, _op. cit._ iii. 63 _sq._; Ed. Meyer, _Geschichte des\n      Alterthums_, i. \u00a7\u00a7 56, 60.\n\n  992 Wilkinson, _op. cit._ iii. 349 _sq._; Brugsch, _Religion und\n      Mythologie der alten Aegypter_, p. 621; Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_,\n      20. In Plutarch _l.c._ Parthey proposes to read \u03bc\u03c5\u03c1\u03af\u03ba\u03b7\u03c2 for \u03bc\u03b7\u03b8\u03af\u03b4\u03b7\u03c2,\n      and this conjecture appears to be accepted by Wilkinson, _l.c._\n\n  993 Lef\u00e9bure, _Le mythe Osirien_, p. 191.\n\n  994 Lef\u00e9bure, _op. cit._ p. 188.\n\n  995 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 35. One of the points in which the myths\n      of Isis and Demeter agree, is that both goddesses in their search\n      for the loved and lost one are said to have sat down, sad at heart\n      and weary, on the edge of a well. Hence those who had been initiated\n      at Eleusis were forbidden to sit on a well. Plutarch, _Isis et\n      Osiris_, 15; Homer, _Hymn to Demeter_, 98 _sq._; Pausanias, i. 39,\n      1; Apollodorus, i. 5, 1; Nicander, _Theriaca_, 486; Clemens Alex.,\n      _Protrept._ ii. 20.\n\n  996 Brugsch, _Religion und Mythologie der alten Aegypter_, p. 645.\n\n  997 C. P. Tiele, _History of Egyptian Religion_, p. 57.\n\n_  998 Hibbert Lectures_, 1879, p. 111.\n\n  999 Diodorus, i. 14. Eusebius (_Praeparat. Evang._ iii. 3) quotes from\n      Diodorus (i. 11-13) a long passage on the early religion of Egypt,\n      prefacing the quotation (c. 2) with the remark \u03b3\u03c1\u03ac\u03c6\u03b5\u03b9 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f70 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76\n      \u03c4\u03bf\u03cd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u03c0\u03bb\u03b1\u03c4\u03cd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd \u03bc\u1f72\u03bd \u1f41 \u039c\u03b1\u03bd\u03ad\u03b8\u03c9\u03c2, \u1f10\u03c0\u03b5\u03c4\u03b5\u03c4\u03bc\u03b7\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9\u03c2 \u03b4\u1f72 \u1f41 \u0394\u03b9\u03cc\u03b4\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, which\n      seems to imply that Diodorus epitomised Manetho.\n\n 1000 Brugsch, _op. cit._ p. 647.\n\n 1001 Brugsch, _op. cit._ p. 649.\n\n 1002 Brugsch,_l.c._\n\n 1003 Herodotus, ii. 59, 156; Diodorus, i. 13, 25, 96; Apollodorus, ii. 1,\n      3; Tzetzes, _Schol. in Lycophron._ 212.\n\n_ 1004 Antholog. Planud._ 264, 1.\n\n_ 1005 Orphica_, ed. Abel, p. 295 _sqq._\n\n 1006 Jablonski, _Pantheon Aegyptiorum_ (Frankfurt, 1750), i. 125 _sq._\n\n 1007 i. 11.\n\n 1008 See p. 310, _note_.\n\n 1009 See the _Saturnalia_, bk. i.\n\n_ 1010 Saturn._ i. 21, 11.\n\n 1011 Maspero, _Histoire ancienne des peuples de l\u2019Orient_4 (Paris, 1886),\n      p. 35.\n\n 1012 Wilkinson, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians_ (London,\n      1878), iii. 353.\n\n_ 1013 Isis et Osiris_, 52.\n\n_ 1014 De errore profan. religionum_, 8.\n\n 1015 Lepsius, \u201cUeber den ersten aegyptischen G\u00f6tterkreis und seine\n      geschichtlich-mythologische Entstehung,\u201d in _Abhandlungen der\n      k\u00f6niglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin_, 1851, p. 194\n      _sq._\n\n 1016 The view here taken of the history of Egyptian religion is based on\n      the sketch in Erman\u2019s _Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum_,\n      p. 351 _sqq._\n\n 1017 On this attempted revolution in religion see Lepsius in _Verhandl.\n      d. k\u00f6nigl. Akad. d. Wissensch. zu Berlin_, 1851, pp. 196-201; Erman,\n      _op. cit._ p. 355 _sqq._\n\n 1018 Tiele, _History of the Egyptian Religion_, p. 44.\n\n 1019 Tiele, _op. cit._ p. 46.\n\n_ 1020 Ib._ p. 45.\n\n 1021 Le Page Renouf, _Hibbert Lectures_, 1879, p. 111 _sqq._\n\n_ 1022 Hibbert Lectures_, 1879, p. 113. Cp. Maspero, _Histoire ancienne_,4\n      p. 35; Ed. Meyer, _Geschichte des Alterthums_, i. \u00a7\u00a7 55, 57.\n\n 1023 There are far more plausible grounds for identifying Osiris with the\n      moon than with the sun\u20141. He was said to have lived or reigned\n      twenty-eight years; Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, cc. 13, 42. This\n      might be taken as a mythical expression for a lunar month. 2. His\n      body was rent into fourteen pieces (_ib._ cc. 18, 42). This might be\n      interpreted of the moon on the wane, losing a piece of itself on\n      each of the fourteen days which make up the second half of a\n      lunation. It is expressly mentioned that Typhon found the body of\n      Osiris at the full moon (_ib._ 8); thus the dismemberment of the god\n      would begin with the waning of the moon. 3. In a hymn supposed to be\n      addressed by Isis to Osiris, it is said that Thoth\n\n      \u201cPlaceth thy soul in the bark Ma-at,\n      In that name which is thine, of GOD MOON.\u201d\n\n      And again,\n\n      \u201cThou _who comest to us as a child each month_,\n      We do not cease to contemplate thee,\n      Thine emanation heightens the brilliancy\n      Of the stars of Orion in the firmament,\u201d etc.\n\n      _Records of the Past_, i. 121 _sq._; Brugsch, _Religion und\n      Mythologie der alten Aegypter_, p. 629 _sq._ Here then Osiris is\n      identified with the moon in set terms. If in the same hymn he is\n      said to \u201cilluminate us like Ra\u201d (the sun), this, as we have already\n      seen, is no reason for identifying him with the sun, but quite the\n      contrary. 4. At the new moon of the month Phanemoth, being the\n      beginning of spring, the Egyptians celebrated what they called \u201cthe\n      entry of Osiris into the moon.\u201d Plutarch, _Is. et Os._ 43. 5. The\n      bull Apis, which was regarded as an image of the soul of Osiris\n      (_Is. et Os._ cc. 20, 29), was born of a cow which was believed to\n      have been impregnated by the moon (_ib._ 43). 6. Once a year, at the\n      full moon, pigs were sacrificed simultaneously to the moon and\n      Osiris. Herodotus, ii. 47; Plutarch, _Is. et Os._ 8. The relation of\n      the pig to Osiris will be examined later on.