{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_60943/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_60943","id":"gutenberg_60943","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60943","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Folklore","Manners and customs","Mythology","Prehistoric peoples"],"text":"=MORGAN\u2019S ANCIENT SOCIETY=; or, Researches on the Lines of Human Progress\nthrough Savagery and Barbarism to Civilization. By LEWIS H. MORGAN, LL.D.\n8vo. $4.\n\n=SIR HENRY SUMNER MAINE\u2019S WORKS=:\n\n    =Ancient Law=: Its Connection with the Early History of\n    Society, and its Relation to Modern Ideas. By HENRY SUMNER\n    MAINE, Member of the Supreme Council of India, and Regius\n    Professor of the Civil Law in the University of Cambridge. With\n    an Introduction by Theodore W. Dwight, LL.D. 8vo. $3.50.\n\n    =Lectures on the Early History of Institutions.= A Sequel to\n    \u201cAncient Law.\u201d 8vo. $3.50.\n\n    =Village Communities in the East and West.= Six Lectures\n    delivered at Oxford: to which are added other Lectures,\n    Addresses, and Essays. 8vo. $3.50.\n\n=E. B. TYLOR\u2019S WORKS=:\n\n    =Primitive Culture=: Researches into the Development of\n    Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom. 2 vols. 8vo.\n    $7.00.\n\n    =Researches into the Early History of Mankind=, and the\n    Development of Civilization. 8vo. $3.50.\n\n\n\n\n                            PRIMITIVE MANNERS\n                               AND CUSTOMS\n\n                                   BY\n                             JAMES A. FARRER\n\n                             [Illustration]\n\n                                NEW YORK\n                         HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY\n                                  1879\n\n\n\n\n_INTRODUCTION._\n\n\nFrom the myths characteristic of savage tribes, from their beliefs,\ntheir proverbs, their political and social regulations, it is here\nsought to gain some general estimate of their powers of intelligence and\nimagination, their moral ideas, and their religion; subjects naturally\nof much interest and inevitably of some dispute. For the reason that in\nsavagery as in civilisation there are heights and depths, with more of\nlight here, more of darkness there, it is quite impossible to bring the\nwhole of savage life into focus at once, so that every general conclusion\ncan only be taken as true within limits. The field to be studied is also\nso large and diversified, that no two minds can expect to derive from\nit the same impressions, nor to attain to more than partial truth about\nit. But since the savage can never hope to be heard in court himself,\nit is only fair to start with certain considerations which he would\nbe entitled to urge, and which deserve to weigh in any judgment made\nregarding him.\n\nStatements of very low powers of numeration have been perhaps too hastily\ntaken as indicative of a low state of intelligence; for not only have\nsimilar assertions concerning American and Tasmanian tribes by the\nearliest voyagers proved on subsequent investigation to be erroneous,\nbut many savages have substitutes for our arithmetic which serve them\nperfectly well, the Loangese, for instance, expressing numbers in\nnarration not by words but by gestures; and the Koossa Kaffirs\u2014very few\nof whom are said to be able to count above ten\u2014possessing the peculiar\nfaculty of detecting almost at a glance any loss in a herd of cattle\nwhich may amount to half a thousand. In the same way the want of a\nwritten language is often supplied by symbolism. Puzzle as it might a\nperson of education to read a letter, expressed by a bundle containing a\nstone, a piece of charcoal, a rag, a pepper-pod, and a grain of parched\ncorn, this would be the way of saying in Yoruba, that, though the\nsender was as strong and firm as a stone, his prospects were as dark as\ncharcoal; that his clothes were in rags; that he was so feverish with\nanxiety that his skin burned like pepper, even enough to cause corn to\nwither. The Niam-Niam, again, who declare war by hanging on a tree an\near of maize, a fowl\u2019s feather, and an arrow, thereby giving contingent\nenemies to understand that arrows will avenge any injury done to a single\nfowl or a single ear of maize, convey their meaning quite as clearly as\nthe most politely framed ultimata of any Foreign Office in Europe.\n\nMany of the beliefs attributed to savages are no fair test of their\ngeneral reasoning capabilities; for there are degrees of credulity in\nsavage as in civilised life, and reason everywhere struggles to exist.\nWhen Pelopidas, on the eve of the battle of Leuctra, received commands\nin a dream to sacrifice to certain shades a virgin with chestnut hair,\nthere were not wanting soldiers, even in that army of B\u0153otians, who had\nthe shrewdness to think and the courage to say, that it was absurd to\nsuppose any divine powers could delight in the slaughter and sacrifice of\nhuman beings, and that, if there were such, they deserved no reverence.\nAll stages of culture thus have their dissenters, their wicked reasoners.\nAmong the Ahts only the most superstitious now burn the house of a dead\nman, with all its contents, for fear of offending his ghost. The Zulus,\nwhose sole religion consists in ancestor-worship, exhibited often in\nthe most ridiculous ceremonies, begin to doubt the power and even the\nexistence of their Amatongo, or dead ancestors, if, when they are sick,\ntheir prayers and sacrifices fail to effect a cure.\n\nThe Tongan king, Finow, often stated to Mariner his doubts about the\nexistence of the gods, and expressed the opinion, that men were fools for\nbelieving all they were told by the priests; whilst his saying, that the\ngods always favoured that side in war on which there were the greatest\nchiefs and warriors, recalls the opinion of a far more famous potentate\nthan Finow. The disrespect, indeed, that Finow showed to the Tongan\nreligion was such, that his subjects explained violent thunderstorms as\nthe dissensions of the gods in Bolotu about his punishment. On the other\nhand, savages are also subject to relapses of superstition, such as with\nus are dignified by the name of \u2018movements;\u2019 an American tribe who traced\ntheir origin to a dog were so firmly impressed by a fanatic with the sin\nof attaching their canine relatives to their sledges, that they resolved\nto use dogs no more, but women instead, for dragging their possessions.\n\nSavage ideas of morality and of government seem to agree fundamentally\nwith those of more advanced populations, the ideas of the latter\ndiffering, indeed, from the barbaric much as a finished photograph\ndiffers from its earlier stage; that is to say, not as essentially\ndifferent, but as having become \u2018fixed\u2019 after a process of development.\nThe idea of the wrongfulness of certain acts starts with the fear of\ntheir consequences, that of murder, for instance, from the fear of\nrevenge; nor are such ideas ever separable from the lowest levels of\nsavage life. The sense of the sanctity of property begins with what an\nindividual can make or catch for himself apart from tribal claims; nor\nis any state of tribal communism so strong as to recognise no private\nrights in the people or things a man takes in war, the game he kills, or\nthe weapons he fashions. Respect for the aged is one of the best traits\nof savage life, for the tribes of whom it is asserted seem to outnumber\nthose of whom it is denied. In Equatorial Africa young men never appear\nbefore old ones without curtseying nor pass them by without stooping;\nshould they sit in their presence, it is \u2018at a humble distance.\u2019 Nor are\ncases of the abandonment of the aged and infirm conclusive proof of a\ndeficiency of natural affection; one tribe who were accused of so acting\nare also known to have carried about with them for years a palsied man\nwith great tenderness and attention. Truthfulness, again, is recognised\nas a virtue outside the pale of the higher religions, for Mungo Park\nfound it one of the first lessons taught by Mandingo women to their\nchildren, and he mentions the case of one mother, whose only consolation\non the murder of her son \u2018was the reflection that the poor boy in the\ncourse of his life had never told an untruth.\u2019\n\nStrange contradictions abound in savage life, extremes of barbarity\nsometimes co-existing with habits of some refinement. The Ahts, who\noccasionally sacrifice one of their number to the gods, and till lately\ndeserted their sick and aged, without the excuse of scarcity of food,\nkeep small mats of bark strips for strangers to wipe their feet with, and\nafter meals offer them water and cedar-bark for washing their hands and\nmouths. They have also a strict etiquette regulating their reception of\nguests; they observe public ceremonies with extreme formality; their men\nof rank vie with one another in politeness. The Niam-Niam are generally\ncannibals, but when several of them drink together \u2018they may each be\nobserved to wipe the rim of the drinking-vessel before passing it on.\u2019\nThe Bachapins, among whom it is said that a murderer incurs no disgrace,\nyet measure a man\u2019s merit by his industry, and despise a man who does\nnot work, that is, hunt, for his living. The Aztecs, with their constant\nand frightful human sacrifices, were so afraid of incurring divine wrath\nfor the blood they spilled in the chase, that they would always preface\na hunt by burning incense to their idols, and conclude it by smearing\nthe faces of their divinities with the blood of their game. To turn back\nfrom the procession which accompanied the sacrifice of young children\nto the gods of rain and water rendered a man infamous and incapable of\npublic office; yet death was the penalty for drunkenness in either sex,\nand \u2018it was considered degrading for a person of quality to touch wine at\nall, even in seasons of festival.\u2019 Similar inconsistencies are common in\nsocial regulations, especially in those relating to marriage, stringent\nlaws of prohibited degrees and the strictest etiquette often affording\nno further evidence of purity of manners. The most barbarous marriage\nceremonies are frequently attended with absurd forms of prudery, which\nit is perhaps impossible to trace to their origin. The instance of the\nAleutian islanders, who with the grossest vices connect such notions\nof propriety as that either a husband or a wife would blush to address\nthe other in the presence of a stranger, is one among many similar\nillustrations of a side of savage life which but for parallels in our\nown social usages might present itself as an inexplicable anomaly.\n\nBetter experience has in so many cases dissipated original assertions of\nan absolute want of religious ideas among savages, that the strongest\ndoubts must be felt of all similar negative propositions. Theology in one\nof three grades seems rather to be the universal property of mankind,\nappearing either harmless, as at the beginning or end of its historical\ncareer, or in its second and middle stage as identical with all that is\nabominable and cruel. The classification of mankind on such a basis of\ndivision, though it could never aspire to scientific exactness, would\nafford at least a standard of practical discrimination, by which the\nrelations between Christian and non-Christian communities might to some\nextent be adjusted; for, by considering any people under one of these\nthree aspects, it would be possible to form some estimate of their\naptitude for, or need of, our theology, and of the advisability of our\nseeking to force it upon them.[1] Should the principle ever meet with\nthe acceptance it deserves, that missions, like charities, ought to be\ndiscriminate, it is not difficult to perceive the direction in which such\na truth will be likely some day to receive practical recognition.\n\nFor wherever native theology takes the form of cannibalism, sutteeism,\nhuman sacrifices, or other rites directly destructive of earthly\nhappiness, there the teaching of missionaries affords the only hope of\na speedy reform, the only acquaintance possible for savage tribes with\na culture higher than their own, save that which is likely to come to\nthem through the medium of the brandy-bottle or the bayonet. But to send\nmissions to countries like Russia or China, where there exist established\nsystems of religion undefiled by cruelty, violates the first principle\nof the faith so conveyed, disturbing the peace of families and nations\nwith the curse of religious animosity. When the Jesuits entreated the\nChinese Emperor, Young-tching, to reconsider his resolution to proscribe\nChristianity, there was some reason in the imperial answer: \u2018What should\nyou say if I sent a troop of lamas and bonzes to your country, to preach\ntheir law there?\u2019 The Taeping rebellion, or civil war, which devastated\nChina for about fifteen years, desolating hundreds of miles of fair\ntowns and fertile fields, and fought out among massacres, sieges, and\nfamines, of quite indescribable cruelty and horror, owed its impulse\ndistinctly to the working of Christian tracts among the more ignorant\nclasses, followed by a fanatical endeavour to substitute a travesty of\nChristianity for the older religions; yet the seeds of all this misery\nare still sown in China, in the name and by the ministers of a religion\nof Peace, a religion that has for its first and final rule of life the\nduty of so dealing with others as we should wish them to deal with\nourselves.\n\nCases of the third class, where the state of religious belief is so\nrudimentary as to be innocuous, are unhappily few; but where such belief\nhas not advanced to the detriment of the general welfare, it would seem\nthe kindest policy not to inspire men, whose lives are spent in the\nconstant perils of the woods or waves, with fears of more malignant\nspirits than those their own fancy has created for them, nor to teach\nthem the doctrine that, hard and black as this world often proves to\nthem, there is a yet harder and blacker one beyond. There is also\nsome charm in that variety of belief and custom against which we wage\nunremitting war; and only a tasteless fanaticism can think with pure joy\nof the time, when sectarian chapels shall stand on every island of the\nseas, and Tartarus be taught wherever the sun shines. Rites and beliefs\nlose the interest which cling to them in their native home as soon as\nit is sought to transplant them elsewhere, just as flowers lose their\nfragrance and beauty when once they have been separated from the plant on\nwhich they grew. For this reason Puritanism has but little charm out of\nEngland; and though it should please our love of uniformity to read (as\nwe may) of a Tahitian chief carrying his Sabbatarian scruples so far as\nto ask whether, if he saw ripe plantains by his garden-path on Sunday, he\nmight pick and eat them; or of another abstaining from turning a pig out\nof his garden on Sunday, preferring to let his sugar-canes be devoured;\nsuch facts are yet no proof that we make Christians of savages; they only\nprove that, with some trouble, we may make them imbeciles.\n\nIt would be difficult, indeed, to pay too high a tribute to the unselfish\nefforts of missionaries, now and in past times, directly for the benefit\nof mankind and indirectly for that of science; yet the question, besides\nits speculative interest, derives some justification from the general\nresults of missions over the world, and from the melancholy disproportion\nbetween their actual and their merited successes: Whether the welfare\nand improvement of savage tribes would not be best left to themselves\nand to time? That they are not incapable of independent improvement\nthere is abundant evidence to show. Sometimes it arises in a tribe from\nimitation of some neighbouring tribe, more powerful but less barbarous\nthan itself; sometimes from the initiative of some reforming chief of its\nown. Thus the Comanche Indians of Texas, among whom \u2018Christianity had\nnever been introduced,\u2019 abolished, in consequence of their intercourse\nwith tribes less savage than themselves, the inhuman custom of killing a\nfavourite wife at her husband\u2019s funeral. Mariner was himself a witness of\nthe abolition on the Tongan Islands of the custom of strangling the wife\nof the great Tooitonga chief at his death. It is said, again, to be an\nindisputable fact, that the Monbuttoos of Africa, whose \u2018cannibalism is\nthe most pronounced of all the known nations of Africa,\u2019 have, \u2018without\nany influence from the Mahometan or Christian world, attained to no\ncontemptible degree of external culture.\u2019 Finow, the Tongan king, was\na genuine reformer; and there have even been kings of Dahome who have\nwished the abolition of human sacrifices. Bianswah, the great Chippewya\nchief, put a stop, by a treaty of peace with the Sioux, to the horrible\npractice of burning prisoners alive; and, though the peace between\nthe tribes was often broken, their compact in this respect was never\nviolated. In other instances the modification of older usages points\nto the operation of reformative tendencies. Thus the Nootka Indians,\nwho used to conclude their hunting festivals with a human sacrifice,\nsubsequently changed the custom into the more lenient one of sticking a\nboy with knives in various parts of his body. The Zulus abolished the\ncustom of killing slaves with a chief, to prepare food and other things\nfor him in the next world; so that now it is only a tradition with them\nthat formerly when a chief died he did not die alone: \u2018when the fire was\nkindled the chief was put in, and then his servants were chosen and put\nin after the chief; the great men followed\u2014they were taken one by one.\u2019\n\nIt is moreover certain that in some instances savages have arrived\nspontaneously at no contemptible notions of morality, and that they have\noften lost their native virtues by their very contact with a higher form\nof faith. The African Bakwains declared that nothing described by the\nmissionaries as sin had ever appeared to them otherwise, except polygamy;\nand the Tongan chiefs (if Mariner may be trusted), when asked what\nmotives they had, beyond their fear of misfortunes in this life, for\nvirtuous conduct, replied, \u2018_as if they wondered such a question should\nbe asked_:\u2019 \u2018The agreeable and happy feelings which a man experiences\nwithin himself when he does any good action and conducts himself nobly\nand generously, as a man ought to do.\u2019 The natural virtues attributed\nto the same people include honour, justice, patriotism, friendship,\nmeekness, modesty, conjugal fidelity, parental and filial love, patience\nin suffering, forbearance of temper, respect for rank and for age.\nThe Khonds of India, much more savage than the Tongans (their chief\nvirtues consisting in killing an enemy, dying as a warrior, or living\nas a priest), yet account as sinful acts the refusal of hospitality,\nthe breach of an oath or promise, a lie, or the violation of a pledge\nof friendship. The virtues the Maoris now possess they are said to have\npossessed before we came among them, namely honesty, self-respect,\ntruthfulness; and the belief that these virtues are even \u2018fading under\ntheir assumed Christianity\u2019 recalls the tradition of certain American\ntribes, that their lives and manners were originally less barbarous,\nthe Odjibwas, for instance, actually tracing the increase of murders,\nthefts, falsehood, and disobedience to parents, to the advent of the\nChristian whites.\n\nIt is also remarkable that in several instances savages have of\nthemselves hit upon those very helps to the maintenance of virtue which\nall Christian Churches have found so efficacious. For we find existing\namong them as religious and moral observances not only Fasting and\nConfession, but occasionally even Sermons. In the Tongan Islands _fonos_,\nor public assemblies, were held, at which the king would address his\nsubjects, not only on agriculture but on morals and politics; and the\nlower chiefs had _fonos_ also for the similar benefit of their feudal\nsubordinates. In America, also, some tribes observed feasts at which\nthe young were addressed on their moral duties, being admonished to be\nattentive and respectful to the old, to obey their parents, never to\nscoff at the decrepit or deformed, to be charitable and hospitable. Not\nonly were such precepts dwelt on at great length, but enforced by the\nexamples of good and bad individuals, just as they might be in London or\nRome. Such considerations, indeed, prove nothing against the additional\ngood that missionaries may do; but they add some force to the thought\nthat had a tithe of the energy, the devotion, the suffering, the money,\nthat has been lavished on coaxing savages to be baptized, been spent on\npromoting international peace in Europe, wars might by this time be as\nextinct, belong as purely to a past state of things, as judicial combats,\nthe thumbscrew, or the knout.\n\nThe vexed question, whether savage life represents a primitive or a\ndecadent condition, whether it represents what man at first everywhere\nwas, or only what he may become, has throughout the following chapters\nbeen avoided, that controversy being regarded as \u2018laid\u2019 by the exhaustive\nresearches of Mr. Tylor and other writers. But whilst the state of the\nlowest modern savages is taken as the nearest approximation we have of\nthe primitive state from which mankind has risen, it is not pretended\nthat the state of any particular tribe may not be one to which it has\nfallen. As the low position of many Bushmen tribes is quite explicable by\ntheir long border-warfare with the Dutch, and the consequent cruelties\nthey were exposed to, or as the state of many Brazilian savages may be\ntraced to similar contact with the Portuguese, so any case of extreme\nsavagery may be the result of causes, whose operation has no historical\nor written proof to attest them. The gigantic stone images on Easter\nIsland, or the great earthworks in America, are among the proofs, that\nbut for such material traces of its existence it is possible for a whole\ncivilisation to vanish, and to leave only the veriest savages on the\nsoil where it flourished.[2] As we know that Europe was once as purely\nsavage as parts of Africa are still, and can conceive the cycle of\nevents restoring it to barbarism, so in the depths of time it may have\nhappened in places where no suspicion of such a history is possible. As\nthe surface of the earth seems subjected to processes of elevation and\nsubsidence, land and sea constantly alternating their dominion, so it may\nbe with civilisation, destined to no permanent home on the earth, but\nsubsiding here to reappear there, and varying its level as it varies its\nlatitude.\n\nAs the practical infinity of past time makes it impossible to calculate\nthe influence exercised in different parts of the world by migrations,\nby conquests, or by commerce, except within a very limited period, so it\nprecludes any definite belief in ethnological divisions, and relegates\nthe question of the unity of the human race, like that of its origin, to\nthe limbo of profitless discussion. No characteristic has yet been found\nby which mankind can be classified distinctly into races; and with all\nthe differences of colour, hair, skull, or language, which now suffice\nfor purposes of nomenclature, it remains true that there is nothing to\nchoose between the hypothesis that we constitute only one species and the\nhypothesis that we constitute several. The world is so old as to admit of\ndivergences from a single original type quite as wide as any that exist;\nwhilst, on the other hand, similarity of customs (such, for instance, as\nthat Tartars in Asia, Sioux Indians in America, and Kamschadals should\nall regard it as a sin to touch a fire with a knife), fail us as a\nproof of a unity of origin, in the face of our ignorance of prehistoric\nantiquity.\n\nThat the works which have treated before, and better, of the subjects\nincluded in the following chapters should have exercised no deterrent\neffect in treating of them again, must find its excuse in the general\ninterest which those works have produced for the studies in question,\nand of which the present work is but a sign and consequence. The reader\nhas only himself to blame, if, having read the works on the same or\nsimilar subjects by Mr. Tylor, Mr. Spencer, and Sir John Lubbock, or\nthose in German by Peschel, Wuttke, or Waitz, he troubles himself with\nyet another book which seeks rather to illustrate than to exhaust the\nmany interesting problems connected with savage life; but the present\nwriter, whilst under the deepest obligations to the labours of his\npredecessors\u2014without which his own would have been impossible\u2014has not\nstudied simply to recapitulate their conclusions, but has sought rather\nto arrive at such results as the evidence forced upon him, independently\nas far as possible of existing theories or of the authority upon which\nthey rest. Should he have succeeded in making anyone think better than\nbefore, with more interest and sympathy, of those outcasts of the world\nwhom we designate as savage, something at least will have been done\nto claim for them a kindlier treatment and respect than in popular\nestimation they either deserve or obtain.\n\n\n\n\n_CONTENTS._\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I.\n\n                     SOME SAVAGE MYTHS AND BELIEFS.\n\n    The universality of religion\u2014Nature and tests of the evidence\n    relating to the subject\u2014Savage ideas of creation: ideas of a\n    first man confused with ideas of a first cause\u2014Illustrative\n    examples of primitive cosmogony\u2014Origin of the myth of the\n    Two Contending Brothers\u2014Prevalence of the belief in a Golden\n    Age\u2014Deluge-myths\u2014Their possible origin in recollections of\n    local floods, in the changes of the land-level, or in fancies\n    about the skies\u2014Absence in most of them of any connection\n    with human crime\u2014Vivid belief in futurity among the lower\n    races\u2014Gradual growth of the idea of the future life as affected\n    by the present one\u2014Difficulties in the attainment of future\n    happiness\u2014The great difference between savage and civilised\n    beliefs regarding the Unknown illustrated by the savage\n    belief in a future life for animals or things as well as for\n    men\u2014Compensations in the savage\u2019s creed: no terror of death nor\n    of the future                                               pages 1-40\n\n                               CHAPTER II.\n\n                         SAVAGE MODES OF PRAYER.\n\n    Difficulties in the study of natural religions\u2014Importance of\n    prayer in savage life\u2014Examples of savage prayers\u2014Are they\n    limited to temporal interests?\u2014Baptismal rites equivalent to\n    prayers\u2014Prayers in the form of toasts\u2014The worship of evil\n    spirits\u2014Doubtful distinction between good and bad divinities\n    among savages\u2014Treatment of obdurate gods\u2014Relation of sacrifice\n    to prayer\u2014Tendency of sacrifices to become more numerous and\n    severe\u2014Pantomimic dances possibly acted petitions\u2014The African\n    gorilla-dance, the Mandan buffalo-dance, the Sioux bear-dance,\n    the Australian kangaroo-dance\u2014A similar idea in prayers for\n    rain\u2014War-dances\u2014Fetichistic practices perhaps extinct forms of\n    prayer\u2014Prayers to animals, to the moon, to trees, and their\n    survival in modern folk-lore                                     41-77\n\n                              CHAPTER III.\n\n                          SOME SAVAGE PROVERBS.\n\n    Differences of national character reflected in\n    proverbs\u2014Illustrated by Italian and German sayings on the\n    custom of the Vendetta, by Italian and Persian proverbs\n    about truth, by Catholic and Protestant sentiments about\n    priests\u2014Comparison between the proverbs of savage and\n    civilised communities\u2014Similarities of their feeling as\n    regards poverty, blame, experience, perseverance, habit,\n    cause, mendacity\u2014Intelligence displayed in many savage\n    proverbs\u2014European proverbs of savage coinage, exemplified by a\n    comparison between African and European proverbs relating to\n    women\u2014Inferences deducible from known proverbs                  78-100\n\n                               CHAPTER IV.\n\n                        SAVAGE MORAL PHILOSOPHY.\n\n    Are there any authentic cases of a total absence of moral\n    distinctions among savages?\u2014Unsatisfactory evidence regarding\n    their moral notions\u2014The Bushman\u2019s notion of a good and bad\n    action\u2014The fear of fellow-tribesmen, of spirits and ghosts,\n    the primary source of distinction in the moral quality of\n    actions\u2014Moral restraints in secular punishments\u2014Compensation\n    necessary for homicide\u2014Collective responsibility for crimes\u2014Is\n    murder ever regarded as indifferent?\u2014Different institutions\n    for the prevention of wrongs\u2014Greenland singing-combats,\n    _tabu_, _muru_, confession. Sins or fanciful wrong acts,\n    illustrated by feelings of proper behaviour with regard to\n    storms, to ancestors, to names, and to animals\u2014Little evidence\n    among savages of any idea of moral qualities apart from the\n    consequences of actions\u2014Their ideas of a future state throw\n    little light on their moral sentiments\u2014Doubtful evidence\n    of a belief in a future life as affected by good or bad\n    conduct\u2014Fundamental agreement between savage and civilised\n    morality                                                       101-129\n\n                               CHAPTER V.\n\n                         SAVAGE POLITICAL LIFE.\n\n    Theory of social evolution\u2014The hunting state not necessarily\n    one of political inferiority\u2014Do any tribes exist without any\n    form of social government?\u2014Examples of the loosest social\n    connections\u2014Connection of agriculture and slavery with more\n    complex social systems\u2014Freedom and equality little known\n    in savage life\u2014Natural foundations for distinction between\n    aristocracy and commonalty\u2014Ordeals previous to admission to\n    higher ranks\u2014Devices for marking differences of position:\n    scars, dress, titles, artificial language, funeral ceremonies,\n    crests\u2014Savage monarchy\u2014Confusion between gods and kings\u2014Old\n    Japanese and Samoan feelings about monarchy\u2014Limitations on\n    savage despotism\u2014Orders of society, approaching to a system\n    of caste\u2014The relation of tabu to monarchy\u2014Primogeniture in\n    Tahiti\u2014Absurd rights of nephews in Fiji\u2014Taxation a festival\n    in savage life\u2014The subordination of the priesthood to the\n    State                                                          130-161\n\n                               CHAPTER VI.\n\n                           SAVAGE PENAL LAWS.\n\n    The interest of savage laws\u2014Stage in which the redress of\n    wrongs is a merely personal matter\u2014Tendency of offences to be\n    regarded as matters of family or tribal interest\u2014Growth of the\n    conception of crime as an offence against the tribe, promoted\n    by the custom of submitting disputes to the judgment of chiefs,\n    and marked by customs, which, while making such chiefs judges,\n    leave the punishment of the criminal to the injured party\u2014Such\n    customs found in America, Africa, Samoa, Afghanistan\u2014Tendency\n    of penal laws to become more cruel\u2014Primitive punishments\n    not gratuitously cruel\u2014Savage laws not always arbitrary nor\n    uncertain\u2014Force of precedents in Caffre law\u2014Regularity in\n    legal procedure\u2014Curious notions of equity\u2014The ordeal in savage\n    law, not an appeal to the judgment of God, but an invention\n    of priestcraft for the detection of guilt\u2014Comparison of some\n    ordeals\u2014Their utility for the discovery of guilt\u2014Death a\n    frequent result of concealing real or fancied guilt\u2014Oaths a\n    later development of the ordeal\u2014The English judicial oath\n    compared with that in vogue in Samoa\u2014Origin of the supposed\n    virtue in touching or kissing the thing sworn by\u2014Invisible\n    connection between the thing touched and the calamity invoked\n    in touching it                                                 162-187\n\n                              CHAPTER VII.\n\n                         EARLY WEDDING CUSTOMS.\n\n    Curious wedding custom of the Garos, in India\u2014Natural\n    affection among savages, tested by some of the evidence of\n    eye-witnesses\u2014Love-stories\u2014Treatment of women not uniformly bad\n    among savages\u2014Married life\u2014Duty of bashfulness, displayed in\n    curious manners and notions of the Esquimaux, the Hottentots,\n    the Hos, the Thlinkeets, the Kirghiz, Kamschadals, the\n    Bushmen, the Zulus, and the Bedouins\u2014Conventional reserve\n    between husband and wife\u2014Restrictions on intercourse\n    between near relations\u2014Kicking and screaming the _proper_\n    behaviour at weddings\u2014Real disinclination also often a cause\n    for the employment of real force\u2014The ceremony of capture\n    affords a bride a real chance of escape from a bridegroom\n    she dislikes\u2014Mercantile aspect of marriage\u2014Marriages by\n    capture often voluntary elopements in defeat of parental\n    contracts, illustrated by customs in India, Afghanistan,\n    Bokhara\u2014Such marriages legalised by successful elopement and\n    subsequent settlement with parents\u2014Exogamy and endogamy, how\n    related\u2014Doubtful origin of exogamy\u2014Its effect in preserving\n    peace between tribes\u2014Woman-stealing the result of artificial\n    social customs\u2014Origin of the difference of language between\n    the sexes among the Caribs\u2014The same phenomenon among the\n    Zulus\u2014Doubtful evidence of a total absence of marriage\n    ceremonies                                                     188-238\n\n                              CHAPTER VIII.\n\n                       THE FAIRY-LORE OF SAVAGES.\n\n    Primitive philosophy of nature\u2014Astro-mythology of Australian\n    tribes, of the Tasmanians, the Bushmen, the Esquimaux, Hervey\n    Islanders, Thlinkeet Indians\u2014Such myths invented to account\n    for natural phenomena\u2014Not always the result of forgotten\n    etymologies\u2014The Aht story of the origin of the moon\u2014American\n    story of the robin\u2014Hervey Islanders\u2019 story of the sole\u2014Stories\n    also invented to account for curious customs or beliefs\u2014Reason\n    given by the Irish for their annual persecution of the wren\u2014The\n    story of the wren and the eagle, very similar in Ireland and\n    North America\u2014Facility of the dispersion of stories often\n    accounts for their resemblance\u2014Wide range of the story of\n    Faithful John\u2014Polynesian stories of Maui stopping the sun\u2019s\n    motion\u2014the same idea in Wallachia and North America\u2014Many\n    similar stories arose independently of each other, as the\n    versions of the idea contained in Jack and the Beanstalk\u2014Some\n    Aryan myths, explained as fancies about the clouds, found also\n    in the New World\u2014Hindu myth of Urvasi compared with myths from\n    Borneo and America\u2014Story-roots to be looked for on earth, not\n    in the clouds\u2014Celestial and terrestrial phenomena confused\u2014The\n    influence of dreams in the production of myths\u2014The influence\n    of flattery\u2014Tendency of chiefs and sorcerers to become gods\n    and heroes after death\u2014Zeus compared with the culture-heroes\n    of savage mythology\u2014The Hottentot Utixo, Mannan MacLear,\n    Manabozho, Viracocha, Quetzalcoatl, Heitsi Eibip, all probably\n    of human origin\u2014Nicknames a factor in mythology\u2014Tendency to\n    personify abstractions\u2014Vivid imagination of savages            239-275\n\n                               CHAPTER IX.\n\n                         COMPARATIVE FOLK-LORE.\n\n    Interest of folk-lore due to the wide range of similar\n    superstitions\u2014Three ways of accounting for such\n    resemblances\u2014Great extent of superstition in civilised\n    life\u2014Savage incomplete distinction of things\u2014Motion and life\n    identified\u2014Analogy of bee superstitions with superstitions\n    about inanimate things\u2014Fear of offending animals by a\n    light use of their names\u2014Spiritualistic character of\n    witchcraft\u2014Illustrations\u2014Relics of object-worship\u2014Sacred trees,\n    animals, birds\u2014Reverence for red things\u2014Chinese analogues\n    to Aryan folk-lore\u2014Mythology probably founded on folk-lore,\n    not folk-lore on mythology\u2014Traces of fire-worship\u2014Beltane\n    fires, formerly perhaps connected with human sacrifices\u2014Scotch\n    needfires for cattle\u2014Similar customs among the Mayas of America\n    and the Hottentots\u2014Ideas about the purity of new fire\u2014Recent\n    examples of the sacrifice of living things to appease\n    spirits\u2014Moon superstitions like those about the tides\u2014Remnants\n    of water-worship\u2014Folk-lore a link between civilisation and\n    barbarism\u2014Influence of Christianity on folk-lore\u2014The history\n    of mankind that of a rise, not of a fall                       276-315\n\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\n_SOME SAVAGE MYTHS AND BELIEFS._\n\n\nThe question of the universality of religion, of its presence in some\nform or another in every part of the world, seems to be one of those\nwhich lie beyond the bounds of a dogmatic answer. For the accounts\nof missionaries and travellers, which furnish the only data for its\nsolution, have been so largely vitiated, if not by a consciousness of the\ninterests supposed to be at stake, at least by so strong an intolerance\nfor the tenets of native savage religions, that it seems impossible to\nmake sufficient allowance either for the bias of individual writers or\nfor the extent to which they may have misunderstood, or been purposely\nmisled by, their informants.\n\nAlthough, however, on the subject of native religions we can never\nhope for more than approximate truth, the reports of missionaries and\nothers, written at different periods of time about the same place or\ncontemporaneously about widely remote places, as they must be free from\nall possible suspicion of collusion, so they supply a kind of measure\nof probability by which the credibility of any given belief may be\ntested. Thus an idea, too inconceivable to be credited, if only reported\nof one tribe of the human race, may be safely accepted as seriously\nheld, if reported of several tribes in different parts of the world. An\nEnglishman, for instance, however much winds and storms may mentally vex\nhim, would scarcely think of testifying his repugnance to them by the\nphysical remonstrance of his fists and lungs, nor would he easily believe\nthat any people of the earth should seriously treat the wind in this way\nas a material agent. If he were told that the Namaquas shot poisoned\narrows at storms to drive them away, he would show no unreasonable\nscepticism in disbelieving the fact; but if he learnt on independent\nauthority that the Payaguan Indians of North America rush with firebrands\nand clenched fists against the wind that threatens to blow down their\nhuts; that in Russia the Esthonians throw stones and knives against\na whirlwind of dust, pursuing it with cries; that the Kalmucks fire\ntheir guns to drive the storm-demons away; that Zulu rain-doctors or\nheaven-herds whistle to lightning to leave the skies just as they whistle\nto cattle to leave their pens; and that also in the Aleutian Islands a\nwhole village will unite to shriek and strike against the raging wind,\nhe would have to acknowledge that the statement about the Namaquas\ncontained in itself nothing intrinsically improbable. And besides\nthis test of genuine savage thought, a test which obviously admits of\nalmost infinite application, there is another one no less serviceable\nin ethnological criticism, namely, where the reality of a belief is\nsupported by customs, widely spread and otherwise unintelligible.\nNo better illustration can be given of this than the belief, which,\nasserted by itself, would be universally disbelieved, in a second life\nnot only for men but for material things; but which, supported as it is\nby the practice, common alike in the old world and the new, of burying\nobjects with their owner to live again with him in another state, is\ncertified beyond all possibility of doubt. If to us there seems a no\nmore self-evident truth than that a man can take nothing with him out of\nthe world, a vast mass of evidence proves, that the discovery of this\ntruth is one of comparatively modern date and of still quite partial\ndistribution over the globe.\n\nSo much, then, being premised as to the nature of the evidence on which\nour knowledge of the lower races depends, and as to the limits within\nwhich such evidence may be received and its veracity tested, let us\nproceed to examine some of the higher beliefs of savages, which, as they\nbear some analogy to the beliefs on similar subjects of more advanced\nsocieties, are in a sense religious, and, so far at least as the\ncollected information justifies us in judging, seem of indigenous and\nindependent growth.\n\nFew results of ethnology are more interesting than the wide-spread belief\namong savages, arrived at purely by their own reasoning faculties, in a\ncreator of things. The recorded instances of such a belief are, indeed,\nso numerous as to make it doubtful whether instances to the contrary may\nnot have been based on too scant information. The difficulty of obtaining\nsound evidence on such subjects is well illustrated by the experience of\nDobritzhoffer, the Jesuit missionary, who spent seven years among the\nAbipones of South America. For when he asked them whether the wonderful\ncourse of the stars and heavenly bodies had never raised in their minds\nthe thought of an invisible being who had made and who guided them, he\ngot for answer that of what happened in heaven, or of the maker or ruler\nof the stars, the ancestors of the Abipones had never cared to think,\nfinding ample occupation for their thoughts in the providing of grass\nand water for their horses. Yet the Abipones really believed that they\nhad been created by an Indian like themselves, whose name they mentioned\nwith great reverence and whom they spoke of as their \u2018grandfather,\u2019\nbecause he had lived so long ago. He was still, they fancied, to be seen\nin the Pleiades; and when that constellation disappeared for some months\nfrom the sky they would bewail the illness of their grandfather, and\ncongratulate him on his recovery when he returned in May. Still, the\ncreator of savage reasoning is not necessarily a creator of all things,\nbut only of some, like Caliban\u2019s Setebos, who made the moon and the sun,\nand the isle and all things on it\u2014\n\n  But not the stars; the stars came otherwise.\n\nSo that it is possible the creator of the Abipones was merely their\ndeified First Ancestor. For on nothing is savage thought more confused\nthan on the connection between the first man who lived on the world and\nthe actual Creator of the world, as if in the logical need of a first\ncause they had been unable to divest it of human personality, or as\nif the natural idea of a first man had led to the idea of his having\ncreated the world. Thus Greenlanders are divided as to whether Kaliak\nwas really the creator of all things or only the first man who sprang\nfrom the earth. The Minnetarrees of North America believed that at first\neverything was water and there was no earth at all, till the First Man,\nthe never-dying one, the Lord of Life, sent down the great red-eyed bird\nto bring up the earth. The Mingo tribes also \u2018revere and make offerings\nto the First Man, he who was saved at the great deluge, as a powerful\ndeity under the Master of Life, or _even as identified with him_;\u2019 whilst\namong the Dog-ribs the First Man, Chapewee, was also creator of the\nsun and moon. The Zulus of Africa likewise merge the ideas of the First\nMan and the Creator, the great Unkulunkulu; as also do the Caribs, who\nbelieve that Louquo, the uncreate first Carib, descended from heaven\nto make the earth and also to become the father of men.[3] So again in\nthe Aht belief Quawteaht is not only \u2018the first Indian who ever lived,\u2019\ntheir forefather, but the maker of most things visible, of the earth and\nall animals, yet not of the sun and moon.[4] It seems, therefore, not\nimprobable that savage speculation, being more naturally impelled to\nassume a cause for men than a cause for other things, postulated a First\nMan as primeval ancestor, and then applying an hypothesis, which served\nso well to account for their own existence, to account for that of the\nworld in general, made the Father of Men the creator of all things; in\nother words, that the idea of a First Man preceded and prepared the way\nfor the idea of a first cause.\n\nHowever this may be, and admitting the possible existence of tribes\nabsolutely devoid of any idea of creation at all, the following savage\nfancies about it are not without their interest as typical examples of\nprimitive cosmogony.\n\nIn one of the Dog-rib Indian sagas an important part in the creation\nis played by a great bird, as among several other tribes who loved to\ntrace their origin to a bird, as some would trace theirs to a toad or a\nrattlesnake. Originally, the saga runs, the world was nothing but a wide,\nwaste sea, without any living thing upon it save a gigantic bird, who\nwith the glance of its fiery eyes produced the lightning, and with the\nflapping of its wings the thunder. This bird, by diving into the sea,\ncaused the earth to appear above it, and proceeded to call all animals to\nits surface (except, indeed, the Chippewya Indians, who were descended\nfrom a dog). When its work was complete it made a great arrow, which it\nbade the Indians keep with great care; and when this was lost, owing to\nthe stupidity of the Chippewyas, it was so angry that it left the earth,\nnever afterwards to revisit it; and men now live no longer, as they did\nin those days, till their throats are worn through with eating and their\nfeet with walking the earth.[5]\n\nMany thousands of miles separate the Tongan Islands from North America,\nyet there too we find the idea of the earth having come from the waters.\nIn the beginning nothing was to be seen above the waste of waters but the\nIsland of Bolotu, which is as everlasting as the gods who dwell there or\nas the stars and the sea. One day the god Tangaloa went to fish in the\nsea, when, feeling something heavy at the end of his line, he drew it in,\nand there perceived the tops of rocks, which continued to increase in\nsize and number till they formed a large continent, and his line broke,\nand only the Tongan Islands remained above the surface. These Tangaloa,\nwith the help of the other gods, filled with trees and herbs and animals\nfrom Bolotu, only of a smaller size and not immortal. Then he bade his\ntwo sons take their wives and go to dwell in Tonga, dividing the land\nand dwelling apart. The younger brother was steady and industrious, and\nmade many discoveries; but the elder was idle and slept away his time,\nand envied the works of his brother, till at last his envy grew so strong\nthat one day he murdered him. Then came Tangaloa in wrath from Bolotu, to\nask him why he had slain his brother, and he bade him bring his brother\u2019s\nfamily to him. They were told to take their boats and sail eastward till\nthey came to a great land to dwell in. \u2018Your skin\u2019 (to this effect ran\nTangaloa\u2019s blessing) \u2018shall be white as your souls, for your souls are\npure; you shall be wise, make axes, have all other riches, and great\nboats. I myself will command the wind to blow from your land to Tonga,\nbut the people of Tonga will not be able with their bad boats to reach\nyou.\u2019 To the others he said: \u2018You shall be black, because your souls are\nblack, and you shall remain poor. You shall not be able to prepare useful\nthings, nor to go to the land of your brothers. But your brothers shall\ncome to Tonga and trade with you as they please.\u2019[6]\n\nThis Tongan creation-myth is especially striking, not only from its\nresemblance to the well-known stories of Cain and Abel or of Romulus\nand Remus, but from the wonderful extension of a similar story over the\nworld. It has been found among the Esquimaux, among the Hervey Islanders,\namong the Hindoos, among the Iroquois of America. Its origin perhaps lies\nin early and rude attempts to account for the more obvious dualisms in\nnature, as those, for instance, between the sun and the moon, or between\nwarm and cold winds. In the Iroquois version the elder brother who\nkilled the younger is said to have been identical with the sun, though\nhis mother, not the brother he killed, was the moon.[7] A curious Indian\ndrawing has been preserved in which the god of the north wind, or of cold\nweather, contends with the god of the south, or of warmth. The former\nis figured in a snowstorm, the latter in rain; wolves fight on the side\nof the one, the crow and plover on that of the other. The conflict is\nterrible; the southern god is worsted, cold weather prevails, and the\nearth is frozen up. But in spring he sends forth his crow and plover,\nwho defeat the wolves, and the northern god is drowned in a flood of\nspray which arises from the melting of the snow and ice. And in this\ncontention for cold and warm weather it is believed they will battle as\nlong as the world shall endure.[8]\n\nThe Kamchadal belief is instructive, as showing that by the creation of\nthe world the savage only means that small portion of it which he knows,\nand that, so far from it being any proof of his intelligence to suppose a\ncause for the hills or island which limit his energies, it is rather his\nwant of logical thought which impels him to the belief. For seeing, as\nhe does, a spirit in everything, whether it be moving animal, or rushing\nwind, or standing stone, and accounting, as he does, for everything by\na spirit which is at once its cause and controlling principle, it is\nonly natural that he should draw from his unlimited spirit-world one\nwho made and governs all things. Thus the Kamchadals believe that after\ntheir supreme deity, of whom they predicate nothing but existence, the\ngreatest god is Kutka. Kutka created the heavens and the earth, making\nboth eternal, like the men and creatures he placed on the earth. But the\nKamchadals openly avow that they think themselves much cleverer than\nKutka, who in their eyes is so stupid as to be quite undeserving of\nprayers or gratitude. Had he been cleverer, they say, he would have made\nthe world much better, without so many mountains and inaccessible cliffs,\nwithout streams of such rapidity, or such tempests of wind and rain. In\nwinter, if they are climbing a mountain, or in summer, if their canoes\ncome to rapids, they will vent loud curses on Kutka for having made the\nstreams too strong for their canoes, or the mountains so wearisome for\ntheir feet.\n\nThe Tamanaks of the Orinoco manifested a not much higher conception of a\ncreator than the Kamchadals. For they ascribed the creation of the world\nto Amalivacca, who in the course of his work discussed long with his\nbrother about the Orinoco, having the kind wish so to make it that ships\nmight as easily go up its stream as down, but being compelled to abandon\na task which so far transcended his powers. The Tamanaks recently showed\na cave where Amalivacca dwelt when he lived among them, before he took a\nboat and sailed to the other side of the sea.[9]\n\nNot only, however, is the idea of a creation of things quite common\namong untutored savages, but there is often a belief closely connected\ntherewith that in the beginning death and sickness were unknown in the\nworld, but came into it in consequence of some fault committed by its\nhitherto immortal occupants. Such a belief, reported as it is from places\nso widely sundered as Ceylon, North America, and the Tongan Islands,\nseems effectually to discountenance the suspicion which might otherwise\nattach to it of collusion or mistake on the part of our informants.\nIt is the fancy of the Cingalese cosmogony that, in the fifth period\nof creative energy, the immortal beings who then inhabited the earth\nate of certain plants, and thereby involved themselves in darkness and\nmortality. \u2018It was then that they were formed male and female, and lost\nthe power of returning to the heavenly mansions.\u2019 Liable as they had\ntheretofore been to mental passions, such as envy, covetousness, and\nambition, they were thenceforward subjected to corporeal passions as\nwell, and the race now inhabiting the earth became subject to all the\nevils that afflict them.[10] According to the saga of the Dog-rib Indians\nthe first man who lived upon the earth, when food and other good things\nabounded, was Chapewee, who afterwards, giving his children two kinds of\nfood, black and white, forbade them to eat of the former. When he went\naway for a long journey to bring the sun into the world, his children\nwere obedient and ate only of the white fruit, but ate it all. But when\nhe went away a second time to bring the moon into the world, in their\nhunger his children forgot his prohibition and ate of the black fruit. So\nwhen Chapewee returned he was very wroth, and declared that thenceforth\nthe earth should only produce bad fruit and that men should be subject\nto sickness and death. Afterwards, indeed, when his family lamented that\nmen should have been made mortal for eating the black fruit, Chapewee\ngranted that those who dreamt certain dreams should have the power of\ncuring sickness and so of prolonging human life; but that was the extent\nto which Chapewee relented.[11] The Caribs, Waraues, and Arawaks are\nsaid to believe in two distinct creators of men and women; the creator\nof the former being superior and doing neither good nor harm. After he\nhad created men he came on the earth to see what they were doing; but\nfinding them so bad that they even attempted his own life, he took from\nthem their immortality and gave it to skin-casting creatures instead.\nThe Aleutian Islanders believe that the god who made their islands\ncompleted his work by making men to inhabit them; but these men were\nimmortal beings, for when age came over them they had but to climb a\nlofty mountain and plunge from thence into a lake, in order to come forth\nyoung again and vigorous. Then it happened that a mortal woman, who had\nthe misfortune to draw upon herself celestial love, remonstrated one day\nwith her lover for having, in his creation of the Aleutian Islands, made\nso many mountains and forgotten to supply the land with forests. This\nimprudent criticism caused her brother to be slain by the angry god, and\nall men after him to be subject to death. A similar idea is contained in\none of the Tongan traditions of creation; for when the islands were made,\nbut before they were inhabited by reasonable beings, some two hundred of\nthe lower gods, male and female alike, took a great boat to go to see\nthe new land fished up by Tangaloa. So delighted were they with it that\nthey immediately broke up their big boat, intending to make some smaller\nones out of it. But after a few days some of them died; and one of\nthem, inspired by God, told them that since they had come to Tonga, and\nbreathed its air and eaten its fruits, they should be mortal and fill the\nworld with mortals. Then were they sorry that they had broken their big\nboat, and they set to work to make another, and went to sea, hoping again\nto reach Bolotu, the heaven they had left; but being unable to find it,\nthey returned regretfully to Tonga.\n\nThus it would seem that wherever men have so far advanced in power of\nthought as to realise the conception of antiquity, the troubles of their\nactual lot have always tempted them to idealise the past, and the glories\nof the age of gold have been sung by the poets of no particular land\nnor literature. The Shawnee Indians believed there was a time when they\ncould walk on the ocean or restore life to the dead, till they lost\nthese privileges when the nation by its carelessness became divided into\ntwo.[12] The Ashantees trace all their calamities to the folly of their\nancestors, for when the first created black men were given their choice\nbetween a large box and a piece of sealed-up paper they elected to take\nthe box, but found therein only some gold, iron, and other metals, whilst\nthe white men on opening the paper found all that was needful to make\nthem wise, and have ever since treated the blacks as their slaves.[13]\nIt is remarkable that a similar fancy is ascribed to the Navajoes of\nNew Mexico. For their ancestors, after creating the sun and moon, made\ntwo water-jars, both covered at the top, but one gorgeously painted,\ncontaining only rubbish, the other of plain earthenware, unpainted, but\ncontaining flocks and herds and other valuables. The Navajoes, allowed\nto choose before the Pueblos, took the beautiful but worthless jar;\nwhereupon the old men said: \u2018Thus it will always be with the two nations.\nYou, Navajoes, will be a poor and wandering race; destitute of the\ncomforts of life and ever greedy for things on account of their outward\nshow rather than their intrinsic value; while the Pueblos will enjoy an\nabundance of the good things of life, will occupy houses, and have plenty\nof flocks and herds.\u2019[14] According to the legend in the Zend-Avesta,\nwhen Ormuzd created Meschia and Meschiana, the first man and woman, he\nappointed heaven as their dwelling, under the sole condition of humility\nand obedience to the law of pure thought, pure speech, and pure action.\nFor some time they were a blessing to one another and lived happily,\nsaying that it was from Ormuzd that all things came\u2014the water and earth,\ntrees and animals, sun, moon, and stars, and all good roots and fruits\non the earth. But at last Ahriman became master over their thoughts,\nand they ascribed the creation of all things to him. So they lost their\nhappiness and their virtue, and their souls were condemned to remain\nin Duzakh until the resurrection of their bodies, when Sosiosch should\nrestore life to the dead.[15]\n\nAmong the myths, however, most widely spread over the world and common\nto races in all stages of culture, from the most barbarous to the most\ncivilized, a prominent place is due to the legend of an all-destructive\ndeluge, a legend which, arising as it probably did in many different\nplaces from exaggerated memories of purely local floods, must, in spite\nof its seeming universality, remain a merely local myth, entirely\ndestitute of all bearing on the question of the unity of the human race,\nor of any connection with the story told in Genesis. A local flood like\nthat which on the occasion of an earthquake in 1819 was caused by the\nsea flowing in at the eastern mouth of the Indus and converting in the\nspace of a few hours a district of 2,000 square miles into a vast lagoon,\nwould naturally be an event which would remain for ever in the oral\ntraditions of the district and tend to become magnified when the event\nitself was forgotten. In Australia, which is subject at certain epochs\nand in certain localities to great inundations, and which bears evidence\nof former floods in what are now waterless deserts, flood stories are\nsaid to be \u2018exceedingly common\u2019 among all the tribes, one tribe having\na tradition that when they returned to their old hunting-grounds on\nthe banks of a river, after a great flood, they found the sea flowing\nwhere had stood the other bank, nor any trace left of its former\ninhabitants.[16]\n\nOr, again, it is possible that alterations in the level of the sea and\nland or the subsidence of a large continent, such as that of which on\ngeological as well as ethnological grounds it has been supposed that the\nPolynesian islands are the remains, may have originated the tradition.\nThus, the Abb\u00e9 Brasseur de Bourbourg imagined the submersion of a\nlarge country in the Atlantic to account for the deluge-myths of the\nCentral American nations.[17] Dr. Brinton, indeed, suggests, that not\nphysics, but metaphysics is the exciting cause of beliefs in periodical\nconvulsions of the globe, maintaining that \u2018by nothing short of a\nmiracle\u2019 could savages preserve the remembrance of even the most terrible\ncatastrophe beyond a few generations. But it is at least as likely\nthat such remembrance should be possible as that savages, starting, as\nhe supposes, with an idea of creation as a reconstruction of existing\nelements, should have added thereto the myth of a universal catastrophe,\n\u2018to avoid the dilemma of a creation from nothing on the one hand and the\neternity of matter on the other.\u2019[18] Perhaps, however, all such legends\nare best regarded as pure nature-myths, to which we may possibly find\nthe key in the belief of the Esquimaux, that the souls of the dead are\nencamped round a large lake in the sky, which when it overflows causes\nrain upon earth and would cause a universal deluge if at any time its\nfloodgates were burst. The belief in a contingency is never far from the\nassertion of its actuality, nor are the steps of thought always visible\nwhich separate the possible from the real.\n\nAlthough many of the deluge-myths of the world have doubtless owed their\norigin to the zeal with which they have been sought for in the cause\nof orthodox theories, it is improbable that all of them have been\nproduced in this way. Dr. Brinton, who has examined the evidence with\ncare, asserts that there are twenty-eight American nations among whom a\ndistinct and well-authenticated myth of the deluge was found.