{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_41572/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_41572","id":"gutenberg_41572","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41572","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 Magic and Religion\n\n                                    By\n\n               James George Frazer, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D.\n\n                   Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge\n\n     Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Liverpool\n\n                              Third Edition.\n\n                                 Vol. IV.\n\n                                 Part III\n\n                              The Dying God\n\n                           New York and London\n\n                            MacMillan and Co.\n\n                                   1911\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nPreface.\nChapter I. The Mortality Of The Gods.\nChapter II. The Killing Of The Divine King.\n   \u00a7 1. Preference for a Violent Death.\n   \u00a7 2. Kings killed when their Strength fails.\n   \u00a7 3. Kings killed at the End of a Fixed Term.\n   \u00a7 4. Octennial Tenure of the Kingship.\n   \u00a7 5. Funeral Games.\n   \u00a7 6. The Slaughter of the Dragon.\n   \u00a7 7. Triennial Tenure of the Kingship.\n   \u00a7 8. Annual Tenure of the Kingship.\n   \u00a7 9. Diurnal Tenure of the Kingship.\nChapter III. The Slaying Of The King In Legend.\nChapter IV. The Supply Of Kings.\nChapter V. Temporary Kings.\nChapter VI. Sacrifice Of The King\u2019s Son.\nChapter VII. Succession To The Soul.\nChapter VIII. The Killing Of The Tree-Spirit.\n   \u00a7 1. The Whitsuntide Mummers.\n   \u00a7 2. Mock Human Sacrifices.\n   \u00a7 3. Burying the Carnival.\n   \u00a7 4. Carrying out Death.\n   \u00a7 5. Sawing the Old Woman.\n   \u00a7 6. Bringing in Summer.\n   \u00a7 7. Battle of Summer and Winter.\n   \u00a7 8. Death and Resurrection of Kostrubonko.\n   \u00a7 9. Death and Revival of Vegetation.\n   \u00a7 10. Analogous Rites in India.\n   \u00a7 11. The Magic Spring.\nNote A. Chinese Indifference To Death.\nNote B. Swinging As A Magical Rite.\nAddenda.\nIndex.\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\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nWith this third part of _The Golden Bough_ we take up the question, Why\nhad the King of the Wood at Nemi regularly to perish by the hand of his\nsuccessor? In the first part of the work I gave some reasons for thinking\nthat the priest of Diana, who bore the title of King of the Wood beside\nthe still lake among the Alban Hills, personated the great god Jupiter or\nhis duplicate Dianus, the deity of the oak, the thunder, and the sky. On\nthis theory, accordingly, we are at once confronted with the wider and\ndeeper question, Why put a man-god or human representative of deity to a\nviolent death? Why extinguish the divine light in its earthly vessel\ninstead of husbanding it to its natural close? My general answer to that\nquestion is contained in the present volume. If I am right, the motive for\nslaying a man-god is a fear lest with the enfeeblement of his body in\nsickness or old age his sacred spirit should suffer a corresponding decay,\nwhich might imperil the general course of nature and with it the existence\nof his worshippers, who believe the cosmic energies to be mysteriously\nknit up with those of their human divinity. Hence, if there is any measure\nof truth in this theory, the practice of putting divine men and\nparticularly divine kings to death, which seems to have been common at a\nparticular stage in the evolution of society and religion, was a crude but\npathetic attempt to disengage an immortal spirit from its mortal envelope,\nto arrest the forces of decomposition in nature by retrenching with\nruthless hand the first ominous symptoms of decay. We may smile if we\nplease at the vanity of these and the like efforts to stay the inevitable\ndecline, to bring the relentless revolution of the great wheel to a stand,\nto keep youth\u2019s fleeting roses for ever fresh and fair; but perhaps in\nspite of every disillusionment, when we contemplate the seemingly endless\nvistas of knowledge which have been opened up even within our own\ngeneration, many of us may cherish in our heart of hearts a fancy, if not\na hope, that some loophole of escape may after all be discovered from the\niron walls of the prison-house which threaten to close on and crush us;\nthat, groping about in the darkness, mankind may yet chance to lay hands\non \u201cthat golden key that opes the palace of eternity,\u201d and so to pass from\nthis world of shadows and sorrow to a world of untroubled light and joy.\nIf this is a dream, it is surely a happy and innocent one, and to those\nwho would wake us from it we may murmur with Michael Angelo,\n\n\n    \u201c_Per\u00f2 non mi destar, deh! parla basso._\u201d\n\n\nJ. G. FRAZER.\n\nCAMBRIDGE,\n_11th June 1911_.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I. THE MORTALITY OF THE GODS.\n\n\n(M1) At an early stage of his intellectual development man deems himself\nnaturally immortal, and imagines that were it not for the baleful arts of\nsorcerers, who cut the vital thread prematurely short, he would live for\never. The illusion, so flattering to human wishes and hopes, is still\ncurrent among many savage tribes at the present day,(1) and it may be\nsupposed to have prevailed universally in that Age of Magic which appears\nto have everywhere preceded the Age of Religion. But in time the sad truth\nof human mortality was borne in upon our primitive philosopher with a\nforce of demonstration which no prejudice could resist and no sophistry\ndissemble. Among the manifold influences which combined to wring from him\na reluctant assent to the necessity of death must be numbered the growing\ninfluence of religion, which by exposing the vanity of magic and of all\nthe extravagant pretensions built on it gradually lowered man\u2019s proud and\ndefiant attitude towards nature, and taught him to believe that there are\nmysteries in the universe which his feeble intellect can never fathom, and\nforces which his puny hands can never control. Thus more and more he\nlearned to bow to the inevitable and to console himself for the brevity\nand the sorrows of life on earth by the hope of a blissful eternity\nhereafter. But if he reluctantly acknowledged the existence of beings at\nonce superhuman and supernatural, he was as yet far from suspecting the\nwidth and the depth of the gulf which divided him from them. The gods with\nwhom his imagination now peopled the darkness of the unknown were indeed\nadmitted by him to be his superiors in knowledge and in power, in the\njoyous splendour of their life and in the length of its duration. But,\nthough he knew it not, these glorious and awful beings were merely, like\nthe spectre of the Brocken, the reflections of his own diminutive\npersonality exaggerated into gigantic proportions by distance and by the\nmists and clouds upon which they were cast. Man in fact created gods in\nhis own likeness and being himself mortal he naturally supposed his\ncreatures to be in the same sad predicament. Thus the Greenlanders\nbelieved that a wind could kill their most powerful god, and that he would\ncertainly die if he touched a dog. When they heard of the Christian God,\nthey kept asking if he never died, and being informed that he did not,\nthey were much surprised, and said that he must be a very great god\nindeed.(2) In answer to the enquiries of Colonel Dodge, a North American\nIndian stated that the world was made by the Great Spirit. Being asked\nwhich Great Spirit he meant, the good one or the bad one, \u201cOh, neither of\n_them_\u201d replied he, \u201cthe Great Spirit that made the world is dead long\nago. He could not possibly have lived as long as this.\u201d(3) A tribe in the\nPhilippine Islands told the Spanish conquerors that the grave of the\nCreator was upon the top of Mount Cabunian.(4) Heitsi-eibib, a god or\ndivine hero of the Hottentots, died several times and came to life again.\nHis graves are generally to be met with in narrow defiles between\nmountains. When the Hottentots pass one of them, they throw a stone on it\nfor good luck, sometimes muttering \u201cGive us plenty of cattle.\u201d(5) The\ngrave of Zeus, the great god of Greece, was shewn to visitors in Crete as\nlate as about the beginning of our era.(6) The body of Dionysus was buried\nat Delphi beside the golden statue of Apollo, and his tomb bore the\ninscription, \u201cHere lies Dionysus dead, the son of Semele.\u201d(7) According to\none account, Apollo himself was buried at Delphi; for Pythagoras is said\nto have carved an inscription on his tomb, setting forth how the god had\nbeen killed by the python and buried under the tripod.(8) The ancient god\nCronus was buried in Sicily,(9) and the graves of Hermes, Aphrodite, and\nAres were shewn in Hermopolis, Cyprus, and Thrace.(10)\n\n(M2) The great gods of Egypt themselves were not exempt from the common\nlot. They too grew old and died. For like men they were composed of body\nand soul, and like men were subject to all the passions and infirmities of\nthe flesh. Their bodies, it is true, were fashioned of more ethereal\nmould, and lasted longer than ours, but they could not hold out for ever\nagainst the siege of time. Age converted their bones into silver, their\nflesh into gold, and their azure locks into lapis-lazuli. When their time\ncame, they passed away from the cheerful world of the living to reign as\ndead gods over dead men in the melancholy world beyond the grave. Even\ntheir souls, like those of mankind, could only endure after death so long\nas their bodies held together; and hence it was as needful to preserve the\ncorpses of the gods as the corpses of common folk, lest with the divine\nbody the divine spirit should also come to an untimely end. At first their\nremains were laid to rest under the desert sands of the mountains, that\nthe dryness of the soil and the purity of the air might protect them from\nputrefaction and decay. Hence one of the oldest titles of the Egyptian\ngods is \u201cthey who are under the sands.\u201d But when at a later time the\ndiscovery of the art of embalming gave a new lease of life to the souls of\nthe dead by preserving their bodies for an indefinite time from\ncorruption, the deities were permitted to share the benefit of an\ninvention which held out to gods as well as to men a reasonable hope of\nimmortality. Every province then had the tomb and mummy of its dead god.\nThe mummy of Osiris was to be seen at Mendes; Thinis boasted of the mummy\nof Anhouri; and Heliopolis rejoiced in the possession of that of\nToumou.(11) But while their bodies lay swathed and bandaged here on earth\nin the tomb, their souls, if we may trust the Egyptian priests, shone as\nbright stars in the firmament. The soul of Isis sparkled in Sirius, the\nsoul of Horus in Orion, and the soul of Typhon in the Great Bear.(12) But\nthe death of the god did not involve the extinction of his sacred stock;\nfor he commonly had by his wife a son and heir, who on the demise of his\ndivine parent succeeded to the full rank, power, and honours of the\ngodhead.(13) The high gods of Babylon also, though they appeared to their\nworshippers only in dreams and visions, were conceived to be human in\ntheir bodily shape, human in their passions, and human in their fate; for\nlike men they were born into the world, and like men they loved and fought\nand died.(14)\n\n(M3) One of the most famous stories of the death of a god is told by\nPlutarch. It runs thus. In the reign of the emperor Tiberius a certain\nschoolmaster named Epitherses was sailing from Greece to Italy. The ship\nin which he had taken his passage was a merchantman and there were many\nother passengers on board. At evening, when they were off the Echinadian\nIslands, the wind died away, and the vessel drifted close in to the island\nof Paxos. Most of the passengers were awake and many were still drinking\nwine after dinner, when suddenly a voice hailed the ship from the island,\ncalling upon Thamus. The crew and passengers were taken by surprise, for\nthough there was an Egyptian pilot named Thamus on board, few knew him\neven by name. Twice the cry was repeated, but Thamus kept silence.\nHowever, at the third call he answered, and the voice from the shore, now\nlouder than ever, said, \u201cWhen you are come to Palodes, announce that the\nGreat Pan is dead.\u201d Astonishment fell upon all, and they consulted whether\nit would be better to do the bidding of the voice or not. At last Thamus\nresolved that, if the wind held, he would pass the place in silence, but\nif it dropped when they were off Palodes he would give the message. Well,\nwhen they were come to Palodes, there was a great calm; so Thamus standing\nin the stern and looking towards the land cried out, as he had been\nbidden, \u201cThe Great Pan is dead.\u201d The words had hardly passed his lips when\na loud sound of lamentation broke on their ears, as if a multitude were\nmourning. This strange story, vouched for by many on board, soon got wind\nat Rome, and Thamus was sent for and questioned by the emperor Tiberius\nhimself, who caused enquiries to be made about the dead god.(15) In modern\ntimes, also, the annunciation of the death of the Great Pan has been much\ndiscussed and various explanations of it have been suggested. On the whole\nthe simplest and most natural would seem to be that the deity whose sad\nend was thus mysteriously proclaimed and lamented was the Syrian god\nTammuz or Adonis, whose death is known to have been annually bewailed by\nhis followers both in Greece and in his native Syria. At Athens the\nsolemnity fell at midsummer, and there is no improbability in the view\nthat in a Greek island a band of worshippers of Tammuz should have been\ncelebrating the death of their god with the customary passionate\ndemonstrations of sorrow at the very time when a ship lay becalmed off the\nshore, and that in the stillness of the summer night the voices of\nlamentation should have been wafted with startling distinctness across the\nwater and should have made on the minds of the listening passengers a deep\nand lasting impression.(16) However that may be, stories of the same kind\nfound currency in western Asia down to the Middle Ages. An Arab writer\nrelates that in the year 1063 or 1064 A.D., in the reign of the caliph\nCaiem, a rumour went abroad through Bagdad, which soon spread all over the\nprovince of Irac, that some Turks out hunting in the desert had seen a\nblack tent, where many men and women were beating their faces and uttering\nloud cries, as it is the custom to do in the East when some one is dead.\nAnd among the cries they distinguished these words, \u201cThe great King of the\nJinn is dead, woe to this country!\u201d In consequence of this a mysterious\nthreat was circulated from Armenia to Chuzistan that every town which did\nnot lament the dead King of the Jinn should utterly perish. Again, in the\nyear 1203 or 1204 A.D. a fatal disease, which attacked the throat, raged\nin parts of Mosul and Irac, and it was divulged that a woman of the Jinn\ncalled Umm \u2019Unc\u016bd or \u201cMother of the Grape-cluster\u201d had lost her son, and\nthat all who did not lament for him would fall victims to the epidemic. So\nmen and women sought to save themselves from death by assembling and\nbeating their faces, while they cried out in a lamentable voice, \u201cO mother\nof the Grape-cluster, excuse us; the Grape-cluster is dead; we knew it\nnot.\u201d(17)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II. THE KILLING OF THE DIVINE KING.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 1. Preference for a Violent Death.\n\n\n(M4) If the high gods, who dwell remote from the fret and fever of this\nearthly life, are yet believed to die at last, it is not to be expected\nthat a god who lodges in a frail tabernacle of flesh should escape the\nsame fate, though we hear of African kings who have imagined themselves\nimmortal by virtue of their sorceries.(18) Now primitive peoples, as we\nhave seen,(19) sometimes believe that their safety and even that of the\nworld is bound up with the life of one of these god-men or human\nincarnations of the divinity. Naturally, therefore, they take the utmost\ncare of his life, out of a regard for their own. But no amount of care and\nprecaution will prevent the man-god from growing old and feeble and at\nlast dying. His worshippers have to lay their account with this sad\nnecessity and to meet it as best they can. The danger is a formidable one;\nfor if the course of nature is dependent on the man-god\u2019s life, what\ncatastrophes may not be expected from the gradual enfeeblement of his\npowers and their final extinction in death? There is only one way of\naverting these dangers. The man-god must be killed as soon as he shews\nsymptoms that his powers are beginning to fail, and his soul must be\ntransferred to a vigorous successor before it has been seriously impaired\nby the threatened decay. The advantages of thus putting the man-god to\ndeath instead of allowing him to die of old age and disease are, to the\nsavage, obvious enough. For if the man-god dies what we call a natural\ndeath, it means, according to the savage, that his soul has either\nvoluntarily departed from his body and refuses to return, or more commonly\nthat it has been extracted, or at least detained in its wanderings, by a\ndemon or sorcerer.(20) In any of these cases the soul of the man-god is\nlost to his worshippers; and with it their prosperity is gone and their\nvery existence endangered. Even if they could arrange to catch the soul of\nthe dying god as it left his lips or his nostrils and so transfer it to a\nsuccessor, this would not effect their purpose; for, dying of disease, his\nsoul would necessarily leave his body in the last stage of weakness and\nexhaustion, and so enfeebled it would continue to drag out a languid,\ninert existence in any body to which it might be transferred. Whereas by\nslaying him his worshippers could, in the first place, make sure of\ncatching his soul as it escaped and transferring it to a suitable\nsuccessor; and, in the second place, by putting him to death 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\n(M5) Some of the reasons for preferring a violent death to the slow death\nof old 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 disease.\u201d(21)\nThe Barongo believe that in the world beyond the grave the spirits of\ntheir dead ancestors appear with the exact form and lineaments which their\nbodies exhibited at the moment of death; the spirits are young or old\naccording as their bodies were young or old when they died; there are baby\nspirits who crawl about on all fours.(22) The Lengua Indians of the Gran\nChaco are persuaded that the souls of the departed correspond exactly in\nform and characteristics to the bodies which they quitted at death; thus a\ntall man is tall, a short man is short, and a deformed man is deformed in\nthe spirit-land, and the disembodied soul of a child remains a child, it\nnever develops into an adult. Hence they burn the body of a murderer and\nscatter the ashes to the winds, thinking that this treatment will prevent\nhis spirit from assuming human shape in the other world.(23) So, too, the\nNaga tribes of Manipur hold that the ghost of a dead man is an exact image\nof the deceased as he was at the moment of death, with his scars, tattoo\nmarks, mutilations, and all the rest.(24) The Baganda think that the\nghosts of men who were mutilated in life are mutilated in like manner\nafter death; so to avoid that shame they will rather die with all their\nlimbs than lose one by amputation and live.(25) Hence, men sometimes\nprefer to kill themselves or to be killed before they grow feeble, in\norder that in the future life their souls may start fresh and vigorous as\nthey left their bodies, instead of decrepit and worn out with age and\ndisease. Thus in Fiji, \u201cself-immolation is by no means rare, and they\nbelieve that as they leave this life, so they will remain ever after. This\nforms a powerful motive to escape from decrepitude, or from a crippled\ncondition, by a voluntary death.\u201d(26) Or, as another observer of the\nFijians puts it more fully, \u201cthe custom of voluntary suicide on the part\nof the old men, which is among their most extraordinary usages, is also\nconnected with their superstitions respecting a future life. They believe\nthat persons enter upon the delights of their elysium with the same\nfaculties, mental and physical, that they possess at the hour of death, in\nshort, that the spiritual life commences where the corporeal existence\nterminates. With these views, it is natural that they should desire to\npass through this change before their mental and bodily powers are so\nenfeebled by age as to deprive them of their capacity for enjoyment. To\nthis motive must be added the contempt which attaches to physical weakness\namong a nation of warriors, and the wrongs and insults which await those\nwho are no longer able to protect themselves. When therefore a man finds\nhis strength declining with the advance of age, and feels that he will\nsoon be unequal to discharge the duties of this life, and to partake in\nthe pleasures of that which is to come, he calls together his relations,\nand tells them that he is now worn out and useless, that he sees they are\nall ashamed of him, and that he has determined to be buried.\u201d So on a day\nappointed they used to meet and bury him alive.(27) In Vat\u00e9, one of the\nNew Hebrides, the aged were buried alive at their own request. It was\nconsidered a disgrace to the family of an old chief if he was not buried\nalive.(28) Of the Kamants, a Jewish tribe in Abyssinia, it is reported\nthat \u201cthey never let a person die a natural death, but that if any of\ntheir relatives is nearly expiring, the priest of the village is called to\ncut his throat; if this be omitted, they believe that the departed soul\nhas not entered the mansions of the blessed.\u201d(29) The old Greek\nphilosopher Heraclitus thought that the souls of those who die in battle\nare purer than the souls of those who die of disease.(30)\n\n(M6) Among the Chiriguanos, a tribe of South American Indians on the river\nPilcomayo, when a man was at the point of death his nearest relative used\nto break his spine by a blow of an axe, for they thought that to die a\nnatural death was the greatest misfortune that could befall a man.(31)\nWhenever a Payagua Indian of Paraguay, or a Guayana of south-eastern\nBrazil, grew weary of life, a feast was made, and amid the revelry and\ndancing the man was gummed and feathered with the plumage of many-coloured\nbirds. A huge jar had been previously fixed in the ground to be ready for\nhim; in this he was placed, the mouth of the jar was covered with a heavy\nlid of baked clay, the earth was heaped over it, and thus \u201che went to his\ndoom more joyful and gladsome than to his first nuptials.\u201d(32) Among the\nKoryaks of north-eastern Asia, when a man felt that his last hour was\ncome, superstition formerly required that he should either kill himself or\nbe killed by a friend, in order that he might escape the Evil One and\ndeliver himself up to the Good God.(33) Similarly among the Chukchees of\nthe same region, when a man\u2019s strength fails and he is tired of life, he\nrequests his son or other near relation to despatch him, indicating the\nmanner of death he prefers to die. So, on a day appointed, his friends and\nneighbours assemble, and in their presence he is stabbed, strangled, or\notherwise disposed of according to his directions.(34) The turbulent\nAngamis are the most warlike and bloodthirsty of the wild head-hunting\ntribes in the valley of the Brahmapootra. Among them, when a warrior dies\na natural death, his nearest male relative takes a spear and wounds the\ncorpse by a blow on the head, in order that the man may be received with\nhonour in the other world as one who has died in battle.(35) The heathen\nNorsemen believed that only those who fell fighting were received by Odin\nin Valhalla; hence it appears to have been customary to wound the dying\nwith a spear, in order to secure their admission to the happy land. The\ncustom may have been a mitigation of a still older practice of\nslaughtering the sick.(36) We know from Procopius that among the Heruli, a\nTeutonic tribe, the sick and old were regularly slain at their own request\nand then burned on a pyre.(37) The Wends used to kill their aged parents\nand other kinsfolk, and having killed them they boiled and ate their\nbodies; and the old folks preferred to die thus rather than to drag out a\nweary life of weakness and decrepitude.(38)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 2. Kings killed when their Strength fails.\n\n\n(M7) But it is with the death of the god-man\u2014the divine king or\npriest\u2014that we are here especially concerned. The mystic kings of Fire and\nWater in Cambodia are not allowed to die a natural death. Hence when one\nof them is seriously ill and the elders think that he cannot recover, they\nstab him to death.(39) The people of Congo believed, as we have seen,(40)\nthat if their pontiff the Chitom\u00e9 were to die a natural death, the world\nwould perish, and the earth, which he alone sustained by his power and\nmerit, would immediately be annihilated. Accordingly when he fell ill and\nseemed likely to die, the man who was destined to be his successor entered\nthe pontiff\u2019s house with a rope or a club and strangled or clubbed him to\ndeath.(41) A fuller account of this custom is given by an old Italian\nwriter as follows: \u201cLet us pass to the death of the magicians, who often\ndie a violent death, and that for the most part voluntarily. I shall speak\nonly of the head of this crew, from whom his followers take example. He is\ncalled Ganga Chitome, being reputed god of the earth. The first-fruits of\nall the crops are offered to him as his due, because they are thought to\nbe produced by his power, and not by nature at the bidding of the Most\nHigh God. This power he boasts he can impart to others, when and to whom\nhe pleases. He asserts that his body cannot die a natural death, and\ntherefore when he knows he is near the end of his days, whether it is\nbrought about by sickness or age, or whether he is deluded by the demon,\nhe calls one of his disciples to whom he wishes to communicate his power,\nin order that he may succeed him. And having made him tie a noose to his\nneck he commands him to strangle him, or to knock him on the head with a\ngreat cudgel and kill him. His disciple obeys and sends him a martyr to\nthe devil, to suffer torments with Lucifer in the flames for ever. This\ntragedy is enacted in public, in order that his successor may be\nmanifested, who hath the power of fertilising the earth, the power having\nbeen imparted to him by the deceased; otherwise, so they say, the earth\nwould remain barren, and the world would perish. Oh too great foolishness\nand palpable blindness of the gentiles, to enlighten the eye of whose mind\nthere would be needed the very hand of Christ whereby he opened the bodily\neyes of him that had been born blind! I know that in my time one of these\nmagicians was cast into the sea, another into a river, a mother put to\ndeath with her son, and many more seized by our orders and banished.\u201d(42)\nThe Ethiopian kings of Meroe were worshipped as gods; but whenever the\npriests chose, they sent a messenger to the king, ordering him to die, and\nalleging an oracle of the gods as their authority for the command. This\ncommand the kings always obeyed down to the reign of Ergamenes, a\ncontemporary of Ptolemy II., King of Egypt. Having received a Greek\neducation which emancipated him from the superstitions of his countrymen,\nErgamenes ventured to disregard the command of the priests, and, entering\nthe Golden Temple with a body of soldiers, put the priests to the\nsword.(43)\n\n(M8) Customs of the same sort appear to have prevailed in this region down\nto modern times. Thus we are told that in Fazoql, a district in the valley\nof the Blue Nile, to the west of Abyssinia, it was customary, as late as\nthe middle of the nineteenth century, to hang a king who was no longer\nbeloved. His relatives and ministers assembled round him, and announced\nthat as he no longer pleased the men, the women, the asses, the oxen, and\nthe fowls of the country, it was better he should die. Once on a time,\nwhen a king was unwilling to take the hint, his own wife and mother urged\nhim so strongly not to disgrace himself by disregarding the custom, that\nhe submitted to his fate and was strung up in the usual way. In some\ntribes of Fazoql the king had to administer justice daily under a certain\ntree. If from sickness or any other cause he was unable to discharge this\nduty for three whole days, he was hanged on the tree in a noose, which\ncontained two razors so arranged that when the noose was drawn tight by\nthe weight of the king\u2019s body they cut his throat.(44) At Fazolglou an\nannual festival, which partook of the nature of a Saturnalia, was preceded\nby a formal trial of the king in front of his house. The judges were the\nchief men of the country. The king sat on his royal stool during the\ntrial, surrounded by armed men, who were ready to carry out a sentence of\ndeath. A little way off a jackal and a dog were tied to a post. The\nconduct of the king during his year of office was discussed, complaints\nwere heard, and if the verdict was unfavourable, the king was executed and\nhis successor chosen from among the members of his family. But if the\nmonarch was acquitted, the people at once paid their homage to him afresh,\nand the dog or the jackal was killed in his stead. This custom lasted down\nto the year 1837 or 1838, when king Yassin was thus condemned and\nexecuted.(45) His nephew Assusa was compelled under threats of death to\nsucceed him in the office.(46) Afterwards it would seem that the death of\nthe dog was regularly accepted as a substitute for the death of the king.\nAt least this may be inferred from a later account of the Fazoql practice,\nwhich runs thus: \u201cThe meaning of another of their customs is quite\nobscure. At a certain time of the year they have a kind of carnival, where\nevery one does what he likes best. Four ministers of the king then bear\nhim on an anqareb out of his house to an open space of ground; a dog is\nfastened by a long cord to one of the feet of the anqareb. The whole\npopulation collects round the place, streaming in on every side. They then\nthrow darts and stones at the dog, till he is killed, after which the king\nis again borne into his house.\u201d(47)\n\n(M9) A custom of putting their divine kings to death at the first symptoms\nof infirmity or old age prevailed until lately, if indeed it is even now\nextinct and not merely dormant, among the Shilluk of the White Nile, and\nin recent years it has been carefully investigated by Dr. C. G. Seligmann,\nto whose researches I am indebted for the following detailed information\non the subject.(48) The Shilluk are a tribe or nation who inhabit a long\nnarrow fringe of territory on the western bank of the White Nile from Kaka\nin the north to Lake No in the south, as well as a strip on the eastern\nbank of the river, which stretches from Fashoda to Taufikia and for some\nthirty-five miles up the Sobat River. The country of the Shilluk is almost\nentirely in grass, hence the principal wealth of the people consists in\ntheir flocks and herds, but they also grow a considerable quantity of the\nspecies of millet which is known as durra. But though the Shilluk are\nmainly a pastoral people, they are not nomadic, but live in many settled\nvillages. The tribe at present numbers about forty thousand souls, and is\ngoverned by a single king (_ret_), whose residence is at Fashoda. His\nsubjects take great care of him, and hold him in much honour. In the old\ndays his word was law and he was not suffered to go forth to battle. At\nthe present day he still keeps up considerable state and exercises much\nauthority; his decisions on all matters brought before him are readily\nobeyed; and he never moves without a bodyguard of from twelve to twenty\nmen. The reverence which the Shilluk pay to their king appears to arise\nchiefly from the conviction that he is a reincarnation of the spirit of\nNyakang, the semi-divine hero who founded the dynasty and settled the\ntribe in their present territory, to which he is variously said to have\nconducted them either from the west or from the south. Tradition has\npreserved the pedigree of the kings from Nyakang to the present day. The\nnumber of kings recorded between Nyakang and the father of the reigning\nmonarch is twenty, distributed over twelve generations; but Dr. Seligmann\nis of opinion that many more must have reigned, and that the genealogy of\nthe first six or seven kings, as given to him, has been much abbreviated.\nThere seems to be no reason to doubt the historical character of all of\nthem, though myths have gathered like clouds round the persons of Nyakang\nand his immediate successors. The Shilluk about Kodok (Fashoda) think of\nNyakang as having been a man in appearance and physical qualities, though\nunlike his royal descendants of more recent times he did not die but\nsimply disappeared. His holiness is manifested especially by his relation\nto J\u016dok, the great god of the Shilluk, who created man and is responsible\nfor the order of nature. J\u016dok is formless and invisible and like the air\nhe is everywhere at once. He is far above Nyakang and men alike, but he is\nnot worshipped directly, and it is only through the intercession of\nNyakang, whose favour the Shilluk secure by means of sacrifices, that J\u016dok\ncan be induced to send the needed rain for the cattle and the crops.(49)\nIn his character of rain-giver Nyakang is the great benefactor of the\nShilluk. Their country, baked by the burning heat of the tropical sun,\ndepends entirely for its fertility on the waters of heaven, for the people\ndo not resort to artificial irrigation. When the rain falls, then the\ngrass sprouts, the millet grows, the cattle thrive, and the people have\nfood to eat. Drought brings famine and death in its train.(50) Nyakang is\nsaid not only to have brought the Shilluk into their present land, but to\nhave made them into a nation of warriors, divided the country among them,\nregulated marriage, and made the laws.(51) The religion of the Shilluk at\nthe present time consists mainly of the worship paid to this semi-divine\nhero, the traditionary ancestor of their kings. There seems to be no\nreason to doubt that the traditions concerning him are substantially\ncorrect; in all probability he was simply a man whom the superstition of\nhis fellows in his own and subsequent ages has raised to the rank of a\ndeity.(52) No less than ten shrines are dedicated to his worship; the\nthree most famous are at Fashoda, Akurwa, and Fenikang. They consist of\none or more huts enclosed by a fence; generally there are several huts\nwithin the enclosure, one or more of them being occupied by the guardians\nof the shrine. These guardians are old men, who not only keep the hallowed\nspot scrupulously clean, but also act as priests, killing the sacrificial\nvictims which are brought to the shrine, sharing their flesh, and taking\nthe skins for themselves. All the shrines of Nyakang are called graves of\nNyakang (_kengo Nyakang_), though it is well known that nobody is buried\nthere.(53) Sacred spears are kept in all of them and are used to slaughter\nthe victims offered in sacrifice at the shrines. The originals of these\nspears are said to have belonged to Nyakang and his companions, but they\nhave disappeared and been replaced by others.\n\n(M10) Two great ceremonies are annually performed at the shrines of\nNyakang: one of them is intended to ensure the fall of rain, the other is\ncelebrated at harvest. At the rain-making ceremony, which is held before\nthe rains at the beginning of the month _alabor_, a bullock is slain with\na sacred spear before the door of the shrine, while the king stands by\npraying in a loud voice to Nyakang to send down the refreshing showers on\nthe thirsty land. As much of the blood of the victim as possible is\ncollected in a gourd and thrown into the river, perhaps as a rain-charm.\nThis intention of the sacrifice comes out more plainly in a form of the\nritual which is said to be observed at Ashop. There the sacrificial\nbullock is speared high up in the flank, so that the wound is not\nimmediately fatal. Then the wounded animal is allowed and indeed\nencouraged to walk to and from the river before it sinks down and dies. In\nthe blood that streams from its side on the ground the people may see a\nsymbol of the looked-for rain.(54) Care is taken not to break the bones of\nthe animal, and they, like the blood, are thrown into the river. At the\nannual rain-making ceremony a cow is also dedicated to Nyakang: it is not\nkilled but added to the sacred herd of the shrine. The other great annual\nceremony observed at the shrines of Nyakang falls at harvest. When the\nmillet has been reaped, every one brings a portion of the grain to a\nshrine of Nyakang, where it is ground into flour, which is made into\nporridge with water fetched from the river. Then some of the porridge is\npoured out on the threshold of the hut which the spirit of Nyakang is\nsupposed to inhabit; some of it is smeared on the outer walls of the\nbuilding; and some of it is emptied out on the ground outside. Even before\nharvest it is customary to bring some of the ripening grain from the\nfields and to thrust it into the thatch of the huts in the shrines, no\ndoubt in order to secure the blessing of Nyakang on the crops. Sacrifices\nare also offered at these shrines for the benefit of sick people. A\nsufferer will bring or send a sheep to the nearest sanctuary, where the\nguardians will slaughter the animal with a sacred spear and pray for the\npatient\u2019s recovery.\n\n(M11) It is a fundamental article of the Shilluk creed that the spirit of\nthe divine or semi-divine Nyakang is incarnate in the reigning king, who\nis accordingly himself invested to some extent with the character of a\ndivinity. But while the Shilluk hold their kings in high, indeed religious\nreverence and take every precaution against their accidental death,\nnevertheless they cherish \u201cthe conviction that the king must not be\nallowed to become ill or senile, lest with his diminishing vigour the\ncattle should sicken and fail to bear their increase, the crops should rot\nin the fields, and man, stricken with disease, should die in ever\nincreasing numbers.\u201d(55) To prevent these calamities it used to be the\nregular custom with the Shilluk to put the king to death whenever he\nshewed signs of ill-health or failing strength. One of the fatal symptoms\nof decay was taken to be an incapacity to satisfy the sexual passions of\nhis wives, of whom he has very many, distributed in a large number of\nhouses at Fashoda. When this ominous weakness manifested itself, the wives\nreported it to the chiefs, who are popularly said to have intimated to the\nking his doom by spreading a white cloth over his face and knees as he lay\nslumbering in the heat of the sultry afternoon. Execution soon followed\nthe sentence of death. A hut was specially built for the occasion: the\nking was led into it and lay down with his head resting on the lap of a\nnubile virgin: the door of the hut was then walled up; and the couple were\nleft without food, water, or fire to die of hunger and suffocation. This\nwas the old custom, but it was abolished some five generations ago on\naccount of the excessive sufferings of one of the kings who perished in\nthis way. He survived his companion for some days, and in the interval was\nso distressed by the stench of her putrefying body that he shouted to the\npeople, whom he could hear moving outside, never again to let a king die\nin this prolonged and exquisite agony. After a time his cries died away\ninto silence; death had released him from his sufferings; but since then\nthe Shilluk have adopted a quicker and more merciful mode of executing\ntheir kings. What the exact form of execution has been in later times Dr.\nSeligmann found it very difficult to ascertain, though with regard to the\nfact of the execution he tells us that there is not the least doubt. It is\nsaid that the chiefs announce his fate to the king, and that afterwards he\nis strangled in a hut which has been specially built for the occasion.\n\n(M12) From Dr. Seligmann\u2019s enquiries it appears that not only was the\nShilluk king liable to be killed with due ceremony at the first symptoms\nof incipient decay, but even while he was yet in the prime of health and\nstrength he might be attacked at any time by a rival and have to defend\nhis crown in a combat to the death. According to the common Shilluk\ntradition any son of a king had the right thus to fight the king in\npossession and, if he succeeded in killing him, to reign in his stead. As\nevery king had a large harem and many sons, the number of possible\ncandidates for the throne at any time may well have been not\ninconsiderable, and the reigning monarch must have carried his life in his\nhand. But the attack on him could only take place with any prospect of\nsuccess at night; for during the day the king surrounded himself with his\nfriends and bodyguards, and an aspirant to the throne could hardly hope to\ncut his way through them and strike home. It was otherwise at night. For\nthen the guards were dismissed and the king was alone in his enclosure\nwith his favourite wives, and there was no man near to defend him except a\nfew herdsmen, whose huts stood a little way off. The hours of darkness\nwere therefore the season of peril for the king. It is said that he used\nto pass them in constant watchfulness, prowling round his huts fully\narmed, peering into the blackest shadows, or himself standing silent and\nalert, like a sentinel on duty, in some dark corner. When at last his\nrival appeared, the fight would take place in grim silence, broken only by\nthe clash of spears and shields, for it was a point of honour with the\nking not to call the herdsmen to his assistance.(56)\n\nWhen the king did not perish in single combat, but was put to death on the\napproach of sickness or old age, it became necessary to find a successor\nfor him. Apparently the successor was chosen by the most powerful chiefs\nfrom among the princes (_ni\u0103ret_), the sons either of the late king or of\none of his predecessors. Details as to the mode of election are lacking.\nSo far as Dr. Seligmann could ascertain, the kings elect shewed no\nreluctance to accept the fatal sovereignty; indeed he was told a story of\na man who clamoured to be made king for only one day, saying that he was\nperfectly ready to be killed after that. The age at which the king was\nkilled would seem to have commonly been between forty and fifty.(57) To\nthe improvident and unimaginative savage the prospect of being put to\ndeath at the end of a set time, whether long or short, has probably few\nterrors; and if it has any, we may suspect that they are altogether\noutweighed in his mind by the opportunities for immediate enjoyment of all\nkinds which a kingdom affords to his unbridled appetites and passions.\n\n(M13) An important part of the solemnities attending the accession of a\nShilluk king appears to be intended to convey to the new monarch the\ndivine spirit of Nyakang, which has been transmitted from the founder of\nthe dynasty to all his successors on the throne. For this purpose a sacred\nfour-legged stool and a mysterious object which bears the name of Nyakang\nhimself are brought with much solemnity from the shrine of Nyakang at\nAkurwa to the small village of Kwom near Fashoda, where the king elect and\nthe chiefs await their arrival. The thing called Nyakang is said to be of\ncylindrical shape, some two or three feet long by six inches broad. The\nchief of Akurwa informed Dr. Seligmann that the object in question is a\nrude wooden figure of a man, which was fashioned long ago at the command\nof Nyakang in person. We may suppose that it represents the divine king\nhimself and that it is, or was formerly, supposed to house his spirit,\nthough the chief of Akurwa denied to Dr. Seligmann that it does so now. Be\nthat as it may, the object plays a prominent part at the installation of a\nnew king. When the men of Akurwa arrive at Kwom with the sacred stool and\nthe image of Nyakang, as we may call it, they engage in a sham fight with\nthe men who are waiting for them with the king elect. The weapons used on\nboth sides are simply stalks of millet. Being victorious in the mock\ncombat, the men of Akurwa escort the king to Fashoda, and some of them\nenter the shrine of Nyakang with the stool. After a short time they bring\nthe stool forth again and set it on the ground outside of the sacred\nenclosure. Then the image of Nyakang is placed on the stool; the king\nelect holds one leg of the stool and an important chief holds another. The\nking is surrounded by a crowd of princes and nobles, and near him stand\ntwo of his paternal aunts and two of his sisters. After that a bullock is\nkilled and its flesh eaten by the men of certain families called _ororo_,\nwho are said to be descended from the third of the Shilluk kings. Then the\nAkurwa men carry the image of Nyakang into the shrine, and the _ororo_ men\nplace the king elect on the sacred stool, where he remains seated for some\ntime, apparently till sunset. When he rises, the Akurwa men carry the\nstool back into the shrine, and the king is escorted to three new huts,\nwhere he stays in seclusion for three days. On the fourth night he is\nconducted quietly, almost stealthily, to his royal residence at Fashoda,\nand next day he shews himself publicly to his subjects. The three new huts\nin which he spent the days of his seclusion are then broken up and their\nfragments cast into the river. The installation of a new king generally\ntakes place about the middle of the dry season; and it is said that the\nmen of Akurwa tarry at Fashoda with the image of Nyakang till about the\nbeginning of the rains. Before they leave Fashoda they sacrifice a\nbullock, and at every waddy or bed of a stream that they cross they kill a\nsheep.\n\n(M14) Like Nyakang himself, their founder, each of the Shilluk kings after\ndeath is worshipped at a shrine, which is erected over his grave, and the\ngrave of a king is always in the village where he was born.(58) The\ntomb-shrine of a king resembles the shrine of Nyakang, consisting of a few\nhuts enclosed by a fence; one of the huts is built over the king\u2019s grave,\nthe others are occupied by the guardians of the shrine. Indeed the shrines\nof Nyakang and the shrines of the kings are scarcely to be distinguished\nfrom each other, and the religious rituals observed at all of them are\nidentical in form and vary only in matters of detail, the variations being\ndue apparently to the far greater sanctity attributed to the shrines of\nNyakang. The grave-shrines of the kings are tended by certain old men or\nwomen, who correspond to the guardians of the shrines of Nyakang. They are\nusually widows or old men-servants of the deceased king, and when they die\nthey are succeeded in their office by their descendants. Moreover, cattle\nare dedicated to the grave-shrines of the kings and sacrifices are offered\nat them just as at the shrines of Nyakang. Thus when the millet crop\nthreatens to fail or a murrain to break out among the cattle, either\nNyakang himself or one of his successors on the throne will appear to\nsomebody in a dream and demand a sacrifice. The dream is reported to the\nking, who thereupon at once sends a cow and a bullock to one or more of\nthe shrines of Nyakang, if it was he who appeared in the vision, or to the\ngrave-shrine of the particular king whom the dreamer saw in his dream. The\nbullock is then sacrificed and the cow added to the sacred herd belonging\nto the shrine. Further, the harvest ceremony which is performed at the\nshrines of Nyakang is usually, though not necessarily, performed also at\nthe grave-shrines of the kings; and, lastly, sick folk send animals to be\nsacrificed as offerings on their behalf at the shrines of the kings just\nas they send them to the shrines of Nyakang.\n\n(M15) Sick people have, indeed, a special reason for sacrificing to the\nspirits of the dead kings in the hope of recovery, inasmuch as one of the\ncommonest causes of sickness, according to the Shilluk, is the entrance of\none of these royal spirits into the body of the sufferer, whose first\ncare, therefore, is to rid himself as quickly as possible of his august\nbut unwelcome guest. Apparently, however, it is only the souls of the\nearly kings who manifest themselves in this disagreeable fashion. Dr.\nSeligmann met with a woman, for example, who had been ill and who\nattributed her illness to the spirit of Dag, the second of the Shilluk\nkings, which had taken possession of her body. But a sacrifice of two\nsheep had induced the spirit to quit her, and she wore anklets of beads,\nwith pieces of the ears of the sheep strung on them, which she thought\nwould effectually guard her against the danger of being again possessed by\nthe soul of the dead king. Nor is it only in sickness that the souls of\ndead kings are thought to take possession of the bodies of the living.\nCertain men and women, who bear the name of _ajuago_, are believed to be\npermanently possessed by the spirit of one or other of the early kings,\nand in virtue of this inspiration they profess to heal the sick and do a\nbrisk trade in amulets. The first symptom of possession may take the form\nof illness or of a dream from which the sleeper awakes trembling and\nagitated. A long and complicated ceremony follows to abate the extreme\nforce of the spiritual manifestations in the new medium, for were these to\ncontinue in their first intensity he would not dare to approach his women.\nBut whichever of the dead kings may manifest himself to the living,\nwhether in dreams or in the form of bodily possession, his spirit is\ndeemed, at least by many of the Shilluk, to be identical with that of\nNyakang; they do not clearly distinguish, if indeed they distinguish at\nall, between the divine spirit of the founder of the dynasty and its later\nmanifestations in all his royal successors.\n\n(M16) In general the principal element in the religion of the Shilluk\nwould seem to be the worship which they pay to their sacred or divine\nkings, whether dead or alive. These are believed to be animated by a\nsingle divine spirit, which has been transmitted from the semi-mythical,\nbut probably in substance historical, founder of the dynasty through all\nhis successors to the present day. Yet the divine spirit, as Dr. Seligmann\njustly observes, is clearly not thought of as congenital in the members of\nthe royal house; it is only conveyed to each king on his accession by\nmeans of the mysterious object called Nyakang, in which, as Dr. Seligmann\nwith great probability conjectures, the holy spirit of Nyakang may be\nsupposed to reside. Hence, regarding their kings as incarnate divinities\non whom the welfare of men, of cattle, and of the corn implicitly depends,\nthe Shilluk naturally pay them the greatest respect and take every care of\nthem; and however strange it may seem to us, their custom of putting the\ndivine king to death as soon as he shews signs of ill-health or failing\nstrength springs directly from their profound veneration for him and from\ntheir anxiety to preserve him, or rather the divine spirit by which he is\nanimated, in the most perfect state of efficiency: nay, we may go further\nand say that their practice of regicide is the best proof they can give of\nthe high regard in which they hold their kings. For they believe, as we\nhave seen, that the king\u2019s life or spirit is so sympathetically bound up\nwith the prosperity of the whole country, that if he fell ill or grew\nsenile the cattle would sicken and cease to multiply, the crops would rot\nin the fields, and men would perish of widespread disease. Hence, in their\nopinion, the only way of averting these calamities is to put the king to\ndeath while he is still hale and hearty, in order that the divine spirit\nwhich he has inherited from his predecessors may be transmitted in turn by\nhim to his successor while it is still in full vigour and has not yet been\nimpaired by the weakness of disease and old age. In this connexion the\nparticular symptom which is commonly said to seal the king\u2019s death-warrant\nis highly significant; when he can no longer satisfy the passions of his\nnumerous wives, in other words, when he has ceased, whether partially or\nwholly, to be able to reproduce his kind, it is time for him to die and to\nmake room for a more vigorous successor. Taken along with the other\nreasons which are alleged for putting the king to death, this one suggests\nthat the fertility of men, of cattle, and of the crops is believed to\ndepend sympathetically on the generative power of the king, so that the\ncomplete failure of that power in him would involve a corresponding\nfailure in men, animals, and plants, and would thereby entail at no\ndistant date the entire extinction of all life, whether human, animal, or\nvegetable. No wonder, that with such a danger before their eyes the\nShilluk should be most careful not to let the king die what we should call\na natural death of sickness or old age. It is characteristic of their\nattitude towards the death of the kings that they refrain from speaking of\nit as death: they do not say that a king has died but simply that he has\n\u201cgone away\u201d like his divine ancestors Nyakang and Dag, the two first kings\nof the dynasty, both of whom are reported not to have died but to have\ndisappeared. The similar legends of the mysterious disappearance of early\nkings in other lands, for example at Rome and in Uganda,(59) may well\npoint to a similar custom of putting them to death for the purpose of\npreserving their life.\n\n(M17) On the whole the theory and practice of the divine kings of the\nShilluk correspond very nearly to the theory and practice of the priests\nof Nemi, the Kings of the Wood, if my view of the latter is correct.(60)\nIn both we see a series of divine kings on whose life the fertility of\nmen, of cattle, and of vegetation is believed to depend, and who are put\nto death, whether in single combat or otherwise, in order that their\ndivine spirit may be transmitted to their successors in full vigour,\nuncontaminated by the weakness and decay of sickness or old age, because\nany such degeneration on the part of the king would, in the opinion of his\nworshippers, entail a corresponding degeneration on mankind, on cattle,\nand on the crops. Some points in this explanation of the custom of putting\ndivine kings to death, particularly the method of transmitting their\ndivine souls to their successors, will be dealt with more fully in the\nsequel. Meantime we pass to other examples of the general practice.\n\n(M18) The Dinka are a congeries of independent tribes in the valley of the\nWhite Nile, whose territory, lying mostly on the eastern bank of the river\nand stretching from the sixth to the twelfth degree of North Latitude, has\nbeen estimated to comprise between sixty and seventy thousand square\nmiles. They are a tall long-legged people rather slender than fat, with\ncurly hair and a complexion of the deepest black. Though ill-fed, they are\nstrong and healthy and in general reach a great age. The nation embraces a\nnumber of independent tribes, and each tribe is mainly composed of the\nowners of cattle; for the Dinka are essentially a pastoral people,\npassionately devoted to the care of their numerous herds of oxen, though\nthey also keep sheep and goats, and the women cultivate small quantities\nof millet (durra) and sesame. The tribes have no political union. Each\nvillage forms a separate community, pasturing its herds together in the\nsame grass-land. With the change of the seasons the people migrate with\ntheir flocks and herds to and from the banks of the Nile. In summer, when\nthe plains near the great river are converted into swamps and covered with\nclouds of mosquitoes, the herdsmen and their families drive their beasts\nto the higher land of the interior, where the animals find firm ground,\nabundant fodder, and pools of water at which to slake their thirst in the\nfervour of the noonday heat. Here in the clearings of the forest the\ncommunity takes up its abode, each family dwelling by itself in one or\nmore conical huts enclosed by a strong fence of stakes and thorn-bushes.\nIt is in the patches of open ground about these dwellings that the women\ngrow their scanty crops of millet and sesame. The mode of tillage is rude.\nThe stumps of the trees which have been felled are left standing to a\nheight of several feet; the ground is hacked by the help of a tool between\na hoe and a spade, and the weeds are uprooted with the hand. Such as it\nis, the crop is exposed to the ravages of apes and elephants by night and\nof birds by day. The hungry blacks do not always wait till the corn is\nripe, but eat much of it while the ears are still green. The cattle are\nkept in separate parks (_murahs_) away from the villages. It is in the\nseason of the summer rains that the Dinka are most happy and prosperous.\nThen the cattle find sweet grass, plentiful water, coolness and shade in\nthe forest; then the people subsist in comfort on the milk of their flocks\nand herds, supplementing it with the millet which they reap and the wild\nfruits which they gather in the forest; then they brew the native beer,\nthen they marry and dance by night under the bright moon of the serene\ntropical sky. But in autumn a great change passes over the life of the\ncommunity. When October has come, the rains are over, the grass of the\npastures is eaten down or withered, the pools are dry; thirst compels the\nwhole village, with its lowing herds and bleating flocks, to migrate to\nthe neighbourhood of the river. Now begins a time of privation and\nsuffering. There is no grass for the cattle save in some marshy spots,\nwhere the herdsman must fight his rivals in order to win a meagre supply\nof fodder for his starveling beasts. There is no milk for the people, no\nfruits on the trees, except a bitter sort of acorns, from which a\nmiserable flour is ground to stay the pangs of hunger. The lean and\nfamished natives are driven to fish in the river for the tubers of\nwater-lilies, to grub in the earth for roots, to boil the leaves of trees,\nand as a last resource to drink the blood drawn from the necks of their\nwretched cattle. The gaunt appearance of the people at this season fills\nthe beholder with horror. The herds are decimated by famine, but even more\nbeasts perish by dysentery and other diseases when the first rains cause\nthe fresh grass to sprout.(61)\n\n(M19) It is no wonder that the rain, on which the Dinka are so manifestly\ndependent for their subsistence, should play a great part in their\nreligion and superstition. They worship a supreme being whose name of\nDengdit means literally Great Rain.(62) It was he who created the world\nand established the present order of things, and it is he who sends down\nthe rain from the \u201crain-place,\u201d his home in the upper regions of the air.\nBut according to the Niel Dinka this great being was once incarnate in\nhuman form. Born of a woman, who descended from the sky, he became the\nancestor of a clan which has the rain for its totem; for the recent\nresearches of Dr. C. G. Seligmann have proved that every Dinka tribe is\ndivided into a number of clans, each of which reveres as its totem a\nspecies of animals or plants or other natural objects, such as rain or\nfire. Animal totems seem to be the commonest; amongst them are the lion,\nthe elephant, the crocodile, the hippopotamus, the fox, the hyaena, and a\nspecies of small birds called _amur_, clouds of which infest the\ncornfields and do great damage to the crops. Each clan speaks of its\ntotemic animal or plant as its ancestor and refrains from injuring and\neating it. Men of the Crocodile clan, for example, call themselves\n\u201cBrothers of the Crocodile,\u201d and will neither kill nor eat the animal;\nindeed they will not even eat out of any vessel which has held crocodile\nflesh. And as they do not injure crocodiles, so they imagine that their\ncrocodile kinsfolk will not injure them; hence men of this clan swim\nfreely in the river, even by night, without fear of being attacked by the\ndangerous reptiles. And when the totem is a carnivorous animal, members of\nthe clan may propitiate it by killing sheep and throwing out the flesh to\nbe devoured by their animal brethren either on the outskirts of the\nvillage or in the river. Members of the Small Bird (_amur_) clan perform\nceremonies to prevent the birds from injuring the crops. The relationship\nbetween a clan and its animal ancestor or totem is commonly explained by a\nlegend that in the beginning an ancestress gave birth to twins, one of\nwhom was the totemic animal and the other the human ancestor. Like most\ntotemic clans, the clans of the Dinka are exogamous, that is, no man may\nmarry a woman of his own clan. The descent of the clans is in the paternal\nline; in other words, every man and woman belongs to his or her father\u2019s\nclan, not to that of his or her mother. But the Rain clan of the Niel\nDinka has for its ancestor, as we have seen, the supreme god himself, who\ndeigned to be born of a woman and to live for a long time among men,\nruling over them, till at last he grew very old and disappeared\nappropriately, like Romulus, in a great storm of rain. Shrines erected in\nhis honour appear to be scattered all over the Dinka country and offerings\nare made at them.\n\n(M20) Perhaps without being unduly rash we may conjecture that the great\ngod of the Dinka, who gives them the rain, was indeed, what tradition\nrepresents him as having been, a man among men, in fact a human\nrain-maker, whom at his death the superstition of his fellows promoted to\nthe rank of a deity above the clouds. Be that as it may, the human\nrain-maker (_bain_) is a very important personage among the Dinka to this\nday; indeed the men in authority whom travellers dub chiefs or sheikhs are\nin fact the actual or potential rain-makers of the tribe or community.(63)\nEach of them is believed to be animated by the spirit of a great\nrain-maker, which has come down to him through a succession of\nrain-makers; and in virtue of this inspiration a successful rain-maker\nenjoys very great power and is consulted on all important matters. For\nexample, in the Bor tribe of Dinka at the present time there is an old but\nactive rain-maker named Biyordit, who is reputed to have immanent in him a\ngreat and powerful spirit called Lerpiu, and by reason of this reputation\nhe exercises immense influence over all the Dinka of the Bor and Tain\ntribes. While the mighty spirit Lerpiu is supposed to be embodied in the\nrain-maker, it is also thought to inhabit a certain hut which serves as a\nshrine. In front of the hut stands a post to which are fastened the horns\nof many bullocks that have been sacrificed to Lerpiu; and in the hut is\nkept a very sacred spear which bears the name of Lerpiu and is said to\nhave fallen from heaven six generations ago. As fallen stars are also\ncalled Lerpiu, we may suspect that an intimate connexion is supposed to\nexist between meteorites and the spirit which animates the rain-maker; nor\nwould such a connexion seem unnatural to the savage, who observes that\nmeteorites and rain alike descend from the sky. In spring, about the month\nof April, when the new moon is a few days old, a sacrifice of bullocks is\noffered to Lerpiu for the purpose of inducing him to move Dengdit, the\ngreat heavenly rain-maker, to send down rain on the parched and thirsty\nearth. Two bullocks are led twice round the shrine and afterwards tied by\nthe rain-maker to the post in front of it. Then the drums beat and the\npeople, old and young, men and women, dance round the shrine and sing,\nwhile the beasts are being sacrificed, \u201cLerpiu, our ancestor, we have\nbrought you a sacrifice. Be pleased to cause rain to fall.\u201d The blood of\nthe bullocks is collected in a gourd, boiled in a pot on the fire, and\neaten by the old and important people of the clan. The horns of the\nanimals are attached to the post in front of the shrine.\n\n(M21) In spite, or rather in virtue, of the high honour in which he is\nheld, no Dinka rain-maker is allowed to die a natural death of sickness or\nold age; for the Dinka believe that if such an untoward event were to\nhappen, the tribe would suffer from disease and famine, and the herds\nwould not yield their increase. So when a rain-maker feels that he is\ngrowing old and infirm, he tells his children that he wishes to die. Among\nthe Agar Dinka a large grave is dug and the rain-maker lies down in it on\nhis right side with his head resting on a skin. He is surrounded by his\nfriends and relatives, including his younger children; but his elder\nchildren are not allowed to approach the grave lest in their grief and\ndespair they should do themselves a bodily injury. For many hours,\ngenerally for more than a day, the rain-maker lies without eating or\ndrinking. From time to time he speaks to the people, recalling the past\nhistory of the tribe, reminding them how he has ruled and advised them,\nand instructing them how they are to act in the future. Then, when he has\nconcluded his admonition, he tells them that it is finished and bids them\ncover him up. So the earth is thrown down on him as he lies in the grave,\nand he soon dies of suffocation. Such, with minor variations, appears to\nbe the regular end of the honourable career of a rain-maker in all the\nDinka tribes. The Khor-Adar Dinka told Dr. Seligmann that when they have\ndug the grave for their rain-maker they strangle him in his house. The\nfather and paternal uncle of one of Dr. Seligmann\u2019s informants had both\nbeen rain-makers and both had been killed in the most regular and orthodox\nfashion. Even if a rain-maker is quite young he will be put to death\nshould he seem likely to perish of disease. Further, every precaution is\ntaken to prevent a rain-maker from dying an accidental death, for such an\nend, though not nearly so serious a matter as death from illness or old\nage, would be sure to entail sickness on the tribe. As soon as a\nrain-maker is killed, his valuable spirit is supposed to pass to a\nsuitable successor, whether a son or other near blood relation.\n\n(M22) In the Central African kingdom of Unyoro down to recent years custom\nrequired that as soon as the king fell seriously ill or began to break up\nfrom age, he should die by his own hand; for, according to an old\nprophecy, the throne would pass away from the dynasty if ever the king\nwere to die a natural death. He killed himself by draining a poisoned cup.\nIf he faltered or were too ill to ask for the cup, it was his wife\u2019s duty\nto administer the poison.(64) When the king of Kibanga, on the Upper\nCongo, seems near his end, the sorcerers put a rope round his neck, which\nthey draw gradually tighter till he dies.(65) If the king of Gingero\nhappens to be wounded in war, he is put to death by his comrades, or, if\nthey fail to kill him, by his kinsfolk, however hard he may beg for mercy.\nThey say they do it that he may not die by the hands of his enemies.(66)\nThe Jukos are a heathen tribe of the Benue river, a great tributary of the\nNiger. In their country \u201cthe town of Gatri is ruled by a king who is\nelected by the big men of the town as follows. When in the opinion of the\nbig men the king has reigned long enough, they give out that \u2018the king is\nsick\u2019\u2014a formula understood by all to mean that they are going to kill him,\nthough the intention is never put more plainly. They then decide who is to\nbe the next king. How long he is to reign is settled by the influential\nmen at a meeting; the question is put and answered by each man throwing on\nthe ground a little piece of stick for each year he thinks the new king\nshould rule. The king is then told, and a great feast prepared, at which\nthe king gets drunk on guinea-corn beer. After that he is speared, and the\nman who was chosen becomes king. Thus each Juko king knows that he cannot\nhave very many more years to live, and that he is certain of his\npredecessor\u2019s fate. This, however, does not seem to frighten candidates.\nThe same custom of king-killing is said to prevail at Quonde and Wukari as\nwell as at Gatri.\u201d(67) In the three Hausa kingdoms of Gobir, Katsina, and\nDaura, in Northern Nigeria, as soon as a king shewed signs of failing\nhealth or growing infirmity, an official who bore the title of Killer of\nthe Elephant (_kariagiwa_) appeared and throttled him by holding his\nwindpipe. The king elect was afterwards conducted to the centre of the\ntown, called Head of the Elephant (_kan giwa_), where he was made to lie\ndown on a bed. Then a black ox was slaughtered and its blood allowed to\npour all over his body. Next the ox was flayed, and the remains of the\ndead king, which had been disembowelled and smoked for seven days over a\nslow fire, were wrapt up in the hide and dragged along the ground to the\nplace of burial, where they were interred in a circular pit. After his\nbath of ox blood the new king had to remain for seven days in his mother\u2019s\nhouse, undergoing ablutions daily. On the eighth day he was conducted in\nstate to his palace. In the kingdom of Daura the new monarch had moreover\nto step over the corpse of his predecessor.(68)\n\n(M23) The Matiamvo is a great king or emperor in the interior of Angola.\nOne of the inferior kings of the country, by name Challa, gave to a\nPortuguese expedition the following account of the manner in which the\nMatiamvo comes by his end. \u201cIt has been customary,\u201d he said, \u201cfor our\nMatiamvos to die either in war or by a violent death, and the present\nMatiamvo must meet this last fate, as, in consequence of his great\nexactions, he has lived long enough. When we come to this understanding,\nand decide that he should be killed, we invite him to make war with our\nenemies, on which occasion we all accompany him and his family to the war,\nwhen we lose some of our people. If he escapes unhurt, we return to the\nwar again and fight for three or four days. We then suddenly abandon him\nand his family to their fate, leaving him in the enemy\u2019s hands. Seeing\nhimself thus deserted, he causes his throne to be erected, and, sitting\ndown, calls his family around him. He then orders his mother to approach;\nshe kneels at his feet; he first cuts off her head, then decapitates his\nsons in succession, next his wives and relatives, and, last of all, his\nmost beloved wife, called Anacullo. This slaughter being accomplished, the\nMatiamvo, dressed in all his pomp, awaits his own death, which immediately\nfollows, by an officer sent by the powerful neighbouring chiefs,\nCaniquinha and Canica. This officer first cuts off his legs and arms at\nthe joints, and lastly he cuts off his head; after which the head of the\nofficer is struck off. All the potentates retire from the encampment, in\norder not to witness his death. It is my duty to remain and witness his\ndeath, and to mark the place where the head and arms have been deposited\nby the two great chiefs, the enemies of the Matiamvo. They also take\npossession of all the property belonging to the deceased monarch and his\nfamily, which they convey to their own residence. I then provide for the\nfuneral of the mutilated remains of the late Matiamvo, after which I\nretire to his capital and proclaim the new government. I then return to\nwhere the head, legs, and arms have been deposited, and, for forty slaves,\nI ransom them, together with the merchandise and other property belonging\nto the deceased, which I give up to the new Matiamvo, who has been\nproclaimed. This is what has happened to many Matiamvos, and what must\nhappen to the present one.\u201d(69)\n\n(M24) It appears to have been a Zulu custom to put the king to death as\nsoon as he began to have wrinkles or grey hairs. At least this seems\nimplied in the following passage written by one who resided for some time\nat the court of the notorious Zulu tyrant Chaka, in the early part of the\nnineteenth century: \u201cThe extraordinary violence of the king\u2019s rage with me\nwas mainly occasioned by that absurd nostrum, the hair oil, with the\nnotion of which Mr. Farewell had impressed him as being a specific for\nremoving all indications of age. From the first moment of his having heard\nthat such a preparation was attainable, he evinced a solicitude to procure\nit, and on every occasion never forgot to remind us of his anxiety\nrespecting it; more especially on our departure on the mission his\ninjunctions were particularly directed to this object. It will be seen\nthat it is one of the barbarous customs of the Zoolas in their choice or\nelection of their kings that he must neither have wrinkles nor grey hairs,\nas they are both distinguishing marks of disqualification for becoming a\nmonarch of a warlike people. It is also equally indispensable that their\nking should never exhibit those proofs of having become unfit and\nincompetent to reign; it is therefore important that they should conceal\nthese indications so long as they possibly can. Chaka had become greatly\napprehensive of the approach of grey hairs; which would at once be the\nsignal for him to prepare to make his exit from this sublunary world, it\nbeing always followed by the death of the monarch.\u201d(70) The writer to whom\nwe are indebted for this instructive anecdote of the hair-oil omits to\nspecify the mode in which a grey-haired and wrinkled Zulu chief used \u201cto\nmake his exit from this sublunary world\u201d; but on analogy we may conjecture\nthat he did so by the simple and perfectly sufficient process of being\nknocked on the head.\n\n(M25) The custom of putting kings to death as soon as they suffered from\nany personal defect prevailed two centuries ago in the Caffre kingdom of\nSofala, to the north of the present Zululand. We have seen that these\nkings of Sofala, each of whom bore the official name of Quiteve, were\nregarded as gods by their people, being entreated to give rain or\nsunshine, according as each might be wanted.(71) Nevertheless a slight\nbodily blemish, such as the loss of a tooth, was considered a sufficient\ncause for putting one of these god-men to death, as we learn from the\nfollowing passage of an old Portuguese historian: \u201cIt was formerly the\ncustom of the kings of this land to commit suicide by taking poison when\nany disaster or natural physical defect fell upon them, such as impotence,\ninfectious disease, the loss of their front teeth, by which they were\ndisfigured, or any other deformity or affliction. To put an end to such\ndefects they killed themselves, saying that the king should be free from\nany blemish, and if not, it was better for his honour that he should die\nand seek another life where he would be made whole, for there everything\nwas perfect. But the Quiteve who reigned when I was in those parts would\nnot imitate his predecessors in this, being discreet and dreaded as he\nwas; for having lost a front tooth he caused it to be proclaimed\nthroughout the kingdom that all should be aware that he had lost a tooth\nand should recognise him when they saw him without it, and if his\npredecessors killed themselves for such things they were very foolish, and\nhe would not do so; on the contrary, he would be very sorry when the time\ncame for him to die a natural death, for his life was very necessary to\npreserve his kingdom and defend it from his enemies; and he recommended\nhis successors to follow his example.\u201d(72) The same historian tells us\nthat \u201cnear the kingdom of Quiteve is another of which Sedanda is king, the\nlaws and customs of which are very similar to those of Quiteve, all these\nKaffirs being of the same nation, and these two kingdoms having formerly\nbeen one, as I shall relate hereafter. When I was in Sofala it happened\nthat King Sedanda was seized with a severe and contagious leprosy, and\nseeing that his complaint was incurable, having named the prince who was\nto succeed him, he took poison and died, according to the custom of those\nkings when they are afflicted with any physical deformity.\u201d(73)\n\n(M26) The king of Sofala who dared to survive the loss of his front tooth\nwas thus a bold reformer like Ergamenes, king of Ethiopia. We may\nconjecture that the ground for putting the Ethiopian kings to death was,\nas in the case of the Zulu and Sofala kings, the appearance on their\nperson of any bodily defect or sign of decay; and that the oracle which\nthe priests alleged as the authority for the royal execution was to the\neffect that great calamities would result from the reign of a king who had\nany blemish on his body; just as an oracle warned Sparta against a \u201clame\nreign,\u201d that is, the reign of a lame king.(74) It is some confirmation of\nthis conjecture that the kings of Ethiopia were chosen for their size,\nstrength, and beauty long before the custom of killing them was\nabolished.(75) To this day the Sultan of Wadai must have no obvious bodily\ndefect, and the king of Angoy cannot be crowned if he has a single\nblemish, such as a broken or a filed tooth or the scar of an old\nwound.(76) According to the Book of Acaill and many other authorities no\nking who was afflicted with a personal blemish might reign over Ireland at\nTara. Hence, when the great King Cormac Mac Art lost one eye by an\naccident, he at once abdicated.(77) It is only natural, therefore, to\nsuppose, especially with the other African examples before us, that any\nbodily defect or symptom of old age appearing on the person of the\nEthiopian monarch was the signal for his execution. At a later time it is\nrecorded that if the king of Ethiopia became maimed in any part of his\nbody all his courtiers had to suffer the same mutilation.(78) But this\nrule may perhaps have been instituted at the time when the custom of\nkilling the king for any personal defect was abolished; instead of\ncompelling the king to die because, for example, he had lost a tooth, all\nhis subjects would be obliged to lose a tooth, and thus the invidious\nsuperiority of the subjects over the king would be cancelled. A rule of\nthis sort is still observed in the same region at the court of the Sultans\nof Darfur. When the Sultan coughs, every one makes the sound _ts ts_ by\nstriking the tongue against the root of the upper teeth; when he sneezes,\nthe whole assembly utters a sound like the cry of the jeko; when he falls\noff his horse, all his followers must fall off likewise; if any one of\nthem remains in the saddle, no matter how high his rank, he is laid on the\nground and beaten.(79) At the court of the king of Uganda in central\nAfrica, when the king laughs, every one laughs; when he sneezes, every one\nsneezes; when he has a cold, every one pretends to have a cold; when he\nhas his hair cut, so has everybody.(80) At the court of Boni in Celebes it\nis a rule that whatever the king does all the courtiers must do. If he\nstands, they stand; if he sits, they sit; if he falls off his horse, they\nfall off their horses; if he bathes, they bathe, and passers-by must go\ninto the water in the dress, good or bad, which they happen to have\non.(81) When the emperor of China laughs, the mandarins in attendance\nlaugh also; when he stops laughing, they stop; when he is sad, their\ncountenances are chopfallen; \u201cyou would say that their faces are on\nsprings, and that the emperor can touch the springs and set them in motion\nat pleasure.\u201d(82) But to return to the death of the divine king.\n\n(M27) Many days\u2019 journey to the north-east of Abomey, the old capital of\nDahomey, lies the kingdom of Eyeo. \u201cThe Eyeos are governed by a king, no\nless absolute than the king of Dahomy, yet subject to a regulation of\nstate, at once humiliating and extraordinary. When the people have\nconceived an opinion of his ill-government, which is sometimes insidiously\ninfused into them by the artifice of his discontented ministers, they send\na deputation to him with a present of parrots\u2019 eggs, as a mark of its\nauthenticity, to represent to him that the burden of government must have\nso far fatigued him that they consider it full time for him to repose from\nhis cares and indulge himself with a little sleep. He thanks his subjects\nfor their attention to his ease, retires to his own apartment as if to\nsleep, and there gives directions to his women to strangle him. This is\nimmediately executed, and his son quietly ascends the throne upon the\nusual terms of holding the reins of government no longer than whilst he\nmerits the approbation of the people.\u201d About the year 1774, a king of\nEyeo, whom his ministers attempted to remove in the customary manner,\npositively refused to accept the proffered parrots\u2019 eggs at their hands,\ntelling them that he had no mind to take a nap, but on the contrary was\nresolved to watch for the benefit of his subjects. The ministers,\nsurprised and indignant at his recalcitrancy, raised a rebellion, but were\ndefeated with great slaughter, and thus by his spirited conduct the king\nfreed himself from the tyranny of his councillors and established a new\nprecedent for the guidance of his successors.(83) However, the old custom\nseems to have revived and persisted until late in the nineteenth century,\nfor a Catholic missionary, writing in 1884, speaks of the practice as if\nit were still in vogue.(84) Another missionary, writing in 1881, thus\ndescribes the usage of the Egbas and the Yorubas of west Africa: \u201cAmong\nthe customs of the country one of the most curious is unquestionably that\nof judging and punishing the king. Should he have earned the hatred of his\npeople by exceeding his rights, one of his councillors, on whom the heavy\nduty is laid, requires of the prince that he shall \u2018go to sleep,\u2019 which\nmeans simply \u2018take poison and die.\u2019 If his courage fails him at the\nsupreme moment, a friend renders him this last service, and quietly,\nwithout betraying the secret, they prepare the people for the news of the\nking\u2019s death. In Yoruba the thing is managed a little differently. When a\nson is born to the king of Oyo, they make a model of the infant\u2019s right\nfoot in clay and keep it in the house of the elders (_ogboni_). If the\nking fails to observe the customs of the country, a messenger, without\nspeaking a word, shews him his child\u2019s foot. The king knows what that\nmeans. He takes poison and goes to sleep.\u201d(85) The old Prussians\nacknowledged as their supreme lord a ruler who governed them in the name\nof the gods, and was known as God\u2019s Mouth (_Kirwaido_). When he felt\nhimself weak and ill, if he wished to leave a good name behind him, he had\na great heap made of thorn-bushes and straw, on which he mounted and\ndelivered a long sermon to the people, exhorting them to serve the gods\nand promising to go to the gods and speak for the people. Then he took\nsome of the perpetual fire which burned in front of the holy oak-tree, and\nlighting the pile with it burned himself to death.(86)\n\n(M28) We need not doubt the truth of this last tradition. Fanaticism or\nthe mere love of notoriety has led men in other ages and other lands to\ncourt death in the flames. In antiquity the mountebank Peregrinus, after\nbidding for fame in the various characters of a Christian martyr, a\nshameless cynic, and a rebel against Rome, ended his disreputable and\nvainglorious career by publicly burning himself at the Olympic festival in\nthe presence of a crowd of admirers and scoffers, among whom was the\nsatirist Lucian.(87) Buddhist monks in China sometimes seek to attain\nNirvana by the same method, the flame of their religious zeal being fanned\nby a belief that the merit of their death redounds to the good of the\nwhole community, while the praises which are showered upon them in their\nlives, and the prospect of the honours and worship which await them after\ndeath, serve as additional incentives to suicide. The beautiful mountains\nof Tien-tai, in the district of Tai-chow, are, or were till lately, the\nscene of many such voluntary martyrdoms. The victims are monks who, weary\nof the vanities of earth, have withdrawn even from their monasteries and\nspent years alone in one or other of the hermitages which are scattered\namong the ravines and precipices of this wild and secluded region. Their\nfancy having been wrought and their resolution strung to the necessary\npitch by a life of solitude and brooding contemplation, they announce\ntheir intention and fix the day of their departure from this world of\nshadows, always choosing for that purpose a festival which draws a crowd\nof worshippers and pilgrims to one of the many monasteries of the\ndistrict. Advertisements of the approaching solemnity are posted\nthroughout the country, and believers are invited to attend and assist the\nmartyrs with their prayers. From three to five monks are said thus to\ncommit themselves to the flames every year at Tien-tai. They prepare by\nfasting and ablution for the last fiery trial of their faith. An upright\nchest containing a seat is placed in a brick furnace, and the space\nbetween the chest and the walls of the furnace is filled with fuel. The\ndoomed man takes his seat in the chest; the door is shut on him and\nbarred; fire is applied to the combustibles, and consumes the candidate\nfor heaven. When all is over, the charred remains are raked together,\nworshipped, and reverently buried in a dagoba or shrine destined for the\npreservation and worship of the relics of saints. The victims, it is said,\nare not always voluntary. In remote districts unscrupulous priests have\nbeen known to stupefy a clerical brother with drugs and then burn him\npublicly, an unwilling martyr, as a means of spreading the renown of the\nmonastery and thereby attracting the alms of the faithful. On the\ntwenty-eighth of January 1888 the Spiritual-hill monastery, distant about\na day\u2019s journey from the city of Wen-chow, witnessed the voluntary death\nby fire of two monks who bore the euphonious names of\nPerceptive-intelligence and Effulgent-glamour. Before they entered the\nfurnaces, the spectators prayed them to become after death the spiritual\nguardians of the neighbourhood, to protect it from all evil influences,\nand to grant luck in trade, fine seasons, plentiful harvests, and every\nother blessing. The martyrs complaisantly promised to comply with these\nrequests, and were thereupon worshipped as living Buddhas, while a stream\nof gifts poured into the coffers of the monastery.(88) Among the Esquimaux\nof Bering Strait a shaman has been known to burn himself alive in the\nexpectation of returning to life with much stronger powers than he had\npossessed before.(89)\n\n(M29) But the suicides by fire of Chinese Buddhists and Esquimaux\nsorcerers have been far surpassed by the frenzies of Christian fanaticism.\nIn the seventeenth century the internal troubles of their unhappy country,\nviewed in the dim light of prophecy, created a widespread belief among the\nRussian people that the end of the world was at hand, and that the reign\nof Antichrist was about to begin. We know from Scripture that the old\nserpent, which is the devil, has been or will be shut up under lock and\nkey for a thousand years,(90) and that the number of the Beast is six\nhundred and sixty-six.(91) A simple mathematical calculation, based on\nthese irrefragable data, pointed to the year one thousand six hundred and\nsixty-six as the date when the final consummation of all things and the\narrival of the Beast in question might be confidently anticipated. When\nthe year came and went and still, to the general surprise, the animal\nfailed to put in an appearance, the calculations were revised, it was\ndiscovered that an error had crept into them, and the world was respited\nfor another thirty-three years. But though opinions differed as to the\nprecise date of the catastrophe, the pious were unanimous in their\nconviction of its proximity. Accordingly some of them ceased to till their\nfields, abandoned their houses, and on certain nights of the year expected\nthe sound of the last trump in coffins which they took the precaution of\nclosing, lest their senses, or what remained of them, should be\noverpowered by the awful vision of the Judgment Day.\n\n(M30) It would have been well if the delusion of their disordered\nintellects had stopped there. Unhappily in many cases it went much\nfurther, and suicide, universal suicide, was preached by fervent\nmissionaries as the only means to escape the snares of Antichrist and to\npass from the sins and sorrows of this fleeting world to the eternal joys\nof heaven. Whole communities hailed with enthusiasm the gospel of death,\nand hastened to put its precepts in practice. An epidemic of suicide raged\nthroughout northern and north-eastern Russia. At first the favourite mode\nof death was by starvation. In the forest of Vetlouga, for example, an old\nman founded an establishment for the use of religious suicides. It was a\nbuilding without doors and windows. The aspirants to heaven were lowered\ninto it through a hole in the roof, the hatch was battened down on them,\nand men armed with clubs patrolled the outer walls to prevent the\nprisoners from escaping. Hundreds of persons thus died a lingering death.\nAt first the sounds of devotion issued from the walls; but as time went on\nthese were replaced by entreaties for food, prayers for mercy, and finally\nimprecations on the miscreant who had lured these misguided beings to\ndestruction and on the parents who had brought them into the world to\nsuffer such exquisite torments. Thus death by famine was attended by some\nobvious disadvantages. It was slow: it opened the door to repentance: it\noccasionally admitted of rescue. Accordingly death by fire was preferred\nas surer and more expeditious. Priests, monks, and laymen scoured the\nvillages and hamlets preaching salvation by the flames, some of them\ndecked in the spoils of their victims; for the motives of the preachers\nwere often of the basest sort. They did not spare even the children, but\nseduced them by promises of the gay clothes, the apples, the nuts, the\nhoney they would enjoy in heaven. Sometimes when the people hesitated,\nthese infamous wretches decided the wavering minds of their dupes by a\nfalse report that the troops were coming to deliver them up to Antichrist,\nand so to rob them of a blissful eternity. Then men, women, and children\nrushed into the flames. Sometimes hundreds, and even thousands, thus\nperished together. An area was enclosed by barricades, fuel was heaped up\nin it, the victims huddled together, fire set to the whole, and the\nsacrifice consummated. Any who in their agony sought to escape were driven\nor thrown back into the flames, sometimes by their own relations. These\nsinister fires generally blazed at night, reddening the sky till daybreak.\nIn the morning nothing remained but charred bodies gnawed by prowling\ndogs; but the stench of burnt human flesh poisoned the air for days\nafterwards.(92)\n\n(M31) As the Christians expected the arrival of Antichrist in the year\n1666, so the Jews cheerfully anticipated the long-delayed advent of their\nMessiah in the same fateful year. A Jew of Smyrna, by name Sabatei-Sevi,\navailed himself of this general expectation to pose as the Messiah in\nperson. He was greeted with enthusiasm. Jews from many parts of Europe\nhastened to pay their homage and, what was still better, their money to\nthe future deliverer of his country, who in return parcelled out among\nthem, with the greatest liberality, estates in the Holy Land which did not\nbelong to him. But the alternative of death by impalement or conversion to\nMohammedanism, which the Sultan submitted to his consideration, induced\nhim to revise his theological opinions, and on looking into the matter\nmore closely he discovered that his true mission in life was to preach the\ntotal abolition of the Jewish religion and the substitution for it of\nIslam.(93)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 3. Kings killed at the End of a Fixed Term.\n\n\n(M32) In the cases hitherto described, the divine king or priest is\nsuffered by his people to retain office until some outward defect, some\nvisible symptom of failing health or advancing age, warns them that he is\nno longer equal to the discharge of his divine duties; but not until such\nsymptoms have made their appearance is he put to death. Some peoples,\nhowever, appear to have thought it unsafe to wait for even the slightest\nsymptom of decay and have preferred to kill the king while he was still in\nthe full vigour of life. Accordingly, they have fixed a term beyond which\nhe might not reign, and at the close of which he must die, the term fixed\nupon being 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, about twenty leagues to the north-east of Cape\nComorin, \u201cthere is a Gentile house of prayer, in which there is an idol\nwhich they hold in great account, and every twelve years they celebrate a\ngreat feast to it, whither all the Gentiles go as to a jubilee. This\ntemple possesses many lands and much revenue: it is a very great affair.\nThis province has a king over it, who has not more than twelve years to\nreign from jubilee to jubilee. His manner of living is in this wise, that\nis to say: when the twelve years are completed, on the day of this feast\nthere assemble together innumerable people, and much money is spent in\ngiving food to Bramans. The king has a wooden scaffolding made, spread\nover with silken hangings: and on that day he goes to bathe at a tank with\ngreat ceremonies and sound of music, after that he comes to the idol and\nprays to it, and mounts on to the scaffolding, and there before all the\npeople he takes some very sharp knives, and begins to cut off his nose,\nand then his ears, and his lips, and all his members, and as much flesh\noff himself as he can; and he throws it away very hurriedly until so much\nof his blood is spilled that he begins to faint, and then he cuts his\nthroat himself. And he performs this sacrifice to the idol, and whoever\ndesires to reign other twelve years and undertake this martyrdom for love\nof the idol, has to be present looking on at this: and from that place\nthey raise him up as king.\u201d(94)\n\n(M33) The king of Calicut, on the Malabar coast, bears the title of\nSamorin or Samory, which in the native language is said to mean \u201cGod on\nearth.\u201d(95) He \u201cpretends to be of a higher rank than the Brahmans, and to\nbe inferior only to the invisible gods; a pretention that was acknowledged\nby his subjects, but which is held as absurd and abominable by the\nBrahmans, by whom he is only treated as a Sudra.\u201d(96) Formerly the Samorin\nhad to cut his throat in public at the end of a twelve years\u2019 reign. But\ntowards the end of the seventeenth century the rule had been modified as\nfollows: \u201cMany strange customs were observed in this country in former\ntimes, and some very odd ones are still continued. It was an ancient\ncustom for the Samorin to reign but twelve years, and no longer. If he\ndied before his term was expired, it saved him a troublesome ceremony of\ncutting his own throat, on a publick scaffold erected for the purpose. He\nfirst made a feast for all his nobility and gentry, who are very numerous.\nAfter the feast he saluted his guests, and went on the scaffold, and very\ndecently cut his own throat in the view of the assembly, and his body was,\na little while after, burned with great pomp and ceremony, and the\ngrandees elected a new Samorin. Whether that custom was a religious or a\ncivil ceremony, I know not, but it is now laid aside. And a new custom is\nfollowed by the modern Samorins, that jubilee is proclaimed throughout his\ndominions, at the end of twelve years, and a tent is pitched for him in a\nspacious plain, and a great feast is celebrated for ten or twelve days,\nwith mirth and jollity, guns firing night and day, so at the end of the\nfeast any four of the guests that have a mind to gain a crown by a\ndesperate action, in fighting their way through 30 or 40,000 of his\nguards, and kill the Samorin in his tent, he that kills him succeeds him\nin his empire. In anno 1695, one of those jubilees happened, and the tent\npitched near Pennany, a seaport of his, about fifteen leagues to the\nsouthward of Calicut. There were but three men that would venture on that\ndesperate action, who fell in, with sword and target, among the guard,\nand, after they had killed and wounded many, were themselves killed. One\nof the desperados had a nephew of fifteen or sixteen years of age, that\nkept close by his uncle in the attack on the guards, and, when he saw him\nfall, the youth got through the guards into the tent, and made a stroke at\nhis Majesty\u2019s head, and had certainly despatched him if a large brass lamp\nwhich was burning over his head had not marred the blow; but, before he\ncould make another, he was killed by the guards; and, I believe, the same\nSamorin reigns yet. I chanced to come that time along the coast and heard\nthe guns for two or three days and nights successively.\u201d(97)\n\n(M34) The English traveller, whose account I have quoted, did not himself\nwitness the festival he describes, though he heard the sound of the firing\nin the distance. Fortunately, exact records of these festivals and of the\nnumber of men who perished at them have been preserved in the archives of\nthe royal family at Calicut. In the latter part of the nineteenth century\nthey were examined by Mr. W. Logan, with the personal assistance of the\nreigning king, and from his work it is possible to gain an accurate\nconception both of the tragedy and of the scene where it was periodically\nenacted down to 1743, when the ceremony took place for the last time.\n\n(M35) The festival at which the king of Calicut staked his crown and his\nlife on the issue of battle was known as the _Maha Makham_ or Great\nSacrifice. It fell every twelfth year, when the planet Jupiter was in\nretrograde motion in the sign of the Crab, and it lasted twenty-eight\ndays, culminating at the time of the eighth lunar asterism in the month of\nMakaram. As the date of the festival was determined by the position of\nJupiter in the sky, and the interval between two festivals was twelve\nyears, which is roughly Jupiter\u2019s period of revolution round the sun,(98)\nwe may conjecture that the splendid planet was supposed to be in a special\nsense the king\u2019s star and to rule his destiny, the period of its\nrevolution in heaven corresponding to the period of his reign on earth.\nHowever that may be, the ceremony was observed with great pomp at the\nTirunavayi temple, on the north bank of the Ponnani River. The spot is\nclose to the present railway line. As the train rushes by, you can just\ncatch a glimpse of the temple, almost hidden behind a clump of trees on\nthe river bank. From the western gateway of the temple a perfectly\nstraight road, hardly raised above the level of the surrounding\nrice-fields and shaded by a fine avenue, runs for half a mile to a high\nridge with a precipitous bank, on which the outlines of three or four\nterraces can still be traced. On the topmost of these terraces the king\ntook his stand on the eventful day. The view which it commands is a fine\none. Across the flat expanse of the rice-fields, with the broad placid\nriver winding through them, the eye ranges eastward to high tablelands,\ntheir lower slopes embowered in woods, while afar off looms the great\nchain of the western Ghauts, and in the furthest distance the Neilgherries\nor Blue Mountains, hardly distinguishable from the azure of the sky above.\n\n(M36) But it was not to the distant prospect that the king\u2019s eyes\nnaturally turned at this crisis of his fate. His attention was arrested by\na spectacle nearer at hand. For all the plain below was alive with troops,\ntheir banners waving gaily in the sun, the white tents of their many camps\nstanding sharply out against the green and gold of the rice-fields. Forty\nthousand fighting men or more were gathered there to defend the king. But\nif the plain swarmed with soldiers, the road that cuts across it from the\ntemple to the king\u2019s stand was clear of them. Not a soul was stirring on\nit. Each side of the way was barred by palisades, and from the palisades\non either hand a long hedge of spears, held by strong arms, projected into\nthe empty road, their blades meeting in the middle and forming a\nglittering arch of steel. All was now ready. The king waved his sword. At\nthe same moment a great chain of massy gold, enriched with bosses, was\nplaced on an elephant at his side. That was the signal. On the instant a\nstir might be seen half a mile away at the gate of the temple. A group of\nswordsmen, decked with flowers and smeared with ashes, has stepped out\nfrom the crowd. They have just partaken of their last meal on earth, and\nthey now receive the last blessings and farewells of their friends. A\nmoment more and they are coming down the lane of spears, hewing and\nstabbing right and left at the spearmen, winding and turning and writhing\namong the blades as if they had no bones in their bodies. It is all in\nvain. One after the other they fall, some nearer the king, some further\noff, content to die, not for the shadow of a crown, but for the mere sake\nof approving their dauntless valour and swordsmanship to the world. On the\nlast days of the festival the same magnificent display of gallantry, the\nsame useless sacrifice of life was repeated again and again. Yet perhaps\nno sacrifice is wholly useless which proves that there are men who prefer\nhonour to life.