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Title: The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third
Edition, Vol. 08 of 12)

Author: James George Frazer

Release date: March 14, 2013 [eBook #42336]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42336

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN
BOUGH: A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION (THIRD EDITION,
VOL. 08 OF 12) ***

The Golden Bough

A Study in Magic and Religion
By

James George Frazer, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D.
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Liverpool

Vol. VIII. of XII.

Part V: Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild.

Vol. 2 of 2.

New York and London

MacMillan and Co.

1912

Contents

Chapter IX. Ancient Deities of Vegetation as Animals.
§ 1. Dionysus, the Goat and the Bull.
§ 2. Demeter, the Pig and the Horse.
§ 3. Attis, Adonis, and the Pig.
§ 4. Osiris, the Pig and the Bull.
§ 5. Virbius and the Horse.
Chapter X. Eating The God.
§ 1. The Sacrament of First-Fruits.
§ 2. Eating the God among the Aztecs.
§ 3. Many Manii at Aricia.
Chapter XI. The Sacrifice of First-Fruits.
Chapter XII. Homoeopathic Magic of a Flesh Diet.
Chapter XIII. Killing The Divine Animal.
§ 1. Killing the Sacred Buzzard.
§ 2. Killing the Sacred Ram.
§ 3. Killing the Sacred Serpent.
§ 4. Killing the Sacred Turtles.
§ 5. Killing the Sacred Bear.
Chapter XIV. The Propitiation of Wild Animals by Hunters.
Chapter XV. The Propitiation of Vermin by Farmers.
§ 1. The Enemies of the Crops.
§ 2. Mouse Apollo and Wolf Apollo.
Chapter XVI. The Transmigration of Human Souls Into Animals.
Chapter XVII. Types of Animal Sacrament.
§ 1. The Egyptian and the Aino Types of Sacrament.
§ 2. Processions with Sacred Animals.
§ 3. The Rites of Plough Monday.
Note: The Ceremony of the Horse at Rice-Harvest Among The Garos.

Index.
Footnotes

[Transcriber's Note: The above cover image was produced by the submitter
at Distributed Proofreaders, and is being placed into the public domain.]

[pg 001]

Chapter IX. Ancient Deities of Vegetation as
Animals.

§ 1. Dionysus, the Goat and the Bull.

However we may explain it, the fact remains that in peasant folk-lore the
corn-spirit is very commonly conceived and represented in animal form.
May not this fact explain the relation in which certain animals stood to the
f ancient deities of vegetation, Dionysus, Demeter, Adonis, Attis, and Osiris?

To begin with Dionysus. We have seen that he was represented sometimes
as a goat and sometimes as a bull.1 As a goat he can hardly be separated
from the minor divinities, the Pans, Satyrs, and Silenuses, all of whom are
closely associated with him and are represented more or less completely in
the form of goats. Thus, Pan was regularly portrayed in sculpture and
painting with the face and legs of a goat.2 The Satyrs were depicted with
e pointed goat-ears, and sometimes with sprouting horns and short tails.3
They were sometimes spoken of simply as goats;4 and in the drama their
d parts were played by men dressed in goatskins.5 Silenus is represented in art
clad in a goatskin.6 Further, the Fauns, the Italian counterpart of the Greek
e Pans and Satyrs, are described as being half goats, with goat-feet and goat-
horns.7 Again, all these minor [pg 002] goat-formed divinities partake more
or less clearly of the character of woodland deities. Thus, Pan was called by
the Arcadians the Lord of the Wood.8 The Silenuses associated with the
tree-nymphs.9 The Fauns are expressly designated as woodland deities;10
and their character as such is still further brought out by their association, or
f even identification, with Silvanus and the Silvanuses, who, as their name of
itself indicates, are spirits of the woods.11 Lastly, the association of the
Satyrs with the Silenuses, Fauns, and Silvanuses,12 proves that the Satyrs
also were woodland deities. These goat-formed spirits of the woods have
their counterparts in the folk-lore of Northern Europe. Thus, the Russian
wood-spirits, called Ljeschie (from ljes, “wood”) are believed to appear
partly in human shape, but with the horns, ears, and legs of goats. The
Ljeschi can alter his stature at pleasure; when he walks in the wood he is as
tall as the trees; when he walks in the meadows he is no higher than the
grass. Some of the Ljeschie are spirits of the corn as well as of the wood;

before harvest they are as tall as the corn-stalks, but after it they shrink to
the height of the stubble.13 This brings out—what we have remarked before
—the close connexion between tree-spirits and corn-spirits, and shews how
easily the former may melt into the latter. Similarly the Fauns, though
wood-spirits, were believed to foster the growth of the crops.14 We have
already seen how often the corn-spirit is represented in folk-custom as a
goat.15 On the whole, then, as Mannhardt argues,16 [pg 003] the Pans,
Satyrs, and Fauns perhaps belong to a widely diffused class of wood-spirits
conceived in goat-form. The fondness of goats for straying in woods and
nibbling the bark of trees, to which indeed they are most destructive, is an
obvious and perhaps sufficient reason why wood-spirits should so often be
supposed to take the form of goats. The inconsistency of a god of vegetation
subsisting upon the vegetation which he personifies is not one to strike the
primitive mind. Such inconsistencies arise when the deity, ceasing to be
immanent in the vegetation, comes to be regarded as its owner or lord; for
the idea of owning the vegetation naturally leads to that of subsisting on it.
We have already seen that the corn-spirit, originally conceived as immanent
in the corn, afterwards comes to be regarded as its owner, who lives on it
and is reduced to poverty and want by being deprived of it.17

Thus the representation of wood-spirits in the form of goats appears to be
both widespread and, to the primitive mind, natural. Therefore when we
find, as we have done, that Dionysus—a tree-god—is sometimes
n represented in goat-form,18 we can hardly avoid concluding that this
m representation is simply a part of his proper character as a tree-god and is
not to be explained by the fusion of two distinct and independent worships,
in one of which he originally appeared as a tree-god and in the other as a
goat. If such a fusion took place in the case of Dionysus, it must equally
have taken place in the case of the Pans and Satyrs of Greece, the Fauns of
Italy, and the Ljeschie of Russia. That such a fusion of two wholly
disconnected worships should have occurred once is possible; that it should
have occurred twice independently is improbable; that it should have
occurred thrice independently is so unlikely as to be practically incredible.

Dionysus was also figured, as we have seen,19 in the shape of a bull. After
what has gone before we are naturally led to expect that his bull form must
have been only another [pg 004] expression for his character as a deity of

vegetation, especially as the bull is a common embodiment of the corn-
20
f spirit in Northern Europe; and the close association of Dionysus with
Demeter and Persephone in the mysteries of Eleusis shews that he had at
least strong agricultural affinities. The other possible explanation of the
r bull-shaped Dionysus would be that the conception of him as a bull was
originally entirely distinct from the conception of him as a deity of
s vegetation, and that the fusion of the two conceptions was due to some such
circumstance as the union of two tribes, one of which had previously
f worshipped a bull-god and the other a tree-god. This appears to be the view
taken by Mr. Andrew Lang, who suggests that the bull-formed Dionysus
“had either been developed out of, or had succeeded to, the worship of a
bull-totem.”21 Of course this is possible. But it is not yet certain that the
Aryans ever had totemism.22 On the other hand, it is quite certain that many
Aryan peoples have conceived deities of vegetation as embodied in animal
forms. Therefore when we find amongst an Aryan people like the Greeks a
deity of vegetation represented as an animal, the presumption must be in
favour of explaining this by a principle which is certainly known to have
influenced the Aryan race rather than by one which is not certainly known
to have done so. In the present state of our knowledge, therefore, it is safer
to regard the bull form of Dionysus as being, like his goat form, an
expression of his proper character as a deity of vegetation.

The probability of this view will be somewhat increased if it can be shewn
that in other rites than those of Dionysus the ancients slew an ox as a
representative of the spirit of vegetation. This they appear to have done in
the Athenian sacrifice known as “the murder of the ox” (bouphonia). It took
n place about the end of June or beginning of July, that is, about the time
when the threshing is nearly over in Attica. According to tradition the
f sacrifice was instituted to procure a cessation of drought and dearth which
had [pg 005] afflicted the land. The ritual was as follows. Barley mixed
with wheat, or cakes made of them, were laid upon the bronze altar of Zeus
Polieus on the Acropolis. Oxen were driven round the altar, and the ox
which went up to the altar and ate the offering on it was sacrificed. The axe
and knife with which the beast was slain had been previously wetted with
water brought by maidens called “water-carriers.” The weapons were then
sharpened and handed to the butchers, one of whom felled the ox with the
axe and another cut its throat with the knife. As soon as he had felled the

ox, the former threw the axe from him and fled; and the man who cut the
beast's throat apparently imitated his example. Meantime the ox was
skinned and all present partook of its flesh. Then the hide was stuffed with
straw and sewed up; next the stuffed animal was set on its feet and yoked to
a plough as if it were ploughing. A trial then took place in an ancient law-
court presided over by the King (as he was called) to determine who had
murdered the ox. The maidens who had brought the water accused the men
who had sharpened the axe and knife; the men who had sharpened the axe
and knife blamed the men who had handed these implements to the
butchers; the men who had handed the implements to the butchers blamed
the butchers; and the butchers laid the blame on the axe and knife, which
were accordingly found guilty, condemned and cast into the sea.23

The name of this sacrifice,—“the murder of the ox,”24—the [pg 006] pains
taken by each person who had a hand in the slaughter to lay the blame on
x some one else, together with the formal trial and punishment of the axe or
knife or both, prove that the ox was here regarded not merely as a victim
e offered to a god, but as itself a sacred creature, the slaughter of which was
sacrilege or murder. This is borne out by a statement of Varro that to kill an
ox was formerly a capital crime in Attica.25 The mode of selecting the
victim suggests that the ox which tasted the corn was viewed as the corn-
deity taking possession of his own. This interpretation is supported by the
following custom. In Beauce, in the district of Orleans, on the twenty-fourth
or twenty-fifth of April they make a straw-man called “the great mondard.”
For they say that the old mondard is now dead and it is necessary to make a
new one. The straw-man is carried in solemn procession up and down the
village and at last is placed upon the oldest apple-tree. There he remains till
the apples are gathered, when he is taken down and thrown into the water,
or he is burned and his ashes cast into water. But the person who plucks the
first fruit from the tree succeeds to the title of “the great mondard,”26 Here
the straw figure, called “the great mondard” and placed on the oldest apple-
tree in spring, represents the spirit of the tree, who, dead in winter, revives
when the apple-blossoms appear on the boughs. Thus the person who
plucks the first fruit from the tree and thereby receives the name of “the
great mondard” must be regarded as a representative of the tree-spirit.
Primitive peoples are usually reluctant to taste the annual first-fruits of any
crop, until some ceremony has been performed which makes it safe and

pious for them to do so. [pg 007] The reason of this reluctance appears to be
a belief that the first-fruits either belong to or actually contain a divinity.
Therefore when a man or animal is seen boldly to appropriate the sacred
first-fruits, he or it is naturally regarded as the divinity himself in human or
animal form taking possession of his own. The time of the Athenian
sacrifice, which fell about the close of the threshing, suggests that the wheat
and barley laid upon the altar were a harvest offering; and the sacramental
character of the subsequent repast—all partaking of the flesh of the divine
animal—would make it parallel to the harvest-suppers of modern Europe, in
which, as we have seen, the flesh of the animal who stands for the corn-
spirit is eaten by the harvesters. Again, the tradition that the sacrifice was
instituted in order to put an end to drought and famine is in favour of taking
it as a harvest festival. The resurrection of the corn-spirit, enacted by setting
up the stuffed ox and yoking it to the plough, may be compared with the
resurrection of the tree-spirit in the person of his representative, the Wild
Man.27

Still more clearly, perhaps, does the identification of the corn-spirit with an
ox come out in the sacrificial ritual which the Greeks of Magnesia on the
Maeander observed in honour of Zeus Sosipolis, a god whose title of
Sosipolis (“Saviour of the City”) marks him as the equivalent of Zeus
Polieus (“Zeus of the City”). The details of the ritual are happily preserved
in an inscription, which records a decree of the council and of the people for
the regulation of the whole proceedings. Every year at a festival in the
month of Heraeon the magistrates bought the finest bull that could be had
e for money, and at the new moon of the month of Cronion, at the time when
the sowing was about to begin, they and the priests dedicated the animal to
l Zeus Sosipolis, while solemn prayers were offered by the voice of a sacred
herald for the welfare of the city, of the land, and of the people, for peace
and wealth, for the corn-crops and all other fruits, and for the cattle.
Thereafter the sacred animal was kept throughout the winter, its keep being
n undertaken by a contractor, who was bound by law to drive the bull to the
market and there collect contributions for its [pg 008] maintenance from all
n the hucksters and in particular from the corn-chandlers; and a prospect was
held out to such as contributed that it would go well with them. Finally,
e after having been thus maintained at the public cost for some months, the
bull was led forth with great pomp and sacrificed in the market-place on the

twelfth day of the month Artemision, which is believed to have been
equivalent to the Attic month of Thargelion and to the English month of
May, the season when the corn is reaped in the Greek lowlands. In the
procession which attended the animal to the place of sacrifice the senators,
the priests, the magistrates, the young people, and the victors in the games
all bore a part, and at the head of the procession were borne the images of
the Twelve Gods attired in festal array, while a fluteplayer, a piper, and a
harper discoursed solemn music.28 Now in the bull, which was thus
dedicated at the time of sowing and kept at the cost of the pious, and
especially of corn-chandlers, to be finally sacrificed at harvest, it is
reasonable to see an embodiment of the corn-spirit. Regarded as such the
animal was consecrated when the seed was committed to the earth; it was
fed and kept all the time the corn was growing in order that by its
beneficent energies it might foster that growth; and at last, to complete the
parallel, when the corn was reaped the animal was slain, the cutting of the
stalks being regarded as the death of the corn-spirit.29 Similarly we have
seen that in the harvest-fields and on the threshing-floors of modern Europe
the corn-spirit is often conceived in the form of a bull, an ox, or a calf,
which is supposed to be killed at reaping or threshing; and, [pg 009] further,
we saw that the conception is sometimes carried out in practice by
slaughtering a real ox or a real calf on the harvest-field. Thus the
parallelism between the ancient Greek and the modern European idea of the
corn-spirit embodied in the form of a bull appears to be very close.

On the interpretation which I have adopted of the sacrifices offered to Zeus
Polieus and Zeus Sosipolis the corn-spirit is conceived as a male, not as a
k female, as Zeus, not as Demeter or Persephone. In this there is no
inconsistency. At the stage of thought which the Greeks had reached long
e before the dawn of history they supposed the processes of reproduction in
nature to be carried on by a male and a female principle in conjunction;
h they did not believe, like some backward savages, that the female principle
d alone suffices for that purpose, and that the aid of the male principle is
superfluous. Hence, as we have seen, they imagined that the goddesses of
the corn, the mother Demeter and the daughter Persephone, had each her
male partner with whom she united for the production of the crops. The
partner of Demeter was Zeus, the partner of Persephone was his brother
Pluto, the Subterranean Zeus, as he was called; and reasons have been

shewn for thinking that the marriage of one or other of these divine pairs
was solemnised at Eleusis as part of the Great Mysteries in order to promote
the growth of the corn.30

The ox appears as a representative of the corn-spirit in other parts of the
world. At Great Bassam, in Guinea, two oxen are slain annually to procure
a good harvest. If the sacrifice is to be effectual, it is necessary that the oxen
should weep. So all the women of the village sit in front of the beasts,
chanting, “The ox will weep; yes, he will weep!” From time to time one of
e the women walks round the beasts, throwing manioc meal or palm wine
upon them, especially into their eyes. When tears roll down from the eyes
t of the oxen, the people dance, singing, “The ox weeps! the ox weeps!” Then
n two men seize the tails of the beasts and cut them off at one blow. It is
believed that a great misfortune will happen in the course of the year if the
tails are not severed at one blow. The oxen are afterwards [pg 010] killed,
and their flesh is eaten by the chiefs.31 Here the tears of the oxen, like those
of the human victims amongst the Khonds and the Aztecs,32 are probably a
rain-charm. We have already seen that the virtue of the corn-spirit,
embodied in animal form, is sometimes supposed to reside in the tail, and
that the last handful of corn is sometimes conceived as the tail of the corn
spirit.33 In the Mithraic religion this conception is graphically set forth in
some of the numerous sculptures which represent Mithras kneeling on the
back of a bull and plunging a knife into its flank; for on certain of these
monuments the tail of the bull ends in three stalks of corn, and in one of
them corn-stalks instead of blood are seen issuing from the wound inflicted
by the knife.34 Such representations certainly suggest that the bull, whose
sacrifice appears to have formed a leading feature in the Mithraic ritual, was
conceived, in one at least of its aspects, as an incarnation of the corn-spirit.

Still more clearly does the ox appear as a personification of the corn-spirit
in a ceremony which is observed in all the provinces and districts of China
to welcome the approach of spring. On the first day of spring, usually on
the third or fourth of February, which is also the beginning of the Chinese
New Year, the governor or prefect of the city goes in procession to the east
e gate of the city, and sacrifices to the Divine Husbandman, who is
represented with a bull's head on the body of a man. A large effigy of an ox,
cow, or buffalo has been prepared for the occasion, and stands outside of

the east gate, with agricultural implements beside it. The figure is made of
differently-coloured pieces of paper pasted on a framework either by a blind
man or according to the directions of a necromancer. The colours of the
paper prognosticate the character of the coming year; if red prevails, there
will be many fires; if white, there will be floods and rain; and so with the
other colours. The [pg 011] mandarins walk slowly round the ox, beating it
severely at each step with rods of various hues. It is filled with five kinds of
grain, which pour forth when the effigy is broken by the blows of the rods.
The paper fragments are then set on fire, and a scramble takes place for the
burning fragments, because the people believe that whoever gets one of
them is sure to be fortunate throughout the year. A live buffalo is next
killed, and its flesh is divided among the mandarins. According to one
account, the effigy of the ox is made of clay, and, after being beaten by the
governor, is stoned by the people till they break it in pieces, “from which
they expect an abundant year.”35 But the ceremony varies somewhat in the
different provinces. According to another account the effigy of the cow,
made of earthenware, with gilded horns, is borne in procession, and is of
such colossal dimensions that forty or fifty men can hardly carry it. Behind
this monstrous cow walks a boy with one foot shod and the other bare,
personifying the Genius of Industry. He beats the effigy with a rod, as if to
drive it forward. A great many little clay cows are afterwards taken out of
the large one and distributed among the people. Both the big cow and the
little ones are then broken in pieces, and the people take the sherds home
with them in order to grind them to powder and strew the powder on their
fields, for they think thus to secure a plentiful harvest.36 In the cities nearest
to Weihaiwei, in northern China, the ceremony of “the Beginning of
Spring” is a moveable feast, which falls usually in the first moon. The local
magistrate and his attendants go in procession to the eastern suburbs of the
city to “meet the Spring.” A great pasteboard effigy of an ox is carried in the
procession, together with another pasteboard image of a man called Mang-
Shen, “who represents either the [pg 012] typical ox-driver or ploughman or
the god of Agriculture.” On the return of the procession to the magistrate's
court, that dignitary himself and his principal colleagues beat and prod the
pasteboard ox with wands, after which the effigy is burned along with the
image of its attendant. The colours and apparel of the two effigies
correspond with the forecasts of the Chinese almanack. Thus if the head of
the ox is yellow, the summer will be very hot; if it is green, the spring will

be sickly; if it is red, there will be a drought; if it is black, there will be
much rain; if it is white, there will be high winds. If Mang-Shen wears a
hat, the year will be dry; if he is bareheaded, it will be rainy; and so on with
the other articles of his apparel. Besides the pasteboard ox a miniature ox
made of clay is also supposed to be provided.37 In Chinese the ceremony is
called indifferently “beating the ox” and “beating the spring,” which seems
to prove that the ox is identified with the vernal energies of nature. We may
suppose that originally the ox which figures in the rite was a living animal,
but ever since the beginning of our era, when the custom first appears in
history, it has been an effigy of terra-cotta or pasteboard. To this day the
Chinese calendar devotes a page to a picture of “the ox of spring” with
Mang, the tutelary genius of spring, standing beside it and grasping a
willow-bough, with which he is about to beat the animal for the purpose of
stimulating its reproductive virtue.38 In one form of this Chinese custom the
corn-spirit appears to be plainly represented by the corn-filled ox, whose
fragments may therefore be supposed to bring fertility with them. We may
compare the Silesian custom of burning the effigy of Death, scrambling for
the burning fragments, and burying them in the fields to secure a good crop,
and the Florentine custom of sawing the Old Woman and scrambling for the
dried fruits with which she was filled.39 Both these customs, like their
Chinese counterpart, are observed in spring.

The practice of beating an earthenware or pasteboard [pg 013] image of an
ox in spring is not confined to China proper, but seems to be widely spread
in the east of Asia; for example, it has been recorded at Kashgar and in
Annam. Thus a French traveller has described how at Kashgar, on the third
of February 1892, a mandarin, clad in his finest robes and borne in a
e magnificent palanquin, conducted solemnly through the streets the
pasteboard image of an ox, “a sacred animal devoted to the deity of spring
r who gives life to the fields. It is thus carried to some distance outside of the
town on the eastern side. The official who acts as pontiff ceremoniously
offers food and libations to it in order to obtain a fruitful year, and next day
it is demolished by the lashes of a whip.”40 Again, in Annam, every year at
the approach of spring the Department of Rites publishes instructions to the
provincial governors as to the manner in which the festival of the
inauguration of spring is to be celebrated. Among the indispensable features
of the festival are the figures of an ox and its warder made of terra-cotta.

The attitudes of the two and the colours to be applied to them are carefully
prescribed every year in the Chinese calendar. Popular opinion attributes to
the colour of the ox and the accoutrement of its warder, who is called Mang
Than, a certain influence on the crops of the year: a green, yellow, and
black buffalo prognosticates an abundant harvest: a red or white buffalo
foretells wretched crops and great droughts or hurricanes. If Mang Than is
represented wearing a large hat, the year will be rainy; if on the other hand
[pg 014] he is bareheaded, long barren droughts are to be feared. Nay, the
public credulity goes so far as to draw good or evil omens from the
cheerfulness or ill humour which may be detected on the features of the
Warder of the Ox. Having been duly prepared in accordance with the
directions of the almanack, the ox and its warder are carried in procession,
followed by the mandarins and the people, to the altar of Spring, which is
usually to be found in every provincial capital. There the provincial
governor offers fruits, flowers, and incense to the Genius of Spring (Xuan
Quan), and gold and silver paper money are burnt on the altar in profusion.
Lastly the ox and his warder are buried in a spot which has been indicated
by a geomancer.41 It is interesting to observe that the three colours of the ox
which are taken to prognosticate good crops, to wit, green, yellow, and
black, are precisely the colours which the ancients attributed to Demeter,
the goddess of the corn.42

The great importance which the Chinese attach to the performance of rites
for the fertility of the ground is proved by an ancient custom which is, or
was till lately, observed every year in spring. On an appointed day the
emperor himself, attended by the highest dignitaries of the state, guides
f with his own hand the ox-drawn plough down several furrows and scatters
the seed in a sacred field, or “field of God,” as it is called, the produce of
e which is afterwards examined from time to time with anxious care by the
Governor of Peking, who draws omens from the appearance of the ears; it is
a very happy omen if he should chance to find thirteen ears growing on one
stalk. To prepare himself for the celebration of this solemn rite the emperor
is expected to fast and remain continent for three days previously, and the
princes and mandarins who accompany him to the field are bound to
observe similar restrictions. The corn grown on the holy field which has
thus been ploughed by the imperial hands is collected in yellow sacks and
stored in a special granary to be used by the emperor in certain solemn

sacrifices which he offers to the god [pg 015] Chan Ti and to his own
ancestors. In the provinces of China the season of ploughing is similarly
inaugurated by the provincial governors as representatives of the emperor.43

The sacred field, or “field of God,” in which the emperor of China thus
ceremonially opens the ploughing for the year, and of which the produce is
employed in sacrifice, reminds us of the Rarian plain at Eleusis, in which a
e sacred ploughing similarly took place every year, and of which the produce
was in like manner devoted to sacrifice.44 Further, it recalls the little sacred
rice-fields on which the Kayans of central Borneo inaugurate the various
operations of the agricultural year by performing them in miniature.45 As I
have already pointed out, all such consecrated enclosures were probably in
t origin what we may call spiritual preserves, that is, patches of ground which
men set apart for the exclusive use of the corn-spirit to console him for the
depredations they committed on all the rest of his domains. Again, the rule
of fasting and continence observed by the Emperor of China and his august
colleagues before they put their hands to the plough resembles the similar
customs of abstinence practised by many savages as a preparation for
engaging in the various labours of the field.46

[pg 016]

On the whole we may perhaps conclude that both as a goat and as a bull
Dionysus was essentially a god of vegetation. The Chinese and European
customs which I have cited47 may perhaps shed light on the custom of
f rending a live bull or goat at the rites of Dionysus. The animal was torn in
fragments, as the Khond victim was cut in pieces, in order that the
n worshippers might each secure a portion of the life-giving and fertilising
f influence of the god. The flesh was eaten raw as a sacrament, and we may
conjecture that some of it was taken home to be buried in the fields, or
otherwise employed so as to convey to the fruits of the earth the quickening
influence of the god of vegetation. The resurrection of Dionysus, related in
his myth, may have been enacted in his rites by stuffing and setting up the
slain ox, as was done at the Athenian bouphonia.

§ 2. Demeter, the Pig and the Horse.

Passing next to the corn-goddess Demeter, and remembering that in
European folk-lore the pig is a common embodiment of the corn-spirit,48 we
may now ask whether the pig, which was so closely associated with
e Demeter, may not have been originally the goddess herself in animal form?
h The pig was sacred to her;49 in art she was portrayed carrying or
accompanied by a pig;50 and the pig was regularly sacrificed in her
e mysteries, the reason assigned being that the pig injures the corn and is
f therefore an enemy of the goddess.51 But after an animal has been
conceived as a god, or a god as an animal, it sometimes happens, as we
have seen, that the god sloughs off his animal form and becomes purely
e anthropomorphic; and that then the animal, which at first had been slain in
the character of the god, comes to be viewed as a victim offered [pg 017] to
t the god on the ground of its hostility to the deity; in short, the god is
sacrificed to himself on the ground that he is his own enemy. This happened
to Dionysus,52 and it may have happened to Demeter also. And in fact the
rites of one of her festivals, the Thesmophoria, bear out the view that
originally the pig was an embodiment of the corn-goddess herself, either
Demeter or her daughter and double Persephone. The Attic Thesmophoria
was an autumn festival, celebrated by women alone in October,53 and
appears to have represented with mourning rites the descent of Persephone
(or Demeter)54 into the lower world, and with joy her return from the dead.55
Hence the name Descent or Ascent variously applied to the first, and the
name Kalligeneia (fair-born) applied to the third day of the festival. Now
from an old scholium on Lucian56 we learn some details about the mode of
celebrating the Thesmophoria, which shed important light on the part of the
festival called the Descent or the Ascent. The scholiast tells us that it was
customary at the Thesmophoria to throw pigs, cakes of dough, and branches
of pine-trees into “the chasms of Demeter and Persephone,” which appear
to have been sacred caverns or vaults.57 In these caverns or vaults [pg 018]
there were said to be serpents, which guarded the caverns and consumed
most of the flesh of the pigs and dough-cakes which were thrown in.

Afterwards—apparently at the next annual festival58—the decayed remains
of the pigs, the cakes, and the pine-branches were fetched by women called
“drawers,” who, after observing rules of ceremonial purity for three days,
descended into the caverns, and, frightening away the serpents by clapping
their hands, brought up the remains and placed them on the altar. Whoever
got a piece of the decayed flesh and cakes, and sowed it with the seed-corn
in his field, was believed to be sure of a good crop. With the feeding of the
serpents in the vaults by the women we may compare an ancient Italian
ritual. At Lanuvium a serpent lived in a sacred cave within a grove of Juno.
On certain appointed days a number of holy maidens, with their eyes
bandaged, entered the grove carrying cakes of barley in their hands. Led, as
it was believed, by the divine spirit, they walked straight to the serpent's den
and offered him the cakes. If they were chaste, the serpent ate the cakes, the
parents of the girls rejoiced, and farmers prognosticated an abundant
harvest. But if the girls were unchaste, the serpent left the cakes untasted,
and ants came and crumbled the rejected viands and so removed them bit by
bit from the sacred grove, thereby purifying the hallowed spot from the
stain it had contracted by the presence of a defiled maiden.59

To explain the rude and ancient ritual of the Thesmophoria [pg 019] the
following legend was told. At the moment when Pluto carried off
Persephone, a swineherd called Eubuleus chanced to be herding his swine
on the spot, and his herd was engulfed in the chasm down which Pluto
e vanished with Persephone. Accordingly at the Thesmophoria pigs were
f annually thrown into caverns to commemorate the disappearance of the
swine of Eubuleus.60 It follows from this that the casting of the pigs into the
vaults at the Thesmophoria formed part of the dramatic representation of
Persephone's descent into the lower world; and as no image of Persephone
appears to have been thrown in, we may infer that the descent of the pigs
was not so much an accompaniment of her descent as the descent itself, in
short, that the pigs were Persephone. Afterwards when Persephone or
Demeter (for the two are equivalent) took on human form, a reason had to
be found for the custom of throwing pigs into caverns at her festival; and
this was done by saying that when Pluto carried off Persephone, there
happened to be some swine browsing near, which were swallowed up along
with her. The story is obviously a forced and awkward attempt to bridge
over the gulf between the old conception of the corn-spirit as a pig and the

new conception of her as an anthropomorphic goddess. A trace of the older
conception survived in the legend that when the sad mother was searching
for traces of the vanished Persephone, the footprints of the lost one were
obliterated by the footprints of a pig;61 originally, we may conjecture, the
footprints of the pig were the footprints of Persephone and of Demeter
herself. A consciousness of the intimate connexion of the pig with the corn
lurks in the legend that the swineherd Eubuleus was a brother of
Triptolemus, to whom Demeter first imparted the secret of the corn. Indeed,
according to one version of the story, Eubuleus himself received, jointly
with his brother Triptolemus, the gift of the corn from Demeter as a reward
for revealing to her the fate of Persephone.62 Further, it is to be noted that at
the Thesmophoria [pg 020] the women appear to have eaten swine's flesh.63
The meal, if I am right, must have been a solemn sacrament or communion,
the worshippers partaking of the body of the god.

As thus explained, the Thesmophoria has its analogies in the folk-customs
of Northern Europe which have been already described. Just as at the
Thesmophoria—an autumn festival in honour of the corn-goddess—swine's
e flesh was partly eaten, partly kept in caverns till the following year, when it
was taken up to be sown with the seed-corn in the fields for the purpose of
e securing a good crop; so in the neighbourhood of Grenoble the goat killed
on the harvest-field is partly eaten at the harvest-supper, partly pickled and
f kept till the next harvest;64 so at Pouilly the ox killed on the harvest-field is
partly eaten by the harvesters, partly pickled and kept till the first day of
sowing in spring,65 probably to be then mixed with the seed, or eaten by the
ploughmen, or both; so at Udvarhely the feathers of the cock which is killed
in the last sheaf at harvest are kept till spring, and then sown with the seed
on the field;66 so in Hesse and Meiningen the flesh of pigs is eaten on Ash
Wednesday or Candlemas, and the bones are kept till sowing-time, when
they are put into the field sown or mixed with the seed in the bag;67 so,
lastly, the corn from the last sheaf is kept till Christmas, made into the Yule
Boar, and afterwards broken and mixed with the seed-corn at sowing in
spring.68 Thus, to put it generally, the corn-spirit is killed in animal form in
autumn; part of his flesh is eaten as a sacrament by his worshippers; and
part of it is kept till next sowing-time or harvest as a pledge and security for
the continuance or renewal of the corn-spirit's energies. Whether in the
interval between autumn and spring he is conceived as dead, or whether,

like the ox in the bouphonia, he is supposed to come to life again
immediately after being killed, is not clear. At the Thesmophoria, according
to Clement and Pausanias, as emended by Lobeck,69 the pigs [pg 021] were
thrown in alive, and were supposed to reappear at the festival of the
following year. Here, therefore, if we accept Lobeck's emendations, the
corn-spirit is conceived as alive throughout the year; he lives and works
under ground, but is brought up each autumn to be renewed and then
replaced in his subterranean abode.70

If persons of fastidious taste should object that the Greeks never could have
conceived Demeter and Persephone to be embodied in the form of pigs, it
may be answered that in the cave of Phigalia in Arcadia the Black Demeter
was portrayed with the head and mane of a horse on the body of a woman.71
Between the portrait of a goddess as a pig, and the portrait of her as a
woman with a horse's head, there is little to choose in respect of barbarism.
The legend told of the Phigalian Demeter indicates that the horse was one
of the animal forms assumed in ancient Greece, as in modern Europe,72 by
the corn-spirit. It was said that in her search for her daughter, Demeter
assumed the form of a mare to escape the addresses of Poseidon, and that,
offended at his importunity, she withdrew in dudgeon to a cave not far from
Phigalia in the highlands of Western Arcadia. The very cavern, now turned
into a little Christian chapel with its holy pictures, is still shewn to the
curious traveller far down the side of that profound ravine through which
the brawling Neda winds under overhanging woods to the sea. There, robed
in black, she tarried so long that the fruits of the earth were perishing, and
mankind would have died of famine if Pan had not soothed the angry
goddess and persuaded her to quit the cave. In memory of this event, the
Phigalians set up an image of the Black Demeter in the cave; it represented
a woman dressed in a long robe, with the head and mane of a horse.73 The
Black Demeter, in whose absence the fruits [pg 022] of the earth perish, is
plainly a mythical expression for the bare wintry earth stripped of its
summer mantle of green.

§ 3. Attis, Adonis, and the Pig.

Passing now to Attis and Adonis, we may note a few facts which seem to
shew that these deities of vegetation had also, like other deities of the same
d class, their animal embodiments. The worshippers of Attis abstained from
eating the flesh of swine.74 This appears to indicate that the pig was
regarded as an embodiment of Attis. And the legend that Attis was killed by
a boar75 points in the same direction. For after the examples of the goat
Dionysus and the pig Demeter it may almost be laid down as a rule that an
animal which is said to have injured a god was originally the god himself.
Perhaps the cry of “Hyes Attes! Hyes Attes!”76 which was raised by the
worshippers of Attis, may be neither more nor less than “Pig Attis! Pig
Attis!”—hyes being possibly a Phrygian form of the Greek hȳs, “a pig.”77

In regard to Adonis, his connexion with the boar was not always explained
by the story that he had been killed by the animal.78 According to another
story, a boar rent with his tusk the bark of the tree in which the infant
e Adonis was born.79 According to yet another story, he perished at the [pg
023] hands of Hephaestus on Mount Lebanon while he was hunting wild
boars.80 These variations in the legend serve to shew that, while the
n connexion of the boar with Adonis was certain, the reason of the connexion
t was not understood, and that consequently different stories were devised to
explain it. Certainly the pig ranked as a sacred animal among the Syrians.
At the great religious metropolis of Hierapolis on the Euphrates pigs were
neither sacrificed nor eaten, and if a man touched a pig he was unclean for
the rest of the day. Some people said this was because the pigs were
unclean; others said it was because the pigs were sacred.81 This difference
of opinion points to a hazy state of religious thought in which the ideas of
sanctity and uncleanness are not yet sharply distinguished, both being blent
in a sort of vaporous solution to which we give the name of taboo. It is quite
consistent with this that the pig should have been held to be an embodiment
of the divine Adonis, and the analogies of Dionysus and Demeter make it
probable that the story of the hostility of the animal to the god was only a

late misapprehension of the old view of the god as embodied in a pig. The
rule that pigs were not sacrificed or eaten by worshippers of Attis and
presumably of Adonis, does not exclude the possibility that in these rituals
the pig was slain on solemn occasions as a representative of the god and
consumed sacramentally by the worshippers. Indeed, the sacramental
killing and eating of an animal implies that the animal is sacred, and that, as
a general rule, it is spared.82

The attitude of the Jews to the pig was as ambiguous as that of the heathen
Syrians towards the same animal. The Greeks could not decide whether the
f Jews worshipped swine or abominated them.83 On the one hand they might
not eat swine; but on the other hand they might not kill them. And if the
former rule speaks for the uncleanness, the latter [pg 024] speaks still more
strongly for the sanctity of the animal. For whereas both rules may, and one
rule must, be explained on the supposition that the pig was sacred; neither
rule must, and one rule cannot, be explained on the supposition that the pig
was unclean. If, therefore, we prefer the former supposition, we must
conclude that, originally at least, the pig was revered rather than abhorred
by the Israelites. We are confirmed in this opinion by observing that down
to the time of Isaiah some of the Jews used to meet secretly in gardens to
eat the flesh of swine and mice as a religious rite.84 Doubtless this was a
very ancient ceremony, dating from a time when both the pig and the mouse
were venerated as divine, and when their flesh was partaken of
sacramentally on rare and solemn occasions as the body and blood of gods.
And in general it may be said that all so-called unclean animals were
originally sacred; the reason for not eating them was that they were divine.

§ 4. Osiris, the Pig and the Bull.

In ancient Egypt, within historical times, the pig occupied the same dubious
position as in Syria and Palestine, though at first sight its uncleanness is
f more prominent than its sanctity. The Egyptians are generally said by Greek
t writers to have abhorred the pig as a foul and loathsome animal.85 If a man
so much as touched a pig in passing, he stepped into the river with all his
clothes on, to wash off the taint.86 To drink pig's milk was believed to cause
leprosy to the drinker.87 Swineherds, though natives of Egypt, were
f forbidden to enter any temple, and they were the only men who were thus
excluded. No one would give his daughter in marriage to a swineherd, or
d marry a swineherd's daughter; the swineherds married among themselves.88
[pg 025] Yet once a year the Egyptians sacrificed pigs to the moon and to
Osiris, and not only sacrificed them, but ate of their flesh, though on any
other day of the year they would neither sacrifice them nor taste of their
flesh. Those who were too poor to offer a pig on this day baked cakes of
dough, and offered them instead.89 This can hardly be explained except by
the supposition that the pig was a sacred animal which was eaten
sacramentally by his worshippers once a year.

The view that in Egypt the pig was sacred is borne out by the very facts
which, to moderns, might seem to prove the contrary. Thus the Egyptians
t thought, as we have seen, that to drink pig's milk produced leprosy. But
g exactly analogous views are held by savages about the animals and plants
d which they deem most sacred. Thus in the island of Wetar (between New
Guinea and Celebes) people believe themselves to be variously descended
from wild pigs, serpents, crocodiles, turtles, dogs, and eels; a man may not
eat an animal of the kind from which he is descended; if he does so, he will
become a leper, and go mad.90 Amongst the Omaha Indians of North
America men whose totem is the elk, believe that if they ate the flesh of the
male elk they would break out in boils and white spots in different parts of
their bodies.91 In the same tribe men whose totem is the red maize, think
that if they ate red maize they would have running sores all round [pg 026]

their mouths.92 The Bush negroes of Surinam, who practise totemism,
believe that if they ate the capiaï (an animal like a pig) it would give them
leprosy;93 perhaps the capiaï is one of their totems. The Syrians, in
antiquity, who esteemed fish sacred, thought that if they ate fish their bodies
would break out in ulcers, and their feet and stomach would swell up.94 The
Nyanja-speaking tribes of Central Angoniland, in British Central Africa,
believe that if a person eats his totemic animal, his body will break out in
spots. The cure for this eruption of the skin is to bathe the body in a
decoction made from the bone of the animal, the eating of which caused the
malady.95 The Wagogo of German East Africa imagine that the sin of eating
the totemic animal is visited not on the sinner himself but on his innocent
kinsfolk. Thus when they see a child with a scald head, they say at once that
its father has been eating his totem and that is why the poor child has scabs
on its pate.96 Among the Wahehe, another tribe of German East Africa, a
man who suffers from scab or other skin disease will often set the trouble
down to his having unwittingly partaken of his totemic animal.97 Similarly
among the Waheia, another tribe of the same region, if a man kills or eats
the totemic animal of his clan, he is supposed to suffer from an eruption of
the skin.98 In like manner the Bantu tribes of Kavirondo, in Central Africa,
hold that the eating of the totem produces a severe cutaneous eruption,
which can however be cured by mixing an extract of certain herbs with the
fat of a black ox and rubbing the body of the sufferer all over with the
mixture.99 The Chasas of Orissa believe that if they were to injure their
totemic animal, they [pg 027] would be attacked by leprosy and their line
would die out.100 These examples prove that the eating of a sacred animal is
often believed to produce leprosy or other skin-diseases; so far, therefore,
they support the view that the pig must have been sacred in Egypt, since the
effect of drinking its milk was believed to be leprosy. Such fancies may
perhaps have been sometimes suggested by the observation that the eating
of semi-putrid flesh, to which some savages are addicted, is apt to be
followed by eruptions on the skin. Indeed, many modern authorities
attribute leprosy to this cause, particularly to the eating of half rotten fish.101
It seems not impossible that the abhorrence which the Hebrews entertained
of leprosy, and the pains which they took to seclude lepers from the
community, may have been based on religious as well as on purely sanitary
grounds; they may have imagined that the disfigurement of the sufferers
was a penalty which they had incurred by some infraction of taboo.

Certainly we read in the Old Testament of cases of leprosy which the
historian regarded as the direct consequence of sin.102

Again, the rule that, after touching a pig, a man had to wash himself and his
clothes, also favours the view of the sanctity of the pig. For it is a common
belief that the effect of contact with a sacred object must be removed, by
washing or otherwise, before a man is free to mingle with his fellows. Thus
a the Jews wash their hands after reading the sacred scriptures. Before
coming forth from the tabernacle after the sin-offering, the high priest had
s to wash himself, and put off the garments which he had worn in the holy
place.103 It was a rule of Greek ritual that, in offering an expiatory sacrifice,
the sacrificer should not touch the sacrifice, and that, after the offering was
made, he must wash his body and his clothes in a river or spring before he
could enter a city or his own house.104 The Parjas, a small tribe of [pg 028]
the Central Provinces in India, are divided into clans which have for their
t respective totems the tiger, the tortoise, the goat, a big lizard, a dove, and so
on. If a man accidentally kills his totemic animal, “the earthen cooking-pots
of his household are thrown away, the clothes are washed, and the house is
purified with water in which the bark of the mango or jamun tree (Eugenia
jambolana) has been steeped. This is in sign of mourning, as it is thought
that such an act will bring misfortune.”105 If a Chadwar of the Central
Provinces who has the pig for his totem should even see a pig killed by
somebody else, he will throw away the household crockery and clean the
house as if on the death of a member of his family.106 The Polynesians felt
strongly the need of ridding themselves of the sacred contagion, if it may be
so called, which they caught by touching sacred objects. Various
ceremonies were performed for the purpose of removing this contagion. We
have seen, for example, how in Tonga a man who happened to touch a
sacred chief, or anything personally belonging to him, had to perform a
certain ceremony before he could feed himself with his hands; otherwise it
was believed that he would swell up and die, or at least be afflicted with
scrofula or some other disease.107 We have seen, too, what fatal effects are
supposed to follow, and do actually follow, from contact with a sacred
object in New Zealand.108 In short, primitive man believes that what is
sacred is dangerous; it is pervaded by a sort of electrical sanctity which
communicates a shock to, even if it does not kill, whatever comes in contact
with it. Hence the savage is unwilling to touch or even to see that which he

deems peculiarly holy. Thus Bechuanas, of the Crocodile clan, think it
“hateful and unlucky” to meet or see a crocodile; the sight is thought to
cause inflammation of the eyes. Yet the crocodile is their most sacred
object; they call it their father, swear by it, and celebrate it in their
festivals.109 The goat is the sacred animal of the Madenassana [pg 029]
Bushmen; yet “to look upon it would be to render the man for the time
impure, as well as to cause him undefined uneasiness.”110 The Elk clan,
among the Omaha Indians, believe that even to touch the male elk would be
followed by an eruption of boils and white spots on the body.111 Members of
the Reptile clan in the same tribe think that if one of them touches or smells
a snake, it will make his hair white.112 In Samoa people whose god was a
butterfly believed that if they caught a butterfly it would strike them dead.113
Again, in Samoa the reddish-seared leaves of the banana-tree were
commonly used as plates for handing food; but if any member of the Wild
Pigeon family had used banana leaves for this purpose, it was supposed that
he would suffer from rheumatic swellings or an eruption all over the body
like chicken-pox.114 The Mori clan of the Bhils in Central India worship the
peacock as their totem and make offerings of grain to it; yet members of the
clan believe that were they even to set foot on the tracks of a peacock they
would afterwards suffer from some disease, and if a woman sees a peacock
she must veil her face and look away.115 Thus the primitive mind seems to
conceive of holiness as a sort of dangerous virus, which a prudent man will
shun as far as possible, and of which, if he should chance to be infected by
it, he will carefully disinfect himself by some form of ceremonial
purification.

In the light of these parallels the beliefs and customs of the Egyptians
touching the pig are probably to be explained as based upon an opinion of
e the extreme sanctity rather than of the extreme uncleanness of the animal;
or rather, to put it more correctly, they imply that the animal was looked on,
not simply as a filthy and disgusting creature, but as a being endowed with
a high supernatural powers, and that as [pg 030] such it was regarded with
that primitive sentiment of religious awe and fear in which the feelings of
reverence and abhorrence are almost equally blended. The ancients
e themselves seem to have been aware that there was another side to the
horror with which swine seemed to inspire the Egyptians. For the Greek
y astronomer and mathematician Eudoxus, who resided fourteen months in

116
n Egypt and conversed with the priests, was of opinion that the Egyptians
spared the pig, not out of abhorrence, but from a regard to its utility in
n agriculture; for, according to him, when the Nile had subsided, herds of
swine were turned loose over the fields to tread the seed down into the
117
e moist earth. But when a being is thus the object of mixed and implicitly
contradictory feelings, he may be said to occupy a position of unstable
equilibrium. In course of time one of the contradictory feelings is likely to
a prevail over the other, and according as the feeling which finally
e predominates is that of reverence or abhorrence, the being who is the object
of it will rise into a god or sink into a devil. The latter, on the whole, was
n the fate of the pig in Egypt. For in historical times the fear and horror of the
n pig seem certainly to have outweighed the reverence and worship of which
he may once have been the object, and of which, even in his fallen state, he
f never quite lost trace. He came to be looked on as an embodiment of Set or
Typhon, the Egyptian devil and enemy of Osiris. For it was in the shape of a
y black pig that Typhon injured the eye of the god Horus, who burned him
and instituted the sacrifice of the pig, the sun-god Ra having declared the
118
c beast abominable. Again, the story that Typhon was hunting a boar when
he discovered and mangled the body of Osiris, and that this was the reason
119
d why pigs were sacrificed once a year, is clearly a modernised version of
n an older story that Osiris, like Adonis and Attis, was slain [pg 031] or
s mangled by a boar, or by Typhon in the form of a boar. Thus, the annual
n sacrifice of a pig to Osiris might naturally be interpreted as vengeance
inflicted on the hostile animal that had slain or mangled the god. But, in the
first place, when an animal is thus killed as a solemn sacrifice once and
once only in the year, it generally or always means that the animal is divine,
e that he is spared and respected the rest of the year as a god and slain, when
he is slain, also in the character of a god.120 In the second place, the
examples of Dionysus and Demeter, if not of Attis and Adonis, have taught
us that the animal which is sacrificed to a god on the ground that he is the
god's enemy may have been, and probably was, originally the god himself.
Therefore, the annual sacrifice of a pig to Osiris, coupled with the alleged
hostility of the animal to the god, tends to shew, first, that originally the pig
was a god, and, second, that he was Osiris. At a later age, when Osiris
became anthropomorphic and his original relation to the pig had been
forgotten, the animal was first distinguished from him, and afterwards
opposed as an enemy to him by mythologists who could think of no reason

for killing a beast in connexion with the worship of a god except that the
beast was the god's enemy; or, as Plutarch puts it, not that which is dear to
the gods, but that which is the contrary, is fit to be sacrificed.121 At this later
stage the havoc which a wild boar notoriously makes amongst the corn
would supply a plausible reason for regarding him as the foe of the corn-
spirit, though originally, if I am right, the very freedom with which the boar
ranged at will through the corn led people to identify him with the corn-
spirit, to whom he was afterwards opposed as an enemy.

As the depredations committed by wild swine on the growing crops in
countries where these creatures abound are necessarily unfamiliar to most
English readers, it may be well to illustrate them by examples. Thus, for
e instance, in Palestine the wild boar “is eagerly chased and destroyed on
account of the frightful ravages it makes among the [pg 032] crops. Not
only does it devour any fruits within reach, but in a single night a party of
wild boars will uproot a whole field, and destroy the husbandman's hopes
d for the year. The places they love to frequent are the reedy marshes and
n thickets by rivers and lakes, and they swarm in the thickets all along the
banks of the Jordan from Jericho to the Lake of Gennesaret. From these
fastnesses, whence neither dog nor man can dislodge them, they make
nightly forays upon the corn-fields and root-crops of the villagers, returning
at daybreak to their coverts. About Jericho they are especially destructive,
and when the barley crop is ripening, the husbandmen have to keep nightly
watch to drive them away. Their presence can always be detected by the
crashing noise they make in forcing their way through the thickets, when
the men fire, guided by the sound.”122 Wild pigs are the special enemies of
the crops in South Africa; the fences constructed by the Zulus round their
gardens are mainly designed to guard against the devastating depredations
of these brutes, though porcupines, baboons, hippopotamuses, and
elephants also make havoc of the ripe grain. Sometimes small huts are
erected on platforms in the gardens, and in these huts watchers are set to
scare away the nocturnal invaders.123 So in British Central Africa sentinels
are posted day and night in huts raised on platforms to protect the maize
fields from the inroads of baboons and of wild pigs, which are still more
destructive than the baboons, for they grub up the plants as well as devour
the grain; and the watchers drum continually on any metal they have at
hand to keep the marauders at bay.124 In the island of Nias whole fields are

sometimes trampled down by these pests between sunset and sunrise. Often
the stillness of the serene equatorial night is broken by the strident cries of
the watchers of the fields; the sound goes echoing through the wooded
valleys for a long time, and here and there a dull grunting tells that the
efforts of the sentinels have not been in vain.125 [pg 033] In Northern Luzon,
of the Philippine Archipelago, the rice-fields are similarly exposed to the
depredations of wild hogs, and watchers remain on guard day and night in
outlooks, sometimes in commodious structures of stone erected for the
purpose, who burn fires at night to frighten the animals away.126 At the
beginning of their annual agricultural labours the Banars of Cambodia pray
to Yang-Seri that he would be pleased to give them plenty of rice and to
prevent the wild boars from eating it up.127 In Gayo-land, a district of
Sumatra, the worst enemies of the rice crops are wild swine and field mice;
the whole of the harvest is sometimes destroyed by their inroads.128 Among
the Kai of German New Guinea people who are engaged in the labour of
the fields will on no account eat pork. The reason is that pigs, both wild and
tame, are the most dangerous foes of the crops; therefore it seems clear to
the mind of the Kai that if a field labourer were to eat pork, the flesh of the
dead pig in his stomach would attract the living pigs into the field.129
Perhaps this superstition, based on the principle of sympathetic magic, may
explain the aversion to pork which was entertained by some of the
agricultural peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean in antiquity.

To people thus familiarised with the ravages of wild boars among the ripe
crops the idea might naturally present itself that the animal is either the
enemy of the corn-god or perhaps the corn-god himself come in person to
f enjoy his own despite all the efforts of mankind to keep him out of his
rights. Hence we can understand how an agricultural people like the ancient
e Egyptians may have identified the wild boar either with their corn-god
Osiris or with his enemy Typhon. The view which identifies the pig with
Osiris derives not a little support from the sacrifice of pigs to him on the
very day on which, according to tradition, Osiris himself was killed;130 for
thus the killing [pg 034] of the pig was the annual representation of the
killing of Osiris, just as the throwing of the pigs into the caverns at the
f Thesmophoria was an annual representation of the descent of Persephone
t into the lower world; and both customs are parallel to the European practice

of killing a goat, cock, and so forth, at harvest as a representative of the
corn-spirit.

Again, the theory that the pig, originally Osiris himself, afterwards came to
be regarded as an embodiment of his enemy Typhon, is supported by the
similar relation of red-haired men and red oxen to Typhon. For in regard to
the red-haired men who were burned and whose ashes were scattered with
d winnowing-fans, we have seen fair grounds for believing that originally,
d like the red-haired puppies killed at Rome in spring, they were
representatives of the corn-spirit himself, that is, of Osiris, and were slain
for the express purpose of making the corn turn red or golden.131 Yet at a
later time these men were explained to be representatives, not of Osiris, but
of his enemy Typhon,132 and the killing of them was regarded as an act of
vengeance inflicted on the enemy of the god. Similarly, the red oxen
sacrificed by the Egyptians were said to be offered on the ground of their
resemblance to Typhon;133 though it is more likely that originally they were
slain on the ground of their resemblance to the corn-spirit Osiris. We have
seen that the ox is a common representative of the corn-spirit and is slain as
such on the harvest-field.

