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diff --git a/20116.txt b/20116.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed7874f --- /dev/null +++ b/20116.txt @@ -0,0 +1,23451 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of +the Dead, Volume I (of 3), by Sir James George Frazer + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) + The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia + + +Author: Sir James George Frazer + + + +Release Date: December 15, 2006 [eBook #20116] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AND THE +WORSHIP OF THE DEAD, VOLUME I (OF 3)*** + + +E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, David King, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/) from +page images generously made available by the Humanities Text Initiative +(http://www.hti.umich.edu/), a unit of the University of Michigan's +Digital Library Production Service + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + the Humanities Text Initiative, a unit of the University + of Michigan's Digital Library Production Service. See + http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=genpub;idno=AFL0522.0001.001 + + + + + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AND THE WORSHIP OF THE DEAD + +by + +J. G. FRAZER, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D. + +Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge +Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Liverpool. + +VOL. I + +The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits +Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia + +The Gifford Lectures, St. Andrews 1911-1912 + + + + + + + +MacMillan and Co., Limited +St. Martin's Street, London +1913 + + + _Itaque unum illud erat insitum priscis illis, quos cascos + appellat Ennius, esse in morte sensum neque excessu vitae sic + deleri hominem, ut funditus interiret; idque cum multis aliis + rebus; tum e pontificio jure et e caerimoniis sepulchrorum + intellegi licet, quas maxumis ingeniis praediti nec tanta cura + coluissent nec violatas tam inexpiabili religione sanxissent, + nisi haereret in corum mentibus mortem non interitum esse omnia + tollentem atque delentem, sed quandam quasi migrationem + commutationemque vitae._ + + Cicero, _Tuscul. Disput._ i. 12. + + + + +TO +MY OLD FRIEND + +JOHN SUTHERLAND BLACK, LL.D. + +I DEDICATE AFFECTIONATELY + +A WORK + +WHICH OWES MUCH TO HIS ENCOURAGEMENT + + + + +PREFACE + + +The following lectures were delivered on Lord Gifford's Foundation +before the University of St. Andrews in the early winters of 1911 and +1912. They are printed nearly as they were spoken, except that a few +passages, omitted for the sake of brevity in the oral delivery, have +been here restored and a few more added. Further, I have compressed the +two introductory lectures into one, striking out some passages which on +reflection I judged to be irrelevant or superfluous. The volume +incorporates twelve lectures on "The Fear and Worship of the Dead" which +I delivered in the Lent and Easter terms of 1911 at Trinity College, +Cambridge, and repeated, with large additions, in my course at St. +Andrews. + +The theme here broached is a vast one, and I hope to pursue it hereafter +by describing the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead, as +these have been found among the other principal races of the world both +in ancient and modern times. Of all the many forms which natural +religion has assumed none probably has exerted so deep and far-reaching +an influence on human life as the belief in immortality and the worship +of the dead; hence an historical survey of this most momentous creed and +of the practical consequences which have been deduced from it can hardly +fail to be at once instructive and impressive, whether we regard the +record with complacency as a noble testimony to the aspiring genius of +man, who claims to outlive the sun and the stars, or whether we view it +with pity as a melancholy monument of fruitless labour and barren +ingenuity expended in prying into that great mystery of which fools +profess their knowledge and wise men confess their ignorance. + +J. G. FRAZER. +Cambridge, +_9th February 1913._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Dedication + +Preface + +Table of Contents + +Lecture I.--Introduction + +Natural theology, three modes of handling it, the dogmatic, the +philosophical, and the historical, pp. 1 _sq._; the historical method +followed in these lectures, 2 _sq._; questions of the truth and moral +value of religious beliefs irrelevant in an historical enquiry, 3 _sq._; +need of studying the religion of primitive man and possibility of doing +so by means of the comparative method, 5 _sq._; urgent need of +investigating the native religion of savages before it disappears, 6 +_sq._; a portion of savage religion the theme of these lectures, 7 +_sq._; the question of a supernatural revelation dismissed, 8 _sq._; +theology and religion, their relations, 9; the term God defined, 9 +_sqq._; monotheism and polytheism, 11; a natural knowledge of God, if it +exists, only possible through experience, 11 _sq._; the nature of +experience, 12 _sq._; two kinds of experience, an inward and an outward, +13 _sq._; the conception of God reached historically through both kinds +of experience, 14; inward experience or inspiration, 14 _sq._; +deification of living men, 16 _sq._; outward experience as a source of +the idea of God, 17; the tendency to seek for causes, 17 _sq._; the +meaning of cause, 18 _sq._; the savage explains natural processes by the +hypothesis of spirits or gods, 19 _sq._; natural processes afterwards +explained by hypothetical forces and atoms instead of by hypothetical +spirits and gods, 20 _sq._; nature in general still commonly explained +by the hypothesis of a deity, 21 _sq._; God an inferential or +hypothetical cause, 22 _sq._; the deification of dead men, 23-25; such a +deification presupposes the immortality of the human soul or rather its +survival for a longer or shorter time after death, 25 _sq._; the +conception of human immortality suggested both by inward experience, +such as dreams, and by outward experience, such as the resemblances of +the living to the dead, 26-29; the lectures intended to collect evidence +as to the belief in immortality among certain savage races, 29 _sq._; +the method to be descriptive rather than comparative or philosophical, +30. + +Lecture II.--The Savage Conception of Death + +The subject of the lectures the belief in immortality and the worship of +the dead among certain of the lower races, p. 31; question of the nature +and origin of death, 31 _sq._; universal interest of the question, 32 +_sq._; the belief in immortality general among mankind, 33; belief of +many savages that death is not natural and that they would never die if +their lives were not cut prematurely short by sorcery, 33 _sq._; +examples of this belief among the South American Indians, 34 _sqq._; +death sometimes attributed to sorcery and sometimes to demons, practical +consequence of this distinction, 37; belief in sorcery as the cause of +death among the Indians of Guiana, 38 _sq._, among the Tinneh Indians of +North America, 39 _sq._, among the aborigines of Australia, 40-47, among +the natives of the Torres Straits Islands and New Guinea, 47, among the +Melanesians, 48, among the Malagasy, 48 _sq._, and among African tribes, +49-51; effect of such beliefs in thinning the population by causing +multitudes to die for the imaginary crime of sorcery, 51-53; some +savages attribute certain deaths to other causes than sorcery, 53; +corpse dissected to ascertain cause of death, 53 _sq._; the possibility +of natural death admitted by the Melanesians and the Caffres of South +Africa, 54-56; the admission marks an intellectual advance, 56 _sq._; +the recognition of ghosts or spirits, apart from sorcery, as a cause of +disease and death also marks a step in moral and social progress, 57 +_sq._ + +Lecture III.--Myths of the Origin of Death + +Belief of savages in man's natural immortality, p. 59; savage stories of +the origin of death, 59 _sq._; four types of such stories:-- + +(1) _The Story of the Two Messengers_.--Zulu story of the chameleon and +the lizard, 60 _sq._; Akamba story of the chameleon and the thrush, 61 +_sq._; Togo story of the dog and the frog, 62 _sq._; Ashantee story of +the goat and the sheep, 63 _sq._ + +(2) _The Story of the Waxing and Waning Moon_.--Hottentot story of the +moon, the hare, and death, 65; Masai story of the moon and death, 65 +_sq._; Nandi story of the moon, the dog, and death, 66; Fijian story of +the moon, the rat, and death, 67; Caroline, Wotjobaluk, and Cham stories +of the moon, death, and resurrection, 67; death and resurrection after +three days suggested by the reappearance of the new moon after three +days, 67 _sq._ + +(3) _The Story of the Serpent and his Cast Skin_.--New Britain and +Annamite story of immortality, the serpent, and death, 69 _sq._; Vuatom +story of immortality, the lizard, the serpent, and death, 70; Nias story +of immortality, the crab, and death, 70; Arawak and Tamanchier stories +of immortality, the serpent, the lizard, the beetle, and death, 70 +_sq._; Melanesian story of the old woman and her cast skin, 71 _sq._; +Samoan story of the shellfish, two torches, and death, 72. + +(4) _The Story of the Banana_.--Poso story of immortality, the stone, +the banana, and death, 72 _sq._; Mentra story of immortality, the +banana, and death, 73. + +Primitive philosophy in the stories of the origin of death, 73 _sq._; +Bahnar story of immortality, the tree, and death, 74; rivalry for the +boon of immortality between men and animals that cast their skins, such +as serpents and lizards, 74 _sq._; stories of the origin of death told +by Chingpaws, Australians, Fijians, and Admiralty Islanders, 75-77; +African and American stories of the fatal bundle or the fatal box, 77 +_sq._; Baganda story how death originated through the imprudence of a +woman, 78-81; West African story of Death and the spider, 81-83; +Melanesian story of Death and the Fool, 83 _sq._ + +Thus according to savages death is not a natural necessity, 84; similar +view held by some modern biologists, as A. Weismann and A. R. Wallace, +84-86. + +Lecture IV.--The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of Central +Australia + +In tracing the evolution of religious beliefs we must begin with those +of the lowest savages, p. 87; the aborigines of Australia the lowest +savages about whom we possess accurate information, 88; savagery a case +of retarded development, 88 _sq._; causes which have retarded progress +in Australia, 89 _sq._; the natives of Central Australia on the whole +more primitive than those of the coasts, 90 _sq._; little that can be +called religion among them, 91 _sq._; their theory that the souls of the +dead survive and are reborn in their descendants, 92 _sq._; places where +the souls of the dead await rebirth, and the mode in which they enter +into women, 93 _sq._; local totem centres, 94 _sq._; totemism defined, +95; traditionary origin of the local totem centres (_oknanikilla_) where +the souls of the dead assemble, 96; sacred birth-stones or birth-sticks +(_churinga_) which the souls of ancestors are thought to have dropped at +these places, 96-102; elements of a worship of the dead, 102 _sq._; +marvellous powers attributed to the remote ancestors of the _alcheringa_ +or dream times, 103 _sq._; the Wollunqua, a mythical water-snake, +ancestor of a totemic clan of the Warramunga tribe, 104-106; religious +character of the belief in the Wollunqua, 106. + +Lecture V.--The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of Central +Australia (_continued_) + +Beliefs of the Central Australian aborigines concerning the +reincarnation of the dead, p. 107; possibility of the development of +ancestor worship, 107 _sq._; ceremonies performed by the Warramunga in +honour of the Wollunqua, the mythical ancestor of one of their totem +clans, 108 _sqq._; union of magic and religion in these ceremonies, 111 +_sq._; ground drawings of the Wollunqua, 112 _sq._; importance of the +Wollunqua in the evolution of religion and art, 113 _sq._; how totemism +might develop into polytheism through an intermediate stage of ancestor +worship, 114 _sq._; all the conspicuous features of the country +associated by the Central Australians with the spirits of their +ancestors, 115-118; dramatic ceremonies performed by them to commemorate +the deeds of their ancestors, 118 _sq._; examples of these ceremonies, +119-122; these ceremonies were probably in origin not merely +commemorative or historical but magical, being intended to procure a +supply of food and other necessaries, 122 _sq._; magical virtue actually +attributed to these dramatic ceremonies by the Warramunga, who think +that by performing them they increase the food supply of the tribe, 123 +_sq._; hence the great importance ascribed by these savages to the due +performance of the ancestral dramas, 124; general attitude of the +Central Australian aborigines to their dead, and the lines on which, if +left to themselves, they might have developed a regular worship of the +dead, 124-126. + +Lecture VI.--The Belief in Immortality among the other Aborigines of +Australia + +Evidence for the belief in reincarnation among the natives of other +parts of Australia than the centre, p. 127; beliefs of the Queensland +aborigines concerning the nature of the soul and the state of the dead, +127-131; belief of the Australian aborigines that their dead are +sometimes reborn in white people, 131-133; belief of the natives of +South-Eastern Australia that their dead are not born again but go away +to the sky or some distant country, 133 _sq._; beliefs and customs of +the Narrinyeri concerning the dead, 134 _sqq._; motives for the +excessive grief which they display at the death of their relatives, 135 +_sq._; their pretence of avenging the death of their friends on the +guilty sorcerer, 136 _sq._; magical virtue ascribed to the hair of the +dead, 137 _sq._; belief that the dead go to the sky, 138 _sq._; +appearance of the dead to the living in dreams, 139; savage faith in +dreams, 139 _sq._; association of the stars with the souls of the dead, +140; creed of the South-Eastern Australians touching the dead, 141; +difference of this creed from that of the Central Australians, 141; this +difference probably due in the main to a general advance of culture +brought about by more favourable natural conditions in South-Eastern +Australia, 141 _sq._; possible influence of European teaching on native +beliefs, 142 _sq._; vagueness and inconsistency of native beliefs as to +the state of the dead, 143; custom a good test of belief, 143 _sq._; +burial customs of the Australian aborigines as evidence of their beliefs +concerning the state of the dead, 144; their practice of supplying the +dead with food, water, fire, weapons, and implements, 144-147; motives +for the destruction of the property of the dead, 147 _sq._; great +economic loss entailed by developed systems of sacrificing to the dead, +149. + +Lecture VII.--The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of +Australia (_concluded_) + +Huts erected on graves for the use of the ghosts, pp. 150-152; the +attentions paid by the Australian aborigines to their dead probably +spring from fear rather than affection, 152; precautions taken by the +living against the dangerous ghosts of the dead, 152 _sq._; cuttings and +brandings of the flesh of the living in honour of the dead, 154-158; the +custom of allowing the blood of mourners to drip on the corpse or into +the grave may be intended to strengthen the dead for a new birth, +158-162; different ways of disposing of the dead according to the age, +rank, manner of death, etc., of the deceased, 162 _sq._; some modes of +burial are intended to prevent the return of the spirit, others are +designed to facilitate it, 163-165; final departure of the ghost +supposed to coincide with the disappearance of the flesh from his bones, +165 _sq._; hence a custom has arisen in many tribes of giving the bones +a second burial or otherwise disposing of them when the flesh is quite +decayed, 166; tree-burial followed by earth-burial in some Australian +tribes, 166-168; general conclusion as to the belief in immortality and +the worship of the dead among the Australian aborigines, 168 _sq._ + +Lecture VIII.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of the Torres +Straits Islands + +Racial affinities of the Torres Straits Islanders, pp. 170 _sq._; their +material and social culture, 171 _sq._; no developed worship of the dead +among them, 172 _sq._; their fear of ghosts, 173-175; home of the dead a +mythical island in the west, 175 _sq._; elaborate funeral ceremonies of +the Torres Straits Islanders characterised by dramatic representations +of the dead and by the preservation of their skulls, which were +consulted as oracles, 176. + +Funeral ceremonies of the Western Islanders, 177-180; part played by the +brothers-in-law of the deceased at these ceremonies, 177 _sq._; removal +of the head and preparation of the skull for use in divination, 178 +_sq._; great death-dance performed by masked men who personated the +deceased, 179 _sq._ + +Funeral ceremonies of the Eastern Islanders, 180-188; soul of the dead +carried away by a masked actor, 181 _sq._; dramatic performance by +disguised men representing ghosts, 182 _sq._; blood and hair of +relatives offered to the dead, 183 _sq._; mummification of the corpse, +184; costume of mourners, 184; cuttings for the dead, 184 _sq._; +death-dance by men personating ghosts, 185-188; preservation of the +mummy and afterwards of the head or a wax model of it to be used in +divination, 188. + +Images of the gods perhaps developed out of mummies of the dead, and a +sacred or even secular drama developed out of funeral dances, 189. + +Lecture IX.--The Belief in Immortality Among the Natives Of British New +Guinea + +The two races of New Guinea, the Papuan and the Melanesian, pp. 190 +_sq._; beliefs and customs of the Motu concerning the dead, 192; the +Koita and their beliefs as to the human soul and the state of the dead, +193-195; alleged communications with the dead by means of mediums, 195 +_sq._; fear of the dead, especially of a dead wife, 196 _sq._; beliefs +of the Mafulu concerning the dead, 198; their burial customs, 198 _sq._; +their use of the skulls and bones of the dead at a great festival, +199-201; worship of the dead among the natives of the Aroma district, +201 _sq._; the Hood Peninsula, 202 _sq._; beliefs and customs concerning +the dead among the natives of the Hood Peninsula, 203-206; seclusion of +widows and widowers, 203 _sq._; the ghost-seer, 204 _sq._; application +of the juices of the dead to the persons of the living, 205; precautions +taken by manslayers against the ghosts of their victims, 205 _sq._; +purification for homicide originally a mode of averting the angry ghost +of the slain, 206; beliefs and customs concerning the dead among the +Massim of south-eastern New Guinea, 206-210; Hiyoyoa, the land of the +dead, 207; purification of mourners by bathing and shaving, 207 _sq._; +foods forbidden to mourners, 208 _sq._; fires on the grave, 209; the +land of the dead, 209 _sq._; names of the dead not mentioned, 210; +beliefs and customs concerning the dead among the Papuans of Kiwai, +211-214; Adiri, the land of the dead, 211-213; appearance of the dead to +the living in dreams, 213 _sq._; offerings to the dead, 214; dreams as a +source of the belief in immortality, 214. + +Lecture X.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German New +Guinea + +Andrew Lang, pp. 216 _sq._; review of preceding lectures, 217 _sq._ + +The Papuans of Tumleo, their material culture, 218-220; their temples, +220 _sq._; their bachelors' houses containing the skulls of the dead, +221; spirits of the dead as the causes of sickness and disease, 222 +_sq._; burial and mourning customs, 223 _sq._; fate of the human soul +after death, 224; monuments to the dead, 225; disinterment of the bones, +225; propitiation of ghosts and spirits, 226; guardian-spirits in the +temples, 226 _sq._ + +The Monumbo of Potsdam Harbour, 227 _sq._; their beliefs concerning the +spirits of the dead, 228 _sq._; their fear of ghosts, 229; their +treatment of manslayers, 229 _sq._ + +The Tamos of Astrolabe Bay, 230; their ideas as to the souls of the +dead, 231 _sq._; their fear of ghosts, 232 _sqq._; their Secret Society +and rites of initiation, 233; their preservation of the jawbones of the +dead, 234 _sq._; their sham fights after a death, 235 _sq._; these +fights perhaps intended to throw dust in the eyes of the ghost, 236 +_sq._ + +Lecture XI.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German New +Guinea (_continued_) + +The Papuans of Cape King William, pp. 238 _sq._; their ideas as to +spirits and the souls of the dead, 239 _sq._; their belief in sorcery as +a cause of death, 240 _sq._; their funeral and mourning customs, 241 +_sq._; the fate of the soul after death, 242. + +The Yabim of Finsch Harbour, their material and artistic culture, 242 +_sq._; their clubhouses for men, 243; their beliefs as to the state of +the dead, 244 _sq._; the ghostly ferry, 244 _sq._; transmigration of +human souls into animals, 245; the return of the ghosts, 246; offerings +to ghosts, 246; ghosts provided with fire, 246 _sq._; ghosts help in the +cultivation of land, 247 _sq._; burial and mourning customs, 248 _sq._; +divination to discover the sorcerer who has caused a death, 249 _sq._; +bull-roarers, 250; initiation of young men, 250 _sqq._; the rite of +circumcision, the novices supposed to be swallowed by a monster, 251 +_sq._; the return of the novices, 253; the essence of the initiatory +rites seems to be a simulation of death and resurrection, 253 _sqq._; +the new birth among the Akikuyu of British East Africa, 254. + +Lecture XII.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German New +Guinea (_continued_) + +The Bukaua of Huon Gulf, their means of subsistence and men's +clubhouses, pp. 256 _sq._; their ideas as to the souls of the dead, 257; +sickness and death caused by ghosts and sorcerers, 257 _sq._; fear of +the ghosts of the slain, 258; prayers to ancestral spirits on behalf of +the crops, 259; first-fruits offered to the spirits of the dead, 259; +burial and mourning customs, 259 _sq._; initiation of young men, novices +at circumcision supposed to be swallowed and afterwards disgorged by a +monster, 260 _sq._ + +The Kai, a Papuan tribe of mountaineers inland from Finsch Harbour, 262; +their country, mode of agriculture, and villages, 262 _sq._; +observations of a German missionary on their animism, 263 _sq._; the +essential rationality of the savage, 264-266; the Kai theory of the two +sorts of human souls, 267 _sq._; death commonly thought to be caused by +sorcery, 268 _sq._; danger incurred by the sorcerer, 269; many hurts and +maladies attributed to the action of ghosts, 269 _sq._; capturing lost +souls, 270 _sq._; ghosts extracted from the body of a sick man or +scraped from his person, 271; extravagant demonstrations of grief at the +death of a sick man, 271-273; hypocritical character of these +demonstrations, which are intended to deceive the ghost, 273; burial and +mourning customs, preservation of the lower jawbone and one of the lower +arm bones, 274; mourning costume, seclusion of widow or widower, 274 +_sq._; widows sometimes strangled to accompany their dead husbands, 275; +house or village deserted after a death, 275. + +Lecture XIII.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German New +Guinea (_continued_) + +The Kai (continued), their offerings to the dead, p. 276; divination by +means of ghosts to detect the sorcerer who has caused a death, 276-278; +avenging the death on the sorcerer and his people, 278 _sq._; +precautions against the ghosts of the slain, 279 _sq._; attempts to +deceive the ghosts of the murdered, 280-282; pretence of avenging the +ghost of a murdered man, 282; fear of ghosts by night, 282 _sq._; +services rendered by the spirits of the dead to farmers and hunters, +283-285; the journey of the soul to the spirit land, 285 _sq._; life of +the dead in the other world, 286 _sq._; ghosts die the second death and +turn into animals, 287; ghosts of famous people invoked long after their +death, 287-289; possible development of ghosts into gods, 289 _sq._; +lads at circumcision supposed to be swallowed and disgorged by a +monster, 290 _sq._ + +The Tami Islanders of Huon Gulf, 291; their theory of a double human +soul, a long one and a short one, 291 _sq._; departure of the short soul +for Lamboam, the nether world of the dead, 292; offerings to the dead, +292; appeasing the ghost, 292 _sq._; funeral and mourning customs, +dances in honour of the dead, offerings thrown into the fire, 293 _sq._; +bones of the dead dug up and kept in the house for a time, 294 _sq._ + +Lecture XIV.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German and +Dutch New Guinea + +The Tami Islanders of Huon Gulf (continued), their doctrine of souls and +gods, pp. 296 _sq._; dances of masked men representing spirits, 297; +worship of ancestral spirits and offerings to them, 297 _sq._; life of +the souls in Lamboam, the nether world, 299 _sq._; evocation of ghosts +by the ghost-seer, 300; sickness caused by ghosts, 300 _sq._; novices at +circumcision supposed to be swallowed and disgorged by a monster, 301 +_sq._; meaning of the bodily mutilations inflicted on young men at +puberty obscure, 302 _sq._ The natives of Dutch New Guinea, 303-323; the +Noofoors of Geelvink Bay, their material culture and arts of life, +303-305; their fear and worship of the dead, 305-307; wooden images +(_korwar_) of the dead kept in the houses and carried in canoes to be +used as oracles, 307 _sq._; the images consulted in sickness and taken +with the people to war, 308-310; offerings to the images, 310 _sq._; +souls of those who have died away from home recalled to animate the +images, 311; skulls of the dead, especially of firstborn children and of +parents, inserted in the images, 312 _sq._; bodies of young children +hung on trees, 312 _sq._; mummies of dead relatives kept in the houses, +313; seclusion of mourners and restrictions on their diet, 313 _sq._; +tattooing in honour of the dead, 314; teeth and hair of the dead worn by +relatives, 314 _sq._; rebirth of parents in their children, 315. + +The natives of islands off the west coast of New Guinea, their wooden +images of dead ancestors and shrines for the residence of the ancestral +spirits, 315 _sq._; their festivals in honour of the dead, 316; souls of +ancestors supposed to reside in the images and to protect the house and +household, 317. + +The natives of the Macluer Gulf, their images and bowls in honour of the +dead, 317 _sq._ + +The natives of the Mimika district, their burial and mourning customs, +their preservation of the skulls of the dead, and their belief in +ghosts, 318. + +The natives of Windessi, their burial customs, 318 _sq._; divination +after a death, 319; mourning customs, 319 _sq._; festival of the dead, +320 _sq._; wooden images of the dead, 321; doctrine of souls and of +their fate after death, 321 _sq._; medicine-men inspired by the souls of +the dead, 322 _sq._; ghosts of slain enemies driven away, 323. + +Lecture XV.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Southern +Melanesia (New Caledonia) + +The Melanesians in general, their material culture, p. 324; Southern +Melanesia, the New Caledonians, and Father Lambert's account of them, +325; their ideas as to the spirit land and the way thither, 325 _sq._; +burial customs, 326; cuttings and brandings for the dead, 326 _sq._; +property of the dead destroyed, 327; seclusion of gravediggers and +restrictions imposed on them, 327; sham fight in honour of the dead, 327 +_sq._; skulls of the dead preserved and worshipped on various occasions, +such as sickness, fishing, and famine, 328-330; caves used as +charnel-houses and sanctuaries of the dead in the Isle of Pines, +330-332; prayers and sacrifices to the ancestral spirits, 332 _sq._; +prayer-posts, 333 _sq._; sacred stones associated with the dead and used +to cause dearth or plenty, madness, a good crop of bread-fruit or yams, +drought, rain, a good catch of fish, and so on, 334-338; the religion of +the New Caledonians mainly a worship of the dead tinctured with magic, +338. + +Evidence as to the natives of New Caledonia collected by Dr. George +Turner, 339-342; material culture of the New Caledonians, 339; their +burial customs, the skulls and nails of the dead preserved and used to +fertilise the yam plantations, 339 _sq._; worship of ancestors and +prayers to the dead, 340; festivals in honour of the dead, 340 _sq._; +making rain by means of the skeletons of the dead, 341; execution of +sorcerers, 341 _sq._; white men identified with the spirits of the dead, +342. + +Lecture XVI.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Central +Melanesia + +Central Melanesia divided into two archipelagoes, the religion of the +Western Islands (Solomon Islands) characterised by a worship of the +dead, the religion of the Eastern Islands (New Hebrides, Banks' Islands, +Torres Islands, Santa Cruz Islands) characterised by a worship of +non-human spirits, pp. 343 _sq._; Central Melanesian theory of the soul, +344 _sq._; the land of the dead either in certain islands or in a +subterranean region called Panoi, 345; ghosts of power and ghosts of no +account, 345 _sq._; supernatural power (_mana_) acquired through ghosts, +346 _sq._ + +Burial customs in the Western Islands (Solomon Islands), 347 _sqq._; +land-burial and sea-burial, land-ghosts and sea-ghosts, 347 _sq._; +funeral feasts and burnt-offerings to the dead, 348 _sq._; the land of +the dead and the ghostly ferry, 350 _sq._; ghosts die the second death +and turn into the nests of white ants, 350 _sq._; preservation of the +skull and jawbone in order to ensure the protection of the ghost, 351 +_sq._; human heads sought in order to add fresh spiritual power (_mana_) +to the ghost of a dead chief, 352. + +Beliefs and customs concerning the dead in the Eastern Islands (New +Hebrides, Banks' Islands, Torres Islands), 352 _sqq._; Panoi, the +subterranean abode of the dead, 353 _sq._; ghosts die the second death, +354; different fates of the souls of the good and bad, 354 _sq._; +descent of the living into the world of the dead, 355; burial customs of +the Banks' Islanders, 355 _sqq._; dead sometimes temporarily buried in +the house, 355; display of property beside the corpse and funeral +oration, 355 _sq._; sham burial of eminent men, 356; ghosts driven away +from the village, 356-358; deceiving the ghosts of women who have died +in child-bed, 358; funeral feasts, 358 _sq._; funeral customs in the +New Hebrides, 359 _sqq._; the aged buried alive, 359 _sq._; seclusion of +mourners and restrictions on their diet, 360; sacrifice of pigs, 360 +_sq._; the journey of the ghost to the spirit land, 361 _sq._; +provisions made by the living for the welfare of the dead, 362. + +Only ghosts of powerful men worshipped, 362 _sq._; institution of the +worship of a martial ghost, 363 _sq._; offerings of food and drink to +the dead, 364 _sq._; sacrifice of pigs to ghosts in the Solomon Islands, +365 _sq._ + +Lecture XVII.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Central +Melanesia (_concluded_) + +Public sacrifices to ghosts in the Solomon Islands, pp. 367 _sq._; +offering of first-fruits to ghosts, 368 _sq._; private ghosts as +distinguished from public ghosts, 369 _sq._; fighting ghosts kept as +spiritual auxiliaries, 370; ghosts employed to make the gardens grow, +370 _sq._; human sacrifices to ghosts, 371 _sq._; vicarious and other +sacrifices to ghosts at Saa in Malanta, 372 _sq._; offerings of +first-fruits to ghosts at Saa, 373 _sq._; vicarious sacrifices offered +for the sick to ghosts in Santa Cruz, 374; the dead represented by +stocks in the houses, 374; native account of sacrifices in Santa Cruz, +374 _sq._; prayers to the dead, 376 _sq._; sanctuaries of ghosts in the +Solomon Islands, 377-379; ghosts lodged in animals, birds, and fish, +especially in sharks, 379 _sq._ + +The belief in ghosts underlies the Melanesian conception of magic, 380 +_sq._; sickness commonly caused by ghosts and cured by ghost-seers, +381-384; contrast between Melanesian and European systems of medicine, +384; weather regulated by ghosts and spirits and by weather-doctors who +have the ear of ghosts and spirits, 384-386; witchcraft or black magic +wrought by means of ghosts, 386-388; prophets inspired by ghosts, 388 +_sq._; divination operating through ghosts, 389 _sq._; taboos enforced +by ghosts, 390 _sq._; general influence which a belief in the survival +of the soul after death has exercised on Melanesian life, 391 _sq._ + +Lecture XVIII.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Northern +and Eastern Melanesia + +The natives of Northern Melanesia or the Bismarck Archipelago (New +Britain, New Ireland, etc.), their material culture, commercial habits, +and want of regular government, pp. 393-395; their theory of the soul, +395 _sq._; their fear of ghosts, 396; offerings to the dead, 396 _sq._; +burial customs, 397 _sq._; preservation of the skulls, 398; customs and +beliefs concerning the dead among the Sulka of New Britain, 398-400, +among the Moanus of the Admiralty Islands, 400 _sq._ and among the +natives of the Kaniet Islands, 401 _sq._; natural deaths commonly +attributed to sorcery, 402; divination to discover the sorcerer who +caused the death, 402; death customs in the Duke of York Island, cursing +the sorcerer, skulls preserved, feasts and dances, 403; prayers to the +dead, 403 _sq._; the land of the dead and the fate of the departed +souls, hard lot of impecunious ghosts, 404-406. + +The natives of Eastern Melanesia (Fiji), their material culture and +political constitution, 406-408; means of subsistence, 408; moral +character, 408 _sq._; scenery of the Fijian islands, 409 _sq._; the +Fijian doctrine of souls, 410-412; souls of rascals caught in scarves, +412 _sq._; fear of sorcery and precautions against it, 413 _sq._; +beneficial effect of the fear in enforcing habits of personal +cleanliness, 414; fear of ghosts and custom of driving them away, 414 +_sq._; killing a ghost, 415 _sq._; outwitting grandfather's ghost, 416; +special relation of grandfather to grandchild, 416; grandfather's soul +reborn in his grandchild, 417 _sq._ + +Lecture XIX.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Eastern +Melanesia (Fiji) (_continued_) + +Indifference of the Fijians to death, p. 419; their custom of killing +the sick and aged with the consent of the victims, 419-424; their +readiness to die partly an effect of their belief in immortality, 422 +_sq._; wives strangled or buried alive to accompany their husbands to +the spirit land, 424-426; servants and dependants killed to attend their +dead lords, 426; sacrifices of foreskins and fingers in honour of dead +chiefs, 426 _sq._; boys circumcised in order to save the lives of their +fathers or fathers' brothers, 427; saturnalia attending such rites of +circumcision, 427 _sq._; the _Nanga_, or sacred enclosure of stones, +dedicated to the worship of ancestors, 428 _sq._; first-fruits of the +yams offered to the ancestors in the _Nanga_, 429; initiation of young +men in the _Nanga_, drama of death and resurrection, sacrament of food +and water, 429-432; the initiation followed by a period of sexual +licence, 433; the initiatory rites apparently intended to introduce the +novices to the ancestral spirits and endow them with the powers of the +dead, 434 _sq._; the rites seem to have been imported into Fiji by +immigrants from the west, 435 _sq._; the licence attending these rites +perhaps a reversion to primitive communism for the purpose of +propitiating the ancestral spirits, 436 _sq._; description of the +_Nanga_ or sacred enclosure of stones, 437 _sq._; comparison with the +cromlechs and other megalithic monuments of Europe, 438. + +Lecture XX.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Eastern +Melanesia (Fiji) (_concluded_) + +Worship of parents and other dead relations in Fiji, pp. 439 _sq._; +Fijian notion of divinity (_kalou_), 440; two classes of gods, namely, +divine gods and human gods or deified men, 440 _sq._; temples (_bures_) +441 _sq._; worship at the temples, 443; priests (_betes_), their +oracular inspiration by the gods, 443-446; human sacrifices on various +occasions, such as building a house or launching a new canoe, 446 _sq._; +high estimation in which manslaughter was held by the Fijians, 447 +_sq._; consecration of manslayers and restrictions laid on them, +probably from fear of the ghosts of their victims, 448 _sq._; certain +funeral customs based apparently on the fear of ghosts, 450 _sqq._; +persons who have handled a corpse forbidden to touch food with their +hands, 450 _sq._; seclusion of gravediggers, 451; mutilations, +brandings, and fasts in honour of the dead, 451 _sq._; the dead carried +out of the house by a special opening to prevent the return of the +ghost, 452-461; the other world and the way thither, 462 _sqq._; the +ghostly ferry, 462 _sq._; the ghost and the pandanus tree, 463 _sq._; +hard fate of the unmarried dead, 464; the Killer of Souls, 464 _sq._; +ghosts precipitated into a lake, 465 _sq._; Murimuria, an inferior sort +of heaven, 466; the Fijian Elysium, 466 _sq._; transmigration and +annihilation, the few that are saved, 467. + +Concluding observations, 467-471; strength and universality of the +belief in immortality among savages, 468; the state of war among savage +and civilised peoples often a direct consequence of the belief in +immortality, 468 _sq._; economic loss involved in sacrifices to the +dead, 469; how does the savage belief in immortality bear on the truth +or falsehood of that belief in general? 469; the answer depends to some +extent on the view we take of human nature, 469-471; the conclusion left +open, 471. + +Note.--Myth of the Continuance of Death + +Index + + + + +LECTURE I + +INTRODUCTION + + +[Sidenote: Natural theology, and the three modes of handling it, the +dogmatic, the philosophical, and the historical.] + +The subject of these lectures is a branch of natural theology. By +natural theology I understand that reasoned knowledge of a God or gods +which man may be supposed, whether rightly or wrongly, capable of +attaining to by the exercise of his natural faculties alone. Thus +defined, the subject may be treated in at least three different ways, +namely, dogmatically, philosophically, and historically. We may simply +state the dogmas of natural theology which appear to us to be true: that +is the dogmatic method. Or, secondly, we may examine the validity of the +grounds on which these dogmas have been or may be maintained: that is +the philosophic method. Or, thirdly, we may content ourselves with +describing the various views which have been held on the subject and +tracing their origin and evolution in history: that is the historical +method. The first of these three methods assumes the truth of natural +theology, the second discusses it, and the third neither assumes nor +discusses but simply ignores it: the historian as such is not concerned +with the truth or falsehood of the beliefs he describes, his business is +merely to record them and to track them as far as possible to their +sources. Now that the subject of natural theology is ripe for a purely +dogmatic treatment will hardly, I think, be maintained by any one, to +whatever school of thought he may belong; accordingly that method of +treatment need not occupy us further. Far otherwise is it with the +philosophic method which undertakes to enquire into the truth or +falsehood of the belief in a God: no method could be more appropriate at +a time like the present, when the opinions of educated and thoughtful +men on that profound topic are so unsettled, diverse, and conflicting. A +philosophical treatment of the subject might comprise a discussion of +such questions as whether a natural knowledge of God is possible to man, +and, if possible, by what means and through what faculties it is +attainable; what are the grounds for believing in the existence of a +God; and, if this belief is justified, what may be supposed to be his +essential nature and attributes, and what his relations to the world in +general and to man in particular. Now I desire to confess at once that +an adequate discussion of these and kindred questions would far exceed +both my capacity and my knowledge; for he who would do justice to so +arduous an enquiry should not only be endowed with a comprehensive and +penetrating genius, but should possess a wide and accurate acquaintance +with the best accredited results of philosophic speculation and +scientific research. To such qualifications I can lay no claim, and +accordingly I must regard myself as unfitted for a purely philosophic +treatment of natural theology. To speak plainly, the question of the +existence of a God is too deep for me. I dare neither affirm nor deny +it. I can only humbly confess my ignorance. Accordingly, if Lord Gifford +had required of his lecturers either a dogmatic or a philosophical +treatment of natural theology, I could not have undertaken to deliver +the lectures. + +[Sidenote: The method followed in these lectures is the historical.] + +But in his deed of foundation, as I understand it, Lord Gifford left his +lecturers free to follow the historical rather than the dogmatic or the +philosophical method of treatment. He says: "The lecturers shall be +under no restraint whatever in their treatment of their theme: for +example, they may freely discuss (and it may be well to do so) all +questions about man's conceptions of God or the Infinite, their origin, +nature, and truth." In making this provision the founder appears to have +allowed and indeed encouraged the lecturers not only to discuss, if they +chose to do so, the philosophical basis of a belief in God, but also to +set forth the various conceptions of the divine nature which have been +held by men in all ages and to trace them to their origin: in short, he +permitted and encouraged the lecturers to compose a history of natural +theology or of some part of it. Even when it is thus limited to its +historical aspect the theme is too vast to be mastered completely by any +one man: the most that a single enquirer can do is to take a general but +necessarily superficial survey of the whole and to devote himself +especially to the investigation of some particular branch or aspect of +the subject. This I have done more or less for many years, and +accordingly I think that without being presumptuous I may attempt, in +compliance with Lord Gifford's wishes and directions, to lay before my +hearers a portion of the history of religion to which I have paid +particular attention. That the historical study of religious beliefs, +quite apart from the question of their truth or falsehood, is both +interesting and instructive will hardly be disputed by any intelligent +and thoughtful enquirer. Whether they have been well or ill founded, +these beliefs have deeply influenced the conduct of human affairs; they +have furnished some of the most powerful, persistent, and far-reaching +motives of action; they have transformed nations and altered the face of +the globe. No one who would understand the general history of mankind +can afford to ignore the annals of religion. If he does so, he will +inevitably fall into the most serious misconceptions even in studying +branches of human activity which might seem, on a superficial view, to +be quite unaffected by religious considerations. + +[Sidenote: An historical enquiry into the evolution of religion +prejudices neither the question of the ethical value of religious +practice nor the question of the truth or falsehood of religious +belief.] + +Therefore to trace theological and in general religious ideas to their +sources and to follow them through all the manifold influences which +they have exerted on the destinies of our race must always be an object +of prime importance to the historian, whatever view he may take of their +speculative truth or ethical value. Clearly we cannot estimate their +ethical value until we have learned the modes in which they have +actually determined human conduct for good or evil: in other words, we +cannot judge of the morality of religious beliefs until we have +ascertained their history: the facts must be known before judgment can +be passed on them: the work of the historian must precede the work of +the moralist. Even the question of the validity or truth of religious +creeds cannot, perhaps, be wholly dissociated from the question of their +origin. If, for example, we discover that doctrines which we had +accepted with implicit faith from tradition have their close analogies +in the barbarous superstitions of ignorant savages, we can hardly help +suspecting that our own cherished doctrines may have originated in the +similar superstitions of our rude forefathers; and the suspicion +inevitably shakes the confidence with which we had hitherto regarded +these articles of our faith. The doubt thus cast on our old creed is +perhaps illogical, since even if we should discover that the creed did +originate in mere superstition, in other words, that the grounds on +which it was first adopted were false and absurd, this discovery would +not really disprove the beliefs themselves, for it is perfectly possible +that a belief may be true, though the reasons alleged in favour of it +are false and absurd: indeed we may affirm with great probability that a +multitude of human beliefs, true in themselves, have been accepted and +defended by millions of people on grounds which cannot bear exact +investigation for a moment. For example, if the facts of savage life +which it will be my duty to submit to you should have the effect of +making the belief in immortality look exceedingly foolish, those of my +hearers who cherish the belief may console themselves by reflecting +that, as I have just pointed out, a creed is not necessarily false +because some of the reasons adduced in its favour are invalid, because +it has sometimes been supported by the despicable tricks of vulgar +imposture, and because the practices to which it has given rise have +often been in the highest degree not only absurd but pernicious. + +[Sidenote: Yet such an enquiry may shake the confidence with which +traditional beliefs have been held.] + +Thus an historical enquiry into the origin of religious creeds cannot, +strictly speaking, invalidate, still less refute, the creeds themselves, +though it may, and doubtless often does weaken the confidence with which +they are held. This weakening of religious faith as a consequence of a +closer scrutiny of religious origins is unquestionably a matter of great +importance to the community; for society has been built and cemented to +a great extent on a foundation of religion, and it is impossible to +loosen the cement and shake the foundation without endangering the +superstructure. The candid historian of religion will not dissemble the +danger incidental to his enquiries, but nevertheless it is his duty to +prosecute them unflinchingly. Come what may, he must ascertain the facts +so far as it is possible to do so; having done that, he may leave to +others the onerous and delicate task of adjusting the new knowledge to +the practical needs of mankind. The narrow way of truth may often look +dark and threatening, and the wayfarer may often be weary; yet even at +the darkest and the weariest he will go forward in the trust, if not in +the knowledge, that the way will lead at last to light and to rest; in +plain words, that there is no ultimate incompatibility between the good +and the true. + +[Sidenote: To discover the origin of the idea of God we must study the +beliefs of primitive man.] + +Now if we are indeed to discover the origin of man's conception of God, +it is not sufficient to analyse the ideas which the educated and +enlightened portion of mankind entertain on the subject at the present +day; for in great measure these ideas are traditional, they have been +handed down with little or no independent reflection or enquiry from +generation to generation; hence in order to detect them in their +inception it becomes necessary to push our analysis far back into the +past. Large materials for such an historical enquiry are provided for us +in the literature of ancient nations which, though often sadly mutilated +and imperfect, has survived to modern times and throws much precious +light on the religious beliefs and practices of the peoples who created +it. But the ancients themselves inherited a great part of their religion +from their prehistoric ancestors, and accordingly it becomes desirable +to investigate the religious notions of these remote forefathers of +mankind, since in them we may hope at last to arrive at the ultimate +source, the historical origin, of the whole long development. + +[Sidenote: The beliefs of primitive man can only be understood through a +comparative study of the various races in the lower stages of culture.] + +But how can this be done? how can we investigate the ideas of peoples +who, ignorant of writing, had no means of permanently recording their +beliefs? At first sight the thing seems impossible; the thread of +enquiry is broken off short; it has landed us on the brink of a gulf +which looks impassable. But the case is not so hopeless as it appears. +True, we cannot investigate the beliefs of prehistoric ages directly, +but the comparative method of research may furnish us with the means of +studying them indirectly; it may hold up to us a mirror in which, if we +do not see the originals, we may perhaps contemplate their reflections. +For a comparative study of the various races of mankind demonstrates, or +at least renders it highly probable, that humanity has everywhere +started at an exceedingly low level of culture, a level far beneath that +of the lowest existing savages, and that from this humble beginning all +the various races of men have gradually progressed upward at different +rates, some faster and some slower, till they have attained the +particular stage which each of them occupies at the present time. + +[Sidenote: Hence the need of studying the beliefs and customs of +savages, if we are to understand the evolution of culture in general.] + +If this conclusion is correct, the various stages of savagery and +barbarism on which many tribes and peoples now stand represent, broadly +speaking, so many degrees of retarded social and intellectual +development, they correspond to similar stages which the ancestors of +the civilised races may be supposed to have passed through at more or +less remote periods of their history. Thus when we arrange all the known +peoples of the world according to the degree of their savagery or +civilisation in a graduated scale of culture, we obtain not merely a +comparative view of their relative positions in the scale, but also in +some measure an historical record of the genetic development of culture +from a very early time down to the present day. Hence a study of the +savage and barbarous races of mankind is of the greatest importance for +a full understanding of the beliefs and practices, whether religious, +social, moral, or political, of the most civilised races, including our +own, since it is practically certain that a large part of these beliefs +and practices originated with our savage ancestors, and has been +inherited by us from them, with more or less of modification, through a +long line of intermediate generations. + +[Sidenote: The need is all the more urgent because savages are rapidly +disappearing or being transformed.] + +That is why the study of existing savages at the present day engrosses +so much of the attention of civilised peoples. We see that if we are to +comprehend not only our past history but our present condition, with all +its many intricate and perplexing problems, we must begin at the +beginning by attempting to discover the mental state of our savage +forefathers, who bequeathed to us so much of the faiths, the laws, and +the institutions which we still cherish; and more and more men are +coming to perceive that the only way open to us of doing this +effectually is to study the mental state of savages who to this day +occupy a state of culture analogous to that of our rude progenitors. +Through contact with civilisation these savages are now rapidly +disappearing, or at least losing the old habits and ideas which render +them a document of priceless historical value for us. Hence we have +every motive for prosecuting the study of savagery with ardour and +diligence before it is too late, before the record is gone for ever. We +are like an heir whose title-deeds must be scrutinised before he can +take possession of the inheritance, but who finds the handwriting of the +deeds so fading and evanescent that it threatens to disappear entirely +before he can read the document to the end. With what keen attention, +what eager haste, would he not scan the fast-vanishing characters? With +the like attention and the like haste civilised men are now applying +themselves to the investigation of the fast-vanishing savages. + +[Sidenote: Savage religion is to be the subject of these lectures.] + +Thus if we are to trace historically man's conception of God to its +origin, it is desirable, or rather essential, that we should begin by +studying the most primitive ideas on the subject which are accessible to +us, and the most primitive ideas are unquestionably those of the lowest +savages. Accordingly in these lectures I propose to deal with a +particular side or aspect of savage religion. I shall not trench on the +sphere of the higher religions, not only because my knowledge of them is +for the most part very slight, but also because I believe that a +searching study of the higher and more complex religions should be +postponed till we have acquired an accurate knowledge of the lower and +simpler. For a similar reason the study of inorganic chemistry naturally +precedes the study of organic chemistry, because inorganic compounds are +much simpler and therefore more easily analysed and investigated than +organic compounds. So with the chemistry of the mind; we should analyse +the comparatively simple phenomena of savage thought into its +constituent elements before we attempt to perform a similar operation on +the vastly more complex phenomena of civilised beliefs. + +[Sidenote: But only a part of savage religion will be dealt with.] + +But while I shall confine myself rigidly to the field of savage +religion, I shall not attempt to present you with a complete survey even +of that restricted area, and that for more reasons than one. In the +first place the theme, even with this great limitation, is far too large +to be adequately set forth in the time at my disposal; the sketch--for +it could be no more than a sketch--would be necessarily superficial and +probably misleading. In the second place, even a sketch of primitive +religion in general ought to presuppose in the sketcher a fairly +complete knowledge of the whole subject, so that all the parts may +appear, not indeed in detail, but in their proper relative proportions. +Now though I have given altogether a good deal of time to the study of +primitive religion, I am far from having studied it in all its branches, +and I could not trust myself to give an accurate general account of it +even in outline; were I to attempt such a thing I should almost +certainly fall, through sheer ignorance or inadvertence, into the +mistake of exaggerating some features, unduly diminishing others, and +omitting certain essential features altogether. Hence it seems to me +better not to commit myself to so ambitious an enterprise but to confine +myself in my lectures, as I have always done in my writings, to a +comparatively minute investigation of certain special aspects or forms +of primitive religion rather than attempt to embrace in a general view +the whole of that large subject. Such a relatively detailed study of a +single compartment may be less attractive and more tedious than a +bird's-eye view of a wider area; but in the end it may perhaps prove a +more solid contribution to knowledge. + +[Sidenote: Introductory observations. The question of a supernatural +revelation excluded.] + +But before I come to details I wish to make a few general introductory +remarks, and in particular to define some of the terms which I shall +have occasion to use in the lectures. I have defined natural theology as +that reasoned knowledge of a God or gods which man may be supposed, +whether rightly or wrongly, capable of attaining to by the exercise of +his natural faculties alone. Whether there ever has been or can be a +special miraculous revelation of God to man through channels different +from those through which all other human knowledge is derived, is a +question which does not concern us in these lectures; indeed it is +expressly excluded from their scope by the will of the founder, who +directed the lecturers to treat the subject "as a strictly natural +science," "without reference to or reliance upon any supposed special +exceptional or so-called miraculous revelation." Accordingly, in +compliance with these directions, I dismiss at the outset the question +of a revelation, and shall limit myself strictly to natural theology in +the sense in which I have defined it. + +[Sidenote: Theology and religion, how related to each other.] + +I have called natural theology a reasoned knowledge of a God or gods to +distinguish it from that simple and comparatively, though I believe +never absolutely, unreasoning faith in God which suffices for the +practice of religion. For theology is at once more and less than +religion: if on the one hand it includes a more complete acquaintance +with the grounds of religious belief than is essential to religion, on +the other hand it excludes the observance of those practical duties +which are indispensable to any religion worthy of the name. In short, +whereas theology is purely theoretical, religion is both theoretical and +practical, though the theoretical part of it need not be so highly +developed as in theology. But while the subject of the lectures is, +strictly speaking, natural theology rather than natural religion, I +think it would be not only difficult but undesirable to confine our +attention to the purely theological or theoretical part of natural +religion: in all religions, and not least in the undeveloped savage +religions with which we shall deal, theory and practice fuse with and +interact on each other too closely to be forcibly disjoined and handled +apart. Hence throughout the lectures I shall not scruple to refer +constantly to religious practice as well as to religious theory, without +feeling that thereby I am transgressing the proper limits of my subject. + +[Sidenote: The term God defined.] + +As theology is not only by definition but by etymology a reasoned +knowledge or theory of a God or gods, it becomes desirable, before we +proceed further, to define the sense in which I understand and shall +employ the word God. That sense is neither novel nor abstruse; it is +simply the sense which I believe the generality of mankind attach to the +term. By a God I understand a superhuman and supernatural being, of a +spiritual and personal nature, who controls the world or some part of it +on the whole for good, and who is endowed with intellectual faculties, +moral feelings, and active powers, which we can only conceive on the +analogy of human faculties, feelings, and activities, though we are +bound to suppose that in the divine nature they exist in higher degrees, +perhaps in infinitely higher degrees, than the corresponding faculties, +feelings, and activities of man. In short, by a God I mean a beneficent +supernatural spirit, the ruler of the world or of some part of it, who +resembles man in nature though he excels him in knowledge, goodness, and +power. This is, I think, the sense in which the ordinary man speaks of a +God, and I believe that he is right in so doing. I am aware that it has +been not unusual, especially perhaps of late years, to apply the name of +God to very different conceptions, to empty it of all implication of +personality, and to reduce it to signifying something very large and +very vague, such as the Infinite or the Absolute (whatever these hard +words may signify), the great First Cause, the Universal Substance, "the +stream of tendency by which all things seek to fulfil the law of their +being,"[1] and so forth. Now without expressing any opinion as to the +truth or falsehood of the views implied by such applications of the name +of God, I cannot but regard them all as illegitimate extensions of the +term, in short as an abuse of language, and I venture to protest against +it in the interest not only of verbal accuracy but of clear thinking, +because it is apt to conceal from ourselves and others a real and very +important change of thought: in particular it may lead many to imagine +that the persons who use the name of God in one or other of these +extended senses retain certain theological opinions which they may in +fact have long abandoned. Thus the misuse of the name of God may +resemble the stratagem in war of putting up dummies to make an enemy +imagine that a fort is still held after it has been evacuated by the +garrison. I am far from alleging or insinuating that the illegitimate +extension of the divine name is deliberately employed by theologians or +others for the purpose of masking a change of front; but that it may +have that effect seems at least possible. And as we cannot use words in +wrong senses without running a serious risk of deceiving ourselves as +well as others, it appears better on all accounts to adhere strictly to +the common meaning of the name of God as signifying a powerful +supernatural and on the whole beneficent spirit, akin in nature to man; +and if any of us have ceased to believe in such a being we should +refrain from applying the old word to the new faith, and should find +some other and more appropriate term to express our meaning. At all +events, speaking for myself, I intend to use the name of God +consistently in the familiar sense, and I would beg my hearers to bear +this steadily in mind. + +[Sidenote: Monotheism and polytheism.] + +You will have observed that I have spoken of natural theology as a +reasoned knowledge of a God or gods. There is indeed nothing in the +definition of God which I have adopted to imply that he is unique, in +other words, that there is only one God rather than several or many +gods. It is true that modern European thinkers, bred in a monotheistic +religion, commonly overlook polytheism as a crude theory unworthy the +serious attention of philosophers; in short, the champions and the +assailants of religion in Europe alike for the most part tacitly assume +that there is either one God or none. Yet some highly civilised nations +of antiquity and of modern times, such as the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, +and Romans, and the modern Chinese and Hindoos, have accepted the +polytheistic explanation of the world, and as no reasonable man will +deny the philosophical subtlety of the Greeks and the Hindoos, to say +nothing of the rest, a theory of the universe which has commended itself +to them deserves perhaps more consideration than it has commonly +received from Western philosophers; certainly it cannot be ignored in an +historical enquiry into the origin of religion. + +[Sidenote: A natural knowledge of God can only be acquired by +experience.] + +If there is such a thing as natural theology, that is, a knowledge of a +God or gods acquired by our natural faculties alone without the aid of a +special revelation, it follows that it must be obtained by one or other +of the methods by which all our natural knowledge is conveyed to us. +Roughly speaking, these methods are two in number, namely, intuition and +experience. Now if we ask ourselves, Do we know God intuitively in the +same sense in which we know intuitively our own sensations and the +simplest truths of mathematics, I think most men will acknowledge that +they do not. It is true that according to Berkeley the world exists only +as it is perceived, and that our perceptions of it are produced by the +immediate action of God on our minds, so that everything we perceive +might be described, if not as an idea in the mind of the deity, at least +as a direct emanation from him. On this theory we might in a sense be +said to have an immediate knowledge of God. But Berkeley's theory has +found little acceptance, so far as I know, even among philosophers; and +even if we regarded it as true, we should still have to admit that the +knowledge of God implied by it is inferential rather than intuitive in +the strict sense of the word: we infer God to be the cause of our +perceptions rather than identify him with the perceptions themselves. On +the whole, then, I conclude that man, or at all events the ordinary man, +has, properly speaking, no immediate or intuitive knowledge of God, and +that, if he obtains, without the aid of revelation, any knowledge of him +at all, it can only be through the other natural channel of knowledge, +that is, through experience. + +[Sidenote: The nature of experience.] + +In experience, as distinct from intuition, we reach our conclusions not +directly through simple contemplation of the particular sensations, +emotions, or ideas of which we are at the moment conscious, but +indirectly by calling up before the imagination and comparing with each +other our memories of a variety of sensations, emotions, or ideas of +which we have been conscious in the past, and by selecting or +abstracting from the mental images so compared the points in which they +resemble each other. The points of resemblance thus selected or +abstracted from a number of particulars compose what we call an abstract +or general idea, and from a comparison of such abstract or general ideas +with each other we arrive at general conclusions, which define the +relations of the ideas to each other. Experience in general consists in +the whole body of conclusions thus deduced from a comparison of all the +particular sensations, emotions, and ideas which make up the conscious +life of the individual. Hence in order to constitute experience the mind +has to perform a more or less complex series of operations, which are +commonly referred to certain mental faculties, such as memory, +imagination, and judgment. This analysis of experience does not pretend +to be philosophically complete or exact; but perhaps it is sufficiently +accurate for the purpose of these lectures, the scope of which is not +philosophical but historical. + +[Sidenote: Two kinds of experience, the experience of our own mind and +the experience of an external world.] + +Now experience in the widest sense of the word may be conveniently +distinguished into two sorts, the experience of our own mind and the +experience of an external world. The distinction is indeed, like the +others with which I am dealing at present, rather practically useful +than theoretically sound; certainly it would not be granted by all +philosophers, for many of them have held that we neither have nor with +our present faculties can possibly attain to any immediate knowledge or +perception of an external world, we merely infer its existence from our +own sensations, which are as strictly a part of our mind as the ideas +and emotions of our waking life or the visions of sleep. According to +them, the existence of matter or of an external world is, so far as we +are concerned, merely an hypothesis devised to explain the order of our +sensations; it never has been perceived by any man, woman, or child who +ever lived on earth; we have and can have no immediate knowledge or +perception of anything but the states and operations of our own mind. On +this theory what we call the world, with all its supposed infinitudes of +space and time, its systems of suns and planets, its seemingly endless +forms of inorganic matter and organic life, shrivels up, on a close +inspection, into a fleeting, a momentary figment of thought. It is like +one of those glass baubles, iridescent with a thousand varied and +delicate hues, which a single touch suffices to shatter into dust. The +philosopher, like the sorcerer, has but to wave his magic wand, + + "And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, + The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, + The solemn temples, the great globe itself, + Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve + And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, + Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff + As dreams are made on, and our little life + Is rounded with a sleep." + +[Sidenote: The distinction rather popular and convenient than +philosophically strict.] + +It would be beyond my province, even if it were within my power, to +discuss these airy speculations, and thereby to descend into the arena +where for ages subtle dialecticians have battled with each other over +the reality or unreality of an external world. For my purpose it +suffices to adopt the popular and convenient distinction of mind and +matter and hence to divide experience into two sorts, an inward +experience of the acts and states of our own minds, and an outward +experience of the acts and states of that physical universe by which we +seem to be surrounded. + +[Sidenote: The knowledge or conception of God has been attained both by +inward and by outward experience.] + +Now if a natural knowledge of God is only possible by means of +experience, in other words, by a process of reasoning based on +observation, it will follow that such a knowledge may conceivably be +acquired either by the way of inward or of outward experience; in other +words, it may be attained either by reflecting on the processes of our +own minds or by observing the processes of external nature. In point of +fact, if we survey the history of thought, mankind appears to have +arrived at a knowledge, or at all events at a conception, of deity by +both these roads. Let me say a few words as to the two roads which lead, +or seem to lead, man to God. + +[Sidenote: The conception of God is attained by inward experience, that +is, by the observation of certain remarkable thoughts and feelings which +are attributed to the inspiration of a deity. Practical dangers of the +theory of inspiration.] + +In the first place, then, men in many lands and many ages have +experienced certain extraordinary emotions and entertained certain +extraordinary ideas, which, unable to account for them by reference to +the ordinary forms of experience, they have set down to the direct +action of a powerful spirit or deity working on their minds and even +entering into and taking possession of their bodies; and in this excited +state--for violent excitement is characteristic of these +manifestations--the patient believes himself to be possessed of +supernatural knowledge and supernatural power. This real or supposed +mode of apprehending a divine spirit and entering into communion with +it, is commonly and appropriately called inspiration. The phenomenon is +familiar to us from the example of the Hebrew nation, who believed that +their prophets were thus inspired by the deity, and that their sacred +books were regularly composed under the divine afflatus. The belief is +by no means singular, indeed it appears to be world-wide; for it would +be hard to point to any race of men among whom instances of such +inspiration have not been reported; and the more ignorant and savage the +race the more numerous, to judge by the reports, are the cases of +inspiration. Volumes might be filled with examples, but through the +spread of information as to the lower races in recent years the topic +has become so familiar that I need not stop to illustrate it by +instances. I will merely say that among savages the theory of +inspiration or possession is commonly invoked to explain all abnormal +mental states, particularly insanity or conditions of mind bordering on +it, so that persons more or less crazed in their wits, and particularly +hysterical or epileptic patients, are for that very reason thought to be +peculiarly favoured by the spirits and are therefore consulted as +oracles, their wild and whirling words passing for the revelations of a +higher power, whether a god or a ghost, who considerately screens his +too dazzling light under a thick veil of dark sayings and mysterious +ejaculations.[2] I need hardly point out the very serious dangers which +menace any society where such theories are commonly held and acted upon. +If the decisions of a whole community in matters of the gravest +importance are left to turn on the wayward fancies, the whims and +vagaries of the insane or the semi-insane, what are likely to be the +consequences to the commonwealth? What, for example, can be expected to +result from a war entered upon at such dictation and waged under such +auspices? Are cattle-breeding, agriculture, commerce, all the arts of +life on which a people depend for their subsistence, likely to thrive +when they are directed by the ravings of epilepsy or the drivellings of +hysteria? Defeat in battle, conquest by enemies, death by famine and +widespread disease, these and a thousand other lesser evils threaten the +blind people who commit themselves to such blind guides. The history of +savage and barbarous tribes, could we follow it throughout, might +furnish us with a thousand warning instances of the fatal effects of +carrying out this crude theory of inspiration to its logical +conclusions; and if we hear less than might be expected of such +instances, it is probably because the tribes who consistently acted up +to their beliefs have thereby wiped themselves out of existence: they +have perished the victims of their folly and left no record behind. I +believe that historians have not yet reckoned sufficiently with the +disastrous influence which this worship of insanity,--for it is often +nothing less--has exercised on the fortunes of peoples and on the +development or decay of their institutions. + +[Sidenote: The belief in inspiration leads to the worship of living men +as gods. Outward experience as a source of the idea of God.] + +To a certain extent, however, the evil has provided its own remedy. For +men of strong heads and ambitious temper, perceiving the exorbitant +power which a belief in inspiration places in the hands of the +feeble-minded, have often feigned to be similarly afflicted, and trading +on their reputation for imbecility, or rather inspiration, have acquired +an authority over their fellows which, though they have often abused it +for vulgar ends, they have sometimes exerted for good, as for example by +giving sound advice in matters of public concern, applying salutary +remedies to the sick, and detecting and punishing crime, whereby they +have helped to preserve the commonwealth, to alleviate suffering, and to +cement that respect for law and order which is essential to the +stability of society, and without which any community must fall to +pieces like a house of cards. These great services have been rendered to +the cause of civilisation and progress by the class of men who in +primitive society are variously known as medicine-men, magicians, +sorcerers, diviners, soothsayers, and so forth. Sometimes the respect +which they have gained by the exercise of their profession has won for +them political as well as spiritual or ghostly authority; in short, from +being simple medicine-men or sorcerers they have grown into chiefs and +kings. When such men, seated on the throne of state, retain their old +reputation for being the vehicles of a divine spirit, they may be +worshipped in the character of gods as well as revered in the capacity +of kings; and thus exerting a two-fold sway over the minds of men they +possess a most potent instrument for elevating or depressing the +fortunes of their worshippers and subjects. In this way the old savage +notion of inspiration or possession gradually develops into the doctrine +of the divinity of kings, which after a long period of florescence +dwindles away into the modest theory that kings reign by divine right, a +theory familiar to our ancestors not long ago, and perhaps not wholly +obsolete among us even now. However, inspired men need not always +blossom out into divine kings; they may, and often do, remain in the +chrysalis state of simple deities revered by their simple worshippers, +their brows encircled indeed with a halo of divinity but not weighted +with the more solid substance of a kingly crown. Thus certain +extraordinary mental states, which those who experience and those who +witness them cannot account for in any other way, are often explained by +the supposed interposition of a spirit or deity. This, therefore, is one +of the two forms of experience by which men attain, or imagine that they +attain, to a knowledge of God and a communion with him. It is what I +have called the road of inward experience. Let us now glance at the +other form of experience which leads, or seems to lead, to the same +goal. It is what I have called the road of outward experience. + +[Sidenote: Tendency of the mind to search for causes, and the necessity +for their discovery.] + +When we contemplate the seemingly infinite variety, the endless +succession, of events that pass under our observation in what we call +the external world, we are led by an irresistible tendency to trace what +we call a causal connexion between them. The tendency to discover the +causes of things appears indeed to be innate in the constitution of our +minds and indispensable to our continued existence. It is the link that +arrests and colligates into convenient bundles the mass of particulars +drifting pell-mell past on the stream of sensation; it is the cement +that binds into an edifice seemingly of adamant the loose sand of +isolated perceptions. Deprived of the knowledge which this tendency +procures for us we should be powerless to foresee the succession of +phenomena and so to adapt ourselves to it. We should be bewildered by +the apparent disorder and confusion of everything, we should toss on a +sea without a rudder, we should wander in an endless maze without a +clue, and finding no way out of it, or, in plain words, unable to avoid +a single one of the dangers which menace us at every turn, we should +inevitably perish. Accordingly the propensity to search for causes is +characteristic of man in all ages and at all levels of culture, though +without doubt it is far more highly developed in civilised than in +savage communities. Among savages it is more or less unconscious and +instinctive; among civilised men it is deliberately cultivated and +rewarded at least by the applause of their fellows, by the dignity, if +not by the more solid recompenses, of learning. Indeed as civilisation +progresses the enquiry into causes tends to absorb more and more of the +highest intellectual energies of a people; and an ever greater number of +men, renouncing the bustle, the pleasures, and the ambitions of an +active life, devote themselves exclusively to the pursuit of abstract +truth; they set themselves to discover the causes of things, to trace +the regularity and order that may be supposed to underlie the seemingly +irregular, confused, and arbitrary sequence of phenomena. Unquestionably +the progress of civilisation owes much to the sustained efforts of such +men, and if of late years and within our own memory the pace of progress +has sensibly quickened, we shall perhaps not err in supposing that some +part at least of the acceleration may be accounted for by an increase in +the number of lifelong students. + +[Sidenote: The idea of cause is simply that of invariable sequence +suggested by the observation of many particular cases of sequence.] + +Now when we analyse the conception of a cause to the bottom, we find as +the last residuum in our crucible nothing but what Hume found there long +ago, and that is simply the idea of invariable sequence. Whenever we say +that something is the cause of something else, all that we really mean +is that the latter is invariably preceded by the former, so that +whenever we find the second, which we call the effect, we may infer that +the first, which we call the cause, has gone before it. All such +inferences from effects to causes are based on experience; having +observed a certain sequence of events a certain number of times, we +conclude that the events are so conjoined that the latter cannot occur +without the previous occurrence of the former. A single case of two +events following each other could not of itself suggest that the one +event is the cause of the other, since there is no necessary link +between them in the mind; the sequence has to be repeated more or less +frequently before we infer a causal connexion between the two; and this +inference rests simply on that association of ideas which is established +in our mind by the reiterated observation of the things. Once the ideas +are by dint of repetition firmly welded together, the one by sheer force +of habit calls up the other, and we say that the two things which are +represented by those ideas stand to each other in the relation of cause +and effect. The notion of causality is in short only one particular case +of the association of ideas. Thus all reasoning as to causes implies +previous observation: we reason from the observed to the unobserved, +from the known to the unknown; and the wider the range of our +observation and knowledge, the greater the probability that our +reasoning will be correct. + +[Sidenote: The savage draws his ideas of natural causation from +observation of himself. Hence he explains the phenomena of nature by +supposing that they are produced by beings like himself. These beings +may be called spirits or gods of nature to distinguish them from living +human gods.] + +All this is as true of the savage as of the civilised man. He too +argues, and indeed can only argue on the basis of experience from the +known to the unknown, from the observed to the hypothetical. But the +range of his experience is comparatively narrow, and accordingly his +inferences from it often appear to civilised men, with their wider +knowledge, to be palpably false and absurd. This holds good most +obviously in regard to his observation of external nature. While he +often knows a good deal about the natural objects, whether animals, +plants, or inanimate things, on which he is immediately dependent for +his subsistence, the extent of country with which he is acquainted is +commonly but small, and he has little or no opportunity of correcting +the conclusions which he bases on his observation of it by a comparison +with other parts of the world. But if he knows little of the outer +world, he is necessarily somewhat better acquainted with his own inner +life, with his sensations and ideas, his emotions, appetites, and +desires. Accordingly it is natural enough that when he seeks to discover +the causes of events in the external world, he should, arguing from +experience, imagine that they are produced by the actions of invisible +beings like himself, who behind the veil of nature pull the strings that +set the vast machinery in motion. For example, he knows by experience +that he can make sparks fly by knocking two flints against each other; +what more natural, therefore, than that he should imagine the great +sparks which we call lightning to be made in the same way by somebody up +aloft, and that when he finds chipped flints on the ground he should +take them for thunder-stones dropped by the maker of thunder and +lightning from the clouds?[3] Thus arguing from his limited experience +primitive man creates a multitude of spirits or gods in his own likeness +to explain the succession of phenomena in nature of whose true causes he +is ignorant; in short he personifies the phenomena as powerful +anthropomorphic spirits, and believing himself to be more or less +dependent on their good will he woos their favour by prayer and +sacrifice. This personification of the various aspects of external +nature is one of the most fruitful sources of polytheism. The spirits +and gods created by this train of thought may be called spirits and gods +of nature to distinguish them from the human gods, by which I mean the +living men and women who are believed by their worshippers to be +inspired or possessed by a divine spirit. + +[Sidenote: In time men reject polytheism as an explanation of natural +processes and substitute certain abstract ideas of ethers, atoms, +molecules, and so on.] + +But as time goes on and men learn more about nature, they commonly +become dissatisfied with polytheism as an explanation of the world and +gradually discard it. From one department of nature after another the +gods are reluctantly or contemptuously dismissed and their provinces +committed to the care of certain abstract ideas of ethers, atoms, +molecules, and so forth, which, though just as imperceptible to human +senses as their divine predecessors, are judged by prevailing opinion to +discharge their duties with greater regularity and despatch, and are +accordingly firmly installed on the vacant thrones amid the general +applause of the more enlightened portion of mankind. Thus instead of +being peopled with a noisy bustling crowd of full-blooded and +picturesque deities, clothed in the graceful form and animated with the +warm passions of humanity, the universe outside the narrow circle of our +consciousness is now conceived as absolutely silent, colourless, and +deserted. The cheerful sounds which we hear, the bright hues which we +see, have no existence, we are told, in the external world: the voices +of friends, the harmonies of music, the chime of falling waters, the +solemn roll of ocean, the silver splendour of the moon, the golden +glories of sunset, the verdure of summer woods, and the hectic tints of +autumn--all these subsist only in our own minds, and if we imagine them +to have any reality elsewhere, we deceive ourselves. In fact the whole +external world as perceived by us is one great illusion: if we gave the +reins to fancy we might call it a mirage, a piece of witchery, conjured +up by the spells of some unknown magician to bewilder poor ignorant +humanity. Outside of ourselves there stretches away on every side an +infinitude of space without sound, without light, without colour, a +solitude traversed only in every direction by an inconceivably complex +web of silent and impersonal forces. That, if I understand it aright, is +the general conception of the world which modern science has substituted +for polytheism. + +[Sidenote: But while they commonly discard the hypothesis of a deity as +an explanation of all the particular processes of nature, they retain it +as an explanation of nature in general.] + +When philosophy and science by their combined efforts have ejected gods +and goddesses from all the subordinate posts of nature, it might perhaps +be expected that they would have no further occasion for the services of +a deity, and that having relieved him of all his particular functions +they would have arranged for the creation and general maintenance of the +universe without him by handing over these important offices to an +efficient staff of those ethers, atoms, corpuscles, and so forth, which +had already proved themselves so punctual in the discharge of the minor +duties entrusted to them. Nor, indeed, is this expectation altogether +disappointed. A number of atheistical philosophers have courageously +come forward and assured us that the hypothesis of a deity as the +creator and preserver of the universe is quite superfluous, and that all +things came into being or have existed from eternity without the help of +any divine spirit, and that they will continue to exist without it to +the end, if end indeed there is to be. But on the whole these daring +speculators appear to be in a minority. The general opinion of educated +people at the present day, could we ascertain it, would probably be +found to incline to the conclusion that, though every department of +nature is now worked by impersonal material forces alone, the universe +as a whole was created and is still maintained by a great supernatural +spirit whom we call God. Thus in Europe and in the countries which have +borrowed their civilisation, their philosophy, and their religion from +it, the central problem of natural theology has narrowed itself down to +the question, Is there one God or none? It is a profound question, and I +for one profess myself unable to answer it. + +[Sidenote: Whether attained by inward or outward experience, the idea of +God is regularly that of a cause inferred, not perceived.] + +If this brief sketch of the history of natural theology is correct, man +has by the exercise of his natural faculties alone, without the help of +revelation, attained to a knowledge or at least to a conception of God +in one of two ways, either by meditating on the operations of his own +mind, or by observing the processes of external nature: inward +experience and outward experience have conducted him by different roads +to the same goal. By whichever of them the conception has been reached, +it is regularly employed to explain the causal connexion of things, +whether the things to be explained are the ideas and emotions of man +himself or the changes in the physical world outside of him. In short, a +God is always brought in to play the part of a cause; it is the +imperious need of tracing the causes of events which has driven man to +discover or invent a deity. Now causes may be arranged in two classes +according as they are perceived or unperceived by the senses. For +example, when we see the impact of a billiard cue on a billiard ball +followed immediately by the motion of the ball, we say that the impact +is the cause of the motion. In this case we perceive the cause as well +as the effect. But, when we see an apple fall from a tree to the ground, +we say that the cause of the fall is the force of gravitation exercised +by the superior mass of the earth on the inferior mass of the apple. In +this case, though we perceive the effect, we do not perceive the cause, +we only infer it by a process of reasoning from experience. Causes of +the latter sort may be called inferential or hypothetical causes to +distinguish them from those which are perceived. Of the two classes of +causes a deity belongs in general, if not universally, to the second, +that is, to the inferential or hypothetical causes; for as a rule at all +events his existence is not perceived by our senses but inferred by our +reason. To say that he has never appeared in visible and tangible form +to men would be to beg the question; it would be to make an assertion +which is incapable of proof and which is contradicted by a multitude of +contrary affirmations recorded in the traditions or the sacred books of +many races; but without being rash we may perhaps say that such +appearances, if they ever took place, belong to a past order of events +and need hardly be reckoned with at the present time. For all practical +purposes, therefore, God is now a purely inferential or hypothetical +cause; he may be invoked to explain either our own thoughts and +feelings, our impulses and emotions, or the manifold states and +processes of external nature; he may be viewed either as the inspirer of +the one or the creator and preserver of the other; and according as he +is mainly regarded from the one point of view or the other, the +conception of the divine nature tends to beget one of two very different +types of piety. To the man who traces the finger of God in the workings +of his own mind, the deity appears to be far closer than he seems to the +man who only infers the divine existence from the marvellous order, +harmony, and beauty of the external world; and we need not wonder that +the faith of the former is of a more fervent temper and supplies him +with more powerful incentives to a life of active devotion than the calm +and rational faith of the latter. We may conjecture that the piety of +most great religious reformers has belonged to the former rather than to +the latter type; in other words, that they have believed in God because +they felt, or imagined that they felt, him stirring in their own hearts +rather than because they discerned the handiwork of a divine artificer +in the wonderful mechanism of nature. + +[Sidenote: Besides the two sorts of gods already distinguished, namely +natural gods and living human gods, there is a third sort which has +played an important part in history, namely, the spirits of deified dead +men. Euhemerism.] + +Thus far I have distinguished two sorts of gods whom man discovers or +creates for himself by the exercise of his unaided faculties, to wit +natural gods, whom he infers from his observation of external nature, +and human gods or inspired men, whom he recognises by virtue of certain +extraordinary mental manifestations in himself or in others. But there +is another class of human gods which I have not yet mentioned and which +has played a very important part in the evolution of theology. I mean +the deified spirits of dead men. To judge by the accounts we possess not +only of savage and barbarous tribes but of some highly civilised +peoples, the worship of the human dead has been one of the commonest and +most influential forms of natural religion, perhaps indeed the commonest +and most influential of all. Obviously it rests on the supposition that +the human personality in some form, whether we call it a soul, a spirit, +a ghost, or what not, can survive death and thereafter continue for a +longer or shorter time to exercise great power for good or evil over the +destinies of the living, who are therefore compelled to propitiate the +shades of the dead out of a regard for their own safety and well-being. +This belief in the survival of the human spirit after death is +world-wide; it is found among men in all stages of culture from the +lowest to the highest; we need not wonder therefore that the custom of +propitiating the ghosts or souls of the departed should be world-wide +also. No doubt the degree of attention paid to ghosts is not the same in +all cases; it varies with the particular degree of power attributed to +each of them; the spirits of men who for any reason were much feared in +their lifetime, such as mighty warriors, chiefs, and kings, are more +revered and receive far more marks of homage than the spirits of common +men; and it is only when this reverence and homage are carried to a very +high pitch that they can properly be described as a deification of the +dead. But that dead men have thus been raised to the rank of deities in +many lands, there is abundant evidence to prove. And quite apart from +the worship paid to those spirits which are admitted by their +worshippers to have once animated the bodies of living men, there is +good reason to suspect that many gods, who rank as purely mythical +beings, were once men of flesh and blood, though their true history has +passed out of memory or rather been transformed by legend into a myth, +which veils more or less completely the real character of the imaginary +deity. The theory that most or all gods originated after this fashion, +in other words, that the worship of the gods is little or nothing but +the worship of dead men, is known as Euhemerism from Euhemerus, the +ancient Greek writer who propounded it. Regarded as a universal +explanation of the belief in gods it is certainly false; regarded as a +partial explanation of the belief it is unquestionably true; and perhaps +we may even go further and say, that the more we penetrate into the +inner history of natural religion, the larger is seen to be the element +of truth contained in Euhemerism. For the more closely we look at many +deities of natural religion, the more distinctly do we seem to perceive, +under the quaint or splendid pall which the mythical fancy has wrapt +round their stately figures, the familiar features of real men, who once +shared the common joys and the common sorrows of humanity, who trod +life's common road to the common end. + +[Sidenote: The deification of dead men presupposes the immortality of +the human soul, or rather its survival for a longer or shorter time +after death.] + +When we ask how it comes about that dead men have so often been raised +to the rank of divinities, the first thing to be observed is that all +such deifications must, if our theory is correct, be inferences drawn +from experience of some sort; they must be hypotheses devised to explain +the unperceived causes of certain phenomena, whether of the human mind +or of external nature. All of them imply, as I have said, a belief that +the conscious human personality, call it the soul, the spirit, or what +you please, can survive the body and continue to exist in a disembodied +state with unabated or even greatly increased powers for good or evil. +This faith in the survival of personality after death may for the sake +of brevity be called a faith in immortality, though the term immortality +is not strictly correct, since it seems to imply eternal duration, +whereas the idea of eternity is hardly intelligible to many primitive +peoples, who nevertheless firmly believe in the continued existence, for +a longer or shorter time, of the human spirit after the dissolution of +the body. Now the faith in the immortality of the soul or, to speak more +correctly, in the continued existence of conscious human personality +after death, is, as I remarked before, exceedingly common among men at +all levels of intellectual evolution from the lowest upwards; certainly +it is not peculiar to adherents of the higher religions, but is held as +an unquestionable truth by at least the great majority of savage and +barbarous peoples as to whose ideas we possess accurate information; +indeed it might be hard to point to any single tribe of men, however +savage, of whom we could say with certainty that the faith is totally +wanting among them. + +[Sidenote: The question of immortality is a fundamental problem of +natural theology in the wider sense.] + +Hence if we are to explain the deification of dead men, we must first +explain the widespread belief in immortality; we must answer the +question, how does it happen that men in all countries and at all stages +of ignorance or knowledge so commonly suppose that when they die their +consciousness will still persist for an indefinite time after the decay +of the body? To answer that question is one of the fundamental problems +of natural theology, not indeed in the full sense of the word theology, +if we confine the term strictly to a reasoned knowledge of a God; for +the example of Buddhism proves that a belief in the existence of the +human soul after death is quite compatible with disbelief in a deity. +But if we may use, as I think we may, the phrase natural theology in an +extended sense to cover theories which, though they do not in themselves +affirm the existence of a God, nevertheless appear to be one of the +deepest and most fruitful sources of the belief in his reality, then we +may legitimately say that the doctrine of human immortality does fall +within the scope of natural theology. What then is its origin? How is it +that men so commonly believe themselves to be immortal? + +[Sidenote: If there is any natural knowledge of immortality, it must be +acquired either by intuition or experience; it is apparently not given +by intuition; hence it must be acquired, if at all, by experience.] + +If there is any natural knowledge of human immortality, it must be +acquired either by intuition or by experience; there is no other way. +Now whether other men from a simple contemplation of their own nature, +quite apart from reasoning, know or believe themselves intuitively to be +immortal, I cannot say; but I can say with some confidence that for +myself I have no such intuition whatever of my own immortality, and that +if I am left to the resources of my natural faculties alone, I can as +little affirm the certain or probable existence of my personality after +death as I can affirm the certain or probable existence of a personal +God. And I am bold enough to suspect that if men could analyse their own +ideas, they would generally find themselves to be in a similar +predicament as to both these profound topics. Hence I incline to lay it +down as a probable proposition that men as a rule have no intuitive +knowledge of their own immortality, and that if there is any natural +knowledge of such a thing it can only be acquired by a process of +reasoning from experience.[4] + +[Sidenote: The idea of immortality seems to have been suggested to man +both by his inward and his outward experience, notably by dreams, which +are a case of inward experience.] + +What then is the kind of experience from which the theory of human +immortality is deduced? Is it our experience of the operations of our +own minds? or is it our experience of external nature? As a matter of +historical fact--and you will remember that I am treating the question +purely from the historical standpoint--men seem to have inferred the +persistence of their personality after death both from the one kind of +experience and from the other, that is, both from the phenomena of their +inner life and from the phenomena of what we call the external world. +Thus the savage, with whose beliefs we are chiefly concerned in these +lectures, finds a very strong argument for immortality in the phenomena +of dreams, which are strictly a part of his inner life, though in his +ignorance he commonly fails to discriminate them from what we popularly +call waking realities. Hence when the images of persons whom he knows to +be dead appear to him in a dream, he naturally infers that these persons +still exist somewhere and somehow apart from their bodies, of the decay +or destruction of which he may have had ocular demonstration. How could +he see dead people, he asks, if they did not exist? To argue that they +have perished like their bodies is to contradict the plain evidence of +his senses; for to the savage still more than to the civilised man +seeing is believing; that he sees the dead only in dreams does not shake +his belief, since he thinks the appearances of dreams just as real as +the appearances of his waking hours. And once he has in this way gained +a conviction that the dead survive and can help or harm him, as they +seem to do in dreams, it is natural or necessary for him to extend the +theory to the occurrences of daily life, which, as I have said, he does +not sharply distinguish from the visions of slumber. He now explains +many of these occurrences and many of the processes of nature by the +direct interposition of the spirits of the departed; he traces their +invisible hand in many of the misfortunes and in some of the blessings +which befall him; for it is a common feature of the faith in ghosts, at +least among savages, that they are usually spiteful and mischievous, or +at least testy and petulant, more apt to injure than to benefit the +survivors. In that they resemble the personified spirits of nature, +which in the opinion of most savages appear to be generally tricky and +malignant beings, whose anger is dangerous and whose favour is courted +with fear and trembling. Thus even without the additional assurance +afforded by tales of apparitions and spectres, primitive man may come in +time to imagine the world around him to be more or less thickly peopled, +influenced, and even dominated by a countless multitude of spirits, +among whom the shades of past generations of men and women hold a very +prominent, often apparently the leading place. These spirits, powerful +to help or harm, he seeks either simply to avert, when he deems them +purely mischievous, or to appease and conciliate, when he supposes them +sufficiently good-natured to respond to his advances. In some such way +as this, arguing from the real but, as we think, misinterpreted +phenomena of dreams, the savage may arrive at a doctrine of human +immortality and from that at a worship of the dead. + +[Sidenote: It has also been suggested by the resemblance of the living +to the dead, which is a case of outward experience.] + +This explanation of the savage faith in immortality is neither novel nor +original: on the contrary it is perhaps the commonest and most familiar +that has yet been propounded. If it does not account for all the facts, +it probably accounts for many of them. At the same time I do not doubt +that many other inferences drawn from experiences of different kinds +have confirmed, even if they did not originally suggest, man's confident +belief in his own immortality. To take a single example of outward +experience, the resemblances which children often bear to deceased +kinsfolk appear to have prompted in the minds of many savages the notion +that the souls of these dead kinsfolk have been born again in their +descendants.[5] From a few cases of resemblances so explained it would +be easy to arrive at a general theory that all living persons are +animated by the souls of the dead; in other words, that the human spirit +survives death for an indefinite period, if not for eternity, during +which it undergoes a series of rebirths or reincarnations. However it +has been arrived at, this doctrine of the transmigration or +reincarnation of the soul is found among many tribes of savages; and +from what we know on the subject we seem to be justified in conjecturing +that at certain stages of mental and social evolution the belief in +metempsychosis has been far commoner and has exercised a far deeper +influence on the life and institutions of primitive man than the actual +evidence before us at present allows us positively to affirm. + +[Sidenote: The aim of these lectures is to collect a number of facts +illustrative of the belief in immortality and of the customs based on it +among some of the lower races.] + +Be that as it may--and I have no wish to dogmatise on so obscure a +topic--it is certain that a belief in the survival of the human +personality after death and the practice of a propitiation or worship of +the dead have prevailed very widely among mankind and have played a very +important part in the development of natural religion. While many +writers have duly recognised the high importance both of the belief and +of the worship, no one, so far as I know, has attempted systematically +to collect and arrange the facts which illustrate the prevalence of this +particular type of religion among the various races of mankind. A large +body of evidence lies to hand in the voluminous and rapidly increasing +literature of ethnology; but it is dispersed over an enormous number of +printed books and papers, to say nothing of the materials which still +remain buried either in manuscript or in the minds of men who possess +the requisite knowledge but have not yet committed it to writing. To +draw all those stores of information together and digest them into a +single treatise would be a herculean labour, from which even the most +industrious researcher into the dusty annals of the human past might +shrink dismayed. Certainly I shall make no attempt to perform such a +feat within the narrow compass of these lectures. But it seems to me +that I may make a useful, if a humble, contribution to the history of +religion by selecting a portion of the evidence and submitting it to my +hearers. For that purpose, instead of accumulating a mass of facts from +all the various races of mankind and then comparing them together, I +prefer to limit myself to a few races and to deal with each of them +separately, beginning with the lowest savages, about whom we possess +accurate information, and gradually ascending to peoples who stand +higher in the scale of culture. In short the method of treatment which I +shall adopt will be the descriptive rather than the comparative. I shall +not absolutely refrain from instituting comparisons between the customs +and beliefs of different races, but for the most part I shall content +myself with describing the customs and beliefs of each race separately +without reference to those of others. Each of the two methods, the +comparative and the descriptive, has its peculiar advantages and +disadvantages, and in my published writings I have followed now the one +method and now the other. The comparative method is unquestionably the +more attractive and stimulating, but it cannot be adopted without a good +deal of more or less conscious theorising, since every comparison +implicitly involves a theory. If we desire to exclude theories and +merely accumulate facts for the use of science, the descriptive method +is undoubtedly the better adapted for the arrangement of our materials: +it may not stimulate enquiry so powerfully, but it lays a more solid +foundation on which future enquirers may build. It is as a collection of +facts illustrative of the belief in immortality and of all the momentous +consequences which have flowed from that belief, that I desire the +following lectures to be regarded. They are intended to serve simply as +a document of religious history; they make no pretence to discuss +philosophically the truth of the beliefs and the morality of the +practices which will be passed under review. If any inferences can +indeed be drawn from the facts to the truth or falsehood of the beliefs +and to the moral worth or worthlessness of the practices, I prefer to +leave it to others more competent than myself to draw them. My sight is +not keen enough, my hand is not steady enough to load the scales and +hold the balance in so difficult and delicate an enquiry. + +[Footnote 1: Matthew Arnold, _Literature and Dogma_, ch. i., p. 31 +(Popular Edition, London, 1893).] + +[Footnote 2: For a single instance see L. Sternberg, "Die Religion der +Giljaken," _Archiv fuer Religionswissenschaft_, viii. (1905) pp. 462 +_sqq._, where the writer tells us that the Gilyaks have boundless faith +in the supernatural power of their shamans, and that the shamans are +nearly always persons who suffer from hysteria in one form or another.] + +[Footnote 3: As to the widespread belief that flint weapons are +thunderbolts see Sir E. B. Tylor, _Researches into the Early History of +Mankind_, Third Edition (London, 1878), pp. 223-227; Chr. Blinkenberg, +_The Thunderweapon in Religion and Folklore_ (Cambridge, 1911); W. W. +Skeat "Snakestones and Thunderbolts," _Folk-lore_, xxiii. (1912) pp. 60 +_sqq._; and the references in _The Magic Art and the Evolution of +Kings_, ii. 374.] + +[Footnote 4: Wordsworth, who argues strongly, almost passionately, for +"the consciousness of a principle of Immortality in the human soul," +admits that "the sense of Immortality, if not a coexistent and twin +birth with Reason, is among the earliest of her offspring." See his +_Essay upon Epitaphs_, appended to _The Excursion_ (_Poetical Works_, +London, 1832, vol. iv. pp. 336, 338). This somewhat hesitating admission +of the inferential nature of the belief in immortality carries all the +more weight because it is made by so warm an advocate of human +immortality.] + +[Footnote 5: For instance, the Kagoro of Northern Nigeria believe that +"a spirit may transmigrate into the body of a descendant born +afterwards, male or female; in fact, this is common, as is proved by the +likeness of children to their parents or grand-parents, and it is lucky, +for the ghost has returned, and has no longer any power to frighten the +relatives until the new body dies, and it is free again" (Major A. J. N. +Tremearne, "Notes on some Nigerian Head-hunters," _Journal of the R. +Anthropological Institute_, xlii. (1912) p. 159). Compare _Taboo and the +Perils of the Soul_, pp. 88 _sq._; _The Dying God_, p. 287 (p. 288, +Second Impression).] + + + + +LECTURE II + +THE SAVAGE CONCEPTION OF DEATH + + +[Sidenote: The subject of these lectures is the belief in immortality +and the worship of the dead.] + +Last day I explained the subject of which I propose to treat and the +method which I intend to follow in these lectures. I shall describe the +belief in immortality, or rather in the continued existence of the human +soul after death, as that belief is found among certain of the lower +races, and I shall give some account of the religion which has been +based upon it. That religion is in brief a propitiation or worship of +the human dead, who according to the degree of power ascribed to them by +the living are supposed to vary in dignity from the humble rank of a +mere common ghost up to the proud position of deity. The elements of +such a worship appear to exist among all races of men, though in some +they have been much more highly developed than in others. + +[Sidenote: Preliminary account of savage beliefs concerning the nature +and origin of death.] + +But before I address myself to the description of particular races, I +wish in this and the following lecture to give you some general account +of the beliefs of savages concerning the nature and origin of death. The +problem of death has very naturally exercised the minds of men in all +ages. Unlike so many problems which interest only a few solitary +thinkers this one concerns us all alike, since simpletons as well as +sages must die, and even the most heedless and feather-brained can +hardly help sometimes asking themselves what comes after death. The +question is therefore thrust in a practical, indeed importunate form on +our attention; and we need not wonder that in the long history of human +speculation some of the highest intellects should have occupied +themselves with it and sought to find an answer to the riddle. Some of +their solutions of the problem, though dressed out in all the beauty of +exquisite language and poetic imagery, singularly resemble the rude +guesses of savages. So little, it would seem, do the natural powers even +of the greatest minds avail to pierce the thick veil that hides the end +of life. + +[Sidenote: The problem of death is one of universal interest.] + +In saying that the problem is thrust home upon us all, I do not mean to +imply that all men are constantly or even often engaged in meditating on +the nature and origin of death. Far from it. Few people trouble +themselves about that or any other purely abstract question: the common +man would probably not give a straw for an answer to it. What he wants +to know, what we all want to know, is whether death is the end of all +things for the individual, whether our conscious personality perishes +with the body or survives it for a time or for eternity. That is the +enigma propounded to every human being who has been born into the world: +that is the door at which so many enquirers have knocked in vain. Stated +in this limited form the problem has indeed been of universal interest: +there is no race of men known to us which has not pondered the mystery +and arrived at some conclusions to which it more or less confidently +adheres. Not that all races have paid an equal attention to it. On some +it has weighed much more heavily than on others. While some races, like +some individuals, take death almost lightly, and are too busy with the +certainties of the present world to pay much heed to the uncertainties +of a world to come, the minds of others have dwelt on the prospect of a +life beyond the grave till the thought of it has risen with them to a +passion, almost to an obsession, and has begotten a contempt for the +fleeting joys of this ephemeral existence by comparison with the +hoped-for bliss of an eternal existence hereafter. To the sceptic, +examining the evidence for immortality by the cold light of reason, such +peoples and such individuals may seem to sacrifice the substance for the +shadow: to adopt a homely comparison, they are like the dog in the fable +who dropped the real leg of mutton, from his mouth in order to snap at +its reflection in the water. Be that as it may, where such beliefs and +hopes are entertained in full force, the whole activity of the mind and +the whole energy of the body are apt to be devoted to a preparation for +a blissful or at all events an untroubled eternity, and life becomes, in +the language of Plato, a meditation or practising of death. This +excessive preoccupation with a problematic future has been a fruitful +source of the most fatal aberrations both for nations and individuals. +In pursuit of these visionary aims the few short years of life have been +frittered away: wealth has been squandered: blood has been poured out in +torrents: the natural affections have been stifled; and the cheerful +serenity of reason has been exchanged for the melancholy gloom of +madness. + + "Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise! + One thing at least is certain--_This_ Life flies; + One thing is certain and the rest is Lies; + The Flower that once has blown for ever dies." + +[Sidenote: The belief in immortality general among mankind.] + +The question whether our conscious personality survives after death has +been answered by almost all races of men in the affirmative. On this +point sceptical or agnostic peoples are nearly, if not wholly, unknown. +Accordingly if abstract truth could be determined, like the gravest +issues of national policy, by a show of hands or a counting of heads, +the doctrine of human immortality, or at least of a life after death, +would deserve to rank among the most firmly established of truths; for +were the question put to the vote of the whole of mankind, there can be +no doubt that the ayes would have it by an overwhelming majority. The +few dissenters would be overborne; their voices would be drowned in the +general roar. For dissenters there have been even among savages. The +Tongans, for example, thought that only the souls of noblemen are saved, +the rest perish with their bodies.[6] However, this aristocratic view +has never been popular, and is not likely to find favour in our +democratic age. + +[Sidenote: Belief of many savages that they would never die if their +lives were not cut short by sorcery. Belief of the Abipones.] + +But many savage races not only believe in a life after death; they are +even of opinion that they would never die at all if it were not for the +maleficent arts of sorcerers who cut the vital thread prematurely short. +In other words, they disbelieve in what we call a natural death; they +think that all men are naturally immortal in this life, and that every +death which takes place is in fact a violent death inflicted by the hand +of a human enemy, though in many cases the foe is invisible and works +his fell purpose not by a sword or a spear but by magic. Thus the +Abipones, a now extinct tribe of horse Indians in Paraguay, used to +allege that they would be immortal and that none of them would ever die +if only the Spaniards and the sorcerers could be banished from America; +for they were in the habit of attributing every death, whatever its +cause, either to the baleful arts of sorcerers or to the firearms of the +Spaniards. Even if a man died riddled with wounds, with his bones +smashed, or through the exhaustion of old age, these Indians would all +deny that the wounds or old age was the cause of his death; they firmly +believed that the death was brought about by magic, and they would make +careful enquiries to discover the sorcerer who had cast the fatal spell +on their comrade. The relations of the deceased would move every stone +to detect and punish the culprit; and they imagined that they could do +this by cutting out the heart and tongue of the dead man and throwing +them to a dog to be devoured. They thought that this in some way killed +the wicked magician who had killed their friend. For example, it +happened that in a squabble between two men about a horse a third man +who tried to make peace between the disputants was mortally wounded by +their spears and died in a few days. To us it might seem obvious that +the peacemaker was killed by the spear-wounds which he had received, but +none of the Abipones would admit such a thing for a moment. They stoutly +affirmed that their comrade had been done to death by the magical arts +of some person unknown, and their suspicions fell on a certain old +woman, known to be a witch, to whom the deceased had lately refused to +give a water-melon, and who out of spite had killed him by her spells, +though he appeared to the European eye to have died of a spear-wound.[7] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the Araucanians.] + +Similarly the warlike Araucanians of Chili are said to disbelieve in +natural death. Even if a man dies peaceably at the age of a hundred, +they still think that he has been bewitched by an enemy. A diviner or +medicine-man is consulted in order to discover the culprit. Some of +these wizards enjoy a great reputation and the Indians will send a +hundred miles or more to get the opinion of an eminent member of the +profession. In such cases they submit to him some of the remains of the +dead man, for example, his eyebrows, his nails, his tongue, or the soles +of his feet, and from an examination of these relics the man of skill +pronounces on the author of the death. The person whom he accuses is +hunted down and killed, sometimes by fire, amid the yells of an enraged +crowd.[8] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the Bakairi.] + +When the eminent German anthropologist was questioning a Bakairi Indian +of Brazil as to the language of his tribe, he gave the sentence, "Every +man must die" to be translated into the Bakairi language. To his +astonishment, the Indian remained long silent. The same long pause +always occurred when an abstract proposition, with which he was +unfamiliar, was put before the Indian for translation into his native +tongue. On the present occasion the enquirer learned that the Indian has +no idea of necessity in the abstract, and in particular he has no +conception at all of the necessity of death. The cause of death, in his +opinion, is invariably an ill turn done by somebody to the deceased. If +there were only good men in the world, he thinks that there would be +neither sickness nor death. He knows nothing about a natural end of the +vital process; he believes that all sickness and disease are the effects +of witchcraft.[9] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the Indians of Guiana in sorcery as the cause of +sickness and death.] + +Speaking of the Indians of Guiana, an English missionary, who knew them +well, says that the worst feature in their character is their proneness +to blood revenge, "by which a succession of retaliatory murders may be +kept up for a long time. It is closely connected with their system of +sorcery, which we shall presently consider. A person dies,--and it is +supposed that an enemy has secured the agency of an evil spirit to +compass his death. Some sorcerer, employed by the friends of the +deceased for that purpose, pretends by his incantations to discover the +guilty individual or family, or at any rate to indicate the quarter +where they dwell. A near relative of the deceased is then charged with +the work of vengeance. He becomes a _kanaima_, or is supposed to be +possessed by the destroying spirit so called, and has to live apart, +according to strict rule, and submit to many privations, until the deed +of blood be accomplished. If the supposed offender cannot be slain, some +innocent member of his family--man, woman, or little child--must suffer +instead."[10] The same writer tells us that these Indians of Guiana +attribute sickness and death directly to the agency of certain evil +spirits called _yauhahu_, who delight in inflicting miseries upon +mankind. Pain, in the language of the Arawaks (one of the best-known +tribes of Guiana), is called _yauhahu simaira_ or "the evil spirit's +arrow."[11] It is these evil spirits whom wicked sorcerers employ to +accomplish their fell purpose. Thus while the demon is the direct cause +of sickness and death, the sorcerer who uses him as his tool is the +indirect cause. The demon is thought to do his work by inserting some +alien substance into the body of the sufferer, and a medicine-man is +employed to extract it by chanting an invocation to the maleficent +spirit, shaking his rattle, and sucking the part of the patient's frame +in which the cause of the malady is imagined to reside. "After many +ceremonies he will produce from his mouth some strange substance, such +as a thorn or gravel-stone, a fish-bone or bird's claw, a snake's tooth, +or a piece of wire, which some malicious _yauhahu_ is supposed to have +inserted in the affected part. As soon as the patient fancies himself +rid of this cause of his illness his recovery is generally rapid, and +the fame of the sorcerer greatly increased. Should death, however, +ensue, the blame is laid upon the evil spirit whose power and malignity +have prevailed over the counteracting charms. Some rival sorcerer will +at times come in for a share of the blame, whom the sufferer has +unhappily made his enemy, and who is supposed to have employed the +_yauhahu_ in destroying him. The sorcerers being supposed to have the +power of causing, as well as of curing diseases, are much dreaded by the +common people, who never wilfully offend them. So deeply rooted in the +Indian's bosom is this belief concerning the origin of diseases, that +they have little idea of sickness arising from other causes. Death may +arise from a wound or a contusion, or be brought on by want of food, but +in other cases it is the work of the _yauhahu_"[12] or evil spirit. + +[Sidenote: Some deaths attributed to sorcery and others to evil spirits: +practical consequence of this distinction.] + +In this account it is to be observed that while all natural deaths from +sickness and disease are attributed to the direct action of evil +spirits, only some of them are attributed to the indirect action of +sorcerers. The practical consequences of this theoretical distinction +are very important. For whereas death by sorcery must, in the opinion of +savages, be avenged by killing the supposed sorcerer, death by the +action of a demon cannot be so avenged; for how are you to get at the +demon? Hence, while every death by sorcery involves, theoretically at +least, another death by violence, death by a demon involves no such +practical consequence. So far, therefore, the faith in sorcery is far +more murderous than the faith in demons. This practical distinction is +clearly recognised by these Indians of Guiana; for another writer, who +laboured among them as a missionary, tells us that when a person dies a +natural death, the medicine-man is called upon to decide whether he +perished through the agency of a demon or the agency of a sorcerer. If +he decides that the deceased died through the malice of an evil spirit, +the body is quietly buried, and no more is thought of the matter. But if +the wizard declares that the cause of death was sorcery, the corpse is +closely inspected, and if a blue mark is discovered, it is pointed out +as the spot where the invisible poisoned arrow, discharged by the +sorcerer, entered the man. The next thing is to detect the culprit. For +this purpose a pot containing a decoction of leaves is set to boil on a +fire. When it begins to boil over, the side on which the scum first +falls is the quarter in which the supposed murderer is to be sought. A +consultation is then held: the guilt is laid on some individual, and one +of the nearest relations of the deceased is charged with the duty of +finding and killing him. If the imaginary culprit cannot be found, any +other member of his family may be slain in his stead. "It is not +difficult to conceive," adds the writer, "how, under such circumstances, +no man's life is secure; whilst these by no means unfrequent murders +must greatly tend to diminish the number of the natives."[13] + +[Sidenote: Among the Indians of Guiana death is oftener attributed to +sorcery than to demons.] + +However, it would seem that among the Indians of Guiana sickness and +death are oftener ascribed to the agency of sorcerers than to the agency +of demons acting alone. For another high authority on these Indians, Sir +Everard F. im Thurn, tells us that "every death, every illness, is +regarded not as the result of natural law, but as the work of a +_kenaima_" or sorcerer. "Often indeed," he adds, "the survivors or the +relatives of the invalid do not know to whom to attribute the deed, +which therefore perforce remains unpunished; but often, again, there is +real or fancied reason to fix on some one as the _kenaima_, and then the +nearest relative of the injured individual devotes himself to retaliate. +Strange ceremonies are sometimes observed in order to discover the +secret _kenaima_. Richard Schomburgk describes a striking instance of +this. A Macusi boy had died a natural death, and his relatives +endeavoured to discover the quarter to which the _kenaima_ who was +supposed to have slain him belonged. Raising a terrible and monotonous +dirge, they carried the body to an open piece of ground, and there +formed a circle round it, while the father, cutting from the corpse both +the thumbs and little fingers, both the great and the little toes, and a +piece of each heel, threw these pieces into a new pot, which had been +filled with water. A fire was kindled, and on this the pot was placed. +When the water began to boil, according to the side on which one of the +pieces was first thrown out from the pot by the bubbling of the water, +in that direction would the _kenaima_ be. In thus looking round to see +who did the deed, the Indian thinks it by no means necessary to fix on +anyone who has been with or near the injured man. The _kenaima_ is +supposed to have done the deed, not necessarily in person, but probably +in spirit."[14] For these Indians believe that each individual man has a +body and a spirit within it, and that sorcerers can despatch their +spirits out of their bodies to harm people at a distance. It is not +always in an invisible form that these spirits of sorcerers are supposed +to roam on their errands of mischief. The wizard can put his spirit into +the shape of an animal, such as a jaguar, a serpent, a sting-ray, a +bird, an insect, or anything else he pleases. Hence when an Indian is +attacked by a wild beast, he thinks that his real foe is not the animal, +but the sorcerer who has transformed himself into it. Curiously enough +they look upon some small harmless birds in the same light. One little +bird, in particular, which flits across the savannahs with a peculiar +shrill whistle at morning and evening, is regarded by the Indians with +especial fear as a transformed sorcerer. They think that for every one +of these birds that they shoot they have an enemy the less, and they +burn its little body, taking great care that not even a single feather +escapes to be blown about by the wind. On a windy day a dozen men and +women have been seen chasing the floating feathers of these birds about +the savannah in order utterly to extinguish the imaginary wizard. Even +the foreign substance, the stick, bone, or whatever it is, which the +good medicine-man pretends to suck from the body of the sufferer "is +often, if not always, regarded not simply as a natural body, but as the +materialised form of a hostile spirit."[15] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the Tinneh Indians in sorcery as the cause of +death.] + +Beliefs and practices of the same general character are reported to have +formerly prevailed among the Tinneh or Dene Indians of North-west +America. When any beloved or influential person died, nobody, we are +told, would think of attributing the death to natural causes; it was +assumed that the demise was an effect of sorcery, and the only +difficulty was to ascertain the culprit. For that purpose the services +of a shaman were employed. Rigged out in all his finery he would dance +and sing, then suddenly fall down and feign death or sleep. On awaking +from the apparent trance he would denounce the sorcerer who had killed +the deceased by his magic art, and the denunciation generally proved the +death-warrant of the accused.[16] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the Australian aborigines in sorcery as the cause +of death.] + +Again, similar beliefs and customs in regard to what we should call +natural death appear to have prevailed universally amongst the +aborigines of Australia, and to have contributed very materially to thin +the population. On this subject I will quote the words of an observer. +His remarks apply to the Australian aborigines in general but to the +tribes of Victoria in particular. He says: "The natives are much more +numerous in some parts of Australia than they are in others, but nowhere +is the country thickly peopled; some dire disease occasionally breaks +out among the natives, and carries off large numbers.... But there are +two other causes which, in my opinion, principally account for their +paucity of numbers. The first is that infanticide is universally +practised; the second, that a belief exists that no one can die a +natural death. Thus, if an individual of a certain tribe dies, his +relatives consider that his death has been caused by sorcery on the part +of another tribe. The deceased's sons, or nearest relatives, therefore +start off on a _bucceening_ or murdering expedition. If the deceased is +buried, a fly or a beetle is put into the grave, and the direction in +which the insect wings its way when released is the one the avengers +take. If the body is burnt, the whereabouts of the offending parties is +indicated by the direction of the smoke. The first unfortunates fallen +in with are generally watched until they encamp for the night; when they +are buried in sleep, the murderers steal quietly up until they are +within a yard or two of their victims, rush suddenly upon and butcher +them. On these occasions they always abstract the kidney-fat, and also +take off a piece of the skin of the thigh. These are carried home as +trophies, as the American Indians take the scalp. The murderers anoint +their bodies with the fat of their victims, thinking that by that +process the strength of the deceased enters into them. Sometimes it +happens that the _bucceening_ party come suddenly upon a man of a +strange tribe in a tree hunting opossums; he is immediately speared, and +left weltering in his blood at the foot of the tree. The relatives of +the murdered man at once proceed to retaliate; and thus a constant and +never-ending series of murders is always going on.... I do not mean to +assert that for every man that dies or is killed another is murdered; +for it often happens that the deceased has no sons or relatives who care +about avenging his death. At other times a _bucceening_ party will +return without having met with any one; then, again, they are sometimes +repelled by those they attack."[17] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the natives of Western Australia in sorcery as a +cause of death. Beliefs of the tribes of Victoria and South Australia.] + +Again, speaking of the tribes of Western Australia, Sir George Grey +tells us that "the natives do not allow that there is such a thing as a +death from natural causes; they believe, that were it not for murderers +or the malignity of sorcerers, they might live for ever; hence, when a +native dies from the effect of an accident, or from some natural cause, +they use a variety of superstitious ceremonies, to ascertain in what +direction the sorcerer lives, whose evil practices have brought about +the death of their relative; this point being satisfactorily settled by +friendly sorcerers, they then attach the crime to some individual, and +the funeral obsequies are scarcely concluded, ere they start to revenge +their supposed wrongs."[18] Again, speaking of the Watch-an-die tribe of +Western Australia, another writer tells us that they "possess the +comfortable assurance that nearly all diseases, and consequently deaths, +are caused by the enchantments of hostile tribes, and that were it not +for the malevolence of their enemies they would (with a few exceptions) +live for ever. Consequently, on the first approach of sickness their +first endeavour is to ascertain whether the _boollia_ [magic] of their +own tribe is not sufficiently potent to counteract that of their foes. +Should the patient recover, they are, of course, proud of the +superiority of their enchantment over that of their enemies: but should +the _boollia_ [magical influence] within the sick man prove stronger +than their own, as there is no help for it, he must die, the utmost they +can do in this case is to revenge his death."[19] But the same writer +qualifies this general statement as follows: "It is not true," he says, +"that the New Hollanders impute _all_ natural deaths to the _boollia_ +[magic] of inimical tribes, for in most cases of persons wasting visibly +away before death, they do not entertain the notion. It is chiefly in +cases of sudden death, or when the body of the deceased is fat and in +good condition, that this belief prevails, and it is only in such +contingencies that it becomes an imperative duty to have revenge."[20] +Similarly, speaking of the tribes of Victoria in the early days of +European settlement among them, the experienced observer Mr. James +Dawson says that "natural deaths are generally--but not +always--attributed to the malevolence and the spells of an enemy +belonging to another tribe."[21] Again, with regard to the Encounter Bay +tribe of South Australia we read that "there are but few diseases which +they regard as the consequences of natural causes; in general they +consider them the effects of enchantment, and produced by +sorcerers."[22] Similarly of the Port Lincoln tribes in South Australia +it is recorded that "in all cases of death that do not arise from old +age, wounds, or other equally palpable causes, the natives suspect that +unfair means have been practised; and even where the cause of death is +sufficiently plain, they sometimes will not content themselves with it, +but have recourse to an imaginary one, as the following case will +prove:--A woman had been bitten by a black snake, across the thumb, in +clearing out a well; she began to swell directly, and was a corpse in +twenty-four hours; yet, another woman who had been present when the +accident occurred, stated that the deceased had named a certain native +as having caused her death. Upon this statement, which was in their +opinion corroborated by the circumstance that the snake had drawn no +blood from the deceased, her husband and other friends had a fight with +the accused party and his friends; a reconciliation, however, took place +afterwards, and it was admitted on the part of the aggressors that they +had been in error with regard to the guilty individual; but nowise more +satisfied as to the bite of the snake being the true cause of the +woman's death, another party was now suddenly discovered to be the real +offender, and accordingly war was made upon him and his partisans, till +at last the matter was dropped and forgotten. From this case, as well as +from frequent occurrences of a similar nature, it appears evident that +thirst for revenge has quite as great a share in these foul accusations +as superstition."[23] + +[Sidenote: Other testimonies as to the belief of the natives of South +Australia and Victoria.] + +However, other experienced observers of the Australian aborigines admit +no such limitations and exceptions to the native theory that death is an +effect of sorcery. Thus in regard to the Narrinyeri tribe of South +Australia the Rev. George Taplin, who knew them intimately for years, +says that "no native regards death as natural, but always as the result +of sorcery."[24] Again, to quote Mr. R. Brough Smyth, who has collected +much information on the tribes of Victoria: "Mr. Daniel Bunce, an +intelligent observer, and a gentleman well acquainted with the habits of +the blacks, says that no tribe that he has ever met with believes in the +possibility of a man dying a natural death. If a man is taken ill, it is +at once assumed that some member of a hostile tribe has stolen some of +his hair. This is quite enough to cause serious illness. If the man +continues sick and gets worse, it is assumed that the hair has been +burnt by his enemy. Such an act, they say, is sufficient to imperil his +life. If the man dies, it is assumed that the thief has choked his +victim and taken away his kidney-fat. When the grave is being dug, one +or more of the older men--generally doctors or conjurors +(_Buk-na-look_)--stand by and attentively watch the laborers; and if an +insect is thrown out of the ground, these old men observe the direction +which it takes, and having determined the line, two of the young men, +relations of the deceased, are despatched in the path indicated, with +instructions to kill the first native they meet, who they are assured +and believe is the person directly chargeable with the crime of causing +the death of their relative. Mr. John Green says that the men of the +Yarra tribe firmly believe that no one ever dies a natural death. A man +or a woman dies because of the wicked arts practised by some member of a +hostile tribe; and they discover the direction in which to search for +the slayer by the movements of a lizard which is seen immediately after +the corpse is interred."[25] Again, speaking of the aborigines of +Victoria, another writer observes: "All deaths from natural causes are +attributed to the machinations of enemies, who are supposed to have +sought for and burned the excrement of the intended victim, which, +according to the general belief, causes a gradual wasting away. The +relatives, therefore, watch the struggling feet of the dying person, as +they point in the direction whence the injury is thought to come, and +serve as a guide to the spot where it should be avenged. This is the +duty of the nearest male relative; should he fail in its execution, it +will ever be to him a reproach, although other relatives may have +avenged the death. If the deceased were a chief, then the duty devolves +upon the tribe. Chosen men are sent in the direction indicated, who kill +the first persons they meet, whether men, women, or children; and the +more lives that are sacrificed, the greater is the honour to the +dead."[26] Again, in his account of the Kurnai tribe of Victoria the +late Dr. A. W. Howitt remarks: "It is not difficult to see how, among +savages, who have no knowledge of the real causes of diseases which are +the common lot of humanity, the very suspicion even of such a thing as +death from disease should be unknown. Death by accident they can +imagine; death by violence they can imagine; but I question if they can, +in their savage condition, imagine death by mere disease. Rheumatism is +believed to be produced by the machinations of some enemy. Seeing a +Tatungolung very lame, I asked him what was the matter? He said, 'Some +fellow has put _bottle_ in my foot.' I asked him to let me see it. I +found he was probably suffering from acute rheumatism. He explained that +some enemy must have found his foot track, and have buried in it a piece +of broken bottle. The magic influence, he believed, caused it to enter +his foot.... Phthisis, pneumonia, bowel complaints, and insanity are +supposed to be produced by an evil spirit--Brewin--'who is like the +wind,' and who, entering his victims, can only be expelled by suitable +incantations.... Thus the belief arises that death occurs only from +accident, open violence, or secret magic; and, naturally, that the +latter can only be met by counter-charms."[27] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the aborigines of New South Wales in sorcery as the +cause of sickness and death.] + +The beliefs and practices of the aborigines of New South Wales in +respect of death were similar. Thus we are told by a well-informed +writer that "the natives do not believe in death from natural causes; +therefore all sickness is attributed to the agency of sorcery, and +counter charms are used to destroy its effect.... As a man's death is +never supposed to have occurred naturally, except as the result of +accident, or from a wound in battle, the first thing to be done when a +death occurs is to endeavour to find out the person whose spells have +brought about the calamity. In the Wathi-Wathi tribe the corpse is asked +by each relative in succession to signify by some sign the person who +has caused his death. Not receiving an answer, they watch in which +direction a bird flies, after having passed over the deceased. This is +considered an indication that the sorcerer is to be found in that +direction. Sometimes the nearest relative sleeps with his head on the +corpse, which causes him, they think, to dream of the murderer. There +is, however, a good deal of uncertainty about the proceedings, which +seldom result in more than a great display of wrath, and of vowing of +vengeance against some member of a neighbouring tribe. Unfortunately +this is not always the case, the man who is supposed to have exercised +the death-spell being sometimes waylaid and murdered in a most cruel +manner."[28] With regard to the great Kamilaroi tribe of New South Wales +we read that "in some parts of the country a belief prevails that death, +through disease, is, in many, if not in all cases, the result of an +enemy's malice. It is a common saying, when illness or death comes, that +some one has thrown his belt (_boor_) at the victim. There are various +modes of fixing upon the murderer. One is to let an insect fly from the +body of the deceased and see towards whom it goes. The person thus +singled out is doomed."[29] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the aborigines of Central Australia in sorcery as +the cause of death.] + +Speaking of the tribes of Central Australia, Messrs. Spencer and Gillen +observe that "in the matter of morality their code differs radically +from ours, but it cannot be denied that their conduct is governed by it, +and that any known breaches are dealt with both surely and severely. In +very many cases there takes place what the white man, not seeing beneath +the surface, not unnaturally describes as secret murder, but, in +reality, revolting though such slaughter may be to our minds at the +present day, it is simply exactly on a par with the treatment accorded +to witches not so very long ago in European countries. Every case of +such secret murder, when one or more men stealthily stalk their prey +with the object of killing him, is in reality the exacting of a life for +a life, the accused person being indicated by the so-called medicine-man +as one who has brought about the death of another man by magic, and +whose life must therefore be forfeited. It need hardly be pointed out +what a potent element this custom has been in keeping down the numbers +of the tribe; no such thing as natural death is realised by the native; +a man who dies has of necessity been killed by some other man, or +perhaps even by a woman, and sooner or later that man or woman will be +attacked. In the normal condition of the tribe every death meant the +killing of another individual."[30] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the natives of the Torres Straits Islands and New +Guinea in sorcery as the cause of death.] + +Passing from Australia to other savage lands we learn that according to +the belief of the Torres Straits Islanders all sickness and death were +due to sorcery.[31] The natives of Mowat or Mawatta in British New +Guinea "do not believe in a natural death, but attribute even the +decease of an old man to the agency of some enemy known or unknown."[32] +In the opinion of the tribes about Hood Peninsula in British New Guinea +no one dies a natural death. Every such death is caused by the evil +magic either of a living sorcerer or of a dead relation.[33] Of the +Roro-speaking tribes of British New Guinea Dr. Seligmann writes that +"except in the case of old folk, death is not admitted to occur without +some obvious cause such as a spear-thrust. Therefore when vigorous and +active members of the community die, it becomes necessary to explain +their fate, and such deaths are firmly believed to be produced by +sorcery. Indeed, as far as I have been able to ascertain, the Papuasian +of this district regards the existence of sorcery, not, as has been +alleged, as a particularly terrifying and horrible affair, but as a +necessary and inevitable condition of existence in the world as he knows +it."[34] Amongst the Yabim of German New Guinea "every case of death, +even though it should happen accidentally, as by the fall of a tree or +the bite of a shark, is laid at the door of the sorcerers. They are +blamed even for the death of a child. If it is said that a little child +never hurt anybody and therefore cannot have an enemy, the reply is that +the intention was to injure the mother, and that the malady had been +transferred to the infant through its mother's milk."[35] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the Melanesians in sorcery as the cause of sickness +and death.] + +Again, in the island of Malo, one of the New Hebrides, a Catholic +missionary reports that according to a belief deeply implanted in the +native mind every disease is the effect of witchcraft, and that nobody +dies a natural death but only as a consequence of violence, poison, or +sorcery.[36] Similarly in New Georgia, one of the Solomon Islands, when +a person is sick, the natives think that he must be bewitched by a man +or woman, for in their opinion nobody can be sick or die unless he is +bewitched; what we call natural sickness and death are impossible. In +case of illness suspicion falls on some one who is supposed to have +buried a charmed object with intent to injure the sufferer.[37] Of the +Melanesians who inhabit the coast of the Gazelle Peninsula in New +Britain it is said that all deaths by sickness or disease are attributed +by them to the witchcraft of a sorcerer, and a diviner is called in to +ascertain the culprit who by his evil magic has destroyed their +friends.[38] "Amongst the Melanesians few, if any, are believed to die +from natural causes only; if they are not killed in war, they are +supposed to die from the effects of witchcraft or magic. Whenever any +one was sick, his friends made anxious inquiries as to the person who +had bewitched (_agara'd_) him. Some one would generally be found to +admit that he had buried some portion of food or something belonging to +the sick man, which had caused his illness. The friends would pay him to +dig it up, and after that the patient would generally get well. If, +however, he did not recover, it was assumed that some other person had +also _agara'd_ him."[39] + +[Sidenote: The belief of the Malagasy in sorcery as a cause of death.] + +Speaking of the Malagasy a Catholic missionary tells us that in +Madagascar nobody dies a natural death. With the possible exception of +centenarians everybody is supposed to die the victim of the sorcerer's +diabolic art. If a relation of yours dies, the people comfort you by +saying, "Cursed be the sorcerer who caused his death!" If your horse +falls down a precipice and breaks its back, the accident has been caused +by the malicious look of a sorcerer. If your dog dies of hydrophobia or +your horse of a carbuncle, the cause is still the same. If you catch a +fever in a district where malaria abounds, the malady is still ascribed +to the art of the sorcerer, who has insinuated some deadly substances +into your body.[40] Again, speaking of the Sakalava, a tribe in +Madagascar, an eminent French authority on the island observes: "They +have such a faith in the power of talismans that they even ascribe to +them the power of killing their enemies. When they speak of poisoning, +they do not allude, as many Europeans wrongly suppose, to death by +vegetable or mineral poisons; the reference is to charms or spells. They +often throw under the bed of an enemy an _ahouli_ [talisman], praying it +to kill him, and they are persuaded that sooner or later their wish will +be accomplished. I have often been present at bloody vendettas which had +no other origin but this. The Sakalava think that a great part of the +population dies of poison in this way. In their opinion, only old people +who have attained the extreme limits of human longevity die a natural +death."[41] + +[Sidenote: Belief of African tribes in sorcery as the cause of sickness +and death.] + +In Africa similar beliefs are widely spread and lead, as elsewhere, to +fatal consequences. Thus the Kagoro of Northern Nigeria refuse to +believe in death from natural causes; all illnesses and deaths, in their +opinion, are brought about by black magic, however old and decrepit the +deceased may have been. They explain sickness by saying that a man's +soul wanders from his body in sleep and may then be caught, detained, +and even beaten with a stick by some evil-wisher; whenever that happens, +the man naturally falls ill. Sometimes an enemy will abstract the +patient's liver by magic and carry it away to a cave in a sacred grove, +where he will devour it in company with other wicked sorcerers. A +witch-doctor is called in to detect the culprit, and whomever he +denounces is shut up in a room, where a fire is kindled and pepper +thrown into it; and there he is kept in the fumes of the burning pepper +till he confesses his guilt and returns the stolen liver, upon which of +course the sick man recovers. But should the patient die, the miscreant +who did him to death by kidnapping his soul or his liver will be sold as +a slave or choked.