{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71985/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71985","id":"gutenberg_71985","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71985","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Sociology","Civilization -- History","Prehistoric peoples","Superstition"],"text":"PSYCHE\u2019S TASK\n\n A DISCOURSE CONCERNING\n THE INFLUENCE OF SUPERSTITION ON\n THE GROWTH OF INSTITUTIONS\n\n SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED\n TO WHICH IS ADDED\n THE SCOPE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY\n _AN INAUGURAL LECTURE_\n\n BY\n J. G. FRAZER, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D.\n FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE\n PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL\n\n MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED\n ST. MARTIN\u2019S STREET, LONDON\n 1913\n\n\n\n\n [EPIGRAPHS]\n\nGood and evil we know in the field of this world grow up together\nalmost inseparably; and the knowledge of good is so involved and\ninterwoven with the knowledge of evil and in so many cunning\nresemblances hardly to be discerned, that those confused seeds, which\nwere imposed on Psyche as an incessant labour to cull out and sort\nasunder, were not more intermixt.\n\n                                       Milton, _Areopagitica_.\n\nIl ne faut pas croire cependant qu\u2019un mauvais principe vicie\nradicalement une institution, ni m\u00eame qu\u2019il y fasse tout le mal qu\u2019il\nporte dans son sein. Rien ne fausse plus l\u2019histoire que la logique:\nquand l\u2019esprit humain s\u2019est arr\u00eat\u00e9 sur une id\u00e9e, il en tire toutes\nles cons\u00e9quences possibles, lui fait produire tout ce qu\u2019en effet\nelle pourrait produire, et puis se la repr\u00e9sente dans l\u2019histoire avec\ntout ce cort\u00e8ge. Il n\u2019en arrive point ainsi; les \u00e9v\u00e9nements ne sont\npas aussi prompts dans leur d\u00e9ductions que l\u2019esprit humain. Il y a\ndans toutes choses un m\u00e9lange de bien et de mal si profond, si\ninvincible que, quelque part que vous p\u00e9n\u00e9triez, quand vous\ndescendrez dans les derniers \u00e9l\u00e9ments de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 ou de l\u2019\u00e2me,\nvous y trouverez ces deux ordres de faits coexistant, se d\u00e9veloppant\nl\u2019un \u00e0 c\u00f4t\u00e9 de l\u2019autre et se combattant, mais sans s\u2019exterminer. La\nnature humaine ne va jamais jusqu\u2019aux derni\u00e8res limites, ni du mal ni\ndu bien; elle passe sans cesse de l\u2019un \u00e0 l\u2019autre, se redressant au\nmoment o\u00f9 elle semble le plus pr\u00e8s de la chute, faiblissant au\nmoment o\u00f9 elle semble marcher le plus droit.\n\nGuizot, _Histoire de la civilisation dans l\u2019Europe_, Cinqui\u00e8me Le\u00e7on.\n\n\n\n\n [DEDICATION]\n\n TO\n ALL WHO ARE ENGAGED\n IN PSYCHE\u2019S TASK\n OF SORTING OUT THE SEEDS OF GOOD\n FROM THE SEEDS OF EVIL\n I DEDICATE THIS DISCOURSE\n\n\n\n\n PREFACE\n\n{vii}\n\nThe substance of the following discourse was lately read at an\nevening meeting of the Royal Institution in London, and most of it was\nafterwards delivered in the form of lectures to my class at Liverpool.\nIt is now published in the hope that it may call attention to a\nneglected side of superstition and stimulate enquiry into the early\nhistory of those great institutions which still form the framework of\nmodern society. If it should turn out that these institutions have\nsometimes been built on rotten foundations, it would be rash to\nconclude that they must all come down. Man is a very curious animal,\nand the more we know of his habits the more curious does he appear. He\nmay be the most rational of the beasts, but certainly he is the most\nabsurd. Even the saturnine wit of Swift, unaided by a knowledge of\nsavages, fell far short of the reality in his attempt to set human\nfolly in a strong light. Yet the odd thing is that in spite, or\nperhaps by virtue, of his absurdities man moves steadily upwards; the\nmore we learn of his past history the more groundless does the old\ntheory of his degeneracy prove to be. From false premises he often\narrives at sound conclusions: from a chimerical theory he deduces a\nsalutary practice. This discourse will have served a useful purpose if\nit illustrates a few {viii} of the ways in which folly mysteriously\ndeviates into wisdom, and good comes out of evil. It is a mere sketch\nof a vast subject. Whether I shall ever fill in these bald outlines\nwith finer strokes and deeper shadows must be left to the future to\ndetermine. The materials for such a picture exist in abundance; and if\nthe colours are dark, they are yet illuminated, as I have tried in\nthis essay to point out, by a ray of consolation and hope.\n\n                                                J. G. FRAZER.\n\nCambridge, _February_ 1909.\n\n\n\n\n NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION\n\nIn this edition _Psyche\u2019s Task_ has been enlarged by fresh\nillustrative examples and by the discussion of a curious point of\nsavage etiquette, but the substance and the form of the discourse\nremain unchanged. I have added _The Scope of Social Anthropology_, an\ninaugural lecture intended to mark out roughly the boundaries of the\ngeneral study of which _Psyche\u2019s Task_ aims at setting forth some\nparticular results. There is therefore a certain appropriateness in\npresenting the two discourses together to the reader.\n\n                                                      J. G. F.\n\nCambridge, 6_th June_ 1913.\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n{ix}\n\nPreface\n\nPSYCHE\u2019S TASK\n\nI. Introduction\n\nThe dark and the bright side of Superstition: a plea for the accused:\nfour propositions to be proved by the defence 3-5\n\nII. Government\n\nSuperstition has been a prop of Government by inculcating a deep\nveneration for governors: evidence of this veneration collected from\nMelanesia, Polynesia, Africa, the Malay region, and America: evidence\nof similar veneration among Aryan peoples from India to Scotland 6-19\n\nIII. Private Property\n\nSuperstition has been a prop of Private Property by inculcating a deep\nfear of its violation: evidence of this fear collected from Polynesia,\nMelanesia, the Malay Archipelago, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America\n20-43\n\nIV. Marriage\n\nSuperstition has been a prop of Marriage by inculcating a deep fear of\ndisregarding the traditionary rules of sexual morality: evidence of\nthis fear collected from South-Eastern Asia, the Malay Archipelago,\nAfrica, the Hebrews, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Irish: extreme\nseverity with which breaches of the sexual code have been punished in\nIndia, Babylon, {x} Palestine, Africa, the East Indies, Australia,\nAmerica, and Europe: the avoidance of the wife\u2019s mother and of a man\u2019s\nown mother, sisters, daughters, and female cousins, based on the fear\nof incest: the origin of the fear of incest unknown: belief that\nadultery and fornication inflict physical injury not only on the\nculprits but on their innocent relations: evidence of the belief\ncollected from Africa, America, Sumatra, and New Britain 44-110\n\nV. Respect for Human Life\n\nSuperstition has been a prop for the Security of Human Life by\ninculcating a deep fear of the ghosts of the murdered dead: evidence\nof the fear collected from ancient Greece, modern Africa, America,\nIndia, New Guinea, Celebes, the Bismarck Archipelago, and Fiji: deep\nfear of ghosts in general: evidence collected from America, Africa,\nIndia, Burma, the Indian Archipelago, Australia, New Guinea, and\nChina: influence of the fear in restraining men from murder 111-153\n\nVI. Conclusion\n\nSumming up for the defence: by serving as a prop for government,\nprivate property, marriage, and human life, Superstition has rendered\na great service to humanity: Superstition at the bar: sentence of\ndeath 154-156\n\nTHE SCOPE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY\n\nAnthropology, or the Science of Man, a new study: Social Anthropology\nrestricted to the rudimentary phases of human society: not concerned\nwith the practical application of its results: all forms of human\nsociety either savage or evolved out of savagery: hence Social\nAnthropology deals primarily with savagery and secondarily with those\nsurvivals of savagery in civilization which are commonly known as\nfolklore: importance of the study of savagery for an understanding of\nthe evolution of the human mind: existing savages primitive only in a\nrelative sense by comparison with civilized peoples: in reality the\nsavages of the present day probably stand at a high level of culture\ncompared with their remote predecessors: for example, the present\nsystems of marriage and consanguinity among savages appear to have\nbeen preceded by a period, not necessarily primitive, of sexual\ncommunism: survivals of savagery in civilization due to the natural\nand ineradicable inequality of men: mankind {xi} ultimately led by an\nintellectual aristocracy: superstition the creed of the laggards in\nthe march of intellect: the wide prevalence of superstition under the\nsurface of society a standing menace to civilization: the lowest forms\nof superstition the most tenacious of life: function of the\nComparative Method in reconstructing the early history of human\nthought and institutions: its legitimacy based on the ascertained\nsimilarity of the human mind in all races: the need of studying\nsavages only of late years understood: urgent importance of the study\nin consequence of the rapid disappearance of savagery: the duty of our\ngeneration to preserve a record of it for posterity: the duty of the\nUniversities and of the State 157-176\n\nINDEX 177-186\n\nENDNOTES\n\n\n\n\n PSYCHE\u2019S TASK\n\n{3}\n\nI.\nINTRODUCTION\n\n[Sidenote: The dark side of superstition.] We are apt to think of\nsuperstition as an unmitigated evil, false in itself and pernicious in\nits consequences. That it has done much harm in the world, cannot be\ndenied. It has sacrificed countless lives, wasted untold treasures,\nembroiled nations, severed friends, parted husbands and wives, parents\nand children, putting swords, and worse than swords between them: it\nhas filled gaols and madhouses with its innocent or deluded victims:\nit has broken many hearts, embittered the whole of many a life, and\nnot content with persecuting the living it has pursued the dead into\nthe grave and beyond it, gloating over the horrors which its foul\nimagination has conjured up to appal and torture the survivors. It has\ndone all this and more. [Sidenote: The brighter side of\nsuperstition.] Yet the case of superstition, like that of Mr.\nPickwick after the revelations of poor Mr. Winkle in the witness-box,\ncan perhaps afford to be placed in a rather better light; and without\nposing as the Devil\u2019s Advocate or appearing before you in a blue flame\nand sulphureous fumes, I do profess to make out what the charitable\nmight call a plausible plea for a very dubious client. For I propose\nto prove, or at least make probable, by examples that among certain\nraces and at certain stages of evolution some social institutions\nwhich we all, or most of us, believe to be beneficial have partially\nrested on a basis of superstition. The institutions to which I refer\nare purely secular or civil. Of religious or ecclesiastical\ninstitutions I shall say nothing. It might perhaps be possible to shew\nthat even religion has not wholly escaped the taint or {4} dispensed\nwith the support of superstition; but I prefer for to-night to confine\nmyself to those civil institutions which people commonly imagine to be\nbottomed on nothing but hard common sense and the nature of things.\nWhile the institutions with which I shall deal have all survived into\ncivilized society and can no doubt be defended by solid and weighty\narguments, it is practically certain that among savages, and even\namong peoples who have risen above the level of savagery, these very\nsame institutions have derived much of their strength from beliefs\nwhich nowadays we should condemn unreservedly as superstitious and\nabsurd. The institutions in regard to which I shall attempt to prove\nthis are four, namely, government, private property, marriage, and the\nrespect for human life. [Sidenote: Four propositions to be proved.]\nAnd what I have to say may be summed up in four propositions as\nfollows:--\n\nI. Among certain races and at certain times superstition has\nstrengthened the respect for government, especially monarchical\ngovernment, and has thereby contributed to the establishment and\nmaintenance of civil order.\n\nII. Among certain races and at certain times superstition has\nstrengthened the respect for private property and has thereby\ncontributed to the security of its enjoyment.\n\nIII. Among certain races and at certain times superstition has\nstrengthened the respect for marriage and has thereby contributed to a\nstricter observance of the rules of sexual morality both among the\nmarried and the unmarried.\n\nIV. Among certain races and at certain times superstition has\nstrengthened the respect for human life and has thereby contributed to\nthe security of its enjoyment.\n\n[Sidenote: Preliminary remarks.] Before proceeding to deal with\nthese four propositions separately, I wish to make two remarks, which\nI beg you will bear in mind. First, in what I have to say I shall\nconfine myself to certain races of men and to certain ages of history,\nbecause neither my time nor my knowledge permits me to speak of all\nraces of men and all ages of history. How far the limited conclusions\nwhich I shall draw for some races and for some ages are applicable to\nothers must be left to future enquiries to determine. That is my first\nremark. My second is this. If it can be proved that in certain races\nand at certain times the institutions {5} in question have been based\npartly on superstition, it by no means follows that even among these\nraces they have never been based on anything else. On the contrary, as\nall the institutions which I shall consider have proved themselves\nstable and permanent, there is a strong presumption that they rest\nmainly on something much more solid than superstition. No institution\nfounded wholly on superstition, that is on falsehood, can be\npermanent. If it does not answer to some real human need, if its\nfoundations are not laid broad and deep in the nature of things, it\nmust perish, and the sooner the better. That is my second remark.\n\n\n\n\n II.\n GOVERNMENT\n\n{6}\n\n[Sidenote: Superstition as a prop of government.] With these two\ncautions I address myself to my first proposition, which is, that\namong certain races and at certain times superstition has strengthened\nthe respect for government, especially monarchical government, and has\nthereby contributed to the establishment and maintenance of civil\norder.\n\n[Sidenote: Superstitious respect for chiefs in Melanesia.] Among\nmany peoples the task of government has been greatly facilitated by a\nsuperstition that the governors belong to a superior order of beings\nand possess certain supernatural or magical powers to which the\ngoverned can make no claim and can offer no resistance. Thus Dr.\nCodrington tells us that among the Melanesians \u201cthe power of chiefs\nhas hitherto rested upon the belief in their supernatural power\nderived from the spirits or ghosts with which they had intercourse. As\nthis belief has failed, in the Banks\u2019 Islands for example some time\nago, the position of a chief has tended to become obscure; and as this\nbelief is now being generally undermined a new kind of chief must\nneeds arise, unless a time of anarchy is to begin.\u201d[6.1] According to\na native Melanesian account, the authority of chiefs rests entirely on\nthe belief that they hold communication with mighty ghosts and possess\nthat supernatural power or _mana_, as it is called, whereby they are\nable to bring the influence of the ghosts to bear on human life. If a\nchief imposed a fine, it was paid because the people firmly believed\nthat he could inflict calamity and sickness upon such as resisted him.\nAs soon as any considerable number of his {7} subjects began to\ndisbelieve in his influence with the ghosts, his power to levy fines\nwas shaken.[7.1] It is thus that in Melanesia religious scepticism\ntends to undermine the foundations of civil society.\n\n[Sidenote: Superstitious respect for chiefs in Fiji.] Similarly Mr.\nBasil Thomson tells us that \u201cthe key to the Melanesian system of\ngovernment is Ancestor-worship. Just as every act in a Fijian\u2019s life\nwas controlled by his fear of Unseen Powers, so was his conception of\nhuman authority based upon religion.\u201d The dead chief was supposed\nstill to watch jealously over his people and to punish them with\ndearth, storms, and floods, if they failed to bring their offerings to\nhis tomb and to propitiate his spirit. And the person of his\ndescendant, the living chief, was sacred; it was hedged in by a magic\ncircle of taboo and might not even be touched without incurring the\nwrath of the Unseen. \u201cThe first blow at the power of the chiefs was\nstruck unconsciously by the missionaries. Neither they nor the chiefs\nthemselves realized how closely the government of the Fijians was\nbound up with their religion. No sooner had a missionary gained a\nfoothold in a chief village than the tabu was doomed, and on the tabu\ndepended half the people\u2019s reverence for rank. The tabu died hard, as\nsuch institutions should do. The first-fruits were still presented to\nthe chief, but they were no longer carried from him to the temple,\nsince their excuse--as an offering to persuade the ancestors to grant\nabundant increase--had passed away. No longer supported by the\npriests, the Sacred Chief fell upon evil days\u201d; for in Fiji, as in\nother places, the priest and the chief, when they were not one and the\nsame person, had played into each other\u2019s hands, both knowing that\nneither could stand firm without the aid of the other.[7.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Superstitious respect for chiefs in Polynesia generally\nand in New Zealand particularly.] In Polynesia the state of things\nwas similar. There, too, the power of chiefs depended largely on a\nbelief in their supernatural powers, in their relation to ancestral\nspirits, and in the magical virtue of taboo, which pervaded their\npersons and interposed between them and common folk an invisible but\nformidable barrier, to pass which was death. In New Zealand the Maori\nchiefs were deemed to be living {8} _atuas_ or gods. Thus the Rev.\nRichard Taylor, who was for more than thirty years a missionary in New\nZealand, tells us that in speaking a Maori chief \u201cassumed a tone not\nnatural to him, as a kind of court language; he kept himself distinct\nfrom his inferiors, eating separately; his person was sacred, he had\nthe power of holding converse with the gods, in fact laid claim to\nbeing one himself, making the _tapu_ a powerful adjunct to obtain\ncontrol over his people and their goods. Every means were used to\nacquire this dignity; a large person was thought to be of the highest\nimportance; to acquire this extra size, the child of a chief was\ngenerally provided with many nurses, each contributing to his support\nby robbing their own offspring of their natural sustenance; thus,\nwhilst they were half-starved, miserable-looking little creatures, the\nchief\u2019s child was the contrary, and early became remarkable by its\ngood appearance. Nor was this feeling confined to the body; the chief\nwas an _atua_, but there were powerful and powerless gods; each\nnaturally sought to make himself one of the former; the plan therefore\nadopted, was to incorporate the spirits of others with their own;\nthus, when a warrior slew a chief, he immediately gouged out his eyes\nand swallowed them, the _atua tonga_, or divinity, being supposed to\nreside in that organ; thus he not only killed the body, but also\npossessed himself of the soul of his enemy, and consequently the more\nchiefs he slew, the greater did his divinity become.\u2026 Another great\nsign of a chief was oratory--a good orator was compared to the\n_korimako_, the sweetest singing bird in New Zealand; to enable the\nyoung chief to become one, he was fed upon that bird, so that he might\nthe better acquire its qualities, and the successful orator was termed\na _korimako_.\u201d[8.1] Again, another writer informs us that the\nopinions of Maori chiefs \u201cwere held in more estimation than those of\nothers, simply because they were believed to give utterance to the\nthoughts of deified men. No dazzling pageantry hedged them round, but\ntheir persons were sacred.\u2026 Many of them believed themselves inspired;\n{9} thus Te Heu Heu, the great Taupo chief and priest, shortly before\nhe was swallowed up by a landslip, said to a European missionary:\n\u2018Think not that I am a man, that my origin is of the earth. I come\nfrom the heavens; my ancestors are all there; they are gods, and I\nshall return to them.\u2019\u201d[9.1] So sacred was the person of a Maori\nchief that it was not lawful to touch him, even to save his life. A\nchief has been seen at the point of suffocation and in great agony\nwith a fish bone sticking in his throat, and yet not one of his\npeople, who were lamenting around him, dared to touch or even approach\nhim, for it would have been as much as their own life was worth to do\nso. A missionary, who was passing, came to the rescue and saved the\nchief\u2019s life by extracting the bone. As soon as the rescued man\nrecovered the power of speech, which he did not do for half an hour,\nthe first use he made of it was to demand that the surgical\ninstruments with which the bone had been extracted should be given to\nhim as compensation for the injury done him by drawing his sacred\nblood and touching his sacred head.[9.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Superstitious fear of contact with Maori chiefs.] Not\nonly the person of a Maori chief but everything that had come into\ncontact with it was sacred and would kill, so the Maoris thought, any\nsacrilegious person who dared to meddle with it. Cases have been known\nof Maoris dying of sheer fright on learning that they had unwittingly\neaten the remains of a chief\u2019s dinner or handled something that\nbelonged to him. For example, a woman, having partaken of some fine\npeaches from a basket, was told that they had come from a tabooed\nplace. Immediately the basket dropped from her hands and she cried out\nin agony that the _atua_ or godhead of the chief, whose divinity had\nbeen thus profaned, would kill her. That happened in the afternoon,\nand next day by twelve o\u2019clock she was dead.[9.3] Similarly a chief\u2019s\ntinder-box has proved fatal to several men; for having found it and\nlighted their pipes with it {10} they actually expired of terror on\nlearning to whom it belonged.[10.1] Hence a considerate chief would\nthrow away where it could not be found any garment or mat for which he\nhad no further use, lest one of his subjects should find it and be\nstruck dead by the shock of its inherent divinity. For the same reason\nhe would never blow a fire with his mouth; for his sacred breath would\ncommunicate its sanctity to the fire, and the fire would pass it on to\nthe meat that might be cooked on it, and the meat would carry it into\nthe stomach of the eater, and he would die.[10.2] Thus the divinity\nwhich hedged a Maori chief was a devouring flame which shrivelled up\nand consumed whatever it touched. No wonder that such men were\nimplicitly obeyed.\n\n[Sidenote: Superstitious respect for chiefs and kings in Tonga and\nTahiti.] In the rest of Polynesia the state of things was similar.\nFor example, the natives of Tonga in like manner believed that if any\none fed himself with his own hands after touching the sacred person of\na superior chief, he would swell up and die; the sanctity of the\nchief, like a virulent poison, infected the hands of his inferior,\nand, being communicated through them to the food, proved fatal to the\neater, unless he disinfected himself by touching the chief\u2019s feet in a\nparticular way.[10.3] When a king of Tahiti entered on office he was\ngirded with a sacred girdle of red feathers, which not only raised him\nto the highest earthly station, but identified him with the\ngods.[10.4] Henceforth \u201cevery thing in the least degree connected\nwith the king or queen--the cloth they wore, the houses in which they\ndwelt, the canoes in which they voyaged, the men by whom they were\nborne when they journeyed by land, became sacred--and even the sounds\nin the language, composing their names, could no longer be\nappropriated to ordinary significations. Hence, the original names of\nmost of the objects with which they were familiar, have from time to\ntime undergone considerable alterations. The ground on which they even\naccidentally trod, became sacred; and the dwelling under which they\nmight enter, must for ever after be vacated {11} by its proprietors,\nand could be appropriated only to the use of these sacred personages.\nNo individual was allowed to touch the body of the king or queen; and\nevery one who should stand over them, or pass the hand over their\nheads, would be liable to pay for the sacrilegious act with the\nforfeiture of his life. It was on account of this supposed sacredness\nof person that they could never enter any dwellings, excepting those\nthat were specially dedicated to their use, and prohibited to all\nothers; nor might they tread on the ground in any part of the island\nbut their own hereditary districts.\u201d[11.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Superstitious fear of contact with kings in Africa and the\nMalay region.] In like manner the Cazembes, in the interior of\nAngola, regarded their king as so holy that no one could touch him\nwithout being killed by the magical power which emanated from his\nsacred person; however, any one who had accidentally or necessarily\ncome into personal contact with his Majesty could escape death by\ntouching the king\u2019s hands in a special manner.[11.2] Similar beliefs\nare current in the Malay region, where the theory of the king as the\nDivine Man is said to be held perhaps as strongly as in any other part\nof the world. \u201cNot only is the king\u2019s person considered sacred, but\nthe sanctity of his body is believed to communicate itself to his\nregalia, and to slay those who break the royal taboos. Thus it is\nfirmly believed that any one who seriously offends the royal person,\nwho touches (even for a moment) or who imitates (even with the king\u2019s\npermission) the chief objects of the regalia, or who wrongfully makes\nuse of any of the insignia or privileges of royalty, will be _k\u0115na\ndaulat_, _i.e._ struck dead, by a quasi-electric discharge of that\nDivine Power which the Malays suppose to reside in the king\u2019s person,\nand which is called _daulat_ or Royal Sanctity.\u201d[11.3] [Sidenote:\nMarvellous powers attributed to rajahs by Malays and Dyaks.] Further,\nthe Malays firmly believe that the king possesses a personal influence\nover the works of nature, such as the growth of the crops and the\nbearing of fruit-trees.[11.4] Some of the Hill Dyaks of Sarawak {12}\nused to bring their seed-rice to Rajah Brooke to be fertilized by him;\nand once when the rice-crops of a tribe were thin, the chief remarked\nthat it could not be otherwise, since they had not been visited by the\nRajah.[12.1] [Sidenote: Superstitious veneration for the rajah of\nLoowoo.] Among the Toradjas of Central Celebes \u201cthe power of the\nrajah of Loowoo rested for the most part on superstition and on\ntradition. The ancestors had served the rajah in their day, and should\nthe descendants fail to do so they would have to fear the wrath of the\nancestors. Often Toradjas said to us, \u2018The rajah of Loowoo is our\ngod.\u2019 They saw in him the complete embodiment of the old institutions.\nIt used to be said that he had white blood, and the mysterious power\nthat went forth from him was thought to be so great that a common\nToradja could not see him without suffering from a swollen belly and\ndying.\u201d[12.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Magical powers attributed to kings in Africa.] Similarly\nin Africa kings are commonly supposed to be endowed with a magical\npower of making the rain to fall and the crops to grow: drought and\nfamine are set down to the weakness or ill-will of the king, and\naccordingly he is punished, deposed, or put to death.[12.3] To take\ntwo or three instances out of many, a writer of the eighteenth century\nspeaks as follows of the kingdom of Loango in West Africa: [Sidenote:\nThe king of Loango.] \u201cThe government with these people is purely\ndespotic. They say their lives and goods belong to the king; that he\nmay dispose of and deprive them of them when he pleases, without form\nof process, and without their having anything to complain of. In his\npresence they pay marks of respect which resemble adoration. The\nindividuals of the lower classes are persuaded that his power is not\nconfined to the earth, and that he has credit enough to make rain fall\nfrom heaven: hence they fail not, when a continuance of drought makes\nthem fearful about the harvest, to represent to him that if he does\nnot take care to water the lands of his kingdom, they will die of\nhunger, and will find it impossible to make him the usual presents.\nThe king, to satisfy the people, without however compromising himself\nwith heaven, {13} devolves the affair on one of his ministers, to whom\nhe gives orders to cause to fall without delay upon the plains as much\nrain as is wanted to fertilize them. When the minister sees a cloud\nwhich he presumes must shed rain, he shews himself in public, as if to\nexercise the orders of his prince. The women and children troop around\nhim, crying with all their might, _Give us rain, give us rain_: and he\npromises them some.\u201d[13.1] The king of Loango, says another old\nwriter, \u201cis honoured among them as though he were a God: and is called\n_Sambee_ and _Pango_, which mean God. They believe he can let them\nhave rain when he likes; and once a year, in December, which is the\ntime they want rain, the people come to beg of him to grant it to\nthem, on this occasion they make him presents, and none come\nempty-handed.\u201d On a day appointed, when the chiefs with their troops\nhad assembled in warlike array, the drums used to beat and the horns\nto sound, and the king shot arrows into the air, which was believed to\nbring down the rain.[13.2] On the other side of Africa a similar\nstate of things is reported by the old Portuguese historian Dos\nSantos. [Sidenote: The king of Sofala.] He says: \u201cThe king of all\nthese lands of the interior and of the river of Sofala is a\nwoolly-haired Kaffir, a heathen who adores nothing whatever, and has\nno knowledge of God; on the contrary, he esteems himself the god of\nall his lands, and is so looked upon and reverenced by his subjects.\u201d\n\u201cWhen they suffer necessity or scarcity they have recourse to the\nking, firmly believing that he can give them all that they desire or\nhave need of, and can obtain anything from his dead predecessors, with\nwhom they believe that he holds converse. For this reason they ask the\nking to give them rain when it is required, and other favourable\nweather for their harvest, and in coming to ask for any of these\nthings they bring him valuable presents, which the king accepts,\nbidding them return to their homes and he will be careful to grant\ntheir petitions. They are such barbarians that though they see how\noften the king {14} does not give them what they ask for, they are not\nundeceived, but make him still greater offerings, and many days are\nspent in these comings and goings, until the weather turns to rain,\nand the Kaffirs are satisfied, believing that the king did not grant\ntheir request until he had been well bribed and importuned, as he\nhimself affirms, in order to maintain them in their error.\u201d[14.1]\nNevertheless \u201cit was formerly the custom of the kings of this land to\ncommit suicide by taking poison when any disaster or natural physical\ndefect fell upon them, such as impotence, infectious disease, the loss\nof their front teeth by which they were disfigured, or any other\ndeformity or affliction. To put an end to such defects they killed\nthemselves, saying that the king should be free from any blemish.\u201d\nHowever, in the time of Dos Santos the king of Sofala, in defiance of\nall precedent, persisted in living and reigning after he had lost a\nfront tooth; and he even went so far as to tax his royal predecessors\nwith folly for having made away with themselves for such trifles as a\ndecayed tooth or a little grey hair, declaring his firm resolution to\nlive as long as he possibly could for the benefit of his loyal\nsubjects.[14.2] [Sidenote: The chief medicine-man of the Nandi.] At\nthe present day the principal medicine-man of the Nandi, a tribe in\nBritish East Africa, is also supreme chief of the whole people. He is\na diviner, and foretells the future: he makes women and cattle\nfruitful; and in time of drought he obtains rain either directly or\nthrough the intervention of the rainmakers. The Nandi believe\nimplicitly in these marvellous powers of their chief. His person is\nusually regarded as absolutely sacred. Nobody may approach him with\nweapons in his hand or speak in his presence unless he is first\naddressed; and it is deemed most important that nobody should touch\nthe chief\u2019s head, otherwise his powers of divination and so forth\nwould depart from him.[14.3] This widespread African conception of\nthe divinity of kings culminated long ago in ancient Egypt, where the\nkings were treated as gods both in life and in death, temples being\ndedicated to their worship {15} and priests appointed to conduct\nit.[15.1] And when the harvests failed, the ancient Egyptians, like\nthe modern negroes, laid the blame of the failure on the reigning\nmonarch.[15.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Superstitious veneration of the Peruvians for the Yncas.]\nA halo of superstitious veneration also surrounded the Yncas or\ngoverning class in ancient Peru. Thus the old historian Garcilasso de\nla Vega, himself the son of an Ynca princess, tells us that \u201cit does\nnot appear that any Ynca of the blood royal has ever been punished, at\nleast publicly, and the Indians deny that such a thing has ever taken\nplace. They say that the Ynca never committed any fault that required\ncorrection; because the teaching of their parents, and the common\nopinion that they were children of the Sun, born to teach and to do\ngood to the rest of mankind, kept them under such control, that they\nwere rather an example than a scandal to the commonwealth. The Indians\nalso said that the Yncas were free from the temptations which usually\nlead to crime, such as passion for women, envy and covetousness, or\nthe thirst for vengeance; because if they desired beautiful women, it\nwas lawful for them to have as many as they liked; and any pretty girl\nthey might take a fancy to, not only was never denied to them, but was\ngiven up by her father with expressions of extreme thankfulness that\nan Ynca should have condescended to take her as his servant. The same\nthing might be said of their property; for, as they never could feel\nthe want of anything, they had no reason to covet the goods of others;\nwhile as governors they had command over all the property of the Sun\nand of the Ynca; and those who were in charge, were bound to give them\nall that they required, as children of the Sun, and brethren of the\nYnca. They likewise had no temptation to kill or wound any one either\nfor revenge, or in passion; for no one ever offended them. On the\ncontrary, they received adoration only second to that offered to the\nroyal person; and if any one, how high soever his rank, had enraged\nany Ynca, it would have been looked upon as sacrilege, and very\nseverely punished. But it may be affirmed that an Indian {16} was\nnever punished for offending against the person, honour, or property\nof any Ynca, because no such offence was ever committed, as they held\nthe Yncas to be like gods.\u201d[16.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Superstitious veneration for kings in ancient India.] Nor\nhave such superstitions been confined to savages and other peoples of\nalien race in remote parts of the world. They seem to have been shared\nby the ancestors of all the Aryan peoples from India to Ireland. Thus\nin the ancient Indian law-book called the Laws of Manu, we read:\n\u201cBecause a king has been formed of particles of those lords of the\ngods, he therefore surpasses all created beings in lustre; and, like\nthe sun, he burns eyes and hearts; nor can anybody on earth even gaze\non him. Through his (supernatural) power he is Fire and Wind, he Sun\nand Moon, he the Lord of justice (Yama), he Kubera, he Varuna, he\ngreat Indra. Even an infant king must not be despised (from an idea)\nthat he is a (mere) mortal; for he is a great deity in human\nform.\u201d[16.2] And in the same law-book the effects of a good king\u2019s\nreign are thus described: \u201cIn that (country) where the king avoids\ntaking the property of (mortal) sinners, men are born in (due) time\n(and are) long-lived. And the crops of the husbandmen spring up, each\nas it was sown, and the children die not, and no misshaped (offspring)\nis born.\u201d[16.3]\n\n[Sidenote: Superstitious veneration for kings in ancient Europe.]\nSimilarly in Homeric Greece, kings and chiefs were described as sacred\nor divine; their houses, too, were divine, and their chariots\nsacred;[16.4] and it was thought that the reign of a good king caused\nthe black earth to bring forth wheat and barley, the trees to be\nloaded with fruit, the flocks to multiply, and the sea to yield\nfish.[16.5] When the crops failed, the Burgundians used to blame\ntheir kings and depose them.[16.6] Similarly the Swedes always\nascribed the abundance or scantiness of the harvest to the goodness or\nbadness of their kings, and in time of dearth they have been known\n{17} to sacrifice them to the gods for the sake of procuring good\ncrops.[17.1] In ancient Ireland it was also believed that when kings\nobserved the customs of their ancestors the seasons were mild, the\ncrops plentiful, the cattle fruitful, the waters abounded with fish,\nand the fruit-trees had to be propped up on account of the weight of\ntheir produce. A canon ascribed to St. Patrick enumerates among the\nblessings that attend the reign of a just king \u201cfine weather, calm\nseas, crops abundant, and trees laden with fruit.\u201d[17.2] [Sidenote:\nSurvivals of the superstition in Scotland.] Superstitions of the kind\nwhich were thus current among the Celts of Ireland centuries ago\nappear to have survived among the Celts of Scotland down to Dr.\nJohnson\u2019s time; for when he travelled in Skye it was still held that\nthe return of the chief of the Macleods to Dunvegan, after any\nconsiderable absence, produced a plentiful catch of herring;[17.3]\nand at a still later time, when the potato crop failed, the clan\nMacleod desired that a certain fairy banner in the possession of their\nchief might be unfurled,[17.4] apparently in the belief that the\nmagical banner had only to be displayed to produce a fine crop of\npotatoes.\n\n[Sidenote: Touching for the King\u2019s Evil.] Perhaps the last relic of\nsuch superstitions which lingered about our English kings was the\nnotion that they could heal scrofula by their touch. The disease was\naccordingly known as the King\u2019s Evil;[17.5] and on the analogy of the\nPolynesian superstitions which I have cited, we may perhaps conjecture\nthat the skin disease of scrofula was originally supposed to be caused\nas well as cured by the king\u2019s touch. Certain it is that in Tonga some\nforms of scrofula, as well as indurations of the liver, to which the\nnatives were very subject, were thought to be caused by touching a\nchief and {18} to be healed, on hom\u0153opathic principles, in the very\nsame fashion.[18.1] Similarly in Loango palsy is called the king\u2019s\ndisease, because the negroes imagine it to be heaven\u2019s own punishment\nfor treason meditated against the king.[18.2] The belief in the\nking\u2019s power to heal by touch is known to have been held both in\nFrance and England from the eleventh century onward. The first French\nking to touch the sick appears to have been Robert the Pious, the\nfirst English king Edward the Confessor.[18.3] In England the belief\nthat the king could heal scrofula by his touch survived into the\neighteenth century. Dr. Johnson was touched in his childhood for\nscrofula by Queen Anne.[18.4] It is curious that so typical a\nrepresentative of robust common sense as Dr. Johnson should in his\nchildhood and old age have thus been brought into contact with these\nancient superstitions about royalty both in England and Scotland. In\nFrance the superstition lingered a good deal longer, for whereas Queen\nAnne was the last reigning monarch in England to touch for scrofula,\nboth Louis XV. and Louis XVI. at their coronation touched thousands of\npatients, and as late as 1824 Charles X. at his coronation went\nthrough the same solemn farce. It is said that the sceptical wits of\nLouis XVI.\u2019s time investigated all the cases of the persons on whom\nthe king had laid hands at his coronation, with the result that out of\ntwo thousand four hundred who were touched only five were made\nwhole.[18.5]\n\n[Sidenote: Conclusion.] The foregoing evidence, summary as it is,\nmay suffice to prove that many peoples have regarded their rulers,\nwhether chiefs or kings, with superstitious awe as beings of a higher\norder and endowed with mightier powers than common folk. Imbued with\nsuch a profound veneration for their governors and with such an\nexaggerated conception of their power, they cannot but have yielded\nthem a prompter and more implicit obedience than if they had {19}\nknown them to be men of common mould just like themselves. If that is\nso, I may claim to have proved my first proposition, which is, that\namong certain races and at certain times superstition has strengthened\nthe respect for government, especially monarchical government, and has\nthereby contributed to the establishment and maintenance of civil\norder.\n\n\n\n\n III.\n PRIVATE PROPERTY\n\n{20}\n\n[Sidenote: Superstition as a prop of private property.] I pass now\nto my second proposition, which is, that among certain races and at\ncertain times superstition has strengthened the respect for private\nproperty, and has thereby contributed to the security of its\nenjoyment.\n\n[Sidenote: Taboo in Polynesia.] Nowhere, perhaps, does this appear\nmore plainly than in Polynesia, where the system of taboo reached its\nhighest development; for the effect of tabooing a thing was, in the\nopinion of the natives, to endow it with a supernatural or magical\nenergy which rendered it practically unapproachable by any but the\nowner. Thus taboo became a powerful instrument for strengthening the\nties, perhaps our socialist friends would say riveting the chains, of\nprivate property. Indeed, some good authorities who were personally\nacquainted with the working of taboo in Polynesia, have held that the\nsystem was originally devised for no other purpose. [Sidenote: Taboo\namong the Maoris of New Zealand.] For example, an Irishman who lived\nas a Maori with the Maoris for years, and knew them intimately, writes\nas follows: \u201cThe original object of the ordinary _tapu_ seems to have\nbeen the preservation of property. Of this nature in a great degree\nwas the ordinary personal _tapu_. This form of the _tapu_ was\npermanent, and consisted in a certain sacred character which attached\nto the person of a chief and never left him. It was his birthright, a\npart in fact of himself, of which he could not be divested, and which\nwas well understood and recognized at all times as a matter of course.\nThe fighting men and petty chiefs, and every one indeed who could by\nany means claim the title of _rangatira_--which in the sense I now use\nit means gentleman--were all in {21} some degree more or less\npossessed of this mysterious quality. It extended or was communicated\nto all their moveable property, especially to their clothes, weapons,\nornaments, and tools, and to everything in fact which they touched.\nThis prevented their chattels from being stolen or mislaid, or spoiled\nby children, or used or handled in any way by others. And as in the\nold times, as I have before stated, every kind of property of this\nkind was precious in consequence of the great labour and time\nnecessarily, for want of iron tools, expended in the manufacture, this\nform of the _tapu_ was of great real service. An infringement of it\nsubjected the offender to various dreadful imaginary punishments, of\nwhich deadly sickness was one.\u201d The culprit was also liable to what\nmay be called a civil action, which consisted in being robbed and\nbeaten; but the writer whom I have just quoted tells us that the worst\npart of the punishment for breaking taboo was the imaginary part,\nsince even when the offence had been committed unwittingly the\noffender has been known to die of fright on learning what he had\ndone.[21.1] Similarly, another writer, speaking of the Maoris,\nobserves that \u201cviolators of the _tapu_ were punished by the gods and\nalso by men. The former sent sickness and death; the latter inflicted\ndeath, loss of property, and expulsion from society. It was a dread of\nthe gods, more than of men, which upheld the _tapu_. Human eyes might\nbe deceived, but the eyes of the gods could never be deceived.\u201d[21.2]\n\u201cThe chiefs, as might be expected, are fully aware of the advantages\nof the _tapu_, finding that it confers on them, to a certain extent,\nthe power of making laws, and the superstition on which the _tapu_ is\nfounded will ensure the observance of them. Were they to transgress\nthe _tapu_, they believe that the _attua_ (God) would kill them, and\nso universal is this belief that it is, or rather was, a very rare\noccurrence to find any one daring enough to commit the {22} sacrilege.\nTo have preserved this influence so completely among a people\nnaturally so shrewd and intelligent, great care must, no doubt, have\nbeen taken not to apply it unless in the usual and recognised manner.\nTo have done otherwise would have led to its being frequently\ntransgressed; and consequently to the loss of its influence. Before\nthe natives came into contact with the Europeans the _tapu_ seems to\nhave acted with the most complete success; as the belief was general,\nthat any disregard of it would infallibly subject the offender to the\nanger of the _attua_, and death would be the consequence.\nIndependently, however, of the support which the _tapu_ derives from\nthe superstitious fears of these people, it has, like most other laws,\nan appeal to physical force in case of necessity. A delinquent, if\ndiscovered, would be stripped of everything he possessed; and if a\nslave, would in all probability be put to death--many instances of\nwhich have actually occurred. So powerful is this superstitious\nfeeling, that slaves will not venture to eat of the same food as their\nmaster; or even to cook at the same fire; believing that the _attua_\nwould kill them if they did so. Everything about, or belonging to, a\nchief is accounted sacred by the slaves. Fond as they are of tobacco,\nit would be perfectly secure though left exposed on the roof of a\nchief\u2019s house; no one would venture to touch it. To try them, a friend\nof mine gave a fig of tobacco to a slave; who, after having used it,\nwas informed that it had been on the roof of the chief\u2019s house. The\npoor fellow, in the greatest consternation, went immediately to the\nchief telling him what had happened, and beseeching him to take off\nthe _tapu_ from the tobacco to prevent the evil consequences.\u201d[22.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Taboo as a preserver of property.] Hence it has been\ntruly said that \u201cthis form of _tapu_ was a great preserver of\nproperty. The most valuable articles might, in ordinary circumstances,\nbe left to its protection, in the absence of the owners, for any\nlength of time.\u201d[22.2] If any one wished to preserve his crop, his\nhouse, his garments, or anything else, he had only to taboo the\nproperty, and it was safe. To shew that the thing was tabooed, he put\na mark {23} to it. Thus, if he wished to use a particular tree in the\nforest to make a canoe, he tied a wisp of grass to the trunk; if he\ndesired to appropriate a patch of bulrush in a swamp, he stuck up a\npole in it with a bunch of grass at the top; if he left his house with\nall its valuables, to take care of itself, he secured the door with a\nbit of flax, and the place straightway became inviolable, nobody would\nmeddle with it.[23.1]\n\nHence although the restrictions imposed by taboo were often vexatious\nand absurd, and the whole system has sometimes been denounced by\nEuropeans as a degrading superstition, yet observers who looked a\nlittle deeper have rightly perceived that its enactments, enforced\nmainly by imaginary but still powerful sanctions, were often\nbeneficial. \u201cThe New Zealanders,\u201d says one writer, \u201ccould not have\nbeen governed without some code of laws analogous to the _tapu_.\nWarriors submitted to the supposed decrees of the gods who would have\nspurned with contempt the orders of men, and it was better the people\nshould be ruled by superstition than by brute force.\u201d[23.2] Again, an\nexperienced missionary, who knew the Maoris well, writes that \u201cthe\n_tapu_ in many instances was beneficial; considering the state of\nsociety, absence of law, and fierce character of the people, it formed\nno bad substitute for a dictatorial form of government, and made the\nnearest approach to an organized state of society.\u201d[23.3]\n\n[Sidenote: Taboo in the Marquesas Islands.] In other parts of\nPolynesia the system of taboo with its attendant advantages and\ndisadvantages, its uses and abuses, was practically the same, and\neverywhere, as in New Zealand, it tightened for good or evil the ties\nof private property. This indeed was perhaps the most obvious effect\nof the institution. In the Marquesas Islands, it is said, taboo was\ninvested with a divine character as the expression of the will of the\ngods revealed to the priests; as such it set bounds to injurious\nexcesses, prevented depredations, and united the people. Especially it\nconverted the tabooed or privileged classes into landed proprietors;\nthe land belonged to them alone and to their heirs; common {24} folk\nlived by industry and by fishing. Taboo was the bulwark of the\nlandowners; it was that alone which elevated them by a sort of divine\nright into a position of affluence and luxury above the vulgar; it was\nthat alone which ensured their safety and protected them from the\nencroachments of their poor and envious neighbours. \u201cWithout doubt,\u201d\nsay the writers from whom I borrow these observations, \u201cthe first\nmission of taboo was to establish property, the base of all\nsociety.\u201d[24.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Superstitious fear as a preserver of property in Samoa.]\nIn Samoa also superstition played a great part in fostering a respect\nfor private property. That it did so, we have the testimony of a\nmissionary, Dr. George Turner, who lived for many years among the\nSamoans and has given us a very valuable account of their customs. He\nsays: \u201cI hasten to notice the second thing which I have already\nremarked was an auxiliary towards the maintenance of peace and order\nin Samoa, viz. _superstitious fear_. If the chief and heads of\nfamilies, in their court of inquiry into any case of stealing, or\nother concealed matter, had a difficulty in finding out the culprit,\nthey would make all involved swear that they were innocent. In\nswearing before the chiefs the suspected parties laid a handful of\ngrass on the stone, or whatever it was, which was supposed to be the\nrepresentative of the village god, and laying their hand on it, would\nsay, \u2018In the presence of our chiefs now assembled, I lay my hand on\nthe stone. If I stole the thing may I speedily die.\u2019 This was a common\nmode of swearing. The meaning of the grass was a silent additional\nimprecation that his family might all die, and that _grass_ might grow\nover their habitation. If all swore, and the culprit was still\nundiscovered, the chiefs then wound up the affair by committing the\ncase to the village god, and solemnly invoking him to mark out for\nspeedy destruction the guilty {25} mischief-maker. But, instead of\nappealing to the chiefs, and calling for an oath, many were contented\nwith their own individual schemes and imprecations to frighten thieves\nand prevent stealing. When a man went to his plantation and saw that\nsome cocoa-nuts, or a bunch of bananas, had been stolen, he would\nstand and shout at the top of his voice two or three times, \u2018May fire\nblast the eyes of the person who has stolen my bananas! May fire burn\ndown his eyes and the eyes of his god too!\u2019 This rang throughout the\nadjacent plantations, and made the thief tremble. They dreaded such\nuttered imprecations.\u2026 But there was another and more extensive class\nof curses, which were also feared, and formed a powerful check on\nstealing, especially from plantations and fruit trees, viz. the silent\nhieroglyphic taboo, or _tapui_ (_tapooe_), as they call it. Of this\nthere was a great variety.\u201d[25.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Samoan taboos.] Among the Samoan taboos which were\nemployed for the protection of property were the following:--1. _The\nsea-pike taboo_. To prevent his bread-fruits from being stolen a man\nwould plait some coco-nut leaflets in the form of a sea-pike and hang\none or more such effigies from the trees which he wished to protect.\nAny ordinary thief would be afraid to touch a tree thus guarded, for\nhe believed that if he stole the fruit a sea-pike would mortally wound\nhim the next time he went to sea. 2. _The white-shark taboo_. A man\nwould plait a coco-nut leaf in the shape of a shark and hang it on a\ntree. This was equivalent to an imprecation that the thief might be\ndevoured by a shark the next time he went to fish. 3. _The cross-stick\ntaboo_. This was a stick hung horizontally on the tree. It expressed a\nwish that whoever stole fruit from the tree might be afflicted with a\nsore running right across his body till he died. 4. _The ulcer taboo_.\nThis was made by burying some pieces of clam-shell in the ground and\nsetting up at the spot several reeds tied together at the top in a\nbunch like the head of a man. By this the owner signified his wish\nthat the thief might be laid low with ulcerous sores all over his\nbody. If the thief happened thereafter to be troubled with swellings\nor sores, he confessed his fault and sent a present to the {26} owner\nof the land, who in return sent to the culprit a herb both as a\nmedicine and as a pledge of forgiveness. 5. _The thunder taboo_. A man\nwould plait coco-nut leaflets in the form of a small square mat and\nsuspend it from a tree, adding some white streamers of native cloth. A\nthief believed that for trespassing on such a tree he or his children\nmight be struck by lightning, or perhaps that lightning might strike\nand blast his own trees. \u201cFrom these few illustrations,\u201d says Dr.\nTurner in conclusion, \u201cit will be observed that Samoa formed no\nexception to the remarkably widespread system of superstitious taboo;\nand the extent to which it preserved honesty and order among a heathen\npeople will be readily imagined.\u201d[26.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Taboo in Tonga.] In Tonga a man guilty of theft or of any\nother crime was said to have broken the taboo, and as such persons\nwere supposed to be particularly liable to be bitten by sharks, all on\nwhom suspicion fell were compelled to go into water frequented by\nsharks; if they were bitten or devoured, they were guilty; if they\nescaped, they were innocent.[26.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Taboo in Melanesia.] In Melanesia also a system of taboo\n(_tambu_, _tapu_) exists; it is described as \u201ca prohibition with a\ncurse expressed or implied,\u201d and derives its sanction from a belief\nthat the chief or other person who imposes a taboo has the support of\na powerful ghost or spirit (_tindalo_). If a common man took it upon\nhimself to taboo anything, people would watch to see whether a\ntransgressor of the taboo fell sick; if he did, it was a proof that\nthe man who imposed the taboo was backed by a powerful ghost, and his\nreputation would rise accordingly. Each ghost affected a particular\nsort of leaf, which was his taboo mark.[26.3] In New Britain\nplantations, coco-nut trees, and other possessions are protected\nagainst thieves by marks of taboo attached to them, and it is thought\nthat whoever violates the taboo will be visited by sickness or other\nmisfortune. The nature of the sickness or misfortune varies with that\nof the mark or magical object which embodies the mystic virtue of the\ntaboo. One plant used for this purpose will cause the {27} thief\u2019s\nhead to ache; another will make his thighs swell; another will break\nhis legs; and so forth. Even the murmuring of a spell over a fence is\nbelieved to ensure that whoever steals sticks from the fence will have\na swollen head.[27.1] In Fiji the institution of taboo was the secret\nof power and the strength of despotic rule. It was wondrously\ndiffused, affecting things great and small. Here it might be seen\ntending a brood of chickens and there directing the energies of a\nkingdom. The custom was much in favour with the chiefs, who adjusted\nit so that it sat lightly on them and heavily on others. By it they\ngained influence, supplied their wants, and commanded at will their\ninferiors. In imposing a taboo a chief need only be checked by a\nregard for ancient precedent. Inferior persons endeavoured by the help\nof the system to put their yam-beds and plantain-plots within a sacred\npale.[27.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Taboo in the Malay Archipelago.] A system of taboo based\non superstition prevails all over the islands of the Malay\nArchipelago, where the common term for taboo is _pamali_, _pomali_, or\n_pemali_, though in some places other words, such as _poso_, _potu_,\nor _boboso_ are in use to express the same idea.[27.3] In this great\nregion also the superstition associated with taboo is a powerful\ninstrument to enforce the rights of private property. Thus, in the\nisland of Timor \u201ca prevalent custom is the _pomali_, exactly\nequivalent to the \u2018taboo\u2019 of the Pacific islanders, and equally\nrespected. It is used on the commonest occasions, and a few palm\nleaves stuck outside a garden as a sign of the _pomali_ will preserve\nits produce from thieves as effectually as the threatening notice of\nman-traps, spring guns, or a savage dog, would do with us.\u201d[27.4] In\nAmboyna the word for taboo is _pamali_. A man who wishes to protect\nhis fruit-trees or other possessions against theft may do it in\nvarious ways. For example, he may make a white cross on a pot {28} and\nhang the pot on the fruit-tree; then the thief who steals fruit from\nthat tree will be a leper. Or he may place the effigy of a mouse under\nthe tree; then the thief will have marks on his nose and ears as if a\nmouse had gnawed them. Or he may plait dry sago leaves into two round\ndiscs and tie them to the tree; then the thief\u2019s body will swell up\nand burst.[28.1] In Ceram the methods of protecting property from\nthieves are similar. For example, a man places a pig\u2019s jaw in the\nbranches of his fruit-tree; after that any person who dares to steal\nthe fruit from the tree will be rent in pieces by a wild boar. The\nimage of a crocodile with a thread of red cotton tied round its neck\nwill be equally efficacious; the thief will be devoured by a\ncrocodile. A wooden effigy of a snake will make the culprit to be\nstung by a serpent. A figure of a cat with a red band round its neck\nwill cause all who approach the tree with evil intentions to suffer\nfrom excruciating pains in their stomachs, as if a cat were clawing\ntheir insides.