Osiris was regularly identified with the bull Apis of Memphis and the bull
Mnevis of Heliopolis.134 But it is hard [pg 035] to say whether these bulls
were embodiments of him as the corn-spirit, as the red oxen appear to have
been, or whether they were not in origin entirely distinct deities who came
e to be fused with Osiris at a later time. The universality of the worship of
these two bulls135 seems to put them on a different footing from the ordinary
sacred animals whose worships were purely local. Hence if the latter were
evolved from totems, as they may have been, some other origin would have
to be found for the worship of Apis and Mnevis. If these bulls were not
originally embodiments of the corn-god Osiris, they may possibly be
e descendants of the sacred cattle worshipped by a pastoral people.136 If this
s were so, ancient Egypt would exhibit a stratification of three great types of
n religion or superstition corresponding to three great stages of society.
Totemism, which may be roughly described as a species of superstitious
respect paid to wild animals and plants by many tribes in the hunting stage
n of society, would be represented by the worship of the local sacred animals;
the worship of cattle, which belongs to society in the pastoral stage, would

be represented by the cults of Apis and Mnevis; and the worship of
cultivated plants, which is peculiar to society in the agricultural stage,
would be represented by the religion of Osiris and Isis. The Egyptian
reverence for cows, which were never killed,137 might belong either to the
second or the third of these stages. The consecration of cows to Isis, who
was portrayed with cow's horns138 and may have been supposed to be
incarnate in the animals, would indicate that they, like the red oxen, were
embodiments of the corn-spirit. However, this identification of Isis with the
cow, like that of Osiris with the bulls Apis and Mnevis, may be only an
effect of [pg 036] syncretism. But whatever the original relation of Apis to
Osiris may have been, there is one fact about the former which ought not to
be passed over in a disquisition on the custom of killing a god. Although the
bull Apis was worshipped as a god with much pomp and profound
reverence, he was not suffered to live beyond a certain length of time which
was prescribed by the sacred books, and on the expiry of which he was
drowned in a holy spring.139 The limit, according to Plutarch, was twenty-
five years;140 but it cannot always have been enforced, for the tombs of the
Apis bulls have been discovered in modern times, and from the inscriptions
on them it appears that in the twenty-second dynasty two of the holy steers
lived more than twenty-six years.141

To prevent misunderstandings it may be well to add that what I have just
said as to the stratification of three great types of religion or superstition
e corresponding to three great types of society is not meant to sketch, even in
outline, the evolution of religion as a whole. I by no means wish to suggest
f that the reverence for wild animals and plants, the reverence for domestic
cattle, and the reverence for cultivated plants are the only forms of religion
or superstition which prevail at the corresponding stages of social
development; all that I desire to convey is that they are characteristic of
these stages respectively. The elements which make up any religious system
are far too numerous and their interaction far too complex to be adequately
summed up in a few simple formulas. To mention only a single factor of
which I have taken no account in indicating roughly a certain
correspondence between the strata of religion and of society, the fear of the
spirits of the dead appears to have been one of the most powerful factors,
[pg 037] perhaps, indeed, the most powerful of all, in shaping the course of
religious evolution at every stage of social development from the lowest to

the highest; and for that very reason it is not specially characteristic of any
one form of society. And the three types of religion or superstition which I
have selected as characteristic of three stages of society are far from being
strictly limited each to its corresponding step in the social ladder. For
example, although totemism, or a particular species of reverence paid by
groups of men to wild animals and plants, probably always originated in the
hunting stage of society, it has by no means been confined to that primitive
phase of human development but has often survived not only into the
pastoral but into the agricultural stage, as we may see for example by the
case of many tribes in Africa, India, and America; and it seems likely that a
similar overlapping of the various strata takes place in every instance. In
short, we cannot really dissect the history of mankind as it were with a knife
into a series of neat sections each sharply marked off from all the rest by a
texture and colour of its own; we may indeed do so theoretically for the
convenience of exposition, but practically the textures interlace, the colours
melt and run into each other by insensible gradations that defy the edge of
the finest instrument of analysis which we can apply to them. It is a mere
truism to say that the abstract generalisations of science can never
adequately comprehend all the particulars of concrete reality. The facts of
nature will always burst the narrow bonds of human theories.

Before quitting this part of our subject it may be well to illustrate by one or
two examples the reverence which primitive pastoral tribes pay to their
cattle, since, as I have just indicated, the worship of sacred bulls by the
e ancient Egyptians, like the modern Hindoo worship of cows, may very well
r have been directly derived from a similar respect paid by their remote
ancestors to their cattle. A good instance is supplied by the Dinka, a large
cattle-breeding tribe, or rather nation, of the White Nile. “Every idea and
thought of the Dinka,” says Schweinfurth, “is how to acquire and maintain
cattle: a kind of reverence would [pg 038] seem to be paid to them; even
their offal is considered of high importance; the dung, which is burnt to
ashes for sleeping in and for smearing their persons, and the urine, which is
used for washing and as a substitute for salt, are their daily requisites. It
must be owned that it is hard to reconcile this latter usage with our ideas of
cleanliness. A cow is never slaughtered, but when sick it is segregated from
the rest, and carefully tended in the large huts built for the purpose. Only
those that die naturally or by an accident are used as food. All this, which

exists among most of the pastoral tribes of Africa, may perchance appear to
be a lingering remnant of an exploded cattle-worship; but I may draw
attention to the fact that the Dinka are by no means disinclined to partake of
any feast of their flesh, provided that the slaughtered animal was not their
own property. It is thus more the delight of actual possession, than any
superstitious estimate, that makes the cow to them an object of reverence.
Indescribable is the grief when either death or rapine has robbed a Dinka of
his cattle. He is prepared to redeem their loss by the heaviest sacrifices, for
they are dearer to him than wife or child. A dead cow is not, however,
wantonly buried; the negro is not sentimental enough for that; such an
occurrence is soon bruited abroad, and the neighbours institute a carousal,
which is quite an epoch in their monotonous life. The bereaved owner
himself is, however, too much afflicted at the loss to be able to touch a
morsel of the carcass of his departed beast. Not unfrequently in their sorrow
the Dinka remain for days silent and abstracted, as though their trouble
were too heavy for them to bear.”142 A rich Dinka will sometimes keep a
favourite ox and treat it with such marks of respect that an observer has
compared the animal to the Apis of the ancient Egyptians. “Here and there,”
we are told, “beside the hut of a wealthy negro is set up a great withered
tree. From its boughs hang vessels containing food and perhaps trophies of
war; to its trunk is fastened the great drum (Noqara), which summons to
war or to the dance. To this tree, separated from the rest of the cattle, [pg
039] is tethered a great fat ox. It is of a white colour passing into a slaty
grey on the shoulders and legs: its long horns are artificially bent to
opposite sides and adorned with bunches of hair: the tuft of the tail is cut
off. This is the makwi, the Apis of the negro. His master, who has singled
him out from his youth for his colour and certain marks, has cherished and
reared him in order that he may one day be his pride in the eyes of the
village. He has gelded him, adorned him, trained him to walk at the head of
the herd, to dance, and to fight. His makwi is always an object of his
tenderest attention; he never fails to bring him a bundle of the finest herbs;
if he can procure a bell, he hangs it round the animal's neck; and at evening,
if he has milk or meriṣa enough for guests, the drum is beaten to summon
the youth to come and dance round the deified ox.”143

Again, speaking of the Nuehr, another pastoral tribe of the Upper Nile, a
traveller tells us that “as among the Dinka, so among the Nuehr-negroes the

cattle enjoy a respect, indeed we may say a veneration, which reminds us of
the animal worship of the ancient Egyptians, especially of that of the holy
steer Apis, though the respect may be grounded on the simple fact that
e cattle are the only possession of these negroes. The largest and handsomest
r bull is the leader of the herd; he is decked with bunches of hair and small
bells, marked out from the rest in every way, and regarded as the guardian
genius of the herd as well as of the family. His loss is the greatest
misfortune that can befall his owner. At night his master drives the animal
round the herd, couched about the smoky fire, and sings of his beauty and
courage, while the bull signifies his contentment by a complacent lowing.
To him his master every morning commits the herd, in order that he may
guide them to the best pastures and guard them from danger; in him he
reveres his ideal of all that is beautiful and strong; nay he designates him by
the same name which he applies to his own dim conception of a Supreme
Being, Nyeledit, and to the thunder.”144

[pg 040]

§ 5. Virbius and the Horse.

We are now in a position to hazard a conjecture as to the meaning of the
tradition that Virbius, the first of the divine Kings of the Wood at Aricia,
had been killed in the character of Hippolytus by horses.145 Having found,
first, that spirits of the corn are not infrequently represented in the form of
horses;146 and, second, that the animal which in later legends is said to have
injured the god was sometimes originally the god himself, we may
n conjecture that the horses by which Virbius or Hippolytus was said to have
n been slain were really embodiments of him as a deity of vegetation. The
myth that he had been killed by horses was probably invented to explain
certain features in his worship, amongst others the custom of excluding
horses from his sacred grove. For myth changes while custom remains
constant; men continue to do what their fathers did before them, though the
reasons on which their fathers acted have been long forgotten. The history
e of religion is a long attempt to reconcile old custom with new reason, to
f find a sound theory for an absurd practice. In the case before us we may be
sure that the myth is more modern than the custom and by no means
represents the original reason for excluding horses from the grove. From
e their exclusion it might be inferred that horses could not be the sacred
animals or embodiments of the god of the grove. But the inference would
be rash. The goat was at one time a sacred animal or embodiment of
Athena, as may be inferred from the practice of representing the goddess
t clad in a goat-skin (aegis). Yet the goat was [pg 041] neither sacrificed to
e her as a rule, nor allowed to enter her great sanctuary, the Acropolis at
Athens. The reason alleged for this was that the goat injured the olive, the
e sacred tree of Athena.147 So far, therefore, the relation of the goat of Athena
is parallel to the relation of the horse to Virbius, both animals being
excluded from the sanctuary on the ground of injury done by them to the
n god. But from Varro we learn that there was an exception to the rule which
excluded the goat from the Acropolis. Once a year, he says, the goat was
f driven on to the Acropolis for a necessary sacrifice.148 Now, as has been
remarked before, when an animal is sacrificed once and once only in the

year, it is probably slain, not as a victim offered to the god, but as a
representative of the god himself. Therefore we may infer that if a goat was
sacrificed on the Acropolis once a year, it was sacrificed in the character of
149
e Athena herself; and it may be conjectured that the skin of the sacrificed
animal was placed on the statue of the goddess and formed the aegis, which
would thus be renewed annually. Similarly at Thebes in Egypt rams were
sacred and were not sacrificed. But on one day in the year a ram was killed,
150
t and its skin was placed on the statue of the god Ammon. Now, if we knew
the ritual of the Arician grove better, we might find that the rule of
excluding horses from it, like the rule of excluding goats from the Acropolis
at Athens, was subject to an annual exception, a horse being once a year
151
e taken into the grove and sacrificed as an embodiment of the god Virbius.
By the usual misunderstanding the horse [pg 042] thus killed would come
in time to be regarded as an enemy offered up in sacrifice to the god whom
he had injured, like the pig which was sacrificed to Demeter and Osiris or
a the goat which was sacrificed to Dionysus, and possibly to Athena. It is so
a easy for a writer to record a rule without noticing an exception that we need
not wonder at finding the rule of the Arician grove recorded without any
mention of an exception such as I suppose. If we had had only the
statements of Athenaeus and Pliny, we should have known only the rule
which forbade the sacrifice of goats to Athena and excluded them from the
Acropolis, without being aware of the important exception which the
fortunate preservation of Varro's work has revealed to us.

The conjecture that once a year a horse may have been sacrificed in the
Arician grove as a representative of the deity of the grove derives some
support from the similar sacrifice of a horse which took place once a year at
f Rome. On the fifteenth of October in each year a chariot-race was run on
t the Field of Mars. Stabbed with a spear, the right-hand horse of the
n victorious team was then sacrificed to Mars for the purpose of ensuring
good crops, and its head was cut off and adorned with a string of loaves.
Thereupon the inhabitants of two wards—the Sacred Way and the Subura—
contended with each other who should get the head. If the people of the
Sacred Way got it, they fastened it to a wall of the king's house; if the
people of the Subura got it, they fastened it to the Mamilian tower. The
horse's tail was cut off and carried to the king's house with such speed that
the blood dripped on the hearth of the house.152 Further, it appears that the

blood of the horse was caught and preserved till the twenty-first of April,
when the Vestal virgins mixed it with the blood of the unborn calves which
had been sacrificed six days before. The mixture was then distributed to
shepherds, and used by them for fumigating their flocks.153

[pg 043]

In this ceremony the decoration of the horse's head154 with a string of
loaves, and the alleged object of the sacrifice, namely, to procure a good
e harvest, seem to indicate that the horse was killed as one of those animal
representatives of the corn-spirit of which we have found so many
examples. The custom of cutting off the horse's tail is like the African
custom of cutting off the tails of the oxen and sacrificing them to obtain a
good crop.155 In both the Roman and the African custom the animal
apparently stands for the corn-spirit, and its fructifying power is supposed
to reside especially in its tail. The latter idea occurs, as we have seen, in
European folk-lore.156 Again, the practice of fumigating the cattle in spring
with the blood of the horse may be compared with the practice of giving the
Old Wife, the Maiden, or the clyack sheaf as fodder to the horses in spring
or the cattle at Christmas, and giving the Yule Boar to the ploughing oxen
or horses to eat in spring.157 All these usages aim at ensuring the blessing of
the corn-spirit on the homestead and its inmates and storing it up for
another year.

The Roman sacrifice of the October horse, as it was called, carries us back
to the early days when the Subura, afterwards a low and squalid quarter of
the great metropolis, was still a separate village, whose inhabitants engaged
in a friendly contest on the harvest-field with their neighbours of Rome,
e then a little rural town. The Field of Mars on which the ceremony took
place lay beside the Tiber, and formed part of the king's domain down to the
abolition of the monarchy. For tradition ran that at the time when the last of
the kings was driven from Rome, the corn stood ripe for the sickle on the
e crown lands beside the river; but no one would eat the accursed grain and it
was flung into the river in such heaps that, the water being low with the
f summer heat, it formed the nucleus of an island.158 [pg 044] The horse
sacrifice was thus an old autumn custom observed upon the king's corn-
fields at the end of the harvest. The tail and blood of the horse, as the chief

parts of the corn-spirit's representative, were taken to the king's house and
kept there; just as in Germany the harvest-cock is nailed on the gable or
over the door of the farmhouse; and as the last sheaf, in the form of the
Maiden, is carried home and kept over the fireplace in the Highlands of
Scotland. Thus the blessing of the corn-spirit was brought to the king's
house and hearth and, through them, to the community of which he was the
head. Similarly in the spring and autumn customs of Northern Europe the
Maypole is sometimes set up in front of the house of the mayor or
burgomaster, and the last sheaf at harvest is brought to him as the head of
the village. But while the tail and blood fell to the king, the neighbouring
village of the Subura, which no doubt once had a similar ceremony of its
own, was gratified by being allowed to compete for the prize of the horse's
head. The Mamilian tower, to which the Suburans nailed the horse's head
when they succeeded in carrying it off, appears to have been a peel-tower or
keep of the old Mamilian family, the magnates of the village.159 The
ceremony thus performed on the king's fields and at his house on behalf of
the whole town and of the neighbouring village presupposes a time when
each township performed a similar ceremony on its own fields. In the rural
districts of Latium the villages may have continued to observe the custom,
each on its own land, long after the Roman hamlets had merged their
separate harvest-homes in the common celebration on the king's lands.
There is no intrinsic improbability in the supposition that the sacred grove
of Aricia, like the Field of Mars at Rome, may have been the scene of a
common harvest celebration, at which a horse was sacrificed with the same
rude rites on behalf of the neighbouring villages. The horse would represent
the fructifying spirit both of the tree and of the corn, for the two ideas melt
into each other, as we see in customs like the Harvest-May.

However, it should be borne in mind that the evidence for thus interpreting
the relation of horses to Virbius is [pg 045] exceedingly slender, and that
the custom of excluding horses from the sacred Arician grove may have
been based on some other superstitious motive which entirely escapes us.
e At the city of Ialysus in Rhodes there was a sanctuary of Alectrona, one of
the daughters of the Sun, into which no horse, ass, mule, or beast of burden
of any kind might enter. Any person who broke the law by introducing one
of these animals into the holy precinct, had to purify the place by a
sacrifice; and the same atonement had to be made by any man who brought

shoes or any portion of a pig within the sacred boundaries. And whoever
drove or suffered his sheep to stray into the precinct was obliged to pay a
160
e fine of one obol for every sheep that set foot in it. The reasons for these
r prohibitions are quite unknown; and the taboo on horses is particularly
remarkable, since the Rhodians were in the habit of offering a chariot and
horses every year to the Sun, the father of Alectrona,161 doubtless in order
e that he might ride on them through the sky. Did they think that it was not
for the daughter of the Sun to meddle with horses, which were the peculiar
property of her father? The conjecture may perhaps be supported by an
analogy drawn from West Africa. The Ewe negroes of the Slave Coast
conceive the Rain-god Nyikplã as a man who rides a horse, and who may
be seen galloping on it through the sky in the form of a shooting star. Hence
in the town of Angla, where he generally resides when he is at home, no
person may appear on horseback in the streets, that being apparently
regarded as an impious usurpation of the style of the deity. In former days
even Europeans were forbidden to ride on horseback in Angla; and
missionaries who attempted to set the local prejudice at defiance have been
pelted with sticks and dirt by the outraged natives.162 Another deity who
suffered not horses to enter his sacred [pg 046] place was Rakelimalaza, a
Malagasy god whose name signifies “renowned, although diminutive.” His
residence was a village situated on the top of a hill about seven miles east of
Tananarivo. But horses were not the only animal or thing to which this
fastidious being entertained a rooted aversion. “Within the limits of the
ground which is considered sacred, and which embraces a wide
circumference in the immediate vicinity of the idol's residence, it is strictly
forbidden to bring, or to suffer to come, certain animals and certain objects,
which are carefully specified by the keepers of the idol. Things thus
forbidden are called fady; a term of similar import with the well-known
tabu of the South Sea Islands. Every idol has its own particular fady. The
things prohibited by Rakelimalaza are, guns, gunpowder, pigs, onions,
sifotra (a shell-fish resembling a snail), sitry (a small animal resembling the
young crocodile), striped or spotted robes, anything of a black colour, goats,
horses, meat distributed at funerals or at the tangena, and cats and owls. Its
keepers are forbidden to enter any house where there is a corpse; and in
crossing a river they are not permitted to say, ‘Carry me,’ otherwise they
place themselves in danger of being seized by the crocodiles; and in war
they must not talk, or they are in danger of being shot.”163 To attempt to

discover the particular reasons for all these numerous and varied taboos
would obviously be futile; many of them may be based on accidental
circumstances which for us are lost past recovery. But it may be worth
while to observe that a variety of taboos was enforced at other ancient
Greek shrines besides the sanctuary of Alectrona at Ialysus. For example,
no person was allowed to enter the sanctuary of the Mistress at Lycosura in
Arcadia clad in black, purple, or flowered vestments, or wearing shoes or a
ring, or with his or her hair plaited or covered, or carrying flowers in his
hand;164 and no pomegranates might be brought into the sanctuary, though
all other fruits of the orchard were free to enter.165 These instances may
warn us against the danger of [pg 047] arguing too confidently in favour of
any one of the many possible reasons which may have moved the old Latins
to exclude horses from the sacred Arician grove. The domain of primitive
superstition, in spite of the encroachments of science, is indeed still to a
great extent a trackless wilderness, a tangled maze, in the gloomy recesses
of which the forlorn explorer may wander for ever without a light and
without a clue.

[pg 048]

Chapter X. Eating The God.

§ 1. The Sacrament of First-Fruits.

We have now seen that the corn-spirit is represented sometimes in human,
sometimes in animal form, and that in both cases he is killed in the person
f of his representative and eaten sacramentally. To find examples of actually
e killing the human representative of the corn-spirit we had naturally to go to
n savage races; but the harvest-suppers of our European peasants have
furnished unmistakable examples of the sacramental eating of animals as
e representatives of the corn-spirit. But further, as might have been
f anticipated, the new corn is itself eaten sacramentally, that is, as the body of
the corn-spirit. In Wermland, Sweden, the farmer's wife uses the grain of
the last sheaf to bake a loaf in the shape of a little girl; this loaf is divided
amongst the whole household and eaten by them.166 Here the loaf represents
f the corn-spirit conceived as a maiden; just as in Scotland the corn-spirit is
w similarly conceived and represented by the last sheaf made up in the form
n of a woman and bearing the name of the Maiden. As usual, the corn-spirit is
believed to reside in the last sheaf; and to eat a loaf made from the last
d sheaf is, therefore, to eat the corn-spirit itself. Similarly at La Palisse, in
France, a man made of dough is hung upon the fir-tree which is carried on
the last harvest-waggon. The tree and the dough-man are taken to the
mayor's house and kept there till the vintage is over. Then the close of the
harvest is celebrated by a [pg 049] feast at which the mayor breaks the
dough-man in pieces and gives the pieces to the people to eat.167

In these examples the corn-spirit is represented and eaten in human shape.
In other cases, though the new corn is not baked in loaves of human shape,
still the solemn ceremonies with which it is eaten suffice to indicate that it
is partaken of sacramentally, that is, as the body of the corn-spirit. For
t example, the following ceremonies used to be observed by Lithuanian
e peasants at eating the new corn. About the time of the autumn sowing, when
all the corn had been got in and the threshing had begun, each farmer held a
festival called Sabarios, that is, “the mixing or throwing together.” He took
nine good handfuls of each kind of crop—wheat, barley, oats, flax, beans,

lentils, and the rest; and each handful he divided into three parts. The
twenty-seven portions of each grain were then thrown on a heap and all
mixed up together. The grain used had to be that which was first threshed
and winnowed and which had been set aside and kept for this purpose. A
part of the grain thus mixed was employed to bake little loaves, one for
each of the household; the rest was mixed with more barley or oats and
made into beer. The first beer brewed from this mixture was for the drinking
of the farmer, his wife, and children; the second brew was for the servants.
The beer being ready, the farmer chose an evening when no stranger was
expected. Then he knelt down before the barrel of beer, drew a jugful of the
liquor and poured it on the bung of the barrel, saying, “O fruitful earth,
make rye and barley and all kinds of corn to flourish.” Next he took the jug
to the parlour, where his wife and children awaited him. On the floor of the
parlour lay bound a black or white or speckled (not a red) cock and a hen of
the same colour and of the same brood, which must have been hatched
within the year. Then the farmer knelt down, with the jug in his hand, and
thanked God for the harvest and prayed for a good crop next year. Next all
lifted up their hands and said, “O God, and thou, O earth, we give you this
cock and hen as [pg 050] a free-will offering.” With that the farmer killed
the fowls with the blows of a wooden spoon, for he might not cut their
heads off. After the first prayer and after killing each of the birds he poured
out a third of the beer. Then his wife boiled the fowls in a new pot which
had never been used before. After that, a bushel was set, bottom upwards,
on the floor, and on it were placed the little loaves mentioned above and the
boiled fowls. Next the new beer was fetched, together with a ladle and three
mugs, none of which was used except on this occasion. When the farmer
had ladled the beer into the mugs, the family knelt down round the bushel.
The father then uttered a prayer and drank off the three mugs of beer. The
rest followed his example. Then the loaves and the flesh of the fowls were
eaten, after which the beer went round again, till every one had emptied
each of the three mugs nine times. None of the food should remain over; but
if anything did happen to be left, it was consumed next morning with the
same ceremonies. The bones were given to the dog to eat; if he did not eat
them all up, the remains were buried under the dung in the cattle-stall. This
ceremony was observed at the beginning of December. On the day on which
it took place no bad word might be spoken.168

Such was the custom about two hundred years or more ago. At the present
day in Lithuania, when new potatoes or loaves made from the new corn are
being eaten, all the people at table pull each other's hair.169 The meaning of
this last custom is obscure, but a similar custom was certainly observed by
the heathen Lithuanians at their solemn [pg 051] sacrifices.170 Many of the
g Esthonians of the island of Oesel will not eat bread baked of the new corn
w till they have first taken a bite at a piece of iron.171 The iron is here plainly a
r charm, intended to render harmless the spirit that is in the corn.172 In
Sutherlandshire at the present day, when the new potatoes are dug all the
family must taste them, otherwise “the spirits in them [the potatoes] take
offence, and the potatoes would not keep.”173 In one part of Yorkshire it is
still customary for the clergyman to cut the first corn; and my informant
believes that the corn so cut is used to make the communion bread.174 If the
latter part of the custom is correctly reported (and analogy is all in its
favour), it shews how the Christian communion has absorbed within itself a
sacrament which is doubtless far older than Christianity.

Among the heathen Cheremiss on the left bank of the Volga, when the first
bread baked from the new corn is to be eaten, the villagers assemble in the
house of the oldest inhabitant, the eastern door is opened, and all pray with
e their faces towards it. Then the sorcerer or priest gives to each of them a
mug of beer, which they drain; next he cuts and hands to every person a
morsel of the loaf, which they partake of. Finally, the young people go to
g the elders and bowing down to the earth before them say, “We pray God
w that you may live, and that God may let us pray next year for new corn.”
The rest of the day is passed in mirth and dancing. The whole ceremony,
observes the writer who has described it, looks almost like a caricature of
the Eucharist.175 According to another account, each Cheremiss householder
on this occasion, after bathing, places some of each kind of grain, together
with malt, cakes, and drink, in a vessel, which he holds up to the sun, at the
same time thanking the gods for the good things which they have bestowed
upon him.176 [pg 052] But this part of the ceremony is a sacrifice rather than
a sacrament of the new corn.

The Aino or Ainu of Japan are said to distinguish various kinds of millet as
male and female respectively, and these kinds, taken together, are called
“the divine husband and wife cereal” (Umurek haru kamui). “Therefore
e

t before millet is pounded and made into cakes for general eating, the old
e men have a few made for themselves first to worship. When they are ready
they pray to them very earnestly and say:—‘O thou cereal deity, we worship
thee. Thou hast grown very well this year, and thy flavour will be sweet.
Thou art good. The goddess of fire will be glad, and we also shall rejoice
greatly. O thou god, O thou divine cereal, do thou nourish the people. I now
partake of thee. I worship thee and give thee thanks.’ After having thus
prayed, they, the worshippers, take a cake and eat it, and from this time the
people may all partake of the new millet. And so with many gestures of
homage and words of prayer this kind of food is dedicated to the well-being
of the Ainu. No doubt the cereal offering is regarded as a tribute paid to
god, but that god is no other than the seed itself; and it is only a god in so
far as it is beneficial to the human body.”177

The natives of the Reef Islands in Melanesia describe as follows the
ceremonies which they observe at eating new fruits: “When the fruit of
trees that are eatable, such as bread-fruit, or ninas (nuts) is nearly ripe,
e about a month before the time that people eat it, they all go together into the
bush. They must all go together for this ‘holy eating,’ and when they return
f they all assemble in one place, and no one will be absent; they sit down and
t cook bread-fruit. While it is being cooked no one will eat beforehand, but
e they set it in order and cook it with reverence, and with the belief that the
- spirit has granted that food to them and they return thanks to him for it.
d When it is cooked a certain man takes a bread-fruit and climbs up a tree,
and all the people stand on the ground and they all look up, and when he
has reached the top they shout out, and when they have shouted they call
out, ‘This is the bread-fruit of the whole [pg 053] land’; then he throws
down the bread-fruit and they pick it up and shout out again and give
thanks, for they think that the spirit who protects the fruit will hear. Their
thoughts are thus also with regard to the yam, there is no difference, it is all
the same; they think that a spirit gives them food, and the people assemble
together and thank the spirit. In every island they think that there is a spirit
presiding over food.”178

At Bourail, in New Caledonia, the eating of the first yams of the season is a
solemn ceremony. The women may take no part in it; indeed for five days
previously they may not even shew themselves on any pretext, and must
w

hide in the forest. But the men of other tribes are invited to share in the
t festivity. On the day of the ceremony seven or eight yams are dug up with
e the greatest precaution, wrapt in leaves, and carried before the great wooden
images, ten or twelve feet high, rudely carved in human form and painted
black, red, and white, which represent the ancestors of the tribe. Special
pots, only used on these occasions, are then disinterred by boys, who cook
the new yams in them, eat them, and afterwards bury the pots in the places
where they found them. Thereupon the chief or the oldest man mounts a
ladder and addresses the crowd in a long and voluble harangue, telling them
how their forefathers always respected the feast of the first yams, and
exhorting the young men of the tribe to do the same in the time to come.
After that, turning towards the ancestral images, he prays them to give a
good crop of yams every year to the people and their descendants, adjuring
them to remember how, while they were still on earth, they always ate to
their heart's content, and beseeching them to reflect that their sons and
grandsons naturally desire to do the same. When the orator has finished his
discourse, and his hearers have signified their approval of his eloquence by
a loud grunt, the new yams are dressed and eaten, each family cooking them
in a pot of its own.179

[pg 054]

At the close of the rice harvest in the East Indian island of Buru, each clan
(fenna) meets at a common sacramental meal, to which every member of
the clan is bound to contribute a little of the new rice. This meal is called
d “eating the soul of the rice,” a name which clearly indicates the sacramental
g character of the repast. Some of the rice is also set apart and offered to the
w spirits.180 Amongst the Alfoors of Minahassa, in the north of Celebes, the
n priest sows the first rice-seed and plucks the first ripe rice in each field.
d This rice he roasts and grinds into meal, and gives some of it to each of the
household.181 Shortly before the rice-harvest in Bolang Mongondo, another
district of Celebes, an offering is made of a small pig or a fowl. Then the
priest plucks a little rice, first on his own field and next on those of his
neighbours. All the rice thus plucked by him he dries along with his own,
and then gives it back to the respective owners, who have it ground and
boiled. When it is boiled the women take it back, with an egg, to the priest,
who offers the egg in sacrifice and returns the rice to the women. Of this

rice every member of the family, down to the youngest child, must partake.
After this ceremony every one is free to get in his rice.182

On the north coast of Ceram every owner of a rice-field begins planting by
making six holes in the middle of the field and depositing rice-seed in them.
When the crop is ripe, the rice which has sprouted from these six holes must
d be the first to be reaped and the first to be eaten by the owner at the
g common harvest-feast of the village. When all the owners of the fields have
w thus partaken of the rice that was first planted and first reaped in their
n fields, the other villagers may help themselves to rice out of the pot. Not till
d this feast has been held may the owners of rice-fields sell their rice.183
Among the Kayans of Central Borneo, who, as [pg 055] we have seen,
believe rice to be animated by a soul,184 before a family partakes of the new
rice at harvest, a priestess must touch the face and breast of every person
with a magical instrument (kahe parei) consisting of the husk of a certain
fruit adorned with strings of beads. After this ceremony has been performed
on every member of the family, he or she eats a few grains of the new rice
and drinks a little water. When all have complied with this ritual, the feast
begins.185

Amongst the Burghers or Badagas, a tribe of the Neilgherry Hills in
Southern India, the first handful of seed is sown and the first sheaf reaped
by a Curumbar—a man of a different tribe, the members of which the
d Burghers regard as sorcerers. The grain contained in the first sheaf “is that
g day reduced to meal, made into cakes, and, being offered as a first-fruit
w oblation, is, together with the remainder of the sacrificed animal, partaken
n of by the Burgher and the whole of his family, as the meat of a federal
offering and sacrifice.”186 Amongst the Coorgs of Southern India the man
who is to cut the first sheaf of rice at harvest is chosen by an astrologer. At
sunset the whole household takes a hot bath and then goes to the rice-field,
where the chosen reaper cuts an armful of rice with a new sickle, and
distributes two or more stalks to all present. Then all return to the threshing-
floor. A bundle of leaves is adorned with a stalk of rice and fastened to the
post in the centre of the threshing-floor. Enough of the new rice is now
threshed, cleaned, and ground to provide flour for the dough-cakes which
each member of the household is to eat. Then they go to the door of the
house, where the mistress washes the feet of the sheaf-cutter, and presents

to him, and after him to all the rest, a brass vessel full of milk, honey, and
sugar, from which each person takes a draught. Next the man who cut the
sheaf kneads a cake of rice-meal, plantains, milk, honey, seven new rice
corns, seven pieces [pg 056] of coco-nut, and so on. Every one receives a
little of his cake on an Ashvatha leaf, and eats it. The ceremony is then over
and the sheaf-cutter mixes with the company. When he was engaged in
cutting the rice no one might touch him.187 Among the Hindoos of Southern
India the eating of the new rice is the occasion of a family festival called
Pongol. The new rice is boiled in a new pot on a fire which is kindled at
noon on the day when, according to Hindoo astrologers, the sun enters the
tropic of Capricorn. The boiling of the pot is watched with great anxiety by
the whole family, for as the milk boils, so will the coming year be. If the
milk boils rapidly, the year will be prosperous; but it will be the reverse if
the milk boils slowly. Some of the new boiled rice is offered to the image of
Gaṇeṣa; then every one partakes of it.188 In some parts of Northern India the
festival of the new crop is known as Navan, that is, “new grain.” When the
crop is ripe, the owner takes the omens, goes to the field, plucks five or six
ears of barley in the spring crop and one of the millets in the autumn
harvest. This is brought home, parched, and mixed with coarse sugar, butter,
and curds. Some of it is thrown on the fire in the name of the village gods
and deceased ancestors; the rest is eaten by the family.189 At Gilgit, in the
Hindoo Koosh, before wheat-harvest begins, a member of every household
gathers a handful of ears of corn secretly at dusk. A few of the ears are hung
up over the door of the house, and the rest are roasted next morning, and
eaten steeped in milk. The day is spent in rejoicings, and next morning the
harvest begins.190

The Chams of Binh-Thuan, in Indo-China, may not reap the rice-harvest
until they have offered the first-fruits to Po-Nagar, the goddess of
agriculture, and have consumed them sacramentally. These first-fruits are
d gathered from certain sacred fields called Hamou-Klêk-Laoa or “fields of
e [pg 057] secret tillage,” which are both sown and reaped with peculiar
t ceremonies. Apparently the tilling of the earth is considered a crime which
must be perpetrated secretly and afterwards atoned for. On a lucky day in
June, at the first cock-crow, two men lead the buffaloes and the plough to
the sacred field, round which they draw three furrows in profound silence
g and then retire. Afterwards at dawn the owner of the land comes lounging

w by, as if by the merest chance. At sight of the furrows he stops, pretends to
be much surprised, and cries out, “Who has been secretly ploughing my
field this night?” Hastening home, he kills a kid or some fowls, cooks the
victuals, and prepares five quids of betel, some candles, a flask of oil, and
lustral water of three different sorts. With these offerings and the plough
drawn by the buffaloes, he returns to the field, where he lights the candles
and spreading out the victuals worships Po-Nagar and the other deities,
saying: “I know not who has secretly ploughed my field this night. Pardon,
ye gods, those who have done this wrong. Accept these offerings. Bless us.
Suffer us to proceed with this work.” Then, speaking in the name of the
deities, he gives the reassuring answer, “All right. Plough away!” With the
lustral water he washes or sprinkles the buffaloes, the yoke, and the plough.
The oil serves to anoint the plough and to pour libations on the ground. The
five quids of betel are buried in the field. Thereupon the owner sows a
handful of rice on the three furrows that have been traced, and eats the
victuals with his people. After all these rites have been duly performed, he
may plough and sow his land as he likes. When the rice has grown high
enough in this “field of secret tillage” to hide pigeons, offerings of ducks,
eggs, and fowls are made to the deities; and fresh offerings, which generally
consist of five plates of rice, two boiled fowls, a bottle of spirits, and five
quids of betel, are made to Po-Nagar and the rest at the time when the rice
is in bloom. Finally, when the rice in “the field of secret tillage” is ripe, it
has to be reaped before any of the rest. Offerings of food, such as boiled
fowls, plates of rice, cakes, and so forth, are spread out on the field; a
candle is lit, and a priest or, in his absence, the owner prays to the [pg 058]
guardian deities to come and partake of the food set before them. After that
the owner of the land cuts three stalks of rice with a sickle in the middle of
the field, then he cuts three handfuls at the side, and places the whole in a
napkin. These are the first-fruits offered to Po-Nagar, the goddess of
agriculture. On being taken home the rice from the three handfuls is husked,
pounded in a mortar, and presented to the goddess with these words: “Taste,
O goddess, these first-fruits which have just been reaped.” This rice is
afterwards eaten, while the straw and husks are burned. Having eaten the
first-fruits of the rice, the owner takes the three stalks cut in the middle of
the field, passes them through the smoke of the precious eagle-wood, and
hangs them up in his house, where they remain till the next sowing-time
comes round. The grain from these three stalks will form the seed of the

three furrows in “the field of secret tillage.” Not till these ceremonies have
been performed is the proprietor at liberty to reap the rest of that field and
all the others.191

The ceremony of eating the new yams at Onitsha, on the Niger, is thus
described: “Each headman brought out six yams, and cut down young
branches of palm-leaves and placed them before his gate, roasted three of
g the yams, and got some kola-nuts and fish. After the yam is roasted, the
w Libia, or country doctor, takes the yam, scrapes it into a sort of meal, and
t divides it into halves; he then takes one piece, and places it on the lips of
n the person who is going to eat the new yam. The eater then blows up the
steam from the hot yam, and afterwards pokes the whole into his mouth,
and says, ‘I thank God for being permitted to eat the new yam’; he then
begins to chew it heartily, with fish likewise.”192

Among the Ewe negroes of West Africa the eating of the new yams is the
greatest festival of the year; it usually falls at the beginning of September,
and its character is predominantly religious. We possess a native account of
g the festival [pg 059] as it is celebrated by the tribe of the Hos in Togoland.
w When the yams are ripe and ready to be dug up and brought home, two days
are devoted to cleansing the town of all ills, whether spiritual or material, as
e a solemn preparation for the ensuing celebration. When these rites of
purification, which will be described in a later part of this work, have been
f accomplished, then, in the words of the native account, “the people make
ready to eat the new yams. And the manner of making ready consists in
going to the fields and digging the yams. However, they do not bring them
home but lay them down somewhere on the way. The reason why they do
not bring them home is that the people have not yet been on the place where
they sacrifice to the deity. When they wish to go thither, the way to the
sacrificial place of Agbasia must first be cleared of grass. Afterwards the
people come with their drums, which they beat loudly. When they are come
to the place of sacrifice, they first raise two great mounds of earth, and they
bring to the place of sacrifice palm wine, uncooked and cooked yams, and
meal mixed with oil. First of all the uncooked yams are cut in two through
the middle, and then this prayer is offered: ‘Agbasia, thou art he who has
given the yams; therefore here is thine own! We thank thee sincerely. May
the eating of the yams be a great joy, and may no quarrel intervene!’

Thereupon they lay down on the ground yams mixed with oil and not mixed
with oil. In doing so they say to Agbasia, ‘He who eats not the white yams,
to him belong the yams mixed with oil; and he who eats not the yams mixed
with oil, to him belong the white yams.’ They do the same with the meal
that is mixed with oil and with the meal that is not mixed with oil. Thereby
they say: ‘Here we bring thee all that thou hast given us. Eat thereof what
thou pleasest!’ After that they pour palm wine into one pot and water into
another, and say, ‘When one has eaten, one drinks water.’ Thereby the
drums sound, songs are sung, and the priest says: ‘Our father Agbasia, we
pray thee, let us hear no more evil but good only! When women are with
child, let them bear twins and triplets, that we may increase and multiply!
When the time for sowing the yams comes again, make it to rain upon them
even more than hitherto, in order that we [pg 060] may come again and
thank thee more sincerely than hitherto!’ Thereupon the priest pours water
on one of the mounds, makes a paste with it, and calls the people thither.
Then he dips his finger in the slime and smears it on their brows, temples,
and breasts, saying, ‘This is the slime of Agbasia, wherewith I smear you,
that ye may remain in life.’ After that they disperse and go home. Further,
the prayers and offerings of the individual peasants on the occasion of the
yam festival are described as follows. “In the evening, when the town is
swept clean, the people go to the fields to fetch yams, which, however, they
may not yet bring into the town and therefore they hide them in the forest.
As soon as the high priest quits the town next morning to go to the
sacrificial place of his god, the women set out to fetch the yams which they
had deposited. Now they begin to cook. Many people kill fowls or goats,
and others buy fish for the festival. When the yams are sodden, a little is
broken off, mixed with oil, and laid, together with uncooked yams, on the
ground at the entrance to the homestead. Thereby the house-father says:
‘That belongs to all those (gods) who abide at the fence.’ He does the same
under the door of the house and says: ‘That belongs to all those (gods) who
dwell with me.’ Then he goes to the loom, and brings it its offering, and
says: ‘That belongs to all the “Artificers” who have helped me in weaving.’
After that he lays all his charms on a mat spread in the house, and brings
them also their offering, and speaks with them.”

“Another account describes the priestly functions of the house-father still
more fully. Every house-father takes a raw piece of yam and goes with it to

his loom (agbati) and prays: ‘May the Artificers take this yam and eat!
When they practise their art, may it prosper!’ Again he takes a raw yam and
goes with it under the house-door and prays: ‘O my guardian-spirit
(aklama) and all ye gods who pay heed to this house, come and eat yams!
When I also eat of them, may I remain healthy and nowhere feel pain! May
my housemates all remain healthy!’ After he has invoked their protection on
his family, he takes a cooked yam, crumbles it on a stone, and mixes it with
red oil. With this mixture he goes again to the loom and prays [pg 061] as
before. But even that is not the end of the worship of the Artificers. He
again crumbles a cooked yam, but this time he does not mix it with red oil;
he goes to the entrance of the homestead and prays again to the loom: ‘He
among the Artificers who does not relish yams mixed with oil, let him come
and take the white yam and eat it!’ From there he goes again under the
house-door and prays: ‘He of my guardian gods and he of the watchers of
the house who likes not yams mixed with oil, let him come and take the
white yam from my hand and eat!’ From the house-door he steps into the
midst of the chamber and says: ‘He who relishes not the yams mixed with
oil, may eat the white; he who relishes not the white may eat the red; and he
who relishes not the red may eat the uncooked!’ With this prayer he has
completed his duties as house-priest. Just as the weaver prays to his loom,
so the hunter prays to his musket, the smith to his hammer and anvil, and
the carpenter to his plane and saw.

“Now, while the free people begin to cook the yams so soon as the priest
has left the town, the slaves of the Earth Gods, the Trõkluwo, must first as
children perform their duties to the priest of their gods. Each of these
children receives from his parents on the morning of the Yam Festival two
pieces of yam, which he brings to the priest of his god. The priest cuts off a
small piece of the yam and divides the piece again into four pieces. The
child kneels before him and lolls out his tongue. Holding two of these
pieces of yam in his hands, the priest utters a prayer over the child and
touches his tongue five times with the pieces of yam. Then the child
stretches his hands out, each of which the priest touches five times with the
same pieces of yam and prays as before. Then he touches both feet of the
child five times and prays for the third time. He takes half of the cowry-
shells which the child has brought, fastens them on a string, and hangs it
round the child's neck. Thereby the child gets leave to eat new yams.

“After all these preparations the yams are pounded into a mash, and every
one calls his brother, that he may eat with him. When the meal is over, the
people are called together to amuse themselves and to drink palm wine. In
[pg 062] the afternoon every one bathes, puts on a new garment, and girds
himself with a new loin-cloth.”193

The Ashantees celebrate the festival of the new yams early in September;
until it is over none of the people may taste of the new yams. “The Yam
f Custom,” we are told, “is like the Saturnalia; neither theft, intrigue, nor
w assault are punishable during the continuance, but the grossest liberty
prevails, and each sex abandons itself to its passions.” An eye-witness has
e described the scene at Coomassie, the capital: “The next morning the King
ordered a large quantity of rum to be poured into brass pans, in various
parts of the town; the crowd pressing around, and drinking like hogs;
freemen and slaves, women and children, striking, kicking, and trampling
each other under foot, pushed head foremost into the pans, and spilling
much more than they drank. In less than an hour, excepting the principal
men, not a sober person was to be seen, parties of four, reeling and rolling
under the weight of another, whom they affected to be carrying home;
strings of women covered with red paint, hand in hand, falling down like
rows of cards; the commonest mechanics and slaves furiously declaiming
on state palavers; the most discordant music, the most obscene songs,
children of both sexes prostrate in insensibility. All wore their handsomest
cloths, which they trailed after them to a great length, in a drunken
emulation of extravagance and dirtiness.” About a hundred persons, mostly
culprits reserved for the purpose, used to be sacrificed at this festival in
Coomassie. All the chiefs killed several slaves that their blood might flow
into the hole from which the new yam was taken. Such as could not afford
to kill slaves took the head of a slave who had already been sacrificed and
placed it in [pg 063] the hole. About ten days after these ceremonies the
whole of the royal household ate new yams for the first time in the market-
place, the King himself being in attendance. Next day he and his captains
set off before sunrise to perform their annual ablutions in the river Dah;
almost all the inhabitants of the capital followed him, so that the streets
appeared to be deserted. The following day the King, attended by his suite,
washed in the marsh at the south-east end of the town and laved the water
not only over himself but also over the chairs, stools, gold and silver plate,

and the articles of furniture which were set aside for his special use.194 From
another account it appears that the King of Ashantee must eat the new yams
before any of his subjects was at liberty to do so.195 Similarly in the West
African kingdom of Assinie, which forms part of the French possessions of
Senegal, the king must eat the new yams eight full days before the people
may taste them.196

A second festival of yams used to be celebrated at Coomassie in December,
when the king or a fetish priest consecrated the new yams before they could
f be eaten by common folk. On one of the days of this December celebration
w all the laws were suspended, and every man might do what seemed good in
t his own eyes: he might even, contrary to custom, look at the king's wives,
to the number of several hundreds, when they returned with the king and his
suite from washing in the fetish water of Tana. All that day drinking went
on, and the noise and uproar were prolonged far into the night. Early in the
morning a human victim was sacrificed: the first man found near the gates
of the palace was seized, butchered, and cut in pieces, and the executioners
danced with the bleeding fragments of the victim in their hands or fastened
round their necks. Before he ate of the new yams the king washed himself
in fetish water brought from distant springs, and the chiefs performed
similar ablutions.197 In [pg 064] Benin the new yams might not be eaten
until the king had performed certain ceremonies, among which one is said
to have been a pretence of making a yam to grow in a pot. Dancing,
merrymaking, and farces or plays formed part of the festival; the city was
crowded with people, and they indulged in a regular orgie.198

Among the Nandi of British East Africa, when the eleusine grain is ripening
in autumn, every woman who owns a cornfield goes out into it with her
daughters, and they all pluck some of the ripe grain. Each of the women
d then fixes one grain in her necklace and chews another, which she rubs on
e her forehead, throat, and breast. No mark of joy escapes them; sorrowfully
t they cut a basketful of the new corn, and carrying it home place it in the loft
e to dry. As the ceiling is of wickerwork, a good deal of the grain drops
through the crevices and falls into the fire, where it explodes with a
crackling noise. The people make no attempt to prevent this waste; for they
regard the crackling of the grain in the fire as a sign that the souls of the
dead are partaking of it. A few days later porridge is made from the new

grain and served up with milk at the evening meal. All the members of the
family take some of the porridge and dab it on the walls and roofs of the
huts; also they put a little in their mouths and spit it out towards the east and
on the outside of the huts. Then, holding up some of the grain in his hand,
the head of the family prays to God for health and strength, and likewise for
milk, and everybody present repeats the words of the prayer after him.199
Amongst the Baganda, when the beans were ripe, a woman would call her
eldest son to eat some of the first which she cooked; if she neglected to do
so, it was believed that she would incur the displeasure of the gods and fall
ill. After the meal her husband jumped over her, and the beans might
thereafter be eaten by all.200

Amongst the Caffres of Natal and Zululand, no one may eat of the new
fruits till after a festival which marks [pg 065] the beginning of the Caffre
f year and falls at the end of December or the beginning of January. All the
w people assemble at the king's kraal, where they feast and dance. Before they
separate the “dedication of the people” takes place. Various fruits of the
e earth, as corn, mealies, and pumpkins, mixed with the flesh of a sacrificed
f animal and with “medicine,” are boiled in great pots, and a little of this food
d is placed in each man's mouth by the king himself. After thus partaking of
the sanctified fruits, a man is himself sanctified for the whole year, and may
immediately get in his crops.201 It is believed that if any man were to
partake of the new fruits before the festival, he would die;202 if he were
detected, he would be put to death, or at least all his cattle would be taken
from him.203 The holiness of the new fruits is well marked by the rule that
they must be cooked in a special pot which is used only for this purpose,
and on a new fire kindled by a magician through the friction of two sticks
which are called “husband and wife.” These sticks are prepared by the
sorcerers from the wood of the Uzwati tree and belong exclusively to the
chief. The “wife” is the shorter of the two. When the magician has kindled
the new fire on which the new fruits are to be cooked, he hands the fire-
sticks back to the chief, for no other hand may touch them; and they are
then put away till they are required next season. The sticks are regarded as
in a measure sacred, and no one, except the chief's personal servant, may go
to the side of the hut where they are kept. No pot but the one used for the
preparation of this feast may be set on a fire made by the friction of the
“husband and wife.” When the feast is over, the fire is carefully

extinguished, and the pot is put away with the fire-sticks, where it remains
untouched for another year.204

A remarkable feature of the festival, as it is observed at [pg 066] the court
of the Zulu king, is a dance performed by the king himself in a mantle of
f grass or, according to another account, of herbs and corn-leaves. This
u mantle is afterwards burnt and its ashes are scattered and trodden into the
e ground by cattle.205 Further, it is worthy of notice that the festival is
described as a saturnalia, and we are told that “a great deal of noise and
dancing goes on, and people are not supposed to be responsible for what
they say or do.”206 Thus, for example, among the Pondos the festival
e includes a period of license, during the continuance of which the chief
abdicates his functions and any crime may be committed with impunity.
The description of the Pondo festival comprises so many interesting
features that I will reproduce it entire. “When a Pondo chief is to hold the
feast of first-fruits, some of his people procure a ripe plant of the gourd
e family, pumpkin or calabash, from another tribe. This is cooked; the inside
cleaned out, and the rind made ready for use as a vessel. It is then presented
to the chief with much ceremony. The first-fruits are now brought forward,
and a sacrifice, generally a young bull, is offered, after which the feast
commences. The chief issues certain orders for the conduct of the
proceedings, tastes the fruits which are served in the gourd-dish with which
he has been presented, and then abdicates all his functions while the festival
s lasts. The cattle from all the neighbouring villages are collected in the
vicinity, and now they are brought together, and the bulls incited to fight to
s determine which is to be king among them for the next year. The young
people engage in games and dances, feats of strength and running. After
e these are over the whole community give themselves over to disorder,
debauchery, and riot. In their bull-fights and games they but did honour to
f the powers of nature, and now, as they eat and drink, the same powers are
l honoured in another form and by other rites. There is no one in authority to
keep order, and every man does what seems good in his [pg 067] own eyes.
u Should a man stab his neighbour he escapes all punishment, and so too with
all other crimes against the person, property, and morality. People are even
f permitted to abuse the chief to his face, an offence which at any other time
m would meet with summary vengeance and an unceremonious dispatch to
g join the ancestors. While the feast continues, a deafening noise is kept up by

d drumming, shouting, hand-clapping, and every kind of instrument that can
be made to emit sound. Men advance to the chief and explain their origin,
and also the object they hold sacred, by imitating the sounds and
movements of their most sacred animal. This is the person's totem. Others
imitate the gurgling made by an enemy when stabbed in the throat. Those
who adopt this latter emblem are known as ‘children of the spear.’ When the
ceremonies, revels, and mummeries are ended, the chief repairs to his
accustomed place, and sitting down there, by that act resumes his kingly
functions. He calls the bravest of his braves before him, who is immediately
clothed and decorated with skins of animals suggestive of courage and
strategy. He performs a dance amid the frenzied shouting of the multitude,
after which the chief declares the festival at an end and harvest
commenced.”207 Another writer, speaking of the Zulu festival of first-fruits
as it was celebrated in the time of the ferocious despot Chaka, says that “at
this period the chiefs are allowed to converse unreservedly with the king,
speaking with great freedom, and in some measure to be dictatorial.”208
Again, another traveller, who visited the Zulus in the reign of King Panda,
tells us that “in spite of the practice of the most absolute despotism there are
three days in the year when the nation in its turn has the right to call the
king to a severe account for his acts. It is at the general assembly of the
warriors, when the maize is ripe, that the lively discussions take place and
the questions are put to which the king must answer at once in a manner
satisfactory to the people. I have then seen [pg 068] simple warriors come
leaping from the ranks, assume the style of fluent and excessively energetic
orators, and not only confront the fiery glare of Panda, but even attack him
before everybody, blame his acts, call them infamous and base, compel him
to vindicate his conduct, and then refute his vindication by dissecting it and
exposing its falsehood, finally proceeding to haughty threats and winding
up the harangue with a gesture of contempt.”209 Such liberties taken with the
despotic Zulu kings seem to point to a time when they too, like the Pondo
chiefs, abdicated or were deposed during the festival. Perhaps we may even
go a step further. We have seen that on this occasion the Zulu king dances in
a mantle of grass or of herbs and corn-leaves, which is afterwards burnt and
the ashes scattered and trodden into the ground. This custom seems clearly
intended to promote the fertility of the earth, and in earlier times the same
end may have been compassed by burning the king himself and dispersing
his ashes; for we have seen that a Bechuana tribe, of the same Bantu stock

as the Zulus, were wont to sacrifice a human victim for the good of the
crops and to scatter his ashes over the ground.210 In this connexion it should
be borne in mind that we have found independent evidence of a custom of
putting the Zulu king to death whenever his bodily strength began to fail.211

[pg 069]