(99)\n\n(M37) \u201cIt is a singular custom in Bengal,\u201d says an old native historian of\nIndia, \u201cthat there is little of hereditary descent in succession to the\nsovereignty. There is a throne allotted for the king; there is, in like\nmanner, a seat or station assigned for each of the _amirs_, _wazirs_, and\n_mansabdars_. It is that throne and these stations alone which engage the\nreverence of the people of Bengal. A set of dependents, servants, and\nattendants are annexed to each of these situations. When the king wishes\nto dismiss or appoint any person, whosoever is placed in the seat of the\none dismissed is immediately attended and obeyed by the whole\nestablishment of dependents, servants, and retainers annexed to the seat\nwhich he occupies. Nay, this rule obtains even as to the royal throne\nitself. Whoever kills the king, and succeeds in placing himself on that\nthrone, is immediately acknowledged as king; all the _amirs_, _wazirs_,\nsoldiers, and peasants instantly obey and submit to him, and consider him\nas being as much their sovereign as they did their former prince, and obey\nhis orders implicitly. The people of Bengal say, \u2018We are faithful to the\nthrone; whoever fills the throne we are obedient and true to it.\u2019 \u201d(100) A\ncustom of the same sort formerly prevailed in the little kingdom of\nPassier, on the northern coast of Sumatra. The old Portuguese historian De\nBarros, who informs us of it, remarks with surprise that no wise man would\nwish to be king of Passier, since the monarch was not allowed by his\nsubjects to live long. From time to time a sort of fury seized the people,\nand they marched through the streets of the city chanting with loud voices\nthe fatal words, \u201cThe king must die!\u201d When the king heard that song of\ndeath he knew that his hour had come. The man who struck the fatal blow\nwas of the royal lineage, and as soon as he had done the deed of blood and\nseated himself on the throne he was regarded as the legitimate king,\nprovided that he contrived to maintain his seat peaceably for a single\nday. This, however, the regicide did not always succeed in doing. When\nFern\u00e3o Peres d\u2019Andrade, on a voyage to China, put in at Passier for a\ncargo of spices, two kings were massacred, and that in the most peaceable\nand orderly manner, without the smallest sign of tumult or sedition in the\ncity, where everything went on in its usual course, as if the murder or\nexecution of a king were a matter of everyday occurrence. Indeed, on one\noccasion three kings were raised to the dangerous elevation and followed\neach other on the dusty road of death in a single day. The people defended\nthe custom, which they esteemed very laudable and even of divine\ninstitution, by saying that God would never allow so high and mighty a\nbeing as a king, who reigned as his vicegerent on earth, to perish by\nviolence unless for his sins he thoroughly deserved it.(101) Far away from\nthe tropical island of Sumatra a rule of the same sort appears to have\nobtained among the old Slavs. When the captives Gunn and Jarmerik\ncontrived to slay the king and queen of the Slavs and made their escape,\nthey were pursued by the barbarians, who shouted after them that if they\nwould only come back they would reign instead of the murdered monarch,\nsince by a public statute of the ancients the succession to the throne\nfell to the king\u2019s assassin. But the flying regicides turned a deaf ear to\npromises which they regarded as mere baits to lure them back to\ndestruction; they continued their flight, and the shouts and clamour of\nthe barbarians gradually died away in the distance.(102)\n\n(M38) When kings were bound to suffer death, whether at their own hands or\nat the hands of others, on the expiration of a fixed term of years, it was\nnatural that they should seek to delegate the painful duty, along with\nsome of the privileges of sovereignty, to a substitute who should suffer\nvicariously in their stead. This expedient appears to have been resorted\nto by some of the princes of Malabar. Thus we are informed by a native\nauthority on that country that \u201cin some places all powers both executive\nand judicial were delegated for a fixed period to natives by the\nsovereign. This institution was styled _Thalavettiparothiam_ or authority\nobtained by decapitation. _Parothiam_ is the name of a supreme authority\nof those days. The name of the office is still preserved in the Cochin\nstate, where the village headman is called a _Parathiakaran_. This\n_Thalavettiparothiam_ was a terrible but interesting institution. It was\nan office tenable for five years during which its bearer was invested with\nsupreme despotic powers within his jurisdiction. On the expiry of the five\nyears the man\u2019s head was cut off and thrown up in the air amongst a large\nconcourse of villagers, each of whom vied with the other in trying to\ncatch it in its course down. He who succeeded was nominated to the post\nfor the next five years.\u201d(103) A similar delegation of the duty of dying\nfor his country was perhaps practised by the Sultans of Java. At least\nsuch a custom would explain a strange scene which was witnessed at the\ncourt of one of these sultans by the famous traveller Ibn Batuta, a native\nof Tangier, who visited the East Indies in the first half of the\nfourteenth century. He says: \u201cDuring my audience with the Sultan I saw a\nman who held in his hand a knife like that used by a grape-gleaner. He\nplaced it on his own neck and spoke for a long time in a language which I\ndid not understand. After that he seized the knife with both hands at once\nand cut his throat. His head fell to the ground, so sharp was the blade\nand so great the force with which he used it. I remained dumbfoundered at\nhis behaviour, but the Sultan said to me, \u2018Does any one do like that in\nyour country?\u2019 I answered, \u2018Never did I see such a thing.\u2019 He smiled and\nreplied, \u2018These people are our slaves, and they kill themselves for love\nof us.\u2019 Then he commanded that they should take away him who had slain\nhimself and should burn him. The Sultan\u2019s officers, the grandees, the\ntroops, and the common people attended the cremation. The sovereign\nassigned a liberal pension to the children of the deceased, to his wife,\nand to his brothers; and they were highly honoured because of his conduct.\nA person, who was present at the audience when the event I have described\ntook place, informed me that the speech made by the man who sacrificed\nhimself set forth his devotion to the monarch. He said that he wished to\nimmolate himself out of affection for the sovereign, as his father had\ndone for love of the prince\u2019s father, and as his grandfather had done out\nof regard for the prince\u2019s grandfather.\u201d(104) We may conjecture that\nformerly the sultans of Java, like the kings of Quilacare and Calicut,\nwere bound to cut their own throats at the end of a fixed term of years,\nbut that at a later time they deputed the painful, though glorious, duty\nof dying for their country to the members of a certain family, who\nreceived by way of recompense ample provision during their life and a\nhandsome funeral at death.\n\n(M39) A similar mode of religious suicide seems to have been often adopted\nin India, especially in Malabar, during the Middle Ages. Thus we are told\nby Friar Jordanus that in the Greater India, by which he seems to mean\nMalabar and the neighbouring regions, many sacrifice themselves to the\nidols. When they are sick or involved in misfortune, they vow themselves\nto the idol in case they are delivered. Then, when they have recovered,\nthey fatten themselves for one or two years; and when another festival\ncomes round, they cover themselves with flowers, crown themselves with\nwhite garlands, and go singing and playing before the idol, when it is\ncarried through the land. There, after they have shown off a great deal,\nthey take a sword with two handles, like those used in currying leather,\nput it to the back of their neck, and cutting strongly with both hands\nsever their heads from their bodies before the idol.(105) Again, Nicolo\nConti, who travelled in the East in the early part of the fifteenth\ncentury, informs us that in the city of Cambaita \u201cmany present themselves\nwho have determined upon self immolation, having on their neck a broad\ncircular piece of iron, the fore part of which is round and the hinder\npart extremely sharp. A chain attached to the fore part hangs suspended\nupon the breast, into which the victims, sitting down with their legs\ndrawn up and their neck bent, insert their feet. Then, on the speaker\npronouncing certain words, they suddenly stretch out their legs, and at\nthe same time drawing up their neck, cut off their own head, yielding up\ntheir lives as a sacrifice to their idols. These men are regarded as\nsaints.\u201d(106) Among the Jaintias or Syntengs, a Khasi tribe of Assam,\nhuman sacrifices used to be annually offered on the _Sandhi_ day in the\nmonth of Ashwin. Persons often came forward voluntarily and presented\nthemselves as victims. This they generally did by appearing before the\nRajah on the last day of Shravan and declaring that the goddess had called\nthem to herself. After due enquiry, if the would-be victim were found\nsuitable, it was customary for the Rajah to present him with a golden\nanklet and to give him permission to live as he chose and to do what he\nliked, the royal treasury undertaking to pay compensation for any damage\nhe might do in the exercise of his remarkable privileges. But the\nenjoyment of these privileges was very short. On the day appointed the\nvoluntary victim, after bathing and purifying himself, was dressed in new\nattire, daubed with red sandal-wood and vermilion, and bedecked with\ngarlands. Thus arrayed, he sat for a time in meditation and prayer on a\ndais in front of the goddess; then he made a sign with his finger, and the\nexecutioner, after uttering the usual formulas, cut off his head, which\nwas thereafter laid before the goddess on a golden plate. The lungs were\ncooked and eaten by such _Kandra Yogis_ as were present, and it is said\nthat the royal family partook of a small quantity of rice cooked in the\nblood of the victim. The ceremony was usually witnessed by crowds of\nspectators who assembled from all parts of the neighbouring hills. When\nthe supply of voluntary victims fell short, emissaries were sent out to\nkidnap strangers from other territories, and it was the practice of such\nman-hunts that led to the annexation of the Jaintia country by the\nBritish.(107)\n\n(M40) When once kings, who had hitherto been bound to die a violent death\nat the end of a term of years, conceived the happy thought of dying by\ndeputy in the persons of others, they would very naturally put it in\npractice; and accordingly we need not wonder at finding so popular an\nexpedient, or traces of it, in many lands. Thus, for example, the Bhuiyas\nare an aboriginal race of north-eastern India, and one of their chief\nseats is Keonjhur. At the installation of a Rajah of Keonjhur a ceremony\nis observed which has been described as follows by an English officer who\nwitnessed it: \u201cThen the sword, a very rusty old weapon, is placed in the\nRaja\u2019s hands, and one of the Bhuiyas, named Anand Kopat, comes before him,\nand kneeling sideways, the Raja touches him on the neck as if about to\nstrike off his head, and it is said that in former days there was no\nfiction in this part of the ceremony. The family of the Kopat hold their\nlands on the condition that the victim when required shall be produced.\nAnand, however, hurriedly arose after the accolade and disappeared. He\nmust not be seen for three days; then he presents himself again to the\nRaja as miraculously restored to life.\u201d(108) Here the custom of putting\nthe king\u2019s proxy to death has dwindled, probably under English influence,\nto a mere pretence; but elsewhere it survives, or survived till recent\ntimes, in full force. Cassange, a native state in the interior of Angola,\nis ruled by a king, who bears the title of Jaga. When a king is about to\nbe installed in office, some of the chiefs are despatched to find a human\nvictim, who may not be related by blood or marriage to the new monarch.\nWhen he comes to the king\u2019s camp, the victim is provided with everything\nhe requires, and all his orders are obeyed as promptly as those of the\nsovereign. On the day of the ceremony the king takes his seat on a\nperforated iron stool, his chiefs, councillors, and the rest of the people\nforming a great circle round about him. Behind the king sits his principal\nwife, together with all his concubines. An iron gong, with two small bells\nattached to it, is then struck by an official, who continues to ring the\nbells during the ceremony. The victim is then introduced and placed in\nfront of the king, but with his back towards him. Armed with a scimitar\nthe king then cuts open the man\u2019s back, extracts his heart, and having\ntaken a bite out of it, spits it out and gives it to be burned. The\ncouncillors meantime hold the victim\u2019s body so that the blood from the\nwound spouts against the king\u2019s breast and belly, and, pouring through the\nhole in the iron stool, is collected by the chiefs in their hands, who rub\ntheir breasts and beards with it, while they shout, \u201cGreat is the king and\nthe rites of the state!\u201d After that the corpse is skinned, cut up, and\ncooked with the flesh of an ox, a dog, a hen, and some other animals. The\nmeal thus prepared is served first to the king, then to the chiefs and\ncouncillors, and lastly to all the people assembled. Any man who refused\nto partake of it would be sold into slavery together with his family.(109)\nThe distinction with which the human victim is here treated before his\nexecution suggests that he is a substitute for the king.\n\n(M41) Scandinavian traditions contain some hints that of old the Swedish\nkings reigned only for periods of nine years, after which they were put to\ndeath or had to find a substitute to die in their stead. Thus Aun or On,\nking of Sweden, is said to have sacrificed to Odin for length of days and\nto have been answered by the god that he should live so long as he\nsacrificed one of his sons every ninth year. He sacrificed nine of them in\nthis manner, and would have sacrificed the tenth and last, but the Swedes\nwould not allow him. So he died and was buried in a mound at Upsala.(110)\nAnother indication of a similar tenure of the crown occurs in a curious\nlegend of the disposition and banishment of Odin. Offended at his\nmisdeeds, the other gods outlawed and exiled him, but set up in his place\na substitute, Oller by name, a cunning wizard, to whom they accorded the\nsymbols both of royalty and of godhead. The deputy bore the name of Odin,\nand reigned for nearly ten years, when he was driven from the throne,\nwhile the real Odin came to his own again. His discomfited rival retired\nto Sweden and was afterwards slain in an attempt to repair his shattered\nfortunes.(111) As gods are often merely men who loom large through the\nmists of tradition, we may conjecture that this Norse legend preserves a\nconfused reminiscence of ancient Swedish kings who reigned for nine or ten\nyears together, then abdicated, delegating to others the privilege of\ndying for their country. The great festival which was held at Upsala every\nnine years may have been the occasion on which the king or his deputy was\nput to death. We know that human sacrifices formed part of the rites.(112)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 4. Octennial Tenure of the Kingship.\n\n\n(M42) There are some grounds for believing that the reign of many ancient\nGreek kings was limited to eight years, or at least that at the end of\nevery period of eight years a new consecration, a fresh outpouring of the\ndivine grace, was regarded as necessary in order to enable them to\ndischarge their civil and religious duties. Thus it was a rule of the\nSpartan constitution that every eighth year the ephors should choose a\nclear and moonless night and sitting down observe the sky in silence. If\nduring their vigil they saw a meteor or shooting star, they inferred that\nthe king had sinned against the deity, and they suspended him from his\nfunctions until the Delphic or Olympic oracle should reinstate him in\nthem. This custom, which has all the air of great antiquity, was not\nsuffered to remain a dead letter even in the last period of the Spartan\nmonarchy; for in the third century before our era a king, who had rendered\nhimself obnoxious to the reforming party, was actually deposed on various\ntrumped-up charges, among which the allegation that the ominous sign had\nbeen seen in the sky took a prominent place.(113) When we compare this\ncustom with the evidence to be presently adduced of an eight years\u2019 tenure\nof the kingship in Greece, we shall probably agree with K. O. M\u00fcller(114)\nthat the quaint Spartan practice was much more than a mere antiquarian\ncuriosity; it was the attenuated survival of an institution which may once\nhave had great significance, and it throws an important light on the\nrestrictions and limitations anciently imposed by religion on the Dorian\nkingship. What exactly was the import of a meteor in the opinion of the\nold Dorians we can hardly hope to determine; one thing only is clear, they\nregarded it as a portent of so ominous and threatening a kind that its\nappearance under certain circumstances justified and even required the\ndeposition of their king. This exaggerated dread of so simple a natural\nphenomenon is shared by many savages at the present day; and we shall\nhardly err in supposing that the Spartans inherited it from their\nbarbarous ancestors, who may have watched with consternation, on many a\nstarry night among the woods of Germany, the flashing of a meteor through\nthe sky. It may be well, even at the cost of a digression, to illustrate\nthis primitive superstition by examples.\n\n(M43) Thus, shooting stars and meteors are viewed with apprehension by the\nnatives of the Andaman Islands, who suppose them to be lighted faggots\nhurled into the air by the malignant spirit of the woods in order to\nascertain the whereabouts of any unhappy wight in his vicinity. Hence if\nthey happen to be away from their camp when the meteor is seen, they hide\nthemselves and remain silent for a little before they venture to resume\nthe work they were at; for example, if they are out fishing they will\ncrouch at the bottom of the boat.(115) The natives of the Tully River in\nQueensland believe falling stars to be the fire-sticks carried about by\nthe spirits of dead enemies. When they see one shooting through the air\nthey take it as a sign that an enemy is near, and accordingly they shout\nand make as much noise as they can; next morning they all go out in the\ndirection in which the star fell and look for the tracks of their\nfoe.(116) The Turrbal tribe of Queensland thought that a falling star was\na medicine-man flying through the air and dropping his fire-stick to kill\nsomebody; if there was a sick man in the camp, they regarded him as\ndoomed.(117) The Ngarigo of New South Wales believed the fall of a meteor\nto betoken the place where their foes were mustering for war.(118) The\nKaitish tribe of central Australia imagine that the fall of a star marks\nthe whereabouts of a man who has killed another by means of a magical\npointing-stick or bone. If a member of any group has been killed in this\nway, his friends watch for the descent of a meteor, march in that\ndirection, slay an enemy there, and leave his body lying on the ground.\nThe friends of the murdered man understand what has happened, and bury his\nbody where the star fell; for they recognise the spot by the softness of\nthe earth.(119) The Mara tribe of northern Australia suppose a falling\nstar to be one of two hostile spirits, father and son, who live up in the\nsky and come down occasionally to do harm to men. In this tribe the\nprofession of medicine-man is strictly hereditary in the stock which has\nthe falling star for its totem;(120) if these wizards had ever developed\ninto kings, the descent of a meteor at certain times might have had the\nsame fatal significance for them as for the kings of Sparta. The Taui\nIslanders, to the west of the Bismarck Archipelago, make war in the\ndirection in which they have observed a star to fall,(121) probably for a\nreason like that which induces the Kaitish to do the same.\n\n(M44) When the Baronga of south Africa see a shooting star they spit on\nthe ground to avert the evil omen, and cry, \u201cGo away! go away all alone!\u201d\nBy this they mean that the light, which is so soon to disappear, is not to\ntake them with it, but to go and die by itself.(122) So when a Masai\nperceives the flash of a meteor he spits several times and says, \u201cBe lost!\ngo in the direction of the enemy!\u201d after which he adds, \u201cStay away from\nme.\u201d(123) The Namaquas \u201care greatly afraid of the meteor which is vulgarly\ncalled a falling star, for they consider it a sign that sickness is coming\nupon the cattle, and to escape it they will immediately drive them to some\nother parts of the country. They call out to the star how many cattle they\nhave, and beg of it not to send sickness.\u201d(124) The Bechuanas are also\nmuch alarmed at the appearance of a meteor. If they happen to be dancing\nin the open air at the time, they will instantly desist and retire hastily\nto their huts.(125) The Ewe negroes of Guinea regard a falling star as a\npowerful divinity, and worship it as one of their national gods, by the\nname of Nyikpla or Nyigbla. In their opinion the falling star is\nespecially a war-god who marches at the head of the host and leads it to\nvictory, riding like Castor and Pollux on horseback. But he is also a\nrain-god, and the showers are sent by him from the sky. Special priests\nare devoted to his worship, with a chief priest at their head, who resides\nin the capital. They are known by the red staves which they carry and by\nthe high-pointed caps, woven of threads and palm-leaves, which they wear\non their heads. In times of drought they call upon their god by night with\nwild howls. Once a year an ox is sacrificed to him at the capital, and the\npriests consume the flesh. On this occasion the people smear themselves\nwith the pollen of a certain plant and go in procession through the towns\nand villages, singing, dancing, and beating drums.(126)\n\n(M45) By some Indians of California meteors were called \u201cchildren of the\nmoon,\u201d and whenever young women saw one of them they fell to the ground\nand covered their heads, fearing that, if the meteor saw them, their faces\nwould become ugly and diseased.(127) The Tarahumares of Mexico fancy that\na shooting star is a dead sorcerer coming to harm a man who harmed him in\nlife. Hence when they see one they huddle together and scream for\nterror.(128) When a German traveller was living with the Bororos of\ncentral Brazil, a splendid meteor fell, spreading dismay through the\nIndian village. It was believed to be the soul of a dead medicine-man, who\nsuddenly appeared in this form to announce that he wanted meat, and that,\nas a preliminary measure, he proposed to visit somebody with an attack of\ndysentery. Its appearance was greeted with yells from a hundred throats:\nmen, women, and children swarmed out of their huts like ants whose nest\nhas been disturbed; and soon watch-fires blazed, round which at a little\ndistance groups of dusky figures gathered, while in the middle, thrown\ninto strong relief by the flickering light of the fire, two red-painted\nsorcerers reeled and staggered in a state of frantic excitement, snorting\nand spitting towards the quarter of the sky where the meteor had run its\nbrief but brilliant course. Pressing his right hand to his yelling mouth,\neach of them held aloft in his extended left, by way of propitiating the\nangry star, a bundle of cigarettes. \u201cThere!\u201d they seemed to say, \u201call that\ntobacco will we give to ward off the impending visitation. Woe to you, if\nyou do not leave us in peace.\u201d(129) The Lengua Indians of the Gran Chaco\nalso stand in great fear of meteors, imagining them to be stones hurled\nfrom heaven at the wicked sorcerers who have done people to death by their\ncharms.(130) When the Abipones beheld a meteor flashing or heard thunder\nrolling in the sky, they imagined that one of their medicine-men had died,\nand that the flash of light and the peal of thunder were part of his\nfuneral honours.(131)\n\n(M46) When the Laughlan Islanders see a shooting star they make a great\nnoise, for they think it is the old woman who lives in the moon coming\ndown to earth to catch somebody, who may relieve her of her duties in the\nmoon while she goes away to the happy spirit-land.(132) In Vedic India a\nmeteor was believed to be the embodiment of a demon, and on its appearance\ncertain hymns or incantations, supposed to possess the power of killing\ndemons, were recited for the purpose of expiating the prodigy.(133) To\nthis day in India, when women see a falling star, they spit thrice to\nscare the demon.(134) Some of the Esthonians at the present time regard\nshooting stars as evil spirits.(135) It is a Mohammedan belief that\nfalling stars are demons or jinn who have attempted to scale the sky, and,\nbeing repulsed by the angels with stones, are hurled headlong, flaming,\nfrom the celestial vault. Hence every true believer at sight of a meteor\nshould say, \u201cI take refuge with God from the stoned devil.\u201d(136)\n\n(M47) A widespread superstition, of which some examples have already been\ngiven, associates meteors or falling stars with the souls of the dead.\nOften they are believed to be the spirits of the departed on their way to\nthe other world. The Maoris imagine that at death the soul leaves the body\nand goes to the nether world in the form of a falling star.(137) The\nKingsmill Islanders deemed a shooting star an omen of death to some member\nof the family which occupied the part of the council-house nearest to the\npoint of the sky whence the meteor took its flight. If the star was\nfollowed by a train of light, it foretold the death of a woman; if not,\nthe death of a man.(138) When the Wotjobaluk tribe of Victoria see a\nshooting star, they think it is falling with the heart of a man who has\nbeen caught by a sorcerer and deprived of his fat.(139) One evening when\nMr. Howitt was talking with an Australian black, a bright meteor was seen\nshooting through the sky. The native watched it and remarked, \u201cAn old\nblackfellow has fallen down there.\u201d(140) Among the Yerrunthally tribe of\nQueensland the ideas on this subject were even more definite. They thought\nthat after death they went to a place away among the stars, and that to\nreach it they had to climb up a rope; when they had clambered up they let\ngo the rope, which, as it fell from heaven, appeared to people on earth as\na falling star.(141) The natives of the Prince of Wales Islands, off\nQueensland, are much afraid of shooting stars, for they believe them to be\nghosts which, in breaking up, produce young ones of their own kind.(142)\nThe natives of the Gazelle Peninsula in New Britain think that meteors are\nthe souls of people who have been murdered or eaten; so at the sight of a\nmeteor flashing they cry out, \u201cThe ghost of a murdered man!\u201d(143)\nAccording to the Sulka of New Britain meteors are souls which have been\nflung into the air in order to plunge into the sea; and the train of light\nwhich they leave behind them is a burning tail of dry coco-nut leaves\nwhich has been tied to them by other souls, in order to help them to wing\ntheir way through the air.(144) The Caffres of South Africa often say that\na shooting star is the sign of the death of some chief, and at sight of it\nthey will spit on the ground as a mark of friendly feeling towards the\ndead man.(145) Similarly the Ababua of the Congo valley think that a chief\nwill die in the village into which a star appears to fall, unless the\ndanger of death be averted by a particular dance.(146) In the opinion of\nthe Masai, the fall of a meteor signifies the death of some one; at sight\nof it they pray that the victim may be one of their enemies.(147) The\nWambugwe of eastern Africa fancy that the stars are men, of whom one dies\nwhenever a star is seen to fall.(148) The Tinneh Indians and the Tchiglit\nEsquimaux of north-western America believe that human life on earth is\ninfluenced by the stars, and they take a shooting star to be a sign that\nsome one has died.(149) The Lolos, an aboriginal tribe of western China,\nhold that for each person on earth there is a corresponding star in the\nsky. Hence when a man is ill, they sacrifice wine to his star and light\nfour and twenty lamps outside of his room. On the day after the funeral\nthey dig a hole in the chamber of death and pray the dead man\u2019s star to\ndescend and be buried in it. If this precaution were not taken, the star\nmight fall and hit somebody and hurt him very much.(150) In classical\nantiquity there was a popular notion that every human being had his own\nstar in the sky, which shone bright or dim according to his good or evil\nfortune, and fell in the form of a meteor when he died.(151)\n\n(M48) Superstitions of the same sort are still commonly to be met with in\nEurope. Thus in some parts of Germany they say that at the birth of a man\na new star is set in the sky, and that as it burns brilliantly or faintly\nhe grows rich or poor; finally when he dies it drops from the sky in the\nlikeness of a shooting star.(152) Similarly in Brittany, Transylvania,\nBohemia, the Abruzzi, the Romagna, and the Esthonian island of Oesel it is\nthought by some that every man has his own particular star in the sky, and\nthat when it falls in the shape of a meteor he expires.(153) A like belief\nis entertained by Polish Jews.(154) In Styria they say that when a\nshooting star is seen a man has just died, or a poor soul been released\nfrom purgatory.(155) The Esthonians believe that if any one sees a falling\nstar on New Year\u2019s night he will die or be visited by a serious illness\nthat year.(156) In Belgium and many parts of France the people suppose\nthat a meteor is a soul which has just quitted the body, sometimes that it\nis specially the soul of an unbaptized infant or of some one who has died\nwithout absolution. At sight of it they say that you should cross yourself\nand pray, or that if you wish for something while the star is falling you\nwill be sure to get it.(157) Among the Vosges Mountains in the warm nights\nof July it is not uncommon to see whole showers of shooting stars. It is\ngenerally agreed that these stars are souls, but some difference of\nopinion exists as to whether they are souls just taking leave of earth, or\ntortured by the fires of purgatory, or on their passage from purgatory to\nheaven.(158) The last and most cheering of these views is held by the\nFrench peasantry of Beauce and Perche and by the Italian peasantry of the\nAbruzzi, and charitable people pray for the deliverance of a soul at the\nsight of a falling star.(159) The downward direction of its flight might\nnaturally suggest a different goal; and accordingly other people have seen\nin the transient flame of a meteor the descent of a soul from heaven to be\nborn on earth. In the Punjaub, for example, Hindoos believe that the\nlength of a soul\u2019s residence in the realms of bliss is exactly\nproportioned to the sums which the man distributed in charity during his\nlife; and that when these are exhausted his time in heaven is up, and down\nhe comes.(160) In Polynesia a shooting star was held to be the flight of a\nspirit, and to presage the birth of a great prince.(161) The Mandans of\nnorth America fancied that the stars were dead people, and that when a\nwoman was brought to bed a star fell from heaven, and entering into her\nwas born as a child.(162) On the Biloch frontier of the Punjaub each man\nis held to have his star, and he may not journey in particular directions\nwhen his star is in certain positions. If duty compels him to travel in\nthe forbidden direction, he takes care before setting out to bury his\nstar, or rather a figure of it cut out of cloth, so that it may not see\nwhat he is doing.(163)\n\n(M49) Which, if any, of these superstitions moved the barbarous Dorians of\nold to depose their kings whenever at a certain season a meteor flamed in\nthe sky, we cannot say. Perhaps they had a vague general notion that its\nappearance signified the dissatisfaction of the higher powers with the\nstate of the commonwealth; and since in primitive society the king is\ncommonly held responsible for all untoward events, whatever their origin,\nthe natural course was to relieve him of duties which he had proved\nhimself incapable of discharging. But it may be that the idea in the minds\nof these rude barbarians was more definite. Possibly, like some people in\nEurope at the present day, they thought that every man had his star in the\nsky, and that he must die when it fell. The king would be no exception to\nthe rule, and on a certain night of a certain year, at the end of a cycle,\nit might be customary to watch the sky in order to mark whether the king\u2019s\nstar was still in the ascendant or near its setting. The appearance of a\nmeteor on such a night\u2014of a star precipitated from the celestial\nvault\u2014might prove for the king not merely a symbol but a sentence of\ndeath. It might be the warrant for his execution.\n\n(M50) If the tenure of the regal office was formerly limited among the\nSpartans to eight years, we may naturally ask, why was that precise period\nselected as the measure of a king\u2019s reign? The reason is probably to be\nfound in those astronomical considerations which determined the early\nGreek calendar. The difficulty of reconciling lunar with solar time is one\nof the standing puzzles which has taxed the ingenuity of men who are\nemerging from barbarism. Now an octennial cycle is the shortest period at\nthe end of which sun and moon really mark time together after overlapping,\nso to say, throughout the whole of the interval. Thus, for example, it is\nonly once in every eight years that the full moon coincides with the\nlongest or shortest day; and as this coincidence can be observed with the\naid of a simple dial, the observation is naturally one of the first to\nfurnish a base for a calendar which shall bring lunar and solar times into\ntolerable, though not exact, harmony.(164) But in early days the proper\nadjustment of the calendar is a matter of religious concern, since on it\ndepends a knowledge of the right seasons for propitiating the deities\nwhose favour is indispensable to the welfare of the community.(165) No\nwonder, therefore, that the king, as the chief priest of the state, or as\nhimself a god, should be liable to deposition or death at the end of an\nastronomical period. When the great luminaries had run their course on\nhigh, and were about to renew the heavenly race, it might well be thought\nthat the king should renew his divine energies, or prove them unabated,\nunder pain of making room for a more vigorous successor. In southern\nIndia, as we have seen, the king\u2019s reign and life terminated with the\nrevolution of the planet Jupiter round the sun. In Greece, on the other\nhand, the king\u2019s fate seems to have hung in the balance at the end of\nevery eight years, ready to fly up and kick the beam as soon as the\nopposite scale was loaded with a falling star.\n\n(M51) The same train of thought may explain an ancient Greek custom which\nappears to have required that a homicide should be banished his country,\nand do penance for a period of eight or nine years.(166) With the\nbeginning of a new cycle or great year, as it was called, it might be\nthought that all nature was regenerate, all old scores wiped out.\nAccording to Pindar, the dead whose guilt had been purged away by an abode\nof eight years in the nether world were born again on earth in the ninth\nyear as glorious kings, athletes, and sages.(167) The doctrine may well be\nan old popular belief rather than a mere poetical fancy. If so, it would\nsupply a fresh reason for the banishment of a homicide during the years\nthat the angry ghost of his victim might at any moment issue from its\nprison-house and pounce on him. Once the perturbed spirit had been happily\nreborn, he might be supposed to forgive, if not to forget, the man who had\ndone him an injury in a former life.\n\n(M52) Whatever its origin may have been, the cycle of eight years appears\nto have coincided with the normal length of the king\u2019s reign in other\nparts of Greece besides Sparta. Thus Minos, king of Cnossus in Crete,\nwhose great palace has been unearthed in recent years, is said to have\nheld office for periods of eight years together. At the end of each period\nhe retired for a season to the oracular cave on Mount Ida, and there\ncommuned with his divine father Zeus, giving him an account of his\nkingship in the years that were past, and receiving from him instructions\nfor his guidance in those which were to come.(168) The tradition plainly\nimplies that at the end of every eight years the king\u2019s sacred powers\nneeded to be renewed by intercourse with the godhead, and that without\nsuch a renewal he would have forfeited his right to the throne. We may\nsurmise that among the solemn ceremonies which marked the beginning or the\nend of the eight years\u2019 cycle the sacred marriage of the king with the\nqueen played an important part, and that in this marriage we have the true\nexplanation of the strange legend of Pasiphae and the bull. It was said\nthat Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos, fell in love with a wondrous white\nbull which rose from the sea, and that in order to gratify her unnatural\npassion the artist Daedalus constructed a hollow wooden cow, covered with\na cow\u2019s hide, in which the love-sick queen was hidden while the bull\nmounted it. The result of their union was the Minotaur, a monster with the\nbody of a man and the head of a bull, whom the king shut up in the\nlabyrinth, a building full of such winding and intricate passages that the\nprisoner might roam in it for ever without finding the way out.(169) The\nlegend appears to reflect a mythical marriage of the sun and moon, which\nwas acted as a solemn rite by the king and queen of Cnossus, wearing the\nmasks of a bull and cow respectively.(170) To a pastoral people a bull is\nthe most natural type of vigorous reproductive energy,(171) and as such is\na fitting emblem of the sun. Islanders who, like many of the Cretans, see\nthe sun daily rising from the sea, might readily compare him to a white\nbull issuing from the waves. Indeed, we are expressly told that the\nCretans called the sun a bull.(172) Similarly in ancient Egypt the sacred\nbull Mnevis of Heliopolis (the City of the Sun) was deemed an incarnation\nof the Sun-god,(173) and for thousands of years the kings of Egypt\ndelighted to be styled \u201cmighty bull\u201d; many of them inscribed the title on\ntheir _serekh_ or cognisance, which set forth their names in their\ncharacter of descendants of Horus.(174) The identification of Pasiphae,\n\u201cshe who shines on all,\u201d with the moon was made long ago by Pausanias, who\nsaw her image along with that of the sun in a sanctuary on that wild rocky\ncoast of Messenia where the great range of Taygetus descends seaward in a\nlong line of naked crags.(175) The horns of the waxing or waning moon\nnaturally suggest the resemblance of the luminary to a white cow; hence\nthe ancients represented the goddess of the moon drawn by a team of white\ncattle.(176) When we remember that at the court of Egypt the king and\nqueen figured as god and goddess in solemn masquerades, where the parts of\nanimal-headed deities were played by masked men and women,(177) we need\nhave no difficulty in imagining that similar dramas may have been\nperformed at the court of a Cretan king, whether we suppose them to have\nbeen imported from Egypt or to have had an independent origin.\n\n(M53) The stories of Zeus and Europa, and of Minos and Britomartis or\nDictynna appear to be only different expressions of the same myth,\ndifferent echoes of the same custom. The moon rising from the sea was the\nfair maiden Europa coming across the heaving billows from the far eastern\nland of Phoenicia, borne or pursued by her suitor the solar bull. The moon\nsetting in the western waves was the coy Britomartis or Dictynna, who\nplunged into the sea to escape the warm embrace of her lover Minos,\nhimself the sun. The story how the drowning maiden was drawn up in a\nfisherman\u2019s net may well be, as some have thought, the explanation given\nby a simple seafaring folk of the moon\u2019s reappearance from the sea in the\neast after she had sunk into it in the west.(178) To the mythical fancy of\nthe ancients the moon was a coy or a wanton maiden, who either fled from\nor pursued the sun every month till the fugitive was overtaken and the\nlovers enjoyed each other\u2019s company at the time when the luminaries are in\nconjunction, namely, in the interval between the old and the new moon.\nHence on the principles of sympathetic magic that interval was considered\nthe time most favourable for human marriages. When the sun and moon are\nwedded in the sky, men and women should be wedded on earth. And for the\nsame reason the ancients chose the interlunar day for the celebration of\nthe Sacred Marriages of gods and goddesses. Similar beliefs and customs\nbased on them have been noted among other peoples.(179) It is likely,\ntherefore, that a king and queen who represented the sun and moon may have\nbeen expected to exercise their conjugal rights above all at the time when\nthe moon was thought to rest in the arms of the sun. However that may have\nbeen, it would be natural that their union should be consummated with\nunusual solemnity every eight years, when the two great luminaries, so to\nsay, meet and mark time together once more after diverging from each other\nmore or less throughout the interval. It is true that sun and moon are in\nconjunction once every month, but every month their conjunction takes\nplace at a different point in the sky, until eight revolving years have\nbrought them together again in the same heavenly bridal chamber where\nfirst they met.\n\n(M54) Without being unduly rash we may surmise that the tribute of seven\nyouths and seven maidens whom the Athenians were bound to send to Minos\nevery eight years had some connexion with the renewal of the king\u2019s power\nfor another octennial cycle. Traditions varied as to the fate which\nawaited the lads and damsels on their arrival in Crete; but the common\nview appears to have been that they were shut up in the labyrinth, there\nto be devoured by the Minotaur, or at least to be imprisoned for\nlife.(180) Perhaps they were sacrificed by being roasted alive in a bronze\nimage of a bull, or of a bull-headed man, in order to renew the strength\nof the king and of the sun, whom he personated. This at all events is\nsuggested by the legend of Talos, a bronze man who clutched people to his\nbreast and leaped with them into the fire, so that they were roasted\nalive. He is said to have been given by Zeus to Europa, or by Hephaestus\nto Minos, to guard the island of Crete, which he patrolled thrice\ndaily.(181) According to one account he was a bull,(182) according to\nanother he was the sun.(183) Probably he was identical with the Minotaur,\nand stripped of his mythical features was nothing but a bronze image of\nthe sun represented as a man with a bull\u2019s head. In order to renew the\nsolar fires, human victims may have been sacrificed to the idol by being\nroasted in its hollow body or placed on its sloping hands and allowed to\nroll into a pit of fire. It was in the latter fashion that the\nCarthaginians sacrificed their offspring to Moloch. The children were laid\non the hands of a calf-headed image of bronze, from which they slid into a\nfiery oven, while the people danced to the music of flutes and timbrels to\ndrown the shrieks of the burning victims.(184) The resemblance which the\nCretan traditions bear to the Carthaginian practice suggests that the\nworship associated with the names of Minos and the Minotaur may have been\npowerfully influenced by that of a Semitic Baal.(185) In the tradition of\nPhalaris, tyrant of Agrigentum, and his brazen bull(186) we may have an\necho of similar rites in Sicily, where the Carthaginian power struck deep\nroots.\n\n(M55) But perhaps the youths and maidens who were sent across the sea to\nCnossus had to perform certain religious duties before they were cast into\nthe fiery furnace. The same cunning artist Daedalus who planned the\nlabyrinth and contrived the wooden cow for Pasiphae was said to have made\na dance for Ariadne, daughter of Minos. It represented youths and maidens\ndancing in ranks, the youths armed with golden swords, the maidens crowned\nwith garlands.(187) Moreover, when Theseus landed with Ariadne in Delos on\nhis return from Crete, he and the young companions whom he had rescued\nfrom the Minotaur are said to have danced a mazy dance in imitation of the\nintricate windings of the labyrinth; on account of its sinuous turns the\ndance was called \u201cthe Crane.\u201d(188) Taken together, these two traditions\nsuggest that the youths and maidens who were sent to Cnossus had to dance\nin the labyrinth before they were sacrificed to the bull-headed image. At\nall events there are good grounds for thinking that there was a famous\ndance which the ancients regularly associated with the Cretan labyrinth.\n\n(M56) Among the Romans that dance appears to have been known from the\nearliest times by the name of Troy or the Game of Troy. Tradition ran that\nit was imported into Italy by Aeneas, who transmitted it through his son\nAscanius to the Alban kings, who in their turn handed it down to the\nRomans. It was performed by bands of armed youths on horseback. Virgil\ncompares their complicated evolutions to the windings of the Cretan\nlabyrinth;(189) and that the comparison is more than a mere poetical\nflourish appears from a drawing on a very ancient Etruscan vase found at\nTragliatella. The drawing represents a procession of seven beardless\nwarriors dancing, accompanied by two armed riders on horseback, who are\nalso beardless. An inscription proves that the scene depicted is the Game\nof Troy; and attached to the procession is a figure of the Cretan\nlabyrinth,(190) the pattern of which is well known from coins of Cnossus\non which it is often represented.(191) The same pattern, identified by an\ninscription, \u201c_Labyrinthus, hic habitat Minotaurus_,\u201d is scratched on a\nwall at Pompeii; and it is also worked in mosaic on the floor of Roman\napartments, with the figures of Theseus and the Minotaur in the\nmiddle.(192) Roman boys appear to have drawn the very same pattern on the\nground and to have played a game on it, probably a miniature Game of\nTroy.(193) Labyrinths of similar type occur as decorations on the floors\nof old churches, where they are known as \u201cthe Road of Jerusalem\u201d; they\nwere used for processions. The garden mazes of the Renaissance were\nmodelled on them. Moreover, they are found very commonly in the north of\nEurope, marked out either by raised bands of turf or by rows of stones.\nSuch labyrinths may be seen in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finnland, the\nsouth coast of Russian Lappland, and even in Iceland. They go by various\nnames, such as Babylon, Wieland\u2019s House, Trojeborg, Tr\u00f6burg, and so forth,\nsome of which clearly indicate their connexion with the ancient Game of\nTroy. They are used for children\u2019s games.(194)\n\n(M57) A dance or game which has thus spread over Europe and survived in a\nfashion to modern times must have been very popular, and bearing in mind\nhow often with the decay of old faiths the serious rites and pageants of\ngrown people have degenerated into the sports of children, we may\nreasonably ask whether Ariadne\u2019s Dance or the Game of Troy may not have\nhad its origin in religious ritual. The ancients connected it with Cnossus\nand the Minotaur. Now we have seen reason to hold, with many other\nscholars, that Cnossus was the seat of a great worship of the sun, and\nthat the Minotaur was a representative or embodiment of the sun-god. May\nnot, then, Ariadne\u2019s dance have been an imitation of the sun\u2019s course in\nthe sky? and may not its intention have been, by means of sympathetic\nmagic, to aid the great luminary to run his race on high? We have seen\nthat during an eclipse of the sun the Chilcotin Indians walk in a circle,\nleaning on staves, apparently to assist the labouring orb. In Egypt also\nthe king, who embodied the sun-god, seems to have solemnly walked round\nthe walls of a temple for the sake of helping the sun on his way.(195) If\nthere is any truth in this conjecture, it would seem to follow that the\nsinuous lines of the labyrinth which the dancers followed in their\nevolutions may have represented the ecliptic, the sun\u2019s apparent annual\npath in the sky. It is some confirmation of this view that on coins of\nCnossus the sun or a star appears in the middle of the labyrinth, the\nplace which on other coins is occupied by the Minotaur.(196)\n\n(M58) On the whole the foregoing evidence, slight and fragmentary as it\nis, points to the conclusion that at Cnossus the king represented the\nsun-god, and that every eight years his divine powers were renewed at a\ngreat festival, which comprised, first, the sacrifice of human victims by\nfire to a bull-headed image of the sun, and, second, the marriage of the\nking disguised as a bull to the queen disguised as a cow, the two\npersonating respectively the sun and the moon.\n\n(M59) Whatever may be thought of these speculations, we know that many\nsolemn rites were celebrated by the ancient Greeks at intervals of eight\nyears.(197) Amongst them, two deserve to be noticed here, because it has\nbeen recently suggested, with some appearance of probability, that they\nwere based on an octennial tenure of the kingship.(198) One was the\nFestival of the Crowning at Delphi; the other was the Festival of the\nLaurel-bearing at Thebes. In their general features the two festivals seem\nto have resembled each other very closely. Both represented dramatically\nthe slaying of a great water-dragon by a god or hero; in both, the lad who\nplayed the part of the victorious god or hero crowned his brows with a\nwreath of sacred laurel and had to submit to a penance and purification\nfor the slaughter of the beast. At Delphi the legendary slayer of the\ndragon was Apollo; at Thebes he was Cadmus.(199) At both places the\nlegendary penance for the slaughter seems to have been servitude for eight\nyears.(200) The evidence for the rites of the Delphic festival is fairly\ncomplete, but for the Theban festival it has to be eked out by\nvase-paintings, which represent Cadmus crowned with laurel preparing to\nattack the dragon or actually in combat with the monster, while goddesses\nbend over the champion, holding out wreaths of laurel to him as the mede\nof victory.(201) It is true that in historical times Apollo appears to\nhave ousted Cadmus from the festival, though not from the myth. But at\nThebes the god was plainly a late intruder, for his temple lay outside the\nwalls, whereas the most ancient sanctuaries stood in the oldest part of\nthe city, the low hill which took its name of Cadmea from the genuine\nTheban hero Cadmus.(202) It is not impossible that at Delphi also, and\nperhaps at other places where the same drama was acted,(203) Apollo may\nhave displaced an old local hero in the honourable office of\ndragon-slayer.\n\n(M60) Both at Thebes and at Delphi the dragon guarded a spring,(204) the\nwater of which was probably deemed oracular. At Delphi the sacred spring\nmay have been either Cassotis or the more famed Castaly, which issues from\na narrow gorge, shut in by rocky walls of tremendous height, a little to\nthe east of Apollo\u2019s temple. The waters of both were thought to be endowed\nwith prophetic power.(205) Probably, too, the monster was supposed to keep\nwatch and ward over the sacred laurel, from which the victor in the combat\nwreathed his brows; for in vase-paintings the Theban dragon appears coiled\nbeside the holy tree,(206) and Euripides describes the Delphic dragon as\ncovered by a leafy laurel.(207) At all oracular seats of Apollo his\npriestess drank of the sacred spring and chewed the sacred laurel before\nshe prophesied.(208) Thus it would seem that the dragon, which at Delphi\nis expressly said to have been the guardian of the oracle,(209) had in its\ncustody both the instruments of divination, the holy tree and the holy\nwater. We are reminded of the dragon or serpent, slain by Hercules, which\nguarded the golden apples of the Hesperides in the happy garden.(210) But\nat Delphi the oldest sacred tree appears, as Mr. A. B. Cook has pointed\nout,(211) to have been not a laurel but an oak. For we are told that\noriginally the victors in the Pythian games at Delphi wore crowns of oak\nleaves, since the laurel had not yet been created.(212) Now, like the\nFestival of Crowning, the Pythian games were instituted to commemorate the\nslaughter of the dragon;(213) like it they were originally held every\neighth year;(214) the two festivals were celebrated nearly at the same\ntime of the year;(215) and the representative of Apollo in the one and the\nvictors in the other were adorned with crowns made from the same sacred\nlaurel.(216) In short, the two festivals appear to have been in origin\nsubstantially identical; the distinction between them may have arisen when\nthe Delphians decided to hold the Pythian games every fourth, instead of\nevery eighth year.(217) We may fairly suppose, therefore, that the\nleaf-crowned victors in the Pythian games, like the laurel-wreathed boy in\nthe Festival of Crowning, formerly acted the part of the god himself. But\nif in the beginning these actors in the sacred drama wore wreaths of oak\ninstead of laurel, it seems to follow that the deity whom they personated\nwas the oak-god Zeus rather than the laurel-god Apollo; from which again\nwe may infer that Delphi was a sanctuary of Zeus and the oak before it\nbecame the shrine of Apollo and the laurel.(218)\n\n(M61) But why should the crown of oak have ceased to be the badge of\nvictory? and why should a wreath of laurel have taken its place? The\nabandonment of the oak crown may have been a consequence of the\ndisappearance of the oak itself from the neighbourhood of Delphi; in\nGreece, as in Italy, the deciduous trees have for centuries been\nretreating up the mountain sides before the advance of the\nevergreens.(219) When the last venerable oak, the rustling of whose leaves\nin the breeze had long been listened to as oracular, finally succumbed\nthrough age, or was laid low by a storm, the priests may have cast about\nfor a tree of another sort to take its place. Yet they sought it neither\nin the lower woods of the valley nor in the dark forests which clothe the\nupper slopes of Parnassus above the frowning cliffs of Delphi. Legend ran\nthat after the slaughter of the dragon, Apollo had purged himself from the\nstain of blood in the romantic Vale of Tempe, where the Peneus flows\nsmoothly in a narrow defile between the lofty wooded steeps of Olympus and\nOssa. Here the god crowned himself with a laurel wreath, and thither\naccordingly at the Festival of Crowning his human representative went to\npluck the laurel for his brows.(220) The custom, though doubtless ancient,\ncan hardly have been original. We must suppose that in the beginning the\ndragon-guarded tree, whether an oak or a laurel, grew at Delphi itself.\nBut why should the laurel be chosen as a substitute for the oak? Mr. A. B.\nCook has suggested a plausible answer. The laurel leaf resembles so\nclosely the leaf of the ilex or holm-oak in both shape and colour that an\nuntrained observer may easily confuse the two. The upper surface of both\nis a dark glossy green, the lower surface shews a lighter tint. Nothing,\ntherefore, could be more natural than to make the new wreath out of leaves\nwhich looked so like the old oak leaves that the substitution might almost\npass undetected.(221)\n\nWhether at Thebes, as at Delphi, the laurel had ousted the oak from the\nplace of honour at the festival of the Slaying of the Dragon, we cannot\nsay. The oak has long disappeared from the low hills and flat ground in\nthe neighbourhood of Thebes, but as late as the second century of our era\nthere was a forest of ancient oaks not many miles off at the foot of Mount\nCithaeron.(222)\n\n(M62) It has been conjectured that in ancient days the persons who wore\nthe wreath of laurel or oak at the octennial festivals of Delphi and\nThebes were no other than the priestly kings, who personated the god, slew\ntheir predecessors in the guise of dragons, and reigned for a time in\ntheir stead.(223) The theory certainly cannot be demonstrated, but there\nis a good deal of analogy in its favour. An eight years\u2019 tenure of the\nkingship at Delphi and Thebes would accord with the similar tenure of the\noffice at Sparta and Cnossus. And if the kings of Cnossus disguised\nthemselves as bulls, there seems no reason why the kings of Delphi and\nThebes should not have personated dragons or serpents. In all these cases\nthe animal whose guise the king assumed would be sacred to the royal\nfamily. At first the relation of the beast to the man would be direct and\nsimple; the creature would be revered for some such reason as that for\nwhich a savage respects a certain species of animals, for example, because\nhe believes that his ancestors were beasts of the same sort, or that the\nsouls of his dead are lodged in them. In later times the sanctity of the\nspecies would be explained by saying that a god had at some time, and for\nsome reason or other, assumed the form of the animal. It is probably not\nwithout significance that in Greek mythology the gods in general, and Zeus\nin particular, are commonly said to have submitted to this change of shape\nfor the purpose of prosecuting a love adventure. Such stories may well\nreflect a custom of a Sacred Marriage at which the actors played the parts\nof the worshipful animals. With the growth of culture these local\nworships, the relics of a barbarous age, would be explained away by tales\nof the loves of the gods, and, gradually falling out of practice, would\nsurvive only as myths.\n\n(M63) It is said that at the festival of the Wolf-god Zeus, held every\nnine years on the Wolf-mountain in Arcadia, a man tasted of the bowel of a\nhuman victim mixed with the bowels of animals, and having tasted it he was\nturned into a wolf, and remained a wolf for nine years, when he changed\nback again into a man if in the interval he had abstained from eating\nhuman flesh.(224) The tradition points to the existence of a society of\ncannibal wolf-worshippers, one or more of whom personated, and were\nsupposed to embody, the sacred animal for periods of nine years together.\nTheir theory and practice would seem to have agreed with those of the\nHuman Leopard Societies of western Africa, whose members disguise\nthemselves in the skins of leopards with sharp claws of steel. In that\nguise they attack and kill men in order to eat their flesh or to extract\npowerful charms from their bodies.(225) Their mode of gaining recruits is\nlike that of the Greek Wolf Society. When a visitor came to a village\ninhabited by a Leopard Society, \u201che was invited to partake of food, in\nwhich was mixed a small quantity of human flesh. The guest all\nunsuspectingly partook of the repast, and was afterwards told that human\nflesh formed one of the ingredients of the meal, and that it was then\nnecessary that he should join the society, which was invariably\ndone.\u201d(226) As the ancient Greeks thought that a man might be turned into\na wolf, so these negroes believe that he can be changed into a leopard;\nand, like the Greeks, some of them fancy that if the transformed man\nabstains during his transformation from preying on his fellows he can\nregain his human shape, but that if he once laps human blood he must\nremain a leopard for ever.(227)\n\n(M64) The hypothesis that the ancient kings of Thebes and Delphi had for\ntheir sacred animal the serpent or dragon, and claimed kinship with the\ncreature, derives some countenance from the tradition that at the end of\ntheir lives Cadmus and his wife Harmonia quitted Thebes and went to reign\nover a tribe of Encheleans or Eel-men in Illyria, where they were both\nfinally transformed into dragons or serpents.(228) To the primitive mind\nan eel is a water-serpent;(229) it can hardly, therefore, be an accident\nthat the serpent-killer afterwards reigned over a tribe of eel-men and\nhimself became a serpent at last. Moreover, according to one account, his\nwife Harmonia was a daughter of the very dragon which he slew.(230) The\ntradition would fit in well with the hypothesis that the dragon or serpent\nwas the sacred animal of the old royal house of Thebes, and that the\nkingdom fell to him who slew his predecessor and married his daughter. We\nhave seen reason to think that such a mode of succession to the throne was\ncommon in antiquity.(231) The story of the final transformation of Cadmus\nand Harmonia into snakes may be a relic of a belief that the souls of the\ndead kings and queens of Thebes transmigrated into the bodies of serpents,\njust as Caffre kings turn at death into boa-constrictors or deadly black\nsnakes.(232) Indeed the notion that the souls of the dead lodge in\nserpents is widely spread in Africa and Madagascar.(233) Other African\ntribes believe that their dead kings and chiefs turn into lions, leopards,\nhyaenas, pythons, hippopotamuses, or other creatures, and the animals are\nrespected and spared accordingly.(234) In like manner the Semang and other\nwild tribes of the Malay Peninsula imagine that the souls of their chiefs,\npriests, and magicians transmigrate at death into the bodies of certain\nwild beasts, such as elephants, tigers, and rhinoceroses, and that in\ntheir bestial form the dead men extend a benign protection to their living\nhuman kinsfolk.(235) Even during their lifetime kings in rude society\nsometimes claim kinship with the most formidable beasts of the country.\nThus the royal family of Dahomey specially worships the leopard; some of\nthe king\u2019s wives are distinguished by the title of Leopard Wives, and on\nstate occasions they wear striped cloths to resemble the animal.(236) One\nking of Dahomey, on whom the French made war, bore the name of Shark;\nhence in art he was represented sometimes with a shark\u2019s body and a human\nhead, sometimes with a human body and the head of a shark.(237) The\nTrocadero Museum at Paris contains the wooden images of three kings of\nDahomey who reigned during the nineteenth century, and who are all\nrepresented partly in human and partly in animal form. One of them, Guezo,\nbore the surname of the Cock, and his image represents him as a man\ncovered with feathers. His son Guelel\u00e9, who succeeded him on the throne,\nwas surnamed the Lion, and his effigy is that of a lion rampant with tail\nraised and hair on his body, but with human feet and hands. Guelel\u00e9 was\nsucceeded on the throne by his son Behanzin, who was surnamed the Shark,\nand his effigy portrays him standing upright with the head and body of a\nfish, the fins and scales being carefully represented, while his arms and\nlegs are those of a man.(238) Again, a king of Benin was called Panther,\nand a bronze statue of him, now in the Anthropological Museum at Berlin,\nrepresents him with a panther\u2019s whiskers.(239) Such portraits furnish an\nexact parallel to what I conceive to be the true story of the Minotaur. On\nthe Gold Coast of Africa a powerful ruler is commonly addressed as \u201cO\nElephant!\u201d or \u201cO Lion!\u201d and one of the titles of the king of Ashantee,\nmentioned at great ceremonies, is _borri_, the name of a venomous\nsnake.(240) It has been argued that King David belonged to a serpent\nfamily, and that the brazen serpent, which down to the time of Hezekiah\nwas worshipped with fumes of burning incense,(241) represented the old\nsacred animal of his house.(242) In Europe the bull, the serpent, and the\nwolf would naturally be on the list of royal beasts.\n\n(M65) If the king\u2019s soul was believed to pass at death into the sacred\nanimal, a custom might arise of keeping live creatures of the species in\ncaptivity and revering them as the souls of dead rulers. This would\nexplain the Athenian practice of keeping a sacred serpent on the Acropolis\nand feeding it with honey cakes; for the serpent was identified with\nErichthonius or Erechtheus, one of the ancient kings of Athens, of whose\npalace some vestiges have been discovered in recent times. The creature\nwas supposed to guard the citadel. During the Persian invasion a report\nthat the serpent had left its honey-cake untasted was one of the strongest\nreasons which induced the people to abandon Athens to the enemy; they\nthought that the holy reptile had forsaken the city.(243) Again, Cecrops,\nthe first king of Athens, is said to have been half-serpent and\nhalf-man;(244) in art he is represented as a man from the waist upwards,\nwhile the lower part of his body consists of the coils of a serpent.(245)\nIt has been suggested that like Erechtheus he was identical with the\nserpent on the Acropolis.(246) Once more, we are told that Cychreus gained\nthe kingdom of Salamis by slaying a snake which ravaged the island,(247)\nbut that after his death he, like Cadmus, appeared in the form of the\nreptile.(248) Some said that he was a man who received the name of Snake\non account of his cruelty.(249) Such tales may preserve reminiscences of\nkings who assumed the style of serpents in their lifetime and were\nbelieved to transmigrate into serpents after death. Like the dragons of\nThebes and Delphi, the Athenian serpent appears to have been conceived as\na creature of the waters; for the serpent-man Erechtheus was identified\nwith the water-god Poseidon,(250) and in his temple, the Erechtheum, where\nthe serpent lived, there was a tank which went by the name of \u201cthe sea of\nErechtheus.\u201d(251)\n\n(M66) If the explanation of the eight years\u2019 cycle which I have adopted\nholds good for Thebes and Delphi, the octennial festivals held at these\nplaces probably had some reference to the sun and moon, and may have\ncomprised a sacred marriage of these luminaries. The solar character of\nApollo, whether original or adventitious, lends some countenance to this\nview, but at both Delphi and Thebes the god was apparently an intruder who\nusurped the place of an older god or hero at the festival. At Thebes that\nolder hero was Cadmus. Now Cadmus was a brother of Europa, who appears to\nhave been a personification of the moon conceived in the form of a\ncow.(252) He travelled westward seeking his lost sister till he came to\nDelphi, where the oracle bade him give up the search and follow a cow\nwhich had the white mark of the full moon on its flank; wherever the cow\nfell down exhausted, there he was to take up his abode and found a city.\nFollowing the cow and the directions of the oracle he built Thebes.(253)\nHave we not here in another form the myth of the moon pursued and at last\novertaken by the sun? and the famous wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia, to\nattend which all the gods came down from heaven,(254) may it not have been\nat once the mythical marriage of the great luminaries and the ritual\nmarriage of the king and queen of Thebes masquerading, like the king and\nqueen of Cnossus, in the character of the lights of heaven at the\noctennial festival which celebrated and symbolised the conjunction of the\nsun and moon after their long separation, their harmony after eight years\nof discord? A better name for the bride at such a wedding could hardly\nhave been chosen than Harmonia.\n\n(M67) This theory is supported by a remarkable feature of the festival. At\nthe head of the procession, immediately in front of the Laurel-bearer,\nwalked a youth who carried in his hands a staff of olive-wood draped with\nlaurels and flowers. To the top of the staff was fastened a bronze globe,\nwith smaller globes hung from it; to the middle of the staff were attached\na globe of medium size and three hundred and sixty-five purple ribbands,\nwhile the lower part of the staff was swathed in a saffron pall. The\nlargest globe, we are told, signified the sun, the smaller the moon, and\nthe smallest the stars, and the purple ribbands stood for the course of\nthe year, being equal in number to the days comprised in it.(255) The\nchoir of virgins who followed the Laurel-bearer singing hymns(256) may\nhave represented the Muses, who are said to have sung and played at the\nmarriage of Cadmus and Harmonia; down to late times the very spot in the\nmarket-place was shewn where they had discoursed their heavenly\nmusic.(257) We may conjecture that the procession of the Laurel-bearing\nwas preceded by a dramatic performance of the Slaying of the Dragon, and\nthat it was followed by a pageant representative of the nuptials of Cadmus\nand Harmonia in the presence of the gods. On this hypothesis Harmonia, the\nwife of Cadmus, is only another form of his sister Europa, both of them\nbeing personifications of the moon. Accordingly in the Samothracian\nmysteries, in which the marriage of Cadmus and Harmonia appears to have\nbeen celebrated, it was Harmonia and not Europa whose wanderings were\ndramatically represented.(258) The gods who quitted Olympus to grace the\nwedding by their presence were probably represented in the rites, whether\ncelebrated at Thebes or in Samothrace, by men and women attired as\ndeities. In like manner at the marriage of a Pharaoh the courtiers\nmasqueraded in the likeness of the animal-headed Egyptian gods.(259)\n\nWithin historical times the great Olympic festival was always held at\nintervals of four, not of eight, years. Yet it too would seem to have been\nbased on the octennial cycle. For it always fell on a full moon, at\nintervals of fifty and of forty-nine lunar months alternately.(260) Thus\nthe total number of lunar months comprised in two successive Olympiads was\nninety-nine, which is precisely the number of lunar months in the\noctennial cycle.(261) It is possible that, as K. O. M\u00fcller\nconjectured,(262) the Olympic games may, like the Pythian, have originally\nbeen celebrated at intervals of eight instead of four years. If that was\nso, analogy would lead us to infer that the festival was associated with a\nmythical marriage of the sun and moon. A reminiscence of such a marriage\nappears to survive in the legend that Endymion, the son of the first king\nof Elis, had fifty daughters by the Moon, and that he set his sons to run\na race for the kingdom at Olympia.(263) For, as scholars have already\nperceived, Endymion is the sunken sun overtaken by the moon below the\nhorizon, and his fifty daughters by her are the fifty lunar months of an\nOlympiad or, more strictly speaking, of every alternate Olympiad.(264) If\nthe Olympic festival always fell, as many authorities have maintained, at\nthe first full moon after the summer solstice,(265) the time would be\neminently appropriate for a marriage of the luminaries, since both of them\nmight then be conceived to be at the prime of their vigour.\n\n(M68) It has been ingeniously argued by Mr. A. B. Cook(266) that the\nOlympic victors in the chariot-race were the lineal successors of the old\nrulers, the living embodiments of Zeus, whose claims to the kingdom were\ndecided by a race, as in the legend of Endymion and his sons, and who\nreigned for a period of four, perhaps originally of eight years, after\nwhich they had again, like Oenomaus, to stake their right to the throne on\nthe issue of a chariot-race. Certainly the four-horse car in which they\nraced assimilated them to the sun-god, who was commonly supposed to drive\nthrough the sky in a similar fashion;(267) while the crown of sacred olive\nwhich decked their brows(268) likened them to the great god Zeus himself,\nwhose glorious image at Olympia wore a similar wreath.(269) But if the\nolive-crowned victor in the men\u2019s race at Olympia represented Zeus, it\nbecomes probable that the olive-crowned victor in the girls\u2019 race, which\nwas held every fourth year at Olympia in honour of Hera,(270) represented\nin like manner the god\u2019s wife; and that in former days the two together\nacted the part of the god and goddess in that sacred marriage of Zeus and\nHera which is known to have been celebrated in many parts of Greece.(271)\nThis conclusion is confirmed by the legend that the girls\u2019 race was\ninstituted by Hippodamia in gratitude for her marriage with Pelops;(272)\nfor if Pelops as victor in the chariot-race represented Zeus, his bride\nwould naturally play the part of Hera. But under the names of Zeus and\nHera the pair of Olympic victors would seem to have really personated the\nSun and Moon, who were the true heavenly bridegroom and bride of the\nancient octennial festival.(273) In the decline of ancient civilisation\nthe old myth of the marriage of the great luminaries was revived by the\ncrazy fanatic and libertine, the emperor Heliogabalus, who fetched the\nimage of Astarte, regarded as the moon-goddess, from Carthage to Rome and\nwedded it to the image of the Syrian sun-god, commanding all men at Rome\nand throughout Italy to celebrate with joy and festivity the solemn\nnuptials of the God of the Sun with the Goddess of the Moon.(274)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 5. Funeral Games.\n\n\n(M69) But a different and at first sight inconsistent explanation of the\nOlympic festival deserves to be considered. Some of the ancients held that\nall the great games of Greece\u2014the Olympic, the Nemean, the Isthmian, and\nthe Pythian\u2014were funeral games celebrated in honour of the dead.(275) Thus\nthe Olympic games were supposed to have been founded in honour of\nPelops,(276) the great legendary hero, who had a sacred precinct at\nOlympia, where he was honoured above all the other heroes and received\nannually the sacrifice of a black ram.(277) Once a year, too, all the lads\nof Peloponnese are said to have lashed themselves on his grave at Olympia,\ntill the blood streamed down their backs as a libation to the departed\nhero.(278) Similarly at Roman funerals the women scratched their faces\ntill they bled for the purpose, as Varro tells us, of pleasing the ghosts\nwith the sight of the flowing blood.(279) So, too, among the aborigines of\nAustralia mourners sometimes cut and hack themselves and allow the\nstreaming blood to drip on the dead body of their kinsman or into the\ngrave.(280) Among the eastern islanders of Torres Straits in like manner\nyouths who had lately been initiated and girls who had attained to puberty\nused to have the lobes of their ears cut as a mourning ceremony, and the\nflowing blood was allowed to drip on the feet of the corpse as a mark of\npity or sorrow; moreover, young adults of both sexes had patterns cut in\ntheir flesh with a sharp shell so that the blood fell on the dead\nbody.(281) The similarity of these savage rites to the Greek custom\nobserved at the grave of Pelops suggests that the tomb was not a mere\ncenotaph, but that it contained the actual remains of the dead hero,\nthough these have not been discovered by the German excavators of Olympia.\nIn like manner the Nemean games are said to have been celebrated in honour\nof the dead Opheltes, whose grave was shewn at Nemea.(282) According to\ntradition, the Isthmian games were instituted in honour of the dead\nMelicertes, whose body had been washed ashore at the Isthmus of Corinth.\nIt is said that when this happened a famine fell upon the Corinthians, and\nan oracle declared that the evil would not cease until the people paid due\nobsequies to the remains of the drowned Melicertes and honoured him with\nfuneral games. The Corinthians complied with the injunction for a short\ntime; but as soon as they omitted to celebrate the games, the famine broke\nout afresh, and the oracle informed them that the honours paid to\nMelicertes must be eternal.(283) Lastly, the Pythian games are said to\nhave been celebrated in honour of the dead dragon or serpent Python.(284)\n\n(M70) These Greek traditions as to the funeral origin of the great games\nare strongly confirmed by Greek practice in historical times. Thus in the\nHomeric age funeral games, including chariot-races, foot-races, wrestling,\nboxing, spear-throwing, quoit-throwing, and archery, were celebrated in\nhonour of dead kings and heroes at their barrows.(285) In the fifth\ncentury before Christ, when Miltiades, the victor of Marathon, died in the\nThracian Chersonese, the people offered sacrifices to him as their founder\nand instituted equestrian and athletic games in his honour, in which no\ncitizen of Lampsacus was allowed to contend.(286) Near the theatre at\nSparta there were two graves; one contained the bones of the gallant\nLeonidas which had been brought back from the pass of Thermopylae to rest\nin Spartan earth; the other held the dust of King Pausanias, who commanded\nthe Greek armies on the great day when they routed the Persian host at\nPlataea, but who lived to tarnish his laurels and to die a traitor\u2019s\ndeath. Every year speeches were spoken over these graves and games were\nheld in which none but Spartans might compete.(287) Perhaps in the case of\nPausanias the games were intended rather to avert his anger than to do him\nhonour; for we are told that wizards were fetched even from Italy to lay\nthe traitor\u2019s unquiet ghost.(288) Again, when the Spartan general\nBrasidas, defending Amphipolis in Thrace against the Athenians, fell\nmortally wounded before the city and just lived, like Wolfe on the Heights\nof Abraham, to learn that his men were victorious, all the allies in arms\nfollowed the dead soldier to the grave; and the grateful citizens fenced\nhis tomb about, sacrificed to him as a hero, and decreed that his memory\nshould be honoured henceforth with games and annual sacrifices.(289) So,\ntoo, when Timoleon, the saviour of Syracuse, died in the city which he had\ndelivered from tyrants within and defended against enemies without, vast\nmultitudes of men and women, crowned with garlands and clad in clean\nraiment, attended all that was mortal of their benefactor to the funeral\npyre, the voices of praise and benediction mingling with the sound of\nlamentations and sobs; and when at last the bier was laid on the pyre a\nherald chosen for his sonorous voice proclaimed that the people of\nSyracuse were burying Timoleon, and that they would honour him for all\ntime to come with musical, equestrian, and athletic games, because he had\nput down the tyrants, conquered the foreign foe, rebuilt the cities that\nhad been laid waste, and restored their free constitutions to the\nSicilians.(290) In dedicating the great Mausoleum at Halicarnassus to the\nsoul of her dead husband Mausolus, his widow Artemisia instituted a\ncontest of eloquence in his memory, prizes of money and other valuables\nbeing offered to such as should pronounce the most splendid panegyrics on\nthe departed. Isocrates himself is said to have entered for the prize but\nto have been vanquished by his pupil Theopompus.(291) Alexander the Great\nprepared to pay honour to his dead friend Hephaestion by celebrating\nathletic and musical contests on a greater scale than had ever been\nwitnessed before, and for this purpose he actually assembled three\nthousand competitors, who shortly afterwards contended at the funeral\ngames of the great conqueror himself.(292)\n\n(M71) Nor were the Greeks in the habit of instituting games in honour only\nof a few distinguished individuals; they sometimes established them to\nperpetuate the memory or to appease the ghosts of large numbers of men who\nhad perished on the field of battle or been massacred in cold blood. When\nthe Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians together had beaten the Phocaeans in a\nsea-fight, they landed their prisoners near Agylla in Etruria and stoned\nthem all to death. After that, whenever the people of Agylla or their oxen\nor their sheep passed the scene of the massacre, they were attacked by a\nstrange malady, which distorted their bodies and deprived them of the use\nof their limbs. So they consulted the Delphic oracle, and the priestess\ntold them that they must offer great sacrifices to the dead Phocaeans and\ninstitute equestrian and athletic games in their honour,(293) no doubt to\nappease the angry ghosts of the murdered men, who were supposed to be\ndoing the mischief. At Plataea down to the second century of our era might\nbe seen the graves of the men who fell in the great battle with the\nPersians. Sacrifices were offered to them every year with great solemnity.\nThe chief magistrate of Plataea, clad in a purple robe, washed with his\nown hands the tombstones and anointed them with scented oil. He\nslaughtered a black bull over a burning pyre and called upon the dead\nwarriors to come and partake of the banquet and the blood. Then filling a\nbowl of wine and pouring a libation he said, \u201cI drink to the men who died\nfor the freedom of Greece.\u201d Moreover, games were celebrated every fourth\nyear in honour of these heroic dead, the principal prizes being offered\nfor a race in armour.(294) At Athens funeral games were held in the\nAcademy to commemorate the men slain in war who were buried in the\nneighbouring Ceramicus, and sacrifices were offered to them at a pit: the\ngames were superintended and the sacrifices offered by the Polemarch or\nminister of war.(295)\n\n(M72) Similar honours have been paid to the spirits of the departed by\nmany other peoples both ancient and modern. Thus in antiquity the\nThracians burned or buried their dead, and having raised mounds over their\nremains they held games of all kinds on the spot, assigning the principal\nprizes to victory in single combat.(296) At Rome funeral games were\ncelebrated and gladiators fought in honour of distinguished men who had\njust died. The games were sometimes held in the forum. Thus in the year\n216 B.C., when Marcus Aemilius Lepidus died, who had been twice consul,\nhis three sons celebrated funeral games in the forum for three days, and\ntwo-and-twenty pairs of gladiators fought on the occasion.(297) Again, in\nthe year 200 B.C. funeral games were held for four days in the forum, and\nfive-and-twenty pairs of gladiators fought in honour of the deceased M.\nValerius Laevinus, the expense of the ceremonies being defrayed by the two\nsons of the dead man.(298) Once more, when the Pontifex Maximus, Publicius\nLicinius Crassus, died at the beginning of the year 183 B.C., funeral\ngames were celebrated in his honour for three days, a hundred and twenty\ngladiators fought, and the ceremonies concluded with a banquet, for which\nthe tables were spread in the forum.(299) These games and combats were\ndoubtless intended to please and soothe the ghost of the recently\ndeparted, just as we saw that Roman women lacerated their faces for a\nsimilar purpose. Similarly, when the Southern Nicobarese dig up the bones\nof their dead, clean them, and bury them again, they hold a feast at which\nsham-fights with quarter-staves take place \u201cto gratify the departed\nspirit.\u201d(300) In Futuna, an island of the South Pacific, when a death has\ntaken place friends express their grief by cutting their faces, breast,\nand arms with shells, and at the funeral festival which follows pairs of\nboxers commonly engage in combats by way of honouring the deceased.(301)\nIn Laos, a province of Siam, boxers are similarly engaged to bruise each\nother at the festival which takes place when the remains of a chief or\nother important person are cremated. The festival lasts three days, but it\nis while the pyre is actually blazing that the combatants are expected to\nbatter each other\u2019s heads with the utmost vigour.(302) Among the Kirghiz\nthe anniversary of the death of a rich man is celebrated with a great\nfeast and with horse-races, shooting-matches, and wrestling-matches. It is\nsaid that thousands of sheep and hundreds of horses, besides slaves, coats\nof mail, and a great many other objects, are sometimes distributed as\nprizes among the winners.(303) The Bashkirs, a Tartar people of mixed\nextraction, bury their dead, and always end the obsequies with\nhorse-races.(304) Among some of the North American Indians contests in\nrunning, shooting, and so forth formed part of the funeral\ncelebration.(305)\n\n(M73) The Bedouins of the Sinaitic peninsula observe a great annual\nfestival at the grave of the prophet Salih, and camel-races are included\nin the ceremonies. At the end of the races a procession takes place round\nthe prophet\u2019s grave, after which the sacrificial victims are led to the\ndoor of the mortuary chapel, their ears are cut off, and the doorposts are\nsmeared with their streaming blood.(306) The custom of holding funeral\ngames in honour of the dead appears to be common among the people of the\nCaucasus. Thus in Circassia the anniversary of the death of a\ndistinguished warrior or chief is celebrated for years with horse-races,\nfoot-races, and various kinds of martial and athletic exercises, for which\nprizes are awarded to the successful competitors.(307) Among the Chewsurs,\nanother people of the Caucasus, horse-races are held at the funeral of a\nrich man, and prizes of cattle and sheep are given to the winners; poorer\nfolk content themselves with a competition in shooting and with more\nmodest prizes. Similar celebrations take place on the anniversary of the\ndeath.(308) In like manner shooting-matches form a feature of an annual\nFestival of All Souls, when the spirits of departed Chewsurs are believed\nto revisit their old village. Adults and children alike take part in the\nmatches, the adults shooting with guns and the children with bows and\narrows. The prizes consist of loaves, stockings, gloves, and so\nforth.(309) Among the Abchases, another people of the Caucasus, two years\nafter a death a memorial feast is held in honour of the deceased, at which\nanimals are killed and measures taken to appease the soul of the departed.\nFor they believe that if the ghost is discontented he can injure them and\ntheir property. The horse of the deceased figures prominently at the\nfestival. After the guests have feasted at a long table spread in the open\nair, the young men perform evolutions on horseback which are said to\nrecall the tournaments of the Middle Ages, and children of eight or nine\nyears of age ride races on horseback.(310)\n\n(M74) Thus it appears that many different peoples have been in the habit\nof holding games, including horse-races, in honour of the dead; and as the\nancient Greeks unquestionably did so within historical times for men whose\nexistence is as little open to question as that of Wellington and\nNapoleon, we cannot dismiss as improbable the tradition that the Olympic\nand perhaps other great Greek games were instituted to commemorate real\nmen who once lived, died, and were buried on the spot where the festivals\nwere afterwards held. When the person so commemorated had been great and\npowerful in his lifetime, his ghost would be deemed great and powerful\nafter death, and the games celebrated in his honour might naturally\nattract crowds of spectators. The need of providing food and accommodation\nfor the multitude which assembled on these occasions would in turn draw\nnumbers of hucksters and merchants to the spot, and thus what in its\norigin had been a solemn religious ceremony might gradually assume more\nand more the character of a fair, that is, of a concourse of people\nbrought together mainly for purposes of trade and amusement. This theory\nmight account for the origin not only of the Olympic and other Greek\ngames, but also for that of the great fairs or public assemblies of\nancient Ireland which have been compared, not without reason, to the Greek\ngames. Indeed the two most famous of these Irish festivals, in which\nhorse-races played a prominent part, are actually said to have been\ninstituted in honour of the dead. Most celebrated of all was the fair of\nTailltiu or Tailltin, held at a place in the county of Meath which is now\ncalled Teltown on the Blackwater, midway between Navan and Kells. The\nfestival lasted for a fortnight before Lammas (the first of August) and a\nfortnight after it. Among the manly sports and contests which formed a\nleading feature of the fair horse-races held the principal place. But\ntrade was not neglected, and among the wares brought to market were\nmarriageable women, who, according to a tradition which survived into the\nnineteenth century, were bought and sold as wives for one year. The very\nspot where the marriages took place is still pointed out by the peasantry;\nthey call it \u201cMarriage Hollow.\u201d Multitudes flocked to the fair not only\nfrom all parts of Ireland, but even from Scotland; it is officially\nrecorded that in the year 1169 A.D. the horses and chariots alone,\nexclusive of the people on foot, extended in a continuous line for more\nthan six English miles, from Tailltin to Mullach-Aiti, now the Hill of\nLloyd near Kells. The Irish historians relate that the fair of Tailltin\nwas instituted by Lug in honour of his foster-mother Tailltiu, whom he\nburied under a great sepulchral mound on the spot, ordering that a\ncommemorative festival with games and sports should be celebrated there\nannually for ever.(311) The other great fair of ancient Ireland was held\nonly once in three years at Carman, now called Wexford, in Leinster. It\nbegan on Lammas Day (the first of August) and lasted six days. A\nhorse-race took place on each day of the festival. In different parts of\nthe green there were separate markets for victuals, for cattle and horses,\nand for gold and precious stuffs of the merchants. Harpers harped and\npipers piped for the entertainment of the crowds, and in other parts of\nthe fair bards recited in the ears of rapt listeners old romantic tales of\nforays and cattle-raids, of battles and murders, of love and courtship and\nmarriage. Prizes were awarded to the best performers in every art. In the\nBook of Ballymote the fair of Carman or Garman is said to have been\nfounded in accordance with the dying wish of a chief named Garman, who was\nburied on the spot, after begging that a fair of mourning (_aenach\nn-guba_) should be instituted for him and should bear his name for ever.\n\u201cIt was considered an institution of great importance, and among the\nblessings promised to the men of Leinster from holding it and duly\ncelebrating the established games, were plenty of corn, fruit and milk,\nabundance of fish in their lakes and rivers, domestic prosperity, and\nimmunity from the yoke of any other province. On the other hand, the evils\nto follow from the neglect of this institution were to be failure and\nearly greyness on them and their kings.\u201d(312)\n\n(M75) Nor were these two great fairs the only ancient Irish festivals of\nthe sort which are reported to have been founded in honour of the dead.\nThe annual fair at Emain is said to have been established to lament the\ndeath of Queen Macha of the Golden Hair, who had her palace on the\nspot.(313) In short \u201cmost of the great meetings, by whatever name known,\nhad their origin in funeral games. Tara, Tailltenn, Tlachtga, Ushnagh,\nCruachan, Emain Macha and other less prominent meeting-places, are well\nknown as ancient pagan cemeteries, in all of which many illustrious\nsemi-historical personages were interred: and many sepulchral monuments\nremain in them to this day.\u201d(314) \u201cThere was a notion that Carman was a\ncemetery, that there kings and queens had been buried, and that the games\nand horse-races, which formed the principal attraction of the fair, had\nbeen instituted in honour of the dead folk on whose graves the feet of the\nassembled multitude were treading. The same view is taken of the fairs of\nTailltiu and Cruachan: Tailltiu and Cruachan were cemeteries before they\nserved periodically as places of assembly for business and pleasure.\u201d(315)\nThe tombs of the first kings of Ulster were at Tailltin.(316)\n\n(M76) If we ask whether the tradition as to the funeral origin of these\ngreat Irish fairs is true or false, it is important to observe the date at\nwhich they were commonly celebrated. The date was the first of August, or\nLugnasad, that is, the _nasad_ or games of Lug, as the day is still called\nin every part of Ireland.(317) This was the date of the great fair of\nCruachan(318) as well as of Tailltin and Carman. Now the first of August\nis our Lammas Day, a name derived from the Anglo-Saxon _hlafmaesse_, that\nis, \u201cLoaf-mass\u201d or \u201cBread-mass,\u201d and the name marks the day as a mass or\nfeast of thanksgiving for the first-fruits of the corn-harvest, which in\nEngland and Ireland usually ripen about that time. The feast \u201cseems to\nhave been observed with bread of new wheat, and therefore in some parts of\nEngland, and even in some near Oxford, the tenants are bound to bring in\nwheat of that year to their lord, on or before the first of August.\u201d(319)\nBut if the festival of the first of August was in its origin an offering\nof the first-fruits of the corn-harvest, we can easily understand the\ngreat importance which the ancient Irish attached to it, and why they\nshould have thought that its observance ensured a plentiful crop of corn\nas well as abundance of fruit and milk and fish, whereas the neglect of\nthe festival would entail the failure of these things and cause the hair\nof their kings to turn prematurely grey.(320) For it is a widespread\ncustom among primitive agricultural peoples to offer the first-fruits of\nthe harvest to divine beings, whether gods or spirits, before any person\nmay eat of the new crops,(321) and wherever such customs are observed we\nmay assume that an omission to offer the first-fruits must be supposed to\nendanger the crops and the general prosperity of the community, by\nexciting the wrath of the gods or spirits, who conceive themselves to be\nrobbed of their dues. Now among the divine beings who are thus propitiated\nthe souls of dead ancestors take in many tribes a prominent or even\nexclusive place, and that these ancestors are not creations of the\nmythical fancy but were once men of flesh and blood is sometimes\ndemonstrated by the substantial evidence of their skulls, to which the\nofferings are made and in which the spirits are supposed to take up their\nabode for the purpose of partaking of the food presented to them.\nSometimes the ceremony is designated by the expressive name of \u201cfeeding\nthe dead.\u201d(322)\n\n(M77) All this tends to support the traditional explanation of the great\nIrish fairs held at the beginning of August, when the first corn is ripe;\nfor if these festivals were indeed celebrated, as they are said to have\nbeen, at cemeteries where kings and other famous men were buried, and if\nthe horse-races and other games, which formed the most prominent feature\nof the celebrations, were indeed instituted, as they are said to have\nbeen, in honour of dead men and women, we can perfectly understand why the\nobservance of the festivals and the games was supposed to ensure a\nplentiful harvest and abundance of fruit and fish, whereas the neglect to\ncelebrate them was believed to entail the failure of these things. So long\nas the spirits of the dead men and women, who were buried on the spot,\nreceived the homage of their descendants in the shape of funeral games and\nperhaps of first-fruits, so long would they bless their people with plenty\nby causing the earth to bring forth its fruits, the cows to yield milk,\nand the waters to swarm with fish; whereas if they deemed themselves\nslighted and neglected, they would avenge their wrongs by cutting off the\nfood supply and afflicting the people with dearth and other calamities.\nAmong these threatened calamities the premature greyness of the kings is\nspecially mentioned, and was probably deemed not the least serious; for we\nhave seen that the welfare of the whole people is often deemed to be bound\nup with the physical vigour of the king, and that the appearance of grey\nhairs on his head and wrinkles on his face is sometimes viewed with\napprehension and proves the signal for putting him to death.(323)\nSimilarly the Abchases of the Caucasus imagine that if they do not honour\na dead man by horse-races and other festivities, his ghost will be angry\nwith them and visit his displeasure on their persons and their\nproperty.(324) In this connexion it is significant that the celebration of\nthe Isthmian games at Corinth in honour of the dead Melicertes is said to\nhave been instituted for the purpose of staying a famine, and that the\nintermission of the games was immediately followed by a fresh visitation\nof the calamity.(325) Analogy suggests that the famine may have been\nascribed to the anger of the ghost of Melicertes at the neglect of his\nfuneral honours.\n\n(M78) Thus on the whole the theory of the funeral origin of the great\nGreek games is supported not only by Greek tradition and Greek custom but\nby the evidence of parallel customs observed in many lands. Yet the theory\nseems hardly adequate to explain all the features in the legends of the\nfoundation and early history of the Olympic games. For if these contests\nwere instituted merely to please and propitiate the soul of a prince named\nPelops who was buried on the spot, what are we to make of the tradition\nthat the foot-race was founded in order to determine the successor to the\nkingdom?(326) or of the similar, though not identical, tradition that the\nkingdom and the hand of the king\u2019s daughter were awarded as the prize to\nhim who could vanquish the king in a chariot race, while death was the\npenalty inflicted on the beaten charioteer?(327) Such legends can hardly\nhave been pure fictions; they probably reflect some real custom observed\nat Olympia. We may perhaps combine them with the tradition of the funeral\norigin of the games by supposing that victory in the race entitled the\nwinner to reign as a divine king, the embodiment of a god, for a term of\nyears, whether four or eight years according to the interval between\nsuccessive celebrations of the festival; that when the term had expired\nthe human god must again submit his title to the crown to the hazard of a\nrace for the purpose of proving that his bodily vigour was unimpaired;\nthat if he failed to do so he lost both his kingdom and his life; and\nlastly that the spirits of these divine kings, like those of the divine\nkings of the Shilluk, were worshipped with sacrifices at their graves and\nwere thought to delight in the spectacle of the games which reminded them\nof the laurels they had themselves won long ago, amid the plaudits of a\nvast multitude, in the sunshine and dust of the race-course, before they\njoined the shadowy company of ghosts in the darkness and silence of the\ntomb. The theory would explain the existence of the sacred precinct of\nPelops at Olympia, where the black rams, the characteristic offerings to\nthe dead,(328) were sacrificed to the hero, and where the young men lashed\nthemselves till the blood dripped from their backs on the ground\u2014a sight\nwell-pleasing to the grim bloodthirsty ghost lurking unseen below.\nPerhaps, too, the theory may explain the high mound, at some distance from\nOlympia, which passed for the grave of the suitors of Hippodamia, to whose\nshades Pelops is said to have sacrificed as to heroes every year.(329) It\nis possible that the men buried in this great barrow were not, as\ntradition had it, the suitors who contended in the chariot-race for the\nhand of Hippodamia and being defeated were slain by her relentless father;\nthey may have been men who, like Pelops himself, had won the kingdom and a\nbride in the chariot-race, and, after enjoying the regal dignity and\nposing as incarnate deities for a term of years, had been finally defeated\nin the race and put to death.\n\n(M79) Whatever may be thought of these speculations, the great Olympic\nfestival cannot have been, like our Lammas, a harvest festival: the\nquadrennial period of the celebration and the season of the year at which\nit fell, about halfway between the corn-reaping of early summer and the\nvintage of mid-autumn, alike exclude the supposition and alike point to an\nastronomical, not an agricultural, basis of the solemnity. Accordingly we\nseem driven to conclude that if the winners, male and female, in the\nOlympic games indeed represented divinities, these divinities must have\nbeen personifications of astronomical, not agricultural, powers; in short\nthat the victors posed as embodiments of the Sun and Moon, then at the\nprime of their radiant power and glory, whose meeting in the heavenly\nbridechamber of the sky after years of separation was mimicked and\nmagically promoted by the nuptials of their human representatives on\nearth.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 6. The Slaughter of the Dragon.\n\n\n(M80) In the foregoing discussion it has been suggested that Delphi,\nThebes, Salamis, and Athens were once ruled by kings who had, in modern\nlanguage, a serpent or dragon for their crest, and were believed to\nmigrate at death into the bodies of the beasts. But these legends of the\ndragon admit of another and, at first sight at least, discrepant\nexplanation. It is difficult to separate them from those similar tales of\nthe slaughter of a great dragon which are current in many lands, and have\ncommonly been interpreted as nature-myths, in other words, as\npersonifications of physical phenomena. Of such tales the oldest known\nversions are the ancient Babylonian and the ancient Indian. The Babylonian\nmyth relates how in the beginning the mighty god Marduk fought and killed\nthe great dragon Tiamat, an embodiment of the primaeval watery chaos, and\nhow after his victory he created the present heaven and earth by splitting\nthe huge carcase of the monster into halves and setting one of them up to\nform the sky, while the other half apparently he used to fashion the\nearth. Thus the story is a myth of creation. In language which its authors\ndoubtless understood literally, but which more advanced thinkers\nafterwards interpreted figuratively, it describes how confusion was\nreduced to order, how a cosmos emerged from chaos.(330) The account of\ncreation given in the first chapter of Genesis, which has been so much\npraised for its simple grandeur and sublimity, is merely a rationalised\nversion of the old myth of the fight with the dragon,(331) a myth which\nfor crudity of thought deserves to rank with the quaint fancies of the\nlowest savages.