[28.2] An image of a swallow will cause the thief to\nsuffer as if a swallow were pecking his eyes out: a piece of thorny\nwood and a red spongy stone will inflict piercing pangs on him and\nmake his whole body to be red and pitted with minute holes: a\nburnt-out brand will cause his house to burst into flames, without any\napparent reason; and so on.[28.3] Similarly in the Ceram Laut Islands\na man protects his coco-nut trees or sago palms by placing charmed\nobjects at the foot of them. For example, he puts the effigy of a fish\nunder his coco-nut tree and says, \u201cGrandfather fish, cause the person\nwho steals my coco-nuts to be sick and vomit.\u201d The culprit accordingly\nis seized with pains in his stomach and can only be relieved of them\nby the owner of the coco-nuts, who spits betel-nut juice on the ailing\npart and blows into the sufferer\u2019s ear, saying, \u201cGrandfather fish,\nreturn to the sea. You have there room enough and great rocks of coral\nwhere you can {29} swim about.\u201d Or again he may make a miniature\ncoffin and place it on the ground under the tree; then the thief will\nsuffer from shortness of breath and a feeling of suffocation, as if he\nwere actually shut up in a coffin. And many other devices there are\nwhereby in these islands the owner of fruit-trees protects the fruit\nfrom the depredations of his unscrupulous neighbours. In every case he\ndeposits at the foot of the tree or fastens to the trunk a charmed\nobject, which he regards as endowed with supernatural powers, and he\ninvokes its aid to guard his possessions.[29.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Charms for the protection of fruit-trees in Central\nCelebes.] The Bare\u2019e-speaking Toradjas of Central Celebes protect\ntheir fruit-trees, especially their sirih plants and their coco-nut\npalms against thieves by amulets or charms of various sorts which they\nattach to the trees. The charms consist of the leaves of certain\nplants or parts of an animal tied up in leaves. Before the owner\nfastens one of these amulets to the tree, he says, \u201cO charm (_ooroo_),\nif any man will take of these fruits, make him sick.\u201d And the people\nin general believe that sickness will overtake the thief who\ndisregards the taboo and steals the fruit. The kind of sickness or\nother mishap which will visit the sinner varies with the nature of the\ncharm. The qualities of the object which is fastened to the tree are\nsupposed to enter into the culprit\u2019s body and to affect him\naccordingly. For example, if the charm consists of a particular\nsharp-edged grass, then the thief will feel sharp pains in his body;\nif it is part of a white ant heap, he will be afflicted with leprosy;\nif it is a certain weed of which the fruit drops off easily, his teeth\nwill fall out; if it is a plant whose leaves cause itching, his body\nwill itch all over; if it is the _dracaena terminalis_, he will be\nkilled in war; and so on. There is a great variety of these amulets\nfor the protection of fruit-trees; every man has his own in which he\nputs his trust. Yet while the Toradjas believe that sickness or other\nmisfortune follows automatically the breach of such taboos,\nnevertheless they allege that they know how to evade the force and\nvigilance of the charm and to eat of the forbidden fruit with\nimpunity. One of the expedients adopted for that purpose is as\nfollows. You take a handful of earth and throw it at the tree; then\nwith {30} your chopping-knife you chip a splinter from the trunk, and\naddressing the protective charm you say, \u201cMake the earth sick first,\nand then the chopping-knife, and then me.\u201d After that you have\npractically nothing to fear from the amulet, and you can steal the\nfruit and eat it at your ease. But that is not all. Some artful\nthieves are able not merely to counteract the charm and render it\npowerless against themselves; they can even reverse its action and\ndirect it against the owner of the tree himself. Indeed, so\nwell-recognized is this power that many a prudent Toradja refuses to\nprotect his trees with amulets at all, lest in doing so he should be\nsimply putting in the hands of his enemies a weapon to be used by them\nfor his own destruction. One of the ways in which a cunning robber\nwill thus defeat the ends of justice is this. He goes boldly up to the\nfruit-tree which he intends to rob, removes the charm from it, and\nhangs it up somewhere else. Then he lays a plank on the ground with\none end of it touching the trunk of the fruit-tree; on this plank he\nwalks up to the tree and calmly appropriates the fruit. The charm, of\ncourse, in the meantime is helpless, since it is not on the tree. When\nhe has stripped the fruit, the rascal restores the charm to its proper\nplace and removes the plank. Again, the guardian charm is helpless; it\ncannot pursue the thief, since he has carried away the plank, leaving\nno possible exit from the tree. Thus the faithful guardian is, as it\nwere, imprisoned in the castle which he has been set to guard; he\nfrets and fumes at his confinement, and in his blind rage will fall\nfoul of the owner of the tree himself when next he comes to inspect\nhis property. This is, perhaps, the simplest and easiest mode of\nhoisting a fruit-farmer with his petard. There are, however, other\nways of doing it. One of them is to get up into the tree and hang by\nyour feet from a branch with your head down, and, while thus suspended\nin the air, to chew the root of a stinging nettle. This causes the\nowner of the tree either to be eaten up by a crocodile or to perish in\nwar. A very popular charm among the Mountain Toradjas of Central\nCelebes is to take the head or paw of an iguana and hang it on the\nfruit-tree which is to be protected. The head bites the thief\u2019s head,\nand the paw grabs him by the {31} leg, so that he feels excruciating\npains in these portions of his frame. But if you hang up the whole\ncarcase, the thief is a dead man.[31.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Taboo (_fady_) in Madagascar.] In Madagascar there is an\nelaborate system of taboo known as _fady_.[31.2] It has been\ncarefully studied in a learned monograph by Professor A. van\nGennep,[31.3] who argues that originally all property was based on\nreligion, and that marks of property were marks of taboo.[31.4]\nHowever, so far as the evidence permits us to judge, it does not\nappear that the system has been used by the Malagasy for the\nprotection of property to the same extent as by the Polynesians, the\nMelanesians, and the Indonesians. But we hear of Malagasy charms\nplaced in the fields to afflict with leprosy and other maladies any\npersons who should dare to steal from them.[31.5] And we are told\nthat some examples of _fady_ or taboo \u201cseem to imply a curious basis\nfor the moral code in regard to the rights of property among the last\ngeneration of Malagasy. It does not appear to have been _fady_ to\nsteal in general, but certain articles were specified, to steal which\nthere were various penalties attached. Thus, to steal an egg caused\nthe thief to become leprous; to steal _landy_ (native silk) caused\nblindness or some other infirmity. And to steal iron was also visited\nby some bodily affliction.\u201d[31.6] In order to recover stolen property\nthe Malagasy had recourse to a deity called Ramanandroany. The owner\nwould take a remnant of the thing that had been purloined, and going\nwith it to the idol would say, \u201cAs to whoever stole our property, O\nRamanandroany, kill him by day, destroy him by night, and strangle\nhim; let there be none amongst men like him; let him not be able to\nincrease in riches, not even a farthing, but let him pick up his\nlivelihood as a hen pecks rice-grains; let his eyes be blinded, and\nhis knees swollen, {32} O Ramanandroany.\u201d It was supposed that these\ncurses fell on the thief.[32.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Property protected by superstitious fears elsewhere.]\nSimilar modes of enforcing the rights of private property by the aid\nof superstitious fears have been adopted in many other parts of the\nworld. The subject has been copiously illustrated by Dr. Edward\nWestermarck in his very learned work on the origin and development of\nthe moral ideas.[32.2] Here I will cite only a few cases out of many.\nThe Kouis of Laos, on the borders of Siam, protect their plantations\nagainst thieves in a very simple way. They place a \u201cshaking tubercule\u201d\n(_prateal anchot_) on the land which is to be guarded; and if any\nthief should thereafter dare to lay hands on the crop, he is\nimmediately seized by a shaking fit like that of a drenched dog and\ncannot budge from the spot. They say that a fisherman at Sangkeah\nemployed this charm with the best results. He used always to find his\nbow-net empty till one day he had the happy thought of protecting it\nby a \u201cshaking tubercule.\u201d It acted like magic. The thief went down as\nusual into the river and brought up the net full of fish. But hardly\nhad he stepped on the bank when he began to shiver and shake, with the\ndripping net and its writhing silvery contents glued to his breast.\nTwo days afterwards, the proprietor, making his rounds, discovered the\nthief on the same spot, shivering and chattering away as hard as {33}\never, but of course the fish in the net were dead and rotten.[33.1]\nAmong the Kawars, a primitive hill tribe of the Central Provinces in\nIndia, \u201cthe sword, the gun, the axe, the spear have each a special\ndeity, and in fact in the Bangawan, the tract where the wilder Kawars\ndwell, it is believed that every article of household furniture is the\nresidence of a spirit, and that if any one steals or injures it\nwithout the owner\u2019s leave the spirit will bring some misfortune on him\nin revenge. Theft is said to be unknown among them, partly on this\naccount and partly perhaps because no one has much property worth\nstealing.\u201d[33.2] In Ceylon, when a person wishes to protect his\nfruit-trees from thieves, he hangs up certain grotesque figures round\nthe orchard and dedicates it to the devils. After that no native will\ndare to touch the fruit; even the owner himself will not venture to\nuse it till the charm has been removed by a priest, who naturally\nreceives some of the fruit for his trouble.[33.3] The Indians of\nCumana in South America surrounded their plantations with a single\ncotton thread, and this was safeguard enough; for it was believed that\nany trespasser would soon die. The Juris of Brazil adopt the same\nsimple means of stopping gaps in their fences.[33.4]\n\n[Sidenote: Property in Annam protected by ghosts and curses.] The\nAnnamites in the interior of Tonquin believe that the ghosts of young\ngirls who have been buried in a corner of the dwelling act as a\nvigilant police; if thieves have made their way into the house and are\npreparing to depart with their booty, they hear the voice of a ghost\nenumerating the things on which they have laid hands, and in a panic\nthey drop them and take to flight.[33.5] But if in spite of all an\nAnnamite should chance to be robbed, he can easily recover the stolen\nproperty as follows. With a clod of earth taken from the kitchen\nfloor, a pinch of vermilion, the white of an egg, and a little alcohol\nhe makes a ball, which stands for the head of the thief. This he puts\nin the fire on {34} the hearth, and having lit some incense sticks he\npronounces the following incantation: \u201cOn such a day of such a month\nof such a year So-and-so was robbed of various things. The name of the\nthief is unknown. I pray the guardian-spirit of the kitchen to hold\nthe rascal\u2019s head in the fire that it may burn.\u201d After that, if the\nthief does not restore the stolen property, he will be a dead man\nwithin a month.[34.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Thieves cursed in Nias.] Similarly in Nias, an island to\nthe west of Sumatra, when a thief cannot be found he is cursed, and to\ngive weight to the curse a dog is burned alive. While the animal is\nexpiring in torments, the man who has been robbed expresses his wish\nthat the thief may likewise die in agony; and they say that thieves\nwho have been often cursed do die screaming.[34.2] [Sidenote:\nThieves cursed among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo.] Curses are also\nemployed for the same purpose with excellent effect by the Sea Dyaks\nof Borneo. On this point a missionary bears the following testimony.\n\u201cWith an experience of nearly twenty years in Borneo, during which I\ncame into contact with thousands of the people, I have known of only\ntwo instances of theft among the Dyaks. One was a theft of rice. The\nwoman who lost the rice most solemnly and publicly cursed the thief,\nwhoever it might be. The next night the rice was secretly left at her\ndoor. The other was a theft of money. In this case, too, the thief was\ncursed. The greater part of the money was afterwards found returned to\nthe box from which it had been abstracted. Both these incidents show\nthe great dread the Dyak has of a curse. Even an undeserved curse is\nconsidered a terrible thing, and, according to Dyak law, to curse a\nperson for no reason at all is a fineable offence.\n\n\u201cA Dyak curse is a terrible thing to listen to. I have only once heard\na Dyak curse, and I am sure I do not want to do so again. I was\ntravelling in the Saribas district, and at that time many of the Dyaks\nthere had gone in for coffee-planting; indeed, several of them had\nstarted coffee plantations on a small scale. A woman told me that some\none had over and over again stolen the ripe coffee-berries from her\nplantation. Not only were the ripe berries stolen, but the thief had\ncarelessly picked many of the young berries and {35} thrown them on\nthe ground, and many of the branches of the plants had been broken\noff. In the evening, when I was seated in the public part of the house\nwith many Dyak men and women round me, we happened to talk about\ncoffee-planting. The woman was present, and told us of her\nexperiences, and how her coffee had been stolen by some thief, who,\nshe thought, must be one of the inmates of the house. Then she\nsolemnly cursed the thief. She began in a calm voice, but worked\nherself up into a frenzy. We all listened horror-struck, and no one\ninterrupted her. She began by saying what had happened, and how these\nthefts had gone on for some time. She had said nothing before, hoping\nthat the thief would mend his ways; but the matter had gone on long\nenough, and she was going to curse the thief, as nothing, she felt\nsure, would make him give up his evil ways. She called on all the\nspirits of the waters and the hills and the air to listen to her words\nand to aid her. She began quietly, but became more excited as she went\non. She said something of this kind:\n\n[Sidenote: Curses on a man thief.] \u201c\u2018If the thief be a man, may he\nbe unfortunate in all he undertakes! May he suffer from a disease that\ndoes not kill him, but makes him helpless--always in pain--and a\nburden to others. May his wife be unfaithful to him, and his children\nbecome as lazy and dishonest as he is himself. If he go out on the\nwar-path, may he be killed, and his head smoked over the enemy\u2019s fire.\nIf he be boating, may his boat be swamped and may he be drowned. If he\nbe out fishing, may an alligator kill him suddenly, and may his\nrelatives never find his body. If he be cutting down a tree in the\njungle, may the tree fall on him and crush him to death. May the gods\ncurse his farm so that he may have no crops, and have nothing to eat,\nand when he begs for food, may he be refused, and die of starvation.\n\n[Sidenote: Curses on a woman thief.] \u201c\u2018If the thief be a woman, may\nshe be childless, or if she happen to be with child let her be\ndisappointed, and let her child be still-born, or, better still, let\nher die in childbirth. May her husband be untrue to her, and despise\nher and ill-treat her. May her children all desert her if she live to\ngrow old. May she suffer from such diseases as are peculiar to women,\nand may her eyesight grow dim as the years go {36} on, and may there\nbe no one to help her or lead her about when she is blind.\u2019\n\n\u201cI have only given the substance of what she said; but I shall never\nforget the silence and the awed faces of those who heard her. I left\nthe house early next morning, so I do not know what was the result of\nher curse--whether the thief confessed or not.\u201d[36.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Thieves cursed in ancient Greece.] The ancient Greeks\nseem to have made a very liberal use of curses as a cheap and\neffective mode of protecting property, which dispenses the injured\nparty from resorting to the tedious, expensive, and too often\nfruitless formalities of the law. These curses they inscribed on\ntablets of lead and other materials and deposited either in the place\nwhich was to be protected from depredation or in the temple of the god\nto whose tender mercies the criminal was committed. For example, in a\nsacred precinct dedicated to Demeter, Persephone, Pluto and other\ndeities of a stern and inflexible temper at Cnidus, a number of leaden\ntablets were found inscribed with curses which consigned the\nmalefactors of various sorts to the vengeance of the two Infernal\nGoddesses, Demeter and her daughter. \u201cMay he or she never find\nPersephone propitious!\u201d is the constantly repeated burden of these\nprayers; and in some of them the sinner is not only excommunicated in\nthis world but condemned to eternal torments in the world hereafter.\nOften the persons who launched these curses were ladies. One irate\ndame consigns to perdition the thief who had stolen her bracelet or\nthe defaulter who had failed to send back her underclothes.[36.2]\nAnother curse, engraved on a marble slab found at Smyrna, purports\nthat if any man should steal one of the sacred vessels of a certain\ngoddess or injure her sacred fish, he may die a painful death,\ndevoured by the fishes.[36.3] Sometimes, apparently, these Greek\nimprecations {37} were as effective in reclaiming sinners as Dyak\ncurses are to this day. Thus we read of a curious dedication to a\nlunar deity of Asia Minor, by name Men Aziottenos, which declares how\none Artemidorus, having been reviled by a couple of rude fellows,\ncursed them in a votive tablet, and how one of the culprits, having\nbeen punished by the god, made a propitiatory offering and mended his\nwicked ways.[37.1] [Sidenote: Landmarks protected by gods and\ncurses.] To prevent people from encroaching on their neighbours\u2019 land\nby removing the boundary stones, the Greeks committed landmarks to the\nspecial protection of the great god Zeus;[37.2] and Plato dwells with\nunction on the double punishment, divine and human, to which the\nsinner exposed himself who dared to tamper with these sacred\nstones.[37.3] The Romans went even further, for they created a god\nfor the sole purpose of looking after landmarks, and he must have had\nhis hands very full if he executed all the curses which were levelled\nnot only at every man who shifted his neighbour\u2019s boundary stone, but\neven at the oxen which he employed to plough up his neighbour\u2019s\nland.[37.4] The Hebrew code of Deuteronomy pronounced a solemn curse\non such as removed their neighbour\u2019s landmarks;[37.5] and Babylonian\nkings exhausted their imagination in pouring out a flood of\nimprecations against the abandoned wretch who thus set at naught the\nrights of property in land.[37.6] King Nebuchadnezzar in particular,\nbefore he was turned out to grass, appears to have distinguished\nhimself by the richness and variety of his execrations, if we may\njudge by a specimen of them which has survived. A brief extract from\nthis masterpiece may serve to illustrate the king\u2019s style of minatory\neloquence. Referring to the bold bad man, \u201cbe it shepherd or governor,\nor agent or regent, levy master or magistrate,\u201d whosoever he might be,\nwho \u201cfor all days to {38} come, for the future of human habitations,\u201d\nshould dare to tamper with the land which his Majesty had just marked\nout, \u201cNinib, lord of boundaries and boundary-stones, tear out his\nboundary stone. Gula, great lady, put lingering illness into his body,\nthat dark and light red blood he may pour out like water. Ishtar, lady\nof countries, whose fury is a flood, reveal difficulties to him, that\nhe escape not from misfortune. Nusku, mighty lord, powerful burner,\nthe god, my creator, be his evil demon and may he burn his root.\nWhoever removes this stone, in the dust hides it, burns it with fire,\ncasts it into water, shuts it up in an enclosure, causes a fool, a\ndeaf man, an idiot to take it, places it in an invisible place, may\nthe great gods, who upon this stone are mentioned by their names,\ncurse him with an evil curse, tear out his foundation and destroy his\nseed.\u201d[38.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Superstition as an ally of the rights of private property\nin Africa.] In Africa also superstition is a powerful ally of the\nrights of private property. Thus the Balonda place beehives on high\ntrees in the forest and protect them against thieves by tying a charm\nor \u201cpiece of medicine\u201d round the tree-trunks. This proves a sufficient\nprotection. \u201cThe natives,\u201d says Livingstone, \u201cseldom rob each other,\nfor all believe that certain medicines can inflict disease and death;\nand though they consider that these are only known to a few, they act\non the principle that it is best to let them all alone. The gloom of\nthese forests strengthens the superstitious feelings of the people. In\nother quarters, where they are not subjected to this influence, I have\nheard the chiefs issue proclamations to the effect, that real\nwitchcraft medicines had been placed at certain gardens from which\nproduce had been stolen; the thieves having risked the power of the\nordinary charms previously placed there.\u201d[38.2]\n\n[Sidenote: The Wanika of East Africa.] The Wanika of East Africa\n\u201cbelieve in the power and efficacy of charms and amulets, and they\nwear them in great variety; legs, arms, neck, waist, hair, and every\npart of the body are laden with them, either for the cure or\nprevention of disease; for the expulsion or repulsion of evil spirits;\nand to keep at bay snakes, wild animals, and every other evil. {39}\nThey hang painted calabashes from the baobab at their hut doors to\nkeep away thieves; shells, dolls, eggs scratched over with Arabic\ncharacters by the _Wana Chuoni_ (sons of the book) of the coast, are\nplaced about their plantations and in their fruit-trees, and they\nbelieve that death would overtake a thief who should disregard them. A\ncharm bound to the leg of a fowl is ample protection for the village.\nThere is no doubt that, superstitious as the people are, they dread\nrunning great risks for the sake of small gains, and so these charms\nanswer their purpose.\u201d[39.1] [Sidenote: The Boloki of the Congo.]\nAmong the Boloki of the Upper Congo, when a woman finds that the\ncassava roots, which she keeps soaking in a water-hole, are being\nstolen, she takes a piece of gum copal, and fixing it in the cleft of\na split stick she puts it on the side of the hole, while at the same\ntime she calls down a curse on the thief. If the thief is a man, he\nwill henceforth have no luck in fishing; if she is a woman, she will\nhave no more success in farming.[39.2] The Ekoi of Southern Nigeria\nprotect their farms against thieves by bundles of palm leaves to which\nthey give the name of _okpata_. Should any one steal from a farm thus\nprotected, he will fall sick and will not recover unless he gives a\ncertain dance, to which the name of _okpata_ is also applied.[39.3]\n\n[Sidenote: Guardian spirits (_damzogs_) of property in Darfur.] In\nthe mountains of Marrah, a district of Darfur, houses, goods, and\ncattle are protected against thieves by certain fierce and dangerous\nguardian-spirits called _damzogs_, which can be bought like watch\ndogs. Under the guardianship of such a spiritual protector the sheep\nand cows are left free to wander at will; for if any one were rash\nenough to attempt to steal or kill one of the beasts, his hand with\nthe knife in it would remain sticking fast to the animal\u2019s throat till\nthe owner came and caught the rascal. An Arab merchant, travelling in\nDarfur, received from a friend the following account of the way to\nprocure one of these useful guardians. \u201cAt the time when I first began\nto trade, my friend, I often heard that _damzogs_ could be bought and\nsold, and that to procure one I must apply to the owner of a _damzog_,\nand {40} discuss the price with him. When the bargain is concluded, it\nis necessary to give a large gourd of milk to the seller, who takes it\nto his house, where are his _damzogs_. On entering he salutes them,\nand goes and hangs up his vase to a hook, saying,--\u2018One of my\nfriends--such a one--very rich, is in fear of robbers, and asks me to\nsupply him with a guardian. Will one of you go and live in his house?\nThere is plenty of milk there, for it is a house of blessing, and the\nproof thereof is, that I bring you this _kara_ of milk.\u2019 The _damzogs_\nat first refuse to comply with the invitation. \u2018No, no,\u2019 say they,\n\u2018not one of us will go.\u2019 The master of the hut conjures them to comply\nwith his desires, saying, \u2018Oh! let the one that is willing descend\ninto the _kara_.\u2019 He then retires a little, and presently one of the\n_damzogs_ is heard to flop into the milk, upon which he hastens and\nclaps upon the vase a cover made of date-leaves. Thus stopped up he\nunhooks the _kara_, and hands it over to the buyer, who takes it away\nand hangs it on the wall of his hut, and confides it to the care of a\nslave or of a wife, who every morning comes and takes it, emptying out\nthe milk, washing it and replenishing it, and hanging it up again.\nFrom that time forward the house is safe from theft or loss.\u201d The\nmerchant\u2019s informant, the Shereef Ahmed Bedawee, had himself purchased\none of these guardian spirits, who proved most vigilant and efficient\nin the discharge of his duties; indeed his zeal was excessive, for he\nnot only killed several slaves who tried to rob his master, but did\nsummary execution on the Shereef\u2019s own son, when the undutiful young\nman essayed to pilfer from his father\u2019s shop. This was too much for\nthe Shereef; he invited a party of friends to assist him in expelling\nthe inflexible guardian. They came armed with guns and a supply of\nammunition, and by raking the shop with repeated volleys of musketry\nthey at last succeeded in putting the spirit to flight.[40.1]\n\n[Sidenote: The curses of smiths and potters.] Amongst the Nandi of\nBritish East Africa nobody dares to steal anything from a smith; for\nif he did, the smith would heat his furnace, and as he blew the\nbellows to make {41} the flames roar he would curse the thief so that\nhe would die. And in like manner among these people, with whom the\npotters are women, nobody dares to filch anything from a potter; for\nnext time she heated her wares the potter would curse him, saying,\n\u201cBurst like a pot, and may thy house become red,\u201d and the thief so\ncursed would die.[41.1] [Sidenote: Charms to protect property in\nWest Africa.] In Loango, when a man is about to absent himself from\nhome for a considerable time he protects his hut by placing a charm or\nfetish before it, consisting perhaps of a branch with some bits of\nbroken pots or trash of that sort; and we are told that even the most\ndetermined robber would not dare to cross a threshold defended by\nthese mysterious signs.[41.2] On the coast of Guinea fetishes are\nsometimes inaugurated for the purpose of detecting and punishing\ncertain kinds of theft; and not only the culprit himself, but any\nperson who knows of his crime and fails to give information is liable\nto be punished by the fetish. When such a fetish is instituted, the\nwhole community is warned of it, so that he who transgresses\nthereafter does so at his peril. For example, a fetish was set up to\nprevent sheep-stealing and the people received warning in the usual\nway. Shortly afterwards a slave, who had not heard of the law, stole a\nsheep and offered to divide it with a friend. The friend had often\nbefore shared with him in similar enterprises, but the fear of the\nfetish was now too strong for him; he informed on the thief, who was\nbrought to justice and died soon after of a lingering and painful\ndisease. Nobody in the country ever doubted but that the fetish had\nkilled him.[41.3] Among the Ewe-speaking tribes of the Slave Coast in\nWest Africa houses and household property are guarded by amulets\n(_v\u00f5-sesao_), which derive their virtue from being consecrated or\nbelonging to the gods. The crops, also, in solitary glades of the\nforest are left under the protection of such amulets, generally\nfastened to long sticks in some conspicuous position; and so guarded\nthey are quite safe from pillage. By the side of the paths, too, may\nbe seen food and palm-wine {42} lying exposed for sale with nothing\nbut a charm to protect them; a few cowries placed on each article\nindicate its price. Yet no native would dare to take the food or the\nwine without depositing its price; for he dreads the unknown evil\nwhich the god who owns the charm would bring upon him for\nthieving.[42.1] In Sierra Leone charms, called _greegrees_, are often\nplaced in plantations to deter people from stealing, and it is said\nthat \u201ca few old rags placed upon an orange tree will generally, though\nnot always, secure the fruit as effectually as if guarded by the\ndragons of the Hesperides. When any person falls sick, if, at the\ndistance of several months, he recollects having stolen fruit, etc.,\nor having taken it _softly_ as they term it, he immediately supposes\n_wangka_ has caught him, and to get cured he must go or send to the\nperson whose property he had taken, and make to him whatever\nrecompense he demands.\u201d[42.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Charms to protect property in the West Indies.]\nSuperstitions of the same sort have been transported by the negroes to\nthe West Indies, where the name for magic is _obi_ and the magician is\ncalled the _obeah_ man. There also, we are told, the stoutest-hearted\nnegroes \u201ctremble at the very sight of the ragged bundle, the bottle or\nthe egg-shells, which are stuck in the thatch or hung over the door of\na hut, or upon the branch of a plantain tree, to deter marauders.\u2026\nWhen a negro is robbed of a fowl or a hog, he applies directly to the\n_Obeah_-man or woman; it is then made known among his fellow blacks,\nthat _obi_ is set for the thief; and as soon as the latter hears the\ndreadful news, his terrified imagination begins to work, no resource\nis left but in the superior skill of some more eminent _Obeah_-man of\nthe neighbourhood, who may counteract the magical operations of the\nother; but if no one can be found of higher rank and ability; or if,\nafter gaining such an ally, he should still fancy himself affected, he\npresently falls into a decline, under the incessant horror of\nimpending calamities. The slightest painful sensation in the head, the\nbowels, or {43} any other part, any casual loss or hurt, confirms his\napprehensions, and he believes himself the devoted victim of an\ninvisible and irresistible agency. Sleep, appetite and cheerfulness\nforsake him; his strength decays, his disturbed imagination is haunted\nwithout respite, his features wear the settled gloom of despondency:\ndirt, or any other unwholesome substance, becomes his only food, he\ncontracts a morbid habit of body, and gradually sinks into the\ngrave.\u201d[43.1] Superstition has killed him.\n\n[Sidenote: Conclusion.] Similar evidence might doubtless be\nmultiplied, but the foregoing cases suffice to shew that among many\npeoples and in many parts of the world superstitious fear has operated\nas a powerful motive to deter men from stealing. If that is so, then\nmy second proposition may be regarded as proved, namely, that among\ncertain races and at certain times superstition has strengthened the\nrespect for private property and has thereby contributed to the\nsecurity of its enjoyment.\n\n\n\n\n IV.\n MARRIAGE\n\n{44}\n\n[Sidenote: Superstition as a prop of sexual morality.] I pass now\nto my third proposition, which is, that among certain races and at\ncertain times superstition has strengthened the respect for marriage,\nand has thereby contributed to a stricter observance of the rules of\nsexual morality both among the married and the unmarried. That this is\ntrue will appear, I think, from the following instances.\n\n[Sidenote: Adultery or fornication supposed by the Karens to blight\nthe crops.] Among the Karens of Burma \u201cadultery, or fornication, is\nsupposed to have a powerful influence to injure the crops. Hence, if\nthere have been bad crops in a village for a year or two, and the\nrains fail, the cause is attributed to secret sins of this character,\nand they say the God of heaven and earth is angry with them on this\naccount; and all the villagers unite in making an offering to appease\nhim.\u201d [Sidenote: Pig\u2019s blood used to expiate the crime.] And when a\ncase of adultery or fornication has come to light, \u201cthe elders decide\nthat the transgressors must buy a hog, and kill it. Then the woman\ntakes one foot of the hog, and the man takes another, and they scrape\nout furrows in the ground with each foot, which they fill with the\nblood of the hog. They next scratch the ground with their hands and\npray: \u2018God of heaven and earth, God of the mountains and hills, I have\ndestroyed the productiveness of the country. Do not be angry with me,\ndo not hate me; but have mercy on me, and compassionate me. Now I\nrepair the mountains, now I heal the hills, and the streams and the\nlands. May there be no failure of crops, may there be no unsuccessful\nlabours, or unfortunate efforts in my country. Let them be dissipated\nto the foot of the horizon. Make thy paddy fruitful, thy rice\nabundant. Make the vegetables to flourish. {45} If we cultivate but\nlittle, still grant that we may obtain a little.\u2019 After each has\nprayed thus, they return to the house and say they have repaired the\nearth.\u201d[45.1] Thus, according to the Karens adultery and fornication\nare not simply moral offences which concern no one but the culprits\nand their families: they physically affect the course of nature by\nblighting the earth and destroying its fertility; hence they are\npublic crimes which threaten the very existence of the whole community\nby cutting off its food supplies at the root. But the physical injury\nwhich these offences do to the soil can be physically repaired by\nsaturating it with pig\u2019s blood.\n\n[Sidenote: Disastrous effects ascribed to sexual crime in Assam,\nBengal, and Annam.] Some of the tribes of Assam similarly trace a\nconnexion between the crops and the behaviour of the human sexes; for\nthey believe that so long as the crops remain ungarnered, the\nslightest incontinence would ruin all.[45.2] Again, the inhabitants\nof the hills near Rajamahal in Bengal imagine that adultery,\nundetected and unexpiated, causes the inhabitants of the village to be\nvisited by a plague or destroyed by tigers or other ravenous beasts.\nTo prevent these evils an adulteress generally makes a clean breast.\nHer paramour has then to furnish a hog, and he and she are sprinkled\nwith its blood, which is supposed to wash away their sin and avert the\ndivine wrath. When a village suffers from plague or the ravages of\nwild beasts, the people religiously believe that the calamity is a\npunishment for secret immorality, and they resort to a curious form of\ndivination to discover the culprits, in order that the crime may be\nduly expiated.[45.3] The Khasis of Assam are divided into a number of\nclans which are exogamous, that is to say, no man may marry a woman of\nhis own clan. Should a man be found to cohabit with a woman of his own\nclan, it is treated as incest and is believed to cause great\ndisasters; the people will be struck by lightning or killed by tigers,\nthe women will die in child-bed, and {46} so forth. The guilty couple\nare taken by their clansmen to a priest and obliged to sacrifice a pig\nand a goat; after that they are made outcasts, for their offence is\ninexpiable.[46.1] The Orang Glai, a savage tribe in the mountains of\nAnnam, similarly suppose that illicit love is punished by tigers,\nwhich devour the sinners. If a girl is found with child, her family\noffers a feast of pigs, fowls, and wine to appease the offended\nspirits.[46.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Similar views held by the Battas of Sumatra.] The Battas\nof Sumatra in like manner think that if an unmarried woman is with\nchild, she must be given in marriage at once, even to a man of lower\nrank; for otherwise the people will be infested with tigers, and the\ncrops in the fields will not be abundant. They also believe that the\nadultery of married women causes a plague of tigers, crocodiles, or\nother wild beasts. The crime of incest, in their opinion, would blast\nthe whole harvest, if the wrong were not speedily repaired. Epidemics\nand other calamities that affect the whole people are almost always\ntraced by them to incest, by which is to be understood any marriage\nthat conflicts with their customs.[46.3] The natives of Nias, an\nisland to the west of Sumatra, imagine that heavy rains are caused by\nthe tears of a god weeping at the commission of adultery or\nfornication. The punishment for these crimes is death. The two\ndelinquents, man and woman, are buried in a narrow grave with only\ntheir heads projecting above ground; then their throats are stabbed\nwith a spear or cut with a knife, and the grave is filled up.\nSometimes, it is said, they are buried alive. However, the judges are\nnot always incorruptible and the injured family not always\ninaccessible to the allurement of gain; and pecuniary compensation is\nsometimes accepted as a sufficient salve for wounded honour. But if\nthe wronged man is a chief, the culprits must surely die. As a\nconsequence, perhaps, of this severity, the crimes {47} of adultery\nand fornication are said to be far less frequent in Nias than in\nEurope.[47.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Similar views among the tribes of Borneo.] Similar views\nprevail among many tribes in Borneo. Thus in regard to the Sea Dyaks\nwe are told by Archdeacon Perham that \u201cimmorality among the unmarried\nis supposed to bring a plague of rain upon the earth, as a punishment\ninflicted by _Petara_. [Sidenote: Excessive rains thought by the\nDyaks to be caused by sexual offences.] It must be atoned for with\nsacrifice and fine. In a function which is sometimes held to procure\nfine weather, the excessive rain is represented as the result of the\nimmorality of two young people. _Petara_ is invoked, the offenders are\nbanished from their home, and the bad weather is said to cease. Every\ndistrict traversed by an adulterer is believed to be accursed of the\ngods until the proper sacrifice has been offered.\u201d[47.2] When rain\npours down day after day and the crops are rotting in the fields,\nthese Dyaks come to the conclusion that some people have been secretly\nindulging in lusts of the flesh; so the elders lay their heads\ntogether and adjudicate on all cases of incest and bigamy, and purify\n[Sidenote: Blood of pigs shed to expiate incest and unchastity.] the\nearth with the blood of pigs, which appears to these savages, as\nsheep\u2019s blood appeared to the ancient Hebrews, to possess the valuable\nproperty of atoning for moral guilt. Not long ago the offenders, whose\nlewdness had thus brought the whole country into danger, would have\nbeen punished with death or at least slavery. A Dyak may not marry his\nfirst cousin unless he first performs a special ceremony called\n_bergaput_ to avert evil consequences from the land. The couple repair\nto the water-side, fill a small pitcher with their personal ornaments,\nand sink it in the river; or instead of a jar they fling a chopper and\na plate into the water. A pig {48} is then sacrificed on the bank, and\nits carcase, drained of blood, is thrown in after the jar. Next the\npair are pushed into the water by their friends and ordered to bathe\ntogether. Lastly, a joint of bamboo is filled with pig\u2019s blood, and\nthe couple perambulate the country and the villages round about,\nsprinkling the blood on the ground. After that they are free to marry.\nThis is done, we are told, for the sake of the whole country, in order\nthat the rice may not be blasted by the marriage of cousins.[48.1]\nAgain, we are informed that the Sibuyaus, a Dyak tribe of Sarawak, are\nvery careful of the honour of their daughters, because they imagine\nthat if an unmarried girl is found to be with child it is offensive to\nthe higher powers, who, instead of always chastising the culprits,\npunish the tribe by visiting its members with misfortunes. Hence when\nsuch a crime is detected they fine the lovers and sacrifice a pig to\nappease the angry powers and to avert the sickness or other calamities\nthat might follow. Further, they inflict fines on the families of the\ncouple for any severe accident or death by drowning that may have\nhappened at any time within a month before the religious atonement was\nmade; for they regard the families of the culprits as responsible for\nthese mishaps. The fines imposed for serious or fatal accidents are\nheavy; for simple wounds they are lighter. With the fear of these\nfines before their eyes parents keep a watchful eye on the conduct of\ntheir daughters. Among the Dyaks of the Batang Lupar river the\nchastity of the unmarried girls is not so strictly guarded; but in\nrespectable families, when a daughter proves frail, they sacrifice a\npig and sprinkle its blood on the doors to wash away the sin.[48.2]\nThe Hill Dyaks of Borneo abhor incest and do not allow the marriage\neven of cousins. In 1846 the Baddat Dyaks complained to Mr. Hugh Low\nthat one of their chiefs had disturbed the peace and prosperity of the\nvillage by marrying his own granddaughter. Since that disastrous\nevent, they said, no bright day had blessed their territory; rain and\ndarkness alone prevailed, and unless the plague-spot were {49}\nremoved, the tribe would soon be ruined. The old sinner was degraded\nfrom office, but apparently allowed to retain his wife; and the\ndomestic brawls between this ill-assorted couple gave much pain to the\nvirtuous villagers.[49.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Incest punished with death by the pagan tribes of\nBorneo.] Among the pagan tribes of Borneo in general, but of Sarawak\nin particular, \u201calmost all offences are punished by fines only. Of the\nfew offences which are felt to require a heavier punishment, the one\nmost seriously regarded is incest. For this offence, which is held to\nbring grave peril to the whole house, especially the danger of\nstarvation through failure of the _padi_ crop, two punishments have\nbeen customary. If the guilt of the culprits is perfectly clear, they\nare taken to some open spot on the river-bank at some distance from\nthe house. There they are thrown together upon the ground and a\nsharpened bamboo stake is driven through their bodies, so that they\nremain pinned to the earth. The bamboo, taking root and growing\nluxuriantly on this spot, remains as a warning to all who pass by;\nand, needless to say, the spot is looked on with horror and shunned by\nall men. The other method of punishment is to shut up the offenders in\na strong wicker cage and to throw them into the river. This method is\nresorted to as a substitute for the former one, owing to the\ndifficulty of getting any one to play the part of executioner and to\ndrive in the stake, for this involves the shedding of the blood of the\ncommunity. The kind of incest most commonly committed is the\nconnection of a man with an adopted daughter, and (possibly on account\nof this frequency) this is the kind which is most strongly\nreprobated.\u2026 The punishment of the incestuous couple does not suffice\nto ward off the danger brought by them upon the community. The\nhousehold must be purified with the blood of pigs and fowls; the\nanimals used are the property of the offenders or of their family; and\nin this way a fine is imposed. When any calamity threatens or falls\nupon a house, especially a great rising of the river which threatens\nto sweep away the house or the tombs of the household, the Kayans are\nled to suspect that incestuous intercourse in their own or in\nneighbouring houses has taken place; and they look round for evidences\nof it, and sometimes detect a case which otherwise would {50} have\nremained hidden. It seems probable that there is some intimate\nrelation between this belief and the second of the two modes of\npunishment described above; but we have no direct evidence of such\nconnection. All the other peoples also, except the Punans, punish\nincest with death. Among the Sea Dyaks the most common form of incest\nis that between a youth and his aunt, and this is regarded at least as\nseriously as any other form.\u201d[50.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Evil and confusion supposed by the Dyaks to be wrought by\nfornication.] Nor is it the heinous crime of incest alone which in\nthe opinion of the Sea Dyaks endangers the whole community. The same\neffect is supposed to follow whenever an unmarried woman is found with\nchild and cannot or will not name her seducer. \u201cThe greatest\ndisgrace,\u201d we are told, \u201cis attached to a woman found in a state of\npregnancy, without being able to name her husband; and cases of\nself-poisoning, to avoid the shame, are not of unusual occurrence. If\none be found in this state, a fine must be paid of pigs and other\nthings. Few even of the chiefs will come forward without incurring\nconsiderable responsibility. A pig is killed, which nominally becomes\nthe father, for want, it is supposed, of another and better one. Then\nthe surrounding neighbours have to be furnished with a share of the\nfine to banish the _Jabu_, which exists after such an event. If the\nfine be not forthcoming, the woman dare not move out of her room, for\nfear of being molested, as she is supposed to have brought evil\n(_kudi_) and confusion upon the inhabitants and their\nbelongings.\u201d[50.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Similar beliefs and customs among the tribes of Dutch\nBorneo.] The foregoing accounts refer especially to the tribes of\nBorneo under British rule; but similar ideas and customs prevail among\nthe kindred tribes of Dutch Borneo. Thus the Kayans or Bahaus in the\ninterior of the island believe that adultery is punished by the\nspirits, who visit the whole tribe with failure of the crops and other\nmisfortunes. Hence in order to avert these evil consequences from the\ninnocent members of the tribe, the two culprits, with all their\npossessions, are first placed on a gravel bank in the middle of the\nriver, in order to isolate or, in electrical {51} language, to\ninsulate them and so prevent the moral or rather physical infection\nfrom spreading. Then pigs and fowls are killed, and with the blood\npriestesses smear the property of the guilty pair in order to\ndisinfect it. Finally, the two are placed on a raft, with sixteen\neggs, and allowed to drift down stream. They may save themselves by\nplunging into the water and swimming ashore; but this is perhaps a\nmitigation of an older sentence of death by drowning, for young people\nstill shower long grass stalks, representing spears, at the shamefaced\nand dripping couple.[51.1] Certain it is, that some Dyak tribes used\nto punish incest by fastening the man and woman in separate baskets\nladen with stones and drowning them in the river. By incest they\nunderstood the cohabitation of parents with children, of brothers with\nsisters, and of uncles and aunts with nieces and nephews. A Dutch\nresident had much difficulty in saving the life of an uncle and niece\nwho had married each other; finally he procured their banishment to a\ndistant part of Borneo.[51.2] The Blu-u Kayans, another tribe in the\ninterior of Borneo, believe that an intrigue between an unmarried pair\nis punished by the spirits with failure of the harvest, of the\nfishing, and of the hunt. Hence the delinquents have to appease the\nwrath of the spirits by sacrificing a pig and a certain quantity of\nrice.[51.3] In Pasir, a district of Eastern Borneo, incest is thought\nto bring dearth, epidemics, and all sorts of evils on the land.[51.4]\nIn the island of Ceram a man convicted of unchastity has to smear\nevery house in the village with the blood of a pig and a fowl: this is\nsupposed to wipe out his guilt and ward off misfortunes from the\nvillage.[51.5]\n\n[Sidenote: Failure of the crops and other disasters thought to be\ncaused by incest in Celebes.] When the harvest fails in Southern\nCelebes, the Macassars and Bugineese regard it as a sure sign that\nincest has been committed and that the spirits are angry. In the years\n1877 and 1878 it happened that the west monsoon did not {52} blow and\nthat the rice crop in consequence came to nothing; moreover many\nbuffaloes died of a murrain. At the same time there was in the gaol at\nTakalar a prisoner, who had been formerly accused of incest. Some of\nthe people of his district begged the Dutch governor to give the\ncriminal up to them, for according to the general opinion the plagues\nwould never cease till the guilty man had received the punishment he\ndeserved. All the governor\u2019s powers of persuasion were needed to\ninduce the petitioners to return quietly to their villages; and when\nthe prisoner, having served his time, was released shortly afterwards,\nhe was, at his own request, given an opportunity of sailing away to\nanother land, as he no longer felt safe in his own country.[52.1]\n[Sidenote: Disastrous effects supposed to follow from shedding the\nblood of incestuous couples on the ground.] Even when the incestuous\ncouple has been brought to justice, their blood may not be shed; for\nthe people think that, were the ground to be polluted by the blood of\nsuch criminals, the rivers would dry up and the supply of fish would\nrun short, the harvest and the produce of the gardens would miscarry,\nedible fruits would fail, sickness would be rife among cattle and\nhorses, civil strife would break out, and the country would suffer\nfrom other widespread calamities. Hence the punishment of the guilty\nis such as to avoid the spilling of their blood: usually they are tied\nup in a sack and thrown into the sea to drown. Yet they get on their\njourney to eternity the necessary provisions, consisting of a bag of\nrice, salt, dried fish, coco-nuts, and other things, among which three\nquids of betel are not forgotten.[52.2] We can now perhaps understand\nwhy the Romans used to sew up a parricide in a sack with a dog, a\ncock, a viper, and an ape for company, and fling him into the sea.\nThey probably feared to defile the soil of Italy by spilling upon it\nthe blood of such a miscreant.[52.3] Amongst the Tomori of Central\nCelebes {53} a person guilty of incest is throttled; no drop of his\nblood may fall on the ground, for if it did, the rice would never grow\nagain. The union of uncle with niece is regarded by these people as\nincest, but it can be expiated by an offering. A garment of the man\nand one of the woman are laid on a copper vessel; the blood of a\nsacrificed animal, either a goat or a fowl, is allowed to drip on the\ngarments, and then the vessel with its contents is set floating down\nthe river.[53.1] Among the Tololaki, another tribe of Central\nCelebes, persons who have defiled themselves with incest are shut up\nin a basket and drowned. No drop of their blood may be spilt on the\nground, for that would hinder the earth from ever bearing fruit\nagain.[53.2] Among the Bare\u2019e-speaking Toradjas of Central Celebes in\ngeneral the penalty for incest, that is for the sexual intercourse of\nparents with children or of brothers with sisters, is death. But\nwhereas the death-sentence for adultery is executed with a spear or a\nsword, the death-sentence for incest is usually executed among the\ninland tribes by clubbing or throttling; for were the blood of the\nculprits to drip on the ground, the earth would be rendered barren.\nThe people on the coast put the guilty pair in a basket, weight it\nwith stones, and fling it into the sea. This prescribed manner of\nputting the incestuous to death, we are informed, makes the execution\nvery grievous. However, the writers who furnish us with these\nparticulars and who have lived among the people on terms of intimacy\nfor many years, add that \u201cincest seldom occurs, or rather the cases\nthat come to light are very few.\u201d[53.3] In some districts of Central\nCelebes, the marriage of cousins, provided they are children of two\nsisters, is forbidden under pain of death; the people think that such\nan alliance would anger the spirits, and that the rice and maize\nharvests would fail. Strictly speaking, two such cousins who have\ncommitted the {54} offence should be tied together, weighted with\nstones, and thrown into water to drown. In practice, however, the\nculprits are spared and their sin expiated by shedding the blood of a\nbuffalo or a goat. The blood is mixed with water and sprinkled on the\nrice-fields or poured on the maize-fields, no doubt in order to\nappease the angry spirits and restore its fertility to the tilled\nland. The natives of these districts believe that were a brother and\nsister to commit incest, the ground on which the tribe dwells would be\nswallowed up. If such a crime takes place, the guilty pair are tied\ntogether, their feet weighted with stones, and thrown into the\nsea.[54.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Excessive rains, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions\nsupposed to be produced by incest in Halmahera.] When it rains in\ntorrents, the Galelareese of Halmahera, another large East Indian\nisland, say that brother and sister, or father and daughter, or in\nshort some near kinsfolk are having illicit relations with each other,\nand that every human being must be informed of it, for then only will\nthe rain cease to descend. The superstition has repeatedly caused\nblood relations to be accused, rightly or wrongly, of incest. Further,\nthe people think that alarming natural phenomena, such as a violent\nearthquake or the eruption of a volcano, are caused by crimes of the\nsame sort. Persons charged with such offences are brought to Ternate;\nit is said that formerly they were often drowned on the way or, on\nbeing haled thither, were condemned to be thrown into the\nvolcano.[54.2] In the Banggai Archipelago, to the east of Celebes,\nearthquakes are explained as punishments inflicted by evil spirits for\nindulgence in illicit love.[54.3]\n\n[Sidenote: Breaches of sexual morality thought to blight the fruits\nof the earth and otherwise disturb the course of nature in Africa.]\nIn some parts of Africa, also, it is believed that breaches of sexual\nmorality disturb the course of nature, particularly by blighting the\nfruits of the earth; and probably such views {55} are much more widely\ndiffused in that continent than the scanty and fragmentary evidence at\nour disposal might lead us to suppose. Thus, the negroes of Loango, in\nWest Africa, imagine that the commerce of a man with an immature girl\nis punished by God with drought and consequent famine until the\ntransgressors expiate their transgression by dancing naked before the\nking and an assembly of the people, who throw hot gravel and bits of\nglass at the pair as they run the gauntlet. The rains in that country\nshould fall in September, but in 1898 there was a long drought, and\nwhen the month of December had nearly passed, the sun-scorched stocks\nof the fruitless Indian corn shook their rustling leaves in the wind,\nthe beans lay shrivelled and black on the ruddy soil, and the shoots\nof the sweet potato had flowered and withered long ago. The people\ncried out against their rulers for neglecting their duty to the\nprimeval powers of the earth; the priests of the sacred groves had\nrecourse to divination and discovered that God was angry with the land\non account of the immorality of certain persons unknown, who were not\nobserving the traditions and laws of their God and country. The feeble\nold king had fled, but the slave who acted as regent in his room sent\nword to the chiefs that there were people in their towns who were the\ncause of God\u2019s wrath. So every chief called his subjects together and\ncaused enquiries to be made, and then it was discovered that three\ngirls had broken the customs of their country; for they were with\nchild before they had passed through what is called the paint-house,\nthat is, before they had been painted red and secluded for a season in\ntoken that they had attained to the age of puberty. The people were\nincensed and endeavoured to punish or even kill the three girls; and\nthe English writer who has recorded the case has thought it worth\nwhile to add that on the very morning when the culprits were brought\nbefore the magistrate rain fell.[55.1] Amongst the Bavili of Loango,\nwho are divided into totemic clans, no man is allowed to marry a woman\nof his mother\u2019s clan; and God is {56} believed to punish a breach of\nthis marriage law by withholding the rains in their due season.[56.1]\nSimilar notions of the blighting influence of sexual crime appear to\nbe entertained by the Nandi of British East Africa; for we are told\nthat when a warrior has got a girl with child, she \u201cis punished by\nbeing put in Coventry, none of her girl friends being allowed to speak\nto or look at her until after the child is born and buried.\n[Sidenote: Sexual purity required of those who handle corn or enter a\ngranary.] She is also regarded with contempt for the rest of her life\nand may never look inside a granary for fear of spoiling the\ncorn.\u201d[56.2] Among the Basutos in like manner \u201cwhile the corn is\nexposed to view, all defiled persons are carefully kept from it. If\nthe aid of a man in this state is necessary for carrying home the\nharvest, he remains at some distance while the sacks are filled, and\nonly approaches to place them upon the draught oxen. He withdraws as\nsoon as the load is deposited at the dwelling, and under no pretext\ncan he assist in pouring the corn into the basket in which it is\npreserved.\u201d[56.3] The nature of the defilement which thus\ndisqualifies a man from handling the corn is not mentioned, but we may\nconjecture that unchastity would fall under this general head. For\namongst the Basutos after a child is born a fresh fire has to be\nkindled in the dwelling by the friction of wood, and this must be done\nby a young man of chaste habits; it is believed that an untimely death\nawaits him who should dare to discharge this holy office after having\nlost his innocence.[56.4] In Morocco whoever enters a granary must\nfirst remove his slippers and must be sexually clean. Were an unclean\nperson to enter, the people believe not only that the grain would lose\nits blessed influence (_baraka_), but that he himself would fall ill.\nA Berber told Dr. Westermarck {57} that he had suffered from painful\nboils through entering a granary in a state of uncleanness.[57.1] The\nsame rule applies in Morocco to a vegetable garden. Only the sexually\nclean may enter it, otherwise both the vegetables and the person\nentering would be the worse for it.[57.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Incest supposed by the Dinkas to be punished with\nsterility.] The Dinkas of the Upper Nile believe that incest angers\nthe ancestral spirits (_jok_), who punish the girl by making her\nbarren. Even should she marry, she will have no children until she has\nconfessed her sin, and atonement has been made for it. Her lover must\nprovide a bullock for sacrifice. His father kills the animal, and the\ngirl\u2019s father takes some of the contents of the large intestine and\nsmears it on his daughter\u2019s abdomen and on that of her guilty partner.