Among the Bechuanas it is a rule that before they partake of the new crops
they must purify themselves. The purification takes place at the
commencement of the new year on a day in January which is fixed by the
d chief. It begins in the great kraal of the tribe, where all the adult males
e assemble. Each of them takes in his hand leaves of a gourd called by the
natives lerotse (described as something between a pumpkin and a vegetable
marrow); and having crushed the leaves he anoints with the expressed juice
e his big toes and his navel; many people indeed apply the juice to all the
joints of their body, but the better-informed say that this is a vulgar
departure from ancient custom. After this ceremony in the great kraal every
man goes home to his own kraal, assembles all the members of his family,
men, women, and children, and smears them all with the juice of the lerotse
leaves. Some of the leaves are also pounded, mixed with milk in a large
wooden dish, and given to the dogs to lap up. Then the porridge plate of
each member of the family is rubbed with the lerotse leaves. When this
purification has been completed, but not before, the people are free to eat of
the new crops. On the night after the purification every man was bound, as
a matter of ritual, to sleep with his chief wife. If she had been unfaithful to
him during the past year, it was incumbent on her to confess her sin before
she fulfilled her part of the ceremony. Having confessed she was purified by
a medicine-man, who fumigated her with the smoke produced by burning a
bean plant. Thereupon husband and wife cut each other slightly under the
navel, and each of them rubbed his or her blood, mixed with “medicine,”
into the other's wound. That completed the purification of the woman, and
the pair might now proceed with the rest of the rite. Should a married man
be from home at the time when the annual purification [pg 070] ceremony
is performed, he is thought to be in a very sad plight; indeed his chances of
surviving for another year are supposed to be small. On his return home, he
dare not enter his own house, for he would pollute it, and if even his
shadow were to fall on one of his children, the child would die. He must

wait till his wife comes to him and brings him a calabash of water to drink,
which is a sign that she has waited for his return to perform the rite of
purification together. But if she does not bring the water, he knows that in
his absence she has performed the rite with some other man, and it becomes
necessary to purge her by means of fumigation and blood-letting, as
described before. But even when that purgation is completed, husband and
wife may not indulge in connubial intercourse for the rest of the year, that
is, until the next annual purification has taken place. The Bechuanas think
that “any breach of this rule will be punished with supernatural penalties—
the husband, wife, or child will die.”212

Among the Matabele, another Bantu tribe of South Africa, no one might
partake of the new fruits till the king had first tasted of them; any one who
was known to have broken the law was instantly put to death. On this
d occasion the regiments assembled at Bulawayo, the capital, and danced in a
e great semicircle before the king, who occasionally joined in the dance.
When he did so, the medicine-men and their satellites, armed with thorn-
g bushes, rushed about among the dancers and incited them to fresh [pg 071]
w efforts by a vigorous application of the thorns to the bodies of such as
seemed to flag. The king's wives also sang and danced before him in long
lines, holding the marriage ring in their right hands and green boughs in
their left. On the third day of the festival hundreds of oxen were sacrificed:
the flesh and blood of the black or sacred cattle were converted into charms;
while the carcases of the rest were cut up and distributed among the people,
who feasted upon them. The fourth day was specially set apart for the
ceremony of the first-fruits. In the morning all the people went down to the
river to wash, and on their return a witch-doctor or medicine-man took a
dish of the new vegetables and corn, mixed with charms, and scattered the
contents by handfuls among the crowd, who seized and ate them. After that
the people were free to eat the new crops. According to one account, this
festival of first-fruits was held at the first full moon which followed the
summer solstice (the twenty-first of December in the southern hemisphere);
according to another account, it took place a few days after the full moon of
February, which marked the beginning of the Matabele year.213

The Ovambo or, as they call themselves, the Ovakuanjama, of South-West
Africa, may not partake of the new fruits of the omuongo tree, which ripen

in February and from which an intoxicating beverage is extracted, until
certain ceremonies have been performed. Among other things husband and
wife mutually offer each other one of the fruits, make white strokes with
chalk each on the brow, cheeks, and nose of the other, and accompany the
e action with the formal expression of good wishes. If this ceremony, which
t seems to mark the beginning of the New Year, were omitted, they believe
e that they would be attacked by a painful disease of the knee-joints which
would cripple them.214

The Bororo Indians of Brazil think that it would be certain death to eat the
new maize before it has been blessed [pg 072] by the medicine-man. The
ceremony of blessing it is as follows. The half-ripe husk is washed and
placed before the medicine-man, who by dancing and singing for several
e hours, and by incessant smoking, works himself up into a state of ecstasy,
whereupon he bites into the husk, trembling in every limb and uttering
shrieks from time to time. A similar ceremony is performed whenever a
large animal or a large fish is killed. The Bororo are firmly persuaded that
e were any man to touch unconsecrated maize or meat, before the ceremony
had been completed, he and his whole tribe would perish.215

Amongst the Creek Indians of North America, the busk or festival of first-
fruits was the chief ceremony of the year.216 It was held in July or August,
k when the corn was ripe, and marked the end of the old year and the
l beginning of the new one. Before it took place, none of the Indians would
- eat or even handle any part of the new harvest. Sometimes each town had
its own busk; sometimes several towns united to hold one in common.
e Before celebrating the busk, the people provided themselves with new
clothes and new household utensils and furniture; they collected their old
f clothes and rubbish, together with all the remaining grain and other old
provisions, cast them together in one [pg 073] common heap, and consumed
them with fire.217 As a preparation for the ceremony, all the fires in the
d village were extinguished, and the ashes swept clean away. In particular, the
hearth or altar of the temple was dug up and the ashes carried out. Then the
e chief priest put some roots of the button-snake plant, with some green
y tobacco leaves and a little of the new fruits, at the bottom of the fireplace,
which he afterwards commanded to be covered up with white clay, and
wetted over with clean water. A thick arbour of green branches of young

trees was then made over the altar.218 Meanwhile the women at home were
cleaning out their houses, renewing the old hearths, and scouring all the
cooking vessels that they might be ready to receive the new fire and the
new fruits.219 The public or sacred square was carefully swept of even the
smallest crumbs of previous feasts, “for fear of polluting the first-fruit
offerings.” Also every vessel that had contained or had been used about any
food during the expiring year was removed from the temple before sunset.
Then all the men who were not known to have violated the law of the first-
fruit offering and that of marriage during the year were summoned by a
crier to enter the holy square and observe a solemn fast. But the women
(except six old ones), the children, and all who had not attained the rank of
warriors were forbidden to enter the square. Sentinels were also posted at
the corners of the square to keep out all persons deemed impure and all
animals. A strict fast was then observed for two nights and a day, the
devotees drinking a bitter decoction of button-snake root “in order to vomit
and purge their sinful bodies.” That the people outside the square might also
be purified, one of the old men laid down a quantity of green tobacco at a
corner of the square; this was carried off by an old woman and distributed
to the people without, who chewed and swallowed it “in order to afflict
their souls.” During this general fast, the women, children, and men of [pg
074] weak constitution were allowed to eat after mid-day, but not before.
On the morning when the fast ended, the women brought a quantity of the
old year's food to the outside of the sacred square. These provisions were
then fetched in and set before the famished multitude, but all traces of them
had to be removed before noon. When the sun was declining from the
meridian, all the people were commanded by the voice of a crier to stay
within doors, to do no bad act, and to be sure to extinguish and throw away
every spark of the old fire. Universal silence now reigned. Then the high
priest made the new fire by the friction of two pieces of wood, and placed it
on the altar under the green arbour. This new fire was believed to atone for
all past crimes except murder. Next a basket of new fruits was brought; the
high priest took out a little of each sort of fruit, rubbed it with bear's oil, and
offered it, together with some flesh, “to the bountiful holy spirit of fire, as a
first-fruit offering, and an annual oblation for sin.” He also consecrated the
sacred emetics (the button-snake root and the cassina or black-drink) by
pouring a little of them into the fire. The persons who had remained outside
now approached, without entering, the sacred square; and the chief priest

thereupon made a speech, exhorting the people to observe their old rites and
customs, announcing that the new divine fire had purged away the sins of
the past year, and earnestly warning the women that, if any of them had not
extinguished the old fire, or had contracted any impurity, they must
forthwith depart, “lest the divine fire should spoil both them and the
people.” Some of the new fire was then set down outside the holy square;
the women carried it home joyfully, and laid it on their unpolluted hearths.
When several towns had united to celebrate the festival, the new fire might
thus be carried for several miles. The new fruits were then dressed on the
new fires and eaten with bear's oil, which was deemed indispensable. At
one point of the festival the men rubbed the new corn between their hands,
then on their faces and breasts.220 During the festival which followed, the
warriors, dressed in their wild martial array, their heads covered with white
down and carrying white [pg 075] feathers in their hands, danced round the
sacred arbour, under which burned the new fire. The ceremonies lasted
eight days, during which the strictest continence was practised. Towards the
conclusion of the festival the warriors fought a mock battle; then the men
and women together, in three circles, danced round the sacred fire. Lastly,
all the people smeared themselves with white clay and bathed in running
water. They came out of the water believing that no evil could now befall
them for what they had done amiss in the past. So they departed in joy and
peace.

Ceremonies of the same general type are still annually observed by the
Yuchi Indians of Oklahoma, who belong to the Creek nation but speak a
f different language. The rites are said to have been instituted by the Sun.
w They are solemnised in the public square, and are timed so as to coincide
with the ripening of the corn, which usually takes place about the middle or
e early part of July. Continence and abstinence from salt are prescribed during
their celebration, and all the men must fast for twelve hours before they
take the emetic. A sacred new fire is kindled by striking two stones against
f each other, after which all the males are scarified or scratched by an official
on the arm or breast, so as to let blood flow and drip on the ground of the
public square. This bleeding of the men is said to be symbolical of the
origin of the Yuchi people; for the first Yuchi sprang from some drops of
blood which the mother of the Sun let fall on earth at one of her monthly
periods. Hence the Yuchi call themselves the Children of the Sun. The

solemn rite of scratching is followed by the no less solemn rite of vomiting.
This also was instituted by the Sun. He taught the Indians to steep the
button-snake root and the red root in water and to drink the decoction, in
order that they might vomit and so purify their bodies against sickness
during the ensuing year. They think that if they did not thus purge
themselves before eating the new corn, they would fall sick. The chief of
the town is charged with the solemn duty of preparing the nauseous
concoction, and he is assisted by four boys who have been initiated into the
mysteries. The pots containing the stuff are decorated on the rim with a
pattern representing the sun, and they stand east of the fire near [pg 076] the
middle of the public square. The order of drinking is regulated by the rank
of the drinkers. When the sun is about the zenith, the four noblest come
forward, face eastward, and gulp down the vile but salutary potion; then
they retire to their places and await the usual results. When they feel the
inward workings of the draught, they step out of the square and discharge
the contents of their stomachs in a place set apart for the purpose. They are
followed by another party of four, and that by another, and so on, till all the
men have thus purged themselves. The rite is repeated several times. When
it is over, they all go to water and wash off the paint with which they were
adorned; then returning to their places in the square they feast on the new
corn. After a rest of some hours the men engage in ball play, not as a mere
recreation but as a matter of ritual. Sides are chosen; every player is
equipped with two rackets, and the aim of each side is to drive the ball
through their opponents' goal, which consists of two uprights and a cross-
piece. The two goals stand east and west of each other. During the
following night dancing is kept up, and a general laxity, degenerating into
debauchery, prevails; but parents and elders wink at the excesses of the
young folk. Among the dances are some in which the dancers mimick the
motions and cries of their totemic animals, such as ducks, buzzards, rabbits,
fish, buffaloes, chickens, and owls.221

To this day, also, the remnant of the Seminole Indians of Florida, a people
of the same stock as the Creeks,222 hold an annual purification and festival
called the Green Corn Dance, at which the new corn is eaten. On the
evening of the first day of the festival they quaff a nauseous “Black Drink,”
as it is called, which acts both as an emetic and a purgative; they believe
e that he who does not drink of this liquor cannot safely eat the new green

corn, and besides that he will be sick at some time in the year. While the
liquor is being drunk, the dancing begins, and the medicine-men join in it.
f Next day they eat of the green corn; the following [pg 077] day they fast,
w probably from fear of polluting the sacred food in their stomachs by contact
with common food; but the third day they hold a great feast.223 Further, the
e Natchez Indians, another tribe of the same stock, who used to inhabit a
district on the lower course and eastern bank of the Mississippi, ate the new
corn sacramentally at a great festival which has been fully described by Du
Pratz, the French historian of Louisiana. As his work is probably not easily
accessible to many of my readers, I shall perhaps consult their convenience
by extracting his description entire. The Natchez, he tells us, began their
year in March and divided it into thirteen moons. Their sixth moon, which
answered to our August, was the Mulberry Moon, and the seventh was the
moon of Maize or Great Corn. “This feast is beyond dispute the most
solemn of all. It principally consists in eating in common, and in a religious
manner, of new corn, which had been sown expressly with that design, with
suitable ceremonies. This corn is sown upon a spot of ground never before
cultivated; which ground is dressed and prepared by the warriors alone,
who also are the only persons that sow the corn, weed it, reap it, and gather
it. When this corn is near ripe, the warriors fix on a place proper for the
general feast, and close adjoining to that they form a round granary, the
bottom and sides of which are of cane; this they fill with the corn, and when
they have finished the harvest, and covered the granary, they acquaint the
Great Sun,224 who appoints the day for the general feast. Some days before
the feast, they build huts for the Great Sun, and for all the other families,
round the granary, that of the Great Sun being raised upon a mound of earth
about two feet high. On the feast-day the whole nation set out from their
village at sun-rising, leaving behind only the aged and infirm that are not
able to travel, and a few warriors, who are to carry the Great Sun on a litter
upon their shoulders. [pg 078] The seat of this litter is covered with several
deer-skins, and to its four sides are fastened four bars which cross each
other, and are supported by eight men, who at every hundred paces transfer
their burden to eight other men, and thus successively transport it to the
place where the feast is celebrated, which may be near two miles from the
village. About nine o'clock the Great Sun comes out of his hut dressed in
the ornaments of his dignity, and being placed in his litter, which has a
canopy at the head formed of flowers, he is carried in a few minutes to the

sacred granary, shouts of joy re-echoing on all sides. Before he alights he
makes the tour of the whole place deliberately, and when he comes before
the corn, he salutes it thrice with the words hoo, hoo, hoo, lengthened and
pronounced respectfully. The salutation is repeated by the whole nation,
who pronounce the word hoo nine times distinctly, and at the ninth time he
alights and places himself on his throne.

“Immediately after they light a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood violently
against each other, and when everything is prepared for dressing the corn,
e the chief of war, accompanied by the warriors belonging to each family,
y presents himself before the throne, and addresses the Sun in these words,
‘Speak, for I hear thee.’ The sovereign then rises up, bows towards the four
quarters of the world, and advancing to the granary, lifts his eyes and hands
to heaven, and says, 'Give us corn': upon which the great chief of war, the
princes and princesses, and all the men, thank him separately by
pronouncing the word hoo. The corn is then distributed, first to the female
Suns, and then to all the women, who run with it to their huts, and dress it
with the utmost dispatch. When the corn is dressed in all the huts, a plate of
it is put into the hands of the Great Sun, who presents it to the four quarters
of the world, and then says to the chief of war, ‘Eat’; upon this signal the
warriors begin to eat in all the huts; after them the boys of whatever age,
excepting those who are on the breast; and last of all the women. When the
warriors have finished their repast, they form themselves into two choirs
before the huts, and sing war songs for half an hour; after which the chief of
war, and all the warriors in succession, recount their brave [pg 079]
exploits, and mention, in a boasting manner, the number of enemies they
have slain. The youths are next allowed to harangue, and each tells in the
best manner he can, not what he has done, but what he intends to do; and if
his discourse merits approbation, he is answered by a general hoo; if not,
the warriors hang down their heads and are silent.

“This great solemnity is concluded with a general dance by torch-light.
Upwards of two hundred torches of dried canes, each of the thickness of a
child, are lighted round the place, where the men and women often continue
dancing till daylight; and the following is the disposition of their dance. A
man places himself on the ground with a pot covered with a deer-skin, in
the manner of a drum, to beat time to the dancers; round him the women

form themselves into a circle, not joining hands, but at some distance from
each other; and they are inclosed by the men in another circle, who have in
each hand a chichicois, or calabash, with a stick thrust through it to serve
for a handle. When the dance begins, the women move round the men in the
centre, from left to right, and the men contrariwise from right to left, and
they sometimes narrow and sometimes widen their circles. In this manner
the dance continues without intermission the whole night, new performers
successively taking the place of those who are wearied and fatigued.

“Next morning no person is seen abroad before the Great Sun comes out of
his hut, which is generally about nine o'clock, and then upon a signal made
f by the drum, the warriors make their appearance distinguished into two
troops, by the feathers which they wear on their heads. One of these troops
is headed by the Great Sun, and the other by the chief of war, who begin a
new diversion by tossing a ball of deer-skin stuffed with Spanish beard
from the one to the other. The warriors quickly take part in the sport, and a
violent contest ensues which of the two parties shall drive the ball to the hut
of the opposite chief. The diversion generally lasts two hours, and the
victors are allowed to wear the feathers of superiority till the following year,
or till the next time they play at the ball. After this the warriors perform the
war dance; and last of all they go and bathe; [pg 080] an exercise which
they are very fond of when they are heated or fatigued.

“The rest of that day is employed as the preceding; for the feast holds as
long as any of the corn remains. When it is all eat up, the Great Sun is
carried back in his litter, and they all return to the village, after which he
sends the warriors to hunt both for themselves and him.”225

Even tribes which do not till the ground sometimes observe analogous
ceremonies when they gather the first wild fruits or dig the first roots of the
season. Thus among the Salish and Tinneh Indians of North-West America,
d “before the young people eat the first berries or roots of the season, they
e always addressed the fruit or plant, and begged for its favour and aid. In
d some tribes regular First-fruit ceremonies were annually held at the time of
picking the wild fruit or gathering the roots, and also among the salmon-
eating tribes when the run of the ‘sockeye’ salmon began. These ceremonies
were not so much thanksgivings, as performances to ensure a plentiful crop
t

t or supply of the particular object desired, for if they were not properly and
reverently carried out there was danger of giving offence to the ‘spirits’ of
r the objects, and being deprived of them.” For example, these Indians are
f fond of the young shoots or suckers of the wild raspberry, and they observe
the following ceremony at gathering the first of them in season. “When the
shoots are ready to pick, that is, when they are about six or eight inches
above the ground, the chief, or directing elder of the community, instructs
his wife or his [pg 081] daughters to pluck a small bundle of these and
prepare them for eating. This they do, using a new pot or kettle for cooking
them in. In the meantime all the settlement comes together to take part in
the ceremony. They stand in a great circle, the presiding chief, elder, or
medicine-man as the case may be, and his assistants being in their midst.
Whoever is conducting the ceremony now silently invokes the spirit of the
plants, the tenor of his prayer being that it will be propitious to them and
grant them a good supply of the suckers. While the invocation is being
made all in the circle must keep their eyes reverently closed, this being an
essential part in all such ceremonies, the non-observance of which would
anger the spirits and cause them to withhold the favours sought. To ensure
this being strictly done, the assisting elders are armed with long wands with
which they strike any person found opening his eyes during the prayer.
After this part of the ceremony is over the cooked suckers are handed to the
presiding officer in a newly carved dish, and a small portion is given to
each person present, who reverently and decorously eats it. This brings the
ceremony to a close. Later, when the berries of this plant are ripe, a second
and similar ceremony takes place.”226

The Thompson Indians of British Columbia cook and eat the sunflower root
(Balsamorrhiza sagittata, Nutt.), but they used to regard it as a mysterious
being, and observed a number of taboos in connexion with it; for example,
d women who were engaged in digging or cooking the root must practise
e continence, and no man might come near the oven where the women were
baking the root. When young people ate the first berries, roots, or other
products of the season, they addressed a prayer to the Sunflower-Root as
follows: “I inform thee that I intend to eat thee. Mayest thou always help
t me to ascend, so that I may always be able to reach the tops of mountains,
t and may I never be clumsy! I ask this from thee, Sunflower-Root. Thou art
the greatest of all in mystery.” To omit this prayer would make the eater

r lazy and cause him to sleep long in the [pg 082] morning. Again, when the
f first tobacco of the season was gathered and smoked for the first time, the
inhabitants of each lodge among the Thompson Indians observed the
following ceremony. An elderly man assembled all the inmates, often
outside the lodge and generally after sunset, and caused all the adult men
and women, who were in the habit of smoking, to sit down in a circle, while
he stood in the middle. Sometimes he made a long speech to the people, but
as a rule he simply said, “Be it known to you that we will cut up the chief,”
meaning by the chief the tobacco. So saying he cut up some of the tobacco,
and after mixing it with bear-berry leaves he filled a large pipe, lighted it,
and handed it to each person, following the sun's course. Everybody took
one whiff, and holding up his or her hands, the palms close together, blew
the smoke downwards between the fingers and over the breast; and as the
smoke descended, he crossed his hands on his breast, and rubbing his chest
and shoulders with both hands, as if he were rubbing the smoke in, he
prayed: “Lengthen my breath, chief, so that I may never be sick, and so that
I may not die for a long time to come.” By the chief he meant the tobacco.
When every one had had his whiff, the tobacco was cut up small and a piece
given to each person.227

These customs of the Thompson and other Indian tribes of North-West
America are instructive, because they clearly indicate the motive, or at least
one of the motives, which underlies the ceremonies observed at eating the
first fruits of the season. That motive in the case of these Indians is simply a
d belief that the plant itself is animated by a conscious and more or less
powerful spirit, who must be propitiated before the people can safely
g partake of the fruits or roots which are supposed to be part of his body. Now
t if this is true of wild fruits and roots, we may infer with some probability
f that it is also true of cultivated fruits and roots, such as yams, and in
particular that it holds good of the cereals, such as wheat, barley, oats, rice,
e and maize. In all cases it seems reasonable to infer that the scruples which
n [pg 083] savages manifest at eating the first fruits of any crop, and the
a ceremonies which they observe before they overcome their scruples, are
e due at least in large measure to a notion that the plant or tree is animated by
r a spirit or even a deity, whose leave must be obtained, or whose favour
s must be sought before it is possible to partake with safety of the new crop.
This indeed is plainly affirmed of the Aino: they call the millet “the divine

cereal,” “the cereal deity,” and they pray to and worship him before they
228
t will eat of the cakes made from the new millet. And even where the
indwelling divinity of the first fruits is not expressly affirmed, it appears to
be implied both by the solemn preparations made for eating them and by the
danger supposed to be incurred by persons who venture to partake of them
without observing the prescribed ritual. In all such cases, accordingly, we
f may not improperly describe the eating of the new fruits as a sacrament or
communion with a deity, or at all events with a powerful spirit.

Among the usages which point to this conclusion are the custom of
employing either new or specially reserved vessels to hold the new fruits,229
and the practice of purifying the persons of the communicants and even the
f houses and streets of the whole town, before it is lawful to engage in the
w solemn act of communion with the divinity.230 Of all the modes of
purification adopted on these occasions none perhaps brings out the
sacramental virtue of the rite so clearly as the Creek and Seminole practice
s of taking a purgative before swallowing the new corn. The intention is
e thereby to prevent the sacred food from being polluted by contact with
common food in the stomach of the eater. For the same reason Catholics
e partake of the Eucharist fasting; and among the pastoral Masai of Eastern
f Africa the young warriors, who live on meat and milk exclusively, are
d obliged to eat nothing but milk for so many days and then nothing but meat
for so many more, and before they pass from the one food to the other they
e must make sure that none of the old food remains in their stomachs; this
f they do by swallowing a very powerful [pg 084] purgative and emetic.231
Similarly, among the Suk, a tribe of British East Africa, no one may partake
of meat and milk on the same day, and if he has chewed raw millet he is
forbidden to drink milk for seven days.232 Among the Wataturu, another
people of Eastern Africa akin to the Masai, a warrior who had eaten
n antelope's flesh might not drink of milk on the same day.233 Similarly among
the Central Esquimaux the rules prohibiting contact between venison and
f the flesh of marine animals are very strict. The Esquimaux themselves say
r that the goddess Sedna dislikes the deer, and therefore they may not bring
that animal into contact with her favourites, the sea beasts. Hence the meat
of the whale, the seal, or the walrus may not be eaten on the same day with
venison. Both sorts of meat may not even lie on the floor of the hut or
behind the lamps at the same time. If a man who has eaten venison in the

morning happens to enter a hut in which the flesh of seal is being cooked,
he is allowed to eat venison on the bed, but it must be wrapt up before being
carried into the hut, and he must take care to keep clear of the floor. Before
changing from one food to the other the Esquimaux must wash
themselves.234 Again, just as the Esquimaux think that their [pg 085]
goddess would be offended if venison met seal or whale or walrus meat in
the eater's stomach, so the Melanesians of Florida, one of the Solomon
Islands, believe that if a man who has eaten pork or fish or shell-fish or the
flesh of a certain sort of cuscus were to enter a garden immediately
afterwards, the ghosts who preside over the garden and cause the fruits to
grow would be angry and the crop would consequently suffer; but three or
four days after partaking of such victuals, when the food has quite left his
stomach, he may enter the garden without offence to the ghosts or injury to
the crop.235 In like manner the ancient Greeks, of whose intellectual kinship
with savages like the Esquimaux and the Melanesians we have already met
with many proofs, laid it down as a rule that a man who had partaken of the
black ram offered to Pelops at Olympia might not enter into the temple of
Zeus, and that persons who had sacrificed to Telephus at Pergamus might
not go up to the temple of Aesculapius until they had washed themselves,236
just as the Esquimaux who have eaten venison must wash before they may
partake of seal or whale or walrus meat. Again, at Lindus in Rhodes there
was a sanctuary of some god or hero unknown into which no one who had
partaken of goat's flesh or peas-pudding might enter for three days, and no
one who had eaten cheese might enter for one day.237 The prescribed
interval was probably calculated to allow the obnoxious food to pass out of
the body of the eater before he entered into the presence of the deity, who
for some reason or other cherished an antipathy to these particular viands.
At Castabus in the Carian Chersonese there was a sanctuary of Hemithea,
which no one might approach who had either eaten pork or touched a pig.238

In some of the festivals which we have examined, as [pg 086] in the
Cheremiss, Buru, Cham, Ewe, and Creek ceremonies, the sacrament of
first-fruits is combined with a sacrifice or presentation of them to gods or
spirits,239 and in course of time the sacrifice of first-fruits tends to throw the
- sacrament into the shade, if not to supersede it. The mere fact of offering
the first-fruits to the gods or spirits comes now to be thought a sufficient
preparation for eating the new corn; the higher powers having received their

share, man is free to enjoy the rest. This mode of viewing the new fruits
a implies that they are regarded no longer as themselves instinct with divine
f life, but merely as a gift bestowed by the gods upon man, who is bound to
express his gratitude and homage to his divine benefactors by returning to
r them a portion of their bounty. More examples of the sacrifice, as distinct
from sacrament, of first-fruits will be given presently.240

§ 2. Eating the God among the Aztecs.

The custom of eating bread sacramentally as the body of a god was
practised by the Aztecs before the discovery and conquest of Mexico by the
Spaniards. Twice a year, in May and December, an image of the great
f Mexican god Huitzilopochtli or Vitzilipuztli was made of dough, then
broken in pieces, and solemnly eaten by his worshippers. The May
ceremony is thus described by the historian Acosta: “The Mexicans in the
a month of May made their principal feast to their god Vitzilipuztli, and two
days before this feast, the virgins whereof I have spoken (the which were
f shut up and secluded in the same temple and were as it were religious
d women) did mingle a quantity of the seed of beets with roasted maize, and
then they did mould it with honey, making an idol of that paste in bigness
r like to that of wood, putting instead of eyes grains of green glass, of blue or
white; and for teeth grains of maize set forth with all the ornament and
a furniture that I have said. This being finished, all the noblemen came and
f brought it an exquisite and rich garment, like unto that of the idol,
wherewith they did attire it. Being thus clad and deckt, they did set it in an
e azured chair and in a litter to carry it on their shoulders. [pg 087] The
morning of this feast being come, an hour before day all the maidens came
forth attired in white, with new ornaments, the which that day were called
the Sisters of their god Vitzilipuztli, they came crowned with garlands of
maize roasted and parched, being like unto azahar or the flower of orange;
and about their necks they had great chains of the same, which went
bauldrickwise under their left arm. Their cheeks were dyed with vermilion,
their arms from the elbow to the wrist were covered with red parrots'
feathers.” Young men, dressed in red robes and crowned like the virgins
with maize, then carried the idol in its litter to the foot of the great pyramid-
shaped temple, up the steep and narrow steps of which it was drawn to the
music of flutes, trumpets, cornets, and drums. “While they mounted up the
idol all the people stood in the court with much reverence and fear. Being
mounted to the top, and that they had placed it in a little lodge of roses
which they held ready, presently came the young men, which strewed many

flowers of sundry kinds, wherewith they filled the temple both within and
without. This done, all the virgins came out of their convent, bringing
pieces of paste compounded of beets and roasted maize, which was of the
same paste whereof their idol was made and compounded, and they were of
the fashion of great bones. They delivered them to the young men, who
carried them up and laid them at the idol's feet, wherewith they filled the
whole place that it could receive no more. They called these morsels of
paste the flesh and bones of Vitzilipuztli. Having laid abroad these bones,
presently came all the ancients of the temple, priests, Levites, and all the
rest of the ministers, according to their dignities and antiquities (for herein
there was a strict order amongst them) one after another, with their veils of
diverse colours and works, every one according to his dignity and office,
having garlands upon their heads and chains of flowers about their necks;
after them came their gods and goddesses whom they worshipped, of
diverse figures, attired in the same livery; then putting themselves in order
about those morsels and pieces of paste, they used certain ceremonies with
singing and dancing. By means whereof they were blessed and consecrated
for the flesh and bones of this idol. This [pg 088] ceremony and blessing
(whereby they were taken for the flesh and bones of the idol) being ended,
they honoured those pieces in the same sort as their god.

“Then come forth the sacrificers, who began the sacrifice of men in the
manner as hath been spoken, and that day they did sacrifice a greater
e number than at any other time, for that it was the most solemn feast they
d observed. The sacrifices being ended, all the young men and maids came
f out of the temple attired as before, and being placed in order and rank, one
d directly against another, they danced by drums, the which sounded in praise
of the feast, and of the idol which they did celebrate. To which song all the
most ancient and greatest noblemen did answer dancing about them,
making a great circle, as their use is, the young men and maids remaining
always in the midst. All the city came to this goodly spectacle, and there
was a commandment very strictly observed throughout all the land, that the
day of the feast of the idol of Vitzilipuztli they should eat no other meat but
this paste, with honey, whereof the idol was made. And this should be eaten
at the point of day, and they should drink no water nor any other thing till
after noon: they held it for an ill sign, yea, for sacrilege to do the contrary:
but after the ceremonies ended, it was lawful for them to eat anything.

During the time of this ceremony they hid the water from their little
children, admonishing all such as had the use of reason not to drink any
water; which, if they did, the anger of God would come upon them, and
they should die, which they did observe very carefully and strictly. The
ceremonies, dancing, and sacrifice ended, they went to unclothe themselves,
and the priests and superiors of the temple took the idol of paste, which they
spoiled of all the ornaments it had, and made many pieces, as well of the
idol itself as of the truncheons which they consecrated, and then they gave
them to the people in manner of a communion, beginning with the greater,
and continuing unto the rest, both men, women, and little children, who
received it with such tears, fear, and reverence as it was an admirable thing,
saying that they did eat the flesh and bones of God, wherewith they were
grieved. Such as had any sick folks demanded [pg 089] thereof for them,
and carried it with great reverence and veneration.”241

From this interesting passage we learn that the ancient Mexicans, even
before the arrival of Christian missionaries, were fully acquainted with the
theological doctrine of transubstantiation and acted upon it in the solemn
f rites of their religion. They believed that by consecrating bread their priests
could turn it into the very body of their god, so that all who thereupon
r partook of the consecrated bread entered into a mystic communion with the
deity by receiving a portion of his divine substance into themselves. The
doctrine of transubstantiation, or the magical conversion of bread into flesh,
was also familiar to the Aryans of ancient India long before the spread and
d even the rise of Christianity. The Brahmans taught that the rice-cakes
h offered in sacrifice were substitutes for human beings, and that they were
actually converted into the real bodies of men by the manipulation of the
e priest. We read that “when it (the rice-cake) still consists of rice-meal, it is
the hair. When he pours water on it, it becomes skin. When he mixes it, it
d becomes flesh: for then it becomes consistent; and consistent also is the
flesh. When it is baked, it becomes bone: for then it becomes somewhat
hard; and hard is the bone. And when he is about to take it off (the fire) and
sprinkles it with butter, he changes it into marrow. This is the completeness
which they call the fivefold animal sacrifice.”242 These remarkable
transformations, daily wrought by the priest, on the rice-wafer, were,
however, nothing at all to those which the gods themselves accomplished
when [pg 090] they first instituted the rite. For the horse and the ox which

they sacrificed became a bos gaurus and a gayal respectively; the sheep was
turned into a camel; and the goat was converted into a remarkable species
of deer, enriched with eight legs, which slew lions and elephants.243 On the
whole it would seem that neither the ancient Hindoos nor the ancient
Mexicans had much to learn from the most refined mysteries of Catholic
theology.

Now, too, we can perfectly understand why on the day of their solemn
communion with the deity the Mexicans refused to eat any other food than
d the consecrated bread which they revered as the very flesh and bones of
their God, and why up till noon they might drink nothing at all, not even
d water. They feared no doubt to defile the portion of God in their stomachs
t by contact with common things. A similar pious fear led the Creek and
Seminole Indians, as we saw, to adopt the more thoroughgoing expedient of
rinsing out their insides by a strong purgative before they dared to partake
of the sacrament of first-fruits.244 We can now also conjecture the reason
why Zulu boys, after eating the flesh of the black bull at the feast of first-
fruits, are forbidden to drink anything till the next day.245

At the festival of the winter solstice in December the Aztecs killed their god
Huitzilopochtli in effigy first and ate him afterwards. As a preparation for
this solemn ceremony an image of the deity in the likeness of a man was
f fashioned out of seeds of various sorts, which were kneaded into a dough
e with the blood of children. The bones of the god were represented by pieces
of acacia wood. This image was placed on the chief altar of the temple, and
on the day of the festival the king offered incense to it. Early next day it
n was taken down and set on its feet in a great hall. Then a priest, who bore
d the name and acted the part of the god Quetzalcoatl, took a flint-tipped dart
m and hurled it into the breast of the dough-image, piercing it through and
through. This was called “killing the god Huitzilopochtli so that his body
might be eaten.” One of the priests cut out the heart of the image and gave it
to the king to eat. The rest of [pg 091] the image was divided into minute
pieces, of which every man great and small, down to the male children in
the cradle, received one to eat. But no woman might taste a morsel. The
ceremony was called teoqualo, that is, “god is eaten.”246

At another festival the Mexicans made little images like men, which stood
for the cloud-capped mountains. These images were moulded of a paste of
various seeds and were dressed in paper ornaments. Some people fashioned
f five, others ten, others as many as fifteen of them. Having been made, they
were placed in the oratory of each house and worshipped. Four times in the
f course of the night offerings of food were brought to them in tiny vessels;
and people sang and played the flute before them through all the hours of
darkness. At break of day the priests stabbed the images with a weaver's
instrument, cut off their heads, and tore out their hearts, which they
presented to the master of the house on a green saucer. The bodies of the
images were then eaten by all the family, especially by the servants, “in
order that by eating them they might be preserved from certain distempers,
to which those persons who were negligent of worship to those deities
conceived themselves to be subject.”247 In some cities of Mexico, as in
Tlacopan and Coyohuacan, an idol was fashioned out of grains of various
kinds, and the warriors ate it in the belief that the sacred food would
increase their forces fourfold when they marched to the fight.248 At certain
festivals held thrice a year in Nicaragua all the men, beginning with the
priests and chiefs, drew blood from their tongues and genital organs with
sharp knives of flint, allowed it to drip on some [pg 092] sheaves of maize,
and then ate the bloody grain as a blessed food.249

But the Mexicans did not always content themselves with eating their gods
in the outward and visible shape of bread or grain; it was not even enough
that this material vehicle of the divine life should be kneaded and fortified
f with human blood. They craved, as it seems, after a closer union with the
a living god, and attained it by devouring the flesh of a real man, who, after
a he had paraded for a time in the trappings and received the honours of a
god, was slaughtered and eaten by his cannibal worshippers. The deity thus
consumed in effigy was Tetzcatlipoca, and the man chosen to represent him
e and die in his stead was a young captive of handsome person and illustrious
birth. During his captivity the youth thus doomed to play the fatal part of
divinity was allowed to range the streets of Mexico freely, escorted by a
distinguished train, who paid him as much respect as if he had been indeed
the god himself instead of only his living image. Twenty days before the
festival at which the tragic mockery was to end, that he might taste all the
joys of this transient world to which he must soon bid farewell, he received

in marriage four women, from whom he parted only when he took his place
in the last solemn procession. Arrived at the foot of the sacred pyramid on
the top of which he was to die, the sacrificers saluted him and led him up
the long staircase. On the summit five of them seized him and held him
down on his back upon the sacrificial stone, while the high priest, after
bowing to the god he was about to kill, cut open his breast and tore out the
throbbing heart with the accustomed rites. But instead of being kicked
down the staircase and sent rolling from step to step like the corpses of
common victims, the body of the dead god was carried respectfully down,
and his flesh, chopped up small, was distributed among the priests and
nobles as a blessed food. The head, being severed from the trunk, was
preserved in a sacred place along with the [pg 093] white and grinning
skulls of all the other victims who had lived and died in the character of the
god Tetzcatlipoca.250

The custom of entering into communion with a god by eating of his effigy
survived till lately among the Huichol Indians of Mexico. In a narrow
valley, at the foot of a beetling crag of red rock, they have a small thatched
a temple of the God of fire, and here down to recent years stood a small
y image of the deity in human form roughly carved out of solidified volcanic
f ash. The idol was very dirty and smeared with blood, and in his right side
y was a hole, which owed its existence to the piety and devotion of his
e worshippers. For they believed that the power of healing and a knowledge
of mysteries could be acquired by eating a little of the god's holy body, and
f accordingly shamans, or medicine-men, who desired to lay in a stock of
these accomplishments, so useful in the exercise of their profession, were
e wont to repair to the temple, where, having deposited an offering of food or
f a votive bowl, they scraped off with their finger-nails some particles of the
god's body and swallowed them. After engaging in this form of communion
with the deity they had to abstain from salt and from all carnal converse
with their wives for five months.251 Again, the Malas, a caste of pariahs in
f Southern India, communicate with the goddess Sunkalamma by eating her
effigy. The communion takes place at marriage. An image of the goddess in
f the form of a truncated cone is made out of rice and green grain cooked
together, and it is decorated with a nose jewel, garlands, and other religious
symbols. Offerings of rice, frankincense, camphor, and a coco-nut are then
made to the image, and a ram or he-goat is sacrificed. After the sacrifice has

been presented, all the persons assembled prostrate themselves in silence
before the image, then they break it in pieces, and distributing the pieces
among themselves they swallow them. In this way they are, no doubt,
believed to absorb the divine [pg 094] essence of the goddess whose broken
body has just passed into their stomachs.252 In Europe the Catholic Church
has resorted to similar means for enabling the pious to enjoy the ineffable
privilege of eating the persons of the Infant God and his Mother. For this
purpose images of the Madonna are printed on some soluble and harmless
substance and sold in sheets like postage stamps. The worshipper buys as
many of these sacred emblems as he has occasion for, and affixing one or
more of them to his food swallows the bolus. The practice is not confined to
the poor and ignorant. In his youth Count von Hoensbroech and his devout
mother used thus to consume portions of God and his Mother with their
meals.253

§ 3. Many Manii at Aricia.

We are now able to suggest an explanation of the proverb “There are many
Manii at Aricia.”254 Certain loaves made in the shape of men were called by
the Romans maniae, and it appears that this kind of loaf was especially
made at Aricia.255 Now, Mania, the name of one of these loaves, was also
the name of the Mother or Grandmother of Ghosts,256 to whom woollen
t effigies of men and women were dedicated at the festival of the Compitalia.
These effigies were hung at the doors of all the houses in Rome; one effigy
was hung up for every free person in the house, and one effigy, of a
different kind, for every slave. The reason was that on this day the ghosts of
the dead were believed to be going about, and it was hoped that, either out
of good nature or through simple inadvertence, they would carry off the
e effigies at the door instead of the living people [pg 095] in the house.
r According to tradition, these woollen figures were substitutes for a former
custom of sacrificing human beings.257 Upon data so fragmentary and
f uncertain, it is impossible to build with confidence; but it seems worth
t suggesting that the loaves in human form, which appear to have been baked
at Aricia, were sacramental bread, and that in the old days, when the divine
King of the Wood was annually slain, loaves were made in his image, like
e the paste figures of the gods in Mexico, India, and Europe, and were eaten
t sacramentally by his worshippers.258 The Mexican sacraments in honour of
Huitzilopochtli were also accompanied by the sacrifice of human victims.
The tradition that the founder of the sacred grove at Aricia was a man
named Manius, from whom many Manii were descended, would thus be an
d etymological myth invented to [pg 096] explain the name maniae as applied
n to these sacramental loaves. A dim recollection of the original connexion of
the loaves with human sacrifices may perhaps be traced in the story that the
f effigies dedicated to Mania at the Compitalia were substitutes for human
g victims. The story itself, however, is probably devoid of foundation, since
e the practice of putting up dummies to divert the attention of ghosts or
demons from living people is not uncommon. As the practice is both widely
f spread and very characteristic of the manner of thought of primitive man,

who tries in a thousand ways to outwit the malice of spiritual beings, I may
be pardoned for devoting a few pages to its illustration, even though in
t doing so I diverge somewhat from the strict line of argument. I would ask
the reader to observe that the vicarious use of images, with which we are
here concerned, differs wholly in principle from the sympathetic use of
them which we examined before;259 and that while the sympathetic use
belongs purely to magic, the vicarious use falls within the domain of
religion.

The Tibetans stand in fear of innumerable earth-demons, all of whom are
under the authority of Old Mother Khön-ma. This goddess, who may be
compared to the Roman Mania, the Mother or Grandmother of Ghosts, is
f dressed in golden-yellow robes, holds a golden noose in her hand, and rides
on a ram. In order to bar the dwelling-house against the foul fiends, of
t whom Old Mother Khön-ma is mistress, an elaborate structure somewhat
resembling a chandelier is fixed above the door on the outside of the house.
s It contains a ram's skull, a variety of precious objects such as gold-leaf,
e silver, and turquoise, also some dry food, such as rice, wheat, and pulse,
and finally images or pictures of a man, a woman, and a house. “The object
of these figures of a man, wife, and house is to deceive the demons should
they still come in spite of this offering, and to mislead them into the belief
that the foregoing pictures are the inmates of the house, so that they may
wreak their wrath on these bits of wood and so save the real human
occupants.” When all is ready, a priest prays to Old Mother Khön-ma that
she would be pleased to accept these dainty offerings and to close the open
[pg 097] doors of the earth, in order that the demons may not come forth to
infest and injure the household.260

Further, it is often supposed that the spirits of persons who have recently
departed this life are apt to carry off with them to the world of the dead the
souls of their surviving relations. Hence the savage resorts to the device of
making up of dummies or effigies which he puts in the way of the ghost,
e hoping that the dull-witted spirit will mistake them for real people and so
n leave the survivors in peace. Hence in Tahiti the priest who performed the
funeral rites used to lay some slips of plantain leaf-stalk on the breast and
under the arms of the corpse, saying, “There are your family, there is your
child, there is your wife, there is your father, and there is your mother. Be

satisfied yonder (that is, in the world of spirits). Look not towards those
who are left in the world.” This ceremony, we are told, was designed “to
impart contentment to the departed, and to prevent the spirit from repairing
to the places of his former resort, and so distressing the survivors.”261 When
the Galelareese bury a corpse, they bury with it the stem of a banana-tree
for company, in order that the dead person may not seek a companion
among the living. Just as the coffin is being lowered into the earth, one of
the bystanders steps up and throws a young banana-tree into the grave,
saying, “Friend, you must miss your companions of this earth; here, take
this as a comrade.”262 In the Banks Islands, Melanesia, the ghost of a
woman who has died in childbed cannot go away to Panoi or ghost-land if
her child lives, for she cannot leave the baby behind. Hence to bilk her
ghost they tie up a piece of banana-trunk loosely in leaves and lay it on her
bosom in the grave. So away she goes, thinking she has her baby with her,
and as she goes the banana-stalk keeps slipping about in the leaves, and she
fancies it is the child stirring at her breast. Thus she is happy, till she comes
to ghost-land and finds she has been deceived; for a baby of banana-stalk
cannot pass [pg 098] muster among the ghosts. So back she comes tearing
in grief and rage to look for the child; but meantime the infant has been
artfully removed to another house, where the dead mother cannot find it,
though she looks for it everywhere.263 In the Pelew Islands, when a woman
has died in childbed, her spirit comes and cries, “Give me the child!” So to
beguile her they bury the stem of a young banana-tree with her body,
cutting it short and laying it between her right arm and her breast.264 The
same device is adopted for the same purpose in the island of Timor.265 In
like circumstances negroes of the Niger Delta force a piece of the stem of a
plantain into the womb of the dead mother, in order to make her think that
she has her babe with her and so to prevent her spirit from coming back to
claim the living child.266 Among the Yorubas of West Africa, when one of
twins dies, the mother carries about, along with the surviving child, a small
wooden figure roughly fashioned in human shape and of the sex of the dead
twin. This figure is intended not merely to keep the live child from pining
for its lost comrade, but also to give the spirit of the dead child something
into which it can enter without disturbing its little brother or sister.267
Among the Tschwi of West Africa a lady observed a sickly child with an
image beside it which she took for a doll. But it was no doll, it was an
effigy of the child's dead twin which was being kept near the survivor as a

habitation for the little ghost, lest it should wander homeless and, feeling
lonely, call its companion away after it along the dark road of death.268

At Onitsha, a town on the left bank of the Niger, a missionary once met a
funeral procession which he describes as very singular. The real body had
already been buried in the house, but a piece of wood in the form of a [pg
099] sofa and covered up was being borne by two persons on their heads,
e attended by a procession of six men and six women. The men carried
cutlasses and the women clapped their hands as they passed along each
street, crying, “This is the dead body of him that is dead, and is gone into
e the world of spirits.” Meantime the rest of the villagers had to keep
indoors.269 The sham corpse was probably intended as a lure to draw away
prowling demons from the real body. So among the Angoni, who inhabit the
western bank of Lake Nyassa, there is a common belief that demons hover
about the dying and dead before burial in order to snatch away their souls to
join their own evil order. Guns are fired and drums are beaten to repel these
spiritual foes, but a surer way of baulking their machinations is to have a
mock funeral and so mislead and confound them. A sham corpse is made up
out of anything that comes to hand, and it is treated exactly as if it were
what it pretends to be. This lay figure is then carried some distance to a
grave, followed by a great crowd weeping and wailing as if their hearts
would break, while the rub-a-dub of drums and the discharge of guns add to
the uproar. Meantime the real corpse is being interred as quietly and
stealthily as possible near the house. Thus the demons are baffled; for when
the dummy corpse has been laid in the earth with every mark of respect, and
the noisy crowd has dispersed, the fiends swoop down on the mock grave
only to find a bundle of rushes or some such trash in it; but the true grave
they do not know and cannot find.270 Similarly among the Bakundu of the
Cameroons two graves are always made, one in the hut of the deceased and
another somewhere else, and no one knows where the corpse is really
buried. The custom is apparently intended to guard the knowledge of the
real grave from demons, who might make an ill use of the body, if not of
the soul, of the departed.271 In like manner the Kamilaroi tribe of Australia
are reported to make two graves, a real [pg 100] one and an empty one, for
the purpose of cheating a malevolent spirit called Krooben.272 So, too, some
of the Nagas of Assam dig two graves, a sham grave made conspicuous on
purpose to attract the notice of the evil spirits, and the real grave made

inconspicuous to escape their attention: a figure is set up over the false
grave.273 Isis is said to have made many false graves of the dead Osiris in
Egypt in order that his foe Typhon might not be able to find the true one.274
In Bombay, if a person dies on an unlucky day, a dough figure of a man is
carried on the bier with him and burnt with his corpse. This is supposed to
hinder a second death from occurring in the family,275 probably because the
demons are thought to take the dough figure instead of a real person.