[19]\n\nIt would be tedious to allude to more than a few illustrations of the\nbelief as it exists in the world, or to try to distinguish the elements\nin them of purely native growth from the influences of Christian\nteaching. The Kamchadals believe that the earth was once flooded and many\npersons drowned, though they tried to save themselves in boats, those\nonly succeeding who made great rafts of trees and let down stones for\nanchors, to prevent themselves from drifting out to sea; when the waters\nsubsided their rafts rested on the mountain-tops. The Esquimaux appealed\nto the bones of whales found on their mountains in support of their\nassertion that the world had once been tilted over and all men drowned\nbut one. The Mandan Indians, according to Catlin, celebrated every year\nin pantomime the subsidence of the great waters.[20]\n\nIt is noticeable that in most savage legends of a flood (and it may,\nperhaps, be taken as some test of their authenticity) there is an entire\nabsence of the idea, so familiar to ourselves, of the flood having\nresulted from any fault committed by the then inhabitants of the earth.\nAt most such an idea appears in germ, as in the tradition of the Society\nIslanders, that a fisherman, catching his hook in the hair of the great\nsea-god as he lay asleep in his coral grove, so angered that divinity\nthat he caused the waters to arise till they flooded the very tops of the\nmountains and drowned the inhabitants, the fisherman and his family alone\nbeing suffered to escape, and thereby serving to attest the genuineness\nof the tradition. So in Fiji the deluge was caused by two grandsons of a\ngod killing his favourite bird, and instead of being apologetic acting\nwith insolence and fortifying the town they lived in for the purpose\nof defying their grandfather. The connection of the catastrophe with\nhuman wickedness belongs apparently to a more advanced state of thought,\nof which the recently deciphered Chald\u00e6an version may be taken as a\nsample. In it Hasisadra, the sage, who with his wife escaped the general\ndestruction, tells Izdubar, the giant, how he built a vessel according to\nthe directions of Hea, to save himself and his family from the universal\ndeluge which the gods sent upon the earth to punish the wickedness of\nmen; how the deluge lasted six days, and on the seventh, when the storm\nceased, the vessel was stranded for seven days on the mountains of\nNizir; and how on the seventh day, he Hasisadra, sent out first a dove\nand then a swallow, both of whom, finding no resting-place, returned to\nthe vessel, till a raven was sent forth and did not return; and Hasisadra\nsent out the animals to the four winds, and poured out a libation in\nthanksgiving, and built an altar on the summit of the mountain.\n\nThe belief in a future life\u2014a belief perhaps first suggested in that\nrude state of culture where the dreaming and waking life are not clearly\ndistinct but are both equally real\u2014appears to prevail so generally among\nthe lower races, that it is more difficult to find instances where it is\n_not_ found than instances where it is. The dead who visit the living in\ntheir sleep are not thought of as dead, but as simply invisible; and for\nthis reason all over the globe it is so common to bury material things in\nthe graves of the departed, to serve them in that other world which is so\nvividly conceived as but a continuation of this one. The Red Indian takes\nhis horses, the Greenlander his reindeer, and both the common requisites\nof earthly economy; just as many tribes still take their slaves and\ntheir wives to accompany them on that journey which, as it is imagined\nso distinctly, is undertaken without mystery to a fresh existence. Till\nlately, in parts of Sweden, a man\u2019s pipe and tobacco-pouch, some money\nand lights, were interred with him; and at Reichenbach, in Germany, a\nman\u2019s umbrella and goloshes are still placed in his grave.[21] In Russia\nformerly a new pair of shoes was put on the feet of the dead for the long\njourney before him, a custom also found among the natives of California,\nand the Christian priest used to place on a man\u2019s breast, as he lay in\nhis coffin, a pass, which, besides being inscribed with his Christian\nname and the dates of his birth and death, was also a certificate of his\nbaptism, of the piety of his life, and of his having partaken of the\ncommunion before his death.[22] These are but survivals of savage ideas,\nwhich picture the continuation of consciousness far more vividly than\nmore advanced religions. The Ahts bury blankets with their dead, that\nthey may not shiver in the cold ones provided in the land of Chayher. The\nDelawar Indian used to make an opening at the head-end of the coffin,\nthat the soul of the deceased might go in and out till it had thoroughly\nsettled on its future place of residence. When the Chippewyas killed\ntheir aged relatives who could hunt no more, the medicine-song used\nproves the simple faith which made the cruel deed an act of mercy: \u2018The\nLord of life gives courage. It is true all Indians know that he loves us,\nand we give over to him our father, that he may feel himself young in\nanother land and able to hunt.\u2019\n\nIt is possible, indeed, that in many cases the attention shown by savages\nto their dead, by the burial of property which would have been of use to\nthe survivors, or by the placing of food on their graves at periodical\nfeasts, arose rather from fear than from any kinder motive, dictated by\nthe dread always felt by the living of the dead and the wish to satisfy\nthem, if possible, by some peace-offering. The Samoyed sorcerer, after\na funeral, goes through the ceremony of soothing the departed, that he\nmay not trouble the survivors nor take their best game; a feeling still\nfurther illustrated by their habit of not taking the dead out to be\nburied by the regular hut door, but by a side-opening, that if possible\nthey may not find their way back\u2014a habit found also in Greenland and in\nmany other parts of the world. For the fear of the dead is a universal\nsentiment, common no less to the Abipones, who thought that sorcerers\ncould bring the dead from their graves to visit the living, or to the\nKaffirs, who think that bad men alone live a second time and try to kill\nthe living by night, than it is to the ignorant who still believe in\nthe blood-sucking vampire, a belief which little more than a century\nago amounted to a kind of epidemic in Hungary, resulting in a general\ndisinterment and the burning or staking of the suspected bodies. In the\nsepulture, therefore, of men with their possessions, it was probably\nthe original thought that the dead would be less likely to haunt the\ndwellings of the living, if they were not compelled to re-seek upon earth\nthose articles of daily use which they knew were to be found there.\n\nBut the savage belief in a future is very variable; nor could we expect\nto find it much affected by ideas of earthly morality, when such ideas\nthemselves hardly appear to exist. At most it is men of rank and courage\nwho live again, while cowards and the commonalty perish utterly;\ngenerally there is no qualification of any kind. The Bedouins have no\nfixed belief at all, some thinking that after death they are changed\ninto screech-owls, and others that if a camel is slain on their graves\nthey will return to life riding on it, but otherwise on foot. All North\nAmerican Indians are said to believe in the continual life of the soul,\nand, because they think themselves the highest beings on earth, postulate\na hereafter where all their earthly longings will be satisfied.[23] But\nthey trouble themselves little about it, thinking that the god they\nrecognise as supreme is too good to punish them. Thus the Indians of\nArauco look forward to an eternal life in a beautiful land which lies\nto the west, far over the sea, whither souls are taken by the sailor\nTempulazy and where no punishment is expected: for Pillican, their god,\nthe Lord of the world, would not inflict pain.[24] The Tunguz Lapps look\non the next life as simply a continuation of this one; in it there will\nbe no punishment, for here everyone is as good as he can be, and the gods\nkill men reluctantly, but are thereby satisfied. In the Polynesian future\nthere is a similar absence of any idea of retribution. There is, for\ninstance, no moral qualification, but only one of rank, for Bolotu, that\nhappy land of the dead which lies far away to the north-west of Tonga,\nbeyond the reach of Tongan boats and greater than all the Tongan islands\nput together, wherein abound beautiful and useful trees, whose plucked\nfruit instantly grows again; where a delicious fragrance fills the air,\nand birds of the loveliest colours sit upon the trees; where the woods\nswarm with pigs, which are immortal so long as they are not eaten by the\ngods. Nothing, indeed, shows better how independent is imagination of\nrace than the great similarity of those idealised earths which constitute\nthe heavens of the most distant savage tribes. The American Indian, who\nvisits in a dream the unseen world, reports of it, in language recalling\nthat of Homer, that it is a land where there is neither day nor night,\nwhere the sun never rises nor sets; where rain and tomahawks and arrows\nare never seen; where pipes abound everywhere, lying ready to be smoked;\nwhere the earth is ever green, the trees ever in leaf; where there is no\nneed of bearskin nor of hut; where, if you would travel, the rivers will\ntake your boat whithersoever you will, without the need of rudder or of\npaddle. And just as in the Tongan Bolotu the plucked fruit is replaced,\nso there the goat voluntarily offers its shoulder to the hungry man, in\nfull confidence that it will grow again, and the beaver for the same\nreason makes a ready sacrifice of its beautiful tail.[25]\n\nSo far there is no idea of a future life as in any way affected by this\none. But such ideas do exist among savages, and are extremely interesting\nas indications of the growth of their moral ideas. The quality most\nnecessary for a savage is pre-eminently courage, and courage, therefore,\nappearing as the first recognised virtue, lays first claim, as such, to\nconsideration hereafter. The Brazilians believed that the souls of the\ndead became beautiful birds, whilst cowards were turned into reptiles.\nThe Minnetarrees held that there were two villages which received the\ndead; but that the cowardly and bad went to the small one, whilst the\nbrave and good occupied the larger. Among the Caribs, who entertain the\nstrange fancy that they have as many souls as they feel nerves in their\nbody, but that the chief of these resides in the heart and goes to\nheaven at death, whilst the others go to the sea or the woods, we meet\nagain with the reservation of happiness to the souls of the brave. They\nalone will live merrily, dancing, feasting, and talking; they alone will\nswim in the great streams, feeling no fatigue; the Arawaks will either\nserve them as slaves or wander about in desert mountains. Somewhat\nsimilar was the faith of the old Mexicans, who divided the future world\ninto three parts: the first, the House of the Sun, where the days were\nspent in joyful attendance on that luminary, with songs and games and\ndances, by such brave soldiers as had died in battle or as prisoners\nhad been sacrificed to the gods, and by women who had died in giving\nchildren to the community; the second, the kingdom of Tlalocan, hidden\namong the Mexican mountains, not so bright as the former, but cool and\npleasant, and filled with unfailing pumpkins and tomatoes, reserved for\npriests and for children sacrificed to Tlaloc and for all persons killed\nby lightning, by drowning, or by sickness; the third, the kingdom of\nMictlauteuctli, reserved for all other persons, but with nothing said\nof any punishment there awaiting them. One of the beliefs in Greenland\nis, that heaven is situate in the sky or the moon, and that the journey\nthither is so easy that a soul may reach it the same evening that it\nquits the body, and play at ball and dance with those other departed\nsouls who are encamped round the great lake and shine in heaven as the\nnorthern lights. But others say that it is only witches and bad people\nwho join the heavenly lights, where they not only enjoy no rest, owing\nto the rapid revolutions of the sky, but are so plagued with ravens\nthat they cannot keep them from settling in their hair. They believe\nthat heaven lies under the earth or sea, where dwells Torngarsuk, the\nCreator, with his mother, in perpetual summer and beautiful sunshine.\nThere the water is good and there is no night, and there are plenty of\nbirds, and fish, and seals, and reindeer, all to be caught at pleasure,\nor ready cooking in a great kettle; but these delights are reserved for\npersons who have done great deeds and worked steadfastly, who have caught\nmany whales or seals, who have been drowned at sea, or have died in\nchildbirth. These persons alone may hope to join the great company and\nfeast on inconsumable seals. Even then they must slide for five days down\nthe blood-stained precipice; and unhappy they to whom the journey falls\nin stormy weather or in winter, for then they may suffer that other death\nof total extinction, especially if their survivors disturb them by their\nnoise or affect them injuriously by the food they eat. The Kamchadal\nbelief is very curious, as showing how the idea of compensation in the\nnext world for the evils of this\u2014an idea already apparent in the Mexican\nand Greenland beliefs\u2014may have served to bridge over the conception of a\nmere continuance of life for the soul, and the conception of an actual\nretribution awaiting it. They imagine that the dead come to a place under\nthe earth, where Haetsch dwells, son of Kutka the Creator, and the first\nman who died on earth, now Lord of the under-world and general receiver\nof souls. To those who come dressed in fine furs and drive fat dogs\nbefore their sledges, he gives instead old ragged furs and lean dogs; but\nto those who have known poverty on earth he gives new furs and beautiful\ndogs and also a better place to live in than the others. The dead live\nagain as on earth; their wives are restored to them, they build ostrogs\nagain, and catch fish, and dance and sing; there is less storm and snow\nthan above ground, and more people; indeed, abundance of everything.\n\nIt is easy to conceive how, when once the idea had been reached that the\nbrave deserved compensation in the next world for their earthly courage,\nthe poor for their earthly wretchedness, or the sick for their earthly\nsufferings, and all men for the misfortune of premature death, it should\nalso be inferred, as soon as any criterion between goodness and badness\nmore refined than the mere difference between courage and cowardice had\nbeen attained, that the good should have some advantage over the bad, and\nfrom such an inference to a complete theory of retribution and punishment\nof the bad the logical steps seem fairly obvious. Few things, indeed, are\nmore remarkable among the lower races than the general absence of the\nideas we associate with hell.[26] At most the idea of future punishment\nis negative, the lives of slaves and cowards terminating in a total\ncessation of consciousness, as opposed to its continuance for warriors\nand chiefs. Still, the idea of difficulty in attaining the blessed\nabodes, such as that above noticed as prevalent in Greenland\u2014an idea,\nas Mr. Tylor suggests, probably connected with the sun\u2019s passage across\nthe sky to the west, where the happy land is so generally figured to\nlie\u2014is very common, and from such an idea it is natural to connect the\ndifficulty of the journey to Paradise with the destruction of those whose\npresence in it would mar its blessedness.\n\nThe trial of merit, varying with experiences of physical geography,\ngenerally lies either in the passage of a river or gulf by a narrow\nbridge, or in the climbing of a steep mountain. The Choctaws, for\ninstance, believe that the dead have to pass a long and slippery\npine-log, across a deep and rapid river, on the other side of which stand\nsix persons, who pelt new-comers with stones and cause the bad ones to\nfall in.[27] In Khond theology the judge of the dead resides beyond\nthe sea, on the smooth and slippery Leaping Rock, below which flows a\nblack unfathomable river; and the souls of men take bold leaps to reach\nthe rock, those that fail contracting a deformity which is transferred\nto the next soul animated on earth. The Blackfoot Indians, on the other\nhand, believe that departed souls have to climb a steep mountain, from\nthe summit of which is seen a great plain, with new tents and swarms of\ngame; that the dwellers in that happy plain advance to them and welcome\nthose who have led a good life, but reject the bad\u2014those who have soiled\ntheir hands in the blood of their countrymen\u2014and throw them headlong from\nthe mountain; whilst women who have been guilty of infanticide never\nreach the mountain at all, but hover round the seat of their crimes with\nbranches of trees tied to their legs. The Fijians think that even the\nbrave have some difficulty in reaching the judgment-seat of Ndengei, and\nthey provide the dead with war-clubs to resist Sama and his host, who\nwill dispute their passage. But celibacy is in their eyes apparently\nthe only offence which calls for peremptory and hopeless punishment.\nUnmarried Fijians are dashed to pieces by Nangananga as in vain attempts\nto steal round to a certain reef they are driven ashore by the rising\ntide.[28] The Norwegian Lapps consider that abstinence from stealing,\nlying, and quarrelling entitles a man to compensation hereafter. Such\nreceive after death a new body, and live with the higher gods in Saiwo,\nand indulge in hunting and magic, brandy-drinking and smoking, to a far\nhigher degree than was possible on earth. Wicked men, perjurers, and\nthieves go to the place of the bad spirits, to Gerre-Mubben-Aimo.[29]\nThe idea of compensation of the good leads naturally to the idea of\nretribution for the bad; and even among the Guinea Coast negroes we\nfind future inducements to the practice of such moral duties as they\nrecognise. For they are wont to make for themselves idols, called Sumanes\nwhose favour they endeavour to secure by abstinence from certain kinds\nof foods, believing that after death those who have been constant in\ntheir vows of abstinence and in offerings to the Sumanes will come to a\nlarge inland river, where a god inquires of everyone how he has lived\nhis days on earth, and those who have not kept their vows are drowned\nand destroyed for ever. The inland-dwelling negroes declare that at\nthis river dwells a powerful god in a beautiful house, which, though\nalways exposed, is never touched by rain. He knows all past and present\nthings; he can send any kind of weather, he can heal sicknesses and work\nmiracles. Before him must all the dead appear; the good to receive a\nhappy and peaceful life, the bad to be killed for ever by the large\nwooden club which hangs before his door. Lastly, it may be noticed\nthat negro tribes believe that death will take them to the land of the\nEuropean and give them the white man\u2019s skin; but, as they generally paint\ntheir devil white, we cannot be sure that such a change is not rather\ndreaded as a punishment for the bad than regarded as a change for the\nbetter.\n\nSo far it appears that savages have developed from the promptings and\nimaginings of their own minds some idea of a Creator and of a soul, as\nwell as of a future to some extent dependent on earthly antecedents. It\nis of course difficult to judge how far the missionaries or travellers,\nwho have mainly supplied the only evidence we have, may have clearly\nunderstood, or how much they may have unintentionally imported into,\nbeliefs they represent as purely indigenous. In many cases a remarkable\nsimilarity may lead us to suspect that the belief is not native, but\nimplanted at some time by Christian or other influence, though traces\nof such influence may be absolutely wanting or at least not proved.\nThere can, for instance, be little doubt whence Sissa, the devil of the\nGuinea Coast negroes, derived the pair of horns and long tail with which\nhe is usually depicted. But, on the other hand, we cannot lay down any\nrigid canon for the imaginations of men, nor say that if one belief is\nidentical with another a thousand miles off it must therefore have been\nborrowed and cannot be of independent growth. Indeed, when we reflect on\nthe limited nature of the mental faculties of savages, on the limited\nrange of objects for their minds to work upon, on their childlike fear\nof the dark and the unseen, and their still more childlike delight in\nthe indulgence of their fancy, so far from there being anything strange\nin the analogies of thought between distant tribes, the strangeness\nwould rather be if such analogies did not exist. It is probable that\nchildren tell one another much the same stories in London as they do at\nthe Antipodes, and there is no more reason to be surprised at finding\nmuch the same theologies current in Africa as in Australia or Ceylon. The\nsame sun, which shines on men\u2019s bodies alike, shines on their minds alike\ntoo; and myths, like dreams, with all the apparent field for variety in\ntheir formation, are really subject to the closest laws of uniformity and\nsameness.\n\nWe have, however, to be careful, in applying terms of our own religious\nphraseology to savage thoughts and fancies, to discriminate between the\nhigher and lower meaning they bear, and always to employ them in the\nlower. The belief, already noticed, of the Kamchadals in Kutka well\nillustrates how different is the meaning involved in the Kamchadal theory\nof creation from that involved in Genesis or the Zend-Avesta. The same\nis true of the belief in a soul and its future life; for the savage,\nintensely vivid as is his future beyond the grave, seldom doubts for an\ninstant but that he will share it with all the rest, not only of the\nanimate, but of the inanimate world. For that reason he buries axes, and\nclothes, and food with the dead, to be of service in the next world. The\nFijians used to show \u2018the souls of men and women, beasts and plants, of\nstocks and stones, canoes and houses, and of all the utensils of this\nfrail world, swimming, or rather tumbling one over the other,\u2019 as they\nwere borne by a swift stream at the bottom of a deep hole to the regions\nof immortality.[30] So of the animate world. The Kamchadal believes that\nthe smallest fly that breathes will rise after death to live again in\nthe under-world.[31] If the Laplander expects that all honest people\nwill re-meet in Aimo, he as fully expects that bears and wolves will\nmeet there too. The Greenlander believes that all the heavenly bodies\nwere once Greenlanders, _or animals_, and that they shine with a pale\nor red light according to the food they ate on earth. He also believes\nthat when all things now living on the earth are dead, and the earth\ncleansed from their blood by a great water-flood; when the purified dust\nis consolidated again by a great wind, and a fairer earth, all plain and\nno cliffs, is substituted for the present one; when Priksoma, he who is\nabove, breathes on men that they may live again\u2014then animals will also\nrise again and be in great abundance. The old inhabitants of Anahuac\nand Egypt believed equally that animals would share the next world\nwith them; and, if the universality of an opinion were any reason for\nits credibility, few opinions could claim a better title to acceptance\nthan this one. So confident were the Swedish Lapps of the future life\nof animals, that whenever they killed one in sacrifice they buried the\nbones in a box, that the gods might more easily restore it to life.[32]\nThere is really nothing very unnatural in this idea, when we remember\nthat in the lower stages of culture man not only admits the equality of\nbrutes with himself, but even acknowledges their superiority by actual\nworship of them. It is not difficult to understand how it is that savages\nwho see deities in everything, in the motionless mountain or stone no\nless than in the rushing river or wind, should see in animals deities of\nextraordinary power, whose capacities infinitely transcend their own.\nRecognising as they do in the tiger a strength, in the deer a speed, in\nthe monkey a cunning, all superior to their own, they naturally conceive\nof them as deities whom above all others it is expedient to humour by\nadoration and sacrifice. Some negro tribes, holding that all animals\nenshrine a spirit, which may injure or benefit themselves, will refrain\nfrom eating certain animals, otherwise perfectly edible, and endeavour\nto propitiate them by lifelong attention. Thus some regularly offer food\nat the earth-houses of termites, or fatten sheep and goats, for a purely\ntemporary and perfectly spiritual advantage. It is on account of their\ndivine and immortal nature that the well-known custom of apologising to\nanimals killed in the chase is so general among savages. It is generally\na deprecation of any post-mortem vindictiveness on the part of the\nanimal\u2019s ghost. The natives of Greenland refrain from breaking seals\u2019\nheads or throwing them into the sea; but they pile them in a heap before\ntheir hut door, that the souls of the seals may not be angry and in their\nspite frighten living seals away. The Yuracares of Bolivia were careful\nto put small fish-bones carefully aside, lest fish should disappear; and\nother Indian tribes would keep the bones of beavers and sables from their\ndogs for a year and then bury them, lest the spirits of those animals\nshould take offence and no more of them be killed or trapped.[33] The\nLapps are so afraid that the soul of the animal whose flesh they have\nkilled may take its revenge as a disembodied spirit, that before eating\nit they not only entreat pardon for its death, but perform the ceremony\nof treating it first with nuts or other delicacies, that it may be led\nto believe it is present as a guest\u2014not to be eaten, but to eat. Another\nKamchadal fancy indicates how savages, whose theory of cause and effect\nappears to be that it is quite sufficient for two things to be connected\ncontemporaneously for one to be cause and the other effect, are led more\nespecially to see deities in birds, from the observation that changes\nin weather are associated with their arrival and departure. Since to be\nassociated with a thing is to be caused by it, migratory birds take away\nor bring the summer with them. For the reason that the spring and the\nwagtails return together the Kamchadal thanks the wagtail for bringing\nback the spring, and it is probably from a similar confusion of thought\nthat he thanks the ravens and crows for fine weather.\n\nWhether, in conclusion, it be true or not that the more civilised nations\nof the earth have gone through stages of growth in which their religious\nconceptions resembled those of contemporary savage tribes, one result\nat least is clear, that the actual standpoint of the savage with regard\nto the great mysteries of existence is removed _toto c\u0153lo_ from that of\nChristian, or Mahometan, or Parsee. The Creator he believes in is not\nso much the cause of all things as the maker of some things, because\nseemingly the first father of men needed the wherewithal to exercise his\nenergies. The savage\u2019s soul is simply his breath or ghost, which indeed\nwill survive his body, but which may lose its identity in the body of\nan animal or thing, destined like himself to live again. He conceives\nof himself generally as not mortal, but not therefore as immortal. His\nfuture is but a repetition of his present, with the same base wants\nand pursuits, only with a greater possibility of indulgence, and not\nnecessarily indefinite in duration. It is, perhaps, some compensation\nfor this, that, if it does not hold out great hopes, its prospect serves\nto deprive death of its terror, and brightens the sufferings of the\npassing day. To the native American death is said to be rather an event\nof gladness than of terror, bringing him rest or enjoyment after his\nperiod of toil; nor does he fear to go to a land \u2018which all his life long\nhe has heard abounds in rewards without punishments.\u2019[34] No thought of\npossibly flying from present evils to find immeasurably greater ones\nawaiting him after death would ever occur to a savage, and he will even\nkill himself or cheerfully submit to be killed by his friends, in order\nto realise the sooner the difference imagined between earth and heaven.\nThe powers of evil which vex him here will be absent hereafter, and the\nSpirit he recognises as supreme in his hierarchy of invisible powers is\neither conceived as too beneficent to punish, or, if he punishes at all,\nas likely to punish at once and for ever.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n_SAVAGE MODES OF PRAYER._\n\n\nIn the same way as a child is insensibly educated by the very efforts of\nan adult to place himself on its level, so any tribe of savages is to\nsome extent modified by the time that a stranger has fitted himself, by\nlong residence among them and the acquisition of their language, to tell\nus anything about them. This primary difficulty, amounting theoretically\nto insuperability, might alone suffice to invalidate most of the received\nevidence which asserts or denies concerning savages anything whatsoever\nin broad general terms. But when the evidence concerns religious ideas\nanother difficulty is superadded, and one which appertains to the subject\nof religion alone\u2014the reserve, that is, (attested by too many travellers\nto need specific references,) with which savages guard their stock of\nfundamental beliefs. The delicacy manifested by the most skilled of the\nIowa Indian tribe as to communicating fully or freely on religious\nsubjects, lest they should bring on themselves or their nation some\ngreat calamity,[35] indicates the feeling that probably underlies such\nreligious reticence. If a savage dare not pronounce his own name, much\nless the names of his dead, it is a fair matter of wonder that he should\never have become so free with the names and attributes of his divinities\nas to have rendered it possible for such systematic representations of\nhis theology as are current to appear before the world.\n\nThe evidence afforded by ethnology as to the nature of prayer among\nsavages is slighter than on most subjects relating to them, partly\nfrom the natural disregard paid to such matters by most Christian\nmissionaries, partly from the secret and hidden character of prayer,\nwhich alone would make its study impossible; but there is abundant\nevidence to show that religious supplication of a certain kind enters\nmore deeply than might be supposed into the daily lives of the lower\nraces of mankind. Says Ellis of the Society Islanders: \u2018Religious rites\nwere connected with almost every act of their lives. An _ubu_ or prayer\nwas offered before they ate their food, planted their gardens, built\ntheir houses, launched their canoes, cast their nets, and commenced or\nconcluded a journey.\u2019[36] In the Fijian Islands business transactions\nwere commonly terminated by a short wish or prayer; and in the Sandwich\nIslands the priest would pray before a battle that the gods he addressed\nwould prove themselves stronger than the gods of his foes, promising\nthem hecatombs of victims in the event of victory. But the mere fact of\nsuch prayers is of less interest than the actual formulas used; these,\nhowever, have more rarely been thought worth recording.\n\nAccording to a recent African traveller it is a daily prayer in some\nparts of Guinea: \u2018O God, I know thee not, but thou knowest me: thy aid is\nnecessary to me.\u2019 Or again: \u2018O God, help us; we do not know whether we\nshall live to-morrow: we are in thy hand.\u2019[37] A Bushman, being asked how\nhe prayed to Cagn (recognised by his tribe as the first being and creator\nof all things), answered, in a low, imploring tone: \u2018O Cagn, O Cagn, are\nwe not your children? do you not see our hunger? Give us food;\u2019 \u2018and,\u2019\nhe added, \u2018he gives us both hands full.\u2019[38] It further appears that the\nBushmen address petitions to the sun, to the moon, and to the stars;[39]\nand the Kamchadals, who have been made to dispute with them the lowest\nrank of humanity, had a rude form of prayer to the Storm-god, which was\nuttered by a small child, sent naked round the ostrog with a shell in\nits uplifted hand: \u2018Gsanlga, sit down and cease to storm; the mussel is\naccustomed to salt, not to sweet water; you make me too wet, and from the\nwet I must freeze. I have no clothes; see how I freeze.\u2019[40] In a certain\nAfrican tribe it is said to be usual for the men to go every morning to a\nriver, and there, after splashing water in their faces, or throwing sand\nover their heads, after clasping and loosing their hands and whispering\nsoftly the words _Eksuvais_, to pray: \u2018Give me to-day rice and yams,\ngold and aggry-beads, slaves, riches, and health; make me active and\nstrong.\u2019[41]\n\nThe Zulus of Africa and the Khonds of India supply good illustrations\nof savage prayer. The head man of a Zulu village, at the sacrifice of\na bullock to the spirits of the dead, thus addresses them in prayer:\n\u2018I pray for cattle that they may fill this pen. I pray for corn that\nmany people may come to this village of yours and make a noise and\nglorify you. I also ask for children, that this village may have a large\npopulation and that your name may never come to an end.\u2019[42] The Khonds,\nalso, at the sacrifice of a bullock express their wishes with rather more\nemphasis: \u2018Let our herds be so numerous that they cannot be housed; let\nchildren so abound that care of them shall overcome their parents, as\nshall be seen by their burnt hands.\u2019 Or, again, they will ask that their\nswine may so abound that their fields shall require no other ploughs than\ntheir \u2018rooting snouts;\u2019 that their poultry may be so numerous as to hide\nthe thatch of their houses; that neither fish, frog, nor worm shall be\nable to live in their drinking ponds beneath the trampling feet of their\nmultitude of cattle.[43]\n\nThese may be taken as fair samples of primitive prayer; but it is only\njust, as against the inference that a savage\u2019s prayers have reference\nsolely to the good and evil things of this world, to notice indications\nof higher sentiments. The Yebus of Africa, with faces bowed to the earth,\nare said commonly to pray, not only for preservation from sickness and\ndeath, but for the gifts of happiness and _wisdom_.[44] The Tahitian\npriest, praying to the god by whom it was supposed that a dead man\u2019s\nspirit had been required, that the sins of the latter, especially that\none for which he had lost his life, might be buried in a hole then dug\nin the ground and not attach to the survivors, points to the occasional\npresence of a moral motive in prayer; though even here the deprecation\nof further anger on the part of the gods appears the principal object\nof concern.[45] So little indeed do thoughts of morality or of a future\nstate enter as factors into savage prayer, and so little does any\nethical distinction appear in the savage conception of supernatural\npowers, that not unfrequently supplication is directed to the attainment\nof ends morally the reverse of desirable. Like the Roman tradesman\npraying to Mercury to aid him in cheating, the Nootka warrior would\nentreat his god that he might find his foes asleep, and so kill a great\nmany of them.[46] But perhaps the best illustration of the perverted use\nof prayer is one employed by a clan of the Hervey Islanders when engaged\non a thieving and murdering expedition, and uttered as near as possible\nto the dwelling of the person about to be robbed. It is apparently\naddressed to Rongo, or Oro, the great Polynesian god of war, and is thus\ntranslated in Mr. Gill\u2019s \u2018Myths and Songs of the South Pacific\u2019:\u2014[47]\n\n  We are on a thieving expedition;\n  Be close to our left side to give aid.\n    Let all be wrapped in sleep;\n  Be as a lofty cocoa-nut tree to support us.\n\nThe god is then entreated to cause all things to sleep; the owner of the\nhouse is entreated to sleep on, likewise the threshold of the house, the\ninsects, beetles, earwigs, and ants that inhabit it, the central post,\nthe several rafters and beams that support it; and after the thatch of\nthe house has been asked to sleep on, the prayer thus concludes:\u2014\n\n  The first of its inmates unluckily awaking\n  Put soundly to sleep again.\n  If the Divinity so please, man\u2019s spirit must yield.\n  O Rongo, grant thou complete success.\n\nIf, however, we may hope to find anywhere indications of a higher purpose\nin prayer than the attainment of merely temporary or personal needs, we\nmust seek it (nor is the search entirely vain) in those rites of religion\nwhich, from the highest to the lowest levels of culture, are customary\nupon the entrance of a fresh life on the stage of this world\u2019s trials and\nsorrows. The popular saying, that the cries of a child at its christening\nare the cries of the devil going out of it, expresses identically the\nsame belief which still prompts our savage contemporaries to drive\nevil spirits from a new-born child by rites of mysterious spiritual\nefficacy; and it is probably to the indigenous prevalence of baptism\namong many savage tribes that some Catholic missionaries, complacently\nidentifying conversion with immersion, have owed the success of their\nefforts. It would at least be interesting to know whether baptism was\na native African rite at the time that the Capuchin Merolla baptized\nwith his own hands 13,000 negroes, and Padre Jerom da Montefarchio his\n100,000 in the space of twenty years.[48] Mungo Park gives an account of\na purely heathen festival held about a week after the birth of a child,\nat which a priest, taking the latter in his arms, would pray, soliciting\nrepeatedly the blessing of God on the child and all the company. And\nBosman tells of a priest binding ropes, corals, and other things round\nthe limbs of a new-born child, and exorcising the spirits of sickness and\nevil.[49]\n\nIt cannot, however, be proved with certainty that such rites are of\nnative growth wherever they have been found, though similar feelings of\nnatural impurity, of natural anxiety, may well have contributed to make\nthem common all the world over. With this reservation, let it suffice\nto recall some illustrations drawn from the most distant parts of the\nworld. The most touching form of the custom is told of a tribe in the\nFiji Islands, where the priest, presented by the relations with food\nwith which to notify the event to the gods before the birth-festival,\nwould thus petition the latter: \u2018This is the food of the little child:\ntake knowledge of it, ye gods. Be kind to him. Do not pelt him or spit\nupon him, or seize him, but let him live to plant sugar-canes.\u2019[50]\nIn New Zealand, the tohunga, or priest, dipping a green branch into a\ncalabash of water, sprinkled the child therewith and made incantations\naccording to its sex;[51] whilst in the Hervey Islands, where the\nchild was immersed in a taro leaf filled with water, the ceremony was\nintimately connected with their system of tribes and dedication for\nfuture sacrifice.[52] Crossing over to America, we find among the Indian\ntribes of Guiana the native priest dancing about an infant and dashing\nwater over it, finishing the ceremony by passing his hands over its\nlimbs, muttering all the while incantations and charms.[53] In some North\nAmerican tribes, water having been boiled with a certain sweet-scented\nroot, and some of it having been first thrown into the fire and the rest\ndistributed to the company by the oldest woman present, the latter would\nthen offer a short prayer to the Master of Life, on behalf of the child,\nthat its life might be spared and that it might grow; and if, at the\nfestival held to commemorate the child\u2019s first slain animal, one of the\nchief persons present would entreat the Great Spirit to be kind to the\nlad and let him grow to be a great hunter, in war to take many scalps and\nnot to behave like an old woman, it cannot be said that such a prayer was\npurely selfish in its aim or confined solely to present necessities.[54]\n\nAlthough, however, it is impossible to dissociate baptismal rites so rude\nas these from a belief in magic, the idea of water as conferring moral as\nwell as physical purity appears to have been attained by some of the more\nadvanced heathen tribes. The rite of baptism, says Dr. Brinton, was of\nimmemorial antiquity among the Cherokees, Aztecs, Mayas, and Peruvians:\nthe use of water as symbolical of spiritual cleansing clearly appearing,\nfor instance, in the prayer of the Peruvian Indian, who after confessing\nhis guilt would bathe in the river and say: \u2018O river, receive the sins\nI have this day confessed unto the sun, carry them down to the sea, and\nlet them never more appear.\u2019[55] It has often been told, on the original\nauthority of Sahagun, how the Mexican nurse, after bathing the new-born\nchild, would bid it approach its mother, the goddess of water; praying at\nthe same time to her that she would receive it and wash it, would take\naway its inherited impurity, make it good and clean, and instil into it\ngood habits and manners.[56]\n\nThe mere enunciation of a wish often amounts among savages to a complete\nprayer, it being conceived that the expression of desire is of more\nmoment than the manner of such expression; such a conception still\nsurviving among ourselves at certain wishing towers, wishing gates, or\non the occurrence of certain natural phenomena. In Fiji it was common\nto shout aloud, after drinking a toast, the name of some object of\ndesire, and this was equivalent to a prayer for whatever it might be\u2014for\nfood, wealth, a fair wind, or even for the gratification of cannibal\ngluttony. Franklin tells how some Indians, disappointed in the chase, set\nthemselves to beat a large tambourine and sing an address to the Great\nSpirit, praying for relief, their prayer consisting solely of three words\nconstantly repeated;[57] the tambourine probably being employed for the\nsame purpose that the Sioux Indians kept a whistle in the mouth of one of\ntheir gods, namely, to make their invocation audible. The Ahts, praying\nto the moon, sometimes say no more than _teech, teech_, that is, Health\nor Life; and it is curious that the rude savages of Brazil exclaim _teh,\nteh_, to the same luminary.[58] The Sioux would often say, \u2018Spirits of\nthe dead, have mercy!\u2019 adding thereto a notification of their wishes,\nwhether for good health, good luck in hunting, or anything else.[59] The\nZulus, however, sometimes carry this principle of brevity furthest, for\nsometimes in their prayers to the spirits of their dead they simply say,\n\u2018Ye people of our house,\u2019 \u2018the suppliant taking it for granted that the\nAmatongo will know what he wants;\u2019 though generally their addresses to\ntheir ancestors are of a much more orthodox length than this.[60] When we\nconsider how large a place the spirits of the dead fill in the savage\u2019s\nspirit-world it appears possible that many of the prayers and sacrifices,\nsaid to be offered to the Great Spirit or unknown divinities, are really\naddressed to the all-controlling, ever-present spirits of the departed.\n\nIf we may believe the testimony of a great many travellers in all\nparts of the world, the case of the Yezidis, who to the recognition\nof a supreme being are said to join actual worship of the chief power\nof evil, represents no exceptional phase of human thought. Yet even\nthe Yezidis, according to Dr. Latham, are said to be improperly called\nDevil-worshippers, since they only try to conciliate Satan, speak of him\nwith respect or not at all, avoid his name in all their oaths, and are\npained if they hear people make a light use of it.[61] In Equatorial\nAfrica it is said that whilst Mburri, the spirit of evil, is worshipped\npiously as a tyrant to be appeased, it is not considered necessary to\npray to Njambi, the good spirit.[62] Harmon says distinctly of all the\ndifferent Indian tribes east of the Rocky Mountains that they pray and\nmake frequent and costly sacrifices to the bad spirit for delivery from\nevils they feel or fear, but that they seldom pray to the supreme good\nspirit, to whom they ascribe every perfection, and whom they consider\ntoo benevolent ever to inflict evil on his creatures.[63] There is,\nindeed, little doubt that, if a certain amount of evidence suffices\nthe requirements of proof, we must yield consent to the fact, in\nitself neither incredible nor unintelligible, that many savage tribes,\nrecognising and believing in a good and powerful spirit, make that very\ngoodness a reason for their neglect of him, and address their petitions\ninstead to the mercy of that other spirit to whose power for evil they\nconceive the world to lie subject.[64] There is, however, much to be\nsaid in favour of the view, that the mind in its primitive state is\nunconscious of this moral dualism in the spirit-world, attributing\nrather (in perfect accordance with the analogy of human relationships)\ngood and bad things alike to the agency of the same beings, according as\ntransitory impulses affect them.\n\nThus, according to Castren, an antagonism between absolute good and\nabsolute evil finds no place among the Samoyeds. They have no extreme\ndivinities corresponding in their attributes to Ahriman and Ormuzd. \u2018The\nhuman temper is the divine temper also, good and bad mixed.\u2019[65] Mburri,\nwho, according to one writer, is the evil spirit in Equatorial Africa,\nis, according to another, the good spirit, or at least the less wicked\nof the two, both the good and bad receiving worship, and being endowed\nwith much the same powers.[66] The Beetjuans, venerating Morimo as the\nsource of all good and evil that happened to them, were not agreed as to\nwhether he was entirely a beneficent or a malevolent being; and, if they\nthanked him for benefits, they never hesitated to curse him for ills or\nfor wishes unfulfilled.[67] \u2018To the very same image,\u2019 says Bosman of the\nnegroes, \u2018they at one time make offerings to God and at another to the\ndevil, so that one image serves them in the capacity of god and devil.\u2019\nIt was untrue, he declares, that the negroes prayed and made offerings to\nthe devil, though some of them would try to appease a devil by leaving\nthousands of pots of victuals standing ever ready for his gratification;\non the contrary, the devil was annually banished from their towns with\ngreat ceremony, being hunted away with dismal cries, and his spirit\npelted with wood and stones.[68]\n\nThe evidence, again, in this respect concerning the aborigines of\nAmerica is important. The Winnebagoes are said to have had a tradition\nthat soon after the creation a bad spirit appeared on the scene, whose\nattempts to vie with the products of the Good Spirit resulted in making\na negro in failure of an Indian, a grizzly bear in failure of a black\none, and snakes which were endowed with venom; he also it was who made\nall the worthless trees, thistles, and weeds, who tempted Indians to\nlie, murder, and steal, and who receives bad Indians when they die. The\nsuspicion, however, of Christian influence among this tribe makes the\ntradition of little value to the argument. Turning to other evidence,\namid Schoolcraft\u2019s reiterated statements of the original dualism of\nIndian theology, whereby the Indian was careful \u2018to guard his good and\nmerciful God from all evil acts and intentions, by attributing the whole\ncatalogue of evil deeds among the sons of men to the Great Bad Spirit\nof his theology,\u2019 we yet find this admission, that \u2018it is impossible to\nwitness closely the rites and ceremonies which the tribes practise in\ntheir sacred and ceremonial societies without perceiving that _there is\nno very accurate or uniform discrimination between the powers of the\ntwo antagonistical deities_.\u2019[69] Mr. Pond, who resided with the Sioux\nIndians for eighteen years and had every opportunity to become acquainted\nwith such matters, declares that it was \u2018next to impossible to penetrate\u2019\ninto the subject of their divinities; but he was never able to discover\n\u2018the least degree of evidence that they divide the gods into classes of\ngood and evil,\u2019 nor did he believe that they ever distinguished the Great\nSpirit from other divinities \u2018till they learnt to do so from intercourse\nwith the whites;\u2019 for they had no chants, feasts, dances, nor sacrificial\nrites which had any reference to such a being, or which, if they had,\nwere not of recent origin.[70] Of the same people says Mr. Prescott, a\nman related to and resident among them many years: \u2018As to their belief in\nevil spirits, they do not understand the difference between a great good\nspirit and a great evil spirit, as we do. _The idea the Indians have is\nthat a spirit can be good if necessary, and do evil if it thinks fit._\u2019\nThey \u2018know very little about whether the Great Spirit has anything to do\nwith their affairs, present or future.\u2019 Their idea of the Great Spirit\nis of the vaguest possible kind, since they lack entirely any conception\nof his power, or of the mode of, or of a reason for, man\u2019s creation.\nThe Great Spirit they believe made everything but the wild rice and the\nthunder; and they have been known to accuse their deity of badness in\nsending storms to cause them misery.[71] In the same way the Comanches\nof Texas neither worship the evil spirit nor are aware of his existence,\n\u2018_attributing everything to arise from the Great Spirit, whether of good\nor evil_.\u2019[72] Had the ancient Jews been described by Greek travellers\ninstead of by themselves, we may fairly suspect that they would have\nbeen introduced to posterity as a people, consciously theistic indeed,\nbut at the same time as addicted, in most of their rites, to demonolatry\nand the propitiation of imaginary evil beings. The true view would\nseem to be that the theology of the lower races does not admit of that\npreciseness of terminology, of that clear distinction of qualities, of\nthat systematic marshalling of powers, which has been so often predicated\nof it, but that in its growth it undergoes a period of flux and change\nsimilar to that which may be seen to occur in the evolution of the lowest\nforms of physical life into more determinate types of being.\n\nThe Sioux Indians, abusing their Great Spirit for sending them storms,\nor the Kamschadals cursing Kutka for having created their mountains so\nhigh and their streams so rapid, expose a state of thought relating to\nthe gods which is most difficult to reconcile with the savage\u2019s habitual\ndread of them, still more with a high conception of them, but which is\ntoo well authenticated to admit of doubt. Franklin saw a Cree hunter\ntie offerings (a cotton handkerchief, looking-glass, tin pin, some\nribbon and tobacco) to the value of twenty skins round an image of the\ngod Kepoochikan, at the same time praying to him in a rapid monotonous\ntone to be propitious, explaining to him the value of his presents, and\nstrongly cautioning him against ingratitude.[73] If all the prayers and\npresents made to their god by the Tahitians to save their chiefs from\ndying proved in vain, his image was inexorably banished from the temple\nand destroyed.[74] The Ostiaks of Siberia, if things went badly with\nthem, would pull down from their place of honour in the hut and in every\nway maltreat the idols they generally honoured so exceedingly; the idols\nwhose mouths were always so diligently smeared with fish-fat, and within\nwhose reach a supply of snuff ever lay ready.[75] The Chinese are said\nto do the same by their household gods, if for a long time they are deaf\nto their prayers, and so do the Cinghalese;[76] so that the practice\nis more than an impulsive manifestation of merely local feeling. That\nsuch feelings occasionally crop out in civilised Catholic countries is\nmatter of more surprise; but it is an authentic historical fact that the\ngood people of Castelbranco, in Portugal, were once so angry with St.\nAnthony for letting the Spaniards plunder their town, contrary to his\nagreement, that they broke many of his statues in pieces, and, taking the\nhead off one they specially revered, substituted for it the head of St.\nFrancis.[77] Neapolitan fishermen are said to this day to throw their\nsaints overboard if they do not help them in a storm; and the images of\nthe Virgin or of St. Januarius, worn in Neapolitan caps, are in danger\nof being trodden under foot and destroyed, if adverse contingencies\narise. The latter saint, indeed, once received during a famine very clear\nintimation, that, unless corn came by a certain time, he would forfeit\nhis saintship.[78]\n\nIt is perhaps a refinement of thought when a present becomes an advisable\naccompaniment to a simple petition; but the principle of exchange once\nentered into, the relations between man and the supernatural lead\nlogically from the offering of fruits and flowers to the sacrifice of\nanimals and of men. Some Algonkin Indians, mistaking once a missionary\nfor a god, and petitioning his mercy, begged him to let the earth yield\nthem corn, the rivers fish, and to prevent sickness from slaying or\nhunger from tormenting them. Their request they backed with the offer of\na pipe;[79] and in this ridiculous incident the whole of the savage\u2019s\nphilosophy of sacrifice is contained. Prescott, coming with some Indians\nto a lake they were to cross, saw his companions light their pipes\nand smoke by way of invoking the winds to be calm.[80] And the Hurons\noffered a similar prayer with tobacco to a local god, saying: \u2018Oki,\nthou who livest on this spot, we offer thee tobacco. Help us, save us\nfrom shipwreck. Defend us from our enemies. Give us good trade, and\nbring us safe back to our villages.\u2019[81] In the island of Tanna, the\nvillage priest, addressing the spirits of departed chiefs (thought to\npreside over the growth of yams and fruits), after the firstfruits of\nvegetation had been deposited on a stone, on the branch of a tree, or\non a rude altar of sticks, would pray: \u2018Compassionate father, here is\nsome food; eat it, be kind to us on account of it;\u2019 and in Samoa, too,\na libation of ava at the evening meal was the offering, in return for\nwhich the father of a family would beg of the gods health and prosperity,\nproductiveness for his plantations, and for his tribe generally a strong\nand large population for war.[82] In Fiji, again, when the chief priests\nand leading men assembled to discuss public affairs in the yaquona or\nkava circle, the chief herald, as the water was poured into the kava,\nafter naming the gods for whom the libation was prepared, would say:\n\u2018Be gracious, ye lords, the gods, that the rain may cease, and the sun\nshine forth;\u2019 and again when the potion was ready: \u2018Let the gods be of a\ngracious mind, and send a wind from the east.\u2019[83]\n\nIt is a somewhat obvious inference, if presents like these fail to obtain\ncorresponding results, that the spirit addressed is not satisfied,\nand that he requires a greater value in exchange for the blessings at\nhis disposal. The crowning petition, therefore, of disappointed and\ndespairing humanity is, by an irrefragable chain of reasoning, the\nsacrifice of a human life, or, if this fails, of many lives. Long and\nfrequent were the prayers of the Tahitians to the gods when their chiefs\nwere ill, for, under the idea that \u2018the gods were always influenced by\nthe same motives as themselves, they imagined that the efficacy of their\nprayers would be in exact proportion to the value of the offerings with\nwhich they were accompanied.\u2019 Hence, if the disease grew violent, the\nfruits of whole plantain fields or more than a hundred pigs would be\nhurried to the marae; nay, not unfrequently a number of men with ropes\nround their necks would be led to the altar and presented to the idol,\nwith prayers that the mere sight of them might satisfy his wrath.[84]\nIt does not appear that on such occasions they were actually slain, but\nwe seem here rather to see the first step towards human sacrifice than\nmerely a survival of it, for the obtaining of this particular wish. The\nprocess is naturally from the sacrifice of the least possible to the\nsacrifice of the greatest possible, though after that point has been\nreached there may well be a tendency, varying with the character of a\ntribe, to fall back upon make-believe, curtailed losses. The Mandan\nIndians, Catlin repeats, always sacrificed the best of its kind to the\nGreat Spirit, the favourite horse, the best arrow, or the best piece of\nbuffalo;[85] so that the sacrifice of their fingers was more probably\na form of incipient human sacrifice than, as it sometimes is, a relic\nof a more complete self-surrender. Both the Aztecs and the Mayas, with\nall the cruel forms of sacrifice that disgraced their civilization,\nretained traditions of a time when the gods were contented with the\nmilder offerings of fruits and flowers; and in Yucatan, where hundreds of\nyoung girls were sacrificed in the dark but sacred pit of Chichen, there\nwere recollections of a time when one victim sufficed the demands of\nthe spirit-world. And in this instance may be seen how human sacrifice,\nbesides being the highest gift man could offer to his god or gods, was in\nyet another sense a mode of prayer; for whilst the victims stood round\nthe pit, whilst the incense burnt on the altar and in the braziers, the\nofficiating priest explained to the messengers from earth \u2018the things\nfor which they were to implore the gods into whose presence they were\nabout to be introduced.\u2019[86] So also the priests of Mexico would exhort\nthe deputation of eighteen souls they sent to the sun to remember the\nmission for which they were sent, the people\u2019s wants they were to make\nknown, the favours they were to ask for their countrymen.[87]\n\nLess obviously connected with prayer than sacrifice is dancing, a custom\nwhich the civilized world has long since ceased to regard as in any\nsense connected with religion, but which among savages, besides being a\nnatural expression of joy in life, of thankfulness for sun or shower, is\nnot unfrequently a mode of prayer, a means employed for the attainment\nof desire. This at least seems the case with those imitative dances or\npantomimes in which with marvellous exactitude the savage all the world\nover acts the part of the animals he pursues in the chase. The national\ndance of the Kamschadals consists in the imitation of the manners and\nmotions of seals and bears, varying from the gentlest movement of\ntheir bodies to the most violent agitation of their thighs and knees,\naccompanied with singing and stamping in time;[88] and it is remarkable\nthat in Vancouver\u2019s Island also there is a seal dance, for which the\nnatives, stripping themselves naked, enter the water, regardless of the\ncold of the night, and emerge \u2018dragging their bodies along the sand like\nseals,\u2019 then enter the houses and crawl about the fires, and finally\njump up and dance about.[89]\n\nBut although it is intelligible that such facility and perfection of\nbeast-acting as, for instance, enabled the Dog-rib Indians to approach\nand kill the reindeer, acquired originally by the necessities of the\nchase, should be perpetuated as a religious ceremony to keep up a\nhabit of actual importance to existence, there are cases to which this\nexplanation would hardly apply, as, for example, to the African gorilla\ndance, which has been so vividly described by a recent eye-witness,\nand which, he says, \u2018was a religious festival held on the eve of an\nenterprise,\u2019 the eve, namely, of a gorilla hunt. An African dancing to\na drum and harp imitated closely all the attitudes and movements of the\ngorilla, being joined in the chorus by all the rest present. \u2018Now he\nwould be seated on the ground, his legs apart, his hands resting on his\nknees, his head drooping, and in his face the vacant expression of the\nbrute. Sometimes he folded his arms on his forehead. Suddenly he would\nraise his head with prone ears and flaming eyes,\u2019 till in the last act\nhe represented the gorilla attacked and killed.[90] But, unless gorillas\nare ever killed by so clever an imitation of themselves that they really\nmistake their African neighbours for their own brothers, the gorilla\ndance must, by a phenomenon of thought not without analogy, be a mode\nof prayer for obtaining a desired result; the same fetishistic law of\nthought prevailing that is traceable in the idea that by pouring water\non a stone you can bring rain on the earth, or that you can injure your\nenemy by an injury to his effigy.