\n\n(M81) Again, the Indian myth embodied in the hymns of the Rigveda tells\nhow the strong and valiant god Indra conquered a great dragon or serpent\nnamed V\u1e5btra, which had obstructed the waters so that they could not flow.\nHe slew the monster with his bolt, and then the pent-up springs gushed in\nrivers to the sea. And what he did once, he continues to do. Again and\nagain he renews the conflict; again and again he slays the dragon and\nreleases the imprisoned waters. Prayers are addressed to him that he would\nbe pleased to do so in the future. Even priests on earth sometimes\nassociate themselves with Indra in his battles with the dragon. The\nworshipper is said to have placed the bolt in the god\u2019s hands, and the\nsacrifice is spoken of as having helped the weapon to slay the\nmonster.(332) Thus the feat attributed to Indra would seem to be a\nmythical account not so much of creation as of some regularly recurring\nphenomenon. It has been plausibly interpreted as a description of the\nbursting of the first storms of rain and thunder after the torrid heat of\nan Indian summer.(333) At such times all nature, exhausted by the drought,\nlongs for coolness and moisture. Day after day men and cattle may be\ntormented by the sight of clouds that gather and then pass away without\ndisburdening themselves of their contents. At last the long-drawn struggle\nbetween the rival forces comes to a crisis. The sky darkens, thunder\npeals, lightning flashes, and the welcome rain descends in sheets,\ndrenching the parched earth and flooding the rivers. Such a battle of the\nelements might well present itself to the primitive mind in the guise of a\nconflict between a maleficent dragon of drought and a beneficent god of\nthunder and rain. The cloud-dragon has swallowed the waters and keeps them\nshut up in the black coils of his sinuous body; the god cleaves the\nmonster\u2019s belly with his thunder-bolt, and the imprisoned waters escape,\nin the form of dripping rain and rushing stream.\n\n(M82) In other countries a similar myth might, with appropriate variations\nof detail, express in like manner the passage of one season into another.\nFor example, in more rigorous climates the dragon might stand for the\ndreary winter and the dragon-slayer for the genial summer. The myths of\nApollo and the Python, of St. George and the Dragon have thus been\ninterpreted as symbolising the victory of summer over winter.(334)\nSimilarly it has been held with much probability that the Babylonian\nlegend of Marduk and Tiamat reflects the annual change which transforms\nthe valley of the Euphrates in spring. During the winter the wide\nBabylonian plain, flooded by the heavy rains, looks like a sea, for which\nthe Babylonian word is _tiamtu_, _tiamat_. Then comes the spring, when\nwith the growing power of the sun the clouds vanish, the waters subside,\nand dry land and vegetation appear once more. On this hypothesis the\ndragon Tiamat represents the clouds, the rain, the floods of winter, while\nMarduk stands for the vernal or summer sun which dispels the powers of\ndarkness and moisture.(335)\n\n(M83) But if the combat of Marduk and Tiamat was primarily a mythical\ndescription of the Babylonian spring, it would seem that its cosmogonical\nsignificance as an account of creation must have been an after-thought.\nThe early philosophers who meditated on the origin of things may have\npictured to themselves the creation or evolution of the world on the\nanalogy of the great changes which outside the tropics pass over the face\nof nature every year. In these changes it is not hard to discern or to\nimagine a conflict between two hostile forces or principles, the principle\nof construction or of life and the principle of destruction or of death,\nvictory inclining now to the one and now to the other, according as winter\nyields to spring or summer fades into autumn. It would be natural enough\nto suppose that the same mighty rivals which still wage war on each other\nhad done so from the beginning, and that the formation of the universe as\nit now exists had resulted from the shock of their battle. On this theory\nthe creation of the world is repeated every spring, and its dissolution is\nthreatened every autumn: the one is proclaimed by summer\u2019s gay heralds,\nthe opening flowers; the other is whispered by winter\u2019s sad harbingers,\nthe yellow leaves. Here as elsewhere the old creed is echoed by the poet\u2019s\nfancy:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Non alios prima crescentis origine mundi_\n    _Inluxisse dies aliumve habuisse tenorem_\n    _Crediderim: ver illud erat, ver magnus agebat_\n    _Orbis, et hibernis parcebant flatibus Euri:_\n    _Cum primae lucem pecudes hausere, virumque_\n    _Ferrea progenies duris caput extulit arvis,_\n    _Inmissaeque ferae silvis et sidera caelo._\u201d(336)\n\n\n(M84) Thus the ceremonies which in many lands have been performed to\nhasten the departure of winter or stay the flight of summer are in a sense\nattempts to create the world afresh, to \u201cre-mould it nearer to the Heart\u2019s\ndesire.\u201d But if we would set ourselves at the point of view of the old\nsages who devised means so feeble to accomplish a purpose so immeasurably\nvast, we must divest ourselves of our modern conceptions of the immensity\nof the universe and of the pettiness and insignificance of man\u2019s place in\nit. We must imagine the infinitude of space shrunk to a few miles, the\ninfinitude of time contracted to a few generations. To the savage the\nmountains that bound the visible horizon, or the sea that stretches away\nto meet it, is the world\u2019s end. Beyond these narrow limits his feet have\nnever strayed, and even his imagination fails to conceive what lies across\nthe waste of waters or the far blue hills. Of the future he hardly thinks,\nand of the past he knows only what has been handed down to him by word of\nmouth from his savage forefathers. To suppose that a world thus\ncircumscribed in space and time was created by the efforts or the fiat of\na being like himself imposes no great strain on his credulity; and he may\nwithout much difficulty imagine that he himself can annually repeat the\nwork of creation by his charms and incantations. And once a horde of\nsavages had instituted magical ceremonies for the renewal or preservation\nof all things, the force of custom and tradition would tend to maintain\nthem in practice long after the old narrow ideas of the universe had been\nsuperseded by more adequate conceptions, and the tribe had expanded into a\nnation.\n\n(M85) Neither in Babylonia nor in India, indeed, so far as I am aware, is\nthere any direct evidence that the story of the Slaughter of the Dragon\nwas ever acted as a miracle-play or magical rite for the sake of bringing\nabout those natural events which it describes in figurative language. But\nanalogy leads us to conjecture that in both countries the myth may have\nbeen recited, if not acted, as an incantation, for the purpose I have\nindicated. At Babylon the recitation may have formed part of the great New\nYear festival of Marduk, which under the name of Zagmuk was celebrated\nwith great pomp about the vernal equinox.(337) In this connexion it may\nnot be without significance that one version of the Babylonian legend of\ncreation has been found inscribed on a tablet, of which the reverse\nexhibits an incantation intended to be recited for the purification of the\ntemple of E-zida in Borsippa.(338) Now E-zida was the temple of Nabu or\nNebo, a god closely associated, if not originally identical, with Marduk;\nindeed Hammurabi, the great king of Babylon, dedicated the temple in\nquestion to Marduk and not to Nabu.(339) It seems not improbable,\ntherefore, that the creation legend, in which Marduk played so important a\npart, was recited as an incantation at the purification of the temple\nE-zida. The ceremony perhaps took place at the Zagmuk festival, when the\nimage of Nabu was solemnly brought in procession from his temple in\nBorsippa to the great temple of Marduk in Babylon.(340) Moreover, it was\nbelieved that at this great festival the fates were determined by Marduk\nor Nabu for the ensuing year.(341) Now, the creation myth relates how,\nafter he had slain the dragon, Marduk wrested the tablets of destiny from\nNingu, the paramour of Tiamat, sealed them with a seal, and laid them on\nhis breast.(342) We may conjecture that the dramatic representation of\nthis incident formed part of the annual determination of the fates at\nZagmuk. In short, it seems probable that the whole myth of creation was\nannually recited and acted at this great spring festival as a charm to\ndispel the storms and floods of winter, and to hasten the coming of\nsummer.(343)\n\n(M86) Wherever sacred dramas of this sort were acted as magical rites for\nthe regulation of the seasons, it would be natural that the chief part\nshould be played by the king, at first in his character of head magician,\nand afterwards as representative and embodiment of the beneficent god who\nvanquishes the powers of evil. If, therefore, the myth of the Slaughter of\nthe Dragon was ever acted with this intention, the king would\nappropriately figure in the play as the victorious champion, while the\ndefeated monster would be represented by an actor of inferior rank. But it\nis possible that under certain circumstances the distribution of parts in\nthe drama might be somewhat different. Where the tenure of the regal\noffice was limited to a fixed time, at the end of which the king was\ninexorably put to death, the fatal part of the dragon might be assigned to\nthe monarch as the representative of the old order, the old year, or the\nold cycle which was passing away, while the part of the victorious god or\nhero might be supported by his successor and executioner.\n\n(M87) An hypothesis of this latter sort would to a certain extent\nreconcile the two apparently discrepant interpretations of the myth which\nhave been discussed in the preceding pages, and which for the sake of\ndistinction may be called the totemic and the cosmological interpretations\nrespectively. The serpent or dragon might be the sacred animal or totem of\nthe royal house at the same time that it stood mythically for certain\ncosmological phenomena, whether moisture or drought, cold or heat, winter\nor summer. In like manner any other species of animal which served as the\ntotem of the royal family might simultaneously possess a cosmological\nsignificance as the symbol of an elemental power. Thus at Cnossus, as we\nhave seen reason to think, the bull was at once the king\u2019s crest and an\nemblem of the sun. Similarly in Egypt the hawk was the symbol both of the\nsun and of the king. The oldest royal capital known to us was\nHieraconpolis or Hawk-town, and the first Egyptian king of whom we hear\nhad for his only royal title the name of hawk.(344) At the same time the\nhawk was with the Egyptians an emblem of the sun.(345) Hawks were kept in\nthe sun-god\u2019s temple, and the deity himself was commonly represented in\nart as a man with a hawk\u2019s head and the disc of the sun above it.(346)\nHowever, I am fully sensible of the slipperiness and uncertainty of the\nground I am treading, and it is with great diffidence that I submit these\nspeculations to the judgment of my readers. The subject of ancient\nmythology is involved in dense mists which it is not always possible to\npenetrate and illumine even with the lamp of the Comparative Method.\nDemonstration in such matters is rarely, if ever, attainable; the utmost\nthat a candid enquirer can claim for his conclusions is a reasonable\ndegree of probability. Future researches may clear up the obscurity which\nstill rests on the myth of the Slaughter of the Dragon, and may thereby\nascertain what measure of truth, if any, there is in the suggested\ninterpretations.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 7. Triennial Tenure of the Kingship.\n\n\nIn the province of Lagos, which forms part of Southern Nigeria, the Ijebu\ntribe of the Yoruba race is divided into two branches, which are known\nrespectively as the Ijebu Ode and the Ijebu Remon. The Ode branch of the\ntribe is ruled by a chief who bears the title of Awujale and is surrounded\nby a great deal of mystery. Down to recent times his face might not be\nseen even by his own subjects, and if circumstances obliged him to\ncommunicate with them he did so through a screen which hid him from view.\nThe other or Remon branch of the Ijebu tribe is governed by a chief, who\nranks below the Awujale. Mr. John Parkinson was informed that in former\ntimes this subordinate chief used to be killed with ceremony after a rule\nof three years. As the country is now under British protection the custom\nof putting the chief to death at the end of a three years\u2019 reign has long\nbeen abolished, and Mr. Parkinson was unable to ascertain any particulars\non the subject.(347)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 8. Annual Tenure of the Kingship.\n\n\n(M88) At Babylon, within historical times, the tenure of the kingly office\nwas in practice lifelong, yet in theory it would seem to have been merely\nannual. For every year at the festival of Zagmuk the king had to renew his\npower by seizing the hands of the image of Marduk in his great temple of\nEsagil at Babylon. Even when Babylon passed under the power of Assyria,\nthe monarchs of that country were expected to legalise their claim to the\nthrone every year by coming to Babylon and performing the ancient ceremony\nat the New-year festival, and some of them found the obligation so\nburdensome that rather than discharge it they renounced the title of king\naltogether and contented themselves with the humbler one of Governor.(348)\nFurther, it would appear that in remote times, though not within the\nhistorical period, the kings of Babylon or their barbarous predecessors\nforfeited not merely their crown but their life at the end of a year\u2019s\ntenure of office. At least this is the conclusion to which the following\nevidence seems to point. According to the historian Berosus, who as a\nBabylonian priest spoke with ample knowledge, there was annually\ncelebrated in Babylon a festival called the Sacaea. It began on the\nsixteenth day of the month Lous, and lasted for five days. During these\nfive days masters and servants changed places, the servants giving orders\nand the masters obeying them. A prisoner condemned to death was dressed in\nthe king\u2019s robes, seated on the king\u2019s throne, allowed to issue whatever\ncommands he pleased, to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, and to lie with the\nking\u2019s concubines. But at the end of the five days he was stripped of his\nroyal robes, scourged, and hanged or impaled. During his brief term of\noffice he bore the title of Zoganes.(349) This custom might perhaps have\nbeen explained as merely a grim jest perpetrated in a season of jollity at\nthe expense of an unhappy criminal. But one circumstance\u2014the leave given\nto the mock king to enjoy the king\u2019s concubines\u2014is decisive against this\ninterpretation. Considering the jealous seclusion of an oriental despot\u2019s\nharem we may be quite certain that permission to invade it would never\nhave been granted by the despot, least of all to a condemned criminal,\nexcept for the very gravest cause. This cause could hardly be other than\nthat the condemned man was about to die in the king\u2019s stead, and that to\nmake the substitution perfect it was necessary he should enjoy the full\nrights of royalty during his brief reign. There is nothing surprising in\nthis substitution. The rule that the king must be put to death either on\nthe appearance of any symptom of bodily decay or at the end of a fixed\nperiod is certainly one which, sooner or later, the kings would seek to\nabolish or modify. We have seen that in Ethiopia, Sofala, and Eyeo the\nrule was boldly set aside by enlightened monarchs; and that in Calicut the\nold custom of killing the king at the end of twelve years was changed into\na permission granted to any one at the end of the twelve years\u2019 period to\nattack the king, and, in the event of killing him, to reign in his stead;\nthough, as the king took care at these times to be surrounded by his\nguards, the permission was little more than a form. Another way of\nmodifying the stern old rule is seen in the Babylonian custom just\ndescribed. When the time drew near for the king to be put to death (in\nBabylon this appears to have been at the end of a single year\u2019s reign) he\nabdicated for a few days, during which a temporary king reigned and\nsuffered in his stead. At first the temporary king may have been an\ninnocent person, possibly a member of the king\u2019s own family; but with the\ngrowth of civilisation the sacrifice of an innocent person would be\nrevolting to the public sentiment, and accordingly a condemned criminal\nwould be invested with the brief and fatal sovereignty. In the sequel we\nshall find other examples of a dying criminal representing a dying god.\nFor we must not forget that, as the case of the Shilluk kings clearly\nshews,(350) the king is slain in his character of a god or a demigod, his\ndeath and resurrection, as the only means of perpetuating the divine life\nunimpaired, being deemed necessary for the salvation of his people and the\nworld.\n\n(M89) If at Babylon before the dawn of history the king himself used to be\nslain at the festival of the Sacaea, it is natural to suppose that the\nSacaea was no other than Zagmuk or Zakmuk, the great New-year festival at\nwhich down to historical times the king\u2019s power had to be formally renewed\nby a religious ceremony in the temple of Marduk. The theory of the\nidentity of the festivals is indeed strongly supported by many\nconsiderations and has been accepted by some eminent scholars,(351) but it\nhas to encounter a serious chronological difficulty, since Zagmuk fell\nabout the equinox in spring, whereas the Sacaea according to Berosus was\nheld on the sixteenth of the month Lous, which was the tenth month of the\nSyro-Macedonian calendar and appears to have nearly coincided with July.\nThe question of the sameness or difference of these festivals will be\ndiscussed later on.(352) Here it is to be observed that Zagmuk was\napparently celebrated in Assyria as well as in Babylonia. For at the end\nof his great inscription Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, expresses a wish\nthat it may be granted to him to muster all his riding-horses and so forth\nevery year at Zagmuk in his palace.(353) But whether the power of the\nAssyrian kings had, like that of the Babylonian monarchs, to be annually\nrenewed at this festival, we do not know. However, a trace of an annual\ntenure of the kingly office in Assyria may perhaps, as Dr. C. Brockelmann\nthinks,(354) be detected in the rule that an Assyrian king regularly gave\nhis name only to a single year of his reign, while all the other years\nwere named after certain officers and provincial governors, about thirty\nin number, who were appointed for this purpose and succeeded each other\naccording to a fixed rotation.(355) But we know too little about the\ninstitution of the _limu_ or eponymate to allow us to press this argument\nfor an annual tenure of the kingship in Assyria.(356) A reminiscence of\nZagmuk seems to linger in the belief of the Yezidis that on New-year\u2019s day\nGod sits on his throne arranging the decrees for the coming year,\nassigning to dignitaries their various offices, and delivering to them\ntheir credentials under his signature and seal.(357)\n\n(M90) The view that at Babylon the condemned prisoner who wore the royal\nrobes was slain as a substitute for the king may be supported by the\npractice of West Africa, where at the funeral of a king slaves used\nsometimes to be dressed up as ministers of state and then sacrificed in\nthat character instead of the real ministers, their masters, who purchased\nfor a sum of money the privilege of thus dying by proxy. Such vicarious\nsacrifices were witnessed by Catholic missionaries at Porto Novo on the\nSlave Coast.(358)\n\n(M91) A vestige of a practice of putting the king to death at the end of a\nyear\u2019s reign appears to have survived in the festival called Macahity,\nwhich used to be celebrated in Hawaii during the last month of the year.\nAbout a hundred years ago a Russian voyager described the custom as\nfollows: \u201cThe taboo Macahity is not unlike to our festival of Christmas.\nIt continues a whole month, during which the people amuse themselves with\ndances, plays, and sham-fights of every kind. The king must open this\nfestival wherever he is. On this occasion his majesty dresses himself in\nhis richest cloak and helmet, and is paddled in a canoe along the shore,\nfollowed sometimes by many of his subjects. He embarks early, and must\nfinish his excursion at sun-rise. The strongest and most expert of the\nwarriors is chosen to receive him on his landing. This warrior watches the\ncanoe along the beach; and as soon as the king lands, and has thrown off\nhis cloak, he darts his spear at him, from a distance of about thirty\npaces, and the king must either catch the spear in his hand, or suffer\nfrom it: there is no jesting in the business. Having caught it, he carries\nit under his arm, with the sharp end downwards, into the temple or heavoo.\nOn his entrance, the assembled multitude begin their sham-fights, and\nimmediately the air is obscured by clouds of spears, made for the occasion\nwith blunted ends. Hamamea [the king] has been frequently advised to\nabolish this ridiculous ceremony, in which he risks his life every year;\nbut to no effect. His answer always is, that he is as able to catch a\nspear as any one on the island is to throw it at him. During the Macahity,\nall punishments are remitted throughout the country; and no person can\nleave the place in which he commences these holidays, let the affair be\never so important.\u201d(359)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 9. Diurnal Tenure of the Kingship.\n\n\n(M92) That a king should regularly have been put to death at the close of\na year\u2019s reign will hardly appear improbable when we learn that to this\nday there is still a kingdom in which the reign and the life of the\nsovereign are limited to a single day. In Ngoio, a province of the ancient\nkingdom of Congo in West Africa, the rule obtains that the chief who\nassumes the cap of sovereignty is always killed on the night after his\ncoronation. The right of succession lies with the chief of the Musurongo;\nbut we need not wonder that he does not exercise it, and that the throne\nstands vacant. \u201cNo one likes to lose his life for a few hours\u2019 glory on\nthe Ngoio throne.\u201d(360)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III. THE SLAYING OF THE KING IN LEGEND.\n\n\n(M93) If a custom of putting kings to death at the end of a set term has\nprevailed in many lands, it is natural enough that reminiscences of it\nshould survive in tradition long after the custom itself has been\nabolished. In the _High History of the Holy Graal_ we read how Lancelot\nroamed through strange lands and forests seeking adventures till he came\nto a fair and wide plain lying without a city that seemed of right great\nlordship. As he rode across the plain the people came forth from the city\nto welcome him with the sound of flutes and viols and many instruments of\nmusic. When he asked them what meant all this joy, \u201c \u2018Sir,\u2019 said they,\n\u2018all this joy is made along of you, and all these instruments of music are\nmoved to joy and sound of gladness for your coming.\u2019 \u2018But wherefore for\nme?\u2019 saith Lancelot. \u2018That shall you know well betimes,\u2019 say they. \u2018This\ncity began to burn and to melt in one of the houses from the very same\nhour that our king was dead, nor might the fire be quenched, nor ever will\nbe quenched until such time as we have a king that shall be lord of the\ncity and of the honour thereunto belonging, and on New Year\u2019s Day behoveth\nhim to be crowned in the midst of the fire, and then shall the fire be\nquenched, for otherwise may it never be put out nor extinguished.\nWherefore have we come to meet you to give you the royalty, for we have\nbeen told that you are a good knight.\u2019 \u2018Lords,\u2019 saith Lancelot, \u2018of such a\nkingdom have I no need, and God defend me from it.\u2019 \u2018Sir,\u2019 say they, \u2018you\nmay not be defended thereof, for you come into this land at hazard, and\ngreat grief would it be that so good a land as you see this is were burnt\nand melted away by the default of one single man, and the lordship is\nright great, and this will be right great worship to yourself, that on New\nYear\u2019s Day you should be crowned in the fire and thus save this city and\nthis great people, and thereof shall you have great praise.\u2019 Much\nmarvelleth Lancelot of this that they say. They come round about him on\nall sides and lead him into the city. The ladies and damsels are mounted\nto the windows of the great houses and make great joy, and say the one to\nanother, \u2018Look at the new king here that they are leading in. Now will he\nquench the fire on New Year\u2019s Day.\u2019 \u2018Lord!\u2019 say the most part, \u2018what great\npity is it of so comely a knight that he shall end on such-wise!\u2019 \u2018Be\nstill!\u2019 say the others. \u2018Rather should there be great joy that so fair\ncity as is this should be saved by his death, for prayer will be made\nthroughout all the kingdom for his soul for ever!\u2019 Therewith they lead him\nto the palace with right great joy and say that they will crown him.\nLancelot found the palace all strown with rushes and hung about with\ncurtains of rich cloths of silk, and the lords of the city all apparelled\nto do him homage. But he refuseth right stoutly, and saith that their king\nnor their lord will he never be in no such sort. Thereupon behold you a\ndwarf that entereth into the city, leading one of the fairest dames that\nbe in any kingdom, and asketh whereof this joy and this murmuring may be.\nThey tell him they are fain to make the knight king, but that he is not\nminded to allow them, and they tell him the whole manner of the fire. The\ndwarf and the damsel are alighted, then they mount up to the palace. The\ndwarf calleth the provosts of the city and the greater lords. \u2018Lords,\u2019\nsaith he, \u2018sith that this knight is not willing to be king, I will be so\nwillingly, and I will govern the city at your pleasure and do whatsoever\nyou have devised to do.\u2019 \u2018In faith, sith that the knight refuseth this\nhonour and you desire to have it, willingly will we grant it you, and he\nmay go his way and his road, for herein do we declare him wholly quit.\u2019\nTherewithal they set the crown on the dwarf\u2019s head, and Lancelot maketh\ngreat joy thereof. He taketh his leave, and they commend him to God, and\nso remounteth he on his horse and goeth his way through the midst of the\ncity all armed. The dames and damsels say that he would not be king for\nthat he had no mind to die so soon.\u201d(361)\n\n(M94) A story of the same sort is told of Ujjain, the ancient capital of\nMalwa in western India, where the renowned King Vikramaditya is said to\nhave held his court, gathering about him a circle of poets and\nscholars.(362) Tradition has it that once on a time an arch-fiend, with a\nlegion of devils at his command, took up his abode in Ujjain, the\ninhabitants of which he vexed and devoured. Many had fallen a prey to him,\nand others had abandoned the country to save their lives. The once\npopulous city was fast being converted into a desert. At last the\nprincipal citizens, meeting in council, besought the fiend to reduce his\nrations to one man a day, who would be duly delivered up to him in order\nthat the rest might enjoy a day\u2019s repose. The demon closed with the offer,\nbut required that the man whose turn it was to be sacrificed should mount\nthe throne and exercise the royal power for a single day, all the grandees\nof the kingdom submitting to his commands, and everybody yielding him the\nmost absolute obedience. Necessity obliged the citizens to accept these\nhard terms; their names were entered on a list; every day one of them in\nhis turn ruled from morning to night, and was then devoured by the demon.\n\n(M95) Now it happened by great good luck that a caravan of merchants from\nGujerat halted on the banks of a river not far from the city. They were\nattended by a servant who was no other than Vikramaditya. At nightfall the\njackals began to howl as usual, and one of them said in his own tongue,\n\u201cIn two hours a human corpse will shortly float down this river, with four\nrubies of great price at his belt, and a turquois ring on his finger. He\nwho will give me that corpse to devour will bear sway over the seven\nlands.\u201d Vikramaditya, knowing the language of birds and beasts, understood\nwhat the jackal said, gave the corpse to the beast to devour, and took\npossession of the ring and the rubies. Next day he entered the town, and,\ntraversing the streets, observed a troop of horse under arms, forming a\nroyal escort, at the door of a potter\u2019s house. The grandees of the city\nwere there, and with them was the garrison. They were in the act of\ninducing the son of the potter to mount an elephant and proceed in state\nto the palace. But strange to say, instead of being pleased at the honour\nconferred on their son, the potter and his wife stood on the threshold\nweeping and sobbing most bitterly. Learning how things stood, the\nchivalrous Vikramaditya was touched with pity, and offered to accept the\nfatal sovereignty instead of the potter\u2019s son, saying that he would either\ndeliver the people from the tyranny of the demon or perish in the attempt.\nAccordingly he donned the kingly robes, assumed all the badges of\nsovereignty, and, mounting the elephant, rode in great pomp to the palace,\nwhere he seated himself on the throne, while the dignitaries of the\nkingdom discharged their duties in his presence. At night the fiend\narrived as usual to eat him up. But Vikramaditya was more than a match for\nhim, and after a terrific combat the fiend capitulated and agreed to quit\nthe city. Next morning the people on coming to the palace were astonished\nto find Vikramaditya still alive. They thought he must be no common\nmortal, but some superhuman being, or the descendant of a great king.\nGrateful to him for their deliverance they bestowed the kingdom on him,\nand he reigned happily over them.(363)\n\n(M96) According to one account, the dreadful being who ravaged Ujjain and\ndevoured a king every day was the bloodthirsty goddess Kali. When she\nquitted the city she left behind her two sisters, whose quaint images\nstill frown on the spectator from the pillared portal known as\nVikramaditya\u2019s Gate at Ujjain. To these her sisters she granted the\nprivilege of devouring as many human beings as they pleased once every\ntwelve years. That tribute they still exact, though the European in his\nblindness attributes the deaths to cholera. But in addition seven girls\nand five buffaloes were to be sacrificed to them every year, and these\nsacrifices used to be offered regularly until the practice was put down by\nthe English Government. It is said that the men who gave their\nfive-year-old daughters to be slain received grants of land as a reward of\ntheir piety. Nowadays only buffaloes are killed at the Da\u00e7aratha festival,\nwhich is held in October on the ninth day of the month A\u00e7vina. The heads\nof the animals are buried at Vikramaditya\u2019s gateway, and those of the last\nyear\u2019s victims are taken up. The girls who would formerly have been\nsacrificed are now released, but they are not allowed to marry, and their\nfathers still receive grants of lands just as if the cruel sacrifice had\nbeen consummated.(364) The persistence of these bloody rites at Ujjain\ndown to recent times raises a presumption that the tradition of the daily\nsacrifice of a king in the same city was not purely mythical.\n\n(M97) It is worth while to consider another of the stories which are told\nof King Vikramaditya. His birth is said to have been miraculous, for his\nfather was Gandharva-Sena, who was the son of the great god Indra. One day\nGandharva-Sena had the misfortune to offend his divine father, who was so\nangry that he cursed his son and banished him from heaven to earth, there\nto remain under the form of an ass by day and of a man by night until a\npowerful king should burn his ass\u2019s body, after which Gandharva-Sena would\nregain his proper shape and return to the upper world. All this happened\naccording to the divine word. In the shape of an ass the son of the god\nrendered an important service to the King of Dhara, and received the hand\nof the king\u2019s daughter as his reward. By day he was an ass and ate hay in\nthe stables; by night he was a man and enjoyed the company of the princess\nhis wife. But the king grew tired of the taunts of his enemies, as well as\nof the gibes which were levelled by unfeeling wits at his asinine\nson-in-law. So one night, while Gandharva-Sena in human shape was with his\nwife, the king got hold of the ass\u2019s body which his son-in-law had\ntemporarily quitted, and throwing it on a fire burned it to ashes. On the\ninstant Gandharva-Sena appeared to him, and thanking him for undoing the\nspell announced that he was about to return to heaven, but that his wife\nwas with child by him, and that she would bring forth a son who would bear\nthe name of Vikramaditya and be endowed with the strength of a thousand\nelephants. The deserted wife was filled with sorrow at his departure, and\ndied in giving birth to Vikramaditya.(365)\n\n(M98) This story belongs to a widely diffused type of tale which in\nEngland is known by the name of Beauty and the Beast. It relates how a\nbeast, doffing its animal shape, lives as a human husband or wife with a\nhuman spouse. Often, though not always, their marriage has a tragic\nending. The couple live lovingly together for years and children are born\nto them. But it is a condition of their union that the transformed husband\nor wife should never be reminded of his or her old life in furry,\nfeathered, or finny form. At last one unhappy day the fairy spouse finds\nhis or her beast skin, which had been carefully hidden away by her or his\nloving partner; or husband and wife quarrel and the real man or woman\ntaunts the other with her or his kinship with the beasts. The sight of the\nonce familiar skin awakens old memories and stirs yearnings that had been\nlong suppressed: the cruel words undo the kindness of years. The sometime\nanimal resumes its native shape and disappears, and the human husband or\nwife is left lamenting. Sometimes, as in the story of Gandharva-Sena, the\ndestruction of the beast\u2019s skin causes the fairy mate to vanish for ever;\nsometimes it enables him or her to remain thenceforth in human form with\nthe human wife or husband. Tales of this sort are told by savages in many\nparts of the world, and many of them have survived in the folk-lore of\ncivilised peoples. With their implied belief that beasts can turn into men\nor men into beasts, they must clearly have originated among savages who\nsee nothing incredible in such transformations.\n\n(M99) Now it is to be observed that stories of this sort are told by\nsavage tribes to explain why they abstain from eating certain creatures.\nThe reason they assign for the abstinence is that they themselves are\ndescended from a creature of that sort, who was changed for a time into\nhuman shape and married a human husband or wife. Thus in the rivers of\nSarawak there is a certain fish called a _puttin_, which some of the Dyaks\nwill on no account eat, saying that if they did so they would be eating\ntheir relations. Tradition runs that a solitary old man went out fishing\nand caught a _puttin_, which he dragged out of the water and laid down in\nhis boat. On turning round he perceived that it had changed into a very\npretty girl. He thought she would make a charming wife for his son, so he\ntook her home and brought her up till she was of an age to marry. She\nconsented to be his son\u2019s wife, but cautioned her husband to use her well.\nSome time after marriage, however, he was angry and struck her. She\nscreamed and rushed away into the water, leaving behind her a beautiful\ndaughter who became the mother of the race. Other Dyak tribes tell similar\nstories of their ancestors.(366) Thus the Sea Dyaks relate how the\nwhite-headed hawk married a Sea Dyak woman, and how he gave all his\ndaughters in marriage to the various omen-birds. Hence if a Sea Dyak kills\nan omen-bird by mistake, he wraps it in a cloth and buries it carefully in\nthe earth along with rice, flesh, and money, entreating the bird not to be\nvexed, and to forgive him, because it was all an accident.(367) Again, a\nKalamantan chief and all his people refrain from killing and eating deer\nof a certain species (_cervulus muntjac_), because one of their ancestors\nbecame a deer of that kind, and as they cannot distinguish his incarnation\nfrom common deer they spare them all.(368) In these latter cases the\nlegends explaining the kinship of the men with the animals are not given\nin full; we can only conjecture, therefore, that they conform to the type\nhere discussed.\n\n(M100) The Sea Dyaks also tell a story of the same sort to explain how\nthey first came to plant rice and to revere the omen-birds which play so\nimportant a part in Dyak life. Long, long ago, so runs the tale, when rice\nwas yet unknown, and the Dyaks lived on tapioca, yams, potatoes, and such\nfruits as they could procure, a handsome young chief named Siu went out\ninto the forest with his blow-pipe to shoot birds. He wandered without\nseeing a bird or meeting an animal till the sun was sinking in the west.\nThen he came to a wild fig-tree covered with ripe fruit, which a swarm of\nbirds of all kinds were busy pecking at. Never in his life had he seen so\nmany birds together! It seemed as if all the fowls of the forest were\ngathered in the boughs of that tree. He killed a great many with the\npoisoned darts of his blow-pipe, and putting them in his basket started\nfor home. But he lost his way in the wood, and the night had fallen before\nhe saw the lights and heard the usual sounds of a Dyak house. Hiding his\nblow-pipe and the dead birds in the jungle, he went up the ladder into the\nhouse, but what was his surprise to find it apparently deserted. There was\nno one in the long verandah, and of the people whose voices he had heard a\nminute before not one was to be seen. Only in one of the many rooms, dimly\nlighted, he found a beautiful girl, who prepared for him his evening meal.\nNow though Siu did not know it, the house was the house of the great\nSingalang Burong, the Ruler of the Spirit World. He could turn himself and\nhis followers into any shape. When they went forth against an enemy they\ntook the form of birds for the sake of speed, and flew over the tall\ntrees, the broad rivers, and even the sea. But in his own house and among\nhis own people Singalang Burong appeared as a man. He had eight daughters,\nand the girl who cooked Siu\u2019s food for him was the youngest. The reason\nwhy the house was so still and deserted was that the people were in\nmourning for some of their relatives who had just been killed, and the men\nhad gone out to take human heads in revenge. Siu stayed in the house for a\nweek, and then the girl, whose pet name was Bunsu Burong or \u201cthe youngest\nof the bird family,\u201d agreed to marry him; but she said he must promise\nnever to kill or hurt a bird or even to hold one in his hands; for if he\ndid, she would be his wife no more. Siu promised, and together they\nreturned to his people.\n\n(M101) There they lived happily, and in time Siu\u2019s wife bore him a son\nwhom they named Seragunting. One day when the boy had grown wonderfully\ntall and strong for his years and was playing with his fellows, a man\nbrought some birds which he had caught in a trap. Forgetting the promise\nhe had made to his wife, Siu asked the man to shew him the birds, and\ntaking one of them in his hand he stroked it. His wife saw it and was sad\nat heart. She took the pitchers and went as though she would fetch water\nfrom the well. But she never came back. Siu and his son sought her,\nsorrowing, for days. At last after many adventures they came to the house\nof the boy\u2019s grandfather, Singalang Burong, the Ruler of the Spirit World.\nThere they found the lost wife and mother, and there they stayed for a\ntime. But the heart of Siu yearned to his old home. He would fain have\npersuaded his wife to return with him, but she would not. So at last he\nand his son went back alone. But before he went he learned from his\nfather-in-law how to plant rice, and how to revere the sacred birds and to\ndraw omens from them. These birds were named after the sons-in-law of the\nRuler of the Spirit World and were the appointed means whereby he made\nknown his wishes to mankind. That is how the Sea Dyaks learned to plant\nrice and to honour the omen-birds.(369)\n\n(M102) Stories of the same kind meet us on the west coast of Africa. Thus\nthe Tshi-speaking negroes of the Gold Coast are divided into a number of\ngreat families or clans, mostly named after animals or plants, and the\nmembers of a clan refrain from eating animals of the species whose name\nthey bear. In short, the various animals or plants are the totems of their\nrespective clans. Now some of the more recent of these clans possess\ntraditions of their origin, and in such cases the founder of the family,\nfrom whom the name is derived, is always represented as having been a\nbeast, bird, or fish, which possessed the power of assuming human shape at\nwill. Thus, for instance, at the town of Chama there resides a family or\nclan who take their name from the _sarfu_ or horse-mackerel, which they\nmay not eat because they are descended from a horse-mackerel. One day, so\nruns the story, a native of Chama who had lost his wife was walking sadly\non the beach, when he met a beautiful young woman whom he persuaded to be\nhis wife. She consented, but told him that her home lay in the sea, that\nher people were fishes, and that she herself was a fish, and she made him\nswear that he would never allude to her old home and kinsfolk. All went\nwell for a time till her husband took a second wife, who quarrelled with\nthe first wife and taunted her with being a fish. That grieved her so that\nshe bade her husband good-bye and plunged into the sea with her youngest\nchild in her arms. But she left her two elder children behind, and from\nthem are descended the Horse-mackerel people of Chama. A similar story is\ntold of another family in the town of Appam. Their ancestor caught a fine\nfish of the sort called _appei_, which turned into a beautiful woman and\nbecame his wife. But she told him that in future neither they nor their\ndescendants might eat the _appei_ fish or else they would at once return\nto the sea. The family, duly observing the prohibition, increased and\nmultiplied till they occupied the whole country, which was named after\nthem Appeim or Appam.(370)\n\n(M103) We may surmise that stories of this sort, wherever found, had a\nsimilar origin; in other words, that they reflect and are intended to\nexplain a real belief in the kinship of certain families with certain\nspecies of animals. Hence if the name totemism may be used to include all\nsuch beliefs and the practices based on them, the origin of this type of\nstory may be said to be totemic.(371) Now, wherever the totemic clans have\nbecome exogamous, that is, wherever a man is always obliged to marry a\nwoman of a totem different from his own, it is obvious that husband and\nwife will always have to observe different totemic taboos, and that a want\nof respect shewn by one of them for the sacred animal or plant of the\nother would tend to domestic jars, which might often lead to the permanent\nseparation of the spouses, the offended wife or husband returning to her\nor his native clan of the fish-people, the bird-people, or what not. That,\nI take it, was the origin of the sad story of the man or woman happily\nmated with a transformed animal and then parted for ever. Such tales, if I\nam right, were not wholly fictitious. Totemism may have broken many loving\nhearts. But when that ancient system of society had fallen into disuse,\nand the ideas on which it was based had ceased to be understood, the\nquaint stories of mixed marriages to which it had given birth would not be\nat once forgotten. They would continue to be told, no longer indeed as\nmyths explanatory of custom, but merely as fairy tales for the amusement\nof the listeners. The barbarous features of the old legends, which now\nappeared too monstrously incredible even for story-tellers, would be\ngradually discarded and replaced by others which fitted in better with the\nchanged beliefs of the time. Thus in particular the animal husband or\nanimal wife of the story might drop the character of a beast to assume\nthat of a fairy. This is the stage of decay exhibited by the two most\nfamous tales of the class in question, the Greek fable of Cupid and Psyche\nand the Indian story of King Pururavas and the nymph Urvasi, though in the\nlatter we can still detect hints that the fairy wife was once a\nbird-woman.(372)\n\n(M104) It would, no doubt, be a mistake to suppose that totemism, or a\nsystem of taboos resembling it, must have existed wherever such stories\nare told; for it is certain that popular tales spread by diffusion from\ntribe to tribe and nation to nation, till they may be handed down by oral\ntradition among people who neither practise nor even understand the\ncustoms in which the stories originated. Yet the legend of the miraculous\nparentage of Vikramaditya may very well have been based on the existence\nat Ujjain of a line of rajahs who had the ass for their crest or\ntotem.(373) Such a custom is not without analogy in India. The crest of\nthe Maharajah of Nagpur is a cobra with a human face under its expanded\nhood, surrounded by all the insignia of royalty. Moreover, the Rajah and\nthe chief members of his family always wear turbans so arranged that they\nresemble a coiled serpent with its head projecting over the wearer\u2019s brow.\nTo explain this serpent badge a tale is told which conforms to the type of\nBeauty and the Beast. Once upon a time a Nag or serpent named Pundarika\ntook upon himself the likeness of a Brahman, and repaired in that guise to\nthe house of a real Brahman at Benares, in order to perfect himself in a\nknowledge of the sacred books. The teacher was so pleased with the\nprogress made by his pupil that he gave him his only child, the beautiful\nParvati, to wife. But the subtle serpent, though he could assume any form\nat pleasure, was unable to rid himself of his forked tongue and foul\nbreath. To conceal these personal blemishes from his wife he always slept\nwith his back to her. One night, however, she got round him and discovered\nhis unpleasant peculiarities. She questioned him sharply, and to divert\nher attention he proposed that they should make a pilgrimage to\nJuggernaut. The idea of visiting that fashionable watering-place so raised\nthe lady\u2019s spirits that she quite forgot to pursue the enquiry. However,\non their way home her curiosity revived, and she repeated her questions\nunder circumstances which rendered it impossible for the serpent, as a\ntender husband, to evade them, though well he knew that the disclosure he\nwas about to make would sever him, the immortal, at once and for ever from\nhis mortal wife. He related the wondrous tale, and, plunging into a pool,\ndisappeared from sight. His poor wife was inconsolable at his hurried\ndeparture, and in the midst of her grief and remorse her child was born.\nBut instead of rejoicing at the birth, she made for herself a funeral pyre\nand perished in the flames. At that moment a Brahman appeared on the\nscene, and perceived the forsaken babe lying sheltered and guarded by a\ngreat hooded snake. It was the serpent father protecting his child.\nAddressing the Brahman, he narrated his history, and foretold that the\nchild should be called Phani-Makuta Raya, that is, \u201cthe snake crowned,\u201d\nand that he should reign as rajah over the country to be called Nagpur.\nThat is why the rajahs of Nagpur have the serpent for their crest.(374)\nAgain, the rajahs of Manipur trace their descent from a divine snake. At\nhis installation a rajah of Manipur used to have to pass with great\nsolemnity between two massive dragons of stone which stood in front of the\ncoronation house. Somewhere inside the building was a mysterious chamber,\nand in the chamber was a pipe, which, according to the popular belief, led\ndown to the depths of a cavern where dwells the snake god, the ancestor of\nthe royal family. The length and prosperity of the rajah\u2019s reign were\nbelieved to depend on the length of time he could sit on the pipe enduring\nthe fiery breath of his serpentine forefather in the place below. Women\nare specially devoted to the worship of the ancestral snake, and great\nreverence is paid them in virtue of their sacred office.(375)\n\nThe parallelism between the legends of Nagpur and Ujjain may be allowed to\nstrengthen my conjecture that, if we have a race of royal serpents in the\none place, there may well have been a race of royal asses in the other;\nindeed such dynasties have perhaps not been so rare as might be supposed.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV. THE SUPPLY OF KINGS.\n\n\n(M105) Tales of the foregoing sort might be dismissed as fictions designed\nto amuse a leisure hour, were it not for their remarkable agreement with\nbeliefs and customs which, as we have seen, still exist, or are known to\nhave existed in former times. That agreement can hardly be accidental. We\nseem to be justified, therefore, in assuming that stories of the kind\nreally rest on a basis of facts, however much these facts may have been\ndistorted or magnified in passing through the mind of the story-teller,\nwho is naturally more concerned to amuse than instruct his hearers. Even\nthe legend of a line of kings of whom each reigned for a single day, and\nwas sacrificed at night for the good of the people, will hardly seem\nincredible when we remember that to this day a kingdom is held on a\nsimilar tenure in west Africa, though under modern conditions the throne\nstands vacant.(376) And while it would be vain to rely on such stories for\nexact historical details, yet they may help us in a general way to\nunderstand the practical working of an institution which to civilised men\nseems at first sight to belong to the cloudland of fancy rather than to\nthe sober reality of the workaday world. Remark, for example, how in these\nstories the supply of kings is maintained. In the Indian tradition all the\nmen of the city are put on a list, and each of them, when his turn comes,\nis forced to reign for a day and to die the death. It is not left to his\nchoice to decide whether he will accept the fatal sovereignty or not. In\nthe _High History of the Holy Grail_ the mode of filling the vacant throne\nis different. A stranger, not a citizen, is seized and compelled to accept\noffice. In the end, no doubt, the dwarf volunteers to be king, thus saving\nLancelot\u2019s life; but the narrative plainly implies that if a substitute\nhad not thus been found, Lancelot would have been obliged, whether he\nwould or not, to wear the crown and to perish in the fire.\n\n(M106) In thus representing the succession to a throne as compulsory, the\nstories may well preserve a reminiscence of a real custom. To us, indeed,\nwho draw our ideas of kingship from the hereditary and highly privileged\nmonarchies of civilised Europe, the notion of thrusting the crown upon\nreluctant strangers or common citizens of the lowest rank is apt to appear\nfantastic and absurd. But that is merely because we fail to realise how\nwidely the modern type of kingship has diverged from the ancient pattern.\nIn early times the duties of sovereignty are more conspicuous than its\nprivileges. At a certain stage of development the chief or king is rather\nthe minister or servant than the ruler of his people. The sacred functions\nwhich he is expected to discharge are deemed essential to the welfare, and\neven the existence, of the community, and at any cost some one must be\nfound to perform them. Yet the burdens and restrictions of all sorts\nincidental to the early kingship are such that not merely in popular\ntales, but in actual practice, compulsion has sometimes been found\nnecessary to fill vacancies, while elsewhere the lack of candidates has\ncaused the office to fall into abeyance, or even to be abolished\naltogether.(377) And where death stared the luckless monarch in the face\nat the end of a brief reign of a few months or days, we need not wonder\nthat gaols had to be swept and the dregs of society raked to find a king.\n\n(M107) Yet we should doubtless err if we supposed that under such hard\nconditions men could never be found ready and even eager to accept the\nsovereignty. A variety of causes has led the modern nations of western\nEurope to set on human life\u2014their own life and that of others\u2014a higher\nvalue than is put upon it by many other races. The result is a fear of\ndeath which is certainly not shared in the same degree of intensity by\nsome peoples whom we in our self-complacency are accustomed to regard as\nour inferiors. Among the causes which thus tend to make us cowards may be\nnumbered the spread of luxury and the doctrines of a gloomy theology,\nwhich by proclaiming the eternal damnation and excruciating torments of\nthe vast majority of mankind has added incalculably to the dread and\nhorror of death. The growth of humaner sentiments, which seldom fails to\neffect a corresponding amelioration in the character even of the gods, has\nindeed led many Protestant divines of late years to temper the rigour of\nthe divine justice with a large infusion of mercy by relegating the fires\nof hell to a decent obscurity or even extinguishing them altogether. But\nthese lurid flames appear to blaze as fiercely as ever in the more\nconservative theology of the Catholic Church.(378)\n\n(M108) It would be easy to accumulate evidence of the indifference or\napathy exhibited in presence of death by races whom we commonly brand as\nlower. A few examples must here suffice. Speaking of the natives of India\nan English writer observes: \u201cWe place the highest value on life, while\nthey, being blessed with a comfortable fatalism, which assumes that each\nman\u2019s destiny is written on his forehead in invisible characters, and\nbeing besides untroubled with any doubts or thoughts as to the nature of\ntheir reception in the next world, take matters of life and death a great\ndeal more unconcernedly, and, compared with our ideas, they may be said to\npresent an almost apathetic indifference on these subjects.\u201d(379) To the\nsame effect another English writer remarks that \u201cthe absence of that fear\nof death, which is so powerful in the hearts of civilised men, is the most\nremarkable trait in the Hindu character.\u201d(380) Among the natives of Annam,\naccording to a Catholic missionary, \u201cthe subject of death has nothing\nalarming for anybody. In presence of a sick man people will speak of his\napproaching end and of his funeral as readily as of anything else. Hence\nwe never need to take the least verbal precaution in warning the sick to\nprepare themselves to receive the last sacraments. Some time ago I was\nsummoned to a neophyte whose death, though certain, was still distant. On\nentering the house I found a woman seated at his bedside sewing the\nmourning dresses of the family. Moreover, the carpenter was fitting\ntogether the boards of the coffin quite close to the door of the house, so\nthat the dying man could observe the whole proceeding from his bed. The\nworthy man superintended personally all these details and gave directions\nfor each of the operations. He even had for his pillow part of the\nmourning costume which was already finished. I could tell you a host of\nanecdotes of the same sort.\u201d Among these people it is a mark of filial\npiety to present a father or mother with a coffin; the presentation is the\noccasion of a family festival to which all friends are invited. Pupils\ndisplay their respect for their masters in the same fashion. Bishop\nMasson, whose letter I have just quoted, was himself presented with a fine\ncoffin by some of his converts as a New Year gift and a token of their\nrespect and affection; they invited his attention particularly to the\nquality of the wood and the beauty of the workmanship.(381)\n\n(M109) With regard to the North American Indians a writer who knew them\nwell has said that among them \u201cthe idea of immortality is strongly dwelt\nupon. It is not spoken of as a supposition or a mere belief, not fixed. It\nis regarded as an actuality,\u2014as something known and approved by the\njudgment of the nation. During the whole period of my residence and\ntravels in the Indian country, I never knew and never heard of an Indian\nwho did not believe in it, and in the reappearance of the body in a future\nstate. However mistaken they are on the subject of accountabilities for\nacts done in the present life, no small part of their entire mythology,\nand the belief that sustains the man in his vicissitudes and wanderings\nhere, arises from the anticipation of ease and enjoyment in a future\ncondition, after the soul has left the body. The resignation, nay, the\nalacrity with which an Indian frequently lies down and surrenders life, is\nto be ascribed to this prevalent belief. He does not fear to go to a land\nwhich, all his life long, he has heard abounds in rewards without\npunishments.\u201d(382) Another traveller, who saw much of the South American\nIndians, asserts that they surpass the beasts in their insensibility to\nhardship and pain, never complaining in sickness nor even when they are\nbeing killed, and exhibiting in their last moments an apathetic\nindifference untroubled by any misgiving as to the future.(383)\n\n(M110) Wholesale butcheries of human beings were perpetrated till lately\nin the name of religion in the west African kingdom of Dahomey. As to the\nbehaviour of the victims we are told that \u201calmost invariably, those doomed\nto die exhibit the greatest coolness and unconcern. The natural dread of\ndeath which the instinct of self-preservation has implanted in every\nbreast, often leads persons who are liable to be seized for immolation to\nendeavour to escape; but once they are seized and bound, they resign\nthemselves to their fate with the greatest apathy. This is partly due to\nthe less delicate nervous system of the negro; but one reason, and that\nnot the least, is that they have nothing to fear. As has been said, they\nhave but to undergo a surgical operation and a change of place of\nresidence; there is no uncertain future to be faced, and, above all, there\nis an entire absence of that notion of a place of terrible punishment\nwhich makes so many Europeans cowards when face to face with death.\u201d(384)\nOne of the earliest European settlers on the coast of Brazil has remarked\non the indifference exhibited by the Indian prisoners who were about to be\nmassacred by their enemies. He conversed with the captives, men young,\nstrong, and handsome. To his question whether they did not fear the death\nthat was so near and so appalling, they replied with laughter and mockery.\nWhen he spoke of ransoming them from their foes, they jeered at the\ncowardice of Europeans.(385) The Khonds of India practised an extensive\nsystem of human sacrifice, of which we shall hear more in the sequel. The\nvictims, known as Meriahs, were kept for years to be sacrificed, and their\nmanner of death was peculiarly horrible, since they were hacked to pieces\nor slowly roasted alive. Yet when these destined victims were rescued by\nthe English officers who were engaged in putting down the custom, they\ngenerally availed themselves of any opportunity to escape from their\ndeliverers and returned to their fate.(386) In Uganda there were formerly\nmany sacrificial places where human victims used to be slaughtered or\nburned to death, sometimes in hundreds, from motives of superstition.\n\u201cThose who have taken part in these executions bear witness how seldom a\nvictim, whether man or woman, raised his voice to protest or appeal\nagainst the treatment meted out to him. The victims went to death (so they\nthought) to save their country and race from some calamity, and they laid\ndown their lives without a murmur or a struggle.\u201d(387)\n\n(M111) But it is not merely that men of other races and other religions\nsubmit to inevitable death with an equanimity which modern Europeans in\ngeneral cannot match; they often actually seek and find it for reasons\nwhich seem to us wholly inadequate. The motives which lead them to\nsacrifice their lives are very various. Among them religious fanaticism\nhas probably been one of the commonest, and in the preceding pages we have\nmet with many instances of voluntary deaths incurred under its powerful\nimpulse.(388) But more secular motives, such as loyalty, revenge, and an\nexcessive sensibility on the point of honour, have also driven multitudes\nto throw away their lives with a levity which may strike the average\nmodern Englishman as bordering on insanity. It may be well to illustrate\nthis comparative indifference to death by a few miscellaneous examples\ndrawn from different races. Thus, when the king of Benin died and was\nabout to be lowered into the earth, his favourites and servants used to\ncompete with each other for the privilege of being buried alive with his\nbody in order that they might attend and minister to him in the other\nworld. After the dispute was settled and the tomb had closed over the dead\nand the living, sentinels were set to watch it day and night. Next day the\nsepulchre would be opened and some one would call down to the entombed men\nto know what they were doing and whether any of them had gone to serve the\nking. The answer was commonly, \u201cNo, not yet.\u201d The third day the same\nquestion would be put, and a voice would reply that so-and-so had gone to\njoin his Majesty. The first to die was deemed the happiest. In four or\nfive days when no answer came up to the question, and all was silent in\nthe grave, the heir to the throne was informed, and he signalised his\naccession by kindling a fire on the tomb, roasting flesh at it, and\ndistributing the meat to the people.(389) The daughter of a Mbaya chief in\nSouth America, having been happily baptized at the very point of death,\nwas accorded Christian burial in the church by the Jesuit missionary who\nhad rescued her like a brand from the burning. But an old heathen woman of\nthe tribe took it sadly to heart that her chief\u2019s daughter should not be\nhonoured with the usual human sacrifices. So, drawing an Indian aside, she\nimplored him to be so kind as to knock her on the head, that she might go\nand serve her young mistress in the Land of Souls. The savage obligingly\ncomplied with her request, and the whole horde begged the missionary that\nher body might be buried with that of the chief\u2019s daughter. The Jesuit\nsternly refused. He informed them that the girl was now with the angels,\nand stood in need of no such attendant. As for the old woman, he observed\ngrimly that she had gone to a very different place and would move in a\nvery different circle of society.(390) When Otho committed suicide after\nthe battle of Bedriacum, some of his soldiers slew themselves at his pyre,\nand their example was afterwards followed by many of their comrades in the\narmies which had marched with Otho to meet Vitellius; their motive was not\nfear of the conqueror, but purely loyalty and devotion to their\nemperor.(391)\n\n(M112) In the East that indifference to human life which seems so strange\nto the Western mind often takes a peculiar form. A man will sometimes kill\nhimself merely in order to be revenged on his foe, believing that his\nghost will haunt and torment the survivor, or expecting that punishment of\nsome sort will overtake the wretch who drove him to this extreme\nstep.(392) Among some peoples etiquette requires that if a man commits\nsuicide for this purpose, his enemy should at once follow his example. To\ntake a single example. There is a caste of robbers in southern India among\nwhom \u201cthe law of retaliation prevails in all its rigour. If a quarrel\ntakes place, and somebody tears out his own eye or kills himself, his\nadversary must do the same either to himself or to one of his relations.\nThe women carry this barbarity still further. For a slight affront put on\nthem, a sharp word said to them, they will go and smash their head against\nthe door of her who offended them, and the latter is obliged immediately\nto do the same. If a woman poisons herself by drinking the juice of a\npoisonous herb, the other woman who drove her to this violent death must\npoison herself likewise; else her house will be burned, her cattle carried\noff, and injuries of all kinds done her until satisfaction is given. They\nextend this cruelty even to their own children. Not long ago, a few steps\nfrom the church in which I have the honour to write to you, two of these\nbarbarians having quarrelled, one of them ran to his house, took from it a\nchild of about four years, and crushed its head between two stones in the\npresence of his enemy. The latter, without exhibiting any emotion, took\nhis nine-years\u2019 old daughter, and, plunging a dagger into her breast,\nsaid, \u2018Your child was only four years old, mine was nine years old. Give\nme a victim to equal her.\u2019 \u2018Certainly,\u2019 replied the other, and seeing at\nhis side his eldest son, who was ready to be married, he stabbed him four\nor five times with his dagger; and, not content with shedding the blood of\nhis two sons, he killed his wife too, in order to oblige his enemy to\nmurder his wife in like manner. Lastly, a little girl and a baby at the\nbreast had also their throats cut, so that in a single day seven persons\nwere sacrificed to the vengeance of two bloodthirsty men, more cruel than\nthe most ferocious brutes. I have actually in my church a young man who\nsought refuge among us, wounded by a spear-thrust which his father\ninflicted on him in order to kill him and thus oblige his foe to slay his\nown son in like manner. The barbarian had already stabbed two of his\nchildren on other occasions for the same purpose. Such atrocious examples\nwill seem to you to partake more of fable than of truth; but believe me\nthat far from exaggerating, I could produce many others not less\ntragical.\u201d(393)\n\n(M113) The same contempt of death which many races have exhibited in\nmodern times was displayed in antiquity by the hardy natives of Europe\nbefore Christianity had painted the world beyond the grave in colours at\nwhich even their bold spirits quailed. Thus, for example, at their\nbanquets the rude Thracians used to suspend a halter over a movable stone\nand cast lots among themselves. The man on whom the lot fell mounted the\nstone with a scimitar in his hand and thrust his head into the noose. A\ncomrade then rolled the stone from under him, and while he did so the\nother attempted to sever the rope with his scimitar. If he succeeded he\ndropped to the ground and was saved; if he failed, he was hanged, and his\ndying struggles were greeted with peals of laughter by his fellows, who\nregarded the whole thing as a capital joke.(394) The Greek traveller\nPosidonius, who visited Gaul early in the first century before our era,\nrecords that among the Celts men were to be found who for a sum of money\nor a number of jars of wine, which they distributed among their kinsmen or\nfriends, would allow themselves to be publicly slaughtered in a theatre.\nThey lay down on their backs upon a shield and a man came and cut their\nthroats with a sword.(395)\n\n(M114) A Greek author, Euphorion of Chalcis, who lived in the age when the\neyes of all the world were turned on the great conflict between Rome and\nCarthage for the mastery of the Mediterranean, tells us that at Rome it\nwas customary to advertise for men who would consent to be beheaded with\nan axe in consideration of receiving a sum of five _minae_, or about\ntwenty pounds of our money, to be paid after their death to their heirs.\nApparently there was no lack of applicants for this hard-earned bounty;\nfor we are informed that several candidates would often compete for the\nprivilege, each of them arguing that he had the best right to be cudgelled\nto death.(396) Why were these men invited to be beheaded for twenty pounds\na piece? and why in response to the invitation did they gratuitously, as\nit would seem, express their readiness to suffer a much more painful death\nthan simple decapitation? The reasons are not stated by Euphorion in the\nbrief extract quoted from his work by Athenaeus, the Greek writer who has\nalso preserved for us the testimony of Posidonius to the Gallic\nrecklessness of life. But the connexion in which Athenaeus cites both\nthese passages suggests that the intention of the Roman as of the Gallic\npractice was merely to minister to the brutal pleasure of the spectators;\nfor he inserts his account of the customs in a dissertation on banquets,\nand he had just before described how hired ruffians fought and butchered\neach other at Roman dinner-parties for the amusement of the tipsy\nguests.(397) Or perhaps the men were wanted to be slaughtered at funerals,\nfor we know that at Rome a custom formerly prevailed of sacrificing human\nbeings at the tomb: the victims were commonly captives or slaves,(398) but\nthey may sometimes have been obtained by advertisement from among the\nclass of needy freemen. Such wretches in bidding against each other may\nhave pleaded as a reason for giving them the preference that they really\ndeserved for their crimes to die a slow and painful death under the cudgel\nof the executioner. This explanation of the custom, which I owe to my\nfriend Mr. W. Wyse, is perhaps the most probable. But it is also possible,\nthough the language of Euphorion does not lend itself so well to this\ninterpretation, that a cudgelling preceded decapitation as part of the\nbargain. If that was so, it would seem that the men were wanted to die as\nsubstitutes for condemned criminals; for in old Rome capital punishment\nwas regularly inflicted in this fashion, the malefactors being tied up to\na post and scourged with rods before they were beheaded with an axe.(399)\nThere is nothing improbable in the view that persons could be hired to\nsuffer the extreme penalty of the law instead of the real culprits. We\nshall see that a voluntary substitution of the same sort is reported on\napparently good authority to be still occasionally practised in China.\nHowever, it is immaterial to our purpose whether these men perished to\nsave others, to adorn a funeral, or merely to gratify the Roman lust for\nblood. The one thing that concerns us is that in the great age of Rome\nthere were to be found Romans willing, nay, eager to barter their lives\nfor a paltry sum of money of which they were not even to have the\nenjoyment. No wonder that men made of that stuff founded a great empire,\nand spread the terror of the Roman arms from the Grampians to the\ntropics.(400)\n\n(M115) The comparative indifference with which the Chinese regard their\nlives is attested by the readiness with which they commit suicide on\ngrounds which often seem to the European extremely trifling.(401) A still\nmore striking proof of their apathy in this respect is furnished by the\nreadiness with which in China a man can be induced to suffer death for a\nsum of money to be paid to his relatives. Thus, for example, \u201cone of the\nmost wealthy of the aboriginal tribes, called Shurii-Kia-Miau, is\nremarkable for the practice of a singular and revolting religious\nceremony. The people possess a large temple, in which is an idol in the\nform of a dog. They resort to this shrine on a certain day every year to\nworship. At this annual religious festival it is, I believe, customary for\nthe wealthy members of the tribe to entertain their poorer brethren at a\nbanquet given in honour of one who has agreed, for a sum of money paid to\nhis family, to allow himself to be offered as a sacrifice on the altar of\nthe dog idol. At the end of the banquet the victim, having drunk wine\nfreely, is put to death before the idol. This people believe that, were\nthey to neglect this rite, they would be visited with pestilence, famine,\nor the sword.\u201d(402) Further, it is said that in China a man condemned to\ndeath can procure a substitute, who, for a small sum, will voluntarily\nconsent to be executed in his stead. The money goes to the substitute\u2019s\nkinsfolk, and since to increase the family prosperity at the expense of\npersonal suffering is regarded by the Chinese as an act of the highest\nvirtue, there is reported to be, just as there used to be in ancient Rome,\nquite a competition among the candidates for death. Such a substitution is\neven recognised by the Chinese authorities, except in the case of certain\ngrave crimes, as for instance parricide. The local mandarin is probably\nnot averse to the arrangement, for he is said to make a pecuniary profit\nby the transaction, engaging a substitute for a less sum than he received\nfrom the condemned man, and pocketing the difference.(403)\n\n(M116) The foregoing evidence may suffice to convince us that we should\ncommit a grievous error were we to judge all men\u2019s love of life by our\nown, and to assume that others cannot hold cheap what we count so dear. We\nshall never understand the long course of human history if we persist in\nmeasuring mankind in all ages and in all countries by the standard,\nperhaps excellent but certainly narrow, of the modern English middle class\nwith their love of material comfort and \u201ctheir passionate, absorbing,\nalmost bloodthirsty clinging to life.\u201d That class, of which I may say, in\nthe words of Matthew Arnold, that I am myself a feeble unit, doubtless\npossesses many estimable qualities, but among them can hardly be reckoned\nthe rare and delicate gift of historical imagination, the power of\nentering into the thoughts and feelings of men of other ages and other\ncountries, of conceiving that they may regulate their life by principles\nwhich do not square with ours, and may throw it away for objects which to\nus might seem ridiculously inadequate.(404)\n\n(M117) To return, therefore, to the point from which we started, we may\nsafely assume that in some races, and at some periods of history, though\ncertainly not in the well-to-do classes of England to-day, it might be\neasy to find men who would willingly accept a kingdom with the certainty\nof being put to death after a reign of a year or less. Where men are\nready, as they have been in Gaul, in Rome, and in China, to yield up their\nlives at once for a paltry sum of which they are themselves to reap no\nbenefit, would they not be willing to purchase at the same price a year\u2019s\ntenure of a throne? Among people of that sort the difficulty would\nprobably be not so much to find a candidate for the crown as to decide\nbetween the conflicting claims of a multitude of competitors. In point of\nfact we have heard of a Shilluk clamouring to be made king on condition of\nbeing killed at the end of a brief reign of a single day, and we have read\nhow in Malabar a crowd scrambled for the bloody head which entitled the\nlucky man who caught it to be decapitated after five years of unlimited\nenjoyment, and how at Calicut many men used to rush cheerfully on death,\nnot for a kingship of a year, or even of an hour, but merely for the\nhonour of displaying their valour in a fruitless attack on the king.(405)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V. TEMPORARY KINGS.\n\n\n(M118) In some places the modified form of the old custom of regicide\nwhich appears to have prevailed at Babylon(406) has been further softened\ndown. The king still abdicates annually for a short time and his place is\nfilled by a more or less nominal sovereign; but at the close of his short\nreign the latter is no longer killed, though sometimes a mock execution\nstill survives as a memorial of the time when he was actually put to\ndeath. To take examples. In the month of M\u00e9ac (February) the king of\nCambodia annually abdicated for three days. During this time he performed\nno act of authority, he did not touch the seals, he did not even receive\nthe revenues which fell due. In his stead there reigned a temporary king\ncalled Sdach M\u00e9ac, that is, King February. The office of temporary king\nwas hereditary in a family distantly connected with the royal house, the\nsons succeeding the fathers and the younger brothers the elder brothers,\njust as in the succession to the real sovereignty. On a favourable day\nfixed by the astrologers the temporary king was conducted by the mandarins\nin triumphal procession. He rode one of the royal elephants, seated in the\nroyal palanquin, and escorted by soldiers who, dressed in appropriate\ncostumes, represented the neighbouring peoples of Siam, Annam, Laos, and\nso on. In place of the golden crown he wore a peaked white cap, and his\nregalia, instead of being of gold encrusted with diamonds, were of rough\nwood. After paying homage to the real king, from whom he received the\nsovereignty for three days, together with all the revenues accruing during\nthat time (though this last custom has been omitted for some time), he\nmoved in procession round the palace and through the streets of the\ncapital. On the third day, after the usual procession, the temporary king\ngave orders that the elephants should trample under foot the \u201cmountain of\nrice,\u201d which was a scaffold of bamboo surrounded by sheaves of rice. The\npeople gathered up the rice, each man taking home a little with him to\nsecure a good harvest. Some of it was also taken to the king, who had it\ncooked and presented to the monks.(407)\n\n(M119) In Siam on the sixth day of the moon in the sixth month (the end of\nApril) a 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\nforfeited to him and must be redeemed. He goes to a field in the middle of\nthe city, whither they bring a gilded plough drawn by gaily-decked oxen.\nAfter the plough has been anointed and the oxen rubbed with incense, the\nmock king traces nine furrows with the plough, followed by aged dames of\nthe 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, and so on, are set\nbefore them; whatever they eat first will, it is thought, be dear in the\nyear following, though some people interpret the omen in the opposite\nsense. During this time the temporary king stands leaning against a tree\nwith his right foot resting on his left knee. From standing thus on one\nfoot he is popularly known as King Hop; but his official title is Phaya\nPhollathep, \u201cLord of the Heavenly Hosts.\u201d(408) He is a sort of Minister of\nAgriculture; all disputes about fields, rice, and so forth, are referred\nto him. There is moreover another ceremony in which he personates the\nking. It takes place in the second month (which falls in the cold season)\nand lasts three days. He is conducted in procession to an open place\nopposite the Temple of the Brahmans, where there are a number of poles\ndressed like May-poles, upon which the Brahmans swing. All the while that\nthey swing and dance, the Lord of the Heavenly Hosts has to stand on one\nfoot upon a seat which is made of bricks plastered over, covered with a\nwhite cloth, and hung with tapestry. He is supported by a wooden frame\nwith a gilt canopy, and two Brahmans stand one on each side of him. The\ndancing Brahmans carry buffalo horns with which they draw water from a\nlarge copper caldron and sprinkle it on the spectators; this is supposed\nto bring good luck, causing the people to dwell in peace and quiet, health\nand prosperity. The time during which the Lord of the Heavenly Hosts has\nto stand 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(409)\n\n(M120) Such were the duties and privileges of the Siamese King Hop down to\nabout the middle of the nineteenth century or later. Under the reign of\nthe late enlightened monarch this quaint personage was to some extent both\nshorn of the glories and relieved of the burden of his office. He still\nwatches, as of old, the Brahmans rushing through the air in a swing\nsuspended between two tall masts, each some ninety feet high; but he is\nallowed to sit instead of stand, and, although public opinion still\nexpects him to keep his right foot on his left knee during the whole of\nthe ceremony, he would incur no legal penalty were he, to the great\nchagrin of the people, to put his weary foot to the ground. Other signs,\ntoo, tell of the invasion of the East by the ideas and civilisation of the\nWest. The thoroughfares that lead to the scene of the performance are\nblocked with carriages: lamp-posts and telegraph posts, to which eager\nspectators cling like monkeys, rise above the dense crowd; and, while a\ntatterdemalion band of the old style, in gaudy garb of vermilion and\nyellow, bangs and tootles away on drums and trumpets of an antique\npattern, the procession of barefooted soldiers in brilliant uniforms steps\nbriskly along to the lively strains of a modern military band playing\n\u201cMarching through Georgia.\u201d(410)\n\n(M121) On the first day of the sixth month, which was regarded as the\nbeginning of the year, the king and people of Samaracand used to put on\nnew clothes and cut their hair and beards. Then they repaired to a forest\nnear the capital where they shot arrows on horseback for seven days. On\nthe last day the target was a gold coin, and he who hit it had the right\nto be king for one day.(411) In Upper Egypt on the first day of the solar\nyear by Coptic reckoning, that is, on the tenth of September, when the\nNile has generally reached its highest point, the regular government is\nsuspended for three days and every town chooses its own ruler. This\ntemporary lord wears a sort of tall fool\u2019s cap and a long flaxen beard,\nand is enveloped in a strange mantle. With a wand of office in his hand\nand attended by men disguised as scribes, executioners, and so forth, he\nproceeds to the Governor\u2019s house. The latter allows himself to be deposed;\nand the mock king, mounting the throne, holds a tribunal, to the decisions\nof which even the governor and his officials must bow. After three days\nthe mock king is condemned to death; the envelope or shell in which he was\nencased is committed to the flames, and from its ashes the Fellah creeps\nforth.(412) The custom perhaps points to an old practice of burning a real\nking in grim earnest. In Uganda the brothers of the king used to be\nburned, because it was not lawful to shed the royal blood.(413)\n\n(M122) The Mohammedan students of Fez, in Morocco, are allowed to appoint\na sultan of their own, who reigns for a few weeks, and is known as _Sultan\nt-tulba_, \u201cthe Sultan of the Scribes.\u201d This brief authority is put up for\nauction and knocked down to the highest bidder. It brings some substantial\nprivileges with it, for the holder is freed from taxes thenceforward, and\nhe has the right of asking a favour from the real sultan. That favour is\nseldom refused; it usually consists in the release of a prisoner.\nMoreover, the agents of the student-sultan levy fines on the shopkeepers\nand householders, against whom they trump up various humorous charges. The\ntemporary sultan is surrounded with the pomp of a real court, and parades\nthe streets in state with music and shouting, while a royal umbrella is\nheld over his head. With the so-called fines and free-will offerings, to\nwhich the real sultan adds a liberal supply of provisions, the students\nhave enough to furnish forth a magnificent banquet; and altogether they\nenjoy themselves thoroughly, indulging in all kinds of games and\namusements. For the first seven days the mock sultan remains in the\ncollege; then he goes about a mile out of the town and encamps on the bank\nof the river, attended by the students and not a few of the citizens. On\nthe seventh day of his stay outside the town he is visited by the real\nsultan, who grants him his request and gives him seven more days to reign,\nso that the reign of \u201cthe Sultan of the Scribes\u201d nominally lasts three\nweeks. But when six days of the last week have passed the mock sultan runs\nback to the town by night. This temporary sultanship always falls in\nspring, about the beginning of April. Its origin is said to have been as\nfollows. When Mulai Rasheed II. was fighting for the throne in 1664 or\n1665, a certain Jew usurped the royal authority at Taza. But the rebellion\nwas soon suppressed through the loyalty and devotion of the students. To\neffect their purpose they resorted to an ingenious stratagem. Forty of\nthem caused themselves to be packed in chests which were sent as a present\nto the usurper. In the dead of night, while the unsuspecting Jew was\nslumbering peacefully among the packing-cases, the lids were stealthily\nraised, the brave forty crept forth, slew the usurper, and took possession\nof the city in the name of the real sultan, who, to mark his gratitude for\nthe help thus rendered him in time of need, conferred on the students the\nright of annually appointing a sultan of their own.(414) The narrative has\nall the air of a fiction devised to explain an old custom, of which the\nreal meaning and origin had been forgotten.\n\n(M123) A custom of annually appointing a mock king for a single day was\nobserved at Lostwithiel in Cornwall down to the sixteenth century. On\n\u201clittle Easter Sunday\u201d the freeholders of the town and manor assembled\ntogether, either in person or by their deputies, and one among them, as it\nfell to his lot by turn, gaily attired and gallantly mounted, with a crown\non his head, a sceptre in his hand, and a sword borne before him, rode\nthrough the principal street to the church, dutifully attended by all the\nrest on horseback. The clergyman in his best robes received him at the\nchurchyard stile and conducted him to hear divine service. On leaving the\nchurch he repaired, with the same pomp, to a house provided for his\nreception. Here a feast awaited him and his suite, and being set at the\nhead of the table he was served on bended knees, with all the rites due to\nthe estate of a prince. The ceremony ended with the dinner, and every man\nreturned home.(415)\n\n(M124) Sometimes the temporary king occupies the throne, not annually, but\nonce for all at the beginning of each reign. Thus in the kingdom of Jambi,\nin Sumatra, 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 throne 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.(416) 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\nKangra.(417) The custom of banishing the Brahman who represents the king\nmay be a substitute for putting him to death. At the installation of a\nprince of Carinthia a peasant, in whose family the office was hereditary,\nascended a marble stone which stood surrounded by meadows in a spacious\nvalley; on his right stood a black mother-cow, on his left a lean ugly\nmare. A rustic crowd gathered about him. Then the future prince, dressed\nas a peasant and carrying a shepherd\u2019s staff, drew near, attended by\ncourtiers and magistrates. On perceiving him the peasant called out, \u201cWho\nis this whom I see coming so proudly along?\u201d The people answered, \u201cThe\nprince of the land.\u201d The peasant was then prevailed on to surrender the\nmarble seat to the prince on condition of receiving sixty pence, the cow\nand mare, and exemption from taxes. But before yielding his place he gave\nthe prince a light blow on the cheek.(418)\n\n(M125) Some points about these temporary kings deserve to be specially\nnoticed before we pass to the next branch of the evidence. In the first\nplace, the Cambodian and Siamese examples shew clearly that it is\nespecially the divine or magical 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. Moreover, when the Siamese\nrepresentative of the king is guiding the plough, the people watch him\nanxiously, not to see whether he drives a straight furrow, but to mark the\nexact point on his leg to which the skirt of his silken robe reaches; for\non that is supposed to hang the state of the weather and the crops during\nthe ensuing season. If the Lord of the Heavenly Hosts hitches up his\ngarment above his knee, the weather will be wet and heavy rains will spoil\nthe harvest. If he lets it trail to his ankle, a drought will be the\nconsequence. But fine weather and heavy crops will follow if the hem of\nhis robe hangs exactly half-way down the calf of his leg.(419) So closely\nis the course of nature, and with it the weal or woe of the people,\ndependent on the minutest act or gesture of the king\u2019s representative. But\nthe task of making the crops grow, thus deputed to the temporary kings, is\none of the magical functions regularly supposed to be discharged by kings\nin primitive society. The rule that the mock king must stand on one foot\nupon a raised seat in the rice-field was perhaps originally meant as a\ncharm to make the crop grow high; at least this was the object of a\nsimilar ceremony observed by the old Prussians. The tallest girl, standing\non one foot upon a seat, with her lap full of cakes, a cup of brandy in\nher right hand and a piece of elm-bark or linden-bark in her left, prayed\nto the god Waizganthos that the flax might grow as high as she was\nstanding. Then, after draining the cup, she had it refilled, and poured\nthe brandy on the ground as an offering to Waizganthos, and threw down the\ncakes for his attendant sprites. If she remained steady on one foot\nthroughout the ceremony, it was an omen that the flax crop would be good;\nbut if she let her foot down, it was feared that the crop might fail.(420)\nThe same significance perhaps attaches to the swinging of the Brahmans,\nwhich the Lord of the Heavenly Hosts had formerly to witness standing on\none foot. On the principles of homoeopathic or imitative magic it might be\nthought that the higher the priests swing the higher will grow the rice.\nFor the ceremony is described as a harvest festival,(421) and swinging is\npractised by the Letts of Russia with the avowed intention of influencing\nthe growth of the crops. In the spring and early summer, between Easter\nand St. John\u2019s Day (the summer solstice), every Lettish peasant is said to\ndevote his leisure hours to swinging diligently; for the higher he rises\nin the air the higher will his flax grow that season.(422) 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;(423) in both cases the use of bare iron was\nprobably forbidden on superstitious grounds.(424)\n\n(M126) In the foregoing cases the temporary king is appointed annually in\naccordance with a regular custom. But in other cases the appointment is\nmade only to meet a special emergency, such as to relieve the real king\nfrom some actual or threatened evil by diverting it to a substitute, who\ntakes his place on the throne for a short time. The history of Persia\nfurnishes instances of such occasional substitutes for the Shah. Thus Shah\nAbbas the Great, the most eminent of all the kings of Persia, who reigned\nfrom 1586 to 1628 A.D., being warned by his astrologers in the year 1591\nthat a serious danger impended over him, attempted to avert the omen by\nabdicating the throne and appointing a certain unbeliever named Yusoofee,\nprobably a Christian, to reign in his stead. The substitute was\naccordingly crowned, and for three days, if we may trust the Persian\nhistorians, he enjoyed not only the name and the state but the power of\nthe king. At the end of his brief reign he was put to death: the decree of\nthe stars was fulfilled by this sacrifice; and Abbas, who reascended his\nthrone in a most propitious hour, was promised by his astrologers a long\nand glorious reign.(425) Again, Shah Sufi II., who reigned from 1668 to\n1694 A.D., was crowned a second time and changed his name to Sulaiman or\nSoliman under the following circumstances: \u201cThe King, a few days after,\nwas out of danger, but the matter was to restore him to perfect health.\nHaving been always in a languishing condition, and his physicians never\nable to discover the cause of his distemper, he suspected that their\nignorance retarded his recovery, and two or three of them were therefore\nill treated. At length the other physicians, fearing it might be their own\nturn next, bethought themselves, that Persia being at the same time\nafflicted with a scarcity of provisions and the King\u2019s sickness, the fault\nmust be in the astrologers, who had not chosen a favourable hour when the\nKing was set upon the throne, and therefore persuaded him that the\nceremony must be perform\u2019d again, and he change his name in a more lucky\nminute. The King and his council approving of their notion, the physicians\nand astrologers together expected the first unfortunate day, which,\naccording to their superstition, was to be followed in the evening by a\npropitious hour. Among the Gavres, or original Persians, Worshippers of\nFire, there are some who boast their descent from the Rustans, who\nformerly reigned over Persia and Parthia. On the morning of the aforesaid\nunlucky day, they took one of these Gavres of that Blood-royal, and having\nplac\u2019d him on the throne, with his back against a figure that represented\nhim to the life, all the great men of the court came to attend him, as if\nhe had been their king, performing all that he commanded. This scene\nlasted till the favourable hour, which was a little before sun-setting,\nand then an officer of the court came behind and cut off the head of the\nwooden statue with his cymiter, the Gaure then starting up and running\naway. That very moment the King came into the hall, and the Sofy\u2019s cap\nbeing set on his head, and his sword girt to his side, he sat down on the\nthrone, changing his name for that of Soliman, which was perform\u2019d with\nthe usual ceremonies, the drums beating and trumpets sounding as before.\nIt was requisite to act this farce, in order to satisfy the law, which\nrequires that in order to change his name and take possession of the\nthrone again he must expel a prince that had usurped it upon some\npretensions; and therefore they made choice of a Gaure, who pretended to\nbe descended from the ancient kings of Persia, and was besides of a\ndifferent religion from that of the government.\u201d(426)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI. SACRIFICE OF THE KING\u2019S SON.\n\n\n(M127) A point to notice about the temporary kings described in the\nforegoing chapter is that in two places (Cambodia and Jambi) they come of\na stock which is believed to be akin to the royal family. If the view here\ntaken of the origin of these temporary kingships is correct, we can easily\nunderstand why the king\u2019s substitute should sometimes be of the same race\nas the king. When the king first succeeded in getting the life of another\naccepted as a sacrifice instead of his own, he would have to shew that the\ndeath of that other would serve the purpose quite as well as his own would\nhave done. Now it was as a god or demigod that the king had to die;\ntherefore the substitute who died for him had to be invested, at least for\nthe occasion, with the divine attributes of the king. This, as we have\njust seen, was certainly the case with the temporary kings of Siam and\nCambodia; they were invested with the supernatural functions, which in an\nearlier stage of society were the special attributes of the king. But no\none could so well represent the king in his divine character as his son,\nwho might be supposed to share the divine afflatus of his father. No one,\ntherefore, could so appropriately die for the king and, through him, for\nthe whole people, as the king\u2019s son.\n\n(M128) According to tradition, Aun or On, King of Sweden, sacrificed nine\nof his sons to Odin at Upsala in order that his own life might be spared.\nAfter he had sacrificed his second son he received from the god an answer\nthat he should live so long as he gave him one of his sons every ninth\nyear. When he had sacrificed his seventh son, he still lived, but was so\nfeeble that he could not walk but had to be carried in a chair. Then he\noffered up his eighth son, and lived nine years more, lying in his bed.\nAfter that he sacrificed his ninth son, and lived another nine years, but\nso that he drank out of a horn like a weaned child. He now wished to\nsacrifice his only remaining son to Odin, but the Swedes would not allow\nhim. So he died and was buried in a mound at Upsala. The poet Thiodolf\ntold the king\u2019s history in verse:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cIn Upsal\u2019s town the cruel king\n    Slaughtered his sons at Odin\u2019s shrine\u2014\n    Slaughtered his sons with cruel knife,\n    To get from Odin length of life.\n    He lived until he had to turn\n    His toothless mouth to the deer\u2019s horn;\n    And he who shed his children\u2019s blood\n    Sucked through the ox\u2019s horn his food.\n    At length fell Death has tracked him down,\n    Slowly but sure, in Upsal\u2019s town.\u201d(427)\n\n\n(M129) In ancient Greece there seems to have been at least one kingly\nhouse of great antiquity of which the eldest sons were always liable to be\nsacrificed in room of their royal sires. When Xerxes was marching through\nThessaly at the head of his mighty host to attack the Spartans at\nThermopylae, he came to the town of Alus. Here he was shewn the sanctuary\nof Laphystian Zeus, about which his guides told him a strange tale. It ran\nsomewhat as follows. Once upon a time the king of the country, by name\nAthamas, married a wife Nephele, and had by her a son called Phrixus and a\ndaughter named Helle. Afterwards he took to himself a second wife called\nIno, by whom he had two sons, Learchus and Melicertes. But his second wife\nwas jealous of her step-children, Phrixus and Helle, and plotted their\ndeath. She went about very cunningly to compass her bad end. First of all\nshe persuaded the women of the country to roast the seed corn secretly\nbefore it was committed to the ground. So next year no crops came up and\nthe people died of famine. Then the king sent messengers to the oracle at\nDelphi to enquire the cause of the dearth. But the wicked step-mother\nbribed the messenger to give out as the answer of the god that the dearth\nwould never cease till the children of Athamas by his first wife had been\nsacrificed to Zeus. When Athamas heard that, he sent for the children, who\nwere with the sheep. But a ram with a fleece of gold opened his lips, and\nspeaking with the voice of a man warned the children of their danger. So\nthey mounted the ram and fled with him over land and sea. As they flew\nover the sea, the girl slipped from the animal\u2019s back, and falling into\nwater was drowned. But her brother Phrixus was brought safe to the land of\nColchis, where reigned a child of the Sun. Phrixus married the king\u2019s\ndaughter, and she bore him a son Cytisorus. And there he sacrificed the\nram with the golden fleece to Zeus the God of Flight; but some will have\nit that he sacrificed the animal to Laphystian Zeus. The golden fleece\nitself he gave to his wife\u2019s father, who nailed it to an oak tree, guarded\nby a sleepless dragon in a sacred grove of Ares. Meanwhile at home an\noracle had commanded that King Athamas himself should be sacrificed as an\nexpiatory offering for the whole country. So the people decked him with\ngarlands like a victim and led him to the altar, where they were just\nabout to sacrifice him when he was rescued either by his grandson\nCytisorus, who arrived in the nick of time from Colchis, or by Hercules,\nwho brought tidings that the king\u2019s son Phrixus was yet alive. Thus\nAthamas was saved, but afterwards he went mad, and mistaking his son\nLearchus for a wild beast shot him dead. Next he attempted the life of his\nremaining son Melicertes, but the child was rescued by his mother Ino, who\nran and threw herself and him from a high rock into the sea. Mother and\nson were changed into marine divinities, and the son received special\nhomage in the isle of Tenedos, where babes were sacrificed to him. Thus\nbereft of wife and children the unhappy Athamas quitted his country, and\non enquiring of the oracle where he should dwell was told to take up his\nabode wherever he should be entertained by wild beasts. He fell in with a\npack of wolves devouring sheep, and when they saw him they fled and left\nhim the bleeding remnants of their prey. In this way the oracle was\nfulfilled. But because King Athamas had not been sacrificed as a\nsin-offering for the whole country, it was divinely decreed that the\neldest male scion of his family in each generation should be sacrificed\nwithout fail, if ever he set foot in the town-hall, where the offerings\nwere made to Laphystian Zeus by one of the house of Athamas. Many of the\nfamily, Xerxes was informed, had fled to foreign lands to escape this\ndoom; but some of them had returned long afterwards, and being caught by\nthe sentinels in the act of entering the town-hall were wreathed as\nvictims, led forth in procession, and sacrificed.(428) These instances\nappear to have been notorious, if not frequent; for the writer of a\ndialogue attributed to Plato, after speaking of the immolation of human\nvictims by the Carthaginians, adds that such practices were not unknown\namong the Greeks, and he refers with horror to the sacrifices offered on\nMount Lycaeus and by the descendants of Athamas.(429)\n\n(M130) The suspicion that this barbarous custom by no means fell into\ndisuse even in later days is strengthened by a case of human sacrifice\nwhich occurred in Plutarch\u2019s time at Orchomenus, a very ancient city of\nBoeotia, distant only a few miles across the plain from the historian\u2019s\nbirthplace. Here dwelt a family of which the men went by the name of\nPsoloeis or \u201cSooty,\u201d and the women by the name of Oleae or \u201cDestructive.