Again, effigies are often employed as a means of preventing or curing
sickness; the demons of disease either mistake the effigies for living people
or are persuaded or compelled to enter them, leaving the real men and
women well and whole.276 Thus the Alfoors of Minahassa, in Celebes, will
r sometimes transport a sick man to another house, while they leave on his
bed a dummy made up of a pillow and clothes. This dummy the demon is
supposed to mistake for the sick man, who consequently recovers.277 Cure
or prevention of this sort seems to find especial favour with the Dyaks of
Borneo. Thus, when an epidemic is raging among them, the Dyaks of the
Katoengouw river set up wooden images at their doors in the hope that the
f demons of the plague may be deluded into carrying off the effigies instead
r of the people.278 Among the Oloh Ngadju of Borneo, when a sick man is
supposed to be suffering from the assaults of a ghost, puppets of dough or
rice-meal are made and thrown under [pg 101] the house as substitutes for
e the patient, who thus rids himself of the ghost. So if a man has been
attacked by a crocodile and has contrived to escape, he makes a puppet of
f dough or meal and casts it into the water as a vicarious offering; otherwise
the water-god, who is conceived in the shape of a crocodile, might be
angry.279 In certain of the western districts of Borneo if a man is taken
suddenly and violently sick, the physician, who in this part of the world is
generally an old woman, fashions a wooden image and brings it seven times
into contact with the sufferer's head, while she says: “This image serves to
take the place of the sick man; sickness, pass over into the image.” Then,
with some rice, salt, and tobacco in a little basket, the substitute is carried to
the spot where the evil spirit is supposed to have entered into the man.
There it is set upright on the ground, after the physician has invoked the
spirit as follows: “O devil, here is an image which stands instead of the sick
man. Release the soul of the sick man and plague the image, for it is indeed
prettier and better than he.” Similar substitutes are used almost daily by

these Dyaks for the purpose of drawing off evil influences from anybody's
person. Thus, when an Ot Danom baby will not stop squalling, its maternal
grandmother takes a large leaf, fashions it into a puppet to represent the
child, and presses it against the infant's body. Having thus decanted the
spirit, so to speak, from the baby into the puppet, she pierces the effigy with
little arrows from a blow-gun, thereby killing the spirit that had vexed her
child.280 Similarly in the island of Dama, between New Guinea and Celebes,
where sickness is ascribed to the agency of demons, the doctor makes a doll
of palm-leaf and lays it, together with some betel, rice, and half of an empty
eggshell, on the patient's head. Lured by this bait the demon quits the
sufferer's body and enters the palm-leaf doll, which the wily doctor
thereupon promptly decapitates. This may [pg 102] reasonably be supposed
to make an end of the demon and of the sickness together.281 A Dyak
sorcerer, being called in to prescribe for a little boy who suffered from a
disorder of the stomach, constructed two effigies of the boy and his mother
out of bundles of clothes and offered them, together with some of the
parents' finery, to the devil who was plaguing the child; it was hoped that
the demon would take the effigies and leave the boy.282 Batta magicians can
conjure the demon of disease out of the patient's body into an image made
out of a banana-tree with a human face and wrapt up in magic herbs; the
image is then hurriedly removed and thrown away or buried beyond the
boundaries of the village.283 Sometimes the image, dressed as a man or a
woman according to the sex of the patient, is deposited at a cross-road or
other thoroughfare, in the hope that some passer-by, seeing it, may start and
cry out, “Ah! So-and-So is dead”; for such an exclamation is supposed to
delude the demon of disease into a belief that he has accomplished his fell
purpose, so he takes himself off and leaves the sufferer to get well.284 The
Mai Darat, a Sakai tribe of the Malay Peninsula, attribute all kinds of
diseases to the agency of spirits which they call nyani; fortunately, however,
the magician can induce these maleficent beings to come out of the sick
person and take up their abode in rude figures of grass, which are hung up
outside the houses in little bell-shaped shrines decorated with peeled
sticks.285

In the island of Nias people fear that the spirits of murdered infants may
come and cause women with child to miscarry. To divert the unwelcome
attention of these sprites from a pregnant woman an elaborate mechanism

has been contrived. A potent idol called Fangola is set up beside her bed to
guard her slumbers during the hours of darkness from [pg 103] the evil
things that might harm her; another idol, connected with the first by a chain
of palm-leaves, is erected in the large room of the house; and lastly a small
e banana-tree is planted in front of the second idol. The notion is that the
sprites, scared away by the watchful Fangola from the sleeping woman, will
scramble along the chain of palm-leaves to the other idol, and then,
beholding the banana-tree, will mistake it for the woman they were looking
for, and so pounce upon it instead of her.286 In Bhutan, when the Lamas
make noisy music to drive away the demon who is causing disease, little
f models of animals are fashioned of flour and butter and the evil spirit is
implored to enter these models, which are then burnt.287 So in Tibet, when a
man is very ill and all other remedies have failed, his friends will
sometimes, as a last resort, offer an image of him with some of his clothes
to the Lord of Death, beseeching that august personage to accept the image
and spare the man.288 A Burmese mode of curing a sick man is to bury a
small effigy of him in a tiny coffin, after which he ought certainly to
recover.289 In Siam, when a person is dangerously ill, the magician models a
small image of him in clay and carrying it away to a solitary place recites
charms over it which compel the malady to pass from the sick man into the
image. The sorcerer then buries the image, and the sufferer is made
whole.290 So, too, in Cambodia the doctor fashions a rude effigy of his
patient in clay and deposits it in some lonely spot, where the ghost or
demon takes it instead of the man.291 The same ideas and the same practices
prevail much further to the north among the tribes on the lower course of
the River Amoor. When a Goldi or a Gilyak shaman has cast out the devil
that caused disease, an abode has to be provided for the homeless devil, and
this is done by making [pg 104] a wooden idol in human form of which the
ejected demon takes possession.292

The Chinese of Amoy make great use of cheap effigies as means of
diverting ghostly and other evil influence from people. These effigies are
kept in stock and sold in the shops which purvey counterfeit paper money
and other spurious wares for the use of simple-minded ghosts and gods,
who accept them in all good faith instead of the genuine articles. Nothing
could well be cruder than the puppets that are employed to relieve sufferers
r from the many ills which flesh is heir to. They are composed of two

bamboo splinters fastened together crosswise with a piece of paper pasted
on one side to represent a human body. Two other shreds of paper, supposed
to stand for boots, distinguish the effigy of a man from the effigy of a
n woman. Armed with one of these “substitutes for a person,” as they are
called, you may set fortune at defiance. If a member of your family, for
example, is ailing, or has suffered any evil whatever, or even is merely
threatened by misfortune, all that you have to do is to send for one of these
puppets, pass it all over his body while you recite an appropriate spell, and
then burn the puppet. The maleficent influence is thus elicited from the
person of the sufferer and destroyed once for all. If your child has tumbled
into one of those open sewers which yawn for the unwary in the streets, you
need only fish him out, pass the puppet over his filthy little body, and say:
“This contact (of the substitute) with the front of the body brings purity and
prosperity, and the contact with the back gives power to eat till an old, old,
old age; the contact with the left side establishes well-being for years and
years, and the contact with the right side bestows longevity; happy fate,
come! ill fate, be transferred to the substitute!” So saying you burn the
substitute, by choice near the unsavoury spot where the accident happened;
and if you are a careful man you will fetch a pail of water and wash the
ashes away. Moreover, the child's head should be shaven quite clean; but if
the sufferer was an adult, it is enough to lay bare with the razor [pg 105] a
small patch on his scalp to let out the evil influence.293 In Corea effigies are
employed on much the same principle for the purpose of prolonging life.
On the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the first month all men and
women born under the Jen or “Man” star make certain straw images dressed
in clothes and containing a number of the copper cash which form the
currency of the country. Strictly speaking, there should be as many cash in
the image as the person whom it represents has lived years; but the rule is
not strictly observed. These images are placed on the path outside the
house, and the poor people seize them and tear them up in order to get the
cash which they contain. The destruction of the image is supposed to save
the person represented from death for ten years. Accordingly the ceremony
need only be performed once in ten years, though some people from excess
of caution appear to observe it annually.294

The Abchases of the Caucasus believe that sickness is sometimes caused by
Mother Earth. So in order to appease her and redeem the life of the sick

man, an innocent maiden will make a puppet in human form, richly clad,
and bury it in the earth, saying, “Instead of the sick man, play and delight
yourself with this.”295 The Ewe negroes of Togoland, in West Africa, think
that the spirits of all living people come from heaven, where they live in the
intervals between their incarnations. Life in Amedzowe, as they call that
e heavenly region, which lies a little to the east of the town of Ho, is very like
f life on earth. There are fields there and wildernesses and forests. Also there
are all kinds of food, such as yams and maize and likewise stock-yams, not
e to speak of cotton; in fact, all these things came from heaven just as men
themselves did. Moreover, everybody has his spiritual mother in heaven and
e his spiritual aunt, also his spiritual uncle, his spiritual grandfather, and [pg
106] so on, just as on earth. Now the spirits in heaven are apt to resent it
e when one of their number quits them to go and be born as a child on earth;
and sometimes they will pursue the truant and carry him back to the
f celestial country, and that is what we call death. Little children are most
commonly fetched away by their mother in heaven; for she wearies for
them and comes and lays an invisible hand on the child, and it sickens and
dies. If you hear a child whimpering of nights, you may be sure that its
mother from heaven has laid her hand on it and is drawing it away to
herself. If the child grows very sick and its earthly mother fears that it will
die, she will mould two figures of clay, a man and a woman, and offer them
in exchange to the heavenly mother, saying, “O thou bearer and mother of
children! instead of the child that has gone away from thee we bring thee
here in exchange these clay men. Take them and withdraw thy hand from
the child in this visible world.” Grown-up people also, when they fall sick,
will sometimes make images of clay and offer them as substitutes to the
messengers who have come from heaven to fetch them away. These images
are deposited with other offerings, such as cowry-shells and a musket, by
the roadside; and if the messengers accept them instead of the sick man, he
recovers.296 During an epidemic of small-pox the Ewe negroes will
sometimes clear a space outside of the town, where they erect a number of
low mounds and cover them with as many little clay figures as there are
people in the place. Pots of food and water are also set out for the
refreshment of the spirit of small-pox who, it is hoped, will take the clay
figures and spare the living folk; and to make assurance doubly sure the
road into the town is barricaded against him.297

Among the Nishga Indians of British Columbia when [pg 107] a medicine-
man dreams a dream which portends death to somebody, he informs the
person whose life is threatened, and together they concert measures to avert
the evil omen. The man whose life is at stake has a small wooden figure
called a shigigiadsqu made as like himself as the skill of the wood-carver
e will allow, and this he hangs round his neck by a string so that the figure
f lies exactly over his heart. In this position he wears it long enough to allow
the heat of his body to be imparted to it, generally for about four days. On
e the fourth day the medicine-man comes to the house, arrayed in his bearskin
and other insignia of office and bringing with him a wisp of teased bark and
a toy canoe made of cedar-bark. Thus equipped, he sings a doleful ditty, the
death-song of the tribe. Then he washes the man over the region of the heart
with the wisp of bark dipped in water, places the wisp, together with the
wooden image, in the canoe, and after again singing the death-chant,
commits image, wisp, and canoe to the flames, where they are all
consumed. The death-chant is now changed to a song of joy, and the man
who was lately in fear of his life joins in. He may well be gay, for has he
not given death the slip by devoting to destruction, not merely a wisp
saturated with the dangerous defilement of his body, but also a substitute
made in his own likeness and impregnated with his very heart's warmth?298

With these examples before us we may fairly conclude that the woollen
effigies, which at the festival of the Compitalia might be seen hanging at the
e doors of all the houses in ancient Rome, were not substitutes for human
victims who had formerly been sacrificed at this season, but rather vicarious
offerings presented to the Mother or Grandmother of Ghosts, in the hope
t that on her rounds through the city she would accept or mistake the effigies
e for the inmates of the house and so spare the living for another year. It is
possible that the puppets made of rushes, which in the month of May the
e pontiffs and Vestal Virgins annually threw into the Tiber from the old
Sublician bridge at Rome,299 [pg 108] had originally the same significance;
that is, they may have been designed to purge the city from demoniac
influence by diverting the attention of the demons from human beings to the
puppets and then toppling the whole uncanny crew, neck and crop, into the
g river, which would soon sweep them far out to sea. In precisely the same
way the natives of Old Calabar used periodically to rid their town of the
r devils which infested it by luring the unwary demons into a number of

lamentable scarecrows, which they afterwards flung into the river.300 This
interpretation of the Roman custom is supported to some extent by the
f evidence of Plutarch, who speaks of the ceremony as “the greatest of
purifications.”301 However, other explanations of the rite have been
proposed: indeed these puppets of rushes have been a standing puzzle to
Roman antiquaries in ancient and modern times.

[pg 109]

Chapter XI. The Sacrifice of First-Fruits.

In the preceding chapter we saw that primitive peoples often partake of the
new corn and the new fruits sacramentally, because they suppose them to be
instinct with a divine spirit or life. At a later age, when the fruits of the earth
f are conceived as created rather than as animated by a divinity, the new fruits
are no longer partaken of sacramentally as the body and blood of a god; but
a portion of them is offered to the divine beings who are believed to have
produced them. Originally, perhaps, offerings of first-fruits were supposed
n to be necessary for the subsistence of the divinities, who without them must
m have died of hunger;302 but in after times they seem to be looked on rather in
the light of a tribute or mark of homage rendered by man to the gods for the
good gifts they have bestowed on him. Sometimes the first-fruits are
m presented to the king, perhaps in his character of a god; very often they are
made over to the spirits of the human dead, who are sometimes thought to
have it in their power to give or withhold the crops. Till the first-fruits have
been offered to the deity, the dead, or the king, people are not at liberty to
eat of the new crops. But, as it is not always possible to draw a sharp line
between the sacrament and the sacrifice of first-fruits, it may be well to
g round off this part of the subject by giving some examples of the latter.
n
e The Ovambo or Ovakuanjama of South-West Africa stand in great fear of
the spirits of the dead, who are believed to exercise a powerful influence
over the living; in particular the spirits of dead chiefs can give or withhold
- rain, a matter of vital importance in the parched region of [pg 110]
Ovamboland. Accordingly the people pay great respect to the spirits of the
e departed, and they hold a thanksgiving festival in their honour at the close
of the harvest. When the new corn has been reaped and ground, a portion of
- it is made into porridge and carried to the quarters of the principal wife.

Here all the inhabitants of the kraal assemble; the head of the family takes
some of the porridge, dips it in melted fat, and throws it to the east, saying,
“Take it, ye spirits of the East!” Then he does the same towards the west,
saying, “Take it, ye spirits of the West!” This is regarded as a thank-offering
presented to the spirits of the dead for not visiting the people with sickness
while they were cultivating the fields, and especially for sending the rain.303

Among the Basutos, when the corn has been threshed and winnowed, it is
left in a heap on the threshing-floor. Before it can be touched a religious
ceremony must be performed. The persons to whom the corn belongs bring
- a new vessel to the spot, in which they boil some of the grain. When it is
n boiled they throw a few handfuls of it on the heap of corn, saying, “Thank
you, gods; give us bread to-morrow also!” When this is done the rest is
eaten, and the provision for the year is considered pure and fit to eat.304 Here
the sacrifice of the first-fruits to the gods is the prominent idea, which
comes out again in the custom of leaving in the threshing-floor a little
hollow filled with grain, as a thank-offering to these powerful beings.305
Still the Basutos retain a lively sense of the sanctity of the corn in itself; for,
so long as it is exposed to view, all defiled persons are carefully kept from
it. If it is necessary to employ a defiled person in carrying home the harvest,
he remains at some distance while the sacks are being filled, and only
approaches to place them upon the draught oxen. As soon as the load is
deposited at the dwelling he retires, and under no pretext may he help to
pour the corn into the baskets in which it is kept.306 The Makalaka worship a
god called Shumpaoli, [pg 111] whose image is to be found in the enclosure
outside of their huts. The image consists of the head of an axe, a stone from
the river, and a twig or long stalk of grass planted between them in the
ground. About this god they scatter the first-fruits of their harvest, and when
they brew beer they pour some of it on him.307 Of the Bantu tribes of South
Africa in general we are told that they might not eat of the new crops till the
chief gave them leave to do so. When the millet was ripe he appointed a
general assembly of the people at his residence, which was known as the
Great Place; he then performed certain rites, and in particular he offered a
small quantity of the fresh grain to the spirits of his ancestors, either by
laying it on their graves or by casting it into a stream. After that he granted
the people permission to gather and eat the new corn.308

Among the Maraves or Zimbas, a tribe of the Upper Zambesi, bordering on
the Portuguese territory, it is the custom that first-fruits of all produce must
be offered to the spirits of the dead (muzimos), to whom they attribute all
- the good and ill that befall them. Every year at harvest-time the offerings
n are brought to these mighty beings. Small portions of all kinds of fruits,
together with cooked fowls and pombe (the native intoxicant), are carried in
procession, with songs, dances, and the beating of drums, to the burial-
ground, which is always situated in a grove or a wilderness and is esteemed
a sacred place; no tree may be felled and no animal killed on the holy
ground, for the natives believe that a spirit of the dead is present in
everything within the precincts.309 Among the Yaos of British Central Africa
“offerings are made to the spirit world or to mulungu as the great agency in
the affairs of human life. Outside the village, or beside the head-man's hut,
may often be seen a rough shed. In this are placed the first-fruits of the new
crop, green maize, beans, pumpkins, peas, etc., as a thank offering from the
villagers for their harvest. This is described as kulomba [pg 112]mulungu, to
worship mulungu.”310 By mulungu the Yaos mean primarily and strictly the
soul of a dead person, which is believed to influence the lives and fortunes
of the survivors, and therefore needs to be honoured and propitiated; but
they employ the word in an extended sense to signify the aggregate of the
spirits of all the dead, and missionaries have adopted it as the nearest
equivalent for the word God.311 Among the Winamwanga, a tribe of north-
eastern Rhodesia, between Lake Nyassa and Lake Tanganyika, it is
customary to offer the first beer and the first flour made from the new
harvest of millet to the spirits of the dead. The head of the family pours out
some beer and a small quantity of the new flour in a heap on the floor of his
own house, after which he prays to the spirits of his forefathers, thanks
them for the harvest, and invites them to come and partake of it with the
family. The priest performs the same ceremony at the shrine for the whole
village. The householder or the priest speaks to the spirits as if they were
sitting around him. Thus he may say, “O ye great spirits, fathers in the spirit
world, mothers in the spirit world, and all ye others, bless us now. Here is
the food, and here is the offering, call ye all of you each other.” Then after
summoning the dead by their names he may go on: “Come all of you and
partake of this offering. Ye great spirits, all things of this earth were known
to you while yet ye were here. Take care of this your family, and of all these
your children. May we ever go in our ways in prosperity. Oh! ye great

spirits, give to us food and all the produce of the land. Drive ye away all
illnesses from your family, ye great spirits; every evil spirit put far away
from us, and whatever might seek to hurt us may it fly away on the wind.
Cause ye us to abide in peace.”312 Among the Yombe of Northern Rhodesia,
to the west of Lake Tanganyika, no one is allowed to partake of the new
fruits until certain ceremonies [pg 113] have been performed. Escorted by a
band of drummers, his medicine-men, and the village elders, the chief
ascends the Kalanga Mountain until he reaches the hollow fastness which in
former days his forefathers held against the marauding Angoni. Here the
grandfather of the present chief lies buried. Before his tomb a bull is slain,
and pots of freshly-brewed beer and porridge made from the first-fruits are
deposited before the shrine. The ground is then carefully cleaned of weeds,
and the blood of the bull is sprinkled on the freshly-turned-up soil and on
the rafters of the little hut. After offering the customary prayers in
thanksgiving for the harvest, and beseeching the spirits to partake with them
of the first-fruits, the procession retires. On their return to the village, the
carcase of the bull is divided, all partake of the fresh porridge and beer
awaiting them, and the day closes with beer-drinking and dancing.313

The A-Kamba of British East Africa offer first-fruits to the spirits of their
dead before anybody may eat of the new crop. Sometimes these offerings
are piled on the graves of chiefs and left there along with the meat of a goat
- which has been sacrificed. Sometimes the offerings are made in a cleared
n place under the sacred wild fig tree (mumbo) of the village; for the A-
Kamba think that the spirits of the dead (aiimu) dwell in wild fig trees, and
they build miniature huts at the foot of the trees for the accommodation of
the ghosts. The clearing under the wild fig tree of the village is called the
Place of Prayer (ithembo). When any crop is ripe, all the inhabitants of the
district assemble, and a very old man and woman, chosen for the purpose,
leave the crowd and go to the Place of Prayer, where they call aloud to the
spirits of the dead and ask leave to eat the crop. The people then dance, and
during the dance one of the women is sure to be seized with a fit of shaking
and to cry aloud, which is deemed the answer of the spirits to the people's
prayer.314 Amongst the Baganda a man used to offer the first-fruits of a new
garden to his god, imploring the blessing of the deity on the future [pg 114]
crops.315 Among the Dinka of the White Nile no member of a family may
eat the new fruits until the father or mother has scattered some of them over

the courtyard of the house in order to ensure the blessing of God.316 When
the millet is ripe, the Nubas of Jebel-Nuba, a range of mountains in the
eastern Sudan, observe the following ceremony. Every group of villages is
presided over by a sacred pontiff called a cogiour or codjour, who is
believed to act under the inspiration of a spirit named Laro. So when it is
known that the grain is ready to be cut, a drum is beaten, the pontiff mounts
his horse and, attended by all the elderly men and women, repairs to his
fields, while the rest of the people betake themselves to their own farms.
There the people whose eldest child is a boy break five ears of corn, and
those whose eldest child is a girl break four. But young unmarried people
break five or four ears according as they desire to have a boy or a girl for
their first-born. All then return to the village and place the ears they have
gathered on the hedge which serves as an enclosure. When the beat of the
drum and multitudinous cries of joy announce the return of the pontiff, the
people take the gathered ears and advance to meet him. He rides at the head
of a cavalcade composed of all the men who have horses. After that,
attended by the elders, he retires to his house, while the rest of the people
deposit the ears of corn in the cave of Laro, the being who inspires the holy
pontiff. Feasting, drinking, and horse-races conclude the ceremony. At the
races the young folk amuse themselves by flinging stalks of millet before
the horses to make them shy and throw their riders.317

[pg 115]

The Igbiras, a pagan tribe at the confluence of the Niger and the Benue,
bury their dead in their houses and have great faith in the power of the
ghosts, whose guidance and protection they seek to ensure by periodical
- offerings of goats and cocks. Also they offer the first-fruits of their crops to
n the dead, hanging bunches of the new grain over the burial-places in their
huts. The Igbiras also celebrate the festival of the new yams with great
pomp. It is their New Year's Day. Sacrifices of fowls and goats are offered,
and wine and oil are freely poured out. The king takes a prominent part in
the feast.318 Among the Cross River natives, in the lower valley of the Niger,
the eating of the new yams is an occasion of great rejoicing, but no one may
partake of them until a portion has been ceremonially offered to the deities.
The festival is not held simultaneously but separately for each village
according to the state of the crops. High and low, old and young, men,

women, and children dance to music on these joyful occasions.319 The
Matse tribe of Ewe negroes in Togoland worship the Earth at the times
when they dig the ripe yams in September, when they reap the ripe maize in
November, and when they burn the grass in February. The place where they
offer sacrifices to the Earth goddess is called “the Wood of our Mother.” In
the month of November the hunters, led by the Chief Huntsman and the
High Priest, repair to the maize-fields, where they gather cobs of the ripe
grain. Some of these they deposit, with prayers, in the sacrificial place in
the wood, but they keep the finest cobs for themselves. After this sacrifice
of the new corn to the Earth goddess everybody is free to get in his maize.320
Amongst the Hos, another Ewe tribe of Togoland, when a man is about to
dig up his yam crop, he first of all digs up two yams which he had planted
for the goddess Mawu Sodza. These he holds up to her and prays, saying,
“O Mawu Sodza, thou ship full of yams, give to me, and I will give to you;
pass me over, and I will pass you over. Here are thy yams, which I have dug
for thee. When I dig mine, grant that I may have plenty.” [pg 116]
Thereupon he begins to dig the crop.321 Among the Bassari, another tribe of
Togoland, no man may eat of the new yams until the people have paid a
tribute of the first-fruits to the king. At such times long files of men,
women, and children may be seen wending their way to the capital to
render to the king his dues. But the king himself may not partake of the new
yams until he has offered a portion of them, along with ten white fowls, to
the fetish.322 Before the Adeli of the Slave Coast may eat of the new yams,
the owner of each farm must bring the first yams of his field to the fetish
priest, who offers them to the fetish, after which he declares that the harvest
may take place. The festival, accompanied by shooting and dancing, lasts
several days; it generally falls in August.323

Among the Betsileo of Madagascar the king used to receive first-fruits of
all the crops, such as rice, maize, manioc, beans, and sweet potatoes: indeed
this tribute of first-fruits formed a large part of his revenue.324 The Hovas of
Madagascar present the first sheaves of the new grain to the sovereign. The
n sheaves are carried in procession to the palace from time to time as the
grain ripens.325 So in Burma, when the pangati fruits ripen, some of them
d used to be taken to the king's palace that he might eat of them; no one might
partake of them before the king.326 It has been suggested that the modern

system of taxation may be directly derived from the ancient obligation of
paying first-fruits to a sacred pontiff or king.327

Every year, when they gather their first crops, the Kochs of Assam offer
some of the first-fruits to their ancestors, calling to them by name and
clapping their hands.328 Before they harvest any of their crops, the Garos,
- another people of Assam, deem it necessary to sacrifice the first-fruits of the
n [pg 117] crops to the gods. Thus, for example, they gather some ears of rice
d or millet, pound them between two stones, and offer them up on a piece of
plantain stem.329 In August, when the rice ripens, the Hos of Bengal offer
the first-fruits of the harvest to Sing Bonga, who dwells in the sun. Along
with the new rice a white cock is sacrificed; and till the sacrifice has been
- offered no one may eat the new rice.330 Among the Oraons of Bengal no one
will partake of the new rice until some of it has been offered to the
l ancestors. A handful of it is cooked and spread on the ground, and a pot of
f rice-beer is brewed and some of the beer also spilt on the ground. Before
drinking every one dips his finger in his cup and lets fall some drops in
honour of the ancestors. Further, a whity grey fowl is killed, and the eldest
- of the family, addressing the ancestral spirits, says, “O old mothers and
n fathers, you have always been so good to us on these days. Here we are
l rejoicing: we cannot forget you: come and rejoice with us.”331 In Ladakh the
peasants offer the first two or three handfuls of the wheat-crop to the spirit
who presides over agriculture. These offerings they attach to the tops of the
pillars which support the roofs of their houses; and thus the bands of straw
- and ears of wheat form a primitive sort of capital. Rams' horns are
n sometimes added to this decoration.332 In the Himalayan districts of the
North-Western provinces of India the fields and boundaries are under the
protection of a beneficent local deity named Kshetrpal or Bhumiya. Every
village possesses a small temple sacred to him. When a crop is sown, a
handful of grain is sprinkled over a stone in the corner of the field nearest to
the temple, in order that the god may protect the growing crop from hail,
blight, and the ravages of wild beasts; and at harvest he receives the first-
fruits in order that he may save the garnered grain from the inroads of rats
and insects.333 Among the hill tribes near [pg 118] Rajamahall, in India,
when the kosarane grain is being reaped in November or early in
December, a festival is held as a thanksgiving before the new grain is eaten.
On a day appointed by the chief a goat is sacrificed by two men to a god

called Chitariah Gossaih, after which the chief himself sacrifices a fowl.
Then the vassals repair to their fields, offer thanksgiving, make an oblation
to Kull Gossaih (who is described as the Ceres of these mountaineers), and
then return to their houses to eat of the new kosarane. As soon as the
inhabitants have assembled at the chief's house—the men sitting on one side
and the women on the other—a hog, a measure of kosarane, and a pot of
spirits are presented to the chief, who in return blesses his vassals, and
exhorts them to industry and good behaviour; “after which, making a
libation in the names of all their gods, and of their dead, he drinks, and also
throws a little of the kosarane away, repeating the same pious
exclamations.” Drinking and festivity then begin, and are kept up for
several days. The same tribes have another festival at reaping the Indian
corn in August or September. Every man repairs to his fields with a hog, a
goat, or a fowl, which he sacrifices to Kull Gossaih. Then, having feasted,
he returns home, where another repast is prepared. On this day it is
customary for every family in the village to distribute to every house a little
of what they have prepared for their feast. Should any person eat of the new
kosarane or the new Indian corn before the festival and public thanksgiving
at the reaping of these crops, the chief fines him a white cock, which is
sacrificed to Chitariah.334 In the Central Provinces of India the first grain of
the season is commonly offered to the god Bhímsen or Bhím Deo.335 When
the new rice crop is ripe, the Gadbas, a primitive tribe of the Central
Provinces, cook the first-fruits and serve them to the cattle in new bamboo
baskets; after that the men themselves [pg 119] partake of the new rice.336
The Nahals, a forest tribe of the same region, worship the forest god
Jharkhandi in the month of Chait, and until this rite has been performed
they may not use the leaves or fruits of the Butea frondosa, Phyllanthus
emblica, and mango trees. When the god is worshipped, they collect
branches and leaves of these trees and offer cooked food to them: after that
they begin to use the new leaves, fruit, and timber.337 Again, when the
Mannewars, another forest tribe of the Central Provinces, pick the flowers
of the mahua tree (Bassia latifolia), they worship the tree and offer it some
of the liquor distilled from the new flowers, along with a fowl and a goat.338
The principal festivals of the Parjas, a small tribe of the Central Provinces,
are the feast of new vegetation in July, the feast of the new rice in August or
September, and the feast of the new mango crop in April or May. At these
feasts the new season's crop is eaten, and offerings of them are presented to

the ancestors of the family, who are worshipped on these occasions.339 In the
Punjaub, when sugar-cane is planted, a woman puts on a necklace and
walks round the field, winding thread on a spindle;340 and when the sugar-
cane is cut the first-fruits are offered on an altar, which is built close to the
press and is sacred to the sugar-cane god. Afterwards the first-fruits are
given to Brahmans. Also, when the women begin to pick the cotton, they go
round the field eating rice-milk, the first mouthful of which they spit upon
the field toward the west; and the first cotton picked is exchanged at the
village shop for its weight in salt, which is prayed over and kept in the
house till the picking is finished.341

Among the ancient Hindoos the first-fruits were sacrificed [pg 120] to the
gods at the beginning of harvest, generally at the new or the full moon.
There were two harvests in the year; the barley was reaped in spring and the
- rice in autumn. From the new grain, whether barley or rice, a sacrificial
cake was prepared and set forth on twelve potsherds for the two great gods
e Indra and Agni; a pap or gruel of boiled grain, sodden either in water or
milk, was offered to the Visve Devah, that is, to the common mob of
deities; and a cake on one potsherd was presented to Heaven and Earth. The
origin of these sacrifices of first-fruits was explained by the following
myth. They say that the gods and their powerful rivals the Asuras once
strove with each other for the mastery. In this strife the Asuras defiled, both
by magic and by poison, the plants on which men and beasts subsist; for
thus they hoped to get the better of the gods. Therefore neither man nor
beast could eat food, and for lack of it they well nigh perished. When the
gods heard of it, they said one to the other, “Come let us rid the plants of
the defilement,” and they did so by means of the sacrifice. But they could
not agree as to which of them should receive the sacrifices, so to decide this
delicate question they ran a race, and Indra and Agni came in first; that is
why the cake is offered to them on twelve potsherds, while the common
mob of the gods have to put up with a simple pap or gruel. To this day,
therefore, he who offers the first-fruits to the gods does it either because no
one will then be able to defile the plants, neither by magic nor yet by
poison; or perhaps he does it because the gods did so before him. Be that as
it may, certain it is that he thereby renders both kinds of plants wholesome
and innocuous, both the plants which men eat and the plants on which cattle
graze; that indeed is the reason why the sacrificer sacrifices the first-fruits.

And the priest's fee for the sacrifice is the first-born calf of the season,
which is, as it were, the first-fruit of the cattle.342

The Kachins of Upper Burma worship the spirit (nat) of the earth every
year before they sow their crops. The worship is performed by the chief on
behalf of all the [pg 121] villagers, who contribute their offerings. The
- priest afterwards determines by exorcism which particular household shall
n start sowing first in order that the crop may be a good one. Then the
d household on which the lot has fallen goes out and sows its fields. When the
crop is ripe, it may not be reaped until the household which was the first to
sow its fields has gathered the first-fruits and offered them to its own
domestic spirits (nats). This is usually done before the crop is quite ripe, in
order that the reaping of the other crops may not be delayed.343 The Chins,
another people of Upper Burma, eat the first-fruits of their corn as a
religious rite, but before doing so they offer some of the new corn or
vegetables to their dead ancestors. They also offer the first-fruits to the
goddess Pok Klai, a single glance of whose eyes is enough to give them a
plentiful harvest of rice.344 Among the Thay of Indo-China the first-fruits of
the rice are offered at harvest to the guardian spirit of the family before the
household may partake of the new crop. The guardian spirit of the family is
the last ancestor who died; he mounts guard until he is relieved by his
successor; his shrine is a corner of the house screened off by a low trellis of
bamboo. But besides the first-fruits offered him at harvest this guardian
spirit receives some of the parched grain in spring, at the time when the first
thunder of the season is heard to mutter. The grain which is presented to
him on this occasion was plucked from the crop before the rice was quite
ripe, and it has been carefully kept to be offered to him when the first peal
of thunder in spring announces the reviving energies of nature. When all is
ready, the rice is served up together with fish, which have been caught for
the purpose, on a table set in the corner which is sacred to the guardian
spirit. A priest drones out a long invitation to the spirit to come and feast
with his children; then the family sits down to table and consumes the
offerings. At the close of the banquet the daughter-in-law of the deceased
ancestor hangs up a basket containing [pg 122] rice and fish for his use in
the corner, after which she closes the shrine for another year.345 In Corea the
first-fruits of all the crops used to be offered to the king with religious
pomp, and he received almost divine honours from his subjects.346 This

suggests that, as I have already conjectured, the common practice, of
presenting the first-fruits to kings is founded on a belief in their divinity.

In the island of Tjumba, East Indies, a festival is held after harvest. Vessels
filled with rice are presented as a thankoffering to the gods. Then the sacred
stone at the foot of a palm-tree is sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificed
- animal; and rice, with some of the flesh, is laid on the stone for the gods.
n The palm-tree is hung with lances and shields.347 The Dyaks of Borneo hold
t a feast of first-fruits when the paddy or unhusked rice is ripe. The
priestesses, accompanied by a gong and drum, go in procession to the farms
and gather several bunches of the ripe paddy. These are brought back to the
village, washed in coco-nut water, and laid round a bamboo altar, which at
the harvest festivals is erected in the common room of the largest house.
The altar is gaily decorated with white and red streamers, and is hung with
the sweet-smelling blossom of the areca palm. The feast lasts two days,
during which the village is tabooed; no one may leave it. Only fowls are
killed, and dancing and gong-beating go on day and night. When the
festival is over the people are free to get in their crops.348 The pounding of
the new paddy is the occasion of a harvest festival which is celebrated all
over Celebes. The religious ceremonies which accompany the feast were
witnessed by Dr. B. F. Matthes in July 1857. Two mats were spread on the
ground, each with a pillow on it. On one of the pillows were placed a man's
clothes and a sword, on the other a woman's clothes. These were seemingly
intended to represent the deceased ancestors. Rice and water were deposited
before the two dummy figures, which were also sprinkled with the new
paddy. Moreover, dishes of rice were set [pg 123] down for the rest of the
family and the slaves of the deceased. This was the end of the ceremony.349
In Minahassa, a district of Celebes, the people have a festival of “eating the
new rice.” Fowls or pigs are killed; some of the flesh, with rice and palm-
wine, is set apart for the gods, and then the eating and drinking begin.350
The people of Kobi and Sariputi, two villages on the north-east coast of
Ceram, offer the first-fruits of the paddy, in the form of cooked rice, with
tobacco and other things, to their ancestors as a token of gratitude. The
ceremony is called “feeding the dead.”351 In the Tenimber and Timor-laut
Islands, East Indies, the first-fruits of the paddy, along with live fowls and
pigs, are offered to the matmate. The matmate are the spirits of their
ancestors, which are worshipped as guardian-spirits or household gods.

They are supposed to enter the house through an opening in the roof, and to
take up their abode temporarily in their skulls, or in images of wood or
ivory, in order to partake of the offerings and to help the family. They also
assume the form of birds, pigs, crocodiles, turtles, sharks, and so forth.352 In
Amboyna, after the rice or other harvest has been gathered in, some of the
new fruits are offered to the gods, and till this is done, the priests may by no
means eat of them. A portion of the new rice, or whatever it may be, is
boiled, and milk of the coco-nut is poured on it, mixed with Indian saffron.
It is then taken to the place of sacrifice and offered to the god. Some people
also pour out oil before the deity; and if any of the oil is left over, they take
it home as a holy and priceless treasure, wherewith they smear the forehead
and breast of sick people and whole people, in the firm conviction that the
oil confers all kinds of blessings.353 In the Kei Islands, to the south-west of
New Guinea, the first-fruits are offered to Lir majoran, the god of
husbandry, when the harvest is ripe.354 After the rice has [pg 124] been
reaped, the people of Nias deck the images of their ancestors with wreaths,
and offer to them the first dishful of boiled rice, while they thank them for
the blessings they have bestowed on the family.355 The Irayas and
Catalangans of Luzon, tribes of the Malay stock, but of mixed blood,
worship chiefly the souls of their ancestors under the name of anitos, to
whom they offer the first-fruits of the harvest. The anitos are household
deities; some of them reside in pots in the corners of the houses; and
miniature houses, standing near the family dwelling, are especially sacred
to them.356 When the Bagobos of the Philippines have got in their harvest of
rice or maize, they will neither eat of it nor sell so much as a grain till they
have made a pretence of feeding all their agricultural implements.357

The Bukaua of German New Guinea think that the spirits of their dead have
power to make the fruits of the earth to grow. Accordingly when they have
cleared a patch in the forest for cultivation and are planting their crops, they
- take particular care to plant slips near the tree-stumps which have been left
n standing in the field, because the spirits of their long dead ancestors are
supposed to perch on them. While they plant, they call out the names of the
dead, praying them to guard the field, so that their children, the living, may
have food to eat and not suffer hunger. And similarly, when they plant
stones shaped like taro bulbs in the ground, which are supposed to produce
a fine crop of taro, they pray to their forefathers to grant them an abundance

of the fruits. When the crops are ripe, the people fetch bundles of taro,
clusters of bananas, sugar-canes, and vegetables from the fields and bring
them back solemnly to the village; a feast is prepared and a portion of the
new fruits, along with tobacco, betel, and dog's flesh, is put in a coco-nut
shell and set on a scaffold in the house of the owner of the field, while he
prays to the spirits of [pg 125] his forefathers, saying, “Ye who have
guarded our field as we asked you to do, there is something for you; now
look on us favourably also for the time to come.” Afterwards, while the
people are feasting, the owner privily stirs the contents of the coco-nut shell
with his finger, and then calls the attention of the others to it as a proof that
the spirits have partaken of the offering provided for them. Finally the food
remaining in the shell is consumed by the banqueters.358

In certain tribes of Fiji “the first-fruits of the yam harvest are presented to
the ancestors in the Nanga [sacred enclosure] with great ceremony before
the bulk of the crop is dug for the people's use, and no man may taste of the
- new yams until the presentation has been made. The yams thus offered are
n piled in the Great Nanga, and are allowed to rot there. If any one were
d impiously bold enough to appropriate them to his own use, he would be
w smitten with madness. The mission teacher before mentioned told me that,
when he visited the Nanga he saw among the weeds with which it was
overgrown, numerous yam vines which had sprung up out of the piles of
decayed offerings. Great feasts are made at the presentations of the first-
fruits, which are times of public rejoicing, and the Nanga itself is frequently
spoken of as the Mbaki, or Harvest.”359 In other parts of Fiji the practice
with regard to the first-fruits seems to have been different, for we are told
by another observer that “the first-fruits of the yams, which are always
presented at the principal temple of the district, become the property of the
priests, and form their revenue, although the pretence of their being
required for the use of the god is generally kept up.”360 In Tana, one of the
New Hebrides, the general name for gods appeared to be aremha, which
meant “a dead man.” The spirits of departed ancestors were among the gods
of the people. Chiefs who reached an advanced age were deified after their
death, addressed by name, and prayed to on various occasions. They were
supposed to preside especially over the growth of the yams and fruit-trees.
The first-fruits [pg 126] were presented to them. A little of the new fruit was
laid on a stone, or on a shelving branch of the tree, or on a rude temporary

altar, made of a few sticks lashed together with strips of bark, in the form of
a table, with its four feet stuck in the ground. All being quiet, the chief acted
as high priest, and prayed aloud as follows: “Compassionate father! here is
some food for you; eat it; be kind to us on account of it.” Then all the
people shouted. This took place about noon, and afterwards the assembled
people feasted and danced till midnight or morning.361

In Florida, one of the Solomon Islands, the canarium nut is much used in
the native cookery, but formerly none might be eaten till the sacrifice of the
first-fruits had been offered to the ghosts of the dead. This was done on
- behalf of a whole village by a man who inherited a knowledge of the way in
n which the sacrifice should be offered, and who accordingly had authority to
open the season. When he saw that the time had come, he raised a shout
early in the morning, then climbed a tree, cracked the nuts, ate some
himself, and put some on the stones in his sacred place for the particular
ghost whom he worshipped. Then all the people might gather the nuts for
themselves. The chief offered food, in which the new nuts were mixed, on
the stones of the village sanctuary; and every man who revered a ghost of
his own did the same in his private sanctuary.362 This sacrifice of first-fruits
was witnessed by Mr. Woodford at the village of Aola, in the neighbouring
island of Guadalcanar. The canarium nuts, or Solomon Island almonds, had
been ripe for a week, and Mr. Woodford had expressed a wish to taste them,
but he was told that this was quite impossible till the offering to the ghost
had been made. As a native put it, “Devil he eat first; all man he eat
behind.” All the inhabitants of the village adjourned to the sea-shore in
groups of ten or twelve to perform the sacrifice. The party to which Mr.
Woodford attached himself swept a space clean beneath the spreading
branches of a Barringtonia, and there constructed half-a-dozen tiny altars,
each about six inches square, out of dry sticks. On these altars they laid [pg
127] offerings of yams, taros, bananas, and a little flesh; and a few of the
nuts were skinned and set up on sticks round about the altars. Fire was then
made by the friction of wood, for matches might not be used for this
purpose, though probably every man had a box of them in his bag. With the
sacred flame thus produced the altars were kindled and the offerings
consumed. When this was done, the women produced large flat cakes baked
of a paste of pounded nuts, and these were eaten by all.363 In Saa, another of
the Solomon Islands, when the yams are ripe, the people fetch some from

each garden to offer to the ghosts. Early in the morning all the male
members of a family assemble at the sanctuary of the particular ancestral
ghosts whom they revere. One of them goes with a yam into the holy place
and cries with a loud voice to the ghosts, “This is yours to eat,” and with
that he sets the yam beside the skull which is in the sanctuary. The others
call quietly upon all the ancestors and present their yams, which are many
in number, because one from each garden is given to each of the ghosts.
Moreover, if any man has a relic of the dead at home, such as a head, or
bones, or hair, he takes back a yam to his house and places it beside the
head or whatever it may be. In the same island, as in Florida, the new
canarium nuts may not be eaten until the first-fruits have been offered to the
ghosts. Moreover, the first flying-fish of the season must be sacrificed to
these spirits of the dead before the living are allowed to partake of the fish.
The ghosts to whom the flying-fish are offered have the form of sharks.
Some of them have sanctuaries ashore, where images of sharks are set up;
and the flying-fish are laid before these images. Other shark-ghosts have no
place on shore; so the fish offered to them are taken out to sea and shredded
into the water, while the names of the ghosts are called out.364

In some of the Kingsmill Islands the god most commonly worshipped was
called Tubuériki. He was represented by a flat coral stone, of irregular
shape, about three feet [pg 128] long by eighteen inches wide, set up on end
- in the open air. Leaves of the coco-nut palm were tied about it, considerably
n increasing its size and height. The leaves were changed every month, that
they might be always fresh. The worship paid to the god consisted in
repeating prayers before the stone, and laying beside it a portion of the food
prepared by the people for their own use. This they did at their daily meals,
at festivals, and whenever they specially wished to propitiate the deity. The
first-fruits of the season were always offered to him. Every family of
distinction had one of these stones which was considered rather in the light
of a family altar than as an idol.365

In the Tonga Islands the first-fruits of the year were offered with solemn
ceremony to the sacred chief Tooitonga, who was regarded as divine. The
ceremony generally took place about October, and the people believed that
- if the rite were neglected the vengeance of the gods would fall in a signal
n manner upon them. The following is a description of the festival as it was

a celebrated in the days when a European flag rarely floated among the
islands of the Pacific: “Inachi. This word means, literally, a share or portion
of anything that is to be or has been distributed out: but in the sense here
mentioned it means that portion of the fruits of the earth, and other eatables,
which is offered to the gods in the person of the divine chief Tooitonga,
which allotment is made once a year, just before the yams in general are
arrived at a state of maturity; those which are used in this ceremony being
of a kind which admit of being planted sooner than others, and,
consequently, they are the first fruits of the yam season. The object of this
offering is to insure the protection of the gods, that their favour may be
extended to the welfare of the nation generally, and in particular to the
productions of the earth, of which yams are the most important.

“The time for planting most kinds of yams is about the latter end of July,
but the species called caho-caho, which is always used in this ceremony, is
put in the ground about a month before, when, on each plantation, there is a
small [pg 129] piece of land chosen and fenced in, for the purpose of
growing a couple of yams of the above description. As soon as they have
arrived at a state of maturity, the How [the King] sends a messenger to
Tooitonga, stating that the yams for the inachi are fit to be taken up, and
requesting that he would appoint a day for the ceremony: he generally fixes
on the tenth day afterwards, reckoning the following day for the first. There
are no particular preparations made till the day before the ceremony: at
night, however, the sound of the conch is heard occasionally in different
parts of the islands, and as the day of the ceremony approaches it becomes
more frequent, so that the people of almost every plantation sound the
conch three or four times, which, breaking in upon the silence of the night,
has a pleasing effect, particularly at Vavaoo, where the number of woods
and hills send back repeated echoes, adding greatly to the effect. The day
before the ceremony, the yams are dug up, and ornamented with a kind of
ribbons prepared from the inner membrane of the leaf of a species of
pandanus, and dyed red; when thus prepared, it is called mellecoola and is
wrapped round the yam, beginning at one end, and running round spirally to
the other, when it is brought back in the opposite direction, the turns
crossing each other in a very neat manner. As the ceremony is always
performed at the island where Tooitonga chooses to reside, the distant
islands must make these preparations two or three days beforehand, that the

yams, etc., may be sent in time to Vavaoo, where we will suppose the affair
is to take place. The ninth day then is employed in preparing and collecting
the yams and other provisions, such as fish, cava root, and mahoa, and
getting ready mats, gnatoo, and bundles of mellecoola: but the yams only
are to be carried in the procession about to be described....

“The sun has scarcely set when the sound of the conch begins again to echo
through the island, increasing as the night advances. At the Mooa [capital],
and all the plantations, the voices of men and women are heard singing
f Nófo óooa tegger gnaoóe, óooa gnaoóe, ‘Rest thou, doing no work; thou
shalt not work.’ This increases till midnight, men generally singing the first
part of the sentence, and [pg 130] the women the last, to produce a more
e pleasing effect: it then subsides for three or four hours, and again increases
f as the sun rises. Nobody, however, is seen stirring out in the public roads till
t about eight o'clock, when the people from all quarters of the island are seen
advancing towards the Mooa, and canoes from all the other islands are
landing their men; so that all the inhabitants of Tonga seem approaching by
sea and land, singing and sounding the conch. At the Mooa itself the
universal bustle of preparation is seen and heard; and the different
processions entering from various quarters, of men and women, all dressed
up in new gnatoos, ornamented with red ribbons and wreaths of flowers,
and the men armed with spears and clubs, betoken the importance of the
ceremony about to be performed. Each party brings in its yams in a basket,
which is carried in the arms with great care, by the principal vassal of the
chief to whom the plantation may belong. The baskets are deposited in the
malái366 (in the Mooa), and some of them begin to employ themselves in
slinging the yams, each upon the centre of a pole about eight or nine feet
long, and four inches diameter. The proceedings are regulated by attending
matabooles.367 The yams being all slung, each pole is carried by two men
upon their shoulders, one walking before the other, and the yam hanging
between them, ornamented with red ribbons. The procession begins to move
towards the grave of the last Tooitonga (which is generally in the
neighbourhood, or the grave of one of his family will do), the men
advancing in a single line, every two bearing a yam, with a slow and
measured pace, sinking at every step, as if their burden were of immense
weight. In the meantime the chiefs and matabooles are seated in a
semicircle before the grave, with their heads bowed down, and their hands

clasped before them.” The procession then marched round the grave twice
or thrice in a great circle, the conchs blowing and the men singing. Next the
yams, still suspended from the poles, were deposited [pg 131] before the
grave, and their bearers sat down beside them. One of the matabooles of
Tooitonga, seating himself before the grave, a little in advance of the men,
now addressed the gods generally, and afterwards particularly, mentioning
the late Tooitonga, and the names of several others. He thanked them for
their divine bounty in favouring the land with the prospect of so good a
harvest, and prayed that their beneficence might be continued in future.
When he had finished, the men rose and resumed their loads, and after
parading two or three times before the grave, marched back to the malái the
same way they came, singing and blowing the conchs as before. The chiefs
and matabooles soon followed to the same place, where the yams had been
again deposited and loosened from the poles, though they still retained their
ornaments. Here the company sat down in a great circle, presided over by
Tooitonga, while the king and other great chiefs retired into the background
among the mass of the people. Then the other articles that formed part of
the inachi were brought forward, consisting of dried fish, mats, etc., which,
with the yams, were divided into shares by one of the matabooles of
Tooitonga. About a fourth was allotted to the gods, and appropriated by the
priests; about a half fell to the king; and the remainder belonged to
Tooitonga. The materials of the inachi having been carried away, the
company set themselves to drink cava. Some cava root was brought and
prepared; a large quantity of provisions, perhaps a hundred and fifty
baskets-full, was set forth, and a small part of it was distributed to be eaten
with the cava. While the infusion was preparing, a mataboole made a
speech to the people, saying that, as they had performed this important
ceremony, the gods would protect them and grant them long lives, if only
they continued to observe the religious rites and to pay due respect to the
chiefs. When the cava was all drunk, the circle separated, and the
provisions were shared out to each chief according to his rank. The day
concluded with wrestling, boxing, and so forth, and then the night dances
began. When these were ended, the people went home perfectly assured of
the protection of the gods. At this ceremony, we are informed, the quantity
[pg 132] of provisions distributed was incredible, and the people looked
upon it as a very heavy tribute.368

In this Tongan festival the solemn presentation of the first-fruits to the
divine chief at the grave of his predecessor is highly significant: it confirms
the conclusion which we have already reached, that wherever the first-fruits
e are paid to the chief, it is rather in his religious than in his civil capacity that
he receives them. It is true that the king of Tonga received a large share of
- the first-fruits, indeed a larger share than was allotted to the divine chief;
but it is very noticeable that while the division of the first-fruits was taking
e place under the presidency of the divine chief, the king and the other great
e chiefs retired from the scene and mingled with the mass of the people, as if
f to indicate that as mere laymen they had no right to participate in a religious
rite of such deep solemnity.

The Samoans used to present the first-fruits to the spirits (aitus) and
chiefs.369 For example, a family whose god was in the form of an eel
presented the first-fruits of their taro plantations to the eel.370 In Tahiti “the
- first fish taken periodically on their shores, together with a number of kinds
n regarded as sacred, were conveyed to the altar. The first-fruits of their
d orchards and gardens were also taumaha, or offered, with a portion of their
live stock, which consisted of pigs, dogs, and fowls, as it was supposed
death would be inflicted on the owner or the occupant of the land, from
which the god should not receive such acknowledgment.”371 In Huahine,
one of the Society Islands, the first-fruits were presented to the god Tani. A
poor person was expected to bring two of the earliest fruits gathered, of
whatever kind; a raatira had to bring ten, and chiefs and princes had to
bring more, according to their rank and riches. They carried the fruits to the
temple, where they threw them down on the ground, with the words, “Here,
[pg 133] Tani, I have brought you something to eat.”372 The chief gods of
the Easter Islanders were Make-Make and Haua. To these they offered the
first of all the produce of the ground.373 Amongst the Maoris the offering of
the first-fruits of the sweet potatoes to Pani, son of Rongo, the god of sweet
potatoes, was a solemn religious ceremony. The crop of sweet potatoes
(kumara) was sacred, and all persons engaged in its cultivation were also
sacred or tabooed; they might not quit the place nor undertake any other
work.374

It has been affirmed that the old Prussians offered the first-fruits of their
crops and of their fishing to the god Curcho, but doubt rests on the

statement.375 We have seen that the Athenians and other Greek peoples
offered the first-fruits of the wheat and barley harvests to Demeter and
Persephone at Eleusis.376 The Troezenians sacrificed the first-fruits to
- Poseidon, whom they worshipped as the guardian deity of their city.377 In
Attica the first-fruits of the vintage were presented to Icarius and Erigone.378
e The Romans sacrificed the first ears of corn to Ceres, and the first of the
new wine to Liber; and until the priests had offered these sacrifices, the
people might not eat the new corn nor drink the new wine.379 In various
parts of ancient Italy the vintage was solemnly inaugurated by the priests.
At Rome the duty devolved on the Flamen Dialis, who sacrificed a lamb to
Jupiter and then gathered the first grapes over the entrails of the victim. Till
this ceremony had been performed, the new wine might not be brought into
the city.380

The Thompson River Indians of British Columbia used [pg 134] to offer the
first berries of the season to the earth, or more generally to the mountains.
The offering was made by an old grey-haired person, who danced and held
- out the fruit towards the mountain-tops. The rest of the people painted their
faces red and danced for some time.381 The Okanaken Indians of British
e Columbia “observed first-fruits ceremonies. When the first berries or roots
f were ripe, the chief would send out his wife or eldest daughter to gather a
portion. The whole community would then come together, and prayers
would be offered to those spirits of the sky who were supposed to preside
over the operations of nature, portions of the fruit or roots would be
distributed to all present, after which any one was free to gather all he or
e she desired; but no one would think of picking a berry or digging a root
until after the feast had been held.”382 When the ears of maize were formed,
the Quiches of Central America gathered the first-fruits and carried them to
e the priests; moreover, they baked loaves or cakes, which they offered to the
idol who guarded their fields, but afterwards these cakes were given to the
poor or the infirm to eat.383 It was the custom of the Arkansas Indians to
offer the first-fruits of the ripe maize and melons to the Master of Life; even
children would die of hunger rather than touch the new fruits before this
offering had been made. Some of the new maize, melons, and other fruits
were minced up with the carcase of a dog in the presence of the old men,
who alone were privileged to assist at this solemn rite. Then, after
performing certain ceremonies, the old men began to dance, and some

young girls, wound up to a pitch of frenzy, threw themselves on the offering
and bolted it in an instant. Thereupon the old men seized the damsels and
ducked them in the river Arkansas, which had a sobering influence on the
minds of the devotees.384 From this account we may perhaps infer that in
eating the new [pg 135] fruits the girls were believed to be inspired by the
Master of Life, who thus consumed the offering by deputy. The chief
solemnity of the Natchez, an Indian tribe on the Lower Mississippi, was the
Harvest Festival or the Festival of New Fire. An early account of this
ceremony has been already submitted to the reader,385 but it may not be
amiss to add here for comparison the later description by Chateaubriand,
which differs from the other in some particulars, and lays stress on the
sacrifice rather than on the sacrament of first-fruits. According to
Chateaubriand, then, when the time for the festival drew near, a crier went
through the villages calling upon the people to prepare new vessels and new
garments, to wash their houses, and to burn the old grain, the old garments,
and the old utensils in a common fire. He also proclaimed an amnesty to
criminals. Next day he appeared again, commanding the people to fast for
three days, to abstain from all pleasures, and to make use of the medicine of
purification. Thereupon all the people took some drops extracted from a
root which they called the “root of blood.” It was a kind of plantain and
distilled a red liquor which acted as a violent emetic. During their three
days' fast the people kept silence. At the end of it the crier proclaimed that
the festival would begin on the following day. So next morning, as soon as
it began to grow light in the sky, the people streamed from all quarters
towards the temple of the Sun. The temple was a large building with two
doors, one opening to the east, the other to the west. On this morning the
eastern door of the temple stood open. Facing the eastern door was an altar,
placed so as to catch the first beams of the rising sun. An image of a
chouchouacha (a small marsupial) stood upon the altar; on its right was an
image of a rattlesnake, on its left an image of a marmoset. Before these
images a fire of oak-bark burned perpetually. Once a year only, on the eve
of the Harvest Festival, was the sacred flame suffered to die out. To the
right of the altar, on the morning of this holy day, stood the great chief, who
took his title and traced his descent from the Sun. To the left of the altar
stood his wife. Round them were grouped, according to [pg 136] their
ranks, the war chiefs, the sachems, the heralds, and the young braves. In

front of the altar were piled bundles of dry reeds, stacked in concentric
rings.

The high priest, standing on the threshold of the temple, kept his eyes fixed
on the eastern horizon. Before presiding at the festival he had to plunge
thrice into the Mississippi. In his hands he held two pieces of dry wood
which he kept rubbing slowly against each other, muttering magic words.
At his side two acolytes held two cups filled with a kind of black sherbet.
All the women, their backs turned to the east, each leaning with one hand
on her rude mattock and supporting her infant with the other, stood in a
great semicircle at the gate of the temple. Profound silence reigned
throughout the multitude while the priest watched attentively the growing
light in the east. As soon as the diffused light of dawn began to be shot with
beams of fire, he quickened the motion of the two pieces of wood which he
held in his hands; and at the moment when the upper edge of the sun's disc
appeared above the horizon, fire flashed from the wood and was caught in
tinder. At the same instant the women outside the temple faced round and
held up their infants and their mattocks to the rising sun.

The great chief and his wife now drank the black liquor. The priests kindled
the circle of dried reeds; fire was set to the heap of oak-bark on the altar,
and from this sacred flame all the hearths of the village were rekindled. No
sooner were the circles of reeds consumed than the chief's wife came from
the temple and placing herself at the head of the women marched in
procession to the harvest-fields, whither the men were not allowed to follow
them. They went to gather the first sheaves of maize, and returned to the
temple bearing them on their heads. Some of the sheaves they presented to
the high priest, who laid them on the altar. Others they used to bake the
unleavened bread which was to be eaten in the evening. The eastern door of
the sanctuary was now closed, and the western door was opened.

When day began to decline, the multitude assembled once more at the
temple, this time at its western gate, where they formed a great crescent,
with the horns turned towards [pg 137] the west. The unleavened bread was
held up and presented to the setting sun, and a priest struck up a hymn in
praise of his descending light. When darkness had fallen the whole plain

twinkled with fires, round which the people feasted; and the sounds of
music and revelry broke the silence of night.386

[pg 138]

Chapter XII. Homoeopathic Magic of a Flesh
Diet.