[42] In like manner the Bakerewe, who inhabit the +largest island in the Victoria Nyanza lake, believe that all deaths and +all ailments, however trivial, are the effect of witchcraft; and the +person, generally an old woman, whom the witch-doctor accuses of having +cast the spell on the patient is tied up, severely beaten, or stabbed to +death on the spot.[43] Again, we are told that "the peoples of the Congo +do not believe in a natural death, not even when it happens through +drowning or any other accident. Whoever dies is the victim of witchcraft +or of a spell. His soul has been eaten. He must be avenged by the +punishment of the person who has committed the crime." Accordingly when +a death has taken place, the medicine-man is sent for to discover the +criminal. He pretends to be possessed by a spirit and in this state he +names the wretch who has caused the death by sorcery. The accused has to +submit to the poison ordeal by drinking a decoction of the red bark of +the _Erythrophloeum guiniense_. If he vomits up the poison, he is +innocent; but if he fails to do so, the infuriated crowd rushes on him +and despatches him with knives and clubs. The family of the supposed +culprit has moreover to pay an indemnity to the family of the supposed +victim.[44] "Death, in the opinion of the natives, is never due to a +natural cause. It is always the result either of a crime or of sorcery, +and is followed by the poison ordeal, which has to be undergone by an +innocent person whom the fetish-man accuses from selfish motives."[45] + +[Sidenote: Effect of such beliefs in thinning the population by causing +multitudes to die for the imaginary crime of sorcery.] + +Evidence of the same sort could be multiplied for West Africa, where the +fear of sorcery is rampant.[46] But without going into further details, +I wish to point out the disastrous effects which here, as elsewhere, +this theory of death has produced upon the population. For when a death +from natural causes takes place, the author of the death being of course +unknown, suspicion often falls on a number of people, all of whom are +obliged to submit to the poison ordeal in order to prove their +innocence, with the result that some or possibly all of them perish. A +very experienced American missionary in West Africa, the Rev. R. H. +Nassau, the friend of the late Miss Mary H. Kingsley, tells us that for +every person who dies a natural death at least one, and often ten or +more have been executed on an accusation of witchcraft.[47] Andrew +Battel, a native of Essex, who lived in Angola for many years at the end +of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century, informs us +that "in this country none on any account dieth, but they kill another +for him: for they believe they die not their own natural death, but that +some other has bewitched them to death. And all those are brought in by +the friends of the dead whom they suspect; so that there many times come +five hundred men and women to take the drink, made of the foresaid root +_imbando_. They are brought all to the high-street or market-place, and +there the master of the _imbando_ sits with his water, and gives every +one a cup of water by one measure; and they are commanded to walk in a +certain place till they make water, and then they are free. But he that +cannot urine presently falls down, and all the people, great and small, +fall upon him with their knives, and beat and cut him into pieces. But I +think the witch that gives the water is partial, and gives to him whose +death is desired the strongest water, but no man of the bye-standers can +perceive it. This is done in the town of Longo, almost every week +throughout the year."[48] A French official tells us that among the +Neyaux of the Ivory Coast similar beliefs and practices were visibly +depopulating the country, every single natural death causing the death +of four or five persons by the poison ordeal, which consisted in +drinking the decoction of a red bark called by the natives _boduru_. At +the death of a chief fifteen men and women perished in this way. The +French Government had great difficulty in suppressing the ordeal; for +the deluded natives firmly believed in the justice of the test and +therefore submitted to it willingly in the full consciousness of their +innocence.[49] In the neighbourhood of Calabar the poison ordeal, which +here consists in drinking a decoction of a certain bean, the +_Physostigma venenosum_ of botanists, has had similar disastrous +results, as we learn from the testimony of a missionary, the Rev. Hugh +Goldie. He tells us that the people have firm faith in the ordeal and +therefore not only accept it readily but appeal to it, convinced that it +will demonstrate their innocence. A small tribe named Uwet in the +hill-country of Calabar almost swept itself off the face of the earth by +its constant use of the ordeal. On one occasion the whole population +drank the poison to prove themselves pure, as they said; about half +perished, "and the remnant," says Mr. Goldie, "still continuing their +superstitious practice, must soon become extinct"[50] These words were +written a good many years ago, and it is probable that by this time +these poor fanatics have actually succeeded in exterminating themselves. +So fatal may be the practical consequences of a purely speculative +error; for it is to be remembered that these disasters flow directly +from a mistaken theory of death. + +[Sidenote: General conclusion as to the belief in sorcery as the great +cause of death.] + +Much more evidence of the same kind could be adduced, but without +pursuing the theme further I think we may lay it down as a general rule +that at a certain stage of social and intellectual evolution men have +believed themselves to be naturally immortal in this life and have +regarded death by disease or even by accident or violence as an +unnatural event which has been brought about by sorcery and which must +be avenged by the death of the sorcerer. If that has been so, we seem +bound to conclude that a belief in magic or sorcery has had a most +potent influence in keeping down the numbers of savage tribes; since as +a rule every natural death has entailed at least one, often several, +sometimes many deaths by violence. This may help us to understand what +an immense power for evil the world-wide faith in magic or sorcery has +been among men. + +[Sidenote: But some savages have attributed death to other causes than +sorcery.] + +But even savages come in time to perceive that deaths are sometimes +brought about by other causes than sorcery. We have seen that some of +them admit extreme old age, accidents, and violence as causes of death +which are independent of sorcery. The admission of these exceptions to +the general rule certainly marks a stage of intellectual progress. I +will give a few more instances of such admissions before concluding this +part of my subject. + +[Sidenote: Some savages dissect the corpse to ascertain whether death +was due to natural causes or to sorcery.] + +In the first place, certain savage tribes are reported to dissect the +bodies of their dead in order to ascertain from an examination of the +corpse whether the deceased died a natural death or perished by magic. +This is reported by Mr. E. R. Smith concerning the Araucanians of Chili, +who according to other writers, as we saw,[51] believe all deaths to be +due to sorcery. Mr. Smith tells us that after death the services of the +_machi_ or medicine-man "are again required, especially if the deceased +be a person of distinction. The body is dissected and examined. If the +liver be found in a healthy state, the death is attributed to natural +causes; but if the liver prove to be inflamed, it is supposed to +indicate the machinations of some evil-intentioned persons, and it rests +with the medicine-man to discover the conspirator. This is accomplished +by much the same means that were used to find out the nature of the +disease. The gall is extracted, put in the magic drum, and after various +incantations taken out and placed over the fire, in a pot carefully +covered; if, after subjecting the gall to a certain amount of roasting, +a stone is found in the bottom of the pot, it is declared to be the +means by which death was produced. These stones, as well as the frogs, +spiders, arrows, or whatever else may be extracted from the sick man, +are called _Huecuvu_--the 'Evil One.' By aid of the _Huecuvu_ the +_machi_ [medicine-man] throws himself into a trance, in which state he +discovers and announces the person guilty of the death, and describes +the manner in which it was produced."[52] + +Again, speaking of the Pahouins, a tribe of the Gaboon region in French +Congo, a Catholic missionary writes thus: "It is so rare among the +Pahouins that a death is considered natural! Scarcely has the deceased +given up the ghost when the sorcerer appears on the scene. With three +cuts of the knife, one transverse and two lateral, he dissects the +breast of the corpse and turns down the skin on the face. Then he +grabbles in the breast, examines the bowels attentively, marks the last +muscular contractions, and thereupon pronounces whether the death was +natural or not." If he decides that the death was due to sorcery, the +suspected culprit has to submit to the poison ordeal in the usual manner +to determine his guilt or innocence.[53] + +[Sidenote: The possibility of natural death admitted by the +Melanesians.] + +Another savage people who have come to admit the possibility of merely +natural death are the Melanesians of the New Hebrides and other parts of +Central Melanesia. Amongst them "any sickness that is serious is +believed to be brought about by ghosts or spirits; common complaints +such as fever and ague are taken as coming in the course of nature. To +say that savages are never ill without supposing a supernatural cause is +not true of Melanesians; they make up their minds as the sickness comes +whether it is natural or not, and the more important the individual who +is sick, the more likely his sickness is to be ascribed to the anger of +a ghost whom he has offended, or to witchcraft. No great man would like +to be told that he was ill by natural weakness or decay. The sickness is +almost always believed to be caused by a ghost, not by a spirit.... +Generally it is to the ghosts of the dead that sickness is ascribed in +the eastern islands as well as in the western; recourse is had to them +for aid in causing and removing sickness; and ghosts are believed to +inflict sickness not only because some offence, such as a trespass, has +been committed against them, or because one familiar with them has +sought their aid with sacrifice and spells, but because there is a +certain malignity in the feeling of all ghosts towards the living, who +offend them by being alive."[54] From this account we learn, first, that +the Melanesians admit some deaths by common diseases, such as fever and +ague, to be natural; and, second, that they recognise ghosts and spirits +as well as sorcerers and witches, among the causes of death; indeed they +hold that ghosts are the commonest of all causes of sickness and death. + +[Sidenote: The possibility of natural death admitted by the Caffres of +South Africa.] + +The same causes of death are recognised also by the Caffres of South +Africa, as we learn from Mr. Dudley Kidd, who tells us that according to +the beliefs of the natives, "to start with, there is sickness which is +supposed to be caused by the action of ancestral spirits or by fabulous +monsters. Secondly, there is sickness which is caused by the magical +practices of some evil person who is using witchcraft in secret. +Thirdly, there is sickness which comes from neither of these causes, and +remains unexplained. It is said to be 'only sickness, and nothing more.' +This third form of sickness is, I think, the commonest. Yet most writers +wholly ignore it, or deny its existence. It may happen that an attack of +indigestion is one day attributed to the action of witch or wizard; +another day the trouble is put down to the account of ancestral spirits; +on a third occasion the people may be at a loss to account for it, and +so may dismiss the problem by saying that it is merely sickness. It is +quite common to hear natives say that they are at a loss to account for +some special case of illness. At first they thought it was caused by an +angry ancestral spirit; but a great doctor has assured them that it is +not the result of such a spirit. They then suppose it to be due to the +magical practices of some enemy; but the doctor negatives that theory. +The people are, therefore, driven to the conclusion that the trouble has +no ascertainable cause. In some cases they do not even trouble to +consult a diviner; they speedily recognise the sickness as due to +natural causes. In such a case it needs no explanation. If they think +that some friend of theirs knows of a remedy, they will try it on their +own initiative, or may even go off to a white man to ask for some of his +medicine. They would never dream of doing this if they thought they were +being influenced by magic or by ancestral spirits. The Kafirs quite +recognise that there are types of disease which are inherited, and have +not been caused by magic or by ancestral spirits. They admit that some +accidents are due to nothing but the patient's carelessness or +stupidity. If a native gets his leg run over by a waggon, the people +will often say that it is all his own fault through being clumsy. In +other cases, with delightful inconsistency, they may say that some one +has been working magic to cause the accident. In short, it is impossible +to make out a theory of sickness which will satisfy our European +conception of consistency."[55] + +[Sidenote: The admission that death may be due to natural causes, marks +an intellectual advance. The recognition of ghosts or spirits as a cause +of disease, apart from sorcery, also marks a step in intellectual, +moral, and social progress.] + +From the foregoing accounts we see that the Melanesians and the Caffres, +two widely different and widely separated races, agree in recognising at +least three distinct causes of what we should call natural death. These +three causes are, first, sorcery or witchcraft; second, ghosts or +spirits; and third, disease.[56] That the recognition of disease in +itself as a cause of death, quite apart from sorcery, marks an +intellectual advance, will not be disputed. It is not so clear, though I +believe it is equally true, that the recognition of ghosts or spirits as +a cause of disease, quite apart from witchcraft, marks a real step in +intellectual, moral, and social progress. In the first place, it marks a +step in intellectual and moral progress; for it recognises that effects +which before had been ascribed to human agency spring from superhuman +causes; and this recognition of powers in the universe superior to man +is not only an intellectual gain but a moral discipline: it teaches the +important lesson of humility. In the second place it marks a step in +social progress because when the blame of a death is laid upon a ghost +or a spirit instead of on a sorcerer, the death has not to be avenged by +killing a human being, the supposed author of the calamity. Thus the +recognition of ghosts or spirits as the sources of sickness and death +has as its immediate effect the sparing of an immense number of lives of +men and women, who on the theory of death by sorcery would have perished +by violence to expiate their imaginary crime. That this is a great gain +to society is obvious: it adds immensely to the security of human life +by removing one of the most fruitful causes of its destruction. + +It must be admitted, however, that the gain is not always as great as +might be expected; the social advantages of a belief in ghosts and +spirits are attended by many serious drawbacks. For while ghosts or +spirits are commonly, though not always, supposed to be beyond the reach +of human vengeance, they are generally thought to be well within the +reach of human persuasion, flattery, and bribery; in other words, men +think that they can appease and propitiate them by prayer and sacrifice; +and while prayer is always cheap, sacrifice may be very dear, since it +can, and often does, involve the destruction of an immense deal of +valuable property and of a vast number of human lives. Yet if we could +reckon up the myriads who have been slain in sacrifice to ghosts and +gods, it seems probable that they would fall far short of the untold +multitudes who have perished as sorcerers and witches. For while human +sacrifices in honour of deities or of the dead have been for the most +part exceptional rather than regular, only the great gods and the +illustrious dead being deemed worthy of such costly offerings, the +slaughter of witches and wizards, theoretically at least, followed +inevitably on every natural death among people who attributed all such +deaths to sorcery. Hence if natural religion be defined roughly as a +belief in superhuman spiritual beings and an attempt to propitiate them, +we may perhaps say that, while natural religion has slain its thousands, +magic has slain its ten thousands. But there are strong reasons for +inferring that in the history of society an Age of Magic preceded an Age +of Religion. If that was so, we may conclude that the advent of religion +marked a great social as well as intellectual advance upon the preceding +Age of Magic: it inaugurated an era of what might be described as mercy +by comparison with the relentless severity of its predecessor. + +[Footnote 6: W. Martin, _An Account of the Natives of the Tonga +Islands_, Second Edition (London, 1818), ii. 99.] + +[Footnote 7: M. Dobrizhoffer, _Historia de Abiponibus_ (Vienna, 1784), +ii. 92 _sq._, 240 _sqq._ The author of this valuable work lived as a +Catholic missionary in the tribe for eighteen years.] + +[Footnote 8: C. Gay, "Fragment d'un Voyage dans le Chili et au Cusco," +_Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie_ (Paris), Deuxieme Serie, xix. +(1843) p. 25; H. Delaporte, "Une visite chez les Araucaniens," _Bulletin +de la Societe de Geographie_ (Paris), Quatrieme Serie, x. (1855) p. 30.] + +[Footnote 9: K. von den Steinen, _Unter den Naturvoelkern +Zentral-Brasiliens_ (Berlin, 1894), pp. 344, 348.] + +[Footnote 10: Rev. W. H. Brett, _The Indian Tribes of Guiana_ (London, +1868), p. 357.] + +[Footnote 11: W. H. Brett, _op. cit._ pp. 361 _sq._] + +[Footnote 12: Rev. W. H. Brett, _op. cit._ pp. 364 _sq._] + +[Footnote 13: Rev. J. H. Bernau, _Missionary Labours in British Guiana_ +(London, 1847), pp. 56 _sq._, 58.] + +[Footnote 14: (Sir) E. F. im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_ +(London, 1883), pp. 330 _sq._ For the case described see R. Schomburgk, +_Reisen in Britisch-Guiana_, i. (Leipsic, 1847) pp. 324 _sq._ The boy +died of dropsy. Perhaps the mode of divination adopted, by boiling some +portions of him in water, had special reference to the nature of the +disease.] + +[Footnote 15: (Sir) E. F. im Thurn, _op. cit._ pp. 332 _sq._] + +[Footnote 16: Father A. G. Morice, "The Canadian Denes," _Annual +Archaeological Report, 1905_ (Toronto, 1906), p. 207.] + +[Footnote 17: Albert A. C. Le Souef, "Notes on the Natives of +Australia," in R. Brough Smyth's _Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne and +London, 1878), ii. 289 _sq._] + +[Footnote 18: (Sir) George Grey, _Journals of two Expeditions of +Discovery in Northwest and Western Australia_ (London, 1841), ii. 238.] + +[Footnote 19: A. Oldfield, "The Aborigines of Australia," _Transactions +of the Ethnological Society of London_, N.S. iii. (1865) p. 236.] + +[Footnote 20: A. Oldfield, _op. cit._ p. 245.] + +[Footnote 21: J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_ (Melbourne, Sydney and +Adelaide, 1881), p. 63.] + +[Footnote 22: H. E. A. Meyer, "Manners and Customs of the Aborigines of +the Encounter Bay Tribe," _Native Tribes of South Australia_ (Adelaide, +1879), p. 195.] + +[Footnote 23: C. W. Schuermann, "The Aboriginal Tribes of Port Lincoln in +South Australia," _Native Tribes of South Australia_, pp. 237 _sq._] + +[Footnote 24: Rev. G. Taplin, "The Narrinyeri," _Native Tribes of South +Australia_ (Adelaide, 1879), p. 25.] + +[Footnote 25: R. Brough Smyth, _The Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne +and London, 1878) i. 110.] + +[Footnote 26: W. E. Stanbridge, "Some Particulars of the General +Characteristics, Astronomy, and Mythology of the Tribes in the Central +Part of Victoria, Southern Australia," _Transactions of the Ethnological +Society of London_, New Series, i. (1861) p. 299.] + +[Footnote 27: Lorimer Fison and A. W. Howitt, _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_ +(Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Brisbane, 1880), pp. 250 _sq._] + +[Footnote 28: A. L. P. Cameron, "Notes on some Tribes of New South +Wales," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_ xiv. (1885) pp. 361, +362 _sq._] + +[Footnote 29: Rev. W. Ridley, _Kamilaroi_, Second Edition (Sydney, +1875), p. 159.] + +[Footnote 30: Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, _Native Tribes of +Central Australia_ (London, 1899), pp. 46-48.] + +[Footnote 31: _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to +Torres Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904) pp. 248, 323.] + +[Footnote 32: E. Beardmore, "The Natives of Mowat, British New Guinea," +_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xix. (1890) p. 461.] + +[Footnote 33: R. E. Guise, "On the Tribes inhabiting the Mouth of the +Wanigela River, New Guinea," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, +xxviii. (1899) p. 216.] + +[Footnote 34: C. G. Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_ +(Cambridge, 1910), p. 279.] + +[Footnote 35: K. Vetter, _Komm herueber und hilf uns! oder die Arbeit der +Neuen-Dettelsauer Mission_, iii. (Barmen, 1898) pp. 10 _sq._; _id._, in +_Nachrichten ueber Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land und den Bismarck-Archipel, 1897_, +pp. 94, 98. Compare B. Hagen, _Unter den Papuas_ (Wiesbaden, 1899), p. +256; _Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fuer Anthropologie, +Ethnologie, und Urgeschichte, 1900_, p. (415).] + +[Footnote 36: Father A. Deniau, "Croyances religieuses et moeurs des +indigenes de l'Ile Malo," _Missions Catholiques_, xxxiii. (1901) pp. 315 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 37: C. Ribbe, _Zwei Jahre unter den Kannibalen der +Salomo-Inseln_ (Dresden-Blasewitz, 1903), p. 268.] + +[Footnote 38: P. A. Kleintitschen, _Die Kuestenbewohner der +Gazellehalbinsel_ (Hiltrup bei Muenster, N.D.), p. 344. As to beliefs of +this sort among the Sulka of New Britain, see _P._ Rascher, "Die Sulka," +_Archiv fuer Anthropologie_, xxix. (1904) pp. 221 _sq._; R. Parkinson, +_Dreissig Jahre in der Suedsee_ (Stuttgart, 1907), pp. 199-201.] + +[Footnote 39: G. Brown, D.D., _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, +1910), p. 176. Dr. Brown's account, of the Melanesians applies to the +natives of New Britain and more particularly of the neighbouring Duke of +York islands.] + +[Footnote 40: Father Abinal, "Astrologie Malgache," _Missions +Catholiques_, xi. (1879) p. 506.] + +[Footnote 41: A. Grandidier, "Madagascar," _Bulletin de la Societe de +Geographie_ (Paris), Sixieme Serie, iii. (1872) pp. 399 _sq._ The +talismans (_ahouli_) in question consist of the horns of oxen stuffed +with a variety of odds and ends, such as sand, sticks, nails, and so +forth.] + +[Footnote 42: Major A. J. N. Tremearne, _The Tailed Head-hunters of +Nigeria_ (London, 1912), pp. 171 _sq._; _id._, "Notes on the Kagoro and +other Headhunters," _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, +xlii. (1912) pp. 160, 161.] + +[Footnote 43: E. Hurel, "Religion et vie domestique des Bakerewe," +_Anthropos_, vi. (1912) pp. 85-87.] + +[Footnote 44: Father Campana, "Congo Mission Catholique de Landana," +_Missions Catholiques_, xxvii. (1895) pp. 102 _sq_.] + +[Footnote 45: Th. Masui, _Guide de la Section de l'Etat Independant du +Congo a l'Exposition de Bruxelles--Tervueren en 1874_ (Brussels, 1897), +p. 82.] + +[Footnote 46: See for example O. Lenz, _Skizzen aus Westafrika_ (Berlin, +1878), pp. 184 _sq._; C. Cuny, "De Libreville au Cameroun," _Bulletin de +la Societe de Geographie_ (Paris), Septieme Serie, xvii. (1896) p. 341; +Ch. Wunenberger, "La mission et le royaume de Humbe, sur les bords du +Cunene," _Missions Catholiques_, xx. (1888) p. 262; Lieut. Herold, +"Bericht betreffend religioese Anschauungen und Gebraeuche der deutschen +Ewe-Neger," _Mittheilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten_, v. (1892) +p. 153; Dr. R. Plehn, "Beitraege zur Voelkerkunde des Togo-Gebietes," +_Mittheilungen des Seminars fuer Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin_, ii. +Dritte Abtheilung (1899), p. 97; R. Fisch, "Die Dagbamba," +_Baessler-Archiv_, iii. (1912) p. 148. For evidence of similar beliefs +and practices in other parts of Africa, see Brard, "Der +Victoria-Nyanza," _Petermann's Mittheilungen_, xliii. (1897) pp. 79 +_sq._; Father Picarda, "Autour du Mandera," _Missions Catholiques_, +xviii. (1886) p. 342.] + +[Footnote 47: Rev. R. H. Nassau, _Fetichism in West Africa_ (London, +1904), pp. 241 _sq._] + +[Footnote 48: "Strange Adventures of Andrew Battel," in John Pinkerton's +_Voyages and Travels_, xvi. (London, 1814) p. 334.] + +[Footnote 49: _Gouvernement General de l'Afrique Occidentale Francaise, +Notices publiees par le Gouvernement Central a l'occasion de +l'Exposition Coloniale de Marseille, La Cote d'Ivoire_ (Corbeil, 1906), +pp. 570-572.] + +[Footnote 50: Hugh Goldie, _Calabar and its Mission_, New Edition +(Edinburgh and London, 1901), pp. 34 _sq._, 37 _sq._] + +[Footnote 51: Above, p. 35.] + +[Footnote 52: E. R. Smith, _The Araucanians_ (London, 1855), pp. 236 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 53: Father Trilles, "Milles lieues dans l'inconnu; a travers +le pays Fang, de la cote aux rives du Djah," _Missions Catholiques_, +xxxv. (1903) pp. 466 _sq._, and as to the poison ordeal, _ib._ pp. 472 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 54: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), p. +194.] + +[Footnote 55: Dudley Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_ (London, 1904), pp. 133 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 56: In like manner the Baganda generally ascribed natural +deaths either to sorcery or to the action of a ghost; but when they +could not account for a person's death in either of these ways they said +that Walumbe, the God of Death, had taken him. This last explanation +approaches to an admission of natural death, though it is still mythical +in form. The Baganda usually attributed any illness of the king to +ghosts, because no man would dare to practise magic on him. A +much-dreaded ghost was that of a man's sister; she was thought to vent +her spite on his sons and daughters by visiting them with sickness. When +she proved implacable, a medicine-man was employed to catch her ghost in +a gourd or a pot and throw it away on waste land or drown it in a river. +See Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 98, 100, 101 +_sq._, 286 _sq._, 315 _sq._] + + + + +LECTURE III + +MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH + + +[Sidenote: Belief of savages in man's natural immortality.] + +In my last lecture I shewed that many savages do not believe in what we +call a natural death; they imagine that all men are naturally immortal +and would never die, if their lives were not cut prematurely short by +sorcery. Further, I pointed out that this mistaken view of the nature of +death has exercised a disastrous influence on the tribes who entertain +it, since, attributing all natural deaths to sorcery, they consider +themselves bound to discover and kill the wicked sorcerers whom they +regard as responsible for the death of their friends. Thus in primitive +society as a rule every natural death entails at least one and often +several deaths by violence; since the supposed culprit being unknown +suspicion may fall upon many persons, all of whom may be killed either +out of hand or as a consequence of failing to demonstrate their +innocence by means of an ordeal. + +[Sidenote: Savage stories of the origin of death.] + +Yet even the savages who firmly believe in man's natural immortality are +obliged sorrowfully to admit that, as things are at the present day, men +do frequently die, whatever explanation we may give of so unexpected and +unnatural an occurrence. Accordingly they are hard put to it to +reconcile their theory of immortality with the practice of mortality. +They have meditated on the subject and have given us the fruit of their +meditation in a series of myths which profess to explain the origin of +death. For the most part these myths are very crude and childish; yet +they have a value of their own as examples of man's early attempts to +fathom one of the great mysteries which encompass his frail and +transient existence on earth; and accordingly I have here collected, in +all their naked simplicity, a few of these savage guesses at truth. + +[Sidenote: Four types of such stories.] + +Myths of the origin of death conform to several types, among which we +may distinguish, first, what I will call the type of the Two Messengers; +second, the type of the Waxing and Waning Moon; third, the type of the +Serpent and his Cast Skin; and fourth, the type of the Banana-tree. I +will illustrate each type by examples, and will afterwards cite some +miscellaneous instances which do not fall under any of these heads. + +[Sidenote: I. The tale of the Two Messengers. Zulu story of the +chameleon and the lizard. The same story among other Bantu tribes.] + +First, then, we begin with the type of the Two Messengers. Stories of +this pattern are widespread in Africa, especially among tribes belonging +to the great Bantu family, which occupies roughly the southern half of +the continent. The best-known example of the tale is the one told by the +Zulus. They say that in the beginning Unkulunkulu, that is, the Old Old +One, sent the chameleon to men with a message saying, "Go, chameleon, go +and say, Let not men die." The chameleon set out, but it crawled very +slowly, and it loitered by the way to eat the purple berries of the +_ubukwebezane_ tree, or according to others it climbed up a tree to bask +in the sun, filled its belly with flies, and fell fast asleep. Meantime +the Old Old One had thought better of it and sent a lizard posting after +the chameleon with a very different message to men, for he said to the +animal, "Lizard, when you have arrived, say, Let men die." So the lizard +went on his way, passed the dawdling chameleon, and arriving first among +men delivered his message of death, saying, "Let men die." Then he +turned on his heel and went back to the Old Old One who had sent him. +But after he was gone, the chameleon at last arrived among men with his +glad tidings of immortality, and he shouted, saying, "It is said, Let +not men die!" But men answered, "O! we have heard the word of the +lizard; it has told us the word, 'It is said, Let men die.' We cannot +hear your word. Through the word of the lizard, men will die." And died +they have ever since from that day to this. That is why some of the +Zulus hate the lizard, saying, "Why did he run first and say, 'Let +people die?'" So they beat and kill the lizard and say, "Why did it +speak?" But others hate the chameleon and hustle it, saying, "That is +the little thing which delayed to tell the people that they should not +die. If he had only brought his message in time we should not have died; +our ancestors also would have been still living; there would have been +no diseases here on the earth. It all comes from the delay of the +chameleon."[57] The same story is told in nearly the same form by other +Bantu tribes, such as the Bechuanas,[58] the Basutos,[59] the +Baronga,[60] and the Ngoni.[61] To this day the Baronga and the Ngoni +owe the chameleon a grudge for having brought death into the world, so +when children find a chameleon they will induce it to open its mouth, +then throw a pinch of tobacco on its tongue, and watch with delight the +creature writhing and changing colour from orange to green, from green +to black in the agony of death; for thus they avenge the wrong which the +chameleon has done to mankind.[62] + +[Sidenote: Akamba story of the chameleon and the thrush.] + +A story of the same type, but with some variations, is told by the +Akamba, a Bantu tribe of British East Africa; but in their version the +lizard has disappeared from the legend and has been replaced by the +_itoroko_, a small bird of the thrush tribe, with a black head, a +bluish-black back, and a buff-coloured breast. The tale runs thus:--Once +upon a time God sent out the chameleon, the frog, and the thrush to find +people who died one day and came to life again the next. So off they +set, the chameleon leading the way, for in those days he was a very +important personage. Presently they came to some people lying like dead, +so the chameleon went up to them and said, _Niwe, niwe, niwe_. The +thrush asked him testily what he was making that noise for, to which the +chameleon replied mildly, "I am only calling the people who go forward +and then came back again," and he explained that the dead people would +come to life again. But the thrush, who was of a sceptical turn of mind, +derided the idea. Nevertheless, the chameleon persisted in calling to +the dead people, and sure enough they opened their eyes and listened to +him. But here the thrush broke in and told them roughly that dead they +were and dead they must remain. With that away he flew, and though the +chameleon preached to the corpses, telling them that he had come from +God on purpose to bring them to life again, and that they were not to +believe the lies of that shallow sceptic the thrush, they obstinately +refused to pay any heed to him; not one of those dead corpses would +budge. So the chameleon returned crestfallen to God and reported to him +how, when he preached the gospel of resurrection to the corpses, the +thrush had roared him down, so that the corpses could not hear a word he +said. God thereupon cross-questioned the thrush, who stated that the +chameleon had so bungled his message that he, the thrush, felt it his +imperative duty to interrupt him. The simple deity believed the thrush, +and being very angry with the chameleon he degraded him from his high +position and made him walk very slow, lurching this way and that, as he +does down to this very day. But the thrush he promoted to the office of +wakening men from their slumber every morning, which he still does +punctually at 2 A.M. before the note of any other bird is heard in the +tropical forest.[63] + +[Sidenote: Togo story of the dog and the frog.] + +In this version, though the frog is sent out by God with the other two +messengers he plays no part in the story; he is a mere dummy. But in +another version of the story, which is told by the negroes of Togoland +in German West Africa, the frog takes the place of the lizard and the +thrush as the messenger of death. They say that once upon a time men +sent a dog to God to say that when they died they would like to come to +life again. So off the dog trotted to deliver the message. But on the +way he felt hungry and turned into a house, where a man was boiling +magic herbs. So the dog sat down and thought to himself, "He is cooking +food." Meantime the frog had set off to tell God that when men died they +would like not to come to life again. Nobody had asked him to give that +message; it was a piece of pure officiousness and impertinence on his +part. However, away he tore. The dog, who still sat watching the +hell-broth brewing, saw him hurrying past the door, but he thought to +himself, "When I have had something to eat, I will soon catch froggy +up." However, froggy came in first and said to the deity, "When men die, +they would like not to come to life again." After that, up comes the +dog, and says he, "When men die, they would like to come to life again." +God was naturally puzzled and said to the dog, "I really do not +understand these two messages. As I heard the frog's request first, I +will comply with it. I will not do what you said." That is the real +reason why men die and do not come to life again. If the frog had only +minded his own business instead of meddling with other people's, the +dead would all have come to life again to this day.[64] In this version +of the story not only are the persons of the two messengers different, +the dog and the frog having replaced the chameleon and the lizard of the +Bantu version, but the messengers are sent from men to God instead of +from God to men. + +[Sidenote: Ashantee story of the goat and the sheep.] + +In another version told by the Ashantees of West Africa the persons of +the messengers are again different, but as in the Bantu version they are +sent from God to men. The Ashantees say that long ago men were happy, +for God dwelt among them and talked with them face to face. For example, +if a child was roasting yams at the fire and wanted a relish to eat with +the yams, he had nothing to do but to throw a stick in the air and say, +"God give me fish," and God gave him fish at once. However, these happy +days did not last for ever. One unlucky day it happened that some women +were pounding a mash with pestles in a mortar, while God stood by +looking on. For some reason they were annoyed by the presence of the +deity and told him to be off; and as he did not take himself off fast +enough to please them, they beat him with their pestles. In a great huff +God retired altogether from the world and left it to the direction of +the fetishes; and still to this day people say, "Ah, if it had not been +for that old woman, how happy we should be!" However, after he had +withdrawn to heaven, the long-suffering deity sent a kind message by a +goat to men upon earth to say, "There is something which they call +Death. He will kill some of you. But even if you die, you will not +perish completely. You will come to me in heaven." So off the goat set +with this cheering intelligence. But before he came to the town he saw a +tempting bush by the wayside and stopped to browse on it. When God in +heaven saw the goat thus loitering by the way, he sent off a sheep with +the same message to carry the glad tidings to men without delay. But the +sheep did not give the message aright. Far from it: he said, "God sends +you word that you will die and that will be an end of you." Afterwards +the goat arrived on the scene and said, "God sends you word that you +will die, certainly, but that will not be the end of you, for you will +go to him." But men said to the goat, "No, goat, that is not what God +said. We believe that the message which the sheep brought us is the one +which God sent to us." That was the beginning of death among men.[65] +However, in another Ashantee version of the tale the parts played by the +sheep and the goat are reversed. It is the sheep who brings the tidings +of immortality from God to men, but the goat overruns him and offers +them death instead. Not knowing what death was, men accepted the seeming +boon with enthusiasm and have died ever since.[66] + +[Sidenote: II. The story of the Waxing and Waning Moon. Hottentot story +of the Moon, the hare, and death.] + +So much for the tale of the Two Messengers. In the last versions of it +which I have quoted, a feature to be noticed is the perversion of the +message by one of the messengers, who brings tidings of death instead of +life eternal to men. The same perversion of the message reappears in +some examples of the next type of story which I shall illustrate, namely +the type of the Waxing and Waning Moon. Thus the Namaquas or Hottentots +say that once the Moon charged the hare to go to men and say, "As I die +and rise to life again, so shall you die and rise to life again." So the +hare went to men, but either out of forgetfulness or malice he reversed +the message and said, "As I die and do not rise to life again, so you +shall also die and not rise to life again." Then he went back to the +Moon, and she asked him what he had said. He told her, and when she +heard how he had given the wrong message, she was so angry that she +threw a stick at him and split his lip, which is the reason why the +hare's lip is still split. So the hare ran away and is still running to +this day. Some people, however, say that before he fled he clawed the +Moon's face, which still bears the marks of the scratching, as anybody +may see for himself on a clear moonlight night. So the Hottentots are +still angry with the hare for bringing death into the world, and they +will not let initiated men partake of its flesh.[67] There are traces of +a similar story among the Bushmen.[68] In another Hottentot version two +messengers appear, an insect and a hare; the insect is charged by the +Moon with a message of immortality or rather of resurrection to men, but +the hare persuades the insect to let him bear the tidings, which he +perverts into a message of annihilation.[69] Thus in this particular +version the type of the Two Messengers coincides with the Moon type. + +[Sidenote: Masai story of the moon and death.] + +A story of the same type, though different in details, is told by the +Masai of East Africa. They say that in the early days a certain god +named Naiteru-kop told a man named Le-eyo that if a child were to die he +was to throw away the body and say, "Man, die, and come back again; +moon, die, and remain away." Well, soon afterwards a child died, but it +was not one of the man's own children, so when he threw the body away he +said, "Man, die, and remain away; moon, die, and return." Next one of +his own children died, and when he threw away the body he said, "Man, +die, and return; moon, die, and remain away." But the god said to him, +"It is of no use now, for you spoilt matters with the other child." That +is why down to this day when a man dies he returns no more, but when the +moon dies she always comes to life again.[70] + +[Sidenote: Nandi story of the moon, the dog, and death.] + +Another story of the origin of death which belongs to this type is told +by the Nandi of British East Africa. They say that when the first people +lived upon the earth a dog came to them one day and said: "All people +will die like the moon, but unlike the moon you will not return to life +again unless you give me some milk to drink out of your gourd, and beer +to drink through your straw. If you do this, I will arrange for you to +go to the river when you die and to come to life again on the third +day." But the people laughed at the dog, and gave him some milk and beer +to drink off a stool. The dog was angry at not being served in the same +vessels as a human being, and though he put his pride in his pocket and +drank the milk and the beer from the stool, he went away in high +dudgeon, saying, "All people will die, and the moon alone will return to +life." That is the reason why, when people die, they stay away, whereas +when the moon goes away she comes back again after three days' +absence.[71] The Wa-Sania of British East Africa believe that in days +gone by people never died, till one unlucky day a lizard came and said +to them, "All of you know that the moon dies and rises again, but human +beings will die and rise no more." They say that from that day people +began to die and have persisted in dying ever since.[72] + +[Sidenote: Fijian story of the moon, the rat, and death. Caroline +Islands story of the moon, death, and resurrection. Wotjobaluk story of +the moon, death, and resurrection. Cham story of the moon, death, and +resurrection.] + +With these African stories of the origin of death we may compare one +told by the Fijians on the other side of the world. They say that once +upon a time the Moon contended that men should be like himself (for the +Fijian moon seems to be a male); that is, he meant that just as he grows +old, disappears, and comes in sight again, so men grown old should +vanish for a while and then return to life. But the rat, who is a Fijian +god, would not hear of it. "No," said he, "let men die like rats." And +he had the best of it in the dispute, for men die like rats to this +day.[73] In the Caroline Islands they say that long, long ago death was +unknown, or rather it was a short sleep, not a long, long one, as it is +now. Men died on the last day of the waning moon and came to life again +on the first appearance of the new moon, just as if they had awakened +from a refreshing slumber. But an evil spirit somehow contrived that +when men slept the sleep of death they should wake no more.[74] The +Wotjobaluk of south-eastern Australia relate that, when all animals were +men and women, some of them died and the moon used to say, "You +up-again," whereupon they came to life again. But once on a time an old +man said, "Let them remain dead"; and since then nobody has ever come to +life again except the moon, which still continues to do so down to this +very day.[75] The Chams of Annam and Cambodia say that the goddess of +good luck used to resuscitate people as fast as they died, till the +sky-god, tired of her constant interference with the laws of nature, +transferred her to the moon, where it is no longer in her power to bring +the dead to life again.[76] + +[Sidenote: Cycle of death and resurrection after three days, like the +monthly disappearance and reappearance of the moon.] + +These stories which associate human immortality with the moon are +products of a primitive philosophy which, meditating on the visible +changes, of the lunar orb, drew from the observation of its waning and +waxing a dim notion that under a happier fate man might have been +immortal like the moon, or rather that like it he might have undergone +an endless cycle of death and resurrection, dying then rising again from +the dead after three days. The same curious notion of death and +resurrection after three days is entertained by the Unmatjera and +Kaitish, two savage tribes of Central Australia. They say that long ago +their dead used to be buried either in trees or underground, and that +after three days they regularly rose from the dead. The Kaitish tell how +this happy state of things came to an end. It was all through a man of +the Curlew totem, who finding some men of the Little Wallaby totem +burying a Little Wallaby man, fell into a passion and kicked the body +into the sea. Of course after that the dead man could not come to life +again, and that is why nowadays nobody rises from the dead after three +days, as everybody used to do long ago.[77] Although no mention is made +of the moon in this Australian story, we may conjecture that these +savages, like the Nandi of East Africa, fixed upon three days as the +normal interval between death and resurrection simply because three days +is the interval between the disappearance of the old and the +reappearance of the new moon. If that is so, the aborigines of Central +Australia may be added to the many races of mankind who have seen in the +waning and waxing moon an emblem of human immortality. Nor does this +association of ideas end with a mere tradition that in some former age +men used to die with the old moon and come to life again with the new +moon. Many savages, on seeing the new moon for the first time in the +month, observe ceremonies which seem to be intended to renew and +increase their life and strength with the renewal and the increase of +the lunar light. For example, on the day when the new moon first +appeared, the Indians of San Juan Capistrano in California used to call +together all the young men and make them run about, while the old men +danced in a circle, saying, "As the moon dieth and cometh to life again, +so we also having to die will again live."[78] Again, an old writer +tells us that at the appearance of every new moon the negroes of the +Congo clapped their hands and cried out, sometimes falling on their +knees, "So may I renew my life as thou art renewed."[79] + +[Sidenote: III. Story of the Serpent and his Cast Skin. New Britain +story of immortality, the serpent, and death. Annamite story of +immortality, the serpent, and death. Vuatom story of immortality, the +lizard, the serpent, and death.] + +Another type of stories told to explain the origin of death is the one +which I have called the type of the Serpent and his Cast Skin. Some +savages seem to think that serpents and all other animals, such as +lizards, which periodically shed their skins, thereby renew their life +and so never die. Hence they imagine that if man also could only cast +his old skin and put on a new one, he too would be immortal like a +serpent. Thus the Melanesians, who inhabit the coast of the Gazelle +Peninsula in New Britain, tell the following story of the origin of +death. They say that To Kambinana, the Good Spirit, loved men and wished +to make them immortal; but he hated the serpents and wished to kill +them. So he called his brother To Korvuvu and said to him, "Go to men +and take them the secret of immortality. Tell them to cast their skin +every year. So will they be protected from death, for their life will be +constantly renewed. But tell the serpents that they must thenceforth +die." But To Korvuvu acquitted himself badly of his task; for he +commanded men to die and betrayed to the serpents the secret of +immortality. Since then all men have been mortal, but the serpents cast +their skins every year and are immortal.[80] In this story we meet again +with the incident of the reversed message; through a blunder or through +the malice of the messenger the glad tidings of immortality are +perverted into a melancholy message of death. A similar tale, with a +similar incident, is told in Annam. They say that Ngoc hoang sent a +messenger from heaven to men to say that when they had reached old age +they should change their skins and live for ever, but that when serpents +grew old they must die. The messenger came down to earth and said, +rightly enough, "When man is old, he shall cast his skin; but when +serpents are old, they shall die and be laid in coffins." So far, so +good. But unfortunately there happened to be a brood of serpents within +hearing, and when they heard the doom pronounced on their kind they fell +into a fury and said to the messenger, "You must say it over again and +just the contrary, or we will bite you." That frightened the messenger +and he repeated his message, changing the words thus: "When he is old, +the serpent shall cast his skin; but when he is old, man shall die and +be laid in the coffin." That is why all creatures are now subject to +death, except the serpent, who, when he is old, casts his skin and lives +for ever.[81] The natives of Vuatom, an island in the Bismarck +Archipelago, say that a certain To Konokonomiange bade two lads fetch +fire, promising that if they did so they should never die, but that if +they refused their bodies would perish, though their shades or souls +would survive. They would not hearken to him, so he cursed them, saying, +"What! You would all have lived! Now you shall die, though your soul +shall live. But the iguana (_Goniocephalus_) and the lizard (_Varanus +indicus_) and the snake (_Enygrus_), they shall live, they shall cast +their skin and they shall live for evermore." When the lads heard that, +they wept, for bitterly they rued their folly in not going to fetch the +fire for To Konokonomiange.[82] + +[Sidenote: Nias story of immortality, the crab, and death. Arawak and +Tamanachier stories of immortality, the serpent, the lizard, the beetle, +and death.] + +Other peoples tell somewhat different stories to explain how men missed +the boon of immortality and serpents acquired it. Thus the natives of +Nias, an island off the coast of Sumatra, say that, when the earth was +created, a certain being was sent down by God from heaven to put the +last touches to the work of creation. He should have fasted for a month, +but unable to withstand the pangs of hunger he ate some bananas. The +choice of food was most unlucky, for had he only eaten river-crabs +instead of bananas men would have cast their skins like crabs and would +never have died.[83] The Arawaks of British Guiana relate that once upon +a time the Creator came down to earth to see how his creature man was +getting on. But men were so wicked that they tried to kill him so he +deprived them of eternal life and bestowed it on the animals which renew +their skin, such as serpents, lizards, and beetles.[84] A somewhat +different version of the story is told by the Tamanachiers, an Indian +tribe of the Orinoco. They say that after residing among them for some +time the Creator took boat to cross to the other side of the great salt +water from which he had come. Just as he was shoving off from the shore, +he called out to them in a changed voice, "You will change your skins," +by which he meant to say, "You will renew your youth like the serpents +and the beetles." But unfortunately an old woman, hearing these words, +cried out "Oh!" in a tone of scepticism, if not of sarcasm, which so +annoyed the Creator that he changed his tune at once and said testily, +"Ye shall die." That is why we are all mortal.[85] + +[Sidenote: Melanesian story of the old woman who renewed her youth by +casting her skin.] + +The natives of the Banks' Islands and the New Hebrides believe that +there was a time in the beginning of things when men never died but cast +their skins like snakes and crabs and so renewed their youth. But the +unhappy change to mortality came about at last, as it so often does in +these stories, through an old woman. Having grown old, this dame went to +a stream to change her skin, and change it she did, for she stripped off +her wizened old hide, cast it upon the waters, and watched it floating +down stream till it caught on a stick. Then she went home a buxom young +woman. But the child whom she had left at home did not know her and set +up such a prodigious squalling that to quiet it the woman went straight +back to the river, fished out her cast-off old skin, and put it on +again. From that day to this people have ceased to cast their skins and +to live for ever.[86] The same legend of the origin of death has been +recorded in the Shortlands Islands[87] and among the Kai of German New +Guinea.[88] It is also told with some variations by the natives of the +Admiralty Islands. They say that once on a time there was an old woman +and she was frail. She had two sons, and they went a-fishing, and she +herself went to bathe. She stripped off her wrinkled old skin and came +forth as young as she had been long ago. Her sons came home from the +fishing, and very much astonished were they to see her. The one said, +"It is our mother," but the other said, "She may be your mother, but she +shall be my wife." Their mother heard them and said, "What were you two +saying?" The two said, "Nothing! We only said that you are our mother." +"You are liars," said she, "I heard you both. If I had had my way, we +should have grown to be old men and women, and then we should have cast +our skin and been young men and young women. But you have had your way. +We shall grow old men and old women and then we shall die." With that +she fetched her old skin, and put it on, and became an old woman again. +As for us, her descendants, we grow up and we grow old. And if it had +not been for those two young men there would have been no end of our +days, we should have lived for ever and ever.[89] + +[Sidenote: Samoan story of the shellfish, two torches, and death.] + +The Samoans tell how the gods held a council to decide what was to be +done with men. One of them said, "Bring men and let them cast their +skin; and when they die, let them be turned to shellfish or to a +coco-nut leaf torch, which when shaken in the wind blazes out again." +But another god called Palsy (_Supa_) rose up and said, "Bring men and +let them be like the candle-nut torch, which when it is once out cannot +be blown up again. Let the shellfish change their skin, but let men +die." While they were debating, a heavy rain came on and broke up the +meeting. As the gods ran for shelter to their houses, they cried, "Let +it be according to the counsel of Palsy! Let it be according to the +counsel of Palsy!" So men died, but shellfish cast their skins.[90] + +[Sidenote: IV. The Banana Story. Poso story of immortality, the stone, +the banana, and death. Mentra story of immortality, the banana, and +death.] + +The last type of tales of the origin of death which I shall notice is +the one which I have called the Banana type. We have already seen that +according to the natives of Nias human mortality is all due to eating +bananas instead of crabs.[91] A similar opinion is entertained by other +people in that region of the world. Thus the natives of Poso, a district +of Central Celebes, say that in the beginning the sky was very near the +earth, and that the Creator, who lived in it, used to let down his good +gifts to men at the end of a rope. One day he thus lowered a stone; but +our first father and mother would have none of it and they called out to +their Maker, "What have we to do with this stone? Give us something +else." The Creator complied and hauled away at the rope; the stone +mounted up and up till it vanished from sight. Presently the rope was +seen coming down from heaven again, and this time there was a banana at +the end of it instead of a stone. Our first parents ran at the banana +and took it. Then there came a voice from heaven, saying: "Because ye +have chosen the banana, your life shall be like its life. When the +banana-tree has offspring, the parent stem dies; so shall ye die and +your children shall step into your place. Had ye chosen the stone, your +life would have been like the life of the stone changeless and +immortal." The man and his wife mourned over their fatal choice, but it +was too late; that is how through the eating of a banana death came into +the world.[92] The Mentras or Mantras, a shy tribe of savages in the +jungles of the Malay Peninsula, allege that in the early days of the +world men did not die, but only grew thin at the waning of the moon and +then waxed fat again as she waxed to the full. Thus there was no check +whatever on the population, which increased to a truly alarming extent. +So a son of the first man brought this state of things to his father's +notice and asked him what was to be done. The first man said, "Leave +things as they are"; but his younger brother, who took a more Malthusian +view of the situation, said, "No, let men die like the banana, leaving +their offspring behind." The question was submitted to the Lord of the +Underworld, and he decided in favour of death. Ever since then men have +ceased to renew their youth like the moon and have died like the +banana.[93] + +[Sidenote: Primitive philosophy in the stories of the origin of death.] + +Thus the three stories of the origin of death which I have called the +Moon type, the Serpent type, and the Banana type appear to be products +of a primitive philosophy which sees a cheerful emblem of immortality in +the waxing and waning moon and in the cast skins of serpents, but a sad +emblem of mortality in the banana-tree, which perishes as soon as it has +produced its fruit. But, as I have already said, these types of stories +do not exhaust the theories or fancies of primitive man on the question +how death came into the world. I will conclude this part of my subject +with some myths which do not fall under any of the preceding heads. + +[Sidenote: Bahnar story of immortality, the tree, and death. Rivalry for +the boon of immortality between men and animals that cast their skins, +such as serpents and lizards.] + +The Bahnars of eastern Cochinchina say that in the beginning when people +died they used to be buried at the foot of a tree called Long Blo, and +that after a time they always rose from the dead, not as infants but as +full-grown men and women. So the earth was peopled very fast, and all +the inhabitants formed but one great town under the presidency of our +first parents. In time men multiplied to such an extent that a certain +lizard could not take his walks abroad without somebody treading on his +tail. This vexed him, and the wily creature gave an insidious hint to +the gravediggers. "Why bury the dead at the foot of the Long Blo tree?" +said he; "bury them at the foot of Long Khung, and they will not come to +life again. Let them die outright and be done with it." The hint was +taken, and from that day the dead have not come to life again.[94] In +this story there are several points to be noticed. In the first place +the tree Long Blo would seem to have been a tree of life, since all the +dead who were buried at its foot came to life again. In the second place +the lizard is here, as in so many African tales, the instrument of +bringing death among men. Why was that so? We may conjecture that the +reason is that the lizard like the serpent casts its skin periodically, +from which primitive man might infer, as he infers with regard to +serpents, that the creature renews its youth and lives for ever. Thus +all the myths which relate how a lizard or a serpent became the +maleficent agent of human mortality may perhaps be referred to an old +idea of a certain jealousy and rivalry between men and all creatures +which cast their skin, notably serpents and lizards; we may suppose that +in all such cases a story was told of a contest between man and his +animal rivals for the possession of immortality, a contest in which, +whether by mistake or by guile, the victory always remained with the +animals, who thus became immortal, while mankind was doomed to +mortality. + +[Sidenote: Chingpaw story of the origin of death. Australian story of +the tree, the bat, and death. Fijian story of the origin of death.] + +The Chingpaws of Upper Burma say that death originated in a practical +joke played by an old man who pretended to be dead in the ancient days +when nobody really died. But the Lord of the Sun, who held the threads +of all human lives in his hand, detected the fraud and in anger cut +short the thread of life of the practical joker. Since then everybody +else has died; the door for death to enter into the world was opened by +the folly of that silly, though humorous, old man.[95] The natives about +the Murray River in Australia used to relate how the first man and woman +were forbidden to go near a tree in which a bat lived, lest they should +disturb the creature. One day, however, the woman was gathering firewood +and she went near the tree. The bat flew away, and after that death came +into the world.[96] Some of the Fijians accounted for human mortality as +follows. When the first man, the father of the human race, was being +buried, a god passed by the grave and asked what it meant, for he had +never seen a grave before. On learning from the bystanders that they had +just buried their father, "Do not bury him," said he, "dig the body up +again." "No," said they, "we cannot do that. He has been dead four days +and stinks." "Not so," pleaded the god; "dig him up, and I promise you +that he will live again." Heedless of the divine promise, these +primitive sextons persisted in leaving their dead father in the grave. +Then said the god to these wicked men, "By disobeying me you have sealed +your own fate. Had you dug up your ancestor, you would have found him +alive, and you yourselves, when you passed from this world, should have +been buried, as bananas are, for the space of four days, after which you +should have been dug up, not rotten, but ripe. But now, as a punishment +for your disobedience, you shall die and rot." And still, when they hear +this sad tale told, the Fijians say, "O that those children had dug up +that body!"[97] + +[Sidenote: Admiralty Islanders' stories of the origin of death.] + +The Admiralty Islanders tell various stories to explain why man is +mortal. One of them has already been related. Here is another. A Souh +man went once to catch fish. A devil tried to devour him, but he fled +into the forest and took refuge in a tree. The tree kindly closed on him +so that the devil could not see him. When the devil was gone, the tree +opened up and the man clambered down to the ground. Then said the tree +to him, "Go to Souh and bring me two white pigs." He went and found two +pigs, one was white and one was black. He took chalk and chalked the +black pig so that it was white. Then he brought them to the tree, but on +the way the chalk fell off the black pig. And when the tree saw the +white pig and the black pig, he chid the man and said, "You are +thankless. I was good to you. An evil will overtake you; you will die. +The devil will fall upon you, and you will die." So it has been with us +as it was with the man of Souh. An evil overtakes us or a spirit falls +upon us, and we die. If it had been as the tree said, we should not have +died.[98] Another story told by the Admiralty Islanders to account for +the melancholy truth of man's mortality runs thus. Kosi, the chief of +Moakareng, was in his house. He was hungry. He said to his two sons, "Go +and climb the breadfruit trees and bring the fruit, that we may eat them +together and not die." But they would not. So he went himself and +climbed the breadfruit tree. But the north-west wind blew a storm, it +blew and threw him down. He fell and his body died, but his ghost went +home. He went and sat in his house. He tied up his hair and he painted +his face with red ochre. Now his wife and his two sons had gone after +him into the wood. They went to fetch home the breadfruits. They came +and saw Kosi, and he was dead. The three returned home, and there they +saw the ghost of Kosi sitting in his house. They said, "You there! Who's +that dead at the foot of the breadfruit tree? Kosi, he is dead at the +foot of the breadfruit tree." Kosi, he said, "Here am I. I did not fall. +Perhaps somebody else fell down. I did not. Here I am." "You're a liar," +said they. "I ain't," said he. "Come," said they, "we'll go and see." +They went. Kosi, he jumped into his body. He died. They buried him. If +his wife had behaved well, we should not die. Our body would die, but +our ghost would go about always in the old home.[99] + +[Sidenote: Stories of the origin of death: the fatal bundle or the fatal +box.] + +The Wemba of Northern Rhodesia relate how God in the beginning created a +man and a woman and gave them two bundles; in one of them was life and +in the other death. Most unfortunately the man chose "the little bundle +of death."[100] The Cherokee Indians of North America say that a number +of beings were engaged in the work of creation. The Sun was made first. +Now the creators intended that men should live for ever. But when the +Sun passed over them in the sky, he told the people that there was not +room enough for them all and that they had better die. At last the Sun's +own daughter, who was with the people on earth, was bitten by a snake +and died. Then the Sun repented him and said that men might live always; +and he bade them take a box and go fetch his daughter's spirit in the +box and bring it to her body, that she might live. But he charged them +straitly not to open the box until they arrived at the dead body. +However, moved by curiosity, they unhappily opened the box too soon; +away flew the spirit, and all men have died ever since.[101] Some of the +North American Indians informed the early Jesuit missionaries that a +certain man had received the gift of immortality in a small packet from +a famous magician named Messou, who repaired the world after it had been +seriously damaged by a great flood. In bestowing on the man this +valuable gift the magician strictly enjoined him on no account to open +the packet. The man obeyed, and so long as the packet was unopened he +remained immortal. But his wife was both curious and incredulous; she +opened the packet to see what was in it, the precious contents flew +away, and mankind has been subject to death ever since.[102] + +[Sidenote: Baganda story how death came into the world through the +forgetfulness and imprudence of a woman.] + +As these American Indians tell how death came through the curiosity and +incredulity of one woman, the Baganda of Central Africa relate how it +came through the forgetfulness and imprudence of another. According to +the Baganda the first man who came to earth in Uganda was named Kintu. +He brought with him one cow and lived on its milk, for he had no other +food. But in time a woman named Nambi, a daughter of Gulu, the king of +heaven, came down to earth with her brother or sister, and seeing Kintu +she fell in love with him and wished to have him for her husband. But +her proud father doubted whether Kintu was worthy of his daughter's +hand, and accordingly he insisted on testing his future son-in-law +before he would consent to the marriage. So he carried off Kintu's cow +and put it among his own herds in heaven. When Kintu found that the cow +was stolen, he was in a great rage, but hunger getting the better of +anger, he made shift to live by peeling the bark of trees and gathering +herbs and leaves, which he cooked and ate. In time his future wife Nambi +happened to spy the stolen cow among her father's herds and she told +Kintu, who came to heaven to seek and recover the lost animal. His +future father-in-law Gulu, Lord of Heaven, obliged him to submit to many +tests designed to prove his fitness for marriage with the daughter of so +exalted a being as the Lord of Heaven. All these tests Kintu +successfully passed through. At last Gulu was satisfied, gave him his +daughter Nambi to wife, and allowed him to return to earth with her. + +[Sidenote: The coming of Death.] + +But Nambi had a brother and his name was Death (_Walumbe_). So before +the Lord of Heaven sent her away with her husband he called them both to +him and said, "You must hurry away before Death comes, or he will wish +to go with you. You must not let him do so, for he would only cause you +trouble and unhappiness." To this his daughter agreed, and she went to +pack up her things. She and her husband then took leave of the Lord of +Heaven, who gave them at parting a piece of advice. "Be sure," said he, +"if you have forgotten anything, not to come back for it; because, if +you do, Death will wish to go with you, and you must go without him." So +off they set, the man and his wife, taking with them his cow and its +calves, also a sheep, a goat, a fowl, and a banana tree. But on the way +the woman remembered that she had forgotten the grain to feed the fowl, +so she said to her husband, "I must go back for the grain to feed the +fowl, or it will die." Her husband tried to dissuade her, but in vain. +She said, "I will hurry back and get it without any one seeing me." So +back she went in an evil hour and said to her father the Lord of Heaven, +"I have forgotten the grain for the fowl and I am come back to fetch it +from the doorway where I put it." Her father said sadly, "Did I not tell +you that you were not to return if you had forgotten anything, because +your brother Death would wish to go with you? Now he will accompany +you." The woman fled, but Death saw her and followed hard after her. +When she rejoined her husband, he was angry, for he saw Death and said, +"Why have you brought your brother with you? Who can live with him?" + +[Sidenote: The importunity of Death.] + +When they reached the earth, Nambi planted her garden, and the bananas +sprang up quickly and formed a grove. They lived happily for a time till +one day Death came and asked for one of their daughters, that she might +go away with him and be his cook. But the father said, "If the Lord of +Heaven comes and asks me for one of my children, what am I to say? Shall +I tell him that I have given her to you to be your cook?" Death was +silent and went away. But he came back another day and asked again for a +child to be his cook. When the father again refused, Death said, "I will +kill your children." The father did not know what that meant, so he +asked Death, "What is that you will do?" However, in a short time one of +the children fell ill and died, and then another and another. So the man +went to the Lord of Heaven and complained that Death was taking away his +children one by one. The Lord of Heaven said, "Did I not tell you, when +you were going away, to go at once with your wife and not to return if +you had forgotten anything, but you let your wife return to fetch the +grain? Now you have Death living with you. If you had obeyed me, you +would have been free from him and not lost any of your children." + +[Sidenote: The hunt for Death.] + +However, the man pleaded with him, and the Lord Heaven at last consented +to send Death's brother Kaikuzi to help the woman and to prevent Death +from killing her children. So down came Kaikuzi to earth, and when he +met his brother Death they greeted each other lovingly. Then Kaikuzi +told Death that he had come to fetch him away from earth to heaven. +Death was willing to go, but he said, "Let us take our sister too." +"Nay," said his brother, "that cannot be, for she is a wife and must +stay with her husband." The dispute waxed warm, Death insisting on +carrying off his sister, and his brother refusing to allow him to do so. +At last the brother angrily ordered Death to do as he was bid, and so +saying he made as though he would seize him. But Death slipped from +between his hands and fled into the earth. For a long time after that +there was enmity between the two brothers. Kaikuzi tried in every way to +catch Death, but Death always escaped. At last Kaikuzi told the people +that he would have one final hunt for Death, and while the hunt was +going on they must all stay in their houses; not a man, a woman, a +child, nor even an animal was to be allowed to pass the threshold; and +if they saw Death passing the window, they were not to utter a cry of +terror but to keep still. Well, for some days his orders were obeyed. +Not a living soul, not an animal, stirred abroad. All without was +solitude, all within was silence. Encouraged by the universal stillness +Death emerged from his lair, and his brother was just about to catch +him, when some children, who had ventured out to herd their goats, saw +Death and cried out. Death's good brother rushed to the spot and asked +them why they had cried out. They said, "Because we saw Death." So his +brother was angry because Death had again made good his escape into the +earth, and he went to the first man and told him that he was weary of +hunting Death and wished to return home to heaven. The first man thanked +him kindly for all he had done, and said, "I fear there is nothing more +to be done. We must only hope that Death will not kill all the people." +It was a vain hope. Since then Death has lived on earth and killed +everybody who is born into the world; and always, after the deed of +murder is done, he escapes into the earth at Tanda in Singo.[103] + +[Sidenote: In the preceding story Death is distinctly personified. Death +personified in a West African story of the origin of death. Death and +the spider and the spider's daughter.] + +If this curious tale of the origin of death reveals no very deep +philosophy, it is at least interesting for the distinctness with which +Death is conceived as a personal being, the son of the Lord of Heaven, +the brother of the first man's wife. In this personification of Death +the story differs from all the others which we have examined and marks +an intellectual advance upon them; since the power of picturing abstract +ideas to the mind with all the sharpness of outline and vividness of +colour which are implied by personification is a faculty above the reach +of very low intelligences. It is not surprising that the Baganda should +have attained to this power, for they are probably the most highly +cultured and intellectual of all the many Bantu tribes of Africa. The +same conception of Death as a person occurs in a story of the origin of +death which is told by the Hos, a negro tribe in Togoland, a district of +West Africa. These Hos belong to the Ewe-speaking family of the true +negroes, who have reached a comparatively high level of barbarism in the +notorious kingdom of Dahomey. The story which the Hos tell as to the +origin of death is as follows. Once upon a time there was a great famine +in which even the hunters could find no flesh to eat. Then Death went +and made a road as broad as from here to Sokode, and there he set many +snares. Every animal that tried to pass that way fell into a snare. So +Death had much flesh to eat. One day the Spider came to Death and said +to him, "You have so much meat!" and she asked if she might have some to +take home with her. Death gave her leave. So the Spider made a basket as +long as from Ho to Akoviewe (a distance of about five miles), crammed it +full of meat, and dragged it home. In return for this bounty the Spider +gave Death her daughter Yiyisa to wife. So when Death had her for his +wife, he gave her a hint. He said, "Don't walk on the broad road which I +have made. Walk on the footpath which I have not made. When you go to +the water, be sure to take none but the narrow way through the wood." +Well, some time afterwards it had rained a little; the grass was wet, +and Yiyisa wished to go to the watering-place. When she tried to walk on +the narrow path through the forest, the tall damp grass wet her through +and through, so she thought to herself, "In future I will only go on the +broad road." But scarce had she set foot on the beautiful broad road +when she fell into a snare and died on the spot. When Death came to the +snare and saw his wife in it dead, he cut her up into bits and toasted +them on the fire. One day the Spider paid a visit to her son-in-law +Death, and he set a good meal before her. When she had eaten and drunk +her fill and had got up to go home, she asked Death after her daughter. +"If you take that meat from the fire," said Death, "you will see her." +So the Spider took the flesh from the fire and there, sure enough, she +found her dead daughter. Then she went home in great wrath and whetted +her knife till it was so sharp that a fly lighting on the edge was cut +in two. With that knife she came back to attack Death. But Death shot an +arrow at her. She dodged it, and the arrow whizzed past her and set all +the forest on fire. Then the Spider flung her sharp knife at Death, but +it missed him and only sliced off the tops of the palms and all the +other trees of the wood. Seeing that her stroke had failed, the Spider +fled away home and shut herself up in her house. But Death waited for +her on the edge of the town to kill her as soon as she ventured out. +Next morning some women came out of the town to draw water at the +watering-place, and as they went they talked with one another. But Death +shot an arrow among them and killed several. The rest ran away home +and said, "So and so is dead." Then Death came and looked at the bodies +and said, "That is my game. I need go no more into the wood to hunt." +That is how Death came into the world. If the Spider had not done what +she did, nobody would ever have died.[104] + +[Sidenote: Death personified in a Melanesian story of the origin of +death.] + +Again, the Melanesians of the Banks Islands tell a story of the origin +of Death, in which that grim power is personified. They say that Death +(_Mate_) used to live underground in a shadowy realm called Panoi, while +men on earth changed their skins like serpents and so renewing their +youth lived for ever. But a practical inconvenience of immortality was +that property never changed hands; newcomers had no chance, everything +was monopolised by the old, old stagers. To remedy this state of things +and secure a more equitable distribution of property Death was induced +to emerge from the lower world and to appear on earth among men; he came +relying on an assurance that no harm would be done him. Well, when they +had him, they laid him out on a board, covered him with a pall as if he +were a corpse, and then proceeded with great gusto to divide his +property and eat the funeral feast. On the fifth day they blew the conch +shell to drive away the ghost, as usual, and lifted the pall to see what +had become of Death. But there was no Death there; he had absconded +leaving only his skeleton behind. They naturally feared that he had made +off with an intention to return to his home underground, which would +have been a great calamity; for if there were no Death on earth, how +could men die and how could other people inherit their property? The +idea was intolerable; so to cut off the retreat of the fugitive, the +Fool was set to do sentinel duty at the parting of the ways, where one +road leads down to the underworld, Death's home, and the other leads up +to the upper world, the abode of the living. Here accordingly the Fool +was stationed with strict orders to keep his eye on Death if he should +attempt to sneak past him and return to the nether world. However, the +Fool, like a fool as he was, sat watching the road to the upper world, +and Death slipped behind him and so made good his retreat. Since then +all men have followed Death down that fatal path.[105] + +[Sidenote: Thus according to savages death is not a necessary part of +the order of nature. A similar view is held by some eminent modern +biologists.] + +So much for savage stories of the origin of death. They all imply a +belief that death is not a necessary part of the order of nature, but +that it originated in a pure mistake or misdeed of some sort on +somebody's part, and that we should all have lived happy and immortal if +it had not been for that disastrous blunder or crime. Thus the tales +reflect the same frame of mind which I illustrated in the last lecture, +when I shewed that many savages still to this day believe all men to be +naturally immortal and death to be nothing but an effect of sorcery. In +short, whether we regard the savage's attitude to death at the present +day or his ideas as to its origin in the remote past, we must conclude +that primitive man cannot reconcile himself to the notion of death as a +natural and necessary event; he persists in regarding it as an +accidental and unnecessary disturbance of the proper order of nature. To +a certain extent, perhaps, in these crude speculations he has +anticipated certain views of modern biology. Thus it has been maintained +by Professor August Weissmann that death is not a natural necessity, +that many of the lowest species of living animals do in fact live for +ever; and that in the higher animals the custom of dying has been +introduced in the course of evolution for the purpose of thinning the +population and preventing the degeneration of the species, which would +otherwise follow through the gradual and necessary deterioration of the +immortal individuals, who, though they could not die, might yet sustain +much bodily damage through hard knocks in the hurly-burly of eternal +existence on earth. + +[Sidenote: Weissmann's view that death is not a natural necessity but an +adaptation acquired in the course of evolution for the advantage of the +race.] + +On this subject I will quote some sentences from Professor Weissmann's +essay on the duration of life. He says, "The necessity of death has been +hitherto explained as due to causes which are inherent in organic +nature, and not to the fact that it may be advantageous. I do not +however believe in the validity of this explanation; I consider that +death is not a primary necessity, but that it has been secondarily +acquired as an adaptation. I believe that life is endowed with a fixed +duration, not because it is contrary to its nature to be unlimited, but +because the unlimited existence of individuals would be a luxury without +any corresponding advantage. The above-mentioned hypothesis upon the +origin and necessity of death leads me to believe that the organism did +not finally cease to renew the worn-out cell material because the nature +of the cells did not permit them to multiply indefinitely, but because +the power of multiplying indefinitely was lost when it ceased to be of +use.... John Hunter, supported by his experiments on _anabiosis_, hoped +to prolong the life of man indefinitely by alternate freezing and +thawing; and the Veronese Colonel Aless. Guaguino made his +contemporaries believe that a race of men existed in Russia, of which +the individuals died regularly every year on the 27th of November, and +returned to life on the 24th of the following April. There cannot +however be the least doubt, that the higher organisms, as they are now +constructed, contain within themselves the germs of death. The question +however arises as to how this has come to pass; and I reply that death +is to be looked upon as an occurrence which is advantageous to the +species as a concession to the outer conditions of life, and not as an +absolute necessity, essentially inherent in life itself. Death, that is +the end of life, is by no means, as is usually assumed, an attribute of +all organisms. An immense number of low organisms do not die, although +they are easily destroyed, being killed by heat, poisons, etc. As long, +however, as those conditions which are necessary for their life are +fulfilled, they continue to live, and they thus carry the potentiality +of unending life in themselves. I am speaking not only of the Amoebae +and the low unicellular Algae, but also of far more highly organized +unicellular animals, such as the Infusoria."[106] + +[Sidenote: Similar view expressed by Alfred Russel Wallace.] + +A similar suggestion that death is not a natural necessity but an +innovation introduced for the good of the breed, has been made by our +eminent English biologist, Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace. He says: "If +individuals did not die they would soon multiply inordinately and would +interfere with each other's healthy existence. Food would become scarce, +and hence the larger individuals would probably decompose or diminish in +size. The deficiency of nourishment would lead to parts of the organism +not being renewed; they would become fixed, and liable to more or less +slow decomposition as dead parts within a living body. The smaller +organisms would have a better chance of finding food, the larger ones +less chance. That one which gave off several small portions to form each +a new organism would have a better chance of leaving descendants like +itself than one which divided equally or gave off a large part of +itself. Hence it would happen that those which gave off very small +portions would probably soon after cease to maintain their own existence +while they would leave a numerous offspring. This state of things would +be in any case for the advantage of the race, and would therefore, by +natural selection, soon become established as the regular course of +things, and thus we have the origin of _old age, decay, and death_; for +it is evident that when one or more individuals have provided a +sufficient number of successors they themselves, as consumers of +nourishment in a constantly increasing degree, are an injury to their +successors. Natural selection therefore weeds them out, and in many +cases favours such races as die almost immediately after they have left +successors. Many moths and other insects are in this condition, living +only to propagate their kind and then immediately dying, some not even +taking any food in the perfect and reproductive state."[107] + +[Sidenote: Savages and some men of science agree that death is not a +natural necessity.] + +Thus it appears that two of the most eminent biologists of our time +agree with savages in thinking that death is by no means a natural +necessity for all living beings. They only differ from savages in this, +that whereas savages look upon death as the result of a deplorable +accident, our men of science regard it as a beneficent reform instituted +by nature as a means of adjusting the numbers of living beings to the +quantity of the food supply, and so tending to the improvement and +therefore on the whole to the happiness of the species. + +[Footnote 57: H. Callaway, _The Religious System of the Amazulu_, Part +i. pp. 1, 3 _sq._, Part ii. p. 138; Rev. L. Grout, _Zululand, or Life +among the Zulu-Kafirs_ (Philadelphia, N.D.), pp. 148 _sq._; Dudley Kidd, +_The Essential Kafir_ (London, 1904), pp. 76 _sq._ Compare A. F. +Gardiner, _Narrative of a Journey to the Zoolu Country_ (London, 1836), +pp. 178 _sq._, T. Arbousset et F. Daumas, _Relation d'un voyage +d'Exploration au Nord-Est de la Colonie du Cap de Bonne-Esperance_ +(Paris, 1842), p. 472; Rev. J. Shooter, _The Kafirs of Natal and the +Zulu Country_ (London, 1857), p. 159; W. H. I. Bleek, _Reynard the Fox in +South Africa_ (London, 1864), p. 74; D. Leslie, _Among the Zulus and +Amatongas_, Second Edition (Edinburgh, 1875), p. 209; F. Speckmann, _Die +Hermannsburger Mission in Afrika_ (Hermannsburg, 1876), p. 164.] + +[Footnote 58: J. Chapman, _Travels in the Interior of South Africa_ +(London, 1868), i. 47.] + +[Footnote 59: E. Casalis, _The Basutos_ (London, 1861), p. 242; E. +Jacottet, _The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore_, i. (Morija, Basutoland, 1908), +pp. 46 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 60: H. A. Junod, _Les Ba-Ronga_ Neuchatel (1898), pp. 401 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 61: W. A. Elmslie, _Among the Wild Ngoni_ (Edinburgh and +London, 1899), p. 70.] + +[Footnote 62: H. A. Junod and W. A. Elmslie, _ll.cc._] + +[Footnote 63: C. W. Hobley, _Ethnology of A-Kamba and other East African +Tribes_ (Cambridge, 1910), pp. 107-109.] + +[Footnote 64: Fr. Mueller, "Die Religionen Togos in Einzeldarstellungen," +_Anthropos_, ii. (1907) p. 203. In a version of the story reported from +Calabar a sheep appears as the messenger of mortality, while a dog is +the messenger of immortality or rather of resurrection. See "Calabar +Stories," _Journal of the African Society_, No. 18 (January 1906), p. +194.] + +[Footnote 65: E. Perregaux, _Chez les Achanti_ (Neuchatel, 1906), pp. +198 _sq._] + +[Footnote 66: E. Perregaux, _op. cit._ p. 199.] + +[Footnote 67: Sir J. E. Alexander, _Expedition of Discovery into the +Interior of Africa_ (London, 1838), i. 169; C. J. Andersson, _Lake +Ngami_, Second Edition (London, 1856), pp. 328 _sq._; W. H. I. Bleek, +_Reynard the Fox in South Africa_ (London, 1864), pp. 71-73; Th. Hahn, +_Tsuni-Goam, the Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi_ (London, 1881), p. 52.] + +[Footnote 68: W. H. I. Bleek, _A Brief Account of Bushman Folk-lore_ +(London, 1875), pp. 9 _sq._] + +[Footnote 69: W. H. I. Bleek, _Reynard the Fox in South Africa_, pp. 69 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 70: A. C. Hollis, _The Masai_ (Oxford, 1905), pp. 271 _sq._] + +[Footnote 71: A. C. Hollis, _The Nandi_ (Oxford, 1909), p. 98.] + +[Footnote 72: Captain W. E. H. Barrett, "Notes on the Customs and +Beliefs of the Wa-Giriama, etc., British East Africa," _Journal of the +R. Anthropological Institute_, xli. (1911) p. 37.] + +[Footnote 73: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, Second Edition +(London, 1860), i. 205.] + +[Footnote 74: _Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses_, Nouvelle Edition, xv. +(Paris, 1781) pp. 305 _sq._] + +[Footnote 75: A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_ +(London, 1904), pp. 428 _sq._] + +[Footnote 76: Antoine Cabaton, _Nouvelles Recherches sur les Chams_ +(Paris, 1901), pp. 18 _sq._] + +[Footnote 77: Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, _Northern Tribes of +Central Australia_ (London, 1904), pp. 513 _sq._] + +[Footnote 78: Father G. Boscana, "Chinigchinich," in _Life in +California, by an American_ [A. Robinson] (New York, 1846), pp. 298 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 79: Merolla, "Voyage to Congo," in J. Pinkerton's _Voyages and +Travels_, xvi. (London, 1814) p. 273.] + +[Footnote 80: P. A. Kleintitschen, _Die Kuestenbewohner der +Gazellehalbinsel_ (Hiltrup bei Muenster, N.D.), p. 334.] + +[Footnote 81: A. Landes, "Contes et Legendes Annamites," _Cochinchine +francaise, Excursions et Reconnaissances_, No. 25 (Saigon, 1886), pp. +108 _sq._] + +[Footnote 82: Otto Meyer, "Mythen und Erzaehlungen von der Insel Vuatom +(Bismarck-Archipel, Suedsee)," _Anthropos_, v. (1910) p. 724.] + +[Footnote 83: H. Sundermann, "Die Insel Nias und die Mission daselbst," +_Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift_, xi. (1884) p. 451; E. Modigliani, _Un +Viaggio a Nias_ (Milan, 1890), p. 295.] + +[Footnote 84: R. Schomburgk, _Reisen in Britisch-Guiana_ (Leipsig, +1847-1848), ii. 319.] + +[Footnote 85: R. Schomburgk, _op. cit._ ii. 320.] + +[Footnote 86: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), p. +265; W. Gray, "Some Notes on the Tannese," _Internationales Archiv fuer +Ethnographie_, vii. (1894) p. 232.] + +[Footnote 87: C. Ribbe, _Zwei Jahre unter den Kannibalen der +Salomo-Inseln_ (Dresden-Blasowitz, 1903), p. 148.] + +[Footnote 88: Ch. Keysser, "Aus dem Leben der Kaileute," in R. +Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_ (Berlin, 1911), iii. 161 _sq._] + +[Footnote 89: Josef Meier, "Mythen und Sagen der Admiralitaetsinsulaner," +_Anthropos_, iii. (1908) p. 193.] + +[Footnote 90: George Brown, D.D., _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, +1910), p. 365; George Turner, LL.D., _Samoa_ (London, 1884), pp. 8 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 91: See above, p. 70.] + +[Footnote 92: A. C. Kruijt, "De legenden der Poso-Alfoeren aangaande de +erste menschen," _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche +Zendelinggenootschap_, xxxviii. (1894) p. 340.] + +[Footnote 93: D. F. A. Hervey, "The Mentra Traditions," _Journal of the +Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society_, No. 10 (December 1882), p. +190; W. W. Skeat and C. O. Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_ +(London, 1906), ii. 337 _sq._] + +[Footnote 94: Guerlach, "Moeurs et Superstitions des sauvages Ba-hnars," +_Missions Catholiques_, xix. (1887) p. 479.] + +[Footnote 95: (Sir) J. G. Scott and J. P. Hardiman, _Gazetteer of Upper +Burma and the Shan States_, Part i. vol. i. (Rangoon, 1900) pp. 408 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 96: R. Brough Smyth, _The Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne +and London, 1878), i. 428. On this narrative the author remarks: "This +story appears to bear too close a resemblance to the Biblical account of +the Fall. Is it genuine or not? Mr. Bulmer admits that it may have been +invented by the aborigines after they had heard something of Scripture +history."] + +[Footnote 97: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, Second Edition +(London, 1860), i. 204 _sq._ For another Fijian story of the origin of +death, see above, p. 67.] + +[Footnote 98: Josef Meier, "Mythen und Sagen der Admiralitaetsinsulaner," +_Anthropos_, iii. (1908) p. 194.] + +[Footnote 99: Josef Meier, _op. cit._ pp. 194 _sq._] + +[Footnote 100: C. Gouldsbury and H. Sheane, _The Great Plateau of +Northern Rhodesia_ (London, 1911), pp. 80 _sq._ A like tale is told by +the Balolo of the Upper Congo. See _Folk-lore_, xii. (1901) p. 461; and +below, p. 472.] + +[Footnote 101: J. Mooney, "Myths of the Cherokee," _Nineteenth Annual +Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part i. (Washington, 1900) +p. 436, quoting "the Payne manuscript, of date about 1835." Compare +_id._, pp. 252-254, 436 _sq._] + +[Footnote 102: _Relations des Jesuites_, 1634, p. 13 (Canadian reprint, +Quebec, 1858).] + +[Footnote 103: Sir Harry Johnston, _The Uganda Protectorate_ (London, +1904), ii. 700-705 (the story was taken down by Mr. J. F. Cunningham); +Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 460-464. The story is +briefly told by Mr. L. Decle, _Three Years in Savage Africa_ (London, +1898), pp. 439 _sq._] + +[Footnote 104: J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Staemme_ (Berlin, 1906), pp. 590-593.] + +[Footnote 105: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), pp. +265 _sq._] + +[Footnote 106: A. Weissmann, _Essays upon Heredity and Kindred +Biological Problems_, vol. i. (Oxford, 1891) pp. 25 _sq._] + +[Footnote 107: A. R. Wallace, quoted in A. Weissmann's _Essays upon +Heredity_, i. (Oxford, 1891) p. 24 note.] + + + + +LECTURE IV + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE ABORIGINES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA + + +[Sidenote: Proposed survey of the belief in immortality and the worship +of the dead, as these are found among the various races of men, +beginning with the lowest savages.] + +In previous lectures we have considered the ideas which savages in +general entertain of death and its origin. To-day we begin our survey of +the beliefs and practices of particular races in regard to the dead. I +propose to deal separately with some of the principal races of men and +to shew in detail how the belief in human immortality and the worship of +the dead, to which that belief naturally gives rise, have formed a more +or less important element of their religion. And in order to trace as +far as possible the evolution of that worship in history I shall begin +with the lowest savages about whom we possess accurate information, and +shall pass from them to higher races until, if time permitted, we might +come to the civilised nations of antiquity and of modern times. In this +way, by comparing the ideas and practices of peoples on different planes +of culture we may be able approximately to reconstruct or represent to +ourselves with a fair degree of probability the various stages through +which this particular phase of religion may be supposed to have passed +in the great civilised races before the dawn of history. Of course all +such reconstructions must be more or less conjectural. In the absence of +historical documents that is inevitable; but our reconstruction will be +more or less probable according to the degree in which the corresponding +stages of evolution are found to resemble or differ from each other in +the various races of men. If we find that tribes at approximately the +same level of culture in different parts of the world have approximately +the same religion, we may fairly infer that religion is in a sense a +function of culture, and therefore that all races which have traversed +the same stages of culture in the past have traversed also the same +stages of religion; in short that, allowing for many minor variations, +which flow inevitably from varying circumstances such as climate, soil, +racial temperament, and so forth, the course of religious development +has on the whole been uniform among mankind. This enquiry may be called +the embryology of religion, in as much as it seeks to do for the +development of religion what embryology in the strict sense of the word +attempts to do for the development of life. And just as biology or the +science of life naturally begins with the study of the lowest sorts of +living beings, the humble protozoa, so we shall begin our enquiry with a +study of the lowest savages of whom we possess a comparatively full and +accurate record, namely, the aborigines of Australia. + +[Sidenote: Savagery a case not of degeneracy but of arrested or rather +retarded development.] + +At the outset I would ask you to bear in mind that, so far as evidence +allows us to judge, savagery in all its phases appears to be nothing but +a case of arrested or rather retarded development. The old view that +savages have degenerated from a higher level of culture, on which their +forefathers once stood, is destitute alike of evidence and of +probability. On the contrary, the information which we possess as to the +lower races, meagre and fragmentary as it unfortunately is, all seems to +point to the conclusion that on the whole even the most savage tribes +have reached their low level of culture from one still lower, and that +the upward movement, though so slow as to be almost imperceptible, has +yet been real and steady up to the point where savagery has come into +contact with civilisation. The moment of such contact is a critical one +for the savages. If the intellectual, moral, and social interval which +divides them from the civilised intruders exceeds a certain degree, then +it appears that sooner or later the savages must inevitably perish; the +shock of collision with a stronger race is too violent to be withstood, +the weaker goes to the wall and is shattered. But if on the other hand +the breach between the two conflicting races is not so wide as to be +impassable, there is a hope that the weaker may assimilate enough of the +higher culture of the other to survive. It was so, for example, with our +barbarous forefathers in contact with the ancient civilisations of +Greece and Rome; and it may be so in future with some, for example, of +the black races of the present day in contact with European +civilisation. Time will shew. But among the savages who cannot +permanently survive the shock of collision with Europe may certainly be +numbered the aborigines of Australia. They are rapidly dwindling and +wasting away, and before very many years have passed it is probable that +they will be extinct like the Tasmanians, who, so far as we can judge +from the miserably imperfect records of them which we possess, appear to +have been savages of an even lower type than the Australians, and +therefore to have been still less able to survive in the struggle for +existence with their vigorous European rivals. + +[Sidenote: Physical causes which have retarded progress in Australia.] + +The causes which have retarded progress in Australia and kept the +aboriginal population at the lowest level of savagery appear to be +mainly two; namely, first, the geographical isolation and comparatively +small area of the continent, and, second, the barren and indeed desert +nature of a great part of its surface; for the combined effect of these +causes has been, by excluding foreign competitors and seriously +restricting the number of competitors at home, to abate the rigour of +competition and thereby to restrain the action of one of the most +powerful influences which make for progress. In other words, elements of +weakness have been allowed to linger on, which under the sterner +conditions of life entailed by fierce competition would long ago have +been eliminated and have made way for elements better adapted to the +environment. What is true of the human inhabitants of Australia in this +respect is true also of its fauna and flora. It has long been recognised +that the animals and plants of Australia represent on the whole more +archaic types of life than the animals and plants of the larger +continents; and the reason why these antiquated creatures have survived +there rather than elsewhere is mainly that, the area of competition +being so much restricted through the causes I have mentioned, these +comparatively weak forms of animal and vegetable life have not been +killed off by stronger competitors. That this is the real cause appears +to be proved by the rapidity with which many animals and plants +introduced into Australia from Europe tend to overrun the country and to +oust the old native fauna and flora.[108] + +[Sidenote: In the centre of Australia the natural conditions of life are +most unfavourable; hence the central aborigines have remained in a more +primitive state than those of the coasts, where food and water are more +plentiful.] + +I have said that among the causes which have kept the aborigines of +Australia at a very low level of savagery must be reckoned the desert +nature of a great part of the country. Now it is the interior of the +continent which is the most arid, waste, and barren. The coasts are +comparatively fertile, for they are watered by showers condensed from an +atmosphere which is charged with moisture by the neighbouring sea; and +this condensation is greatly facilitated in the south-eastern and +eastern parts of the continent by a high range of mountains which here +skirts the coast for a long distance, attracting the moisture from the +ocean and precipitating it in the form of snow and rain. Thus the +vegetation and hence the supply of food both animal and vegetable in +these well-watered portions of the continent are varied and plentiful. +In striking contrast with the fertility and abundance of these favoured +regions are the stony plains and bare rocky ranges of the interior, +where water is scarce, vegetation scanty, and animal life at certain +seasons of the year can only with difficulty be maintained. It would be +no wonder if the natives of these arid sun-scorched wildernesses should +have lagged behind even their savage brethren of the coasts in respect +of material and social progress; and in fact there are many indications +that they have done so, in other words, that the aborigines of the more +fertile districts near the sea have made a greater advance towards +civilisation than the tribes of the desert interior. This is the view of +men who have studied the Australian savages most deeply at first hand, +and, so far as I can judge of the matter without any such first-hand +acquaintance, I entirely agree with their opinion. I have given my +reasons elsewhere and shall not repeat them here. All that I wish to +impress on you now is that in aboriginal Australia a movement of social +and intellectual progress, slow but perceptible, appears to have been +setting from the coast inwards, and that, so far as such things can be +referred to physical causes, this particular movement in Australia would +seem to have been initiated by the sea acting through an abundant +rainfall and a consequent abundant supply of food.[109] + +[Sidenote: Backward state of the Central Australian aborigines. They +have no idea of a moral supreme being.] + +Accordingly, in attempting to give you some account of the belief in +immortality and the worship of the dead among the various races of +mankind, I propose to begin with the natives of Central Australia, +first, because the Australian aborigines are the most primitive savages +about whom we have full and accurate information, and, second, because +among these primitive savages the inhabitants of the central deserts are +on the whole the most primitive. Like their brethren in the rest of the +continent they were in their native condition absolutely ignorant of +metals and of agriculture; they had no domestic animals except the dog, +and they subsisted wholly by the products of the chase and the natural +fruits, roots, and seeds, which the ground yielded without cultivation +of any sort. In regard to their intellectual outlook upon the world, +they were deeply imbued, as I shewed in a former lecture, with a belief +in magic, but it can hardly be said that they possessed any religion in +the strict sense of the word, by which I mean a propitiation of real or +imaginary powers regarded as personal beings superior to man: certainly +the Australian aborigines appear to have believed in no beings who +deserve to be called gods. On this subject Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, +our best authorities on these tribes, observe as follows: "The Central +Australian natives--and this is true of the tribes extending from Lake +Eyre in the south to the far north and eastwards across to the Gulf of +Carpentaria--have no idea whatever of the existence of any supreme being +who is pleased if they follow a certain line of what we call moral +conduct and displeased if they do not do so. They have not the vaguest +idea of a personal individual other than an actual living member of the +tribe who approves or disapproves of their conduct, so far as anything +like what we call morality is concerned. Any such idea as that of a +future life of happiness or the reverse, as a reward for meritorious or +as a punishment for blameworthy conduct, is quite foreign to them.... We +know of no tribe in which there is a belief of any kind in a supreme +being who rewards or punishes the individual according to his moral +behaviour, using the word moral in the native sense."[110] + +[Sidenote: Central Australian theory that the souls of the dead survive +and are afterwards reborn as infants.] + +But if the aborigines of Central Australia have no religion properly so +called, they entertain beliefs and they observe practices out of which +under favourable circumstances a religion might have been developed, if +its evolution had not been arrested by the advent of Europeans. Among +these elements of natural religion one of the most important is the +theory which these savages hold as to the existence and nature of the +dead. That theory is a very remarkable one. With a single exception, +which I shall mention presently, they unanimously believe that death is +not the end of all things for the individual, but that the human +personality survives, apparently with little change, in the form of a +spirit, which may afterwards be reborn as a child into the world. In +fact they think that every living person without exception is the +reincarnation of a dead person who lived on earth a longer or shorter +time ago. This belief is held universally by the tribes which occupy an +immense area of Australia from the centre northwards to the Gulf of +Carpentaria.[111] The single exception to which I have referred is +furnished by the Gnanji, a fierce and wild-looking tribe who eat their +dead enemies and perhaps also their dead friends.[112] These savages +deny that women have spirits which live after death; when a woman dies, +that, they say, is the end of her. On the other hand, the spirit of a +dead man, in their opinion, survives and goes to and fro on the earth +visiting the places where his forefathers camped in days of old and +destined to be born again of a woman at some future time, when the rains +have fallen and bleached his bones.[113] But why these primitive +philosophers should deny the privilege of immortality to women and +reserve it exclusively for men, is not manifest. All other Central +Australian tribes appear to admit the rights of women equally with the +rights of men in a life beyond the grave. + +[Sidenote: Central Australian theory as to the state of the dead. +Certain conspicuous features of the landscape supposed to be tenanted by +the souls of the dead waiting to be born again.] + +With regard to the state of the souls of the dead in the intervals +between their successive reincarnations, the opinions of the Central +Australian savages are clear and definite. Most civilised races who +believe in the immortality of the soul have found themselves compelled +to confess that, however immortal the spirits of the departed may be, +they do not present themselves commonly to our eyes or ears, nor meddle +much with the affairs of the living; hence the survivors have for the +most part inferred that the dead do not hover invisible in our midst, +but that they dwell somewhere, far away, in the height of heaven, or in +the depth of earth, or in Islands of the Blest beyond the sea where the +sun goes down. Not so with the simple aborigines of Australia. They +imagine that the spirits of the dead continue to haunt their native land +and especially certain striking natural features of the landscape, it +may be a pool of water in a deep gorge of the barren hills, or a +solitary tree in the sun-baked plains, or a great rock that affords a +welcome shade in the sultry noon. Such spots are thought to be tenanted +by the souls of the departed waiting to be born again. There they lurk, +constantly on the look-out for passing women into whom they may enter, +and from whom in due time they may be born as infants. It matters not +whether the woman be married or unmarried, a matron or a maid, a +blooming girl or a withered hag: any woman may conceive directly by the +entrance into her of one of these disembodied spirits; but the natives +have shrewdly observed that the spirits shew a decided preference for +plump young women. Hence when such a damsel is passing near a plot of +haunted ground, if she does not wish to become a mother, she will +disguise herself as an aged crone and hobble past, saying in a thin +cracked voice, "Don't come to me. I am an old woman." Such spots are +often stones, which the natives call child-stones because the souls of +the dead are there lying in wait for women in order to be born as +children. One such stone, for example, may be seen in the land of the +Arunta tribe near Alice Springs. It projects to a height of three feet +from the ground among the mulga scrub, and there is a round hole in it +through which the souls of dead plum-tree people are constantly peeping, +ready to pounce out on a likely damsel. Again, in the territory of the +Warramunga tribe the ghosts of black-snake people are supposed to gather +in the rocks round certain pools or in the gum-trees which border the +generally dry bed of a water-course. No Warramunga woman would dare to +strike one of these trees with an axe, because she is firmly convinced +that in doing so she would set free one of the lurking black-snake +spirits, who would immediately dart into her body. They think that the +spirits are no larger than grains of sand and that they make their way +into women through the navel. Nor is it merely by direct contact with +one of these repositories of souls, nor yet by passing near it, that +women may be gotten with child against their wish. The Arunta believe +that any malicious man may by magic cause a woman or even a child to +become a mother: he has only to go to one of the child-stones and rub it +with his hands, muttering the words, "Plenty of young women. You look +and go quickly."[114] + +[Sidenote: As a rule, only the souls of persons of one particular +totemic clan are thought to congregate in one place.] + +A remarkable feature in these gathering-places of the dead remains to be +noticed. The society at each of them is very select. The ghosts are very +clannish; as a rule none but people of one particular totemic clan are +supposed to for-gather at any one place. For example, we have just seen +that in the Arunta tribe the souls of dead people of the plum-tree totem +congregate at a certain stone in the mulga scrub, and that in the +Warramunga tribe the spirits of deceased persons who had black snakes +for their totem haunt certain gum-trees. The same thing applies to most +of the other haunts of the dead in Central Australia. Whether the totem +was a kangaroo or an emu, a rat or a bat, a hawk or a cockatoo, a bee or +a fly, a yam or a grass seed, the sun or the moon, fire or water, +lightning or the wind, it matters not what the totem was, only the +ghosts of people of one totemic clan meet for the most part in one +place; thus one rock will be tenanted by the spirits of kangaroo folk +only, and another by spirits of emu folk only; one water-pool will be +the home of dead rat people alone, and another the haunt of none but +dead bat people; and so on with most of the other abodes of the souls. +However, in the Urabunna tribe the ghosts are not so exclusive; some of +them consent to share their abode with people of other totems. For +example, a certain pool of water is haunted by the spirits of folk who +in their lifetime had for their totems respectively the emu, rain, and a +certain grub. On the other hand a group of granite boulders is inhabited +only by the souls of persons of the pigeon totem.[115] + +[Sidenote: Totemism defined.] + +Perhaps for the sake of some of my hearers I should say a word as to the +meaning of totems and totemism. The subject is a large one and is still +under discussion. For our present purpose it is not necessary that I +should enter into details; I will therefore only say that a totem is +commonly a class of natural objects, usually a species of animals or +plants, with which a savage identifies himself in a curious way, +imagining that he himself and his kinsfolk are for all practical +purposes kangaroos or emus, rats or bats, hawks or cockatoos, yams or +grass-seed, and so on, according to the particular class of natural +objects which he claims as his totem. The origin of this remarkable +identification of men with animals, plants, or other things is still +much debated; my own view is that the key to the mystery is furnished by +the Australian beliefs as to birth and rebirth which I have just +described to you; but on that subject I will not now dwell.[116] All +that I ask you to remember is that in Central Australia there is no +general gathering-place for the spirits of the departed; the souls are +sorted out more or less strictly according to their totems and dwell +apart each in their own little preserve or preserves, on which ghosts of +other totems are supposed seldom or never to trespass. Thus the whole +country-side is dotted at intervals with these spiritual parks or +reservations, which are respected by the natives as the abodes of their +departed kinsfolk. In size they vary from a few square yards to many +square miles.[117] + +[Sidenote: Traditionary origin of the local totem centres +(_oknanikilla_) where the souls of the dead are supposed to assemble. +The sacred sticks or stones (_churinga_) which the totemic ancestors +carried about with them.] + +The way in which these spiritual preserves originated is supposed to be +as follows. In the earliest days of which the aborigines retain a +tradition, and to which they give the name of the _alcheringa_ or dream +times, their remote ancestors roamed about the country in bands, each +band composed of people of the same totem. Thus one band would consist +of frog people only, another of witchetty grub people only, another of +Hakea flower people only, and so on. Now in regard to the nature of +these remote totemic ancestors of the _alcheringa_ or dream times, the +ideas of the natives are very hazy; they do not in fact clearly +distinguish their human from their totemic nature; in speaking, for +example, of a man of the kangaroo totem they seem unable to discriminate +sharply between the man and the animal: perhaps we may say that what is +before their mind is a blurred image, a sort of composite photograph, of +a man and a kangaroo in one: the man is semi-bestial, the kangaroo is +semi-human. And similarly with their ancestors of all other totems: if +the particular ancestors, for example, had the bean-tree for their +totem, then their descendants in thinking of them might, like the blind +man in the Gospel, see in their mind's eye men walking like trees and +trees perambulating like men. Now each of these semi-human ancestors is +thought to have carried about with him on his peregrinations one or more +sacred sticks or stones of a peculiar pattern, to which the Arunta give +the name of _churinga_: they are for the most part oval or elongated and +flattened stones or slabs of wood, varying in length from a few inches +to over five feet, and inscribed with a variety of patterns which +represent or have reference to the totems. But the patterns are purely +conventional, consisting of circles, curved lines, spirals, and dots +with no attempt to represent natural objects pictorially. Each of these +sacred stones or sticks was intimately associated with the spirit part +of the man or woman who carried it; for women as well as men had their +_churinga_. When these semi-human ancestors died, they went into the +ground, leaving their sacred stones or sticks behind them on the spot, +and in every case some natural feature arose to mark the place, it might +be a tree, a rock, a pool of water, or what not. The memory of all such +spots has been carefully preserved and handed down from generation to +generation by the old men, and it is to these spots that down to the +present day the souls of all the dead regularly repair in order to await +reincarnation. The Arunta call the places _oknanikilla_, and we may call +them local totem centres, because they are the centres where the spirits +of the departed assemble according to their totems.[118] + +[Sidenote: Every living person has also his or her sacred stick or stone +(_churinga_), with which his or her spirit is closely bound up.] + +But it is not merely the remote forefathers of the Central Australian +savages who are said to have been possessed of these sacred sticks or +stones: every man and woman who is born into the world has one of them, +with which his or her spirit is believed to be closely bound up. This is +intelligible when we remember that every living person is believed to be +simply the reincarnation of an ancestor; for that being so he naturally +comes to life with all the attributes which belonged to him in his +previous state of existence on earth. The notion of the natives is that +when a spirit child enters into a woman to be born, he immediately drops +his sacred stick or stone on the spot, which is necessarily one of what +we have called the local totem centres, since in the opinion of the +natives it is only at or near them that a woman can conceive a child. +Hence when her child is born, the woman tells her husband the place +where she fancies that the infant entered into her, and he goes with +some old men to find the precious object, the stick or stone dropped by +the spirit of the infant when it entered into the mother. If it cannot +be found, the men cut a wooden one from the nearest hard-wood tree, and +this becomes the sacred stick or _churinga_ of the newborn child. The +exact spot, whether a tree or a stone or what not, in which the child's +spirit is supposed to have tarried in the interval between its +incarnations, is called its _nanja_ tree or stone or what not. A +definite relation is supposed to exist between each individual and his +_nanja_ tree or stone. The tree or stone and any animal or bird that +lights upon it is sacred to him and may not be molested. A native has +been known earnestly to intercede with a white man to spare a tree +because it was his _nanja_ or birth-tree, and he feared that evil would +befall him if it were cut down.[119] + +[Sidenote: Sanctity of the _churinga_.] + +Thus in these Central Australian tribes every man, woman, and child has +his or her sacred birth-stone or stick. But though every woman, like +every man, has her sacred birth-stone or stick, she is never allowed to +see it under pain of death or of being blinded with a fire-stick. Indeed +none but old women are aware even of the existence of such things. +Uninitiated men are likewise forbidden under the same severe penalties +ever to look upon these most sacred objects.[120] The sanctity ascribed +to the sticks and stones is intelligible when we remember that the +spirits of all the people both living and dead are believed to be +intimately associated with them. Each of them, we are told, is supposed +to be so closely bound up with a person's spirit that it may be regarded +as his or her representative, and those of dead people are believed to +be endowed with the attributes of their former owners and actually to +impart them to any one who happens to carry them about with him. Hence +these apparently insignificant sticks and stones are, in the opinion of +the natives, most potent instruments for conveying to the living the +virtues and powers of the dead. For example, in a fight the possession +of one of these holy sticks or stones is thought to endow the possessor +with courage and accuracy of aim and also to deprive his adversary of +these qualities. So firmly is this belief held, that if two men were +fighting and one of them knew that the other carried a sacred +birth-stone or stick while he himself did not, he would certainly lose +heart and be beaten. Again, when a man is sick, he will sometimes have +one of these sacred stones brought to him and will scrape a little dust +off it, mix the dust with water, and drink it. This is supposed to +strengthen him. Clearly he imagines that with the scrapings of the stone +he absorbs the strength and other qualities of the person to whom the +stone belonged.[121] + +[Sidenote: Sacred store-houses (_ertnatulunga_) of the _churinga_.] + +All the birth-stones or sticks (_churinga_) belonging to any particular +totemic group are kept together, hidden away from the eyes of women and +uninitiated men, in a sacred store-house or _ertnatulunga_, as the +Arunta and Unmatjera call it. This store-house is always situated in one +of the local totem centres or _oknanikilla_, which, as we have seen, +vary in size from a few yards to many square miles. In itself the sacred +treasure-house is usually a small cave or crevice in some lonely spot +among the rugged hills. The entrance is carefully blocked up with stones +arranged so artfully as to simulate nature and to awake no suspicion in +the mind of passing strangers that behind these tumbled blocks lie +concealed the most prized possessions of the tribe. The immediate +neighbourhood of any one of these sacred store-houses is a kind of haven +of refuge for wild animals, for once they have run thither, they are +safe; no hunter would spear a kangaroo or opossum which cowered on the +ground at one of these hallowed spots. The very plants which grow there +are sacred and may not be plucked or broken or interfered with in any +way. Similarly, an enemy who succeeds in taking refuge there, is safe +from his pursuer, so long as he keeps within the sacred boundaries: even +the avenger of blood, pursuing the murderer hot-foot, would not dare to +lift up his hand against him on the holy ground. Thus, these places are +sanctuaries in the strict sense of the word; they are probably the most +primitive examples of their class and contain the germ out of which +cities of refuge for manslayers and others might be developed. It is +instructive, therefore, to observe that these rudimentary sanctuaries in +the heart of the Australian wilderness derive their sacredness mainly, +it would seem, from their association with the spirits of the dead, +whose repose must not be disturbed by tumult, violence, and bloodshed. +Even when the sacred birth-stones and sticks have been removed from the +store-house in the secret recesses of the hills and have been brought +into the camp for the performance of certain solemn ceremonies, no +fighting may take place, no weapons may be brandished in their +neighbourhood: if men will quarrel and fight, they must take their +weapons and go elsewhere to do it.[122] And when the men go to one of +the sacred store-houses to inspect the treasures which it contains, they +must each of them put his open hand solemnly over the mouth of the rocky +crevice and then retire, in order to give the spirits due notice of the +approach of strangers; for if they were disturbed suddenly, they would +be angry.[123] + +[Sidenote: Exhibition of the _churinga_ to young men.] + +It is only after a young man has passed through the severe ceremonies of +initiation, which include most painful bodily mutilations, that he is +deemed worthy to be introduced to the tribal arcana, the sacred sticks +and stones, which repose in their hallowed cave among the mountain +solitudes. Even when he has passed through all the ordeals, many years +may elapse before he is admitted to a knowledge of these mysteries, if +he shews himself to be of a light and frivolous disposition. When at +last by the gravity of his demeanour he is judged to have proved himself +indeed a man, a day is fixed for revealing to him the great secret. Then +the headman of his local group, together with other grave and reverend +seniors, conducts him to the mouth of the cave: the stones are rolled +away from the entrance: the spirits within are duly warned of the +approach of visitors; and then the sacred sticks and stones, tied up in +bundles, are brought forth. The bundles are undone, the sticks and +stones are taken out, one by one, reverently scrutinised, and exhibited +to the novice, while the old men explain to him the meaning of the +patterns incised on each and reveal to him the persons, alive or dead, +to whom they belong. All the time the other men keep chanting in a low +voice the traditions of their remote ancestors in the far-off dream +times. At the close the novice is told the secret and sacred name which +he is thenceforth to bear, and is warned never to allow it to pass his +lips in the hearing of anybody except members of his own totemic +group.[124] Sometimes this secret name is that of an ancestor of whom +the man or woman is supposed to be a reincarnation: for women as well as +men have their secret and sacred names.[125] + +[Sidenote: Number of _churinga_ in a store-house. Significance of the +_churinga_. Use of the _churinga_ in magic.] + +The number of sacred birth-stones and sticks kept in any one store-house +naturally varies from group to group; but whatever their number, whether +more or less, in any one store-house they all normally belong to the +same totem, though a few belonging to other totems may be borrowed and +deposited for a time with them. For example, a sacred store-house of the +honey-ant totem was found to contain sixty-eight birth-sticks of that +totem with a few of the lizard totem and two of the wild-cat totem.[126] +Any store-house will usually contain both sticks and stones, but as a +rule perhaps the sticks predominate in number.[127] Time after time +these tribal repositories are visited by the men and their contents +taken out and examined. On each examination the sacred sticks and stones +are carefully rubbed over with dry and powdered red ochre or charcoal, +the sticks being rubbed with red ochre only, but the stones either with +red ochre or charcoal.[128] Further, it is customary on these occasions +to press the sacred objects against the stomachs and thighs of all the +men present; this is supposed to untie their bowels, which are thought +to be tightened and knotted by the emotion which the men feel at the +sight of these venerated sticks and stones. Indeed, the emotion is +sometimes very real: men have been seen to weep on beholding these +mystic objects for the first time after a considerable interval.[129] +Whenever the sacred store-house is visited and its contents examined, +the old men explain to the younger men the marks incised on the sticks +and stones, and recite the traditions associated with the dead men to +whom they belonged;[130] so that these rude objects of wood and stone, +with the lines and dots scratched on them, serve the savages as +memorials of the past; they are in fact rudimentary archives as well as, +we may almost say, rudimentary idols; for a stone or stick which +represents a revered ancestor and is supposed to be endowed with some +portion of his spirit, is not far from being an idol. No wonder, +therefore, that they are guarded and treasured by a tribe as its most +precious possession. When a group of natives have been robbed of them by +thoughtless white men and have found the sacred store-house empty, they +have tried to kill the traitor who betrayed the hallowed spot to the +strangers, and have remained in camp for a fortnight weeping and wailing +for the loss and plastering themselves with pipeclay, which is their +token of mourning for the dead.[131] Yet, as a great mark of friendship, +they will sometimes lend these sacred sticks and stones to a +neighbouring group; for believing that the sticks and stones are +associated with the spiritual parts of their former and present owners, +they naturally wish to have as many of them as possible and regard their +possession as a treasure of great price, a sort of reservoir of +spiritual force,[132] which can be turned to account not only in battle +by worsting the enemy, but in various other ways, such as by magically +increasing the food supply. For instance, when a man of the grass-seed +totem wishes to increase the supply of grass-seed in order that it may +be eaten by people of other totems, he goes to the sacred store-house, +clears the ground all around it, takes out a few of the holy sticks and +stones, smears them with red ochre and decorates them with birds' down, +chanting a spell all the time. Then he rubs them together so that the +down flies off in all directions; this is supposed to carry with it the +magical virtue of the sticks or stones and so to fertilise the +grass-seed.[133] + +[Sidenote: Elements of a worship of the dead. Marvellous powers +attributed by the Central Australians to their remote ancestors of the +_alcheringa_ or dream time.] + +On the whole, when we survey these practices and beliefs of the Central +Australian aborigines, we may perhaps conclude that, if they do not +amount to a worship of the dead, they at least contain the elements out +of which such a worship might easily be developed. At first sight, no +doubt, their faith in the transmigration of souls seems and perhaps +really is a serious impediment to a worship of the dead in the strict +sense of the word. For if they themselves are the dead come to life +again, it is difficult to see how they can worship the spirits of the +dead without also worshipping each other, since they are all by +hypothesis simply these worshipful spirits reincarnated. But though in +theory every living man and woman is merely an ancestor or ancestress +born again and therefore should be his or her equal, in practice they +appear to admit that their forefathers of the remote _alcheringa_ or +dream time were endowed with many marvellous powers which their modern +reincarnations cannot lay claim to, and that accordingly these ancestral +spirits were more to be reverenced, were in fact more worshipful, than +their living representatives. On this subject Messrs. Spencer and Gillen +observe: "The Central Australian native is firmly convinced, as will be +seen from the accounts relating to their _alcheringa_ ancestors, that +the latter were endowed with powers such as no living man now possesses. +They could travel underground or mount into the sky, and could make +creeks and water-courses, mountain-ranges, sand-hills, and plains. In +very many cases the actual names of these natives are preserved in their +traditions, but, so far as we have been able to discover, there is no +instance of any one of them being regarded in the light of a 'deity.' +Amongst the Central Australian natives there is never any idea of +appealing for assistance to any one of these Alcheringa ancestors in any +way, nor is there any attempt made in the direction of propitiation, +with one single exception in the case of the mythic creature called +Wollunqua, amongst the Warramunga tribe, who, it may be remarked, is +most distinctly regarded as a snake and not as a human being."[134] Thus +far Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. From their testimony it appears that +with a single possible exception, to which I will return immediately, +the Central Australian aborigines are not known to worship any of their +dead ancestors; they indeed believe their remote forefathers of the +_alcheringa_ age to have been endowed with marvellous powers which they +themselves do not possess; but they do not regard these ancestral +spirits as deities, nor do they pray and sacrifice to them for help and +protection. The single possible exception to this general rule known to +Messrs. Spencer and Gillen is the case of the mythical water-snake +called Wollunqua, who is in a sense revered and propitiated by the +Warramunga tribe. The case is interesting and instructive as indicative +of an advance from magic towards religion in the strict sense of the +word. Accordingly I propose to consider it somewhat fully. + +[Sidenote: The Wollunqua, a mythical water-snake, one of the Warramunga +totems.] + +The Wollunqua is one of the many totems of the Warramunga tribe. It is +to be borne in mind that, though every Australian tribe has many totems +which are most commonly animals or plants and more rarely other natural +objects, all the totems are not respected by all the members of the +tribe; each totem is respected only by a particular group of men and +women in the tribe, who believe themselves to be descended from the same +totemic ancestor. Thus the whole tribe is broken up into many groups or +bodies of men and women, each group knit together by a belief in a +common descent from the totem, by a common respect for the totemic +species, whether it be a species of animals or plants, or what not, and +finally by the possession of a common name derived from the totem. Thus, +for example, we have a group of men and women who believe themselves +descended from an ancestor who had the bandicoot for his totem; they all +respect bandicoots; and they are all called bandicoot people. Similarly +with all the other totemic groups within the tribe. It is convenient to +have a name for these totemic groups or tribal subdivisions, and +accordingly we may call them clans, provided we remember that a totemic +clan in this sense is not an independent political community such as the +Scottish Highland clans used to be; it is merely a subdivision of the +tribe, and the members of it do not usually keep to themselves but live +more or less interfused with members of all the other totemic clans +which together compose the tribe. Now amongst the Warramunga the +Wollunqua or mythical water-snake is the totem of such a clan or tribal +subdivision, the members of which believe themselves to be descended +from the creature and call themselves by its name. So far, therefore, +the Wollunqua is merely a totem of the ordinary sort, an object of +respect for a particular section of the tribe. Like other totemic +ancestors the Wollunqua is supposed to have wandered about the country +leaving supplies of spirit individuals at various points, individuals +who are constantly undergoing reincarnation. But on the other hand the +Wollunqua differs from almost all other Australian totems in this, that +whereas they are real objects, such as animals, plants, water, wind, the +sun and moon, and so on, the Wollunqua is a purely mythical creature, +which exists only in the imagination of the natives; for they believe it +to be a water-snake so huge that if it were to stand up on its tail, its +head would reach far up into the sky. It now lives in a large pool +called Thapauerlu, hidden away in a lonely valley of the Murchison +Range; but the Warramunga fear that it may at any moment sally out and +do some damage. They say that it actually killed a number of them on one +of its excursions, though happily they at last succeeded in beating it +off. So afraid are they of the creature, that in speaking of it amongst +themselves they will not use its proper name of Wollunqua but call it +instead _urkulu nappaurinnia_, because, as they told Messrs. Spencer and +Gillen, if they were to name it too often by its real name they would +lose control over the beast and it would rush forth and devour +them.[135] Thus the natives do not distinguish the Wollunqua from the +rest of their actually existing totems, as we do: they have never beheld +him with their bodily eyes, yet to them he is just as real as the +kangaroos which they see hopping along the sands, as the flies which +buzz about their heads in the sunshine, or as the cockatoos which flap +screaming past in the thickets. How real this belief in the mythical +snake is with these savages, was brought vividly home to Messrs. Spencer +and Gillen when they visited, in company with some natives, the deep and +lonely pool among the rocky hills in which the awful being is supposed +to reside. Before they approached the spot, the natives had been talking +and laughing freely, but when they drew near the water their voices were +hushed and their demeanour became solemn. When all stood silent on the +brink of the deep still pool, enclosed by a sandy margin on one side and +by a line of red rocks on the other, two old men, the leaders of the +totemic group of the Wollunqua, went down to the edge of the water and, +with bowed heads, addressed the Wollunqua in whispers, asking him to +remain quiet and do them no harm, for they were mates of his, and had +brought two great white men to see where he lived and to tell them all +about him. "We could plainly see," add Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, "that +it was all very real to them, and that they implicitly believed that the +Wollunqua was indeed alive beneath the water, watching them, though they +could not see him."[136] + +[Sidenote: Religious character of the belief in the Wollunqua.] + +I need hardly point out what a near approach all this is to religion in +the proper sense of the word. Here we have a firm belief in a purely +imaginary being who is necessarily visible to the eye of faith alone, +since I think we may safely assume that a water-snake, supposed to be +many miles long and capable of reaching up to the sky, has no real +existence either on the earth or in the waters under the earth. Yet to +these savages this invisible being is just as real as the actually +existing animals and men whom they perceive with their bodily senses; +they not only pray to him but they propitiate him with a solemn ritual; +and no doubt they would spurn with scorn the feeble attempts of shallow +sceptics to question the reality of his existence or the literal truth +of the myths they tell about him. Certainly these savages are far on the +road to religion, if they have not already passed the Rubicon which +divides it from the common workaday world. If an unhesitating faith in +the unseen is part of religion, the Warramunga people of the Wollunqua +totem are unquestionably religious. + +[Footnote 108: On the zoological peculiarities of Australia regarded as +effects of its geographical isolation, see Alfred Newton, _Dictionary of +Birds_ (London, 1893-96), pp. 317-319. He observes (p. 318) that "the +isolation of Australia is probably the next oldest in the world to that +of New Zealand, having possibly existed since the time when no mammals +higher than marsupials had appeared on the face of the earth."] + +[Footnote 109: For details see _Totemism and Exogamy_, i. 314 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 110: Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, _Northern Tribes of +Central Australia_ (London, 1904), p. 491.] + +[Footnote 111: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, p. xi.] + +[Footnote 112: Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 545.] + +[Footnote 113: Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 546.] + +[Footnote 114: Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, _Native Tribes of +Central Australia_ (London, 1899), pp. 119-127, 335-338, 552; _id., +Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 145-153, 162, 271, 330 _sq._, +448-451, 512-515. Compare _Totemism and Exogamy_, i. 188 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 115: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, p. 147.] + +[Footnote 116: See _Totemism and Exogamy_, i. 155 _sqq._, iv. 40 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 117: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 123, 126.] + +[Footnote 118: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 119-127, 128 _sqq._, 513; _id., Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 145 _sqq._, 257 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 119: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 132-135; _id._, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 258, 268 +_sqq._] + +[Footnote 120: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 128, 134.] + +[Footnote 121: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 134 _sq._] + +[Footnote 122: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 133, 135; _id._, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 269.] + +[Footnote 123: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, p. 267.] + +[Footnote 124: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 139 _sq._] + +[Footnote 125: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, p. 273.] + +[Footnote 126: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +p. 141.] + +[Footnote 127: Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 140] + +[Footnote 128: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, pp. 144, 145.] + +[Footnote 129: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, pp. 164, _sq._; +_id._, _Northern Tribes_, pp. 261, 264.] + +[Footnote 130: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 145.] + +[Footnote 131: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 136.] + +[Footnote 132: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, pp. 158 _sq._] + +[Footnote 133: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes_, pp. 271 _sq._] + +[Footnote 134: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 490 _sq._] + +[Footnote 135: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 226 _sq._ Another mythical being in which the Warramunga +believe is _the pau-wa_, a fabulous animal, half human and somewhat +resembling a dog. See Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ pp. 195, 197, 201, +210 _sq._ But the creature seems not to be a totem, for it is not +included in the list of totems given by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen (_op. +cit._ pp. 768-773).] + +[Footnote 136: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 252 _sq._] + + + + +LECTURE V + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE ABORIGINES +OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA (_continued_) + + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the Central Australian aborigines concerning the +reincarnation of the dead. The mythical water-snake Wollunqua.] + +In the last lecture we began our survey of the belief in immortality and +the practices to which it has given rise among the aboriginal tribes of +Central Australia. I shewed that these primitive savages hold a very +remarkable theory of birth and death. They believe that the souls of the +dead do not perish but are reborn in human form after a longer or +shorter interval. During that interval the spirits of the departed are +supposed to congregate in certain parts of the country, generally +distinguished by some conspicuous natural feature, which accordingly the +natives account sacred, believing them to be haunted by the souls of the +dead. From time to time one of these disembodied spirits enters into a +passing woman and is born as an infant into the world. Thus according to +the Central Australian theory every living person without exception is +the reincarnation of a dead man, woman, or child. At first sight the +theory seems to exclude the possibility of any worship of the dead, +since it appears to put the living on a footing of perfect equality with +the dead by identifying the one with the other. But I pointed out that +as a matter of fact these savages do admit, whether logically or not, +the superiority of their remote ancestors to themselves: they +acknowledge that these old forefathers of theirs did possess many +marvellous powers to which they themselves can lay no claim. In this +acknowledgment, accordingly, we may detect an opening or possibility for +the development of a real worship of ancestors. Indeed, as I said at the +close of last lecture, something closely approaching to ancestor worship +has actually grown up in regard to the mythical ancestor of the +Wollunqua clan in the Warramunga tribe. The Wollunqua is a purely +fabulous water-snake, of gigantic dimensions, which is supposed to haunt +the waters of a certain lonely pool called Thapauerlu, in the Murchison +Range of mountains. Unlike the ancestors of the other totemic clans, +this mythical serpent is never reborn in human form; he always lives in +his solitary pool among the barren hills; but the natives think that he +has it in his power to come forth and do them an injury, and accordingly +they pray to him to remain quiet and not to harm them. Indeed so afraid +of him are they that speaking of the creature among themselves they +avoid using his proper name of Wollunqua and call him by a different +name, lest hearing himself called by his true name he should rush forth +and devour them. More than that they even endeavour to propitiate him by +the performance of certain rites, which, however childish and absurd +they may seem to us, are very solemn affairs for these simple folk. The +rites were witnessed by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, whose description I +will summarise. It offers an interesting and instructive example of a +ritual observed by primitive savages, who are clearly standing on, if +they have not already crossed, the threshold of religion. + +[Sidenote: Wanderings of the Wollunqua. Dramatic ceremonies in honour of +the Wollunqua.] + +Like all other totemic ancestors the Wollunqua is said to have arisen at +a particular spot, to have wandered about the country, and finally to +have gone down into the ground. Starting from the deep rocky pool in the +Murchison Range he travelled at first underground, coming up, however, +at various points where he performed ceremonies and left many spirit +children, who issued from his body and remained behind, forming local +totemic centres when he had passed on. It is these spirit children who +have formed the Wollunqua clan ever since, undergoing an endless series +of reincarnations. Now the ceremonies which the clan perform in honour +of their mythical ancestor the Wollunqua all refer to his wanderings +about the country. Thus there is a particular water-hole called +Pitingari where the great old water-snake is said to have emerged from +the ground and looked about him. Here, accordingly, two men performed a +ceremony. Each of them was decorated with a broad band of red down, +which curved round both the front and the back of the performer and +stood sharply out from the mass of white down with which all the rest of +the upper part of his body was covered. These broad red bands +represented the Wollunqua. Each man also wore a tall, conical helmet +adorned with a curved band of red down, which, no doubt, likewise +symbolised the mythical serpent. When the two actors in the little drama +had been attired in this quaint costume of red and white down, they +retired behind a bush, which served for the side scenes of a theatre. +Then, when the orchestra, composed of adult men, struck up the music on +the ceremonial ground by chanting and beating boomerangs and sticks +together, the performers ran in, stopping every now and then to shake +themselves in imitation of the snake. Finally, they sat down close +together with their heads bowed down on a few green branches of +gum-trees. A man then stepped up to them, knocked off their +head-dresses, and the simple ceremony came to an end.[137] + +[Sidenote: Ceremony in honour of the Wollunqua.] + +The next ceremony was performed on the following day at another place +called Antipataringa, where the mythical snake is said to have halted in +his wanderings. The same two men acted as before, but this time one of +them carried on his head a curious curved bundle shaped like an enormous +boomerang. It was made of grass-stalks bound together with human +hair-string and decorated with white down. This sacred object +represented the Wollunqua himself.[138] From this spot the snake was +believed to have travelled on to another place called Tjunguniari, where +he popped up his head among the sand-hills, the greater part of his body +remaining underground. Indeed, of such an enormous length was the +serpent, that though his head had now travelled very many miles his tail +still remained at the starting-point and had not yet begun to take part +in the procession. Here accordingly the third ceremony, perhaps we may +say the third act in the drama, was performed on the third day. In it +one of the actors personated the snake himself, while the other stood +for a sand-hill.