\nThus the taint of sin is removed, and the woman is rendered capable of\nbearing children.[57.3] The Maloulekes and Hlengoues, two tribes of\nSouthern Africa to the north of the Thonga, think that if a young man\ngets a girl, who is not his wife, with child, people will die in the\nvillage. Hence, when the girl\u2019s pregnancy is discovered, the lover has\nto provide a girl by way of fine.[57.4]\n\n[Sidenote: Incest enjoined in certain cases as a mode of ensuring\ngood luck.] It is very remarkable, however, that among tribes which\nstrongly disapprove of incestuous relations in general, the act of\nincest is nevertheless positively enjoined in certain circumstances as\na mode of ensuring good luck. Thus in the Thonga tribe of\nSouth-Eastern Africa, round about Delagoa Bay, there is a class of men\nwho devote themselves to the business of hunting hippopotamuses on the\nrivers. In the pursuit of their trade they observe a number of curious\nsuperstitions which have been handed down among them for generations\nfrom father to son. For example, they inoculate themselves with a\ncertain drug which is supposed to endow them with such a power over\nthe hippopotamuses that when the hunter wounds one of them the animal\ncannot go far away and the man can track and {58} despatch it. During\nthe day the hunter fishes in the river, keeping his eye all the time\non the unwieldy monsters disporting themselves in the water or\nlumbering through the thickets on the banks. [Sidenote: Incest of\nThonga hippopotamus hunter with his daughter.] \u201cWhen he sees that the\npropitious season has come and when he is ready to undertake a hunting\nexpedition of one month, he first calls his own daughter to his hut\nand has sexual relations with her. This incestuous act, which is\nstrongly taboo in ordinary life, has made of him a \u2018murderer\u2019: he has\nkilled something at home; he has acquired the courage for doing great\ndeeds on the river. Henceforth he will have no sexual relations with\nhis wives during the whole campaign. On the same night, immediately\nafter the act, he starts with his sons; they close the drift where the\nbeasts leave the river by putting a canoe across the track.\u201d Meantime\nthe hippopotamuses are browsing in the forest or trampling down the\ncrops of the fields in their clumsy fashion. As they come trooping\nback to the river they are stopped by the canoe in the path, and while\nthey are examining the strange obstacle, the hunters, lying in ambush,\ndart their spears into the thick hides of the beasts. The handles of\nthe spears are loosely attached to the blades, but connected with them\nby a long string, so that when the wounded monster, crashing\nirresistibly in his rage through the thicket, plunges into the river\nand sinks out of sight in the water, the handle of the spear becomes\ndetached from the blade and floats like a buoy on the surface, shewing\nthe direction taken by the beast. As soon as the hunter has thrown his\nspear he runs home to tell his wife. She must at once shut herself up\nin the hut and remain perfectly quiet, without eating or drinking or\ncrushing her mealies; for were she to do any of these things, the\nwounded hippopotamus would shew fight and might kill her husband,\nwhereas if she keeps quiet, the animal will be quiet too. All the\nhunters in the village are then called up, and embarking in a canoe,\npaddle away after their prey, whose retreat is marked by the bobbing\nof the spear-handle on the surface of the water and the occasional\nemergence of a great flat snout to breathe. When the beast has been\ndespatched, and the carcase landed on the bank, it is turned on its\nback and the hunter creeps between its legs {59} from behind and along\nits belly and chest as far as the mouth. Then he goes away. By this\nceremony the man is supposed to take upon himself the defilement,\npossibly the nature, of the animal, so that in future when he meets\nhippopotamuses the animals will not perceive him to be a man but will\nmistake him for an hippopotamus; and thus he will be able to slaughter\nthe deluded creatures with impunity.[59.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Suggested explanation of the Thonga practice.] So far as\nwe can guess at the meaning of these curious rites, their general\nintention seems to be to identify the hunter and his family with the\ngame which he hunts in order to give him full power over the animals.\nThis intention is manifested in the behaviour of the hunter\u2019s wife\nwhile the hippopotamus is wounded; she so far identifies herself with\nthe animal that whatever she does he is supposed to do. If she goes\nabout her work briskly and refreshes herself with food and drink, the\nhippopotamus also will be brisk and refreshed, and will give warm work\nto his pursuers; whereas if she keeps perfectly still, the animal will\nmake no resistance but follow the hunters like a sheep to the\nslaughter. Perhaps the same train of thought partially explains the\nincest which the hunter has to commit with his own daughter before he\nsets out for the chase. Can it be that by this violence done to his\noffspring he is supposed to acquire power over the beast? It may be\nso, yet it is difficult to see why the violence should take this\nparticular form, and why, on the principles of homoeopathic or\nimitative magic, a pretence of wounding and killing the girl with a\nspear would not have served his turn better.\n\n[Sidenote: Incest prescribed among the Antambahoaka of Madagascar.]\nAnother tribe of savages who imagine that in certain circumstances\nincest is the road to fortune are the Antambahoaka of South-Eastern\nMadagascar. Before setting out for the chase or the fishing or war or\nother enterprise, every Antambahoaka arranges to have sexual relations\nwith his sister or with his nearest female relation; he thinks in this\nway to ensure the success of his expedition.[59.2] What the {60}\nexact train of thought may be which prompts these exceptional and\ndeliberate aberrations from the usual rules of morality, it is\ndifficult to understand; I mention the facts because they apparently\ncontradict the ordinary savage view of conduct, and so far help us to\nperceive how little as yet we really know about the inmost workings of\nthe savage mind.\n\n[Sidenote: Similar beliefs as to the disastrous effect of sexual\ncrimes among the civilized peoples of antiquity.] Leaving out of\naccount these remarkable and as yet not fully explained exceptions to\nthe rule,[60.1] we may say generally that among many savage races\nbreaches of the marriage laws are believed to draw down on the\ncommunity public calamities of the most serious character, and that in\nparticular they are thought to blast the fruits of the earth through\nexcessive rain or excessive drought. Traces of similar beliefs may\nperhaps be detected among the civilized races of antiquity.\n[Sidenote: The Hebrews.] Thus among the Hebrews we read how Job,\npassionately protesting his innocence before God, declares that he is\nno adulterer; \u201cFor that,\u201d says he, \u201cwere an heinous crime; yea it were\nan iniquity to be punished by the judges: for it is a fire that\nconsumeth unto Destruction, and would root out all mine\nincrease.\u201d[60.2] In this passage the Hebrew word translated\n\u201cincrease\u201d commonly means \u201cthe produce of the earth\u201d;[60.3] and if we\ngive the word its usual sense here, then Job affirms adultery to be\ndestructive of the fruits of the ground, which is precisely what many\nsavages still believe. This interpretation of his words is strongly\nconfirmed by two narratives in Genesis, where we read how Sarah,\nAbraham\u2019s {61} wife, was taken by a king into his harem, and how\nthereafter God visited the king and his household with great plagues,\nespecially by closing up the wombs of the king\u2019s wife and his\nmaid-servants so that they bare no children. It was not till the king\nhad discovered and confessed his sin, and Abraham had prayed God to\nforgive him, that the king\u2019s women again became fruitful.[61.1] These\nnarratives seem to imply that adultery, even when it is committed in\nignorance, is a cause of plague and especially of sterility among\nwomen. Again, in Leviticus, after a long list of sexual crimes, we\nread:[61.2] \u201cDefile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in\nall these the nations are defiled which I cast out from before you:\nand the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof\nupon it, and the land vomiteth out her inhabitants.\u201d This passage\nseems to imply that the land itself was somehow physically affected by\nsexual transgressions in such a way that it could no longer support\nthe inhabitants. [Sidenote: The Greeks.] Apparently the ancient\nGreeks entertained a similar view of the wasting effect of incest; for\naccording to Sophocles the land of Thebes suffered from blight,\npestilence, and the sterility both of women and cattle under the reign\nof Oedipus, who had unwittingly slain his father and married his\nmother; the country was emptied of its inhabitants, and the Delphic\noracle declared that the only way to restore prosperity to it was to\nbanish the sinner.[61.3] No doubt the poet and his hearers set down\nthese public calamities in part to the guilt of parricide which rested\non Oedipus; but probably they also laid much of the evil at the door\nof the incest which he had committed with his mother. [Sidenote: The\nRomans.] In the reign of the emperor Claudius a Roman noble was\naccused of incest with his sister. He committed suicide, his sister\nwas banished, and the emperor ordered that certain ancient ceremonies\nderived from the laws of King Servius Tullius should be performed, and\nthat expiation should be made by the pontiffs at the sacred grove of\nDiana.[61.4] As Diana appears to have been a goddess of fertility in\ngeneral and of the {62} fruitfulness of women in particular,[62.1]\nthe expiation for incest offered at her sanctuary may perhaps be\naccepted as evidence that the Romans, like other peoples, attributed\nto sexual immorality a tendency to blast the fruits both of the earth\nand of the womb.\n\n[Sidenote: Blighting effect attributed to incest by the ancient\nIrish.] According to an ancient Irish legend Munster was afflicted in\nthe third century of our era with a failure of the crops and other\nmisfortunes. When the nobles enquired into the matter, they learned\nthat these calamities were the result of an incest which the king had\ncommitted with his sister. In order to put an end to the evil they\ndemanded of the king his two sons, the fruit of this unholy union,\nthat they might consume them with fire and cast their ashes into the\nrunning stream.[62.2] Again, Irish legend relates that Cairbre Musc\n\u201chad two sons by his sister. Her name was Duben, and theirs were Corc\nand Cormac respectively. The children were twins, and the story of\ntheir birth is no less strange than that of Dylan and Llew, for one of\nthem was found to have nipped off his brother\u2019s ears before his birth.\nThe crime of their parents caused the crops to fail, which, according\nto the idea prevalent in ancient Ireland, was its natural result, and\nCairbre was obliged to confess his guilt to the nobles of his realm,\nwho, when the children were born, ordered them to be burnt, that the\nincest might not remain in the land. \u2018Give me,\u2019 said Cairbre\u2019s druid,\n\u2018that _Corc_[62.3] there, that I may place him outside Erinn, so that\nthe incest may not be within it.\u2019 Corc was given to the druid, and the\nlatter, with his wife, whose name was B\u00f3i, took him to an island.\nThey had a white cow with red ears, and an ablution was performed by\nthem every morning on Corc, placed on the cow\u2019s back; so in a year\u2019s\ntime to the day the cow sprang away from them into the sea, and she\nbecame a rock in it; to wit, the heathenism of the boy had entered\ninto her. _B\u00f3 B\u00fai_, or B\u00f3i\u2019s Cow, is the name of the rock, and\n_Inis B\u00fai_, or B\u00f3i\u2019s Isle, that of the island. The boy was {63}\nafterwards brought back into Erinn. Such is the story how Corc was\npurged of the virulence of his original sin, and the scene is one of\nthe three islets called the Bull, the Cow and the Calf, not far from\nDursey Island, in the gulf called Kenmare River.\u201d[63.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Thus sexual irregularities are often supposed to endanger\nthe whole community.] Thus it appears that in the opinion of many\npeoples sexual irregularities, whether of the married or the\nunmarried, are not merely moral offences which affect only the few\npersons immediately concerned; they are believed to involve the whole\npeople in danger and disaster either directly by a sort of magical\ninfluence or indirectly by rousing the wrath of gods to whom these\nacts are offensive. Nay they are often supposed to strike a blow at\nthe very existence of the community by blighting the fruits of the\nearth and thereby cutting off the food supply. Wherever these\nsuperstitions prevail, it is obvious that public opinion and public\njustice will treat sexual offences with far greater severity than is\nmeted out to them by peoples who, like most civilized nations, regard\nsuch misdemeanours as matters of private rather than of public\nconcern, as sins rather than crimes, which may perhaps affect the\neternal welfare of the individual sinner in a life hereafter, but\nwhich do not in any way imperil the temporal welfare of the innocent\ncommunity as a whole. [Sidenote: Hence the extreme rigour with which\nsexual crimes have been punished by many races.] And conversely,\nwherever we find that incest, adultery, and fornication are treated by\nthe community with extreme rigour, we may reasonably infer that the\noriginal motive for such treatment was superstition; in other words,\nthat wherever a tribe or nation, not content with leaving these\ntransgressions to be avenged by the injured parties, has itself\npunished them with exceptional severity, the reason for doing so has\nprobably been a belief that the effect of all such delinquencies is to\ndisturb the course of nature and thereby to endanger the whole people,\nwho accordingly must protect themselves by effectually disarming and,\nif necessary, exterminating the delinquents. [Sidenote: Ancient\ncodes.] This may explain, for example, why the Indian Laws of Manu\ndecreed that an adulteress should be devoured by dogs in a public\nplace, and that an adulterer should be roasted to death on a red-hot\niron {64} bed;[64.1] why the Babylonian code of Hammurabi sentenced\nan adulterous couple to be strangled and cast into the river; and why\nthe same code punished incest with a mother by burning both the\nculprits.[64.2] On the same supposition we can understand the\nseverity of the punishments meted out to certain sexual offences by\nthe Mosaic law. Thus, for example, under it an adulteress and her\nparamour were sentenced to death:[64.3] a woman who at marriage was\nfound not to be a maid was stoned:[64.4] the unchaste daughter of a\npriest was burned with fire;[64.5] and if a man married a woman and\nher daughter, he and they were in like manner doomed to the\nflames.[64.6]\n\n[Sidenote: Rigorous penalties inflicted in Africa.] Many African\ntribes repress sexual crimes by rigorous penalties, or did so until\ntheir moral standard was modified by contact with Europeans.\n[Sidenote: The Baganda, their punishments for breaches of sexual\nmorality.] Among the Baganda of Central Africa, \u201cthough death was\nusually the punishment inflicted for adultery, an offender\u2019s life\nwould sometimes be spared, and he be fined two women, if he were able\nto pay them; the culprit was, however, maimed; he lost a limb, or had\nan eye gouged out, and showed by his maimed condition that he had been\nguilty of a crime. A slave taken in adultery with one of his master\u2019s\nwives was invariably put to death. Women were compelled by torture to\nname their seducers; if the accused man denied the charge, the woman\nwas asked to describe some personal peculiarity of his, or some mark\non his body which could be identified; then if the man was found to\nhave the peculiarity, he was either fined or put to death. In order to\narrive at the truth, a man who denied a charge made against him was\nsometimes stretched out with his arms and feet tied to stakes driven\nfirmly into the ground, a piece of barkcloth was then fastened about\nhis private parts, and set smouldering. As soon as the fire reached\nhis body, the pain became too great {65} to bear, and the man would\nown himself guilty in order to be released from torture. He would then\nbe either killed or fined. An adulterer was called a murderer\n(_musi_), because he was looked upon as a man who deliberately set\nabout to compass the death of the woman\u2019s husband; either directly,\nfor he would go armed to visit the woman, and if he was disturbed, he\nwould not hesitate to strike; or indirectly, by offending the\nfetiches. Men knew that, if they were caught in the act of adultery,\nthe penalty would be death, unless they were related to the person\nwronged, in which case the latter might be willing to accept a fine,\nand might content himself with mutilating the culprit. The worst\nconsequence to the injured husband was the anger of his fetiches and\ngods, whose custodian was his wife. By her action the wife had\ninvolved her husband in their displeasure; he was thus left exposed to\nthe malice of any enemy, and his danger was increased in the time of\nwar, because the gods had withdrawn their protection from him.\u201d[65.1]\nThus among the Baganda adultery was regarded not simply as a civil\noffence but as a sin, which brought down the anger of the gods, not as\nwe might expect, on the adulterer, but on the injured husband.\nFurther, the Baganda were divided into a number of totemic clans, and\nmembers of any one clan were strictly prohibited from marrying or\nhaving sexual relations with each other. \u201cSexual intercourse with a\nmember of the same clan (_kive_), or with a woman of the mother\u2019s\nclan, was punished by the death of both parties, because they were\nconsidered to have brought the god\u2019s displeasure on the whole\nclan.\u201d[65.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Fornication, adultery, and incest severely punished by\nother African tribes.] Among the Basoga, who border on the Baganda to\nthe east, when a man got a virgin with child, the guilty couple used\nto be dragged off to the River Ntakwe; there stones were tied to their\nankles and legs, and, along with a sacrificial sheep, they were thrown\ninto the water and drowned. However, this rigorous penalty was\nabolished and a fine substituted before the country came under British\nrule.[65.3] Among the Kavirondo, who border on the Basoga to the {66}\neast, \u201cuntil quite recently adultery on the part of a wife was\npunished with death, and death equally was meted out to young men and\ngirls who were found guilty of fornication. It was thought a shameful\nthing if a girl was not found to be a virgin on her wedding\nday.\u201d[66.1] Among the Nandi, who border on the Kavirondo to the\nnorth-east, \u201cincest, intercourse with a step-mother, step-daughter,\ncousin or other near relation, is punished by what is known as\n_injoket_. A crowd of people assemble outside the house of the\nculprit, who is dragged out, and the punishment is inflicted by the\nwomen, all of whom, both young and old, strip for the occasion. The\nman is flogged, his houses and crops destroyed, and some of his stock\nconfiscated.\u201d[66.2] Among the Barea, a tribe on the borders of\nAbyssinia, when a single woman, whether maid or widow, is found with\nchild, she is strangled by her father or brother, and the same\npunishment is inflicted on her seducer; the child of their unlawful\nunion is stabbed. This custom is rigorously carried out, except when\nthe seducer is a noble and his paramour a vassal; in that case both\nare spared, but the infant is killed.[66.3] Among the Beni Amer,\nanother tribe of the same region, an unmarried girl found pregnant is\nput to death by her own brother, whatever her rank, and the seducer is\nkilled by his own brother; the child also is slain. But the law is not\nso severe on a widow or divorced wife who is detected in a slip; her\nseducer has only to pay a fine; but the child is buried alive. The\nBeni Amer will not suffer a bastard to live.[66.4] Among the Anyanja\nof British Central Africa adultery was punished by drowning and\nshooting. If one of the culprits was a chief\u2019s wife, she was tied to\nher paramour, and the pair were then thrown into a river to drown or\nleft in the open space of the village to die of hunger and exposure. A\nman who had committed a rape was bound, weighted with stones, and cast\ninto the lake.[66.5] Among the Awemba of Northern Rhodesia, {67} when\na husband detected his wife in the act of adultery, he killed both her\nand her partner in guilt. For such execution he might not be indicted\nfor murder or manslaughter. He would merely return the blood-stained\nspear to the woman\u2019s father, who by his words in the marriage\nceremony, \u201cYou shall spear the man who lusts after your wife,\u201d was\nestopped from taking vengeance for the death of his daughter. If the\nhusband spared the erring couple and the wife was again taken in\nadultery, the villagers themselves decreed the punishment. The\nunfaithful wife and her lover were dragged outside the village and\nimpaled on sharp stakes amid the taunts and jeers of the bystanders,\nwho only desisted from their mockery when death had stilled the\nwrithing agony of the sufferers.[67.1] \u201cThe Hottentots,\u201d says an old\nwriter, \u201callow not marriages between first or second cousins. They\nhave a traditionary law, which ordains, that both man and woman, so\nnear to each other in blood, who shall be convicted of joining\ntogether either in marriage or fornication, shall be cudgel\u2019d to\ndeath. This law, they say, has prevail\u2019d through all the generations\nof \u2019em; and that they execute it at once, upon a conviction, without\nany regard to wealth, power or affinity.\u201d[67.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Incest and adultery severely punished in the East\nIndies.] We have seen that in the East Indies sexual crimes,\nparticularly incest, adultery, and fornication, are often viewed with\ngrave displeasure because they are believed to draw down the wrath of\nthe higher powers on the whole community. Hence it is natural that\nsuch offences should be treated as high treason and the offenders\npunished with death. A common punishment is drowning. For example,\nwhen incest between a parent and a child or between a brother and a\nsister has been detected among the Kubus, a primitive aboriginal tribe\nof Sumatra, the culprits are enclosed in a large fish-trap, made of\nrattan or bamboo, and sunk in a deep pool of the river. However, they\nare not pinioned; nay, they are even furnished with a tin knife, and\n{68} if they can cut their way out of the trap, rise through the\nbubbling water to the surface, and swim ashore, they are allowed to\nlive.[68.1] In the island of Bali incest and adultery are punished by\ndrowning; the criminals are sewed up in a sack half-filled with stones\nand rice and cast into the sea. A like doom is incurred by a woman who\nmarries a man of a lower caste; but sometimes she dies a more dreadful\ndeath, being burnt alive. [Sidenote: Modes of execution adopted which\navoid the shedding of blood.] Both modes of execution may be adopted\nin order to avoid shedding the blood of the sinners; for in Bali, the\nordinary way of despatching a criminal is to stab him to the heart\nwith a creese (kris) or crooked Malay sword.[68.2] In the island of\nCelebes, as we saw, the blood of persons who have been guilty of\ncertain sexual crimes is believed to blast the ground on which it\nfalls;[68.3] so that it is natural in their case to resort to a\nbloodless mode of execution such as drowning or burning. In Mamoedjoe,\na district on the west coast of Celebes, the incest of a father with\nhis daughter or of a brother with his sister is punished by binding\nthe culprits hand and foot, weighting them with stones, and flinging\nthem into the sea.[68.4] Among the Bugineese of Southern Celebes\npersons of princely rank who have committed this crime are placed on a\nraft of bamboos and set floating away out to sea.[68.5] [Sidenote:\nPersons guilty of incest buried alive.] In Semendo, a district of\nSumatra, the punishment for incest and murder used to be to bury the\ncriminals alive. Before they were led to their doom, it was customary\nfor the villagers to feast them, every family killing a fowl for the\npurpose. Then the whole population escorted the culprits to their\ngrave outside the village and saw the earth shovelled in upon them. In\nthe year 1864, at the village of Tandjong Imam, this doom was executed\non a man and his deceased wife\u2019s sister, with whom he had been\ndetected in an intrigue. \u201cGreat was my emotion and indignation,\u201d said\nthe humane Dutch governor, {69} \u201cwhen I stood by the grave of these\npoor wretches along with the unworthy chiefs who had sat on the bench\nof justice during the enforced absence of Pangeran Anom and pronounced\nthis sentence. I told them in plain language that judges who\npronounced such a sentence of death on grounds so trivial (the request\nof the family concerned) deserved themselves to undergo the same\npunishment.\u201d The Dutch Government has since issued stringent orders\nthat no one henceforth is to be buried alive, and has threatened with\ndeath any person who shall dare to disregard its orders.[69.1] The\nsame punishment for incest is, or used to be, inflicted by the\nPasemhers, another tribe of Sumatra, but more merciful than the people\nof Semendo they gave the culprits at least a chance for their life.\nThe guilty pair were bound back to back and buried in a deep hole, but\nfrom the mouth of each a hollow bamboo communicated with the upper\nair; and if when the grave was opened after seven days the wretches\nwere found to have survived a prolonged agony far worse than death,\nthey were granted their life.[69.2] Nor was even this dreadful fate\nthe worst that could befall the sinner who broke the rules of sexual\nmorality in Sumatra. [Sidenote: Adulterers killed and eaten.] The\nBattas or Bataks of Central Sumatra condemned an adulterer to be\nkilled and eaten; strictly speaking he should be speared to death\nfirst and eaten afterwards, but as the injured husband and his friends\nwere commonly the judges and executioners, it sometimes happened that,\npassion proving too strong for a strict adherence to the letter of the\nlaw, they cut the flesh from his living body, ate it, and drank his\nblood, before it occurred to them to terminate his sufferings by a\nspear-thrust. However, an adulterer occasionally escaped with his life\non the payment of a fine, always provided that his accomplice was not\nthe wife of a chief; for in that case there was no help for it but he\nmust be killed and eaten.[69.3]\n\nEven trivial misdemeanours or acts which we should {70} deem perfectly\ninnocent may draw condign punishment on the thoughtless, the\nimprudent, the light-hearted in the Indian Archipelago. [Sidenote:\nExtreme severity of the code of sexual morality in Lombok.] Thus we\nread that in the island of Lombok \u201cthe men are exceedingly jealous and\nvery strict with their wives. A married woman may not accept a cigar\nor a sirih leaf from a stranger under pain of death. I was informed\nthat some years ago one of the English traders had a Balinese woman of\ngood family living with him--the connexion being considered quite\nhonourable by the natives. During some festival this girl offended\nagainst the law by accepting a flower or some such trifle from another\nman. This was reported to the Rajah (to some of whose wives the girl\nwas related), and he immediately sent to the Englishman\u2019s house\nordering him to give the woman up as she must be \u2018krissed.\u2019 In vain he\nbegged and prayed, and offered to pay any fine the Rajah might impose,\nand finally refused to give her up unless he was forced to do so. This\nthe Rajah did not wish to resort to, as he no doubt thought he was\nacting as much for the Englishman\u2019s honour as for his own; so he\nappeared to let the matter drop. But some time afterwards he sent one\nof his followers to the house, who beckoned the girl to the door, and\nthen saying, \u2018The Rajah sends you this,\u2019 stabbed her to the heart.\nMore serious infidelity is punished still more cruelly, the woman and\nher paramour being tied back to back and thrown into the sea, where\nsome large crocodiles are always on the watch to devour the bodies.\nOne such execution took place while I was at Ampanam, but I took a\nlong walk into the country to be out of the way till it was all\nover.\u201d[70.1]\n\n[Sidenote: The severity of the code based at bottom on\nsuperstition.] As the Malay peoples of the Indian Archipelago, from\nwhom the foregoing examples are drawn, have reached a fair level of\nculture, it might perhaps be thought that the extreme severity with\nwhich they visit offences against their code of sexual morality\nsprings from an excessive refinement of feeling rather than from a\ncrude superstition; and no doubt it may well happen that extreme\nsensitiveness on the point of honour, of which the Malays are\nsusceptible, contributes in many cases to sharpen the sword of justice\n{71} and add fresh force to the stroke. Yet under this delicacy of\nsentiment there appears to lie a deep foundation of superstition, as\nwe may see by the extraordinary and disastrous influence which in the\nopinion of these people sexual crime exerts, not so much on the\ncriminals themselves, as on the whole realm of nature, drawing down\ndeluges of rain from the clouds till the crops rot in the fields,\nshaking the solid earth beneath men\u2019s feet, and blowing up into flames\nthe slumbering fires of the volcano, till the sky is darkened at noon\nby a black canopy of falling ashes and illumined at night by the\nsullen glow of the molten lava shot forth from the subterranean\nfurnace.[71.1] [Sidenote: A similar severity in sexual matters\nobserved among the Australian aborigines, the lowest of existing\nsavages.] And however much an over-refinement of feeling may be\ninvoked to explain the more than Puritanical severity of the Malay\nmoral code in sexual matters, no such explanation can be applied to\nthe like emotion of horror which similar offences excite among the\nsavage aborigines of Australia, the lowest and the least refined\nprobably of all the races of men about whom we possess accurate\ninformation. These rude savages also treated with rigorous severity\nall breaches of that widely ramified network of prohibitions in which\nthroughout the Australian continent, before it fell under English\nrule, the two sexes lived immeshed. The whole community of a tribe or\nnation was commonly subdivided into a number of minute bodies, which\nwe are accustomed to call classes or clans according to the principle\non which they were variously constituted. No man might marry a woman\nof his own class or clan, and in most tribes his freedom of choice was\nstill further limited by complex rules of marriage and descent which\nexcluded him from seeking a wife in many more subdivisions of the\ntribe, and sometimes compelled him to look for her only in one out of\nthem all. And the ordinary penalty for any violation of these rules\nwas death. The offender was lucky who escaped with his life and a body\nmore or less riddled with spear wounds. [Sidenote: Severe punishments\ninflicted for sexual offences among the aborigines of Victoria.] Thus\none who knew the aborigines of Victoria well in the old days, before\nthey were first contaminated and then destroyed by contact with\nEuropean civilization, tells us that \u201cno marriage or betrothal is\npermitted without the approval {72} of the chiefs of each party, who\nfirst ascertain that no \u2018flesh\u2019 relationship exists, and even then\ntheir permission must be rewarded by presents. So strictly are the\nlaws of marriage carried out, that, should any signs of affection and\ncourtship be observed between those of \u2018one flesh,\u2019 the brothers, or\nmale relatives of the woman beat her severely; the man is brought\nbefore the chief, and accused of an intention to fall into the same\nflesh, and is severely reprimanded by the tribe. If he persists, and\nruns away with the object of his affections, they beat and \u2018cut his\nhead all over\u2019; and if the woman was a consenting party she is half\nkilled. If she dies in consequence of her punishment, her death is\navenged by the man\u2019s receiving an additional beating from her\nrelatives. No other vengeance is taken, as her punishment is legal. A\nchild born under such conditions is taken from the parents, and handed\nover to the care of its grandmother, who is compelled to rear it, as\nno one else will adopt it. It says much for the morality of the\naborigines and their laws that illegitimacy is rare, and is looked\nupon with such abhorrence that the mother is always severely beaten by\nher relatives, and sometimes put to death and burned. Her child is\noccasionally killed and burned with her. The father of the child is\nalso punished with the greatest severity, and occasionally killed.\nShould he survive the chastisement inflicted upon him, he is always\nshunned by the woman\u2019s relatives, and any efforts to conciliate them\nwith gifts are spurned, and his presents are put in the fire and\nburned. Since the advent of the Europeans among them, the aborigines\nhave occasionally disregarded their admirable marriage laws, and to\nthis disregard they attribute the greater weakness and unhealthiness\nof their children.\u201d[72.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Severe punishments inflicted for sexual offences in the\nWakelbura tribe of Queensland.] Again, in the Wakelbura tribe of\neastern Queensland the law was extremely strict as to unlawful\nconnexions or elopements between persons too nearly related to each\nother. Such persons might be, for example, those whom we call cousins\nboth on the father\u2019s and the mother\u2019s side, as well as those who\nbelonged to a forbidden class. If such a man {73} carried off a woman\nwho had been betrothed to another, he would be pursued not only by the\nmale relations of the woman and of her betrothed husband, but also by\nthe men of his own tribal subdivision, whom he had outraged by his\nbreach of the marriage law; and wherever they overtook him, he would\nhave to fight them all. His own brothers would challenge him to fight\nby throwing boomerangs or other weapons at him; and if he did not\naccept the challenge, they would turn on the woman and cripple or kill\nher with their weapons, unless she could escape into the bush. Nay,\nthe woman\u2019s own mother would cut and perhaps slay her with her own\nhands. Sooner or later the ravisher had to engage in single combat\nwith the man he had injured. Both were fully armed with shield, spear,\nboomerang and knife. When they had exhausted their missiles, they\nclosed on each other with their knives, a dense ring of blacks\ngenerally forming round the combatants to see fair play. In such a\nfight the man who had broken the tribal law always came off worst; for\neven if he got the better of his adversary, the other men and even his\nown brothers would attack him and probably gash him with their knives.\nFatal stabs were sometimes given in these fights, but more usually, it\nwould seem, the onlookers interfered and wrested the weapons from the\ntwo combatants before they proceeded to extremities. In any case the\nwoman who had eloped was terribly mauled with knives, and if she\nsurvived the ordeal was restored to the man whom she had\ndeserted.[73.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Severe punishment inflicted for sexual offences among the\naborigines of other parts of Australia.] Among the tribes in the\ncentral parts of North-West Queensland, if a man eloped with a single\nwoman whom he might lawfully marry, but who for any reason was\nforbidden to him by the tribal council, he had on returning to camp\nwith his wife to run the gauntlet of the outraged community, who\nhacked his buttocks and shoulders with knives, beat his head and limbs\nwith sticks and boomerangs, and pricked the fleshy parts of his thighs\nwith spears, taking care, however, not to inflict fatal injuries, lest\nthey should incur blood revenge. But if the woman with whom the man\nhad eloped {74} was of a class into which he might not marry, both the\nculprits were put to death, the relations on both sides tacitly\nconsenting to the execution.[74.1] In the Yuin tribe of New South\nWales, if a man eloped with a woman of his own tribal subdivision, all\nthe men would pursue him; and if he refused to give the woman up, the\nsorcerer of the place would probably say to his men, \u201cThis man has\ndone very wrong, you must kill him\u201d; whereupon somebody would thrust a\nspear into him, his relatives not interfering lest the same fate\nshould befall them.[74.2] The same punishment was inflicted for the\nsame offence by the Wotjobaluk tribe of North-Western Victoria; but\ntheir western neighbours, the Mukjarawaint tribe, not content with\nkilling the guilty man, cut off the flesh off his thighs and upper\narms, roasted and ate it, his own brother partaking of the cannibal\nmeal. As for the rest of the body, they chopped it up small and left\nit lying on a log. The same custom is said to have been observed by\nthe Jupagalk tribe.[74.3] Among many tribes of Western Australia, as\nwell as of other parts of that continent, persons who bear the same\nclass-name may not marry. Any such marriage is regarded as incest and\nrigorously punished. For example, \u201cthe union of Boorong and Boorong is\nto the natives the union of brother and sister, although there may be\nno real blood relationship between the pair, and a union of that kind\nis looked upon with horror, and the perpetrators very severely\npunished and separated, and if the crime is repeated they are both\nkilled.\u201d[74.4] On the other side of the continent the Kamilaroi of\nNew South Wales similarly inflicted condign punishment on both the\nculprits who persisted in marrying each other contrary to the tribal\nlaw; the male relations of the man killed him, and the female\nrelations of the woman killed her. [Sidenote: Penalty of death\ninflicted for the crime of speaking to a mother-in-law.] The\nKamilaroi of the Gwydir River went further; they {75} killed any man\nwho so much as spoke to or held any communication with his\nmother-in-law,[75.1] for one of the most stringent laws of savage\netiquette is that which prohibits any direct social intercourse\nbetween a man and his wife\u2019s mother. The law has been variously\nexplained,[75.2] but a large body of evidence points to the\nconclusion that this custom of mutual avoidance is simply a precaution\nto prevent improper relations between the two. Hence a brief\nconsideration of it is appropriate in this place; for to all\nappearance the custom, though it may be wholesome and beneficial in\npractice, has originated purely in superstition. But before giving my\nreasons for thinking so it may be well, for the sake of those who are\nunfamiliar with savage etiquette, to illustrate the practice itself by\na few examples.[75.3]\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of avoiding a mother-in-law and other relations\nby marriage among the Boloki of the Congo.] Speaking of the Boloki, a\nBantu tribe of the Upper Congo, an experienced missionary, the Rev.\nJohn H. Weeks, writes as follows: \u201cPerhaps this will be the best place\nin which to make a few remarks on the mother-in-law. She and her\nson-in-law may never look on each other\u2019s face. I have often heard a\nman say, \u2018So-and-so, your mother-in-law is coming,\u2019 and the person\naddressed would run into my house and hide himself until his wife\u2019s\nmother had gone by. They can sit at a little distance from each other,\nwith their backs to one another, and talk over affairs when necessary.\n_Bokilo_ means mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law,\nfather-in-law, sister of mother-in-law, brother of father-in-law, wife\nof wife\u2019s brother, and in fact any relation-in-law. _Bokilo_, the\nnoun, is derived from _kila_ = to forbid, prohibit, taboo, and\nindicates that all bearing the relationship of {76} _bokilo_ can have\nno intimate relationship with one another, for it is regarded as\nincestuous; and it is according to native ideas just as wrong for a\ndaughter-in-law to speak or look at her husband\u2019s father, as for the\nson-in-law to speak or look at his wife\u2019s mother. Some have told me\nthat this was to guard against all possibility of cohabitation, \u2018For a\nperson you never look at you never desire.\u2019 Others have said, \u2018Well,\ndon\u2019t you see, my wife came from her womb.\u2019 I am strongly inclined to\nthe opinion that the former is the real reason.\u201d[76.1]\n\nFrom this statement it appears that a man and his wife\u2019s mother are\nnot the only persons who are bound to avoid each other in society; the\nsame rule of social avoidance is incumbent on a man and his son\u2019s\nwife, and on many other persons of opposite sex who are connected with\neach other by marriage; and in regard to all such persons it is held\nthat any intimate relationship between them would be incestuous. Hence\nwe see, what is important to bear in mind, that the rule of social\navoidance incumbent on a man and his wife\u2019s mother is by no means\nsolitary of its kind, and cannot be considered apart from a large\nnumber of similar rules of avoidance observed between other persons.\n[Sidenote: The custom of avoiding relations by marriage among the\nBatamba of Busoga.] The same large extension of the rule appears in\nthe customs of the Batamba, a Bantu tribe of Busoga, a country on the\nnorth side of the Lake Victoria Nyanza. A Catholic missionary, who has\nlaboured among the Batamba for nine years, describes their practice in\nthis matter as follows:--\n\n\u201cThere is a very strange custom which may be considered here. If a son\nmarries or if a daughter does the same, then if they are grown up,\nfrom the day the son or daughter marries, the mother, father of both\nparties, the brothers and sisters of both parties are not allowed to\nsleep under the same roof. If a man marries, then he builds a house\nfor himself, and should his parents live with him, or his brothers and\nsisters, then they must have a separate house near by. They are not\nforbidden to go in and visit him or her, but are not allowed to sleep\nthere. The reason is this. They say that otherwise sickness is caused,\nand this {77} is called _endivade ya buko_, the sickness of\nrelationship, literally taken. The sickness is called _bujugumiro_,\ntrembling, from the verb _kujugumira_, to shiver or tremble. This\ncannot be got out of their heads, and no amount of talking or arguing\nwill convince them of the opposite. I have attended many cases of this\ndisease and I have not known one to recover.\n\n\u201cAgain, the father and mother of the bride and bridegroom, the aunts\nand uncles of bride and bridegroom may no more shake hands or touch in\nany way the bride and bridegroom, or else the same disease,\n_bujugumiro_, will follow. Of course much less will they commit\nthemselves between each other for the fear of the same reason. And it\nis never heard of that a brother and sister, aunt and nephew, niece\nand uncle have ever committed themselves seriously. They are so afraid\nof the disease they say will follow, that, as a man here over seventy\nyears of age tells me, he has never in his whole life heard of such a\nmisbehaviour. The people say, \u2018_Jekiyinzika_ = it is impossible for\nsuch a thing to happen.\u2019 And no doubt one is struck with the care they\ntake. The disease following does not come as a punishment from the\ngods, but they say, \u2018_Endwada ejja yokka_, the illness comes by\nitself.\u2019\u201d[77.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Avoidance of blood relations as well as of connexions by\nmarriage.] From the foregoing account it appears that among the\nBatamba the rules of social avoidance are observed between\nblood-relations of opposite sexes, such as brothers and sisters,\nuncles and nieces, aunts and nephews, as well as between connexions by\nmarriage. This is a further extension of the rule of social avoidance\nwhich it is important to bear in mind. We shall recur to it presently.\nFor our present purpose it deserves also to be noticed that breaches\nof the custom are believed to be punished by a disease of trembling or\nshivering, which, though it probably springs purely from the\nimagination of the culprits, nevertheless appears to be always fatal.\nFurther, we learn that the mere apprehension of this disease acts as a\nmost efficient check upon improper relations between persons who are\nconnected with each other by blood or marriage.\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of avoiding mother-in-law and own daughter\namong the Akamba of British East Africa.] Among the Akamba, a Bantu\ntribe of British East Africa, {78} \u201cif a man meets his mother-in-law\nin the road they both hide their faces and pass by in the bush on\nopposite sides of the path. If a man did not observe this custom and\nat any time wanted to marry another wife, it would prove a serious\nstigma, and parents would have nothing to do with him. Moreover, if a\nwife heard that her husband had stopped and spoken to her mother in\nthe road, she would leave him. If a man has business he wishes to\ndiscuss with his mother-in-law, he goes to her hut at night, and she\nwill talk to him from behind the partition in the hut.\u2026 If a girl of\nthe age of puberty meets her father in the road, she hides as he\npasses, nor can she ever go and sit near him in the village until the\nday comes when he tells her that it has been arranged for her to marry\na certain man. After marriage she does not avoid her father in any\nway.\u201d[78.1] Thus among the Akamba a man must avoid his own\nmarriageable, but unmarried, daughter exactly as he avoids his wife\u2019s\nmother; but the custom of avoidance ceases when his daughter marries.\nThis extension of the rule to a man\u2019s own daughter, and its limitation\nto the time during which the girl is nubile but single, are most\nsignificant, and point plainly to a fear of improper relations between\nfather and daughter. To that point we shall return shortly.\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of avoiding parents-in-law among various tribes\nof Central and East Africa.] Among the Bakerewe, a Bantu people\ninhabiting a large and fertile island in Lake Victoria Nyanza, \u201cthe\nwife, whether the first (_omukuru_) or the last (_omwenga_), must\nalways belong to a family other than that of the husband, for\nmarriages are not contracted between relations. Never in any case will\nthe new household establish itself in the immediate neighbourhood of\nthe wife\u2019s parents. The reason is that the son-in-law (_omukwerima_)\nand his mother-in-law (_mazara_), according to their customs, may not\nsee each other nor look upon each other; hence in order not to run the\nrisk of breaking a rule to which everybody attaches grave importance,\nthey go as far away as possible.\u201d[78.2] Among some tribes of Eastern\nAfrica which formerly acknowledged the suzerainty of the sultan of\nZanzibar, before a young couple had children {79} they might meet\nneither their father-in-law nor their mother-in-law. To avoid them\nthey must make a long roundabout. But if they could not do that, they\nmust throw themselves on the ground and hide their faces till the\nfather-in-law or mother-in-law had passed by.[79.1]\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of avoiding parents-in-law among the tribes of\nBritish Central Africa and Northern Rhodesia.] Among the Anyanja, a\nBantu people of British Central Africa, \u201ca man used never to speak to\nhis mother-in-law till after the birth of his first son. Neither a man\nnor his wife will eat in company of their mother or father-in-law\nuntil after birth of a child. If a man sees his mother-in-law eat, he\nhas insulted her and is expected to pay damages. If a man meets his\nmother-in-law coming along the road and does not recognise her, she\nwill fall down on the ground as a sign, when he will run away. In the\nsame way a father-in-law will signal to his daughter-in-law; the whole\nidea being that they are unworthy to be noticed till they have proved\nthat they can beget children.\u201d[79.2] However, if a wife should prove\nbarren for three years, the rules of avoidance between the young\ncouple and their parents-in-law cease to be observed.[79.3] Hence the\ncustom of avoidance among these people is associated in some way with\nthe wife\u2019s fertility. So among the Awemba, a Bantu tribe of Northern\nRhodesia, \u201cif a young man sees his mother-in-law coming along the\npath, he must retreat into the bush and make way for her, or if she\nsuddenly comes upon him he must keep his eyes fixed on the ground, and\nonly after a child is born may they converse together.\u201d[79.4] Among\nthe Angoni, another Bantu tribe of British Central Africa, it would be\na gross breach of etiquette if a man were to enter his son-in-law\u2019s\nhouse; he may come within ten paces of the door, but no nearer. A\nwoman may not even approach her son-in-law\u2019s house, and she is never\nallowed to speak to him. Should they meet accidentally on a path, the\nson-in-law gives way and makes a circuit to avoid encountering his\nmother-in-law face to face.[79.5] Here then we {80} see that a man\navoids his son-in-law as well as his mother-in-law, though not so\nstrictly.\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of avoiding mother-in-law and wife of wife\u2019s\nbrother among the Thonga of Delagoa Bay.] Among the Thonga, a Bantu\ntribe about Delagoa Bay, when a man meets his mother-in-law or her\nsister on the road, he steps out of the road into the forest on the\nright hand side and sits down. She does the same. Then they salute\neach other in the usual way by clapping their hands. After that they\nmay talk to each other. When a man is in a hut, his mother-in-law dare\nnot enter it, but must sit down outside without seeing him. So seated\nshe may salute him, \u201cGood morning, son of So-and-so.\u201d But she would\nnot dare to pronounce his name. However, when a man has been married\nmany years, his mother-in-law has less fear of him, and will even\nenter the hut where he is and speak to him. But among the Thonga the\nwoman whom a man is bound by custom to avoid most rigidly is not his\nwife\u2019s mother, but the wife of his wife\u2019s brother. If the two meet on\na path, they carefully avoid each other; he will step out of the way\nand she will hurry on, while her companions, if she has any, will stop\nand chat with him. She will not enter the same boat with him, if she\ncan help it, to cross a river. She will not eat out of the same dish.\nIf he speaks to her, it is with constraint and embarrassment. He will\nnot enter her hut, but will crouch at the door and address her in a\nvoice trembling with emotion. Should there be no one else to bring him\nfood, she will do it reluctantly, watching his hut and putting the\nfood inside the door when he is absent. It is not that they dislike\neach other, but that they feel a mutual, a mysterious fear.[80.1]\nHowever, among the Thonga, the rules of avoidance between connexions\nby marriage decrease in severity as time passes. The strained\nrelations between a man and his wife\u2019s mother in particular become\neasier. He begins to call her \u201cMother\u201d and she calls him \u201cSon.\u201d This\nchange even goes so far that in some cases the man may go and dwell in\nthe village of his wife\u2019s parents, especially if he has children and\nthe children are grown up.[80.2] Again, among the Ovambo, a Bantu\n{81} people of German South-West Africa, a man may not look at his\nfuture mother-in-law while he talks with her, but is bound to keep his\neyes steadily fixed on the ground. In some cases the avoidance is even\nmore stringent; if the two meet unexpectedly, they separate at once.\nBut after the marriage has been celebrated, the social intercourse\nbetween mother-in-law and son-in-law becomes easier on both\nsides.[81.1]\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of avoiding the mother-in-law among other than\nthe Bantu tribes of Africa.] Thus far our examples of ceremonial\navoidance between mother-in-law and son-in-law have been drawn from\nBantu tribes. But in Africa the custom, though apparently most\nprevalent and most strongly marked among peoples of the great Bantu\nstock, is not confined to them. Among the Masai of British East\nAfrica, \u201cmothers-in-law and their sons-in-law must avoid one another\nas much as possible; and if a son-in-law enters his mother-in-law\u2019s\nhut she must retire into the inner compartment and sit on the bed,\nwhilst he remains in the outer compartment; they may then talk. Own\nbrothers-in-law and sisters-in-law must also avoid one another, though\nthis rule does not apply to half-brothers-in-law and\nsisters-in-law.\u201d[81.2] So, too, among the Bogos, a tribe on the\noutskirts of Abyssinia, a man never sees the face of his mother-in-law\nand never pronounces her name; the two take care not to meet.[81.3]\nAmong the Donaglas a husband after marriage \u201clives in his wife\u2019s house\nfor a year, without being allowed to see his mother-in-law, with whom\nhe enters into relations only on the birth of his first son.\u201d[81.4]\nIn Darfur, when a youth has been betrothed to a girl, however intimate\nhe may have been with her parents before, he ceases to see them until\nthe ceremony has taken place, and even avoids them in the street.\nThey, on their part, hide their faces, if they happen to meet him\nunexpectedly.[81.5]\n\n{82}\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of avoiding relations by marriage in Sumatra\nand New Guinea.] To pass now from Africa to other parts of the world,\namong the Looboos, a primitive tribe in the tropical forests of\nSumatra, custom forbids a woman to be in her father-in-law\u2019s company\nand a man to be in his mother-in-law\u2019s society. For example, if a man\nmeets his daughter-in-law, he should cross over to the other side of\nthe road to let her pass as far as possible from him; but if the way\nis too narrow, he takes care in time to get out of it. But no such\nreserve is prescribed between a father-in-law and his son-in-law, or\nbetween a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law.[82.1] Among the\nBukaua, a Melanesian tribe of German New Guinea, the rules of\navoidance between persons connected by marriage are very stringent;\nthey may not touch each other or mention each other\u2019s names. But\ncontrary to the usual practice the avoidance seems to be quite as\nstrict between persons of the same sex as between males and females.\nAt least the writer who reports the custom illustrates it chiefly by\nthe etiquette which is observed between a man and his daughter\u2019s\nhusband. When a man eats in presence of his son-in-law, he veils his\nface; but if nevertheless his son-in-law should see his open mouth,\nthe father-in-law is so ashamed that he runs away into the wood. If he\ngives his son-in-law anything, such as betel or tobacco, he will never\nput it in his hand, but pours it on a leaf, and the son-in-law fetches\nit away. If father-in-law and son-in-law both take part in a wild boar\nhunt, the son-in-law will abstain from seizing or binding the boar,\nlest he should chance to touch his father-in-law. If, however, through\nany accident their hands or backs should come into contact, the\nfather-in-law is extremely horrified, and a dog must be at once\nkilled, which he gives to his son-in-law for the purpose of wiping out\nthe stain on his honour. If the two should ever fall out about\nanything, the son-in-law will leave the village and his wife, and will\nstay away in some other place till his father-in-law, for his\ndaughter\u2019s sake, calls him back. A man in like manner will never touch\nhis sister-in-law.[82.2]\n\n{83}\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of avoiding relations by marriage among the\nIndian tribes of America.] Among the low savages of the Californian\npeninsula a man was not allowed for some time to look into the face of\nhis mother-in-law or of his wife\u2019s other near relations; when these\nwomen were present he had to step aside or hide himself.[83.1] Among\nthe Indians of the Isla del Malhado in Florida a father-in-law and\nmother-in-law might not enter the house of their son-in-law, and he on\nhis side might not appear before his father-in-law and his relations.\nIf they met by accident they had to go apart to the distance of a\nbowshot, holding their heads down and their eyes turned to the earth.\nBut a woman was free to converse with the father and mother of her\nhusband.[83.2] Among the Indians of Yucatan, if a betrothed man saw\nhis future father-in-law or mother-in-law at a distance, he turned\naway as quickly as possible, believing that a meeting with them would\nprevent him from begetting children.[83.3] Among the Arawaks of\nBritish Guiana a man may never see the face of his wife\u2019s mother. If\nshe is in the house with him, they must be separated by a screen or\npartition-wall; if she travels with him in a canoe, she steps in\nfirst, in order that she may turn her back to him.[83.4] Among the\nCaribs \u201cthe women never quit their father\u2019s house, and in that they\nhave an advantage over their husbands in as much as they may talk to\nall sorts of people, whereas the husband dare not converse with his\nwife\u2019s relations, unless he is dispensed from this observance either\nby their tender age or by their intoxication. They shun meeting them\nand make great circuits for that purpose. If they are surprised in a\nplace where they cannot help meeting, the person addressed turns his\nface another way so as not to be obliged to see the person, whose\nvoice he is compelled to hear.\u201d[83.5] {84} Among the Araucanian\nIndians of Chili a man\u2019s mother-in-law refuses to speak to or even to\nlook at him during the marriage festivity, and \u201cthe point of honour\nis, in some instances, carried so far, that for years after the\nmarriage the mother never addresses her son-in-law face to face;\nthough with her back turned, or with the interposition of a fence or\na partition, she will converse with him freely.\u201d[84.1]\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of avoiding relations by marriage cannot be\nseparated from the similar custom of avoiding relations by blood; both\nare probably precautions to prevent improper relations between the\nsexes.] It would be easy to multiply examples of similar customs of\navoidance between persons closely connected by marriage, but the\nforegoing may serve as specimens. Now in order to determine the\nmeaning of such customs it is very important to observe that similar\ncustoms of avoidance are practised in some tribes not merely between\npersons connected with each other by marriage, but also between the\nnearest blood relations of different sexes, namely, between parents\nand children and between brothers and sisters;[84.2] and the customs\nare so alike that it seems difficult or impossible to separate them\nand to offer one explanation of the avoidance of connexions by\nmarriage and another different explanation of the avoidance of blood\nrelations. Yet this is what is done by some who attempt to explain the\ncustoms of avoidance; or rather they confine their attention wholly to\nconnexions by marriage, or even to mothers-in-law alone, while they\ncompletely ignore blood relations, although in point of fact it is the\navoidance of blood relations which seems to furnish the key to the\nproblem of such avoidances in general. The true explanation of all\nsuch customs of avoidance appears to be, as I have already indicated,\nthat they are precautions designed to remove the temptation to sexual\nintercourse between persons whose marriage union is for any reason\nrepugnant to the moral sense of the community. This explanation, while\nit has been rejected by theorists at home, {85} has been adopted by\nsome of the best observers of savage life, whose opinion is entitled\nto carry the greatest weight.