\n\n      Without attempting to explain in detail why a god of vegetation, as\n      I take Osiris to have been, should have been brought into such close\n      connection with the moon, I may refer to the intimate relation which\n      is vulgarly believed to subsist between the growth of vegetation and\n      the phases of the moon. See _e.g._ Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ ii. 221, xvi.\n      190, xvii. 108, 215, xviii. 200, 228, 308, 314; Plutarch, _Quaest.\n      Conviv._ iii. 10, 3; Aulus Gellius, xx. 8, 7; Macrobius, _Saturn._\n      vii. 16, 29 _sq._ Many examples are furnished by the ancient writers\n      on agriculture, _e.g._ Cato, 37, 4; Varro, i. 37; _Geoponica_, i. 6.\n\n 1024 Herodotus, ii. 42, 49, 59, 144, 156; Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 13,\n      35; _id._, _Quaest. Conviv._ iv. 5, 3; Diodorus, i. 13, 25, 96, iv.\n      1; _Orphica_, Hymn 42; Eusebius, _Praepar. Evang._ iii. 11, 31;\n      Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ xi. 287; _id._, on _Georg._ i. 166;\n      Hippolytus, _Refut. omn. haeres._ v. 9, p. 168; Socrates, _Eccles.\n      Hist._ iii. 23, p. 204; Tzetzes, _Schol. in Lycophron_, 212;\n      \u0394\u03b9\u03b7\u03b3\u03ae\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1, xxii. 2, in _Mythographi Graeci_, ed. Westermann, p. 368;\n      Nonnus, _Dionys._ iv. 269 sq.; Cornutus, _De natura deorum_, c. 28;\n      Clemens Alexandr. _Protrept._ ii. 19; Firmicus Maternus, _De errore\n      profan. relig._ 7.\n\n 1025 Lucian, _De dea Syria_, 7.\n\n 1026 Herodotus, ii. 49.\n\n 1027 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 35.\n\n 1028 Osiris, Attis, Adonis, and Dionysus were all explained by him as the\n      sun; but he stopped short at Demeter (Ceres), whom, however, he\n      interpreted as the moon. See the _Saturnalia_, bk. i.\n\n 1029 On Dionysus in general see Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_,3 i.\n      544 _sqq._; Fr. Lenormant, article \u201cBacchus\u201d in Daremberg et Saglio,\n      _Dictionnaire des Antiquit\u00e9s grecques et romaines_, i. 591 _sqq._;\n      Voigt and Thraemer\u2019s article \u201cDionysus,\u201d in Roscher\u2019s _Ausf\u00fchrliches\n      Lexikon der griech. und r\u00f6m. Mythologie_, i. c. 1029 _sqq._\n\n 1030 Plutarch, _Quaest. Conviv._ v. 3, \u0394\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd\u03cd\u03c3\u1ff3 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03b4\u03b5\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03af\u03c4\u1fc3 \u03c0\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2, \u1f61\u03c2\n      \u1f14\u03b8\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c0\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd, \u1f1d\u03bb\u03bb\u03b7\u03bd\u03b5\u03c2 \u03b8\u03cd\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd.\n\n 1031 Hesychius, _s.v._ \u1f1c\u03bd\u03b4\u03b5\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2.\n\n 1032 See the pictures of his images, taken from ancient vases, in\n      B\u00f6tticher, _Baumkultus der Hellenen_, plates 42, 43, 43A, 43B, 44;\n      Daremberg et Saglio, _op. cit._ i. 361, 626.\n\n 1033 Daremberg et Saglio, _op. cit._ i. 626.\n\n 1034 Cornutus, _De natura deorum_, 30.\n\n 1035 Pindar, quoted by Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 35.\n\n 1036 Maximus Tyrius, _Dissertat._ viii. 1.\n\n 1037 Athenaeus, iii. pp. 78 C, 82 D.\n\n 1038 Himerius, _Orat._ i. 10, \u0394\u03b9\u03cc\u03bd\u03c5\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c1\u03b3\u03b5\u1fd6.\n\n_ 1039 Orphica_, Hymn l. 4, liii. 8.\n\n 1040 Aelian, _Var. Hist._ iii. 41; Hesychius, _s.v._ \u03a6\u03bb\u03ad\u03c9[\u03c2]. Cp.\n      Plutarch, _Quaest. Conviv._ v. 8, 3.\n\n 1041 Pausanias, i. 31, 4; _id._ vii. 21, 6 (2).\n\n 1042 Plutarch, _Quaest. Conviv._ v. 3.\n\n 1043 Pausanias, ii. 2, 6 (5) _sq._ Pausanias does not mention the kind of\n      tree; but from Euripides, _Bacchae_, 1064 _sqq._, and Philostratus,\n      _Imag._ i. 17 (18), we may infer that it was a pine; though\n      Theocritus (xxvi. 11) speaks of it as a mastich-tree.\n\n 1044 M\u00fcller-Wieseler, _Denkm\u00e4ler der alten Kunst_, ii. pl. xxxii. _sqq._;\n      Baumeister, _Denkm\u00e4ler des klassischen Altertums_, i. figures 489,\n      491, 492, 495. Cp. Lenormant in Daremberg et Saglio, i. 623; Lobeck,\n      _Aglaophamus_, p. 700.\n\n 1045 Pausanias, i. 31, 6 (3).\n\n 1046 Athenaeus, iii. p. 78 C.\n\n 1047 Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, 6.\n\n 1048 Clemens Alexandr., _Protrept._ ii. 17. Cp. Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_, p.\n      1111 _sqq._\n\n 1049 Clemens Alexandr., _Protrept._ ii. 19.\n\n 1050 Clemens Alexandr., _Protrept._ ii. 18; Proclus on Plato\u2019s Timaeus,\n      iii. 200 D, quoted by Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_, p. 562, and by Abel,\n      _Orphica_, p. 234. Others said that the mangled body was pieced\n      together, not by Apollo but by Rhea. Cornutus, _De natura deorum_,\n      30.\n\n 1051 Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_, p. 572 _sqq._ For a conjectural restoration\n      of the temple, based on ancient authorities and an examination of\n      the scanty remains, see an article by Professor J. H. Middleton, in\n      _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, vol. ix. p. 282 _sqq._\n\n 1052 Diodorus, iii. 62.\n\n 1053 Macrobius, _Comment. in Somn. Scip._ i. 12, 12; _Scriptores rerum\n      mythicarum Latini tres Romae nuper reperti_ (commonly referred to as\n      _Mythographi Vaticani_), ed. G. H. Bode (Cellis, 1834), iii. 12, 5,\n      p. 246; Origen, _c. Cels._ iv. 171, quoted by Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_,\n      p. 713.\n\n 1054 Himerius, _Orat._ ix. 4.\n\n 1055 Proclus, _Hymn to Minerva_, in Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_, p. 561;\n      _Orphica_, ed. Abel, p. 235.