[139] + +[Sidenote: Further ceremony in honour of the Wollunqua: the white mound +with the red wavy band to represent the mythical snake.] + +After an interval of three days a fourth ceremony was performed of an +entirely different kind. A keel-shaped mound was made of wet sand, about +fifteen feet long by two feet high. The smooth surface of the mound was +covered with a mass of little dots of white down, except for a long wavy +band of red down which ran all along both sides of the mound. This wavy +red band represented the Wollunqua, his head being indicated by a small +round swelling at one end and his tail by a short prolongation at the +other. The mound itself represented a sand-hill beside which the snake +is said to have stood up and looked about. The preparation of this +elaborate emblem of the Wollunqua occupied the greater part of the day, +and it was late in the afternoon before it was completed. When darkness +fell, fires were lighted on the ceremonial ground, and as the night grew +late more fires were kindled, and all of the men sat round the mound +singing songs which referred to the mythical water-snake. This went on +for hours. At last, about three o'clock in the morning, a ring of fires +was lit all round the ceremonial ground, in the light of which the white +trunks of the gum-trees and the surrounding scrub stood out weird and +ghastly against the blackness of darkness beyond. Amid the wildest +excitement the men of the Wollunqua totem now ranged themselves in +single file on their knees beside the mound which bore the red image of +their great mythical forefather, and with their hands on their thighs +surged round and round it, every man bending in unison first to one side +and then to the other, each successive movement being accompanied by a +loud and simultaneous shout, or rather yell, while the other men, who +were not of the Wollunqua totem, stood by, clanging their boomerangs +excitedly, and one old man, who acted as a sort of choregus, walked +backwards at the end of the kneeling procession of Wollunqua men, +swaying his body about and lifting high his knees at every step. In this +way, with shouts and clangour, the men of the totem surged twice round +the mound on their knees. After that, as the fires died down, the men +rose from their knees, and for another hour every one sat round the +mound singing incessantly. The last act in the drama was played at four +o'clock in the morning at the moment when the first faint streaks of +dawn glimmered in the east. At sight of them every man jumped to his +feet, the smouldering fires were rekindled, and in their blaze the long +white mound stood out in strong relief. The men of the totem, armed with +spears, boomerangs, and clubs, ranged themselves round it, and +encouraged by the men of the other totems attacked it fiercely with +their weapons, until in a few minutes they had hacked it to pieces, and +nothing was left of it but a rough heap of sandy earth. The fires again +died down and for a short time silence reigned. Then, just as the sun +rose above the eastern horizon, the painful ceremony of subincision was +performed on three youths, who had recently passed through the earlier +stages of initiation.[140] + +[Sidenote: The rite aims both at pleasing and at coercing the mythical +snake.] + +This remarkable rite is supposed, we are informed, "in some way to be +associated with the idea of persuading, or almost forcing, the Wollunqua +to remain quietly in his home under the water-hole at Thapauerlu, and to +do no harm to any of the natives. They say that when he sees the mound +with his representation drawn upon it he is gratified, and wriggles +about underneath with pleasure. The savage attack upon the mound is +associated with the idea of driving him down, and, taken altogether, the +ceremony indicates their belief that, at one and the same time, they can +both please and coerce the mythic beast. It is necessary to do things to +please him, or else he might grow sulky and come out and do them harm, +but at the same time they occasionally use force to make him do what +they want."[141] In fact the ritual of the mound with its red image of +the snake combines the principles of religion and magic. So far as the +rite is intended to please and propitiate the mythical beast, it is +religious; so far as it is intended to constrain him, it is magical. The +two principles are contradictory and the attempt to combine them is +illogical; but the savage is heedless, or rather totally unaware, of the +contradiction and illogicality: all that concerns him is to accomplish +his ends: he has neither the wish nor the ability to analyse his +motives. In this respect he is in substantial agreement with the vast +majority of mankind. How many of us scrutinise the reasons of our +conduct with the view of detecting and eliminating any latent +inconsistencies in them? And how many, or rather how few of us, on such +a scrutiny would be so fortunate as to discover that there were no such +inconsistencies to detect? The logical pedant who imagines that men +cannot possibly act on inconsistent and even contradictory motives only +betrays his ignorance of life. It is not therefore for us to cast stones +at the Warramunga men of the Wollunqua totem for attempting to +propitiate and constrain their mythical serpent at the same time. Such +contradictions meet us again and again in the history of religion: it is +interesting but by no means surprising to find them in one of its +rudimentary stages. + +[Sidenote: Thunder the voice of the Wollunqua.] + +On the evening of the day which succeeded the construction of the +emblematic mound the old men who had made the emblem said they had heard +the Wollunqua talking, and that he was pleased with what had been done +and was sending them rain. What they took for the voice of the Wollunqua +was thunder rumbling in the distance. No rain fell, but a few days later +thunder was again heard rolling afar off and a heavy bank of clouds lay +low on the western horizon. The old men now said that the Wollunqua was +growling because the remains of the mound had been left uncovered; so +they hastily cut down branches and covered up the ruins. After that the +Wollunqua ceased to growl: there was no more thunder.[142] + +[Sidenote: Ground drawings of the Wollunqua.] + +On the four following days ceremonies of an entirely different kind from +all the preceding were performed in honour of the Wollunqua. A space of +sandy ground was smoothed down, sprinkled with water, and rubbed so as +to form a compact surface. The smooth surface was then overlaid with a +coat of red or yellow ochre, and on this coloured background a number of +designs were traced, one after the other, by a series of white dots, +which together made up a pattern of curved lines and concentric circles. +These patterns represented the Wollunqua and some of his traditionary +adventures. The snake himself was portrayed by a broad wavy band, but +all the other designs were purely conventional; for example, trees, +ant-hills, and wells were alike indicated by circles. Altogether there +were eight such drawings on the earth, some of them very elaborate and +entailing, each of them, not less than six or seven hours' labour: one +of them was ten feet long. Each drawing was rubbed out before the next +one was drawn. Moreover, the drawings were accompanied by little dramas +acted by decorated men. In one of these dramas no fewer than eight +actors took part, some of whom wore head-dresses adorned with a long +wavy band to represent the Wollunqua. The last drawing of all was +supposed to portray the mythical snake as he plunged into the earth and +returned to his home in the rocky pool called Thapauerlu among the +Murchison Ranges.[143] + +[Sidenote: Religious importance of the Wollunqua.] + +I have dwelt at some length on these ceremonies of the Wollunqua totem, +because they furnish a remarkable and perhaps unique instance in +Australia of a totemic ancestor in the act of developing into something +like a god. In the Warramunga tribe there are other snake totems besides +the Wollunqua; for example, there is the black snake totem and the deaf +adder totem. But this purely mythical water-snake, the Wollunqua, is the +most important of them all and is regarded as the great father of all +the snakes. "It is not easy," say Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, "to +express in words what is in reality rather a vague feeling amongst the +natives, but after carefully watching the different series of ceremonies +we were impressed with the feeling that the Wollunqua represented to the +native mind the idea of a dominant totem."[144] Thus he is at once a +fabulous animal and the mythical ancestor of a human clan, but his +animal nature apparently predominates over his semi-human nature, as +shewn by the drawings and effigies of him, all of which are in serpent +form. The prayers offered to him at the pool which he is supposed to +haunt, and the attempt to please him by drawing his likeness can only be +regarded as propitiatory rites and therefore as rudimentary forms of +worship. And the idea that thunder is his voice, and that the rain is a +gift sent by him in return for the homage paid to him by the people, +appears to prove that in course of time, if left to himself, he might +easily have been elevated to the sky and have ranked as a celestial +deity, who dwells aloft and sends down or withholds the refreshing +showers at his good pleasure. Thus the Wollunqua, a rude creation of the +savage Australian imagination, possesses a high interest for the +historian of religion, since he combines elements of ancestor worship +and totem worship with a germ of heaven worship; while on the purely +material side his representation, both in plastic form by a curved +bundle of grass-stalks and in graphic form by broad wavy bands of red +down, may be said in a sense to stand at the starting-point of that long +development of religious art, which in so many countries and so many +ages has attempted to represent to the bodily eye the mysteries of the +unseen and invisible, and which, whatever we may think of the success or +failure of that attempt, has given to the world some of the noblest +works of sculpture and painting. + +[Sidenote: Possible religious evolution of totemism.] + +I have already pointed out the difficulty of seeing how a belief in the +reincarnation of the dead, such as prevails universally among the +aborigines of Central Australia, could ever be reconciled with or +develop into a worship of the dead; for by identifying the living with +the dead, the theory of reincarnation seems to abolish that distinction +between the worshipper and the worshipped which is essential to the +existence of worship. But, as I also indicated, what seems a loophole or +mode of escape from the dilemma may be furnished by the belief of these +savages, that though they themselves are nothing but their ancestors +come to life again, nevertheless in their earliest incarnations of the +_alcheringa_ or dream times their ancestors possessed miraculous powers +which they have admittedly lost in their later reincarnations; for this +suggests an incipient discrimination or line of cleavage between the +living and the dead; it hints that perhaps after all the first +ancestors, with their marvellous endowments, may have been entirely +different persons from their feebler descendants, and if this vague hint +could only grow into a firm conviction of the essential difference +between the two, then the course would be clear for the development of +ancestor worship: the dead forefathers, viewed as beings perfectly +distinct from and far superior to the living, might easily come to +receive from the latter the homage of prayer and sacrifice, might be +besought by their descendants to protect them in danger and to succour +them in all the manifold ills of life, or at least to abstain from +injuring them. Now, this important step in religious evolution appears +to have been actually taken by the Wollunqua, the mythical water-snake, +who is the totem of one of the Warramunga clans. Unlike all the other +totems he is supposed to exist only in his invisible and animal form and +never to be reincarnated in a man.[145] Hence, withdrawn as he is from +the real world of sense, the imagination is free to play about him and +to invest him more and more with those supernatural attributes which men +ascribe to their deities. And what has actually happened to this +particular totemic ancestor might under favourable circumstances happen +to many others. Each of them might be gradually detached from the line +of his descendants, might cease to be reincarnated in them, and might +gradually attain to the lonely pre-eminence of godhead. Thus a system of +pure totemism, such as prevails among the aborigines of Central +Australia, might develop through a phase of ancestor worship into a +pantheon of the ordinary type. + +[Sidenote: Conspicuous features of the landscape associated with +ancestral spirits.] + +Although none of the other totemic ancestors of the Central Australian +aborigines appears to have advanced so far on the road to religion as +the Wollunqua, yet they all contain in germ the elements out of which a +religion might have been developed. It is difficult for us civilised men +to conceive the extent to which the thoughts and lives of these savages +are dominated by the memories and traditions of the dead. Every +conspicuous feature in the landscape is not only associated with the +legendary doings of some ancestors but is commonly said to have arisen +as a direct result of their actions. The mountains, the plains, the +rivers, the seas, the islands of ancient Greece itself were not more +thickly haunted by the phantoms of a fairy mythology than are the barren +sun-scorched steppes and stony hills of the Australian wilderness; but +great indeed is the gulf which divides the beautiful creations of Greek +fancy from the crude imaginings of the Australian savage, whose +legendary tales are for the most part a mere tissue of trivial +absurdities unrelieved by a single touch of beauty or poetry. + +[Sidenote: A journey through the Warramunga country.] + +To illustrate at once the nature and the abundance of these legends I +will quote a passage in which Messrs. Spencer and Gillen describe a +journey they took in company with some Warramunga natives over part of +their country:--"For the first two days our way lay across miserable +plain country covered with poor scrub, with here and there low ranges +rising. Every prominent feature of any kind was associated with some +tradition of their past. A range some five miles away from Tennant Creek +arose to mark the path traversed by the great ancestor of the Pittongu +(bat) totem. Several miles further on a solitary upstanding column of +rock represented an opossum man who rested here, looked about the +country, and left spirit children behind him; a low range of remarkably +white quartzite hills indicated a large number of white ant eggs thrown +here in the _wingara_[146] by the Munga-munga women as they passed +across the country. A solitary flat-topped hill arose to mark the spot +where the Wongana (crow) ancestor paused for some time to pierce his +nose; and on the second night we camped by the side of a waterhole where +the same crow lived for some time in the _wingara_, and where now there +are plenty of crow spirit children. All the time, as we travelled along, +the old men were talking amongst themselves about the natural features +associated in tradition with these and other totemic ancestors of the +tribe, and pointing them out to us. On the third day we travelled, at +first for some hours, by the side of a river-bed,--perfectly dry of +course,--and passed the spot where two hawks first made fire by rubbing +sticks together, two fine gum-trees on the banks now representing the +place where they stood up. A few miles further on we came to a +water-hole by the side of which the moon-man met a bandicoot woman, and +while the two were talking together the fire made by the hawks crept +upon them and burnt the woman, who was, however, restored to life again +by the moon-man, with whom she then went up into the sky. Late in the +afternoon we skirted the eastern base of the Murchison Range, the rugged +quartzite hills in this part being associated partly with the crow +ancestor and partly with the bat. Following up a valley leading into the +hills we camped, just after sunset, by the side of a rather picturesque +water-pool amongst the ranges. A short distance before reaching this the +natives pointed out a curious red cliff, standing out amongst the low +hills which were elsewhere covered with thin scrub. This, which is +called Tjiti, represents the spot where an old woman spent a long time +digging for yams, the latter being indicated by great heaps of stones +lying all around. On the opposite side of the valley a column of stone +marks the spot where the woman went into the earth. The water-hole by +which we were camped was called Wiarminni. It was in reality a deep pool +in the bed of a creek coming down from the hills. Behind it the rocks +rose abruptly, and amongst them there was, or rather would have been if +a stream had been flowing, a succession of cascades and rocky +water-holes. Two of the latter, just above Wiarminni, are connected with +a fish totem, and represent the spot where two fish men arose in the +_alcheringa_, fought one another, left spirit children behind, and +finally went down into the ground. We were now, so to speak, in the very +midst of _mungai_ [i.e. of places associated with the totems], for the +old totemic ancestors of the tribe, who showed a most commendable +fondness for arising and walking about in the few picturesque spots +which their country contained, had apparently selected these rocky +gorges as their central home. All around us the water-holes, gorges, and +rocky crags were peopled with spirit individuals left behind by one or +other of the following totemic ancestors:--Wollunqua, Pittongu (bat), +Wongana (crow), wild dog, emu, bandicoot, and fish, whose lines of +travel in the _alcheringa_ formed a regular network over the whole +countryside."[147] + +[Sidenote: Dramatic ceremonies to commemorate the doings of ancestors.] + +Similar evidence could be multiplied, but this may suffice to teach us +how to the minds of these Central Australian savages the whole country +is haunted, in the literal sense, not merely by the memories of their +dead, but by the spirits which they left behind them and which are +constantly undergoing reincarnation. And not only are the minds of the +aborigines preoccupied by the thought of their ancestors, who are +recalled to them by all the familiar features of the landscape, but they +spend a considerable part of their time in dramatically representing the +legendary doings of their rude forefathers of the remote past. It is +astonishing, we are told, how large a part of a native's life is +occupied with the performance of these dramatic ceremonies. The older he +grows, the greater is the share he takes in them, until at last they +actually absorb the greater part of his thoughts. The rites which seem +so trivial to us are most serious matters to him. They are all connected +with the great ancestors of the tribe, and he is firmly convinced that +when he dies his spirit will rejoin theirs and live in communion with +them until the time comes for him to be born again into the world. With +such solemnity does he look on the celebration of these commemorative +services, as we may call them, that none but initiated men are allowed +to witness them; women and children are strictly excluded from the +spectacle. These sacred dramas are often, though by no means always, +associated with the rites of initiation which young men have to pass +through before they are admitted to full membership of the tribe and to +participation in its deepest mysteries. The rites of initiation are not +all undergone by a youth at the same time; they succeed each other at +longer or shorter intervals of time, and at each of them he is +privileged to witness some of the solemn ceremonies in which the +traditions of the tribal ancestors are dramatically set forth before +him, until, when he has passed through the last of the rites and +ordeals, he is free to behold and to take part in the whole series of +mystery plays or professedly historical dramas. Sometimes the +performance of these dramas extends over two or three months, during +which one or more of them are acted daily.[148] For the most part, they +are very short and simple, each of them generally lasting only a few +minutes, though the costumes of the actors are often elaborate and may +have taken hours to prepare. I will describe a few of them as samples. + +[Sidenote: Ceremony of the Hakea flower totem.] + +We will begin with a ceremony of the Hakea flower totem in the Arunta +tribe, as to which it may be premised that a decoction of the Hakea +flower is a favourite drink of the natives. The little drama was acted +by two men, each of whom was decorated on his bare body by broad bands +of pearly grey edged with white down, which passed round his waist and +over his shoulders, contrasting well with the chocolate colour of his +skin. On his head each of them wore a kind of helmet made of twigs, and +from their ears hung tips of the tails of rabbit-bandicoots. The two sat +on the ground facing each other with a shield between them. One of them +held in his hand some twigs representing the Hakea flower in bloom; +these he pretended to steep in water so as to brew the favourite +beverage of the natives, and the man sitting opposite him made believe +to suck it up with a little mop. Meantime the other men ran round and +round them shouting _wha! wha!_ This was the substance of the play, +which ended as usual by several men placing their hands on the shoulders +of the performers as a signal to them to stop.[149] + +[Sidenote: Ceremony of a fish totem.] + +Again, to take another Arunta ceremony of a fish totem called +_interpitna_. The fish is the bony bream (_Chatoessus horni_), which +abounds in the water-holes of the country. The play was performed by a +single actor, an old man, whose face was covered with a mass of white +down contrasting strongly with a large bunch of black eagle-hawk +feathers which he wore on his head. His body was decorated with bands of +charcoal edged with white down. Squatting on the ground he moved his +body and extended his arms from his sides, opening and closing them as +he leaned forwards, so as to imitate a fish swelling itself out and +opening and closing its gills. Then, holding twigs in his hands, he +moved along mimicking the action of a man who drives fish before him +with a branch in a pool, just as the natives do to catch the fish. +Meantime an orchestra of four men squatted beside him singing and +beating time with a stick on the ground.[150] + +[Sidenote: Ceremony of a plum-tree totem.] + +Again, another Arunta ceremony of the plum-tree totem was performed by +four actors, who simply pretended to knock down and eat imaginary plums +from an imaginary plum-tree.[151] An interesting point in this very +simple drama is that in it the men of the plum-tree totem are +represented eating freely of their totem, which is quite contrary to the +practice of the present day, but taken along with many similar +ceremonies it goes far to prove that in the ancient days, to which all +these dramatic ceremonies refer, it was the regular practice for men and +women of a totem to eat their totemic animals or plants. As another +example of a drama in which the performers are represented eating their +totem we may take a ceremony of the ant totem in the Warramunga tribe. +The legendary personages who figure in it are two women of the ant +totem, ancestresses of the ant clan, who are said to have devoted all +their time to catching and eating ants, except when they were engaged in +the performance of ceremonies. The two men who personated these women in +the drama (for no woman is allowed to witness, much less to act in, +these sacred dramas) had the whole of the upper parts of their bodies, +including their faces and the cylindrical helmets which they wore on +their heads, covered with a dense mass of little specks of red down. +These specks stood for the ants, alive or dead, and also for the stones +and trees on the spots where the two women encamped. In the drama the +two actors thus arrayed walked about the ground as if they were +searching for ants to eat. Each of them carried a wooden trough and +stooping down from time to time he turned over the ground and picked up +small stones which he placed in the trough till it was full. The stones +represented the masses of ants which the women gathered for food. After +carrying on this pantomime for a time the two actors pretended to +discover each other with surprise and to embrace with joy, much to the +amusement of the spectators.[152] + +[Sidenote: In these ceremonies the action is appropriate to the totem. +Ceremony of the witchetty grub totem.] + +In all these ceremonies you will observe that the action of the drama is +strictly appropriate to the totem. In the drama of the Hakea flower +totem the actors pretend to make and drink the beverage brewed from +Hakea flowers; in the ceremony of the fish totem the actor feigns to be +a fish and also to catch fish; in the ceremony of the plum-tree totem +the actors pretend to knock down and eat plums; and in the ceremony of +the ant totem the actors make believe to gather ants for food. +Similarly, to take a few more examples, in a ceremony of the witchetty +grub totem of the Arunta tribe the body of the actor was decorated with +lines of white and red down, and he had a shield adorned with a number +of concentric circles of down. The smaller circles represented the bush +on which the grub lives first of all, and the larger circles represented +the bush on which the adult insect lays its eggs. When all was ready, +the performer seated himself on the ground and imitated the grub, +alternately doubling himself up and rising on his knees, while he +extended his arms and made them quiver in imitation of the insect's +wings; and every now and then he would bend over the shield and sway to +and fro, and up and down, in imitation of the insect hovering over the +bushes on which it lays its eggs.[153] In another ceremony of the +witchetty grub totem, which followed immediately the one I have just +described, the actor had two shields beside him. The smaller of the +shields was ornamented with zigzag lines of white pipe-clay which were +supposed to indicate the tracks of the grub; the larger shield was +covered with larger and smaller series of concentric circles, the larger +representing the seeds of a bush on which the insect feeds, while the +smaller stood for the eggs of the adult insect. As before, the actor +wriggled and flapped his arms in imitation of the fluttering of the +insect when it first leaves its chrysalis case in the ground and +attempts to fly. In acting thus he was supposed to represent a +celebrated ancestor of the witchetty grub totem.[154] + +[Sidenote: Ceremony of the emu totem.] + +The last example of such ceremonies which I shall cite is one of the emu +totem in the Arunta tribe. The body of the actor was decorated with +perpendicular lines of white down reaching from his shoulders to his +knees; and on his head he supported a towering head-piece tipped with a +bunch of emu feathers in imitation of the neck and head of an emu. Thus +arrayed he stalked backwards and forwards in the aimless fashion of the +bird.[155] + +[Sidenote: These dramatic ceremonies were probably at first magical +rites intended to supply the people with food and other necessaries.] + +What are we to think of the intention of these little dramas which the +Central Australian aborigines regard as sacred and to the performance of +which they devote so much time and labour? At first sight they are +simply commemorative services, designed to represent the ancestors as +they lived and moved in the far-past times, to recall their adventures, +of which legend has preserved the memory, and to set them dramatically +before the eyes of their living descendants. So far, therefore, the +dramas might be described as purely historical in intention, if not in +reality. But there are reasons for thinking that in all cases a deeper +meaning underlies, or formerly underlay, the performance of all these +apparently simple historical plays; in fact, we may suspect that +originally they were all magical ceremonies observed for the practical +purpose of supplying the people with food, water, sunshine, and +everything else of which they stand in need. This conclusion is +suggested first of all by the practice of the Arunta and other Central +Australian tribes, who observe very similar ceremonies with the avowed +intention of thereby multiplying the totemic animals and plants in order +that they may be eaten by the tribe, though not by the particular clan +which has these animals or plants for its totem. It is true that the +Arunta distinguish these magical ceremonies for the multiplication of +the totems from what we may call the more purely commemorative or +historical performances, and they have a special name for the former, +namely _intichiuma_, which they do not bestow on the latter. Yet these +_intichiuma_ or magical ceremonies resemble the commemorative ceremonies +so closely that it is difficult to suppose they can always have been +wholly distinct. For example, in the magical ceremonies for the +multiplication of witchetty grubs the performers pretend to be the +insects emerging from their chrysalis cases,[156] just as the actors do +in the similar commemorative ceremony which I have described; and again +in a magical ceremony for the multiplication of emus the performers wear +head-dresses to represent the long neck and small head of the bird, and +they mimic its gait,[157] exactly as the actors do in the commemorative +ceremony. It seems reasonable, therefore, to conjecture that the +ceremonies which now are, or seem to be, purely commemorative or +historical were originally magical in intention, being observed for the +practical purpose of multiplying edible animals and plants or supplying +other wants of the tribe. + +[Sidenote: Among the Warramunga these dramatic ceremonies are avowedly +performed as magical rites.] + +Now this conjecture is strongly confirmed by the actual usage of the +Warramunga tribe, amongst whom the commemorative or historical dramas +are avowedly performed as magical rites: in other words, the Warramunga +attribute a magical virtue to the simple performance of such dramas: +they think that by merely acting the parts of their totemic ancestors +they thereby magically multiply the edible animals or plants which these +ancestors had for their totems. Hence in this tribe the magical +ceremonies and the dramatic performances practically coincide: with +them, as Messrs. Spencer and Gillen say, the _intichiuma_ or magical +ceremonies (called by the Warramunga _thalamminta_) "for the most part +simply consist in the performance of a complete series representing the +_alcheringa_ history of the totemic ancestor. In this tribe each totemic +group has usually one great ancestor, who arose in some special spot and +walked across the country, making various natural features as he did +so,--creeks, plains, ranges, and water-holes,--and leaving behind him +spirit individuals who have since been reincarnated. The _intichiuma_ +[or magical] ceremony of the totem really consists in tracking these +ancestors' paths, and repeating, one after the other, ceremonies +commemorative of what are called the _mungai_ spots, the equivalent of +the _oknanikilla_ amongst the Arunta--that is, the places where he left +the spirit children behind."[158] Apparently the Warramunga imagine that +by imitating a totemic ancestor at the very place where he left spirit +children of the same totem behind him, they thereby enable these spirit +children to be born again and so increase the food supply, whenever +their totem is an edible animal or plant; for we must always remember +that in the mind of these savages the idea of a man or woman is +inextricably confused with the idea of his or her totem; they seem +unable to distinguish between the two, and therefore they believe that +in multiplying human beings at their local totemic centres (_mungai_ or +_oknanikilla_) they simultaneously multiply their totems; and as the +totems are commonly edible animals and plants, it follows that in the +opinion of the Warramunga the general effect of performing these +ancestral plays is to increase the supply of food of the tribe. No +wonder, therefore, that the dramas are sacred, and that the natives +attribute the most serious significance to their performance: the +neglect to perform them might, in their judgment, bring famine and ruin +on the whole tribe. As Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, speaking of these +ceremonies, justly observe: "Their proper performance is a matter of +very great importance in the eyes of the natives, because, not only do +they serve to keep alive and hand down from generation to generation the +traditions of the tribe, but they are, at least amongst the Warramunga, +intimately associated with the most important object of maintaining the +food supply, as every totemic group is held responsible for the +maintenance of the material object the name of which it bears."[159] + +[Sidenote: General view of the attitude of the Central Australian +natives towards their dead.] + +To sum up the attitude of the Central Australian natives towards their +dead. They believe that their dead are constantly undergoing +reincarnation by being born again of women into the world, in fact that +every living man, woman, and child is nothing but a dead person come to +life again, that so it has been from the beginning and that so it will +be to the end. Of a special world of the departed, remote and different +from the material world in which they live and from the familiar scenes +to which they have been accustomed from infancy, they have no +conception; still less, if that is possible, have they any idea of a +division of the world of the dead into a realm of bliss and a realm of +woe, where the spirits of the good live ineffably happy and the spirits +of the bad live unspeakably miserable. To their simple minds the spirits +of the dead dwell all about them in the rocky gorges, the barren plains, +the wooded dells, the rustling trees, the still waters of their native +land, haunting in death the very spots where they last entered into +their mothers' wombs to be born, and where in future they will again +enter into the wombs of other women to be born again as other children +into the world. And so, they think, it will go on for ever and ever. +Such a creed seems at first sight, as I have pointed out, irreconcilable +with a worship of the dead in the proper sense of the word; and so +perhaps it would be, if these savages were strictly consistent and +logical in their theories. But they are not. They admit that their +remote ancestors, in other words, that they themselves in former +incarnations, possessed certain marvellous powers to which in the +present degenerate days they can lay no claim; and in this significant +admission we may detect a rift, a real distinction of kind, between the +living and the dead, which in time might widen out into an impassable +gulf. In other words, we may suppose that the Central Australians, if +left to themselves, might come to hold that the dead return no more to +the land of the living, and that, acknowledging as they do the vast +superiority of their remote ancestors to themselves, they might end by +worshipping them, at first simply as powerful ancestral spirits, and +afterwards as supernatural deities, whose original connexion with +humanity had been totally forgotten. In point of fact we saw that among +the Warramunga the mythical water-snake Wollunqua, who is regarded as an +ancestor of a totemic clan, has made some progress towards deification; +for while he is still regarded as the forefather of the clan which bears +his name, it is no longer supposed that he is born again of women into +the world, but that he lives eternal and invisible under the water of a +haunted pool, and that he has it in his power both to help and to harm +his people, who pray to him and perform ceremonies in his honour. This +awful being, whose voice is heard in the peal of thunder and whose +dreadful name may not be pronounced in common life, is not far from +godhead; at least he is apparently the nearest approach to it which the +imagination of these rude savages has been able to conceive. Lastly, as +I have pointed out, the reverence which the Central Australians +entertain for their dead ancestors is closely bound up with their +totemism; they fail to distinguish clearly or at all between men and +their totems, and accordingly the ceremonies which they perform to +commemorate the dead are at the same time magical rites designed to +ensure an abundant supply of food and of all the other necessaries and +conveniences which savage life requires or admits of; indeed, we may +with some probability conjecture that the magical intention of these +ceremonies is the primary and original one, and that the commemorative +intention is secondary and derivative. If that could be proved to be so +(which is hardly to be expected), we should be obliged to conclude that +in this as in so many enquiries into the remote human past we detect +evidence of an Age of Magic preceding anything that deserves to be +dignified with the name of religion. + +That ends what I have to say at present as to the belief in immortality +and the worship of the dead among the Central Australian aborigines. In +my next lecture I propose to pursue the enquiry among the other tribes +of Australia. + +[Footnote 137: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 228 _sq._] + +[Footnote 138: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 229 _sq._] + +[Footnote 139: Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ pp. 230 _sq._] + +[Footnote 140: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 231-238.] + +[Footnote 141: Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 238.] + +[Footnote 142: Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ pp. 238 _sq._] + +[Footnote 143: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 239-247.] + +[Footnote 144: Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 248.] + +[Footnote 145: "On the other hand there is a great difference between +the Wollunqua and any other totem, inasmuch as the particular animal is +purely mythical, and except for the one great progenitor of the totemic +group, is not supposed to exist at the present day" (Spencer and Gillen, +_Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 248).] + +[Footnote 146: The _wingara_ is the equivalent of the Arunta +_alcheringa_, that is, the earliest legendary or mythical times of which +the natives profess to have knowledge.] + +[Footnote 147: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 249 _sq._] + +[Footnote 148: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 33 _sq._, 177 _sq._] + +[Footnote 149: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 297 _sq._] + +[Footnote 150: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 316 _sq._] + +[Footnote 151: Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 320.] + +[Footnote 152: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 199-204.] + +[Footnote 153: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 179 _sq._] + +[Footnote 154: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 179 _sq._] + +[Footnote 155: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 358 _sq._, and p. 343, fig 73.] + +[Footnote 156: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +p. 176.] + +[Footnote 157: Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ pp. 182 _sq._] + +[Footnote 158: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, p. 297.] + +[Footnote 159: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, p. 197.] + + + + +LECTURE VI + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE OTHER ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA + + +[Sidenote: Customs and beliefs concerning the dead in the other tribes +of Australia.] + +In the last lecture I concluded my account of the beliefs and practices +of the Central Australian aborigines in regard to the dead. To-day I +propose to consider the customs and beliefs concerning the dead which +prevail among the native tribes in other parts of Australia. But at the +outset I must warn you that our information as to these other tribes is +far less full and precise than that which we possess as to the tribes of +the centre, which have had the great advantage of being observed and +described by two highly qualified scientific observers, Messrs. Spencer +and Gillen. Our knowledge of all other Australian tribes is +comparatively fragmentary, and accordingly it is impossible to give even +an approximately complete view of their notions concerning the state of +the human spirit after death, and of the rites which they observe for +the purpose of disarming or propitiating the souls of the departed. We +must therefore content ourselves with more or less partial glimpses of +this side of native religion. + +[Sidenote: Belief in the reincarnation of the dead among the natives of +Queensland. The _ngai_ spirits.] + +The first question we naturally ask is whether the belief in the +reincarnation of the dead, which prevails universally among the Central +tribes, reappears among tribes in other parts of the continent. It +certainly does so, and although the evidence on this subject is very +imperfect it suffices to raise presumption that a similar belief in the +rebirth or reincarnation of the dead was formerly universal among the +Australian aborigines. Unquestionably the belief is entertained by some +of the natives of Queensland, who have been described for us by Mr. W. +E. Roth. Thus, for example, the aborigines on the Pennefather River +think that every person's spirit undergoes a series of reincarnations, +and that in the interval between two reincarnations the spirit resides +in one or other of the haunts of Anjea, a mythical being who causes +conception in women by putting mud babies into their bodies. Such spots, +haunted by the fabulous being Anjea and by the souls of the dead +awaiting rebirth, may be a tree, a rock, or a pool of water; they +clearly correspond to the local totem centres (_oknanikilla_ among the +Arunta, _mungai_ among the Warramunga) of the Central Australian tribes +which I described in former lectures. The natives of the Pennefather +River observe a ceremony at the birth of a child in order to ascertain +the exact spot where its spirit tarried in the interval since its last +incarnation; and when they have discovered it they speak of the child as +obtained from a tree, a rock, or a pool of water, according to the place +from which its spirit is supposed to have passed into its mother.[160] +Readers of the classics can hardly fail to be reminded of the Homeric +phrase to be "born of an oak or a rock,"[161] which seems to point to a +similar belief in the possibility of human souls awaiting reincarnation +in the boughs of an oak-tree or in the cleft of a rock. In the opinion +of the Pennefather natives all disembodied human spirits or _choi_, as +they call them, are mischief-makers and evildoers, for they make people +sick or crazy; but the medicine-men can sometimes control them for good +or evil. They wander about in the bush, but there are certain hollow +trees or clumps of trees with wide-spreading branches, which they most +love to haunt, and they can be heard in the rustling of the leaves or +the crackling of the boughs at night. Anjea himself, who puts babies +into women, is never seen, but you may hear him laughing in the depths +of the forest, among the rocks, in the lagoons, and along the mangrove +swamps; and when you hear his laugh you may be sure that he has got a +baby.[162] If a native happens to hurt himself near a tree, he imagines +that the spirit of some dead person is lurking among the branches, and +he will never cut that tree down lest a worse thing should befall him at +the hands of the vengeful ghost.[163] A curious feature in the beliefs +of these Pennefather natives is that apart from the spirit called +_choi_, which lives in a disembodied state between two incarnations, +every person is supposed to have a spirit of a different sort called +_ngai_, which has its seat in the heart; they feel it beating within +their breast; it talks to them in sleep and so is the cause of dreams. +At death a man's _ngai_ spirit does not go away into the bush to await +reincarnation like his _choi_ spirit; on the contrary, it passes at once +into his children, boys and girls alike; for before their father's death +children are supposed not to possess a _ngai_ spirit; if a child dies +before its father, they think that it never had a _ngai_ spirit at all. +And the _ngai_ spirit may leave a man in his lifetime as well as at +death; for example, when a person faints, the natives think that he does +so because his _ngai_ spirit has departed from him, and they will stamp +on the ground to make it return. On the other hand the _choi_ spirit is +supposed never to quit a man during life; it is thought to be in some +undefined way related to the shadow, whereas the _ngai_ spirit, as we +saw, manifests itself in the beating of the heart. When a woman dies, +her _ngai_ spirit goes not into her children but into her sisters, one +after the other; and when all the sisters are dead, the woman's _ngai_ +spirit goes away among the mangroves and perishes altogether.[164] + +Thus these savages explain the phenomena of birth and death, of +conscious and unconscious life, by a theory of a double human spirit, +one associated with the heart and the other with the shadow. The +psychology is rudimentary, still it is interesting as an attempt to +solve problems which still puzzle civilised man. + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the natives of Cape Bedford in Queensland.] + +Other Queensland aborigines associate the vital principle not with the +heart but with the breath. For example, at Cape Bedford the natives call +it _wau-wu_ and think that it never leaves the body sleeping or waking +till death, when it haunts its place of burial for a time and may +communicate with the living. Thus, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, it +will often appear to a near kinsman or intimate friend, tell him the +pitiful tale how he was done to death by an enemy, and urge him to +revenge. Again, the soul of a man's dead father or friend may bear him +company on a journey and, like the beryl-stone in Rossetti's poem _Rose +Mary_, warn him of an ambuscade lurking for him in a spot where the man +himself sees nothing. But the spirits of the dead do not always come +with such friendly intent; they may drive the living distracted; a +peculiar form of mental excitement and bewilderment is attributed to +their action. Further, these aborigines at Cape Bedford, in Queensland, +believe that all spirits of nature are in fact souls of the dead. Such +spirits usually leave their haunts in the forests and caves at night. +Stout-hearted old men can see and converse with them and receive from +them warnings of danger; but women and children fear these spirits and +never see them. But some spirits of the dead, when they have ceased to +haunt their places of burial, go away eastward and are reincarnated in +white people; hence these savages often look for a resemblance to some +deceased tribesman among Europeans, and frequently wonder why it is that +the white man, on whom their fancy has pitched, remembers nothing about +his former life as a black man among blacks.[165] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the natives of the Tully River in Queensland.] + +The natives of the Tully River in Queensland associate the principle of +life both with the breath and with the shadow. It departs from the body +temporarily in sleep and fainting-fits and permanently in death, after +which it may be heard at night tapping on the top of huts or creaking in +the branches of trees. It is everlasting, so far as these savages have +any idea of eternity, and further it is intangible; hence in its +disembodied state it needs no food, and none is set out for it. The +disposition of these disembodied spirits of the dead is good or bad, +according to their disposition in life. Yet when a man is alone by +himself, the spirit even of one of his own dead kinsfolk will sometimes +come and do him a mischief. On the other hand it can do nothing to +several people together; there is safety in numbers. They may all see +and hear the ghost, but he will not attack them. Hence these savages +have been taught from childhood to beware of going alone: solitary +people are liable at any moment to be assailed by the spirits of the +dead. The only means they know of warding off these ghostly assailants +is by lighting good fires.[166] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the Australian aborigines that their dead are +reborn in white people.] + +I have mentioned the belief of the Cape Bedford natives that the spirits +of their dead are sometimes reincarnated in white people. A similar +notion is reported from other and widely separated parts of Australia, +and wherever it exists may be taken as evidence of a general belief as +to the rebirth or reincarnation of the dead, even where such a belief is +not expressly recorded. This superstition has sometimes proved of +service to white people who have been cast among the blacks, for it has +ensured them a hospitable and even affectionate welcome, where otherwise +they might have encountered suspicion and hostility, if not open +violence. Thus, for example, the convict Buckley, who escaped from the +penal settlement on Port Phillip Bay in 1803, was found by some of the +Wudthaurung tribe carrying a piece of a broken spear, which he had +abstracted from the grave of one of their people. So they took him to be +the dead man risen from the grave; he received the name of the deceased, +was adopted by his relations, and lived with the tribe for thirty-two +years without ever conversing with a white man; when at last he met one, +he had forgotten the English language.[167] Again, a Mr. Naseby, who +lived in the Kamilaroi country for fifty years, happened to have the +marks of cupping on his back, and the natives could not be persuaded +that he was not one of themselves come to life again with the family +scars on his body,[168] for the Australian aborigines commonly raise +scars on the bodies of young men at initiation. The late Sir George Grey +was identified by an old Australian woman as her dead son come to life +again. It may be worth while to quote his account of this unlooked-for +meeting with his long-lost mother; for it will impress on you, better +than any words of mine could do, the firmness of the faith which these +savages repose in the resurrection of the body, or at all events in the +reincarnation of the soul. Grey writes as follows:-- + +[Sidenote: Experience of Sir George Grey.] + +"After we had tethered the horses, and made ourselves tolerably +comfortable, we heard loud voices from the hills above us: the effect +was fine,--for they really almost appeared to float in the air; and as +the wild cries of the women, who knew not our exact position, came by +upon the wind, I thought it was well worth a little trouble to hear +these savage sounds under such circumstances. Our guides shouted in +return, and gradually the approaching cries came nearer and nearer. I +was, however, wholly unprepared for the scene that was about to take +place. A sort of procession came up, headed by two women, down whose +cheeks tears were streaming. The eldest of these came up to me, and +looking for a moment at me, said,--'_Gwa, gwa, bundo, bal_,'--'Yes, yes, +in truth it is him'; and then throwing her arms round me, cried +bitterly, her head resting on my breast; and although I was totally +ignorant of what their meaning was, from mere motives of compassion, I +offered no resistance to her caresses, however disagreeable they might +be, for she was old, ugly, and filthily dirty; the other younger one +knelt at my feet, also crying. At last the old lady, emboldened by my +submission, deliberately kissed me on each cheek, just in the manner a +Frenchwoman would have done; she then cried a little more, and at length +relieving me, assured me that I was the ghost of her son, who had some +time before been killed by a spear-wound in his breast. The younger +female was my sister; but she, whether from motives of delicacy, or from +any imagined backwardness on my part, did not think proper to kiss me. +My new mother expressed almost as much delight at my return to my +family, as my real mother would have done, had I been unexpectedly +restored to her. As soon as she left me, my brothers, and father (the +old man who had previously been so frightened), came up and embraced me +after their manner,--that is, they threw their arms round my waist, +placed their right knee against my right knee, and their breast against +my breast, holding me in this way for several minutes. During the time +that the ceremony lasted, I, according to the native custom, preserved a +grave and mournful expression of countenance. This belief, that white +people are the souls of departed blacks, is by no means an uncommon +superstition amongst them; they themselves never having an idea of +quitting their own land, cannot imagine others doing it;--and thus, when +they see white people suddenly appear in their country, and settling +themselves down in particular spots, they imagine that they must have +formed an attachment for this land in some other state of existence; and +hence conclude the settlers were at one period black men and their own +relations. Likenesses, whether real or imagined, complete the delusion; +and from the manner of the old woman I have just alluded to, from her +many tears, and from her warm caresses, I feel firmly convinced that she +really believed I was her son, whose first thought, upon his return to +earth, had been to re-visit his old mother, and bring her a +present."[169] + +[Sidenote: In South-eastern Australia the natives believed that the +souls of the dead were not reborn but went up to the sky.] + +On the whole then we may conclude that a belief in the reincarnation of +the dead has not been confined to the tribes of Central Australia, but +has been held by the tribes in many, perhaps at one time in all, other +parts of the continent. Yet, if we may judge from the imperfect records +which we possess, this faith in the return of the dead to life in human +form would seem to have given way and been replaced to some extent by a +different creed among many tribes of South-eastern Australia. In this +part of the continent it appears to have been often held by the natives +that after death the soul is not born again among men, but goes away for +ever to some distant country either in the sky or beyond the sea, where +all the spirits of the dead congregate. Thus Lieutenant-Colonel Collins, +who was Governor of New South Wales in the early days of the colony, at +the end of the eighteenth century, reports that when the natives were +often questioned "as to what became of them after their decease, some +answered that they went either on or beyond the great water; but by far +the greater number signified, that they went to the clouds."[170] Again, +the Narrinyeri tribe of South Australia believed that all the dead went +up to the sky and that some of them at least became stars. We possess an +excellent description of the beliefs and customs of this tribe from the +pen of a missionary, the Rev. George Taplin, who lived among them for +many years. His account of their theory of the state of the dead is +instructive. It runs thus:-- + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the Narrinyeri concerning the dead.] + +"The Narrinyeri point out several stars, and say that they are deceased +warriors who have gone to heaven (_Wyirrewarre_). There are Wyungare, +and Nepalle, and the Manchingga, and several others. Every native +expects to go to _Wyirrewarre_ after death. They also believe that the +dead descend from thence, and walk the earth; and that they are able to +injure those whom they dislike. Consequently, men who have been +notorious in life for a domineering and revengeful disposition are very +much dreaded after death. For instance, there is Karungpe, who comes in +the dead of night, when the camp fire has burned low, and like a rushing +wind scatters the dying embers, and then takes advantage of the darkness +to rob some sleeper of life; and it is considered dangerous to whistle +in the dark, for Karungpe is especially attracted by a whistle. There is +another restless spirit--the deceased father of a boy whom I well +know--who is said to rove about armed with a rope, with which he catches +people. All the Narrinyeri, old and young, are dreadfully afraid of +seeing ghosts, and none of them will venture into the scrub after dark, +lest he should encounter the spirits which are supposed to roam there. I +have heard some admirable specimens of ghost stories from them. In one +case I remember the ghost was represented to have set fire to a _wurley_ +[hut], and ascended to heaven in the flame. The Narrinyeri regard the +disapprobation of the spirits of the dead as a thing to be dreaded; and +if a serious quarrel takes place between near relatives, some of the +friends are sure to interpose with entreaties to the contentious parties +to be reconciled, lest the spirits of the dead should be offended at +unseemly disputes between those who ought to be at peace. The name of +the dead must not be mentioned until his body has decayed, lest a want +of sorrow should seem to be indicated by the common and flippant use of +his name. A native would have the deceased believe that he cannot hear +or speak his name without weeping."[171] + +[Sidenote: Narrinyeri fear of the dead. Mourning customs.] + +From this account it would appear that the Narrinyeri have no belief in +the reincarnation of the dead; they suppose that the souls of the +departed live up aloft in the sky, from which they descend at night in +the form of ghosts to haunt and trouble the living. On the whole the +attitude of the Narrinyeri towards their dead kinsfolk seems to be +dominated by fear; of affection there is apparently little or no trace. +It is true that like most Australian tribes they indulge in extravagant +demonstrations of grief at the death of their kinsfolk. A great +lamentation and wailing is made by all the relations and friends of the +deceased. They cut off their hair close to the head and besmudge +themselves with oil and pounded charcoal. The women besmear themselves +with the most disgusting filth. All beat and cut themselves and make a +violent show of sorrow; and all the time that the corpse, rubbed over +with grease and red ochre, is being dried over a slow fire in the hut, +the women take it by turns to weep and wail before it, so that the +lamentation never ceases for days. Yet Mr. Taplin was persuaded "that +fear has more to do with most of these exhibitions than grief"; and he +tells us that "for one minute a woman will appear in the deepest agony +of grief and tears; a few minutes after, the conventional amount of +weeping having been accomplished, they will laugh and talk with the +merriest."[172] The principal motive, in fact, for all this excessive +display of sorrow would seem to be a fear lest the jealous ghost should +think himself slighted and should avenge the slight on the cold-hearted +relatives who do not mourn sufficiently for the irreparable loss they +have sustained by his death. We may conjecture that the same train of +thought explains the ancient and widespread custom of hiring +professional mourners to wail over the dead; the tears and lamentations +of his kinsfolk are not enough to soothe the wounded feelings of the +departed, they must be reinforced by noisier expressions of regret. + +[Sidenote: Deaths attributed by the Narrinyeri to sorcery.] + +But there is another powerful motive for all these violent +demonstrations of grief, into the secret of which we are let by Mr. +Taplin. He says that "all the relatives are careful to be present and +not to be wanting in the proper signs of sorrow, lest they should be +suspected of complicity in causing the death."[173] In fact the +Narrinyeri, like many other savages, attribute all, or most, natural +deaths to sorcery. When a person dies, they think that he or she has +been killed by the evil magic of some ill-wisher, and one of the first +things to be done is to discover the culprit in order that his life may +be taken in revenge. For this purpose the Narrinyeri resort to a form of +divination. On the first night after the death the nearest relation of +the deceased sleeps with his head on the corpse, hoping thus to dream of +the sorcerer who has done the mischief. Next day the corpse is placed on +a sort of bier supported on men's shoulders. The friends of the deceased +gather round and call out the names of suspected persons to see whether +the corpse will give any sign. At last the next of kin calls out the +name of the person of whom he has dreamed, and if at the sound the +corpse makes a movement towards him, which the bearers say they cannot +resist, it is regarded as a clear token that the man so named is the +malefactor. It only remains for the kinsfolk of the dead to hunt down +the culprit and kill him.[174] Thus not only the relations but everybody +in the neighbourhood has the strongest motive for assuming at least an +appearance of sorrow at a death, lest the suspicion of having caused it +by sorcery should fall upon him. + +[Sidenote: Pretence made by the Narrinyeri of avenging the death of +their friends on the guilty sorcerer.] + +It deserves to be noted, that while the Narrinyeri nominally +acknowledged the duty of killing the sorcerer who in their opinion had +caused the death of their friend, they by no means always discharged the +duty, but sometimes contented themselves with little more than a +pretence of revenge. Mr. Taplin's account of the proceedings observed on +such an occasion is instructive. It runs thus: "The spirit of the dead +is not considered to have been appeased until his relatives have avenged +his death. They will kill the sorcerer who has caused it if they can +catch him; but generally they cannot catch him, and often do not wish +it. Most probably he belongs to some other tribe of the Narrinyeri. +Messengers pass between the tribes relative to the affair, and the +friends of the accused person at last formally curse the dead man and +all his dead relatives. This constitutes a _casus belli_. Arrangements +are forthwith made for a pitched battle, and the two tribes meet in +company with their respective allies. The tribe to which the dead man +belongs weep and make a great lamentation for him, and the opposing +tribe sets some fellows to dance about and play antics in derision of +their enemies. Then the whole tribe will set up a great laugh by way of +further provocation. If there is any other cause of animosity between +the tribes besides the matter of avenging the dead there will now be a +pretty severe fight with spears. If, however, the tribes have nothing +but the dead man to fight about, they will probably throw a few spears, +indulge in considerable abuse of each other, perhaps one or two will get +slightly wounded, and then some of the old men will declare that enough +has been done. The dead man is considered to have been appeased by the +efforts of his friends to avenge his death by fighting, and the two +tribes are friendly again. In such a case the fight is a mere +ceremony."[175] Thus among the Narrinyeri the duty of blood revenge was +often supposed to be sufficiently discharged by a sham fight performed +apparently for the satisfaction of the ghost, who was supposed to be +looking on and to be gratified by the sight of his friends hurling +spears at the author of his death. Merciful pretences of the same sort +have been practised by other savages in order to satisfy the vengeful +ghost without the effusion of blood. Examples of them will come before +us later on.[176] + +[Sidenote: Magical virtue ascribed to the hair of the dead.] + +However, the attitude of the Narrinyeri towards their dead was not +purely one of fear and aversion. They imagined that they could derive +certain benefits from their departed kinsfolk, and the channel through +which these benefits flowed was furnished by their hair. They cut off +the hair of the dead and spun it into a cord, and this cord was commonly +worn by the men as a head-band. They said that thereby they "smelled the +dead," and that the smell made their eyes large and their sight keen, so +that in a fight they could see the spears coming and could parry or +avoid them.[177] Similar magical virtues are ascribed to the hair of the +dead by the Arunta. Among them the hair of a dead man is cut off and +made into a magic girdle, which is a valued possession and is only worn +when a man is going out to engage in a tribal fight or to stalk a foe +for the purpose of destroying him by witchcraft. The girdle is supposed +to be endowed with magic power and to impart to its possessor all the +warlike qualities of the dead man from whose hair it was made; in +particular, it is thought to ensure accuracy of aim in the wearer, while +at the same time it destroys that of his adversary.[178] Hence the +girdle is worn by the man who takes the lead in avenging the death of +the deceased on his supposed murderer; the mere sight of it, they think, +so terrifies the victim that his legs tremble under him, he becomes +incapable of fighting, and is easily speared.[179] + +[Sidenote: Belief that the souls of the dead go up to the sky.] + +Among the tribes of South-eastern Australia the Narrinyeri were not +alone in holding the curious belief that the souls of the dead go up +into the sky to live there for ever, but that their ghosts come down +again from time to time, roam about their old haunts on earth, and +communicate with the living. This, for example, was the belief of the +Dieri, the Buandik, the Kurnai, and the Kulin tribes.[180] The Buandik +thought that everything in skyland was better than on earth; a fat +kangaroo, for example, was compared to a kangaroo of heaven, where, of +course, the animals might be expected to abound.[181] The Kulin imagined +that the spirits of the dead ascended to heaven by the bright rays of +the setting sun.[182] The Wailwun natives in New South Wales used to +bury their dead in hollow trees, and when they dropped the body into its +place, the bearers and the bystanders joined in a loud whirring sound, +like the rush of the wind. They said that this represented the upward +flight of the soul to the sky.[183] + +[Sidenote: Appearance of the dead to the living, especially in dreams.] + +With regard to the ghosts on earth, some tribes of South-eastern +Australia believe that they can be seen by the living, can partake of +food, and can warm themselves at a fire. It is especially the graves, +where their mouldering bodies are deposited, that these restless spirits +are supposed to haunt; it is there that they shew themselves either to +people generally or to such as have the second sight.[184] But it is +most commonly in dreams that they appear to the living and hold +communication with them. Often these communications are believed to be +helpful. Thus the tribes of the Wotjobaluk nation thought that the +ghosts of their dead relations could visit them in sleep to protect +them. A Mukjarawaint man told Dr. Howitt that his father came to him in +a dream and warned him to beware or he would be killed. This, the man +believed, was the saving of his life; for he afterwards came to the +place which he had seen in his dream; whereupon, instead of going on, he +turned back, so that his enemies, who might have been waiting for him +there, did not catch him.[185] Another man informed Dr. Howitt that his +dead uncle appeared to him in sleep and taught him charms against +sickness and other evils; and the Chepara tribe similarly believed that +male ancestors visited sleepers and imparted to them charms to avert +evil magic.[186] + +[Sidenote: Savage faith in the truth of dreams. Association of the stars +with the souls of the dead.] + +Such notions follow naturally from the savage theory of dreams. Almost +all savages appear to believe firmly in the truth of dreams; they fail +to draw the distinction, which to us seems obvious, between the +imaginary creations of the mind in sleep and the waking realities of the +physical world. Whatever they dream of must, they think, be actually +existing; for have they not seen it with their own eyes? To argue that +the visions of sleep have no real existence is, therefore, in their +opinion, to argue against the plain evidence of their senses; and they +naturally treat such exaggerated scepticism with incredulity and +contempt. Hence when they dream of their dead friends and relations they +necessarily conclude that these persons are still alive somewhere and +somehow, though they do not commonly appear by daylight to people in +their waking hours. Unquestionably this savage faith in the reality of +dreams has been one of the principal sources of the widespread, almost +universal, belief in the survival of the human soul after death. It +explains why ghosts are supposed to appear rather by night than by day, +since it is chiefly by night that men sleep and dream dreams. Perhaps it +may also partly account for the association of the stars with the souls +of the dead. For if the dead appear to the living mainly in the hours of +darkness, it seems not unnatural to imagine that the bright points of +light which then bespangle the canopy of heaven are either the souls of +the departed or fires kindled by them in their home aloft. For example, +the Central Australian aborigines commonly suppose the stars to be the +camp-fires of natives who live on the banks of the great river which we +civilised men, by a survival of primitive mythology, call the Milky Way. +However, these rude savages, we are told, as a general rule "appear to +pay very little attention to the stars in detail, probably because they +enter very little into anything which is connected with their daily +life, and more especially with their food supply."[187] The same +observation which Messrs. Spencer and Gillen here make as to the natives +of Central Australia might be applied to most savages who have remained +in the purely hunting stage of social development. Such men are not much +addicted to star-gazing, since the stars have little or nothing to tell +them that they wish to know. It is not till people have betaken +themselves to sowing and reaping crops that they begin to scan the +heavens more carefully in order to determine the season of sowing by +observation of the great celestial time-keepers, the rising and setting +of certain constellations, above all, apparently, of the Pleiades.[188] +In short, the rise of agriculture favours the rise of astronomy. + +[Sidenote: Creed of the South-eastern Australians touching the dead.] + +But to return to the ideas of the Australian aborigines concerning the +dead, we may say of the natives of the south-eastern part of the +continent, in the words of Dr. Howitt, that "there is a universal belief +in the existence of the human spirit after death, as a ghost, which is +able to communicate with the living when they sleep. It finds its way to +the sky-country, where it lives in a land like the earth, only more +fertile, better watered, and plentifully supplied with game."[189] This +belief is very different from that of the Central Australian natives, +who think that the souls of the dead tarry on earth in their old +familiar haunts until the time comes for them to be born again into the +world. Of the two different creeds that of the south-eastern tribes may +be regarded as the more advanced, since it admits that the dead do not +return to life, and that their disembodied spirits do not haunt +perpetually a multitude of spiritual parks or reservations dotted over +the face of the country. + +[Sidenote: The creed seems to form part of a general advance of culture +in this part of the continent.] + +But how are we to account for this marked difference of belief between +the natives of the Centre and the natives of the South-east? Perhaps the +most probable explanation is that the creed of the south-eastern tribes +in this respect is part of a general advance of culture brought about by +the more favourable natural conditions under which they live as compared +with the forlorn state of the rude inhabitants of the Central deserts. +That advance of culture manifests itself in a variety of ways. On the +material side it is seen in more substantial and permanent dwellings and +in warmer and better clothing. On the social side it is seen in an +incipient tendency to the rise of a regular chieftainship, a thing which +is quite unknown among the democratic or rather oligarchic savages of +the Centre, who are mainly governed by the old men in council.[190] But +the rise of chieftainship is a great step in political progress; since a +monarchical government of some sort appears to be essential to the +emergence of mankind from savagery. On the whole, then, the beliefs of +the South-eastern Australian aborigines seem to mark a step on the +upward road towards civilisation. + +[Sidenote: Possible influence of European teaching on native beliefs.] + +At the same time we must not forget that these beliefs may have been +influenced by the lessons which they have learned from white settlers +with whom in this part of Australia they have been so long in contact. +The possibility of such a transfusion of the new wine of Europe into the +old bottles of Australia did not escape the experienced Mr. James +Dawson, an early settler in Victoria, who has given us a valuable +account of the natives of that region in the old days when they were +still comparatively little contaminated by intercourse with the whites. +He describes as follows the views which prevailed as to the dead among +the tribes of Western Victoria:--"After the disposal of the body of a +good person, its shade walks about for three days; and although it +appears to people, it holds no communication with them. Should it be +seen and named by anyone during these three days, it instantly +disappears. At the expiry of three days it goes off to a beautiful +country above the clouds, abounding with kangaroo and other game, where +life will be enjoyed for ever. Friends will meet and recognize each +other there; but there will be no marrying, as the bodies have been left +on earth. Children under four or five years have no souls and no future +life. The shades of the wicked wander miserably about the earth for one +year after death, frightening people, and then descend to Ummekulleen, +never to return." After giving us this account of the native creed Mr. +Dawson adds very justly: "Some of the ideas described above may possibly +have originated with the white man, and been transmitted from Sydney by +one tribe to another."[191] The probability of white influence on this +particular doctrine of religion is increased by the frank confession +which these same natives made of the religious deterioration (as they +regarded it) which they had suffered in another direction through the +teaching of the missionaries. On this subject, to quote again from Mr. +Dawson, the savages are of opinion that "the good spirit, Pirnmeheeal, +is a gigantic man, living above the clouds; and as he is of a kindly +disposition, and harms no one, he is seldom mentioned, but always with +respect. His voice, the thunder, is listened to with pleasure, as it +does good to man and beast, by bringing rain, and making grass and roots +grow for their benefit. But the aborigines say that the missionaries and +government protectors have given them a dread of Pirnmeheeal; and they +are sorry that the young people, and many of the old, are now afraid of +a being who never did any harm to their forefathers."[192] + +[Sidenote: Vagueness and inconsistency of native beliefs as to the state +of the dead. Custom or ritual as the interpreter of belief.] + +However, it is very difficult to ascertain the exact beliefs of savages +as to the dead. The thought of the savage is apt to be vague and +inconsistent; he neither represents his ideas clearly to his own mind +nor can he express them lucidly to others, even if he wishes to do so. +And his thought is not only vague and inconsistent; it is fluid and +unstable, liable to shift and change under alien influence. For these +and other reasons, such as the distrust of strangers and the difficulty +of language, which often interposes a formidable barrier between savage +man and the civilised enquirer, the domain of primitive beliefs is beset +by so many snares and pitfalls that we might almost despair of arriving +at the truth, were it not that we possess a clue to guide us on the dark +and slippery way. That clue is action. While it is generally very +difficult to ascertain what any man thinks, it is comparatively easy to +ascertain what he does; and what a man does, not what he says, is the +surest touchstone to his real belief. Hence when we attempt to study the +religion of backward races, the ritual which they practise is generally +a safer indication of their actual creed than the loudest profession of +faith. In regard to the state of the human soul after death the beliefs +of the Australian aborigines are clearly reflected in many of the +customs which they observe at the death and burial of their friends and +enemies, and it is accordingly with an account of some of these customs +that I propose to conclude this part of my subject. + +[Sidenote: Burial customs of the Australian aborigines as evidence of +their beliefs concerning the state of the soul after death. Food placed +on the grave for the use of the ghost and fires kindled to warm him.] + +Now some of the burial customs observed by the Australian savages reveal +in the clearest manner their belief that the human soul survives the +death of the body, that in its disembodied state it retains +consciousness and feeling, and can do a mischief to the living; in +short, they shew that in the opinion of these people the departed live +in the form of dangerous ghosts. Thus, for example, when the deceased is +a person of importance, the Dieri place food for many days on the grave, +and in winter they kindle a fire in order that the ghost may warm +himself at it. If the food remains untouched on the grave, they think +that the dead is not hungry.[193] The Blanch-water section of that tribe +fear the spirits of the dead and accordingly take steps to prevent their +resurrection. For that purpose they tie the toes of the corpse together +and the thumbs behind the back, which must obviously make it difficult +for the dead man to arise in his might and pursue them. Moreover, for a +month after the death they sweep a clear space round the grave at dusk +every evening, and inspect it every morning. If they find any tracks on +it, they assume that they have been made by the restless ghost in his +nocturnal peregrinations, and accordingly they dig up his mouldering +remains and bury them in some other place, where they hope he will sleep +sounder.[194] The Kukata tribe think that the ghost may be thirsty, so +they obligingly leave a drinking vessel on the grave, that he may slake +his thirst. Also they deposit spears and other weapons on the spot, +together with a digging-stick, which is specially intended to ward off +evil spirits who may be on the prowl.[195] The ghosts of the natives on +the Maranoa river were also thirsty souls, so vessels full of water were +sometimes suspended for their use over the grave.[196] A custom of +lighting a fire on the grave to warm the poor shivering ghost seems to +have been not uncommon among the aboriginal Australians. The Western +Victorians, for example, kept up large fires all night for this +purpose.[197] In the Wiimbaio tribe two fires were kept burning for a +whole month on the grave, one to the right and the other to the left, in +order that the ghost might come out and warm himself at them in the +chill night air. If they found tracks near the grave, they inferred, +like the Dieri, that the perturbed spirit had quitted his narrow bed to +pace to and fro in the long hours of darkness; but if no footprints were +visible they thought that he slept in peace.[198] In some parts of +Western Australia the natives maintained fires on the grave for more +than a month for the convenience of the ghost; and they clearly expected +him to come to life again, for they detached the nails from the thumb +and forefinger of the corpse and deposited them in a small hole beside +the grave, in order that they might know their friend at his +resurrection.[199] The length of time during which fires were maintained +or kindled daily on the grave is said to have varied, according to the +estimation in which the man was held, from a few days to three or four +years.[200] We have seen that the Dieri laid food on the grave for the +hungry ghost to partake of, and the same custom was observed by the +Gournditch-mara tribe.[201] However, some intelligent old aborigines of +Western Victoria derided the custom as "white fellow's gammon."[202] + +[Sidenote: Property of the dead buried with them.] + +Further, in some tribes of South-eastern Australia it was customary to +deposit the scanty property of the deceased, usually consisting of a few +rude weapons or implements, on the grave or to bury it with him. Thus +the natives of Western Victoria buried all a dead man's ornaments, +weapons, and property with him in the grave, only reserving his stone +axes, which were too valuable to be thus sacrificed: these were +inherited by the next of kin.[203] The Wurunjerri also interred the +personal property of the dead with him; if the deceased was a man, his +spear-thrower was stuck in the ground at the head of the grave; if the +deceased was a woman, the same thing was done with her digging-stick. +That these implements were intended for the use of the ghost and not +merely as headstones to mark the situation of the tomb and the sex of +the departed, is clear from a significant exception to the custom. When +the departed brother was a man of violent temper, who had been +quarrelsome and a brawler in his life, no weapons were buried with him, +obviously lest in a fit of ill-temper he should sally from the grave and +assault people with them.[204] Similarly the Turrbal tribe, who +deposited their dead in the forks of trees, used to leave a spear and +club near the corpse "that the spirit of the dead might have weapons +wherewith to kill game for his sustenance in the future state. A +yam-stick was placed in the ground at a woman's grave, so that she might +go away at night and seek for roots."[205] The Wolgal tribe were very +particular about burying everything that belonged to a dead man with +him; spears and nets, though valuable articles of property, were thus +sacrificed; even a canoe has been known to be cut up in order that the +pieces of it might be deposited in the grave. In fact "everything +belonging to a dead man was put out of sight."[206] Similarly in the +Geawe-gal tribe all the implements and inanimate property of a warrior +were interred with him.[207] In the Gringai country not only was all a +man's property buried with him, but every native present at the burial +contributed something, and these contributions were piled together at +the head of the corpse before the grave was filled in.[208] Among the +tribes of Southern Victoria, when the grave has been dug and lined with +fresh leaves and twigs so as to make a soft bed, the dead man's property +is brought in two bags, and the sorcerer shakes out the contents. They +consist of such small articles as pieces of hard stone suitable for +cutting or paring skins, bones for boring holes, twine made of opossum +wool, and so forth. These are placed in the grave, and the bags and rugs +of the deceased are torn up and thrown in likewise. Then the sorcerer +asks whether the dead man had any other property, and if he had, it is +brought forward and laid beside the torn fragments of the bags and rugs. +Everything that a man owned in life must be laid beside him in +death.[209] Again, among the tribes of the Lower Murray, Lachlan, and +Darling rivers in New South Wales, all a dead man's property, including +his weapons and nets, was buried with his body in the grave.[210] +Further, we are told that among the natives of Western Australia the +weapons and personal property of the deceased are placed on the grave, +"so that when he rises from the dead they may be ready to his +hand."[211] In the Boulia district of Queensland the things which +belonged to a dead man, such as his boomerangs and spears, are either +buried with him, destroyed by fire, or sometimes, though rarely, +distributed among his tribal brothers, but never among his +children.[212] + +[Sidenote: Intention of destroying the property of the dead. The +property of the dead not destroyed in Central Australia.] + +Thus among certain tribes of Australia, especially in the south-eastern +part of the continent, it appears that the custom of burying or +destroying a dead man's property has been very common. That the +intention of the custom in some cases is to supply the supposed needs of +the ghost, seems to be fairly certain; but we may doubt whether this +explanation would apply to the practice of burning or otherwise +destroying the things which had belonged to the deceased. More probably +such destruction springs from an overpowering dread of the ghost and a +wish to sever all connexion with him, so that he may have no excuse for +returning and haunting the survivors, as he might do if his property +were either kept by them or deposited in the grave. Whatever the motive +for the burial or destruction of a dead man's property may be, the +custom appears not to prevail among the tribes of Central Australia. In +the eastern Arunta tribe, indeed, it is said that sometimes a little +wooden vessel used in camp for holding small objects may be buried with +the man, but this is the only instance which Messrs. Spencer and Gillen +could hear of in which any article of ordinary use is buried in the +grave. Far from wasting property in that way, these economical savages +preserve even a man's personal ornaments, such as his necklaces, +armlets, and the fur string which he wore round his head; indeed, as we +have seen, they go so far as to cut off the hair from the head of the +deceased and to keep it for magical uses.[213] In the Warramunga tribe +all the belongings of a dead man go to the tribal brothers of his +mother.[214] + +[Sidenote: Property of the dead hung up on trees, then washed and +distributed. Economic loss entailed by sacrifices to the dead.] + +The difference in this respect between the practice of the Central +tribes and that of the tribes nearer the sea, especially in Victoria and +New South Wales, is very notable. A custom intermediate between the two +is observed by some tribes of the Darling River, who hang up the +weapons, nets, and other property of the deceased on trees for about two +months, then wash them, and distribute them among the relations.[215] +The reason for hanging the things up and washing them is no doubt to rid +them of the infection of death in order that they may be used with +safety by the survivors. Such a custom points clearly to a growing fear +of the dead; and that fear or reverence comes out still more clearly in +the practice of either burying the property of the dead with them or +destroying it altogether, which is observed by the aborigines of +Victoria and other parts of Australia who live under more favourable +conditions of life than the inhabitants of the Central deserts. This +confirms the conclusion which we have reached on other grounds, that +among the aboriginal population of Australia favourable natural +conditions in respect of climate, food, and water have exercised a most +important influence in stimulating social progress in many directions, +and not least in the direction of religion. At the same time, while we +recognise that the incipient tendency to a worship of the dead which may +be detected in these regions marks a step forward in religious +development, we must acknowledge that the practice of burying or +destroying the property of the dead, which is one of the ways in which +the tendency manifests itself, is, regarded from the side of economic +progress, a decided step backward. It marks, in fact, the beginning of a +melancholy aberration of the human mind, which has led mankind to +sacrifice the real interests of the living to the imaginary interests of +the dead. With the general advance of society and the accompanying +accumulation of property these sacrifices have at certain stages of +evolution become heavier and heavier, as the demands of the ghosts +became more and more exacting. The economic waste which the belief in +the immortality of the soul has entailed on the world is incalculable. +When we contemplate that waste in its small beginnings among the rude +savages of Australia it appears insignificant enough; the world is not +much the poorer for the loss of a parcel of boomerangs, spears, fur +string, and skin rugs. But when we pass from the custom in this its +feeble source and follow it as it swells in volume through the nations +of the world till it attains the dimensions of a mighty river of wasted +labour, squandered treasure, and spilt blood, we cannot but wonder at +the strange mixture of good and evil in the affairs of mankind, seeing +in what we justly call progress so much hardly earned gain side by side +with so much gratuitous loss, such immense additions to the substantial +value of life to be set off against such enormous sacrifices to the +shadow of a shade. + +[Footnote 160: W. E. Roth, _North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. +5, Superstition, Magic, and Medicine_ (Brisbane, 1903), pp. 18, 23, +Secs. 68, 83.] + +[Footnote 161: Homer, _Odyssey_, xix. 163.] + +[Footnote 162: W. E. Roth, _ll. cc._] + +[Footnote 163: W. E. Roth, _North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. +5_ (Brisbane, 1903), p. 29. Sec. 116.] + +[Footnote 164: W. E. Roth. _op. cit._ p. 18, Sec. 68.] + +[Footnote 165: W. E. Roth, _op. cit._ pp. 17, 29, Secs. 65, 116.] + +[Footnote 166: W. E. Roth, _op. cit._ p. 17, Sec. 65.] + +[Footnote 167: J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_ (Melbourne, Sydney, +and Adelaide, 1881), pp. 110 _sq._; A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of +South-East Australia_ (London, 1904), p. 442.] + +[Footnote 168: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 445.] + +[Footnote 169: (Sir) George Grey, _Journals of Two Expeditions of +Discovery in North-West and Western Australia_ (London, 1841), i. +301-303.] + +[Footnote 170: Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins, _An Account of the +English Colony in New South Wales_, Second Edition (London, 1804), p. +354.] + +[Footnote 171: Rev. G. Taplin, "The Narrinyeri," in _Native Tribes of +South Australia_ (Adelaide, 1879), pp. 18 _sq._] + +[Footnote 172: Rev. G. Taplin, "The Narrinyeri," _op. cit._ pp. 20 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 173: Rev. G. Taplin, _op. cit._ p. 20.] + +[Footnote 174: Rev. G. Taplin, _op. cit._ pp. 19 _sq._, 21.] + +[Footnote 175: Rev. G. Taplin, _op. cit._ p. 21.] + +[Footnote 176: See below, pp. 235 _sqq._, 327 _sq._] + +[Footnote 177: Rev. G. Taplin, _op. cit._ p. 21.] + +[Footnote 178: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 538 _sq._] + +[Footnote 179: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 544 _sq._] + +[Footnote 180: A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, +pp. 434, 436, 437, 438. Compare E. J. Eyre, _Journals of Expeditions of +Discovery into Central Australia_ (London, 1845), ii. 357.] + +[Footnote 181: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 434.] + +[Footnote 182: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 438.] + +[Footnote 183: Rev. W. Ridley, _Kamilaroi_ (Sydney, 1875), p. 160.] + +[Footnote 184: A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, +pp. 434, 438, 439; J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, p. 50.] + +[Footnote 185: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 435.] + +[Footnote 186: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 437.] + +[Footnote 187: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, p. 628.] + +[Footnote 188: As to the place occupied by the Pleiades in primitive +calendars, see _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, i. 309-319.] + +[Footnote 189: A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, +pp. 439 _sq._] + +[Footnote 190: See _Totemism and Exogamy_, i. 314 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 191: J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, p. 51. A man of the +Ta-ta-thi tribe in New South Wales informed Mr. A. L. P. Cameron that +the natives believed in a pit of fire where bad men were roasted after +death. This reported belief, resting apparently on the testimony of a +single informant, may without doubt be ascribed to the influence of +Christian teaching. See A. L. P. Cameron, "Notes on some Tribes of New +South Wales," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xiv. (1885) +pp. 364 _sq._] + +[Footnote 192: J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, p. 49.] + +[Footnote 193: A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. +448.] + +[Footnote 194: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._. p. 449. Compare E. M. Curr, +_The Australian Race_, i. 87: "The object sought in tying up the remains +of the dead is to prevent the deceased from escaping from the tomb and +frightening or injuring the survivors."] + +[Footnote 195: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 451.] + +[Footnote 196: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 467.] + +[Footnote 197: J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, p. 50.] + +[Footnote 198: A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. +452.] + +[Footnote 199: R. Salvado, _Memoires historiques sur l' Australie_ +(Paris, 1854), p. 261; _Missions Catholiques_, x. (1878) p. 247. For +more evidence as to the lighting of fires for this purpose see A. W. +Howitt, _op. cit._ pp. 455, 470.] + +[Footnote 200: A. Oldfield, "The Aborigines of Australia," _Transactions +of the Ethnological Society of London_, New Series, iii. (1865) p. 245.] + +[Footnote 201: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 455.] + +[Footnote 202: J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, pp. 50 _sq._] + +[Footnote 203: J. Dawson, _op. cit._ p. 63.] + +[Footnote 204: A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. +458.] + +[Footnote 205: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 470.] + +[Footnote 206: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ pp. 461 _sq._] + +[Footnote 207: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 464.] + +[Footnote 208: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 464.] + +[Footnote 209: R. Brough Smyth, _The Aborigines of Victoria_, i. 104.] + +[Footnote 210: P. Beveridge, "Of the Aborigines Inhabiting the Great +Lacustrine and Riverine Depression of the Lower Murray, Lower +Murrumbidgee, Lower Lachlan, and Lower Darling," _Journal and +Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales_, xvii. (1883) p. +29.] + +[Footnote 211: A. Oldfield, "The Aborigines of Australia," _Transactions +of the Ethnological Society of London_, New Series, iii. (1865) p. 245.] + +[Footnote 212: W. E. Roth, _Ethnological Studies among the +North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines_ (Brisbane and London, 1897), +p. 164.] + +[Footnote 213: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 466, 497 _sq._, 538 _sq._ See above, p. 138.] + +[Footnote 214: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, p. 524.] + +[Footnote 215: F. Bonney, "On some Customs of the Aborigines of the +River Darling, New South Wales," _Journal of the Anthropological +Institute_, xiii. (1884) p. 135.] + + + + +LECTURE VII + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA +(_concluded_) + + +[Sidenote: Attention to the comfort of the dead. Huts erected on graves +for the use of the ghosts.] + +In the last lecture I shewed that in the maritime regions of Australia, +where the conditions of life are more favourable than in the Central +deserts, we may detect the germs of a worship of the dead in certain +attentions which the living pay to the spirits of the departed, for +example by kindling fires on the grave for the ghost to warm himself at, +by leaving food and water for him to eat and drink, and by depositing +his weapons and other property in the tomb for his use in the life after +death. Another mark of respect shewn to the dead is the custom of +erecting a hut on the grave for the accommodation of the ghost. Thus +among the tribes of South Australia we are told that "upon the mounds, +or tumuli, over the graves, huts of bark, or boughs, are generally +erected to shelter the dead from the rain; they are also frequently +wound round with netting."[216] Again, in Western Australia a small hut +of rushes, grass, and so forth is said to have been set up by the +natives over the grave.[217] Among the tribes of the Lower Murray, Lower +Lachlan, and Lower Darling rivers, when a person died who had been +highly esteemed in life, a neat hut was erected over his grave so as to +cover it entirely. The hut was of oval shape, about five feet high, and +roofed with thatch, which was firmly tied to the framework by cord many +hundreds of yards in length. Sometimes the whole hut was enveloped in a +net. At the eastern end of the hut a small opening was left just large +enough to allow a full-grown man to creep in, and the floor was covered +with grass, which was renewed from time to time as it became withered. +Each of these graves was enclosed by a fence of brushwood forming a +diamond-shaped enclosure, within which the tomb stood exactly in the +middle. All the grass within the fence was neatly shaved off and the +ground swept quite clean. Sepulchres of this sort were kept up for two +or three years, after which they were allowed to fall into disrepair, +and when a few more years had gone by the very sites of them were +forgotten.[218] The intention of erecting huts on graves is not +mentioned in these cases, but on analogy we may conjecture that they are +intended for the convenience and comfort of the ghost. This is confirmed +by an account given of a native burial on the Vasse River in Western +Australia. We are told that when the grave had been filled in, the +natives piled logs on it to a considerable height and then constructed a +hut upon the logs, after which one of the male relations went into the +hut and said, "I sit in his house."[219] Thus it would seem that the hut +on the grave is regarded as the house of the dead man. If only these +sepulchral huts were kept up permanently, they might develop into +something like temples, in which the spirits of the departed might be +invoked and propitiated with prayer and sacrifice. It is thus that the +great round huts, in which the remains of dead kings of Uganda are +deposited, have grown into sanctuaries or shrines, where the spirits of +the deceased monarchs are consulted as oracles through the medium of +priests.[220] But in Australia this development is prevented by the +simple forgetfulness of the savages. A few years suffice with them to +wipe out the memory of the deceased and with it his chance of developing +into an ancestral deity. Like most savages, the Australian aborigines +seem to fear only the ghosts of the recently departed; one writer tells +us that they have no fear of the ghost of a man who has been dead say +forty years.[221] + +[Sidenote: Fear of the dead and precautions taken by the living against +them.] + +The burial customs of the Australian aborigines which I have described +betray not only a belief in the existence of the ghost, but also a +certain regard for his comfort and convenience. However, we may suspect +that in most, if not in all, cases the predominant motive of these +attentions is fear rather than affection. The survivors imagine that any +want of respect for the dead, any neglect of his personal comforts in +the grave, would excite his resentment and draw down on them his +vengeance. That these savages are really actuated by fear of the dead is +expressly affirmed of some tribes. Thus we are told that the Yuin "were +always afraid that the dead man might come out of the grave and follow +them."[222] After burying a body the Ngarigo were wont to cross a river +in order to prevent the ghost from pursuing them;[223] obviously they +shared the common opinion that ghosts for some reason are unable to +cross water. The Wakelbura took other measures to throw the poor ghost +off the scent. They marked all the trees in a circle round the place +where the dead man was buried; so that when he emerged from the grave +and set off in pursuit of his retiring relations, he would follow the +marks on the trees in a circle and always come back to the point from +which he had started. And to make assurance doubly sure they put coals +in the dead man's ears, which, by bunging up these apertures, were +supposed to keep his ghost in the body till his friends had got a good +start away from him. As a further precaution they lit fires and put +bushes in the forks of trees, with the idea that the ghost would roost +in the bushes and warm himself at the fires, while they were hastening +away.[224] Here, therefore, we see that the real motive for kindling +fires for the use of the dead is fear, not affection. In this respect +the burial customs of the tribes at the Herbert River are still more +significant. These savages buried with the dead man his weapons, his +ornaments, and indeed everything he had used in life; moreover, they +built a hut on the grave, put a drinking-vessel in the hut, and cleared +a path from it down to the water for the use of the ghost; and often +they placed food and water on the grave. So far, these measures might be +interpreted as marks of pure and disinterested affection for the soul of +the departed. But such an interpretation is totally excluded by the +ferocious treatment which these savages meted out to the corpse. To +frighten the spirit, lest he should haunt the camp, the father or +brother of the deceased, or the husband, if it was a woman, took a club +and mauled the body with such violence that he often smashed the bones; +further, he generally broke both its legs in order to prevent it from +wandering of nights; and as if that were not enough, he bored holes in +the stomach, the shoulders, and the lungs, and filled the holes with +stones, so that even if the poor ghost should succeed by a desperate +effort in dragging his mangled body out of the grave, he would be so +weighed down by this ballast of stones that he could not get very far. +However, after roaming up and down in this pitiable condition for a time +in their old haunts, the spirits were supposed at last to go up aloft to +the Milky Way.[225] The Kwearriburra tribe, on the Lynd River, in +Queensland, also took forcible measures to prevent the resurrection of +the dead. Whenever a person died, they cut off his or her head, roasted +it in a fire on the grave, and when it was thoroughly charred they +smashed it in bits and left the fragments among the hot coals. They +calculated that when the ghost rose from the grave with the view of +following the tribe, he would miss his head and go groping blindly about +for it till he scorched himself in the embers of the fire and was glad +to shrink back into his narrow bed.[226] + +Thus even among those Australian tribes which have progressed furthest +in the direction of religion, such approaches as they have made towards +a worship of the dead appear to be determined far more by fear than by +affection and reverence. And we are told that it is the nearest +relations and the most influential men whose ghosts are most +dreaded.[227] + +[Sidenote: Cuttings and brandings of the flesh of the living in honour +of the dead.] + +There is another custom observed by the Australian aborigines in +mourning which deserves to be mentioned. We all know that the Israelites +were forbidden to make cuttings in their flesh for the dead.[228] The +custom was probably practised by the heathen Canaanites, as it has been +by savages in various parts of the world. Nowhere, perhaps, has the +practice prevailed more generally or been carried out with greater +severity than in aboriginal Australia. For example, with regard to the +tribes in the central part of Victoria we are told that "the parents of +the deceased lacerate themselves fearfully, especially if it be an only +son whose loss they deplore. The father beats and cuts his head with a +tomahawk until he utters bitter groans. The mother sits by the fire and +burns her breasts and abdomen with a small fire-stick till she wails +with pain; then she replaces the stick in the fire, to use again when +the pain is less severe. This continues for hours daily, until the time +of lamentation is completed; sometimes the burns thus inflicted are so +severe as to cause death."[229] It is especially the women, and above +all the widows, who torture themselves in this way. Speaking of the +tribes of Victoria, a writer tells us that on the death of her husband a +widow, "becoming frantic, seizes fire-sticks and burns her breasts, +arms, legs, and thighs. Rushing from one place to another, and intent +only on injuring herself, and seeming to delight in the self-inflicted +torture, it would be rash and vain to interrupt her. She would fiercely +turn on her nearest relative or friend and burn him with her brands. +When exhausted, and when she can scarcely walk, she yet endeavours to +kick the embers of the fire, and to throw them about. Sitting down, she +takes the ashes in her hands, rubs them into her wounds, and then +scratches her face (the only part not touched by the fire-sticks) until +the blood mingles with the ashes which partly hide her cruel +wounds."[230] Among the Kurnai of South-eastern Victoria the relations +of the dead would cut and gash themselves with sharp stones and +tomahawks until their heads and bodies streamed with blood.[231] In the +Mukjarawaint tribe, when a man died, his kinsfolk wept over him and +slashed themselves with tomahawks and other sharp instruments for about +a week.[232] In the tribes of the Lower Murray and Lower Darling rivers +mourners scored their backs and arms, sometimes even their faces, with +red-hot brands, which raised hideous ulcers; afterwards they flung +themselves prone on the grave, tore out their hair by handfuls, rubbed +earth over their heads and bodies in great profusion, and ripped up +their green ulcers till the mingled blood and grime presented a ghastly +spectacle. These self-inflicted sores remained long unhealed.[233] Among +the Kamilaroi, a large tribe of eastern New South Wales, the mourners, +and especially the women, used to cut their heads with tomahawks and +allow the blood to dry on them.[234] Speaking of a native burial on the +Murray River, a writer says that "around the bier were many women, +relations of the deceased, wailing and lamenting bitterly, and +lacerating their thighs, backs, and breasts, with shells or flint, until +the blood flowed copiously from the gashes."[235] In the Boulia district +of Queensland women in mourning score their thighs, both inside and +outside, with sharp stones or bits of glass, so as to make a series of +parallel cuts; in neighbouring districts of Queensland the men make much +deeper cross-shaped cuts on their thighs.[236] In the Arunta tribe of +Central Australia a man is bound to cut himself on the shoulder in +mourning for his father-in-law; if he does not do so, his wife may be +given away to another man in order to appease the wrath of the ghost at +his undutiful son-in-law. Arunta men regularly bear on their shoulders +the raised scars which shew that they have done their duty by their dead +fathers-in-law.[237] The female relations of a dead man in the Arunta +tribe also cut and hack themselves in token of sorrow, working +themselves up into a sort of frenzy as they do so; yet in all their +apparent excitement they take care never to wound a vital part, but vent +their fury on their scalps, their shoulders, and their legs.[238] + +[Sidenote: Cuttings for the dead among the Warramunga.] + +In the Warramunga tribe of Central Australia Messrs. Spencer and Gillen +witnessed the mourning for a dead man. Even before the sufferer had +breathed his last the lamentations and self-inflicted wounds began. When +it was known that the end was near, all the native men ran at full speed +to the spot, and Messrs. Spencer and Gillen followed them to see what +was to be seen. What they saw, or part of what they saw, was this. Some +of the women, who had gathered from all directions, were lying prostrate +on the body of the dying man, while others were standing or kneeling +around, digging the sharp ends of yam-sticks into the crown of their +heads, from which the blood streamed down over their faces, while all +the time they kept up a loud continuous wail. Many of the men, rushing +up to the scene of action, flung themselves also higgledy-piggledy on +the sufferer, the women rising and making way for them, till nothing was +to be seen but a struggling mass of naked bodies all mixed up together. +Presently up came a man yelling and brandishing a stone knife. On +reaching the spot he suddenly gashed both his thighs with the knife, +cutting right across the muscles, so that, unable to stand, he dropped +down on the top of the struggling bodies, till his mother, wife, and +sisters dragged him out of the scrimmage, and immediately applied their +mouths to his gaping wounds, while he lay exhausted and helpless on the +ground. Gradually the struggling mass of dusky bodies untwined itself, +disclosing the unfortunate sick man, who was the object, or rather the +victim, of this well-meant demonstration of affection and sorrow. If he +had been ill before, he was much worse when his friends left him: indeed +it was plain that he had not long to live. Still the weeping and wailing +went on; the sun set, darkness fell on the camp, and later in the +evening the man died. Then the wailing rose louder than before, and men +and women, apparently frantic with grief, rushed about cutting +themselves with knives and sharp-pointed sticks, while the women +battered each other's heads with clubs, no one attempting to ward off +either cuts or blows. An hour later a funeral procession set out by +torchlight through the darkness, carrying the body to a wood about a +mile off, where it was laid on a platform of boughs in a low gum-tree. +When day broke next morning, not a sign of human habitation was to be +seen in the camp where the man had died. All the people had removed +their rude huts to some distance, leaving the place of death solitary; +for nobody wished to meet the ghost of the deceased, who would certainly +be hovering about, along with the spirit of the living man who had +caused his death by evil magic, and who might be expected to come to the +spot in the outward form of an animal to gloat over the scene of his +crime. But in the new camp the ground was strewed with men lying +prostrate, their thighs gashed with the wounds which they had inflicted +on themselves with their own hands. They had done their duty by the dead +and would bear to the end of their life the deep scars on their thighs +as badges of honour. On one man Messrs. Spencer and Gillen counted the +dints of no less than twenty-three wounds which he had inflicted on +himself at various times. Meantime the women had resumed the duty of +lamentation. Forty or fifty of them sat down in groups of five or six, +weeping and wailing frantically with their arms round each other, while +the actual and tribal wives, mothers, wives' mothers, daughters, +sisters, mothers' mothers, sisters' husbands' mothers, and +grand-daughters, according to custom, once more cut their scalps open +with yam-sticks, and the widows afterwards in addition seared the scalp +wounds with red-hot fire-sticks. + +[Sidenote: Cuttings for the dead strictly regulated by custom.] + +In these mourning customs, wild and extravagant as the expression of +sorrow appears to be, everything is regulated by certain definite rules; +and a woman who did not thus maul herself when she ought to do so would +be severely punished, or even killed, by her brother. Similarly with the +men, it is only those who stand in certain relationships to the deceased +who must cut and hack themselves in his honour, and these relationships +are determined by the particular exogamous class to which the dead man +happened to belong. Of such classes there are eight in the Warramunga +tribe. On the occasion described by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen it was a +man of the Tjunguri class who died; and the men who gashed their thighs +stood to him in one or other of the following relationships: grandfather +on the mother's side, mother's brother, brother of the dead man's wife, +and her mother's brother.[239] + +[Sidenote: The cuttings and brandings which mourners inflict on +themselves may be intended to convince the ghost of the sincerity of +their sorrow.] + +We naturally ask, What motive have these savages for inflicting all this +voluntary and, as it seems to us, wholly superfluous suffering on +themselves? It can hardly be that these wounds and burns are merely a +natural and unfeigned expression of grief. We have seen that by +experienced observers such extravagant demonstrations of sorrow are set +down rather to fear than to affection. Similarly Messrs. Spencer and +Gillen suggest that at least one motive is a fear entertained by the +native lest, if he does not make a sufficient display of grief, the +ghost of the dead man will be offended and do him a mischief.[240] In +the Kaitish tribe of Central Australia it is believed that if a woman +does not keep her body covered with ashes from the camp fire during the +whole time of mourning, the spirit of her deceased husband, who +constantly follows her about, will kill her and strip all the flesh from +her bones.[241] Again, in the Arunta tribe mourners smear themselves +with white pipeclay, and the motive for this custom is said to be to +render themselves more conspicuous, so that the ghost may see and be +satisfied that he is being properly mourned for.[242] Thus the fear of +the ghost, who, at least among the Australian aborigines, is commonly of +a jealous temper and stands very firmly on his supposed rights, may +suffice to explain the practice of self-mutilation at mourning. + +[Sidenote: Custom of allowing the blood of mourners to drip on the +corpse or into the grave.] + +But it is possible that another motive underlies the drawing of blood on +these occasions. For it is to be observed that the blood of the mourners +is often allowed to drop directly either on the dead body or into the +grave. Thus, for example, among the tribes on the River Darling several +men used to stand by the open grave and cut each other's heads with a +boomerang; then they held their bleeding heads over the grave so that +the blood dripped on the corpse lying in it. If the deceased was highly +esteemed, the bleeding was repeated after some earth had been thrown on +the body.[243] Among the Arunta it is customary for the women kinsfolk +of the dead to cut their own and each other's heads so severely with +clubs and digging-sticks that blood streams from them on the grave.[244] +Again, at a burial on the Vasse River, in Western Australia, a writer +describes how, when the grave was dug, the natives placed the corpse +beside it, then "gashed their thighs, and at the flowing of the blood +they all said, 'I have brought blood,' and they stamped the foot +forcibly on the ground, sprinkling the blood around them; then wiping +the wounds with a wisp of leaves, they threw it, bloody as it was, on +the dead man."[245] With these Australian practices we may compare a +custom observed by the civilised Greeks of antiquity. Every year the +Peloponnesian lads lashed themselves on the grave of Pelops at Olympia, +till the blood ran down their backs as a libation in honour of the dead +man.[246] + +[Sidenote: The blood intended to strengthen the dead.] + +Now what is the intention of thus applying the blood of the living to +the dead or pouring it into the grave? So far as the ancient Greeks are +concerned the answer is not doubtful. We know from Homer that the ghosts +of the dead were supposed to drink the blood that was offered to them +and to be strengthened by the draught.[247] Similarly with the +Australian savages, their object can hardly be any other than that of +strengthening the spirit of the dead; for these aborigines are in the +habit of giving human blood to the sick and the aged to drink for the +purpose of restoring them to health and strength;[248] hence it would be +natural for them to imagine that they could refresh and fortify the +feeble ghost in like manner. Perhaps the blood was intended specially to +strengthen the spirits of the dead for the new birth or reincarnation, +to which so many of these savages look forward. + +[Sidenote: Custom of burying people in the place where they were born. +The custom perhaps intended to facilitate the rebirth of the soul.] + +The same motive may possibly explain the custom observed by some +Australian tribes of burying people, as far as possible, at the place +where they were born. Thus in regard to the tribes of Western Victoria +we are informed that "dying persons, especially those dying from old +age, generally express an earnest desire to be taken to their +birthplace, that they may die and be buried there. If possible, these +wishes are always complied with by the relatives and friends. Parents +will point out the spot where they were born, so that when they become +old and infirm, their children may know where they wish their bodies to +be disposed of."[249] Again, some tribes in the north and north-east of +Victoria "are said to be more than ordinarily scrupulous in interring +the dead. If practicable, they will bury the corpse near the spot where, +as a child, it first drew breath. A mother will carry a dead infant for +weeks, in the hope of being able to bury it near the place where it was +born; and a dead man will be conveyed a long distance, in order that the +last rites may be performed in a manner satisfactory to the tribe."[250] +Another writer, speaking of the Australian aborigines in general, says: +"By what I could learn, it is considered proper by many tribes that a +black should be buried at or near the spot where he or she was born, and +for this reason, when a black becomes seriously ill, the invalid is +carried a long distance to these certain spots to die, as in this case. +They apparently object to place a body in strange ground." The same +writer mentions the case of a blackfellow, who began digging a grave +close beside the kitchen door of a Mr. Campbell. When Mr. Campbell +remonstrated with him, the native replied that he had no choice, for the +dead man had been born on that very spot. With much difficulty Mr. +Campbell persuaded him to bury his deceased friend a little further off +from the kitchen door.[251] A practice of this sort would be +intelligible on the theory of the Central Australians, who imagine that +the spirits of all the dead return to the very spots where they entered +into their mothers' wombs, and that they wait there until another +opportunity presents itself to them of being born again into the world. +For if people really believe, as do many Australian tribes, that when +they die they will afterwards come to life again as infants, it is +perfectly natural that they should take steps to ensure and facilitate +the new birth. The Unmatjera and Kaitish tribes of Central Australia do +this in the case of dead children. These savages draw a sharp +distinction between young children and very old men and women. When very +old people die, their bodies are at once buried in the ground, but the +bodies of children are placed in wooden troughs and deposited on +platforms of boughs in the branches of trees, and the motive for +treating a dead child thus is, we are informed, the hope "that before +very long its spirit may come back again and enter into the body of a +woman--in all probability that of its former mother."[252] The reason +for drawing this distinction between the young and the old by disposing +of their bodies in different fashions, is explained with great +probability by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen as follows: "In the Unmatjera +and Kaitish tribes, while every old man has certain privileges denied to +the younger men, yet if he be decidedly infirm and unable to take his +part in the performance of ceremonies which are often closely +concerned--or so at least the natives believe them to be--with the +general welfare of the tribe, then the feeling undoubtedly is that there +is no need to pay any very special respect to his remains. This feeling +is probably vaguely associated with the idea that, as his body is +infirm, so to a corresponding extent will his spirit part be, and +therefore they have no special need to consider or propitiate this, as +it can do them no harm. On the other hand they are decidedly afraid of +hurting the feelings of any strong man who might be capable of doing +them some mischief unless he saw that he was properly mourned for. +Acting under much the same feeling they pay respect to the bodies of +dead children and young women, in the hope that the spirit will soon +return and undergo reincarnation. It is also worth noticing that they do +not bury in trees any young man who has violated tribal law by taking as +wife a woman who is forbidden to him; such an individual is always +buried directly in the ground."[253] Apparently these law-abiding +savages are not anxious that members of the criminal classes should be +born again and should have the opportunity of troubling society once +more. + +[Sidenote: Different modes of disposing of the dead adopted in the same +tribe.] + +I would call your attention particularly to the different modes of +burial thus accorded by these two tribes to different classes of +persons. It is too commonly assumed that each tribe has one uniform way +of disposing of all its dead, say either by burning or by burying, and +on that assumption certain general theories have been built as to the +different views taken of the state of the dead by different tribes. But +in point of fact the assumption is incorrect. Not infrequently the same +tribe disposes of different classes of dead people in quite different +ways; for instance, it will bury some and burn others. Thus amongst the +Angoni of British Central Africa the corpses of chiefs are burned with +all their household belongings, but the bodies of commoners are buried +with all their belongings in caves.[254] In various castes or tribes of +India it is the custom to burn the bodies of married people but to bury +the bodies of the unmarried.[255] With some peoples of India the +distinction is made, not between the married and the unmarried, but +between adults and children, especially children under two years old; in +such cases the invariable practice appears to be to burn the old and +bury the young. Thus among the Malayalis of Malabar the bodies of men +and women are burned, but the bodies of children under two years are +buried, and so are the bodies of all persons who have died of cholera or +small-pox.[256] The same distinctions are observed by the Nayars, +Kadupattans, and other castes or tribes of Cochin.[257] The old rule +laid down in the ancient Hindoo law-book _The Grihya-Sutras_ was that +children who died under the age of two should be buried, not burnt.[258] +The Bhotias of the Himalayas bury all children who have not yet obtained +their permanent teeth, but they burn all other people.[259] Among the +Komars the young are buried, and the old cremated.[260] The Coorgs bury +the bodies of women and of boys under sixteen years of age, but they +burn the bodies of men.[261] The Chukchansi Indians of California are +said to have burned only those who died a violent death or were bitten +by snakes, but to have buried all others.[262] The Minnetaree Indians +disposed of their dead differently according to their moral character. +Bad and quarrelsome men they buried in the earth that the Master of Life +might not see them; but the bodies of good men they laid on scaffolds, +that the Master of Life might behold them.[263] The Kolosh or Tlingit +Indians of Alaska burn their ordinary dead on a pyre, but deposit the +bodies of shamans in large coffins, which are supported on four +posts.[264] The ancient Mexicans thought that all persons who died of +infectious diseases were killed by the rain-god Tlaloc; so they painted +their bodies blue, which was the rain-god's colour, and buried instead +of burning them.[265] + +[Sidenote: Special modes of burial adopted to prevent or facilitate the +return of the spirit.] + +These examples may suffice to illustrate the different ways in which the +same people may dispose of their dead according to the age, sex, social +rank, or moral character of the deceased, or the manner of his death. In +some cases the special mode of burial adopted seems clearly intended to +guard against the return of the dead, whether in the form of ghosts or +of children born again into the world. Such, for instance, was obviously +the intention of the old English custom of burying a suicide at a +cross-road with a stake driven through his body. And if some burial +customs are plainly intended to pin down the dead in the earth, or at +least to disable him from revisiting the survivors, so others appear to +be planned with the opposite intention of facilitating the departure of +the spirit from the grave, in order that he may repair to a more +commodious lodging or be born again into the tribe. For example, the +Arunta of Central Australia always bury their dead in the earth and +raise a low mound over the grave; but they leave a depression in the +mound on the side which faces towards the spot where the spirit of the +deceased is supposed to have dwelt in the intervals between his +successive reincarnations; and we are expressly told that the purpose of +leaving this depression is to allow the spirit to go out and in easily; +for until the final ceremony of mourning has been performed at the +grave, the ghost is believed to spend his time partly in watching over +his near relations and partly in the company of its _arumburinga_ or +spiritual double, who lives at the old _nanja_ spot, that is, at the +place where the disembodied soul tarries waiting to be born again.[266] +Thus the Arunta imagine that for some time after death the spirit of the +deceased is in a sort of intermediate state, partly hovering about the +abode of the living, partly visiting his own proper spiritual home, to +which on the completion of the mourning ceremonies he will retire to +await the new birth. The final mourning ceremony, which marks the close +of this intermediate state, takes place some twelve or eighteen months +after the death. It consists mainly in nothing more or less than a ghost +hunt; men armed with shields and spear-throwers assemble and with loud +shouts beat the air, driving the invisible ghost before them from the +spot where he died, while the women join in the shouts and buffet the +air with the palms of their hands to chase away the dead man from the +old camp which he loves to haunt. In this way the beaters gradually +advance towards the grave till they have penned the ghost into it, when +they immediately dance on the top of it, beating the air downwards as if +to drive the spirit down, and stamping on the ground as if to trample +him into the earth. After that, the women gather round the grave and cut +each other's heads with clubs till the blood streams down on it. This +brings the period of mourning to an end; and if the deceased was a man, +his widow is now free to marry again. In token that the days of her +sorrow are over, she wears at this final ceremony the gay feathers of +the ring-neck parrot in her hair. The spirit of her dead husband, lying +in the grave, is believed to know the sign and to bid her a last +farewell. Even after he has thus been hunted into the grave and trampled +down in it, his spirit may still watch over his friends, guard them from +harm, and visit them in dreams.[267] + +[Sidenote: Departure of the ghost supposed to coincide with the +disappearance of the flesh from his bones.] + +We may naturally ask, Why should the spirit of the dead be supposed at +first to dwell more or less intermittently near the spot where he died, +and afterwards to take up his abode permanently at his _nanja_ spot till +the time comes for him to be born again? A good many years ago I +conjectured[268] that this idea of a change in the abode of the ghost +may be suggested by a corresponding change which takes place, or is +supposed to take place, about the same time in the state of the body; in +fact, that so long as the flesh adheres to the bones, so long the soul +of the dead man may be thought to be detained in the neighbourhood of +the body, but that when the flesh has quite decayed, the soul is +completely liberated from its old tabernacle and is free to repair to +its true spiritual home. In confirmation of this conjecture I pointed to +the following facts. Some of the Indians of Guiana bring food and drink +to their dead so long as the flesh remains on the bones; but when it has +mouldered away, they conclude that the man himself has departed.[269] +The Matacos Indians of the Gran Chaco in Argentina believe that the soul +of a dead man does not pass down into the nether world until his body is +decomposed or burnt. Further, the Alfoors of Central Celebes +suppose that the spirits of the departed cannot enter the spirit-land +until all the flesh has been removed from their bones; for until that +has been done, the gods (_lamoa_) in the other world could not bear the +stench of the corpse. Accordingly at a great festival the bodies of all +who have died within a certain time are dug up and the decaying flesh +scraped from the bones. Comparing these ideas, I suggested that +they may explain the widespread custom of a second burial, that is, the +practice of disinterring the dead after a certain time and disposing of +their bones otherwise. + +[Sidenote: Second burial of the bones among the tribes of Central +Australia. Final burial ceremony among the Warramunga.] + +Now so far as the tribes of Central Australia are concerned, my +conjecture has been confirmed by the subsequent researches of Messrs. +Spencer and Gillen in that region. For they have found that the tribes +to the north of the Arunta regularly give their dead a second burial, +that a change in the state of the ghosts is believed to coincide with +the second burial, and apparently also, though this is not so definitely +stated, that the time for the second burial is determined by the +disappearance of the flesh from the bones. Amongst the tribes which +practise a second burial the custom is first to deposit the dead on +platforms among the branches of trees, till the flesh has quite +mouldered away, and then to bury the bones in the earth: in short, they +practise tree-burial first and earth-burial afterwards.[270] For +example, in the Unmatjera and Kaitish tribes, when a man dies, his body +is carried by his relations to a tree distant a mile or two from the +camp. There it is laid on a platform by itself for some months. When the +flesh has disappeared from the bones, a kinsman of the deceased, in +strictness a younger brother (_itia_), climbs up into the tree, +dislocates the bones, places them in a wooden vessel, and hands them +down to a female relative. Then the bones are laid in the grave with the +head facing in the direction in which his mother's brother is supposed +to have camped in days of old. After the bones have been thus interred, +the spirit of the dead man is believed to go away and to remain in his +old _alcheringa_ home until such time as he once more undergoes +reincarnation.[271] But in these tribes, as we saw, very old men and +women receive only one burial, being at once laid in an earthy grave and +never set up on a platform in a tree; and we have seen reason to think +that this difference in the treatment of the aged springs from the +indifference or contempt in which their ghosts are held by comparison +with the ghosts of the young and vigorous. In the Warramunga tribe, who +regularly deposit their dead in trees first and in the earth afterwards, +so long as the corpse remains in the tree and the flesh has not +completely disappeared from the bones, the mother of the deceased and +the women who stand to him or her in the relation of tribal motherhood +are obliged from time to time to go to the tree, and sitting under the +platform to allow its putrid juices to drip down on their bodies, into +which they rub them as a token of sorrow. This, no doubt, is intended to +please the jealous ghost; for we are told that he is believed to haunt +the tree and even to visit the camp, in order, if he was a man, to see +for himself that his widows are mourning properly. The time during which +the mouldering remains are left in the tree is at least a year and may +be more.[272] The final ceremony which brings the period of mourning to +an end is curious and entirely different from the one observed by the +Arunta on the same occasion. When the bones have been taken down from +the tree, an arm-bone is put carefully apart from the rest. Then the +skull is smashed, and the fragments together with all the rest of the +bones except the arm-bone, are buried in a hollow ant-hill near the +tree. Afterwards the arm-bone is wrapt up in paper-bark and wound round +with fur-string, so as to make a torpedo-shaped parcel, which is kept by +a tribal mother of the deceased in her rude hovel of branches, till, +after the lapse of some days or weeks, the time comes for the last +ceremony of all. On that day a design emblematic of the totem of the +deceased is drawn on the ground, and beside it a shallow trench is dug +about a foot deep and fifteen feet long. Over this trench a number of +men, elaborately decorated with down of various colours, stand +straddle-legged, while a line of women, decorated with red and yellow +ochre, crawl along the trench under the long bridge made by the +straddling legs of the men. The last woman carries the arm-bone of the +dead in its parcel, and as soon as she emerges from the trench, the bone +is snatched from her by a kinsman of the deceased, who carries it to a +man standing ready with an uplifted axe beside the totemic drawing. On +receiving the bone, the man at once smashes it, hastily buries it in a +small pit beside the totemic emblem of the departed, and closes the +opening with a large flat stone, signifying thereby that the season of +mourning is over and that the dead man or woman has been gathered to his +or her totem. The totemic design, beside which the arm-bone is buried, +represents the spot at which the totemic ancestor of the deceased +finally went down into the earth. When once the arm-bone has thus been +broken and laid in its last resting-place, the soul of the dead person, +which they describe as being of about the size of a grain of sand, is +supposed to go back to the place where it camped long ago in a previous +incarnation, there to remain with the souls of other men and women of +the same totem until the time comes for it to be born again.[273] + +[Sidenote: General conclusion as to the belief in immortality and the +worship of the dead among the Australian aborigines.] + +This must conclude what I have to say as to the belief in immortality +and the worship of the dead among the aborigines of Australia. The +evidence I have adduced is sufficient to prove that these savages firmly +believe both in the existence of the human soul after death and in the +power which it can exert for good or evil over the survivors. On the +whole the dominant motive in their treatment of the dead appears to be +fear rather than affection. Yet the attention which many tribes pay to +the comfort of the departed by providing them with huts, food, water, +fire, clothing, implements and weapons, may not be dictated by purely +selfish motives; in any case they are clearly intended to please and +propitiate the ghosts, and therefore contain the germs of a regular +worship of the dead. + +[Footnote 216: E. J. Eyre, _Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into +Central Australia_ (London, 1845), ii. 349.] + +[Footnote 217: A. Oldfield, "The Aborigines of Victoria," _Transactions +of the Ethnological Society of London_, N.S. iii. (1865) p. 245.] + +[Footnote 218: P. Beveridge, in _Journal and Proceedings of the Royal +Society of New South Wales_, xvii. (1883) pp. 29 _sq._ Compare R. Brough +Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, i. 100 note.] + +[Footnote 219: (Sir) G. Grey, _Journals of Two Expeditions of +Discovery_, ii. 332 _sq._] + +[Footnote 220: Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 109 +_sqq._] + +[Footnote 221: E. M. Curr, _The Australian Race_ (Melbourne and London, +1886-1887), i. 87.] + +[Footnote 222: A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. +463.] + +[Footnote 223: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 461.] + +[Footnote 224: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 473.] + +[Footnote 225: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 474.] + +[Footnote 226: F. C. Urquhart, "Legends of the Australian Aborigines," +_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xiv. (1885) p. 88.] + +[Footnote 227: E. M. Curr, _The Australian Race_, i. 87.] + +[Footnote 228: Leviticus xix. 28; Deuteronomy xiv. 1.] + +[Footnote 229: W. Stanbridge, "Tribes in the Central Part of Victoria," +_Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London_, N.S. i. (1861) p. +298.] + +[Footnote 230: R. Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, i. 105.] + +[Footnote 231: A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. +459.] + +[Footnote 232: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit_. p. 453.] + +[Footnote 233: P. Beveridge, in _Journal and Proceedings of the Royal +Society of New South Wales_, xvii. (1883) pp. 28, 29.] + +[Footnote 234: A. W. Howitt, _op. cit_. p. 466.] + +[Footnote 235: E. J. Eyre, _Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into +Central Australia_ (London, 1845), ii. 347.] + +[Footnote 236: W. E. Roth, _Studies among the North-West-Central +Queensland Aborigines_ (Brisbane and London, 1897), p. 164; compare p. +165.] + +[Footnote 237: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +p. 500.] + +[Footnote 238: Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 510.] + +[Footnote 239: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 516-552.] + +[Footnote 240: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 510.] + +[Footnote 241: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes_, p. 507.] + +[Footnote 242: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes_, p. 511.] + +[Footnote 243: F. Bonney, "On some Customs of the Aborigines of the +River Darling," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xiii. (1884) +pp. 134 _sq._] + +[Footnote 244: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 507, 509 _sq._] + +[Footnote 245: (Sir) G. Grey, _Journals of Two Expeditions of +Discovery_, ii. 332, quoting Mr. Bussel.] + +[Footnote 246: Scholiast on Pindar, _Olymp._ i. 146.] + +[Footnote 247: Homer, _Odyssey_, xi. 23 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 248: _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 91 _sq._] + +[Footnote 249: J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, p. 62.] + +[Footnote 250: R. Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, i. 108.] + +[Footnote 251: J. F. Mann, "Notes on the Aborigines of Australia," +_Proceedings of the Geographical Society of Australasia_, i. (Sydney, +1885) p. 48.] + +[Footnote 252: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, p. 506.] + +[Footnote 253: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes_, p. 512.] + +[Footnote 254: R. Sutherland Rattray, _Some Folk-lore Stories and Songs +in Chinyanja_ (London, 1907), pp. 99-101, 182.] + +[Footnote 255: F. Fawcett, "The Kondayamkottai Maravars, a Dravidian +Tribe of Tinnevelly, Southern India," _Journal of the Anthropological +Institute_, xxxiii. (1903) p. 64; Captain Wolsley Haig, "Notes on the +Rangari Caste in Barar," _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, +lxx. Part iii. (1901) p. 8; E. Thurston, _Castes and Tribes of Southern +India_ (Madras, 1909), iv. 226 (as to the Lambadis), vi. 244 (as to the +Raniyavas); compare _id._, _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_ +(Madras, 1906), p. 155.] + +[Footnote 256: E. Thurston, _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_, p. +207.] + +[Footnote 257: L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer, _The Cochin Tribes and +Castes_ (Madras, 1909-1912), ii. 91, 112, 157, 360, 378.] + +[Footnote 258: _The Grihya Sutras_, translated by H. Oldenberg, Part i. +p. 355 (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. xxix.). Compare W. Crooke, +_Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India_ (Westminster, 1896), +i. 245.] + +[Footnote 259: Ch. A. Sherring, _Western Tibet and the British +Borderland_ (London, 1906), pp. 123 _sq._] + +[Footnote 260: P. N. Bose, "Chhattisgar," _Journal of the Asiatic +Society of Bengal_, lix., Part i. (1891) p. 290.] + +[Footnote 261: E. Thurston, _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_, p. +205.] + +[Footnote 262: S. Powers, _Tribes of California_ (Washington, 1877), p. +383.] + +[Footnote 263: Maximilian Prinz zu Wied, _Reise in das Innere +Nord-America_ (Coblenz, 1839-1841), ii. 235.] + +[Footnote 264: T. de Pauly, _Description Ethnographique des Peuples de +la Russie, Peuples de l'Amerique Russe_ (St. Petersburg, 1862), p. 13.] + +[Footnote 265: E. Seler, _Altmexikanische Studien_, ii. (Berlin, 1899) +p. 42 (_Veroeffentlichungen aus dem Koeniglichen Museum fuer Voelkerkunde_, +vi. 2/4).] + +[Footnote 266: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +p. 497; _id._, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 506.] + +[Footnote 267: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, +pp. 503-508. The name of the final mourning ceremony among the Arunta is +_urpmilchima_.] + +[Footnote 268: _The Golden Bough_, Second Edition (London, 1900), i. 434 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 269: A. Biet, _Voyage de la France Equinoxiale en l'Isle de +Cayenne_ (Paris, 1664), p. 392.] + +[Footnote 270: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 505 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 271: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 506-508.] + +[Footnote 272: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, p. 530.] + +[Footnote 273: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central +Australia_, pp. 530-543.] + + + + +LECTURE VIII + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF THE TORRES STRAITS +ISLANDS + + +[Sidenote: The Islanders of Torres Straits. The Cambridge +Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits.] + +In the last lecture I concluded my account of the belief in immortality +and worship of the dead, or rather of the elements out of which such a +worship might have grown, among the aborigines of Australia. To-day we +pass to the consideration of a different people, the islanders of Torres +Straits. As you may know, Torres Straits are the broad channel which +divides Australia on the south from the great island of New Guinea on +the north. The small islands which are scattered over the strait fall +roughly into two groups, a Western and an Eastern, of which the eastern +is at once the more isolated and the more fertile. In appearance, +character, and customs the inhabitants of all these islands belong to +the Papuan family, which inhabits the western half of New Guinea, but in +respect of language there is a marked difference between the natives of +the two groups; for while the speech of the Western Islanders is akin to +that of the Australians, the speech of the Eastern Islanders is akin to +that of the Papuans of New Guinea. The conclusion to be drawn from these +facts appears to be that the Western Islands of Torres Straits were +formerly inhabited by aborigines of the Australian family, and that at a +later time they were occupied by immigrants from New Guinea, who adopted +the language of the aboriginal inhabitants, but gradually extinguished +the aboriginal type and character either by peaceful absorption or by +conquest and extermination.[274] Hence the Western Islanders of Torres +Straits form a transition both geographically and ethnographically +between the aborigines of Australia on the one side and the aborigines +of New Guinea on the other side. Accordingly in our survey of the belief +in immortality among the lower races we may appropriately consider the +Islanders of Torres Straits immediately after the aborigines of +Australia and before we pass onward to other and more distant races. +These Islanders have a special claim on the attention of a Cambridge +lecturer, since almost all the exact knowledge we possess of them we owe +to the exertions of Cambridge anthropologists and especially to Dr. A. +C. Haddon, who on his first visit to the islands in 1888 perceived the +urgent importance of procuring an accurate record of the old beliefs and +customs of the natives before it was too late, and who never rested till +that record was obtained, as it happily has been, first by his own +unaided researches in the islands, and afterwards by the united +researches of a band of competent enquirers. In the history of +anthropology the Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits in 1898 will +always hold an honourable place, to the credit of the University which +promoted it and especially to that of the zealous and devoted +investigator who planned, organised, and carried it to a successful +conclusion. Practically all that I shall have to tell you as to the +beliefs and practices of the Torres Straits Islanders is derived from +the accurate and laborious researches of Dr. Haddon and his colleagues. + +[Sidenote: Social culture of the Torres Straits Islanders.] + +While the natives of Torres Straits are, or were at the time of their +discovery, in the condition which we call savagery, they stand on a far +higher level of social and intellectual culture than the rude aborigines +of Australia. To indicate roughly the degree of advance we need only say +that, whereas the Australians are nomadic hunters and fishers, entirely +ignorant of agriculture, and destitute to a great extent not only of +houses but even of clothes, the natives of Torres Straits live in +settled villages and diligently till the soil, raising a variety of +crops, such as yams, sweet potatoes, bananas, sugar-cane, and +tobacco.[275] Of the two groups of islands the eastern is the more +fertile and the inhabitants are more addicted to agriculture than are +the natives of the western islands, who, as a consequence of the greater +barrenness of the soil, have to eke out their subsistence to a +considerable extent by fishing.[276] And there is other evidence to shew +that the Eastern Islanders have attained to a somewhat higher stage of +social evolution than their Western brethren;[277] the more favourable +natural conditions under which they live may possibly have contributed +to raise the general level of culture. One of the most marked +distinctions in this respect between the inhabitants of the two groups +is that, whereas a regular system of totemism with its characteristic +features prevails among the Western Islanders, no such system nor even +any very clear evidence of its former existence is to be found among the +Eastern Islanders, whether it be that they never had it or, what is more +likely, that they once had but have lost it.[278] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the Torres Straits Islanders in the existence of +the human spirit after death.] + +On the other hand, so far as regards our immediate subject, the belief +in immortality and the worship of the dead, a general resemblance may be +traced between the creed and customs of the Eastern and Western tribes. +Both of them, like the Australian aborigines, firmly believe in the +existence of the human spirit after death, but unlike the Australians +they seem to have no idea that the souls of the departed are ever born +again into the world; the doctrine of reincarnation, so widespread among +the natives of Australia, appears to have no place in the creed of their +near neighbours the Torres Straits Islanders, whose dead, like our own, +though they may haunt the living for a time, are thought to depart at +last to a distant spirit-land and to return no more. At the same time +neither in the one group nor in the other is there any clear evidence of +what may be called a worship of the dead in the strict sense of the +word, unless we except the cults of certain more or less mythical +heroes. On this point the testimony of Dr. Haddon is definite as to the +Western Islanders. He says: "In no case have I obtained in the Western +Islands an indication of anything approaching a worship of deceased +persons ancestral or otherwise, with the exception of the heroes shortly +to be mentioned; neither is there any suggestion that their own +ancestors have been in any way apotheosized."[279] + +[Sidenote: Fear of the ghosts of the recently departed.] + +But if these savages have not, with the possible exception of the cult +of certain heroes, any regular worship of the dead, they certainly have +the germ out of which such a worship might be developed, and that is a +firm belief in ghosts and in the mischief which they may do to the +living. The word for a ghost is _mari_ in the West and _mar_ in the +East: it means also a shadow or reflection,[280] which seems to shew +that these savages, like many others, have derived their notion of the +human soul from the observation of shadows and reflections cast by the +body on the earth or on water. Further, the Western Islanders appear to +distinguish the ghosts of the recently departed (_mari_) from the +spirits of those who have been longer dead, which they call +_markai_;[281] and if we accept this distinction "we may assert," +according to Dr. Haddon, "that the Torres Straits Islanders feared the +ghosts but believed in the general friendly disposition of the spirits +of the departed."[282] Similarly we saw that the Australian aborigines +regard with fear the ghosts of those who have just died, while they are +either indifferent to the spirits of those who have died many years ago +or even look upon them as beings of higher powers than their +descendants, whom they can benefit in various ways. This sharp +distinction between the spirits of the dead, according to the date at +which they died, is widespread, perhaps universal among mankind. However +truly the dead were loved in their lifetime, however bitterly they were +mourned at their death, no sooner have they passed beyond our ken than +the thought of their ghosts seems to inspire the generality of mankind +with an instinctive fear and horror, as if the character of even the +best friends and nearest relations underwent a radical change for the +worse as soon as they had shuffled off the mortal coil. But among +savages this belief in the moral deterioration of ghosts is certainly +much more marked than among civilised races. Ghosts are dreaded both by +the Western and the Eastern tribes of Torres Straits. Thus in Mabuiag, +one of the Western Islands, the corpse was carried out of camp feet +foremost, else it was thought that the ghost would return and trouble +the survivors. Further, when the body had been laid upon a stage or +platform on clear level ground away from the dwelling, the remains of +any food and water of which the deceased might have been partaking in +his last moments were carried out and placed beside the corpse lest the +ghost should come back to fetch them for himself, to the annoyance and +terror of his relations. This is the reason actually alleged by the +natives for what otherwise might have been interpreted as a delicate +mark of affection and thoughtful care for the comfort of the departed. +If next morning the food was found scattered, the people said that the +ghost was angry and had thrown it about.[283] Further, on the day of the +death the mourners went into the gardens, slashed at the taro, knocked +down coco-nuts, pulled up sweet potatoes, and destroyed bananas. We are +told that "the food was destroyed for the sake of the dead man, it was +'like good-bye.'"[284] We may suspect that the real motive for the +destruction was the same as that for laying food and water beside the +corpse, namely, a wish to give the ghost no excuse for returning to +haunt and pester his surviving relatives. How could he have the heart to +return to the desolated garden which in his lifetime it had been his +pride and joy to cultivate? + +[Sidenote: Fear of the ghosts of the recently departed among the Murray +Islanders.] + +In Murray Island, also, which belongs to the Eastern group, the ghost of +a recently deceased person is much dreaded; it is supposed to haunt the +neighbourhood for two or three months, and the elaborate funeral +ceremonies which these savages perform appear to be based on this belief +and to be intended, in fact, to dismiss the ghost from the land of the +living, where he is a very unwelcome visitor, to his proper place in the +land of the dead.