\u201d\nEvery year at the festival of the Agrionia the priest of Dionysus pursued\nthese women with a drawn sword, and if he overtook one of them he had the\nright to slay her. In Plutarch\u2019s lifetime the right was actually exercised\nby a priest Zoilus. Now the family thus liable to furnish at least one\nhuman victim every year was of royal descent, for they traced their\nlineage to Minyas, the famous old king of Orchomenus, the monarch of\nfabulous wealth, whose stately treasury, as it is called, still stands in\nruins at the point where the long rocky hill of Orchomenus melts into the\nvast level expanse of the Copaic plain. Tradition ran that the king\u2019s\nthree daughters long despised the other women of the country for yielding\nto the Bacchic frenzy, and sat at home in the king\u2019s house scornfully\nplying the distaff and the loom, while the rest, wreathed with flowers,\ntheir dishevelled locks streaming to the wind, roamed in ecstasy the\nbarren mountains that rise above Orchomenus, making the solitude of the\nhills to echo to the wild music of cymbals and tambourines. But in time\nthe divine fury infected even the royal damsels in their quiet chamber;\nthey were seized with a fierce longing to partake of human flesh, and cast\nlots among themselves which should give up her child to furnish a cannibal\nfeast. The lot fell on Leucippe, and she surrendered her son Hippasus, who\nwas torn limb from limb by the three. From these misguided women sprang\nthe Oleae and the Psoloeis, of whom the men were said to be so called\nbecause they wore sad-coloured raiment in token of their mourning and\ngrief.(430)\n\n(M131) Now this practice of taking human victims from a family of royal\ndescent at Orchomenus is all the more significant because Athamas himself\nis said to have reigned in the land of Orchomenus even before the time of\nMinyas, and because over against the city there rises Mount Laphystius, on\nwhich, as at Alus in Thessaly, there was a sanctuary of Laphystian Zeus,\nwhere, according to tradition, Athamas purposed to sacrifice his two\nchildren Phrixus and Helle.(431) On the whole, comparing the traditions\nabout Athamas with the custom that obtained with regard to his descendants\nin historical times, we may fairly infer that in Thessaly and probably in\nBoeotia there reigned of old a dynasty of which the kings were liable to\nbe sacrificed for the good of the country to the god called Laphystian\nZeus, but that they contrived to shift the fatal responsibility to their\noffspring, of whom the eldest son was regularly destined to the altar. As\ntime went on, the cruel custom was so far mitigated that a ram was\naccepted as a vicarious sacrifice in room of the royal victim, provided\nalways that the prince abstained from setting foot in the town-hall where\nthe sacrifices were offered to Laphystian Zeus by one of his kinsmen.(432)\nBut if he were rash enough to enter the place of doom, to thrust himself\nwilfully, as it were, on the notice of the god who had good-naturedly\nwinked at the substitution of a ram, the ancient obligation which had been\nsuffered to lie in abeyance recovered all its force, and there was no help\nfor it but he must die. The tradition which associated the sacrifice of\nthe king or his children with a great dearth points clearly to the belief,\nso common among primitive folk, that the king is responsible for the\nweather and the crops, and that he may justly pay with his life for the\ninclemency of the one or the failure of the other. Athamas and his line,\nin short, appear to have united divine or magical with royal functions;\nand this view is strongly supported by the claims to divinity which\nSalmoneus, the brother of Athamas, is said to have set up. We have seen\nthat this presumptuous mortal professed to be no other than Zeus himself,\nand to wield the thunder and lightning, of which he made a trumpery\nimitation by the help of tinkling kettles and blazing torches.(433) If we\nmay judge from analogy, his mock thunder and lightning were no mere scenic\nexhibition designed to deceive and impress the beholders; they were\nenchantments practised by the royal magician for the purpose of bringing\nabout the celestial phenomena which they feebly mimicked.(434)\n\n(M132) Among the Semites of Western Asia the king, in a time of national\ndanger, sometimes gave his own son to die as a sacrifice for the people.\nThus Philo of Byblus, in his work on the Jews, says: \u201cIt was an ancient\ncustom in a crisis of great danger that the ruler of a city or nation\nshould give his beloved son to die for the whole people, as a ransom\noffered to the avenging demons; and the children thus offered were slain\nwith mystic rites. So Cronus, whom the Phoenicians call Israel, being king\nof the land and having an only-begotten son called Jeoud (for in the\nPhoenician tongue Jeoud signifies \u2018only-begotten\u2019), dressed him in royal\nrobes and sacrificed him upon an altar in a time of war, when the country\nwas in great danger from the enemy.\u201d(435) When the king of Moab was\nbesieged by the Israelites and hard beset, he took his eldest son, who\nshould have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering on\nthe wall.(436)\n\nBut amongst the Semites the practice of sacrificing their children was not\nconfined to kings.(437) In times of great calamity, such as pestilence,\ndrought, or defeat in war, the Phoenicians used to sacrifice one of their\ndearest to Baal. \u201cPhoenician history,\u201d says an ancient writer, \u201cis full of\nsuch sacrifices.\u201d(438) The writer of a dialogue ascribed to Plato observes\nthat the Carthaginians immolated human beings as if it were right and\nlawful to do so, and some of them, he adds, even sacrificed their own sons\nto Baal.(439) When Gelo, tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Carthaginians in\nthe great battle of Himera he required as a condition of peace that they\nshould sacrifice their children to Baal no longer.(440) But the barbarous\ncustom was too inveterate and too agreeable to Semitic modes of thought to\nbe so easily eradicated, and the humane stipulation of the Greek despot\nprobably remained a dead letter. At all events the history of this\nremarkable people, who combined in so high a degree the spirit of\ncommercial enterprise with a blind attachment to a stern and gloomy\nreligion, is stained in later times with instances of the same cruel\nsuperstition. When the Carthaginians were defeated and besieged by\nAgathocles, they ascribed their disasters to the wrath of Baal; for\nwhereas in former times they had been wont to sacrifice to him their own\noffspring, they had latterly fallen into the habit of buying children and\nrearing them to be victims. So, to appease the angry god, two hundred\nchildren of the noblest families were picked out for sacrifice, and the\ntale of victims was swelled by not less than three hundred more who\nvolunteered to die for the fatherland. They were sacrificed by being\nplaced, one by one, on the sloping hands of the brazen image, from which\nthey rolled into a pit of fire.(441) Childless people among the\nCarthaginians bought children from poor parents and slaughtered them, says\nPlutarch, as if they were lambs or chickens; and the mother had to stand\nby and see it done without a tear or a groan, for if she wept or moaned\nshe lost all the credit and the child was sacrificed none the less. But\nall the place in front of the image was filled with a tumultuous music of\nfifes and drums to drown the shrieks of the victims.(442) Infants were\npublicly sacrificed by the Carthaginians down to the proconsulate of\nTiberius, who crucified the priests on the trees beside their temples. Yet\nthe practice still went on secretly in the lifetime of Tertullian.(443)\n\n(M133) Among the Canaanites or aboriginal inhabitants of Palestine, whom\nthe invading Israelites conquered but did not exterminate, the grisly\ncustom of burning their children in honour of Baal or Moloch seems to have\nbeen regularly practised.(444) To the best representatives of the Hebrew\npeople, the authors of their noble literature, such rites were abhorrent,\nand they warned their fellow-countrymen against participating in them.\n\u201cWhen thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou\nshalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall\nnot be found with thee any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass\nthrough the fire, one that useth divination, one that practiseth augury,\nor an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a\nfamiliar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these\nthings is an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations\nthe Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.\u201d(445) Again we\nread: \u201cAnd thou shalt not give any of thy seed to pass through the fire to\nMolech.\u201d(446) Whatever effect these warnings may have had in the earlier\ndays of Israelitish history, there is abundant evidence that in later\ntimes the Hebrews lapsed, or rather perhaps relapsed, into that congenial\nmire of superstition from which the higher spirits of the nation\nstruggled\u2014too often in vain\u2014to rescue them. The Psalmist laments that his\nerring countrymen \u201cmingled themselves with the nations, and learned their\nworks: and they served their idols; which became a snare unto them: yea,\nthey sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons, and shed\ninnocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom\nthey sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with\nblood.\u201d(447) When the Hebrew annalist has recorded how Shalmaneser, king\nof Assyria, besieged Samaria for three years and took it and carried\nIsrael away into captivity, he explains that this was a divine punishment\ninflicted on his people for having fallen in with the evil ways of the\nCanaanites. They had built high places in all their cities, and set up\npillars and sacred poles (_asherim_) upon every high hill and under every\ngreen tree; and there they burnt incense after the manner of the heathen.\n\u201cAnd they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made\nthem molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped\nall the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and\ntheir daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and\nenchantments.\u201d(448) At Jerusalem in these days there was a regularly\nappointed place where parents burned their children, both boys and girls,\nin honour of Baal or Moloch. It was in the valley of Hinnom, just outside\nthe walls of the city, and bore the name, infamous ever since, of Tophet.\nThe practice is referred to again and again with sorrowful indignation by\nthe prophets.(449) The kings of Judah set an example to their people by\nburning their own children at the usual place. Thus of Ahaz, who reigned\nsixteen years at Jerusalem, we are told that \u201che burnt incense in the\nvalley of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire.\u201d(450) Again, King\nManasseh, whose long reign covered fifty-five years, \u201cmade his children to\npass through the fire in the valley of Hinnom.\u201d(451) Afterwards in the\nreign of the good king Josiah the idolatrous excesses of the people were\nrepressed, at least for a time, and among other measures of reform Tophet\nwas defiled by the King\u2019s orders, \u201cthat no man might make his son or his\ndaughter to pass through the fire to Molech.\u201d(452) Whether the place was\never used again for the same dark purpose as before does not appear. Long\nafterwards, under the sway of a milder faith, there was little in the\nvalley to recall the tragic scenes which it had so often witnessed. Jerome\ndescribes it as a pleasant and shady spot, watered by the rills of Siloam\nand laid out in delightful gardens.(453)\n\n(M134) It would be interesting, though it might be fruitless, to enquire\nhow far the Hebrew prophets and psalmists were right in their opinion that\nthe Israelites learned these and other gloomy superstitions only through\ncontact with the old inhabitants of the land, that the primitive purity of\nfaith and morals which they brought with them from the free air of the\ndesert was tainted and polluted by the grossness and corruption of the\nheathen in the fat land of Canaan. When we remember, however, that the\nIsraelites were of the same Semitic stock as the population they conquered\nand professed to despise,(454) and that the practice of human sacrifice is\nattested for many branches of the Semitic race, we shall, perhaps, incline\nto surmise that the chosen people may have brought with them into\nPalestine the seeds which afterwards sprang up and bore such ghastly fruit\nin the valley of Hinnom. It is at least significant of the prevalence of\nsuch customs among the Semites that no sooner were the native\nchild-burning Israelites carried off by King Shalmaneser to Assyria than\ntheir place was taken by colonists who practised precisely the same rites\nin honour of deities who probably differed in little but name from those\nrevered by the idolatrous Hebrews. \u201cThe Sepharvites,\u201d we are told, \u201cburnt\ntheir children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of\nSepharvaim.\u201d(455) The pious Jewish historian, who saw in Israel\u2019s exile\nGod\u2019s punishment for sin, has suggested no explanation of that mystery in\nthe divine economy which suffered the Sepharvites to continue on the same\nspot the very same abominations for which the erring Hebrews had just been\nso signally chastised.\n\n(M135) We have still to ask which of their children the Semites picked out\nfor sacrifice; for that a choice was made and some principle of selection\nfollowed, may be taken for granted. A people who burned all their children\nindiscriminately would soon extinguish themselves, and such an excess of\npiety is probably rare, if not unknown. In point of fact it seems, at\nleast among the Hebrews, to have been only the firstborn child that was\ndoomed to the flames. The prophet Micah asks, in a familiar passage,\n\u201cWherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high\nGod? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year\nold? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten\nthousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my\ntransgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?\u201d These were\nthe questions which pious and doubting hearts were putting to themselves\nin the days of the prophet. The prophet\u2019s own answer is not doubtful. \u201cHe\nhath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of\nthee, but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy\nGod?\u201d(456) It is a noble answer and one which only elect spirits in that\nor, perhaps, in any age have given. In Israel the vulgar answer was given\non bloody altars and in the smoke and flames of Tophet, and the form in\nwhich the prophet\u2019s question is cast\u2014\u201cShall I give my firstborn for my\ntransgression?\u201d\u2014shews plainly on which of the children the duty of atoning\nfor the sins of their father was supposed to fall. A passage in Ezekiel\npoints no less clearly to the same conclusion. The prophet represents God\nas saying, \u201cI gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments wherein\nthey should not live; and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they\ncaused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might\nmake them desolate.\u201d That the writer was here thinking specially of the\nsacrifice of children is proved by his own words a little later on. \u201cWhen\nye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, do\nye pollute yourselves with all your idols, unto this day?\u201d(457) Further,\nthat by the words \u201cto pass through the fire all that openeth the womb\u201d he\nreferred only to the firstborn can easily be shewn by the language of\nScripture in reference to that law of the consecration of firstlings which\nEzekiel undoubtedly had in his mind when he wrote this passage. Thus we\nfind that law enunciated in the following terms: \u201cAnd the Lord spake unto\nMoses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the\nwomb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is\nmine.\u201d(458) Again, it is written: \u201cThou shalt set apart unto the Lord all\nthat openeth the womb, and every firstling which thou hast that cometh of\na beast; the males shall be the Lord\u2019s.\u201d(459) Once more: \u201cAll that openeth\nthe womb is mine; and all thy cattle that is male, the firstlings of ox\nand sheep.\u201d(460) This ancient Hebrew custom of the consecration to God of\nall male firstlings, whether of man or beast, was merely the application\nto the animal kingdom of the law that all first fruits whatsoever belong\nto the deity and must be made over to him or his representatives. That\ngeneral law is thus stated by the Hebrew legislator: \u201cThou shalt not delay\nto offer of the abundance of thy fruits, and of thy liquors. The firstborn\nof thy sons shalt thou give unto me. Likewise shalt thou do with thine\noxen, and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with its dam; and on the\neighth day thou shalt give it me.\u201d(461)\n\n(M136) Thus the god of the Hebrews plainly regarded the first-born of men\nand the firstlings of animals as his own, and required that they should be\nmade over to him. But how? Here a distinction was drawn between sheep,\noxen, and goats on the one hand and men and asses on the other; the\nfirstlings of the former were always sacrificed, the firstlings of the\nlatter were generally redeemed. \u201cThe firstling of an ox, or the firstling\nof a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are\nholy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their\nfat for an offering made by fire for a sweet savour unto the Lord.\u201d The\nflesh went to the Levites,(462) who consumed it, no doubt, instead of the\ndeity whom they represented. On the other hand, the ass was not sacrificed\nby the Israelites, probably because they did not eat the animal\nthemselves, and hence concluded that God did not do so either. In the\nmatter of diet the taste of gods generally presents a striking resemblance\nto that of their worshippers. Still the firstling ass, like all other\nfirstlings, was sacred to the deity, and since it was not sacrificed to\nhim, he had to receive an equivalent for it. In other words, the ass had\nto be redeemed, and the price of the redemption was a lamb which was burnt\nas a vicarious sacrifice instead of the ass, on the hypothesis,\napparently, that roast lamb is likely to be more palatable to the Supreme\nBeing than roast donkey. If the ass was not redeemed, it had to be killed\nby having its neck broken.(463) The firstlings of other unclean animals\nand of men were redeemed for five shekels a head, which were paid to the\nLevites.(464)\n\n(M137) We can now readily understand why so many of the Hebrews, at least\nin the later days of their history, sacrificed their firstborn children,\nand why tender-hearted parents, whose affection for their offspring\nexceeded their devotion to the deity, may often have been visited with\ncompunction, and even tormented with feelings of bitter self-reproach and\nshame at their carnal weakness in suffering the beloved son to live, when\nthey saw others, with an heroic piety which they could not emulate, calmly\nresigning their dear ones to the fire, through which, as they firmly\nbelieved, they passed to God, to reap, perhaps, in endless bliss in heaven\nthe reward of their sharp but transient sufferings on earth. From infancy\nthey had been bred up in the belief that the firstborn was sacred to God,\nand though they knew that he had waived his right to them in consideration\nof the receipt of five shekels a head, they could, hardly view this as\nanything but an act of gracious condescension, of generous liberality on\nthe part of the divinity who had stooped to accept so trifling a sum\ninstead of the life which really belonged to him. \u201cSurely,\u201d they might\nargue, \u201cGod would be better pleased if we were to give him not the money\nbut the life, not the poor paltry shekels, but what we value most, our\nfirst and best-loved child. If we hold that life so dear, will not he\nalso? It is his. Why should we not give him his own?\u201d It was in answer to\nanxious questions such as these, and to quite truly conscientious scruples\nof this sort that the prophet Micah declared that what God required of his\ntrue worshippers was not sacrifice but justice and mercy and humility. It\nis the answer of morality to religion\u2014of the growing consciousness that\nman\u2019s duty is not to propitiate with vain oblations those mysterious\npowers of the universe of which he can know little or nothing, but to be\njust and merciful in his dealings with his fellows and to humbly trust,\nthough he cannot know, that by acting thus he will best please the higher\npowers, whatever they may be.\n\n(M138) But while morality ranges itself on the side of the prophet, it may\nbe questioned whether history and precedent were not on the side of his\nadversaries. If the firstborn of men and cattle were alike sacred to God,\nand the firstborn of cattle were regularly sacrificed, while the firstborn\nof men were ransomed by a money payment, has not this last provision the\nappearance of being a later mitigation of an older and harsher custom\nwhich doomed firstborn children, like firstling lambs and calves and\ngoats, to the altar or the fire? The suspicion is greatly strengthened by\nthe remarkable tradition told to account for the sanctity of the\nfirstborn. When Israel was in bondage in Egypt, so runs the tradition, God\nresolved to deliver them from captivity, and to lead them to the Promised\nLand. But the Egyptians were loth to part with their bondmen and thwarted\nthe divine purpose by refusing to let the Israelites go. Accordingly God\nafflicted these cruel taskmasters with one plague after another, but all\nin vain, until at last he made up his mind to resort to a strong measure,\nwhich would surely have the desired effect. At dead of night he would pass\nthrough the land killing all the firstborn of the Egyptians, both man and\nbeast; not one of them would be left alive in the morning. But the\nIsraelites were warned of what was about to happen and told to keep\nindoors that night, and to put a mark on their houses, so that when he\npassed down the street on his errand of slaughter, God might know them at\nsight from the houses of the Egyptians and not turn in and massacre the\nwrong children and animals. The mark was to be the blood of a lamb smeared\non the lintel and side posts of the door. In every house the lamb, whose\nred blood was to be the badge of Israel that night, as the white scarves\nwere the badge of the Catholics on the night of St. Bartholomew, was to be\nkilled at evening and eaten by the household, with very peculiar rites,\nduring the hours of darkness while the butchery was proceeding: none of\nthe flesh was to see the morning light: whatever the family could not eat\nwas to be burned with fire. All this was done. The massacre of Egyptian\nchildren and animals was successfully perpetrated and had the desired\neffect; and to commemorate this great triumph God ordained that all the\nfirstborn of man and beast among the Israelites should be sacred to him\never afterwards in the manner already described, the edible animals to be\nsacrificed, and the uneatable, especially men and asses, to be ransomed by\na substitute or by a pecuniary payment of so much a head. And a festival\nwas to be celebrated every spring with rites exactly like those which were\nobserved on the night of the great slaughter. The divine command was\nobeyed, and the festival thus instituted was the Passover.(465)\n\n(M139) The one thing that looms clear through the haze of this weird\ntradition is the memory of a great massacre of firstborn. This was the\norigin, we are told, both of the sanctity of the firstborn and of the\nfeast of the Passover. But when we are further told that the people whose\nfirstborn were slaughtered on that occasion were not the Hebrews but their\nenemies, we are at once met by serious difficulties. Why, we may ask,\nshould the Israelites kill the firstlings of their cattle for ever because\nGod once killed those of the Egyptians? and why should every Hebrew father\nhave to pay God a ransom for his firstborn child because God once slew all\nthe firstborn children of the Egyptians? In this form the tradition offers\nno intelligible explanation of the custom. But it at once becomes clear\nand intelligible when we assume that in the original version of the story\nit was the Hebrew firstborn that were slain; that in fact the slaughter of\nthe firstborn children was formerly, what the slaughter of the firstborn\ncattle always continued to be, not an isolated butchery but a regular\ncustom, which with the growth of more humane sentiments was afterwards\nsoftened into the vicarious sacrifice of a lamb and the payment of a\nransom for each child. Here the reader may be reminded of another Hebrew\ntradition in which the sacrifice of the firstborn child is indicated still\nmore clearly. Abraham, we are informed, was commanded by God to offer up\nhis firstborn son Isaac as a burnt sacrifice, and was on the point of\nobeying the divine command, when God, content with this proof of his faith\nand obedience, substituted for the human victim a ram, which Abraham\naccordingly sacrificed instead of his son.(466) Putting the two traditions\ntogether and observing how exactly they dovetail into each other and into\nthe later Hebrew practice of actually sacrificing the firstborn children\nby fire to Baal or Moloch, we can hardly resist the conclusion that,\nbefore the practice of redeeming them was introduced, the Hebrews, like\nthe other branches of the Semitic race, regularly sacrificed their\nfirstborn children by the fire or the knife. The Passover, if this view is\nright, was the occasion when the awful sacrifice was offered; and the\ntradition of its origin has preserved in its main outlines a vivid memory\nof the horrors of these fearful nights. They must have been like the\nnights called Evil on the west coast of Africa, when the people kept\nindoors, because the executioners were going about the streets and the\nheads of the human victims were falling in the king\u2019s palace.(467) But\nseen in the lurid light of superstition or of legend they were no common\nmortals, no vulgar executioners, who did the dreadful work at the first\nPassover. The Angel of Death was abroad that night; into every house he\nentered, and a sound of lamentation followed him as he came forth with his\ndripping sword. The blood that bespattered the lintel and door-posts would\nat first be the blood of the firstborn child of the house; and when the\nblood of a lamb was afterwards substituted, we may suppose that it was\nintended not so much to appease as to cheat the ghastly visitant. Seeing\nthe red drops in the doorway he would say to himself, \u201cThat is the blood\nof their child. I need not turn in there. I have many yet to slay before\nthe morning breaks grey in the east.\u201d And he would pass on in haste. And\nthe trembling parents, as they clasped their little one to their breast,\nmight fancy that they heard his footfalls growing fainter and fainter down\nthe street. In plain words, we may surmise that the slaughter was\noriginally done by masked men, like the Mumbo Jumbos and similar figures\nof west Africa, who went from house to house and were believed by the\nuninitiated to be the deity or his divine messengers come in person to\ncarry off the victims. When the leaders had decided to allow the sacrifice\nof animals instead of children, they would give the people a hint that if\nthey only killed a lamb and smeared its blood on the door-posts, the\nbloodthirsty but near-sighted deity would never know the difference.\n\n(M140) The attempt to outwit a malignant and dangerous spirit is common,\nand might be illustrated by many examples. Some instances will be noticed\nin a later part of this work. Here a single one may suffice. The Malays\nbelieve in a Spectral Huntsman, who ranges the forest with a pack of\nghostly dogs, and whose apparition bodes sickness or death. Certain birds\nwhich fly in flocks by night uttering a loud and peculiar note are\nsupposed to follow in his train. Hence when Perak peasants hear the weird\nsound, they run out and make a clatter with a knife on a wooden platter,\ncrying, \u201cGreat-grandfather, bring us their hearts!\u201d The Spectral Huntsman,\nhearing these words, will take the supplicants for followers of his own\nasking to share his bag. So he will spare the household and pass on, and\nthe tumult of the wild hunt will die away in the darkness and the\ndistance.(468)\n\n(M141) If this be indeed the origin of the Passover and of the sanctity of\nthe firstborn among the Hebrews, the whole of the Semitic evidence on the\nsubject is seen to fall into line at once. The children whom the\nCarthaginians, Phoenicians, Canaanites, Moabites, Sepharvites, and\nprobably other branches of the Semitic race burnt in the fire would be\ntheir firstborn only, although in general ancient writers have failed to\nindicate this limitation of the custom. For the Moabites, indeed, the\nlimitation is clearly indicated, if not expressly stated, when we read\nthat the king of Moab offered his eldest son, who should have reigned\nafter him, as a burnt sacrifice on the wall.(469) For the Phoenicians it\ncomes out less distinctly in the statement of Porphyry that the\nPhoenicians used to sacrifice one of their dearest to Baal, and in the\nlegend recorded by Philo of Byblus that Cronus sacrificed his\nonly-begotten son.(470) We may suppose that the custom of sacrificing the\nfirstborn both of men and animals was a very ancient Semitic institution,\nwhich many branches of the race kept up within historical times; but that\nthe Hebrews, while they maintained the custom in regard to domestic\ncattle, were led by their loftier morality to discard it in respect of\nchildren, and to replace it by a merciful law that firstborn children\nshould be ransomed instead of sacrificed.(471)\n\n(M142) The conclusion that the Hebrew custom of redeeming the firstborn is\na modification of an older custom of sacrificing them has been mentioned\nby some very distinguished scholars only to be rejected on the ground,\napparently, of its extreme improbability.(472) To me the converging lines\nof evidence which point to this conclusion seem too numerous and too\ndistinct to be thus lightly brushed aside. And the argument from\nimprobability can easily be rebutted by pointing to other peoples who are\nknown to have practised or to be still practising a custom of the same\nsort. In some tribes of New South Wales the firstborn child of every woman\nwas eaten by the tribe as part of a religious ceremony.(473) Among the\naborigines on the lower portions of the Paroo and Warrego rivers, which\njoin the Darling River in New South Wales, girls used to become wives when\nthey were mere children and to be mothers at fourteen, and the old custom\nwas to kill the firstborn child by strangulation.(474) Again, among the\ntribes about Maryborough in Queensland a girl\u2019s first child was almost\nalways exposed and left to perish.(475) In the tribes about Beltana, in\nSouth Australia, girls were married at fourteen, and it was customary to\ndestroy their firstborn.(476) The natives of Rook, an island off the east\ncoast of New Guinea, used to kill all their firstborn children; they\nprided themselves on their humanity in burying the murdered infants\ninstead of eating them as their barbarous neighbours did. They spared the\nsecond child but killed the third, and so on alternately with the rest of\ntheir offspring.(477) Chinese history reports that in a state called\nKhai-muh, to the east of Yueh, it was customary to devour the firstborn\nsons,(478) and further, that to the west of Kiao-chi or Tonquin \u201cthere was\na realm of man-eaters, where the firstborn son was, as a rule, chopped\ninto pieces and eaten, and his younger brothers were nevertheless regarded\nto have fulfilled their fraternal duties towards him. And if he proved to\nbe appetizing food, they sent some of his flesh to their chieftains, who,\nexhilarated, gave the father a reward.\u201d(479) In India, down to the\nbeginning of the nineteenth century, the custom of sacrificing a firstborn\nchild to the Ganges was common.(480) Again, we are told that among the\nHindoos \u201cthe firstborn has always held a peculiarly sacred position,\nespecially if born in answer to a vow to parents who have long been\nwithout offspring, in which case sacrifice of the child was common in\nIndia. The Mairs used to sacrifice a firstborn son to Mata, the small-pox\ngoddess.\u201d(481)\n\n(M143) The Borans, on the southern borders of Abyssinia, propitiate a\nsky-spirit called Wak by sacrificing their children and cattle to him.\nAmong them when a man of any standing marries, he becomes a Raba, as it is\ncalled, and for a certain period after marriage, probably four to eight\nyears, he must leave any children that are born to him to die in the bush.\nNo Boran cares to contemplate the fearful calamities with which Wak would\nvisit him if he failed to discharge this duty. After he ceases to be a\nRaba, a man is circumcised and becomes a Gudda. The sky-spirit has no\nclaim on the children born after their father\u2019s circumcision, but they are\nsent away at a very early age to be reared by the Wata, a low caste of\nhunters. They remain with these people till they are grown up, and then\nreturn to their families.(482) In this remarkable custom it would appear\nthat the circumcision of the father is regarded as an atoning sacrifice\nwhich redeems the rest of his children from the spirit to whom they would\notherwise belong. The obscure story told by the Israelites to explain the\norigin of circumcision seems also to suggest that the custom was supposed\nto save the life of the child by giving the deity a substitute for\nit.(483) Again, the Kerre, Banna, and Bashada, three tribes in the valley\nof the Omo River, to the south of Abyssinia, are in the habit of\nstrangling their firstborn children and throwing the bodies away. The\nKerre cast the bodies into the river Omo, where they are devoured by\ncrocodiles; the other two tribes leave them in the forest to be eaten by\nthe hyaenas. The only explanation they give of the custom is that it was\ndecreed by their ancestors. Captain C. H. Stigand enquired into the\npractice very carefully and was told that \u201cfor a certain number of years\nafter marriage children would be thrown away, and after that they would be\nkept. The number of the first children who were strangled, and the period\nof years during which this was done, appears to be variable, but I could\nnot understand what regulated it. There was one point, however, about\nwhich they were certain, and that was that the first-born of all, rich,\npoor, high and low, had to be strangled and thrown away. The chief of the\nKerre said, \u2018If I had a child now, it would have to be thrown away,\u2019\nlaughing as if it were a great joke. What amused him really was that I\nshould be so interested in their custom.\u201d So far as Captain Stigand could\nascertain, there is no idea of sacrificing the children to the crocodiles\nby throwing them into the river. If a Kerre man has a first child born to\nhim while he is on a journey away from the river, he will throw the infant\naway in the forest.(484) In Uganda if the firstborn child of a chief or\nany important person is a son, the midwife strangles it and reports that\nthe infant was still-born. \u201cThis is done to ensure the life of the father;\nif he has a son born first he will soon die, and the child inherit all he\nhas.\u201d(485) Amongst the people of Senjero in eastern Africa we are told\nthat many families must offer up their firstborn 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 in accordance with the advice of the\nsoothsayers was broken down by order of the king, whereupon the seasons\nbecame regular again. To avert the recurrence of such a calamity the\nwizards commanded the king to pour human blood once a year on the base of\nthe broken shaft of the pillar, and also upon the throne. Since then\ncertain families have been obliged to deliver up their firstborn sons, who\nwere sacrificed at an appointed time.(486) Among some tribes of\nsouth-eastern Africa there is a rule that when a woman\u2019s husband has been\nkilled in battle and she marries again, the first child she gives birth to\nafter her second marriage must be put to death, whether she has it by her\nfirst or her second husband. Such a child is called \u201cthe child of the\nassegai,\u201d and if it were not killed, death or an accident would be sure to\nbefall the second spouse, and the woman herself would be barren. The\nnotion is that the woman must have had some share in the misfortune that\novertook her first husband, and that the only way of removing the malign\ninfluence is to slay \u201cthe child of the assegai.\u201d(487)\n\n(M144) The heathen Russians often sacrificed their firstborn to the god\nPerun.(488) It is said that on Mag Slacht or \u201cplain of prostrations,\u201d near\nthe present village of Ballymagauran, in the County Cavan, there used to\nstand a great idol called Cromm Cruach, covered with gold, to which the\nancient Irish sacrificed \u201cthe firstlings of every issue and the chief\nscions of every clan\u201d in order to obtain plenty of corn, honey, and milk.\nRound about the golden image, which was spoken of as the king idol of\nErin, stood twelve other idols of stone.(489) The Kutonaqa Indians of\nBritish Columbia worship the sun and sacrifice their firstborn children to\nhim. When a woman is with child she prays to the sun, saying, \u201cI am with\nchild. When it is born I shall offer it to you. Have pity upon us.\u201d Thus\nthey expect to secure health and good fortune for their families.(490)\nAmong the Coast Salish Indians of the same region the first child is often\nsacrificed to the sun in order to ensure the health and prosperity of the\nwhole family.(491) The Indians of Florida sacrificed their firstborn male\nchildren.(492) Among the Indians of north Carolina down to the early part\nof the eighteenth century a remarkable ceremony was performed, which seems\nto be most naturally interpreted as a modification of an older custom of\nputting the king\u2019s son to death, perhaps as a substitute for his father.\nIt is thus described by a writer of that period: \u201cThey have a strange\ncustom or ceremony amongst them, to call to mind the persecutions and\ndeath of the kings their ancestors slain by their enemies at certain\nseasons, and particularly when the savages have been at war with any\nnation, and return from their country without bringing home some prisoners\nof war, or the heads of their enemies. The king causes as a perpetual\nremembrance of all his predecessors to beat and wound the best beloved of\nall his children with the same weapons wherewith they had been kill\u2019d in\nformer times, to the end that by renewing the wound, their death should be\nlamented afresh. The king and his nation being assembled on these\noccasions, a feast is prepared, and the Indian who is authorised to wound\nthe king\u2019s son, runs about the house like a distracted person crying and\nmaking a most hideous noise all the time with the weapon in his hand,\nwherewith he wounds the king\u2019s son; this he performs three several times,\nduring which interval he presents the king with victuals or _cassena_, and\nit is very strange to see the Indian that is thus struck never offers to\nstir till he is wounded the third time, after which he falls down\nbackwards stretching out his arms and legs as if he had been ready to\nexpire; then the rest of the king\u2019s sons and daughters, together with the\nmother and vast numbers of women and girls, fall at his feet and lament\nand cry most bitterly. During this time the king and his retinue are\nfeasting, yet with such profound silence for some hours, that not one word\nor even a whisper is to be heard amongst them. After this manner they\ncontinue till night, which ends in singing, dancing, and the greatest joy\nimaginable.\u201d(493) In this account the description of the frantic manner\nassumed by the person whose duty it was to wound the king\u2019s son reminds us\nof the frenzy of King Athamas when he took or attempted the lives of his\nchildren.(494) The same feature is said to have characterised the\nsacrifice of children in Peru. \u201cWhen any person of note was sick and the\npriest said he must die, they sacrificed his son, desiring the idol to be\nsatisfied with him and not to take away his father\u2019s life. The ceremonies\nused at these sacrifices were strange, for they behaved themselves like\nmad men. They believed that all calamities were occasioned by sin, and\nthat sacrifices were the remedy.\u201d(495) An early Spanish historian of the\nconquest of Peru, in describing the Indians of the Peruvian valleys\nbetween San-Miguel and Caxamalca, records that \u201cthey have disgusting\nsacrifices and temples of idols which they hold in great veneration; they\noffer them their most precious possessions. Every month they sacrifice\ntheir own children and smear with the blood of the victims the face of the\nidols and the doors of the temples.\u201d(496) In Puruha, a province of Quito,\nit used to be customary to sacrifice the firstborn children to the gods.\nTheir remains were dried, enclosed in vessels of metal or stone, and kept\nin the houses.(497) The Ximanas and Cauxanas, two Indian tribes in the\nupper valley of the Amazon, kill all their firstborn children.(498) If the\nfirstborn is a girl, the Lengua Indians invariably put it to death.(499)\n\n(M145) Among the ancient Italian peoples, especially of the Sabine stock,\nit was customary in seasons of great peril or public calamity, as when the\ncrops had failed or a pestilence was raging, to vow that they would\nsacrifice to the gods every creature, whether man or beast, that should be\nborn in the following spring. To the creatures thus devoted to sacrifice\nthe name of \u201cthe sacred spring\u201d was applied. \u201cBut since,\u201d says Festus, \u201cit\nseemed cruel to slay innocent boys and girls, they were kept till they had\ngrown up, then veiled and driven beyond the boundaries.\u201d(500) Several\nItalian peoples, for example the Piceni, Samnites, and Hirpini, traced\ntheir origin to a \u201csacred spring,\u201d that is, to the consecrated youth who\nhad swarmed off from the parent stock in consequence of such a vow.(501)\nWhen the Romans were engaged in a life-and-death struggle with Hannibal\nafter their great defeat at the Trasimene Lake, they vowed to offer a\n\u201csacred spring\u201d if victory should attend their arms and the commonwealth\nshould retrieve its shattered fortunes. But the vow extended only to all\nthe offspring of sheep, goats, oxen, and swine that should be brought\nforth on Italian mountains, plains, and meadows the following spring.(502)\nOn a later occasion, when the Romans pledged themselves again by a similar\nvow, it was decided that by the \u201csacred spring\u201d should be meant all the\ncattle born between the first day of March and the last day of April.(503)\nAlthough in later times the Italian peoples appear to have resorted to\nmeasures of this sort only in special emergencies, there was a tradition\nthat in former times the consecration of the firstborn to the gods had\nbeen an annual custom.(504) Accordingly, it seems not impossible that\noriginally the Italians may, like the Hebrews and perhaps the Semites in\ngeneral, have been in the habit of dedicating all the firstborn, whether\nof man or beast, and sacrificing them at a great festival in spring.(505)\nThe custom of the \u201csacred spring\u201d was not confined to the Italians, but\nwas practised by many other peoples, both Greeks and barbarians, in\nantiquity.(506)\n\n(M146) Thus it would seem that a custom of putting to death all firstborn\nchildren has prevailed in many parts of the world. What was the motive\nwhich led people to practise a custom which to us seems at once so cruel\nand so foolish? It cannot have been the purely prudential consideration of\nadjusting the numbers of the tribe to the amount of the food-supply; for,\nin the first place, savages do not take such thought for the morrow,(507)\nand, in the second place, if they did, they would be likely to kill the\nlater born children rather than the firstborn. The foregoing evidence\nsuggests that the custom may have been practised by different peoples from\ndifferent motives. With the Semites, the Italians, and their near kinsmen\nthe Irish the sacrifice or at least the consecration of the firstborn\nseems to have been viewed as a tribute paid to the gods, who were thus\ncontent to receive a part though they might justly have claimed the whole.\nIn some cases the death of the child appears to be definitely regarded as\na substitute for the death of the father, who obtains a new lease of life\nby the sacrifice of his offspring. This comes out clearly in the tradition\nof Aun, King of Sweden, who sacrificed one of his sons every nine years to\nOdin in order to prolong his own life.(508) And in Peru also the son died\nthat the father might live.(509) But in some cases it would seem that the\nchild has been killed, not so much as a substitute for the father, as\nbecause it is supposed to endanger his life by absorbing his spiritual\nessence or vital energy. In fact, a belief in the transmigration or\nrebirth of souls has operated to produce a regular custom of infanticide,\nespecially infanticide of the firstborn. At Whydah, on the Slave coast of\nWest Africa, where the doctrine of reincarnation is firmly held, it has\nhappened that a child has been put to death because the fetish doctors\ndeclared it to be the king\u2019s father come to life again. The king naturally\ncould not submit to be pushed from the throne by his predecessor in this\nfashion; so he compelled his supposed parent to return to the world of the\ndead from which he had very inopportunely effected his escape.(510) The\nHindoos are of opinion that a man is literally reborn in the person of his\nson. Thus in the _Laws of Manu_ we read that \u201cthe husband, after\nconception by his wife, becomes an embryo and is born again of her; for\nthat is the wifehood of a wife, that he is born again by her.\u201d(511) Hence\nafter the birth of a son the father is clearly in a very delicate\nposition. Since he is his own son, can he himself, apart from his son, be\nsaid to exist? Does he not rather die in his own person as soon as he\ncomes to life in the person of his son? This appears to be the opinion of\nthe subtle Hindoo, for in some sections of the Khatris, a mercantile caste\nof the Punjaub, funeral rites are actually performed for the father in the\nfifth month of his wife\u2019s pregnancy. But apparently he is allowed, by a\nsort of legal fiction, to come to life again in his own person; for after\nthe birth of his first son he is formally remarried to his wife, which may\nbe regarded as a tacit admission that in the eye of the law at least he is\nalive.(512)\n\n(M147) Now to people who thus conceive the relation of father and son it\nis plain that fatherhood must appear a very dubious privilege; for if you\ndie in begetting a son, can you be quite sure of coming to life again? His\nexistence is at the best a menace to yours, and at the worst it may\ninvolve your extinction. The danger seems to lie especially in the birth\nof your first son; if only you can tide that over, you are, humanly\nspeaking, safe. In fact, it comes to this, Are you to live? or is he? It\nis a painful dilemma. Parental affection urges you to die that he may\nlive. Self-love whispers, \u201cLive and let him die. You are in the flower of\nyour age. You adorn the circle in which you move. You are useful, nay,\nindispensable, to society. He is a mere babe. He never will be missed.\u201d\nSuch a train of thought, preposterous as it seems to us, might easily lead\nto a custom of killing the firstborn.(513)\n\n(M148) Further, the same notion of the rebirth of the father in his eldest\nson would explain the remarkable rule of succession which prevailed in\nPolynesia and particularly in Tahiti, where as soon as the king had a son\nborn to him he was obliged to abdicate the throne in favour of the infant.\nWhatever might be the king\u2019s age, his influence in the state, or the\npolitical situation of affairs, no sooner was the child born than the\nmonarch became a subject: the infant was at once proclaimed the sovereign\nof the people: the royal name was conferred upon him, and his father was\nthe first to do him homage, by saluting his feet and declaring him king.\nAll matters, however, of importance which concerned either the internal\nwelfare or the foreign relations of the country continued to be transacted\nby the father and his councillors; but every edict was issued in the name\nand on the behalf of the youthful monarch, and though the whole of the\nexecutive government might remain in the hands of the father, he only\nacted as regent for his son, and was regarded as such by the nation. The\nlands and other sources of revenue were appropriated to the maintenance of\nthe infant ruler, his household, and his attendants; the insignia of royal\nauthority were transferred to him, and his father rendered him all those\nmarks of humble respect which he had hitherto exacted from his subjects.\nThis custom of succession was not confined to the family of the sovereign,\nit extended also to the nobles and the landed gentry; they, too, had to\nresign their rank, honours, and possessions on the birth of a son. A man\nwho but yesterday was a baron, not to be approached by his inferiors till\nthey had ceremoniously bared the whole of the upper part of their bodies,\nwas to-day reduced to the rank of a mere commoner with none to do him\nreverence, if in the night time his wife had given birth to a son, and the\nchild had been suffered to live. The father indeed still continued to\nadminister the estate, but he did so for the benefit of the infant, to\nwhom it now belonged, and to whom all the marks of respect were at once\ntransferred.(514)\n\n(M149) This singular usage becomes intelligible if the spirit of the\nfather was supposed to quit him at the birth of his first son and to\nreappear in the infant. Such a belief and such a practice would, it is\nobvious, supply a powerful motive to infanticide, since a father could not\nrear his firstborn son without thereby relinquishing the honours and\npossessions to which he had been accustomed. The sacrifice was a heavy\none, and we need not wonder if many men refused to make it. Certainly\ninfanticide was practised in Polynesia to an extraordinary extent. The\nfirst missionaries estimated that not less than two-thirds of the children\nwere murdered by their parents, and this estimate has been confirmed by a\ncareful enquirer. It would seem that before the introduction of\nChristianity there was not a single mother in the islands who was not also\na murderess, having imbrued her hands in the blood of her offspring. Three\nnative women, the eldest not more than forty years of age, happened once\nto be in a room where the conversation turned on infanticide, and they\nconfessed to having destroyed not less than twenty-one infants between\nthem.(515) It would doubtless be a gross mistake to lay the whole blame of\nthese massacres on the doctrine of reincarnation, but we can hardly doubt\nthat it instigated a great many. Once more we perceive the fatal\nconsequences that may flow in practice from a theoretical error.\n\n(M150) In some places the abdication of the father does not take place\nuntil the son is grown up. This was the general practice in Fiji.(516) In\nRaratonga as soon as a son reached manhood, he would fight and wrestle\nwith his father for the mastery, and if he obtained it he would take\nforcible possession of the farm and drive his parent in destitution from\nhome.(517) Among the Corannas of South Africa the youthful son of a chief\nis hardly allowed to walk, but has to idle away his time in the hut and to\ndrink much milk in order that he may grow strong. When he has attained to\nmanhood his father produces two short, bullet-headed sticks and presents\none to his son, while he keeps the other for himself. Armed with these\nweapons the two often fight, and when the son succeeds in knocking his\nparent down he is acknowledged chief of the kraal.(518) But such customs\nprobably do not imply the theory of rebirth; they may only be applications\nof the principle that might is right. Still they would equally supply the\nfather with a motive for killing the infant son who, if suffered to live,\nwould one day strip him of his rank and possessions.\n\n(M151) Perhaps customs of this sort have left traces of themselves in\nGreek myth and legend. Cronus or Saturn, as the Romans called him, is said\nto have been the youngest son of the sky-god Uranus, and to have mutilated\nhis father and reigned in his stead as king of gods and men. Afterwards he\nwas warned by an oracle that he himself should be deposed by his son. To\nprevent that catastrophe Cronus swallowed his children, one after the\nother, as soon as they were born. Only the youngest of them, Zeus, was\nsaved through a trick of his mother\u2019s, and in time he fulfilled the oracle\nby banishing his father and sitting on his throne. But Zeus in his turn\nwas told that his wife Metis would give birth to a son who would supplant\nhim in the kingdom of heaven. Accordingly, to rid himself of his future\nrival he resorted to a device like that which his father Cronus had\nemployed for a similar purpose. Only instead of waiting till the child was\nborn and then devouring it, he made assurance doubly sure by swallowing\nhis wife with the unborn babe in her womb.(519) Such barbarous myths\nbecome intelligible if we suppose that they took their rise among people\nwho were accustomed to see grown-up sons supplanting their fathers by\nforce, and fathers murdering and perhaps eating their infants in order to\nsecure themselves against their future rivalry. We have met with instances\nof savage tribes who are said to devour their firstborn children.(520)\n\n(M152) The legend that Laius, king of Thebes, exposed his infant son\nOedipus, who afterwards slew his father and sat on the throne, may well be\na reminiscence of a state of things in which father and son regularly\nplotted against each other. The other feature of the story, to wit the\nmarriage of Oedipus with the widowed queen, his mother, fits in very well\nwith the rule which has prevailed in some countries that a valid title to\nthe throne is conferred by marriage with the late king\u2019s widow. That\ncustom probably arose, as I have endeavoured to shew,(521) in an age when\nthe blood-royal ran in the female line, and when the king was a man of\nanother family, often a stranger and foreigner, who reigned only in virtue\nof being the consort of a native princess, and whose sons never succeeded\nhim on the throne. But in process of time, when fathers had ceased to\nregard the birth of a son as a menace to their life, or at least to their\nregal power, kings would naturally scheme to secure the succession for\ntheir own male offspring, and this new practice could be reconciled with\nthe old one by marrying the king\u2019s son either to his own sister or, after\nhis father\u2019s decease, to his stepmother. We have seen marriage with a\nstepmother actually enjoined for this very purpose by some of the Saxon\nkings.(522) And on this hypothesis we can understand why the custom of\nmarriage with a full or a half sister has prevailed in so many royal\nfamilies.(523) It was introduced, we may suppose, for the purpose of\ngiving the king\u2019s son the right of succession hitherto enjoyed, under a\nsystem of female kinship, either by the son of the king\u2019s sister or by the\nhusband of the king\u2019s daughter; for under the new rule the heir to the\nthrone united both these characters, being at once the son of the king\u2019s\nsister and, through marriage with his own sister, the husband of the\nking\u2019s daughter. Thus the custom of brother and sister marriage in royal\nhouses marks a transition from female to male descent of the crown.(524)\nIn this connexion it may be significant that Cronus and Zeus themselves\nmarried their full sisters Rhea and Hera, a tradition which naturally\nproved a stone of stumbling to generations who had forgotten the ancient\nrule of policy which dictated such incestuous unions, and who had so far\ninverted the true relations of gods and men as to expect their deities to\nbe edifying models of the new virtues instead of warning examples of the\nold vices.(525) They failed to understand that men create their gods in\ntheir own likeness, and that when the creator is a savage, his creatures\nthe gods are savages also.\n\n(M153) With the preceding evidence before us we may safely infer that a\ncustom of allowing a king to kill his son, as a substitute or vicarious\nsacrifice for himself, would be in no way exceptional or surprising, at\nleast in Semitic lands, where indeed religion seems at one time to have\nrecommended or enjoined every man, as a duty that he owed to his god, to\ntake the life of his eldest son. And it would be entirely in accordance\nwith analogy if, long after the barbarous custom had been dropped by\nothers, it continued to be observed by kings, who remain in many respects\nthe representatives of a vanished world, solitary pinnacles that topple\nover the rising waste of waters under which the past lies buried. We have\nseen that in Greece two families of royal descent remained liable to\nfurnish human victims from their number down to a time when the rest of\ntheir fellow countrymen and countrywomen ran hardly more risk of being\nsacrificed than passengers in Cheapside at present run of being hurried\ninto St. Paul\u2019s or Bow Church and immolated on the altar. A final\nmitigation of the custom would be to substitute condemned criminals for\ninnocent victims. Such a substitution is known to have taken place in the\nhuman sacrifices annually offered in Rhodes to Baal,(526) and we have seen\ngood grounds for believing that the criminal, who perished on the cross or\nthe gallows at Babylon, died instead of the king in whose royal robes he\nhad been allowed to masquerade for a few days.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII. SUCCESSION TO THE SOUL.\n\n\n(M154) To the view that in early times, and among barbarous races, kings\nhave frequently been put to death at the end of a short reign, it may be\nobjected that such a custom would tend to the extinction of the royal\nfamily. The objection may be met by observing, first, that the kingship is\noften not confined to one family, but may be shared in turn by\nseveral;(527) second, that the office is frequently not hereditary, but is\nopen to men of any family, even to foreigners, who may fulfil the\nrequisite conditions, such as marrying a princess or vanquishing the king\nin battle;(528) and, third, that even if the custom did tend to the\nextinction of a dynasty, that is not a consideration which would prevent\nits observance among people less provident of the future and less heedful\nof human life than ourselves. Many races, like many individuals have\nindulged in practices which must in the end destroy them. Not to mention\nsuch customs as collective suicide and the prohibition of marriage,(529)\nboth of which may be set down to religious mania, we have seen that the\nPolynesians killed two-thirds of their children.(530) In some parts of\nEast Africa the proportion of infants massacred at birth is said to be the\nsame. Only children born in certain presentations are allowed to\nlive.(531) The Jagas, a conquering tribe in Angola, are reported to have\nput to death all their children, without exception, in order that the\nwomen might not be cumbered with babies on the march. They recruited their\nnumbers by adopting boys and girls of thirteen or fourteen years of age,\nwhose parents they had killed and eaten.(532) Among the Mbaya Indians of\nSouth America the women used to murder all their children except the last,\nor the one they believed to be the last. If one of them had another child\nafterwards, she killed it.(533) We need not wonder that this practice\nentirely destroyed a branch of the Mbaya nation, who had been for many\nyears the most formidable enemies of the Spaniards.(534) Among the Lengua\nIndians of the Gran Chaco the missionaries discovered what they describe\nas \u201ca carefully planned system of racial suicide, by the practice of\ninfanticide by abortion, and other methods.\u201d(535) Nor is infanticide the\nonly mode in which a savage tribe commits suicide. A lavish use of the\npoison ordeal may be equally effective. Some time ago a small tribe named\nUwet came down from the hill country, and settled on the left branch of\nthe Calabar river in West Africa. When the missionaries first visited the\nplace, they found the population considerable, distributed into three\nvillages. Since then the constant use of the poison ordeal has almost\nextinguished the tribe. On one occasion the whole population took poison\nto prove their innocence. About half perished on the spot, and the\nremnant, we are told, still continuing their superstitious practice, must\nsoon become extinct.(536) With such examples before us we need not\nhesitate to believe that many tribes have felt no scruple or delicacy in\nobserving a custom which tends to wipe out a single family. To attribute\nsuch scruples to them is to commit the common, the perpetually repeated\nmistake of judging the savage by the standard of European civilisation. If\nany of my readers set out with the notion that all races of men think and\nact much in the same way as educated Englishmen, the evidence of\nsuperstitious belief and custom collected in the volumes of this work\nshould suffice to disabuse him of so erroneous a prepossession.\n\n(M155) The 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 except in the case of the Shilluk, among whom the\npractice of killing the divine king prevails in a typical form, and with\nwhom it is a fundamental article of faith that the soul of the divine\nfounder of the dynasty is immanent in every one of his slain\nsuccessors.(537) But if this is the only actual example of such a belief\nwhich I can adduce, analogy seems to render it probable that a similar\nsuccession to the soul of the slain god has been supposed to take place in\nother instances, though direct evidence of it is wanting. For it has been\nalready shewn that the soul of the incarnate deity is often supposed to\ntransmigrate at death into another incarnation;(538) and if this takes\nplace when the death is a natural one, there seems no reason why it should\nnot take place when the death has been brought about by violence.\nCertainly the idea that the soul of a dying person may be transmitted to\nhis successor is perfectly familiar to primitive peoples. In Nias the\neldest son usually succeeds his father in the chieftainship. But if from\nany bodily or mental defect the eldest son is disqualified for ruling, the\nfather determines in his lifetime which of his sons shall succeed him. In\norder, however, to establish his right of succession, it is necessary that\nthe son upon whom his father\u2019s choice falls shall catch in his mouth or in\na bag the last breath, and with it the soul, of the dying chief. For\nwhoever catches his last breath is chief equally with the appointed\nsuccessor. Hence the other brothers, and sometimes also strangers, crowd\nround the dying man to catch his soul as it passes. The houses in Nias are\nraised above the ground on posts, and it has happened that when the dying\nman lay with his face on the floor, one of the candidates has bored a hole\nin the floor and sucked in the chief\u2019s last breath through a bamboo tube.\nWhen the chief has no son, his soul is caught in a bag, which is fastened\nto an image made to represent the deceased; the soul is then believed to\npass into the image.(539)\n\n(M156) Amongst the Takilis or Carrier Indians of North-West America, when\na corpse was burned the priest pretended to catch the soul of the deceased\nin his hands, which he closed with many gesticulations. He then\ncommunicated the captured soul to the dead man\u2019s successor by throwing his\nhands towards and blowing upon him. The person to whom the soul was thus\ncommunicated took the name and rank of the deceased. On the death of a\nchief the priest thus filled a responsible and influential position, for\nhe might transmit the soul to whom he would, though doubtless he generally\nfollowed the regular line of succession.(540) In Guatemala, when a great\nman lay at the point of death, they put a precious stone between his lips\nto receive the parting soul, and this was afterwards kept as a memorial by\nhis nearest kinsman or most intimate friend.(541) Algonquin women who\nwished to become mothers flocked to the side of a dying person in the hope\nof receiving and being impregnated by the passing soul. Amongst the\nSeminoles of Florida when a woman died in childbed the infant was held\nover her face to receive her parting spirit.(542) When infants died within\na month or two of birth, the Huron Indians did not lay them in bark\ncoffins on poles, as they did with other corpses, but buried them beside\nthe paths, in order that they might secretly enter into the wombs of\npassing women and be born again.(543) The Tonquinese cover the face of a\ndying person with a handkerchief, and at the moment when he breathes his\nlast, they fold up the handkerchief carefully, thinking that they have\ncaught the soul in it.(544) The Romans caught the breath of dying friends\nin their mouths, and so received into themselves the soul of the\ndeparted.(545) The same custom is said to be still practised in\nLancashire.(546)\n\n(M157) On the seventh day after the death of a king of Gingiro the\nsorcerers bring to his successor, wrapt in a piece of silk, a worm which\nthey say comes from the nose of the dead king; and they make the new king\nkill the worm by squeezing its head between his teeth.(547) The ceremony\nseems to be intended to convey the spirit of the deceased monarch to his\nsuccessor. The Danakil or Afars of eastern Africa believe that the soul of\na magician will be born again in the first male descendant of the man who\nwas most active in attending on the dying magician in his last hours.\nHence when a magician is ill he receives many attentions.(548) In Uganda\nthe spirit of the king who had been the last to die manifested itself from\ntime to time in the person of a priest, who was prepared for the discharge\nof this exalted function by a peculiar ceremony. When the body of the king\nhad been embalmed and had lain for five months in the tomb, which was a\nhouse built specially for it, the head was severed from the body and laid\nin an ant-hill. Having been stript of flesh by the insects, the skull was\nwashed in a particular river (the Ndyabuworu) and filled with native beer.\nOne of the late king\u2019s priests then drank the beer out of the skull and\nthus became himself a vessel meet to receive the spirit of the deceased\nmonarch. The skull was afterwards replaced in the tomb, but the lower jaw\nwas separated from it and deposited in a jar; and this jar, being swathed\nin bark-cloth and decorated with beads so as to look like a man,\nhenceforth represented the late king. A house was built for its reception\nin the shape of a beehive and divided into two rooms, an inner and an\nouter. Any person might enter the outer room, but in the inner room the\nspirit of the dead king was supposed to dwell. In front of the partition\nwas set a throne covered with lion and leopard skins, and fenced off from\nthe rest of the chamber by a rail of spears, shields, and knives, most of\nthem made of copper and brass, and beautifully worked. When the priest,\nwho had fitted himself to receive the king\u2019s spirit, desired to converse\nwith the people in the king\u2019s name, he went to the throne and addressing\nthe spirit in the inner room informed him of the business in hand. Then he\nsmoked one or two pipes of tobacco, and in a few minutes began to rave,\nwhich was a sign that the spirit had entered into him. In this condition\nhe spoke with the voice and made known the wishes of the late king. When\nhe had done so, the spirit left him and returned into the inner room, and\nhe himself departed a mere man as before.(549) Every year at the new moon\nof September the king of Sofala in eastern Africa used to perform\nobsequies for the kings, his predecessors, on the top of a high mountain,\nwhere they were buried. In the course of the lamentations for the dead,\nthe soul of the king who had died last used to enter into a man who\nimitated the deceased monarch, both in voice and gesture. The living king\nconversed with this man as with his dead father, consulting him in regard\nto the affairs of the kingdom and receiving his oracular replies.(550)\nThese examples shew that provision is often made for the ghostly\nsuccession of kings and chiefs. In the Hausa kingdom of Daura, in Northern\nNigeria, where the kings used regularly to be put to death on the first\nsymptoms of failing health, the new king had to step over the corpse of\nhis predecessor and to be bathed in the blood of a black ox, the skin of\nwhich then served as a shroud for the body of the late king.(551) The\nceremony may well have been intended to convey the spirit of the dead king\nto his successor. Certainly we know that many primitive peoples attribute\na magical virtue to the act of stepping over a person.(552)\n\n(M158) Sometimes it would appear that the spiritual link between a king\nand the souls of his predecessors is formed by the possession of some part\nof their persons. In southern Celebes, as we have seen, the regalia often\nconsist of corporeal portions of deceased rajahs, which are treasured as\nsacred relics and confer the right to the throne.(553) Similarly among the\nSakalavas of southern Madagascar a vertebra of the neck, a nail, and a\nlock of hair of a deceased king are placed in a crocodile\u2019s tooth and\ncarefully kept along with the similar relics of his predecessors in a\nhouse set apart for the purpose. The possession of these relics\nconstitutes the right to the throne. A legitimate heir who should be\ndeprived of them would lose all his authority over the people, and on the\ncontrary a usurper who should make himself master of the relics would be\nacknowledged king without dispute. It has sometimes happened that a\nrelation of the reigning monarch has stolen the crocodile teeth with their\nprecious contents, and then had himself proclaimed king. Accordingly, when\nthe Hovas invaded the country, knowing the superstition of the natives,\nthey paid less attention to the living king than to the relics of the\ndead, which they publicly exhibited under a strong guard on pretext of\npaying them the honours that were their due.(554) In antiquity, when a\nking of the Panebian Libyans died, his people buried the body but cut off\nthe head, and having covered it with gold they dedicated it in a\nsanctuary.(555) Among the Masai of East Africa, when an important chief\nhas been dead and buried for a year, his eldest son or other successor\nremoves the skull of the deceased, while he at the same time offers a\nsacrifice and a libation with goat\u2019s blood, milk, and honey. He then\ncarefully secrets the skull, the possession of which is understood to\nconfirm him in power and to impart to him some of the wisdom of his\npredecessor.(556) When the Alake or king of Abeokuta in West Africa dies,\nthe principal men decapitate his body, and placing the head in a large\nearthen vessel deliver it to the new sovereign; it becomes his fetish and\nhe is bound to pay it honours.(557) Similarly, when the Jaga or King of\nCassange, in Angola, has departed this life, an official extracts a tooth\nfrom the deceased monarch and presents it to his successor, who deposits\nit along with the teeth of former kings in a box, which is the sole\nproperty of the crown and without which no Jaga can legitimately exercise\nthe regal power.(558) Sometimes, in order apparently that the new\nsovereign may inherit more surely the magical and other virtues of the\nroyal line, he is required to eat a piece of his dead predecessor. Thus at\nAbeokuta not only was the head of the late king presented to his\nsuccessor, but the tongue was cut out and given him to eat. Hence, when\nthe natives wish to signify that the sovereign reigns, they say, \u201cHe has\neaten the king.\u201d(559) A custom of the same sort is still practised at\nIbadan, a large town in the interior of Lagos, West Africa. When the king\ndies his head is cut off and sent to his nominal suzerain, the Alafin of\nOyo, the paramount king of Yoruba land; but his heart is eaten by his\nsuccessor. This ceremony was performed a few years ago at the accession of\na new king of Ibadan.(560)\n\n(M159) Taking the whole of the preceding evidence into account, we may\nfairly suppose that when the divine king or priest is put to death his\nspirit is believed to pass into his successor. In point of fact we have\nseen that among the Shilluk of the White Nile, who regularly kill their\ndivine kings, every king on his accession has to perform a ceremony which\nappears designed to convey to him the same sacred and worshipful spirit\nwhich animated all his predecessors, one after the other, on the\nthrone.(561)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII. THE KILLING OF THE TREE-SPIRIT.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 1. The Whitsuntide Mummers.\n\n\n(M160) It remains to ask what light the custom of killing the divine king\nor priest sheds upon the special subject of our enquiry. In the first part\nof this work we saw reason to suppose that the King of the Wood at Nemi\nwas regarded as an incarnation of a tree-spirit or of the spirit of\nvegetation, and that as such he would be endowed, in the belief of his\nworshippers, with a magical power of making the trees to bear fruit, the\ncrops to grow, and so on.(562) His life must therefore have been held very\nprecious by his worshippers, and was probably hedged in by a system of\nelaborate precautions or taboos like those by which, in so many places,\nthe life of the man-god has been guarded against the malignant influence\nof demons and sorcerers. But we have seen that the very value attached to\nthe life of the man-god necessitates his violent death as the only means\nof preserving it from the inevitable decay of age. The same reasoning\nwould apply to the King of the Wood; he, too, had to be killed in order\nthat the divine spirit, incarnate in him, might be transferred in its\nintegrity to his successor. The rule that he held office till a stronger\nshould slay him might be supposed to secure both the preservation of his\ndivine life in full vigour and its transference to a suitable successor as\nsoon as that vigour began to be impaired. For so long as he could maintain\nhis position by the strong hand, it might be inferred that his natural\nforce was not abated; whereas his defeat and death at the hands of another\nproved that his strength was beginning to fail and that it was time his\ndivine life should be lodged in a less dilapidated tabernacle. This\nexplanation of the rule that the King of the Wood had to be slain by his\nsuccessor at least renders that rule perfectly intelligible. It is\nstrongly supported by the theory and practice of the Shilluk, who put\ntheir divine king to death at the first signs of failing health, lest his\ndecrepitude should entail a corresponding failure of vital energy on the\ncorn, the cattle, and men.(563) Moreover, it is countenanced by the\nanalogy of the Chitom\u00e9, upon whose life the existence of the world was\nsupposed to hang, and who was therefore slain by his successor as soon as\nhe shewed signs of breaking up. Again, the terms on which in later times\nthe King of Calicut held office are identical with those attached to the\noffice of King of the Wood, except that whereas the former might be\nassailed by a candidate at any time, the King of Calicut might only be\nattacked once every twelve years. But as the leave granted to the King of\nCalicut to reign so long as he could defend himself against all comers was\na mitigation of the old rule which set a fixed term to his life,(564) so\nwe may conjecture that the similar permission granted to the King of the\nWood was a mitigation of an older custom of putting him to death at the\nend of a definite period. In both cases the new rule gave to the god-man\nat least a chance for his life, which under the old rule was denied him;\nand people probably reconciled themselves to the change by reflecting that\nso long as the god-man could maintain himself by the sword against all\nassaults, there was no reason to apprehend that the fatal decay had set\nin.\n\n(M161) The conjecture that the King of the Wood was formerly put to death\nat the expiry of a fixed term, without being allowed a chance for his\nlife, will be confirmed if evidence can be adduced of a custom of\nperiodically killing his counterparts, the human representatives of the\ntree-spirit, in Northern Europe. Now in point of fact such a custom has\nleft unmistakable traces of itself in the rural festivals of the\npeasantry. To take examples.\n\n(M162) At Niederp\u00f6ring, in Lower Bavaria, the Whitsuntide representative\nof the tree-spirit\u2014the _Pfingstl_ as he was called\u2014was clad from top to\ntoe in leaves and flowers. On his head he wore a high pointed cap, the\nends of which rested on his shoulders, only two holes being left in it for\nhis eyes. The cap was covered with water-flowers and surmounted with a\nnosegay of peonies. The sleeves of his coat were also made of\nwater-plants, and the rest of his body was enveloped in alder and hazel\nleaves. On each side of him marched a boy holding up one of the\n_Pfingstl\u2019s_ arms. These two boys carried drawn swords, and so did most of\nthe others who formed the procession. They stopped at every house where\nthey hoped to receive a present; and the people, in hiding, soused the\nleaf-clad boy with water. All rejoiced when he was well drenched. Finally\nhe waded into the brook up to his middle; whereupon one of the boys,\nstanding on the bridge, pretended to cut off his head.(565) At Wurmlingen,\nin Swabia, a score of young fellows dress themselves on Whit-Monday in\nwhite shirts and white trousers, with red scarves round their waists and\nswords hanging from the scarves. They ride on horseback into the wood, led\nby two trumpeters blowing their trumpets. In the wood they cut down leafy\noak branches, in which they envelop from head to foot him who was the last\nof their number to ride out of the village. His legs, however, are encased\nseparately, so that he may be able to mount his horse again. Further, they\ngive him a long artificial neck, with an artificial head and a false face\non the top of it. Then a May-tree is cut, generally an aspen or beech\nabout ten feet high; and being decked with coloured handkerchiefs and\nribbons it is entrusted to a special \u201cMay-bearer.\u201d The cavalcade then\nreturns with music and song to the village. Amongst the personages who\nfigure in the procession are a Moorish king with a sooty face and a crown\non his head, a Dr. Iron-Beard, a corporal, and an executioner. They halt\non the village green, and each of the characters makes a speech in rhyme.\nThe executioner announces that the leaf-clad man has been condemned to\ndeath, and cuts off his false head. Then the riders race to the May-tree,\nwhich has been set up a little way off. The first man who succeeds in\nwrenching it from the ground as he gallops past keeps it with all its\ndecorations. The ceremony is observed every second or third year.(566)\n\n(M163) In Saxony and Th\u00fcringen there is a Whitsuntide ceremony called\n\u201cchasing the Wild Man out of the bush,\u201d or \u201cfetching the Wild Man out of\nthe Wood.\u201d A young fellow is enveloped in leaves or moss and called the\nWild Man. He hides in the wood and the other lads of the village go out to\nseek him. They find him, lead him captive out of the wood, and fire at him\nwith blank muskets. He falls like dead to the ground, but a lad dressed as\na doctor bleeds him, and he comes to life again. At this they rejoice,\nand, binding him fast on a waggon, take him to the village, where they\ntell all the people how they have caught the Wild Man. At every house they\nreceive a gift.(567) In the Erzgebirge the following custom was annually\nobserved at Shrovetide about the beginning of the seventeenth century. Two\nmen disguised as Wild Men, the one in brushwood and moss, the other in\nstraw, were led about the streets, and at last taken to the market-place,\nwhere they were chased up and down, shot and stabbed. Before falling they\nreeled about with strange gestures and spirted blood on the people from\nbladders which they carried. When they were down the huntsmen placed them\non boards and carried them to the ale-house, the miners marching beside\nthem and winding blasts on their mining tools as if they had taken a noble\nhead of game.(568) A very similar Shrovetide custom is still observed near\nSchluckenau in Bohemia. A man dressed up as a Wild Man is chased through\nseveral streets till he comes to a narrow lane across which a cord is\nstretched. He stumbles over the cord and, falling to the ground, is\novertaken 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(569)\n\n(M164) In 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 the\nKing\u2019s robe of bark till it rings again. Then a gratuity is demanded.(570)\nThe ceremony of decapitation, which is here somewhat slurred over, is\ncarried out with a greater semblance of reality in other parts of Bohemia.\nThus in some villages of the K\u00f6niggr\u00e4tz district on Whit-Monday the girls\nassemble under one lime-tree and the young men under another, all dressed\nin their best and tricked out with ribbons. The young men twine a garland\nfor the Queen, and the girls another for the King. When they have chosen\nthe King and Queen they all go in procession, two and two, to the\nale-house, from the balcony of which the crier proclaims the names of the\nKing and Queen. Both are then invested with the insignia of their office\nand are crowned with the garlands, while the music plays up. Then some one\ngets 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 his Majesty\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.(571)\n\n(M165) But perhaps, for our purpose, the most instructive of these mimic\nexecutions is the following Bohemian one, which has been in part described\nalready.(572) 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 ale-house 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.(573)\n\n(M166) In most of the personages who are thus slain in mimicry it is\nimpossible not to recognise representatives of the tree-spirit or spirit\nof vegetation, as he is supposed to manifest himself in spring. The bark,\nleaves, and flowers in which the actors are dressed, and the season of the\nyear at which they appear, shew that they belong to the same class as the\nGrass King, King of the May, Jack-in-the-Green, and other representatives\nof the vernal spirit of vegetation which we examined in the first part of\nthis work.(574) As if to remove any possible doubt on this head, we find\nthat in two cases(575) these slain men are brought into direct connexion\nwith May-trees, which are the impersonal, as the May King, Grass King, and\nso forth, are the personal representatives of the tree-spirit. The\ndrenching of the _Pfingstl_ with water and his wading up to the middle\ninto the brook are, therefore, no doubt rain-charms like those which have\nbeen already described.(576)\n\n(M167) But if these personages represent, as they certainly do, the spirit\nof vegetation 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 probable answer to\nthis question 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 merely 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 plant life\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. So in\nthe Saxon and Th\u00fcringen custom, after the Wild Man has been shot he is\nbrought to life again by a doctor;(577) and in the Wurmlingen ceremony\nthere figures a Dr. Iron-Beard, who probably once played a similar part;\ncertainly in another spring ceremony, which will be described presently,\nDr. Iron-Beard pretends to restore a dead man to life. But of this revival\nor resurrection of the god we shall have more to say anon.\n\n(M168) The points of similarity between these North European personages\nand the subject of our enquiry\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 the king in fact 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 every one of these instances the life of the god-man is prolonged\non condition of his shewing, in a severe physical contest of fight or\nflight, that his bodily strength is not decayed, and that, therefore, the\nviolent death, which sooner or later is inevitable, may for the present be\npostponed. With regard to flight it is noticeable that flight figured\nconspicuously both in the legend and in the practice of the King of the\nWood. He had to be a runaway slave 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(578) 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. I have already conjectured that the annual flight of\nthe priestly king at Rome (_regifugium_) was at first a flight of the same\nkind; in other words, that he was originally one of those divine kings who\nare either put to death after a fixed period or allowed to prove by the\nstrong hand or the fleet foot that their divinity is vigorous and\nunimpaired.(579) One more point of resemblance may be noted between the\nItalian King of the Wood and his northern counterparts. In Saxony and\nTh\u00fcringen the representative of the tree-spirit, after being killed, is\nbrought to life again by a doctor. This is exactly what legend affirmed to\nhave happened to the first King of the Wood at Nemi, Hippolytus or\nVirbius, who after he had been killed by his horses was restored to life\nby the physician Aesculapius.(580) Such a legend tallies well with the\ntheory that the slaying of the King of the Wood was only a step to his\nrevival or resurrection in his successor.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 2. Mock Human Sacrifices.\n\n\n(M169) In the preceding discussion it has been assumed that the mock\nkilling of the Wild Man and of the King in North European folk-custom is a\nmodern substitute for an ancient custom of killing them in earnest. Those\nwho best know the tenacity of life possessed by folk-custom and its\ntendency, with the growth of civilisation, to dwindle from solemn ritual\ninto mere pageant and pastime, will be least likely to question the truth\nof this assumption. That human sacrifices were commonly offered by the\nancestors of the civilised races of North Europe, Celts, Teutons, and\nSlavs, is certain.(581) It is not, therefore, surprising that the modern\npeasant should do in mimicry what his forefathers did in reality. We know\nas a matter of fact that in other parts of the world mock human sacrifices\nhave been substituted for real ones. Thus in Minahassa, a district of\nCelebes, human victims used to be regularly sacrificed at certain\nfestivals, but through Dutch influence the custom was abolished and a sham\nsacrifice substituted for it. The victim was seated in a chair and all the\nusual preparations were made for sacrificing him, but at the critical\nmoment, when the chief priest had heaved up his flashing swords (for he\nwielded two of them) to deal the fatal stroke, his assistants sprang\nforward, their hands wrapt in cloths, to grasp and arrest the descending\nblades. The precaution was necessary, for the priest was wound up to such\na pitch of excitement that if left alone he might have consummated the\nsacrifice. Afterwards an effigy, made out of the stem of a banana-tree,\nwas substituted for the human victim; and the blood, which might not be\nwanting, was supplied by fowls.(582) Near the native town of Luba, in\nwestern Busoga, a district of central Africa, there is a sacred tree of\nthe species known as _Parinarium_. Its glossy white trunk shoots up to a\nheight of a hundred feet before it sends out branches. The tree is\nsurrounded by small fetish huts and curious arcades. Once when the dry\nseason was drawing to an end and the new crops were not yet ripe, the\nBasoga suffered from hunger. So they came to the sacred tree in canoes, of\nwhich the prows were decked with wreaths of yellow acacia blossom and\nother flowers. Landing on the shore they stripped themselves of their\nclothing and wrapped ropes made of green creepers and leaves round their\narms and necks. At the foot of the tree they danced to an accompaniment of\nsong. Then a little girl, about ten years old, was brought and laid at the\nbase of the tree as if she were to be sacrificed. Every detail of the\nsacrifice was gone through in mimicry. A slight cut was made in the\nchild\u2019s neck, and she was then caught up and thrown into the lake, where a\nman stood ready to save her from drowning. By native custom the girl on\nwhom this ceremony had been performed was dedicated to a life of perpetual\nvirginity.(583) Captain Bourke was informed by an old chief that the\nIndians of Arizona used to offer human sacrifices at the Feast of Fire\nwhen the days are shortest. The victim had his throat cut, his breast\nopened, and his heart taken out by one of the priests. This custom was\nabolished by the Mexicans, but for a long time afterwards a modified form\nof it was secretly observed as follows. The victim, generally a young man,\nhad his throat cut, and blood was allowed to flow freely; but the\nmedicine-men sprinkled \u201cmedicine\u201d on the gash, which soon healed up, and\nthe man recovered.(584) So in the ritual of Artemis at Halae in Attica, a\nman\u2019s throat was cut and the blood allowed to gush out, but he was not\nkilled.(585) 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 chiefs 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.(586) 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.(587) The Malayans, a caste of Southern\nIndia, act as devil dancers for the purpose of exorcising demons who have\ntaken possession of people. One of their ceremonies, \u201cknown as\n_ucchav[-e]li_, has several forms, all of which seem to be either\nsurvivals, or at least imitations of human sacrifice. One of these\nconsists of a mock living burial of the principal performer, who is placed\nin a pit, which is covered with planks, on the top of which a sacrifice is\nperformed, with a fire kindled with jack wood (_Artocarpus integrifolia_)\nand a plant called erinna. In another variety, the Malayan cuts his left\nforearm, and smears his face with the blood thus drawn.\u201d(588) In Samoa,\nwhere every family had its god incarnate in one or more species of\nanimals, any disrespect shewn to the worshipful animal, either by members\nof the kin or by a stranger in their presence, had to be atoned for by\npretending to bake one of the family in a cold oven as a burnt sacrifice\nto appease the wrath of the offended god. For example, if a stranger\nstaying in a household whose god was incarnate in cuttle-fish were to\ncatch and cook one of these creatures, or if a member of the family had\nbeen present where a cuttle-fish was eaten, the family would meet in\nsolemn conclave and choose a man or woman to go and lie down in a cold\noven, where he would be covered over with leaves, just as if he were\nreally being baked. While this mock sacrifice was being carried out the\nfamily prayed: \u201cO bald-headed Cuttle-fish! forgive what has been done, it\nwas all the work of a stranger.\u201d If they had not thus abased themselves\nbefore the divine cuttle-fish, he would undoubtedly have come and been the\ndeath of somebody by making a cuttle-fish to grow in his inside.(589)\n\n(M170) Sometimes, as in Minahassa, the pretended sacrifice is carried out,\nnot on a living person, but on an effigy. At the City of the Sun in\nancient Egypt three men used to be sacrificed every day, after the priests\nhad stripped and examined them, like calves, to see whether they were\nwithout blemish and fit for the altar. But King Amasis ordered waxen\nimages to be substituted for the human victims.(590) An Indian law-book,\nthe _Calica Puran_, prescribes that when the sacrifice of lions, tigers,\nor human beings is required, an image of a lion, tiger, or man shall be\nmade with butter, paste, or barley meal, and sacrificed instead.(591) Some\nof the Gonds of India formerly offered human sacrifices; they now\nsacrifice straw-men, which are found to answer the purpose just as\nwell.(592) Colonel Dalton was told that in some of their villages the\nBhagats \u201cannually make an image of a man in wood, put clothes and\nornaments on it, and present it before the altar of a Mah\u00e1deo. The person\nwho officiates as priest on the occasion says: \u2018O Mah\u00e1deo, we sacrifice\nthis man to you according to ancient customs. Give us rain in due season,\nand a plentiful harvest.\u2019 Then with one stroke of the axe the head of the\nimage is struck off, and the body is removed and buried.\u201d(593) Formerly,\nwhen a Siamese army was about to take the field a condemned criminal\nrepresenting the enemy was put to death, but a humane king caused a puppet\nto be substituted for the man. The effigy is felled by the blow of an axe,\nand if it drops at the first stroke, the omen is favourable.(594) In the\nEast Indian island of Siaoo or Siauw, one of the Sangi group, a child\nstolen from a neighbouring island used to be sacrificed every year to the\nspirit of a volcano in order that there might be no eruption. The victim\nwas slowly tortured to death in the temple by a priestess, who cut off the\nchild\u2019s ears, nose, fingers, and so on, then consummated the sacrifice by\nsplitting open the breast. The spectacle was witnessed by hundreds of\npeople, and feasting and cock-fighting went on for nine days afterwards.\nIn course of time the annual human victim was replaced by a wooden puppet,\nwhich was cut to pieces in the same manner.(595) The Kayans of Borneo used\nto kill slaves at the death of a chief and nail them to the tomb, in order\nthat they might accompany the chief on his long journey to the other world\nand paddle the canoe in which he must travel. This is no longer done, but\ninstead they put up a wooden figure of a man at the head and another of a\nwoman at the foot of the chief\u2019s coffin as it lies in state before the\nfuneral. And a small wooden image of a man is usually fixed on the top of\nthe tomb to row the canoe for the dead chief.(596) In ancient times human\nsacrifices used to be offered at the graves of Mikados and princes of\nJapan, the personal attendants of the deceased being buried alive within\nthe precincts of the tomb. But a humane emperor ordered that clay images\nshould thenceforth be substituted for live men and women. One of these\nimages is now in the British Museum.(597) The Toboongkoos of central\nCelebes, who are reported still to carry home as trophies the heads of\ntheir slain enemies, resort to the following cure for certain kinds of\nsickness. The heathen priestess cuts the likeness of a human head out of\nthe sheath of a sago-leaf and sets it up on three sticks in the courtyard\nof the house. The patient, arrayed in his or her best clothes, is then\nbrought down into the court and remains there while women dance and sing\nround the artificial head, and men perform sham fights with shield, spear,\nand bow, just as they did, or perhaps still do, when they have brought\nback a human head from a raid. After that the sick man is taken back to\nthe house, and an improvement in his health is confidently expected.(598)\nIn this ceremony the sham head is doubtless a substitute for a real one.\n\n(M171) With these mock sacrifices of human lives we may compare mimic\nsacrifices of other kinds. In southern India, as in many parts of the\nworld, it used to be customary to sacrifice joints of the fingers on\ncertain occasions. Thus among the Morasas, when a grandchild was born in\nthe family, the wife of the eldest son of the grandfather must have the\nlast two joints of the third and fourth fingers of her right hand\namputated at a temple of Bhairava. The amputation was performed by the\nvillage carpenter with a chisel. Nowadays, the custom having been\nforbidden by the English Government, the sacrifice is performed in\nmimicry. Some people stick gold or silver pieces with flour paste to the\nends of their fingers and then cut or pull them off. Others tie flowers\nround the fingers that used to be amputated, and go through a pantomime of\ncutting the fingers by putting a chisel on the joint and then taking it\naway. Others again twist gold wires in the shape of rings round their\nfingers. These the carpenter removes and appropriates.(599) In Niu\u00e9 or\nSavage Island, in the South Pacific, the following custom continued till\nlately to be observed. When a boy was a few weeks old the men assembled,\nand a feast was made. On the village square an awning was rigged up, and\nthe child was laid on the ground under it. An old man then approached it,\nand performed the operation of circumcision on the infant in dumb show\nwith his forefinger. No child was regarded as a full-born member of the\ntribe till he had been subjected to this rite. The natives say that real\ncircumcision was never performed in their island; but as it was commonly\npractised in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa, we may assume that its imitation in\nNiu\u00e9 was a substitute, introduced at some time or other, for the actual\noperation.(600) Similarly when an adult Hindoo joins the sect of the Daira\nor Mahadev Mohammedans in Mysore, a mock rite of circumcision is performed\non him instead of the real operation. A betel leaf is wrapped round the\nmale member of the neophyte and the loose end of the leaf is snipped off\ninstead of the prepuce.(601)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 3. Burying the Carnival.\n\n\n(M172) Thus far I have offered an explanation of the rule which required\nthat the priest of Nemi should be slain by his successor. The explanation\nclaims to be no more than probable; our scanty knowledge of the custom and\nof its history forbids it to be more. But its probability will be\naugmented in proportion to the extent to which the motives and modes of\nthought which it assumes can be proved to have operated in primitive\nsociety. Hitherto the god with whose death and resurrection we have been\nchiefly concerned has been the tree-god. But if I can shew that the custom\nof killing the god and the belief in his resurrection originated, or at\nleast existed, in the hunting and pastoral stage of society, when the\nslain god was an animal, and that it survived into the agricultural stage,\nwhen the slain god was the corn or a human being representing the corn,\nthe probability of my explanation will have been considerably increased.\nThis I shall attempt to do in the sequel, and in the course of the\ndiscussion I hope to clear up some obscurities which still remain, and to\nanswer some objections which may have suggested themselves to the reader.\n\n(M173) We 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 conspicuous feature. In one of them the being\nwhose death is dramatically represented is a personification of the\nCarnival; in the other it is Death himself. The former ceremony falls\nnaturally at the end of the Carnival, either on the last day of that merry\nseason, namely Shrove Tuesday, or on the first day of Lent, namely Ash\nWednesday. The date of the other ceremony\u2014the Carrying or Driving out of\nDeath, as it is commonly called\u2014is not so uniformly fixed. Generally it is\nthe fourth Sunday in Lent, which hence goes by the name of Dead Sunday;\nbut in some places the celebration falls a week earlier, in others, as\namong the Czechs of Bohemia, a week later, while in certain German\nvillages of Moravia it is held on the first Sunday after Easter. Perhaps,\nas has been suggested, the date may originally have been variable,\ndepending on the appearance of the first swallow or some other herald of\nthe spring. Some writers regard the ceremony as Slavonic in its origin.\nGrimm thought it was a festival of the New Year with the old Slavs, who\nbegan their year in March.(602) We shall first take examples of the mimic\ndeath of the Carnival, which always falls before the other in the\ncalendar.\n\n(M174) At Frosinone, in Latium, about half-way between Rome and Naples,\nthe dull monotony of life in a provincial Italian town is agreeably broken\non the last day of the Carnival by the ancient festival known as the\n_Radica_. About four o\u2019clock in the afternoon the town band, playing\nlively tunes and followed by a great crowd, proceeds to the Piazza del\nPlebiscito, where is the Sub-Prefecture as well as the rest of the\nGovernment buildings. Here, in the middle of the square, the eyes of the\nexpectant multitude are greeted by the sight of an immense car decked with\nmany-coloured festoons and drawn by four horses. Mounted on the car is a\nhuge chair, on which sits enthroned the majestic figure of the Carnival, a\nman of stucco about nine feet high with a rubicund and smiling\ncountenance. Enormous boots, a tin helmet like those which grace the heads\nof officers of the Italian marine, and a coat of many colours embellished\nwith strange devices, adorn the outward man of this stately personage. His\nleft hand rests on the arm of the chair, while with his right he\ngracefully salutes the crowd, being moved to this act of civility by a\nstring which is pulled by a man who modestly shrinks from publicity under\nthe mercy-seat. And now the crowd, surging excitedly round the car, gives\nvent to its feelings in wild cries of joy, gentle and simple being mixed\nup together and all dancing furiously the _Saltarello_. A special feature\nof the festival is that every one must carry in his hand what is called a\n_radica_ (\u201croot\u201d), by which is meant a huge leaf of the aloe or rather the\nagave. Any one who ventured into the crowd without such a leaf would be\nunceremoniously hustled out of it, unless indeed he bore as a substitute a\nlarge cabbage at the end of a long stick or a bunch of grass curiously\nplaited. When the multitude, after a short turn, has escorted the\nslow-moving car to the gate of the Sub-Prefecture, they halt, and the car,\njolting over the uneven ground, rumbles into the courtyard. A hush now\nfalls on the crowd, their subdued voices sounding, according to the\ndescription of one who has heard them, like the murmur of a troubled sea.