The practice of killing a god has now been traced amongst peoples who
have reached the agricultural stage of society. We have seen that the spirit
f of the corn, or of other cultivated plants, is commonly represented either in
d human or in animal form, and that in some places a custom has prevailed of
e killing annually either the human or the animal representative of the god.
One reason for thus killing the corn-spirit in the person of his representative
has been given implicitly in an earlier part of this work: we may suppose
f that the intention was to guard him or her (for the corn-spirit is often
e feminine) from the enfeeblement of old age by transferring the spirit, while
t still hale and hearty, to the person of a youthful and vigorous successor.
g Apart from the desirability of renewing his divine energies, the death of the
l corn-spirit may have been deemed inevitable under the sickles or the knives
e of the reapers, and his worshippers may accordingly have felt bound to
acquiesce in the sad necessity.387 But, further, we have found a widespread
custom of eating the god sacramentally, either in the shape of the man or
f animal who represents the god, or in the shape of bread made in human or
l animal form. The reasons for thus partaking of the body of the god are,
from the primitive standpoint, simple enough. The savage commonly
believes that by eating the flesh of an animal or man he acquires not only
the physical, but even the moral and intellectual qualities which were
characteristic of that animal or man; so when the creature is deemed divine,
our simple savage naturally expects to [pg 139] absorb a portion of its
divinity along with its material substance. It may be well to illustrate by
instances this common faith in the acquisition of virtues or vices of many
kinds through the medium of animal food, even when there is no pretence
that the viands consist of the body or blood of a god. The doctrine forms
part of the widely ramified system of sympathetic or homoeopathic magic.

Thus, for example, the Creeks, Cherokee, and kindred tribes of North
American Indians “believe that nature is possest of such a property, as to
f transfuse into men and animals the qualities, either of the food they use, or
of those objects that are presented to their senses; he who feeds on venison
is, according to their physical system, swifter and more sagacious than the
s man who lives on the flesh of the clumsy bear, or helpless dunghill fowls,
e the slow-footed tame cattle, or the heavy wallowing swine. This is the
reason that several of their old men recommend, and say, that formerly their
c greatest chieftains observed a constant rule in their diet, and seldom ate of
e any animal of a gross quality, or heavy motion of body, fancying it
f conveyed a dullness through the whole system, and disabled them from
exerting themselves with proper vigour in their martial, civil, and religious
duties.”388 The Zaparo Indians of Ecuador “will, unless from necessity, in
most cases not eat any heavy meats, such as tapir and peccary, but confine
themselves to birds, monkeys, deer, fish, etc., principally because they
argue that the heavier meats make them unwieldy, like the animals who
supply the flesh, impeding their agility, and unfitting them for the chase.”389
Similarly some of the Brazilian Indians would eat no beast, bird, or fish that
ran, flew, or swam slowly, lest by partaking of its flesh they should lose
their agility and be unable to escape from their enemies.390 The Caribs
abstained from the flesh of pigs lest it should cause them to have small eyes
[pg 140] like pigs; and they refused to partake of tortoises from a fear that if
they did so they would become heavy and stupid like the animal.391 Among
the Fans of West Africa men in the prime of life never eat tortoises for a
similar reason; they imagine that if they did so, their vigour and fleetness of
foot would be gone. But old men may eat tortoises freely, because having
already lost the power of running they can take no harm from the flesh of
the slow-footed creature.392 Some of the Chiriguanos of eastern Bolivia
would not touch the flesh of the vicuña, because they imagined that if they
ate it they would become woolly like the vicuña.393 On the other hand the
Abipones of Paraguay ate the flesh of jaguars in order to acquire the
courage of the beast;394 indeed the number of jaguars which they consumed
for this object is said to have been very great, and with a like intent they
eagerly devoured the flesh of bulls, stags, boars, and ant-bears, being
persuaded that by frequently partaking of such food they increased their
strength, activity, and courage. On the other hand they all abhorred the
thought of eating hens, eggs, sheep, fish, and tortoises, because they

believed that these tender viands begot sloth and listlessness in their bodies
and cowardice in their minds.395 The Thompson Indians of British Columbia
would not eat the heart of the fool-hen, nor would they allow their dogs to
devour the bird, lest they should grow foolish like the bird.396

While many savages thus fear to eat the flesh of slow-footed animals lest
they should themselves become slow-footed, the Bushmen of South Africa
purposely ate the flesh of such creatures, and the reason which they gave
for doing so exhibits a curious refinement of savage philosophy. They
e imagined that the game which they pursued would be influenced
sympathetically by the food in the body of the [pg 141] hunter, so that if he
c had eaten of swift-footed animals, the quarry would be swift-footed also
e and would escape him; whereas if he had eaten of slow-footed animals, the
f quarry would also be slow-footed, and he would be able to overtake and kill
it. For that reason hunters of gemsbok particularly avoided eating the flesh
of the swift and agile springbok; indeed they would not even touch it with
their hands, because they believed the springbok to be a very lively creature
which did not go to sleep at night, and they thought that if they ate
springbok, the gemsbok which they hunted would likewise not be willing to
go to sleep, even at night. How, then, could they catch it?397

Certain tribes on the Upper Zambesi believe in transmigration, and every
man in his lifetime chooses the kind of animal whose body he wishes at
death to enter. He then performs an initiatory rite, which consists in
swallowing the maggots bred in the putrid carcase of the animal of his
choice; thenceforth he partakes of that animal's nature. And on the occasion
e of a calamity, while the women are giving themselves up to lamentation,
you will see one man writhing on the ground like a boa constrictor or a
c crocodile, another howling and leaping like a panther, a third baying like a
e jackal, roaring like a lion, or grunting like a hippopotamus, all of them
f imitating the characters of the various animals to perfection.398 Clearly these
people imagine that the soul or vital essence of the animal is manifested in
the maggots bred in its decaying carcase; hence they imagine that by
swallowing the maggots they imbue themselves with the very life and spirit
e of the creature which they desire to become. The Namaquas abstain from
eating the flesh of hares, because they think it would make them faint-
c hearted as a hare. But they eat the flesh of the lion, or drink the blood of the
e

399
f leopard or lion, to get the courage and strength of these beasts. The
Bushmen will not give their children a jackal's heart to eat, lest it should
make them timid like the jackal; [pg 142] but they give them a leopard's
heart to eat to make them brave like the leopard.400 When a Wagogo man of
German East Africa kills a lion, he eats the heart in order to become brave
like a lion; but he thinks that to eat the heart of a hen would make him
timid.401 Among the Ja-luo, a tribe of Nilotic negroes, young men eat the
flesh of leopards in order to make themselves fierce in war.402 The flesh of
the lion and also that of the spotted leopard are sometimes cooked and eaten
by native warriors in South-Eastern Africa, who hope thereby to become as
brave as lions.403 When a Zulu army assembles to go forth to battle, the
warriors eat slices of meat which is smeared with a powder made of the
dried flesh of various animals, such as the leopard, lion, elephant, snakes,
and so on; for thus it is thought that the soldiers will acquire the bravery and
other warlike qualities of these animals. Sometimes if a Zulu has killed a
wild beast, for instance a leopard, he will give his children the blood to
drink, and will roast the heart for them to eat, expecting that they will thus
grow up brave and daring men. But others say that this is dangerous,
because it is apt to produce courage without prudence, and to make a man
rush heedlessly on his death.404 Among the Wabondei of Eastern Africa the
heart of a lion or leopard is eaten with the intention of making the eater
strong and brave.405 In British Central Africa aspirants after courage
consume the flesh and especially the hearts of lions, while lecherous
persons eat the testicles of goats.406 Among the Suk of British East Africa
the fat and heart of a lion are sometimes given to children to eat in order
that they may become strong; but they are not allowed to know what they
are eating.407 Arab women [pg 143] in North Africa give their male children
a piece of a lion's heart to eat to make them fearless.408 The flesh of an
elephant is thought by the Ewe-speaking peoples of West Africa to make the
eater strong.409 Before they go forth to fight, Wajagga warriors drink a
magical potion, which often consists of shavings of the horn and hide of a
rhinoceros mixed with beer; this is supposed to impart to them the strength
and force of the animal.410 When a serious disease has attacked a Zulu kraal,
the medicine-man takes the bone of a very old dog, or the bone of an old
cow, bull, or other very old animal, and administers it to the healthy as well
as to the sick people, in order that they may live to be as old as the animal
of whose bone they have partaken.411 So to restore the aged Aeson to youth,

the witch Medea infused into his veins a decoction of the liver of the long-
lived deer and the head of a crow that had outlived nine generations of
men.412 In antiquity the flesh of deer and crows was eaten for other purposes
than that of prolonging life. As deer were supposed not to suffer from fever,
some women used to taste venison every morning, and it is said that in
consequence they lived to a great age without ever being attacked by a
fever; only the venison lost all its virtue if the animal had been killed by
more blows than one.413 Again, ancient diviners sought to imbue themselves
with the spirit of prophecy by swallowing vital portions of birds and beasts
of omen; for example, they thought that by eating the hearts of crows or
moles or hawks they took into their bodies, along with the flesh, the
prophetic soul of the creature.414

[pg 144]

Among the Dyaks of North-West Borneo young men and warriors may not
eat venison, because it would make them as timid as deer; but the women
f and very old men are free to eat it.415 However, among the Kayans of the
s same region, who share the same view as to the ill effect of eating venison,
men will partake of the dangerous viand provided it is cooked in the open
e air, for then the timid spirit of the animal is supposed to escape at once into
the jungle and not to enter into the eater.416 The Aino of Japan think that the
c otter is a very forgetful animal, and they often call a person with a bad
e memory an “otter head.” Therefore it is a rule with them that “the otter's
f head must not lightly be used as an article of food, for unless people are
very careful they will, if they eat it, become as forgetful as that creature.
And hence it happens that when an otter has been killed the people do not
usually eat the head. But if they are seized with a very strong desire for a
feast of otter's head, they may partake thereof, providing proper precautions
are taken. When eating it the people must take their swords, knives, axes,
bows and arrows, tobacco-boxes and pipes, trays, cups, garden tools, and
everything they possess, tie them up in bundles with carrying slings, and sit
with them attached to their heads while in the act of eating. This feast may
be partaken of in this way, and no other. If this method be carefully adhered
to, there will be no danger of forgetting where a thing has been placed,
otherwise loss of memory will be the result.”417 On the other hand the Aino
believe that the heart of the water-ousel is exceedingly wise, and that in

speech the bird is most eloquent. Therefore whenever he is killed, he should
be at once torn open and his heart wrenched out and swallowed before it
has time to grow cold or suffer damage of any kind. If a man swallows it
thus, he will become very fluent and wise, and will be able to argue down
all his adversaries.418 In Northern India people fancy that if you eat the
eyeballs [pg 145] of an owl you will be able like an owl to see in the dark.419

When the Kansas Indians were going to war, a feast used to be held in the
chief's hut, and the principal dish was dog's flesh, because, said the Indians,
s the animal who is so brave that he will let himself be cut in pieces in
e defence of his master, must needs inspire valour.420 On extraordinary
occasions the bravest warriors of the Dacotas used to perform a dance at
c which they devoured the livers of dogs raw and warm in order thereby to
e acquire the sagacity and bravery of the dog. The animals were thrown to
f them alive, killed, and cut open; then the livers were extracted, cut into
strips, and hung on a pole. Each dancer grabbed at a strip of liver with his
teeth and chewed and swallowed it as he danced: he might not touch it with
his hands, only the medicine-man enjoyed that privilege. Women did not
join in the dance.421 Men of the Buru and Aru Islands, East Indies, eat the
flesh of dogs in order to be bold and nimble in war.422 Amongst the Papuans
of the Port Moresby and Motumotu districts, New Guinea, young lads eat
strong pig, wallaby, and large fish, in order to acquire the strength of the
animal or fish.423 Some of the natives of Northern Australia fancy that by
eating the flesh of the kangaroo or emu they are enabled to jump or run
faster than before.424 The Miris of Assam prize tiger's flesh as food for men;
it gives them strength and courage. But “it is not suited for women; it would
make them too strong-minded.”425 In Corea the bones of tigers fetch a
higher price than those of leopards as a means of inspiring courage. A
Chinaman in Seoul bought and ate a whole tiger to make himself brave and
fierce.426 The special seat of courage, according to the Chinese, is the gall-
bladder; [pg 146] so they sometimes procure the gall-bladders of tigers and
bears, and eat the bile in the belief that it will give them courage.427 Again,
the Similkameen Indians of British Columbia imagine that to eat the heart
of a bear inspires courage.428

In Norse legend, Ingiald, son of King Aunund, was timid in his youth, but
after eating the heart of a wolf he became very bold; Hialto gained strength

and courage by eating the heart of a bear and drinking its blood;429 and
when Sigurd killed the dragon Fafnir and tasted his heart's blood, he
s acquired thereby a knowledge of the language of birds.430 The belief that the
e language of birds or of animals in general can be learned by eating some
part of a serpent appears to be ancient and wide-spread. Democritus is
c reported to have said that serpents were generated from the mixed blood of
e certain birds, and that therefore whoever ate a serpent would understand the
f bird language.431 The Arabs in antiquity were supposed to be able to draw
omens from birds because they had gained a knowledge of the bird
d language by eating either the heart or liver of a serpent; and the people of
Paraka in India are said to have learned the language of animals in general
by the same means.432 Saxo Grammaticus relates how Rollo acquired all
knowledge, including an understanding of the speech of animals, both wild
and tame, by eating of a black serpent.433 In Norway, Sweden, and Jutland
down to the nineteenth century the flesh of a white snake was thought to
confer supernatural wisdom on the eater;434 it is a German and Bohemian
superstition that whoever eats serpent's flesh understands the language of
animals.435 Notions of the same sort, based [pg 147] no doubt on a belief in
the extraordinary wisdom or subtlety of the serpent, often meet us in
popular tales and traditions.436

In Morocco lethargic patients are given ants to swallow, and to eat lion's
flesh will make a coward brave;437 but people abstain from eating the hearts
of fowls, lest thereby they should be rendered timid.438 When a child is late
in learning to speak, the Turks of Central Asia will give it the tongues of
e certain birds to eat.439 A North American Indian thought that brandy must be
a decoction of hearts and tongues, “because,” said he, “after drinking it I
c fear nothing, and I talk wonderfully.”440 In Java there is a tiny earthworm
e which now and then utters a shrill sound like that of the alarum of a small
f clock. Hence when a public dancing girl has screamed herself hoarse in the
exercise of her calling, the leader of the troop makes her eat some of these
worms, in the belief that thus she will regain her voice and will, after
swallowing them, be able to scream as shrilly as ever.441 The people of
Darfur, in Central Africa, think that the liver is the seat of the soul, and that
a man may enlarge his soul by eating the liver of an animal. “Whenever an
animal is killed its [pg 148] liver is taken out and eaten, but the people are
most careful not to touch it with their hands, as it is considered sacred; it is

cut up in small pieces and eaten raw, the bits being conveyed to the mouth
on the point of a knife, or the sharp point of a stick. Any one who may
accidentally touch the liver is strictly forbidden to partake of it, which
prohibition is regarded as a great misfortune for him.” Women are not
allowed to eat liver, because they have no soul.442

Again, the flesh and blood of dead men are commonly eaten and drunk to
inspire bravery, wisdom, or other qualities for which the men themselves
h were remarkable, or which are supposed to have their special seat in the
particular part eaten. Thus among the mountain tribes of South-Eastern
Africa there are ceremonies by which the youths are formed into guilds or
lodges, and among the rites of initiation there is one which is intended to
infuse courage, intelligence, and other qualities into the novices. Whenever
d an enemy who has behaved with conspicuous bravery is killed, his liver,
n which is considered the seat of valour; his ears, which are supposed to be
k the seat of intelligence; the skin of his forehead, which is regarded as the
e seat of perseverance; his testicles, which are held to be the seat of strength;
f and other members, which are viewed as the seat of other virtues, are cut
from his body and baked to cinders. The ashes are carefully kept in the horn
d of a bull, and, during the ceremonies observed at circumcision, are mixed
f with other ingredients into a kind of paste, which is administered by the
tribal priest to the youths. By this means the strength, valour, intelligence,
and other virtues of the slain are believed to be imparted to the eaters.443
When Basutos of the mountains have killed a very brave foe, they
immediately cut out his heart and eat it, because this is supposed to give
them his courage and strength in battle. At the close of the war the man who
has slain such a foe is called before the chief and [pg 149] gets from the
doctor a medicine which he chews with his food. The third day after this he
must wash his body in running water, and at the expiry of ten days he may
return to his wives and children.444 So an Ovambo warrior in battle will tear
out the heart of his slain foe in the belief that by eating it he can acquire the
bravery of the dead man.445 A similar belief and practice prevail among
some of the tribes of British Central Africa, notably among the Angoni.
These tribes also mutilate the dead and reduce the severed parts to ashes.
Afterwards the ashes are stirred into a broth or gruel, “which must be
‘lapped’ up with the hand and thrown into the mouth, but not eaten as
ordinary food is taken, to give the soldiers courage, perseverance, fortitude,

strategy, patience and wisdom.”446 In former times whenever a Nandi
warrior killed an enemy he used to eat a morsel of the dead man's heart to
make himself brave.447 The Wagogo of German East Africa do the same
thing for the same purpose.448 When Sir Charles M'Carthy was killed by the
Ashantees in 1824, it is said that his heart was devoured by the chiefs of the
Ashantee army, who hoped by this means to imbibe his courage. His flesh
was dried and parcelled out among the lower officers for the same purpose,
and his bones were long kept at Coomassie as national fetishes.449 The
Amazons of Dahomey used to eat the hearts of foes remarkable for their
bravery, in order that some of the intrepidity which animated them might be
transfused into the eaters. In former days, if report may be trusted, the
hearts of enemies who enjoyed a reputation for sagacity were also eaten, for
the Ewe-speaking negro of these regions holds that the heart is the seat of
the intellect as well as of courage.450 Among the Yoruba-speaking negroes
of the Slave Coast the [pg 150] priests of Ogun, the war-god, usually take
out the hearts of human victims, which are then dried, crumbled to powder,
mixed with rum, and sold to aspirants after courage, who swallow the
mixture in the belief that they thereby absorb the manly virtue of which the
heart is supposed to be the seat.451 Similarly, Indians of the Orinoco region
used to toast the hearts of their enemies, grind them to powder, and then
drink the powder in a liquid in order to be brave and valiant the next time
they went forth to fight.452 The Nauras Indians of New Granada ate the
hearts of Spaniards when they had the opportunity, hoping thereby to make
themselves as dauntless as the dreaded Castilian chivalry.453 The Sioux
Indians of North America used to reduce to powder the heart of a valiant
enemy and swallow the powder, hoping thus to appropriate the dead man's
valour.454 The Muskoghees also thought that to eat the heart of a foe would
“communicate and give greater heart against the enemy. They also think
that the vigorous faculties of the mind are derived from the brain, on which
account, I have seen some of their heroes drink out of a human skull; they
imagine, they only imbibe the good qualities it formerly contained.”455 For a
similar reason in Uganda a priest used to drink beer out of the skull of a
dead king in order that he might be possessed by the king's spirit.456 Among
the Esquimaux of Bering Strait, when young men had slain an enemy for
the first time in war, they were wont to drink some of the blood and to eat a
small piece of the heart of their victim in order to increase their bravery.457
In some tribes of North-Western Australia, when a man dies who had been a

great warrior or hunter, [pg 151] his friends cut out the fat about his heart
and eat it, because they believe that it imparts to them the courage and
cunning of the deceased.458

But while the human heart is thus commonly eaten for the sake of imbuing
the eater with the qualities of its original owner, it is not, as we have already
s seen, the only part of the body which is consumed for this purpose. Thus in
e New Caledonia the victors in a fight used to eat the bodies of the slain, “not,
e as might be supposed, from a taste for human flesh, but in order to
r assimilate part of the bravery which the deceased was supposed to
possess.”459 Among the tribes about Maryborough in Queensland, when a
f man was killed in a ceremonial fight, it was customary for his friends to
skin and eat him, in order that his warlike virtues might pass into the
eaters.460 Warriors of the Theddora and Ngarigo tribes in South-Eastern
e Australia used to eat the hands and feet of their slain enemies, believing that
in this way they acquired some of the qualities and courage of the dead.461
In the Dieri tribe of Central Australia, when a man had been condemned
and killed by a properly constituted party of executioners, the weapons with
which the deed was done were washed in a small wooden vessel, and the
bloody mixture was administered to all the slayers in a prescribed manner,
while they lay down on their backs and the elders poured it into their
mouths. This was believed to give them double strength, courage, and great
nerve for any future enterprise.462 The Kamilaroi of New South Wales ate
the liver as well as the heart of a brave man to get his courage.463 In Tonquin
also there is a popular superstition that the liver of a brave man makes brave
any who partake of it. Hence when a Catholic missionary was beheaded in
Tonquin in 1837, the executioner cut out the liver of his victim and ate part
of [pg 152] it, while a soldier attempted to devour another part of it raw.464
With a like intent the Chinese swallow the bile of notorious bandits who
have been executed.465 The Dyaks of Sarawak used to eat the palms of the
hands and the flesh of the knees of the slain in order to steady their own
hands and strengthen their own knees.466 The Tolalaki, notorious head-
hunters of Central Celebes, drink the blood and eat the brains of their
victims that they may become brave.467 The Italones of the Philippine
Islands drink the blood of their slain enemies, and eat part of the back of
their heads and of their entrails raw to acquire their courage. For the same
reason the Efugaos, another tribe of the Philippines, suck the brains of their

foes.468 In like manner the Kai of German New Guinea eat the brains of the
enemies they kill in order to acquire their strength.469 Among the Kimbunda
of Western Africa, when a new king succeeds to the throne, a brave prisoner
of war is killed in order that the king and nobles may eat his flesh, and so
acquire his strength and courage.470 The notorious Zulu chief Matuana
drank the gall of thirty chiefs, whose people he had destroyed, in the belief
that it would make him strong.471 It is a Zulu fancy that by eating the centre
of the forehead and the eyebrow of an enemy they acquire the power of
looking steadfastly at a foe.472 In Tud or Warrior Island, Torres Straits, men
would drink the sweat of renowned warriors, and eat the scrapings from [pg
153] their finger-nails which had become coated and sodden with human
blood. This was done “to make strong and like stone; no afraid.”473 In Nagir,
another island of Torres Straits, in order to infuse courage into boys a
warrior used to take the eye and tongue of a man whom he had killed, and
after mincing them and mixing them with his urine he administered the
compound to the boy, who received it with shut eyes and open mouth seated
between the warrior's legs.474 Before every warlike expedition the people of
Minahassa in Celebes used to take the locks of hair of a slain foe and dabble
them in boiling water to extract the courage; this infusion of bravery was
then drunk by the warriors.475 In New Zealand “the chief was an atua [god],
but there were powerful and powerless gods; each naturally sought to make
himself one of the former; the plan therefore adopted was to incorporate the
spirits of others with their own; thus, when a warrior slew a chief, he
immediately gouged out his eyes and swallowed them, the atua tonga, or
divinity, being supposed to reside in that organ; thus he not only killed the
body, but also possessed himself of the soul of his enemy, and consequently
the more chiefs he slew the greater did his divinity become.”476

Even without absorbing any part of a man's bodily substance it is
sometimes thought possible to acquire his moral virtues through simple
contact with his bones. Thus among the Toradjas of Central Celebes, when
f a youth is being circumcised he is made to sit on the skull of a slain foe in
d order to make him brave in war;477 and [pg 154] when Scanderbeg, Prince
of Epirus, was dead, the Turks, who had often felt the force of his arm in
battle, are said to have imagined that by wearing a piece of his bones near
their heart they should be animated with a strength and valour like his.478 A
peculiar form of communion with the dead is practised by the Gallas of

r Eastern Africa. They think that food from the house of a dead man,
especially food that he liked, or that he cooked for himself, contains a
portion of his life or soul. If at the funeral feast a man eats some of that
food, he fancies that he has thereby absorbed some of the life or soul of the
departed, a portion of his spirit, intelligence, or courage.479

Strange as it may seem to us, one motive which induces a savage warrior to
eat the flesh or drink the blood of the foe whom he has slain appears to be a
wish to form an indissoluble covenant of friendship and brotherhood with
his victim. For it is a widespread belief among savages that by transfusing a
little of their blood into each other's bodies two men become kinsmen and
a allies; the same blood now circulating in the veins of both, neither can
injure the other without at the same time injuring himself; the two have
therefore given each other the strongest bond, the best possible hostages, for
their good behaviour.480 Acting on this theory, the primitive warrior seeks to
r convert his slain foe into the firmest of friends by imbibing the dead man's
blood or swallowing his flesh. That at all events appears to be the idea at the
root of the following customs. When an Arawak Indian of British Guiana
has murdered another, he repairs on the third night to the grave of his
victim, and pressing a pointed stick through the corpse he licks off and
swallows any blood that he finds adhering to the stick. For he believes that
if he did not taste his victim's blood, he would go mad and die; whereas by
swallowing the blood he averts any ill consequences that might flow to him
from the [pg 155] murder.481 The belief and practice of the Nandi are
similar: “To the present day, when a person of another tribe has been slain
by a Nandi, the blood must be carefully washed off the spear or sword into
a cup made of grass, and drunk by the slayer. If this is not done it is thought
that the man will become frenzied.”482 So among the tribes of the Lower
Niger “it is customary and necessary for the executioner to lick the blood
that is on the blade”; moreover, “the custom of licking the blood off the
blade of a sword by which a man has been killed in war is common to all
these tribes, and the explanation given me by the Ibo, which is generally
accepted, is, that if this was not done, the act of killing would so affect the
strikers as to cause them to run amok among their own people; because the
sight and smell of blood render them absolutely senseless as well as
regardless of all consequences. And this licking the blood is the only sure
remedy, and the only way in which they can recover themselves.”483 Among

the Shans executioners believe that they would soon fall ill and die if they
did not taste the blood of their victims.484

The most probable explanation of these practices seems to be that a
manslayer is thought to be driven mad by the ghost of his victim, who takes
possession of his murderer's body and causes him to demean himself in a
frantic manner; whereas, as soon as the slayer has tasted the blood of the
y slain, he becomes a blood-brother of his victim, whose ghost accordingly
will do him no harm.485 This hypothesis is strongly confirmed by the reason
e alleged for [pg 156] a similar custom formerly observed by the Maoris.
f When a warrior had slain his foe in combat, he tasted his blood, believing
that this preserved him from the avenging spirit of his victim; for they
imagined that “the moment a slayer had tasted the blood of the slain, the
dead man became a part of his being and placed him under the protection of
the atua or guardian-spirit of the deceased.”486 In the light of these facts we
can now explain the opinion, still widely held in Calabria, that if a murderer
is to escape, he must suck his victim's blood from the reeking blade of the
dagger with which he did the deed;487 and, further, we can see at least a
glimmering of reason, however misapplied, in the confidence cherished by
the Botocudos of Brazil, that if only they ate a morsel of the flesh of their
enemies, the arrows of the fellow tribesmen of the slain would not be able
to hit them.488 Indeed the evidence which I have just adduced suggests that
the intention of forming a blood-covenant with the dead may have been a
common motive for the cannibalism which has been so often practised by
savage victors on the bodies of their victims.489 If that was so, it would to
some extent mitigate the horror with which such a practice is naturally
viewed by civilised observers; since it would reveal the cannibal feast, no
longer in the lurid light of a brutal outburst of blind rage and hatred against
the vanquished, but in the milder aspect of a solemn rite designed to wipe
out the memory of past hostilities and to establish a permanent relation of
friendship and good fellowship with the dead.

Another mode of entering into communion with the dead by means of their
bodily relics is to grind their bones to powder or to burn them to ashes, and
then to swallow the powder or the ashes mixed with food or drink. This
h method of absorbing the virtues or appropriating the souls [pg 157] of
d deceased kinsfolk has been practised by a number of Indian tribes of South

America. Thus the Tarianas, Tucanos, and other tribes in the valley of the
r Amazon, about a month after the funeral, disinter the corpse, which is then
much decomposed, and put it in a great pan or oven over the fire till all the
volatile parts are driven off with a most horrible stench, leaving only a
black carbonaceous paste. This paste is then pounded into a fine powder,
and being mixed in several large vats of the native beer, the liquor is drunk
by the assembled company until all is consumed. They believe that thus the
virtues of the deceased are transmitted to the drinkers.490 Similarly among
the Xomanas and Passes of the Rio Negro and Japura River in Brazil, it was
customary to burn the bones of the dead and mingle the ashes in their drink;
“for they fancied, that by this means they received into their own bodies the
spirits of their deceased friends.”491 We may suppose that a similar motive
underlies the custom wherever it has been observed by the Indians of South
America, even when this particular motive is not expressly alleged by our
authorities. For example, the Retoroños, Pechuyos, and Guarayos of eastern
Bolivia “manifested their feeling for the dead by a remarkable custom:
when the body had mouldered they dug up the bones, reduced them to
powder, and mingling it with maize, composed a sort of cake, which they
considered it the strongest mark of friendship to offer and partake. Some of
the first missionaries were regaled with this family bread, before they knew
what they were eating.”492 Again, in the province of Coro, in north-western
Venezuela, when a chief died, they lamented him in the night, celebrating
his actions; then they parched his body at the fire, and reducing it to powder
drank it up in their liquor, deeming this act the highest honour they could
pay him.493 The Tauaré Indians of the Rio Enivra burn their dead, keep their
ashes in hollow reeds, and eat a portion of the ashes with every [pg 158]
meal.494 So in antiquity Artemisia expressed her love and grief for her dead
husband Mausolus by powdering his ashes and drinking them in water.495 It
is said that Mwamba, a recent king or chief of the Wemba in Northern
Rhodesia, having detected one of his wives in an intrigue with another man,
caused the guilty pair to be burned alive, while he watched their tortures
from a raised seat. “Shortly after this, however, he would seem to have been
stricken with remorse and the dread of Nemesis. The presiding witch-doctor
was therefore ordered to collect the ashes of the twain, and decoct
therefrom a potion, which was administered to the king to avert the
avenging furies of evil spirits of the murdered pair, which might otherwise
have hounded him into a fit of madness.”496 By drinking the ashes of his

victims the king sought to identify himself with them and so to protect
himself against their angry ghosts, just as we have seen that manslayers
seek to protect themselves against the ghosts of their victims by drinking
their blood.497

Just as the savage thinks that he can swallow the moral and other virtues in
the shape of food, so he fondly imagines that he can inoculate himself with
them. Here in Europe we as yet inoculate only against disease; in
Basutoland they have learned the art of inoculating not [pg 159] merely
against disease but against moral evil and public calamity, against wild
beasts and winter cold. For example, if an epidemic is raging, if public
l affairs go ill, or war threatens to break out, the chief, with paternal
r solicitude, seeks to guard his people against the evils that menace them by
y inoculating them with his own hand. Armed with a lancet, he makes a slight
incision in the temples of each one, and rubs into the wound a pinch of
n magic powder which has been carefully compounded of the ashes of certain
plants and animals. The plants and animals whose ashes compose this
d sovereign medicine are always symbolical; in other words, they are
supposed to be imbued with the virtues which the chief desires to impart to
s his people. They consist, for example, of plants whose foliage withstands
the rigours of winter; mimosas, whose thorns present an impenetrable
barrier to all animals of the deer kind; the claws or a few hairs from the
mane of a lion, the bravest of beasts; the tuft of hair round the root of the
y horns of a bull, which is the emblem of strength and fecundity; the skin of a
serpent; the feathers of a kite or a hawk.498 So when the Barotsé wish to be
swift of foot, to cripple the fleeing game, and to ensure an abundant catch,
they scarify their arms and legs and rub into the wounds a powder made of
e the burnt bones of various beasts and birds.499 Among some tribes of South-
n Eastern Africa the same magic powder which is made from various parts of
slain foes, and is eaten by boys at circumcision,500 is used to inoculate the
fighting-men in time of war. The medicine-man makes an incision in the
forehead of each warrior, and puts the powder into the cut, thus infusing
strength and courage for the battle.501 Among some Caffre tribes the
powdered charcoal with which the warriors are thus inoculated in various
parts of their bodies is procured by burning the flesh of a live ox with a
certain kind of [pg 160] wood or roots, to which magic virtue is
attributed.502 The Basutos think that they can render themselves

invulnerable by inoculation,503 and the Zulus imagine that they can protect
themselves against snake-bite by similar means. But the saving virtue of the
inoculation is not permanent; like vaccination, it has to be periodically
renewed. Hence every year, about October, Zulu men, women, and children
have a small piece of skin cut from the back of the left hand, and the poison
of a snake, mixed with spittle, is rubbed into the wound. No snake will ever
approach a man who has thus been inoculated; and what is even more
curious, if the shadow of an inoculated man should touch the shadow of a
man who has not been inoculated, the latter will fall down as if he had been
shot, overcome by the poison transmitted through the shadow: so
exceedingly virulent is the virus.504 Among the Jukos, a tribe of the Benue
River in Northern Nigeria, before a hunter goes forth to hunt elephants, he
makes four cuts in his left arm and rubs in “medicine”; this helps him to see
the beast next day.505

Again, the Zulus know how to inoculate themselves not merely with moral
virtue, but even with celestial power. For you must know that the Zulus
have heaven-herds or sky-herds, who drive away clouds big with hail and
y lightning, just as herdsmen drive cattle before them. These heaven-herds are
in sympathy with the heaven. For when the heaven is about to be darkened,
and before the clouds appear or the thunder mutters, the heart of the
heaven-herd feels it coming, for it is hot within him and he is excited by
anger. When the sky begins to be overcast, he too grows dark like it; when
it thunders, he frowns, that his face may be black as the scowl of the angry
heaven. Now the way in which he thus becomes sympathetic with all the
changing moods of the inconstant heaven is this: he eats the heaven and
scarifies himself with it. And the way [pg 161] in which he eats the heaven
and scarifies himself with it is as follows. When a bullock is struck by
lightning, the wizard takes its flesh and puts it in a sherd and eats it while it
is hot, mixed with medicine; and thus he eats the heaven by eating the flesh,
which came from the beast, which was struck by the lightning, which came
down from the heaven. And in like manner he scarifies himself with the
heaven, for he makes cuts in his body and rubs in medicine mixed with the
flesh of a bullock that was struck by lightning.506 In some Caffre tribes,
when an animal or a man has been struck by lightning, the priest comes
straightway and vaccinates every person in the kraal, apparently as a sort of
insurance against lightning. He sets to work by tying a number of charms

round the neck of every man and woman in the village, in order that they
may have power to dig the dead man's grave; for in these tribes beasts and
men alike that have been struck by lightning are always buried, and the
flesh is never eaten. Next a sacrificial beast is killed and a fire kindled, in
which certain magic woods or roots are burned to charcoal, and then ground
to powder. The priest thereupon makes incisions in various parts of the
bodies of each inmate of the kraal, and rubs a portion of the powdered
charcoal into the cuts; the rest of the powder he mixes with sour milk, and
gives to them all to drink. From the time the lightning strikes the kraal until
this ceremony has been performed, the people are obliged to abstain
entirely from the use of milk. Their heads are then shaved. Should a house
have been struck by lightning it must be abandoned, with everything in it.
Until all these rites have been performed, none of the people may leave the
kraal or have any intercourse whatever with others; but when the
ceremonies have been duly performed, the people are pronounced clean,
and may again associate with their neighbours. However, for some months
afterwards none of the livestock of the kraal and few other things belonging
to it are allowed to pass into other hands, whether by way of sale or of
gift.507 Hence it would appear that all persons in a [pg 162] village which
has been struck by lightning are supposed to be infected with a dangerous
virus, which they might communicate to their neighbours; and the
vaccination is intended to disinfect them as well as to protect them against
the recurrence of a like calamity. Young Carib warriors used to be
inoculated for the purpose of making them brave and hardy. Some time
before the ceremony the lad who was to be operated on caught a bird of
prey of a particular sort and kept it in captivity till the day appointed. When
the time was come and friends had assembled to witness the ceremony, the
father of the boy seized the bird by its legs and crushed its head by beating
it on the head of his son, who dared not wince under the rain of blows that
nearly stunned him. Next the father bruised and pounded the bird's flesh,
and steeped it in water together with a certain spice; after which he scored
and slashed his son's body in all directions, washed his wounds with the
decoction, and gave him the bird's heart to eat, in order, as it was said, that
he might be the braver for it.508

It is not always deemed necessary either that the mystical substance should
be swallowed by the communicant, or that he should receive it by the more

painful process of scarification and inoculation. Sometimes it is thought
enough merely to smear or anoint him with it. Among some of the
Australian blacks it used to be a common practice to kill a man, cut out his
caul-fat, and rub themselves with it, in the belief that all the qualities, both
physical and mental, which had distinguished the original owner of the fat,
e were thus communicated by its means to the person who greased himself
with it.509 The Kamilaroi tribe of New South Wales sometimes deposited
l their dead on the forks of trees, and lighting fires underneath caught the fat
f as it dropped; for they hoped with [pg 163] the droppings to acquire the
d strength and courage of the deceased.510 The Wollaroi, another tribe of New
South Wales, used to place the dead on a stage, and the mourners sat under
it and rubbed their bodies with the juices of putrefaction which exuded from
the rotten body, believing that this made them strong. Others collected these
r juices in vessels, and the young men rubbed the stinking liquid into their
persons in order to acquire the good qualities of the departed.511 Wherever a
s like custom has been practised, as it has been, for example, by some of the
natives of New Guinea, Timor Laut, and Madagascar,512 we may conjecture
that the motive has been similar. Again, the negroes of Southern Guinea
regard the brain as the seat of wisdom, and think it a pity that, when a wise
man dies, his brain and his wisdom should go to waste together. So they
r sever his head from his body and hang it up over a mass of chalk, which, as
e the head decays, receives the drippings of brain and wisdom. Any one who
applies the precious dripping to his forehead is supposed to absorb thereby
the intelligence of the dead.513 Among the Beku, a tribe of dwarfs attached
to the Fans in West Africa, the great charm for success in hunting is
procured by killing a man and afterwards, when the corpse has begun to
moulder in the grave, detaching the head from the body. The brain, heart,
eyes and hairs of the body are then removed and mixed, according to a
secret formula, with special incantations. When the compound is dry, the
hunter rubs himself [pg 164] with it “in order to acquire a dash of the higher
power with which people are endowed in the other life, and in particular
their invisibility.”514 Among the Digger Indians of California, when a man
died, it was customary to burn the body to ashes, mix the ashes with a thick
resinous gum extracted from a pine-tree, and then smear the gum on the
head of the mourner, where it was allowed to remain till it gradually wore
away.515 The motive for the custom is not mentioned, but it was probably,
like the motive for the parallel custom of swallowing the ashes of the dead,

a desire to participate in the powers and virtues of the departed. At a certain
stage of the ceremonies by which, in the Andaman Islands, a boy is initiated
into manhood, the chief takes the carcase of a boar and presses it heavily
down on the shoulders, back, and limbs of the young man as he sits, silent
and motionless, on the ground. This is done to make him brave and strong.
Afterwards the animal is cut up, and its melted fat is poured over the
novice, and rubbed into his body.516 The Arabs of Eastern Africa believe that
an unguent of lion's fat inspires a man with boldness, and makes the wild
beasts flee in terror before him.517 In the forests of North-western Brazil
there lives a small falcon with a red beak which is so sharp-sighted that it
can detect even a worm on the ground from a considerable height. When a
Kobeua Indian has killed one of these birds, he pokes out its eyes and
allows the fluid to drip into his own, believing that in this way they will be
sharp-sighted like those of the falcon.518 Most of the Baperis, or
Malekootoos, a Bechuana tribe of South Africa, revere or, as they say, sing
the porcupine, which seems to be their totem, as the sun is the totem of
some members of the tribe, and a species of ape the totem of others. Those
of them who have the porcupine for their totem swear by the animal, and
lament if any one injures it. [pg 165] When a porcupine has been killed,
they religiously gather up its bristles, spit on them, and rub their eyebrows
with them, saying, “They have slain our brother, our master, one of
ourselves, him whom we sing.” They would fear to die if they ate of its
flesh. Nevertheless they esteem it wholesome for an infant of the clan to rub
into his joints certain portions of the paunch of the animal mixed with the
sap of some plants to which they ascribe an occult virtue.519 So at the
solemn ceremony which is observed by the Central Australian tribes for the
purpose of multiplying kangaroos, men of the kangaroo totem not only eat a
little kangaroo flesh as a sacrament, but also have their bodies anointed with
kangaroo fat. Doubtless the intention alike of the eating and of the anointing
is to impart to the man the qualities of his totem animal, and thus to enable
him to perform the ceremonies for the multiplication of the breed.520

In ancient Mexico the priests of the god Tezcatlipoca, before they engaged
in religious rites which tried the nerve, used to smear their bodies with a
magic ointment, which had the effect of banishing all fear, so that they
would confront wild beasts in their dens or slaughter people in sacrifice
y with the utmost indifference. The ointment which had this marvellous

property was compounded of the ashes of venomous reptiles and insects,
such as spiders, scorpions, centipedes, and vipers, which were brayed up in
a mortar along with living specimens of the same creatures, tobacco, soot,
and the ashes of black caterpillars. This precious substance was then set
before the god in little pots, because they said it was his victuals; therefore
they called it a divine food. And when the priests had besmeared themselves
[pg 166] with it, they were ready to discharge the duties of their holy office
by butchering their fellow men in the human shambles without one qualm
of fear or one visiting of compassion. Moreover, an unction of this ointment
was deemed a sovereign remedy for sickness and disease; hence they
named it “the divine physic”; and sick people came from all quarters to the
priests, as to their saviours, to have their ailing parts anointed with the
divine physic and to be made whole.521

Sometimes the valuable qualities of an animal or of a person may be
imparted to another by the more delicate and ethereal process of
fumigation. This refined mode of cultivating the moral virtues is or used to
a be practised by the Caffres of South Africa. Thus in former times as soon as
a baby was born, some dirt was scraped from the forearm and other parts of
r the father's body and mixed with special medicines. The mixture was then
made to smoulder and the baby was fumigated or “washed” in the smoke.
This ceremony was deemed of great importance, being the established way
of communicating to the child a portion of the ancestral spirit (itongo)
through the physical medium of the father's dirt, to which the spirit
naturally adheres. But while the dirt was endowed with this spiritual
potency, the moral character of the infant depended in a large measure on
the nature of the medicines with which the dirt was compounded, and
accordingly much thought and skill were devoted to their selection and
preparation. Foremost among the ingredients was a meteorite, burnt to a
cinder and ground to powder. The effect of this powder, well mixed with the
dirt, and introduced into the orifices of the child's body by means of smoke,
is to close the anterior fontanelle of the baby's skull, to strengthen the bones
of that important part of his person, to communicate vigour to his mind and
courage to his disposition, and in general to brace and harden his whole
system with the strength and hardness of the [pg 167] meteorite. Other
ingredients which have a most beneficial effect are the powdered whiskers
of a leopard, the claws of a lion, and the skin of a salamander. The mode of

administering the medicine is as follows. You set fire to the compound, and
while it smoulders, you hold the infant, wrapt up in a blanket, over the
burning mass so as to compel it to inhale the smoke. To make sure of
producing the desired effect, some of the powdered medicine is mixed with
the baby's food.522 In like manner by holding the smouldering feather of a
vulture under a baby's nose you render the child valiant and brave like a
vulture, and if you do the same with a peacock's feather, your offspring will
be, like a peacock, impavid and never dismayed by thunder or other terrible
noises.523

It is now easy to understand why a savage should desire to partake of the
flesh of an animal or man whom he regards as divine. By eating the body of
the god he shares in the god's attributes and powers. And when the god is a
corn-god, the corn is his proper body; when he is a vine-god, the juice of
f the grape is his blood; and so by eating the bread and drinking the wine the
a worshipper partakes of the real body and blood of his god. Thus the
drinking of wine in the rites of a vine-god like Dionysus is not an act of
n revelry, it is a solemn sacrament.524 Yet a time comes when reasonable men
find it hard to understand how any one in his senses can suppose that by
eating bread or drinking wine he consumes the body or blood of a deity.
“When we call corn Ceres and wine Bacchus,” says Cicero, “we use a
common figure of speech; but do you imagine that anybody is so insane as
to believe that the thing he feeds upon is a god?”525 In writing thus the
Roman philosopher little foresaw that in Rome itself, and in the countries
which have derived their creed from her, the belief which he here
stigmatises as insane was destined to persist for thousands of years, [pg
168] as a cardinal doctrine of religion, among peoples who pride
themselves on their religious enlightenment by comparison with the blind
superstitions of pagan antiquity. So little can even the greatest minds of one
generation foresee the devious track which the religious faith of mankind
will pursue in after ages.

[pg 169]

Chapter XIII. Killing The Divine Animal.

§ 1. Killing the Sacred Buzzard.

In the preceding chapters we saw that many communities which have
progressed so far as to subsist mainly by agriculture have been in the habit
of killing and eating their farinaceous deities either in their proper form of
corn, rice, and so forth, or in the borrowed shapes of animals and men. It
remains to shew that hunting and pastoral tribes, as well as agricultural
peoples, have been in the habit of killing the beings whom they worship.
Among the worshipful beings or gods, if indeed they deserve to be dignified
by that name, whom hunters and shepherds adore and kill are animals pure
and simple, not animals regarded as embodiments of other supernatural
n beings. Our first example is drawn from the Indians of California, who
e living in a fertile country526 under a serene and temperate sky, nevertheless
f rank near the bottom of the savage scale. Where a stretch of iron-bound
d coast breaks the long line of level sands that receive the rollers of the
e Pacific, there stood in former days, not far from the brink of the great cliffs,
the white mission-house of San Juan Capistrano. Among the monks who
y here exercised over a handful of wretched Indians the austere discipline of
Catholic Spain, there was a certain Father Geronimo Boscana who has
bequeathed to us a precious record of the customs and superstitions of his
savage flock. Thus he tells us that the [pg 170] Acagchemem tribe adored
the great buzzard, and that once a year they celebrated a great festival called
Panes or bird-feast in its honour. The day selected for the festival was made
known to the public on the evening before its celebration and preparations
e were at once made for the erection of a special temple (vanquech), which
seems to have been a circular or oval enclosure of stakes with the stuffed
skin of a coyote or prairie-wolf set up on a hurdle to represent the god
y Chinigchinich. When the temple was ready, the bird was carried into it in
solemn procession and laid on an altar erected for the purpose. Then all the
y young women, whether married or single, began to run to and fro, as if
distracted, some in one direction and some in another, while the elders of
both sexes remained silent spectators of the scene, and the captains, tricked
out in paint and feathers, danced round their adored bird. These ceremonies

w being concluded, they seized upon the bird and carried it to the principal
temple, all the assembly uniting in the grand display, and the captains
dancing and singing at the head of the procession. Arrived at the temple,
they killed the bird without losing a drop of its blood. The skin was
removed entire and preserved with the feathers as a relic or for the purpose
of making the festal garment or paelt. The carcase was buried in a hole in
the temple, and the old women gathered round the grave weeping and
moaning bitterly, while they threw various kinds of seeds or pieces of food
on it, crying out, “Why did you run away? Would you not have been better
with us? you would have made pinole (a kind of gruel) as we do, and if you
had not run away, you would not have become a Panes,” and so on. When
this ceremony was concluded, the dancing was resumed and kept up for
three days and nights. They said that the Panes was a woman who had run
off to the mountains and there been changed into a bird by the god
Chinigchinich. They believed that though they sacrificed the bird annually,
she came to life again and returned to her home in the mountains. Moreover
they thought that “as often as the bird was killed, it became multiplied;
because every year all the different Capitanes celebrated the same feast of
Panes, and were firm in the [pg 171] opinion that the birds sacrificed were
but one and the same female.”527

The unity in multiplicity thus postulated by the Californians is very
noticeable and helps to explain their motive for killing the divine bird. The
notion of the life of a species as distinct from that of an individual, easy and
d obvious as it seems to us, appears to be one which the Californian savage
e cannot grasp. He is unable to conceive the life of the species otherwise than
f as an individual life, and therefore as exposed to the same dangers and
calamities which menace and finally destroy the life of the individual.
Apparently he imagines that a species left to itself will grow old and die
like an individual, and that therefore some step must be taken to [pg 172]
save from extinction the particular species which he regards as divine. The
only means he can think of to avert the catastrophe is to kill a member of
the species in whose veins the tide of life is still running strong, and has not
yet stagnated among the fens of old age. The life thus diverted from one
channel will flow, he fancies, more freshly and freely in a new one; in other
words, the slain animal will revive and enter on a new term of life with all
the spring and energy of youth. To us this reasoning is transparently absurd,

but so too is the custom. If a better explanation, that is, one more consonant
with the facts and with the principles of savage thought, can be given of the
custom, I will willingly withdraw the one here proposed. A similar
confusion, it may be noted, between the individual life and the life of the
species was made by the Samoans. Each family had for its god a particular
species of animal; yet the death of one of these animals, for example an
owl, was not the death of the god, “he was supposed to be yet alive, and
incarnate in all the owls in existence.”528

§ 2. Killing the Sacred Ram.

The rude Californian rite which we have just considered has a close parallel
in the religion of ancient Egypt. The Thebans and all other Egyptians who
worshipped the Theban god Ammon held rams to be sacred, and would not
sacrifice them. But once a year at the festival of Ammon they killed a ram,
f skinned it, and clothed the image of the god in the skin. Then they mourned
t over the ram and buried it in a sacred tomb. The custom was explained by a
l story that Zeus had once exhibited himself to Hercules clad in the fleece
and wearing the head of a ram.529 Of course the ram in this case was simply
the beast-god of Thebes, as the wolf was the beast-god of Lycopolis, and
the goat was the beast-god of Mendes. In other words, the ram was Ammon
himself. On the monuments, it is true, Ammon appears in semi-human form
with the body of a man and the head of a [pg 173] ram.530 But this only
shews that he was in the usual chrysalis state through which beast-gods
regularly pass before they emerge as full-blown anthropomorphic gods. The
ram, therefore, was killed, not as a sacrifice to Ammon, but as the god
himself, whose identity with the beast is plainly shewn by the custom of
clothing his image in the skin of the slain ram. The reason for thus killing
the ram-god annually may have been that which I have assigned for the
general custom of killing a god and for the special Californian custom of
killing the divine buzzard. As applied to Egypt, this explanation is
supported by the analogy of the bull-god Apis, who was not suffered to
outlive a certain term of years.531 The intention of thus putting a limit to the
life of the human god was, as I have argued, to secure him from the
weakness and frailty of age. The same reasoning would explain the custom
—probably an older one—of putting the beast-god to death annually, as was
done with the ram of Thebes.

One point in the Theban ritual—the application of the skin to the image of
the god—deserves particular attention. If the god was at first the living ram,
e his representation by an image must have originated later. But how did it
e originate? One answer to this question is perhaps furnished by the practice

of preserving the skin of the animal which is slain as divine. The
Californians, as we have seen, preserved the skin of the buzzard; and the
skin of the goat, which is killed on the harvest-field as a representative of
the corn-spirit, is kept for various superstitious purposes.532 The skin in fact
was kept as a token or memorial of the god, or rather as containing in it a
part of the divine life, and it had only to be stuffed or stretched upon a
frame to become a regular image of him. At first an image of this kind
would be renewed annually,533 the new image being provided by the [pg
174] skin of the slain animal. But from annual images to permanent images
the transition is easy. We have seen that the older custom of cutting a new
May-tree every year was superseded by the practice of maintaining a
permanent May-pole, which was, however, annually decked with fresh
leaves and flowers, and even surmounted each year by a fresh young tree.534
Similarly when the stuffed skin, as a representative of the god, was replaced
by a permanent image of him in wood, stone, or metal, the permanent
image was annually clad in the fresh skin of the slain animal. When this
stage had been reached, the custom of killing the ram came naturally to be
interpreted as a sacrifice offered to the image, and was explained by a story
like that of Ammon and Hercules.

§ 3. Killing the Sacred Serpent.

West Africa appears to furnish another example of the annual killing of a
sacred animal and the preservation of its skin. The negroes of Issapoo, in
d the island of Fernando Po, regard the cobra-capella as their guardian deity,
f who can do them good or ill, bestow riches or inflict disease and death. The
n skin of one of these reptiles is hung tail downwards from a branch of the
highest tree in the public square, and the placing of it on the tree is an
annual ceremony. As soon as the ceremony is over, all children born within
the past year are carried out and their hands made to touch the tail of the
serpent's skin.535 The latter custom is clearly a way of placing the infants
under the protection of the tribal god. Similarly in Senegambia a python is
expected to visit every child of the Python clan within eight days after
birth;536 and the Psylli, a Snake clan of ancient Africa, used to expose [pg
175] their infants to snakes in the belief that the snakes would not harm
true-born children of the clan.537

§ 4. Killing the Sacred Turtles.

In the Californian, Egyptian, and Fernando Po customs the animal slain
may perhaps have been at some time or other a totem, but this is very
g doubtful.538 At all events, in all three cases the worship of the animal seems
d to have no relation to agriculture, and may therefore be presumed to date
y from the hunting or pastoral stage of society. The same may be said of the
i following custom, though the people who practise it—the Zuni Indians of
New Mexico—are now settled in walled villages or towns of a peculiar
type, and practise agriculture and the arts of pottery and weaving. But the
Zuni custom is marked by certain features which appear to place it in a
somewhat different class from the preceding cases. It may be well therefore
to describe it at full length in the words of an eye-witness.

“With midsummer the heat became intense. My brother [i.e. adopted Indian
brother] and I sat, day after day, in the cool under-rooms of our house,—the
latter [sic] busy with his quaint forge and crude appliances, working
Mexican coins over into bangles, girdles, ear-rings, buttons, and what not,
for savage ornament. Though his tools were wonderfully rude, the work he
turned out by dint of combined patience and ingenuity was remarkably
beautiful. One day as I sat watching him, a procession of fifty men went
hastily [pg 176] down the hill, and off westward over the plain. They were
solemnly led by a painted and shell-bedecked priest, and followed by the
torch-bearing Shu-lu-wit-si, or God of Fire. After they had vanished, I
asked old brother what it all meant.