[285] "The Murray Islanders," says Dr. Haddon, "perform +as many as possible of the necessary ceremonies in order that the ghost +of the deceased might not feel slighted, for otherwise it was sure to +bring trouble on the relatives by causing strong winds to destroy their +gardens and break down their houses."[286] These islanders still believe +that a ghost may feel resentment when his children are neglected or +wronged, or when his lands or goods are appropriated by persons who have +no claim to them. And this fear of the wrath of the ghost, Dr. Haddon +tells us, no doubt in past times acted as a wholesome deterrent on +evil-doers and helped to keep the people from crime, though now-a-days +they look rather to the law than to ghosts for the protection of their +rights and the avenging of their wrongs.[287] Yet here, as in so many +places, it would seem that superstition has proved a useful crutch on +which morality can lean until it is strong enough to walk alone. In the +absence of the police the guardianship of law and morality may be +provisionally entrusted to ghosts, who, if they are too fickle and +uncertain in their temper to make ideal constables, are at least better +than nothing. With this exception it does not appear that the moral code +of the Torres Straits Islanders derived any support or sanction from +their religion. No appeal was made by them to totems, ancestors, or +heroes; no punishment was looked for from these quarters for any +infringement of the rules and restraints which hold society +together.[288] + +[Sidenote: The island home of the dead.] + +The land of the dead to which the ghosts finally depart is, in the +opinion of the Torres Straits Islanders, a mythical island in the far +west or rather north-west. The Western Islanders name it Kibu; the +Eastern Islanders call it Boigu. The name Kibu means "sundown." It is +natural enough that islanders should place the home of the dead in some +far island of the sea to which no canoe of living men has ever sailed, +and it is equally natural that the fabulous island should lie to +westward where the sun goes down; for it seems to be a common thought +that the souls of the dead are attracted by the great luminary, like +moths by a candle, and follow him when he sinks in radiant glory into +the sea. To take a single example, in the Maram district of Assam it is +forbidden to build houses facing westward, because that is the direction +in which the spirits of the dead go to their long home.[289] But the +Torres Straits Islanders have a special reason, as Dr. Haddon has well +pointed out, for thinking that the home of the dead is away in the +north-west; and the reason is that in these latitudes the trade wind +blows steady and strong from the south-east for seven or eight months of +the year; so that for the most part the spirits have only to let +themselves go and the wind will sweep them away on its pinions to their +place of rest. How could the poor fluttering things beat up to windward +in the teeth of the blast?[290] + +[Sidenote: Elaborate funeral ceremonies observed by the Torres Straits +Islanders.] + +The funeral ceremonies observed by the Torres Straits Islanders were +numerous and elaborate, and they present some features of special +interest. They succeeded each other at intervals, sometimes of months, +and amongst the Eastern Islanders in particular there were so many of +them that, were it not that the bodies of the very young and the very +old were treated less ceremoniously, the living would have been +perpetually occupied in celebrating the obsequies of the dead.[291] The +obsequies differed somewhat from each other in the East and the West, +but they had two characteristics in common: first, the skulls of the +dead were commonly preserved apart from the bodies and were consulted as +oracles; and, second, the ghosts of the recently deceased were +represented in dramatic ceremonies by masked men, who mimicked the gait +and gestures of the departed and were thought by the women and children +to be the very ghosts themselves. But in details there were a good many +variations between the practice of the Eastern and the Western +Islanders. We will begin with the customs of the Western Islanders. + +[Sidenote: Funeral ceremonies observed by the Western Islanders. Removal +and preservation of the skull. Skulls used in divination.] + +When a death had taken place, the corpse was carried out of the house +and set on a staging supported by four forked posts and covered by a +roof of mats. The office of attending to the body devolved properly on +the brothers-in-law (_imi_) of the deceased, who, while they were +engaged in the duties of the office, bore the special title of _mariget_ +or "ghost-hand." It deserves to be noticed that these men were always of +a different totem from the deceased; for if the dead person was a man, +the _mariget_ were his wife's brothers and therefore had the same totem +as the dead man's wife, which, on account of the law of exogamy, always +differed from the totem of her husband. And if the dead person was a +woman, the _mariget_ were her husband's brothers and therefore had his +totem, which necessarily differed from hers. When they had discharged +the preliminary duties to the corpse, the brothers-in-law went and +informed the relations and friends. This they did not in words but by a +prescribed pantomime. For example, if the deceased had had the crocodile +for his totem, they imitated the ungainly gait of crocodiles waddling +and resting, if the deceased had the snake for his totem, they in like +manner mimicked the crawling of a snake. The relations then painted +their bodies with white coral mud, cut their hair, plastered mud over +their heads, and cut off their ear ornaments or severed the distended +lobe of the ear as a sign of mourning. Then, armed with bows and arrows, +they came out to the stage where the corpse was lying and let fly arrows +at the men who were in attendance on it, that is, at the brothers-in-law +of the deceased, who warded off the shafts as best they could.[292] The +meaning of this sham attack on the men who were discharging the last +offices of respect to the dead comes out clearly in another ceremony +which was performed some time afterwards, as we shall see presently. For +five or six days the corpse remained on the platform or bier watched by +the brothers-in-law, who had to prevent certain large lizards from +devouring it and to frighten away any prowling ghosts that might be +lured to the spot by the stench. After the lapse of several days the +relations returned to the body, mourned, and beat the roof of the bier, +while they raised a shout to drive off any part of the dead man's spirit +that might be lingering about his mouldering remains. The reason for +doing so was, that the time had now arrived for cutting off the head of +the corpse, and they thought that the head would not come off easily if +the man's spirit were still in the body; he might reasonably be expected +to hold on tight to it and not to resign, without a struggle, so +valuable a part of his person. When the poor ghost had thus been chased +away with shouts and blows, the principal brother-in-law came forward +and performed the amputation by sawing off the head. Having done so, he +usually placed it in a nest of termites or white ants in order that the +insects might pick it clean; but sometimes for the same purpose he +deposited it in a creek. When it was thoroughly clean, the grinning +white skull was painted red all over and placed in a decorated basket. +Then followed the ceremony of formally handing over this relic of the +dead to the relations. The brothers-in-law, who had been in attendance +on the body, painted themselves black all over, covered their heads with +leaves, and walked in solemn procession, headed by the chief +brother-in-law, who carried the skull in the basket. Meantime the male +relatives were awaiting them, seated on a large mat in the ceremonial +ground, while the women grouped themselves in the background. As the +procession of men approached bearing the skull, the mourners shot arrows +over their heads as a sign of anger at them for having decapitated their +relation. But this was a mere pretence, probably intended to soothe and +flatter the angry ghost: the arrows flew over the men without hurting +them.[293] Similarly in ancient Egypt the man who cut open a corpse for +embalmment had no sooner done his office than he fled precipitately, +pursued by the relations with stones and curses, because he had wounded +and mangled the body of their kinsman.[294] Sometimes the skull was made +up to resemble the head of a living man: an artificial nose of wood and +beeswax supplied the place of a nose of flesh; pearl-shells were +inserted in the empty eye-balls; and any teeth that might be missing +were represented by pieces of wood, while the lower jaw was lashed +firmly to the cranium.[295] Whether thus decorated or not, the skulls of +the dead were preserved and used in divination. Whenever a skull was to +be thus consulted, it was first cleaned, repainted, and either anointed +with certain plants or placed upon them. Then the enquirer enjoined the +skull to speak the truth, and placing it on his pillow at night went to +sleep. The dream which he dreamed that night was the answer of the +skull, which spoke with a clappering noise like that of teeth chattering +together. When people went on voyages, they used to take a divining +skull with them in the stern of the canoe.[296] + +[Sidenote: Great death-dance of the Western Islanders. The dead +personated by masked actors.] + +The great funeral ceremony, or rather death-dance, of the Western +Islanders took place in the island of Pulu. When the time came for it, a +few men would meet and make the necessary preparations. The ceremony was +always performed on the sacred or ceremonial ground (_kwod_), and the +first thing to do was to enclose this ground, for the sake of privacy, +with a screen of mats hung on a framework of wood and bamboos. When the +screen had been erected, the drums which were to be used by the +orchestra were placed in position beside it. Then the relations were +summoned to attend the performance. The ceremony might be performed for +a number of recently deceased people at once, and it varied in +importance and elaboration according to the importance and the number of +the deceased whose obsequies were being celebrated. The chief +differences were in the number of the performers and the greater or less +display of scenic apparatus. The head-dresses or leafy masks worn by the +actors in the sacred drama were made secretly in the bush; no woman or +uninitiated man might witness the operation. When all was ready, and the +people were assembled, the men being stationed in front and the women +and children in the background, the disguised actors appeared on the +scene and played the part of the dead, each one of them mimicking the +gait and actions of the particular man or woman whom he personated; for +all the parts were played by men, no woman might act in these +ceremonies. The order in which the various ghosts were to appear on the +scene was arranged beforehand; so that when the actors came forward from +behind the screen, the spectators knew which of the dead they were +supposed to have before them. The performers usually danced in pairs, +and vanished behind the screen when their dance was finished. Thus one +pair would follow another till the play was over. Besides the actors who +played the serious and solemn part of the dead, there was usually a +clown who skipped about and cut capers, tumbling down and getting up +again, to make the spectators laugh and so to relieve the strain on +their emotions, which were deeply stirred by this dance of death. The +beat of the drums proclaimed that the sacred drama was at an end. Then +followed a great feast, at which special portions of food were assigned +by the relatives of the deceased to the actors who had personated +them.[297] + +[Sidenote: Intention of the ceremonies.] + +As to the intention of these curious dramatic performances we have no +very definite information. Dr. Haddon says: "The idea evidently was to +convey to the mourners the assurance that the ghost was alive and that +in the person of the dancer he visited his friends; the assurance of his +life after death comforted the bereaved ones."[298] + +[Sidenote: Funeral ceremonies observed by the Eastern Islanders. The +soul of the dead carried away by a masked actor.] + +In the Eastern Islands of Torres Straits the funeral ceremonies seem to +have been even more numerous and elaborate. The body was at first laid +on the ground on a mat outside the house, if the weather were fine. +There friends wept and wailed over it, the nearest relations, such as +the wife and mother, sitting at the head of the corpse. About an hour +after the sun had set, the drummers and singers arrived. All night the +drums beat and the people sang, but just as the dawn was breaking the +wild music died away into silence. The wants of the living were now +attended to: the assembled people breakfasted on green coco-nuts; and +then, about an hour after sunrise, they withdrew from the body and took +up a position a little further off to witness the next act of the drama +of death. The drums now struck up again in quicker time to herald the +approach of an actor, who could be heard, but not seen, shaking his +rattle in the adjoining forest. Faster and faster beat the drums, louder +and louder rose the singing, till the spectators were wound up to a +pitch of excitement bordering on frenzy. Then at last a strange figure +burst from the forest and came skipping and posturing towards the +corpse. It was Terer, a spirit or mythical being who had come to fetch +the soul of the departed and to bear it far away to its place of rest in +the island beyond the sea. On his head he wore a wreath of leaves: a +mask made of the mid-ribs of coco-nut leaves or of croton leaves hid his +face: a long feather of the white tern nodded on his brow; and a mantle +of green coco-nut leaves concealed his body from the shoulders to the +knees. His arms were painted red: round his neck he wore a crescent of +pearl-shell: in his left hand he carried a bow and arrows, and in his +mouth a piece of wood, to which were affixed two rings of green coco-nut +leaf. Thus attired he skipt forwards, rattling a bunch of nuts in his +right hand, bending his head now to one side and now to another, swaying +his body backwards and forwards, but always keeping time to the measured +beat of the drums. At last, after a series of rapid jumps from one foot +to the other, he ended his dance, and turning round fled away westward +along the beach. He had taken the soul of the dead and was carrying it +away to the spirit-land. The excitement of the women now rose to the +highest pitch. They screamed and jumped from the ground raising their +arms in air high above their heads. Shrieking and wailing all pursued +the retreating figure along the beach, the mother or widow of the dead +man casting herself again and again prostrate on the sand and throwing +it in handfuls over her head. Among the pursuers was another masked man, +who represented Aukem, the mother of Terer. She, or rather he, was +dressed in dried banana leaves: long tufts of grass hung from her head +over her face and shoulders; and in her mouth she carried a lighted +bundle of dry coco-nut fibre, which emitted clouds of smoke. With an +unsteady rickety gait the beldame hobbled after her rapidly retreating +son, who turned round from time to time, skipping and posturing +derisively as if to taunt her, and then hurrying away again westward. +Thus the two quaint figures retreated further and further, he in front +and she behind, till they were lost to view. But still the drums +continued to beat and the singers to chant their wild song, when nothing +was to be seen but the deserted beach with the sky and the drifting +clouds above and the white waves breaking on the strand. Meantime the +two actors in the sacred drama made their way westward till their +progress was arrested by the sea. They plunged into it and swimming +westward unloosed their leafy envelopes and let them float away to the +spirit-land in the far island beyond the rolling waters. But the men +themselves swam back to the beach, resumed the dress of ordinary +mortals, and quietly mingled with the assembly of mourners.[299] + +[Sidenote: Personation of ghosts by masked men.] + +Such was the first act of the drama. The second followed immediately +about ten o'clock in the morning. The actors in it were twenty or thirty +men disguised as ghosts or spirits of the dead (_zera markai_). Their +bodies were blackened from the neck to the ankles, but the lower part of +their faces and their feet were dyed bright red, and a red triangle was +painted on the front of their bodies. They wore head-dresses of grass +with long projecting ribs of coco-nut leaves, and a long tail of grass +behind reaching down to the level of the knees. In their hands they held +long ribs of coco-nut leaf. They were preceded by a curious figure +called _pager_, a man covered from head to foot with dry grass and dead +banana leaves, who sidled along with an unsteady rolling gait in a +zigzag course, keeping his head bowed, his red-painted hands clasped in +front of his face, and his elbows sticking out from both sides of his +body. In spite of his erratic course and curious mode of progression he +drew away from the troop of ghosts behind him and came on towards the +spectators, jerking his head from side to side, his hands shaking, and +wailing as he went. Behind him marched the ghosts, with their hands +crossed behind their backs and their faces looking out to sea. When they +drew near to the orchestra, who were singing and drumming away, they +halted and formed in two lines facing the spectators. They now all +assumed the familiar attitude of a fencer on guard, one foot and arm +advanced, the other foot and arm drawn back, and lunged to right and +left as if they were stabbing something with the long ribs of the +coco-nut leaves which they held in their hands. This manoeuvre they +repeated several times, the orchestra playing all the time. Then they +retreated into the forest, but only to march out again, form in line, +stand on guard, and lunge again and again at the invisible foe. This +appears to have been the whole of the second act of the drama. No +explanation of it is given. We can only conjecture that the band of men, +who seem from their name (_zera markai_) to have represented the ghosts +or spirits of the dead, came to inform the living that the departed +brother or sister had joined the majority, and that any attempt to +rescue him or her would be vain. That perhaps was the meaning of the +solemn pantomime of the lines of actors standing on guard and lunging +again and again towards the spectators. But I must acknowledge that this +is a mere conjecture of my own.[300] + +[Sidenote: Blood and hair offered to the dead.] + +Be that as it may, when this act of the drama was over, the mourners +took up the body and with weeping and wailing laid it on a wooden +framework resting on four posts at a little distance from the house of +the deceased. Youths who had lately been initiated, and girls who had +attained to puberty, now had the lobes of their ears cut. The blood +streamed down over their faces and bodies and was allowed to drip on the +feet of the corpse as a mark of pity or sorrow.[301] The other relatives +cut their hair and left the shorn locks in a heap under the body. Blood +and hair were probably regarded as offerings made to the departed +kinsman or kinswoman. We saw that the Australian aborigines in like +manner cut themselves and allow the blood to drip on the corpse; and +they also offer their hair to the dead, cutting off parts of their +beards, singeing them, and throwing them on the corpse.[302] Having +placed the body on the stage and deposited their offerings of hair under +it, the relatives took some large yams, cut them in pieces, and laid the +pieces beside the body in order to serve as food for the ghost, who was +supposed to eat it at night.[303] This notion seems inconsistent with +the belief that the soul of the departed had already been carried off to +Boigu, the island of the dead; but consistency in such matters is as +little to be looked for among savages as among ourselves. + +[Sidenote: Mummification of the corpse.] + +When the body had remained a few days on the stage in the open air, +steps were taken to convert it into a mummy. For this purpose it was +laid in a small canoe manned by some young people of the same sex as the +deceased. They paddled it across the lagoon to the reef and there rubbed +off the skin, extracted the bowels from the abdomen and the brain from +the skull, and having sewed up the hole in the abdomen and thrown the +bowels into the sea, they brought the remains back to land and lashed +them to the wooden framework with string, while they fixed a small stick +to the lower jaw to keep it from drooping. The framework with its +ghastly burden was fastened vertically to two posts behind the house, +where it was concealed from public view by a screen of coco-nut leaves. +Holes were pricked with an arrow between the fingers and toes to allow +the juices of decomposition to escape, and a fire was kindled and kept +burning under the stage to dry up the body.[304] + +[Sidenote: Garb of mourners. Cuttings for the dead.] + +About ten days after the death a feast of bananas, yams, and germinating +coco-nuts was partaken of by the relations and friends, and portions +were distributed to the assembled company, who carried them home in +baskets. It was on this occasion that kinsfolk and friends assumed the +garb of mourners. Their faces and bodies were smeared with a mixture of +greyish earth and water: the ashes of a wood fire were strewn on their +heads; and fringes of sago leaves were fastened on their arms and legs. +A widow wore besides a special petticoat made of the inner bark of the +fig-tree; the ends of it were passed between her legs and tucked up +before and behind. She had to leave her hair unshorn during the whole +period of her widowhood; and in time it grew into a huge mop of a light +yellow colour in consequence of the ashes with which it was smeared. +This coating of ashes, as well as the grey paint on her face and body, +she was expected to renew from time to time.[305] It was also on the +occasion of this feast, on or about the tenth day after death, that +young kinsfolk of the deceased had certain patterns cut in their flesh +by a sharp shell. The persons so operated on were young adults of both +sexes nearly related to the dead man or woman. Women generally operated +on women and men on men. The patients were held down during the +operation, which was painful, and they sometimes fainted under it. The +patterns were first drawn on the skin in red paint and then cut in with +the shell. They varied a good deal in shape. Some consisted of +arrangements of lines and scrolls; a favourite one, which was only +carved on women, represented a centipede. The blood which flowed from +the wounds was allowed to drip on the corpse, thus forming a sacrifice +or tribute to the dead.[306] + +[Sidenote: The Dance of Death. The nocturnal dance.] + +When the body had remained some time, perhaps four or six months, on the +scaffold, and the process of mummification was far advanced, a dance of +death was held to celebrate the final departure of the spirit for its +long home. Several men, seldom exceeding four in number, were chosen to +act the part of ghosts, including the ghost of him or her in whose +honour the performance was specially held. Further, about a dozen men +were selected to form a sort of chorus; their business was to act as +intermediaries between the living and the dead, summoning up the shades, +serving as their messengers, and informing the people of their presence. +The costume of the ghosts was simple, consisting of nothing but a +head-dress and shoulder-band of leaves. The chorus, if we may call them +so, wore girdles of leaves round their waists and wreaths of leaves on +their heads. When darkness had fallen, the first act of the drama was +played. The chorus stood in line opposite the mummy. Beyond them stood +or sat the drummers, and beyond them again the audience was crowded on +the beach, the women standing furthest from the mummy and nearest to the +sea. The drummers now struck up, chanting at the same time to the beat +of the drums. This was the overture. Then a shrill whistle in the forest +announced the approach of a ghost. The subdued excitement among the +spectators, especially among the women, was intense. Meantime the +chorus, holding each other's hands, advanced sidelong towards the mummy +with strange gestures, the hollow thud of their feet as they stamped on +the ground being supposed to be the tread of the ghosts. Thus they +advanced to the red-painted mummy with its grinning mouth. Behind it by +this time stood one of the ghosts, and between him and the chorus a +dialogue ensued. "Whose ghost is there?" called out the chorus; and a +strident voice answered from the darkness, "The ghost of so and so is +here." At that the chorus retreated in the same order as they had +advanced, and again the hollow thud of their feet sounded in the ears of +the excited spectators as the tramp of the dead. On reaching the +drummers in their retreat the chorus called out some words of uncertain +meaning, which have been interpreted, "Spirit of so-and-so, away at sea, +loved little." At all events, the name of a dead person was pronounced, +and at the sound the women, thrilled with excitement, leaped from the +ground, holding their hands aloft; then hurled themselves prone on the +sand, throwing it over their heads and wailing. The drums now beat +faster and a wild weird chant rose into the air, then died away and all +was silent, except perhaps for the lapping of the waves on the sand or +the muffled thunder of the surf afar off on the barrier reef. Thus one +ghost after another was summoned from the dusty dead and vanished again +into the darkness. When all had come and gone, the leader of the chorus, +who kept himself invisible behind the screen save for a moment when he +was seen by the chorus to glide behind the mummy on its stage, blew a +whistle and informed the spectators in a weird voice that all the ghosts +that had been summoned that night would appear before them in broad day +light on the morrow. With that the audience dispersed. But the men who +had played the parts of the ghosts came forward and sat down with the +chorus and the drummers on mats beside the body. There they remained +singing to the beat of the drums till the first faint streaks of dawn +glimmered in the east. + +[Sidenote: The noonday dance. The ghosts represented by masked actors.] + +Next morning the men assembled beside the body to inspect the actors who +were to personate the ghosts, in order to make sure that they had +learned their parts well and could mimick to the life the figure and +gait of the particular dead persons whom they represented. By the time +that these preparations were complete, the morning had worn on to noon. +The audience was already assembled on the beach and on the long stretch +of sand left by the ebbing tide; for the hour of the drama was always +fixed at low water so as to allow ample space for the spectators to +stand at a distance from the players, lest they should detect the +features of the living under the masks of the dead. All being ready, the +drummers marched in and took up their position just above the beach, +facing the audience. The overture having been concluded, the first ghost +was seen to glide from the forest and come dancing towards the beach. If +he represented a woman, his costume was more elaborate than it had been +under the shades of evening the night before. His whole body was painted +red. A petticoat of leaves encircled his waist: a mask of leaves, +surmounted by tufts of cassowary and pigeon feathers, concealed his +head; and in his hands he carried brooms of coco-nut palm leaf. If he +personated a man, he held a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, +and his costume was the usual dress of a dancer, with the addition of a +head-dress of leaves and feathers and a diamond-shaped ornament of +bamboo, which he held in his teeth and which entirely concealed his +features. He approached dancing and mimicking the gestures of the person +whom he represented. At the sight the women wailed, and the widow would +cry out, "That's my husband," the mother would cry out, "That's my son." +Then suddenly the drummers would call out, "Ah! Ah! Ai! Ai!" at which +the women would fall to the ground, while the dancer retreated into the +forest. In this way one ghost after the other would make his appearance, +play his part, and vanish. Occasionally two of them would appear and +dance together. The women and children, we are told, really believed +that the actors were the ghosts of their dead kinsfolk. When the first +dancer had thus danced before the people, he advanced with the drummers +towards the framework on which the mummy was stretched, and there he +repeated his dance before it. But the people were not allowed to witness +this mystery; they remained wailing on the beach, for this was the +moment at which the ghost of the dead man or woman was supposed to be +departing for ever to the land of shades.[307] + +[Sidenote: Preservation of the mummy.] + +Some days afterwards the mummy was affixed to a new framework of bamboo +and carried into the hut. In former times the huts were of a beehive +shape, and the framework which supported the mummy was fastened to the +central post on which the roof rested. The body thus stood erect within +the house. Its dried skin had been painted red. The empty orbits of the +eyes had been filled with pieces of pearl-shell of the nautilus to +imitate eyes, two round spots of black beeswax standing for the pupils. +The ears were decorated with shreds of the sago-palm or with grey seeds. +A frontlet of pearl-shell nautilus adorned the head, and a crescent of +pearl-shell the breast. In the darkness of the old-fashioned huts the +body looked like a living person. In course of time it became almost +completely mummified and as light as if it were made of paper. Swinging +to and fro with every breath of wind, it turned its gleaming eyes at +each movement of the head. The hut was now surrounded by posts and ropes +to prevent the ghost from making his way into it and taking possession +of his old body. Ghosts were supposed to appear only at night, and it +was imagined that in the dark they would stumble against the posts and +entangle themselves in the ropes, till in despair they desisted from the +attempt to penetrate into the hut. In time the mummy mouldered away and +fell to pieces. If the deceased was a male, the head was removed and a +wax model of it made and given to the brother, whether blood or tribal +brother, of the dead man. The head thus prepared or modelled in wax, +with eyes of pearl-shell, was used in divination. The decaying remains +of the body were taken to the beach and placed on a platform supported +by four posts. That was their last resting-place.[308] + +[Sidenote: General summary. Dramas of the dead.] + +To sum up the foregoing evidence, we may say that if the beliefs and +practices of the Torres Straits Islanders which I have described do not +amount to a worship of the dead, they contain the elements out of which +such a worship might easily have been developed. The preservation of the +bodies of the dead, or at least their skulls, in the houses, and the +consultation of them as oracles, prove that the spirits of the dead are +supposed to possess knowledge which may be of great use to the living; +and the custom suggests that in other countries the images of the gods +may perhaps have been evolved out of the mummies of the dead. Further, +the dramatic representation of the ghosts in a series of striking and +impressive performances indicates how a sacred and in time a secular +drama may elsewhere have grown out of a purely religious celebration +concerned with the souls of the departed. In this connexion we are +reminded of Professor Ridgeway's theory that ancient Greek tragedy +originated in commemorative songs and dances performed at the tomb for +the purpose of pleasing and propitiating the ghost of the mighty +dead.[309] Yet the mortuary dramas of the Torres Straits Islanders can +hardly be adduced to support that theory by analogy so long as we are +ignorant of the precise significance which the natives themselves +attached to these remarkable performances. There is no clear evidence +that the dramas were acted for the amusement and gratification of the +ghost rather than for the edification of the spectators. One important +act certainly represented, and might well be intended to facilitate, the +final departure of the spirit of the deceased to the land of souls. But +the means taken to effect that departure might be adopted in the +interests of the living quite as much as out of a tender regard for the +welfare of the dead, since the ghost of the recently departed is +commonly regarded with fear and aversion, and his surviving relations +resort to many expedients for the purpose of ridding themselves of his +unwelcome presence. + +[Footnote 274: S. H. Ray, in _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological +Expedition to Torres Straits_, iii. (Cambridge, 1907) pp. 509-511; A. C. +Haddon, "The Religion of the Torres Straits Islanders," _Anthropological +Essays presented to E. B. Tyler_ (Oxford, 1907), p. 175.] + +[Footnote 275: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +iv. 92 _sqq._, 144 _sqq._, v. 346, vi. 207 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 276: A. C. Haddon, in _Anthropological Essays presented to E. +B. Tylor_, p. 186.] + +[Footnote 277: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +vi. 254 _sq._] + +[Footnote 278: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +vi. 254 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 279: A. C. Haddon, in _Anthropological Essays presented to E. +B. Tylor_, p. 181.] + +[Footnote 280: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +v. 355 _sq._, vi. 251; A. C. Haddon, in _Anthropological Essays +presented to E. B. Tylor_, p. 179.] + +[Footnote 281: For authorities see the references in the preceding +note.] + +[Footnote 282: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +vi. 253.] + +[Footnote 283: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +v. 248, 249.] + +[Footnote 284: _Id._, p. 250.] + +[Footnote 285: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +vi. 253; A. C. Haddon, in _Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. +Tylor_, p. 180.] + +[Footnote 286: A. C. Haddon, _l.c._] + +[Footnote 287: A. C. Haddon, _op. cit._ pp. 182 _sq._; _Cambridge +Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, vi. 127.] + +[Footnote 288: A. C. Haddon, _op. cit._ p. 183.] + +[Footnote 289: T. C. Hodson, _The Naga Tribes of Manipur_ (London, +1911), p. 43.] + +[Footnote 290: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +v. 355 _sq._, vi. 252. In the former passage Dr. Haddon seems to +identify Boigu with the island of that name off the south coast of New +Guinea; in the latter he prefers to regard it as mythical.] + +[Footnote 291: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +vi. 127.] + +[Footnote 292: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +v. 248 _sq._] + +[Footnote 293: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +v. 250 _sq._] + +[Footnote 294: Diodorus Siculus, i. 91.] + +[Footnote 295: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +v. 258.] + +[Footnote 296: _Id._, p. 362.] + +[Footnote 297: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +v. 252-256.] + +[Footnote 298: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +v. 256.] + +[Footnote 299: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +vi. 129-133.] + +[Footnote 300: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +vi. 133 _sq._] + +[Footnote 301: _Id._, pp. 135, 154.] + +[Footnote 302: (Sir) George Grey, _Journals of Two Expeditions of +Discovery in North-West and Western Australia_ (London, 1841), ii. 335.] + +[Footnote 303: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +vi. 135.] + +[Footnote 304: _Op. cit._ p. 136.] + +[Footnote 305: _Op. cit._ pp. 138, 153, 157 _sq._] + +[Footnote 306: _Op. cit._ pp. 154 _sq._] + +[Footnote 307: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +vi. 139-141.] + +[Footnote 308: _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, +vi. 148 _sq._ As to divination with skulls or waxen models, see _id._, +pp. 266 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 309: W. Ridgeway, _The Origin of Tragedy, with special +reference to the Greek Tragedians_ (Cambridge, 1910), pp. 26 _sqq._] + + + + +LECTURE IX + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF BRITISH NEW GUINEA + + +[Sidenote: The two races of New Guinea, the Papuan and the Melanesian.] + +In my last lecture I dealt with the islanders of Torres Straits, and +shewed that these savages firmly believe in the existence of the human +soul after death, and that if their beliefs and customs in this respect +do not always amount to an actual worship of the departed, they contain +at least the elements out of which such a worship might easily be +developed. To-day we pass from the small islands of Torres Straits to +the vast neighbouring island, almost continent, of New Guinea, the +greater part of which is inhabited by a race related by physical type +and language to the Torres Straits Islanders, and exhibiting +approximately the same level of social and intellectual culture. New +Guinea, roughly speaking, appears to be occupied by two different races, +to which the names of Papuan and Melanesian are now given; and it is to +the Papuan race, not to the Melanesian, that the Torres Straits +Islanders are akin. The Papuans, a tall, dark-skinned, frizzly-haired +race, inhabit apparently the greater part of New Guinea, including the +whole of the western and central portions of the island. The +Melanesians, a smaller, lighter-coloured, frizzly-haired race, inhabit +the long eastern peninsula, including the southern coast from about Cape +Possession eastward,[310] and tribes speaking a Melanesian language are +also settled about Finsch Harbour and Huon Gulf in German New +Guinea.[311] These Melanesians are most probably immigrants who have +settled in New Guinea from the north and east, where the great chain of +islands known as Melanesia stretches in an immense semicircle from New +Ireland on the north to New Caledonia on the south-east. The natives of +this chain of islands or series of archipelagoes are the true +Melanesians; their kinsmen in New Guinea have undergone admixture with +the Papuan aborigines, and accordingly should rather be called +Papuo-Melanesians than Melanesians simply. Their country appears to be +wholly comprised within the limits of British and German New Guinea; so +far as I am aware, the vast area of Dutch New Guinea is inhabited solely +by tribes of the Papuan race. In respect of material culture both races +stand approximately on the same level: they live in settled villages, +they practise agriculture, they engage in commerce, and they have a +fairly developed barbaric art. Thus they have made some progress in the +direction of civilisation; certainly they have far outstripped the +wandering savages of Australia, who subsist entirely on the products of +the chase and on the natural fruits of the earth. + +[Sidenote: Scantiness of our information as to the natives of New +Guinea.] + +But although the natives of New Guinea have now been under the rule of +European powers, Britain, Germany, and Holland, for many years, we +unfortunately possess little detailed information as to their mental and +social condition. It is true that the members of the Cambridge +Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits visited some parts of the +southern coasts of British New Guinea, and several years later, in 1904, +Dr. Seligmann was able to devote somewhat more time to the investigation +of the same region and has given us the results of his enquiries in a +valuable book. But the time at his disposal did not suffice for a +thorough investigation of this large region; and accordingly his +information, eked out though it is by that of Protestant and Catholic +missionaries, still leaves us in the dark as to much which we should +wish to know. Among the natives of British New Guinea our information is +especially defective in regard to the Papuans, who occupy the greater +part of the possession, including the whole of the western region; for +Dr. Seligmann's book, which is the most detailed and systematic work yet +published on the ethnology of British New Guinea, deals almost +exclusively with the Melanesian portion of the population. Accordingly I +shall begin what I have to say on this subject with the Melanesian or +rather Papuo-Melanesian tribes of south-eastern New Guinea. + +[Sidenote: The Motu, their beliefs and customs concerning the dead.] + +Amongst these people the best known are the Motu, a tribe of fishermen +and potters, who live in and about Port Moresby in the Central District +of British New Guinea. Their language conforms to the Melanesian type. +They are immigrants, but the country from which they came is +unknown.[312] In their opinion the spirits of the dead dwell in a happy +land where parted friends meet again and never suffer hunger. They fish, +hunt, and plant, and are just like living men, except that they have no +noses. When they first arrive in the mansions of the blest, they are +laid out to dry on a sort of gridiron over a slow fire in order to purge +away the grossness of the body and make them ethereal and light, as +spirits should be. Yet, oddly enough, though they have no noses they +cannot enter the realms of bliss unless their noses were pierced in +their lifetime. For these savages bore holes in their noses and insert +ornaments, or what they regard as such, in the holes. The operation is +performed on children about the age of six years; and if children die +before it has been performed on them, the parents will bore a hole in +the nose of the corpse in order that the spirit of the child may go to +the happy land. For if they omitted to do so, the poor ghost would have +to herd with other whole-nosed ghosts in a bad place called Tageani, +where there is little food to eat and no betelnuts to chew. The spirits +of the dead are very powerful and visit bad people with their +displeasure. Famine and scarcity of fish and game are attributed to the +anger of the spirits. But they hearken to prayer and appear to their +friends in dreams, sometimes condescending to give them directions for +their guidance in time of trouble.[313] + +[Sidenote: The Koita or Koitapu.] + +Side by side with the Motu live the Koita or Koitapu, who appear to be +the aboriginal inhabitants of the country and to belong to the Papuan +stock. Their villages lie scattered for a distance of about forty miles +along the coast, from a point about seven miles south-east of Port +Moresby to a point on Redscar Bay to the north-west of that settlement. +They live on friendly terms with the Motu and have intermarried with +them for generations. The villages of the two tribes are usually built +near to or even in direct continuity with each other. But while the Motu +are mainly fishers and potters, the Koita are mainly tillers of the +soil, though they have learned some arts or adopted some customs from +their neighbours. They say to the Motu, "Yours is the sea, the canoes, +the nets; ours the land and the wallaby. Give us fish for our flesh, and +pottery for our yams and bananas." The Motu look down upon the Koita, +but fear their power of sorcery, and apply to them for help in sickness +and for the weather they happen to require; for they imagine that the +Koita rule the elements and can make rain or sunshine, wind or calm by +their magic. Thus, as in so many cases, the members of the immigrant +race confess their inability to understand and manage the gods or +spirits of the land, and have recourse in time of need to the magic of +the aboriginal inhabitants. While the Koita belong to the Papuan stock +and speak a Papuan language, most of the men understand the Motu tongue, +which is one of the Melanesian family. Altogether these two tribes, the +Koita and the Motu, may be regarded as typical representatives of the +mixed race to which the name of Papuo-Melanesian is now given.[314] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the Koita concerning the human soul.] + +The Koita believe that the human spirit or ghost, which they call _sua_, +leaves the body at death and goes away to live with other ghosts on a +mountain called Idu. But they think that the spirit can quit the body +and return to it during life; it goes away, for example, in dreams, and +if a sleeper should unfortunately waken before his soul has had time to +return, he will probably fall sick. Sneezing is a sign that the soul has +returned to the body, and if a man does not sneeze for many weeks +together, his friends look on it as a grave symptom; his soul, they +imagine, must be a very long way off.[315] Moreover, a man's soul may be +enticed from his body and detained by a demon or _tabu_, as the Koita +call it. Thus, when a man who has been out in the forest returns home +and shakes with fever, it is assumed that he has fallen down and been +robbed of his soul by a demon. In order to recover that priceless +possession, the sufferer and his friends repair to the exact spot in the +forest where the supposed robbery was perpetrated. They take with them a +long bamboo with some valuable ornaments tied to it, and two men support +it horizontally over a pot which is filled with grass. A light is put to +the grass, and as it crackles and blazes a number of men standing round +the pot strike it with stones till it breaks, whereat they all groan. +Then the company returns to the village, and the sick man lies down in +his house with the bamboo and its ornaments hung over him. This is +supposed to be all that is needed to effect a perfect cure; for the +demon has kindly accepted the soul of the ornaments and released the +soul of the sufferer, who ought to recover accordingly.[316] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the Koita concerning the state of the dead. +Alleged communications with the dead by means of mediums.] + +However, at death the soul goes away for good and all; at least there +appears to be no idea that it will ever return to life in the form of an +infant, as the souls of the Central Australian aborigines are supposed +to do. All Koita ghosts live together on Mount Idu, and their life is +very like the one they led here on earth. There is no distinction +between the good and the bad, the righteous and the wicked, the strong +and the weak, the young and the old; they all fare alike in the +spirit-land, with one exception. Like the Motu, the Koita are in the +habit of boring holes in their noses and inserting ornaments in the +holes; and they think that if any person were so unfortunate as to be +buried with his nose whole and entire, his ghost would have to go about +in the other world with a creature like a slow-worm depending from his +nostrils on either side. Hence, when anybody dies before the operation +of nose-boring has been performed on him or her, the friends take care +to bore a hole in the nose of the corpse in order that the ghost may not +appear disfigured among his fellows in dead man's land. There the ghosts +dwell in houses, cultivate gardens, marry wives, and amuse themselves +just as they did here on earth. They live a long time, but not for ever; +for they grow weaker and weaker and at last die the second death, never +to revive again, not even as ghosts. The exact length of time they live +in the spirit-land has not been accurately ascertained; but there seems +to be a notion that they survive only so long as their names and their +memories survive among the living. When these are utterly forgotten, the +poor ghosts cease to exist. If that is so, it is obvious that the dead +depend for their continued existence upon the recollection of the +living; their names are in a sense their souls, so that oblivion of the +name involves extinction of the soul.[317] But though the spirits of the +dead go away to live for a time on Mount Idu, they often return to their +native villages and haunt the place of their death. On these visits they +shew little benevolence or lovingkindness to their descendants. They +punish any neglect in the performance of the funeral rites and any +infringement of tribal customs, and the punishment takes the form of +sickness or of bad luck in hunting or fishing. This dread of the ghost +commonly leads the Koita to desert a house after a death and to let it +fall into decay; but sometimes the widow, or in rare cases a brother or +sister, will continue to inhabit the house of the deceased. Children who +play near dwellings which have been deserted on account of death may +fall sick; and if people who are not members of the family partake of +food which has been hung up in such houses, they also may sicken. It is +in dreams that the ghosts usually appear to the survivors; but +occasionally they may be seen or at least felt by people in the waking +state. Some years ago four Motuan girls persuaded many natives of Port +Moresby that they could evoke the spirit of a youth named Tamasi, who +had died three years before. The mother and other sorrowing relatives of +the deceased paid a high price to the principal medium, a young woman +named Mea, for an interview with the ghost. The meeting took place in a +house by night. The relations and friends squatted on the ground in +expectation; and sure enough the ghost presented himself in the darkness +and went round shaking hands most affably with the assembled company. +However, a sceptic who happened to assist at this spiritual sitting, had +the temerity to hold on tight to the proffered hand of the ghost, while +another infidel assisted him to obtain a sight as well as a touch of the +vanished hand by striking a light. It then turned out that the supposed +apparition was no spirit but the medium Mea herself. She was brought +before a magistrate, who sentenced her to a short term of imprisonment +and relieved her of the property which she had amassed by the exercise +of her spiritual talents.[318] It is hardly for us, or at least for some +of us, to cast stones at the efforts of ignorant savages to communicate +by means of such intermediaries with their departed friends. Similar +attempts have been made in our own country within our lifetime, and I +believe that they are still being made, in perfect good faith, by +educated ladies and gentlemen, who like their black brethren and sisters +in the faith are sometimes made the dupes of designing knaves. If New +Guinea has its Meas, Europe has its Eusapias. Human credulity and vulgar +imposture are much the same all the world over. + +[Sidenote: Fear of the dead.] + +The fear of the dead is strongly marked in some funeral customs which +are observed by the Roro-speaking tribes who occupy a territory at the +mouth of the St. Joseph river in British New Guinea.[319] When a death +takes place, the female relations of the deceased lacerate their skulls, +faces, breasts, bellies, arms, and legs with sharp shells, till they +stream with blood and fall down exhausted. Moreover, a fire is kindled +on the grave and kept up almost continually for months for the purpose, +we are told, of warming the ghost.[320] These attentions might be +interpreted as marks of affection rather than of fear; but in other +customs of these people the dread of the ghost is unmistakable. For when +the corpse has been placed in the grave a near kinsman strokes it twice +with a branch from head to foot in order to drive away the dead man's +spirit; and in Yule Island, when the ghost has thus been brushed away +from the body, he is pursued by two men brandishing sticks and torches +from the village to the edge of the forest, where with a last curse they +hurl the sticks and torches after him.[321] + +[Sidenote: Ghost of dead wife feared by widower.] + +Among these people the visits of ghosts, though frequent, are far from +welcome, for all ghosts are supposed to be mischievous and to take no +delight but in injuring the living. Hence, for example, a widower in +mourning goes about everywhere armed with an axe to defend himself +against the spirit of his dead wife, who might play him many an ill turn +if she caught him defenceless and off his guard. And he is subject to +many curious restrictions and has to lead the life of an outcast from +society, apparently because people fear to come into contact with a man +whose steps are dogged by so dangerous a spirit.[322] This account of +the terrors of ghosts we owe to a Catholic missionary. But according to +the information collected by Dr. Seligmann among these people the dread +inspired by the souls of the dead is not so absolute. He tells us, +indeed, that ghosts are thought to make people ill by stealing their +souls; that the natives fear to go alone outside the village in the dark +lest they should encounter a spectre; and that if too many quarrels +occur among the women, the spirits of the dead may manifest their +displeasure by visiting hunters and fishers with bad luck, so that it +may be necessary to conjure their souls out of the village. On the other +hand, it is said that if the ghosts abandoned a village altogether, the +luck of the villagers would be gone, and if such a thing is supposed to +have happened, measures are taken to bring back the spirits of the +departed to the old home.[323] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the Mafulu concerning the dead.] + +Inland from the Roro-speaking tribes, among the mountains at the head of +the St. Joseph River, there is a tribe known to their neighbours as the +Mafulu, though they call themselves Mambule. They speak a Papuan +language, but their physical characteristics are believed to indicate a +strain of Negrito blood.[324] The Mafulu hold that at death the human +spirit leaves the body and becomes a malevolent ghost. Accordingly they +drive it away with shouts. It is supposed to go away to the tops of the +mountains there to become, according to its age, either a shimmering +light on the ground or a large sort of fungus, which is found only on +the mountains. Hence natives who come across such a shimmering light or +such a fungus are careful not to tread on it; much less would they eat +the fungus. However, in spite of their transformation into these things, +the ghosts come down from the mountains and prowl about the villages and +gardens seeking what they may devour, and as their intentions are always +evil their visits are dreaded by the people, who fill up the crevices +and openings, except the doors, of their houses at night in order to +prevent the incursions of these unquiet spirits. When a mission station +was founded in their country, the Mafulu were amazed that the +missionaries should sleep alone in rooms with open doors and windows, +through which the ghosts might enter.[325] + +[Sidenote: Burial customs of the Mafulu.] + +Common people among the Mafulu are buried in shallow graves in the +village, and pigs are killed at the funeral for the purpose of appeasing +the ghost. Mourners wear necklaces of string and smear their faces, +sometimes also their bodies, with black, which they renew from time to +time. Instead of wearing a necklace, a widow, widower, or other near +relative may abstain during the period of mourning from eating a +favourite food of the deceased. A woman who has lost a child, especially +a first-born or dearly loved child, will often amputate the first joint +of one of her fingers with an adze; and she may repeat the amputation if +she suffers another bereavement. A woman has been seen with three of her +fingers mutilated in this fashion.[326] The corpses of chiefs, their +wives, and other members of their families are not buried in graves but +laid in rude coffins, which are then deposited either on rough platforms +in the village or in the fork of a species of fig-tree. This sort of +tree, called by the natives _gabi_, is specially used for such burials; +one of them has been seen supporting no less than six coffins, one above +the other. The Mafulu never cut down these trees, and in seeking a new +site for a village they will often choose a place where one of them is +growing. So long as the corpse of a chief is rotting and stinking on the +platform or the tree, the village is deserted by the inhabitants; only +two men, relatives of the deceased, remain behind exposed to the stench +of the decaying body and the blood of the pigs which were slaughtered at +the funeral feast. When decomposition is complete, the people return to +the village. Should the coffin fall to the ground through the decay of +the platform or the tree on which it rests, the people throw away all +the bones except the skull and the larger bones of the arms and legs; +these they bury in a shallow grave under the platform, or put in a box +on a burial tree, or hang up in the chief's house.[327] + +[Sidenote: Use made of the skulls and bones at a great festival.] + +The skulls and leg and arm bones of chiefs, their wives, and other +members of their families, which have thus been preserved, play a +prominent part in the great feasts which the inhabitants of a Mafulu +village celebrate at intervals of perhaps fifteen or twenty years. Great +preparations are made for such a celebration. A series of tall posts, +one for each household, is erected in the open space which intervenes +between the two rows of the village houses. Yams and taro are fastened +to the upper parts of the posts; and below them are hung in circles the +skulls and arm and leg bones of dead chiefs, their wives, and kinsfolk, +which have been preserved in the manner described. Any skulls and bones +that remain over when all the posts have been thus decorated are placed +on a platform, which has either served for the ordinary exposure of a +chief's corpse or has been specially erected for the purpose of the +festival. At a given moment of the ceremony the chief of the clan cuts +down the props which support the platform, so that the skulls and bones +roll on the ground. These are picked up and afterwards distributed, +along with some of the skulls and bones from the posts, by the chief of +the clan to the more important of the invited guests, who wear them as +ornaments on their arms in a great dance. None but certain of the male +guests take part in the dance; the villagers themselves merely look on. +All the dancers are arrayed in full dancing costume, including heavy +head-dresses of feathers, and they carry drums and spears, sometimes +also clubs or adzes. The dance lasts the whole night. When it is over, +the skulls and bones are hung up again on the tall posts. Afterwards the +fruits and vegetables which have been collected in large quantities are +divided among the guests. On a subsequent morning a large number of pigs +are killed, and certain of the hosts take some of the human bones from +the posts and dip them in the blood which flows from the mouths of the +slaughtered pigs. With these blood-stained bones they next touch the +skulls and all the other bones on the posts, which include all the +skulls and arm and leg bones of all the chiefs and members of their +families and other prominent persons who have been buried in the village +or in any other village of the community since the last great feast was +held. These relics of mortality may afterwards be kept in the chief's +house, or hung on a tree, or simply thrown away in the forest; but in no +case are they ever again used for purposes of ceremony. The slaughtered +pigs are cut up and the portions distributed among the guests, who carry +them away for consumption in their own villages.[328] + +[Sidenote: Trace of ancestor worship among the Mafulu.] + +This preservation of the skulls and bones of chiefs and other notables +for years, and the dipping of them in the blood of pigs at a great +festival, must apparently be designed to propitiate or influence in some +way the ghosts of the persons to whom the skulls and bones belonged in +their lifetime. But Mr. R. W. Williamson, to whom we are indebted for +the description of this interesting ceremony, was not able to detect any +other clear indications of ancestor worship among the people.[329] + +[Sidenote: Worship of the dead among the natives of the Aroma district.] + +However, a real worship of the dead, or something approaching to it, is +reported to exist among some of the natives of the Aroma district in +British New Guinea. Each family is said to have a sacred place, whither +they carry offerings for the spirits of dead ancestors, whom they +terribly fear. Sickness in the family, death, famine, scarcity of fish, +and so forth, are all set down to the anger of these dreadful beings, +who must accordingly be propitiated. On certain occasions the help of +the spirits is especially invoked and their favour wooed by means of +offerings. Thus, when a house is being built and the central post has +been erected, sacrifices of wallaby, fish, and bananas are presented to +the souls of the dead, and a prayer is put up that they will be pleased +to keep the house always full of food and to prevent it from falling +down in stormy weather. Again, when the natives begin to plant their +gardens, they first take a bunch of bananas and sugar-cane and standing +in the middle of the garden call over the names of dead members of the +family, adding, "There is your food, your bananas and sugar-cane; let +our food grow well, and let it be plentiful. If it does not grow well +and plentifully, you all will be full of shame, and so shall we." Again, +before the people set out on a trading expedition, they present food to +the spirits at the central post of the house and pray them to go before +the traders and prepare the people, so that the trade may be good. Once +more, when there is sickness in the family, a pig is killed and its +carcase carried to the sacred place, where the spirits are asked to +accept it. Sins, also, are confessed, such as that people have gathered +bananas or coco-nuts without offering any of them to their dead +ancestors. In presenting the pig they say, "There is a pig; accept it, +and remove the sickness." But if prayers and sacrifices are vain, and +the patient dies, then, while the relatives all stand round the open +grave, the chief's sister or cousin calls out in a loud voice: "You have +been angry with us for the bananas or the coco-nuts which we have +gathered, and in your anger you have taken away this child. Now let it +suffice, and bury your anger." So saying they lower the body into the +grave and shovel in the earth on the top of it. The spirits of the +departed, on quitting their bodies, paddle in canoes across the lagoon +and go away to the mountains, where they live in perfect bliss, with no +work to do and no trouble to vex them, chewing betel, dancing all night +and resting all day.[330] + +[Sidenote: The Hood Peninsula. The town of Kalo.] + +Between the Aroma District in the south-east and Port Moresby on the +north-west is situated the Hood Peninsula in the Central District of +British New Guinea. It is inhabited by the Bulaa, Babaka, Kamali, and +Kalo tribes, which all speak dialects of one language.[331] The village +or town of Kalo, built at the base of the peninsula, close to the mouth +of the Vanigela or Kemp Welch River, is said to be the wealthiest +village in British New Guinea. It includes some magnificent native +houses, all built over the water on piles, some of which are thirty feet +high. The sight of these great houses perched on such lofty and massive +props is very impressive. In front of each house is a series of large +platforms like gigantic steps. Some of the posts and under-surfaces of +the houses are carved with figures of crocodiles and so forth. The +labour of cutting the huge planks for the flooring of the houses and the +platforms must be immense, and must have been still greater in the old +days, when the natives had only stone tools to work with. Many of the +planks are cut out of the slab-like buttresses of tall forest trees +which grow inland. So hard is the wood that the boards are handed down +as heirlooms from father to son, and the piles on which the houses are +built last for generations. The inhabitants of Kalo possess gardens, +where the rich alluvial soil produces a superabundance of coco-nuts, +bananas, yams, sweet potatoes, and taro. Areca palms also flourish and +produce the betel nuts, which are in great demand for chewing with +quick-lime and so constitute a source of wealth. Commanding the mouth of +the Vanigela River, the people of Kalo absorb the trade with the +interior; and their material prosperity is said to have rendered them +conceited and troublesome.[332] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs and customs concerning the dead among the natives of +the Hood Peninsula. Seclusion of the widow or widower.] + +The tribes inhabiting the Hood Peninsula are reported to have no belief +in any good spirit but an unlimited faith in bad spirits, amongst whom +they include the souls of their dead ancestors. At death the ghosts join +their forefathers in a subterranean region, where they have splendid +gardens, houses, and so forth. Yet not content with their life in the +underworld, they are always on the watch to deal out sickness and death +to their surviving friends and relations, who may have the misfortune to +incur their displeasure. So the natives are most careful to do nothing +that might offend these touchy and dangerous spirits. Like many other +savages, they do not believe that anybody dies a natural death; they +think that all the deaths which we should call natural are brought about +either by an ancestral ghost (_palagu_) or by a sorcerer or witch +(_wara_). Even when a man dies of snake-bite, they detect in the +discoloration of the body the wounds inflicted upon him by the fell art +of the magician.[333] On the approach of death the house of the sick man +is filled by anxious relatives and friends, who sit around watching for +the end. When it comes, there is a tremendous outburst of grief. The men +beat their faces with their clenched fists; the women tear their cheeks +with their nails till the blood streams down. They usually bury their +dead in graves, which among the inland tribes are commonly dug near the +houses of the deceased. The maritime tribes, who live in houses built on +piles over the water, sometimes inter the corpse in the forest. But at +other times they place it in a canoe, which they anchor off the village. +Then, when the body has dried up, they lay it on a platform in a tree. +Finally, they collect and clean the bones, tie them in a bundle, and +place them on the roof of the house. When the corpse is buried, a +temporary hut is erected over the grave, and in it the widow or widower +lives in seclusion for two or three months. During her seclusion the +widow employs herself in fashioning her widow's weeds, which consist of +a long grass petticoat reaching to the ankles. She wears a large +head-dress made of shells; her head is shaved, and her body blackened. +Further, she wears round her neck the waistband of her deceased husband +with his lower jaw-bone attached to it. The costume of a widower is +somewhat similar, though he does not wear a long grass petticoat. +Instead of it he has a graceful fringe, which hangs from his waist half +way to the knees. On his head he wears an elaborate head-dress made of +shells, and on his arms he has armlets of the same material. His hair is +cut off and his whole skin blackened. Round his neck is a string, from +which depends his dead wife's petticoat. It is sewn up into small bulk +and hangs under his right arm. While the widow or widower is living in +seclusion on the grave, he or she is supplied with food by relations. At +sundown on the day of the burial, a curious ceremony is performed. An +old woman or man, supposed to be gifted with second-sight, is sent for. +Seating herself at the foot of the grave she peers into the deepening +shadows under the coco-nut palms. At first she remains perfectly still, +while the relations of the deceased watch her with painful anxiety. Soon +her look becomes more piercing, and lowering her head, while she still +gazes into the depth of the forest, she says in low and solemn tones, "I +see coming hither So-and-So's grandfather" (mentioning the name of the +dead person). "He says he is glad to welcome his grandson to his abode. +I see now his father and his own little son also, who died in infancy." +Gradually, she grows more and more excited, waving her arms and swaying +her body from side to side. "Now they come," she cries, "I can see all +our forefathers in a fast-gathering crowd. They are coming closer and +yet closer. Make room, make room for the spirits of our departed +ancestors." By this time she has worked herself up into a frenzy. She +throws herself on the ground, beating her head with her clenched fists. +Foam flies from her lips, her eyes become fixed, and she rolls over +insensible. But the fit lasts only a short time. She soon comes to +herself; the vision is past, and the visionary is restored to common +life.[334] + +[Sidenote: Application of the juices of the dead to the persons of the +living.] + +Some of the inland tribes of this district have a peculiar way of +disposing of their dead. A double platform about ten feet high is +erected near the village. On the upper platform the corpse is placed, +and immediately below it the widow or widower sleeps on the lower +platform, allowing juices of the decaying body to stream down on her or +him. This application of the decomposing juices of a corpse to the +persons of the living is not uncommon among savages; it appears to be a +form of communion with the dead, the survivors thus in a manner +identifying themselves with their departed kinsfolk by absorbing a +portion of their bodily substance. Among the tribes in question a +widower marks his affection for his dead wife by never washing himself +during the period of mourning; he would not rid himself of those +products of decomposition which link him, however sadly, with her whom +he has lost. Every day, too, reeking with these relics of mortality, he +solemnly stalks through the village.[335] + +[Sidenote: Precautions taken by man-slayers against the ghosts of their +victims.] + +But there is a distinction between ghosts. If all of them are feared, +some are more dreadful than others, and amongst the latter may naturally +be reckoned the ghosts of slain enemies. Accordingly the slayer has to +observe special precautions to guard against the angry and vengeful +spirit of his victim. Amongst these people, we are told, a man who has +taken life is held to be impure until he has undergone certain +ceremonies. As soon as possible after the deed is done, he cleanses +himself and his weapon. Then he repairs to his village and seats himself +on the logs of sacrificial staging. No one approaches him or takes any +notice whatever of him. Meantime a house is made ready, in which he must +live by himself for several days, waited on only by two or three small +boys. He may eat nothing but toasted bananas, and only the central parts +of them; the ends are thrown away. On the third day a small feast is +prepared for him by his friends, who also provide him with some new +waistbands. Next day, arrayed in all his finery and wearing the badges +which mark him as a homicide, he sallies forth fully armed and parades +the village. Next day a hunt takes place, and from the game captured a +kangaroo is selected. It is cut open, and with its spleen and liver the +back of the homicide is rubbed. Then he walks solemnly down to the +nearest water and standing straddle-legs in it washes himself. All young +untried warriors then swim between his legs, which is supposed to impart +his courage and strength to them. Next day at early dawn he dashes out +of his house fully armed and calls aloud the name of his victim. Having +satisfied himself that he has thoroughly scared the ghost of the dead +man, he returns to his house. Further, floors are beaten and fires +kindled for the sake of driving away the ghost, lest he should still be +lingering in the neighbourhood. A day later the purification of the +homicide is complete and he is free to enter his wife's house, which he +might not do before.[336] This account of the purification of a homicide +suggests that the purificatory rites, which have been observed in +similar cases by many peoples, including the ancient Greeks, are +primarily intended to free the slayer from the dangerous ghost of his +victim, which haunts him and seeks to take his life. Such rites in fact +appear designed, not to restore the homicide to a state of moral +innocence, but merely to guard him against a physical danger; they are +protective, not reformatory, in character; they are exorcisms, not +purifications in the sense which we attach to the word. This +interpretation of the ceremonies observed by manslayers among many +peoples might be supported by a large array of evidence; but to go into +the matter fully would lead me into a long digression. I have collected +some of the evidence elsewhere.[337] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs and customs concerning the dead among the Massim of +south-eastern New Guinea. Hiyoyoa, the land of the dead. Mourners bathe +and shave their heads. Food deposited in the grave. Dietary restrictions +imposed on mourners.] + +We now pass to that branch of the Papuo-Melanesian race which occupies +the extreme south-eastern part of British New Guinea, and to which Dr. +Seligmann gives the name of Massim. These people have been observed more +especially at three places, namely Bartle Bay, Wagawaga, and Tubetube, a +small island of the Engineer group lying off the south-eastern extremity +of New Guinea. Among them the old custom was to bury the dead on the +outskirts of the hamlet and sometimes within a few yards of the houses, +and apparently the remains were afterwards as a rule left undisturbed; +there was no general practice of exhuming the bones and depositing them +elsewhere.[338] At Wagawaga the name for the spirit or soul of a dead +person is _arugo_, which also signifies a man's shadow or reflection in +a glass or in water; and though animals and trees are not supposed to +have spirits, their reflections bear the same name _arugo_.[339] The +souls of the dead are believed to depart to the land of Hiyoyoa, which +is under the sea, near Maivara, at the head of Milne Bay. The land of +the dead, as usual, resembles in all respects the land of the living, +except that it is day there when it is night at Wagawaga, and the dead +speak of the upper world in the language of Milne Bay instead of in that +of Wagawaga. A certain being called Tumudurere receives the ghosts on +their arrival and directs them where to make their gardens. The souls of +living men and women can journey to the land of the dead and return to +earth; indeed this happens not unfrequently. There is a man at Wagawaga +who has often gone thither and come back; whenever he wishes to make the +journey, he has nothing to do but to smear himself with a magical stuff +and to fall asleep, after which he soon wakes up in Hiyoyoa. At first +the ghosts whom he met in the other world did not invite him to partake +of their food, because they knew that if he did so he could not return +to the land of the living; but apparently practice has rendered him +immune to the usually fatal effects of the food of the dead.[340] Though +Hiyoyoa, at the head of Milne Bay, lies to the west of Wagawaga, the +dead are buried in a squatting posture with their faces turned to the +east, in order that their souls may depart to the other world.[341] +Immediately after the funeral the relations who have taken part in the +burial go down to the sea and bathe, and so do the widow and children of +the deceased because they supported the dying husband and father in his +extremity. After bathing in the sea the widow and children shave their +heads.[342] Both the bathing and the shaving are doubtless forms of +ceremonial purification; in other words, they are designed to rid the +survivors of the taint of death, or perhaps more definitely to remove +the ghost from their persons, to which he may be supposed to cling like +a burr. At Bartle Bay the dead are buried on their sides with their +heads pointing in the direction from which the totem clan of the +deceased is said to have come originally; and various kinds of food, of +which the dead man had partaken in his last illness, are deposited, +along with some paltry personal ornaments, in the grave. Apparently the +food is intended to serve as provision for the ghost on his journey to +the other world. Curiously enough, the widow is forbidden to eat of the +same kinds of food of which her husband ate during his last illness, and +the prohibition is strictly observed until after the last of the funeral +feasts.[343] The motive of the prohibition is not obvious; perhaps it +may be a fear of attracting the ghost back to earth through the savoury +food which he loved in the body. At Wagawaga, after the relatives who +took part in the burial have bathed in the sea, they cut down several of +the coco-nut trees which belonged to the deceased, leaving both nuts and +trees to rot on the ground. During the first two or three weeks after +the funeral these same relatives may not eat boiled food, but only +roast; they may not drink water, but only the milk of young coco-nuts +made hot, and although they may eat yams they must abstain from bananas +and sugar-cane.[344] A man may not eat coco-nuts grown in his dead +father's hamlet, nor pigs and areca-nuts from it during the whole +remainder of his life.[345] The reasons for these dietary restrictions +are not mentioned, but no doubt the abstinences are based on a fear of +the ghost, or at all events on a dread of the contagion of death, to +which all who had a share in the burial are especially exposed. + +[Sidenote: Funeral customs at Tubetube. The fire on the grave. The happy +land.] + +At Tubetube, in like manner, immediately after a funeral a brother of +the deceased cuts down two or three of the dead man's coco-nut trees. +There, also, the children of the deceased may not eat any coco-nuts from +their father's trees nor even from any trees grown in his hamlet; nay, +they may not partake of any garden produce grown in the vicinity of the +hamlet; and similarly they must abstain from the pork of all pigs +fattened in their dead father's village. But these prohibitions do not +apply to the brothers, sisters, and other relatives of the departed. The +relations who have assisted at the burial remain at the grave for five +or six days, being fed by the brothers or other near kinsfolk of the +deceased. They may not quit the spot even at night, and if it rains they +huddle into a shelter built over the grave. During their vigil at the +tomb they may not drink water, but are allowed a little heated coco-nut +milk; they are supposed to eat only a little yam and other vegetable +food.[346] On the day when the body is buried a fire is kindled at the +grave and kept burning night and day until the feast of the dead has +been held. "The reason for having the fire is that the spirit may be +able to get warm when it rises from the grave. The natives regard the +spirit as being very cold, even as the body is when the life has +departed from it, and without this external warmth provided by the fire +it would be unable to undertake the journey to its final home. The feast +for the dead is celebrated when the flesh has decayed, and in some +places the skull is taken from the grave, washed and placed in the +house, being buried again when the feast is over. At Tubetube this +custom of taking the skull from the grave is not regularly followed, in +some instances it is, but the feast is always held, and on the night of +the day on which the feast takes place, the fire, which has been in some +cases kept burning for over a month, is allowed to burn out, as the +spirit, being now safe and happy in the spirit-land, has no further need +of it."[347] "In this spirit-land eternal youth prevails, there are no +old men nor old women, but all are in the full vigour of the prime of +life, or are attaining thereto, and having reached that stage never grow +older. Old men and old women, who die as such on Tubetube, renew their +youth in this happy place, where there are no more sickness, no evil +spirits, and no death. Marriage, and giving in marriage, continue; if a +man dies, his widow, though she may have married again, is at her death +re-united to her first husband in the spirit-land, and the second +husband when he arrives has to take one of the women already there who +may be without a mate, unless he marries again before his death, in +which case he would have to wait until his wife joins him. Children are +born, and on arriving at maturity do not grow older. Houses are built, +canoes are made but they are never launched, and gardens are planted and +yield abundantly. The spirits of their animals, dogs, pigs, etc., which +have died on Tubetube, precede and follow them to the spirit-land. +Fighting and stealing are unknown, and all are united in a common +brotherhood."[348] + +[Sidenote: The names of the dead not mentioned.] + +In the south-eastern part of New Guinea the fear of the dead is further +manifested by the common custom of avoiding the mention of their names. +If their names were those of common objects, the words are dropped from +the language of the district so long as the memory of the departed +persists, and new names are substituted for them. For example, when a +man named Binama, which means the hornbill, died at Wagawaga, the name +of the bird was changed to _ambadina_, which means "the plasterer."[349] +In this way many words are either permanently lost or revived with +modified or new meanings. Hence the fear of the dead is here, as in many +other places, a fertile source of change in language. Another indication +of the terror inspired by ghosts is the custom of abandoning or +destroying the house in which a death has taken place; and this custom +used to be observed in certain cases at Tubetube and Wagawaga.[350] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs and customs concerning the dead in the island of +Kiwai.] + +Thus far I have dealt mainly with the beliefs and practices of the +Papuo-Melanesians in the eastern part of British New Guinea. With regard +to the pure Papuan population in the western part of the possession our +information is much scantier. However, we learn that in Kiwai, a large +island at the mouth of the Fly River, the dead are buried in the +villages and the ghosts are supposed to live in the ground near their +decaying bodies, but to emerge from time to time into the upper air and +look about them, only, however, to return to their abode beneath the +sod. Nothing is buried with the corpse; but a small platform is made +over the grave, or sticks are planted in the ground along its sides, and +on these are placed sago, yams, bananas, coco-nuts, and cooked crabs and +fish, all for the spirit of the dead to eat. A fire is also kindled +beside the grave and kept up by the friends for nine days in order that +the poor ghost may not shiver with cold at night. These practices prove +not merely a belief in the survival of the soul after death but a desire +to make it comfortable. Further, when the deceased is a man, his bow and +arrows are stuck at the head of the grave; when the deceased is a woman, +her petticoat is hung upon a stick. No doubt the weapons and the garment +are intended for the use of the ghost, when he or she revisits the upper +air. On the ninth day after the burial a feast is prepared, the drum is +beaten, the conch shell blown, and the chief mourner declares that no +more fires need be lighted and no more food placed on the grave.[351] + +[Sidenote: Adiri, the land of the dead, and Sido, the first man who went +thither. The fear of ghosts.] + +According to the natives of Kiwai the land of the dead is called Adiri +or Woibu. The first man to go thither and to open up a road for others +to follow him, was Sido, a popular hero about whom the people tell many +tales. But whereas in his lifetime Sido was an admired and beneficent +being, in his ghostly character he became a mischievous elf who played +pranks on such as he fell in with. His adventures after death furnish +the theme of many stories. However, it is much to his credit that, +finding the land of the dead a barren region without vegetation of any +sort, he, by an act of generation, converted it into a garden, where +bananas, yams, taro, coco-nuts and other fruits and vegetables grew and +ripened in a single night. Having thus fertilised the lower region, he +announced to Adiri, the lord of the subterranean realm, that he was the +precursor of many more men and women who would descend thereafter into +the spirit world. His prediction has been amply fulfilled; for ever +since then everybody has gone by the same road to the same place.[352] +However, when a person dies, his or her spirit may linger for a few days +in the neighbourhood of its old home before setting out for the far +country. During that time the spirit may occasionally be seen by +ordinary people, and accordingly the natives are careful not to go out +in the dark for fear of coming bolt on the ghost; and they sometimes +adopt other precautions against the prowling spectre, who might +otherwise haunt them and carry them off with him to deadland. Some +classes of ghosts are particularly dreaded on account of their +malignity; such, for example, are the spirits of women who have died in +childbed, and of people who have hanged themselves or been devoured by +crocodiles. Such ghosts loiter for a long time about the places where +they died, and they are very dangerous, because they are for ever luring +other people to die the same death which they died themselves. Yet +another troop of evil ghosts are the souls of those who were beheaded in +battle; for they kill and devour people, and at night you may see the +blood shining like fire as it gushes from the gaping gashes in their +throats.[353] + +[Sidenote: The path of the ghosts to Adiri. Adiri, the land of the +dead.] + +The road to Adiri or deadland is fairly well known, and the people can +point to many landmarks on it. For example, in the island of Paho there +is a tree called _dani_, under which the departing spirits sit down and +weep. When they have cried their fill and rubbed their poor +tear-bedraggled faces with mud, they make little pellets of clay and +throw them at the tree, and anybody can see for himself the pellets +sticking to the branches. It is true that the pellets resemble the nests +of insects, but this resemblance is only fortuitous. Near the tree is a +rocking stone, which the ghosts set in motion, and the sound that they +make in so doing is like the muffled roll of a drum. And while the stone +rocks to and fro with a hollow murmur, the ghosts dance, the men on one +side of the stone and the women on the other. Again at Mabudavane, where +the Mawata people have gardens, you may sometimes hear, in the stillness +of night, the same weird murmur, which indicates the presence of a +ghost. Then everybody keeps quiet, the children are hushed to silence, +and all listen intently. The murmur continues for a time and then ends +abruptly in a splash, which tells the listeners that the ghost has +leaped over the muddy creek. Further on, the spirits come to Boigu, +where they swim in the waterhole and often appear to people in their +real shape. But after Boigu the track of the ghosts is lost, or at least +has not been clearly ascertained. The spirit world lies somewhere away +in the far west, but the living are not quite sure of the way to it, and +they are somewhat vague in their accounts of it. There is no difference +between the fate of the good and the fate of the bad in the far country; +the dead meet the friends who died before them; and people who come from +the same village probably live together in the same rooms of the long +house of the ghosts. However, some native sceptics even doubt whether +there is such a place as Adiri at all, and whether death may not be the +end of consciousness to the individual.[354] + +[Sidenote: Appearance of the dead to the living in dreams.] + +The dead often appear to the living in dreams, warning them of danger or +furnishing them with useful information with regard to the cultivation +of their gardens, the practice of witchcraft, and so on. In order to +obtain advice from his dead parents a man will sometimes dig up their +skulls from the grave and sleep beside them; and to make sure of +receiving their prompt attention he will not infrequently provide +himself with a cudgel, with which he threatens to smash their skulls if +they do not answer his questions. Some persons possess a special faculty +of communicating with the departing spirit of a person who has just +died. Should they desire to question it they will lurk beside the road +which ghosts are known to take; and in order not to be betrayed by their +smell, which is very perceptible to a ghost, they will chew the leaf or +bark of a certain tree and spit the juice over their bodies. Then the +ghost cannot detect them, or rather he takes them to be ghosts like +himself, and accordingly he may in confidence impart to them most +valuable information, such for example as full particulars with regard +to the real cause of his death. This priceless intelligence the +ghost-seer hastens to communicate to his fellow tribesmen.[355] + +[Sidenote: Offerings to the dead.] + +When a man has just died and been buried, his surviving relatives lay +some of his weapons and ornaments, together with presents of food, upon +his grave, no doubt for the use of the ghost; but some of these things +they afterwards remove and bring back to the village, probably +considering, with justice, that they will be more useful to the living +than to the dead. But offerings to the dead may be presented to them at +other places than their tombs. "The great power," says Dr. Landtman, +"which the dead represent to the living has given rise to a sort of +simple offering to them, almost the only kind of offering met with among +the Kiwai Papuans. The natives occasionally lay down presents of food at +places to which spirits come, and utter some request for assistance +which the spirits are supposed to hear."[356] In such offerings and +prayers we may detect the elements of a regular worship of the dead. + +[Sidenote: Dreams as a source of the belief in immortality.] + +With regard to the source of these beliefs among the Kiwai people Dr. +Landtman observes that "undoubtedly dreams have largely contributed in +supplying the natives with ideas about Adiri and life after death. A +great number of dreams collected by me among the Kiwai people tell of +wanderings to Adiri or of meetings with spirits of dead men, and as +dreams are believed to describe the real things which the soul sees +while roaming about outside the body, we understand that they must +greatly influence the imagination of the people."[357] + +That concludes what I have to say as to the belief in immortality and +the worship of the dead among the natives of British New Guinea. In the +following lectures I shall deal with the same rudimentary aspect of +religion as it is reported to exist among the aborigines of the vast +regions of German and Dutch New Guinea. + +[Footnote 310: C. G. Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_ +(Cambridge, 1910), pp. 1 _sq._] + +[Footnote 311: See below, pp. 242, 256, 261 _sq._, 291.] + +[Footnote 312: A. C. Haddon, _Headhunters, Black, White, and Brown_ +(London, 1901), pp. 249 _sq._ As to the Motu and their Melanesian or +Polynesian affinities, see Rev. W. Y. Turner, "The Ethnology of the +Motu," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, vii. (1878) pp. 470 +_sqq._] + +[Footnote 313: Rev. J. Chalmers, _Pioneering in New Guinea_ (London, +1887), pp. 168-170. Compare Rev. W. Y. Turner, "The Ethnology of the +Motu," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, vii. (1878) pp. 484 +_sqq._; Rev. W. G. Lawes, "Ethnological Notes on the Motu, Koitapu and +Koiari Tribes of New Guinea," _Journal of the Anthropological +Institute_, viii. (1879) pp. 370 _sq._] + +[Footnote 314: A. C. Haddon, _Headhunters, Black, White, and Brown_, pp. +249 _sq._; C. G. Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, pp. +16, 41. As to the Koita (or Koitapu) and the Motu, see further the Rev. +W. Y. Turner, "The Ethnology of the Motu," _Journal of the +Anthropological Institute_, vii. (1878) pp. 470 _sqq._; Rev. W. G. +Lawes, "Ethnological Notes on the Motu, Koitapu and Koiari Tribes of New +Guinea," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, viii. (1879) pp. +369 _sq._] + +[Footnote 315: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ pp. 189-191.] + +[Footnote 316: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ pp. 185 _sq._] + +[Footnote 317: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ p. 192.] + +[Footnote 318: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ pp. 190-192. As to the +desertion of the house after death, see _id._, pp. 89 _sq._] + +[Footnote 319: The territory of the Roro-speaking tribes extends from +Kevori, east of Waimatuma (Cape Possession), to Hiziu in the +neighbourhood of Galley Reach. Inland of these tribes lies a region +called by them Mekeo, which is inhabited by two closely related tribes, +the Biofa and Vee. Off the coast lies Yule Island, which is commonly +called Roro. See C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ p. 195.] + +[Footnote 320: V. Jouet, _La Societe des Missionaires du Sacre Coeur +dans les Vicariats Apostoliques de la Melanesie et de la Micronesie_ +(Issoudun, 1887), p. 30; Father Guis, "Les Canaques: Mort-deuil," +_Missions Catholiques_, xxxiv. (1902) pp. 186, 200.] + +[Footnote 321: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ pp. 274 _sq._] + +[Footnote 322: Father Guis, "Les Canaques: Mort-deuil," _Missions +Catholiques_, xxxiv. (1902) pp. 208 _sq._ See _Psyche's Task_, pp. 75 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 323: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ p. 310.] + +[Footnote 324: R. W. Williamson, _The Mafulu Mountain People of British +New Guinea_ (London, 1912), pp. 2 _sq._, 297 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 325: R. W. Williamson, _op. cit._ pp. 243 _sq._, 246, +266-269.] + +[Footnote 326: R. W. Williamson, _op. cit._ pp. 245-250.] + +[Footnote 327: R. W. Williamson, _op. cit._ pp. 256-258, 261-263.] + +[Footnote 328: R. W. Williamson, _op. cit._ pp. 125-152.] + +[Footnote 329: R. W. Williamson, _op. cit._ pp. 270 _sq._] + +[Footnote 330: J. Chalmers and W. Wyatt Gill, _Work and Adventure in New +Guinea_ (London, 1885), pp. 84-86.] + +[Footnote 331: R. E. Guise, "On the Tribes inhabiting the Mouth of the +Wanigela River, New Guinea," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, +xxviii. (1899) p. 205.] + +[Footnote 332: A. C. Haddon, _Headhunters, Black, White, and Brown_, p. +213.] + +[Footnote 333: R. E. Guise, _op. cit._ pp. 216 _sq._] + +[Footnote 334: R. E. Guise, _op. cit._ pp. 210 _sq._] + +[Footnote 335: R. E. Guise, _op. cit._ p. 211.] + +[Footnote 336: R. E. Guise, _op. cit._ pp. 213 _sq._] + +[Footnote 337: _Psyche's Task_, pp. 52 _sqq._; _Taboo and the Perils of +the Soul_, pp. 167 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 338: C. G. Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, +p. 607.] + +[Footnote 339: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ p. 655.] + +[Footnote 340: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ pp. 655 _sq._] + +[Footnote 341: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ p. 610.] + +[Footnote 342: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ p. 611.] + +[Footnote 343: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ pp. 616 _sq._] + +[Footnote 344: C. G. Seligmann. _op. cit._ p. 611.] + +[Footnote 345: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ pp. 618 _sq._] + +[Footnote 346: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ pp. 613 _sq._] + +[Footnote 347: The Rev. J. T. Field of Tubetube (Slade Island), quoted +by George Brown, D.D., _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910), pp. +442 _sq._] + +[Footnote 348: Rev. J. T. Field, _op. cit._ pp. 443 _sq._] + +[Footnote 349: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ pp. 629-631. Dr. Seligmann +seems to think that the custom is at present dictated by courtesy and a +reluctance to grieve the relatives of the deceased; but the original +motive can hardly have been any other than a fear of the ghost.] + +[Footnote 350: C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ pp. 631 _sq._] + +[Footnote 351: Rev. J. Chalmers, "Notes on the Natives of Kiwai Island, +Fly River, British New Guinea," _Journal of the Anthropological +Institute_, xxxiii. (1903) pp. 119, 120.] + +[Footnote 352: G. Landtman, "Wanderings of the Dead in the Folk-lore of +the Kiwai-speaking Papuans," _Festskrift tillaegnad Edvard Westermarck_ +(Helsingfors, 1912), pp. 59-66.] + +[Footnote 353: G. Landtman, _op. cit._ pp. 67 _sq._] + +[Footnote 354: G. Landtman, _op. cit._ pp. 68-71.] + +[Footnote 355: G. Landtman, _op. cit._ pp. 77 _sq._] + +[Footnote 356: G. Landtman, _op. cit._ pp. 78 _sq._] + +[Footnote 357: G. Landtman, _op. cit._ p. 71.] + + + + +LECTURE X + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF GERMAN NEW GUINEA + + +[Sidenote: Andrew Lang.] + +I feel that I cannot begin my second course of lectures without +referring to the loss which the study of primitive religion has lately +sustained by the death of one of my predecessors in this chair, one who +was a familiar and an honoured figure in this place, Mr. Andrew Lang. +Whatever may be the judgment of posterity on his theories--and all our +theories on these subjects are as yet more or less tentative and +provisional--there can be no question but that by the charm of his +writings, the wide range of his knowledge, the freshness and vigour of +his mind, and the contagious enthusiasm which he brought to bear on +whatever he touched, he was a great power in promoting the study of +primitive man not in this country only, but wherever the English +language is spoken, and that he won for himself a permanent place in the +history of the science to which he devoted so much of his remarkable +gifts and abilities. As he spent a part of every winter in St. Andrews, +I had thought that in the course on which I enter to-day I might perhaps +be honoured by his presence at some of my lectures. But it was not to +be. Yet a fancy strikes me to which I will venture to give utterance. +You may condemn, but I am sure you will not smile at it. It has been +said of Macaulay that if his spirit ever revisited the earth, it might +be expected to haunt the flagged walk beside the chapel in the great +court of Trinity College, Cambridge, the walk which in his lifetime he +loved to pace book in hand. And if Andrew Lang's spirit could be seen +flitting pensively anywhere, would it not be just here, in "the college +of the scarlet gown," in the "little city worn and grey," looking out on +the cold North Sea, the city which he knew and loved so well? Be that as +it may, his memory will always be associated with St. Andrews; and if +the students who shall in future go forth from this ancient university +to carry St. Andrew's Cross, if I may say so, on their banner in the +eternal warfare with falsehood and error,--if they cannot imitate Andrew +Lang in the versatility of his genius, in the variety of his +accomplishments, in the manifold graces of his literary art, it is to be +hoped that they will strive to imitate him in qualities which are more +within the reach of us all, in his passionate devotion to knowledge, in +his ardent and unflagging pursuit of truth. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Review of preceding lectures.] + +In my last course of lectures I explained that I proposed to treat of +the belief in immortality from a purely historical point of view. My +intention is not to discuss the truth of the belief or to criticise the +grounds on which it has been maintained. To do so would be to trench on +the province of the theologian and the philosopher. I limit myself to +the far humbler task of describing, first, the belief as it has been +held by some savage races, and, second, some of the practical +consequences which these primitive peoples have deduced from it for the +conduct of life, whether these consequences take the shape of religious +rites or moral precepts. Now in such a survey of savage creed and +practice it is convenient to begin with the lowest races of men about +whom we have accurate information and to pass from them gradually to +higher and higher races, because we thus start with the simplest forms +of religion and advance by regular gradations to more complex forms, and +we may hope in this way to render the course of religious evolution more +intelligible than if we were to start from the most highly developed +religions and to work our way down from them to the most embryonic. In +pursuance of this plan I commenced my survey with the aborigines of +Australia, because among the races of man about whom we are well +informed these savages are commonly and, I believe, justly supposed to +stand at the foot of the human scale. Having given you some account of +their beliefs and practices concerning the dead I attempted to do the +same for the islanders of Torres Straits and next for the natives of +British New Guinea. There I broke off, and to-day I shall resume the +thread of my discourse at the broken end by describing the beliefs and +practices concerning the dead, as these beliefs are entertained and +these practices observed by the natives of German New Guinea. + +[Sidenote: German New Guinea.] + +As you are aware, the German territory of New Guinea skirts the British +territory on the north throughout its entire length and comprises +roughly a quarter of the whole island, the British and German +possessions making up together the eastern half of New Guinea, while the +western half belongs to Holland. + +[Sidenote: Information as to the natives of German New Guinea.] + +Our information as to the natives of German New Guinea is very +fragmentary, and is confined almost entirely to the tribes of the coast. +As to the inhabitants of the interior we know as yet very little. +However, German missionaries and others have described more or less +fully the customs and beliefs of the natives at various points of this +long coast, and I shall extract from their descriptions some notices of +that particular aspect of the native religion with which in these +lectures we are specially concerned. The points on the coast as to which +a certain amount of ethnographical information is forthcoming are, to +take them in the order from west to east, Berlin Harbour, Potsdam +Harbour, Astrolabe Bay, the Maclay Coast, Cape King William, Finsch +Harbour, and the Tami Islands in Huon Gulf. I propose to say something +as to the natives at each of these points, beginning with Berlin +Harbour, the most westerly of them. + +[Sidenote: The island of Tumleo.] + +Berlin Harbour is formed by a group of four small islands, which here +lie off the coast. One of the islands bears the name of Tumleo or +Tamara, and we possess an excellent account of the natives of this +island from the pen of a Catholic missionary, Father Mathias Josef +Erdweg,[358] which I shall draw upon in what follows. We have also a +paper by a German ethnologist, the late Mr. R. Parkinson, on the same +subject,[359] but his information is in part derived from Father Erdweg +and he appears to have erred by applying too generally the statements +which Father Erdweg strictly limited to the inhabitants of Tumleo.[360] + +[Sidenote: The natives of Tumleo, their material and artistic culture.] + +The island of Tumleo lies in 142 deg. 25" of East Longitude and 3 deg. 15" of +South Latitude, and is distant about sixty sea-miles from the +westernmost point of German New Guinea. It is a coral island, surrounded +by a barrier reef and rising for the most part only a few feet above the +sea.[361] In stature the natives fall below the average European height; +but they are well fed and strongly built. Their colour varies from black +to light brown. Their hair is very frizzly. Women and children wear it +cut short; men wear it done up into wigs. They number less than three +hundred, divided into four villages. The population seems to have +declined through wars, disease, and infanticide.[362] Like the Papuans +generally, they live in settled villages and engage in fishing, +agriculture, and commerce. The houses are solidly built of wood and are +raised above the ground upon piles, which consist of a hard and durable +timber, sometimes iron-wood.[363] The staple food of the people is sago, +which they obtain from the sago-palm. These stately palms, with their +fan-like foliage, are rare on the coral island of Tumleo, but grow +abundantly in the swampy lowlands of the neighbouring mainland. +Accordingly in the months of May and June, when the sea is calm, the +natives cross over to the mainland in their canoes and obtain a supply +of sago in exchange for the products of their island. The sago is eaten +in the form both of porridge and of bread.[364] Other vegetable foods +are furnished by sweet potatoes, taro, yams, bananas, sugar-cane, and +coco-nuts, all of which the natives cultivate.[365] Fishing is a +principal industry of the people; it is plied by both sexes and by old +and young, with nets, spears, and bows and arrows.[366] Pottery is +another flourishing industry. As among many other savages, it is +practised only by women, but the men take the pots to market; for these +islanders do a good business in pots with the neighbouring tribes.[367] +They build large outrigger canoes, which sail well before the wind, but +can hardly beat up against it, being heavy to row. In these canoes the +natives of Tumleo make long voyages along the coast; but as the craft +are not very seaworthy they never stand out to sea, if they can help it, +but hug the shore in order to run for safety to the beach in stormy +weather.[368] In regard to art the natives display some taste and skill +in wood-carving. For example, the projecting house-beams are sometimes +carved in the shape of crocodiles, birds, and grotesque human figures; +and their canoes, paddles, head-rests, drums, drum-sticks, and vessels +are also decorated with carving. Birds, fish, crocodiles, foliage, and +scroll-work are the usual patterns.[369] + +[Sidenote: The temples (_paraks_) of Tumleo.] + +A remarkable feature in the villages of Tumleo and the neighbouring +islands and mainland consists of the _paraks_ or temples, the high +gables of which may be seen rising above the bushes in all the villages +of this part of the coast. No such buildings exist elsewhere in this +region. They are set apart for the worship of certain guardian spirits, +and on them the native lavishes all the resources of his elementary arts +of sculpture and painting. They are built of wood in two storeys and +raised on piles besides. The approach to one of them is always by one or +two ladders provided on both sides with hand-rails or banisters. These +banisters are elaborately decorated with carving, which is always of the +same pattern. One banister is invariably carved in the shape of a +crocodile holding a grotesque human figure in its jaws, while on the +other hand the animal's tail is grasped by one or more human figures. +The other banister regularly exhibits a row of human or rather ape-like +effigies seated one behind the other, each of them resting his arms on +the shoulders of the figure in front. Often there are seven such figures +in a row. The natives are so shy in speaking of these temples that it is +difficult to ascertain the meaning of the curious carvings by which they +are adorned. Mr. Parkinson supposed that they represent spirits, not +apes. He tells us that there are no apes in New Guinea. The interior of +the temple (_parak_) is generally empty. The only things to be seen in +its two rooms, the upper and lower, are bamboo flutes and drums made out +of the hollow trunks of trees. On these instruments men concealed in the +temple discourse music in order to signify the presence of the +spirit.[370] + +[Sidenote: The bachelors' houses (_alols_) of Tumleo.] + +Different from these _paraks_ or temples are the _alols_, which are +bachelors' houses and council-houses in one. Like the temples, they are +raised above the ground and approached by a ladder, but unlike the +temples they have only one storey. In them the unmarried men live and +the married men meet to take counsel and to speak of things which may +not be mentioned before women. On a small stand or table in each of +these _alols_ or men's clubhouses are kept the skulls of dead men. And +as the temple (_parak_) is devoted to the worship of spirits, so the +men's clubhouse (_alol_) is the place where the dead ancestors are +worshipped. Women and children may not enter it, but it is not regarded +with such superstitious fear as the temple. The dead are buried in their +houses or beside them. Afterwards the bones are dug up and the skulls of +grown men are deposited, along with one of the leg bones, on the stand +or table in the men's clubhouse (_alol_). The skulls of youths, women, +and children are kept in the houses where they died. When the table in +the clubhouse is quite full of grinning trophies of mortality, the old +skulls are removed to make room for the new ones and are thrown away in +a sort of charnel-house, where the other bones are deposited after they +have been dug up from the graves. Such a charnel-house is called a +_tjoll paru_. There is one such place for the bones of grown men and +another for the bones of women and children. Some bones, however, are +kept and used as ornaments or as means to work magic with. For the dead +are often invoked, for example, to lay the wind or for other useful +purposes; and at such invocations the bones play a part.[371] + +[Sidenote: Spirits of the dead thought to be the causes of sickness and +disease.] + +But while the spirits of the dead are thus invited to help their living +relations and friends, they are also feared as the causes of sickness +and disease. Any serious ailment is usually attributed to magic or +witchcraft, and the treatment which is resorted to aims rather at +breaking the spell which has been cast on the sick man than at curing +his malady by the application of physical remedies. In short the remedy +is exorcism rather than physic. Now the enchantment under which the +patient is supposed to be labouring is often, though not always, +ascribed to the malignant arts of the spirits of the dead, or the _mos_, +as the natives of Tumleo call them. In such a case the ghosts are +thought to be clinging to the body of the sufferer, and the object of +the medical treatment is to detach them from him and send them far away. +With this kindly intention some men will go into the forest and collect +a number of herbs, including a kind of peppermint. These are tied into +one or more bundles according to the number of the patients and then +taken to the men's clubhouse (_alol_), where they are heated over a +fire. Then the patient is brought, and two men strike him lightly with +the packet of herbs on his body and legs, while they utter an +incantation, inviting the ancestral spirits who are plaguing him to +leave his body and go away, in order that he may be made whole. One such +incantation, freely translated, runs thus: "Spirit of the +great-grandfather, of the father, come out! We give thee coco-nuts, +sago-porridge, fish. Go away (from the sick man). Let him be well. Do no +harm here and there. Tell the people of Leming (O spirit) to give us +tobacco. When the waves are still, we push off from the land, sailing +northward (to Tumleo). It is the time of the north-west wind (when the +surf is heavy). May the billows calm down in the south, O in the south, +on the coast of Leming, that we may sail to the south, to Leming! Out +there may the sea be calm, that we may push off from the land for home!" +In this incantation a prayer to the spirit of the dead to relax his hold +on the sufferer appears to be curiously combined with a prayer or spell +to calm the sea when the people sail across to the coast of Leming to +fetch a cargo of tobacco. When the incantation has been recited and the +patient stroked with the bundle of herbs, one of his ears and both his +arm-pits are moistened with a blood-red spittle produced by the chewing +of betel-nut, pepper, and lime. Then they take hold of his fingers and +make each of them crack, one after the other, while they recite some of +the words of the preceding incantation. Next three men take each of them +a branch of the _volju_ tree, bend it into a bow, and stroke the sick +man from head to foot, while they recite another incantation, in which +they command the spirit to let the sick man alone and to go away into +the water or the mud. Often when a man is seriously ill he will remove +from his own house to the house of a relation or friend, hoping that the +spirit who has been tormenting him will not be able to discover him at +his new address.[372] + +[Sidenote: Burial and mourning customs in Tumleo.] + +If despite of all these precautions the patient should die, he or she is +placed in a wooden coffin and buried with little delay in a grave, which +is dug either in the house or close beside it. The body is smeared all +over with clay and decked with many rings or ornaments, most of which, +however, are removed in a spirit of economy before the lid of the coffin +is shut down. Sometimes arrows, sometimes a rudder, sometimes the bones +of dead relations are buried with the corpse in the grave. When the +grave is dug outside of the house, a small hut is erected over it, and a +fire is kept burning on it for a time. In the house of mourning the +wife, sister, or other female relative of the deceased must remain +strictly secluded for a period which varies from a few weeks to three +months. In token of mourning the widow's body is smeared with clay, and +from time to time she is heard to chant a dirge in a whining, melancholy +tone. This seclusion lasts so long as the ghost is supposed to be still +on his way to the other world. When he has reached his destination, the +fire is suffered to die down on the grave, and his widow or other female +relative is free to quit the house and resume her ordinary occupations. +Through her long seclusion in the shade her swarthy complexion assumes a +lighter tint, but it soon deepens again when she is exposed once more to +the strong tropical sunshine.[373] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the Tumleo people as to the fate of the human soul +after death.] + +The people of Tumleo firmly believe in the existence of the human soul +after death, though their notions of the disembodied soul or _mos_, as +they call it, are vague. They think that on its departure from the body +the soul goes to a place deep under ground, where there is a great +water. Over that water every soul must pass on a ladder to reach the +abode of bliss. The ladder is in the keeping of a spirit called _Su asin +tjakin_ or "the Great Evil," who takes toll of the ghosts before he lets +them use his ladder. Hence an ear-ring and a bracelet are deposited with +every corpse in the grave in order that the dead man may have +wherewithal to pay the toll to the spirit at the great water. When the +ghost arrives at the place of passage and begs for the use of the +ladder, the spirit asks him, "Shall I get my bracelet if I let you +pass?" If he receives it and happens to be in a good humour, he will let +the ghost scramble across the ladder to the further shore. But woe to +the stingy ghost, who should try to sneak across the ladder without +paying toll. The ghostly tollkeeper detects the fraud in an instant and +roars out, "So you would cheat me of my dues? You shall pay for that." +So saying he tips the ladder up, and down falls the ghost plump into the +deep water and is drowned. But the honest ghost, who has paid his way +like a man and arrived on the further shore, is met by two other ghosts +who ferry him in a canoe across to Sisano, which is a place on the +mainland a good many miles to the north of Tumleo. A great river flows +there and in the river are three cities of the dead, in one of which the +newly arrived ghost takes up his abode. Then it is that the fire on his +grave is allowed to go out and his widow may mingle with her fellows +again. However, the ghosts are not strictly confined to the spirit-land. +They can come back to earth and roam about working good or evil for the +living and especially for their friends and relations.[374] + +[Sidenote: Monuments to the dead in Tumleo. Disinterment of the bones.] + +It is perhaps this belief not only in the existence but in the return of +the spirits of the dead which induces the survivors to erect monuments +or memorials to them. In Tumleo these monuments consist for the most +part of young trees, which are cut down, stripped of their leaves, and +set up in the ground beside the house of the deceased. The branches of +such a memorial tree are hung with fruits, coco-nuts, loin-cloths, pots, +and personal ornaments, all of which we may suppose are intended for the +comfort and convenience of the ghost when he returns from deadland to +pay his friends a visit.[375] But the remains of the dead are not +allowed to rest quietly in the grave for ever. After two or three years +they are dug up with much ceremony at the point of noon, when the sun is +high overhead. The skull of the deceased, if he was a man, is then +deposited, as we saw, with one of the thigh bones in the men's +clubhouse, while of the remaining bones some are kept by the relations +and the others thrown away in a charnel-house. Among the relics which +the relations preserve are the lower arm bones, the shoulder-blades, the +ribs, and the vertebra. The vertebra is often fastened to a bracelet; a +couple of ribs are converted into a necklace; and the shoulder-blades +are used to decorate baskets. The lower arm bones are generally strung +on a cord, which is worn on solemn occasions round the neck so that the +bones hang down behind. They are especially worn thus in war, and they +are made use of also when their owner desires to obtain a favourable +wind for a voyage. No doubt, though this is not expressly affirmed, the +spirit of the departed is supposed to remain attached in some fashion to +his bones and so to help the possessor of these relics in time of need. +When the bones have been dug up and disposed of with all due ceremony, +several men who were friends or relations of the deceased must keep +watch and ward for some days in the men's clubhouse, where his grinning +skull now stands amid similar trophies of mortality on a table or shelf. +They may not quit the building except in case of necessity, and they +must always speak in a whisper for fear of disturbing the ghost, who is +very naturally lurking in the neighbourhood of his skull. However, in +spite of these restrictions the watchers enjoy themselves; for baskets +of sago and fish are provided abundantly for their consumption, and if +their tongues are idle their jaws are very busy.[376] + +[Sidenote: Propitiation of the souls of the dead and other spirits.] + +The people think that if they stand on a good footing with the souls of +the departed and with other spirits, these powerful beings will bring +them good luck in trade and on their voyages. Now the time when trade is +lively and the calm sea is dotted with canoes plying from island to +island or from island to mainland, is the season when the gentle +south-east monsoon is blowing. On the other hand, when the waves run +high under the blast of the strong north-west monsoon, the sea is almost +deserted and the people stay at home;[377] the season is to these +tropical islanders what winter is to the inhabitants of northern +latitudes. Accordingly it is when the wind is shifting round from the +stormy north-west to the balmy south-east that the natives set +themselves particularly to win the favour of ghosts and spirits, and +this they do by repairing the temples and clubhouses in which the +spirits and ghosts are believed to dwell, and by cleaning and tidying up +the open spaces around them. These repairs are the occasion of a +festival accompanied by dances and games. Early in the morning of the +festive day the shrill notes of the flutes and the hollow rub-a-dub of +the drums are heard to proceed from the interior of the temple, +proclaiming the arrival of the guardian spirit and his desire to partake +of fish and sago. So the men assemble and the feast is held in the +evening. Festivals are also held both in the temples and in the men's +clubhouses on the occasion of a successful hunt or fishing. Out of +gratitude for the help vouchsafed them by the ancestral spirits, the +hunters or fishers bring the larger game or fish to the temples or +clubhouses and eat them there; and then hang up some parts of the +animals or fish, such as the skeletons, the jawbones of pigs, or the +shells of turtles, in the clubhouses as a further mark of homage to the +spirits of the dead.[378] + +[Sidenote: Guardian spirits (_tapum_) in Tumleo.] + +So far as appears, the spirits who dwell in the temples are not supposed +to be ancestors. Father Erdweg describes them as guardian spirits or +goddesses, for they are all of the female sex. Every village has several +of them; indeed in the village of Sapi almost every family has its own +guardian spirit. The name for these guardian spirits is _tapum_, which +seems to be clearly connected with the now familiar word _tapu_ or +taboo, in the sense of sacred, which is universally understood in the +islands of the Pacific. On the whole the _tapum_ are kindly and +beneficent spirits, who bring good luck to such as honour them. A hunter +or a fisherman ascribes his success in the chase or in fishing to the +protection of his guardian spirit; and when he is away from home trading +for sago and other necessaries of life, it is his guardian spirit who +gives him favour in the eyes of the foreigners with whom he is dealing. +Curiously enough, though these guardian spirits are all female, they +have no liking for women and children. Indeed, no woman or child may set +foot in a temple, or even loiter in the open space in front of it. And +at the chief festivals, when the temples are being repaired, all the +women and children must quit the village till the evening shadows have +fallen and the banquet of their husbands, fathers, and brothers at the +temple is over.[379] + +On the whole, then, we conclude that a belief in the continued existence +of the spirits of the dead, and in their power to help or harm their +descendants, plays a considerable part in the life of the Papuans of +Tumleo. Whether the guardian spirits or goddesses, who are worshipped in +the temples, were originally conceived as ancestral spirits or not, must +be left an open question for the present. + +[Sidenote: The Monumbo of Potsdam Harbour.] + +Passing eastward from Tumleo along the northern coast of German New +Guinea we come to Monumbo or Potsdam Harbour, situated about the 145th +degree of East Longitude. The Monumbo are a Papuan tribe numbering about +four hundred souls, who inhabit twelve small villages close to the +seashore. Their territory is a narrow but fertile strip of country, well +watered and covered with luxuriant vegetation, lying between the sea and +a range of hills. The bay is sheltered by an island from the open sea, +and the natives can paddle their canoes on its calm water in almost any +weather. The villages, embowered on the landward side in groves of trees +of many useful sorts and screened in front by rows of stately coco-nut +palms, are composed of large houses solidly built of timber and are kept +very clean and tidy. The Monumbo are a strongly-built people, of the +average European height, with what is described as a remarkably Semitic +type of features. The men wear their hair plaited about a long tube, +decorated with shells and dogs' teeth, which sticks out stiffly from the +head. The women wear their hair in a sort of mop, composed of countless +plaits, which hang down in tangle. In disposition the Monumbo are +cheerful and contented, proud of themselves and their country; they +think they are the cleverest and most fortunate people on earth, and +look down with pity and contempt on Europeans. According to them the +business of the foreign settlers in their country is folly, and the +teaching of the missionaries is nonsense. They subsist by agriculture, +hunting, and fishing. Their well-kept plantations occupy the level +ground and in some places extend up the hill-sides. Among the plants +which they cultivate are taro, yams, sweet potatoes, bananas, various +kinds of vegetables, and sugar-cane. Among their fruit-trees are the +sago-palm, the coco-nut palm, and the bread-fruit tree. They make use +both of earthenware and of wooden vessels. Their dances, especially +their masked dances, which are celebrated at intervals of four or five +years, have excited the warm admiration of the despised European.[380] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the Monumbo concerning the spirits of the dead. +Dread of ghosts.] + +With regard to their religion and morality I will quote the evidence of +a Catholic missionary who has laboured among them. "The Monumbo are +acquainted with no Supreme Being, no moral good or evil, no rewards, no +place of punishment or joy after death, no permanent immortality.... +When people die, their souls go to the land of spirits, a place where +they dwell without work or suffering, but which they can also quit. +Betel-chewing, smoking, dancing, sleeping, all the occupations that they +loved on earth, are continued without interruption in the other world. +They converse with men in dreams, but play them many a shabby trick, +take possession of them and even, it may be, kill them. Yet they also +help men in all manner of ways in war and the chase. Men invoke them, +pray to them, make statues in their memory, which are called _dva_ +(plural _dvaka_), and bring them offerings of food, in order to obtain +their assistance. But if the spirits of the dead do not help, they are +rated in the plainest language. Death makes no great separation. The +living converse with the dead very much as they converse with each +other. Time alone brings with it a gradual oblivion of the departed. +Falling stars and lightning are nothing but the souls of the dead, who +stick dry banana leaves in their girdles, set them on fire, and then fly +through the air. At last when the souls are old they die, but are not +annihilated, for they are changed into animals and plants. Such animals +are, for example, the white ants and a rare kind of wild pig, which is +said not to allow itself to be killed. Such a tree, for example, is the +_barimbar_. That, apparently, is the whole religion of the Monumbo. Yet +they are ghost-seers of the most arrant sort. An anxious superstitious +fear pursues them at every step. Superstitious views are the motives +that determine almost everything that they do or leave undone."[381] +Their dread of ghosts is displayed in their custom of doing no work in +the plantations for three days after a death, lest the ghost, touched to +the quick by their heartless indifference, should send wild boars to +ravage the plantations. And when a man has slain an enemy in war, he has +to remain a long time secluded in the men's clubhouse, touching nobody, +not even his wife and children, while the villagers celebrate his +victory with song and dance. He is believed to be in a state of +ceremonial impurity (_bolobolo_) such that, if he were to touch his wife +and children, they would be covered with sores. At the end of his +seclusion he is purified by washings and other purgations and is clean +once more.[382] The reason of this uncleanness of a victorious warrior +is not mentioned, but analogy makes it nearly certain that it is a dread +of the vengeful ghost of the man whom he has slain. A similar fear +probably underlies the rule that a widower must abstain from certain +foods, such as fish and sauces, and from bathing for a certain time +after the death of his wife.[383] + +[Sidenote: The Tamos of Astrolabe Bay. Mistake of attempting to combine +descriptive with comparative anthropology.] + +Leaving Potsdam Harbour and the Monumbo, and moving still eastward along +the coast of German New Guinea, we come to a large indentation known as +Astrolabe Bay. The natives of this part of the coast call themselves +Tamos. The largest village on the bay bears the name of Bogadyim and in +1894 numbered about three hundred inhabitants.[384] Our principal +authority on the natives is a German ethnologist, Dr. B. Hagen, who +spent about eighteen months at Stefansort on Astrolabe Bay. +Unfortunately he has mixed up his personal observations of these +particular people not merely with second-hand accounts of natives of +other parts of New Guinea but with discussions of general theories of +the origin and migrations of races and of the development of social +institutions; so that it is not altogether easy to disentangle the facts +for which he is a first-hand witness, from those which he reports at +second, third, or fourth hand. Scarcely anything, I may observe in +passing, more impairs the value and impedes the usefulness of personal +observations of savage races than this deplorable habit of attempting to +combine the work of description with the work of comparison and +generalisation. The two kinds of work are entirely distinct in their +nature, and require very different mental qualities for their proper +performance; the one should never be confused with the other. The task +of descriptive anthropology is to record observations, without any +admixture of theory; the task of comparative anthropology is to compare +the observations made in all parts of the world, and from the comparison +to deduce theories, more or less provisional, of the origin and growth +of beliefs and institutions, always subject to modification and +correction by facts which may afterwards be brought to light. There is +no harm, indeed there is great positive advantage, in the descriptive +anthropologist making himself acquainted with the theories of the +comparative anthropologist, for by so doing his attention will probably +be called to many facts which he might otherwise have overlooked and +which, when recorded, may either confirm or refute the theories in +question. But if he knows these theories, he should keep his knowledge +strictly in the background and never interlard his descriptions of facts +with digressions into an alien province. In this way descriptive +anthropology and comparative anthropology will best work hand in hand +for the furtherance of their common aim, the understanding of the nature +and development of man. + +[Sidenote: The religion of the Tamos. Beliefs of the Tamos as to the +souls of the dead.] + +Like the Papuans in general, the Tamos of Astrolabe Bay are a settled +agricultural people, who dwell in fixed villages, subsist mainly by the +produce of the ground which they cultivate, and engage in a commerce of +barter with their neighbours.[385] Their material culture thus does not +differ essentially from that of the other Papuans, and I need not give +particulars of it. With regard to their religious views Dr. Hagen tells +us candidly that he has great hesitation in expressing an opinion. +"Nothing," he says very justly, "is more difficult for a European than +to form an approximately correct conception of the religious views of a +savage people, and the difficulty is infinitely increased when the +enquirer has little or no knowledge of their language." Dr. Hagen had, +indeed, an excellent interpreter and intelligent assistant in the person +of a missionary, Mr. Hoffmann; but Mr. Hoffmann himself admitted that he +had no clear ideas as to the religious views of the Tamos; however, in +his opinion they are entirely destitute of the conception of God and of +a Creator. Yet among the Tamos of Bogadyim, Dr. Hagen tells us, a belief +in the existence of the soul after death is proved by their assertion +that after death the soul (_gunung_) goes to _buka kure_, which seems to +mean the village of ghosts. This abode of the dead appears to be +situated somewhere in the earth, and the Tamos speak of it with a +shudder. They tell of a man in the village of Bogadyim who died and went +away to the village of the ghosts. But as he drew near to the village, +he met the ghost of his dead brother who had come forth with bow and +arrows and spear to hunt a wild boar. This boar-hunting ghost was very +angry at meeting his brother, who had just died, and drove him back to +the land of the living. From this narrative it would seem that in the +other world the ghosts are thought to pursue the same occupations which +they followed in life. The natives are in great fear of ghosts (_buka_). +Travelling alone with them in the forest at nightfall you may mark their +timidity and hear them cry anxiously, "Come, let us be going! The ghost +is roaming about." The ghosts of those who have perished in battle do +not go to the Village of Ghosts (_buka kure_); they repair to another +place called _bopa kure_. But this abode of the slain does not seem to +be a happy land or Valhalla; the natives are even more afraid of it than +of the Village of Ghosts (_buka kure_). They will hardly venture at +night to pass a spot where any one has been slain. Sometimes fires are +kindled by night on such spots; and the sight of the flames flickering +in the distance inspires all the beholders with horror, and nothing in +the world would induce them to approach such a fire. The souls of men +who have been killed, but whose death has not been avenged, are supposed +to haunt the village. For some time after death the ghost is believed to +linger in the neighbourhood of his deserted body. When Mr. Hoffmann went +with some Tamos to another village to bring back the body of a fellow +missionary, who had died there, and darkness had fallen on them in the +forest, his native companions started with fear every moment, imagining +that they saw the missionary's ghost popping out from behind a +tree.[386] + +[Sidenote: Treatment of the corpse. Secret Society called _Asa_.] + +When death has taken place, the corpse is first exposed on a scaffold in +front of the house, where it is decked with ornaments and surrounded +with flowers. If the deceased was rich, a dog is hung on each side of +the scaffold, and the souls of the animals are believed to accompany the +ghost to the spirit-land. Taros, yams, and coco-nuts are also suspended +from the scaffold, no doubt for the refreshment of the ghost. Then the +melancholy notes of a horn are heard in the distance, at the sound of +which all the women rush away. Soon the horn-blower appears, paints the +corpse white and red, crowns it with great red hibiscus roses, then +blows his horn, and vanishes.[387] He is a member of a secret society, +called _Asa_, which has its lodge standing alone in the forest. Only men +belong to the society; women and children are excluded from it and look +upon it with fear and awe. If any one raises a cry, "_Asa_ is coming," +or the sound of the musical instruments of the society is heard in the +distance, all the women and children scamper away. The natives are very +unwilling to let any stranger enter one of the lodges of the society. +The interior of such a building is usually somewhat bare, but it +contains the wooden masks which are worn in the ceremonial dances of the +society, and the horns and flutes on which the members discourse their +awe-inspiring music. In construction it scarcely differs from the +ordinary huts of the village; if anything it is worse built and more +primitive. The secrets of the society are well kept; at least very +little seems to have been divulged to Europeans. The most important of +its ceremonies is that of the initiation of the young men, who on this +occasion are circumcised before they are recognised as full-grown men +and members of the secret society. At such times the men encamp and +feast for weeks or even months together on the open space in front of +the society's lodge, and masked dances are danced to the accompaniment +of the instrumental music. These initiatory ceremonies are held at +intervals of about ten or fifteen years, when there are a considerable +number of young men to be initiated together.[388] Although we are still +in the dark as to the real meaning of this and indeed of almost all +similar secret societies among savages, the solemn part played by a +member of the society at the funeral rites seems very significant. Why +should he come mysteriously to the melancholy music of the horn, paint +the corpse red and white, crown it with red roses, and then vanish again +to music as he had come? It is scarcely rash to suppose that this +ceremony has some reference to the state of the dead man's soul, and we +may conjecture that just as the fruits hung on the scaffold are +doubtless intended for the consumption of the ghost, and the souls of +the dogs are expressly said to accompany him to the spirit-land, so the +painting of the corpse and the crown of red roses may be designed in +some way to speed the parting spirit on the way to its long home. In the +absence of exact information as to the beliefs of these savages touching +the state of the dead we can only guess at the meaning which they attach +to these symbols. Perhaps they think that only ghosts who are painted +red and white and who wear wreaths of red roses on their heads are +admitted to the Village of the Ghosts, and that such as knock at the +gate with no paint on their bodies and no wreath of roses on their brows +are refused admittance and must turn sorrowfully away, to haunt their +undutiful friends on earth who had omitted to pay the last marks of +respect and honour to the dead. + +[Sidenote: Burial customs of the Tamos. Removal of the lower jawbone.] + +When the corpse has lain in all its glory, with its ornaments, its paint +and its flowers, for a short time on the scaffold, it is removed and +buried. The exposure never lasts more than a day. If the man died in the +morning, he is buried at night. The grave is dug in the house itself. It +is only about three feet deep and four feet long. If the corpse is too +long for the grave, as usually happens, the legs are remorselessly +doubled up and trampled in. It is the relations on the mother's side who +dig the grave and lower the body, shrouded in mats or leaves, into its +narrow bed. Before doing so they take care to strip it of its ornaments, +its rings, necklaces, boar's teeth, and so forth, which no doubt are +regarded as too valuable to be sacrificed. Yet a regard for the comfort +of the dead is shewn by the custom of covering the open grave with wood +and then heaping the mould on the top, in order, we are told, that the +earth may not press heavy on him who sleeps below. _Sit tibi terra +levis!_ After some months the grave is opened and the lower jaw removed +from the corpse and preserved. This removal of the jaw is the occasion +of solemnities and ceremonial washings, in which the whole male +population of the village takes part. But as to the meaning of these +ceremonies, and as to what is done with the jawbone, we have no exact +information.[389] According to the Russian traveller, Baron N. von +Miklucho-Maclay, who has also given us an account of the Papuans of +Astrolabe Bay,[390] though not apparently of the villages described by +Dr. Hagen, the whole skull is dug up and separated from the corpse after +the lapse of about a year, but only the lower jawbone is carefully kept +by the nearest kinsman as a memorial of the deceased. Baron +Miklucho-Maclay had great difficulty in inducing a native to part with +one of these memorials of a dead relation.[391] In any case the +preservation of this portion of the deceased may be supposed to have for +its object the maintenance of friendly relations between the living and +the dead. Similarly in Uganda the jawbone is the only part of the body +of a deceased king which, along with his navel-string, is carefully +preserved in his temple-tomb and consulted oracularly.[392] We may +conjecture that the reason for preserving this part of the human frame +rather than any other is that the jawbone is an organ of speech, and +that therefore it appears to the primitive mind well fitted to maintain +intercourse with the dead man's spirit and to obtain oracular +communications from him. + +[Sidenote: Sham fight as a funeral ceremony at Astrolabe Bay.] + +The Russian traveller, Baron Miklucho-Maclay, has described a curious +funeral ceremony which is observed by some of the Papuans of Astrolabe +Bay. I will give the first part of his description in his own words, +which I translate from the German. He says: "The death of a man is +announced to the neighbouring villages by a definite series of beats on +the drum. On the same day or the next morning the whole male population +assembles in the vicinity of the village of the deceased. All the men +are in full warlike array. To the beat of drum the guests march into the +village, where a crowd of men, also armed for war, await the new-comers +beside the dead man's hut. After a short parley the men divide into two +opposite camps, and thereupon a sham fight takes place. However, the +combatants go to work very gingerly and make no use of their spears. But +dozens of arrows are continually discharged, and not a few are wounded +in the sham fight, though not seriously. The nearest relations and +friends of the deceased appear especially excited and behave as if they +were frantic. When all are hot and tired and all arrows have been shot +away, the pretended enemies seat themselves in a circle and in what +follows most of them act as simple spectators." Thereupon the nearest +relations bring out the corpse and deposit it in a crouching position, +with the knees drawn up to the chin, on some mats and leaves of the +sago-palm, which had previously been spread out in the middle of the +open space. Beside the corpse are laid his things, some presents from +neighbours, and some freshly cooked food. While the men sit round in a +circle, the women, even the nearest relatives of the deceased, may only +look on from a distance. When all is ready, some men step out from the +circle to help the nearest of kin in the next proceedings, which consist +in tying the corpse up tightly into a bundle by means of rattans and +creepers. Then the bundle is attached to a stout stick and carried back +into the house. There the corpse in its bundle is fastened under the +roof by means of the stick, and the dead man's property, together with +the presents of the neighbours and the food, are left beside it. After +that the house is abandoned, and the guests return to their own +villages. A few days later, when decomposition is far advanced, the +corpse is taken down and buried in a grave in the house, which continues +to be inhabited by the family. After the lapse of about a year, the body +is dug up, the skull separated from it, and the lower jawbone preserved +by the nearest relation, as I have already mentioned.[393] + +[Sidenote: The sham fight perhaps intended to deceive the ghost.] + +What is the meaning of this curious sham fight which among these people +seems to be regularly enacted after a death? The writer who reports the +custom offers no explanation of it. I would conjecture with all due +caution that it may possibly be intended as a satisfaction to the ghost +in order to make him suppose that his death has been properly avenged. +In a former lecture I shewed that natural deaths are regularly imagined +by many savages to be brought about by the magical practices of enemies, +and that accordingly the relations of the deceased take vengeance on +some innocent person whom for one reason or another they regard as the +culprit. It is possible that these Papuans of Astrolabe Bay, instead of +actually putting the supposed sorcerer to death, have advanced so far as +to abandon that cruel and unjust practice and content themselves with +throwing dust in the eyes of the ghost by a sham instead of a real +fight. But that is only a conjecture of my own, which I merely suggest +for what it is worth. + +Altogether, looking over the scanty notices of the beliefs and practices +of these Papuans of Astrolabe Bay concerning the departed, we may say in +general that while the fear of ghosts is conspicuous enough among them, +there is but little evidence of anything that deserves to be called a +regular worship of the dead. + +[Footnote 358: P. Mathias Josef Erdweg, "Die Bewohner der Insel Tumleo, +Berlin-hafen, Deutsch-Neu-Guinea," _Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen +Gesellschaft in Wien_, xxxii. (1902) pp. 274-310, 317-399.] + +[Footnote 359: R. Parkinson, "Die Berlinhafen Section, ein Beitrag zur +Ethnographie der Neu-Guinea-Kueste," _Internationales Archiv fuer +Ethnographie_, xiii. (1900) pp. 18-54.] + +[Footnote 360: See the note of Father P. W. Schmidt on Father Erdweg's +paper, _op. cit._ p. 274.] + +[Footnote 361: Erdweg, _op. cit._ p. 274.] + +[Footnote 362: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 277 _sq_. The frizzly character of +the hair is mentioned by Mr. R. Parkinson, _op. cit._] + +[Footnote 363: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 355 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 364: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 342-346.] + +[Footnote 365: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 335 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 366: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 330 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 367: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 350 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 368: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 363 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 369: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 374.] + +[Footnote 370: R. Parkinson, "Die Berlinhafen Section, ein Beitrag zur +Ethnographie der Neu-Guinea-Kueste," _Internationales Archiv fuer +Ethnographie_, xiii. (1900) pp. 33-35. Father Erdweg speaks of the +_parak_ as a spirit-temple or spirit-house in which the deities of the +Tumleo dwell (_op. cit._ p. 377): he tells us that as a rule each +village has only one _parak_. As to the spirits which dwell in these +temples, see below, pp. 226 _sq._] + +[Footnote 371: R. Parkinson, _op. cit._ pp. 35, 42 _sq._; Erdweg, _op. +cit._ pp. 292 _sq._, 306.] + +[Footnote 372: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 284-287.] + +[Footnote 373: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 288-291.] + +[Footnote 374: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 297 _sq._] + +[Footnote 375: Erdweg, _op. cit._ p. 291.] + +[Footnote 376: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 291-293.] + +[Footnote 377: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 298, 371.] + +[Footnote 378: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 295 _sqq._, 299 _sq._, 334 _sq._] + +[Footnote 379: Erdweg, _op. cit._ pp. 295-297.] + +[Footnote 380: P. Franz Vormann, "Dorf und Hausanlage beiden Monumbo, +Deutsch-Neuguinea," _Anthropos_, iv. (1909) pp. 660 _sqq._; _id._, "Zur +Psychologie, Religion, Soziologie und Geschichte der Monumbo-Papua, +Deutsch-Neuguinea," _Anthropos_, v. (1910) pp. 407-409.] + +[Footnote 381: P. Franz Vormann, in _Anthropos_, v. (1910) pp. 409 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 382: P. Franz Vormann, in _Anthropos_, v. (1910) pp. 410, +411.] + +[Footnote 383: P. Franz Vormann, _ibid._, p. 412.] + +[Footnote 384: B. Hagen, _Unter den Papua's_ (Wiesbaden, 1899), pp. 143, +221.] + +[Footnote 385: For the evidence see B. Hagen, _op. cit._ pp. 193 _sqq._ +As to barter he tells us (p. 216) that all articles in use at Bogadyim +are imported, nothing is made on the spot.] + +[Footnote 386: B. Hagen, _Unter den Papua's_ (Wiesbaden, 1899), pp. +264-266.] + +[Footnote 387: B. Hagen, _op. cit._ pp. 258 _sq._] + +[Footnote 388: B. Hagen, _op. cit._ pp. 270 _sq._ As to the period and +details of the circumcision ceremonies see _id._, pp. 234-238.] + +[Footnote 389: B. Hagen, _op. cit._ p. 260.] + +[Footnote 390: N. von Miklucho-Maclay, "Ethnologische Bemerkungen ueber +die Papuas der Maclay-Kueste in Neu-Guinea," _Natuurkundig Tijdschrift +voor Nederlandsch Indie_, xxxv. (1875) pp. 66-93; _id._, xxxvi. (1876) +pp. 294-333.] + +[Footnote 391: N. von Miklucho-Maclay, _op. cit._ xxxvi. (1876) p. 302.] + +[Footnote 392: Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 109 +_sqq._; _Totemism and Exogamy_, ii. 470.] + +[Footnote 393: N. von Miklucho-Maclay, _op. cit._ xxxvi. (1876) pp. +300-302.] + + + + +LECTURE XI + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF GERMAN NEW GUINEA +(_continued_) + + +[Sidenote: The Papuans of Cape King William.] + +In my last lecture I gave you some account of the beliefs and practices +concerning the dead which have been recorded among the Papuans of German +New Guinea. To-day I resume the subject and shall first speak of the +natives on the coast about Cape King William, at the foot of Mount +Cromwell. We possess an account of their religion and customs from the +pen of a German missionary, Mr. Stolz, who has lived three years among +them and studied their language.[394] His description applies to the +inhabitants of two villages only, namely Lamatkebolo and Quambu, or +Sialum and Kwamkwam, as they are generally called on the maps, who +together number about five hundred souls. They belong to the Papuan +stock and subsist chiefly by the cultivation of yams, which they plant +in April or May and reap in January or February. But they also cultivate +sweet potatoes and make some use of bananas and coco-nuts. They clear +the land for cultivation by burning down the grass and afterwards +turning up the earth with digging-sticks, a labour which is performed +chiefly by the men. The land is not common property; each family tills +its own fields, though sometimes one family will aid another in the +laborious task of breaking up the soil. Moreover they trade with the +natives of the interior, who, inhabiting a more fertile and +better-watered country, are able to export a portion of their +superfluities, especially taro, sweet potatoes, betel-nuts, and tobacco, +to the less favoured dwellers on the sea-coast, receiving mostly dried +fish in return. Curiously enough the traffic is chiefly in the hands of +old women.[395] + +[Sidenote: Propitiation of ghosts and spirits. The spirit Mate. Spirits +called _Nai_.] + +With regard to the religion of these people Mr. Stolz tells us that they +know nothing of a deity who should receive the homage of his +worshippers; they recognise only spirits and the souls of the dead. To +these last they bring offerings, not because they feel any need to do +them reverence, but simply out of fear and a desire to win their favour. +The offerings are presented at burials and when they begin to cultivate +the fields. Their purpose is to persuade the souls of the dead to ward +off all the evil influences that might thwart the growth of the yams, +their staple food. The ghosts are also expected to guard the fields +against the incursions of wild pigs and the ravages of locusts. At a +burial the aim of the sacrifice is to induce the soul of the departed +brother or sister to keep far away from the village and to do no harm to +the people. Sacrifices are even offered to the souls of animals, such as +dogs and pigs, to prevent them from coming back and working mischief. +However, the ghosts of these creatures are not very exacting; a few +pieces of sugar-cane, a coco-nut shell, or a taro shoot suffice to +content their simple tastes and to keep them quiet. Amongst the spirits +to whom the people pay a sort of worship there is one named Mate, who +seems to be closely akin to Balum, a spirit about whom we shall hear +more among the Yabim further to the east. However, not very much is +known about Mate; his worship, if it can be called so, flourishes +chiefly among the inland tribes, of whom the coast people stand so much +in awe that they dare not speak freely on the subject of this mysterious +being. Some of them indeed are bold enough to whisper that there is no +such being as Mate at all, and that the whole thing is a cheat devised +by sly rogues for the purpose of appropriating a larger share of roast +pork at their religious feasts, from which women are excluded. Whatever +may be thought of these sceptical views, it appears to be certain that +the name of Mate is also bestowed on a number of spirits who disport +themselves by day in open grassy places, while they retire by night to +the deep shades of the forest; and the majority of these spirits are +thought to be the souls of ancestors or of the recently departed. Again, +there is another class of spirits called _Nai_, who unlike all other +spirits are on friendly terms with men. These are the souls of dead +villagers, who died far away from home. They warn people of danger and +very obligingly notify them of the coming of trading steamers. When a +man dies in a foreign land, his soul appears as a _Nai_ to his sorrowing +relatives and announces his sad fate to them. He does so always at +night. When the men are gathered round the fire on the open square of +the village, the ghost climbs the platform which usually serves for +public meetings and banquets, and from this coin of vantage, plunged in +the deep shadow, he lifts up his voice and delivers his message of +warning, news, or prediction, as the case may be.