\n\n 1056 Hyginus, _Fab._ 167.\n\n 1057 The festivals of Dionysus were biennial in many places. See\n      Sch\u00f6mann, _Griechische Alterth\u00fcmer_,3 ii. 500 _sqq._ (The terms for\n      the festival were \u03c4\u03c1\u03b9\u03b5\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1\u03af\u03c2, \u03c4\u03c1\u03b9\u03b5\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03c2 both terms of the series\n      being included in the numeration, in accordance with the ancient\n      mode of reckoning.) Probably the festivals were formerly annual and\n      the period was afterwards lengthened, as has happened with other\n      festivals. See W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 172, 175; 491, 533\n      _sq._, 598. Some of the festivals of Dionysus, however, were annual.\n\n 1058 Firmicus Maternus, _De err. prof. relig._ 6.\n\n_ 1059 Mythogr. Vatic._ ed. Bode, _l.c._\n\n 1060 Plutarch, _Consol. ad uxor._ 10. Cp. _id._, _Isis et Osiris_, 35;\n      _id._, _De ei Delphico_, 9; _id._, _De esu carnium_, i. 7.\n\n 1061 Pausanias, ii. 31, 2, and 37, 5; Apollodorus, iii. 5, 3.\n\n 1062 Pausanias, ii. 37, 5 _sq._; Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 35; _id._,\n      _Quaest. Conviv._ iv. 6, 2.\n\n 1063 Himerius, _Orat._ iii. 6, xiv. 7.\n\n 1064 For Dionysus, see Lenormant in Daremberg et Saglio, i. 632. For\n      Osiris, see Wilkinson, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient\n      Egyptians_ (London, 1878), iii. 65.\n\n 1065 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 35; _id._, _Quaest. Graec._ 36;\n      Athenaeus, xi. 476 A; Clemens Alexandr., _Protrept._ ii. 16;\n      _Orphica_, Hymn xxx. _vv._ 3, 4, xlv. 1, lii. 2, liii. 8; Euripides,\n      _Bacchae_, 99; Schol. on Aristophanes, _Frogs_, 357; Nicander,\n      _Alexipharmaca_, 31; Lucian, _Bacchus_, 2.\n\n 1066 Euripides, _Bacchae_, 920 _sqq._, 1017.\n\n 1067 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 35; Athenaeus, _l.c._\n\n 1068 Diodorus, iii. 64, 2, iv. 4, 2; Cornutus, _De natura deorum_, 30.\n\n 1069 Diodorus, _l.c._; Tzetzes, _Schol. in Lycophr._ 209; Philostratus,\n      _Imagines_, i. 14 (15).\n\n 1070 M\u00fcller-Wieseler, _Denkm\u00e4ler der alten Kunst_, ii. pl. xxxiii.;\n      Daremberg et Saglio, i. 619 _sq._, 631; Roscher, _Ausf\u00fchrl.\n      Lexikon_, i. c. 1149 _sqq._\n\n 1071 Welcker, _Alte Denkm\u00e4ler_, v. taf. 2.\n\n 1072 Plutarch, _Quaest. Graec._ 36; _id._, _Isis et Osiris_, 35.\n\n 1073 Nonnus, _Dionys._ vi. 205.\n\n 1074 Firmicus Maternus, _De errore profan. religionum_, 6.\n\n 1075 Euripides, _Bacchae_, 735 _sqq._; Schol. on Aristophanes, _Frogs_,\n      357.\n\n 1076 Hesychius, _s.v._ \u1f1c\u03c1\u03b9\u03c6\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f41 \u0394\u03b9\u03cc\u03bd\u03c5\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2, on which there is a marginal\n      gloss \u1f41 \u03bc\u03b9\u03ba\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f34\u03be, \u1f41 \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1ff7 \u1f14\u03b1\u03c1\u03b9 \u03c6\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, \u1f24\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd \u1f41 \u03c0\u03c1\u03ce\u03ca\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2;\n      Stephanus Byzant. _s.v._ \u1f08\u03ba\u03c1\u03ce\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1. The title \u0395\u1f30\u03c1\u03b1\u03c6\u03b9\u03ce\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 is probably\n      to be explained in the same way. [Homer], _Hymn_ xxxiv. 2; Porphyry,\n      _De abstin._ iii. 17; Dionysius, _Perieg._ 576; _Etymolog. Magnum_,\n      p. 371, 57.\n\n 1077 Apollodorus, iii. 4, 3.\n\n 1078 Ovid, _Metam._ v. 329; Antoninus Liberalis, 28; _Mythogr. Vatic._\n      ed. Bode, i. 86, p. 29.\n\n 1079 Arnobius, _Adv. nationes_, v. 19. Cp. Suidas, _s.v._ \u03b1\u1f30\u03b3\u03af\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd. As\n      fawns appear to have been also torn in pieces at the rites of\n      Dionysus (Photius, _s.v._ \u03bd\u03b5\u03b2\u03c1\u03af\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd; Harpocration, _s.v._ \u03bd\u03b5\u03b2\u03c1\u03af\u03b6\u03c9\u03bd),\n      it is probable that the fawn was another of the god\u2019s embodiments.\n      But of this there seems no direct evidence. Fawn-skins were worn\n      both by the god and his worshippers (Cornutus, _De natura deorum_,\n      c. 30). Similarly the female Bacchanals wore goat-skins (Hesychius,\n      _s.v._ \u03c4\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03b7\u03c6\u03cc\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9).\n\n 1080 Varro, _De re rustica_ i. 2, 19; Virgil, _Georg._ ii. 380, and\n      Servius, _ad I._, and on _Aen._ iii. 118; Ovid, _Fasti_, i. 353\n      _sqq._; _id._, Metam. xv. 114 _sq._; Cornutus, _De natura deorum_,\n      30.\n\n 1081 Euripides, _Bacchae_, 138 _sq._ \u1f00\u03b3\u03c1\u03b5\u03cd\u03c9\u03bd \u03b1\u1f37\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c4\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03bf\u03ba\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd, \u1f61\u03bc\u03bf\u03c6\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\n      \u03c7\u03ac\u03c1\u03b9\u03bd.\n\n 1082 Schol. on Aristophanes, _Frogs_, 357.\n\n 1083 Hera \u03b1\u1f31\u03b3\u03bf\u03c6\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 at Sparta, Pausanias, iii. 15, 9 (cp. the\n      representation of Hera clad in a goat\u2019s skin, with the animal\u2019s head\n      and horns over her head, M\u00fcller-Wieseler, _Denkm\u00e4ler der alten\n      Kunst_, i. No. 299 B); Apollo \u1f41\u03c8\u03bf\u03c6\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 at Elis, Athenaeus, 346 B;\n      Artemis \u03ba\u03b1\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 in Samos, Hesychius, _s.v._ \u03ba\u03b1\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2; cp.