\n\nIt may be, however, that pantomimic dances were employed originally as a\nclearer expression than mere words of the suppliant\u2019s wishes, the acting\nof a hunt or battle being equivalent to a petition for favour and success\nin the same, and the unseen deities addressed being not unnaturally\nconceived as more likely to see the bodily movements than to hear the\nfeeble voice of the petitioner. The analogy of the various tongues,\nprevalent among birds, beasts, and men, might well suggest to a savage\nthe possibility of the spiritual world being unavoidably deaf to his\nutterances from mere inability to comprehend them; whilst dealings with\nthe nearest tribe might make it natural for him to resort to the use of\nsigns and symbols as the least mistakable vehicle for his meaning. The\nAhts, retiring to the solitude of the woods, and there standing naked\nwith outstretched arms before the moon, employ set words and gestures\naccording to the nature of the object they desire. Thus in praying for\nsalmon the suppliant rubs the back of his hands, and, looking upwards,\nsays, \u2018Many salmon, many salmon;\u2019 in asking for deer he carefully rubs\nboth his eyes, for geese the back of his shoulders, for bears his sides\nand legs, uttering in a sing-song way the usual formula. The meaning of\nall these rubbings is obscure; but it has been suggested that the rubbing\nof the hands indicates a wish that the hand may have the requisite\nsteadiness for throwing the salmon spear; the rubbing of the eyes, a\nprayer, that they may be opened to discern deer in the forest.[91]\nAmong a Californian tribe it was usual, preparatory to the chase, to\nresort to a certain stake-inclosure and there to pray to the god\u2019s image\nfor success, by mimicry of the actions of the hunt, as by leaping and\ntwanging of the bow.[92] In the Society Islands, if the land had been in\nany way defiled by an enemy, a mode of religious purification consisted\nin offering pieces of coral, collected expressly, on the altar to the\ngods, to induce them \u2018to cleanse the land from pollution, that it might\nbe pure as the coral fresh from the sea.\u2019[93]\n\nThe Voguls, whose most frequent prayers are for success in hunting, are\nsaid to promote their fulfilment by \u2018_images in the shape of the beast\nmore especially sought for, rudely shaped out of wood or stone_.\u2019[94]\nBut to dance like the animal would naturally serve the purpose as well;\nand so the interpretation of some dances as symbolised prayers explains\nseveral American customs which are strikingly analogous to the African\ngorilla dance already described. Every Mandan Indian was compelled by\nsocial law to keep his buffalo\u2019s mask, consisting of the skin and horns\nof a buffalo\u2019s head, in his lodge, ready to put on and wear in the\nbuffalo dance, whenever the protracted absence of that animal from the\nprairie rendered it expedient to resort to this means for the purpose\nof inducing the herds to change the direction of their wanderings and\nbend their course towards the Mandan villages. And a principal part in\nthe annual celebration of the subsidence of the great waters consisted\nin the buffalo dance, wherein eight men dressed in entire buffalo skins,\nso as to imitate closely the appearance and motions of buffaloes, were\nthe chief actors, and four old men chanted prayers to the Great Spirit\nfor the continuation of his favours in sending them good supplies of\nbuffaloes for the coming year.[95] In this instance the close relation\nbetween dance and prayer, the dance being either supplementary or\nexplicative, clearly appears; as it also does in a very similar buffalo\ndance performed by a neighbouring tribe of the Mandans, the Minnatarees.\nIn their ceremony six elderly men acted the animals, imitating with\ngreat perfection even the peculiar sound of their voice.[96] Behind them\ncame a man, who represented the driving of the beasts forward, and who,\nat a certain point, placing his hands before his face, sang, and made a\nlong speech in the nature of a prayer, containing good wishes for the\nbuffalo hunt and for war, as also an appeal to the heavenly powers to be\npropitious to the huntsmen and their arms. So again the Sioux Indians\nfor several days before starting on a bear hunt would hold a bear dance,\nwhich was regarded as \u2018a most important and indispensable form,\u2019 and in\nwhich the whole tribe joined in a song to the Bear Spirit, to conciliate\nas well as to consult him. \u2018All with the motions of their hands closely\nimitated the movements of that animal; some representing its motion in\nrunning, and others the peculiar attitude and hanging of the paws when\nit is sitting up on its hind feet and looking out for the approach of an\nenemy.\u2019[97] And the same tribe, whenever they had bad luck in hunting,\nwould institute a dance to invoke the aid of one of their gods.[98]\n\nTo the African gorilla dance, the Mandan buffalo dance, the Sioux\nbear dance, may be added the custom of the Koossa Kafirs, who, before\nthey start on a hunt, perform a wonderful game, which is considered\nabsolutely necessary to the success of the undertaking.[99] One of them,\nrepresenting some kind of game, takes a handful of grass in his mouth\nand runs about on all fours; whilst the rest make-believe to transfix\nhim with their spears, till at last he throws himself on the ground as\nif he were killed.[100] On the occasion of a Sioux Indian dreaming of\nthe fish-eating cormorant, a fish dance was instituted, to ward off any\ndanger portended, in which the most elaborate imitation of the cormorant\nwas observed. The medicine-men, dancing up to a fish, affixed to a pole,\nbegan quacking, flapping their arms like wings, biting at the fish, and\npretending to hide a piece in their nests away from the wolves.[101] The\nAhts, again, Sproat observed, spent the eve of a deer hunt \u2018in dancing\nand singing and in various ceremonies intended to secure good luck on the\nmorrow.\u2019[102] And in South Australia it is remarkable that, when boys of\na certain age undergo the ceremony of losing their front teeth, power is\nconferred on them of killing the kangaroo by a kind of kangaroo dance.\nFirst of all, a kangaroo of grass is deposited at their feet; and then\nthe actors, the adults of the tribe, having fitted themselves with long\ntails of grass, set off \u2018as a herd of kangaroos, now jumping along, then\nlying down and scratching themselves, as those animals do when basking in\nthe sun,\u2019 two armed men following them meanwhile, as it were to steal on\nthem unmolested and spear them.[103]\n\nThe same thought occurs in prayers for rain. Modern Servian peasants,\npouring water over a girl covered with grass and flowers, employ a mode\nof petition for rain very similar to that in vogue near Lake Nyanza.\nThere, after a wild dance, a jar of water is placed before the village\nchief: the woman who acts as priestess of the ceremonies washes her\nhands, arms, and face with the water; then a large quantity of it is\npoured over her, and finally all the women present rush to dip their\ncalabashes in the jar and to toss the water in the air with loud cries\nand wild gesticulations.[104]\n\nAgain, the common savage war dance may be taken to have a religious\nsignificance in addition to its secular motive of sustaining martial\nfeelings and habits. In the war dance of the Navajoes of New Mexico the\nmost important part of the war dance was the arrow dance, when a young\nvirgin, beautifully dressed, represented in gesture \u2018the war path.\u2019 An\neye-witness has described it as a really beautiful performance. Slowly\nand steadily she would pursue her imaginary foe; suddenly her step would\nquicken as she came in sight of the enemy; she would dance faster\nand faster, and, seizing an arrow, demonstrate by the rapidity of her\nmovements that the fight had begun; she would point with the arrow, show\nhow it wings its course, how the scalp is taken, how the victory is\nwon.[105] Among the Winnebagoe Indians also it was part of the war dance\nfor a warrior to go through the pantomime of the discovery of the enemy,\nof the ambuscade, the attack, the slaughter, and the scalping.[106] And\nin this reference may be noted the curious proceeding of the women of\nAccra, on the Guinea Coast, who, whilst the male population were engaged\nin war with a neighbouring people, endeavoured every day to bring it to\na happy issue by dancing fetish; that is, by fighting sham battles with\nwooden swords, flying to the boats on the beach and pretending to row,\nthrowing some one into the sea, taking a trowel and making believe to\nbuild a wall\u2014all actions literally symbolical of corresponding ones to\nbe performed by the men in the course of defeating their enemy.[107] In\nMadagascar, too, when the men are absent in war, the custom of the women\nto dance, in order to inspire their husbands with courage, has been\nthought not to be destitute of a religious meaning.\n\nThat a dance may be in reality a form of prayer, a petition acted\ninstead of spoken, as more likely so to be understood, makes it possible\nthat prayers may be hidden under customs which are generally only cited\nto illustrate the absurdity of primitive metaphysics. May it not be that\nthe Indian, when he thinks to ensure a successful chase by drawing a\nfigure of his game with a line leading to its heart from its mouth, and\nby so subjecting its movements to himself, or when he thinks to cure a\nman of sickness by shooting the bark-effigy of the animal supposed to\npossess him\u2014may it not be that he thereby hopes to influence known or\nunknown natural forces in his favour by a clear representation of his\nwants? The control of natural phenomena by witchcraft may thus have\nbeen in its origin a direction to natural phenomena, or rather to the\nspirits ruling them; an address perhaps to those spirits of the dead\nwhich to a savage are his earliest and for long his only gods; and thus\nthe absurdities of fetishism might become intelligible as lifeless\nprayers, with more or less of their primal meaning, descended from such\na philosophy of nature. The Kamschadal child sent out naked to make the\nrain stop, clear as the meaning of the custom is with the prayer joined\nto it, would without it appear in the light of ordinary fetishism. So\nthe Khond, carrying a branch cut from hostile soil to his god of war,\nand there, after he has dressed it like one of the enemy, throwing it\ndown, with certain incantations, on the shrine of the divinity, urges\nhis petition in a way which even the god of war can scarcely fail to\nunderstand. And the Basuto woman, who in her wish for children, prays\nto her tutelary divinity for the accomplishment of her desires by\nmaking dolls of clay and treating them as infants, affords yet another\nillustration of the operation of the same law of thought.[108]\n\nIt remains to show how, in primitive theology, prayer attaches itself as\nwell to the material as the spiritual world, for it is here especially\nthat it finds its counterpart in the folk-lore of our own day. As,\nhowever, there is scarcely an object in nature which in a state of\nignorance may not with reason be worshipped, a few illustrations must be\ntaken for thousands on a subject it were less easy to exhaust than the\npatience of the reader.\n\n\u2018As for animals having reasoning powers,\u2019 says an exceptionally credible\nwitness, \u2018I have heard Indians talk and reason with a horse the same\nas with a person.\u2019[109] Our fairy tales of talking animals would be\ncommonplace facts to a savage. Hence it can be no matter of surprise to\nfind that it is a common Indian custom to converse with rattlesnakes,\nand to endeavour to propitiate them with presents of tobacco. On one\noccasion, the Iowas having begun to build a village, the presence of\na rattlesnake on a neighbouring hill was suddenly announced, when\nforthwith started the great snake doctor with tobacco and other presents:\nwhen he had offered these, and had had a long talk with the snake, he\nreturned to his village, with the satisfactory news that his tribesmen\nmight now travel in safety, as peace had been made between them and the\nsnakes.[110]\n\nBut perhaps of all natural objects that have attracted human worship,\nand been regarded as a supreme source of human woe or welfare, none can\ncompare with the moon. For the moon\u2019s changes of aspect being far more\nremarkable than any of the sun\u2019s, and more calculated to inspire dread\nby the nocturnal darkness they contend with, are held in popular fancy\nnearly everywhere to cause, portend, or accord with changes in the lot of\nmortals and all things terrestrial. In the Hervey Islands cocoa-nuts are\ninvariably planted at the full of the moon, the size of the latter being\nheld symbolical of the future fulness of the fruit;[111] and in South\nAfrica it is unlucky to begin a journey or any work of importance in the\nlast quarter of the moon.[112] The moon\u2019s wane makes things on earth wane\ntoo; when it is new or full, it is everywhere the proper season for new\ncrops to be sown, new households to be formed, new weather to begin.\n\nThe feeling of the Congo Africans, who at the sight of the new moon fall\non their knees or stand and clap their hands, praying that their lives\nmay be renewed like that of the moon, corresponds exactly with the idea\nof English folk-lore that crops are more likely to be plentiful if sown\nwhen the moon is young, or with the idea of German folk-lore that the new\nmoon is the season for counting money which it is desired may increase.\n\u2018On the first appearance of the new moon, which,\u2019 says Mungo Park,\n\u2018the Kafirs look upon as newly created, the pagan natives, as well as\nMahomedans, say a short prayer,\u2019 seemingly the only adoration they offer\nto the Supreme Being;[113] so that the sentiment of the Congo prayer may\nbe guessed to underlie, consciously or not, the salutations by which the\nnew moon is greeted generally throughout Africa, from the salutations of\nthe Hottentots to the prayers of the Makololos, for the success of their\njourneys or the destruction of their enemies.[114]\n\nMore difficult to understand than the worship of either animals or the\nheavenly bodies is that of such inanimate things as stones, trees, or\nrivers. Yet the state of thought is not so far remote from our own but\nthat we can still listen with pleasure, in stories like \u2018Undine,\u2019 to\nthe voices of the forest or the river. To a savage, however, it is not\nonly the motion or the sound of natural objects which suggests their\ndivinity, but the danger that is ever latent in them; and it is rather\nto prevent the river from drowning him or the tree from falling on him\nthan from any perception of their beauty that he makes offerings to\nthem and pays them homage. Such feelings as that of the Cree Indians,\nwho believed that a deer, found dead within a few yards of a willow\nbush which they worshipped and of which it had eaten, had fallen a\nvictim to the sin of its sacrilege, are not confined to savage lands nor\ntimes.[115] As savages have been known to apologize to a slain elephant\nor bear, assuring it that its death was accidental, so it is said that\nin parts of Germany a woodcutter will still (or would recently) beg\nthe pardon of a fine healthy tree before cutting it down.[116] In our\nown midland counties there is a feeling to this day against binding up\nelder-wood with other faggots; and in Suffolk it is believed misfortune\nwill ensue if ever it is burnt. In Germany formerly an elder-tree might\nnot be cut down entirely; and Grimm was himself an eye-witness of a\npeasant praying with bare head and folded hands before venturing to cut\nits branches. That trees are still popularly endowed with a conscious\npersonality is further proved by the custom, not yet extinct, of trying\nto secure the future favours of fruit trees by presents and prayers. The\nplacing of money in a hole dug at the foot of them, the presenting them\nwith money on New Year\u2019s Day, the shaking under them of the remainder of\nthe Christmas dinner, the beating of them with rods on Holy Innocents\u2019\nDay\u2014all German methods to incite fruit trees to further fertility\u2014answer\nclosely to the English custom of apple-howling or wassailing, when at\nChristmas or Epiphany the inhabitants of a parish, walking in procession\nto the principal orchards, and there singling out the principal tree,\nsprinkle it with cider, or place cider-soaked cakes of toast and sugar\nin its branches, saluting it at the same time with set words in the form\nof a prayer to the trees to be fruitful for the ensuing year, as the\ndoggerel verses following show plainly enough:\u2014\n\n  Here\u2019s to thee, old apple tree,\n  Whence thou mayst bud and whence thou mayst blow,\n  And whence thou mayst bear apples enow,\n  Hats full, caps full,\n  Bushel, bushel, sacks full,\n  And my pocket full too.[117]\n\nAnd similar prayers, as lifeless now as the fossil shells on the shore of\nsome ancient coral sea, lie scattered abundantly in many an English rhyme\nand ballad, serving to show how the philosophy of one age passes into the\nnonsense of a later one, and how ideas which constituted a religion for\none time may only survive as an amusement for another.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\n_SOME SAVAGE PROVERBS._\n\n\nThe German proverb, \u2018Speak, that I may see thee,\u2019 may be applied as\ntruly to a whole community as to an individual. For proverbs\u2014or, roughly\ndefining, popular sayings\u2014reflect conspicuously the general character of\na nation, constituting its actual code of social, political, and moral\nphilosophy. Besides the beauty and wisdom, from which alone many of\nthem derive an imperishable charm, they serve as a kind of literature\nin miniature, in which the inner life of a nation is more clearly\nlegible than in its more voluminous writings. And in spite of the\ngeneral resemblance which seems to pervade the proverbial lore of the\nworld, arising partly from the direct interchange of thought inseparable\nfrom international commerce of any kind, partly from a uniformity\nof experience\u2014such, for example, as has impressed on all people the\nwisdom of caution and truth\u2014there are yet well-marked differences in\nthe proverbs of nations, which as clearly retain the records of their\nseveral histories as do their different laws and customs. Remarkable,\ntherefore, as is the substantial similarity of proverbial codes, of\nwhich the general characteristic is a high sense of right coupled with\na mournful consciousness of human infirmity, they betray often in the\nvery expression of the same idea the individuality of their national\nbirthplace. It is obvious, for instance, that, largely as all modern\nnations are indebted to a writer like \u00c6sop for the thoughts they\nshare in common, each nation severally will owe more of its wisdom to\nwriters of its own, who, like Shakespeare or Cervantes, have, from\ngreater familiarity with the manners, been more competent to express\nthe feelings, of their different countries. But the way in which good\nproverbs, like good gold, find acceptance everywhere, and pass readily\ninto the current coinage of different realms, may be illustrated by the\nfact of the existence, in countries so widely remote as Spain, Arabia,\nPersia, Afghanistan, and India, of a saying, second to none in all the\nessentials of a good proverb, to the effect that \u2018when God wills the\ndestruction of an ant, he supplies it with wings.\u2019[118]\n\nAn instructive instance of the light thrown on national character by\nproverbs may be supplied from a comparison of Italian, German, and\nPersian teaching on the subject of vindictiveness. In communities\ndestitute of social organisation, the \u2018vendetta,\u2019 or duty of\nblood-revenge, probably preceded and led the way to the practice of\nlegal punishment. Originally it was a kind of lynch-law, supplying\nthe default of any legal protection of life; and all nations bear\ntraces in their history of having passed through a stage of growth in\nwhich the sacred duty of vengeance was the germ of any idea of a more\njudicial retribution. Confucius made it a duty for a son to slay his\nfather\u2019s murderer, just as Moses insisted on a strictly retaliatory\npenalty for bloodshed. The duty of revenge, which if it is yet extinct\nin Corsica survives with so much interest in the play of \u2018The Corsican\nBrothers,\u2019 to this day, in places like Fiji, still passes from father\nto son, and from the son to the nearest relation. The longer survival\nof such feelings in Italy, consequent on the different circumstances of\nher history, is clearly impressed on the proverbial philosophy of her\npeople, constituting a remarkable contrast to the sentiments of other\ncountries. For the Italian, extolling the sweetness of revenge, declares\nit a morsel fit for God; and, expressing pity or contempt for the man\nwho either cannot or will not carry out his revenge, counsels patience\nand the waiting of time and place for its successful execution. In a\nproverb so terribly expressive that you seem to hear in it the assassin\u2019s\ngnashing teeth, he will tell you that \u2018revenge, though a hundred years\nold, still has its milk teeth,\u2019 a maxim which stands on no higher a level\nthan the pagan African saying, \u2018Hate hath no medicine,\u2019 or than that of\nAfghanistan, \u2018Speak good words to an enemy very softly, gradually destroy\nhim root and branch;\u2019 and which may be fitly compared with the Fijian\nexpression of malice: \u2018Let the shell of the oyster perish by reason of\nyears, and to these add a thousand more, still my hatred shall be hot.\u2019\nHow much purer than the Italian is the German teaching, which declares\nrevenge to be fresh wrong, the conversion of a little right into a great\ninjustice, and sure in its turn to draw revenge after it; or how far\nnobler still is the more positive sentiment of Persia, that to take\nrevenge for an injury is the sign of a mean spirit; that it is easy to\nreturn evil for evil, but that the manly thing is to return good for it!\n\nThe contrast conveyed in these proverbs is the more striking, in that\nItaly might pre-eminently call herself the Catholic, as against Germany\nthe heretical, or Persia the infidel, land. It has been said that\nevery tenth proverb in an Italian collection contains a selfish or\ncynical maxim; and though the beauty and purity of many Italian sayings\ncounterbalance the baseness of others\u2014those, for instance, on love being\nas refined as those on revenge are barbarous\u2014it may not be uninteresting\nto compare generally the proverbs of Italy with those of a land like\nPersia where the religious history has been so different.\n\nThe noblest Italian proverb is to the effect that a hundred years cannot\nrepair a moment\u2019s loss of honour; the basest, perhaps, that bad as it\nis to be a knave, it is worse to be known as one. To love a friend with\nall his faults; to associate with the good in order to be good; to\nwork in order to rest; to do right in spite of consequences, and good\nirrespectively of persons; to do evil never, whatever the benefit\u2014these\nare among the highest lessons of Italian proverb-lore. That among men of\nhonour a word is a bond, and that conscience is as good as a thousand\nwitnesses; that the best sermon is a good life, and that the gains of\nbegging are dearly bought, are maxims of the same upright tendency.\nYet, over against these, are proverbs pervaded by the saddest spirit\nof universal mistrust, instilling utter disbelief of any sincerity in\nfriendship, and even counselling to selfish or downright wicked conduct.\nWhat more melancholy evidence of this than is afforded by the following\ncommon sayings?\u2014\n\n    He who suspects is seldom to blame.\n\n    Trust was a good man, Trust-not a better.\n\n    From those I trust God guard me; from those I mistrust I will\n    guard myself.\n\n    Who would have many friends let him test but few.\n\n    Tell your secret to your friend, and he will set his foot on\n    your neck.\n\nOr, again, what can be thought of such maxims as, that it is expedient\nto peel a fig for your friend but a peach for your enemy; that the man\nwho esteems none but himself is happy as a king; that public money, like\nholy water, is the property of all men; or that with art and knavery men\nmay live through half the year, and with knavery and art through the\nother?\n\nThe Persian proverbs seem to breathe a different moral atmosphere from\nthese, being as generous in character as the Italian are cynical, and\ndisplaying a free spirit of liberality, trust, independence, above all,\nof truthfulness, which is unsurpassed in any country of Europe. If in\nItaly it is common to say that a man who cannot flatter knows not how\nto talk, in Persia the sentiment prevails that to flatter is worse than\nto abuse. The Persian, true to the character given of him by Herodotus,\nholds boldly, that the man who speaks truth is always at ease; that men\nnever suffer from speaking the truth; that it behoves them to speak their\nminds unreservedly, for that there is no hill in front of the tongue.\nAdd to this the popular sayings, that the accounts of friends are in the\nheart, and that it is better to be in chains with friends than in the\ngarden with strangers. That it should have become proverbial in Persia,\nthat a man lowers himself by vexing the poor, and loses all claim to\ngreatness by finding fault with his inferiors, proves the purity of a\nreligion which has instilled such thoughts into the ethics of a nation;\nnor could any language in Europe produce proverbs characterised by a\nhigher spirit of morality than is revealed in the following selection:\u2014\n\n    A high name is better than a high house.\n\n    The cure for anger is silence.\n\n    A man must cut out his own garments of reputation.\n\n    Heaven is at the feet of mothers (_i.e._ lies in dutiful\n    obedience).\n\n    It is better to die of want than to beg.\n\n    The liberal man is the friend of God.\n\n    Practise liberality, but lay no stress on the obligation.\n\nAs another illustration of the way in which a few proverbs may condense\ncenturies of history, may be instanced the recorded experiences of\nmankind touching priests and priestcraft. With no other evidence than\nthat of proverbs before him, a future historian of Europe might easily\ndetect a marked difference of feeling on this matter between Protestant\nGermany and the Catholic countries of Europe. Not that the latter are\nwanting in sayings to the prejudice of the priestly class, but they are\nnot so numerous as in Germany. The French have two proverbs, marked with\nall the wit and boldness of their genius, one charging anyone who values\na clean house not to let into it either a priest or a pigeon; the other\ndeclaring that it is human ignorance alone which causes the pot to boil\nfor priests. The Spanish experience also is, that it is best neither to\nhave a good friar for a friend nor a bad one for an enemy, and that\nit is well to keep awake in a land thickly tenanted by monks. But the\nGermans go much farther than this. In German estimation the priest is a\nbeing who, in company with a woman, may be found at the bottom of all the\nmischief that goes on in the world, and is as little likely as a woman\nto forgive you an injury. Like the bites of wolves, those of priests are\nhard to heal, so that it is best, if you fight with them at all, to beat\nthem to death. If they are ever hot, it is from eating, not from work;\nfor they always take care to bless themselves first, nor do they ever pay\nany tithes to one another.\n\nThe above comparisons suffice to show how differences of national\ncharacter, and even how the operation of different forms of faith, may\nreveal themselves in proverbs. Yet such estimates must be formed with\ncaution, in consideration of the wide possibilities of error which\nare inseparable from so inexhaustible a subject. For not only may\nthe proverb-collector easily attribute to one country alone a saying\nwhich belongs equally to, or may even have originated in, another,\nbut his canon of selection is somewhat arbitrary and dependent on his\npreconceptions of what a proverb really is. \u2018To take the ball on the\nhop,\u2019 for instance, is as genuine an English proverb as \u2018to make hay\nwhilst the sun shines,\u2019 which contains the same idea; yet whilst the one\nmight be heard every day, the other might not be heard once a year, so\nthat it might easily escape notice altogether, or if found be rejected\nas obsolete. We can consequently, as in other branches of human study,\nonly make use, _on trust_, of such data as lie at hand, and, whilst\nfully acknowledging the imperfection of the evidence, strive after an\napproximation to truth, without hope for its actual attainment.\n\nIf now we extend the limits of our comparison, to take in some proverbs\nof the lower races as well as of the higher, we shall find therein a\nstrong corroboration of the lesson already learnt in any comparison\nof the superstitions, myths, and manners of different societies;\nnamely, that differences of race, colour, and even structure, sink into\ninsignificance when compared with the intellectual affinities which unite\nthe families of mankind, and that there is, perhaps, no phase of thought\nnor shade of feeling belonging to the higher culture of the world to\nwhich we may not find an antitype or even an equivalent in the lower. If\nwe take some of the proverbs collected from tribes confessedly low in\ncivilisation\u2014those, for instance, of West Africa\u2014and compare them with\nproverbs still prevalent in Europe, we cannot fail to be struck with the\nstrong likeness between them, as well as impressed with the idea, that\nmany actually existent common sayings may have had their birth in days\nof the most remote and savage antiquity. The immense number of modern\nproverbs, drawn from the observation of the natural, and especially\nof the animal, world (a number which must be nearly one out of five),\ncoupled with the coincidence that the same fact is perhaps the most\nstriking one in the proverbs collected from West Africa, seems to lend\nsome support to such a theory.\n\nAs an introductory instance let us take savage and civilised sentiments\nabout poverty, a belief in the misfortune of which is written clearly in\nevery language of Europe. Italian experience says that poverty has no\nkin, and that poor men do penance for rich men\u2019s sins; in Germany the\npoor have to dance as the rich pipe; whilst in Spain and Denmark the evil\nis expressed more graphically still, it being a matter of observation\nin the one country that the poor man\u2019s crop is destroyed by hail every\nyear; in the other, that the poor man\u2019s corn always grows thin. And, in\nthe Oji dialect, spoken by about two millions of people, including the\nAshantees, Fantees, and others, it is also proverbial that the poor man\nhas no friend, that poverty makes a man a slave, and that hard words are\nfit for the poor. And as the Dutch have learnt, that \u2018poor folks\u2019 wisdom\ngoes for little,\u2019 or the Italians, that \u2018the words of the poor go many to\nthe sackful,\u2019 so in Oji exactly the same idea is conveyed in the saying,\nthat \u2018when a poor man makes a proverb it does not spread\u2019; in Yoruba, in\nthe saying, that \u2018poverty destroys a man\u2019s reputation;\u2019 and in Accra in\nthe still cleverer proverb, that \u2018a poor man\u2019s pipe does not sound.\u2019[119]\n\nThe proverbs of savages are moral and immoral, elevated and base,\nprecisely as are those of more civilised nations. The proverbs of the\nYorubas, justly observes the missionary, Mr. Bowen,[120] \u2018are among the\nmost remarkable of the world;\u2019 and indeed the intellectual powers and\nmoral ideas displayed in West African proverbs generally ought largely\nto modify our conceptions of their originators, and make us sceptical\nof that extreme dearth of mental wealth which has so frequently been\ndeclared to attend a low standard of material advancement. Their wit,\nterseness, vividness of illustration, and insight into life, are all\nalike surprising; and acquaintance with them must suggest caution in\nany estimate of the mental capacities of savages whose languages may\nhave been less investigated and consequently remain less known. \u2018It has\nalways been passing travellers who have drawn the most doleful pictures\nof so-called savages, and especially have asserted the poverty of their\nlanguage.\u2019[121] It may well prove that better acquaintance with the\nlanguages of tribes, classed at present for various reasons almost\noutside the human family, may show them to combine, as Humboldt found\nwas the case with the once depreciated Carib language, \u2018wealth, grace,\nstrength, and gentleness.\u2019 It was said of the Veddahs once that they were\nutterly destitute of either religion or _language_; and the Samojeds were\nreported to shriek and chatter like apes.\n\nThe Basutos of South Africa are savages, yet the following proverbs are\ncurrent among them:\u2014\n\n    A good name makes one sleep well.\n\n    Stolen goods do not make one grow.\n\n    Famine dwells in the house of the quarrelsome.\n\n    The thief catches himself.\n\n    A lent knife does not come back alone. (_i.e._ a good deed is\n    never thrown away.)[122]\n\nCompare, for elevation of mind, these Yoruban proverbs with those already\nnoticed as current in Italy:\u2014\n\n    He that forgives gains the victory.\n\n    He who injures another injures himself.\n\n    Anger benefits no one.\n\n    We should not treat others with contempt.[123]\n\nOn the other hand, \u2018If a great man should wrong you, smile on him,\u2019\nmay be compared with the Arabic advice about dangerous friends, \u2018If a\nserpent love thee, wear him as a necklace;\u2019 or with the Pashto proverb\nof the same intention, \u2018Though your enemy be a rope of reeds, call him a\nserpent.\u2019\n\nHere are some more proverbs with whose European equivalents everyone will\nbe familiar:\u2014\n\nON FAULTFINDING.\n\n    If you can pull out, pull out your own grey hairs. (Oji.)\n\n    Before healing others, heal yourself. (Wolof.)\n\nWith which we may compare the Chinese:\u2014\n\n    Sweep the snow from your own doors without troubling about the\n    frost on your neighbour\u2019s tiles.\n\nON THE VALUE OF EXPERIENCE.\n\n    Nobody is twice a fool. (Accra.)\n\n    Nobody is twice ashamed. (Accra.)\n\n    He is a fool whose sheep run away twice. (Oji.)\n\n    He dreads a slowworm who has been bitten by a serpent. (Oji.)\n\nWith which we may compare our own\u2014\n\n    It\u2019s a silly fish that\u2019s caught twice with the same bait.\n\nOr the German\u2014\n\n    An old fox is not caught twice in the same trap.\n\nTo which both Italy and Holland have exactly similar proverbs.\n\nON PERSEVERANCE.\n\n    Perseverance always triumphs. (Basuto.)\n\n    The moon does not grow full in a day. (Oji.)\n\n    Perseverance is everything.\n\n    Who has patience has all things. (Yoruba.)\n\n    By going and coming a bird builds its nest. (Oji.)\n\nWhich latter may be compared with the Dutch proverb\u2014\n\n    By slow degrees a bird builds its nest.\n\nAnd all of them with the Chinese\u2014\n\n    A mulberry-leaf becomes satin with time.\n\nON THE FORCE OF HABIT.\n\n    The thread follows the needle.\n\n    Its shell follows the snail wherever it goes. (Yoruba.)\n\n    As is the sword so is the scabbard. (Oji.)\n\nTo which again China supplies a good parallel in\n\n    The growth of the mulberry tree follows its early bent.\n\nON CAUSATION.\n\n    If nothing touches the palm-leaves they do not rustle. (Oji.)\n\n    Nobody hates another without a cause. (Accra.)\n\n    A feather does not stick without gum. (A Pashto proverb.)\n\nAgain, the Turkish proverb, that curses, like chickens, come home to\nroost, or the Italian one that, like processions, they come back to\ntheir starting-point, is well matched by the Yoruba proverb that \u2018ashes\nfly back in the face of their thrower.\u2019 Or the tendency of travellers\nto exaggerate or tell lies, impressed as it has been on all human\nexperience, is also confirmed by the Oji proverb, that \u2018he who travels\nalone tells lies.\u2019 And the universal belief in the ultimate exposure\nof falsehood conveyed in such proverbs as the Arabian, \u2018The liar is\nshort-lived;\u2019 the Persian, \u2018Liars have bad memories;\u2019 or the still\nmore expressive Italian saying, that \u2018the liar is sooner caught than a\ncripple,\u2019 finds itself corroborated by the Wolof proverb, that \u2018lies,\nthough many, will be caught by Truth as soon as she rises up.\u2019 Even in\nAfghanistan, where it is said that no disgrace attaches to lying _per\nse_, and where lying is called an honest man\u2019s wings, while truth can\nonly be spoken by a strong man or a fool, there is also a proverb with\nthe moral, that the career of falsehood is short.[124]\n\nThat \u2018hope is the pillar of the world,\u2019 that \u2018it is the heart which\ncarries one to hell or heaven,\u2019 or that \u2018preparation is better than\nafter-thought\u2019\u2014all experiences of the Kanuri, a Moslem tribe, who\nthink it a personal adornment to cut each side of their face in twenty\nplaces\u2014shows that there is no necessary connection between general\nsavagery and an absence of moral culture. The natives of New Zealand,\nwith all their barbarity, had in common use a saying which were a\ndesirable maxim for European diplomacy: \u2018When you are on friendly terms,\nsettle your disputes in a friendly way; when you are at war, redress\nyour injuries by violence.\u2019[125] Even the Fijians would say that an\nunimproved day was not to be counted, and that no food was ever cooked by\ngay clothes and frivolity.[126] A good Ashantee proverb warns people not\nto speak ill of their benefactors, by forbidding them to call a forest a\nshrubbery that has once given them shelter. The proverbs already quoted\nfrom Yoruba teach the same lesson, nor would it be difficult to add many\nmore, all proving the existence among savages of a morality identical\nin its main features with that of the higher group of nations to which\nwe ourselves belong, interpenetrated as it has been for ages with the\nphilosophies and religions of the civilised East.\n\nA similar testimony to the intellectual powers of savages is afforded by\ntheir proverbs, though of course the argument is only a suggestive one\nfrom tribes whose language has been well studied to others not so well\nknown. That the Soudan negroes are on a higher level of general culture\nthan many savages of other islands or continents is proved by the fact\nthat all known Africans are acquainted with the art of smelting iron and\nconverting it into weapons and utensils; so that they may be said to be\nliving in the iron age, and thus, materially at least, are more advanced\nthan the Botocudos of Brazil, who are still in the age of polished stone\nimplements. From the fact alone that the Yorubas express their contempt\nfor a stupid man by saying that he cannot count nine times nine, we are\nenabled at once to place them above tribes whose powers of numeration\nfall short of such readiness. Hence we should not be justified in\nexpecting to find among Australian or American aborigines proverbs of so\nhigh an intellectual order as abound in Africa, of which the following\nmay be selected as samples:\u2014\n\n    Were no elephant in the jungle the buffalo would be large;\n\nor\u2014\n\n    The dust of the buffalo is lost in that of the elephant.\n\n    A crab does not bring forth a bird.\n\n    Two small antelopes beat a big one.\n\n    Two crocodiles do not live in one hole.\n\n    A child can crush a snail, but not a tortoise.\n\n    A razor cannot shave itself.\n\n    You cannot stop the sun by standing before it.\n\n    If you like honey, do not fear the bees.\n\n    When a fish is killed its tail is inserted in its own mouth.\n    (Said of people who reap the reward of their deeds.)\n\nThe Zulus, speaking of the uncertainty of a result, say, \u2018It is not\nknown what calf the cow will have;\u2019[127] and when the Fantees tell you\nto \u2018cross the river before you abuse the crocodile,\u2019[128] there is no\ndifficulty in translating their meaning into English. In all these\nproverbs it is obvious how the facts of every-day life have readily\nserved everywhere as the basis of intellectual advancement, and how\nsimilar lessons have everywhere been drawn from the observation of\nsimilar occurrences.\n\nLeaving now the analogy between African and European proverb-lore,\nwhich the uniformity of moral experiences and the observation of similar\nlaws of nature sufficiently account for, let us endeavour to find among\ncivilised nations any proverbs which, by the figures involved in them\nor their likeness to savage maxims, seem to bear a distinct impression\nof a barbaric coinage. One French proverb may almost certainly be so\nexplained. It is, for instance, well known that the lower races very\ngenerally account for eclipses of either sun or moon by supposing them\nto be the victims of the fury or voracity of some ill-disposed animal,\nwhom they try to divert by every horrible noise they can produce, or by\nany weapon they have learnt to fashion. A typical instance of this was\nthe belief of the Chiquitos of South America that the moon was hunted\nacross the sky by dogs, who tore her in pieces when they caught her, till\ndriven off by the Indian arrows. It has been suggested that the French\nproverb, \u2018Dieu garde la lune des loups,\u2019 said in deprecation of a dread\nof remote danger, is a survival of a similar rude philosophy of nature\nwhich is still prevalent in the capital of Turkey, and in the days of St.\nAugustine was current over Europe.[129]\n\nAnother instructive set of proverbs may be adduced to show how the social\nphilosophy current in the savage state may survive in contemporary\nexpressions of modern Europe. In Africa, where, speaking generally, a\nman\u2019s wife has no better status in society than that which attaches to\nhis slave or his ox, and a son has been known to wager his own mother\nagainst a cow, we cannot be astonished at finding in vogue proverbs\nstrongly depreciatory of the worth of the female sex. Thus a wise Kanuri\nis cautioned, that if a woman shall speak to him two words, he shall take\none and leave the other; nor should he give his heart to a woman, if he\nwould live, for a woman never brings a man into the right way. So, too,\nPashto proverbs say contemptuously, that a woman\u2019s wisdom is under her\nheel, and that she is well only in the house or in the grave. The same\nfeeling is endorsed by the Persians, who declare that both women and\ndragons are best out of the world, classing the former with horses and\nswords among their by-words of unfaithfulness.\n\nThe literatures of all countries are strongly tinged with sentiments\nof the same unjust nature. Even the French say that a man of straw is\nworth a woman of gold, though their proverb, \u2018Ce que femme veut, Dieu le\nveut,\u2019 is as true as it is a witty variation of the well-known democratic\nformula. The Italians have made the shrewd observation, that, whilst with\nmen every mortal sin is venial, with women every venial sin is mortal;\nbut no language has anything worse than this, that as both a good horse\nand a bad horse need the spur, so both a good woman and a bad woman need\nthe stick.\n\nIt is, however, in Germany that the character of women has suffered most\nfrom the shafts of that other half of the community, which (it might be\ncomplained) has as unfair a monopoly of making proverbs as it has of\nmaking laws. The humorous saying, that there are only two good women in\nthe world, one of whom is dead and the other not to be found, contains\nthe key to the common national sentiment. A woman is compared to good\nfortune in her partiality for fools, and to wine in her power to make\nthem. Like a glass, she is in hourly danger; and, like a priest, she\nnever forgets. Her vengeance is boundless, and her mutability finds its\nonly parallel in nature in the uncertain skies of April. Her affections\nchange every moment, like luck at cards, the favour of princes, or the\nleaves of a rose; and though you will never find her wanting in words,\nthere is not a needle-point\u2019s difference betwixt her yea and her nay.\nShe only keeps silence where she is ignorant, and it is as fruitless to\ntry to hold a woman at her word as an eel by its tail. Her advice, like\ncorn sown in summer, may perhaps turn out well once in seven years; but\nwherever there is mischief brewing in the world, rest assured that there\nis a woman and a priest at the bottom of it. Every daughter of Eve would\nrather be beautiful than good, and may be caught as surely by gold as a\nhare by dogs or a gentleman by flattery. Even in the house she should\nbe allowed no power, for where a woman rules the devil is chief servant;\nwhilst two women in the same house will agree together like two cats over\na mouse or two dogs over a bone.\n\nSpanish experience on this subject coincides with the Teutonic, but\nwithout the expenditure of nearly so much spleen, and with several\nglimpses of a happier experience. What can be worse than this: \u2018Beware of\na bad woman, nor put any trust in a good one;\u2019 or sadder than this: \u2018What\nis marriage, mother? Spinning, childbirth, and crying, daughter\u2019? Yet the\nSpanish woman, as hard to know as a melon, as little to be trusted as a\nmagpie, as fickle as the wind or as fortune, as ready to cry as a dog to\nlimp, in labour as patient as a mule, is not so destitute as the German\nof any redeeming qualities for her failings. The Spaniard is taught to\nbelieve that with a good wife he may bear any adversity, and that he\nshould believe nothing against her unless absolutely proved. It is also\nin remarkable contrast to the experiences of other countries, that in\nSpain it should have passed into a proverb, that whilst an unmarried man\nadvocates a daily beating for a wife, as soon as he marries he takes care\nof his own.\n\nFemale talkativeness appears also to be a subject of lament all over the\nworld, from our own island, where a woman\u2019s tongue proverbially wags like\na lamb\u2019s tail, to the Celestial Empire, where it is likened to a sword,\nnever suffered by its owner to rust. Regard not a woman\u2019s words, says the\nHindoo; and the African also is warned against trusting his secrets even\nto his wife. The Spaniard believes that he has only to tell a woman what\nhe would wish to have published in the market-place; and all languages\nhave sayings to the same effect. The Scotch divine who, before the\nSession, defended his heresy that women would find no place in heaven,\nby the text, \u2018There was silence in heaven for about the space of half an\nhour,\u2019 only expressed a sentiment of universal currency over the world.\n\nThe proverbs collected from the lower races are still very few, when\ncompared with the immense mass of those from nations with whose\nliterature we are more familiar. It is in the nature of things that\nmissionaries and travellers should have been first struck by, and first\ngiven us information about, matters more directly challenging their\nnotice than phrases in common use, for a real knowledge of which the most\nfavourable conditions of a prolonged intimacy are obviously requisite.\nThe large collection of such proverbs from West Africa alone, revealing\nas they do an elevation of feeling and a clearness of intelligence which\nother facts of their social life would never have led us to suspect,\npoint at the possibility of such collections elsewhere largely modifying\nour present views concerning other savage tribes. They at least should\nteach us caution against accepting the conclusions which some writers\nhave drawn from their study of savage languages, when, from the absence\nor loss in a dialect of such words as \u2018love\u2019 or \u2018gratitude,\u2019 they\nproceed to explain, on the hypothesis of degradation, that rude state\nof existence which is denoted by the word \u2018savage,\u2019 and which there\nare abundant reasons for supposing was really the primitive germ, out\nof which all subsequent civilisation has been unfolded. \u2018Were,\u2019 says\nArchbishop Trench, \u2018the savage the primitive man, we should then find\nsavage tribes furnished, scantily enough it might be, with the elements\nof speech, yet, at the same time, with its fruitful beginnings, its\nvigorous and healthful germs. But what does their language on close\ninspection prove? In every case what they are themselves, the remnant\nand ruin of a better and a nobler past. Fearful indeed is the impress of\ndegradation which is stamped on the language of the savage\u2014more fearful,\nperhaps, even than that which is stamped upon his form.\u2019[130] Yet,\nwhatever may be the case with some tribes, who may be shown historically\nto have fallen from a higher state (and such are the exceptions), at\nleast the languages spoken in Africa bear no such \u2018fearful impress of\ndegradation\u2019 as are declared to be traceable _in every case_, if we may\njudge of a language by the thoughts which it expresses rather than by the\nwords which it contains.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\n_SAVAGE MORAL PHILOSOPHY._\n\n\nLucretius, in his retrospect of prehistoric times, imagines primeval man\nas unpossessed of any moral law, and is at pains to explain how, as men\nwere once ignorant of the property of either fire to warm or of skins to\ncover them, so once there was a time when no moral restraints affected\nthe relations between man and man.[131] Across the Atlantic we find the\nsame strain of thought in the myths, common in many different stages of\nprogress, of those culture heroes who had come long ago to teach men the\narts and virtues of life, and had left their names to be worshipped by a\ngrateful posterity. The Peruvian legend, that moral law was unknown until\nthe Sun sent two of his children to raise humanity from their animal\ncondition, coincides with the modern hypothesis that the morality of the\ncave-men resembled very much that of the cave-bear; so that it becomes a\nsubject worthy of inquiry whether any human communities ever have lived,\nor are actually living, with no more idea of moral right and wrong than\nis necessary for the social harmony of a wolf-pack or a wasp\u2019s nest;\nwhether, in short, what to the Roman was a matter of speculation, or to\nthe American of legend, can fairly become for us one of science.\n\nThe Shoshones of North America, some of whom are said to have built\nabsolutely no dwellings, but to have lived in caves and among the rocks,\nor burrowed like reptiles in the ground; or the Cochinis, who resorted\nat night for shelter to caverns and holes in the ground, may be taken as\nthe best representatives of the ancient cave-dwellers, and the nearest\nknown approach to communities living in the state presupposed by the\nlegends of most latitudes.[132] Californians generally are said to have\nhad \u2018no morals, nor any religion worth calling such;\u2019 yet even the\nShoshones knew, like so many other American tribes, how to ratify either\na treaty or a bargain by the ceremony of smoking, and used shell-money\nas an instrument of barter. But some moral notions must enter into the\nrudest kind of barter, and barter was known to the ancient cave-dwellers\nof P\u00e9rigord, just as it is to the lowest contemporary savage tribes.\nRock crystal and Atlantic shells, found among the remains of men, tigers,\nand bears, in the caves of P\u00e9rigord, could, it is argued, only have got\nthither by barter; so that the earliest human beings we have record\nof must have possessed at least so much morality as is necessary for\ncommerce.[133]\n\nAs regards existing savages, evidence as to their moral ideas can only be\nsought in incidental allusion to their customs, penalties, beliefs, or\nmyths, never in chapters expressly devoted to the delineation of their\nmoral character. Not only do such delineations by different writers\nconflict hopelessly with one another, but inconsistencies abound in the\naccounts of the same writer, as, for instance, where Cranz describes\nGreenlanders as mild and peaceable, and a few pages further on as\n\u2018naturally of a murderous disposition.\u2019 The value of Cranz\u2019 evidence is\nmarred by the fact that he writes expressly to rebut the Deistic idea of\na natural morality existing by the light of reason and independent of\nRevelation; and the evidence of other writers, whenever a long residence\namong savages entitles them to speak with any authority at all, is spoilt\nby their several temptations to bias. Whether the temptation be to\nenliven a book of travel, to inculcate the need and enhance the merit of\nmissionary labours, or to illustrate the uniformity of moral perceptions\nand the universality of certain moral laws, in any case we are exposed\nto the error of mistaking for habitual what is really peculiar, and of\nmisunderstanding the indications of facts which are as often anomalous as\nthey are illustrative.\n\nThe way, also, in which the love of theory may give rise to unjustifiable\ncredulity or even to absolute misstatement may be exemplified from the\ncommon story of the Bushman who spoke with absolute unconcern of having\nmurdered his brother, or of the other Bushman who gave as an instance of\nhis idea of a good action, stealing some one else\u2019s wife, and of a bad\none, losing in the same way his own. According to the original authority,\nthe Bushmen who were questioned, to test their intelligence, on a few\nmoral points, and especially on what they considered good actions and\nwhat bad, belonged to a kraal of extremely poor, half-starved Bushmen,\nseemingly \u2018the outcasts of the Bushmen race;\u2019 the interpreter, through\nwhom Burchell made his inquiries, said he could not make them understand\nwhat he said, and to the specific question about good and bad actions\n_they made no reply_, the missionary himself adding, as comment, that\n\u2018their not understanding it must have been either pretended stupidity or\na wilful misrepresentation by the interpreter.\u2019 This same interpreter is\nsuspected by Burchell, in the very same page, of such misrepresentation,\nor of actual invention in respect of the story of the murder\u2014a story\nwhich, if true, adds the missionary, would have justified him in saying,\nHere are men who know not right from wrong. Yet both these stories have\nbeen quoted to exemplify the state of the moral destitution of the lower\nraces.[134]\n\nThe fear of incurring the ill-will of his fellow-beings or of those\ninvisible spirits disposed more or less hostilely towards him and\neverywhere surrounding him, must have sufficed, even for prehistoric\nman, to have marked out certain acts as less advisable than others, and\nso far as wrong. The instinct to repel or revenge personal injuries, and\nthe instinct to appease the unknown forces of nature, neither of which,\nbe it assumed, acted less energetically in the past than the present,\nmust have always contributed to rank certain sets of actions as better to\nbe avoided. Personal or tribal well-being has probably always supplied\na sufficiently defined moral standard, sufficiently defended by real or\nfanciful sanctions. So suggests theory; and in point of fact a savage\ntribe is as difficult to find as it is to imagine, without a sense of a\ndifference in the quality of actions, arising from a difference in their\nlikely consequences to themselves.\n\nThe fear of revenge from a man\u2019s survivors or from his ghost would at\nany time tend to make homicide a prominent act of guilt. The vendetta,\nsometimes carried out as much against a homicidal tiger or tree as\nagainst a man, would scarcely ever be not dreaded by a human murderer;\nand the associations are obvious and few between homicide as merely an\nact to be avenged and a crime to be avoided. Even in instances where\nbloodshed seems to have left but an external stain, affecting the hands\nnot the heart of the murderer, and calling simply for purification\nby washing, the presence of a feeling of difference may be detected\nbetween the killing of a man and the killing of a bear. But the dread of\nvengeance from a murdered man\u2019s ghost, which is said to have acted as a\ncheck on murder among the Sioux Indians, or the dread of such vengeance\nfrom the tutelary gods of the deceased, which is said to have acted as\na check on cannibalism in Samoa, points to the existence of prudential\nrestraints which are likely not to have been limited in their operation\nto a tribe in America nor to an island in the Pacific.\n\nBut, besides spiritual terrors, secular punishment has a well-defined\nplace among savages, to check the extreme indulgence of hatred or\npassion. It is doubtful whether any savage tribe is so indifferent to\nthe criminality of murder as to be destitute of customary penal laws to\nprevent or punish it. These customs vary from the payment of a slight\ncompensation, payable either to the dead man\u2019s family or to the tribal\nchief, down to actual capital punishment. Among the Northern Californians\na few strings of shell-money compounded for the murder of a man, and\nhalf a man\u2019s price was paid for a woman; banishment from the tribe being\nsometimes the penalty, death never.[135] Among the Kutchin tribes human\nlife was valued at forty beaver skins.[136] Even the Veddahs insist upon\ncompensation to survivors. The Tunguse Lapps, with whom homicide was a\nbrave rather than a shameful act, punished nevertheless a murderer with\nblows, and compelled him to support the dead man\u2019s relations.[137] In\nsome cases a slight penance was the only law against homicide. A Yuma\nIndian, for instance, who killed a tribesman had perforce to starve for a\nmonth on vegetables and water, bathing frequently during the day; whilst\na Pima who killed an Apache had to fast for sixteen days, living in the\nwoods, careful meanwhile to keep his eyes from the sight of a blazing\nfire and his tongue from conversation.[138]\n\nThe custom, moreover, of extending to a whole family the guilt of an\nindividual is an additional protection to human life among savages. In\nthe same way as, till lately, English law avenged itself on the suicide\nwho had escaped its jurisdiction, by punishing the criminal\u2019s relations,\nsavage custom satisfies indignation by taking any member of a family as a\nsubstitute for a fugitive criminal. The Thlinkeet Indians, if they cannot\nkill the actual murderer, kill one of his tribe or family instead.[139]\n\u2018An Indian,\u2019 says Kane, \u2018in taking revenge for the death of a relative,\ndoes not, in all cases, seek the actual offender; as, should the party\nbe one of his own tribe, any relative will do, however distant.\u2019[140]\nCatlin tells the story how, when a great Sioux warrior, the Little Bear,\nhad been shot by the Dog, the avengers of the former, failing to overtake\nthe Dog, caught and slew his brother instead, notwithstanding that he was\na man much esteemed by the tribe.[141] If a Californian criminal escaped\nto a sacred refuge he was regarded as a coward, in that he diverted to\na relation a punishment he deserved himself.[142] In Samoa not only the\nmurderer but all his belongings would fly to another village as a city\nof refuge, for in Samoan law a plaintiff might seek redress from \u2018the\nbrother, son, or other relative of the guilty party.\u2019[143] In Australia\nwide-spread consternation followed the commission of a crime, especially\nif the culprit escaped, for the brothers of the criminal held themselves\nquite as guilty as he was, and only persons unconnected with the family\nbelieved themselves safe.[144] In the Fiji Islands a warrior once left\nhis musket in such a position that it went off and killed two persons.\nThe owner of the musket was condemned to death; but, as he fled away, the\nstrangulation of his father instead of him perfectly satisfied the ends\nof justice.[145]\n\nThe Samoans, as far back as it was possible to trace, had had customary\nlaws for the prevention of theft, adultery, assault, and murder, and\nthe penalties for such crimes appeared rather to have grown milder than\nseverer with time. Not only this, but they had penal customs for such\nwrong acts as rude conduct to strangers, pulling down of fences, spoiling\nfruit trees, or calling chiefs by opprobrious epithets. It is open to\ndoubt whether other savage tribes had not equally good safeguards for\npreventing at least those greater social offences, whose immorality\nfurnishes the first principle of even the ethics of civilised communities.\n\nIn Fiji the criminality of actions is said to have varied with the social\nrank of the offender, murder by a chief being accounted less heinous\nthan a petty larceny by a man of low rank. Theft, adultery, witchcraft,\nviolation of a _tabu_, arson, treason, and disrespect to a chief were\namong the few crimes regarded as serious. With regard to murder, we are\ntold (and the passage is a favourite one for illustrating the extreme\nvariability of moral sentiment), that to a Fijian shedding of blood was\n\u2018no crime, but a glory,\u2019 and that to be an acknowledged murderer was\n\u2018the object of his restless ambition.\u2019 In a similar strain it has been\nsaid, that in New Zealand intentional murder was either very meritorious\nor of no consequence; the latter if the victim were a slave, the former\nif he belonged to another tribe. The malicious destruction of a man of\nthe same tribe was, however, rare, the _lex talionis_ alone applying\nto or checking it;[146] and it is probable that this reservation in\nfavour of native New Zealand should be made for all cases where murder\nis spoken of as a trivial matter. Whenever murder is spoken of as no\ncrime, reference seems generally made to murder outside the tribe, so\nthat from the circumstances of savage life it resolves itself into an\nact of ordinary hostility; or if the reference is to murder within the\ntribe, it is to murder sanctioned by necessity, custom, or superstition.\nThe Carrier Indians, who did not think murders worth confessing when they\nconfessed other crimes of their lives, yet regarded the _murder of a\nfellow-tribesman as something quite senseless_, and the man who committed\nsuch a deed had to absent himself till he could pay the relatives,\nsince at home he was only safe if a chief lent him the refuge of his\ntent or of one of his garments.[147] \u2018A murder,\u2019 says Sproat, \u2018_if\nnot perpetrated on one of his own tribe_, or on a particular friend,\nis no more to an Indian than the killing of a dog.