[396] + +[Sidenote: The creator Nemunemu. Sickness and death often regarded as +the effects of sorcery.] + +However, ghosts of the dead are not the only spiritual beings with whom +these people are acquainted. They know of a much higher being, of the +name of Nemunemu, endowed with superhuman power, who made the heaven and +the earth with the assistance of two brothers; the elder brother +constructed the mainland of New Guinea, while the younger fashioned the +islands and the sea. When the natives first saw a steamer on the horizon +they thought it was Nemunemu's ship, and the smoke at the funnel they +took to be the tobacco-smoke which he puffed to beguile the tedium of +the voyage.[397] They are also great believers in magic and witchcraft, +and cases of sickness and death, which are not attributed to the +malignity of ghosts and spirits, are almost invariably set down to the +machinations of sorcerers. Only the deaths of decrepit old folks are +regarded as natural. When a man has died, and his death is believed to +have been caused by magic, the people resort to divination in order to +discover the wicked magician who has perpetrated the crime. For this +purpose they place the corpse on a bier, cover it with a mat, and set it +on the shoulders of four men, while a fifth man taps lightly with an +arrow on the mat and enquires of the departed whether such and such a +village has bewitched him to death. If the bier remains still, it means +"No"; but if it rocks backward and forward, it means "Yes," and the +avengers of blood must seek their victim, the guilty sorcerer, in that +village. The answer is believed to be given by the dead man's ghost, who +stirs his body at the moment when his murderer's village is named. It is +useless for the inhabitants of that village to disclaim all knowledge of +the sickness and death of the deceased. The people repose implicit faith +in this form of divination. "His soul itself told us," they say, and +surely he ought to know. Another form of divination which they employ +for the same purpose is to put the question to the ghost, while two men +hold a bow which belonged to him and to which some personal articles of +his are attached. The answer is again yes or no according as the bow +moves or is still.[398] + +[Sidenote: Funeral and mourning customs.] + +When the author of the death has been discovered in one way or another, +the corpse is decked with all the ornaments that can be collected from +the relatives and prepared for burial. A shallow grave is dug under the +house and lined with mats. Then the body is lowered into the grave: one +of the sextons strikes up a lament, and the shrill voices of the women +in the house join in the melancholy strain. When he lies in his narrow +bed, the ornaments are removed from his person, but some of his tools, +weapons, and other belongings are buried with him, no doubt for his use +in the life hereafter. The funeral celebration, in which the whole +village commonly takes part, lasts several days and consists in the +bringing of offerings to the dead and the abstinence from all labour in +the fields. Yams are brought from the field of the departed and cooked. +A small pot filled with yams and a vessel of water are placed on the +grave; the rest of the provisions is consumed by the mourners. The next +of kin, especially the widow or widower, remain for about a week at the +grave, watching day and night, lest the body should be dug up and +devoured by a certain foul fiend with huge wings and long claws, who +battens on corpses. The mourning costume of men consists in smearing the +face with black and wearing a cord round the neck and a netted cap on +the head. Instead of such a cap a woman in mourning wraps herself in a +large net and a great apron of grass. While the other ensigns of woe are +soon discarded or disappear, the cord about the neck is worn for a +longer time, generally till next harvest. The sacrifice of a pig brings +the period of mourning to an end and after it the cord may be laid +aside. If any one were so hard-hearted as not to wear that badge of +sorrow, the people believe that the angry ghost would come back and +fetch him away. He would die.[399] Thus among these savages the mourning +costume is regarded as a protection against the dangerous ghost of the +departed; it soothes his wounded feelings and prevents him from making +raids on the living. + +[Sidenote: Fate of the souls of the dead.] + +As to the place to which the souls of the dead repair and the fate that +awaits them there, very vague and contradictory ideas prevail among the +natives of this district. Some say that the ghosts go eastward to Bukaua +on Huon Gulf and there lead a shadowy life very like their life on +earth. Others think that the spirits hover near the village where they +lived in the flesh. Others again are of opinion that they transmigrate +into animals and prolong their life in one or other of the bodies of the +lower creatures.[400] + +[Sidenote: The Yabim and Bukaua tribes.] + +Leaving Cape King William we pass eastward along the coast of German New +Guinea and come to Finsch Harbour. From a point some miles to the north +of Finsch Harbour as far as Samoa Harbour on Huon Gulf the coast is +inhabited by two kindred tribes, the Yabim and the Bukaua, who speak a +Melanesian language. I shall deal first with the Yabim tribe, whose +customs and beliefs have been described for us with a fair degree of +fulness by two German missionaries, Mr. Konrad Vetter and Mr. Heinrich +Zahn.[401] The following account is based chiefly on the writings of Mr. +Vetter, whose mission station is at the village of Simbang. + +[Sidenote: Material and artistic culture of the Yabim.] + +Like the other natives of New Guinea the Yabim build permanent houses, +live in settled villages, and till the ground. Every year they make a +fresh clearing in the forest by cutting down the trees, burning the +fallen timber, and planting taro, bananas, sugar-cane, and tobacco in +the open glade. When the crops have been reaped, the place is abandoned, +and is soon overgrown again by the rank tropical vegetation, while the +natives move on to another patch, which they clear and cultivate in like +manner. This rude mode of tillage is commonly practised by many savages, +especially within the tropics. Cultivation of this sort is migratory, +and in some places, though apparently not in New Guinea, the people +shift their habitations with their fields as they move on from one part +of the forest to another. Among the Yabim the labour of clearing a patch +for cultivation is performed by all the men of a village in common, but +when the great trees have fallen with a crash to the ground, and the +trunks, branches, foliage and underwood have been burnt, with a roar of +flames and a crackling like a rolling fire of musketry, each family +appropriates a portion of the clearing for its own use and marks off its +boundaries with sticks. But they also subsist in part by fishing, and +for this purpose they build outrigger canoes. They display considerable +skill and taste in wood-carving, and are fond of ornamenting their +houses, canoes, paddles, tools, spears, and drums with figures of +crocodiles, fish, and other patterns.[402] + +[Sidenote: Men's clubhouses (_lum_).] + +The villages are divided into wards, and every ward contains its +clubhouse for men, called a _lum_, in which young men and lads are +obliged to pass the night. It consists of a bedroom above and a parlour +with fireplaces below. In the parlour the grown men pass their leisure +hours during the day, and here the councils are held. The wives cook the +food at home and bring it for their husbands to the clubhouse. The +bull-roarers which are used at the initiatory ceremonies are kept in the +principal clubhouse of the village. Such a clubhouse serves as an +asylum; men fleeing from the avenger of blood who escape into it are +safe. It is said that the spirit (_balum_) has swallowed or concealed +them. But if they steal out of it and attempt to make their way to +another village, they carry their life in their hand.[403] Among the +Yabim, according to Mr. Zahn, religion in the proper sense does not +exist, but on the other hand the whole people is dominated by the fear +of witchcraft and of the spirits of the dead.[404] The following is the +account which Mr. Vetter gives of the beliefs and customs of these +people concerning the departed. + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the Yabim concerning the state of the dead. The +ghostly ferry.] + +They do not believe that death is the end of all things for the +individual; they think that his soul survives and becomes a spirit or +ghost, which they call a _balum_. The life of human spirits in the other +world is a shadowy continuation of the life on earth, and as such it has +little attraction for the mind of the Papuan. Of heaven and hell, a +place of reward and a place of punishment for the souls of the good and +bad respectively, he has no idea. However, his world of the dead is to +some extent divided into compartments. In one of them reside the ghosts +of people who have been slain, in another the ghosts of people who have +been hanged, and in a third the ghosts of people who have been devoured +by a shark or a crocodile. How many more compartments there may be for +the accommodation of the souls, we are not told. The place is in one of +the islands of Siasi. No living man has ever set foot in the island, for +smoke and mist hang over it perpetually; but from out the mist you may +hear the sound of the barking of dogs, the grunting of swine, and the +crowing of cocks, which seems to shew that in the opinion of these +people animals have immortal souls as well as men. The natives of the +Siasi islands say that the newly arrived ghosts may often be seen +strolling on the beach; sometimes the people can even recognise the +familiar features of friends with whom they did business in the flesh. +The mode in which the spirits of the dead arrive at their destination +from the mainland is naturally by a ferry: indeed, the prow of the +ghostly ferry-boat may be seen to this day in the village of Bogiseng. +The way in which it came to be found there was this. A man of the +village lay dying, and on his deathbed he promised to give his friends a +sign of his continued existence after death by appearing as a ghost in +their midst. Only he stipulated that in order to enable him to do so +they would place a stone club in the hand of his corpse. This was done. +He died, the club was placed in his cold hand, and his sorrowing but +hopeful relations awaited results. They had not very long to wait. For +no sooner had the ghost, armed with the stone club, stepped down to the +sea-shore than he called imperiously for the ferry-boat. It soon hove in +sight, with the ghostly ferryman in it paddling to the beach to receive +the passenger. But when the prow grated on the pebbles, the artful +ghost, instead of stepping into it as he should have done, lunged out at +it with the stone club so forcibly that he broke the prow clean off. In +a rage the ferryman roared out to him, "I won't put you across! You and +your people shall be kangaroos." The ghost had gained his point. He +turned back from the ferry and brought to his friends as a trophy the +prow of the ghostly canoe, which is treasured in the village to this +day. I should add that the prow in question bears a suspicious +resemblance to a powder-horn which has been floating about for some time +in the water; but no doubt this resemblance is purely fortuitous and +without any deep significance. + +[Sidenote: Transmigration of human souls into animals.] + +From this veracious narrative we gather that sometimes the souls of the +dead, instead of going away to the spirit-land, transmigrate into the +bodies of animals. The case of the kangaroos is not singular. In the +village of Simbang Mr. Vetter knows two families, of whom the ghosts +pass at death into the carcases of crocodiles and a species of fabulous +pigs respectively. Hence members of the one family are careful not to +injure crocodiles, lest the souls of their dead should chance to be +lodged in the reptiles; and the members of the other family would be +equally careful not to hurt the fabulous pigs if ever they fell in with +them. However, the crocodile people, not to be behind their neighbours, +assert that after death their spirits can also roam about the wood as +ghosts and go to the spirit-land. In explanation they say that every +human being has two souls; one of them is his reflection on the water, +the other is his shadow on the land. No doubt it is the water-soul which +goes to the island of Siasi, while the land-soul is free to occupy the +body of a crocodile, a kangaroo, or some other animal.[405] + +[Sidenote: Return of the ghosts.] + +But even when the ghosts have departed to their island home, they are by +no means strictly confined to it. They can return, especially at night, +to roam about the woods and the villages, and the living are very much +afraid of them, for the ghosts delight in doing mischief. It is +especially in the first few days after a death that the ghost is an +object of terror, for he is then still loitering about the village. +During these days everybody is afraid to go alone into the forest for +fear of meeting him, and if a dog or a pig strays in the wood and is +lost, the people make sure that the ghost has made off with the animal, +and the aggrieved owners roundly abuse the sorrowing family, telling +them that their old father or mother, as the case may be, is no better +than a thief. They are also very unwilling to mention the names of dead +persons, imagining that were the ghost to hear his name pronounced he +might fancy he was being called for and might accordingly suspend his +habitual occupation of munching sour fruits in the forest to come and +trouble the living. + +[Sidenote: Offerings to ghosts.] + +Hence in order to keep the short-tempered ghost in good humour by +satisfying his wants, lest he should think himself neglected and wreak +his vexation on the survivors, the people go a-fishing after a death, or +they kill a pig or a dog; sometimes also they cut down a fruit-tree. But +it is only the souls of the animals which are destined for the +consumption of the ghost; their bodies are roasted and eaten by the +living. On a grave you may sometimes see a small basket suspended from a +stick; but if you look into it you will find nothing but a little soot +and some fish scales, which is all that remains of the fried fish. + +[Sidenote: Ghosts provided with fire.] + +The Yabim also imagine that the ghost has need of fire to guide him to +the door of the man who has done him to death by sorcery. Accordingly +they provide the spirit with this necessary as follows. On the evening +of the day on which the body has been buried, they kindle a fire on a +potsherd and heap dry leaves on it. As they do so they mention the names +of all the sorcerers they can think of, and he at whose name the +smouldering leaves burst into a bright flame is the one who has done the +deed. Having thus ascertained the true cause of death, beyond reach of +cavil, they proceed to light up the ghost to the door of his murderer. +For this purpose a procession is formed. A man, holding the smouldering +fire in the potsherd with one hand and a bundle of straw with the other, +leads the way. He is followed by another who draws droning notes from a +water-bottle of the deceased, which he finally smashes. After these two +march a number of young fellows who make a plumping sound by smacking +their thighs with the hollow of their hands. This solemn procession +wends its way to a path in the neighbouring forest. By this time the +shades of night have fallen. The firebearer now sets the fire on the +ground and calls on the ghost to come and take it. They firmly believe +that he does so and that having got it he hies away to cast the glowing +embers down at the door of the man who has done him to death. They even +fancy they see the flickering light carried by the invisible hand +retreating through the shadows into the depth of the forest; and in +order to follow it with their eyes they will sometimes climb tall trees +or launch a canoe and put out to sea, gazing intently at the glimmering +ray till it vanishes from their sight in the darkness. Perhaps the gleam +of fire-flies, which abound in these tropical forests, or the flashing +of a meteor, as it silently drops from the starry heaven into the sea, +may serve to feed this superstitious fancy.[406] + +[Sidenote: Ghosts thought to help in the cultivation of the land.] + +But the spirits of the dead are supposed to be able to help as well as +harm the living. Good crops and a successful hunt are attributed to +their influence. It is especially the spirits of the ancient owners of +the land who are credited with the power of promoting the growth of the +crops. Hence when a clearing has been made in the forest and planted +with taro, and the plants are shewing a good head of leaves, +preparations are made to feast the ghosts of the people to whom the land +belonged in days gone by. For this purpose a sago-palm is cut down, +sago-porridge made, and a wild boar killed. Then the men arrayed in all +their finery march out in solemn procession by day to the taro field; +and the leader invites the spirits in a loud voice to come to the +village and partake of the sago-porridge and pork that have been made +ready for them. But the invisible guests content themselves as usual +with snuffing up the fragrant smell of the roast pork and the steam of +the porridge; the substance of these dainties is consumed by the living. +Yet the help which the ghosts give in the cultivation of the land would +seem to be conceived as a purely negative one; the offerings are made to +them for the purpose of inducing them to keep away and not injure the +growing crops. It is also believed that the ghosts of the dead make +communications to the living in dreams or by whistling, and even that +they can bring things to their friends and relations. But on the whole, +Mr. Vetter tells us, the dominant attitude of the living to the dead is +one of fear; the power of the ghosts is oftener exerted for evil than +for good.[407] The ghost of a murdered man in particular is dreaded, +because he is believed to haunt his murderer and to do him a mischief. +Hence they drive away such a dangerous ghost with shouts and the beating +of drums; and by way of facilitating his departure they launch a model +of a canoe, laden with taro and tobacco, in order to transport him with +all comfort to the land of souls.[408] + +[Sidenote: Burial and mourning customs among the Yabim.] + +Among the Yabim the dead are usually buried in shallow graves close to +the houses where they died. Some trifles are laid with the body in the +grave, in order that the dead man or woman may have the use of them in +the other world. But any valuables that may be deposited with the corpse +are afterwards dug up and appropriated by the survivors. If the deceased +was the householder himself or his wife, the house is almost always +deserted, however solidly it may be built. The reason for thus +abandoning so valuable a piece of property is not mentioned; but we may +assume that the motive is a fear of the ghost, who is supposed to haunt +his old home. A temporary hut is built on the grave, and in it the +family of the deceased take up their abode for six weeks or more; here +they cook, eat, and sleep. A widower sits in a secluded corner by +himself, invisible to all and unwashed; during the period of full +mourning he may not shew himself in the village. When he does come forth +again, he wears a mourning hat made of bark in the shape of a cylinder +without crown or brim; a widow wears a great ugly net, which wraps her +up almost completely from the head to the knees. Sometimes in memory of +the deceased they wear a lock of his hair or a bracelet. Other relations +wear cords round their necks in sign of mourning. The period of mourning +varies greatly; it may last for months or even years. Sometimes the +bodies of beloved children or persons who have been much respected are +not buried but tied up in bundles and set up in a house until the flesh +has quite mouldered away; then the skull and the bones of the arms and +legs are anointed, painted red, and preserved for a time. Mr. Vetter +records the case of a chief whose corpse was thus preserved in the +assembly-house of the village, after it had been dried over a fire. When +it had been reduced to a mummy, the skull and the arm-bones and +leg-bones were detached, oiled, and reddened, and then kept for some +years in the house of the chief's eldest son, till finally they were +deposited in the grave of a kinsman. In some of the inland villages of +this part of New Guinea the widow is sometimes throttled by her +relations at the death of her husband, in order that she may accompany +him to the other world.[409] + +[Sidenote: Deaths attributed by the Yabim to sorcery.] + +The Yabim believe that except in the case of very old people every death +is caused by sorcery; hence when anybody has departed this life, his +relations make haste to discover the wicked sorcerer who has killed +their kinsman. For that purpose they have recourse to various forms of +divination. One of them has been already described, but they have +others. For example, they put a powder like sulphur in a piece of bamboo +tube and kindle a fire under it. Then an old man takes a bull-roarer and +taps with it on the bamboo tube, naming all the sorcerers in the +neighbouring villages. He at the mention of whose name the fire catches +the powder and blazes up is the guilty man. Another way of detecting the +culprit is to attach the feather of a bird of paradise to a staff and +give the staff to two men to hold upright between the palms of their +right hands. Then somebody names the sorcerers, and he at whose name the +staff turns round and the feather points downwards is the one who caused +the death. When the avengers of blood, wrought up to a high pitch of +fury, fall in with the family of the imaginary criminal, they may put +the whole of them to death lest the sons should afterwards avenge their +father's murder by the black art. Sometimes a dangerous and dreaded +sorcerer will be put out of the way with the connivance of the chief of +his own village; and after a few days the murderers will boldly shew +themselves in the village where the crime was perpetrated and will +reassure the rest of the people, saying, "Be still. The wicked man has +been taken off. No harm will befall you."[410] + +[Sidenote: Bull-roarers (_balum_). Initiation of young men.] + +It is very significant that the word _balum_, which means a ghost, is +applied by the Yabim to the instrument now generally known among +anthropologists as a bull-roarer. It is a small fish-shaped piece of +wood which, being tied to a string and whirled rapidly round, produces a +humming or booming sound like the roaring of a bull or the muttering of +distant thunder. Instruments of this sort are employed by savages in +many parts of the world at their mysteries; the weird sound which the +implement makes when swung is supposed by the ignorant and uninitiated +to be the voice of a spirit and serves to impress them with a sense of +awe and mystery. So it is with the Papuans about Finsch Harbour, with +whom we are at present concerned. At least one such bull-roarer is kept +in the _lum_ or bachelors' clubhouse of every village, and the women and +uninitiated boys are forbidden to see it under pain of death. The +instrument plays a great part in the initiation of young men, which +takes place at intervals of several years, when there are a number of +youths ready to be initiated, and enough pigs can be procured to furnish +forth the feasts which form an indispensable part of the ceremony. The +principal initiatory rite consists of circumcision, which is performed +on all youths before they are admitted to the rank of full-grown men. +The age of the candidates varies considerably, from four years up to +twenty. Many are married before they are initiated. The operation is +performed in the forest, and the procession of the youths to the place +appointed is attended by a number of men swinging bull-roarers. As the +procession sets out, the women look on from a distance, weeping and +howling, for they are taught to believe that the lads, their sons and +brothers, are about to be swallowed up by a monster called a _balum_ or +ghost, who will only release them from his belly on condition of +receiving a sufficient number of roast pigs. How, then, can the poor +women be sure that they will ever see their dear ones again? So amid the +noise of weeping and wailing the procession passes into the forest, and +the booming sound of the bull-roarers dies away in the distance. + +[Sidenote: The rite of circumcision; the lads supposed to be swallowed +by a monster (_balum_). The sacred flutes.] + +The place where the operation is performed on the lads is a long hut, +about a hundred feet in length, which diminishes in height towards the +rear. This represents the belly of the monster which is to swallow up +the candidates. To keep up the delusion a pair of great eyes are painted +over the entrance, and above them the projecting roots of a betel-palm +represent the monster's hair, while the trunk of the tree passes for his +backbone. As the awe-struck lads approach this imposing creature, he is +heard from time to time to utter a growl. The growl is in fact no other +than the humming note of bull-roarers swung by men, who are concealed +within the edifice. When the procession has come to a halt in front of +the artificial monster, a loud defiant blast blown on shell-trumpets +summons him to stand forth. The reply follows in the shape of another +muffled roar of the bull-roarers from within the building. At the sound +the men say that "Balum is coming up," and they raise a shrill song like +a scream and sacrifice pigs to the monster in order to induce him to +spare the lives of the candidates. When the operation has been performed +on the lads, they must remain in strict seclusion for three or four +months, avoiding all contact with women and even the sight of them. They +live in the long hut, which represents the monster's belly, and their +food is brought them by elder men. Their leisure time is spent in +weaving baskets and playing on certain sacred flutes, which are never +used except at such seasons. The instruments are of two patterns. One is +called the male and the other the female, and they are supposed to be +married to each other. No woman may see these mysterious flutes; if she +did she would die. Even if she hears their shrill note in the distance, +she will hasten to hide herself in a thicket. When the initiatory +ceremonies are over, the flutes are carefully kept in the men's +clubhouse of the village till the next time they are wanted for a +similar occasion. On the other hand, if the women are obliged to go near +the place where the lads are living in seclusion, they beat on certain +bamboo drums in order to warn them to keep out of the way. Sometimes, +though perhaps rarely, one of the lads dies under the operation; in that +case the men explain his disappearance to the women by saying that the +monster has a pig's stomach as well as a human stomach, and that +unfortunately the deceased young man slipped by mistake into the wrong +stomach and so perished miserably. But as a rule the candidates pass +into the right stomach and after a sufficient period has been allowed +for digestion, they come forth safe and sound, the monster having kindly +consented to let them go free in consideration of the roast pigs which +have been offered to him by the men. Indeed he is not very exacting, for +he contents himself with devouring the souls of the pigs, while he +leaves their bodies to be consumed by his worshippers. This is a kindly +and considerate way of dealing with sacrifice, which our New Guinea +ghost or monster shares with many deities of much higher social +pretensions. However, lest he should prove refractory and perhaps run +away with the poor young men in his inside, or possibly make a dart at +any women or children who might be passing, the men take the precaution +of tying him down tight with ropes. When the time of seclusion is up, +one of the last acts in the long series of ceremonies is to cast off the +ropes and let the monster go free. He avails himself of his liberty to +return to his subterranean abode, and the young men are brought back to +the village with much solemnity. + +[Sidenote: The return of the novices to the village.] + +An eye-witness has described the ceremony. The lads, now ranking as +full-grown men, were first bathed in the sea and then elaborately +decorated with paint and so forth. In marching back to the village they +had to keep their eyes tightly shut, and each of them was led by a man +who acted as a kind of god-father. As the procession moved on, an old +bald-headed man touched each boy solemnly on the chin and brow with a +bull-roarer. In the village preparations for a banquet had meanwhile +been made, and the women and girls were waiting in festal attire. The +women were much moved at the return of the lads; they sobbed and tears +of joy ran down their cheeks. Arrived in the village the newly-initiated +lads were drawn up in a row and fresh palm leaves were spread in front +of them. Here they stood with closed eyes, motionless as statues. Then a +man passed behind them, touching each of them in the hams with the +handle of an axe and saying, "O circumcised one, sit down." But still +the lads remained standing, stiff and motionless. Not till another man +had knocked repeatedly on the ground with the stalk of a palm-leaf, +crying, "O circumcised ones, open your eyes!" did the youths, one after +another, open their eyes as if awaking from a profound stupor. Then they +sat down on the mats and partook of the food brought them by the men. +Young and old now ate in the open air. Next morning the circumcised lads +were bathed in the sea and painted red instead of white. After that they +might talk to women. This was the end of the ceremony.[411] + +[Sidenote: The essence of the initiatory rites seems to be a simulation +of death and resurrection; the novice is supposed to be killed and to +come to life or be born again. The new birth among the Akikuyu of +British East Africa.] + +The meaning of these curious ceremonies observed on the return of the +lads to the village is not explained by the writer who describes them; +but the analogy of similar ceremonies observed at initiation by many +other races allows us to divine it with a fair degree of probability. As +I have already observed in a former lecture, the ceremony of initiation +at puberty is very often regarded as a process of death and +resurrection; the candidate is supposed to die or to be killed and to +come to life again or be born again; and the pretence of a new birth is +not uncommonly kept up by the novices feigning to have forgotten all the +most common actions of life and having accordingly to learn them all +over again like newborn babes. We may conjecture that this is why the +young circumcised Papuans, with whom we are at present concerned, march +back to their village with closed eyes; this is why, when bidden to sit +down, they remain standing stiffly, as if they understood neither the +command nor the action; and this, too, we may surmise, is why their +mothers and sisters receive them with a burst of emotion, as if their +dead had come back to them from the grave. This interpretation of the +ceremony is confirmed by a curious rite which is observed by the Akikuyu +of British East Africa. Amongst them every boy or girl at or about the +age of ten years has solemnly to pretend to be born again, not in a +moral or religious, but in a physical sense. The mother of the child, +or, if she is dead, some other woman, goes through an actual pantomime +of bringing forth the boy or girl. I will spare you the details of the +pantomime, which is very graphic, and will merely mention that the +bouncing infant squalls like a newborn babe. Now this ceremony of the +new birth was formerly enacted among the Akikuyu at the rite of +circumcision, though the two ceremonies are now kept distinct.[412] +Hence it is not very rash to conjecture that the ceremony performed by +the young Papuans of Finsch Harbour on their return to the village after +undergoing circumcision is merely a way of keeping up the pretence of +being born again and of being therefore as ignorant and helpless as +babes. + +[Sidenote: The mock death of the novices as a preliminary to the mock +birth.] + +But if the end of the initiation is a mock resurrection, or rather new +birth, as it certainly seems to be, we may infer with some confidence +that the first part of it, namely the act of circumcision, is a mock +death. This is borne out by the explicit statement of a very good +authority, Mr. Vetter, that "the circumcision is designated as a process +of being swallowed by the spirit, out of whose stomach (represented by a +long hut) the release must take place by means of a sacrifice of +pigs."[413] And it is further confirmed by the observation that both the +spirit which is supposed to operate on the lads, and the bull-roarer, +which apparently represents his voice, are known by the name of _balum_, +which means the ghost or spirit of a dead person. Similarly, among the +Tugeri or Kaya-Kaya, a large Papuan tribe on the south coast of Dutch +New Guinea, the name of the bull-roarer, which they call _sosom_, is +given to a mythical giant, who is supposed to appear every year with the +south-east monsoon. When he comes, a festival is held in his honour and +bull-roarers are swung. Boys are presented to the giant, and he kills +them, but brings them to life again.[414] Thus the initiatory rite of +circumcision, to which all lads have to submit among the Yabim, seems to +be closely bound up with their conception of death and with their belief +in a life after death; since the whole ceremony apparently consists in a +simulation of dying and coming to life again. That is why I have touched +upon these initiatory rites, which at first sight might appear to have +no connexion with our immediate subject, the belief in immortality and +the worship of the dead. + +[Sidenote: General summary as to the Yabim.] + +On the whole we may say that the Yabim have a very firm and practical +belief in a life after death, and that while their attitude to the +spirits of the departed is generally one of fear, they nevertheless look +to these spirits also for information and help on various occasions. +Thus their beliefs and practices contain at least in germ the elements +of a worship of the dead. + +[Footnote 394: Stolz, "Die Umgebung von Kap Koenig Wilhelm," in R. +Neuhauss's _Deutsch New-Guinea_ (Berlin, 1911), iii. 243-286.] + +[Footnote 395: Stolz, _op. cit._ pp. 252-254.] + +[Footnote 396: Stolz, _op. cit._ pp. 245-247.] + +[Footnote 397: Stolz, _op. cit._ pp. 247 _sq._] + +[Footnote 398: Stolz, _op. cit._ pp. 248-250.] + +[Footnote 399: Stolz, _op. cit._ p. 258.] + +[Footnote 400: Stolz, _op. cit._ p. 259.] + +[Footnote 401: K. Vetter, in _Komm herueber und hilf uns! oder die Arbeit +der Neuen-Dettelsauer Mission_, Nos. 1-4 (Barmen, 1898); _id._, in +_Nachrichten ueber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land_, 1897, pp. 86-102; _id._, in +_Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xi. (Jena, 1892) +pp. 102-106; _id._, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu +Jena_, xii. (Jena, 1893) pp. 95-97; H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R. +Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, iii (Berlin, 1911) pp. 287-394.] + +[Footnote 402: K. Vetter, _Komm herueber und hilf uns!_ ii. (Barmen, +1898) pp. 6-12.] + +[Footnote 403: K. Vetter, _op. cit._ ii. 8; H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R. +Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, iii. 291, 308, 311.] + +[Footnote 404: H. Zahn, _op. cit._ iii. 291.] + +[Footnote 405: K. Vetter, _Komm herueber und hilf uns!_ iii. 21 _sq._ +According to Mr. H. Zahn (_op. cit._ p. 324) every village has its own +entrance into the spirit-land.] + +[Footnote 406: K. Vetter, _Komm herueber und hilf uns!_ iii. 19-24; +_id._, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xii. +(1893) pp. 96 _sq._] + +[Footnote 407: K. Vetter, _Komm herueber und hilf uns!_ ii. 7, iii. 24; +_id._, in _Nachrichten ueber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land und den +Bismarck-Archipel_, 1897, p. 94.] + +[Footnote 408: K. Vetter, in _Nachrichten ueber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land_, +1897, p. 94.] + +[Footnote 409: K. Vetter, in _Nachrichten ueber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land_, +1897, pp. 94 _sq._; _id._, _Komm herueber und hilf uns!_ iii. 15-19. +Compare H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, +iii. 320 _sq._] + +[Footnote 410: H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch +Neu-Guinea_, iii. 318-320.] + +[Footnote 411: K. Vetter, in _Nachrichten ueber Kaiser Wilhelms-Land und +den Bismarck-Archipel_, 1897, pp. 92 _sq._; _id._, in _Mitteilungen der +Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xi. (1892) p. 105; _id._, _Komm +herueber und hilf uns!_ ii. (1898) p. 18; _id._, cited by M. Krieger, +_Neu-Guinea_, pp. 167-170; O. Schellong, "Das Barlum (_sic_)-fest der +Gegend Finsch-hafens (Kaiserwilhelmsland), ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss der +Beschneidung der Melanesier," _Internationales Archiv fuer Ethnographie_, +ii. (1889) pp. 145-162; H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch +Neu-Guinea_, iii. 296-298.] + +[Footnote 412: W. S. Routledge and K. Routledge, _With a Prehistoric +People, the Akikuyu of British East Africa_ (London, 1910), pp. 151 +_sq._ Compare _Totemism and Exogamy_, iv. 228; C. W. Hobley, "Kikuyu +Customs and Beliefs," _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, +xl. (1910) pp. 440 _sq._] + +[Footnote 413: K. Vetter, in _Nachrichten ueber Kaiser Wilhelmsland und +den Bismarck-Archipel_, 1897, p. 93.] + +[Footnote 414: R. Poech, "Vierter Bericht ueber meine Reise nach +Neu-Guinea," _Sitzungsberichte der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen +Klasse der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften_ (Vienna), cxv. +(1906) Abteilung 1, pp. 901, 902.] + + + + +LECTURE XII + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF GERMAN NEW GUINEA +(_continued_) + + +[Sidenote: The Bukaua of German New Guinea.] + +In the last lecture I described the beliefs and practices concerning the +dead as they are to be found among the Yabim of German New Guinea. +To-day we begin with the Bukaua, a kindred and neighbouring tribe, which +occupies the coast lands of the northern portion of Huon Gulf from +Schollenbruch Point to Samoa Harbour. The language which the Bukaua +speak belongs, like the language of the Yabim, to the Melanesian, not to +the Papuan family. Their customs and beliefs have been reported by a +German missionary, Mr. Stefan Lehner, whose account I follow.[415] In +many respects they closely resemble those of their neighbours the Yabim. + +[Sidenote: Means of subsistence of the Bukaua. Men's clubhouses.] + +The Bukaua are an agricultural people who subsist mainly on the crops of +taro which they raise. But they also cultivate many kinds of bananas and +vegetables, together with sugar-cane, sago, and tobacco. From time to +time they cut down and burn the forest in order to obtain fresh fields +for cultivation. The land is not held in common. Each family has its own +fields and patches of forest, and would resent the intrusion of others +on their hereditary domain. Hunting and fishing supply them with animal +food to eke out the vegetable nourishment which they draw from their +fields and plantations.[416] Every village contains one or more of the +men's clubhouses which are a common feature in the social life of the +tribes on this coast. In these clubhouses the young men are obliged to +sleep, and on the platforms in front of them the older men hold their +councils. Such a clubhouse is called a _lum_.[417] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the Bukaua concerning the souls of the dead. +Sickness and disease attributed to ghostly agency.] + +The Bukaua have a firm belief in the existence of the human soul after +death. They think that a man's soul can even quit his body temporarily +in his lifetime during sleep or a swoon, and that in its disembodied +state it can appear to people at a distance; but such apparitions are +regarded as omens of approaching death, when the soul will depart for +good and all. The soul of a dead man is called a _balum_. The spirits of +the departed are believed to be generally mischievous and spiteful to +the living, but they can be appeased by sacrifice, and other measures +can be taken to avert their dangerous influence.[418] They are very +touchy, and if they imagine that they are not honoured enough by their +kinsfolk, and that the offerings made to them are insufficient, they +will avenge the slight by visiting their disrespectful and stingy +relatives with sickness and disease. Among the maladies which the +natives ascribe to the anger of ghosts are epilepsy, fainting fits, and +wasting decline.[419] When a man suffers from a sore which he believes +to have been inflicted on him by a ghost, he will take a stone from the +fence of the grave and heat it in the fire, saying: "Father, see, thou +hast gone, I am left, I must till the land in thy stead and care for my +brothers and sisters. Do me good again." Then he dips the hot stone in a +puddle on the grave, and holds his sore in the steam which rises from +it. His pain is eased thereby and he explains the alleviation which he +feels by saying, "The spirit of the dead man has eaten up the +wound."[420] + +[Sidenote: Sickness and death often ascribed by the Bukaua to sorcery.] + +But like most savages the Bukaua attribute many illnesses and many +deaths not to the wrath of ghosts but to the malignant arts of +sorcerers; and in such cases they usually endeavour by means of +divination to ascertain the culprit and to avenge the death of their +friend by taking the life of his imaginary murderer.[421] If they fail +to exact vengeance, the ghost is believed to be very angry, and they +must be on their guard against him. He may meet them anywhere, but is +especially apt to dog the footsteps of the sorcerer who killed him. +Hence when on the occasion of a great feast the sorcerer comes to the +village of his victim, the surviving relatives of the dead man are at +particular pains to protect themselves and their property against the +insidious attacks of the prowling ghost. For this purpose they bury a +creeper with white blossoms in the path leading to the village; the +ghost is thought to be filled with fear at the sight of it and to turn +back, leaving his kinsfolk, their dogs, and pigs in peace.[422] + +[Sidenote: Fear of the ghosts of the slain.] + +Another class of ghosts who are much dreaded are the spirits of slain +foes. They are believed to pursue their slayers to the village and to +blind them so that sooner or later they fall an easy prey to their +enemies. Hence when a party of warriors has returned home from a +successful attack on a village, in which they have butchered all on whom +they could lay their hands, they kindle a great fire, dance wildly about +it, and hurl burning brands in the direction of the battlefield in order +to keep the ghosts of their slaughtered foes at bay. Phosphorescent +lights seen under the houses throw the inmates into great alarm, for +they are thought to be the souls of the slain. Sometimes the vanquished +in battle resort to a curious ruse for the purpose of avenging +themselves on the victors by means of a ghost. They take the +sleeping-mat of one of the slain, roll it up in a bundle along with his +loin-cloth, apron, netted bag, or head-rest, and give the bundle to two +cripples to carry. Then they steal quietly to the landing-place of their +foes, peering warily about lest they should be observed. The bundle +represents the dead man, and the cripples who carry it reel to and fro, +and finally sink to the ground with their burden. In this way the ghost +of the victim, whose things are carried in the bundle, is supposed to +make their enemies weak and tottery. Strong young men are not given the +bundle to carry, lest the ghost should spoil their manly figures; +whereas if he should wound or maim a couple of poor cripples, no great +harm is done.[423] + +[Sidenote: Ghosts of ancestors appealed to for help, especially in the +cultivation of the ground. First-fruits offered to the spirits of the +dead.] + +However, the Bukaua also look on the ghosts of their ancestors in a more +amiable light as beings who, if properly appealed to, can and will help +them in the affairs of life, especially by procuring for them good +crops. Hence when they are planting their fields, which are formed in +clearings of the forest, they take particular care to insert shoots of +all their crops in the ground near the tree stumps which remain +standing, because the souls of their dead grandfathers and +great-grandfathers are believed to be sitting on the stumps watching +their descendants at their work. Accordingly in the act of planting they +call out the names of these forefathers and pray them to guard the field +in order that their living children may have food and not suffer from +hunger. And at harvest, when the first-fruits of the taro, bananas, +sugar-cane, and so forth have been brought back from the fields, a +portion of them is offered in a bowl to the spirits of the forefathers +in the house of the landowner, and the spirits are addressed in prayer +as follows: "O ye who have guarded our field as we prayed you to do, +there is something for you; now and henceforth behold us with favour." +While the family are feasting on the rest of the first-fruits, the +householder will surreptitiously stir the offerings in the bowl with his +finger, and will then shew the bowl to the others as a proof that the +souls of the dead have really partaken of the good things provided for +them.[424] A hunter will also pray to his dead father to drive the wild +pigs into his net.[425] + +[Sidenote: Burial and mourning customs of the Bukaua.] + +The Bukaua bury their dead in shallow graves, which are sometimes dug +under the houses but more usually in front of or beside them. Along with +the corpses are deposited bags of taro, nuts, drinking-vessels, and +other articles of daily use. Only the stone axes are too valuable to be +thus sacrificed. Over the grave is erected a rude hut in which the +widower, if the deceased was a married woman, remains for a time in +seclusion. A widow on the death of her husband remains in the house. +Widow and widower may not shew themselves in public until they have +prepared their mourning costume. The widower wears a black hat made of +bark, cords round his neck, wicker work on his arms and feet, and a torn +old bracelet of his wife in a bag on his breast. A widow is completely +swathed in nets, one over the other, and she carries about with her the +loincloth of her deceased husband. The souls of the dead dwell in a +subterranean region called _lamboam_, and their life there seems to +resemble life here on earth; but the ideas of the people on the subject +are very vague.[426] + +[Sidenote: Initiation of young men among the Bukaua. Lads at +circumcision supposed to be swallowed by a monster.] + +The customs and beliefs of the Bukaua in regard to the initiation of +young men are practically identical with those of their neighbours the +Yabim. Indeed the initiatory ceremonies are performed by the tribes +jointly, now in the territory of the Bukaua, now in the territory of the +Yabim, or in the land of the Kai, a tribe of mountaineers, or again in +the neighbouring Tami islands. The intervals between the ceremonies vary +from ten to eighteen years.[427] The central feature of the initiatory +rites is the circumcision of the novices. It is given out that the lads +are swallowed by a ferocious monster called a _balum_, who, however, is +induced by the sacrifice of many pigs to vomit them up again. In spewing +them out of his maw he bites or scratches them, and the wound so +inflicted is circumcision. This explanation of the rite is fobbed off on +the women, who more or less believe it and weep accordingly when their +sons are led away to be committed to the monster's jaws. And when the +time for the ceremony is approaching, the fond mothers busy themselves +with rearing and fattening young pigs, so that they may be able with +them to redeem their loved ones from the belly of the ravenous beast; +for he must have a pig for every boy. When a lad bleeds to death from +the effect of the operation, he is secretly buried, and his sorrowful +mother is told that the monster swallowed him and refused to bring him +up again. What really happens is that the youths are shut up for several +months in a house specially built for the purpose in the village. During +their seclusion they are under the charge of guardians, usually two +young men, and must observe strictly a rule of fasting and chastity. +When they are judged to be ready to undergo the rite, they are led forth +and circumcised in front of the house amid a prodigious uproar made by +the swinging of bull-roarers. The noise is supposed to be the voice of +the monster who swallows and vomits up the novice at circumcision. The +bull-roarer as well as the monster bears the name of _balum_, and the +building in which the novices are lodged before and after the operation +is called the monster's house (_balumslum_). After they have been +circumcised the lads remain in the house for several months till their +wounds are healed; then, painted and bedizened with all the ornaments +that can be collected, they are brought back and restored to their +joyful mothers. Women must vacate the village for a long time while the +initiatory ceremonies are being performed.[428] + +[Sidenote: Novices at circumcision supposed to be killed and then +restored to a new and higher life.] + +The meaning of the whole rite, as I pointed out in dealing with the +similar initiatory rite of the Yabim, appears to be that the novices are +killed and then restored to a new and better life; for after their +initiation they rank no longer as boys but as full-grown men, entitled +to all the privileges of manhood and citizenship, if we can speak of +such a thing as citizenship among the savages of New Guinea. This +interpretation of the rite is supported by the notable fact that the +Bukaua, like the Yabim, give the name of _balum_ to the souls of the +dead as well as to the mythical monster and to the bull-roarer; this +shews how intimately the three things are associated in their minds. +Indeed not only is the bull-roarer in general associated with the souls +of the dead by a community of name, but among the Bukaua each particular +bull-roarer bears in addition the name of a particular dead man and +varies in dignity and importance with the dignity and importance of the +deceased person whom it represents. The most venerated of all are +curiously carved and have been handed down for generations; they bear +the names of famous warriors or magicians of old and are supposed to +reproduce the personal peculiarities of the celebrated originals in +their shape and tones. And there are smaller bull-roarers which emit +shriller notes and are thought to represent the shrill-voiced wives of +the ancient heroes.[429] + +[Sidenote: The Kai tribe of Saddle Mountain in German New Guinea. The +land of the Kai. Their mode of cultivation. Their villages.] + +The Bukaua and the Yabim, the two tribes with which I have been dealing +in this and the last lecture, inhabit, as I have said, the coast about +Finsch Harbour and speak a Melanesian language. We now pass from them to +the consideration of another people, belonging to a different stock and +speaking a different language, who inhabit the rugged and densely wooded +mountains inland from Finsch Harbour. Their neighbours on the coast call +these mountaineers by the name of Kai, a word which signifies forest or +inland in opposition to the seashore; and this name of the tribe we may +adopt, following the example of a German missionary, Mr. Ch. Keysser, +who has laboured among them for more than eleven years and has given us +an excellent description of their customs and beliefs. His account +applies particularly to the natives of what is called Saddle Mountain, +the part of the range which advances nearest to the coast and rises to +the height of about three thousand feet. It is a rough, broken country, +cleft by many ravines and covered with forest, bush, or bamboo thickets; +though here and there at rare intervals some brown patches mark the +clearings which the sparse inhabitants have made for the purpose of +cultivation. Water is plentiful. Springs gush forth everywhere in the +glens and valleys, and rushing streams of crystal-clear water pour down +the mountain sides, and in the clefts of the hills are lonely tarns, the +undisturbed haunts of wild ducks and other water fowl. During the wet +season, which extends from June to August, the rain descends in sheets +and the mountains are sometimes covered for weeks together with so thick +a mist that all prospect is cut off at the distance of a hundred yards. +The natives are then loth to leave their huts and will spend the day +crouching over a fire. They are a shorter and sturdier race than the +tribes on the coast; the expression of their face is less frank and +agreeable, and their persons are very much dirtier. They belong to the +aboriginal Papuan stock, whereas the Yabim and Bukaua on the coast are +probably immigrants from beyond the sea, who have driven the indigenous +population back into the mountains.[430] Their staple foods are taro and +yams, which they grow in their fields. A field is cultivated for only +one year at a time; it is then allowed to lie fallow and is soon +overgrown with rank underwood. Six or eight years may elapse before it +is again cleared and brought under cultivation. Game and fish abound in +the woods and waters, and the Kai make free use of these natural +resources. They keep pigs and dogs, and eat the flesh of both. Pork is +indeed a favourite viand, figuring largely in the banquets which are +held at the circumcision festivals.[431] The people live in small +villages, each village comprising from two to six houses. The houses are +raised on piles and the walls are usually constructed of pandanus +leaves, though many natives now make them of boards. After eighteen +months or two years the houses are so rotten and tumble-down that the +village is deserted and a new one built on another site. Assembly-houses +are erected only for the circumcision ceremonies, and the bull-roarers +used on these occasions are kept in them. Husband and wife live +together, often two couples in one hut; but each family has its own side +of the house and its own fireplace. In times of insecurity the Kai used +to build their huts for safety among the spreading boughs of great +trees. A whole village, consisting of three or four huts, might thus be +quartered on a single tree. Of late years, with the peace and protection +for life introduced by German rule, these tree-houses have gone out of +fashion.[432] + +[Sidenote: Observations of a German missionary on the animistic beliefs +of the Kai.] + +After describing the manners and customs of the Kai people at some +length, the German missionary, who knows them intimately, proceeds to +give us a very valuable account of their old native religion or +superstition. He prefaces his account with some observations, the fruit +of long experience, which deserve to be laid to heart by all who attempt +to penetrate into the inner life, the thoughts, the feelings, the +motives of savages. As his remarks are very germane to the subject of +these lectures, I will translate them. He says: "In the preceding +chapters I have sketched the daily life of the Kai people. But I have +not attempted to set forth the reasons for their conduct, which is often +very peculiar and unintelligible. The explanation of that conduct lies +in the animistic view which the Papuan takes of the world. It must be +most emphatically affirmed that nobody can judge the native aright who +has not gained an insight into what we may call his religious opinions. +The native must be described as very religious, although his ideas do +not coincide with ours. His feelings, thoughts, and will are most +intimately connected with his belief in souls. With that belief he is +born, he has sucked it in with his mother's milk, and from the +standpoint of that belief he regards the things and occurrences that +meet him in life; by that belief he regulates his behaviour. An +objective way of looking at events is unknown to him; everything is +brought by him into relation to his belief, and by it he seeks to +explain everything that to him seems strange and rare."[433] "The +labyrinth of animistic customs at first sight presents an appearance of +wild confusion to him who seeks to penetrate into them and reduce them +to order; but on closer inspection he will soon recognise certain +guiding lines. These guiding lines are the laws of animism, which have +passed into the flesh and blood of the Papuan and influence his thought +and speech, his acts and his omissions, his love and hate, in short his +whole life and death. When once we have discovered these laws, the whole +of the superstitious nonsense falls into an orderly system which compels +us to regard it with a certain respect that increases in proportion to +the contempt in which we had previously held the people. We need not +wonder, moreover, that the laws of animism partially correspond to +general laws of nature."[434] + +[Sidenote: The essential rationality of the savage.] + +Thus according to Mr. Keysser, who has no theory to maintain and merely +gives us in this passage the result of long personal observation, the +Kai savages are thinking, reasoning men, whose conduct, however strange +and at first sight unintelligible it may appear to us, is really based +on a definite religious or if you please superstitious view of the +world. It is true that their theory as well as their practice differs +widely from ours; but it would be false and unjust to deny that they +have a theory and that on the whole their practice squares with it. +Similar testimony is borne to other savage races by men who have lived +long among them and observed them closely;[435] and on the strength of +such testimony I think we may lay it down as a well-established truth +that savages in general, so far as they are known to us, have certain +more or less definite theories, whether we call them religious or +philosophical, by which they regulate their conduct, and judged by which +their acts, however absurd they may seem to the civilised man, are +really both rational and intelligible. Hence it is, in my opinion, a +profound mistake hastily to conclude that because the behaviour of the +savage does not agree with our notions of what is reasonable, natural, +and proper, it must therefore necessarily be illogical, the result of +blind impulse rather than of deliberate thought and calculation. No +doubt the savage like the civilised man does often act purely on +impulse; his passions overmaster his reason, and sweep it away before +them. He is probably indeed much more impulsive, much more liable to be +whirled about by gusts of emotion than we are; yet it would be unfair to +judge his life as a whole by these occasional outbursts rather than by +its general tenour, which to those who know him from long observation +reveals a groundwork of logic and reason resembling our own in its +operations, though differing from ours in the premises from which it +sets out. I think it desirable to emphasise the rational basis of savage +life because it has been the fashion of late years with some writers to +question or rather deny it. According to them, if I understand them +aright, the savage acts first and invents his reasons, generally very +absurd reasons, for so doing afterwards. Significantly enough, the +writers who argue in favour of the essential irrationality of savage +conduct have none of them, I believe, any personal acquaintance with +savages. Their conclusions are based not on observation but on purely +theoretical deductions, a most precarious foundation on which to erect a +science of man or indeed of anything. As such, they cannot be weighed in +the balance against the positive testimony of many witnesses who have +lived for years with the savage and affirm emphatically the logical +basis which underlies and explains his seeming vagaries. At all events I +for one have no hesitation in accepting the evidence of such men to +matters of fact with which they are acquainted, and I unhesitatingly +reject all theories which directly contradict that evidence. If there +ever has been any race of men who invariably acted first and thought +afterwards, I can only say that in the course of my reading and +observation I have never met with any trace of them, and I am apt to +suppose that, if they ever existed anywhere but in the imagination of +bookish dreamers, their career must have been an exceedingly short one, +since in the struggle for existence they would surely succumb to +adversaries who tempered and directed the blind fury of combat with at +least a modicum of reason and sense. The myth of the illogical or +prelogical savage may safely be relegated to that museum of learned +absurdities and abortions which speculative anthropology is constantly +enriching with fresh specimens of misapplied ingenuity and wasted +industry. But enough of these fantasies. Let us return to facts. + +[Sidenote: The Kai theory of the soul.] + +The life of the Kai people, according to Mr. Keysser, is dominated by +their conception of the soul. That conception differs greatly from and +is very much more extensive than ours. The Kai regards his reflection +and his shadow as his soul or parts of it; hence you should not tread on +a man's shadow for fear of injuring his soul. The soul likewise dwells +in his heart, for he feels it beating. Hence if you give a native a +friendly poke in the ribs, he protests, saying, "Don't poke me so; you +might drive my soul out of my body, and then I should die." The soul +moreover resides in the eye, where you may see it twinkling; when it +departs, the eye grows dim and vacant. Moreover, the soul is in the foot +as much as in the head; it lurks even in the spittle and the other +bodily excretions. The soul in fact pervades the body just as warmth +does; everything that a man touches he infects, so to say, with his +soul; that mysterious entity exists in the very sound of his voice. The +sorcerer catches a man's soul by his magic, shuts it up tight, and +destroys it. Then the man dies. He dies because the sorcerer has killed +his soul. Yet the Kai believes, whether consistently or not, that the +soul of the dead man continues to live. He talks to it, he makes +offerings to it, he seeks to win its favour in order that he may have +luck in the chase; he fears its ill-will and anger; he gives it food to +eat, liquor to drink, tobacco to smoke, and betel to chew. What could a +reasonable ghost ask for more?[436] + +[Sidenote: Two kinds of human souls.] + +Thus, according to Mr. Keysser, whose exposition I am simply +reproducing, the Kai believes not in one nor yet in many souls belonging +to each individual; he implicitly assumes that there are two different +kinds of souls. One of these is the soul which survives the body at +death; in all respects it resembles the man himself as he lived on +earth, except that it has no body. It is not indeed absolutely +incorporeal, but it is greatly shrunken and attenuated by death. That is +why the souls of the dead are so angry with the living; they repine at +their own degraded condition; they envy the full-blooded life which the +living enjoy and which the dead have lost. The second kind of soul is +distinguished by Mr. Keysser from the former as a spiritual essence or +soul-stuff, which pervades the body as sap pervades the tree, and which +diffuses itself like corporeal warmth over everything with which the +body is brought into contact.[437] In these lectures we are concerned +chiefly with the former kind of soul, which is believed to survive the +death of the body, and which answers much more nearly than the second to +the popular European conception of the soul. Accordingly in what follows +we shall confine our attention mainly to it. + +[Sidenote: Death thought by the Kai to be commonly caused by sorcery.] + +Like many other savages, the Kai do not believe in the possibility of a +natural death; they think that everybody dies through the maleficent +arts of sorcerers or ghosts. Even in the case of old people, we are +told, they assume the cause of death to be sorcery, and to sorcery all +misfortunes are ascribed. If a man falls on the path and wounds himself +to death, as often happens, on the jagged stump of a bamboo, the natives +conclude that he was bewitched. The way in which the sorcerer brought +about the catastrophe was this. He obtained some object which was +infected with the soul-stuff or spiritual essence of his victim; he +stuck a pile in the ground, he spread the soul-stuff on the pile; then +he pretended to wound himself on the pile and to groan with pain. +Anybody can see for himself that by a natural and necessary +concatenation of causes this compelled the poor fellow to stumble over +that jagged bamboo stump and to perish miserably. Again, take the case +of a hunter in the forest who is charged and ripped up by a wild boar. +On a superficial view of the circumstances it might perhaps occur to you +that the cause of death was the boar. But you would assuredly be +mistaken. The real cause of death was again a sorcerer, who pounded up +the soul-stuff of his victim with a boar's tooth. Again, suppose that a +man is bitten by a serpent and dies. A shallow rationalist might say +that the man died of the bite; but the Kai knows better. He is aware +that what really killed him was the sorcerer who took a pinch of his +victim's soul and bunged it up tight in a tube along with the sting of a +snake. Similarly, if a woman dies in childbed, or if a man hangs +himself, the cause of death is still a sorcerer operating with the +appropriate means and gestures. Thus to make a man hang himself all that +the sorcerer has to do is to get a scrap of his victim's soul--and the +smallest scrap is quite enough for his purpose, it may be a mere shred +or speck of soul adhering to a hair of the man's head, to a drop of his +sweat, or to a crumb of his food,--I say that the sorcerer need only +obtain a tiny little bit of his victim's soul, clap it in a tube, set +the tube dangling at the end of a string, and go through a pantomime of +gurgling, goggling and so forth, like a man in the last stage of +strangulation, and his victim is thereby physically compelled to put his +neck in the noose and hang himself in good earnest.[438] + +[Sidenote: Danger incurred by the sorcerer.] + +Where these views of sorcery prevail, it is no wonder that the sorcerer +is an unpopular character. He naturally therefore shrinks from publicity +and hides his somewhat lurid light under a bushel. Not to put too fine a +point on it, he carries his life in his hand and may be knocked on the +head at any moment without the tedious formality of a trial. Once his +professional reputation is established, all the deaths in the +neighbourhood may be set down at his door. If he gets wind of a plot to +assassinate him, he may stave off his doom for a while by soothing the +angry passions of his enemies with presents, but sooner or later his +fate is sealed.[439] + +[Sidenote: Many hurts and maladies attributed by the Kai to the action +of ghosts. In other cases the sickness is traced to witchcraft. +Capturing a lost soul.] + +However, the Kai savage is far from attributing all deaths without +distinction to sorcerers.[440] In many hurts and maladies he detects the +cold clammy hand of a ghost. If a man, for example, wounds himself in +the forest, perhaps in the pursuit of a wild beast, he may imagine that +he has been speared or clubbed by a malignant ghost. And when a person +falls ill, the first thing to do is naturally to ascertain the cause of +the illness in order that it may be treated properly. In all such +enquiries, Mr. Keysser tells us, suspicion first falls on the ghosts; +they are looked upon as even worse than the sorcerers.[441] So when a +doctor is called in to see a patient, the only question with him is +whether the sickness is caused by a sorcerer or a ghost. To decide this +nice point he takes a boiled taro over which he has pronounced a charm. +This he bites, and if he finds a small stone in the fruit, he decides +that ghosts are the cause of the malady; but if on the other hand he +detects a minute roll of leaves, he knows that the sufferer is +bewitched. In the latter case the obvious remedy is to discover the +sorcerer and to induce him, for an adequate consideration, to give up +the magic tube in which he has bottled up a portion of the sick man's +soul. If, however, the magician turns a deaf ear alike to the voice of +pity and the allurement of gain, the resources of the physician are not +yet exhausted. He now produces his whip or scourge for souls. This +valuable instrument consists, like a common whip, of a handle with a +lash attached to it, but what gives it the peculiar qualities which +distinguish it from all other whips is a small packet tied to the end of +the lash. The packet contains a certain herb, and the sick man and his +friends must all touch it in order to impregnate it with the volatile +essence of their souls. Armed with this potent implement the doctor goes +by night into the depth of the forest; for the darkness of night and the +solitude of the woods are necessary for the success of the delicate +operation which this good physician of souls has now to perform. Finding +himself alone he whistles for the lost soul of the sufferer, and if only +the sorcerer by his infernal craft has not yet brought it to death's +door, the soul appears at the sound of the whistle; for it is strongly +attracted by the soul-stuff of its friends in the packet. But the doctor +has still to catch it, a feat which is not so easily accomplished as +might be supposed. It is now that the whip of souls comes into play. +Suddenly the doctor heaves up his arm and lashes out at the truant soul +with all his might. If only he hits it, the business is done, the soul +is captured, the doctor carries it back to the house in triumph, and +restores it to the body of the poor sick man, who necessarily +recovers.[442] + +[Sidenote: Extracting ghosts from a sick man.] + +But suppose that the result of the diagnosis is different, and that on +mature consideration the doctor should decide that a ghost and not a +sorcerer is at the bottom of the mischief. The question then naturally +arises whether the sick man has not of late been straying on haunted +ground and infected himself with the very dangerous soul-stuff or +spiritual essence of the dead. If he remembers to have done so, some +leaves are fetched from the place in the forest where the mishap +occurred, and with them the whole body of the sufferer or the wound, as +the case may be, is stroked or brushed down. The healing virtue of this +procedure is obvious. The ghosts who are vexing the patient are +attracted by the familiar smell of the leaves which come from their old +home; and yielding in a moment of weakness to the soft emotions excited +by the perfume they creep out of the body of the sick man and into the +leaves. Quick as thought the doctor now whisks the leaves away with the +ghosts in them; he belabours them with a cudgel, he hangs them up in the +smoke, or he throws them into the fire. Such powerful disinfectants have +their natural results; if the ghosts are not absolutely destroyed they +are at least disarmed, and the sick is made whole. + +[Sidenote: Scraping ghosts from the patient's body.] + +Another equally effective cure for sickness caused by ghosts is this. +You take a stout stick, cleave it down the middle so that the two ends +remain entire, and give it to two men to hold. Then the sick man pokes +his head through the cleft; after that you rub him with the stick from +the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. In this way you +obviously scrape off the bloodsucking ghosts who are clinging like flies +or mosquitoes to his person, and having thus transferred them to the +cleft stick you throw it away or otherwise destroy it. The cure is now +complete, and if the patient does not recover, he cannot reasonably +blame the doctor, who has done all that humanly speaking could be done +to bring back the bloom of health to the poor sick man.[443] + +[Sidenote: Extravagant demonstrations of grief at the death of a sick +man.] + +If, however, the sick man obstinately persists in dying, there is a +great uproar in the village. For the fear of his ghost has now fallen +like a thunderclap on all the people. His disembodied spirit is believed +to be hovering in the air, seeing everything that is done, hearing every +word that is spoken, and woe to the unlucky wight who does not display a +proper degree of sorrow for the irreparable loss that has just befallen +the community. Accordingly shrieks of despair begin to resound, and +crocodile tears to flow in cataracts. The whole population assemble and +give themselves up to the most frantic demonstrations of grief. Cries +are raised on all sides, "Why must he die?" "Wherefore did they bewitch +him?" "Those wicked, wicked men!" "I'll do for them!" "I'll hew them in +pieces!" "I'll destroy their crops!" "I'll fell all their palm-trees!" +"I'll stick all their pigs!" "O brother, why did you leave me?" "O +friend, how can I live without you?" To make good these threats one man +will be seen prancing wildly about and stabbing with a spear at the +invisible sorcerers; another catches up a cudgel and at one blow shivers +a water-pot of the deceased into atoms, or rushes out like one demented +and lays a palm-tree level with the ground. Some fling themselves +prostrate beside the corpse and sob as if their very hearts would break. +They take the dead man by the hand, they stroke him, they straighten out +the poor feet which are already growing cold. They coo to him softly, +they lift up the languid head, and then lay it gently down. Then in a +frenzy of grief one of them will leap to his feet, shriek, bellow, stamp +on the floor, grapple with the roof beams, shake the walls, as if he +would pull the house down, and finally hurl himself on the ground and +roll over and over howling as if his distress was more than he could +endure. Another looks wildly about him. He sees a knife. He grasps it. +His teeth are set, his mind is made up. "Why need he die?" he cries, +"he, my friend, with whom I had all things in common, with whom I ate +out of the same dish?" Then there is a quick movement of the knife, and +down he falls. But he is not dead. He has only slit the flap of one of +his ears, and the trickling blood bedabbles his body. Meantime with the +hoarse cries of the men are mingled the weeping and wailing, the shrill +screams and lamentations of the women; while above all the din and +uproar rises the booming sound of the shell trumpets blown to carry the +tidings of death to all the villages in the neighbourhood. But gradually +the wild tumult dies away into silence. Grief or the simulation of it +has exhausted itself: the people grow calm; they sit down, they smoke or +chew betel, while some engage in the last offices of attention to the +dead.[444] + +[Sidenote: Hypocritical character of these demonstrations, which are +intended to deceive the ghost.] + +A civilised observer who witnessed such a scene of boisterous +lamentation, but did not know the natives well, might naturally set down +all these frantic outbursts to genuine sorrow, and might enlarge +accordingly on the affectionate nature of savages, who are thus cut to +the heart by the death of any one of their acquaintance. But the +missionary who knows them better assures us that most of these +expressions of mourning and despair are a mere blind to deceive and +soothe the dreaded ghost of the deceased into a comfortable persuasion +that he is fondly loved and sadly missed by his surviving relatives and +friends. This view of the essential hypocrisy of the lamentations is +strongly confirmed by the threats which sick people will sometimes utter +to their attendants. "If you don't take better care of me," a man will +sometimes say, "and if you don't do everything you possibly can to +preserve my valuable life, my ghost will serve you out." That is why +friends and relations are so punctilious in paying visits of respect and +condolence to the sick. Sometimes the last request which a dying man +addresses to his kinsfolk is that they will kill this or that sorcerer +who has killed him; and he enforces the injunction by threats of the +terrible things he will do to them in his disembodied state if they fail +to avenge his death on his imaginary murderer. As all the relatives of a +dead man stand in fear of his ghost, the body may not be buried until +all of them have had an opportunity of paying their respects to it. If, +as sometimes happens, a corpse is interred before a relative can arrive +from a distance, he will on arrival break out into reproaches and +upbraidings against the grave-diggers for exposing him to the wrath of +the departed spirit.[445] + +[Sidenote: Burial and mourning customs of the Kai. Preservation of the +lower jawbone.] + +When all the relations and friends have assembled and testified their +sorrow, the body is buried on the second or third day after death. The +grave is usually dug under the house and is so shallow that even when it +has been closed the stench is often very perceptible. The ornaments +which were placed on the body when it was laid out are removed before it +is lowered into the grave, and the dead takes his last rest wrapt in a +simple leaf-mat. Often a dying man expresses a wish not to be buried. In +that case his corpse, tightly bandaged, is deposited in a corner of the +house, and the products of decomposition are allowed to drain through a +tube into the ground. When they have ceased to run, the bundle is opened +and the bones taken out and buried, except the lower jawbone, which is +preserved, sometimes along with one of the lower arm bones. The lower +jawbone reminds the possessor of the duty of blood revenge which he owes +to the deceased, and which the dying man may have inculcated on him with +his last breath. The lower arm bone brings luck in the chase, especially +if the departed relative was a mighty hunter. However, if the hunters +have a long run of bad luck, they conclude that the ghost has departed +to the under world and accordingly bury the lower arm bone and the lower +jawbone with the rest of the skeleton. The length of the period of +mourning is similarly determined by the good or bad fortune of the +huntsmen. If the ghost provides them with game in abundance for a long +time after his death, the days of mourning are proportionately extended; +but when the game grows scarce or fails altogether, the mourning comes +to an end and the memory of the deceased soon fades away.[446] The +savage is a thoroughly practical man and is not such a fool as to waste +his sorrow over a ghost who gives him nothing in return. Nothing for +nothing is his principle. His relations to the dead stand on a strictly +commercial basis. + +[Sidenote: Mourning costume. Widows strangled to accompany their dead +husbands.] + +The mourning costume consists of strings round the neck, bracelets of +reed on the arms, and a cylindrical hat of bark on the head. A widow is +swathed in nets. The intention of the costume is to signify to the ghost +the sympathy which the mourner feels for him in his disembodied state. +If the man in his lifetime was wont to crouch shivering over the fire, a +little fire will be kept up for a time at the foot of the grave in order +to warm his homeless spirit.[447] The widow or widower has to discharge +the disagreeable duty of living day and night for several weeks in a +hovel built directly over the grave. Not unfrequently the lot of a widow +is much harder. At her own request she is sometimes strangled and buried +with her husband in the grave, in order that her soul may accompany his +on the journey to the other world. The other relations have no interest +in encouraging the woman to sacrifice herself, rather the contrary; but +if she insists they fear to balk her, lest they should offend the ghost +of her husband, who would punish them in many ways for keeping his wife +from him. But even such voluntary sacrifices, if we may believe Mr. Ch. +Keysser, are dictated rather by a selfish calculation than by an impulse +of disinterested affection. He mentions the case of a man named Jabu, +both of whose wives chose thus to attend their husband in death. The +deceased was an industrious man, a skilful hunter and farmer, who +provided his wives with abundance of food. As such men are believed to +work hard also in the other world, tilling fields and killing game just +as here, the widows thought they could not do better than follow him as +fast as possible to the spirit land, since they had no prospect of +getting such another husband here on earth. "How firmly convinced," adds +the missionary admiringly, "must these people be of the reality of +another world when they sacrifice their earthly existence, not for the +sake of a better life hereafter, but merely in order to be no worse off +there than they have been on earth." And he adds that this consideration +explains why no man ever chooses to be strangled at the death of his +wife. The labour market in the better land is apparently not recruited +from the ranks of women.[448] + +[Sidenote: House or village deserted after a death.] + +The house in which anybody has died is deserted, because the ghost of +the dead is believed to haunt it and make it unsafe at night. If the +deceased was a chief or a man of importance, the whole village is +abandoned and a new one built on another site.[449] + +[Footnote 415: Stefan Lehner, "Bukaua," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch +Neu-Guinea_, iii. (Berlin, 1911) pp. 395-485.] + +[Footnote 416: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ pp. 399, 433 _sq._, 437 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 417: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ p. 399.] + +[Footnote 418: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ p. 414.] + +[Footnote 419: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ p. 466, 468.] + +[Footnote 420: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ p. 469.] + +[Footnote 421: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ pp. 462 _sqq._, 466, 467, 471 +_sqq._] + +[Footnote 422: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ p. 462.] + +[Footnote 423: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ pp. 444 _sq._] + +[Footnote 424: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ pp. 434 _sqq._; compare _id._, pp. +478 _sq._] + +[Footnote 425: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ p. 462.] + +[Footnote 426: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ pp. 430, 470, 472 _sq._, 474 _sq._] + +[Footnote 427: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ p. 403.] + +[Footnote 428: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ pp. 402-410.] + +[Footnote 429: S. Lehner, _op. cit._ pp. 410-414.] + +[Footnote 430: Ch. Keysser, "Aus dem Leben der Kaileute," in R. +Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, iii. 3-6.] + +[Footnote 431: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 12 _sq._, 17-20.] + +[Footnote 432: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 9-12.] + +[Footnote 433: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 111.] + +[Footnote 434: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 113.] + +[Footnote 435: Compare Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of +Borneo_ (London, 1912), ii. 221 _sq._: "It has often been attempted to +exhibit the mental life of savage peoples as profoundly different from +our own; to assert that they act from motives, and reach conclusions by +means of mental processes, so utterly different from our own motives and +processes that we cannot hope to interpret or understand their behaviour +unless we can first, by some impossible or at least by some hitherto +undiscovered method, learn the nature of these mysterious motives and +processes. These attempts have recently been renewed in influential +quarters. If these views were applied to the savage peoples of the +interior of Borneo, we should characterise them as fanciful delusions +natural to the anthropologist who has spent all the days of his life in +a stiff collar and a black coat upon the well-paved ways of civilised +society. We have no hesitation in saying that, the more intimately one +becomes acquainted with these pagan tribes, the more fully one realises +the close similarity of their mental processes to one's own. Their +primary impulses and emotions seem to be in all respects like our own. +It is true that they are very unlike the typical civilised man of some +of the older philosophers, whose every action proceeded from a nice and +logical calculation of the algebraic sum of pleasures and pains to be +derived from alternative lines of conduct; but we ourselves are equally +unlike that purely mythical personage. The Kayan or the Iban often acts +impulsively in ways which by no means conduce to further his best +interests or deeper purposes; but so do we also. He often reaches +conclusions by processes that cannot be logically justified; but so do +we also. He often holds, and upon successive occasions acts upon, +beliefs that are logically inconsistent with one another; but so do we +also." For further testimonies to the reasoning powers of savages, which +it would be superfluous to affirm if it were not at present a fashion +with some theorists to deny, see _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. +420 _sqq._ And on the tendency of the human mind in general, not of the +savage mind in particular, calmly to acquiesce in inconsistent and even +contradictory conclusions, I may refer to a note in _Adonis, Attis, +Osiris_, Second Edition, p. 4. But indeed to observe such contradictions +in practice the philosopher need not quit his own study.] + +[Footnote 436: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 111 _sq._] + +[Footnote 437: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 112.] + +[Footnote 438: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 140. As to the magical tubes +in which the sorcerer seals up some part of his victim's soul, see +_id._, p. 135.] + +[Footnote 439: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 140 _sq._] + +[Footnote 440: Mr. Keysser indeed affirms that in the mind of the Kai +sorcery "is regarded as the cause of all deaths" (_op. cit._ p. 102), +and again that "all men without exception die in consequence of the +baneful acts of these sorcerers and their accomplices" (p. 134); and +again that "even in the case of old people they assume sorcery to be the +cause of death; to sorcery, too, all misfortunes whatever are ascribed" +(p. 140). But that these statements are exaggerations seems to follow +from Mr. Keysser's own account of the wounds, sicknesses, and deaths +which these savages attribute to ghosts and not to sorcerers.] + +[Footnote 441: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 141.] + +[Footnote 442: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 133 _sq._] + +[Footnote 443: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 141 _sq._] + +[Footnote 444: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 80 _sq._, 142.] + +[Footnote 445: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 142.] + +[Footnote 446: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 82, 83.] + +[Footnote 447: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 82, 142 _sq._] + +[Footnote 448: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 83 _sq._, 143.] + +[Footnote 449: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 83.] + + + + +LECTURE XIII + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF GERMAN NEW GUINEA +(_continued_) + + +[Sidenote: Offerings to appease ghosts.] + +In the last lecture I gave you some account of the fear and awe which +the Kai of German New Guinea entertain for the spirits of the dead. +Believing that the ghost is endowed with all the qualities and faculties +which distinguished the man in his lifetime, they naturally dread most +the ghosts of warlike, cruel, violent, and passionate men, and take the +greatest pains to soothe their anger and win their favour. For that +purpose they give the departed spirit all sorts of things to take with +him to the far country. And in order that he may have the use of them it +is necessary to smash or otherwise spoil them. Thus the spear that is +given him must be broken, the pot must be shivered, the bag must be +torn, the palm-tree must be cut down. Fruits are offered to the ghost by +dashing them in pieces or hanging a bunch of them over the grave. +Objects of value, such as boars' tusks or dogs' teeth, are made over to +him by being laid on the corpse; but the economical savage removes these +precious things from the body at burial. All such offerings and +sacrifices, we are told, are made simply out of fear of the ghost. It is +no pleasure to a man to cut down a valuable palm-tree, which might have +helped to nourish himself and his family for years; he does it only lest +a worse thing should befall him at the hands of the departed +spirit.[450] + +[Sidenote: Mode of discovering the sorcerer who caused a death.] + +But the greatest service that the Kai can render to a dead man is to +take vengeance on the sorcerer who caused his death by witchcraft. The +first thing is to discover the villain, and in the search for him the +ghost obligingly assists his surviving kinsfolk. Sometimes, however, it +is necessary to resort to a stratagem in order to secure his help. Thus, +for example, one day while the ghost, blinded by the strong sunlight, is +cowering in a dark corner or reposing at full length in the grave, his +relatives will set up a low scaffold in a field, cover it with leaves, +and pile up over it a mass of the field fruits which belonged to the +dead man, so that the whole erection may appear to the eye of the +unsuspecting ghost a heap of taro, yams, and so forth, and nothing more. +But before the sun goes down, two or three men steal out from the house, +and ensconce themselves under the scaffold, where they are completely +concealed by the piled-up fruits. When darkness has fallen, out comes +the ghost and prowling about espies the heap of yams and taro. At sight +of the devastation wrought in his field he flies into a passion, and +curses and swears in the feeble wheezy whisper in which ghosts always +speak. In the course of his fluent imprecations he expresses a wish that +the miscreants who have wasted his substance may suffer so and so at the +hands of the sorcerer. That is just what the men in hiding have been +waiting for. No sooner do they hear the name of the sorcerer than they +jump up with a great shout; the startled ghost takes to his heels; and +all the people in the village come pouring out of the houses. Very glad +they are to know that the murderer has been found out, and sooner or +later they will have his blood.[451] + +[Sidenote: Another way of detecting the sorcerer.] + +Another mode of eliciting the requisite information from the ghost is +this. In order to allow him to communicate freely with his mouldering +body, his relations insert a tube through the earth of the grave down to +the corpse; then they sprinkle powdered lime on the grave. At night the +ghost comes along, picks up the powdered lime, and makes off in a bee +line for the village where the sorcerer who bewitched him resides. On +the way he drops some of the powder here and there, so that next +morning, on the principle of the paper-chase, his relatives can trace +his footsteps to the very door of his murderer. In many districts the +people tie a packet of lime to the knee of a corpse so that his ghost +may have it to hand when he wants it.[452] + +[Sidenote: Cross-questioning the ghost by means of fire.] + +But the favourite way of cross-questioning the ghost on subject of his +decease is by means of fire. A few men go out before nightfall from the +village and sit down in a row, one behind the other, on the path. The +man in front has a leaf-mat drawn like a hood over his head and back in +order that the ghost may not touch him from behind unawares. In his hand +he holds a glowing coal and some tinder, and as he puts the one to the +other he calls to the ghost, "Come, take, take, take; come, take, take, +take," and so on. Meantime his mates behind him are reckoning up the +names of all the men near and far who are suspected of sorcery, and a +portion of the village youth have clambered up trees and are on the +look-out for the ghost. If they do not see his body they certainly see +his eye twinkling in the gloom, though the uninstructed European might +easily mistake it for a glow-worm. No sooner do they catch sight of it +than they bawl out, "Come hither, fetch the fire, and burn him who burnt +thee." If the tinder blazes up at the name of a sorcerer, it is flung +towards the village where the man in question dwells. And if at the same +time a glow-worm is seen to move in the same direction, the people +entertain no doubt that the ghost has appeared and fetched the soul of +the fire.[453] + +[Sidenote: Necessity of destroying the sorcerer who caused a death.] + +In whichever way the author of the death may be detected, the avengers +of blood set out for the village of the miscreant and seek to take his +life. Almost all the wars between villages or tribes spring from such +expeditions. The sorcerer or sorcerers must be extirpated, nay all their +kith and kin must be destroyed root and branch, if the people are to +live in peace and quiet. The ghost of the dead calls, nay clamours for +vengeance, and if he does not get it, he will wreak his spite on his +negligent relations. Not only will he give them no luck in the chase, +but he will drive the wild swine into the fields to trample down and +root up the crops, and he will do them every mischief in his power. If +rain does not fall, so that the freshly planted root crops wither; or if +sickness is rife, the people recognise in the calamity the wrath of the +ghost, who can only be appeased by the slaughter of the wicked magician +or of somebody else. Hence the avengers of blood often do not set out +until a fresh death, an outbreak of sickness, failure in the chase, or +some other misfortune reminds the living of the duty they owe to the +dead. The Kai is not by nature warlike, and he might never go to war if +it were not that he dreads the vengeance of ghosts more than the wrath +of men.[454] + +[Sidenote: Slayers dread the ghosts of the slain.] + +If the expedition has been successful, if the enemy's village has been +surprised and stormed, the men and old women butchered, and the young +women taken prisoners, the warriors beat a hasty retreat with their +booty in order to be safe at home, or at least in the shelter of a +friendly village, before nightfall. Their reason for haste is the fear +of being overtaken in the darkness by the ghosts of their slaughtered +foes, who, powerless by day, are very dangerous and terrible by night. +Restlessly through the hours of darkness these unquiet spirits follow +like sleuth-hounds in the tracks of their retreating enemies, eager to +come up with them and by contact with the bloodstained weapons of their +slayers to recover the spiritual substance which they have lost. Not +till they have done so can they find rest and peace. That is why the +victors are careful not at first to bring back their weapons into the +village but to hide them somewhere in the bushes at a safe distance. +There they leave them for some days until the baffled ghosts may be +supposed to have given up the chase and returned, sad and angry, to +their mangled bodies in the charred ruins of their old home. The first +night after the return of the warriors is always the most anxious time; +all the villagers are then on the alert for fear of the ghosts; but if +the night passes quietly, their terror gradually subsides and gives +place to the dread of their surviving enemies.[455] + +[Sidenote: Seclusion of man-slayers from fear of their victims' ghosts.] + +As the victors in a raid are supposed to have more or less of the +soul-stuff or spiritual essence of their slain foes adhering to their +persons, none of their friends will venture to touch them for some time +after their return to the village. Everybody avoids them and goes +carefully out of their way. If during this time any of the villagers +suffers from a pain in his stomach, he thinks that he must have +inadvertently sat down where one of the warriors had sat before him. If +somebody endures the pangs of toothache, he makes sure that he must have +eaten a fruit which had been touched by one of the slayers. All the +refuse of the meals of these gallant men must be most carefully put away +lest a pig should devour it; for if it did do so, the animal would +certainly die, which would be a serious loss to the owner. Hence when +the warriors have satisfied their hunger, any food that remains over is +burnt or buried. The fighting men themselves are not very seriously +incommoded, or at all events endangered, by the ghosts of their victims; +for they have taken the precaution to disinfect themselves by the sap of +a certain creeper, which, if it does not render them absolutely immune +to ghostly influence, at least fortifies their constitution to a very +considerable extent.[456] + +[Sidenote: Feigned indignation of a man who has connived at the murder +of a relative.] + +Sometimes, instead of sending forth a band of warriors to ravage, burn, +and slaughter the whole male population of the village in which the +wicked sorcerer resides, the people of one village will come to a secret +understanding with the people of the sorcerer's village to have the +miscreant quietly put out of the way. A hint is given to the scoundrel's +next of kin, it may be his brother, son, or nephew, that if he will only +wink at the slaughter of his obnoxious relative, he will receive a +handsome compensation from the slayers. Should he privately accept the +offer, he is most careful to conceal his connivance at the deed of +blood, lest he should draw down on his head the wrath of his murdered +kinsman's ghost. So, when the deed is done and the murder is out, he +works himself up into a state of virtuous sorrow and indignation, covers +his head with the leaves of a certain plant, and chanting a dirge in +tones of heart-rending grief, marches straight to the village of the +murderers. There, on the public square, surrounded by an attentive +audience, he opens the floodgates of his eloquence and pours forth the +torrent of an aching heart. "You have slain my kinsman," says he, "you +are wicked men! How could you kill so good a man, who conferred so many +benefits on me in his lifetime? I knew nothing of the plot. Had I had an +inkling of it, I would have foiled it. How can I now avenge his death? I +have no property with which to hire men of war to go and punish his +murderers. Yet in spite of everything my murdered kinsman will not +believe in my innocence! He will be angry with me, he will pay me out, +he will do me all the harm he can. Therefore do you declare openly +whether I had any share whatever in his death, and come and strew lime +on my head in order that he may convince himself of my innocence." This +appeal of injured innocence meets with a ready response. The people dust +the leaves on his head with powdered lime; and so, decorated with the +white badge of spotless virtue, and enriched with a boar's tusk or other +valuable object as the price of his compliance, he returns to his +village with a conscience at peace with all the world, reflecting with +satisfaction on the profitable transaction he has just concluded, and +laughing in his sleeve at the poor deluded ghost of his murdered +relative.[457] + +[Sidenote: Comedy acted to deceive the ghost of a murdered kinsman.] + +Sometimes the worthy soul who thus for a valuable consideration consents +to waive all his personal feelings, will even carry his self-abnegation +so far as to be present and look on at the murder of his kinsman. But +true to his principles he will see to it that the thing is done decently +and humanely. When the struggle is nearly over and the man is down, +writhing on the ground with the murderers busy about him, his loving +kinsman will not suffer them to take an unfair advantage of their +superior numbers to cut him up alive with their knives, to chop him with +their axes, or to smash him with their clubs. He will only allow them to +stab him with their spears, repeating of course the stabs again and +again till the victim ceases to writhe and quiver, and lies there dead +as a stone. Then begins the real time of peril for the virtuous kinsman +who has been a spectator and director of the scene; for the ghost of the +murdered man has now deserted its mangled body, and, still blinded with +blood and smarting with pain, might easily and even excusably +misunderstand the situation. It is essential, therefore, in order to +prevent a painful misapprehension, that the kinsman should at once and +emphatically disclaim any part or parcel in the murder. This he +accordingly does in language which leaves no room for doubt or +ambiguity. He falls into a passion: he rails at the murderers: he +proclaims his horror at their deed. All the way home he refuses to be +comforted. He upbraids the assassins, he utters the most frightful +threats against them; he rushes at them to snatch their weapons from +them and dash them in pieces. But they easily wrench the weapons from +his unresisting hands. For the whole thing is only a piece of acting. +His sole intention is that the ghost may see and hear it all, and being +convinced of the innocence of his dear kinsman may not punish him with +bad crops, wounds, sickness, and other misfortunes. Even when he has +reached the village, he keeps up the comedy for a time, raging, fretting +and fuming at the irreparable loss he has sustained by the death of his +lamented relative.[458] + +[Sidenote: Pretence of avenging the ghost of a murdered sorcerer.] + +Similarly when a chief has among his subjects a particular sorcerer whom +he fears but with whom he is professedly on terms of friendship, he will +sometimes engage a man to murder him. No sooner, however, is the murder +perpetrated than the chief who bespoke it hastens in seeming indignation +with a band of followers to the murderer's village. The assassin, of +course, has got a hint of what is coming, and he and his friends take +care not to be at home when the chief arrives on his mission of +vengeance. Balked by the absence of their victim the avengers of blood +breathe out fire and slaughter, but content themselves in fact with +smashing an old pot or two, knocking down a deserted hut, and perhaps +felling a banana-tree or a betel-palm. Having thus given the ghost of +the murdered man an unequivocal proof of the sincerity of their +friendship, they return quietly home.[459] + +[Sidenote: The Kai afraid of ghosts.] + +The habits of Kai ghosts are to some extent just the contrary of those +of living men. They sleep by day and go about their business by night, +when they frighten people and play them all kinds of tricks. Usually +they appear in the form of animals. As light has the effect of blinding +or at least dazzling them, they avoid everything bright, and hence it is +easy to scare them away by means of fire. That is why no native will go +even a short way in the dark without a bamboo torch. If it is absolutely +necessary to go out by night, which he is very loth to do, he will hum +and haw loudly before quitting the house so as to give notice to any +lurking ghost that he is coming with a light, which allows the ghost to +scuttle out of his way in good time. The people of a village live in +terror above all so long as a corpse remains unburied in it; after +nightfall nobody would then venture out of sight of the houses. When a +troop of people go by night to a neighbouring village with flaring +torches in their hands, nobody is willing to walk last on the path; they +all huddle together for safety in the middle, till one man braver than +the rest consents to act as rearguard. The rustling of a bush in the +evening twilight startles them with the dread of some ghastly +apparition; the sight of a pig in the gloaming is converted by their +fears into the vision of a horrible spectre. If a man stumbles, it is +because a ghost has pushed him, and he fancies he perceives the +frightful thing in a tree-stump or any chance object. No wonder a Kai +man fears ghosts, since he believes that the mere touch of one of them +may be fatal. People who fall down in fits or in faints are supposed to +have been touched by ghosts; and on coming to themselves they will tell +their friends with the most solemn assurance how they felt the +death-cold hand of the ghost on their body, and how a shudder ran +through their whole frame at contact with the uncanny being.[460] + +[Sidenote: Services rendered to the living by ghosts of the dead.] + +But it would be a mistake to imagine that the ghosts of the dead are a +source of danger, annoyance, and discomfort, and nothing more. That is +not so. They may and do render the Kai the most material services in +everyday life, particularly by promoting the supply of food both +vegetable and animal. I have said that these practical savages stand +towards their departed kinsfolk on a strictly commercial footing; and I +will now illustrate the benefits which the Kai hope to receive from the +ghosts in return for all the respect and attention lavished on them. In +the first place, then, so long as a ghost remains in the neighbourhood +of the village, it is expected of him that he shall make the crops +thrive and neither tread them down himself nor allow wild pigs to do so. +The expectation is reasonable, yet the conduct of the ghost does not +always answer to it. Occasionally, whether out of sheer perverseness or +simple absence of mind, he will sit down in a field; and wherever he +does so, he makes a hollow where the fruits will not grow. Indeed any +fruit that he even touches with his foot in passing, shrivels up. Where +these things have happened, the people offer boiled taro and a few crabs +to the ghosts to induce them to keep clear of the crops and to repose +their weary limbs elsewhere than in the tilled fields.[461] + +[Sidenote: Ghosts help Kai hunters to kill game.] + +But the most important service which the dead render to the living is +the good luck which they vouchsafe to hunters. Hence in order to assure +himself of the favour of the dead the hunter hangs his nets on a grave +before he uses them. If a man was a good and successful hunter in his +lifetime, his ghost will naturally be more than usually able to assist +his brethren in the craft after his death. For that reason when such a +man has just died, the people, to adopt a familiar proverb, hasten to +make hay while the sun shines by hunting very frequently, in the +confident expectation of receiving ghostly help from the deceased +hunter. In the evening, when they return from the chase, they lay a +small portion of their bag near his grave, scatter a powder which +possesses the special virtue of attracting ghosts, and call out, +"So-and-so, come and eat; here I set down food for you, it is a part of +all we have." If after such an offering and invocation the night wind +rustles the tops of the trees or shakes the thatch of leaves on the +roofs, they know that the ghost is in the village. The twinkle of a +glow-worm near his grave is the glitter of his eye. In the morning, too, +before they sally forth to the woods, one of the next of kin to the dead +huntsman will go betimes to his grave, stamp on it to waken the sleeper +below, and call out, "So-and-so, come! we are now about to go out +hunting. Help us to a good bag!" If they have luck, they praise the +deceased as a good spirit and in the evening supply his wants again with +food, tobacco, and betel. The sacrifice, as usually happens in such +cases, does not call for any great exercise of self-denial; since the +spirit consumes only the spiritual essence of the good things, while he +leaves their material substance to be enjoyed by the living.[462] + +[Sidenote: Ill-treatment of a ghost who fails to help hunters.] + +However, it sometimes happens that the ghost disappoints them, and that +the hunters return in the evening hungry and empty-handed. This may even +be repeated day after day, and still the people will not lose hope. They +think that the ghost is perhaps busy working in his field, or that he +has gone on a visit and will soon come home. To give him time to do his +business or see his friends at leisure, they will remain in the village +for several days. Then, when they imagine that he must surely have +returned, they go out into the woods and try their luck again. But +should there still be no ghost and no game, they begin to be seriously +alarmed. They think that some evil must have befallen him. But if time +goes on and still he gives no sign and the game continues scarce and +shy, their feelings towards the ghost undergo a radical alteration. +Passion getting the better of prudence, they will even reproach him with +ingratitude, taunt him with his uselessness, and leave him to starve. +Should he after that still remain deaf to their railing and regardless +of the short commons to which they have reduced him, they will discharge +a volley of abuse at his grave and trouble themselves about him no more. +However, if, not content with refusing his valuable assistance in the +chase, the ghost should actually blight the crops or send wild boars +into the fields to trample them down, the patience of the long-suffering +people is quite exhausted: the vials of their wrath overflow; and +snatching up their cudgels in a fury they belabour his grave till his +bones ache, or even drive him with blows and curses altogether from the +village.[463] + +[Sidenote: The journey of ghosts to the spirit land.] + +Such an outcast ghost, if he does not seek his revenge by prowling in +the neighbourhood and preying on society at large, will naturally +bethink himself of repairing to his long home in the under world. For +sooner or later the spirits of the dead congregate there. It is +especially when the flesh has quite mouldered away from his bones that +the ghost packs up his little traps and sets out for the better land. +The entrance to the abode of bliss is a cave to the west of Saddle +Mountain. Here in the gully there is a projecting tree-stump on which +the ghosts perch waiting for a favourable moment to jump into the mouth +of the cavern. When a slight earthquake is felt, a Kai man will often +say, "A ghost has just leaped from the tree into the cave; that is why +the earth is shaking." Down below the ghosts are received by Tulmeng, +lord of the nether world. Often he appears in a canoe to ferry them over +to the further shore. "Blood or wax?" is the laconic question which he +puts to the ghost on the bank. He means to say, "Were you killed or were +you done to death by magic?" For it is with wax that the sorcerer stops +up the fatal little tubes in which he encloses the souls of his enemies. +And the reason why the lord of the dead puts the question to the +newcomer is that the ghosts of the slain and the ghosts of the bewitched +dwell in separate places. Right in front of the land of souls rises a +high steep wall, which cannot be climbed even by ghosts. The spirits +have accordingly to make their way through it and thereupon find +themselves in their new abode. According to some Kai, before the ghosts +are admitted to ghost land they must swing to and fro on a rope and then +drop into water, where they are washed clean of bloodstains and all +impurity; after which they ascend, spick and span, the last slope to the +village of ghosts. + +[Sidenote: Life of ghosts in the other world.] + +Tulmeng has the reputation of being a very stern ruler in his weird +realm, but the Kai really know very little about him. He beats +refractory souls, and it is essential that every ghost should have his +ears and nose bored. The operation is very painful, and to escape it +most people take the precaution of having their ears and noses bored in +their lifetime. Life in the other world goes on just like life in this +one. Houses are built exactly like houses on earth, and there as here +pigs swarm in the streets. Fields are tilled and crops are got in; +ghostly men marry ghostly women, who give birth to ghostly children. The +same old round of love and hate, of quarrelling and fighting, of battle, +murder and sudden death goes on in the shadowy realm below ground just +as in the more solid world above ground. Sorcerers are there also, and +they breed just as bad blood among the dead as among the living. All +things indeed are the same except for their shadowy unsubstantial +texture.[464] + +[Sidenote: Ghosts die and turn into animals.] + +But the ghosts do not live for ever in the nether world. They die the +second death and turn into animals, generally into cuscuses. In the +shape of animals they haunt the wildest, deepest, darkest glens of the +rugged mountains. No one but the owner has the right to set foot on such +haunted ground. He may even kill the ghostly animals. Any one else who +dared to disturb them in their haunts would do so at the peril of his +life. But even the owner of the land who has killed one of the ghostly +creatures is bound to appease the spirit of the dead beast. He may not +cut up the carcase at once, but must leave it for a time, perhaps for a +whole night, after laying on it presents which are intended to mollify +and soothe the injured spirit. In placing the gifts on the body he says, +"Take the gifts and leave us that which was a game animal, that we may +eat it." When the animal's ghost has appropriated the spiritual essence +of the offerings, the hunter and his family may eat the carcase. Should +one of these ghostly creatures die or be killed, its spirit turns either +into an insect or into an ant-hill. Children who would destroy such an +ant-hill or throw little darts at it, are warned by their elders not to +indulge in such sacrilegious sport. When the insect also dies, the +series of spiritual transformations is at an end.[465] + +[Sidenote: Ghosts of persons eminent for good or evil in their lives are +remembered and appealed to for help long after their deaths. Prayers to +ghosts for rain, a good crop of yams, and so forth.] + +The ghosts whose help is invoked by hunters and farmers are commonly the +spirits of persons who have lately died, since such spirits linger for a +time in the neighbourhood, or rather in the memory of the people. But +besides these spirits of the recent dead there are certain older ghosts +who may be regarded as permanent patrons of hunting and other +departments of life and nature, because their fame has survived long +after the men or women themselves were gathered to their fathers. For +example, men who were bold and resolute in battle during their life will +be invoked long after their death, whenever a stout heart is needed for +some feat of daring. And men who were notorious thieves and villains in +the flesh will be invited, long after their bodies have mouldered in the +grave, to lend their help when a deed of villainy is to be done. The +names of men or women who were eminent for good or evil in their lives +survive indefinitely in the memory of the tribe. Thus before a battle +many a Kai warrior will throw something over the enemy's village and as +he does so he will softly call on two ghosts, "We and Gunang, ye two +heroes, come and guard me and keep the foes from me, that they may not +be able to hurt me! But stand by me that I may be able to riddle them +with spears!" Again, when a magician wishes to cause an earthquake, he +will take a handful of ashes, wrap them in certain leaves, and pronounce +the following spell over the packet: "Thou man Saiong, throw about +everything that exists; houses, villages, paths, fields, bushes and tall +forest trees, yams, and taro, throw them all hither and thither; break +and smash everything, but leave me in peace!" While he utters this +incantation or prayer, the sorcerer's body itself twitches and quivers +more and more violently, till the hut creaks and cracks and his strength +is exhausted. Then he throws the packet of ashes out of the hut, and +after that the earthquake is sure to follow sooner or later. So when +they want rain, the Kai call upon two ghostly men named Balong and Batu, +or Dinding and Bojang, to drive away a certain woman named Yondimi, so +that the rain which she is holding up may fall upon the earth. The +prayer for rain addressed to the ghosts is combined with a magical spell +pronounced over a stone. And when rain has fallen in abundance and the +Kai wish to make it cease, they strew hot ashes on the stone or lay it +in a wood fire. On the principle of homoeopathic magic the heat of the +ashes or of the fire is supposed to dry up the rain. Thus in these +ceremonies for the production or cessation of rain we see that religion, +represented by the invocation of the ghosts, goes hand in hand with +magic, represented by the hocus-pocus with the stone. Again, certain +celebrated ghosts are invoked to promote the growth of taro and yams. +Thus to ensure a good crop of taro, the suppliant will hold a bud of +taro in his hand and pray, "O Mrs. Zewanong, may my taro leaves unfold +till they are as broad as the petticoat which covers thy loins!" When +they are planting yams, they pray to two women named Tendung and Molewa +that they would cause the yams to put forth as long suckers as the +strings which the women twist to make into carrying-nets. Before they +dig up the yams, they take a branch and drive with it the evil spirits +or ghosts from the house in which the yams are to be stored. Having +effected this clearance they stick the branch in the roof of the house +and appoint a certain ghostly man named Ehang to act as warden. Again, +fowlers invoke a married pair of ghosts called Manze and Tamingoka to +frighten the birds from the trees and drive them on the limed twigs. Or +they pray to a ghostly woman named Lane, saying, "In all places of the +neighbourhood shake the betel-nuts from the palms, that they may fall +down to me on this fruit-tree and knock the berries from the boughs!" +But by the betel-nuts the fowler in veiled language means the birds, +which are to come in flocks to the fruit-tree and be caught fast by the +lime on the branches. Again, when a fisherman wishes to catch eels, he +prays to two ghosts called Yambi and Ngigwali, saying: "Come, ye two +men, and go down into the holes of the pool; smite the eels in them, and +draw them out on the bank, that I may kill them!" Once more, when a +child suffers from enlarged spleen, which shews as a swelling on its +body, the parent will pray to a ghost named Aidolo for help in these +words: "Come and help this child! It is big with a ball of sickness. Cut +it up and squeeze and squash it, that the blood and pus may drain away +and my child may be made whole!" To give point to the prayer the +petitioner simultaneously pretends to cut a cross on the swelling with a +knife.[466] + +[Sidenote: Possible development of departmental gods out of ghosts.] + +From this it appears that men and women who impressed their +contemporaries by their talents, their virtues, or their vices in their +lifetime, are sometimes remembered long after their death and continue +to be invoked by their descendants for help in the particular department +in which they had formerly rendered themselves eminent either for good +or for evil. Such powerful and admired or dreaded ghosts might easily +grow in time into gods and goddesses, who are worshipped as presiding +over the various departments of nature and of human life. There is good +reason to think that among many tribes and nations of the world the +history of a god, if it could be recovered, would be found to be the +history of a spirit who served his apprenticeship as a ghost before he +was promoted to the rank of deity. + +[Sidenote: Kai lads at circumcision supposed to be swallowed by a +monster. Bull-roarers.] + +Before quitting the Kai tribe I will mention that they, like the other +tribes on this coast, practise circumcision and appear to associate the +custom more or less vaguely with the spirits of the dead. Like their +neighbours, they impress women with the belief that at circumcision the +lads are swallowed by a monster, who can only be induced to disgorge +them by the bribe of much food and especially of pigs, which are +accordingly bred and kept nominally for this purpose, but really to +furnish a banquet for the men alone. The ceremony is performed at +irregular intervals of several years. A long hut, entered through a high +door at one end and tapering away at the other, is built in a lonely +part of the forest. It represents the monster which is to swallow the +novices in its capacious jaws. The process of deglutition is represented +as follows. In front of the entrance to the hut a scaffold is erected +and a man mounts it. The novices are then led up one by one and passed +under the scaffold. As each comes up, the man overhead makes a gesture +of swallowing, while at the same time he takes a great gulp of water +from a coco-nut flask. The trembling novice is now supposed to be in the +maw of the monster; but a pig is offered for his redemption, the man on +the scaffold, as representative of the beast, accepts the offering, a +gurgling sound is heard, and the water which he had just gulped descends +in a jet on the novice, who now goes free. The actual circumcision +follows immediately on this impressive pantomime. The monster who +swallows the lads is named Ngosa, which means "Grandfather"; and the +same name is given to the bull-roarers which are swung at the festival. +The Kai bull-roarer is a lance-shaped piece of palm-wood, more or less +elaborately carved, which being swung at the end of a string emits the +usual droning, booming sound. When they are not in use, the instruments +are kept, carefully wrapt up, in the men's house, which no woman may +enter. Only the old men have the right to undo these precious bundles +and take out the sacred bull-roarers. Women, too, are strictly excluded +from the neighbourhood of the circumcision ground; any who intrude on it +are put to death. The mythical monster who is supposed to haunt the +ground is said to be very dangerous to the female sex. When the novices +go forth to be swallowed by him in the forest, the women who remain in +the village weep and wail; and they rejoice greatly when the lads come +back safe and sound.[467] + +[Sidenote: The Tami Islanders of Huon Gulf.] + +The last tribe of German New Guinea to which I shall invite your +attention are the Tami. Most of them live not on the mainland but in a +group of islands in Huon Gulf, to the south-east of Yabim. They are of a +purer Melanesian stock than most of the tribes on the neighbouring coast +of New Guinea. The German missionary Mr. G. Bamler, who lived amongst +them for ten years and knows the people and their language intimately, +thinks that they may even contain a strong infusion of Polynesian +blood.[468] They are a seafaring folk, who extend their voyages all +along the coast for the purpose of trade, bartering mats, pearls, fish, +coco-nuts, and other tree-fruits which grow on their islands for taro, +bananas, sugar-cane, and sago, which grow on the mainland.[469] + +[Sidenote: The long soul and the short soul.] + +In the opinion of these people every man has two souls, a long one and a +short one. The long soul is identified with the shadow. It is only +loosely attached to its owner, wandering away from his body in sleep and +returning to it when he wakes with a start. The seat of the long soul is +in the stomach. When the man dies, the long soul quits his body and +appears to his relations at a distance, who thus obtain the first +intimation of his decease. Having conveyed the sad intelligence to them, +the long soul departs by way of Maligep, on the west coast of New +Britain, to a village on the north coast, the inhabitants of which +recognise the Tami ghosts as they flit past.[470] + +[Sidenote: Departure of the short soul to Lamboam, the nether world.] + +The short soul, on the other hand, never leaves the body in life but +only after death. Even then it tarries for a time in the neighbourhood +of the body before it takes its departure for Lamboam, which is the +abode of the dead in the nether world. The Tami bury their dead in +shallow graves under or near the houses. They collect in a coco-nut +shell the maggots which swarm from the decaying corpse; and when the +insects cease to swarm, they know that the short soul has gone away to +its long home. It is the short soul which receives and carries away with +it the offerings that are made to the deceased. These offerings serve a +double purpose; they form the nucleus of the dead man's property in the +far country, and they ensure him a friendly reception on his arrival. +For example, the soul shivers with cold, when it first reaches the +subterranean realm, and the other ghosts, the old stagers, obligingly +heat stones to warm it up.[471] + +[Sidenote: Dilemma of the Tami.] + +However, the restless spirit returns from time to time to haunt and +terrify the sorcerer, who was the cause of its death. But its threats +are idle; it can really do him very little harm. Yet it keeps its +ghostly eye on its surviving relatives to see that they do not stand on +a friendly footing with the wicked sorcerer. Strictly speaking the Tami +ought to avenge his death, but as a matter of fact they do not. The +truth of it is that the Tami do a very good business with the people on +the mainland, among whom the sorcerer is usually to be found; and the +amicable relations which are essential to the maintenance of commerce +would unquestionably suffer if a merchant were to indulge his resentment +so far as to take his customer's head instead of his sago and bananas. +These considerations reduce the Tami to a painful dilemma. If they +gratify the ghost they lose a customer; if they keep the customer they +must bitterly offend the ghost, who will punish them for their +disrespect to his memory. In this delicate position the Tami endeavour +to make the best of both worlds. On the one hand, by loudly professing +their wrath and indignation against the guilty sorcerer they endeavour +to appease the ghost; and on the other hand, by leaving the villain +unmolested they do nothing to alienate their customers.[472] + +[Sidenote: Funeral and mourning customs of the Tami.] + +But if they do not gratify the desire for vengeance of the blood-thirsty +ghost, they are at great pains to testify their respect for him in all +other ways. The whole village takes part in the mourning and lamentation +for a death. The women dance death dances, the men lend a hand in the +preparations for the burial. All festivities are stopped: the drums are +silent. As the people believe that when anybody has died, the ghosts of +his dead kinsfolk gather in the village and are joined by other ghosts, +they are careful not to leave the mourners alone, exposed to the too +pressing attentions of the spectral visitors; they keep the bereaved +family company, especially at night; indeed, if the weather be fine, the +whole population of the village will encamp round the temporary hut +which is built on the grave. This watch at the grave lasts about eight +days. The watchers are supported and comforted in the discharge of their +pious duty by a liberal allowance of food and drink. Nor are the wants +of the ghost himself forgotten. Many families offer him taro broth at +this time. The period of mourning lasts two or three years. During the +first year the observances prescribed by custom are strictly followed, +and the nearest relations must avoid publicity. After a year they are +allowed more freedom; for example, the widow may lay aside the heavy +net, which is her costume in full mourning, and may replace it by a +lighter one; moreover, she may quit the house. At the end of the long +period of mourning, dances are danced in honour of the deceased. They +begin in the evening and last all night till daybreak. The mourners on +these occasions smear their heads, necks, and breasts with black earth. +A great quantity of food, particularly of pigs and taro broth, has been +made ready; for the whole village, and perhaps a neighbouring village +also, has been invited to share in the festivity, which may last eight +or ten days, if the provisions suffice. The dances begin with a gravity +and solemnity appropriate to a memorial of the dead; but towards the +close the performers indulge in a lighter vein and act comic pieces, +which so tickle the fancy of the spectators, that many of them roll on +the ground with laughter. Finally, the temporary hut erected on the +grave is taken down and the materials burned. As the other ghosts of the +village are believed to be present in attendance on the one who is the +guest of honour, all the villagers bring offerings and throw them into +the fire. However, persons who are not related to the ghosts may snatch +the offerings from the flames and convert them to their own use. +Precious objects, such as boars' tusks and dogs' teeth, are not +committed to the fire but merely swung over it in a bag, while the name +of the person who offers the valuables in this economical fashion is +proclaimed aloud for the satisfaction of the ghost. With these dances, +pantomimes, and offerings the living have discharged the last duties of +respect and affection to the dead. Yet for a while his ghost is thought +to linger as a domestic or household spirit; but the time comes when he +is wholly forgotten.[473] + +[Sidenote: Bones of the dead dug up and kept in the house for a time.] + +Many families, however, not content with the observance of these +ordinary ceremonies, dig up the bodies of their dead when the flesh has +mouldered away, redden the bones with ochre, and keep them bundled up in +the house for two or three years, when these relics of mortality are +finally committed to the earth. The intention of thus preserving the +bones for years in the house is not mentioned, but no doubt it is to +maintain a closer intimacy with the departed spirit than seems possible +if his skeleton is left to rot in the grave. When he is at last laid in +the ground, the tomb is enclosed by a strong wooden fence and planted +with ornamental shrubs. Yet in the course of years, as the memory of the +deceased fades away, his grave is neglected, the fence decays, the +shrubs run wild; another generation, which knew him not, will build a +house on the spot, and if in digging the foundations they turn up his +bleached and mouldering bones, it is nothing to them: why should they +trouble themselves about the spirit of a man or woman whose very name is +forgotten?[474] + +[Footnote 450: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 142 _sq._] + +[Footnote 451: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 143.] + +[Footnote 452: Ch. Keysser, _l.c._] + +[Footnote 453: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 143 _sq._] + +[Footnote 454: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 62 _sq._] + +[Footnote 455: Ch. Keysser, pp. 64 _sqq._, 147 _sq._] + +[Footnote 456: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 132.] + +[Footnote 457: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 148.] + +[Footnote 458: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 148 _sq._] + +[Footnote 459: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 149.] + +[Footnote 460: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 147.] + +[Footnote 461: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 145.] + +[Footnote 462: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ p. 145.] + +[Footnote 463: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 145 _sq._] + +[Footnote 464: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 149 _sq._] + +[Footnote 465: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 112, 150 _sq._] + +[Footnote 466: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 151-154. In this passage the +ghosts are spoken of simply as spirits (_Geister_); but the context +proves that the spirits in question are those of the dead.] + +[Footnote 467: Ch. Keysser, _op. cit._ pp. 34-40.] + +[Footnote 468: G. Bamler, "Tami," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, +iii. (Berlin, 1911) p. 489; compare _ib._ p. vii.] + +[Footnote 469: H. Zahn, "Die Jabim," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch +Neu-Guinea_, iii. 315 _sq._] + +[Footnote 470: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ p. 518.] + +[Footnote 471: G. Bamler, _l.c._] + +[Footnote 472: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 518 _sq._] + +[Footnote 473: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 519-522.] + +[Footnote 474: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ p. 518.] + + + + +LECTURE XIV + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF GERMAN AND DUTCH NEW +GUINEA + + +[Sidenote: The Tami doctrine of souls and gods. The Tago spirits, +represented by masked men.] + +At the close of the last lecture I dealt with the Tami, a people of +Melanesian stock who inhabit a group of islands off the mainland of New +Guinea. I explained their theory of the human soul. According to them, +every man has two distinct souls, a long one and a short one, both of +which survive his death, but depart in different directions, one of them +repairing to the lower world, and the other being last sighted off the +coast of New Britain. But the knowledge which these savages possess of +the spiritual world is not limited to the souls of men; they are +acquainted with several deities (_buwun_), who live in the otherwise +uninhabited island of Djan. They are beings of an amorous disposition, +and though their real shape is that of a fish's body with a human head, +they can take on the form of men in order to seduce women. They also +cause epidemics and earthquakes; yet the people shew them no respect, +for they believe them to be dull-witted as well as lecherous. At most, +if a fearful epidemic is raging, they will offer the gods a lean little +pig or a mangy cur; and should an earthquake last longer than usual they +will rap on the ground, saying, "Hullo, you down there! easy a little! +We men are still here." They also profess acquaintance with a god named +Anuto, who created the heaven and the earth together with the first man +and woman. He is a good being; nobody need be afraid of him. At +festivals and meat markets the Tami offer him the first portion in a +little basket, which a lad carries away into the wood and leaves there. +As usual, the deity consumes only the soul of the offering; the bearer +eats the material substance.[475] The Tami further believe in certain +spirits called Tago which are very old, having been created at the same +time as the village. Every family or clan possesses its own familiar +spirits of this class. They are represented by men who disguise their +bodies in dense masses of sago leaves and their faces in grotesque masks +with long hooked noses. In this costume the maskers jig it as well as +the heavy unwieldy disguise allows them to do. But the dance consists in +little more than running round and round in a circle, with an occasional +hop; the orchestra stands in the middle, singing and thumping drums. +Sometimes two or three of the masked men will make a round of the +village, pelting the men with pebbles or hard fruits, while the women +and children scurry out of their way. When they are not in use the masks +are hidden away in a hut in the forest, which women and children may not +approach. Their secret is sternly kept: any betrayal of it is punished +with death. The season for the exhibition of these masked dances recurs +only once in ten or twelve years, but it extends over a year or +thereabout. During the whole of the dancing-season, curiously enough, +coco-nuts are strictly tabooed; no person may eat them, so that the +unused nuts accumulate in thousands. As coco-nuts ordinarily form a +daily article of diet with the Tami, their prohibition for a year is +felt by the people as a privation. The meaning of the prohibition and +also of the masquerades remains obscure.[476] + +[Sidenote: The superhuman beings with whom the Tami are chiefly +concerned are the souls of the dead. Offerings to the dead.] + +But while the Tami believe in gods and spirits of various sorts, the +superhuman beings with whom they chiefly concern themselves are the +souls of the dead. On this subject Mr. Bamler writes: "All the spirits +whom we have thus far described are of little importance in the life and +thought of the Tami; they are remembered only on special occasions. The +spirits who fill the thoughts and attract the attention of the Tami are +the _kani_, that is, the souls of the departed. The Tami therefore +practise the worship of ancestors. Yet the memory of ancestors does not +reach far back; people occupy themselves only with the souls of those +relatives whom they have personally known. Hence the worship seldom +extends beyond the grandfather, even when a knowledge of more remote +progenitors survives. An offering to the ancestors takes the form of a +little dish of boiled taro, a cigar, betel-nuts, and the like; but the +spirits partake only of the image or soul of the things offered, while +the material substance falls to the share of mankind. There is no fixed +rule as to the manner or time of the offering. It is left to the caprice +or childlike affection of the individual to decide how he will make it. +With most natives it is a simple matter of business, the throwing of a +sprat to catch a salmon; the man brings his offering only when he needs +the help of the spirits. There is very little ceremony about it. The +offerer will say, for example, 'There, I lay a cigar for you; smoke it +and hereafter drive fish towards me'; or, 'Accompany me on the journey, +and see to it that I do good business.' The place where the food is +presented is the shelf for pots and dishes under the roof. Thus they +imagine that the spirits exert a tolerably far-reaching influence over +all created things, and it is their notion that the spirits take +possession of the objects. In like manner the spirits can injure a man +by thwarting his plans, for example, by frightening away the fish, +blighting the fruits of the fields, and so forth. If the native is +forced to conclude that the spirits are against him, he has no +hesitation about deceiving them in the grossest manner. Should the +requisite sacrifices be inconvenient to him, he flatly refuses them, or +gives the shabbiest things he can find. In all this the native displays +the same craft and cunning which he is apt to practise in his dealings +with the whites. He fears the power which the spirit has over him, yet +he tries whether he cannot outwit the spirit like an arrant +block-head."[477] + +[Sidenote: Crude motives for sacrifice.] + +This account of the crude but quite intelligible motives which lead +these savages to sacrifice to the spirits of their dead may be commended +to the attention of writers on the history of religion who read into +primitive sacrifice certain subtle and complex ideas which it never +entered into the mind of primitive man to conceive and which, even if +they were explained to him, he would in all probability be totally +unable to understand. + +[Sidenote: Lamboam, the land of the dead.] + +According to the Tami, the souls of the dead live in the nether world. +The spirit-land is called Lamboam; the entrance to it is by a cleft in a +rock. The natives of the mainland also call Hades by the name of +Lamboam; but whereas according to them every village has its own little +Lamboam, the Tami hold that there is only one big Lamboam for everybody, +though it is subdivided into many mansions, of which every village has +one to itself. In Lamboam everything is fairer and more perfect than on +earth. The fruits are so plentiful that the blessed spirits can, if they +choose, give themselves up to the delights of idleness; the villages are +full of ornamental plants. Yet on the other hand we are informed that +life beneath the ground is very like life above it: people work and +marry, they squabble and wrangle, they fall sick and even die, just as +people do on earth. Souls which die the second death in Lamboam are +changed into vermin, such as ants and worms; however, others say that +they turn into wood-spirits, who do men a mischief in the fields. It is +not so easy as is commonly supposed to effect an entrance into the +spirit-land. You must pass a river, and even when you have crossed it +you will be very likely to suffer from the practical jokes which the +merry old ghosts play on a raw newcomer. A very favourite trick of +theirs is to send him up a pandanus tree to look for fruit. If he is +simple enough to comply, they catch him by the legs as he is swarming up +the trunk and drag him down, so that his whole body is fearfully +scratched, if not quite ripped up, by the rough bark. That is why people +put valuable things with the dead in the grave, in order that their +ghosts on arrival in Lamboam may have the wherewithal to purchase the +good graces of the facetious old stagers.[478] + +[Sidenote: Return of the ghosts to earth, sometimes in the form of +serpents.] + +However, even when the ghosts have succeeded in effecting a lodgment in +Lamboam, they are not strictly confined to it. They can break bounds at +any moment and return to the upper air. This they do particularly when +any of their surviving relations is at the point of death. Ghosts of +deceased kinsfolk and of others gather round the parting soul and attend +it to the far country. Yet sometimes, apparently, the soul sets out +alone, for the anxious relatives will call out to it, "Miss not the +way." But ghosts visit their surviving friends at other times than at +the moment of death. For example, some families possess the power of +calling up spirits in the form of serpents from the vasty deep. The +spirits whom they evoke are usually those of persons who have died quite +lately; for such ghosts cannot return to earth except in the guise of +serpents. In this novel shape they naturally feel shy and hide under a +mat. They come out only in the dusk of the evening or the darkness of +night and sit on the shelf for pots and dishes under the roof. They have +lost the faculty of speech and can express themselves only in whistles. +These whistles the seer, who is generally a woman, understands perfectly +and interprets to his or her less gifted fellows. In this way a +considerable body of information, more or less accurate in detail, is +collected as to life in the other world. More than that, it is even +possible for men, and especially for women, to go down alive into the +nether world and prosecute their enquiries at first hand among the +ghosts. Women who possess this remarkable faculty transmit it to their +daughters, so that the profession is hereditary. When anybody wishes to +ascertain how it fares with one of his dead kinsfolk in Lamboam, he has +nothing to do but to engage the services of one of these professional +mediums, giving her something which belonged to his departed friend. The +medium rubs her forehead with ginger, muttering an incantation, lies +down on the dead man's property, and falls asleep. Her soul then goes +down in a dream to deadland and elicits from the ghosts the required +information, which on waking from sleep she imparts to the anxious +enquirer.[479] + +[Sidenote: Sickness caused by a spirit.] + +Sickness accompanied by fainting fits is ascribed to the action of a +spirit, it may be the ghost of a near relation, who has carried off the +"long soul" of the sufferer. The truant soul is recalled by a blast +blown on a triton-shell, in which some chewed ginger or _massoi_ bark +has been inserted. The booming sound attracts the attention of the +vagrant spirit, while the smell of the bark or of the ginger drives away +the ghost.[480] + +[Sidenote: Tami lads supposed to be swallowed by a monster at +circumcision; the monster and the bull-roarer are both called _kani_.] + +The name which the Tami give to the spirits of the dead is _kani_; but +like other tribes in this part of New Guinea they apply the same term to +the bull-roarer and also to the mythical monster who is supposed to +swallow the lads at circumcision. The identity of the name for the three +things seems to prove that in the mind of the Tami the initiatory rites, +of which circumcision is the principal feature, are closely associated +with their conception of the state of the human soul after death, though +what the precise nature of the association may be still remains obscure. +Like their neighbours on the mainland of New Guinea, the Tami give out +that the novices at initiation are swallowed by a monster or dragon, who +only consents to disgorge his prey in consideration of a tribute of +pigs, the rate of the tribute being one novice one pig. In the act of +disgorging the lad the dragon bites him, and the bite is visible to all +in the cut called circumcision. The voice of the monster is heard in the +hum of the bull-roarers, which are swung at the ceremony in such numbers +and with such force that in still weather the booming sound may be heard +across the sea for many miles. To impress women and children with an +idea of the superhuman strength of the dragon deep grooves are cut in +the trunks of trees and afterwards exhibited to the uninitiated as the +marks made by the monster in tugging at the ropes which bound him to the +trees. However, the whole thing is an open secret to the married women, +though they keep their knowledge to themselves, fearing to incur the +penalty of death which is denounced upon all who betray the mystery. + +[Sidenote: The rite of circumcision. Seclusion and return of the newly +circumcised lads.] + +The initiatory rites are now celebrated only at intervals of many years. +When the time is come for the ceremony, women are banished from the +village and special quarters prepared for them elsewhere; for they are +strictly forbidden to set foot in the village while the monster or +spirit who swallows the lads has his abode in it. A special hut is then +built for the accommodation of the novices during the many months which +they spend in seclusion before and after the operation of circumcision. +The hut represents the monster; it consists of a framework of thin poles +covered with palm-leaf mats and tapering down at one end. Looked at from +a distance it resembles a whale. The backbone is composed of a betel-nut +palm, which has been grubbed up with its roots. The root with its fibres +represents the monster's head and hair, and under it are painted a pair +of eyes and a great mouth in red, white, and black. The passage of the +novices into the monster's belly is represented by causing them to +defile past a row of men who hold bull-roarers aloft over the heads of +the candidates. Before this march past takes place, each of the +candidates is struck by the chief with a bull-roarer on his chin and +brow. The operation of circumcising the lads is afterwards performed +behind a screen set up near the monster-shaped house. It is followed by +a great feast on swine's flesh. After their wounds are healed the +circumcised lads have still to remain in seclusion for three or four +months. Finally, they are brought back to the village with great pomp. +For this solemn ceremony their faces, necks, and breasts are whitened +with a thick layer of chalk, while red stripes, painted round their +mouths and eyes and prolonged to the ears, add to the grotesqueness of +their appearance. Their eyes are closed with a plaster of chalk, and +thus curiously arrayed and blindfolded they are led back to the village +square, where leave is formally given them to open their eyes. At the +entrance to the village they are received by the women, who weep for joy +and strew boiled field-fruits on the way. Next morning the newly +initiated lads wash off the crust of chalk, and have their hair, faces, +necks, and breasts painted bright red. This ends their time of +seclusion, which has lasted five or six months; they now rank as +full-grown men.[481] + +[Sidenote: Simulation of death and resurrection.] + +In these initiatory rites, as in the similar rites of the neighbouring +tribes on the mainland of New Guinea, we may perhaps detect a simulation +of death and of resurrection to a new and higher life. But why +circumcision should form the central feature of such a drama is a +question to which as yet no certain or even very probable answer can be +given. The bodily mutilations of various sorts, which in many savage +tribes mark the transition from boyhood to manhood, remain one of the +obscurest features in the life of uncultured races. That they are in +most cases connected with the great change which takes place in the +sexes at puberty seems fairly certain; but we are far from understanding +the ideas which primitive man has formed on this mysterious subject. + +[Sidenote: The natives of Dutch New Guinea.] + +That ends what I have to say as to the notions of death and a life +hereafter which are entertained by the natives of German New Guinea. We +now turn to the natives of Dutch New Guinea, who occupy roughly speaking +the western half of the great island. Our information as to their +customs and beliefs on this subject is much scantier, and accordingly my +account of them will be much briefer. + +[Sidenote: Geelvink Bay and Doreh Bay. The Noofoor or Noomfor people. +Their material culture and arts of life.] + +Towards the western end of the Dutch possession there is on the northern +coast a deep and wide indentation known as Geelvink Bay, which in its +north-west corner includes a very much smaller indentation known as +Doreh Bay. Scattered about in the waters of the great Geelvink Bay are +many islands of various sizes, such as Biak or Wiak, Jappen or Jobi, Run +or Ron, Noomfor, and many more. It is in regard to the natives who +inhabit the coasts or islands of Geelvink Bay that our information is +perhaps least imperfect, and it is accordingly with them that I shall +begin. In physical appearance, expression of the face, mode of wearing +the hair, and still more in manners and customs these natives of the +coast and islands differ from the natives of the mountains in the +interior. The name given to them by Dutch and German writers is Noofoor +or Noomfor. Their original home is believed to be the island of Biak or +Wiak, which lies at the northern entrance of the bay, and from which +they are supposed to have spread southwards and south-westwards to the +other islands and to the mainland of New Guinea.