[85.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Mutual avoidance of mother and son, of father and\ndaughter, and of brother and sister among the Battas.] That a fear of\nimproper intimacy even between the nearest blood relations is not\nbaseless among races of a lower culture seems proved by the testimony\nof a Dutch missionary in regard to the Battas or Bataks of Sumatra, a\npeople who have attained to a fairly high degree of barbaric\ncivilization. The Battas \u201cobserve certain rules of avoidance in regard\nto near relations by blood or marriage; and we are informed that such\navoidance springs not from the strictness but from the looseness of\ntheir moral practice. A Batta, it is said, assumes that a solitary\nmeeting of a man with a woman leads to an improper intimacy between\nthem. But at the same time he believes that incest or the sexual\nintercourse of near relations excites the anger of the gods and\nentails calamities of all sorts. Hence near relations are obliged to\navoid each other lest they should succumb to temptation. A Batta, for\nexample, would think it shocking were a brother to escort his sister\nto an evening party. Even in the presence of others a Batta brother\nand sister feel embarrassed. If one of them comes into the house, the\nother will go away. Further, a man may never be alone in the house\nwith his daughter, nor a mother with her son. A man may never speak to\nhis mother-in-law nor a woman to her father-in-law. The Dutch\nmissionary who reports these customs adds that he is sorry to say that\nfrom what he knows of the Battas he believes the maintenance of most\nof these rules to be very necessary. For the same reason, he tells us,\nas soon as Batta lads have reached the age of puberty they are no\nlonger allowed to sleep in the family house but are sent away to pass\nthe night in a separate building (_djambon_); and similarly as soon as\na man loses his wife by death he is excluded from the house.\u201d[85.2]\n\n{86}\n\n[Sidenote: Mutual avoidance of mother and son and of brother and\nsister among the Melanesians.] In like manner among the Melanesians\nof the Banks\u2019 Islands and the New Hebrides a man must not only avoid\nhis mother-in-law; from the time when he reaches or approaches puberty\nand has begun to wear clothes instead of running about naked, he must\navoid his mother and sisters, and he may no longer live in the same\nhouse with them; he takes up his quarters in the clubhouse of the\nunmarried males, where he now regularly eats and sleeps. He may go to\nhis father\u2019s house to ask for food, but if his sister is within he\nmust go away before he eats; if she is not there, he may sit down near\nthe door and eat. If by chance brother and sister meet in the path,\nshe runs away or hides. If a boy, walking on the sands, perceives\nfootprints which he knows to be those of his sister, he will not\nfollow them, nor will she follow his. This mutual avoidance lasts\nthrough life. Not only must he avoid the persons of his sisters, but\nhe may not pronounce their names or even use a common word which\nhappens to form part of any one of their names. In like manner his\nsisters eschew the use of his name and of all words which form part of\nit. Strict, too, is a boy\u2019s reserve towards his mother from the time\nwhen he begins to wear clothes, and the reserve increases as he grows\nto manhood. It is greater on her side than on his. He may go to the\nhouse and ask for food and his mother may bring it out for him, but\nshe will not give it to him; she puts it down for him to take. If she\ncalls to him to come, she speaks to him in the plural, in a more\ndistant manner; \u201cCome ye,\u201d she says, not \u201cCome thou.\u201d If they talk\ntogether she sits at a little distance and turns away, for she is shy\nof her grown-up son. \u201cThe meaning of all this,\u201d as Dr. Codrington\nobserves, \u201cis obvious.\u201d[86.1] [Sidenote: Mutual avoidance of a man\nand his mother-in-law among the Melanesians.] When a Melanesian man\nof the Banks\u2019 Islands marries, he is bound in like manner to avoid his\nmother-in-law. \u201cThe rules of avoidance are very strict and minute. As\nregards the avoidance of the person, a man will not come near his\nwife\u2019s mother; the avoidance is mutual; if the two chance to meet in\na path, the woman will step out of it and stand with her back turned\ntill he has gone by, or perhaps if it be more {87} convenient he will\nmove out of the way. At Vanua Lava, in Port Patteson, a man would not\nfollow his mother-in-law along the beach, nor she him, until the tide\nhad washed out the footsteps of the first traveller from the sand. At\nthe same time a man and his mother-in-law will talk at a\ndistance.\u201d[87.1]\n\n[Sidenote: It is significant that mutual avoidance between blood\nrelations of opposite sexes begins at or near puberty.] It seems\nobvious that these Melanesian customs of avoidance are the same, and\nmust be explained in the same way whether the woman whom a man shuns\nis his wife\u2019s mother or his own mother or his sister. Now it is highly\nsignificant that just as among the Akamba of East Africa the mutual\navoidance of father and daughter only begins when the girl has reached\npuberty, so among the Melanesians the mutual avoidance of a boy on the\none side and of his mother and sisters on the other only begins when\nthe boy has reached or approached puberty. Thus in both peoples the\navoidance between the nearest blood relations only commences at the\ndangerous age when sexual connexion on both sides begins to be\npossible. It seems difficult, therefore, to evade the conclusion that\nthe mutual avoidance is adopted for no other reason than to diminish\nas far as possible the chances of sexual unions which public opinion\ncondemns as incestuous. But if that is the reason why a young\nMelanesian boy, on the verge of puberty, avoids his own mother and\nsisters, it is natural and almost necessary to infer that it is the\nsame reason which leads him, as a full-grown and married man, to\neschew the company of his wife\u2019s mother.\n\n[Sidenote: Mutual avoidance of mother and son, of father and\ndaughter, and of brother and sister in the Caroline Islands.] Similar\ncustoms of avoidance between mothers and sons, between fathers and\ndaughters, and between brothers and sisters are observed by the\nnatives of the Caroline Islands, and the writer who records them\nassigns the fear of incest as the motive for their observance. \u201cThe\nprohibition of marriage,\u201d he says, \u201cand of sexual intercourse between\nkinsfolk of the same tribe is regarded by the Central Caroline natives\nas a divine ordinance; its breach is therefore, in their opinion,\npunished by the higher powers with sickness or death. The law\ninfluences in a characteristic way the whole social life of the\nislanders, for efforts {88} are made to keep members of families of\ndifferent sexes apart from each other even in their youth. Unmarried\nmen and boys, from the time when they begin to speak, may therefore\nnot remain by night in the huts, but must sleep in the _fel_, the\nassembly-house. In the evening their meal (_\u00e2kot_) is brought thither\nto them by their mothers or sisters. Only when a son is sick may his\nmother receive him in the hut and tend him there. On the other hand\nentrance to the assembly-house (_fel_) is forbidden to women and girls\nexcept on the occasion of the _pwarik_ festival; whereas female\nmembers of other tribes are free to visit it, although, so far as I\ncould observe, they seldom make use of the permission. Unmarried girls\nsleep in the huts with their parents.\n\n\u201cThese restrictions, which custom and tradition have instituted within\nthe family, find expression also in the behaviour of the members of\nfamilies toward each other. The following persons, namely, have to be\ntreated with respect--the daughters by their father, the sons by their\nmother, the brothers by their sisters. In presence of such relations,\nas in the presence of a chief, you may not stand, but must sit down;\nif you are obliged on narrow paths to pass by one of them you must\nfirst obtain permission and then do it in a stooping or creeping\nposture. You allow them everywhere to go in front; you also avoid to\ndrink out of the vessel which they have just used; you do not touch\nthem, but keep always at a certain distance from them; the head\nespecially is deemed sacred.\u201d[88.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Mutual avoidance of male and female cousins in some\ntribes.] In all these cases the custom of mutual avoidance is\nobserved by persons of opposite sex who, though physically capable of\nsexual union, are forbidden by tradition and public opinion to have\nany such commerce with each other. Thus far the blood relations whom a\nman is forbidden to marry and compelled to avoid, are his own mother,\nhis own daughter, and his own sisters. But to this list some people\nadd a man\u2019s female cousins or at least certain of them; for many races\ndraw a sharp line of distinction between cousins according {89} as\nthey are children of two brothers or of two sisters or of a brother\nand a sister, and while they permit or even prefer marriage with\ncertain cousins, they absolutely forbid marriage with certain others.\nNow, it is highly significant that some tribes which forbid a man to\nmarry certain of his cousins also compel him to adopt towards them the\nsame attitude of social reserve which in the same or other tribes a\nman is obliged to observe towards his wife\u2019s mother, his own mother,\nand his own sisters, all of whom in like manner he is forbidden to\nmarry. [Sidenote: Mutual avoidance of male and female cousins in New\nIreland.] Thus among the tribes in the central part of New Ireland\n(New Mecklenburg) a male and a female cousin, the children of a\nbrother and a sister respectively, are most strictly forbidden by\ncustom to marry each other; indeed this prohibition is described as\nthe most stringent of all; the usual saying in regard to such\nrelations is, \u201cThe cousin is holy\u201d (_i t\u00e1bu ra k\u00f3kup_). Now, in\nthese tribes a man is not merely forbidden to marry his female cousin,\nthe daughter of his father\u2019s sister or of his mother\u2019s brother; he\nmust also avoid her socially, just as in other tribes a man must avoid\nhis wife\u2019s mother, his own mother, his own daughter, and his own\nsisters. The cousins may not approach each other, they may not shake\nhands or even touch each other, they may not give each other presents,\nthey may not mention each other\u2019s names; but they are allowed to speak\nto each other at a distance of some paces. These rules of avoidance,\nthese social barriers erected between cousins, the children of a\nbrother and a sister respectively, are interpreted most naturally and\nsimply as precautions intended to obviate the danger of a criminal\nintercourse between persons whose sexual union would be regarded by\npublic opinion with deep displeasure. Indeed the Catholic missionary,\nto whom we are indebted for the information, assumes this\ninterpretation of the rules as if it were too obvious to call for\nserious discussion. He says that all the customs of avoidance \u201care\nobserved as outward symbols of this prohibition of marriage\u201d; and he\nadds that \u201cwere the outward sign of the prohibition of marriage, to\nwhich the natives cleave with genuine obstinacy, abolished or even\nweakened, there would be an immediate danger of the natives\ncontracting such {90} marriages.\u201d[90.1] It seems difficult for a\nrational man to draw any other inference. If any confirmation were\nneeded, it would be furnished by the fact that among these tribes of\nNew Ireland brothers and sisters are obliged to observe precisely the\nsame rules of mutual avoidance, and that incest between brother and\nsister is a crime which is punished with hanging; they may not come\nnear each other, they may not shake hands, they may not touch each\nother, they may not give each other presents; but they are allowed to\nspeak to each other at a distance of some paces. And the penalty for\nincest with a daughter is also death by hanging.[90.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Mutual avoidance of certain male and female cousins among\nthe Baganda; marriage or sexual intercourse forbidden between these\ncousins under pain of death.] Amongst the Baganda of Central Africa\nin like manner a man was forbidden under pain of death to marry or\nhave sexual intercourse with his cousin, the daughter either of his\nfather\u2019s sister or of his mother\u2019s brother; and such cousins might not\napproach each other, nor hand each other anything, nor enter the same\nhouse, nor eat out of the same dish. Were cousins to break these rules\nof social avoidance, in other words, if they were to approach each\nother or hand each other anything, it was believed that they would\nfall ill, that their hands would tremble, and that they would be unfit\nfor any work.[90.3] Here, again, the prohibition of social\nintercourse was in all probability merely a precaution against sexual\nintercourse, for which the penalty was death. And the same may be said\nof the similar custom of avoidance which among these same Baganda a\nman had to observe towards his wife\u2019s mother. \u201cNo man might see his\nmother-in-law, or speak face to face with her; she covered her face,\nif she passed her son-in-law, and he gave her the path and made a\ndetour, if he saw her coming. If she was in the house, he might not\nenter, but he was allowed to speak to her from a distance. This was\nsaid to be because he had seen her daughter\u2019s nakedness. If a\nson-in-law accidentally {91} saw his mother-in-law\u2019s breasts, he sent\nher a barkcloth in compensation, to cover herself, lest some illness,\nsuch as tremor, should come upon him. The punishment for incest was\ndeath; no member of a clan would shield a person guilty thereof; the\noffender was disowned by the clan, tried by the chief of the district,\nand put to death.\u201d[91.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Marriage between certain cousins forbidden among some\nSouth African tribes but allowed among others.] The prohibition of\nmarriage with certain cousins appears to be widespread among African\npeoples of the Bantu stock. Thus in regard to the Bantus of South\nAfrica we read that \u201cevery man of a coast tribe regarded himself as\nthe protector of those females whom we would call his cousins, second\ncousins, third cousins, and so forth, on the father\u2019s side, while some\nhad a similar feeling towards the same relatives on the mother\u2019s side\nas well, and classified them all as sisters. Immorality with one of\nthem would have been considered incestuous, something horrible,\nsomething unutterably disgraceful. Of old it was punished by the death\nof the male, and even now a heavy fine is inflicted upon him, while\nthe guilt of the female must be atoned by a sacrifice performed with\ndue ceremony by the tribal priest, or it is believed a curse will rest\nupon her and her issue.\u2026 In contrast to this prohibition the native of\nthe interior almost as a rule married the daughter of his father\u2019s\nbrother, in order, as he said, to keep property from being lost to his\nfamily. This custom more than anything else created a disgust and\ncontempt for them by the people of the coast, who term such\nintermarriages the union of dogs, and attribute to them the insanity\nand idiocy which in recent times has become prevalent among the inland\ntribes.\u201d[91.2]\n\n{92}\n\n[Sidenote: Marriage between cousins allowed in some African tribes on\ncondition that an expiatory sacrifice is offered.] Among the Thonga,\na Bantu tribe about Delagoa Bay, marriages between cousins are as a\nrule prohibited, and it is believed that such unions are unfruitful.\nHowever, custom permits cousins to marry each other on condition that\nthey perform an expiatory ceremony which is supposed to avert the\ncurse of barrenness from the wife. A goat is sacrificed, and the\ncouple are anointed with the green liquid extracted from the\nhalf-digested grass in the animal\u2019s stomach. Then a hole is cut in the\ngoat\u2019s skin and through this hole the heads of the cousins are\ninserted. The goat\u2019s liver is then handed to them, quite raw, through\nthe hole in the skin, and they must tear it out with their teeth\nwithout using a knife. Having torn it out, they eat it. The word for\nliver (_shibindji_) also means \u201cpatience,\u201d \u201cdetermination.\u201d So they\nsay to the couple, \u201cYou have acted with strong determination. Eat the\nliver now! Eat it in the full light of the day, not in the dark! It\nwill be an offering to the gods.\u201d Then the family priest prays,\nsaying: \u201cYou, our gods, So-and-so, look! We have done it in the\ndaylight. It has not been done by stealth. Bless them, give them\nchildren!\u201d When he has done praying, the assistants take all the\nhalf-digested grass from the goat\u2019s stomach and place it on the wife\u2019s\nhead, saying, \u201cGo and bear children!\u201d[92.1] Among the Wagogo of\nGerman East Africa marriage is forbidden between cousins who are the\nchildren of two brothers or of two sisters, but is permitted between\ncousins who are the children of a brother and sister respectively.\nHowever, in this case it is usual for the wife\u2019s father to kill a\nsheep and put on a leather armlet, made presumably from the sheep\u2019s\nskin; otherwise it is supposed that the marriage would be\nunfruitful.[92.2] Thus the Wagogo, like the Thonga, imagine that the\nmarriage of cousins is doomed to infertility unless an expiatory\nsacrifice is offered and a peculiar use made of the victim\u2019s skin.\nAgain, the Akikuyu of British East Africa forbid the marriage of\ncousins and second cousins, the children and grandchildren of brothers\nand sisters. If such persons {93} married, they would commit a grave\nsin, and all their children would surely die; for the curse or\nceremonial pollution (_thahu_) incurred by such a crime cannot be\npurged away. Nevertheless it sometimes happens that a man unwittingly\nmarries a first or second cousin; for instance, if a part of the\nfamily moves away to another district, it may come about that a man\nmakes the acquaintance of a girl and marries her before he discovers\nthe relationship. In such a case, where the sin has been committed\nunknowingly, the curse can be averted by the performance of an\nexpiatory rite. The elders take a sheep and place it on the woman\u2019s\nshoulders; there it is killed and the intestines taken out. Then the\nelders solemnly sever the intestines with a sharp splinter of wood\ntaken from a bush of a certain sort (_mukeo_), \u201cand they announce that\nthey are cutting the clan _kutinyarurira_, by which they mean that\nthey are severing the bond of relationship which exists between the\npair. A medicine man then comes and purifies the couple.\u201d[93.1] In\nall these cases we may assume with a fair degree of probability that\nthe old prohibition of marriage between cousins is breaking down, and\nthat the expiatory sacrifice offered when such a marriage does take\nplace is merely a salve to the uneasy conscience of those who commit\nor connive at a breach of the ancient taboo.\n\n[Sidenote: The mutual avoidance of male and female cousins is\nprobably a precaution against a criminal intimacy between them.] Thus\nthe prohibition of marriage between cousins, and the rules of\nceremonial avoidance observed in some tribes between persons who stand\nin that relationship to each other, appear both to spring from a\nbelief, right or wrong, in the injurious effects of such unions and\nfrom a desire to avoid them. The mutual avoidance of the cousins is\nmerely a precaution to prevent a closer and more criminal intimacy\nbetween them. If that is so, it furnishes a confirmation of the view\nthat all the customs of ceremonial avoidance between blood relations\nor connexions by marriage of opposite sexes are based simply on a fear\nof incest.\n\n[Sidenote: The mutual avoidance between a man and his wife\u2019s\nrelations seems to be partly grounded on a fear of rendering the wife\ninfertile.] The theory is perhaps confirmed by the observation that\nin some tribes the avoidance between a man and his {94} wife\u2019s mother\nlasts only until he has had a child by his wife;[94.1] while in\nothers, though avoidance continues longer, it gradually wears away\nwith time as the man and woman advance in years,[94.2] and in others,\nagain, it is observed only between a man and his future mother-in-law,\nand comes to an end with his marriage.[94.3] These customs suggest\nthat in the minds of the people who practise them there is a close\nconnexion between the avoidance of the wife\u2019s relations and the dread\nof an infertile marriage. The Indians of Yucatan, as we saw, believe\nthat if a betrothed man were to meet his future mother-in-law or\nfather-in-law, he would thereby lose the power of begetting children.\nSuch a fear seems to be only an extension by false analogy of that\nbelief in the disastrous consequences of illicit sexual relations\nwhich we dealt with in an earlier part of this chapter,[94.4] and of\nwhich we shall have more to say presently.[94.5] From thinking,\nrightly or wrongly, that sexual intercourse between certain persons is\nfraught with serious dangers, the savage jumped to the conclusion that\nsocial intercourse between them may be also perilous by virtue of a\nsort of physical infection acting through simple contact or even at a\ndistance; or if, in many cases, he did not go so far as to suppose\nthat for a man merely to see or touch his mother-in-law sufficed to\nblast the fertility of his wife\u2019s womb, yet he may have thought, with\nmuch better reason, that intimate social converse between him and her\nmight easily lead to something worse, and that to guard against such a\npossibility it was best to raise a strong barrier of etiquette between\nthem. It is not, of course, to be supposed that these rules of\navoidance were the result of deliberate legislation; rather they were\nthe spontaneous and gradual growth of feelings and thoughts of which\nthe savages themselves perhaps had no clear consciousness. In what\nprecedes I have merely attempted to sum up in language intelligible to\ncivilized man the outcome of a long course of moral and social\nevolution.\n\nThese considerations perhaps obviate to some extent the only serious\ndifficulty which lies in the way of the theory {95} here advocated.\n[Sidenote: The mutual avoidance between persons of the same sex was\nprobably an extension by false analogy of the mutual avoidance between\npersons of different sexes.] If the custom of avoidance was adopted\nin order to guard against the danger of incest, how comes it that the\ncustom is often observed towards persons of the same sex, for example,\nby a man towards his father-in-law as well as towards his\nmother-in-law? The difficulty is undoubtedly serious: the only way of\nmeeting it that I can suggest is the one I have already indicated. We\nmay suppose that the deeply rooted beliefs of the savage in the fatal\neffects of marriage between certain classes of persons, whether\nrelations by blood or connexions by marriage, gradually spread in his\nmind so as to embrace the relations between men and men as well as\nbetween men and women; till he had worked himself into the conviction\nthat to see or touch his father-in-law, for example, was nearly or\nquite as dangerous as to touch or have improper relations with his\nmother-in-law. It is no doubt easy for us to detect the flaw in this\nprocess of reasoning; but we should beware of casting stones at the\nillogical savage, for it is possible or even probable that many of our\nown cherished convictions are no better founded.\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of mutual avoidance between near relations has\nprobably had the effect of checking the practice of inbreeding.]\nViewed from this standpoint the customs of ceremonial avoidance among\nsavages assume a serious aspect very different from the appearance of\narbitrariness and absurdity which they are apt to present to the\ncivilized observer who does not look below the surface of savage\nsociety. So far as these customs have helped, as they probably have\ndone, to suppress the tendency to inbreeding, that is, to the marriage\nof near relations, we must conclude that their effect has been\nsalutary, if, as many eminent biologists hold, long-continued\ninbreeding is injurious to the stock, whether animal or vegetable, by\nrendering it in the end infertile.[95.1] However, men of science are\nas yet by no means agreed as to the results of consanguineous\nmarriages, and a living authority on the subject has recently closed a\nreview of the evidence as follows: \u201cWhen we take into account such\nevidence as there is from animals and plants, and such studies as\nthose of Huth,[95.2] and {96} the instances and counter-instances of\ncommunities with a high degree of consanguinity, we are led to the\nconclusion that the prejudices and laws of many peoples against the\nmarriage of near kin rest on a basis not so much biological as\nsocial.\u201d[96.1] Whatever may be the ultimate verdict of science on\nthis disputed question, it will not affect the result of the present\nenquiry, which merely affirms the deep and far-reaching influence\nwhich in the long course of human history superstition has exercised\non morality. Whether the influence has on the whole been for good or\nevil does not concern us. It suffices for our purpose to shew that\nsuperstition has been a crutch to morality, whether to support it in\nthe fair way of virtue or to precipitate it into the miry pit of vice.\nTo return to the point from which we wandered into this digression, we\nmust leave in suspense the question whether the Australian savages\nwere wise or foolish who forbade a man under pain of death to speak to\nhis mother-in-law.\n\n[Sidenote: Other examples of the severe punishment of sexual crime.]\nI will conclude this part of my subject with a few more instances of\nthe extreme severity with which certain races have visited what they\ndeemed improper connexions between the sexes.\n\n[Sidenote: The Indians of Brazil.] Among the Indians who inhabited\nthe coast of Brazil near Rio de Janeiro about the middle of the\nsixteenth century, a married woman who gave birth to an illegitimate\nchild was either killed or abandoned to the caprice of the young men\nwho could not afford to keep a wife. Her child was buried alive; for\nthey said that were he to grow up he would only serve to perpetuate\nhis mother\u2019s disgrace; he would not be allowed to go to war with the\nrest for fear of the misfortunes and disasters he might draw down upon\nthem, and no one would eat any food, whether venison, fish, or what\nnot, which the miserable outcast had touched.[96.2] [Sidenote: The\nnatives of Ruanda.] In Ruanda, a district of Central Africa, down to\nrecent years any unmarried woman who was got with child used to be put\nto death with her baby, whether born or unborn. A spot at the mouth of\nthe Akanyaru river was the place of execution, {97} where the guilty\nwomen and their innocent offspring were hurled into the water. As\nusual, this Puritanical strictness of morality has been relaxed under\nEuropean influence; illegitimate children are still killed, but their\nmothers escape with the fine of a cow.[97.1] [Sidenote: The\nSaxons.] Among the Saxons down to the days of St. Boniface the\nadulteress or the maiden who had dishonoured her father\u2019s house was\ncompelled to hang herself, was burned, and her paramour hung over the\nblazing pile; or she was scourged or cut to pieces with knives by all\nthe women of the village till she was dead.[97.2] [Sidenote: The\nSouthern Slavs.] Among the Slav peoples of the Balkan peninsula women\nconvicted of immoral conduct used to be stoned to death. About the\nyear 1770 a young betrothed couple were thus executed near Cattaro in\nDalmatia, because the girl was found to be with child. The youth\noffered to marry her, and the priest begged that the sentence of death\nmight be commuted to perpetual banishment; but the people declared\nthat they would not have a bastard born among them; and the two\nfathers of the luckless couple threw the first stones at them. When\nMiss M. Edith Durham related this case to some Montenegrin peasantry,\nthey all said that in the old days stoning was the proper punishment\nfor unchaste women; the male paramours were shot by the relations of\nthe girls whom they had seduced. When \u201cthat modern Messalina,\u201d Queen\nDraga of Servia, was murdered, a decent peasant woman remarked that\n\u201cshe ought to be under the cursed stone heap\u201d (_pod prokletu gomilu_).\nThe country-folk of Montenegro, who heard the news of the murder from\nMiss Durham, \u201clooked on it as a cleansing--a casting out of\nabominations--and genuinely believed that Europe would commend the\ndeed, and that the removal of this sinful woman would bring prosperity\nto the land.\u201d[97.3] Even down to the second half of the {98}\nnineteenth century in cases of seduction among the Southern Slavs the\npeople proposed to stone both the culprits to death.[98.1] This\nhappened, for example, in Herzegovina in the year 1859, when a young\nman named Milutin seduced or (to be more exact) was seduced by three\nunmarried girls and got them all with child. The people sat in\njudgment upon the sinners, and, though an elder proposed to stone them\nall, the court passed a milder sentence. The young man was to marry\none of the girls, to rear the infants of the other two as his\nlegitimate children, and next time there was a fight with the Turks he\nwas to prove his manhood by rushing unarmed upon the enemy and\nwresting their weapons from them, alive or dead. The sentence was\nfulfilled to the letter, though many years passed before the culprit\ncould carry out the last part of it. However, his time came in 1875,\nwhen Herzegovina revolted against the Turks. Then Milutin ran unarmed\nupon a regiment of the enemy and found among the Turkish bayonets a\nhero\u2019s death.[98.2] Even now the Old Catholics among the South Slavs\nbelieve that a village in which a seducer is not compelled to marry\nhis victim will be punished with hail and excessive rain. For this\narticle of faith, however, they are ridiculed by their enlightened\nCatholic neighbours, who hold the far more probable view that thunder\nand lightning are caused by the village priest to revenge himself for\nunreasonable delays in the payment of his salary. A heavy hail-storm\nhas been known to prove almost fatal to the local incumbent, who was\nbeaten within an inch of his life by his enraged parishioners.[98.3]\n\n[Sidenote: Inference from the severe punishments inflicted for sexual\noffences.] It is difficult to believe that in these and similar cases\nthe community would inflict such severe punishment for sexual offences\nif it did not believe that its own safety, and not merely the interest\nof a few individuals, was imperilled thereby.\n\n{99}\n\n[Sidenote: Why should illicit relations between the sexes be thought\nto disturb the balance of nature?] If now we ask why illicit\nrelations between the sexes should be supposed to disturb the balance\nof nature and particularly to blast the fruits of the earth, a partial\nanswer may be conjecturally suggested. It is not enough to say that\nsuch relations are displeasing to the gods, who punish\nindiscriminately the whole community for the sins of a few. For we\nmust always bear in mind that the gods are creations of man\u2019s fancy;\nhe fashions them in human likeness, and endows them with tastes and\nopinions which are merely vast cloudy projections of his own. To\naffirm, therefore, that something is a sin because the gods will it\nso, is only to push the enquiry one stage farther back and to raise\nthe further question, Why are the gods supposed to dislike and punish\nthese particular acts? [Sidenote: The reason why the gods of savages\nare supposed to punish sexual crimes so severely may perhaps be found\nin a mistaken belief that irregularities of the human sexes prevent\nthe reproduction of edible animals and plants and thereby strike a\nfatal blow at the food supply.] In the case with which we are here\nconcerned, the reason why so many savage gods prohibit adultery,\nfornication, and incest under pain of their severe displeasure may\nperhaps be found in the analogy which many savage men trace between\nthe reproduction of the human species and the reproduction of animals\nand plants. The analogy is not purely fanciful, on the contrary it is\nreal and vital; but primitive peoples have given it a false extension\nin a vain attempt to apply it practically to increasing the food\nsupply. They have imagined, in fact, that by performing or abstaining\nfrom certain sexual acts they thereby directly promoted the\nreproduction of animals and the multiplication of plants.[99.1] All\nsuch acts and abstinences, it is obvious, are purely superstitious and\nwholly fail to effect the desired {100} result. They are not religious\nbut magical; that is, they compass their end, not by an appeal to the\ngods, but by manipulating natural forces in accordance with certain\nfalse ideas of physical causation. In the present case the principle\non which savages seek to propagate animals and plants is that of\nmagical sympathy or imitation: they fancy that they assist the\nreproductive process in nature by mimicking or performing it among\nthemselves. Now in the evolution of society such efforts to control\nthe course of nature directly by means of magical rites appear to have\npreceded the efforts to control it indirectly by appealing to the\nvanity and cupidity, the good-nature and pity of the gods; in short,\nmagic seems to be older than religion.[100.1] In most races, it is\ntrue, the epoch of unadulterated magic, of magic untinged by religion,\nbelongs to such a remote past that its existence, like that of our\nape-like ancestors, can be a matter of inference only; almost\neverywhere in history and the world we find magic and religion side by\nside, at one time allies, at another enemies, now playing into each\nother\u2019s hands, now cursing, objurgating, and vainly attempting to\nexterminate one another. On the whole the lower intelligences cling\nclosely, though secretly, to magic, while the higher intelligences\nhave discerned the vanity of its pretensions and turned to religion\ninstead. The result has been that beliefs and rites which were purely\nmagical in origin often contract in course of time a religious\ncharacter; they are modified in accordance with the advance of\nthought, they are translated into terms of gods and spirits, whether\ngood and beneficent, or evil and malignant. We may surmise, though we\ncannot prove, that a change of this sort has come over the minds of\nmany races with regard to sexual morality. At some former time,\nperhaps, straining a real analogy too far, they believed that those\nrelations of the human sexes which for any reason they regarded as\nright and natural had a tendency to promote sympathetically the\npropagation of animals and plants and thereby to ensure a supply of\nfood for the community; while on the contrary they may have imagined\nthat those relations of the human sexes which for any reason {101}\nthey deemed wrong and unnatural had a tendency to thwart and impede\nthe propagation of animals and plants and thereby to diminish the\ncommon supply of food.\n\n[Sidenote: Such a belief would account both for the horror with which\nmany savages regard such crimes, and for the severity with which they\npunish them.] Such a belief, it is obvious, would furnish a\nsufficient motive for the strict prohibition of what were deemed\nimproper relations between men and women; and it would explain the\ndeep horror and detestation with which sexual irregularities are\nviewed by many, though certainly not by all, savage tribes. For if\nimproper relations between the human sexes prevent animals and plants\nfrom multiplying, they strike a fatal blow at the existence of the\ntribe by cutting off its supply of food at the roots. No wonder,\ntherefore, that wherever such superstitions have prevailed the whole\ncommunity, believing its very existence to be put in jeopardy by\nsexual immorality, should turn savagely on the culprits, and beat,\nburn, drown or otherwise exterminate them in order to rid itself of so\ndangerous a pollution. And when with the advance of knowledge men\nbegan to perceive the mistake they had made in imagining that the\ncommerce of the human sexes could affect the propagation of animals\nand plants, they would still through long habit be so inured to the\nidea of the wickedness of certain sexual relations that they could not\ndismiss it from their minds, even when they discerned the fallacious\nnature of the reasoning by which they had arrived at it. The old\npractice would therefore stand, though the old theory had fallen: the\nold rules of sexual morality would continue to be observed, but if\nthey were to retain the respect of the community, it was necessary to\nplace them on a new theoretical basis. That basis, in accordance with\nthe general advance of thought, was supplied by religion. Sexual\nrelations which had once been condemned as wrong and unnatural because\nthey were supposed to thwart the natural multiplication of animals and\nplants and thereby to diminish the food supply, would now be condemned\nbecause it was imagined that they were displeasing to gods or spirits,\nthose stalking-horses which savage man rigs out in the cast-off\nclothes of his still more savage ancestors. The moral practice would\ntherefore remain the same, though its theoretical basis had been\nshifted from magic to religion. In this or some such way as this {102}\nwe may conjecture that the Karens, Dyaks, and other savages reached\nthose curious conceptions of sexual immorality and its consequences\nwhich we have been considering. But from the nature of the case the\ndevelopment of moral theory which I have sketched is purely\nhypothetical and hardly admits of verification.\n\n[Sidenote: But the reason why savages came to regard certain sexual\nrelations as irregular and immoral remains obscure.] However, even if\nwe assume for a moment that the savages in question reached their\npresent view of sexual immorality in the way I have surmised, there\nstill remains the question, How did they originally come to regard\ncertain relations of the sexes as immoral? For clearly the notion that\nsuch immorality interferes with the course of nature must have been\nsecondary and derivative: people must on independent grounds have\nconcluded that certain relations between men and women were wrong and\ninjurious before they extended the conclusion by false analogy to\nnature. The question brings us face to face with the deepest and\ndarkest problem in the history of society, the problem of the origin\nof the laws which still regulate marriage and the relations of the\nsexes among civilized nations; for broadly speaking the fundamental\nlaws which we recognize in these matters are recognized also by\nsavages, with this difference, that among many savages the sexual\nprohibitions are far more numerous, the horror excited by breaches of\nthem far deeper, and the punishment inflicted on the offenders far\nsterner than with us. The problem has often been attacked, but never\nsolved. Perhaps it is destined, like so many riddles of that Sphinx\nwhich we call nature, to remain for ever insoluble. At all events this\nis not the place to broach so intricate and profound a discussion. I\nreturn to my immediate subject.\n\n[Sidenote: Sexual immorality is thought by many savages to injure the\ndelinquents themselves, their offspring, and their innocent spouses.]\nIn the opinion of many savages the effect of sexual immorality is not\nmerely to disturb, directly or indirectly, the course of nature by\nblighting the crops, causing the earth to quake, volcanoes to vomit\nfire, and so forth: the delinquents themselves, their offspring, or\ntheir innocent spouses are supposed to suffer in their own persons for\nthe sin that has been committed. Thus among the Baganda of Central\nAfrica \u201cadultery was also regarded as a danger to children; it was\nthought that women who were guilty of it {103} during pregnancy caused\nthe child to die, either prior to birth, or at the time of birth.\nSometimes the guilty woman would herself die in childbed; or, if she\nwas safely delivered, she would have a tendency to devour her child,\nand would have to be guarded lest she should kill it.\u201d[103.1] \u201cWhen\nthere was a case of retarded delivery, the relatives attributed it to\nadultery; they made the woman confess the name of the man with whom\nshe had had intercourse, and if she died, her husband was fined by the\nmembers of her clan, for they said: \u2018We did not give our daughter to\nyou for the purpose of adultery, and you should have guarded her.\u2019 In\nmost cases, however, the medicine-men were able to save the woman\u2019s\nlife, and upon recovery she was upbraided, and the man whom she\naccused was heavily fined.\u201d[103.2] The Baganda thought that the\ninfidelity of the father as well as of the mother endangered the life\nof the child. For \u201cit was also supposed that a man who had sexual\nintercourse with any woman not his wife, during the time that any one\nof his wives was nursing a child, would cause the child to fall ill,\nand that unless he confessed his guilt and obtained from the\nmedicine-man the necessary remedies to cancel the evil results, the\nchild would die.\u201d[103.3] The common childish ailment which was\nthought to be caused by the adultery of the father or mother was\ncalled _amakiro_, and its symptoms were well recognized: they\nconsisted of nausea and general debility, and the only cure for them\nwas a frank confession by the guilty parent and the performance of a\nmagical ceremony by the medicine-man.[103.4]\n\n[Sidenote: Disastrous effects of adultery on adulteress and her\nchild.] Similar views as to the disastrous effects of adultery on\nmother and child seem to be widespread among Bantu tribes. Thus among\nthe Awemba of Northern Rhodesia, when both mother and child die in\nchildbirth, great horror is expressed by all, who assert that the\nwoman must assuredly have committed adultery with many men to suffer\nsuch a fate. They exhort her even with her last breath to name the\n{104} adulterer; and whoever is mentioned by her is called the\n\u201cmurderer\u201d (_musoka_) and has afterwards to pay a heavy fine to the\ninjured husband. Similarly if the child is born dead and the mother\nsurvives, the Awemba take it for granted that the woman has been\nunfaithful to her husband, and they ask her to name the murderer of\nher child, that is, the man whose guilty love has been the death of\nthe babe.[104.1] In like manner the Thonga, a Bantu tribe of South\nAfrica, about Delagoa Bay, are of opinion that if a woman\u2019s travail\npangs are unduly prolonged or she fails to bring her offspring to the\nbirth, she must certainly have committed adultery, and they insist\nupon her making a clean breast as the only means of ensuring her\ndelivery; should she suppress the name even of one of several lovers\nwith whom she may have gone astray, the child cannot be born. So\nconvinced are the women of the sufferings which adultery, if\nunacknowledged, entails on the guilty mother in childbed, that a woman\nwho knows her child to be illegitimate will privately confess her sin\nto the midwife before she is actually brought to bed, in the hope\nthereby of alleviating and shortening her travail pangs.[104.2]\n[Sidenote: Sympathetic relation between an adulterer and the injured\nhusband.] Further, the Thonga believe that adultery establishes a\nphysical relationship of mutual sympathy between the adulterer and the\ninjured husband such that the life of the one is in a manner bound up\nwith the life of the other; indeed this relationship is thought to\narise between any two men who have had sexual connexion with the same\nwoman. As a native put it to a missionary, \u201cThey have met together in\none life through the blood of that woman; they have drunk from the\nsame pool.\u201d To express it otherwise, they have formed a blood covenant\nwith each other through the woman as intermediary. \u201cThis establishes\nbetween them a most curious mutual dependence: should one of them be\nill, the other must not visit him; the patient might die. If he runs\na thorn into his foot, the other must not help him to extract it. It\nis taboo. The wound would not heal. If he dies, his rival must not\nassist at his mourning or he would die {105} himself.\u201d Hence if a man\nhas committed adultery, as sometimes happens, with one of his father\u2019s\nyounger wives, and the father dies, his undutiful son may not take the\npart which would otherwise fall to him in the funeral rites; indeed\nshould he attempt to attend the burial, his relations would drive him\naway in pity, lest by this mark of respect and perhaps of remorse he\nshould forfeit his life.[105.1] [Sidenote: Injurious effects of\nadultery on the innocent husband, wife, or child.] In like manner the\nAkikuyu of British East Africa believe that if a son has adulterous\nintercourse with one of his father\u2019s wives, the innocent father, not\nthe guilty young scapegrace, contracts a dangerous pollution\n(_thahu_), the effect of which is to make him ill and emaciated or to\nbreak out into sores or boils, and even in all probability to die, if\nthe danger is not averted by the timely intervention of a\nmedicine-man.[105.2] The Anyanja of British Central Africa believe\nthat if a man commits adultery while his wife is with child, she will\ndie; hence on the death of his wife the widower is often roundly\naccused of having killed her by his infidelity.[105.3] Without going\nso far as this, the Masai of German East Africa hold that if a father\nwere to touch his infant on the day after he had been guilty of\nadultery, the child would fall sick.[105.4] According to the Akamba\nof British East Africa, if a woman after giving birth to a child is\nfalse to her husband before her first menstruation, the child will\nsurely die.[105.5] [Sidenote: Injurious effects of incest on the\noffspring.] The Akamba are also of opinion that if a woman is guilty\nof incest with her brother she will be unable to bring to the birth\nthe seed which she has conceived by him. In that case the man must\npurge his sin by bringing a big goat to the elders, and the woman is\nceremonially smeared with the contents of the {106} animal\u2019s\nstomach.[106.1] Among the Washamba of German East Africa it happened\nthat a married woman lost three children, one after the other, by\ndeath. A diviner being called in to ascertain the cause of this\ncalamity, attributed it to incest of which she had been accidentally\nguilty with her father.[106.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Wife\u2019s infidelity at home thought to endanger the absent\nhusband in the chase or the war.] Again, it appears to be a common\nnotion with savages that the infidelity of a wife prevents her husband\nfrom killing game, and even exposes him to imminent risk of being\nhimself killed or wounded by wild beasts. This belief is entertained\nby the Wagogo and other peoples of East Africa, by the Moxos Indians\nof Bolivia, and by Aleutian hunters of sea-otters. In such cases any\nmishap that befalls the husband during the chase is set down by him to\nthe score of his wife\u2019s misconduct at home; he returns in wrath and\nvisits his ill-luck on the often innocent object of his suspicions\neven, it may be, to the shedding of her blood.[106.3] While the\nHuichol Indians of Mexico are away seeking for a species of cactus\nwhich they regard as sacred, their women at home are bound to be\nstrictly chaste; otherwise they believe that they would be visited\nwith illness and would endanger the success of the men\u2019s\nexpedition.[106.4] An old writer on Madagascar tells us that though\nMalagasy women are voluptuous they will not allow themselves to be\ndrawn into an intrigue while their husbands are absent at the wars,\nfor they believe that infidelity at such a time would cause the absent\nspouse to be wounded or slain.[106.5] The Baganda of Central Africa\nheld similar views as to the fatal effect which a wife\u2019s adultery at\nhome might have on her absent husband at the wars; they thought that\nthe gods resented her misconduct and withdrew their favour and\nprotection from her warrior spouse, thus punishing the innocent\ninstead of the guilty. Indeed, it was believed that {107} if a woman\nwere even to touch a man\u2019s clothing while her husband was away with\nthe army, it would bring misfortune on her husband\u2019s weapon, and might\neven cost him his life. The gods of the Baganda were most particular\nabout women strictly observing the taboos during their husbands\u2019\nabsence and having nothing to do with other men all that time. On his\nreturn from the war a man tested his wife\u2019s fidelity by drinking water\nfrom a gourd which she handed to him before he entered his house. If\nshe had been unfaithful to him during his absence, the water was\nsupposed to make him ill; hence should it chance that he fell sick\nafter drinking the draught, his wife was at once clapped into the\nstocks and tried for adultery; and if she confessed her guilt and\nnamed her paramour, the offender was heavily fined or even put to\ndeath.[107.1] Similarly among the Bangala or the Boloki of the Upper\nCongo, \u201cwhen men went to fight distant towns their wives were expected\nnot to commit adultery with such men as were left in the town, or\ntheir husbands would receive spear wounds from the enemy. The sisters\nof the fighters would take every precaution to guard against the\nadultery of their brothers\u2019 wives while they were on the\nexpedition.\u201d[107.2] So among the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte\nIslands, while the men were away at the wars, their wives \u201call slept\nin one house to keep watch over each other; for, if a woman were\nunfaithful to her husband while he was with a war-party, he would\nprobably be killed.\u201d[107.3] If only King David had held this belief\nhe might have contented himself with a single instead of a double\ncrime, and need not have sent his Machiavellian order to put the\ninjured husband in the forefront of the battle.[107.4]\n\n[Sidenote: Injurious effect of wife\u2019s infidelity on her husband.]\nThe Zulus imagine that an unfaithful wife who touches her husband\u2019s\nfurniture without first eating certain herbs causes him to be seized\nwith a fit of coughing of which he soon dies. Moreover, among the\nZulus \u201ca man who has {108} had criminal intercourse with a sick\nperson\u2019s wife is prohibited from visiting the sick-chamber; and, if\nthe sick person is a woman, any female who has committed adultery with\nher husband must not visit her. They say that, if these visits ever\ntake place, the patient is immediately oppressed with a cold\nperspiration and dies. This prohibition was thought to find out the\ninfidelities of the women and to make them fear discovery.\u201d[108.1]\n[Sidenote: African chiefs thought to be injuriously affected by the\nincontinence of their subjects.] For a similar reason, apparently,\nduring the sickness of a Caffre chief his tribe was bound to observe\nstrict continence under pain of death.[108.2] The notion seems to\nhave been that any act of incontinence would through some sort of\nmagical sympathy prove fatal to the sick chief. The Ovakumbi, a tribe\nin the south of Angola, think that the carnal intercourse of young\npeople under the age of puberty would cause the king to die within the\nyear, if it were not severely punished. The punishment for such a\ntreasonable offence used to be death.[108.3] Similarly, in the\nkingdom of Congo, when the sacred pontiff, called the Chitom\u00e9, was\ngoing his rounds throughout the country, all his subjects had to live\nstrictly chaste, and any person found guilty of incontinence at such\ntimes was put to death without mercy. They thought that universal\nchastity was essential to the preservation of the life of the pontiff,\nwhom they revered as the head of their religion and their common\nfather. Accordingly when he was abroad he took care to warn his\nfaithful subjects by a public crier, that no man might plead ignorance\nas an excuse for a breach of the law.[108.4]\n\n[Sidenote: Injurious effects of adultery on the adulteress.]\nSpeaking of the same region of West Africa, an old writer tells us\nthat \u201cconjugal chastity is singularly respected among these people;\nadultery is placed in the list of the greatest crimes. By an opinion\ngenerally received, the women are persuaded that if they were to\nrender themselves guilty of infidelity, the greatest misfortunes would\noverwhelm {109} them, unless they averted them by an avowal made to\ntheir husbands, and in obtaining their pardon for the injury they\nmight have done.\u201d[109.1] [Sidenote: Dangerous pollution supposed to\nbe incurred by unchastity.] The Looboos of Sumatra think that an\nunmarried young woman who has been got with child falls thereby into a\ndangerous state called _loo\u00ef_, which is such that she spreads\nmisfortune wherever she goes. Hence when she enters a house, the\npeople try to drive her out by force.[109.2] Amongst the Sulka of New\nBritain unmarried people who have been guilty of unchastity are\nbelieved to contract thereby a fatal pollution (_sle_) of which they\nwill die, if they do not confess their fault and undergo a public\nceremony of purification. Such persons are avoided: no one will take\nanything at their hands: parents point them out to their children and\nwarn them not to go near them. The infection which they are supposed\nto spread is apparently physical rather than moral in its nature; for\nspecial care is taken to keep the paraphernalia of the dance out of\ntheir way, the mere presence of persons so polluted being thought to\ntarnish the paint on the instruments. Men who have contracted this\ndangerous taint rid themselves of it by drinking sea-water mixed with\nshredded coco-nut and ginger, after which they are thrown into the\nsea. Emerging from the water they put off the dripping clothes which\nthey wore during their state of defilement and cast them away. This\npurification is believed to save their lives, which otherwise must\nhave been destroyed by their unchastity.[109.3] Among the Buduma of\nLake Chad, in Central Africa, at the present day \u201ca child born out of\nwedlock is looked on as a disgrace, and must be drowned. If this is\nnot done, great misfortunes {110} will happen to the tribe. All the\nmen will fall sick, and the women, cows and goats will become\nbarren.\u201d[110.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Conclusion.] These examples may suffice to shew that\namong many races sexual immorality, whether in the form of adultery,\nfornication, or incest, is believed of itself to entail, naturally and\ninevitably, without the intervention of society, most serious\nconsequences not only on the culprits themselves, but also on the\ncommunity, often indeed to menace the very existence of the whole\npeople by destroying the food supply. I need hardly remind you that\nall these beliefs are entirely baseless; no such consequences flow\nfrom such acts; in short, the beliefs in question are a pure\nsuperstition. Yet we cannot doubt that wherever this superstition has\nexisted it must have served as a powerful motive to deter men from\nadultery, fornication, and incest. If that is so, then I think I have\nproved my third proposition, which is, that among certain races and at\ncertain times superstition has strengthened the respect for marriage,\nand has thereby contributed to the stricter observance of the rules of\nsexual morality both among the married and the unmarried.\n\n\n\n\n V.\n RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE\n\n{111}\n\n[Sidenote: Superstition as a prop to the security of human life.] I\npass now to my fourth and last proposition, which is, that among\ncertain races and at certain times superstition has strengthened the\nrespect for human life and has thereby contributed to the security of\nits enjoyment.\n\n[Sidenote: The fear of ghosts.] The particular superstition which\nhas had this salutary effect is the fear of ghosts, especially the\nghosts of the murdered. The fear of ghosts is widespread, perhaps\nuniversal, among savages; it is hardly extinct among ourselves. If it\nwere extinct, some learned societies might put up their shutters. Dead\nor alive, the fear of ghosts has certainly not been an unmixed\nblessing. Indeed it might with some show of reason be maintained that\nno belief has done so much to retard the economic and thereby the\nsocial progress of mankind as the belief in the immortality of the\nsoul; for this belief has led race after race, generation after\ngeneration, to sacrifice the real wants of the living to the imaginary\nwants of the dead. The waste and destruction of life and property\nwhich this faith has entailed are enormous and incalculable.\n[Sidenote: Disastrous consequences entailed by the fear of the\ndead.] Without entering into details I will illustrate by a single\nexample the disastrous economic, political, and moral consequences\nwhich flow from that systematic destruction of property which the fear\nof the dead has imposed on many races. Speaking of the Patagonians,\nthe well-informed and intelligent traveller d\u2019Orbigny observes: \u201cThey\nhave no laws, no punishments inflicted on the guilty. Each lives as he\npleases, and the greatest thief is the most highly esteemed, because\nhe is the most dexterous. A motive {112} which will always prevent\nthem from abandoning the practice of theft, and at the same time will\nalways present an obstacle to their ever forming fixed settlements, is\nthe religious prejudice which, on the death of one of their number,\nobliges them to destroy his property. A Patagonian, who has amassed\nduring the whole of his life an estate by thieving from the whites or\nexchanging the products of the chase with neighbouring tribes, has\ndone nothing for his heirs; all his savings are destroyed with him,\nand his children are obliged to rebuild their fortunes afresh,--a\ncustom which, I may observe in passing, is found also among the\nTamanaques of the Orinoco, who ravage the field of the deceased and\ncut down the trees which he has planted;[112.1] and among the\nYuracares, who abandon and shut up the house of the dead, regarding it\nas a profanation to gather a single fruit from the trees of his field.\nIt is easy to see that with such customs they can nourish no real\nambition since their needs are limited to themselves; it is one of the\ncauses of their natural indolence and is a motive which, so long as it\nexists, will always impede the progress of their civilization. Why\nshould they trouble themselves about the future when they have nothing\nto hope from it? The present is all in all in their eyes, and their\nonly interest is individual; the son will take no care of his father\u2019s\nherd, since it will never come into his possession; he busies himself\nonly with his own affairs and soon turns his thoughts to looking after\nhimself and getting a livelihood. This custom has certainly something\nto commend it from the moral point of view in so far as it destroys\nall the motives for that covetousness in heirs which is too often to\nbe seen in our cities. The desire or the hope of a speedy death of\ntheir parents cannot exist, since the parents leave absolutely nothing\nto their children; but on the other hand, if the Patagonians had\npreserved hereditary properties, they would without doubt have been\nto-day in possession of numerous herds, and would necessarily have\nbeen more formidable to the whites, since their power in that case\nwould have been more than doubled, whereas their present habits will\ninfallibly leave them in a stationary state, from which nothing but a\nradical change {113} will be able to deliver them.