“ ‘They are going,’ said he, ‘to the city of the Ka-ka and the home of our
others.’

“Four days after, towards sunset, costumed and masked in the beautiful
paraphernalia of the Ka-k'ok-shi, or ‘Good Dance,’ they returned in file up
n the same pathway, each bearing in his arms a basket filled with living,
e squirming turtles, which he regarded and carried as tenderly as a mother

would her infant. Some of the wretched reptiles were carefully wrapped in
e soft blankets, their heads and fore-feet protruding,—and, mounted on the
backs of the plume-bedecked pilgrims, made ludicrous but solemn
caricatures of little children in the same position. While I was at supper
upstairs that evening, the governor's brother-in-law came in. He was
welcomed by the family as if a messenger from heaven. He bore in his
tremulous fingers one of the much abused and rebellious turtles. Paint still
adhered to his hands and bare feet, which led me to infer that he had formed
one of the sacred embassy.

“ ‘So you went to Ka-thlu-el-lon, did you?’ I asked.

“ ‘E'e,’ replied the weary man, in a voice husky with long chanting, as he
sank, almost exhausted, on a roll of skins which had been placed for him,
and tenderly laid the turtle on the floor. No sooner did the creature find
itself at liberty than it made off as fast as its lame legs would take it. Of one
accord, the family forsook dish, spoon, and drinking-cup, and grabbing
from a sacred meal-bowl whole handfuls of the contents, hurriedly followed
the turtle about the room, into dark corners, around water-jars, behind the
grinding-troughs, and out into the middle of the floor again, praying and
scattering meal on its back as they went. At last, strange to say, it
approached the foot-sore man who had brought it.

“ ‘Ha!’ he exclaimed with emotion; ‘see it comes to me again; ah, what
great favours the fathers of all grant me this day,’ and, passing his hand
gently over the sprawling [pg 177] animal, he inhaled from his palm deeply
and long, at the same time invoking the favour of the gods. Then he leaned
his chin upon his hand, and with large, wistful eyes regarded his ugly
captive as it sprawled about, blinking its meal-bedimmed eyes, and clawing
the smooth floor in memory of its native element. At this juncture I
ventured a question:

“ ‘Why do you not let him go, or give him some water?’

“Slowly the man turned his eyes toward me, an odd mixture of pain,
indignation, and pity on his face, while the worshipful family stared at me
with holy horror.

“ ‘Poor younger brother!’ he said at last, ‘know you not how precious it is?
It die? It will not die; I tell you, it cannot die.’

“ ‘But it will die if you don't feed it and give it water.’

“ ‘I tell you it cannot die; it will only change houses to-morrow, and go
back to the home of its brothers. Ah, well! How should you know?’ he
e mused. Turning to the blinded turtle again: ‘Ah! my poor dear lost child or
parent, my sister or brother to have been! Who knows which? Maybe my
d own great-grandfather or mother!’ And with this he fell to weeping most
pathetically, and, tremulous with sobs, which were echoed by the women
e and children, he buried his face in his hands. Filled with sympathy for his
grief, however mistaken, I raised the turtle to my lips and kissed its cold
shell; then depositing it on the floor, hastily left the grief-stricken family to
their sorrows. Next day, with prayers and tender beseechings, plumes, and
offerings, the poor turtle was killed, and its flesh and bones were removed
and deposited in the little river, that it might ‘return once more to eternal
life among its comrades in the dark waters of the lake of the dead.’ The
shell, carefully scraped and dried, was made into a dance-rattle, and,
covered by a piece of buckskin, it still hangs from the smoke-stained rafters
of my brother's house. Once a Navajo tried to buy it for a ladle; loaded with
indignant reproaches, he was turned out of the house. Were any one to
venture the suggestion that the turtle no longer lived, his remark would
cause a flood of tears, and he would be [pg 178] reminded that it had only
‘changed houses and gone to live for ever in the home of “our lost
others.” ’ ”539

In this custom we find expressed in the clearest way a belief in the
transmigration of human souls into the bodies of turtles.540 The theory of
s transmigration is held by the Moqui Indians, who belong to the same race
as the Zunis. The Moquis are divided into totem clans—the Bear clan, Deer
clan, Wolf clan, Hare clan, and so on; they believe that the ancestors of the
n clans were bears, deer, wolves, hares, and so forth; and that at death the
members of each clan become bears, deer, and so on according to the
particular clan to which they belonged.541 The Zuni are also divided into
f clans, the totems of which agree closely with those of the Moquis, and one
of their totems is the turtle.542 Thus their belief in transmigration into the

turtle is probably one of the regular articles of their totem faith.543 What
a then is the meaning of killing a turtle in which the soul of a kinsman is
believed to be present? Apparently the object is to keep up a
t communication with the other world in which the souls of the departed are
believed to be assembled in the form of turtles. It is a common belief that
e the spirits of the dead return occasionally to their old homes; and
accordingly the unseen visitors are welcomed and feasted by the living, and
544
f then sent upon their way. In the Zuni ceremony the dead are fetched home
in the form of turtles, and the killing of the turtles is the way of sending
e back the souls to the spirit-land. [pg 179] Thus the general explanation
given above of the custom of killing a god seems inapplicable to the Zuni
r custom, the true meaning of which is somewhat obscure. Nor is the
obscurity which hangs over the subject entirely dissipated by a later and
fuller account which we possess of the ceremony. From it we learn that the
ceremony forms part of the elaborate ritual which these Indians observe at
the midsummer solstice for the purpose of ensuring an abundant supply of
rain for the crops. Envoys are despatched to bring “their otherselves, the
tortoises,” from the sacred lake Kothluwalawa, to which the souls of the
dead are believed to repair. When the creatures have thus been solemnly
brought to Zuni, they are placed in a bowl of water and dances are
performed beside them by men in costume, who personate gods and
goddesses. “After the ceremonial the tortoises are taken home by those who
caught them and are hung by their necks to the rafters till morning, when
they are thrown into pots of boiling water. The eggs are considered a great
delicacy. The meat is seldom touched except as a medicine, which is
curative for cutaneous diseases. Part of the meat is deposited in the river
with kóhakwa (white shell beads) and turquoise beads as offerings to
Council of the Gods.”545 This account at all events confirms the inference
that the tortoises are supposed to be reincarnations of the human dead, for
they are called the “otherselves” of the Zuni; indeed, what else should they
be than the souls of the dead in the bodies of tortoises seeing that they come
from the haunted lake? As the principal object of the prayers uttered and of
the dances performed at these midsummer ceremonies appears to be to
procure rain for the crops, it may be that the intention of bringing the
tortoises to Zuni and dancing before them is to intercede with the ancestral
spirits, incarnate in the animals, that they may be pleased to exert their
power over the waters of heaven for the benefit of their living descendants.

[pg 180]

§ 5. Killing the Sacred Bear.

Doubt also hangs at first sight over the meaning of the bear-sacrifice offered
by the Aino or Ainu, a primitive people who are found in the Japanese
island of Yezo or Yesso, as well as in Saghalien and the southern of the
e Kurile Islands. It is not quite easy to define the attitude of the Aino towards
e the bear. On the one hand they give it the name of kamui or “god”; but as
they apply the same word to strangers,546 it may mean no more than a being
supposed to be endowed with superhuman, or at all events extraordinary,
powers.547 Again, it is said that “the bear is their chief divinity”;548 “in the
religion of the Aino the bear plays a chief part”;549 “amongst the animals it
is especially the bear which receives an idolatrous veneration”;550 “they
worship it after their fashion”; “there is no doubt that this wild beast
inspires more of the feeling which prompts worship than the inanimate
forces of nature, and the Aino may be distinguished as bear-worshippers.”551
Yet, on the other hand, they kill the bear whenever they can;552 “in bygone
years the Ainu considered bear-hunting the most [pg 181] manly and useful
way in which a person could possibly spend his time”;553 “the men spend
the autumn, winter, and spring in hunting deer and bears. Part of their
tribute or taxes is paid in skins, and they subsist on the dried meat”;554 bear's
flesh is indeed one of their staple foods; they eat it both fresh and salted;555
and the skins of bears furnish them with clothing.556 In fact, the worship of
which writers on this subject speak appears to be paid chiefly to the dead
animal. Thus, although they kill a bear whenever they can, “in the process
of dissecting the carcass they endeavour to conciliate the deity, whose
representative they have slain, by making elaborate obeisances and
deprecatory salutations”;557 “when a bear has been killed the Ainu sit down
and admire it, make their salaams to it, worship it, and offer presents of
inao”;558 “when a bear is trapped or wounded by an arrow, the hunters go
through an apologetic or propitiatory ceremony.”559 The skulls of slain bears
receive a place of honour in their huts, or are set up on sacred posts outside
the huts, and are treated with much respect: libations of millet beer, and of
sake, an intoxicating liquor, are offered to them; and they are addressed as

“divine preservers” (akoshiratki kamui), or “precious divinities.”560 The
skulls of foxes are also fastened to the sacred posts outside the huts; they
are regarded as charms against evil spirits, and are consulted as oracles.561
Yet it is expressly said, “The live fox is revered just as little as the bear;
rather they avoid it as much as possible, considering it a wily animal.”562
The bear can hardly, therefore, be [pg 182] described as a sacred animal of
the Aino, nor yet as a totem; for they do not call themselves bears, and they
kill and eat the animal freely. However, they have a legend of a woman who
had a son by a bear; and many of them who dwell in the mountains pride
themselves on being descended from a bear. Such people are called
“Descendants of the bear” (Kimun Kamui sanikiri), and in the pride of their
heart they will say, “As for me, I am a child of the god of the mountains; I
am descended from the divine one who rules in the mountains,” meaning by
“the god of the mountains” no other than the bear.563 It is therefore possible
that, as our principal authority, the Rev. J. Batchelor, believes, the bear may
have been the totem of an Aino clan; but even if that were so it would not
explain the respect shewn for the animal by the whole Aino people.

But it is the bear-festival of the Aino which concerns us here. Towards the
end of winter a bear cub is caught and brought into the village. If it is very
small, it is suckled by an Aino woman, but should there be no woman able
f to suckle it, the little animal is fed from the hand or the mouth. If it cries
a loudly and long for its mother, as it is apt to do, its owner will take it to his
bosom and let it sleep with him for a few nights, thus dispelling its fears
t and sense of loneliness. During the day it plays about in the hut with the
l children and is treated with great affection. But when the cub grows big
d enough to pain people by hugging or scratching them, he is shut up in a
t strong wooden cage, where he stays generally for two or three years, fed on
n fish and millet porridge, till it is time for him to be killed and eaten.564 But
“it is a peculiarly striking fact that the young bear is not kept merely to
furnish a good meal; rather he is regarded and [pg 183] honoured as a
fetish, or even as a sort of higher being.”565 In Yezo the festival is generally
celebrated in September or October. Before it takes place the Aino
apologise to their gods, alleging that they have treated the bear kindly as
long as they could, now they can feed him no longer, and are obliged to kill
him. A man who gives a bear-feast invites his relations and friends; in a
small village nearly the whole community takes part in the feast; indeed,

guests from distant villages are invited and generally come, allured by the
prospect of getting drunk for nothing. The form of invitation runs somewhat
as follows: “I, so and so, am about to sacrifice the dear little divine thing
who resides among the mountains. My friends and masters, come ye to the
feast; we will then unite in the great pleasure of sending the god away.
Come.”566 When all the people are assembled in front of the cage, an orator
chosen for the purpose addresses the bear and tells it that they are about to
send it forth to its ancestors. He craves pardon for what they are about to do
to it, hopes it will not be angry, and comforts it by assuring the animal that
many of the sacred whittled sticks (inao) and plenty of cakes and wine will
be sent with it on the long journey. One speech of this sort which Mr.
Batchelor heard ran as follows: “O thou divine one, thou wast sent into the
world for us to hunt. O thou precious little divinity, we worship thee; pray
hear our prayer. We have nourished thee and brought thee up with a deal of
pains and trouble, all because we love thee so. Now, as thou hast grown big,
we are about to send thee to thy father and mother. When thou comest to
them please speak well of us, and tell them how kind we have been; please
come to us again and we will sacrifice thee.” Having been secured with
ropes, the bear is then let out of the cage and assailed with a shower of blunt
arrows in order to rouse it to fury. When it has spent itself in vain struggles,
it is tied up to a stake, gagged and strangled, its neck being placed between
two poles, which are then violently compressed, all the people eagerly
helping to squeeze the [pg 184] animal to death. An arrow is also
discharged into the beast's heart by a good marksman, but so as not to shed
blood, for they think that it would be very unlucky if any of the blood were
to drip on the ground. However, the men sometimes drink the warm blood
of the bear "that the courage and other virtues it possesses may pass into
them"; and sometimes they besmear themselves and their clothes with the
blood in order to ensure success in hunting. When the animal has been
strangled to death, it is skinned and its head is cut off and set in the east
window of the house, where a piece of its own flesh is placed under its
snout, together with a cup of its own meat boiled, some millet dumplings,
and dried fish. Prayers are then addressed to the dead animal; amongst other
things it is sometimes invited, after going away to its father and mother, to
return into the world in order that it may again be reared for sacrifice. When
the bear is supposed to have finished eating its own flesh, the man who
presides at the feast takes the cup containing the boiled meat, salutes it, and

divides the contents between all the company present: every person, young
and old alike, must taste a little. The cup is called “the cup of offering”
because it has just been offered to the dead bear. When the rest of the flesh
has been cooked, it is shared out in like manner among all the people,
everybody partaking of at least a morsel; not to partake of the feast would
be equivalent to excommunication, it would be to place the recreant outside
the pale of Aino fellowship. Formerly every particle of the bear, except the
bones, had to be eaten up at the banquet, but this rule is now relaxed. The
head, on being detached from the skin, is set up on a long pole beside the
sacred wands (inao) outside of the house, where it remains till nothing but
the bare white skull is left. Skulls so set up are worshipped not only at the
time of the festival, but very often as long as they last. The Aino assured
Mr. Batchelor that they really do believe the spirits of the worshipful
animals to reside in the skulls; that is why they address them as “divine
preservers” and “precious divinities.”567

[pg 185]

The ceremony of killing the bear was witnessed by Dr. B. Scheube on the
tenth of August at Kunnui, which is a village on Volcano Bay in the island
of Yezo or Yesso. As his description of the rite contains some interesting
particulars not mentioned in the foregoing account, it may be worth while to
summarise it.568
e
On entering the hut he found about thirty Aino present, men, women, and
f children, all dressed in their best. The master of the house first offered a
a libation on the fireplace to the god of the fire, and the guests followed his
example. Then a libation was offered to the house-god in his sacred corner
of the hut. Meanwhile the housewife, who had nursed the bear, sat by
herself, silent and sad, bursting now and then into tears. Her grief was
obviously unaffected, and it deepened as the festival went on. Next, the
master of the house and some of the guests went out of the hut and offered
libations before the bear's cage. A few drops were presented to the bear in a
saucer, which he at once upset. Then the women and girls danced round the
cage, their faces turned towards it, their knees slightly bent, rising and
hopping on their toes. As they danced they clapped their hands and sang a
monotonous song. The housewife and a few old women, who might have

nursed many bears, danced tearfully, stretching out their arms to the bear,
and addressing it in terms of endearment. The young folks were less
affected; they laughed as well as sang. Disturbed by the noise, the bear
began to rush about his cage and howl lamentably. Next libations were
offered at the inao (inabos) or sacred wands which stand outside of an Aino
hut. These wands are about a couple of feet high, and are whittled at the top
into spiral shavings.569 Five new wands with bamboo [pg 186] leaves
attached to them had been set up for the festival. This is regularly done
when a bear is killed; the leaves mean that the animal may come to life
again. Then the bear was let out of his cage, a rope was thrown round his
neck, and he was led about in the neighbourhood of the hut. While this was
being done the men, headed by a chief, shot at the beast with arrows tipped
with wooden buttons. Dr. Scheube had to do so also. Then the bear was
taken before the sacred wands, a stick was put in his mouth, nine men knelt
on him and pressed his neck against a beam. In five minutes the animal had
expired without uttering a sound. Meantime the women and girls had taken
post behind the men, where they danced, lamenting, and beating the men
who were killing the bear. The bear's carcase was next placed on the mat
before the sacred wands; and a sword and quiver, taken from the wands,
were hung round the beast's neck. Being a she-bear, it was also adorned
with a necklace and ear-rings. Then food and drink were offered to it, in the
shape of millet-broth, millet-cakes, and a pot of sake. The men now sat
down on mats before the dead bear, offered libations to it, and drank deep.
Meanwhile the women and girls had laid aside all marks of sorrow, and [pg
187] danced merrily, none more merrily than the old women. When the
mirth was at its height two young Aino, who had let the bear out of his
cage, mounted the roof of the hut and threw cakes of millet among the
company, who all scrambled for them without distinction of age or sex. The
bear was next skinned and disembowelled, and the trunk severed from the
head, to which the skin was left hanging. The blood, caught in cups, was
eagerly swallowed by the men. None of the women or children appeared to
drink the blood, though custom did not forbid them to do so. The liver was
cut in small pieces and eaten raw, with salt, the women and children getting
their share. The flesh and the rest of the vitals were taken into the house to
be kept till the next day but one, and then to be divided among the persons
who had been present at the feast. Blood and liver were offered to Dr.
Scheube. While the bear was being disembowelled, the women and girls

danced the same dance which they had danced at the beginning—not,
however, round the cage, but in front of the sacred wands. At this dance the
old women, who had been merry a moment before, again shed tears freely.
After the brain had been extracted from the bear's head and swallowed with
salt, the skull, detached from the skin, was hung on a pole beside the sacred
wands. The stick with which the bear had been gagged was also fastened to
the pole, and so were the sword and quiver which had been hung on the
carcase. The latter were removed in about an hour, but the rest remained
standing. The whole company, men and women, danced noisily before the
pole; and another drinking-bout, in which the women joined, closed the
festival.

Perhaps the first published account of the bear-feast of the Aino is one
which was given to the world by a Japanese writer in 1652. It has been
translated into French and runs thus: “When they find a young bear, they
bring it home, and the wife suckles it. When it is grown they feed it with
f fish and fowl and kill it in winter for the sake of the liver, which they
esteem an antidote to poison, the worms, colic, and disorders of the
f stomach. It is of a very bitter taste, and is good for nothing if the bear has
been killed in summer. This butchery begins in the first Japanese month. [pg
188] For this purpose they put the animal's head between two long poles,
which are squeezed together by fifty or sixty people, both men and women.
When the bear is dead they eat his flesh, keep the liver as a medicine, and
sell the skin, which is black and commonly six feet long, but the longest
measure twelve feet. As soon as he is skinned, the persons who nourished
the beast begin to bewail him; afterwards they make little cakes to regale
those who helped them.”570

The Aino of Saghalien rear bear cubs and kill them with similar ceremonies.
We are told that they do not look upon the bear as a god but only as a
messenger whom they despatch with various commissions to the god of the
f forest. The animal is kept for about two years in a cage, and then killed at a
festival, which always takes place in winter and at night. The day before the
g sacrifice is devoted to lamentation, old women relieving each other in the
duty of weeping and groaning in front of the bear's cage. Then about the
e middle of the night or very early in the morning an orator makes a long
f speech to the beast, reminding him how they have taken care of him, and

fed him well, and bathed him in the river, and made him warm and
comfortable. “Now,” he proceeds, “we are holding a great festival in your
honour. Be not afraid. We will not hurt you. We will only kill you and send
you to the god of the forest who loves you. We are about to offer you a
good dinner, the best you have ever eaten among us, and we will all weep
for you together. The Aino who will kill you is the best shot among us.
There he is, he weeps and asks your forgiveness; you will feel almost
nothing, it will be done so quickly. We cannot feed you always, as you will
understand. We have done enough for you; it is now your turn to sacrifice
yourself for us. You will ask God to send us, for the winter, plenty of otters
and sables, and for the summer, seals and fish in abundance. Do not forget
our messages, we love you much, and our children will never forget you.”
When the bear has partaken of his last meal amid the [pg 189] general
emotion of the spectators, the old women weeping afresh and the men
uttering stifled cries, he is strapped, not without difficulty and danger, and
being let out of the cage is led on leash or dragged, according to the state of
his temper, thrice round his cage, then round his master's house, and lastly
round the house of the orator. Thereupon he is tied up to a tree, which is
decked with sacred whittled sticks (inao) of the usual sort; and the orator
again addresses him in a long harangue, which sometimes lasts till the day
is beginning to break. “Remember,” he cries, “remember! I remind you of
your whole life and of the services we have rendered you. It is now for you
to do your duty. Do not forget what I have asked of you. You will tell the
gods to give us riches, that our hunters may return from the forest laden
with rare furs and animals good to eat; that our fishers may find troops of
seals on the shore and in the sea, and that their nets may crack under the
weight of the fish. We have no hope but in you. The evil spirits laugh at us,
and too often they are unfavourable and malignant to us, but they will bow
before you. We have given you food and joy and health; now we kill you in
order that you may in return send riches to us and to our children.” To this
discourse the bear, more and more surly and agitated, listens without
conviction; round and round the tree he paces and howls lamentably, till,
just as the first beams of the rising sun light up the scene, an archer speeds
an arrow to his heart. No sooner has he done so, than the marksman throws
away his bow and flings himself on the ground, and the old men and
women do the same, weeping and sobbing. Then they offer the dead beast a
repast of rice and wild potatoes, and having spoken to him in terms of pity

and thanked him for what he has done and suffered, they cut off his head
and paws and keep them as sacred things. A banquet on the flesh and blood
of the bear follows. Women were formerly excluded from it, but now they
share with the men. The blood is drunk warm by all present; the flesh is
boiled, custom forbids it to be roasted. And as the relics of the bear may not
enter the house by the door, and Aino houses in Saghalien have no
windows, a man gets up on the roof and lets the flesh, the head, and the skin
down through [pg 190] the smoke-hole. Rice and wild potatoes are then
offered to the head, and a pipe, tobacco, and matches are considerately
placed beside it. Custom requires that the guests should eat up the whole
animal before they depart: the use of salt and pepper at the meal is
forbidden; and no morsel of the flesh may be given to the dogs. When the
banquet is over, the head is carried away into the depth of the forest and
deposited on a heap of bears' skulls, the bleached and mouldering relics of
similar festivals in the past.571

The Gilyaks, a Tunguzian people of Eastern Siberia,572 hold a bear-festival
of the same sort once a year in January. “The bear is the object of the most
refined solicitude of an entire village and plays the chief part in their
f religious ceremonies.”573 An old she-bear is shot and her cub is reared, but
not suckled, in the village. When the bear is big enough he is taken from his
cage and dragged through the village. But first they lead him to the bank of
the river, for this is believed to ensure abundance of fish to each family. He
is then taken into every house in the village, where fish, brandy, and so
forth are offered to him. Some people prostrate themselves before the beast.
His entrance into a house is supposed to bring a blessing; and if he snuffs at
the food offered to him, this also is a blessing. Nevertheless they tease and
worry, poke and tickle the animal continually, so that he is surly and
snappish.574 After being thus taken to [pg 191] every house, he is tied to a
peg and shot dead with arrows. His head is then cut off, decked with
shavings, and placed on the table where the feast is set out. Here they beg
pardon of the beast and worship him. Then his flesh is roasted and eaten in
special vessels of wood finely carved. They do not eat the flesh raw nor
drink the blood, as the Aino do. The brain and entrails are eaten last; and the
skull, still decked with shavings, is placed on a tree near the house. Then
the people sing and both sexes dance in ranks, as bears.575

One of these bear-festivals was witnessed by the Russian traveller L. von
Schrenck and his companions at the Gilyak village of Tebach in January
n 1856. From his detailed report of the ceremony we may gather some
particulars which are not noticed in the briefer accounts which I have just
summarised. The bear, he tells us, plays a great part in the life of all the
peoples inhabiting the region of the Amoor and Siberia as far as
Kamtchatka, but among none of them is his importance greater than among
e the Gilyaks. The immense size which the animal attains in the valley of the
f Amoor, his ferocity whetted by hunger, and the frequency of his
appearance, all combine to make him the most dreaded beast of prey in the
d country. No wonder, therefore, that the fancy of the Gilyaks is busied with
him and surrounds him, both in life and in death, with a sort of halo of
superstitious fear. Thus, for example, it is thought that if a Gilyak falls in
e combat with a bear, his soul transmigrates into the body of the beast.
Nevertheless his flesh has an irresistible attraction for the Gilyak palate,
especially when the animal has been kept in captivity for some time and
e fattened on fish, which gives the flesh, in the opinion of the Gilyaks, a
peculiarly delicious flavour. But in order to [pg 192] enjoy this dainty with
impunity they deem it needful to perform a long series of ceremonies, of
which the intention is to delude the living bear by a show of respect, and to
appease the anger of the dead animal by the homage paid to his departed
spirit. The marks of respect begin as soon as the beast is captured. He is
brought home in triumph and kept in a cage, where all the villagers take it
in turns to feed him. For although he may have been captured or purchased
by one man, he belongs in a manner to the whole village. His flesh will
furnish a common feast, and hence all must contribute to support him in his
life. His diet consists exclusively of raw or dried fish, water, and a sort of
porridge compounded of powdered fish-skins, train-oil, and whortle-berries.
The length of time he is kept in captivity depends on his age. Old bears are
kept only a few months; cubs are kept till they are full-grown. A thick layer
of fat on the captive bear gives the signal for the festival, which is always
held in winter, generally in December but sometimes in January or
February. At the festival witnessed by the Russian travellers, which lasted a
good many days, three bears were killed and eaten. More than once the
animals were led about in procession and compelled to enter every house in
the village, where they were fed as a mark of honour, and to shew that they
were welcome guests. But before the beasts set out on this round of visits,

the Gilyaks played at skipping-rope in presence, and perhaps, as L. von
Schrenck inclined to believe, in honour of the animals. The night before
they were killed, the three bears were led by moonlight a long way on the
ice of the frozen river. That night no one in the village might sleep. Next
day, after the animals had been again led down the steep bank to the river,
and conducted thrice round the hole in the ice from which the women of the
village drew their water, they were taken to an appointed place not far from
the village, and shot to death with arrows. The place of sacrifice or
execution was marked as holy by being surrounded with whittled sticks,
from the tops of which shavings hung in curls. Such sticks are with the
Gilyaks, as with the Aino, the regular symbols that accompany all religious
ceremonies. Before the bears [pg 193] received the fatal shafts from two
young men chosen for the purpose, the boys were allowed to discharge their
small but not always harmless arrows at the beasts. As soon as the carcases
had been cut up, the skins with the heads attached to them were set up in a
wooden cage in such a way as to make it appear that the animals had
entered the cage and were looking out of it. The blood which flowed from
the bears on the spot where they were killed was immediately covered up
with snow, to prevent any one from accidentally treading on it, a thing
which was strictly tabooed.

When the house has been arranged and decorated for their reception, the
skins of the bears, with their heads attached to them, are brought into it, not
however by the door, but through a window, and then hung on a sort of
e scaffold opposite the hearth on which the flesh is to be cooked. This
ceremony of bringing the bears' skins into the house by the window was not
witnessed by the Russian travellers, who only learned of it at second hand.
They were told that when the thin disc of fish-skin, which is the substitute
for a pane of glass in the window, has been replaced after the passage of the
bear-skins, a figure of a toad made of birch bark is affixed to it on the
outside, while inside the house a figure of a bear dressed in Gilyak costume
is set on the bench of honour. The meaning of this part of the ceremony, as
it is conjecturally interpreted by Von Schrenck, may be as follows. The toad
is a creature that has a very evil reputation with the Gilyaks, and
accordingly they attempt to lay upon it, as on a scapegoat, the guilt of the
slaughter of the worshipful bear. Hence its effigy is excluded from the
house and has to remain outside at the window, a witness of its own

misdeeds; whereas the bear is brought into the house and treated as an
honoured guest, for fish and flesh are laid before it, and its effigy, dressed in
Gilyak costume, is seated on the bench of honour.

The boiling of the bears' flesh among the Gilyaks is done only by the oldest
men, whose high privilege it is; women and children, young men and boys
have no part in it. The task is performed slowly and deliberately, with a
e certain solemnity. On the occasion described by the Russian travellers the
kettle was first of all surrounded with [pg 194] a thick wreath of shavings,
and then filled with snow, for the use of water to cook bear's flesh is
forbidden. Meanwhile a large wooden trough, richly adorned with
arabesques and carvings of all sorts, was hung immediately under the
snouts of the bears; on one side of the trough was carved in relief a bear, on
the other side a toad. When the carcases were being cut up, each leg was
laid on the ground in front of the bears, as if to ask their leave, before being
placed in the kettle; and the boiled flesh was fished out of the kettle with an
iron hook, and set in the trough before the bears, in order that they might be
the first to taste of their own flesh. As fast, too, as the fat was cut in strips it
was hung up in front of the bears, and afterwards laid in a small wooden
trough on the ground before them. Last of all the inner organs of the beasts
were cut up and placed in small vessels. At the same time the women made
bandages out of parti-coloured rags, and after sunset these bandages were
tied round the bears' snouts just below the eyes “in order to dry the tears
that flowed from them.” To each bandage, just below the eyes, was attached
a figure of a toad cut out of birch bark. The meaning of this appears to be,
as Von Schrenck conjectured, as follows. With the carving of his inner
organs, the heart, liver, and so forth, the bear sees that his fate is sealed, and
sheds some natural tears at his hard lot. These tears trickle down his snout
over the figure of the toad, which the poor deluded bear accordingly regards
as the author of all the mischief. For he cannot blame the Gilyaks, who have
treated him so kindly. Have they not received him as a guest in their house,
set him on the seat of honour, given him of their best, and done nothing but
with his knowledge and permission? Finally, have not their women shewn
him the last delicate mark of attention by drying the tears that flow from his
eyes and trickle down his nose? Surely then he cannot think that these
kindly folk have done him any harm; it was all the fault of the unprincipled
toad.

Whatever may be thought of this explanation, as soon as the ceremony of
wiping away poor bruin's tears had been performed, the assembled Gilyaks
set to work in earnest to devour his flesh. The broth obtained by boiling the
e meat [pg 195] had already been partaken of. The wooden bowls, platters,
and spoons out of which the Gilyaks eat the broth and flesh of the bears on
these occasions are always made specially for the purpose at the festival
f and only then; they are elaborately ornamented with carved figures of bears
and other devices that refer to the animal or the festival, and the people
have a strong superstitious scruple against parting with them. While the
festival lasts, no salt may be used in cooking the bear's flesh or indeed any
e other food; and no flesh of any kind may be roasted, for the bear would hear
d the hissing and sputtering of the roasting flesh, and would be very angry.
f After the bones had been picked clean they were put back in the kettle in
which the flesh had been boiled. And when the festal meal was over, an old
man took his stand at the door of the house with a branch of fir in his hand,
with which, as the people passed out, he gave a light blow to every one who
had eaten of the bear's flesh or fat, perhaps as a punishment for their
treatment of the worshipful animal. In the afternoon of the same day the
women performed a strange dance. Only one woman danced at a time,
throwing the upper part of her body into the oddest postures, while she held
in her hands a branch of fir or a kind of wooden castanets. The other women
meanwhile played an accompaniment in a peculiar rhythm by drumming on
the beams of the house with clubs. The dance reminded one of the Russian
travellers of the bear-dance which he had seen danced by the women of
Kamtchatka. Von Schrenck believes, though he has not positive evidence,
that after the fat and flesh of the bear have been consumed, his skull is cleft
with an axe, and the brain taken out and eaten. Then the bones and the skull
are solemnly carried out by the oldest people to a place in the forest not far
from the village. There all the bones except the skull are buried. After that a
young tree is felled a few inches above the ground, its stump cleft, and the
skull wedged into the cleft. When the grass grows over the spot, the skull
disappears from view, and that is the end of the bear.576

[pg 196]

Another description of the bear-festivals of the Gilyaks has been given us
by Mr. Leo Sternberg.577 It agrees substantially with the foregoing accounts,

but a few particulars in it may be noted. According to Mr. Sternberg, the
festival is usually held in honour of a deceased relation: the next of kin
either buys or catches a bear cub and nurtures it for two or three years till it
is ready for the sacrifice. Only certain distinguished guests (Narch-en) are
privileged to partake of the bear's flesh, but the host and members of his
e clan eat a broth made from the flesh; great quantities of this broth are
prepared and consumed on the occasion. The guests of honour (Narch-en)
f must belong to the clan into which the host's daughters and the other
women of his clan are married: one of these guests, usually the host's son-
in-law, is entrusted with the duty of shooting the bear dead with an arrow.
The skin, head, and flesh of the slain bear are brought into the house not
through the door but through the smoke-hole; a quiver full of arrows is laid
under the head and beside it are deposited tobacco, sugar, and other food.
The soul of the bear is supposed to carry off the souls of these things with it
on the far journey. A special vessel is used for cooking the bear's flesh, and
the fire must be kindled by a sacred apparatus of flint and steel, which
belongs to the clan and is handed down from generation to generation, but
which is never used to light fires except on these solemn occasions. Of all
the many viands cooked for the consumption of the assembled people a
portion is placed in a special vessel and set before the bear's head: this is
called “feeding the head.” After the bear has been killed, dogs are sacrificed
in couples of male and female. Before being throttled, they are fed and
invited to go to their lord on the highest mountain, to change their skins,
and to return next year in the form of bears. The soul of the dead bear
departs to the same lord, who is also lord of the primaeval forest; it goes
away laden with the offerings that have been made to it, and attended by the
souls of the dogs and also by the souls of the sacred whittled sticks, which
figure prominently at the festival.

[pg 197]

The Goldi, neighbours of the Gilyaks, treat the bear in much the same way.
They hunt and kill it; but sometimes they capture a live bear and keep him
in a cage, feeding him well and calling him their son and brother. Then at a
f great festival he is taken from his cage, paraded about with marked
consideration, and afterwards killed and eaten. “The skull, jaw-bones, and
ears are then suspended on a tree, as an antidote against evil spirits; but the

flesh is eaten and much relished, for they believe that all who partake of it
acquire a zest for the chase, and become courageous.”578

The Orotchis, another Tunguzian people of the region of the Amoor, hold
bear-festivals of the same general character. Any one who catches a bear
cub considers it his bounden duty to rear it in a cage for about three years,
f in order at the end of that time to kill it publicly and eat the flesh with his
friends. The feasts being public, though organised by individuals, the
people try to have one in each Orotchi village every year in turn. When the
bear is taken out of his cage, he is led about by means of ropes to all the
huts, accompanied by people armed with lances, bows, and arrows. At each
hut the bear and bear-leaders are treated to something good to eat and drink.
This goes on for several days until all the huts, not only in that village but
also in the next, have been visited. The days are given up to sport and noisy
jollity. Then the bear is tied to a tree or wooden pillar and shot to death by
the arrows of the crowd, after which its flesh is roasted and eaten. Among
the Orotchis of the Tundja River women take part in the bear-feasts, while
among the Orotchis of the River Vi the women will not even touch bear's
flesh.579

In the treatment of the captive bear by these tribes there are features which
can hardly be distinguished from worship. Such, for example, are the
prayers offered to it both alive and dead; the offerings of food, including
y portions of its [pg 198] own flesh, laid before the animal's skull; and the
e Gilyak custom of leading the living beast on to the ice of the river in order
r to ensure a supply of fish, and of conducting him from house to house in
order that every family may receive his blessing, just as in Europe a May-
y tree or a personal representative of the tree-spirit used to be taken from door
d to door in spring for the sake of diffusing among all and sundry the fresh
energies of reviving nature.580 Again, the solemn participation in his flesh
and blood, and particularly the Aino custom of sharing the contents of the
cup which had been consecrated by being set before the dead beast, are
strongly suggestive of a sacrament, and the suggestion is confirmed by the
Gilyak practice of reserving special vessels to hold the flesh and cooking it
on a fire kindled by a sacred apparatus which is never employed except on
these religious occasions. Indeed our principal authority on Aino religion,
the Rev. John Batchelor, frankly describes as worship the ceremonious

respect which the Aino pay to the bear,581 and he affirms that the animal is
undoubtedly one of their gods.582 Certainly the Aino appear to apply their
name for god (kamui) freely to the bear; but, as Mr. Batchelor himself
points out,583 that word is used with many different shades of meaning and
is applied to a great variety of objects, so that from its application to the
bear we cannot safely argue that the animal is actually regarded as a deity.
Indeed we are expressly told that the Aino of Saghalien do not consider the
bear to be a god but only a messenger to the gods, and the message with
which they charge the animal at its death bears out the statement.584
Apparently the Gilyaks also look on the bear in the light of an envoy
despatched with presents to the Lord of the Mountain, on whom the welfare
of the people depends. At the same time they treat the animal as a being of a
higher order than man, in fact as a minor deity, whose presence in the
village, so long as he is kept and fed, diffuses blessings, especially by
keeping at bay the swarms of evil spirits who are constantly lying in wait
for [pg 199] people, stealing their goods and destroying their bodies by
sickness and disease. Moreover, by partaking of the flesh, blood, or broth of
the bear, the Gilyaks, the Aino, and the Goldi are all of opinion that they
acquire some portion of the animal's mighty powers, particularly his
courage and strength. No wonder, therefore, that they should treat so great a
benefactor with marks of the highest respect and affection.585

Some light may be thrown on the ambiguous attitude of the Aino to bears
by comparing the similar treatment which they accord to other creatures.
For example, they regard the eagle-owl as a good deity who by his hooting
warns men of threatened evil and defends them against it; hence he is loved,
y trusted, and devoutly worshipped as a divine mediator between men and the
Creator. The various names applied to him are significant both of his
e divinity and of his mediatorship. Whenever an opportunity offers, one of
these divine birds is captured and kept in a cage, where he is greeted with
y the endearing titles of “Beloved god” and “Dear little divinity.”
n Nevertheless the time comes when the dear little divinity is throttled and
d sent away in his capacity of mediator to take a message to the superior gods
or to the Creator himself. The following is the form of prayer addressed to
the eagle-owl when it is about to be sacrificed: “Beloved deity, we have
brought you up because we loved you, and now we are about to send you to
your father. We herewith offer you food, inao, wine, and cakes; take them to

your parent, and he will be very pleased. When you come to him say, ‘I
have lived a long time among the Ainu, where an Ainu father and an Ainu
mother reared me. I now come to thee. I have brought a variety of good
things. I saw while living in Ainu-land a [pg 200] great deal of distress. I
observed that some of the people were possessed by demons, some were
wounded by wild animals, some were hurt by landslides, others suffered
shipwreck, and many were attacked by disease. The people are in great
straits. My father, hear me, and hasten to look upon the Ainu and help
them.’ If you do this, your father will help us.”586

Again, the Aino keep eagles in cages, worship them as divinities, and ask
them to defend the people from evil. Yet they offer the bird in sacrifice, and
when they are about to do so they pray to him, saying: “O precious divinity,
O thou divine bird, pray listen to my words. Thou dost not belong to this
y world, for thy home is with the Creator and his golden eagles. This being
so, I present thee with these inao and cakes and other precious things. Do
e thou ride upon the inao and ascend to thy home in the glorious heavens.
d When thou arrivest, assemble the deities of thy own kind together and thank
them for us for having governed the world. Do thou come again, I beseech
y thee, and rule over us. O my precious one, go thou quietly.”587 Once more,
n the Aino revere hawks, keep them in cages, and offer them in sacrifice. At
d the time of killing one of them the following prayer should be addressed to
the bird: “O divine hawk, thou art an expert hunter, please cause thy
cleverness to descend on me.” If a hawk is well treated in captivity and
prayed to after this fashion when he is about to be killed, he will surely send
help to the hunter.588

Thus the Aino hopes to profit in various ways by slaughtering the creatures,
which, nevertheless, he treats as divine. He expects them to carry messages
for him to their kindred or to the gods in the upper world; he hopes to
h partake of their virtues by imbibing parts of their bodies or in other ways;
and apparently he looks forward to their bodily resurrection in this world,
which will enable him again to catch and kill them, and again to reap all the
m benefits which he has already derived from their slaughter. For in the
prayers addressed to the worshipful bear and the [pg 201] worshipful eagle
e before they are knocked on the head the creatures are invited to come
again,589 which seems clearly to point to a faith in their future resurrection.

If any doubt could exist on this head, it would be dispelled by the evidence
of Mr. Batchelor, who tells us that the Aino “are firmly convinced that the
spirits of birds and animals killed in hunting or offered in sacrifice come
and live again upon the earth clothed with a body; and they believe, further,
that they appear here for the special benefit of men, particularly Ainu
hunters.”590 The Aino, Mr. Batchelor tells us, “confessedly slays and eats the
beast that another may come in its place and be treated in like manner”; and
at the time of sacrificing the creatures “prayers are said to them which form
a request that they will come again and furnish viands for another feast, as
if it were an honour to them to be thus killed and eaten, and a pleasure as
well. Indeed such is the people's idea.”591 These last observations, as the
context shews, refer especially to the sacrifice of bears.

Thus among the benefits which the Aino anticipates from the slaughter of
the worshipful animals not the least substantial is that of gorging himself on
- their flesh and blood, both on the present and on many a similar occasion
f hereafter; and that pleasing prospect again is derived from his firm faith in
the spiritual immortality and bodily resurrection of the dead animals. A like
e faith is shared by many savage hunters in many parts of the world and has
given rise to a variety of quaint customs, some of which will be described
presently. Meantime it is not unimportant to observe that the solemn
n festivals at which the Aino, the Gilyaks, and other tribes slaughter the tame
caged bears with demonstrations of respect and sorrow, are probably
e nothing but an extension or glorification of similar rites which the hunter
performs over any wild bear which he chances to kill in the forest. Indeed
h with regard to the Gilyaks we are expressly informed that this is the case. If
r we would understand the meaning of the Gilyak ritual, says Mr. Sternberg,
“we must above all remember that the bear-festivals are not, as is usually
y but [pg 202] falsely assumed, celebrated only at the killing of a house-bear
r but are held on every occasion when a Gilyak succeeds in slaughtering a
e bear in the chase. It is true that in such cases the festival assumes less
e imposing dimensions, but in its essence it remains the same. When the head
and skin of a bear killed in the forest are brought into the village, they are
accorded a triumphal reception with music and solemn ceremonial. The
head is laid on a consecrated scaffold, fed, and treated with offerings, just as
at the killing of a house-bear; and the guests of honour (Narch-en) are also
assembled. So, too, dogs are sacrificed, and the bones of the bear are

preserved in the same place and with the same marks of respect as the
bones of a house-bear. Hence the great winter festival is only an extension
of the rite which is observed at the slaughter of every bear.”592

Thus the apparent contradiction in the practice of these tribes, who venerate
and almost deify the animals which they habitually hunt, kill, and eat, is not
so flagrant as at first sight it appears to us: the people have reasons, and
some very practical reasons, for acting as they do. For the savage is by no
means so illogical and unpractical as to superficial observers he is apt to
e seem; he has thought deeply on the questions which immediately concern
him, he reasons about them, and though his conclusions often diverge very
e widely from ours, we ought not to deny him the credit of patient and
prolonged meditation on some fundamental problems of human existence.
s In the present case, if he treats bears in general as creatures wholly
subservient to human needs and yet singles out certain individuals of the
t species for homage which almost amounts to deification, we must not
hastily set him down as irrational and inconsistent, but must endeavour to
t place ourselves at his point of view, to see things as he sees them, and to
divest ourselves of the prepossessions which tinge so deeply our own views
of the world. If we do so, we shall probably discover that, however absurd
his conduct may appear to us, the savage nevertheless generally acts on a
train of reasoning which seems to him in harmony with the [pg 203] facts of
his limited experience. This I propose to illustrate in the following chapter,
where I shall attempt to shew that the solemn ceremonial of the bear-
festival among the Ainos and other tribes of north-eastern Asia is only a
particularly striking example of the respect which on the principles of his
rude philosophy the savage habitually pays to the animals which he kills
and eats.

[pg 204]

Chapter XIV. The Propitiation of Wild
Animals by Hunters.

The explanation of life by the theory of an indwelling and practically
immortal soul is one which the savage does not confine to human beings
but extends to the animate creation in general. In so doing he is more liberal
and perhaps more logical than the civilised man, who commonly denies to
animals that privilege of immortality which he claims for himself. The
savage is not so proud; he commonly believes that animals are endowed
with feelings and intelligence like those of men, and that, like men, they
possess souls which survive the death of their bodies either to wander about
as disembodied spirits or to be born again in animal form. Thus, for
example, we are told that the Indian of Guiana does not see “any sharp line
of distinction, such as we see, between man and other animals, between one
kind of animal and another, or between animals—man included—and
e inanimate objects. On the contrary, to the Indian, all objects, animate and
f inanimate, seem exactly of the same nature except that they differ in the
accident of bodily form. Every object in the whole world is a being,
consisting of a body and spirit, and differs from every other object in no
respect except that of bodily form, and in the greater or less degree of brute
power and brute cunning consequent on the difference of bodily form and
bodily habits.”593 Similarly we read that “in Cherokee mythology, as in that
of Indian tribes generally, there is no essential difference between men and
animals. In the primal genesis period they seem to be completely
undifferentiated, and we [pg 205] find all creatures alike living and working
together in harmony and mutual helpfulness until man, by his
aggressiveness and disregard for the rights of the others, provokes their
hostility, when insects, birds, fishes, reptiles, and fourfooted beasts join

forces against him. Henceforth their lives are apart, but the difference is
always one of degree only. The animals, like the people, are organized into
tribes and have like them their chiefs and townhouses, their councils and
ballplays, and the same hereafter in the Darkening land of Usunhiyi. Man is
still the paramount power, and hunts and slaughters the others as his own
necessities compel, but is obliged to satisfy the animal tribes in every
instance, very much as a murder is compounded for, according to the Indian
system, by ‘covering the bones of the dead’ with presents for the bereaved
relatives.”594 To the same effect another observer of the North American
Indians writes: “I have often reflected on the curious connexion which
appears to subsist in the mind of an Indian between man and the brute
creation, and found much matter in it for curious observation. Although
they consider themselves superior to all other animals and are very proud of
that superiority; although they believe that the beasts of the forest, the birds
of the air, and the fishes of the waters, were created by the Almighty Being
for the use of man; yet it seems as if they ascribe the difference between
themselves and the brute kind, and the dominion which they have over
them, more to their superior bodily strength and dexterity than to their
immortal souls. All beings endowed by the Creator with the power of
volition and self-motion, they view in a manner as a great society of which
they are the head, whom they are appointed, indeed, to govern, but between
whom and themselves intimate ties of connexion and relationship may
exist, or at least did exist in the beginning of time. They are, in fact,
according to their opinions, only the first among equals, the legitimate
hereditary sovereigns of the whole animated race, of which they are
themselves a constituent part. Hence, in their languages, those inflections of
their nouns which we call genders, are not, as with us, [pg 206] descriptive
of the masculine and feminine species, but of the animate and inanimate
kinds. Indeed, they go so far as to include trees and plants within the first of
these descriptions. All animated nature, in whatever degree, is in their eyes
a great whole, from which they have not yet ventured to separate
themselves. They do not exclude other animals from their world of spirits,
the place to which they expect to go after death.”595 Even Chinese authors
“have roundly avowed themselves altogether unable to discover any real
difference between men and animals,” and they have drawn out the
parallelism between the two in some detail.596

But it is not merely between the mental and spiritual nature of man and the
animals that the savage traces a close resemblance; even the distinction of
their bodily form appears sometimes to elude his dull apprehension. An
unusually intelligent Bushman questioned by a missionary “could not state
any difference between a man and a brute—he did not know but a buffalo
might shoot with bows and arrows as well as a man, if it had them.”597 In
the opinion of the Gilyak, “the form and size of an animal are merely a sort
of appearance. Every animal is in point of fact a real being like man, nay a
e Gilyak such as himself, but endowed with reason and strength which often
f surpass those of mere men.”598 Nor is it merely that in the mental fog the
savage takes beasts for men; he seems to be nearly as ready to take himself
e and his fellows for beasts. When the Russians first landed on one of the
f Alaskan islands the people took them for cuttle-fish, “on account of the
buttons on their clothes.”599 We have seen how some savages identify
themselves with animals of various sorts by eating the maggots bred in the
rotting carcases of the beasts, and how thereafter, when occasion serves,
they behave in their adopted [pg 207] characters by wriggling, roaring,
barking, or grunting, according as they happen to be boa-constrictors, lions,
jackals, or hippopotamuses.600 In the island of Mabuiag men of the Sam,
that is, the Cassowary, totem think that cassowaries are men or nearly so.
“Sam he all same as relation, he belong same family,” is the account they
give of their kinship with the creature. Conversely they hold that they
themselves are cassowaries, or at all events that they possess some of the
qualities of the long-legged bird. When a Cassowary man went forth to reap
laurels on the field of battle, he used to reflect with satisfaction on the
length of his lower limbs: “My leg is long and thin, I can run and not feel
tired; my legs will go quickly and the grass will not entangle them.”601
Omaha Indians believe that between a man and the creature which is his
guardian spirit there subsists so close a bond that the man acquires the
powers and qualities, the virtues and defects of the animal. Thus if a man
has seen a bear in that vision at puberty which determines an Indian's
guardian spirit, he will be apt to be wounded in battle, because the bear is a
slow and clumsy animal and easily trapped. If he has dreamed of an eagle,
he will be able to see into the future and foretell coming events, because the
eagle's vision is keen and piercing.602 Similarly, the Thompson Indians of
British Columbia imagined that every man partook of the nature of the
animal which was his guardian spirit; for example, a man who had the

grisly bear for his protector would prove a much fiercer warrior than one
who had only a crow, a coyote, or a fox for his guardian spirit. And before
they set out on the war-path these Indians used to perform a mimic battle, in
which each man, tricked out with paint and feathers, imitated the sounds of
the animal that was his guardian spirit, grunting and whooping in
character.603 The [pg 208] Bororos, a tribe of Indians in the heart of Brazil,
will have it that they are parrots of a gorgeous red plumage which live in
the Brazilian forest. It is not merely that their souls will pass into these birds
at death, but they themselves are actually identical with them in their life,
and accordingly they treat the parrots as they might treat their fellow-
tribesmen, keeping them in captivity, refusing to eat their flesh, and
mourning for them when they die. However, they kill the wild birds for
their feathers, and, though they will not kill, they pluck the tame ones to
deck their own naked brown bodies with the gaudy plumage of their
feathered brethren.604

Thus to the savage, who regards all living creatures as practically on a
footing of equality with man, the act of killing and eating an animal must
e wear a very different aspect from that which the same act presents to us,
who regard the intelligence of animals as far inferior to our own and deny
them the possession of immortal souls. Hence on the principles of his rude
philosophy the primitive hunter who slays an animal believes himself
exposed to the vengeance either of its disembodied spirit or of all the other
animals of the same species, whom he considers as knit together, like men,
e by the ties of kin and the obligations of the blood feud, and therefore as
d bound to resent the injury done to one of their number. Accordingly the
r savage makes it a rule to spare the life of those animals which he has no
pressing motive for killing, at least such fierce and dangerous animals as are
e likely to exact a bloody vengeance for the slaughter of one of their kind.
Crocodiles are animals of this sort. They are only found in hot countries,
where, as a rule, food is abundant and primitive man has therefore little
reason to kill them for the sake of their tough and unpalatable flesh.605
e Hence it is a custom with some savages [pg 209] to spare crocodiles, or
rather only to kill them in obedience to the law of blood feud, that is, as a
e retaliation for the slaughter of men by crocodiles. For example, the Dyaks
f of Borneo will not kill a crocodile unless a crocodile has first killed a man.
“For why, say they, should they commit an act of aggression, when he and

his kindred can so easily repay them? But should the alligator take a human
life, revenge becomes a sacred duty of the living relatives, who will trap the
man-eater in the spirit of an officer of justice pursuing a criminal. Others,
even then, hang back, reluctant to embroil themselves in a quarrel which
does not concern them. The man-eating alligator is supposed to be pursued
by a righteous Nemesis; and whenever one is caught they have a profound
conviction that it must be the guilty one, or his accomplice.”606

When a Dyak has made up his mind to take vengeance on the crocodiles for
the death of a kinsman, he calls in the help of a Pangareran, a man whose
business it is to charm and catch crocodiles and to make them do his will.
d While he is engaged in the discharge of his professional [pg 210] duties the
e crocodile-catcher has to observe a number of odd rules. He may not go to
t anybody and may not even pass in front of a window, because he is
a unclean. He may not himself cook anything nor come near a fire. If he
would eat fruit, he may not peel or husk it himself, but must get others to do
it for him. He may not even chew his food, but is obliged to swallow it
unchewed. A little hut is made for him on the bank of the river, where he
uses divination by means of the figure of a crocodile drawn on a piece of
bamboo for the purpose of determining whether his undertaking will
prosper. The boat in which he embarks to catch the wicked man-eating
crocodile must be painted yellow and red, and in the middle of it lances are
erected with the points upward. Then the man of skill casts lots to discover
whether the hook is to be baited with pork, or venison, or the flesh of a dog
or an ass. In throwing the baited hook into the water he calls out: “Ye
crocodiles who are up stream, come down; and ye crocodiles who are down
stream, come up; for I will give you all good food, as sweet as sugar and as
fat as coco-nut. I will give you a pretty and beautiful necklace. When you
have got it, keep it in your neck and body, for this food is very pahuni,”
which means that it would be sinful not to eat it. If a crocodile bites at the
hook, the crocodile-catcher bawls out, “Choose a place for yourself where
you will lie; for many men are come to see you. They are come joyfully and
exultingly, and they give you a knife, a lance, and a shroud.” If the
crocodile is a female, he addresses her as “Princess”; if it is a male, he calls
it “Prince.” The enchanter, who is generally a cunning Malay, must continue
his operations till he catches a crocodile in which traces are to be found
shewing that the animal has indeed devoured a human being. Then the

death of the man is atoned for, and in order not to offend the water-spirits a
cat is sacrificed to the crocodiles. The heads of the dead crocodiles are
fastened on stakes beside the river, where in time they bleach white and
stand out sharply against the green background of the forest.607 While the
captured crocodile is being hauled in to the bank, the [pg 211] subtle Dyaks
speak softly to him and beguile him into offering no resistance; but once
they have him fast, with arms and legs securely pinioned, they howl at him
and deride him for his credulity, while they rip up the belly of the infuriated
and struggling brute to find the evidence of his guilt in the shape of human
remains. On one occasion Rajah Brooke of Sarawak was present at a
discussion among a party of Dyaks as to how they ought to treat a captured
crocodile. One side maintained that it was proper to bestow all praise and
honour on the kingly beast, since he was himself a rajah among animals and
was now brought there to meet the rajah; in short, they held that praise and
flattery were agreeable to him and would put him on his best behaviour. The
other side fully admitted that on this occasion rajah met rajah; yet with
prudent foresight they pointed to the dangerous consequences which might
flow from establishing a precedent such as their adversaries contended for.
If once a captured crocodile, said they, were praised and honoured, the other
crocodiles, on hearing of it, would be puffed up with pride and ambition,
and being seized with a desire to emulate the glory of their fellow would
enter on a career of man-eating as the road likely to lead them by the
shortest cut to the temple of fame.608