\u2019 The sutteeism and\nparenticide, which missionaries describe as murders, are, from the\nsavage point of view, rather acts of mercy, being intimately connected\nwith their ideas of future existence, to which it is neither fair nor\nscientific to apply the phraseology and associations of Christian\nmorality.[148]\n\nDifferent tribes have evolved different institutions for the prevention\nof wrongs, which supplement to a large extent the absence of fixed legal\nremedies.\n\nIn Greenland there was the singing combat, in which anyone aggrieved,\ndancing to the beat of a drum and accompanied by his partisans, recited\nat a public meeting a satirical poem, telling ludicrous stories of his\nadversary, and obliged to listen afterwards to similar abuse of himself,\ntill, after a long succession of charges and retorts, the assembled\nspectators gave the victory to one of the combatants. These combats,\nsays Cranz, served to remind debtors of the duty of repayment, to brand\nfalsehood and detraction with infamy, to punish fraud and injustice,\nand above all to overwhelm adultery with contempt. The fear of incurring\npublic disgrace at these combats was, with the fear of retaliation for\ninjury, the only motive to virtue which the writer allows to the natives\nof Greenland.\n\nIn Samoa thieves could be scared from plantations by cocoa-nut leaflets\nso plaited as to convey an imprecation; and a man who saw an artificial\nsea-pike suspended from a tree would fear, that, if he accomplished his\ntheft, the next time he went fishing a real sea-pike would dart up and\nwound him mortally. Images of a similar nature, conveying imprecations\nof disease, death, lightning, or a plague of rats, seem also to have\nbeen effective restraints upon thievish propensities;[149] and in the\nTonga Islands fruits and flowers were tabooed, that is, preserved,\nby plaited representations of a lizard or a shark.[150] It is likely\nthat a similar meaning attached in Africa to certain branches of trees\nwhich, stuck into the ground in a particular manner, with bits of broken\npottery, were enough to prevent the most determined robber from crossing\na threshold.[151] Similar _tabu_ marks were seen on some rocks at Tahiti,\nplaced there to prevent people fishing or getting shells from the Queen\u2019s\npreserves;[152] and it is possible that the origin of all _tabu_ customs\nmay have lain in the supposed efficacy of symbolical imprecation.\n\nIn New Zealand the institution of _muru_, or the legalized enforcement of\ndamages by plunder, extended the idea of sinfulness even to involuntary\nwrongs or accidental sufferings. Involuntary homicide is said to have\ninvolved more serious consequences than murder of malice prepense; and\nif a man\u2019s child fell into the fire, or his canoe was upset and himself\nnearly drowned, he was not only cudgelled and robbed, but he would have\ndeemed it a personal slight not to have been so treated.[153] To escape\nfrom drowning was indeed a common sin in savage life, for was it not to\nescape the just wrath of the Water Spirit, and perhaps to turn it upon\nsome one else? In Kamschatka so heinous was the sin of cheating the Water\nSpirit of his prey, by escape from drowning, that no one would receive\nsuch a sinner into his house, speak to him, nor give him food: he became,\nin short, socially dead. Fijians who escape shipwreck are supposed to\nbe saved in order to be eaten, and Williams tells, how on one occasion\nfourteen of them who lost their canoe at sea only escaped becoming food\nfor sharks to become food for their friends on shore. If the Koossa\nKafirs see a person drowning, or indeed in any danger of his life, they\neither run away from the spot or pelt the victim with stones as he\ndies.[154] So also with death by fire: if an Indian falls into the fire\nor is partially burnt, it is believed that the spirits of his ancestors\npushed him into the flames owing to his negligence in supplying them with\nfood.[155] The custom of an African tribe to expel from their community\nanyone bitten by a zebra or an alligator, or even so much as splashed by\nthe tail of the latter, is evidently related to the same idea.[156]\n\nAgain, however much Catlin\u2019s assertion that self-denial, torture,\nand immolation were constant modes among North American Indians for\nappealing to the Great Spirit for countenance and forgiveness, may\noverstate the truth, it is remarkable that not only penance by fasting\nand self-torture, but the practice of confession, should occur in the\nlower culture as a mode of moral purification. Confession was common not\nonly in Mexico and Peru, but among widely remote savage tribes, being\nclosely connected with the belief in the power of sin to cause, and of\npriestcraft to cure, dangerous sickness. The Carrier Indians of North\nAmerica thought, that the only chance of recovery from sickness lay in a\ndisclosure before a priest of every secret crime committed in life, and\nthat the concealment of a single fact would meet with the punishment of\ninstantaneous death.[157] The Samoan Islanders believing that all disease\nwas due to the wrath of some deity, would inquire of the village priest\nthe cause of sickness, who would sometimes in such cases command the\nfamily to assemble and confess. At this confessional ceremony each member\nof the family would confess his crimes, and any judgments he might have\ninvoked in anger on the family or the invalid himself; long-concealed\ncrimes being often thus disclosed.[158] In Yucatan, confession,\nintroduced by Cukulcan, the mythical author of their culture, was much\nresorted to, \u2018as death and disease were thought to be direct punishments\nfor sins committed.\u2019 The natives of Cerquin, in Honduras, confessed, not\nonly in sickness, but in immediate danger of any kind, or to procure\ndivine blessings on any important occasion. So far did they carry it,\nthat, if a travelling party met a jaguar or puma, each would commend\nhimself to the gods, confessing loudly his sins, and imploring pardon; if\nthe beast still advanced they would cry out, \u2018We have committed as many\nmore sins; do not kill us.\u2019[159]\n\nBut over and above the wrong acts from which restraints lie in the\nrevenge of individuals, in punishment by the community, or in artificial\nrestrictions, there is a large class of acts, defended rather by\nspiritual than secular sanctions, deriving their sinfulness from pure\nmisconceptions of things, and constituting for savages by far the larger\npart of their field for right and wrong. The consciousness of having\ntrodden in the footstep of a bear would be as painful to a Kamschadal\nas the consciousness of having stolen, the possible consequences of the\nformer being infinitely more dreadful. Such acts as the experience of\nprimitive times has thus generalized into acts provocative of unpleasant\nexpressions of dissatisfaction from the spiritual world, and so far\nas sinful, become in the folk-lore of later date acts merely unlucky\nor ominous. The feeling to this day prevalent in parts of England and\nGermany, that if you transplant parsley you may cause its guardian spirit\nto punish you or your relations with death, fairly illustrates how the\nwrongful acts of bygone times may even in civilised countries continue to\nbe guarded by the very same sanction that gave them potency in the days\nof savagery.\n\nOf such regulations in restraint of the natural liberty of savage tribes\nlet it suffice to give some instances of sinful acts which derive all\ntheir associations of wrong from rude notions concerning the nature of\nstorms, of ancestors, of names, and of animals. It will be seen that in\nsome cases such superstitions act as real checks to real wickedness;\nthough the connection between them seems purely accidental, rather than\nthe result of any intuitive discrimination of the qualities of actions.\n\nAs English sailors will refrain from whistling at sea, lest they should\nprovoke a storm, so the Kamschadals account many actions sinful on\naccount of their storm-breeding qualities. For this reason they will\nnever cut snow from off their shoes with a knife out of doors, nor go\nbarefooted outside their huts in winter, nor sharpen an axe or a knife\non a journey. The Fuejian natives brought away by Captain Fitzroy felt\nsure that anything wrong said or done caused bad weather, especially the\nsin of shooting young ducks. They declared their belief in an omniscient\nBig Black Man, who had his living among the woods and mountains, and\ninfluenced the weather according to men\u2019s conduct; in illustration of\nwhich they told a story of a murderer, who ascribed to the anger of\nthis being a storm of wind and snow which followed his crime.[160] In\nVancouver\u2019s Island there is a mountain, the sin of mentioning which in\npassing may cause a storm to overturn the offender\u2019s canoe.[161]\n\nProminent among the moral checks of savage life is the fear of the\nanger of the dead. Among savages the supposed wishes of their departed\nfriends, or deified forefathers, operate as real commands, girt with\nall the sanction of superstitious terror, and clothing the most fanciful\ncustoms with all the obligatory feelings of morality. A New Zealand\nchief, for instance, would expect his dead ancestors to visit him with\ndisease or other calamity if he let food touch any part of his body,\nor if he entered a dwelling where food hung from the ceiling.[162] The\nwide prevalence of the feeling that disease and death are due to the\ndispleasure of the dead, who may return to earth, to reside in some part\nof a living person\u2019s body, may be illustrated by the Samoan custom of\ntaking valuable presents as a last expression of regard to the dying,\nor by way of bribing them to forego their incorporeal privilege of\npost-mortem revenge.[163] On the Gold Coast also friends make presents\nto the dead of gold, brandy, or cloth, to be buried with them; just as\nin ancient Mexico all classes of the population would beg of their dead\nking to accept their offerings of food, robes, or slaves, which they vied\nin giving him, or as the Mayas would place precious gifts or ornaments\nnear or upon the corpse of a deceased lord of a province. So the Bodos,\npresenting food at the graves of their relations, would pray, saying,\n\u2018Take and eat ... we come no more to you, come no more to us.\u2019\n\nProper behaviour with regard to names is one of the most important points\nof savage decorum. The confusion, amounting almost to identification,\nbetween a person and his name is one of the most signal proofs of the\npower of language over thought. As Catlin\u2019s or Kane\u2019s Indian pictures\nwere thought to detract from the originals something of their existence,\ngiving the painter such power over them that whilst living their bodies\nwould sympathise with every injury done to their pictures, and when dead\nwould not rest in their graves, so the feeling among savages is strong\nthat the knowledge of a person\u2019s name gives to another a fatal control\nover his destiny. An Indian once asked Kane \u2018whether his wish to know\nhis name proceeded from a desire to steal it;\u2019[164] whilst with the\nAbipones it was positively sinful for anyone to pronounce his own name.\nKane could only discover Indians\u2019 names through third parties; and it\nis curious that the natives of one of the Fiji Islands will never tell\ntheir names to an inquirer, if there should be anyone else to answer the\nquestion.[165] Hence it is that the highest compliment a savage can pay a\nperson is to exchange names with him, a custom which Cook found prevalent\nat Tahiti and in the Society Islands, and which was also common in North\nAmerica.[166] Warriors sometimes take the name of a slain enemy, from\nthe same motive apparently which, in some instances, is an inducement to\neat their flesh, namely, to appropriate their courage. The Lapps change a\nchild\u2019s baptismal name, if it falls ill, rebaptizing it at every illness,\nas if they thought to deceive the spirit that vexed it by the simple\nstratagem of an _alias_;[167] and the Californian Shoshones, in changing\ntheir names after such feats as scalping an enemy, stealing his horses,\nor killing a grizzly bear, had, perhaps, some similar idea of avoiding\nretaliation. Among the Chinook Indians near relations often changed their\nnames, lest the spirits of the dead should be drawn back to earth by\noften hearing familiar names used.\n\nWith these ideas about names it is easy to understand how especial\nreverence would become attached to the names of kings or dead persons\nwhose power to punish a light use of their appellations might well be\ndeemed exceptional. On accessions to royalty in the Society Islands all\nwords resembling the king\u2019s name were changed, and any person bold enough\nto continue the use of the superseded terms was put to death, with all\nhis relations.[168] From a similar state of thought the Abipones invented\nnew words for all things whose previous names recalled a dead person\u2019s\nmemory, whilst to mention his name was \u2018a nefarious proceeding.\u2019[169] In\nDahome the king\u2019s name must be pronounced with bated breath, and it is\ndeath to utter it in his presence.[170] The degrees of guilt, attached\nto the mention of a dead person, arising from a belief in the power of\nspoken names to call back their owners, vary in sinfulness from its being\na positive crime, punishable by fine, to a mere rudeness, to be checked\nin the young. Among the Northern Californians it was one of the most\nstrenuous laws that whoever mentioned a dead person\u2019s name should be\nliable to a heavy fine, payable to the relatives.[171] The tribe of Ainos\nheld it a great rudeness to speak of the dead by their names; whilst\nyoung Ahts are instantly checked, if they make an unthinking use of the\nname of a chief that has been relinquished in memory of some event of\nimportance.[172]\n\nSeveral causes may have led to animal worship. The tendency to call men\nby qualities or peculiarities in them fancifully recalling those of\nsome animal, and the tendency to apotheosize distinguished ancestors,\nthus named after the tiger or the bear, may have led to a confusion of\nthought between the animal and the man, till the divine attributes, once\nattached to the individual, became transferred to the species of animal\nthat survived him in constant existence. Or the same fancy, which sees\ninspiration in an idiot from his very lack of common reason, may have\nattributed peculiar wisdom and looked with peculiar awe on the animal\nworld, by very reason of its speechlessness. Then, again, the idea that\nthe bodies of animals may be the depositories of departed human souls may\nhave led to the worship of certain animals: some Californians for this\nreason refraining from the flesh of large game, because it is animated\nby the souls of past generations, so that the term \u2018eater of venison\u2019\nis one of reproach among them. Or the prohibitions of shamans may have\nproduced the result in some cases: the Thlinkeet Indians being found,\nfor this reason, abstinent from whale\u2019s flesh or blubber, whilst both\nare commonly eaten by surrounding tribes. But, whatever the original\ncauses may have been, tribes are found all over the world beset with a\nfeeling of sinfulness with regard to the injuring, eating, or in any way\noffending different species of animals; of which, as no extreme instance,\nmay be mentioned the Fijian custom of presenting a string of new nuts,\ngathered expressly, to a land crab, \u2018to prevent the deity leaving with\nan impression that he was neglected, and visiting his remiss worshippers\nwith drought, dearth, or death.\u2019\n\nBeyond, however, customs or ideas in prevention of acts prejudicial to\ntheir real or supposed welfare, savage communities appear to have little\nidea of any quality in actions rendering them good or bad independently\nof consequences. Their prayers, their beliefs, and their mythology,\nalike go to prove this. That they will pray for such temporal blessings\nas health, food, rain, or victory, but not for such moral gains as the\nconquest of passion or a truthful disposition, to some extent justifies\nthe inference that moral advancement forms no part of their code of\nthings desirable. Their good and evil spirit or spirits are simply\ndistinguished, where they are distinguished at all, as the causes\nrespectively of things agreeable or disagreeable, as taking sides for or\nagainst struggling humanity, so that tribes which pay and sacrifice to\nthe source of evil, to the neglect of that of good, cannot be said not to\nconform to reason. Their mythology, again, owes its very monotony mainly\nto the lack of moral interest to relieve and sustain it. As Mr. Grote,\narguing from the mythology to the moral feeling of legendary Greece,\nobserves, that such a sentiment as a feeling of moral obligation between\nman and man was \u2018neither operative in the real world nor present to the\nimaginations of the poets,\u2019 so it may be said not less emphatically of\nextant savage mythology. The Polynesian idea of a god, it has been well\nsaid, is mere _power_ without any reference to goodness. The divine\ndenizens of Avaiki (the Hades of the Hervey Islands), as they marry,\nquarrel, build, and live just like mortals, so they murder, drink,\nthieve, and lie quite in accordance with terrestrial precedents.[173] The\nunethical nature, however, of savage prayer or mythology is obviously\nnot incompatible with the practical recognition of certain moral\ndistinctions; in the same Hervey Islands, for instance, the greatest\npossible sin was to kill a fellow-countryman by stealth, instead of in\nbattle.[174]\n\nIdeas, again, relating to a future state and the dependence of future\nwelfare on the mode of life spent on earth, though they would seem to\nafford some insight into the moral sentiments of those holding them, in\ndefault of definition of the good or bad conduct so rewarded or punished,\ndo not really prove much. In the following instances, which offer several\nshades of variety, there is scarcely any attempt at moral definition, and\nthe native belief has, perhaps, been adulterated by Christian influence.\nThe Good Spirit of the Mandans dwelt in a purgatory of cold and frost,\nwhere he punished those who had offended him, before he would admit them\nto that warmer and happier place, where the Bad Spirit dwelt and sought\nto seduce the happy occupants.[175] For the Charocs of California were\ntwo roads, one strewn with flowers, and leading the good to the bright\nWestern land, the other bristling with thorns and briers, and leading\nthe wicked to a place full of serpents. The souls of Chippewyans drifted\nin a stone canoe to an enchanted island in a large lake; if the good\nactions of their life predominated they were wafted safely ashore; but\nif the bad, the canoe sank beneath their weight, leaving the wretches to\nfloat for ever, in sight of their lost and nearly won felicity. Wicked\nOkanagans, again, a Columbian tribe (and by the wicked are here specified\nmurderers and thieves), went to a place where an evil spirit, in human\nform, with equine ears and tail, belaboured them with a stick.[176] The\nFijian belief appears truer to savage thought; for whilst such of their\ndead as succeeded in reaching Mbula were happy or not, according as\nthey had lived so as to please the gods, mortals subjected to special\npunishment were persons who had not their ears bored, women who were not\ntattooed, and men who had not slain an enemy.[177]\n\nTaking, however, these instances at their best, there is nothing to show\nthat the good or bad, rewarded or punished as above described, were\nreally anything more than those who on earth had fought and hunted with\ncourage or cowardice. Writers citing such beliefs do not always make\nallowance for the difference between the savage and the civilised moral\nstandard. The code to be observed, says Schoolcraft, in order for the\nsoul to pass safely the stream which leads to the land of bliss, \u2018appears\nto be, as drawn from their funeral addresses, fidelity and success as a\nhunter in providing for his family, and bravery as a warrior in defending\nthe rights and honour of his tribe. There is no moral code regulating the\nduties and reciprocal intercourse between man and man.\u2019[178] And if the\ngood American Indians above mentioned were distinguished by any higher\nmoral attributes than those of mere bravery and activity, it is difficult\nto account for the fact that, while Mexican civilisation consigned all\nwho died natural deaths, good and bad alike, to the dull repose of\nMictlan, reserving for the higher pleasures of futurity those who met\ntheir deaths in war or water, or from lightning, disease, or childbirth,\ntribes whose culture stood to that of Mexico as far removed as that of\nPolynesia from that of Europe, should have attained to the moral belief\nof the influence of earthly conduct reaching beyond the grave.[179]\n\nThe foregoing brief review of some of the real evidence on the subject\nwould seem to indicate the conclusion that, in matters of morals, savages\nare neither so low as they have been painted by most writers nor so\nblameless as they have been portrayed by some. Their faults, such as\ntheir vindictiveness, their ingratitude, or their mendacity, might be\npredicated as easily of communities the most advanced in the world;\nnor, in the face of the great neglect of precision of language in all\nnarratives of travel, can any evidence of the utter ignorance of right\nand wrong among any tribe lay claim to the smallest scientific value. Of\nthe African Yorubas, whilst one writer asserts that they are not only\ncovetous and cruel, but \u2018wholly deficient in what the civilised man calls\nconscience,\u2019 of the same people another says that they have several\nwords in their language to express honour, and \u2018more proverbs against\ningratitude than perhaps any other people.\u2019[180]\n\nPerhaps no description of savage character is fairer than Mariner\u2019s\nof the Tongan Islanders. \u2018Their notions,\u2019 he says, \u2018in respect to\nhonour and justice are tolerably well-defined, steady, and universal;\nbut in point of practice both the chiefs and the people, taking them\ngenerally, are irregular and fickle, being in some respects extremely\nhonourable and just, and in others the contrary, as a variety of\ncauses may operate.\u2019[181] But the justice of such remarks is lost in\ntheir vagueness, and their impartial generality would render them of\nworld-wide rather than of merely local or insular application.\n\nIf, therefore, in consideration of the unsatisfactory nature of the\ndirect evidence, we resort to the indirect for the materials of our\njudgment, we shall perhaps not err widely from the truth if we say that\naverage savage morality coincides very much with that of any contemporary\nremote village of the civilised world, where the fear of retaliation and\ndisgrace is the chief preventive of great wickedness, and the natural\nplay of the social affections the main safeguard of good order. The\nstatement calls for but few limitations, that wherever travellers have\nexplored, or missionaries taught, they have been able to detect customary\nlaws regulating the relations of civil life, the orderly transference of\nproperty by exchange or inheritance, no less than the fixed succession\nto titles and dignities. They have found not only punishments for the\nprevention, but judicial ordeals for the detection, of crimes; nor is\nit possible to believe that such penal laws can exist without ideas of\nwrongness attaching to the deeds they prohibit. But, besides the secular\nabsolution involved in legal penalties, they have found not unfrequently\na kind of spiritual purification by means of confession, penances, and\nfasting; the practice of such confession alone proving that feelings of\nremorse are not foreign to savage races, difficult as it must always be\nto discriminate between actual remorse for wickedness and the mere dread\nof contingent punishment. The greater social crimes, murder, theft, and\nadultery, though not recognized as morally worse than many acts of purely\nfanciful badness, are sufficiently prevented by the fear of revenge or\nof tribal punishment; and statements concerning indifference to the\nimmorality of such actions either do not rest on good evidence or apply\nto extra-tribal, that is, to hostile relations. It seems, therefore, that\nfundamentally the two extremities of civilisation are ethically united;\neach having for its standard of morality the idea of its own welfare,\nand deriving a sense of moral obligation from a more or less vague dread\nof consequences. The fundamental identity of human emotions, of the\noperations of the feelings of love, fear, hope, and shame, appear to have\nproduced, in different stages of culture, very similar moral feelings;\nnor is it conceivable that such feelings, howsoever much weaker, were\never radically different in the most remote antiquity.\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\n_SAVAGE POLITICAL LIFE._\n\n\nFrom the accounts of travellers respecting the nature of government among\nuncivilised tribes it would not be a purely baseless theory to construct\na scale of successive developments, ranging from people entirely\ndestitute of political cohesion to people characterised by a quite\ndespotic form of government, and agreeing in the main with the fishing or\nhunting and the agricultural stages of human advancement respectively.\nThe savage idea of monarchy is represented by all the possible gradations\nbetween the most limited and the most absolute kind of government, and\nwe should naturally look for the best types of the latter among tribes\nwhere geographical limitations or other causes have necessitated a\nstationary and agricultural life. We should expect to find the first\ngerms of recognised leadership among people taught by war and the chase\nto appreciate superior strength or skill; and to see such temporary\nleaders pass into definite political chiefs, when a more settled mode\nof life has given fixedness to ideas of property and made its defence\nmore desirable. We might infer _\u00e0 priori_ that as men lived by hunting\nor fishing before they drove flocks, and drove flocks before they tilled\nthe ground, so they lived in families before they lived in hordes, and in\nhordes before they lived in larger social aggregates. As representatives\nof the lowest stage of society, we might instance the Esquimaux, whom\nCranz found \u2018destitute of the very shadow of a civil polity;\u2019 and we\nmight pass from the hunting populations of America, who only choose\nrulers for the temporary purposes of war or the chase, to the despotic\nforms of government characteristic of the agricultural communities of\nAfrica or Polynesia.\n\nIt is not, however, worth insisting on an induction which would be at the\nmercy of negative instances drawn from so large a surface as the whole\nknown globe. To supply only one instance, in which the hunting state\nco-exists with a somewhat advanced political system. Most South American\ntribes, who practised husbandry in addition to fishing and hunting to\na far greater extent than North American tribes, were found, in point\nof social organisation, at a much lower level than the Northern tribes,\nit being possible to classify the latter into nations by words supplied\nby themselves, whilst in the South there were merely bands, and it was\nnecessary to invent names for such groups of bands as were allied\ntogether by language.[182] Facts are the test of theories, not theories\nof facts; and to insist on fitting facts to a theory is to fall into the\nerror of the unskilful shoemaker, who transposes the task of fitting\nshoes to feet for the easier one of insisting that feet shall fit his\nshoes.\n\nWithout, therefore, attempting to elaborate theories about the\ndevelopment of political ideas from their rudest beginnings to their\nexpression in mature and complex state-systems, it may not be labour lost\nto collect, within readable compass, some estimate of the notions of\nsovereignty, the political organisations, the relations of classes, and\nthe peculiar institutions found among those communities of the earth who\nseem the best representatives of primitive manners and the least advanced\nfrom a state of primitive barbarism.\n\nStatements concerning the total absence of civil government among\nsavages, like statements concerning their total ignorance of religion,\nshould be received with the reserve due to all propositions containing\nterms of expansive signification. It is noteworthy that it is generally\ntribes declared to be destitute of all religious feelings who in the\nsame sentence or paragraph are described as also destitute of political\nties; the statement that a tribe is entirely destitute of religion\nor of any civil polity being, in fact, often only an hyperbolical\nexpression, intended to convey an extreme idea of their barbarity.\nBushmen, Californians, and Australians have severally been described as\nnot only not recognizing any gods, but as not recognizing any chiefs;\nbut subsequent research having proved that Bushmen, at least, possess an\nelaborate mythology, worshipping the ethereal bodies, and having their\nown distinctive myths concerning the Creation, suspicion is naturally\naroused that all broadly negative assertions of the same sort may be but\nthe results of insufficient observation.[183] \u2018The Caribs,\u2019 says one\nwriter, \u2018had no chiefs; every man obeyed the dictates of his passions\nunrestrained by government or laws;\u2019 but according to another they lived\nin hordes of from forty to fifty persons, under a patriarchal form of\ngovernment, and recognized a common chief whenever they went to war with\ntheir neighbours.[184]\n\nUndoubtedly, however, in countries where excess of numbers has not driven\ncommunities to improve their condition by raids against their neighbours,\nand where, consequently, military skill has attained no importance nor\nauthority, much looser social bonds may be found than in places where\na sense of property and of its value has arisen. Among people like\nthe Esquimaux, the Lapps, or the Kamschadals, who live together in\nindependent families, age is the only title to authority; and if skill in\nseal-catching or in weather-lore procure for a Greenlander the deference\nof younger members of his race, he has no power to compel any of them\nto follow his counsels, and the only moral check to a refractory person\nis a possible refusal on the part of his fellows to share the same hut\nwith him. If, in distant voyages, all the boatmen submit their kajaks to\nthe guidance of their countryman who is best acquainted with the way,\nthey are at perfect liberty to separate from him at pleasure. Beyond\nthis slight tie they have, or had when Cranz wrote, no political union,\nno system of taxation or legislation of any kind, albeit they were not\nwanting in methods for the enforcement of certain moral duties and the\nprevention of certain moral wrongs. Of the Kamschadals, Steller tells us\nthat they had no chief, but that everyone was allowed to live according\nto his pleasure; yet that they chose leaders for their expeditions,\nwho were without even power to decide private disputes, and that each\n_ostrog_, or family settlement, had its ruler (generally the oldest\nmale), whose power to punish consisted solely in the right of verbal\ncorrection.[185]\n\nFrom the condition of the Kamschadals or Esquimaux to the condition of\nEastern Asia or Polynesia, where a king\u2019s name is often so sacred as\nto be avoided altogether, as many gradations of civil authority exist\nas otherwise mark the difference of their respective civilisations. As\nthe progress of an individual from infancy to old age is marked at each\nstage by a strict equipoise of good and evil, varying only in kind, so\nevery upward step in the social advancement of mankind seems attended\nwith some equivalent loss. Individual liberty is greatest where the\nsocial bond is the loosest; and people like the rude hunting tribes of\nBrazil, with only their hunting-grounds to defend and only temporary\nleaders to obey, undoubtedly enjoy greater freedom than is compatible\nwith an agricultural life. As soon as tribes become settled and practise\nhusbandry they are naturally impelled to seek the labour of slaves,\nwhich is a thing undesirable when a scanty subsistence is gained by\nthe exertions of the chase. And when once the existence of slavery has\nestablished a difference between bondsmen and free, a way is open for all\nthose artificial divisions of society into ranks and castes which seem in\nlater times to belong to, nay, to constitute, the natural order of things.\n\nIt is, however, even at lower levels of general culture, often among\ntribes who are still in the hunting stage, that we find all traces\ndisappear of that condition of freedom and equality once fondly imagined\nto belong to a \u2018state of nature.\u2019 Savages seldom constitute pure\ndemocracies, in the sense either of all being equal or of all being\nfree. Even where the monarchical power is quite rudimentary well-marked\ndistinctions serve to sever them into aristocracy and commonalty; for\nthe natural differences of capacity between men divide them, if less\nstrongly, not less definitely than slavery. Superiority in courage,\nstrength, sagacity, or experience, entitles a savage to much the\nsame privileges that, in more civilised countries, are allotted to\nsuperiority in wealth or lineage. The conditions, however, of savage life\ncause merit, and not birth, to be the primary qualification both for\nchieftainship and nobility. Where military capacity is the sole basis of\nauthority it follows that such authority only descends to sons, if they\nare as gifted as their parents with military prowess; also, that any\ncommoner may at any time become a noble if duly qualified for a leader,\nand that for the same reason even the female sex is not excluded from a\ncareer of political ambition. Among the Abipones women were often raised\nto the dignity of cacique or captainship of a horde; nor is it rare to\nfind them capable of occupying positions of similar dignity among tribes\nwho, in other respects, treat their women as little better than beasts\nof burthen. The Iroquois women, for instance, on whom devolved all\ndaily labour, such as planting the corn, cutting and carrying firewood,\nbearing all burdens when marching, had their representatives in the\npublic councils, enjoyed a veto upon declarations of war, and the right\nof interposing to bring about a peace.[186] Khond wives filled the\nsame important post of mediators and peace-makers in the wars between\nthe tribes of their husbands and their parents; and in Africa, where\nthe position of women is almost uniformly one of slavery, they are\nambassadors, traders, warriors, sometimes queens, besides tilling the\nground, tending the herds, or working in mines.[187]\n\nAs many savages surround the entrance to their paradise with imaginary\nphysical difficulties which only the bravest can overcome, so they\nfrequently make admission to the rank of their nobility dependent on the\nperformance of certain rites and ceremonies which sufficiently attest\nthe endurance of the aspirant to social elevation. An Indian tribe on\nthe Orinoco used to lay such a candidate on a hurdle, place burning\ncoals beneath, and then cover him with palm-leaves all over, in order\nto make the heat more suffocating. Or, they would perhaps anoint him\nwith honey, and leave him for hours tied to a tree at the mercy of the\ninsects of those latitudes. The Abiponian plan was, to place a black\nbead on a tribeman\u2019s tongue and insist on his staying at home for three\ndays, abstaining all the while from the ordinary pleasures of food,\ndrink, and speech. Then on the eve of the day of his inauguration all\nthe women of the horde would come to his tent, in uncouth attire, and\nlament loudly for the ancestors of the man who would fain be a noble.\nThe next day, after galloping spear in hand on horses decorated with\nbells and feathers to the four quarters of the wind, he had to suffer the\npriestess of the ceremonies to shave a band on his head, three inches\nwide from the forehead backwards. A eulogy by the old woman, recording\nhis warlike character and noble actions, concluding with a change of name\nbefitting his change of rank, completed the ceremony of his installation.\nIn ancient Mexico a candidate for the noble order of the Tecuhtli had\nto remain impassive whilst the high priest insulted him, whilst the\nassistant priests mocked him as a coward and tore his clothes from his\nbody, and all this previous to a noviciate which lasted two years, and\nended with four days of severe penance, fastings, and prayers.[188]\n\nThe prevalence, indeed, of equality among savages is one of those\nfictions which date from the time when writers drew on their own minds\nfor a knowledge of anthropology: a fiction due to the same tendency which\ncreated for the Greeks their Elysian Fields, or for the Tongan islanders\ntheir Bolotu, leading them to refer to the distant or the unknown\nthe actualisation of those longings and ideals which the immediate\nsurroundings of the world could not gratify. But the truth is, that so\nfirmly among most savages has the idea become fixed of an essential\ndifference in the nature of nobles and commons, of governors and\ngoverned, that the demarcations of their mundane economy are transferred\ninto their speculations about the unseen world, and the inequalities of\nthis life are often perpetuated in the next. New Zealanders believed\nthat, whilst all spirits at death went as falling stars to Reinga, or\nthe lower world, those of chiefs went first of all to heaven, where\ntheir left eye remained as a star.[189] Among the Zulus the snakes into\nwhich departed chiefs turn are easily distinguishable from those which\nembody commoner people.[190] As paupers and bondsmen were not admitted\nto Valhalla, so the \u2018masses\u2019 of the Tongan islanders have neither souls\nnor futurity. The Dahomans who call this world their plantation and the\nnext their home, believe that in the latter \u2018the king is a king and the\nslave a slave for ever and ever.\u2019[191] In Samoa not only had chiefs a\nlarger hole than plebeians by which to descend to the under world, but\nalso a separate habitation, serving as columns to support the temple\nof the underground god, and enjoying the best of food and all other\npleasures.[192] Whilst the Thlinkeets burnt most bodies, that they might\nbe warm in their new home, slaves were buried, as only deserving to\nfreeze there; and the Ahts, allotting a plenteous and sunny land in the\nsky to dead chiefs, relegate persons of low degree to a subterranean\nabode, where the houses are poor, the deer small, and the blankets\nthin.[193]\n\nDevices have varied all over the world for marking the innate or acquired\ndifferences between men. The Tibboos of Africa denote difference of\nrank by different scars on the face; but distinctions in dress or in\ntitles have been the usual resort of the civilised and semi-civilised\nworld alike; and the highest Fijian chiefs, who would style themselves\nthe \u2018subjects of Heaven only,\u2019 were prompted by the same natural vanity\nthat gave birth among ourselves to the \u2018Knights of the Lion and Sun\u2019\nor to the doctrine of the divine right of kings. But the most striking\ndevice in the lower grades of civilisation is the conscious invention\nand use of a different form of speech, amounting almost to the use of\na different language, such as was the plan adopted by the Abipones to\nmark the difference between noble and plebeian. Persons advanced to the\nrank of nobles, or the Hocheri, were not only distinguished from their\nfellows by a change of name (men adding the suffix _in_, women _en_, to\ntheir former appellation), but the whole language spoken by the Hocheri\nwas, by the insertion or addition of syllables, so altered from the\nvulgar tongue as to amount to a distinct aristocratic dialect.[194] It is\nremarkable how a similar practice prevails in widely remote parts of the\nglobe. Among Circassians the language for the common people is one, that\nfor the princes and nobility another; nor may the commonalty, though they\nunderstand it, venture to speak in the secret or court language.[195] \u2018As\nin the Malayan so in the Fijian language, there exists an aristocratical\ndialect,\u2019 and in some places \u2018not a member of a chiefs body or the\ncommonest acts of his life are mentioned in ordinary phraseology,\nbut are all hyperbolised.\u2019[196] In the Sandwich Islands \u2018the chiefs\nformed a conventional dialect, or court language, understood only among\nthemselves. If any of its terms became known by the lower orders they\nwere immediately discarded and others substituted.\u2019[197] So, too, it is\nsaid that the island Caribs held their war councils in a secret dialect,\nknown only to the chiefs and elders, into which they were initiated after\nattaining distinction in war.[198] Of the Society Islanders, Ellis tells\nus that \u2018sounds in the language composing the names of the king and queen\ncould no longer be applied to ordinary significations\u2019\u2014a rule, he adds,\nwhich brought about many changes in the words used for things.[199]\nLastly, in the Tongan islands something of the same kind also prevailed,\nfor there we find that among the ways of paying special honour to the\nTooitonga, or divine chief, was the employment, in speaking with him,\nof words devoted exclusively to his use, as substitutes for words of\nordinary parlance.\n\nAnother method by which savages seek to mark the different grades of\nsociety is to signalise by an excess of demonstration their sorrow for\nthe departure of persons of rank from among them. The custom of cutting\noff finger-joints in token of grief, from its prevalence among the\nBlackfeet Indians of North America, the Hottentots of South Africa,\nsome tribes of Australia, and among the female portion of the Charruas\nof South America, may be considered to rank among the remarkable\nanalogies of world-culture, when we find that a similar custom prevailed\nalso among the Tongan Islanders whenever the death of a chief or a\nsuperior relation left his survivors comfortless. It is possible that\nthe idea of propitiating angry gods by self-inflicted pains may have\noriginally underlain many of the practices in after times regarded as\nmere manifestations of grief; for Captain Cook, speaking of the knocking\nout of front teeth at funerals, says that he always understood that\nthis custom, like that of cutting off finger-joints, was not inflicted\nfrom any violence of grief so much as intended for a propitiatory\nsacrifice to the Atoa, to avert any possible danger or mischief from the\nsurvivors.[200] Thus Bushmen sacrifice the end joints of their fingers in\nsickness; and during the illness of a Tooitonga his countrymen would seek\nto appease the god whose anger had caused the disease by the sacrifice\ndaily of the little finger of a young relation. Mariner mentions two\npatriotic young Tonganers contesting with fist and foot the right thus\nto testify their regard for the lord of their country. It is easily\nconceivable how a practice, begun with the idea of conciliating the cause\nof a disease, might be continued for the purpose of conciliating the\ncause of death, and thus how (as in Fiji, where on the death of a king\norders were issued that one hundred fingers should be cut off) an archaic\nsuperstition might pass into a meaningless formality.\n\nThere are, however, various other ways of exhibiting regret for departed\nnobility. In the Sandwich Islands, if a chief dies, the highest mark\nof respect his survivors can show is to strike out one of their front\nteeth with a stone. They also tattoo their tongues, deprive themselves\nof an ear, or shave their heads in fantastic designs. The latter is\na world-wide symbol of sorrow; more peculiar is the license to rob\nand burn houses and commit other enormities, which is, or was once,\ncustomary in Hawaii on the death of a chief. In Tonga and Tahiti it was\ncustomary on such occasions to cut the forehead and breast with sharks\u2019\nteeth. Axes, clubs, knives, stones, or shells were employed freely for\nself-mutilation, when Finow, the King of Tonga, died; his disconsolate\nsubjects seeking to induce him, by the energy of their blows and the\nloudness of their prayers, to lay aside those suspicions of their loyalty\nwhich had prompted him to depart from Tonga to Bolotu.[201]\n\nIn modern civilised life such clear distinctions exist no longer, but\nthere is at least one symbol of nobility which bears distinct traces of\ndescent from uncivilised conceptions and usages. From the common practice\nof making a particular species of animal the totem, or representative,\nof a particular person, family, or tribe, arose probably the custom of\ndistinguishing persons or families by crests, figurative of their patron\nanimals. Both among the Kolushs, a fishing North American tribe, and\ntheir neighbours, the Haidahs, of Queen Charlotte\u2019s Island, the existence\nof an aristocracy of birth is proved from the presence of family crests\namong them, derived from figures of certain animals. Sir G. Grey noticed\nin Australia that each family adopted some animal or vegetable for its\ncrest or Kobong,[202] and the hereditary nobility of the rude Thlinkeet\nIndians paint or carve the heraldic emblem of their clan on their houses,\nboats, robes, shields, or wherever else they can find room for it.[203]\nThese few instances from the lower culture suffice to explain how animal\nfigures, supposed to be expressive of the character of gods or warriors,\ncame to be worn above their helmets; and how in the case of warriors at\nleast, they gradually passed from their helmets to their shields, till\nthey became part of armorial bearings, so highly prized and zealously\ntransmitted from generation to generation. Newton, the author of the\n\u2018Display of Heraldry,\u2019 expresses his belief that the most ancient class\nof crests were taken from ferocious animals, which were regarded as\nfiguratively representing the bearer and his pursuits. Certain it is that\na far larger proportion of crests are derived from the animal world, from\nbeasts, birds, fishes, reptiles, and even insects, than from any other\nsublunary class of things.[204]\n\nIf now we turn to the savage conception of monarchy, we shall find that,\nwherever regal authority exists, it is sustained by a more or less strong\nbelief in the divine origin of kings. The constitutional power of a king\nvaries with the amount of divinity ascribed to him. As Russians of the\nsixteenth century held the will of their Grand Duke to be the will of\nGod, and whatever he did to be done by the will of God,[205] so now in\nAfrica the king of Loango is not only honoured as a god, but known by\nthe same name as the Deity; namely, Samba. His subjects, accrediting him\nwith power over the elements, pray to him for rain in times of drought.\nBut as a king\u2019s divine origin means his divine right, or in other words\nhis despotic power, his subjects only enjoy their lives and property\non the tenure of his will, nor does there seem any moral limitation to\nhis regal rights, save an obligation to make use of native products and\ndresses. The king of Dahomey, also revered as a god, appears to possess\npower over his countrymen which is only so far limited, that he cannot\nbehead princes of the blood royal but must confine his vengeance against\nthem to strangulation or slavery. Without his leave no caboceer may alter\nhis house, wear European shoes, or carry an umbrella. Many kings of the\nFiji Islands claimed a divine origin and asserted the rights of deities,\ntheir persons indeed being so religiously revered that even in battle\ntheir inferiors would fear to strike them. In Tahiti, Oro, the chief\ngod, was called the king\u2019s father, and the same homage that was paid to\nthe gods and their temples was paid also to the king and his dwellings,\nthe homage, namely, of stripping to the waist. At his coronation the\nking asserted his dominion over the sea, by being rowed in Oro\u2019s sacred\ncanoe and receiving congratulation from two divine sharks. So that it\nwas no mere spirit of bombastic adulation that caused the king\u2019s houses\nto be identified, in popular parlance, with the Clouds of Heaven, the\nlights in them with the Lightning, or his canoe with the Rainbow; and\nif his voice was described as the Thunder, it doubtless was due to that\ncommon association of electricity with divinity, such as, for instance,\nprompted the savages of Chili to employ the same name for Thunder and for\nGod. The ceremony of creating a Tahitian king consisted in girding him\nwith a girdle of red feathers, which, as they were taken from the chief\nidols, were thought to be capable of conferring on the monarch the divine\nattributes of power and vengeance. That a human sacrifice was essential,\nnot only at the commencement and completion of the girdle, but often for\nevery piece successively added to it, confirms the experience of all\nages and countries respecting the tendency of monarchical governments\nin barbarous times, a tendency which was never better appreciated than\nby the ancient Japanese. For they used to make their prince sit crowned\non his throne for some hours every morning, without suffering him to\nmove his hands or feet, his head or eyes, or indeed any part of his\nbody, believing that by this means alone could peace and tranquillity be\npreserved; and \u2018if unfortunately he turned himself on one side or the\nother, or if he looked a good while towards any part of his dominions, it\nwas apprehended that war, famine, fire, or some other great misfortune\nwas near at hand to desolate the country.\u2019[206] The Samoans thought also\nthat some deadly influence radiated from the person of a king which could\nonly be broken by aspersion with water.[207]\n\nInasmuch, however, as government of any kind is impossible without a\nsubdivision of functions, and a king needs ministers to execute his will,\nthe limitation of a council is almost inseparable from even the most\nabsolute monarchy. A perfectly pure despotism exists, therefore, nowhere\nsave in the definitions of the science of politics. It is, indeed,\ndifficult to conceive an arbitrary government except as a synonym for\ntotal anarchy. In Loango, where the king nominates and displaces his\nofficers at pleasure, and is absolute disposer of his subjects\u2019 lives and\nliberties, armed resistance is said to be often made against him, and his\npower to depend on his wealth and connections. Even a king of Dahomey\nsaid that he would imperil his life if he attempted to put down slavery\nand human sacrifices all at once, and it is said that whatever despotic\nacts may be witnessed in Africa they are all performed according to the\ncommon law of the land.[208] Among the Ashantees there are four men at\nthe head of the nobility who exert great influence and serve to balance\nthe monarchical power.[209] Among the Kaffirs, the chiefs of hordes,\nthough with power of life and death, are restrained by the councillors\nthey themselves nominate from attacking ancient usages; and though the\nking is despotic, his despotism must not transgress known laws. The right\nof desertion also which practically belongs to every member of a horde,\nacts as a most effectual moral check upon tyrannical tendencies. Indeed,\nthroughout Africa, the differentiation of functions of government, or the\ndivision of political labour, is carried to an extent which proves how\nlittle necessary connection there is between high political capacity and\nhigh culture in other respects. In Dahomey, where a man\u2019s life is less\nsacred than that of a fox in England, there are two chief ministers in\nconstant attendance on the king, a third who is commander-in-chief of the\narmy, and a fourth who superintends the due punishment of crimes.\n\nThe existence, again, of grades of society, clearly marked by differences\nof functions and privileges, is itself a proof of a political\norganisation which implies limitations to the exercise of sovereignty.\nClasses with distinct rights and relations prove the constraint of a\npublic law which even monarchs must recognise and respect. In Fetu in\nAfrica, where frequently from four to five hundred slaves are killed\nat a king\u2019s funeral to serve him beyond the grave, there is a distinct\nclass of freemen, with specific rights, sprung from the noble and slave\nclasses. So, also, wherever the Malay race has settled in the Pacific,\ntheir feudal institutions and classes bear a striking resemblance to\nthose of medi\u00e6val Europe. In the Fiji Islands, such classes are said to\nbe so clearly defined as to amount almost to a system of caste. They are:\u2014\n\n    1. The kings and queens.\n\n    2. Chiefs of large dependent islands or districts.\n\n    3. Chiefs of towns, and priests.\n\n    4. Warriors of low birth; chiefs of carpenters and of\n    turtle-fishers.\n\n    5. The people.\n\n    6. The slaves taken in war.\n\nWith which may be compared the Tongan social scale:\u2014\n\n    1. The Tooitonga and Veachi, chiefs of divine descent.\n\n    2. The king, or How.\n\n    3. The Egi, or nobles; all persons in any way related to the\n    two former classes.\n\n    4. The priests.\n\n    5. The Matabooles, attendants on chiefs, managers of\n    ceremonies, preservers of records, &c.\n\n    6. The Mooas, or younger sons or brothers of the Matabooles.\n\n    7. The Tooas, or common people, who practise such arts as are\n    not dignified enough to pass from father to son, as cookery,\n    club carving, shaving, or tattooing.\n\nThese ranks are so fixed and unalterable that they form a prominent\nfeature in the Tongan conception of a future world. Rank, not merit,\nconstitutes the title of admission to Bolotu. All _noble_ souls arrive\nthere and enjoy a power similar but inferior to that of the original\ndeities, being capable, like the latter, of inspiring priests living on\nearth. The Matabooles also gain admittance to Bolotu, but are unable to\ncause priestly inspirations. The souls of the Tooas dissolve with the\nbody, as too plebeian to find a place in Paradise.\n\nIn the Sandwich Islands, there were formerly three aristocratic\norders\u2014the first consisting of the king and queen, their relations, and\nthe chief councillors; the second of the chiefs of dependent districts;\nthe third of the chiefs of villages and of priests. Servile homage from\nall the inferior classes was paid to these three orders, but particularly\nto the priests and higher chiefs, their very persons and houses being\naccounted sacred, and the sight of them a peremptory signal for\nprostration. The people, as in medi\u00e6val Europe, were attached to the soil\nand transferred with it: but a strong customary law is said nevertheless\nto have regulated both the tenure of land and personal security.[210] If\nthey had no voice in the government, they sometimes took part in public\nmeetings, nor did the king ever resolve on matters of weight without the\ncounsel of his principal chiefs. Yet government was more despotic in\nthe Sandwich than in either the Society or the Fiji Islands. In Tahiti,\npublic assemblies were held, in which the speakers did not hesitate to\ncompare the state to a ship, of which the king was only the mast, but the\nlanded nobility the ropes that kept it upright.[211]\n\nMany savage tribes have succeeded, by speciously devised forms and\nceremonies, in clothing arbitrary power with a cloak of legality,\ninviolably divine. The most remarkable of these devices is the famous\ninstitution of _tabu_, which, by transferring the divinity inherent\nin a king or chief to everything that comes in contact with him, early\ninvested sovereign power with a most facile and elastic weapon of\ngovernment. For the principle, that whatever a king touched became sacred\nto his use, supplied regal power with a most convenient immunity from\nthe shackles of ordinary morality. A Fijian king, by giving his dress to\nan English sailor, enabled the latter to appropriate whatever food he\nchose to envelope with the train of his dress. Whatever house a Tahitian\nking or queen enters is vacated by its owners; the field they tread on\nbecomes theirs; their clothes, their canoes, the very men who carry them,\nare invested with a sanctity the violation of which is death, and are\nregarded as precisely as holy as objects less, ostensibly associated with\nearthly necessities.\n\nBut whether or not the institution of _tabu_ was a clever invention of\nkings for increasing their power, its inevitable extension reacted in\ntime as a limitation to it. This may be illustrated from the Tongan\nIslands, where the regal power, owing probably to a long constitutional\nstruggle between the rival claims to sovereignty of birth and merit,\nstood in a most anomalous position. For the king did not belong to\nthe highest rank of the people, his title depending in part on birth,\nbut principally on his reputation for personal strength and military\ncapacity. Tooitonga and Veachi, the direct descendants of the gods who\nfirst visited the island, or (as we may perhaps rationalistically\ntranslate it) the direct descendants of the earliest kings, occupied\na higher status than the actual king, and were honoured with\nacknowledgments of their divinity which even the king himself had to pay.\nTo the posterity of bygone monarchs the actual king stood in the relation\nof a peasant to a prince, being expected, like anyone else, to sit down\non the ground when they passed, though they might be his inferiors in\nwealth nor possessed of any direct power save over their own families and\nattendants. The dignity of the Tooitonga survived not only in his not\nbeing circumcised nor tattooed as other men, and in peculiar ceremonies\nattending his marriage or his burial, but in the more substantial\nofferings of the firstfruits of the year at stated periodical festivals.\nThe king used to consult him before undertaking a war or expedition,\nthough often regardless of the counsel offered; and in reference to the\nperson of either descendant of the gods the king was subject to tabu, or\neven in reference to ordinary chiefs in any way related to them. If he\nbut touched the body, the dress, or the sleeping mat of a chief nearer\nrelated to Tooitonga and Veachi than himself, he could only exempt\nhimself from the inconveniences incurred by the violation of tabu by the\ndispensation attached to the ceremony of touching, with both his hands,\nthe feet of such supernatural chief, or of some one his equal in rank.\n\nIn the Society Islands, in consequence of the regal attribute inseparable\nfrom royalty of tabooing whatever ground it traversed, Tahitian kings\nbecame in course of time either entirely restricted to walking in their\nown domains, or subjected to the discomfort of a progress on servile\nshoulders over whatever district they wished to visit. So that tabu in\nboth these instances acted as a limitation to the despotism of the king.\n\nIn Tahiti, however, the king\u2019s power was further limited by a custom\nwhich, extending as it did to all the noble classes, was perhaps the most\nanomalous institution in the world, whether as regards the theory or the\npractice of inherited rank. For the custom compelling a king or a noble\nto transfer all his titles and dignity to his firstborn son at the moment\nof his birth, whether instituted originally for securing an undisputed\nsuccession to the regency or due to a similar rude confusion of ideas,\nsuch as associates the sanctity of a man\u2019s origin with the sanctity of\nall he touches, carried the claims of primogeniture to a degree unknown\neither by the Jewish or the English law. \u2018Whatever might be the age of\nthe king, his influence in the state, or the political aspect of affairs\nin respect to other tribes, as soon as a son (of noble birth) was born,\nthe monarch became a subject; the infant son was at once proclaimed\nsovereign of the people; the royal name was conferred upon him, and his\nfather was the first to do him homage by saluting his feet and declaring\nhim king.\u2019 The national herald, sent round the island with the infant\nruler\u2019s flag, proclaimed his name in every district, and, if it were\nacknowledged by the aristocracy, edicts were thenceforth issued in his\nname. Not only the homage of his people, but the lands and other sources\nof his father\u2019s power, were transferred to the minor child, the father\nonly continuing to act as regent till his child\u2019s capacity for government\nwas matured.\n\nThe Fijians also have a peculiar custom, the institution of Vasu, which\nserves as a barrier both to regal and aristocratic oppression, and shows\nhow, even among savages, the caprice of individuals is held in bondage\nby the traditions of the elders. Vasu signifies the common-law right of\na nephew to appropriate to his own use anything he chooses belonging to\nan uncle or to anyone under his uncle\u2019s power. The king often availed\nhimself of Vasu for his own benefit, it being customary for a nephew to\nsurrender as tribute most of the legal extortions which his title of Vasu\nmight enable him to levy. But the king himself was liable to Vasu; for we\nare told that, \u2018however high a chief may rank, _however powerful a king\nmay be_, if he has a nephew he has a master;\u2019 for, except his lands and\nhis wives, neither chief nor king possessed anything which his nephew\nmight not appropriate at any moment. If, for instance, the uncle built\na canoe for himself, his nephew had only to come, mount the deck, and\nsound his trumpet shell, to announce to all the world a legitimate and\nindefeasible transfer of ownership. It is even said that on one occasion\na nephew at war with his uncle actually supplied himself, unresisted,\nwith ammunition from his enemy\u2019s stores. It is difficult indeed to divine\nthe origin of so singular an institution, unless perhaps we regard it\nas surviving from a time when as in so many parts of the world nephews\nand not sons ranked as first in inheritance. In Loango the nephews of a\ndeceased king become princes, whilst his sons descend to the commonalty;\nthe throne of Ashantee passes not to a man\u2019s natural heir, but to his\nbrother\u2019s or sister\u2019s son, and the same rule of descent prevails widely\nover the world.