\n      _id._, _s.v._ \u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c6\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2. Divine titles derived from _killing_\n      animals are probably to be similarly explained, as Dionysus\n      \u03b1\u1f31\u03b3\u03cc\u03b2\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2, Pausanias ix. 8, 2; Rhea or Hecate \u03ba\u03c5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c3\u03c6\u03b1\u03b3\u03ae\u03c2, Tzetzes,\n      _Schol. in Lycophr._ 77; Apollo \u03bb\u03c5\u03ba\u03bf\u03ba\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, Sophocles, _Electra_, 6;\n      Apollo \u03c3\u03b1\u03c5\u03c1\u03bf\u03ba\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxxiv. 70.\n\n 1084 Porphyry, _De abstin._ ii. 55.\n\n 1085 Pausanias, ix. 8, 2.\n\n 1086 Plutarch, _Quaest. Graec._ 38.\n\n 1087 Aelian, _Nat. An._ xii. 34. Cp. W. Robertson Smith, _Religion of the\n      Semites_, i. 286 _sqq._\n\n 1088 It is to be remembered that on the Mediterranean coasts the harvest\n      never falls so late as autumn.\n\n 1089 On Demeter as a corn-goddess see Mannhardt, _Mythologische\n      Forschungen_, p. 224 _sqq._; on Proserpine in the same character see\n      Cornutus, _De nat. deor._ c. 28; Varro in Augustine, _Civ. Dei_,\n      vii. 20; Hesychius, _s.v._ \u03a6\u03b5\u03c1\u03c3\u03b5\u03c6\u03cc\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1; Firmicus Maternus, _De\n      errore prof. relig._ 17. In his careful account of Demeter as a\n      corn-goddess Mannhardt appears to have overlooked the very important\n      statement of Hippolytus (_Refut. omn. haeres._ v. 8, p. 162, ed.\n      Duncker and Schneidewin) that at the initiation into the Eleusinian\n      mysteries (the most famous of all the rites of Demeter) the central\n      mystery revealed to the initiated was a reaped ear of corn.\n\n 1090 Welcker, _Griechische G\u00f6tterlehre_, ii. 532; Preller, in Pauly\u2019s\n      _Real-Encyclop\u00e4die f\u00fcr class. Alterthumswiss_. vi. 107; Lenormant,\n      in Daremberg et Saglio, _Dictionnaire des Antiquit\u00e9s grecques et\n      romaines_, i. pt. ii. 1047 _sqq._\n\n 1091 Homer, _Hymn to Demeter_; Apollodorus, i. 5; Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 425\n      _sqq._; _id._, _Metam._ v. 385 _sqq._\n\n 1092 A third, according to Homer, _H. to Demeter_, 399, and Apollodorus,\n      i. 5, 3; a half, according to Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 614; _id._,\n      _Metam._ v. 567; Hyginus, _Fab._ 146.\n\n 1093 Sch\u00f6mann, _Griech. Alterth\u00fcmer_,3 ii. 393; Preller, _Griech.\n      Mythologie_,3 i. 628 _sq._, 644 _sq._, 650 _sq._ The evidence of the\n      ancients on this head, though not full and definite, seems\n      sufficient. See Diodorus, v. 4; Firmicus Maternus, cc. 7, 27;\n      Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 69; Apuleius, _Met._ vi. 2; Clemens\n      Alex., _Protrept._ ii. \u00a7\u00a7 12, 17.\n\n_ 1094 Mythol. Forschungen_, p. 292 _sqq._\n\n_ 1095 Etymol. Magnum_, p. 264, 12 _sq._\n\n 1096 O. Schrader, _Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte_2 (Jena, 1890),\n      pp. 409, 422; V. Hehn, _Kulturpflanzen und Hausthiere in ihrem\n      Uebergang aus Asien_,4 p. 54. \u0394\u03b7\u03b1\u03af is doubtless equivalent\n      etymologically to \u03b6\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03af, which is often taken to be spelt, but this\n      seems uncertain.\n\n 1097 Hesiod, _Theog._ 971; Lenormant, in Daremberg et Saglio, i. pt. ii.\n      p. 1029.\n\n 1098 W. Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forsch._ p. 296.\n\n_ 1099 Ib._ p. 297.\n\n_ 1100 Ib._ p. 297 _sq._\n\n_ 1101 Ib._ p. 299.\n\n_ 1102 Ib._ p. 300.\n\n_ 1103 Ib._ p. 310.\n\n 1104 W. Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forsch._ p. 310 _sq._\n\n_ 1105 Ib._ p. 316.\n\n_ 1106 Ib._ p. 316.\n\n_ 1107 Ib._ p. 316 _sq._\n\n 1108 See above, pp. 16 _sq._, 286 _sq._\n\n 1109 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 317.\n\n_ 1110 Ib._ p. 317 _sq._\n\n_ 1111 Ib._ p. 318.\n\n 1112 W. Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forsch._ p. 318.\n\n_ 1113 Ib._ p. 318 _sq._\n\n 1114 S\u00e9billot, _Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne_, p. 306.\n\n 1115 W. Mannhardt, _M. F._ p. 319.\n\n_ 1116 Ib._ p. 320.\n\n 1117 Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forsch._ p. 321.\n\n_ 1118 Ib._ pp. 321, 323, 325 _sq._\n\n_ 1119 Ib._ p. 323; Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, ii. p.\n      219, No. 403.\n\n 1120 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 325.\n\n_ 1121 Ib._ p. 323.\n\n_ 1122 Ib._\n\n_ 1123 Ib._ p. 323 _sq._\n\n 1124 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 324.\n\n_ 1125 Ib._ p. 320.\n\n_ 1126 Ib._ p. 325.\n\n 1127 See abbove, p. 83 _sqq._\n\n 1128 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 324.\n\n_ 1129 Ib._ p. 324 _sq._\n\n_ 1130 Ib._ p. 325.\n\n 1131 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 327.\n\n_ 1132 Ib._ p. 328.\n\n 1133 Jamieson, _Dictionary of the Scottish Language_, _s.v._ \u201cMaiden\u201d; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forschungen_, p. 326.\n\n 1134 Communicated by my friend Prof. W. Ridgeway, of Queen\u2019s College,\n      Cork.\n\n 1135 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 328.\n\n_ 1136 Ib._\n\n_ 1137 Ib._ p. 328 _sq._\n\n_ 1138 Ib._ p. 329.\n\n_ 1139 Ib._ p. 330.\n\n 1140 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 330.\n\n_ 1141 Ib._ p. 331.\n\n_ 1142 Ib._ p. 331.\n\n_ 1143 Ib._ p. 332.\n\n 1144 Hutchinson, _History of Northumberland_, ii. _ad finem_, 17, quoted\n      by Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, ii. 20, Bohn\u2019s ed.\n\n 1145 Quoted by Brand, _op. cit._ ii. 22.\n\n 1146 W. Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forsch._ p. 333 _sq._\n\n_ 1147 Ib._ p. 334.\n\n_ 1148 Ib._ p. 334.\n\n 1149 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 336.