The Minangkabauers of Sumatra have also a great respect for crocodiles.
Their celebrated law-giver Katoemanggoengan was indeed born again in
the form of a crocodile; and thus his descendants, including the rajah of
d Indrapoera and his family, are more or less distant cousins of the crocodiles,
e and enjoy the help and protection of the creatures in many ways, for
example when they go on a journey. The respect entertained for the animals
f is also attested by the ceremonies observed in some places when a crocodile
t has been caught. A crowd of women then performs certain dances which
a closely resemble the dances performed when somebody has died. Moreover,
it is a rule with the [pg 212] Minangkabauers that no cooking-pot may be
washed in a river; to do so would be like offering the crocodiles the
leavings of your food, and they would very naturally resent it. For the same

reason in washing up the dinner or supper plates you must be careful not to
make a splashing, or the crocodiles would hear it and take umbrage.609

Among the Malays of Patani Bay, in Siam, there is a family whose
members may not kill a crocodile nor even be present when one of these
n ferocious reptiles is captured. The reason alleged for this forbearance is that
the family claim kindred with a woman named Betimor, who was drowned
n in the river and afterwards turned into a crocodile. After her transformation
she appeared to her father in a dream and told him what had become of her;
so he went down to the river and made offerings to her of rice and wax
e tapers. There is a shrine on the spot where the woman was transformed into
a crocodile, and any one may dedicate offerings there and pray to Toh Sri
Lam; for so she has been called ever since her metamorphosis. Members of
the crocodile family call on her for help in sickness and other misfortunes,
and they will do so on behalf of other people for a proper consideration.
Rice and wax tapers are the usual offerings.610 In many islands of the Indian
Archipelago, including Java, Sumatra, Celebes, Timor, and Ceram, this
belief in a kinship of men with crocodiles assumes a peculiar form. The
people imagine that women are often delivered of a child and a crocodile at
the same birth, and that when this happens, the midwife carries the
crocodile twin carefully down to the river and places it in the water. The
family in which such a birth is thought to have happened, constantly put
victuals into the river for their amphibious relation; and in particular the
human twin, so long as he lives, goes down to the river at stated seasons to
do his duty by his crocodile brother or sister; and if he were to fail to do so,
it is the universal opinion [pg 213] that he would be visited with sickness or
death for his unnatural conduct. Large parties of these crocodile people
periodically go out in a boat furnished with great plenty of provisions and
all kinds of music, and they row backwards and forwards, with the music
playing, in places where crocodiles do most abound. As they do so they sing
and weep by turns, each of them invoking his animal kinsfolk, till the snout
of one of the brutes bobbs up from the water, whereupon the music stops,
and food, betel, and tobacco are thrown into the river. By these delicate
attentions they hope to recommend themselves to the formidable
creatures.611

The crocodiles about the island of Damba in the Victoria Nyanza were
sacred and might not be molested in any way. Hence they multiplied and
became dangerous; people made offerings to them in the hope of being
spared by the monsters when they crossed in the ferries. From time to time
batches of men were brought down to the beach and sacrificed to the
crocodiles. Their arms and legs were broken so that they could not stir from
the spot; then they were laid out in a row on the shore, and the crocodiles
came and dragged them into the water. On the island there was a temple
dedicated to the crocodiles, and here an inspired medium resided who gave
oracular responses. Under the influence of the spirit he wagged his head
from side to side, opening his jaws and snapping them together, just as a
crocodile does.612 No doubt the spirit which possessed him in these
moments of fine frenzy was supposed to be that of a crocodile. Similarly in
other parts of Uganda men were inspired by the ghosts or spirits of lions,
leopards, and serpents, and in that state of exaltation they uttered oracles,
roaring like a lion, growling like a leopard, or grovelling and wriggling like
a serpent, according to the nature of the spirit by which they were
possessed.613 Crocodiles abound in the Albert Nyanza Lake and its
tributaries. In many places they are extremely dangerous, [pg 214] but the
Alur tribe of that region only hunt them when they have dragged away a
man; and they think that any one who has taken away a crocodile's eggs
must be on his guard when he walks near the bank of the river, for the
crocodiles will try to avenge the injury by seizing him.614 In general the
Foulahs of Senegambia dare not kill a crocodile from fear of provoking the
vengeance of the relations and friends of the murdered reptile; but if the
sorcerer gives his consent and passes his word that he will guarantee them
against the vengeance of the family of the deceased, they will pluck up
courage to attack one of the brutes.615

Like the Dyaks, the natives of Madagascar never kill a crocodile “except in
retaliation for one of their friends who has been destroyed by a crocodile.
They believe that the wanton destruction of one of these reptiles will be
followed by the loss of human life, in accordance with the principle of lex
talionis.” The people who live near the lake Itasy in Madagascar make a
yearly proclamation to the crocodiles, announcing that they will revenge the
death of some of their friends by killing as many crocodiles in return, and
warning all well-disposed crocodiles to keep out of the way, as they have no

quarrel with them, but only with their evil-minded relations who have taken
human life.616 Various tribes of Madagascar believe themselves to be
descended from crocodiles, and accordingly they view the scaly reptile as,
to all intents and purposes, a man and a brother. If one of the animals should
so far forget himself as to devour one of his human kinsfolk, the chief of the
tribe, or in his absence an old man familiar with the tribal customs, repairs
at the head of the people to the edge of the water, and summons the family
of the culprit to deliver him up to the arm of justice. A hook is then baited
and cast into the river or lake. Next day the guilty brother, or one of his
family, is dragged ashore, and after his crime has been clearly brought home
to him by a strict interrogation, he is sentenced to death and executed. The
claims of justice being thus satisfied and the majesty of [pg 215] the law
fully vindicated, the deceased crocodile is lamented and buried like a
kinsman; a mound is raised over his relics and a stone marks the place of
his head.617 The Malagasy, indeed, regard the crocodile with superstitious
veneration as the king of the waters and supreme in his own element. When
they are about to cross a river they pronounce a solemn oath, or enter into
an engagement to acknowledge his sovereignty over the waters. An aged
native has been known to covenant with the crocodiles for nearly half an
hour before plunging into the stream. After that he lifted up his voice and
addressed the animal, urging him to do him no harm, since he had never
hurt the crocodile; assuring him that he had never made war on any of his
fellows, but on the contrary had always entertained the highest veneration
for him; and adding that if he wantonly attacked him, vengeance would
follow sooner or later; while if the crocodile devoured him, his relations and
all his race would declare war against the beast. This harangue occupied
another quarter of an hour, after which the orator dashed fearlessly into the
stream.618

Again, the tiger is another of those dangerous beasts whom the savage
prefers to leave alone, lest by killing one of the species he should excite the
hostility of the rest. No consideration will induce a Sumatran to catch or
wound a tiger except in self-defence or immediately after a tiger has
destroyed a friend or relation. When a European has set traps for tigers, the
people of the neighbourhood have been known to go by night to the place
and explain to the animals that the traps are not set by them nor with their
g consent.619 If it is necessary to kill a tiger which has wrought much harm in

n the village, the Minangkabauers of Sumatra try to catch him alive in order
to beg for his forgiveness before despatching him, and in ordinary life they
will not speak evil of him or do anything that might displease him. For
example, they will not use a path that has been untrodden for more than a
year, because the tiger has chosen [pg 216] that path for himself, and would
deem it a mark of disrespect were any one else to use it. Again, persons
journeying by night will not walk one behind the other, nor keep looking
about them, for the tiger would think that this betrayed fear of him, and his
feelings would be hurt by the suspicion. Neither will they travel
bareheaded, for that also would be disrespectful to the tiger; nor will they
knock off the glowing end of a firebrand, for the flying sparks are like the
tiger's glistering eyes, and he would treat this as an attempt to mimic him.620
The population of Mandeling, a district on the west coast of Sumatra, is
divided into clans, one of which claims to be descended from a tiger. It is
believed that the animal will not attack or rend the members of this clan,
because they are his kinsmen. When members of the clan come upon the
tracks of a tiger, they enclose them with three little sticks as a mark of
homage; and when a tiger has been shot, the women of the clan are bound
to offer betel to the dead beast.621 The Battas of Sumatra seldom kill a tiger
except from motives of revenge, observing the rule an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth, or, as they express it, “He who owes gold must pay in
gold; he who owes breath (that is, life) must pay with breath.” Nor can the
beast be attacked without some ceremony; only weapons that have proved
themselves able to kill may be used for the purpose. When the tiger has
been killed, they bring the carcase to the village, set offerings before it, and
burn incense over it, praying the spirit of the tiger to quit its material
envelope and enter the incense pot. As soon as the soul may be supposed to
have complied with this request, a speaker explains to the spirits in general
the reasons for killing the tiger, and begs them to set forth these reasons to
the departed soul of the beast, lest the latter should be angry and the people
should suffer in consequence. Then they dance round the dead body of the
tiger till they can dance no longer, after which they skin the carcase and [pg
217] bury it.622 The inhabitants of the hills near Rajamahall, in Bengal,
believe that if any man kills a tiger without divine orders, either he or one
of his relations will be devoured by a tiger. Hence they are very averse to
killing a tiger, unless one of their kinsfolk has been carried off by one of the
beasts. In that case they go out for the purpose of hunting and slaying a

tiger; and when they have succeeded they lay their bows and arrows on the
carcase and invoke God, declaring that they slew the animal in retaliation
for the loss of a kinsman. Vengeance having been thus taken, they swear not
to attack another tiger except under similar provocation.623 The natives of
Cochin China have a great respect for the tiger, whom they regard as a
terrible divinity. Yet they set traps for him and leave no stone unturned to
catch him. Once he is ensnared, they offer him their excuses and
condolences for the painful position in which he finds himself.624

The Indians of Carolina would not molest snakes when they came upon
them, but would pass by on the other side of the path, believing that if they
were to kill a serpent, the reptile's kindred would destroy some of their
brethren, friends, or relations in return.625 So the Seminole Indians spared
the rattlesnake, because they feared that the soul of the dead rattlesnake
would incite its kinsfolk to take vengeance. Once when a rattlesnake
appeared in their camp they entreated an English traveller to rid them of the
e creature. When he had killed it, they were glad but tried to scratch him as a
means of appeasing the spirit of the dead snake.626 Soon after the Iowas
began to build their village near the mouth of Wolf River, a lad came into
the village and reported that he had seen a rattlesnake on a hill not far off. A
medicine-man immediately repaired to the spot, and finding the snake made
it presents of tobacco and other things which he had brought with him for
the purpose. He also [pg 218] had a long talk with the animal, and on
returning to his people told them that now they might travel about in safety,
for peace had been made with the snakes.627 The Delaware Indians also paid
great respect to the rattlesnake, whom they called their grandfather, and
they would on no account destroy one of the reptiles. They said that the
rattlesnake guarded them and gave them notice of impending danger by his
rattle, and that if they were to kill a rattlesnake, the rest of the species would
soon hear of it and bite the Indians in revenge.628 The Potawatomi Indians
highly venerated the rattlesnake for a similar reason, being grateful to it for
the timely warning which it often gave of the approach of an enemy. Yet a
young man who desired to obtain a rattle would have no hesitation in killing
one of the snakes for the purpose; but he apologised profusely to the
creature for the liberty he took with it, explaining that he required the rattle
for the adornment of his person, and that no disrespect was intended to the
snake; and in proof of his good will he would leave a piece of tobacco

beside the carcase.629 The Cherokee regard the rattlesnake as the chief of the
snake tribe and fear and respect him accordingly. Few Cherokee will
venture to kill a rattlesnake, unless they cannot help it, and even then they
must atone for the crime by craving pardon of the snake's ghost either in
their own person or through the mediation of a priest, according to a set
formula. If these precautions are neglected, the kinsfolk of the dead snake
will send one of their number as an avenger of blood, who will track down
the murderer and sting him to death. It is absolutely necessary to cut off the
snake's head and bury it deep in the earth and to hide the body in a hollow
log; for if the remains were exposed to the weather, the other snakes would
be so angry that they would send torrents of rain and all the streams would
overflow their banks. If a Cherokee dreams of being bitten by a snake, [pg
219] he must be treated in exactly the same way as if he had been really
bitten; for they think that he has actually been bitten by the ghost of a
snake, and that if the proper remedies were not applied to the hurt, the place
would swell and ulcerate, though possibly not for years afterwards.630 Once
when an Englishman attempted to kill a rattlesnake, a party of Ojibway
Indians, with whom he was travelling, begged him to desist, and
endeavoured to appease the snake, addressing it in turns as grandfather,
smoking over it, and beseeching it to take care of their families in their
absence, and to open the heart of the British Agent so that he should fill
their canoe with rum. A storm which overtook them next day on Lake
Huron was attributed by them to the wrath of the insulted rattlesnake, and
they sought to mollify him by throwing dogs as sacrifices to him into the
waves.631 The Kekchi Indians of Guatemala will not throw serpents or
scorpions into the fire, lest the other creatures of the same species should
punish them for the outrage.632

In Kiziba, a district of Central Africa, to the west of Lake Victoria Nyanza,
if a woman accidentally kills a snake with her hoe while she is working in
the field, she hastens in great agitation to the snake-priest and hands him
d over the hoe, together with two strings of cowries and an ox-hide, begging
a him to appease the angry spirit of the slain serpent. In this application she is
e accompanied and supported by all the villagers, who share her fears and
a anxiety. Accordingly the priest beats his drum as a sign that no woman of
the village is to work in the fields till further notice. Next he wraps the dead
serpent in a piece of the ox-hide and buries it solemnly. On the following

day he performs a ceremony of purification for the slaughter of the reptile.
He compounds a medicine out of the guts of a leopard or hyaena and earth
or mud dissolved in water, and with this mixture he disinfects all the houses
in the village, beginning with [pg 220] the house of the woman who killed
the serpent. Next he proceeds to the fields, where all the women of the
village have collected their hoes. These he purifies by dipping them in the
fluid and then twirling them about so as to make the drops of water fly off.
From that moment the danger incurred by the slaughter of the reptile is
averted. The spirit of the serpent is appeased, and the women may resume
their usual labours in the fields.633

When the Kwakiutl Indians of British Columbia have slain a wolf they lay
the carcase on a blanket and take out the heart, of which every person who
helped to kill the beast must eat four morsels. Then they wail over the body,
d saying, “Woe! our great friend!” After that they cover the carcase with a
e blanket and bury it. A bow or gun that killed a wolf is regarded as unlucky,
and the owner gives it away. These Indians believe that the slaying of a
wolf produces a scarcity of game.634 When the Tinneh Indians of Central
Alaska have killed a wolf or a wolverine, the carcase is brought into the
camp or village with great pomp. The people go forth to meet it, saying,
e “The chief is coming.” Then the body is carried into a hut and propped up
a in a sitting posture; and the medicine-man spreads before it a copious
banquet, to which every family in the village has contributed of its best.
When the dead animal is supposed to have satisfied his hunger, the men
consume the remains of the feast, but no woman is allowed to participate in
what has been thus offered to the wolf or the wolverine.635 No ordinary
Cherokee dares to kill a wolf, if he can possibly help it; for he believes that
the kindred of the slain beast would surely avenge its death, and that the
weapon with which the deed had been done would be quite useless for the
future, unless it were cleaned and exorcised by a medicine-man. However,
certain persons who know the proper rites of atonement for such a crime
can kill wolves with impunity, and they are sometimes hired to do so by
people who have suffered from the raids of the [pg 221] wolves on their
cattle or fish-traps. The professional wolf-killer prays to the animal whom
he has bereaved of life, and seeks to avert the vengeance of the other
wolves by laying the blame of the slaughter on the people of another
settlement. To purify the gun which has perpetrated the murder, he

unscrews the barrel, inserts into it seven small sour-wood rods which have
been heated in the fire, and then allows the barrel and its contents to lie in a
running stream till morning.636 When the Chuckchees of north-eastern
Siberia have killed a wolf, they hold a festival, at which they cry, “Wolf, be
not angry with us. It was not we who killed you, it was the Russians who
destroyed you.”637 In ancient Athens any man who killed a wolf had to bury
it by subscription.638

In Jebel-Nuba, a district of the eastern Sudan, it is forbidden to touch the
nests or remove the young of a species of black birds, resembling our
blackbirds, because the people believe that the parent birds would avenge
the wrong by causing a stormy wind to blow, which would destroy the
harvest.639 Some of the Sudanese negroes of Upper Egypt regard the great
black raven (Corvus umbrinus) as their uncle and exact pecuniary
compensation or blood-money from any one who has been so rash as to slay
their sable relative. Having satisfied their scruples on that head, they give
the bird a solemn burial, carrying the corpse to the graveyard on a bier with
flags and shouts of la ill Allah, just as if they were interring one of their
kinsfolk.640 The Palenques of South America are very careful to spare
harmless animals which are not good for food; because they believe that
any injury inflicted on such creatures would entail the sickness or death of
their own children.641

But the savage clearly cannot afford to spare all animals. He must either eat
some of them or starve, and when the question thus comes to be whether he
or the animal must [pg 222] perish, he is forced to overcome his
y superstitious scruples and take the life of the beast. At the same time he
does all he can to appease his victims and their kinsfolk. Even in the act of
killing them he testifies his respect for them, endeavours to excuse or even
conceal his share in procuring their death, and promises that their remains
y will be honourably treated. By thus robbing death of its terrors he hopes to
d reconcile his victims to their fate and to induce their fellows to come and be
killed also. For example, it was a principle with the Kamtchatkans never to
kill a land or sea animal without first making excuses to it and begging that
n the animal would not take it ill. Also they offered it cedar-nuts and so forth,
y to make it think that it was not a victim but a guest at a feast. They believed
that this hindered other animals of the same species from growing shy. For

instance, after they had killed a bear and feasted on its flesh, the host would
bring the bear's head before the company, wrap it in grass, and present it
d with a variety of trifles. Then he would lay the blame of the bear's death on
the Russians, and bid the beast wreak his wrath upon them. Also he would
ask the bear to inform the other bears how well he had been treated, that
they too might come without fear. Seals, sea-lions, and other animals were
treated by the Kamtchatkans with the same ceremonious respect. Moreover,
they used to insert sprigs of a plant resembling bear's wort in the mouths of
the animals they killed; after which they would exhort the grinning skulls to
have no fear but to go and tell it to their fellows, that they also might come
and be caught and so partake of this splendid hospitality.642 When the
Ostiaks have hunted and killed a bear, they cut off its head and hang it on a
tree. Then they gather round in a circle and pay it divine honours. Next they
run towards the carcase uttering lamentations and saying, “Who killed you?
It was the Russians. Who cut off your head? It was a Russian axe. Who
skinned you? It was a knife made by a Russian.” They explain, too, that the
feathers which sped the arrow on its flight came from the wing of a strange
bird, and that they did nothing but let the arrow go. [pg 223] They do all
this because they believe that the wandering ghost of the slain bear would
attack them on the first opportunity, if they did not thus appease it.643 Or
they stuff the skin of the slain bear with hay; and after celebrating their
victory with songs of mockery and insult, after spitting on and kicking it,
they set it up on its hind legs, “and then, for a considerable time, they
bestow on it all the veneration due to a guardian god.”644 When a party of
Koryak have killed a bear or a wolf, they skin the beast and dress one of
themselves in the skin. Then they dance round the skin-clad man, saying
that it was not they who killed the animal, but some one else, generally a
Russian. When they kill a fox they skin it, wrap the body in grass, and bid
him go tell his companions how hospitably he has been received, and how
he has received a new cloak instead of his old one.645 A fuller account of the
Koryak ceremonies is given by a more recent writer. He tells us that when a
dead bear is brought to the house, the women come out to meet it dancing
with firebrands. The bear-skin is taken off along with the head; and one of
the women puts on the skin, dances in it, and entreats the bear not to be
angry, but to be kind to the people. At the same time they offer meat on a
wooden platter to the dead beast, saying, “Eat, friend.” Afterwards a
ceremony is performed for the purpose of sending the dead bear, or rather

his spirit, away back to his home. He is provided with provisions for the
journey in the shape of puddings or reindeer-flesh packed in a grass bag.
His skin is stuffed with grass and carried round the house, after which he is
supposed to depart towards the rising sun. The intention of the ceremonies
is to protect the people from the wrath of the slain bear and his kinsfolk,
and so to ensure success in future bear-hunts.646 The Finns used to try to [pg
224] persuade a slain bear that he had not been killed by them, but had
fallen from a tree, or met his death in some other way;647 moreover, they
held a funeral festival in his honour, at the close of which bards expatiated
on the homage that had been paid to him, urging him to report to the other
bears the high consideration with which he had been treated, in order that
they also, following his example, might come and be slain.648 When the
Lapps had succeeded in killing a bear with impunity, they thanked him for
not hurting them and for not breaking the clubs and spears which had given
him his death wounds; and they prayed that he would not visit his death
upon them by sending storms or in any other way. His flesh then furnished a
feast.649

The reverence of hunters for the bear whom they regularly kill and eat may
thus be traced all along the northern region of the Old World, from Bering's
Straits to Lappland. It reappears in similar forms in North America. With
n the American Indians a bear hunt was an important event for which they
y prepared by long fasts and purgations. Before setting out they offered
h expiatory sacrifices to the souls of bears slain in previous hunts, and
besought them to be favourable to the hunters. When a bear was killed the
hunter lit his pipe, and putting the mouth of it between the bear's lips, blew
into the bowl, filling the beast's mouth with smoke. Then he begged the
bear not to be angry at having been killed, and not to thwart him afterwards
in the chase. The carcase was roasted whole and eaten; not a morsel of the
flesh might be left over. The head, painted red and blue, was hung on a post
and addressed by orators, who heaped praise on the dead beast.650 When
men of the Bear clan in the Otawa tribe killed a bear, they made him a feast
of his own flesh, and addressed him thus: “Cherish us no grudge because
we [pg 225] have killed you. You have sense; you see that our children are
hungry. They love you and wish to take you into their bodies. Is it not
glorious to be eaten by the children of a chief?”651 Amongst the Nootka
Indians of British Columbia, when a bear had been killed, it was brought in

and seated before the head chief in an upright posture, with a chief's bonnet,
wrought in figures, on its head, and its fur powdered over with white down.
A tray of provisions was then set before it, and it was invited by words and
gestures to eat. After that the animal was skinned, boiled, and eaten.652 The
Assiniboins pray to the bear and offer sacrifices to it of tobacco, belts, and
other valuable objects. Moreover, they hold feasts in its honour, that they
may win the beast's favour and live safe and sound. The bear's head is often
kept in camp for several days mounted in some suitable position and decked
with scraps of scarlet cloth, necklaces, collars, and coloured feathers. They
offer the pipe to it, and pray that they may be able to kill all the bears they
meet, without harm to themselves, for the purpose of anointing themselves
with his fine grease and banqueting on his tender flesh.653 The Ojibways
will not suffer dogs to eat the flesh or gnaw the bones of a bear, and they
throw all the waste portions into the fire. They think that if the flesh were
desecrated, they would have no luck in hunting bears thereafter.654 A trader
of the eighteenth century has described the endearments which a party of
Ojibways lavished on a she-bear which he had just killed. They took her
head in their hands, stroked it and kissed it, and begged a thousand pardons
for her violent death; they called her their relation and grandmother, and
begged her not to lay the fault at their door, for indeed it was an Englishman
who had killed [pg 226] her. Having severed the head from the body, they
adorned it with all the trinkets they could muster and set it up on a scaffold
in the lodge. Next day pipes were lit and tobacco smoke blown into the
nostrils of the dead bear, and the trader was invited to pay this mark of
respect to the animal as an atonement for having taken her life. Before they
feasted on the bear's flesh, an orator made a speech in which he deplored
the sad necessity under which they laboured of destroying their friends the
bears; for how otherwise could they subsist?655 Some of the Indians of the
Queen Charlotte Islands, off the north-western coast of America, used to
mark the skins of bears, otters, and other animals with four red crosses in a
line, by way of propitiating the spirit of the beast they had killed.656 When
the Thompson Indians of British Columbia were about to hunt bears, they
would sometimes address the animal and ask it to come and be shot. They
prayed the grisly bear not to be angry with the hunter, nor to fight him, but
rather to have pity on him and to deliver himself up to his mercies. The man
who intended to hunt the grisly bear had to be chaste for some time before
he set out on his dangerous adventure. When he had killed a bear, he and his

companions painted their faces in alternate perpendicular stripes of black
and red, and sang the bear song. Sometimes the hunter also prayed,
thanking the beast for letting itself be killed so easily, and begging that its
mate might share the same fate. After they had eaten the flesh of the bear's
head, they tied the skull to the top of a small tree, as high as they could
reach, and left it there. Having done so, they painted their faces with
alternate stripes of red and black as before; for if they failed to observe this
ceremony, the bears would be offended, and the hunters would not be able
to kill any more. To place the heads of bears or any large beasts on trees or
stones was a mark of respect to the animals.657 The Lillooet and Shuswap
Indians [pg 227] of the same region used to observe similar ceremonies at
the killing of a bear.658

A like respect is testified for other dangerous creatures by the hunters who
regularly trap and kill them. When Caffre hunters are in the act of
showering spears on an elephant, they call out, “Don't kill us, great captain;
n don't strike or tread upon us, mighty chief.”659 When he is dead they make
their excuses to him, pretending that his death was a pure accident. As a
mark of respect they bury his trunk with much solemn ceremony; for they
say that “the elephant is a great lord; his trunk is his hand.”660 Before the
Amaxosa Caffres attack an elephant they shout to the animal and beg him to
pardon them for the slaughter they are about to perpetrate, professing great
submission to his person and explaining clearly the need they have of his
tusks to enable them to procure beads and supply their wants. When they
have killed him they bury in the ground, along with the end of his trunk, a
few of the articles they have obtained for the ivory, thus hoping to avert
some mishap that would otherwise befall them.661 Among the Wanyamwezi
of Central Africa, when hunters have killed an elephant, they bury his legs
on the spot where he fell and then cover the place with stones. The burial is
supposed to appease the spirit of the dead elephant and to ensure the
success of the hunters in future undertakings.662 When the Baganda have
killed an elephant, they extract the nerve from the tusk and bury it, taking
care to mark the place of the burial. For they think that the ghost of the dead
elephant attaches itself to the nerve, and that if a [pg 228] hunter were to
step over the nerve, the elephant's ghost would cause him to be killed by an
elephant the next time he went forth to hunt the beasts.663

In Latuka, a district of the Upper Nile, lions are much respected, and are
only killed when they prove very troublesome and dangerous. There used to
be in this region a Lion-chief, as he was called, who professed to have all
s lions under his control, and who actually kept several tame lions about his
house. Whenever a lion was accidentally caught in a trap near the station of
the Egyptian Government, this man would regularly present himself and
demand the release of the noble animal. The favour was always granted,
and planks were let down into the pit to enable the imprisoned lion to
clamber up and escape.664 Amongst some tribes of Eastern Africa, when a
lion is killed, the carcase is brought before the king, who does homage to it
by prostrating himself on the ground and rubbing his face on the muzzle of
the beast.665

In some parts of Western Africa if a negro kills a leopard he is bound fast
and brought before the chiefs for having killed one of their peers. The man
defends himself on the plea that the leopard is chief of the forest and
n therefore a stranger. He is then set at liberty and rewarded. But the dead
n leopard, adorned with a chief's bonnet, is set up in the village, where nightly
dances are held in its honour.666 The leopard is held in great veneration by
the Igaras of the Niger. They call it “father” (atta), though they do not
object to kill the animal in the chase. When a dead leopard is brought into
Idah, the capital, it is dressed up in white and borne on the heads of four
men from house to house, amidst singing and beating of drums. Each
householder gives a present of cowries or cloth to the owner of the leopard,
and at last the carcase is buried with great ceremony and firing of guns.
Should these rites be neglected, the people imagine that the spirit of the
dead leopard will punish them.667 Among the Ewe negroes of Togoland [pg
229] “hunters who had killed buffaloes, leopards, or wild black swine
observed in Agome for nine days the same, or very similar, ceremonies as
are customary at the death of a woman, in order to prevent the soul of the
slain beasts from avenging itself on them, a custom which is the less
surprising because the mourning customs themselves are based on the fear
of spirits, namely the spirits of the dead. The natives ascribe to the souls of
these dangerous animals the power of killing the man who shot them, or of
so blinding and enchanting him that in the chase he confuses animals and
men and so incurs serious mishaps.”668 The quaint ceremonies which these
negroes observe for the purpose of avoiding the imaginary perils have been

described by a German missionary. The leopard and the wild buffalo, he
tells us, are believed to be animated by malignant souls which not only do
the hunter a mischief while they still occupy the bodies of the living
creatures, but even after death, in their disembodied state, continue to haunt
and plague their slayer, sometimes egging on a serpent or a leopard to sting
or bite him, sometimes blinding him so that he shoots a man for an animal,
or cannot find his way home and goes groping about in the wilderness till
he perishes miserably. If a man thus blinded and crazed should make his
way back to the town, he is banished for life and sold into slavery; his
house and plantation are razed to the ground; and his nearest relations are
often given as bail into the hands of strangers. It is therefore a very serious
matter indeed for a hunter to incur the wrath of a leopard's ghost, and it is
quite natural that he should take all reasonable measures to guard himself
against so threatening a calamity. Hence as soon as he has killed a leopard,
he hurries back to the town and brings word of it to the other men who have
slain leopards on former occasions, and who now assist him with their
advice and experience. The first thing they do is to put a stalk of grass in his
mouth as a sign that he may not speak. [pg 230] Then they repair to the
place where the leopard lies dead in the forest, and inform the animal of the
reasons why he has been shot, namely, because he has stolen sheep, fowls,
and pigs, and has killed men. Next the drums are beaten and the people
assemble in the open square of the town. The dead leopard meanwhile has
been fastened to a pole, and with his eyes bandaged and his face upturned to
heaven, is solemnly carried about the town and set down before the houses
of the principal folk, who reward the hero and his comrades with presents.
After the procession has gone the round, the leopard is tied to a tree, and the
hunters paint the slayer with red and white so as to make him look like a
leopard, except that the leopard's spots are only painted on the left side of
his body; a basket painted in the same colours is clapped on his head, and
magical strings of cowries are tied round his hands and feet. Thus attired, he
and the other heroes who have killed leopards crawl about on all fours and
roar like leopards when anybody comes near them. In his left hand every
man grasps a bow for the slaughter of innocent cocks and hens, and with his
right he grabbles about in the earth like an animal seeking what it may
devour. None of them may speak, they may only roar, but they do that in a
masterly manner. At the head of this imposing procession go two men
armed with a thick cudgel and a spear respectively; and the rear is brought

up by a third man, who is privileged to walk upright on his hind legs. This
favoured person is the cook, whose office it is to dress the fowls which the
human leopards; purloin in the course of their pilgrimage; indeed for
nineteen days they are privileged, no doubt in their character of leopards, to
rob the hen-roosts with impunity. In the afternoon the carcase of the leopard
is taken down, skinned, and cut up. The titbits are sent to the chief and the
other dignitaries, who eat them; and the remainder of the flesh is consumed
by the common folk. The skin, the teeth, the head, and the claws belong to
the hunter who killed the beast. But for nineteen days thereafter the slayer
of the leopard must retain his peculiar costume: he may eat only warm-
blooded animals and food seasoned with salt: he may not eat anything
seasoned with pepper; and on no account [pg 231] may he taste fish,
because they are cold-blooded creatures. A general feast, of which all the
male inhabitants of the town partake, winds up the proceedings at the close
of the nineteen days. A feature of the festivities is a dramatic representation
of a leopard-hunt, which is carried out in every detail amid great
excitement. If only all these ceremonies are strictly observed, the hunter
need have no fear at all of being plagued by the leopard's ghost.669

The Baganda greatly fear the ghosts of buffaloes which they have killed,
and they always appease these dangerous spirits. On no account will they
bring the head of a slain buffalo into a village or into a garden of plantains:
n they always eat the flesh of the head in the open country. Afterwards they
place the skull in a small hut built for the purpose, where they pour out beer
as an offering and pray to the ghost to stay where he is and not to harm
them.670 Oddly enough the Baganda also dread the ghosts of sheep, which
they believe would haunt and kill the butcher if they saw him give the fatal
stroke. Hence when a man is about to slaughter a sheep, he gets another
man to divert its attention, and coming up behind the unsuspecting animal
he stuns it with the blow of an axe-handle; then, before it can recover
consciousness, he adroitly cuts its throat. In this way the ghost of the sheep
is bamboozled and will not haunt the butcher. Moreover, when a sheep dies
in a house, the housewife may not say bluntly to her husband, “The sheep is
dead,” or its ghost, touched to the quick, would certainly make her fall ill
and might even kill her. She must put a finer point on the painful truth by
saying, “I am unable to untie such and such a sheep.” Her husband
understands her, but the ghost of the animal does not, or at all events he

does not resent so delicate an allusion to its melancholy decease.671 Even the
ghost of a fowl may haunt a Muganda [pg 232] woman and make her ill, if
she has accidentally killed it with her hoe and flung away the body in the
long grass instead of carrying it to her husband and confessing her fault.672

Another formidable beast whose life the savage hunter takes with joy, yet
with fear and trembling, is the whale. After the slaughter of a whale the
maritime Koryak of north-eastern Siberia hold a communal festival, the
d essential part of which “is based on the conception that the whale killed has
come on a visit to the village; that it is staying for some time, during which
e it is treated with great respect; that it then returns to the sea to repeat its
visit the following year; that it will induce its relatives to come along,
telling them of the hospitable reception that has been accorded to it.
According to the Koryak ideas, the whales, like all other animals, constitute
one tribe, or rather family, of related individuals, who live in villages like
the Koryak. They avenge the murder of one of their number, and are
grateful for kindnesses that they may have received.”673 As large whales are
now rarely seen in the bays of the Okhotsk Sea, the Koryak at the present
time generally celebrate the festival for a white whale. One such festival
was witnessed by Mr. W. Jochelson, at the village of Kuel, in October 1900.
A white whale had been caught in the nets, and as the sea was partially
frozen, the carcase had to be brought ashore in a sledge. When it was seen
nearing the beach, a number of women, arrayed in their long embroidered
dancing-coats, went forth to meet and welcome it, carrying lighted fire-
brands in their hands. To carry burning fire-brands from the hearth is the
ancient Koryak fashion of greeting an honoured guest. Strictly speaking, the
women who go forth to welcome a whale to the house should wear masks
of sedge-grass on their faces as well as dancing-coats on their bodies, and
should carry sacrificial alder branches as well as firebrands [pg 233] in their
hands, but on the present occasion the women dispensed with the use of
masks. They danced, shaking their heads, moving their shoulders, and
swinging their whole bodies with arms outstretched, now squatting, now
rising and singing, “Ah! a guest has come.” In spite of the cold and the
wind the sweat dripped from them, so violently did they dance, and they
sang and screamed till they were hoarse. When the sledge with its burden
had reached the shore, one of the women pronounced an incantation over
the whale's head, and then thrust alder branches and sacrificial grass into its

mouth. Next they muffled its head in a hood, apparently to prevent the
creature from witnessing the painful spectacle of its own dissection. After
that the men cut up the carcase, and the women collected the blood in pails.
Two seals, which had also been killed, were included in the festivities
which followed. The heads of all three animals were cut off and placed on
the roof of the house. Next day the festival began. In the morning the
women plaited travelling bags of grass for the use of the whale, and made
grass masks. In the evening, the people having assembled in a large
underground house, some boiled pieces of the white whale were placed in a
grass bag and set before a wooden image of a white whale, so that the
animal, or its departed spirit, was thus apparently supposed to be regaled
with portions of its own body; for the white whale and the seals were
treated as honoured guests at the banquet. To keep up the pretence, the
people were silent or spoke only in whispers for fear of wakening the guests
before the time. At last the preparations were complete: fresh faggots piled
on the hearth sent up a blaze, illumining with an unsteady light the smoke-
blackened walls of the vast underground dwelling, which a moment before
had been shrouded in darkness; and the long silence was broken by the
joyful cries of the women, “Here dear guests have come!” “Visit us often!”
“When you go back to the sea, tell your friends to call on us also, we will
prepare just as nice food for them as for you.” With these words they
pointed to puddings set out temptingly on the boards. Next the host took a
piece of the fat of the white whale and threw it into the fire, saying, “We are
burning it in the fire for thee!” Then he went to the domestic shrine, [pg
234] placed lumps of fat before the rude effigies of the guardian spirits, and
smeared fat on their mouths. The appetites of the higher powers having thus
been satisfied, the people set to and partook of the good things provided for
them, including the flesh of the white whale and the seals. Lastly, two old
men practised divination by means of the shoulder-blade of a seal to
discover whether the white whale would go back to the sea and call his
fellows to come and be caught like himself. In order to extract this
information from the bone burning coals were piled on it, and the resulting
cracks were carefully scrutinised. To the delight of all present the omens
proved favourable: a long transverse crack indicated the sea to which the
spirit of the white whale would soon depart. Four days later the departure
actually took place. It was a bright sunshiny wintry morning: the frost was
keen; and for more than a mile seaward the beach was covered with blocks

of ice. In the great underground dwelling, where the feast had been held, the
hearth had been turned into something like an altar. On it lay the heads of
the white whale and the seals, and beside them travelling-bags of grass
filled with puddings, which the souls of the animals were to take with them
on their long journey. Beside the hearth knelt two women, their faces
covered with grass masks and their heads bent over the bags, mumbling an
incantation. The sunlight streamed down on them through the smoke-hole
overhead, but spread only a dim twilight through the remoter recesses of the
vast subterranean chamber. The masks worn by the women were intended to
guard them against the spirit of the white whale, which was supposed to be
hovering invisible in the air. The incantation over, the women rose from
their knees and doffed their masks. A careful examination of a pudding,
which had been offered in sacrifice to the white whale, now revealed the
joyful intelligence that the spirit of the whale had accepted the sacrifice and
was about to return to the sea. All that remained, therefore, to do was to
speed him on his way. For that purpose two men ascended the roof, let
down thongs through the smoke-hole, and hauled up the heads of the white
whale and of the seals together with the travelling-bags of provisions. That
concluded the despatch of the [pg 235] souls of the dead animals to their
home in the great waters.674

When the inhabitants of the Isle of St. Mary, to the north of Madagascar, go
a-whaling, they single out the young whales for attack and “humbly beg the
mother's pardon, stating the necessity that drives them to kill her progeny,
f and requesting that she will be pleased to go below while the deed is doing,
that her maternal feelings may not be outraged by witnessing what must
cause her so much uneasiness.”675 An Ajumba hunter having killed a female
hippopotamus on Lake Azyingo in West Africa, the animal was decapitated
and its quarters and bowels removed. Then the hunter, naked, stepped into
the hollow of the ribs, and kneeling down in the bloody pool washed his
whole body with the blood and excretions of the animal, while he prayed to
the soul of the hippopotamus not to bear him a grudge for having killed her
and so blighted her hopes of future maternity; and he further entreated the
ghost not to stir up other hippopotamuses to avenge her death by butting at
and capsizing his canoe.676 The ounce, a leopard-like creature, is dreaded for
its depredations by the Indians of Brazil. When they have caught one of
these animals in a snare, they kill it and carry the body home to the village.

There the women deck the carcase with feathers of many colours, put
bracelets on its legs, and weep over it, saying, “I pray thee not to take
vengeance on our little ones for having been caught and killed through thine
own ignorance. For it was not we who deceived thee, it was thyself. Our
husbands only set the trap to catch animals that are good to eat: they never
thought to take thee in it. Therefore, let not thy soul counsel thy fellows to
avenge thy death on our little ones!”677 When the Yuracares Indians of
Bolivia have killed great apes in their tropical forests, they bring the bodies
home, set them out in a row on palm leaves with their heads [pg 236] all
looking one way, sprinkle them with chicha, and say, “We love you, since
we have brought you home.” They imagine that the performance of this
ceremony is very gratifying to the other apes in the woods.678 Before they
leave a temporary camp in the forest, where they have killed a tapir and
dried the meat on a babracot, the Indians of Guiana invariably destroy this
babracot, saying that should a tapir passing that way find traces of the
slaughter of one of his kind, he would come by night on the next occasion
when Indians slept at that place, and, taking a man, would babracot him in
revenge.679

When a Blackfoot Indian has caught eagles in a trap and killed them, he
takes them home to a special lodge, called the eagles' lodge, which has been
prepared for their reception outside of the camp. Here he sets the birds in a
d row on the ground, and propping up their heads on a stick, puts a piece of
dried meat in each of their mouths in order that the spirits of the dead eagles
may go and tell the other eagles how well they are being treated by the
s Indians.680 So when Indian hunters of the Orinoco region have killed an
animal, they open its mouth and pour into it a few drops of the liquor they
generally carry with them, in order that the soul of the dead beast may
inform its fellows of the welcome it has met with, and that they too, cheered
by the prospect of the same kind reception, may come with alacrity to be
killed.681 A Cherokee hunter who has killed an eagle stands over the dead
bird and prays it not to avenge itself on his tribe, because it is not he but a
Spaniard who has done the cruel deed.682 When a Teton Indian is on a
journey and he meets a grey spider or a spider with yellow legs, he kills it,
because some evil would befall him if he did not. But he is very careful not
to let the spider know that he kills it, for if the spider knew, his soul would
go and tell the other spiders, and one of them [pg 237] would be sure to

avenge the death of his relation. So in crushing the insect, the Indian says,
“O Grandfather Spider, the Thunder-beings kill you.” And the spider is
crushed at once and believes what is told him. His soul probably runs and
tells the other spiders that the Thunder-beings have killed him; but no harm
comes of that. For what can grey or yellow-legged spiders do to the
Thunder-beings?683

But it is not merely dangerous creatures with whom the savage desires to
keep on good terms. It is true that the respect which he pays to wild beasts
is in some measure proportioned to their strength and ferocity. Thus the
savage Stiens of Cambodia, believing that all animals have souls which
f roam about after their death, beg an animal's pardon when they kill it, lest
its soul should come and torment them. Also they offer it sacrifices, but
d these sacrifices are proportioned to the size and strength of the animal. The
n ceremonies observed at the death of an elephant are conducted with much
pomp and last seven days.684 Similar distinctions are drawn by North
h American Indians. “The bear, the buffalo, and the beaver are manidos
e [divinities] which furnish food. The bear is formidable, and good to eat.
They render ceremonies to him, begging him to allow himself to be eaten,
although they know he has no fancy for it. We kill you, but you are not
annihilated. His head and paws are objects of homage.... Other animals are
e treated similarly from similar reasons.... Many of the animal manidos, not
being dangerous, are often treated with contempt—the terrapin, the weasel,
polecat, etc.”685 The distinction is instructive. Animals which are feared, or
are good to eat, or both, are treated with ceremonious respect; those which
are neither formidable nor good to eat are despised. We have had examples
of reverence paid to animals which are both feared and eaten. It remains to
e prove that similar respect is shewn [pg 238] to animals which, without
r being feared, are either eaten or valued for their skins.
h
r When Siberian sable-hunters have caught a sable, no one is allowed to see
e it, and they think that if good or evil be spoken of the captured sable no
more sables will be caught. A hunter has been known to express his belief
that the sables could hear what was said of them as far off as Moscow. He
said that the chief reason why the sable hunt was now so unproductive was
that some live sables had been sent to Moscow. There they had been viewed
f with astonishment as strange animals, and the sables cannot abide that.
d

Another, though minor, cause of the diminished take of sables was, he
f alleged, that the world is now much worse than it used to be, so that
f nowadays a hunter will sometimes hide the sable which he has got instead
t of putting it into the common stock. This also, said he, the sables cannot
686
s abide. A Russian traveller happening once to enter a Gilyak hut in the
d absence of the owner, observed a freshly killed sable hanging on the wall.
Seeing him look at it, the housewife in consternation hastened to muffle the
e animal in a fur cap, after which it was taken down, wrapt in birch bark, and
put away out of sight. Despite the high price he offered for it, the traveller's
efforts to buy the animal were unavailing. It was bad enough, they told him,
that he, a stranger, had seen the dead sable in its skin, but far worse
consequences for the future catch of sables would follow if they were to sell
him the animal entire.687 Alaskan hunters preserve the bones of sables and
beavers out of reach of the dogs for a year and then bury them carefully,
“lest the spirits who look after the beavers and sables should consider that
they are regarded with contempt, and hence no more should be killed or
trapped.”688 The Shuswap Indians of British Columbia think that if they did
not throw beaver-bones into the river, the beavers would not go into the
traps any more, and that the same thing would happen were a dog to eat the
flesh or gnaw the bone of a beaver.689 Carrier Indians [pg 239] who have
trapped martens or beavers take care to keep them from the dogs; for if a
dog were to touch these animals the Indians believe that the other martens
or beavers would not suffer themselves to be caught.690 A missionary who
fell in with an old Carrier Indian asked him what luck he had in the chase.
“Oh, don't speak to me about it,” replied the Indian; “there are beavers in
plenty. I caught one myself immediately after my arrival here, but unluckily
a dog got hold of it. You know that after that it has been impossible for me
to catch another.” “Nonsense,” said the missionary; “set your traps as if
nothing had happened, and you will see.” “That would be useless,”
answered the Indian in a tone of despair, “quite useless. You don't know the
ways of the beaver. If a dog merely touches a beaver, all the other beavers
are angry at the owner of the dog and always keep away from his traps.” It
was in vain that the missionary tried to laugh or argue him out of his
persuasion; the man persisted in abandoning his snares and giving up the
hunt, because, as he asserted, the beavers were angry with him.691 A French
traveller, observing that the Indians of Louisiana did not give the bones of
beavers and otters to their dogs, enquired the reason. They told him there

was a spirit in the woods who would tell the other beavers and otters, and
that after that they would catch no more animals of these species.692 The
Canadian Indians were equally particular not to let their dogs gnaw the
bones, or at least certain of the bones, of beavers. They took the greatest
pains to collect and preserve these bones, and, when the beaver had been
caught in a net, they threw them into the river. To a Jesuit who argued that
the beavers could not possibly know what became of their bones, the
Indians replied, “You know nothing about catching beavers and yet you will
be prating about it. Before the beaver is stone dead, his soul [pg 240] takes
a turn in the hut of the man who is killing him and makes a careful note of
what is done with his bones. If the bones are given to the dogs, the other
beavers would get word of it and would not let themselves be caught.
Whereas, if their bones are thrown into the fire or a river, they are quite
satisfied; and it is particularly gratifying to the net which caught them.”693
Before hunting the beaver they offered a solemn prayer to the Great Beaver,
and presented him with tobacco; and when the chase was over, an orator
pronounced a funeral oration over the dead beavers. He praised their spirit
and wisdom. “You will hear no more,” said he, “the voice of the chieftains
who commanded you and whom you chose from among all the warrior
beavers to give you laws. Your language, which the medicine-men
understand perfectly, will be heard no more at the bottom of the lake. You
will fight no more battles with the otters, your cruel foes. No, beavers! But
your skins shall serve to buy arms; we will carry your smoked hams to our
children; we will keep the dogs from eating your bones, which are so
hard.”694

The elan, deer, and elk were treated by the American Indians with the same
punctilious respect, and for the same [pg 241] reason. Their bones might not
be given to the dogs nor thrown into the fire, nor might their fat be dropped
n upon the fire, because the souls of the dead animals were believed to see
y what was done to their bodies and to tell it to the other beasts, living and
dead. Hence, if their bodies were ill-used, the animals of that species would
not allow themselves to be taken, neither in this world nor in the world to
come.695 The houses of the Indians of Honduras were encumbered with the
bones of deer, the Indians believing that if they threw the bones away, the
other deer could not be taken.696 Among the Chiquites of Paraguay a sick
man would be asked by the medicine-man whether he had not thrown away

some of the flesh of the deer or turtle, and if he answered yes, the medicine-
man would say, “That is what is killing you. The soul of the deer or turtle
has entered into your body to avenge the wrong you did it.”697 Before the
Tzentales of Southern Mexico and the Kekchis of Guatemala venture to
skin a deer which they have killed, they lift up its head and burn copal
before it as an offering; otherwise a certain being named Tzultacca would
be angry and send them no more game.698 Cherokee hunters ask pardon of
the deer they kill. If they failed to do so, they think that the Little Deer, the
chief of the deer tribe, who can never die or be wounded, would track the
hunter to his home by the blood-drops on the ground and would put the
spirit of rheumatism into him. Sometimes the hunter, on starting for home,
lights a fire in the trail behind him to prevent the Little Deer from pursuing
him.699 Before they [pg 242] went out to hunt for deer, antelope, or elk the
Apaches used to resort to sacred caves, where the medicine-men propitiated
with prayer and sacrifice the animal gods whose progeny they intended to
destroy.700 The Indians of Louisiana bewailed bitterly the death of the
buffaloes which they were about to kill. More than two hundred of them at
a time have been seen shedding crocodile tears over the approaching
slaughter of the animals, while they marched in solemn procession, headed
by an old man who waved a pocket-handkerchief at the end of a stick as an
oriflamme, and by a woman who strutted proudly along, bearing on her
back a large kettle which had been recently abstracted from the baggage of
some French explorers.701 The Thompson Indians of British Columbia
cherished many superstitious beliefs and observed many superstitious
practices in regard to deer. When a deer was killed, they said that the rest of
the deer would be well pleased if the hunters butchered the animal nicely
and cleanly. To waste venison displeased the animals, who after that would
not allow themselves to be shot by the hunter. If a hunter was overburdened
and had to leave some of the venison behind, the other deer were better
pleased if he hung it up on a tree than if he let it lie on the ground. The guts
were gathered and put where the blood had been spilt in butchering the
beast, and the whole was covered up with a few fir-boughs. In laying the
boughs on the blood and guts the man told the deer not to grieve for the
death of their friend and not to take it ill that he had left some of the body
behind, for he had done his best to cover it. If he did not cover it, they
thought the deer would be sorry or angry and would spoil his luck in the
chase. When the head of a deer had to be left behind, they commonly placed

it on the branch of a tree, that it might not be contaminated by dogs and
women. For the same reason they burned the bones of the slain deer, lest
they should be touched by women or gnawed by dogs. And venison was
never brought into a hut by the common door, because that door was used
by women; it was taken in [pg 243] through a hole made in the back of the
hut. No hunter would give a deer's head to a man who was the first or
second of a family, for that would make the rest of the deer very shy and
hard to shoot. And in telling his friends of his bag he would generally call a
buck a doe, and a doe he would call a fawn, and a fawn he would call a
hare. This he did that he might not seem to the deer to brag.702 The Lillooet
Indians of British Columbia threw the bones of animals, particularly those
of the deer and the beaver, into the water, in order that the dogs should not
defile or eat them and thereby offend the animals. When the hunter
committed the bones to the water he generally prayed to the dead animal,
saying, “See! I treat you respectfully. Nothing shall defile you. Have pity on
me, so I may kill more of you! May I be successful in hunting and
trapping!”703 The Canadian Indians would not eat the embryos of the elk,
unless at the close of the hunting season; otherwise the mother-elks would
be shy and refuse to be caught.704

Indians of the Lower Fraser River regard the porcupine as their elder
brother. Hence when a hunter kills one of these creatures he asks his elder
brother's pardon and does not eat of the flesh till the next day.705 The Sioux
will not stick an awl or needle into a turtle, for they are sure that, if they
e were to do so, the turtle would punish them at some future time.706 Some of
y the North American Indians believed that each sort of animal had its patron
or genius who watched over and preserved it. An Indian girl having once
picked up a dead mouse, her father snatched the little creature from her and
tenderly caressed and fondled it. Being asked why he did so, he said that it
was to appease the genius of mice, in order that he might not torment his
daughter for eating the [pg 244] mouse. With that he handed the mouse to
the girl and she ate it.707

When the Koryak have killed a fox, they take the body home and lay it
down near the fire, saying, “Let the guest warm himself. When he feels
warm, we will free him from his overcoat.” So when the frozen carcase is
thawed, they skin it and wrap long strips of grass round about it. Then the

d animal's mouth is filled with fish-roe, and the mistress of the house gashes
the flesh and puts more roe or dried meat into the gashes, making believe
that the gashes are the fox's pockets, which she thus fills with provisions.
Then the carcase is carried out of the house, and the people say, “Go and
tell your friends that it is good to visit yonder house. ‘Instead of my old
coat, they gave me a new one still warmer and with longer hair. I have eaten
my fill, and had my pockets well stored. You, too, go and visit them.’ ” The
natives think that if they neglected to observe this ceremonial they would
have no luck in hunting foxes.708 When a Ewe hunter of Togoland has killed
an antelope of a particular kind (Antilope leucoryx), he erects an enclosure
of branches, within which he places the lower jawbones of all the animals
he has shot. Then he pours palm-wine and sprinkles meal on the bones,
saying, “Ye lower jawbones of beasts, ye are now come home. Here is food,
here is drink. Therefore lead your comrades (that is, the living beasts of the
forest) hither also.”709 In the Timor-laut islands of the Indian Archipelago
the skulls of all the turtles which a fisherman has caught are hung up under
his house. Before he goes out to catch another, he addresses himself to the
skull of the last turtle that he killed, and having inserted betel between its
jaws, he prays the spirit of the dead animal to entice its kinsfolk in the sea
to come and be caught.710 In the Poso district of central Celebes hunters
keep the jawbones of deer and wild pigs which they have killed and hang
them up in their houses near the fire. Then they say [pg 245] to the
jawbones, “Ye cry after your comrades, that your grandfathers, or nephews,
or children may not go away.” Their notion is that the souls of the dead deer
and pigs tarry near their jawbones and attract the souls of living deer and
pigs, which are thus drawn into the toils of the hunter.711 Thus in all these
cases the wily savage employs dead animals as decoys to lure living
animals to their doom.