\nAll eyes are turned anxiously to the door from which the Sub-Prefect\nhimself and the other representatives of the majesty of the law are\nexpected to issue and pay their homage to the hero of the hour. A few\nmoments of suspense and then a storm of cheers and hand-clapping salutes\nthe appearance of the dignitaries, as they file out and, descending the\nstaircase, take their place in the procession. The hymn of the Carnival is\nnow thundered out, after which, amid a deafening roar, aloe leaves and\ncabbages are whirled aloft and descend impartially on the heads of the\njust and the unjust, who lend fresh zest to the proceedings by engaging in\na free fight. When these preliminaries have been concluded to the\nsatisfaction of all concerned, the procession gets under weigh. The rear\nis brought up by a cart laden with barrels of wine and policemen, the\nlatter engaged in the congenial task of serving out wine to all who ask\nfor it, while a most internecine struggle, accompanied by a copious\ndischarge of yells, blows, and blasphemy, goes on among the surging crowd\nat the cart\u2019s tail in their anxiety not to miss the glorious opportunity\nof intoxicating themselves at the public expense. Finally, after the\nprocession has paraded the principal streets in this majestic manner, the\neffigy of Carnival is taken to the middle of a public square, stripped of\nhis finery, laid on a pile of wood, and burnt amid the cries of the\nmultitude, who thundering out once more the song of the Carnival fling\ntheir so-called \u201croots\u201d on the pyre and give themselves up without\nrestraint to the pleasures of the dance.(603)\n\n(M175) In the Abruzzi a pasteboard figure of the Carnival is carried by\nfour grave-diggers with pipes in their mouths and bottles of wine slung at\ntheir shoulder-belts. In front walks the wife of the Carnival, dressed in\nmourning and dissolved in tears. From time to time the company halts, and\nwhile the wife addresses the sympathising public, the grave-diggers\nrefresh the inner man with a pull at the bottle. In the open square the\nmimic corpse is laid on a pyre, and to the roll of drums, the shrill\nscreams of the women, and the gruffer cries of the men a light is set to\nit. While the figure burns, chestnuts are thrown about among the crowd.\nSometimes the Carnival is represented by a straw-man at the top of a pole\nwhich is borne through the town by a troop of mummers in the course of the\nafternoon. When evening comes on, four of the mummers hold out a quilt or\nsheet by the corners, and the figure of the Carnival is made to tumble\ninto it. The procession is then resumed, the performers weeping crocodile\ntears and emphasising the poignancy of their grief by the help of\nsaucepans and dinner bells. Sometimes, again, in the Abruzzi the dead\nCarnival is personified by a living man who lies in a coffin, attended by\nanother who acts the priest and dispenses holy water in great profusion\nfrom a bathing tub.(604) In Malta the death of the Carnival used to be\nmourned by women on the last day of the merry festival. Clad from head to\nfoot in black mantles, they carried through the streets of the city the\nlinen effigy of a corpse, stuffed with straw or hay and decked with leaves\nand oranges. As they carried it, they chanted dirges, stopping after every\nverse to howl like professional mourners. The custom came to an end about\nthe year 1737.(605)\n\n(M176) At Lerida, in Catalonia, the funeral of the Carnival was witnessed\nby an English traveller in 1877. On the last Sunday of the Carnival a\ngrand procession of infantry, cavalry, and maskers of many sorts, some on\nhorseback and some in carriages, escorted the grand car of His Grace Pau\nPi, as the effigy was called, in triumph through the principal streets.\nFor three days the revelry ran high, and then at midnight on the last day\nof the Carnival the same procession again wound through the streets, but\nunder a different aspect and for a different end. The triumphal car was\nexchanged for a hearse, in which reposed the effigy of his dead Grace: a\ntroop of maskers, who in the first procession had played the part of\nStudents of Folly with many a merry quip and jest, now, robed as priests\nand bishops, paced slowly along holding aloft huge lighted tapers and\nsinging a dirge. All the mummers wore crape, and all the horsemen carried\nblazing flambeaux. Down the high street, between the lofty, many-storeyed\nand balconied houses, where every window, every balcony, every housetop\nwas crammed with a dense mass of spectators, all dressed and masked in\nfantastic gorgeousness, the procession took its melancholy way. Over the\nscene flashed and played the shifting cross-lights and shadows from the\nmoving torches: red and blue Bengal lights flared up and died out again;\nand above the trampling of the horses and the measured tread of the\nmarching multitude rose the voices of the priests chanting the requiem,\nwhile the military bands struck in with the solemn roll of the muffled\ndrums. On reaching the principal square the procession halted, a burlesque\nfuneral oration was pronounced over the defunct Pau Pi, and the lights\nwere extinguished. Immediately the devil and his angels darted from the\ncrowd, seized the body and fled away with it, hotly pursued by the whole\nmultitude, yelling, screaming, and cheering. Naturally the fiends were\novertaken and dispersed; and the sham corpse, rescued from their clutches,\nwas laid in a grave that had been made ready for its reception. Thus the\nCarnival of 1877 at Lerida died and was buried.(606)\n\n(M177) A ceremony of the same sort is observed in Provence on Ash\nWednesday. An effigy called Caramantran, whimsically attired, is drawn in\na chariot or borne on a litter, accompanied by the populace in grotesque\ncostumes, who carry gourds full of wine and drain them with all the marks,\nreal or affected, of intoxication. At the head of the procession are some\nmen disguised as judges and barristers, and a tall gaunt personage who\nmasquerades as Lent; behind them follow young people mounted on miserable\nhacks and attired as mourners who pretend to bewail the fate that is in\nstore for Caramantran. In the principal square the procession halts, the\ntribunal is constituted, and Caramantran placed at the bar. After a formal\ntrial he is sentenced to death amid the groans of the mob; the barrister\nwho defended him embraces his client for the last time: the officers of\njustice do their duty: the condemned is set with his back to a wall and\nhurried into eternity under a shower of stones. The sea or a river\nreceives his mangled remains.(607) At Lussac in the department of Vienne\nyoung people, attired in long mourning robes and with woebegone\ncountenances, carry an effigy down to the river on Ash Wednesday and throw\nit into the river, crying, \u201cCarnival is dead! Carnival is dead!\u201d(608)\nThroughout nearly the whole of the Ardennes it was and still is customary\non Ash Wednesday to burn an effigy which is supposed to represent the\nCarnival, while appropriate verses are sung round about the blazing\nfigure. Very often an attempt is made to fashion the effigy in the\nlikeness of the husband who is reputed to be least faithful to his wife of\nany in the village. As might perhaps have been anticipated, the\ndistinction of being selected for portraiture under these painful\ncircumstances has a slight tendency to breed domestic jars, especially\nwhen the portrait is burnt in front of the house of the gay deceiver whom\nit represents, while a powerful chorus of caterwauls, groans, and other\nmelodious sounds bears public testimony to the opinion which his friends\nand neighbours entertain of his private virtues. In some villages of the\nArdennes a young man of flesh and blood, dressed up in hay and straw, used\nto act the part of Shrove Tuesday (_Mardi Gras_), as the personification\nof the Carnival is often called in France after the last day of the period\nwhich he personates. He was brought before a mock tribunal, and being\ncondemned to death was placed with his back to a wall, like a soldier at a\nmilitary execution, and fired at with blank cartridges. At Vrigne-aux-Bois\none of these harmless buffoons, named Thierry, was accidentally killed by\na wad that had been left in a musket of the firing-party. When poor Shrove\nTuesday dropped under the fire, the applause was loud and long, he did it\nso naturally; but when he did not get up again, they ran to him and found\nhim a corpse. Since then there have been no more of these mock executions\nin the Ardennes.(609) In Franche-Comt\u00e9 people used to make an effigy of\nShrove Tuesday on Ash Wednesday, and carry it about the streets to the\naccompaniment of songs. Then they brought it to the public square, where\nthe offender was tried in front of the town-hall. Judges muffled in old\nred curtains and holding big books in their hands pronounced sentence of\ndeath. The mode of execution varied with the place. Sometimes it was\nburning, sometimes drowning, sometimes decapitation. In the last case the\neffigy was provided with tubes of blood, which spouted gore at the\ncritical moment, making a profound impression on the minds of children,\nsome of whom wept bitterly at the sight. Meantime the onlookers uttered\npiercing cries and appeared to be plunged in the deepest grief. The\nproceedings generally wound up in the evening with a ball, which the young\nmarried people were obliged to provide for the public entertainment;\notherwise their slumbers were apt to be disturbed by the discordant notes\nof a cat\u2019s concert chanted under their windows.(610)\n\n(M178) In Normandy on the evening of Ash Wednesday it used to be the\ncustom to hold a celebration called the Burial of Shrove Tuesday. A\nsqualid effigy scantily clothed in rags, a battered old hat crushed down\non his dirty face, his great round paunch stuffed with straw, represented\nthe disreputable old rake who after a long course of dissipation was now\nabout to suffer for his sins. Hoisted on the shoulders of a sturdy fellow,\nwho pretended to stagger under the burden, this popular personification of\nthe Carnival promenaded the streets for the last time in a manner the\nreverse of triumphal. Preceded by a drummer and accompanied by a jeering\nrabble, among whom the urchins and all the tag-rag and bobtail of the town\nmustered in great force, the figure was carried about by the flickering\nlight of torches to the discordant din of shovels and tongs, pots and\npans, horns and kettles, mingled with hootings, groans, and hisses. From\ntime to time the procession halted, and a champion of morality accused the\nbroken-down old sinner of all the excesses he had committed and for which\nhe was now about to be burned alive. The culprit, having nothing to urge\nin his own defence, was thrown on a heap of straw, a torch was put to it,\nand a great blaze shot up, to the delight of the children who frisked\nround it screaming out some old popular verses about the death of the\nCarnival. Sometimes the effigy was rolled down the slope of a hill before\nbeing burnt.(611) At Saint-L\u00f4 the ragged effigy of Shrove Tuesday was\nfollowed by his widow, a big burly lout dressed as a woman with a crape\nveil, who emitted sounds of lamentation and woe in a stentorian voice.\nAfter being carried about the streets on a litter attended by a crowd of\nmaskers, the figure was thrown into the River Vire. The final scene has\nbeen graphically described by Madame Octave Feuillet as she witnessed it\nin her childhood some fifty years ago. \u201cMy parents invited friends to see,\nfrom the top of the tower of Jeanne Couillard, the funeral procession\npassing. It was there that, quaffing lemonade\u2014the only refreshment allowed\nbecause of the fast\u2014we witnessed at nightfall a spectacle of which I shall\nalways preserve a lively recollection. At our feet flowed the Vire under\nits old stone bridge. On the middle of the bridge lay the figure of Shrove\nTuesday on a litter of leaves, surrounded by scores of maskers dancing,\nsinging, and carrying torches. Some of them in their motley costumes ran\nalong the parapet like fiends. The rest, worn out with their revels, sat\non the posts and dozed. Soon the dancing stopped, and some of the troop,\nseizing a torch, set fire to the effigy, after which they flung it into\nthe river with redoubled shouts and clamour. The man of straw, soaked with\nresin, floated away burning down the stream of the Vire, lighting up with\nits funeral fires the woods on the bank and the battlements of the old\ncastle in which Louis XI. and Francis I. had slept. When the last glimmer\nof the blazing phantom had vanished, like a falling star, at the end of\nthe valley, every one withdrew, crowd and maskers alike, and we quitted\nthe ramparts with our guests. As we returned home my father sang gaily the\nold popular song:\u2014\n\n\n    _\u201c__Shrove Tuesday is dead and his wife has got_\n    _His shabby pocket-handkerchief and his cracked old pot._\n    _Sing high, sing low,_\n    _Shrove Tuesday will come back no more.__\u201d_\n\n\n\u2018He will come back! He will come back!\u2019 we cried warmly, clapping our\nhands; and he did come back next year, and I think I should see him still\nif, after the lapse of half a century, I returned to the land of my\nbirth.\u201d(612)\n\n(M179) In Upper Brittany the burial of Shrove Tuesday or the Carnival is\nsometimes performed in a ceremonious manner. Four young fellows carry a\nstraw-man or one of their companions, and are followed by a funeral\nprocession. A show is made of depositing the pretended corpse in the\ngrave, after which the bystanders make believe to mourn, crying out in\nmelancholy tones, \u201cAh! my poor little Shrove Tuesday!\u201d The boy who played\nthe part of Shrove Tuesday bears the name for the whole year.(613) At\nLesneven in Lower Brittany it was formerly the custom on Ash Wednesday to\nburn a straw-man, covered with rags, after he had been promenaded about\nthe town. He was followed by a representative of Shrove Tuesday clothed\nwith sardines and cods\u2019 tails.(614) At Pontaven in Finist\u00e8re an effigy\nrepresenting the Carnival used to be thrown from the quay into the sea on\nthe morning of Ash Wednesday.(615) At La Rochelle the porters and sailors\ncarried about a man of straw representing Shrove Tuesday, then burned it\non Ash Wednesday and flung the ashes into the sea.(616) In Saintonge and\nAunis, which correspond roughly to the modern departments of Charente,\nchildren used to drown or burn a figure of the Carnival on the morning of\nAsh Wednesday.(617) The beginning of Lent in England was formerly marked\nby a custom which has now fallen into disuse. A figure, made up of straw\nand cast-off clothes, was drawn or carried through the streets amid much\nnoise and merriment; after which it was either burnt, shot at, or thrown\ndown a chimney. This image went by the name of Jack o\u2019 Lent, and was by\nsome supposed to represent Judas Iscariot.(618)\n\n(M180) A Bohemian form of the custom of \u201cBurying the Carnival\u201d has been\nalready described.(619) The following Swabian form is obviously similar.\nIn the neighbourhood of T\u00fcbingen on Shrove Tuesday a straw-man, called the\nShrovetide Bear, is made up; he is dressed in a pair of old trousers, and\na fresh black-pudding or two squirts filled with blood are inserted in his\nneck. After a formal condemnation he is beheaded, laid in a coffin, and on\nAsh Wednesday is buried in the churchyard. This is called \u201cBurying the\nCarnival.\u201d(620) Amongst some of the Saxons of Transylvania the Carnival is\nhanged. Thus at Braller on Ash Wednesday or Shrove Tuesday two white and\ntwo chestnut horses draw a sledge on which is placed a straw-man swathed\nin a white cloth; beside him is a cart-wheel which is kept turning round.\nTwo lads disguised as old men follow the sledge lamenting. The rest of the\nvillage lads, mounted on horseback and decked with ribbons, accompany the\nprocession, which is headed by two girls crowned with evergreen and drawn\nin a waggon or sledge. A trial is held under a tree, at which lads\ndisguised as soldiers pronounce sentence of death. The two old men try to\nrescue the straw-man and to fly with him, but to no purpose; he is caught\nby the two girls and handed over to the executioner, who hangs him on a\ntree. In vain the old men try to climb up the tree and take him down; they\nalways tumble down, and at last in despair they throw themselves on the\nground and weep and howl for the hanged man. An official then makes a\nspeech in which he declares that the Carnival was condemned to death\nbecause he had done them harm, by wearing out their shoes and making them\ntired and sleepy.(621) At the \u201cBurial of Carnival\u201d in Lechrain, a man\ndressed as a woman in black clothes is carried on a litter or bier by four\nmen; he is lamented over by men disguised as women in black clothes, then\nthrown down before the village dung-heap, drenched with water, buried in\nthe dung-heap, and covered with straw.(622) Similarly in Sch\u00f6rzingen, near\nSch\u00f6mberg, the \u201cCarnival (Shrovetide) Fool\u201d was carried all about the\nvillage on a bier, preceded by a man dressed in white, and followed by a\ndevil who was dressed in black and carried chains, which he clanked. One\nof the train collected gifts. After the procession the Fool was buried\nunder straw and dung.(623) In Rottweil the \u201cCarnival Fool\u201d is made drunk\non Ash Wednesday and buried under straw amid loud lamentation.(624) In\nWurmlingen the Fool is represented by a young fellow enveloped in straw,\nwho is led about the village by a rope as a \u201cBear\u201d on Shrove Tuesday and\nthe preceding day. He dances to the flute. Then on Ash Wednesday a\nstraw-man is made, placed on a trough, carried out of the village to the\nsound of drums and mournful music, and buried in a field.(625) In Altdorf\nand Weingarten on Ash Wednesday the Fool, represented by a straw-man, is\ncarried about and then thrown into the water to the accompaniment of\nmelancholy music. In other villages of Swabia the part of fool is played\nby a live person, who is thrown into the water after being carried about\nin procession.(626) At Balwe, in Westphalia, a straw-man is made on Shrove\nTuesday and thrown into the river amid rejoicings. This is called, as\nusual, \u201cBurying the Carnival.\u201d(627) At Burgebrach, in Bavaria, it used to\nbe customary, as a public pastime, to hold a sort of court of justice on\nAsh Wednesday. The accused was a straw-man, on whom was laid the burden of\nall the notorious transgressions that had been committed in the course of\nthe year. Twelve chosen maidens sat in judgment and pronounced sentence,\nand a single advocate pleaded the cause of the public scapegoat. Finally\nthe effigy was burnt, and thus all the offences that had created a scandal\nin the community during the year were symbolically atoned for. We can\nhardly doubt that this custom of burning a straw-man on Ash Wednesday for\nthe sins of a whole year is only another form of the custom, observed on\nthe same day in so many other places, of burning an effigy which is\nsupposed to embody and to be responsible for all the excesses committed\nduring the licence of the Carnival.\n\n(M181) In Greece a ceremony of the same sort was witnessed at Pylos by Mr.\nE. L. Tilton in 1895. On the evening of the first day of the Greek Lent,\nwhich fell that year on the twenty-fifth of February, an effigy with a\ngrotesque mask for a face was borne about the streets on a bier, preceded\nby a mock priest with long white beard. Other functionaries surrounded the\nbier and two torch-bearers walked in advance. The procession moved slowly\nto melancholy music played by a pipe and drum. A final halt was made in\nthe public square, where a circular space was kept clear of the surging\ncrowd. Here a bonfire was kindled, and round it the priest led a wild\ndance to the same droning music. When the frenzy was at its height, the\nchief performer put tow on the effigy and set fire to it, and while it\nblazed he resumed his mad career, brandishing torches and tearing off his\nvenerable beard to add fuel to the flames.(628) On the evening of Shrove\nTuesday the Esthonians make a straw figure called _metsik_ or\n\u201cwood-spirit\u201d; one year it is dressed with a man\u2019s coat and hat, next year\nwith a hood and a petticoat. This figure is stuck on a long pole, carried\nacross the boundary of the village with loud cries of joy, and fastened to\nthe top of a tree in the wood. The ceremony is believed to be a protection\nagainst all kinds of misfortune.(629)\n\n(M182) Sometimes at these Shrovetide or Lenten ceremonies the resurrection\nof the pretended dead person is enacted. Thus, in some parts of Swabia on\nShrove Tuesday Dr. Iron-Beard professes to bleed a sick man, who thereupon\nfalls as dead to the ground; but the doctor at last restores him to life\nby blowing air into him through a tube.(630) In the Harz Mountains, when\nCarnival is over, a man is laid on a baking-trough and carried with dirges\nto a grave; but in the grave a glass of brandy is buried instead of the\nman. A speech is delivered and then the people return to the village-green\nor meeting-place, where they smoke the long clay pipes which are\ndistributed at funerals. On the morning of Shrove Tuesday in the following\nyear the brandy is dug up and the festival begins by every one tasting the\nspirit which, as the phrase goes, has come to life again.(631)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 4. Carrying out Death.\n\n\n(M183) The ceremony of \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d presents much the same\nfeatures as \u201cBurying the Carnival\u201d; except that the carrying out of Death\nis generally followed by a ceremony, or at least accompanied by a\nprofession, of bringing in Summer, Spring, or Life. Thus in Middle\nFranken, a province of Bavaria, on the fourth Sunday in Lent, the village\nurchins used to make a straw effigy of Death, which they carried about\nwith burlesque pomp through the streets, and afterwards burned with loud\ncries beyond the bounds.(632) The Frankish custom is thus described by a\nwriter of the sixteenth century: \u201cAt Mid-Lent, the season when the church\nbids us rejoice, the young people of my native country make a straw image\nof Death, and fastening it to a pole carry it with shouts to the\nneighbouring villages. By some they are kindly received, and after being\nrefreshed with milk, peas, and dried pears, the usual food of that season,\nare sent home again. Others, however, treat them with anything but\nhospitality; for, looking on them as harbingers of misfortune, to wit of\ndeath, they drive them from their boundaries with weapons and\ninsults.\u201d(633) In the villages near Erlangen, when the fourth Sunday in\nLent came round, the peasant girls used to dress themselves in all their\nfinery with flowers in their hair. Thus attired they repaired to the\nneighbouring town, carrying puppets which were adorned with leaves and\ncovered with white cloths. These they took from house to house in pairs,\nstopping at every door where they expected to receive something, and\nsinging a few lines in which they announced that it was Mid-Lent and that\nthey were about to throw Death into the water. When they had collected\nsome trifling gratuities they went to the river Regnitz and flung the\npuppets representing Death into the stream. This was done to ensure a\nfruitful and prosperous year; further, it was considered a safeguard\nagainst pestilence and sudden death.(634) At Nuremberg girls of seven to\neighteen years of age go through the streets bearing a little open coffin,\nin which is a doll hidden under a shroud. Others carry a beech branch,\nwith an apple fastened to it for a head, in an open box. They sing, \u201cWe\ncarry Death into the water, it is well,\u201d or \u201cWe carry Death into the\nwater, carry him in and out again.\u201d(635) In other parts of Bavaria the\nceremony took place on the Saturday before the fifth Sunday in Lent, and\nthe performers were boys or girls, according to the sex of the last person\nwho died in the village. The figure was thrown into water or buried in a\nsecret place, for example under moss in the forest, that no one might find\nDeath again. Then early on Sunday morning the children went from house to\nhouse singing a song in which they announced the glad tidings that Death\nwas gone.(636) In some parts of Bavaria down to 1780 it was believed that\na fatal epidemic would ensue if the custom of \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d were\nnot observed.(637)\n\n(M184) In some villages of Th\u00fcringen, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the\nchildren used to carry a puppet of birchen twigs through the village, and\nthen threw it into a pool, while they sang, \u201cWe carry the old Death out\nbehind the herdsman\u2019s old house; we have got Summer, and Kroden\u2019s (?)\npower is destroyed.\u201d(638) At Debschwitz or Dobschwitz, near Gera, the\nceremony of \u201cDriving out Death\u201d is or was annually observed on the first\nof March. The young people make up a figure of straw or the like\nmaterials, dress it in old clothes, which they have begged from houses in\nthe village, and carry it out and throw it into the river. On returning to\nthe village they break the good news to the people, and receive eggs and\nother victuals as a reward. The ceremony is or was supposed to purify the\nvillage and to protect the inhabitants from sickness and plague. In other\nvillages of Th\u00fcringen, in which the population was originally Slavonic,\nthe carrying 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(639) At the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the\neighteenth century the custom was observed in Th\u00fcringen as follows. The\nboys and girls made an effigy of straw or the like materials, but the\nshape of the figure varied from year to year. In one year it would\nrepresent an old man, in the next an old woman, in the third a young man,\nand in the fourth a maiden, and the dress of the figure varied with the\ncharacter it personated. There used to be a sharp contest as to where the\neffigy was to be made, for the people thought that the house from which it\nwas carried forth would not be visited with death that year. Having been\nmade, the puppet was fastened to a pole and carried by a girl if it\nrepresented an old man, but by a boy if it represented an old woman. Thus\nit was borne in procession, the young people holding sticks in their hands\nand singing that they were driving out Death. When they came to water they\nthrew the effigy into it and ran hastily back, fearing that it might jump\non their shoulders and wring their necks. They also took care not to touch\nit, lest it should dry them up. On their return they beat the cattle with\nthe sticks, believing that this would make the animals fat or fruitful.\nAfterwards they visited the house or houses from which they had carried\nthe image of Death, where they received a dole of half-boiled peas.(640)\nThe custom of \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d was practised also in Saxony. At\nLeipsic the bastards and public women used to make a straw effigy of Death\nevery year at Mid-Lent. This they carried through all the streets with\nsongs and shewed it to the young married women. Finally they threw it into\nthe river Parthe. By this ceremony they professed to make the young wives\nfruitful, to purify the city, and to protect the inhabitants for that year\nfrom plague and other epidemics.(641)\n\n(M185) Ceremonies of the same sort are observed at Mid-Lent in Silesia.\nThus in many places the grown girls with the help of the young men dress\nup a straw figure with women\u2019s clothes and carry it out of the village\ntowards the setting sun. At the boundary they strip it of its clothes,\ntear it in pieces, and scatter the fragments about the fields. This is\ncalled \u201cBurying Death.\u201d As they carry the image out, they sing that they\nare about to bury death under an oak, that he may depart from the people.\nSometimes the song runs that they are bearing death over hill and dale to\nreturn no more. In the Polish neighbourhood of Gross-Strehlitz the puppet\nis called Goik. It is carried on horseback and thrown into the nearest\nwater. The people think that the ceremony protects them from sickness of\nevery sort in the coming year. In the districts of Wohlau and Guhrau the\nimage of Death used to be thrown over the boundary of the next village.\nBut as the neighbours feared to receive the ill-omened figure, they were\non the look-out to repel it, and hard knocks were often exchanged between\nthe two parties. In some Polish parts of Upper Silesia the effigy,\nrepresenting an old woman, goes by the name of Marzana, the goddess of\ndeath. It is made in the house where the last death occurred, and is\ncarried on a pole to the boundary of the village, where it is thrown into\na pond or burnt. At Polkwitz the custom of \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d fell into\nabeyance; but an outbreak of fatal sickness which followed the\nintermission of the ceremony induced the people to resume it.(642) Some of\nthe Moravians of Silesia make three puppets on this occasion: one\nrepresents a man, another a bride, and the third a bridesmaid. The first\nis carried by the boys, the two last by the girls. Formerly these effigies\nwere torn to pieces at a brook; now they are brought home again.(643) In\nthis last custom two of the figures are clearly conceived as bride and\nbridegroom.\n\n(M186) In Bohemia the children go out with a straw-man, representing\nDeath, to the end of the village, where they burn it, singing\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Now carry we Death out of the village,_\n    _The new Summer into the village,_\n    _Welcome, dear Summer,_\n    _Green little corn._\u201d(644)\n\n\nAt Tabor in 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    \u201c_Death 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(645)\n\n\nIn other parts of Bohemia they carry Death to the end of the village,\nsinging\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_We 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    \u201c_We 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(646)\n\n\n(M187) In some German villages of Moravia, as in Jassnitz and Seitendorf,\nthe young folk assemble on the third Sunday in Lent and fashion a\nstraw-man, who is generally adorned with a fur cap and a pair of old\nleathern hose, if such are to be had. The effigy is then hoisted on a pole\nand carried by the lads and lasses out into the open fields. On the way\nthey sing a song, in which it is said that they are carrying Death away\nand bringing dear Summer into the house, and with Summer the May and the\nflowers. On reaching an appointed place they dance in a circle round the\neffigy with loud shouts and screams, then suddenly rush at it and tear it\nto pieces with their hands. Lastly, the pieces are thrown together in a\nheap, the pole is broken, and fire is set to the whole. While it burns the\ntroop dances merrily round it, rejoicing at the victory won by Spring; and\nwhen the fire has nearly died out they go to the householders to beg for a\npresent of eggs wherewith to hold a feast, taking care to give as a reason\nfor the request that they have carried Death out and away.(647)\n\n(M188) The preceding evidence shews that the effigy of Death is often\nregarded with fear and treated with marks of hatred and abhorrence. Thus\nthe anxiety of the villagers to transfer the figure from their own to\ntheir neighbours\u2019 land, and the reluctance of the latter to receive the\nominous guest, are proof enough of the dread which it inspires. Further,\nin Lusatia and Silesia the puppet is sometimes made to look in at the\nwindow of a house, and it is believed that some one in the house will die\nwithin the year unless his life is redeemed by the payment of money.(648)\nAgain, after throwing the effigy away, the bearers sometimes run home lest\nDeath should follow them, and if one of them falls in running, it is\nbelieved that he will die within the year.(649) At Chrudim, in Bohemia,\nthe figure of Death is made out of a cross, with a head and mask stuck at\nthe top, and a shirt stretched out on it. On the fifth Sunday in Lent the\nboys take this effigy to the nearest brook or pool, and standing in a line\nthrow it into the water. Then they all plunge in after it; but as soon as\nit is caught no one more may enter the water. The boy who did not enter\nthe water or entered it last will die within the year, and he is obliged\nto carry the Death back to the village. The effigy is then burned.(650) On\nthe other hand, it is believed that no one will die within the year in the\nhouse out of which the figure of Death has been carried;(651) and the\nvillage out of which Death has been driven is sometimes supposed to be\nprotected against sickness and plague.(652) In some villages of Austrian\nSilesia on the Saturday before Dead Sunday an effigy is made of old\nclothes, hay, and straw, for the purpose of driving Death out of the\nvillage. On Sunday the people, armed with sticks and straps, assemble\nbefore the house where the figure is lodged. Four lads then draw the\neffigy by cords through the village amid exultant shouts, while all the\nothers beat it with their sticks and straps. On reaching a field which\nbelongs to a neighbouring village they lay down the figure, cudgel it\nsoundly, and scatter the fragments over the field. The people believe that\nthe village from which Death has been thus carried out will be safe from\nany infectious disease for the whole year.(653) In Slavonia the figure of\nDeath is cudgelled and then rent in two.(654) In Poland the effigy, made\nof hemp and straw, is flung into a pool or swamp with the words \u201cThe devil\ntake thee.\u201d(655)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 5. Sawing the Old Woman.\n\n\n(M189) The custom of \u201cSawing the Old Woman,\u201d which is or used to be\nobserved in Italy, France, and Spain on the fourth Sunday in Lent, is\ndoubtless, as Grimm supposes, merely another form of the custom of\n\u201cCarrying out Death.\u201d A great hideous figure representing the oldest woman\nof the village was dragged out and sawn in two, amid a prodigious noise\nmade with cow-bells, pots and pans, and so forth.(656) In Palermo the\nrepresentation used to be still more lifelike. At Mid-Lent an old woman\nwas drawn through the streets on a cart, attended by two men dressed in\nthe costume of the _Compagnia de\u2019 Bianchi_, a society or religious order\nwhose function it was to attend and console prisoners condemned to death.\nA scaffold was erected in a public square; the old woman mounted it, and\ntwo mock executioners proceeded, amid a storm of huzzas and hand-clapping,\nto saw through her neck, or rather through a bladder of blood which had\nbeen previously fitted to it. The blood gushed out and the old woman\npretended to swoon and die. The last of these mock executions took place\nin 1737.(657) In Florence, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,\nthe Old Woman was represented by a figure stuffed with walnuts and dried\nfigs and fastened to the top of a ladder. At Mid-Lent this effigy was sawn\nthrough the middle under the _Loggie_ of the Mercato Nuovo, and as the\ndried fruits tumbled out they were scrambled for by the crowd. A trace of\nthe custom is still to be seen in the practice, observed by urchins, of\nsecretly pinning paper ladders to the shoulders of women of the lower\nclasses who happen to shew themselves in the streets on the morning of\nMid-Lent.(658) A similar custom is observed by urchins in Rome; and at\nNaples on the first of April boys cut strips of cloth into the shape of\nsaws, smear them with gypsum, and strike passers-by with their \"saws\" on\nthe back, thus imprinting the figure of a saw upon their clothes.(659) At\nMontalto, in Calabria, boys go about at Mid-Lent with little saws made of\ncane and jeer at old people, who therefore generally stay indoors on that\nday. The Calabrian women meet together at this time and feast on figs,\nchestnuts, honey, and so forth; this they call \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d\u2014a\nreminiscence probably of a custom like the old Florentine one.(660) In\nLombardy the Thursday of Mid-Lent is known as the Day of the Old Wives\n(_il giorno delle vecchie_). The children run about crying out for the\noldest woman, whom they wish to burn; and failing to possess themselves of\nthe original, they make a puppet representing her, which in the evening is\nconsumed on a bonfire. On the Lake of Garda the blaze of light flaring at\ndifferent points on the hills produces a picturesque effect.(661)\n\n(M190) In Berry, a region of central France, the custom of \u201cSawing the Old\nWoman\u201d at Mid-Lent used to be popular, and has probably not wholly died\nout even now. Here the name of \u201cFairs of the old Wives\u201d was given to\ncertain fairs held in Lent, at which children were made to believe that\nthey would see the Old Woman of Mid-Lent split or sawn asunder. At\nArgenton and Cluis-Dessus, when Mid-Lent has come, children of ten or\ntwelve years of age scour the streets with wooden swords, pursue the old\ncrones whom they meet, and even try to break into the houses where ancient\ndames are known to live. Passers-by, who see the children thus engaged,\nsay, \u201cThey are going to cut or sabre the Old Woman.\u201d Meantime the old\nwives take care to keep out of sight as much as possible. When the\nchildren of Cluis-Dessus have gone their rounds, and the day draws towards\nevening, they repair to Cluis-Dessous, where they mould a rude figure of\nan old woman out of clay, hew it in pieces with their wooden swords, and\nthrow the bits into the river. At Bourges on the same day, an effigy\nrepresenting an old woman was formerly sawn in two on the crier\u2019s stone in\na public square. About the middle of the nineteenth century, in the same\ntown and on the same day, hundreds of children assembled at the Hospital\n\u201cto see the old woman split or divided in two.\u201d A religious service was\nheld in the building on this occasion, which attracted many idlers. In the\nstreets it was not uncommon to hear cries of \u201cLet us cleave the Old Wife!\nlet us cleave the oldest woman of the ward!\u201d At Tulle, on the day of\nMid-Lent, the people used to enquire after the oldest woman in the town,\nand to tell the children that at mid-day punctually she was to be sawn in\ntwo at Puy-Saint-Clair.(662)\n\n(M191) In Barcelona on the fourth Sunday in Lent boys run about the\nstreets, some with saws, others with billets of wood, others again with\ncloths in which they collect gratuities. They sing a song in which it is\nsaid that they are looking for the oldest woman of the city for the\npurpose of sawing her in two in honour of Mid-Lent; at last, pretending to\nhave found her, they saw something in two and burn it. A like custom is\nfound amongst the South Slavs. In Lent the Croats tell their children that\nat noon an old woman is being sawn in two outside the gates; and in\nCarniola also the saying is current that at Mid-Lent an old woman is taken\nout of the village and sawn in two. The North Slavonian expression for\nkeeping Mid-Lent is _b\u00e1bu rezati_, that is, \u201csawing the Old Wife.\u201d(663) In\nthe Graub\u00fcnden Canton of Switzerland, on _Invocavit_ Sunday, grown people\nused to assemble in the ale-house and there saw in two a straw puppet\nwhich they called Mrs. Winter or the Ugly Woman (_bagorda_), while the\nchildren in the streets teased each other with wooden saws.(664)\n\n(M192) Among the gypsies of south-eastern Europe the custom of \u201csawing the\nOld Woman in two\u201d is observed in a very graphic form, not at Mid-Lent, but\non the afternoon of Palm Sunday. The Old Woman, represented by a puppet of\nstraw dressed in women\u2019s clothes, is laid across a beam in some open place\nand beaten with clubs by the assembled gypsies, after which it is sawn in\ntwo by a young man and a maiden, both of whom wear a disguise. While the\neffigy is being sawn through, the rest of the company dance round it\nsinging songs of various sorts. The remains of the figure are finally\nburnt, and the ashes thrown into a stream. The ceremony is supposed by the\ngypsies themselves to be observed in honour of a certain Shadow Queen;\nhence Palm Sunday goes by the name Shadow Day among all the strolling\ngypsies of eastern and southern Europe. According to the popular belief,\nthis Shadow Queen, of whom the gypsies of to-day have only a very vague\nand confused conception, vanishes underground at the appearance of spring,\nbut comes forth again at the beginning of winter to plague mankind during\nthat inclement season with sickness, hunger, and death. Among the vagrant\ngypsies of southern Hungary the effigy is regarded as an expiatory and\nthank offering made to the Shadow Queen for having spared the people\nduring the winter. In Transylvania the gypsies who live in tents clothe\nthe puppet in the cast-off garments of the woman who has last become a\nwidow. The widow herself gives the clothes gladly for this purpose,\nbecause she thinks that being burnt they will pass into the possession of\nher departed husband, who will thus have no excuse for returning from the\nspirit-land to visit her. The ashes are thrown by the Transylvanian\ngypsies on the first graveyard that they pass on their journey.(665) In\nthis gypsy custom the equivalence of the effigy of the Old Woman to the\neffigy of Death in the customs we have just been considering comes out\nvery clearly, thus strongly confirming the opinion of Grimm that the\npractice of \u201csawing the Old Woman\u201d is only another form of the practice of\n\u201ccarrying out Death.\u201d\n\n(M193) The same perhaps may be said of a somewhat different form which the\ncustom assumes in parts of Spain and Italy. In Spain it is sometimes usual\non Ash Wednesday to fashion an effigy of stucco or pasteboard representing\na hideous old woman with seven legs, wearing a crown of sorrel and\nspinach, and holding a sceptre in her hand. The seven skinny legs stand\nfor the seven weeks of the Lenten fast which begins on Ash Wednesday. This\nmonster, proclaimed Queen of Lent amid the chanting of lugubrious songs,\nis carried in triumph through the crowded streets and public places. On\nreaching the principal square the people put out their torches, cease\nshouting, and disperse. Their revels are now ended, and they take a vow to\nhold no more merry meetings until all the legs of the old woman have\nfallen one by one and she has been beheaded. The effigy is then deposited\nin some place appointed for the purpose, where the public is admitted to\nsee it during the whole of Lent. Every week, on Saturday evening, one of\nthe Queen\u2019s legs is pulled off; and on Holy Saturday, when from every\nchurch tower the joyous clangour of the bells proclaims the glad tidings\nthat Christ is risen, the mutilated body of the fallen Queen is carried\nwith great solemnity to the principal square and publicly beheaded.(666)\n\n(M194) A custom of the same sort prevails in various parts of Italy. Thus\nin the Abruzzi they hang a puppet of tow, representing Lent, to a cord,\nwhich stretches across the street from one window to another. Seven\nfeathers are attached to the figure, and in its hand it grasps a distaff\nand spindle. Every Saturday in Lent one of the seven feathers is plucked\nout, and on Holy Saturday, while the bells are ringing, a string of\nchestnuts is burnt for the purpose of sending Lent and its meagre fare to\nthe devil. In houses, too, it is usual to amuse children by cutting the\nfigure of an old woman with seven legs out of pasteboard and sticking it\nbeside the chimney. The old woman represents Lent, and her seven legs are\nthe seven weeks of the fast; every Saturday one of the legs is amputated.\nAt Mid-Lent the effigy is cut through the middle, and the part of which\nthe feet have been already amputated is removed. Sometimes the figure is\nstuffed with sweets, dried fruits, and halfpence, for which the street\nurchins scramble when the puppet is bisected.(667) In the Sorrentine\npeninsula Lent is similarly represented by the effigy of a wrinkled old\nhag with a spindle and distaff, which is fastened to a balcony or a\nwindow. Attached to the figure is an orange with as many feathers stuck\ninto it as there are weeks in Lent, and at the end of each week one of the\nfeathers is plucked out. At Mid-Lent the puppet is sawn in two, an\noperation which is sometimes attended by a gush of blood from a bladder\nconcealed in the interior of the figure. Any old women who shew themselves\nin the streets on that day are exposed to jibes and jests, and may be\nwarned that they ought to remain at home.(668) At Castellammare, to the\nsouth of Naples, an English lady observed a rude puppet dangling from a\nstring which spanned one of the narrow streets of the old town, being\nfastened at either end, high overhead, to the upper part of the\nmany-storied houses. The puppet, about a foot long, was dressed all in\nblack, rather like a nun, and from the skirts projected five or six\nfeathers which bore a certain resemblance to legs. A peasant being asked\nwhat these things meant, replied with Italian vagueness, \u201cIt is only\nLent.\u201d Further enquiries, however, elicited the information that at the\nend of every week in Lent one of the feather legs was pulled off the\npuppet, and that the puppet was finally destroyed on the last day of\nLent.(669)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 6. Bringing in Summer.\n\n\n(M195) In the preceding ceremonies the return of Spring, Summer, or Life,\nas a sequel to the expulsion of Death, is only implied or at most\nannounced. In the following ceremonies it is plainly enacted. Thus in some\nparts of Bohemia the effigy of Death is drowned by being thrown into the\nwater at sunset; then the girls go out into the wood and cut down a young\ntree with a green crown, hang a doll dressed as a woman on it, deck the\nwhole with green, red, and white ribbons, and march in procession with\ntheir _L\u00edto_ (Summer) into the village, collecting gifts and singing\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Death swims in the water,_\n    _Spring comes to visit us,_\n    _With eggs that are red,_\n    _With yellow pancakes._\n    _We carried Death out of the village,_\n    _We are carrying Summer into the village._\u201d(670)\n\n\nIn many Silesian villages the figure of Death, after being treated with\nrespect, is stript of its clothes and flung with curses into the water, or\ntorn to pieces in a field. Then the young folk repair to a wood, cut down\na small fir-tree, peel the trunk, and deck it with festoons of evergreens,\npaper roses, painted egg-shells, motley bits of cloth, and so forth. The\ntree thus adorned is called Summer or May. Boys carry it from house to\nhouse singing appropriate songs and begging for presents. Among their\nsongs is the following:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_We 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\n\n\nSometimes they also bring back from the wood a prettily adorned figure,\nwhich goes by the name of Summer, May, or the Bride; in the Polish\ndistricts it is called Dziewanna, the goddess of spring.(671)\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 down the slope. 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.(672) 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 provided by the house in which the last death took place. 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.(673)\n\n(M196) In these cases Death is represented by the puppet which is thrown\naway, Summer 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.(674) On the Feast of Ascension the Saxons of Braller, a\nvillage of Transylvania, not far from Hermannstadt, observe the ceremony\nof \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d in the following manner. After morning service all\nthe school-girls repair to the house of one of their number, and there\ndress up the Death. This is done by tying a threshed-out sheaf of corn\ninto a rough semblance of a head and body, while the arms are simulated by\na broomstick thrust through it horizontally. The figure is dressed in the\nholiday attire of a young peasant woman, with a red hood, silver brooches,\nand a profusion of ribbons at the arms and breast. The girls bustle at\ntheir work, for soon the bells will be ringing to vespers, and the Death\nmust be ready in time to be placed at the open window, that all the people\nmay see it on their way to church. When vespers are over, the longed-for\nmoment has come for the first procession with the Death to begin; it is a\nprivilege that belongs to the school-girls alone. Two of the older girls\nseize the figure by the arms and walk in front: all the rest follow two\nand two. Boys may take no part in the procession, but they troop after it\ngazing with open-mouthed admiration at the \u201cbeautiful Death.\u201d So the\nprocession goes through all the streets of the village, the girls singing\nthe old hymn that begins\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Gott mein Vater, deine Liebe_\n    _Reicht so weit der Himmel ist,_\u201d\n\n\nto a tune that differs from the ordinary one. When the procession has\nwound its way through every street, the girls go to another house, and\nhaving shut the door against the eager prying crowd of boys who follow at\ntheir heels, they strip the Death and pass the naked truss of straw out of\nthe window to the boys, who pounce on it, run out of the village with it\nwithout singing, and fling the dilapidated effigy into the neighbouring\nbrook. This done, the second scene of the little drama begins. While the\nboys were carrying away the Death out of the village, the girls remained\nin the house, and one of them is now dressed in all the finery which had\nbeen worn by the effigy. Thus arrayed she is led in procession through all\nthe streets to the singing of the same hymn as before. When the procession\nis over they all betake themselves to the house of the girl who played the\nleading part. Here a feast awaits them from which also the boys are\nexcluded. It is a popular belief that the children may safely begin to eat\ngooseberries and other fruit after the day on which Death has thus been\ncarried out; for Death, which up to that time lurked especially in\ngooseberries, is now destroyed. Further, they may now bathe with impunity\nout of doors.(675) Very similar is the ceremony which, down to recent\nyears, was observed in some of the German villages of Moravia. Boys and\ngirls met on the afternoon of the first Sunday after Easter, and together\nfashioned a puppet of straw to represent Death. Decked with\nbright-coloured ribbons and cloths, and fastened to the top of a long\npole, the effigy was then borne with singing and clamour to the nearest\nheight, where it was stript of its gay attire and thrown or rolled down\nthe slope. One of the girls was next dressed in the gauds taken from the\neffigy of Death, and with her at its head the procession moved back to the\nvillage. In some villages the practice is to bury the effigy in the place\nthat has the most evil reputation of all the country-side: others throw it\ninto running water.(676)\n\n(M197) In the Lusatian ceremony described above,(677) the tree which is\nbrought home after the destruction of the figure of Death is plainly\nequivalent to the trees or branches which, in the preceding customs, were\nbrought back as representatives of Summer or Life, after Death had been\nthrown away or destroyed. But the transference of the shirt worn by the\neffigy of Death to the tree clearly indicates that the tree is a kind of\nrevivification, in a new form, of the destroyed effigy.(678) This comes\nout also in the Transylvanian and Moravian customs: the dressing of a girl\nin the clothes worn by the Death, and the leading her about the village to\nthe same song which had been sung when the Death was being carried about,\nshew that she is intended to be a kind of resuscitation of the being whose\neffigy has just been destroyed. These examples therefore suggest that the\nDeath whose demolition is represented in these ceremonies cannot be\nregarded as the purely destructive agent which we understand by Death. If\nthe tree which is brought back as an embodiment of the reviving vegetation\nof spring is clothed in the shirt worn by the Death which has just been\ndestroyed, the object certainly cannot be to check and counteract the\nrevival of vegetation: it can only be to foster and promote it. Therefore\nthe being which has just been destroyed\u2014the so-called Death\u2014must be\nsupposed to be endowed with a vivifying and quickening influence, which it\ncan communicate to the vegetable and even the animal world. This\nascription of a life-giving virtue to the figure of Death is put beyond a\ndoubt by the custom, observed in some places, of taking pieces of the\nstraw effigy of Death and placing them in the fields to make the crops\ngrow, or in the manger to make the cattle thrive. Thus in Spachendorf, a\nvillage of Austrian Silesia, the figure of Death, made of straw,\nbrushwood, and rags, is carried with wild songs to an open place outside\nthe village and there burned, and while it is burning a general struggle\ntakes place for the pieces, which are pulled out of the flames with bare\nhands. Each one who secures a fragment of the effigy ties it to a branch\nof the largest tree in his garden, or buries it in his field, in the\nbelief that this causes the crops to grow better.(679) In the Troppau\ndistrict of Austrian Silesia the straw figure which the boys make on the\nfourth Sunday in Lent is dressed by the girls in woman\u2019s clothes and hung\nwith ribbons, necklace, and garlands. Attached to a long pole it is\ncarried out of the village, followed by a troop of young people of both\nsexes, who alternately frolic, lament, and sing songs. Arrived at its\ndestination\u2014a field outside the village\u2014the figure is stripped of its\nclothes and ornaments; then the crowd rushes at it and tears it to bits,\nscuffling for the fragments. Every one tries to get a wisp of the straw of\nwhich the effigy was made, because such a wisp, placed in the manger, is\nbelieved to make the cattle thrive.(680) Or the straw is put in the hens\u2019\nnest, it being supposed that this prevents the hens from carrying away\ntheir eggs, and makes them brood much better.(681) The same attribution of\na fertilising power to the figure of Death appears in the belief that if\nthe bearers of the figure, after throwing it away, beat cattle with their\nsticks, this will render the beasts fat or prolific.(682) Perhaps the\nsticks had been previously used to beat the Death,(683) and so had\nacquired the fertilising power ascribed to the effigy. We have seen, too,\nthat at Leipsic a straw effigy of Death was shewn to young wives to make\nthem fruitful.(684)\n\n(M198) It seems hardly possible to separate from the May-trees the trees\nor branches which are brought into the village after the destruction of\nthe Death. The bearers who bring them in profess to be bringing in the\nSummer,(685) therefore the trees obviously represent the Summer; indeed in\nSilesia they are commonly called the Summer or the May,(686) and the doll\nwhich 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.(687) Further, the Summer-trees\nare adorned like May-trees with ribbons and so on; like May-trees, when\nlarge, they are planted in the ground and climbed up; and like May-trees,\nwhen small, they are carried from door to door by boys or girls singing\nsongs and collecting money.(688) And as if to demonstrate the identity of\nthe two sets of customs the bearers of the Summer-tree sometimes announce\nthat they are bringing in the Summer and the May.(689) The customs,\ntherefore, of bringing in the May and bringing in the Summer are\nessentially the same; and the Summer-tree is merely another form of the\nMay-tree, the only distinction (besides that of name) being in the time at\nwhich they are respectively brought in; for while the May-tree is usually\nfetched in on the first of May or at Whitsuntide, the Summer-tree is\nfetched in on the fourth Sunday in Lent. Therefore, if the May-tree is an\nembodiment of the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation, the Summer-tree\nmust likewise be an embodiment of the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation.\nBut we have seen that the Summer-tree is in some cases a revivification of\nthe effigy of Death. It follows, therefore, that in these cases the effigy\ncalled Death must be an embodiment of the tree-spirit or spirit of\nvegetation. This inference is confirmed, first, by the vivifying and\nfertilising influence which the fragments of the effigy of Death are\nbelieved to exercise both on vegetable and on animal life;(690) for this\ninfluence, as we saw in the first part of this work,(691) is supposed to\nbe a special attribute of the tree-spirit. It is confirmed, secondly, by\nobserving that the effigy of Death is sometimes decked with leaves or made\nof twigs, branches, hemp, or a threshed-out sheaf of corn;(692) and that\nsometimes it is hung on a little tree and so carried about by girls\ncollecting money,(693) just as is done with the May-tree and the May Lady,\nand with the Summer-tree and the doll attached to it. In short we are\ndriven to regard the expulsion of Death and the bringing in of Summer as,\nin some cases at least, merely another form of that death and revival of\nthe spirit of vegetation in spring which we saw enacted in the killing and\nresurrection of the Wild Man.(694) The burial and resurrection of the\nCarnival is probably another way of expressing the same idea. The\ninterment of the representative of the Carnival under a dung-heap(695) is\nnatural, if he is supposed to possess a quickening and fertilising\ninfluence like that ascribed to the effigy of Death. The Esthonians,\nindeed, who carry the straw figure out of the village in the usual way on\nShrove Tuesday, do not call it the Carnival, but the Wood-spirit\n(_Metsik_), and they clearly indicate the identity of the effigy with the\nwood-spirit by fixing it to the top of a tree in the wood, where it\nremains for a year, and is besought almost daily with prayers and\nofferings to protect the herds; for like a true wood-spirit the _Metsik_\nis a patron of cattle. Sometimes the _Metsik_ is made of sheaves of\ncorn.(696)\n\n(M199) Thus we may fairly conjecture that the names Carnival, Death, and\nSummer are comparatively late and inadequate expressions for the beings\npersonified or embodied in the customs with which we have been dealing.\nThe very abstractness of the names bespeaks a modern origin; for the\npersonification of times and seasons like the Carnival and Summer, or of\nan 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 notion 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\nidea of a spirit of vegetation might be reached. But this general idea of\nvegetation would readily be confounded with the season in which it\nmanifests itself; hence the substitution of Spring, Summer, or May for the\ntree-spirit or spirit of vegetation would be easy and natural. Again, the\nconcrete notion of the dying tree or dying vegetation would by a similar\nprocess of generalisation glide into a notion of death in general; so that\nthe practice of carrying out the dying or dead vegetation in spring, as a\npreliminary to its revival, would in time widen out into an attempt to\nbanish Death in general from the village or district. The view that in\nthese spring ceremonies Death meant originally the dying or dead\nvegetation of winter has the high support of W. Mannhardt; and he confirms\nit by the analogy of the name Death as applied to the spirit of the ripe\ncorn. Commonly the spirit of the ripe corn is conceived, not as dead, but\nas old, and hence it goes by the name of the Old Man or the Old Woman. But\nin some places the last sheaf cut at harvest, which is generally believed\nto be the seat of the corn spirit, is called \"the Dead One\": children are\nwarned against entering the corn-fields because Death sits in the corn;\nand, in a game played by Saxon children in Transylvania at the maize\nharvest, Death is represented by a child completely covered with maize\nleaves.(697)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 7. Battle of Summer and Winter.\n\n\n(M200) Sometimes in the popular customs of the peasantry the contrast\nbetween the dormant powers of vegetation in winter and their awakening\nvitality in spring takes the form of a dramatic contest between actors who\nplay the parts respectively of Winter and Summer. Thus in the towns of\nSweden on May Day two troops of young men on horseback used to meet as if\nfor mortal combat. One of them was led by a representative of Winter clad\nin furs, who threw snowballs and ice in order to prolong the cold weather.\nThe other troop was commanded by a representative of Summer covered with\nfresh leaves and flowers. In the sham fight which followed the party of\nSummer came off victorious, and the ceremony ended with a feast.(698)\nAgain, in the region of the middle Rhine, a representative of Summer clad\nin ivy combats a representative of Winter clad in straw or moss and\nfinally gains a victory over him. The vanquished foe is thrown to the\nground and stripped of his casing of straw, which is torn to pieces and\nscattered about, while the youthful comrades of the two champions sing a\nsong to commemorate the defeat of Winter by Summer. Afterwards they carry\nabout a summer garland or branch and collect gifts of eggs and bacon from\nhouse to house. Sometimes the champion who acts the part of Summer is\ndressed in leaves and flowers and wears a chaplet of flowers on his head.\nIn the Palatinate this mimic conflict takes place on the fourth Sunday in\nLent.(699) All over Bavaria the same drama used to be acted on the same\nday, and it was still kept up in some places down to the middle of the\nnineteenth century or later. While Summer appeared clad all in green,\ndecked with fluttering ribbons, and carrying a branch in blossom or a\nlittle tree hung with apples and pears, Winter was muffled up in cap and\nmantle of fur and bore in his hand a snow-shovel or a flail. Accompanied\nby their respective retinues dressed in corresponding attire, they went\nthrough all the streets of the village, halting before the houses and\nsinging staves of old songs, for which they received presents of bread,\neggs, and fruit. Finally, after a short struggle, Winter was beaten by\nSummer and ducked in the village well or driven out of the village with\nshouts and laughter into the forest.(700) In some parts of Bavaria the\nboys who play the parts of Winter and Summer act their little drama in\nevery house that they visit, and engage in a war of words before they come\nto blows, each of them vaunting the pleasures and benefits of the season\nhe represents and disparaging those of the other. The dialogue is in\nverse. A few couplets may serve as specimens:\u2014\n\n\n    SUMMER\n\n    \u201c_Green, green are meadows wherever I pass_\n    _And the mowers are busy among the grass._\u201d\n\n    WINTER\n\n    \u201c_White, white are the meadows wherever I go,_\n    _And the sledges glide hissing across the snow._\u201d\n\n    SUMMER\n\n    \u201c_I\u2019ll climb up the tree where the red cherries glow,_\n    _And Winter can stand by himself down below._\u201d\n\n    WINTER\n\n    \u201c_With you I will climb the cherry-tree tall,_\n    _Its branches will kindle the fire in the hall._\u201d\n\n    SUMMER\n\n    \u201c_O Winter, you are most uncivil_\n    _To send old women to the devil._\u201d\n\n    WINTER\n\n    \u201c_By that I make them warm and mellow,_\n    _So let them bawl and let them bellow._\u201d\n\n    SUMMER\n\n    \u201c_I am the Summer in white array,_\n    _I\u2019m chasing the Winter far, far away._\u201d\n\n    WINTER\n\n    \u201c_I am the Winter in mantle of furs,_\n    _I\u2019m chasing the Summer o\u2019er bushes and burs._\u201d\n\n    SUMMER\n\n    \u201c_Just say a word more, and I\u2019ll have you banned_\n    _At once and for ever from Summer land._\u201d\n\n    WINTER\n\n    \u201c_O Summer, for all your bluster and brag,_\n    _You\u2019d not dare to carry a hen in a bag._\u201d\n\n    SUMMER\n\n    \u201c_O Winter, your chatter no more can I stay,_\n    _I\u2019ll kick and I\u2019ll cuff you without delay._\u201d\n\n\nHere ensues a scuffle between the two little boys, in which Summer gets\nthe best of it, and turns Winter out of the house. But soon the beaten\nchampion of Winter peeps in at the door and says with a humbled and\ncrestfallen air:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_O Summer, dear Summer, I\u2019m under your ban,_\n    _For you are the master and I am the man._\u201d\n\n\nTo which Summer replies:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_\u2019Tis a capital notion, an excellent plan,_\n    _If I am the master and you are the man._\n    _So come, my dear Winter, and give me your hand,_\n    _We\u2019ll travel together to Summer Land._\u201d(701)\n\n\n(M201) At Goepfritz in Lower Austria, two men personating Summer and\nWinter used to go from house to house on Shrove Tuesday, and were\neverywhere welcomed by the children with great delight. The representative\nof Summer was clad in white and bore a sickle; his comrade, who played the\npart of Winter, had a fur-cap on his head, his arms and legs were swathed\nin straw, and he carried a flail. In every house they sang verses\nalternately.(702) At Dr\u00f6mling in Brunswick, down to the present time, the\ncontest between Summer and Winter is acted every year at Whitsuntide by a\ntroop of boys and a troop of girls. The boys rush singing, shouting, and\nringing bells from house to house to drive Winter away; after them come\nthe girls singing softly and led by a May Bride, all in bright dresses and\ndecked with flowers and garlands to represent the genial advent of spring.\nFormerly the part of Winter was played by a straw-man which the boys\ncarried with them; now it is acted by a real man in disguise.(703) In\nWachtl and Brodek, a German village and a little German town of Moravia,\nencompassed by Slavonic people on every side, the great change that comes\nover the earth in spring is still annually mimicked. The long village of\nWachtl, with its trim houses and farmyards, nestles in a valley surrounded\nby pretty pine-woods. Here, on a day in spring, about the time of the\nvernal equinox, an elderly man with a long flaxen beard may be seen going\nfrom door to door. He is muffled in furs, with warm gloves on his hands\nand a bearskin cap on his head, and he carries a threshing flail. This is\nthe personification of Winter. With him goes a younger beardless man\ndressed in white, wearing a straw hat trimmed with gay ribbons on his\nhead, and carrying a decorated May-tree in his hands. This is Summer. At\nevery house they receive a friendly greeting and recite a long dialogue in\nverse, Winter punctuating his discourse with his flail, which he brings\ndown with rude vigour on the backs of all within reach.(704) Amongst the\nSlavonic population near Ungarisch Brod, in Moravia, the ceremony took a\nsomewhat different form. Girls dressed in green marched in procession\nround a May-tree. Then two others, one in white and one in green, stepped\nup to the tree and engaged in a dialogue. Finally, the girl in white was\ndriven away, but returned afterwards clothed in green, and the festival\nended with a dance.(705)\n\n(M202) On May Day it used to be customary in almost all the large parishes\nof the Isle of Man to choose from among the daughters of the wealthiest\nfarmers a young maiden to be Queen of May. She was dressed in the gayest\nattire and attended by about twenty others, who were called maids of\nhonour. She had also a young man for her captain with a number of inferior\nofficers under him. In opposition to her was the Queen of Winter, a man\nattired as a woman, with woollen hoods, fur tippets, and loaded with the\nwarmest and heaviest clothes, one upon another. Her attendants were\nhabited in like manner, and she too had a captain and troop for her\ndefence. Thus representing respectively the beauty of spring and the\ndeformity of winter they set forth from their different quarters, the one\npreceded by the dulcet music of flutes and violins, the other by the harsh\nclatter of cleavers and tongs. In this array they marched till they met on\na common, where the trains of the two mimic sovereigns engaged in a mock\nbattle. If the Queen of Winter\u2019s forces got the better of their\nadversaries and took her rival prisoner, the captive Queen of Summer was\nransomed for as much as would pay the expenses of the festival. After this\nceremony, Winter and her company retired and diverted themselves in a\nbarn, while the partisans of Summer danced on the green, concluding the\nevening with a feast, at which the Queen and her maids sat at one table\nand the captain and his troop at another. In later times the person of the\nQueen of May was exempt from capture, but one of her slippers was\nsubstituted and, if captured, had to be ransomed to defray the expenses of\nthe pageant. The procession of the Summer, which was subsequently composed\nof little girls and called the Maceboard, outlived that of its rival the\nWinter for some years; but both have now long been things of the\npast.(706)\n\n(M203) Among the central Esquimaux of North America the contest between\nrepresentatives of summer and winter, which in Europe has long degenerated\ninto a mere dramatic performance, is still kept up as a magical ceremony\nof which the avowed intention is to influence the weather. In autumn, when\nstorms announce the approach of the dismal Arctic winter, the Esquimaux\ndivide themselves into two parties called respectively the ptarmigans and\nthe ducks, the ptarmigans comprising all persons born in winter, and the\nducks all persons born in summer. A long rope of sealskin is then\nstretched out, and each party laying hold of one end of it seeks by\ntugging with might and main to drag the other party over to its side. If\nthe ptarmigans get the worst of it, then summer has won the game and fine\nweather may be expected to prevail through the winter.(707) In this\nceremony it is clearly assumed that persons born in summer have a natural\naffinity with warm weather, and therefore possess a power of mitigating\nthe rigour of winter, whereas persons born in winter are, so to say, of a\ncold and frosty disposition and can thereby exert a refrigerating\ninfluence on the temperature of the air. In spite of this natural\nantipathy between the representatives of summer and winter, we may be\nallowed to conjecture that in the grand tug of war the ptarmigans do not\npull at the rope with the same hearty goodwill as the ducks, and that thus\nthe genial influence of summer commonly prevails over the harsh austerity\nof winter. The Indians of Canada seem also to have imagined that persons\nare endowed with distinct natural capacities according as they are born in\nsummer or winter, and they turned the distinction to account in much the\nsame fashion as the Esquimaux. When they wearied of the long frosts and\nthe deep snow which kept them prisoners in their huts and prevented them\nfrom hunting, all of them who were born in summer rushed out of their\nhouses armed with burning brands and torches which they hurled against the\nOne who makes Winter; and this was supposed to produce the desired effect\nof mitigating the cold. But those Indians who were born in winter\nabstained from taking part in the ceremony, for they believed that if they\nmeddled with it the cold would increase instead of diminishing.(708) We\nmay surmise that in the corresponding European ceremonies, which have just\nbeen described, it was formerly deemed necessary that the actors, who\nplayed the parts of Winter and Summer, should have been born in the\nseasons which they personated.\n\n(M204) Every year on the Monday after the spring equinox boys and girls\nattired in gay costume flock at a very early hour into Zurich from the\ncountry. The girls, generally clad in white, are called _Mareielis_ and\ncarry two and two a small May tree or a wreath decked with flowers and\nribbons. Thus they go in bands from house to house, jingling the bells\nwhich are attached to the wreath and singing a song, in which it is said\nthat the _Mareielis_ dance because the leaves and the grass are green and\neverything is bursting into blossom. In this way they are supposed to\ncelebrate the triumph of Summer and to proclaim his coming. The boys are\ncalled _B\u00f6ggen_. They generally wear over their ordinary clothes a shirt\ndecked with many-coloured ribbons, tall pointed paper caps on their heads,\nand masks before their faces. In this quaint costume they cart about\nthrough the streets effigies made of straw and other combustible materials\nwhich are supposed to represent Winter. At evening these effigies are\nburned in various parts of the city.(709) The ceremony was witnessed at\nZurich on Monday, April 20th, 1903, by my friend Dr. J. Sutherland Black,\nwho has kindly furnished me with some notes on the subject. The effigy of\nWinter was a gigantic figure composed in great part, as it seemed, of\ncotton-wool. This was laid on a huge pyre, about thirty feet high, which\nhad been erected on the Stadthausplatz close to the lake. In presence of a\nvast concourse of people fire was set to the pyre and all was soon in a\nblaze, while the town bells rang a joyous peal. As the figure gradually\nconsumed in the flames, the mechanism enclosed in its interior produced a\nvariety of grotesque effects, such as the gushing forth of bowels. At last\nnothing remained of the effigy but the iron backbone; the crowd slowly\ndispersed, and the fire brigade set to work to quench the smouldering\nembers.(710) In this ceremony the contest between Summer and Winter is\nrather implied than expressed, but the significance of the rite is\nunmistakable.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 8. Death and Resurrection of Kostrubonko.\n\n\n(M205) In Russia funeral ceremonies like those of \u201cBurying the Carnival\u201d\nand \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d are celebrated under the names, not of Death or\nthe Carnival, but of certain mythic figures, Kostrubonko, Kostroma,\nKupalo, Lada, and Yarilo. These Russian ceremonies are observed both in\nspring and at midsummer. Thus \u201cin Little Russia it used to be the custom\nat Eastertide 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    \u2018_Dead, 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\nexclaimed,\u2014\n\n\n    \u2018_Come to life, come to life has our Kostrubonko!_\n    _Come to life, come to life has our dear one!_\u2019 \u201d(711)\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(712) On St. Peter\u2019s Day, the twenty-ninth\nof June, or on the following Sunday, \u201cthe Funeral of Kostroma\u201d or of Lada\nor of Yarilo is celebrated in Russia. In the Governments of Penza and\nSimbirsk the funeral used to be represented as follows. A bonfire was\nkindled on the twenty-eighth of June, and on the next day the maidens\nchose one of their number to play the part of Kostroma. Her companions\nsaluted her with deep obeisances, placed her on a board, and carried her\nto the bank of a stream. There they bathed her in the water, while the\noldest girl made a basket of lime-tree bark and beat it like a drum. Then\nthey returned to the village and ended the day with processions, games,\nand dances.(713) In the Murom district Kostroma was represented by a straw\nfigure dressed in woman\u2019s clothes and flowers. This was laid in a trough\nand carried with songs to the bank of a lake or river. Here the crowd\ndivided into two sides, of which the one attacked and the other defended\nthe figure. At last the assailants gained the day, stripped the figure of\nits dress and ornaments, tore it in pieces, trod the straw of which it was\nmade under foot, and flung it into the stream; while the defenders of the\nfigure hid their faces in their hands and pretended to bewail the death of\nKostroma.(714) In the district of Kostroma the burial of Yarilo was\ncelebrated on the twenty-ninth or thirtieth of June. The people chose an\nold man and gave him a small coffin containing a Priapus-like figure\nrepresenting Yarilo. This he carried out of the town, followed by women\nchanting dirges and expressing by their gestures grief and despair. In the\nopen fields a grave was dug, and into it the figure was lowered amid\nweeping and wailing, after which games and dances were begun, \u201ccalling to\nmind the funeral games celebrated in old times by the pagan\nSlavonians.\u201d(715) In Little Russia the figure of Yarilo was laid in a\ncoffin and carried through the streets after sunset surrounded by drunken\nwomen, who kept repeating mournfully, \u201cHe is dead! he is dead!\u201d The men\nlifted and shook the figure as if they were trying to recall the dead man\nto life. Then they said to the women, \u201cWomen, weep not. I know what is\nsweeter than honey.\u201d But the women continued to lament and chant, as they\ndo at funerals. \u201cOf what was he guilty? He was so good. He will arise no\nmore. O how shall we part from thee? What is life without thee? Arise, if\nonly for a brief hour. But he rises not, he rises not.\u201d At last the Yarilo\nwas buried in a grave.(716)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 9. Death and Revival of Vegetation.\n\n\n(M206) These Russian customs are plainly of the same nature as those which\nin Austria and Germany are known as \u201cCarrying out Death.\u201d Therefore if the\ninterpretation here adopted of the latter is right, the Russian\nKostrubonko, Yarilo, and the rest must also have been originally\nembodiments of the spirit of vegetation, and their death must have been\nregarded as a necessary preliminary to their revival. The revival as a\nsequel to the death is enacted in the first of the ceremonies described,\nthe death and resurrection of Kostrubonko. The reason why in some of these\nRussian ceremonies 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    \u201c_To 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 rites by which he hopes to stay the decline, or at least to\nensure the revival, of plant life.\n\n(M207) But while the death of vegetation appears to have been represented\nin all, and its revival in some, of these spring and midsummer ceremonies,\nthere are 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 rites, are indeed appropriate at\nthe death of the beneficent spirit of vegetation. But what shall we say of\nthe 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. We must therefore recognise two distinct and\nseemingly opposite features in these ceremonies: on the one hand, sorrow\nfor the death, and affection and respect for the dead; on the other hand,\nfear and hatred of the dead, and rejoicings at his death. How the former\nof these features is to be explained I have attempted to shew: how the\nlatter came to be so closely associated with the former is a question\nwhich I shall try to answer in the sequel.\n\n(M208) Before we quit these European customs to go farther afield, it will\nbe well 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 in 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(717) 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.(718)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 10. Analogous Rites in India.\n\n\n(M209) In the Kanagra district of India there is a custom observed by\nyoung girls in spring which closely resembles some of the European spring\nceremonies just described. It is called the _Ral\u00ee Ka mel\u00e2_, or fair of\nRal\u00ee, the _Ral\u00ee_ being a small painted earthen image of Siva or P\u00e2rvat\u00ee.\nThe custom is in vogue all over the Kanagra district, and its celebration,\nwhich is entirely confined to young girls, lasts through most of Chet\n(March-April) up to the Sankr\u00e2nt of Bais\u00e2kh (April). On a morning in March\nall the young girls of the village take small baskets of _d\u00fbb_ grass and\nflowers to an appointed place, where they throw them in a heap. Round this\nheap they stand in a circle and sing. This goes on every day for ten days,\ntill the heap of grass and flowers has reached a fair height. Then they\ncut in the jungle two branches, each with three prongs at one end, and\nplace them, prongs downwards, over the heap of flowers, so as to make two\ntripods or pyramids. On the single uppermost points of these branches they\nget an image-maker to construct two clay images, one to represent Siva,\nand the other P\u00e2rvat\u00ee. The girls then divide themselves into two parties,\none for Siva and one for P\u00e2rvat\u00ee, and marry the images in the usual way,\nleaving out no part of the ceremony. After the marriage they have a feast,\nthe cost of which is defrayed by contributions solicited from their\nparents. Then at the next Sankr\u00e2nt (Bais\u00e2kh) they all go together to the\nriver-side, throw the images into a deep pool, and weep over the place, as\nthough they were performing funeral obsequies. The boys of the\nneighbourhood often tease them by diving after the images, bringing them\nup, and waving them about while the girls are crying over them. The object\nof the fair is said to be to secure a good husband.(719)\n\n(M210) That in this Indian ceremony the deities Siva and P\u00e2rvat\u00ee are\nconceived as spirits of vegetation seems to be proved by the placing of\ntheir images on branches over a heap of grass and flowers. Here, as often\nin European 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, and so forth.(720) The throwing\nof the images into the water, and the mourning for them, are the\nequivalents of the European customs of throwing the dead spirit of\nvegetation under the name of Death, Yarilo, Kostroma, and the rest, into\nthe water and lamenting over it. Again, in India, as often in Europe, the\nrite is performed exclusively by females. The notion that the ceremony\nhelps to procure husbands for the girls can be explained by the quickening\nand fertilising influence which the spirit of vegetation is believed to\nexert upon the life of man as well as of plants.(721)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 11. The Magic Spring.\n\n\n(M211) The general explanation which we have been led to adopt of these\nand many similar ceremonies is that they are, or were in their origin,\nmagical rites intended to ensure the revival of nature in spring. The\nmeans by which they were supposed to effect this end were imitation and\nsympathy. Led astray by his ignorance of the true causes of things,\nprimitive man believed that in order to produce the great phenomena of\nnature on which his life depended he had only to imitate them, and that\nimmediately by a secret sympathy or mystic influence the little drama\nwhich he acted in forest glade or mountain dell, on desert plain or\nwind-swept shore, would be taken up and repeated by mightier actors on a\nvaster stage. He fancied that by masquerading in leaves and flowers he\nhelped the bare earth to clothe herself with verdure, and that by playing\nthe death and burial of winter he drove that gloomy season away, and made\nsmooth the path for the footsteps of returning spring. If we find it hard\nto throw ourselves even in fancy into a mental condition in which such\nthings seem possible, we can more easily picture to ourselves the anxiety\nwhich the savage, when he first began to lift his thoughts above the\nsatisfaction of his merely animal wants, and to meditate on the causes of\nthings, may have felt as to the continued operation of what we now call\nthe laws of nature. To us, familiar as we are with the conception of the\nuniformity and regularity with which the great cosmic phenomena succeed\neach other, there seems little ground for apprehension that the causes\nwhich produce these effects will cease to operate, at least within the\nnear future. But this confidence in the stability of nature is bred only\nby the experience which comes of wide observation and long tradition; and\nthe savage, with his narrow sphere of observation and his short-lived\ntradition, lacks the very elements of that experience which alone could\nset his mind at rest in face of the ever-changing and often menacing\naspects of nature. No wonder, therefore, that he is thrown into a panic by\nan eclipse, and thinks that the sun or the moon would surely perish, if he\ndid not raise a clamour and shoot his puny shafts into the air to defend\nthe luminaries from the monster who threatens to devour them. No wonder he\nis terrified when in the darkness of night a streak of sky is suddenly\nillumined by the flash of a meteor, or the whole expanse of the celestial\narch glows with the fitful light of the Northern Streamers.(722) Even\nphenomena which recur at fixed and uniform intervals may be viewed by him\nwith apprehension, before he has come to recognise the orderliness of\ntheir recurrence. The speed or slowness of his recognition of such\nperiodic or cyclic changes in nature will depend largely on the length of\nthe particular cycle. The cycle, for example, of day and night is\neverywhere, except in the polar regions, so short and hence so frequent\nthat men probably soon ceased to discompose themselves seriously as to the\nchance of its failing to recur, though the ancient Egyptians, as we have\nseen, daily wrought enchantments to bring back to the east in the morning\nthe fiery orb which had sunk at evening in the crimson west. But it was\nfar otherwise with the annual cycle of the seasons. To any man a year is a\nconsiderable period, seeing that the number of our years is but few at the\nbest. To the primitive savage, with his short memory and imperfect means\nof marking the flight of time, a year may well have been so long that he\nfailed to recognise it as a cycle at all, and watched the changing aspects\nof earth and heaven with a perpetual wonder, alternately delighted and\nalarmed, elated and cast down, according as the vicissitudes of light and\nheat, of plant and animal life, ministered to his comfort or threatened\nhis existence. In autumn when the withered leaves were whirled about the\nforest by the nipping blast, and he looked up at the bare boughs, could he\nfeel sure that they would ever be green again? As day by day the sun sank\nlower and lower in the sky, could he be certain that the luminary would\never retrace his heavenly road? Even the waning moon, whose pale sickle\nrose thinner and thinner every night over the rim of the eastern horizon,\nmay have excited in his mind a fear lest, when it had wholly vanished,\nthere should be moons no more.\n\n(M212) These and a thousand such misgivings may have thronged the fancy\nand troubled the peace of the man who first began to reflect on the\nmysteries of the world he lived in, and to take thought for a more distant\nfuture than the morrow. It was natural, therefore, that with such thoughts\nand fears he should have done all that in him lay to bring back the faded\nblossom to the bough, to swing the low sun of winter up to his old place\nin the summer sky, and to restore its orbed fulness to the silver lamp of\nthe waning moon. We may smile at his vain endeavours if we please, but it\nwas only by making a long series of experiments, of which some were almost\ninevitably doomed to failure, that man learned from experience the\nfutility of some of his attempted methods and the fruitfulness of others.\nAfter all, magical ceremonies are nothing but experiments which have\nfailed and which continue to be repeated merely because, for reasons which\nhave already been indicated,(723) the operator is unaware of their\nfailure. With the advance of knowledge these ceremonies either cease to be\nperformed altogether or are kept up from force of habit long after the\nintention with which they were instituted has been forgotten. Thus fallen\nfrom their high estate, no longer regarded as solemn rites on the punctual\nperformance of which the welfare and even the life of the community\ndepend, they sink gradually to the level of simple pageants, mummeries,\nand pastimes, till in the final stage of degeneration they are wholly\nabandoned by older people, and, from having once been the most serious\noccupation of the sage, become at last the idle sport of children. It is\nin this final stage of decay that most of the old magical rites of our\nEuropean forefathers linger on at the present day, and even from this\ntheir last retreat they are fast being swept away by the rising tide of\nthose multitudinous forces, moral, intellectual, and social, which are\nbearing mankind onward to a new and unknown goal. We may feel some natural\nregret at the disappearance of quaint customs and picturesque ceremonies,\nwhich have preserved to an age often deemed dull and prosaic something of\nthe flavour and freshness of the olden time, some breath of the springtime\nof the world; yet our regret will be lessened when we remember that these\npretty pageants, these now innocent diversions, had their origin in\nignorance and superstition; that if they are a record of human endeavour,\nthey are also a monument of fruitless ingenuity, of wasted labour, and of\nblighted hopes; and that for all their gay trappings\u2014their flowers, their\nribbons, and their music\u2014they partake far more of tragedy than of farce.\n\n(M213) The interpretation which, following in the footsteps of W.\nMannhardt, I have attempted to give of these ceremonies has been not a\nlittle confirmed by the discovery, made since this book was first written,\nthat the natives of Central Australia regularly practise magical\nceremonies for the purpose of awakening the dormant energies of nature at\nthe approach of what may be called the Australian spring. Nowhere\napparently are the alternations of the seasons more sudden and the\ncontrasts between them more striking than in the deserts of Central\nAustralia, where at the end of a long period of drought the sandy and\nstony wilderness, over which the silence and desolation of death appear to\nbrood, is suddenly, after a few days of torrential rain, transformed into\na landscape smiling with verdure and peopled with teeming multitudes of\ninsects and lizards, of frogs and birds. The marvellous change which\npasses over the face of nature at such times has been compared even by\nEuropean observers to the effect of magic;(724) no wonder, then, that the\nsavage should regard it as such in very deed. Now it is just when there is\npromise of the approach of a good season that the natives of Central\nAustralia are wont especially to perform those magical ceremonies of which\nthe avowed intention is to multiply the plants and animals they use as\nfood.(725) These ceremonies, therefore, present a close analogy to the\nspring customs of our European peasantry not only in the time of their\ncelebration, but also in their aim; for we can hardly doubt that in\ninstituting rites designed to assist the revival of plant life in spring\nour primitive forefathers were moved, not by any sentimental wish to smell\nat early violets, or pluck the rathe primrose, or watch yellow daffodils\ndancing in the breeze, but by the very practical consideration, certainly\nnot formulated in abstract terms, that the life of man is inextricably\nbound up with that of plants, and that if they were to perish he could not\nsurvive. And as the faith of the Australian savage in the efficacy of his\nmagic rites is confirmed by observing that their performance is invariably\nfollowed, sooner or later, by that increase of vegetable and animal life\nwhich it is their object to produce, so, we may suppose, it was with\nEuropean savages in the olden time. The sight of the fresh green in brake\nand thicket, of vernal flowers blowing on mossy banks, of swallows\narriving from the south, and of the sun mounting daily higher in the sky,\nwould be welcomed by them as so many visible signs that their enchantments\nwere indeed taking effect, and would inspire them with a cheerful\nconfidence that all was well with a world which they could thus mould to\nsuit their wishes. Only in autumn days, as summer slowly faded, would\ntheir confidence again be dashed by doubts and misgivings at symptoms of\ndecay, which told how vain were all their efforts to stave off for ever\nthe approach of winter and of death.\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTE A. CHINESE INDIFFERENCE TO DEATH.\n\n\n(M214) Lord Avebury kindly allows me to print the letter of Mr. M. W.\nLampson, referred to above (p. 146, note 1). It runs as follows:\u2014\n\n\n    FOREIGN OFFICE, _August 7, 1903_.\n\n    DEAR LORD AVEBURY\u2014As the result of enquiries I hear from a Mr.\n    Eames, a lawyer who practised for some years at Shanghai and has\n    considerable knowledge of Chinese matters, that for a small sum a\n    substitute can be found for execution. This is recognised by the\n    Chinese authorities, with certain exceptions, as for instance\n    parricide. It is even asserted that the local Taotai gains\n    pecuniarily by this arrangement, as he is as a rule not above\n    obtaining a substitute for the condemned man for a less sum than\n    was paid him by the latter.\n\n    It is, I believe, part of the doctrine of Confucius that it is one\n    of the highest virtues to increase the family prosperity at the\n    expense of personal suffering. According to Eames, the Chinamen\n    [_sic_] looks upon execution in another man\u2019s stead in this light,\n    and consequently there is quite a competition for such a\n    \u201csubstitution.\u201d\n\n    Should you wish to get more definite information, the address is:\n    W. Eames, Esq., c/o Norman Craig, Inner Temple, E.C.\n\n    The only man in this department who has actually been out to China\n    is at present away. But on his return I will ask him about it.\u2014\n\n    Yours sincerely,\n    MILES W. LAMPSON.\n\n\n(M215) On this subject Lord Avebury had stated: \u201cIt is said that in China,\nif a rich man is condemned to death, he can sometimes purchase a willing\nsubstitute at a very small expense.\u201d(726) In regard to his authority for\nthis statement Lord Avebury wrote to me (August 10, 1903): \u201cI believe my\nprevious information came from Sir T. Wade, but I have been unable to lay\nmy hand on his letter, and do not therefore like to state it as a fact.\u201d\nSir Thomas Wade was English Ambassador at Peking, and afterwards Professor\nof Chinese at Cambridge.\n\n(M216) On the same subject Mr. Valentine Chirol, editor of the foreign\ndepartment of _The Times_, wrote to me as follows:\u2014\n\n\n    QUEEN ANNE\u2019S MANSIONS, WESTMINSTER, S.W.,\n    _August 21st, 1905_.\n\n    DEAR SIR\u2014I shall be very glad to do what I can to obtain for you\n    the information you require. It was a surprise to me to hear that\n    the accuracy of the statement was called in question. It is\n    certainly a matter of common report in China that the practice\n    exists. The difficulty, I conceive, will be to obtain evidence\n    enabling one to quote concrete cases. My own impression is that\n    the practice is quite justifiable according to Chinese ethics when\n    life is given up from motives of filial piety, that is to say in\n    order to relieve the wants of indigent parents, or to defray the\n    costs of ancestral rights [_sic_]. Your general thesis that life\n    is less valued and more readily sacrificed by some races than by\n    modern Europeans seems to be beyond dispute. Surely the Japanese\n    practice of _sepuku_, or _harikari_, as it is vulgarly called, is\n    a case in point. Life is risked, as in duelling, by Europeans, for\n    the mere point of honour, but it is never deliberately laid down\n    in satisfaction of the exigencies of the social code. I will send\n    you whatever information I can obtain when it reaches me, but that\n    will not of course be for some months.\u2014Yours truly,\n\n    VALENTINE CHIROL.\n\n    _P.S._\u2014A friend of mine who has just been here entirely confirms\n    my own belief as to the accuracy of your statement, and tells me\n    he has himself seen several Imperial Decrees in the _Peking\n    Gazette_, calling provincial authorities to order for having\n    allowed specific cases of substitution to occur, and ordering the\n    death penalty to be carried out in a more severe form on the\n    original culprits as an extra punishment for obtaining\n    substitutes. He has promised to look up some of these Impe.\n    Decrees on his return to China, and send me translations. I am\n    satisfied personally that his statement is conclusive.\n\n    V. C.\n\n\nOn the same subject I have received the following letter from Mr. J. O. P.\nBland, for fourteen years correspondent of _The Times_ in China:\u2014\n\n\n    THE CLOCK HOUSE, SHEPPERTON,\n    _March 22nd, 1911_.\n\n    DEAR PROFESSOR FRAZER\u2014My friend Mr. Valentine Chirol, writing the\n    other day from Crete on his way East, asked me to communicate with\n    you on the subject of your letter of the 3rd ulto., namely, the\n    custom, alleged to exist in China, of procuring substitutes for\n    persons condemned to death, the substitutes\u2019 families or relatives\n    receiving compensation in cash.\n\n    To speak of this as a custom is to exaggerate the frequency of a\n    class of incident which has undoubtedly been recorded in China and\n    of which there has been mention in Imperial Decrees. I am sorry to\n    say that I have not my file of the _Peking Gazette_ here, for\n    immediate reference, but I am writing to my friend Mr. Backhouse\n    in Peking, and have no doubt but that he will be able to give\n    chapter and verse of instances thus recorded. I had expected to\n    find cases of the kind recorded in Mr. Werner\u2019s recently-published\n    \u201cDescriptive Sociology\u201d of the Chinese (Spencerian publications),\n    but have not been able to do so in the absence of an index to that\n    voluminous work. More than one of the authors whom he quotes have\n    certainly referred to cases of substitution for death-sentence\n    prisoners. Parker, for instance (\u201cChina Past and Present,\u201d page\n    378), asserts that substitutes were to be had in Canton at the\n    reasonable price of fifty taels (say \u00a310). Dr. Matignon (in\n    \u201cSuperstition, Crime et Mis\u00e8re en Chine,\u201d page 113) says that\n    filial piety is a frequent motive. The negative opinion of\n    Professors Giles and de Groot is entitled to consideration, but\n    cannot be regarded as any more conclusive than the views expressed\n    by Professor Giles on the question of infanticide which are\n    outweighed by a mass of direct proof of eye-witnesses.\n\n    In a country where men submit voluntarily to mutilation and grave\n    risk of death for a comparatively small gain to themselves and\n    their relatives, where women commit suicide in hundreds to escape\n    capture by invaders or strangers, where men and women alike\n    habitually sacrifice their life for the most trivial motives of\n    revenge or distress, it need not greatly surprise us that some\n    should be found, especially among the wretchedly poor class,\n    willing to give up their life in order to relieve their families\n    of want or otherwise to \u201cacquire merit.\u201d\n\n    The most important thing, I think, in expressing any opinion about\n    the Chinese, is to remember the great extent and heterogeneous\n    elements of the country, and to abstain from any sweeping\n    generalisations based on isolated acts or events.\u2014Yours very\n    truly,\n\n    J. O. P. BLAND.\n\n\nAs the practice in question involves a grave miscarriage of justice, the\ndiscovery of which might entail serious consequences on the magistrate who\nconnived at it, we need not wonder that it is generally hushed up, and\nthat no instances of it should come to the ears of many Europeans resident\nin China. My friend Professor H. A. Giles of Cambridge in conversation\nexpressed himself quite incredulous on the subject, and Professor J. J. M.\nde Groot of Leyden wrote to me (January 31, 1902) to the same effect. The\nRev. Dr. W. T. A. Barber, Headmaster of the Leys School, Cambridge, and\nformerly a missionary in China, wrote to me (January 30, 1902): \u201cAs to the\npossibility that a man condemned to death may secure a substitute on\npayment of a moderate sum of money, we used to hear that this was the\ncase; but I have no proof that would justify you in using the fact.\u201d\nAnother experienced missionary, the Rev. W. A. Cornaby, wrote to Dr.\nBarber: \u201cI have heard of no such custom in capital crimes. The man in\nwhose house a fire starts may, and often does, pay another to receive the\nblows and three days in a cangue. But unless where \u2018foreign riots\u2019 were\nthe case, and a previously condemned criminal handy, I should hardly think\nit possible. Every precaution is taken that no one is beheaded but the man\nwho cannot possibly be let off. The expense on the county mandarin is over\n\u00a3100 in \u2018stationery expenses\u2019 with higher courts.\u201d On this I would observe\nthat if every execution costs the local mandarin so dear, he must be under\na strong temptation to get the expenses out of the prisoner whenever he\ncan do so without being detected.\n\n(M217) With regard to the custom, mentioned by Mr. Cornaby, of procuring\nsubstitutes for corporal punishment, we are told that in China there are\nmen who earn a livelihood by being thrashed instead of the real culprits.\nBut they bribe the executioner to lay on lightly; otherwise their\nconstitution could not long resist the tear and wear of so exhausting a\nprofession.(727) Thus the theory and practice of vicarious suffering are\nwell understood in China.\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTE B. SWINGING AS A MAGICAL RITE.