[212]\n\nIn two respects especially, savages may be accredited with having secured\na certain stability for their institutions and saved them from some of\nthe dangers which have been the bane of more civilised countries. It\nentitles them to no slight praise that they have generally so adjusted\nthe relations of the temporal and spiritual powers as to prevent their\nclashing, and have taken its sting from taxation by making the day of\ntaxpaying a day of public rejoicing. In the Tongan Islands (before the\ncustom was abolished by a revolutionary king) the tax of the annual\npayment of firstfruits to the Tooitonga was almost forgotten in the grand\nceremonies with which it was associated, and tributes received from\ninferiors by chiefs came as much as possible in the way of presents,\nwhilst so far away as the Slave Coast, the feast of taxpaying is the\ngreat recurring Saturnalia of the year. In Dahomey income-tax is \u2018paid\nunder a polite disguise,\u2019 each man bringing a present to the king in\nproportion to his rank, and at an annual festival.[213] The feast lasts\na whole month; public plays take place every four or five days; singers\nchant the king\u2019s praises and the historical traditions of the country;\nand the whole concludes with the ever popular African entertainment\nof human sacrifice, on an unlimited scale. In Fiji also taxpaying was\nassociated with all that the people love; the time of its taking place\nbeing \u2018a high day, a day for the best attire, the pleasantest looks, and\nthe kindest words; a day for display.\u2019 The Fijian carried his tribute\nwith every demonstration of joyful excitement, paying it in with songs\nand dances to a king who received it with smiles and who provided a\nfeast for the happy taxpayers. So among the Kaffirs the presence of the\nfour royal[214] taxgatherers in the town was the signal for feasting and\namusements, and when payment had been at last demanded by them they were\nconducted out of the town, as they had been welcomed into it, by dancers\nand musicians.[215]\n\nIn all the lower communities of the globe the priest, as the Shaman who\ncan invoke rain, who can cause or cure diseases, who can detect the\nunknown thief, or read the result of a coming battle, may be revered for\nhis power as a sorcerer, but he seldom enters into the scheme of the\nbody politic as an efficient political force. In the Sandwich Islands,\nwhere priestly power was more developed than elsewhere, the priesthood,\nthough not merely an hereditary body and possessed of much property in\nmen and lands, but recipients of the same servile homage that was paid\nto the highest chiefs, occupied, nevertheless, a subordinate position\nto the governing class. As the nation retained a chief priest who had\ncharge of the national god, so each chief retained his own family priest,\nwhose function it was to follow him to the battle-field carrying his\nwar-god and to direct the sacred rites of his house. In New Zealand the\ntohunga (or priest) was \u2018not significative of a class separated from\nthe rest by certain distinctions of rank,\u2019 but was an office open to\nanyone.[216] In the Tongan Islands, a priest had no respect paid to\nhim beyond what was due to his family rank, owing to the fact that the\ntitle to the priesthood was dependent on the accident of inspiration by\nsome god. Whenever a priest invoked the gods (and it was generally on\na person of the lower classes that such inspiration fell), the chiefs,\nnay, even the king himself, would sit indiscriminately with the common\npeople in a circle round him, \u2018on account of the sacredness of the\noccasion, conceiving that such modest demeanour must be acceptable to\nthe gods.\u2019[217] Whatever the priest then said was deemed a declaration\nof the god, and, in accordance with a confusion of the human voice and\nthe divine, not unknown elsewhere, the oracle, in speaking, actually\nmade use of the first person, as though the relation of himself to\nthe god were not merely one of delegated authority, but of real and\ncomplete identification. Except, however, on such special occasions, a\nTongan priest was distinguished by no particular dress, nor invested\nwith any official privileges. In Fiji, also, the priests ranked below\nthe principal chiefs; and the chief priest, though, as in Tahiti, it\nwas his office to perform the ceremony which introduced the monarch to\nregal dignity, seems in nowise to have interfered afterwards with the\nsovereignty of his temporal lord. It is remarkable that the power of\npriestcraft increases with the increase of civilisation; ultimately\nserving to arrest and retard the growth of which it is at once a symptom\nand a measure.\n\nIf from the foregoing data, collected from the best accredited missionary\nsources, it is permissible to speak in general terms of primitive\npolitical life, it would appear that the social organisation of the lower\nraces stands at a far higher level than too rapid an inspection would\nlead a critic to suspect. Their institutions are such as to presuppose\nas much ingenuity in their evolution as sagacity in their preservation.\nTheir despotism is never so unlimited but that it recognises the\nexistence of a customary code beside and above it; nor is individual\nliberty ever so unchecked as to outweigh the advantages or imperil the\nexistence of a life in common. In short, the subordination of classes,\nthe belief in the divine right of kings and in differences ordained\nby nature between nobles and populace, the principle of hereditary\ngovernment (often so firmly fixed that not even women are excluded from\nthe highest offices), the prevalence of feudalism with its ever-recurring\nwars and revolutions, not only prove an identity of social instinct\nwhich is irrespective of latitude or race, but prove also among the\nlower races the existence of a capacity for self-government, which is\ndisturbing to all preconceptions derived from accounts of their manners\nand superstitions in other relations of life.\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\n_SAVAGE PENAL LAWS._\n\n\nIf, interpreting the present by the past, and taking as our standard of\nthe past contemporary savage life, we endeavour to gain some insight into\nthe origin of those legal customs and ideas which are so interwoven with\nour civilisation, the statements of travellers relating to the judicial\ninstitutions of savage tribes gain considerably in interest and value.\nFor savage modes of redressing injuries, of assessing punishment, of\ndiscovering truth, reveal not a few striking points of resemblance and\nof contrast to the practices prevalent in civilised communities; whilst\nthey serve at the same time to illustrate the natural laws at work in the\nevolution of society.\n\nThe different stages of progress from the lowest social state, where the\nredress of wrongs is left to individual force or cunning, to the state\nwhere the wrongs of individuals are regarded and punished as wrongs to\nthe community at large, may be all observed in the customs of modern\nor recent savage tribes. Yet instances where the redress of wrongs\nis purely a matter of personal retaliation are not really numerous,\noccurring chiefly where the rulership of a tribe is ill-defined and is\nan exercise of influence rather than authority, as among the Esquimaux,\nthe Kamschadals, and some Californian and other American tribes. In\nsuch states of society, though some political sovereignty is vested in\nthe heads of the different families, they have but little power either\nto make commands or to inflict punishments, so that self-help is for\nindividuals the first rule of existence. But generally this deficiency\nin the legal protection of life and property is made up for by a\nprinciple which lies at the root of savage law\u2014the principle, that is, of\ncollective responsibility, of including in the guilt of an individual all\nhis blood relations jointly or singly.\n\nThis consideration of crimes as family or tribal rather than as personal\nmatters, (the duty of satisfying the family or tribe of anyone injured\ndevolving upon the family or tribe of the wrongdoer,) must have tended in\nthe earliest times to withdraw attention from the merely personal aspect\nof injuries and to direct it to their more social relations. The common\ntest of likelihood is no bad guide in ethnology; and the difficulty of\nconceiving any society of men, even the most savage, living together\nabsolutely unaffected by, or uninterested in, wrongs done by one of\ntheir members to another, is only equalled by the difficulty of finding\ncredible records of any such community. Even in Kamschatka, where the\nhead of an ostrog had only the power to punish verbally, a man caught\nstealing was held so infamous, that no one would befriend him, and he had\nto live thenceforth alone without help from anybody; whilst, if the habit\nseemed inveterate, the thief was bound to a tree, and his arms bound by\na piece of birch-bark to a pole stretched crosswise; the bark was then\nignited, and the man\u2019s hands, thereby branded, marked his character in\nfuture to all who might be interested in knowing it.[218] Even in so rude\na tribe as the Brazilian Topanazes, a murderer of a fellow-tribesman\nwould be conducted by his relations to those of the deceased, to be by\nthem forthwith strangled and buried, in satisfaction of their rights;\nthe two families eating together for several days after the event as\nthough for the purpose of reconciliation.[219] And several other tribes,\ndestitute of any chiefs possessing the power or right to judge or punish,\nhave fixed customs regulating such offences as theft or murder. Thus\nthe Nootka Indians avenge or compound for punishable acts, though their\nchiefs have little or no voice in the matter. Where, as among the Haidahs\nof Columbia, crime likewise has no legal punishment, murder being simply\nan affair to be settled with the robbed family, we may detect the\nbeginnings of later legal practices in the occasional agreement among\nthe leading men to put to death disagreeable members of the tribe, such\nas medicine-men, and other great offenders.[220] So that wherever, from\ncauses of war or otherwise, tribal chieftaincy has become at all fixed\nand powerful, we may expect to find the chief or chiefs called upon to\nsettle disputes between individuals or families; and thus gradually a way\nwould be found for the addition of judicial functions to the more primary\nduties of government.\n\nFrom this natural tendency of submitting disputed claims or the measure\nof redress to the decision of a single chieftain or of several, the\npersonal right of retaliation would soon become a tribal one; and though\nignorant of the science of jurisprudence, most savage tribes seem\nearly to have learnt to treat torts or offences against an individual\nas crimes or offences against the community, taking as their standard\nof punishment the measure of the wrong done to the individual. The\ntransfer of sovereignty from smaller units to the tribe is clearly\nmarked in instances where the chiefs of a tribe try crimes and decide\nguilt, but leave the punishment of the offender to the discretion of the\ninjured persons or family; of which the following are characteristic\nillustrations.\n\nAccording to Catlin, every Indian tribe he visited had a council-house\nin the middle of their village, where the chiefs would assemble, as well\nfor the investigation of crimes as for public business, giving decisions\nafter trial concerning capital offences, but leaving the punishment to\nthe nearest of kin, to be inflicted by him under the penalty of social\ndisgrace, but free from any control by them as to time, place, or\nmanner.[221] So also on the Gold Coast, where suits lay at the decision\nof the caboceros or chiefs, the original conception of murder appears\nclearly, in the practice for the murderer to get generally from the\nrelations of the deceased some abatement of the pecuniary penalty affixed\nby law to his crime; they being the only persons the criminal had to\nagree with, and free to take from him as little as they pleased, whilst\nthe king had no pretence to any share of the fine except what he might\nget for his trouble in exacting it.[222] In the Central African kingdom\nof Bornou, a convicted murderer was handed over to the discretional\nrevenge of the murdered man\u2019s family.[223] In Samoa, again, the chief of\na village and the heads of families, forming as they did the judicial as\nwell as legislative body, might condemn a culprit to sit for hours naked\nin the sun, to be hung by his head, to take five bites from a pungent\nroot, or to play at ball with a prickly sea-urchin, according to the\nnature of his offence. But one punishment was especially remarkable, as\nshowing how the right of punishment originally belonging to the family\nmay survive in form long after it has in reality passed to a wider\npolitical union. This was the punishment of binding a criminal hand and\nfoot and carrying him suspended from a prickly pole run through between\nhis hands and feet, to the family of the village against which he had\ntransgressed, and there depositing him before them, as if to signify that\nhe lay at their mercy.[224] And in the villages of Afghanistan, where an\nassembly of the elders act as the judges of the people, a show is always\nmade of delivering up the criminal to the accuser and of giving the\nlatter the chance of retaliating, though it is perfectly understood that\nhe must comply with the wishes of the assembly. This instance, therefore,\nillustrates the two distinct methods of legal punishment in process of\nactual transition from one to the other.[225]\n\nIf then the original standard of punishment was just that amount of\nseverity which would suffice to prevent individuals from seeking\nsatisfaction by their private efforts and avenging their own wrongs,\nit is intelligible that penal customs should be cruel in proportion to\ntheir primitiveness. It is distinctly stated that in Samoa fines in food\nand property gradually superseded more severe penalties. Yet, in the\nface of the very varying penalties found in most different conditions of\nculture, it is a subject on which it is difficult to lay down any rule.\nSometimes murder alone is a capital crime, sometimes theft, witchcraft,\nand adultery as well; sometimes all or some of them are commutable by\nfine. Nor does it seem that, wherever an offence is punishable by fine,\nthe penalty has been mitigated from one originally more severe. In some\ncases the chief judges may have found their interest in assessing a more\nhumane, and to themselves more profitable, forfeit than that of life or\nlimb; but savages, living in the most primitive conditions, seem to have\nbeen led by their natural reason alone to observe fitting proportions\nbetween crime and retribution. For their punishments, in default\ngenerally of imprisonment or banishment, are not as a rule gratuitously\ncruel: though as occasional punishments among the Caffres are mentioned\nthe application of hot stones to the naked body, or exposure to the\ntorments of ants;[226] and slavery, so common a punishment in Africa,\nfar from being essentially cruel, is rather a sign of an amelioration\nof manners, of a reasonable willingness to take the useful satisfaction\nof a man\u2019s labour in lieu of the useless one of his life. Severity of\nthe penal code would rather seem to be a concomitant of growth in\ncivilisation, of stronger and deeper moral feelings, of a sense of the\nfailure of milder means, than of a really primitive savagery. On the\nwhole continent of America no savage tribe ever approached the Aztecs in\ncruelty of punishment, nor is it among people of a ruder type of culture\nthat we should ever look to find some form of death the penalty alike\nfor the lightest as for the gravest crimes, for slander no less than for\nadultery, for intoxication as much as for homicide.[227]\n\nIt might naturally be inferred that, because the laws of savages are\nunwritten and depend on usage alone for their preservation, therefore\nthey are entirely uncertain and arbitrary. This, however, is not often\nthe case. On few points are the statements of travellers less vague than\non the details of native penal customs; a fact which is only compatible\nwith their being both well known and regularly enforced. What the Abb\u00e9\nFroyart says of the natives of Loango, may be said of all but the\nlowest tribes: \u2018There is no one ignorant of the cases which incur the\npain of death, and of those for which the offender becomes the slave\nof the person offended.\u2019[228] The laws of the Caffre tribes are said\nto be a collection of precedents, of decisions of bygone chiefs and\ncouncils, appealing solely to what has been customary in the past, never\nto the abstract merits of the case. There appears, it is said, to be\nno uncertainty whatever in their administration, the criminality of\ndifferent acts being measured exactly by a fixed number of cattle payable\nin atonement. And the customs reported from Ashantee manifest a similar\nsense of the value of fixed penalties. An Ashantee is at liberty to kill\nhis slave, but is punished if he kills his wife or child; only a chief\ncan sell his wife or put her to death for infidelity; whilst a great\nman who kills his equal in rank is generally suffered to die by his own\nhands. If a man brings a frivolous accusation against another, he must\ngive an entertainment to the family and friends of the accused; if he\nbreaks an Aggry bead in a scuffle, he must pay seven slaves to the owner.\nA wife who betrays a secret forfeits her upper lip, an ear if she listens\nto a private conversation of her husband.[229] Savage also as is the\nkingdom of Dahomey, arbitrary power is so far limited, that no sentence\nof death or slavery, adjudged by an assembly of chiefs, can be carried\nout without confirmation from the throne; and such a sentence \u2018must be\nexecuted in the capital, and notice given of it by the public crier in\nthe market.\u2019 It is no paradox to say, that human life, even in Dahomey,\nenjoys more efficient legal protection at this day than it did in England\nin times long subsequent to the signature of Magna Charta.\n\nThe forms of legal procedure manifest often no less regularity than the\nlaws themselves. In Congo the plaintiff opens his case on his knees\nto the judge, who sits under a tree or in a great straw hut built on\npurpose, holding a staff of authority in his hand. When he has heard the\nplaintiff\u2019s evidence he hears the defendant, then calls the witnesses,\nand decides accordingly. The successful suitor pays a sum to the judge\u2019s\nbox, and stretches himself at full length on the ground to testify\nhis gratitude.[230] In Loango, the king, acting as judge, has several\nassessors to consult in difficult cases, and the suit begins by both\nparties making a present to the king, who then proceeds to hear in turn\nplaintiff, defendant, and witnesses. In default of witnesses the affair\nis deferred, spies being sent to gather ampler information and ground for\njudgment from the talk of the people. In the public trials of Ashantee\n\u2018the accused is always heard fully, and is obliged either to commit or\nexculpate himself on every point.\u2019 On the Gold Coast a plaintiff would\nsometimes defer his suit for thirty years, letting it devolve on his\nheirs, if the judges, the caboceros, from interested motives, delayed to\ngrant him a trial and thus obliged him to wait, in hopes of finding less\nimpartial or else more amenable judges in the future.[231]\n\nSeveral rules of savage jurisprudence betray curiously different notions\nof equity from those of more civilised lands. The Abb\u00e9 Froyart was\nshocked that, on the complaint of the missionaries to the King of Loango\nof nocturnal disturbances round their dwellings, the king should have\nissued an ordinance making the disturbance of the missionaries\u2019 repose a\ncapital crime. The reason the natives gave him for thus putting slight\noffences on an equality with grave ones was, that, in proportion to\nthe ease of abstinence from anything forbidden, or of the performance\nof anything commanded was the inexcusableness of disobedience and the\ndeserved severity of punishment. Again, impartiality with regard to rank\nor wealth, which is now regarded in England as a self-evident principle\nof justice, as a primary instinct of equity, is by no means so regarded\nby savages; for not only is murder often atoned for according to the\nrank of the murderer, as on the Gold Coast or in old Anglo-Saxon law,\non the basis, apparently, of the value to the individual of his loss in\ndeath, but such difference of rank sometimes enters into the estimate of\nthe due punishment for robbery. Thus the Guinea Coast negroes thought\nit reasonable to punish rich persons guilty of robbery more severely\nthan the poor, because, they said, the rich were not urged to it by\nnecessity, and could better spare the money-fines laid on them. Caffre\nlaw distinguishes broadly and clearly between injuries to a man\u2019s person\nand injuries to his property, accounting the former as offences against\nthe chief to whom he belongs, and making such chief sole recipient of all\nfines, allowing only personal redress where a man\u2019s property has been\ndamaged. Thus Caffre law divides itself into lines bearing some analogy\nto those of our criminal and civil law: such offences as treason, murder,\nassault, and witchcraft entering into the criminal code, and constituting\ninjuries to the actual sufferer\u2019s chief; whilst adultery, slander, and\nother forms of theft, enter as it were into the civil law, as injuries\nfor which there are direct personal remedies.[232]\n\nThe almost universal test among savages of guilt or innocence, where\nthere is a want or conflict of evidence, is the ordeal. At first sight\nit would appear that such a practice presupposes a belief in a personal\nsupernatural deity\u2014that it is, in fact, as it was in the middle ages,\na judgment of God, an appeal to His decision. If so, a theistic belief\nwould be of wide extent, for the ordeal is common to very low strata of\nculture; but, in consideration of the savage belief in the personality\nand consciousness of natural objects or in spirits animating them, it\nwould seem best to regard the ordeal simply as a direct appeal to the\ndecision of such objects or spirits themselves, or through such objects\nto the decision of dead ancestors, a means for the discovery of truth\nthat would naturally suggest itself to the shamanic class. For it is\nat the peril of his life that a shaman, or priest, asserts a title to\nsuperior power and wisdom; and as his skill is tested in every need or\nperil that occurs, he is naturally as often called upon to detect hidden\nguilt as to bring rain from the clouds, or drive sickness from the body.\nDriven, therefore, to his inventive resources by the demands made upon\nhim, he thinks out a test which he may really consider just, or which,\nby proving fatal to the suspected, may place alike his ingenuity and\nthe verdict beyond the reach of challenge. Such ordeals not only often\nelicit true confessions of guilt by the very terror they inspire, so\nthat, according to Merolla, it sufficed for the Congo wizards to issue\nproclamations for a restitution of stolen property under the threat of\notherwise resorting to their arts of detection, but they are valuable\nin themselves to the shamanic class from being easily adapted to the\ndestruction of an enemy and offering a ready channel for the influx of\nwealth. A comparison of some of these tests, which decide guilt not by an\nappeal to the fear of falsehood, as an oath does, but by what is really\nan appeal to the verdict of chance, will display so strong a family\nresemblance, together with so many local peculiarities, as to make the\norigin suggested appear not improbable.\n\nBosman mentions the following ordeals as customary on the Gold Coast in\noffences of a trivial character:\n\n    1. Stroking a red-hot copper arm-ring over the tongue of the\n    suspected person.\n\n    2. Squirting a vegetable juice into his eye.\n\n    3. Drawing a greased fowl\u2019s feather through his tongue.\n\n    4. Making him draw cocks\u2019 quills from a clod of earth.\n\nInnocence was staked on the innocuousness of the two former proceedings,\non the facility of the execution of the two latter. For great crimes the\nwater ordeal was employed, a certain river being endowed with the quality\nof wafting innocent persons across it, how little soever they could swim,\nand of only drowning the guilty.[233]\n\nLivingstone mentions the anxiety of negro women, suspected by their\nhusbands of having bewitched them, to drink a poisonous infusion prepared\nby the shaman, and to submit their lives to the effect of this drink\non their bodies; a judicial method strikingly similar to the test of\nbitter waters ordained in the Book of Numbers to decide the guilt of\nJewish wives whom their husbands had reason to suspect of infidelity. The\nBarotse tribe, in Africa, who judge of the guilt of an accused person by\nthe effect of medicine poured down the throat of a dog or cock, manifest\nmore humanity in their system of detection.[234]\n\nBut perhaps the best collection of African ordeals is that given in the\nvoyage of the Capuchin Merolla to Congo in 1682. In case of treason a\nshaman would present a compound of vegetable juices, serpents\u2019 flesh,\nand such things to the delinquent, who would die if he were guilty, but\nnot otherwise; it being of course open to the administrator to omit at\nwill the poisonous ingredients. Innocence was further proved, if a man\nsuffered nothing from a red-hot iron passed over his leg, if he felt\nno bad effects from chewing the root of the banana, from eating the\npoisoned fruit of a certain palm, from drinking water in which a torch\nof bitumen or a red-hot iron had been quenched, or from drawing a stone\nout of boiling water. The crime of theft was proved by the ignition or\nthe non-ignition of a long thread held at either end by the shaman and\nthe accused, on the application of a red-hot iron to the middle. Among\nthe Bongo tribe a murder is often traced to its source, by making plastic\nrepresentations so closely resembling the victim, that at a feast given\nwith dances and songs the criminal will generally manifest a desire to\nleave the company.[235]\n\nSo great in general is the dread of such ordeals, that they often\nactually serve as the most potent instruments for the discovery of\ncrimes. In the kingdom of Loango was kept a fetich in a large basket\nbefore which all cases of theft and murder were tried; and when any great\nman died, a whole town would be compelled to offer themselves for trial\nfor his murder by kissing and embracing the image, in the fear of falling\ndown dead if they fancied themselves guilty. In the space of one year\nAndrew Battel witnessed the death of many natives in this way.\n\nIn the Tongan Islands the king would call the people together, and,\nafter washing his hands in a wooden bowl, command everyone to touch it.\nFrom a firm belief that touching the bowl, in case of guilt, would cause\ninstantaneous death, refusal to touch it amounted to conviction.[236]\n\nAmong the Fijians, distinguished in so many points from other savages\nby originality of conception, the ordeal of the scarf was the one of\ngreatest dread, extorting confession, it is said, as effectually as a\nthreat of the rack might have done. The chief or judge, having called for\na scarf, would proceed, if the culprit did not confess at the sight of\nit, to wave it above his head, till he had caught the man\u2019s soul, bereft\nof which the culprit would be sure ultimately to pine away and die.[237]\n\nAmong the ordeals of the Sandwich Islanders was one called the\n\u2018shaking-water.\u2019 The accused persons, sitting round a calabash full\nof water, were required in turns to hold their hands above it, that\nthe priest, by watching the water, might detect, when it trembled, the\npresence of guilt. On the Society Islands the ordeal only differed\nslightly, the priest reading in the water the reflected image of the\nthief, after prayer to the gods to cause his spirit to be present. The\nmere report that such a measure had been resorted to often led to timely\nrestitutions of stolen goods.[238]\n\nIn Sardinia there is, or was, a well, the waters of which were supposed\nto blind a person suspected of robbery or lying, if he were guilty;\notherwise to strengthen and improve his sight.[239]\n\nThe above instances, remarkable for their practical efficiency no less\nthan for their puerile ingenuity, suffice to illustrate the nature of\nsavage judicial ordeals and the extreme variety displayed in their\ninvention. The identity of many ordeals among different people, such\nas that by fire or water, is probably due to the readiness with which\nsuch tests would suggest themselves to the imagination. \u2018He who, holding\nfire in his hand,\u2019 said the Indian law, \u2018is not burnt, or who, diving\nunder water, is not soon forced up by it, must be held veracious in his\ntestimony upon oath;\u2019 and the same was the idea in China and Africa as\nwell as in Europe. That these ordeals, like others, were originated by\nthe class of shamans, and were traditionally preserved by them as one of\nthe sources of their power, derives probability from their close analogy\nto the judicial ordeals invented and administered by the priests of early\nEurope. The trial by the hallowed morsel, which decided guilt by the\neffects of swallowing a piece of hallowed bread or cheese; the trial by\nthe cross, when both accuser and accused were placed under a cross with\ntheir arms extended, and the wrong adjudged to him who first let his\nhands fall; or the trial by the two dice, when innocence was proved if\nthe first dice taken at hazard bore the sign of the cross\u2014though they\nmay have been metamorphosed heathen ordeals, seem rather to have been of\npure Christian invention; nor are they distinguished in any point above\ncorresponding practices on the coast of Guinea, except in this, that they\nwere called the judgments of God, and implied some belief in a personal\nspirit, who could and would control the verdict of chance to prove guilt\nor innocence.[240]\n\nAs in Europe after the fifteenth century the oath of canonical purgation\ngradually displaced the older system of ordeals, so it would seem that\nin savage life too the judicial oath succeeds in order of time the\njudicial ordeal. An oath implies a prayer, an invocation of punishment\nin case of perjury; and a man\u2019s conscience is evidently more directly\nappealed to where his guilt is tested to some extent by his own\nconfession, than where it is decided by something quite external to\nhimself.\n\nThe witness in a modern English law court, invoking upon himself divine\nwrath if he swear falsely by the book he kisses, preserves with curious\nexactitude the judicial oath of savage times and lands. Our English\njudicial oath, in use though no longer compulsory, has withstood all\nattacks upon it, for the insuperable practical reason that the majority\nof men are more afraid of swearing falsely than of speaking falsely, and\nthat the fewer scruples a man feels about lying, the more he is likely to\nfeel about perjury. The notion that one is morally worse than the other\nis probably due to the imaginary terrors which, associated time out of\nmind with perjury, have given it a legal existence apart, and made it, so\nto speak, a kind of lying-extraordinary, a crime outside the jurisdiction\nof humanity.\n\nIn Samoa, as at Westminster, physical contact with a thing adds vast\nweight to the value of a man\u2019s evidence. Turner relates how in turn each\nperson suspected of a theft was obliged before the chiefs to touch a\nsacred drinking-cup, made of cocoa-nut, and to invoke destruction upon\nhimself if he were the thief. The formula ran: \u2018With my hand on this\ncup, may the god look upon me and send swift destruction if I took the\nthing which has been stolen.\u2019 \u2018Before this ordeal the truth was rarely\nconcealed,\u2019 it being firmly believed that death would ensue, were the cup\ntouched and a lie told. Or the suspected would first place a handful of\ngrass on the stone or other representative of the village god, and laying\nhis hands on it, say, \u2018In the presence of our chiefs now assembled, I\nlay my hand on the stone; if I stole the thing, may I speedily die,\u2019\nthe grass being a symbolical curse of the destruction he invoked on all\nhis family, of the _grass_ that might grow over their dwellings. The\nolder ordeal of fixing the guilt upon a person to whom the face of a\nspun cocoa-nut pointed when it rested, shows how ordeals may survive in\nuse after the attainment of judicial oaths and contemporaneously with\nthem.[241]\n\nTo understand the binding force of oaths among savages it is necessary\nto observe how closely connected they are with savage ideas of fetichism\nand their belief in witchcraft as a really active natural force. The\nhair or food of a man, which a savage burns to rid himself of an enemy,\nis no mere symbol of that enemy so much as in some sense that enemy\nhimself. The physical act of touching the thing invoked has reference to\nfeelings of casual connection between things, as in Samoa, where a man,\nto attest his veracity, would touch his eyes, to indicate a wish that\nblindness might strike him if he lied, or would dig a hole in the ground,\nto indicate a wish that he might be buried in the event of falsehood.\nIn Kamschatka, if a thief remained undetected, the elders would summon\nall the ostrog together, young and old, and, forming a circle round the\nfire, cause certain incantations to be employed. After the incantations\nthe sinews of the back and feet of a wild sheep were thrown into the fire\nwith magical words, and the wish expressed that the hands and feet of the\nculprit might grow crooked; there being apparently a connection assumed\nbetween the action of the fire on the animal\u2019s sinews and on the limbs\nof the man. And in Sweden there are still cunning men who can deprive a\nreal thief of his eye, by cutting a human figure on the bark of a tree\nand driving nails and arrows into the representative feature. But perhaps\nthe best illustration of this feeling is the practice of the Ostiaks,\nwho offer their wives, if they suspect them of infidelity, a handful\nof bear\u2019s hairs, believing that, if they touch them and are guilty,\nthey will be bitten by a bear within the space of three days. It would\nseem that oaths appeal to the same idea of vicarious or representative\ninfluence, a real but invisible connection being imagined between the\nactual thing touched and the calamity invoked in touching it.\n\nInstances from the oaths of other tribes will manifest the operation of\nthe same feeling as that which makes grass a symbol of utter ruin in\nSamoa, or some bear\u2019s hairs of a bear\u2019s bite among the Ostiaks.\n\nNorth Asiatic tribes have in use three kinds of oaths, the first and\nleast solemn one being for the accused to face the sun with a knife,\npretending to fight against it, and to cry aloud, \u2018If I am guilty,\nmay the sun cause sickness to rage in my body like this knife!\u2019 The\nsecond form of oath is to cry aloud from the tops of certain mountains,\ninvoking death, loss of children and cattle, or bad luck in hunting,\nin the case of guilt being real. But the most solemn oath of all is to\nexclaim, in drinking some of the blood of a dog, killed expressly by\nthe elders and burnt or thrown away, \u2018If I die, may I perish, decay,\nor burn away like this dog.\u2019[242] Very similar is the oath in Sumatra,\nwhere, a beast having been slain, the swearer says, \u2018If I break my\noath, may I be slaughtered as this beast, and swallowed as this heart\nI now consume.\u2019[243] The most solemn oath of the Bedouins, that of the\ncross-lines, is also characterised by the same belief which appears in\nthe case of the slain beast affecting with sympathetic decay anyone\nguilty of perjury. If a Bedouin cannot convict a man he suspects of theft\nit is usual for him to take the suspected before a sheikh or kady, and\nthere to call upon him to swear any oath he may demand. If the defendant\nagrees, he is led to a certain distance from the camp, \u2018because the\nmagical nature of the oath might prove pernicious to the general body\nof Arabs were it to take place in their vicinity.\u2019 Then the plaintiff\ndraws with his sekin, or crooked knife, a large circle in the sand with\nmany cross-lines inside it, places his right foot inside it, causes the\ndefendant to do the same, and makes him say after himself, \u2018By God,\nand in God, and through God, I swear I did not take the thing, nor is\nit in my possession.\u2019 To make the oath still more solemn, the accused\noften puts also in the circle an ant and a bit of camel\u2019s skin, the one\nexpressive of a hope that he may never be destitute of camel\u2019s milk,\nthe other of a hope that he may never lack the winter substance of an\nant.[244]\n\nFirm, however, as is the savage belief that the consequences of perjury\nare death or disease, a belief which shows itself not unfrequently in\nactually inferring the fact of perjury from the fact of death, escape\nfrom the obligation of an oath is not unknown among savages. On the\nGuinea Coast recourse was had to the common expedient of priestly\nabsolution, so that when a man took a draught-oath, imprecating death\non himself if he failed in his promise, the priests were sometimes\ncompelled to take an oath too, to the effect that they would not employ\ntheir absolving powers to release him. In Abyssinia a simpler process\nseems to be in vogue; for the king, on one occasion having sworn by a\ncross, thus addressed his servants: \u2018You see the oath I have taken; I\nscrape it clean away from my tongue that made it.\u2019 Thereupon he scraped\nhis tongue and spat away his oath, thus validly releasing himself from\nit.[245]\n\nIt does not appear that savages refine on their motives for punishment,\nthe sum of their political philosophy in this respect being rather to\ninflict penalties that accord with their ideas of retribution deserved\nfor each case or crime, than to deter other criminals by warning\nexamples. The statement that New Zealanders beat thieves to death, and\nthen hung them on a cross on the top of a hill, as a warning example,\nconflicts with another account which says that thieves were punished\nby banishment.[246] But, subject to the influence of collateral\ncircumstances, savage penal laws appear to be as fixed, regular,\nand well-known, as inflexibly bound by precedent, as often improved\nby the intelligence of individual chiefs, as penal laws are in more\nadvanced societies. The case of an Ashantee king, who, limiting the\nnumber of lives to be sacrificed at his mother\u2019s funeral, resisted all\nimportunities and appeals to precedent for a greater number, is not\nwithout parallel in reforms of law. Thus we may read of one Caffre chief\nwho abolished in his tribe the fine payable for the crime of approaching\na chief\u2019s krall with the head covered by a blanket; whilst another chief\nmade the homicide of a man taken in adultery a capital offence, thus\ntransferring the punishment for the crime from the individual to the\ntribe.[247]\n\nIn legal customs analogous to those of the savage or rather\nsemi-civilized world, the legal institutions of civilized countries,\ntheir methods of procedure, of extorting truth, of punishing crimes, seem\nto have their root and explanation. For this reason the same interest\nattaches to the legal institutions of modern savages as attaches to the\nlaws of the ancient Germanic tribes or to the ordinances of Menu, the\ninterest, that is, of descent or relationship. The oath, for instance,\nof our law courts presupposes in the past, if not in the present,\nprecisely the same state of thought as the oath customary in Samoa; and\nthe same virtue inherent in touching and kissing the Bible in England,\nor the cross in Russia, leads the Tunguse Lapp to touch and then kiss\nthe cannon, gun, or sword, by which he swears allegiance to the Russian\ncrown.[248] The Highlander of olden time, kissing his dirk, to invoke\ndeath by it if he lied, is a similar instance of the survival of the\nprimitive conception, that physical contact with a thing creates a\nspiritual dependence upon it. The ordeal, so lately the judicial test of\nwitchcraft, still retains a foothold of faith among our country people,\nas is proved by the fact that not longer ago than 1863 an octogenarian\ndied in consequence of having been \u2018swum\u2019 as a wizard at Little\nHedingham, in Essex. And, lastly, the English law that no person could\ninherit an estate from anyone convicted of treason, or from a suicide,\nshows how naturally the savage law of collective responsibility, in\nreality so unjust, may survive into times of civilisation, whilst the\nignominy still attached to the blood-relations of a criminal shows with\nwhat difficulty the feeling is eradicated.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\n_EARLY WEDDING CUSTOMS._\n\n\nAmid the wonderful uniformity which pervades the thoughts and customs of\nthe world some strange reversals here and there occur, as where white\nis the colour significative of grief, or where to turn one\u2019s back on\na person is a sign of reverence. But perhaps few such reversals are\nmore curious than the custom of the Garos, in India, who consider any\ninfringement of the rule that all proposals of marriage must come from\nthe female side as an insult to the _mah\u00e1ri_ to which the lady belongs,\nonly to be atoned for by liberal donations of beer and pigs from the\nman\u2019s _mah\u00e1ri_ to that of the \u2018proposee.\u2019 More curious, however, than\neven this is their marriage ceremony; at which, after the bride has been\nbathed in the nearest stream, the wedding party proceed to the house of\nthe bridegroom, \u2018_who pretends to be unwilling and runs away, but is\ncaught_ and subjected to a similar ablution, and _then taken, in spite of\nthe resistance and counterfeited grief and lamentations of his parents,\nto the bride\u2019s house_.\u2019[249]\n\nAn exactly analogous custom as regards the bride\u2019s behaviour at her\nwedding is sufficiently well known; and if it has been correctly\ninterpreted as the survival, in form and symbol, of a system of capturing\nwives from a neighbouring tribe, there must have been a time when among\nthe Garos a husband could only have been obtained in a similar way. The\nimprobability of this suggests the possibility of some other explanation\nunderlying the reluctance, feigned or real, with which it is common in\nsavage life for a girl to enter upon the paths of matrimony, and for the\nshow of resistance with which her friends oppose her departure with her\nhusband.\n\nIn many instances this peculiar feature of primitive life appears as\nsimply the outcome of feelings and affections which are the same,\nhowsoever different in expression, in savage as in civilised lands. The\nconviction that there is an utter absence of anything like love between\nchildren and their parents, or between men and women, in the ruder social\ncommunities, is so strong and has been so often dwelt upon, that in\nspeculations on this subject there is a tendency and danger of altogether\noverlooking the influence of natural affection in the formation of\ncustoms. It is needful, therefore, to preface the present chapter with a\nbrief reference to the express statements of missionaries and travellers;\nfor if it can be shown that there is such a thing as affection between\nparents and children, the inference is fair that neither would parents\npart with their children nor children leave their parents without mutual\nregret, when the children are married.\n\nOf the Fijians, so famous for their cannibalism and their parenticide,\nit is declared to be \u2018truly touching to see how parents are attached to\ntheir children and children to their parents.\u2019[250] Among the Tongans,\nwho would sacrifice their children cruelly for the recovery of the sick,\nchildren were \u2018taken the utmost care of.\u2019[251] The New Zealanders were\nnot guiltless of infanticide, yet \u2018some of them, and especially the\nfathers, seemed fond of their children.\u2019[252] The Papuans of New Guinea\nmanifested \u2018respect for the aged, love for their children, and fidelity\nto their wives.\u2019[253] In Africa, Mungo Park says of the Mandingoes: \u2018The\nmaternal affection is everywhere conspicuous among them, and creates\na corresponding return of tenderness in the child.\u2019[254] Among the\nEastern Ethiopians were women who lived a wild life in the woods; yet\nthe testimony is the same: \u2018However barbarous these people be by nature,\nthey yet are not devoid of feeling for their children; these they rear\nwith nicest care, and for their provision strive to amass what property\nthey can.\u2019[255] Yoruba \u2018children are much beloved by both parents.\u2019[256]\nLove for their children unites the greater number of the Bushmen for\ntheir whole lives.[257] In North America the Thlinkeet Indians \u2018treat\ntheir wives and children with much affection and kindness.\u2019[258] Among\nthe Greenlanders, says Cranz, \u2018the bonds of filial and parental love\nseem stronger than amongst any other nations.\u2019 Their fondness for\ntheir children is great; parents seldom let them out of their sight,\nand mothers often throw themselves in the water to save a child from\ndrowning. In return ingratitude towards their aged parents is \u2018scarcely\never exemplified among them.\u2019[259] Of the natives of Australia, Sir G.\nGrey says that they \u2018are always ardently attached to their children,\u2019 and\nsimilar testimony has been borne to the parental affection even of the\nTasmanians.[260]\n\nBut, lest it should be thought that these evidences are drawn from\nthe higher savagery, let appeal be made to the case of savages who\nconfessedly belong to the lowest known types of mankind, the Andaman\nIslanders, the Veddahs, and the Fuejians.\n\nIn reference to the first it is said that \u2018the parents are fond of their\nchildren, and the affection is reciprocal.\u2019[261] The Veddahs are not only\n\u2018kind and constant to their wives,\u2019 but \u2018fond of their children;\u2019[262]\nwhilst Mr. Parker Snow saw among the Fuejians \u2018many instances of warm\nlove and affection for their children;\u2019[263] so that if in the sequel\nwe find daughters at their marriage displaying a real or simulated\nrepugnance to their fate, the fact need not appear to us of such extreme\nmystery as it otherwise might, nor as one in which natural affection can\nplay no part.\n\nA recent Italian writer on the primitive domestic state says that \u2018la\npassione viva d\u2019amore che suole attribuirsi ai popoli primitivi ... \u00e9\nuna pura illusione.\u2019[264] But happily for the primitive populations,\ntheir lot is far from being really thus unbrightened by love, though\nwith them, as with the rest of the world, it is a frequent cause of wars\nand quarrels, interfering especially with the savage custom of infant\nbetrothal, and leading to elopements in defeat of parental contracts.\nIt is peculiar to neither sex. A Tahitian girl, love-stricken, but not\nencouraged, led her friends, by her threats of suicide, to persuade the\nobject of her affections to make her his wife.[265] The Tongans had a\npretty legend of a young chief, who, having fallen in love with a maiden\nalready betrothed to a superior, saved her, when she was condemned to be\nkilled with the other relations of a rebel, by hiding her in a cavern he\nhad found, whence they finally effected their joint escape to Fiji.[266]\nNew Zealand mythology abounds in love-tales. There is the tale of Hinemoa\nand Tutanekai, which begins with stolen glances, and ends in a nocturnal\nswim on the part of Hinemoa to the island, whither the music of her\nlover guided her. There is the tale also of Takaranji and Raumahora\u2014of\nTakaranji, who, though besieging her father in his fortress, consented\nto present both of them with water in their distress. \u2018And Takaranji\ngazed eagerly at the young girl, and she too looked eagerly at Takaranji\n... and as the warriors of the army of Takaranji looked on, lo, he had\nclimbed up and was sitting at the young maiden\u2019s side; and they said\namong themselves, \u201cO comrades, our lord Takaranji loves war, but one\nwould think he likes Raumahora almost as well.\u2019\u201d[267]\n\nNor would it be fair to argue, because in most savage tribes the hard\nwork of life devolves upon the women, that therefore there is an\nentire absence of affection in savage households, whether polygamous\nor otherwise, during their continuance. It is scarcely a hundred years\nago that in Caithness \u2018the hard work was chiefly done, and the burdens\nborne, by the women; and if a cottier lost a horse, it was not unusual\nfor him to marry a wife as the cheapest substitute.\u2019[268] The Fuejians,\nwhose condition Captain Weddell felt compelled to describe as that of\nthe lowest of mankind, and whose women did all the work, gathering the\nshellfish, managing the canoes, and building the wigwams, are said to\nhave shown \u2018a good deal of affection for their wives,\u2019 and care for their\noffspring.[269] Among the Fijians, who made their women carry all the\nheavy loads and do all the field-work, and who remonstrated with the\nTongans for their more humane treatment of them, not only have widows\nbeen known to kill themselves if their relatives refused to do the duty\nwhich custom laid upon them\u2014namely, of killing them at their husbands\u2019\nburial\u2014but \u2018even widowers, in the depth of their grief, have frequently\nterminated their existence when deprived of a dearly beloved wife.\u2019[270]\nIn India, Abor husbands treated their wives with a consideration that\nappeared \u2018singular in so rude a race.\u2019[271] In America the lot of a\nwoman was generally one of hardship; yet, says Schoolcraft, \u2018the gentler\naffections have a much more extensive and powerful exercise among the\nIndians than is generally believed.\u2019[272] Carib husbands are said to\nhave had much love for their wives, like as it was to a straw fire,\nexcept with respect to the first wife they married.[273] Of the Thlinkeet\nIndians, characterised by great cruelty to prisoners and other marks of\nmuch barbarity, it is said that \u2018there are few savage nations in which\nthe women have greater influence or command greater respect.\u2019[274] \u2018It\nis one of the fine traits,\u2019 says Schweinfurth of the cannibal Niam-Niam,\n\u2018that they display an affection for their wives which is unparalleled\namong natives of so low a grade ... a husband will spare no sacrifice to\nredeem an imprisoned wife.\u2019[275] Though against this evidence there is\nmuch of a darker character to be set, the above instances will suffice\nto demonstrate the real existence, the real operation, among some of\nthe rudest representatives of our species, of ordinary feelings of love\nand affection. As in geology so in ethnology it holds true, that the\naction of known existing causes is sufficient to account for much that is\nobscure in the past and for all that is strange in the present.\n\nHaving so far cleared the ground as to be justified in postulating the\nexistence of ordinary feelings of affection between parents and children,\nand between men and women, as _ver\u00e6 caus\u00e6_, or real forces, even in\nthe lowest known savage life, let us pass to the inference that at no\ntime are those feelings more likely to be called into play than at a\ntime when the daughter of a family is about to leave her parents, and\nperhaps her clan, to live henceforth with a man whom she may not even\nknow, or knows only to dislike.[276] In China, where on the wedding-day\nthe bride is locked up in a sedan-chair, and the key and chair consigned\nto the bridegroom, who may not see her before that day, a traveller\nonce witnessed a separation between the bride and her family. \u2018All the\nfamily appeared much affected, particularly the women, who sobbed aloud;\nthe father shed tears, and the daughter _was with difficulty torn from\nthe embraces of her parents_ and placed in the sedan-chair.\u2019[277] It\nseems more likely in this case that the reluctance and resistance were\nreal, than that they were merely the symbols, conventionally observed,\nof a system of wife-capture. But in many instances it is impossible\nto distinguish a real from a feigned grief. A witness of the marriage\nceremonies among the Tartars, who describes the bride and her girl\nfriends as raising piteous lamentations beforehand, says that the poor\ngirl either was or appeared to be a most unwilling victim.[278]\n\nJenkinson, one of the earliest English travellers in Russia, noticed the\nsame custom there, but thought it affectation. On the day of marriage\nthe bride would in nowise consent to leave the house to go to church,\nbut would resist, strive, and weep, only suffering herself to be led\nthere by force, with her face covered, to hide her simulated grief, and\nmaking a great noise, as though she were sobbing and weeping, all the way\nto the scene of her wedding.[279] But a modern French writer ascribes\nsome reality to the custom, mentioning that traditional songs are still\nsung in which the young bride addresses words of regret and sorrow to\nher parents in the midst of her preparations for the nuptial feast.[280]\nBefore this last ceremony she is accustomed to go the round of her\nvillage, with a woman who calls for the sympathy of her hearers for the\nyoung girl whose carefree existence is about to be exchanged for the\ntroubles and anxieties of married life.[281]\n\nYet, if in China and Russia, much more among uncivilized tribes, would\nthe life in prospect for a bride, unless perchance her wishes coincided\nwith her parents\u2019 interest, cause her to leave the home of her youth with\nsomething more than those \u2018light regrets\u2019 which cause tears to commingle\nwith smiles even in England. Greenland girls, says Cranz, do nothing\ntill they are fourteen but sing, dance, and romp about; but a life of\nslavery is in store for them as soon as they are fit for it; \u2018while\nthey remain with their parents they are well off, but from twenty years\nof age till death their life is one series of anxieties, wretchedness,\nand toil.\u2019[282] Marriage is a fate they would not seek, but cannot\navoid. Should they, however, not oppose it, they must enter upon it with\nreluctance, not with alacrity.\n\nIt is worth noticing the reason Cranz gives for this reluctance, because,\nin so far as modern savages may be taken to represent primitive life,\nit proves the existence, in that condition, of notions, howsoever they\nmay have arisen, which are exactly analogous to those we connote by\nthe word \u2018modesty.\u2019 When the two old women, commissioned to negotiate\nwith a girl\u2019s parents on behalf of a young man, first give a hint of\ntheir purpose by praise of him and of his family, \u2018the damsel directly\nfalls into the greatest apparent consternation and runs out of doors,\ntearing her bunch of hair; for _single women always affect the utmost\nbashfulness and aversion to any proposal of marriage, lest they should\nlose their reputation for modesty_, though their destined husbands\nbe previously well assured of their acquiescence.\u2019[283] Not, indeed,\nthat the reluctance is always feigned, for sometimes the name of her\nproposed husband causes her to swoon, to elope to a desert place, or to\neffectually free herself from further addresses, by cutting off her hair\nin token of grief. Should, however, her parents consent to the match,\nthe usual course is for the old women to go in search of her, \u2018and _drag\nher forcibly into the suitor\u2019s house_, where she sits for several days\nquite disconsolate, with dishevelled hair, and refuses nourishment. When\nfriendly exhortations are unavailing she is compelled by force, and even\nblows, to receive her husband.\u2019\n\nIn Greenland, then, as in China, the form of capture resolves itself\neither into a most unequivocal reluctance to leave home or to a\nreluctance so to do feigned from feelings of bashfulness. Nor about this\nbashfulness does it appear that Cranz was in error, for Egede agrees\nsubstantially with him, telling how the bridegroom, when he has obtained\nher parents\u2019 and relations\u2019 consent, sends some old women _to carry away\nthe bride by force_; \u2018for though she ever so much approves of the match,\nyet _out of modesty she must make as if it went against the grain, and\nas if she were much ruffled at it; else she will be blamed and get an\nill name_.\u2019 When brought to his hut, therefore, she sits in a corner\nwith dishevelled hair, \u2018covering her face, being bashful and ashamed.\u2019\nFor \u2018_a new-married woman is ashamed of having changed her condition\nfor a married state_;\u2019[284] and this feeling occurs again plainly in\nSouth-Eastern Russia, where, on the eve of marriage, the bride goes round\nthe village, throwing herself on her knees before the head of each house\nand _begging his pardon_.[285]\n\nThis last statement of Egede is most important, since it proves the\nexistence of feelings which seem really to contain the keynote of the\nsymbol of capture, however slight the reasons for suspecting their\npresence in particular cases. The sentiment prevalent in Greenland has\nalso been noticed among the Tartars, for an authentic witness writes,\n\u2018that if one tells a Tartar girl that it is said she is about to be\nmarried, she runs immediately out of the room and will never speak to a\nstranger on that subject.\u2019[286] It has been justly observed that it is\nunlikely feminine delicacy should diminish with civilization. But the\nprinciple _impuris omnia impura_ will meet the difficulty. The Aleutian\nIslander, says a Russian writer, \u2018knows nothing of what civilized nations\ncall modesty. He has his own ideas of what is modest and proper, while\nwe should consider them foolish.\u2019[287] For, addicted though he is to the\nworst vices of the Northern nations, he will yet blush to address his\nwife or ask her for anything in the presence of strangers, and will be\nbashful if he be caught doing anything unusual, as, for instance, buying\nor selling directly for himself without the agency of an intermediary.\n\nCharacteristic as it is of savages to express all the feelings they share\nwith us with an energy intensified a hundredfold, as is shown abundantly\nin our different manner of grieving for the dead, it is not surprising\nif we find their feelings of the kind in question display themselves\nin extraordinary and often ludicrous rules of social intercourse. The\nsame rule, that an Aleutian husband and wife might not be seen speaking\ntogether, led Kolbe to think that no such thing as affection existed\namong the Hottentots. But this was simply for the same reason that\nprohibited the Hottentot wife from ever setting foot in her husband\u2019s\napartment in the hut, or the latter from ever entering hers except by\nstealth.[288] Among the Yorubas a woman betrothed by her parents is so\nfar a wife that prematrimonial unfaithfulness is accounted adultery;\n\u2018yet conventional modesty forbids her to speak to her husband, or even\nto see him, if it can be avoided.\u2019[289] A minority of the Afghan tribes\nare careful to keep up a similar reserve between the time of betrothal\nand marriage, so that, as among the warlike Eusofyzes, no man can see\nhis wife till the completion of the marriage ceremony.[290] Among the\nMongols not only may bride and bridegroom not see each other within\nthe same period, but the bride is not allowed to see his parents.[291]\nIn Russia it was once a disgrace for a young man to propose directly\nto a lady, and between the day of settling the dowry with her parents\nand the day of marriage he was strictly forbidden the house of his\nbetrothed.[292] But many tribes continue such reserve even after\nmarriage. A Circassian bridegroom must not see his wife or live with\nher without the greatest mystery: \u2018this reserve continues during life.\nA Circassian will sometimes permit a stranger to see his wife, but he\nmust not accompany him.\u2019[293] In parts of Fiji which are still unmodified\nby Christian teaching it is \u2018quite contrary to ideas of delicacy that a\nman ever remains under the same roof with his wife or wives at night.\u2019\nIf they wish to meet, they must appoint a secret rendezvous.[294] And a\nsimilar law of social decorum prevails, or prevailed, among the Spartans,\nLycians, Turcomans, and some tribes of America,[295] though the processes\nof thought which led to such customs lie lost, perhaps hopelessly, behind\nthe darkness of a thousand ages.\n\nThe custom, again, of deserting a husband and returning home for a longer\nor shorter period, as found among the Votyaks of Russia and the Mezeyne\nArabs, may possibly be traced to feelings of the same description, for we\nread that among the Hos, \u2018after remaining with her husband for three days\nonly, it is _the correct thing for the wife to run away_ from him and\ntell all her friends that she loves him not, and will see him no more;\u2019\nit is also _correct_ for the husband to manifest great anxiety for his\nloss, and diligently to seek his wife, and \u2018when he finds her _he carries\nher off by main force_.\u2019[296] This second show of resistance, customary\nalso among the Votyaks, seems difficult to explain as a traditional\nsymbol of a system of capture.