\u201d[113.1] Thus\npoverty, indolence, improvidence, political weakness, and all the\nhardships of a nomadic life are the miserable inheritance which the\nfear of the dead entails on these wretched Indians. Heavy indeed is\nthe toll which superstition exacts from all who pass within her gloomy\nportal.\n\n[Sidenote: Fear of the ghosts of the slain a check on murder.] But I\nam not here concerned with the disastrous and deplorable consequences,\nthe unspeakable follies and crimes and miseries, which have flowed in\npractice from the theory of a future life. My business at present is\nwith the more cheerful side of the subject, with the wholesome, though\ngroundless, terror which ghosts, apparitions, and spectres strike into\nthe breasts of hardened ruffians and desperadoes. So far as such\npersons reflect at all and regulate their passions by the dictates of\nprudence, it seems plain that a fear of ghostly retribution, of the\nangry spirit of their victim, must act as a salutary restraint on\ntheir disorderly impulses; it must reinforce the dread of purely\nsecular punishment and furnish the choleric and malicious with a fresh\nmotive for pausing before they imbrue their hands in blood. This is so\nobvious, and the fear of ghosts is so notorious, that both might\nperhaps be taken for granted, especially at this late hour of the\nevening. But for the sake of completeness I will mention a few\nillustrative facts, taking them almost at random from distant races in\norder to indicate the wide diffusion of this particular superstition.\nI shall try to shew that while all ghosts are feared, the ghosts of\nslain men are especially dreaded by their slayers.\n\n[Sidenote: Ancient Greek belief as to the anger of a ghost at his\nslayer.] The ancient Greeks believed that the soul of any man who had\njust been killed was angry with his slayer and troubled him; hence\neven an involuntary homicide had to {114} depart from his country for\na year until the wrath of the dead man had cooled down; nor might the\nslayer return until sacrifice had been offered and ceremonies of\npurification performed. If his victim chanced to be a foreigner, the\nhomicide had to shun the country of the dead man as well as his\nown.[114.1] The legend of the matricide Orestes, how he roamed from\nplace to place pursued and maddened by the ghost of his murdered\nmother, reflects faithfully the ancient Greek conception of the fate\nwhich overtakes the murderer at the hands of the ghost.[114.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Among the Greeks a manslayer was dreaded and shunned\nbecause he was thought to be haunted by the angry and dangerous ghost\nof his victim.] But it is important to observe that not only does the\nhag-ridden homicide go in terror of his victim\u2019s ghost; he is himself\nan object of fear and aversion to the whole community on account of\nthe angry and dangerous spirit which dogs his steps. It was probably\nmore in self-defence than out of consideration for the manslayer that\nAttic law compelled him to quit the country. This comes out clearly\nfrom the provisions of the law. For in the first place, on going into\nbanishment the homicide had to follow a prescribed road:[114.3]\nobviously it would have been hazardous to let him stray about the\ncountry with a wrathful ghost at his heels. In the second place, if\nanother charge was brought against a banished homicide, he was allowed\nto return to Attica to plead in his defence, but he might not set foot\non land; he had to speak from a ship, and even the ship might not cast\nanchor or put out a gangway. The judges avoided all contact with the\nculprit, for they judged the case sitting or standing on the\nshore.[114.4] Plainly the intention of this rule was literally to\ninsulate the slayer, lest by touching Attic earth even indirectly\nthrough the anchor or the gangway he should blast it by a sort of\nelectric shock, as we might say; though doubtless the Greeks would\nhave said that the blight was wrought by contact with the ghost, by a\nsort of effluence of death. For the same reason if such a man, sailing\nthe {115} sea, happened to be wrecked on the coast of the country\nwhere his crime had been committed, he was allowed to camp on the\nshore till a ship came to take him off, but he was expected to keep\nhis feet in sea-water all the time,[115.1] evidently to neutralise\nthe ghostly infection and prevent it from spreading to the soil. For\nthe same reason, when the turbulent people of Cynaetha in Arcadia had\nperpetrated a peculiarly atrocious massacre and had sent envoys to\nSparta, all the Arcadian states through which the envoys took their\nway ordered them out of the country; and after their departure the\nMantineans purified themselves and their belongings by sacrificing\nvictims and carrying them round the city and the whole of their\nland.[115.2] So when the Athenians had heard of a massacre at Argos,\nthey caused purificatory offerings to be carried round the public\nassembly.[115.3]\n\n[Sidenote: The legend of Orestes reflects the Greek horror of a\nmanslayer.] No doubt the root of all such observances was a fear of\nthe dangerous ghost which haunts the murderer and against which the\nwhole community as well as the homicide himself must be on its guard.\nThe Greek practice in these respects is clearly mirrored in the legend\nof Orestes; for it is said that the people of Troezen would not\nreceive him in their houses until he had been purified of his\nguilt,[115.4] that is, until he had been rid of his mother\u2019s ghost.\nThe Akikuyu of British East Africa think that if a man who has killed\nanother comes and sleeps at a village and eats with a family in their\nhut, the persons with whom he has eaten contract a dangerous pollution\nwhich might prove fatal to them were it not removed in time by a\nmedicine-man. The very skin on which the homicide slept has absorbed\nthe taint and might infect any one else who slept on it. So a\nmedicine-man is sent for to purify the hut and its occupants.[115.5]\n[Sidenote: Manslayers purged of the stain of human blood by being\nsmeared with the blood of pigs.] The {116} Greek mode of purifying a\nhomicide was to kill a sucking pig and wash the hands of the guilty\nman in its blood: until this ceremony had been performed the manslayer\nwas not allowed to speak.[116.1] Among the hill-tribes near Rajamahal\nin Bengal, if two men quarrel and blood be shed, the one who cut the\nother is fined a hog or a fowl, \u201cthe blood of which is sprinkled over\nthe wounded person, to purify him, and to prevent his being possessed\nby a devil.\u201d[116.2] In this case the blood-sprinkling is avowedly\nintended to prevent the man from being haunted by a spirit; only it is\nnot the aggressor but his victim who is supposed to be in danger and\ntherefore to stand in need of purification. We have seen that among\nthese and other savage tribes pig\u2019s blood is sprinkled on persons and\nthings as a mode of purifying them from the pollution of sexual\ncrimes.[116.3] Among the Cameroon negroes in West Africa accidental\nhomicide can be expiated by the blood of an animal. The relations of\nthe slayer and of the slain assemble. An animal is killed, and every\nperson present is smeared with its blood on his face and breast. They\nthink that the guilt of manslaughter is thus atoned for, and that no\npunishment will overtake the homicide.[116.4] In Car Nicobar a man\npossessed by devils is cleansed of them by being rubbed all over with\npig\u2019s blood and beaten with leaves. The devils are supposed to be thus\nswept off like flies from the man\u2019s body to the leaves, which are then\nfolded up and tied tightly with a special kind of string. A\nprofessional exorciser administers the beating, and at every stroke\nwith the leaves he falls down with his face on the floor and calls out\nin a squeaky {117} voice, \u201cHere is a devil.\u201d This ceremony is\nperformed by night; and before daybreak all the packets of leaves\ncontaining the devils are thrown into the sea.[117.1] The Greeks\nsimilarly used laurel leaves as well as pig\u2019s blood in purificatory\nceremonies.[117.2] In all such cases we may assume that the\npurification was originally conceived as physical rather than as\nmoral, as a sort of detergent which washed, swept, or scraped the\nghostly or demoniacal pollution from the person of the ghost-haunted\nor demon-possessed man. The motive for employing blood in these rites\nof cleansing is not clear. Perhaps the purgative virtue ascribed to it\nmay have been based on the notion that the offended spirit accepts the\nblood as a substitute for the blood of the man or woman.[117.3]\nHowever, it is doubtful whether this explanation could cover all the\ncases in which blood is sprinkled as a mode of purification. Certainly\nit is odd, as the sage Heraclitus long ago remarked, that blood-stains\nshould be thought to be removed by blood-stains, as if a man who had\nbeen bespattered with mud should think to cleanse himself by\nbespattering himself with more mud.[117.4] But the ways of man are\nwonderful and sometimes past finding out.\n\n[Sidenote: The matricide Orestes is said to have recovered his wits\nby biting off one of his own fingers.] There was a curious story that\nafter Orestes had gone mad through murdering his mother he recovered\nhis wits by biting off one of his own fingers; the Furies of his\nmurdered mother, which had appeared black to him before, appeared\nwhite as soon as he had mutilated himself in this way: it was as if\nthe taste of his own blood sufficed to avert or disarm the wrathful\nghost.[117.5] A hint of the way in which the blood may have been\nsupposed to produce this result is furnished by the practice of some\nsavages. [Sidenote: Manslayers commonly taste their victims\u2019 blood in\norder not to be haunted by their ghosts.] The Indians of Guiana\nbelieve that an avenger of blood who has slain his man must go mad\nunless he tastes the blood of his victim; the notion apparently is\nthat the ghost drives him crazy, {118} just as the ghost of\nClytemnestra did to Orestes, who was also, be it remembered, an\navenger of blood. In order to avert this consequence the Indian\nmanslayer resorts on the third night to the grave of his victim,\npierces the corpse with a sharp-pointed stick, and withdrawing it\nsucks the blood of the murdered man. After that he goes home with an\neasy mind, satisfied that he has done his duty and that he has nothing\nmore to fear from the ghost.[118.1] A similar custom was observed by\nthe Maoris in battle. When a warrior had slain his foe in combat, he\ntasted his blood, believing that this preserved him from the avenging\nspirit (_atua_) of his victim; for they imagined that \u201cthe moment a\nslayer had tasted the blood of the slain, the dead man became a part\nof his being and placed him under the protection of the _atua_ or\nguardian-spirit of the deceased.\u201d[118.2] Thus in the opinion of these\nsavages, by swallowing a portion of their victim they made him a part\nof themselves and thereby converted him from an enemy into an ally;\nthey established, in the strictest sense of the words, a\nblood-covenant with him. The Aricara Indians also drank the blood of\ntheir slain foes and proclaimed the deed by the mark of a red hand on\ntheir faces.[118.3] The motive for this practice may have been, as\nwith the Maoris, a desire to appropriate and so disarm the ghost of an\nenemy. In antiquity some of the Scythians used to drink the blood of\nthe first foes they killed; and they also tasted the blood of the\nfriends with whom they made a covenant, for \u201cthey take that to be the\nsurest pledge of good faith.\u201d[118.4] [Sidenote: Homicides supposed\nto go mad unless they taste the blood of their victim.] The motive of\nthe two customs was probably the same. \u201cTo the present day, when a\nperson of another tribe has been slain by a Nandi, the blood must be\ncarefully washed off the spear or sword into a cup made of grass, and\ndrunk by the slayer. If this is not done it is thought that the man\nwill become frenzied.\u201d[118.5] So {119} among some tribes of the Lower\nNiger \u201cit is customary and necessary for the executioner to lick the\nblood that is on the blade\u201d; moreover \u201cthe custom of licking the blood\noff the blade of a sword by which a man has been killed in war is\ncommon to all these tribes, and the explanation given me by the Ibo,\nwhich is generally accepted, is, that if this was not done, the act of\nkilling would so affect the strikers as to cause them to run amok\namong their own people; because the sight and smell of blood render\nthem absolutely senseless as well as regardless of all consequences.\nAnd this licking the blood is the only sure remedy, and the only way\nin which they can recover themselves.\u201d[119.1] So, too, among the\nShans of Burma \u201cit was the curious custom of executioners to taste the\nblood of their victims, as they believed if this were not done illness\nand death would follow in a short time. In remote times Shan soldiers\nalways bit the bodies of men killed by them in battle.\u201d[119.2]\nStrange as it may seem, this truly savage superstition exists\napparently in Italy to this day. There is a widespread opinion in\nCalabria that if a murderer is to escape he must suck his victim\u2019s\nblood from the reeking blade of the dagger with which he did the\ndeed.[119.3] We can now perhaps understand why the matricide Orestes\nwas thought to have recovered his wandering wits as soon as he had\nbitten off one of his fingers. By tasting his own blood, which was\nalso that of his victim, since she was his mother, he might be\nsupposed to form a blood-covenant with the ghost and so to convert it\nfrom a foe into a friend. [Sidenote: Various precautions taken by\nmanslayers against the ghosts of their victims.] The Kabyles of North\nAfrica think that if a murderer leaps seven times over his victim\u2019s\ngrave within three or seven days of the murder, he will be quite safe.\nHence the fresh grave of a murdered man is carefully guarded.[119.4]\nThe Lushai {120} of North-Eastern India believe that if a man kills an\nenemy the ghost of his victim will haunt him and he will go mad,\nunless he performs a certain ceremony which will make him master of\nthe dead man\u2019s soul in the other world. The ceremony includes the\nsacrifice of an animal, whether a pig, a goat, or a mithan.[120.1]\nAmong the Awemba of Northern Rhodesia, \u201caccording to a superstition\ncommon among Central African tribes, unless the slayers were purified\nfrom blood-guiltiness they would become mad. On the night of return no\nwarrior might sleep in his own hut, but lay in the open _nsaka_ in the\nvillage. The next day, after bathing in the stream and being anointed\nwith lustral medicine by the doctor, he could return to his own\nhearth, and resume intercourse with his wife.\u201d[120.2] In all such\ncases the madness of the slayer is probably attributed to the ghost of\nthe slain, which has taken possession of him.\n\n[Sidenote: The custom of secluding and purifying homicides is\nintended to protect them against the angry spirits of the slain, which\nare thought to madden their slayers.] That the Greek practice of\nsecluding and purifying a homicide was essentially an exorcism, in\nother words, that its aim was to ban the dangerous ghost of his\nvictim, is rendered practically certain by the similar rites of\nseclusion and purification which among many savage tribes have to be\nobserved by victorious warriors with the avowed intention of securing\nthem against the spirits of the men whom they have slain in battle.\nThese rites I have illustrated elsewhere,[120.3] but a few cases may\nbe quoted here by way of example. Thus among the Basutos \u201cablution is\nespecially performed on return from battle. It is absolutely necessary\nthat the warriors should rid themselves, as soon as possible, of the\nblood they have shed, or the shades of their victims would pursue them\nincessantly, and disturb their slumbers. They go in a procession, and\nin full armour, to the nearest stream. At the moment they enter the\nwater a diviner, placed higher up, throws some purifying substances\ninto the current.\u201d[120.4] According to another account of the Basuto\ncustom, \u201cwarriors {121} who have killed an enemy are purified. The\nchief has to wash them, sacrificing an ox in the presence of the whole\narmy. They are also anointed with the gall of the animal, which\nprevents the ghost of the enemy from pursuing them any\nfarther.\u201d[121.1] Among the Thonga, a Bantu tribe of South Africa,\nabout Delagoa Bay, \u201cto have killed an enemy on the battle-field\nentails an immense glory for the slayers; but that glory is fraught\nwith great danger. They have killed.\u2026 So they are exposed to the\nmysterious and deadly influence of the _nuru_ and must consequently\nundergo a medical treatment. What is the _nuru_? _Nuru_, the spirit of\nthe slain which tries to take its revenge on the slayer. It haunts him\nand may drive him into insanity: his eyes swell, protrude and become\ninflamed. He will lose his head, be attacked by giddiness\n(_ndzululwan_) and the thirst for blood may lead him to fall upon\nmembers of his own family and to stab them with his assagay. To\nprevent such misfortunes, a special medication is required: the\nslayers must _lurulula tiyimp\u00ec ta bu_, take away the _nuru_ of their\nsanguinary expedition.\u2026 In what consists this treatment? The slayers\nmust remain for some days at the capital. They are taboo. They put on\nold clothes, eat with special spoons, because their hands are \u2018hot,\u2019\nand off special plates (_mireko_) and broken pots. They are forbidden\nto drink water. Their food must be cold. The chief kills oxen for\nthem; but if the meat were hot it would make them swell internally\n\u2018because they are hot themselves, they are defiled (_ba na nsila_).\u2019\nIf they eat hot food, the defilement would enter into them. \u2018They are\nblack (_ntima_). This black must be removed.\u2019 During all this time\nsexual relations are absolutely forbidden to them. They must not go\nhome, to their wives. In former times the Ba-Ronga used to tattoo them\nwith special marks from one eyebrow to the other. Dreadful medicines\nwere inoculated in the incisions, and there remained pimples \u2018which\ngave them the appearance of a buffalo when it frowns.\u2019 After some days\na medicine-man comes to purify them, \u2018to remove their black.\u2019 There\nseem to be various means of doing it, according to Mankhelu. Seeds of\nall kinds are put into a {122} broken pot and roasted, together with\ndrugs and _psanyi_[122.1] of a goat. The slayers inhale the smoke\nwhich emanates from the pot. They put their hands into the mixture and\nrub their limbs with it, especially the joints.\u2026 Insanity threatening\nthose who shed blood might begin early. So, already on the\nbattle-field, just after their deed, warriors are given a preventive\ndose of the medicine by those who have killed on previous occasions.\u2026\nThe period of seclusion having been concluded by the final\npurification, all the implements used by the slayers during these\ndays, and their old garments, are tied together and hung by a string\nto a tree, at some distance from the capital, where they are left to\nrot.\u201d[122.2]\n\n[Sidenote: With some savages temporary insanity seems to be really\ncaused by the sight or even thought of blood.] The accounts of the\nmadness which is apt to befall slayers seem too numerous and too\nconsistent to be dismissed as pure fictions of the savage imagination.\nHowever we may reject the native explanation of such fits of frenzy,\nthe reports point to a real berserker fury or unbridled thirst for\nblood which comes over savages when they are excited by combat, and\nwhich may prove dangerous to friends as well as to foes. The question\nis one on which students of mental disease might perhaps throw light.\nMeantime it deserves to be noticed that even the people who have staid\nat home and have taken no share in the bloody work are liable to fall\ninto a state of frenzy when they hear the war-whoops which proclaim\nthe approach of the victorious warriors with their ghastly trophies.\nThus we are told that among the Bare\u2019e-speaking Toradjas of Central\nCelebes, when these notes of triumph were heard in the distance the\nwhole population of the village would turn out to meet and welcome the\nreturning braves. At the mere sound some of those who had remained at\nhome, especially women, would be seized with a frenzy, and rushing\nforth would bite the severed heads of the slain foes, and they were\nnot to be brought to their senses till they had drunk palm wine or\nwater out of the skulls. If the warriors returned empty-handed, these\n{123} furies would fall upon them and bite their arms. There was a\nregular expression for this state of temporary insanity excited by the\nsight or even the thought of human blood; it was called _merata\nlamoanja_ or _merata raoa_, \u201cthe spirit is come over them,\u201d by which\nwas probably meant that the madness was caused by the ghosts of the\nslaughtered foes. When any of the warriors themselves suffered from\nthis paroxysm of frenzy, they were healed by eating a piece of the\nbrains or licking the blood of the slain.[123.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Means taken by manslayers in Africa to rid themselves of\nthe ghosts of their victims.] Among the Bantu tribes of Kavirondo, in\nBritish East Africa, when a man has killed an enemy in warfare he\nshaves his head on his return home, and his friends rub a medicine,\nwhich generally consists of cow\u2019s dung, over his body to prevent the\nspirit of the slain man from troubling him.[123.2] Here cow\u2019s dung\nserves these negroes as a detergent of the ghost, just as pig\u2019s blood\nserved the ancient Greeks. Among the Wawanga, about Mount Elgon in\nBritish East Africa, \u201ca man returning from a raid, on which he has\nkilled one of the enemy, may not enter his hut until he has taken\ncow-dung and rubbed it on the cheeks of the women and children of the\nvillage and purified himself by the sacrifice of a goat, a strip of\nskin from the forehead of which he wears round the right wrist during\nthe four following nights.\u201d[123.3] With the Ja-Luo of Kavirondo the\ncustom is somewhat different. Three days after his return from the\nfight the warrior shaves his head. But before he may enter his village\nhe has to hang a live fowl, head uppermost, round his neck; then the\nbird is decapitated and its head left hanging round his neck. Soon\nafter his return a feast is made for the slain man, in order that his\nghost may not haunt his slayer.[123.4] In some of these cases the\nslayer shaves his head, precisely as the matricide Orestes is said to\nhave shorn his hair when he came to his senses.[123.5] From this\nGreek tradition we may infer with some probability that the hair of\nGreek homicides, {124} like that of these African warriors, was\nregularly cropped as one way of ridding them of the ghostly infection.\nAmong the Ba-Yaka, a Bantu people of the Congo Free State, \u201ca man who\nhas been killed in battle is supposed to send his soul to avenge his\ndeath on the person of the man who killed him; the latter, however,\ncan escape the vengeance of the dead by wearing the red tail-feathers\nof the parrot in his hair, and painting his forehead red.\u201d[124.1]\nPerhaps, as I have suggested elsewhere, this costume is intended to\ndisguise the slayer from his victim\u2019s ghost.[124.2] [Sidenote:\nPrecautions taken by the Natchez Indians.] Among the Natchez Indians\nof North America young braves who had taken their first scalps were\nobliged to observe certain rules of abstinence for six months. They\nmight not sleep with their wives nor eat flesh; their only food was\nfish and hasty-pudding. If they broke these rules they believed that\nthe soul of the man they had killed would work their death by\nmagic.[124.3]\n\n[Sidenote: Ghosts of the slain dreaded by the Kai of German New\nGuinea.] The Kai of German New Guinea stand in great fear of the\nghosts of the men whom they have slain in war. On their way back from\nthe field of battle or the scene of massacre they hurry in order to be\nsafe at home or in the shelter of a friendly village before nightfall;\nfor all night long the spirits of the dead are believed to dog the\nfootsteps of their slayers, in the hope of coming up with them and\nrecovering the lost portions of their souls which adhere with the\nclots of their blood to the spears and clubs that dealt them the\ndeath-blow. Only so can these poor restless ghosts find rest and\npeace. Hence the slayers are careful not to bring back the\nblood-stained weapons with them into the village; for that would be\nthe first place where the ghosts would look for them. They hide them,\ntherefore, in the forest at a safe distance from the village, where\nthe ghosts can never find them; and when the spirits are weary of the\nfruitless search, they go away back to their dead bodies lying, it may\nbe, among the blackened ruins of their {125} desolated home. Then the\nvictors come forth, and taking up the weapons from their\nhiding-places, wash them clean of blood and bring them back to the\nvillage.[125.1] But \u201cas more or less of the soul-stuff of their slain\nfoes always sticks to the victors, none of their people may touch them\nafter their return to the village. They are strictly shunned by their\nfriends for several days. People go shyly out of their way. If any one\nin the village gets a pain in his stomach, it is assumed that he has\nsat down on the place of one of the warriors. If somebody complains of\ntoothache, he must have eaten a fruit which had been touched by one of\nthe combatants. All the leavings of the men\u2019s food must be most\ncarefully put out of the way, lest a pig should get at them, for that\nwould be the death of the animal. Therefore the remains of their meals\nare burnt or buried. The warriors themselves cannot suffer much from\nthe soul-stuff of the foes, because they treat themselves with the\ndisinfecting sap of a creeper. But even so they are not secure against\nall the dangers that threaten them from this quarter.\u201d[125.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Customs observed by manslayers in British New Guinea.]\nAmong the tribes at the mouth of the Wanigela River, in British New\nGuinea, \u201ca man who has taken life is considered to be impure until he\nhas undergone certain ceremonies: as soon as possible after the deed\nhe cleanses himself and his weapon. This satisfactorily accomplished,\nhe repairs to his village and seats himself on the logs of sacrificial\nstaging. No one approaches him or takes any notice whatever of him. A\nhouse is prepared for him which is put in charge of two or three small\nboys as servants. He may eat only toasted bananas, and only the centre\nportion of them--the ends being thrown away. On the third day of his\nseclusion a small feast is prepared by his friends, who also fashion\nsome new perineal bands for him. This is called _ivi poro_. The next\nday the man dons all his best ornaments and badges for taking life,\nand sallies forth fully armed and parades the village. The next day a\nhunt is organised, and a kangaroo selected from the game captured. It\nis cut open and the spleen and liver rubbed over the back of the man.\nHe then walks solemnly down to the {126} nearest water, and standing\nstraddle-legs in it washes himself. All young untried warriors swim\nbetween his legs. This is supposed to impart his courage and strength\nto them. The following day, at early dawn, he dashes out of his house,\nfully armed, and calls aloud the name of his victim. Having satisfied\nhimself that he has thoroughly scared the ghost of the dead man, he\nreturns to his house. The beating of flooring boards and the lighting\nof fires is also a certain method of scaring the ghost. A day later\nhis purification is finished. He can then enter his wife\u2019s\nhouse.\u201d[126.1] In this last case the true nature of such so-called\npurifications is clearly manifest: they are in fact rites of exorcism\nobserved for the purpose of banning a dangerous spirit.\n\n[Sidenote: Customs observed by murderers among the Omaha Indians.]\nAmongst the Omaha Indians of North America a murderer whose life was\nspared by the kinsmen of his victim had to observe certain stringent\nrules for a period which varied from two to four years. He must walk\nbarefoot, and he might eat no warm food, nor raise his voice, nor look\naround. He had to pull his robe around him and to keep it tied at the\nneck, even in warm weather; he might not let it hang loose or fly\nopen. He might not move his hands about, but had to keep them close to\nhis body. He might not comb his hair, nor might it be blown about by\nthe wind. No one would eat with him, and only one of his kindred was\nallowed to remain with him in his tent. When the tribe went hunting,\nhe was obliged to pitch his tent about a quarter of a mile from the\nrest of the people, \u201clest the ghost of his victim should raise a high\nwind which might cause damage.\u201d[126.2] The reason here alleged for\nbanishing the murderer from the camp of the hunters gives the clue to\nall the other restrictions laid on him: he was haunted by the ghost\nand therefore dangerous; hence people kept aloof from him, just as\nthey are said to have done from the ghost-ridden Orestes.\n\nAmong the Chinook Indians of Oregon and Washington, \u201cwhen a person has\nbeen killed, an old man who has a {127} guardian spirit is asked to\nwork over the murderer. [Sidenote: Ceremonies observed by homicides\namong the Chinook Indians.] The old man takes coal and mixes it with\ngrease. He puts it on to the face of the murderer. He gives him a head\nring of cedar bark. Cedar bark is also tied around his ankles and\nknees and around his wrists. For five days he does not drink water. He\ndoes not sleep, and does not lie down. He always stands. At night he\nwalks about and whistles on bone whistles. He always says \u2018_\u00e4 \u00e4\n\u00e4_.\u2019 For five days he does not wash his face. Then on the next\nmorning the old man washes his face. He takes off that coal. He\nremoves the black paint from his face. He puts red paint on his face.\nA little coal is mixed with the red paint. The old man puts this again\non to his face. Sometimes this is done by an old man, sometimes by an\nold woman. The cedar bark which was tied to his legs and arms is taken\noff and buckskin straps are tied around his arms and his legs. Now,\nafter five days he is given water. He is given a bucket, out of which\nhe drinks. Now food is roasted for him, until it is burned. When it is\nburned black it is given to him. He eats standing. He takes five\nmouthsful, and no more. After thirty days he is painted with new red\npaint. Good red paint is taken. Now he carries his head ring and his\nbucket to a spruce tree and hangs it on top of the tree. Then the tree\nwill dry up. People never eat in company of a murderer. He never eats\nsitting, but always standing. When he sits down to rest he kneels on\none leg. The murderer never looks at a child and must not see people\nwhile they are eating.\u201d[127.1] All these measures are probably\nintended to rid the murderer of the clinging ghost of his victim, and\nto keep him in quarantine till the riddance has been effected.\n\n[Sidenote: Ghosts of slain kinsfolk, fellow-townsmen, and\nfellow-clansfolk especially dreaded.] While the spirit of a murdered\nman is thus feared by everybody, it is natural that it should be\nspecially dreaded by those against whom for any reason he may be\nconceived to bear a grudge. For example, among the Yabim of German New\nGuinea, when the relations of a murdered man have accepted a bloodwit\ninstead of avenging his death, they must allow the family of the\nvictim to mark them with chalk on the brow. Were this {128} not done,\nthe ghost of their dead kinsman might come and trouble them for not\ndoing their duty by him; he might drive away their pigs or loosen\ntheir teeth.[128.1] The ghosts of murdered kinsfolk and neighbours\nare naturally more formidable than those of foreigners and strangers;\nfor their wrath is hotter and they have more opportunities of wreaking\ntheir anger on the hard-hearted friends who either did them to death\nwith their own hands or left their blood unavenged. Indeed some people\nonly fear the wraiths of such persons, and regard with indifference\nall other ghosts, let them mow and gibber as much as they like. Thus\namong the Boloki of the Upper Congo \u201ca homicide is not afraid of the\nspirit of the man he has killed when the slain man belongs to any of\nthe neighbouring towns, as disembodied spirits travel in a very\nlimited area only; but when he kills a man belonging to his own town\nhe is filled with fear lest the spirit shall do him some harm. There\nare no special rites that he can observe to free himself from these\nfears, but he mourns for the slain man as though he were a member of\nhis own family. He neglects his personal appearance, shaves his head,\nfasts for a certain period, and laments with much weeping.\u201d[128.2]\nAgain, a Kikuyu man does not incur ceremonial pollution (_thahu_) by\nthe slaughter of a man of another tribe, nor even of his own tribe,\nprovided his victim belongs to another clan; but if the slain man is\na member of the same clan as his slayer, the case is grave indeed.\nHowever, it is possible by means of a ceremony to bind over the ghost\nto keep the peace. For this purpose the murderer and the oldest\nsurviving brother of his victim are seated facing each other on two\ntrunks of banana trees; here they are solemnly fed by two elders with\nvegetable food of all kinds, which has been provided for the purpose\nby their mothers and sprinkled with the contents of the stomach of a\nsacrificed sheep. Next day the elders proceed to the sacred {129}\nfig-tree (_mugumo_), which plays a great part in the religious rites\nof the Akikuyu. There they sacrifice a pig and deposit some of the\nfat, the intestines, and the more important bones at the foot of the\ntree, while they themselves feast on the more palatable parts of the\nanimal. They think that the ghost of the murdered man will visit the\ntree that very night in the outward shape of a wild cat and consume\nthe meat, and that this offering will prevent him from returning to\nthe village and troubling the inhabitants.[129.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Ghosts of the slain dreaded by the Toradjas of Central\nCelebes.] The Bare\u2019e-speaking Toradjas of Central Celebes are greatly\nconcerned about the souls of men who have been slain in battle. They\nappear to think that men who have been killed in war instead of dying\nby disease have not exhausted their vital energy and that therefore\ntheir departed spirits are more powerful than the common ruck of\nghosts; and as on account of the unnatural manner of their death they\ncannot be admitted into the land of souls they continue to prowl about\nthe earth, furious with the foes who have cut them off untimely in the\nprime of manhood, and demanding of their friends that they shall wage\nwar on the enemy and send forth an expedition every year to kill some\nof them. If the survivors pay no heed to this demand of the\nbloodthirsty ghosts, they themselves are exposed to the vengeance of\nthese angry spirits, who pay out their undutiful friends and relatives\nby visiting them with sickness and death. Hence with the Toradjas war\nis a sacred duty in which every member of the community is bound to\nbear a part; even women and children, who cannot wage real war, must\nwage mimic warfare at home by hacking with bamboo swords at an old\nskull of the enemy, while with their shrill voices they utter the\nwar-whoop.[129.2] Thus among these people, as among many more tribes\nof savages, a belief in the immortality of {130} the soul has been one\nof the most fruitful causes of bloodshed by keeping up a perpetual\nstate of war between neighbouring communities, who dare not make peace\nwith each other for fear of mortally offending the spirits of the\ndead.[130.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Ghosts of all who have died violent deaths are dangerous.\nHow the Karens propitiate such ghosts.] But, whether friends or foes,\nthe ghosts of all who have died a violent death are in a sense a\npublic danger; for their temper is naturally soured and they are apt\nto fall foul of the first person they meet without nicely\ndiscriminating between the innocent and the guilty. The Karens of\nBurma, for example, think that the spirits of all such persons go\nneither to the upper regions of bliss nor to the nether world of woe,\nbut linger on earth and wander about invisible. They make men sick to\ndeath by stealing their souls. Accordingly these vampire-like beings\nare exceedingly dreaded by the people, who seek to appease their anger\nand repel their cruel assaults by propitiatory offerings and the most\nearnest prayers and supplications.[130.2] They put red, yellow, and\nwhite rice in a basket and leave it in the forest, saying: \u201cGhosts of\nsuch as died by falling from a tree, ghosts of such as died of hunger\nor thirst, ghosts of such as died by the tiger\u2019s tooth or the\nserpent\u2019s fang, ghosts of the murdered dead, ghosts of such as died of\nsmall-pox or cholera, ghosts of dead lepers, O ill-treat us not, seize\nnot upon our persons, do us no harm. O stay here in this wood. We will\nbring hither red rice, yellow rice, and white rice for your\nsubsistence.\u201d[130.3]\n\n[Sidenote: The angry ghosts of the slain are sometimes forcibly\ndriven away with noise and clamour.] However, it is not always by\nfair words and propitiatory offerings that the community attempts to\nrid itself of these invisible but dangerous intruders. People\nsometimes resort to more forcible measures. \u201cOnce,\u201d says a traveller\namong the Indians of North America, \u201con approaching in the night a\nvillage of Ottawas, I found all the inhabitants in confusion: they\nwere all busily engaged in raising noises of the loudest and most\ninharmonious kind. Upon inquiry, I found that a battle had been lately\nfought between the Ottawas and the Kickapoos, and that the object of\nall this noise was to prevent the ghosts of the departed combatants\n{131} from entering the village.\u201d[131.1] Again, after the North\nAmerican Indians had burned and tortured a prisoner to death, they\nused to run through the village, beating the walls, the furniture, and\nthe roofs of the huts with sticks and yelling at the pitch of their\nvoices to drive away the angry ghost of the victim, lest he should\nseek to avenge the injuries done to his scorched and mutilated\nbody.[131.2] Similarly among the Papuans of Doreh in Dutch New\nGuinea, when a murder has been committed in the village, the\ninhabitants assemble for several evenings successively and shriek and\nshout to frighten away the ghost, in case he should attempt to come\nback.[131.3] The Yabim, a tribe in German New Guinea, believe that\n\u201cthe dead can both help and harm, but the fear of their harmful\ninfluence is predominant. Especially the people are of opinion that\nthe ghost of a slain man haunts his murderer and brings misfortune on\nhim. Hence it is necessary to drive away the ghost with shrieks and\nthe beating of drums. The model of a canoe laden with taro and tobacco\nis got ready to facilitate his departure.\u201d[131.4] So when the Bukaua\nof German New Guinea have won a victory over their foes and have\nreturned home, they kindle a fire in the middle of the village and\nhurl blazing brands in the direction of the battle-field, while at the\nsame time they make an ear-splitting din, to keep at bay the angry\nspirits of the slain.[131.5] When the cannibal Melanesians of the\nBismarck Archipelago have eaten a human body, they shout, blow horns,\nshake spears, and beat the bushes for the purpose of driving away the\nghost of the man or woman whose flesh has just furnished the\nbanquet.[131.6] The Fijians used to bury the sick and aged alive,\n{132} and having done so they always made a great uproar with bamboos,\nshell-trumpets, and so forth in order to scare away the spirits of the\nburied people and prevent them from returning to their homes; and by\nway of removing any temptation to hover about their former abodes they\ndismantled the houses of the dead and hung them with everything that\nin their eyes seemed most repulsive.[132.1] Among the Angoni, a Zulu\ntribe settled to the north of the Zambesi, warriors who have slain\nfoes on an expedition smear their bodies and faces with ashes, and\nhang garments of their victims on their persons. This costume they\nwear for three days after their return, and rising at break of day\nthey run through the village uttering frightful yells to banish the\nghosts of the slain, which otherwise might bring sickness and\nmisfortune on the people.[132.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Precautions taken against the ghosts of executed criminals\nand other dangerous persons.] In Travancore the spirits of men who\nhave died a violent death by drowning, hanging, or other means are\nsupposed to become demons, wandering about to inflict injury in\nvarious ways upon mankind. Especially the ghosts of murderers who have\nbeen hanged are believed to haunt the place of execution and its\nneighbourhood. To prevent this it used to be customary to cut off the\ncriminal\u2019s heels with a sword or to hamstring him as he was turned\noff.[132.3] The intention of thus mutilating the body was no doubt to\nprevent the ghost from walking. How could he walk if he were hamstrung\nor had no heels? With precisely the same intention it has been\ncustomary with some peoples to maim in various ways the dead bodies\nnot only of executed criminals but of other persons; for all ghosts\nare more or less dreaded. When any bad man died, the Esquimaux of\nBering Strait used in the old days to cut the sinews of his arms and\nlegs \u201cin order to prevent the shade from returning to the body and\ncausing it to walk at night as a ghoul.\u201d[132.4] The Omaha {133}\nIndians said that when a man was killed by lightning he should be\nburied face downwards, and that the soles of his feet should be slit;\nfor if this were not done, his ghost would walk.[133.1] The Herero of\nSouth Africa think that the ghosts of bad people appear and are just\nas mischievous as in life; for they rob, steal, and seduce women and\ngirls, sometimes getting them with child. To prevent the dead from\nplaying these pranks the Herero used to cut through the backbone of\nthe corpse, tie it up in a bunch, and sew it into an ox-hide.[133.2]\nA simple way of disabling a dangerous ghost is to dig up his body and\ndecapitate it. This is done by West African negroes and also by the\nArmenians; to make assurance doubly sure the Armenians not only cut\noff the head but smash it or stick a needle into it or into the dead\nman\u2019s heart.[133.3]\n\n[Sidenote: Precautions taken in India against the ghosts of women who\ndie in pregnancy, childbed, or soon after it.] The Hindoos of the\nPunjaub believe that if a mother dies within thirteen days of her\ndelivery, she will return in the guise of a malignant spirit to\ntorment her husband and family. To prevent this some people drive\nnails through her head and eyes, while others also knock nails on\neither side of the door of the house.[133.4] A gentler way of\nattaining the same end is to put a nail or a piece of iron in the\nclothes of the poor dead mother,[133.5] or to knock nails into the\nearth round the places where she died, and where her dead body was\nwashed and cremated. Some people put pepper in the eyes of the corpse\nto prevent the ghost from seeing her way back to the house.[133.6] In\nBilaspore, if a mother dies leaving very young children, they tie her\nhands and feet before burial to prevent her from getting up by {134}\nnight and going to see her orphaned little ones.[134.1] The Oraons of\nBengal are firmly convinced that any woman who dies in pregnancy or\nchildbirth becomes an evil and dangerous spirit (_bhut_), who, if\nsteps are not taken to keep her off, will come back and tickle to\ndeath those whom she loved best in life. \u201cTo prevent her, therefore,\nfrom coming back, they carry her body as far away as they can, but no\nwoman will accompany her to her last resting-place lest similar\nmisfortune should happen to her. Arrived at the burial-place, they\nbreak the feet above the ankle, twist them round, bringing the heels\nin front, and then drive long thorns into them. They bury her very\ndeep with her face downwards, and with her they bury the bones of a\ndonkey, and pronounce the _anathema_, \u2018If you come home may you turn\ninto a donkey\u2019; the roots of a palm-tree are also buried with her; and\nthey say, \u2018May you come home only when the leaves of the palm-tree\nwither,\u2019 and when they retire they spread mustard seeds all along the\nroad saying, \u2018When you try to come home pick up all these.\u2019 They then\nfeel pretty safe at home from her nocturnal visits, but woe to the man\nwho passes at night near the place where she has been buried. She will\npounce upon him, twist his neck, and leave him senseless on the\nground, until brought to by the incantations of a sorcerer.\u201d[134.2]\nAmong the Lushais of Assam, when a woman died in childbed, the\nrelatives offer a sacrifice to her departed soul, \u201cbut the rest of\nthat village treat the day as a holiday and put a small green branch\non the wall of each house on the outside near the doorpost to keep out\nthe spirit of the dead woman.\u201d[134.3]\n\n[Sidenote: Precautions taken in Burma against the ghosts of women who\ndie in pregnancy or childbed.] Among the Shans of Burma, when a woman\ndies with an unborn child, it is believed that her spirit turns into a\nmalignant ghost, \u201cwho may return to haunt her husband\u2019s home and\ntorment him, unless precautions are taken to keep her away. To begin\nwith, her unborn child is removed by an operation; then mother and\nchild are wrapped in separate mats and buried without coffins. If this\nbe not done, the same {135} misfortune may occur again to the woman,\nin her future life, and the widower will suffer from the attacks of\nthe ghost. When the bodies are being removed from the house, part of\nthe mat wall in the side of the house is taken down, and the dead\nwoman and her baby are lowered to the ground through the aperture. The\nhole through which the bodies have passed is immediately filled with\nnew mats, so that the ghost may not know how to return.\u201d[135.1] The\nKachins of Burma are so afraid of the ghosts of women dying in\nchildbed that no sooner has such a death taken place than the husband,\nthe children, and almost all the people in the house take to flight\nlest the ghost should bite them. They bandage the eyes of the dead\nwoman with her own hair to prevent her from seeing anything; they wrap\nthe corpse in a mat and carry it out of the house not by the ordinary\ndoor, but by an opening made for the purpose either in the wall or in\nthe floor of the room where she breathed her last. Then they convey\nthe body to a deep ravine where foot of man seldom penetrates, and\nthere, having heaped her clothes, her jewellery, and all her\nbelongings over her, they set fire to the pile and reduce the whole to\nashes. \u201cThus they destroy all the property of the unfortunate woman in\norder that her soul may not think of coming to fetch it afterwards and\nto bite the people in the attempt.\u201d When this has been done, the\nofficiating priest scatters some burnt grain of a climbing plant\n(_sh\u0103mien_), inserts in the earth the pestle which the dead woman\nused to husk the rice, and winds up the exorcism by cursing and\nrailing at her ghost, saying: \u201cWait to come back to us till this grain\nsprouts and this pestle blossoms, till the fern bears fruit, and the\ncocks lay eggs.\u201d The house in which the woman died is generally pulled\ndown, and the timber may only be used as firewood or to build small\nhovels in the fields. Till a new house can be built for them, the\nwidower and the orphans receive the hospitality of their nearest\nrelatives, a father or a brother; their other friends would not dare\nto receive them from fear of the ghost. {136} Occasionally the dead\nmother\u2019s jewels are spared from the fire and given away to some poor\nold crones, who do not trouble their heads about ghosts. If the\nmedicine-man who attended the woman in life and officiated at the\nfuneral is old, he may consent to accept the jewels as the fee for his\nservices; but in that case no sooner has he got home than he puts the\njewels in the henhouse. If the hens remain quiet, it is a good omen\nand he can keep the trinkets with an easy mind; but if the fowl\nflutter and cackle, it is a sign that the ghost is sticking to the\njewels, and in a fright he restores them to the family. The old man or\nold woman into whose hands the trinkets of the dead woman thus\nsometimes fall cannot dispose of them to other members of the tribe;\nfor nobody who knows where the things come from would be so rash as to\nbuy them. However, they may find purchasers among the Shans or the\nChinese, who do not fear Kachin ghosts.[136.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Precautions taken in the Indian Archipelago against the\nghosts of women who die in childbed.] The ghosts of women who die in\nchildbed are much dreaded in the Indian Archipelago; it is supposed\nthat they appear in the form of birds with long claws and are\nexceedingly dangerous to their husbands and also to pregnant women. A\ncommon way of guarding against them is to put an egg under each armpit\nof the corpse, to press the arms close against the body, and to stick\nneedles in the palms of the hands. The people believe that the ghost\nof the dead woman will be unable to fly and attack people; for she\nwill not spread out her arms for fear of letting the eggs fall, and\nshe will not clutch anybody for fear of driving the needles deeper\ninto her palms. Sometimes by way of additional precaution another egg\nis placed under her chin, thorns are thrust into the joints of her\nfingers and toes, her mouth is stopped with ashes, and her hands,\nfeet, and hair are nailed to the coffin.[136.2] [Sidenote: Attempts\nto lame and otherwise disable ghosts.] Some Sea Dyaks of Borneo sow\nthe ground {137} near cemeteries with bits of sticks to imitate\ncaltrops, in order that the feet of any ghosts who walk over them may\nbe lamed.[137.1] The Besisi of the Malay Peninsula bury their dead in\nthe ground and let fall knives on the grave to prevent the ghost from\ngetting up out of it.[137.2] The Tunguses of Turukhansk on the\ncontrary put their dead up in trees, and then lop off all the branches\nto prevent the ghost from scrambling down and giving them\nchase.[137.3] The Herbert River natives in Queensland used to cut\nholes in the stomach, shoulders, and lungs of their dead and fill the\nholes with stones, in order that, weighed down with this ballast, the\nghost might not stray far afield; to limit his range still further\nthey commonly broke his legs.[137.4] Other Australian blacks put hot\ncoals in the ears of their departed brother; this keeps the ghost in\nthe body for a time, and allows the relations to get a good start away\nfrom him. Also they bark the trees in a circle round the spot, so that\nwhen the ghost does get out and makes after them, he wanders round and\nround in a circle, always returning to the place from which he\nstarted.[137.5] The ancient Hindoos put fetters on the feet of their\ndead that they might not return to the land of the living.[137.6] The\nTinneh Indians of Alaska grease the hands of a corpse, so that when\nhis ghost grabs at people\u2019s souls to carry them {138} off with him\nthey slip through his greasy fingers and escape.[138.1]\n\n[Sidenote: The way home barricaded against ghosts.] Some peoples bar\nthe road from the grave to prevent the ghost from following them. The\nTunguses make the barrier of snow or trees.[138.2] Amongst the\nMangars, one of the fighting tribes of Nepal, \u201cwhen the mourners\nreturn home, one of their party goes ahead and makes a barricade of\nthorn bushes across the road midway between the grave and the house of\nthe deceased. On the top of the thorns he puts a big stone on which he\ntakes his stand, holding a pot of burning incense in his left hand and\nsome woollen thread in his right. One by one the mourners step on the\nstone and pass through the smoke of the incense to the other side of\nthe thorny barrier. As they pass, each takes a piece of thread from\nthe man who holds the incense and ties it round his neck. The object\nof this curious ceremony is to prevent the spirit of the dead man from\ncoming home with the mourners and establishing itself in its old\nhaunts. Conceived of as a miniature man, it is believed to be unable\nto make its way on foot through the thorns, while the smell of the\nincense, to which all spirits are highly sensitive, prevents it from\nsurmounting this obstacle on the shoulders of one of the\nmourners.\u201d[138.3] The Chins of Burma burn their dead and collect the\nbones in an earthen pot. Afterwards, at a convenient season, the pot\ncontaining the bones is carried away to the ancestral burial-place,\nwhich is generally situated in the depth of the jungle. \u201cWhen the\npeople convey the pot of bones to the cemetery, they take with them\nsome cotton-yarn, and whenever they come to any stream or other water,\nthey stretch a thread across, whereby the spirit of the deceased, who\naccompanies them, may get across it too. When they have duly deposited\nthe bones and food for the spirit in the cemetery they return home,\n{139} after bidding the spirit to remain there, and not to follow them\nback to the village. At the same time they block the way by which they\nreturn by putting a bamboo across the path.\u201d[139.1] Thus the mourners\nmake the way to the grave as easy as possible for the ghost, but\nobstruct the way by which he might return from it.\n\n[Sidenote: Devices of the North American Indians to keep ghosts at\nbay.] The Algonquin Indians, not content with beating the walls of\ntheir huts to drive away the ghost, stretched nets round them in order\nto catch the spirit in the meshes, if he attempted to enter the house.\nOthers made stinks to keep him off.[139.2] The Ojebways also resorted\nto a number of devices for warding off the spirits of the dead. These\nhave been described as follows by a writer who was himself an Ojebway:\n\u201cIf the deceased was a husband, it is often the custom for the widow,\nafter the burial is over, to spring or leap over the grave, and then\nrun zigzag behind the trees, as if she were fleeing from some one.\nThis is called running away from the spirit of her husband, that it\nmay not haunt her. In the evening of the day on which the burial has\ntaken place, when it begins to grow dark, the men fire off their guns\nthrough the hole left at the top of the wigwam. As soon as this firing\nceases, the old women commence knocking and making such a rattling at\nthe door as would frighten away any spirit that would dare to hover\nnear. The next ceremony is, to cut into narrow strips, like ribbon,\nthin birch bark. These they fold into shapes, and hang round inside\nthe wigwam, so that the least puff of wind will move them. With such\nscarecrows as these, what spirit would venture to disturb their\nslumbers? Lest this should not prove effectual, they will also\nfrequently take a deer\u2019s tail, and after burning or singeing off all\nthe hair, will rub the necks or faces of the children before they lie\ndown to sleep, thinking that the offensive smell will be another\npreventive to the spirit\u2019s entrance. I well remember when I used to be\ndaubed over with this disagreeable fumigation, and had great faith in\nit all. Thinking that the soul lingers about the body a long time\nbefore it {140} takes its final departure, they use these means to\nhasten it away.\u201d[140.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Spirits of the dead greatly feared by the Lengua Indians\nof the Gran Chaco.] The Lengua Indians of the Gran Chaco in South\nAmerica live in great fear of the spirits of their dead. They imagine\nthat any one of these disembodied spirits can become incarnate again\nand take a new lease of life on earth, if only it can contrive to get\npossession of a living man\u2019s body during the temporary absence of his\nsoul. For like many other savages they imagine that the soul absents\nitself from the body during sleep to wander far away in the land of\ndreams. So when night falls, the ghosts of the dead come crowding to\nthe villages and lurk about, hoping to find vacant bodies into which\nthey can enter. Such are to the thinking of the Lengua Indian the\nperils and dangers of the night. When he awakes in the morning from a\ndream in which he seemed to be hunting or fishing far away, he\nconcludes that his soul cannot yet have returned from such a far\njourney, and that the spirit within him must therefore be some ghost\nor demon, who has taken possession of his corporeal tenement in the\nabsence of its proper owner. And if these Indians dread the spirits of\nthe departed at all times, they dread them doubly at the moment when\nthey have just shuffled off the mortal coil. No sooner has a person\ndied than the whole village is deserted. Even if the death takes place\nshortly before sunset the place must at all costs be immediately\nabandoned, lest with the shades of night the ghost should return and\ndo a mischief to the villagers. Not only is the village deserted, but\nevery hut is burned down and the property of the dead man destroyed.\nFor these Indians believe that, however good and kind a man may have\nbeen in his lifetime, his ghost is always a source of danger to the\npeace and prosperity of the living. The night after his death his\ndisembodied spirit comes back to the village, and chilled by the cool\nnight air looks about for a fire at which to warm himself. He rakes in\nthe ashes to find at least a hot coal which he may blow up into a\nflame. But if they are all cold and dead, he flings a handful of them\nin the air {141} and departs in dudgeon. Any Indian who treads on such\nashes will have ill-luck, if not death, following at his heels. To\nprevent such mishaps the villagers take the greatest pains to collect\nand bury all the ash-heaps before they abandon the village. What the\nfate of a hamlet would be in which the returning ghost found the\ninhabitants still among their houses, no Indian dares to imagine.\nHence it happens that many a village which was full of life at noon is\na smoking desert at sunset. And as the Lenguas ascribe all sickness to\nthe machinations of evil spirits and sorcerers, they mutilate the\npersons of their dying or dead in order to counteract and punish the\nauthors of the disease. For this purpose they cut off the portion of\nthe body in which the evil spirit is supposed to have ensconced\nhimself. A common operation performed on the dying or dead man is\nthis. A gash is made with a knife in his side, the edges of the wound\nare drawn apart with the fingers, and in the wound are deposited a\ndog\u2019s bone, a stone, and the claw of an armadillo. It is believed that\nat the departure of the soul from the body the stone will rise up to\nthe Milky Way and will stay there till the author of the death has\nbeen discovered. Then the stone will come shooting down in the shape\nof a meteor and kill, or at least stun, the guilty party. That is why\nthese Indians stand in terror of falling stars. The claw of the\narmadillo serves to grub up the earth and, in conjunction with the\nmeteor, to ensure the destruction of the evil spirit or the sorcerer.\nWhat the virtue of the dog\u2019s bone is supposed to be has not yet been\nascertained by the missionaries.