\n\n\n(M218) The custom of swinging has been practised as a religious or rather\nmagical rite in various parts of the world, but it does not seem possible\nto explain all the instances of it in the same way. People appear to have\nresorted to the practice from different motives and with different ideas\nof the benefit to be derived from it. In the text we have seen that the\nLetts, and perhaps the Siamese, swing to make the crops grow tall.(728)\nThe same may be the intention of the ceremony whenever it is specially\nobserved at harvest festivals. Among the Buginese and Macassars of\nCelebes, for example, it used to be the custom for young girls to swing\none after the other on these occasions.(729) At the great Dassera festival\nof Nepaul, which immediately precedes the cutting of the rice, swings and\nkites come into fashion among the young people of both sexes. The swings\nare sometimes hung from boughs of trees, but generally from a cross-beam\nsupported on a framework of tall bamboos.(730) Among the Dyaks of Sarawak\na feast is held at the end of harvest, when the soul of the rice is\nsecured to prevent the crops from rotting away. On this occasion a number\nof old women rock to and fro on a rude swing suspended from the\nrafters.(731) A traveller in Sarawak has described how he saw many tall\nswings erected and Dyaks swinging to and fro on them, sometimes ten or\ntwelve men together on one swing, while they chanted in monotonous,\ndirge-like tones an invocation to the spirits that they would be pleased\nto grant a plentiful harvest of sago and fruit and a good fishing\nseason.(732)\n\n(M219) In the East Indian island of Bengkali elaborate and costly\nceremonies are performed to ensure a good catch of fish. Among the rest an\nhereditary priestess, who bears the royal title of Djindjang Rajah, works\nherself up by means of the fumes of incense and so forth into that state\nof mental disorder which with many people passes for a symptom of divine\ninspiration. In this pious frame of mind she is led by her four handmaids\nto a swing all covered with yellow and hung with golden bells, on which\nshe takes her seat amid the jingle of the bells. As she rocks gently to\nand fro in the swing, she speaks in an unknown tongue to each of the\nsixteen spirits who have to do with the fishing.(733) In order to procure\na plentiful supply of game the Tinneh Indians of North-West America\nperform a magical ceremony which they call \u201cthe young man bounding or\ntied.\u201d They pinion a man tightly, and having hung him by the head and\nheels from the roof of the hut, rock him backwards and forwards.(734)\n\n(M220) Thus we see that people swing in order to procure a plentiful\nsupply of fish and game as well as good crops. In such cases the notion\nseems to be that the ceremony promotes fertility, whether in the vegetable\nor the animal kingdom; though why it should be supposed to do so, I\nconfess myself unable to explain. There seem to be some reasons for\nthinking that the Indian rite of swinging on hooks run through the flesh\nof the performer is also resorted to, at least in some cases, from a\nbelief in its fertilising virtue. Thus Hamilton tells us that at Karwar,\non the west coast of India, a feast is held at the end of May or beginning\nof June in honour of the infernal gods, \u201cwith a divination or conjuration\nto know the fate of the ensuing crop of corn.\u201d Men were hung from a pole\nby means of tenter-hooks inserted in the flesh of their backs; and the\npole with the men dangling from it was then dragged for more than a mile\nover ploughed ground from one sacred grove to another, preceded by a young\ngirl who carried a pot of fire on her head. When the second grove was\nreached, the men were let down and taken off the hooks, and the girl fell\ninto the usual prophetic frenzy, after which she unfolded to the priests\nthe revelation with which she had just been favoured by the terrestrial\ngods. In each of the groves a shapeless black stone, daubed with red lead\nto stand for a mouth, eyes, and ears, appears to have represented the\nindwelling divinity.(735) Sometimes this custom of swinging on hooks,\nwhich is known among the Hindoos as _Churuk Puja_, seems to be intended to\npropitiate demons. Some Santals asked Mr. V. Ball to be allowed to perform\nit because their women and children were dying of sickness, and their\ncattle were being killed by wild beasts; they believed that these\nmisfortunes befell them because the evil spirits had not been\nappeased.(736) These same Santals celebrate a swinging festival of a less\nbarbarous sort about the month of February. Eight men sit in chairs and\nrotate round posts in a sort of revolving swing, like the merry-go-rounds\nwhich are so dear to children at English fairs.(737) At the Nauroz and Eed\nfestivals in Dardistan the women swing on ropes suspended from trees.(738)\nDuring the rainy season in Behar young women swing in their houses, while\nthey sing songs appropriate to the season. The period during which they\nindulge in this pastime, if a mere pastime it be, is strictly limited; it\nbegins with a festival which usually falls on the twenty-fifth of the\nmonth Jeyt and ends with another festival which commonly takes place on\nthe twenty-fifth of the month Asin. No one would think of swinging at any\nother time of the year.(739) It is possible that this last custom may be\nnothing more than a pastime meant to while away some of the tedious hours\nof the inclement season; but its limitation to a certain clearly-defined\nportion of the year seems rather to point to a religious or magical\norigin. Possibly the intention may once have been to drive away the rain.\nWe shall see immediately that swinging is sometimes resorted to for the\npurpose of expelling the powers of evil. About the middle of March the\nHindoos observe a swinging festival of a different sort in honour of the\ngod Krishna, whose image is placed in the seat or cradle of a swing and\nthen, just when the dawn is breaking, rocked gently to and fro several\ntimes. The same ceremony is repeated at noon and at sunset.(740) In the\nRigveda the sun is called, by a natural metaphor, \u201cthe golden swing in the\nsky,\u201d and the expression helps us to understand a ceremony of Vedic India.\nA priest sat in a swing and touched with the span of his right hand at\nonce the seat of the swing and the ground. In doing so he said, \u201cThe great\nlord has united himself with the great lady, the god has united himself\nwith the goddess.\u201d Perhaps he meant to indicate in a graphic way that the\nsun had reached that lowest point of its course where it was nearest to\nthe earth.(741) In this connexion it is of interest to note that in the\nEsthonian celebration of St. John\u2019s Day or the summer solstice swings\nplay, along with bonfires, the most prominent part. Girls sit and swing\nthe whole night through, singing old songs to explain why they do so. For\nlegend tells of an Esthonian prince who wooed and won an Islandic\nprincess. But a wicked enchanter spirited away the lover to a desert\nisland, where he languished in captivity, till his lady-love contrived to\nbreak the magic spell that bound him. Together they sailed home to\nEsthonia, which they reached on St. John\u2019s Day, and burnt their ship,\nresolved to stray no longer in far foreign lands. The swings in which the\nEsthonian maidens still rock themselves on St. John\u2019s Day are said to\nrecall the ship in which the lovers tossed upon the stormy sea, and the\nbonfires commemorate the burning of it. When the fires have died out, the\nswings are laid aside and never used again either in the village or at the\nsolitary alehouse until spring comes round once more.(742) Here it is\nnatural to connect both swings and bonfires with the apparent course of\nthe sun, who reaches the highest and turning point of his orbit on St.\nJohn\u2019s Day. Bonfires and swings perhaps were originally charms intended to\nkindle and speed afresh on its heavenly road \u201cthe golden swing in the\nsky.\u201d Among the Letts of South Livonia and Curland the summer solstice is\nthe occasion of a great festival of flowers, at which the people sing\nsongs with the constant refrain of _lihgo, lihgo_. It has been proposed to\nderive the word _lihgo_ from the Lettish verb _ligot_, \u201cto swing,\u201d with\nreference to the sun swinging in the sky at this turning-point of his\ncourse.(743)\n\n(M221) At Tengaroeng, in Eastern Borneo, the priests and priestesses\nreceive the inspiration of the spirits seated in swings and rocking\nthemselves to and fro. Thus suspended in the air they appear to be in a\npeculiarly favourable position for catching the divine afflatus. One end\nof the plank which forms the seat of the priest\u2019s swing is carved in the\nrude likeness of a crocodile\u2019s head; the swing of the priestess is\nsimilarly ornamented with a serpent\u2019s head.(744)\n\n(M222) Again, swings are used for the cure of sickness, but it is the\ndoctor who rocks himself in them, not the patient. In North Borneo the\nDyak medicine man will sometimes erect a swing in front of the sick man\u2019s\nhouse and sway backwards and forwards on it for the purpose of kicking\naway the disease, frightening away evil spirits, and catching the stray\nsoul of the sufferer.(745) Clearly in his passage through the air the\nphysician is likely to collide with the disease and the evil spirits, both\nof which are sure to be loitering about in the neighbourhood of the\npatient, and the rude shock thus given to the malady and the demons may\nreasonably be expected to push or hustle them away. At Tengaroeng, in\nEastern Borneo, a traveller witnessed a ceremony for the expulsion of an\nevil spirit in which swinging played a part. After four men in blue shirts\nbespangled with stars, and wearing coronets of red cloth decorated with\nbeads and bells, had sought diligently for the devil, grabbling about on\nthe floor and grunting withal, three hideous hags dressed in faded red\npetticoats were brought in with great pomp, carried on the shoulders of\nMalays, and took their seats, amid solemn silence, on the cradle of a\nswing, the ends of which were carved to represent the head and tail of a\ncrocodile. Not a sound escaped from the crowd of spectators during this\nawe-inspiring ceremony; they regarded the business as most serious. The\nvenerable dames then rocked to and fro on the swing, fanning themselves\nlanguidly with Chinese paper fans. At a later stage of the performance\nthey and three girls discharged burning arrows at a sort of altar of\nbanana leaves, maize, and grass. This completed the discomfiture of the\ndevil.(746)\n\n(M223) The Athenians in antiquity celebrated an annual festival of\nswinging. Boards were hung from trees by ropes, and people sitting on them\nswung to and fro, while they sang songs of a loose or voluptuous\ncharacter. The swinging went on both in public and private. Various\nexplanations were given of the custom; the most generally received was as\nfollows. When Bacchus came among men to make known to them the pleasures\nof wine, he lodged with a certain Icarus or Icarius, to whom he revealed\nthe precious secret and bade him go forth and carry the glad tidings to\nall the world. So Icarus loaded a waggon with wine-skins, and set out on\nhis travels, the dog Maera running beside him. He came to Attica, and\nthere fell in with shepherds tending their sheep, to whom he gave of the\nwine. They drank greedily, but when some of them fell down dead drunk,\ntheir companions thought the stranger had poisoned them with intent to\nsteal the sheep; so they knocked him on the head. The faithful dog ran\nhome and guided his master\u2019s daughter Erigone to the body. At sight of it\nshe was smitten with despair and hanged herself on a tree beside her dead\nfather, but not until she had prayed that, unless the Athenians should\navenge her sire\u2019s murder, their daughters might die the same death as she.\nHer curse was fulfilled, for soon many Athenian damsels hanged themselves\nfor no obvious reason. An oracle informed the Athenians of the true cause\nof this epidemic of suicide; so they sought out the bodies of the unhappy\npair and instituted the swinging festival to appease Erigone; and at the\nvintage they offered the first of the grapes to her and her father.(747)\n\n(M224) Thus the swinging festival at Athens was regarded by the ancients\nas an expiation for a suicide or suicides by hanging. This opinion is\nstrongly confirmed by a statement of Varro, that it was unlawful to\nperform funeral rites in honour of persons who had died by hanging, but\nthat in their case such rites were replaced by a custom of swinging\nimages, as if in imitation of the death they had died.(748) Servius says\nthat the Athenians, failing to find the bodies of Icarius and Erigone on\nearth, made a pretence of seeking them in the air by swinging on ropes\nhung from trees; and he seems to have regarded the custom of swinging as a\npurification by means of air.(749) This explanation probably comes very\nnear the truth; indeed if we substitute \u201csouls\u201d for \u201cbodies\u201d in the\nwording of it we may almost accept it as exact. It might be thought that\nthe souls of persons who had died by hanging were, more than the souls of\nthe other dead, hovering in the air, since their bodies were suspended in\nair at the moment of death. Hence it would be considered needful to purge\nthe air of these vagrant spirits, and this might be done by swinging\npersons or things to and fro, in order that by their impact they might\ndisperse and drive away the baleful ghosts. Thus the custom would be\nexactly analogous, on the one hand, to the practice of the Malay\nmedicine-man, who swings to and fro in front of the patient\u2019s house in\norder to chase away the disease, or to frighten away evil spirits, or to\ncatch the stray soul of the sick man, and, on the other hand, to the\npractice of the Central Australian aborigines who beat the air with their\nweapons and hands in order to drive the lingering ghost away to the\ngrave.(750) At Rome swinging seems to have formed part of the great Latin\nfestival (_Feriae Latinae_), and its origin was traced to a search in the\nair for the body or even the soul of King Latinus, who had disappeared\nfrom earth after the battle with Mezentius, King of Caere.(751)\n\n(M225) Yet on the other hand there are circumstances which point to an\nintimate association, both at Athens and Rome, of these swinging festivals\nwith an intention of promoting the growth of cultivated plants. Such\ncircumstances are the legendary connexion of the Athenian festival with\nBacchus, the custom of offering the first-fruits of the vintage to Erigone\nand Icarius,(752) and at Rome the practice of hanging masks on trees at\nthe time of sowing(753) and in order to make the grapes grow better.(754)\nPerhaps we can reconcile the two apparently discrepant effects attributed\nto swinging as a means of expiation on the one side and of fertilisation\non the other, by supposing that in both cases the intention is to clear\nthe air of dangerous influences, whether these are ghosts of the unburied\ndead or spiritual powers inimical to the growth of plants. Independent of\nboth appears to be the notion that the higher you swing the higher will\ngrow the crops.(755) This last is homoeopathic or imitative magic pure and\nsimple, without any admixture of the ideas of purification or expiation.\n\n(M226) In modern Greece and Italy the custom of swinging as a festal rite,\nwhatever its origin may be, is still observed in some places. At the small\nvillage of Koukoura in Elis an English traveller observed peasants\nswinging from a tree in honour of St. George, whose festival it was.(756)\nOn the Tuesday after Easter the maidens of Seriphos play their favourite\ngame of the swing. They hang a rope from one wall to another of the steep,\nnarrow, filthy street, and putting some clothes on it swing one after the\nother, singing as they swing. Young men who try to pass are called upon to\npay toll in the shape of a penny, a song, and a swing. The words which the\nyouth sings are generally these: \u201cThe gold is swung, the silver is swung,\nand swung too is my love with the golden hair\u201d; to which the girl replies,\n\u201cWho is it that swings me that I may gild him with my favour, that I may\nwork him a fez all covered with pearls?\u201d(757) In the Greek island of\nKarpathos the villagers assemble at a given place on each of the four\nSundays before Easter, a swing is erected, and the women swing one after\nthe other, singing death wails such as they chant round the mimic tombs in\nchurch on the night of Good Friday.(758) On Christmas Day peasant girls in\nsome villages of Calabria fasten ropes to iron rings in the ceiling and\nswing on them, while they sing certain songs prescribed by custom for the\noccasion. The practice is regarded not merely as an amusement but also as\nan act of devotion.(759) \u201cIt is a custom in Cadiz, when Christmas comes,\nto fasten swings in the courtyards of houses, and even in the houses\nthemselves when there is no room for them outside. In the evenings lads\nand lasses assemble round the swings and pass the time happily in swinging\namid joyous songs and cries. The swings are taken down when Carnival is\ncome.\u201d(760) The observance of the custom at Christmas, that is, at the\nwinter solstice, suggests that in Calabria and Spain, as in Esthonia, the\npastime may originally have been a magical rite designed to assist the sun\nin climbing the steep ascent to the top of the summer sky. If this were\nso, we might surmise that the gold and the golden hair mentioned by youths\nand maidens of Seriphos as they swing refer to \u201cthe golden swing in the\nsky,\u201d in other words to the sun whose golden lamp swings daily across the\nblue vault of heaven.\n\n(M227) However that may be, it would seem that festivals of swinging are\nespecially held in spring. This is true, for example, of North Africa,\nwhere such festivals are common. At some places in that part of the world\nthe date of the swinging is the time of the apricots; at others it is said\nto be the spring equinox. In some places the festival lasts three days,\nand fathers who have had children born to them within the year bring them\nand swing them in the swings.(761) In Corea \u201cthe fifth day of the fifth\nmoon is called _Tano-nal_. Ancestors are then worshipped, and swings are\nput up in the yards of most houses for the amusement of the people. The\nwomen on this day may go about the streets; during the rest of the year\nthey may go out only after dark. Dressed in their prettiest clothes, they\nvisit the various houses and amuse themselves swinging. The swing is said\nto convey the idea of keeping cool in the approaching summer. It is one of\nthe most popular feasts of the year.\u201d(762) Perhaps the reason here\nassigned for swinging may explain other instances of the custom; on the\nprinciples of homoeopathic magic the swinging may be regarded as a means\nof ensuring a succession of cool refreshing breezes during the oppressive\nheat of the ensuing summer.\n\n\n\n\n\nADDENDA.\n\n\nP. 104. _The sacred precinct of Pelops at Olympia._\u2014It deserves to be\nnoted that just as Pelops, whose legend reflects the origin of the\nchariot-race, had his sacred precinct and probably his tomb at Olympia, in\nlike manner Endymion, whose legend reflects the origin of the\nfoot-race,(763) had his tomb at the end of the Olympic stadium, at the\npoint where the runners started in the race.(764) This presence at Olympia\nof the graves of the two early kings, whose names are associated with the\norigin of the foot-race and of the chariot-race respectively, can hardly\nbe without significance; it indicates the important part played by the\ndead in the foundation of the Olympic games.\n\nP. 188. _A man is literally reborn in the person of his son._\u2014This belief\nin the possible rebirth of the parent in the child may sometimes explain\nthe seemingly widespread dislike of people to have children like\nthemselves. Examples of such a dislike have met us in a former part of\nthis work.(765) A similar superstition prevails among the Papuans of Doreh\nBay in Dutch New Guinea. When a son resembles his father or a daughter\nresembles her mother closely in features, these savages fear that the\nfather or mother will soon die.(766) Again, in the island of Savou, to the\nsouth-west of Timor, if a child at birth is thought to be like its father\nor mother, it may not remain under the parental roof, else the person whom\nit resembles would soon die.(767) Such superstitions, it is obvious, might\nreadily suggest the expedient of killing the child in order to save the\nlife of the parent.\n\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\nAbabua, the, 65\n\nAbbas, the Great, 157\n\nAbchases, their memorial feasts, 98, 103\n\nAbdication, annual, of kings, 148;\n  of father when his son is grown up, 181;\n  of the king on the birth of a son, 190\n\nAbeokuta, the Alake of, 203\n\nAbipones, the, 63\n\nAbraham, his attempted sacrifice of Isaac, 177\n\nAbruzzi, the, 66, 67; burning an effigy of the Carnival in the, 224;\n  Lenten custom in the, 244 _sq._\n\nAbstract notions, the personification of, not primitive, 253\n\nAcademy at Athens, funeral games held in the, 96\n\nAcaill, Book of, 39\n\nAccession of a Shilluk king, ceremonies at the, 23 _sq._\n\nAcropolis at Athens, the sacred serpent on the, 86 _sq._\n\nAdonis or Tammuz, 7\n\nAesculapius restores Hippolytus or Virbius to life, 214\n\nAfrica, succession to the soul in, 200 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 North, festivals of swinging in, 284\n\nAgathocles, his siege of Carthage, 167\n\nAgrigentum, Phalaris of, 75\n\nAgrionia, a festival, 163\n\nAgylla, funeral games at, 95\n\nAhaz, King, his sacrifice of his children, 169 _sq._\n\nAkurwa, 19, 23, 24\n\nAlake, the, of Abeokuta, custom of cutting off the head of his corpse, 203\n\nAlban kings, 76\n\nAlbania, expulsion of Kore on Easter Eve in, 265\n\nAlcibiades of Apamea, his vision of the Holy Ghost, 5 _n._3\n\nAlexander the Great, funeral games in his honour, 95\n\nAlgonkin women, their attempts to be impregnated by the souls of the\n            dying, 199\n\nAltdorf and Weingarten, Ash Wednesday at, 232\n\nAlus, sanctuary of Laphystian Zeus at, 161, 164\n\nAmasis, king of Egypt, 217\n\nAmelioration in the character of the gods, 136\n\nAmerican Indians, their Great Spirit, 3\n\nAndaman Islanders, their ideas as to shooting stars, 60\n\nAngamis, the, 13\n\nAngel of Death, 177 _sq._\n\nAngola, the Matiamvo of, 35\n\nAngoni, the, of British Central Africa, 156 _n._2\n\nAngoy, king of, 39\n\nAnhouri, Egyptian god, 5\n\nAnimals sacred to kings, 82, 84 _sqq._;\n  transformations into, 82 _sqq._\n\nAnnam, natives of, their indifference to death, 136 _sq._\n\nAnnual abdication of kings, 148\n\n\u2014\u2014 renewal of king\u2019s power at Babylon, 113\n\n\u2014\u2014 tenure of the kingship, 113 _sqq._\n\nAntichrist, expected reign of, 44 _sq._\n\nAphrodite, the grave of, 4\n\nApollo, buried at Delphi, 4;\n  servitude of, 70 _n._1, 78;\n  and the laurel, 78 _sqq._;\n  as slayer of the dragon at Delphi, 78, 79, 80 _sq._;\n  at Thebes, 79;\n  purged of the dragon\u2019s blood in the Vale of Tempe, 81\n\nArdennes, effigies of Carnival burned in the, 226 _sq._\n\nAres, the grave of, 4\n\nAriadne and Theseus, 75\n\nAriadne\u2019s Dance, 77\n\nArician grove, ritual of the, 213\n\nArizona, mock human sacrifices in, 215\n\nArnold, Matthew, on the English middle class, 146\n\nArtemis, Munychian, sacrifice to, 166 _n._1; mock human sacrifice in the\n            ritual of, 215 _sq._\n\nArtemisia, wife of Mausolus, 95\n\nAscanius, 76\n\nAscension Day, 222 _n_.1; the \u201cCarrying out of Death\u201d on, at Braller, 247\n            _sqq._\n\nAsh Wednesday, Burial of the Carnival on, 221;\n  death of Caramantran on, 226;\n  effigies of Carnival or of Shrove Tuesday burnt or buried on, 226, 228\n              _sqq._\n\n_Asherim_, sacred poles, 169\n\nAss, son of a god in the form of an, 124 _sq._;\n  the crest or totem of a royal family, 132, 133\n\n\u201cAssegai, child of the,\u201d 183\n\nAsses and men, redemption of firstling, 173\n\nAssyrian eponymate, 116 _sq._\n\nAstarte, the moon-goddess, 92\n\nAstronomical considerations determining the early Greek calendar, 68 _sq._\n\nAthamas and his children, legend of, 161 _sqq._\n\nAthena, human sacrifices to, 166 _n._1\n\nAthenaeus, 143\n\nAthenian festival of swinging, 281\n\nAthens, funeral games at, 96;\n  hand of suicide cut off at, 220 _n._\n\nAttacks on kings permitted, 22, 48 _sqq._\n\nAun or On, king of Sweden, 57; sacrifices his sons, 160 _sq._, 188\n\nAurora Australis, fear entertained by the Kurnai of the, 267 _n._1\n\nAustralia, custom of destroying firstborn children among the aborigines\n            of, 179 _sq._;\n  magical rites for the revival of nature in Central, 270\n\nAustralian aborigines, their ideas as to shooting stars, 60 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 funeral custom, 92\n\nAvebury, Lord, 146 _n._1, 273\n\nBaal, Semitic, 75;\n  human sacrifices to, 167 _sqq._, 195\n\nBabylon, festival of Zagmuk at, 110, 113\n\nBabylonian gods, mortality of the, 5 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 legend of creation, 110\n\n\u2014\u2014 myth of Marduk and Tiamat, 105 _sq._, 107 _sq._\n\nBacchic frenzy, 164\n\nBaganda, the, 11\n\nBall, V., 279\n\nBallymote, the Book of, 100\n\nBalwe in Westphalia, Burying the Carnival at, 232\n\nBanishment of homicide, 69 _sq._\n\nBanna, a tribe accustomed to strangle their firstborn children, 181 _sq._\n\nBarber, Rev. Dr. W. T. A., 145 _n._, 275\n\nBarcelona, ceremony of \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d at, 242\n\nBarongo, the, 10, 61\n\nBashada, a tribe accustomed to strangle their firstborn children, 181\n            _sq._\n\nBashkirs, their horse-races at funerals, 97\n\nBath of ox blood, 201\n\nBattle of Summer and Winter, 254 _sqq._\n\nBautz, Dr. Joseph, on hell fire, 136 _n._1\n\nBavaria, Whitsuntide mummers in, 207 _sq._;\n  Carrying out Death in, 233 _sqq._;\n  dramatic contests between Summer and Winter in, 255 _sq._\n\nBear, the soul of Typhon in the Great, 5\n\nBeast, the number of the, 44\n\nBeating cattle to make them fat or fruitful, 236\n\nBeauty and the Beast type of tale, 125 _sqq._\n\nBedouins, annual festival of the Sinaitic, 97\n\nBehar, custom of swinging in, 279\n\nBeheading the King, a Whitsuntide pageant in Bohemia, 209 _sq._\n\nBengal, kings of, their rule of succession, 51\n\nBengkali, East Indian island, 277\n\nBenin, king of, represented with panther\u2019s whiskers, 85 _sq._;\n  human sacrifices at the burial of a king of, 139 _sq._\n\nBerosus, Babylonian historian, 113\n\nBerry, ceremony of \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d in, 241 _sq._\n\nBhagats, mock human sacrifices among the, 217 _sq._\n\nBhuiyas, the, of north-eastern India, 56\n\nBilaspur, temporary rajah in, 154\n\nBirds of omen, stories of their origin, 126, 127 _sq._\n\nBlack, Dr. J. Sutherland, 260 _sq._\n\nBlack bull sacrificed to the dead, 95\n\n\u2014\u2014 ox, bath of blood of, 201\n\n\u2014\u2014 ram sacrificed to Pelops, 92, 104\n\nBland, J. O. P., 274 _sq._\n\nBlemishes, bodily, a ground for putting kings to death, 36 _sqq._\n\nBlood of victims in rain-making ceremonies, 20;\n  bath of ox, 35;\n  human, offered to the dead, 92 _sq._, 104;\n  of sacrifice splashed on door-posts, house-posts, etc., 175, 176 _n._1;\n  of human victims smeared on faces of idols, 185\n\nBoemus, J., 234\n\nBohemia, Whitsuntide mummers in, 209 _sqq._;\n  \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d in, 237 _sq._\n\nBones of sacrificial victim not broken, 20\n\nBonfire, jumping over, 262\n\nBoni, in Celebes, 40\n\nBook of Acaill, 39\n\nBorans, their custom of sacrificing their children, 181\n\nBororos, the, of Brazil, 62\n\nBourges, ceremony of \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d at, 242\n\nBourke, Captain J. G., 215\n\nBoxers at funerals, 97\n\nBrahmans, the ceremonial swinging of, 150, 156 _sq._\n\nBraller in Transylvania, 230; \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d at, 247 _sqq._\n\nBrasidas, funeral games in his honour, 94\n\nBrazilian Indians, their indifference to death, 138\n\nBreezes, magical means of securing, 287\n\nBridegroom of the May, 266\n\nBringing in Summer, 233, 237, 238, 246 _sqq._\n\nBritomartis and Minos, 73\n\nBrittany, Burial of Shrove Tuesday or of the Carnival in, 229 _sq._\n\nBrockelmann, C., 116\n\nBronze ploughs used by Etruscans at founding cities, 157\n\nBrother and sister marriages in royal families, 193 _sq._\n\nBuddhist monks, suicide of, 42 _sq._\n\nBudge, E. A. Wallis, 5 _n._3\n\nBuginese of Celebes, their custom of swinging, 277\n\nBull, Pasiphae and the, 71; as symbol of the sun, 71 _sq._;\n  the brazen, of Phalaris, 75;\n  said to have guided the Samnites, 186 _n._4\n\n\u2014\u2014 and cow, represented by masked actors, 71\n\nBull-headed image of the sun, 75, 76, 78\n\nBurgebrach in Bavaria, straw-man burnt on Ash Wednesday at, 232\n\nBurial alive of the aged, 11 _sq._;\n  in jars, 12 _sq._;\n  of infants to secure rebirth, 199 _sq._;\n  of Shrove Tuesday, 228\n\nBurning an effigy of the Carnival, 223, 224, 228 _sq._, 229 _sq._, 232\n            _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 effigies of Shrove Tuesday, 227 _sqq._;\n  of Winter at Zurich, 260 _sq._\n\n\u201cBurying the Carnival,\u201d 209, 220 _sqq._\n\nBusoga, mock human sacrifice in, 215\n\nCabunian, Mount, 3\n\nCadiz, custom of swinging at, 284\n\nCadmea, the, 79\n\nCadmus, servitude of, for the slaughter of the dragon, 70 _n._1, 78;\n  the slayer of the dragon at Thebes, 78 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 and Harmonia, their transformation into serpents, 84;\n  marriage of, 88, 89\n\nCaffres, the, 65\n\nCaiem, the caliph, 8\n\nCalabria, ceremony of \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d in, 241;\n  custom of swinging in, 284\n\nCalendar, the early Greek, determined by astronomical considerations, 68\n            _sq._;\n  closely bound up with religion, 69;\n  the Syro-Macedonian, 116\n\n_Calica Puran_, an Indian law-book, 217\n\nCalicut, rule of succession observed by the kings of, 47 _sqq._, 206\n\nCalifornia, Indians of, 62\n\nCambodia, Kings of Fire and Water in, 14;\n  annual abdication of the king of, 148\n\nCanaanites, their custom of burning their children in honour of Baal, 168\n\nCanada, Indians of, their ceremony for mitigating the cold of winter, 259\n            _sq._\n\nCaramantran, death of, on Ash Wednesday in Provence, 226\n\nCarinthia, ceremony at the installation of a prince of, 154 _sq._\n\nCarman, the fair of, 100, 101\n\nCarnival, Burying the, 209, 220 _sqq._;\n  swings taken down at, 287\n\n\u201cCarnival (Shrovetide) Fool,\u201d 231\n\nCarolina, king\u2019s son wounded among the Indians of, 184 _sq._\n\nCarrier Indians, succession to the soul among the, 199\n\n\u201cCarrying out Death,\u201d 221, 233 _sqq._, 246 _sqq._\n\nCarthaginian sacrifice of children to Moloch, 75;\n  to Baal, 167 _sq._\n\nCassange, in Angola, king of, 203;\n  human sacrifice at installation of king of, 56 _sq._\n\nCassotis, oracular spring, 79\n\nCastaly, the oracular spring of, 79\n\nCatalonia, funeral of Carnival in, 225\n\nCattle sacrificed instead of human beings, 166 _n._ 1\n\nCaucasus, funeral games among the people of the, 97 _sq._\n\nCauxanas, Indian tribe of the Amazon, kill all their firstborn children,\n            185 _sq._\n\nCecrops, half-serpent, half-man, 86 _sq._\n\nCelebes, sanctity of regalia in, 202; the Toboongkoos of, 219\n\nCelts of Gaul, their indifference to death, 142 _sq._\n\nCemeteries, fairs held at, 101, 102\n\nChaka, a Zulu tyrant, 36 _sq._\n\nChama, town on the Gold Coast, 129\n\nChariot-race at Olympia, 91, 104 _sq._, 287\n\n\u2014\u2014 races in honour of the dead, 93\n\nChewsurs, their funeral games, 98\n\nCheyne, Professor T. K., 86 _n._4\n\nChilcotin Indians, their practice at an eclipse of the sun, 77\n\n\u201cChild of the assegai,\u201d 183\n\nChildren sacrificed to Moloch, 75;\n  sacrificed by the Semites, 166 _sqq._;\n  dislike of parents to have children like themselves, 287\n\nChinese indifference to death, 144 _sqq._, 273 _sqq._;\n  reports of custom of devouring firstborn children, 180\n\nChiriguanos, the, of South America, 12\n\nChirol, Valentine, 274\n\nChitom\u00e9, a pontiff in Congo, the manner of his death, 14 _sq._\n\nChristmas, custom of swinging at, 284\n\nChrudim in Bohemia, effigy of Death burnt at, 239\n\nChukchees, voluntary deaths among the, 13\n\nCircassia, games in honour of the dead in, 98\n\nCircumcision of father as a mode of redeeming his offspring, 181;\n  mimic rite of, 219 _sq._\n\nCities, Etruscan ceremony at the founding of, 157\n\nCloud-dragon, myth of the, 107\n\nCluis-Dessus and Cluis-Dessous, custom of \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d at, 241\n            _sq._\n\nCnossus, Minos at, 70 _sqq._;\n  the labyrinth at, 75 _sqq._\n\nCobra, the crest of the Maharajah of Nagpur, 132 _sq._\n\nCock, king represented with the feathers of a, 85\n\nColchis, Phrixus in, 162\n\nCongo, the pontiff Chitom\u00e9 in, 14\n\nConjunction of sun and moon, a time for marriage, 73\n\nConsecration of firstlings, 172\n\nContempt of death, 142 _sqq._\n\nContests, dramatic, between actors representing Summer and Winter, 254\n            _sqq._\n\nConti, Nicolo, 54\n\nConybeare, F. C., 5 _n._3\n\nCook, A. B., 71 _n._2, 78 _n._2, 79 _n._1, 80, 81 _n._1, 82 _ns._1 and 3,\n            89 _n._5, 90\n\nCorannas of South Africa, custom as to succession among the, 191 _sq._\n\nCorea, custom of swinging in, 284 _sq._\n\nCornaby, Rev. W. A., 273\n\nCornford, F. M., 91 _n._7\n\nCorn-harvest, the first-fruits of the, offered at Lammas, 101 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 -spirit called the Old Man or the Old Woman, 253 _sq._\n\nCornwall, temporary king in, 153 _sq._\n\nCorporeal relics of dead kings confer right to throne, 202 _sq._\n\nCourtiers required to imitate their sovereign, 39 _sq._\n\nCow as symbol of the moon, 71 _sq._\n\nCrane, dance called the, 75\n\nCrassus, Publicius Licinius, 96\n\nCreation, myths of, 106 _sqq._;\n  Babylonian legend of, 110\n\nCreator, the grave of the, 3\n\nCrete, grave of Zeus in, 3\n\nCriminals sacrificed, 195\n\nCrocodile clan, 31\n\nCromm Cruach, a legendary Irish idol, 183\n\nCronus buried in Sicily, 4;\n  his sacrifice of his son, 166, 179;\n  his treatment of his father and his children, 192;\n  his marriage with his sister Rhea, 194\n\nCrooke, W., 53 _n._1, 157 _n._5, 159 _n._1\n\nCrown of laurel, 78, 80 _sqq._;\n  of oak leaves, 80 _sqq._;\n  of olive at Olympia, 91\n\nCrowning, festival of the, at Delphi, 78 _sqq._\n\nCruachan, the fair of, 101\n\nCrystals, superstitions as to, 64 _n._6\n\nCupid and Psyche, story of, 131\n\nCutting or lacerating the body in honour of the dead, 92 _sq._, 97\n\nCuttle-fish, expiation for killing a, 217\n\nCychreus, king of Salamis, 87\n\nCycle, the octennial, based on an attempt to reconcile solar and lunar\n            time, 68 _sq._\n\nCyclopes, slaughter of the, 78 _n._4\n\nCytisorus, 162\n\nCzechs of Bohemia, 221\n\nDaedalus, 75\n\nDahomey, royal family of, related to leopards, 85;\n  religious massacres in, 138\n\nDaira or Mahadev Mohammedans in Mysore, 220\n\nDalton, Colonel E. T., 217\n\nDanakils or Afar of East Africa, 200\n\nDance of youths and maidens at Cnossus, 75 _sqq._;\n  Ariadne\u2019s, 77\n\nDardistan, custom of swinging in, 279\n\nDarfur, Sultans of, 39\n\nDassera festival of Nepaul, 277\n\nDaura, a Hausa kingdom, 35;\n  custom of succession to the throne in, 201\n\nDavid, King, and the brazen serpent, 86\n\nDead, souls of the, associated with falling stars, 64 _sqq._;\n  rebirth of the, 70;\n  sacrifices to the, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97;\n  human blood offered to the, 92 _sq._, 104\n\nDead kings, worship of, 24 _sq._;\n  their spirits thought to possess sick people, 25 _sq._;\n  of Uganda consulted as oracles, 200 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 man\u2019s hand used in magical ceremony, 267 _n._1\n\n\u2014\u2014 One, the, name applied to the last sheaf, 254\n\n\u2014\u2014 Sunday, 239;\n  the fourth Sunday in Lent, 221;\n  also called Mid-Lent, 222 _n._1\n\nDeath of the Great Pan, 6 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 preference for a violent, 9 _sqq._;\n  natural, regarded as a calamity, 11 _sq._;\n  European fear of, 135 _sq._, 146;\n  indifference to, displayed by many races, 136 _sqq._;\n  the Carrying out of, 221, 233 _sqq._, 246 _sqq._;\n  conception of, in relation to vegetation, 253 _sq._;\n  in the corn, 254;\n  and resurrection of Kostrubonko at Eastertide, 261;\n  and revival of vegetation, 263 _sq._\n\nDeath, effigy of, feared and abhorred, 239 _sq._;\n  potency of life attributed to, 247 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 the Angel of, 177 _sq._\n\nDe Barros, Portuguese historian, 51\n\nDeer, descent of Kalamants from a, 126 _sq._;\n  sacrificed instead of human beings, 166 _n._.1\n\nDelos, Theseus at, 75\n\nDelphi, tombs of Dionysus and Apollo at, 3 _sq._;\n  festival of Crowning at, 78 _sqq._\n\nDengdit, the Supreme Being of the Dinka, 30, 32\n\nDeputy, the expedient of dying by, 56, 160\n\nDictynna and Minos, 73\n\nDinka, the, of the White Nile, 28 _sqq._;\n  totemism of the, 30 _sq._\n\nDiomede, human sacrifices to, 166 _n._1\n\nDionysus, the tomb of, at Delphi, 3;\n  human sacrifice consummated by a priest of, 163;\n  boys sacrificed to, 166 _n._1\n\nDislike of people to have children like themselves, 287\n\nDiurnal tenure of the kingship, 118 _sq._\n\nDivine king, the killing of the, 9 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 kings of the Shilluk, 17 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 spirit incarnate in Shilluk kings, 21, 26 _sq._\n\nDodge, Colonel R. I., 3\n\nDog killed instead of king, 17\n\nDoreh Bay in New Guinea, 287\n\nDorians, their superstition as to meteors, 59\n\nDragon, drama of the slaughter of the, 78 _sqq._, 89;\n  myth of the, 105 _sqq._\n\nDragon-crest of kings, 105\n\nDramatic contests of actors representing Summer and Winter, 254 _sqq._\n\nDreams, revelations in, 25\n\nDrenching leaf-clad mummer as a rain-charm, 211\n\nDriver, Professor S. R., 170 _n._5, 173 _n._1\n\nDucks and ptarmigan, dramatic contest of the, 259\n\nDyak medicine-men, their practice of swinging, 280 _sq._\n\nDyaks of Sarawak, story of their descent from a fish, 126;\n  sacrifice cattle instead of human beings, 166 _n._1;\n  their sacrifices during an epidemic, 176 _n._1;\n  their custom of swinging, 277\n\nDying, custom of catching the souls of the, 198 _sqq._\n\nDying by deputy, 56, 160\n\nEames, W., 273\n\nEars of sacrificial victims cut off, 97\n\nEaster, first Sunday after, 249;\n  swinging on the Tuesday after, 283;\n  custom of swinging on the four Sundays before, 284\n\nEaster Eve in Albania, expulsion of Kore on, 265\n\nEastertide, death and resurrection of Kostrubonko at, 261\n\nEating the bodies of aged relations, custom of, 14\n\nEchinadian Islands, 6\n\nEclipse of the sun and moon, belief of the Tahitians as to, 73 _n._2;\n  practice of the Chilcotin Indians at an, 77\n\nEcliptic perhaps mimicked in dances, 77\n\nEffigies of Carnival, 222 _sqq._;\n  of Shrove Tuesday, 227 _sqq._;\n  of Death, 233 _sqq._, 246 _sqq._;\n  seven-legged, of Lent in Spain and Italy, 244 _sq._;\n  of Winter burnt at Zurich, 260 _sq._;\n  of Kupalo, Kostroma, and Yarilo in Russia, 262 _sq._\n\nEffigy, human sacrifices carried out in, 217 _sqq._\n\nEgbas, the, 41\n\nEgypt, temporary kings in Upper, 151 _sq._;\n  mock human sacrifices in ancient, 217\n\nEgyptian gods, mortality of the ancient, 4 _sqq._;\n  influence on Christian doctrine of the Trinity, 5 _n._3;\n  kings called bulls, 72;\n  trinities of gods, 5 _n._3\n\nEimine Ban, an Irish abbot, 159 _n._1\n\nEldest sons sacrificed for their fathers, 161 _sqq._\n\nElliot, R. H., 136\n\nEmain, fair at, 100\n\nEmbalming as a means of prolonging the life of the soul, 4\n\nEncheleans, the, 84\n\nEndymion at Olympia, 90; his tomb at Olympia, 287\n\nEnglish middle class, their clinging to life, 146\n\n\u1f18\u03bd\u03bd\u03ad\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03af\u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03b5, 70 _n._3\n\nEponymate, the Assyrian, 116 _sq._\n\nEponymous magistrates, 117 _n._1\n\nEquinox, the spring, custom of swinging at, 284;\n  drama of Summer and Winter at the spring, 257\n\nErechtheum, the, 87\n\nErechtheus or Erichthonius in relation to the sacred serpent on the\n            Acropolis, 86 _sq._;\n  voluntary death of the daughters of, 192 _n._3\n\nErgamenes, king of Meroe, 15\n\nErichthonius, 86. _See_ Erechtheus\n\nErigone, her suicide by hanging, 281 _sq._\n\nErzgebirge, Shrovetide custom in the, 208 _sq._\n\nEsagil, temple of Marduk at Babylon, 113\n\nEsarhaddon, king of Assyria, 116\n\nEsquimaux, suicide among the, 43;\n  their magical ceremony in autumn, 259\n\nEsthonian belief as to falling stars, 66 _sq._;\n  celebration of St. John\u2019s Day, 280;\n  custom on Shrove Tuesday, 233, 252 _sq._\n\nEsthonians, their ideas of shooting stars, 63\n\nEthiopia, kings of, chosen for their beauty, 38 _sq._\n\nEthiopian kings of Meroe put to death, 15\n\nEtruscan ceremony at founding cities, 157\n\nEuphorion of Chalcis, Greek author, 143, 144\n\nEuropa, her wanderings, 89;\n  and Zeus, 73\n\nEuropean beliefs as to shooting stars, 66 _sqq._;\n  fear of death, 135 _sq._, 146\n\nEvans, Sebastian, 122 _n._1\n\nEve, Easter, in Albania, 265\n\nEve of St. John (Midsummer Eve), Russian ceremony on, 262\n\nEwe negroes, the, 61\n\nExpiation for killing sacred animals, 216 _sq._\n\nEyeo, kings of, put to death, 40 _sq._\n\nEzekiel, on the sacrifice of the firstborn, 171 _sq._\n\nE-zida, the temple of Nabu, 110\n\nFairs of ancient Ireland, 99 _sqq._\n\nFashoda, the capital of the Shilluk kings, 18, 19, 21, 24\n\nFather god succeeded by his divine son, 5\n\nFazoql or Fazolglou, kings of, put to death, 16\n\nFear of death entertained by the European races, 135 _sq._, 146\n\n\u201cFeeding the dead,\u201d 102\n\n_Feriae Latinae_, 283\n\nFeronia, a Latin goddess, 186 _n._4\n\nFertilising power ascribed to the effigy of Death, 250 _sq._\n\nFestival of the Crowning at Delphi, 78 _sq._;\n  of the Laurel-bearing at Thebes, 78 _sq._, 88 _sq._\n\nFestus, on \u201cthe Sacred Spring,\u201d 186\n\nFeuillet, Madame Octave, 228 _sq._\n\nFez, mock sultan in, 152\n\nFighting the king, right of, 22\n\nFiji, voluntary deaths in, 11 _sq._;\n  custom of grave-diggers in, 156 _n._2;\n  rule of succession in, 191\n\nFinger-joints, custom of sacrificing, 219;\n  mock sacrifice of, _ib._\n\nFire, voluntary death by, 42 _sqq._;\n  and Water, kings of, in Cambodia, 14\n\nFirstborn, sacrifice of the, 171 _sqq._;\n  killed and eaten, 179 _sq._;\n  sacrificed among various races, 179 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 -fruits offered to the dead, 102;\n  of the corn offered at Lammas, 101 _sq._;\n  of the vintage offered to Icarius and Erigone, 283\n\nFirstlings, Hebrew sacrifice of, 172 _sq._;\n  Irish sacrifice of, 183\n\nFish, descent of the Dyaks from a, 126\n\nFison, Rev. Lorimer, 156 _n._2\n\nFive years, despotic power for period of, 53\n\nFlight of the priestly king (_Regifugium_) at Rome, 213\n\nFlorence, ceremony of \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d at, 240 _sq._\n\nFlorida, sacrifice of firstborn male children by the Indians of, 184\n\nFool, the Carnival, burial of, 231 _sq._\n\nFoot, custom of standing on one, 149, 150, 155, 156\n\n\u2014\u2014 -race at Olympia, 287\n\nFranche-Comt\u00e9, effigies of Shrove Tuesday destroyed in, 227\n\nFreycinet, L. de, 118 _n._1\n\nFrosinone in Latium, burning an effigy of the Carnival at, 22 _sq._\n\nFuneral of Kostroma, 261 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 -games, 92 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 -rites performed for a father in the fifth month of his wife\u2019s\n            pregnancy, 189\n\nFutuna in the South Pacific, 97\n\nGalton, Sir Francis, 146 _n._2\n\nGame of Troy, 76 _sq._\n\nGames, funeral, 92 _sqq._\n\nGandharva-Sena, 124, 125\n\nGanges, firstborn children sacrificed to the, 180 _sq._\n\nGazelle Peninsula in New Britain, 65\n\nGelo, tyrant of Syracuse, 167\n\nGenesis, account of the creation in, 106\n\nGhost, the Holy, regarded as female, 5 _n._3\n\nGhosts propitiated with blood, 92;\n  propitiated with games, 96;\n  anger of, 103\n\nGiles, Professor H. A., 275\n\nGirls\u2019 race at Olympia, 91\n\nGladiators at Roman funerals, 96;\n  at Roman banquets, 143\n\nGoats sacrificed instead of human beings, 166 _n._1\n\nGobir, a Hausa kingdom, 35\n\nGod, the killing and resurrection of a god in the hunting, pastoral, and\n            agricultural stages of society, 221\n\nGod\u2019s Mouth, 41\n\nGods, mortality of the, 1 _sqq._;\n  created by man in his own likeness, 2 _sq._;\n  succeeded by their sons, 5;\n  progressive amelioration in the character of the, 136\n\nGolden apples of the Hesperides, 80\n\n\u2014\u2014 fleece, ram with, 162\n\n\u2014\u2014 swords, 75\n\nGoldmann, Dr. Emil, 155 _n._1\n\nGoldziher, I., 97 _n._7\n\nGomes, E. H., 176 _n._1\n\nGonds, mock human sacrifices among the, 217\n\nGood Friday, 284\n\nGore, Captain, 139 _n._1\n\nGospel to the Hebrews, the apocryphal, 5 _n._3\n\n_Graal_, _History of the Holy_, 120, 134\n\nGrape-cluster, Mother of the, 8\n\nGray, Archdeacon J. H., 145\n\nGreat Pan, death of the, 6 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 Spirit, the, of the American Indians, 3\n\n\u2014\u2014 year, the, 70\n\nGreece, human sacrifices in ancient, 161 _sqq._;\n  swinging as a festal rite in modern, 283 _sq._\n\nGreek mode of reckoning intervals of time, 59 _n._1\n\nGreenlanders, their belief in the mortality of the gods, 3\n\nGrey hair a signal of death, 36 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 hairs of kings, 100, 102, 103\n\nGrimm, J., 155 _n._1, 221, 240, 244\n\nGroot, Professor J. J. M. de, 180 _n._7, 275\n\nGrove, the Arician, 213\n\nGuatemala, catching the soul of the dying in, 199\n\nGuayana Indians, 12\n\nGypsies, ceremony of \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d among the, 243\n\nHair, grey, a signal of death, 36 _sq._\n\nHalae in Attica, mock human sacrifice at, 215\n\nHale, Horatio, quoted, 11 _sq._\n\nHamilton, Alexander, quoted, 48\n\nHamilton\u2019s _Account of the East Indies_, 278\n\nHammurabi, king of Babylon, 110\n\nHand of dead man in magical ceremony, 267 _n._1;\n  of suicide cut off, 220 _n._\n\nHanging of an effigy of the Carnival, 230 _sq._\n\nHarmonia and Cadmus, 84;\n  marriage of, 88, 89\n\nHarvest ceremonies, 20, 25\n\nHarz Mountains, ceremony at Carnival in the, 233\n\nHausa kings put to death, 35\n\nHawaii, annual festival in, 117 _sq._\n\nHawk in Egypt, symbol of the sun and of the king, 112\n\nHeads of dead kings removed and kept, 202 _sq._\n\nHebrew sacrifice of the firstborn, 171 _sqq._\n\nHebrews, apocryphal Gospel to the, 5 _n._3\n\nHeitsi-eibib, a Hottentot god, 3\n\nHeliogabalus, the emperor, 92\n\nHeliopolis, 5;\n  the sacred bull of, 72\n\nHell fire in Catholic and Protestant theology, 136\n\nHelle and Phrixus, the children of King Athamas, 161 _sqq._\n\nHephaestion, 95\n\nHera, race of girls in honour of, at Olympia, 91;\n  the sister of her husband Zeus, 194\n\nHeraclitus, on the souls of the dead, 12\n\nHercules in the garden of the Hesperides, 80\n\nHermapolis, 4\n\nHermes, the grave of, 4\n\nHeruli, the, 14\n\nHesperides, garden of the, 80\n\nHieraconpolis, 112\n\n_High History of the Holy Graal_, 120, 134\n\nHippodamia at Olympia, 91;\n  grave of the suitors of, 104\n\nHippolytus or Virbius killed by horses, 214\n\nHindoo belief as to shooting stars, 67;\n  of the rebirth of a father in his son, 188\n\nHinnom, the Valley of, 169, 170\n\nHirpini, guided by a wolf (_hirpus_), 186 _n._4\n\nHodson, T. C., 117 _n._1\n\nHoeck, K., 73 _n._1\n\nHofmayr, P. W., 18 _n._1, 19 _n._2\n\nHolm-oak, 81 _sq._\n\nHoly Ghost, regarded as female, 5 _n._3\n\n\u2014\u2014 Saturday, 244\n\nHomeric age, funeral games in the, 93\n\nHomicide, banishment of, 69 _sq._\n\nHomoeopathic or imitative magic, 283, 285\n\nHooks, Indian custom of swinging on, 278 _sq._\n\nHorse-mackerel, descent of a totemic clan from a, 129\n\n\u2014\u2014 -races in honour of the dead, 97, 98, 99, 101;\n  at fairs, 99 _sqq._\n\nHorses, Hippolytus killed by, 214\n\nHorus, the soul of, in Orion, 5\n\nHottentots, the mortal god of the, 3\n\nHowitt, A. W., 64\n\nHuman flesh, transformation into animal shape through eating, 83 _sq._\n\nHuman sacrifices at Upsala, 58;\n  in ancient Greece, 161 _sqq._;\n  mock, 214 _sqq._;\n  offered by ancestors of the European races, 214;\n  to renew the sun\u2019s fire, 74 _sq._\n\nHuntsman, the Spectral, 178\n\nHuron Indians, their burial of infants, 199\n\nIbadan in West Africa, 203\n\nIbn Batuta, 53\n\nIcarus or Icarius and his daughter Erigone, 281 _sq._, 283\n\nIda, oracular cave of Zeus on Mount, 70\n\nIhering, R. von, 187 _n._4\n\nIjebu tribe, 112\n\nIlex or holm-oak, 81 _sq._\n\nImmortality, belief of savages in their natural, 1;\n  firm belief of the North American Indians in, 137\n\nImpregnation by the souls of the dying, 199\n\nIncarnation of divine spirit in Shilluk kings, 21, 26 _sq._\n\nIndia, sacrifice of firstborn children in, 180 _sq._;\n  images of Siva and P\u00e2rvati married in, 265 _sq._\n\nIndians of Arizona, mock human sacrifice among the, 215;\n  of Canada, their ceremony for mitigating the cold of winter, 259 _sq._\n\nIndifference to death displayed by many races, 136 _sqq._\n\nIndra and the dragon Vrtra, 106 _sq._\n\nInfanticide among the Australian aborigines, 187 _n._6;\n  sometimes suggested by a doctrine of transmigration or reincarnation of\n              human souls, 188 _sq._;\n  prevalent in Polynesia, 191, 196;\n  among savages, 196 _sq._\n\nInfants, burial of, 199\n\nIno and Melicertes, 162\n\nIntervals of time, Greek and Latin modes of reckoning, 59 _n._1\n\n_Invocavit_ Sunday, 243\n\nIreland, the great fairs of ancient, 99 _sqq._\n\nIrish sacrifice of firstlings, 183\n\nIron-Beard, Dr., a Whitsuntide mummer, 208, 212, 233\n\nIsaac about to be sacrificed by his father Abraham, 177\n\nIsaacs, Nathaniel, 36 _sq._\n\nIsis, the soul of, in Sirius, 5\n\nIsle of Man, May Day in the, 258\n\nIsocrates, 95\n\nIsraelites, their custom of burning their children in honour of Baal, 168\n            _sqq._\n\nIsthmian games instituted in honour of Melicertes, 93, 103\n\nItaly, seven-legged effigies of Lent in, 244 _sq._\n\nJack o\u2019 Lent, 230\n\nJagas, a tribe of Angola, their custom of infanticide, 196 _sq._\n\nJaintias of Assam, 55\n\nJambi in Sumatra, temporary kings in, 154\n\nJapan, mock human sacrifices in, 218\n\nJars, burial in, 12 _sq._\n\nJava, Sultans of, 53\n\nJawbone of king preserved, 200 _sq._\n\nJeoud, the only-begotten son of Cronus, sacrificed by his father, 166\n\nJerome, on Tophet, 170\n\n\u201cJerusalem, the Road of,\u201d 76\n\nJerusalem, sacrifice of children at, 169\n\nJinn, death of the King of the, 8\n\nJordanus, Friar, 54\n\nJoyce, P. W., 100 _n._1, 101\n\nJudah, kings of, their custom of burning their children, 169\n\nJukos, kings of the, put to death, 34\n\nJumping over a bonfire, 262\n\nJune, the twenty-ninth of, St. Peter\u2019s Day, 262\n\nJ\u016dok, the great god of the Shilluk, 18\n\nJupiter, period of revolution of the planet, 49\n\nJustin, 187 _n._5\n\nKaitish, the, 60\n\nKalamantans, their descent from a deer, 126 _sq._\n\nKali, Indian goddess, 123\n\nKamants, a Jewish tribe, 12\n\nKanagra district of India, 265\n\nKarpathos, custom of swinging in the island of, 284\n\nKatsina, a Hausa kingdom, 35\n\nKayans of Borneo, mock human sacrifices among the, 218\n\nKeonjhur, ceremony at installation of Rajah of, 56\n\nKerre, a tribe accustomed to strangle their firstborn children, 181 _sq._\n\nKhlysti, the, a Russian sect, 196 _n._3\n\nKhonds of India, their human sacrifices, 139\n\nKibanga, kings of, put to death, 34\n\nKiller of the Elephant, 35\n\nKilling the divine king, 9 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 of the tree-spirit, 205 _sqq._;\n  a means to promote the growth of vegetation, 211 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 a god, in the hunting, pastoral, and agricultural stages of society,\n            221\n\nKing, the killing of the divine, 8 _sqq._;\n  slaying of the, in legend, 120 _sqq._;\n  responsible for the weather and crops, 165;\n  abdicates on the birth of a son, 190;\n  at Whitsuntide, pretence of beheading the, 209 _sq._\n\nKing of the Jinn, death of the, 8\n\n\u2014\u2014 of the Wood at Nemi, 28, 205 _sq._, 212 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 and Queen of May, marriage of, 266\n\nKing Hop, 149, 151\n\nKing\u2019s daughter offered as prize in a race, 104\n\n\u2014\u2014 jawbone preserved, 200 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 life sympathetically bound up with the prosperity of the country, 21,\n            27\n\n\u2014\u2014 skull used as a drinking-vessel, 200\n\n\u2014\u2014 son, sacrifice of the, 160 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 widow, succession to the throne through marriage with, 193\n\nKingdom, the prize of a race, 103 _sqq._ _See also_ Succession\n\nKings, divine, of the Shilluk, 17 _sqq._;\n  regarded as incarnations of a divine spirit, 21, 26 _sq._;\n  attacks on, permitted, 22, 48 _sqq._;\n  worship of dead, 24 _sq._;\n  killed at the end of a fixed term, 46 _sqq._;\n  related to sacred animals, 82, 84 _sqq._;\n  personating dragons or serpents, 82;\n  addressed by names of animals, 86;\n  with a dragon or serpent crest, 105;\n  the supply of, 134 _sqq._;\n  temporary, 148 _sqq._;\n  abdicate annually, 148\n\n\u2014\u2014 killed when their strength fails, 14 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 of Dahomey and Benin represented partly in animal shapes, 85 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 of Fire and Water, 14\n\n\u2014\u2014 of Uganda, dead, consulted as oracles, 200 _sq._\n\nKingship, octennial tenure of the, 58 _sqq._;\n  triennial tenure of the, 112 _sq._;\n  annual tenure of the, 113 _sqq._;\n  diurnal tenure of the, 118 _sq._;\n  burdens and restrictions attaching to the early, 135;\n  modern type of, different from the ancient, 135\n\nKingsley, Mary H., 119 _n._1\n\nKingsmill Islanders, 64\n\nKirghiz, games in honour of the dead among the, 97\n\n_Kirwaido_, ruler of the old Prussians, 41\n\nK\u00f6niggr\u00e4tz district of Bohemia, Whitsuntide custom in the, 209 _sq._\n\nKore expelled on Easter Eve in Albania, 265\n\nKoryaks, voluntary deaths among the, 13\n\nKostroma, funeral of, 261 _sqq._\n\nKostrubonko, funeral of, 261\n\nKrapf, Dr. J. L., 183 _n._1\n\nKrishna, Hindoo festival of swinging in honour of, 279\n\nKupalo, funeral of, 261, 262\n\nKurnai, their fear of the Aurora Australis, 267 _n._1\n\nKutonaqa Indians of British Columbia, their sacrifice of their firstborn\n            children to the sun, 183 _sq._\n\nLa Rochelle, burning of Shrove Tuesday at, 230\n\nLabyrinth, the Cretan, 71, 74, 75, 76, 77\n\nLabyrinths in churches, 76;\n  in the north of Europe, 76 _sq._\n\nLada, the funeral of, 261, 262\n\nLaevinus, M. Valerius, 96\n\nLaius and Oedipus, 193\n\n\u201cLame reign,\u201d 38\n\nLammas, the first of August, 99, 100, 101, 105\n\nLampson, M. W., 146 _n._1, 273\n\nLancelot constrained to be king, 120 _sq._, 135\n\nLang, Andrew, 130 _n._1\n\nLaodicea in Syria, human sacrifices at, 166 _n._1\n\nLaos, a province of Siam, 97\n\nLaphystian Zeus, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165\n\nLast sheaf called \u201cthe Dead One,\u201d 254\n\nLatin festival, the great (_Feriae Latinae_), 283\n\n\u2014\u2014 mode of reckoning intervals of time, 59 _n._1\n\nLatins, sanctity of the woodpecker among the, 186 _n._4\n\nLatinus, King, his disappearance, 283\n\nLaughlan Islanders, 63\n\nLaurel, sacred, guarded by a dragon, 79 _sq._;\n  chewed by priestess of Apollo, 80\n\nLaurel-Bearer at Thebes, 88 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 -Bearing Apollo, 79 _n._3\n\n\u2014\u2014 -bearing, festival of the, at Thebes, 78 _sq._, 88 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 wreath at Delphi and Thebes, 78 _sqq._\n\n_Laws of Manu_, 188\n\nLearchus, son of King Athamas, 161, 162\n\nLechrain, Burial of the Carnival in, 231\n\nLeipsic, \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d at, 236\n\nLengua Indians, 11;\n  of the Gran Chaco, 63;\n  their practice of killing firstborn girls, 186;\n  their custom of infanticide, 197\n\nLent, the fourth Sunday in, called Dead Sunday or Mid-Lent, 221, 222\n            _n._1, 233 _sqq._, 250, 255;\n  personified by an actor or effigy, 226, 230;\n  fifth Sunday in, 234, 239;\n  third Sunday in, 238;\n  Queen of, 244;\n  symbolised by a seven-legged effigy, 244 _sq._\n\nLeonidas, funeral games in his honour, 94\n\nLeopard Societies of Western Africa, 83\n\nLeopards related to royal family of Dahomey, 85\n\nLepidus, Marcus Aemilius, 96\n\nLepsius, R., 17 _n._2\n\nLerida in Catalonia, funeral of the Carnival at, 225 _sq._\n\nLerpiu, a spirit, 32\n\nLetts, celebration of the summer solstice among the, 280\n\nLeviathan, 106 _n._2\n\nLiebrecht, F., 7 _n._2\n\nLife, human, valued more highly by Europeans than by many other races, 135\n            _sq._\n\n_Limu_, the Assyrian eponymate, 117\n\nLion, king represented with the body of a, 85\n\nLisiansky, U., 117 _sq._\n\n\u201cLittle Easter Sunday,\u201d 153, 154 _n._1\n\nLogan, W., 49\n\nLolos, the, 65\n\nLombardy, the Day of the Old Wives in, 241\n\n\u201cLord of the Heavenly Hosts,\u201d 149, 150, 155, 156\n\nLostwithiel in Cornwall, temporary king at, 153 _sq._\n\nLous, a Babylonian month, 113, 116\n\nLucian, 42\n\nLug, legendary Irish hero, 99, 101\n\nLugnasad, the first of August, 101\n\nLunar and solar time, attempts to harmonise, 68 _sq._\n\nLuschan, F. von, 85 _n._5, 86 _n._1\n\nLussac, Ash Wednesday at, 226\n\nLycaeus, Mount, Zeus on, 70;\n  human sacrifices on, 163\n\nMacahity, an annual festival in Hawaii, 117\n\nMacassars of Celebes, their custom of swinging, 277\n\nMacdonald, Rev. J., 183 _n._2\n\nMaceboard, the, in the Isle of Man, 258\n\nMacgregor, Sir William, 203 _n._2\n\nMacha, Queen, 100\n\nMcLennan, J. F., 194 _n._1\n\nMagic, the Age of, 2;\n  homoeopathic or imitative, 283, 285\n\nMagical ceremonies for the revival of nature in spring, 266 _sqq._;\n  for the revival of nature in Central Australia, 270\n\n_Maha Makham_, the Great Sacrifice, 49\n\nMairs, their custom of sacrificing their firstborn sons, 181\n\nMalabar, custom of _Thalavettiparothiam_ in, 53;\n  religious suicide in, 54 _sq._\n\nMalayans, devil-dancers, practise a mock human sacrifice, 216\n\nMalays, their belief in the Spectral Huntsman, 178\n\nMalta, death of the Carnival in, 224 _sq._\n\nManasseh, King, his sacrifice of his children, 170\n\nMandans, their notions as to the stars, 67 _sq._\n\nMan-god, reason for killing the, 9 _sq._\n\nMangaians, their preference for a violent death, 10\n\nManipur, the Naga tribes of, 11;\n  mode of counting the years in, 117 _n._1;\n  rajahs of, descended from a snake, 133\n\nMannhardt, W., 249 _n._4, 253, 270\n\n_Manu_, _Laws of_, 188\n\nMaoris, the, 64\n\nMara tribe of northern Australia, 60\n\n_Mardi Gras_, Shrove Tuesday, 227\n\nMarduk, New Year festival of, 110;\n  his image at Babylon, 113\n\n\u2014\u2014 and Tiamat, 105 _sq._, 107 _sq._\n\n_Mareielis_ at Zurich, 260\n\nMarena, Winter or Death, 262\n\nMarketa, the holy, 238\n\nMarriage, mythical and dramatic, of the Sun and Moon, 71, 73 _sq._, 78, 87\n            _sq._, 92, 105;\n  of brothers and sisters in royal families, 193 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 Sacred, of king and queen, 71;\n  of gods and goddesses, 73;\n  of actors disguised as animals, 83;\n  of Zeus and Hera, 91\n\n\u201cMarriage Hollow\u201d at Teltown, 99\n\nMartin, Father, quoted, 141 _sq._\n\nMarzana, goddess of Death, 237\n\nMasai, the, 61, 65;\n  their custom as to the skulls of dead chiefs, 202 _sq._\n\nMasks hung on trees, 283\n\nMasquerades of kings and queens, 71 _sq._, 88, 89\n\nMasson, Bishop, 137\n\nMata, the small-pox goddess, sacrifice of children to, 181\n\nMatiamvo, a potentate in Angola, the manner of his death, 35 _sq._\n\nMausoleum at Halicarnassus, 94 _sq._\n\nMausolus, contests of eloquence in his honour, 95\n\nMay, the Queen of, in the Isle of Man, 258;\n  King and Queen of, 266\n\n\u2014\u2014 Bride, 266\n\n\u2014\u2014 Day in Sweden, 254;\n  in the Isle of Man, 258\n\n\u2014\u2014 -tree, 246;\n  horse-race to, 208\n\n\u2014\u2014 -trees, 251 _sq._\n\nMbaya Indians of South America, 140;\n  their custom of infanticide, 197\n\nMedicine-men swinging as a mode of cure, 280 _sq._\n\nMelicertes at the Isthmus of Corinth, 93, 103;\n  in Tenedos, human sacrifices to, 162\n\nMemphis, statues of Summer and Winter at, 259 _n._1\n\nMen and asses, redemption of firstling, 173\n\nMendes, mummy of Osiris at, 4;\n  the ram-god of, 7 n.2\n\nMenoeceus, his voluntary death, 192 _n._3\n\nMeriahs, human victims among the Khonds, 139\n\nMeroe, Ethiopian kings of, put to death, 15\n\nMerolla, G., quoted, 14 _sq._\n\nMessiah, a pretended, 46\n\nMeteors, superstitions as to, 58 _sqq._\n\nMetis, swallowed by her husband Zeus, 192\n\n_Metsik_, \u201cwood-spirit,\u201d 233, 252 _sq._\n\nMeyer, Professor Kuno, 159 _n._1\n\nMicah, the prophet, on sacrifice, 171, 174\n\nMid-Lent, the fourth Sunday in Lent, 222 _n._1;\n  also called Dead Sunday, 221;\n  celebration of, 234, 236 _sq._;\n  ceremony of \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d at, 240 _sqq._\n\nMidsummer Eve, Russian ceremony on, 262\n\nMikados, human sacrifices formerly offered at the graves of the, 218\n\nMiltiades, funeral games in his honour, 93\n\nMinahassa, mock human sacrifices in, 214 _sq._\n\nMinorca, seven-legged images of Lent in, 244 _n._1\n\nMinos, king of Cnossus, his reign of eight years, 70 _sqq._;\n  tribute of youths and maidens sent to, 74 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 and Britomartis, 73\n\nMinotaur, legend of the, 71, 74, 75\n\nMinyas, king of Orchomenus, 164\n\nMnevis, the sacred bull of Heliopolis, 72\n\nMoab, king of, sacrifices his son on the wall, 166, 179\n\nMock human sacrifices, 214 _sqq._;\n  sacrifices of finger-joints, 219\n\n\u2014\u2014 sultan in Morocco, 152 _sq._\n\nMohammedan belief as to falling stars, 63 _sq._\n\nMoloch, sacrifice of children to, 75, 168 _sqq._\n\nMoon represented by a cow, 71 _sq._;\n  myth of the setting and rising, 73;\n  married to Endymion, 90\n\n\u2014\u2014 and sun, mythical and dramatic marriage of the, 71, 73 _sq._, 78, 87\n            _sq._, 92, 105\n\nMorasas, the, 219\n\nMoravia, \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d in, 238 _sq._, 249\n\nMorocco, annual temporary king in, 152 _sq._\n\nMortality of the gods, 1 _sqq._\n\nMoschus, 73 _n._1\n\nMoss, W., 284 _n._4\n\nMother of the Grape-cluster, 8\n\nMoulton, Professor J. H., 124 _n._1\n\nMounds, sepulchral, 93, 96, 100, 104\n\nMulai Rasheed II., 153\n\nM\u00fcller, K. O., 59, 69 _n._1, 90, 165 _n._1, 166 _n._1\n\nMumbo Jumbos, 178\n\nMummers, the Whitsuntide, 205 _sqq._\n\nMurderers, their bodies destroyed, 11\n\nMutch, Captain J. S., 259 _n._1\n\nMysore, mimic rite of circumcision in, 220\n\nMyths of creation, 106 _sqq._\n\nNabu, a Babylonian god, 110\n\nNaga tribes of Manipur, 11\n\nNagpur, the cobra the crest of the Maharajah of, 132 _sq._\n\nNamaquas, the, 61\n\nNatural death regarded as a calamity, 11 _sq._\n\nNauroz and Eed festivals, 279\n\nNemean games celebrated in honour of Opheltes, 93\n\nNemi, priest of, 28, 212 _sq._, 220;\n  King of the Wood at, 205 _sq._, 212 _sqq._\n\nNephele, wife of King Athamas, 161\n\nNew Britain, 65\n\n\u2014\u2014 Guinea, the Papuans of, 287\n\n\u2014\u2014 Hebrides, burial alive in the, 12\n\n\u2014\u2014 South Wales, sacrifice of firstborn children among the aborigines of,\n            179 _sq._\n\nNgarigo, the, of New South Wales, 60\n\nNgoio, a province of Congo, 118 _sq._\n\nNias, custom of succession to the chieftainship in, 198 _sq._;\nmock human sacrifices at funerals in, 216\n\nNicobarese, their sham-fights to gratify the dead, 96\n\nNiederp\u00f6ring in Bavaria, Whitsuntide custom at, 206 _sq._\n\nNiu\u00e9 or Savage Island, 219\n\nN\u00f6ldeke, Professor Th., 179 _n._4\n\nNormandy, Burial of Shrove Tuesday in, 228\n\nNorsemen, their custom of wounding the dying, 13 _sq._\n\nNorth Africa, festivals of swinging in, 284\n\n\u2014\u2014 American Indians, their funeral celebrations, 97;\n  their firm belief in immortality, 137\n\nNyakang, founder of the dynasty of Shilluk kings, 18 _sqq._\n\nNyikpla or Nyigbla, a negro divinity, 61\n\nOak, sacred, at Delphi, 80 _sq._;\n  effigy of Death buried under an, 236\n\nOak branches, Whitsuntide mummer swathed in, 207\n\n\u2014\u2014 -leaves, crown of, 80 _sqq._\n\nOath by the Styx, 70 _n._1\n\nOctennial cycle based on an attempt to harmonise lunar and solar time, 68\n            _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 tenure of the kingship, 58 _sqq._\n\nOdin, 13;\n  legend of the deposition of, 56; sacrifice of king\u2019s sons to, 57;\n  human sacrifices to, 160 _sq._, 188\n\nOedipus, legend of, 193\n\nOenomaus at Olympia, 91\n\nOesel, island of, 66\n\nOld Man, name of the corn-spirit, 253 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 people killed, 11 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 Wives, the Day of the, 241\n\n\u2014\u2014 Woman, Sawing the, a ceremony in Lent, 240 _sqq._;\n  name applied to the corn-spirit, 253 _sq._\n\nOldenberg, Professor H., 122 _n._2\n\nOleae, the, at Orchomenus, 163, 164\n\nOlive crown at Olympia, 91\n\nOlympia, tombs of Pelops and Endymion at, 287\n\nOlympiads based on the octennial cycle, 90\n\nOlympic festival based on the octennial cycle, 89 _sq._;\n  based on astronomical, not agricultural considerations, 105\n\n\u2014\u2014 games said to have been founded in honour of Pelops, 92\n\n\u2014\u2014 stadium, the, 287\n\n\u2014\u2014 victors regarded as embodiments of Zeus, 90 _sq._, or of the Sun and\n            Moon, 91, 105\n\nOmen-birds, stories of their origin, 126, 127 _sq._\n\nOn or Aun, king of Sweden, 57, 160 _sq._, 188\n\nOpheltes at Nemea, 93\n\nOphites, the, 5 _n._3\n\nOracular springs, 79 _sq._\n\nOrchomenus in Boeotia, human sacrifice at, 163 _sq._\n\nOrdeal by poison, fatal effects of, 197\n\nOrestes, flight of, 213\n\nOrigen, on the Holy Spirit, 5 _n._3\n\nOrion the soul of Horus, 5\n\n_Ororo_, 24\n\nOsiris, the mummy of, 4\n\nOtho, suicide of the Emperor, 140\n\nOx-blood, bath of, 201\n\nOxen sacrificed instead of human beings, 166 _n._1\n\nPalermo, ceremony of \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d at, 240\n\nPalm Sunday, \u201cSawing the Old Woman\u201d on, 243\n\nPalodes, 6\n\nPan, death of the Great, 6 _sq._\n\nPanebian Libyans, their custom of cutting off the heads of their dead\n            kings, 202\n\nPapuans, the, of Doreh Bay in New Guinea, 287\n\nParker, Professor E. H., 146 _n._1\n\nParkinson, John, 112 _sq._\n\nParrots\u2019 eggs, a signal of death, 40 _sq._\n\nParsons, Harold G., 203 _n._5\n\nParthenon, eastern frieze of the, 89 _n._5\n\nP\u00e2rvat\u00ee and Siva, marriage of the images of, 265 _sq._\n\nPasiphae identified with the moon, 72\n\n\u2014\u2014 and the bull, 71\n\n\u201cPass through the fire,\u201d meaning of the phrase as applied to the sacrifice\n            of children, 165 _n._3, 172\n\nPassier, kings of, put to death, 51 _sq._\n\nPassover, tradition of the origin of the, 174 _sqq._\n\nPau Pi, an effigy of the Carnival, 225\n\nPausanias, King, funeral games in his honour, 94\n\nPayagua Indians, 12\n\nPayne, E. J., 69 _n._2\n\nPaxos, 6\n\n_Peking Gazette_, 274, 275\n\nPelops worshipped at Olympia, 92, 104;\n  sacred precinct of, 104, 287\n\n\u2014\u2014 and Hippodamia at Olympia, 91\n\nPenance for the slaughter of the dragon, 78\n\nPeregrinus, his death by fire, 42\n\nPersia, temporary kings in, 157 _sqq._\n\nPersonification of abstract ideas not primitive, 253\n\nPeru, sacrifice of children among the Indians of, 185\n\nPerun, sacrifice of firstborn children to, 183\n\nPeruvian Indians, 63 _n._1\n\n_Pfingstl_, a Whitsuntide mummer, 206 _sq._, 211\n\nPhalaris, the brazen bull of, 75\n\nPhaya Phollathep, \u201cLord of the Heavenly Hosts,\u201d 149\n\nPherecydes, 163 _n._1\n\nPhilippine Islands, 3\n\nPhilo Judaeus, his doctrine of the Trinity, 6 _n._\n\n\u2014\u2014 of Byblus, 166, 179\n\nPhocaeans, dead, propitiated with games, 95\n\nPhoenicians, their custom of human sacrifice, 166 _sq._, 178, 179\n\nPhrixus and Helle, the children of King Athamas, 161 _sqq._\n\nPiceni, guided by a woodpecker (_picus_), 186 _n._4\n\nPilsen district of Bohemia, Whitsuntide custom in the, 210 _sq._\n\nPindar on the rebirth of the dead, 70\n\nPitr\u00e8, G., 224 _n._1\n\nPlataea, sacrifices and funeral games in honour of the slain at, 95 _sq._\n\nPlato on human sacrifices, 163\n\nPloughing, annual ceremony of, performed by temporary king, 149, 155\n            _sq._, 157\n\nPloughs, bronze, used by Etruscans at founding of cities, 157\n\nPlutarch, 163;\n  on the death of the Great Pan, 6;\n  on human sacrifices among the Carthaginians, 167\n\nPoison ordeal, fatal effects of the use of the, 197\n\nPolynesia, remarkable rule of succession in, 190;\n  prevalence of infanticide in, 191, 196\n\nPoplars burnt on Shrove Tuesday, 224 _n._1\n\nPoseidon, identified with Erechtheus, 87\n\nPosidonius, ancient Greek traveller, 142\n\nPossession by spirits of dead kings, 25 _sq._\n\nPreference for a violent death, 9 _sqq._\n\nPregnancy, funeral rites performed for a father in the fifth month of his\n            wife\u2019s, 189\n\nPrince of Wales Islands, 64\n\nProcopius, 14\n\nPrussians, supreme ruler of the old, 41 _sq._;\n  custom of the old, 156\n\nPruyssenaere, E. de, 30 _n._1\n\nPsoloeis, the, at Orchomenus, 163, 164\n\nPtarmigans and ducks, dramatic contest of the, 259\n\nPuruha, a province of Quito, 185\n\nPururavas and Urvasi, Indian story of, 131\n\nPylos, burning the Carnival at, 232 _sq._\n\nPythagoras at Delphi, 4\n\nPythian games, 80 _sq._;\n  celebrated in honour of the Python, 93\n\nQueen of May in the Isle of Man, 259;\n  married to the King of May, 266\n\n\u2014\u2014 of Winter in the Isle of Man, 258\n\nQueensland, natives of, their superstitions as to falling stars, 60\n\nQuilicare, suicide of kings of, 46 _sq._\n\nQuiteve, title of kings of Sofala, 37 _sq._\n\nRace for the kingdom at Olympia, 90\n\nRaces to determine the successor to the kingship, 103 _sqq._\n\n_Radica_, a festival at the end of the Carnival at Frosinone, 222\n\nRahab or Leviathan, 106 _n._2\n\nRain-charms, 211\n\n\u2014\u2014 clan, 31\n\n\u2014\u2014 -god, 61\n\n\u2014\u2014 -makers among the Dinka, 32 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 -making ceremonies, 20\n\nRajah, temporary, 154\n\nRal\u00ee, the fair of, 265\n\nRam with golden fleece, 162\n\n\u2014\u2014 -god of Mendes, 7 _n._3\n\n\u2014\u2014 sacrificed to Pelops, 92, 104\n\nRaratonga, custom of succession in, 191\n\n_Rauchfiess_, a Whitsuntide mummer, 207 _n._1\n\nRebirth of the dead, 70;\n  of a father in his son, 188 _sqq._;\n  of the parent in the child, 287\n\nReckoning intervals of time, Greek and Latin modes of reckoning, 59 _n._1\n\nRedemption of firstling men and asses, 173\n\nRegalia in Celebes, sanctity of, 202\n\nRegicide among the Slavs, 52;\n  modified custom of, 148\n\n_Regifugium_ at Rome, 213\n\nReinach, Salomon, 7 _n._2\n\nReincarnation of human souls, belief in, a motive for infanticide, 188\n            _sq._\n\nReligion, the Age of, 2\n\nRenewal, annual, of king\u2019s power at Babylon, 113\n\nResurrection of the god, 212;\n  of the tree-spirit, 212;\n  of a god in the hunting, pastoral, and agricultural stages of society,\n              221;\n  enacted in Shrovetide or Lenten ceremonies, 233;\n  of the effigy of Death, 247 _sqq._;\n  of the Carnival, 252;\n  of the Wild Man, 252;\n  of Kostrubonko at Eastertide, 261\n\nRetaliation in Southern India, law of, 141 _sq._\n\nRhea and Cronus, 194\n\nRhegium in Italy, 187 _n._5\n\nRhodes, human sacrifices to Baal in, 195\n\nRhys, Sir John, 101\n\nRigveda, the, 279\n\n\u201cRoad of Jerusalem,\u201d 76\n\nRobinson, Captain W. C., 139 _n._1\n\nRockhill, W. W., 284 _sq._\n\nRoman custom of catching the souls of the dying, 200;\n  of vowing a \u201cSacred Spring,\u201d 186 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 funeral customs, 92, 96\n\n\u2014\u2014 game of Troy, 76 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 indifference to death, 143 _sq._\n\nRome, funeral games at, 96;\n  the _Regifugium_ at, 213\n\nRook, custom of killing all firstborn children in the island of, 180\n\nRoscher, W. H., 7 _n._2, 73 _n._2\n\nRoscoe, Rev. J., 139, 182 _n._2, 201 _n._1\n\nRose, H. A., 181\n\nRose, the Sunday of the, 222 _n._1\n\nRottweil, the Carnival Fool at, 231\n\nRussia, funeral ceremonies of Kostrubonko, etc., in, 261 _sqq._\n\nRussians, religious suicides among the, 44 _sq._;\n  the heathen, their sacrifice of the firstborn children, 183\n\nSacaea, a Babylonian festival, 113 _sqq._\n\nSacred Marriage of king and queen, 71;\n  of actors disguised as animals, 71, 83;\n  of gods and goddesses, 73;\n  of Zeus and Hera, 91\n\n\u2014\u2014 spears, 19, 20\n\n\u201cSacred spring, the,\u201d among the ancient Italian peoples, 186 _sq._\n\nSacrifice of the king\u2019s son, 160 _sqq._;\n  of the firstborn, 171 _sqq._, 179 _sqq._;\n  of finger-joints, 219\n\nSacrifices for rain, 20;\n  for the sick, 20, 25;\n  to totems, 31;\n  to the dead, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97;\n  of children among the Semites, 166 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 human, in ancient Greece, 161 _sqq._;\n  mock human, 214 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 vicarious, 117;\n  in ancient Greece, 166 _n._1\n\nSt. George and the Dragon, 107;\n  swinging on the festival of, 283\n\nSt. John\u2019s Day (the summer solstice), swinging at, 280\n\n\u2014\u2014 Eve, Russian ceremony on, 262\n\nSaint-L\u00f4, the burning of Shrove Tuesday at, 228 _sq._\n\nSt. Peter\u2019s Day, the twenty-ninth of June, 262\n\nSaintonge and Aunis, burning the Carnival in, 230\n\nSakalavas, sanctity of relics of dead kings among the, 202\n\nSalamis in Cyprus, human sacrifices at, 166 _n._1\n\nSalih, a prophet, 97\n\nSalish Indians, their sacrifice of their firstborn children to the sun,\n            184\n\nSalmoneus, his imitation of thunder and lightning, 165\n\nSamaracand, New Year ceremony at, 151\n\nSamnites, guided by a bull, 186 _n._4\n\nSamoa, expiation for disrespect to a sacred animal in, 216 _sq._\n\nSamorin, title of the kings of Calicut, 47 _sq._\n\nSamothracian mysteries, 89\n\nSantal custom of swinging on hooks, 279\n\nSantos, J. dos, 37 _sq._\n\nSarawak, Dyaks of, 277\n\nSaturday, Holy, 244\n\nSavage Island, mimic rite of circumcision in, 219 _sq._\n\nSavages believe themselves naturally immortal, 1\n\nSavou, island of, 287\n\n\u201cSawing the Old Woman,\u201d a Lenten ceremony, 240 _sqq._\n\nSaws at Mid-Lent, 241, 242\n\nSaxon kings, their marriage with their stepmothers, 193\n\nSaxons of Transylvania, the hanging of an effigy of Carnival among the,\n            230 _sq._\n\nSaxony, Whitsuntide mummers in, 208\n\n_Scarli_, 224 _n._1\n\nSchmidt, A., 59 _n._1\n\nSchmiedel, Professor P., 261 _n._1\n\nSchoolcraft, H. R., 137 _sq._\n\nSch\u00f6rzingen, the Carnival Fool at, 231\n\nSchwegler, F. C. A., 187 _n._4\n\nSdach M\u00e9ac, title of annual temporary king of Cambodia, 148\n\nSea Dyaks, their stories of the origin of omen birds, 126, 127 _sq._\n\nSeligmann, C. G., 17, 21, 22, 23, 26, 30, 33\n\nSemang, the, 85\n\nSemic in Bohemia, beheading the king on Whit-Monday at, 209\n\nSeminoles of Florida, souls of the dying caught among the, 199\n\nSemites, sacrifices of children among the, 166 _sqq._\n\nSemitic Baal, 75\n\nSenjero, sacrifice of firstborn sons in, 182 _sq._\n\nSepharvites, their sacrifices of children, 171\n\nSeriphos, custom of swinging in the island of, 283 _sq._\n\nSerpent, the Brazen, 86;\n  sacred, on the Acropolis at Athens, 86;\n  or dragons personated by kings, 82;\n  transmigration of the souls of the dead into, 84\n\nServitude for the slaughter of dragons, 70, 78\n\nServius, on the legend of Erigone, 282\n\nSeven youths and maidens, tribute of, 74 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 -legged effigy of Lent, 244 _sq._\n\nShadow Day, a gypsy name for Palm Sunday, 243\n\n\u2014\u2014 Queen, the, 243\n\nShalmaneser, king of Assyria, 169, 170\n\nSham fight, 24\n\nShark, king of Dahomey represented with body of a, 85\n\nShilluk, a tribe of the White Nile, 17 _sqq._;\n  custom of putting to death the divine kings, 17 _sqq._, 204, 206;\n  ceremony on the accession of a new king of the, 204\n\nShirt worn by the effigy of Death, its use, 247, 249\n\nShooting stars, superstitions as to, 53 _sqq._\n\nShrines of dead kings, 24 _sq._\n\nShrove Tuesday, Burial of the Carnival on, 221 _sqq._;\n  mock death of, 227 _sqq._;\n  drama of Summer and Winter on, 257\n\nShrovetide custom in the Erzgebirge, 208 _sq._;\n  in Bohemia, 209\n\n\u2014\u2014 Bear, the, 230\n\nShurii-Kia-Miau, aboriginal tribe in China, 145\n\nSiam, annual temporary kings in, 149 _sq._\n\nSiamese, mock human sacrifices among the, 218\n\nSick, sacrifices for the, 20, 25;\n  thought to be possessed by the spirits of kings, 25 _sq._\n\nSilesia, \u201cCarrying out Death\u201d in, 236 _sq._, 250 _sq._\n\nSingalang Burong, the Ruler of the Spirit World, 127, 128\n\nSioo or Siauw, mock human sacrifices in the island of, 218\n\nSirius, the soul of Isis in, 5\n\nSister, marriage with, in royal families, 193 _sq._\n\nSiu, a Sea Dyak, and his bird wife, 127 _sq._\n\nSiva and P\u00e2rvat\u00ee, marriage of the images of, 265 _sq._\n\nSix hundred and sixty-six, the number of the Beast, 44\n\nSkoptsi, a Russian sect, 196 _n._3\n\nSkull of dead king used as a drinking-vessel, 200\n\nSkulls of dead kings removed and kept, 202 _sq._\n\nSky-spirit, sacrifice of children to, 181\n\nSlaughter of the Dragon, drama of the, at Delphi and Thebes, 78 _sqq._,\n            89;\n  myth of the, 105 _sqq._\n\nSlavs, custom of regicide among the, 52;\n  festival of the New Year among the old, 221;\n  \"Sawing the Old Woman\" among the, 242\n\nSlaying of the king in legend, 120 _sqq._\n\nSmith, W. Robertson, 8 _n._1\n\nSnake, rajahs of Manipur descended from a, 133\n\nSofala, kings of, put to death, 37 _sq._;\n  dead kings of, consulted as oracles, 201\n\nSolar and lunar time, early attempts to harmonise, 68 _sq._\n\nSon of the king sacrificed for his father, 160 _sqq._\n\nSons of gods, 5\n\n\u201cSoranian Wolves,\u201d 186 _n._4\n\nSoul, succession to the, 196 _sqq._\n\nSouls of the dead supposed to resemble their bodies, as these were at the\n            moment of death, 10 _sq._;\n  associated with falling stars, 64 _sqq._;\n  transmitted to successors, 198\n\nSouth American Indians, their insensibility to pain, 138\n\nSpain, seven-legged effigies of Lent in, 244\n\nSpartan kings liable to be deposed every eighth year, 58 _sq._\n\nSpears, sacred, 19\n\nSpectral Huntsman, 178\n\nSpencer and Gillen, quoted, 180 _n._1, 187 _n._6\n\nSpirit, the Great, of the American Indians, 3\n\nSpitting to avert demons, 63\n\nSpring equinox, custom of swinging at, 284;\n  drama of Summer and Winter at the, 257\n\nSpring, magical ceremonies for the revival of nature in, 266 _sqq._\n\n\u201cSpring, the Sacred,\u201d among the ancient Italian peoples, 186 _sq._\n\nSprings, oracular, 78 _sq._\n\nStadium, the Olympic, 287\n\nStanding on one foot, custom of, 149, 150, 155, 156\n\nStars, the souls of Egyptian gods in, 5;\n  shooting, superstitions as to, 58 _sqq._;\n  their supposed influence on human destiny, 65 _sq._, 67 _sq._\n\nStepmother, marriage with a, 193\n\nStevens, Captain John, his _History of Persia_ quoted, 158 _sq._\n\nStigand, Captain C. H., 182\n\nStool at installation of Shilluk kings, 24\n\nStudents of Fez, their mock sultan, 152 _sq._\n\nStyx, oath by the, 70 _n._1\n\nSubstitutes, voluntary, for capital punishment in China, 145 _sq._, 273\n            _sqq._\n\nSuccession in Polynesia, customs of, 190 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 to the kingdom through marriage with a sister or with the king\u2019s widow,\n            193 _sq._;\n  conferred by personal relics of dead kings, 202 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 to the soul, 196 _sqq._\n\nSufi II., Shah of Persia, 158\n\nSuicide of Buddhist monks, 42 _sq._;\n  epidemic of, in Russia, 44 _sq._;\n  by hanging, 282\n\n\u2014\u2014, religious, 42 _sqq._, 54 _sqq._;\n  in India, 54 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014, hand of, cut off, 220 _n._\n\nSulka, the, of New Britain, 65\n\n\u201cSultan of the Scribes,\u201d 152 _sq._\n\nSummer, bringing in, 233, 237, 238, 246 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 and Winter, dramatic battle of, 254 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 solstice in connexion with the Olympic festival, 90;\n  swinging at the, 280\n\n\u2014\u2014 trees, 246, 251 _sq._\n\nSun represented by a bull, 71 _sq._;\n  represented as a man with a bull\u2019s head, 75;\n  eclipses of the, beliefs and practices as to, 73 _n._2, 77;\n  sacrifice of firstborn children to the, 183 _sq._;\n  called \u201cthe golden swing in the sky,\u201d 279\n\nSun and Moon, mythical and dramatic marriage of, 71, 73 _sq._, 78, 87\n            _sq._, 92, 105\n\nSunday of the Rose, 222 _n._1\n\nSupply of kings, 134 _sqq._\n\nSupreme Beings, otiose, in Africa, 19 _n._\n\nSwabia, Whitsuntide mummers in, 207;\n  Shrovetide or Lenten ceremonies in, 230, 233\n\nSweden, May Day in, 254\n\nSwedish kings, traces of nine years\u2019 reign of, 57 _sq._\n\nSwing in the Sky, the Golden, description of the sun, 279\n\nSwinging as a ceremony or magical rite, 150, 156 _sq._, 277 _sqq._;\n  on hooks run through the body, Indian custom, 278 _sq._;\n  as a mode of inspiration, 280;\n  as a festal rite in modern Greece, Spain, and Italy, 283 _sq._\n\nSwords, golden, 75\n\nSyene, 144 _n._2\n\nSyntengs of Assam, 55\n\nSyro-Macedonian calendar, 116 _n._1\n\nTahiti, remarkable rule of succession in, 190\n\nTahitians, their notions as to eclipses of the sun and moon, 73 _n._2\n\nTailltiu or Tailltin, the fair of, 99, 101\n\nTakilis or Carrier Indians, succession to the soul among the, 199\n\nTalos, a bronze man, perhaps identical with the Minotaur, 74 _sq._\n\nTammuz or Adonis, 7\n\nTara, pagan cemetery at, 101\n\nTarahumares, the, of Mexico, 62\n\nTaui Islanders, 61\n\nTchiglit Esquimaux, the, 65\n\nTel-El-Amarna tablets, 170 _n._5\n\nTeltown, the fair at, 99\n\nTempe, the Vale of, 81\n\nTemporary kings, 148 _sqq._\n\nTenedos, sacrifice of infants to Melicertes in, 162\n\nTengaroeng in Borneo, swinging at, 280, 281\n\n_Thalavettiparothiam_, a custom observed in Malabar, 52 _sq._\n\nThamus, an Egyptian pilot, 6\n\nThebes, festival of the Laurel-Bearing at, 78 _sq._, 88 _sq._\n\nTheopompus, 95\n\nTheseus and Ariadne, 75\n\nThiodolf, the poet, 161\n\nThracians, funeral games held by the, 96;\n  their contempt of death, 142\n\nThrone, reverence for the, 51\n\nTh\u00fcringen, Whitsuntide mummers in, 208;\n  Carrying out Death in, 235 _sq._\n\nTiamat and Marduk, 105 _sq._, 107 _sq._\n\nTiberius, his enquiries as to the death of Pan, 7;\n  his attempt to put down Carthaginian sacrifices of children, 168\n\nTilton, E. L., 232\n\nTime, Greek and Latin modes of reckoning intervals of, 59\n\nTimoleon, funeral games in his honour, 94\n\nTinneh Indians, the, 65, 278\n\nTirunavayi temple, 49\n\nTlachtga, pagan cemetery at, 101\n\nToboongkoos, mock human sacrifices among the, 219\n\n_Todtenstein_, 264\n\nTonquinese custom of catching the soul of the dying, 200\n\nTooth of dead king kept, 203\n\nTophet, 169, 170, 171\n\nTorres Straits, funeral custom in, 92 _sq._\n\nTotemism of the Dinka, 30 _sq._;\n  possible trace of Latin, 186 _n._4;\n  the source of a particular type of folk-tales, 129 _sqq._\n\nTotems, sacrifices to, 31;\n  stories told to account for the origin of, 129\n\nToumou, Egyptian god, 5\n\nTransformations into animals, 82 _sqq._\n\nTransmigration of souls of the dead into serpents and other animals, 84\n            _sq._;\n  belief in, a motive for infanticide, 188 _sq._\n\nTransmission of soul to successor, 198 _sqq._\n\nTrasimene Lake, battle of, 186\n\nTree-spirit, killing of the, 205 _sqq._;\n  resurrection of the, 212;\n  in relation to vegetation-spirit, 253\n\nTrees, masks hung on, 283\n\nTrevelyan, G. M., 154 _n._1\n\nTribute of youths and maidens, 74 _sqq._\n\nTriennial tenure of the kingship, 112 _sq._\n\nTrinity, Christian doctrine of the, 5 _n._3\n\nTrocadero Museum, statues of kings of Dahomey in the, 85\n\nTrojeburg, 77\n\nTrophonius at Lebadea, 166 _n._1\n\nTroy, the game of, 76 _sq._\n\nTshi-speaking negroes of the Gold Coast, their stories to explain their\n            totemism, 128 _sq._\n\nTurrbal tribe of Queensland, 60\n\nTyphon, the soul of, in the Great Bear, 5\n\nUganda, king of, 39 _sq._;\n  human sacrifices in, 139;\n  firstborn sons strangled in, 182;\n  dead kings of, give oracles through inspired mediums, 200 _sq._\n\nUjjain in Western India, 122 _sqq._, 132, 133\n\nUlster, tombs of the kings of, 101\n\nUnyoro, kings of, put to death, 34\n\nUpsala, 161;\n  sepulchral mound at, 57;\n  great festival at, 58\n\nUranus mutilated by his son Cronus, 192\n\nUrvasi and King Pururavas, Indian story of, 131\n\nUshnagh, pagan cemetery at, 101\n\nValhala, 13\n\nVarro on a Roman funeral custom, 92;\n  on suicides by hanging, 282\n\nVegetation, death and revival of, 263 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 -spirit perhaps generalised from a tree-spirit, 253\n\nVicarious sacrifices, 117;\n  in ancient Greece, 166 _n._1\n\nVikramaditya, legendary king of Ujjain, 122 _sqq._, 132\n\nVintage, first-fruits of the, offered to Icarius and Erigone, 283\n\nVirbius or Hippolytus killed by horses, 214\n\nVirgil, on the game of Troy, 76;\n  on the creation of the world, 108 _sq._\n\nVishnu, mock human sacrifice in the worship of, 216\n\nVolcano, sacrifice of child to, 218\n\nVosges Mountains, superstition as to shooting stars in the, 67\n\nV\u1e5btra, the dragon, 106 _sq._\n\nWachtl in Moravia, drama of Summer and Winter at, 257\n\nWadai, Sultan of, 39\n\nWade, Sir Thomas, 273 _sq._\n\nWaizganthos, an old Prussian god, 156\n\nWak, a sky-spirit, 181\n\nWambugwe, the, 65\n\nWater, effigies of Death thrown into the, 234 _sqq._, 246 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 -bird, a Whitsuntide mummer, 207 _n._1\n\n\u2014\u2014 -dragon, drama of the slaying of, 78\n\nWeinhold, K., 57 _n._2\n\nWends, their custom of killing and eating the old, 14\n\nWestermarck, Dr. E., 16 _n._1, 153 _n._1, 189 _n._2, 204_ n._1\n\nWheat at Lammas, offerings of, 101\n\nWheel, effigy of Death attached to a, 247\n\nWhiteway, R. S., 51 _n._2\n\nWhitsuntide, drama of Summer and Winter at, 257\n\n\u2014\u2014 King, 209 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 Mummers, 205 _sqq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 Queen, 210\n\nWidow of king, succession to the throne through marriage with the, 193\n\nWieland\u2019s House, 77\n\nWild Man, a Whitsuntide mummer, 208 _sq._, 212\n\nWinter, Queen of, in the Isle of Man, 258;\n  effigy of, burned at Zurich, 260 _sq._\n\n\u2014\u2014 and Summer, dramatic battle of, 254 _sqq._\n\nWolf, transformation into, 83;\n  said to have guided the Samnites, 186 _n._4\n\n\u2014\u2014 -god, Zeus as the, 83\n\nWolves, Soranian, 186 _n._4\n\nWoman, Sawing the Old, a Lenten ceremony, 240 _sqq._\n\nWood, King of the, at Nemi, 28\n\nWoodpecker (_picus_) said to have guided the Piceni, 186 _n._4;\n  sacred among the Latins, _ib._\n\nWorship of dead kings, 24 _sq._\n\nWotjobaluk, the, 64\n\nWounding the dead or dying, custom of, 13 _sq._\n\nWrestling-matches in honour of the dead, 97\n\nWurmlingen in Swabia, Whitsuntide custom at, 207 _sq._;\n  the Carnival Fool at, 231 _sq._\n\nWyse, W., 144\n\nXeres, Fr., early Spanish historian, 185\n\nXerxes in Thessaly, 161, 163\n\nXimanas, an Indian tribe of the Amazon, kill all their firstborn children,\n            185 _sq._\n\nYarilo, the funeral of, 261, 262 _sq._\n\nYear, the Great, 70\n\nYears, mode of counting the, in Manipur, 117 _n._1\n\nYerrunthally tribe of Queensland, 64\n\nYorubas, the, 41, 112\n\nYouths and maidens, tribute of, sent to Minos, 74 _sqq._\n\nZagmuk, a Babylonian festival, 110 _sq._, 113, 115 _sqq._\n\nZeus, the grave of, 3;\n  oracular cave of, 70;\n  on Mount Lycaeus, 70 _n._1;\n  his transformations into animals, 82 _sq._;\n  the Wolf-god, 83;\n  the Olympic victors regarded as embodiments of, 90 _sq._;\n  swallows his wife Metis, 192;\n  his marriage with his sister Hera, 194;\n  and Europa, 73\n\n\u2014\u2014 and Hera, sacred marriage of, 91\n\n\u2014\u2014 Laphystian, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165\n\nZimmern, H., 111 _n._1\n\nZoganes at Babylon, 114\n\nZulu kings put to death, 36 _sq._\n\nZurich, effigies of Winter burnt at, 260 _sq._\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n   M1 Mortality of savage gods, Greek gods.\n\n    1 For examples see M. Dobrizhoffer, _Historia de Abiponibus_ (Vienna,\n      1784), ii. 92 _sq._, 240 _sqq._; C. Gay, \u201cFragment d\u2019un voyage dans\n      le Chili et au Cusco,\u201d _Bulletin le la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie_\n      (Paris), Deuxi\u00e8me S\u00e9rie, xix. (1843) p. 25; H. Delaporte, \u201cUne\n      Visite chez les Araucaniens,\u201d _Bulletin de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie_\n      (Paris), Quatri\u00e8me S\u00e9rie, x. (1855) p. 30; K. von den Steinen,\n      _Unter den Naturv\u00f6lkern Zentral-Brasiliens_ (Berlin, 1894), pp. 344,\n      348; E. F. im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_ (London, 1883),\n      pp. 330 sq.; A. G. Morice, \u201cThe Canadian D\u00e9n\u00e9s,\u201d _Annual\n      Archaeological Report, 1905_; (Toronto, 1906), p. 207; (Sir) George\n      Grey, _Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery into North-West and\n      Western Australia_ (London, 1841), ii. 238; A. Oldfield, \u201cThe\n      Aborigines of Australia,\u201d _Transactions of the Ethnological Society\n      of London_, N.S. iii. (1865) p. 236; J. Dawson, _Australian\n      Aborigines_ (Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide, 1881), p. 63; Rev. G.\n      Taplin, \u201cThe Narrinyeri,\u201d _Native Tribes of South Australia_\n      (Adelaide, 1879), p. 25; C. W. Sch\u00fcrmann, \u201cThe Aboriginal Tribes of\n      Port Lincoln,\u201d _Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 237; H. E. A.\n      Meyer, in _Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 195; R. Brough\n      Smyth, _The Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne, 1878), i. 110, ii.\n      289 _sq._; W. Stanbridge, in _Transactions of the Ethnological\n      Society of London_, New Series, i. (1861) p. 299; L. Fison and A. W.\n      Howitt, _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, pp. 250 _sq._; A. L. P. Cameron,\n      \u201cNotes on some Tribes of New South Wales,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Institute_, xiv. (1885) pp. 361, 362 sq.; W. Ridley,\n      _Kamilaroi_, Second Edition (Sydney, 1875), p. 159; Baldwin Spencer\n      and F. J. Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_ (London,\n      1899), pp. 46-48; _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres\n      Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904) pp. 248, 323; E. Beardmore, \u201cThe\n      Natives of Mowat, British New Guinea,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Institute_, xix. (1890) p. 461; R. E. Guise, \u201cOn the\n      Tribes inhabiting the Mouth of the Wanigela River, New Guinea,\u201d\n      _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxviii. (1899) p. 216;\n      C. G. Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_ (Cambridge,\n      1910), p. 279; K. Vetter, _Komm her\u00fcber und hilf uns! oder die\n      Arbeit der Neuen-Dettelsauer Mission_, iii. (Barmen, 1898) pp. 10\n      _sq._; _id._, in _Nachrichten \u00fcber Kaiser-Wilhelmsland und den\n      Bismarck-Archipel_, 1897, pp. 94, 98; A. Deniau, \u201cCroyances\n      religieuses et m\u0153urs des indig\u00e8nes de l\u2019ile Malo,\u201d _Missions\n      Catholiques_, xxxiii. (1901) pp. 315 _sq._; C. Ribbe, _Zwei Jahre\n      unter den Kannibalen der Salomo-Inseln_ (Dresden-Blasewitz, 1903),\n      p. 268; P. A. Kleintitschen, _Die K\u00fcstenbewohner der\n      Gazellehalbinsel_ (Hiltrup bei M\u00fcnster, N.D.), p. 344; P. Rascher,\n      \u201cDie Sulka,\u201d _Archiv f\u00fcr Anthropologie_, xxix. (1904) pp. 221 _sq._;\n      R. Parkinson, _Dreissig Jahre in der S\u00fcdsee_ (Stuttgart, 1907), pp.\n      199-201; G. Brown, D.D., _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London,\n      1910), p. 176; Father Abinal, \u201cAstrologie Malgache,\u201d _Missions\n      Catholiques_, xi. (1879) p. 506; A. Grandidier, \u201cMadagascar,\u201d\n      _Bulletin de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie_ (Paris), Sixi\u00e8me S\u00e9rie, iii.\n      (1872) p. 399; Father Campana, \u201cCongo, Mission Catholique de\n      Landana,\u201d _Missions Catholiques_, xxvii. (1895) pp. 102 _sq._; Th.\n      Masui, _Guide de la Section de l\u2019\u00c9tat Ind\u00e9pendant du Congo \u00e0\n      l\u2019Exposition de Bruxelles-Tervueren en 1897_ (Brussels, 1897), p.\n      82. The discussion of this and similar evidence must be reserved for\n      another work.\n\n    2 C. Meiners, _Geschichte der Religionen_ (Hannover, 1806-1807), i.\n      48.\n\n    3 R. I. Dodge, _Our Wild Indians_, p. 112.\n\n    4 F. Blumentritt, \u201cDer Ahnencultus und die religi\u00f6sen Anschauungen der\n      Malaien des Philippinen-Archipels,\u201d _Mittheilungen d. Wiener geogr.\n      Gesellschaft_, 1882, p. 198.\n\n    5 Sir James E. Alexander, _Expedition of Discovery into the Interior\n      of Africa_, i. 166; H. Lichtenstein, _Reisen im S\u00fcdlichen Africa_\n      (Berlin, 1811-1812), i. 349 _sq._; W. H. I. Bleek, _Reynard the Fox\n      in South Africa_ (London, 1864), pp. 75 _sq._; Theophilus Hahn,\n      _Tsuni-Goam, the Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi_ (London, 1881), pp.\n      56, 69.\n\n    6 Callimachus, _Hymn to Zeus_, 9 _sq._; Diodorus Siculus, iii. 61;\n      Lucian, _Philopseudes_, 3; _id._, _Jupiter Tragoedus_, 45; _id._,\n      _Philopatris_, 10; Porphyry, _Vita Pythagorae_, 17; Cicero, _De\n      natura deorum_, iii. 21. 53; Pomponius Mela, ii. 7. 112; Minucius\n      Felix, _Octavius_, 21; Lactantius, _Divin. instit._ i. II.\n\n    7 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 35; Philochorus, _Fragm._ 22, in C.\n      M\u00fcller\u2019s _Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum_, i. p. 378; Tatian,\n      _Oratio ad Graecos_, 8, ed. Otto; J. Tzetzes, _Schol. on Lycophron_,\n      208. Compare Ch. Petersen, \u201cDas Grab und die Todtenfeier des\n      Dionysos,\u201d _Philologus_, xv. (1860) pp. 77-91. The grave of Dionysus\n      is also said to have been at Thebes (Clemens Romanus,\n      _Recognitiones_, x. 24; Migne\u2019s _Patrologia Graeca_, i. col. 1434).\n\n    8 Porphyry, _Vit. Pythag._ 16.\n\n    9 Philochorus, _Fr._ 184, in C. M\u00fcller\u2019s _Fragmenta historicorum\n      Graecorum_, ii. p. 414.\n\n   10 Ch. Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_ (K\u00f6nigsberg, 1829), pp. 574 _sq._\n\n   M2 Mortality of Egyptian gods.\n\n   11 G. Maspero, _Histoire ancienne des peuples de l\u2019Orient classique:\n      les origines_, pp. 108-111, 116-118. On the mortality of the\n      Egyptian gods see further A. Moret, _Le Rituel du culte divin\n      journalier en \u00c9gypte_ (Paris, 1902), pp. 219 _sqq._\n\n   12 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 21, 22, 38, 61; Diodorus Siculus, i. 27.\n      4; Dittenberger, _Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae_, i. No.\n      56, p. 102.\n\n   13 A. Wiedemann, _Die Religion der alten Aegypter_, pp. 59 _sq._; G.\n      Maspero, _Histoire ancienne des peuples de l\u2019Orient classique: les\n      origines_, pp. 104-108, 150. Indeed it was an article of the\n      Egyptian creed that every god must die after he had begotten a son\n      in his own likeness (A. Wiedemann, _Herodots zweites Buch_, p. 204).\n      Hence the Egyptian deities were commonly arranged in trinities of a\n      simple and natural type, each comprising a father, a mother, and a\n      son. \u201cSpeaking generally, two members of such a triad were gods, one\n      old and one young, and the third was a goddess, who was, naturally,\n      the wife, or female counterpart, of the older god. The younger god\n      was the son of the older god and goddess, and he was supposed to\n      possess all the attributes and powers which belonged to his\n      father.... The feminine counterpart or wife of the chief god was\n      usually a local goddess of little or no importance; on the other\n      hand, her son by the chief god was nearly as important as his\n      father, because it was assumed that he would succeed to his rank and\n      throne when the elder god had passed away. The conception of the\n      triad or trinity is, in Egypt, probably as old as the belief in\n      gods, and it seems to be based on the anthropomorphic views which\n      were current in the earliest times about them\u201d (E. A. Wallis Budge,\n      _The Gods of the Egyptians_, London, 1904, i. 113 _sq._). If the\n      Christian doctrine of the Trinity took shape under Egyptian\n      influence, the function originally assigned to the Holy Spirit may\n      have been that of the divine mother. In the apocryphal _Gospel to\n      the Hebrews_, as Mr. F. C. Conybeare was kind enough to point out to\n      me, Christ spoke of the Holy Ghost as his mother. The passage is\n      quoted by Origen (_Comment. in Joan. II._ vol. iv. col. 132, ed.\n      Migne), and runs as follows: \u201cMy mother the Holy Spirit took me a\n      moment ago by one of my hairs and carried me away to the great Mount\n      Tabor.\u201d Compare Origen, _In Jeremiam Hom._ XV. 4, vol. iii. col.\n      433, ed. Migne. In the reign of Trajan a certain Alcibiades, from\n      Apamea in Syria, appeared at Rome with a volume in which the Holy\n      Ghost was described as a stalwart female about ninety-six miles high\n      and broad in proportion. See Hippolytus, _Refut. omnium haeresium_,\n      ix. 13, p. 462, ed. Duncker and Schneidewin. The Ophites represented\n      the Holy Spirit as \u201cthe first woman,\u201d \u201cmother of all living,\u201d who\n      was beloved by \u201cthe first man\u201d and likewise by \u201cthe second man,\u201d and\n      who conceived by one or both of them \u201cthe light, which they call\n      Christ.\u201d See H. Usener, _Das Weihnachtsfest_, pp. 116 _sq._, quoting\n      Irenaeus, i. 28. As to a female member of the Trinity, see further\n      _id._, _Dreiheit, ein Versuch mythologischer Zahlenlehre_ (Bonn,\n      1903), pp. 41 _sqq._; Gibbon, _Decline and Fall of the Roman\n      Empire_, ch. 1. vol. ix. p. 261, note g (Edinburgh, 1811). Mr.\n      Conybeare tells me that Philo Judaeus, who lived in the first half\n      of the first century of our era, constantly defines God as a Trinity\n      in Unity, or a Unity in Trinity, and that the speculations of this\n      Alexandrian Jew deeply influenced the course of Christian thought on\n      the mystical nature of the deity. Thus it seems not impossible that\n      the ancient Egyptian doctrine of the divine Trinity may have been\n      distilled through Philo into Christianity. On the other hand it has\n      been suggested that the Christian Trinity is of Babylonian origin.\n      See H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader\u2019s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte\n      Testament_,3 pp. 418 _sq._, 440.\n\n   14 L. W. King, _Babylonian Religion and Mythology_ (London, 1899), p.\n      8.\n\n   M3 The death of the Great Pan. Death of the King of the Jinn. Death of\n      the Grape-cluster.\n\n   15 Plutarch, _De defectu oraculorum_, 17.\n\n   16 This is in substance the explanation briefly suggested by F.\n      Liebrecht, and developed more fully and with certain variations of\n      detail by S. Reinach. See F. Liebrecht, _Des Gervasius von Tilbury\n      Otia Imperialia_ (Hanover, 1856), p. 180; S. Reinach, _Cultes,\n      mythes et religions_, iii. (Paris, 1908), pp. 1 _sqq._ As to the\n      worship of Tammuz or Adonis in Syria and Greece see my _Adonis,\n      Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition (London, 1907). In Plutarch\u2019s\n      narrative confusion seems to have arisen through the native name\n      (Tammuz) of the deity, which either accidentally coincided with that\n      of the pilot (as S. Reinach thinks) or was erroneously transferred\n      to him by a narrator (as F. Liebrecht supposed). An entirely\n      different explanation of the story has been proposed by Dr. W. H.\n      Roscher. He holds that the god whose death was lamented was the\n      great ram-god of Mendes in Egypt, whom Greek writers constantly\n      mistook for a goat-god and identified with Pan. A living ram was\n      always revered as an incarnation of the god, and when it died there\n      was a great mourning throughout all the land of Mendes. Some stone\n      coffins of the sacred animal have been found in the ruins of the\n      city. See Herodotus, ii. 46, with A. Wiedemann\u2019s commentary; W. H.\n      Roscher, \u201cDie Legende vom Tode des groszen Pan,\u201d _Fleckeisen\u2019s\n      Jahrb\u00fccher f\u00fcr classische Philologie_, xxxviii. (1892) pp. 465-477.\n      Dr. Roscher shews that Thamus was an Egyptian name, comparing Plato,\n      _Phaedrus_, p. 274 D E; Polyaenus, iii. 2. 5; Philostratus, _Vit.\n      Apollon. Tyan._ vi. 5. 108. As to the worshipful goat, or rather\n      ram, of Mendes, see also Diodorus Siculus, i. 84; Strabo, xvii. 1.\n      19, p. 802; Clement of Alexandria, _Protrept._ ii. 39, p. 34, ed.\n      Potter; Suidas, _s.v._ \u039c\u03ad\u03bd\u03b4\u03b7\u03bd.\n\n   17 F. Liebrecht, _op. cit._ pp. 180 _sq._; W. Robertson Smith,\n      _Religion of the Semites_,2 pp. 412, 414. The latter writer observes\n      with justice that \u201cthe wailing for \u2019Unc\u016bd, the divine Grape-cluster,\n      seems to be the last survival of an old vintage piaculum.\u201d \u201cThe\n      dread of the worshippers,\u201d he adds, \u201cthat the neglect of the usual\n      ritual would be followed by disaster, is particularly intelligible\n      if they regarded the necessary operations of agriculture as\n      involving the violent extinction of a particle of divine life.