\n\nIt is possible that in similar primitive ideas originated the curious\nrestrictions on the intercourse between a man and his mother-in-law,\nor between a woman and her father-in-law. On the theory that these are\nremnants of the real anger shown by parents when capture was real, it\nis not easy to account for the fact that in Fiji the restriction as\nto eating or speaking together existed not only between parents and\nchildren-in-law, or brothers and sisters-in-law, but between brothers\nand sisters of the same family, and also between first cousins.[297] In\nSuffolk \u2018it is (or was) very remarkable that neither father nor mother\nof bride or bridegroom come with them to church\u2019 at the weddings of\nagricultural labourers; and it is said that at Russian weddings also the\nparents are forbidden to be present, though the priest sometimes waives\nthe prohibition in favour of persons of the higher classes.[298]\n\nThere is, therefore, no _\u00e0 priori_ inconceivability against the theory\nthat kicking and screaming at weddings, where they do not arise from\ngenuine reluctance, are really a tribute to conventional propriety; that,\nat the marriages of the uncivilized, just as at their burials, shrieks\nand violence take the place of tears, and a vigorous struggle argues\na modest deportment. The evidence of quite independent eye-witnesses\nconfirms this interpretation. The Thlinkeet Indian, on his wedding-day,\ngoes to the bride\u2019s house and sits with his back to her door. All her\nrelations then \u2018raise a song, to allure the coy bride out of the corner\nwhere she has been sitting;\u2019 after which she goes to sit by her husband\u2019s\nside; but \u2018_all this time she must keep her head bowed down_,\u2019 nor is she\nallowed to take part in the festivities of the day.[299]\n\nAtkinson, who was witness of the first visit of a Kirghiz bridegroom\nto his wife, declares that the latter could only be persuaded by the\npressure of her female relations to see him at all; \u2018after a display\nof much coyness she consented, and was led by her friends to his\ndwelling.\u2019[300]\n\nIn Kamschatka the original etiquette was for women to cover their faces\nwith some kind of veil when they went out, and if they met any man on the\nroad whom they could not avoid, to stand with their backs to him until\nhe had passed. They would also, if a stranger entered their huts, turn\ntheir face to the wall or else hide behind a curtain of nettles.[301]\nKamschatka, however, being the last place where one would have looked\nfor such prudery, it is possible that the feelings of the Greenlanders\nwere also operative in the marriage customs of the Kamschadals. These\nwere rather extraordinary, the form of capture being anything but a mere\nsymbol for an aspirant to matrimony. Such an one, having looked for a\nbride in some neighbouring village (seldom in his own), would offer his\nservices to the parent for a fixed term, and after some time would ask\nfor leave to seize the daughter for his bride. This obtained, he would\nseek to find her alone or ill-attended, the marriage being complete\non his tearing from her some of the coats, fish-nets, and straps with\nwhich from the day of proposal she was constantly enveloped. This was\nnever an easy matter, for she was never left alone a single instant,\nher mother and a number of old women accompanying her everywhere,\nsleeping with her, and never losing her out of sight upon any pretext\nwhatever. Any attempt to execute his task entailed upon the suitor\nsuch kicking, hair-pulling, and face-scratching, at the hands of this\nfemale body-guard, that sometimes a year or more would elapse before\nhe was entitled to call himself a husband; nay, there is record of one\npertinacious bachelor who found himself at the end of seven years, in\nconsequence of such treatment, not a husband, but a cripple. If he were\ndisheartened by repeated failures he incurred great disgrace and lost\nall claim to the alliance; and if the bride continued obdurate from real\ndislike, he was ultimately expelled from the village.[302] But, however\nwell-disposed towards him she might be, she had always to simulate\nrefusal as a point of honour, and proof was always required \u2018that she was\ntaken by surprise and made fruitless efforts to defend herself.\u2019[303]\n\nThe Bushmen, again, generally betroth their daughters as children without\nconsulting them; but should a girl grow up unbetrothed her consent to be\nmarried is as necessary as that of her parents to her lover\u2019s suit, \u2018and\non this occasion his attentions are received with an affectation of great\nalarm and disinclination on her part.\u2019[304]\n\nIf, then, Greenlanders, Kamschadals, Thlinkeet Indians, and even Bushmen,\ncarry their notions of propriety to the extent asserted by eye-witnesses,\nit is scarcely surprising to find very similar rules of etiquette among\nthe more advanced Zulus of Africa or Bedouins of Arabia in their wedding\nceremonials; especially when we are told that in some parts Bedouin\nwomen sit down and turn their backs to any man they cannot avoid on the\nroad, and refuse to take anything from the hands of a stranger.[305]\n\u2018The principal idea of a Kaffir wedding seems to be to show the great\nunwillingness of the girl to be transformed into a wife,\u2019 for which\nreason a Zulu wife simulates several attempts to escape.[306] Both the\nArabs of Sinai and the Aenezes enact the form of capture to the greatest\nperfection; among the latter \u2018the bashful girl\u2019 runs from the tent of\none friend to another till she is caught at last, whilst among the\nformer she acquires permanent repute in proportion to her struggles of\nresistance. And if a Sinai Arab marries a bride belonging to a distant\ntribe, she is placed on a camel and led to her husband\u2019s camp escorted by\nwomen: during which procession \u2018_decency obliges her to cry and sob most\nbitterly_.\u2019[307] Also, among the modern Egyptians, \u2018if the bridegroom\nis young, one of his friends has to _carry him_ part of the way to the\nhareem, to _show his bashfulness_.\u2019[308] So that where the carrying of\nthe bride or bridegroom is not merely due to the same feelings that\ncaused our own ancestors to add solemnity to their weddings by such\nsingular sights as blue postilions, it appears in many cases to be\nnothing more than a prudish way of saying, that matrimony is and ought to\nbe an estate forced upon reluctant victims, not entered upon by voluntary\nagents. The early Christian Church said the same; but where the saint and\nthe savage meet in sentiment they differ in expression.\n\nWere it not for some of the concomitant and incidental signs, the bowed\nor veiled head, the dishevelled hair, it might be said that the positive\nstatements of Cranz, Egede, Burchell, and other writers arose from\nmalobservation or from pure mistake. This objection, therefore, is of\nlittle avail; and however difficult it may be to account for the presence\nof such sentiments among tribes of so rude a type as the Esquimaux,\nthe Kamschadals, and the Bushmen, the fact remains, that in the cases\nabove cited the \u2018form of capture\u2019 is explicable as having its origin in\nprimitive conceptions of what is due to delicacy; as being, in fact, the\noriginal expression of them in the language of pantomime so common to\nsavages.[309] And the presence of such feelings of delicacy may be often\nsuspected, even where they are not directly mentioned, in the ceremony\nof capture; as, for instance, in the African kingdom of Futa, where the\nform of capture prevails in the usual way, but where we have the indirect\nevidence that for months after marriage the bride never stirs abroad\nwithout a veil, and that Futa wives are \u2018so bashful that they never\npermit their husbands to see them unveiled for three years after their\nmarriage.\u2019[310]\n\nThere is, however, no reason to press this explanation too far, nor\nto account it the only efficient cause. Quite as potent, and perhaps\na more natural one, is dislike and disinclination on the part of the\nbride, which compels the bridegroom to resort to force. The conditions\nof savage life are a sufficient explanation of this, irrespective of any\nold custom of capturing wives out of a tribe by reason of a prejudice\nagainst marrying within it. A man proposes personally or mediately to\nthe parents or relations of the woman he fancies for a wife; if they\nconsent to accept him as a son-in-law and they agree as to a price, there\nis a reserved stipulation on the part of the vendor: \u2018_If you can get\nher._\u2019 In Tartary, in the thirteenth century, after such a bargain, the\ndaughter would flee to one of her kinsfolk to hide; the father would say\nto the husband, \u2018My daughter is yours; take her wheresoever you can find\nher.\u2019 The suitor, seeking with his friends till he found her, would then\ntake her by force and carry her home.[311] Here the girl\u2019s reluctance is\nnot so much feigned as overridden, and is only so far formal in that it\nis entirely disregarded. Often it is no mere ceremony on her part, but a\nnatural and genuine protest\u2014a protest against being treated as a chattel,\nnot as an individual\u2014but a protest which, opposed as it is to parental\npersuasion and marital force, tends, as far as the husband is concerned,\nto pass into the region of the merest ceremony.\n\nA few instances will suffice to illustrate the co-operation of dislike\nand force in savage matrimony. In some Californian tribes the consent\nof the girl is necessary, although \u2018if she violently opposes the match\nshe is seldom compelled to marry or to be sold.\u2019 Among the Neshenam\ntribe of the same people \u2018the girl has no voice whatever in the matter,\nand resistance on her part merely occasions brute force to be used by\nher purchaser.\u2019[312] So in the Utah country, where \u2018families and tribes\nliving at peace would steal each others\u2019 wives and children and sell\nthem as slaves,\u2019 a wife is usually bought of her parents; but should she\nrefuse, \u2018the warrior collects his friends, _carries off the recusant\nfair_,\u2019 and thus espouses her.[313] So among the Navajoes \u2018the consent\nof the father is absolute, and the one so purchased assents _or is taken\naway by force_.\u2019[314] It is the same with the Horse Indians of Patagonia.\nThere, as elsewhere, it is common for a cacique to have several wives,\nand poor men only one, marriages being \u2018made by sale more frequently\nthan by mutual agreement.\u2019 The price is often high, and girls are\nbetrothed without their knowledge in infancy and married without their\nconsent at maturity. But \u2018if a girl dislikes a match made for her she\nresists; and although _dragged forcibly to the tent of her lawful owner_,\nplagues him so much by her contumacy that he at last turns her away,\nand sells her to the person on whom she has fixed her affections.\u2019[315]\nIn Africa, Yorubas, Mandingoes, and Koossa Kafirs follow the custom of\ninfant betrothal (and it is worth notice as being quite in accordance\nwith the theory that kinship was originally traced through mothers,\nthat Yoruba, Mandingo, and Loango Africans, and some Esquimaux tribes,\nregard the mother\u2019s consent only as necessary to an engagement);[316]\nbut sometimes a Yoruba girl, when the time comes for her to fulfil her\nmother\u2019s engagement, preferring some other than the intended husband,\nabsolutely refuses to co-operate. \u2018Then she is either teased and worried\ninto submission or the husband agrees to receive back her dowry and\nrelease her.\u2019[317] A Mandingo girl must either marry a suitor chosen for\nher or remain ever afterwards unmarried. Should she refuse, the lover is\nauthorized by the parents \u2018by the laws of the country to seize on the\ngirl as his slave.\u2019[318] If a Koossa girl, bound by the contract of her\nparents, \u2018makes any attempt at resisting the union, corporal punishment\nis even resorted to, in order to compel her submission.\u2019[319]\n\nIt appears, therefore, that resistance on the part of the bride in many\ncases procures her ultimate release, so that her wishes in the matter\nare always an element to be considered. In all contracts of marriage,\nto which she is seldom a party, there is accordingly, in the nature of\nthings, an implied covenant that a daughter shall be so far allowed\na voice in the matter that if she can make good her resistance she\nshall not become the property of the intending purchaser. The frequency\nwith which it must have occurred that a girl would defeat a match she\ndisliked by flight, elopement, or resistance, would tend to create\na sort of common law right, for all daughters sold in marriage to a\ncertain \u2018run\u2019 for their independence;[320] and the amusement naturally\nconnected with the exercise of such a right would help to preserve the\ncustom in a modified form; so that, however slight in some cases might\nbe the modesty of the bride or her dislike of her suitor, her friends,\nif only for the sport of the thing, would gladly enact the fiction of an\noutrage to be resented, of a woman to be defended. In all the interesting\ncases of the form of capture cited by Sir John Lubbock it appears that\nin eight (that is, among the Mantras, the Kalmucks, the Fuejians, the\nFijians, the New Zealanders, the Papuans of New Guinea, the Philippine\nIslanders, and the African Kafirs and Futas), the ceremony affords the\nbride a chance of an effectual escape from a match she dislikes. Should\nshe fly, should she hide successfully, or should her friends defend her\nsuccessfully, the contract between her parents and suitor becomes null\nand void; or sometimes, as among the Zulus and Bassutos, the price for\nher is raised.[321] And it is remarkable with what precision the rules of\nthe chase have been elaborated in many instances; as by the Oleepas of\nCentral California, among whom, if a bride is found twice out of three\ntimes, she is legally the seeker\u2019s; and the bridegroom, if he fails the\nfirst time, is allowed a second and final attempt a few weeks later.\n\u2018The simple result is, that if the girl likes him she hides where she is\neasily found; but if she disapproves of the match a dozen Indians cannot\nfind her.\u2019[322]\n\nOther feelings would also be present to sustain the pretence of\nwife-capture. For the savage parent, in parting with his daughter for a\nfavourable settlement, does not act from gratuitous cruelty; he provides\nfor her future as best he can, sometimes in accordance with her wishes,\nsometimes against them. As a rule marriage for her is a change for the\nworse; but if she does not dislike the bridegroom to the extent of\navailing herself of her prescriptive and real chance of escape, her\nnatural feelings for her parents and relations would make it incumbent\non her at least to affect a dutiful regret at leaving them (in cases\nwhere she does), by a half-bashful, half-serious resistance. It would\nbe difficult to find a case of capture, whether in form or in fact,\nwhich is not readily explicable as simply the outcome of the natural\naffections and their protest against so artificial an arrangement as\nmarriage by purchase; for with marriage by purchase the form of capture\nalways co-exists, so that capture was not necessarily an earlier mode\nof marriage than that by purchase or agreement. The mock fights between\nthe party of the bride and that of the bridegroom among so many Indian\ntribes;[323] the dances, lasting several days, during which it is the\nbusiness of the squaws to keep the bridegroom at a distance from his\nbride, among the Tucanas of South America;[324] the similar duty which\ndevolves on the matrons of the tribe at Sumatran weddings;[325] the mock\nskirmishes at Arab weddings, and the efforts of the negresses to keep the\nbridegroom away from the camel of the bride;[326] these are surely more\nintelligible, as arising from the rude ideas and customs of savage life,\nthan as being survivals, artificially preserved, of a time when the bride\nwas really fought for or stolen; and if such explanation is sufficient,\nshould it not logically be admitted before resorting to the hypothesis\nof a practice whose very existence is rather an inference from such\nceremonies than a cause observable in actual operation?\n\nTo pass to a third and quite distinct class of marriages by capture,\nin which the essential element is not maidenly bashfulness nor real\nrepugnance, but the voluntary elopement of a girl with her lover, in\ndefeat of a prior contract of betrothal. The large part which questions\nof profit and property play in savage betrothals can never be lost sight\nof, in estimating the causes of real wife abduction, either within or\nwithout the tribe. The primary conception of a daughter is a saleable\npossession, a source of profit, to her clan in marketings with other\nclans or to her parents in their bargains in her own clan. This fact\nalone militates against the supposition of the wide prevalence of\nfemale infanticide in primitive communities, the prejudice being rather\nin favour of killing the boys than the girls; not solely for the use\nof the latter as slaves and labourers, but for the price which even\namong Fuejians or Bushmen is payable in some form or another for their\ncompanionship as wives. Abiponian mothers spared their girls oftener than\ntheir boys, because their sons when grown up would want wherewithal to\npurchase a wife, and so tend to impoverish them; whilst their daughters\nwould bring them in money by their sale in that capacity.[327] To raise\nthe price by limiting the supply was also the reason why the Guanas of\nAmerica preferred to bury their girls alive rather than their boys.[328]\n\nFrom this view of daughters as saleable commodities comes polygamy for\nthe rich, polyandry, or illicit elopement, for the poor. Among the Hos of\nIndia so high at one time was the price in cattle placed by parents on\ntheir daughters that the large number of adult unmarried girls became a\n\u2018very peculiar feature in the social state of every considerable village\nof the Kohl\u00e1n.\u2019 What, then, was the result? That \u2018young men counteracted\nthe machinations of avaricious parents against the course of true love\nby _forcibly carrying off the girl_,\u2019 thus avoiding extortion by running\naway with her. The parents in such cases had to submit to terms proposed\nby arbitrators; but at last wife-abduction became so common that it could\nonly be checked by the limitation by general consent of the number of\ncattle payable at marriage.[329]\n\n\u2018A very singular scene,\u2019 it is said, \u2018may sometimes be noticed in the\nmarkets of Singbhoom. A young man suddenly makes a pounce on a girl\nand carries her off bodily, his friends covering the retreat (like a\ngroup from the picture of the Rape of the Sabines). This is generally\na _summary method of surmounting the obstacles that cruel parents may\nhave placed in the lovers\u2019 path_; but though it is sometimes done in\nanticipation of the favourable inclination of the girl herself, and in\nspite of her struggles and tears, no disinterested person interferes,\nand the girls, late companions of the abducted maiden, often applaud the\nexploit.\u2019[330]\n\nIn Afghanistan the pecuniary value of women has given rise to the curious\ncustom of assessing part of the fines in criminal cases in a certain\nnumber of young women payable in atonement as wives to the plaintiff or\nto his relations from the family of the defendant. Thus murder is or was\nexpiated by the payment of twelve young women; the cutting off a hand,\nan ear, or a nose by that of six; the breaking of a tooth by that of\nthree; a wound above the forehead by that of one. This was the logical\nresult of the state of thought which produces wife-purchase; but there\nwas also another. For in the country parts, where matches generally begin\nin attachment, an enterprising lover may avoid the obstacle of parental\nconsent by a form of capture, which has a legal sanction, though it does\nnot exempt the captor from subsequent payment. This consists in a man\u2019s\n\u2018seizing an opportunity of cutting off a lock of her (the woman\u2019s) hair,\nsnatching away her veil, or throwing a sheet over her, and claiming her\nas his affianced wife.\u2019 But the most common expedient is an ordinary\nelopement; though this is held an outrage to a family equivalent to the\nmurder of one of its members; and being pursued with the same rancour,\nis often the cause of long and bloody wars between the clans; for as the\nfugitive couple are never refused an asylum, \u2018the seduction of a woman of\none Oolooss by a man of another, or a man\u2019s eloping with a girl of his\nown Oolooss,\u2019 is the commonest cause of feuds between the clans.[331]\n\nLove attachments, in defeat of parental plans, lead to very similar\nresults in Bokhara. For \u2018the daughter of a Turcoman has a high price;\nand the swain, in despair of making a legitimate purchase, seizes his\nsweetheart, seats her behind him on the same horse, and gallops off\nto the nearest camp, where the parties are united, and separation\nis impossible. The parents and relations pursue the lovers, and the\nmarriage is adjusted by an intermarriage with some female relation of\nthe bridegroom, while he himself becomes bound to pay so many camels and\nhorses as the price of his bride.\u2019[332]\n\nThere is, therefore, evidence to justify the theory that the form of\ncapture may often be explained as an attempt to regulate by law the\ndanger to a tribe arising from too frequent elopements, naturally\nresulting from the abuse of the parental right of selling daughters. In\nSumatra the defeat of matrimonial plans by an elopement with a preferred\nsuitor is so common as to be sanctioned and regulated by law, being\nknown as the system of marriage by _telari gadis_; the father in such\na case having to pay the fine to which he would have been liable for\nbestowing his daughter after engagement to another suitor, and only being\nallowed to recover her, if he catches her in immediate pursuit. \u2018When\nthe parties,\u2019 says Mr. McLennan, \u2018cannot agree about the price, nothing\nis more common among the Kalmucks, Kirghiz, Nogais, and Circassians than\nto carry the lady off by actual force of arms. The wooer having once\ngot the lady into his _yurt_, she is his wife by the law, and peace is\nestablished by her relations coming to terms as to the price.\u2019 So too\nin England, elopements have often preceded and promoted more definite\nmarriage settlements, or, with some slight observances, have stood\nlegally as a substitute for them.\n\nConsidering, then, that the affections and wishes do not count for\nnothing even among savages; considering that among savages, more even\nthan in civilized life, marriage is a question of property and of means,\nso that, whilst the richest members of a tribe almost universally have\nseveral wives, it is often all that the poorer can do to get a wife\nat all, we have a set of circumstances leading naturally sometimes to\nvoluntary elopement on the part of the girl, in defeat of her parents,\nsometimes to literal wife-capture by a man otherwise unable to become a\nhusband. This condition of things leads of necessity to polyandry and\nwife-robbery. In some Australian tribes, owing to a disproportion between\nthe sexes, many men have to steal a wife from a neighbouring horde. But\nit is not their normal recognized mode of marriage. On the contrary,\ntheir laws on this subject are somewhat elaborate; and as it appears\nthat before that state of society in which a daughter belongs to her\nfather there is one in which she belongs to her mother, and perhaps a\nstill prior state in which she belongs to her tribe, so from their birth\nAustralian girls are appropriated to certain males of the tribe, nor can\nthe parents annul the obligation. If the male dies the mother may then\nbestow her daughter on whom she will, for by the death of her legal owner\nthe girl becomes to some extent the property of her relations, who have\ncertain claims on her services for the procurement of food. But to the\nsurrender of a girl by her mother the full consent of the whole tribe is\nnecessary; and if, as sometimes happens, \u2018the young people, listening\nrather to the dictates of inclination than those of law, improvise a\nmarriage by absconding together,\u2019 they incur the fatal enmity of the\nwhole tribe.[333] According to Bonwick, a Tasmanian or Australian woman\nwas never stolen contrary to her expectations or wishes. Only if all\nother schemes to have her own way failed, would a girl face the penalty\nof having \u2018the spear of the disappointed, the spear of the guardian, and\nthe spears of the tribe\u2019 thrown at her, for her breach of tribal law.[334]\n\nThe conception of the daughters of a clan as its property, as a source\nof contingent wealth to it, of additional income to it in sheep, dogs,\nor whatever the medium of exchange, tends to keep up in many cases that\nprohibition to marry in the same clan or subdivision of a tribe which is\nknown as exogamy. Among the Hindu Kafirs it is said to be uncertain why\na man may not sell his girls to his own tribe, and why a man must always\nbuy his wife from another; but it is certain that for this reason the\nmore girls a man has born to him the better he is pleased and the richer\nhis tribe becomes.[335] A Khond father distributes among the heads of the\nfamilies, belonging to his branch of a tribe, the sum raised on behalf of\na son-in-law by subscription from the son-in-law\u2019s branch. But, supposing\na great inequality of wealth to arise between different clans, originally\nunited by profitable intermarriages, it might become more profitable\nto sell within the clan than outside it, so that the same motives of\ninterest which, under some circumstances, would tend to encourage exogamy\nwould under others lead to the opposite principle, a rich bridegroom of\nthe same clan being preferable to a poor one of another, whether the gain\naccrued to a girl\u2019s parents or her clan. It is, perhaps, for this reason\nthat a Hindu Kooch incurs a fine if he marries a woman of another clan,\nbecoming a bondsman till his wife redeems him; that is, till she pays\nback to his clan or its chief what the bridegroom, by purchasing her, has\nalienated from the use of the tribe.[336] On the other hand, the reason\ngiven by the Khonds for marrying women from distant places was, that they\ngave much smaller sums than for women of their own tribe.[337]\n\nExogamy and endogamy would thus co-exist, as the customs of tribes that\nhave attained to a more or less complete recognition of the rights of\nproperty, and are so far advanced as to be capable of preserving complex\nrules of social organization. Marriages, therefore, under either _r\u00e9gime_\nare matters generally of friendly settlement, of ordinary contract; and\nwhere such arrangements are defeated by the perversity of the principal\nparties\u2014namely, the bride or the bridegroom\u2014what more natural than the\ndevice of giving legal sanction to an elopement by settling a subsequent\ncompensation with the parent?\n\nThe custom of exogamy is so widely spread over the world that its origin\nmust be sought in conditions as prevalent as itself, and it is possible\nthat it arose out of the same condition which certainly sustains it\nand is co-extensive with itself, namely, from the marketable position\nof women. That female infanticide should have led to it is improbable,\nnot only from the comparative rarity of the practice among the _rudest_\ntribes, but from the negative instance of the Todas, a wild Indian\nhill-tribe, who, notwithstanding the scarcity of their women, and a\nscarcity actually attributed to former female infanticide, \u2018never\ncontract marriage with the other tribes, though living together on most\nfriendly terms.\u2019[338] Judging _\u00e0 priori_, we should expect to find as of\nearlier date a prejudice in favour of tribal exclusiveness, of strict\nendogamy. The idea of the Abors that marriage out of the clan is a sin\nonly to be washed out by sacrifice\u2014a sin so great as to cause war among\nthe elements, and even obscuration of the sun and moon\u2014has a more archaic\nappearance than the contrary principle; and the confinement of marriages\nto a few families of known purity of descent is characteristic of some\nof the lowest Hindu castes.[339] The prejudice against foreign women is\nso strong that there is often a tendency to regard female prisoners of\nwar as merely slaves, as not of the same rank with the real wives of\ntheir captors. Thus, \u2018though the different tribes of the Aht nation are\nfrequently at war with one another, women are not captured from other\ntribes for marriage, but only to be kept as slaves. The idea of slavery\nconnected with capture is so common that a free-born Aht would hesitate\nto marry a woman taken in war, whatever her rank had been in her own\ntribe.\u2019[340] The Caribs, too, if they kept female prisoners as wives\nalways regarded them as slaves, as standing on a lower level than their\nlegitimate wives.[341]\n\nLeaving, however, the obscure problem of the origin of exogamy, there\nis a point of view from which both that and endogamy are one. For\nexogamy as regards the subdivisions of a tribe is endogamy as regards\nthe tribe itself, tending in fact to preserve tribal unity and to check\nan indefinite divergency of interests and dialects. For example, where\na Hindoo caste or tribe is composed of several Gotrams, no person of\nwhom may marry an individual of the same Gotram, it is evident that\nthe unity of the tribe is actually sustained by the exogamy of its\nconstituent parts. Such a custom therefore, howsoever originated, would,\nas serviceable in maintaining tribal unity against hostile neighbouring\npeople, tend to survive from motives of common expediency, from its\nadaptation to the interests of peace; a beneficial result of the system\nwhich in Mr. Bancroft\u2019s account of the Thlinkeet and Kutchin Indians\nclearly appears.[342] The Thlinkeets are nationally divided into two\ngreat clans, under the totems of the Wolf and the Raven, and these two\nare again subdivided into numerous sub-totems. \u2018In this clanship some\nsingular social facts present themselves. People are at once thrust\nwidely apart and yet drawn together. Tribes of the same clan may not war\non each other, but at the same time members of the same clan may not\nmarry each other. Thus the young Wolf warrior must seek his mate among\nthe Ravens.... _Obviously this singular social fancy tends greatly to\nkeep the various tribes of the nation at peace._\u2019 The Kutchins, again,\nare divided into three castes, resident in different territories, no two\npersons of the same caste being allowed to marry. \u2018_This system operates\nstrongly against war between the tribes_, as in war it is caste against\ncaste, not tribe against tribe. As the father is never of the same caste\nas the son, who receives clanship from the mother, there can never be\ninternational war without ranging fathers and sons against each other.\u2019\nSo among the Khonds, who punish intermarriage between persons of the same\ntribe with death, the intervention of the women was always essential to\npeace, as they were neutral between the tribe of their fathers and that\nof their husbands.[343] But it is difficult to think that, if hostile\nrelations between exogamous clans became permanent, the several clans\nwould still insist on exogamous marriages as the only marriages legally\nvalid, and consequently regard the use of force or fraud as the only\nlegitimate title to a wife.\n\nIt seems indeed certain that wherever the rule of exogamy exists it\nmay be analysed into a prohibition to marry within the divisions of a\nlarger group; that larger group being consciously recognised as uniting\nthe divergent families by resemblance of dialect, common political\nties, or a traditional common descent. The Kalmucks, for instance,\ncall themselves \u2018the peculiar people,\u2019 or \u2018the four allies,\u2019 and any\ndanger of their national dissolution is obviously diminished by the\nvery fact of the exogamy of their four clans. The Circassians, whose\nconstituent brotherhoods are exogamous, by the occasional assemblies of\nthe brotherhoods for the settlement of disputes, show a consciousness of\ntheir political unity, which by the exogamy of the brotherhoods they help\nto maintain. The Hindu castes preserve their mutual exclusiveness by the\nvery fact of compelling all their constituent families to intermingle\nin marriage, and so preventing any one of them from dissolving the\ncommon relationship by absolute separation or independent growth. So\nthat exogamy rather sustains than prevents a system of marriages\nwithin the same stock, and is a mark of a higher conception of social\norganisation, when people have learned to classify themselves with\nrespect to their neighbours, when tribal and personal property is well\nestablished, and when, consequently, marriages between the groups can\nbe effected by purchase better than by violence. Exogamy therefore as\nthe product or concomitant of a somewhat advanced state of thought, not\nof utter barbarism, would never make marriages by capture a necessity\nof existence; but, if it did, it would argue so much culture in a tribe\ncapable of maintaining such rules, as would equally justify us in\nascribing to them moral feelings, not less advanced and refined than\nthose involved in their adherence to so restrictive a political system.\n\nSouth Australia supplies a typical illustration of the confusion relating\nto intertribal marriages which arises from the vague use of the word\n_tribe_. For wherever there is reason to suspect that the word clan or\nfamily should stand for the word tribe, it is probable that the exogamy\npredicated of the tribe only prevails between its constituent elements;\nin other words, that it is only, as among the Kalmucks, Circassians,\nor Hindu castes, an extended form of the principle of endogamy. Thus,\nCollins, describing wife-capture in New South Wales, says that \u2018it\nis believed\u2019 the women so taken are always selected from women of a\ndifferent tribe from that of the males, and from one with whom they are\nat enmity; that as wives \u2018they are incorporated into the tribes to which\ntheir husbands belong, and but seldom quit them for others.\u2019 But he uses\nthe word tribe as convertible with the word family, as when he speaks of\nthe natives near Port Jackson being distributed into families, each under\nthe government of its own head, and deriving its name from its place of\nresidence.[344] And the statements of Captain Hunter, a previous writer,\nthat the natives are associated \u2018in tribes of many families together,\u2019\nliving apparently without a fixed residence; that \u2018the tribe takes its\nname, from the place of their general residence;\u2019 and that, the different\nfamilies wander in different directions for food, but unite on occasion\nof disputes with another tribe, make it still more probable that when\nCollins spoke of different tribes he meant merely, different families,\nor groups, which with all their separate wanderings united sometimes in\ncases of common danger. So when Captain Hunter himself says that \u2018there\nis some reason to suppose that most of their wives are taken by force\nfrom the tribes with whom they are at variance, as the females bear\nno proportion to the males,\u2019 we may take it that by tribes he means\nfamilies, and families who recognise their community of blood when a\nreally different tribe provokes their hostility by assembling as a tribe\nthemselves.[345] Mr. Stanbridge, who spent eighteen years in the wilds of\nVictoria, corroborates this view; for, according to him, each tribe has\nits own boundaries, the land of which is parcelled out amongst families\nand carefully transmitted by direct descent; these boundaries being so\nsacredly maintained that the member of no one family will venture on the\nlands of a neighbouring one without invitation. The several families (or\ntribes) unite for mutual purposes under a chief. The women often, but\nnot always, marry into distant tribes; they are generally betrothed in\ntheir infancy, but if they grow up unbetrothed the father\u2019s consent must\nbe solicited; failing him, the brother\u2019s; then the uncle\u2019s; and last of\nall that of a council or a chief of a tribe.[346] That force was ever the\nnormal method by which marriages were effected in Australia, there is no\nproof; that, on the contrary, mutual likings often set the law, is proved\nby the story of the native captive girl, who, after living among the\ncolonists for some time, expressed a desire to go away and be married to\na young native of her acquaintance; albeit that she left him after three\ndays, returning sadly beaten and jealous of the other wife.[347]\n\nQuite distinct, again, either from the real or pretended reluctance\nof a savage girl to become a bride, or from the custom of forcing an\navaricious parent to a settlement by the shorter process of taking first\nand paying afterwards, is the custom of stealing women from the same\nor a neighbouring clan, a custom which prevailed widely in Ireland and\nScotland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and which in the\nlatter country has been \u2018glorified in a whole literature of songs and\nballads.\u2019[348]\n\nThat polygamy and wife-purchase and artificial tribal regulations often\nlead to such a result cannot be denied; but that it is anywhere a\nsystem, sustained by prejudices, whencesoever derived, seems completely\nunwarranted by the evidence hitherto collected. The Coinmen of Patagonia,\nwho made annual inroads on the Tekeenica tribe, killing the men and\ncarrying off not only the women but the children, dogs, arrows, spears,\nand canoes, seem to have been actuated rather by the ordinary motives\nof freebooters (by such motives, for instance, as induced our early\nconvict settlers in Tasmania to set off with their bullock-chains to\nmake captives of the native women[349]) than by any scruples of marrying\nrelations at home. Carib wives taken in war were accounted slaves; and\nso far were the Caribs from being dependent on aggression for their\nwives, that before their customs were modified by acquaintance with the\nChristians their only legitimate wives were their cousins.[350] If a man\nhad no cousin to marry, or put off doing so till it was too late, he\nmight then marry some non-relative, with the consent of her parents. At\nthe festival that followed a successful war the parents vied with one\nanother in offering their daughters as wives to those who were praised by\ntheir captains as having fought with bravery. The Caribs of the continent\ndiffered from those of the islands in that men and women spoke the same\nlanguage, not having corrupted their native tongue by marriages with\nforeign women.[351] According to Humboldt, the language of the Caribs\nof the continent was the same, from the source of the Rio Branco to the\nsteppes of Cumana; and the pride of race which led them to withdraw from\nevery other people, and was the cause of the failure of all missionary\nefforts that tried to combine them with villages containing people of\nanother nation and speaking another idiom, would surely have militated\nagainst making exogamy a preliminary condition of matrimony.[352]\nHumboldt, indeed, says that polygamy was more extensively practised by\nthe Caribs and other nations that \u2018preserved the custom of carrying off\nyoung girls from the neighbouring tribe;\u2019 but it would be contrary to\nall previous accounts of the people to suppose these were their only\nwives, such a supplement to domestic felicity being everywhere the\ncommon reward, though seldom the chief object, of successful war. The\ncurious difference in the language of the men and of the women found to\nexist among the Caribs of the West Indian Archipelago, and attributed\nby tradition to the conquest of a former people on the islands, whose\nwives the conquerors appropriated, has perhaps been rather exaggerated,\nfor in a list of 488 words and phrases employed by both sexes, in only\n36 is there any difference marked between the language of the men and\nthat of the women. The origin of the difference may be doubted, as there\nwere also words and phrases used by the old men of the people which\nthe younger ones might not use; and there was a war-dialect of which\nneither women, girls, or boys had any knowledge.[353] But probably the\ndifference arose from a custom similar to that of the Zulus, which makes\nit unlawful for a woman to use any word containing the sound of her\nfather-in-law\u2019s name or of the names of her husband\u2019s male relations.\n\u2018Whenever the emphatic syllable of either of their proper names occurs\nin any other word, she must avoid it, by either substituting an entirely\nnew word, or at least another syllable in its place. Hence _this custom\nhas given rise to an almost distinct language among the women_.\u2019[354] In\nconsequence of this _Hlonipa_ custom, according to another witness, \u2018_the\nlanguage at this present time almost presents the phenomenon of a double\none_.\u2019[355] That the Caribs maintained the common etiquette of reserve\nbetween parents and children-in-law,[356] makes it not improbable that\nthe reserve extended itself to their language, and thus produced the same\nphenomenon that we find in South Africa.\n\nIn the same way other cases of wife-capture appear simply in the light of\nsavage lawlessness, which may have been more common among quite primitive\ntribes than it is in their nearest modern representatives; but which, if\nit ever was widely prevalent, is most unlikely to have been perpetuated\nin symbol, by a form of capture. If then the form is easily explicable\non other grounds, such as have been suggested, we have a reason the less\nfor supposing in the past a state of things which would exclude from\nthe relations between male and female the happy influence of that mutual\naffection which has been shown not to have been entirely absent even\namong, perhaps, the rudest of our species, the aborigines of Australia\nor the Veddahs of Ceylon, and which is certainly disseminated more or\nless widely, outside the human race, through a large part of the animal\ncreation.\n\nIt is probably impossible to resuscitate in imagination a picture of\nprimitive times. It is with the lower societies of the world as with the\nlower animal organisms: the more they are studied, the more wonderful is\nthe complexity of structure they unfold. Tribal and subtribal divisions\nof communities, tribal and subtribal divisions of territory, strong\ndistinctions of rank, stringent rules of etiquette, are found on all\nsides to characterise populations in other circumstances of life scarcely\nless rude than the brute creation around them. The first beginnings of\nsocial evolution are lost, nor can they be observed in any known races\nthat appear to have advanced the least distance from the starting-point\nof progress. But, as there is no reason to suppose that the external\nconditions of primitive man were ever very different from those of\nexisting tribes; that those, for instance, of the shell-mound builders or\nthe cave-dwellers differed widely from those of existing Ahts or Bushmen,\nso there is nothing unreasonable in believing, that the earliest human\ndenizens of the globe were endowed with the same rudiments of feelings\nthat prevail among them, and that these should, even in very early\ntimes, have produced very similar social institutions. That Greeks and\nEgyptians, Chinese and Hindus, had legends ascribing marriage to the\ninvention of a particular legislator, thereby implying there was a time\nwhen marriage was not, no more proves that there was ever a time when\nsome sort of marriage was unrecognised than the many legends of the\norigin of fire prove that mankind were ever destitute of the blessing\nof its warmth. A minimum of reflection on the subject would produce the\nlegend, just as reflections on the world\u2019s origin have produced countless\nlegends of its creation, of a time when it too was nonexistent. And\nit will be found, wherever any known savage tribe really practises no\nwedding customs, that the fact of the marriage is distinctly recognised,\neither by payment in kind or labour by the bridegroom or by some\nsymbolical act notifying the union to all fellow-tribesmen. The Veddahs,\nfor instance, according to Tennant, used no marriage rites; but another\nwriter mentions, that on the day of marriage the husband received from\nhis bride a cord twisted by herself, which he had to wear round his waist\ntill his death, as a symbol of the lastingness of the union between them.\nThe Kherias of India, who have no word for marriage in their language,\ngive public recognition to the fact by certain rites and festivities,\nclosely analogous to those in vogue in neighbouring tribes. The Coroadas\nof Brazil have no marriage solemnity, but the suitor presents the bride\u2019s\nparents with fruit or game, as a tacit engagement to support her by the\nchase. Such a tacit expression of willingness and ability to take good\ncare of his wife is a common symbolical act among savages, even the\nrudest; whilst the fact that for the married pair henceforth there will\nbe a union of life and fortune is indicated by many a wedding custom, of\nno doubtful meaning, as by the eating of a cake together, or by the Dyak\ncustom of making the married couple sit together on two bars of iron, \u2018to\nintimate the wish of the bystanders that blessings as lasting and health\nas vigorous as that metal may attend the pair.\u2019\n\nBut symbolical acts like these\u2014and they might be multiplied\nindefinitely\u2014presuppose an advanced state of thought and feeling, behind\nwhich we cannot get in the observation of any existing savage tribes; and\nsince they are common wherever the pretence of capture is common, that\npretence may well be symbolical too; but symbolical, not of an earlier\nsystem of marriage, but of a conventional regard for good manners.\nWherever the pretence of capture exists, it exists amid conditions\nof life so far removed from what might naturally be conceived as the\nmost archaic, that it is quite legitimate to attribute the decorous\nreluctance of the bride and the resistance of her relations at weddings\nto such feelings as have been proved to prevail upon such occasions, and\nso to consider the bride\u2019s behaviour as something quite unconnected with\nthe lawless practice of wife-abduction, a practice which undoubtedly\nprevails to a certain extent in the savage world (chiefly in consequence\nof artificial social arrangements), which may have prevailed to a still\ngreater extent when men lived in the caves of P\u00e9rigord or upon former\ncontinents, but which it is incredible should ever have survived by\ntransmission as a symbol, as a custom worthy of religious preservation.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\n_THE FAIRY-LORE OF SAVAGES._\n\n\nA comparison of some of the fancies of the rudest known tribes of\nthe earth concerning the nature of the sun, the moon, and the stars,\nproves abundantly not only that the demand for a reason for things is\na principle operative in every stage of human development, but that\nthe primitive explanation of things is sought in the occurrences of\ndaily experience and given in terms and figures originally applied to\nterrestrial objects. From a philosophy of nature of so rude a type and\nso humble an origin spring many of those marvellous traditions, which in\nafter times rank as the mythology, or perhaps serve as the religion, of\nthe people among whom they had birth.\n\nTo begin with some of the astro-mythological ideas of the Australians.\nMr. Stanbridge mentions the astonishment with which, as he sat by\nhis camp fire, he listened for the first time to the remarks of two\nAustralian natives as they pointed to the beautiful constellations of\nCastor and Pollux, of the Pleiades and Orion. These men belonged to a\nrace who had \u2018the reputation of being lowest in the scale of mankind,\u2019\nwho were \u2018cannibals of the lowest description,\u2019 and \u2018who had no name\nfor numerals above two;\u2019 yet they could explain the wanderings of the\nmoon, by the story that, being once discovered trying to persuade the\nwife of a certain star in Canis Major to elope with him, he was beaten\nand put to flight by the angry husband. As so frequently elsewhere, most\nof the stars were bound by the ties of human relationship, being wives,\nbrothers, sisters, or mothers to one another. The stars in the belt\nof Orion were believed to be a group of young men dancing, whilst the\nPleiades were girls who played to them as they danced. Two large stars in\nthe fore legs of Centaurus were two brave brothers who speared Tchingal\nto death, and the east stars of Crux were the points of the spears that\npierced his body.[357]\n\nFew tribes of known savages appear to be without conceptions of a similar\nnature. The Tasmanians, according to Bonwick, were no exception to the\nconnection of theology with astronomy. To them Capella was a kangaroo\npursued by Castor and Pollux, whose smoke as it was roasted might be seen\ntill the autumn. The Pleiades were maidens who courted the kangaroo\nhunters of Orion and dug up roots for their suppers. Two other stars were\ntwo black men who of old appeared suddenly on a hill and threw fire down\nto earth for the use of its inhabitants; whilst two other luminaries were\ntwo women whom a sting-ray had killed as they dived for cray-fish, but\nwhom these same fire-bringers restored to life, by placing stinging ants\non their breasts; then escorting them to heaven, after they had first\nkilled the sting-ray.[358]\n\nBushman star-lore is framed in exactly the same way, the planets of\ndistant solar systems sinking into the insignificance of daily African\nsurroundings. What is the moon but a man who, having incurred the wrath\nof the sun, is pierced by his knife till he is nearly destroyed, and\nwho, having implored mercy, grows from the small piece left him, till\nhe is again large enough for the stabbing process to recommence? What\nis the Milky Way but some wood ashes long ago thrown up into the sky by\na girl, that her people might be able to see their way home at night?\nOther stars are reduced to mortal origin, or identified with certain\nlions, tortoises, or clouds, that have place in Bushman mythology; nor\ndoes it lie beyond their limits of belief that the sun should once have\nbeen seen sitting by the wayside as he travelled on earth, and that\nthe jackal\u2019s back is black to this day because he carried that burning\nsubstance on his back.[359] This sun they believe was once a mortal on\nearth who radiated light from his body, but only for a short space round\nhis house; till some children were sent to throw him as he slept into the\nsky, whence he has ever since shone over the earth.[360] These children\nbelonged to an earlier race of Bushmen; and it is an odd coincidence that\nin Victoria as in South Africa the belief about the sun is associated\nwith the tradition of a race that preceded both Bushmen and Australians\nin their present homes. In the Australian creed, the earth lay in\ndarkness, till one of the former race threw an emu\u2019s egg into space,\nwhere it became the sun. That former race was translated in various forms\nto the heavens, where they made all the celestial bodies, and where they\ncontinue to cause all the good and evil that happens on earth. Such\ntraditions may point to a fact; for both Australians and Bushmen may be\ndegenerate from a better social type than they now present; but the fact\nthat, even if degenerate, they should preserve such tales and fictions,\nmakes it not inconceivable that such tales should arise, as spontaneous\nproducts of the mind, among tribes that seem neither to have lapsed from\na higher condition, nor ever to have emerged from their primeval state of\nbarbarism.\n\nOf the Esquimaux, Egede observes that \u2018their notion about the stars is\nthat some of them have been men and others different sorts of animals\nor fishes.\u2019[361] Here two stars are two persons at a singing combat, or\ntwo rival women taking each other by the hair; those other three are\ncertain Greenlanders who, when once out seal-catching, failed to find\ntheir way home again and were taken to heaven. It is true such fancies,\ntaken primarily from Cranz, must be received with the reservation that\nhe makes, namely, that they were only harboured by the weaker heads\nof Greenland, and that the natives had art enough to play off on the\nEuropeans quite as marvellous stories as any they received.[362] But the\npossible reality of such belief is vouched for by other testimony from\nall parts of the globe, of which two instances, taken from the Hervey\nIslanders and the Thlinkeet Indians, will suffice to illustrate the\ngeneral character. According to the former, a twin boy and girl were\nbadly treated by their mother; so they left their home and leapt into\nthe sky, whither they were also followed by their parents, and where\nall four may still be seen shining; \u2018brother and dearly-loved sister,\nstill linked together, pursue their never-ceasing flight, resolved\nnever again to meet their justly-enraged parents.\u2019[363] The Thlinkeet\nIndians ascribe to a being called Yehl the liberation of the world from\nits pristine darkness; for, amid the many conflicting stories told of\nhim, it is agreed that he it was who obtained light for men at a time\nwhen \u2018sun, moon, and stars were kept by a rich chief in separate boxes\nwhich he allowed no one to touch.\u2019 Yehl, having become grandson to this\nchief, cried one day so much for these boxes that his grandfather let\nhim have one. \u2018He opened it, and lo! there were stars in the sky.\u2019 The\ngrandparent was next cheated out of the moon in the same way; but to get\nthe sunbox Yehl had to refuse food and become really ill, and then its\nowner only parted with it on condition that it should not be opened. The\nprohibition, however, was unheeded. Yehl turned into a raven, flew off\nwith the box, and blessed mankind with the light of the sun.[364]\n\nFrom these samples of the fairy tales of savages, it is clear that, in\naddition to the myths which arise from forgotten etymologies, there\nare many others which are not formed at all by this process of gradual\nforgetfulness, but spring directly from the use of the intellect and\nthe imagination, in obedience to the impulse to find a reason for\neverything. To observe peculiarities in nature is the beginning of\nscience; to account for them in any way is science itself, true or false.\nThe science of savages is not limited to the skies, but is directed to\neverything that calls for notice on earth; nor in the stories invented\nby them to answer the various problems of existence, are they a whit\nbehind the traditions of European folk-lore on similar subjects,\ntheir explanations of natural peculiarities disclosing quite as vivid\nimaginative powers as the stories of the white race concerning birds or\nbeasts.\n\nLet us take, for instance, as a parallel to the German reason for the owl\nflying in solitude by night (namely, that when set to watch the wren,\nimprisoned in a mousehole, he fell asleep, and was so ashamed at letting\nhim thus escape that he has never since dared show himself by day), the\nstory of the rude Ahts, made to account for the melancholy note of the\nloon as it is heard flying about the wild lakes of Vancouver\u2019s Island;\nand as a good instance of the resemblance in construction of plot often\nfound in very distant regions, let us place side by side with it a story\nof the Basutos in the south of Africa:\u2014\n\n    _THE AHT STORY._\n\n    Two fishermen went one day in two canoes to catch halibut.\n    But while one of them caught many, the other caught none. So\n    the latter, angered by the taunts of his more fortunate but\n    physically weaker companion, bethought himself how he might\n    take all his fish from him by force, and cause him to return\n    home fishless and ashamed. Suddenly, whilst his friend was\n    pulling up a fish, he knocked him on the head with the wooden\n    club he used for killing halibut, and, to prevent the tale\n    ever being told, cut out his companion\u2019s tongue, and took the\n    fish home to his own wife. When the tongueless man arrived at\n    the village, and his friends came to enquire of his sport, he\n    could only answer by a noise resembling the note of the loon.\n    \u2018The great spirit, Quawteaht, was so angry at all this, that\n    he changed the injured Indian into a loon, and the other into\n    a crow; and the loon\u2019s plaintive cry now is the voice of the\n    fisherman trying to make himself understood.\u2019[365]\n\n    _THE BASUTO STORY._\n\n    Two brothers, having gone in different directions to make\n    their fortunes, met again, after sundry adventures, the elder\n    enriched by a pack of dogs, the younger by a large number of\n    cows. The younger offered his brother as many of these cows\n    as he pleased, with the exception of a certain white one.\n    This he would not part with; so as they went home, and the\n    younger brother was drinking from a pool, Macilo, the elder,\n    seized his brother\u2019s head and held it under the water till\n    he was dead. Then he buried the body, and covered it with a\n    stone, and proceeded to drive back the whole flock as his own.\n    He had not, however, gone far, before a small bird perched\n    itself on the horn of the white cow and exclaimed: \u2018Macilo has\n    killed Maciloniane for the sake of the white cow he coveted.\u2019\n    Twice did Macilo kill the bird with a stone, but each time it\n    reappeared and uttered the same words. So the third time he\n    killed it he burnt it, and threw its ashes to the winds. Then\n    proudly he entered his village, and when they all enquired for\n    his brother, he said that they had taken different roads, and\n    that he was ignorant where he was. The white cow was greatly\n    admired, but suddenly a small bird perched itself on its horns\n    and exclaimed: \u2018Macilo has killed Maciloniane for the sake of\n    the white cow he coveted.\u2019 Thus, through a bird into which\n    the heart of the murdered man had been transformed, did the\n    truth become known, and everyone departed with horror from the\n    presence of the murderer.[366]\n\nEuropean folk-lore accounts for the redness of the robin\u2019s breast,\neither by the theory that he extracted a thorn from the thorn-crown of\nChrist, or by the theory that he daily bears a drop of water to quench\nthe flames of hell. For either reason he might be justly called the\nfriend of man; but for the bird\u2019s friendliness the Chippewya Indians\ngive a more poetical explanation than either of the above. There was\nonce, they say, a hunter so ambitious that his only son should signalise\nhimself by endurance, when he came to the time of life to undergo the\nfast preparatory to his choosing his guardian spirit, that after the lad\nhad fasted for eight days, his father still pressed him to persevere. But\nnext day, when the father entered the hut, his son had paid the penalty\nof violated nature, and in the form of a robin had just flown to the top\nof the lodge. There, before he flew away to the woods, he entreated his\nfather not to mourn his transformation. \u2018I shall be happier,\u2019 he said,\n\u2018in my present state than I could have been as a man. I shall always be\nthe friend of men and keep near their dwellings; I could not gratify your\npride as a warrior, but I will cheer you by my songs.... I am now free\nfrom cares and pains, my food is furnished by the fields and mountains,\nand my path is in the bright air.\u2019[367]\n\nNot less poetical is the Hervey Islanders\u2019 account of the origin of some\npeculiarities among fishes, and notably of the well-known conformation of\nthe head of the common sole. They relate how Ina, leaving the house of\nher rich parents because she had been beaten and scolded for suffering\nthe arch-thief, Nyana, to steal certain treasures left in her charge,\nresolved to make her way to the sea beach, and from thence to the Sacred\nIsle that lay across the sea at the place where the sun set. Arrived\nat the shore, she first asked the small fish, the _avini_, to bear her\nacross the sea; but the avini, unable to support her weight, soon let\nher fall into the water, for which Ina in her anger struck it repeatedly\nwith her foot, thereby causing those beautiful stripes on its sides which\nare called to this day \u2018Ina\u2019s tattooing.\u2019 Trying next the _paoro_, and\nmeeting with the same mischance, she caused it in the same way to bear\never after those blue marks which are now its glory; and it is said to be\nhistorically true that tattooing on that island \u2018was simply an imitation\nof the stripes on the avini and the paoro.\u2019 Then the _api_, a white\nfish, incurring the same displeasure, became at once and for ever of\nan intensely black hue. The sole, indeed, carried Ina farther than the\nothers, but no farther than the breakers by the reef; and Ina, now wild\nwith rage, stamped with such fury on its head that its underneath eye\nwas removed to the upper side, and thus it was condemned ever afterwards\nto swim flatwise, unlike other fish, because one side of its face had no\neye. How Ina then caused a protuberance on the forehead of all sharks,\nknown to this day as Ina\u2019s bump, by cracking a cocoa-nut she wished to\ndrink out of on the forehead of a shark that bore her, how the shark then\nleft her, and how she finally reached the Sacred Isle on the back of the\nking of sharks, and became the wife of Timirau, the king of all fish, may\nbe read in further detail in Mr. Gill\u2019s interesting collection of Myths\nand Songs from the South Pacific.