[141.1]\n\n[Sidenote: A scapegoat for ghosts.] The Bhotias, who inhabit the\nHimalayan district of British India, perform an elaborate ceremony for\ntransferring the spirit of a deceased person to an animal, which is\nfinally beaten by all the villagers and driven away, that it may not\ncome back. Having thus expelled the ghost the {142} people return\njoyfully to the village with songs and dances. In some places the\nanimal which thus serves as a scapegoat is a yak, the forehead, back,\nand tail of which must be white. But elsewhere, under the influence of\nHindooism, sheep and goats have been substituted for yaks.[142.1]\n\n[Sidenote: Precautions taken by widows in Africa against their\nhusbands\u2019 ghosts.] Widows and widowers are especially obnoxious to\nthe ghosts of their deceased spouses, and accordingly they have to\ntake special precautions against them. For example, among the Ewe\nnegroes of Agome, in German Togoland, a widow is bound to remain for\nsix weeks in the hut where her husband lies buried. She is naked, her\nhair is shaved off, and she is armed with a stick with which to repel\nthe too pressing familiarities of her husband\u2019s ghost; for were she to\nsubmit to them, she would die on the spot. At night she sleeps with\nthe stick under her, lest the wily ghost should attempt to steal it\nfrom her in the hours of slumber. Before she eats or drinks she always\nputs some coals on the food or in the beverage, to prevent her dead\nhusband from eating or drinking with her; for if he did so, she would\ndie. If any one calls to her, she may not answer, for her dead husband\nwould hear her, and she would die. She may not eat beans or flesh or\nfish, nor drink palm-wine or rum, but she is allowed to smoke tobacco.\nAt night a fire is kept up in the hut, and the widow throws powdered\npeppermint leaves and red pepper on the flames to make a stink, which\nhelps to keep the ghost from the house.[142.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Precautions taken by widows and widowers in British\nColumbia against the ghosts of their spouses.] Among many tribes of\nBritish Columbia the conduct of a widow and a widower for a long time\nafter the death of their spouse is regulated by a code of minute and\nburdensome restrictions, all of which appear to be based on the notion\nthat these persons, being haunted by the ghost, are not only\nthemselves in peril, but are also a source of danger to others. Thus\namong the Shushwap Indians of British Columbia widows and widowers\nfence their beds with thorn bushes to keep off the ghost of the\ndeceased; indeed they {143} lie on such bushes, in order that the\nghost may be under little temptation to share their bed of thorns.\nThey must build a sweat-house on a creek, sweat there all night, and\nbathe regularly in the creek, after which they must rub their bodies\nwith spruce branches. These branches may be used only once for this\npurpose; afterwards they are stuck in the ground all round about the\nhut, probably to fence off the ghost. The mourners must also use cups\nand cooking vessels of their own, and they may not touch their own\nheads or bodies. Hunters may not go near them, and any person on whom\ntheir shadow were to fall would at once be ill.[143.1] Again, among\nthe Tsetsaut Indians, when a man dies his brother is bound to marry\nthe widow, but he may not do so before the lapse of a certain time,\nbecause it is believed that the dead man\u2019s ghost haunts his widow and\nwould do a mischief to his living rival. During the time of her\nmourning the widow eats out of a stone dish, carries a pebble in her\nmouth, and a crab-apple stick up the back of her jacket. She sits\nupright day and night. Any person who crosses the hut in front of her\nis a dead man. The restrictions laid on a widower are similar.[143.2]\nAmong the Lkungen or Songish Indians, in Vancouver Island, widow and\nwidower, after the death of husband or wife, are forbidden to cut\ntheir hair, as otherwise it is believed that they would gain too great\npower over the souls and welfare of others. They must remain alone at\ntheir fire for a long time and are forbidden to mingle with other\npeople. When they eat, nobody may see them. They must keep their faces\ncovered for ten days. For two days after the burial they fast and are\nnot allowed to speak. After that they may speak a little, but before\naddressing any one they must go into the woods and clean themselves in\nponds and with cedar-branches. If they wish to harm an enemy they call\nout his name when they first break their fast, and they bite very hard\nin eating. That is believed to kill their enemy, probably (though this\nis not said) by directing the {144} attention of the ghost to him.\nThey may not go near the water nor eat fresh salmon, or the fish might\nbe driven away. They may not eat warm food, else their teeth would\nfall out.[144.1] Among the Bella Coola Indians the bed of a mourner\nis protected against the ghost of the deceased by thorn-bushes stuck\ninto the ground at each corner. He rises early in the morning and goes\nout into the woods, where he makes a square with thorn-bushes, and\ninside of this square, where he is probably supposed to be safe from\nthe intrusion of the ghost, he cleanses himself by rubbing his body\nwith cedar-branches. He also swims in ponds, and after swimming he\ncleaves four small trees and creeps through the clefts, following the\ncourse of the sun. This he does on four subsequent mornings, cleaving\nnew trees every day. We may surmise that the intention of creeping\nthrough the cleft trees is to give the slip to the ghost. The mourner\nalso cuts his hair short, and the cut hair is burnt. If he did not\nobserve these regulations, it is believed that he would dream of the\ndeceased, which to the savage mind is another way of saying that he\nwould be visited by his ghost. Amongst these Indians the rules of\nmourning for a widower or widow are especially strict. For four days\nhe or she must fast and may not speak a word, else the dead wife or\nhusband would come and lay a cold hand on the mouth of the offender,\nwho would die. They may not go near water and are forbidden to catch\nor eat salmon for a whole year. During that time also they may not eat\nfresh herring or candle-fish (olachen). Their shadows are deemed\nunlucky and may not fall on any person.[144.2]\n\n[Sidenote: Precautions taken by widows and widowers among the\nThompson Indians.] Among the Thompson Indians of British Columbia\nwidows or widowers, on the death of their husbands or wives, went out\nat once and passed through a patch of rose-bushes four times. The\nintention of this ceremony is not reported, but we may conjecture that\nit was supposed to deter the ghost from following for fear of\nscratching himself or herself on the thorns. For four days after the\ndeath widows and {145} widowers had to wander about at evening or\nbreak of day wiping their eyes with fir-twigs, which they hung up in\nthe branches of trees, praying to the Dawn. They also rubbed their\neyes with a small stone taken from under running water, then threw it\naway, while they prayed that they might not become blind. The first\nfour days they might not touch their food, but ate with sharp-pointed\nsticks, and spat out the first four mouthfuls of each meal, and the\nfirst four of water, into the fire. For a year they had to sleep on a\nbed made of fir-branches, on which rose-bush sticks were also spread\nat the foot, head, and middle. Many also wore a few small twigs of\nrose-bush on their persons. The use of the rose-bush was no doubt to\nkeep off the ghost through fear of the prickles. They were forbidden\nto eat fresh fish and flesh of any kind for a year. A widower might\nnot fish at another man\u2019s fishing-place or with another man\u2019s net. If\nhe did, it would make the station and the net useless for the season.\nIf a widower transplanted a trout into another lake, before releasing\nit he blew on the head of the fish, and after chewing deer-fat, he\nspat some of the grease out on its head, so as to remove the baneful\neffect of his touch. Then he let it go, bidding the fish farewell, and\nasking it to propagate its kind. Any grass or branches upon which a\nwidow or widower sat or lay down withered up. If a widow were to break\nsticks or branches, her own hands or arms would break. She might not\ncook food nor fetch water for her children, nor let them lie down on\nher bed, nor should she lie or sit where they slept. Some widows wore\na breech-cloth made of dry bunch-grass for several days, lest the\nghost of her dead husband should have connexion with her. A widower\nmight not fish or hunt, because it was unlucky both for him and for\nother hunters. He did not allow his shadow to pass in front of another\nwidower or of any person who was supposed to be gifted with more\nknowledge or magic than ordinary.[145.1] Among the Lillooet Indians\nof British Columbia the rules enjoined on widows and widowers were\nsomewhat similar. But a widower had to observe a {146} singular custom\nin eating. He ate his food with the right hand passed underneath his\nright leg, the knee of which was raised.[146.1] The motive for\nconveying food to his mouth in this roundabout fashion is not\nmentioned: we may conjecture that it was to baffle the hungry ghost,\nwho might be supposed to watch every mouthful swallowed by the\nmourner, but who could hardly suspect that food passed under the knee\nwas intended to reach the mouth.\n\n[Sidenote: Precautions taken by widows and widowers among the\nKwakiutl Indians.] Among the Kwakiutl Indians of British Columbia we\nare told \u201cthe regulations referring to the mourning period are very\nsevere. In case of the death of husband or wife, the survivor has to\nobserve the following rules: for four days after the death the\nsurvivor must sit motionless, the knees drawn up toward the chin. On\nthe third day all the inhabitants of the village, including children,\nmust take a bath. On the fourth day some water is heated in a wooden\nkettle, and the widow or widower drips it upon his head. When he\nbecomes tired of sitting motionless, and must move, he thinks of his\nenemy, stretches his legs slowly four times, and draws them up again.\nThen his enemy must die. During the following sixteen days he must\nremain on the same spot, but he may stretch out his legs. He is not\nallowed, however, to move his hands. Nobody must speak to him, and\nwhosoever disobeys this command will be punished by the death of one\nof his relatives. Every fourth day he takes a bath. He is fed twice a\nday by an old woman at the time of low water, with salmon caught in\nthe preceding year, and given to him in the dishes and spoons of the\ndeceased. While sitting so his mind is wandering to and fro. He sees\nhis house and his friends as though far, far away. If in his visions\nhe sees a man near by, the latter is sure to die at no distant day; if\nhe sees him very far away, he will continue to live long. After the\nsixteen days have passed, he may lie down, but not stretch out. He\ntakes a bath every eighth day. At the end of the first month he takes\noff his clothing, and dresses the stump of a tree with it. After\nanother month has passed he may sit in a corner {147} of the house,\nbut for four months he must not mingle with others. He must not use\nthe house door, but a separate door is cut for his use. Before he\nleaves the house for the first time he must three times approach the\ndoor and return, then he may leave the house. After ten months his\nhair is cut short, and after a year the mourning is at an\nend.\u201d[147.1]\n\nThough the reasons for the elaborate restrictions thus imposed on\nwidows and widowers by the Indians of British Columbia are not always\nstated, we may safely infer that one and all they are dictated by fear\nof the ghost, who, haunting the surviving spouse, surrounds him or her\nwith a dangerous atmosphere, a contagion of death, which necessitates\nhis seclusion both from the people themselves and from the principal\nsources of their food supply, especially from the fisheries, lest the\ninfected person should poison them by his malignant presence.\n[Sidenote: Social ostracism of widowers in New Guinea dictated by\nfear of the ghosts of their dead wives.] We can, therefore,\nunderstand the extraordinary treatment of a widower by the Papuans of\nIssoudun in British New Guinea. His miseries begin with the moment of\nhis wife\u2019s death. He is immediately stripped of all his ornaments,\nabused and beaten by his wife\u2019s relations, his house is pillaged, his\ngardens devastated, there is no one to cook for him. He sleeps on his\nwife\u2019s grave till the end of his mourning. He may never marry again.\nBy the death of his wife he loses all his rights. It is civil death\nfor him. Old or young, chief or plebeian, he is no longer anybody, he\ndoes not count. He may not hunt or fish with the others; his presence\nwould bring misfortune; the spirit of his dead wife would frighten the\nfish or the game. He is no longer heard in the discussions. He has no\nvoice in the council of elders. He may not take part in a dance; he\nmay not own a garden. If one of his children marries, he has no right\nto interfere in anything or receive any present. If he were dead, he\ncould not be ignored more completely. He has become a nocturnal\nanimal. He is forbidden to shew himself in public, to traverse the\nvillage, to walk in the roads and paths. Like a boar, he must go in\nthe grass or {148} the bushes. If he hears or sees any one, especially\na woman, coming from afar, he must hide himself behind a tree or a\nthicket. If he wishes to go hunting or fishing by himself, he must go\nat night. If he has to consult any one, even the missionary, he does\nit in great secrecy and by night. He seems to have lost his voice, and\nonly speaks in a whisper. He is painted black from head to foot. The\nhair of his head is shaved, except two tufts which flutter on his\ntemples. He wears a skull-cap which covers his head completely to the\nears; it ends in a point at the back of his neck. Round his waist he\nwears one, two, or three sashes of plaited grass; his arms and legs\nfrom the knees to the ankles are covered with armlets and leglets of\nthe same sort; and round his neck he wears a similar ornament. His\ndiet is strictly regulated, but he does not observe it more than he\ncan help, eating in secret whatever is given him or he can lay his\nhands on. \u201cHis tomahawk accompanies him everywhere and always. He\nneeds it to defend himself against the wild boars and also against the\nspirit of his dead wife, who might take a fancy to come and play him\nsome mischievous prank; for the souls of the dead come back often and\ntheir visit is far from being desired, inasmuch as all the spirits\nwithout exception are bad and have no pleasure but in harming the\nliving. Happily people can keep them at bay by a stick, fire, an\narrow, or a tomahawk. The condition of a widower, far from exciting\npity or compassion, only serves to render him the object of horror and\nfear. Almost all widowers, in fact, have the reputation of being more\nor less sorcerers, and their mode of life is not fitted to give the\nlie to public opinion. They are forced to become idlers and thieves,\nsince they are forbidden to work: no work, no gardens; no gardens, no\nfood: steal then they must, and that is a trade which cannot be plied\nwithout some audacity and knavery at a pinch.\u201d[148.1]\n\n[Sidenote: The widespread fear of ghosts among mankind has probably\nhad the effect of making men less ready to take each other\u2019s lives.]\nIt would be easy, but superfluous, to multiply evidence of the terror\nwhich a belief in ghosts has spread among mankind, and of the\nconsequences, sometimes tragical, sometimes {149} ludicrous, which\nthat belief has brought in its train.[149.1] The preceding instances\nmay suffice for my purpose, which is merely to indicate the\nprobability that this widespread superstition has served a useful\npurpose by enhancing the sacredness of human life. For it is\nreasonable to suppose that men are more loth to spill the blood of\ntheir fellows when they believe that by so doing they expose\nthemselves to the vengeance of an angry and powerful spirit whom it is\ndifficult either to evade or to deceive. Fortunately in this matter we\nare not left wholly to conjecture. [Sidenote: In China the faith in\nthe power of ghosts is universal.] In the vast empire of China, as we\nare assured by the best living authority on Chinese religion, the fear\nof ghosts has actually produced this salutary result. Amongst the\nChinese the faith in the existence of the dead, in their power to\nreward kindness and avenge injury, is universal and inveterate; it has\nbeen handed down from an immemorial past, and it is nourished in the\nexperience, or rather in the mind, of everybody by hundreds of ghost\nstories, all of which are accepted as authentic. Nobody doubts that\nghosts may interfere at any moment for good or evil in the business of\nlife, in the regulation of human destiny. To the Chinese their dead\nare not what our dead are to most of us, a dim sad memory, a shadowy\ncongregation somewhere far away, to whom we may go in time, but who\ncannot come to us or exercise any influence on the land of the living.\nOn the contrary, in the opinion of the Chinese the dead not only exist\nbut keep up a most lively intercourse, an active interchange of good\nand evil, with the survivors. There is, indeed, even in China, a line\nof demarcation between men and spirits, between the living and the\ndead, but it is said to be very faint, almost imperceptible. This\nperpetual commerce between the two worlds, the material and the\nspiritual, is a source both of bane and of blessing: the spirits of\nthe departed rule human destiny with a rod of iron or of gold. From\nthem man has everything to hope, but also much to fear. Hence as a\nnatural consequence it is to the ghosts, to the souls of the dead,\nthat the Chinaman {150} pays his devotions; it is around their dear or\ndreadful figures as a centre that his religion revolves. To ensure\ntheir goodwill and help, to avert their wrath and fierce attacks, that\nis the first and the last object of his religious ceremonies.[150.1]\n\n[Sidenote: In China respect for human life is enforced by fear of\nghosts.] This faith of the Chinese in the existence and power of the\ndead, we are informed, \u201cindubitably exercises a mighty and salutary\ninfluence upon morals. It enforces respect for human life and a\ncharitable treatment of the infirm, the aged and the sick, especially\nif they stand on the brink of the grave. Benevolence and humanity,\nthus based on fears and selfishness, may have little ethical value in\nour eye; but for all that, their existence in a country where culture\nhas not yet taught man to cultivate good for the sake of good alone,\nmay be greeted as a blessing. Those virtues are even extended to\nanimals, for, in fact, these too have souls which may work vengeance\nor bring reward. But the firm belief in ghosts and their retributive\njustice has still other effects. It deters from grievous and provoking\ninjustice, because the wronged party, thoroughly sure of the avenging\npower of his own spirit when disembodied, will not always shrink from\nconverting himself into a wrathful ghost by committing suicide,\u201d in\norder to wreak in death that vengeance on his oppressor which he could\nnot exact in life. Cases of suicide committed with this intention are\nsaid to be far from rare in China.[150.2] \u201cThis simple complex of\ntenets,\u201d says Professor de Groot, \u201clays disrespect for human lives\nunder great restraint. [Sidenote: In particular, the fear of ghosts\nacts as a check on the practice of infanticide.] Most salutarily also\nthey work upon female infanticide, a monstrous custom practised\nextensively among the poor in Amoy and the surrounding farming\ndistricts, as in many other parts of the Empire. The fear that the\nsouls of the murdered little ones may bring misfortune, induces many a\nfather or mother to lay the girls they are unwilling to bring up, in\nthe street for adoption into some family or into a\nfoundling-hospital.\u201d Humane and well-to-do people take advantage of\nthese superstitious fears to inculcate a merciful treatment of female\ninfants; for they print and circulate gratuitously tracts which set\nforth many gruesome {151} examples of punishments inflicted upon\nunnatural fathers and mothers by the ghosts of their murdered\ndaughters. These highly-coloured narratives, though they bear all the\nmarks of a florid fancy, are said to answer their benevolent purpose\nperfectly; for they sink deep into the credulous minds to which they\nare addressed: they touch the seared conscience and the callous heart\nwhich no appeal to mere natural affection could move to pity.[151.1]\n\n[Sidenote: The fear of ghosts operates in a twofold way to enforce\nrespect for human life: it furnishes the individual with a motive for\nabstaining from murder, and it furnishes the community with a motive\nfor punishing the murderer.] But while the fear of the ghost has thus\noperated directly to enhance the sanctity of human life by deterring\nthe cruel, the passionate, and the malignant from the shedding of\nblood, it has operated also indirectly to bring about the same\nsalutary result. For not only does the hag-ridden murderer himself\ndread his victim\u2019s ghost, but the whole community, as we have seen,\ndreads it also and believes itself endangered by the murderer\u2019s\npresence, since the wrathful spirit which pursues him may turn on\nother people and rend them. Hence society has a strong motive for\nsecluding, banishing, or exterminating the culprit in order to free\nitself from what it believes to be an imminent danger, a perilous\npollution, a contagion of death.[151.2] To put it in another way, the\ncommunity has an interest in punishing homicide. Not that the\ntreatment of homicides by the tribe or state was originally conceived\nas a punishment inflicted on them: rather it was viewed as a measure\nof self-defence, a moral quarantine, a process of spiritual\npurification and disinfection, an exorcism. It was a mode of cleansing\nthe people generally and sometimes the homicide himself from the\nghostly infection, which to the primitive mind appears to be something\nmaterial and tangible, something that can be literally washed or\nscoured away by water, pig\u2019s blood, sheep\u2019s blood, or other\ndetergents. But when this purification took the form of laying the\nmanslayer under restraint, banishing him from the country, or putting\nhim to death in order to appease his victim\u2019s ghost, it was for all\npractical purposes indistinguishable from punishment, and the fear of\nit would {152} act as a deterrent just as surely as if it had been\ndesigned to be a punishment and nothing else. When a man is about to\nbe hanged, it is little consolation to him to be told that hanging is\nnot a punishment but a purification. But the one conception slides\neasily and almost imperceptibly into the other; so that what was at\nfirst a religious rite, a solemn consecration or sacrifice, comes in\ncourse of time to be a purely civil function, the penalty which\nsociety exacts from those who have injured it: the sacrifice becomes\nan execution, the priest steps back and the hangman comes forward.\nThus criminal justice was probably based in large measure on a crude\nform of superstition long before the subtle brains of jurists and\nphilosophers deduced it logically, according to their various\npredilections, from a rigid theory of righteous retribution, a\nfar-sighted policy of making the law a terror to evil-doers, or a\nbenevolent desire to reform the criminal\u2019s character and save his soul\nin another world by hanging or burning his body in this one. If these\ndeductions only profess to justify theoretically the practice of\npunishment, they may be well or ill founded; but if they claim to\nexplain it historically, they are certainly false. You cannot thus\nreconstruct the past by importing into one age the ideas of another,\nby interpreting the earliest in terms of the latest products of mental\nevolution. You may make revolutions in that way, but you cannot write\nhistory.\n\n[Sidenote: When the fear of ghosts has diminished, the fear of the\nlaw remains to protect the lives of peaceful citizens.] If these\nviews are correct, the dread of the ghost has operated in a twofold\nway to protect human life. On the one hand it has made every\nindividual for his own sake more reluctant to slay his fellow, and on\nthe other hand it has roused the whole community to punish the slayer.\nIt has placed every man\u2019s life within a double ring-fence of morality\nand law. The hot-headed and the cold-hearted have been furnished with\na double motive for abstaining from the last fatal step: they have had\nto fear the spirit of their victim on the one side and the lash of the\nlaw on the other: they are in a strait between the devil and the deep\nsea, between the ghost and the gallows. And when with the progress of\nthought the shadow of the ghost passes away, the grim shadow of the\ngallows remains to protect society without the aid of superstitious\nterrors. It is thus that custom often {153} outlives the motive which\noriginated it. If only an institution is good in practice, it will\nstand firm after its old theoretical basis has been shattered: a new\nand more solid, because a truer, foundation will be discovered for it\nto rest upon. More and more, as time goes on, morality shifts its\nground from the sands of superstition to the rock of reason, from the\nimaginary to the real, from the supernatural to the natural. In the\npresent case the State has not ceased to protect the lives of its\npeaceful citizens because the faith in ghosts is shaken. It has found\na better reason than old wives\u2019 fables for guarding with the flaming\nsword of Justice the approach to the Tree of Life.\n\n\n\n\n VI.\n CONCLUSION\n\n{154}\n\n[Sidenote: Summary of results.] To sum up this brief review of the\ninfluence which superstition has exercised on the growth of\ninstitutions, I think I have shewn, or at least made probable:--\n\nI. That among certain races and at certain times superstition has\nstrengthened the respect for government, especially monarchical\ngovernment, and has thereby contributed to the establishment and\nmaintenance of civil order:\n\nII. That among certain races and at certain times superstition has\nstrengthened the respect for private property and has thereby\ncontributed to the security of its enjoyment:\n\nIII. That among certain races and at certain times superstition has\nstrengthened the respect for marriage and has thereby contributed to a\nstricter observance of the rules of sexual morality both among the\nmarried and the unmarried:\n\nIV. That among certain races and at certain times superstition has\nstrengthened the respect for human life and has thereby contributed to\nthe security of its enjoyment.\n\n[Sidenote: By strengthening the respect for government, private\nproperty, marriage, and human life superstition has rendered a great\nservice to humanity.] But government, private property, marriage, and\nrespect for human life are the pillars on which rests the whole fabric\nof civil society. Shake them and you shake society to its foundations.\nTherefore if government, private property, marriage, and respect for\nhuman life are all good and essential to the very existence of civil\nsociety, then it follows that by strengthening every one of them\nsuperstition has rendered a great service to humanity. It has supplied\nmultitudes with a motive, a wrong motive it is true, for {155} right\naction; and surely it is better, far better for the world that men\nshould do right from wrong motives than that they should do wrong with\nthe best intentions. What concerns society is conduct, not opinion: if\nonly our actions are just and good, it matters not a straw to others\nwhether our opinions be mistaken. The danger of false opinion, and it\nis a most serious one, is that it commonly leads to wrong action;\nhence it is unquestionably a great evil and every effort should be\nmade to correct it. But of the two evils wrong action is in itself\ninfinitely worse than false opinion; and all systems of religion or\nphilosophy which lay more stress on right opinion than on right\naction, which exalt orthodoxy above virtue, are so far immoral and\nprejudicial to the best interests of mankind: they invert the true\nrelative importance, the real ethical value, of thought and action,\nfor it is by what we do, not by what we think, that we are useful or\nuseless, beneficent or maleficent to our fellows. As a body of false\nopinions, therefore, superstition is indeed a most dangerous guide in\npractice, and the evils which it has wrought are incalculable. But\nvast as are these evils, they ought not to blind us to the benefit\nwhich superstition has conferred on society by furnishing the\nignorant, the weak, and the foolish with a motive, bad though it be,\nfor good conduct. It is a reed, a broken reed, which has yet supported\nthe steps of many a poor erring brother, who but for it might have\nstumbled and fallen. It is a light, a dim and wavering light, which,\nif it has lured many a mariner on the breakers, has yet guided some\nwanderers on life\u2019s troubled sea into a haven of rest and peace. Once\nthe harbour lights are passed and the ship is in port, it matters\nlittle whether the pilot steered by a Jack-o\u2019-lantern or by the stars.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Superstition at the bar. Sentence of death.] That, ladies\nand gentlemen, is my plea for Superstition. Perhaps it might be urged\nin mitigation of the sentence which will be passed on the hoary-headed\noffender when he stands at the judgment bar. Yet the sentence, do not\ndoubt it, is death. But it will not be executed in our time. There\nwill be a long, long reprieve. It is as his advocate, not as his\nexecutioner, that I have appeared before you {156} to-night. At Athens\ncases of murder were tried before the Areopagus by night,[156.1] and\nit is by night that I have spoken in defence of this power of\ndarkness. But it grows late, and with my sinister client I must vanish\nbefore the cocks crow and the morning breaks grey in the east.\n\n\n\n\n THE SCOPE OF\n SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY\n\n{157}\n\n{158}\n\n THE SCOPE OF\n SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY\n\n{159}\n\n[_A lecture delivered before the University of Liverpool, May 14th,\n1908._]\n\n[Sidenote: Social Anthropology.] The subject of the chair which I\nhave the honour to hold is Social Anthropology. As the subject is\nstill comparatively new and its limits are still somewhat vague, I\nshall devote my inaugural lecture to defining its scope and marking\nout roughly, if not the boundaries of the whole study, at least the\nboundaries of that part of it which I propose to take for my province.\n\n[Sidenote: Anthropology a study of recent date.] Strange as it may\nseem, in the large and thriving family of the sciences, Anthropology,\nor the Science of Man, is the latest born. So young indeed is the\nstudy that three of its distinguished founders in England, Professor\nE. B. Tylor, Lord Avebury, and Mr. Francis Galton, are happily still\nwith us. It is true that particular departments of man\u2019s complex\nnature have long been the theme of special studies. Anatomy has\ninvestigated his body, psychology has explored his mind, theology and\nmetaphysics have sought to plumb the depths of the great mysteries by\nwhich he is encompassed on every hand. But it has been reserved for\nthe present generation, or rather for the generation which is passing\naway, to attempt the comprehensive study of man as a whole, to enquire\nnot merely into the physical and mental structure of the individual,\nbut to compare the various races of men, to trace their affinities,\nand by means of a wide collection of facts to follow as far as may be\nthe evolution of human thought and institutions from the earliest\ntimes. The aim of this, as of every other science, is to {160}\ndiscover the general laws to which the particular facts may be\nsupposed to conform. I say, may be supposed to conform, because\nresearch in all departments has rendered it antecedently probable that\neverywhere law and order will be found to prevail if we search for\nthem diligently, and that accordingly the affairs of man, however\ncomplex and incalculable they may seem to be, are no exception to the\nuniformity of nature. Anthropology, therefore, in the widest sense of\nthe word, aims at discovering the general laws which have regulated\nhuman history in the past, and which, if nature is really uniform, may\nbe expected to regulate it in the future.\n\n[Sidenote: The scope of Social Anthropology more limited than that of\nSociology; it includes only the rudimentary phases of human society.]\nHence the science of man coincides to a certain extent with what has\nlong been known as the philosophy of history as well as with the study\nto which of late years the name of Sociology has been given. Indeed it\nmight with some reason be held that Social Anthropology, or the study\nof man in society, is only another expression for Sociology. Yet I\nthink that the two sciences may be conveniently distinguished, and\nthat while the name of Sociology should be reserved for the study of\nhuman society in the most comprehensive sense of the words, the name\nof Social Anthropology may with advantage be restricted to one\nparticular department of that immense field of knowledge. At least I\nwish to make it perfectly clear at the outset that I for one do not\npretend to treat of the whole of human society, past, present, and\nfuture. Whether any single man\u2019s compass of mind and range of learning\nsuffice for such a vast undertaking, I will not venture to say, but I\ndo say without hesitation or ambiguity that mine certainly do not. I\ncan only speak of what I have studied, and my studies have been mostly\nconfined to a small, a very small part of man\u2019s social history. That\npart is the origin, or rather the rudimentary phases, the infancy and\nchildhood, of human society, and to that part accordingly I propose to\nlimit the scope of Social Anthropology, or at all events my treatment\nof it. My successors in the chair will be free to extend their purview\nbeyond the narrow boundaries which the limitation of my knowledge\nimposes on me. They may survey the latest developments as well as the\nearliest beginnings of custom {161} and law, of science and art, of\nmorality and religion, and from that survey they may deduce the\nprinciples which should guide mankind in the future, so that those who\ncome after us may avoid the snares and pitfalls into which we and our\nfathers have slipped. For the best fruit of knowledge is wisdom, and\nit may reasonably be hoped that a deeper and wider acquaintance with\nthe past history of mankind will in time enable our statesmen to mould\nthe destiny of the race in fairer forms than we of this generation\nshall live to see.\n\n\n \u201c_Ah Love! could you and I with Him conspire_\n _To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,_\n    _Would we not shatter it to bits--and then_\n _Re-mould it nearer to the Heart\u2019s desire!_\u201d\n\n\n[Sidenote: At least the present lecturer limits himself to these\nphases.] But if you wish to shatter the social fabric, you must not\nexpect your professor of Social Anthropology to aid and abet you. He\nis no seer to discern, no prophet to foretell a coming heaven on\nearth, no mountebank with a sovran remedy for every ill, no Red Cross\nKnight to head a crusade against misery and want, against disease and\ndeath, against all the horrid spectres that war on poor humanity. It\nis for others with higher notes and nobler natures than his to sound\nthe charge and lead it in this Holy War. He is only a student, a\nstudent of the past, who may perhaps tell you a little, a very little,\nof what has been, but who cannot, dare not tell you what ought to be.\nYet even the little that he can contribute to the elucidation of the\npast may have its utility as well as its interest when it finally\ntakes its place in that great temple of science to which it is the\nambition of every student to add a stone. For we cherish a belief that\nif we truly love and seek knowledge for its own sake, without any\nulterior aim, every addition we may make to it, however insignificant\nand useless it may appear, will yet at last be found to work together\nwith the whole accumulated store for the general good of mankind.\n\n[Sidenote: Social Anthropology embraces the study, first, of\nsavagery, and, second, of folklore, that is, of the traces of savagery\nin civilization.] Thus the sphere of Social Anthropology as I\nunderstand it, or at least as I propose to treat it, is limited to the\ncrude beginnings, the rudimentary development of human society: it\ndoes not include the maturer phases of that complex growth, still less\ndoes it embrace the practical problems {162} with which our modern\nstatesmen and lawgivers are called upon to deal. The study might\naccordingly be described as the embryology of human thought and\ninstitutions, or, to be more precise, as that enquiry which seeks to\nascertain, first, the beliefs and customs of savages, and, second, the\nrelics of these beliefs and customs which have survived like fossils\namong peoples of higher culture. [Sidenote: All civilization evolved\nfrom savagery.] In this description of the sphere of Social\nAnthropology it is implied that the ancestors of the civilized nations\nwere once savages, and that they have transmitted, or may have\ntransmitted, to their more cultured descendants ideas and institutions\nwhich, however incongruous with their later surroundings, were\nperfectly in keeping with the modes of thought and action of the ruder\nsociety in which they originated. In short, the definition assumes\nthat civilization has always and everywhere been evolved out of\nsavagery. The mass of evidence on which this assumption rests is in my\nopinion so great as to render the induction incontrovertible. At\nleast, if any one disputes it I do not think it worth while to argue\nwith him. There are still, I believe, in civilized society people who\nhold that the earth is flat and that the sun goes round it; but no\nsensible man will waste time in the vain attempt to convince such\npersons of their error, even though these flatteners of the earth and\ncirculators of the sun appeal with perfect justice to the evidence of\ntheir senses in support of their hallucination, which is more than the\nopponents of man\u2019s primitive savagery are able to do.\n\n[Sidenote: Hence a study of savagery essential to an understanding of\nthe evolution of humanity.] Thus the study of savage life is a very\nimportant part of Social Anthropology. For by comparison with\ncivilized man the savage represents an arrested or rather retarded\nstage of social development, and an examination of his customs and\nbeliefs accordingly supplies the same sort of evidence of the\nevolution of the human mind that an examination of the embryo supplies\nof the evolution of the human body. To put it otherwise, a savage is\nto a civilized man as a child is to an adult; and just as the gradual\ngrowth of intelligence in a child corresponds to, and in a sense\nrecapitulates, the gradual growth of intelligence in the species, so a\nstudy of savage society at various stages of evolution enables us to\nfollow approximately, though of {163} course not exactly, the road by\nwhich the ancestors of the higher races must have travelled in their\nprogress upward through barbarism to civilization. In short, savagery\nis the primitive condition of mankind, and if we would understand what\nprimitive man was we must know what the savage now is.\n\n[Sidenote: Savages of the present day are primitive only in a\nrelative sense, namely by comparison with civilized peoples; their\ncustoms and beliefs are in fact the product of a long course of\nevolution as to which we can know little or nothing.] But here it is\nnecessary to guard against a common misapprehension. The savages of\nto-day are primitive only in a relative, not in an absolute sense.\nThey are primitive by comparison with us; but they are not primitive\nby comparison with truly prim\u00e6val man, that is, with man as he was\nwhen he first emerged from the purely bestial stage of existence.\nIndeed, compared with man in his absolutely pristine state even the\nlowest savage of to-day is doubtless a highly developed and cultured\nbeing, since all evidence and all probability are in favour of the\nview that every existing race of men, the rudest as well as the most\ncivilized, has reached its present level of culture, whether it be\nhigh or low, only after a slow and painful progress upwards, which\nmust have extended over many thousands, perhaps millions, of years.\nTherefore when we speak of any known savages as primitive, which the\nusage of the English language permits us to do, it should always be\nremembered that we apply the term primitive to them in a relative, not\nin an absolute sense. What we mean is that their culture is\nrudimentary compared with that of the civilized nations, but not by\nany means that it is identical with that of prim\u00e6val man. It is\nnecessary to emphasize this relative use of the term primitive in its\napplication to all known savages without exception, because the\nambiguity arising from the double meaning of the word has been the\nsource of much confusion and misunderstanding. Careless or\nunscrupulous writers have made great play with it for purposes of\ncontroversy, using the word now in the one sense and now in the other\nas it suited their argument at the moment, without perceiving, or at\nall events without indicating, the equivocation. In order to avoid\nthese verbal fallacies it is only necessary to bear steadily in mind\nthat while Social Anthropology has much to say of primitive man in the\nrelative sense, it has nothing whatever to say about primitive man in\nthe absolute sense, {164} and that for the very simple reason that it\nknows nothing whatever about him, and, so far as we can see at\npresent, is never likely to know anything. To construct a history of\nhuman society by starting from absolutely primordial man and working\ndown through thousands or millions of years to the institutions of\nexisting savages might possibly have merits as a flight of\nimagination, but it could have none as a work of science. To do this\nwould be exactly to reverse the proper mode of scientific procedure.\nIt would be to work _a priori_ from the unknown to the known instead\nof _a posteriori_ from the known to the unknown. For we do know a good\ndeal about the social state of the savages of to-day and yesterday,\nbut we know nothing whatever, I repeat, about absolutely primitive\nhuman society. Hence a sober enquirer who seeks to elucidate the\nsocial evolution of mankind in ages before the dawn of history must\nstart, not from an unknown and purely hypothetical prim\u00e6val man, but\nfrom the lowest savages whom we know or possess adequate records of;\nand from their customs, beliefs, and traditions as a solid basis of\nfact he may work back a little way hypothetically through the\nobscurity of the past; that is, he may form a reasonable theory of the\nway in which these actual customs, beliefs, and traditions have grown\nup and developed in a period more or less remote, but probably not\nvery remote, from the one in which they have been observed and\nrecorded. But if, as I assume, he is a sober enquirer, he will never\nexpect to carry back this reconstruction of human history very far,\nstill less will he dream of linking it up with the very beginning,\nbecause he is aware that we possess no evidence which would enable us\nto bridge even hypothetically the gulf of thousands or millions of\nyears which divides the savage of to-day from prim\u00e6val man.\n\n[Sidenote: For example, the marriage customs and systems of\nrelationship prevalent among many savage tribes appear to have been\nevolved from a preceding, but not necessarily primitive, state of\nsexual promiscuity.] It may be well to illustrate my meaning by an\nexample. The matrimonial customs and modes of tracing relationships\nwhich prevail among some savage races, and even among peoples at a\nhigher stage of culture, furnish very strong grounds for believing\nthat the systems of marriage and consanguinity which are now in vogue\namong civilized peoples must have been immediately preceded at a more\nor less distant time by very different modes of counting kin and\nregulating marriage; {165} in fact, that monogamy and the forbidden\ndegrees of kinship have replaced an older system of much wider and\nlooser sexual relations. But to say this is not to affirm that such\nlooser and wider relations were characteristic of the absolutely\nprimitive condition of mankind; it is only to say that actually\nexisting customs and traditions clearly indicate the extensive\nprevalence of such relations at some former time in the history of our\nrace. How remote that time was, we cannot tell; but, estimated by the\nwhole vast period of man\u2019s existence on earth, it seems probable that\nthe era of sexual communism to which the evidence points was\ncomparatively recent; in other words, that for the civilized races the\ninterval which divides that era from our own is to be reckoned by\nthousands rather than by hundreds of thousands of years, while for the\nlowest of existing savages, for example, the aborigines of Australia,\nit is possible or probable that the interval may not be greater than a\nfew centuries. Be that as it may, even if on the strength of the\nevidence I have referred to we could demonstrate the former prevalence\nof a system of sexual communism among all the races of mankind, this\nwould only carry us back a single step in the long history of our\nspecies; it would not justify us in concluding that such a system had\nbeen practised by truly prim\u00e6val man, still less that it had\nprevailed among mankind from the beginning down to the comparatively\nrecent period at which its existence may be inferred from the evidence\nat our disposal. About the social condition of prim\u00e6val man, I\nrepeat, we know absolutely nothing, and it is vain to speculate. Our\nfirst parents may have been as strict monogamists as Whiston or Dr.\nPrimrose, or they may have been just the reverse. We have no\ninformation on the subject, and are never likely to get any. In the\ncountless ages which have elapsed since man and woman first roamed the\nhappy garden hand in hand or jabbered like apes among the leafy boughs\nof the virgin forest, their relations to each other may have undergone\ninnumerable changes. For human affairs, like the courses of the\nheaven, seem to run in cycles: the social pendulum swings to and fro\nfrom one extremity of the scale to the other: in the political sphere\nit has swung from democracy to despotism, and back again from\ndespotism to democracy; {166} and so in the domestic sphere it may\nhave oscillated many a time between libertinism and monogamy.\n\n[Sidenote: The second department of Social Anthropology is folklore,\nor the study of savage survivals in civilization.] If I am right in\nmy definition of Social Anthropology, its province may be roughly\ndivided into two departments, one of which embraces the customs and\nbeliefs of savages, while the other includes such relics of these\ncustoms and beliefs as have survived in the thought and institutions\nof more cultured peoples. The one department may be called the study\nof savagery, the other the study of folklore. I have said something of\nsavagery: I now turn to folklore, that is, to the survivals of more\nprimitive ideas and practices among peoples who in other respects have\nrisen to a higher plane of culture. That such survivals may be\ndiscovered in every civilized nation will hardly now be disputed by\nanybody. When we read, for example, of an Irishwoman roasted to death\nby her husband on a suspicion that she was not his wife but a fairy\nchangeling,[166.1] or again, of an Englishwoman dying of lockjaw\nbecause she had anointed the nail that wounded her instead of the\nwound,[166.2] we may be sure that the beliefs to which these poor\ncreatures fell victims were not learned by them in school or at\nchurch, but had been transmitted from truly savage ancestors through\nmany generations of outwardly though not really civilized descendants.\nBeliefs and practices of this sort are therefore rightly called\nsuperstitions, which means literally survivals. It is with\nsuperstitions in the strict sense of the word that the second\ndepartment of Social Anthropology is concerned.\n\n[Sidenote: Such survivals are due to the essential inequality of men,\nmany of whom remain at heart savages under a civilized exterior.] If\nwe ask how it happens that superstitions linger among a people who in\ngeneral have reached a higher level of culture, the answer is to be\nfound in the natural, universal, and ineradicable inequality of men.\nNot only are different races differently endowed in respect of\nintelligence, courage, industry, and so forth, but within the same\nnation men of the same generation differ enormously in inborn capacity\nand worth. No abstract doctrine is more false and mischievous {167}\nthan that of the natural equality of men. It is true that the\nlegislator must treat men as if they were equal, because laws of\nnecessity are general and cannot be made so as to fit the infinite\nvariety of individual cases. But we must not imagine that because men\nare equal before the law they are therefore intrinsically equal to\neach other. The experience of common life sufficiently contradicts\nsuch a vain imagination. At school and at the universities, at work\nand at play, in peace and in war, the mental and moral inequalities of\nhuman beings stand out too conspicuously to be ignored or disputed. On\nthe whole the men of keenest intelligence and strongest characters\nlead the rest and shape the moulds into which, outwardly at least,\nsociety is cast. [Sidenote: Mankind dominated by an enlightened\nminority.] As such men are necessarily few by comparison with the\nmultitude whom they lead, it follows that the community is really\ndominated by the will of an enlightened minority[167.1] even in\ncountries where the ruling power is nominally vested in the hands of\nthe numerical majority. In fact, disguise it as we may, the government\nof mankind is always and everywhere essentially aristocratic. No\njuggling with political machinery can evade this law of nature.\nHowever it may seem to lead, the dull-witted majority in the end\nfollows a keener-witted minority. That is its salvation and the secret\nof progress. The higher human intelligence sways the lower, just as\nthe intelligence of man gives him the mastery over the brutes. I do\nnot mean that the ultimate direction of society rests with its nominal\ngovernors, with its kings, its statesmen, its legislators. [Sidenote:\nThe uncrowned kings.] The true rulers of men are the thinkers who\nadvance knowledge; for just as it is through his superior knowledge,\nnot through his superior strength, that man bears rule over the rest\nof the animal creation, so among men themselves it is knowledge which\nin the long run directs and controls the forces of society. Thus the\ndiscoverers of new truths are the real though uncrowned and unsceptred\nkings of mankind; monarchs, statesmen, and law-givers are but their\nministers, who sooner or later do their bidding by carrying out the\nideas of these master {168} minds. The more we study the inward\nworkings of society and the progress of civilization, the more clearly\nshall we perceive how both are governed by the influence of thoughts\nwhich, springing up at first we know not how or whence in a few\nsuperior minds, gradually spread till they have leavened the whole\ninert lump of a community or of mankind. The origin of such mental\nvariations, with all their far-reaching train of social consequences,\nis just as obscure as is the origin of those physical variations on\nwhich, if biologists are right, depends the evolution of species, and\nwith it the possibility of progress. Perhaps the same unknown cause\nwhich determines the one set of variations gives rise to the other\nalso. We cannot tell. All we can say is that on the whole in the\nconflict of competing forces, whether physical or mental, the\nstrongest at last prevails, the fittest survives. In the mental sphere\nthe struggle for existence is not less fierce and internecine than in\nthe physical, but in the end the better ideas, which we call the\ntruth, carry the day. The clamorous opposition with which at their\nfirst appearance they are regularly greeted, whenever they conflict\nwith old prejudices, may retard but cannot prevent their final\nvictory. [Sidenote: The tombs of the prophets.] It is the practice\nof the mob first to stone and then to erect useless memorials to their\ngreatest benefactors. All who set themselves to replace ancient error\nand superstition by truth and reason must lay their account with\nbrickbats in their life and a marble monument after death.\n\n[Sidenote: Superstition the creed of the laggards in the march of\nintellect.] I have been led into making these remarks by the wish to\nexplain why it is that superstitions of all sorts, political, moral,\nand religious, survive among peoples who have the opportunity of\nknowing better. The reason is that the better ideas, which are\nconstantly forming in the upper stratum, have not yet filtered through\nfrom the highest to the lowest minds. Such a filtration is generally\nslow, and by the time that the new notions have penetrated to the\nbottom, if indeed they ever get there, they are often already obsolete\nand superseded by others at the top. Hence it is that if we could open\nthe heads and read the thoughts of two men of the same generation and\ncountry but at opposite ends of the intellectual scale, we should\nprobably find their minds as {169} different as if the two belonged to\ndifferent species. Mankind, as it has been well said, advances in\n_\u00e9chelons_; that is, the columns march not abreast of each other but\nin a straggling line, all lagging in various degrees behind the\nleader. The image well describes the difference not only between\npeoples, but between individuals of the same people and the same\ngeneration. Just as one nation is continually outstripping some of its\ncontemporaries, so within the same nation some men are constantly\noutpacing their fellows, and the foremost in the race are those who\nhave thrown off the load of superstition which still burdens the backs\nand clogs the footsteps of the laggards. To drop metaphor,\nsuperstitions survive because, while they shock the views of\nenlightened members of the community, they are still in harmony with\nthe thoughts and feelings of others who, though they are drilled by\ntheir betters into an appearance of civilization, remain barbarians or\nsavages at heart. That is why, for example, the barbarous punishments\nfor high treason and witchcraft and the enormities of slavery were\ntolerated and defended in this country down to modern times.\n[Sidenote: Superstitions either public or private.] Such survivals\nmay be divided into two sorts, according as they are public or\nprivate; in other words, according as they are embodied in the law of\nthe land or are practised with or without the connivance of the law in\nholes and corners. [Sidenote: Examples of public superstitions.] The\nexamples I have just cited belong to the former of these two classes.\nWitches were publicly burned and traitors were publicly disembowelled\nin England not so long ago, and slavery survived as a legal\ninstitution still later. The true nature of such public superstitions\nis apt, through their very publicity, to escape detection, because\nuntil they are finally swept away by the rising tide of progress,\nthere are always plenty of people to defend them as institutions\nessential to the public welfare and sanctioned by the laws of God and\nman.\n\n[Sidenote: The wide prevalence of private superstitions constitutes a\nstanding menace to civilization.] It is otherwise with those private\nsuperstitions to which the name of folklore is usually confined. In\ncivilized society most educated people are not even aware of the\nextent to which these relics of savage ignorance survive at their\ndoors. The discovery of their wide prevalence was indeed only made\nlast century, chiefly through the researches of the brothers {170}\nGrimm in Germany. Since their day systematic enquiries carried on\namong the less educated classes, and especially among the peasantry,\nof Europe have revealed the astonishing, nay, alarming truth that a\nmass, if not the majority, of people in every civilized country is\nstill living in a state of intellectual savagery, that, in fact, the\nsmooth surface of cultured society is sapped and mined by\nsuperstition. Only those whose studies have led them to investigate\nthe subject are aware of the depth to which the ground beneath our\nfeet is thus, as it were, honeycombed by unseen forces. We appear to\nbe standing on a volcano which may at any moment break out in smoke\nand fire to spread ruin and devastation among the gardens and palaces\nof ancient culture wrought so laboriously by the hands of many\ngenerations. After looking on the ruined Greek temples of Paestum and\ncontrasting them with the squalor and savagery of the Italian\npeasantry, Renan said, \u201cI trembled for civilization, seeing it so\nlimited, built on so weak a foundation, resting on so few individuals\neven in the country where it is dominant.\u201d[170.1]\n\n[Sidenote: It is the earliest and crudest superstitions that survive\nlongest, because they answer to the calibre of the lowest minds. Hence\nwhile the surface of society is constantly changing, its depths, like\nthose of the ocean, remain almost motionless.] If we examine the\nsuperstitious beliefs which are tacitly but firmly held by many of our\nfellow-countrymen, we shall find, perhaps to our surprise, that it is\nprecisely the oldest and crudest superstitions which are most\ntenacious of life, while views which, though also erroneous, are more\nmodern and refined, soon fade from the popular memory. For example,\nthe high gods of Egypt and Babylon, of Greece and Rome, have for ages\nbeen totally forgotten by the people and survive only in the books of\nthe learned; yet the peasants, who never even heard of Isis and\nOsiris, of Apollo and Artemis, of Jupiter and Juno, retain to this day\na firm belief in witches and fairies, in ghosts and hobgoblins, those\nlesser creatures of the mythical fancy in which their fathers believed\nlong before the great deities of the ancient world were ever thought\nof, and in which, to all appearance, their descendants will continue\nto believe long after the great deities of the present day shall have\ngone the way of all their predecessors. The reason why the higher\nforms of superstition or religion (for the religion of one generation\nis {171} apt to become the superstition of the next) are less\npermanent than the lower is simply that the higher beliefs, being a\ncreation of superior intelligence, have little hold on the minds of\nthe vulgar, who nominally profess them for a time in conformity with\nthe will of their betters, but readily shed and forget them as soon as\nthese beliefs have gone out of fashion with the educated classes. But\nwhile they dismiss without a pang or an effort articles of faith which\nwere only superficially imprinted on their minds by the weight of\ncultured opinion, the ignorant and foolish multitude cling with a\nsullen determination to far grosser beliefs which really answer to the\ncoarser texture of their undeveloped intellect. Thus while the avowed\ncreed of the enlightened minority is constantly changing under the\ninfluence of reflection and enquiry, the real, though unavowed, creed\nof the mass of mankind appears to be almost stationary, and the reason\nwhy it alters so little is that in the majority of men, whether they\nare savages or outwardly civilized beings, intellectual progress is so\nslow as to be hardly perceptible. The surface of society, like that of\nthe sea, is in perpetual motion; its depths, like those of the ocean,\nremain almost unmoved.