\n\n_ 1150 Ib._ p. 336.\n\n_ 1151 Ib._ p. 336; _Baumkultus_, p. 612.\n\n 1152 W. Mannhardt, _Die Kornd\u00e4monen_, p. 28.\n\n 1153 W. Mannhardt, _l.c._\n\n_ 1154 Ib._; Henderson, _Folk-lore of the Northern Counties_, p. 87;\n      Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, ii. 20, Bohn\u2019s ed.; Chambers\u2019s _Book\n      of Days_, ii. 377 _sq._ Cp. _Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 50.\n\n 1155 Brand, _op. cit._ ii. 21 _sq._\n\n_ 1156 Folk-lore Journal_, vi. 268 _sq._\n\n 1157 From information supplied by Archie Leitch, gardener, Rowmore,\n      Garelochhead.\n\n 1158 Communicated by Mr. Macfarlane of Faslane, Gareloch.\n\n 1159 Jamieson, _Dictionary of the Scottish Language_, _s.v._ \u201cMaiden.\u201d\n\n 1160 W. Gregor, in _Revue des Traditions populaires_, iii. 533 (485 B);\n      _id._, _Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland_, p. 182. An old\n      Scottish name for the Maiden (_autumnalis nymphula_) was\n      _Rapegyrne_. See Fordun, _Scotichron._ ii. 418, quoted in Jamieson\u2019s\n      _Dict. of the Scottish Language_, _s.v._ \u201cRapegyrne.\u201d\n\n 1161 W. Mannhardt, _Die Kornd\u00e4monen_, p. 30; _Folk-lore Journal_, vii.\n      50.\n\n 1162 W. Mannhardt, _l.c._; Sommer, _Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche aus\n      Sachsen und Th\u00fcringen_, p. 160 _sq._\n\n 1163 See above, p. 83 _sqq._\n\n 1164 Above, pp. 333, 344.\n\n 1165 Above, p. 307.\n\n 1166 Above, p. 67 _sqq._\n\n 1167 Above, pp. 334, 335.\n\n 1168 Above, pp. 334, 345.\n\n 1169 See above, p. 335 _sq._\n\n 1170 Above, p. 340; cp. Kuhn, _Westf\u00e4lische Sagen, Gebr\u00e4uche und\n      M\u00e4rchen_, ii. No. 516.\n\n 1171 Above, pp. 336, 337, 345.\n\n 1172 See above, p. 9 _sqq._\n\n 1173 Above, p. 341.\n\n 1174 Above, p. 338.\n\n 1175 Above, p. 334, cp. 335.\n\n 1176 Above, pp. 334, 345.\n\n 1177 Above, p. 344 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Kornd\u00e4monen_, pp. 7, 26. Amongst\n      the Wends the last sheaf, made into a puppet and called the Old Man,\n      is hung in the hall till next year\u2019s Old Man is brought in.\n      Schulenburg, _Wendisches Volksthum_, p. 147. In Inverness and\n      Sutherland the Maiden is kept till the next harvest. _Folk-lore\n      Journal_, vii. 50, 53 _sq._ Cp. Kuhn, _Westf\u00e4lische Sagen, Gebr\u00e4uche\n      und M\u00e4rchen_, ii. Nos. 501, 517.\n\n 1178 Acosta, _Hist. of the Indies_, v. c. 28, vol. ii. p. 374 (Hakluyt\n      Society, 1880).\n\n 1179 W. Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forsch._ p. 342 _sq._ Mannhardt\u2019s authority\n      is a Spanish tract (_Carta pastoral de exortacion e instruccion\n      contra las idolatrias de los Indios del ar\u00e7obispado de Lima_) by\n      Pedro de Villagomez, Archbishop of Lima, published at Lima in 1649,\n      and communicated to Mannhardt by J. J. v. Tschudi.\n\n 1180 Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations civilis\u00e9es du Mexique_,\n      iii. 40 _sqq._\n\n 1181 H. M. Elliot, _Supplemental Glossary of Terms used in the North\n      Western Provinces_, edited by J. Beames, i. 254.\n\n 1182 Spenser St. John, _Life in the Forests of the Far East_,2 i. 187,\n      192 _sqq._\n\n 1183 E. B. Cross, \u201cOn the Karens,\u201d in _Journal of the American Oriental\n      Society_, iv. 309.\n\n 1184 See above, p. 346.\n\n 1185 Veth, _Java_, i. 524-526.\n\n 1186 Homer, _Od._ v. 125 _sqq._; Hesiod, _Theog._ 969 _sqq._\n\n 1187 See above, p. 343 _sq._\n\n 1188 It is possible that a ceremony performed in a Cyprian worship of\n      Ariadne may have been of this nature. Plutarch, _Theseus_, 20, \u1f10\u03bd \u03b4\u1f74\n      \u03c4\u1fc7 \u03b8\u03c5\u03c3\u03af\u1fb3 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u0393\u03bf\u03c1\u03c0\u03b9\u03b1\u03af\u03bf\u03c5 \u03bc\u03b7\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f31\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b4\u03b5\u03c5\u03c4\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03ba\u03bb\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u03b1\n      \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03bd\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u03af\u03c3\u03ba\u03c9\u03bd \u03c6\u03b8\u03ad\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd \u1f04\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1 \u1f60\u03b4\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u1fd6\u03ba\u03b5\u03c2. We have\n      already seen grounds for regarding Ariadne as a goddess or spirit of\n      vegetation (above, p. 104). If, however, the reference is to the\n      Syro-Macedonian calendar, in which Gorpiaeus corresponds to\n      September (Daremberg et Saglio, i. 831), the ceremony could not have\n      been a harvest celebration, but may have been a vintage one. Amongst\n      the Minnitarees in North America, the Prince of Neuwied saw a tall\n      strong woman pretend to bring up a stalk of maize out of her\n      stomach; the object of the ceremony was to secure a good crop of\n      maize in the following year. Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, _Reise in\n      das innere Nord-Amerika_, ii. 269.\n\n 1189 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 468 _sq._, 480 _sqq._; _id._,\n      _Antike Wald- und Feldkulte_, p. 288 _sq._; _id._, _Mythologische\n      Forschungen_, pp. 146 _sqq._, 340 _sqq._; Van Ho\u00ebvell, _Ambon en de\n      Oeliasers_, p. 62 _sq._; Wilken, in _Indische Gids_, June 1884, pp.\n      958, 963 _sq._ Cp. Marco Polo, trans. Yule,2 i. 212 _sq._\n\n 1190 See above, p. 335 _sq._\n\n 1191 Cp. Preller, _Griech. Mythol._3 i. 628, _note 3_. In Greece the\n      annual descent of Proserpine appears to have taken place at the\n      Great Eleusinian Mysteries and at the Thesmophoria, that is, about\n      the time of the autumn sowing. But in Sicily her descent seems to\n      have been celebrated when the corn was fully ripe (Diodorus, v. 4),\n      that is, in summer.