[482] They are a +handsomely built race. Their colour is usually dark brown, but in some +individuals it shades off to light-brown, while in others it deepens +into black-brown. The forehead is high and narrow; the eye is dark brown +or black with a lively expression; the nose broad and flat, the lips +thick and projecting. The cheekbones are not very high. The facial angle +agrees with that of Europeans. The hair is abundant and frizzly. The +people live in settled villages and subsist by agriculture, hunting, and +fishing. Their large communal houses are raised above the ground on +piles; on the coast they are built over the water. Each house has a long +gallery, one in front and one behind, and a long passage running down +the middle of the dwelling, with the rooms arranged on either side of +it. Each room has its own fireplace and is occupied by a single family. +One such communal house may contain from ten to twenty families with a +hundred or more men, women, and children, besides dogs, fowls, parrots, +and other creatures. When the house is built over the water, it is +commonly connected with the shore by a bridge; but in some places no +such bridge exists, and at high water the inmates can only communicate +with the shore by means of their canoes. The staple food of the people +is sago, which they extract from the sago-palm; but they also make use +of bread-fruit, together with millet, rice, and maize, whenever they can +obtain these cereals. Their flesh diet includes wild pigs, birds, fish, +and trepang. While some of them subsist mainly by fishing and commerce, +others devote themselves almost exclusively to the cultivation of their +gardens, which they lay out in clearings of the dense tropical forest, +employing chiefly axes and chopping-knives as their instruments of +tillage. Of ploughs they, like most savages, seem to know nothing. The +rice and other plants which they raise in these gardens are produced by +the dry method of cultivation. In hunting birds they employ chiefly bows +and arrows, but sometimes also snares. The arrows with which they shoot +the birds of paradise are blunted so as not to injure the splendid +plumage of the birds. Turtle-shells, feathers of the birds of paradise, +and trepang are among the principal articles which they barter with +traders for cotton-goods, knives, swords, axes, beads and so forth. They +display some skill and taste in wood-carving. The art of working in iron +has been introduced among them from abroad and is now extensively +practised by the men. They make large dug-out canoes with outriggers, +which seem to be very seaworthy, for they accomplish long voyages even +in stormy weather. The making of pottery, basket-work, and weaving, +together with pounding rice and cooking food, are the special business +of women. The men wear waistbands or loin-cloths made of bark, which is +beaten till it becomes as supple as leather. The women wear petticoats +or strips of blue cotton round their loins, and as ornaments they have +rings of silver, copper, or shell on their arms and legs.[483] Thus the +people have attained to a fair degree of barbaric culture. + +[Sidenote: Fear of ghosts. Ideas of the spirit-world.] + +Now it is significant that among these comparatively advanced savages +the fear of ghosts and the reverence entertained for them have developed +into something which might almost be called a systematic worship of the +dead. As to their fear of ghosts I will quote the evidence of a Dutch +missionary, Mr. J. L. van Hasselt, who lived for many years among them +and is the author of a grammar and dictionary of their language. He +says: "That a great fear of ghosts prevails among the Papuans is +intelligible. Even by day they are reluctant to pass a grave, but +nothing would induce them to do so by night. For the dead are then +roaming about in their search for gambier and tobacco, and they may also +sail out to sea in a canoe. Some of the departed, above all the +so-called _Mambrie_ or heroes, inspire them with especial fear. In such +cases for some days after the burial you may hear about sunset a +simultaneous and horrible din in all the houses of all the villages, a +yelling, screaming, beating and throwing of sticks; happily the uproar +does not last long: its intention is to compel the ghost to take himself +off: they have given him all that befits him, namely, a grave, a funeral +banquet, and funeral ornaments; and now they beseech him not to thrust +himself on their observation any more, not to breathe any sickness upon +the survivors, and not to kill them or 'fetch' them, as the Papuans put +it. Their ideas of the spirit-world are very vague. Their usual answer +to such questions is, 'We know not.' If you press them, they will +commonly say that the spirit realm is under the earth or under the +bottom of the sea. Everything there is as it is in the upper world, only +the vegetation down below is more luxuriant, and all plants grow faster. +Their fear of death and their helpless wailing over the dead indicate +that the misty kingdom of the shades offers but little that is +consolatory to the Papuan at his departure from this world."[484] + +[Sidenote: Fear of ghosts in general and of the ghosts of the slain in +particular.] + +Again, speaking of the natives of Doreh, a Dutch official observes that +"superstition and magic play a principal part in the life of the Papuan. +Occasions for such absurdities he discovers at every step. Thus he +cherishes a great fear of the ghosts of slain persons, for which reason +their bodies remain unburied on the spot where they were murdered. When +a murder has taken place in the village, the inhabitants assemble for +several evenings in succession and raise a fearful outcry in order to +chase away the soul, in case it should be minded to return to the +village. They set up miniature wooden houses here and there on trees in +the forest for the ghosts of persons who die of disease or through +accidents, believing that the souls take up their abode in them."[485] +The same writer remarks that these savages have no priests, but that +they have magicians (_kokinsor_), who practise exorcisms, work magic, +and heal the sick, for which they receive a small payment in articles of +barter or food.[486] Speaking of the Papuans of Dutch New Guinea in +general another writer informs us that "they honour the memory of the +dead in every way, because they ascribe to the spirits of the departed a +great influence on the life of the survivors.... Whereas in life all +good and evil comes from the soul, after death, on the other hand, the +spirit works for the most part only evil. It loves especially to haunt +by night the neighbourhood of its old dwelling and the grave; so the +people particularly avoid the neighbourhood of graves at night, and when +darkness has fallen they will not go out except with a burning brand.... +According to the belief of the Papuans the ghosts cause sickness, bad +harvests, war, and in general every misfortune. From fear of such evils +and in order to keep them in good humour, the people make provision for +the spirits of the departed after death. Also they sacrifice to them +before every important undertaking and never fail to ask their +advice."[487] + +[Sidenote: Papuan ideas as to the state of the dead.] + +A Dutch writer, who has given us a comparatively full account of the +natives of Geelvink Bay, describes as follows their views in regard to +the state of the dead: "According to the Papuans the soul, which they +imagine to have its seat in the blood, continues to exist at the bottom +of the sea, and every one who dies goes thither. They imagine the state +of things there to be much the same as that in which they lived on +earth. Hence at his burial the dead man is given an equipment suitable +to his rank and position in life. He is provided with a bow and arrow, +armlets and body-ornaments, pots and pans, everything that may stand him +in good stead in the life hereafter. This provision must not be +neglected, for it is a prevalent opinion that the dead continue always +to maintain relations with the world and with the living, that they +possess superhuman power, exercise great influence over the affairs of +life on earth, and are able to protect in danger, to stand by in war, to +guard against shipwreck at sea, and to grant success in fishing and +hunting. For such weighty reasons the Papuans do all in their power to +win the favour of their dead. On undertaking a journey they are said +never to forget to hang amulets about themselves in the belief that +their dead will then surely help them; hence, too, when they are at sea +in rough weather, they call upon the souls of the departed, asking them +for better weather or a favourable breeze, in case the wind happens to +be contrary."[488] + +[Sidenote: Wooden images of the dead (_korwar_).] + +In order to communicate with these powerful spirits and to obtain their +advice and help in time of need, the Papuans of Geelvink Bay make wooden +images of their dead, which they keep in their houses and consult from +time to time. Every family has at least one such ancestral image, which +forms the medium whereby the soul of the deceased communicates with his +or her surviving relatives. These images or Penates, as we may call +them, are carved of wood, about a foot high, and represent the deceased +person in a standing, sitting, or crouching attitude, but commonly with +the hands folded in front. The head is disproportionately large, the +nose long and projecting, the mouth wide and well furnished with teeth; +the eyes are formed of large green or blue beads with black dots to +indicate the pupils. Sometimes the male figures carry a shield in the +left hand and brandish a sword in the right; while the female figures +are represented grasping with both hands a serpent which stands on its +coiled tail. Rags of many colours adorn these figures, and the hair of +the deceased, whom they represent, is placed between their legs. Such an +ancestral image is called a _korwar_ or _karwar_. The natives identify +these effigies with the deceased persons whom they portray, and +accordingly they will speak of one as their father or mother or other +relation. Tobacco and food are offered to the images, and the natives +greet them reverentially by bowing to the earth before them with the two +hands joined and raised to the forehead. + +[Sidenote: Such images carried on voyages and consulted as oracles. The +images consulted in sickness.] + +Such images are kept in the houses and carried in canoes on voyages, in +order that they may be at hand to help and advise their kinsfolk and +worshippers. They are consulted on many occasions, for example, when the +people are going on a journey, or about to fish for turtles or trepang, +or when a member of the family is sick, and his relations wish to know +whether he will recover. At these consultations the enquirer may either +take the image in his hands or crouch before it on the ground, on which +he places his offerings of tobacco, cotton, beads, and so forth. The +spirit of the dead is thought to be in the image and to pass from it +into the enquirer, who thus becomes inspired by the soul of the deceased +and acquires his superhuman knowledge. As a sign of his inspiration the +medium shivers and shakes. According to some accounts, however, this +shivering and shaking of the medium is an evil omen; whereas if he +remains tranquil, the omen is good. It is especially in cases of +sickness that the images are consulted. The mode of consultation has +been described as follows by a Dutch writer: "When any one is sick and +wishes to know the means of cure, or when any one desires to avert +misfortune or to discover something unknown, then in presence of the +whole family one of the members is stupefied by the fumes of incense or +by other means of producing a state of trance. The image of the deceased +person whose advice is sought is then placed on the lap or shoulder of +the medium in order to cause the soul to pass out of the image into his +body. At the moment when that happens, he begins to shiver; and, +encouraged by the bystanders, the soul speaks through the mouth of the +medium and names the means of cure or of averting the calamity. When he +comes to himself, the medium knows nothing of what he has been saying. +This they call _kor karwar_, that is, 'invoking the soul;' and they say +_karwar iwos_, 'the soul speaks.'" The writer adds: "It is sometimes +reported that the souls go to the underworld, but that is not true. The +Papuans think that after death the soul abides by the corpse and is +buried with it in the grave; hence before an image is made, if it is +necessary to consult the soul, the enquirer must betake himself to the +grave in order to do so. But when the image is made, the soul enters +into it and is supposed to remain in it so long as satisfactory answers +are obtained from it in consultation. But should the answers prove +disappointing, the people think that the soul has deserted the image, on +which they throw the image away as useless. Where the soul has gone, +nobody knows, and they do not trouble their heads about it, since it has +lost its power."[489] The person who acts as medium in consulting the +spirit may be either the house-father himself or a magician +(_konoor_).[490] + +[Sidenote: Example of the consultation of an ancestral image.] + +As an example of these consultations we may take the case of a man who +was suffering from a painful sore on his finger and wished to ascertain +the cause of the trouble. So he set one of the ancestral images before +him and questioned it closely. At first the image made no reply; but at +last the man remembered that he had neglected his duty to his dead +brother by failing to marry his widow, as, according to native custom, +he should have done. Now the natives believe that the dead can punish +them for any breach of customary law; so it occurred to our enquirer +that the ghost of his dead brother might have afflicted him with the +sore on his finger for not marrying his widow. Accordingly he put the +question to the image, and in doing so the compunction of a guilty +conscience caused him to tremble. This trembling he took for an answer +of the image in the affirmative, wherefore he went off and took the +widow to wife and provided for her maintenance.[491] + +[Sidenote: Ancestral images consulted as to the cause of death. +Offerings to the images.] + +Again, the ancestral images are often consulted to ascertain the cause +of a death; and if the image attributes the death to the evil magic of a +member of another tribe, an expedition will be sent to avenge the wrong +by slaying the supposed culprit. For the souls of the dead take it very +ill and wreak their spite on the survivors, if their death is not +avenged on their enemies. Not uncommonly the consultation of the images +merely furnishes a pretext for satisfying a grudge against an individual +or a tribe.[492] The mere presence of these images appears to be +supposed to benefit the sick; a woman who was seriously ill has been +seen to lie with four or five ancestral figures fastened at the head of +her bed. On enquiry she explained that they did not all belong to her, +but that some of them had been kindly lent to her by relations and +friends.[493] Again, the images are taken by the natives with them to +war, because they hope thereby to secure the help of the spirits whom +the images represent. Also they make offerings from time to time to the +effigies and hold feasts in their honour.[494] They observe, indeed, +that the food which they present to these household idols remains +unconsumed, but they explain this by saying that the spirits are content +to snuff up the savour of the viands, and to leave their gross material +substance alone.[495] + +[Sidenote: Images of persons who have died away from home.] + +In general, images are only made of persons who have died at home. But +in the island of Ron or Run they are also made of persons who have died +away from home or have fallen in battle. In such cases the difficulty is +to compel the soul to quit its mortal remains far away and come to +animate the image. However, the natives of Ron have found means to +overcome this difficulty. They first carve the wooden image of the dead +person and then call his soul back to the village by setting a great +tree on fire, while the family assemble round it and one of them, +holding the image in his hand, acts the part of a medium, shivering and +shaking and falling into a trance after the approved fashion of mediums +in many lands. After this ceremony the image is supposed to be animated +by the soul of the deceased, and it is kept in the house with as much +confidence as any other.[496] + +[Sidenote: Sometimes the head of the image is composed of the skull of +the deceased.] + +Sometimes the head of the image consists of the skull of the deceased, +which has been detached from the skeleton and inserted in a hole at the +top of the effigy. In such cases the body of the image is of wood and +the head of bone. It is especially men who have distinguished themselves +by their bravery or have earned a name for themselves in other ways who +are thus represented. Apparently the notion is that as a personal relic +of the departed the skull is better fitted to retain his soul than a +mere head of wood. But in the island of Ron or Run, and perhaps +elsewhere, skull-topped images of this sort are made for all firstborn +children, whether male or female, young or old, at least for all who die +from the age of twelve years and upward. These images have a special +name, _bemar boo_, which means "head of a corpse." They are kept in the +room of the parents who have lost the child.[497] + +[Sidenote: Mode of preparing such skull-headed images.] + +The mode in which such images are prepared is as follows. The body of +the firstborn child, who dies at the age of years or upwards, is laid in +a small canoe, which is deposited in a hut erected behind the +dwelling-house. Here the mother is obliged to keep watch night and day +beside the corpse and to maintain a blazing fire till the head drops off +the body, which it generally does about twenty days after the death. +Then the trunk is wrapped in leaves and buried, but the head is brought +into the house and carefully preserved. Above the spot where it is +deposited a small opening is made in the roof, through which a stick is +thrust bearing some rags or flags to indicate that the remains of a dead +body are in the house. When, after the lapse of three or four months, +the nose and ears of the head have dropped off, and the eyes have +mouldered away, the relations and friends assemble in the house of +mourning. In the middle of the assembly the father of the child crouches +on his hams with downcast look in an attitude of grief, while one of the +persons present begins to carve a new nose and a new pair of ears for +the skull out of a piece of wood. The kind of wood varies according as +the deceased was a male or a female. All the time that the artist is at +work, the rest of the company chant a melancholy dirge. When the nose +and ears are finished and have been attached to the skull, and small +round fruits have been inserted in the hollow sockets of the eyes to +represent the missing orbs, a banquet follows in honour of the deceased, +who is now represented by his decorated skull set up on a block of wood +on the table. Thus he receives his share of the food and of the cigars, +and is raised to the rank of a domestic idol or _korwar_. Henceforth the +skull is carefully kept in a corner of the chamber to be consulted as an +oracle in time of need. The bodies of fathers and mothers are treated in +the same way as those of firstborn children. On the other hand the +bodies of children who die under the age of two years are never buried. +The remains are packed in baskets of rushes covered with lids and +tightly corded, and the baskets are then hung on the branches of tall +trees, where no more notice is taken of them. Four or five such baskets +containing the mouldering bodies of infants may sometimes be seen +hanging on a single tree.[498] The reason for thus disposing of the +remains of young children is said to be as follows. A thick mist hangs +at evening over the top of the dense tropical forest, and in the mist +dwell two spirits called Narwur and Imgier, one male and the other +female, who kill little children, not out of malice but out of love, +because they wish to have the children with them. So when a child dies, +the parents fasten its little body to the branches of a tall tree in the +forest, hoping that the spirit pair will take it and be satisfied, and +will spare its small brothers and sisters.[499] + +[Sidenote: Mummification of the dead.] + +In some parts of Geelvink Bay, however, the bodies of the dead are +treated differently. For example, on the south coast of the island of +Jobi or Jappen and elsewhere the corpses are reduced to mummies by being +dried on a bamboo stage over a slow fire; after which the mummies, wrapt +in cloth, are kept in the house, being either laid along the wall or +hung from the ceiling. When the number of these relics begins to +incommode the living inmates of the house, the older mummies are removed +and deposited in the hollow trunks of ancient trees. In some tribes who +thus mummify their dead the juices of corruption which drip from the +rotting corpse are caught in a vessel and given to the widow to drink, +who is forced to gulp them down under the threat of decapitation if she +were to reject the loathsome beverage.[500] + +[Sidenote: Restrictions observed by mourners. Tattooing in honour of the +dead. Teeth of the dead worn by relatives.] + +The family in which a death has taken place is subject for a time to +certain burdensome restrictions, which are probably dictated by a fear +of the ghost. Thus all the time till the effigy of the deceased has been +made and a feast given in his honour, they are obliged to remain in the +house without going out for any purpose, not even to bathe or to fetch +food and drink. Moreover they must abstain from the ordinary articles of +diet and confine themselves to half-baked cakes of sago and other +unpalatable viands. As these restrictions may last for months they are +not only irksome but onerous, especially to people who have no slaves to +fetch and carry for them. However, in that case the neighbours come to +the rescue and supply the mourners with wood, water, and the other +necessaries of life, until custom allows them to go out and help +themselves. After the effigy of the dead has been made, the family go in +state to a sacred place to purify themselves by bathing. If the journey +is made by sea, no other canoe may meet or sail past the canoe of the +mourners under pain of being confiscated to them and redeemed at a heavy +price. On their return from the holy place, the period of mourning is +over, and the family is free to resume their ordinary mode of life and +their ordinary victuals.[501] That the seclusion of the mourners in the +house for some time after the death springs from a fear of the ghost is +not only probable on general grounds but is directly suggested by a +custom which is observed at the burial of the body. When it has been +laid in the earth along with various articles of daily use, which the +ghost is supposed to require for his comfort, the mourners gather round +the grave and each of them picks up a leaf, which he folds in the shape +of a spoon and holds several times over his head as if he would pour out +the contents upon it. As they do so, they all murmur, "_Rur i rama_," +that is, "The spirit comes." This exclamation or incantation is supposed +to prevent the ghost from troubling them. The gravediggers may not enter +their houses till they have bathed and so removed from their persons the +contagion of death, in order that the soul of the deceased may have no +power over them.[502] Mourners sometimes tattoo themselves in honour of +the dead. For a father, the marks are tattooed on the cheeks and under +the eyes; for a grandfather, on the breast; for a mother, on the +shoulders and arms; for a brother, on the back. On the death of a father +or mother, the eldest son or, if there is none such, the eldest daughter +wears the teeth and hair of the deceased. When the teeth of old people +drop out, they are kept on purpose to be thus strung on a string and +worn by their sons or daughters after their death. Similarly, a mother +wears as a permanent mark of mourning the teeth of her dead child strung +on a cord round her neck, and as a temporary mark of mourning a little +bag on her throat containing a lock of the child's hair.[503] The +intention of these customs is not mentioned. Probably they are not +purely commemorative but designed in some way either to influence for +good the spirit of the departed or to obtain its help and protection for +the living. + +[Sidenote: Rebirth of parents in their children.] + +Thus far we have found no evidence among the natives of New Guinea of a +belief that the dead are permanently reincarnated in their human +descendants. However, the inhabitants of Ayambori, an inland village +about an hour distant to the east of Doreh, are reported to believe that +the soul of a dead man returns in his eldest son, and that the soul of a +dead woman returns in her eldest daughter.[504] So stated the belief is +hardly clear and intelligible; for if a man has several sons, he must +evidently be alive and not dead when the eldest of them is born, and +similarly with a woman and her eldest daughter. On the analogy of +similar beliefs elsewhere we may conjecture that these Papuans imagine +every firstborn son to be animated by the soul of his father, whether +his father be alive or dead, and every firstborn daughter to be animated +by the soul of her mother, whether her mother be alive or dead. + +[Sidenote: Customs concerning the dead observed in the islands off the +western end of New Guinea.] + +Beliefs and customs concerning the dead like those which we have found +among the natives of Geelvink Bay are reported to prevail in other parts +of Dutch New Guinea, but our information about them is much less full. +Thus, off the western extremity of New Guinea there is a group of small +islands (Waaigeoo, Salawati, Misol, Waigama, and so on), the inhabitants +of which make _karwar_ or wooden images of their dead ancestors. These +they keep in separate rooms of their houses and take with them as +talismans to war. In these inner rooms are also kept miniature wooden +houses in which their ancestors are believed to reside, and in which +even Mohammedans (for some of the natives profess Islam) burn incense on +Fridays in honour of the souls of the dead. These souls are treated like +living beings, for in the morning some finely pounded sago is placed in +the shrines; at noon it is taken away, but may not be eaten by the +inmates of the house. Curiously enough, women are forbidden to set food +for the dead in the shrines: if they did so, it is believed that they +would be childless. Further, in the chief's house there are shrines for +the souls of all the persons who have died in the whole village. Such a +house might almost be described as a temple of the dead. Among the +inhabitants of the Negen Negorijen or "Nine Villages" the abodes of the +ancestral spirits are often merely frameworks of houses decorated with +coloured rags. These frameworks are called _roem seram_. On festal +occasions they are brought forth and the people dance round them to +music. The mountain tribes of these islands to the west of New Guinea +seldom have any such little houses for the souls of the dead. They think +that the spirits of the departed dwell among the branches of trees, to +which accordingly the living attach strips of red and white cotton, +always to the number of seven or a multiple of seven. Also they place +food on the branches or hang it in baskets on the boughs,[505] no doubt +in order to feed the hungry ghosts. But among the tribes on the coast, +who make miniature houses for the use of their dead, these little +shrines form a central feature of the religious life of the people. At +festivals, especially on the occasion of a marriage or a death, the +shrines are brought out from the side chamber and are set down in the +central room of the house, where the people dance round them, singing +and making music for days together with no interruption except for +meals.[506] + +[Sidenote: Wooden images of the dead.] + +According to the Dutch writer, Mr. de Clercq, whose account I am +reproducing, this worship of the dead, represented by wooden images +(_karwar_) and lodged in miniature houses, is, together with a belief in +good and bad spirits, the only thing deserving the name of religion that +can be detected among these people. It is certain that the wooden images +represent members of the family who died a natural death at home; they +are never, as in Ansoes and Waropen, images of persons who have been +murdered or slain in battle. Hence they form a kind of Penates, who are +supposed to lead an invisible life in the family circle. The natives of +the Negen Negorijen, for example, believe that these wooden images +(_karwar_), which are both male and female, contain the souls of their +ancestors, who protect the house and household and are honoured at +festivals by having portions of food set beside their images.[507] The +Seget Sele, who occupy the extreme westerly point of New Guinea, bury +their dead in the island of Lago and set up little houses in the forest +for the use of the spirits of their ancestors. But these little houses +may never be entered or even approached by members of the family.[508] A +traveller, who visited a hut occupied by members of the Seget tribe in +Princess Island, or Kararaboe, found a sick man in it and observed that +before the front and back door were set up double rows of roughly hewn +images painted with red and black stripes. He was told that these images +were intended to keep off the sickness; for the natives thought that it +would not dare to run the gauntlet between the double rows of figures +into the house.[509] We may conjecture that these rude images +represented ancestral spirits who were doing sentinel duty over the sick +man. + +[Sidenote: Customs concerning the dead among the natives of the Macluer +Gulf.] + +Among the natives of the Macluer Gulf, which penetrates deep into the +western part of Dutch New Guinea, the souls of dead men who have +distinguished themselves by bravery or in other ways are honoured in the +shape of wooden images, which are sometimes wrapt in cloth and decorated +with shells about the neck. In Sekar, a village on the south side of the +gulf, small bowls, called _kararasa_ after the spirits of ancestors who +are believed to lodge in them, are hung up in the houses; on special +occasions food is placed in them. In some of the islands of the Macluer +Gulf the dead are laid in hollows of the rocks, which are then adorned +with drawings of birds, hands, and so forth. The hands are always +painted white or yellowish on a red ground. The other figures are drawn +with chalk on the weathered surface of the rock. But the natives either +cannot or will not give any explanation of the custom.[510] + +[Sidenote: Burial and mourning customs in the Mimika district.] + +The Papuans of the Mimika district, on the southern coast of Dutch New +Guinea, sometimes bury their dead in shallow graves near the huts; +sometimes they place them in coffins on rough trestles and leave them +there till decomposition is complete, when they remove the skull and +preserve it in the house, either burying it in the sand of the floor or +hanging it in a sort of basket from the roof, where it becomes brown +with smoke and polished with frequent handling. The people do not appear +to be particularly attached to these relics of their kinsfolk and they +sell them readily to Europeans. Mourners plaster themselves all over +with mud, and sometimes they bathe in the river, probably as a mode of +ceremonial purification. They believe in ghosts, which they call +_niniki_; but beyond that elementary fact we have no information as to +their beliefs concerning the state of the dead.[511] + +[Sidenote: Burial customs at Windessi.] + +The natives of Windessi in Dutch New Guinea generally bury their dead +the day after the decease. As a rule the corpse is wrapt in mats and a +piece of blue cloth and laid on a scaffold; few are coffined. All the +possessions of the dead, including weapons, fishing-nets, wooden bowls, +pots, and so forth, according as the deceased was a man or a woman, are +placed beside him or her. If the death is attributed to the influence of +an evil spirit, they take hold of a lock of hair of the corpse and +mention various places. At the mention of each place, they tug the hair; +and if it comes out, they conclude that the death was caused by somebody +at the place which was mentioned at the moment. But if the hair does not +come out, they infer that evil spirits had no hand in the affair. Before +the body is carried away, the family bathes, no doubt to purify +themselves from the contagion of death. Among the people of Windessi it +is a common custom to bury the dead in an island. At such a burial the +bystanders pick up a fallen leaf, tear it in two, and stroke the corpse +with it, in order that the ghost of the departed may not kill them. When +the body has been disposed of either in a grave or on a scaffold, they +embark in the canoe and sit listening for omens. One of the men in a +loud voice bids the birds and the flies to be silent; and all the others +sit as still as death in an attitude of devotion. At last, after an +interval of silence, the man who called out tells his fellows what he +has heard. If it was the buzz of the blue flies that he heard, some one +else will die. If it was the booming sound of a triton shell blown in +the distance, a raid must be made in that direction to rob and murder. +Why it must be so, is not said, but we may suppose that the note of the +triton shell is believed to betray the place of the enemy who has +wrought the death by magic, and that accordingly an expedition must be +sent to avenge the supposed crime on the supposed murderer. If the note +of a bird called _kohwi_ is heard, then the fruit-trees will bear fruit. +Though all the men sit listening in the canoe, the ominous sounds are +heard only by the man who called out.[512] + +[Sidenote: Mourning customs at Windessi.] + +When the omens have thus been taken, the paddles again dip in the water, +and the canoe returns to the house of mourning. Arrived at it, the men +disembark, climb up the ladder (for the houses seem to be built on piles +over the water) and run the whole length of the long house with their +paddles on their shoulders. Curiously enough, they never do this at any +other time, because they imagine that it would cause the death of +somebody. Meantime the women have gone into the forest to get bark, +which they beat into bark-cloth and make into mourning caps for +themselves. The men busy themselves with plaiting armlets and leglets of +rattan, in which some red rags are stuck. Large blue and white beads are +strung on a red cord and worn round the neck. Further, the hair is shorn +in sign of mourning. Mourners are forbidden to eat anything cooked in a +pot. Sago-porridge, which is a staple food with some of the natives of +New Guinea, is also forbidden to mourners at Windessi. If they would eat +rice, it must be cooked in a bamboo. The doors and windows of the house +are closed with planks or mats, just as with us the blinds are lowered +in a house after a death. The surviving relatives make as many long +sago-cakes as there are houses in the village and send them to the +inmates; they also prepare a few for themselves. All who do not belong +to the family now leave the house of mourning. Then the eldest brother +or his representative gets up and all follow him to the back verandah, +where a woman stands holding a bow and arrows, an axe, a paddle, and so +forth. Every one touches these implements. Since the death, there has +been no working in the house, but this time of inactivity is now over +and every one is free to resume his usual occupations. This ends the +preliminary ceremonies of mourning, which go by the name of _djawarra_. + +A month afterwards round cakes of sago are baked on the fire, and all +the members of the family, their friends, and the persons who assisted +at the burial receive three such cakes each. Only very young children +are now allowed to eat sago-porridge. This ceremony is called _djawarra +baba_. + +[Sidenote: Festival of the dead. Wooden images of the dead.] + +When a year or more has elapsed, the so-called festival of the dead +takes place. Often the festival is held for several dead at the same +time, and in that case the cost is borne in common. From far and near +the people have collected sago, coco-nuts, and other food. For two +nights and a day they dance and sing, but without the accompaniment of +drums (_tifa_) and gongs. The first night, the signs of mourning are +still worn, hence no sago-porridge may be eaten; only friends who are +not in mourning are allowed to partake of it. The night is spent in +eating, drinking, smoking, singing and dancing. Next day many people +make _korwars_ of their dead, that is, grotesque wooden images carved in +human form, which are regarded as the representatives of the departed. +Some people fetch the head of the deceased person, and having made a +wooden image with a large head and a hole in the back of it, they insert +the skull into the wooden head from behind. After that friends feed the +mourners with sago-porridge, putting it into their mouths with the help +of the chopsticks which are commonly used in eating sago. When that is +done, the period of mourning is at an end, and the signs of mourning are +thrown away. A dance on the beach follows, at which the new wooden +images of the dead make their appearance. But still the drums and gongs +are silent. Dancing and singing go on till the next morning, when the +whole of the ceremonies come to an end.[513] + +[Sidenote: Fear of the ghost.] + +The exact meaning of all these ceremonies is not clear, but we may +conjecture that they are based in large measure on the fear of the +ghost. That fear comes out plainly in the ceremony of stroking the +corpse with leaves in order to prevent the ghost from killing the +survivors. The writer to whom we are indebted for an account of these +customs tells us in explanation of them that among these people death is +ascribed to the influence of evil spirits called _manoam_, who are +supposed to be incarnate in some human beings. Hence they often seek to +avenge a death by murdering somebody who has the reputation of being an +evil spirit incarnate. If they succeed in doing so, they celebrate the +preliminary mourning ceremonies called _djawarra_ and _djawarra baba_, +but the festival of the dead is changed into a memorial festival, at +which the people dance and sing to the accompaniment of drums (_tifa_), +gongs, and triton shells; and instead of carving a wooden image of the +deceased, they make marks on the fleshless skull of the murdered +man.[514] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the natives of Windessi as to the life after +death. Medicine-men inspired by the spirits of the dead.] + +The natives of Windessi are said to have the following belief as to the +life after death, though we are told that the creed is now known to very +few of them; for their old beliefs and customs are fading away under the +influence of a mission station which is established among them. +According to their ancient creed, every man and every woman has two +spirits, and in the nether world, called _sarooka_, is a large house +where there is room for all the people of Windessi. When a woman dies, +both her spirits always go down to the nether world, where they are +clothed with flesh and bones, need do no work, and live for ever. But +when a man dies, only one of his spirits must go to the under world; the +other may pass or transmigrate into a living man or, in rare cases, into +a living woman; the person so inspired by a dead man's spirit becomes an +_inderri_, that is, a medicine-man or medicine-woman and has power to +heal the sick. When a person wishes to become a medicine-man or +medicine-woman, he or she acts as follows. If a man has died, and his +friends are sitting about the corpse lamenting, the would-be +medicine-man suddenly begins to shiver and to rub his knee with his +folded hands, while he utters a monotonous sound. Gradually he falls +into an ecstasy, and if his whole body shakes convulsively, the spirit +of the dead man is supposed to have entered into him, and he becomes a +medicine-man. Next day or the day after he is taken into the forest; +some hocus-pocus is performed over him, and the spirits of lunatics, who +dwell in certain thick trees, are invoked to take possession of him. He +is now himself called a lunatic, and on returning home behaves as if he +were half-crazed. This completes his training as a medicine-man, and he +is now fully qualified to kill or cure the sick. His mode of cure +depends on the native theory of sickness. These savages think that +sickness is caused by a malicious or angry spirit, apparently the spirit +of a dead person; for a patient will say, "The _korwar_" (that is, the +wooden image which represents a particular dead person) "is murdering +me, or is making me sick." So the medicine-man is called in, and sets to +work on the sufferer, while the _korwar_, or wooden image of the spirit +who is supposed to be doing all the mischief, stands beside him. The +principal method of cure employed by the doctor is massage. He chews a +certain fruit fine and rubs the patient with it; also he pinches him all +over the body as if to drive out the spirit. Often he professes to +extract a stone, a bone, or a stick from the body of the sufferer. At +last he gives out that he has ascertained the cause of the sickness; the +sick man has done or has omitted to do something which has excited the +anger of the spirit.[515] + +[Sidenote: Ghosts of slain enemies dreaded.] + +From all this it would seem that the souls of the dead are more feared +than loved and reverenced by the Papuans of Windessi. Naturally the +ghosts of enemies who have perished at their hands are particularly +dreaded by them. That dread explains some of the ceremonies which are +observed in the village at the return of a successful party of +head-hunters. As they draw near the village, they announce their +approach and success by blowing on triton shells. Their canoes also are +decked with branches. The faces of the men who have taken a head are +blackened with charcoal; and if several have joined in killing one man, +his skull is divided between them. They always time their arrival so as +to reach home in the early morning. They come paddling to the village +with a great noise, and the women stand ready to dance in the verandahs +of the houses. The canoes row past the _roem sram_ or clubhouse where +the young men live; and as they pass, the grimy-faced slayers fling as +many pointed sticks or bamboos at the house as they have killed enemies. +The rest of the day is spent very quietly. But now and then they drum or +blow on the conch, and at other times they beat on the walls of the +houses with sticks, shouting loudly at the same time, to drive away the +ghosts of their victims.[516] + +That concludes what I have to say as to the fear and worship of the dead +in Dutch New Guinea. + +[Footnote 475: G. Bamler, "Tami," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_, +iii. (Berlin, 1911) pp. 489-492.] + +[Footnote 476: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 507-512.] + +[Footnote 477: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 513 _sq._] + +[Footnote 478: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 514 _sq._] + +[Footnote 479: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 515 _sq._] + +[Footnote 480: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ p. 516.] + +[Footnote 481: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 493-507.] + +[Footnote 482: J. L. van Hasselt, "Die Papuastaemme an der Geelvinkbai +(Neu-guinea)," _Mitteilungen der geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, +ix. (1890) p. 1; F. S. A. de Clercq, "De West en Noordkust van +Nederlandsch Nieuw-Guinea," _Tijdschrift van het Kon. Nederlandsch +Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, Tweede Serie, x. (1893) pp. 587 _sq._] + +[Footnote 483: J. L. van Hasselt, _op. cit._ pp. 2, 3, 5 _sq._; A. +Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_ (Schiedam, 1863), pp. 28 +_sqq._, 33 _sqq._, 42 _sq._, 47 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 484: J. L. van Hasselt, "Die Papuastaemme an der Geelvinkbai +(Neu-guinea)," _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, +ix. (1891) p. 101.] + +[Footnote 485: H. van Rosenberg, _Der Malayische Archipel_ (Leipsic, +1878), p. 461.] + +[Footnote 486: H. van Rosenberg, _op. cit._ p. 462.] + +[Footnote 487: M. Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_ (Berlin, N.D., preface dated +1899), pp. 401, 402.] + +[Footnote 488: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_ +(Schiedam, 1863), p. 77. Compare O. Finsch, _Neu-Guinea und seine +Bewohner_ (Bremen, 1865), p. 105.] + +[Footnote 489: F. S. A. de Clercq, "De West- en Noordkust van +Nederlandsch Nieuw-Guinea," _Tijdschrift van het Kon. Nederlandsch +Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, Tweede Serie, x. (1893) p. 631. On these +_korwar_ or _karwar_ (images of the dead) see further A. Goudswaard, _De +Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, pp. 72 _sq._, 77-79; O. Finsch, +_Neu-Guinea und seine Bewohner_, pp. 104-106; H. von Rosenberg, _Der +Malayische Archipel_, pp. 460 _sq._; J. L. van Hasselt, "Die Papuastaemme +an der Geelvinkbaai (Neu-Guinea)" _Mitteilungen der Geographischen +Gesellschaft zu Jena_, ix. (1891) p. 100; M. Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, pp. +400 _sq._, 402 _sq._, 498 _sqq._ In the text I have drawn on these +various accounts.] + +[Footnote 490: J. L. van Hasselt, _l.c._] + +[Footnote 491: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, pp. +78 _sq._; O. Finsch, _Neu-Guinea und seine Bewohner_, pp. 105 _sq._] + +[Footnote 492: A. Goudswaard, _op. cit._ p. 79; O. Finsch, _op. cit._ p. +106.] + +[Footnote 493: J. L. van Hasselt, _op. cit._ p. 100.] + +[Footnote 494: A. Goudswaard, _op. cit._ p. 78.] + +[Footnote 495: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 632.] + +[Footnote 496: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 632.] + +[Footnote 497: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 632.] + +[Footnote 498: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, pp. +70-73; O. Finsch, _Neu-Guinea und seine Bewohner_ pp. 104 _sq._; M. +Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, p. 398.] + +[Footnote 499: J. L. van Hasselt, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen +Gesellschaft zu Jena_, iv. (1886) pp. 118 _sq._ As to the spirit or +spirits who dwell in tree tops and draw away the souls of the living to +themselves, see further "Eenige bijzonderheden betreffende de Papoeas +van de Geelvinksbaai van Nieuw-Guinea," _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Landen +Volkenkunde van Neerlandsch-Indie_, ii. (1854) pp. 375 _sq._] + +[Footnote 500: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, p. +73; J. L. van Hasselt, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft +zu Jena_, iv. (1886) p. 118; M. Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, pp. 398. _sq._] + +[Footnote 501: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, pp. +75 _sq._] + +[Footnote 502: J. L. van Hasselt, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen +Gesellschaft zu Jena_, iv. (1886) 117 _sq._; M. Krieger, _op. cit._ pp. +397 _sq._] + +[Footnote 503: A. Goudswaard, _op. cit._ pp. 74 _sq._] + +[Footnote 504: _Nieuw Guinea ethnographisch en natuurkundig onderzocht +en beschreven_ (Amsterdam, 1862), p. 162.] + +[Footnote 505: F. S. A. de Clercq, "De West- en Noordkust van +Nederlandsch Nieuw-Guinea," _Tijdschrift van het Kon. Nederlandsch +Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, Tweede Serie, x. (1893) pp. 198 _sq._] + +[Footnote 506: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 201.] + +[Footnote 507: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ pp. 202, 205.] + +[Footnote 508: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 211.] + +[Footnote 509: J. W. van Hille, "Reizen in West-Nieuw-Guinea," +_Tijdschrift van het Kon. Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, +Tweede Serie, xxiii. (1906) p. 463.] + +[Footnote 510: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ pp. 459 _sq._, 461 _sq._ A +German traveller, Mr. H. Kuehn, spent some time at Sekar and purchased a +couple of what he calls "old heathen idols," which are now in the +ethnological Museum at Leipsic. One of them, about a foot high, +represents a human head and bust; the other, about two feet high, +represents a squat sitting figure. They are probably ancestral images +(_korwar_ or _karwar_). The natives are said to have such confidence in +the protection of these "idols" that they leave their jewellery and +other possessions unguarded beside them, in the full belief that nobody +would dare to steal anything from spots protected by such mighty beings. +See H. Kuehn, "Mein Aufenthalt in Neu-Guinea," _Festschrift des +25jaehrigen Bestehens des Vereins fuer Erdkunde zu Dresden_ (Dresden, +1888), pp. 143 _sq._] + +[Footnote 511: A. F. R. Wollaston, _Pygmies and Papuans_ (London, 1912), +pp. 132 _sq._, 136-140.] + +[Footnote 512: J. L. D. van der Roest, "Uit the leven der bevolking van +Windessi," _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Landen Volkenkunde_, xl. +(1898) pp. 159 _sq._] + +[Footnote 513: J. L. D. van der Roest, _op. cit._ pp. 161 _sq._] + +[Footnote 514: J. L. D. van der Roest, _op. cit._ p. 162.] + +[Footnote 515: J. L. D. van der Roest, _op. cit._ pp. 164-166.] + +[Footnote 516: J. L. D. van der Roest, _op. cit._ pp. 157 _sq._] + + + + +LECTURE XV + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF SOUTHERN MELANESIA (NEW +CALEDONIA) + + +[Sidenote: Melanesia and the Melanesians.] + +In the last lecture I concluded our survey of the beliefs and practices +concerning death and the dead which are reported to prevail among the +natives of New Guinea. We now pass to the natives of Melanesia, the +great archipelago or rather chain of archipelagoes, which stretches +round the north-eastern and eastern ends of New Guinea and southward, +parallel to the coast of Queensland, till it almost touches the tropic +of Capricorn. Thus the islands lie wholly within the tropics and are for +the most part characterised by tropical heat and tropical luxuriance of +vegetation. Only New Caledonia, the most southerly of the larger +islands, differs somewhat from the rest in its comparatively cool +climate and scanty flora.[517] The natives of the islands belong to the +Melanesian race. They are dark-skinned and woolly-haired and speak a +language which is akin to the Polynesian language. In material culture +they stand roughly on the same level as the natives of New Guinea, a +considerable part of whom in the south-eastern part of the island, as I +pointed out before, are either pure Melanesians or at all events exhibit +a strong infusion of Melanesian blood. They cultivate the ground, live +in settled villages, build substantial houses, construct +outrigger-canoes, display some aptitude for art, possess strong +commercial instincts, and even employ various mediums of exchange, of +which shell-money is the most notable.[518] + +[Sidenote: The New Caledonians.] + +We shall begin our survey of these islands with New Caledonia in the +south, and from it shall pass northwards through the New Hebrides and +Solomon Islands to the Bismarck Archipelago, which consists chiefly of +the two great islands of New Britain and New Ireland with the group of +the Admiralty Islands terminating it to the westward. For our knowledge +of the customs and religion of the New Caledonians we depend chiefly on +the evidence of a Catholic missionary, Father Lambert, who has worked +among them since 1856 and has published a valuable book on the +subject.[519] To be exact, his information applies not to the natives of +New Caledonia itself, but to the inhabitants of a group of small +islands, which lie immediately off the northern extremity of the island +and are known as the Belep group. Father Lambert began to labour among +the Belep at a time when no white man had as yet resided among them. At +a later time circumstances led him to transfer his ministry to the Isle +of Pines, which lies off the opposite or southern end of New Caledonia. +A comparative study of the natives at the two extremities of New +Caledonia revealed to him an essential similarity in their beliefs and +customs; so that it is not perhaps very rash to assume that similar +customs prevail among the aborigines of New Caledonia itself, which lies +intermediate between the two points observed by Father Lambert.[520] The +assumption is confirmed by evidence which was collected by Dr. George +Turner from the mainland of New Caledonia so long ago as 1845.[521] +Accordingly in what follows I shall commonly speak of the New +Caledonians in general, though the statements for the most part apply in +particular to the Belep tribe. + +[Sidenote: Beliefs of the New Calendonians as to the land of the dead.] + +The souls of the New Caledonians, like those of most savages, are +supposed to be immortal, at least to survive death for an indefinite +period. They all go, good and bad alike, to dwell in a very rich and +beautiful country situated at the bottom of the sea, to the north-east +of the island of Pott. The name of the land of souls is Tsiabiloum. But +before they reach this happy land they must run the gauntlet of a grim +spirit called Kiemoua, who has his abode on a rock in the island of +Pott. He is a fisherman of souls; for he catches them as they pass in a +net and after venting his fury on them he releases them, and they pursue +their journey to Tsiabiloum, the land of the dead. It is a country more +fair and fertile than tongue can tell. Yams, taros, sugar-canes, bananas +all grow there in profusion and without cultivation. There are forests +of wild orange-trees, also, and the golden fruits serve the blessed +spirits as playthings. You can tell roughly how long it is since a +spirit quitted the upper world by the colour of the orange which he +plays with; for the oranges of those who have just arrived are green; +the oranges of those who have been longer dead are ripe; and the oranges +of those who died long ago are dry and wizened. There is no night in +that blessed land, and no sleep; for the eyes of the spirits are never +weighed down with slumber. Sorrow and sickness, decrepitude and death +never enter; even boredom is unknown. But it is only the nights, or +rather the hours corresponding to nights on earth, which the spirits +pass in these realms of bliss. At daybreak they revisit their old home +on earth and take up their posts in the cemeteries where they are +honoured; then at nightfall they flit away back to the spirit-land +beneath the sea, there to resume their sport with oranges, green, +golden, or withered, till dawn of day. On these repeated journeys to and +fro they have nothing to fear from the grim fisherman and his net; it is +only on their first passage to the nether world that he catches and +trounces them.[522] + +[Sidenote: Burial customs of the New Calendonians.] + +The bodies of the dead are buried in shallow graves, which are dug in a +sacred grove. The corpse is placed in a crouching attitude with the head +at or above the surface of the ground, in order to allow of the skull +being easily detached from the trunk, at a subsequent time. In token of +sorrow the nearest relations of the deceased tear the lobes of their +ears and inflict large burns on their arms and breasts. The houses, +nets, and other implements of the dead are burnt; his plantations are +ravaged, his coco-nut palms felled with the axe. The motive for this +destruction of the property of the deceased is not mentioned, but the +custom points to a fear of the ghost; the people probably make his old +home as unattractive as possible in order to offer him no temptation to +return and haunt them. The same fear of the ghost, or at all events of +the infection of death, is revealed by the stringent seclusion and +ceremonial pollution of the grave-diggers. They are two in number; no +other persons may handle the corpse. After they have discharged their +office they must remain near the corpse for four or five days, observing +a rigorous fast and keeping apart from their wives. They may not shave +or cut their hair, and they are obliged to wear a tall pyramidal and +very cumbersome head-dress. They may not touch food with their hands. If +they help themselves to it, they must pick it up with their mouths alone +or with a stick, not with their fingers. Oftener they are fed by an +attendant, who puts the victuals into their mouths as he might do if +they were palsied. On the other hand they are treated by the people with +great respect; common folk will not pass near them without +stooping.[523] + +[Sidenote: Sham fight as a mourning ceremony.] + +A curious ceremony which the New Caledonians observe at a certain period +of mourning for the dead is a sham fight. Father Lambert describes one +such combat which he witnessed. A number of men were divided into two +parties; one party was posted on the beach, the other and much larger +party was stationed in the adjoining cemetery, where food and property +had been collected. From time to time a long piercing yell would be +heard; then a number of men would break from the crowd in the cemetery +and rush furiously down to the beach with their slings and stones ready +to assail their adversaries. These, answering yell with yell, would then +plunge into the sea, armed with battle-axes and clubs, while they made a +feint of parrying the stones hurled at them by the other side. But +neither the shots nor the parries appeared to be very seriously meant. +Then when the assailants retired, the fugitives pretended to pursue +them, till both parties had regained their original position. The same +scene of alternate attack and retreat was repeated hour after hour, till +at last, the pretence of enmity being laid aside, the two parties joined +in a dance, their heads crowned with leafy garlands. Father Lambert, who +describes this ceremony as an eye-witness, offers no explanation of it. +But as he tells us that all deaths are believed by these savages to be +an effect of sorcery, we may conjecture that the sham fight is intended +to delude the ghost into thinking that his death is being avenged on the +sorcerer who killed him.[524] In former lectures I shewed that similar +pretences are made, apparently for a similar purpose, by some of the +natives of Australia and New Guinea.[525] If the explanation is correct, +we can hardly help applauding the ingenuity which among these savages +has discovered a bloodless mode of satisfying the ghost's craving for +blood. + +[Sidenote: Preservation of the skulls of the dead.] + +About a year after the death, when the flesh of the corpse is entirely +decayed, the skull is removed and placed solemnly in another +burying-ground, or rather charnel-house, where all the skulls of the +family are deposited. Every family has such a charnel-house, which is +commonly situated near the dwelling. It appears to be simply an open +space in the forest, where the skulls are set in a row on the +ground.[526] Yet in a sense it may be called a temple for the worship of +ancestors; for recourse is had to the skulls on various occasions in +order to obtain the help of the spirits of the dead. "The true worship +of the New Caledonians," says Father Lambert, "is the worship of +ancestors. Each family has its own; it religiously preserves their name; +it is proud of them and has confidence in them. Hence it has its +burial-place and its pious hearth for the sacrifices to be offered to +their ghosts. It is the most inviolable piece of property; an +encroachment on such a spot by a neighbour is a thing unheard of."[527] + +[Sidenote: Examples of ancestor-worship among the New Caledonians.] + +A few examples may serve to illustrate the ancestor-worship of the New +Caledonians. When a person is sick, a member of the family, never a +stranger, is appointed to heal him by means of certain magical +insufflations. To enable him to do so with effect the healer first +repairs to the family charnel-house and lays some sugar-cane leaves +beside the skulls, saying, "I lay these leaves on you that I may go and +breathe upon our sick relative, to the end that he may live." Then he +goes to a tree belonging to the family and lays other sugar-cane leaves +at its foot, saying, "I lay these leaves beside the tree of my father +and of my grandfather, in order that my breath may have healing virtue." +Next he takes some leaves of the tree or a piece of its bark, chews it +into a mash, and then goes and breathes on the patient, his breath being +moistened with spittle which is charged with particles of the leaves or +the bark.[528] Thus the healing virtue of his breath would seem to be +drawn from the spirits of the dead as represented partly by their skulls +and partly by the leaves and bark of the tree which belonged to them in +life, and to which their souls appear in some manner to be attached in +death. + +[Sidenote: Prayers for fish.] + +Again, when a shoal of fish has made its appearance on the reef, a +number of superstitious ceremonies have to be performed before the +people may go and spear them in the water. On the eve of the fishing-day +the medicine-man of the tribe causes a quantity of leaves of certain +specified plants to be collected and roasted in the native ovens. Next +day the leaves are taken from the ovens and deposited beside the +ancestral skulls, which have been arranged and decorated for the +ceremony. All the fishermen, armed with their fishing-spears, repair to +the holy ground or sacred grove where the skulls are kept, and there +they draw themselves up in two rows, while the medicine-man chants an +invocation or prayer for a good catch. At every verse the crowd raises a +cry of approval and assent. At its conclusion the medicine-man sets an +example by thrusting with his spear at a fish, and all the men +immediately plunge into the water and engage in fishing.[529] + +[Sidenote: Prayers for sugar-cane.] + +Again, in order that a sugar plantation may flourish, the medicine-man +will lay a sugar-cane beside the ancestral skulls, saying, "This is for +you. We beg of you to ward off all curses, all tricks of wicked people, +in order that our plantations may prosper."[530] + +[Sidenote: Prayers for yams.] + +Again, when the store of yams is running short and famine is beginning +to be felt, the New Caledonians celebrate a festival called _moulim_ in +which the worship of their ancestors is the principal feature. A staff +is wreathed with branches, apparently to represent a yam, and a hedge of +coco-nut leaves is made near the ancestral skulls. The decorated staff +is then set up there, and prayers for the prosperity of the crops are +offered over and over again. After that nobody may enter a yam-field or +a cemetery or touch sea-water for three days. On the third day a man +stationed on a mound chants an invocation or incantation in a loud +voice. Next all the men go down to the shore, each of them with a +firebrand in his hand, and separating into two parties engage in a sham +fight. Afterwards they bathe and repairing to the charnel-house deposit +coco-nut leaves beside the skulls of their ancestors. They are then free +to partake of the feast which has been prepared by the women.[531] + +[Sidenote: Caverns used by the natives as charnel-houses in the Isle of +Pines.] + +While the beliefs and customs of the New Caledonians in regard to the +dead bear a general resemblance to each other, whether they belong to +the north or to the south of the principal island, a special feature is +introduced into the mortuary customs of the natives of the Isle of Pines +by the natural caves and grottoes with which the outer rim of the +island, to the distance of several miles from the shore, is riddled; for +in these caverns the natives in the old heathen days were wont to +deposit the bones and skulls of their dead and to use the caves as +sanctuaries or chapels for the worship of the spirits of the departed. +Some of the caves are remarkable both in themselves and in their +situation. Most of those which the natives turned into charnel-houses +are hidden away, sometimes at great distances, in the rank luxuriance of +the tropical forests. Some of them open straight from the level of the +ground; to reach others you must clamber up the rocks; to explore others +you must descend into the bowels of the earth. A glimmering twilight +illumines some; thick darkness veils others, and it is only by +torchlight that you can explore their mysterious depths. Penetrating +into the interior by the flickering gleam of flambeaus held aloft by the +guides, and picking your steps among loose stones and pools of water, +you might fancy yourself now in the great hall of a ruined castle, now +in the vast nave of a gothic cathedral with its chapels opening off it +into the darkness on either hand. The illusion is strengthened by the +multitude of stalactites which hang from the roof of the cavern and, +glittering in the fitful glow of the torches, might be taken for burning +cressets kindled to light up the revels in a baronial hall, or for holy +lamps twinkling in the gloom of a dim cathedral aisle before holy +images, where solitary worshippers kneel in silent devotion. In the +shifting play of the light and shadow cast by the torches the fantastic +shapes of the incrustations which line the sides or rise from the floor +of the grotto appear to the imagination of the observer now as the +gnarled trunks of huge trees, now as statues or torsos of statues, now +as altars, on which perhaps a nearer approach reveals a row of blanched +and grinning skulls. No wonder if such places, chosen for the last +resting-places of the relics of mortality, have fed the imagination of +the natives with weird notions of a life after death, a life very +different from that which the living lead in the glowing sunshine and +amid the rich tropical verdure a few paces outside of these gloomy +caverns. It is with a shiver and a sense of relief that the visitor +escapes from them to the warm outer air and sees again the ferns and +creepers hanging over the mouth of the cave like a green fringe against +the intense blue of the sky.[532] + +[Sidenote: Sea-caves.] + +While this is the general character of the caves which are to be found +hidden away in the forests, many of those near the shore consist simply +of apertures hollowed out in the face of the cliffs by the slow but +continuous action of the waves in the course of ages. On the beach +itself sea-caves are found in which the rising tide precipitates itself +with a hollow roar as of subterranean thunder; and at a point, some way +back from the strand, where the roof of one of these caves has fallen +in, the salt water is projected into the air in the form of intermittent +jets of spray, which vary in height with the force of the wind and +tide.[533] + +[Sidenote: Prayers and sacrifices offered to the dead by the New +Caledonians.] + +With regard to the use which the natives make of these caves as +charnel-houses and mortuary chapels, Father Lambert tells us that any +one of them usually includes three compartments, a place of burial, a +place of skulls, and a place of sacrifice. But often the place of skulls +is also the place of sacrifice; and in no case is the one far from the +other. The family priest, who is commonly the senior member of the +family, may address his prayers to the ancestors in the depth of the +cavern, in the place of skulls, or in the place of sacrifice, whenever +circumstances call for a ritual of unusual solemnity. Otherwise with the +help of his amulets he may pray to the souls of the forefathers +anywhere; for these amulets consist of personal and portable relics of +the dead, such as locks of hair, teeth, and so forth; or again they may +be leaves or other parts of plants which are sacred to the family; so +that a wizard who is in possession of them can always and anywhere +communicate with the ancestral spirits. The place of sacrifice would +seem to be more often in the open air than in a cave, for Father Lambert +tells us that in the centre of it a shrub, always of the same species, +is planted and carefully cultivated. Beside it may be seen the pots and +stones which are used in cooking the food offered to the dead. In this +worship of the dead a certain differentiation of functions or division +of labour obtains between the various families. All have not the same +gifts and graces. The prayers of one family offered to their ancestral +ghosts are thought to be powerful in procuring rain in time of drought; +the prayers of another will cause the sun to break through the clouds +when the sky is overcast; the supplications of a third will produce a +fine crop of yams; the earnest entreaties of a fourth will ensure +victory in war; and the passionate pleadings of a fifth will guard +mariners against the perils and dangers of the deep. And so on through +the whole gamut of human needs, so far as these are felt by savages. If +only wrestling in prayer could satisfy the wants of man, few people +should be better provided with all the necessaries and comforts of life +than the New Caledonians. And according to the special purpose to which +a family devotes its spiritual energies, so will commonly be the +position of its oratory. For example, if rain-making is their strong +point, their house of prayer will be established near a cultivated +field, in order that the crops may immediately experience the benefit to +be derived from their orisons. Again, if they enjoy a high reputation +for procuring a good catch of fish, the family skulls will be placed in +the mouth of a cave looking out over the great ocean, or perhaps on a +bleak little wind-swept isle, where in the howl of the blast, the +thunder of the waves on the strand, and the clangour of the gulls +overhead, the fancy of the superstitious savage may hear the voices of +his dead forefathers keeping watch and ward over their children who are +tossed on the heaving billows.[534] Thus among these fortunate islanders +religion and industry go hand in hand; piety has been reduced to a +co-operative system which diffuses showers of blessings on the whole +community. + +[Sidenote: Prayer-posts.] + +As it is clearly impossible even for the most devout to pray day and +night without cessation, the weakness of the flesh requiring certain +intervals for refreshment and repose, the New Caledonians have devised +an ingenious method of continuing their orisons at the shrine in their +own absence. For this purpose they make rods or poles of various +lengths, carve and paint them rudely, wind bandages of native cloth +about them, and having fastened large shells to the top, set them up +either in the sepulchral caves or in the place of skulls. In setting up +one of these poles the native will pray for the particular favour which +he desires to obtain from the ancestors for himself or his family; and +he appears to think that in some way the pole will continue to recite +the prayer in the ears of the ghosts, when he himself has ceased to +speak and has returned to his customary avocations. And when members of +his family visit the shrine and see the pole, they will be reminded of +the particular benefit which they are entitled to expect from the souls +of the departed. A certain rude symbolism may be traced in the materials +and other particulars of these prayer-posts. A hard wood signifies +strength; a tall pole overtopping all the rest imports a wish that he +for whose sake it was erected may out-top all his rivals; and so +on.[535] + +[Sidenote: Religion combined with magic in the ritual of the New +Caledonians. Sacred stones endowed with special magical virtues. The +"stone of famine."] + +We may assume with some probability that in the mind of the natives such +resemblances are not purely figurative or symbolic, but that they are +also magical in intention, being supposed not merely to represent the +object of the supplicant's prayer, but actually, on the principle of +homoeopathic or imitative magic, to contribute to its accomplishment. If +that is so, we must conclude that the religion of these savages, as +manifested in their prayers to the spirits of the dead, is tinctured +with an alloy of magic; they do not trust entirely to the compassion of +the spirits and their power to help them; they seek to reinforce their +prayers by a certain physical compulsion acting through the natural +properties of the prayer-posts. This interpretation is confirmed by a +parallel use which these people make of certain sacred stones, which +apart from their possible character as representatives of the ancestors, +seem to be credited with independent magical virtues by reason of their +various shapes and appearances. For example, there is a piece of +polished jade which is called "the stone of famine," because it is +supposed capable of causing either dearth or abundance, but is oftener +used by the sorcerer to create, or at least to threaten, dearth, in +order thereby to extort presents from his alarmed fellow tribesmen. This +stone is kept in a burial-ground and derives its potency from the dead. +The worshipper or the sorcerer (for he combines the two characters) who +desires to cause a famine repairs to the burial-ground, uncovers the +stone, rubs it with certain plants, and smears one half of it with black +pigment. Then he makes a small hole in the ground and inserts the +blackened end of the stone in the hole. Next he prays to the ancestors +that nothing may go well with the country. If this malevolent rite +should be followed by the desired effect, the sorcerer soon sees +messengers arriving laden with presents, who entreat him to stay the +famine. If his cupidity is satisfied, he rubs the stone again, inserts +it upside down in the ground, and prays to his ancestors to restore +plenty to the land.[536] + +[Sidenote: Stones to drive people mad.] + +Again, certain rough unhewn stones, which are kept in the sacred places, +are thought to possess the power of driving people mad. To effect this +purpose the sorcerer has only to strike one of them with the branches of +a certain tree and to pray to the ancestral spirits that they would +deprive so-and-so of his senses.[537] + +[Sidenote: Stones to blight coco-nut palms. Stones to make bread-fruit +trees bear fruit.] + +Again, there is a stone which they use in cursing a plantation of +coco-nut palms. The stone resembles a blighted coco-nut, and no doubt it +is this resemblance which is supposed to endow it with the magical power +to blight coco-nut trees. In order to effect his malicious purpose the +sorcerer rubs the stone in the cemetery with certain leaves and then +deposits it in a hole at the foot of a coco-nut tree, covers it up, and +prays that all the trees of the plantation may be barren. This ceremony +combines the elements of magic and religion. The prayer, which is no +doubt addressed to the spirits of the dead, though this is not expressly +affirmed, is purely religious; but the employment of a stone resembling +a blighted coco-nut for the purpose of blighting the coco-nut palms is a +simple piece of homoeopathic or imitative magic, in which, as usual, the +desired effect is supposed to be produced by an imitation of it. +Similarly, in order to make a bread-fruit tree bear fruit they employ +two stones, one of which resembles the unripe and the other the ripe +fruit. These are kept, as usual, in a cemetery; and when the trees begin +to put forth fruit, the small stone resembling the unripe fruit is +buried at the foot of one of the trees with the customary prayers and +ceremonies; and when the fruits are more mature the small stone is +replaced by the larger stone which resembles the ripe fruit. Then, when +the fruits on the tree are quite ripe, the two stones are removed and +deposited again in the cemetery: they have done their work by bringing +to maturity the fruits which they resemble. This again is a piece of +pure homoeopathic or imitative magic working by means of mimicry; but +the magical virtue of the stones is reinforced by the spiritual power of +the dead, for the stones have been kept in a cemetery and prayers have +been addressed to the souls of the departed.[538] + +[Sidenote: The "stone of the sun."] + +Again, the natives have two disc-shaped stones, each with a hole in the +centre, which together make up what they call "the stone of the sun." No +doubt it is regarded as a symbol of the sun, and as such it is employed +to cause drought in a ceremony which, like the preceding, combines the +elements of magic and religion. The sun-stone is kept in one of the +sacred places, and when a sorcerer wishes to make drought with it, he +brings offerings to the ancestral spirits in the sacred place. These +offerings are purely religious, but the rest of the ceremony is purely +magical. At the moment when the sun rises from the sea, the magician or +priest, whichever we choose to call him (for he combines both +characters), passes a burning brand in and out of the hole in the +sun-stone, while he says, "I kindle the sun, in order that he may eat up +the clouds and dry up our land, so that it shall no longer bear fruit." +Here the putting of fire to the sun-stone is a piece of pure +homoeopathic or imitative magic, designed to increase the burning heat +of the sun by mimicry.[539] + +[Sidenote: Stones to make rain.] + +On the contrary, when a wizard desires to make rain, he proceeds as +follows. The place of sacrifice is decorated and enclosed with a fence, +and a large quantity of provisions is deposited in it to be offered to +the ancestors whose skulls stand there in a row. Opposite the skulls the +wizard places a row of pots full of a medicated water, and he brings a +number of sacred stones of a rounded form or shaped like a skull. Each +of these stones, after being rubbed with the leaves of a certain tree, +is placed in one of the pots of water. Then the wizard recites a long +litany or series of invocations to the ancestors, which may be +summarised thus: "We pray you to help us, in order that our country may +revive and live anew." Then holding a branch in his hand he climbs a +tree and scans the horizon if haply he may descry a cloud, be it no +larger than a man's hand. Should he be fortunate enough to see one, he +waves the branch to and fro to make the cloud mount up in the sky, while +he also stretches out his arms to right and left to enlarge it so that +it may hide the sun and overcast the whole heaven.[540] Here again the +prayers and offerings are purely religious; while the placing of the +skull-shaped stones in pots full of water, and the waving of the branch +to bring up the clouds, are magical ceremonies designed to produce rain +by mimicry and compulsion. + +[Sidenote: Stones to make or mar sea-voyages.] + +Again, the natives have a stone in the shape of a canoe, which they +employ in ceremonies for the purpose of favouring or hindering +navigation. If the sorcerer desires to make a voyage prosperous, he +places the canoe-shaped stone before the ancestral skulls with the right +side up; but if he wishes to cause his enemy to perish at sea, he places +the canoe-shaped stone bottom upwards before the skulls, which, on the +principles of homoeopathic or imitative magic, must clearly make his +enemy's canoe to capsize and precipitate its owner into the sea. +Whichever of these ceremonies he performs, the wizard accompanies the +magical rite, as usual, with prayers and offerings of food to the +ancestral spirits who are represented by the skulls.[541] + +[Sidenote: Stones to help fishermen.] + +The natives of the Isle of Pines subsist mainly by fishing; hence they +naturally have a large number of sacred stones which they use for the +purpose of securing the blessing of the ancestral spirits on the +business of the fisherman. Indeed each species of fish has its own +special sacred stone. These stones are kept in large shells in a +cemetery. A wizard who desires to make use of one of them paints the +stone with a variety of colours, chews certain leaves, and then breathes +on the stone and moistens it with his spittle. After that he sets up the +stone before the ancestral skulls, saying, "Help us, that we may be +successful in fishing." The sacrifices to the spirits consist of +bananas, sugar-cane, and fish, never of taros or yams. After the fishing +and the sacrificial meal, the stone is put back in its place, and +covered up respectfully.[542] + +[Sidenote: Stones to make yams grow.] + +Lastly, the natives of the Isle of Pines cultivate many different kinds +of yams, and they have a correspondingly large number of sacred stones +destined to aid them in the cultivation by ensuring the blessing of the +dead upon the work. In shape and colour these stones differ from each +other, each of them bearing a resemblance, real or fanciful, to the +particular species of yam which it is supposed to quicken. But the +method of operating with them is much the same for all. The stone is +placed before the skulls, wetted with water, and wiped with certain +leaves. Yams and fish, cooked on the spot, are offered in sacrifice to +the dead, the priest or magician saying, "This is your offering in order +that the crop of yams may be good." So saying he presents the food to +the dead and himself eats a little of it. After that the stone is taken +away and buried in the yam field which it is designed to fertilise.[543] +Here, again, the prayer and sacrifice to the dead are purely religious +rites intended to propitiate the spirits and secure their help; while +the burying of the yam-shaped stone in the yam-field to make the yams +grow is a simple piece of homoeopathic or imitative magic. Similarly in +order to cultivate taros and bananas, stones resembling taros and +bananas are buried in the taro field or the banana grove, and their +magical virtue is reinforced by prayers and offerings to the dead.[544] + +[Sidenote: The religion of the New Caledonians is mainly a worship of +the dead tinctured with magic.] + +On the whole we may conclude that among the natives of New Caledonia +there exists a real worship of the dead, and that this worship is indeed +the principal element in their religion. The spirits of the dead, though +they are supposed to spend part of their time in a happy land far away +under the sea, are nevertheless believed to be near at hand, hovering +about in the burial-grounds or charnel-houses and embodied apparently in +their skulls. To these spirits the native turns for help in all the +important seasons and emergencies of life; he appeals to them in prayer +and seeks to propitiate them by sacrifice. Thus in his attitude towards +his dead ancestors we perceive the elements of a real religion. But, as +I have just pointed out, many rites of this worship of ancestors are +accompanied by magical ceremonies. The religion of these islanders is in +fact deeply tinged with magic; it marks a transition from an age of pure +magic in the past to an age of more or less pure religion in the future. + +[Sidenote: Evidence as to the religion of the New Caledonians furnished +by Dr. G. Turner.] + +Thus far I have based my account of the beliefs and customs of the New +Caledonians concerning the dead on the valuable information which we owe +to the Catholic missionary Father Lambert. But, as I pointed out, his +evidence refers not so much to the natives of the mainland as to the +inhabitants of certain small islands at the two extremities of the great +island. It may be well, therefore, to supplement his description by some +notes which a distinguished Protestant missionary, the Rev. Dr. George +Turner, obtained in the year 1845 from two native teachers, one a Samoan +and the other a Rarotongan, who lived in the south-south-eastern part of +New Caledonia for three years.[545] Their evidence, it will be observed, +goes to confirm Father Lambert's view as to the general similarity of +the religious beliefs and customs prevailing throughout the island. + +[Sidenote: Material culture of the New Caledonians.] + +The natives of this part of New Caledonia were divided into separate +districts, each with its own name, and war, perpetual war, was the rule +between the neighbouring communities. They cultivated taro, yams, +coco-nuts, and sugar-cane; but they had no intoxicating _kava_ and kept +no pigs. They cooked their food in earthenware pots manufactured by the +women. In former days their only edge-tools were made of stone, and they +felled trees by a slow fire smouldering close to the ground. Similarly +they hollowed out the fallen trees by means of a slow fire to make their +canoes. Their villages were not permanent. They migrated within certain +bounds, as they planted. A village might comprise as many as fifty or +sixty round houses. The chiefs had absolute power of life and death. +Priests did not meddle in political affairs.[546] + +[Sidenote: Burial customs; preservation of the skulls and teeth.] + +At death they dressed the corpse with a belt and shell armlets, cut off +the nails of the fingers and toes, and kept them as relics. They spread +the grave with a mat, and buried all the body but the head. After ten +days the friends twisted off the head, extracted the teeth to be kept as +relics, and preserved the skull also. In cases of sickness and other +calamities they presented offerings of food to the skulls of the dead. +The teeth of the old women were taken to the yam plantations and were +supposed to fertilise them; and their skulls were set up on poles in the +plantations for the same purpose. When they buried a chief, they erected +spears at his head, fastened a spear-thrower to his forefinger, and laid +a club on the top of his grave,[547] no doubt for the convenience of the +ghost. + +[Sidenote: Prayers to ancestors.] + +"Their gods," we are told, "were their ancestors, whose relics they kept +up and idolised. At one place they had wooden idols before the chiefs' +houses. The office of the priest was hereditary. Almost every family had +its priest. To make sure of favours and prosperity they prayed not only +to their own gods, but also, in a general way, to the gods of other +lands. Fishing, planting, house-building, and everything of importance +was preceded by prayers to their guardian spirits for success. This was +especially the case before going to battle. They prayed to one for the +eye, that they might see the spear as it flew towards them. To another +for the ear, that they might hear the approach of the enemy. Thus, too, +they prayed for the feet, that they might be swift in pursuing the +enemy; for the heart, that they might be courageous; for the body, that +they might not be speared; for the head, that it might not be clubbed; +and for sleep, that it might be undisturbed by an attack of the enemy. +Prayers over, arms ready, and equipped with their relic charms, they +went off to battle."[548] + +[Sidenote: "Grand concert of spirits."] + +The spirits of the dead were believed to go away into the forest. Every +fifth month they had a "spirit night" or "grand concert of spirits." +Heaps of food were prepared for the occasion. The people assembled in +the afternoon round a certain cave. At sundown they feasted, and then +one stood up and addressed the spirits in the cave, saying, "You spirits +within, may it please you to sing a song, that all the women and men out +here may listen to your sweet voices." Thereupon a strange unearthly +concert of voices burst on their ears from the cave, the nasal squeak of +old men and women forming the dominant note. But the hearers outside +listened with delight to the melody, praised the sweet voices of the +singers, and then got up and danced to the music. The singing swelled +louder and louder as the dance grew faster and more furious, till the +concert closed in a nocturnal orgy of unbridled license, which, but for +the absence of intoxicants, might compare with the worst of the ancient +bacchanalia. The singers in the cave were the old men and women who had +ensconced themselves in it secretly during the day; but the hoax was not +suspected by the children and young people, who firmly believed that the +spirits of the dead really assembled that night in the cavern and +assisted at the sports and diversions of the living.[549] + +[Sidenote: Making rain by means of the bones of the dead.] + +The souls of the departed also kindly bore a hand in the making of rain. +In order to secure their co-operation for this beneficent purpose the +human rain-maker proceeded as follows. He blackened himself all over, +exhumed a dead body, carried the bones to a cave, jointed them, and +suspended the skeleton over some taro leaves. After that he poured water +on the skeleton so that it ran down and fell on the leaves underneath. +They imagined that the soul of the deceased took up the water, converted +it into rain, and then caused it to descend in refreshing showers. But +the rain-maker had to stay in the cavern fasting till his efforts were +crowned with success, and when the ghost was tardy in executing his +commission, the rain-maker sometimes died of hunger. As a rule, however, +they chose the showery months of March and April for the operation of +rain-making, so that the wizard ran little risk of perishing a martyr to +the cause of science. When there was too much rain, and they wanted fine +weather, the magician procured it by a similar process, except that +instead of drenching the skeleton with water he lit a fire under it and +burned it up,[550] which naturally induced or compelled the ghost to +burn up the clouds and let the sun shine out. + +[Sidenote: Execution of maleficent sorcerers. Reincarnation of the dead +in white people.] + +Another class of magicians were the maleficent sorcerers who caused +people to fall ill and die by burning their personal rubbish. When one +of these rascals was convicted of repeated offences of that sort, he was +formally tried and condemned. The people assembled and a great festival +was held. The condemned man was decked with a garland of red flowers; +his arms and legs were covered with flowers and shells, and his face and +body painted black. Thus arrayed he came dashing forward, rushed through +the people, plunged from the rocks into the sea, and was seen no more. +The natives also ascribed sickness to the arts of white men, whom they +identified with the spirits of the dead; and assigned this belief as a +reason for their wish to kill the strangers.[551] + +[Footnote 517: F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, II. _Malaysia and the +Pacific Archipelagoes_ (London, 1894), p. 458.] + +[Footnote 518: J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_ (London, 1900), pp. 498 +_sq._ As to the mediums of exchange, particularly the shell-money, see +R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), pp. 323 _sqq._; R. +Parkinson, _Dreissig Jaehre in der Suedsee_ (Stuttgart, 1907), pp. 82 +_sqq._] + +[Footnote 519: Le Pere Lambert, _Moeurs et Superstitions des +Neo-Caledoniens_ (Noumea, 1900). This work originally appeared as a +series of articles in the Catholic missionary journal _Les Missions +Catholiques_.] + +[Footnote 520: Lambert, _Moeurs et Superstitions des Neo-Caledoniens_, +pp. ii., iv. _sq._; 255.] + +[Footnote 521: George Turner, LL.D., _Samoa a Hundred Years Ago and long +before_ (London, 1884), pp. 340 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 522: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 13-16.] + +[Footnote 523: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 235-239.] + +[Footnote 524: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 238, 239 _sq._] + +[Footnote 525: Above, pp. 136 _sq._, 235 _sq._] + +[Footnote 526: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 24, 240.] + +[Footnote 527: Lambert, _op. cit._ p. 274.] + +[Footnote 528: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 24, 26.] + +[Footnote 529: Lambert, _op. cit._ p. 211.] + +[Footnote 530: Lambert, _op. cit._ p. 218.] + +[Footnote 531: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 224 _sq._] + +[Footnote 532: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 275 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 533: Lambert, _op. cit._ p. 276.] + +[Footnote 534: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 288 _sq._] + +[Footnote 535: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 290, 292.] + +[Footnote 536: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 292 _sq._] + +[Footnote 537: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 293 _sq._] + +[Footnote 538: Lambert, _op. cit._ p. 294.] + +[Footnote 539: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 296 _sq._] + +[Footnote 540: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 297 _sq._] + +[Footnote 541: Lambert, _op. cit._ p. 298.] + +[Footnote 542: Lambert, _op. cit._ p. 300.] + +[Footnote 543: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 301 _sq._] + +[Footnote 544: Lambert, _op. cit._ pp. 217 _sq._, 300.] + +[Footnote 545: George Turner, LL.D., _Samoa a Hundred Years Ago and long +before_ (London, 1884), pp. 340 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 546: G. Turner, _op. cit._ pp. 340, 341, 343, 344.] + +[Footnote 547: G. Turner, _op. cit._ pp. 342 _sq._] + +[Footnote 548: G. Turner, _op. cit._ p. 345.] + +[Footnote 549: G. Turner, _op. cit._ pp. 346 _sq._] + +[Footnote 550: G. Turner, _op. cit._ pp. 345 _sq._] + +[Footnote 551: G. Turner, _op. cit._ p. 342.] + + + + +LECTURE XVI + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF CENTRAL MELANESIA + + +[Sidenote: The islands of Central Melanesia. Distinction between the +religion of the Eastern and Western Islanders.] + +In our survey of savage beliefs and practices concerning the dead we now +pass from New Caledonia, the most southerly island of Melanesia, to the +groups of islands known as the New Hebrides, the Banks' Islands, the +Torres Islands, the Santa Cruz Islands, and the Solomon Islands, which +together constitute what we may call Central Melanesia. These groups of +islands may themselves be distinguished into two archipelagoes, a +western and an eastern, of which the Western comprises the Solomon +Islands and the Eastern includes all the rest. Corresponding to this +geographical distinction there is a religious distinction; for while the +religion of the Western islanders (the Solomon Islanders) consists +chiefly in a fear and worship of the ghosts of the dead, the religion of +the Eastern islanders is characterised mainly by the fear and worship of +spirits which are not supposed ever to have been incarnate in human +bodies. Both groups of islanders, the Western and the Eastern, recognise +indeed both classes of spirits, namely ghosts that once were men and +spirits who never were men; but the religious bias of the one group is +towards ghosts rather than towards pure spirits, and the religious bias +of the other group is towards pure spirits rather than towards ghosts. +It is not a little remarkable that the islanders whose bent is towards +ghosts have carried the system of sacrifice and the arts of life to a +higher level than the islanders whose bent is towards pure spirits; this +applies particularly to the sacrificial system, which is much more +developed in the west than in the east.[552] From this it would seem to +follow that if a faith in ghosts is more costly than a faith in pure +spirits, it is at the same time more favourable to the evolution of +culture. + +[Sidenote: Dr. R. H. Codrington on the Melanesians.] + +For the whole of this region we are fortunate in possessing the evidence +of the Rev. Dr. R. H. Codrington, one of the most sagacious, cautious, +and accurate of observers, who laboured as a missionary among the +natives for twenty-four years, from 1864 to 1887, and has given us a +most valuable account of their customs and beliefs in his book _The +Melanesians_, which must always remain an anthropological classic. In +describing the worship of the dead as it is carried on among these +islanders I shall draw chiefly on the copious evidence supplied by Dr. +Codrington; and I shall avail myself of his admirable researches to +enter into considerable details on the subject, since details recorded +by an accurate observer are far more instructive than the vague +generalities of superficial observers, which are too often all the +information we possess as to the religion of savages. + +[Sidenote: Melanesian theory of the soul.] + +In the first place, all the Central Melanesians believe that man is +composed of a body and a soul, that death is the final parting of the +soul from the body, and that after death the soul continues to exist as +a conscious and more or less active being.[553] Thus the creed of these +savages on this profound subject agrees fundamentally with the creed of +the average European; if my hearers were asked to state their beliefs as +to the nature of life and death, I imagine that most of them would +formulate them in substantially the same way. However, when the Central +Melanesian savage attempts to define the nature of the vital principle +or soul, which animates the body during life and survives it after +death, he finds himself in a difficulty; and to continue the parallel I +cannot help thinking that if my hearers in like manner were invited to +explain their conception of the soul, they would similarly find +themselves embarrassed for an answer. But an examination of the Central +Melanesian theory of the soul would lead us too far from our immediate +subject; we must be content to say that, "whatever word the Melanesian +people use for soul, they mean something essentially belonging to each +man's nature which carries life to his body with it, and is the seat of +thought and intelligence, exercising therefore power which is not of the +body and is invisible in its action."[554] However the soul may be +defined, the Melanesians are universally of opinion that it survives the +death of the body and goes away to some more or less distant region, +where the spirits of all the dead congregate and continue for the most +part to live for an indefinite time, though some of them, as we shall +see presently, are supposed to die a second death and so to come to an +end altogether. In Western Melanesia, that is, in the Solomon Islands, +the abode of the dead is supposed to be in certain islands, which differ +in the creed of different islanders; but in Eastern Melanesia the abode +of the dead is thought to be a subterranean region called Panoi.[555] + +[Sidenote: Distinction between ghosts of power and ghosts of no +account.] + +But though the souls of the departed go away to the spirit land, +nevertheless, with a seeming or perhaps real inconsistency, their ghosts +are also supposed to haunt their graves and their old homes and to +exercise great power for good or evil over the living, who are +accordingly often obliged to woo their favour by prayer and sacrifice. +According to the Solomon Islanders, however, among whom ghosts are the +principal objects of worship, there is a great distinction to be drawn +among ghosts. "The distinction," says Dr. Codrington, "is between ghosts +of power and ghosts of no account, between those whose help is sought +and their wrath deprecated, and those from whom nothing is expected and +to whom no observance is due. Among living men there are some who stand +out distinguished for capacity in affairs, success in life, valour in +fighting, and influence over others; and these are so, it is believed, +because of the supernatural and mysterious powers which they have, and +which are derived from communication with those ghosts of the dead gone +before them who are full of those same powers. On the death of a +distinguished man his ghost retains the powers that belonged to him in +life, in greater activity and with stronger force; his ghost therefore +is powerful and worshipful, and so long as he is remembered the aid of +his powers is sought and worship is offered him; he is the _tindalo_ of +Florida, the _lio'a_ of Saa. In every society, again, the multitude is +composed of insignificant persons, '_numerus fruges consumeri nati_,' of +no particular account for valour, skill, or prosperity. The ghosts of +such persons continue their insignificance, and are nobodies after death +as before; they are ghosts because all men have souls, and the souls of +dead men are ghosts; they are dreaded because all ghosts are awful, but +they get no worship and are soon only thought of as the crowd of the +nameless population of the lower world."[556] + +[Sidenote: Ghosts of the great and of the recently dead are chiefly +regarded. Supernatural power (_mana_) acquired through ghosts.] + +From this account of Dr. Codrington we see that it is only the ghosts of +great and powerful people who are worshipped; the ghosts of ordinary +people are indeed feared, but no worship is paid to them. Further, we +are told that it is the ghosts of those who have lately died that are +deemed to be most powerful and are therefore most regarded; as the dead +are forgotten, their ghosts cease to be worshipped, their power fades +away,[557] and their place in the religion of the people is taken by the +ghosts of the more recently departed. In fact here, as elsewhere, the +existence of the dead seems to be dependent on the memory of the living; +when they are forgotten they cease to exist. Further, it deserves to be +noticed that in the Solomon Islands what we should call a man's natural +powers and capacities are regarded as supernatural endowments acquired +by communication with a mighty ghost. If a man is a great warrior, it is +not because he is strong of arm, quick of eye, and brave of heart; it is +because he is supported by the ghost of a dead warrior, whose power he +has drawn to himself through an amulet of stone tied round his neck, or +a tuft of leaves in his belt, or a tooth attached to one of his fingers, +or a spell by the recitation of which he can enlist the aid of the +ghost.[558] And similarly with all other pre-eminent capacities and +virtues; in the mind of the Solomon Islanders, they are all supernatural +gifts and graces bestowed on men by ghosts. This all-pervading +supernatural power the Central Melanesian calls _mana_.[559] Thus for +these savages the whole world teems with ghostly influences; their minds +are filled, we may almost say, obsessed, with a sense of the unseen +powers which encompass and determine even in its minute particulars the +life of man on earth: in their view the visible world is, so to say, +merely a puppet-show of which the strings are pulled and the puppets +made to dance by hands invisible. Truly the attitude of these savages to +the universe is deeply religious. + +We may now consider the theory and practice of the Central Melanesians +on this subject somewhat more in detail; and in doing so we shall begin +with their funeral customs, which throw much light on their views of +death and the dead. + +[Sidenote: Burial customs in the Solomon Islands. Land burial and sea +burial. Land-ghosts and sea-ghosts.] + +Thus, for example, in Florida, one of the Solomon Islands, the corpse is +usually buried. Common men are buried in their gardens or plantations, +chiefs sometimes in the village, a chief's child sometimes in the house. +If the ghost of the deceased is worshipped, his grave becomes a +sanctuary (_vunuhu_); the skull is often dug up and hung in the house. +On the return from the burial the mourners take a different road from +that by which they carried the corpse to the grave; this they do in +order to throw the ghost off the scent and so prevent him from following +them home. This practice clearly shews the fear which the natives feel +for the ghosts of the newly dead. A man is buried with money, porpoise +teeth, and some of his personal ornaments; but, avarice getting the +better of superstition, these things are often secretly dug up again and +appropriated by the living. Sometimes a dying man will express a wish to +be cast into the sea; his friends will therefore paddle out with the +corpse, tie stones to the feet, and sink it in the depths. In the island +of Savo, another of the Solomon Islands, common men are generally thrown +into the sea and only great men are buried.[560] The same distinction is +made at Wango in San Cristoval, another of the same group of islands; +there also the bodies of common folk are cast into the sea, but men of +consequence are buried, and some relic of them, it may be a skull, a +tooth, or a finger-bone, is preserved in a shrine at the village. From +this difference in burial customs flows a not unimportant religious +difference. The souls of the great people who are buried on land turn +into land-ghosts, and the souls of commoners who are sunk in the sea +turn into sea-ghosts. The land-ghosts are seen to hover about the +villages, haunting their graves and their relics; they are also heard to +speak in hollow whispers. Their aid can be obtained by such as know +them. The sea-ghosts have taken a great hold on the imagination of the +natives of the south-eastern Solomon Islands; and as these people love +to illustrate their life by sculpture and painting, they shew us clearly +what they suppose these sea-ghosts to be like. At Wango there used to be +a canoe-house full of sculptures and paintings illustrative of native +life; amongst others there was a series of scenes like those which are +depicted on the walls of Egyptian tombs. One of the scenes represented a +canoe attacked by sea-ghosts, which were portrayed as demons compounded +partly of human limbs, partly of the bodies and tails of fishes, and +armed with spears and arrows in the form of long-bodied garfish and +flying-fish. If a man falls ill on returning from a voyage or from +fishing on the rocks, it is thought that one of these sea-ghosts has +shot him. Hence when men are in danger at sea, they seek to propitiate +the ghosts by throwing areca-nuts and fragments of food into the water +and by praying to the ghosts not to be angry with them. Sharks are also +supposed to be animated by the ghosts of the dead.[561] It is +interesting and instructive to find that in this part of the world +sea-demons, who might be thought to be pure spirits of nature, are in +fact ghosts of the dead. + +[Sidenote: Burnt offerings in honour of the dead.] + +In the island of Florida, two days after the death of a chief or of any +person who was much esteemed, the relatives and friends assemble and +hold a funeral feast, at which they throw a bit of food into the fire +for the ghost, saying, "This is for you."[562] In other of the Solomon +Islands morsels of food are similarly thrown on the fire at the +death-feasts as the dead man's share.[563] Thus, in the Shortlands +Islands, when a famous chief named Gorai died, his body was burnt and +his relatives cast food, beads, and other property into the fire. The +dead chief had been very fond of tea, so one of his daughters threw a +cup of tea into the flames. Women danced a funeral dance round the pyre +till the body was consumed.[564] Why should the dead man's food and +property be burnt? No explanation of the practice is given by our +authorities, so we are left to conjecture the reason of it. Is it that +by volatilising the solid substance of the food you make it more +accessible to the thin unsubstantial nature of the ghost? Is it that you +destroy the property of the ghost lest he should come back in person to +fetch it and so haunt and trouble the survivors? Is it that the spirits +of the dead are supposed to reside in the fire on the hearth, so that +offerings cast into the flames are transmitted to them directly? Whether +it is with any such ideas that the Solomon Islanders throw food into the +fire for ghosts, I cannot say. The whole question of the meaning of +burnt sacrifice is still to a great extent obscure. + +[Sidenote: Funeral customs in the island of Florida. The ghostly ferry.] + +At the funeral feast of a chief in the island of Florida the axes, +spears, shield and other belongings of the deceased are hung up with +great lamentations in his house; everything remains afterwards untouched +and the house falls into ruins, which as time goes on are thickly +mantled with the long tendrils of the sprouting yams. But we are told +that the weapons are not intended to accompany the ghost to the land of +souls; they are hung up only as a memorial of a great and valued man. +"With the same feeling they cut down a dead man's fruit-trees as a mark +of respect and affection, not with any notion of these things serving +him in the world of ghosts; he ate of them, they say, when he was alive, +he will never eat again, and no one else shall have them." However, they +think that the ghost benefits by burial; for if a man is killed and his +body remains unburied, his restless ghost will haunt the place.[565] The +ghosts of such Florida people as have been duly buried depart to +Betindalo, which seems to be situated in the south-eastern part of the +great island of Guadalcanar. A ship waits to ferry them across the sea +to the spirit-land. This is almost the only example of a ferry-boat used +by ghosts in Melanesia. On their way to the ferry the ghosts may be +heard twittering; and again on the shore, while they are waiting for the +ferry-boat, a sound of their dancing breaks the stillness of night; but +no man can see the dancers. It is not until they land on the further +shore that they know they are dead. There they are met by a ghost, who +thrusts a rod into their noses to see whether the cartilage is pierced +as it should be; ghosts whose noses have been duly bored in life follow +the onward path with ease, but all others have pain and difficulty in +making their way to the realm of the shades. Yet though the souls of the +dead thus depart to Betindalo, nevertheless their ghosts as usual not +only haunt their burial-places, but come to the sacrifices offered to +them and may be heard disporting themselves at night, playing on pipes, +dancing, and shouting.[566] + +[Sidenote: Belief of the Solomon Islanders that the souls of the dead +live in islands. The second death.] + +Similarly at Bugotu in the island of Ysabel (one of the Solomon Islands) +the ghosts of the dead are supposed to go away to an island, and yet to +haunt their graves and shew themselves to the survivors by night. In the +island of the dead there is a pool with a narrow tree-trunk lying across +it. Here is stationed Bolafagina, the ghostly lord of the place. Every +newly arrived ghost must appear before him, and he examines their hands +to see whether they bear the mark of the sacred frigate-bird cut on +them; if they have the mark, the ghosts pass across the tree-trunk and +mingle with the departed spirits in the world of the dead. But ghosts +who have not the mark on their hands are cast into the gulf and perish +out of their ghostly life: this is the second death.[567] The same +notion of a second death meets us in a somewhat different form among the +natives of Saa in Malanta, another of the Solomon Islands. All the +ghosts of these people swim across the sea to two little islands called +Marapa, which lie off Marau in Guadalcanar. There the ghosts of children +live in one island and the ghosts of grown-up people in another; for the +older people would be plagued by the chatter of children if they all +dwelt together in one island. Yet in other respects the life of the +departed spirits in these islands is very like life on earth. There are +houses, gardens, and canoes there just as here, but all is thin and +unsubstantial. Living men who land in the islands see nothing of these +things; there is a pool where they hear laughter and merry cries, and +where the banks are wet with invisible bathers. But the life of the +ghosts in these islands is not eternal. The spirits of common folk soon +turn into the nests of white ants, which serve as food for the more +robust ghosts. Hence a living man will say to his idle son, "When I die, +I shall have ants' nests to eat, but then what will you have?" The +ghosts of persons who were powerful on earth last much longer. So long +as they are remembered and worshipped by the living, their natural +strength remains unabated; but when men forget them, and turn to worship +some of the more recent dead, then no more food is offered to them in +sacrifice, so they pine away and change into white ants' nests just like +common folk. This is the second death. However, while the ghosts survive +they can return from the islands to Saa and revisit their village and +friends. The living can even discern them in the form of dim and +fleeting shadows. A man who wishes for any reason to see a ghost can +always do so very simply by taking a pinch of lime from his betel-box +and smearing it on his forehead. Then the ghost appears to him quite +plainly.[568] + +[Sidenote: Burial customs in Saa. Preservation of the skull and jawbone. +Burial customs in Santa Cruz. Burial customs in Ysabel.] + +In Saa the dead are usually buried in a common cemetery; but when the +flesh has decayed the bones are taken up and heaped on one side. But if +the deceased was a very great man or a beloved father, his body is +preserved for a time in his son's house, being hung up either in a canoe +or in the carved effigy of a sword-fish. Very favourite children are +treated in the same way. The corpse may be kept in this way for years. +Finally, there is a great funeral feast, at which the remains are +removed to the common burial-ground, but the skull and jawbone are +detached from the skeleton and kept in the house enclosed in the hollow +wooden figure of a bonito-fish. By means of these relics the survivors +think that they can secure the aid of the powerful ghost. Sometimes the +corpse and afterwards the skull and jawbone are preserved, not in the +house of the deceased, but in the _oha_ or public canoe-house, which so +far becomes a sort of shrine or temple of the dead.[569] At Santa Cruz +in the Solomon Islands the corpse is buried in a very deep grave in the +house. Inland they dig up the bones again to make arrow-heads; also they +detach the skull and keep it in a chest in the house, saying that it is +the man himself. They even set food before the skull, no doubt for the +use of the ghost. Yet they imagine that the ghosts of the dead go to the +great volcano Tamami, where they are burnt in the crater and thus being +renewed stay in the fiery region. Nevertheless the souls of the dead +also haunt the forests in Santa Cruz; on wet and dark nights the natives +see them twinkling in the gloom like fire-flies, and at the sight they +are sore afraid.[570] So little consistent with itself is the creed of +these islanders touching the state of the dead. At Bugotu in the island +of Ysabel (one of the Solomon Islands) a chief is buried with his head +near the surface and a fire is kept burning over the grave, in order +that the skull may be taken up and preserved in the house of his +successor. The spirit of the dead chief has now become a worshipful +ghost, and an expedition is sent out to cut off and bring back human +heads in his honour. Any person, not belonging to the place, whom the +head-hunters come across will be killed by them and his or her skull +added to the collection, which is neatly arranged on the shore. These +ghastly trophies are believed to add fresh spiritual power (_mana_) to +the ghost of the dead chief. Till they have been procured, the people of +the place take care not to move about. The grave of the chief is built +up with stones and sacrifices are offered upon it.[571] + +[Sidenote: Beliefs and customs of the Eastern islanders concerning the +dead. Panoi, the subterranean abode of the dead.] + +Thus far we have been considering the beliefs and practices concerning +the dead which prevail among the Western Melanesians of the Solomon +Islands and Santa Cruz. We now turn to those of the Eastern Melanesians, +who inhabit the Torres Islands, the Banks' Islands, and the New +Hebrides. A broad distinction exists between the ghosts of these two +regions in as much as the ghosts of the Western Melanesians all live in +islands, but the ghosts of all Eastern Melanesians live underground in a +subterranean region which commonly bears the name of Panoi. The exact +position of Panoi has not been ascertained; all that is regarded as +certain is that it is underground. However, there are many entrances to +it and some of them are well known. One of them, for example, is a rock +on the mountain at Mota, others are at volcanic vents which belch flames +on the burning hill of Garat over the lake at Gaua, and another is on +the great mountain of Vanua Lava. The ghosts congregate on points of +land before their departure, as well as at the entrances to the +underworld, and there on moonlight nights you may hear the ghostly crew +dancing, singing, shouting, and whistling on the claws of land-crabs. It +is not easy to extract from the natives a precise and consistent account +of the place of the dead and the state of the spirits in it; nor indeed, +as Dr. Codrington justly observes, would it be reasonable to expect full +and precise details on a subject about which the sources of information +are perhaps not above suspicion. However, as far as can be made out, +Panoi or the abode of the dead is on the whole a happy region. In many +respects it resembles the land of the living; for there are houses there +and villages, and trees with red leaves, and day and night. Yet all is +hollow and unreal. The ghosts do nothing but talk and sing and dance; +there is no clubhouse there, and though men and women live together, +there is no marrying or giving in marriage. All is very peaceful, too, +in that land; for there is no war and no tyrant to oppress the people. +Yet the ghost of a great man goes down like a great man among the +ghosts, resplendent in all his trinkets and finery; but like everything +else in the underworld these ornaments, for all the brave show they +make, are mere unsubstantial shadows. The pigs which were killed at his +funeral feast and the food that was heaped on his grave cannot go down +with him into that far country; for none of these things, not even pigs, +have souls. How then could they find their way to the spirit world? It +is clearly impossible. The ghosts in the nether world do not mix +indiscriminately. There are separate compartments for such as died +violent deaths. There is one compartment for those who were shot, there +is another for those who were clubbed, and there is another for those +who were done to death by witchcraft. The ghosts of those who were shot +keep rattling the reeds of the arrows which dealt them their fatal +wounds. Ghosts in the nether world have no knowledge of things out of +their sight and hearing; yet the living call upon them in time of need +and trouble, as if they could hear and help. Life, too, in the kingdom +of shadows is not eternal. The ghosts die the second death. Yet some say +that there are two such kingdoms, each called Panoi, the one over the +other; and that when the dead die the second death in the upper realm +they rise again from the dead in the nether realm, where they never die +but only turn into white ants' nests.[572] + +[Sidenote: Distinction between the fate of the good and the fate of the +bad in the other world.] + +It is interesting and not unimportant to observe that some of these +islanders make a distinction between the fate of good people and the +fate of bad people after death. The natives of Motlav, one of the Banks' +Islands, think that Panoi is a good place and that only the souls of the +good can enter it. According to them the souls of murderers, sorcerers, +thieves, liars, and adulterers are not suffered to enter the happy land. +The ghost of a murderer, for example, is met at the entrance by the +ghost of his victim, who withstands him and turns him back. All the bad +ghosts go away to a bad place, where they live, not indeed in physical +pain, but in misery: they quarrel, they are restless, homeless, +pitiable, malignant: they wander back to earth: they eat the foulest +food, their breath is noisome: they harm the living out of spite, they +eat men's souls, they haunt graves and woods. But in the true Panoi the +souls of the good live in peace and harmony.[573] Thus these people +believe that the state of the soul after death depends on the kind of +life a man led on earth; if he was good, he will be happy; if he was +bad, he will be miserable. If this creed is of purely native origin, and +Dr. Codrington seems to entertain no doubt that it is so, it marks a +considerable ethical advance among those who accept it. + +[Sidenote: Descent of the living to the world of the dead.] + +The Eastern Melanesians think that living people can go down to the land +of the dead and return alive to the upper world. Sometimes they do this +in the body, but at other times only in the spirit, when they are asleep +or in a faint; for at such times their souls quit their bodies and can +wander away down to Panoi. When the living thus make their way to the +spirit land, they are sometimes cautioned by friendly ghosts to eat +nothing there, no doubt lest by partaking of ghostly food they should be +turned to ghosts and never return to the land of the living.[574] + +[Sidenote: Disposal of the dead among the Eastern islanders. Burial +customs of the Banks' Islanders.] + +We will now consider the various modes in which the Eastern Melanesians +dispose of their dead; for funeral customs commonly furnish some +indication of the ideas which a people entertain as to the state of the +soul after death. The Banks' Islanders generally buried their dead in +the forest not far from the village; but if the deceased was a great man +or died a remarkable death, they might inter him in the village near the +men's clubhouse (_gamal_). A favourite son or child might be buried in +the house itself; but in such cases the grave would be opened after +fifty or a hundred days and the bones taken up and hidden in the forest, +though some of them might be hung up in the house. However, in some +places there was, and indeed still is, a custom of keeping the +putrefying corpse unburied in the house as a mark of affection. At Gaua, +in Santa Maria, the body was dried over slow fires for ten days or more, +till nothing but skin and bones remained; and the women who watched over +it during these days drank the juices of putrefaction which dripped from +the decaying flesh. The same thing used formerly to be done in Mota, +another of the Banks' Islands. The corpses of great men in these islands +were adorned in all their finery and laid out on the open space in the +middle of the village. Here bunches of coco-nuts, yams, and other food +were heaped up beside the body; and an orator of fluent speech addressed +the ghost telling him that when he had gone down to Panoi, the spirit +land, and the ghosts asked him after his rank, he was to give them a +list of all the things heaped beside his dead body; then the ghosts +would know what a great man he was and would treat him with proper +deference. The orator dealt very candidly with the moral character of +the deceased. If he had been a bad man, the speaker would say, "Poor +ghost, will you be able to enter Panoi? I think not." The food which is +piled up beside the body while the orator is pronouncing the eulogium or +the censure of the departed is afterwards heaped up on the grave or +buried in it. At Gaua they kill pigs and hang up the carcases or parts +of them at the grave. The object of all this display is to make a +favourable impression on the ghosts in the spirit land, in order that +they may give the newly deceased man a good reception. When the departed +was an eminent warrior or sorcerer, his friends will sometimes give him +a sham burial and hide his real grave, lest people should dig up his +bones and his skull to make magic with them; for the relics of such a +man are naturally endowed with great magical virtue.[575] + +[Sidenote: Ghosts driven away from the village. Expulsion of the ghosts +of persons who suffered from sores and ulcers.] + +In these islands the ghost does not at once leave the neighbourhood of +his old body; he shews no haste to depart to the nether world. Indeed he +commonly loiters about the house and the grave for five or ten days, +manifesting his presence by noises in the house and by lights upon the +grave. By the fifth day his relations generally think that they have had +quite enough of him, and that it is high time he should set out for his +long home. Accordingly they drive him away with shouts and the blowing +of conch-shells or the booming sound of bull-roarers.[576] At +Ureparapara the mode of expelling the ghost from the village is as +follows. Missiles to be hurled at the lingering spirit are collected in +the shape of small stones and pieces of bamboo, which have been charmed +by wizards so as to possess a ghost-expelling virtue. The artillery +having been thus provided, the people muster at one end of the village, +armed with bags of enchanted stones and pieces of enchanted bamboos. The +signal to march is given by two men, who sit in the dead man's house, +one on either side, holding two white stones in their hands, which they +clink together. At the sound of the clinking the women begin to wail and +the men to march; tramp, tramp they go like one man through the village +from end to end, throwing stones into the houses and all about and +beating the bamboos together. Thus they drive the reluctant ghost step +by step from the village into the forest, where they leave him to find +his own way down to the land of the dead. Till that time the widow of +the deceased was bound to remain on his bed without quitting it for a +moment except on necessity; and if she had to leave it for a few minutes +she always left a coco-nut on the bed to represent her till she came +back. The reason for this was that her husband's ghost was believed to +be lingering in the house all these days, and he would naturally expect +to see his wife in the nuptial chamber. At Motlav the people are not so +hard upon the poor ghosts: they do not drive away all ghosts from their +old homes, but only the ghosts of such as had in their lifetime the +misfortune to be afflicted with grievous sores and ulcers. The expulsion +of such ghosts may therefore be regarded as a sanitary precaution +designed to prevent the spirits from spreading the disease. When a man +who suffers severely from sores or ulcers lies dying, the people of his +village, taking time by the forelock, send word to the inhabitants of +the next village westwards, warning them to be in readiness to give the +ghost a warm reception. For it is well known that at their departure +from the body ghosts always go westward towards the setting sun. So when +the poor man is dead, they bury his diseased body in the village and +devote all their energies to the expulsion of his soul. By blowing +blasts on shell-trumpets and beating the ground with the stalks of +coco-nut fronds they chase the ghost clean away from their own village +and on to the next. The inhabitants of that village meantime are ready +to receive their unwelcome visitor, and beating their bounds in the most +literal sense they soon drive him onwards to the land of their next +neighbours. So the chase goes on from village to village, till the ghost +has been finally hunted into the sea at the point of the shore which +faces the setting sun. There at last the beaters throw away the stalks +which have served to whack the ghost, and return home in the perfect +assurance that he has left the island and gone to his own place down +below, so that he cannot afflict anybody with the painful disease from +which he suffered. But as for his ulcerated corpse rotting in the grave, +they do not give a thought to it. Their concern is with the spiritual +and the unseen; they do not stoop to regard the material and +carnal.[577] + +[Sidenote: Special treatment of the ghosts of women who died in +childbed.] + +A special treatment is accorded to the ghosts of women who died in +childbed. If the mother dies and the child lives, her ghost will not go +away to the nether world without taking the infant with her. Hence in +order to deceive the ghost, they wrap a piece of a banana-trunk loosely +in leaves and lay it on the bosom of the dead mother when they lower her +into the grave. The ghost clasps the bundle to her breast, thinking it +is her baby, and goes away contentedly to the spirit land. As she walks, +the banana-stalk slips about in the leaves and she imagines it is the +infant stirring; for she has not all her wits about her, ghosts being +naturally in a dazed state at first on quitting their familiar bodies. +But when she arrives in deadland and finds she has been deceived, and +when perhaps some heartless ghosts even jeer at her wooden baby, back +she comes tearing to earth in grief and rage to seek and carry off the +real infant. However, the survivors know what to expect and have taken +the precaution of removing the child to another house where the mother +will never find it; but she keeps looking for it always, and a sad and +angry ghost is she.[578] + +[Sidenote: Funeral feasts.] + +After the funeral follows a series, sometimes a long series, of funeral +feasts, which form indeed one of the principal institutions of these +islands. The number of the feasts and the length of time during which +they are repeated vary much in the different islands, and depend also on +the consideration in which the deceased was held. The days on which the +feasts are celebrated are the fifth and the tenth after the death, and +afterwards every tenth day up to the hundredth or even it may be, in the +case of a father, a mother, or a wife, up to the thousandth day. These +feasts appear now to be chiefly commemorative, but they also benefit the +dead; for the ghost is naturally gratified by seeing that his friends +remember him and do their duty by him so handsomely. At these banquets +food is put aside for the dead with the words "This is for thee." The +practice of thus setting aside food for the ghost at a series of funeral +feasts appears at first sight, as Dr. Codrington observes, inconsistent +with the theory that the ghosts live underground.[579] But the objection +thus suggested is rather specious than real; for we must always bear in +mind that, to judge from the accounts given of them in all countries, +ghosts experience no practical difficulty in obtaining temporary leave +of absence from the other world and coming to this one, so to say, on +furlough for the purpose of paying a surprise visit to their sorrowing +friends and relations. The thing is so well known that it would be at +once superfluous and tedious to illustrate it at length; many examples +have incidentally met us in the course of these lectures. + +[Sidenote: Funeral customs in Vate or Efat. Old people buried alive.] + +The natives of Vate or Efat, one of the New Hebrides, set up a great +wailing at a death and scratched their faces till they streamed with +blood. Bodies of the dead were buried. When a corpse was laid in the +grave, a pig was brought to the place and its head was chopped off and +thrown into the grave to be buried with the body. This, we are told, +"was supposed to prevent disease spreading to other members of the +family." Probably, in the opinion of the natives, the pig's head was a +sop thrown to the ghost to keep him from coming and fetching away other +people to deadland. With the same intention, we may take it, they buried +with the dead the cups, pillows, and other things which he had used in +his lifetime. On the top of the grave they kindled a fire to enable the +soul of the deceased to rise to the sun. If that were not done, the soul +went to the wretched regions of Pakasia down below. The old were buried +alive at their own request. It was even deemed a disgrace to the family +of an aged chief if they did not bury him alive. When an old man felt +sick and weak and thought that he was dying, he would tell his friends +to get all ready and bury him. They yielded to his wishes, dug a deep +round pit, wound a number of fine mats round his body, and lowered him +into the grave in a sitting posture. Live pigs were then brought to the +brink of the grave, and each of them was tethered by a cord to one of +the old man's arms. When the pigs had thus, as it were, been made over +to him, the cords were cut, and the animals were led away to be killed, +baked, and eaten at the funeral feast; but the souls of the pigs the old +man took away with him to the spirit land, and the more of them he took +the warmer and more gratifying was the reception he met with from the +ghosts. Having thus ensured his eternal welfare by the pig strings which +dangled at his arms, the old man was ready; more mats were laid over +him, the earth was shovelled in, and his dying groans were drowned amid +the weeping and wailing of his affectionate kinsfolk.[580] + +[Sidenote: Burial and mourning customs in Aurora, one of the New +Hebrides. Behaviour of the soul at death.] + +At Maewo in Aurora, one of the New Hebrides, when a death has taken +place, the body is buried in a grave near the village clubhouse. For a +hundred days afterwards the female mourners may not go into the open and +their faces may not be seen; they stay indoors and in the dark and cover +themselves with a large mat reaching to the ground. But the widow goes +every day, covered with her mat, to weep at the grave; this she does +both in the morning and in the afternoon. During this time of mourning +the next of kin may not eat certain succulent foods, such as yams, +bananas, and caladium; they eat only the gigantic caladium, bread-fruit, +coco-nuts, mallows, and so forth; "and all these they seek in the bush +where they grow wild, not eating those which have been planted." They +count five days after the death and then build up great heaps of stones +over the grave. After that, if the deceased was a very great man, who +owned many gardens and pigs, they count fifty days and then kill pigs, +and cut off the point of the liver of each pig; and the brother of the +deceased goes toward the forest and calls out the dead man's name, +crying, "This is for you to eat." They think that if they do not kill +pigs for the benefit of their departed friend, his ghost has no proper +existence, but hangs miserably on tangled creepers. After the sacrifice +they all cry again, smear their bodies and faces all over with ashes, +and wear cords round their necks for a hundred days in token that they +are not eating good food.[581] They imagine that as soon as the soul +quits the body at death, it mounts into a tree where there is a bird's +nest fern, and sitting there among the fronds it laughs and mocks at the +people who are crying and making great lamentations over his deserted +tabernacle. "There he sits, wondering at them and ridiculing them. 'What +are they crying for?' he says; 'whom are they sorry for? Here am I.' For +they think that the real thing is the soul, and that it has gone away +from the body just as a man throws off his clothes and leaves them, and +the clothes lie by themselves with nothing in them."[582] This estimate +of the comparative value of soul and body is translated from the words +of a New Hebridean native; it singularly resembles that which is +sometimes held up to our admiration as one of the finest fruits of +philosophy and religion. So narrow may be the line that divides the +meditations of the savage and the sage. + +When a Maewo ghost has done chuckling at the folly of his surviving +relatives, who sorrow as those who have no hope, he turns his back on +his old home and runs along the line of hills till he comes to a place +where there are two rocks with a deep ravine between them. He leaps the +chasm, and if he lands on the further side, he is dead indeed; but if he +falls short, he returns to life. At the land's end, where the mountains +descend into the sea, all the ghosts of the dead are gathered to meet +him. If in his lifetime he had slain any one by club or arrow, or done +any man to death by magic, he must now run the gauntlet of the angry +ghosts of his victims, who beat and tear him and stab him with daggers +such as people stick pigs with; and as they do so, they taunt him, +saying, "While you were still in the world you thought yourself a +valiant man; but now we will take our revenge on you." At another point +in the path there is a deep gully, where if a ghost falls he is +inevitably dashed to pieces; and if he escapes this peril, there is a +ferocious pig waiting for him further on, which devours the ghosts of +all persons who in their life on earth omitted to plant pandanus trees, +from which mats are made. But the wise man, who planted pandanus +betimes, now reaps the fruit of his labours; for when the pig makes a +rush at his departed spirit, the ghost nimbly swarms up the pandanus +tree and so escapes his pursuer. That is why everybody in Maewo likes to +plant pandanus trees. And if a man's ears were not pierced in his life, +his ghost will not be allowed to drink water; if he was not tattooed, +his ghost may not eat good food. A thoughtful father will provide for +the comfort of his children in the other world by building a miniature +house for each of them in his garden when the child is a year old; if +the infant is a boy, he puts a bow, an arrow, and a club in the little +house; if the child is a girl, he plants pandanus for her beside the +tiny dwelling.[583] + +[Sidenote: Only ghosts of powerful men are worshipped.] + +So much for the fate of common ghosts in Central Melanesia. We have now +to consider the position of the more powerful spirits, who after death +are believed to exercise great influence over the living, especially +over their surviving relations, and who have accordingly to be +propitiated with prayer and sacrifice. This worship of the dead, as we +saw, forms the principal feature in the religion of the Solomon +Islanders. "But it must not be supposed," says Dr. Codrington, "that +every ghost becomes an object of worship. A man in danger may call upon +his father, his grandfather, or his uncle: his nearness of kin is +sufficient ground for it. The ghost who is to be worshipped is the +spirit of a man who in his lifetime had _mana_ [supernatural or magical +power] in him; the souls of common men are the common herd of ghosts, +nobodies alike before and after death. The supernatural power abiding in +the powerful living man abides in his ghost after death, with increased +vigour and more ease of movement. After his death, therefore, it is +expected that he should begin to work, and some one will come forward +and claim particular acquaintance with the ghost; if his power should +shew itself, his position is assured as one worthy to be invoked, and to +receive offerings, till his cultus gives way before the rising +importance of one newly dead, and the sacred place where his shrine once +stood and his relics were preserved is the only memorial of him that +remains; if no proof of his activity appears, he sinks into oblivion at +once."[584] + +[Sidenote: Worship paid chiefly to the recent and well-remembered dead.] + +From this instructive account we learn that worship is paid chiefly to +the recent and well-remembered dead, to the men whom the worshippers +knew personally and feared or respected in their lifetime. On the other +hand, when men have been long dead, and all who knew them have also been +gathered to their fathers, their memory fades away and with it their +worship gradually falls into complete desuetude. Thus the spirits who +receive the homage of these savages were real men of flesh and blood, +not mythical beings conjured up by the fancy of their worshippers, which +some legerdemain of the mind has foisted into the shrine and encircled +with the halo of divinity. Not that the Melanesians do not also worship +beings who, so far as we can see, are purely mythical, though their +worshippers firmly believe in their reality. But "they themselves make a +clear distinction between the existing, conscious, powerful disembodied +spirits of the dead, and other spiritual beings that never have been men +at all. It is true that the two orders of beings get confused in native +language and thought, but their confusion begins at one end and the +confusion of their visitors at another; they think so much and +constantly of ghosts that they speak of beings who were never men as +ghosts; Europeans take the spirits of the lately dead for gods; less +educated Europeans call them roundly devils."[585] + +[Sidenote: Way in which a dead warrior came to be worshipped as a +martial ghost.] + +As an example of the way in which the ghost of a real man who has just +died may come to be worshipped Dr. Codrington tells us the story of +Ganindo, which he had from Bishop Selwyn. This Ganindo was a great +fighting man of Honggo in Florida, one of the Solomon Islands. He went +with other warriors on a head-hunting expedition against Gaeta; but +being mortally wounded with an arrow near the collar-bone he was brought +back by his comrades to the hill of Bonipari, where he died and was +buried. His friends cut off his head, put it in a basket, built a house +for it, and said that he was a worshipful ghost (_tindalo_). Afterwards +they said, "Let us go and take heads." So they embarked on their canoe +and paddled away to seek the heads of enemies. When they came to quiet +water, they stopped paddling and waited till they felt the canoe rock +under them, and when they felt it they said, "That is a ghost." To find +out what particular ghost it was they called out the names of several, +and when they came to the name of Ganindo, the canoe rocked again. So +they knew that it was he who was making the canoe to rock. In like +manner they learned what village they were to attack. Returning +victorious with the heads of the foe they threw a spear into the roof of +Ganindo's house, blew conch-shells, and danced round it, crying, "Our +ghost is strong to kill!" Then they sacrificed fish and other food to +him. Also they built him a new house, and made four images of him for +the four corners, one of Ganindo himself, two of his sisters, and +another. When it was all ready, eight men translated the relics to the +new shrine. One of them carried Ganindo's bones, another his betel-nuts, +another his lime-box, another his shell-trumpet. They all went into the +shrine crouching down, as if burdened by a heavy weight, and singing in +chorus, "Hither, hither, let us lift the leg!" At that the eight legs +went up together, and then they sang, "Hither, hither!" and at that the +eight legs went down together. In this solemn procession the relics were +brought and laid on a bamboo platform, and sacrifices to the new martial +ghost were inaugurated. Other warlike ghosts revered in Florida are +known not to have been natives of the island but famous warriors of the +western isles, where supernatural power is believed to be stronger.[586] + +[Sidenote: Offerings to the dead.] + +Throughout the islands of Central Melanesia prayers and offerings are +everywhere made to ghosts or spirits or to both. The simplest and +commonest sacrificial act is that of throwing a small portion of food to +the dead; this is probably a universal practice in Melanesia. A morsel +of food ready to be eaten, for example of yam, a leaf of mallow, or a +bit of betel-nut, is thrown aside; and where they drink kava, a libation +is made of a few drops, as the share of departed friends or as a +memorial of them with which they will be pleased. At the same time the +offerer may call out the name of some one who either died lately or is +particularly remembered at the time; or without the special mention of +individuals he may make the offering generally to the ghosts of former +members of the community. To set food on a burial-place or before some +memorial image is a common practice, though in some places, as in Santa +Cruz, the offering is soon taken away and eaten by the living.[587] + +[Sidenote: Sacrificial ritual in the Solomon Islands.] + +In the Solomon Islands the sacrificial ritual is more highly developed. +It may be described in the words of a native of San Cristoval. "In my +country," he wrote, "they think that ghosts are many, very many indeed, +some very powerful, and some not. There is one who is principal in war; +this one is truly mighty and strong. When our people wish to fight with +any other place, the chief men of the village and the sacrificers and +the old men, and the elder and younger men, assemble in the place sacred +to this ghost; and his name is Harumae. When they are thus assembled to +sacrifice, the chief sacrificer goes and takes a pig; and if it be not a +barrow pig they would not sacrifice it to that ghost, he would reject it +and not eat of it. The pig is killed (it is strangled), not by the chief +sacrificer, but by those whom he chooses to assist, near the sacred +place. Then they cut it up; they take great care of the blood lest it +should fall upon the ground; they bring a bowl and set the pig in it, +and when they cut it up the blood runs down into it. When the cutting up +is finished, the chief sacrificer takes a bit of flesh from the pig, and +he takes a cocoa-nut shell and dips up some of the blood. Then he takes +the blood and the bit of flesh and enters into the house (the shrine), +and calls that ghost and says, 'Harumae! Chief in war! we sacrifice to +you with this pig, that you may help us to smite that place; and +whatsoever we shall carry away shall be your property, and we also will +be yours.' Then he burns the bit of flesh in a fire upon a stone, and +pours down the blood upon the fire. Then the fire blazes greatly upwards +to the roof, and the house is full of the smell of pig, a sign that the +ghost has heard. But when the sacrificer went in he did not go boldly, +but with awe; and this is the sign of it; as he goes into the holy house +he puts away his bag, and washes his hands thoroughly, to shew that the +ghost shall not reject him with disgust." The pig was afterwards eaten. +It should be observed that this Harumae who received sacrifices as a +martial ghost, mighty in war, had not been dead many years when the +foregoing account of the mode of sacrificing to him was written. The +elder men remembered him alive, nor was he a great warrior, but a kind +and generous man, believed to be plentifully endowed with supernatural +power. His shrine was a small house in the village, where relics of him +were preserved.[588] Had the Melanesians been left to themselves, it +seems possible that this Harumae might have developed into the war-god +of San Cristoval, just as in Central Africa another man of flesh and +blood is known to have developed into the war-god of Uganda.[589] + +[Footnote 552: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), pp. +122, 123, 124, 180 _sq._] + +[Footnote 553: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), pp. +247, 253.] + +[Footnote 554: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 248.] + +[Footnote 555: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 255 _sqq_., 264 _sqq_.] + +[Footnote 556: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ 253 _sq_.] + +[Footnote 557: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 254, 258, 261; compare +_id._, pp. 125, 130.] + +[Footnote 558: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 120, 254.] + +[Footnote 559: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 118 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 560: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 254 _sq._] + +[Footnote 561: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 258 _sq._] + +[Footnote 562: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 255.] + +[Footnote 563: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 259.] + +[Footnote 564: G. Brown, D.D., _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, +1910), pp. 214, 217.] + +[Footnote 565: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 255.] + +[Footnote 566: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 255 _sq._] + +[Footnote 567: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 256 _sq._] + +[Footnote 568: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 260 _sq._] + +[Footnote 569: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 261 _sq._] + +[Footnote 570: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 263 _sq._] + +[Footnote 571: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 257.] + +[Footnote 572: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 264, 273 _sq._, +275-277.] + +[Footnote 573: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 274 _sq._] + +[Footnote 574: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 266, 276, 277, 286.] + +[Footnote 575: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 267-270.] + +[Footnote 576: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 269.] + +[Footnote 577: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 270 _sq._] + +[Footnote 578: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, p. 275.] + +[Footnote 579: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 271 _sq._] + +[Footnote 580: G. Turner, _Samoa a Hundred Years Ago and long before_ +(London, 1884), pp. 335 _sq._ This account is based on information +furnished by Sualo, a Samoan teacher, who lived for a long time on the +island. The statement that the fire kindled on the grave was intended +"to enable the soul of the departed to rise to the sun" may be doubted; +it may be a mere inference of Dr. Turner's Samoan informant. More +probably the fire was intended to warm the shivering ghost. I do not +remember any other evidence that the souls of the Melanesian dead ascend +to the sun; certainly it is much more usual for them to descend into the +earth.] + +[Footnote 581: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 281 _sq._] + +[Footnote 582: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 278 _sq._] + +[Sidenote: Journey of the ghost to the other world.] + +[Footnote 583: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 279 _sq._] + +[Footnote 584: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 124 _sq._] + +[Footnote 585: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, p. 121.] + +[Footnote 586: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 125 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 587: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 127, 128.] + +[Footnote 588: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 129 _sq._] + +[Footnote 589: Rev. J. Roscoe, "Kibuka, the War God of the Baganda," +_Man_, vii. (1907) pp. 161-166; _id._, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. +301 _sqq._ The history of this African war-god is more or less mythical, +but his personal relics, which are now deposited in the Ethnological +Museum at Cambridge, suffice to prove his true humanity.] + + + + +LECTURE XVII + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF CENTRAL MELANESIA +(_concluded_) + + +[Sidenote: Public sacrifices to ghosts in the Solomon Islands.] + +At the close of last lecture I described the mode in which sacrifices +are offered to a martial ghost in San Cristoval, one of the Solomon +Islands. We saw that the flesh of a pig is burned in honour of the ghost +and that the victim's blood is poured on the flames. Similarly in +Florida, another of the Solomon Islands, food is conveyed to worshipful +ghosts by being burned in the fire. Some ghosts are known by name to +everybody, others may be known only to individuals, who have found out +or been taught how to approach them, and who accordingly regard such +ghosts as their private property. In every village a public ghost is +worshipped, and the chief is the sacrificer. He has learned from his +predecessor how to throw or heave the sacrifice, and he imparts this +knowledge to his son or nephew, whom he intends to leave as his +successor. The place of sacrifice is an enclosure with a little house or +shrine in which the relics are kept; it is new or old according as the +man whose ghost is worshipped died lately or long ago. When a public +sacrifice is performed, the people assemble near but not in the sacred +place; boys but not women may be present. The sacrificer alone enters +the shrine, but he takes with him his son or other person whom he has +instructed in the ritual. Muttering an incantation he kindles a fire of +sticks, but may not blow on the holy flame. Then from a basket he takes +some prepared food, such as a mash of yams, and throws it on the fire, +calling out the name of the ghost and bidding him take his food, while +at the same time he prays for whatever is desired. If the fire blazes up +and consumes the food, it is a good sign; it proves that the ghost is +present and that he is blowing up the flame. The remainder of the food +the sacrificer takes back to the assembled people; some of it he eats +himself and some of it he gives to his assistant to eat. The people +receive their portions of the food at his hands and eat it or take it +away. While the sacrificing is going on, there is a solemn silence. If a +pig is killed, the portion burned in the sacrificial fire is the heart +in Florida, but the gullet at Bugotu. One ghost who is commonly known +and worshipped is called Manoga. When the sacrificer invokes this ghost, +he heaves the sacrifice round about and calls him, first to the east, +where rises the sun, saying, "If thou dwellest in the east, where rises +the sun, Manoga! come hither and eat thy _tutu_ mash!" Then turning he +lifts it towards where sets the sun, and says, "If thou dwellest in the +west, where sets the sun, Manoga! come hither and eat thy _tutu_!" There +is not a quarter to which he does not lift it up. And when he has +finished lifting it he says, "If thou dwellest in heaven above, Manoga! +come hither and eat thy _tutu_! If thou dwellest in the Pleiades or +Orion's belt; if below in Turivatu; if in the distant sea; if on high in +the sun, or in the moon; if thou dwellest inland or by the shore, +Manoga! come hither and eat thy _tutu_!"