\n\n[Sidenote: The early history of mankind, reconstructed from the joint\ntestimony of savagery and folklore, is full of gaps, which can only be\nimperfectly bridged by the Comparative Method.] Thus from an\nexamination, first, of savagery and, second, of its survivals in\ncivilization, the study of Social Anthropology attempts to trace the\nearly history of human thought and institutions. The history can never\nbe complete, unless science should discover some mode of reading the\nfaded record of the past of which we in this generation can hardly\ndream. We know indeed that every event, however insignificant, implies\na change, however slight, in the material constitution of the\nuniverse, so that the whole history of the world is, in a sense,\nengraved upon its face, though our eyes are too dim to read the\nscroll. It may be that in the future some wondrous reagent, some magic\nchemical, may yet be found to bring out the whole of nature\u2019s secret\nhandwriting for a greater than Daniel to interpret to his fellows.\nThat will hardly be in our time. With the resources at present at our\ncommand we must be content with a very brief, imperfect, and in large\nmeasure conjectural account of man\u2019s mental and social development in\nprehistoric ages. {172} As I have already pointed out, the evidence,\nfragmentary and dubious as it is, only runs back a very little way\ninto the measureless past of human life on earth; we soon lose the\nthread, the faintly glimmering thread, in the thick darkness of the\nabsolutely unknown. Even in the comparatively short space of time, a\nfew thousand years at most, which falls more or less within our ken,\nthere are many deep and wide chasms which can only be bridged by\nhypotheses, if the story of evolution is to run continuously.\n[Sidenote: The legitimacy of the Comparative Method in social\nanthropology rests on the similarity of the human mind in all races.]\nSuch bridges are built in anthropology as in biology by the\nComparative Method, which enables us to borrow the links of one chain\nof evidence to supply the gaps in another. For us who deal, not with\nthe various forms of animal life, but with the various products of\nhuman intelligence, the legitimacy of the Comparative Method rests on\nthe well-ascertained similarity of the working of the human mind in\nall races of men. I have laid stress on the great inequalities which\nexist not only between the various races, but between men of the same\nrace and generation; but it should be clearly understood and\nremembered that these divergencies are quantitative rather than\nqualitative, they consist in differences of degree rather than of\nkind. The savage is not a different sort of being from his civilized\nbrother: he has the same capacities, mental and moral, but they are\nless fully developed: his evolution has been arrested, or rather\nretarded, at a lower level. And as savage races are not all on the\nsame plane, but have stopped or tarried at different points of the\nupward path, we can to a certain extent, by comparing them with each\nother, construct a scale of social progression and mark out roughly\nsome of the stages on the long road that leads from savagery to\ncivilization. In the kingdom of mind such a scale of mental evolution\nanswers to the scale of morphological evolution in the animal kingdom.\n\n[Sidenote: It is only of late years that the importance of savagery\nas a document of human history has been understood.] From what I have\nsaid I hope you have formed some idea of the extreme importance which\nthe study of savage life possesses for a proper understanding of the\nearly history of mankind. The savage is a human document, a record of\nman\u2019s efforts to raise himself above the level of the beast. It is\nonly of late years that the full value of the document {173} has been\nappreciated; indeed, many people are probably still of Dr. Johnson\u2019s\nopinion, who, pointing to the three large volumes of _Voyages to the\nSouth Seas_ which had just come out, said: \u201cWho will read them\nthrough? A man had better work his way before the mast than read them\nthrough; they will be eaten by rats and mice before they are read\nthrough. There can be little entertainment in such books; one set of\nsavages is like another.\u201d[173.1] But the world has learned a good\ndeal since Dr. Johnson\u2019s day; and the records of savage life, which\nthe sage of Bolt Court consigned without scruple to the rats and mice,\nhave now their place among the most precious archives of humanity.\nTheir fate has been like that of the Sibylline Books. They were\nneglected and despised when they might have been obtained complete;\nand now wise men would give more than a king\u2019s ransom for their\nmiserably mutilated and imperfect remains. It is true that before our\ntime civilized men often viewed savages with interest and described\nthem intelligently, and some of their descriptions are still of great\nscientific value. [Sidenote: Great impulse given to the study of\nsavagery by the discovery of America and of the Pacific.] For\nexample, the discovery of America naturally excited in the minds of\nthe European peoples an eager curiosity as to the inhabitants of the\nnew world, which had burst upon their gaze, as if at the waving of a\nwizard\u2019s wand the curtain of the western sky had suddenly rolled up\nand disclosed scenes of glamour and enchantment. Accordingly some of\nthe Spaniards who explored and conquered these realms of wonder have\nbequeathed to us accounts of the manners and customs of the Indians,\nwhich for accuracy and fulness of detail probably surpass any former\nrecords of an alien race. Such, for instance, is the great work of the\nFranciscan friar Sahagun on the natives of Mexico, and such the work\nof Garcilasso de la Vega, himself half an Inca, on the Incas of Peru.\nAgain, the exploration of the Pacific in the eighteenth century, with\nits revelation of fairy-like islands scattered in profusion over a sea\nof eternal summer, drew the eyes and stirred the imagination of\nEurope; and to the curiosity thus raised in many minds, though not in\nDr. Johnson\u2019s, we owe some precious descriptions of the islanders,\nwho, in those days of sailing ships, appeared to dwell so remote from\nus {174} that the poet Cowper fancied their seas might never again be\nploughed by English keels.[174.1]\n\n[Sidenote: The passing of the savage.] These and many other old\naccounts of savages must always retain their interest and value for\nthe study of Social Anthropology, all the more because they set before\nus the natives in their natural unsophisticated state, before their\nprimitive manners and customs had been altered or destroyed by\nEuropean influence. Yet in the light of subsequent research these\nearly records are often seen to be very defective, because the\nauthors, unaware of the scientific importance of facts which to the\nordinary observer might appear trifling or disgusting, have either\npassed over many things of the highest interest in total silence or\ndismissed them with a brief and tantalizing allusion. It is\naccordingly necessary to supplement the reports of former writers by a\nminute and painstaking investigation of the living savages in order to\nfill up, if possible, the many yawning gaps in our knowledge.\nUnfortunately this cannot always be done, since many savages have\neither been totally exterminated or so changed by contact with\nEuropeans that it is no longer possible to obtain trustworthy\ninformation as to their old habits and traditions. But whenever the\nancient customs and beliefs of a primitive race have passed away\nunrecorded, a document of human history has perished beyond recall.\nUnhappily this destruction of the archives, as we may call it, is\ngoing on apace. In some places, for example, in Tasmania, the savage\nis already extinct; in others, as in Australia, he is dying. In others\nagain, for instance in Central and Southern Africa, where the numbers\nand inborn vigour of the race shew little or no sign of succumbing in\nthe struggle for existence, the influence of traders, officials, and\nmissionaries is so rapidly disintegrating and effacing the native\ncustoms, that with the passing of the older generation even the memory\nof them will soon in many places be gone. It is therefore a matter of\nthe most urgent scientific importance to secure without delay full and\naccurate reports of these perishing or changing peoples, to take\npermanent copies, so {175} to say, of these precious monuments before\nthey are destroyed. It is not yet too late. Much may still be learned,\nfor example, in West Australia, in New Guinea, in Melanesia, in\nCentral Africa, among the hill tribes of India and the forest Indians\nof the Amazons. There is still time to send expeditions to these\nregions, to subsidize men on the spot, who are conversant with the\nlanguages and enjoy the confidence of the natives; for there are such\nmen who possess or can obtain the very knowledge we require, yet who,\nunaware or careless of its inestimable value for science, make no\neffort to preserve the treasure for posterity, and, if we do not\nspeedily come to the rescue, will suffer it to perish with them. In\nthe whole range of human knowledge at the present moment there is no\nmore pressing need than that of recording this priceless evidence of\nman\u2019s early history before it is too late. For soon, very soon, the\nopportunities which we still enjoy will be gone for ever. In another\nquarter of a century probably there will be little or nothing of the\nold savage life left to record. The savage, such as we may still see\nhim, will then be as extinct as the dodo. The sands are fast running\nout: the hour will soon strike: the record will be closed: the book\nwill be sealed. [Sidenote: The duty of our generation to posterity.]\nAnd how shall we of this generation look when we stand at the bar of\nposterity arraigned on a charge of high treason to our race, we who\nneglected to study our perishing fellow-men, but who sent out costly\nexpeditions to observe the stars and to explore the barren ice-bound\nregions of the poles, as if the polar ice would melt and the stars\nwould cease to shine when we are gone? Let us awake from our slumber,\nlet us light our lamps, let us gird up our loins. The Universities\nexist for the advancement of knowledge. It is their duty to add this\nnew province to the ancient departments of learning which they\ncultivate so diligently. Cambridge, to its honour, has led the way in\nequipping and despatching anthropological expeditions; it is for\nOxford, it is for Liverpool, it is for every University in the land to\njoin in the work.\n\n[Sidenote: The duty of the State.] More than that, it is the public\nduty of every civilized state actively to co-operate. In this respect\nthe United States of America, by instituting a bureau for the study of\nthe aborigines within its dominions, has set an example {176} which\nevery enlightened nation that rules over lower races ought to imitate.\n[Sidenote: The duty of England.] On none does that duty, that\nresponsibility, lie more clearly and more heavily than on our own, for\nto none in the whole course of human history has the sceptre been\ngiven over so many and so diverse races of men. We have made ourselves\nour brother\u2019s keepers. Woe to us if we neglect our duty to our\nbrother! It is not enough for us to rule in justice the peoples we\nhave subjugated by the sword. We owe it to them, we owe it to\nourselves, we owe it to posterity, who will require it at our hands,\nthat we should describe them as they were before we found them, before\nthey ever saw the English flag and heard, for good or evil, the\nEnglish tongue. The voice of England speaks to her subject peoples in\nother accents than in the thunder of her guns. Peace has its triumphs\nas well as war: there are nobler trophies than captured flags and\ncannons. [Sidenote: _Monumentum aere perennius._] There are\nmonuments, airy monuments, monuments of words, which seem so fleeting\nand evanescent, that will yet last when your cannons have crumbled and\nyour flags have mouldered into dust. When the Roman poet wished to\npresent an image of perpetuity, he said that he would be remembered so\nlong as the Roman Empire endured, so long as the white-robed\nprocession of the Vestals and Pontiffs should ascend the Capitol to\npray in the temple of Jupiter. That solemn procession has long ceased\nto climb the slope of the Capitol, the Roman Empire itself has long\npassed away, like the empire of Alexander, like the empire of\nCharlemagne, like the empire of Spain, yet still amid the wreck of\nkingdoms the poet\u2019s monument stands firm, for still his verses are\nread and remembered. I appeal to the Universities, I appeal to the\nGovernment of this country to unite in building a monument, a\nbeneficent monument, of the British Empire, a monument\n\n\n \u201c_Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens_\n _Possit diruere, aut innumerabilis_\n _Annorum series, et fuga temporum._\u201d\n\n\n [The End]\n\n\n\n\n INDEX\n\n{177}\n\nAborigines of Australia, the severity with which they punish sexual\noffences, 71 _sqq._\n\nAbraham and Sarah, 60 _sq._\n\nAbyssinia, 66, 81\n\nAction and opinion, their relative values for society, 155\n\nAdulterer and injured husband, physical relationship supposed to exist\nbetween, 104 _sq._\n\n---- called a murderer, 65, 104\n\nAdultery, expiation for, 44 _sq._; disastrous effects supposed to flow\nfrom, 44 _sqq._, 60 _sq._; punishment of, 46, 50 _sq._, 63 _sqq._;\nsupposed to be dangerous to the culprits, their spouses, and their\noffspring, 102 _sqq._ _See also_ Infidelity.\n\nAfrica, superstitious veneration for kings in, 12 _sqq._; superstition\nas a support of property in, 38 _sqq._; disastrous effects supposed to\nflow from sexual immorality in, 54 _sqq._; British Central, 66, 79,\n105; British East, 77, 81, 92, 105, 115, 123; German East, 92, 105,\n106; North, 119\n\nAkamba, the, of British East Africa, 77 _sq._, 105\n\nAkikuyu, the, of British East Africa, 92, 105, 115, 128\n\nAleutian hunters, 106\n\nAlgonquin Indians, their modes of keeping off ghosts, 139\n\nAmboyna, taboo in, 27 _sq._\n\nAmerica, Indians of North, 130 _sq._; the discovery of, 173\n\nAmulets for the protection of fruit-trees, 29 _sqq._\n\nAnalogy between the reproduction of men, animals, and plants, 99\n_sqq._\n\nAncestor-worship, 7\n\nAnger of gods or spirits at sexual offences, 44, 46, 47, 50, 51, 54,\n55 _sq._, 57, 61, 63, 107\n\nAngola, 108; Cazembes of, 11\n\nAngoni, the, of British Central Africa, 79, 132\n\nAnnam, savages of, 46\n\nAnnamites, the, 33\n\nAnne, Queen, 18\n\nAnointing the nail instead of the wound, 166\n\nAntambahoaka, the, of Madagascar, 59\n\nAnthropology, social, the scope of, 157 _sqq._\n\nAnyanja, the, of British Central Africa, 66, 79, 105\n\nArab merchant in Darfur, 39\n\nAraucanians of Chili, 84\n\nArawaks of British Guiana, 83\n\nAreopagus, trials for murder before the, 156\n\nArgos, massacre at, 115\n\nAricara Indians, 118\n\nArmenians, their mutilation of the dead, 133\n\nAssam, tribes of, 45\n\nAttic law as to homicides, 114\n\n_Atua_, guardian spirit, 118\n\n_Atua tonga_, divinity, 8\n\nAunt, incest with, 50, 51\n\nAustralia, aborigines of, the severity with which they punish sexual\noffences, 71 _sqq._\n\n----, Western, 74\n\nAustralian aborigines, their precautions against ghosts, 137\n\nAvebury, Lord, 159\n\nAvoidance, ceremonial, of relations by marriage, 75 _sqq._; a\nprecaution against incest, 75, 84 _sqq._, 93; of wife\u2019s mother, 75\n_sqq._, 86 _sq._, 90 _sq._; between father-in-law and daughter-in-law,\n76; between various relations, 76 _sq._; between father and daughter,\n78, 85, 87; between father-in-law and son-in-law, 79 _sq._; of wife of\nwife\u2019s brother, 80; of brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, 81; of\nfuture parents-in-law, 81, 83; between woman and her father-in-law,\n82; between a man and his father-in-law, 82, 83; of blood relations,\n84 _sqq._; between brother and sister, 85, {178} 86, 87, 88, 90;\nbetween mother and son, 85, 86, 87\n\nAwemba, the, of Northern Rhodesia, 66, 79, 103 _sq._, 120\n\n\nBabylonian code of Hammurabi, 64\n\n---- kings, their curses, 37 _sq._\n\nBaddat Dyaks of Borneo, 48\n\nBaganda, punishment of sexual offences among the, 64 _sq._; rules of\nceremonial avoidance among the, 90 _sq._; their ideas as to adultery,\n102 _sq._; their ideas as to effect of wife\u2019s infidelity on absent\nhusband, 106 _sq._\n\nBakerewe, a Bantu people, 78\n\nBali, punishment of incest and adultery in, 68\n\nBalkan peninsula, the Slavs of the, 97\n\nBalonda, the, 38\n\nBangala, the, of the Upper Congo, 107\n\nBanggai Archipelago, 54\n\nBanishment of homicides, 113 _sqq._\n\nBanks\u2019 Islands, 6, 86\n\nBanner, a fairy, 17\n\nBantu tribes, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 103, 123\n\nBantus, the, of South Africa, their customs as to the marriage of\ncousins, 91\n\nBarea, the, tribe on the borders of Abyssinia, 66\n\nBarring the road from the grave against the ghost, 138 _sq._\n\nBasis of morality shifted from supernatural to natural, 153\n\nBasoga, the, of Central Africa, 65\n\nBastards put to death, 96, 97\n\nBasutos, the, 56; purification for homicide among the, 120 _sq._\n\nBatamba, the, of Busoga, 76\n\nBatang Lupar river in Borneo, 48\n\nBattas, or Bataks, of Sumatra, their ideas as to sexual immorality,\n46; their punishment of adultery, 69; their rules of ceremonial\navoidance, 85\n\nBavili, the, of Loango, 55\n\nBa-Yaka, the, of the Congo Free State, 124\n\nBeech, M. W. H., 129 _n._ 1\n\nBelief in immortality a fruitful source of war, 129 _sq._; waste of\nlife and property entailed by the, 111 _sq._\n\nBella Coola Indians, mourning customs of the, 144\n\nBeni Amer, tribe on the borders of Abyssinia, 66\n\nBering Strait, 132\n\nBesisi, the, of the Malay Peninsula, 137\n\nBhotias, the, of the Himalayas, 141\n\nBilaspore in India, 133\n\nBismarck Archipelago, 131\n\nBlack and white Furies, 117\n\nBlood of pigs used in expiatory ceremonies, 44 _sqq._; of incestuous\npersons not to be shed on the ground, 52, 53, 68; of pigs used in\nceremonies of purification, 116 _sq._; of the slain drunk by the\nslayers, 118 _sq._\n\nBlood covenant, 118, 119\n\n---- relations, ceremonial avoidance of, 84 _sqq._\n\nBlu-u Kayans, the, of Borneo, 51\n\nBoas, Franz, quoted, 126 _sq._, 146 _sq._\n\nBogos, tribe on borders of Abyssinia, 81\n\nBolivia, 106\n\nBoloki, the, of the Congo, 39, 75, 107, 128\n\nBorneo, the Sea Dyaks of, 34, 47 _sq._, 51, 136; pagan tribes of, 49\n_sq._; tribes of Dutch, 50 _sq._\n\nBrazil, Indians of, 96\n\nBritish Columbia, mourning customs among the tribes of, 142 _sqq._\n\nBrooke, Charles, quoted, 50\n\nBrooke, Rajah, 12\n\nBrother and sister, ceremonial avoidance between, 77, 85, 86, 87, 88,\n90; incest of, 51, 54, 59, 60 _n._ 1, 62, 67, 68\n\nBrothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, mutual avoidance of, 81\n\nBuduma, the, of Lake Chad, 109\n\nBugineese, the, of Celebes, 51\n\nBukaua, tribe of German New Guinea, 82, 131\n\nBureau of Ethnology in the U.S. America, 175\n\nBurgundians, the, 16\n\nBurma, 119, 130, 134, 135, 138; the Karens of, 44 _sq._\n\nBurning as punishment of sexual crime, 63, 64, 68\n\nBuru, an East Indian island, 109 _n._ 3\n\nBurying alive as punishment, 46, 68, 69\n\nBusoga, 76\n\n\nCairbre Musc, Irish legend of, 62\n\nCalabria, superstition as to murderers in, 119\n\nCalifornian Indians, 83\n\nCambridge in relation to anthropology, 175\n\nCameroon negroes, 116\n\nCar Nicobar, rite of purification in, 116 _sq._\n\nCaribs, the, 83\n\nCaroline Islands, rules of ceremonial avoidance in the, 87 _sq._\n\nCazembes of Angola, 11\n\nCelebes, 68\n\n---- Central, 12, 29, 30, 52, 53, 122\n\n---- Southern, 51\n\nCelts of Ireland and Scotland, 17\n\nCentral Provinces of India, 33\n\n{179}\n\nCeram, island of, 51; taboo in, 28\n\n---- Laut Islands, taboo in, 28 _sq._\n\nCeylon, modes of protecting property in, 33\n\nChad, Lake, 109\n\nCharms to protect property, 25 _sqq._, 38 _sq._, 41 _sqq._; for the\nprotection of fruit-trees, 29 _sqq._\n\nChastity required of those who handle corn or enter a granary, 56\n_sq._\n\nChiefs, supernatural powers attributed to, 6 _sqq._\n\nChildren supposed to suffer for the adultery of their father or\nmother, 102 _sqq._\n\nChili, 84\n\nChinese, their faith in ghosts, 149 _sqq._\n\nChinook Indians, their purification of homicides, 126 _sq._\n\nChins of Burma, their burial customs, 138 _sq._\n\nChitom\u00e9, the sacred pontiff of Congo, 108\n\nCircumcision, orgies at, in Fiji, 60 _n._ 1\n\nCivilization evolved from savagery, 162; endangered by superstition,\n170\n\nClan, marriage within the, forbidden, 45, 65, 71; marriage within\nmother\u2019s clan forbidden, 55\n\nClaudius, the emperor, 61\n\nClytemnestra, ghost of, 118\n\nCodrington, Dr. R. H., 6, 85 _n._ 1, 86\n\nCommunism, era of sexual, 164 _sq._\n\nComparative Method in anthropology, legitimacy of the, 172\n\nCondon, Father M. A., quoted, 76 _sq._\n\nConfession of sin, 45, 57, 61, 62, 64 _sq._, 103, 104, 107, 109\n\nCongo, the, 39, 75, 107, 108, 124\n\nConsanguineous marriages, question as to the results of, 95 _sq._\n\nContinence required at certain times, 106 _sq._, 108\n\nCorc and Cormac, Irish legend of, 62 _sq._\n\nCorn, chastity required of persons who handle, 56 _sq._\n\nCorpses mutilated in order to disable the ghosts, 132 _sq._, 134, 136,\n137\n\nCousins, marriage of, 88 _sq._, 91; expiation for, 47 _sq._, 92 _sq._;\nforbidden, 47, 48, 53, 67, 72, 89, 90, 91, 92; punished, 67; supposed\nto be unfruitful, 92\n\n----, mutual avoidance between male and female, 88 _sqq._\n\nCow\u2019s dung as a detergent of ghosts, 123\n\nCowper, the poet, 174\n\nCrawford, Raymond, 17 _n._ 5\n\nCriminals, precautions against the ghosts of executed, 132\n\nCrops, chiefs and kings thought to have power over the, 11 _sq._, 15,\n16 _sq._; supposed to be blighted by sexual immorality, 44 _sq._, 46,\n48, 49, 50 _sqq._\n\nCross-stick taboo, 25\n\nCumana in South America, 33\n\nCurses as modes of protecting property, 24 _sq._, 28, 29, 31 _sq._, 34\n_sqq._, 40 _sq._\n\nCycles in human affairs, 165 _sq._\n\nCynaetha in Arcadia, 115\n\n\n_Damzogs_, guardian-spirits of property, 39 _sq._\n\nDarfur, 39, 81\n\nDaughter, incest with, 49, 51, 54, 58, 67, 68; and father, mutual\navoidance of, 78\n\nDavid, his sin, 107\n\nDawson, James, quoted, 71 _sq._\n\nDead, the fear of the, 111 _sq._; carried out of house by a special\nopening, 135\n\nDe Groot, Professor J. J. M., quoted, 150 _sq._\n\nDelagoa Bay, 57, 80, 92, 104, 121\n\nDelphic oracle, 61\n\nDemeter and Persephone, 36\n\nDestruction of the property of the dead, 111 _sq._, 135\n\nDeuteronomy, 37\n\nDevelopment of moral theory, hypothetical, 102\n\n\u201cDevil going on his wife,\u201d 54 _n._ 2\n\nDevils, exorcism of, 116 _sq._\n\nDiana, sacred grove of, 61\n\nDinkas, the, of the Upper Nile, 57\n\nDivinity of Maori chiefs, 7 _sqq._; of kings, 10 _sqq._\n\nDonaglas, the, 81\n\nd\u2019Orbigny, A., quoted, 111 _sqq._\n\nDoreh in Dutch New Guinea, 131\n\nDos Santos, J., Portuguese historian, 13, 14\n\nDrinking water as test of wife\u2019s fidelity, 107\n\nDrowning as a punishment for sexual offences, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 65,\n66, 67, 68\n\nDunvegan, 17\n\nDurham, Miss M. Edith, 97\n\nDyaks of Borneo, 47 _sq._, 51, 137; curses among the, 34 _sqq._\n\n---- of Sarawak, 11\n\n\nEarly history of mankind, the imperfection of the record, 171 _sq._\n\nEarthquakes thought to be caused by sexual immorality, 54\n\nEast Indies, sexual offences severely punished in, 67 _sqq._\n\nEdward the Confessor, 18\n\nEgypt, divinity of kings in ancient, 14 _sq._\n\nEkoi, the, of Southern Nigeria, 39\n\nEpidemics supposed to be caused by incest, 46, 51\n\nEruptions of volcanoes supposed to be caused by incest, 54\n\n{180}\n\nEsquimaux of Bering Strait, 132\n\nEvolution, a scale of mental, 172\n\nEwe negroes of Togoland, 142\n\n---- speaking tribes of the Slave Coast, 41\n\nExecutioners taste the blood of their victims, 119\n\nExorcism of devils, 116 _sq._\n\nExpiation for sexual immorality, 44 _sqq._, 57, 61, 62 _sq._; for\nmarriage of cousins, 92 _sq._; for incest, 105 _sq._; for homicide,\n128 _sq._\n\nExtinction of the savage, 174 _sq._\n\n\n_Fady_, or taboo, in Madagascar, 31 _sq._\n\nFairy banner, 17\n\n---- changeling, 166\n\nFather, incest with, 106\n\n---- and daughter, mutual avoidance of, 78, 85, 87\n\nFather-in-law avoided ceremonially by his daughter-in-law, 82; avoided\nceremonially by his son-in-law, 82, 83\n\nFear of ghosts, 111 _sqq._; salutary effect of, 111, 113, 149 _sqq._;\nof women who die in pregnancy or childbed, 133 _sqq._\n\nFertility of women and cattle, supposed power of chiefs and kings over\nthe, 14, 16; of land supposed to be impaired by sexual offences, 44\n_sqq._\n\n----, Diana a goddess of, 61 _sq._\n\nFetishes in Guinea, 41\n\nFetters put on the dead, 137\n\nFidelity, test of conjugal, 107\n\nFig-tree, sacred, among the Akikuyu, 128 _sq._\n\nFiji, authority of chiefs in, 7; taboo in, 27; orgies at circumcision\nin, 60 _n._ 1\n\nFijians, their custom of driving away ghosts, 131 _sq._\n\nFinger, sacrifice of, 117\n\nFirst-fruits offered to chiefs, 7\n\nFish sacred, 36\n\nFloods supposed to be caused by incest, 49\n\nFolklore, a department of Social Anthropology, 166, 169\n\nFood-supply supposed to be affected by improper relations between the\nsexes, 100 _sq._\n\nFornication, expiation for, 44 _sq._; disastrous effects supposed to\nflow from, 44, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 55, 57, 63, 65, 96; punishment of,\n44, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 55, 57, 63, 65, 66, 96 _sqq._\n\nFrenzy caused by sight or thought of blood, 122 _sq._\n\nFruit-trees, charms for the protection of, 29 _sqq._\n\nFuries of Clytemnestra, 117\n\n\nGalelareese, the, of Halmahera, 54\n\nGalton, Sir Francis, 159\n\nGarcilasso de la Vega, quoted, 15 _sq._; on the Incas, 173\n\nGardens, superstition as to, 57\n\nGennep, A. van, 31\n\nGhostly power ascribed to chiefs, 6 _sq._\n\nGhosts as protectors of property, 26; the fear of, 111 _sqq._;\nsalutary effect of belief in, 111, 113, 149 _sqq._; of all who have\ndied violent deaths accounted dangerous, 130; of bad people,\nprecautions against the, 132 _sq._; disabled by the mutilation of\ntheir corpses, 132 _sq._, 134, 136, 137; blinded, 133\n\n---- and goblins outlast the high gods, 170 _sq._\n\n---- of slain especially dreaded by their slayers, 113 _sqq._; thought\nto drive their slayers mad, 117 _sqq._; precautions taken by slayers\nagainst the, 117 _sqq._, 123 _sqq._; scared or driven away, 126, 130\n_sqq._; especially dreaded by their kinsfolk and neighbours, 127\n_sqq._\n\n---- of women dying in pregnancy or childbed especially feared, 133\n_sqq._\n\nGirdle of red feathers, badge of royalty, 10\n\nGirschner, Max, quoted, 87 _sq._\n\nGoat, expiatory sacrifice of, 92\n\nGods or spirits angry at sexual offences, 44, 46, 47, 50, 51, 54, 55\n_sq._, 57, 61, 63, 107; the creations of man\u2019s fancy, 99; the\nstalking-horses of savages, 101; the high, ephemeral compared to\nghosts and goblins, 170 _sq._\n\nGovernment, superstition as a prop of, 6 _sqq._; of mankind\nessentially aristocratic, 167\n\nGovernors, supernatural powers attributed to, 6\n\nGranaries, superstitions concerning, 56 _sq._\n\nGran Chaco, Indians of the, 140\n\nGranddaughter, incest with, 48\n\nGrave, the road from the, barred against the ghost, 138 _sq._\n\nGreasing the hands of the dead, 137 _sq._\n\nGreece, superstitious veneration for kings in Homeric, 16\n\n_Greegrees_, charms, 42\n\nGreek purification of homicides, 116, 120, 123 _sq._\n\nGreeks, the ancient, their use of curses, 36 _sq._; their ideas as to\nincest, 61; their customs as to homicide, 113 _sq._\n\nGrimm, the brothers, 169 _sq._\n\nGuiana, British, 83; Indians of, their notion as to homicides, 117\n_sq._\n\nGuinea, fetishes in, 41\n\nGula, Babylonian goddess, 38\n\n\nHaida Indians of Queen Charlotte Islands, 107\n\n{181}\n\nHair of homicides shaved, 123 _sq._, 128\n\nHalmahera, East Indian island, 54\n\nHammurabi, code of, 64\n\nHanging as punishment for incest, 90\n\nHebrews, their ideas as to adultery, 60 _sq._\n\nHeraclitus on purification for homicide, 117\n\nHerbert River in Queensland, 137\n\nHerero, the, of South Africa, 133\n\nHerzegovina, 98\n\nHindoos of the Punjaub, 133; ancient, burial custom of the, 137\n\nHippopotamus hunters, superstitions of, 57 _sqq._\n\nHistory regulated by general laws, 160; of mankind, imperfection of\nthe early records, 171 _sq._\n\nHlengoues, the, of South-East Africa, 57\n\nHobley, C. W., 105 _n._ 2; quoted, 115 _n._ 5\n\nHomicide, purification for, 114, 115 _sqq._, 120 _sqq._, 123 _sqq._;\nexpiation for, 128 _sq._\n\nHomicides fear the ghosts of their victims, 113 _sqq._; secluded, 114\n_sq._, 120, 121 _sq._, 124, 125 _sqq._; taste the blood of their\nvictims, 118 _sq._\n\nHorror of sexual irregularities among savages, suggested reason for,\n101\n\nHose, Ch., and McDougall, W., quoted, 49 _sq._\n\nHottentots forbid marriage of cousins, 67\n\nHowitt, A. W., 75 _n._ 1, 85 _n._ 1\n\nHuichol Indians of Mexico, 106\n\nHuman history regulated by general laws, 160\n\n---- life, superstition as a prop to the security of, 111 _sqq._\n\nHuth, A. H., 95\n\nHypotheses, their place in science, 172\n\n\nIbo, the, of Nigeria, 119\n\nIguana used in magic, 30 _sq._\n\nIllegitimate children put to death, 96 _sq._\n\nImmorality, sexual, disastrous effects believed to flow from, 44\n_sqq._, 63; supposed to disturb the course of nature, 99 _sqq._;\noriginal ground of the conception unknown, 102; supposed to be\ninjurious to the culprits themselves and their relations, 102 _sqq._;\nsuperstition as to, 110\n\nImmortality, waste of life and property entailed by the belief in, 111\n_sq._; belief in, a fruitful source of war, 129 _sq._\n\nImpalement as punishment of adultery, 67\n\nInbreeding, question of the effects of, 95 _sq._\n\nIncas of Peru, 173\n\nIncest, disastrous effects supposed to flow from, 45 _sqq._, 61; with\ngranddaughter, 48; with adopted daughter, 49; punishment of, 49 _sq._,\n51, 52 _sqq._, 90, 91; with aunt, 50, 51; with a mother, 51, 61, 67;\nwith a niece, 51, 53; with a daughter, 51, 54, 58, 67, 68; with a\nsister, 51, 54, 59, 60 _n._ 1, 62, 67, 68, 105; enjoined in certain\ncircumstances, 57 _sqq._; expiation for, 105 _sq._; with father,\n106\n\nIndia, superstitious veneration for kings in ancient, 16\n\nIndian Archipelago, precautions against ghosts of women dying in\nchildbed in the, 136\n\nIndians of North America, their custom of driving away the ghosts of\nthe slain, 130 _sq._\n\nInfanticide in China checked by fear of ghosts, 150 _sq._\n\nInfection, physical, supposed to be spread by unchaste persons, 109\n\nInfertile marriage, dread of, 94\n\nInfertility thought to be caused by sexual immorality, 57, 60 _sq._;\nof women and cattle supposed to be caused by fornication, 109 _sq._\n\nInfidelity of husband supposed to be dangerous to his offspring, 103;\nof wife supposed to endanger her husband, 106 _sqq._ _See also_\nAdultery\n\nInoculation, magical, of hunters, 57 _sq._; of homicides, 121\n\nInsanity, temporary, caused by blood, 122 _sq._\n\nInstitutions, early history of, imperfections in the records, 171\n_sq._\n\nIreland, superstitions as to kings in ancient, 17\n\nIrish legend as to incest of brother and sister, 62\n\nIshtar, the goddess, 38\n\nIsla del Malhado in Florida, 83\n\nIssoudun in British New Guinea, 147\n\n\nJa-Luo, the, of Kavirondo, 123\n\nJob on adultery, 60\n\nJohnson, Dr. S., 17, 18; on _Voyages to the South Seas_, 173\n\n_Jok_, ancestral spirits, 57\n\nJoustra, M., 85 _n._ 1\n\nJupagalk tribe of Australia, 74\n\nJuris, the, of Brazil, 33\n\n\nKabyles, the, of North Africa, 119\n\nKachins of Burma, their fear of the ghosts of women dying in childbed,\n135 _sq._\n\nKai, the, of German New Guinea, their fear of the ghosts of the slain,\n124 _sq._\n\nKamilaroi tribe of New South Wales, 74\n\n{182}\n\nKarens of Burma, their ideas as to sexual immorality, 44 _sq._; their\ndread of ghosts, 130\n\nKavirondo, the, of British East Africa, 65, 123\n\nKawars, the, 33\n\nKayans, the, of Borneo, 49, 50, 51\n\nKhasis, the, of Assam, 45\n\nKickapoo Indians, 130\n\nKikuyu. _See_ Akikuyu\n\nKing\u2019s Evil, touching for, 17 _sq._\n\nKings, superstitious veneration for, 10 _sqq._\n\n---- of Tahiti, their sacredness 10 _sq._\n\nKouis, the, of Laos, 32\n\nKubus, the, of Sumatra, 67\n\nKwakiutl Indians of British Columbia, mourning customs of the, 146\n_sq._\n\n\nLandmarks protected by gods and curses, 37 _sq._\n\nLaos, 32\n\nLaurel leaves used in purificatory rites, 117\n\nLaws regulating marriage, their origin unknown, 102; which regulate\nhuman history, 160\n\nLeaden tablets, 36\n\nLeaping over grave of murdered man, 119\n\nLeaves used in exorcism, 116 _sq._\n\nLengua Indians, their fear of ghosts, 140 _sq._\n\nLeviticus, 61\n\nLicence, periods of, 60 _n._ 1\n\nLightning a punishment of incest, 45\n\nLillooet Indians of British Columbia, mourning customs of the, 145\n_sq._\n\nLivingstone, David, quoted, 38\n\nLkungen or Songish Indians of Vancouver Island, mourning customs of\nthe, 143\n\nLoango, the king of, 12, 13; ideas as to sexual immorality in, 54\n_sq._\n\nLombok, sexual offences severely punished in, 70\n\nLooboos, a people of Sumatra, 82, 109\n\n_Loo\u00ef_, pollution incurred by unchastity, 109\n\nLoowoo, in Celebes, 12\n\nLouis XV., 18\n\nLouis XVI., 18\n\nLow, Hugh, 48\n\nLushai, the, of North-Eastern India, 119 _sq._\n\n\nMacassars, the, of Celebes, 51\n\nMcDougall, W., and Hose, Ch., quoted, 49 _sq._\n\nMacleods, chief of the, 17\n\nMadagascar, 59, 106; taboo in, 31 _sq._\n\nMadness supposed to be caused by homicide, 117 _sqq._\n\nMagic older than religion, 100\n\nMagical rites tend to become religious, 100\n\nMaiming as a punishment of adultery, 64\n\nMalagasy charms, 31\n\nMalay Archipelago, taboo in the, 27 _sq._\n\n---- Peninsula, 137\n\n---- peoples, the severity with which they punish sexual offences, 70\n_sq._\n\n---- region, divinity of kings in the, 11 _sqq._\n\nMaloulekes, the, of South-Eastern Africa, 57\n\nMamoedjoe, district of Celebes, 68\n\nMan, the science of, 159 _sq._; prim\u00e6val, unknown, 163 _sq._\n\n_Mana_, supernatural power, 6\n\nMangars, a tribe of Nepal, 138\n\nMankind dominated by an enlightened minority, 167 _sq._\n\nManslayer. _See_ Homicide\n\nMantineans, their purification, 115\n\nManu, laws of, 16, 63\n\nMaori chiefs, authority of, 7 _sqq._; esteemed gods, 7 _sq._\n\nMaoris, taboo among the, 20 _sqq._\n\nMarks of taboo to protect property, 25 _sqq._, 38 _sq._, 41 _sqq._\n\nMarquesas Islands, taboo in the, 23 _sq._\n\nMarrah, in Darfur, 39\n\nMarriage, superstition in relation to, 44 _sqq._\n\n---- of cousins, different customs as to the, 88 _sq._, 91; forbidden,\n89, 90, 91, 92, supposed to be unfruitful, 92; expiation for the, 92\n_sq._\n\n---- laws, their origin unknown, 102\n\nMarriages, consanguineous, question as to the results of, 95 _sq._\n\nMasai, the, of British East Africa, 81; of German East Africa, 105\n\nMedicine-man, respect for, 14\n\nMelanesia, taboo as a preserver of property in, 26 _sq._\n\nMelanesians, authority of chiefs among the, 6 _sq._; rules of\nceremonial avoidance amongst the, 86 _sq._; of the Bismarck\nArchipelago, 131\n\nMen Aziottenos, 37\n\nMen naturally unequal, 166 _sq._\n\nMental evolution, a scale of, 172\n\nMeteors, superstition as to, 141\n\nMilky Way, 141\n\nMimic warfare, 129\n\nMimicry in magic, 100\n\nMinority, mankind dominated by an enlightened, 167 _sq._\n\nMontenegrin peasantry, their strict views of sexual immorality, 97\n\nMoral theory, hypothetical development of, 102\n\n{183}\n\nMorality, sexual, enforced by superstition, 44 _sqq._; change in the\ntheoretical basis of, 101 _sq._; basis of, shifted from supernatural\nto natural, 153\n\nMorocco, superstitions concerning granaries in, 56 _sq._\n\nMosaic law, punishments for sexual offences under the, 64\n\nMother, incest with a, 51, 61; and son, ceremonial avoidance between,\n85, 86, 87\n\nMother-in-law, ceremonial avoidance of, 75 _sqq._, 86 _sq._, 90 _sq._\n\nMount Elgon, 123\n\nMourning customs of widows and widowers, 142 _sqq._\n\nMoxos Indians of Bolivia, 106\n\nMukjarawaint tribe of Victoria, 74\n\nMurderer, rules observed by pardoned, 126\n\nMurderers, their precautions against the ghosts of their victims, 117\n_sqq._\n\nMutilation of corpses in order to disable the ghosts, 132 _sq._, 134,\n136, 137; of the dying or dead, 141\n\n\nNails used to prevent ghosts from walking, 133\n\nNames of kings sacred, 10\n\nNandi, the, of British East Africa, 14, 56, 66, 118; curses among the,\n40 _sq._\n\nNatchez Indians of North America, 124\n\nNatural inequality of men, 166 _sq._\n\nNature, why illicit relations between the sexes are thought to disturb\nthe balance of, 99 _sqq._\n\n---- the Sphinx, 102\n\nNebuchadnezzar, the king, quoted, 37 _sq._\n\nNepal, 138\n\nNets to catch ghosts, 139\n\nNew Britain, 109; taboo in, 26 _sq._\n\n---- Guinea, British, 125, 147; Dutch, 131; German, 82, 124, 127, 131\n\n---- Hebrides, 86\n\n---- Ireland, 89, 90\n\n---- Mecklenburg, 89\n\n---- South Wales, 74\n\n---- Zealand, authority of chiefs in, 7 _sqq._ Nias, the island of, 46\n_sq._; curses in, 34\n\nNiece, incest with, 51, 53\n\nNiger, tribes of the Lower, 119\n\nNile, the Upper, 57\n\nNinib, Babylonian god, 38\n\n_Nuru_, the spirit of the slain, 121\n\nNusku, Babylonian god, 38\n\n\nOaths and imprecations as preservers of property, 24 _sqq._ _See also_\nCurses\n\n_Obeah_ man, magician, 42\n\n_Obi_, magic, 42\n\nOedipus, the incest of, 61\n\nOj\u00e8bways, their modes of keeping off ghosts, 139 _sq._\n\nOmaha Indians, 132 _sq._; their customs as to pardoned murderers, 126\n\nOpinion and action, their relative values for society, 155\n\nOrang Glai, the, savages of Annam, 46\n\nOraons of Bengal, their fear of the ghosts of women dying in childbed\nor pregnancy, 134\n\nOregon, Chinook Indians of, 126\n\nOrestes, the matricide, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 126\n\nOrinoco, the, 112\n\nOttawa Indians, 131\n\nOvakumbi, a tribe of Angola, 108\n\nOvambo, a Bantu people of South-West Africa, 80 _sq._\n\n\nPacific, first exploration of the, 173\n\nPaestum, the temples at, 170\n\nPaint-house, the, 55\n\n_Pamali_, taboo, 27\n\nPapuans of New Guinea, 131; of Issoudun, 147\n\nParents-in-law, ceremonial avoidance by man of his future, 81, 83\n\nParricide, Roman punishment of, 52; guilt of, 61\n\nPasemhers, a tribe of Sumatra, 69\n\nPasir, a district of Borneo, 51\n\nPatagonians, their fear of the dead, 111 _sqq._\n\nPeasantry of Europe, their intellectual savagery, 170\n\n_Pemali_, taboo, 27\n\nPepper put in eyes of corpse to blind ghost, 133\n\nPerham, J., 47\n\nPersephone, 36\n\nPeru, the Yncas of, 15 _sq._, 173\n\n_Petara_, Dyak name for deity, 47\n\nPig\u2019s blood used in ceremonies of purification, 116 _sq._\n\nPigs used in expiatory ceremonies, 44 _sqq._\n\nPhysical causation, false notions of, 100\n\n---- infection supposed to be spread by unchaste persons, 109\n\n---- relationship supposed to exist between adulterer and injured\nhusband, 104 _sq._\n\nPlato on sanctity of landmarks, 37\n\nPollution, ceremonial, 93, 105; incurred by homicide, 115 _sqq._, 128\n\n----, dangerous, supposed to be incurred by unchastity, 109\n\nPolynesia, authority of chiefs in, 7 _sqq._; taboo in, 20 _sqq._\n\n_Pomali_, taboo, 27\n\n_Pontianak_, ghost of woman who died in childbed, 137 _n._\n\n{184}\n\nPrecautions taken by homicides against the ghosts of their victims,\n117 _sqq._, 123 _sqq._; against the ghosts of bad people, 132 _sq._;\nagainst ghosts of women dying in pregnancy or childbed, 133 _sqq._;\ntaken by widows and widowers against the ghosts of their spouses, 142\n_sqq._\n\nPrehistoric ages, imperfections in the records of, 171 _sq._\n\nPrim\u00e6val man unknown, 163 _sq._\n\nPrimitive, relative sense in which the word is applied to existing\nsavages, 163 _sq._\n\nPrivate property, superstition as a prop of, 20 _sqq._\n\nPropagation of animals and plants supposed to be affected by the\nrelations of the human sexes, 99 _sqq._\n\nProperty, superstition as a support of private, 20 _sqq._; of the dead\ndestroyed, 111 _sq._, 135\n\n_Psanyi_, 122\n\nPunans, the, of Borneo, 50\n\nPunishments, severe, for sexual offences, 63 _sqq._, 96 _sqq._\n\nPunjaub, the, 133\n\nPurification for unchastity by means of blood, 44 _sqq._; for\nunchastity by means of water, 109; for homicide, 114, 115 _sqq._, 120\n_sqq._, 123 _sqq._; and capital punishment, 151 _sq._\n\n\nQueen Anne, 18\n\nQueen Charlotte Islands, 107\n\nQueen Draga of Servia, 97\n\nQueensland, native tribes of, 72 _sqq._; their mutilation of the dead,\n137\n\n\nRain, kings expected to give, 13 _sq._; failure or excess of, supposed\nto be caused by sexual immorality, 44, 46, 47, 48, 54, 55, 56\n\nRajah Brooke, 12\n\nRajamahal in Bengal, 45\n\nRamanandroany, a Malagasy deity, 31\n\nRape, punishment of, 66\n\nRed paint put on homicides, 118, 124, 127\n\nRegalia, sanctity of, 11\n\nRelations by marriage, ceremonial avoidance of, 75 _sqq._\n\nReligion supplies the new theoretical basis of sexual morality, 101;\nof one generation the superstition of the next, 170 _sq._\n\n---- and magic, their relations, 100\n\nRenan, Ernest, on the menace to civilization, 170\n\nReproduction of men, animals, and plants, analogy between the, 99\n_sq._\n\nRhodesia, Northern, 66, 79, 103, 120\n\nRhys, Sir John, quoted, 54 _n._ 2, 62 _sq._\n\nRio de Janeiro, 96\n\nRisley, Sir Herbert H., quoted, 138\n\nRoad from the grave barred against the ghost, 138 _sq._\n\nRobert the Pious, 18\n\nRoman custom as to incest, 61 _sq._\n\n---- punishment of parricide, 52\n\nRoscoe, Rev. J., quoted, 64 _sq._, 90 _sq._, 102 _sq._\n\nRuanda, a district of Central Africa, 96\n\n\nSacred chiefs, 7 _sqq._\n\n---- fig-tree among the Akikuyu, 128 _sq._\n\n---- fish, 36\n\nSacredness of chiefs in Polynesia, 7 _sqq._\n\nSahagun on the natives of Mexico, 173\n\nSt. Patrick, canon of, 17\n\nSamoa, superstition as a preserver of property in, 24 _sqq._\n\nSamoan taboos, 25 _sq._\n\nSarah and Abraham, 60 _sq._\n\nSarawak, Hill Dyaks of, 11 _sq._, 48\n\nSavage, the, a human document, 172 _sq._; the passing of the, 174\n_sq._\n\nSavage horror of sexual irregularities, suggested reason for, 101\n\nSavagery, civilization evolved out of, 162; importance of the study\nof, 162 _sq._, 172 _sqq._; intellectual, of European peasantry, 170\n\nSavages of to-day primitive only in a relative sense, 163 _sq._\n\nSaxons, their punishment of sexual offences, 97\n\nScapegoat for ghosts, 141 _sq._\n\nScarecrows for ghosts, 139\n\nScepticism, religious, undermines foundations of society, 7\n\nScience of man, 159 _sq._\n\n----, the temple of, 161\n\nScrofula, touching for, 17 _sq._\n\nScythians drank the blood of friends and foes, 118\n\nSea-pike taboo, 25\n\nSeclusion of homicides, 114 _sq._, 120, 121 _sq._, 124, 125 _sqq._\n\nSemendo, a district of Sumatra, 68\n\nServius Tullius, King, 61\n\nSexual communism, era of, 164 _sq._\n\n---- immorality supposed to be injurious to the culprits themselves\nand to their relations, 102 _sqq._; superstitions as to, 110\n\n---- morality enforced by superstition, 44 _sqq._; change in the\ntheoretical basis of, 101\n\n---- offences punished severely, 63 _sqq._, 96 _sqq._; reason why\nsavages punish these offences severely, 99 _sqq._\n\n\u201cShaking tubercule,\u201d 32\n\nShans, the, of Burma, 119, 134\n\n{185}\n\nSheep, expiatory sacrifice of, 92, 93\n\nShushwap Indians of British Columbia, mourning customs of the, 142\n_sq._\n\nSiam, 32\n\nSibuyaus, the, of Sarawak, 48\n\nSibylline Books, 173\n\nSickness caused by evil spirits or sorcerers, 141\n\n\u201cSickness of relationship,\u201d 76 _sq._\n\nSierra Leone, 42\n\nSimilarity of the human mind in all races, 172\n\nSister, incest with a, 51, 54, 59, 60 _n._ 1, 62, 67, 68, 105\n\nSisters and brothers, mutual avoidance of, 77\n\nSlave Coast, the, 41\n\nSlavery in England, 169\n\nSlavs, punishment of sexual offences among the Southern, 97 _sq._\n\nSlayers fear the ghosts of their victims, 113 _sqq._\n\n_Sle_, pollution incurred by unchastity, 109\n\nSmyrna, 36\n\nSocial anthropology, the scope of, 157 _sqq._\n\nSociety, concerned with conduct, not opinion, 155; ultimately\ncontrolled by knowledge, 167; sapped by superstition, 170; its surface\nin perpetual motion, 171\n\nSociology, 160\n\nSofala, the king of, 13, 14\n\nSon-in-law, ceremonial avoidance of, 79 _sq._\n\nSophocles on Oedipus, 61\n\nSphinx, riddles of the, 102\n\nState, duty of the, in regard to anthropology, 175 _sq._\n\nStinks to keep off ghosts, 139\n\nStoning as a punishment of sexual offences, 64, 97 _sq._\n\nSulka, the, of New Britain, 109\n\nSumatra, 46, 67, 68, 69, 82, 109\n\nSun, Yncas descended from the, 15\n\nSupernatural powers attributed to chiefs, 6 _sqq._\n\nSuperstition, baneful effects of, 3; a plea for, 3 _sq._, 154 _sq._;\nas a prop of government, 6 _sqq._; as a prop of private property, 20\n_sqq._; as a prop of marriage, 44 _sqq._; as a prop to the security of\nhuman life, 111 _sqq._; heavy toll paid to, 113; services which\nsuperstition has rendered to humanity, 154 _sq._; at the bar, 155\n_sq._; the creed of the laggards in the march of intellect, 168 _sq._;\na danger to society, 170; the religion of a past generation, 170 _sq._\n\nSuperstitions either public or private, 169; the crudest, survive\nlongest, 170 _sq._\n\nSuperstitious fear of contact with Maori chiefs, 9 _sq._\n\nSurface of society in perpetual motion, 171\n\nSurvivals of savagery in civilization, 166\n\nSwedes, the ancient, 16\n\n\nTaboo as a support of chiefs, 7 _sqq._; as a prop of private property,\n20 _sqq._; (_tambu_) in Melanesia, 26 _sq._\n\nTabooed, homicides, 121\n\nTahiti, sacredness of kings of, 10 _sq._\n\nTamanaques, the, of the Orinoco, 112\n\n_Tambu_ (taboo) in Melanesia, 26 _sq._\n\n_Tapu_ (taboo) among the Maoris, 20 _sqq._\n\nTattooing of homicides, 121\n\nTaylor, Rev. Richard, 8\n\nTernate, 54\n\n_Thahu_, ceremonial pollution, 93, 105, 115, 128\n\nTheal, G. McCall, quoted, 91\n\nTheoretical basis of sexual morality, 101\n\nThieves cursed, 34 _sqq._\n\nThompson Indians of British Columbia, mourning customs of the, 144\n_sq._\n\nThomson, Basil, quoted, 7\n\nThomson, J. Arthur, quoted, 95 _sq._\n\nThonga tribe of South-East Africa, 57, 80, 92, 104; their purification\nof homicides, 121 _sq._\n\nThorn bushes to keep off ghosts, 142 _sq._, 144, 145\n\nThunder taboo, 26\n\nTigers, plague of, a punishment for sexual offences, 45, 46\n\nTimor, taboo in, 27\n\nTogoland, 142\n\nTololaki, the, of Central Celebes, 53\n\nTomori, the, of Central Celebes, 52\n\nTonga, sacredness of chiefs in, 10; taboo in, 26\n\nTonquin, 33\n\nToradjas of Central Celebes, 12, 29, 30, 122; their fear of the ghosts\nof the slain, 129\n\nTorture to extract confession, 64 _sq._\n\nTouched, chiefs and kings not to be, 9, 11\n\nTouching for scrofula, 17 _sq._\n\nTraitors disembowelled in England, 169\n\nTravail pangs supposed to be aggravated by adultery, 104\n\nTravancore, 132\n\nTrembling thought to be caused by contact with certain relations, 77,\n90\n\nTroezen, purification of Orestes at, 115\n\nTsetsaut Indians of British Columbia, mourning customs of the, 143\n\nTubercule, the shaking, 32\n\nTunguses, their burial customs, 137, 138\n\nTurner, Dr. George, quoted, 24 _sq._, 26\n\n{186}\n\nTylor, Sir E. B., 159\n\n\nUlcer taboo, 25 _sq._\n\nUnchastity, supposed physical infection of, 109\n\nUnited States of America, their Bureau of Ethnology, 175\n\nUniversities, the function of the, 175\n\nUnmarried persons, disastrous effects supposed to flow from sexual\nintercourse between, 44, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 55, 57, 63, 65, 96\n\n\nVancouver Island, 143\n\nVictoria, aborigines of, 71 _sq._\n\n---- Nyanza, Lake, 78\n\n_Voyages to the South Seas_, 173\n\n\nWagogo, the, of German East Africa, 92, 106\n\nWakelbura tribe of Queensland, 72\n\nWallace, A. R., quoted, 27, 70\n\nWanigela River, 125\n\nWanika, the, of East Africa, 38\n\nWar, a sacred duty, 129; wives expected to be faithful during their\nhusbands\u2019 absence at the, 106 _sq._\n\nWarfare, mimic, conducted by women and children at home, 129\n\nWashamba, the, of German East Africa, 106\n\nWater ordeal, 107\n\nWawanga, the, of British East Africa, 123\n\nWeeks, Rev. John H., 85 _n._ 1; quoted, 75 _sq._, 128\n\nWelsh saying as to rain, 54 _n._ 2\n\nWest Indies, charms to protect property in the, 42 _sq._\n\nWestermarck, Dr. Edward, 32, 56\n\nWhite-shark taboo, 25\n\nWidows and widowers, precautions taken by them against the ghosts of\ntheir spouses, 142 _sqq._\n\nWife of wife\u2019s brother, ceremonial avoidance of, 80\n\nWife\u2019s mother, ceremonial avoidance of, 75 _sqq._, 86 _sq._, 90 _sq._\n\nWitches burned in England, 169\n\nWomen dying in pregnancy or childbed, fear of their ghosts, 133 _sqq._\n\nWotjobaluk tribe of Victoria, 74\n\n\nYabim, the, of German New Guinea, 127, 131\n\nYncas of Peru, superstitious veneration for the, 15 _sq._\n\nYucatan, Indians of, 83\n\nYuin tribe of New South Wales, 74\n\n\nZanzibar, 78\n\nZeus as guardian of landmarks, 37\n\nZulus, their ideas as to injurious effects of adultery, 107 _sq._\n\n\n\n\n ENDNOTES\n\n Chapter I Notes\n\n[6.1] R. H. Codrington, D.D., _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), p. 46.\n\n\n\n\n Chapter II Notes\n\n[7.1] R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 52.\n\n[7.2] Basil Thomson, _The Fijians, a Study of the Decay of Custom_\n(London, 1908), pp. 57-59, 64, 158.\n\n[8.1] Rev. Richard Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand and its\nInhabitants_, Second Edition (London, 1870), pp. 352 _sq._; as to the\n_atuas_ or gods, see _ib._ pp. 134 _sqq._\n\n[9.1] A. S. Thomson, M.D., _The Story of New Zealand_ (London, 1859),\ni. 95 _sq._\n\n[9.2] Rev. W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_ (London, 1835), pp.\n104 _sq._, note.\n\n[9.3] W. Brown, _New Zealand and its Aborigines_ (London, 1845), p.\n76. Compare _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori (London, 1884), pp.\n96 _sq._\n\n[10.1] Rev. R. Taylor, _op. cit._ p. 164.\n\n[10.2] Rev. R. Taylor, _op. cit._ pp. 164, 165.\n\n[10.3] W. Mariner, _Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands_,\nSecond Edition (London, 1818), i. 141 _sq._ note, 434, note, ii. 82\n_sq._, 222 _sq._\n\n[10.4] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, Second Edition (London,\n1832-1836), iii. 108.\n\n[11.1] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 101 _sq._; J. Wilson, _Missionary\nVoyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_ (London, 1799), pp. 329 _sq._\n\n[11.2] _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr allgemeine Erdkunde_ (Berlin), vi. (1856) pp.\n398 _sq._; F. T. Valdez, _Six Years of a Traveller\u2019s Life in Western\nAfrica_ (London, 1861), ii. 251 _sq._\n\n[11.3] W. W. Skeat, _Malay Magic_ (London, 1900), pp. 23 _sq._\n\n[11.4] W. W. Skeat, _op. cit._ p. 36.\n\n[12.1] Hugh Low, _Sarawak_ (London, 1848), pp. 259 _sq._\n\n[12.2] N. Adriani en Alb. C. Kruijt, _De Bare\u2019e-sprekende Toradja\u2019s\nvan Midden-Celebes_, i. (Batavia, 1912) pp. 130 _sq._\n\n[12.3] For evidence see _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i.\n342 _sqq._, 392 _sqq._\n\n[13.1] Proyart\u2019s \u201cHistory of Loango, Kakongo, and other Kingdoms in\nAfrica,\u201d in John Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_ (London,\n1808-1814), xvi. 577. Compare O. Dapper, _Description de l\u2019Afrique_\n(Amsterdam, 1686), pp. 335 _sq._\n\n[13.2] \u201cThe Strange Adventures of Andrew Battel,\u201d in J. Pinkerton\u2019s\n_Voyages and Travels_, xvi. 330.\n\n[14.1] J. Dos Santos, \u201cEastern Ethiopia,\u201d chapters v. and ix., in G.\nMcCall Theal\u2019s _Records of South-Eastern Africa_, vii. (1901) pp. 190\n_sq._, 199.\n\n[14.2] J. Dos Santos, _op. cit._ pp. 194 _sq._\n\n[14.3] A. C. Hollis, _The Nandi, their Language and Folk-lore_\n(Oxford, 1909), pp. 49 _sq._\n\n[15.1] C. P. Tiele, _History of the Egyptian Religion_ (London, 1882),\npp. 103 _sq._ For fuller details see A. Moret, _Du caract\u00e8re\nreligieux de la royaut\u00e9 pharaonique_ (Paris, 1902); _The Magic Art\nand the Evolution of Kings_, i. 418 _sq._\n\n[15.2] Ammianus Marcellinus, xxviii. 5. 14.\n\n[16.1] Garcilasso de la Vega, _First Part of the Royal Commentaries of\nthe Yncas_, translated by C. R. Markham (London, 1869-1871), i. 154\n_sq._\n\n[16.2] _The Laws of Manu_, vii. 5-8, translated by G. B\u00fchler (Oxford,\n1886), p. 217 (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. xxv.).\n\n[16.3] _The Laws of Manu_, ix. 246 _sq._, translated by G. B\u00fchler, p.\n385.\n\n[16.4] Homer, _Odyssey_, ii. 409, iv. 43, 691, vii. 167, viii. 2,\nxviii. 405; _Iliad_, ii. 335, xvii. 464, etc.\n\n[16.5] Homer, _Odyssey_, xix. 109-114.\n\n[16.6] Ammianus Marcellinus, xxviii. 5. 14.\n\n[17.1] Snorro Sturleson, _The Heimskringla, or Chronicle of the Kings\nof Norway_, translated by S. Laing (London, 1844), saga i. chapters 18\nand 47, vol. i. pp. 230, 256.\n\n[17.2] P. W. Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_ (London,\n1903), i. 56 _sq._; J. O\u2019Donovan, _The Book of Rights_ (Dublin, 1847),\np. 8, note.\n\n[17.3] S. Johnson, _Journey to the Western Islands_, pp. 65 _sq._\n(_The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D._, London, 1825, vol. vi.).\n\n[17.4] J. G. Campbell, _Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of\nScotland_ (Glasgow, 1900), p. 5.\n\n[17.5] W. G. Black, _Folk-Medicine_ (London, 1883), pp. 140 _sqq._ See\nfurther _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 368 _sqq._; and\nespecially Raymond Crawfurd, _The King\u2019s Evil_ (Oxford, 1911), which\ncontains a full history of the superstition from the eleventh century\nonwards, authenticated by documentary evidence.\n\n[18.1] W. Mariner, _An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands_,\nSecond Edition (London, 1818), i. 434, note.\n\n[18.2] Proyart\u2019s \u201cHistory of Loango, Kakongo, and other Kingdoms in\nAfrica,\u201d in J. Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_, xvi. 573.\n\n[18.3] Raymond Crawfurd, _The King\u2019s Evil_, pp. 11 _sqq._, 18 _sqq._\n\n[18.4] J. Boswell, _Life of Samuel Johnson_, Ninth Edition (London,\n1822), i. 18 _sq._\n\n[18.5] Raymond Crawfurd, _The King\u2019s Evil_, pp. 144 _sqq._, 159 _sqq._\n\n\n\n\n Chapter III Notes\n\n[21.1] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori (London, 1884), pp. 94-97,\ncompare _id._ p. 83.\n\n[21.2] A. S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_ (London, 1859), i.\n103. Compare E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_ (London, 1843),\nii. 105: \u201cThe breaking of the _tapu_, if the crime does not become\nknown, is, they believe, punished by the _atua_, who inflicts disease\nupon the criminal; if discovered, it is punished by him whom it\nregards, and often becomes the cause of war.\u201d\n\n[22.1] W. Brown, _New Zealand and its Aborigines_ (London, 1845). pp.\n12 _sq._\n\n[22.2] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori (London, 1884), p. 97.\n\n[23.1] Rev. R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand and its\nInhabitants_, Second Edition (London, 1870), pp. 167, 171.\n\n[23.2] A. S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_ (London, 1859), i.\n105.\n\n[23.3] Rev. R. Taylor, _op. cit._ pp. 172 _sq._\n\n[24.1] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou Nouk-hiva_\n(Paris, 1843), pp. 258-260. For details of the taboo system in the\nMarquesas Islands, see G. H. von Langsdorff, _Reise um die Welt_\n(Francfort, 1812), i. 114-119; Le P. Matthias G * * * _Lettres sur les\nIsles Marquises_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 47 _sqq._ This last writer, who\nwas a missionary to the Marquesas, observes that while taboo was both\na political and a religious institution, he preferred to class it\nunder the head of religion because it rested on the authority of the\ngods and formed the highest sanction of the whole religious system.\n\n[25.1] G. Turner, _Samoa_ (London, 1884), pp. 183-184.\n\n[26.1] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 185-188.\n\n[26.2] W. Mariner, _An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands_,\nSecond Edition (London, 1818), ii. 221.\n\n[26.3] R. H. Codrington, D.D., _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), pp.\n215 _sq._\n\n[27.1] R. Parkinson, _Im Bismarck-Archipel_ (Leipsic, 1887), p. 144;\n_id._, _Dreissig Jahre in der S\u00fcdsee_ (Stuttgart, 1907), pp. 193\n_sq._\n\n[27.2] Thomas Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, Second Edition\n(London, 1860), i. 234.\n\n[27.3] G. A. Wilken, _Handleiding voor de vergelijkende Volkenkunde\nvan Nederlandsch Indi\u00eb_ (Leyden, 1893), pp. 596-603; G. W. W. C.\nBaron van Ho\u00ebvell, _Ambon en meer bepaaldelijk de Oeliasers_\n(Dordrecht, 1875), pp. 148-152.\n\n[27.4] A. R. Wallace, _The Malay Archipelago_, Sixth Edition (London,\n1877), p. 196.\n\n[28.1] J. G. F. Riedel, _De sluik- en kroesharige rassen tusschen\nSelebes en Papua_ (The Hague, 1886), pp. 61 _sq._\n\n[28.2] J. G. F. Riedel, _op. cit._ pp. 114 _sq._\n\n[28.3] Van Schmidt, \u201cAanteekeningen nopens de zeden, gewoonten en\ngebruiken, benevens de vooroordeelen en bijgeloovigheden der bevolking\nvan de eilanden Saparoea, Haroekoe, Noessa Laut, en van een gedeelte\nvan de zuidkust van Ceram, in vroegeren en lateren tijd,\u201d _Tijdschrift\nvoor Ne\u00earlands Indie_, v. Tweede deel (Batavia, 1843), pp. 499-502.\n\n[29.1] J. G. F. Riedel, _op. cit._ pp. 167 _sq._\n\n[31.1] N. Adriani en Alb. C. Kruijt, _De Bare\u2019e-sprekende Toradja\u2019s\nvan Midden-Celebes_, i. (Batavia, 1912) pp. 399-401.\n\n[31.2] H. F. Standing, \u201cMalagasy _fady_,\u201d _The Antananarivo Annual and\nMadagascar Magazine_, vol. ii. (Antananarivo, 1896) pp. 252-265\n(_Reprint of the second Four Numbers_).\n\n[31.3] A. van Gennep, _Tabou et Tot\u00e9misme \u00e0 Madagascar_ (Paris,\n1904).\n\n[31.4] A. van Gennep, _op. cit._ pp. 183 _sqq._\n\n[31.5] A. van Gennep, _Tabou et Tot\u00e9misme \u00e0 Madagascar_, p. 184. The\nwriter has devoted a chapter (xi. pp. 183-193) to taboos of property.\n\n[31.6] H. F. Standing, \u201cMalagasy _fady_,\u201d _Antananarivo Annual and\nMadagascar Magazine_, vol. ii. (Antananarivo, 1896) p. 256.\n\n[32.1] W. Ellis, _History of Madagascar_ (London, preface dated 1838),\ni. 414.\n\n[32.2] E. Westermarck, _The Origin and Development of the Moral\nIdeas_, ii. (London, 1908) pp. 59-69. In an article on taboo published\nmany years ago (_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, Ninth Edition, xxiii.\n(1888) pp. 15 _sqq._) I briefly pointed out the part which the system\nof taboo has played in the evolution of law and morality. I may be\nallowed to quote a passage from the article: \u201cThe original character\nof the taboo must be looked for not in its civil but in its religious\nelement. It was not the creation of a legislator, but the gradual\noutgrowth of animistic beliefs, to which the ambition and avarice of\nchiefs and priests afterwards gave an artificial extension. But in\nserving the cause of avarice and ambition it subserved the progress of\ncivilization, by fostering conceptions of the rights of property and\nthe sanctity of the marriage tie,--conceptions which in time grew\nstrong enough to stand by themselves and to fling away the crutch of\nsuperstition which in earlier days had been their sole support. For we\nshall scarcely err in believing that even in advanced societies the\nmoral sentiments, in so far as they are merely sentiments and are not\nbased on an induction from experience, derive much of their force from\nan original system of taboo. Thus on the taboo were grafted the golden\nfruits of law and morality, while the parent stem dwindled slowly into\nthe sour crabs and empty husks of popular superstition on which the\nswine of modern society are still content to feed.\u201d\n\n[33.1] \u00c9. Aymonier, _Notes sur le Laos_ (Saigon, 1885), p. 233.\n\n[33.2] _Central Provinces, Ethnographic Survey_, vii., _Draft Articles\non Forest Tribes_, Third Series (Allahabad, 1911), p. 45.\n\n[33.3] R. Percival, _Account of the Island of Ceylon_ (London, 1803),\np. 198.\n\n[33.4] C. F. Ph. v. Martius, _Zur Ethnographie Amerikas, zumal\nBrasiliens_ (Leipsic, 1867), p. 86.\n\n[33.5] P. Giran, _Magie et Religion Annamites_ (Paris, 1912), p. 186.\n\n[34.1] P. Giran, _op. cit._, pp. 190 _sq._\n\n[34.2] H. Sundermann, _Die Insel Nias und die Mission daselbst_\n(Barmen, 1905), p. 34.\n\n[36.1] Edwin H. Gomes, _Seventeen Years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo_\n(London, 1911), pp. 64-66.