[368]\n\nThe necessity for a reason for everything, exemplified in these\ntraditions, exercises its influence on mythology itself, reasons being\ninvented for inexplicable customs or beliefs just as they are for strange\nphenomena in nature. The custom, for instance, of hunting a wren to death\nonce a year, which has been observed in Ireland, the isle of Man, and\nthe South of France, has for its general explanation a belief that the\nwren is a fairy who, after having decoyed many men to meet their deaths\nin the sea, took the form of a wren to escape the plot laid for her by\na certain knight-errant. But the Irish have found quite another reason\nfor the custom, having invented the story, that on the eve of the battle\nof the Boyne the Irish had stolen up to King William\u2019s sleeping camp and\nwere on the point of putting an end to the heretics, when a wren hopped\nupon the drum of a Protestant drummer, and by thus waking him caused\ntheir defeat; a defeat which they avenge on every anniversary of the day\nby the persecution of that unhappy bird.[369]\n\nThe story of the wren is well known; how, when the birds were competing\nfor the kingship by the test of the greatest height attained in flying,\nthe wren hid in the eagle\u2019s feathers, and, when the eagle had flown\nfar beyond the other birds, darted himself yet a little above it. It\nis said that the first appearance of this story is in a collection of\nbeast-fables, composed by a rabbi in the 13th century.[370] But the\nresemblance between the wren-story as it is told in Germany or Ireland,\nand a story of a linnet as told by the Odjibwas of North America, is so\nstriking a testimony of the way in which closely similar tales are framed\nindependently, that the two stories are worth comparing.\n\n    _THE ODJIBWA STORY._\n\n    \u2018The birds met together one day to try which could fly the\n    highest. Some flew up very swift, but soon got tired, and were\n    passed by others of stronger wing. But the eagle went up beyond\n    them all, and was ready to claim the victory, when the grey\n    linnet, a very small bird, flew from the eagle\u2019s back, where\n    it had perched unperceived, and being fresh and unexhausted,\n    succeeded in going the highest. When the birds came down and\n    met in council to award the prize, it was given to the eagle,\n    because that bird had not only gone up nearer to the sun than\n    any of the larger birds, but it had carried the linnet on its\n    back.\u2019\n\n    For this reason the eagle\u2019s feathers became the most honourable\n    marks of distinction a man could bear.[371]\n\n    _THE IRISH STORY._\n\n    \u2018The birds all met together one day, and settled among\n    themselves that whichever of them could fly highest was to be\n    the king of all. Well, just as they were on the hinges of being\n    off, what does the little rogue of a wren do, but hop up and\n    perch himself unbeknown on the eagle\u2019s tail. So they flew and\n    flew ever so high, till the eagle was miles above all the rest,\n    and could not fly another stroke, he was so tired. \u201cThen,\u201d\n    says he, \u201cI\u2019m king of the birds....\u201d \u201cYou lie,\u201d says the wren,\n    darting up a perch and a half above the big fellow. Well, the\n    eagle was so mad to think how he was done, that when the wren\n    was coming down, he gave him a stroke of his wing, and from\n    that day to this the wren was never able to fly further than a\n    hawthorn bush.\u2019[372]\n\nIt is impossible to assign limits either to the vitality or to the\nrange of a story. If the commerce which has ever prevailed between the\ndifferent tribes of the world, as it prevails to this day, either by\nconquest or by barter, has caused so wide a dispersion of the races and\nproducts of the earth, the wonder would rather be if the products of\nmen\u2019s thoughts and fancies had not prevailed so widely, had not taken so\ndeep root in man\u2019s memory, seeing that they cost nothing either to carry\nor to keep. For many stories therefore of wide range, agreeing in such\nminute particulars as to render difficult the theory of their independent\norigin, the mystery of their resemblance is amply solved by the theory of\ntheir gradual dispersion, without their proving anything as to the common\norigin of those who tell them. The story, for instance, of Faithful\nJohn, the central idea of which is, that a friend can only apprise\nsome one of a danger he will incur on his wedding night, by himself\nincurring suspicion and being turned into stone, is told with little\nvariation in Bohemia, Greece, Italy, and Spain; and the discovery of the\nleading thought in a story in India makes it possible that it was there\noriginated.[373] In Polynesia, again, the story of stopping the motion\nof the sun is widely spread; in New Zealand, Maui makes ropes of flax,\ngoes with his brothers to the point where the sun rises, hides from it by\nday, and when it rises next day succeeds in his purpose before letting\nit go further. In Tahiti, Maui is a priest, or chief of olden time, who\nbuilds a marae which must be finished by the evening, and who therefore\nseizes the sun by its rays and binds him to a tree till his work is\nfinished. In Hawaii Maui stops the sun till evening, because his wife has\nto finish a certain dress by twilight. In Samoa, Maui appears as Itu, a\nman who is anxious to build a house of great stones, but is unable to do\nso because the sun goes too fast; he therefore takes a boat and lays nets\nin the sun\u2019s path, but as these are broken through, he makes a noose,\ncatches the sun, and only lets it free when his house is finished.[374]\nObviously, these stories are all related, but it is impossible to say\nwhether they spread from any one place to the others, or whether they\nare remnants, retained in altered form, from the primitive mythology\nof a common Polynesian home. It is, however, worthy of notice that in\nWallachian fairy lore also a cow pushes back the sun to the hour of\nmid-day, to enable a youth who had fallen asleep to accomplish his\ntask,[375] and that the idea of catching the sun is not unknown to the\nmythology of America.\n\nThere is, however, a large class of stories which arise independently,\nand owe their remarkable family likeness neither to a common descent nor\nto importation, but to the natural promptings of the imagination. Thus,\nthe idea of a tree so high that it reaches the heavens, and consequently\nof the heavens as thereby attainable, naturally produces such a story as\nJack and the Beanstalk, a story which is said to be found all over the\nworld, but the versions of which agree in no other single point than in\nthe admission to the sky by dint of climbing.[376] In the same way many\nof the ideas common to the Indo-European nations, and so often explained\nas originally derived from the fanciful meteorology of the primitive\nAryans, find startling analogues outside the Aryan family, where there\nis no reason to suppose them anything more than the direct offspring of\nthe dreamer or the story-teller. If the constancy of Penelope to Ulysses,\ntormented by her suitors, is simply that of the evening light, assailed\nby the powers of darkness, till the return of her husband the sun in the\nmorning,[377] shall we apply the same interpretation to the story of the\nwife of the Red Swan, of the Odjibwas, who, when he returns from the\ndiscovery of his magic arrows from the abode of the departed spirits,\nfinds that his two brothers have been quarrelling for the possession of\nhis wife, but been quarrelling in vain?[378] If the legend of Cadmus\nrecovering Europa, after she has been carried away by the white bull, the\nspotless cloud, means that \u2018the sun must journey westward until he sees\nagain the beautiful tints which greeted his eyes in the morning,\u2019[379]\nshall we say the same of a story current in North America, to the effect\nthat a man once had a beautiful daughter whom he forbade to leave the\nlodge lest she should be carried off by the king of the buffaloes; and\nthat as she sat, notwithstanding, outside the house, combing her hair,\n\u2018all of a sudden the king of the buffaloes came dashing on, with his herd\nof followers, and taking her between his horns, away he cantered over\nplains, plunged into a river which bounded his land, and carried her\nsafely to his lodge on the other side,\u2019 whence she was finally recovered\nby her father?[380]\n\nAgain, in Hindu mythology, Urvasi came down from heaven and became the\nwife of the son of Budha, only on condition that two pet rams should\nnever be taken from her bedside and that she should never behold her\nlord undressed. The immortals, however, wishing Urvasi back in heaven,\ncontrived to steal the rams; and as the king pursued the robbers with\nhis sword in the dark, the lightning revealed his person, the compact\nwas broken, and Urvasi disappeared.[381] This same story is found in\ndifferent forms among many people of Aryan and Turanian descent, the\ncentral idea being that of a man marrying someone of aerial or aquatic\norigin, and living happily with her till he breaks the condition on which\nher residence with him depends. Thus there is the story of Raymond\nof Toulouse, who chances in the hunt upon the beautiful Melusina at a\nfountain and lives with her happily till he discovers her fish-nature and\nshe vanishes; but exactly parallel stories come no less from Borneo, the\nCelebes, or North America than from Ireland or Germany; for which reason\nit seems sufficient to receive them simply as they stand, as fairy tales\nnatural to every tribe of mankind that has a fixed belief in supernatural\nbeings, rather than to explain these wonderful wives as the \u2018bright\nfleecy clouds of early morning, which vanish as the splendour of the sun\nis unveiled.\u2019[382] Let us compare the story as it is told in America and\nBornoese tradition.\n\n    _THE BORNOESE STORY._\n\n    A certain Bornoese, when far from home, once climbed a tree to\n    rest, and whilst there \u2018was attracted by the most ravishing\n    music, which ever and anon came nearer and nearer, until it\n    seemingly approached the very roots of the tree, when a pure\n    well of water burst out, at the bottom of which were seven\n    beautiful virgins. Ravished at the sight, and determined to\n    make one of them his son\u2019s wife, he made a lasso of his rattan,\n    and drew her up.\u2019 One day, however, her husband hit her in\n    anger, and she was taken up to the sky.[383]\n\n    _THE AMERICAN STORY._\n\n    Wampee, a great hunter, once came to a strange prairie, where\n    he heard faint sounds of music, and looking up saw a speck in\n    the sky, which proved itself to be a basket containing twelve\n    most beautiful maidens, who, on reaching the earth, forthwith\n    set themselves to dance. He tried to catch the youngest, but\n    in vain; ultimately he succeeded by assuming the disguise of a\n    mouse. He was very attentive to his new wife, who was really a\n    daughter of one of the stars, but she wished to return home, so\n    she made a wicker basket secretly, and by help of a charm she\n    remembered, ascended to her father.[384]\n\nIt has been imagined that all the fairy tales of the world may be reduced\nto certain fundamental story roots; but these story roots we should look\nfor not in the clouds, but upon the earth, not in the various aspects of\nnature, but in the daily occurrences and surroundings of savage life. The\nuniformity which appears in so many of the myths or fairy tales of the\nworld would thus simply arise from a uniformity of the experiences of\nexistence. The evidence concerning savage astro-mythology is conclusive,\nthat nothing is conceived of the heavenly bodies that has not its\nprototype on earth; that the skies do but mirror the events or objects\nof earth, where the memorable incidents of the chase or the battle are\ntold of the stars: nor is it strange if in a few years such tales should\nhave so gained in the telling, that it is often impossible to separate\nthe fact from the fiction, or to distinguish a crude supposition from the\ncreation of a fanciful myth.\n\nFor although it is difficult to lay down the boundaries between the\nlanguage of metaphor and the language of fact, inasmuch as what is faith\nto one man is often but fancy to another, there is reason to believe\nthat savages really do very often confuse celestial with terrestrial\nphenomena, that, for instance, the Zulus, when they speak of the stars as\nthe children of the sky and of the sun as their father, are expressing\nrather a real belief than a poetical fancy, and that the conception\nof the sun and moon as physically related is an actual belief quite\nas much as a merely figurative explanation. If this be true, a large\npart of mythology must be regarded not as a poetical explanation of\nthings, suggested by the grammatical form of words or by roots that lend\nsimilar names to the most diverse conceptions, but as the direct effect\nof primitive thought in its application to the phenomena of nature. It\nis more likely that the early thoughts of men should have framed their\nlanguage than that the form of their language should have preceded\ntheir form of thought. And if it be shown (by those who hold that the\npersonification of impersonal things is consequent on the grammatical\nstructure of a language) that the Kafirs and other tribes of South\nAfrica, whose language does not denote sex, are almost destitute of\nmyths and fables, whilst tribes who employ a sex-denoting language have\nmany,[385] it is noticeable that such personification has been shown to\nexist among the natives of Australia, between the different dialects of\nwhose language it is said to have been one of the points of resemblance,\nthat they recognised no distinctions of gender.[386]\n\nA story of the Ottawa Indians (by internal evidence posterior in date\nto their acquaintance with guns and ships) may be taken as a sample of\nsavage traditions, which prove that the convertibility of mankind with\nsun, moon, or stars, is as natural a belief to a savage, as that his\nnext-door neighbour may turn at pleasure into a wolf or a snake. Six\nyoung men finding themselves on a hill-top in close proximity to the\nsun, resolved to travel to it. Two of them finally reached a beautiful\nplain, lighted by the moon, which, as they advanced, appeared as an aged\nwoman with a white face, who spoke to them and promised to conduct them\nto her brother, then absent on his daily course through the sky. This\nwoman \u2018they knew from her first appearance\u2019 to be the moon. When she\nintroduced them to her brother, \u2018the sun motioned them with his hand to\nfollow him,\u2019 and they accompanied him with some difficulty till they were\nrestored safe and sound to the earth.[387] So Sir G. Grey, collecting\nnative legends concerning a cave in Australia, found that the only point\nof agreement was \u2018that originally _the moon who was a man_ had lived\nthere.\u2019[388]\n\nBut, except on the assumption that savages are idiots, it is impossible\nthat such legends should not only obtain currency, but enjoy the vitality\nof traditions, unless they conform to certain canons of belief, unless\nthey contain nothing inherently incredible. A fairy tale pleases a child,\nnot because it is known to be impossible, but because it carries the\nmind further afield than actual experience does into the realms of the\npossible; and a tale understood to be impossible would be as insipid to\na savage as it would be to a child. Schoolcraft, in reference to Indian\npopular tales, speaks of the \u2018belief of the narrators and listeners\nin every wild and improbable thing told;\u2019 and says, \u2018Nothing is too\ncapacious for Indian belief.\u2019[389] If, as their stories abundantly show,\nthey feel no difficulty in conceiving the instantaneous transformation\nof men not merely into something living, but into stones or stumps, the\nfact ceases to be strange, that in Indian faith \u2018many of the planets are\ntransformed adventurers.\u2019[390] What, then, more natural than that all\nover the world the deeds of great tribesmen should be transferred to the\nskies, and, under the action of uniform laws of fancy, should in time\nbecome so overgrown with fiction as to pass into the domain of the purest\nmythology, till at last they appear as mere figurative expressions of the\ndaily life of nature, of the struggle between the day and the night, of\nthe dispersion of the clouds by the sun?\n\nThe condition of things which makes such conceptions of the heavens\nthe natural outcome of primitive speculation may perhaps, to a certain\nextent, be recovered by observation of the laws conditioning the actually\nexistent thoughts of the savage world.\n\nThe first entrance into Wonderland lies through Dreamland. Schoolcraft\u2019s\ntestimony that \u2018a dream or a fact is alike potent in the Indian mind\u2019\naccords with much other evidence to the effect that, with savages, the\nsensations of the sleeping or waking life are equally real or but vaguely\ndistinguished. A native of Zululand will leave his work and travel to his\nhome, perhaps a hundred miles away, to test the truth of a dream,[391]\nand so great is the importance the Zulus attach to such monitions, that\n\u2018he who dreams is the great man of the village;\u2019 whilst the gift to them\nof \u2018_sight by night in dreams_\u2019 is ascribed to their first ancestor,\nthe great Unkulunkulu.[392] But how far surpassing even the normal\nexperiences of sleep must be the dreams of men in the hunting or nomad\nstate, the law of whose lives is either a want or an excess of food!\nWhat richer fund for story-material can be imagined than the dreams of a\nsavage, or what more likely to introduce him to the mysteries of romance\nthan recollections of those sudden transformations or those weird images,\nwhich have haunted the repose of his slumbering hours? And into what\nstrange lands of beauty and plenty, into what secrets of the skies,\nwould not the flights of his sleep give him an insight! In all fairy\ntales and all mythology a remarkable conformity to the deranged ideas\nof sleep does thus occur; and especially do the stories of the lower\nraces, as for instance those of Schoolcraft\u2019s \u2018Algic Researches,\u2019 read\nfar more like the recollections of bad dreams than like the worn ideas\nof a once pure religion, or of a poetical interpretation of nature. The\nmost beautiful of the Indian legends, that of the origin of Indian corn,\nwas in native tradition actually referred to a dream, and to a dream\npurposely resorted to, to gain a clearer insight into the mysteries of\nnature.[393] And as dreams do but deal with the incidents of the waking\nlife, exaggerating them and contorting them, but never passing beyond\nthem, may not the somewhat uniform incidents of savage life, whether of\nhunting, fishing, fighting, or travelling, offer some explanation of that\ngeneral similarity, which is so conspicuous an element in the comparative\nmythology or the fairy-lore of the world?\n\nThen the fact that the dead reappear in dreams at that season of the\nnight in which also the stars are seen, would tend to confirm the\nidea of some community of nature between the dead and the stars, such\ncommunity as is indeed not unfrequently found, as where the Aurora\nBorealis or the Milky Way are identified with the souls of the departed.\nSo, too, a Californian tribe is mentioned as having believed that chiefs\nand medicine-men became heavenly bodies after their death,[394] and even\nTasmanians could point to the stars they would go to at death.[395]\n\nBut there is another reason which would still further create a mental\nconfusion between the deeds of a mortal on earth and the motions of some\nluminary in heaven, and that is the language of adulation, which, from\nascribing the possession of the sky to a chief, in order to gratify\nhim, becomes imperceptibly the language of belief. It is common for the\nZulus to say of a chief, \u2018That man is the owner of heaven and everything\nis his,\u2019 and a native once expressed his gratitude to a missionary by\npointing to the heaven and saying, \u2018Sir, the sun is yours.\u2019 \u2018It does\nnot suffice them to honour a great man unless they place the heaven\non his shoulders; they do not believe what they say, they merely wish\nto ascribe all greatness to him.\u2019 If when a chief goes to war the sky\nbecomes overcast, they say, \u2018The heaven of the chief feels that the\nchief is suffering.\u2019 Nor was any chief known to deprecate the use of\nsuch language; he \u2018expected to have it said always that the heaven was\nhis.\u2019[396]\n\nObviously, however, there is no fast line between the language of\nflattery and the language of fact. From the Tahitians, who would speak of\ntheir kings\u2019 houses as the clouds of heaven, or the Kafirs of Ethiopia,\nwho called their kings lords of the sun and moon, it is easy to trace\nthe progress of thought which actually led the latter people to pray to\ntheir kings for rain, fine weather, or the cessation of storms.[397]\nThe Zulus, like many other savages, think of the sky as at no great\ndistance from the earth, and thus as the roof of their king\u2019s palace in\nthe same way that the earth is its floor. \u2018Utshaka claimed to be king\nof heaven as well as earth, and ordered the rain-doctors to be killed,\nbecause in assuming power to control the weather they were interfering\nwith his royal prerogative.\u2019[398] But if such confusion between royalty\nand divinity can exist in the savage mind whilst the king is on earth,\nhow natural is it that a man, associated for so long in his lifetime\nwith power over the elements, should, after his removal from earth\nand from sight, become still more mixed up with elemental forces, or\nperhaps even localised in some point of space! The word Zulu actually\nmeans the Heavens, and in Zululand King of the Zulus means king of the\nheavens,[399] so that when the king is drawn in his waggon to the centre\nof the kraal, it is not surprising that, among the other acclamations,\nsuch as \u2018Lion, King of the World,\u2019 with which his creeping subjects\nsalute him, they should actually salute him as Zulu, Heaven.[400] It can\nonly be from the use of such language that among the Zulus \u2018rain, storm,\nsunshine, earthquakes, and all else which we ascribe to natural causes\nare brought about or retarded by _various people_ to whom this power is\nascribed. Every rain that comes is spoken of as belonging to somebody,\nand in a drought they say that the owners of rain are at variance among\nthemselves.\u2019[401]\n\nThat in aftertime, from these modes of thinking and speaking, the\nattributes of a Zulu or Tahitian chief might become those of a\nheaven-supporter, such as Atlas, or of a cloud-gatherer, such as Zeus, or\nthat, according as his body was consigned to the earth or the sea, such a\nchief might become the earth-shaker or the ocean-ruler, is not only what\nmight be expected _\u00e0 priori_, but what is to some extent justified by\nfacts. In South Africa the word which the missionaries have adopted for\nboth Hottentots and Kafirs as the name for the Deity, from its being the\nnearest approach to the Christian conception, is believed to be derived\nfrom two words signifying Wounded Knee, a term applied generations back\nto a Hottentot sorcerer of great fame and skill, who happened to have\nsustained some injury to his knees. \u2018Having been held in high repute for\nextraordinary powers during life, he (Utixo) continued to be invoked\neven after death as one who could still relieve and protect; and hence\nin process of time he became nearest to their first conceptions of\nGod.\u2019[402] And the legend of Mannan Mac Lear, mythical first inhabitant\nand first legislator of the Isle of Man, discloses a germ of similar\norigin underlying the myth of a culture-hero, as his story preserved in\nthe following lines will show:\n\n  \u2018This merchant Manxman of the solemn smile,\n  First legislator of our rock-throned isle,\n  Dwelt in a fort (withdrawn from vulgar sight),\n  Cloud-capped Baroole, upon thy lofty height.\n  From New Year tide round to the Ides of Yule,\n  Nature submitted to his wizard rule.\n  Her secret force he could with charms compel\n  To brew a storm or raging tempests quell;\n  Make one man seem like twenty in a fray,\n  And drive the stranger (_i.e._ Scotch invaders) over seas away.\u2019[403]\n\nIn other words, he was a great sorcerer and a great warrior, whose deeds\nlived after him in story, and whose name lent itself as a nucleus, like\nthat of Charlemagne or of Alfred, for every adventure that was strange,\nfor every imagination that was wonderful.\n\nThere seems, indeed, no reason to seek for any higher genesis than this\nfor any of the culture-heroes of any mythology, notwithstanding that they\nhave with so much unanimity been forced into identification with the sun.\nZeus himself means but the same thing as Zulu, namely, the Sky or Heaven,\nso that it is only natural that nothing that could be told of the sky\n\u2018was not in some form or other ascribed to Zeus,\u2019[404] just as we see\nthat modern Zulus ascribe to their chiefs all atmospheric phenomena, and\nactually confer on them the appellation, Zulu. There is indeed nothing\nin which Zeus differs essentially from Manabozho of North American\nmythology, from Krishna of the Hindus, from Maui of the Polynesians, from\nQuawteaht of the rude Ahts, or from Kutka of the still ruder Kamschadals.\nThe stories told of one may be more refined than those told of another,\nbut in no case are these divinities more than names, which serve as\nconvenient centres for the grouping of memorable feats or fictions.\nSuch names serve also, when once men have begun to reflect on the arts\nor customs of their lives, as sufficient explanations of their origin;\nand just as we find the institution of marriage attributed in China, or\nGreece, or India to some mythical hero, so we find the discovery of fire\nand light, or the invention of remarkable arts, duly ascribed to some\nhypothetical originator. In Polynesian mythology, Maui, in Thlinkeet\nIndian mythology, Yehl, played the part of Prometheus in procuring fire\nfor the use of men. From seeing a spider make its web, Manabozho invented\nthe art of making fishing nets; and Kutka (who, like Manabozho, is also\nin some sense the maker of all things) taught the Kamschadals how to\nbuild huts, how to catch birds, and beasts, and fish.[405] The supreme\ndeity of Finnish mythology not only brought fire for men from heaven but\nwas the inventor of music; yet like the other gods he was but a magician,\nable to destroy the world at pleasure, to hold the sun captive in a box,\nto conquer all monsters and heal all diseases.[406]\n\nAmerican mythology abounds in culture-heroes, mythical personages who\ntaught men useful arts and laws, and left, in the reverence attached to\ntheir memory, a quasi-religious system for their posterity.[407] These\ntoo have been resolved into observation of the phenomena of the sun or\nthe dawn. Manabozho or Michabo, the ancestor of the Algonquins, whose\nname literally means the Great Hare, and conferred peculiar respect on\nthe clan who bore it as their totem, means in reality (according to this\ntheory) the Great Light, the Spirit of Dawn, or under another aspect\nthe North-west Wind; the confusion between the hare and the dawn being\nsupposed to have arisen from a root _wab_, which gave two words, one\nmeaning _white_ and the other _hare_, so that what was originally told\nof the White Light came to be told of a Hare, and what was at first but\na personification of natural phenomena became a tissue of inconsistent\nabsurdities.[408] Ingenious, however, as such a solution undoubtedly is,\nit is easier to believe that the stories of the Great Hare have grown\nround a man, called, in complete accordance with American custom, after\nthe hare, and once a famous sorcerer or warrior like Mannan Mac Lear;\nfor in all the more recent traditions of him, there is much more of the\nmagician or shaman than of the wind or the dawn. He turns at will into a\nwolf or an oak stump, he converses with all creation, he outwits serpents\nby his cunning, he has a lodge from which he utters oracles; as brother\nof the winds, by reason of his swiftness, there is no incongruity in\nthe idea that since his death he is the director of storms, and resides\nin the region of his brother, the North Wind. It is curious that he\nis swallowed up by the king of the fish, in this resembling in Aryan\nmythology Pradyumna, the son of Vishnu, who after being swallowed by a\nfish is ultimately restored to life,[409] or in Polynesian mythology\nMaui, who is rescued by the sky from the embrace of the jelly fish. Maui,\nlike Tell, Sigurd, Hercules, and others, has recently been discovered\nto be the sun, the fish which swallows him signifying really the earth;\nfor does not the earth swallow the sun every night, and is not the sun\nonly freed by the eastern sky in the morning?[410] Doubtless, on such a\nreading of his life, Manabozho has as just a claim as Mani to a place in\nthe solar system; but then\u2014who that has ever lived and died but has the\nsame?\n\nSam\u00e9, the great name of Brazilian legend, came across the ocean from\nthe rising sun; he had power over the elements and tempests; the trees\nof the forests would recede to make room for him, the animals used to\ncrouch before him; lakes and rivers became solid for him; and he taught\nthe use of agriculture and magic. Like him, Bochica, the great lawgiver\nof the Muyscas and son of the sun, he who invented for them their\ncalendar and regulated their festivals, had a white beard, a detail in\nwhich all the American culture-heroes agree.[411] It is not, however,\non this particular feature, so much as on their _whiteness_ in general\nthat stress has been laid to identify them with the great White Light of\nDawn. Of the Mexican Quetzalcoatl, Dr. Brinton says, \u2018Like all the dawn\nheroes he, too, was represented of white complexion, clothed in long\nwhite robes.\u2019 The white is the emphatic thing about them. So the name\nViracocha of the Peruvians, translated by Oviedo, \u2018the foam of the sea,\u2019\nis, we are to believe, a metaphor: \u2018the dawn rises above the horizon as\nthe snowy foam on the surface of the lake.\u2019[412] But Peruvian tradition\nwas confused as to whether Viracocha was the highest god and creator of\nthe world, or only the first Inca; and such confusion between humanity\nand divinity, which is everywhere the normal result of the deification of\nthe dead, is at least a more natural account of the origin of his worship\nthan a fancied resemblance between the sea-foam and the dawn.[413] Heitsi\nEibip, whom the Namaqua Hottentots call their Great Father, and on whose\ngraves they throw stones for luck, so far resembles a solar hero that\nhe is believed to have come like Sam\u00e9 from the East; yet, though much\nthat is wonderful already attaches to his memory, he has not yet thrown\noff his human personality, but is known to have been merely a sorcerer\nof great fame;[414] so that in his deification we have almost living\nevidence of the process here assumed to have operated widely in the\nformation of the world\u2019s mythology.\n\nTo the influence of the language of adulation in the formation of\nmythology, may also be added that of the language of affection or of\nridicule. Nicknames, taken at hazard from the animal world, or from any\nobject of earth, air, or water, would be obvious sources of improbable\nstories, tending to the completest confusion between the doings of a\nman and the attributes of the thing after which he was named. Nicknames\nof affection would produce the same result; and if, as is likely,\nother people besides the Finns call their daughters Moon, Sunshine, or\nWater-glimmer, it is easy to see how, for instance, the departure of\nSunshine as a bride might come afterwards to be explained as a myth of\nthe dawn or of twilight, and in the same way anything else that happened\nto her.[415]\n\nAn elemental explanation has been applied with such uniform effect,\nfirst to Aryan and then to Polynesian and American mythology, that in\nthe resort to a more natural, albeit less poetical hypothesis, there may\nbe danger of carrying opposing theories too far. There are, however,\ncertain obvious limits; nor, if we doubt whether man in a primitive state\nreally had the poetical views of nature so generally claimed for him,\nneed we deny to him all poetical origination in the construction of his\nmythology. Take, for instance, this typical Aryan passage, \u2018By the early\nAryan mind the howling wind was conceived as a great dog or wolf. As the\nfearful beast was heard speeding by the windows or over the house-top,\nthe inmates trembled, for none knew but his own soul might forthwith be\nrequired of him. Hence to this day, among ignorant people, the howling\nof a dog is supposed to portend a death in the family.\u2019[416] When we\nfind that a dog\u2019s howling portends the death of its master among the\nNubians,[417] and is regarded as a dreaded omen by the Kamschadals,[418]\nas well as by the Fijians,[419] and that the Esquimaux lay a dog\u2019s head\nby the grave of a child to show it the way to the land of souls, we may\nsafely reject the Aryan pedigree of the superstition, nor go any farther\nfor its explanation than the nature of the sound itself. But though\nAryan mythology may be taken to have grown, like any other, round human\npersonalities, and though popular superstitions are in many instances\nthe primary products of the laws of psychology, ranking rather among\nthe sources than the _d\u00e9bris_ of mythology, there is proof from the\nfairy-lore of savages that some of them have so far advanced in thought\nas to be not incapable of personifying abstract ideas. Dr. Rink alludes\nto the tendency of the Esquimaux to give figurative explanations of\nthings, to personify, for instance, human qualities, just as they are\npersonified in the \u2018Pilgrim\u2019s Progress.\u2019[420] The Chippewya Indians\npersonified sleep as Weeng, a giant insect that was once seen on a tree\nin a wood, where it made a murmuring sound with its wings; and it was\ngenerally conceived to cause sleep by sending a number of little fairies\nto beat drowsy foreheads with their tiny clubs.[421] And the Odjibwas,\nwith a fancy which has been so poetically preserved by Longfellow,\nidentified Winter with an old hoary-headed man called Peboan, Spring with\na young man of quick step and rosy face called Segwun.[422]\n\nThe testimony, therefore, afforded by the observation of modern savage\nraces as to the growth of mythology discloses several ways in which,\nas it is being formed now, we may infer that it was formed thousands\nof years ago. The evidence of Steller that the Kamschadals explained\neverything to themselves according to the liveliness of their fancy,\nletting nothing escape their examination,[423] accords with evidence\nconcerning other races to the effect that some intellectual curiosity\nenters as a constituent into the lowest human intelligence, giving birth\nto explanations which are as absurd to us as they are natural to their\noriginal framers. A ready capacity for invention is no rare trait of the\nsavage character. Sir G. Grey found that the capability of Australian\nnatives to invent marvels and wonders was proportioned to the quantity\nof food he offered them, and that rather than confess ignorance of a\nthing they would _invent_ a tradition;[424] whilst in the fondness of the\nKoranna Hottentots, as they sit round their evening fires, of relating\nfictitious adventures, lies a source of legendary lore which is not\nlikely to be limited to South Africa, and is probably aided elsewhere as\nit is there by the knowledge, common to so many savage tribes, of the\npreparation of intoxicating drinks.[425] If to these sources of mythology\nbe added the help supplied by dreams to the elaboration of fiction; the\nmisconceptions effected in traditions by the language of flattery, of\naffection, or of ridicule; and, lastly, the tendency, probably consequent\non such confusion, to personify things or even abstract ideas; the wonder\nwill no longer be that the mythology of the different races of the world\ndisplays so much uniformity, but that uniformity within limited ranges\nshould ever have been taken as a proof of a common ethnological origin.\n\n\n\n\nIX.\n\n_COMPARATIVE FOLK-LORE._\n\n\nFolk-lore is often explained as the remains of ancient mythology, but\nthe explanation, though perhaps true of some traditional lore still\nsurviving in legends and fairy tales, seems of doubtful application to\nthose popular superstitions yet so prevalent among us, of which our\nkitchens, our cottages, and our nurseries are the chief depositories.\nBeliefs, fancies, and customs, however trivial in themselves, and locally\nabsurd, gain an interest from the area they cover and the races they\nconnect; suggesting past unions between nations now remote, in the same\nway as the smallest weeds are capable of telling, by their geographical\ndispersion, of lands that once stretched where seas now roll. To take\nsome instances. The English tradition that a swallow\u2019s nest is lucky,\nand its life protected by imaginary penalties, is one that in isolation\nwe should naturally and rightly disregard. But when we find that the\nbelief belongs to Germany, and that the supposed penalties are the same\nin Yorkshire as they are in Swabia, our wonder is aroused; and when we\nfurther learn that in China, too, the swallow\u2019s nest is lucky and its\nlife inviolate, we become aware of a possible history and antiquity\nattaching to the superstition, which offer an inviting field for\nspeculation and study. The belief, that the first appearance of mice in\na house betokens death, becomes of interest when we find it in Russia as\nwell as in Devonshire. Mothers there are both in Germany and in England\nwho fear their children may grow up to be thieves if their nails are cut\nbefore their first year is over. Such superstitions, as we call them,\nhad, without doubt, once a reason; in some cases still to be traced, in\nothers effaced by the wear and tear of time. By the application to them\nof the comparative method not only may we hope to explain and connect\nideas otherwise inexplicable, but also to come to conclusions not\nuninteresting from an arch\u00e6ological point of view. For if it can be shown\nthat they are the remains of ancient barbarism rather than of ancient\nmythology, their testimony may be added to that, long since given by the\nmore material relics and witnesses of early times, concerning the general\nhistory of civilisation.\n\nFor the existence of similar traditions as of similar fairy-tales in\nwidely remote districts there are three possible hypotheses. These are,\nmigration, community of origin, or similarity of development. Either\nthey have spread from one place to another, or they are the legacies of\ntimes when the people possessing them were actually united, or they have\nsprung up independently in different localities, in virtue of the natural\nlaws of mental growth. It may be difficult of any given belief to say to\nwhich of these three classes it belongs; but there are many beliefs, so\nalike in general features, yet so divergent in detail, as best to accord\nwith the theory of a common descent or a common development. Some, for\ninstance, may be so common to the different nations of one stock, as to\nbe traceable to periods anterior to their dispersion; whilst others, yet\nmore widely spread than these, suggest relationships between races of men\nmore fundamental and remote than can be detected in language, and point\nto an affinity that is older and stronger than mere affinity of blood, an\naffinity, that is, in the conceptions and fancies of primitive thought.\nFor where actual relationship is not proved by language, analogies in\ntradition are better accounted for by supposing similar grooves of mental\ndevelopment than by any other theory. Philology may prove a relationship\nbetween, let us say, the Nixens of Germany and the Nisses of Scandinavia:\nbut there is no relationship beyond similarity of conception between\nthe Nereids of antiquity and the mermaids of the North, or between the\nBrownies of Scotland and the Lares of Latium. Children, of whatever race\nor country they may be, dislike the dark, nor is it thought necessary to\naccount for this common trait by any theory of connection or descent.\nSo it is with nations. They are or were, in the face of nature, but as\nchildren in the dark, and the nearly similar phenomena of sun and storm,\nbreeze and calm, have sufficed to create for them, in their several\nhomes, many of those fears and fancies we find common to them all.\n\nNo one who has not turned special attention to the subject, can form\nany conception of the mass of purely pagan ideas, which, varnished over\nby Christianity, but barely hidden by it, grow in rank profusion in our\nvery midst and exercise a living hold, which it is impossible either to\nrealise or to fathom, on the popular mind. Like old Roman or British\nremains, buried under subsequent accumulations of earth and stones, or\nsuperficially concealed by an overgrowth of herbage, uninjured during\nall the length of time they have lain unobserved, there they lie just\nbeneath the surface of nineteenth-century life, as indelible records\nof our mental history and origin. Only in the higher social strata can\nthey be deemed extinct; but if it can no longer be said, as it was in\nthe seventeenth century, that most houses of the West-end of London have\nthe horse-shoe on the threshold,[426] yet it may still be said of many\na farm or cottage in the country. The astronomer Tycho Brahe, if he met\nan old woman or hare on leaving home, would take the hint to turn back:\nbut it seems to be only the working population of England, Scotland,\nor Germany who still do the same. Statistics show that the receipts of\nomnibus and railway companies in France are less on Friday than on any\nother day; and many a German that lay dead on the carnage fields of the\nlate war was found to have carried his word-charm as his safest shield\nagainst sword or bullet. Most English villages still have their wise men\nor women, whose powers range, like those of the shamans in savage tribes,\nfrom ruling the planets to curing rheumatics or detecting thieves; and\nwitchcraft still has its believers, occasionally its victims, as of\nyore.[427]\n\nWe who have been brought up to look upon the classification of things\ninto animal, vegetable, and mineral, as primary, or indeed intuitive,\nare apt to forget that savages never classify, and that animate and\ninanimate to them are both alike. Sir John Lubbock has collected\nconclusive evidence that so inconceivable a confusion of thought\nexists.[428] The Tahitians, who sowed some iron nails that young ones\nmight grow from them; the Esquimaux, who thought a musical-box the child\nof a small hand-organ; the Bushmen, who mistook a large waggon for the\nmother of some smaller ones, show the tendency of savages to identify\nmotion with life, and to attribute feelings and relations such as actuate\nor connect themselves to everything that moves of itself or is capable of\nbeing moved. A native sent by one missionary to another with some loaves,\nand a letter stating the number, having eaten two of them and been\ndetected through the letter, took the precaution the next time to put the\nletter under a stone that it might not _see_ the theft committed.[429]\nNow there are numerous superstitions, which there is reason to think are\nrelics of this savage state of thought, when all that existed existed\nunder the same conditions as man himself, capable of the same feelings,\nand subject to the same wants and sorrows. Take, for example, bees. Bees\nare credited with a perfect comprehension of all that men do and utter,\nand, as members themselves of the family they belong to, they must\nbe treated in every way as human in their emotions. On the day of the\nPurification in France it is customary in some parts for women to read\nthe Gospel of the day to the bees.[430] French children are taught that\nthe inmates of the hive will come out to sting them for any bad language\nuttered within their hearing; and in South Russia it is believed \u2018that\nif any robbery be committed where a number of hives are kept, the whole\nstock will gradually diminish, and in a short time die; for bees, they\nsay, will not suffer thieving.\u2019[431] Many persons have probably at some\ntime of their lives, on seeing a crape-covered hive, learnt on inquiry\nthat the bees were in mourning for some member of their owner\u2019s family.\nIn Suffolk, when a death occurs in a house, the inmates immediately\ntell the bees, ask them formally to the funeral, and fix crape on their\nhives; otherwise it is believed they would die or desert. And the same\ncustom, for the same reason, prevails, with local modifications, not only\nin nearly every English county, but very widely over the continent. In\nNormandy and Brittany may be seen, as in England, the crape-set hives;\nin Yorkshire some of the funeral bread, in Lincolnshire some cake and\nsugar, may be seen at the hive door; and a Devonshire nurse on her way\nto a funeral has been known to send back a child to perform the duty\nshe herself had forgotten, of telling the bees. The usual explanation\nof these customs and ideas is that they originated long ago with the\ndeath or flight of some bees, consequent on the neglect they incurred\nwhen the hand that once tended them could do so no longer. Yet a wider\nsurvey of analogous facts leads to the explanation above suggested; for,\nnot to dwell on the fact that in some places in England they are informed\nof weddings as well as of funerals, and their hives are decorated with\nfavours as well as with crape, the practice of giving information of\ndeaths extends in some parts not only to other animals as well, but, in\naddition, to inanimate things. In Lithuania, deaths are announced, not\nonly to the bees, but to horses and cattle, by the rattling of a bunch of\nkeys, and the same custom is reported from Dartford in Kent. In the North\nRiding, not long since, a farmer gravely attributed the loss of a cow\nto his not having told it of his wife\u2019s death. In Cornwall, the indoor\nplants are often put into mourning as well as the hives; and at Rauen, in\nNorth Germany, not only are the bees informed of their master\u2019s death,\nbut the trees also, by means of shaking them. Near Speier, not only must\nthe bees be moved, but the wine and vinegar must be shaken, if it is\nwished that they shall not turn bad. Near W\u00fcrtemburg, the vinegar must be\nshaken, the bird-cage hung differently, the cattle tied up differently,\nand the beehive transposed. Near Ausbach the flower-pots must also\nbe moved, and the wine-casks knocked three times; while at Gernsheim,\nnot only must the wine in the cellar be shaken, to prevent it turning\nsour, but the corn in the loft must be moved if the sown corn is to\nsprout.[432] But all these customs, being too much alike to be unrelated,\nand too widely spread to have sprung up without some reason, by some mere\ncaprice or coincidence, it is difficult to suggest any other reason for\nthem than that they go back to a time when not only bees and cattle, but\ntrees and flowers, vinegar and wine, were, like human beings, considered\nliable to take offence, and capable also of being pacified by kind\ntreatment, since, according as their several temperaments predisposed\nthem, they were able, by deserting, dying, turning sour, or other\nuntoward conduct, to resent neglect or disrespect on the part of their\nowners. Such beliefs belong to the lowest state of mental development, to\na time when the most obvious marks of natural differentiation were as yet\ninsufficient to produce corresponding distinctions in the minds of their\nbeholders.\n\nOther popular traditions strengthen this interpretation. In Normandy\nand Brittany it is thought that bees will not suffer themselves to be\nbought or sold; in other words, that they would take offence if made the\nsubjects of sale and barter.[433] The same belief prevails in Cheshire,\nSuffolk, Hampshire, Cornwall, and Devonshire, like the old Russian\nrule that sacred images might not be spoken of as \u2018bought\u2019 but only as\n\u2018exchanged for money.\u2019[434] The value of bees is measured, not by money,\nbut by corn, hay, or some other exchangeable commodity; in Sussex, if any\nmoney is given for bees, it must be gold. Connected with this idea of\nthe quasi-humanity of bees is the world-wide fear of slighting dangerous\nanimals by calling them by their customary names. Mahometan women dare\nnot call a snake a snake lest they should be bitten by one; Swedish\nwomen avert the wrath of bears by speaking of them as old men. Livonian\nfishermen, when at sea, fear to endanger their nets by calling any animal\nby its common name. At Mecklenburg, in the twelve days after Christmas,\nthe fox goes by the appellation of the \u2018Long Tail;\u2019 even the timid mouse\nby that of the \u2018Floor-runner.\u2019 The Esthonians at all times call the fox\n\u2018Gray Coat,\u2019 the bear \u2018Broad-foot,\u2019 and should they take the liberty of\ntoo often mentioning the hare, their flax crops, they fear, would be in\nperil. In Sweden people dare not mention to anyone in the course of the\nday the number of fish they have caught, if they would catch any more; a\nfeeling to which is probably related the North-Country prejudice against\ncounting one\u2019s fish before the day\u2019s sport is over.\n\nWitchcraft, although it represents a very low stage of religious\nconception, yet in its primary idea of a sympathy or identity existing\nbetween an original and its image, manifests some degree of intellectual\nadvancement. For the idea of vicarious or representative influence,\nthat if you wish to injure a man you can do so by an injury to a bit of\nhis clothing or a lock of his hair, is, so far as it goes, a spiritual\nidea, presupposing notions about the interdependence of nature, and as\nfar as possible removed from what we understand by mere materialism.\nMaterialism indeed is one of the latest growths of the human mind, whilst\nspiritualism is one of its earliest. For to a savage, everything that\nexists lives and feels like himself, and the unseen spirits that surround\nand affect him are as the motes in a sunbeam for variety and number. The\nnative Indian speaks of the earth as \u2018the big plate where all the spirits\neat.\u2019[435] Yet the fetichistic mode of thought is undoubtedly a low, and\nto us an absurd one. Burnings in effigy may probably be traced to it, and\nthe stories so common in the annals of witchcraft of waxen images stuck\nwith pins or burned, in order to injure the person they represented,\nundoubtedly belong to it. In America Kane found an Indian tribe who\nbelieved that the hair of an enemy confined with a frog in a hole would\ncause the owner of the hair to suffer the torments of the frog.[436] In\nthe Fiji Islands the health of a person can be made to fail with the\ndecay of a cocoa-nut buried under a temple.[437] The Finns are said to\nthis day to shoot in the water at images of their absent enemies. But\nour own country has its analogies. In Suffolk, in the last century, if\nan animal was thought to be bewitched, it was burned over a large fire,\nunder the idea that as it consumed away the author of its bewitchment\nwould consume away too. In Anglesey it is still believed that the name\nof a person inscribed on a pipkin, containing a live frog stuck full of\npins, will injuriously affect the bearer of the name.\n\nThere are a numerous set of popular traditions which clearly relate to\nthe same state of thought. There is a feeling so wide that it may be\ncalled European, that cut hair should always be burned, never thrown\naway: the reason given in France, in the Netherlands, in Denmark, and\nnear Saalfeld in Germany, being, that its discovery by a witch would\nsubject its owner to sorcery; that generally given in England and also\nin Swabia being, that if a bird took any of it for its nest the bearer\nwould suffer from headache or lose the rest of his hair. A similar idea\nprevails about teeth: all over England children are taught to throw\nextracted teeth into the fire, lest a dog by swallowing them should\ninduce the toothache. So with the nail that has scratched you, or the\nknife that has cut you,\u2014keep the nail or knife free from rust, and the\nwound will not fester. But all such ideas are explained by those actually\nexistent in savage parts, by the custom, for instance, of the Fijians\nof hiding their cut hair in the thatch of the house, that it may not be\nused against them in witchcraft, or by the practice of Zulu sorcerers\nto destroy their victims by burying some of his hair, his nails, or his\ndress in a secret place, that the decay of the one may ensure that of\nthe other. And a similar philosophy lies at the root of most popular\ncharms for certain complaints. The remedies for warts, for instance, are\nall vicarious. Both at home and abroad the most usual method is to rub\na black snail on the wart, and then to hang it on a hedge, trusting to\nthe sympathetic decay of the wart and snail. But a piece of stolen raw\nmeat, a stalk of wheat or a hair with as many knots in them as there are\nwarts on the hand, or two apple halves tied together, will, if applied\nto the part and then buried, cause effectual relief. The essential thing\nis to ensure the decay of the representative object. In Somersetshire a\ngood ague cure is to shut up a large black spider in a box and leave it\nto perish, that spider and ague may disappear together. In many places,\nit is thought that the whooping-cough may be transferred to a hairy\ncaterpillar tied in a bag round the neck: as the insect dies the cough\nwill go. And in Devonshire some of the patient\u2019s hair is given to a dog\nbetween two slices of buttered bread, that the dog may take the hair\nand the cough together; whilst in Sunderland the head is shaved and the\nhair (risking we must suppose a headache) left on a bush for the birds\nto carry off, that the cough itself may pass to them. May it not be said\nthat such customs and fancies betray a mental constitution radically\ndifferent from our present one, taking us back and ever reminding us of\nthe savagery of our lineage as surely as do flint-flakes or bone-needles,\nand teaching us that only by the slowest degrees can emancipation be\nachieved from the superstitions, or, as some think, from the poetry, of\nignorance?\n\nAgain, trees, stones, waters, stars, serpents, or animals, are all to\nthis day worshipped far and wide by uncivilised races, and the marks\nof a similar object-worship by our own race still survive in many a\npopular tradition. A law of Canute earnestly forbade the heathenship of\nreverencing \u2018the sun or moon, fire or flood, waterwhylls, or stones,\nor trees of the wood of any sort;\u2019 yet, if such things are no longer\nworshipped, it may be certainly said that some of them are still\nreverenced. To take, for instance, tree-worship. Both in Guiana and\nAfrica the natives have so superstitious a reverence for the silk cotton\ntree that they fear to cut it down lest death should ensue.[438] In New\nZealand mythology, Rata was rebuked and put to shame by the spirits\nof the forest for cutting down a tall tree-divinity for making his\ncanoe.[439] The trees which occupy the most prominent place in European\nfolk-lore are the elder, the thorn, and the rowan or mountain ash. In\nDenmark a twig of elder placed silently in the ground is a popular cure\nfor toothache or ague, whilst no furniture, least of all a cradle, may\nbe made of its wood; for the tree is protected by the Elder-mother,\nwithout whose consent not a leaf may be touched, and who would strangle\nthe baby as it lay asleep. So also about Chemnitz, elder boughs fixed\nbefore stalls keep witchcraft from the cattle; and wreaths of it hung up\nin houses on Good Friday, after sunset, are believed to confer immunity\nfrom the ravages of caterpillars. In Suffolk, it is the safest tree to\nstand under in a thunderstorm, and misfortune will ensue if ever it is\nburned. The legend that the cross was made of its wood is evidently an\naftergrowth, an attempt, of which we have so many examples, to give a\nChristian colour to a heathen practice; for the elder was the tree under\nwhich, in pre-Christian times, the old Prussian Earth-god was fabled to\ndwell. Like the elder, the whitethorn was once an object of worship, for\nit too is held to be scatheless in storms; and how else can we account\nfor the fact that in Switzerland, as in the Eastern counties of England,\nto bring its flowers into a house is thought to bring death, than by\nsupposing it was once a tree too sacred to be touched, and likely to\navenge in some way the profanation that was done to it? Too deeply rooted\nin popular veneration for its sacred character to disappear, the Church,\nin course of time, wound its own legend round it, and by the fiction that\nits wood had composed the Crown of Thorns, deprived the worship of its\nheathen sting. But if round the elder and the thorn feelings of reverence\nonce gathered and still linger, yet more is it true of the rowan. In\nEngland, Germany, and Sweden its leaves are still the most potent\ninstrument against the darker powers: Highlanders still insert crosses of\nit with red thread in the lining of their clothes, and Cornish peasants\nstill carry some in their pocket and wind it round the horns of their\ncattle in order to keep off evil eyes. In Lancashire sprigs of it are for\nthe same reason hung up at bedheads, and the churn staff is generally\nmade of its wood. It used to stand in nearly every churchyard in Wales,\nand crosses of it were regularly distributed on Christian festivals as\nsure preservatives against evil spirits. But this is another attempt to\nChristianise what was heathen, for the ancient Danes always used some of\nit for their ships, to secure them against the storms which R\u00e2n, the\ngreat Ocean God\u2019s wife, with her net for capsized mariners, was ever\nready and desirous to raise. The rowan in heathen mythology was called\nThor\u2019s Helper, because it bent to his grasp in his passage over a flooded\nriver on his way to the land of the Frost Giants; and it has been thought\nthat the later sanctity of the tree may be due to the place it occupied\nin mythological fancy. Yet it seems more reasonable to trace the myth to\na yet older superstition than to trace the superstition to the myth. For\nfrom the exceeding beauty of their berries the rowan and the elder and\nthe thorn would naturally impress the savage mind with the feelings of\nactual divinity, and would consequently lend themselves to the earliest\nimaginings about the universe of things. It is more likely that they\nprogressed from a divinity on earth to their position in mythology than\nfrom their position in mythology to a divinity on earth, for the mind\nis capable of employing things for worship long before it is capable of\nemploying them for fable. Worship is the product of fear, and fable of\nfancy; and before men can indulge in fancy they must to some extent have\ncast off fear.\n\nCertain traditions relating to birds and beasts are only explicable on\nthe supposition that they were once objects of divination or worship.\nThe old Germans, we know from Tacitus, used white horses, as the Romans\nused chickens, for purposes of augury, and divined future events from\ndifferent intonations of neighings. Hence it probably is that the\ndiscovery of a horse-shoe is so universally thought lucky, some of\nthe feelings that once attached to the animal still surviving round\nthe iron of its hoof. For horses, like dogs or birds, were invariably\naccredited with a greater insight into futurity than man himself; and the\nmany superstitions connected with the flight or voice of birds resolve\nthemselves into the fancy, not inconceivable among men surrounded on all\nsides by unintelligible tongues, that birds were the bearers of messages\nand warnings to men, which skill and observation might hope to interpret.\nWhy is the robin\u2019s life and nest sacred, and why does an injury to either\nbring about bloody milk, lightning, or rain? It has been suggested that\nthe robin, on account of its colour, was once sacred to Thor, the god\nof lightning; but it is possible that its red breast singled it out for\nworship from among birds, just as its red berries the rowan from among\ntrees, long before its worshippers had arrived at any ideas of abstract\ndivinities. All over the world there is a regard for things red. Captain\nCook noticed a predilection for red feathers throughout all the islands\nof the Pacific.[440] In the Highlands women tie some red thread round\nthe cows\u2019 tails before turning them out to grass in spring, and tie red\nsilk round their own fingers to keep off the witches: and just as in\nEsthonia, mothers put some red thread in their babies\u2019 cradles, so in\nChina they tie some round their children\u2019s wrists, and teach them to\nregard red as the best known safeguard against evil spirits.\n\nOne, indeed, of the chief lessons of Comparative Folk-Lore is a caution\nagainst the theory which deduces popular traditions from Aryan or other\nmythology. The fact has been already alluded to, that in parts of China\nthe same feelings prevail about the swallow as in England or Germany. But\nthere are yet other analogies between the East and the West. A crowing\nhen is an object of universal dislike in England and Brittany; and few\nfamilies in China will keep a crowing hen.