\n\n 1192 Homer, _Hymn to Demeter_, 401 _sqq._; Preller, _l.c._\n\n 1193 In some places it was customary to kneel down before the last sheaf,\n      in others to kiss it. W. Mannhardt, _Kornd\u00e4monen_, 26; _id._,\n      _Mytholog. Forschungen_, p. 339; _Folk-lore Journal_, vi. 270.\n\n 1194 Above, p. 332 _sq._\n\n 1195 In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, she is represented as controlling\n      the growth of the corn. See above, p. 331.\n\n 1196 See above, pp. 305 _sqq._, 309 _sqq._\n\n 1197 Pauly, _Real-Encyclopadie der class_. _Alterthumswiss._ v. 1011.\n\n 1198 Above, p. 105 _sq._\n\n 1199 Diodorus, i. 14, \u1f14\u03c4\u03b9 \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bd\u1fe6\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u1f70 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03b8\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u03cc\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u03cd\u03c2 \u03c0\u03c1\u03ce\u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2\n      \u1f00\u03bc\u03b7\u03b8\u03ad\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u03c3\u03c4\u03ac\u03c7\u03c5\u03c2 \u03b8\u03ad\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03ce\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03ba\u03cc\u03c0\u03c4\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c0\u03bb\u03b7\u03c3\u03af\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6\n      \u03b4\u03c1\u03ac\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c3 \u03ba.\u03c4.\u03bb. For \u03b8\u03ad\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 we should perhaps read \u03c3\u03cd\u03bd\u03b8\u03b5\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2, which\n      is supported by the following \u03b4\u03c1\u03ac\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2.\n\n 1200 Herodotus, ii. 79; Pollux, iv. 54; Pausanias, ix. 29; Athenaeus, 620\n      A.\n\n 1201 Brugsch, _Adonisklage und Linoslied_, p. 24.\n\n 1202 Above, p. 355.\n\n 1203 Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 249 _sq._\n\n 1204 Homer, _Il._ xviii. 570; Herodotus, ii. 79; Pausanias, ix. 29;\n      Conon, _Narrat._ 19. For the form Ailinus see Suidas, _s.v._;\n      Euripides, _Orestes_, 1395; Sophocles, _Ajax_, 627. Cp. Moschus,\n      _Idyl._ iii. 1; Callimachus, _Hymn to Apollo_, 20.\n\n 1205 Conon, _l.c._\n\n 1206 W. Mannhardt, _A. W. F._ p. 281.\n\n 1207 Pausanias, _l.c._\n\n 1208 Pollux, iv. 54; Athenaeus, 619 F, 620 A; Hesychius, _svv._ \u0392\u1ff6\u03c1\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\n      and \u039c\u03b1\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd\u03b4\u03c5\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b8\u03c1\u1fc6\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2.\n\n 1209 The story was told by Sositheus in his play of _Daphnis_. His verses\n      have been preserved in the tract of an anonymous writer. See\n      _Scriptores rerum mirabilium_, ed. Westermann, p. 220; also\n      Athenaeus, 415 B; Schol. on Theocritus, x. 41; Photius, Suidas, and\n      Hesychius, _s.v._ _Lityerses_; Apostolius, x. 74. Photius mentions\n      the sickle. Lityerses is the subject of a special study by Mannhardt\n      (_Mythologische Forschungen_, p. 1 _sqq._), whom I follow.\n\n 1210 Pollux, iv. 54.\n\n 1211 In this comparison I closely follow Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 18\n      _sqq._\n\n 1212 Cp. above, p. 340. On the other hand, the last sheaf is sometimes an\n      object of desire and emulation. See p. 336. It is so at Balquhidder\n      also, _Folk-lore Journal_, vi. 269; and it was formerly so on the\n      Gareloch, Dumbartonshire, where there was a competition for the\n      honour of cutting it, several handfuls of standing corn being\n      concealed under sheaves.\u2014(From the information of Archie Leitch. See\n      note on p. 345).\n\n 1213 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 19 _sq._\n\n 1214 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 20; Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen\n      Mythologie_, ii. 217.\n\n 1215 Above, p. 346 _sq._\n\n 1216 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 22.\n\n 1217 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 22.\n\n_ 1218 Ib._ p. 22 _sq._\n\n_ 1219 Ib._ p. 23.\n\n_ 1220 Ib._ p. 23 _sq._\n\n_ 1221 Ib._ p. 24.\n\n 1222 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 24.\n\n_ 1223 Ib._ p. 24.\n\n_ 1224 Ib._ p. 24 _sq._\n\n_ 1225 Ib._ p. 25.\n\n 1226 Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_, p. 223.\n\n 1227 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 25 _sq._\n\n 1228 C. A. Elliot, _Hoshang\u00e1b\u00e1d Settlement Report_, p. 178, quoted in\n      _Panjab Notes and Queries_, iii. Nos. 8, 168.\n\n 1229 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 31.\n\n_ 1230 Ib._ p. 334.\n\n 1231 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 330.\n\n_ 1232 Ib._\n\n_ 1233 Ib._ p. 331.\n\n_ 1234 Ib._ p. 335.\n\n_ 1235 Ib._ p. 335.\n\n 1236 Above, pp. 335, 341, 350.\n\n 1237 W. Mannhardt, _Kornd\u00e4m._, p. 26.\n\n 1238 Above, p. 343.\n\n 1239 W. Mannhardt, _M. F._ p. 50.\n\n_ 1240 Ib._ p. 50 _sq._\n\n 1241 See above, pp. 286 _sq._, 333, 337, 340, 341.\n\n 1242 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 32 _sqq._ Cp. _Revue des Traditions\n      populaires_, iii. 598.\n\n 1243 W. Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forsch._ p. 35 _sq._\n\n_ 1244 Ib._ p. 36.\n\n 1245 For the evidence, see _ib._ p. 36, _note_ 2. The idea which lies at\n      the bottom of the phrase seems to be explained by the following\n      Cingalese custom. \u201cThere is a curious custom of the threshing-floor\n      called \u2018Goigote\u2019\u2014the tying of the cultivator\u2019s knot. When a sheaf of\n      corn has been threshed out, before it is removed the grain is heaped\n      up and the threshers, generally six in number, sit round it, and\n      taking a few stalks, with the ears of corn attached, jointly tie a\n      knot and bury it in the heap. It is left there until all the sheaves\n      have been threshed and the corn winnowed and measured. The object of\n      this ceremony is to prevent the devils from diminishing the quantity\n      of corn in the heap.