\n\n[36.2] (Sir) Charles Thomas Newton, _Essays on Art and Archaeology_\n(London, 1880), pp. 193 _sq._\n\n[36.3] G. Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_2 (Leipsic,\n1898-1901), vol. ii. pp. 284 _sq._, No. 584; Ch. Michel, _Recueil\nd\u2019Inscriptions Grecques_ (Brussels, 1900), p. 624, No. 728. The\ngoddess was probably the Syrian Atargatis or Derceto, to whom fish\nwere sacred (Xenophon, _Anabasis_, i. 4. 9). For more examples of\nthese ancient Greek curses, see Ch. Michel, _op. cit._, pp. 877-880,\nNos. 1318-1329. Compare W. H. D. Rouse, _Greek Votive Offerings_\n(Cambridge, 1902), pp. 337 _sqq._\n\n[37.1] (Sir) C. T. Newton, _Essays on Art and Archaeology_, p. 195.\n\n[37.2] Demosthenes, _De Halonneso_, 40.\n\n[37.3] Plato, _Laws_, viii. 9, pp. 842 _sq._\n\n[37.4] Festus, _s.v._ \u201cTermino,\u201d p. 368, ed. C. O. M\u00fcller (Leipsic,\n1839); Varro, _De lingua latina_, v. 74; Dionysius Halicarnasensis,\n_Antiquitates Romanae_, ii. 74. As to Terminus, the Roman god of\nboundaries, and his annual festival the _Terminalia_, see L. Preller,\n_R\u00f6mische Mythologie_3 (Berlin, 1881-1883), i. 254 _sqq._; G. Wissowa,\n_Religion und Kultus der R\u00f6mer_2 (Munich, 1912), pp. 136\n_sq._\n\n[37.5] Deuteronomy, xxviii. 17.\n\n[37.6] C. H. W. Johns, _Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and\nLetters_ (Edinburgh, 1904), p. 191.\n\n[38.1] R. W. Rogers, _Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament_\n(Oxford, preface dated 1911), pp. 390-392.\n\n[38.2] David Livingstone, _Missionary Travels and Researches in South\nAfrica_ (London, 1857), p. 285.\n\n[39.1] Charles New, _Life, Wanderings, and Labours in Eastern Africa_\n(London, 1873), p. 106.\n\n[39.2] John H. Weeks, _Among Congo Cannibals_ (London, 1913), pp. 310\n_sq._\n\n[39.3] P. Amaury Talbot, _In the Shadow of the Bush_ (London, 1912),\np. 296.\n\n[40.1] _Travels of an Arab Merchant_ [_Mohammed Ibn-Omar El Tounsy_]\n_in Soudan_, abridged from the French by Bayle St. John (London,\n1854), pp. 69-73.\n\n[41.1] A. C. Hollis, _The Nandi, their Language and Folk-lore_\n(Oxford, 1909), pp. 36, 37.\n\n[41.2] Proyart\u2019s \u201cHistory of Loango, Kakongo, and other Kingdoms in\nAfrica,\u201d in J. Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_ (London, 1808-1814),\nxvi. 595.\n\n[41.3] Rev. J. Leighton Wilson, _Western Africa_ (London, 1856), pp.\n275 _sq._\n\n[42.1] A. B. Ellis, _The Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of\nWest Africa_ (London, 1890), pp. 91 _sq._ Compare _id._, _The\nYoruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa_ (London,\n1894), p. 118.\n\n[42.2] Thomas Winterbottom, _An Account of the Native Africans in the\nNeighbourhood of Sierra Leone_ (London, 1803), pp. 261 _sq._\n\n[43.1] Bryan Edwards, _History, Civil and Commercial, of the British\nWest Indies_, Fifth Edition (London, 1819), ii. 107-111.\n\n\n\n\n Chapter IV Notes\n\n[45.1] Rev. F. Mason, D.D., \u201cOn Dwellings, Works of Art, Laws, etc.,\nof the Karens,\u201d _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, New\nSeries, xxxvii. (1868) part ii. No. 3, pp. 147 _sq._ Compare A. R.\nMcMahon, _The Karens of the Golden Chersonese_ (London, 1876), pp. 334\n_sq._\n\n[45.2] T. C. Hodson, \u201cThe _Genna_ amongst the Tribes of Assam,\u201d\n_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxvi. (1906) p. 94.\n\n[45.3] Lieutenant Thomas Shaw, \u201cOn the Inhabitants of the Hills near\nRajamahall,\u201d _Asiatic Researches_, Fourth Edition, iv. (1807) pp.\n60-62.\n\n[46.1] Major P. R. T. Gurdon, _The Khasis_ (London, 1907), pp. 94,\n123.\n\n[46.2] \u00c9. Aymonier, \u201cNotes sur l\u2019Annam,\u201d _Excursions et\nReconnaissances_, x. No. 24 (Saigon, 1885), pp. 308 _sq._\n\n[46.3] J. B. Neumann, \u201cHet Pane en Bilastroomgebied op het eiland\nSumatra,\u201d _Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig\nGenootschap_, Tweede Serie, dl. iii., afdeeling, meer uitgebreide\nartikelen, No. 3 (Amsterdam, 1886), pp. 514 _sq._; M. Joustra, \u201cHet\nleven, de zeden en gewoonten der Bataks,\u201d _Mededeelingen van wege het\nNederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap_, xlvi. (1902) p. 411.\n\n[47.1] H. Sundermann, _Die Insel Nias und die Mission daselbst_\n(Barmen, 1905), pp. 34 _sq._, 37, 84. Compare A. Fehr, _Der Niasser im\nLeben und Sterben_ (Barmen, 1901), pp. 34-36; Th. C. Rappard, \u201cHet\neiland Nias en zijne bewoners,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en\nVolkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, lxii. (1909) pp. 594, 596. The\ndeath penalty for these offences has been abolished by the Dutch\nGovernment, so far as it can make its arm felt in the island.\n\n[47.2] Rev. J. Perham, \u201cPetara, or Sea Dyak Gods,\u201d _Journal of the\nStraits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society_, No. 8, December 1881, p.\n150; H. Ling Roth, _The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo_\n(London, 1896), i. 180. _Petara_ is the general Dyak name for deity.\nThe common idea is that there are many _petaras_, indeed that every\nman has his own. The word is said to be derived from Sanscrit and to\nbe etymologically identical with _Avatar_, the Dyaks regularly\nsubstituting _p_ or _b_ for _v_. See Rev. J. Perham, _op. cit._ pp.\n133 _sqq._; H. Ling Roth\u2019s _Natives of Sarawak and British North\nBorneo_, i. 168 _sqq._\n\n[48.1] H. Ling Roth, \u201cLow\u2019s Natives of Borneo,\u201d _Journal of the\nAnthropological Institute_, xxi. (1892) pp. 113 _sq._, 133; compare\n_id._, _ibid._ xxii. (1893) p. 24.\n\n[48.2] Spenser St. John, _Life in the Forests of the Far East_, Second\nEdition (London, 1863), i. 63 _sq._\n\n[49.1] Hugh Low, _Sarawak_ (London, 1848), pp. 300 _sq._\n\n[50.1] Charles Hose and William McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of\nBorneo_ (London, 1912), ii. 196-199.\n\n[50.2] Charles Brooke, _Ten Years in Sarawak_ (London, 1866), i. 69\n_sq._\n\n[51.1] A. W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch Borneo_ (Leyden, 1904-1907), i.\n367.\n\n[51.2] M. T. H. Perelaer, _Ethnographische Beschrijving der Dajaks_\n(Zalt-Bommel, 1870), pp. 59 _sq._\n\n[51.3] A. W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch Borneo_, ii. 99; _id._, _In\nCentraal Borneo_ (Leyden, 1900), ii. 278.\n\n[51.4] A. H. F. J. Nusselein, \u201cBeschrijving van het landschap Pasir,\u201d\n_Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_,\nlviii. (1905) p. 538.\n\n[51.5] A. Bastian, _Indonesien_, i. (Berlin, 1884) p. 144.\n\n[52.1] G. A. Wilken, _Verspreide Geschriften_ (The Hague, 1912), ii.\n335 (\u201cHuwelijken tusschen bloedverwanten,\u201d p. 26).\n\n[52.2] B. F. Matthes, \u201cOver de _\u00e2d\u00e1\u2019s_ of gewoonten der Makassaren\nen Boegineezen,\u201d _Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Koninklijke Akademie\nvan Wetenschappen_, Afdeeling Letterkunde, Derde Reeks, ii.\n(Amsterdam, 1885) p. 182.\n\n[52.3] _Digest_, xlviii. 9.9, \u201c_Poena parricidii more majorum haec\ninstituta est, ut parricida virgis sanguineis verberatus deinde culleo\ninsuatur cum cane, gallo gallinaceo et vipera et simia: deinde in mare\nprofundum culleus jactatur._\u201d Compare Valerius Maximus, i. 1. 13;\nProfessor J. E. B. Mayor\u2019s note on Juvenal, viii. 214. If the view\nsuggested above is correct, the scourging of the criminal to the\neffusion of blood (_virgis sanguineis verberatus_) must have been a\nlater addition to the original penalty, unless indeed some provision\nwere made for catching the blood before it fell on the ground.\n\n[53.1] A. C. Kruijt, \u201cEenige aanteekeningen omtrent de Toboengkoe en\nde Tomori,\u201d _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche\nZendelinggenootschap_, xliv. (1900) p. 235.\n\n[53.2] A. C. Kruijt, \u201cVan Posso naar Mori,\u201d _Mededeelingen van wege\nhet Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap_, xliv. (1900) p. 162.\n\n[53.3] N. Adriani en Alb. C. Kruijt, _De Bare\u2019e-sprekende Toradja\u2019s\nvan Midden-Celebes_, i. (Batavia, 1912) p. 187.\n\n[54.1] Hissink, \u201cNota van toelichting, betreffende de zelbesturende\nlandschappen Paloe, Dolo, Sigi, en Beromaroe,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor\nIndische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, liv. (1912), p. 115.\n\n[54.2] M. J. van Baarda, \u201cFabelen, Verhalen en Overleveringen der\nGalelareezen,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van\nNederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, xlv. (1895) p. 514. In a letter to me of 14th\nMarch 1909 Sir John Rh\u0177s compares a Welsh expression, \u201cRain through\nsunshine, the devil going on his wife.\u201d He adds: \u201cI do not think I\never heard it except when it was actually raining during sunshine. I\ncan now see that instead of _ar i wraig_ the original must have been\n_ar i fam_ \u2018on his mother.\u2019 In fact I am not at all sure but that I\nhave heard it so.\u201d\n\n[54.3] F. S. A. de Clerq, _Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie\nTernate_ (Leyden, 1890), p. 132.\n\n[55.1] O. Dapper, _Description de l\u2019Afrique_ (Amsterdam, 1686), p.\n326; R. E. Dennett, _At the Back of the Black Man\u2019s Mind_ (London,\n1906), pp. 53, 67-71.\n\n[56.1] R. E. Dennett, _op. cit._ p. 52.\n\n[56.2] A. C. Hollis, _The Nandi, their Language and Folk-lore_\n(Oxford, 1909), p. 76.\n\n[56.3] Rev. E. Casalis, _The Basutos_ (London, 1861), p. 252.\n\n[56.4] Rev. E. Casalis, _The Basutos_, p. 267. The writer tells us\n(pp. 255 _sq._) that \u201cdeath with all that immediately precedes or\nfollows it, is in the eyes of these people the greatest of all\ndefilements. Thus the sick, persons who have touched or buried a\ncorpse, or who have dug the grave, individuals who inadvertently walk\nover or sit upon a grave, the near relatives of a person deceased,\nmurderers, warriors who have killed their enemies in battle, are all\nconsidered impure.\u201d No doubt all such persons would also be prohibited\nfrom handling the corn.\n\n[57.1] Edward Westermarck, _Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with\nAgriculture, Certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather in\nMorocco_ (Helsingfors, 1913), p. 46.\n\n[57.2] E. Westermarck, _op. cit._ p. 54; compare pp. 17, 23, 47.\n\n[57.3] C. G. Seligmann, _s.v._ \u201cDinka,\u201d in Dr. J. Hastings\u2019s\n_Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_, iv. (Edinburgh, 1911) p. 709.\n\n[57.4] Henri A. Junod, \u201cLes conceptions physiologiques des Bantou\nSud-Africains et leurs tabous,\u201d _Revue d\u2019 Ethnographie et de\nSociologie_, i. (1910) p. 146 note 2.\n\n[59.1] Henri A. Junod, _The Life of a South African Tribe_ (Neuchatel,\n1912-1913), ii. 60-62.\n\n[59.2] A. van Gennep, _Tabou et Tot\u00e9misme \u00e0 Madagascar_ (Paris,\n1904), pp. 342 _sq._, quoting the evidence of M. Gabriel Ferrand.\nSimilar testimony was given to me verbally by M. Ferrand at Paris,\n19th April, 1910. Compare Gabriel Ferrand, _Les Musulmans \u00e0\nMadagascar et aux Iles Comores_, Deuxi\u00e8me Partie (Paris, 1893), pp.\n20 _sq._\n\n[60.1] In Fiji the rite of circumcision used to be followed by sexual\norgies in which brothers and sisters appear to have been intentionally\ncoupled. See Rev. Lorimer Fison, \u201cThe Nanga, or Sacred Stone Enclosure\nof Wainimala, Fiji,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xiv.\n(1885) pp. 27-30, with the note of Sir Edward B. Tylor on pp. 28\n_sq._; _Totemism and Exogamy_, ii. 145-148. Such periods of general\nlicence accorded to the whole community are perhaps best explained as\ntemporary revivals of an old custom of sexual communism. But this\nexplanation seems scarcely applicable to cases like those cited in the\ntext, where the licence is not granted to the whole people but\nenjoined on a few individuals only in special circumstances. As to\nother apparent cases of reversion to primitive sexual communism, see\n_Totemism and Exogamy_, i. 311 _sqq._\n\n[60.2] Job xxxi. 11 _sq._ (Revised Version).\n\n[60.3] \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05df\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4. See _Hebrew and English Lexicon_, by F. Brown, S. R.\nDriver, and Ch. A. Briggs (Oxford, 1906), p. 100.\n\n[61.1] Genesis xii. 10-20, xx. 1-18.\n\n[61.2] Leviticus xviii. 24 _sq._\n\n[61.3] Sophocles, _Oedipus Tyrannus_, 22 _sqq._, 95 _sqq._\n\n[61.4] Tacitus, _Annals_, xii. 4 and 8.\n\n[62.1] See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 12, 14\n_sqq._\n\n[62.2] G. Keating, _History of Ireland_, translated by J. O\u2019Mahony\n(New York, 1857), pp. 337 _sq._; P. W. Joyce, _Social History of\nAncient Ireland_ (London, 1903), ii. 512 _sq._\n\n[62.3] \u201cCorc means croppy or cropped: in this instance the name refers\nto the bearer\u2019s ears, and the verb used as to the action of his\nbrother maiming him is _ro-chorc_.\u201d\n\n[63.1] (Sir) John Rh\u0177s, _Celtic Heathendom_ (London and Edinburgh,\n1888), pp. 308 _sq._, referring to the _Book of the Dun_, 54_a_.\n\n[64.1] _Laws of Manu_, viii. 371 _sq._, translated by G. B\u00fchler, pp.\n318 _sq._ (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. xxv.). Compare _Gautama_,\nxxiii. 14 _sq._, translated by G. B\u00fchler, p. 285 (_Sacred Books of\nthe East_, vol. ii.).\n\n[64.2] _Code of Hammurabi_, \u00a7\u00a7 129, 157, C. H. W. Johns, _Babylonian\nand Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters_ (Edinburgh, 1904), pp. 54,\n56; Robert W. Rogers, _Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament_\n(Oxford, preface dated 1911), pp. 427, 434.\n\n[64.3] Deuteronomy xxii. 22.\n\n[64.4] Deuteronomy xxii. 20 _sq._\n\n[64.5] Leviticus xxi. 9.\n\n[64.6] Leviticus xx. 14.\n\n[65.1] Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 261 _sq._\n\n[65.2] Rev. J. Roscoe, _op. cit._ p. 262. As to the totemic clans, see\n_id._ pp. 133 _sqq._ One clan (the Lung-fish clan) was excepted from\nthe rule.\n\n[65.3] Sir Harry Johnston, _The Uganda Protectorate_ (London, 1904),\nii. 719.\n\n[66.1] Sir Harry Johnston, _op. cit._ ii. 746 _sq._\n\n[66.2] A. C. Hollis, _The Nandi_ (Oxford, 1909), p. 76.\n\n[66.3] Werner Munzinger, _Ostafrikanische Studien_ (Schaffhausen,\n1864), p. 243.\n\n[66.4] W. Munzinger, _op. cit._ p. 322. However, the child of an\nunmarried slave woman is brought up; the father pays for its nurture.\n\n[66.5] H. S. Stannus, \u201cNotes on some Tribes of British Central\nAfrica,\u201d _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xl. (1910)\np. 290.\n\n[67.1] Cullen Gouldsbury and Hubert Sheane, _The Great Plateau of\nNorthern Rhodesia_ (London, 1911), p. 57.\n\n[67.2] Peter Kolben, _The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope_,\nSecond Edition (London, 1738), i. 157. For more examples of the death\npenalty inflicted for breaches of sexual morality in Africa, see A. H.\nPost, _Afrikanische Jurisprudenz_ (Olbenburg and Leipsic, 1887), ii.\n69 _sqq._\n\n[68.1] G. J. van Dongen, \u201cDe Koeboes,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land-\nen Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, lxiii. (1910) p. 293.\n\n[68.2] R. van Eck, \u201cSchetsen van het eiland Bali,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor\nNederlandsch Indi\u00eb_, Nieuwe Serie, viii. (1879) pp. 370 _sq._; Julius\nJacobs, _Eenigen Tijd onder de Bali\u00ebrs_ (Batavia, 1883), p. 126.\n\n[68.3] See above, pp. 52 _sq._\n\n[68.4] Hoorweg, \u201cNota bevattende eenige gegevens betreffende het\nlandschap Mamoedjoe,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en\nVolkenkunde_, lxiii. (1911) p. 95.\n\n[68.5] G. A. Wilken, _Verspreide Geschriften_ (The Hague, 1912), ii.\n481.\n\n[69.1] J. S. G. Gramberg, \u201cSchets der Kesam, Semendo, Makakauw en\nBlalauw,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xv.\n(1866) pp. 456-458. Compare G. G. Batten, _Glimpses of the Eastern\nArchipelago_ (Singapore, 1894), pp. 105 _sq._\n\n[69.2] G. A. Wilken, _Verspreide Geschriften_, ii. 481 _sq._\n\n[69.3] Franz Junghuhn, _Die Battal\u00e4nder auf Sumatra_ (Berlin, 1847),\nii. 147, 156 _sq._\n\n[70.1] A. R. Wallace, _The Malay Archipelago_, Sixth Edition (London,\n1877), pp. 173 _sq._\n\n[71.1] See above, pp. 46-54.\n\n[72.1] James Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_ (Melbourne, Sydney, and\nAdelaide, 1881), p. 28.\n\n[73.1] A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_ (London,\n1904), pp. 222-224.\n\n[74.1] Walter E. Roth, _Ethnological Studies among the\nNorth-West-Central Queensland Aborigines_ (Brisbane and London, 1897),\np. 181.\n\n[74.2] A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, pp. 264,\n266.\n\n[74.3] A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, pp. 246\n_sq._\n\n[74.4] Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, \u201cThe Marriage Laws and some Customs of the\nWest Australian Aborigines,\u201d _Victorian Geographical Journal_,\nxxiii.-xxiv. (1905-1906) p. 42. The statement in the text was made by\na settler who had lived in the Tableland district, inland from\nRoeburne, for twenty years.\n\n[75.1] A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. 208.\nSimilarly among tribes on the Hunter River \u201ca man is not permitted to\nspeak to his wife\u2019s mother, but can do so through a third party. In\nformer days it was death to speak to her, but now a man doing so is\nonly severely reprimanded and has to leave the camp for a certain\ntime\u201d (A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 267).\n\n[75.2] See for example (Sir) E. B. Tylor, \u201cOn a method of\ninvestigating the Development of Institutions,\u201d _Journal of the\nAnthropological Institute_, xviii. (1889) pp. 246-248; Salomon\nReinach, \u201cLe Gendre et la Belle-M\u00e8re,\u201d _L\u2019Anthropologie_, xxii.\n(1911) pp. 649-662; _id._, _Cultes, Mythes et Religions_, iv. (Paris,\n1912) pp. 130-147.\n\n[75.3] In _Totemism and Exogamy_ (Index, _s.vv._ \u201cAvoidance\u201d and\n\u201cMother-in-law\u201d) will be found a collection of examples. In what\nfollows I abstain for the most part from citing instances which have\nbeen adduced by me before.\n\n[76.1] Rev. John H. Weeks, _Among Congo Cannibals_ (London, 1913), pp.\n133 _sq._ Compare _id._, \u201cAnthropological Notes on the Bangala of the\nUpper Congo,\u201d _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xl.\n(1910) pp. 367 _sq._\n\n[77.1] Father M. A. Condon, \u201cContribution to the Ethnography of the\nBasoga-Batamba, Uganda Protectorate,\u201d _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp. 377\n_sq._\n\n[78.1] C. W. Hobley, _Ethnology of A-Kamba and other East African\nTribes_ (Cambridge, 1910), pp. 103, 104.\n\n[78.2] Father Eugene Hurel, \u201cReligion et vie domestique des Bakerewe,\u201d\n_Anthropos_, vi. (1911) p. 287.\n\n[79.1] Father Picarda, \u201cAutour du Mandera, Notes sur l\u2019Ouzigoua,\nl\u2019Oukw\u00e9r\u00e9 et l\u2019Oudo\u00e9 (Zanquebar),\u201d _Les Missions Catholiques_,\nxviii. (1886) p. 286.\n\n[79.2] H. S. Stannus, \u201cNotes on Some Tribes of British Central\nAfrica,\u201d _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xl. (1910)\np. 307.\n\n[79.3] H. S. Stannus, _op. cit._ p. 309.\n\n[79.4] Cullen Gouldsbury and Hubert Sheane, _The Great Plateau of\nNorthern Rhodesia_ (London, 1911), p. 259.\n\n[79.5] \u201cThe Angoni-Zulus,\u201d _British Central Africa Gazette_, No. 86,\nApril 30th, 1898, p. 2.\n\n[80.1] Henri A. Junod, _Les Ba-Ronga_ (Neuch\u00e2tel, 1898), pp. 79\n_sq._; _id._, _The Life of a South African Tribe_ (Neuchatel,\n1912-1913), i. 230-232.\n\n[80.2] Henri A. Junod, _The Life of a South African Tribe_, i. 239.\n\n[81.1] Hermann T\u00f6njes, _Ovamboland, Land, Leute, Mission_ (Berlin,\n1911), p. 133.\n\n[81.2] A. C. Hollis, \u201cA Note on the Masai System of Relationship and\nother Matters connected therewith,\u201d _Journal of the Royal\nAnthropological Institute_, xl. (1910) p. 481.\n\n[81.3] Werner Munzinger, _Sitten und Recht der Bogos_ (Winterthur,\n1859), p. 63.\n\n[81.4] G. Casati, _Ten Years in Equatoria_ (London and New York,\n1891), i. 69.\n\n[81.5] _Travels of an Arab Merchant_ [_Mohammed Ibn Omar El-Tounsy_]\n_in Soudan_, abridged from the French by Bayle St. John (London,\n1854), pp. 97 _sq._\n\n[82.1] J. Kreemer, \u201cDe Loeboes in Mandailing,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal-\nLand- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, lxvi. (1912) p. 324.\n\n[82.2] Stefan Lehner, \u201cBukaua,\u201d in R. Neuhauss\u2019s _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_\n(Berlin, 1911), iii. 426 _sq._\n\n[83.1] J. Baegert, \u201cAn Account of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the\nCalifornian Peninsula,\u201d _Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the\nSmithsonian Institution for the year 1863_, p. 368. This and the\nfollowing American cases have already been cited by me in _Totemism\nand Exogamy_, iv. 314 _sq._\n\n[83.2] Alvar Nu\u00f1ez Cabe\u00e7a de Vaca, _Relation et Naufrages_ (Paris,\n1837), pp. 109 _sq._ (in Ternaux-Compans\u2019 _Voyages, Relations, et\nM\u00e9moires originaux pour servir \u00e0 l\u2019Histoire de la D\u00e9couverte de\nl\u2019Am\u00e9rique_). The original of this work was published in Spanish at\nValladolid in 1555.\n\n[83.3] Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations civilis\u00e9es du\nMexique et de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique-Centrale_ (Paris, 1857-1859), ii. 52 _sq._\n\n[83.4] G. Klemm, _Allgemeine Culturgeschichte der Menschheit_\n(Leipsic, 1843-1852), ii. 77.\n\n[83.5] J. B. du Tertre, _Histoire generale des Isles de S. Christophe,\nde la Guadeloupe, de la Martinique et autres dans l\u2019Amerique_ (Paris,\n1654), p. 419. A similar, but rather briefer, account of the custom is\ngiven by De la Borde, who may have borrowed from Du Tertre. See De la\nBorde, \u201cRelation de l\u2019origine, m\u0153urs, coustumes, r\u00e9ligion, guerres\net voyages des Caraibes, sauvages des Isles Antilles de l\u2019Amerique,\u201d\np. 56 (in _Recueil de divers Voyages faits en Afrique et en l\u2019Amerique\nqui n\u2019ont pas est\u00e9 encore publiez_, Paris, 1684).\n\n[84.1] Edmond Reuel Smith, _The Araucanians_ (London, 1855), p. 217.\n\n[84.2] We have met with a custom of avoidance between father and\ndaughter among the Akamba (above, p. 78). For more examples see\n_Totemism and Exogamy_, Index, _s.v._ \u201cAvoidance,\u201d vol. iv. p. 326.\n\n[85.1] Among those who incline more or less definitely to accept this\nview are the late Dr. A. W. Howitt (\u201cNotes on some Australian Class\nSystems,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xii. (1883) pp.\n502 _sq._), Dr. R. H. Codrington (see below, p. 86), M. Joustra (see\nbelow, p. 85), and the Rev. J. H. Weeks (see above, p. 76). Three of\nthese writers are experienced missionaries who are only concerned to\nrecord the facts, and have no theories to maintain.\n\n[85.2] _Totemism and Exogamy_, ii. 188 _sq._ The authority for these\nstatements is M. Joustra, \u201cHet leven, de zeden en gewoonten der\nBataks,\u201d _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche\nZendelinggenootschap_, xlvi. (1902) pp. 391 _sq._\n\n[86.1] R. H. Codrington, D.D., _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), p.\n232.\n\n[87.1] R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 43.\n\n[88.1] Max Girschner, \u201cDie Karolineninsel N\u00e1m\u014dluk und ihre\nBewohner,\u201d _Baessler-Archiv_, ii. (1912) p. 164.\n\n[90.1] P. G. Peckel, \u201cDie Verwandtschaftsnamen des mittleren\nNeumecklenburg,\u201d _Anthropos_, iii. (1908) pp. 467, 470 _sq._\n\n[90.2] P. G. Peckel, _op. cit._ pp. 463, 467.\n\n[90.3] Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 128 _sq._,\n131; Sir Harry Johnston, _The Uganda Protectorate_ (London, 1904), ii.\n695. The latter writer says generally: \u201cCousins cannot enter the same\nhouse, and must not eat out of the same dish. A man cannot marry his\ncousin.\u201d But from Mr. Roscoe\u2019s researches it appears that a man has\nonly to avoid certain cousins, called _kizibwewe_, that is, the\ndaughters either of his father\u2019s sisters or of his mother\u2019s brothers.\n\n[91.1] Rev. J. Roscoe, _op. cit._ p. 129. Among the women with whom\nman was forbidden to have sexual relations under pain of death were\n(besides his cousins mentioned above) his father\u2019s sister, his\ndaughter, and his wife\u2019s sister\u2019s daughter. See J. Roscoe, _op. cit._\npp. 131, 132. The reason alleged for avoiding a mother-in-law, namely,\nbecause a man has seen her daughter\u2019s nakedness (compare above, p. 76)\nis probably a later misinterpretation of the custom.\n\n[91.2] G. McCall Theal, _Records of South-Eastern Africa_, vii. (1901)\npp. 431, 432. The writer adds: \u201cAmong the tribes within the Cape\nColony at the present time the differences are as follows:--\n\n\u201cXosas, Tembus, and Pondos: marry no relative by blood, however\ndistant, on either father\u2019s or mother\u2019s side.\n\n\u201cHlubis and others commonly called Fingos: may marry the daughter of\nmother\u2019s brother and other relatives on that side, but not on father\u2019s\nside.\n\n\u201cBasuto, Batlaro, Batlapin, and Barolong: very frequently marry\ncousins on father\u2019s side, and know of no restrictions beyond actual\nsisters.\u201d\n\n[92.1] Henri A. Junod, _The Life of a South African Tribe_ (Neuchatel,\n1912-1913), i. 243-245. As to the rules concerning the marriage of\ncousins in this tribe, see _id._ i. 241 _sq._\n\n[92.2] Heinrich Claus, _Die Wagogo_ (Leipsic and Berlin, 1911), p. 58.\n\n[93.1] C. W. Hobley, \u201cKikuyu Customs and Beliefs,\u201d _Journal of the\nRoyal Anthropological Institute_, xl. (1910) p. 438.\n\n[94.1] See above, pp. 78 _sq._, 81.\n\n[94.2] See above, pp. 80, 81, 84.\n\n[94.3] See above, p. 81.\n\n[94.4] See above, pp. 44 _sqq._\n\n[94.5] See below, pp. 102 _sqq._\n\n[95.1] On the question of the effect of inbreeding see _Totemism and\nExogamy_, iv. 160 _sqq._\n\n[95.2] A. H. Huth, _The Marriage of Near Kin considered with respect\nto the Laws of Nations, the Results of Experience, and the Teachings\nof Biology_, Second Edition (London, 1887).\n\n[96.1] J. Arthur Thomson, article \u201cConsanguinity,\u201d in Dr. James\nHastings\u2019s _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_, iv. (Edinburgh,\n1911) p. 30.\n\n[96.2] Andr\u00e9 Thevet, _La Cosmographie Universelle_ (Paris, 1575), ii.\n933 [967].\n\n[97.1] Father P. Schumacher, \u201cDas Eherecht in Ruanda,\u201d _Anthropos_,\nvii. (1912) p. 4.\n\n[97.2] H. H. Milman, _History of Latin Christianity_, New Impression\n(London, 1903), ii. 54.\n\n[97.3] These particulars as to the Slavonic peoples of the Balkan\npeninsula I take from a letter with which Miss M. Edith Durham, one of\nour best authorities on these races, was so good as to favour me. Her\nletter is dated 116a King Henry\u2019s Road, London, N.W., October 16th,\n1909. The stoning of the betrothed couple near Cattaro is recorded, so\nMiss Durham tells me, in a Servian book, _Narodne Pripovjetke i\nPresude_, by Vuk Vrcevi\u0107. For many more examples of the death penalty\nand other severe punishments inflicted for sexual offences, see E.\nWestermarck, _The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas_ (London,\n1906-1908), ii. 366 _sqq._, 425 _sqq._\n\n[98.1] F. S. Krauss, _Sitte und Brauch der S\u00fcdslaven_ (Vienna, 1885),\npp. 209, 216, 217. Compare F. Demeli\u0107, _Le Droit Coutumier des Slaves\nM\u00e9ridionaux_ (Paris, 1876), p. 76.\n\n[98.2] F. S. Krauss, _op. cit._ pp. 208-212, citing as his authority\nVuk Vr\u010devi\u0107, _Niz srpskih pripovijedaka_, pp. 129-137.\n\n[98.3] F. S. Krauss, _Sitte und Brauch der S\u00fcdslaven_, p. 204.\n\n[99.1] For examples of the attempt to multiply edible plants in this\nfashion, see _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 97 _sqq._\nThe reported examples of similar attempts to assist the multiplication\nof animals seem to be rarer. For some instances see George Catlin,\n_O-Kee-Pa, a Religious Ceremony and other Customs of the Mandans_\n(London, 1867), Folium Reservatum, pp. i.-iii. (multiplication of\nbuffaloes); _History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains\nLewis and Clark to the Sources of the Missouri_ (London, 1905), i. 209\n_sq._ (multiplication or attraction of buffaloes); Maximilian Prinz zu\nWied, _Reise in das innere Nord-America_ (Coblentz, 1839-1841), ii.\n181, 263-267 (multiplication or attraction of buffaloes); _Reports of\nthe Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, v. (1904)\np. 271 (multiplication of turtles); J. Roscoe, \u201cFurther Notes on the\nManners and Customs of the Baganda,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological\nInstitute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 53; _id._, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911),\np. 144 (multiplication of edible green locusts); S. Gason, in _Journal\nof the Anthropological Institute_, xxiv. (1895) p. 174 (multiplication\nof edible rats); _id._, \u201cThe Dieyerie Tribe,\u201d in _Native Tribes of\nSouth Australia_ (Adelaide, 1879), p. 280 (multiplication of dogs and\nsnakes).\n\n[100.1] I have given my reasons for thinking so elsewhere (_The Magic\nArt and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 220 _sqq._).\n\n[103.1] Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), p. 262.\n\n[103.2] Rev. J. Roscoe, _op. cit._ p. 55. Compare _id._, \u201cFurther\nNotes on the Manners and Customs of the Baganda,\u201d _Journal of the\nAnthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 39.\n\n[103.3] Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_, p. 262.\n\n[103.4] Rev. J. Roscoe, _op. cit._ pp. 72, 102.\n\n[104.1] Cullen Gouldsbury and Hubert Sheane, _The Great Plateau of\nNorthern Rhodesia_ (London, 1911), pp. 57, 178.\n\n[104.2] Henri A. Junod, \u201cLes Conceptions Physiologiques des Bantou\nSud-Africains et leurs Tabous,\u201d _Revue d\u2019Ethnographie et de\nSociologie_, i. (1910) p. 150; _id._, _The Life of a South African\nTribe_ (Neuchatel, 1912-1913), i. 38 _sq._\n\n[105.1] Henri A. Junod, \u201cLes Conceptions Physiologiques des Bantous\nSud-Africains et leurs Tabous,\u201d _Revue d\u2019Ethnographie et de\nSociologie_, i. (1910) p. 150; _id._, _The Life of a South African\nTribe_, i. 194 _sq._\n\n[105.2] C. W. Hobley, \u201cKikuyu Customs and Beliefs,\u201d _Journal of the\nRoyal Anthropological Institute_, xl. (1910) p. 433. A similar state\nof ceremonial pollution (_thahu_) is supposed by the Akikuyu to arise\non many other occasions, which are enumerated by Mr. Hobley (_op.\ncit._ pp. 428-440). See further below, p. 115, note 5.\n\n[105.3] H. S. Stannus, \u201cNotes on some Tribes of British Central\nAfrica,\u201d _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xl. (1910)\np. 305. Compare R. C. F. Maugham, _Zambezia_ (London, 1910), p. 326.\n\n[105.4] Max Weiss, _Die V\u00f6lkerst\u00e4mme im Norden Deutsch-Ostafrikas_\n(Berlin, 1910), p. 385.\n\n[105.5] C. W. Hobley, _Ethnology of A-Kamba and other East African\nTribes_ (Cambridge, 1910), p. 61.\n\n[106.1] C. W. Hobley, _op. cit._ p. 103.\n\n[106.2] A. Karasek, \u201cBeitr\u00e4ge zur Kenntniss der Waschambaa,\u201d\n_Baessler-Archiv_, i. (1911) p. 186.\n\n[106.3] P. Reichard, _Deutsch Ostafrika_ (Leipsic, 1892), p. 427; H.\nCole, \u201cNotes on the Wagogo of German East Africa,\u201d _Journal of the\nAnthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) pp. 318 _sq._; A. D\u2019Orbigny,\n_Voyage dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique m\u00e9ridionale_, iii. Part i. (Paris and\nStrasburg, 1844) p. 226; Ivan Petroff, _Report on the Population,\nIndustries, and Resources of Alaska_, p. 155.\n\n[106.4] C. Lumholtz, _Unknown Mexico_ (London, 1903), ii. 128 _sq._\n\n[106.5] De Flacourt, _Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar_ (Paris,\n1658), pp. 97 _sq._ Compare John Struys, _Voiages and Travels_\n(London, 1684), p. 22; Abb\u00e9 Rochon, _Voyage to Madagascar and the\nEast Indies_, translated from the French (London, 1792), pp. 46 _sq._\n\n[107.1] Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 352, 362,\n363, _sq._\n\n[107.2] Rev. John H. Weeks, \u201cAnthropological Notes on the Bangala of\nthe Upper Congo River,\u201d _Journal of the Royal Anthropological\nInstitute_, xl. (1910) p. 413; _id._, _Among Congo Cannibals_ (London,\n1913), p. 224.\n\n[107.3] J. R. Swanton, \u201cContributions to the Ethnology of the Haida,\u201d\np. 56 (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American\nMuseum of Natural History_, vol. v. Part i., Leyden and New York,\n1905).\n\n[107.4] 2 Samuel xi.\n\n[108.1] \u201cMr. Farewell\u2019s Account of Chaka, the King of Natal,\u201d Appendix\nto W. F. W. Owen\u2019s _Narrative of Voyages to explore the Shores of\nAfrica, Arabia, and Madagascar_ (London, 1833), ii. 395.\n\n[108.2] L. Alberti, _De Kaffers_ (Amsterdam, 1810), p. 171.\n\n[108.3] C. Wunenberger, \u201cLa Mission et le Royaume de Humb\u00e9, sur les\nbords du Cun\u00e8ne,\u201d _Les Missions Catholiques_, xx. (1888), p. 262.\n\n[108.4] J. B. Labat, _Relation historique de l\u2019\u00c9thiopie occidentale_\n(Paris, 1732), i. 259 _sq._\n\n[109.1] Proyart, \u201cHistory of Loango, Kakongo, and other Kingdoms in\nAfrica,\u201d in J. Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_ (London, 1808-1814),\nxvi. 569.\n\n[109.2] J. Kreemer, \u201cDe Loeboes in Mandailing,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de\nTaal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, lxvi. (1912) p.\n323.\n\n[109.3] _P._ Rascher, M.S.C., \u201cDie Sulka, ein Beitrag zur Ethnographie\nNeu-Pommern,\u201d _Archiv f\u00fcr Anthropologie_, xxix. (1904) p. 211; R.\nParkinson, _Dreissig Jahre in der S\u00fcdsee_ (Stuttgart, 1907), pp. 179\n_sq._ In the East Indian island of Buru a man\u2019s death is sometimes\nsupposed to be due to the adultery of his wife; but apparently the\nnotion is that the death is brought about rather by the evil magic of\nthe adulterer than by the act of adultery itself. See J. H. W. van der\nMiesen, \u201cEen en ander over Boeroe, inzonderheit wat betreft het\ndistrikt Waisama, gelegen aan de Z.O. Kust,\u201d _Mededeelingen van wege\nhet Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap_, xlvi. (1902) pp. 451-454.\n\n[110.1] P. A. Talbot, \u201cThe Buduma of Lake Chad,\u201d _Journal of the Royal\nAnthropological Institute_, xli. (1911) p. 247.\n\n\n\n\n Chapter V Notes\n\n[112.1] Humboldt, _Voyage aux R\u00e9gions Equinoxiales_, viii. 273.\n\n[113.1] Alcide d\u2019Orbigny, _Voyage dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique M\u00e9ridionale_, ii.\n(Paris and Strasburg, 1839-1843) pp. 99 _sq._ As to the thieving\npropensities of the Patagonians, the author tells us that \u201cthey do not\nsteal among themselves, it is true; but their parents, from their\ntender infancy, teach them to consider theft from the enemy as the\nbase of their education, as an accomplishment indispensable for every\none who would succeed in life, as a thing ordained by the Evil Spirit,\nso much so that when they are reproached for a theft, they always say\nthat Achekenat-Kanet commanded them so to do\u201d (_op. cit._ p. 104).\nAchekenat-Kanet is the supernatural being who, under various names, is\nrevered or dreaded by all the Indian tribes of Patagonia. Sometimes he\nappears as a good and sometimes as a bad spirit. See A. d\u2019Orbigny,\n_op. cit._ ii. 87.\n\n[114.1] Plato, _Laws_, ix. 8, pp. 865 d-866 a; Demosthenes, xxiii. pp.\n643 _sq._; Hesychius, _s.v._ \u1f00\u03c0\u03b5\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u03cc\u03c2.\n\n[114.2] Aeschylus, _Cho\u00ebphor._ 1021 _sqq._, _Eumenides_, 85 _sqq._;\nEuripides, _Iphig. in Taur._ 940 _sqq._; Pausanias, ii. 31. 8, viii.\n34. 1-4.\n\n[114.3] Demosthenes, xxiii. pp. 643 _sq._\n\n[114.4] Demosthenes, xxiii. pp. 645 _sq._; Aristotle, _Constitution of\nAthens_, 57; Pausanias, i. 28. 11; Pollux, viii. 120; Helladius,\nquoted by Photius, _Bibliotheca_, p. 535 a, lines 28 _sqq._ ed. I.\nBekker (Berlin, 1824).\n\n[115.1] Plato, _Laws_, ix. 8, p. 866 C D.\n\n[115.2] Polybius, iv. 17-21.\n\n[115.3] Plutarch, _Praecept. ger. reipub._ xvii. 9.\n\n[115.4] Pausanias, ii. 31. 8.\n\n[115.5] C. W. Hobley, \u201cKikuyu Customs and Beliefs,\u201d _Journal of the\nRoyal Anthropological Institute_, xl. (1910) p. 431. The nature of the\nceremonial pollution (_thahu_) thus incurred is explained by Mr.\nHobley (_op. cit._ p. 428) as follows: \u201c_Thahu_, sometimes called\n_ngahu_, is the word used for a condition into which a person is\nbelieved to fall if he or she accidentally becomes the victim of\ncertain circumstances or intentionally performs certain acts which\ncarry with them a kind of ill luck or curse. A person who is _thahu_\nbecomes emaciated and ill or breaks out into eruptions or boils, and\nif the _thahu_ is not removed will probably die. In many cases this\nundoubtedly happens by the process of auto-suggestion, as it never\noccurs to the Kikuyu mind to be sceptical on a matter of this kind. It\nis said that the _thahu_ condition is caused by the _ngoma_ or spirits\nof departed ancestors, but the process does not seem to have been\nanalysed any further.\u201d See also above, pp. 93, 105.\n\n[116.1] Aeschylus, _Eumenides_, 280 _sqq._, 448 _sqq._; _id._, quoted\nby Eustathius on Homer, _Iliad_, xix. 254, p. 1183, \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c4\u03ae\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f10\u03b4\u03cc\u03ba\u03b5\u03b9\n\u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03c1\u03bc\u1f78\u03bd \u1f41 \u03c3\u1fe6\u03c2, \u1f61\u03c2 \u03b4\u03b7\u03bb\u03bf\u1fd6 \u0391\u1f30\u03c3\u03c7\u03cd\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1ff7, \u03c0\u03c1\u1f76\u03bd \u1f02\u03bd \u03c0\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03b3\u03bc\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2\n\u03b1\u1f35\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c7\u03bf\u03b9\u03c1\u03bf\u03ba\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2 \u03c3\u03b5 \u03c7\u03c1\u1fb6\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u0396\u03b5\u1f7a\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03ac\u03be\u03b1\u03c2 \u03c7\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u1fd6\u03bd; Apollonius\nRhodius, _Argonaut._ iv. 703-717, with the notes of the scholiast.\nPurifications of this sort are represented in Greek art. See my note\non Pausanias ii. 31. 8 (vol. iii. pp. 276 _sqq._).\n\n[116.2] Lieutenant Thomas Shaw, \u201cThe Inhabitants of the Hills near\nRajamahall,\u201d _Asiatic Researches_, Fourth Edition, iv. (London, 1807)\np. 78, compare p. 77.\n\n[116.3] See above, pp. 44 _sqq._\n\n[116.4] Missionary Autenrieth, \u201cZur Religion der Kamerun-Neger,\u201d\n_Mitteilungen der geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xii. (1893)\npp. 93 _sq._\n\n[117.1] V. Solomon, \u201cExtracts from Diaries kept in Car Nicobar,\u201d\n_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 227.\n\n[117.2] See my note on Pausanias, ii. 31. 8 (vol. iii. pp. 276\n_sqq._).\n\n[117.3] This was the view of C. Meiners (_Geschichte der Religionen_,\nHanover, 1806-1807, ii. 137 _sq._), and of E. Rohde (_Psyche_3,\nT\u00fcbingen and Leipsic, 1903, ii. 77 _sq._).\n\n[117.4] \u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03af\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b4\u1fbd \u1f04\u03bb\u03bb\u03c9\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f35\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9 \u03bc\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9 \u03bf\u1f36\u03bf\u03bd \u03b5\u1f34 \u03c4\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b7\u03bb\u1f78\u03bd\n\u1f10\u03bc\u03b2\u1f70\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b7\u03bb\u1ff7 \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd\u03af\u03b6\u03bf\u03b9\u03c4\u03bf, Heraclitus, in H. Diels\u2019s _Die Fragmente der\nVorsokratiker_, Zweite Auflage, i. (Berlin, 1906) p. 62.\n\n[117.5] Pausanias, viii. 34. 3.\n\n[118.1] Rev. J. H. Bernau, _Missionary Labours in British Guiana_\n(London, 1847), pp. 57 _sq._; R. Schomburgk, _Reisen in\nBritisch-Guiana_ (Leipsic, 1847-1848), ii. 497.\n\n[118.2] J. Dumont D\u2019Urville, _Voyage autour du monde et \u00e0 la\nrecherche de la P\u00e9rouse_ (Paris, 1832-1833), iii. 305.\n\n[118.3] John Bradbury, _Travels in the Interior of America_\n(Liverpool, 1817), p. 160.\n\n[118.4] Pomponius Mela, _Chorogr._ ii. 12, p. 35, ed. G. Parthey\n(Berlin, 1867).\n\n[118.5] A. C. Hollis, _The Nandi_ (Oxford, 1909), p. 27.\n\n[119.1] Major A. G. Leonard, _The Lower Niger and its Tribes_ (London,\n1906), pp. 180, 181 _sq._\n\n[119.2] Mrs. Leslie Milne, _Shans at Home_ (London, 1910), p. 192.\nAmong the Shans \u201cin a case of capital punishment more than one\nexecutioner assisted, and each tried to avoid giving the fatal blow,\nso that the sin of killing the culprit should fall upon several, each\nbearing a part. The unfortunate man was killed by reason of repeated\nsword cuts, no one of which was sufficient to kill him, and died\nrather from loss of blood than from one fatal blow\u201d (Mrs. Leslie\nMilne, _op. cit._ pp. 191 _sq._). Perhaps each executioner feared to\nbe haunted by his victim\u2019s ghost if he actually despatched him.\n\n[119.3] Vincenzo Dorsa, _La Tradizione greco-latina negli usi e nelle\ncredenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore_ (Cosenza, 1884), p. 138.\n\n[119.4] J. Liorel, _Kabylie du Jurjura_ (Paris, N.D.), p. 441.\n\n[120.1] Lieut.-Colonel J. Shakespear, \u201cThe Kuki-Lushai clans,\u201d\n_Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xxxix. (1909) p.\n380; _id._, _The Lushei Kuki Clans_ (London, 1912), pp. 78 _sq._\n\n[120.2] J. H. West Sheane, \u201cWemba Warpaths,\u201d _Journal of the African\nSociety_, No. 41 (October, 1911), pp. 31 _sq._\n\n[120.3] _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 165 _sqq._\n\n[120.4] Rev. E. Casalis, _The Basutos_ (London, 1861), p. 258.\n\n[121.1] Father Porte, \u201cLes R\u00e9miniscences d\u2019un missionnaire du\nBasutoland,\u201d _Les Missions catholiques_, xxviii. (1896) p. 371.\n\n[122.1] _Psanyi_ is half-digested grass found in the stomachs of\nsacrificed goats (H. A. Junod, _The Life of a South African Tribe_,\nii. 569).\n\n[122.2] Henri A. Junod, _The Life of a South African Tribe_\n(Neuch\u00e2tel, 1912-1913), i. 453-455. I have omitted some of the Thonga\nwords which Mr. Junod inserts in the text.\n\n[123.1] N. Adriani en Alb. C. Kruijt, _De Bare\u2019e-sprekende Toradja\u2019s\nvan Midden-Celebes_, i. (Batavia, 1912) p. 239.\n\n[123.2] Sir H. Johnston, _The Uganda Protectorate_ (London, 1902), ii.\n743 _sq._; C. W. Hobley, _Eastern Uganda_ (London, 1902), p. 20.\n\n[123.3] Extract from a type-written account of the tribes of Mount\nElgon, by the Hon. Kenneth R. Dundas, which the author kindly sent to\nme.\n\n[123.4] Sir H. Johnston, _op. cit._ ii. 794; C. W. Hobley, _op. cit._\np. 31.\n\n[123.5] Pausanias, viii. 34. 3; compare Strabo, xii. 2. 3, p. 535.\n\n[124.1] E. Torday and T. A. Joyce, \u201cNotes on the Ethnography of the\nBa-Yaka,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxvi. (1906)\npp. 50 _sq._\n\n[124.2] J. G. Frazer, \u201cFolk-lore in the Old Testament,\u201d in\n_Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. Tylor_ (Oxford, 1907), p.\n108.\n\n[124.3] \u201cRelation des Natchez,\u201d _Recueil de Voyages au Nord_, ix. 24\n(Amsterdam, 1737); _Lettres \u00e9difiantes et curieuses_, Nouvelle\n\u00c9dition, vii. (Paris, 1781) p. 26; Charlevoix, _Histoire de la\nNouvelle France_ (Paris, 1744), vi. 186 _sq._\n\n[125.1] Ch. Keysser, \u201cAus dem Leben der Kaileute,\u201d in R. Neuhauss\u2019s\n_Deutsch Neu-Guinea_ (Berlin, 1911), iii. 147 _sq._\n\n[125.2] Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 132.\n\n[126.1] R. E. Guise, \u201cOn the Tribes inhabiting the mouth of the\nWanigela River, New Guinea,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological\nInstitute_, xxviii. (1899) pp. 213 _sq._\n\n[126.2] Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, \u201cOmaha Sociology,\u201d _Third Annual Report\nof the Bureau of Ethnology_ (Washington, 1884), p. 369.\n\n[127.1] Franz Boas, _Chinook Texts_ (Washington, 1894), p. 258.\n\n[128.1] K. Vetter, \u201c\u00dcber papuanische Rechtsverh\u00e4ltnisse, wie solche\nnamentlich bei den Jabim beobachtet wurden,\u201d _Nachrichten \u00fcber Kaiser\nWilhelms-Land und den Bismarck-Archipel_, 1897, p. 99; B. Hagen,\n_Unter den Papuas_ (Wiesbaden, 1899), p. 254.\n\n[128.2] Rev. J. H. Weeks, _Among Congo Cannibals_ (London, 1913), p.\n268; compare _id._, \u201cAnthropological Notes on the Bangala of the Upper\nCongo River,\u201d _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xl.\n(1910) p. 373.\n\n[129.1] C. W. Hobley, \u201cKikuyu Customs and Beliefs,\u201d _Journal of the\nRoyal Anthropological Intitute_, xl. (1910) pp. 438 _sq._ As to the\nsanctity of the fig-tree (_mugumu_) among the Akikuyu, see Mervyn W.\nH. Beech, \u201cThe sacred fig-tree of the A-kikuyu of East Africa,\u201d _Man_,\nxiii. (1913) pp. 4-6. Mr. Beech traces the reverence for the tree to\nthe white milky sap which exudes from it when an incision is made in\nthe bark. This appears to have suggested to the savages the idea that\nthe tree is a great source of fertility to men and women, to cattle,\nsheep, and goats.\n\n[129.2] N. Adriani en Alb. C. Kruijt, _De Bare\u2019e-sprekende Toradja\u2019s\nvan Midden-Celebes_, i. (Batavia, 1912) pp. 285, 290 _sq._ In recent\nyears the wars between the tribes have been suppressed by the Dutch\nGovernment.\n\n[130.1] Compare _The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the\nDead_, i. (London, 1913) pp. 136 _sq._, 278 _sq._, 468 _sq._\n\n[130.2] Rev. E. B. Cross, \u201cOn the Karens,\u201d _Journal of the American\nOriental Society_, iv. No. 2 (New York, 1854), pp. 312 _sq._\n\n[130.3] Bringaud, \u201cLes Karins de la Birmanie,\u201d _Les Missions\ncatholiques_, xx. (1888) p. 208.\n\n[131.1] W. H. Keating, _Narrative of an Expedition to the Sources of\nSt. Peter\u2019s River_ (London, 1825), i. 109, quoting Mr. Barron.\n\n[131.2] Charlevoix, _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_ (Paris, 1744),\nvi. 77, 122 _sq._; J. F. Lafitau, _M\u0153urs des sauvages am\u00e9riquains_\n(Paris, 1724), ii. 279.\n\n[131.3] H. von Rosenberg, _Der malayische Archipel_ (Leipsic, 1878),\np. 461. Compare J. L. van Hasselt, \u201cDie Papuast\u00e4mme an der\nGeelvinkbai (Neuguinea),\u201d _Mitteilungen der geographischen\nGesellschaft zu Jena_, ix. (1891) p. 101.\n\n[131.4] K. Vetter, \u201c\u00dcber papuanische Rechtsverh\u00e4ltnisse,\u201d in\n_Nachrichten \u00fcber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land und den Bismarck-Archipel_\n(1897), p. 94; B. Hagen, _Unter den Papuas_ (Wiesbaden, 1899), p. 266.\n\n[131.5] Stefan Lehner, \u201cBukaua,\u201d in R. Neuhauss\u2019s _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_\n(Berlin, 1911), iii. 444.\n\n[131.6] George Brown, D.D., _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London,\n1910), pp. 142, 145.\n\n[132.1] John Jackson, in J. E. Erskine\u2019s _Journal of a Cruise among\nthe Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), p. 477.\n\n[132.2] C. Wiese, \u201cBeitr\u00e4ge zur Geschichte der Zulu im Norden des\nZambesi,\u201d _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Ethnologie_, xxxii. (1900) pp. 197 _sq._\n\n[132.3] Rev. Samuel Mateer, _The Land of Charity, a Descriptive\nAccount of Travancore and its People_ (London, 1871), pp. 203 _sq._\n\n[132.4] E. W. Nelson, \u201cThe Eskimo about Bering Strait,\u201d _Eighteenth\nAnnual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part i.\n(Washington, 1899) p. 423.\n\n[133.1] Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, \u201cA Study of Siouan Cults,\u201d _Eleventh\nAnnual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_ (Washington, 1894), p. 420.\n\n[133.2] Dr. P. H. Brincker, \u201cCharacter, Sitten, und Gebr\u00e4uche\nspeciell der Bantu Deutsch-S\u00fcdwestafrikas,\u201d _Mitteilungen des\nSeminars f\u00fcr orientalischen Sprachen zu Berlin_, iii. dritte\nAbteilung (1900), pp. 89 _sq._\n\n[133.3] Rev. R. H. Nassau, _Fetichism in West Africa_ (London, 1904),\np. 220; M. Abeghian, _Der armenische Volksglaube_ (Leipsic, 1899), p.\n11.\n\n[133.4] H. A. Rose, \u201cHindu Birth Observances in the Punjab,\u201d _Journal\nof the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xxxvii. (1907) pp. 225 _sq._\n\n[133.5] G. F. D\u2019 Penha, \u201cSuperstitions and Customs in Salsette,\u201d _The\nIndian Antiquary_, xxviii. (1899) p. 115.\n\n[133.6] _Census of India, 1911_, vol. xiv. _Punjab_, Part I. (Lahore,\n1912) p. 303. As to these perturbed and perturbing spirits in India,\nsee further W. Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern\nIndia_ (Westminster, 1896), i. 269-274. They are called _churel_.\n\n[134.1] E. M. Gordon, _Indian Folk Tales_ (London, 1908), p. 47.\n\n[134.2] Rev. P. Dehon, S.J., \u201cReligion and Customs of the Uraons,\u201d\n_Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, vol. i. No. 9 (Calcutta,\n1906), pp. 139 _sq._\n\n[134.3] Lieut.-Colonel H. W. G. Cole, \u201cThe Lushais,\u201d in _Census of\nIndia, 1911_, vol. iii. _Assam_, Part I. (Shillong, 1912) p. 140.\n\n[135.1] Mrs. Leslie Milne, _Shans at Home_ (London, 1910), p. 96. The\ncustom of carrying the dead out of the house by a special opening,\nwhich is then blocked up to prevent the return of the ghost, has been\nobserved by many peoples in many parts of the world. For examples see\n_The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead_, i. 452 _sqq._\n\n[136.1] Ch. Gilhodes, \u201cNaissance et Enfance chez les Katchins\n(Birmanie),\u201d _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp. 872 _sq._\n\n[136.2] Van Schmidt, \u201cAanteekeningen nopens de zeden, etc., der\nbevolking van de eilanden Saparoea, etc.,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor\nNe\u00earlands Indie_, v. Tweede Deel (Batavia, 1843), pp. 528 _sqq._; G.\nHeijmering, \u201cZeden en gewoonten op het eiland Timor,\u201d _Tijdschrift\nvoor Neerlands Indi\u00eb_, vii. Negende Aflevering (Batavia, 1845), pp.\n278 _sq._, note; B. F. Matthes, _Bijdragen tot de Ethnologie van\nZuid-Celebes_ (The Hague, 1875), p. 97; W. E. Maxwell, \u201cFolk-lore of\nthe Malays,\u201d _Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic\nSociety_, No. 7 (June 1881), p. 28; W. W. Skeat, _Malay Magic_\n(London, 1900), p. 325; J. G. F. Riedel, _De sluik- en kroesharige\nrassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_ (The Hague, 1886), p. 81; B. C. A.\nJ. van Dinter, \u201cEenige geographische en ethnographische aanteekeningen\nbetreffende het eiland Siaoe,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land-\nen Volkenkunde_, xli. (1899) p. 381; A. C. Kruijt, \u201cEenige\nethnografische aanteekeningen omtrent de Toboengkoe en de Tomori,\u201d\n_Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap_, xliv.\n(Rotterdam, 1900) p. 218; _id._, _Het Animisme in den Indischen\nArchipel_ (The Hague, 1906), p. 252; G. A. Wilken, _Handleiding voor\nde vergelijkende Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_ (Leyden, 1893),\np. 559; J. H. Meerwaldt, \u201cGebruiken der Bataks in het maatschappelijk\nleven,\u201d _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche\nZendelineggnootschap_, xlix. (1905) p. 113. The common name for these\ndreaded ghosts is _pontianak_. For a full account of them see A. C.\nKruijt, _Het Animisme in den Indischen Archipel_, pp. 245 _sqq._\n\n[137.1] J. Perham, \u201cSea Dyak Religion,\u201d _Journal of the Straits Branch\nof the Royal Asiatic Society_, No. 14 (Singapore, 1885), pp. 291 _sq._\n\n[137.2] W. W. Skeat and C. O. Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay\nPeninsula_ (London, 1906), ii. 109.\n\n[137.3] T. de Pauly, _Description ethnographique des peuples de la\nRussie_ (St. Petersburg, 1862), _Peuples ouralo-alta\u00efques_, p. 71.\n\n[137.4] A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_ (London,\n1904), p. 474.\n\n[137.5] A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 473.\n\n[137.6] H. Zimmer, _Altindisches Leben_ (Berlin, 1879), p. 402.\n\n[138.1] Rev. Father Julius Jett\u00e9, \u201cOn the Superstitions of the Ten\u2019a\nIndians,\u201d _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) p. 707.\n\n[138.2] T. de Pauly, _Description ethnographique des peuples de la\nRussie_ (St. Petersburg, 1862), _Peuples ouralo-alta\u00efques_, p. 71.\n\n[138.3] (Sir) H. H. Risley, _The Tribes and Castes of Bengal,\nEthnographic Glossary_, ii. (Calcutta, 1891) pp. 75 _sq._ Compare E.\nT. Atkinson, _The Himalayan Districts of the North-Western Provinces\nof India_, ii. (Allahabad, 1884) p. 832; W. Crooke, _Popular Religion\nand Folk-lore of Northern India_ (Westminster, 1896), ii. 57.\n\n[139.1] Rev. G. Whitehead, \u201cNotes on the Chins of Burma,\u201d _Indian\nAntiquary_, xxxvi. (1907) pp. 214 _sq._\n\n[139.2] _Relations des J\u00e9suites_, 1639, p. 44 (Canadian reprint,\nQuebec, 1858).\n\n[140.1] Rev. Peter Jones, _History of the Ojebway Indians_ (London,\nN.D.), pp. 99 _sq._\n\n[141.1] \u201cSitten und Gebr\u00e4uche der Lengua-Indianer, nach\nMissionsberichten von G. Kurze,\u201d _Mitteilungen der geographischen\nGesellschaft zu Jena_, xxiii. (1905) pp. 17 _sq._, 19 _sq._, 21 _sq._\nThe Cross River natives of Southern Nigeria, like the Lengua Indians,\ncut off the diseased members of a corpse, in the belief that if they\ndid not do so the person would suffer from the same disease at his\nnext reincarnation. See Charles Partridge, _Cross River Natives_\n(London, 1905), pp. 238 _sq._\n\n[142.1] Charles A. Sherring, _Western Tibet and the British\nBorderland_ (London, 1906), pp. 127-132.\n\n[142.2] Lieutenant Herold, \u201cBericht betreffend religi\u00f6se Anschauungen\nund Gebr\u00e4uche der deutschen Ewe-Neger,\u201d _Mitteilungen von\nForschungsreisenden und Gelehrten aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten_,\nv. Heft 4 (Berlin, 1892), p. 155; H. Klose, _Togo unter deutscher\nFlagge_ (Berlin, 1899), p. 274.\n\n[143.1] Franz Boas, in _Sixth Report on the North-Western Tribes of\nCanada_, p. 92 (_Report of the British Association for the Advancement\nof Science_, Leeds, 1890, separate reprint).\n\n[143.2] Franz Boas, in _Tenth Report on the North-Western Tribes of\nCanada_, p. 45 (_Report of the British Association for the Advancement\nof Science_, Ipswich, 1895, separate reprint).\n\n[144.1] Franz Boas, in _Sixth Report on the North-Western Tribes of\nCanada_, pp. 23 _sq._ (_Report of the British Association for the\nAdvancement of Science_, Leeds, 1890, separate reprint).\n\n[144.2] Franz Boas, in _Seventh Report on the North-Western Tribes of\nCanada_, p. 13 (_Report of the British Association for the Advancement\nof Science_, Cardiff, 1891, separate reprint).\n\n[145.1] James Teit, \u201cThe Thompson Indians of British Columbia,\u201d pp.\n332 _sq._ (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American\nMuseum of Natural History_, April, 1900).\n\n[146.1] James Teit, \u201cThe Lillooet Indians\u201d (Leyden and New York,\n1906), p. 271 (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the\nAmerican Museum of Natural History_).\n\n[147.1] Franz Boas, in _Fifth Report on the North-Western Tribes of\nCanada_, pp. 43 _sq._ (_Report of the British Association for the\nAdvancement of Science_, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1889, separate reprint).\n\n[148.1] Father Guis (de la Congr\u00e9gation du Sacr\u00e9-C\u0153ur d\u2019Issoudun,\nMissionnaire en Nouvelle-Guin\u00e9e), \u201cLes Canaques, mort-deuil,\u201d _Les\nMissions catholiques_, xxxiv. (Lyons, 1902) pp. 208 _sq._\n\n[149.1] Elsewhere I have illustrated the fear of the dead as it is\ndisplayed in funeral customs (\u201cOn certain Burial Customs as\nillustrative of the Primitive Theory of the Soul,\u201d _Journal of the\nAnthropological Institute_, xv. (1886) pp. 64 _sqq._).\n\n[150.1] J. J. M. de Groot, _The Religious System of China_, iv.\n(Leyden, 1901) pp. 436 _sqq._, especially pp. 450, 464.\n\n[150.2] J. J. M. de Groot, _The Religious System of China_, iv. 450\n_sq._\n\n[151.1] J. J. M. de Groot, _The Religious System of China_, iv.\n457-460.\n\n[151.2] The Greek orator Antiphon observes that the presence of a\nhomicide pollutes the whole city and brings the curse of barrenness on\nthe land (Antiphon, ed. F. Blass, Leipsic, 1871, pp. 13, 15, 30). See\nfurther L. R. Farnell, _The Evolution of Religion_ (London, 1905), pp.\n139 _sqq._\n\n\n\n\n Chapter VI Notes\n\n[156.1] Lucian, _Hermotimus_, 64, \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u1f70 \u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2 \u1f08\u03c1\u03b5\u03bf\u03c0\u03b1\u03b3\u03af\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f78 \u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1,\n\u03bf\u1f33 \u1f10\u03bd \u03bd\u03c5\u03ba\u03c4\u1f76 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c3\u03ba\u03cc\u03c4\u1ff3 \u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03ac\u03b6\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd, \u1f61\u03c2 \u03bc\u1f74 \u1f10\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2 \u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2, \u1f00\u03bb\u03bb\u1fbd \u1f10\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f70\n\u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b1 \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03b2\u03bb\u03ad\u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03b5\u03bd: _id._, _De domo_, 18, \u03b5\u1f30 \u03bc\u1f74 \u03c4\u03cd\u03c7\u03bf\u03b9 \u03c4\u03b9\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u1ff6\u03c2\n\u03c4\u03c5\u03c6\u03bb\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f62\u03bd \u1f22 \u1f10\u03bd \u03bd\u03c5\u03ba\u03c4\u1f76 \u1f65\u03c3\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1 \u1f21 \u1f10\u03be \u1f08\u03c1\u03b5\u03af\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c0\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u1f74 \u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c4\u03bf \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd\n\u1f00\u03ba\u03c1\u03cc\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd.\n\n\n\n\n The Scope of Social Anthropology Notes\n\n[166.1] This happened at Ballyvadlea, in the county of Tipperary, in\nMarch 1895. For details of the evidence given at the trial of the\nmurderers, see \u201cThe \u2018Witch-burning\u2019 at Clonmel,\u201d _Folk-lore_, vi.\n(1895) pp. 373-384.\n\n[166.2] This happened at Norwich in June 1902. See _The People\u2019s\nWeekly Journal for Norfolk_, July 19, 1902, p. 8.\n\n[167.1] I say \u201c_an_ enlightened minority,\u201d because in any large\ncommunity there are always many minorities, and some of them are very\nfar from enlightened. It is possible to be below as well as above the\naverage level of our fellows.\n\n[170.1] E. Renan et M. Berthelot, _Correspondance_ (Paris, 1898), pp.\n75 _sq._\n\n[173.1] J. Boswell, _Life of Samuel Johnson_9 (London, 1822), iv.\n315.\n\n[174.1]\n\n \u201c_In boundless oceans, never to be passed_\n _By navigators uninform\u2019d as they,_\n _Or plough\u2019d perhaps by British bark again._\u201d\n      _The Task_, book i. 629 _sqq._\n\n\n\n\n TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\nPage numbers are given in {curly} brackets.\n\nPlain text version only: endnote markers and sidenotes are given in\n[square] brackets, with the latter prefixed with \u201cSidenote:\u201d.\n\nMinor spelling inconsistencies (_e.g._ blood-covenant/blood covenant,\nchildbed/child-bed, etc.) are preserved.\n\nAlterations to the text:\n\nConvert footnotes to endnotes, relabel note markers (append the\noriginal note number to the page number), and add a corresponding\nentry to the TOC.\n\n[Chapter IV]\n\nChange \u201cThe _Blu- u_ Kayans, another tribe in the interior of Borneo\u201d\nto _Blu-u_.\n\n(\u2018Give me,\u2019 said Cairbre\u2019s druid, that _Corc_ there\u2026) add left single\nquotation mark before _that_.\n\n[Chapter V]\n\n(In China respect for human life _in_ enforced by fear of ghosts.) to\n_is_.\n\n[Endnotes]\n\nFix a few missing periods.\n\n(p. 46, note 3) \u201cTijdschrift van het Nederlandsch _Aaardrijkskundig_\u201d\nto _Aardrijkskundig_.\n\n[End of text]","title":"Psyche's task : $b A discourse concerning the influence of superstition on the growth of institutions","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":79936}