[441] The owl\u2019s voice is\nominous of death or other calamity in England and Germany, as it was in\nGreece (except at Athens); but in the Celestial Empire also it presages\ndeath, and is regarded as the bird which calls for the soul. And the crow\nalso is in China a bird of ill omen. Is it not therefore likely that\nall popular fancies about birds and animals have begun in the same way,\namong the same or different races of the globe, and were subsequently\nadopted but never originated by mythology? May it not be that certain\nbirds or animals became prominent in mythology because they had already\nbeen prominent in superstition, rather than that they became prominent\nin superstition because they previously had been prominent in mythology?\nFor instance, instead of tracing a dog\u2019s howling as a death omen to an\nAryan belief that the dog guided the soul from its earthly tenement to\nits abode in heaven, may we not suppose that the myth arose from an\nalready existing omen, and that the latter arose, as omens still do,\nfrom a coincidence which suggested a connection, subsequently sustained\nby superficial observation? The St. Swithin fallacy, which arose within\nhistorical memory and still holds its ground in an age of scientific\nobservation, well illustrates how one striking coincidence may grow\ninto a belief, which no amount of later evidence can weaken or destroy.\nJust so, if it happened that a dog howled shortly before some calamity\noccurred to our Aryan forefathers, thousands and thousands of years ago,\nlong before they had attained to any thoughts of soul or heaven, we can\nwell imagine that the dog, thus thought to betoken death, should, when\nthey came to frame the myth, be conceived as the guide which was waiting\nfor the soul to take it to heaven, and that the belief thus perpetuated\nby the myth might survive to the latest ages.\n\nThere is abundant evidence in the practices to this very day, or till\nlately, prevalent in England and Europe, that the worship of the sun\nor of fire fills a large part in primitive religion. The passing of\nchildren through the fire is not only a Semitic custom, but extends\nwherever the human mind has attained to the idea of purification\nand sacrifice. Some North American tribes used to burn to the sun a\nman-offering in the spring, to the moon a woman-offering in the autumn,\nexpressing thereby their sense of the blessings of light and a desire\nfor their continuance. And traces of such fire-worship and of its\naccompanying human sacrifices lasted in Europe into the very heart of\nthis century, and in many places still survive. The similarity that\nexists between them, both in their seasons and mode of observance,\nillustrates the marvellous sameness of ideas which may so often be found\namong people in widely remote districts of the globe.\n\nThe three great festivals of the Druids took place on Mayday Eve, on\nMidsummer Eve, and on All Hallow-e\u2019en. On those days went up from cairns,\nfoothills, and Belenian heights fires and sacrifices to the sun-god\nBeal: and from such fires the lord of the neighbourhood would take the\nentrails of the sacrificed animal, and, walking barefoot over the ashes,\ncarry them to the Druid who presided over the ceremonies. These fires\nhave descended to us as the famous Beltane fires, lit still, or till\nlately, in Ireland, Scotland, Northern England, and Cornwall, on the\neve of the summer solstice and at the equinoxes, usually on hill tops,\nwith rejoicing and merriment and leaping through the flames on the part\nof all ages and sexes of the population.[442] It is possible that this\nleaping through the flames is a relic of the time when men fell victims\nto them, a modification of the more barbarous custom. In the Highlands,\nwhere at the Beltane feast an oatmeal cake is toasted and portions of\nit drawn for blindfold by the company as they sit in a trench round a\ngrass table, whosoever is the drawer of that portion which has been\npurposely toasted black is devoted to Baal to be sacrificed, and must\nleap perforce three times through the flames. In the same country it is,\nor was, customary on Yeule or Christmas Eve to burn in a cartload of\nlighted peat the stump of an old tree, which went by the name of Callac\nNollic, or Christmas Old Wife. And in several Continental traditions\nwe find the memory of a sacrifice still adhering to Midsummer Eve, or\nSt. John the Baptist\u2019s Vigil. On that day, in Livonia, one or two old\nboats were burned to the songs and dances of young and old; whilst at\nReichenbach, in the Voightland, a May-pole, planted on the green, was,\nafter similar festivities, thrown into the water. On the same day many\nwatermen still refrain from committing themselves to the Elbe, the\nUnstrut, or the Elster, from the belief that upon that day those rivers\nrequire a sacrifice; and the Saale is avoided for the same reason on\nWalpurgis, or Mayday Eve, as well. From the latter cases we may infer\nthat, where rivers flowed near, a sacrifice by water was as usual as one\nby fire, which possibly explains the custom so common in many places in\nconnection with these Beltane fires of rolling something lighted down a\nhill, and, if possible, into a river. At Conz, on the Moselle, a burning\nwheel was rolled down the hill into the river, and Scotch children at\nthe Beltane feast used to roll their bannocks three times down a hill\nbefore consuming them round a good fire of heath and brushwood. So in\nSwabia, wheels of lighted straw were rolled down the Frauenberg, and on\nScheiblen-Sonntag the young people still go by night to a hill, and after\ndancing and singing round a fire, swing wooden wheels by means of a stick\nround and round till they are thoroughly alight, and then fling them down\nthe hill. In North Germany, where the fires take place at Easter instead\nof at Midsummer, lighted tar-barrels are rolled down the Osterberge.\nThe Church, to sanctify these fires, made the day of John the Baptist\ncoincident with Midsummer-day, and taught that the heathen customs were\nsymbolical of Christian doctrine. The fires themselves signified the\nBaptist, that burning and shining light who was to precede the true\nlight; whilst the rolling wheels, as they represented the gradual descent\nof the sun in heaven after it had reached the highest point, so they\nillustrated the diminution of the fame of John, who was at first thought\nto be the real Messiah, till on his own testimony he said, \u2018He must\nincrease, but I must decrease.\u2019 It has even been attempted in recent\ntimes to show that the Midsummer fires, in spite of all their heathen\nsurroundings, were really of Christian origin, and in some way connected\nwith John the Baptist. The two chief objections to this theory are, the\nsurvival of heathen names for the fires, as for instance, among others,\nthe name Himmelsfeuer, and not the usual Johannisfeuer, in one of the\ndistricts of Upper Swabia, and also the close analogy, both in the idea\nand mode of purification, which exists between the Midsummer fire for men\nand the Needfires for cattle.\n\nNeedfires were fires through which cattle were driven if any disease\nbroke out amongst them. Such a fire was lit in Mull in 1767, and was not\nonly the method lately employed in Lower Saxony, but is said to be still\nactually prevalent in Caithness. It would thus appear that after the\nsacrifice to fire had been modified into the custom of passing through or\nover it, the newer mode of cure gradually found its explanation in the\nidea, that fire was a healing or purifying agent on account of its power\nto drive away those evil spirits, which in savage estimation cause or\nconstitute natural disease. The essential thing was that all fires in the\nneighbourhood should be first extinguished and new ones relit by means of\nfriction for the cattle to go through. The virtue lay in the new virgin\nfire uncontaminated by previous use for any purpose whatsoever; and the\nForlorn Fires, which are said to be still lighted in Scotland when any\n_man_ thinks himself the victim of witchcraft,[443] agree closely in\nceremonial with the Needfires for cattle. A notice having been given to\nall the householders within the two nearest streams to extinguish all\nlights and fires on a given morning, the sufferer and his friends on the\nday cause the emission of new fire by a spinning-wheel or other means\nof friction, and having spread it from some tow to a candle, thence to\na torch, and from the torch to a peatload, send it by messengers to\nthe expectant houses. But exactly similar purificatory effects were\nattributed to the Midsummer fires. As far as their light reached, crops\nenjoyed immunity from sorcery for a year, and the ashes collected from\nthem were a constant insurance against calamities of all sorts. Leaping\nthrough them was held to avert malignant spirits for a year, and in many\nplaces not only did men leap, but cattle were driven, through the flames.\nBoth America and Africa supply curious analogues to the Needfires of\nScotland. In the former the Mayas at a festivity in honour of their gods\nof agriculture danced about the ashes of a burnt pile of wood, and passed\nbarefooted over the coals with or without injury, believing that thus\nthey would avert misfortune and appease the anger of the gods.[444] And\namong the Hottentots Kolbe attests the custom of driving sheep through a\nfire, and though the reason told to him for it was, the warding off the\nattacks of wild dogs by the smell of smoke, the other ceremonies usual\non the occasion suggest the interpretation applicable to the Scotch\ncustom.[445] Purification by passing between two fires was also a custom\nof the Tartars.[446]\n\nHence there is reason to think that the Midsummer fires were simply\nannual and public Needfires, resembling the yearly harvest feasts of\nthe Creeks of North America, among whom, as among the ancients who\nannually imported fresh fire from Delos to Lemnos, there was an idea\nof a new and purified life commencing with a new and pure flame, after\nall fires, debased by their subservience to human needs, had been first\nextinguished. The Minnetarees at their feast of the new corn made a new\nfire by drilling the end of a stick into a piece of hard wood;[447] and\nthe Sioux at their sacred feasts were wont to remove all fire from the\nlodge and rekindle a fresh fire before cooking the food, in order to have\nnothing unclean at the feast.[448] In India the Nagas, when they clear a\nfresh piece of jungle, first put out their old fires, and produce a new\nfire by friction, that of ordinary domestic use not being considered pure\nenough for the purpose.[449]\n\nThe same idea has been found among the Indian tribes of South America.\nThere it was the duty of the high-priests \u2018to guard the Eternal Fire in\nthe Rotunda; and, in the solemn, annual festival of the Busque, when\nall the fires of the nation were extinguished, the high-priest alone\nwas commissioned, in the temple, to reproduce the celestial spark and\ngive new fire to the community.\u2019[450] So that from this most remarkable\nidentity of conception between our forefathers and the native tribes of\nAmerica, it is evident there is nothing exclusively Indo-Germanic in the\nholiness ascribed to virgin-fire, and that there is no need to ascribe to\nPh\u0153nician influence customs which occur where such influence is at most\nuncertain. The wheel ignited by friction of its axle was, it has been\nsuggested, an emblem of the sun, and the old Aryan belief, that when the\nsun was hidden by clouds its light was extinguished and needed renewing,\nwhich could only take place by some god working a \u2018pramantha\u2019 in its cold\nwheel till it glowed again, has been referred to as the possible root of\nthe custom. But such an origin being of difficult application outside the\ngeographical limits of Aryanism, it is obviously better to refer the myth\nto the custom than the custom to the myth, and to a custom moreover which\nis as wide as the world.\n\nIt may here be noticed in connection with the sacrificial customs which\nwere once a part of the heathen worship, that the idea of a sacrifice\nto appease an angry spirit that has caused a disease is still far from\nextinct. The burial of a live animal is still believed in W\u00e4rend and\nNorth Sweden to prevent the cattle-plague, and an instance of such a\nsacrifice to the earth spirits is said to have occurred in J\u00f6nk\u00f6ping so\nrecently as 1843. In Moray not long ago, whenever a herd of cattle was\nseized with the murrain, one of them was buried alive, just as in the\nNorth-west Highlands and in Cornwall a black cock is buried alive on the\nspot where a person is first attacked by epilepsy; or as, in Algeria, one\nis drowned in a sacred well for a similar purpose. A case is even cited\nin this century of an Englishman who burned a live calf to counteract the\nattacks of evil spirits.[451] Near Speier in Germany, if many hens or\npigs or ducks died in quick succession, one of their kind was thrown into\nthe fire, and the Esthonians, if a fire broke out, were wont to throw in\na black living fowl to appease the flames.\n\nEnglish country boys, when on the sight of a new moon they turn the\nmoney in their pockets to ensure a constant supply there, have no idea\nof the reason that once underlay the practice. But a wide comparison of\ncustoms supplies us with a key; for we find everywhere a prevalent mental\nassociation between the increase or wane of the moon and the increase or\nwane of things on earth. Maladies, it is thought, will wane more readily\nif the medicine be taken in the moon\u2019s wane, and wood cut at that time\nwill burn better, just as, on the other hand, crops are more likely to\nbe plentiful if sown whilst the moon is young, and marriages more likely\nto be happy. In some English counties pigs must be killed at the same\nseason, lest the pork should waste in boiling. In Germany it is the best\ntime for the father of a family to die, for in the latter half of the\nmonth his death would portend the decrease of his whole family; it is\nalso the best time for counting money which it is desired may increase.\nAn invalid in face of a waning moon should pray that his pains may\ndiminish with it. Hence, too, the French idea that hair cut in the moon\u2019s\nwane will never grow again, or the similar one in Devonshire and Iceland,\nthat the rest will fall off; and hence probably the popular English\nbelief that the weather of the new moon foreshadows the weather for the\nmonth. But are all these fancies relics of an old moon-worship, of the\nexistence of which we have other evidence, or simply expressions of that\nfeeling, once so prevalent, that there existed an intimate sympathy\nbetween man and nature, and that everything which affected the former was\nin some way or another typified by the latter? Analogy seems to favour\nthe latter hypothesis. For instance, all along the East coast of England\nit is thought that most deaths occur at the fall of the tide, a sympathy\nbeing imagined between the ebbing of the water and the ebbing of life;\nand it is curious that Aristotle and Pliny entertained a similar idea,\nthe former with respect to all animals, the latter only about man; and\nthough Pliny\u2019s observation of the fact was instigated by the statement\nof his predecessor, it is likely that the latter was led to the inquiry\nby the notoriety of a popular belief. The Cornish idea that deaths\nare delayed till the ebb-tide, or the Icelandic one that more blood\nflows from sheep killed while the sea is running out, or that chimneys\nsmoke more if built when the sea is running in, may be cited as similar\ninstances. The inhabitants of Esthonia, if a wolf runs away with a lamb,\nthink, by a kind of sympathy, to cause the wolf to drop it by themselves\ndropping something out of their pockets. And in parts of England to this\nday, the bloodstone is a remedy for a bleeding nose, and nettle-tea for a\nnettle-rash; just as turmeric was once accounted a cure for the jaundice\non account of its yellow colour, and the lungs of a fox were held good\nfor asthma on account of that animal\u2019s respiratory powers.\n\nWater-worship, whether as river, lake, or spring, seems as widely spread\nas that of trees or other natural objects, and the numerous traditions\nconnected with it form yet another link between our civilised present\nand our barbarous past. \u2018There is scarcely,\u2019 says a writer on Lancashire\nFolk-Lore, \u2018a stream of any magnitude in either Lancashire or Yorkshire,\nwhich does not possess a presiding spirit in some part of its course.\u2019\nA water-spirit that haunts some stepping-stones near Clitheroe is still\nbelieved once in every seven years to require a human life; nor is it\nlong since a farmer in Anglesea had to drain a well belonging to him,\non account of the damage done by persons resorting thither, under the\nbelief that if they cursed the disease they suffered from and dropped\npins about the well, they would shortly be cured. There is still a\npin-well in Northumberland, and another in Westmoreland, wherein country\ngirls in passing throw an offering of pins to the resident spirits. So in\nIreland, votive rags may be seen on trees and hedges that surround sacred\nwells, whither people travel great distances in order to crawl an uneven\nnumber of times in the sun\u2019s direction round the water, hoping thereby to\npropitiate the fairies and to avert sorceries.[452] St. Gowen\u2019s well on\nthe coast of Pembroke was lately or is still frequented for the cure of\nparalysis and other maladies, and there are few counties in England where\nthe dedication of curative wells to Christian saints does not betray\nthe attempt to hallow and hide a heathen practice under a Christian\nname. In Northampton alone we find St. Lawrence\u2019s at Peterborough, St.\nJohn\u2019s at Boughton, St. Rumbald\u2019s at Brackley, St. Loy\u2019s at Weedon-Loys,\nSt. Dennis\u2019 at Naseby, St. Mary\u2019s at Hardwick, and St. Thomas\u2019 at\nNorthampton. So in Normandy, people still resort from all parts of the\nprovince, on the eve of the first of June, to the fountain of St.\nClotilde, near Andelys, and there are other French wells of no inferior\ncelebrity. As English peasants propitiate bad water-spirits by presents\nof pins, so do the Bretons by slices of bread and butter; and the\nLivonians, before starting on a voyage, calm the sea-mother by a libation\nof brandy.[453] But water, in addition to its dangerous and curative\nproperties, is supposed to contain prophetic ones as well. The Castalian\nfountain in Greece was prophetic; and as the Laconians, by cakes thrown\ninto a pool sacred to Juno, used to augur good or bad to themselves\naccording as their cakes sank or floated, so do our Cornish countrymen\nby dropping pins or pebbles into wells read futurity in the signs of the\nbubbles.\n\nThe belief in unseen spirits, which underlies many of the foregoing\nsuperstitions, as it is one of the earliest beliefs of the human mind,\nso it is one of the most persistent. The worship of water, fire, and\nother natural objects probably arose from a dread of spirits thought\nto be resident within them, whom it was as well to cajole by gifts and\nprayers. Earth and air, like fire and water, were peopled respectively\nwith invisible demons, which survive in still current traditions of the\nGabriel Hounds, the Seven Whistlers, fairies, elves, and all their tribe.\nOur countrymen in Cornwall, if the breeze fail while they are winnowing,\nwhistle to the Spriggian, or air-spirits, to bring it back; and the\nEsthonians on the Gulf of Finland do, or did, precisely the same. In\nNorthamptonshire, till lately, women used to sweep the hearth before they\nwent to bed, and leave vessels of water for the ablutions of the fairies\nor spirits of the earth, just as in Siberia food is placed daily in the\ncellar for the benefit of the Domavoi or house-spirits. In Scotland green\npatches may still be seen on field or moor left uncultivated as \u2018the\ngudeman\u2019s croft,\u2019 by which it has been hoped to buy the goodwill of the\notherwise evil-disposed Devil or earth-spirit; and it is doubtless from\na similar fear of showing neglect or disrespect that Esthonian peasants\ndislike parting with any earth from their fields, and in drinking beer\nor eating bread recognise the existence and wants of the earth-spirit by\nletting some drops of the one and some crumbs of the other find their way\nto the floor.[454]\n\nThe foregoing instances of actual Folk-Lore, many of them now mere\nmeaningless survivals, seem only intelligible on the ground that they\nhave descended to us either from the earliest inhabitants of Western\nEurope, or from times when our Aryan progenitors were perhaps not unlike\nmodern Fuejians. The existence has been proved, not only in England but\nthroughout Europe, of phases of thought and modes of worship closely\nsimilar to those still found among actual savages. There is no nation\nthat we know in the present or read of in the past so cultivated as not\nto retain many spots from the dark ages of its infancy and ignorance;\nbut these, absurd as they may seem, hold the rank and claim the interest\nof prehistoric antiquities. The fact that there still survive among\ncivilised people ideas and practices, corresponding in structure to those\nfound in the various stages of the lower races, is of the same force to\nprove that we once went through those several stages, as the survival of\ntraits in the growth of the individual, similar to those actually found\nin lower animals, point to our gradual ascent from a lower scale of\nbeing. The belief in, and dread of, evil spirits; the endeavour to affect\nthem by acting on their fetishes or substitutes; the worship of natural\nobjects, as trees, animals, water or even stones; the mistaking of mere\nsequence in time for causal connection and the consequent importance\nattached to such occurrences as have been observed to precede remarkable\nphenomena,\u2014these and many other characteristics of modern savages find\nabundant representation in modern civilisation, and it is more likely\nthey are there as survivals than as importations.\n\nBut it may be urged that no necessary antiquity can be asserted of\ntraditions simply on account of the wide area they range over, and\ninstances may be cited of Christian superstitions no less widely extended\nthan many above mentioned. The belief, for instance, that about midnight\non Christmas Eve, cattle rise on their knees to salute the Nativity, is\nfound with slight modifications in England, Brittany, the Netherlands,\nand Denmark. In Cornwall a strong prejudice exists against burying on\nthe north side of a church, and precisely the same feeling is found in\nEsthonia, for the reason there given that at the end of the world all\nchurches will fall on that side. So, too, the custom of opening all\ndoors and windows at a death, to give free outlet to the departing soul,\nprevails no less in the south of Spain than in England or in parts of\nGermany.\n\nTo this objection there are two answers: first, that the capacity of\nsuperstitions to spread widely and rapidly is by no means denied;\nsecondly, that many Christian traditions are really heathen, though their\norigin and meaning may now be lost. For the policy of the Church towards\npaganism, though at times one of radical opposition, was generally one\nbetter calculated for success. It learned to prefer gradual triumphs\nto speedy conquests, aware that the former were more likely to last,\nand was pleased to satisfy its conscience and hide its impotence under\nconnivance and compromise. It assimilated beliefs which it could not\ndestroy, and glossed over what it could not erase, substituting simply\nits saints and angels for the gods and spirits of older cults. On Monte\nCasino, near Rome, there existed down to the sixth century a temple\nsacred to Apollo, till St. Benedict came and, like another Josiah, broke\nthe idols and overthrew the altar and burned the grove, but set up a\ntemple to St. Martin in its stead. And this case is typical of the way\nin which obstinate heathen rites were diverted and customs consecrated.\nSome illustrations may be added to those already incidentally alluded\nto, since they serve to explain how so many relics of heathenism have\nresisted centuries of Christian teaching. The Scandinavian water-spirit,\nNikur, inhabitant of lakes and rivers and raiser of storms, whose favour\ncould only be won by sacrifices, became in the middle ages St. Nicholas,\nthe patron of sailors and sole refuge in danger; and near St. Nicholas\u2019\nchurch at Liverpool there stood a statue of the Christian saint, to whom\nsailors used to present a peace-offering when they went to sea, and a\nwave-offering when they returned. So it was with sacred trees and flowers\nand waters. Their sanctity was transferred, not destroyed. St. Boniface,\nwith the wood of the oak he so miraculously felled, raised an oratory\nto St. Peter, to whom were thenceforth paid the honours of Thor. Nobody\nventured the more to touch the famous oak at Kenmare when blown down\nby a storm, because it had been handed over to the protection of St.\nColumba, nor did a fragment of St. Colman\u2019s oak held in the mouth the\nless avert death by hanging because it had been sanctified by the name of\na saint. The Breton princes, before they entered the church at Vretou,\noffered prayers under a yew outside, which was said to have sprung from\nSt. Martin\u2019s staff and to have been so replete with holiness that the\nvery birds of the air left its berries untouched. The great goddess\nFreja could only be banished from men\u2019s thoughts by transferring what\nhad been sacred to her to the Virgin Mary; and the names of such common\nplants as Lady\u2019s Grass, Lady\u2019s Smock, Lady\u2019s Slipper, Lady\u2019s Mantle,\nand others, attest to this day the wrong that was done to the Northern\ngoddess. Bits of seaweed called Lady\u2019s Trees still decorate many a\nCornish chimney-piece, and protect the house from fire and other evils.\nThe Ladybird was once Freja\u2019s bird; and Orion\u2019s belt, which in Sweden is\nstill called Freja\u2019s spindle, in Zealand now belongs to her successor\nMary. In the same way Christmas has supplanted the old Yule festival, and\nthe Yule log still testifies to the rites of fire-worship once connected\nwith the season. So we now keep Easter at the time when our pagan\nforefathers used to sacrifice to the goddess Eostre, and hot cross-buns\nare perhaps the descendants of cakes once eaten in her honour, on which\nthe mark of Christianity has taken the place of some heathen sign.\n\nSuch then is the evidence which Comparative Folk-Lore affords in\nconfirmation of the teaching of history, that the people from whom we\ninherit our popular traditions were once as miserable and savage as those\nwe now place in the lowest scale of the human family. The evidence that\nthe nations now highest in culture were once in the position of those now\nthe lowest is ever increasing, and the study of Folk-Lore corroborates\nthe conclusions long since arrived at by arch\u00e6ological science. For, just\nas stone monuments, flint knives, lake-piles, or shell-mounds point to\na time when Europeans resembled races where such things are still part\nof actual life, so do the traces in our social organism of fetishism,\ntotemism, and other low forms of thought, connect our past with people\nwhere such forms of thought are still predominant. The analogies with\nbarbarism which still flourish in civilised communities seem only\nexplicable on the theory of a slow and more or less uniform metamorphosis\nto higher types and modes of life, whilst they enforce the belief that\nbefore long it will appear a law of development, as firmly established\non the inconceivability of the contrary, that civilisation should emerge\nfrom barbarism, as that butterflies should first be caterpillars, or\nthat ignorance should precede knowledge. In this way superstition itself\nturns to the service of science, confirming its teaching, that the\nhistory of humanity has been a rise, not a fall, not a degradation from\ncompleteness to imperfection, but a constantly accelerating progress from\nsavagery to culture; that, in short, the iron age of the world belongs to\nthe past, its golden one to the future.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] The justification of the use of the word _force_ is not far to seek.\nOne of the demands in the ultimatum addressed to Cetewayo, which helped\nto bring about the present unhappy Zulu war, was for the reinstatement\nof missionaries in Zululand. A Natal correspondent of the _Times_,\nJanuary 28, 1879, justly observes about this: \u2018If the Zulus object to\nmissionaries\u2014_who certainly in many cases have acted as spies_\u2014why\n_force_ missionaries upon them?\u2019 The italics are not the correspondent\u2019s.\n\n[2] See on this subject Mr. Wallace\u2019s _Tropical Nature_, pp. 290-300.\n\n[3] Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, ii. 312, 313, 333.\n\n[4] Sproat, _Savage Life_, 178, 179, 209, 210.\n\n[5] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, v. 173; and Bancroft, iii. 105.\n\n[6] Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 121-4.\n\n[7] Schoolcraft, _I. T._, v. p. 155.\n\n[8] Schoolcraft, _I. T._, iv. 496. See Dr. Brinton\u2019s explanation of the\nstory in his _Myths of the New World_, pp. 170-3.\n\n[9] Humboldt, _Personal Narrative_, v. 595-7.\n\n[10] Forbes Leslie, _Early Races in Scotland_, i. 177.\n\n[11] Klemm, _Cultur-Geschichte_, ii. 155-7, where the beliefs are\nreferred to. Franklin\u2019s _Second Journey_, p. 308. They are so remarkable\nas to arouse suspicion that European influence has affected the native\nimagination; but the influence, if any, seems beyond the reach of\ncriticism in this as in other striking cases of analogy.\n\n[12] Schoolcraft, _I. T._, iv. 255.\n\n[13] Hutton, _Voyage to Africa_, p. 320; and Bosman in Pinkerton, xvi.\n396.\n\n[14] Schoolcraft, iv. 90.\n\n[15] Klemm, _Cultur-Geschichte_, vii. 368.\n\n[16] _Trans. Eth. Soc._ iii. 233, 234; Oldfield\u2019s _Aborigines of\nAustralia_.\n\n[17] Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, iii. 112.\n\n[18] Brinton, pp. 198, 199.\n\n[19] Brinton, p. 210.\n\n[20] Catlin, ii. 127. For some other deluge-myths of a similar kind see\nBancroft, iii. 46, 47, 64, 75, 76, 88, 100; Turner\u2019s _Polynesia_, p. 249;\nEllis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 386; Franklin, i. 113; Sir G. Grey,\n_Polynesian Mythology_, 61; Brett, _Indian Tribes of Guiana_, pp. 381,\n385, 398, 399; Dall, _Alaska_, p. 423.\n\n[21] Koehler, _Volksbrauch im Voightland_, p. 444. \u2018Dem Verstorbenen\ngiebt man die Gegenst\u00e4nde mit in das Grab, welche er im Leben am liebsten\nhatte: so ist es geschehen, dass man selbst Regenschirm und Gummisch\u00fche\nmitgab. (Reichenbach.) ... In Schweden hat man dem Todten Tabakspfeife,\nTabaksbeutel, Geld und Feuerzeug mitgegeben, damit er nicht spuke.... In\neinem Grabe des Gottesackers zu Elsterberg wurde eine Anzahl Kupferm\u00fcnzen\ngefunden.\u2019\n\n[22] This fact has been denied in King\u2019s _Greek Church_, p. 358, but it\nis mentioned by most of the earliest English travellers in Russia; by\nChancelor, in _Hackluyt\u2019s Voyages_, i. 283; Jenkinson, ibid., p. 361; and\nFletcher, _Russe Commonwealth_, 106; as well as by later ones.\n\n[23] Klemm, _Cultur-Geschichte_, ii. 165.\n\n[24] Stevenson, _Travels in South America_, i. 58.\n\n[25] Klemm, _Cultur-Geschichte_, ii. 166.\n\n[26] See Brinton, p. 242. \u2018Nowhere (in the New World) was any\nwell-defined doctrine that moral turpitude was judged and punished in the\nnext world. No contrast is discoverable between a place of torments and a\nrealm of joy; at the worst but a negative castigation awaited the liar,\nthe coward, and the niggard.\u2019\n\n[27] For other instances of the myth of the heaven-bridge, and its wide\nrange, see Mr. Tylor\u2019s _Early History of Mankind_, p. 348.\n\n[28] Williams, _Fiji_, i. 244.\n\n[29] Klemm, _Cultur-Geschichte_, iii. 71-77.\n\n[30] Mariner, ii. 137.\n\n[31] Klemm, _Cultur-Geschichte_, ii. 315. \u2018Jedes Thier, auch die kleinste\nFliege, ersteht sofort nach ihrem Tode und lebt unter der Erde.\u2019\n\n[32] Klemm, _Cultur-Geschichte_, iii. 83. \u2018Endlich wurden die besonderten\nTheile nebst den Knochen in der Kiste begraben. Man glaubte, das\nOpferthier werde von den G\u00f6ttern wieder belebt und in den Saiwo versetzt.\u2019\n\n[33] Dall, _Alaska_, p. 89.\n\n[34] Schoolcraft, _I. T._, v. 91, 403; ii. 68.\n\n[35] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, iii. 268.\n\n[36] Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 350.\n\n[37] Reade, _Savage Africa_, p. 536.\n\n[38] _Cape Monthly Magazine_, July 1874.\n\n[39] Bleek, _Bushman Folk-lore_, pp. 15, 18.\n\n[40] Steller, _Kamschatka_, p. 280.\n\n[41] Waitz, _Anthropologie der Naturv\u00f6lker_, ii. 170.\n\n[42] Callaway, _Religious System of the Amazulu_, pt. ii. 182.\n\n[43] Latham, _Descriptive Ethnology_, ii. 437-444.\n\n[44] Waitz, ii. 169.\n\n[45] Ellis, i. 402.\n\n[46] Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, p. 297.\n\n[47] Page 150.\n\n[48] Pinkerton, xvi. 304.\n\n[49] Pinkerton, xvi. 388, 874.\n\n[50] Williams, _Fiji_, p. 176.\n\n[51] Dieffenbach, p. 28.\n\n[52] Gill, p. 36.\n\n[53] Brett, _Indian Tribes of Guiana_, p. 370.\n\n[54] Harmon, _Journal of Voyages, &c._, p. 345.\n\n[55] Brinton, p. 126.\n\n[56] Bancroft, iii. 370-3. For baptismal rites in Northern Europe before\nChristianity, see Mallet, _Northern Antiquities_, p. 205.\n\n[57] Franklin, _Journey to the Polar Sea_, p. 255.\n\n[58] Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, ii. 299.\n\n[59] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, iii. 237.\n\n[60] Callaway, i. 33.\n\n[61] Latham, _Descriptive Ethnology_, ii. 187.\n\n[62] Reade, _Savage Africa_, p. 250.\n\n[63] Harmon, _Journal of Voyages_, p. 363.\n\n[64] Lord Kames, _History of Man_, vol. iv., asserts this of many tribes,\nthe Tahitians, Hottentots, and others. See also pp. 234, 238, 297.\n\n[65] Latham, _Descriptive Ethnology_, i. 480.\n\n[66] Cf. Reade, _Savage Africa_, p. 250, and Du Chaillu\u2019s _Explorations_,\npp. 202-3.\n\n[67] Lichtenstein, ii. 332; Callaway, i. 111.\n\n[68] Pinkerton, xvi. 402, 530.\n\n[69] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, iv. 635-7. The admission quoted seems\nto cancel the statements repeated clearly and positively in i. 16, 17,\n32, 35, 38, and iii. 60, of a dualism as decided as that between Ahriman\nand Ormuzd. In i. 32 it is said that the _first_ notice of such a\ndoctrine occurs in Charlevoix, _Voyage to North America in 1721_.\n\n[70] Schoolcraft, iv. 642-3.\n\n[71] _Ibid._, ii. 195, 197; iii. 231.\n\n[72] Schoolcraft, ii. 131.\n\n[73] Franklin, i. 114-15.\n\n[74] Ellis, i. 350.\n\n[75] Klemm, iii. 120.\n\n[76] Kames, _History of Man_, iv. 327.\n\n[77] Kames, _History of Man_, iv. 321.\n\n[78] Klemm, vi. 423.\n\n[79] Brinton, p. 298.\n\n[80] Schoolcraft, iii. 226.\n\n[81] Brinton, p. 297.\n\n[82] Turner, _Nineteen Years in Polynesia_, pp. 88, 200, 239.\n\n[83] Williams, p. 144.\n\n[84] Ellis, i. 349.\n\n[85] Catlin, i. 133; ii. 247. Cf. Schoolcraft, iii. 243.\n\n[86] Bancroft, _Native Races, &c._, ii. 705.\n\n[87] Bancroft, _Native Races, &c._, iii. 428; Burton, _Mission to\nGelele_, ii. 18-25.\n\n[88] Klemm, ii. 216, from Langsdorf, ii. 261.\n\n[89] Sproat, p. 66. The Juangs of Bengal practise a bear dance, a pigeon\ndance, a pig dance, a tortoise dance, a quail dance, a vulture dance.\nDalton, _Desc. Eth. of Bengal_, p. 156; and see _New Encyc. Brit._ for\nsimilar cases: article, \u2018Dance.\u2019\n\n[90] Reade, _Savage Africa_, p. 200.\n\n[91] Sproat, p. 208.\n\n[92] Bancroft, _Native Races_, iii. 167.\n\n[93] Ellis, i. 348.\n\n[94] Latham, _Desc. Eth._, i. 459.\n\n[95] Catlin, i. 127, 164, 182.\n\n[96] Klemm, ii. 120. \u2018Ahmten die knarrende r\u00f6chelnde Stimme des\nBisonthiers in grosser Vollkommenheit nach.\u2019\n\n[97] Catlin, i. 244-5.\n\n[98] Schoolcraft, iii. 487.\n\n[99] \u2018Ein wunderbares Spiel, das zum gl\u00fccklichen Erfolg des Untermehmens\n_durchaus nothwendig_ gehalten wird.\u2019\n\n[100] Lichtenstein, i. 444.\n\n[101] Mrs. Eastman, _Dahcotah_, p. 77.\n\n[102] Sproat, p. 146.\n\n[103] Collins, _New South Wales_, p. 368.\n\n[104] Callaway, i. 125.\n\n[105] Schoolcraft, iv. 80.\n\n[106] _Ibid._, iii. 285.\n\n[107] Isert, _Guinea_, in French translation, p. 204: \u2018L\u2019action de ramer\nvoulait dire que leurs maris allaient passer la rivi\u00e8re Volta pour se\nbattre avec les Aug\u00e9ens et les noyer; la truelle et le travail de ma\u00e7on\nindiquait l\u2019\u00e9rection de fort Konigstein.\u2019\n\n[108] Casalis, p. 265.\n\n[109] Schoolcraft (Prescott), iii. 230.\n\n[110] Schoolcraft, iii. 273, 231.\n\n[111] Gill, 312.\n\n[112] Pinkerton, xvi. 875.\n\n[113] Pinkerton, xvi. 875.\n\n[114] Livingstone, _South Africa_, p. 235.\n\n[115] Franklin, _First Journey_, i. 160.\n\n[116] Wuttke, _Deutsche Volksaberglaube_, p. 14.\n\n[117] Polwhele, _History of Cornwall_, p. 48.\n\n[118] \u2018Da Dios alas \u00e1 la hormiga para que se pierda mas aina,\u2019 is the\nSpanish version.\u2014_Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs_, 210. Compare with\nRoebuck\u2019s _Persian and Hindoostanee Proverbs_, i. 365, and ii. 283;\nThornburn\u2019s _Afghan Frontier_, 279; and Burckhardt\u2019s _Arabic Proverbs_.\n\n[119] Most of the African proverbs here referred to are taken from\nCaptain Burton\u2019s collection from various sources in his _Wit and Wisdom\nof West Africa_.\n\n[120] _Central Africa_, p. 289.\n\n[121] Oscar Peschel, _The Races of Mankind_, translation, p. 150.\n\n[122] Casalis, _Les Basutos_, pp. 324-8.\n\n[123] Captain Burton justly calls attention to the possibility of many\nYoruban proverbs being relics of the Moslems, who, in the tenth century,\noverran the Soudan.\n\n[124] For a collection of Pashto proverbs see Thornburn\u2019s _Afghan\nFrontier_, 1876.\n\n[125] Sir G. Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_, p. 21.\n\n[126] Williams, _Fiji_, p. 97.\n\n[127] Callaway, ii. 171.\n\n[128] Burton, _Mission to Dahome_, ii.\n\n[129] Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, i. 333.\n\n[130] Trench, _On the Study of Words_, p. 17.\n\n[131]\n\n   \u2018Nec commune bonum poterant spectare nec ullis\n  Moribus inter se scierant nec legibus uti.\u2019\u2014V. 956.\n\nSo Virgil, _\u00c6n._, viii. 317.\n\n[132] Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States of North America_, i.\n426, 560.\n\n[133] Peschel, _Races of Man_, pp. 39, 209.\n\n[134] Burchell, _Travels in Southern Africa_, i. 456-62. Compare Waitz,\n_Anthropologie der Naturv\u00f6lker_, i. 376. Also Wuttke, _Geschichte des\nHeidenthums_, p. 164. _Ein Brudermord wurde von ihnen als etwas ganz\nHarmloses erz\u00e4hlt._\n\n[135] Bancroft, _Native Races_, i. 348.\n\n[136] _Ibid._, i. 130.\n\n[137] Klemm, _Culturgeschichte_, iii. 69.\n\n[138] Bancroft, i. 520, 553.\n\n[139] Dall, _Alaska_, p. 416.\n\n[140] Kane, _Wanderings of an Artist_, p. 115.\n\n[141] Catlin, _North American Indians_, ii. 192.\n\n[142] Bancroft, iii. 167.\n\n[143] Turner, _Nineteen Years in Polynesia_, p. 285.\n\n[144] Sir G. Grey, _Journals in Australia_, ii. 239.\n\n[145] Williams, _Fiji_.\n\n[146] _Old New Zealand._ By a Pakeha Maori, p. 105.\n\n[147] Harmon\u2019s _Journal_, pp. 299, 300.\n\n[148] Seemann says of Fijian cruelty (_Viti_, p. 192): \u2018Affection for the\ndeparted\u2014of course mistaken affection\u2014prompted their relatives or friends\nto dispatch widows at the time of their husband\u2019s burial,\u2019 &c.\n\n[149] Turner, _Polynesia_, pp. 294-5.\n\n[150] Mariner, ii. 233.\n\n[151] Pinkerton, xvi. 595, from Froyart\u2019s _Loango_.\n\n[152] Fitzroy, _Voyages of \u2018Adventure\u2019 and \u2018Beagle,\u2019_ ii. 574.\n\n[153] _Old New Zealand_, pp. 96-100.\n\n[154] Lichtenstein, i. 259.\n\n[155] Schoolcraft, _I. T._, i. 39.\n\n[156] Livingstone, _Missionary Travels in South Africa_, p. 255.\n\n[157] Harmon, _Journal_, p. 300.\n\n[158] Turner, _Polynesia_, p. 224.\n\n[159] Bancroft, iii. 486.\n\n[160] Fitzroy, _Voyages_, ii. 180.\n\n[161] Sproat, _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_, p. 265.\n\n[162] Shortland, _Southern Districts of New Zealand_, p. 30.\n\n[163] Turner, _Polynesia_, pp. 225, 236.\n\n[164] Kane, p. 205.\n\n[165] _Ibid._; Seemann, p. 190.\n\n[166] Bancroft, i. 245, 285, 438.\n\n[167] Klemm, _Culturgeschichte_, iii. 78.\n\n[168] Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 158.\n\n[169] Dobritzhoffer, _Abipones_, ii. 203, 274.\n\n[170] Burton, _Mission_, i. 231.\n\n[171] Bancroft, ii. 357.\n\n[172] Dali, _Alaska_, 524. For instances of the feeling in North America\nsee Bancroft, i. 205, 288, 544, 745; iii. 521, 522.\n\n[173] Gill, _Myths and Songs of the South Pacific_, p. 154.\n\n[174] _Ibid._, p. 38.\n\n[175] Catlin, _North American Indians_, i. 157.\n\n[176] Bancroft, iii. 519; and other instances in the same work, chapter\nxii.\n\n[177] Williams, _Fiji_, p. 247.\n\n[178] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, v. 403, 404.\n\n[179] Dr. Brinton (p. 250) says that no ethical bearing was assigned\nto the myth of the future by the red race till they were taught by\nEuropeans, and that all Father Brebeuf could find was, that the souls of\nsuicides and persons killed in war lived apart from others after death.\n\n[180] Bowen, _Central Africa_, p. 285.\n\n[181] Mariner, _Tongan Islands_, ii. 154.\n\n[182] Peschel, 428-31.\n\n[183] The collection of native Bushman literature is said to have reached\neighty-four volumes! In Dr. Bleek\u2019s _Brief Account of Bushman Folk-lore_,\nand in the _Cape Monthly Magazine_ for July 1874, some account is given\nof their mythology.\n\n[184] Comp. Bancroft, i. 771, and Humboldt, _Personal Narrative_, v. 269.\n\n[185] Steller, _Kamschatka_, pp. 234, 355.\n\n[186] Schoolcraft, _I. T._, iii. 191.\n\n[187] Reade, _Savage Africa_, p. 51; Burton, _Dahome_, ii. 76; Pinkerton,\nxvi. 492.\n\n[188] Bancroft, ii. 194, and i. 414, 280. Compare Catlin, i. 170; and\nGrote\u2019s _Greece_, for an ordeal at Sparta.\n\n[189] Dieffenbach, p. 667.\n\n[190] Callaway, ii. 196.\n\n[191] Burton, _Mission_, ii. 157.\n\n[192] Turner, p. 236.\n\n[193] Sproat, p. 213.\n\n[194] Dobritzhoffer, _Abipones_, ii. 204, 441.\n\n[195] Klemm, _Culturgeschichte_, iv. 101.\n\n[196] Williams, _Fiji_, p. 29.\n\n[197] Jarves, _History of Hawaii_, p. 23.\n\n[198] Brett, _Wild Tribes of Guiana_, p. 131.\n\n[199] Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iii. 104.\n\n[200] Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 149.\n\n[201] Mariner, _Tongan Islands_, i. 380, 403.\n\n[202] _Travels in Australia_, ii. 228.\n\n[203] Bancroft, i. 109\n\n[204] In Papworth\u2019s _Ordinary of British Armorials_, no less than 124\npages are filled with the names of families who take their crest from\nsome animal; 34 pages of families take their crests from the lion alone.\n\n[205] Herberstein, i. 32.\n\n[206] Kempper, _Japan_; Pinkerton, vii. 718.\n\n[207] Turner, p. 343.\n\n[208] Reade, _Savage Africa_, p. 43.\n\n[209] Burton, _Mission_, ii. 367; and Bowen, _Central Africa_, p. 318.\n\n[210] Jarves, _History of Hawaii_, pp. 21, 23.\n\n[211] Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iii. 97.\n\n[212] _See_ Klemm, iii. 330, for the custom in Loango; Reade, _Savage\nAfrica_, p. 43, for that in Ashantee; and Peschel, _Races of Man_, p.\n235, for other instances.\n\n[213] _Savage Africa_, p. 48.\n\n[214] Williams, p. 40.\n\n[215] Santo, _Eastern Ethiopia_. Pink, xvi. 698.\n\n[216] Dieffenbach, ii. 100.\n\n[217] Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 100. It has generally been thought\nbest, in referring to books written some time ago, to employ the past\ntense where possibly the present would still be applicable. Wherever the\npresent is used, it must be taken to refer not necessarily to the actual\npresent but to the present of the original authority for the fact.\n\n[218] Steller, _Kamschatka_, p. 356.\n\n[219] Eschwege, _Brazilien_, i. 221.\n\n[220] Bancroft, _Native Races of Pacific States_, i. 168.\n\n[221] Catlin, ii. 240.\n\n[222] Pinkerton. Bosnian, _Guinea_, xvi. 406.\n\n[223] Denham, _Discoveries in Africa_, i. 167.\n\n[224] Turner, _Polynesia_, p. 286.\n\n[225] Elphinstone, _Caubul_, ii. 223.\n\n[226] Thompson, _South Africa_, ii. 351.\n\n[227] _See_ Bancroft, ii. 454-472, for the penal code of the Aztecs.\n\n[228] Pinkerton. Froyart, _History of Loango_, xvi. 581.\n\n[229] Hutton, _Voyage to Africa_, p. 319.\n\n[230] Pinkerton, xvi. 242, in Merolla\u2019s _Voyage to Congo_.\n\n[231] Pinkerton. Bosman, _Guinea_, xvi. 405. For an account of a savage\nlaw suit, see Maclean\u2019s _Caffre Laws and Customs_, pp. 38-43.\n\n[232] Maclean, _Caffre Laws_, p. 34.\n\n[233] Pinkerton, xvi. 259.\n\n[234] Livingstone, _South Africa_, pp. 621, 642.\n\n[235] Schweinfurth, _Heart of Africa_, i. 285.\n\n[236] Klemm, _Culturgeschichte_, iii. 334.\n\n[237] Williams, _Fiji_, p. 250.\n\n[238] Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 378; iv. 423.\n\n[239] Pinkerton, xvi. 690.\n\n[240] Wuttke, _Geschichte des Heidenthums_, p. 102, speaking of savage\nordeals, says: \u2018Wir k\u00f6nnen nicht sagen, dass ein monotheistischer Gedanke\nhier vorhanden sei; die Menschen glauben an die Gerechtigkeit des\nSchicksals noch nicht an einen gerechten Gott.\u2019\n\n[241] Turner, _Polynesia_, pp. 215, 241, 293.\n\n[242] Klemm, iii. 68.\n\n[243] Wuttke, _Geschichte des Heidenthums_, p. 103.\n\n[244] Burckhardt, _Notes on the Bedouins_, p. 73.\n\n[245] Latham, _Descriptive Ethnology_, ii. 98.\n\n[246] Klemm, iv. 334.\n\n[247] Maclean, pp. 124, 110.\n\n[248] Klemm, iii. 69.\n\n[249] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 64.\n\n[250] Seemann, _Mission to Viti_, p. 192.\n\n[251] Mariner, ii. 302.\n\n[252] Ellis, iii. 349.\n\n[253] Earle, _Indian Archipelago_, p. 81.\n\n[254] Pinkerton, xvi. 872.\n\n[255] _Ibid._, p. 697.\n\n[256] Bowen, _Central Africa_, p. 305.\n\n[257] Lichtenstein, ii. 48.\n\n[258] Portlock\u2019s _Voyage_, p. 260, in Bancroft, i. 110.\n\n[259] Cranz, i. 149, 150, 174, 218.\n\n[260] _Travels in Australia_, ii. 355; and Bonwick, _Daily Life of the\nTasmanians_, pp. 10, 78-98.\n\n[261] _Transactions of Ethnological Society_, Prof. Owen, ii. 36.\n\n[262] _Transactions of Ethnological Society_, ii. 291.\n\n[263] _Ibid._, i. 264.\n\n[264] _Nuova Antologia_, Jan. 1876.\n\n[265] Ellis, i. 268.\n\n[266] Mariner, i. 271-7.\n\n[267] These stories are worth reading at length in Grey\u2019s _Polynesian\nMythology_, pp. 233-246, 296-301. See also pp. 246-273, 301-313. For a\ngood Zulu love-story see Leslie\u2019s _Among the Zulus_, pp. 275-284; and,\nfor a Tasmanian love-legend, Bonwick, p. 34.\n\n[268] Smiles, _Self-help_, p. 325; Pennant\u2019s _Tour_, in Pinkerton, iii.\n89: \u2018Their tender sex are their only animals of burden.\u2019\n\n[269] Weddell, _Voyage to South Pole_, 1825, p. 156.\n\n[270] Seemann, p. 192.\n\n[271] Dalton, _Bengal_, p. 28.\n\n[272] _Indian Tribes_, v. 131-2.\n\n[273] Rochefort, _Les \u00celes Antilles_, p. 544.\n\n[274] Bancroft, i. 110.\n\n[275] _Heart of Africa_, i. 472; ii. 28.\n\n[276] The best illustration of this side of savage life, of the sorrow\nfelt by a bride on leaving her home, occurs in the _Finnish Kalewala_, in\nSchiefner\u2019s German translation, pp. 126-132, 147-150.\n\n[277] Dobell, _Travels in Kamtschatka_, &c., ii. 293.\n\n[278] Holderness, _Journey from Riga_, p. 233.\n\n[279] Hakluyt, i. 360; Pierson, _Russlands Vergangenheit_, pp. 202, 208.\n\n[280] Marmier, _Sur la Russie_, ii. 154. \u2018Au moment de se mettre en\nmarche pour l\u2019\u00e9glise, elle soupire, pleure, refuse de sortir. Tous ses\nparents essayent de la consoler,\u2019 &c.\n\nP. 149: \u2018Rien ne donne une id\u00e9e plus touchante du caract\u00e8re du peuple\nrusse que ces paroles de regret et de douleur que la jeune fianc\u00e9e\nadresse \u00e0 ses parents au milieu des joyeux pr\u00e9paratifs de la f\u00eate\nnuptiale.\u2019\n\n[281] Marmier, i. 127, 229.\n\n[282] Cranz, i. 151.\n\n[283] _Ibid._, i. 146.\n\n[284] Egede, pp. 143-145.\n\n[285] Chambers, _Book of Days_, ii. 721.\n\n[286] Holderness, p. 234.\n\n[287] Dall, _Alaska_, pp. 396, 399.\n\n[288] Kolbe, in Medley\u2019s translation, i. 161.\n\n[289] Bowen, _Central Africa_, p. 303.\n\n[290] Elphinstone, _Caubul_, i. 240.\n\n[291] Latham, _Descriptive Ethnology_, i. 313.\n\n[292] Herberstein, i. 92.\n\n[293] Pinkerton, _Modern Geography_, ii. 524.\n\n[294] Seemann, _Mission to Fiji_, p. 190.\n\n[295] Si J. Lubbock, _Origin of Civilization_, pp. 75-76.\n\n[296] Dalton, _Bengal_, p. 193.\n\n[297] Williams, _Fiji_, p. 136.\n\n[298] Chambers, _Book of Days_, ii. 733; Holman, _Travels_, i. 153.\n\n[299] Dall, _Alaska_, p. 415.\n\n[300] _Trans. Eth. Soc._, i. 98.\n\n[301] Krashenninonikov, _Kamtshatka_, p. 215.\n\n[302] \u2018Beschwerte sich aber die Braut, dass sie den Brautigam durchaus\nnicht haben noch sich von ihm erobern lassen wollte, so musste er aus dem\nOstrog fort.\u2019\u2014Steller, _Kamtschatka_, p. 345.\n\n[303] Lesseps, _Travels in Kamtschatka_ (translated), ii. 93. The account\nhere given of the Kamschadal marriage customs is from Krashenninonikov\n(translated by Grieve), _Travels in Kamtshatka_, pp. 212-214 (1764);\nSteller, pp. 343-349 (1774); Lesseps, ii. 93 (1790). They differ in some\nminor details.\n\n[304] Burchell, ii. 56.\n\n[305] Burckhardt, _Notes on the Bedouins_, p. 200.\n\n[306] Leslie, pp. 117, 196.\n\n[307] Burckhardt, _Notes_, p. 151.\n\n[308] Lane, _Modern Egyptians_, i. 217.\n\n[309] Gaya, _Marriage Ceremonies_ (pp. 30, 48, 81), for similar old\ncustoms, interpreted in the same way, formerly in vogue in France,\nGermany, and Turkey.\n\n[310] Astley, _Collection of Voyages_, ii. 240, 273. It is a common rule\nof etiquette that, when a proposal of marriage is made, the purport\nof the visit shall only be approached indirectly and cursorily. It is\ncurious to find such a rule among the Red Indians (_Algic Researches_,\nii. 24; i. 130), the Kafirs (Maclean, p. 47), the Esquimaux (Cranz, i.\n146), even the Hottentots (Kolbe, i. 149).\n\n[311] Pinkerton, vii. 34.\n\n[312] Bancroft, _Native Races_, &c., i. 389.\n\n[313] _Ibid._, i. 436.\n\n[314] _Ibid._, i. 512.\n\n[315] Fitzroy, _Voyage of \u2018Beagle,\u2019_ ii. 152.\n\n[316] Compare Bowen\u2019s _Central Africa_, pp. 303-304; Gray\u2019s _Travels in\nSouth Africa_, p. 56; Pinkerton, xvi. 568-569; and Bancroft, i. 66.\n\n[317] Bowen, p. 104.\n\n[318] Pinkerton, xvi. 873.\n\n[319] Lichtenstein, i. 263.\n\n[320] Thus Bonwick mentions a custom whereby a woman \u2018was allowed some\nchance in her life-settlement. The applicant for her hand was permitted\non a certain day to _run_ for her;\u2019 if she passed three appointed trees\nwithout being caught she was free.\u2014_Daily Life, &c._, p. 70.\n\n[321] It is also an old custom in Finland, that, when a suitor tells a\ngirl he has settled matters with her parents, she should ask him what he\nhas given, and then, declaring it to be too little, should proceed to run\naway from him.\u2014_Marmier_, i. 176.\n\n[322] Delano, _Life on the Plains_, p. 346. In _Notes and Queries_, 1861,\nvol. xii. 414, it is said that in Wales a girl would often escape a\ndisliked suitor through the custom of the pursuit on horseback\u2014by taking\na line of country of her own.\n\n[323] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, pp. 16, 194, 234, 252,\n319.\n\n[324] Bates, _Naturalist on the River Amazon_, p. 382.\n\n[325] Marsden, _Sumatra_, p. 269.\n\n[326] Denham, _Discoveries in Africa_, i. 32-35.\n\n[327] Dobritzhoffer, ii. 97.\n\n[328] Wuttke, _Heidenthum_, i. 185. \u2018Die Guanas in Amerika begraben ihre\nKinder lebendig, besonders die M\u00e4dchen, um diese _seltner und gesuchter\nzu machen_.\u2019\n\n[329] Dalton, p. 192.\n\n[330] Colonel Dalton, in _Trans. Eth. Soc._, vi. 27.\n\n[331] Elphinstone, _Cabul_, i. 239; ii. 23.\n\n[332] Burnes, _Travels to Bokhara_, iii. 47.\n\n[333] _Trans. Eth. Soc._, iii. 348-351, in Oldfield\u2019s _Aborigines of\nAustralia_, 1864.\n\n[334] Bonwick, pp. 65-68.\n\n[335] Latham, _Desc. Ethn._, ii. 159.\n\n[336] Latham, _Desc. Ethn._, i. 96.\n\n[337] Campbell, _Indian Journal_, 142.\n\n[338] _Journal of Anthropology_ (July 1870), p. 33; _Trans. Eth. Soc._,\nvii. 236, 242.\n\n[339] Buchanan, _Travels_, i. 251, 273, 321, 358, 394; iii. 100.\n\n[340] Sproat, p. 98.\n\n[341] Rochefort, _Les \u00celes Antilles_, 545.\n\n[342] Bancroft, _Native Races_, i. 109, 132.\n\n[343] Macpherson, 65.\n\n[344] Collins (1796), _New South Wales_, 362, 351-3.\n\n[345] Hunter (1790), _Voyage to New South Wales_, 62, 494.\n\n[346] _Trans. Eth. Soc._, i. 217-8, and compare Sir G. Grey, _Travels,\n&c._, ii. 224.\n\n[347] Hunter, 466, 479.\n\n[348] Lecky, _Hist. of England in Eighteenth Century_, ii. 366.\n\n[349] Bonwick, _Daily Life of the Tasmanians_, 60.\n\n[350] Rochefort, _Les \u00celes Antilles_, 545. \u2018Ils ne prenaient pour femmes\nl\u00e9gitimes que leurs cousines, qui leur \u00e9toyent aquises de droit naturel.\u2019\nCompare Burckhardt\u2019s _Notes on the Bedouins_, 64: \u2018A man has an exclusive\nright to the hand of his cousin;\u2019 not that he was obliged to marry her,\nbut without his consent she could marry no one else.\u2019\n\n[351] Rochefort, _Les \u00celes Antilles_, 460. \u2018Il est \u00e0 remarquer que les\nCaraibes du continent, hommes et femmes, parlent un m\u00eame langage, n\u2019ayant\npoint corrumpu leur langue naturelle par des mariages avec des femmes\n\u00e9trang\u00e8res.\u2019 (1511.)\n\n[352] Humboldt, personal narrative, vi. 40-43.\n\n[353] See chapter on Carib language in _Les \u00celes Antilles_, 449, and\ncollection of words, where those used exclusively by either sex are\nmarked with an H and F (_Hommes et Femmes_) respectively.\n\n[354] Maclean, 95.\n\n[355] Leslie, 177.\n\n[356] Du Tertre, _Hist. G\u00e9n. des Antilles_, 378.\n\n[357] _Transactions of Ethnological Society_, i. 301-3.\n\n[358] Bonwick, _Daily Life of the Tasmanians_, 188, 206. The author\nsuggestively calls attention to the similarity of this legend to the\nHindu legend of Indra, who delivers the lovely Apas from the monster\nVitra in the dark cavern of Ahi, a legend which has been taken to mean\nthe fire-god who destroys the dark storm cloud that chases and maltreats\nthe fleecy maidens of the sky.\n\n[359] Bleek, _Hottentot Fables_, 67.\n\n[360] Bleek, _Bushman Folk-lore_.\n\n[361] Egede, 209.\n\n[362] Cranz, i. 213.\n\n[363] Gill, 40-2.\n\n[364] Dall, _Alaska_.\n\n[365] Sproat, p. 182.\n\n[366] Casalis, _Les Basutos_. With this story Grimm compares a German\none, _Kinder und Hausm\u00e4rchen_, i. 172.\n\n[367] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, ii. 229-30.\n\n[368] Gill, 88-98.\n\n[369] Mrs. Cookson, _Legends of the Manx_, 27-30.\n\n[370] Wolf, _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr deutsche Mythologie_, i. 2.\n\n[371] _Algic Researches_, ii. 216.\n\n[372] Kelly, _Indo-European Traditions_, 78. See the German version of\nthe tale in Grimm\u2019s _Hausm\u00e4rchen_, ii. 394.\n\n[373] K\u00f6hler, _Weimarische Beitr\u00e4ge zur Literatur_, Jan. 1865.\n\n[374] Schirren, _Wandersagen der Neuseel\u00e4nder_, 31, 37-39.\n\n[375] Grimm, _Hausm\u00e4rchen_, i. Pref. 53.\n\n[376] See the different versions in Mr. Tylor\u2019s _Early History of\nMankind_, 344.\n\n[377] Cox, _Aryan Mythology_, ii. 173.\n\n[378] _Algic Researches_, ii. 1-33.\n\n[379] _Aryan Mythology_, ii. 85.\n\n[380] _Algic Researches_, ii. 34.\n\n[381] Wilson, _Vishnu Purana_, 394-5.\n\n[382] Fiske, _Myths and Myth Makers_, 97, and Cox, _Aryan Mythology_, ii.\n282.\n\n[383] _Transactions of Ethnological Society_, ii. 27.\n\n[384] _Algic Researches_, i. 67.\n\n[385] Bleek, _Hottentot Fables_, Pref. xxv.\n\n[386] Bonwick, _Daily Life of the Tasmanians_, 148.\n\n[387] _Algic Researches_, ii. 40.\n\n[388] _Travels in Australia_, i. 261.\n\n[389] Schoolcraft, _Algic Researches_, i. 41.\n\n[390] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, v. 409.\n\n[391] D. Leslie, _Among the Zulus_, 168.\n\n[392] Callaway, _Religious System of the Amazulu_, Part i. 5.\n\n[393] _Algic Researches_, i. 122-8.\n\n[394] Bancroft, _Native Races_, iii. 526.\n\n[395] Bonwick, _Daily Life of the Tasmanians_, 182.\n\n[396] Callaway, _Religious System of the Amazulu_, Part i. 122-3.\n\n[397] Pinkerton, xvi. 689.\n\n[398] Callaway, _Zulu Nursery Tales_, i. 152.\n\n[399] Leslie, 81, 98.\n\n[400] _Ibid._ 79.\n\n[401] _Ibid._ 169.\n\n[402] Appleyard, _Kafir Grammar_, 13.\n\n[403] Mrs. Cookson, _Legends of the Manx_, 23.\n\n[404] Prof. Max M\u00fcller, _Science of Language_, ii. 444.\n\n[405] Steller, 253-4.\n\n[406] L\u00e9ouzon le Duc, _La Finlande_, 51, 87. \u2018\u00c0 dire vrai, _tous les\ndieux de la mythologie finnoise ne sont que les magiciens_.\u2019\n\n[407] Bancroft, v. 23.\n\n[408] Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, 164.\n\n[409] Vishnu Purana, 575.\n\n[410] Schirren, 144. Maui wird im Meere geformt, von einem Fisch\nverschluckt, mit diesem ans Land geworfen und herausgeschnitten. _Der\nFisch ist die Erde welche die Sonne zur Nacht verschlingt; der Himmel im\nOsten befreit die Sonne aus der Erde._\n\n[411] Bancroft, v. 23.\n\n[412] Brinton, 180.\n\n[413] Waitz (_Anthropologie_, iv. 394, 448, 455) adopts the view of the\nhuman origin of Viracocha.\n\n[414] Bleek, _Hottentot Fables_, 75.\n\n[415] Schiefner, _Kalewala_, 129. In the lamentations over an approaching\nmarriage, an old man says to the bride:\n\n  \u2018_Seinen Mond nannt\u2019 dich der Vater,_\n  _Sonnenschein nannt\u2019 dich die Mutter,_\n  _Wasserschimmer dich der Bruder,_\u2019 &c.\n\n[416] Fiske, 35, 76.\n\n[417] Schweinfurth, _Heart of Africa_, ii. 326.\n\n[418] Steller, 279.\n\n[419] Williams, _Fiji_, 204.\n\n[420] Rink, _Tales, &c. of the Esquimaux_, 90.\n\n[421] _Algic Researches_, ii. 226.\n\n[422] _Hiawatha_, Canto xxi.\n\n[423] Steller, 267. \u2018Die Italmanes geben nach ihrer _ungemein lebhaften\nPhantasie_ von allen Dingen Raison, und lassen nicht das geringste ohne\nCritic vorbei.\u2019 Yet they had neither reverence nor names for the stars,\ncalling only the Great Bear the moving star, 281.\n\n[424] _Travels in Australia_, i. 261, 297.\n\n[425] Thompson, _South Africa_, ii. 34.\n\n[426] Aubrey\u2019s _Miscellanies_, 197.\n\n[427] Those who doubt the existence of much popular superstition in this\ncentury may judge of the amount and value of the evidence by referring\nto the following books: 1. All the volumes of _Notes and Queries_,\nIndex, Folk-Lore. 2. Harland and Wilkinson, _Lancashire Folk-Lore_,\n1867. 3. Henderson\u2019s _Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of\nEngland and the Borders_, 1866. 4. Kelly\u2019s _Curiosities of Indo-European\nTradition and Folk-Lore_, 1863. 5. Stewart\u2019s _Popular Superstitions of\nthe Highlanders of Scotland_, 1851. 6. Sternberg\u2019s _Dialect and Folk-Lore\nof Northamptonshire_, 1851. 7. Thorpe\u2019s _Northern Mythology_, 1851. 8.\nBirlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus Schwaben_, 1861. 9. Koehler, _Volksbrauch\nim Voigtlande_, 1867. 10. Bosquet, _La Normandie Romanesque_, 1845.\n\n[428] _Origin of Civilisation_, 33.\n\n[429] _Ibid._, 23.\n\n[430] Hammerton, _Round my House_, 254.\n\n[431] Holderness, _Journey from Riga to the Crimea_, 254.\n\n[432] Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_, \u2018Aberglaube,\u2019 cases 576, 664, 698,\n898. These practices, even if no longer existent, throw light upon those\nthat still are.\n\n[433] Am\u00e9lie Bosquet, _La Normandie pittoresque_, 217.\n\n[434] Fletcher, _Russe Commonweal_, 78.\n\n[435] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, v. 419.\n\n[436] Kane, 216.\n\n[437] Williams, 248.\n\n[438] Brett, _Indian Tribes of Guiana_, 369.\n\n[439] Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_, 111-114.\n\n[440] Cook, vi. 192.\n\n[441] Doolittle, _Social Life of the Chinese_, ii. 328.\n\n[442] There are several derivations for Beltane or Bealteine: 1. From\nBaal or Belus, the Ph\u0153nician god, the worship being supposed to be\nof Ph\u0153nician origin; 2. from Baldur, one of the gods of Valhalla who\nrepresented the Sun; 3. from l\u00e1 = day, teine = fire, and Beal = the name\nof some god, but not Belus; 4. from Paleteine, Pales\u2019 fire, the worship\nbeing identified with that of the Roman goddess Pales, who presided over\ncattle and pastures, and to whom, on April 21, prayers and offerings were\nmade. At the Palilia shepherds purified their flocks by sulphur and fires\nof olive and pine wood, and presented the goddess with cakes of millet\nand milk, whilst the people leaped thrice through straw fires kindled\nin a row. Yet we should probably be right if we connected the Palilia\nand the Beltanes, not as directly borrowed one from the other, but as\nco-descendants from one and the same origin.\n\nMr. Forbes-Leslie speaks of Beltane fires as still to be seen in 1865.\nThe Beltane feast proper was on May-day, but the word was also applied to\nfires kindled in honour of Bel on other days, as on Midsummer Eve, All\nHallow-e\u2019en, and Yeule, now Christmas. (_Early Races of Scotland_, i.\n120-1.)\n\n[443] Stewart, _Popular Superstitions of the Highlanders_, p. 149.\n\n[444] Bancroft, iii. 701.\n\n[445] Kolbe, _Caput bon\u00e6 Spei_, ii. 431-2, and Thunberg, in Pinkerton,\nxvi. 143. Kolbe gives a picture of the practice.\n\n[446] Kerr, _Voyages_, i. 131.\n\n[447] Catlin, ii. 189.\n\n[448] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, iii. 228.\n\n[449] Latham, _Desc. Ethn._, i. 141.\n\n[450] Jones, _Antiquities of the Southern Indians_, p. 21, and\nSchoolcraft, _I.T._, v. 267.\n\n[451] _Lancashire Folk-Lore_, p. 63.\n\n[452] Sir W. Betham, _Gael and Cimbri_: 1834. \u2018The branches of a tree\nnear the Stone of Fire Temple in the Persian province of Fars were found\nthickly hung with rags, and the same offerings are common on bushes round\nsacred wells in the Dekkan of India and Ceylon.\u2019 (Forbes-Leslie, _Early\nRaces of Scotland_, i. 163.)\n\n[453] Schiefner, _Introduction to Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s Livische Grammatik_. St.\nPetersburg, 1861.\n\n[454] The instances of Esthonian superstitions are taken from Grimm\u2019s\ncollection in the _Deutsche Mythologie_. Their date is 1788. The same\ninterest attaches to them from an arch\u00e6ological point of view, whether\nthey exist still or have become extinct.\n\n\nTHE END.","title":"Primitive Manners and Customs","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":82933}