\u201d C. J. R. Le Mesurier, \u201cCustoms and\n      Superstitions connected with the Cultivation of Rice in the Southern\n      Province of Ceylon,\u201d in _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_,\n      N.S., xvii. (1885) 371. The \u201ckey\u201d in the European custom is probably\n      intended to serve the same purpose as the \u201cknot\u201d in the Cingalese\n      custom.\n\n 1246 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 39.\n\n 1247 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 39 _sq._\n\n_ 1248 Ib._ p. 40. For the speeches made by the woman who binds the\n      stranger or the master, see _ib._ p. 41; Lemke, _Volksth\u00fcmliches in\n      Ostpreussen_, i. 23 _sq._\n\n 1249 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 41 _sq._\n\n 1250 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 42.\n\n_ 1251 Ib._ p. 42. See above, p. 343. In Th\u00fcringen a being called the\n      Rush-cutter used to be much dreaded. On the morning of St. John\u2019s\n      Day he was wont to walk through the fields with sickles tied to his\n      ankles cutting avenues in the corn as he walked. To detect him,\n      seven bundles of brushwood were silently threshed with the flail on\n      the threshing-floor, and the stranger who appeared at the door of\n      the barn during the threshing was the Rush-cutter. Witzschel,\n      _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_, p. 221. With the\n      _Binsenschneider_ compare the _Bilschneider_. Panzer, _Beitrag zur\n      deutschen Mythologie_, ii. 210 _sq._\n\n 1252 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 47 _sq._\n\n_ 1253 Ib._ p. 48. To prevent a rationalistic explanation of this custom,\n      which, like most rationalistic explanations of folk-custom, would be\n      wrong, it may be pointed out that a little of the crop is sometimes\n      left on the field for the spirit under other names than \u201cthe Poor\n      Old Woman.\u201d Thus in a village of the Tilsit district, the last sheaf\n      was left standing on the field \u201cfor the Old Rye-woman.\u201d _M. F._ p.\n      337. In Neftenbach (Canton of Z\u00fcrich) the first three ears of corn\n      reaped are thrown away on the field \u201cto satisfy the Corn-mother and\n      to make the next year\u2019s crop abundant.\u201d _Ib._ In Th\u00fcringen when the\n      after-grass (_Grummet_) is being got in, a little heap is left lying\n      on the field; it belongs to \u201cthe Little Wood-woman\u201d in return for\n      the blessing she has bestowed. Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und\n      Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_, p. 224. At Kupferberg, Bavaria, some corn\n      is left standing on the field when the rest has been cut. Of this\n      corn left standing, they say that \u201cit belongs to the Old Woman,\u201d to\n      whom it is dedicated in the following words\u2014\n\n      \u201cWe give it to the Old Woman;\n      She shall keep it.\n      Next year may she be to us\n      As kind as this time she has been.\u201d\n\n      _M. F._ p. 337 _sq._ These last expressions are quite conclusive.\n      See also Mannhardt, _Kornd\u00e4monen_, p. 7 _sq._ In Russia a patch of\n      unreaped corn is left in the field and the ears are knotted\n      together; this is called \u201cthe plaiting of the beard of Volos.\u201d \u201cThe\n      unreaped patch is looked upon as tabooed; and it is believed that if\n      any one meddles with it he will shrivel up, and become twisted like\n      the interwoven ears.\u201d Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p.\n      251. In the North-east of Scotland a few stalks were sometimes left\n      unreaped for the benefit of \u201cthe aul\u2019 man.\u201d W. Gregor, _Folk-lore of\n      the North-East of Scotland_, p. 182. Here \u201cthe aul\u2019 man\u201d is probably\n      the equivalent of the Old Man (_der Alte_) of Germany.\n\n_ 1254 M. F._ p. 48.\n\n_ 1255 Ib._ p. 48 _sq._\n\n_ 1256 Ib._ p. 49.\n\n_ 1257 Ib._ p. 49 _sq._; Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_,2 \u00a7 400;\n      T\u00f6ppen, _Aberglaube aus Masuren_,2 p. 57.\n\n 1258 The explanation of the custom is Mannhardt\u2019s. _M. F._ p. 49.\n\n_ 1259 Odyssey_, xvii. 485 _sqq._ Cp. Plato, _Sophist_, 216 A.\n\n 1260 For throwing him into the water, see p. 374.\n\n 1261 Cieza de Leon, _Travels_, translated by Markham, p. 203 (Hakluyt\n      Society, 1864).\n\n 1262 Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations civilis\u00e9es du Mexique_,\n      i. 274; Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, ii. 340.\n\n 1263 Bastian, _Die Culturl\u00e4nder des alten Amerika_, ii. 639 (quoting\n      Herrara). See above, p. 307.\n\n 1264 E. James, _Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky\n      Mountains_, ii. 80 _sq._; Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, v. 77\n      _sqq._; De Smet, _Voyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses_, nouvelle ed.\n      1873, p. 121 _sqq._ The accounts by Schoolcraft and De Smet of the\n      sacrifice of the Sioux girl are independent and supplement each\n      other.\n\n 1265 Labat, _Relation historique de l\u2019Ethiopie occidentale_, i. 380.\n\n 1266 John Adams, _Sketches taken during Ten Voyages in Africa between the\n      years 1786 and 1800_, p. 25.\n\n 1267 P. Bouche, _La C\u00f4te des Esclaves_, p. 132.\n\n 1268 Arbousset et Daumas, _Voyage d\u2019exploration au Nord-est de la Colonie\n      du Cap de Bonne-Esperance_, p. 117 _sq._\n\n_ 1269 Panjab Notes and Queries_, ii. No. 721.