The Lengua Indians of the Gran Chaco love to hunt the ostrich, but when
they have killed one of these birds and are bringing home the carcase to the
f village, they take steps to outwit the resentful ghost of their victim. They
think that when the first natural shock of death is passed, the ghost of the
ostrich pulls himself together and makes after his body. Acting on this sage
calculation, the Indians pluck feathers from the breast of the bird and strew
them at intervals along the track. At every bunch of feathers the ghost stops
to consider, “Is this the whole of my body or only a part of it?” The doubt

gives him pause, and when at last he has made up his mind fully at all the
bunches, and has further wasted valuable time by the zigzag course which
he invariably pursues in going from one to another, the hunters are safe at
home, and the bilked ghost may stalk in vain round about the village, which
he is too timid to enter.712

The Esquimaux of the Hudson Bay region believe that the reindeer are
controlled by a great spirit who resides in a large cave near the end of Cape
Chidley. The outward form of the spirit is that of a huge white bear. He
obtains and controls the spirit of every reindeer that is slain or dies, and it
e depends on his good will whether the people shall have a supply of reindeer
or not. The sorcerer intercedes with this great spirit and prevails on him to
send the deer to the hungry Esquimaux. He informs the spirit that the
people have in no way offended him, since he, the sorcerer, has taken great
care that the whole of the meat was eaten up, [pg 246] and that last spring,
when the does were returning to him to drop their young, none of the little
or embryo fawns were devoured by the dogs. After long incantations the
magician announces that the patron of the deer condescends to supply the
y Esquimaux with the spirits of the animals in a material form, and that soon
there will be plenty in the land. He charges the people to fall on and slay
and thereby win the approval of the spirit, who loves to see good folk
enjoying themselves, knowing that so long as the Esquimaux refrain from
feeding their dogs with the unborn young, the spirits of the dead reindeer
will return again to his watchful care. The dogs are not allowed to taste the
flesh, and until the supply is plentiful they may not gnaw the leg-bones, lest
the guardian of the deer should take offence and send no more of the
animals. If, unfortunately, a dog should get at the meat, a piece of his tail is
cut off or his ear is cropped to let the blood flow.713 Again, the Central
Esquimaux hold that sea-mammals, particularly whales, ground-seals, and
common seals, sprang from the severed fingers of the goddess Sedna, and
that therefore an Esquimau must make atonement for every such animal that
he kills. When a seal is brought into the hut, the woman must stop working
till it has been cut up. After the capture of a ground seal, walrus, or whale
they must rest for three days. Not all sorts of work, however, are forbidden,
for they may mend articles made of sealskin, but they may not make
anything new. For example, an old tent cover may be enlarged in order to
build a larger hut, but it is not allowed to make a new one. Working on new

deerskins is strictly forbidden. No skins of this kind obtained in summer
may be prepared before the ice has formed and the first seal has been
caught with the harpoon. Later on, as soon as the first walrus has been
taken, the work must again stop until autumn comes round. Hence all
families are eager to finish the work on deerskins as fast as possible, for
until that is done the walrus season may not begin.714 The Greenlanders are
careful not to [pg 247] fracture the heads of seals or throw them into the
sea, but pile them in a heap before the door, that the souls of the seals may
not be enraged and scare their brethren from the coast.715

The Esquimaux about Bering Strait believe that the souls of dead sea-
beasts, such as seals, walrus, and whales, remain attached to their bladders,
and that by returning the bladders to the sea they can cause the souls to be
reincarnated in fresh bodies and so multiply the game which the hunters
pursue and kill. Acting on this belief every hunter carefully removes and
preserves the bladders of all the sea-beasts that he kills; and at a solemn
festival held once a year in winter these bladders, containing the souls of all
f the sea-beasts that have been killed throughout the year, are honoured with
dances and offerings of food in the public assembly-room, after which they
are taken out on the ice and thrust through holes into the water; for the
n simple Esquimaux imagine that the souls of the animals, in high good
t humour at the kind treatment they have experienced, will thereafter be born
again as seals, walrus, and whales, and in that form will flock willingly to
be again speared, harpooned, or otherwise done to death by the hunters. The
e ceremonies observed at these annual festivals of reincarnation are elaborate.
e The assembly-room or dancing-house (kashim, kassigim, or kassigit), in
which the festival is held, consists of a spacious semi-subterranean chamber
entered by a tunnel, which leads down to a large round cellar under the
floor of the house. From the cellar you ascend into the assembly-room
through a hole in the floor. Wooden benches run round the apartment, which
is lit by lamps. An opening in the roof serves at once as a window and a
chimney. Unmarried men sleep in the assembly-room at all times; they have
no other home. The festival is commonly held in December, but it may fall
as late as January. It lasts several days. When the time is come [pg 248] to
celebrate it, each hunter brings into the assembly-room the inflated bladders
of all the seals, walrus, and whales that he has killed during the year. These
are tied by the necks in bunches and hung up on seal spears, which are

stuck in a row in the wall some six or eight feet above the floor. Here food
and water are offered to them, or rather to the spirits of the animals which
are supposed to be present in the bladders; and the spirits signify their
acceptance of the offering by causing the bladders to swing to and fro, a
movement which is really produced by a man sitting in a dark corner, who
pulls a string attached to the bladders. Further, the bladders are fumigated
with torches of wild parsnip stalks, the aromatic smoke and red flames of
which are believed to be well-pleasing to the souls of the animals dangling
in the bladders. Moreover to amuse the souls men execute curious dances
before them to the music of drums. First the dancers move slowly with a
jerky action from side to side; then they gallop obliquely with arms tossed
up and down; and lastly they hop and jump, always keeping perfect time to
the beat of the drums. The dance is supposed to imitate the movements of
seals and walrus; and again the spirits signify their pleasure by making the
bladders swing backwards and forwards. During the continuance of the
festival no loud noises may be made in the assembly-room for fear of
alarming the souls of the animals in the bladders; if any person makes a
noise by accident, all the men present raise a chorus of cries in imitation of
the notes of the eider duck to let the souls of the animals think that the
unseemly disturbance proceeds from the birds and not from the people.
Further, so long as the festival lasts, no wood may be cut with an iron axe in
the village, the men must keep rigidly apart from the women, and no female
above the age of puberty may come near the bladders suspended in the
assembly-room, the reason assigned being that such women are unclean and
might offend the sensitive souls of the sea-beasts in the bladders. But
immature girls, being untainted by the pollution which attaches to adult
women, may go about the bladders freely. The last and crowning scene of
the festival takes place at night or just at sunrise. The spears [pg 249] with
the bladders attached to them are passed out by the shaman into the open air
through the smoke-hole in the roof. When all are outside, a huge torch of
wild parsnip stalks is lighted; the chief shaman takes it on his shoulder, and
runs with it as fast as he can across the snow and out on the ice. Behind him
troop all the men carrying each his spear with the bladders of the sea-beasts
dangling and flapping from it; and in the rear race the women, children, and
old men, howling, screaming and making a great uproar. In the darkness the
lurid flame of the torch shoots high into the air, casting a red glare over the
snowy landscape and lighting up the swarm of fantastic, fur-clad figures

that stream along in wild excitement. Arrived at a hole, which had been cut
on purpose in the sea-ice, the shaman plants his burning torch beside it in
the snow, and every man as he comes up rips open his bladders and thrusts
them, one after the other, into the water under the ice. This ends the
ceremony. The souls of the dead seals, walrus, and whales, are now ready to
be born again in the depths of the sea. So all the people return contented to
the village. At St. Michael the men who have thrust the bladders under the
ice are obliged on their return to leap through a fire of wild parsnip stalks,
probably as a mode of ceremonial purification; for after the dance and the
offering of food at the festival the chief shaman passes a lighted torch of
parsnip stalks round the assembly-room and the dancers, for the express
purpose of purifying them and averting any evil influence that might bring
sickness or ill luck on the hunters.716

For like reasons, a tribe which depends for its subsistence, chiefly or in part,
upon fishing is careful to treat the fish with every mark of honour and
respect. The Indians of Peru “worshipped the whale for its monstrous
greatness. Besides this ordinary system of worship, which prevailed [pg
250] throughout the coast, the people of different provinces adored the fish
y that they caught in greatest abundance; for they said that the first fish that
was made in the world above (for so they named Heaven) gave birth to all
e other fish of that species, and took care to send them plenty of its children
to sustain their tribe. For this reason they worshipped sardines in one
region, where they killed more of them than of any other fish; in others, the
skate; in others, the dogfish; in others, the golden fish for its beauty; in
e others, the crawfish; in others, for want of larger gods, the crabs, where they
had no other fish, or where they knew not how to catch and kill them. In
f short, they had whatever fish was most serviceable to them as their gods.”717
h The Kwakiutl Indians of British Columbia think that when a salmon is
killed its soul returns to the salmon country. Hence they take care to throw
the bones and offal into the sea, in order that the soul may reanimate them
at the resurrection of the salmon. Whereas if they burned the bones the soul
would be lost, and so it would be quite impossible for that salmon to rise
from the dead.718 In like manner the Otawa Indians of Canada, believing
y that the souls of dead fish passed into other bodies of fish, never burned fish
h bones, for fear of displeasing the souls of the fish, who would come no
more to the nets.719 The Hurons also refrained from throwing fish bones into

the fire, lest the souls of the fish should go and warn the other fish not to let
themselves be caught, since the Hurons would burn their bones. Moreover,
they had men who preached to the fish and persuaded them to come and be
caught. A good preacher was much sought after, for they thought that the
exhortations of a clever man had a great effect in drawing the fish to the
nets. In the Huron fishing village where the French missionary Sagard
stayed, the preacher to the [pg 251] fish prided himself very much on his
e eloquence, which was of a florid order. Every evening after supper, having
r seen that all the people were in their places and that a strict silence was
observed, he preached to the fish. His text was that the Hurons did not burn
fish bones. “Then enlarging on this theme with extraordinary unction, he
exhorted and conjured and invited and implored the fish to come and be
caught and to be of good courage and to fear nothing, for it was all to serve
their friends who honoured them and did not burn their bones.”720 At
Bogadjim in German New Guinea an enchanter is employed to lure the fish
to their doom. He stands in a canoe on the beach with a decorated fish-
basket beside him, and commands the fish to come from all quarters to
Bogadjim.721 When the Aino have killed a sword-fish, they thank the fish
for allowing himself to be caught and invite him to come again.722 Among
the Nootka Indians of British Columbia it was formerly a rule that any
person who had partaken of bear's flesh must rigidly abstain from eating
any kind of fish for a term of two months. The motive for the abstinence
was not any consideration for the health of the eater, but “a superstitious
belief, that should any of their people after tasting bear's flesh, eat of fresh
salmon, cod, etc., the fish, though at ever so great a distance off, would
come to the knowledge of it, and be so much offended thereat, as not to
allow themselves to be taken by any of the inhabitants.”723 The
disappearance of herring from the sea about Heligoland in 1530 was
attributed by the fishermen to the misconduct of two lads who had whipped
a freshly-caught herring and then flung it back into the sea.724 A similar
disappearance of the herrings from the Moray Firth, in the reign of Queen
Anne, was set down by some people to a breach of the Sabbath which had
been committed by the fishermen, while others opined that it was due to a
quarrel [pg 252] in which blood had been spilt in the sea.725 For Scotch
fishermen are persuaded that if blood be drawn in a quarrel on the coast
where herring are being caught, the shoal will at once take its departure and
not return for that season at least. West Highland fishermen believe that

every shoal of herring has its leader which it follows wherever he goes. This
leader is twice as big as an ordinary herring, and the fishermen call it the
king of herring. When they chance to catch it in their nets they put it back
carefully into the sea; for they would esteem it petty treason to destroy the
royal fish.726 The natives of the Duke of York Island annually decorate a
canoe with flowers and ferns, lade it, or are supposed to lade it, with shell-
money, and set it adrift to compensate the fish for their fellows who have
been caught and eaten.727 When the Tarahumares of Mexico are preparing to
poison the waters of a river for the purpose of stupefying and catching the
fish, they take the precaution of first making offerings to the Master of the
Fish by way of payment for the fish of which they are about to bereave him.
The offerings consist of axes, hats, blankets, girdles, pouches, and
especially knives and strings of beads, which are hung to a cross or a
horizontal bar set up in the middle of the river. However, the Master of the
Fish, who is thought to be the oldest fish, does not long enjoy these good
things; for next morning the owners of the various articles remove them
from the river and appropriate them to their usual secular purposes.728 It is
especially necessary to treat the first fish caught with consideration in order
to conciliate the rest of the fish, whose conduct may be supposed to be
influenced by the reception given to those of their kind which were the first
to be taken. Accordingly the Maoris always put back into the sea the first
fish caught, “with a prayer that it may tempt other fish to come and be
caught.”729 Among the Baganda “the first fish taken were [pg 253] treated
ceremonially: some the fisherman took to the god Mukasa; the remainder
his wife cooked, and he and she both partook of them, and he afterwards
jumped over her.”730

Still more stringent are the precautions taken when the fish are the first of
the season. On salmon rivers, when the fish begin to run up the stream in
spring, they are received with much deference by tribes who, like the
Indians of the Pacific Coast of North America, subsist largely upon a fish
diet. To some of these tribes the salmon is what corn is to the European, rice
t to the Chinese, and seals to the Esquimaux. Plenty of salmon means
e abundance in the camp and joy at the domestic hearth; failure of the salmon
for a single season means famine and desolation, silence in the village, and
sad hearts about the fire.731 Accordingly in British Columbia the Indians
used to go out to meet the first fish as they came up the river: “They paid

court to them, and would address them thus: ‘You fish, you fish; you are all
chiefs, you are; you are all chiefs.’ ”732 Amongst the Thlinkeet or Tlingit of
Alaska the first halibut of the season is carefully handled and addressed as a
chief, and a festival is given in his honour, after which the fishing goes
on.733 Among the tribes of the Lower Fraser River when the first sockeye-
salmon of the season has been caught, the fisherman carries it to the chief of
his tribe, who delivers it to his wife. She prays, saying to the salmon, “Who
has brought you here to make us happy? We are thankful to your chief for
sending you.” When she has cut and roasted the salmon according to certain
prescribed rules, the whole tribe is invited and partakes of the fish, after
they have purified themselves by drinking a decoction of certain plants
which is regarded as a medicine for cleansing the people. But widowers,
widows, menstruous women, and youths may not eat of this particular
salmon. Even later, when the fish have become plentiful and these
ceremonies are dispensed with, the same classes of [pg 254] persons are not
allowed to eat fresh salmon, though they may partake of the dried fish. The
sockeye-salmon must always be looked after carefully. Its bones have to be
thrown into the river, after which the fish will revive and return to its chief
in the west. Whereas if the fish are not treated with consideration, they will
take their revenge, and the careless fisherman will be unlucky.734 Among the
Songish or Lkungen tribe of Vancouver Island it is a rule that on the day
when the first salmon have been caught, the children must stand on the
beach waiting for the boats to return. They stretch out their little arms and
the salmon are heaped on them, the heads of the fish being always kept in
the direction in which the salmon are swimming, else they would cease to
run up the river. So the children carry them and lay them on a grassy place,
carefully keeping the heads of the salmon turned in the same direction.
Round the fish are placed four flat stones, on which the plant hog's wort
(Peucedanum leiocarpum, Nutt.), red paint, and bulrushes are burnt as an
offering to the salmon. When the salmon have been roasted each of the
children receives one, which he or she is obliged to eat, leaving nothing
over. But grown people are not allowed to eat the fish for several days. The
bones of the salmon that the children have eaten may not touch the ground.
They are kept in dishes, and on the fourth day an old woman, who pretends
to be lame, gathers them in a huge basket and throws them into the sea.735
The Tsimshian Indians of British Columbia observe certain ceremonies
when the first olachen fish of the season are caught. The fish are roasted on

an instrument of elder-berry wood, and the man who roasts them must wear
his travelling dress, mittens, cape, and so forth. While this is being done the
Indians pray that plenty of olachen may come to their fishing-ground. The
fire may not be blown up, and in eating the fish they [pg 255] may not cool
it by blowing nor break a single bone. Everything must be neat and clean,
and the rakes used for catching the fish must be kept hidden in the house.736
In spring, when the winds blow soft from the south and the salmon begin to
run up the Klamath river, the Karoks of California dance for salmon, to
ensure a good catch. One of the Indians, called the Kareya or God-man,
retires to the mountains and fasts for ten days. On his return the people flee,
while he goes to the river, takes the first salmon of the catch, eats some of
it, and with the rest kindles the sacred fire in the sweating-house. “No
Indian may take a salmon before this dance is held, nor for ten days after it,
even if his family are starving.” The Karoks also believe that a fisherman
will take no salmon if the poles of which his spearing-booth is made were
gathered on the river-side, where the salmon might have seen them. The
poles must be brought from the top of the highest mountain. The fisherman
will also labour in vain if he uses the same poles a second year in booths or
weirs, “because the old salmon will have told the young ones about
them.”737 Among the Indians of the Columbia River, “when the salmon
make their first appearance in the river, they are never allowed to be cut
crosswise, nor boiled, but roasted; nor are they allowed to be sold without
the heart being first taken out, nor to be kept over night, but must be all
consumed or eaten the day they are taken out of the water. All these rules
are observed for about ten days.”738 They think that if the heart of a fish
were eaten by a stranger at the beginning of the season, they would catch no
more fish. Hence, they roast and eat the hearts themselves.739 There is a
favourite fish of the Aino which appears in their rivers about May and June.
They prepare for the fishing by observing rules of ceremonial purity, and
when they have gone out to fish, the women at [pg 256] home must keep
strict silence or the fish would hear them and disappear. When the first fish
is caught he is brought home and passed through a small opening at the end
of the hut, but not through the door; for if he were passed through the door,
“the other fish would certainly see him and disappear.”740 This may partly
explain the custom observed by other savages of bringing game in certain
cases into their huts, not by the door, but by the window, the smoke-hole, or
by a special opening at the back of the hut.741

With some savages a special reason for respecting the bones of game, and
generally of the animals which they eat, is a belief that, if the bones are
preserved, they will in course of time be reclothed with flesh, and thus the
animal will come to life again. It is, therefore, clearly for the interest of the
hunter to leave the bones intact, since to destroy them would be to diminish
the future supply of game. Many of the Minnetaree Indians “believe that the
e bones of those bisons which they have slain and divested of flesh rise again
clothed with renewed flesh, and quickened with life, and become fat, and fit
n for slaughter the succeeding June.”742 Hence on the western prairies of
t America, the skulls of buffaloes may be seen arranged in circles and
symmetrical piles, awaiting the resurrection.743 After feasting on a dog, the
Dacotas carefully collect the bones, scrape, wash, and bury them, “partly, as
e it is said, to testify to the dog-species, that in feasting upon one of their
e number no disrespect was meant to the species itself, and partly also from
[pg 257] a belief that the bones of the animal will rise and reproduce
another.”744 Among the Esquimaux of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay, when a
boy has killed his first seal, his mother gathers all the bones and throws
them into a seal-hole. They think that these bones will become seals which
the boy will catch in later life.745 The Yuracares Indians of Bolivia are at
great pains to collect all the bones of the beasts, birds, and fishes which
they eat, and to throw them into a stream, bury them in the depths of the
forest, or burn them in the fire, “in order that the animals of the sort killed
may not be angry and may allow themselves to be killed again.”746 In
sacrificing an animal the Lapps regularly put aside the bones, eyes, ears,
heart, lungs, sexual parts (if the animal was a male), and a morsel of flesh
from each limb. Then, after eating the remainder of the flesh, they laid the
bones and the rest in anatomical order in a coffin and buried them with the
usual rites, believing that the god to whom the animal was sacrificed would
reclothe the bones with flesh and restore the animal to life in Jabme-Aimo,
the subterranean world of the dead. Sometimes, as after feasting on a bear,
they seem to have contented themselves with thus burying the bones.747
Thus the Lapps expected the resurrection of the slain animal to take place in
another world, resembling in this respect the Kamtchatkans, who believed
that every creature, down to the smallest fly, would rise from the dead and
live underground.748 On the other hand, the North American Indians looked
for the resurrection of the animals in the present world. The habit, observed
especially by Mongolian peoples, of stuffing the skin of a sacrificed [pg

258] animal, or stretching it on a framework,749 points rather to a belief in a
resurrection of the latter sort. The objection commonly entertained by
primitive peoples to break the bones of the animals which they have eaten
or sacrificed750 [pg 259] may be based either on a belief in the resurrection
of the animals, or on a fear of intimidating other creatures of the same
species and offending the ghosts of the slain animals. The reluctance of
North American Indians and Esquimaux to let dogs gnaw the bones of
animals751 is perhaps only a precaution to prevent the bones from being
broken.

We have already seen that some rude races believe in a resurrection of
men752 as well as of beasts, and it is quite natural that people who entertain
such a belief should take care of the bones of their dead in order that the
original owners of the bones may have them to hand at the critical moment.
r Hence in the Mexican territories of Guazacualco and Yluta, where the
e Indians thought that the dead would rise again, the bones of the departed
f were deposited in baskets and hung up on trees, that their spirits might not
n be obliged to grub in the earth for them at the resurrection.753 [pg 260] On
the other hand, the Luritcha tribe of Central Australia, who eat their
r enemies, take steps to prevent their coming to life again, which might prove
very inconvenient, by destroying the bones and especially the skulls of the
bodies on which they have banqueted.754

The preceding review of customs observed by savages for the conciliation
and multiplication of animals which they hunt and kill, is fitted to impress
us with a lively sense of the unquestioning faith which primitive man
h reposes in the immortality of the lower creatures. He appears to assume as
an axiom too obvious to be disputed that beasts, birds, and fishes have souls
e like his own, which survive the death of their bodies and can be reborn in
other bodies to be again killed and eaten by the hunter. The whole series of
f customs described in the foregoing pages—customs which are apt to strike
the civilised reader as quaint and absurd—rests on this fundamental
assumption. A consideration of them suggests a doubt whether the current
explanation of the savage belief in human immortality is adequate to
n account for all the facts. That belief is commonly deduced from a primitive

theory of dreams. The savage, it is said, fails to distinguish the visions of
sleep from the realities of waking life, and accordingly when he has
dreamed of his dead friends he necessarily concludes that they have not
wholly perished, but that their spirits continue to exist in some place and
some form, though in the ordinary course of events they elude the
e perceptions of his senses. On this theory the conceptions, whether gross or
refined, whether repulsive or beautiful, which savages and perhaps civilised
a men have formed of the state of the departed, would seem to be no more
than elaborate hypotheses constructed to account for appearances in
f dreams; these towering structures, for all their radiant or gloomy grandeur,
for all the massy strength and solidity with which they present themselves
to the imagination of many, may turn out on inspection to be mere visionary
castles built of clouds and vapour, which a breath of reason suffices to melt
into air.

[pg 261]

But even if we grant for the sake of argument that this theory offers a ready
explanation of the widespread belief in human immortality, it is less easy to
a see how the theory accounts for the corresponding belief of so many races
f in the immortality of the lower animals. In his dreams the savage recognises
the images of his departed friends by those familiar traits of feature, voice,
and gesture which characterised them in life. But can we suppose that he
e recognises dead beasts, birds, and fishes in like manner? That their images
come before him in sleep with all the particular features, the minute
n individual differences, which distinguished them in life from their fellows,
so that when he sees them he can say to himself, for example, “This is the
very tiger that I speared yesterday; his carcase is dead, but his spirit must be
f still alive”; or, “That is the very salmon I caught and ate this morning; I
certainly killed his body but clearly I have not succeeded in destroying his
soul”? No doubt it is possible that the savage has arrived at his theory of
animal immortality by some such process of reasoning, but the supposition
seems at least more far-fetched and improbable than in the case of human
immortality. And if we admit the insufficiency of the explanation in the one
case, we seem bound to admit it, though perhaps in a less degree, in the
other case also. In short, we conclude that the theory of dreams appears to
be hardly enough by itself to account for the widespread belief in the

immortality of men and animals; dreams have probably done much to
confirm that belief, but would they suffice to originate it? We may
reasonably doubt it.

Accordingly we are driven to cast about for some more adequate
explanation of this prevalent and deeply rooted persuasion. In search of
such an explanation perhaps we need go no further than the sense of life
e which every man feels in his own breast.755 We have seen that to the savage
death presents itself not as a natural necessity but as a lamentable accident
or crime that cuts short an existence which, but for it, might have lasted for
n ever.756 Thus arguing apparently from his own sensations he conceives of
life as an indestructible [pg 262] kind of energy, which when it disappears
m in one form must necessarily reappear in another, though in the new form it
need not be immediately perceptible by us; in other words, he infers that
death does not destroy the vital principle nor even the conscious
e personality, but that it merely transforms both of them into other shapes,
which are not the less real because they commonly elude the evidence of
e our senses. If I am right in thus interpreting the thought of primitive man,
the savage view of the nature of life singularly resembles the modern
scientific doctrine of the conservation of energy. According to that doctrine,
no material energy ever perishes or is even diminished; when it seems to
e suffer diminution or extinction, all that happens is that a portion or the
whole of it has been transmuted into other shapes which, though
f qualitatively different from, are quantitatively equivalent to, the energy in
its original form. In short, if we listen to science, nothing in the physical
world is ever lost, but all things are perpetually changing: the sum of energy
in the universe is constant and invariable, though it undergoes ceaseless
transformations.757 A similar theory of the indestructibility of energy is
implicitly applied by the savage to explain the phenomena of life and death,
and logically enough he does not limit the application to human beings but
extends it to the lower animals. Therein he shews himself a better reasoner
than his civilised brother, who commonly embraces with avidity the
doctrine of human immortality but rejects with scorn, as derogatory to
human dignity, the idea that animals have immortal souls. And when he
attempts to confirm his own cherished belief in a life after death by
appealing to similar beliefs among savages and inferring from them a
natural instinct of immortality, it is well to [pg 263] remind him that, if he

stands by that appeal, he must, like the savage, consistently extend the
privilege of immortality to the despised lower animals; for surely it is
improper for him to pick and choose his evidence so as to suit his
prepossessions, accepting those parts of the savage creed which tally with
his own and rejecting those which do not. On logical and scientific grounds
he seems bound to believe either more or less: he must hold that men and
animals are alike immortal or that neither of them is so.

We have seen that many savages look forward to a joyful resurrection of
men and beasts, if only a proper care is taken of their skeletons; the same
old bones, they imagine, will do duty over again in the next life, when they
have been decently clad in a new garment of flesh. This quaint fancy is
e reflected in many popular tales; not uncommonly the animal or man in the
n story comes to life lame of a limb, because one of his bones has been eaten,
d broken, or lost.758 In a Magyar tale, the hero is cut in pieces, but the serpent-
king lays the bones together in their proper order, and washes them with
water, whereupon the hero revives. His shoulder-blade, however, has been
lost, so the serpent-king supplies its place with one of gold and ivory.759
Such stories, as Mannhardt has seen, explain why Pythagoras, who claimed
to have lived many lives, one after the other, was said to have exhibited his
golden leg as a proof of his supernatural pretensions.760 Doubtless he
explained that at one of his resurrections a leg had been broken or mislaid,
and that he had replaced it, like Miss Kilmansegg, with one of gold.
Similarly, when the murdered Pelops was restored to life, the shoulder
which Demeter had eaten was made good with one of ivory,761 which was
publicly exhibited [pg 264] at Elis down to historical times.762 The story that
one of the members of the mangled Osiris was eaten by fish, and that, when
Isis collected his scattered limbs, she replaced the missing member with one
of wood,763 may perhaps belong to the same circle of beliefs.

There is a certain rule observed by savage hunters and fishers which,
enigmatical at first sight, may possibly be explained by this savage belief in
w resurrection. A traveller in America in the early part of the nineteenth
e century was told by a half-breed Choctaw that the Indians “had an obscure
story, somewhat resembling that of Jacob wrestling with an angel; and that

the full-blooded Indians always separate the sinew which shrank, and that it
d is never seen in the venison exposed for sale; he did not know what they did
with it. His elder brother, whom I afterwards met, told me that they eat it as
y a rarity; but I have also heard, though on less respectable authority, that they
refrain from it, like the ancient Jews. A gentleman, who had lived on the
Indian frontier, or in the nation, for ten or fifteen years, told me that he had
often been surprised that the Indians always detached this sinew; but it had
never occurred to him to inquire the reason.”764 James Adair, who knew the
Indians of the South-Eastern States intimately, and whose absurd theories
appear not to have distorted his view of the facts, observes that “when in the
woods, the Indians cut a small piece out of the lower part of the thighs of
the deer they kill, lengthways and pretty deep. Among the great number of
venison-hams they bring to our trading-houses, I do not remember to have
observed one without it.... And I have been assured by a gentleman of
character, who is now an inhabitant of South Carolina, and well acquainted
with the customs of the northern Indians, that they also cut a piece out of
the thigh of every deer they kill, and throw it away; and reckon it such a
dangerous pollution to eat it as to occasion sickness and other misfortunes
of sundry kinds, especially by spoiling their guns from shooting with proper
force and direction.”765

[pg 265]

In more recent times the statement of Adair's informant has been confirmed
by a French missionary, who has also published the “obscure story” to
d which the English traveller Hodgson refers. The Loucheux and Hare-skin
e Indians who roam the bleak steppes and forests that stretch from Hudson's
Bay to the Rocky Mountains, and northward to the frozen sea, are forbidden
e by custom to eat the sinew of the legs of animals. To explain this custom
they tell the following “sacred story.” Once upon a time a man found a
burrow of porcupines, and going down into it after the porcupines he lost
his way in the darkness, till a kind giant called “He who sees before and
behind” released him by cleaving open the earth. So the man, whose name
was “Fireless and Homeless,” lived with the kind giant, and the giant
hunted elans and beavers for him, and carried him about in the sheath of his
flint knife. “But know, my son,” said the giant, “that he who uses the sky as
his head is angry with me, and has sworn my destruction. If he slays me the

clouds will be tinged with my blood; they will be red with it, probably.”
Then he gave the man an axe made of the tooth of a gigantic beaver, and
went forth to meet his foe. But from under the ice the man heard a dull
muffled sound. It was a whale which was making this noise because it was
naked and cold. Warned by the man, the giant went toward the whale,
which took human shape, and rushed upon the giant. It was the wicked
giant, the kind giant's enemy. The two struggled together for a long time, till
the kind giant cried, “Oh, my son! cut, cut the sinew of the leg.” The man
cut the sinew, and the wicked giant fell down and was slain. That is why the
Indians do not eat the sinew of the leg. Afterwards, one day the sky
suddenly flushed a fiery red, so Fireless and Homeless knew that the kind
giant was no more, and he wept.766

[pg 266]

This myth, it is almost needless to observe, does not really explain the
custom. People do not usually observe a custom because on a particular
occasion a mythical being is said to have acted in a certain way. But, on the
f contrary, they very often invent myths to explain why they practise certain
t customs. Dismissing, therefore, the story of Fireless and Homeless as a
w myth invented to explain why the Indians abstain from eating a particular
e sinew, it may be suggested767 that the original reason for observing the
n custom was a belief that the sinew in question was necessary to
reproduction, and that deprived of it the slain animals could not come to life
again and stock the steppes and prairies either of the present world or of the
d spirit land. We have seen that the resurrection of animals is a common
e article of savage faith, and that when the Lapps bury the skeleton of the
male bear in the hope of its resurrection they are careful to bury the genital
parts along with it. However, subsequent enquiries make it probable that the
Indian practice of cutting out the hamstring of deer has no other object than
that of preventing eaters of venison from going lame. Among the Cherokee,
we are told, “on killing a deer the hunter always makes an incision in the
hind quarter and removes the hamstring, because this tendon, when severed,
draws up into the flesh; ergo, any one who should unfortunately partake of
the hamstring would find his limbs drawn up in the same manner.”768 Thus
the superstition [pg 267] seems to rest on the common principle of
homoeopathic or imitative magic, that an eater infects himself with the

qualities of the animal of whose flesh he partakes. Many instances of the
application of that principle have met us already.769

But some hunters hamstring the game for a different purpose; they hope
thereby to prevent the dead beast or its ghost from getting up and running
away. This is the motive alleged for the practice by Koui hunters in Laos;
they think that the spells which they utter in the chase may lose their
magical virtue, and that the slaughtered animal may consequently come to
d life again and escape. To prevent that catastrophe they therefore hamstring
n the beast as soon as they have butchered it.770 When an Esquimau of Alaska
has killed a fox, he carefully cuts the tendons of all the animal's legs in
e order to prevent the ghost from reanimating the body and walking about.771
f But hamstringing the carcase is not the only measure which the prudent
savage adopts for the sake of disabling the ghost of his victim. In old days,
when the Aino went out hunting and killed a fox first, they took care to tie
its mouth up tightly in order to prevent the ghost of the animal from
sallying forth and warning its fellows against the approach of the hunter.772
e The Gilyaks of the Amoor River put out the eyes of the seals they have
f killed, lest the ghosts of the slain animals should know their slayers and
e avenge their death by spoiling the seal-hunt.773 The custom of putting out
r the eyes of slaughtered animals appears to be not uncommon among
primitive peoples, and we may suspect that even where a different reason is
e alleged for it, the true [pg 268] original motive was to blind the dangerous
f ghost of the injured creature, and so to incapacitate it for retaliating on the
slayer. Thus, when a Samoyed has killed a wild reindeer, one of the first
things he does is to cut out the eyes and throw them away “in order to
ensure a good bag in future”; and he buries the eyes in some place where no
woman or adult girl is likely to step over them, since that also would spoil
his luck in the chase.774 Among the tribes of South-east Africa hunters pluck
out the right eye of any animal they have killed and pour a charmed
medicine into the empty socket.775 Among the Thompson Indians of British
Columbia a man whose daughter has just arrived at puberty may not hunt or
trap for a month, or he will have no luck. Moreover, he should cut off the
head of the first grouse he snares, pluck out the eyes, and insert two small
roots of the Zygadenus elegans Pursch. in the orbits and another in its
mouth, and having done so he ought to hang up the bird's head above his
pillow. If he neglects these precautions, he will not be able to snare any

more grouse or other small game.776 No doubt the ceremonial pollution
contracted by his daughter at this critical period of her life is supposed to
infect the hunter and render him unacceptable to the game;777 hence it seems
a mere elementary dictate of prudence to hoodwink the grouse effectually
by putting out their eyes. Sometimes, perhaps, the cutting out of the eyes of
fierce and powerful animals may be a rational, not a superstitious,
precaution. Thus the Kamtchatkans, who stab with knives the eyes of slain
bears before they cut the carcases up, allege as their reason for doing so that
bears which seem to be dead [pg 269] of their wounds will sometimes
revive and kill their would-be killers.778

It appears to be a common custom with savage hunters to cut out the
tongues of the animals which they kill. On the analogy of the foregoing
customs we may conjecture that the removal of the tongues is sometimes a
f precaution to prevent the ghosts of the creatures from telling their sad fate
t to their sympathising comrades, the living animals of the same sort, who
would naturally be frightened, and so keep out of the hunter's way. Thus, for
f example, Omaha hunters remove the tongue of a slain buffalo through an
opening made in the animal's throat. The tongues thus removed are sacred
and may not touch any tool or metal except when they are boiling in the
kettles at the sacred tent. They are eaten as sacred food.779 Indian bear-
hunters cut out what they call the bear's little tongue (a fleshy mass under
the real tongue) and keep it for good luck in hunting or burn it to determine,
from its crackling and so on, whether the soul of the slain bear is angry with
them or not.780 In folk-tales the hero commonly cuts out the tongue of the
wild beast which he has slain and preserves it as a token. The incident
serves to shew that the custom was a common one, since folk-tales reflect
with accuracy the customs and beliefs of a primitive age.781 On the other
hand, the [pg 270] tongues of certain animals, as the otter and the eagle, are
torn out and sometimes worn round their necks by Thlinkeet and Haida
f shamans as a means of conferring superhuman knowledge and power on
their possessors.782 In particular, an otter's tongue is supposed to convey a
n knowledge of “the language of all inanimate objects, of birds, animals, and
other living creatures” to the shaman, who wears it in a little bag hung
round his neck.783 When a Galla priest sacrifices an animal and decides that
the omens are favourable, he cuts out the tongue, sticks his thumb through
it, and so flays the animal.784 In certain cases Gallas cut out the tongues of

oxen and wear them on their heads as tokens.785 In Bohemia a fox's tongue
786
r is worn as an amulet to make a timid person bold; in Oldenburg and
787
r Belgium it is a remedy for erysipelas. In Bohemia the tongue of a male
snake, if cut from the living animal on St. George's Eve and placed under a
person's tongue, will confer the gift of eloquence.788 The Homeric Greeks
cut out the tongues of sacrificial victims and burned them.789 According to
some accounts, the tongues of the victims were assigned by the Greeks to
Hermes, as the god of speech, or to his human representatives the heralds.790
[pg 271] On the principles of sympathetic magic we might expect that
heralds should taste the tongues of sacrificial victims to strengthen their
voices, or to acquire the gift of tongues.791

The conjecture that the practice of cutting out the tongues of dead animals
may sometimes be a precaution to prevent their ghosts from telling tales, is
to some extent confirmed by a ceremony which the Bechuanas used to
f observe after a battle. It was customary with them on these occasions to
sacrifice a fine black ox, called the expiatory victim (pekou), cut off the tip
of its tongue, and extract one of its eyes together with a piece of the
hamstring and a piece of the principal tendon of the shoulder; and the
r severed parts were afterwards carefully fried, along with some medicinal
t herbs, in a horn by a medicine-man. The reasons for thus mutilating the
animal were explained by a native to two French missionaries. “If we cut
out and purify the victim's tongue,” said he, “the motive is to induce the
guardian deities to prevent the enemy from speaking ill of us. We ask also
e that the sinews of their feet and hands may fail them in the battle; and that
their eyes may not cast a covetous look on our herds.”792 In this custom the
sacrificial ox appears to be treated as the ceremonial equivalent of the
e enemy; accordingly by cutting out its tongue you obviously prevent your
f enemy from cursing you, for how can he curse you if he has no tongue?
r Similarly, by hamstringing the beast you ensure that the legs and arms of
your adversary will fail him in the battle, and by gouging out the ox's eye
you make perfectly certain that the foe will never be able to cast a longing
r eye on your fat beeves. Thus for all practical purposes the mutilation of the
ox is quite as effective as the mutilation of the enemy's dead, which is
f sometimes practised by savages from similar superstitious motives. Thus on
the return from a field of battle the Baganda used to cut up one or two of the
enemy's dead, scoop out the eyes, cut off the ears, and lay the limbs on the

road taken by the returning army “to [pg 272] prevent evil following
them.”793 The nature of the evil which the Baganda warriors feared to incur
t if they did not mutilate the dead in this fashion, is not mentioned, but we
may conjecture that by gouging out the eyes and ears of their slain foes they
hoped to make their angry ghosts blind and deaf; or perhaps, upon the
d principles of homoeopathic magic, they counted on maiming their living
foes in like manner. Some of the aborigines of Australia cut off the thumbs
of their dead enemies in order that their ghosts may not be able to throw
spears.794 Other Australian tribes burn off the thumb nails of their own dead
to prevent the poor ghost from scratching a way for himself out of the
grave.795 When the Tupi Indians of Brazil killed and ate a prisoner, “the
thumb was cut off because of its use in archery, an art concerning which
they were singularly superstitious; what was done with it does not appear,
except that it was not eaten like the rest.”796 Perhaps these Indians, like the
Australians, thought by this mutilation to disarm the dangerous ghost of
their victim. When any bad man died, the Esquimaux of Bering Strait used
to cut the sinews of his arms and legs, “in order to prevent the shade from
returning to the body and causing it to walk at night as a ghoul.”797 In
Travancore the ghosts of men who have been hanged for murder are
particularly dreaded; so in order to incapacitate them from roaming about
and attacking people, it used to be customary to slice off a criminal's heels
with a sword or hamstring him at the moment when he swung free from the
ladder.798 The Omaha Indians used to slit the soles of a man who had been
killed by lightning in order to prevent his ghost from walking.799 Among the
Awemba of [pg 273] Northern Rhodesia murderers often inflicted shocking
mutilations on the bodies of their victims. “This was done, it is said, to
prevent the spirit of the murdered person from exacting vengeance, and
even if only the joint of the first or the little finger were cut off, such
mutilation would suffice for this purpose.”800 These examples suggest that
many other mutilations which savages practise on their dead enemies may
spring, not from the blind fury of hatred, but from a cool calculation of the
best mode of protecting themselves against the very natural resentment of
the ghosts; by mutilating the corpse they apparently hope to maim the ghost
and so to render him incapable of harming them. At all events it appears
that in certain circumstances some savages treat the dead bodies of men and
beasts much alike, by hamstringing them in order to prevent their ghosts

from getting up and walking. So consistent and impartial is the primitive
philosopher in his attitude to the spirit world.

[pg 274]

Chapter XV. The Propitiation of Vermin by
Farmers.

§ 1. The Enemies of the Crops.

Besides the animals which primitive man dreads for their strength and
ferocity, and those which he reveres on account of the benefits which he
expects from them, there is another class of creatures which he sometimes
e deems it necessary to conciliate by worship and sacrifice. These are the
vermin that infest his crops and his cattle. To rid himself of these deadly
foes the farmer has recourse to many superstitious devices, of which,
though some are meant to destroy or intimidate the vermin, others aim at
d propitiating them and persuading them by fair means to spare the fruits of
n the earth and the herds. Thus Esthonian peasants, in the island of Oesel,
stand in great awe of the weevil, an insect which is exceedingly destructive
to the grain. They give it a fine name, and if a child is about to kill a weevil
they say, “Don't do it; the more we hurt him, the more he hurts us.” If they
find a weevil they bury it in the earth instead of killing it. Some even put
the weevil under a stone in the field and offer corn to it. They think that
thus it is appeased and does less harm.801 Amongst the Saxons of
Transylvania, in order to keep sparrows from the corn, the sower begins by
throwing the first handful of seed backwards over his head, saying, “That is
for you, sparrows.” To guard the corn against the attacks of leaf-flies
(Erdflöhe) he shuts his eyes and scatters three handfuls of oats in different
directions. Having made this offering to the leaf-flies he feels sure that [pg
275] they will spare the corn. A Transylvanian way of securing the crops
against all birds, beasts, and insects, is this: after he has finished sowing, the
sower goes once more from end to end of the field imitating the gesture of
sowing, but with an empty hand. As he does so he says, “I sow this for the
animals; I sow it for everything that flies and creeps, that walks and stands,
that sings and springs, in the name of God the Father, etc.”802 The Huzuls of
the Carpathians believe that the bite of the weasel is poisonous and that the
animal commits ravages on the cattle. Yet they take care never to kill a
weasel, lest the surviving kinsfolk of the deceased should avenge his death
on the herds of his murderer. They even celebrate a festival of weasels
either on St. Matthew's day (9th August, old style, 21st August, new style),

or on St. Catherine's day (24th November, old style, 6th December, new
style). On that day no work may be done, lest the weasels should harm the
herds.803 The following is a German way of freeing a garden from
caterpillars. After sunset or at midnight the mistress of the house, or another
female member of the family, walks all round the garden dragging a broom
after her. She must not look behind her, and must keep murmuring, “Good
evening, Mother Caterpillar, you shall come with your husband to church.”
The garden gate is left open till the following morning.804

The attempts thus made by European peasants to mollify the rage and avert
the ravages of vermin have their counterpart in the similar observances of
savages. When the Matabele find caterpillars in their fields they put an ear
of corn in a calabash, fill the vessel up with caterpillars, and set it down on
a path leading to another village, hoping thus to induce the insects to
migrate thither.805 The Yabim of German New Guinea imagine that the
y caterpillars and worms which infest their fields of taro are animated by the
souls of [pg 276] the human dead; hence in order to rid the crops of these
vermin they politely request the insects to leave the fields and repair to the
village. “Ye locusts, worms, and caterpillars,” they say, “who have died or
hanged yourselves, or have been killed by a falling log or devoured by a
shark, go into the village.”806 There is a certain ant whose destructive
ravages are dreaded by the people of Nias. Generally they wage war on it
by means of traps and other devices; but at the time of the rice-harvest they
cease to call the insect by its common name, and refer to it under the title of
Sibaia, a good spirit who is supposed to protect the crop from harm.807 In
South Mirzapur, when locusts threaten to eat up the fruits of the earth, the
people catch one, decorate his head with a spot of red lead, salaam to him,
and let him go. After these civilities he immediately departs along with his
fellows.808 Among the Wajagga of German East Africa sorcerers attempt to
rid the fields of locusts by catching one of the insects, tying its legs
together, and letting it fly away, after charging the creature to lead the
swarm to the lands of a neighbouring and hostile chief.809 The Wagogo,
another tribe of German East Africa, catch one of the birds which infest
their gardens, and, having drenched it with a charmed stuff, they release the
bird in the hope that it may entice all its companions away into the forest.810

Sometimes in dealing with vermin the farmer aims at hitting a happy mean
between excessive rigour on the one hand and weak indulgence on the
other; kind but firm, he tempers severity with mercy. An ancient Greek
g treatise on farming advises the husbandman who would rid his lands of
mice to act thus: “Take a sheet of paper and write on it as follows: ‘I adjure
e you, ye mice here present, that ye neither injure me nor suffer another
mouse to do so. I give you [pg 277] yonder field’ (here you specify the
a field); ‘but if ever I catch you here again, by the Mother of the Gods I will
rend you in seven pieces.’ Write this, and stick the paper on an unhewn
stone in the field before sunrise, taking care to keep the written side up.”811
In the Ardennes they say that to get rid of rats you should repeat the
following words: “Erat verbum, apud Deum vestrum. Male rats and female
rats, I conjure you, by the great God, to go out of my house, out of all my
k habitations, and to betake yourselves to such and such a place, there to end
your days. Decretis, reversis et desembarassis virgo potens, clemens,
justitiae.” Then write the same words on pieces of paper, fold them up, and
place one of them under the door by which the rats are to go forth, and the
other on the road which they are to take. This exorcism should be
performed at sunrise.812 Some years ago an American farmer was reported
to have written a civil letter to the rats, telling them that his crops were
short, that he could not afford to keep them through the winter, that he had
been very kind to them, and that for their own good he thought they had
better leave him and go to some of his neighbours who had more grain. This
document he pinned to a post in his barn for the rats to read.813 The mouse is
one of the most dreaded enemies of the rice-crop in Celebes. Many
therefore are the prayers and incantations which prudent farmers resort to
for the purpose of keeping the vermin from their fields. Thus, for example,
a man will run round his field, saying, “Pruner is your name. Creep not
through my rice. Be blind and deaf. Creep not through my rice. If you must
creep through rice, go and creep through other rice.” The following formula
is equally effective: “Pruner is your real name. Mouse is your by-name.
Down in the evening land is the stone on which you ought to sit; in the
west, in Java, is your abode.” Or again: “O Longtail, Longtail, eat not my
[pg 278] rice. It is the rice of a prince. It is the field of one who is
revered.”814 The Aino of Japan believe that God first created rats and mice
at Erum kotan, which means “rat place.” Indeed, there are a great many rats
and mice there even now, and the people of the village worship mice and

offer them libations and sacred sticks whittled at the top into shavings.
Grateful for these attentions, the mice spare the gardens and will not nibble
at the roots and the fruits. But if the people omit to worship the mice, or if
they are rash enough to speak evil of them, the creatures are angry and eat
up the garden produce. The havoc which rats and mice now work in the
gardens of the Aino every year is attributed to the modern neglect of the
people to worship the vermin.815

Sometimes the desired object is supposed to be attained by treating with
high distinction one or two chosen individuals of the obnoxious species,
while the rest are pursued with relentless rigour. In the East Indian island of
f Bali, the mice which ravage the rice-fields are caught in great numbers, and
n burned in the same way that corpses are burned. But two of the captured
d mice are allowed to live, and receive a little packet of white linen. Then the
h people bow down before them, as before gods, and let them go.816 In the
Kangean archipelago, East Indies, when the mice prove very destructful to
e the rice-crop, the people rid themselves of the pest in the following manner.
e On a Friday, when the usual service in the mosque is over, four pairs of
mice are solemnly united in marriage by the priest. Each pair is then shut up
in a miniature canoe about a foot long. These canoes are filled with rice and
other fruits of the earth, and the four pairs of mice are then escorted to the
sea-shore just as if it were a real wedding. Wherever the procession passes
the people beat with all their might on their rice-blocks. On reaching the
shore, the canoes, with their little inmates, are launched and left to the
f mercy of the winds and [pg 279] waves.817 When the farms of the Sea
r Dyaks or Ibans of Sarawak are much pestered by birds and insects, they
catch a specimen of each kind of vermin (one sparrow, one grasshopper and
so on), put them in a tiny boat of bark well-stocked with provisions, and
e then allow the little vessel with its obnoxious passengers to float down the
river. If that does not drive the pests away, the Dyaks resort to what they
deem a more effectual mode of accomplishing the same purpose. They
make a clay crocodile as large as life and set it up in the fields, where they
offer it food, rice-spirit, and cloth, and sacrifice a fowl and a pig before it.
Mollified by these attentions, the ferocious animal very soon gobbles up all
the creatures that devour the crops.818 In some parts of Bohemia the peasant,
though he kills field mice and grey mice without scruple, always spares
white mice. If he finds a white mouse he takes it up carefully, and makes a

comfortable bed for it in the window; for if it died the luck of the house
would be gone, and the grey mice would multiply fearfully in the
dwelling.819 In Albania, if the fields or vineyards are ravaged by locusts or
beetles, some of the women will assemble with dishevelled hair, catch a few
of the insects, and march with them in a funeral procession to a spring or
stream, in which they drown the creatures. Then one of the women sings,
“O locusts and beetles who have left us bereaved,” and the dirge is taken up
and repeated by all the women in chorus. Thus by celebrating the obsequies
of a few locusts and beetles, they hope to bring about the death of them
all.820 When caterpillars invaded a vineyard or field in Syria, the virgins
were gathered, and one of the caterpillars was taken and a girl made its
mother. Then they bewailed and buried it. Thereafter they conducted the
“mother” to the place where the caterpillars were, consoling her, in order
that all the caterpillars might leave the garden.821 On the first of [pg 280]
September, Russian girls “make small coffins of turnips and other
vegetables, enclose flies and other insects in them, and then bury them with
a great show of mourning.”822 In South Africa a plague of caterpillars is
removed by a number of small Caffre girls, who go singing through the
fields. They wail as they pass through the languishing crops, and thus
invoke the aid and pity of some ancestral spirits. The mournful rite ends
with a dance on a plot of ground overlooking the fields.823

On the shore of Delagoa Bay there thrives a small brown beetle which is
very destructive to the beans and maize. The Baronga call it noonoo. In
December or January, when the insects begin to swarm, women are sent to
collect them from the bean-stalks in shells. When they have done so, a twin
girl is charged with the duty of throwing the insects into a neighbouring
lake. Accompanied by a woman of mature years and carrying the beetles in
a calabash, the girl goes on her mission without saying a word to any one.
At her back marches the whole troop of women, their arms, waists, and
heads covered with grass and holding in their hands branches of manioc
e with large leaves which they wave to and fro, while they chant the words,
“Noonoo, go away! Leave our fields! Noonoo, go away! leave our fields!”
The little girl throws her calabash with the beetles into the water without
looking behind her, and thereupon the women bellow out obscene songs,
which they never dare to utter except on this occasion and at the ceremony
for making rain.824

Another mode of getting rid of vermin and other noxious creatures without
hurting their feelings or shewing them disrespect is to make images of
them. Apollonius of Tyana is said to have cleared Antioch of scorpions by
f making a [pg 281] bronze image of a scorpion and burying it under a small
s pillar in the middle of the city.825 Further, it is reported that he freed
Constantinople from flies by means of a bronze fly, and from gnats by
f means of a bronze gnat.826 In the Middle Ages Virgil passed for an
enchanter and is said to have rid Naples of flies and grasshoppers by bronze
or copper images of these insects; and when the waters of the city were
infested by leeches, he made a golden leech, which put a stop to the
plague.827 It is reported that a mosque at Fez used to be protected against
scorpions by an image of a bird holding a scorpion in its beak.828 An Arab
writer tells of a golden locust which guarded a certain town from a plague
of locusts; and he also mentions two brazen oxen which checked a murrain
among cattle.829 Gregory of Tours tells us that the city of Paris used to be
free of dormice and serpents, but that in his lifetime, while they were
cleaning a sewer, they found a bronze serpent and a bronze dormouse and
removed them. “Since then,” adds the good bishop, “dormice and serpents
without number have been seen in Paris.”830 When their land was overrun
with mice, the Philistines made golden images of the vermin and sent them
out of the country in a new cart drawn by two cows, hoping that the real
mice would simultaneously depart.831 So when a swarm of serpents afflicted
the Israelites in the desert, they made a serpent of brass and set it on a pole
as a mode of staying the plague.832

[pg 282]