\u201d On\n      the mortality of the gods in general and of the Teutonic gods in\n      particular, see J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 263 _sqq._;\n      compare E. H. Meyer, _Mythologie der Germanen_ (Strasburg, 1903), p.\n      288. As to the mortality of the Irish gods, see Douglas Hyde,\n      _Literary History of Ireland_ (London, 1899), pp. 80 _sq._\n\n   M4 Human gods are killed to prevent them from growing old and feeble.\n\n   18 \u201cDer Muata Cazembe und die V\u00f6lkerst\u00e4mme der Maravis, Chevas,\n      Muembas, Lundas und andere von S\u00fcd-Afrika,\u201d _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr\n      allgemeine Erdkunde_, vi. (1856) p. 395; F. T. Valdez, _Six Years of\n      a Traveller\u2019s Life in Western Africa_ (London, 1861), ii. 241 _sq._\n\n   19 See _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 6, 7 _sq._\n\n   20 See _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 26 _sqq._\n\n   M5 Preference for a violent death: the sick and old killed.\n\n   21 W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs of the South Pacific_ (London, 1876),\n      p. 163.\n\n   22 H. A. Junod, _Les Ba-Ronga_ (Neuchatel, 1898), pp. 381 _sq._\n\n   23 W. Barbrooke Grubb, _An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_ (London,\n      1911), p. 120.\n\n   24 T. C. Hodson, _The Naga Tribes of Manipur_ (London, 1911), p. 159.\n\n   25 Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), p. 281.\n\n   26 Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the U.S. Exploring Expedition_ (London,\n      1845), iii. 96.\n\n_   27 U.S. Exploring Expedition, Ethnology and Philology_, by H. Hale\n      (Philadelphia, 1846), p. 65. Compare Th. Williams, _Fiji and the\n      Fijians_,2 i. 183; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the\n      Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), p. 248.\n\n   28 G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 335.\n\n   29 Martin Flad, _A Short Description of the Falasha and Kamants in\n      Abyssinia_, p. 19.\n\n   30 H. Diels, _Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker_,2 i. (Berlin, 1906) p.\n      81; _id._, _Herakleitos von Ephesos_2 (Berlin, 1909), p. 50, Frag.\n      136, \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f00\u03c1\u03b7\u03af\u03c6\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03c1\u03ce\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f22 \u1f10\u03bd\u1f76 \u03bd\u03bf\u03cd\u03c3\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2.\n\n   M6 Preference for a violent death: the sick and aged killed.\n\n   31 F. de Castelnau, _Exp\u00e9dition dans les parties centrales de\n      l\u2019Am\u00e9rique du Sud_, iv. (Paris, 1851) p. 380. Compare _id._ ii. 49\n      _sq._ as to the practice of the Chavantes, a tribe of Indians on the\n      Tocantins river.\n\n   32 R. Southey, _History of Brazil_, iii. (London, 1819) p. 619; R. F.\n      Burton, in _The Captivity of Hans Stade of Hesse_ (Hakluyt Society,\n      London, 1874), p. 122.\n\n   33 C. von Dittmar, \u201c\u00dcber die Kor\u00e4ken und die ihnen sehr nahe verwandten\n      Tschuktschen,\u201d _Bulletin de la Classe philologique de l\u2019Acad\u00e9mie\n      Imp\u00e9riale des Sciences de St-P\u00e9tersbourg_, xiii. (1856) coll. 122,\n      124 _sq._ The custom has now been completely abandoned. See W.\n      Jochelson, \u201cThe Koryak, Religion and Myths\u201d (Leyden and New York,\n      1905), p. 103 (_Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History,\n      The Jesup North Pacific Expedition_, vol. vi. part i.).\n\n   34 C. von Dittmar, _op. cit._ col. 132; De Wrangell, _Le Nord de la\n      Sib\u00e9rie_ (Paris, 1843), i. 263 _sq._; \u201cDie Ethnographie Russlands\n      nach A. F. Rittich,\u201d _Petermann\u2019s Mittheilungen, Erg\u00e4nzungsheft_,\n      _No._ 54 (Gotha, 1878), pp. 14 _sq._; \u201cDer Anadyr-Bezirk nach A. W.\n      Olssufjew,\u201d _Petermann\u2019s Mittheilungen_, xlv. (1899) p. 230; V.\n      Priklonski, \u201cTodtengebr\u00e4uche der Jakuten,\u201d _Globus_, lix. (1891) p.\n      82; R. von Seidlitz, \u201cDer Selbstmord bei den Tschuktschen,\u201d _ib._ p.\n      111; Cremat, \u201cDer Anadyrbezirk Sibiriens und seine Bev\u00f6lkerung,\u201d\n      _Globus_, lxvi. (1894) p. 287; H. de Windt, _Through the Gold-fields\n      of Alaska to Bering Straits_ (London, 1898), pp. 223-225; W.\n      Bogaras, \u201cThe Chukchee\u201d (Leyden and New York, 1904-1909), pp. 560\n      _sqq._ (_Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History, The Jesup\n      North Pacific Expedition_, vol. vii.).\n\n   35 L. A. Waddell, \u201cThe Tribes of the Brahmaputra Valley,\u201d _Journal of\n      the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, lxix. part iii. (1901) pp. 20, 24;\n      T. C. Hodson, _The Naga Tribes of Manipur_ (London, 1911), p. 151.\n\n   36 K. Simrock, _Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie_,5 pp. 177 _sq._,\n      507; H. M. Chadwick, _The Cult of Othin_ (London, 1899), pp. 13\n      _sq._, 34 _sq._\n\n   37 Procopius, _De bello Gothico_, ii. 14.\n\n   38 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Rechtsalterth\u00fcmer_,3 p. 488. A custom of putting\n      the sick and aged to death seems to have prevailed in several\n      branches of the Aryan family; it may at one time have been common to\n      the whole stock. See J. Grimm, _op. cit._ pp. 486 _sqq._; O.\n      Schrader, _Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde_, pp.\n      36-39.\n\n   M7 Divine kings put to death. The Chitom\u00e9 of Congo. Ethiopian kings of\n      Meroe.\n\n   39 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 4 _sq._\n\n_   40 Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 5 _sq._\n\n   41 J. B. Labat, _Relation historique de l\u2019\u00c9thiopie occidentale_ (Paris,\n      1732), i. 260 _sq._; W. Winwood Reade, _Savage Africa_ (London,\n      1863), p. 362.\n\n   42 G. Merolla, _Relazione del viaggio nel regno di Congo_ (Naples,\n      1726), p. 76. The English version of this passage (Pinkerton\u2019s\n      _Voyages and Travels_, xvi. 228) has already been quoted by Sir John\n      Lubbock (Lord Avebury) in his _Origin of Civilisation_,4 pp. 358\n      _sq._ In that version the native title of the pontiff is misspelt.\n\n   43 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 6; Strabo, xvii. 2. 3, p. 822.\n\n   M8 Kings of Fazoql on the Blue Nile.\n\n   44 R. Lepsius, _Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, and the peninsula of\n      Sinai_ (London, 1853), pp. 202, 204. I have to thank Dr. E.\n      Westermarck for pointing out these passages to me. Fazoql lies in\n      the fork between the Blue Nile and its tributary the Tumat. See J.\n      Russeger, _Reisen in Europa, Asien und Afrika_, ii. 2 (Stuttgart,\n      1844), p. 552 note.\n\n   45 Brun-Rollet, _Le Nil Blanc et le Soudan_ (Paris, 1855), pp. 248\n      _sq._ For the orgiastic character of these annual festivals, see\n      _id._ p. 245. Fazolglou is probably the same as Fazoql. The people\n      who practise the custom are called Bertat by E. Marno (_Reisen im\n      Gebiete des blauen und weissen Nil_ (Vienna, 1874), p. 68).\n\n   46 J. Russegger, _Reisen in Europa, Asien und Afrika_, ii. 2, p. 553.\n      Russegger met Assusa in January 1838, and says that the king had\n      then been a year in office. He does not mention the name of the\n      king\u2019s uncle who had, he tells us, been strangled by the chiefs; but\n      I assume that he was the Yassin who is mentioned by Brun-Rollet.\n      Russegger adds that the strangling of the king was performed\n      publicly, and in the most solemn manner, and was said to happen\n      often in Fazoql and the neighbouring countries.\n\n   47 R. Lepsius, _Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, and the peninsula of\n      Sinai_ (London, 1853), p. 204. Lepsius\u2019s letter is dated \u201cThe\n      Pyramids of Mero\u00eb, 22nd April 1844.\u201d His informant was Osman Bey,\n      who had lived for sixteen years in these regions. An _anqareb_ or\n      _angareb_ is a kind of bed made by stretching string or leather\n      thongs over an oblong wooden framework.\n\n   M9 Shilluk custom of putting divine kings to death. The Shilluk kings\n      supposed to be reincarnations of Nyakang, the semi-divine founder of\n      the dynasty. The shrines of Nyakang.\n\n   48 I have to thank Dr. Seligmann for his kindness and courtesy in\n      transmitting to me his unpublished account and allowing me to draw\n      on it at my discretion.\n\n   49 As to J\u016dok (\u010cuok), the supreme being of the Shilluk, see P. W.\n      Hofmayr, \u201cReligion der Schilluk,\u201d _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp.\n      120-122, whose account agrees with the briefer one given by Dr. C.\n      G. Seligmann. Otiose supreme beings (_dieux fain\u00e9ants_) of this\n      type, who having made the world do not meddle with it and to whom\n      little or no worship is paid, are common in Africa.\n\n   50 P. W. Hofmayr, \u201cReligion der Schilluk,\u201d _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp.\n      123, 125. This writer gives Nykang as the name of the first Shilluk\n      king.\n\n   51 P. W. Hofmayr, _op. cit._ p. 123.\n\n   52 This is the view both of Dr. C. G. Seligmann and of Father P. W.\n      Hofmayr (_op. cit._ p. 123).\n\n   53 The word _kengo_ is applied only to the shrines of Nyakang and the\n      graves of the kings. Graves of commoners are called _roro_.\n\n  M10 Annual rain-making ceremony performed at the shrines of Nyakang.\n      Harvest ceremony at the shrines of Nyakang.\n\n   54 On the use of flowing blood in rain-making ceremonies see _The Magic\n      Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 256, 257 _sq._\n\n  M11 Shilluk kings put to death when they shew signs of ill-health or\n      failing strength.\n\n   55 Dr. C. G. Seligmann, _The Shilluk Divine Kings_ (in manuscript).\n\n  M12 Shilluk kings formerly liable to be attacked and killed at any time\n      by rival claimants to the throne.\n\n   56 On this subject Dr. Seligmann writes to me (March 9th, 1911) as\n      follows: \u201cThe assumption of the throne as the result of victory in\n      single combat doubtless occurred once; at the present day and\n      perhaps for the whole of the historic period it has been superseded\n      by the ceremonial killing of the king, but I regard these stories as\n      folk-lore indicating what once really happened.\u201d\n\n   57 These particulars I take from letters of Dr. C. G. Seligmann\u2019s to me\n      (dated 8th February and 9th March 1911). They are not mentioned in\n      the writer\u2019s paper on the subject.\n\n  M13 Ceremonies at the accession of a Shilluk king.\n  M14 Worship of the dead Shilluk kings.\n\n   58 When one of the king\u2019s wives is with child, she remains at Fashoda\n      till the fourth or fifth month of her pregnancy; she is then sent\n      away to a village, not necessarily her own, where she remains under\n      the charge of the village chief until she has finished nursing the\n      child. Afterwards she returns to Fashoda, but the child invariably\n      remains in the village of his or her birth and is brought up there.\n      All royal children of either sex, in whatever part of the Shilluk\n      territory they may happen to die, are buried the village where they\n      were born.\n\n  M15 Sick people and others supposed to be possessed by the spirits of\n      dead Shilluk kings.\n  M16 The principal element in the religion of the Shilluk is the worship\n      of their kings. The kings put to death in order to preserve their\n      divine spirit from natural decay, which would sympathetically affect\n      the crops, the cattle, and mankind.\n\n   59 As to the disappearance of the early Roman kings see _The Magic Art\n      and the Evolution of Kings_, vol. ii. pp. 312 _sqq._; as to the\n      disappearance of the early kings of Uganda, see the Rev. J. Roscoe,\n      _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), p. 214.\n\n  M17 Parallel between the Shilluk kings and the King of the Wood at Nemi.\n\n   60 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 1 _sqq._, ii. 376\n      _sqq._\n\n  M18 The Dinka of the Upper Nile.\n\n   61 \u201cE. de Pruyssenaere\u2019s Reisen und Forschungen im Gebiete des Weissen\n      und Blauen Nil,\u201d _Petermann\u2019s Mittheilungen, Erg\u00e4nzungsheft_, No. 50\n      (Gotha, 1877), pp. 18-23. Compare G. Schweinfurth, _The Heart of\n      Africa_, Third Edition (London, 1878), i. 48 _sqq._ In the text I\n      have followed de Pruyssenaere\u2019s description of the privations\n      endured by the Dinka in the dry season. But that description is\n      perhaps only applicable in seasons of unusual drought, for Dr. C. G.\n      Seligmann, writing from personal observation, informs me that he\n      regards the description as much overdrawn; in an average year, he\n      tells me, the cattle do not die of famine and the natives are not\n      starving. According to his information the drinking of the blood of\n      their cattle is a luxury in which the Dinka indulge themselves at\n      any time of the year.\n\n  M19 Dengdit, the Supreme Being of the Dinka. Totemism of the Dinka.\n\n   62 For this and the following information as to the religion, totemism,\n      and rain-makers of the Dinka I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. C.\n      G. Seligmann, who investigated the Shilluk and Dinka in 1909-1910\n      and has most obligingly placed his manuscript materials at my\n      disposal.\n\n  M20 Rain-makers among the Dinka.\n\n   63 On the importance of the rain-makers among the Dinka and other\n      tribes of the Upper Nile, see _The Magic Art and the Evolution of\n      Kings_, i. 345 _sqq._\n\n  M21 Dinka rain-makers not allowed to die a natural death.\n  M22 Kings put to death in Unyoro and other parts of Africa.\n\n_   64 Emin Pasha in Central Africa, being a Collection of his Letters and\n      Journals_ (London, 1888), p. 91; J. G. Frazer, _Totemism and\n      Exogamy_, ii. 529 _sq._ (from information given by the Rev. John\n      Roscoe).\n\n   65 Father Guillem\u00e9, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, lx.\n      (1888) p. 258; _id._, \u201cCredenze religiose dei Negri di Kibanga nell\u2019\n      Alto Congo,\u201d _Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari_,\n      vii. (1888) p. 231.\n\n_   66 The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia_, collected and historically\n      digested by F. Balthazar Tellez, of the Society of Jesus (London,\n      1710), p. 197. We may compare the death of Saul (1 Samuel, xxxi.\n      3-6).\n\n   67 Lieut. H. Pope-Hennessy, \u201cNotes on the Jukos and other Tribes of the\n      Middle Benue,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxx.\n      (1900) p. (29).\n\n   68 J. G. Frazer, _Totemism and Exogamy_, ii. 608, on the authority of\n      Mr. H. R. Palmer, Resident in Charge of Katsina.\n\n  M23 The Matiamvo of Angola.\n\n   69 F. T. Valdez, _Six Years of a Traveller\u2019s Life in Western Africa_\n      (London, 1861), ii. 194 _sq._\n\n  M24 Zulu kings put to death on the approach of old age.\n\n   70 Nathaniel Isaacs, _Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa_\n      (London, 1836), i. 295 _sq._, compare pp. 232, 290 _sq._\n\n  M25 Kings of Sofala put to death on account of bodily blemishes.\n\n_   71 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 392.\n\n   72 J. dos Santos, \u201cEastern Ethiopia,\u201d in G. McCall Theal\u2019s _Records of\n      Southeastern Africa_, vii. (1901) pp. 194 _sq._ A more\n      highly-flavoured and full-bodied, though less slavishly accurate,\n      translation of this passage is given in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and\n      Travels_, xvi. 684, where the English translator has enriched the\n      unadorned simplicity of the Portuguese historian\u2019s style with \u201cthe\n      scythe of time\u201d and other flowers of rhetoric.\n\n   73 J. dos Santos, _op. cit._ p. 193.\n\n  M26 Kings required to be unblemished. Courtiers required to imitate\n      their sovereign.\n\n   74 Xenophon, _Hellenica_, iii. 3. 3; Plutarch, _Agesilaus_, 3; _id._,\n      _Lysander_, 22; Pausanias, iii. 8. 9.\n\n   75 Herodotus, iii. 20; Aristotle, _Politics_, iv. 4. 4.; Athenaeus,\n      xiii. 20, p. 566. According to Nicolaus Damascenus (_Fr._ 142, in\n      _Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum_, 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.\n\n   76 G. Nachtigal, _Sahar\u00e2 und S\u00fbd\u00e2n_, iii. (Leipsic, 1889) p. 225; A.\n      Bastian, _Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_ (Jena,\n      1874-75), i. 220.\n\n   77 P. W. Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_ (London, 1903), i.\n      311.\n\n   78 Strabo, xvii. 2. 3, p. 823; Diodorus Siculus, iii. 7.\n\n   79 Mohammed Ebn-Omar El-Tounsy, _Voyage au Darfour_ (Paris, 1845), pp.\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) pp. 539 _sq._\n\n   80 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; J. Roscoe, \u201cFurther Notes on the Manners and Customs of the\n      Baganda,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902)\n      p. 77 (as to sneezing).\n\n_   81 Narrative of Events in Borneo and Celebes, from the Journal of\n      James Brooke, Esq., Rajah of Sarawak_, by Captain R. Mundy, i. 134.\n      My friend the late Mr. Lorimer Fison, in a letter of August 26th,\n      1898, told me that the custom of falling down whenever a chief fell\n      was observed also in Fiji, where it had a special name, _bale muri_,\n      \u201cfall-follow.\u201d\n\n   82 Mgr. Brugui\u00e8re, in _Annales de l\u2019Association de la Propagation de la\n      Foi_, v. (1831) pp. 174 _sq._\n\n  M27 Kings of Eyeo put to death. Voluntary death by fire of the old\n      Prussian _Kirwaido_.\n\n   83 A. Dalzel, _History of Dahomy_ (London, 1793), pp. 12 _sq._, 156\n      _sq._\n\n   84 Father Baudin, \u201cLe F\u00e9tichisme ou la religion des N\u00e8gres de la\n      Guin\u00e9e,\u201d _Missions Catholiques_, xvi. (1884) p. 215.\n\n   85 Missionary Holley, \u201c\u00c9tude sur les Egbas,\u201d _Missions Catholiques_,\n      xiii. (1881) pp. 351 _sq._ Here Oyo is probably the same as Eyeo\n      mentioned above.\n\n   86 Simon Grunau, _Preussische Chronik_, herausgegeben von Dr. M.\n      Perlbach (Leipsic, 1876), i. p. 97.\n\n  M28 Voluntary deaths by fire. Peregrinus at Olympia. Buddhist monks in\n      China.\n\n   87 Lucian, _De morte Peregrini_. That Lucian\u2019s account of the\n      mountebank\u2019s death is not a fancy picture is proved by the evidence\n      of Tertullian, _Ad martyres_, 4, \u201c_Peregrinus qui non olim se rogo\n      immisit._\u201d\n\n   88 D. S. Macgowan, M.D., \u201cSelf-immolation by Fire in China,\u201d _The\n      Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal_, xix. (1888) pp. 445-451,\n      508-521.\n\n   89 E. W. Nelson, \u201cThe Eskimo about Bering Strait,\u201d _Eighteenth Annual\n      Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part I. (Washington,\n      1899), pp. 320, 433 _sq._\n\n  M29 Religious suicides in Russia. Belief in the approaching end of the\n      world.\n\n   90 Revelation xx. 1-3.\n\n   91 Revelation xiii. 18.\n\n  M30 Epidemic of suicide. Suicide by starvation. Suicide by fire.\n\n   92 Ivan Stchoukine, _Le Suicide collectif dans le Raskol russe_ (Paris,\n      1903), pp. 45-53, 61-78, 84-87, 96-99, 102-112. The mania in its\n      most extreme form died away towards the end of the seventeenth\n      century, but during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries cases of\n      collective suicide from religious motives occurred from time to\n      time, people burning themselves in families or in batches of thirty\n      or forty. The last of these suicides by fire took place in 1860,\n      when fifteen persons thus perished in the Government of Olonetz.\n      Twenty-four others buried themselves alive near Tiraspol in the\n      winter of 1896-97. See I. Stchoukine, _op. cit._ pp. 114-126.\n\n  M31 A Jewish Messiah.\n\n   93 Voltaire, _Essai sur les M\u0153urs_, iii. 142-145 (_\u0152uvres compl\u00e8tes de\n      Voltaire_, xiii. Paris, 1878).\n\n  M32 Kings put to death after a fixed term. Suicide of the kings of\n      Quilacare at the end of a reign of twelve years.\n\n   94 Duarte Barbosa, _A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and\n      Malabar in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century_ (Hakluyt Society,\n      London, 1866), pp. 172 _sq._\n\n  M33 Custom of the kings of Calicut.\n\n   95 L. di Varthema, _Travels_, translated by J. W. Jones and edited by\n      G. P. Badger (Hakluyt Society, London, 1863), p. 134. In a note the\n      Editor says that the name Zamorin (Samorin) according to some \u201cis a\n      corruption of _Tamuri_, the name of the most exalted family of the\n      Nair caste.\u201d\n\n   96 Francis Buchanan, \u201cJourney from Madras through the Countries of\n      Mysore, Canara, and Malabar,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_,\n      viii. 735.\n\n   97 Alex. Hamilton, \u201cA New Account of the East Indies,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s\n      _Voyages and Travels_, viii. 374.\n\n  M34 Fuller account of the Calicut custom.\n  M35 The _Maha Makham_ or Great Sacrifice at Calicut.\n\n   98 The sidereal revolution of Jupiter is completed in 11 years 314.92\n      days (_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, Ninth Edition, _s.v._ \u201cAstronomy,\u201d\n      ii. 808). The twelve-years revolution of Jupiter was known to the\n      Greek astronomers, from whom the knowledge may perhaps have\n      penetrated into India. See Geminus, _Eisagoge_, I, p. 10, ed. Halma.\n\n  M36 The attack on the king.\n\n   99 W. Logan, _Malabar_ (Madras, 1887), i. 162-169. The writer describes\n      in particular the festival of 1683, when fifty-five men perished in\n      the manner described.\n\n  M37 Custom of kings in Bengal. Custom of the kings of Passier. Custom of\n      Slavonic kings.\n\n  100 Sir H. M. Elliot, _The History of India as told by its own\n      Historians_, iv. 260. I have to thank Mr. R. S. Whiteway, of\n      Brownscombe, Shottermill, Surrey, for kindly calling my attention to\n      this and the following instance of the custom of regicide.\n\n  101 De Barros, _Da Asia, dos feitos, que os Portuguezes fizeram no\n      descubrimento e conquista dos mares e terras do Oriente_, Decada\n      Terceira, Liv. V. cap. i. pp. 512 _sq._ (Lisbon, 1777).\n\n  102 Saxo Grammaticus,_Historia Danica_, viii. pp. 410 _sq._, ed. P. E.\n      M\u00fcller (p. 334 of Mr. Oliver Elton\u2019s English translation).\n\n  M38 Custom of _Thalavettiparothiam_ in Malabar. Custom of the Sultans of\n      Java.\n\n  103 T. K. Gopal Panikkar (of the Madras Registration Department),\n      _Malabar and its Folk_ (Madras, N. D., preface dated Chowghaut, 8th\n      October 1900), pp. 120 _sq._ I have to thank my friend Mr. W. Crooke\n      for calling my attention to this account.\n\n_  104 Voyage d\u2019Ibn Batoutah_, texte arabe, accompagn\u00e9 d\u2019une traduction\n      par C. Deffr\u00e9mery et B. R. Sanguinetti (Paris, 1853-58), iv. 246\n      _sq._\n\n  M39 Religious suicides in India.\n\n_  105 The Wonders of the East, by Friar Jordanus_, translated by Col.\n      Henry Yule (London, 1863, Hakluyt Society), pp. 32 _sq._\n\n_  106 India in the Fifteenth Century, being a Collection of Voyages to\n      India in the century preceding the Portuguese discovery of the Cape\n      of Good Hope_, edited by R. H. Major (Hakluyt Society, London,\n      1857), \u201cThe Travels of Nicolo Conti in the East,\u201d pp. 27 _sq._ An\n      instrument of the sort described in the text (a crescent-shaped\n      knife with chains and stirrups attached to it for the convenience of\n      the suicide) used to be preserved at Kshira, a village of Bengal\n      near Nadiya: it was called a _karavat_. See _The Book of Ser Marco\n      Polo_, newly translated and edited by Colonel Henry Yule, Second\n      Edition (London, 1875), ii. 334.\n\n  107 Major P. R. T. Gurdon, _The Khasis_ (London, 1907), pp. 102 _sq._,\n      quoting Mr. Gait in the _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_\n      for 1898.\n\n  M40 Pretence of putting the king\u2019s proxy to death. Man killed at the\n      installation of a king of Cassange.\n\n  108 E. T. Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_ (Calcutta, 1872), p.\n      146.\n\n  109 F. T. Valdez, _Six Years of a Traveller\u2019s Life in Western Africa_\n      (London, 1861), ii. 158-160. I have translated the title _Maquita_\n      by \u201cchief\u201d; the writer does not explain it.\n\n  M41 Sacrifice of the king\u2019s sons in Sweden: evidence of a nine years\u2019\n      tenure of the throne.\n\n_  110 Ynglinga Saga_, 29 (_The Heimskringla_, translated by S. Laing, i.\n      239 sq.). Compare H. M. Chadwick, _The Cult of Othin_ (London,\n      1899), p. 4. According to Messrs. Laing and Chadwick the sacrifice\n      took place every _tenth_ year. But I follow Prof. K. Weinhold who\n      translates \u201c_hit tiunda hvert \u00e1r_\u201d by \u201c_alle neun Jahre_\u201d (\u201cDie\n      mystische Neunzahl bei den Deutschen,\u201d _Abhandlungen der k\u00f6nig.\n      Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin_, 1897, p. 6). So in Latin\n      _decimo quoque anno_ should be translated \u201cevery ninth year.\u201d\n\n  111 Saxo Grammaticus, _Historia Danica_, iii. pp. 129-131, ed. P. E.\n      M\u00fcller (pp. 98 _sq._ of Oliver Elton\u2019s English translation).\n\n  112 Adam of Bremen, _Descriptio insularum Aquilonis_, 27 (Migne\u2019s\n      _Patrologia Latina_, cxlvi. col. 644). See _The Magic Art and the\n      Evolution of Kings_, vol. ii. pp. 364 _sq._\n\n  M42 Limited tenure of the kingship in ancient Greece. The Spartan kings\n      appear formerly to have held office for periods of eight years only.\n      The dread of meteors shared by savages.\n\n  113 Plutarch, _Agis_, II. Plutarch says that the custom was observed \u201cat\n      intervals of nine years\u201d (\u03b4\u03b9\u1fbd \u1f10\u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f10\u03bd\u03bd\u03ad\u03b1), but the expression is\n      equivalent to our \u201cat intervals of eight years.\u201d In reckoning\n      intervals of time numerically the Greeks included both the terms\n      which are separated by the interval, whereas we include only one of\n      them. For example, our phrase \u201cevery second day\u201d would be rendered\n      in Greek \u03b4\u03b9\u1f70 \u03c4\u03c1\u03af\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u1f21\u03bc\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03c2, literally \u201cevery third day.\u201d Again, a\n      cycle of two years is in Greek _trieteris_, literally \u201ca period of\n      three years\u201d; a cycle of eight years is _ennaeteris_, literally \u201ca\n      period of nine years\u201d; and so forth. See Censorinus, _De die\n      natali_, 18. The Latin use of the ordinal numbers is similar, _e.g._\n      our \u201cevery second year\u201d would be _tertio quoque anno_ in Latin.\n      However, the Greeks and Romans were not always consistent in this\n      matter, for they occasionally reckoned in our fashion. The resulting\n      ambiguity is not only puzzling to moderns; it sometimes confused the\n      ancients themselves. For example, it led to a derangement of the\n      newly instituted Julian calendar, which escaped detection for more\n      than thirty years. See Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 14. 13 _sq._;\n      Solinus, i. 45-47. On the ancient modes of counting in such cases\n      see A. Schmidt, _Handbuch der griechischen Chronologie_ (Jena,\n      1888), pp. 95 _sqq._ According to Schmidt, the practice of adding\n      both terms to the sum of the intervening units was not extended by\n      the Greeks to numbers above nine.\n\n_  114 Die Dorier_,2 ii. 96.\n\n  M43 Superstitions of the Australian aborigines as to shooting stars.\n\n  115 E. Man, _Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands_, pp. 84\n      _sq._\n\n  116 W. E. Roth, _North Queensland Bulletin, No. 5, Superstition, Magic,\n      and Medicine_ (Brisbane, 1903), p. 8.\n\n  117 A. W. Howitt, _The Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. 429.\n\n  118 A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 430. One of the earliest writers on New\n      South Wales reports that the natives attributed great importance to\n      the falling of a star (D. Collins,_Account of the English Colony in\n      New South Wales_ (London, 1804), p. 383).\n\n  119 Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 627.\n\n  120 Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ pp. 488, 627 _sq._\n\n  121 G. Thilenius, _Ethnographische Ergebnisse aus Melanesien_, ii.\n      (Halle, 1903) p. 129.\n\n  M44 Superstitions of the negroes and other African races as to shooting\n      stars.\n\n  122 H. A. Junod, _Les Ba-ronga_ (Neuchatel, 1898), p. 470.\n\n  123 A. C. Hollis, _The Masai_ (Oxford, 1905), p. 316.\n\n  124 J. Campbell, _Travels in South Africa_ (London, 1815), pp. 428 _sq._\n\n_  125 Id._, _Travels in South Africa, Second Journey_ (London, 1822), ii.\n      204.\n\n  126 G. Z\u00fcndel, \u201cLand und Volk der Eweer auf der Sclavenk\u00fcste in\n      Westafrika,\u201d _Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Erdkunde zu Berlin_,\n      xii. (1877) pp. 415 _sq._; C. Spiess, \u201cReligionsbegriffe der Evheer\n      in Westafrika,\u201d _Mittheilungen des Seminars f\u00fcr Orientalische\n      Sprachen zu Berlin_, vi. (1903) Dritte Abtheilung, p. 112.\n\n  M45 Superstitions of the American Indians as to shooting stars.\n\n  127 Boscana, \u201cChinigchinich, a Historical Account of the Origin, etc.,\n      of the Indians of St. Juan Capistrano,\u201d in A. Robinson\u2019s _Life in\n      California_ (New York, 1846), p. 299.\n\n  128 C. Lumholtz, _Unknown Mexico_ (London, 1903), i. 324 _sq._\n\n  129 K. von den Steinen, _Unter den Naturv\u00f6lkern Zentral-Brasiliens_\n      (Berlin, 1894), pp. 514 _sq._ The Peruvian Indians also made a\n      prodigious noise when they saw a shooting star. See P. de Cieza de\n      Leon, _Travels_ (Hakluyt Society, London, 1864), p. 232.\n\n  130 G. Kurze, \u201cSitten und Gebr\u00e4uche der Lengua-Indianer,\u201d _Mitteilungen\n      der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xxiii. (1905) p. 17; W.\n      Barbrooke Grubb, _An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_ (London,\n      1911), p. 163.\n\n  131 M. Dobrizhoffer, _Historia de Abiponibus_ (Vienna, 1784), ii. 86.\n\n  M46 Shooting stars regarded as demons.\n\n  132 W. Tetzlaff, \u201cNotes on the Laughlan Islands,\u201d _Annual Report on\n      British New Guinea, 1890-91_ (Brisbane, 1892), p. 105.\n\n  133 H. Oldenberg, _Die Religion des Veda_, p. 267.\n\n  134 W. Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India_\n      (Westminster, 1906), ii. 22.\n\n  135 Holzmayer, \u201cOsiliana,\u201d _Verhandlungen der gelehrten Estnischen\n      Gesellschaft zu Dorpat_, vii. (1872) p. 48.\n\n  136 Guillain, _Documents sur l\u2019histoire, la g\u00e9ographie, et le commerce\n      de l\u2019Afrique Orientale_, ii. (Paris, N.D.) p. 97; C. Velten, _Sitten\n      und Gebr\u00e4uche der Suaheli_ (G\u00f6ttingen, 1903), pp. 339 _sq._; C. B.\n      Klunzinger, _Upper Egypt_ (London, 1878), p. 405; Budgett Meakin,\n      _The Moors_ (London, 1902), p. 353.\n\n  M47 Shooting stars associated with the souls of the dead. Supposed\n      relation of the stars to men.\n\n  137 E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_ (London, 1843), ii. 66.\n      According to another account, meteors are regarded by the Maoris as\n      betokening the presence of a god (R. Taylor, _Te Ika a Maui, or New\n      Zealand and its Inhabitants_,2 p. 147).\n\n  138 Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_,\n      v. 88.\n\n  139 A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. 369.\n\n  140 A. W. Howitt, in Brough Smyth\u2019s _Aborigines of Victoria_, ii. 309.\n\n  141 E. Palmer, \u201cNotes on some Australian Tribes,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Institute_, xiii. (1884) p. 292. Sometimes\n      apparently the Australian natives regard crystals or broken glass as\n      fallen stars, and treasure them as powerful instruments of magic.\n      See E. M. Curr, _The Australian Race_, iii. 29; W. E. Roth, _North\n      Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 5_, p. 8.\n\n  142 J. Macgillivray, _Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake_\n      (London, 1852), ii. 30.\n\n  143 P. A. Kleintitschen, _Die K\u00fcstenbewohner der Gazellehalbinsel_\n      (Hiltrup bei M\u00fcnster, N.D.), p. 227.\n\n  144 P. Rascher, \u201cDie Sulka,\u201d _Archiv f\u00fcr Anthropologie_, xxix. (1904) p.\n      216.\n\n  145 Dudley Kidd, _Savage Childhood_ (London, 1906), p. 149.\n\n  146 J. Halkin, _Quelques Peuplades du district de l\u2019Uel\u00e9_ (Li\u00e8ge, 1907),\n      p. 102.\n\n  147 O. Baumann, _Durch Massailand zur Nilquelle_ (Berlin, 1894), p. 163.\n\n  148 O. Baumann, _Durch Massailand zur Nilquelle_ (Berlin, 1894), p. 188.\n\n  149 E. Petitot, _Monographie des D\u00e8n\u00e8-Dindj\u00e9_ (Paris, 1876), p. 60;\n      _id._, _Monographie des Esquimaux Tchiglit_ (Paris, 1876), p. 24.\n\n  150 A. Henry, \u201cThe Lolos and other Tribes of Western China,\u201d _Journal of\n      the Anthropological Institute_, xxxiii. (1903) p. 103.\n\n  151 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ ii. 28.\n\n  M48 Modern European beliefs as to meteors. Various beliefs as to stars\n      and meteors.\n\n  152 F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, ii. 293; A. Kuhn und\n      W. Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche_, p. 457, \u00a7\n      422; E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_,\n      p. 506, \u00a7\u00a7 379, 380.\n\n  153 P. S\u00e9billot, _Traditions et superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne_, ii.\n      353; J. Haltrich, _Zur Volkskunde der Siebenb\u00fcrger Sachsen_ (Vienna,\n      1885), p. 300; W. Schmidt, _Das Jahr und seine Tage in Meinung und\n      Brauch der Rom\u00e4nen Siebenb\u00fcrgens_, p. 38; E. Gerard, _The Land\n      beyond the Forest_, i. 311; J. V. Grohmann, _Aberglauben und\n      Gebr\u00e4uche aus B\u00f6hmen und M\u00e4hren_, p. 31, \u00a7 164; Br. Jel\u00ednek,\n      \u201cMaterialien zur Vorgeschichte und Volkskunde B\u00f6hmens,\u201d\n      _Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien_, xxi.\n      (1891) p. 25; G. Finamore, _Credenze, usi e costumi Abruzzesi_, pp.\n      47 _sq._; M. Placucci, _Usi e pregiudizj dei contadini della\n      Romagna_ (Palermo, 1885), p. 141; Holzmayer, \u201cOsiliana,\u201d _Verhandl.\n      der gelehrten Estnischen Gesellschaft zu Dorpat_, vii. (1872) p. 48.\n      The same belief is said to prevail in Armenia. See Minas Tch\u00e9raz,\n      \u201cNotes sur la mythologie arm\u00e9nienne,\u201d _Transactions of the Ninth\n      International Congress of Orientalists_ (London, 1893), ii. 824.\n      Bret Harte has employed the idea in his little poem, \u201cRelieving\n      Guard.\u201d\n\n  154 H. Lew, \u201cDer Tod und die Beerdigungs-gebr\u00e4uche bei den polnischen\n      Juden,\u201d _Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien_,\n      xxxii. (1902) p. 402.\n\n  155 A. Schlossar, \u201cVolksmeinung und Volksaberglaube aus der deutschen\n      Steiermark,\u201d _Germania_, N.R., xxiv. (1891) p. 389.\n\n  156 Boecler-Kreutzwald, _Der Ehsten abergl\u00e4ubische Gebr\u00e4uche, Weisen und\n      Gewohnheiten_ (St. Petersburg, 1854), p. 73.\n\n  157 E. Monseur, _Le Folklore wallon_, p. 61; A. de Nore, _Coutumes,\n      mythes et traditions des provinces de France_, pp. 101, 160, 223,\n      267, 284; B. Souch\u00e9, _Croyances, pr\u00e9sages et traditions diverses_,\n      p. 23; P. S\u00e9billot, _Traditions et superstitions de la\n      Haute-Bretagne_, ii. 352; J. Lec\u0153ur, _Esquisses du bocage normand_,\n      ii. 13; L. Pineau, _Folk-lore du Poitou_ (Paris, 1892), pp. 525\n      _sq._\n\n  158 L. F. Sauv\u00e9. _Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), pp. 196\n      _sq._\n\n  159 F. Chapiseau, _Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche_ (Paris,\n      1902), i. 290; G. Finamore, _Credenze, usi e costumi Abruzzesi_\n      (Palermo, 1890), p. 48.\n\n_  160 North Indian Notes and Queries_, i. p. 102, \u00a7 673. Compare _id._ p.\n      47, \u00a7 356; _Indian Notes and Queries_, iv. p. 184, \u00a7 674; W. Crooke,\n      _Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India_ (Westminster,\n      1896), i. 82.\n\n  161 W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_,2 iii. 171.\n\n  162 Maximilian Prinz zu Wied, _Reise in das Innere Nord-America_\n      (Coblenz, 1839-1841), ii. 152. It does not, however, appear from the\n      writer\u2019s statement whether the descent of the soul was identified\n      with the flight of a meteor or not.\n\n  163 D. C. J. Ibbetson, _Outlines of Panjab Ethnography_ (Calcutta,\n      1883), p. 118, \u00a7 231.\n\n  M49 The fall of the king\u2019s star.\n  M50 Reasons for limiting a king\u2019s reign to eight years. The octennial\n      cycle based on an attempt to reconcile solar and lunar time.\n\n  164 L. Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen\n      Chronologie_, ii. 605 _sqq._ Ninety-nine lunar months nearly\n      coincide with eight solar years, as the ancients well knew\n      (Sozomenus, _Historia ecclesiastica_, vii. 18). On the religious and\n      political import of the eight years\u2019 cycle in ancient Greece see\n      especially K. O. M\u00fcller, _Orchomenus und die Minyer_,2 pp. 213-218;\n      _id._, _Die Dorier_,2 i. 254 _sq._, 333 _sq._, 440, ii. 96, 483;\n      _id._, _Prolegomena zu einer wissenschaftlichen Mythologie_\n      (G\u00f6ttingen, 1825), pp. 422-424.\n\n  165 \u201cAncient opinion even assigned the regulation of the calendar by the\n      solstices and equinoxes to the will of the gods that sacrifices\n      should be rendered at similar times in each year, rather than to the\n      strict requirements of agriculture; and as religion undoubtedly\n      makes larger demands on the cultivator as agriculture advances, the\n      obligations of sacrifice may probably be reckoned as of equal\n      importance with agricultural necessities in urging the formation of\n      reckonings in the nature of a calendar\u201d (E. J. Payne, _History of\n      the New World called America_, ii. 280).\n\n  M51 The octennial cycle in relation to the Greek doctrine of rebirth.\n\n  166 As to the eight years\u2019 servitude of Apollo and Cadmus for the\n      slaughter of dragons, see below, p. 78. For the nine years\u2019 penance\n      of the man who had tasted human flesh at the festival of Zeus on\n      Mount Lycaeus, see Pliny, _Nat. hist._ viii. 81 _sq._; Augustine,\n      _De civitate Dei_, xviii. 17; Pausanias, viii. 2. 6; compare Plato,\n      _Republic_, viii. p. 565 D E. Any god who forswore himself by the\n      water of Styx was exiled for nine years from the society of his\n      fellow-gods (Hesiod, _Theogony_, 793-804). On this subject see\n      further, E. Rohde, _Psyche_,3 ii. 211 _sq._; W. H. Roscher, \u201cDie\n      enneadischen und hebdomadischen Fristen und Wochen der \u00e4ltesten\n      Griechen,\u201d _Abhandlungen der philolog.-histor. Klasse der K\u00f6nigl.\n      S\u00e4chsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften_, xxi. No. 4 (1903), pp.\n      24 _sqq._\n\n  167 Plato, _Meno_, p. 81 A-C; Pindar, ed. Boeckh, vol. iii. pp. 623\n      _sq._, Frag. 98.\n\n  M52 The octennial cycle at Cnossus in Crete. King Minos and Zeus. Sacred\n      marriage of the king and queen of Cnossus in the form of bull and\n      cow as symbols of the sun and moon.\n\n  168 Homer, _Odyssey_, xix. 178 _sq._,\n\n      \u03c4\u1fc7\u03c3\u03b9 \u03b4\u1fbd \u1f10\u03bd\u1f76 \u039a\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03cc\u03c2, \u03bc\u03b5\u03b3\u03ac\u03bb\u03b7 \u03c0\u03cc\u03bb\u03b9\u03c2, \u1f14\u03bd\u03b8\u03b1 \u03c4\u03b5 \u039c\u03af\u03bd\u03c9\u03c2\n      \u1f10\u03bd\u03bd\u03ad\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03af\u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03b5 \u0394\u03b9\u1f78\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b5\u03b3\u03ac\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5 \u1f40\u03b1\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03c2.\n\n      with the Scholia; Plato, _Laws_, i. I. p. 624 A, B;[_id._] _Minos_,\n      13 _sq._, pp. 319 _sq._; Strabo, ix. 4. 8, p. 476; Maximus Tyrius,\n      _Dissert._ xxxviii. 2; _Etymologicum magnum_, _s.v._ \u1f10\u03bd\u03bd\u03ad\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9, p.\n      343, 23 _sqq._; Valerius Maximus, i. 2, ext. I; compare Diodorus\n      Siculus, v. 78. 3. Homer\u2019s expression, \u1f10\u03bd\u03bd\u03ad\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03af\u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03b5, has been\n      variously explained. I follow the interpretation which appears to\n      have generally found favour both with the ancients, including Plato,\n      and with modern scholars. See K. Hoeck, _Kreta_, i. 244 _sqq._; K.\n      O. M\u00fcller,_Die Dorier_,2 ii. 96; G. F. Unger, \u201cZeitrechnung der\n      Griechen und R\u00f6mer,\u201d in Ivan M\u00fcller\u2019s _Handbuch der klassischen\n      Altertumswissenschaft_, i. 569; A. Schmidt, _Handbuch der\n      griechischen Chronologie_ (Jena, 1888), p. 65; W. H. Roscher, \u201cDie\n      enneadischen und hebdomadischen Fristen und Wochen der \u00e4ltesten\n      Griechen,\u201d _Abhandlungen der philolog.-histor. Klasse der K\u00f6nigl.\n      S\u00e4chsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften_, xxi. No. 4 (Leipsic,\n      1903), pp. 22 _sq._; E. Rohde, _Psyche_,3 i. 128 _sq._ Literally\n      interpreted, \u1f10\u03bd\u03bd\u03ad\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 means \u201cfor nine years,\u201d not \u201cfor eight years.\u201d\n      But see above, p. 59, note 1.\n\n  169 Apollodorus, iii. 1. 3 _sq._, iii. 15. 8; Diodorus Siculus, iv. 77;\n      Schol. on Euripides, _Hippolytus_, 887; J. Tzetzes, _Chiliades_, i.\n      479 _sqq._; Hyginus, _Fabulae_, 40; Virgil, _Ecl._ vi. 45 _sqq._;\n      Ovid, _Ars amat._ i. 289 _sqq._\n\n  170 K. Hoeck, _Kreta_, ii. (G\u00f6ttingen, 1828) pp. 63-69; L. Preller,\n      _Griechische Mythologie_,3 ii. 119-123; W. H. Roscher, _\u00dcber Selene\n      mid Verwandtes_ (Leipsic, 1890), pp. 135-139; _id._, _Nachtr\u00e4ge zu\n      meiner Schrift \u00fcber Selene_ (Leipsic, 1895), p. 3; T\u00fcrk, in W. H.\n      _Roscher\u2019s Lexikon der griech. und r\u00f6m. Mythologie_, iii. 1666\n      _sq._; A. J. Evans, \u201cMycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult,\u201d _Journal of\n      Hellenic Studies_, xxi. (1901) p. 181; A. B. Cook, \u201cZeus, Jupiter,\n      and the Oak,\u201d _Classical Review_, xvii. (1903) pp. 406-412; compare\n      _id._, \u201cThe European Sky-god,\u201d _Folklore_, xv. (1904) p. 272. All\n      these writers, except Mr. Cook, regard Minos and Pasiphae as\n      representing the sun and moon. Mr. Cook agrees so far as relates to\n      Minos, but he supposes Pasiphae to be a sky-goddess or sun-goddess\n      rather than a goddess of the moon. On the other hand, he was the\n      first to suggest that the myth was periodically acted by the king\n      and queen of Cnossus disguised in bovine form.\n\n  171 Compare _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 368 _sq._\n\n  172 Bekker\u2019s _Anecdota Graeca_, i. 344, _s.v._ \u1f08\u03b4\u03b9\u03bf\u03cd\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1\u1fe6\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2.\n\n  173 Eusebius, _Praeparatio Evangelii_, iii. 13. 1 _sq._; Diodorus\n      Siculus, i. 84. 4, i. 88. 4; Strabo, xvii. 1. 22 and 27, pp. 803,\n      805; Aelian, _De natura animalium_, xi. II; Suidas, _s.v._ \u1f0e\u03c0\u03b9\u03c2;\n      Ammianus Marcellinus, xxii. 14. 7; A. Wiedemann, _Herodots Zweites\n      Buch_, p. 552; A. Erman, _Die \u00e4gyptische Religion_ (Berlin, 1905),\n      p. 26; E. A. Wallis Budge, _The Gods of the Egyptians_ (London,\n      1904), i. 330.\n\n  174 E. A. Wallis Budge, _The Gods of the Egyptians_, i. 25.\n\n  175 Pausanias, i. 26. 1. For a description of the scenery of this coast,\n      see Morritt, in Walpole\u2019s _Memoirs relating to European Turkey_, i.2\n      p. 54.\n\n  176 W. H. Roscher, _\u00dcber Selene und Verwandtes_, pp. 30-33.\n\n  177 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 130 _sqq._ We\n      are told that Egyptian sovereigns assumed the masks of lions, bulls,\n      and serpents as symbols of power (Diodorus Siculus, i. 62. 4).\n\n  M53 The same myth and custom of the marriage of the sun and moon appear\n      in the stories of Zeus and Europa, of Minos and Britomartis. The\n      conjunction of the sun and moon regarded as the best time for\n      marriages. Octennial marriage of the king and queen as\n      representatives of the sun and moon.\n\n  178 As to Minos and Britomartis or Dictynna, see Callimachus, _Hymn to\n      Diana_, 189 _sqq._; Pausanias, ii. 30. 3; Antoninus Liberalis,\n      _Transform._ 40; Diodorus Siculus, v. 76. On Britomartis as a\n      moon-goddess, see K. Hoeck, _Kreta_, ii. 170; W. H. Roscher, _\u00dcber\n      Selene und Verwandtes_, pp. 45 _sq._, 116-118. Hoeck acutely\n      perceived that the pursuit of Britomartis by Minos \u201cis a trait of\n      old festival customs in which the conceptions of the sun-god were\n      transferred to the king of the island.\u201d As to the explanation here\n      adopted of the myth of Zeus and Europa, see K. Hoeck, _Kreta_, i. 90\n      _sqq._; W. H. Roscher, _op. cit._ pp. 128-135. Moschus describes\n      (ii. 84 _sqq._) the bull which carried off Europa as yellow in\n      colour with a silver circle shining on his forehead, and he compares\n      the bull\u2019s horns to those of the moon.\n\n  179 See W. H. Roscher, _op. cit._ pp. 76-82. Amongst the passages of\n      classical writers which he cites are Plutarch, _De facie in orbe\n      lunae_, 30; _id._, _Isis et Osiris_, 52; Cornutus, _Theologiae\n      Graecae compendium_, 34, p. 72, ed. C. Lang; Proclus, on Hesiod,\n      _Works and Days_, 780; Macrobius, _Commentar. in Somnium Scipionis_,\n      i. 18. 10 _sq._; Pliny, _Nat. hist._ ii. 45. When the sun and moon\n      were eclipsed, the Tahitians supposed that the luminaries were in\n      the act of copulation (J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n      Pacific Ocean_ (London, 1799), p. 346).\n\n  M54 Octennial tribute of youths and maidens probably required as a means\n      of renewing the sun\u2019s fire by human sacrifices. The Minotaur a\n      bull-headed image of the sun.\n\n  180 Plutarch, _Theseus_, 15 _sq._; Diodorus Siculus, iv. 61; Pausanias,\n      i. 27. 10; Ovid, _Metam._ viii. 170 _sq._ According to another\n      account, the tribute of youths and maidens was paid every year. See\n      Virgil, _Aen._ vi. 14 _sqq._, with the commentary of Servius;\n      Hyginus, _Fabulae_, 41.\n\n  181 Apollodorus, i. 9. 26; Apollonius Rhodius, _Argon._ iv. 1638 _sqq._,\n      with the scholium; Agatharchides, in Photius, _Bibliotheca_, p.\n      443b, lines 22-25, ed. Bekker; Lucian, _De saltatione_, 49;\n      Zenobius, v. 85; Suidas, _s.v._ \u03a3\u03b1\u03c1\u03b4\u03ac\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b3\u03ad\u03bb\u03c9\u03c2; Eustathius on\n      Homer, _Odyssey_, xx. 302, p. 1893; Schol. on Plato, _Republic_, i.\n      p. 337A.\n\n  182 Apollodorus, i. 9. 26.\n\n  183 Hesychius, _s.v._ \u03a4\u03b1\u03bb\u1ff6\u03c2.\n\n  184 Diodorus Siculus, xx. 14; Clitarchus, cited by Suidas, _s.v._\n      \u03a3\u03b1\u03c1\u03b4\u03ac\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b3\u03ad\u03bb\u03c9\u03c2, and by the Scholiast on Plato, _Republic_, p. 337A;\n      Plutarch, _De superstitione_, 13; Paulus Fagius, quoted by Selden,\n      _De dis Syris_ (Leipsic, 1668), pp. 169 _sq._ The calf\u2019s head of the\n      idol is mentioned only by P. Fagius, who drew his account from a\n      book Jalkut by Rabbi Simeon.\n\n  185 Compare M. Mayer, _s.v._ \u201cKronos,\u201d in W. H. Roscher\u2019s _Lexikon d.\n      griech. u. r\u00f6m. Mythologie_, iii. 1501 _sqq._\n\n  186 J. Tzetzes, _Chiliades_, i. 646 _sqq._\n\n  M55 Dance of the youths and maidens at Cnossus.\n\n  187 Homer, _Iliad_, xviii. 590 _sqq._\n\n  188 Plutarch, _Theseus_, 21; Julius Pollux, iv. 101.\n\n  M56 The game of Troy.\n\n  189 As to the Game of Troy, see Virgil, _Aen._ v. 545-603; Plutarch,\n      _Cato_, 3; Tacitus, _Annals_, xi. 11; Suetonius, _Augustus_, 43;\n      _id._, _Tiberius_, 6; _id._, _Caligula_, 18; _id._, _Nero_, 6; W.\n      Smith\u2019s _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_,3 _s.v._ \u201cTrojae\n      ludus\u201d; O. Benndorf, \u201cDas Alter des Trojaspieles,\u201d appended to W.\n      Reichel\u2019s _\u00dcber homerische Waffen_ (Vienna, 1894), pp. 133-139.\n\n  190 O. Benndorf, _op. cit._ pp. 133 _sq._\n\n  191 B. V. Head, _Historia numorum_ (Oxford, 1887), pp. 389-391.\n\n  192 O. Benndorf, _op. cit._ pp. 134 _sq._\n\n  193 Pliny, _Nat. hist._ xxxvi. 85.\n\n  194 O. Benndorf, _op. cit._ p. 135; W. Meyer, \u201cEin Labyrinth mit\n      Versen,\u201d _Sitzungsberichte der philosoph. philolog. und histor_.\n      _Classe der k. b. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu M\u00fcnchen_, 1882,\n      vol. ii. pp. 267-300.\n\n  M57 The dance at Cnossus perhaps an imitation of the sun\u2019s course in the\n      sky.\n\n  195 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 312.\n\n  196 B. V. Head, _Historia numorum_, p. 389.\n\n  M58 Conclusions as to the king of Cnossus.\n  M59 Octennial festivals of the Crowning at Delphi and the Laurel-bearing\n      at Thebes. Both represented dramatically the slaying of a\n      water-dragon.\n\n  197 Censorinus, _De die natali_, 18. 6.\n\n  198 The suggestion was made by Mr. A. B. Cook. The following discussion\n      of the subject is founded on his ingenious exposition. See his\n      article, \u201cThe European Sky-god,\u201d _Folklore_, xv. (1904) pp. 402-424.\n\n  199 As to the Delphic festival see Plutarch, _Quaest. Graec._ 12; _id._,\n      _De defectu oraculorum_, 15; Strabo, ix. 3. 12, pp. 422 _sq._;\n      Aelian, _Var. hist._ iii. 1; Stephanus Byzantius, _s.v._ \u0394\u03b5\u03b9\u03c0\u03bd\u03af\u03b1\u03c2;\n      K. O. M\u00fcller, _Die Dorier_,2 i. 203 _sqq._, 321-324; Aug. Mommsen,\n      _Delphika_ (Leipsic, 1878), pp. 206 _sqq._; Th. Schreiber, _Apollo\n      Pythoktonos_, pp. 9 _sqq._; my note on Pausanias, ii. 7. 7 (vol. ii.\n      53 _sqq._). As to the Theban festival, see Pausanias, ix. 10. 4,\n      with my note; Proclus, quoted by Photius, _Bibliotheca_, p. 321, ed.\n      Bekker; Aug. Boeckh, in his edition of Pindar, _Explicationes_, p.\n      590; K. O. M\u00fcller, _Orchomenus und die Minyer_,2 pp. 215 _sq._;\n      _id._, _Dorier_,2 i. 236 _sq._, 333 _sq._; C. Boetticher, _Der\n      Baumkultus der Hellenen_, pp. 386 _sqq._; G. F. Sch\u00f6mann,\n      _Griechische Alterth\u00fcmer_,4 ii. 479 _sq._\n\n  200 Apollodorus, iii. 4. 2, iii. 10. 4; Servius, on Virgil, _Aen._ vii.\n      761. The servitude of Apollo is traditionally associated with his\n      slaughter of the Cyclopes, not of the dragon. But see my note on\n      Pausanias, ii. 7. 7 (vol. ii. pp. 53 _sqq._).\n\n  201 W. H. Roscher\u2019s _Lexikon d. griech. und r\u00f6m. Mythologie_, ii. 830,\n      838, 839. On an Etruscan mirror the scene of Cadmus\u2019s combat with\n      the dragon is surrounded by a wreath of laurel (Roscher, _op. cit._\n      ii. 862). Mr. A. B. Cook was the first to call attention to these\n      vase-paintings in confirmation of my view that the Festival of the\n      Laurel-bearing celebrated the destruction of the dragon by Cadmus\n      (_Folklore_, xv. (1904) p. 411, note 224).\n\n  202 Pausanias, ix. 10. 2; K. O. M\u00fcller, _Die Dorier_,2 i. 237 _sq._\n\n  203 For evidence of the wide diffusion of the myth and the drama, see\n      Th. Schreiber, _Apollon Pythoktonos_, pp. 39-50. The Laurel-bearing\n      Apollo was worshipped at Athens, as we know from an inscription\n      carved on one of the seats in the theatre. See E. S. Roberts and E.\n      A. Gardner, _Introduction to Greek Epigraphy_, ii. (Cambridge, 1905)\n      p. 467, No. 247.\n\n  M60 Both at Delphi and at Thebes the dragon seems to have guarded the\n      oracular spring and the oracular tree. The crown of laurel and the\n      crown of oak. The Festival of Crowning at Delphi originally\n      identical with the Pythian games.\n\n  204 Apollodorus, iii. 4. 3; Schol. on Homer, _Iliad_, ii. 494;\n      Pausanias, ix. 10. 5; _Homeric Hymn to Apollo_, 300 _sq._ The writer\n      of the Homeric hymn merely says that Apollo slew the Delphic dragon\n      at a spring; but Pausanias (x. 6. 6) tells us that the beast guarded\n      the oracle.\n\n  205 Pausanias, x. 8. 9, x. 24. 7, with my notes; Ovid, _Amores_, i. 15.\n      35 _sq._; Lucian, _Jupiter tragoedus_, 30; Nonnus, _Dionys._ iv. 309\n      _sq._; Suidas, _s.v._ \u039a\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03bb\u03af\u03b1.\n\n  206 W. H. Roscher, _Lexikon d. griech. u. r\u00f6m. Mythologie_, ii. 830,\n      838.\n\n  207 Euripides, _Iphigenia in Tauris_, 1245 _sq._, where the reading\n      \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03ac\u03c7\u03b1\u03bb\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2 is clearly corrupt.\n\n  208 Lucian, _Bis accusatus_, I. So the priest of the Clarian Apollo at\n      Colophon drank of a secret spring before he uttered oracles in verse\n      (Tacitus, _Annals_, ii. 54; Pliny, _Nat. hist._ ii. 232).\n\n  209 Euripides, _Iphigenia in Tauris_, 1245 _sqq._; Apollodorus, i. 4. I;\n      Pausanias, x. 6. 6; Aelian, _Var. hist._ iii. i; Hyginus, _Fabulae_,\n      140; Schol. on Homer, _Iliad_, ii. 519; Schol. on Pindar, _Pyth._\n      Argument, p. 298, ed. Boeckh.\n\n  210 Euripides, _Hercules Furens_, 395 _sqq._; Apollodorus, ii. 5. II;\n      Diodorus Siculus, iv. 26; Eratosthenes, _Catasterism._ 3; Schol. on\n      Euripides, _Hippolytus_, 742; Schol. on Apollonius Rhodius, _Argon_,\n      iv. 1396.\n\n  211 A. B. Cook, \u201cThe European Sky-god,\u201d _Folklore_, xv. (1904) p. 413.\n\n  212 Ovid, _Metam._ i. 448 _sqq._\n\n  213 Clement of Alexandria, _Protrept._ i. I, p. 2, and ii. 34, p. 29,\n      ed. Potter; Aristotle, _Peplos_, Frag. (_Fragmenta historicorum\n      Graecorum_, ii. p. 189, No. 282, ed. C. M\u00fcller); John of Antioch,\n      Frag. i. 20 (_Frag. histor. Graec._ iv. p. 539, ed. C. M\u00fcller);\n      Jamblichus, _De Pythagor. vit._ x. 52; Schol. on Pindar, _Pyth._\n      Argum. p. 298, ed. Boeckh; Ovid, _Metam._ i. 445 _sqq._; Hyginus,\n      _Fabulae_, 140.\n\n  214 Schol. on Pindar, _l.c._; Censorinus, _De die natali_, 18. 6;\n      compare Eustathius on Homer, _Od._ iii. 267, p. 1466. 29.\n\n  215 Plutarch, _De defectu oraculorum_, 3, compared with _id._ 15; Aug.\n      Mommsen, _Delphika_, pp. 211, 214; Th. Schreiber, _Apollon\n      Pythoktonos_ (Leipsic, 1879), pp. 32 _sqq._\n\n  216 Aelian, _Var. hist._ iii. I; Schol. on Pindar, _l.c._\n\n  217 On the original identity of the festivals see Th. Schreiber,\n      _Apollon Pythoktonus_, pp. 37 _sq._; A. B. Cook, in _Folklore_, xv.\n      (1904) pp. 404 _sq._\n\n  218 The inference was drawn by Mr. A. B. Cook, whom I follow. See his\n      article, \u201cThe European Sky-god,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xv. (1904) pp. 412\n      _sqq_.\n\n  M61 Substitution of the laurel for the oak.\n\n  219 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, vol. i. p. 8.\n\n  220 Aelian, _Var. hist._ iii. 1; Schol. on Pindar, _Pyth._ Argum. p.\n      298, ed. Boeckh.\n\n  221 A. B. Cook, \u201cThe European Sky-god,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xv. (1904) pp. 423\n      _sq_.\n\n  222 Pausanias, ix. 3. 4. See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_,\n      vol. ii. p. 140.\n\n  M62 Hypothesis of octennial kings at Delphi and Thebes, who personated\n      dragons or serpents. Animals sacred to royal families. Greek stories\n      of the transformation of gods into beasts point to a custom of a\n      sacred marriage in which the actors masqueraded as animals.\n\n  223 A. B. Cook, \u201cThe European Sky-god,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xv. (1904) pp. 402\n      _sqq_.\n\n  M63 Analogy of the Wolf Society of Arcadia to the Leopard Society of\n      west Africa.\n\n  224 Plato, _Republic_, viii. p. 565 D E; Polybius, vii. 13; Pliny, _Nat.\n      hist._ viii. 81; Varro, cited by Augustine, _De civitate Dei_,\n      xviii. 17; Pausanias, vi. 8. 2, viii. 2. 3-6.\n\n  225 Mary H. Kingsley, _Travels in West Africa_, pp. 536-543; T. J.\n      Alldridge, _The Sherbro and its Hinterland_ (London, 1901), pp.\n      153-159; compare R. H. Nassau, _Fetichism in West Africa_ (London,\n      1904), pp. 200-203.\n\n  226 T. J. Alldridge, _op. cit._ p. 154.\n\n  227 A. Bastian, _Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-K\u00fcste_, ii. 248.\n\n  M64 Legend of the transformation of Cadmus and Harmonia into serpents.\n      Transmigration of the souls of the dead into serpents. Kings claim\n      kinship with the most powerful animals.\n\n  228 Apollodorus, iii. 5. 4; Strabo, vii. 7. 8, p. 326; Ovid, _Metam_.\n      iv. 563-603; Hyginus, _Fabulae_, 6; Nicander, _Theriaca_, 607 _sqq._\n\n  229 A. van Gennep, _Tabou et tot\u00e9misme \u00e0 Madagascar_ (Paris, 1904), p.\n      326.\n\n  230 Dercylus, quoted by a scholiast on Euripides, _Phoenissae_, 7;\n      _Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum_, ed. C. M\u00fcller, iv. 387. The\n      writer rationalises the legend by representing the dragon as a\n      Theban man of that name whom Cadmus slew. On the theory here\n      suggested this Euhemeristic version of the story is substantially\n      right.\n\n  231 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 268 _sqq._\n\n  232 David Leslie, _Among the Zulus and Amatongas_, Second Edition\n      (Edinburgh, 1875), p. 213. Compare H. Callaway, _The Religious\n      System of the Amazulu_, Part II., pp. 196, 211.\n\n  233 See _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 73 _sqq._\n\n  234 D. Livingstone, _Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa_,\n      p. 615; Miss A. Werner, _The Natives of British Central Africa_\n      (London, 1906), p. 64; L. Decle, _Three Years in Savage Africa_\n      (London, 1898), p. 74; J. Roscoe, \u201cThe Bahima,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Institute_, xxxvii. (1907) pp. 101 sq.; Major J. A.\n      Meldon, \u201cNotes on the Bahima,\u201d _Journal of the African Society_, No.\n      22 (January, 1907), pp. 151-153; J. A. Chisholm, \u201cNotes on the\n      Manners and Customs of the Winamwanga and Wiwa,\u201d _Journal of the\n      African Society_, No. 36 (July, 1910), pp. 374, 375; P. Alois\n      Hamberger, in _Anthropos_, v. (1910) p. 802.\n\n  235 W. W. Skeat and C. O. Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_\n      (London, 1906), ii. 194, 197, 221, 227, 305.\n\n  236 A. B. Ellis, _The Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast_, pp. 74\n      sq.\n\n  237 This I learned from Professor F. von Luschan in the Anthropological\n      Museum at Berlin.\n\n  238 M. Delafosse, in _La Nature_, No. 1086 (March 24th, 1894), pp.\n      262-266; J. G. Frazer, \u201cStatues of Three Kings of Dahomey,\u201d _Man_,\n      viii. (1908) pp. 130-132. King Behanzin, surnamed the Shark, is\n      doubtless the King of Dahomey referred to by Professor von Luschan\n      (see the preceding note).\n\n  239 The statue was pointed out to me and explained by Professor F. von\n      Luschan.\n\n  240 A. B. Ellis, _The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast_, pp. 205\n      _sq._\n\n  241 2 Kings xviii. 4.\n\n  242 W. Robertson Smith, \u201cAnimal Worship and Animal Tribes,\u201d _Journal of\n      Philology_, ix. (1880) pp. 99 _sq._ Professor T. K. Cheyne prefers\n      to suppose that the brazen serpent and the brazen \u201csea\u201d in the\n      temple at Jerusalem were borrowed from Babylon and represented the\n      great dragon, the impersonation of the primaeval watery chaos. See\n      _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, _s.v._ \u201cNehushtan,\u201d vol. i. coll. 3387. The\n      two views are perhaps not wholly irreconcilable. See below, pp. 111\n      _sq._\n\n  M65 The serpent the royal animal at Athens and Salamis.\n\n  243 Herodotus, viii. 41; Plutarch, _Themistocles_, 10; Aristophanes,\n      _Lysistrata_, 758 _sq._, with the Scholium; Philostratus,\n      _Imagines_, ii. 17. 6. Some said that there were two serpents\n      ,Hesychius and Photius, _Lexicon_, _s.v._ \u03bf\u1f30\u03ba\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u1f78\u03bd \u1f44\u03c6\u03b9\u03bd. For the\n      identity of the serpent with Erichthonius, see Pausanias, i. 24. 7;\n      Hyginus, _Astronomica_, ii. 13; Tertullian, _De spectaculis_, 9;\n      compare Philostratus, _Vit. Apoll._ vii. 24; and for the identity of\n      Erichthonius and Erechtheus, see Schol. on Homer, _Iliad_, ii. 547;\n      _Etymologicum magnum_, p. 371, _s.v._ \u1f18\u03c1\u03b5\u03c7\u03b8\u03b5\u03cd\u03c2. According to some,\n      the upper part of Erichthonius was human and the lower part or only\n      the feet serpentine. See Hyginus, _Fabulae_, 166; _id._,\n      _Astronomica_, ii. 13; Schol. on Plato, _Timaeus_, p. 23 D;\n      _Etymologicum magnum_, _l.c._; Servius on Virgil, _Georg._ iii. 13.\n      See further my notes on Pausanias i. 18. 2 and i. 26. 5, vol. ii.\n      pp. 168 _sqq._, 330 _sqq._\n\n  244 Apollodorus, iii. 14. i; Aristophanes, _Wasps_, 438. Compare J.\n      Tzetzes, _Chiliades_, v. 641.\n\n  245 W. H. Roscher, _Lexikon d. griech. und r\u00f6m. Mythologie_, ii. 1019.\n      Compare Euripides, _Ion_, 1163 _sqq._\n\n  246 O. Immisch, in W. H. Roscher\u2019s _Lexikon d. griech. und r\u00f6m.\n      Mythologie_, ii. 1023.\n\n  247 Apollodorus, iii. 12. 7; Diodorus Siculus, iv. 72; J. Tzetzes,\n      _Schol. on Lycophron_, 110, 175, 451.\n\n  248 Pausanias, i. 36. 1. Another version of the story was that Cychreus\n      bred a snake which ravaged the island and was driven out by\n      Eurylochus, after which Demeter received the creature at Eleusis as\n      one of her attendants (Hesiod, quoted by Strabo, ix. 1. 9, p. 393).\n\n  249 Stephanus Byzantius, _s.v._ \u039a\u03c5\u03c7\u03c1\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c0\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2; Eustathius, _Commentary\n      on Dionysius_, 507, in _Geographi Graeci minores_, ed. C. M\u00fcller,\n      ii. 314.\n\n  250 Hesychius, _s.v._ \u1f18\u03c1\u03b5\u03c7\u03b8\u03b5\u03cd\u03c2; Athenagoras, _Supplicatio pro\n      Christianis_, 1; [Plutarch], _Vit. X. Orat._ p. 843 B C; _Corpus\n      inscriptionum Atticarum_, i. No. 387, iii. Nos. 276, 805; compare\n      Pausanias, i. 26. 5.\n\n  251 Apollodorus, iii. 14. 1; Herodotus, viii. 55; compare Pausanias,\n      viii. 10. 4.\n\n  M66 The wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia at Thebes may have been a\n      dramatic representation of the marriage of the sun and moon at the\n      end of the eight years\u2019 cycle.\n\n  252 See above, p. 73.\n\n  253 Apollodorus, iii. 4. 1 _sq._; Pausanias, ix. 12. 1 _sq._; Schol. on\n      Homer, _Iliad_, ii. 494; Hyginus, _Fabulae_, 178. The mark of the\n      moon on the cow is mentioned only by Pausanias and Hyginus.\n\n  254 Apollodorus, iii. 4. 2; Euripides, _Phoenissae_, 822 _sq._; Pindar,\n      _Pyth._ iii. 155 _sqq._; Diodorus Siculus, v. 49. 1; Pausanias, iii.\n      18. 12, ix. 12. 3; Schol. on Homer, _Iliad_, ii. 494.\n\n  M67 This theory confirmed by the astronomical symbols carried by the\n      Laurel-bearer at the octennial festival of Laurel-bearing. The\n      Olympic festival seems to have been based on the octennial cycle.\n      Mythical marriage of the sun and moon at Olympia.\n\n  255 Proclus, quoted by Photius, _Bibliotheca_, p. 321, ed. Bekker.\n\n  256 Proclus, _l.c._\n\n  257 Pindar, _Pyth._ iii. 155 _sqq._; Diodorus Siculus, v. 49. 1;\n      Pausanias, ix. 12. 3; Schol. on Homer, _Iliad_, ii. 494.\n\n  258 Schol. on Euripides, _Phoenissae_, 7 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bd\u1fe6\u03bd \u1f14\u03c4\u03b9 \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1fc7 \u03a3\u03b1\u03bc\u03bf\u03b8\u03c1\u1fb4\u03ba\u1fc3\n      \u03b6\u03b7\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f74\u03bd [scil. \u1f09\u03c1\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03af\u03b1\u03bd] \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f11\u03bf\u03c1\u03c4\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c2. According to the\n      Samothracian account, Cadmus in seeking Europa came to Samothrace,\n      and there, having been initiated into the mysteries, married\n      Harmonia (Diodorus Siculus, v. 48 _sq._). It is probable, though it\n      cannot be proved, that the legend was acted in the mystic rites.\n\n  259 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 133. Mr. A. B.\n      Cook has suggested that the central scene on the eastern frieze of\n      the Parthenon represents the king and queen of Athens about to take\n      their places among the enthroned deities. See his article \u201cZeus,\n      Jupiter, and the Oak,\u201d _Classical Review_, xviii. (1904) p. 371. As\n      the scenes on the frieze appear to have been copied from the\n      Panathenaiac festival, it would seem, on Mr. Cook\u2019s hypothesis, that\n      the sacred marriage of the King and Queen was celebrated on that\n      occasion in presence of actors who played the parts of gods and\n      goddesses. In this connexion it may not be amiss to remember that in\n      the eastern gable of the Parthenon the pursuit of the moon by the\n      sun was mythically represented by the horses of the sun emerging\n      from the sea on the one side, and the horses of the moon plunging\n      into it on the other.\n\n  260 Schol. on Pindar, _Olymp._ iii. 35 (20).\n\n  261 Compare Aug. Boeckh, on Pindar, _l.c._, _Explicationes_, p. 138; L.\n      Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_,\n      i. 366 _sq._; G. F. Unger, \u201cZeitrechnung der Griechen und R\u00f6mer,\u201d in\n      Iwan M\u00fcller\u2019s _Handbuch der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, i.\n      605 _sq._ All these writers recognise the octennial cycle at\n      Olympia.\n\n  262 K. O. M\u00fcller, _Die Dorier_,2 ii. 483; compare _id._ i. 254 _sq._\n\n  263 Pausanias, v. 1. 4.\n\n  264 Aug. Boeckh, _l.c._; A. Schmidt, _Handbuch der griechischen\n      Chronologie_ (Jena, 1888), pp. 50 _sqq._; K. O. M\u00fcller, _Die\n      Dorier_,2 i. 438; W. H. Roscher, _Selene und Verwandtes_, pp. 2\n      _sq._, 80 _sq._, 101.\n\n  265 See Aug. Boeckh and L. Ideler, _ll.cc._ More recent writers would\n      date it on the second full moon after the summer solstice, hence in\n      August or the last days of July. See G. F. Unger, _l.c._; E. F.\n      Bischoff, \u201cDe fastis Graecorum antiquioribus,\u201d _Leipziger Studien\n      zur classischen Philologie_, vii. (1884) pp. 347 _sq._; Aug.\n      Mommsen, _\u00dcber die Zeit der Olympien_ (Leipsic, 1891); and my note\n      on Pausanias, v. 9. 3 (vol. iii. pp. 488 _sq._).\n\n  M68 The Olympic victors, male and female, may originally have\n      represented Zeus and Hera or the Sun and Moon, and have reigned as\n      divine king and queen for four or eight years.\n\n  266 A. B. Cook, \u201cThe European Sky-God,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xv. (1904) pp.\n      398-402.\n\n  267 Rapp, in W. H. Roscher\u2019s _Lexikon d. griech. und r\u00f6m. Mythologie_,\n      i. 2005 _sqq._\n\n  268 Pausanias, v. 15. 3, with my note; Schol. on Pindar, _Olymp._ iii.\n      60.\n\n  269 Pausanias, v. 11. 1.\n\n  270 Pausanias, v. 16. 2 _sqq._\n\n  271 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, vol. ii. p. 143.\n\n  272 Pausanias, v. 16. 4.\n\n  273 Many years after the theory in the text was printed (for the present\n      volume has been long in the press) I accidentally learned that my\n      friend Mr. F. M. Cornford, Fellow and Lecturer of Trinity College,\n      Cambridge, had quite independently arrived at a similar conclusion\n      with regard to the mythical and dramatic parts played by the Olympic\n      victors, male and female, as representatives of the Sun and Moon,\n      and I had the pleasure of hearing him expound the theory in a\n      brilliant lecture delivered before the Classical Society of\n      Cambridge, 28th February 1911. The coincidence of two independent\n      enquirers in conclusions, which can hardly be called obvious, seems\n      to furnish a certain confirmation of their truth. In Mr. Cornford\u2019s\n      case the theory in question forms part of a more elaborate and\n      comprehensive hypothesis as to the origin of the Olympic games,\n      concerning which I must for the present suspend my judgment.\n\n  274 Herodian, v. 6. 3-5.\n\n  M69 Tradition that the great games of Greece originated in funeral\n      celebrations.\n\n  275 Clement of Alexandria, _Protrept._ ii. 34, p. 29, ed. Potter. The\n      following account of funeral games is based on my note on Pausanias\n      i. 44. 8 (vol. ii. pp. 549 _sq._). Compare W. Ridgeway, _The Origin\n      of Tragedy_ (Cambridge, 1910), pp. 32 _sqq._\n\n  276 Clement of Alexandria, _l.c._\n\n  277 Pausanias, v. 13. 1 _sq._\n\n  278 Scholiast on Pindar, _Olymp._ i. 146.\n\n  279 Varro, cited by Servius, on Virgil, _Aen._ iii. 67.\n\n  280 F. Bonney, \u201cOn some Customs of the Aborigines of the River Darling,\u201d\n      _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xiii. (1884) pp. 134\n      _sq._; Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp.\n      507, 509 _sq._; (Sir) G. Grey, _Journals of Two Expeditions of\n      Discovery in North-West and Western Australia_ (London, 1841), ii.\n      332.\n\n_  281 Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres\n      Straits_, vi. (Cambridge, 1908) pp. 135, 154.\n\n  282 Hyginus, _Fabulae_, 74; Apollodorus, iii. 6. 4; Schol. on Pindar,\n      _Pyth._, Introduction; Pausanias, ii. 15. 2 _sq._; Clement of\n      Alexandria, _Protrept._ ii. 34, p. 29, ed. Potter.\n\n  283 Scholiast on Pindar, _Isthm._, Introduction, p. 514, ed. Boeckh;\n      Pausanias, i. 44. 8; Apollodorus, iii. 4. 3; Zenobius, iv. 38;\n      Clement of Alexandria, _l.c._; J. Tzetzes, _Scholia on Lycophron_,\n      107, 229; Scholia on Euripides, _Medea_, 1284; Hyginus, _Fabulae_,\n      2.\n\n  284 Clement of Alexandria, _l.c._; Hyginus, _Fabulae_, 140.\n\n  M70 The tradition is confirmed by Greek practice, for in historical\n      times games were instituted to do honour to many famous men in\n      Greece.\n\n  285 Homer, _Iliad_, xxiii. 255 _sqq._, 629 _sqq._, 651 _sqq._\n\n  286 Herodotus, vi. 38.\n\n  287 Pausanias, iii. 14. 1.\n\n  288 Plutarch, _De sera numinis vindicta_, 17.\n\n  289 Thucydides, v. 10 _sq._\n\n  290 Plutarch, _Timoleon_, 39.\n\n  291 Aulus Gellius, x. 18. 5 _sq._\n\n  292 Arrian, vii. 14. 10.\n\n  M71 The Greeks also instituted games in honour of large numbers of men\n      who had perished in battle or a massacre.\n\n  293 Herodotus, i. 167.\n\n  294 Plutarch, _Aristides_, 21; Strabo, ix. 2. 31, p. 412; Pausanias, ix.\n      2. 5 _sq._\n\n  295 Philostratus, _Vit. Sophist._ ii. 30; Heliodorus, _Aethiopica_, i.\n      17; compare Aristotle, _Constitution of Athens_, 58.\n\n  M72 Funeral games have been celebrated in honour of the dead by other\n      peoples both in ancient and modern times.\n\n  296 Herodotus, v. 8.\n\n  297 Livy, xxiii. 30. 15.\n\n  298 Livy, xxxi. 50. 4.\n\n  299 Livy, xxxix. 46. 2 _sq._\n\n_  300 Census of India, 1901_, vol. iii., _The Andaman and Nicobar\n      Islands_, by Lieut.-Col. Sir Richard C. Temple (Calcutta, 1903), p.\n      209.\n\n  301 Letter of the missionary Chevron, in _Annales de la Propagation de\n      la Foi_, xv. (1843) pp. 40 _sq._\n\n  302 \u00c9. Aymonier, _Voyage dans le Laos_ (Paris, 1895-1897), ii. 325\n      _sq._; C. Bock, _Temples and Elephants_ (London, 1884), p. 262.\n\n  303 A. de Levchine, _Description des hommes et des steppes des\n      Kirghiz-Kazaks ou Kirghiz-Kaisaks_ (Paris, 1840), pp. 367 _sq._; H.\n      Vambery, _Das T\u00fcrkenvolk_ (Leipsic, 1885), p. 255; P. von Stenin,\n      \u201cDie Kirgisen des Kreises Saissanak im Gebiete von Ssemipalatinsk,\u201d\n      _Globus_, lxix. (1906) p. 228.\n\n  304 T. de Pauly, _Description ethnographique des peuples de la Russie_\n      (St. Petersburg, 1862), _Peuples ouralo-alta\u00efques_, p. 29.\n\n  305 Charlevoix, _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_ (Paris, 1744), vi. 111.\n\n  M73 Funeral games among the Bedouins and among the peoples of the\n      Caucasus.\n\n  306 I. Goldziher, _Muhammedanische Studien_ (Halle a. S., 1888-1890),\n      ii. 328 _sq._ However, Prof. Goldziher believes that the festival is\n      an ancient heathen one which has been subsequently grafted upon the\n      tradition of the orthodox prophet Salih.\n\n  307 J. Potocki, _Voyage dans les steps d\u2019Astrakhan et du Caucase_\n      (Paris, 1829), i. 275 _sq._; Edmund Spencer, _Travels in Circassia,\n      Krim Tartary_, etc. (London, 1836) ii. 399.\n\n  308 G. Radde, _Die Chews\u2019uren und ihr Land_ (Cassel, 1878), pp. 95\n      _sq._; Prince Eristow, \u201cDie Pschawen und Chewsurier im Kaukasus,\u201d\n      _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr allgemeine Erdkunde_, Neue Folge, ii. (1857) p. 77.\n\n  309 C. v. Hahn, \u201cReligi\u00f6se Anschauungen und Totenged\u00e4chtnisfeier der\n      Chewsuren,\u201d _Globus_, lxxvi. (1899) pp. 211 _sq._\n\n  310 N. v. Seidlitz, \u201cDie Abchasen,\u201d _Globus_, lxvi. (1894) pp. 42 _sq._\n\n  M74 Games periodically held in honour of some famous man might in time\n      assume the character of a great fair. The great Irish fairs of\n      Tailltin and Carman, in which horse-races played a prominent part,\n      are said to have been instituted in honour of the dead.\n\n  311 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_ (London, 1888), pp. 409 _sq._;\n      H. d\u2019Arbois de Jubainville, _Cours de litt\u00e9rature celtique_, vii.\n      (Paris, 1895) pp. 309 _sqq._; P. W. Joyce, _Social History of\n      Ancient Ireland_ (London, 1903), ii. 438 _sqq._ \u201cThe _aenach_ or\n      fair was an assembly of the people of every grade without\n      distinction; it was the most common kind of large public meeting,\n      and its main object was the celebration of games, athletic\n      exercises, sports, and pastimes of all kinds\u201d (P. W. Joyce, _op.\n      cit._ ii. 438). The Irish name is _Tailltiu_, genitive _Taillten_,\n      accusative and dative _Tailltin_ (Sir J. Rhys, _op. cit._ p. 409\n      note 1).\n\n  312 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, p. 411; H. d\u2019Arbois de\n      Jubainville, _Cours de litt\u00e9rature celtique_, vii. 313 _sqq._; P. W.\n      Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, ii. 434 _sq._, 441\n      _sqq._\n\n  M75 Indeed most of the great Irish fairs are said to have originated in\n      funeral games.\n\n  313 P. W. Joyce, _op. cit._ ii. 435.\n\n  314 P. W. Joyce, _op. cit._ ii. 434. Compare (Sir) J. Rhys, _Celtic\n      Heathendom_, p. 411.\n\n  315 H. d\u2019Arbois de Jubainville, _Cours de litt\u00e9rature celtique_, vii.\n      313.\n\n  316 H. d\u2019Arbois de Jubainville, _op. cit._ vii. 310.\n\n  M76 The great Irish fairs were held on the first of August (Lammas),\n      which seems to have been an old harvest festival of first-fruits.\n\n  317 P. W. Joyce, _op. cit._ ii. 389, 439.\n\n  318 (Sir) J. Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, p. 410.\n\n  319 (Sir) J. Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, pp. 411 _sq._, quoting the\n      substance of a note by Thos. Hearne, in his edition of _Robert of\n      Gloucester\u2019s Chronicles_ (Oxford, 1724), p. 679. As to the\n      derivation of the word see _New English Dictionary_ (Oxford, 1888- )\n      and W. W. Skeat, _Etymological Dictionary of the English Language_\n      (Oxford, 1910), _s.v._ \u201cLammas.\u201d\n\n  320 See above, p. 100.\n\n  321 See _The Golden Bough_, Second Edition, ii. 459 _sqq._\n\n  322 See _The Golden Bough_, Second Edition, ii. 460, 463, 464 _sq._\n\n  M77 If the great Irish fairs were instituted in honour of the dead, we\n      can understand why their observance was supposed to ensure plenty of\n      corn, fruit, milk, and fish.\n\n  323 See above, pp. 14 _sqq._, 21, 27, 33, 36 _sq._\n\n  324 See above, p. 98.\n\n  325 See above, p. 93.\n\n  M78 But the theory of the funeral origin of the Olympic games does not\n      explain all the legends connected with them. Suggested theory of the\n      origin of the Olympic games.\n\n  326 Pausanias, v. 1. 4, v. 8. 1.\n\n  327 Apollodorus, _Bibliotheca_, pp. 183-185 ed. R. Wagner (_Epitoma_,\n      ii. 3-9); Diodorus Siculus, iv. 73; Hyginus, _Fabulae_, 84; Schol.\n      on Pindar, _Olymp._ i. 114; Servius on Virgil, _Georg._ iii. 7. See\n      _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 299 _sq._\n\n  328 Strabo, vi. 3. 9, p. 284; K. O. M\u00fcller, _Aeschylos Eumeniden_\n      (G\u00f6ttingen, 1833), p. 144.\n\n  329 Pausanias, vi. 21. 9-11.\n\n  M79 The Olympic games not a harvest festival, but based on astronomical\n      considerations.\n  M80 Widespread myth of the slaughter of a great dragon. The Babylonian\n      story of the slaying of Tiamat by Marduk is a myth of the creation\n      of cosmos out of chaos.\n\n  330 P. Jensen, _Die Kosmologie der Babylonier_ (Strasburg, 1890), pp.\n      263 _sqq._; _id._, _Assyrisch-babylonische Mythen und Epen_ (Berlin,\n      1900), pp. 3 _sqq._; M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and\n      Assyria_, pp. 407 _sqq._; L. W. King, _Babylonian Religion and\n      Mythology_, pp. 53 _sqq._; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader\u2019s _Die\n      Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_ (Berlin, 1902), pp. 488\n      _sqq._; M. J. Lagrange, _\u00c9tudes sur les religions s\u00e9mitiques_2\n      (Paris, 1905); pp. 366 _sqq._\n\n  331 P. Jensen, _Die Kosmologie der Babylonier_, pp. 304-306; H. Gunkel,\n      _Sch\u00f6pfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit_ (G\u00f6ttingen, 1895), pp.\n      114 _sqq._; _id._, _Genesis \u00fcbersetzt und erkl\u00e4rt_ (G\u00f6ttingen,\n      1901), pp. 107 _sqq._; _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, _s.v._ \u201cCreation,\u201d\n      i. coll. 938 _sqq._; S. R. Driver, _The Book of Genesis_4 (London,\n      1905), pp. 27 _sqq._ The myth is clearly alluded to in several\n      passages of Scripture, where the dragon of the sea is spoken of as\n      Rahab or Leviathan. See Isaiah li. 9, \u201cArt thou not it that cut\n      Rahab in pieces, that pierced the dragon?\u201d: _id._ xxvii. 1, \u201cIn that\n      day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish\n      leviathan the swift serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent; and\n      he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea\u201d: Job xxvi. 12, \u201cHe\n      stirreth up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he\n      smiteth through Rahab\u201d: Psalm lxxxix. 10, \u201cThou hast broken Rahab in\n      pieces as one that is slain\u201d: Psalm lxxiv. 13 _sq._, \u201cThou didst\n      divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the\n      dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in\n      pieces.\u201d See further H. Gunkel, _Sch\u00f6pfung und Chaos_, pp. 29 _sqq._\n\n  M81 Indian story of the slaying of V\u1e5btra by Indra. The story may be a\n      myth descriptive of the beginning of the rainy season in India.\n\n  332 A. A. Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_, pp. 58-60, 158 _sq._ Compare H.\n      Oldenberg, _Die Religion des Veda_, pp. 134 _sqq._\n\n  333 See M. Winternitz, \u201cDer Sarpabali, ein altindischer Schlangencult,\u201d\n      _Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien_, xviii.\n      (1888) pp. 44 _sq._\n\n  M82 Similarly the other tales of the slaughter of the dragon may be\n      mythical descriptions of the changes of the seasons.\n\n  334 A. Kuhn, \u201cWodan,\u201d _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr deutsches Alterthum_, v. (1845)\n      pp. 484-488.\n\n  335 P. Jensen, _Die Kosmologie der Babylonier_, pp. 315 _sq._; H.\n      Gunkel, _Sch\u00f6pfung und Chaos_, p. 25; _id._, _Genesis \u00fcbersetzt und\n      erkl\u00e4rt_, pp. 115 _sq._; M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and\n      Assyria_, pp. 411 _sq._, 429 _sq._, 432 _sq._; H. Zimmern, in\n      _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, _s.v._ \u201cCreation,\u201d i. coll. 940 _sq._;\n      _id._, in E. Schrader\u2019s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte\n      Testament_,3 pp. 370 _sq._, 500 _sq._; S. R. Driver, _The Book of\n      Genesis_4 (London, 1905), p. 28.\n\n  M83 The cosmogonical significance of the Babylonian myth may have been\n      an after-thought, the early philosophers picturing the creation of\n      the world on the analogy of the change from winter to summer.\n\n  336 Virgil, _Georgics_, ii. 336-342.\n\n  M84 Thus ceremonies intended to hasten the departure of winter are in a\n      sense attempts to repeat the creation of the world.\n  M85 In Babylon and India the myth of the slaughter of the dragon may\n      have been acted as a magical ceremony to hasten the advent of summer\n      or of the rainy season. New-year festival of Zagmuk at Babylon.\n\n  337 P. Jensen, _Die Kosmologie der Babylonier_, pp. 84 _sqq._; M.\n      Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, pp. 677 _sqq._; H.\n      Zimmern, in E. Schrader\u2019s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte\n      Testament_,3 pp. 371, 384 note 4, 402, 427, 515 _sqq._; R. F.\n      Harper, _Babylonian and Assyrian Literature_ (New York, 1901), pp.\n      136, _sq._, 137, 140, 149; M. J. Lagrange, _\u00c9tudes sur les religions\n      s\u00e9mitiques_2 (Paris, 1905), pp. 285 _sqq._\n\n  338 L. W. King, _Babylonian Religion and Mythology_, pp. 88 _sqq._\n\n  339 See C. P. Tiele, _Geschiedenis van den Godsdienst in de Oudheid_, i.\n      (Amsterdam, 1903) pp. 159 _sq._; L. W. King, _op. cit._ p. 21; H.\n      Zimmern. in E. Schrader\u2019s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte\n      Testament_,3 p. 399; M. Jastrow, _Die Religion Babyloniens und\n      Assyriens_, i (Giessen, 1905) pp. 117 _sqq._\n\n  340 P. Jensen, _op. cit._ pp. 85 _sqq._; M. Jastrow, _The Religion of\n      Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 679; H. Zimmern, _op. cit._ p. 515; M. J.\n      Lagrange, _op. cit._ p. 286.\n\n  341 P. Jensen, _op. cit._ p. 87; M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia\n      and Assyria_, p. 681; H. Zimmern, _op. cit._ pp. 402, 415; R. F.\n      Harper, _op. cit._ p. 136.\n\n  342 P. Jensen, _Assyrisch-babylonische Mythen und Epen_, p. 29; L. W.\n      King, _Babylonian Religion and Mythology_, p. 74.\n\n  343 This appears to be substantially the view of H. Zimmern (_op. cit._\n      p. 501) and of Karppe (referred to in _Encyclopaedia Biblica_,\n      _s.v._ \u201cCreation,\u201d i. coll. 941 note 1).\n\n  M86 Part played by the king in the drama of the Slaughter of the Dragon.\n  M87 Suggested reconciliation of the totemic with the cosmological\n      interpretation of the Slaughter of the Dragon.\n\n  344 A. Moret, _Du caract\u00e8re religieux de la royaut\u00e9 Pharaonique_ (Paris,\n      1902), pp. 18 _sqq._, 33 _sqq._\n\n  345 Clement of Alexandria. _Strom._ v. 7. p. 671, ed. Potter.\n\n  346 A. Erman, _Die \u00e4gyptische Religion_ (Berlin, 1905), pp. 10, 25.\n\n  347 John Parkinson (late Principal of the Mineral Survey of Southern\n      Nigeria), \u201cSouthern Nigeria, the Lagos Province,\u201d _The Empire\n      Review_, vol. xv. May 1908, pp. 290 _sq._ The account in the text of\n      the mystery surrounding the Awujale is taken from A. B. Ellis, _The\n      Yoruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa_ (London,\n      1894), p. 170.\n\n  M88 Evidence of an annual tenure of the kingship at Babylon. Further, it\n      would seem that in very early times the kings of Babylon were put to\n      death at the end of a year\u2019s reign. The mock king put to death at\n      the festival of the Sacaea was probably a substitute for the real\n      king.\n\n  348 M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 680; H.\n      Zimmern, in E. Schrader\u2019s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte\n      Testament_,3 pp. 374, 515; C. Brockelmann, \u201cWesen und Ursprung des\n      Eponymats in Assyrien,\u201d _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Assyriologie_, xvi. (1902)\n      pp. 391 _sq._, 396 _sq._\n\n  349 Athenaeus, xiv. 44, p. 639 C; Dio Chrysostom, _Or._ iv. pp. 69 _sq._\n      (vol. i. p. 76, ed. L. Dindorf). Dio Chrysostom does not mention his\n      authority, but it was probably either Berosus or Ctesias. The\n      execution of the mock king is not noticed in the passage of Berosus\n      cited by Athenaeus, probably because the mention of it was not\n      germane to Athenaeus\u2019s purpose, which was simply to give a list of\n      festivals at which masters waited on their servants. A passage of\n      Macrobius (_Saturn._ iii. 7. 6) which has sometimes been interpreted\n      as referring to this Babylonian custom (F. Liebrecht, in\n      _Philologus_, xxii. 710; J. J. Bachofen, _Die Sage von Tanaquil_, p.\n      52, note 16) has in fact nothing to do with it. See A. B. Cook, in\n      _Classical Review_, xvii. (1903) p. 412; _id._ in _Folk-lore_, xv.\n      (1904) pp. 304, 384. In the passage of Dio Chrysostom \u1f10\u03ba\u03c1\u03ad\u03bc\u03b1\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd\n      should strictly mean \u201changed,\u201d but the verb was applied by the\n      Greeks to the Roman punishment of crucifixion (Plutarch, _Caesar_,\n      2). It may have been extended to include impalement, which was often\n      inflicted by the Assyrians, as we may see by the representations of\n      it on the Assyrian monuments in the British Museum. See also R. F.\n      Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian Literature_, p. 41, with the plate\n      facing p. 54. The proper word for impalement in Greek is\n      \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c0\u03af\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd (Herodotus, iv. 202). Hanging was also an Oriental as\n      well as Roman mode of punishment. The Hebrew word for it (\u05d7\u05dc\u05d4) seems\n      unambiguous. See Esther, v. 14, vii. 9 _sq._; Deuteronomy, xxi. 22\n      _sq._; Joshua, viii. 29, x. 26; Livy, i. 26. 6.\n\n  350 See above, pp. 21, 26 _sqq._\n\n  M89 The festival of the Sacaea was perhaps identical with Zagmuk.\n      Festival of Zagmuk in Assyria. Trace of an annual tenure of the\n      kingship in Assyria.\n\n  351 Bruno Meissner, \u201cZur Entstehungsgeschichte des Purimfestes,\u201d\n      _Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenl\u00e4ndischen Gesellschaft_, I. (1896)\n      pp. 296-301; H. Winckler, _Altorientalische Forschungen_, Zweite\n      Reihe, Bd. ii. p. 345; C. Brockelmann, \u201cWesen und Ursprung des\n      Eponymats in Assyrien,\u201d _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Assyriologie_, xvi. (1902)\n      pp. 391 _sq._\n\n  352 Meantime I may refer the reader to _The Golden Bough_, Second\n      Edition, ii. 254, iii. 151 _sqq._ As I have there pointed out (iii.\n      152 _sq._) the identification of the months of the Syro-Macedonian\n      calendar (that is, the ascertainment of their astronomical dates in\n      the solar year) is a matter of some uncertainty, the dates appearing\n      to have varied considerably in different places. The month Lous in\n      particular is variously said to have corresponded in different\n      places to July, August, September, and October. Until we have\n      ascertained beyond the reach of doubt when Lous fell at Babylon in\n      the time of Berosus, it would be premature to allow much weight to\n      the seeming discrepancy in the dates of Zagmuk and the Sacaea. On\n      the whole difficult question of the identification or dating of the\n      months of the Syro-Macedonian calendar see L. Ideler, _Handbuch der\n      mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_, i. 393 _sqq._; K. F.\n      Hermann, \u201c\u00dcber griechische Monatskunde,\u201d _Abhandlungen der\n      histor.-philolog. Classe d. k\u00f6n. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu\n      G\u00f6ttingen_, ii. (1843-44) pp. 68 _sqq._, 95, 109, 111 _sqq._; H. F.\n      Clinton, _Fasti Hellenici_, iii.2 351 _sqq._; article \u201cCalendarium,\u201d\n      in W. Smith\u2019s _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_,3 i. 339.\n      The distinction between the dates of the Syro-Macedonian months,\n      which differed in different places, and their order, which was the\n      same in all places (Dius, Apellaeus, etc.), appears to have been\n      overlooked by some of my former readers.\n\n  353 P. Jensen, _Die Kosmologie der Babylonier_, p. 84; C. Brockelmann,\n      \u201cWesen und Ursprung des Eponymats in Assyrien,\u201d _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr\n      Assyriologie_, xvi. (1902) p. 392. However, there is no mention of\n      Zagmuk in Prof. R. F. Harper\u2019s translation of the inscription\n      (_Assyrian and Babylonian Literature_, p. 87).\n\n  354 C. Brockelmann, _op. cit._ pp. 389-401.\n\n  355 H. Winckler, _Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens_ (Leipsic, 1902),\n      p. 212; R. F. Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian Literature_, pp.\n      xxxviii. _sq._, 206-216; E. Meyer, _Geschichte des Altertums_2, i. 2\n      (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1909), pp. 331 _sq._ It was the second, not\n      the first, year of a king\u2019s reign which in later times at all events\n      was named after him. For the explanation see C. Brockelmann, _op.\n      cit._ pp. 397 _sq._\n\n  356 The eponymate in Assyria and elsewhere may have been the subject of\n      superstitions which we do not yet understand. Perhaps the eponymous\n      magistrate may have been deemed in a sense responsible for\n      everything that happened in the year. Thus we are told that \u201cin\n      Manipur they have a noteworthy system of keeping count of the years.\n      Each year is named after some man, who\u2014for a\n      consideration\u2014undertakes to bear the fortune, good or bad, of the\n      year. If the year be good, if there be no pestilence and a good\n      harvest, he gets presents from all sorts of people, and I remember\n      hearing that in 1898, when the cholera was at its worst, a\n      deputation came to the Political Agent and asked him to punish the\n      name-giver, as it was obvious that he was responsible for the\n      epidemic. In former times he would have got into trouble\u201d (T. C.\n      Hodson, \u201cThe Native Tribes of Manipur,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Institute_, xxxi. 1901, p. 302).\n\n  357 C. Brockelmann, \u201cDas Neujahrsfest der Jez\u00eed\u00ees,\u201d _Zeitschrift der\n      deutschen morgenl\u00e4ndischen Gesellschaft_, lv. (1901) pp. 388-390.\n\n  M90 Slaves sacrificed instead of their masters in West Africa.\n\n  358 Letter of the missionary N. Baudin, dated 16th April 1875, in\n      _Missions Catholiques_, vii. (1875) pp. 614-616, 627 _sq._; _Annales\n      de la Propagation de la Foi_, xlviii. (1876) pp. 66-76.\n\n  M91 Trace of custom of killing the kings of Hawaii at the end of a\n      year\u2019s reign.\n\n  359 U. Lisiansky, _A Voyage Round the World in the Years 1803, 4, 5, and\n      6_ (London, 1814), pp. 118 _sq._ The same ceremony seems to be more\n      briefly described by the French voyager Freycinet, who says that\n      after the principal idol had been carried in procession about the\n      island for twenty-three days it was brought back to the temple, and\n      that thereupon the king was not allowed to enter the precinct until\n      he had parried a spear thrown at him by two men. See L. de\n      Freycinet, _Voyage autour du monde_, vol. ii. Premi\u00e8re Partie\n      (Paris, 1829), pp. 596 _sq._\n\n  M92 The reign and life of the king limited to a single day in Ngoio, a\n      province of Congo.\n\n  360 R. E. Dennett, _Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort_, with an\n      introduction by Mary H. Kingsley (London, 1898), p. xxxii; _id._,\n      _At the Back of the Black Man\u2019s Mind_ (London, 1906), p. 120. Miss\n      Kingsley in conversation called my attention to this particular\n      custom, and informed me that she was personally acquainted with the\n      chief, who possesses but declines to exercise the right of\n      succession.\n\n  M93 Reminiscences of a custom of regicide in popular tales. Story how\n      Lancelot came to a city where the king had to perish in the fire on\n      New Year\u2019s Day.\n\n_  361 The High History of the Holy Graal_, translated from the French by\n      Sebastian Evans (London, 1898), i. 200-203. I have to thank the\n      translator, Mr. Sebastian Evans, for his kindness in indicating this\n      passage to me.\n\n  M94 Story of King Vikramditya of Ujjain in India. Kings of Ujjain\n      devoured by a demon after a reign of a single day.\n\n  362 For a discussion of the legends which gather round Vikramaditya see\n      Captain Wilford, \u201cVicramaditya and Salivahana,\u201d _Asiatic\n      Researches_, ix. (London, 1809) pp. 117 _sqq._; Chr. Lassen,\n      _Indische Alterthumskunde_, ii.2 752 _sqq._, 794 _sqq._; E. T.\n      Atkinson, _The Himalayan Districts of the North-Western Provinces of\n      India_, ii. (Allahabad, 1884), pp. 410. _sqq._ Vikramaditya is\n      commonly supposed to have lived in the first century B.C. and to\n      have founded the _Samvat_ era, which began with 57 B.C., and is now\n      in use all over India. But according to Professor H. Oldenberg it is\n      now certain that this Vikramaditya was a purely legendary personage\n      (H. Oldenberg, _Die Literatur des alten Indien_, Stuttgart and\n      Berlin, 1903, pp. 215 _sq._).\n\n  M95 Vikramaditya puts an end to the custom by vanquishing the demon,\n      after which he reigns as king of Ujjain.\n\n  363 \u201cHistoire des rois de l\u2019Hindoustan apr\u00e8s les Pandaras, traduite du\n      texte hindoustani de M\u00eer Cher-i Al\u00ee Afsos, par M. l\u2019abb\u00e9 Bertrand,\u201d\n      _Journal Asiatique_, IV\u00e8me S\u00e9rie, iii. (Paris, 1844) pp. 248-257.\n      The story is told more briefly by Mrs. Postans, _Cutch_ (London,\n      1839), pp. 21 _sq._ Compare Chr. Lassen, _Indische Alterthumskunde_,\n      ii.2 798.\n\n  M96 Yearly human sacrifices formerly offered at Ujjain.\n\n  364 A. V. Williams Jackson, \u201cNotes from India, Second Series,\u201d _Journal\n      of the American Oriental Society_, xxiii. (1902) pp. 308, 316 _sq._\n      I have to thank my friend the Rev. Professor J. H. Moulton for\n      referring me to Prof. Williams Jackson\u2019s paper.\n\n  M97 Story of the birth of Vikramaditya. His father Gandharva-Sena was an\n      ass by day and a man by night, until his ass\u2019s skin was burnt, when\n      he left his wife for ever.\n\n  365 \u201cHistoire des rois de l\u2019Hindoustan,\u201d _Journal Asiatique_, IV\u00e8me\n      S\u00e9rie, iii. (1844) pp. 239-243. The legend is told with\n      modifications by Captain Wilford (\u201cVicramaditya and Salivahana,\u201d\n      _Asiatic Researches_, ix. London, 1809, pp. 148 _sq._), Mrs. Postans\n      (_Cutch_, London, 1839, pp. 18-20), and Prof. Williams Jackson (_op.\n      cit._ pp. 314 _sq._).\n\n  M98 Stories of the type of Beauty and the Beast, which tell how human\n      beings are married to beasts or to animals which temporarily assume\n      human form.\n  M99 Stories of this kind are told by savages to explain why they abstain\n      from eating certain animals. Dyak stories of this type.\n\n  366 The Bishop of Labuan, \u201cWild Tribes of Borneo,\u201d _Transactions of the\n      Ethnological Society of London_, New Series, ii. (1863) pp. 26 _sq._\n\n  367 Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, \u201cThe Relations between Men and Animals in\n      Sarawak,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxi. (1901)\n      pp. 197 _sq._\n\n  368 Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, _op. cit._ p. 193.\n\n M100 Story told by the Sea Dyaks to explain how they came to plant rice\n      and to revere the omen-birds. It describes how the young chief Siu\n      married a woman of the bird-family, and promised her never to hurt\n      or even touch a bird.\n M101 But one day he broke his word, and his bird-wife left him and\n      returned to the bird-people.\n\n  369 Rev. E. H. Gomes, \u201cTwo Sea Dyak Legends,\u201d _Journal of the Straits\n      Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society_, No. 41 (January 1904,\n      Singapore), pp. 12-28; _id._, _Seventeen Years among the Sea Dyaks\n      of Borneo_ (London, 1911), pp. 278 _sqq._\n\n M102 Stories of the same sort are told by the Tshi-speaking negroes of\n      the Gold Coast to explain why they do not eat their totemic animals.\n\n  370 A. B. Ellis, _The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast_ (London,\n      1887), pp. 204-212.\n\n M103 Stories of this sort were probably at first always told to explain\n      the totemic belief in the kinship of certain families with certain\n      species of animals. When husband and wife had different totems, a\n      violation of the totemic taboos by husband or wife might lead to the\n      separation of the spouses. This would explain the separation of\n      husband and wife in the type of tale here discussed.\n\n  371 The type of story in question has been discussed by Mr. Andrew Lang\n      in a well-known essay \u201cCupid, Psyche, and the Sun-Frog,\u201d _Custom and\n      Myth_ (London, 1884), pp. 64-86. He rightly explains all such tales\n      as based on savage taboos, but so far as I know he does not\n      definitely connect them with totemism. For other examples of these\n      tales told by savages see W. Lederbogen, \u201cDuala M\u00e4rchen,\u201d\n      _Mittheilungen des Seminars f\u00fcr Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin_,\n      v. (1902) Dritte Abtheilung, pp. 139-145 (the Duala tribe of\n      Cameroons; in one tale the wife is a palm-rat, in the other a\n      _mpondo_, a hard brown fruit as large as a coconut); R. H. Nassau,\n      _Fetichism in West Africa_ (London, 1904), pp. 351-358 (West Africa;\n      wife a forest-rat); G. H. Smith, \u201cSome Betsimisaraka Superstitions,\u201d\n      _The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine_, No. 10\n      (Christmas, 1886), pp. 241 _sq._; R. H. Codrington, _The\n      Melanesians_, pp. 172, 397 _sq._ (Melanesia; wife a bird, husband an\n      owl); A. F. van Spreeuwenberg, \u201cEen blik op Minahassa,\u201d _Tijdschrift\n      voor Ne\u00earland\u2019s Indi\u00eb_, 1846, Erste deel, pp. 25-28 (the Bantiks of\n      Celebes; wife a white dove); J. H. F. Kohlbrugge, \u201cDie Tenggeresen,\n      ein alter Javanischer Volksstaam,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en\n      Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, iiii. (1901) pp. 97-99 (the\n      Tenggeres of Java; wife a bird); J. Fanggidaej, \u201cRottineesche\n      Verhalen,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van\n      Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, lviii. (1905), pp. 430-436 (island of Rotti;\n      husband a crocodile); J. Kubary, \u201cDie Religion der Pelauer,\u201d in A.\n      Bastian\u2019s _Allerlei aus Volkes- und Menschenkunde_ (Berlin, 1888),\n      i. 60 _sq._ (Pelew Islands; wife a fish); A. R. McMahon, _The Karens\n      of the Golden Chersonese_, pp. 248-250 (Karens of Burma; husband a\n      tree-lizard); Landes, \u201cContes Tjames,\u201d _Cochinchine fran\u00e7aise,\n      excursions et reconnaissances_, No. 29 (Saigon, 1887), pp. 53 _sqq._\n      (Chams of Cochin-China; husband a coco-nut); A. Certeux and E. H.\n      Carnoy, _L\u2019Alg\u00e9rie traditionnelle_ (Paris and Algiers, 1884), pp.\n      87-89 (Arabs of Algeria; wife a dove); J. G. Kohl, _Kitschi-Gami_\n      (Bremen, 1858), i. 140-145 (Ojebway Indians; wife a beaver); Franz\n      Boas and George Hunt, _Kwakiutl Texts_, ii. 322-330 (_The Jesup\n      North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural\n      History_) (Kwakiutl Indians; wife a salmon); J. R. Swanton, _Haida\n      Texts and Myths_ (_Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin_, No. 29,\n      Washington, 1905), pp. 286 _sq._ (Haida Indians; wife a\n      killer-whale); H. Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, pp.\n      146 _sq._ (Esquimaux; wife a sea-fowl). The Bantik story is told to\n      explain the origin of the people; the Tenggeres story is told to\n      explain why it is forbidden to lift the lid of a basket in which\n      rice is being boiled. The other stories referred to in this note are\n      apparently told as fairy tales only, but we may conjecture that they\n      too were related originally to explain a supposed relationship of\n      human beings to animals or plants. I have already illustrated and\n      explained this type of story in _Totemism and Exogamy_, vol. ii. pp.\n      55, 206, 308, 565-571, 589, iii. 60-64, 337 _sq._\n\n  372 The fable of Cupid and Psyche is only preserved in the Latin of\n      Apuleius (_Metamorph._ iv. 28-vi. 24), but we cannot doubt that the\n      original was Greek. For the story of Pururavas and Urvasi, see _The\n      Rigveda_, x. 95 (_Hymns of the Rigveda_, translated by R. T. H.