[590] + +[Sidenote: First-fruits of the canarium nuts sacrificed to ghosts.] + +Twice a year there are general sacrifices in which the people of a +village take part. One of these occasions is when the canarium nut, so +much used in native cookery, is ripe. None of the nuts may be eaten till +the first-fruits have been offered to the ghost. "Devil he eat first; +all man he eat behind," is the lucid explanation which a native gave to +an English enquirer. The knowledge of the way in which the first-fruits +must be offered is handed down from generation to generation, and the +man who is learned in this lore has authority to open the season. He +observes the state of the crop, and early one morning he is heard to +shout. He climbs a tree, picks some nuts, cracks them, eats, and puts +some on the stones in his sacred place for the ghost. Then the rest of +the people may gather the nuts for themselves. The chief himself +sacrifices the new nuts, mixed with other food, to the public ghost on +the stones of the village sanctuary; and every man who has a private +ghost of his own does the same in his own sacred place. About two months +afterwards there is another public sacrifice when the root crops +generally have been dug; pig or fish is then offered; and a man who digs +up his yams, or whatever it may be, offers his private sacrifice +besides.[591] + +[Sidenote: Sacrifice of first-fruits to ancestral spirits in Tanna.] + +In like manner the natives of Tanna, one of the Southern New Hebrides, +offered the first-fruits to the deified spirits of their ancestors. On +this subject I will quote the evidence of the veteran missionary, the +Rev. Dr. George Turner, who lived in Tanna for seven months in 1841. He +says: "The general name for gods seemed to be _aremha_; that means a +_dead man_, and hints alike at the origin and nature of their religious +worship. The spirits of their departed ancestors were among their gods. +Chiefs who reach an advanced age were after death deified, addressed by +name, and prayed to on various occasions. They were supposed especially +to preside over the growth of the yams and the different fruit trees. +The first-fruits were presented to them, and in doing this they laid a +little of the fruit on some stone, or shelving branch of the tree, or +some more temporary altar of a few rough sticks from the bush, 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 thus: 'Compassionate father! here is some food for you; +eat it; be kind to us on account of it.' And, instead of an _amen_, all +united in a shout. This took place about mid-day, and afterwards those +who were assembled continued together feasting and dancing till midnight +or three in the morning."[592] + +[Sidenote: Private ghosts. Fighting ghosts kept as auxiliaries.] + +In addition to the public ghosts, each of whom is revered by a whole +village, many a man keeps, so to say, a private or tame ghost of his own +on leash. The art of taming a ghost consists in knowing the leaves, +bark, and vines in which he delights and in treating him accordingly. +This knowledge a man may acquire by the exercise of his natural +faculties or he may learn it from somebody else. However he may obtain +the knowledge, he uses it for his own personal advantage, sacrificing to +the ghost in order to win his favour and get something from him in +return. The mode of sacrificing to a private ghost is the same as to a +public ghost. The owner has a sacred place or private chapel of his own, +where he draws near to the ghost in prayer and burns his bit of food in +the fire. A man often keeps a fighting ghost (_keramo_), who helps him +in battle or in slaying his private enemy. Before he goes out to commit +homicide, he pulls up his ginger-plant and judges from the ease or +difficulty with which the plant yields to or resists his tug, whether he +will succeed in the enterprise or not. Then he sacrifices to the ghost, +and having placed some ginger and leaves on his shield, and stuffed some +more in his belt and right armlet, he sallies forth. He curses his enemy +by his fighting ghost, saying, "Siria (if that should be the name of the +ghost) eats thee, and I shall slay thee"; and if he kills him, he cries +to the ghost, "Thine is this man, Siria, and do thou give me +supernatural power!" No prudent Melanesian would attempt to commit +manslaughter without a ghost as an accomplice; to do so would be to +court disaster, for the slain man's ghost would have power over the +slayer; therefore before he imbrues his hands in blood he deems it +desirable to secure the assistance of a valiant ghost who can, if need +be, overcome the ghost of his victim in single combat. If he cannot +procure such a useful auxiliary in any other way, he must purchase him. +Further, he fortifies himself with some personal relic, such as a tooth +or lock of hair of the deceased warrior, whose ghost he has taken into +his service; this relic he wears as an amulet in a little bag round the +neck, when he is on active service; at other times it is kept in the +house.[593] + +[Sidenote: Garden ghosts.] + +Different from these truculent spirits are the peaceful ghosts who cause +the garden to bear fruit. If the gardener happens to know such a ghost, +he can pray and sacrifice to him on his own account; but if he has no +such friend in the spirit world, he must employ an expert. The man of +skill goes into the midst of the garden with a little mashed food in his +left hand, and smiting it with his right hand he calls on the ghost to +come and eat. He says: "This produce thou shall eat; give supernatural +power (_mana_) to this garden, that food may be good and plentiful." He +digs holes at the four corners of the garden, and in them he buries such +leaves as the ghost loves, so that the garden may have ghostly power and +be fruitful. And when the yams sprout, he twines them with the +particular creeper and fastens them with the particular wood to which +the ghost is known to be partial. These agricultural ghosts are very +sensitive; if a man enters the garden, who has just eaten pork or cuscus +or fish or shell-fish, the ghost of the garden manifests his displeasure +by causing the produce of the garden to droop; but if the eater lets +three or four days go by after his meal, he may then enter the garden +with impunity, for the food has left his stomach. For a similar reason, +apparently, when the yam vines are being trained, the men sleep near the +gardens and never approach their wives; for should they tread the garden +after conjugal intercourse, the yams would be blighted.[594] + +[Sidenote: Human sacrifices to ghosts.] + +Sometimes the favour of a ghost is obtained by human sacrifices. On +these occasions the flesh of the victim does not, like the flesh of a +pig, furnish the materials of a sacrificial banquet; but little bits of +it are eaten by young men to improve their fighting power and by elders +for a special purpose. Such sacrifices are deemed more effectual than +the sacrifices of less precious victims; and advantage was sometimes +taken of a real or imputed crime to offer the criminal to some ghost. +So, for example, within living memory Dikea, chief of Ravu, convicted a +certain man of stealing tobacco, and sentenced him to be sacrificed; and +the grown lads ate pieces of him cooked in the sacrificial fire. Again, +the same chief offered another human sacrifice in the year 1886. One of +his wives had proved false, and he sent her away vowing that she should +not return till he had offered a human sacrifice to Hauri. Also his son +died, and he vowed to kill a man for him. The vow was noised abroad, and +everybody knew that he would pay well for somebody to kill. Now the Savo +people had bought a captive boy in Guadalcanar, but it turned out a bad +bargain, for the boy was lame and nearly blind. So they brought him to +Dikea, and he gave them twenty coils of shell money for the lad. Then +the chief laid his hand on the victim's breast and cried, "Hauri! here +is a man for you," and his followers killed him with axes and clubs. The +cripple's skull was added to the chief's collection, and his legs were +sent about the country to make known what had been done. In Bugotu of +Ysabel, when the people had slain an enemy in fight, they used to bring +back his head in triumph, cut slices off it, and burn them in sacrifice. +And if they took a prisoner alive, they would bring him to the sacred +place, the grave of the man whose ghost was to be honoured. There they +bound him hand and foot and buffeted him till he died, or if he did not +die under the buffets they cut his throat. As they beat the man with +their fists, they called on the ghost to take him, and when he was dead, +they burned a bit of him in the fire for the ghost.[595] + +[Sidenote: Sacrifices to ghosts in Saa.] + +At Saa in Malanta, one of the Solomon Islands, sacrifices are offered to +ghosts on various occasions. Thus on his return from a voyage a man will +put food in the case which contains the relics of his dead father; and +in the course of his voyage, if he should land in a desert isle, he will +throw food and call on father, grandfather, and other deceased friends. +Again, when sickness is ascribed to the anger of a ghost, a man of skill +is sent for to discover what particular ghost is doing the mischief. +When he has ascertained the culprit, he is furnished by the patient's +relatives with a little pig, which he is to sacrifice to the ghost as a +substitute for the sick man. Provided with this vicarious victim he +repairs to the haunt of the ghost, strangles the animal, and burns it +whole in a fire along with grated yam, coco-nut, and fish. As he does +so, he calls out the names of all the ghosts of his family, his +ancestors, and all who are deceased, down even to children and women, +and he names the man who furnished the pig for the ghostly repast. A +portion of the mixed food he preserves unburnt, wraps it in a dracaena +leaf, and puts it beside the case which contains the relics of the man +to whose ghost the sacrifice has been offered. Sometimes, however, +instead of burning a pig in the fire, which is an expensive and wasteful +form of sacrifice, the relatives of the sick man content themselves with +cooking a pig or a dog in the oven, cutting up the carcase, and laying +out all the parts in order. Then the sacrificer comes and sits at the +animal's head, and calls out the names of all the dead members of the +ghost's family in order downwards, saying, "Help, deliver this man, cut +short the line that has bound him." Then the pig is eaten by all present +except the women; nothing is burnt.[596] + +[Sidenote: Sacrifices of first-fruits to ghosts in Saa.] + +The last sort of sacrifices to ghosts at Saa which we need notice is the +sacrifice of first-fruits. Thus, when the yams are ripe the people fetch +some of them from each garden to offer to the ghosts. All the male +members of the family assemble at the holy place which belongs to them. +Then one of them enters the shrine, lays a yam beside the skull which +lies there, and cries with a loud voice to the ghost, "This is yours to +eat." The others call quietly on the names of all the ancestors and give +their yams, which are very many in number, because one from each garden +is given to each ghost. If any man has besides a relic of the dead, such +as a skull, bones, or hair, in his house, he takes home a yam and sets +it beside the relic. Again, the first flying-fish of the season are +sacrificed to ghosts, who may take the form of sharks; for we shall see +presently that Melanesian ghosts are sometimes supposed to inhabit the +bodies of these ferocious monsters. Some ghost-sharks have sacred places +ashore, where figures of sharks are set up. In that case the first +flying-fish are cooked and set before the shark images. But it may be +that a shark ghost has no sacred place on land, and then there is +nothing for it but to take the flying-fish out to sea and shred them +into the water, while the sacrificer calls out the name of the +particular ghost whom he desires to summon to the feast.[597] + +[Sidenote: Vicarious sacrifices for the sick.] + +Vicarious sacrifices for the sick are offered in San Cristoval to a +certain malignant ghost called Tapia, who is believed to seize a man's +soul and tie it up to a banyan tree. When that has happened, a man who +knows how to manage Tapia intercedes with him. He takes a pig or fish to +the sacred place and offers it to the grim ghost, saying, "This is for +you to eat in place of that man; eat this, don't kill him." With that he +can loose the captive soul and take it back to the sick man, who +thereupon recovers.[598] + +[Sidenote: Sacrifices to ghosts in Santa Cruz. The dead represented by a +stock.] + +In Santa Cruz the sacrifices offered to ghosts are very economical; for +if the offering is of food, the living eat it up after a decent +interval; if it is a valuable, they remove it and resume the use of it +themselves. The principle of this spiritual economy probably lies in the +common belief that ghosts, being immaterial, absorb the immaterial +essence of the objects, leaving the material substance to be enjoyed by +men. When a man of mark dies in Santa Cruz, his relations set up a stock +of wood in his house to represent him. This is renewed from time to +time, till after a while the man is forgotten or thrown into the shade +by the attractions of some newer ghost, so that the old stock is +neglected. But when the stock is first put up, a pig is killed and two +strips of flesh from the back bone are set before the stock as food for +the ghost, but only to be soon taken away and eaten by the living. +Similar offerings may be repeated from time to time, as when the stock +is renewed. Again, when a garden is planted, they spread feather-money +and red native cloth round it for the use of the ghost; but his +enjoyment of these riches is brief and precarious.[599] + +[Sidenote: Native account of sacrifices to ghosts in Santa Cruz.] + +To supplement the foregoing account of sacrifices to ghosts in Santa +Cruz, I will add a description of some of them which was given by a +native of Santa Cruz in his own language and translated for us by a +missionary. It runs thus: "When anyone begins to fall sick he seeks a +doctor (_meduka_), and when the doctor comes near the sick man he +stiffens his body, and all those in the house think a ghost has entered +into the doctor, and they are all very quiet. Some doctors tell the sick +man's relatives to kill a pig for the ghost who has caused the sickness. +When they have killed the pig they take it into the ghost-house and +invite some other men, and they eat with prayers to the ghost; and the +doctor takes a little piece and puts it near the base of the ghost-post, +and says to it: 'This is thy food; oh, deliver up again the spirit of +thy servant, that he may be well again.' The little portion they have +offered to the ghost is then eaten; but small boys may not eat of +it."[600] "Every year the people plant yams and tomagos; and when they +begin to work and have made ready the place and begun to plant, first, +they offer to the ghost who they think presides over foods. There is an +offering place in the bush, and they go there and take much food, and +also feather money. Men, women, and children do this, and they think the +ghost notices if there are many children, and gives much food at +harvest; and the ghost to whom they offer is named Ilene. When the +bread-fruit begins to bear they take great care lest anyone should light +a fire near the bole of the tree, or throw a stone at the tree. The +ghost, who they think protects the bread-fruit, is called Duka-Kane or +Kae Tuabia, who has two names; they think this ghost has four +eyes."[601] "The heathen thinks a ghost makes the sun to shine and the +rain. If it is continual sunshine and the yams are withering the people +assemble together and contribute money, and string it to the man with +whom the rain-ghost abides, and food also, and beseech him not to do the +thing he was doing. That man will not wash his face for a long time, he +will not work lest he perspire and his body be wet, for he thinks that +if his body be wet it will rain. Then this man, with whom the rain-ghost +is, takes water and goes into the ghost-house and sprinkles it at the +head of the ghost-post (_duka_), and if there are many ghost-posts in +the house he pours water over them all that it may rain."[602] + +[Sidenote: Combination of magic with religion.] + +In these ceremonies for the making of rain we see a combination of magic +with religion. The appeal to the rain-ghost is religious; but the +pouring of the water on the ghost-post is magical, being an imitation of +the result which the officiating priest or magician, whichever we choose +to call him, desires to produce. The taboos observed by the owner of the +rain-ghost so long as he wishes to prevent the rain from falling are +also based on the principle of homoeopathic or imitative magic: he +abstains from washing his face or working, lest the water or the sweat +trickling down his body should mimick rain and thereby cause it to +fall.[603] + +[Sidenote: Prayers to the dead.] + +The natives of Aneiteum, one of the Southern New Hebrides, worshipped +the spirits of their ancestors, chiefly on occasions of sickness.[604] +Again, the people of Vate or Efat, another of the New Hebrides, +worshipped the souls of their forefathers and prayed to them over the +_kava_-bowl for health and prosperity.[605] As an example of prayers +offered to the dead we may take the petition which the natives of +Florida put up at sea to Daula, a well-known ghost, who is associated +with the frigate-bird. They say: "Do thou draw the canoe, that it may +reach the land; speed my canoe, grandfather, that I may quickly reach +the shore whither I am bound. Do thou, Daula, lighten the canoe, that it +may quickly gain the land and rise upon the shore." They also invoke +Daula to help them in fishing. "If thou art powerful, O Daula," they +say, "put a fish or two into this net and let them die there." After a +good catch they praise him, saying, "Powerful is the ghost of the net." +And when the natives of Florida are in danger on the sea, they call upon +their immediate forefathers; one will call on his grandfather, another +on his father, another on some dead friend, calling with reverence and +saying, "Save us on the deep! Save us from the tempest! Bring us to the +shore!" In San Cristoval people apply to ghosts for victory in battle, +health in sickness, and good crops; but the word which they use to +signify such an application conveys the notion of charm rather than of +prayer. However, in the Banks' Islands what may be called prayer is +strictly speaking an invocation of the dead; indeed the very word for +prayer (_tataro_) seems to be identical with that for a powerful ghost +(_'ataro_ in San Cristoval). A man in peril on the sea will call on his +dead friends, especially on one who was in his lifetime a good sailor. +And in Mota, when an oven is opened, they throw in a leaf of cooked +mallow for a ghost, saying to him, "This is a lucky bit for your eating; +they who have charmed your food or clubbed you (as the case may be), +take hold of their hands, drag them away to hell, let them be dead." So +when they pour water on the oven, they pray to the ghost, saying, "Pour +it on the head of him down there who has laid plots against me, has +clubbed me, has shot me, has stolen things of mine (as the case may be), +he shall die." Again, when they make a libation before drinking, they +pray, saying, "Grandfather! this is your lucky drop of kava; let boars +come in to me; the money I have spent, let it come back to me; the food +that is gone, let it come back hither to the house of you and me." And +on starting for a voyage they will say, "Uncle! father! plenty of boars +for you, plenty of money; kava for your drinking, lucky food for your +eating in the canoe. I pray you with this, look down upon me, let me go +on a safe sea." Or when the canoe labours with a heavy freight, they +will pray, "Take off your burden from us, that we may speed on a safe +sea."[606] + +[Sidenote: Sanctuaries of ghosts in Florida.] + +In the island of Florida, the sanctuary of a powerful ghost is called a +_vunuhu_. Sometimes it is in the village, sometimes in the +garden-ground, sometimes in the forest. If it is in the village, it is +fenced about, lest the foot of any rash intruder should infringe its +sanctity. Sometimes the sanctuary is the place where the dead man is +buried; sometimes it merely contains his relics, which have been +translated thither. In some sanctuaries there is a shrine and in some an +image. Generally, if not always, stones may be seen lying in such a holy +place. The sight of one of them has probably struck the fancy of the man +who founded the worship; he thought it a likely place for the ghost to +haunt, and other smaller stones and shells have been subsequently added. +Once a sanctuary has been established, everything within it becomes +sacred (_tambu_) and belongs to the ghost. Were a tree growing within it +to fall across the path, nobody would step over it. When a sacrifice is +to be offered to the ghost on the holy ground, the man who knows the +ghost, and whose duty it is to perform the sacrifice, enters first and +all who attend him follow, treading in his footsteps. In going out no +one will look back, lest his soul should stay behind. No one would pass +such a sanctuary when the sun was so low as to cast his shadow into it; +for if he did the ghost would seize his shadow and so drag the man +himself into his den. If there were a shrine in the sanctuary, nobody +but the sacrificer might enter it. Such a shrine contained the weapons +and other properties which belonged in his lifetime to the man whose +ghost was worshipped on the spot.[607] + +[Sidenote: Sanctuaries of ghosts in Malanta.] + +At Saa in Malanta, another of the Solomon Islands, all burial-grounds +where common people are interred are so far sacred that no one will go +there without due cause; but places where the remains of nobles repose, +and where sacrifices are offered to their ghosts, are regarded with very +great respect, they may indeed be called family sanctuaries. Some of +them are very old, the powerful ghosts who are worshipped in them being +remote ancestors. It sometimes happens that the man who used to +sacrifice in such a place dies without having instructed his son in the +proper chant of invocation with which the worshipful ghost should be +approached. In such a case the young man who succeeds him may fear to go +to the old sanctuary, lest he should commit a mistake and offend the +ghost; so he will take some ashes from the old sacrificial fire-place +and found a new sanctuary. It is not common in that part of Malanta to +build shrines for the relics of the dead, but it is sometimes done. Such +shrines, on the other hand, are common in the villages of San Cristoval +and in the sacred places of that island where great men lie buried. To +trespass on them would be likely to rouse the anger of the ghosts, some +of whom are known to be of a malignant disposition.[608] + +[Sidenote: Sanctuaries which are not burial-grounds.] + +But burial-grounds are not the only sanctuaries in the Solomon Islands. +There are some where no dead man is known to be interred, though in Dr. +Codrington's opinion there are probably none which do not derive their +sanctity from the presence of a ghost. In the island of Florida the +appearance of something wonderful will cause any place to become a +sanctuary, the wonder being accepted as proof of a ghostly presence. For +example, in the forest near Olevuga a man planted some coco-nut and +almond trees and died not long afterwards. Then there appeared among the +trees a great rarity in the shape of a white cuscus. The people took it +for granted that the animal was the dead man's ghost, and therefore they +called it by his name. The place became a sanctuary; no one would gather +the coco-nuts and almonds that grew there, till two Christian converts +set the ghost at defiance and appropriated his garden, with the +coco-nuts and almonds. Through the same part of the forest ran a stream +full of eels, one of which was so big that the people were quite sure it +must be a ghost; so nobody would bathe in that stream or drink from it, +except at one pool, which for the sake of convenience was considered not +to be sacred. Again, in Bugotu, a district of Ysabel, which is another +of the Solomon Islands, there is a pool known to be the haunt of a very +old ghost. When a man has an enemy whom he wishes to harm he will obtain +some scraps of his food and throw them into the water. If the food is at +once devoured by the fish, which swarm in the pool, the man will die, +but otherwise his life may be saved by the intervention of a man who +knows the habits of the ghost and how to propitiate him. In these sacred +places there are stones, on which people place food in order to obtain +good crops, while for success in fishing they deposit morsels of cooked +fish. Such stones are treated with reverence and seem to be in a fair +way to develop into altars. However, when the old ghost is superseded, +as he often is, by younger rivals, the development of an altar out of +the stones is arrested.[609] + +[Sidenote: Ghosts in animals, such as sharks, alligators, snakes, +bonitos, and frigate-birds.] + +From some of these instances we learn that Melanesian ghosts can +sometimes take up their abode in animals, such as cuscuses, eels, and +fish. The creatures which are oftenest used as vehicles by the spirits +of the dead are sharks, alligators, snakes, bonitos, and frigate-birds. +Snakes which haunt a sacred place are themselves sacred, because they +belong to or actually embody the ghost. Sharks, again, in all these +islands are very often thought to be the abode of ghosts; for men before +their death will announce that they will appear as sharks, and +afterwards any shark remarkable for size or colour which haunts a +certain shore or coast is taken to be somebody's ghost and receives the +name of the deceased. At Saa certain food, such as coco-nuts from +particular trees, is reserved to feed such a ghost-shark; and men of +whom it is known for certain that they will be sharks after their death +are allowed to anticipate the posthumous honours which await them by +devouring such food in the sacred place, just as if they were real +sharks. Sharks are very commonly believed to be the abode of ghosts in +Florida and Ysabel, and in Savo, where they are particularly numerous; +hence, though all sharks are not venerated, there is no living creature +so commonly held sacred by the Central Melanesians as a shark; and +shark-ghosts seem even to form a class of powerful supernatural beings. +Again, when a lizard was seen frequenting a house after a death, it +would be taken for the ghost returning to its old home; and many ghosts, +powerful to aid the mariner at sea, take up their quarters in +frigate-birds.[610] + +[Sidenote: The belief in ghosts underlies the Melanesian conception of +magic.] + +Again, a belief in powerful ghosts underlies to a great extent the +Melanesian conception of magic, as that conception is expounded by Dr. +Codrington. "That invisible power," he tells us, "which is believed by +the natives to cause all such effects as transcend their conception of +the regular course of nature, and to reside in spiritual beings, whether +in the spiritual part of living men or in the ghosts of the dead, being +imparted by them to their names and to various things that belong to +them, such as stones, snakes, and indeed objects of all sorts, is that +generally known as _mana_. Without some understanding of this it is +impossible to understand the religious beliefs and practices of the +Melanesians; and this again is the active force in all they do and +believe to be done in magic, white or black. By means of this men are +able to control or direct the forces of nature, to make rain or +sunshine, wind or calm, to cause sickness or remove it, to know what is +far off in time and space, to bring good luck and prosperity, or to +blast and curse. No man, however, has this power of his own; all that he +does is done by the aid of personal beings, ghosts or spirits."[611] + +[Sidenote: Illness generally thought to be caused by ghosts.] + +Thus, to begin with the medical profession, which is a branch of magic +long before it becomes a department of science, every serious sickness +is believed to be brought about by ghosts or spirits, but generally it +is to the ghosts of the dead that illness is ascribed both by the +Eastern and by the Western islanders. Hence recourse is had to ghosts +for aid both in causing and in curing sickness. They are thought to +inflict disease, not only because some offence, such as trespass, has +been committed against them, or because one who knows their ways has +instigated them thereto by sacrifice and spells, but because there is a +certain malignity in the feeling of all ghosts towards the living, who +offend them simply by being alive. All human faculties, apart from the +mere bodily functions, are supposed to be enhanced by death; hence the +ghost of a powerful and ill-natured man is only too ready to take +advantage of his increased powers for mischief.[612] Thus in the island +of Florida illness is regularly laid at the door of a ghost; the only +question that can arise is which particular ghost is doing the mischief. +Sometimes the patient imagines that he has offended his dead father, +uncle, or brother, who accordingly takes his revenge by stretching him +on a bed of sickness. In that case no special intercessor is required; +the patient himself or one of his kinsfolk will sacrifice and beg the +ghost to take the sickness away; it is purely a family affair. Sometimes +the sick man thinks that it is his own private or tame ghost who is +afflicting him; so he will leave the house in order to escape his +tormentor. But if the cause of sickness remains obscure, a professional +doctor or medicine-man will be consulted. He always knows, or at least +can ascertain, the ghost who is causing all the trouble, and he takes +his measures accordingly. Thus he will bind on the sick man the kind of +leaves that the ghost loves; he will chew ginger and blow it into the +patient's ears and on that part of the skull which is soft in infants; +he will call on the name of the ghost and entreat him to remove the +sickness. Should all these remedies prove vain, the doctor is by no +means at the end of his resources. He may shrewdly suspect that +somebody, who has an ill-will at the patient, has set his private ghost +to maul the sick man and do him a grievous bodily injury. If his +suspicions are confirmed and he discovers the malicious man who is +egging on the mischievous ghost, he will bribe him to call off his +ghost; and if the man refuses, the doctor will hire another ghost to +assault and batter the original assailant. At Wango in San Cristoval +regular battles used to be fought by the invisible champions above the +sickbed of the sufferer, whose life or death depended on the issue of +the combat. Their weapons were spears, and sometimes more than one ghost +would be engaged on either side.[613] + +[Sidenote: Diagnosis of ghosts who have caused illness.] + +In Ysabel the doctor employs an ingenious apparatus for discovering the +cause of sickness and ascertaining its cure. He suspends a stone at one +end of a string while he holds the other end in his hand. Then he +recites the names of all the people who died lately, and when the stone +swings at anybody's name, he knows that the ghost of that man has caused +the illness. It remains to find out what the ghost will take to relax +his clutch on the sick man, it may be a mash of yams, a fish, a pig, or +perhaps a human substitute. The question is put and answered as before; +and whatever the oracle declares to be requisite is offered on the dead +man's grave. Thus the ghost is appeased and the sufferer is made +whole.[614] In these islands a common cause of illness is believed to be +an unwarrantable intrusion on premises occupied by a ghost, who punishes +the trespasser by afflicting him with bodily pains and ailments, or it +may be by carrying off his soul. At Maewo in Aurora, one of the New +Hebrides, when there is reason to think that a sickness is due to +ghostly agency, the friends of the sick man send for a professional +dreamer, whose business it is to ascertain what particular ghost has +been offended and to make it up with him. So the dreamer falls asleep +and in his sleep he dreams a dream. He seems to himself to be in the +place where the patient was working before his illness; and there he +spies a queer little old man, who is really no other than the ghost. The +dreamer falls into conversation with him, learns his name, and winning +his confidence extracts from him a true account of the whole affair. The +fact is that in working at his garden the man encroached, whether +wittingly or not is no matter, on land which the ghost regards as his +private preserve; and to punish the intrusion the ghost carried off the +intruder's soul and impounded it in a magic fence in his garden, where +it still languishes in durance vile. The dreamer at once tenders a frank +and manly apology on behalf of his client; he assures the ghost that the +trespass was purely inadvertent, that no personal disrespect whatever +was intended, and he concludes by requesting the ghost to overlook the +offence for this time and to release the imprisoned soul. This appeal to +the better feelings of the ghost has its effect; he pulls up the fence +and lets the soul out of the pound; it flies back to the sick man, who +thereupon recovers. Sometimes an orphan child is made sick by its dead +mother, whose ghost draws away the soul of the infant to keep her +company in the spirit land. In such a case, again, a dreamer is employed +to bring back the lost soul from the far country; and if he can persuade +the mother's ghost to relinquish the tiny soul of her baby, the child +will be made whole.[615] Once more certain long stones in the Banks' +Islands are inhabited by ghosts so active and robust that if a man's +shadow so much as falls on one of them, the ghost in the stone will +clutch the shadow and pull the soul clean out of the man, who dies +accordingly. Such stones, dangerous as they unquestionably are to the +chance passer-by, nevertheless for that very reason possess a valuable +property which can be turned to excellent account. A man, for example, +will put one of these stones in his house to guard it like a watch-dog +in his absence; and if he sends a friend to fetch something out of it +which he has forgotten, the messenger, on approaching the house, will +take good care to call out the owner's name, lest the ghost in the +stone, mistaking him for a thief and a robber, should pounce out on him +and do him a mischief before he had time to explain.[616] + +[Sidenote: Contrast between Melanesian and European medicine.] + +Thus it appears that for a medical practitioner in Melanesia the first +requisite is an intimate acquaintance, not with the anatomy of the human +frame and the properties of drugs, but with ghosts, their personal +peculiarities, habits, and haunts. Only by means of the influence which +such a knowledge enables him to exert on these powerful and dangerous +beings can the good physician mitigate and assuage the sufferings of +poor humanity. His professional skill, while it certainly aims at the +alleviation of physical evils, attains its object chiefly, if not +exclusively, by a direct appeal to those higher, though invisible, +powers which encompass the life of man, or at all events of the +Melanesian. The firm faith in the spiritual and the unseen which these +sable doctors display in their treatment of the sick presents a striking +contrast to the procedure of their European colleagues, who trust +exclusively to the use of mere physical remedies, such as drugs and +lancets, now carving the body of the sufferer with knives, and now +inserting substances, about which they know little, into places about +which they know nothing. Has not science falsely so called still much to +learn from savagery? + +[Sidenote: The weather believed to be regulated by ghosts and spirits. +Weather-doctors.] + +But it is not the departments of medicine and surgery alone, important +as these are to human welfare, which in Melanesia are directed and +controlled by spiritual forces. The weather in those regions is also +regulated by ghosts and spirits. It is they who cause the wind to blow +or to be still, the sun to shine forth or to be overcast with clouds, +the rain to descend or the earth to be parched with drought; hence +fertility and abundance or dearth and famine prevail alternately at the +will of these spiritual directors. From this it follows that men who +stand on a footing of intimacy with ghosts and spirits can by judicious +management induce them to adapt the weather to the varying needs of +mankind. But it is to be observed that the supernatural beings, who are +the real sources of atmospheric phenomena, have delegated or deputed a +portion of their powers not merely to certain material objects, such as +stones or leaves, but to certain set forms of words, which men call +incantations or spells; and accordingly all such objects and formulas +do, by virtue of this delegation, possess in themselves a real and we +may almost say natural influence over the weather, which is often +manifested in a striking congruity or harmony between the things +themselves and the effects which they are calculated to produce. This +adaptation of means to end in nature may perhaps be regarded as a +beautiful proof of the existence of spirits and ghosts working their +purposes unseen behind the gaily coloured screen or curtain of the +physical universe. At all events men who are acquainted with the ghostly +properties of material objects and words can turn them to account for +the benefit of their friends and the confusion of their foes, and they +do so very readily if only it is made worth their while. Hence it comes +about that in these islands there are everywhere weather-doctors or +weather-mongers, who through their familiarity with ghosts and spirits +and their acquaintance with the ghostly or spiritual properties of +things, are able to control the weather and to supply their customers +with wind or calm, rain or sunshine, famine or abundance, at a +reasonable rate and a moderate figure.[617] The advantages of such a +system over our own blundering method of managing the weather, or rather +of leaving it to its own devices, are too obvious to be insisted on. To +take a few examples. In the island of Florida, when a calm is wanted, +the weather-doctor takes a bunch of leaves, of the sort which the ghost +loves, and hides the bunch in the hollow of a tree where there is water, +at the same time invoking the ghost with the proper charm. This +naturally produces rain and with the rain a calm. In the seafaring life +of the Solomon Islanders the maker of calms is a really valuable +citizen.[618] The Santa Cruz people are also great voyagers, and their +wizards control the weather on their expeditions, taking with them the +stock or log which represents their private or tame ghost and setting it +up on a stage in the cabin. The presence of the familiar ghost being +thus secured, the weather-doctor will undertake to provide wind or calm +according to circumstances.[619] We have already seen how in these +islands the wizard makes rain by pouring water on the wooden posts which +represent the rain-ghosts.[620] + +[Sidenote: Black magic working through personal refuse or rubbish of the +victim.] + +Such exercises of ghostly power for the healing of the sick and the +improvement of the weather are, when well directed and efficacious, +wholly beneficial. But ghostly power is a two-edged weapon which can +work evil as well as good to mankind. In fact it can serve the purpose +of witchcraft. The commonest application of this pernicious art is one +which is very familiar to witches and sorcerers in many parts of the +world. The first thing the wizard does is to obtain a fragment of food, +a bit of hair, a nail-clipping, or indeed anything that has been closely +connected with the person of his intended victim. This is the medium +through which the power of the ghost or spirit is brought to bear; it +is, so to say, the point of support on which the magician rests the +whole weight of his infernal engine. In order to give effect to the +charm it is very desirable, if not absolutely necessary, to possess some +personal relic, such as a bone, of the dead man whose ghost is to set +the machinery in motion. At all events the essential thing is to bring +together the man who is to be injured and the ghost or spirit who is to +injure him; and this can be done most readily by placing the personal +relics or refuse of the two men, the living and the dead, in contact +with each other; for thus the magic circuit, if we may say so, is +complete, and the fatal current flows from the dead to the living. That +is why it is most dangerous to leave any personal refuse or rubbish +lying about; you never can tell but that some sorcerer may get hold of +it and work your ruin by means of it. Hence the people are naturally +most careful to hide or destroy all such refuse in order to prevent it +from falling into the hands of witches and wizards; and this sage +precaution has led to habits of cleanliness which the superficial +European is apt to mistake for what he calls enlightened sanitation, but +which a deeper knowledge of native thought would reveal to him in their +true character as far-seeing measures designed to defeat the nefarious +art of the sorcerer.[621] + +[Sidenote: Black magic working without any personal relic of the victim. +The ghost-shooter.] + +Unfortunately, however, an adept in the black art can work his fell +purpose even without any personal relic of his victim. In the Banks' +Islands, for example, he need only procure a bit of human bone or a +fragment of some lethal weapon, it may be a splinter of a club or a chip +of an arrow, which has killed somebody. This he wraps up in the proper +leaves, recites over it the appropriate charm, and plants it secretly in +the path along which his intended victim is expected to pass. The ghost +of the man who owned the bone in his life or perished by the club or the +arrow, is now lurking like a lion in the path; and if the poor fellow +strolls along it thinking no evil, the ghost will spring at him and +strike him with disease. The charm is perfectly efficient if the man +does come along the path, but clearly it misses fire if he does not. To +remedy this defect in the apparatus a sorcerer sometimes has recourse to +a portable instrument, a sort of pocket pistol, which in the Banks' +Islands is known as a ghost-shooter. It is a bamboo tube, loaded not +with powder and shot, but with a dead man's bone and other magical +ingredients, over which the necessary spell has been crooned. Armed with +this deadly weapon the sorcerer has only to step up to his unsuspecting +enemy, whip out the pocket pistol, uncork the muzzle by removing his +thumb from the orifice, and present it at the victim; the fatal +discharge follows in an instant and the man drops to the ground. The +ghost in the pistol has done his work. Sometimes, however, an accident +happens. The marksman misses his victim and hits somebody else. This +occurred, for example, not very many years ago in the island of Mota. A +man named Isvitag was waiting with his ghost-shooter to pop at his +enemy, but in his nervous excitement he let fly too soon, just as a +woman with a child on her hip stepped across the path. The shot, or +rather the ghost, hit the child point-blank, and it was his sister's +child, his own next of kin! You may imagine the distress of the +affectionate uncle at this deplorable miscarriage. To prevent +inflammation of the wound he, with great presence of mind, plunged his +pocket pistol in water, and this timely remedy proved so efficacious +that the child took no hurt.[622] + +[Sidenote: Prophecy inspired by ghosts.] + +Another department of Melanesian life in which ghosts figure very +prominently is prophecy. The knowledge of future events is believed to +be conveyed to the people by a ghost or spirit speaking with the voice +of a man, who is himself unconscious while he speaks. The predictions +which emanate from the prophet under these circumstances are in the +strictest sense inspired. His human personality is for the time being in +abeyance, and he is merely the mouthpiece of the powerful spirit which +has temporarily taken possession of his body and speaks with his voice. +The possession is indeed painfully manifest. His eyes glare, foam bursts +from his mouth, his limbs writhe, his whole body is convulsed. These are +the workings of the mighty spirit shaking and threatening to rend the +frail tabernacle of flesh. This form of inspiration is not clearly +distinguishable from what we call madness; indeed the natives do not +attempt to distinguish between the two things; they regard the madman +and the prophet as both alike inspired by a ghost or spirit, and a man +will sometimes pretend to be mad in order that he may get the reputation +of being a prophet. At Saa a man will speak with the voice of a powerful +man deceased, while he twists and writhes under the influence of the +ghost; he calls himself by the name of the deceased who speaks through +him, and he is so addressed by others; he will eat fire, lift enormous +weights, and foretells things to come. When the inspiration, or +insanity, is particularly violent, and the Banks' Islanders think they +have had quite enough of it, the friends of the prophet or of the madman +will sometimes catch him and hold him struggling and roaring in the +smoke of strong-smelling leaves, while they call out the names of the +dead men whose ghosts are most likely to be abroad at the time, for as +soon as the right name is mentioned the ghost departs from the man, who +then returns to his sober senses. But this method of smoking out a ghost +is not always successful.[623] + +[Sidenote: Divination by means of ghosts.] + +There are many methods by which ghosts and spirits are believed to make +known to men who employ them the secret things which the unassisted +human intelligence could not discover; and some of them hardly perhaps +need the intervention of a professional wizard. These methods of +divination differ very little in the various islands. In the Solomon +Islands, for instance, when an expedition has started in a fleet of +canoes, there is sometimes a hesitation whether they shall proceed, or a +doubt as to what direction they should take. Thereupon a diviner may +declare that he has felt a ghost step on board; for did not the canoe +tip over to the one side? Accordingly he asks the invisible passenger, +"Shall we go on? Shall we go to such and such a place?" If the canoe +rocks, the answer is yes; if it lies on an even keel, the answer is no. +Again, when a man is sick and his friends wish to know what ghost is +vexing or, as they say, eating him, a diviner or wizard is sent for. He +comes bringing an assistant, and the two sit down, the wizard in front +and the assistant at his back, and they hold a stick or bamboo by the +two ends. The wizard then begins to slap the end of the bamboo he holds, +calling out one after another the names of men not very long deceased, +and when he names the one who is afflicting the sick man the stick of +itself becomes violently agitated.[624] We are not informed, but we may +probably assume, that it is the ghost and not the man who really +agitates the stick. A somewhat different mode of divination was +occasionally employed at Motlav in the Banks' Islands in order to +discover a thief or other criminal. After a burial they would take a +bag, put some Tahitian chestnut and scraped banana into it, and tie it +to the end of a hollow bamboo tube about ten feet long in such a way +that the end of the tube was inserted in the mouth of the bag. Then the +bag was laid on the dead man's grave, and the diviners grasped the other +end of the bamboo. The names of the recently dead were then called over, +and while this was being done the men felt the bamboo grow heavy in +their hands, for a ghost was scrambling up from the bag into the hollow +of the bamboo. Having thus secured him they carried the imprisoned ghost +in the bamboo into the village, where the roll of the recent dead was +again called over in order to learn whose ghost had been caught in the +trap. When wrong names were mentioned, the free end of the bamboo moved +from side to side, but at the mention of the right name it revolved +briskly. Having thus ascertained whom they had to deal with, they +questioned the entrapped ghost, "Who stole so and so? Who was guilty in +such a case?" Thereupon the bamboo, moved no doubt by the ghost inside, +pointed at the culprit, if he was present, or made signs as before when +the names of the suspected evildoers were mentioned.[625] + +[Sidenote: Taboo based on a fear of ghosts.] + +Of the many departments of Central Melanesian life which are permeated +by a belief in ghostly power the last which I shall mention is the +institution of taboo. In Melanesia, indeed, the institution is not so +conspicuous as it used to be in Polynesia; yet even there it has been a +powerful instrument in the consolidation of the rights of private +property, and as such it deserves the attention of historians who seek +to trace the evolution of law and morality. As understood in the Banks' +Islands and the New Hebrides the word taboo (_tambu_ or _tapu_) +signifies a sacred and unapproachable character which is imposed on +certain things by the arbitrary will of a chief or other powerful man. +Somebody whose authority with the people gives him confidence to make +the announcement will declare that such and such an object may not be +touched, that such and such a place may not be approached, and that such +and such an action may not be performed under a certain penalty, which +in the last resort will be inflicted by ghostly or spiritual agency. The +object, place, or action in question becomes accordingly taboo or +sacred. Hence in these islands taboo may be defined as a prohibition +with a curse expressed or implied. The sanction or power at the back of +the taboo is not that of the man who imposes it; rather it is that of +the ghost or spirit in whose name or in reliance upon whom the taboo is +imposed. Thus in Florida a chief will forbid something to be done or +touched under a penalty; he may proclaim, for example, that any one who +violates his prohibition must pay him a hundred strings of shell money. +To a European such a proclamation seems a proof of the chief's power; +but to the native the chiefs power, in this and in everything, rests on +the persuasion that the chief has his mighty ghost at his back. The +sense of this in the particular case is indeed remote, the fear of the +chiefs anger is present and effective, but the ultimate sanction is the +power of the ghost. If a common man were to take upon himself to taboo +anything he might do so; people would imagine that he would not dare to +make such an announcement unless he knew he could enforce it; so they +would watch, and if anybody violated the taboo and fell sick afterwards, +they would conclude that the taboo was supported by a powerful ghost who +punished infractions of it. Hence the reputation and authority of the +man who imposed the taboo would rise accordingly; for it would be seen +that he had a powerful ghost at his back. Every ghost has a particular +kind of leaf for his badge; and in imposing his taboo a man will set the +leaf of his private ghost as a mark to warn trespassers of the spiritual +power with which they have to reckon; when people see a leaf stuck, it +may be, on a tree, a house, or a canoe, they do not always know whose it +is; but they do know that if they disregard the mark they have to deal +with a ghost and not with a man,[626] and the knowledge is a more +effectual check on thieving and other crimes than the dread of mere +human justice. Many a rascal fears a ghost who does not fear the face of +man. + +[Sidenote: The life of the Central Melanesians deeply influenced by +their belief in the survival of the human soul after death.] + +What I have said may suffice to impress you with a sense of the deep +practical influence which a belief in the survival of the human soul +after death exercises on the life and conduct of the Central Melanesian +savage. To him the belief is no mere abstract theological dogma or +speculative tenet, the occasional theme of edifying homilies and pious +meditation; it is an inbred, unquestioning, omnipresent conviction which +affects his thoughts and actions daily and at every turn; it guides his +fortunes as an individual and controls his behaviour as a member of a +community, by inculcating a respect for the rights of others and +enforcing a submission to the public authorities. With him the fear of +ghosts and spirits is a bulwark of morality and a bond of society; for +he firmly believes in their unseen presence everywhere and in the +punishments which they can inflict on wrongdoers. His whole theory of +causation differs fundamentally from ours and necessarily begets a +fundamental difference of practice. Where we see natural forces and +material substances, the Melanesian sees ghosts and spirits. A great +gulf divides his conception of the world from ours; and it may be +doubted whether education will ever enable him to pass the gulf and to +think and act like us. The products of an evolution which has extended +over many ages cannot be forced like mushrooms in a summer day; it is +vain to pluck the fruit of the tree of knowledge before it is ripe. + +[Footnote 590: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 130-132.] + +[Footnote 591: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 132 _sq._; C. M. +Woodford, _A Naturalist among the Head-hunters_ (London, 1890), pp. +26-28.] + +[Footnote 592: G. Turner, LL.D., _Samoa a Hundred Years Ago and long +before_ (London, 1884), pp. 318 _sq._ Yams are the principal fruits +cultivated by the Tannese, who bestow a great deal of labour on the +plantation and keep them in fine order. See G. Turner, _op. cit._ pp. +317 _sq._] + +[Footnote 593: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 133 _sq._] + +[Footnote 594: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, p. 134.] + +[Footnote 595: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 135 _sq._] + +[Footnote 596: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 137 _sq._] + +[Footnote 597: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, p. 138.] + +[Footnote 598: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 138 _sq._] + +[Footnote 599: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 139.] + +[Footnote 600: "Native Stories of Santa Cruz and Reef Islands," +translated by the Rev. W. O'Ferrall, _Journal of the Anthropological +Institute_, xxxiv. (1904) p. 223.] + +[Footnote 601: "Native Stories from Santa Cruz and Reef Islands," _op. +cit._ p. 224.] + +[Footnote 602: "Native Stories from Santa Cruz and Reef Islands," _op. +cit._ p. 225.] + +[Footnote 603: Compare _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. +269 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 604: G. Turner, _Samoa a Hundred Years Ago and long before_ +(London, 1884), p. 326.] + +[Footnote 605: G. Turner, _op. cit._ p. 334.] + +[Footnote 606: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 145-148.] + +[Footnote 607: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 175 _sq._] + +[Footnote 608: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 176 _sq._] + +[Footnote 609: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ pp. 177 _sq._] + +[Footnote 610: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 178-180.] + +[Footnote 611: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 191.] + +[Footnote 612: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 194.] + +[Footnote 613: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 194-196.] + +[Footnote 614: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 196.] + +[Footnote 615: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 208 _sq._ As to +sickness supposed to be caused by trespass on the premises of a ghost +see further _id._, pp. 194, 195, 218.] + +[Footnote 616: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, p. 184.] + +[Footnote 617: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, p. 200.] + +[Footnote 618: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 200, 201. The +spirit whom the Florida wizard appeals to for good or bad weather is +called a _vigona_; and the natives believe it to be always the ghost of +a dead man. But it seems very doubtful whether this opinion is strictly +correct. See R. H. Codrington, _op cit._ pp. 124, 134.] + +[Footnote 619: R. H. Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 201. The Santa Cruz name +for such a ghost is _duka_ (_ibid._ p. 139).] + +[Footnote 620: Above, p. 375.] + +[Footnote 621: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 202-204.] + +[Footnote 622: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 205 _sq._] + +[Footnote 623: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 209 _sq._, +218-220.] + +[Footnote 624: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 210.] + +[Footnote 625: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 211 _sq._] + +[Footnote 626: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, pp. 215 _sq._] + + + + +LECTURE XVIII + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF NORTHERN AND EASTERN +MELANESIA + + +[Sidenote: Northern Melanesia. Material culture of the North +Melanesians.] + +In the last lecture I concluded my account of the belief in immortality +and the worship of the dead among the natives of Central Melanesia. +To-day we pass to what may be called Northern Melanesia, by which is to +be understood the great archipelago lying to the north-east of New +Guinea. It comprises the two large islands of New Britain and New +Ireland, now called New Pomerania and New Mecklenburg, with the much +smaller Duke of York Island lying between them, and the chain of New +Hanover and the Admiralty Islands stretching away westward from the +north-western extremity of New Ireland. The whole of the archipelago, +together with the adjoining island of Bougainville in the Solomon +Islands, is now under German rule. The people belong to the same stock +and speak the same language as the natives of Central and Southern +Melanesia, and their level of culture is approximately the same. They +live in settled villages and subsist chiefly by the cultivation of the +ground, raising crops of taro, yams, bananas, sugar-cane, and so forth. +Most of the agricultural labour is performed by the women, who plant, +weed the ground, and carry the produce to the villages. The ground is, +or rather used to be, dug by sharp-pointed sticks. The men hunt +cassowaries, wallabies, and wild pigs, and they catch fish by both nets +and traps. Women and children take part in the fishing and many of them +become very expert in spearing fish. Among the few domestic animals +which they keep are pigs, dogs, and fowls. The villages are generally +situated in the midst of a dense forest; but on the coast the natives +build their houses not far from the beach as a precaution against the +attacks of the forest tribes, of whom they stand greatly in fear. A New +Britain village generally consists of a number of small communities or +families, each of which dwells in a separate enclosure. The houses are +very small and badly built, oblong in shape and very low. Between the +separate hamlets which together compose a village lie stretches of +virgin forest, through which run irregular and often muddy foot-tracks, +scooped out here and there into mud-holes where the pigs love to wallow +during the heat of the tropical day. As the people of any one district +used generally to be at war with their neighbours, it was necessary that +they should live together for the sake of mutual protection.[627] + +[Sidenote: Commercial habits of the North Melanesians. Their +backwardness in other respects.] + +Nevertheless, in spite of their limited intercourse with surrounding +villages, the natives of the New Britain or the Bismarck Archipelago +were essentially a trading people. They made extensive use of shell +money and fully recognised the value of any imported articles as mediums +of exchange or currency. Markets were held on certain days at fixed +places, where the forest people brought their yams, taro, bananas and so +forth and exchanged them for fish, tobacco, and other articles with the +natives of the coast. They also went on long trading expeditions to +procure canoes, cuscus teeth, pigs, slaves, and so forth, which on their +return they generally sold at a considerable profit. The shell which +they used as money is the _Nassa immersa_ or _Nassa calosa_, found on +the north coast of New Britain. The shells were perforated and threaded +on strips of cane, which were then joined together in coils of fifty to +two hundred fathoms.[628] The rights of private property were fully +recognised. All lands belonged to certain families, and husband and wife +had each the exclusive right to his or her goods and chattels. But while +in certain directions the people had made some progress, in others they +remained very backward. Pottery and the metals were unknown; no metal or +specimen of metal-work has been found in the archipelago; on the other +hand the natives made much use of stone implements, especially adzes and +clubs. In war they never used bows and arrows.[629] They had no system +of government, unless that name may be given to the power wielded by the +secret societies and by chiefs, who exercised a certain degree of +influence principally by reason of the reputation which they enjoyed as +sorcerers and magicians. They were not elected nor did they necessarily +inherit their office; they simply claimed to possess magical powers, and +if they succeeded in convincing the people of the justice of their +claim, their authority was recognised. Wealth also contributed to +establish their position in the esteem of the public.[630] + +[Sidenote: The Rev. George Brown on the Melanesians.] + +With regard to the religious ideas and customs of the natives we are not +fully informed, but so far as these have been described they appear to +agree closely with those of their kinsfolk in Central Melanesia. The +first European to settle in the archipelago was the veteran missionary, +the Rev. George Brown, D.D., who resided in the islands from 1875 to +1880 and has revisited them on several occasions since; he reduced the +language to writing for the first time,[631] and is one of our best +authorities on the people. In what follows I shall make use of his +valuable testimony along with that of more recent observers. + +[Sidenote: North Melanesian theory of the soul. Fear of ghosts, +especially the ghosts of persons who have been killed and eaten.] + +The natives of the archipelago believe that every person is animated by +a soul, which survives his death and may afterwards influence the +survivors for good or evil. Their word for soul is _nio_ or _niono_, +meaning a shadow. The root is _nio_, which by the addition of personal +suffixes becomes _niong_ "my soul or shadow," _niom_ "your soul or +shadow," _niono_ "his soul or shadow." They think that the soul is like +the man himself, and that it always stays inside of his body, except +when it goes out on a ramble during sleep or a faint. A man who is very +sleepy may say, "My soul wants to go away." They believe, however, that +it departs for ever at death; hence when a man is sick, his friends will +offer prayers to prevent its departure. There is only one kind of soul, +but it can appear in many shapes and enter into animals, such as rats, +lizards, birds, and so on. It can hear, see, and speak, and present +itself in the form of a wraith or apparition to people at the moment of +or soon after death. On being asked why he thought that the soul does +not perish with the body, a native said, "Because it is different; it is +not of the same nature at all." They believe that the souls of the dead +occasionally visit the living and are seen by them, and that they haunt +houses and burial-places. They are very much afraid of the ghosts and do +all they can to drive or frighten them away. Above all, being cannibals, +they stand in great fear of the ghosts of the people whom they have +killed and eaten. The man who is cutting up a human body takes care to +tie a bandage over his mouth and nose during the operation of carving in +order to prevent the enraged soul of the victim from entering into his +body by these apertures; and for a similar reason the doors of the +houses are shut while the cannibal feast is going on inside. And to keep +the victim's ghost quiet while his body is being devoured, a cut from a +joint is very considerately placed on a tree outside of the house, so +that he may eat of his own flesh and be satisfied. At the conclusion of +the banquet, the people shout, brandish spears, beat the bushes, blow +horns, beat drums, and make all kinds of noises for the purpose of +chasing the ghost or ghosts of the murdered and eaten men away from the +village. But while they send away the souls, they keep the skulls and +jawbones of the victims; as many as thirty-five jawbones have been seen +hanging in a single house in New Ireland. As for the skulls, they are, +or rather were placed on the branch of a dead tree and so preserved on +the beach or near the house of the man who had taken them.[632] + +[Sidenote: Offerings to the souls of the dead.] + +With regard to the death of their friends they deem it very important to +obtain the bodies and bury them. They offer food to the souls of their +departed kinsfolk for a long time after death, until all the funeral +feasts are over; but they do not hold annual festivals in honour of dead +ancestors. The food offered to the dead is laid every day on a small +platform in a tree; but the natives draw a distinction between offerings +to the soul of a man who died a natural death and offerings to the soul +of a man who was killed in a fight; for whereas they place the former on +a living tree, they deposit the latter on a dead tree. Moreover, they +lay money, weapons, and property, often indeed the whole wealth of the +family, near the corpse of their friend, in order that the soul of the +deceased may carry off the souls of these valuables to the spirit land. +But when the body is carried away to be buried, most of the property is +removed by its owners for their own use. However, the relations will +sometimes detach a few shells from the coils of shell money and a few +beads from a necklace and drop them in a fire for the behoof of the +ghost. But when the deceased was a chief or other person of importance, +some of his property would be buried with him. And before burial his +body would be propped up on a special chair in front of his house, +adorned with necklaces, wreaths of flowers and feathers, and gaudy with +war-paint. In one hand would be placed a large cooked yam, and in the +other a spear, while a club would be put on his shoulder. The yam was to +stay the pangs of hunger on his long journey, and the weapons were to +enable him to fight the foes who might resist his entrance into the +spirit land. In the Duke of York Island the corpse was usually disposed +of by being sunk in a deep part of the lagoon; but sometimes it was +buried in the house and a fire kept burning on the spot.[633] + +[Sidenote: Burial customs in New Ireland and New Britain. Preservation +of the skull.] + +In New Ireland the dead were rolled up in winding-sheets made of +pandanus leaves, then weighted with stones and buried at sea. However, +at some places they were deposited in deep underground watercourses or +caverns. Towards the northern end of New Ireland corpses were burned on +large piles of firewood in an open space of the village. A number of +images curiously carved out of wood or chalk were set round the blazing +pyre, but the meaning of these strange figures is uncertain. Men and +women uttered the most piteous wailings, threw themselves on the top of +the corpse, and pulled at the arms and legs. This they did not merely to +express their grief, but because they thought that if they saw and +handled the dead body while it was burning, the ghost could not or would +not haunt them afterwards.[634] Amongst the natives of the Gazelle +Peninsula in New Britain the dead are generally buried in shallow graves +in or near their houses. Some of the shell money which belonged to a man +in life is buried with him. Women with blackened bodies sleep on the +grave for weeks.[635] When the deceased was a great chief, his corpse, +almost covered with shell money, is placed in a canoe, which is +deposited in a small house. Thereupon the nearest female relations are +led into the house, and the door being walled up they are obliged to +remain there with the rotting body until all the flesh has mouldered +away. Food is passed in to them through a hole in the wall, and under no +pretext are they allowed to leave the hut before the decomposition of +the corpse is complete. When nothing of the late chief remains but a +skeleton, the hut is opened and the solemn funeral takes place. The +bones of the dead are buried, but his skull is hung up in the taboo +house in order, we are told, that his ghost may remain in the +neighbourhood of the village and see how his memory is honoured. After +the burial of the headless skeleton feasting and dancing go on, often +for more than a month, and the expenses are defrayed out of the riches +left by the deceased.[636] Even in the case of eminent persons who have +been buried whole and entire in the usual way, a special mark of respect +is sometimes paid to their memory by digging up their skulls after a +year or more, painting them red and white, decorating them with +feathers, and setting them up on a scaffold constructed for the +purpose.[637] + +[Sidenote: Disposal of the dead among the Sulka of New Britain.] + +Somewhat similar is the disposal of the dead among the Sulka, a tribe of +New Britain who inhabit a mountainous and well-watered country to the +south of the Gazelle Peninsula. When a Sulka dies, his plantation is +laid waste, and the young fruit-trees cut down, but the ripe fruits are +first distributed among the living. His pigs are slaughtered and their +flesh in like manner distributed, and his weapons are broken. If the +deceased was a rich man, his wife or wives will sometimes be killed. The +corpse is usually buried next morning. A hole is dug in the house and +the body deposited in it in a sitting posture. The upper part of the +corpse projects from the grave and is covered with a tower-like +structure of basket-work, which is stuffed with banana-leaves. Great +care is taken to preserve the body from touching the earth. Stones are +laid round about the structure and a fire kindled. Relations come and +sleep for a time beside the corpse, men and women separately. Some while +afterwards the soul of the deceased is driven away. The time for +carrying out the expulsion is settled by the people in whispers, lest +the ghost should overhear them and prepare for a stout resistance. The +evening before the ceremony takes place many coco-nut leaves are +collected. Next morning, as soon as a certain bird (_Philemon +coquerelli_) is heard to sing, the people rise from their beds and set +up a great cry. Then they beat the walls, shake the posts, set fire to +dry coco-nut leaves, and finally rush out into the paths. At that +moment, so the people think, the soul of the dead quits the hut. When +the flesh of the corpse is quite decayed, the bones are taken from the +grave, sewed in leaves, and hung up. Soon afterwards a funeral feast is +held, at which men and women dance. For some time after a burial taro is +planted beside the house of death and enclosed with a fence. The Sulka +think that the ghost comes and gathers the souls of the taro. The ripe +fruit is allowed to rot. Falling stars are supposed to be the souls of +the dead which have been hurled up aloft and are now descending to bathe +in the sea. The trail of light behind them is thought to be a tail of +coco-nut leaves which other souls have fastened to them and set on fire. +In like manner the phosphorescent glow on the sea comes from souls +disporting themselves in the water. Persons who at their death left few +relations, or did evil in their life, or were murdered outside of the +village, are not buried in the house. Their corpses are deposited on +rocks or on scaffolds in the forest, or are interred on the spot where +they met their death. The reason for this treatment of their corpses is +not mentioned; but we may conjecture that their ghosts are regarded with +contempt, dislike, or fear, and that the survivors seek to give them a +wide berth by keeping their bodies at a distance from the village. The +corpses of those who died suddenly are not buried but wrapt up in leaves +and laid on a scaffold in the house, which is then shut up and deserted. +This manner of disposing of them seems also to indicate a dread or +distrust of their ghosts.[638] + +[Sidenote: Disposal of the dead among the Moanus of the Admiralty +Islands. Prayers offered to the skull of a dead chief.] + +Among the Moanus of the Admiralty Islands the dead are kept in the +houses unburied until the flesh is completely decayed and nothing +remains but the bones. Old women then wash the skeleton carefully in +sea-water, after which it is disjointed and divided. The backbone, +together with the bones of the legs and upper arms, is deposited in one +basket and put away somewhere; the skull, together with the ribs and the +bones of the lower arms, is deposited in another basket, which is sunk +for a time in the sea. When the bones are completely cleaned and +bleached in the water, they are laid with sweet-smelling herbs in a +wooden vessel and placed in the house which the dead man inhabited +during his life. But the teeth have been previously extracted from the +skull and converted into a necklace for herself by the sister of the +deceased. After a time the ribs are distributed by the son among the +relatives. The principal widow gets two, other near kinsfolk get one +apiece, and they wear these relics under their arm-bands. The +distribution of the ribs is the occasion of a great festival, and it is +followed some time afterwards by a still greater feast, for which +extensive preparations are made long beforehand. All who intend to be +present at the ceremony send vessels of coco-nut oil in advance; and if +the deceased was a great chief the number of the oil vessels and of the +guests may amount to two thousand. Meantime the giver of the feast +causes a scaffold to be erected for the reception of the skull, and the +whole art of the wood-carver is exhausted in decorating the scaffold +with figures of turtles, birds, and so forth, while a wooden dog acts as +sentinel at either end. When the multitude has assembled, and the +orchestra of drums, collected from the whole neighbourhood, has sent +forth a far-sounding crash of music, the giver of the feast steps +forward and pronounces a florid eulogium on the deceased, a warm +panegyric on the guests who have honoured him by their presence, and a +fluent invective against his absent foes. Nor does he forget to throw in +some delicate allusions to his own noble generosity in providing the +assembled visitors with this magnificent entertainment. For this great +effort of eloquence the orator has been primed in the morning by the +sorcerer. The process of priming consists in kneeling on the orator's +shoulders and tugging at the hair of his head with might and main, which +is clearly calculated to promote the flow of his rhetoric. If none of +the hair comes out in the sorcerer's hands, a masterpiece of oratory is +confidently looked forward to in the afternoon. When the speech, for +which such painful preparations have been made, is at last over, the +drums again strike up. No sooner have their booming notes died away over +land and sea, than the sorcerer steps up to the scaffold, takes from it +the bleached skull, and holds it in both his hands. Then the giver of +the feast goes up to him, dips a bunch of dracaena leaves in a vessel of +oil, and smites the skull with it, saying, "Thou art my father!" At that +the drums again beat loudly. Then he strikes the skull a second time +with the leaves, saying, "Take the food that has been made ready in +thine honour!" And again there is a crash of drums. After that he smites +the skull yet again and prays saying, "Guard me! Guard my people! Guard +my children!" And every prayer of the litany is followed by the solemn +roll of the drums. When these impressive invocations to the spirit of +the dead chief are over, the feasting begins. The skull is thenceforth +carefully preserved.[639] + +[Sidenote: Disposal of the dead in the Kaniet Islands. Preservation of +the skull.] + +In the Kaniet Islands, a small group to the north-west of the Admiralty +Islands, the dead are either sunk in the sea or buried in shallow +graves, face downward, near the house. All the movable property of the +deceased is piled on the grave, left there for three weeks, and then +burnt. Afterwards the skull is dug up, placed in a basket, and having +been decorated with leaves and feathers is hung up in the house. Thus +adorned it not only serves to keep the dead in memory, but is also +employed in many conjurations to defeat the nefarious designs of other +ghosts, who are believed to work most of the ills that afflict +humanity.[640] Apparently these islanders employ a ghost to protect them +against ghosts on the principle of setting a thief to catch a thief. + +[Sidenote: Death attributed to witchcraft.] + +Amongst the natives of the Bismarck Archipelago few persons, if any, are +believed to die from natural causes alone; if they are not killed in war +they are commonly supposed to perish by witchcraft or sorcery, even when +the cause of death might seem to the uninstructed European to be +sufficiently obvious in such things as exposure to heavy rain, the +carrying of too heavy a burden, or remaining too long a time under +water. So when a man has died, his friends are anxious to discover who +has bewitched him to death. In this enquiry the ghost is expected to +lend his assistance. Thus on the night after the decease the friends +will assemble outside the house, and a sorcerer will address the ghost +and request him to name the author of his death. If the ghost, as +sometimes happens, makes no reply, the sorcerer will jog his memory by +calling out the name of some suspected person; and should the ghost +still be silent, the wizard will name another and another, till at the +mention of one name a tapping sound is heard like the drumming of +fingers on a board or on a mat The sound may proceed from the house or +from a pearl shell which the sorcerer holds in his hand; but come from +where it may, it is taken as a certain proof that the man who has just +been named did the deed, and he is dealt with accordingly. Many a poor +wretch in New Britain has been killed and eaten on no other evidence +than that of the fatal tapping.[641] + +[Sidenote: Burial customs in the Duke of York Island. Preservation of +the skull.] + +When a man of mark is buried in the Duke of York Island, the masters of +sorcery take leaves, spit on them, and throw them, with a number of +poisonous things, into the grave, uttering at the same time loud +imprecations on the wicked enchanter who has killed their friend. Then +they go and bathe, and returning they fall to cursing again; and if the +miscreant survived the first imprecations, it is regarded as perfectly +certain that he will fall a victim to the second. Sometimes, when the +deceased was a chief distinguished for bravery and wisdom, his corpse +would be exposed on a high platform in front of his house and left there +to rot, while his relatives sat around and inhaled the stench, +conceiving that with it they absorbed the courage and skill of the +departed worthy. Some of them would even anoint their bodies with the +drippings from the putrefying corpse for the same purpose. The women +also made fires that the ghost might warm himself at them. When the head +became detached from the trunk, it was carefully preserved by the next +of kin, while the other remains were buried in a shallow grave in the +house. All the female relatives blackened their dusky faces for a long +time, after which the skull was put on a platform, a great feast was +held, and dances were performed for many nights in its honour. Then at +last the spirit of the dead man, which till that time was supposed to be +lingering about his old abode, took his departure, and his friends +troubled themselves about him no more.[642] + +[Sidenote: Prayers to the spirits of the dead.] + +The souls of the dead are always regarded by these people as beings +whose help can be invoked on special occasions, such as fighting or +fishing or any other matter of importance; and since the spirits whom +they invoke are always those of their own kindred they are presumed to +be friendly to the petitioners. The objects for which formal prayers are +addressed to the souls of ancestors appear to be always temporal +benefits, such as victory over enemies and plenty of food; prayers for +the promotion of moral virtue are seemingly unknown. For example, if a +woman laboured hard in childbirth, she was thought to be bewitched, and +prayers would be offered to the spirits of dead ancestors to counteract +the spell. Again, young men are instructed by their elders in the useful +art of cursing the enemies of the tribe; and among a rich variety of +imprecations an old man will invoke the spirit of his brother, father, +or uncle, or all of them, to put their fingers into the ears of the +enemy that he may not hear, to cover his eyes that he may not see, and +to stop his mouth that he may not cry for help, but may fall an easy +prey to the curser and his friends.[643] More amiable and not less +effectual are the prayers offered to the spirits of the dead over a sick +man. At the mention of each name in the prayer the supplicants make a +chirping or hissing sound, and rub lime over the patient. Before +administering medicine they pray over it to the spirits of the dead; +then the patient gulps it down, thus absorbing the virtue of the +medicine and of the prayer in one. In New Britain they reinforce the +prayers to the dead in time of need by wearing the jawbone of the +deceased; and in the Duke of York Island people often wear a tooth or +some hair of a departed relative, not merely as a mark of respect, but +as a magical means of obtaining supernatural help.[644] + +[Sidenote: North Melanesian views as to the land of the dead.] + +Sooner or later the souls of all the North Melanesian dead take their +departure for the spirit land. But the information which has reached the +living as to that far country is at once vague and inconsistent. They +call it _Matana nion_, but whereabout it lies they cannot for the most +part precisely tell. All they know for certain is that it is far away, +and that there is always some particular spot in the neighbourhood from +which the souls take their departure; for example, the Duke of York +ghosts invariably start from the little island of Nuruan, near Mioko. +Wherever it may be, the land of souls is divided into compartments; +people who have died of sickness or witchcraft go to one place, and +people who have been killed in battle go to another. They do not go +unattended; for when a man dies two friends sleep beside his corpse the +first night, one on each side, and their spirits are believed to +accompany the soul of the dead man to the spirit land. They say that on +their arrival in the far country, betel-nut is presented to them all, +but the two living men refuse to partake of it, because they know that +were they to eat it they would return no more to the land of the living. +When they do return, they have often, as might be expected, strange +tales to tell of what they saw among the ghosts. The principal personage +in the other world is called the "keeper of souls." It is said that once +on a time the masterful ghost of a dead chief attempted to usurp the +post of warden of the dead; in pursuance of this ambitious project he +attacked the warden with a tomahawk and cut off one of his legs, but the +amputated limb immediately reunited itself with the body; and a second +amputation was followed by the same disappointing result. Life in the +other world is reported to be very like life in this world. Some people +find it very dismal, and others very beautiful. Those who were rich here +will be rich there, and those who were poor on earth will be poor in +Hades. As to any moral retribution which may overtake evil-doers in the +life to come, their ideas are very vague; only they are sure that the +ghosts of the niggardly will be punished by being dumped very hard +against the buttress-roots of chestnut-trees. They say, too, that all +breaches of etiquette or of the ordinary customs of the country will +meet with certain appropriate punishments in the spirit land. When the +soul has thus done penance, it takes possession of the body of some +animal, for instance, the flying-fox. Hence a native is much alarmed if +he should be sitting under a tree from which a flying-fox has been +frightened away. Should anything drop from the bat or from the tree on +which it was hanging, he would look on it as an omen of good or ill +according to the nature of the thing which fell on or near him. If it +were useless or dirty, he would certainly apprehend some serious +misfortune. Sometimes when a man dies and his soul arrives in the spirit +land, his friends do not want him there and drive him back to earth, so +he comes to life again. That is the explanation which the natives give +of what we call the recovery of consciousness after a faint or +swoon.[645] + +[Sidenote: The land of the dead. State of the dead in the other world +supposed to depend on the amount of money they left in this one.] + +Some of the natives of the Gazelle Peninsula in New Britain imagine that +the home of departed spirits is in Nakanei, the part of the coast to +which they sail to get their shell money. Others suppose that it is in +the islands off Cape Takes. So when they are sailing past these islands +they dip the paddles softly in the water, and observe a death-like +stillness, cowering down in the canoes, lest the ghosts should spy them +and do them a mischief. At the entrance to these happy isles is posted a +stern watchman to see that no improper person sneaks into them. To every +ghost that arrives he puts three questions, "Who are you? Where do you +come from? How much shell money did you leave behind you?" On his +answers to these three questions hangs the fate of the ghost. If he left +much money, he is free to enter the realm of bliss, where he will pass +the time with other happy souls smoking and eating and enjoying other +sensual delights. But if he left little or no money, he is banished the +earthly paradise and sent home to roam like a wild beast in the forest, +battening on leaves and filth. With bitter sighs and groans he prowls +about the villages at night and seeks to avenge himself by scaring or +plaguing the survivors. To stay his hunger and appease his wrath +relatives or friends will sometimes set forth food for him to devour. +Yet even for such an impecunious soul there is hope; for if somebody +only takes pity on him and gives a feast in his honour and distributes +shell money to the guests, the ghost may return to the islands of the +blest, and the door will be thrown open to him.[646] + +[Sidenote: Fiji and the Fijians.] + +So much for the belief in immortality as it is reported to exist among +the Northern Melanesians of New Britain and the Bismarck Archipelago. We +now pass to the consideration of a similar belief among another people +of the same stock, who have been longer known to Europe, the Fijians. +The archipelago which they occupy lies to the east of the New Hebrides +and forms in fact the most easterly outpost of the black Melanesian race +in the Pacific. Beyond it to the eastward are situated the smaller +archipelagoes of Samoa and Tonga, inhabited by branches of the brown +Polynesian race, whose members are scattered over the islands of the +Pacific Ocean from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south. Of +all the branches of the Melanesian stock the Fijians at the date of +their discovery by Europeans appear to have made the greatest advance in +culture, material, social, and political. "The Fijian," says one who +knew him long and intimately, "takes no mean place among savages in the +social scale. Long before the white man visited his shores he had made +very considerable progress towards civilisation. His intersexual code +had advanced to the 'patriarchal stage': he was a skilful and diligent +husbandman, who carried out extensive and laborious agricultural +operations: he built good houses, whose interior he ornamented with no +little taste, carved his weapons in graceful and intricate forms, +manufactured excellent pottery, beat out from the inner bark of a tree a +serviceable papyrus-cloth, upon which he printed, from blocks either +carved or ingeniously pieced together, elegant and elaborate patterns in +fast colours; and, with tools no better than a stone hatchet, a pointed +shell, and a firestick, he constructed large canoes capable of carrying +more than a hundred warriors across the open sea."[647] + +[Sidenote: Political superiority of the Fijians over the other +Melanesians.] + +Politically the Fijians shewed their superiority to all the other +Melanesians in the advance they had made towards a regular and organised +government. While among the other branches of the same race government +can hardly be said to exist, the power of chiefs being both slender and +precarious, in Fiji the highest chiefs exercised despotic sway and +received from Europeans the title of kings. The people had no voice in +the state; the will of the king was generally law, and his person was +sacred. Whatever he touched or wore became thereby holy and had to be +made over to him; nobody else could afterwards touch it without danger +of being struck dead on the spot as if by an electric shock. One king +took advantage of this superstition by dressing up an English sailor in +his royal robes and sending him about to throw his sweeping train over +any article of food, whether dead or alive, which he might chance to +come near. The things so touched were at once conveyed to the king +without a word of explanation being required or a single remonstrance +uttered. Some of the kings laid claim to a divine origin and on the +strength of the claim exacted and received from their subjects the +respect due to deities. In these exorbitant pretensions they were +greatly strengthened by the institution of taboo, which lent the +sanction of religion to every exertion of arbitrary power.[648] +Corresponding with the growth of monarchy was the well-marked gradation +of social ranks which prevailed in the various tribes from the king +downwards through chiefs, warriors, and landholders, to slaves. The +resulting political constitution has been compared to the old feudal +system of Europe.[649] + +[Sidenote: Means of subsistence of the Fijians. Ferocity and depravity +of the Fijians.] + +Like the other peoples of the Melanesian stock the Fijians subsist +chiefly by agriculture, raising many sorts of esculent fruits and roots, +particularly yams, taro, plantains, bread-fruit, sweet potatoes, +bananas, coco-nuts, ivi nuts, and sugar-cane; but the chief proportion +of their food is derived from yams (_Dioscorea_), of which they +cultivate five or six varieties.[650] It has been observed that "the +increase of cultivated plants is regular on receding from the Hawaiian +group up to Fiji, where roots and fruits are found that are unknown on +the more eastern islands."[651] Yet the Fijians in their native state, +like all other Melanesian and Polynesian peoples, were entirely ignorant +of the cereals; and in the opinion of a competent observer the +consequent defect in their diet has contributed to the serious defects +in their national character. The cereals, he tells us, are the staple +food of all races that have left their mark in history; and on the other +hand "the apathy and indolence of the Fijians arise from their climate, +their diet and their communal institutions. The climate is too kind to +stimulate them to exertion, their food imparts no staying power. The +soil gives the means of existence for every man without effort, and the +communal institutions destroy the instinct of accumulation."[652] Nor +are apathy and indolence the only or the worst features in the character +of these comparatively advanced savages. Their ferocity, cruelty, and +moral depravity are depicted in dark colours by those who had the best +opportunity of knowing them in the old days before their savagery was +mitigated by contact with a milder religious faith and a higher +civilisation. "In contemplating the character of this extraordinary +portion of mankind," says one observer, "the mind is struck with wonder +and awe at the mixture of a complicated and carefully conducted +political system, highly finished manners, and ceremonious politeness, +with a ferocity and practice of savage vices which is probably +unparalleled in any other part of the world."[653] One of the first +civilised men to gain an intimate acquaintance with the Fijians draws a +melancholy contrast between the baseness and vileness of the people and +the loveliness of the land in which they live.[654] + +[Sidenote: Scenery of the Fijian islands.] + +For the Fijian islands are exceedingly beautiful. They are of volcanic +origin, mostly high and mountainous, but intersected by picturesque +valleys, clothed with woods, and festooned with the most luxuriant +tropical vegetation. "Among their attractions," we are told, "are high +mountains, abrupt precipices, conical hills, fantastic turrets and crags +of rock frowning down like olden battlements, vast domes, peaks +shattered into strange forms; native towns on eyrie cliffs, apparently +inaccessible; and deep ravines, down which some mountain stream, after +long murmuring in its stony bed, falls headlong, glittering as a silver +line on a block of jet, or spreading like a sheet of glass over bare +rocks which refuse it a channel. Here also are found the softer features +of rich vales, cocoa-nut groves, clumps of dark chestnuts, stately palms +and bread-fruit, patches of graceful bananas or well-tilled taro-beds, +mingling in unchecked luxuriance, and forming, with the wild +reef-scenery of the girdling shore, its beating surf, and far-stretching +ocean beyond, pictures of surpassing beauty."[655] Each island is +encircled by a reef of white coral, on which the sea breaks, with a +thunderous roar, in curling sheets of foam; while inside the reef +stretches the lagoon, a calm lake of blue crystalline water revealing in +its translucent depths beautiful gardens of seaweed and coral which fill +the beholder with delighted wonder. Great and sudden is the contrast +experienced by the mariner when he passes in a moment from the tossing, +heaving, roaring billows without into the unbroken calm of the quiet +haven within the barrier reef.[656] + +[Sidenote: Fijian doctrine of souls.] + +Like most savages, the Fijians believed that man is animated by a soul +which quits his body temporarily in sleep and permanently at death, to +survive for a longer or a shorter time in a disembodied state +thereafter. Indeed, they attributed souls to animals, vegetables, +stones, tools, houses, canoes, and many other things, allowing that all +of them may become immortal.[657] On this point I will quote the +evidence of one of the earliest and best authorities on the customs and +beliefs of the South Sea Islanders. "There seems," says William Mariner, +"to be a wide difference between the opinions of the natives in the +different clusters of the South Sea islands respecting the future +existence of the soul. Whilst the Tonga doctrine limits immortality to +chiefs, _matabooles_, and at most, to _mooas_, the Fiji doctrine, with +abundant liberality, extends it to all mankind, to all brute animals, to +all vegetables, and even to stones and mineral substances. If an animal +or a plant die, its soul immediately goes to Bolotoo; if a stone or any +other substance is broken, immortality is equally its reward; nay, +artificial bodies have equal good luck with men, and hogs, and yams. If +an axe or a chisel is worn out or broken up, away flies its soul for the +service of the gods. If a house is taken down, or any way destroyed, its +immortal part will find a situation on the plains of Bolotoo; and, to +confirm this doctrine, the Fiji people can show you a sort of natural +well, or deep hole in the ground, at one of their islands, across the +bottom of which runs a stream of water, in which you may clearly +perceive the souls of men and women, beasts and plants, of stocks and +stones, canoes and houses, and of all the broken utensils of this frail +world, swimming or rather tumbling along one over the other pell-mell +into the regions of immortality. Such is the Fiji philosophy, but the +Tonga people deny it, unwilling to think that the residence of the gods +should be encumbered with so much useless rubbish. The natives of +Otaheite entertain similar notions respecting these things, viz. that +brutes, plants, and stones exist hereafter, but it is not mentioned that +they extend the idea to objects of human invention."[658] + +[Sidenote: Reported Fijian doctrine of two human souls, a light one and +a dark one.] + +According to one account, the Fijians imagined that every man has two +souls, a dark soul, consisting of his shadow, and a light soul, +consisting of his reflection in water or a looking-glass: the dark soul +departs at death to Hades, while the light soul stays near the place +where he died or was killed. "Probably," says Thomas Williams, "this +doctrine of shadows has to do with the notion of inanimate objects +having spirits. I once placed a good-looking native suddenly before a +mirror. He stood delighted. 'Now,' said he, softly, 'I can see into the +world of spirits.'"[659] However, according to another good authority +this distinction of two human souls rests merely on a misapprehension of +the Fijian word for shadow, _yaloyalo_, which is a reduplication of +_yalo_, the word for soul.[660] Apparently the Fijians pictured to +themselves the human soul as a miniature of the man himself. This may be +inferred from the customs observed at the death of a chief among the +Nakelo tribe. When a chief dies, certain men who are the hereditary +undertakers call him, as he lies, oiled and ornamented, on fine mats, +saying, "Rise, sir, the chief, and let us be going. The day has come +over the land." Then they conduct him to the river side, where the +ghostly ferryman comes to ferry Nakelo ghosts across the stream. As they +attend the chief on his last journey, they hold their great fans close +to the ground to shelter him, because, as one of them explained to a +missionary, "His soul is only a little child."[661] + +[Sidenote: Absence of the soul in sleep. Catching the soul of a rascal +in a scarf.] + +The souls of some men were supposed to quit their bodies in sleep and +enter into the bodies of other sleepers, troubling and disturbing them. +A soul that had contracted this bad habit was called a _yalombula_. When +any one fainted or died, his vagrant spirit might, so the Fijians +thought, be induced to come back by calling after it. Sometimes, on +awaking from a nap, a stout man might be seen lying at full length and +bawling out lustily for the return of his own soul.[662] In the windward +islands of Fiji there used to be an ordeal called _yalovaki_ which was +much dreaded by evil-doers. When the evidence was strong against +suspected criminals, and they stubbornly refused to confess, the chief, +who was also the judge, would call for a scarf, with which "to catch +away the soul of the rogue." A threat of the rack could not have been +more effectual. The culprit generally confessed at the sight and even +the mention of the light instrument; but if he did not, the scarf would +be waved over his head until his soul was caught in it like a moth or a +fly, after which it would be carefully folded up and nailed to the small +end of a chief's canoe, and for want of his soul the suspected person +would pine and die.[663] + +[Sidenote: Fijian dread of sorcery and witchcraft.] + +Further, the Fijians, like many other savages, stood in great terror of +witchcraft, believing that the sorcerer had it in his power to kill them +by the practice of his nefarious art. "Of all their superstitions," says +Thomas Williams, "this exerts the strongest influence on the minds of +the people. Men who laugh at the pretensions of the priest tremble at +the power of the wizard; and those who become christians lose this fear +last of all the relics of their heathenism."[664] Indeed "native agents +of the mission who, in the discharge of their duty, have boldly faced +death by open violence, have been driven from their posts by their dread +of the sorcerer; and my own observation confirms the statement of more +than one observer that savages not unfrequently die of fear when they +think themselves bewitched."[665] Professed practitioners of witchcraft +were dreaded by all classes, and by destroying mutual confidence they +annulled the comfort and shook the security of society. Almost all +sudden deaths were set down to their machinations. A common mode of +effecting their object was to obtain a shred of the clothing of the man +they intended to bewitch, some refuse of his food, a lock of his hair, +or some other personal relic; having got it they wrapped it up in +certain leaves, and then cooked or buried it or hung it up in the +forest; whereupon the victim was supposed to die of a wasting disease. +Another way was to bury a coco-nut, with the eye upward, beneath the +hearth of the temple, on which a fire was kept constantly burning; and +as the life of the nut was destroyed, so the health of the person whom +the nut represented would fail till death put an end to his sufferings. +"The native imagination," we are told, "is so absolutely under the +control of fear of these charms, that persons, hearing that they were +the object of such spells, have lain down on their mats, and died +through fear."[666] To guard against the fell craft of the magician the +people resorted to many precautions. A man who suspected another of +plotting against him would be careful not to eat in his presence or at +all events to leave no morsel of food behind, lest the other should +secrete it and bewitch him by it; and for the same reason people +disposed of their garments so that no part could be removed; and when +they had their hair cut they generally hid the clippings in the thatch +of their own houses. Some even built themselves a small hut and +surrounded it with a moat, believing that a little water had power to +neutralise the charms directed against them.[667] + +[Sidenote: The fear of sorcery has had the beneficial effect of +enforcing habits of personal cleanliness.] + +"In the face of such instances as these," says one who knows the Fijians +well, "it demands some courage to assert that upon the whole the belief +in witchcraft was formerly a positive advantage to the community. It +filled, in fact, the place of a system of sanitation. The wizard's tools +consisting in those waste matters that are inimical to health, every man +was his own scavenger. From birth to old age a man was governed by this +one fear; he went into the sea, the graveyard or the depths of the +forest to satisfy his natural wants; he burned his cast-off _malo_; he +gave every fragment left over from his food to the pigs; he concealed +even the clippings of his hair in the thatch of his house. This +ever-present fear even drove women in the western districts out into the +forest for the birth of their children, where fire destroyed every trace +of their lying-in. Until Christianity broke it down, the villages were +kept clean; there were no festering rubbish-heaps nor filthy +_raras_."[668] + +[Sidenote: Fijian dread of ghosts. Uproar made to drive away ghosts.] + +Of apparitions the Fijians used to be very much afraid. They believed +that the ghosts of the dead appeared often and afflicted mankind, +especially in sleep. The spirits of slain men, unchaste women, and women +who died in childbed were most dreaded. After a death people have been +known to hide themselves for a few days, until they supposed the soul of +the departed was at rest. Also they shunned the places where people had +been murdered, particularly when it rained, because then the moans of +the ghost could be heard as he sat up, trying to relieve his pain by +resting his poor aching head on the palms of his hands. Some however +said that the moans were caused by the soul of the murderer knocking +down the soul of his victim, whenever the wretched spirit attempted to +get up.[669] When Fijians passed a spot in the forest where a man had +been clubbed to death, they would sometimes throw leaves on it as a mark +of homage to his spirit, believing that they would soon be killed +themselves if they failed in thus paying their respects to the +ghost.[670] And after they had buried a man alive, as they very often +did, these savages used at nightfall to make a great din with large +bamboos, trumpet-shells, and so forth, in order to drive away his spirit +and deter him from loitering about his old home. "The uproar is always +held in the late habitation of the deceased, the reason being that as no +one knows for a certainty what reception he will receive in the +invisible world, if it is not according to his expectations he will most +likely repent of his bargain and wish to come back. For that reason they +make a great noise to frighten him away, and dismantle his former +habitation of everything that is attractive, and clothe it with +everything that to their ideas seems repulsive."[671] + +[Sidenote: Killing a ghost.] + +However, stronger measures were sometimes resorted to. It was believed +to be possible to kill a troublesome ghost. Once it happened that many +chiefs feasted in the house of Tanoa, King of Ambau. In the course of +the evening one of them related how he had slain a neighbouring chief. +That very night, having occasion to leave the house, he saw, as he +believed, the ghost of his victim, hurled his club at him, and killed +him stone dead. On his return to the house he roused the king and the +rest of the inmates from their slumbers, and recounted his exploit. The +matter was deemed of high importance, and they all sat on it in solemn +conclave. Next morning a search was made for the club on the scene of +the murder; it was found and carried with great pomp and parade to the +nearest temple, where it was laid up for a perpetual memorial. Everybody +was firmly persuaded that by this swashing blow the ghost had been not +only killed but annihilated.[672] + +[Sidenote: Dazing the ghost of a grandfather.] + +A more humane method of dealing with an importunate ghost used to be +adopted in Vanua-levu, the largest but one of the Fijian islands. In +that island, as a consequence, it is said, of reckoning kinship through +the mother, a child was considered to be more closely related to his +grandfather than to his father. Hence when a grandfather died, his ghost +naturally desired to carry off the soul of his grandchild with him to +the spirit land. The wish was creditable to the warmth of his domestic +affection, but if the survivors preferred to keep the child with them a +little longer in this vale of tears, they took steps to baffle +grandfather's ghost. For this purpose when the old man's body was +stretched on the bier and raised on the shoulders of half-a-dozen stout +young fellows, the mother's brother would take the grandchild in his +arms and begin running round and round the corpse. Round and round he +ran, and grandfather's ghost looked after him, craning his neck from +side to side and twisting it round and round in the vain attempt to +follow the rapid movements of the runner. When the ghost was supposed to +be quite giddy with this unwonted exercise, the mother's brother made a +sudden dart away with the child in his arms, the bearers fairly bolted +with the corpse to the grave, and before he could collect his scattered +wits grandfather was safely landed in his long home.[673] + +[Sidenote: Special relation of grandfather to grandchild. Soul of a +grandfather reborn in his grandchildren.] + +Mr. Fison, who reports this quaint mode of bilking a ghost, explains the +special attachment of the grandfather to his grandchild by the rule of +female descent which survives in Vanua-levu; and it is true that where +exogamy prevails along with female descent, a child regularly belongs to +the exogamous class of its grandfather and not of its father and hence +may be regarded as more closely akin to the grandfather than to the +father. But on the other hand it is to be observed that exogamy at +present is unknown in Fiji, and at most its former prevalence in the +islands can only be indirectly inferred from relics of totemism and from +the existence of the classificatory system of relationship.[674] Perhaps +the real reason why in Vanua-levu a dead grandfather is so anxious to +carry off the soul of his living grandchild lies nearer to hand in the +apparently widespread belief that the soul of the grandfather is +actually reborn in his grandchild. For example, in Nukahiva, one of the +Marquesas Islands, every one "is persuaded that the soul of a +grandfather is transmitted by nature into the body of his grandchildren; +and that, if an unfruitful wife were to place herself under the corpse +of her deceased grandfather, she would be sure to become pregnant."[675] +Again, the Kayans of Borneo "believe in the reincarnation of the soul, +although this belief is not clearly harmonised with the belief in the +life in another world. It is generally believed that the soul of a +grandfather may pass into one of his grandchildren, and an old man will +try to secure the passage of his soul to a favourite grandchild by +holding it above his head from time to time. The grandfather usually +gives up his name to his eldest grandson, and reassumes the original +name of his childhood with the prefix or title _Laki_, and the custom +seems to be connected with this belief or hope."[676] + +[Sidenote: A dead grandfather may reasonably reclaim his own soul from +his grandchild.] + +Now where such a belief is held, it seems reasonable enough that a dead +grandfather should reclaim his own soul for his personal use before he +sets out for the spirit land; else how could he expect to be admitted to +that blissful abode if on arriving at the portal he were obliged to +explain to the porter that he had no soul about him, having left that +indispensable article behind in the person of his grandchild? "Then you +had better go back and fetch it. There is no admission at this gate for +people without souls." Such might very well be the porter's retort; and +foreseeing it any man of ordinary prudence would take the precaution of +recovering his lost spiritual property before presenting himself to the +Warden of the Dead. This theory would sufficiently account for the +otherwise singular behaviour of grandfather's ghost in Vanua-levu. At +the same time it must be admitted that the theory of the reincarnation +of a grandfather in a grandson would be suggested more readily in a +society where the custom of exogamy was combined with female descent +than in one where the same custom coexisted with male descent; since, +given exogamy and female descent, grandfather and grandson regularly +belong to the same exogamous class, whereas father and son never do +so.[677] Thus Mr. Fison may after all be right in referring the +partiality of a Fijian grandfather for his grandson in the last resort +to a system of exogamy and female kinship. + +[Footnote 627: G. Brown, D.D., _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, +1910), pp. 23 _sq._, 125, 320 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 628: G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 294 _sqq._; P. A. Kleintitschen, +_Die Kuestenbewohner der Gazellehalbinsel_ (Hiltrup bei Muenster, N.D.), +pp. 90 _sqq._ The shell money is called _tambu_ in New Britain, _diwara_ +in the Duke of York Island, and _aringit_ in New Ireland.] + +[Footnote 629: Rev. G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 307, 313, 435, 436.] + +[Footnote 630: Rev. G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 270 _sq._, compare pp. 127, +200.] + +[Footnote 631: Rev. G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. v., 18.] + +[Footnote 632: G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 141 _sq._, 144, 145, 190-193.] + +[Footnote 633: G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 142, 192, 385, 386 _sq._] + +[Footnote 634: G. Brown, _op. cit._ p. 390. The custom of cremating the +dead in New Ireland is described more fully by Mr. R. Parkinson, who +says that the life-sized figures which are burned with the corpse +represent the deceased (_Dreissig Jahre in der Suedsee_, pp. 273 _sqq._). +In the central part of New Ireland the dead are buried in the earth; +afterwards the bones are dug up and thrown into the sea. See Albert +Hahl, "Das mittlere Neumecklenburg," _Globus_, xci. (1907) p. 314.] + +[Footnote 635: R. Parkinson, _Dreissig Jahre in der Suedsee_ (Stuttgart, +1907) p. 78; P. A. Kleintitschen, _Die Kuestenbewohner der +Gazellehalbinsel_ (Hiltrup bei Muenster, N.D.), p. 222.] + +[Footnote 636: Mgr. Couppe, "En Nouvelle-Pomeranie," _Les Missions +Catholiques_, xxiii. (1891) pp. 364 _sq._; J. Graf Pfeil, _Studien und +Beobachtungen aus der Suedsee_ (Brunswick, 1899), p. 79.] + +[Footnote 637: R. Parkinson, _op. cit._ p. 81.] + +[Footnote 638: _P._ Rascher, _M.S.C._, "Die Sulka, ein Beitrag zur +Ethnographic Neu-Pommern," _Archiv fuer Anthropologie_, xxix. (1904) pp. +214 _sq._, 216; R. Parkinson, _Dreissig Jahre in der Suedsee_, pp. +185-187.] + +[Footnote 639: R. Parkinson, _Dreissig Jahre in der Suedsee_, pp. +404-406.] + +[Footnote 640: R. Parkinson, _op. cit._ pp. 441 _sq._] + +[Footnote 641: G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 176, 183, 385 _sq._ As to the +wide-spread belief in New Britain that what we call natural deaths are +brought about by sorcery, see further _P._ Rascher, _M.S.C._, "Die +Sulka, ein Beitrag zur Ethnographic Neu-Pommern," _Archiv fuer +Ethnographie_, xxix. (1904) pp. 221 _sq._; R. Parkinson, _Dreissig Jahre +in der Suedsee_, pp. 117 _sq._ 199-201; P. A. Kleintitschen, _Die +Kuesten-bewohner der Gazellehalbinsel_ (Hiltrup bei Muenster, N.D.), p. +215.] + +[Footnote 642: G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 387-390.] + +[Footnote 643: G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 35, 89, 196, 201.] + +[Footnote 644: G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 177, 183, 184.] + +[Footnote 645: G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 192-195.] + +[Footnote 646: P. A. Kleintitschen, _Die Kuestenbewohner der +Gazellehalbinsel_, pp. 225 _sq._ Compare R. Parkinson, _Dreissig Jahre +in der Suedsee_, p. 79.] + +[Footnote 647: Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_ (London, 1904), p. +xiv.] + +[Footnote 648: Thomas Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, Second Edition +(London, 1860), i. 22-26.] + +[Footnote 649: Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring +Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 77; Th. Williams, _op. +cit._ i. 18.] + +[Footnote 650: Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring +Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 332 _sqq._; Thomas +Williams _Fiji and the Fijians_, Second Edition (London, 1860), i. 60 +_sqq._; Berthold Seeman, _Viti_ (Cambridge, 1862), pp. 279 _sqq._; Basil +Thomson, _The Fijians_ (London, 1908), pp. 335 _sq._] + +[Footnote 651: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 60 _sq._] + +[Footnote 652: Basil Thomson, _The Fijians_, pp. 338, 389 _sq._ The +Fijians are in the main vegetarians, but the vegetables which they +cultivate "contain a large proportion of starch and water, and are +deficient in proteids. Moreover, the supply of the principal staples is +irregular, being greatly affected by variable seasons, and the attacks +of insects and vermin. Very few of them will bear keeping, and almost +all of them must be eaten when ripe. As the food is of low nutritive +value, a native always eats to repletion. In times of plenty a +full-grown man will eat as much as ten pounds' weight of vegetables in +the day; he will seldom be satisfied with less than five. A great +quantity, therefore, is required to feed a very few people, and as +everything is transported by hand, a disproportionate amount of time is +spent in transporting food from the plantation to the consumer. The time +spent in growing native food is also out of all proportion to its value" +(Basil Thomson, _op. cit._ pp. 334 _sq._). The same writer tells us (p. +335) that it has never occurred to the Fijians to dry any of the fruits +they grow and to grind them into flour, as is done in Africa.] + +[Footnote 653: Capt. J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the +Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), pp. 272 _sq._] + +[Footnote 654: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 46, 363. As to the cruelty +and depravity of the Fijians in the old days see further Lorimer Fison, +_Tales from Old Fiji_ (London, 1904), pp. xv. _sqq._] + +[Footnote 655: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 6 _sq._ As to +the scenery of the Fijian archipelago see further _id._, i. 4 _sqq._; +Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 46, 322; _Stanford's Compendium of Geography +and Travel, Australasia_, vol. ii. _Malaysia and the Pacific +Archipelago_, edited by F. H. H. Guillemard (London, 1894), pp. 467 +_sqq._; Miss Beatrice Grimshaw, _From Fiji to the Cannibal Islands_ +(London, 1907), pp. 43 _sq._, 54 _sq._, 76-78, 106, 109 _sq._] + +[Footnote 656: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 5 _sq._, 11; Ch. +Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 46 _sq._ However, there is a remarkable +difference not only in climate but in appearance between the windward +and the leeward sides of these islands. The windward side, watered by +abundant showers, is covered with luxuriant tropical vegetation; the +leeward side, receiving little rain, presents a comparatively barren and +burnt appearance, the vegetation dying down to the grey hues of the +boulders among which it struggles for life. Hence the dry leeward side +is better adapted for European settlement. See Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ +iii. 320 _sq._; Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 10; B. Seeman, _Viti, an +Account of a Government Mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands in the +years 1860-1861_ (Cambridge, 1862), pp. 277 _sq._] + +[Footnote 657: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 241; J. E. Erskine, _op. +cit._ p. 249; B. Seeman, _Viti_ (Cambridge, 1862), p. 398.] + +[Footnote 658: William Mariner, _An Account of the Natives of the Tonga +Islands_, Second Edition (London, 1818), ii. 129 _sq._ The _matabooles_ +were a sort of honourable attendants on chiefs and ranked next to them +in the social hierarchy; the _mooas_ were the next class of people below +the _matabooles_. See W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 84, 86. Bolotoo or Bulu +was the mythical land of the dead.] + +[Footnote 659: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 241.] + +[Footnote 660: This is the opinion of my late friend, the Rev. Lorimer +Fison, which he communicated to me in a letter dated 26th August, 1898.] + +[Footnote 661: Communication of the late Rev. Lorimer Fison in a letter +to me dated 3rd November, 1898. I have already published it in _Taboo +and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 29 _sq._] + +[Footnote 662: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 242; Lorimer Fison, _Tales +from Old Fiji_, pp. 163 _sq._; _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. +39 _sq._] + +[Footnote 663: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 250.] + +[Footnote 664: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 248.] + +[Footnote 665: Lorimer Fison, _op. cit._ p. xxxii.] + +[Footnote 666: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 248 _sq._; Lorimer Fison, +_op. cit._ pp. xxxi. _sq._] + +[Footnote 667: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 249.] + +[Footnote 668: Basil Thomson, _The Fijians_ (London, 1908), p. 166. A +_rara_ is a public square (Rev. Lorimer Fison, in _Journal of the +Anthropological Institute_, xiv. (1885) p. 17).] + +[Footnote 669: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 241.] + +[Footnote 670: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 50.] + +[Footnote 671: Narrative of John Jackson, in Capt. J. E. Erskine's +_Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, +1853), p. 477.] + +[Footnote 672: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 85.] + +[Footnote 673: Lorimer Fison, _op. cit._ pp. 168 _sq_.] + +[Footnote 674: W. H. R. Rivers, "Totemism in Fiji," _Man_, viii. (1908) +pp. 133 _sqq._; _Totemism and Exogamy_, ii. 134 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 675: U. Lisiansky, _A Voyage Round the World_ (London, 1814), +p. 89.] + +[Footnote 676: Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of Borneo_ +(London, 1912), ii. 47.] + +[Footnote 677: Compare _Totemism and Exogamy_, iii. 297-299.] + + + + +LECTURE XIX + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF EASTERN MELANESIA (FIJI) +(_continued_) + + +[Sidenote: Fijian indifference to death.] + +At the close of last lecture I illustrated the unquestioning belief +which the Fijians entertain with regard to the survival of the human +soul after death. "The native superstitions with regard to a future +state," we are told, "go far to explain the apparent indifference of the +people about death; for, while believing in an eternal existence, they +shut out from it the idea of any moral retribution in the shape either +of reward or punishment. The first notion concerning death is that of +simple rest, and is thus contained in one of their rhymes:-- + + "Death is easy: + Of what use is life? + To die is rest."[678] + +Again, another writer, speaking of the Fijians, says that "in general, +the passage from life to death is considered as one from pain to +happiness, and I was informed that nine out of ten look forward to it +with anxiety, in order to escape from the infirmities of old age, or the +sufferings of disease."[679] + +[Sidenote: John Jackson's account of the burying alive of a young Fijian +man. Son buried alive by his father.] + +The cool indifference with which the Fijians commonly regarded their own +death and that of other people might be illustrated by many examples. I +will give one in the words of an English eye-witness, who lived among +these savages for some time like one of themselves. At a place on the +coast of Viti Levu, the largest of the Fijian Islands, he says, "I +walked into a number of temples, which were very plentiful, and at last +into a _bure theravou_ (young man's _bure_), where I saw a tall young +man about twenty years old. He appeared to be somewhat ailing, but not +at all emaciated. He was rolling up the mat he had been sleeping upon, +evidently preparing to go away somewhere. I addressed him, and asked him +where he was going, when he immediately answered that he was going to be +buried. I observed that he was not dead yet, but he said he soon should +be dead when he was put under ground. I asked him why he was going to be +buried? He said it was three days since he had eaten anything, and +consequently he was getting very thin; and that if he lived any longer +he would be much thinner, and then the women would call him a _lila_ +(skeleton), and laugh at him. I said he was a fool to throw himself away +for fear of being laughed at; and asked him what or who his private god +was, knowing it to be no use talking to him about Providence, a thing he +had never heard of. He said his god was a shark, and that if he were +cast away in a canoe and was obliged to swim, the sharks would not bite +him. I asked him if he believed the shark, his god, had any power to act +over him? He said yes. 'Well then,' said I, 'why do you not live a +little longer, and trust to your god to give you an appetite?' Finding +that he could not give me satisfactory answers, and being determined to +get buried to avoid the jeers of the ladies, which to a Feejeean are +intolerable, he told me I knew nothing about it, and that I must not +compare him to a white man, who was generally insensible to all shame, +and did not care how much he was laughed at. I called him a fool, and +said the best thing he could do was to get buried out of the way, +because I knew that most of them work by the rules of contrary; but it +was all to no purpose. By this time all his relations had collected +round the door. His father had a kind of wooden spade to dig the grave +with, his mother a new suit of _tapa_ [bark-cloth], his sister some +vermilion and a whale's tooth, as an introduction to the great god of +Rage-Rage. He arose, took up his bed and walked, not for life, but for +death, his father, mother, and sister following after, with several +other distant relations, whom I accompanied. I noticed that they seemed +to follow him something in the same way that they follow a corpse in +Europe to the grave (that is, as far as relationship and acquaintance +are concerned), but, instead of lamenting, they were, if not rejoicing, +acting and chatting in a very unconcerned way. At last we reached a +place where several graves could be seen, and a spot was soon selected +by the man who was to be buried. The old man, his father, began digging +his grave, while his mother assisted her son in putting on a new _tapa_ +[bark-cloth], and the girl (his sister) was besmearing him with +vermilion and lamp-black, so as to send him decent into the invisible +world, he (the victim) delivering messages that were to be taken by his +sister to people then absent. His father then announced to him and the +rest that the grave was completed, and asked him, in rather a surly +tone, if he was not ready by this time. The mother then _nosed_ him, and +likewise the sister. He said, 'Before I die, I should like a drink of +water.' His father made a surly remark, and said, as he ran to fetch it +in a leaf doubled up, 'You have been a considerable trouble during your +life, and it appears that you are going to trouble us equally at your +death.' The father returned with the water, which the son drank off, and +then looked up into a tree covered with tough vines, saying he should +prefer being strangled with a vine to being smothered in the grave. His +father became excessively angry, and, spreading the mat at the bottom of +the grave, told the son to die _faka tamata_ (like a man), when he +stepped into the grave, which was not more than four feet deep, and lay +down on his back with the whale's tooth in his hands, which were clasped +across his belly. The spare sides of the mats were lapped over him so as +to prevent the earth from getting to his body, and then about a foot of +earth was shovelled in upon him as quickly as possible. His father +stamped it immediately down solid, and called out in a loud voice, '_Sa +tiko, sa tiko_ (You are stopping there, you are stopping there),' +meaning 'Good-bye, good-bye.' The son answered with a very audible +grunt, and then about two feet more earth was shovelled in and stamped +as before by the loving father, and '_Sa tiko_' called out again, which +was answered by another grunt, but much fainter. The grave was then +completely filled up, when, for curiosity's sake, I said myself, '_Sa +tiko_' but no answer was given, although I fancied, or really did see, +the earth crack a little on the top of the grave. The father and mother +then turned back to back on the middle of the grave, and, having dropped +some kind of leaves from their hands, walked away in opposite directions +towards a running stream of water hard by, where they and all the rest +washed themselves, and made me wash myself, and then we returned to the +town, where there was a feast prepared. As soon as the feast was over +(it being then dark), began the dance and uproar which are always +carried on either at natural or violent deaths."[680] + +[Sidenote: The readiness of the Fijians to die seems to have been partly +a consequence of their belief in immortality.] + +The readiness with which the Fijians submitted to or even sought death +appears to have been to some extent a direct consequence of their belief +in immortality and of their notions as to the state of the soul +hereafter. Thus we are informed by an early observer of this people that +"self-immolation is by no means rare, and they believe that as they +leave this life, so will they remain ever after. This forms a powerful +motive to escape from decrepitude, or from a crippled condition, by a +voluntary death."[681] Or, as another equally early observer puts it +more fully, "the custom of voluntary suicide on the part of the old men, +which is among their most extraordinary usages, is also connected with +their superstitions respecting a future life. They believe that persons +enter upon the delights of their elysium with the same faculties, mental +and physical, that they possess at the hour of death, in short, that the +spiritual life commences where the corporeal existence terminates. With +these views, it is natural that they should desire to pass through this +change before their mental and bodily powers are so enfeebled by age as +to deprive them of their capacity for enjoyment. To this motive must be +added the contempt which attaches to physical weakness among a nation of +warriors, and the wrongs and insults which await those who are no longer +able to protect themselves. When therefore a man finds his strength +declining with the advance of age, and feels that he will soon be +unequal to discharge the duties of this life, and to partake in the +pleasures of that which is to come, he calls together his relations, and +tells them that he is now worn out and useless, that he sees they are +all ashamed of him, and that he has determined to be buried." So on a +day appointed they met and buried him alive.[682] + +[Sidenote: The sick and aged put to death by their relatives.] + +The proposal to put the sick and aged to death did not always emanate +from the parties principally concerned; when a son, for example, thought +that his parents were growing too old and becoming a burden to him, he +would give them notice that it was time for them to die, a notice which +they usually accepted with equanimity, if not alacrity. As a rule, it +was left to the choice of the aged and infirm to say whether they would +prefer to be buried alive or to be strangled first and buried +afterwards; and having expressed a predilection one way or the other +they were dealt with accordingly. To strangle parents or other frail and +sickly relatives with a rope was considered a more delicate and +affectionate way of dispatching them than to knock them on the head with +a club. In the old days the missionary Mr. Hunt witnessed several of +these tender partings. "On one occasion, he was called upon by a young +man, who desired that he would pray to his spirit for his mother, who +was dead. Mr. Hunt was at first in hopes that this would afford him an +opportunity of forwarding their great cause. On inquiry, the young man +told him that his brothers and himself were just going to bury her. Mr. +Hunt accompanied the young man, telling him he would follow in the +procession, and do as he desired him, supposing, of course, the corpse +would be brought along; but he now met the procession, when the young +man said that this was the funeral, and pointed out his mother, who was +walking along with them, as gay and lively as any of those present, and +apparently as much pleased. Mr. Hunt expressed his surprise to the young +man, and asked him how he could deceive him so much by saying his mother +was dead, when she was alive and well. He said, in reply, that they had +made her death-feast, and were now going to bury her; that she was old; +that his brother and himself had thought she had lived long enough, and +it was time to bury her, to which she had willingly assented, and they +were about it now. He had come to Mr. Hunt to ask his prayers, as they +did those of the priest. He added, that it was from love for his mother +that he had done so; that, in consequence of the same love, they were +now going to bury her, and that none but themselves could or ought to do +so sacred an office! Mr. Hunt did all in his power to prevent so +diabolical an act; but the only reply he received was, that she was +their mother, and they were her children, and they ought to put her to +death. On reaching the grave, the mother sat down, when they all, +including children, grandchildren, relations, and friends, took an +affectionate leave of her; a rope, made of twisted _tapa_ [bark-cloth], +was then passed twice around her neck by her sons, who took hold of it, +and strangled her; after which she was put into her grave, with the +usual ceremonies. They returned to feast and mourn, after which she was +entirely forgotten as though she had not existed."[683] + +[Sidenote: Wives strangled or buried alive at their husbands' funerals.] + +Again, wives were often strangled, or buried alive, at the funeral of +their husbands, and generally at their own instance. Such scenes were +frequently witnessed by white residents in the old days. On one occasion +a Mr. David Whippy drove away the murderers, rescued the woman, and +carried her to his own house, where she was resuscitated. But far from +feeling grateful for her preservation, she loaded him with reproaches +and ever afterwards manifested the most deadly hatred towards him. "That +women should desire to accompany their husbands in death, is by no means +strange when it is considered that it is one of the articles of their +belief, that in this way alone can they reach the realms of bliss, and +she who meets her death with the greatest devotedness, will become the +favourite wife in the abode of spirits. The sacrifice is not, however, +always voluntary; but, when a woman refuses to be strangled, her +relations often compel her to submit. This they do from interested +motives; for, by her death, her connexions become entitled to the +property of her husband. Even a delay is made a matter of reproach. +Thus, at the funeral of the late king Ulivou, which was witnessed by Mr. +Cargill, his five wives and a daughter were strangled. The principal +wife delayed the ceremony, by taking leave of those around her; +whereupon Tanoa, the present king, chid her. The victim was his own +aunt, and he assisted in putting the rope around her neck, and +strangling her, a service he is said to have rendered on a former +occasion to his own mother."[684] In the case of men who were drowned at +sea or killed and eaten by enemies in war, their wives were sacrificed +in the usual way. Thus when Ra Mbithi, the pride of Somosomo, was lost +at sea, seventeen of his wives were destroyed; and after the news of a +massacre of the Namena people at Viwa in 1839 eighty women were +strangled to accompany the spirits of their murdered husbands.[685] + +[Sidenote: Human "grass" for the grave.] + +The bodies of women who were put to death for this purpose were +regularly laid at the bottom of the grave to serve as a cushion for the +dead husband to lie upon; in this capacity they were called grass +(_thotho_), being compared to the dried grass which in Fijian houses +used to be thickly strewn on the floors and covered with mats.[686] On +this point, however, a nice distinction was observed. While wives were +commonly sacrificed at the death of their husbands, in order to be +spread like grass in their graves, it does not transpire that husbands +were ever sacrificed at the death of their wives for the sake of serving +as grass to their dead spouses in the grave. The great truth that all +flesh is grass appears to have been understood by the Fijians as +applicable chiefly to the flesh of women. Sometimes a man's mother was +strangled as well as his wives. Thus Ngavindi, a young chief of Lasakau, +was laid in the grave with a wife at his side, his mother at his feet, +and a servant not far off. However, men as well as women were killed to +follow their masters to the far country. The confidential companion of a +chief was expected as a matter of common decency to die with his lord; +and if he shirked the duty, he fell in the public esteem. When Mbithi, a +chief of high rank and greatly esteemed in Mathuata, died in the year +1840, not only his wife but five men with their wives were strangled to +form the floor of his grave. They were laid on a layer of mats, and the +body of the chief was stretched upon them.[687] There used to be a +family in Vanua Levu which enjoyed the high privilege of supplying a +hale man to be buried with the king of Fiji on every occasion of a royal +decease. It was quite necessary that the man should be hale and hearty, +for it was his business to grapple with the Fijian Cerberus in the other +world, while his majesty slipped past into the abode of bliss.[688] + +[Sidenote: Sacrifices of foreskins and fingers in honour of the dead. +Circumcision performed on a lad as a propitiatory sacrifice to save the +life of his father or father's brother. The rite of circumcision +followed by a licentious orgy.] + +A curious sacrifice offered in honour of a dead chief consisted in the +foreskins of all the boys who had arrived at a suitable age; the lads +were circumcised on purpose to furnish them. Many boys had their little +fingers chopped off on the same occasion, and the severed foreskins and +fingers were placed in the chief's grave. When this bloody rite had been +performed, the chief's relatives presented young bread-fruit trees to +the mutilated boys, whose friends were bound to cultivate them till the +boys could do it for themselves.[689] Women as well as boys had their +fingers cut off in mourning. We read of a case when after the death of a +king of Fiji sixty fingers were amputated and being each inserted in a +slit reed were stuck along the eaves of the king's house.[690] Why +foreskins and fingers were buried with a dead chief or stuck up on the +roof of his house, we are not informed, and it is not easy to divine. +Apparently we must suppose that, when they were buried with the body, +they were thought to be of some assistance to the departed spirit in the +land of souls. At all events it deserves to be noted that according to a +very good authority a similar sacrifice of foreskins used to be made not +only for the dead but for the living. When a man of note was dangerously +ill, a family council would be held, at which it might be agreed that a +circumcision should take place as a propitiatory measure. Notice having +been given to the priests, an uncircumcised lad, the sick man's own son +or the son of one of his brothers, was then taken by his kinsman to the +_Vale tambu_ or God's House, and there presented as a _soro_, or +offering of atonement, in order that his father or father's brother +might be made whole. His escort at the same time made a present of +valuable property at the shrine and promised much more in future, should +their prayers be answered. The present and the promises were graciously +received by the priest, who appointed a day on which the operation was +to be performed. In the meantime no food might be taken from the +plantations except what was absolutely required for daily use; no pigs +or fowls might be killed, and no coco-nuts plucked from the trees. +Everything, in short, was put under a strict taboo; all was set apart +for the great feast which was to follow the performance of the rite. On +the day appointed the son or nephew of the sick chief was circumcised, +and with him a number of other lads whose friends had agreed to take +advantage of the occasion. Their foreskins, stuck in the cleft of a +split reed, were taken to the sacred enclosure (_Nanga_) and presented +to the chief priest, who, holding the reeds in his hand, offered them to +the ancestral gods and prayed for the sick man's recovery. Then followed +a great feast, which ushered in a period of indescribable revelry and +licence. All distinctions of property were for the time being suspended. +Men and women arrayed themselves in all manner of fantastic garbs, +addressed one another in the foulest language, and practised +unmentionable abominations openly in the public square of the town. The +nearest relationships, even that of own brother and sister, seemed to be +no bar to the general licence, the extent of which was indicated by the +expressive phrase of an old Nandi chief, who said, "While it lasts, we +are just like the pigs." This feasting and orgy might be kept up for +several days, after which the ordinary restraints of society and the +common decencies of life were observed once more. The rights of private +property were again respected; the abandoned revellers and debauchees +settled down into staid married couples; and brothers and sisters, in +accordance with the regular Fijian etiquette, might not so much as speak +to one another. It should be added that these extravagances in connexion +with the rite of circumcision appear to have been practised only in +certain districts of Viti Levu, the largest of the Fijian Islands, where +they were always associated with the sacred stone enclosures which went +by the name of _Nanga_.[691] + +[Sidenote: These orgies were apparently associated with the worship of +the dead, to whom offerings were made in the _Nanga_ or sacred enclosure +of stones.] + +The meaning of such orgies is very obscure, but from what we know of the +savage and his ways we may fairly assume that they were no mere +outbursts of unbridled passion, but that in the minds of those who +practised them they had a definite significance and served a definite +purpose. The one thing that seems fairly clear about them is that in +some way they were associated with the worship or propitiation of the +dead. At all events we are told on good authority that the _Nanga_, or +sacred enclosure of stones, in which the severed foreskins were offered, +was "the Sacred Place where the ancestral spirits are to be found by +their worshippers, and thither offerings are taken on all occasions when +their aid is to be invoked. Every member of the _Nanga_ has the +privilege of approaching the ancestors at any time. When sickness visits +himself or his kinsfolk, when he wishes to invoke the aid of the spirits +to avert calamity or to secure prosperity, or when he deems it advisable +to present a thank-offering, he may enter the _Nanga_ with proper +reverence and deposit on the dividing wall his whale's tooth, or bundle +of cloth, or dish of toothsome eels so highly prized by the elders, and +therefore by the ancestors whose living representatives they are: or he +may drag into the Sacred _Nanga_ his fattened pig, or pile up there his +offering of the choicest yams. And, having thus recommended himself to +the dead, he may invoke their powerful aid, or express his thankfulness +for the benefits they have conferred, and beg for a continuance of their +goodwill."[692] The first-fruits of the yam harvest were presented with +great ceremony to the ancestors in the _Nanga_ before the bulk of the +crop was dug for the people's use, and no man might taste of the new +yams until the presentation had been made. The yams so offered were +piled up in the sacred enclosure and left to rot there. If any one were +impious enough to appropriate them to his own use, it was believed that +he would be smitten with madness. Great feasts were held at the +presentation of the first-fruits; and the sacred enclosure itself was +often spoken of as the _Mbaki_ or Harvest.[693] + +[Sidenote: Periodical initiation of young men in the _Nanga_.] + +But the most characteristic and perhaps the most important of the rites +performed in the _Nanga_ or sacred stone enclosure was the periodical +initiation of young men, who by participation in the ceremony were +admitted to the full privileges of manhood. According to one account the +ceremony of initiation was performed as a rule only once in two years; +according to another account it was observed annually in October or +November, when the _ndrala_ tree (_Erythrina_) was in flower. The +flowering of the tree marked the beginning of the Fijian year; hence the +novices who were initiated at this season bore the title of _Vilavou_, +that is, "New Year's Men." As a preparation for the feasts which +attended the ceremony enormous quantities of yams were garnered and +placed under a strict taboo; pigs were fattened in large numbers, and +bales of native cloth stored on the tie-beams of the house-roofs. Spears +of many patterns and curiously carved clubs were also provided against +the festival. On the day appointed the initiated men went first into the +sacred enclosure and made their offerings, the chief priest having +opened the proceedings by libation and prayer. The heads of the novices +were clean shaven, and their beards, if they had any, were also removed. +Then each youth was swathed in long rolls of native cloth, and taking a +spear in one hand and a club in the other he marched with his comrades, +similarly swathed and armed, in procession into the sacred enclosure, +though not into its inner compartment, the Holy of Holies. The +procession was headed by a priest bearing his carved staff of office, +and it was received on the holy ground by the initiates, who sat +chanting a song in a deep murmuring tone, which occasionally swelled to +a considerable volume of sound and was thought to represent the muffled +roar of the surf breaking on a far-away coral reef. On entering the +enclosure the youths threw down their weapons before them, and with the +help of the initiated men divested themselves of the huge folds of +native cloth in which they were enveloped, each man revolving slowly on +his axis, while his attendant pulled at the bandage and gathered in the +slack. The weapons and the cloth were the offerings presented by the +novices to the ancestral spirits for the purpose of rendering themselves +acceptable to these powerful beings. The offerings were repeated in like +manner on four successive days; and as each youth was merely, as it +were, the central roller of a great bale of cloth, the amount of cloth +offered was considerable. It was all put away, with the spears and +clubs, in the sacred storehouse by the initiated men. A feast concluded +each day and was prolonged far into the night. + +[Sidenote: Ceremony of death and resurrection.] + +On the fifth day, the last and greatest of the festival, the heads of +the young men were shaven again and their bodies swathed in the largest +and best rolls of cloth. Then, taking their choicest weapons in their +hands, they followed their leader as before into the sacred enclosure. +But the outer compartment of the holy place, where on the previous days +they had been received by the grand chorus of initiated men, was now +silent and deserted. The procession stopped. A dead silence prevailed. +Suddenly from the forest a harsh scream of many parrots broke forth, and +then followed a mysterious booming sound which filled the souls of the +novices with awe. But now the priest moves slowly forward and leads the +train of trembling novices for the first time into the inner shrine, the +Holy of Holies, the _Nanga tambu-tambu_. Here a dreadful spectacle meets +their startled gaze. In the background sits the high priest, regarding +them with a stony stare; and between him and them lie a row of dead men, +covered with blood, their bodies seemingly cut open and their entrails +protruding. The leader steps over them one by one, and the awestruck +youths follow him until they stand in a row before the high priest, +their very souls harrowed by his awful glare. Suddenly he utters a great +yell, and at the cry the dead men start to their feet, and run down to +the river to cleanse themselves from the blood and filth with which they +are besmeared. They are initiated men, who represent the departed +ancestors for the occasion; and the blood and entrails are those of many +pigs that have been slaughtered for that night's revelry. The screams of +the parrots and the mysterious booming sound were produced by a +concealed orchestra, who screeched appropriately and blew blasts on +bamboo trumpets, the mouths of which were partially immersed in water. + +[Sidenote: Sacrament of food and water.] + +The dead men having come to life again, the novices offered their +weapons and the bales of native cloth in which they were swathed. These +were accordingly removed to the storehouse and the young men were made +to sit down in front of it. Then the high priest, cheered perhaps by the +sight of the offerings, unbent the starched dignity of his demeanour. +Skipping from side to side he cried in stridulous tones, "Where are the +people of my enclosure? Are they gone to Tongalevu? Are they gone to the +deep sea?" He had not called long when an answer rang out from the river +in a deep-mouthed song, and soon the singers came in view moving +rhythmically to the music of their solemn chant. Singing they filed in +and took their places in front of the young men; then silence ensued. +After that there entered four old men of the highest order of initiates; +the first bore a cooked yam carefully wrapt in leaves so that no part of +it should touch the hands of the bearer; the second carried a piece of +baked pork similarly enveloped; the third held a drinking-cup of +coco-nut shell or earthenware filled with water and wrapt round with +native cloth; and the fourth bore a napkin of the same material. +Thereupon the first elder passed along the row of novices putting the +end of the yam into each of their mouths, and as he did so each of them +nibbled a morsel of the sacred food; the second elder did the same with +the sacred pork; the third elder followed with the holy water, with +which each novice merely wetted his lips; and the rear was brought up by +the fourth elder, who wiped all their mouths with his napkin. Then the +high priest or one of the elders addressed the young men, warning them +solemnly against the sacrilege of divulging to the profane any of the +high mysteries they had seen and heard, and threatening all such +traitors with the vengeance of the gods. + +[Sidenote: Presentation of the pig.] + +That ceremony being over, all the junior initiated men (_Lewe ni Nanga_) +came forward, and each man presented to the novices a yam and a piece of +nearly raw pork; whereupon the young men took the food and went away to +cook it for eating. When the evening twilight had fallen, a huge pig, +which had been specially set aside at a former festival, was dragged +into the sacred enclosure and there presented to the novices, together +with other swine, if they should be needed to furnish a plenteous +repast. + +[Sidenote: Acceptance of the novices by the ancestral spirits.] + +The novices were now "accepted members of the _Nanga_, qualified to take +their place among the men of the community, though still only on +probation. As children--their childhood being indicated by their shaven +heads--they were presented to the ancestors, and their acceptance was +notified by what (looking at the matter from the natives' standpoint) we +might, without irreverence, almost call the _sacrament_ of food and +water, too sacred even for the elders' hands to touch. This acceptance +was acknowledged and confirmed on the part of all the _Lewe ni Nanga_ +[junior initiated men] by their gift of food, and it was finally +ratified by the presentation of the Sacred Pig. In like manner, on the +birth of an infant, its father acknowledges it as legitimate, and +otherwise acceptable, by a gift of food; and his kinsfolk formally +signify approval and confirmation of his decision on the part of the +clan by similar presentations." + +[Sidenote: The initiation followed by a period of sexual license. Sacred +pigs.] + +Next morning the women, their hair dyed red and wearing waistbands of +hibiscus or other fibre, came to the sacred enclosure and crawled +through it on hands and knees into the Holy of Holies, where the elders +were singing their solemn chant. The high priest then dipped his hands +into the water of the sacred bowl and prayed to the ancestral spirits +for the mothers and for their children. After that the women crawled +back on hands and feet the way they had come, singing as they went and +creeping over certain mounds of earth which had been thrown up for the +purpose in the sacred enclosure. When they emerged from the holy ground, +the men and women addressed each other in the vilest language, such as +on ordinary occasions would be violently resented; and thenceforth to +the close of the ceremonies some days later very great, indeed almost +unlimited, licence prevailed between the sexes. During these days a +number of pigs were consecrated to serve for the next ceremony. The +animals were deemed sacred, and had the run of the fleshpots in the +villages in which they were kept. Indeed they were held in the greatest +reverence. To kill one, except for sacrifice at the rites in the +_Nanga_, would have been a sacrilege which the Fijian mind refused to +contemplate; and on the other hand to feed the holy swine was an act of +piety. Men might be seen throwing down basketfuls of food before the +snouts of the worshipful pigs, and at the same time calling the +attention of the ancestral spirits to the meritorious deed. "Take +knowledge of me," they would cry, "ye who lie buried, our heads! I am +feeding this pig of yours." Finally, all the men who had taken part in +the ceremonies bathed together in the river, carefully cleansing +themselves from every particle of the black paint with which they had +been bedaubed. When the novices, now novices no more, emerged from the +water, the high priest, standing on the river bank, preached to them an +eloquent sermon on the duties and responsibilities which devolved on +them in their new position.