\n\n 1270 Major S. C. Macpherson, _Memorials of Service in India_, p. 113\n      _sq._; Major-General John Campbell, _Wild Tribes of Khondistan_, pp.\n      52-58, etc.\n\n 1271 J. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 56.\n\n 1272 S. C. Macpherson, _op. cit._ p. 115 _sq._\n\n_ 1273 Ib._ p. 113.\n\n 1274 S. C. Macpherson, _op. cit._ p. 117 _sq._; J. Campbell, p. 112.\n\n 1275 S. C. Macpherson, p. 118.\n\n 1276 J. Campbell, p. 54.\n\n_ 1277 Ib._ pp. 55, 112.\n\n 1278 S. C. Macpherson, p. 119; J. Campbell, p. 113.\n\n 1279 S. C. Macpherson, p. 127. Instead of the branch of a green tree,\n      Campbell mentions two strong planks or bamboos (p. 57) or a slit\n      bamboo (p. 182).\n\n 1280 J. Campbell, pp. 56, 58, 120.\n\n 1281 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 288, quoting Colonel Campbell\u2019s\n      Report.\n\n 1282 J. Campbell, p. 126. The elephant represented the Earth Goddess\n      herself, who was here conceived in elephant-form; Campbell, pp. 51,\n      126. In the hill tracts of Goomsur she was represented in\n      peacock-form, and the post to which the victim was bound bore the\n      effigy of a peacock, Campbell, p. 54.\n\n 1283 S. C. Macpherson, p. 130.\n\n 1284 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 288, referring to Colonel\n      Campbell\u2019s Report.\n\n 1285 S. C. Macpherson, p. 129. Cp. J. Campbell, pp. 55, 58, 113, 121,\n      187.\n\n 1286 J. Campbell, p. 182.\n\n 1287 S. C. Macpherson, p. 128; Dalton, _l.c._\n\n 1288 J. Campbell, pp. 55, 182.\n\n 1289 J. Campbell, p. 187.\n\n 1290 J. Campbell, p. 112.\n\n 1291 S. C. Macpherson, p. 118.\n\n 1292 Above, pp. 383, 384.\n\n 1293 Above, pp. 334, 335.\n\n 1294 Above, pp. 333, 344, 345.\n\n 1295 Above, p. 372.\n\n 1296 Above, p. 374.\n\n 1297 Above, pp. 286 _sq._, 337, 340, 374.\n\n 1298 Above, p. 374.\n\n 1299 W. Mannhardt, _Kornd\u00e4monen_, p. 5.\n\n 1300 Pfannenschmid, _Germanische Erntefeste_, p. 98.\n\n 1301 Above, p. 376 _sq._\n\n 1302 Above, p. 235.\n\n 1303 Above, p. 299.\n\n 1304 Above, p. 68.\n\n 1305 I do not know when the corn is reaped in Phrygia; but considering\n      the high upland character of the country, harvest is probably later\n      there than on the coasts of the Mediterranean.\n\n 1306 Above, p. 364 _sq._\n\n 1307 Above, p. 365.\n\n 1308 Hesychius, _s.v._ \u0392\u1ff6\u03c1\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd.\n\n 1309 Apollodorus, ii. 6, 3.\n\n 1310 The scurrilities exchanged in both ancient and modern times between\n      vine-dressers, vintagers, and passers-by seem to belong to a\n      different category. See W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 53 _sq._\n\n 1311 Above, p. 282 _sqq._\n\n 1312 Above, p. 283 _sq._\n\n 1313 Above, pp. 381, 384, 389.\n\n 1314 For this fact of the probable correspondence of the months, which\n      supplies so welcome a confirmation of the conjecture in the text, I\n      am indebted to my friend Professor W. Robertson Smith, who furnishes\n      me with the following note: \u201cIn the Syro-Macedonian calendar Lous\n      represents Ab, not Tammuz. Was it different in Babylon? I think it\n      was, and one month different, at least in the early times of the\n      Greek monarchy in Asia. For we know from a Babylonian observation in\n      the Almagest (_Ideler_, I. 396) that in 229 B.C. Xanthicus began on\n      February 26. It was therefore the month before the equinoctial moon,\n      not Nisan but Adar, and consequently Lous answered to the lunar\n      month Tammuz.\u201d\n\n 1315 Above, p. 364.\n\n 1316 Apollodorus, ii. 5, 11; Schol. on Apollonius Rhodius, iv. 1396;\n      Plutarch, _Parall._ 38. Herodotus (ii. 45) discredits the idea that\n      the Egyptians ever offered human sacrifices. But his authority is\n      not to be weighed against that of Manetho (Plutarch, _Is. et Os._\n      73), who affirms that they did.\n\n 1317 E. Meyer, _Geschichte des Alterthums_, i. \u00a7 57.\n\n 1318 Diodorus, i. 88; Plutarch, _Is. et Os._ 73; cp. _id._, 30, 33.\n\n 1319 Above, pp. 307, 383, 391.\n\n 1320 Festus, _s.v._ _Catularia_. Cp. _id._, _s.v._ _rutilae canes_;\n      Columella, x. 343; Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 905 _sqq._; Pliny, _N. H._\n      xviii. \u00a7 14.\n\n 1321 Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, ii. 207, No. 362;\n      _Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_, iii. 343.\n\n 1322 Above, pp. 384, 389.\n\n 1323 Above, pp. 381, 383.\n\n 1324 Plutarch, _Is. et Os._ 18.\n\n 1325 Plutarch, _Is. et Os_. 22, 30, 31, 33, 73.\n\n 1326 Wilkinson, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians_ (ed.\n      1878), iii. 81.\n\n 1327 Pausanias, i. 22, 3, viii. 5, 8, viii. 42, 1\n\n 1328 Cornutus, _De nat. deor._ c. 28.\n\n 1329 Hone, _Every-day Book_, ii. c. 1170 _sq._\n\n 1330 Miss C. S. Burne and Miss G. F. Jackson, _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p.\n      372 _sq._, referring to Mrs. Bray\u2019s _Traditions of Devon_, i. 330.\n\n 1331 Hone, _op. cit._ ii. 1172.\n\n 1332 Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, ii. 20 (Bohn\u2019s ed.); Burne and\n      Jackson, _op. cit._ p. 371.\n\n 1333 Burne and Jackson, _l.c._\n\n 1334 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 185.\n\n 1335 See above, p. 345.\n\n 1336 W. Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ p. 185.\n\n_ 1337 Ib._\n\n_ 1338 Revue des Traditions populaires_, ii. 500.\n\n 1339 Above, p. 343.\n\n 1340 U. Jahn, _Die deutschen Opfergebr\u00e4uche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht_,\n      pp. 166-169; Pfannenschmid, _Germanische Erntefeste_, p. 104 _sq._;\n      Kuhn, _Westf\u00e4lische Sagen, Gebr\u00e4uche und M\u00e4rchen_, ii. Nos. 491,\n      492; Kuhn und Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche_,\n      p. 395, No. 97; Lynker, _Deutsche Sagen und Sitten in hessischen\n      Gauen_, p. 256, No. 340.","title":"The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 1 of 2)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":137058}