\n      Griffith, vol. iv. Benares, 1892, pp. 304 _sqq._); _Satapatha\n      Brahmana_, translated by J. Eggeling, part v. pp. 68-74 (_Sacred\n      Books of the East_, vol. xliv.); and the references in _The Magic\n      Art and the Evolution of Kings_, vol. ii. p. 250, note 4. A clear\n      trace of the bird-nature of Urvasi occurs in the _Satapatha\n      Brahmana_ (Part v. p. 70 of J. Eggeling\u2019s translation), where the\n      sorrowing husband finds his lost wife among nymphs who are swimming\n      about in the shape of swans or ducks on a lotus-covered lake. This\n      has been already pointed out by Th. Benfey (_Pantschatantra_, i.\n      264). In English the type of tale is known as \u201cBeauty and the\n      Beast,\u201d which ought to include the cases in which the wife, as well\n      as those in which the husband, appears as an animal. On stories of\n      this sort, especially in the folklore of civilised peoples, see Th.\n      Benfey, _Pantschatantra_, i. 254 _sqq._; W. R. S. Ralston,\n      Introduction to F. A. von Schiefner\u2019s _Tibetan Tales_, pp.\n      xxxvii.-xxxix.; A. Lang, _Custom and Myth_ (London, 1884), pp. 64\n      _sqq._; S. Baring-Gould, _Curious Myths of the Middle Ages_, pp.\n      561-578; E. Cosquin, _Contes populaires de Lorraine_, ii. 215-230;\n      W. A. Clouston, _Popular Tales and Fictions_, i. 182-191; Miss M.\n      Roalfe Cox, _Introduction to Folklore_ (London, 1895) pp. 120-123.\n\n M104 The story of the parentage of Vikramaditya may point to a line of\n      kings who had the ass for their crest or totem. Similarly the\n      Maharajahs of Nagpur have the cobra for their crest and the origin\n      of the crest is explained by a story of the type of Beauty and the\n      Beast.\n\n  373 In the ruins of Raipoor, supposed to be the ancient Mandavie, coins\n      are found bearing the image of an ass; and the legend of the\n      transformation of Gandharva-Sena into an ass is told to explain\n      their occurrence. The coins are called Gandharva pice. See Mrs.\n      Postans, _Cutch_ (London, 1839), pp. 17 _sq._, 22.\n\n  374 E. T. Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, pp. 165 _sq._\n\n  375 T. C. Hodson, \u201cThe Native Tribes of Manipur,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Institute_, xxxi. (1901) pp. 302, 304.\n\n M105 Stories of the type of Beauty and the Beast are not mere fictions,\n      but rest on a real basis of belief and custom. Similarly the legend\n      of kings who were sacrificed after a reign of a single day has its\n      analogy in actual custom. Such stories indicate that the supply of\n      kings may have been maintained by compelling men to accept the fatal\n      sovereignty.\n\n  376 See above, pp. 118 _sq._\n\n M106 Our conceptions of the primitive kingship are apt to be coloured and\n      falsified by ideas borrowed from the very different monarchies of\n      modern Europe.\n\n  377 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, vol. ii. p. 4;\n      _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 17 _sqq._\n\n M107 In other races and other ages many men may have been willing to\n      accept a kingdom on condition of being killed at the end of a short\n      reign. Various causes have contributed to intensify the fear of\n      death in modern Europe.\n\n  378 See Dr. Joseph Bautz, _Die H\u00f6lle, im Anschluss an die Scholastik\n      dargestellt_2 (Mainz, 1905). Dr. Bautz holds that the damned burn in\n      eternal darkness and eternal fire somewhere in the bowels of the\n      earth. He is, let us hope in more senses than one, an extraordinary\n      professor of theology at the University of M\u00fcnster, and his book is\n      published with the approbation of the Catholic Church.\n\n M108 Evidence of the comparative indifference to death displayed by other\n      races. Absence of the fear of death in India and Annam.\n\n  379 R. H. Elliot, _Experiences of a Planter in the Jungles of Mysore_\n      (London, 1871), i. 95.\n\n  380 Mrs. Postans, _Cutch_ (London, 1839), p. 168.\n\n  381 Mgr. Masson, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xxiv. (1852)\n      pp. 324 _sq._\n\n M109 Absence of the fear of death among the American Indians.\n\n  382 H. R. Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes of the United States_, ii.\n      (Philadelphia, 1853), p. 68.\n\n  383 F. de Azara, _Voyages dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique M\u00e9ridionale_, ii. 181.\n\n M110 Apathy of savages under sentence of death.\n\n  384 A. B. Ellis, _The Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast_, p. 127.\n      The testimony of a soldier on such a point is peculiarly valuable.\n\n  385 A. Thevet, _Les Singularitez de la France Antarctique_ (Antwerp,\n      1558), pp. 74 _sq._; _id._, _Cosmographie universelle_ (Paris,\n      1575), p. 945 [979].\n\n  386 My informant was the late Captain W. C. Robinson, formerly of the\n      2nd Bombay Europeans (Company\u2019s Service), afterwards resident at 15\n      Chesterton Hall Crescent, Cambridge. He learned the facts in the\n      year 1853 from his friend Captain Gore, of the 29th Madras Native\n      Infantry, who rescued some of the victims.\n\n  387 Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), p. 338.\n\n M111 Further, men of other races often sacrifice their lives voluntarily\n      for reasons which seem to us wholly inadequate. Thus people have\n      freely allowed themselves to be killed in order to accompany their\n      dead ruler to the other world.\n\n  388 See above, pp. 42 _sqq._, 54 _sqq._\n\n  389 O. Dapper, _Description de l\u2019Afrique_ (Amsterdam, 1686), p. 312; H.\n      Ling Roth, _Great Benin_, p. 43.\n\n  390 R. Southey, _History of Brazil_, iii. 391 _sq._\n\n  391 Tacitus, _Histor._ ii. 49; Plutarch, _Otho_, 17.\n\n M112 In the East, persons sometimes commit suicide in order to avenge\n      themselves on their enemies. Law of retaliation in a robber caste of\n      southern India.\n\n  392 R. Lasch, \u201cRache als Selbstmordmotiv,\u201d _Globus_, lxxiv. (1898) pp.\n      37-39.\n\n  393 Father Martin, Jesuit missionary, in _Lettres \u00e9difiantes et\n      curieuses_, Nouvelle \u00c9dition, xi. (Paris, 1781), pp. 246-248. The\n      letter was written at Marava, in the mission of Madura, 8th November\n      1709. No doubt the English Government has long since done its best\n      to suppress these practices.\n\n M113 Contempt of death exhibited in antiquity by the Thracians and the\n      Gauls.\n\n  394 Seleucus, quoted by Athenaeus, iv. 42, p. 155 D E.\n\n  395 Posidonius, quoted by Athenaeus, iv. 40, p. 154 B C.\n\n M114 In ancient Rome there were men willing to be beheaded for a sum of\n      five _minae_.\n\n  396 Euphorion of Chalcis, quoted by Athenaeus, iv. 40, p. 154 C;\n      Eustathius on Homer, _Odyssey_, xviii. 46, p. 1837.\n\n  397 Athenaeus, iv. 39, p. 153 E F, quoting Nicolaus Damascenus.\n\n  398 Tertullian, _De spectaculis_, 12. The custom of sacrificing human\n      beings in honour of the dead, which has been practised by many\n      savage and barbarous peoples, was in later times so far mitigated at\n      Rome that the destined victims were allowed to fight each other,\n      which gave some of them a chance of surviving. This mitigation of\n      human sacrifice is said to have been introduced by D. Junius Brutus\n      in the third century B.C. (Livy, _Epit._ xvi.). It resembles the\n      change which I suppose to have taken place at Nemi and other places,\n      where, if I am right, kings were at first put to death inexorably at\n      the end of a fixed period, but were afterwards permitted to defend\n      themselves in single combat.\n\n  399 Livy, ii. 5. 8, xxvi. 13. 15, xxviii. 29. 11; Polybius, i. 7. 12,\n      xi. 30. 2; Th. Mommsen, _R\u00f6misches Strafrecht_ (Leipsic, 1899), pp.\n      916 _sqq._\n\n  400 Hiera Sykaminos (_Maharraka_), the furthest point of the Roman\n      dominion in southern Egypt, lies within the tropics. The empire did\n      not reach this its extreme limit till after the age of Augustus. See\n      Th. Mommsen, _R\u00f6mische Geschichte_, v. 594 _sq._ Strabo speaks\n      (xvii. 1. 48, p. 817) as if Syene, which was held by a Roman\n      garrison of three cohorts, were within the tropics; but that is a\n      mistake.\n\n M115 Chinese indifference to death.\n\n  401 For some evidence see J. H. Gray, _China_, i. 329 _sqq._; H. Norman,\n      _The Peoples and Politics of the Far East_ (London, 1905), pp. 277\n      _sq._ On this subject the Rev. Dr. W. T. A. Barber, Headmaster of\n      the Leys School, Cambridge, formerly a missionary in China, writes\n      to me as follows (3rd February 1902):\u2014\u201cUndoubtedly the Eastern,\n      through his belief in Fate, has comparatively little fear of death.\n      I have sometimes seen the Chinese in great fear; but, on the other\n      hand, I have saved at least a hundred lives of people who had\n      swallowed opium out of spite against some one else, the idea being,\n      first, the trouble given by minions of the law to the survivor;\n      second, that the dead would gain a vantage ground by becoming a\n      ghost, and thus able to plague his enemy in the flesh. Probably\n      blind anger has more to do with it than either of these causes. But\n      the particular mode would not ordinarily occur to a Western. I am\n      bound to say that in many cases the patient was ready enough to take\n      my medicines, but mostly it was the friends who were most eager, and\n      exceedingly rarely did I receive thanks from the rescued.\u201d\n\n  402 J. H. Gray (Archdeacon of Hong-kong), _China_ (London, 1878), ii.\n      306.\n\n  403 The particulars in the text are taken, with Lord Avebury\u2019s kind\n      permission, from a letter addressed to him by Mr. M. W. Lampson of\n      the Foreign Office. See Note A at the end of the volume. Speaking of\n      capital punishment in China, Professor E. H. Parker says: \u201cIt is\n      popularly stated that substitutes can be bought for Taels 50, and\n      most certainly this statement is more than true, so far as the price\n      of human life is concerned; but it is quite another question whether\n      the gaolers and judges can always be bribed\u201d (E. H. Parker,\n      Professor of Chinese at the Owens College, Manchester, _China Past\n      and Present_, London, 1903, pp. 378 _sq._). However, from his\n      personal enquiries Professor Parker is convinced that in such\n      matters the local mandarin can do what he pleases, provided that he\n      observes the form of law and gives no offence to his superiors.\n\n M116 We must not judge of all men\u2019s love of life by our own.\n\n  404 My friend, the late Sir Francis Galton, mentioned in conversation a\n      phrase which described the fear of death as \u201cthe Western (or\n      European) malady,\u201d but he did not remember where he had met with it.\n      He wrote to me (18th October 1902) that \u201cour fear of death is\n      presumably much greater than that of the barbarians who were our\n      far-back ancestors.\u201d\n\n M117 Hence it is probable that in some races and at some periods of\n      history it would be easy to find men willing to accept a kingdom on\n      condition of being killed at the end of a short reign.\n\n  405 See above, pp. 23, 49 _sqq._, 52 _sq._\n\n M118 Annual abdication of kings and their places temporarily taken by\n      nominal sovereigns. Temporary kings in Cambodia.\n\n  406 See above, pp. 113 _sqq._\n\n  407 E. Aymonier, _Notice sur le Cambodge_ (Paris, 1875), p. 61; J.\n      Moura, _Le Royaume du Cambodge_ (Paris, 1883), i. 327 _sq._ For the\n      connexion of the temporary king\u2019s family with the royal house, see\n      E. Aymonier, _op. cit._ pp. 36 _sq._\n\n M119 Temporary kings in Siam in former days.\n\n  408 De la Loub\u00e8re, _Du royaume de Siam_ (Amsterdam, 1691), i. 56 _sq._;\n      Turpin, \u201cHistory of Siam,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_, ix.\n      581 _sq._; Mgr. Brugi\u00e8re, in _Annales de l\u2019Association de la\n      Propagation de la Foi_, v. (1831) pp. 188 _sq._; Pallegoix,\n      _Description du royaume Thai ou Siam_ (Paris, 1854), i. 250; A.\n      Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, iii. 305-309, 526-528.\n      Bowring (_Siam_, i. 158 _sq._) copies, as usual, from Pallegoix. For\n      a description of the ceremony as observed at the present day, see E.\n      Young, _The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe_ (Westminster, 1898), pp. 210\n      _sq._ The representative of the king no longer enjoys his old\n      privilege of seizing any goods that are exposed for sale along the\n      line of the procession. According to Mr. Young, the ceremony is\n      generally held about the middle of May, and no one is supposed to\n      plough or sow till it is over. According to Loub\u00e8re the title of the\n      temporary king was _Oc-ya Kaou_, or Lord of the Rice, and the office\n      was regarded as fatal, or at least calamitous \u201c_funeste_\u201d) to him.\n\n  409 Lieut.-Col. James Low, \u201cOn the Laws of Muung Thai or Siam,\u201d _Journal\n      of the Indian Archipelago_, i. (Singapore, 1847) p. 339; A. Bastian,\n      _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, iii. 98, 314, 526 _sq._\n\n M120 Modern custom of temporary kings in Siam.\n\n  410 E. Young, _The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe_, pp. 212-217. The writer\n      tells us that though the Minister for Agriculture still officiates\n      at the Ploughing Festival, he no longer presides at the Swinging\n      Festival; a different nobleman is chosen every year to superintend\n      the latter.\n\n M121 Temporary kings in Samaracand and Upper Egypt.\n\n  411 Ed. Chavannes, _Documents sur les Tou-Kiue (Turcs) Occidentaux_ (St.\n      Petersburg, 1903), p. 133, note. The documents collected in this\n      volume are translated from the Chinese.\n\n  412 C. B. Klunzinger, _Bilder aus Ober\u00e4gypten der W\u00fcste und dem Rothen\n      Meere_ (Stuttgart, 1877), pp. 180 _sq._\n\n_  413 Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 243. For evidence of a\n      practice of burning divine personages, see _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_,\n      Second Edition, pp. 84 _sqq._, 91 _sqq._, 139 _sqq._\n\n M122 Temporary kings in Morocco.\n\n  414 Budgett Meakin, _The Moors_ (London, 1902), pp. 312 sq.; E. Aubin,\n      _Le Maroc d\u2019aujourd\u2019hui_ (Paris, 1904), pp. 283-287. According to\n      the latter of these writers the flight of the mock sultan takes\n      place the day after his meeting with the real sultan. The account in\n      the text embodies some notes which were kindly furnished me by Dr.\n      E. Westermarck.\n\n M123 Temporary king in Cornwall.\n\n  415 R. Carew, _Survey of Cornwall_ (London, 1811), p. 322. I do not know\n      what the writer means by \u201clittle Easter Sunday.\u201d The ceremony has\n      often been described by subsequent writers, but they seem all to\n      copy, directly or indirectly, from Carew, who says that the custom\n      had been yearly observed in past times and was only of late days\n      discontinued. His _Survey of Cornwall_ was first printed in 1602. I\n      have to thank Mr. G. M. Trevelyan, formerly Fellow of Trinity\n      College, Cambridge, for directing my attention to this interesting\n      survival of what was doubtless a very ancient custom.\n\n M124 Temporary kings at the beginning of a reign.\n\n  416 J. W. Boers, \u201cOud volksgebruik in het Rijk van Jambi,\u201d _Tijdschrift\n      voor Ne\u00earlands Indi\u00eb_, 1840, dl. i. pp. 372 _sqq._\n\n_  417 Panjab Notes and Queries_, i. p. 86, \u00a7 674 (May 1884).\n\n  418 Aeneas Sylvius, _Opera_ (B\u00e2le, 1571), pp. 409 _sq._; J. Boemus,\n      _Mores, leges, et ritus omnium gentium_ (Lyons, 1541), pp. 241\n      _sq._; J. Grimm, _Deutsche Rechtsalterth\u00fcmer_, p. 253. According to\n      Grimm, the cow and mare stood beside the prince, not the peasant.\n      The Carinthian ceremony is the subject of an elaborate German\n      dissertation by Dr. Emil Goldmann (_Die Einf\u00fchrung der deutschen\n      Herzogsgeschlechter K\u00e4rntens in den Slovenischen Stammesverband, ein\n      Beitrag zur Rechts- und Kulturgeschichte_, Breslau, 1903).\n\n M125 The temporary kings discharge divine or magical functions.\n\n  419 E. Young, _The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe_, p. 211.\n\n  420 Lasicius, \u201cDe diis Samagitarum caeterorumque Sarmatarum,\u201d in\n      _Respublica sive status regni Poloniae, Lituaniae, Prussiae,\n      Livoniae_, etc. (Elzevir, 1627), pp. 306 _sq._; _id._, edited by W.\n      Mannhardt in _Magazin herausgegeben von der Lettisch-Literarischen\n      Gesellschaft_, xiv. 91 _sq._; J. G. Kohl, _Die deutsch-russischen\n      Ostseeprovinzen_ (Dresden and Leipsic, 1841), ii. 27. There, are,\n      however, other occasions when superstition requires a person to\n      stand on one foot. At Toku-toku, in Fiji, the grave-digger who turns\n      the first sod has to stand on one leg, leaning on his digging-stick\n      (Rev. Lorimer Fison, in a letter to the author, dated August 26,\n      1898). Among the Angoni of British Central Africa, when the corpse\n      of a chief is being burned, his heir stands beside the blazing pyre\n      on one leg with his shield in his hand; and three days later he\n      again stands on one leg before the assembled people when they\n      proclaim him chief. See R. Sutherland Rattray, _Some Folk-lore\n      Stories and Songs in Chinyanja_ (London, 1907), pp. 100, 101.\n\n  421 E. Young, _The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe_, p. 212.\n\n  422 J. G. Kohl, _Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen_, ii. 25. With\n      regard to swinging as a magical or religious rite, see Note B at the\n      end of the volume. For other charms to make the crops grow tall by\n      leaping, letting the hair hang loose, and so forth, see _The Magic\n      Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 135 _sqq._\n\n  423 Macrobius, _Saturn._ v. 19. 13.\n\n  424 See _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 225 _sqq._\n\n M126 Temporary kings substituted in certain emergencies for Shahs of\n      Persia.\n\n  425 Sir John Malcolm, _History of Persia_ (London, 1815), i. 527 _sq._ I\n      am indebted to my friend Mr. W. Crooke for calling my attention to\n      this passage.\n\n  426 Captain John Stevens, _The History of Persia_ (London, 1715), pp.\n      356 _sq._ I have to thank Mr. W. Crooke for his kindness in copying\n      out this passage and sending it to me. I have not seen the original.\n      An Irish legend relates how the abbot Eimine Ban and forty-nine of\n      his monks sacrificed themselves by a voluntary death to save Bran \u00faa\n      Fael\u00e1in, King of Leinster, and forty-nine Leinster chiefs, from a\n      pestilence which was then desolating Leinster. They were sacrificed\n      in batches of seven a day for a week, the abbot himself perishing\n      after the last batch on the last day of the week. But it is not said\n      that the abbot enjoyed regal dignity during the seven days. See C.\n      Plummer, \u201cC\u00e1in Eim\u00edne B\u00e1in,\u201d _\u00c9riu, the Journal of the School of\n      Irish Learning, Dublin_. vol. iv. part i. (1908) pp. 39-46. The\n      legend was pointed out to me by Professor Kuno Meyer.\n\n M127 The temporary kings are sometimes related by blood to the real\n      kings.\n M128 Tradition of On, King of Sweden, and the sacrifice of his nine sons.\n\n  427 \u201cYnglinga Saga,\u201d 29, in _The Heimskringla or Chronicle of the Kings\n      of Norway, translated from the Icelandic of Snorro_ _Sturleson_, by\n      S. Laing (London, 1844), i. 239 _sq._; H. M. Chadwick, _The Cult of\n      Othin_ (London, 1899), pp. 4, 27. I have already cited the tradition\n      as evidence of a nine years\u2019 tenure of the kingship in Sweden. See\n      above, p. 57, with note 2.\n\n M129 Tradition of King Athamas and his children. Male descendants of King\n      Athamas liable to be sacrificed.\n\n  428 Herodotus, vii. 197; Apollodorus, i. 9. 1 _sq._; Schol. on\n      Aristophanes, _Clouds_, 257; J. Tzetzes, _Schol. on Lycophron_, 21,\n      229; Schol. on Apollonius Rhodius, _Argonautica_, ii. 653;\n      Eustathius, on Homer, _Iliad_, vii. 86, p. 667; _id._, on _Odyssey_,\n      v. 339, p. 1543; Pausanias, i. 44. 7, ix. 34. 7; Zenobius, iv. 38;\n      Plutarch, _De superstitione_, 5; Hyginus, _Fab._ 1-5; _id._,\n      _Astronomica_, ii. 20; Servius, on Virgil, _Aen._ v. 241. The story\n      is told or alluded to by these writers with some variations of\n      detail. In piecing their accounts together I have chosen the\n      features which seemed to be the most archaic. According to\n      Pherecydes, one of the oldest writers on Greek legendary history,\n      Phrixus offered himself as a voluntary victim when the crops were\n      perishing (Schol. on Pindar, _Pyth._ iv. 288). On the whole subject\n      see K. O. M\u00fcller, _Orchomenus und die Minyer_,2 pp. 156, 171.\n\n  429 Plato, _Minos_, p. 315 C.\n\n M130 Family of royal descent liable to be sacrificed at Orchomenus.\n\n  430 Plutarch, _Quaest. Graec._ 38; Antoninus Liberalis, _Transform._ 10;\n      Ovid, _Metam._ iv. 1 _sqq._\n\n M131 Thessalian and Boeotian kings seem to have sacrificed their sons to\n      Laphystian Zeus instead of themselves.\n\n  431 Pausanias, ix. 34. 5 _sqq._; Apollonius Rhodius, _Argonautica_, iii.\n      265 _sq._; Hellanicus, cited by the Scholiast on Apollonius, _l.c._\n      Apollodorus speaks of Athamas as reigning over Boeotia\n      (_Bibliotheca_, i. 9. 1); Tzetzes calls him king of Thebes (_Schol.\n      on Lycophron_, 21).\n\n  432 The old Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius (_Argon._ ii. 653) tells us\n      that down to his time it was customary for one of the descendants of\n      Athamas to enter the town-hall and sacrifice to Laphystian Zeus. K.\n      O. M\u00fcller sees in this custom a mitigation of the ancient\n      rule\u2014instead of being themselves sacrificed, the scions of royalty\n      were now permitted to offer sacrifice (_Orchomenus und die Minyer_,2\n      p. 158). But this need not have been so. The obligation to serve as\n      victims in certain circumstances lay only on the eldest male of each\n      generation in the direct line; the sacrificers may have been younger\n      brothers or more remote relations of the destined victims. It may be\n      observed that in a dynasty of which the eldest males were regularly\n      sacrificed, the kings, if they were not themselves the victims, must\n      always have been younger sons.\n\n  433 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, vol. i. p. 310.\n\n  434 I have followed K. O. M\u00fcller (_Orchomenus und die Minyer_,2 pp. 160,\n      166 _sq._) in regarding the ram which saved Phrixus as a mythical\n      expression for the substitution of a ram for a human victim. He\n      points out that a ram was the proper victim to sacrifice to\n      Trophonius (Pausanias, ix. 39. 6), whose very ancient worship was\n      practised at Lebadea not far from Orchomenus. The principle of\n      vicarious sacrifices was familiar enough to the Greeks, as K. O.\n      M\u00fcller does not fail to indicate. At Potniae, near Thebes, goats\n      were substituted as victims instead of boys in the sacrifices\n      offered to Dionysus (Pausanias, ix. 8. 2). Once when an oracle\n      commanded that a girl should be sacrificed to Munychian Artemis in\n      order to stay a plague or famine, a goat dressed up as a girl was\n      sacrificed instead (Eustathius on Homer, _Iliad_, ii. 732, p. 331;\n      Apostolius, vii. 10; _Paroemiogr. Graeci_, ed. Leutsch et\n      Schneidewin, ii. 402; Suidas, _s.v._ \u1f1c\u03bc\u03b2\u03b1\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2). At Salamis in Cyprus\n      a man was annually sacrificed to Aphrodite and afterwards to\n      Diomede, but in later times an ox was substituted (Porphyry, _De\n      abstinentia_, ii. 54). At Laodicea in Syria a deer took the place of\n      a maiden as the victim yearly offered to Athena (Porphyry, _op.\n      cit._ ii. 56). Since human sacrifices have been forbidden by the\n      Dutch Government in Borneo, the Barito and other Dyak tribes of that\n      island have kept cattle for the sole purpose of sacrificing them\n      instead of human beings at the close of mourning and at other\n      religious ceremonies. See A. W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch Borneo_,\n      ii. (Leyden, 1907), p. 127.\n\n M132 Sacrifice of kings\u2019 sons among the Semites. Sacrifice of children to\n      Baal among the Semites.\n\n  435 Philo of Byblus, quoted by Eusebius, _Praeparatio Evangelii_, i. 10.\n      29 _sq._\n\n  436 2 Kings iii. 27.\n\n  437 On this subject see Dr. G. F. Moore, _s.v._ \u201cMolech, Moloch,\u201d\n      _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, iii. 3183 _sqq._; C. P. Tiele, _Geschichte\n      der Religion im Altertum_, i. (Gotha, 1896) pp. 240-244.\n\n  438 Porphyry, _De abstinentia_, ii. 56.\n\n  439 Plato, _Minos_, p. 315 C.\n\n  440 Plutarch, _Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata, Gelon I._\n\n  441 Diodorus Siculus, xx. 14. Compare Clitarchus, cited by Suidas,\n      _s.v._ \u03c3\u03b1\u03c1\u03b4\u03ac\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b3\u03ad\u03bb\u03c9\u03c2, and by the Scholiast on Plato, _Republic_,\n      p. 337 A; J. Selden, _De dis Syris_ (Leipsic, 1668), pp. 169 _sq._\n\n  442 Plutarch, _De superstitione_, 13. Egyptian mothers were glad and\n      proud when their children were devoured by the holy crocodiles. See\n      Aelian, _De natura animalium_, x. 21; Maximus Tyrius, _Dissert._\n      viii. 5; Josephus, _Contra Apion._ ii. 7.\n\n  443 Tertullian, _Apologeticus_, 6. Compare Justin, xviii. 6. 12; Ennius,\n      cited by Festus, _s.v._ \u201cPuelli,\u201d pp. 248, 249, ed. C. O. M\u00fcller;\n      Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, vii. 19 and 26.\n\n M133 Canaanite and Hebrew custom of burning children in honour of Baal or\n      Moloch. Sacrifices of children in Tophet.\n\n  444 \u201cEvery abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto\n      their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in\n      the fire to their gods,\u201d Deuteronomy xii. 31. Here and in what\n      follows I quote the Revised English Version.\n\n  445 Deuteronomy xviii. 9-12.\n\n  446 Leviticus xviii. 21.\n\n  447 Psalms cvi. 35-38.\n\n  448 2 Kings xvii. 16, 17.\n\n  449 \u201cAnd they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the\n      valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters\n      in the fire,\u201d Jeremiah vii. 31; \u201cAnd have built the high places of\n      Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings unto Baal,\u201d\n      _id._ xix. 5; \u201cAnd they built the high places of Baal, which are in\n      the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their\n      daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech,\u201d _id._ xxxii. 35;\n      \u201cMoreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast\n      borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be\n      devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast slain my\n      children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the\n      fire unto them?\u201d Ezekiel xvi. 20 _sq._; compare xx. 26, 31. A\n      comparison of these passages shews that the expression \u201cto cause to\n      pass through the fire,\u201d so often employed in this connexion in\n      Scripture, meant to burn the children in the fire. Some have\n      attempted to interpret the words in a milder sense. See J. Spencer,\n      _De legibus Hebraeorum_ (The Hague, 1686), i. 288 _sqq._\n\n  450 2 Chronicles xxviii. 3. In the corresponding passage of 2 Kings\n      (xvi. 3) it is said that Ahaz \u201cmade his son to pass through the\n      fire.\u201d\n\n  451 2 Chronicles xxxiii. 6; compare 2 Kings xxi. 6.\n\n  452 2 Kings xxiii. 10.\n\n  453 Jerome on Jeremiah vii. 31, quoted in Winer\u2019s _Biblisches\n      Realw\u00f4rterbuch_,2 _s.v._ \u201cThopeth.\u201d\n\n M134 Did the Hebrews borrow the custom from the Canaanites? Custom of the\n      Sepharvites.\n\n  454 The Tel El-Amarna tablets prove that \u201cthe prae-Israelitish\n      inhabitants of Canaan were closely akin to the Hebrews, and that\n      they spoke substantially the same language\u201d (S. R. Driver, in\n      _Authority and Archaeology, Sacred and Profane_, edited by D. G.\n      Hogarth (London, 1899), p. 76).\n\n  455 2 Kings xvii. 31. The identification of Sepharvaim is uncertain. See\n      _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, iv. 4371 _sq._\n\n M135 Only the firstborn children were burned.\n\n  456 Micah vi. 6-8.\n\n  457 Ezekiel xx. 25, 26, 31.\n\n  458 Exodus xiii. 1 _sq._\n\n  459 Exodus xiii. 12.\n\n  460 Exodus xxxiv. 19. In the Authorised Version the passage runs thus:\n      \u201cAll that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy\n      cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.\u201d\n\n  461 Exodus xxii. 29 _sq._ The Authorised Version has \u201cthe first of thy\n      ripe fruits\" instead of \"the abundance of thy fruits.\u201d\n\n M136 Hebrew sacrifice of firstlings: redemption of the firstlings of men\n      and asses.\n\n  462 Numbers xviii. 17 _sq._ Elsewhere, however, we read: \u201cAll the\n      firstling males that are born of thy herd and of thy flock thou\n      shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work with the\n      firstling of thine ox, nor shear the firstling of thy flock. Thou\n      shalt eat it before the Lord thy God year by year in the place which\n      the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household,\u201d Deuteronomy xv. 19\n      _sq._ Compare Deuteronomy xii. 6 _sq._, 17 _sq._ To reconcile this\n      ordinance with the other we must suppose that the flesh was divided\n      between the Levite and the owner of the animal. But perhaps the rule\n      in Deuteronomy may represent the old custom which obtained before\n      the rise of the priestly caste. Prof. S. R. Driver inclines to the\n      latter view (_Commentary on Deuteronomy_, p. 187).\n\n  463 Exodus xiii. 13, xxxiv. 20.\n\n  464 Numbers xviii. 15 _sq._ Compare Numbers iii. 46-51; Exodus xiii. 13,\n      xxxiv. 20.\n\n M137 Sacrifice of firstborn children perhaps regarded as an act of heroic\n      virtue.\n M138 Tradition of the origin of the Passover.\n\n  465 Exodus xi.-xiii. 16; Numbers iii. 13, viii. 17. While many points in\n      this strange story remain obscure, the reason which moved the\n      Israelites of old to splash the blood of lambs on the doorposts of\n      their houses at the Passover may perhaps have been not very\n      different from that which induces the Sea Dyaks of Borneo to do much\n      the same thing at the present day. \u201cWhen there is any great epidemic\n      in the country\u2014when cholera or smallpox is killing its hundreds on\n      all sides\u2014one often notices little offerings of food hung on the\n      walls and from the ceiling, animals killed in sacrifice, and blood\n      splashed on the posts of the houses. When one asks why all this is\n      done, they say they do it in the hope that when the evil spirit, who\n      is thirsting for human lives, comes along and sees the offerings\n      they have made and the animals killed in sacrifice, he will be\n      satisfied with these things, and not take the lives of any of the\n      people living in the Dyak village house\u201d (E. H. Gomes, _Seventeen\n      Years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo_, London, 1911, p. 201).\n      Similarly in Western Africa, when a pestilence or an attack of\n      enemies is expected, it is customary to sacrifice sheep and goats\n      and smear their blood on the gateways of the village (Miss Mary H.\n      Kingsley, _Travels in West Africa_, p. 454, compare p. 45). In Peru,\n      when an Indian hut is cleansed and whitewashed, the blood of a llama\n      is always sprinkled on the doorway and internal walls in order to\n      keep out the evil spirit (Col. Church, cited by E. J. Payne,\n      _History of the New World called America_, i. 394, note 2). For more\n      evidence of the custom of pouring or smearing blood on the\n      threshold, lintel, and side-posts of doors, see Ph. Paulitschke,\n      _Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas, die geistige Cultur der Dan\u00e2kil,\n      Galla und Som\u00e2l_ (Berlin, 1896), pp. 38, 48; J. Goldziher,\n      _Muhamedanische Studien_, ii. 329; S. J. Curtiss, _Primitive Semitic\n      Religion To-day_, pp. 181-193, 227 _sq._; H. C. Trumbull, _The\n      Threshold Covenant_ (New York, 1896), pp. 4 _sq._, 8 _sq._, 26-28,\n      66-68. Perhaps the original intention of the custom was to avert\n      evil influence, especially evil spirits, from the door.\n\n M139 Originally the firstborn children seem to have been regularly\n      sacrificed: their redemption was a later mitigation of the rule.\n\n  466 Genesis xxii. 1-13.\n\n  467 See for example Father Baudin, in _Missions Catholiques_, xvi.\n      (1894) p. 333; A. B. Ellis, _The Yoruba-speaking Peoples of the\n      Slave Coast_, pp. 105 _sq._\n\n M140 Attempts to outwit a malignant spirit.\n\n  468 W. E. Maxwell, \u201cThe Folklore of the Malays,\u201d _Journal of the Straits\n      Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society_, No. 7 (June 1881), p. 14; W.\n      W. Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 112. The bird in question is thought to\n      be the goat-sucker or night-jar.\n\n M141 The custom of sacrificing all the firstborn, whether of animals or\n      men, was probably a very ancient Semitic institution.\n\n  469 2 Kings iii. 27.\n\n  470 See above, pp. 166, 167.\n\n  471 As to the redemption of the firstborn among modern Jews, see L. L\u00f6w,\n      _Die Lebensalter in der j\u00fcdischen Literatur_ (Szegedin, 1875), pp.\n      110-118; Budgett Meakin, _The Moors_ (London, 1902), pp. 440 _sq._\n\n M142 Sacrifice of firstborn children among various races.\n\n  472 J. Wellhausen, _Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels_,3 p. 90; W.\n      Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_,2 p. 464. On the other\n      hand, when I published the foregoing discussion in the second\n      edition of my book, I was not aware that the conclusion reached in\n      it had been anticipated by Prof. Th. N\u00f6ldeke, who has drawn the same\n      inference from the same evidence. See _Zeitschrift der Deutschen\n      Morgenl\u00e4ndischen Gesellschaft_, xlii. (1888) p. 483. I am happy to\n      find myself in agreement with so eminent an authority on Semitic\n      antiquity.\n\n  473 R. Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, ii. 311. In the Luritcha\n      tribe of central Australia \u201cyoung children are sometimes killed and\n      eaten, and it is not an infrequent custom, when a child is in weak\n      health, to kill a younger and healthy one and then to feed the\n      weakling on its flesh, the idea being that this will give the weak\n      child the strength of the stronger one\u201d (Spencer and Gillen, _Native\n      Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 475). The practice seems to have\n      been common among the Australian aborigines. See W. E. Stanbridge,\n      quoted by R. Brough Smyth, _op. cit._ i. 52; A. W. Howitt, _Native\n      Tribes of South-East Australia_, pp. 749, 750.\n\n  474 G. Scriviner, in E. Curr\u2019s _The Australian Race_, ii. 182.\n\n  475 A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. 750.\n\n  476 S. Gason, in E. Curr\u2019s _The Australian Race_, ii. 119.\n\n  477 Father Mazzuconi, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xxvii.\n      (1855) pp. 368 _sq._\n\n  478 J. J. M. de Groot, _Religious System of China_, ii. 679, iv. 364.\n\n  479 J. J. M. de Groot, _op. cit._ iv. 365. On these Chinese reports\n      Prof. de Groot remarks (_op. cit._ iv. 366): \u201cQuite at a loss,\n      however, we are to explain that eating of firstborn sons by their\n      own nearest kinsfolk, absolutely inconsistent as it is with a\n      primary law of tribal life in general, which imperiously demands\n      that the tribe should make itself strong in male cognates, but not\n      indulge in self-destruction by killing its natural defenders. We\n      feel, therefore, strongly inclined to believe the statement\n      fabulous.\u201d Such scepticism implies an opinion of the good sense and\n      foresight of savages which is far from being justified by the facts.\n      Many savage tribes have \u201cindulged in self-destruction\u201d by killing a\n      large proportion of their children, both male and female. See below,\n      pp. 196 _sq._\n\n  480 W. Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India_, ii.\n      169.\n\n  481 H. A. Rose, \u201cUnlucky Children,\u201d _Folklore_, xiii. (1902) p. 63;\n      _id._, in _Indian Antiquary_, xxxi. (1902) pp. 162 _sq._ Mr. Rose is\n      Superintendent of Ethnography in the Punjaub. The authorities cited\n      by him are Moore\u2019s _Hindu Infanticide_, pp. 198 _sq._, and\n      Sherring\u2019s _Hindu Tribes and Castes_, iii. p. 66.\n\n M143 Sacrifice of firstborn children among the Borans and other tribes to\n      the south of Abyssinia. Firstborn male children put to death in\n      Uganda.\n\n  482 Captain Philip Maud, \u201cExploration in the Southern Borderland of\n      Abyssinia,\u201d _The Geographical Journal_, xxiii. (1904) pp. 567 _sq._\n\n  483 Exodus iv. 24-26.\n\n  484 Captain C. H. Stigand, _To Abyssinia through an Unknown Land_\n      (London, 1910), pp. 234 _sq._\n\n  485 J. Roscoe, \u201cFurther Notes on the Manners and Customs of the\n      Baganda,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902)\n      p. 30. Mr. Roscoe informs me that a similar custom prevails also in\n      Koki and Bunyoro.\n\n  486 J. L. Krapf, _Travels, Researches, and Missionary Labours during an\n      Eighteen Years\u2019 Residence in Eastern Africa_ (London, 1860), pp. 69\n      _sq._ Dr. Krapf, who reports the custom at second hand, thinks that\n      the existence of the pillar may be doubted, but that the rest of the\n      story harmonises well enough with African superstition.\n\n  487 J. Macdonald, _Light in Africa_2 (London, 1890), p. 156. In the text\n      I have embodied some fuller explanations and particulars which my\n      friend the Rev. Mr. Macdonald was good enough to send me in a letter\n      dated September 16th, 1899. Among the tribes with which Mr.\n      Macdonald is best acquainted the custom is obsolete and lives only\n      in tradition; formerly it was universally practised.\n\n M144 Sacrifice of firstborn children in Europe and America. Sacrifice of\n      firstborn children to the sun. Sacrifice of children in Peru.\n\n  488 F. J. Mone, _Geschichte des Heidenthums im n\u00f6rdlichen Europa_\n      (Leipsic and Darmstadt, 1822-1823), i. 119.\n\n  489 Vallancey, _Collectanea de rebus Hibernicis_, vol. iii. (Dublin,\n      1786) p. 457; D. Nutt, _The Voyage of Bran_, ii. 149-151, 304 _sq._;\n      P. W. Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, i. 275 _sq._,\n      281-284. The authority for the tradition is the _Dinnschenchas_ or\n      _Dinnsenchus_, a document compiled in the eleventh and twelfth\n      centuries out of older materials. Mr. Joyce discredits the tradition\n      of human sacrifice.\n\n  490 Fr. Boas, in \u201cFourth Annual Report on the North-Western Tribes of\n      Canada,\u201d _Report of the British Association for 1888_, p. 242;\n      _id._, in _Fifth Report on the North-Western Tribes of Canada_, p.\n      52 (separate reprint from the _Report of the British Association for\n      1889_).\n\n  491 Fr. Boas, in _Fifth Report on the North-Western Tribes of Canada_,\n      p. 46 (separate reprint from the _Report of the British Association\n      for 1889_).\n\n  492 W. Strachey, _Historie of travaile into Virginia Britannia_ (Hakluyt\n      Society, London, 1849), p. 84.\n\n  493 J. Bricknell, _The Natural History of North Carolina_ (Dublin,\n      1737), pp. 342 _sq._ I have taken the liberty of altering slightly\n      the writer\u2019s somewhat eccentric punctuation.\n\n  494 See above, p. 162.\n\n  495 A. de Herrera, _The General History of the Vast Continent and\n      Islands of America_, translated by Capt. John Stevens (London,\n      1725-6), iv. 347 _sq._ Compare J. de Acosta, _Natural and Moral\n      History of the Indies_ (Hakluyt Society, London, 1880), ii. 344.\n\n  496 Fr. Xeres, _Relation v\u00e9ridique de la conqu\u00eate du Perou et de la\n      Province de Cuzco nomm\u00e9e Nouvelle-Castille_ (in H. Ternaux-Compans\u2019s\n      _Voyages, relations et m\u00e9moires_, etc., Paris, 1837), p. 53.\n\n  497 Juan de Velasco, _Histoire du royaume de Quito_, i. (Paris, 1840) p.\n      106 (forming vol. xviii. of H. Ternaux-Compans\u2019s _Voyages, relations\n      et m\u00e9moires_, etc.).\n\n  498 A. R. Wallace, _Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro_\n      (London, 1889), p. 355.\n\n  499 W. Barbrooke Grubb, _An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_ (London,\n      1911), p. 233.\n\n M145 The \u201csacred spring\u201d in ancient Italy.\n\n  500 Festus, _De verborum significatione_, _s.vv._ \u201cMamertini,\u201d\n      \u201cSacrani,\u201d and \u201cVer sacrum,\u201d pp. 158, 370, 371, 379, ed. C. O.\n      M\u00fcller; Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ vii. 796; Nonius Marcellus, _s.v._\n      \u201cver sacrum,\u201d p. 522 (p. 610, ed. Quicherat); Varro, _Rerum\n      rusticarum_, iii. 16. 29; Dionysius Halicarnasensis, _Antiquit.\n      Rom._ i. 16 and 23 _sq._, ii. 1. 2.\n\n  501 Strabo, v. 4. 2 and 12; Pliny, _Nat. hist._ iii. 110; Festus, _De\n      verborum significatione_, _s.v._ \u201cIrpini,\u201d ed. C. O. M\u00fcller, p. 106.\n      It is worthy of note that the three swarms which afterwards\n      developed into the Piceni, the Samnites, and the Hirpini were said\n      to have been guided by a woodpecker, a bull, and a wolf\n      respectively, of which the woodpecker (_picus_) and the wolf\n      (_hirpus_) gave their names to the Piceni and the Hirpini. The\n      tradition may perhaps preserve a trace of totemism, but in the\n      absence of clearer evidence it would be rash to assume that it does\n      so. The woodpecker was sacred among the Latins, and a woodpecker as\n      well as a wolf is said to have fed the twins Romulus and Remus\n      (Plutarch, _Quaest. Rom._ 21; Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 37 _sq._). Does\n      this legend point to the existence of a wolf-clan and a\n      woodpecker-clan at Rome? There was perhaps a similar conjunction of\n      wolf and woodpecker at Soracte, for the woodpecker is spoken of as\n      the bird of Feronia (\u201c_picus Feronius_,\u201d Festus, _s.v._ \u201cOscines,\u201d\n      p. 197, ed. C. O. M\u00fcller), a goddess in whose sanctuary at Soracte\n      certain men went by the name of Soranian Wolves (Servius, on Virgil,\n      _Aen._ xi. 785; Pliny, _Nat. hist._ vii. 19; Strabo, v. 2. 9). These\n      \u201cSoranian Wolves\u201d will meet us again later on.\n\n  502 Livy, xxii. 9 _sq._; Plutarch, _Fabius Maximus_, 4.\n\n  503 Livy, xxxiv. 44.\n\n  504 Dionysius Halicarnasensis, _Antiquit. Rom._ i. 24.\n\n  505 Schwegler thought it hardly open to question that the \u201csacred\n      spring\u201d was a substitute for an original custom of human sacrifice\n      (_R\u00f6mische Geschichte_, i. 240 _sq._). The inference is denied on\n      insufficient grounds by R. von Ihering (_Vorgeschichte der\n      Indoeurop\u00e4er_, pp. 309 _sqq._).\n\n  506 Dionysius Halicarnasensis, _Antiquit. Rom._ i. 16. 1. Rhegium in\n      Italy was founded by Chalcidian colonists, who in obedience to the\n      Delphic Oracle had been dedicated as a tithe-offering to Apollo on\n      account of a dearth (Strabo, vi. 1. 6, p. 257). Justin speaks of the\n      Gauls sending out three hundred thousand men, \u201cas it were a sacred\n      spring,\u201d to seek a new home (Justin, xxiv. 4. 1).\n\n M146 Different motives may have led to the practice of killing the\n      firstborn. A belief in the rebirth of souls may in some cases have\n      operated to produce infanticide, especially of the firstborn. The\n      Hindoos believe that a man is reborn in his son, while at the same\n      time he dies in his own person.\n\n  507 The Australian aborigines resort to infanticide to keep down the\n      number of a family. But \u201cthe number is kept down, not with any idea\n      at all of regulating the food supply, so far as the adults are\n      concerned, but simply from the point of view that, if the mother is\n      suckling one child, she cannot properly provide food for another,\n      quite apart from the question of the trouble of carrying two\n      children about. An Australian native never looks far enough ahead to\n      consider what will be the effect on the food supply in future years\n      if he allows a particular child to live; what affects him is simply\n      the question of how it will interfere with the work of his wife so\n      far as their own camp is concerned\u201d (Spencer and Gillen, _Native\n      Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 264).\n\n  508 See above, pp. 57, 160 _sq._\n\n  509 Above, p. 185.\n\n  510 Father Baudin, \u201cLe F\u00e9tichisme,\u201d _Missions Catholiques_, xvi. (1884)\n      p. 259.\n\n_  511 The Laws of Manu_, ix. 8, p. 329, G. B\u00fchler\u2019s translation (_Sacred\n      Books of the East_, vol. xxv.). On this Hindoo doctrine of\n      reincarnation, its logical consequences and its analogies in other\n      parts of the world, see J. von Negelein, \u201cEine Quelle der indischen\n      Seelenwanderungvorstellung,\u201d _Archiv f\u00fcr Religionswissenschaft_, vi.\n      (1903) pp. 320-333. Compare E. S. Hartland, _The Legend of Perseus_,\n      i. 218 _sq._; _id._, _Primitive Paternity_ (London, 1909-1910), ii.\n      196 _sqq._\n\n  512 H. A. [J. A.] Rose, \u201cUnlucky and Lucky Children, and some Birth\n      Superstitions,\u201d _Indian Antiquary_, xxxi. (1902) p. 516; _id._, in\n      _Folklore_, xiii. (1902) pp. 278 _sq._ As to the Khatris, see D. C.\n      J. Ibbetson, _Outlines of Panjab Ethnography_, pp. 295 _sq._; H. H.\n      Risley, _The Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, i. 478 _sqq._; W. Crooke,\n      _The Tribes and Castes of the North-western Provinces and Oudh_,\n      iii. 264 _sqq._\n\n M147 Painful dilemma of a father.\n\n  513 The same suggestion has been made by Dr. E. Westermarck (_The Origin\n      and Development of the Moral Ideas_, i. (London, 1906) pp. 460\n      _sq._). Some years ago, before the publication of his book and while\n      the present volume was still in proof, Dr. Westermarck and I in\n      conversation discovered that we had independently arrived at the\n      same conjectural explanation of the custom of killing the firstborn.\n\n M148 The same notion of the rebirth of the father in the son would\n      explain why in Polynesia infants succeeded to the chieftainship as\n      soon as they were born, their fathers abdicating in their favour.\n\n  514 Capt. J. Cook, _Voyages_ (London, 1809), i. 225 _sq._; Capt. J.\n      Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_ (London,\n      1799), pp. 327, 330, 333; W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_,2 iii.\n      99-101; J. A. Mourenhout, _Voyages aux \u00eeles du Grand Oc\u00e9an_, ii. 13\n      _sq._; Mathias G. \u2014\u2014, _Lettres sur les \u00celes Marquises_ (Paris,\n      1843), pp. 103 _sq._; H. Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition,\n      Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), p. 34.\n\n M149 Such a rule of succession might easily lead to a practice of\n      infanticide. Prevalence of infanticide in Polynesia.\n\n  515 W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_,2 i. 251-253.\n\n M150 In some places the father either abdicates when his son attains to\n      manhood or is forcibly deposed by him.\n\n  516 J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western\n      Pacific_ (London, 1853), p. 233.\n\n  517 J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea\n      Islands_ (London, 1836), pp. 117 _sq._\n\n  518 J. Campbell, _Travels in South Africa, Second Journey_ (London,\n      1822), ii. 276.\n\n M151 The custom of the deposition of the father by his son may perhaps be\n      traced in Greek myth and legend. Cronus and his children.\n\n  519 Hesiod, _Theogony_, 137 _sqq._, 453 _sqq._, 886 _sqq._; Apollodorus,\n      _Bibliotheca_, i. 1-3.\n\n  520 Above, pp. 179 _sq._ Traces of a custom of sacrificing the children\n      instead of the father may perhaps be found in the legends that\n      Menoeceus, son of Creon, died to save Thebes, and that one or more\n      of the daughters of Erechtheus perished to save Athens. See\n      Euripides, _Phoenissae_, 889 _sqq._; Apollodorus, iii. 6. 7, iii.\n      15. 4; Schol. on Aristides, _Panathen._ p. 113, ed. Dindorf; Cicero,\n      _Tuscul._, i. 48. 116; _id._, _De natura deorum_, iii. 19. 50; W. H.\n      Roscher, _Lexikon d. griech. und r\u00f6m. Mythologie_, i. 1298 _sq._,\n      ii. 2794 _sq._\n\n M152 Legend of Oedipus, who slew his father and married his mother.\n      Marriage with a widowed queen sometimes forms a legitimate title to\n      the kingdom. Marriage with a stepmother or a sister, a mode of\n      securing the succession of the king\u2019s own children, and so of\n      transferring the inheritance from the female to the male line.\n      Brother and sister marriages in royal families.\n\n  521 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, vol. ii. pp. 269\n      _sqq._\n\n  522 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, vol. ii. p. 283. The\n      Oedipus legend would conform still more closely to custom if we\n      could suppose that marriage with a mother was formerly allowed in\n      cases where the king had neither a sister nor a stepmother, by\n      marrying whom he could otherwise legalise his claim to the throne.\n\n  523 Examples of this custom are collected by me in a note on Pausanias,\n      i. 7. 1 (vol. ii. p. 85). For other instances see V. Noel, \u201c\u00cele de\n      Madagascar, recherches sur les Sakkalava,\u201d _Bulletin de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9\n      de G\u00e9ographie_ (Paris), Deuxi\u00e8me S\u00e9rie, xx. (Paris, 1843) pp. 63\n      _sq._ (among the Sakkalavas of Madagascar); V. L. Cameron, _Across\n      Africa_ (London, 1877), ii. 70, 149; J. Roscoe, \u201cFurther Notes on\n      the Manners and Customs of the Baganda,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 27 (among the Baganda\n      of Central Africa); J. G. Frazer, _Totemism and Exogamy_, ii. 523,\n      538 (among the Banyoro and Bahima); J. Dos Santos, \u201cEastern\n      Ethiopia,\u201d in G. McCall Theal\u2019s _Records of South-Eastern Africa_,\n      vii. 191 (as to the kings of Sofala in eastern Africa). But Dos\n      Santos\u2019s statement is doubted by Dr. McCall Theal (_op. cit._ p.\n      395).\n\n  524 This explanation of the custom was anticipated by McLennan: \u201cAnother\n      rule of chiefly succession, which has been mentioned, that which\n      gave the chiefship to a sister\u2019s son, appears to have been nullified\n      in some cases by an extraordinary but effective expedient\u2014by the\n      chief, that is, marrying his own sister\u201d (_The Patriarchal Theory,\n      based on the Papers of the late John Ferguson McLennan_, edited and\n      completed by Donald McLennan (London, 1885), p. 95).\n\n  525 Compare Cicero, _De natura deorum_, ii. 26. 66; [Plutarch], _De vita\n      et poesi Homeri_, ii. 96; Lactantius, _Divin. Inst._ i. 10; Firmicus\n      Maternus, _De errore profanarum religionum_, xii. 4.\n\n M153 Kings\u2019 sons sacrificed instead of their fathers. Substitution of\n      condemned criminals.\n\n  526 Porphyry, _De abstinentia_, ii. 54.\n\n M154 A custom of putting kings to death at short intervals might\n      extinguish the families from which the kings were drawn; but this\n      tendency would be no bar to the observance of the custom. Many races\n      have indulged in practices which tend directly to their extinction.\n\n  527 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 292 _sqq._\n\n_  528 See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 269 _sqq._\n\n  529 Men and women of the Khlysti sect in Russia abhor marriage; and in\n      the sect of the Skoptsi or Eunuchs the devotees mutilate themselves.\n      See Sir D. Mackenzie Wallace, _Russia_. (London [1877]), p. 302. As\n      to collective suicide, see above, pp. 43 _sqq._\n\n  530 Above, p. 191.\n\n  531 Father Picarda, \u201cAutour de Mand\u00e9ra, notes sur l\u2019Ouzigowa, l\u2019Oukw\u00e9r\u00e9\n      et l\u2019Oudoe (Zanguebar),\u201d _Missions Catholiques_, xviii. (1886) p.\n      284.\n\n_  532 The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell_ (Hakluyt Society, 1901),\n      pp. 32, 84 _sq._\n\n  533 F. de Azara, _Voyages dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique M\u00e9ridionale_ (Paris, 1809),\n      ii. 115-117. The writer affirms that the custom was universally\n      established among all the women of the Mbaya nation, as well as\n      among the women of other Indian nations.\n\n  534 R. Southey, _History of Brazil_, iii. (London, 1819) p. 385.\n\n  535 W. Barbrooke Grubb, _An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_ (London,\n      1911), p. 233.\n\n  536 Hugh Goldie, _Calabar and its Mission_, new edition with additional\n      chapters by the Rev. John Taylor Dean (Edinburgh and London, 1901),\n      pp. 34 _sq._, 37 _sq._ The preface to the original edition of this\n      work is dated 1890. By this time the tribal suicide is probably\n      complete.\n\n M155 Transmission of the soul of the slain king to his successor.\n      Transmission of the souls of chiefs to their sons in Nias.\n\n  537 See above, pp. 21, 23, 26 _sq._\n\n  538 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 410 _sqq._\n\n  539 J. T. Nieuwenhuisen en H. C. B. von Rosenberg, \u201cVerslag omtrent het\n      eiland Nias,\u201d _Verhandelingen van het Batav. Genootschap van Kunsten\n      en Wetenschappen_, xxx. (1863) p. 85; H. von Rosenberg, _Der\n      Malayische Archipel_, p. 160; L. N. H. A. Chatelin, \u201cGodsdienst en\n      bijgeloof der Niassers,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en\n      Volkenkunde_, xxvi. (1880) pp. 142 _sq._; H. Sundermann, \u201cDie Insel\n      Nias und die Mission daselbst,\u201d _Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift_,\n      xi. (1884) p. 445; E. Modigliani, _Un Viaggio a N\u00edas_, pp. 277, 479\n      _sq._; _id._, _L\u2019Isola delle Donne_ (Milan, 1894), p. 195.\n\n M156 Succession to the soul among the American Indians and other races.\n\n  540 Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_\n      (London, 1845), iv. 453; _United States Exploring Expedition,\n      Ethnography and Philology_, by H. Hale (Philadelphia, 1846), p. 203.\n\n  541 Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des nations civilis\u00e9es du Mexique\n      et de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique-Centrale_, ii. 574.\n\n  542 D. G. Brinton, _Myths of the New World_2 (New York, 1876), pp. 270\n      _sq._\n\n_  543 Relations des J\u00e9suites_, 1636, p. 130 (Canadian reprint, Quebec,\n      1858).\n\n  544 A. Bastian, _Die Voelker des oestlichen Asien_, iv. 386.\n\n  545 Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ iv. 685; Cicero, _In Verr._ ii. 5. 45; K.\n      F. Hermann, _Lehrbuch der griechischen Privatalterth\u00fcmer_, ed. H.\n      Bl\u00fcmner, p. 362, note 1.\n\n  546 J. Harland and T. T. Wilkinson, _Lancashire Folk-lore_ (London,\n      1882), pp. 7 _sq._\n\n M157 Succession to the soul in Africa. Inspired representatives of dead\n      kings in Africa.\n\n_  547 The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia_, collected and historically\n      digested by F. Balthazar Tellez (London, 1710), p. 198.\n\n  548 Ph. Paulitschke, _Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas, die geistige Cultur\n      der Dan\u00e2kil, Galla und Som\u00e2l_ (Berlin, 1896), p. 28.\n\n  549 This account I received from my friend the Rev. J. Roscoe in a\n      letter dated Mengo, Uganda, April 27, 1900. See his \u201cFurther Notes\n      on the Manners and Customs of the Baganda,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) pp. 42, 45 _sq._, where,\n      however, the account is in some points not quite so explicit.\n\n  550 J. Dos Santos, \u201cEastern Ethiopia,\u201d in G. McCall Theal\u2019s _Records of\n      South-eastern Africa_, vii. 196 _sq._\n\n  551 See above, p. 35.\n\n  552 See _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 423 _sqq._\n\n M158 Right of succession to the kingdom conferred by possession of\n      personal relics of dead kings. Sometimes a king has to eat a portion\n      of his predecessor.\n\n  553 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 362 _sqq._\n\n  554 A. Grandidier, \u201cMadagascar,\u201d _Bull. de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie_\n      (Paris), VI\u00e8me S\u00e9rie, iii. (1872) pp. 402 _sq._\n\n  555 Nicolaus Damascenus, quoted by Stobaeus, _Florilegium_, cxxiii. 12\n      (_Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum_, ed. C. M\u00fcller, iii. 463). The\n      Issedones of Scythia used to gild the skulls of their dead fathers\n      and offer great sacrifices to them annually (Herodotus, iv. 26);\n      they also used the skulls as drinking-cups (Mela, ii. 1. 9). The\n      Boii of Cisalpine Gaul cut off the head of a Roman general whom they\n      had defeated, and having gilded the scalp they used it as a sacred\n      vessel for the pouring of libations, and the priests drank out of it\n      (Livy, xxiii. 24. 12).\n\n  556 Sir H. Johnston, _The Uganda Protectorate_ (London, 1902), ii. 828.\n\n  557 Missionary Holley, \u201c\u00c9tude sur les Egbas,\u201d _Missions Catholiques_,\n      xiii. (1881) p. 353. The writer speaks of \u201c_le roi d\u2019Alakei_,\u201d but\n      this is probably a mistake or a misprint. As to the Alake or king of\n      Abeokuta, see Sir William Macgregor, \u201cLagos, Abeokuta, and the\n      Alake,\u201d _Journal of the African Society_, No. xii. (July, 1904) pp.\n      471 _sq._ Some years ago the Alake visited England and I had the\n      honour of being presented to his Majesty by Sir William Macgregor at\n      Cambridge.\n\n  558 F. T. Valdez, _Six Years of a Traveller\u2019s Life in Western Africa_,\n      ii. 161 _sq._\n\n  559 Missionary Holley, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, liv.\n      (1882) p. 87. The \u201cKing of Ake\u201d mentioned by the writer is the Alake\n      or king of Abeokuta; for Ake is the principal quarter of Abeokuta,\n      and Alake means \u201cLord of Ake.\u201d See Sir William Macgregor, _l.c._\n\n  560 Extracted from a letter of Mr. Harold G. Parsons, dated Lagos,\n      September 28th, 1903, and addressed to Mr. Theodore A. Cooke of 54\n      Oakley Street, Chelsea, London, who was so kind as to send me the\n      letter with leave to make use of it. \u201cIt is usual for great chiefs\n      to report or announce their succession to the Oni of Ife, or to the\n      Alafin of Oyo, the intimation being accompanied by a present\u201d (Sir\n      W. Macgregor, _l.c._).\n\n M159 Succession to the soul of the slain king or priest.\n\n  561 See above, pp. 23, 26 _sq._ Dr. E. Westermarck has suggested as an\n      alternative to the theory in the text, \u201cthat the new king is\n      supposed to inherit, not the predecessor\u2019s soul, but his divinity or\n      holiness, which is looked upon in the light of a mysterious entity,\n      temporarily seated in the ruling sovereign, but separable from him\n      and transferable to another individual.\u201d See his article, \u201cThe\n      Killing of the Divine King,\u201d _Man_, viii. (1908) pp. 22-24. There is\n      a good deal to be said in favour of Dr. Westermarck\u2019s theory, which\n      is supported in particular by the sanctity attributed to the\n      regalia. But on the whole I see no sufficient reason to abandon the\n      view adopted in the text, and I am confirmed in it by the Shilluk\n      evidence, which was unknown to Dr. Westermarck when he propounded\n      his theory.\n\n M160 The single combat of the King of the Wood at Nemi was probably a\n      mitigation of an older custom of putting him to death at the end of\n      a fixed period.\n\n  562 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 1 _sqq._, ii. 378\n      _sqq._\n\n  563 See above, pp. 21 _sq._, 27 _sq._\n\n  564 See above, pp. 47 _sq._\n\n M161 Custom of killing the human representatives of the tree-spirit.\n M162 Bavarian customs of beheading the representatives of the tree-spirit\n      at Whitsuntide.\n\n  565 Fr. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_ (Munich, 1848-1855),\n      i. 235 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_ (Berlin, 1875), pp. 320\n      _sq._ In some villages of Lower Bavaria one of the _Pfingstl\u2019s_\n      comrades carries \u201cthe May,\u201d which is a young birch-tree wreathed and\n      decorated. Another name for this Whitsuntide masker, both in Lower\n      and Upper Bavaria, is the Water-bird. Sometimes he carries a straw\n      effigy of a monstrous bird with a long neck and a wooden beak, which\n      is thrown into the water instead of the bearer. The wooden beak is\n      afterwards nailed to the ridge of a barn, which it is supposed to\n      protect against lightning and fire for a whole year, till the next\n      _Pfingstl_ makes his appearance. See _Bavaria, Landes- und\n      Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_, i. 375 _sq._, 1003 _sq._ In\n      Silesia the Whitsuntide mummer, called the _Rauchfiess_ or\n      _Raupfiess_, sometimes stands in a leafy arbour, which is mounted on\n      a cart and drawn about the village by four or six lads. They collect\n      gifts at the houses and finally throw the cart and the _Rauchfiess_\n      into a shallow pool outside the village. This is called \u201cdriving out\n      the _Rauchfiess_.\u201d The custom used to be associated with the driving\n      out of the cattle at Whitsuntide to pasture on the dewy grass, which\n      was thought to make the cows yield plenty of milk. The herdsman who\n      was the last to drive out his beasts on the morning of the day\n      became the _Rauchfiess_ in the afternoon. See P. Drechsler, _Sitte,\n      Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien_, i. (Leipsic, 1903), pp.\n      117-123.\n\n  566 E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_\n      (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 409-419; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 349\n      _sq._\n\n M163 Killing the Wild Man in Saxony and Bohemia.\n\n  567 E. Sommer, _Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Sachsen und Th\u00fcringen_\n      (Halle, 1846), pp. 154 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 335\n      _sq._\n\n  568 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 336.\n\n  569 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_ (Prague, N.D.,\n      preface dated 1861), p. 61; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 336\n      _sq._\n\n M164 Beheading the King on Whit-Monday in Bohemia.\n\n  570 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 263; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 343.\n\n  571 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, pp. 269 _sq._\n\n M165 Beheading the King on Whit-Monday in Bohemia.\n\n_  572 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 86 _sq._\n\n  573 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, pp. 264 _sq._; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 353 _sq._\n\n M166 The leaf-clad mummers in these customs represent the tree-spirit or\n      spirit of vegetation.\n\n  574 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 73 _sqq._\n\n  575 See pp. 208, 210.\n\n_  576 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 247 _sqq._, 272\n      _sqq._\n\n M167 The tree-spirit is killed in order to prevent its decay and ensure\n      its revival in a vigorous successor.\n\n  577 See above, p. 208.\n\n M168 Resemblances between these North European customs and the rites of\n      Nemi.\n\n  578 Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 271.\n\n  579 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 308 _sqq._\n\n  580 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 20.\n\n M169 The mock killing of the leaf-clad mummers is probably a substitute\n      for an old custom of killing them in earnest. Substitution of mock\n      human sacrifices for real ones.\n\n  581 Caesar, _Bell. Gall._ vi. 16; Adam of Bremen, _Descriptio Insularum\n      Aquilonis_, 27 (Migne\u2019s _Patrologia Latina_, cxlvi. col. 644); Olaus\n      Magnus, _De gentium septrionalium variis conditionibus_, iii. 7; J.\n      Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 35 _sqq._; F. J. Mone, _Geschichte\n      des nordischen Heidenthums_, i. 69, 119, 120, 149, 187 _sq._\n\n  582 H. J. Tendeloo, \u201cVerklaring van het zoogenaamd Oud-Alfoersch\n      Teekenschrift,\u201d _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche\n      Zendelinggenootschap_, xxxvi. (1892) pp. 338 _sq._\n\n  583 Sir H. Johnston, _The Uganda Protectorate_ (London, 1902), ii. 719\n      _sq._ The writer describes the ceremony from the testimony of an\n      eye-witness.\n\n  584 J. G. Bourke, _Snake Dance of the Moquis of Arizona_, pp. 196 _sq._\n\n  585 Euripides, _Iphigenia in Taur._ 1458 _sqq._\n\n  586 J. T. Nieuwenhuisen en H. C. B. von Rosenberg, \u201cVerslag omtrent het\n      eiland Nias,\u201d _Verhandelingen van het Batav. Genootschap van Kunsten\n      en Wetenschappen_, xxx. (1863) p. 43; E. Modigliani, _Un Viaggio a\n      Nias_ (Milan, 1890), pp. 282 _sq._\n\n  587 J. A. Dubois, _M\u00e6urs, institutions et c\u00e9r\u00e9monies des peuples de\n      l\u2019Inde_ (Paris, 1825), i. 151 _sq._\n\n  588 E. Thurston, _Castes and Tribes of Southern India_ (Madras, 1909),\n      iv. 437, quoting Mr. A. R. Loftus-Tottenham.\n\n  589 G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 31 _sq._; compare pp. 38, 58, 59, 69 _sq._,\n      72.\n\n M170 Mock human sacrifices carried out in effigy.\n\n  590 Porphyry, _De abstinentia_, ii. 55, citing Manetho as his authority.\n\n  591 \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  592 E. T. Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_ (Calcutta, 1872), p.\n      281.\n\n  593 E. T. Dalton, _op. cit._ pp. 258 _sq._\n\n  594 Mgr. Brugui\u00e8re, in _Annales de l\u2019Association de la Propagation de la\n      Foi_, v. (1831) p. 201.\n\n  595 B. C. A. J. van Dinter, \u201cEenige geographische en ethnographische\n      aanteekeningen betreffende het eiland Siaoe,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor\n      Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xli. (1899) p. 379.\n\n  596 Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, \u201cThe Relations between Men and Animals in\n      Sarawak,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxi. (1901)\n      p. 208.\n\n  597 W. G. Aston, _Shinto_ (London, 1905). pp. 56 _sq._\n\n  598 A. C. Kruijt, \u201cEenige ethnografische aanteekeningen omtrent de\n      Toboengkoe en de Tomori,\u201d _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche\n      Zendelinggenootschap_, xliv. (1900) p. 222.\n\n M171 Mimic sacrifices of various kinds. Mimic sacrifices of fingers.\n      Mimic rite of circumcision.\n\n  599 E. Thurston, \u201cDeformity and Mutilation,\u201d _Madras Government Museum,\n      Bulletin_, vol. iv. No. 3 (Madras, 1903), pp. 193-196. As to the\n      custom of sacrificing joints of fingers, see my note on Pausanias,\n      viii. 34. 2, vol. iv. pp. 354 _sqq._ To the evidence there adduced\n      add P. J. de Smet, _Western Missions and Missionaries_ (New York,\n      1863), p. 135; G. B. Grinnell, _Blackfoot Lodge Tales_, pp. 194,\n      258; A. d\u2019Orbigny, _L\u2019Homme am\u00e9ricain_, ii. 24; J. Williams,\n      _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, pp.\n      470 _sq._; J. Mathew, _Eaglehawk and Crow_ (London and Melbourne,\n      1899), p. 120; A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East\n      Australia_, pp. 746 _sq._; L. Degrandpr\u00e9, _Voyage \u00e0 la c\u00f4te\n      occidentale d\u2019Afrique_ (Paris, 1801), ii. 93 _sq._; Dudley Kidd,\n      _The Essential Kaffir_, pp. 203, 262 _sq._; G. W. Stow, _Native\n      Races of South Africa_ (London, 1905), pp. 129, 152; _Lettres\n      \u00e9difiantes et curieuses_, Nouvelle \u00c9dition, ix. 369, xii. 371;\n      _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xiii. (1841) p. 20; _id._,\n      xiv. (1842) pp. 68, 192; _id._, xvii. (1845) pp. 12, 13; _id._,\n      xviii. (1846) p. 6; _id._, xxiii. (1851) p. 314; _id._, xxxii.\n      (1860) pp. 95 _sq._; _Indian Antiquary_, xxiv. (1895) p. 303;\n      _Missions Catholiques_, xxix. (1897) p. 90; _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr\n      Ethnologie_, xxxii. (1900) p. 81. The objects of this mutilation\n      were various. In ancient Athens it was customary to cut off the hand\n      of a suicide and bury it apart from his body (Aeschines, _Contra\n      Ctesiph._ \u00a7 244, p. 193, ed. F. Franke), perhaps to prevent his\n      ghost from attacking the living.\n\n  600 Basil C. Thomson, _Savage Island_ (London, 1902), pp. 92 _sq._\n\n  601 E. Thurston, _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_ (Madras, 1906),\n      p. 390.\n\n M172 It has been customary to kill animal gods and corn gods as well as\n      tree-spirits.\n M173 Customs of burying the Carnival and carrying out Death.\n\n  602 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 645; K. Haupt, _Sagenbuch der\n      Lausitz_, ii. 58; Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_,\n      pp. 86 _sq._; _id._, _Das festliche Jahr_, pp. 77 _sq._; _Bavaria,\n      Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_, iii. 958 _sq._;\n      Sepp, _Die Religion der alten Deutschen_ (Munich, 1890), pp. 67\n      _sq._; W. M\u00fcller, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in M\u00e4hren_\n      (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), pp. 258, 353. The fourth Sunday in Lent\n      is also known as Mid-Lent, because it falls in the middle of Lent,\n      or as _Laetare_ from the first word of the liturgy for that day. In\n      the Roman calendar it is the Sunday of the Rose (_Domenica rosae_),\n      because on that day the Pope consecrates a golden rose, which he\n      presents to some royal lady. In one German village of Transylvania\n      the Carrying out of Death takes place on Ascension Day. See below,\n      pp. 248 _sq._\n\n M174 Effigy of the Carnival burnt at Frosinone in Latium.\n\n  603 G. Targioni-Tozzetti, _Saggio di novelline, canti ed usanze popolari\n      della Ciociaria_ (Palermo, 1891), pp. 89-95. At Palermo an effigy of\n      the Carnival (_Nannu_) was burnt at midnight on Shrove Tuesday 1878.\n      See G. Pitr\u00e8, _Usi e costumi, credenze e pregiudizi del popolo\n      siciliano_, i. 117-119; G. Trede, _Das Heidentum in der r\u00f6mischen\n      Kirche_, iii. 11, note.\n\n M175 Burying the Carnival in the Abruzzi.\n\n  604 A. de Nino, _Usi e costumi abruzzesi_, ii. 198-200. The writer omits\n      to mention the date of these celebrations. No doubt it is either\n      Shrove Tuesday or Ash Wednesday. Compare G. Finamore, _Credenze, usi\n      e costumi abruzzesi_ (Palermo, 1890), p. 111. In some parts of\n      Piedmont an effigy of Carnival is burnt on the evening of Shrove\n      Tuesday; in others they set fire to tall poplar trees, which, stript\n      of their branches and surmounted by banners, have been set up the\n      day before in public places. These trees go by the name of _Scarli_.\n      See G. di Giovanni, _Usi, credenze e pregiudizi del Canavese_\n      (Palermo, 1889), pp. 161, 164 _sq._ For other accounts of the\n      ceremony of the death of the Carnival, represented either by a\n      puppet or a living person, in Italy and Sicily, see G. Pitr\u00e8, _Usi e\n      costumi, credenze e pregiudizi del popolo siciliano_, i. 96-100; G.\n      Amalfi, _Tradizioni ed usi nella Penisola Sorrentina_ (Palermo,\n      1890), pp. 40, 42. It has been rightly observed by Pitr\u00e8 (_op. cit._\n      p. 96), that the personification of the Carnival is doubtless the\n      lineal descendant of some mythical personage of remote Greek and\n      Roman antiquity.\n\n  605 R. W\u00fcnsch, _Das Fr\u00fchlingsfest der Insel Malta_ (Leipsic, 1902), pp.\n      29 _sq._, quoting Ciantar\u2019s supplements to Abelas\u2019s _Malta\n      illustrata_.\n\n M176 Burial of the Carnival at Lerida in Spain.\n\n  606 J. S. Campion, _On Foot in Spain_ (London, 1879), pp. 291-295.\n\n M177 Funeral of the Carnival in France. Execution of Shrove Tuesday in\n      the Ardennes and Franche-Comt\u00e9.\n\n  607 A. de Nore, _Coutumes, mythes et traditions des provinces de France_\n      (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 37 _sq._ The name Caramantran is\n      thought to be compounded of _car\u00eame entrant_, \u201cLent entering.\u201d It is\n      said that the effigy of Caramantran is sometimes burnt (E. Cortet,\n      _Essai sur les f\u00eates religieuses_, Paris, 1867, p. 107).\n\n  608 L. Pineau, _Folk-lore du Poitou_ (Paris, 1892), p. 493.\n\n  609 A. Meyrac, _Traditions, l\u00e9gendes et contes des Ardennes_\n      (Charleville, 1890), p. 63. According to the writer, the custom of\n      burning an effigy of Shrove Tuesday or the Carnival is pretty\n      general in France.\n\n  610 Ch. Beauquier, _Les Mois en Franche-Comt\u00e9_ (Paris, 1900), p. 30. In\n      Beauce and Perche the burning or burial of Shrove Tuesday used to be\n      represented in effigy, but the custom has now disappeared. See F.\n      Chapiseau, _Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche_ (Paris, 1902),\n      i. 320 _sq._\n\n M178 Burial of Shrove Tuesday in Normandy. Burning Shrove Tuesday at\n      Saint-L\u00f4.\n\n  611 J. Lec\u0153ur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Cond\u00e9-sur-Noireau,\n      1883-1887), ii. 148-150.\n\n  612 Madame Octave Feuillet, _Quelques ann\u00e9es de ma vie_5 (Paris, 1895),\n      pp. 59-61.\n\n M179 Burial of Shrove Tuesday or the Carnival in Brittany.\n\n  613 P. S\u00e9billot, _Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne_ (Paris,\n      1886), pp. 227 _sq._\n\n  614 A. de Nore, _Coutumes, mythes et traditions des Provinces de\n      France_, p. 206.\n\n  615 P. S\u00e9billot, _Le Folk-lore de France_, ii. (Paris, 1905) p. 170.\n\n  616 P. S\u00e9billot, _l.c._\n\n  617 J. L. M. Nogues, _Les M\u0153urs d\u2019autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis_\n      (Saintes, 1891), p. 60. As to the trial and condemnation of the\n      Carnival on Ash Wednesday in France, see further B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud,\n      _Superstitions et survivances_, iv. 52 _sq._\n\n  618 T. F. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_ (London, 1876), p.\n      93.\n\n M180 Burying the Carnival in Germany and Austria.\n\n  619 See above, p. 209.\n\n  620 E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_, p.\n      371.\n\n  621 J. Haltrich, _Zur Volkskunde der Siebenb\u00fcrger Sachsen_ (Vienna,\n      1885), pp. 284 _sq._\n\n  622 K. von Leoprechting, _Aus dem Lechrain_, pp. 162 _sqq._; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 411.\n\n  623 E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_, p.\n      374; compare A. Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus Schwaben_ (Freiburg\n      im Breisgau, 1861-1862), ii. pp. 54 _sq._, \u00a7 71.\n\n  624 E. Meier, _op. cit._ p. 372.\n\n  625 E. Meier, _op. cit._ p. 373.\n\n  626 E. Meier, _op. cit._ pp. 373, 374.\n\n  627 A. Kuhn, _Sagen, Gebr\u00e4uche und M\u00e4rchen aus Westfalen_ (Leipsic,\n      1859), ii. p. 130, \u00a7 393.\n\n M181 Burning the Carnival in Greece. Esthonian custom on Shrove Tuesday.\n\n_  628 Folk-lore_, vi. (1895) p. 206.\n\n  629 F. J. Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren und \u00e4usseren Leben der Ehsten_\n      (St. Petersburg, 1876), p. 353.\n\n M182 Resurrection enacted in these ceremonies.\n\n  630 E. Meier, _op. cit._ p. 374.\n\n  631 H. Pr\u00f6hle, _Harzbilder_ (Leipsic, 1855), p. 54.\n\n M183 Carrying out Death in Bavaria.\n\n_  632 Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_, iii. 958.\n\n  633 J. Boemus, _Omnium gentium mores, leges, et ritus_ (Paris, 1538), p.\n      83.\n\n_  634 Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_, iii. 958.\n\n  635 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 639 _sq._; W. Mannhardt,\n      _Baumkultus_, p. 412.\n\n  636 Sepp, _Die Religion der alten Deutschen_ (Munich, 1876), p. 67.\n\n  637 Fr. Kauffmann, _Balder_ (Strasburg, 1902), p. 283.\n\n M184 Carrying out Death in Th\u00fcringen.\n\n  638 Aug. Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_ (Vienna,\n      1878), p. 193.\n\n  639 A. Witzschel, _op. cit._ p. 199; J. A. E. K\u00f6hler, _Volksbrauch,\n      Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte \u00dcberlieferungen im Voigtlande_\n      (Leipsic, 1867), pp. 171 _sq._\n\n  640 Fr. Kauffmann, _Balder_ (Strasburg, 1902), p. 283 note, quoting J.\n      K. Zeumer, _Laetare vulgo Todten Sonntag_ (Jena, 1701), pp. 20\n      _sqq._; J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 640 _sq._ The words of\n      the song are given as \u201c_So treiben wir den todten auss_,\u201d but this\n      must be a mistake for \u201c_So treiben wir den Tod hinaus_,\u201d as the line\n      is given by P. Drechsler (_Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in\n      Schlesien_, i. 66). In the passage quoted the effigy is spoken of as\n      \u201c_mortis larva_.\u201d\n\n  641 Zacharias Schneider, _Leipziger Chronik_, iv. 143, cited by K.\n      Schwenk, _Die Mythologie der Slaven_ (Frankfort, 1853), pp. 217\n      _sq._, and Fr. Kauffmann, _Balder_, pp. 284 _sq._\n\n M185 Carrying out Death in Silesia.\n\n  642 P. Drechsler, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien_, i.\n      65-71. Compare A. Peter, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus\n      \u00d6sterreichisch-Schlesien_ (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 281 _sq._\n\n  643 F. Tetzner, \u201cDie Tschechen und M\u00e4hrer in Schlesien,\u201d _Globus_,\n      lxxviii. (1900) p. 340.\n\n M186 Carrying out Death in Bohemia.\n\n  644 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 642.\n\n  645 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, pp. 90 _sq._\n\n_  646 Ibid._ p. 91.\n\n M187 Carrying out Death in Moravia.\n\n  647 W. M\u00fcller, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in M\u00e4hren_ (Vienna\n      and Olm\u00fctz, 1893), pp. 353-355.\n\n M188 The effigy of Death feared and abhorred.\n\n  648 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 644; K. Haupt, _Sagenbuch der\n      Lausitz_ (Leipsic, 1862-1863), ii. 55; P. Drechsler, _Sitte, Branch\n      und Volksglaube in Schlesien_, i. 70 _sq._\n\n  649 J. Grimm, _op. cit._ ii. 640, 643; P. Drechsler, _op. cit._ i. 70.\n      See also above, p. 236.\n\n  650 Th. Vernaleken, _Mythen und Br\u00e4uche des Volkes in \u00d6sterreich_\n      (Vienna, 1859), pp. 294 _sq._; Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender\n      aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 90.\n\n  651 See above, p. 236.\n\n  652 See above, pp. 234, 235, 236, 237.\n\n  653 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Das festliche Jahr_ (Leipsic, 1863), p. 80.\n\n  654 W. R. S. Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_ (London, 1872), p.\n      211.\n\n_  655 Ibid._ p. 210.\n\n M189 Sawing the Old Woman at Mid-Lent in Italy.\n\n  656 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 652; H. Usener, \"Italische\n      Mythen,\" _Rheinisches Museum_, N.F., xxx. (1875) pp. 191 _sq._\n\n  657 G. Pitr\u00e8, _Spettacoli e feste popolari siciliane_ (Palermo, 1881),\n      pp. 207 _sq._, _id._, _Usi e costumi, credenze e pregiudizi del\n      popolo siciliano_, i. 107 _sq._\n\n_  658 Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari_, iv. (1885) pp.\n      294 _sq._\n\n  659 H. Usener, _op. cit._ p. 193.\n\n  660 Vincenzo Dorsa, _La Tradizione greco-latina negli usi e nelle\n      credenze popolari della Calabria citeriore_ (Cosenza, 1884), pp. 43\n      _sq._\n\n  661 E. Martinengo-Cesaresco, in _The Academy_, No. 671, March 14, 1885,\n      p. 188.\n\n M190 Sawing the Old Woman at Mid-Lent in France.\n\n  662 Laisnel de la Salle, _Croyances et l\u00e9gendes du centre de la France_\n      (Paris, 1875), i. 43 _sq._\n\n M191 Sawing the Old Woman at Mid-Lent in Spain and among the Slavs.\n\n  663 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 652; H. Usener, \u201cItalische\n      Mythen,\u201d _Rheinisches Museum_, N.F., xxx. (1875) pp. 191 _sq._\n\n  664 E. Hoffmann-Krayer, \u201cFruchtbarkeitsriten im schweizerischen\n      Volksbrauch,\u201d _Schweizerisches Archiv f\u00fcr Volkskunde_, xi. (1903) p.\n      239.\n\n M192 Sawing the Old Woman on Palm Sunday among the gypsies.\n\n  665 H. von Wlislocki, _Volksglaube und religi\u00f6ser Brauch der Zigeuner_\n      (M\u00fcnster i. W., 1891), pp. 145 _sq._\n\n M193 Seven-legged effigies of Lent in Spain.\n\n  666 E. Cortet, _Essai sur les f\u00eates religieuses_ (Paris, 1867), pp. 107\n      _sq._; Laisnel de la Salle, _Croyances et l\u00e9gendes du centre de la\n      France_, i. 45 _sq._ A similar custom appears to be observed in\n      Minorca. See _Globus_, lix. (1891) pp. 279, 280.\n\n M194 Seven-legged effigies of Lent in Italy.\n\n  667 A. de Nino, _Usi e costumi abruzzesi_, ii. 203-205 (Florence, 1881);\n      G. Finamore, _Credenze, usi e costumi abruzzesi_ (Palermo, 1890),\n      pp. 112, 114.\n\n  668 G. Amalfi, _Tradizioni ed usi nella Penisola Sorrentina_ (Palermo,\n      1890), p. 41.\n\n  669 Lucy E. Broadwood, in _Folk-lore_, iv. (1893) p. 390.\n\n M195 The custom of carrying out Death is often followed by the ceremony\n      of bringing in Summer, in which the Summer is represented by a tree\n      or branches.\n\n  670 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, pp. 89 _sq._; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 156. This custom has been already\n      referred to. See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 73\n      _sq._\n\n  671 P. Drechsler, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien_, i. 71\n      _sqq._; Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Das festliche Jahr_, p. 82; Philo\n      vom Walde, _Schlesien in Sage und Brauch_ (Berlin, N.D., preface\n      dated 1883), p. 122.\n\n  672 A. Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_, pp. 192\n      _sq._; compare pp. 297 _sqq._\n\n  673 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 643 _sq._; K. Haupt,\n      _Sagenbuch der Lausitz_, ii. 54 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_,\n      pp. 412 _sq._; W. R. S. Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p.\n      211.\n\n M196 New potency of life ascribed to the image of Death. Carrying out\n      Death at Braller in Transylvania.\n\n  674 J. Grimm, _op. cit._ ii. 644; K. Haupt, _op. cit._ ii. 55.\n\n  675 J. K. Schuller, _Das Todaustragen und der Muorlef, ein Beitrag zur\n      Kunde s\u00e4chsischer Sitte und Sage in Siebenb\u00fcrgen_ (Hermannstadt,\n      1861), pp. 4 _sq._ The description of this ceremony by Miss E.\n      Gerard (_The Land beyond the Forest_, ii. 47-49) is plainly borrowed\n      from Mr. Schuller\u2019s little work.\n\n  676 W. M\u00fcller, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in M\u00e4hren_ (Vienna\n      and Olm\u00fctz, 1893), pp. 258 _sq._\n\n M197 Life-giving virtue ascribed to the effigy of Death.\n\n  677 P. 247.\n\n  678 This is also the view taken of the custom by W. Mannhardt,\n      _Baumkultus_, p. 419.\n\n  679 Th. Vernaleken, _Mythen und Br\u00e4uche des Volkes in \u00d6sterreich_, pp.\n      293 _sq._\n\n  680 Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Das festliche Jahr_, p. 82.\n\n  681 Philo vom Walde, _Schlesien in Sage und Brauch_, p. 122; P.\n      Drechsler, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien_, i. 74.\n\n  682 See above, p. 236.\n\n  683 See above, pp. 239 _sq._\n\n  684 See above, p. 236.\n\n M198 The Summer-tree equivalent to the May-tree. But the Summer-tree is a\n      revival of the image of Death; hence the image of Death must be an\n      embodiment of the spirit of vegetation.\n\n  685 Above, p. 246.\n\n  686 Above, p. 246.\n\n  687 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 73 _sqq._\n\n  688 Above, p. 246, and J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 644;\n      Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, pp. 87 _sq._\n\n  689 Above, p. 246.\n\n  690 See above, pp. 250 _sq._\n\n  691 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 45 _sqq._\n\n  692 Above, pp. 234, 235, 240, 248, 250; and J. Grimm, _Deutsche\n      Mythologie_,4 ii. 643.\n\n  693 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 (J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 644).\n\n  694 Above, p. 208.\n\n  695 Above, p. 231.\n\n  696 F. J. Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren und \u00e4usseren Leben der Ehsten_, p.\n      353; Holzmayer, \u201cOsiliana,\u201d in _Verhandlungen der gelehrten\n      Estnischen Gesellschaft zu Dorpat_, vii. Heft 2, pp. 10 _sq._; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 407 _sq._\n\n M199 The names of Carnival, Death, and Summer in the preceding customs\n      seem to cover an ancient tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation.\n\n  697 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 417-421.\n\n M200 Dramatic contests between representatives of Summer and Winter.\n\n  698 Olaus Magnus, _De gentium septentrionalium variis conditionibus_,\n      xv. 8 _sq._ In _Le Temps_, No. 15,669, May 11, 1902, p. 2, there is\n      a description of this ceremony as it used to be performed in\n      Stockholm. The description seems to be borrowed from Olaus Magnus.\n\n  699 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 637-639; _Bavaria, Landes- und\n      Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_, iv. 2, pp. 357 _sq._ See also E.\n      Krause, \u201cDas Sommertags-Fest in Heidelberg,\u201d _Verhandlungen der\n      Berliner Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Anthropologie_, 1895, p. (145); A.\n      Dieterich, \u201cSommertag,\u201d _Archiv f\u00fcr Religionswissenschaft_, viii.\n      (1905) Beiheft, pp. 82 _sqq._\n\n_  700 Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_, i. 369\n      _sq._\n\n_  701 Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_, ii. 259\n      _sq._; F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. pp.\n      253-256; K. von Leoprechting, _Aus dem Lechrain_, pp. 167 _sq._ A\n      dialogue in verse between representatives of Winter and Summer is\n      spoken at Hartlieb in Silesia, near Breslau. See _Zeitschrift des\n      Vereins f\u00fcr Volkskunde_, iii. (1893) pp. 226-228.\n\n M201 Dramatic contests between representatives of Summer and Winter.\n\n  702 Th. Vernaleken, _Mythen und Br\u00e4uche des V\u00f6lkes in \u00d6sterreich_, pp.\n      297 _sq._\n\n  703 R. Andree, _Braunschweiger Volkskunde_ (Brunswick, 1896), p. 250.\n\n  704 W. M\u00fcller, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in M\u00e4hren_, pp.\n      430-436.\n\n  705 W. M\u00fcller, _op. cit._ p. 259.\n\n M202 Queen of Winter and Queen of May in the Isle of Man.\n\n  706 J. Train, _Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man_\n      (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1845), ii. 118-120. It has been suggested\n      that the name Maceboard may be a corruption of May-sports.\n\n M203 Contests between representatives of Summer and Winter among the\n      Esquimaux. Canadian Indians drove away Winter with burning brands.\n\n  707 Fr. Boas, \u201cThe Central Eskimo,\u201d _Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau\n      of Ethnology_ (Washington, 1888), p. 605. The account of this custom\n      given by Captain J. S. Mutch is as follows: \u201cThe people take a long\n      rope, the ends of which are tied together. They arrange themselves\n      so that those born during the summer stand close to the water, and\n      those born in the winter stand inland; and then they pull at the\n      rope to see whether summer or winter is the stronger. If winter\n      should win, there will be plenty of food; if summer should win,\n      there will be a bad winter.\u201d See Fr. Boas, \u201cThe Eskimo of Baffin\n      Land and Hudson Bay,\u201d _Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural\n      History_, xv. (1901) pp. 140 _sq._ At Memphis in Egypt there were\n      two statues in front of the temple of Hephaestus (Ptah), of which\n      the more northern was popularly called Summer and the more southern\n      Winter. The people worshipped the image of Summer and execrated the\n      image of Winter. It has been suggested that the two statues\n      represented Osiris and Typhon, the good and the bad god. See\n      Herodotus, ii. 121, with the notes of B\u00e4hr and Wiedemann.\n\n_  708 Relations des J\u00e9suites_, 1636, p. 38 (Canadian reprint, Quebec,\n      1858).\n\n M204 The burning of Winter at Zurich.\n\n  709 H. Herzog, _Schweizerische Volksfeste, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche_ (Aurau,\n      1884), pp. 164-166; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 498 _sq._\n\n  710 Letter to me of Dr. J. S. Black, dated Lauriston Cottage, Wimbledon\n      Common, 28th May, 1903. In a subsequent letter (dated 9th June,\n      1903) Dr. Black enclosed some bibliographical references to the\n      custom which were kindly furnished to him by Professor P. Schmiedel\n      of Zurich, who speaks of the effigy as a representative of Winter.\n      It is not expressly so called by H. Herzog and W. Mannhardt. See the\n      preceding note.\n\n M205 Funeral of Kostrubonko, Kostroma, Kupalo, and Yarilo in Russia.\n\n  711 W. R. S. Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 221.\n\n  712 W. R. S. Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 241.\n\n  713 W. R. S. Ralston, _op. cit._ pp. 243 _sq._; W. Mannhardt,\n      _Baumkultus_, p. 414.\n\n  714 W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 414 _sq._; W. R. S. Ralston, _op.\n      cit._ p. 244.\n\n  715 W. R. S. Ralston, _op. cit._ p. 245; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p.\n      416.\n\n  716 W. Mannhardt, _l.c._; W. R. S. Ralston, _l.c._\n\n M206 The Russian Kostrubonko, Yarilo, and so on, were probably at first\n      spirits of vegetation dying and coming to life again.\n M207 In these ceremonies grief and gladness, love and hatred appear to be\n      curiously combined.\n M208 Expulsion of Death sometimes enacted without an effigy.\n\n  717 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 644.\n\n  718 J. G. von Hahn, _Albanesische Studien_ (Jena, 1854), i. 160.\n\n M209 Images of Siva and P\u00e2rvat\u00ee married, drowned, and mourned for in\n      India.\n\n  719 R. C. Temple, in _Indian Antiquary_, xi. (1882) pp. 297 _sq._\n\n M210 In this Indian custom Siva and P\u00e2rvat\u00ee seem to be the equivalents of\n      the King and Queen of May.\n\n  720 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 84 _sqq._\n\n  721 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 45 _sqq._\n\n M211 The foregoing customs were originally rites intended to ensure the\n      revival of nature in spring by means of imitative magic. Feelings\n      with which the primitive savage may have regarded the changes of the\n      seasons.\n\n  722 When the Kurnai of Victoria saw the Aurora Australis, which\n      corresponds to the Northern Streamers of Europe, they exchanged\n      wives for the day and swung the severed hand of a dead man towards\n      it, shouting, \u201cSend it away! do not let it burn us up!\u201d See A. W.\n      Howitt, \u201cOn some Australian Beliefs,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Institute_, xiii. (1884) p. 189; _id._, _Native\n      Tribes of South-East Australia_, pp. 276 sq., 430.\n\n M212 In modern Europe the old magical rites for the revival of nature in\n      spring have degenerated into mere pageants and pastimes.\n\n  723 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 242 _sq._\n\n M213 Parallel to the spring customs of Europe in the magical rites of the\n      Central Australian aborigines.\n\n  724 Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 4\n      _sq._, 170.\n\n  725 Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 170. For a description of some of\n      these ceremonies see _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i.\n      85 _sqq._\n\n M214 Letter of Mr. M. W. Lampson.\n M215 Lord Avebury\u2019s statement.\n\n  726 Lord Avebury, _Origin of Civilisation_,5 pp. 378 _sq._; compare\n      _id._, _Prehistoric Times_,5 p. 561.\n\n M216 Opinions of various authorities.\n M217 Substitutes for corporal punishment in China.\n\n  727 De Guignes, _Voyages \u00e0 Peking, Manille et l\u2019\u00cele de France_, iii.\n      (Paris, 1808) pp. 114 _sq._\n\n M218 The custom of swinging practised for various reasons. Swinging at\n      harvest.\n\n  728 Above, pp. 156 _sq._\n\n  729 B. F. Matthes, _Einige Eigenthumlichkeiten in den Festen und\n      Gewohnheiten der Makassaren und Buginesen_ (Leyden, 1884), p. 1;\n      _id._, \u201cOver de \u00e2d\u00e1\u2019s of gewoonten der Makassaren en Boegineezen,\u201d\n      _Verslagen en Mededeelingen der koninklijke Akademie van\n      Wetenschappen_, Afdeeling Letterkunde, Derde Reeks, Tweede Deel\n      (Amsterdam, 1885), pp. 169 _sq._\n\n  730 H. A. Oldfield, _Sketches from Nipal_ (London, 1880), ii. 351.\n\n  731 Spenser St. John, _Life in the Forests of the Far East_,2 i. 194\n      _sq._\n\n  732 Ch. Brooke, _Ten Years in Sarawak_, ii. 226 _sq._\n\n M219 Swinging for fish and game.\n\n  733 J. S. G. Gramberg, \u201cDe Troeboekvisscherij,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor\n      Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxiv. (1887) pp. 314 _sq._\n\n  734 E. Petitot, _Monographie des D\u00e8n\u00e8-Dindji\u00e8_ (Paris, 1876), p. 38. The\n      same ceremony is performed, oddly enough, to procure the death of an\n      enemy.\n\n M220 Indian custom of swinging on hooks. Swinging in the rainy season.\n      Swinging in honour of Krishna. Esthonian custom of swinging at the\n      summer solstice.\n\n  735 Hamilton\u2019s \u201cAccount of the East Indies,\u201d in Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and\n      Travels_, viii. 360 _sq._ In general we are merely told that these\n      Indian devotees swing on hooks in fulfilment of a vow or to obtain\n      some favour of a deity. See Duarte Barbosa, _Description of the\n      Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the beginning of the Sixteenth\n      Century_, translated by the Hon. H. E. J. Stanley (Hakluyt Society,\n      London, 1866), pp. 95 _sq._; Gaspar Balbi\u2019s \u201cVoyage to Pegu,\u201d in\n      Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_, ix. 398; Sonnerat, _Voyage aux\n      Indes orientales et \u00e0 la Chine_, i. 244; S. Mateer, _The Land of\n      Charity_, p. 220; W. W. Hunter, _Annals of Rural Bengal_,5 p. 463;\n      _North Indian Notes and Queries_, i. p. 76, \u00a7 511.\n\n  736 V. Ball, _Jungle Life in India_ (London, 1880), p. 232.\n\n  737 W. W. Hunter, _Annals of Rural Bengal_5 (London, 1872), p. 463.\n\n  738 G. W. Leitner, _The Languages and Races of Dardistan_ (Lahore,\n      1878), p. 12.\n\n  739 Sarat Chandra Mitra, \u201cNotes on two Behari Pastimes,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Anthropological Society of Bombay_, iii. 95 _sq._\n\n  740 H. H. Wilson, \u201cThe Religious Festivals of the Hindus,\u201d _Journal of\n      the Royal Asiatic Society_, ix. (1848) p. 98. Compare E. T. Dalton,\n      _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 314; Monier Williams,\n      _Religious Life and Thought in India_, p. 137; W. Crooke, \u201cThe\n      Legends of Krishna,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xi. (1900) pp. 21 _sqq._\n\n_  741 The Hymns of the Rigveda_, vii. 87. 5 (vol. iii. p. 108 of R. T. H.\n      Griffith\u2019s translation, Benares, 1891); H. Oldenberg, _Die Religion\n      des Veda_, pp. 444 _sq._\n\n  742 J. G. Kohl, _Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen_ (Dresden and\n      Leipsic, 1841), ii. 268 _sqq._\n\n  743 L. v. Schroeder, \u201cLihgo (Refrain der lettischen Sonnwendlieder),\u201d\n      _Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien_, xxxii.\n      (1902) pp. 1-11.\n\n M221 Swinging for inspiration.\n\n  744 S. W. Tromp, \u201cUit de Salasila van Koetei,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal-\n      Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, xxxvii. (1888) pp.\n      87-89.\n\n M222 Swinging as a cure for sickness.\n\n  745 J. Perham, \u201cManangism in Borneo,\u201d _Journal of the Straits Branch of\n      the Royal Asiatic Society_, No. 19 (Singapore, 1887), pp. 97 _sq._;\n      E. H. Gomes, _Seventeen Years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo_\n      (London, 1911), pp. 169, 170, 171; H. Ling Roth, _The Natives of\n      Sarawak and British North Borneo_, i. 279.\n\n  746 C. Bock, _The Head-hunters of Borneo_ (London, 1881), pp. 110-112.\n\n M223 Athenian festival of swinging.\n\n  747 Hyginus, _Astronomica_, ii. 4, pp. 34 _sqq._, ed. Bunte; _id._,\n      _Fabulae_, 130; Servius and Probus on Virgil, _Georg._ ii. 389;\n      Festus, _s.v._ \u201cOscillantes,\u201d p. 194, ed. C. O. M\u00fcller; Athenaeus,\n      xiv. 10, p. 618 E F; Pollux, iv. 55; Hesychius, _s.vv._ \u1f08\u03bb\u1fc6\u03c4\u03b9\u03c2 and\n      \u0391\u1f30\u03ce\u03c1\u03b1; _Etymologicum magnum_, _s.v._ \u0391\u1f30\u03ce\u03c1\u03b1, p. 42. 3; Schol. on\n      Homer, _Iliad_, xxii. 29. The story of the murder of Icarius is told\n      by a scholiast on Lucian (_Dial. meretr._ vii. 4) to explain the\n      origin of a different festival (_Rheinisches Museum_, N.F., xxv.\n      (1870) pp. 557 _sqq._; _Scholia in Lucianum_, ed. H. Rabe, p. 280).\n      As to the swinging festival at Athens see O. Jahn, _Arch\u00e4ologische\n      Beitr\u00e4ge_, pp. 324 _sq._; Daremberg et Saglio, _Dictionnaire des\n      antiquit\u00e9s grecques et romaines_, _s.v._ \u201cAiora\u201d; Miss J. E.\n      Harrison, in _Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens_, by Mrs.\n      Verrall and Miss J. E. Harrison, pp. xxxix. _sqq._\n\n M224 Swinging as a mode of expiation and purification.\n\n  748 Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ xii. 603: \u201c_Et Varro ait: Suspendiosis\n      quibus iusta fieri ius non sit, suspensis oscillis veluti per\n      imitationem mortis parentari._\u201d\n\n  749 Servius on Virgil, _Georg._ ii. 389; _id._, on _Aen._ vi. 741.\n\n  750 Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 505\n      _sq._\n\n  751 Festus, _s.v._ \u201cOscillantes,\u201d p. 194, ed. C. O. M\u00fcller. This\n      festival and its origin are also alluded to in a passage of one of\n      the manuscripts of Servius (on Virgil, _Georg._ ii. 389), which is\n      printed by Lion in his edition of Servius (vol. ii. 254, note), but\n      not by Thilo and Hagen in their large critical edition of the old\n      Virgilian commentator. \u201cIn _Schol. Bob._ p. 256 we are told that\n      there was a reminiscence of the fact that, the bodies of Latinus and\n      Aeneas being undiscoverable, their _animae_ were sought in the air\u201d\n      (G. E. M. Marindin, _s.v._ \u201cOscilla,\u201d W. Smith\u2019s _Dictionary of\n      Greek and Roman Antiquities_,3 ii. 304).\n\n M225 Swinging to promote the growth of plants.\n\n  752 Hyginus, _Fab._ 130.\n\n  753 Probus on Virgil, _Georg._ ii. 385.\n\n  754 Virgil, _Georg._ ii. 388 _sqq._\n\n  755 See above, p. 157.\n\n M226 Swinging as a festal rite in modern Greece and Italy.\n\n  756 W. G. Clark, _Peloponnesus_ (London, 1858), p. 274.\n\n  757 J. T. Bent, _The Cyclades_ (London, 1885), p. 5.\n\n  758 J. T. Bent, quoted by Miss J. E. Harrison, _Mythology and Monuments\n      of Ancient Athens_, p. xliii.\n\n  759 Vincenzo Dorsa, _La Tradizione greco-latina negli usi e nelle\n      credenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore_ (Cosenza, 1884), p. 36.\n      In one village the custom is observed on Ascension Day instead of at\n      Christmas.\n\n  760 Vald\u00e9s, _Los Majos de Cadiz_, extract sent to me in the original\n      Spanish by Mr. W. Moss, of 21 Abbey Grove, Bolton, March 23rd, 1907.\n\n M227 Swinging at festivals in spring.\n\n  761 E. Doutt\u00e9, _Magie et religion dans l\u2019Afrique du nord_ (Algiers,\n      1908), pp. 580 _sq._\n\n  762 W. W. Rockhill, \u201cNotes on some of the Laws, Customs, and\n      Superstitions of Korea,\u201d _American Anthropologist_, iv. (1891) pp.\n      185 _sq._\n\n  763 Pausanias, v. 1. 4.\n\n  764 Pausanias, vi. 20. 9.\n\n_  765 Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 88 _sq._\n\n  766 J. L. van Hasselt, \u201cAanteekeningen aangaande de gewoonten der\n      Papoeas in de Dorebaai, ten opzichte van zwangerschap en geboorte,\u201d\n      _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xliii.\n      (1901) p. 566.\n\n  767 J. H. Letteboer, \u201cEenige aanteekeningen omtrent de gebruiken bij\n      zwangerschap en geboorte onder de Savuneezen,\u201d _Mededeelingen van\n      wege het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap_, xlvi. (1902) p. 45.","title":"The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 04 of 12)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":137582}