[694] + +[Sidenote: The intention of the initiatory rites seems to be to +introduce the young men to the ancestral spirits. The drama of death and +resurrection. The Fijian rites of initiation seem to have been imported +by Melanesian immigrants from the west.] + +The general intention of these initiatory rites appears to be, as Mr. +Fison has said in the words which I have quoted, to introduce the young +men to the ancestral spirits at their sanctuary, to incorporate them, so +to say, in the great community which embraces all adult members of the +tribe, whether living or dead. At all events this interpretation fits in +very well with the prayers which are offered to the souls of departed +kinsfolk on these occasions, and it is supported by the analogy of the +New Guinea initiatory rites which I described in former lectures; for in +these rites, as I pointed out, the initiation of the youths is closely +associated with the conceptions of death and the dead, the main feature +in the ritual consisting indeed of a simulation of death and subsequent +resurrection. It is, therefore, significant that the very same +simulation figures prominently in the Fijian ceremony, nay it would seem +to be the very pivot on which the whole ritual revolves. Yet there is an +obvious and important difference between the drama of death and +resurrection as it is enacted in New Guinea and in Fiji; for whereas in +New Guinea it is the novices who pretend to die and come to life again, +in Fiji the pretence is carried out by initiated men who represent the +ancestors, while the novices merely look on with horror and amazement at +the awe-inspiring spectacle. Of the two forms of ritual the New Guinea +one is probably truer to the original purpose of the rite, which seems +to have been to enable the novices to put off the old, or rather the +young, man and to put on a higher form of existence by participating in +the marvellous powers and privileges of the mighty dead. And if such was +really the intention of the ceremony, it is obvious that it was better +effected by compelling the young communicants, as we may call them, to +die and rise from the dead in their own persons than by obliging them to +assist as mere passive spectators at a dramatic performance of death and +resurrection. Yet in spite of this difference between the two rituals, +the general resemblance between them is near enough to justify us in +conjecturing that there may be a genetic connexion between the one and +the other. The conjecture is confirmed, first, by the very limited and +definite area of Fiji in which these initiatory rites were practised, +and, second, by the equally definite tradition of their origin. With +regard to the first of these points, the _Nanga_ or sacred stone +enclosure with its characteristic rites was known only to certain +tribes, who occupied a comparatively small area, a bare third of the +island of Viti Levu. These tribes are the Nuyaloa, Vatusila, Mbatiwai, +and Mdavutukia. They all seem to have spread eastward and southward from +a place of origin in the western mountain district. Their physical type +is pure Melanesian, with fewer traces of Polynesian admixture than can +be detected in the tribes on the coast.[695] Hence it is natural to +enquire whether the ritual of the _Nanga_ may not have been imported +into Fiji by Melanesian immigrants from the west. The question appears +to be answered in the affirmative by native tradition. "This is the word +of our fathers concerning the _Nanga_," said an old Wainimala grey-beard +to Mr. Fison. "Long, long ago their fathers were ignorant of it; but one +day two strangers were found sitting in the _rara_ (public square), and +they said they had come up from the sea to give them the _Nanga_. They +were little men, and very dark-skinned, and one of them had his face and +bust painted red, while the other was painted black. Whether these two +were gods or men our fathers did not tell us, but it was they who taught +our people the _Nanga_. This was in the old old times when our fathers +were living in another land--not in this place, for we are strangers +here. Our fathers fled hither from Navosa in a great war which arose +among them, and when they came there was no _Nanga_ in the land. So they +built one of their own after the fashion of that which they left behind +them." "Here," says Mr. Basil Thomson, "we have the earliest +tradition of missionary enterprise in the Pacific. I do not doubt that +the two sooty-skinned little men were castaways driven eastward by one +of those strong westerly gales that have been known to last for three +weeks at a time. By Fijian custom the lives of all castaways were +forfeit, but the pretence to supernatural powers would have saved men +full of the religious rites of their Melanesian home, and would have +assured them a hearing. The Wainimala tribes can name six generations +since they settled in their present home, and therefore the introduction +of the _Nanga_ cannot have been less than two centuries ago. During that +time it has overspread one third of the large island." + +[Sidenote: The general licence associated with the ritual of the _Nanga_ +may be a temporary revival of primitive communism.] + +A very remarkable feature in the _Nanga_ ritual consists in the +temporary licence accorded to the sexes and the suspension of +proprietary rites in general. What is the meaning of this curious and to +the civilised mind revolting custom? Here again the most probable, +though merely conjectural, answer is furnished by Mr. Fison. "We cannot +for a moment believe," he says, "that it is a mere licentious outbreak, +without an underlying meaning and purpose. It is part of a religious +rite, and is supposed to be acceptable to the ancestors. But why should +it be acceptable to them unless it were in accordance with their own +practice in the far-away past? There may be another solution of this +difficult problem, but I confess myself unable to find any other which +will cover all the corroborating facts."[696] In other words, Mr. Fison +supposes that in the sexual licence and suspension of the rights of +private property which characterise these festivals we have a +reminiscence of a time when women and property were held in common by +the community, and the motive for temporarily resuscitating these +obsolete customs was a wish to propitiate the ancestral spirits, who +were thought to be gratified by witnessing a revival of that primitive +communism which they themselves had practised in the flesh so long ago. +Truly a religious revival of a remarkable kind! + +[Sidenote: Description of the _Nanga_ or sacred enclosure of stones.] + +To conclude this part of my subject I will briefly describe the +construction of a _Nanga_ or sacred stone enclosure, as it used to exist +in Fiji. At the present day only ruins of these structures are to be +seen, but by an observation of the ruins and a comparison of the +traditions which still survive among the natives on the subject it is +possible to reconstruct one of them with a fair degree of exactness. A +_Nanga_ has been described as an open-air temple, and the description is +just. It consisted of a rough parallelogram enclosed by flat stones set +upright and embedded endwise in the earth. The length of the enclosure +thus formed was about one hundred feet and its breadth about fifty feet. +The upright stones which form the outer walls are from eighteen inches +to three feet high, but as they do not always touch they may be +described as alignments rather than walls. The long walls or alignments +run east and west, the short ones north and south; but the orientation +is not very exact. At the eastern end are two pyramidal heaps of stones, +about five feet high, with square sloping sides and flat tops. The +narrow passage between them is the main entrance into the sacred +enclosure. Internally the structure was divided into three separate +enclosures or compartments by two cross-walls of stone running north and +south. These compartments, taking them from east to west, were called +respectively the Little Nanga, the Great Nanga, and the Sacred Nanga or +Holy of Holies (_Nanga tambu-tambu_). The partition walls between them +were built solid of stones, with battering sides, to a height of five +feet, and in the middle of each there was an opening to allow the +worshippers to pass from one compartment to another. Trees, such as the +candlenut and the red-leaved dracaena, and odoriferous shrubs were +planted round the enclosure; and outside of it, to the west of the Holy +of Holies, was a bell-roofed hut called _Vale tambu_, the Sacred House +or Temple. The sacred _kava_ bowl stood in the Holy of Holies.[697] It +is said that when the two traditionary founders of the _Nanga_ in Fiji +were about to erect the first structure of that name in their new home, +the chief priest poured a libation of _kava_ to the ancestral gods, +"and, calling upon those who died long, long ago by name, he prayed that +the people of the tribe, both old and young, might live before +them."[698] + +[Sidenote: Comparison of the _Nanga_ with the cromlechs and other +megalithic monuments of Europe.] + +The sacred enclosures of stones which I have described have been +compared to the alignments of stones at Carnac in Brittany and Merivale +on Dartmoor, and it has been suggested that in the olden time these +ancient European monuments may have witnessed religious rites like those +which were till lately performed in the rude open-air temples of +Fiji.[699] If there is any truth in the suggestion, which I mention for +what it is worth, it would furnish another argument in favour of the +view that our European cromlechs and other megalithic monuments were +erected specially for the worship of the dead. The mortuary character of +Stonehenge, for example, is at least suggested by the burial mounds +which cluster thick around and within sight of it; about three hundred +such tombs have been counted within a radius of three miles, while the +rest of the country in the neighbourhood is comparatively free from +them.[700] + +[Footnote 678: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, Second Edition +(London, 1860), i. 242 _sq._] + +[Footnote 679: Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring +Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 86.] + +[Footnote 680: John Jackson's Narrative, in Capt. J. E. Erskine's +_Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, +1853), pp. 475-477. The narrator, John Jackson, was an English seaman +who resided alone among the Fijians for nearly two years and learned +their language.] + +[Footnote 681: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 96.] + +[Footnote 682: _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnology and +Philology_, by H. Hale (Philadelphia, 1846), p. 65. Compare Capt. J. E. +Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 248: "It would also seem that a belief in the +resurrection of the body, in the exact condition in which it leaves the +world, is one of the causes that induce, in many instances, a desire for +death in the vigour of manhood, rather than in the decrepitude of old +age"; Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 183: "The heathen notion is, that, as +they die, such will their condition be in another world; hence their +desire to escape extreme infirmity."] + +[Footnote 683: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 94 _sq._ Compare Th. +Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 183-186; Lorimer Fison, _Tales from +Old Fiji_ (London, 1904), pp. xxv. _sq._] + +[Footnote 684: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 96. Compare Th. Williams, +_op. cit._ i. 188 _sq._, 193 _sqq._, 200-202; Lorimer Fison, _op. cit._ +pp. xxv. _sq._] + +[Footnote 685: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 200.] + +[Footnote 686: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 189; Lorimer Fison, _op. +cit._ p. xvi.] + +[Footnote 687: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 189.] + +[Footnote 688: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 197.] + +[Footnote 689: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 100. Williams also says (_op. +cit._ i. 167) that the proper time for performing the rite of +circumcision was after the death of a chief, and he tells us that "many +rude games attend it. Blindfolded youths strike at thin vessels of water +hung from the branch of a tree. At Lakemba, the men arm themselves with +branches of the cocoa-nut, and carry on a sham fight. At Ono, they +wrestle. At Mbau, they fillip small stones from the end of a bamboo with +sufficient force to make the person hit wince again. On Vanua Levu, +there is a mock siege."] + +[Footnote 690: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 198.] + +[Footnote 691: Rev. Lorimer Fison, "The Nanga, or Sacred Stone +Enclosure, of Wainimala, Fiji," _Journal of the Anthropological +Institute_, xiv. (1885) pp. 27 _sq._ On the other hand Mr. Basil +Thomson's enquiries, made at a later date, did not confirm Mr. Fison's +statement that the rite of circumcision was practised as a propitiation +to recover a chief from sickness. "I was assured," he says, "on the +contrary, that while offerings were certainly made in the _Nanga_ for +the recovery of the sick, every youth was circumcised as a matter of +routine, and that the rite was in no way connected with sacrifice for +the sick" (Basil Thomson, _The Fijians_, pp. 156 _sq._). However, Mr. +Fison was a very careful and accurate enquirer, and his testimony is not +to be lightly set aside.] + +[Footnote 692: Rev. Lorimer Fison, "The Nanga, or Sacred Stone +Enclosure, of Wainimala, Fiji," _Journal of the Anthropological +Institute_, xiv. (1885) p. 26. Compare Basil Thomson, _The Fijians_, p. +147: "The _Nanga_ was the 'bed' of the Ancestors, that is, the spot +where their descendants might hold communion with them; the _Mbaki_ were +the rites celebrated in the _Nanga_, whether of initiating the youths, +or of presenting the first-fruits, or of recovering the sick, or of +winning charms against wounds in battle."] + +[Footnote 693: Rev. Lorimer Fison, _op. cit._ p. 27.] + +[Footnote 694: Rev. Lorimer Fison, "The Nanga, or Sacred Stone +Enclosure, of Wainimala, Fiji," _Journal of the Anthropological +Institute_, xiv. (1885) pp. 14-26. The _Nanga_ and its rites have also +been described by Mr. A. B. Joske ("The Nanga of Viti-levu," +_Internationales Archiv fuer Ethnographie_, ii. (1889) pp. 254-266), and +Mr. Basil Thomson (_The Fijians_, pp. 146-156). As to the interval +between the initiatory ceremonies Mr. Fison tells us that it was +normally two years, but he adds: "This period, however, is not +necessarily restricted to two years. There are always a number of youths +who are growing to the proper age, and the length of the interval +depends upon the decision of the elders. Whenever they judge that there +is a sufficient number of youths ready for admission, a _Nanga_ is +appointed to be held; and thus the interval may be longer or shorter, +according to the supply of novices" (_op. cit._ p. 19). According to Mr. +Basil Thomson the rites were celebrated annually. Mr. Fison's evidence +as to the gross license which prevailed between the sexes after the +admission of the women to the sacred enclosure is confirmed by Mr. Basil +Thomson, who says, amongst other things, that "a native of Mbau, who +lived for some years near the _Nanga_, assured me that the visit of the +women to the _Nanga_ resulted in temporary promiscuity; all tabus were +defied, and relations who could not speak to one another by customary +law committed incest" (_op. cit._ p. 154).] + +[Footnote 695: Rev. Lorimer Fison, "The Nanga, or Sacred Stone +Enclosure, of Wainimala, Fiji," _Journal of the Anthropological +Institute_, xiv. (1885) pp. 14 _sqq._; Basil Thomson, _The Fijians_, pp. +147, 149.] + +[Footnote 696: Rev. Lorimer Fison, _op. cit._ p. 30.] + +[Footnote 697: Rev. Lorimer Fison, _op. cit._ pp. 15, 17, with Plate I.; +Basil Thomson, _The Fijians_, pp. 147 _sq._ Mr. Fison had not seen a +_Nanga_; his description is based on information received from natives. +Mr. Basil Thomson visited several of these structures and found them so +alike that one description would serve for all. He speaks of only two +inner compartments, which he calls the Holy of Holies (_Nanga +tambu-tambu_) and the Middle Nanga (_Loma ni Nanga_), but the latter +name appears to imply a third compartment, which is explicitly mentioned +and named by Mr. Fison. The bell-shaped hut or temple to the west of the +sacred enclosure is not noticed by Mr. Thomson.] + +[Footnote 698: Rev. Lorimer Fison, _op. cit._ p. 17.] + +[Footnote 699: Basil Thomson, _The Fijians_, p. 147.] + +[Footnote 700: As to these monuments see Sir John Lubbock (Lord +Avebury), _Prehistoric Times_, Fifth Edition (London, 1890), p. 127.] + + + + +LECTURE XX + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF EASTERN MELANESIA (FIJI) +(_concluded_) + + +[Sidenote: Worship of ancestors in Fiji.] + +In the last lecture I described the rites of ancestor worship which in +certain parts of Fiji used to be celebrated at the sacred enclosures of +stones known as _Nangas_. But the worship of ancestral spirits was by no +means confined to the comparatively small area in Fiji where such sacred +enclosures were erected, nor were these open-air temples the only +structures where the homage of the living was paid to the dead. On the +contrary we are told by one who knew the Fijians in the old heathen days +that among them "as soon as beloved parents expire, they take their +place amongst the family gods. _Bures_, or temples, are erected to their +memory, and offerings deposited either on their graves or on rudely +constructed altars--mere stages, in the form of tables, the legs of +which are driven into the ground, and the top of which is covered with +pieces of native cloth. The construction of these altars is identical +with that observed by Turner in Tanna, and only differs in its inferior +finish from the altars formerly erected in Tahiti and the adjacent +islands. The offerings, consisting of the choicest articles of food, are +left exposed to wind and weather, and firmly believed by the mass of +Fijians to be consumed by the spirits of departed friends and relations; +but, if not eaten by animals, they are often stolen by the more +enlightened class of their countrymen, and even some of the foreigners +do not disdain occasionally to help themselves freely to them. However, +it is not only on tombs or on altars that offerings are made; often, +when the natives eat or drink anything, they throw portions of it away, +stating them to be for their departed ancestors. I remember ordering a +young chief to empty a bowl containing _kava_, which he did, muttering +to himself, 'There, father, is some _kava_ for you. Protect me from +illness or breaking any of my limbs whilst in the mountains.'"[701] + +[Sidenote: Fijian notion of divinity. Two classes of gods, namely, gods +strictly so called, and deified men.] + +"The native word expressive of divinity is _kalou_, which, while used to +denote the people's highest notion of a god, is also constantly heard as +a qualificative of any thing great or marvellous, or, according to +Hazlewood's Dictionary, 'anything superlative, whether good or bad.'... +Often the word sinks into a mere exclamation, or becomes an expression +of flattery. 'You are a _kalou_!' or, 'Your countrymen are gods!' is +often uttered by the natives, when hearing of the triumphs of art among +civilized nations."[702] The Fijians distinguished two classes of gods: +first, _kalou vu_, literally "Root-gods," that is, gods strictly so +called, and second, _kalou yalo_, literally, "Soul-gods," that is, +deified mortals. Gods of the first class were supposed to be absolutely +eternal; gods of the second class, though raised far above mere +humanity, were thought nevertheless to be subject to human passions and +wants, to accidents, and even to death. These latter were the spirits of +departed chiefs, heroes, and friends; admission into their number was +easy, and any one might secure his own apotheosis who could ensure the +services of some one to act as his representative and priest after his +death.[703] However, though the Fijians admitted the distinction between +the two classes of gods in theory, they would seem to have confused them +in practice. Thus we are informed by an early authority that "they have +superior and inferior gods and goddesses, more general and local +deities, and, were it not an obvious contradiction, we should say they +have gods _human_, and gods _divine_; for they have some gods who were +gods originally, and some who were originally men. It is impossible to +ascertain with any degree of probability how many gods the Fijians have, +as any man who can distinguish himself in murdering his fellow-men may +certainly secure to himself deification after death. Their friends are +also sometimes deified and invoked. I have heard them invoke their +friends who have been drowned at sea. I need not advert to the absurdity +of praying to those who could not save themselves from a watery grave. +Tuikilakila, the chief of Somosomo, offered Mr. Hunt a preferment of +this sort. 'If you die first,' said he, 'I shall make you my god.' In +fact, there appears to be no certain line of demarcation between +departed spirits and gods, nor between gods and living men, for many of +the priests and old chiefs are considered as sacred persons, and not a +few of them will also claim to themselves the right of divinity. 'I am a +god,' Tuikilakila would sometimes say; and he believed it too. They were +not merely the words of his lips; he believed he was something above a +mere man."[704] + +Writers on Fiji have given us lists of some of the principal gods of the +first class,[705] who were supposed never to have been men; but in their +account of the religious ritual they do not distinguish between the +worship which was paid to such deities and that which was paid to +deified men. Accordingly we may infer that the ritual was practically +the same, and in the sequel I shall assume that what is told us of the +worship of gods in general holds good of the worship of deified men in +particular. + +[Sidenote: The Fijian temple (_bure_).] + +Every Fijian town had at least one _bure_ or temple, many of them had +several. Significantly enough the spot where a chief had been killed was +sometimes chosen for the site of a temple. The structure of these +edifices was somewhat peculiar. Each of them was built on the top of a +mound, which was raised to the height of from three to twenty feet above +the ground and faced on its sloping sides with dry rubble-work of stone. +The ascent to the temple was by a thick plank, the upper surface of +which was cut into notched steps. The proportions of the sacred edifice +itself were inelegant, if not uncouth, its height being nearly twice as +great as its breadth at the base. The roof was high-pitched; the +ridge-pole was covered with white shells (_Ovula cypraea_) and projected +three or four feet at each end. For the most part each temple had two +doors and a fire-place in the centre. From some temples it was not +lawful to throw out the ashes, however much they might accumulate, until +the end of the year, which fell in November. The furniture consisted of +a few boxes, mats, several large clay jars, and many drinking vessels. A +temple might also contain images, which, though highly esteemed as +ornaments and held sacred, were not worshipped as idols. From the roof +depended a long piece of white bark-cloth; it was carried down the angle +so as to hang before the corner-post and lie on the floor. This cloth +formed the path down which the god was believed to pass in order to +enter and inspire his priest. It marked the holy place which few but he +dared to approach. However, the temples were by no means dedicated +exclusively to the use of religion. Each of them served also as a +council-chamber and town-hall; there the chiefs lounged for hours +together; there strangers were entertained; and there the head persons +of the village might even sleep.[706] In some parts of Viti Levu the +dead were sometimes buried in the temples, "that the wind might not +disturb, nor the rain fall upon them," and in order that the living +might have the satisfaction of lying near their departed friends. A +child of high rank having died under the charge of the queen of +Somosomo, the little body was placed in a box and hung from the tie-beam +of the principal temple. For some months afterwards the daintiest food +was brought daily to the dead child, the bearers approaching with the +utmost respect and clapping their hands when the ghost was thought to +have finished his meal just as a chiefs retainers used to do when he had +done eating.[707] + +[Sidenote: Worship at the temples.] + +Temples were often unoccupied for months and allowed to fall into ruins, +until the chief had some request to make to the god, when the necessary +repairs were first carried out. No regular worship was maintained, no +habitual reverence was displayed at the shrines. The principle of fear, +we are told, seemed to be the only motive of religious observances, and +it was artfully fomented by the priests, through whom alone the people +had access to the gods when they desired to supplicate the favour of the +divine beings. The prayers were naturally accompanied by offerings, +which in matters of importance comprised large quantities of food, +together with whales' teeth; in lesser affairs a tooth, club, mat, or +spear sufficed. Of the food brought by the worshippers part was +dedicated to the god, but as usual he only ate the soul of it, the +substance being consumed by the priest and old men; the remainder +furnished a feast of which all might partake.[708] + +[Sidenote: The priests.] + +The office of priest (_mbete_, _bete_) was usually hereditary, but when +a priest died without male heirs a cunning fellow, ambitious of enjoying +the sacred character and of living in idleness, would sometimes simulate +the convulsive frenzy, which passed for a symptom of inspiration, and if +he succeeded in the imposture would be inducted into the vacant +benefice. Every chief had his priest, with whom he usually lived on a +very good footing, the two playing into each other's hands and working +the oracle for their mutual benefit. The people were grossly +superstitious, and there were few of their affairs in which the priest +had not a hand. His influence over them was great. In his own district +he passed for the representative of the deity; indeed, according to an +early missionary, the natives seldom distinguished the idea of the god +from that of his minister, who was viewed by them with a reverence that +almost amounted to deification.[709] + +[Sidenote: Oracles given by the priest under the inspiration of the god. +Paroxysm of inspiration.] + +The principal duty of the priest was to reveal to men the will of the +god, and this he always did through the direct inspiration of the deity. +The revelation was usually made in response to an enquiry or a prayer; +the supplicant asked, it might be, for a good crop of yams or taro, for +showers of rain, for protection in battle, for a safe voyage, or for a +storm to drive canoes ashore, so that the supplicant might rob, murder, +and eat the castaways. To lend force to one or other of these pious +prayers the worshipper brought a whale's tooth to the temple and +presented it to the priest. The man of god might have had word of his +coming and time to throw himself into an appropriate attitude. He might, +for example, be seen lying on the floor near the sacred corner, plunged +in a profound meditation. On the entrance of the enquirer the priest +would rouse himself so far as to get up and then seat himself with his +back to the white cloth, down which the deity was expected to slide into +the medium's body. Having received the whale's tooth he would abstract +his mind from all worldly matters and contemplate the tooth for some +time with rapt attention. Presently he began to tremble, his limbs +twitched, his features were distorted. These symptoms, the visible +manifestation of the entrance of the spirit into him, gradually +increased in violence till his whole frame was convulsed and shook as +with a strong fit of ague: his veins swelled: the circulation of the +blood was quickened. The man was now possessed and inspired by the god: +his own human personality was for a time in abeyance: all that he said +and did in the paroxysm passed for the words and acts of the indwelling +deity. Shrill cries of "_Koi au! Koi au!_" "It is I! It is I!" filled +the air, proclaiming the actual presence of the powerful spirit in the +vessel of flesh and blood. In giving the oracular response the priest's +eyes protruded from their sockets and rolled as in a frenzy: his voice +rose into a squeak: his face was pallid, his lips livid, his breathing +depressed, his whole appearance that of a furious madman. At last sweat +burst from every pore, tears gushed from his eyes: the strain on the +organism was visibly relieved; and the symptoms gradually abated. Then +he would look round with a vacant stare: the god within him would cry, +"I depart!" and the man would announce the departure of the spirit by +throwing himself on his mat or striking the ground with his club, while +blasts on a shell-trumpet conveyed to those at a distance the tidings +that the deity had withdrawn from mortal sight into the world +invisible.[710] "I have seen," says Mr. Lorimer Fison, "this possession, +and a horrible sight it is. In one case, after the fit was over, for +some time the man's muscles and nerves twitched and quivered in an +extraordinary way. He was naked except for his breech-clout, and on his +naked breast little snakes seemed to be wriggling for a moment or two +beneath his skin, disappearing and then suddenly reappearing in another +part of his chest. When the _mbete_ (which we may translate 'priest' for +want of a better word) is seized by the possession, the god within him +calls out his own name in a stridulous tone, 'It is I! Katouviere!' or +some other name. At the next possession some other ancestor may declare +himself."[711] + +[Sidenote: Specimens of the oracular utterances of Fijian gods.] + +From this last description of an eye-witness we learn that the spirit +which possessed a priest and spoke through him was often believed to be +that of a dead ancestor. Some of the inspired utterances of these +prophets have been recorded. Here are specimens of Fijian inspiration. +Speaking in the name of the great god Ndengei, who was worshipped in the +form of a serpent, the priest said: "Great Fiji is my small club. +Muaimbila is the head; Kamba is the handle. If I step on Muaimbila, I +shall sink it into the sea, whilst Kamba shall rise to the sky. If I +step on Kamba, it will be lost in the sea, whilst Muaimbila would rise +into the skies. Yes, Viti Levu is my small war-club. I can turn it as I +please. I can turn it upside down." Again, speaking by the mouth of a +priest, the god Tanggirianima once made the following observations: "I +and Kumbunavannua only are gods. I preside over wars, and do as I please +with sickness. But it is difficult for me to come here, as the foreign +god fills the place. If I attempt to descend by that pillar, I find it +pre-occupied by the foreign god. If I try another pillar, I find it the +same. However, we two are fighting the foreign god; and if we are +victorious, we will save the woman. I _will_ save the woman. She will +eat food to-day. Had I been sent for yesterday, she would have eaten +then," and so on. The woman, about whose case the deity was consulted +and whom he announced his fixed intention of saving, died a few hours +afterwards.[712] + +[Sidenote: Human sacrifices in Fiji.] + +Ferocious and inveterate cannibals themselves, the Fijians naturally +assumed that their gods were so too; hence human flesh was a common +offering, indeed the most valued of all.[713] Formal human sacrifices +were frequent. The victims were usually taken from a distant tribe, and +when war and violence failed to supply the demand, recourse was +sometimes had to negotiation. However obtained, the victims destined for +sacrifice were often kept for a time and fattened to make them better +eating. Then, tightly bound in a sitting posture, they were placed on +hot stones in one of the usual ovens, and being covered over with leaves +and earth were roasted alive, while the spectators roared with laughter +at the writhings and contortions of the victims in their agony. When +their struggles ceased and the bodies were judged to be done to a +nicety, they were raked out of the oven, their faces painted black, and +so carried to the temple, where they were presented to the gods, only, +however, to be afterwards removed, cut up, and devoured by the +people.[714] + +[Sidenote: Human sacrifices offered when a king's house was built or a +great new canoe launched.] + +However, roasting alive in ovens was not the only way in which men and +women were made away with in the service of religion. When a king's +house was built, men were buried alive in the holes dug to receive the +posts: they were compelled to clasp the posts in their arms, and then +the earth was shovelled over them and rammed down. And when a large new +canoe was launched, it was hauled down to the sea over the bodies of +living men, who were pinioned and laid out at intervals on the beach to +serve as rollers on which the great vessel glided smoothly into the +water, leaving a row of mangled corpses behind. The theory of both these +modes of sacrifice was explained by the Fijians to an Englishman who +witnessed them. I will quote their explanation in his words. "They said +in answer to the questions I put respecting the people being buried +alive with the posts, that a house or palace of a king was just like a +king's canoe: if the canoe was not hauled over men, as rollers, she +would not be expected to float long, and in like manner the palace could +not stand long if people were not to sit down and continually hold the +posts up. But I said, 'How could they hold the posts up after they were +dead?' They said, if they sacrificed their lives endeavouring to hold +the posts in their right position to their superior's _turanga kai na +kalou_ (chiefs and god), that the virtue of the sacrifice would +instigate the gods to uphold the house after they were dead, and that +they were honoured by being considered adequate to such a noble +task."[715] Apparently the Fijians imagined that the souls of the dead +men would somehow strengthen the souls of the houses and canoes and so +prolong the lives of these useful objects; for it is to be remembered +that according to Fijian theology houses and canoes as well as men and +women were provided with immortal souls. + +[Sidenote: High estimation in which murder was held by the Fijians.] + +Perhaps the same theory of immortality partially accounts for the high +honour in which the Fijian held the act of murder and for the admiration +which he bestowed on all murderers. "Shedding of blood," we are told, +"to him is no crime, but a glory. Whoever may be the victim,--whether +noble or vulgar, old or young, man, woman, or child,--whether slain in +war, or butchered by treachery,--to be somehow an acknowledged murderer +is the object of the Fijian's restless ambition."[716] It was customary +throughout Fiji to give honorary names to such as had clubbed to death a +human being, of any age or either sex, during a war. The new epithet was +given with the complimentary prefix _Koroi_. Mr. Williams once asked a +man why he was called _Koroi_. "Because," he replied, "I, with several +other men, found some women and children in a cave, drew them out and +clubbed them, and then was consecrated."[717] Mr. Fison learned from +another stout young warrior that he had earned the honourable +distinction of _Koroi_ by lying in wait among the mangrove bushes at the +waterside and killing a miserable old woman of a hostile tribe, as she +crept along the mudflat seeking for shellfish. The man would have been +equally honoured, adds Mr. Fison, if his victim had been a child. The +hero of such an exploit, for two or three days after killing his man or +woman, was allowed to besmear his face and bust with a mixture of +lampblack and oil which differed from the common black war-paint; +decorated with this badge of honour he strutted proudly through the +town, the cynosure of all eyes, an object of envy to his fellows and of +tender interest to the girls. The old men shouted approval after him, +the women would _lulilu_ admiringly as he passed by, and the boys looked +up to him as a superior being whose noble deeds they thirsted to +emulate. Higher titles of honour still were bestowed on such as had +slain their ten, or twenty, or thirty; and Mr. Fison tells us of a chief +whose admiring countrymen had to compound all these titles into one in +order to set forth his superlative claims to glory. A man who had never +killed anybody was of very little account in this life, and he received +the penalty due to his sin in the life hereafter. For in the spirit land +the ghost of such a poor-spirited wretch was sentenced to what the +Fijians regarded as the most degrading of all punishments, to beat a +heap of muck with his bloodless club.[718] + +[Sidenote: Ceremony of consecrating a manslayer. The temporary +restrictions laid on a manslayer were probably dictated by a fear of his +victim's ghost.] + +The ceremony of consecrating a manslayer was elaborate. He was anointed +with red oil from the hair of his head to the soles of his feet; and +when he had been thus incarnadined he exchanged clubs with the +spectators, who believed that their weapons acquired a mysterious virtue +by passing through his holy hands. Afterwards the anointed one, attended +by the king and elders, solemnly stalked down to the sea and wetted the +soles of his feet in the water. Then the whole company returned to the +town, while the shell-trumpets sounded and the men raised a peculiar +hoot. Custom required that a hut should be built in which the anointed +man and his companions must pass the next three nights, during which the +hero might not lie down, but had to sleep as he sat; all that time he +might not change his bark-cloth garment, nor wash the red paint away +from his body, nor enter a house in which there was a woman.[719] The +reason for observing these curious restrictions is not mentioned, but in +the light of similar practices, some of which have been noticed in these +lectures,[720] we may conjecture that they were dictated by a fear of +the victim's ghost, who among savages generally haunts his slayer and +will do him a mischief, if he gets a chance. As it is especially in +dreams that the naturally incensed spirit finds his opportunity, we can +perhaps understand why the slayer might not lie down for the first three +nights after the slaughter; the wrath of the ghost would then be at its +hottest, and if he spied his murderer stretched in slumber on the +ground, the temptation to take an unfair advantage of him might have +been too strong to be resisted. But when his anger had had time to cool +down or he had departed for his long home, as ghosts generally do after +a reasonable time, the precautions taken to baffle his vengeance might +be safely relaxed. Perhaps, as I have already hinted, the reverence +which the Fijians felt for any man who had taken a human life, or at all +events the life of an enemy, may have partly sprung from a belief that +the slayer increased his own strength and valour either by subjugating +the ghost of his victim and employing it as his henchman, or perhaps +rather by simply absorbing in some occult fashion the vital energy of +the slain. This view is confirmed by the permission given to the killer +to assume the name of the killed, whenever his victim was a man of +distinguished rank;[721] for by taking the name he, according to an +opinion common among savages, assumed the personality of his namesake. + +[Sidenote: Other funeral customs based on a fear of the ghost.] + +The same fear of the ghost of the recently departed which manifested +itself, if my interpretation of the customs is right, in the treatment +of manslayers, seems to have imprinted itself, though in a more +attenuated form, on some of the practices observed by Fijian mourners +after a natural, not a violent, death. + +[Sidenote: Persons who have handled a corpse forbidden to touch food. +Seclusion of grave-diggers.] + +Thus all the persons who had handled a corpse were forbidden to touch +anything for some time afterwards; in particular they were strictly +debarred from touching their food with their hands; their victuals were +brought to them by others, and they were fed like infants by attendants +or obliged to pick up their food with their mouths from the ground. The +time during which this burdensome restriction lasted was different +according to the rank of the deceased: in the case of great chiefs it +lasted from two to ten months; in the case of a petty chief it did not +exceed one month; and in the case of a common person a taboo of not more +than four days sufficed. When a chief's principal wife did not follow +him to the other world by being strangled or buried alive, she might not +touch her own food with her hands for three months. When the mourners +grew tired of being fed like infants or feeding themselves like dogs, +they sent word to the head chief and he let them know that he would +remove the taboo whenever they pleased. Accordingly they sent him +presents of pigs and other provisions, which he shared among the people. +Then the tabooed persons went into a stream and washed themselves; after +that they caught some animal, such as a pig or a turtle, and wiped their +hands on it, and the animal thereupon became sacred to the chief. Thus +the taboo was removed, and the men were free once more to work, to feed +themselves, and to live with their wives. Lazy and idle fellows +willingly undertook the duty of waiting on the dead, as it relieved them +for some time from the painful necessity of earning their own +bread.[722] The reason why such persons might not touch food with their +hands was probably a fear of the ghost or at all events of the infection +of death; the ghost or the infection might be clinging to their hands +and might so be transferred from them to their food with fatal effects. +In Great Fiji not every one might dig a chief's grave. The office was +hereditary in a certain clan. After the funeral the grave-digger was +shut up in a house and painted black from head to foot. When he had to +make a short excursion, he covered himself with a large mantle of +painted native cloth and was supposed to be invisible. His food was +brought to the house after dark by silent bearers, who placed it just +within the doorway. His seclusion might last for a long time;[723] it +was probably intended to screen him from the ghost. + +[Sidenote: Hair cropped and finger-joints cut off in mourning.] + +The usual outward sign of mourning was to crop the hair or beard, or +very rarely both. Some people merely made bald the crown of the head. +Indeed the Fijians were too vain of their hair to part with it lightly, +and to conceal the loss which custom demanded of them on these occasions +they used to wear wigs, some of which were very skilfully made. The +practice of cutting off finger-joints in mourning has already been +mentioned; one early authority affirms and another denies that joints of +the little toes were similarly amputated by the living as a mark of +sorrow for the dead. So common was the practice of lopping off the +little fingers in mourning that till recently few of the older natives +could be found who had their hands intact; most of them indeed had lost +the little fingers of both hands. There was a Fijian saying that the +fourth finger "cried itself hoarse in vain for its absent mate" +(_droga-droga-wale_). The mutilation was usually confined to the +relations of the deceased, unless he happened to be one of the highest +chiefs. However, the severed joints were often sent by poor people to +wealthy families in mourning, who never failed to reward the senders for +so delicate a mark of sympathy. Female mourners burned their skin into +blisters by applying lighted rolls of bark-cloth to various parts of +their bodies; the brands so produced might be seen on their arms, +shoulders, necks, and breasts.[724] During the mourning for a king +people fasted till evening for ten or twenty days; the coast for miles +was tabooed and no one might fish there; the nuts also were made sacred. +Some people in token of grief for a bereavement would abstain from fish, +fruit, or other pleasant food for months together; others would dress in +leaves instead of in cloth.[725] + +[Sidenote: Men whipped by women in time of mourning for a chief.] + +Though the motive for these observances is not mentioned, we may suppose +that they were intended to soothe and please the ghost by testifying to +the sorrow felt by the survivors at his decease. It is more doubtful +whether the same explanation would apply to another custom which the +Fijians used to observe in mourning. During ten days after a death, +while the soul of a deceased chief was thought to be still lingering in +or near his body, all the women of the town provided themselves with +long whips, knotted with shells, and applied them with great vigour to +the bodies of the men, raising weals and inflicting bloody wounds, while +the men retorted by flirting pellets of clay from splinters of +bamboo.[726] According to Mr. Williams, this ceremony was performed on +the tenth day or earlier, and he adds: "I have seen grave personages, +not accustomed to move quickly, flying with all possible speed before a +company of such women. Sometimes the men retaliate by bespattering their +assailants with mud; but they use no violence, as it seems to be a day +on which they are bound to succumb."[727] As the soul of the dead was +believed to quit his body and depart to his destined abode on the tenth +day after death,[728] the scourging of the men by the women was probably +supposed in some way to speed the parting guest on his long journey. + +[Sidenote: The dead taken out of the house by a special opening made in +a wall. Examples of the custom among Aryan peoples.] + +When a certain king of Fiji died, the side of the house was broken down +to allow the body to be carried out, though there were doorways wide +enough for the purpose close at hand. The missionary who records the +fact could not learn the reason of it.[729] The custom of taking the +dead out of the house by a special opening, which is afterwards closed +up, has not been confined to Fiji; on the contrary it has been practised +by a multitude of peoples, savage, barbarous, and civilised, in many +parts of the world. For example, it was an old Norse rule that a corpse +might not be carried out of the house by the door which was used by the +living; hence a hole was made in the wall at the back of the dead man's +head and he was taken out through it backwards, or a hole was dug in the +ground under the south wall and the body was drawn out through it.[730] +The custom may have been at one time common to all the Aryan or +Indo-european peoples, for it is mentioned in other of their ancient +records and has been observed by widely separated branches of that great +family down to modern times. Thus, the Zend-Avesta prescribes that, when +a death has occurred, a breach shall be made in the wall and the corpse +carried out through it by two men, who have first stripped off their +clothes.[731] In Russia "the corpse was often carried out of the house +through a window, or through a hole made for the purpose, and the custom +is still kept up in many parts."[732] Speaking of the Hindoos a French +traveller of the eighteenth century says that "instead of carrying the +corpse out by the door they make an opening in the wall by which they +pass it out in a seated posture, and the hole is closed up after the +ceremony."[733] Among various Hindoo castes it is still customary, when +a death has occurred on an inauspicious day, to remove the corpse from +the house not through the door, but through a temporary hole made in the +wall.[734] Old German law required that the corpses of criminals and +suicides should be carried out through a hole under the threshold.[735] +In the Highlands of Scotland the bodies of suicides were not taken out +of the house for burial by the doors, but through an opening made +between the wall and the thatch.[736] + +[Sidenote: Examples of the custom among non-Aryan peoples.] + +But widespread as such customs have been among Indo-european peoples, +they have been by no means confined to that branch of the human race. It +was an ancient Chinese practice to knock down part of the wall of a +house for the purpose of carrying out a corpse.[737] Some of the +Canadian Indians would never take a corpse out of the hut by the +ordinary door, but always lifted a piece of the bark wall near which the +dead man lay and then drew him through the opening.[738] Among the +Esquimaux of Bering Strait a corpse is usually raised through the +smoke-hole in the roof, but is never taken out by the doorway. Should +the smoke-hole be too small, an opening is made in the rear of the house +and then closed again.[739] When a Greenlander dies, "they do not carry +out the corpse through the entry of the house, but lift it through the +window, or if he dies in a tent, they unfasten one of the skins behind, +and convey it out that way. A woman behind waves a lighted chip backward +and forward, and says: 'There is nothing more to be had here.'"[740] +Similarly the Hottentots, Bechuanas, Basutos, Marotse, Barongo, and many +other tribes of South and West Africa never carry a corpse out by the +door of the hut but always by a special opening made in the wall.[741] A +similar custom is observed by the maritime Gajos of Sumatra[742] and by +some of the Indian tribes of North-west America, such as the Tlingit and +the Haida.[743] Among the Lepchis of Sikhim, whose houses are raised on +piles, the dead are taken out by a hole made in the floor.[744] Dwellers +in tents who practise this custom remove a corpse from the tent, not by +the door, but through an opening made by lifting up an edge of the +tent-cover: this is done by European gypsies[745] and by the Koryak of +north-eastern Asia.[746] + +[Sidenote: The motive of the custom is a desire to prevent the ghost +from returning to the house.] + +In all such customs the original motive probably was a fear of the ghost +and a wish to exclude him from the house, lest he should return and +carry off the survivors with him to the spirit land. Ghosts are commonly +credited with a low degree of intelligence, and it appears to be +supposed that they can only find their way back to a house by the +aperture through which their bodies were carried out. Hence people made +a practice of taking a corpse out not by the door, but through an +opening specially made for the purpose, which was afterwards blocked up, +so that when the ghost returned from the grave and attempted to enter +the house, he found the orifice closed and was obliged to turn away +disappointed. That this was the train of reasoning actually followed by +some peoples may be gathered from the explanations which they themselves +give of the custom. Thus among the Tuski of Alaska "those who die a +natural death are carried out through a hole cut in the back of the hut +or _yarang_. This is immediately closed up, that the spirit of the dead +man may not find his way back."[747] Among the Esquimaux of Hudson Bay +"the nearest relatives on approach of death remove the invalid to the +outside of the house, for if he should die within he must not be carried +out of the door but through a hole cut in the side wall, and it must +then be carefully closed to prevent the spirit of the person from +returning."[748] Again, "when a Siamese is dead, his relations deposit +the body in a coffin well covered. They do not pass it through the door +but let it down into the street by an opening which they make in the +wall. They also carry it thrice round the house, running at the top of +their speed. They believe that if they did not take this precaution, the +dead man would remember the way by which he had passed, and that he +would return by night to do some ill turn to his family."[749] In +Travancore the body of a dead rajah "is taken out of the palace through +a breach in the wall, made for the purpose, to avoid pollution of the +gate, and afterwards built up again so that the departed spirit may not +return through the gate to trouble the survivors."[750] Among the Kayans +of Borneo, whose dwellings are raised on piles above the ground, the +coffin is conveyed out of the house by lowering it with rattans either +through the floor, planks being taken up for the purpose, or under the +eaves at the side of the gallery. "In this way they avoid carrying it +down the house-ladder; and it seems to be felt that this precaution +renders it more difficult for the ghost to find its way back to the +house."[751] Among the Cheremiss of Russia, "old custom required that +the corpse should not be carried out by the door but through a breach in +the north wall, where there is usually a sash-window. But the custom has +long been obsolete, even among the heathen, and only very old people +speak of it. They explain it as follows: to carry it out by the door +would be to shew the _Asyren_ (the dead man) the right way into the +house, whereas a breach in the wooden wall is immediately closed by +replacing the beams in position, and thus the _Asyren_ would in vain +seek for an entrance."[752] The Samoyeds never carry a corpse out of the +hut by the door, but lift up a piece of the reindeer-skin covering and +draw the body out, head foremost, through the opening. They think that +if they were to carry a corpse out by the door, the ghost would soon +return and fetch away other members of the family.[753] On the same +principle, as soon as the Indians of Tumupasa, in north-west Bolivia, +have carried a corpse out of the house, "they shift the door to the +opposite side, in order that the deceased may not be able to find +it."[754] Once more, in Mecklenburg "it is a law regulating the return +of the dead that they are compelled to return by the same way by which +the corpse was removed from the house. In the villages of Picher, +Bresegard, and others the people used to have movable thresholds at the +house-doors, which, being fitted into the door-posts, could be shoved +up. The corpse was then carried out of the house under the threshold, +and therefore could not return over it."[755] + +[Sidenote: Some people only remove in this manner the bodies of persons +whose ghosts are especially feared.] + +Even without such express testimonies to the meaning of the custom we +may infer from a variety of evidence that the real motive for practising +it is a fear of the ghost and a wish to prevent his return. For it is to +be observed that some peoples do not carry out all their dead by a +special opening, but that they accord this peculiar mode of removal only +to persons who die under unlucky or disgraceful circumstances, and whose +ghosts accordingly are more than usually dreaded. Thus we have seen that +some modern Hindoo castes observe the custom only in the case of people +who have died on inauspicious days; and that in Germany and the +Highlands of Scotland this mode of removal was specially reserved for +the bodies of suicides, whose ghosts are exceedingly feared by many +people, as appears from the stringent precautions taken against +them.[756] Again, among the Kavirondo of Central Africa, "when a woman +dies without having borne a child, she is carried out of the back of the +house. A hole is made in the wall and the corpse is ignominiously pushed +through the hole and carried some distance to be buried, as it is +considered a curse to die without a child. If the woman has given birth +to a child, then her corpse is carried out through the front door and +buried in the verandah of the house."[757] In Brittany a stillborn child +is removed from the house, not by the door, but by the window; "for if +by ill-luck it should chance otherwise, the mothers who should pass +through that fatal door would bear nothing but stillborn infants."[758] +In Perche, another province of France, the same rule is observed with +regard to stillborn children, though the reason for it is not +alleged.[759] But of all ghosts none perhaps inspire such deep and +universal terror as the ghosts of women who have died in childbed, and +extraordinary measures are accordingly taken to disable these dangerous +spirits from returning and doing a mischief to the living.[760] Amongst +the precautions adopted to keep them at bay is the custom of carrying +their corpses out of the house by a special opening, which is afterwards +blocked up. Thus in Laos, a province of Siam, "the bodies of women dying +in childbirth, or within a month afterwards, are not even taken out of +the house in the ordinary way by the door, but are let down through the +floor."[761] The Kachins of Burma stand in such fear of the ghosts of +women dying in childbed that no sooner has such a death occurred than +the husband, the children, and almost all the people in the house take +to flight lest the woman's ghost should bite them. "The body of the +deceased must be burned as soon as possible in order to punish her for +dying such a death, and also in order to frighten her ghost (_minla_). +They bandage her eyes with her own hair and with leaves to prevent her +from seeing anything; they wrap her in a mat, and they carry her out of +the house, not by the ordinary door, but by an opening made for the +purpose in the wall or the floor of the room where she breathed her +last. Then they convey her to a deep ravine, where no one dares to pass; +they lay her in the midst of a great pyre with all the clothes, +jewellery, and other objects which belonged to her and of which she made +use; and they burn the whole to cinders, to which they refuse the rites +of sepulture. Thus they destroy all the property of the unfortunate +woman, in order that her soul may not think of coming to fetch it +afterwards and to bite people in the attempt."[762] Similarly among the +Kayans or Bahaus of Central Borneo "the corpses of women dying in +childbed excite a special horror; no man and no young woman may touch +them; they are not carried out of the house through the front gallery, +but are thrown out of the back wall of the dwelling, some boards having +been removed for the purpose."[763] Indeed so great is the alarm felt by +the Kayans at a miscarriage of this sort that when a woman labours hard +in childbed, the news quickly spreads through the large communal house +in which the people dwell; and if the attendants begin to fear a fatal +issue, the whole household is thrown into consternation. All the men, +from the chief down to the boys, will flee from the house, or, if it is +night, they will clamber up among the beams of the roof and there hide +in terror; and, if the worst happens, they remain there until the +woman's corpse has been removed from the house for burial.[764] + +[Sidenote: Sometimes the custom is observed when the original motive for +it is forgotten.] + +Sometimes, while the custom continues to be practised, the idea which +gave rise to it has either become obscured or has been incorrectly +reported. Thus we are told that when a death has taken place among the +Indians of North-west America "the body is at once taken out of the +house through an opening in the wall from which the boards have been +removed. It is believed that his ghost would kill every one if the body +were to stay in the house."[765] Such a belief, while it would furnish +an excellent reason for hurrying the corpse out of the house as soon as +possible, does not explain why it should be carried out through a +special opening instead of through the door. Again, when a Queen of Bali +died, "the body was drawn out of a large aperture made in the wall to +the right-hand side of the door, in the absurd opinion of _cheating the +devil_, whom these islanders believe to lie in wait in the ordinary +passage."[766] Again, in Mukden, the capital of Manchuria, the corpses +of children "must not be carried out of a door or window, but through a +new or disused opening, in order that the evil spirit which causes the +disease may not enter. The belief is that the Heavenly Dog which eats +the sun at an eclipse demands the bodies of children, and that if they +are denied to him he will bring certain calamity on the household."[767] +These explanations of the custom are probably misinterpretations adopted +at a later time when its original meaning was forgotten. For a custom +often outlives the memory of the motives which gave it birth. And as +royalty is very conservative of ancient usages, it would be no matter +for surprise if the corpses of kings should continue to be carried out +through special openings long after the bodies of commoners were allowed +to be conveyed in commonplace fashion through the ordinary door. In +point of fact we find the old custom observed by kings in countries +where it has apparently ceased to be observed by their subjects. Thus +among the Sakalava and Antimerina of Madagascar, "when a sovereign or a +prince of the royal family dies within the enclosure of the king's +palace, the corpse must be carried out of the palace, not by the door, +but by a breach made for the purpose in the wall; the new sovereign +could not pass through the door that had been polluted by the passage of +a dead body."[768] Similarly among the Macassars and Buginese of +Southern Celebes there is in the king's palace a window reaching to the +floor through which on his decease the king's body is carried out.[769] +That such a custom is only a limitation to kings of a rule which once +applied to everybody becomes all the more probable, when we learn that +in the island of Saleijer, which lies to the south of Celebes, each +house has, besides its ordinary windows, a large window in the form of a +door, through which, and not through the ordinary entrance, every corpse +is regularly removed at death.[770] + +[Sidenote: Another Fijian funeral custom.] + +To return from this digression to Fiji, we may conclude with a fair +degree of probability that when the side of a Fijian king's house was +broken down to allow his corpse to be carried out, though there were +doors at hand wide enough for the purpose, the original intention was to +prevent the return of his ghost, who might have proved a very unwelcome +intruder to his successor on the throne. But I cannot offer any +explanation of another Fijian funeral custom. You may remember that in +Fiji it was customary after the death of a chief to circumcise such lads +as had reached a suitable age.[771] Well, on the fifth day after a +chief's death a hole used to be dug under the floor of a temple and one +of the newly circumcised lads was secreted in it. Then his companions +fastened the doors of the temple securely and ran away. When the lad +hidden in the hole blew on a shell-trumpet, the friends of the deceased +chief surrounded the temple and thrust their spears at him through the +fence.[772] What the exact significance of this curious rite may have +been, I cannot even conjecture; but we may assume that it had something +to do with the state of the late chief's soul, which was probably +supposed to be lingering in the neighbourhood. + +[Sidenote: Fijian notions concerning the other world and the way +thither. The River of the Souls.] + +It remains to say a little as to the notions which the Fijians +entertained of the other world and the way thither. After death the +souls of the departed were believed to set out for Bulu or Bulotu, there +to dwell with the great serpent-shaped god Ndengei. His abode seems to +have been generally placed in the Nakauvandra mountains, towards the +western end of Viti Levu, the largest of the Fijian Islands. But on this +subject the ideas of the people were, as might be expected, both vague +and inconsistent. Each tribe filled in the details of the mythical land +and the mythical journey to suit its own geographical position. The +souls had generally to cross water, either the sea or a river, and they +were put across it by a ghostly ferryman, who treated the passengers +with scant courtesy.[773] According to some people, the River of the +Souls (_Waini-yalo_) is what mortals now call the Ndravo River. When the +ghosts arrived on the bank, they hailed the ferryman and he paddled his +canoe over to receive them. But before he would take them on board they +had to state whether they proposed to ship as steerage or as cabin +passengers, and he gave them their berths accordingly; for there was no +mixing up of the classes in the ferry-boat; the ghosts of chiefs kept +strictly to themselves at one end of the canoe, and the ghosts of +commoners huddled together at the other end.[774] The natives of +Kandavu, in Southern Fiji, say that on clear days they often see Bulotu, +the spirit land, lying away across the sea with the sun shining sweetly +on it; but they have long ago given up all hope of making their way to +that happy land.[775] They seem to say with the Demon Lover, + + "O yonder are the hills of heaven + Where you will never win." + +[Sidenote: The place of embarcation for the ghosts.] + +Though every island and almost every town had its own portal through +which the spirits passed on their long journey to the far country, yet +there was one called Nai Thombothombo, which appears to have been more +popular and frequented than any of the others as a place of embarcation +for ghosts. It is at the northern point of Mbua Bay, and the ghosts shew +their good taste in choosing it as their port to sail from, for really +it is a beautiful spot. The foreland juts out between two bays. A +shelving beach slopes up to precipitous cliffs, their rocky face mantled +with a thick green veil of creepers. Further inland the shade of tall +forest trees and the softened gloom cast by crags and rocks lend to the +scene an air of solemnity and hallowed repose well fitted to impress the +susceptible native mind with an awful sense of the invisible beings that +haunt these sacred groves. Natives have been known to come on pilgrimage +to the spot expecting to meet ghosts and gods face to face.[776] + +[Sidenote: The ghost and the pandanus tree.] + +Many are the perils and dangers that beset the Path of the Souls (_Sala +Ni Yalo_). Of these one of the most celebrated is a certain pandanus +tree, at which every ghost must throw the ghost of the real whale's +tooth which was placed for the purpose in his hand at burial. If he hits +the tree, it is well for him; for it shews that his friends at home are +strangling his wives, and accordingly he sits down contentedly to wait +for the ghosts of his helpmeets, who will soon come hurrying to him. But +if he makes a bad shot and misses the tree, the poor ghost is very +disconsolate, for he knows that his wives are not being strangled, and +who then will cook for him in the spirit land? It is a bitter thought, +and he reflects with sorrow and anger on the ingratitude of men and +especially of women. His reflections, as reported by the best authority, +run thus: "How is this? For a long time I planted food for my wife, and +it was also of great use to her friends: why then is she not allowed to +follow me? Do my friends love me no better than this, after so many +years of toil? Will no one, in love to me, strangle my wife?"[777] + +[Sidenote: Hard fate of unmarried ghosts.] + +But if the lot of a married ghost, whose wives have not been murdered, +is hard, it is nevertheless felicity itself compared to the fate of +bachelor ghosts. In the first place there is a terrible being called the +Great Woman, who lurks in a shady defile, ready to pounce out on him; +and if he escapes her clutches it is only to fall in with a much worse +monster, of the name of Nangganangga, from whom there is, humanly +speaking, no escape. This ferocious goblin lays himself out to catch the +souls of bachelors, and so vigilant and alert is he that not a single +unmarried Fijian ghost is known to have ever reached the mansions of the +blest. He sits beside a big black stone at high-water mark waiting for +his prey. The bachelor ghosts are aware that it would be useless to +attempt to march past him when the tide is in; so they wait till it is +low water and then try to sneak past him on the wet sand left by the +retiring billows. Vain hope! Nangganangga, sitting by the stone, only +smiles grimly and asks, with withering sarcasm, whether they imagine +that the tide will never flow again? It does so only too soon for the +poor ghosts, driving them with every breaking wave nearer and nearer to +their implacable enemy, till the water laps on the fatal stone, and then +he grips the shivering souls and dashes them to pieces on the big black +block.[778] + +[Sidenote: The Killer of Souls.] + +Again, there is a very terrible giant armed with a great axe, who lies +in wait for all and sundry. He makes no nice distinction between the +married and the unmarried, but strikes out at all ghosts +indiscriminately. Those whom he wounds dare not present themselves in +their damaged state to the great God Ndengei; so they never reach the +happy fields, but are doomed to roam the rugged mountains disconsolate. +However, many ghosts contrive to slip past him unscathed. It is said +that after the introduction of fire-arms into the islands the ghost of a +certain chief made very good use of a musket which had been +providentially buried with his body. When the giant drew near and was +about to lunge out with the axe in his usual style, the ghost discharged +the blunderbuss in his face, and while the giant was fully engaged in +dodging the hail of bullets, the chief rushed past him and now enjoys +celestial happiness.[779] Some lay the scene of this encounter a little +beyond the town of Nambanaggatai; for it is to be remembered that many +of the places in the Path of the Souls were identified with real places +in the Fijian Islands. And the name of the giant is Samu-yalo, that is, +the Killer of Souls. He artfully conceals himself in some mangrove +bushes just beyond the town, from which he rushes out in the nick of +time to fell the passing ghosts. Whenever he kills a ghost, he cooks and +eats him and that is the end of the poor ghost. It is the second death. +The highway to the Elysian fields runs, or used to run, right through +the town of Nambanaggatai; so all the doorways of the houses were placed +opposite each other to allow free and uninterrupted passage to the +invisible travellers. And the inhabitants spoke to each other in low +tones and communicated at a little distance by signs. The screech of a +paroquet in the woods was the signal of the approach of a ghost or +ghosts; the number of screeches was proportioned to the number of the +ghosts,--one screech, one ghost, and so on.[780] + +[Sidenote: A trap for unwary ghosts.] + +Souls who escape the Killer of Souls pass on till they come to +Naindelinde, one of the highest peaks of the Kauvandra mountains. Here +the path ends abruptly on the brink of a precipice, the foot of which is +washed by a deep lake. Over the edge of the precipice projects a large +steer-oar, and the handle is held either by the great god Ndengei +himself or, according to the better opinion, by his deputy. When a ghost +comes up and peers ruefully over the precipice, the deputy accosts him. +"Under what circumstances," he asks, "do you come to us? How did you +conduct yourself in the other world?" Should the ghost be a man of rank, +he may say, "I am a great chief. I lived as a chief, and my conduct was +that of a chief. I had great wealth, many wives, and ruled over a +powerful people. I have destroyed many towns, and slain many in war." +"Good, good," says the deputy, "just sit down on the blade of that oar, +and refresh yourself in the cool breeze." If the ghost is unwary enough +to accept the invitation, he has no sooner seated himself on the blade +of the oar with his legs dangling over the abyss, than the deputy-deity +tilts up the other end of the oar and precipitates him into the deep +water, far far below. A loud smack is heard as the ghost collides with +the water, there is a splash, a gurgle, a ripple, and all is over. The +ghost has gone to his account in Murimuria, a very second-rate sort of +heaven, if it is nothing worse. But a ghost who is in favour with the +great god Ndengei is warned by him not to sit down on the blade of the +oar but on the handle. The ghost takes the hint and seats himself firmly +on the safe end of the oar; and when the deputy-deity tries to heave it +up, he cannot, for he has no purchase. So the ghost remains master of +the situation, and after an interval for refreshment is sent back to +earth to be deified.[781] + +[Sidenote: Murimuria, an inferior sort of heaven. The Fijian Elysium.] + +In Murimuria, which, as I said, is an inferior sort of heaven, the +departed souls by no means lead a life of pure and unmixed enjoyment. +Some of them are punished for the sins they committed in the flesh. But +the Fijian notion of sin differs widely from ours. Thus we saw that the +ghosts of men who did no murder in their lives were punished for their +negligence by having to pound muck with clubs. Again, people who had not +their ears bored on earth are forced in Hades to go about for ever +bearing on their shoulders one of the logs of wood on which bark-cloth +is beaten out with mallets, and all who see the sinner bending under the +load jeer at him. Again, women who were not tattooed in their life are +chased by the female ghosts, who scratch and cut and tear them with +sharp shells, giving them no respite; or they scrape the flesh from +their bones and bake it into bread for the gods. And ghosts who have +done anything to displease the gods are laid flat on their faces in rows +and converted into taro beds. But the few who do find their way into the +Fijian Elysium are blest indeed. There the sky is always cloudless; the +groves are perfumed with delicious scents; the open glades in the forest +are pleasant; there is abundance of all that heart can desire. Language +fails to describe the ineffable bliss of the happy land. There the souls +of the truly good, who have murdered many of their fellows on earth and +fed on their roasted bodies, are lapped in joy for ever.[782] + +[Sidenote: Fijian doctrine of transmigration.] + +Nevertheless the souls of the dead were not universally believed to +depart by the Spirit Path to the other world or to stay there for ever. +To a certain extent the doctrines of transmigration found favour with +the Fijians. Some of them held that the spirits of the dead wandered +about the villages in various shapes and could make themselves visible +or invisible at pleasure. The places which these vagrant souls loved to +haunt were known to the people, who in passing by them were wont to make +propitiatory offerings of food or cloth. For that reason, too, they were +very loth to go abroad on a dark night lest they should come bolt upon a +ghost. Further, it was generally believed that the soul of a celebrated +chief might after death enter into some young man of the tribe and +animate him to deeds of valour. Persons so distinguished were pointed +out and regarded as highly favoured; great respect was paid to them, +they enjoyed many personal privileges, and their opinions were treated +with much consideration.[783] + +[Sidenote: Few souls saved under the old Fijian dispensation.] + +On the whole, when we survey the many perils which beset the way to the +Fijian heaven, and the many risks which the souls of the dead ran of +dying the second death in the other world or of being knocked on the +head by the living in this, we shall probably agree with the missionary +Mr. Williams in concluding that under the old Fijian dispensation there +were few indeed that were saved. "Few, comparatively," he says, "are +left to inhabit the regions of Mbulu, and the immortality even of these +is sometimes disputed. The belief in a future state is universal in +Fiji; but their superstitious notions often border upon transmigration, +and sometimes teach an eventual annihilation."[784] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Concluding observations.] + +Here I must break off my survey of the natural belief in immortality +among mankind. At the outset I had expected to carry the survey further, +but I have already exceeded the usual limits of these lectures and I +must not trespass further on your patience. Yet the enquiry which I have +opened seems worthy to be pursued, and if circumstances should admit of +it, I shall hope at some future time to resume the broken thread of +these researches and to follow it a little further through the labyrinth +of human history. Be that as it may, I will now conclude with a few +general observations suggested by the facts which I have laid before +you. + +[Sidenote: Strength and universality of the natural belief in +immortality among savages. Wars between savage tribes spring in large +measure from their belief in immortality. Economic loss involved in +sacrifices to the dead.] + +In the first place, then, it is impossible not to be struck by the +strength, and perhaps we may say the universality, of the natural belief +in immortality among the savage races of mankind. With them a life after +death is not a matter of speculation and conjecture, of hope and fear; +it is a practical certainty which the individual as little dreams of +doubting as he doubts the reality of his conscious existence. He assumes +it without enquiry and acts upon it without hesitation, as if it were +one of the best-ascertained truths within the limits of human +experience. The belief influences his attitude towards the higher +powers, the conduct of his daily life, and his behaviour towards his +fellows; more than that, it regulates to a great extent the relations of +independent communities to each other. For the state of war, which +normally exists between many, if not most, neighbouring savage tribes, +springs in large measure directly from their belief in immortality; +since one of the commonest motives for hostility is a desire to appease +the angry ghosts of friends, who are supposed to have perished by the +baleful arts of sorcerers in another tribe, and who, if vengeance is not +inflicted on their real or imaginary murderers, will wreak their fury on +their undutiful fellow-tribesmen. Thus the belief in immortality has not +merely coloured the outlook of the individual upon the world; it has +deeply affected the social and political relations of humanity in all +ages; for the religious wars and persecutions, which distracted and +devastated Europe for ages, were only the civilised equivalents of the +battles and murders which the fear of ghosts has instigated amongst +almost all races of savages of whom we possess a record. Regarded from +this point of view, the faith in a life hereafter has been sown like +dragons' teeth on the earth and has brought forth crop after crop of +armed men, who have turned their swords against each other. And when we +consider further the gratuitous and wasteful destruction of property as +well as of life which is involved in sacrifices to the dead, we must +admit that with all its advantages the belief in immortality has +entailed heavy economical losses upon the races--and they are +practically all the races of the world--who have indulged in this +expensive luxury. It is not for me to estimate the extent and gravity of +the consequences, moral, social, political, and economic, which flow +directly from the belief in immortality. I can only point to some of +them and commend them to the serious attention of historians and +economists, as well as of moralists and theologians. + +[Sidenote: How does the savage belief in immortality bear on the +question of the truth or falsehood of that belief in general? The answer +depends to some extent on the view we take of human nature. The view of +the grandeur and dignity of man.] + +My second observation concerns, not the practical consequences of the +belief in immortality, but the question of its truth or falsehood. That, +I need hardly say, is an even more difficult problem than the other, and +as I intimated at the outset of the lectures I find myself wholly +incompetent to solve it. Accordingly I have confined myself to the +comparatively easy task of describing some of the forms of the belief +and some of the customs to which it has given rise, without presuming to +pass judgment upon them. I must leave it to others to place my +collections of facts in the scales and to say whether they incline the +balance for or against the truth of this momentous belief, which has +been so potent for good or ill in history. In every enquiry much depends +upon the point of view from which the enquirer approaches his subject; +he will see it in different proportions and in different lights +according to the angle and the distance from which he regards it. The +subject under discussion in the present case is human nature itself; and +as we all know, men have formed very different estimates of themselves +and their species. On the one hand, there are those who love to dwell on +the grandeur and dignity of man, and who swell with pride at the +contemplation of the triumphs which his genius has achieved in the +visionary world of imagination as well as in the realm of nature. +Surely, they say, such a glorious creature was not born for mortality, +to be snuffed out like a candle, to fade like a flower, to pass away +like a breath. Is all that penetrating intellect, that creative fancy, +that vaulting ambition, those noble passions, those far-reaching hopes, +to come to nothing, to shrivel up into a pinch of dust? It is not so, it +cannot be. Man is the flower of this wide world, the lord of creation, +the crown and consummation of all things, and it is to wrong him and his +creator to imagine that the grave is the end of all. To those who take +this lofty view of human nature it is easy and obvious to find in the +similar beliefs of savages a welcome confirmation of their own cherished +faith, and to insist that a conviction so widely spread and so firmly +held must be based on some principle, call it instinct or intuition or +what you will, which is deeper than logic and cannot be confuted by +reasoning. + +[Sidenote: The view of the pettiness and insignificance of man.] + +On the other hand, there are those who take a different view of human +nature, and who find in its contemplation a source of humility rather +than of pride. They remind us how weak, how ignorant, how short-lived is +the individual, how infirm of purpose, how purblind of vision, how +subject to pain and suffering, to diseases that torture the body and +wreck the mind. They say that if the few short years of his life are not +wasted in idleness and vice, they are spent for the most part in a +perpetually recurring round of trivialities, in the satisfaction of +merely animal wants, in eating, drinking, and slumber. When they survey +the history of mankind as a whole, they find the record chequered and +stained by folly and crime, by broken faith, insensate ambition, wanton +aggression, injustice, cruelty, and lust, and seldom illumined by the +mild radiance of wisdom and virtue. And when they turn their eyes from +man himself to the place he occupies in the universe, how are they +overwhelmed by a sense of his littleness and insignificance! They see +the earth which he inhabits dwindle to a speck in the unimaginable +infinities of space, and the brief span of his existence shrink into a +moment in the inconceivable infinities of time. And they ask, Shall a +creature so puny and frail claim to live for ever, to outlast not only +the present starry system but every other that, when earth and sun and +stars have crumbled into dust, shall be built upon their ruins in the +long long hereafter? It is not so, it cannot be. The claim is nothing +but the outcome of exaggerated self-esteem, of inflated vanity; it is +the claim of a moth, shrivelled in the flame of a candle, to outlive the +sun, the claim of a worm to survive the destruction of this terrestrial +globe in which it burrows. Those who take this view of the pettiness and +transitoriness of man compared with the vastness and permanence of the +universe find little in the beliefs of savages to alter their opinion. +They see in savage conceptions of the soul and its destiny nothing but a +product of childish ignorance, the hallucinations of hysteria, the +ravings of insanity, or the concoctions of deliberate fraud and +imposture. They dismiss the whole of them as a pack of superstitions and +lies, unworthy the serious attention of a rational mind; and they say +that if such drivellings do not refute the belief in immortality, as +indeed from the nature of things they cannot do, they are at least +fitted to invest its high-flown pretensions with an air of ludicrous +absurdity. + +[Sidenote: The conclusion left open.] + +Such are the two opposite views which I conceive may be taken of the +savage testimony to the survival of our conscious personality after +death. I do not presume to adopt the one or the other. It is enough for +me to have laid a few of the facts before you. I leave you to draw your +own conclusion. + +[Footnote 701: Berthold Seeman, _Viti, an Account of a Government +Mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands_ (Cambridge, 1862), pp. 391 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 702: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 216.] + +[Footnote 703: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 216, 218 _sq._; Basil +Thomson, _The Fijians_, p. 112.] + +[Footnote 704: Hazlewood, quoted by Capt. J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a +Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), pp. 246 +_sq._] + +[Footnote 705: Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring +Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 83 _sq._; Th. Williams, +_Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 217 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 706: Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring +Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 49, 86, 351, 352; Th. +Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 221-223; B. Seeman, _Viti_, pp. +392-394.] + +[Footnote 707: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 191 _sq._] + +[Footnote 708: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 223, 231.] + +[Footnote 709: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 87; Th. Williams, _op. cit._ +i. 226, 227; Basil Thomson, _The Fijians_, pp. 157 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 710: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 87 _sq._; Th. Williams, _op. +cit._ i. 224 _sq._; Capt. J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 250; Lorimer +Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_ (London, 1904), pp. 166 _sq._ As for the +treatment of castaways, see J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 249; Th. +Williams, _op. cit._ i. 210. The latter writer mentions a recent case in +which fourteen or sixteen shipwrecked persons were cooked and eaten.] + +[Footnote 711: The Rev. Lorimer Fison, in a letter to me dated August +26th, 1898. I have already quoted the passage in _The Magic Art and the +Evolution of Kings_, i. 378.] + +[Footnote 712: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 225 _sq._] + +[Footnote 713: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 231.] + +[Footnote 714: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 97; Th. Williams, _op. cit._ +i. 53.] + +[Footnote 715: John Jackson's Narrative, in Capt. J. E. Erskine's +_Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, +1853), pp. 464 _sq._, 472 _sq._ The genital members of the men over whom +the canoe was dragged were cut off and hung on a sacred tree +(_akau-tambu_), "which was already artificially prolific in fruit, both +of the masculine and feminine gender." The tree which bore such +remarkable fruit was commonly an ironweed tree standing in a conspicuous +situation. As to these sacrifices compare Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. +97; Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, pp. xvi. _sq._] + +[Footnote 716: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i, 112.] + +[Footnote 717: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 55.] + +[Footnote 718: Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, pp. xx., xxi. +_sq._; Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 247; B. Seeman, _Viti_ (Cambridge, +1862), p. 401.] + +[Footnote 719: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 55 _sq._ The writer witnessed +what he calls the ceremony of consecration in the case of a young man of +the highest rank in Somosomo and he has described what he saw. In this +case a special hut was not built for the manslayer, and he was allowed +to pass the nights in the temple of the war god.] + +[Footnote 720: See above, pp. 205 _sq._, 229 _sq._, 258, 279 _sq._, 323, +396, 415.] + +[Footnote 721: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 55.] + +[Footnote 722: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 98, 99 _sq._ Compare Lorimer +Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, p. 163: "A person who has defiled himself +by touching a corpse is called _yambo_, and is not allowed to touch food +with his hands for several days." The custom as to a surviving widow is +mentioned by Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 198.] + +[Footnote 723: Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, p. 167.] + +[Footnote 724: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 101; Th. Williams, _op. cit._ +i. 197 _sq._; Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, p. 168; Basil +Thomson, _The Fijian_, p. 375.] + +[Footnote 725: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 197, 198.] + +[Footnote 726: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 99.] + +[Footnote 727: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 198 _sq._] + +[Footnote 728: Ch. Wilkes, _l.c._] + +[Footnote 729: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 197.] + +[Footnote 730: K. Weinhold, _Altnordisches Leben_ (Berlin, 1856), p. +476.] + +[Footnote 731: _The Zend-Avesta_, Part i. _The Vendidad,_ translated by +James Darmesteter (Oxford, 1880), p. 95 (Fargard, viii. 2. 10) (_Sacred +Books of the East_, vol. iv.).] + +[Footnote 732: W. R. S. Ralston, _The Songs of the Russian People_, +Second Edition (London, 1872), p. 318.] + +[Footnote 733: Sonnerat, _Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine_ +(Paris, 1782), i. 86.] + +[Footnote 734: J. A. Dubois, _Moeurs, Institutions et Ceremonies des +Peuples de l'Inde_ (Paris, 1825), ii. 225; E. Thurston, _Ethnographic +Notes in Southern India_ (Madras, 1906), pp. 226 _sq._] + +[Footnote 735: J. Grimm, _Deutsche Rechtsalterthuemer_ 3rd ed. +(Goettingen, 1881), pp. 726 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 736: Rev. J. G. Campbell, _Superstitions of the Highlands and +Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1900), p. 242.] + +[Footnote 737: _The Sacred Books of China_, translated by James Legge, +Part iii. _The Li-Ki_, i.-x. (Oxford, 1885) pp. 144 _sq._ (Bk. ii. Sect. +i. Pt. II. 33) (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. xxvii.); J. F. Lafitau, +_Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains_ (Paris, 1724), ii. 401 _sq._, citing +Le Comte, _Nouv. Memoires de la Chine_, vol. ii. p. 187.] + +[Footnote 738: _Relations des Jesuites_, 1633, p. 11; _id._, 1634, p. 23 +(Canadian reprint, Quebec, 1858); J. G. Kohl, _Kitschi-Gami_ (Bremen, +1859), p. 149 note.] + +[Footnote 739: E. W. Nelson, "The Eskimo about Bering Strait," +_Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part i. +(Washington, 1899), p. 311.] + +[Footnote 740: David Crantz, _History of Greenland_ (London, 1767), i. +237. Compare Hans Egede, _Description of Greenland_, Second Edition +(London, 1818), pp. 152 _sq._; Captain G. F. Lyon, _Private Journal_ +(London, 1824), p. 370; C. F. Hall, _Narrative of the Second Arctic +Expedition_ (Washington, 1879), p. 265 (Esquimaux).] + +[Footnote 741: P. Kolben, _The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope_ +(London, 1731-1738), i. 316; C. P. Thunberg, "An Account of the Cape of +Good Hope," in Pinkerton's _Voyages and Travels_, xvi. (London, 1814) p. +142; _Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie_ (Paris), ii, Serie, ii. +(1834) p. 196 (Bechuanas); _id._, vii. Serie, vii. (1886) p. 587 +(Fernando Po); T. Arbousset et F. Daumas, _Relation d'un Voyage +d'Exploration au Nord-est de la Colonie du Cap de Bonne-Esperance_ +(Paris, 1842), pp. 502 _sq._; C. J. Andersson, _Lake Ngami_, Second +Edition (London, 1856), p. 466; G. Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen +Sued-Afrika's_ (Breslau, 1872), pp. 210, 335; R. Moffat, _Missionary +Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa_ (London, 1842), p. 307; E. +Casalis, _The Basutos_ (London, 1861), p. 202; Ladislaus Magyar, _Reisen +in Sued-Afrika_ (Buda-Pesth and Leipsic, 1859), p. 350; Rev. J. +Macdonald, _Light in Africa_, Second Edition (London, 1890), p. 166; E. +Beguin, _Les Ma-Rotse_ (Lausanne and Fontaines, 1903), p. 115; Henri A. +Junod, _Les Ba-Ronga_ (Neuchatel, 1898), p. 48; _id._, _The Life of a +South African Tribe_, i. (Neuchatel, 1912) p. 138; Dudley Kidd, _The +Essential Kafir_ (London, 1904), p. 247; A. F. Mockler-Ferryman, +_British Nigeria_ (London, 1902), p. 234; Ramseyer and Kuehne, _Four +Years in Ashantee_ (London, 1875), p. 50; A. B. Ellis, _The Land of +Fetish_ (London, 1883), p. 13; _id._, _The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the +Gold Coast_ (London, 1887), p. 239; E. Perregaud, _Chez les Achanti_ +(Neuchatel, 1906), p. 127; J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Staemme_ (Berlin, 1906), +p. 756; H. R. Palmer, "Notes on the Kororofawa and Jukon," _Journal of +the African Society_, No. 44 (July, 1912), p. 414. The custom is also +observed by some tribes of Central Africa. See Miss A. Werner, _The +Natives of British Central Africa_ (London, 1906), p. 161; B. Gutmann, +"Trauer und Begraebnisssitten der Wadschagga," _Globus_, lxxxix. (1906) +p. 200; Rev. N. Stam, "Religious Conceptions of the Kavirondo," +_Anthropos_, v. (1910) p. 361.] + +[Footnote 742: C. Snouck Hurgronje, _Het Gajoland en zijne Bewoners_ +(Batavia, 1903), p. 313.] + +[Footnote 743: Aurel Krause, _Die Tlinkit-Indianer_ (Jena, 1885), p. +225; Franz Boas, in _Sixth Report of the Committee on the North-western +Tribes of Canada_, p. 23 (separate reprint from the _Report of the +British Association for the Advancement of Science_, Leeds Meeting, +1890); J. R. Swanton, _Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida_ +(Leyden and New York, 1905), pp. 52, 54 (_The Jesup North Pacific +Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History_).] + +[Footnote 744: J. A. H. Louis, _The Gates of Thibet_ (Calcutta, 1894), +p. 114.] + +[Footnote 745: H. von Wlislocki, _Volksglaube und religioeser Brauch der +Zigeuner_ (Muenster i. W., 1891), p. 99.] + +[Footnote 746: W. Jochelson, _The Koryak_ (New York and Leyden, 1908), +pp. 110 _sq._ (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the +American Museum of Natural History_).] + +[Footnote 747: W. H. Dall, _Alaska and its Resources_ (London, 1870), p. +382.] + +[Footnote 748: Lucien M. Turner, "Ethnology of the Ungava District, +Hudson Bay Territory," _Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of +Ethnology_ (Washington, 1894), p. 191.] + +[Footnote 749: Mgr. Bruguiere, in _Annales de l'Association de la +Propagation de la Foi_, v. (Lyons and Paris, 1831) p. 180. Compare Mgr. +Pallegoix, _Description du royaume Thai ou Siam_ (Paris, 1854), i. 245; +Adolf Bastian, _Die Volker des oestlichen Asien_, iii. (Jena, 1867) p. +258; E. Young, _The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe_ (Westminster, 1898), p. +246.] + +[Footnote 750: S. Mateer, _Native Life in Travancore_ (London, 1883), p. +137. Compare A. Butterworth, "Royal Funerals in Travancore," _Indian +Antiquary_, xxxi. (1902) p. 251.] + +[Footnote 751: Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of Borneo_ +(London, 1912), ii. 35.] + +[Footnote 752: S. K. Kusnezow, "Ueber den Glauben vom Jenseits und den +Todtencultus der Tscheremissen," _Internationales Archiv fuer +Ethnographie_, ix. (1896) p. 157.] + +[Footnote 753: P. S. Pallas, _Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des +Russischen Reichs_ (St. Petersburg, 1771-1776), iii. 75; Middendorff, +_Reise in den aeussersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens_, iv. 1464.] + +[Footnote 754: _Exploraciones y Noticias hidrograficas de los Rios del +Norte de Bolivia_, publicados por Manuel V. Ballivian, Segunda Parte, +_Diario del Viage al Madre de Dios hecho por el P. Fr. Nicolas Armentia, +en los anos de 1884 y 1885_ (La Paz, 1890), p. 20: _"Cuando muere +alguno, apenas sacan el cadaver de la casa, cambian la puerta al lado +opuesto, para que no de con ella el difunto."_] + +[Footnote 755: Karl Bartsch, _Sagen, Maerchen und Gebraeuche aus +Meklenburg_ (Vienna, 1879-1880), ii. 100, Sec. 358.] + +[Footnote 756: For some evidence on this subject, see R. Lasch, "Die +Behandlung der Leiche des Selbstmoerders," _Globus_, lxxxvi. (1899) pp. +63-66; Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 20 _sq._; A. +Karasek, "Beitraege zur Kenntnis der Waschamba," _Baessler-Archiv_, i. +(1911) pp. 190 _sq._] + +[Footnote 757: Rev. N. Stam, "The Religious Conceptions of the +Kavirondo," _Anthropos_, v. (1910) p. 361.] + +[Footnote 758: Alfred de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes, et Traditions des +Provinces de France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 198.] + +[Footnote 759: Felix Chapiseau, _Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche_ +(Paris, 1902), ii. 164.] + +[Footnote 760: For some evidence on this subject see _Psyche's Task_, +pp. 64 _sq._] + +[Footnote 761: Carl Bock, _Temples and Elephants_ (London, 1884), p. +262.] + +[Footnote 762: Ch. Gilhodes, "Naissance et Enfance chez les Katchins +(Birmanie)," _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp. 872 _sq._] + +[Footnote 763: A. W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch Borneo_ (Leyden, +1901-1907), i. 91.] + +[Footnote 764: Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of Borneo_ +(London, 1912), ii. 155.] + +[Footnote 765: Franz Boas, in _Sixth Report of the Committee on the +North-western Tribes of Canada_, p. 23 (separate reprint from the +_Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science_, +Leeds Meeting, 1890).] + +[Footnote 766: Prevost, quoted by John Crawford, _History of the Indian +Archipelago_ (Edinburgh, 1820), ii. 245. Compare Adolf Bastian, _Die +Voelker des oestlichen Asien_, v. (Jena, 1869) p. 83.] + +[Footnote 767: Mrs. Bishop (Isabella L. Bird), _Korea and her +Neighbours_ (London, 1898), i. 239 _sq._] + +[Footnote 768: Arnold van Gennep, _Tabou et Totemisme a Madagascar_ +(Paris, 1904), p. 65, quoting Dr. Catat.] + +[Footnote 769: B. F. Matthes, _Bijdragen tot de Ethnologie van +Zuid-Celebes_ (The Hague, 1875), p. 139; _id._, "Over de ada's of +gewoonten der Makassaren en Boegineezen," _Verslagen en Mededeelingen +der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen_, Afdeeling Letterkunde, +Derde Reeks, ii. (Amsterdam, 1885) p. 142.] + +[Footnote 770: W. M. Donselaar "Aanteekeningen over het eiland +Saleijer," _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche +Zendelinggenootschap_, i. (1857) p. 291.] + +[Footnote 771: See above, p. 426.] + +[Footnote 772: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, Second Edition +(London, 1860), i. 167.] + +[Footnote 773: Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring +Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 83; Basil Thomson, _The +Fijians_, p. 117.] + +[Footnote 774: Basil Thomson, _op. cit._ p. 121.] + +[Footnote 775: Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, p. 163.] + +[Footnote 776: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 239.] + +[Footnote 777: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 243 _sq._ Compare Berthold +Seeman, _Viti, an Account of a Government Mission to the Vitian of +Fijian Islands in the years 1860-1861_ (Cambridge, 1862), p. 399; +Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, p. 163; Basil Thomson, _The +Fijians_, pp. 120 _sq._, 121 _sq._] + +[Footnote 778: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i, 244 _sq._] + +[Footnote 779: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 83.] + +[Footnote 780: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._] + +[Footnote 781: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 246 _sq._] + +[Footnote 782: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 247.] + +[Footnote 783: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 85 _sq._] + +[Footnote 784: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 248.] + + + + +NOTE + +MYTH OF THE CONTINUANCE OF DEATH[785] + + +The following story is told by the Balolo of the Upper Congo to explain +the continuance, if not the origin, of death in the world. One day, +while a man was working in the forest, a little man with two bundles, +one large and one small, went up to him and said, "Which of these +bundles will you have? The large one contains knives, looking-glasses, +cloth and so forth; and the small one contains immortal life." "I cannot +choose by myself," answered the man; "I must go and ask the other people +in the town." While he was gone to ask the others, some women arrived +and the choice was left to them. They tried the edges of the knives, +decked themselves in the cloth, admired themselves in the +looking-glasses, and, without more ado, chose the big bundle. The little +man, picking up the small bundle, vanished. So when the man came back +from the town, the little man and his bundles were gone. The women +exhibited and shared the things, but death continued on the earth. Hence +the people often say, "Oh, if those women had only chosen the small +bundle, we should not be dying like this!"[786] + +[Footnote 785: See above, p. 77.] + +[Footnote 786: Rev. John H. Weeks, "Stories and other Notes from the +Upper Congo," _Folk-lore_, xii. (1901) p. 461; _id._, _Among Congo +Cannibals_ (London, 1913), p. 218. The country of the Balolo lies five +miles south of the Equator, on Longitude 18 deg. East.] + + + + +INDEX + + +Abinal, Father, 49 + +Abipones, their belief in sorcery as a cause of death, 35 + +Abnormal mental states explained by inspiration, 15 + +Aborigines, magical powers attributed by immigrants to, 193 + +Abstinence from certain food in mourning, 198, 208, 209, 230, 314, 360, +452 + +Abundance of food and water favourable to social progress, 90 _sq._ + +Action as a clue to belief, 143 + +Actors personating ghosts and spirits, 176, 179 _sq._, 180 _sqq._, 185 +_sqq._ + +Adiri, the land of the dead, 211, 212, 213, 214 + +Admiralty Islands, 393, 400, 401 + +---- Islanders, their myths of the origin of death, 71, 76 _sq._ + +Advance of culture among the aborigines of South-Eastern Australia, 141 +_sq._, 148 _sq._ + +Africa, aborigines of, their ideas as to the cause of death, 49 _sqq._; + use of poison ordeal in, 50 _sqq._ + +----, British Central, 162 + +----, British East, 61, 66, 254 + +Agriculture, rise of, favourable to astronomy, 140 _sq._; + Fijian, 408 + +Akamba, their story of the origin of death, 61 _sq._ + +Akikuyu, resurrection and circumcision among the, 254 + +_Alcheringa_ or dream times, 96, 103, 114 + +---- ancestors, their marvellous powers, 103 + +---- home of the dead, 167 + +Alfoors of Celebes, 166 + +Alligators, ghosts in, 380 + +_Alols_, bachelors' houses, 221, 222 + +Altars, stones used as, 379 + +Amputation of fingers in mourning, 199, 426 _sq._, 451 + +Amulets consisting of relics of the dead, 332, 370 + +Ancestor, totemic, developing into a god, 113 + +Ancestor-worship possibly evolved from totemism, 114 _sq._ + +Ancestors, reincarnation of, 92 _sqq._; + marvellous powers ascribed to remote, 103, 114 _sq._; + totemic, traditions concerning, 115 _sqq._; + dramatic ceremonies to commemorate the doings of, 118 _sqq._; + possible evolution of worship of, in Central Australia, 125 _sq._; + worshipped, 221, 297 _sq._, 328 _sqq._, 338, 340; + ghosts of, appealed to for help, 258 _sq._; + offerings to, 298; + prayers to, 329 _sq._, 332 _sqq._ + _See also_ Dead + +Ancestral gods, foreskins of circumcised lads offered to, 427; + libations to, 430, 438 + +---- images, 307 _sqq._, 315, 316 _sq._, 321, 322 + +---- spirits help hunters and fishers, 226; + shrines for, 316, 317; + worshipped as gods, 369; + worshipped in the _Nanga_, 428 _sq._; + first-fruits offered to, 429; + cloth and weapons offered to, 430 _sq._; + novices presented to, at initiation, 432 _sq._, 434. + +Angola, the poison ordeal in, 51 _sq._ + +Angoni, their burial customs, 162 + +Animals, souls of sorcerers in, 39; + spirits of, go to the spirit land, 210; + sacrifices to the souls of, 239; + transmigration of dead into, 242, 245; + ghosts in the form of, 282; + ghosts turn into, 287; + ghosts incarnate in, 379 _sq._ + +Animistic views of the Papuans, 264 + +Anjea, a mythical being, 128 + +Annam, 67, 69 + +Anointing manslayers, 448 + +Ant-hills, ghosts turn into, 287 + +Ant totem, dramatic ceremony concerned with, 120 _sq._ + +Ants' nests, ghosts turn into, 351 + +Anthropology, comparative and descriptive, 230 _sq._ + +Antimerina of Madagascar, burial custom of the, 461 + +Anuto, a creator, 296 + +Apparitions, 396; + fear of, 414 + +Appearance of the dead in dreams, 229 + +Araucanians of Chili, their disbelief in natural death, 35, 53 _sq._ + +Arawaks of Guiana, 36; + their myth of the origin of death, 70 + +Arm-bone, final burial ceremony performed with the, 167 _sq._; + lower, of dead preserved, 274 + +---- -bones, special treatment of the, 199; + of dead preserved, 225, 249 + +Aroma district of British New Guinea, 201, 202 + +Arrow-heads made of bones of the dead, 352 + +Art, primitive religious, 114; + Papuan, 220 + +_Arugo_, soul of dead, 207 + +_Arumburinga_, spiritual double, 164 + +Arunta, the, of Central Australia, 94; + ceremonies connected with totems, 119 _sqq._; + their magical ceremonies for the multiplication of the totems, 122 + _sq._; + their customs as to the hair of the dead, 138; + their cuttings for the dead, 155 _sq._, 159; + burial customs of the, 164 _sq._, 166 + +Aryan burial custom, 453 + +_Asa_, Secret Society, 233 + +Ashantee story of the origin of death, 63 _sq._ + +Ashes smeared on mourners, 184, 361 + +Astrolabe Bay in German New Guinea, 218, 230, 235, 237 + +Astronomy, rise of, favoured by agriculture, 140 _sq._ + +Asylums, 243 + +_Asyren_, dead man, 457 + +_Ataro_, a powerful ghost, 377 + +Atonement for sick chief, 427 + +Aukem, a mythical being, 181 + +Aurora, one of the New Hebrides, 360, 382 + +Australia, causes which retarded progress in, 89 _sq._; + germs of a worship of the dead in, 168 _sq._ + _See also_ Central Australia, Western Australia + +----, the aborigines of, their ideas as to death from natural causes, + 40 _sqq._; + their primitive character, 88, 91; + the belief in immortality among, 127 _sqq._; + thought to be reborn in white people, 130, 131 _sqq._; + their burial customs, 144 _sqq._; + their primitive condition, 217 + +----, South, beliefs as to the dead in, 134 _sqq._ + +Australia, South-Eastern, beliefs as to the dead in, 133 _sq._, 139; + burial customs among the aborigines of, 145 _sqq._ + +----, Western, burial customs in, 147, 150, 151 + +Authority of chiefs based on their claim to magical powers, 395 + +Avenging a death, pretence of, 282, 328 + + +Bachelor ghosts, hard fate of, 464 + +Bachelors' houses, 221 + +Bad and good, different fate of the, after death, 354 + +Baganda, the, their ideas as to the causes of death, 56 _n._ 2; + their myth of the origin of death, 78 _sqq._ + _See also_ Uganda + +Bahaus, the, of Borneo, 459 + +Bahnars of Cochinchina, 74 + +Bakairi, the, of Brazil, 35 + +Bakerewe, the, of the Victoria Nyanza, 50 + +Bali, burial custom in, 460 + +Balking ghosts, 455 _sqq._ + +Balolo, of the Upper Congo, their myth of the continuance of death, 472 + +_Balum_, ghost or spirit of dead, 244; + name for bull-roarer, 250; + name for a ghost or monster who swallows lads at initiation, 251, 255, + 260, 261; + soul of a dead man, 257, 261 + +Bamler, G., 291, 297 _sq._ + +Bananas in myths of the origin of death, 60, 70, 72 _sq._ + +Bandages to prevent entrance of ghosts, 396 + +Bandaging eyes of corpse, 459 + +Banks' Islands, 343, 353, 386; + myths of the origin of death in, 71, 83 _sq._ + +---- Islanders, funeral customs of the, 355 _sqq._ + +Bantu family, 60 + +Baronga, the, 61; + burial custom of the, 454 + +Bartle Bay, 206, 208 + +Basutos, the, 61; + burial custom of the, 454 + +Bat in myth of origin of death, 75 + +Bathing in sea after funeral, 207 _sq._; + as purification after a death, 314, 319 + +Battel, Andrew, 51 _sq._ + +Bechuanas, the, 61; + burial custom of the, 454 + +Beetles in myth of the origin of death, 70 + +Belep tribe of New Caledonia, 325 + +Belief, acts as a clue to, 143 + +Belief in immortality, origin of belief in, 25 _sqq._; + almost universal among races of mankind, 33; + among the aborigines of Central Australia, 87 _sqq._; + among the islanders of Torres Straits, 170 _sqq._; + among the natives of British New Guinea, 190 _sqq._; + among the natives of German New Guinea, 216 _sqq._; + among the natives of Dutch New Guinea, 303 _sqq._; + among the natives of Southern Melanesia, 324 _sqq._; + among the natives of Central Melanesia, 343 _sqq._; + its practical effect on the life of the Central Melanesians, 391 + _sq._; + among the natives of Northern Melanesia, 393 _sqq._; + among the Fijians, 406 _sqq._; + strongly held by savages, 468; + destruction of life and property entailed by the, 468 _sq._; + the question of its truth, 469 _sqq._ + +Belief in sorcery a cause of keeping down the population, 38, 40 + +Berkeley, his theory of knowledge, 11 _sq._ + +Berlin Harbour in German New Guinea, 218 + +Bernau, Rev. J. H., 38 + +Beryl-stone in _Rose Mary_, 130 + +Betindalo, the land of the dead, 350 + +Bhotias, the, of the Himalayas, 163 + +Biak or Wiak, island, 303 + +Bilking a ghost, 416 + +Bird in divination as to cause of death, 45 + +Birds, souls of sorcerers in, 39 + +Birth, new, at initiation, pretence of, 254 + +Birthplaces, the dead buried in their, 160 + +Birth-stones and birth-sticks (_churinga_) of the Central Australians, +96 _sqq._ + +Bismarck Archipelago, 70, 394, 402 + +Black, mourners painted, 178, 241, 293; + gravediggers painted, 451 + +---- -snake people, 94 + +Blackened, faces of mourners, 403 + +Blood of mourners dropped on corpse or into grave, 158 _sq._, 183, 185; + and hair of mourners offered to the dead, 183; + of pigs smeared on skulls and bones of the dead, 200; + soul thought to reside in the, 307; + of sacrificial victim not allowed to fall on the ground, 365 + +---- revenge, duty of, 274, 276 _sq._; + discharged by sham fight, 136 _sq._ + +Bogadyim, in German New Guinea, 230, 231 + +Boigu, the island of the dead, 175, 184, 213 + +Bolafagina, the lord of the dead, 350 + +Bolotoo, the land of souls, 411 + +Bones of the dead, second burial of the, 166 _sq._; + kept in house, 203; + worn by survivors, 225; + disinterred and kept in house, 225, 294; + making rain by means of the, 341 + +---- and skulls of dead smeared with + blood of pigs, 200 + +Bonitos, ghosts in, 380 + +_Boollia_, magic, 41 _sq._ + +"Born of an oak or a rock," 128 + +Bougainville, island of, 393 + +Boulia district of Queensland, 147, 155 + +Bow, divination by, 241 + +Bread-fruit trees, stones to make them bear fruit, 335 _sq._ + +Breaking things offered to the dead, 276 + +Breath, vital principle associated with the, 129 _sq._ + +Brett, Rev. W. H., 35 _sqq._ + +Brewin, an evil spirit, 45 + +Brittany, burial custom in, 458 + +Brothers-in-law in funeral rites, 177 + +Brown, Rev. Dr. George, 48, 395 + +Buandik, the, 138 + +Buckley, the convict, 131 + +Buginese, burial custom of the, 461 + +Bugotu, 350, 352; + in Ysabel, 372, 379 + +Building king's house, men sacrificed at, 446 + +Bukaua, the, of German New Guinea, 242, 256 _sqq._ + +Bull-roarers, 243; + used in divination, 249; + described, 250; + used at initiation of young men among the Yabim, 250 _sqq._; + among the Kaya-Kaya, 255; + at initiation among the Bukaua, 260 _sq._; + associated with the spirits of the dead, 261; + at initiation among the Kai, 263, 291; + at initiation of young men among the Tami, 301, 302 + +Bulotu or Bulu, the land of the dead, 462, 463 + +Bundle, the fatal, 472; + story of, 77 _sq._ + +_Bures_, Fijian temples, 439 + +Burial different for old and young, married and unmarried, etc., 161 + _sqq._; + and burning of the dead, 162 _sq._; + special modes of, intended to prevent or facilitate the return of the + spirit, 163 _sqq._; + second, custom of, 166 _sq._; + in trees, 203; + in island, 319; + in the sea, 347 _sq._ + +---- customs of the Australian aborigines, 144 _sqq._; + in Tumleo, 223; + of the Kai, 274; + of the New Caledonians, 326 _sq._, 339 _sq._; + in New Ireland, 397 _sq._; + in the Duke of York Island, 403. + _See also_ Corpse, Grave + +---- -grounds, sacred, 378 + +Buried alive, old people, 359 _sq._ + +Burma, 75 + +Burning and burial of the dead, 162 _sq._ + +---- bodies of women who died in childbed, 459 + +Burns inflicted on themselves by mourners, 154, 155, 157, 327, 451 + +Burnt offerings to the dead, 294 + +---- sacrifices, reasons for, 348 _sq._; + to ghosts, 366, 367 _sq._, 373 + +Burying alive the sick and old, Fijian custom of, 420 _sqq._ + +---- people in their birthplaces, 160 + +Bushmen, 65 + +_Buwun_, deities, 296 + + +Caffres of South Africa, their beliefs as to the causes of death, 55 +_sq._ + +Calabar, poison ordeal in, 52 + +California, Indians of, 68 + +Calling back a lost soul, 312 + +Calm and wind produced by weather-doctors, 385 _sq._ + +Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, 171, 191 + +Canaanites, the heathen, 154 + +Canadian Indians, burial custom of the, 454 + +Canarium nuts, first-fruits of, offered to ghosts, 368 _sq._ + +Cannibal feasts in Fiji, 446 + +Cannibals fear the ghosts of their victims, 396 + +Canoe, men sacrificed at launching a new, 446 _sq._ + +Canoes, Papuan, 220 + +Cape Bedford in Queensland, 129, 130, 131 + +---- King William in German New Guinea, 218, 238 + +Carnac in Brittany, 438 + +Catching soul in a scarf, 412 _sq._ + +Cause, Hume's analysis of, 18 _sq._ + +Causes, the propensity to search for, 17 _sq._; + two classes of, 22 + +Caves used as burial-places or charnel-houses, 330 _sqq._ + +Celebes, Central, 72 + +Central Australia, aborigines of, their ideas as to natural death, 46 +_sq._; + their ideas as to resurrection, 68; + their belief in immortality, 87 _sqq._; + their belief in reincarnation of the dead, 92 _sqq._; + their attitude towards the dead, 124 _sqq._ + +Cereals unknown to Melanesians and Polynesians, 408 + +Ceremonial impurity of manslayer, 229 _sq._ + +Ceremonies performed in honour of the Wollunqua, a mythical water-snake, + 108 _sqq._; + dramatic, to commemorate the doings of ancestors, 118 _sqq._; + funeral, of the Torres Straits Islanders, 176 _sqq._ + _See also_ Dramatic Ceremonies, Dramatic Representations, Funeral + Ceremonies, Totems + +Chameleon in myths of the origin of death, 60 _sqq._ + +Chams of Annam, 67 + +Charms imparted by dead in dreams, 139 + +Charnel-houses, 221 _sq._, 225, 328 + +Cheating the devil, 460 + +Chepara, the, 139 + +Cheremiss of Russia, burial custom of the, 457 + +Cherokee Indians, 77 + +Chief, spirit of dead, a worshipful ghost, 352 + +Chief's power in Central Melanesia based on a fear of ghosts, 391 + +Chiefs deified after death, 369 + +Chiefs' authority based on their claim to magical powers, 395 + +Chieftainship, rise of, 141 + +Childbed, treatment of ghosts of women dying in, 358; + special fear of ghosts of women dying in, 458 _sqq._ + +Childless women, burial of, 458 + +Children, Central Australian theory of the birth of, 93 _sq._; + belief of Queensland natives as to the birth of, 128 + +Children buried in trees, 161, 312 _sq._; + stillborn, burial of, 458 + +Child-stones, 93 _sq._ + +Chingpaws of Burma, 75 + +_Choi_, disembodied human spirits, 128 + +Chukchansi Indians, 163 + +_Churinga_, sacred sticks or stones, 96 _sqq._ + +Circumcision as initiatory rite of young men, 233; + among the Yabim, 250 _sqq._; + among the Akikuyu, 254; + among the Bukaua, 260 _sq._; + among the Kai, 290 _sq._; + among the Tami, 301 _sq._; + as a propitiatory sacrifice, 426 _sqq._ + +Clans, totemic, 104 + +Clay, widow's body smeared with, 223 + +Cleanliness due to fear of sorcery, 386 _sq._, 414 + +Cleft stick used in cure, 271 + +Clercq, F. S. A. de, 316 + +Cloth and weapons offered to ancestral spirits, 430 _sq._ + +Clubhouses for men, 221, 225, 226, 243, 256 _sq._, 355 + +Cochinchina, 74 + +Coco-nut trees of dead cut down, 208, 209, 327; + stones to blight, 335 + +---- -nuts tabooed, 297 + +Codrington, Dr. R. H., 54 _sq._, 344, 345 _sq._, 353, 355, 359, 362 +_sq._, 368, 380 _sq._ + +Collins, David, 133 + +Commemorative and magical ceremonies combined, 122, 126 + +Commercial habits of the North Melanesians, 394 + +Communal houses, 304 + +Communism, temporary revival of primitive, 436 _sq._ + +Comparative and descriptive anthropology, their relation, 230 _sq._ + +Comparative method applied to the study of religion, 5 _sq._; + in anthropology, 30 + +Compartments in land of the dead, 244, 354, 404 + +Competition as a cause of progress, 89 _sq._ + +Conception in women, Central Australian theory of, 93 _sq._; + belief of Queensland natives concerning, 128 + +Conception of death, the savage, 31 _sqq._ + +Concert of spirits, 340 _sq._ + +Confession of sins, 201 + +Congo, natives of the, their ideas as to natural death, 50; + worship of the moon on the, 68 + +Consecration of manslayers in Fiji, 448 _sq._ + +Consultation of ancestral images, 308 _sqq._ + +Continence, required in training yam vines, 371 + +Continuance of death, myth of the, 472 + +Contradictions and inconsistencies in reasoning not peculiar to savages, +111 _sq._ + +Convulsions as evidence of inspiration, 443, 444 + +Co-operative system of piety, 333 + +Coorgs, the, 163 + +Cord worn round neck by mourners, 241, 242, 249, 259, 361 + +Corpse inspected to discover sorcerer, 37, 38, 53 _sq._; + dried on fire, 135, 184, 249, 313, 355; + tied to prevent ghost from walking, 144; + mauled and mutilated in order to disable the ghost, 153; + putrefying juices of, received by mourners on their bodies, 167, 205; + carried out feet foremost, 174; + decked with ornaments and flowers, 232; + painted white and red, 233; + crowned with red roses, 233, 234; + stript of ornaments before burial, 234, 241; + kept in house, 355; + property displayed beside the, 397; + persons who have handled a corpse forbidden to touch food with their + hands, 450 _sq._; + carried out of house by special opening, 452 _sqq._ + +Corpses mummified, 313; + of women dying in childbed burnt, 459 + +Costume of mourners, 184, 198, 241 _sq._; + of widow and widower, 204 + +Costumes of actors in dramatic ceremonies concerned with totems, 119 +_sqq._ + +Crabs in myth of the origin of death, 70 + +Cracking joints of fingers at incantation, 223 + +Creator, the, and the origin of death, 73 + +Crocodiles, transmigration of dead into, 245 + +Cromlechs, 438 + +Crops, ghosts expected to make the crops thrive, 259, 284, 288 _sq._ + +Cross-questioning a ghost by means of fire, 278 + +Cultivation of the ground, spirits of ancestors supposed to help in the, +259 + +Culture, advance of, among the aborigines of South-Eastern Australia, + 141 _sq._, 148 _sq._; + advanced, of the Fijians, 407 + +Cursing enemies, 370, 403, 404 + +Cutting down trees of the dead, 208, 209 + +Cuttings of the flesh in honour of the dead, 154 _sqq._, 183, 184 _sq._, +196, 272, 327, 359 + + +Dance of death, 185 _sqq._ + +Dances as funeral rites, 179 _sqq._, 200; + masked, of the Monumbo, 228; + masked, of a Secret Society, 233; + at deaths, 293 _sq._; + of masked men in imitation of spirits, 297; + at festivals, 316; + at festivals of the dead, 321; + at funeral feasts, 399 + +---- and games at festivals, 226 + +Dark, ghosts dreaded in the, 197, 283, 306, 467; + female mourners remain in the, 360 + +Daula, a ghost associated with the frigate-bird, 376 + +Dawson, James, 42, 142, 143 + +Dazing a ghost, 416 + +Dead, worship of the, 23 _sqq._, 31, 328 _sqq._, 338; + seen in dreams, 27; + belief in the reincarnation of the, 92 _sqq._, 107; + spirits of, associated with conspicuous features of the landscape, + 115 _sqq._; + reincarnation of the, 124 _sq._, 127 _sqq._; + souls of the, supposed to go to the sky, 133 _sq._, 135, 138 _sq._, + 141, 142; + souls of the, supposed to be in stars, 134, 140; + names of the, not mentioned, 135; + magical virtue attributed to the hair of the, 137 _sq._; + appear to the living in dreams, 139, 195, 213, 229; + attentions paid to the, in regard to food, fire, property, etc., + 144 _sqq._; + property of, deposited in grave, 145 _sqq._; + motive for destroying the property of the, 147 _sq._; + economic loss entailed by sacrifices to the, 149; + incipient worship of the, in Australia, 149, 150; + feared, 152 _sq._, 173 _sqq._, 196 _sq._, 201, 203, 244, 248; + cuttings of the flesh in honour of the, 154 _sqq._, 183, 184 _sq._, + 196, 327, 359; + thought to be strengthened by blood, 159; + disposed of in different ways according to their age, manner of death, + etc., 161 _sqq._; + fear of the, 168; + germs of a worship of the, in Australia, 168 _sq._; + destruction of the property of the, 174; + land of the, 175 _sq._, 192, 193, 194 _sq._, 202, 203, 207, 209 _sq._, + 211 _sqq._, 224, 228 _sq._, 244, 260, 286 _sq._, 292, 299, 305 _sq._, + 307, 322, 326, 345, 350 _sq._, 353 _sq._, 404 _sqq._, 462 _sqq._; + personated by masked men, 176, 179 _sq._, 182 _sq._, 185 _sqq._; + food offered to the, 183, 211, 214, 232, 241, 332, 338, 348 _sq._, + 364 _sq._, 367 _sq._, 372 _sq._, 396 _sq._, 429, 442, 467; + elements of a worship of the, in Torres Straits, 189; + laid on platforms, 199, 203, 205; + worshipped in British New Guinea, 201 _sq._; + prayers to the, 201 _sq._, 214, 259, 288, 307, 329 _sq._, 332 _sqq._, + 340, 376 _sq._, 401, 403 _sq._, 427, 441; + names of, not mentioned, 210, 246; + monuments of the, 225; + offerings of hunters and fishers to the, 226; + oracles of the, 235; + buried in the house, 236, 347, 352, 397, 398, 399; + offerings to the, 239, 276, 292, 298; + transmigrate into animals, 242, 245; + spirits of the, give good crops, 247 _sq._; + elements of a worship of the dead among the Yabim, 255; + spirits of the, believed to be mischievous, 257; + ancestors supposed to help in the cultivation of the ground, 259; + first-fruits offered to the, 259; + buried under houses, 259; + envious of the living, 267, 381; + burnt offerings to the, 294; + predominance of the worship of the, 297 _sq._; + power of the, over the living, 298, 306 _sq._, 307; + sacrifices to the, 307, 338; + wooden images (_korwar_) of the, 307 _sqq._, 315, 316 _sq._, 321, 322; + buried in island, 319; + festival of the, 320 _sq._; + medicine-men, inspired by spirits of the, 322; + spirits of the, embodied in their skulls, 338; + spirits of the, identified with white men, 342; + buried in the sea, 347 _sq._, 397; + relics of the, preserved, 348; + bodies of the, preserved for a time in the house, 351; + represented by wooden stocks, 374, 386; + burned in New Ireland, 397; + carried out of house by special opening, 452 _sqq._ + _See also_ Ghost + +Dead kings of Uganda consulted as oracles, 151 + +Death, the problem of, 31 _sqq._; + the savage conception of, 31 _sqq._; + thought to be an effect of sorcery, 33 _sqq._; + by natural causes, recognised by some savages, 55 _sq._; + myths of the origin of, 59 _sqq._; + personified in tales, 79 _sqq._; + not regarded as a natural necessity, 84 _sqq._; + the second, of the dead, 195, 286, 299, 345, 350, 351, 354; + attributed to sorcery, 249; + violent, ascribed to sorcery, 268 _sq._; + myth of the continuance of, 472 + +Death and resurrection at initiation, ceremony of, 431, 434 _sq._; + pretence of, at initiation, 254 _sq._, 261, 302 + +Death-dances, 293 _sq._; + of the Torres Straits Islanders, 179 _sqq._ + +Deaths from natural causes, disbelief of savages in, 33 _sqq._; + attributed to sorcery, 136, 203; + set down to sorcery or ghosts, 203, 268, 270 + +Deceiving the ghost, 237, 273, 280 _sqq._, 328 + +Deceiving the spirits, 298 + +Deification of the dead, 24, 25; + of parents, 439 + +Deity consumes soul of offering, 297 + +Demon carries off soul of sick, 194 + +Demons as causes of disease and death, 36 _sq._ + +Demonstrations, extravagant, of grief at a death, dictated by fear of +the ghost, 271 _sqq._ + +Dene or Tinneh Indians, their ideas as to death, 39 _sq._ + +Departure of ghost thought to coincide with disappearance of flesh from +bones, 165 _sq._ + +Descent of the living into the nether world, 300, 355 + +Descriptive and comparative anthropology, their relation, 230 _sq._ + +Descriptive method in anthropology, 30 + +Desertion of house after a death, 195, 196 _n._ 1, 210, 248, 275, 349, + 400; + of village after a death, 275 + +Deserts as impediments to progress, 89, 90 + +Design emblematic of totem, 168 + +Destruction of house after a death, 210 + +---- of life and property entailed by the belief in immortality, 468 + _sq._ + +---- of property of the dead, 174, 459; + motive for, 147 _sq._, 327 + +Development arrested or retarded in savagery, 88 _sqq._ + +Dieri, the, 138; + their burial customs, 144 + +Differentiation of function in prayer, 332 _sq._ + +Disbelief of savages in death from natural causes, 34 _sqq._ + +Disease supposed to be caused by sorcery, 35 _sqq._; + demons regarded as causes of, 36 _sq._; + recognised by some savages as due to natural causes, 55 _sq._; + special modes of disposing of bodies of persons who die of, 162, 163. + _See also_ Sickness + +Diseases ascribed to ghosts, 257 + +Disinterment of the bones of the dead, 225, 294 + +Dissection of corpse to discover cause of death, 53 _sq._ + +Divination to discover cause of death, 35, 36, 37 _sq._, 38, 39 _sq._, + 44, 45 _sq._, 50 _sqq._, 53 _sq._, 136; + by liver, 54; + by dreams, 136, 383; + by the skulls of the dead, 179; + to discover sorcerer who caused death, 240 _sq._, 249 _sq._, 257, 402; + by bow, 241; + by hair to discover cause of death, 319; + by means of ghosts, 389 _sq._; + to discover ghost who has caused sickness, 382 + +Divinity of kings, 16; + of Fijian kings, 407 _sq._; + Fijian notion of, 440 _sq._ + +Dog, in myth of the origin of death, 66; + the Heavenly, 460 + +Dogs sacrificed to the dead, 232, 234; + sacrificed in epidemics, 296 + +Doreh Bay in Dutch New Guinea, 303, 306 + +Dragon supposed to swallow lads at initiation, 301. + _See also_ Monster + +Drama of death and resurrection at initiation, 431, 434 _sq._ + +----, evolution of, 189 + +Dramatic ceremonies in Central Australia, magical intention of, 122 +_sq._, 126 + +---- concerned with totems, 119 _sqq._ + +---- to commemorate the doings of ancestors, 118 _sqq._ + +Dramatic representation of ghosts and spirits by masked men, 176, 179 +_sq._, 180 _sqq._, 185 _sqq._ + +Drawings on ground in religious or magical ceremony, 112 _sq._ + +---- on rocks, 318 + +Dread of witchcraft, 413 _sq._ + +Dreamer, professional, 383 + +Dreams as a source of the belief in immortality and of the worship of + the dead, 27 _sq._, 214; + divination by, 136; + appearance of the dead to the living in, 139, 195, 213, 229; + savage faith in the truth of, 139 _sq._; + consultation of the dead in, 179; + danger of, 194; + the dead communicate with the living in, 248 + +Driving away the ghost, 178, 197, 248, 305, 306, 323, 356 _sqq._, 396, +399, 415 + +Drowning of ghosts, 224 + +Duke of York Island, 393, 397, 403, 404 + +Dying, threats of the, 273 + + +Ears of corpse stopped with hot coals, 152; + of mourners cut, 183, 272, 327 + +Earth-burial and tree-burial, 161, 166 _sq._ + +Earthquakes ascribed to ghosts, 286, 288; + caused by deities, 296 + +Eating totemic animals or plants, 120 _sq._ + +Economic loss entailed by sacrifices to the dead, 149; + entailed by the belief in immortality, 468 _sq._ + +Eel, ghost in, 379 + +Eels offered to the dead, 429 + +Egypt, custom at embalming a corpse in ancient, 178 + +Elysium, the Fijian, 466 _sq._ + +Embryology of religion, 88 + +Emu totem, dramatic ceremonies concerned with, 122, 123 + +Encounter Bay tribe of South Australia, 42 + +Epilepsy ascribed to anger of ghosts, 257, 283 + +---- and inspiration, 15 + +Erdweg, Father Josef, 218, 219, 227 + +Erskine, Capt. J. E., 409 + +_Ertnatulunga_, sacred store-house, 99 + +_Erythrophloeum guiniense_, in poison ordeal, 50 + +Esquimaux, burial custom of the, 454, 456 + +Essence, immaterial, of sacrifice absorbed by ghosts and spirits, 285, +287, 374 + +Euhemerism, 24 _sq._ + +Euhemerus, 24 + +European teaching, influence of, on native beliefs, 142 _sq._ + +Evil spirits regarded as causes of death, 36 _sq._ + +Excitement as mark of inspiration, 14 + +Exogamy with female descent, 416, 418 + +Exorcism as cure for sickness, 222 _sq._ + +Experience defined, 12; + two sorts of, 13 _sq._ + +---- and intuition, 11 + +External world, question of the reality of, 13 _sq._; + an illusion, 21 + +Eye, soul resides in the, 267 + +Eyes of corpse bandaged, 459 + + +Faints ascribed to action of ghosts, 257, 283 + +Faith, weakening of religious, 4 + +Falling stars the souls of the dead, 229, 399 + +Family prayers of the New Caledonians, 332 _sq._, 340 + +---- priests, 332, 340 + +Famine, the stone of, 334 _sq._ + +Fasting in mourning for a king, 451 _sq._ + +Father-in-law, mourning for a, 155 + +Favourable natural conditions, their influence in stimulating social +progress, 141 _sq._, 148 _sq._ + +Fear of ghosts, 134, 135, 147, 151 _sqq._, 158, 173 _sqq._, 195, 196 + _sq._, 201, 203, 229 _sq._, 232, 237, 276, 282 _sq._, 305, 321, 327, + 347, 396, 414 _sq._, 449, 455, 467; + a moral restraint, 175; + the source of extravagant demonstrations of grief at death, 271 + _sqq._; + taboo based on, 390 _sq._; + a bulwark of morality, 392; + funeral customs based on, 450 _sqq._; + of women dying in childbed, 458 _sqq._ + +Fear of the dead, 152 _sq._, 168, 173 _sqq._, 195, 196 _sq._, 201, 203, +244, 248 + +---- of witchcraft, 244 + +---- the only principle of religious observances in Fiji, 443 + +Feasts provided for ghosts, 247 _sq._ + _See also_ Funeral Feasts + +Feather-money offered to ghosts, 374, 375 + +Feet foremost, corpse carried out, 174 + +Ferry for ghosts, 224, 244 _sq._, 350, 412, 462 + +Festival of the dead, 320 _sq._ + +Fig-trees, sacred, 199 + +Fighting or warrior ghosts, 370 + +Fiji and the Fijians, 406 _sqq._ + +----, human sacrifices in, 446 _sq._ + +Fijian islands, scenery of, 409 _sq._ + +---- myths of origin of death, 66 _sq._, 75 _sq._ + +Fijians, belief in immortality among the, 406 _sqq._; + their advanced culture, 407 + +Fingers amputated in mourning, 199, 451 + +---- of living sacrificed in honour of the dead, 426 _sq._ + +Finsch Harbour in German New Guinea, 218, 242, 262 + +Fire as a means of keeping off ghosts, 131 + +---- -flies, ghosts as, 352 + +---- kindled on grave, to warm ghost, 144 _sq._, 196 _sq._, 209, 211, +223, 275, 359 + +---- supplied to ghost, 246 _sq._; + used to keep off ghosts, 258, 283; + used in cross-questioning a ghost, 278 + +Firstborn children, skull-topped images made of dead, 312 + +First-fruits offered to the dead, 259; + of canarium nuts offered to ghosts, 368 _sq._; + offered to deified spirits of dead chiefs, 369; + offered to ghosts, 373 _sq._; + of yams offered to the ancestral spirits, 429 + +Fish offered by fishermen to the dead, 226; + prayers for, 329; + ghost in, 379 + +---- totem, dramatic ceremony concerned with, 119 _sq._, 121 + +Fishermen pray to ghosts, 289 + +----, stones to help, 337 + +Fison, Lorimer, 407, 412, 416, 418, 428 _n._ 1, 434, 435 _sqq._, 438 +_n._ 1, 445, 448 + +Fits ascribed to contact with ghosts, 283. + _See also_ Epilepsy + +Florida, one of the Solomon Islands, 346, 347, 348, 349, 367, 368, 376, +377, 379, 380 + +Flutes, sacred, 221, 226, 233, 252 + +Flying-foxes, souls of the dead in, 405 + +Food placed on grave, 144; + offered to the dead, 183, 201, 208, 211, 214, 232, 241, 332, 338, 364 + _sq._, 367 _sq._, 372 _sq._, 396 _sq._, 429, 442, 467; + abstinence from certain, in mourning, 198, 208, 209, 230, 314, 360, + 452; + supply promoted by ghosts, 283; + offered to ancestral spirits, 316; + offered to the skulls of the dead, 339 _sq._, 352; + offered to ghosts, 348 _sq._; + of ghosts, the living not to partake of the, 355 + +---- not to be touched with the hands by gravediggers, 327; + not to be touched with hands by persons who have handled a corpse, + 450 _sq._ + +---- and water, abundance of, favourable to social progress, 90 _sq._; + offered to the dead, 174 + +Fool and Death, 83 + +Footprints, magic of, 45 + +Foundation-sacrifice of men, 446 + +Fowlers pray to ghosts, 289 + +Frenzy a symptom of inspiration, 443, 444 _sq._ + +Frigate-bird, mark of the, 350; + ghost associated with the, 376 + +Frigate-birds, ghosts in, 380 + +Frog in stories of the origin of death, 61, 62 _sq._ + +Fruit-trees cut down for ghost, 246 + +---- of the dead cut down, 399 + +Funeral ceremonies intended to dismiss the ghost from the land of the +living, 174 _sq._ + +---- ceremonies of the Torres Straits Islanders, 176 _sqq._ + +---- customs of the Tami, 293 _sq._; + of the Central Melanesians, 347 _sqq._, 355 _sqq._; + based on fear of ghosts, 450 _sqq._ + +---- feasts, 348, 351, 358 _sq._, 360, 396; + orations, 355 _sq._ + +Forces, impersonal, the world conceived as a complex of, 21 + +Foreskins sacrificed in honour of the dead, 426 _sq._; + of circumcised lads presented to ancestral gods, 427 + + +Gaboon, the, 54 + +Gajos of Sumatra, burial custom of the, 455 + +Gall used in divination, 54 + +Game offered by hunters to the dead, 226 + +Ganindo, a warrior ghost, 363 _sq._ + +Gardens, ghosts of, 371 + +Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain, 48, 69, 398, 405 + +Geelvink Bay, in Dutch New Guinea, 303, 307 + +Genital members of human victims hung on tree, 447 _n._ 1 + +German burial custom, 453, 458 + +Ghost appeased by sham fight, 137; + hunted into the grave, 164 _sq._; + thought to linger near body till flesh is decayed, 165 _sq._; + elaborate funeral ceremonies designed to get rid of, 174 _sq._; + driven away, 178, 197, 248; + extracted from body of patient, 271; + calls for vengeance, 278; + cursed and ill-treated, 285; + who causes sunshine and rain, 375 + +---- -posts, 375 + +---- -seer, 204 _sq._, 214, 229 + +---- -shooter, 387 _sq._ + +Ghostly ferry, 350, 412. + _See also_ Ferry + +Ghosts, mischievous nature of, 28; + as causes of sickness, 54 _sqq._, 195, 197, 222, 300, 305, 322, 389; + feared, 134, 135, 147, 151 _sqq._, 158, 173 _sqq._, 195, 196 _sq._, + 201, 203, 229 _sq._, 232, 237, 271 _sqq._, 276, 282 _sq._, 305, 321, + 327, 347, 396, 414 _sq._, 449, 457, 467; + attentions paid to, in regard to food, fire, property, etc., 144 + _sqq._; + feared only of recently departed, 151 _sq._; + of nearest relations most feared, 153; + represented dramatically by masked men, 176, 179 _sq._, 182 _sq._, + 185 _sqq._; + should have their noses bored, 192, 194 _sq._; + return of the, 195, 198, 246, 300; + carry off the souls of the living, 197; + cause bad luck in hunting and fishing, 197; + identified with phosphorescent lights, 198, 258; + appear to seer, 204 _sq._; + of slain enemies especially dreaded, 205; + of the hanged specially feared, 212; + certain classes of ghosts specially feared, 212; + malignity of, 212, 381; + drowned, 224; + village of, 231 _sq._, 234; + give information, 240; + provided with fire, 246 _sq._; + feasts provided for, 247 _sq._; + thought to give good crops, 247 _sq._; + communicate with the living in dreams, 248; + diseases ascribed to action of, 257; + of the slain, special fear of, 258, 279, 306, 323; + of ancestors appealed to for help, 258 _sq._; + precautions taken against, 258; + expected to make the crops thrive, 259, 284, 288 _sq._; + natural death ascribed to action of, 268; + sickness ascribed to action of, 269 _sq._, 271, 279, 372, 375, 381 + _sqq._; + deceived, 273, 280 _sqq._, 328; + thought to help hunters, 274, 284 _sq._; + in the form of animals, 282; + help the living by promoting supply of food, 283; + cause earthquakes, 286, 288; + as patrons of hunting and other departments, 287; + die the second death, 287; + turn into animals, 287; + turn into ant-hills, 287; + of warriors invoked by warriors, 288; + invoked by warriors, farmers, fowlers, fishermen, etc., 288 _sqq._; + of men may grow into gods, 289 _sq._; + of the dead in the form of serpents, 300; + driven away, 305, 306, 323, 356 _sqq._, 396, 399, 415; + cause all sorts of misfortunes, 306 _sq._; + call for vengeance, 310, 468; + sacrifices to, 328; + of power and ghosts of no account, distinction between, 345 _sq._; + of the recent dead most powerful, 346; + prayers to, 348; + of land and sea, 348; + food offered to, 348 _sq._; + live in islands, 350, 353; + live underground, 353 _sq._; + worshipful, 362 _sq._; + public and private, 367, 369 _sq._; + first-fruits offered to, 368 _sq._, 373 _sq._; + warlike, 370; + of gardens, 371; + human sacrifices to, 371 _sq._; + incarnate in sharks, 373; + sacrifices to, at planting, 375; + sanctuaries of, 377 _sq._; + incarnate in animals, 379 _sq._; + envious of the living, 381; + carry off souls, 383; + in stones, 383 _sq._; + inspiration by means of, 389 _sq._; + killed, 415 _sq._; + dazed, 416; + prevented from returning to the house, 455 _sq._; + unmarried, hard fate of, 464 + +Ghosts and spirits, distinction between, in Central Melanesia, 343, 363; + regulate the weather, 384 _sq._ + +---- of women dying in childbed, special fear of, 458 _sqq._; + special treatment of, 358. + _See also_ Dead _and_ Spirits + +Giant, mythical, thought to appear annually with the south-east monsoon, +255 + +Gifford, Lord, 2, 3 + +Girdle made from hair of dead, 138 + +Gnanji, the, of Central Australia, 92 + +Goat in story of the origin of death, 64 + +God, the question of his existence, 2; + defined, 9 _sq._; + knowledge of, how acquired, 11 _sqq._; + inferred as a cause, 22 _sq._; + and the origin of death, 61 _sqq._; + in form of serpent, 445, 462 + +Gods created by man in his own likeness, 19 _sq._; + of nature, 20; + human, 20, 23 _sqq._; + unknown among aborigines of Australia, 91; + often developed out of ghosts, 289 _sq._; + ancestors worshipped as, 340, 369; + ancestral, sacrifice of foreskins to, 427; + ancestral, libations to, 438; + two classes of, in Fiji, 440 + +---- and spirits, no certain demarcation between, 441 + +Goldie, Rev. Hugh, 52 + +Good crops given by ghosts, 247 _sq._ + +---- spirit, 143 + +---- and bad, different fate of the, after death, 354 + +Gran Chaco, in Argentina, 165 + +Grandfather, soul of, reborn in grandchild, 417; + his ghost dazed, 416 + +Grandfather and grandchild, their relation under exogamy and female +kinship, 416, 418 + +Grandidier, A., 49 + +Grass for graves, euphemism for human victims buried with the dead, 425 +_sq._ + +---- -seed, magical ceremony for increasing, 102 + +Grave, food placed on, 144, 145; + property of dead deposited in, 145 _sqq._; + hut erected on, 203; + of worshipful dead a sanctuary, 347; + stones heaped on, 360; + sacrifices to ghost on, 382 + +Gravediggers, purification of, 314; + secluded, 327; + secluded and painted black, 451 + +Graves, huts built on, for use of ghosts, 150 _sq._; + under the houses, 274. + _See also_ Huts + +Great Woman, the, 464 + +Greek tragedy, W. Ridgeway on the origin of, 189 + +Greeks, purificatory rites of ancient, 206 + +Greenlanders, burial custom of the, 454 + +Grey, Sir George, 41; + taken for an Australian aboriginal, 131 _sqq._ + +Grief, extravagant demonstrations of grief in mourning, their motives, +135 _sq._ + +---- at a death, extravagant demonstrations of, dictated by fear of the +ghost, 271 _sqq._ + +_Grihya-Sutras_, 163 + +Ground drawings in magical or religious ceremony, 112 _sq._ + +Groves, sacred, the dead buried in, 326 + +Guadalcanar, one of the Solomon Islands, 350, 372 + +Guardian spirits, 227 + +Guiana, Indians of, their ideas as to the cause of death, 35 _sqq._; + their offerings to the dead, 165 + +Gullet of pig sacrificed, 368 + +Gulu, king of heaven, 78 + +Gypsies, European, burial custom of, 455 + + +Haddon, Dr. A. C., 171, 172 _sq._, 175, 176, 180 + +Hagen, Dr. B., 230, 231 + +Haida, burial custom of the, 455 + +Hair burnt as charm, 43; + cut in mourning, 135, 320, 451; + of widow unshorn, 184; + of dead child worn by mother, 315; + of gravediggers not cut, 327; + used as amulet, 332 + +---- of the dead, magical virtue attributed to, 137 _sq._; + worn by relatives, 249; + divination by means of, 319 + +---- of mourners offered to the dead, 183; + cut off, 183, 204 + +Hakea flower totem, dramatic ceremony concerned with, 119, 121 + +Hands, gravediggers and persons who have handled a corpse not to touch +food with their, 327, 450 _sq._ + +Hanged, ghosts of the, specially feared, 212 + +Hare in myth of the origin of death, 65 + +Harumae, a warrior ghost, 365 _sq._ + +Hasselt, J. L. van, 305 + +Hauri, a worshipful ghost, 372 + +Head-dress of gravediggers, 327 + +Head-hunters, 352 + +Head of corpse cut off in order to disable the ghost, 153; + removed and preserved, 178. + _See also_ Skulls + +Heads of mourners shaved, 208 + +----, human, cut off in honour of the dead, 352 + +Heaps of stones on grave, 360 + +Heart supposed to be the seat of human spirit, 129 + +---- of pig sacrificed, 368 + +Heavenly Dog, 460 + +Hebrew prophets, 14 + +Hen in myth of the origin of death, 79 + +Highlands of Scotland, burial custom in the, 453, 458 + +Hindoos, burial custom of the, 453, 458 + +Historical method of treating natural theology, 2 _sq._ + +History of religion, its importance, 3 + +Hiyoyoa, the land of the dead, 207 + +Hole in the wall, dead carried out through a, 452 _sqq._ + +Holy of Holies, 430, 431, 433, 437, 438 + +Homer on blood-drinking ghosts, 159 + +Homicides, precautions taken by, against the ghosts of their victims, + 205 _sq._; + purification of, 206; + honours bestowed on, in Fiji, 447 _sq._ + _See also_ Manslayers + +Homoeopathic magic, 288, 376 + +---- or imitative magic, 335, 336, 338 + +Honorary titles of homicides in Fiji, 447 _sq._ + +Hood Peninsula of British New Guinea, 47, 202, 203 + +Hos of Togoland, their myth of the origin of death, 81 _sqq._ + +Hose, Ch., and McDougall, W., quoted, 265 _n._, 417 + +Hottentots, their myth of the origin of death, 65; + burial custom of the, 454 + +House deserted after a death, 195, 196 _n._ 1, 248, 275, 349, 400; + deserted or destroyed after a death, 210; + dead buried in the, 236, 347, 352, 397, 398, 399; + dead carried out of, by special opening, 452 _sqq._ + +Houses, native, at Kalo, 202; + communal, 304 + +Howitt, Dr. A. W., 44 _sq._, 139, 141 + +Human gods, 20, 23 _sqq._ + +---- nature, two different views of, 469 _sqq._ + +---- sacrifices to ghosts, 371 _sq._; + in Fiji, 446 _sq._ + +Hume's analysis of cause, 18 _sq._ + +Hunt, Mr., his experience in Fiji, 423 _sq._ + +Hunters supposed to be helped by ghosts, 274, 284 _sq._ + +Huon Gulf, in German New Guinea, 242, 256 + +Hut built to represent mythical monster at initiation, 251, 290, 301 +_sq._ + +Huts erected on graves for use of ghosts, 150 _sq._; + erected on graves, 203, 223, 248, 259, 275, 293, 294 + +Hypocritical lamentations at a death, 273 + +---- indignation of accomplice at a murder, 280 _sqq._ + + +Idu, mountain of the dead, 193, 194 _sq._ + +Iguana in myth of origin of death, 70 + +Ilene, a worshipful ghost, 373 + +Ill-treatment of ghost who gives no help, 285 + +Illusion of the external world, 21 + +Images of the dead, wooden (_korwar_ or _karwar_), 307 _sqq._, 311, 315, + 316 _sq._, 321, 322; + of sharks, 373; + in temples, 442 + +Imitation of totems by disguised actors, 119 _sqq._; + of totemic animals, 177 + +Imitative magic, 335, 336, 338, 376 + +Immortality, belief in, among the aborigines of Central Australia, 87 + _sqq._; + among the islanders of Torres Straits, 170 _sqq._; + among the natives of British New Guinea, 190 _sqq._; + among the natives of German New Guinea, 216 _sqq._; + among the natives of Dutch New Guinea, 303 _sqq._; + among the natives of Southern Melanesia, 324 _sqq._; + among the natives of Central Melanesia, 343 _sqq._; + among the natives of Northern Melanesia, 393 _sqq._; + among the Fijians, 406 _sqq._; + strongly held by savages, 468 + +Immortality, limited sense of, 25; + origin of belief in, 25 _sqq._; + belief in human, almost universal among races of mankind, 33; + rivalry between men and animals for gift of, 74 _sq._; + question of the truth of the belief in, 469 _sqq._; + destruction of life and property entailed by the belief in, 468 _sq._ + +---- in a bundle, 77 _sq._ + +Impecunious ghosts, hard fate of, 406 + +Impurity, ceremonial, of manslayer, 229 _sq._ + +Im Thurn, Sir Everard F., 38 _sq._ + +Incantations or spells, 385 + +Inconsistencies and contradictions in reasoning not peculiar to savages, +111 _sq._ + +Inconsistency of savage thought, 143 + +Indians of Guiana, their ideas about death, 35 _sqq._; + their beliefs as to the dead, 165 + +---- of North-West America, burial custom of the, 455, 460 + +Indifference to death, 419; + a consequence of belief in immortality, 422 _sq._ + +Indo-European burial custom, 453 + +Infanticide as cause of diminished population, 40 + +Influence of European teaching on native beliefs, 142 _sq._ + +Initiation at puberty regarded as a process of death and resurrection, +254, 261 + +---- of young men, 233; + in Central Australia, 100; + among the Yabim, 250 _sqq._; + among the Bukaua, 260 _sq._; + among the Kai, 290 _sq._; + in Fiji, 429 _sqq._ + +Insanity, influence of, in history, 15 _sq._ + +---- and inspiration not clearly distinguished, 388 + +Insect in divination as to cause of death, 44, 46 + +Inspiration, theory of, 14 _sq._; + of medium by ancestral spirits, 308 _sqq._; + by spirits of the dead, 322; + by ghosts in Central Melanesia, 388 _sq._; + attested by frenzy, 443, 444 _sq._ + +---- and insanity not clearly distinguished, 388 + +Insufflations, magical, to heal the sick, 329 + +_Intichiuma_, magical ceremonies for the multiplication of totems, 122 +_sq._ + +Intuition and experience, 11 + +Invocation of ghosts, 288 _sq._; + of the dead, 329 _sq._, 332 _sqq._, 377, 378, 401, 441 + +Island, dead buried in, 319 + +---- of the dead, fabulous, 175 + +Islands, ghosts live in, 350, 353 + +Isle of Pines, 325, 330, 337 + +Israelites forbidden to cut themselves for the dead, 154 + +Ivory Coast, 52 + + +Jackson, John, quoted, 419 _sqq._, 447 + +Jappen or Jobi, island, 303 + +Jawbone of husband worn by widow, 204; + lower, of corpse preserved, 234 _sq._, 236, 274; + of dead king of Uganda preserved and consulted oracularly, 235 + +Jawbones of the dead preserved, 351 _sq._; + of dead worn by relatives, 404 + +Journey of ghosts to the land of the dead, 286 _sq._, 361 _sq._, 462 +_sqq._ + +Juices of putrefaction received by mourners on their bodies, 167, 205, +403 + +---- of putrefying corpse drunk by widow, 313; + drunk by women, 355 + + +Kachins of Burma, burial custom of the, 459 + +Kafirs, their beliefs as to the causes of death, 56 + +Kagoro, the, of Northern Nigeria, 28 _n._ 1, 49 + +Kai, the, of German New Guinea, 71, 262 _sqq._; + theory of the soul, 267 + +Kaikuzi, brother of Death, 80 + +Kaitish, the, 68, 158, 166 + +Kalo, in British New Guinea, 202 _sq._ + +_Kalou_, Fijian word for "god," 440 + +_Kalou vu_, "root gods," 440 + +_Kalou yalo_, "soul gods," 440 + +_Kami_, the souls of the dead, 297 _sq._ + +Kamilaroi tribe of New South Wales, 46, 155 + +_Kanaima_ (_kenaima_), 36, 38 + +_Kani_, name applied to ghosts, to bull-roarers, and to the monster who +is thought to swallow lads at circumcision, 301 + +Kaniet islands, 401 + +_Kava_ offered to ancestral spirits, 440 + +Kavirondo, burial custom of the, 458 + +Kaya-Kaya or Tugeri, the, of Dutch New Guinea, 255 + +Kayans, the, of Borneo, 417; + burial custom of, 456 _sq._, 459 + +Kemp Welch River, 202 + +_Keramo_, a fighting ghost, 370 + +Keysser, Ch., 262, 263 _sq._, 267, 269 _n._ 3 + +Kibu, the land of the dead, 175 + +Kibuka, war-god of Uganda, 366 + +Kidd, Dudley, 55 + +Kidney-fat, extraction of, 43 + +Killer of Souls, the, 465 _sq._ + +Killing a ghost, 415 _sq._ + +King, mourning for a, 451 _sq._ + +King's corpse not carried out through the door, 452, 461 + +Kings, divinity of, 16; + sanctity of Fijian, 407 _sq._ + +Kintu and the origin of death, 78 _sqq._ + +Kiwai, beliefs and customs concerning the dead in island of, 211 _sqq._ + +Koita or Koitapu, of British New Guinea, 193 + +Kolosh Indians, 163 + +Komars, the, 163 + +_Koroi_, honorary title of homicides in Fiji, 447 _sq._ + +_Korwar_, or _karwar_, wooden images of the dead, 307 _sqq._, 315, 316 +_sq._, 321, 322 + +Koryak, burial custom of the, 455 + +Kosi and the origin of death, 76 _sq._ + +Knowledge, natural, how acquired, 11 + +---- of God, how acquired, 11 _sqq._; + of ghosts essential to medical practitioners in Melanesia, 384 + +Kulin, the, 138 + +Kurnai tribe of Victoria, 44, 138 + +Kweariburra tribe, 153 + +_Kwod_, sacred or ceremonial ground, 179 + + +Lambert, Father, 325, 327, 328, 332, 339 + +Lamboam, the land of the dead, 260, 292, 299 + +Lamentations, hypocritical, at a death, 271 _sqq._, 280 _sqq._ + +Land burial and sea burial, 347 _sq._ + +---- cleared for cultivation, 238, 242 _sq._, 256, 262 _sq._, 304 + +---- ghosts and sea ghosts, 348 + +---- of the dead, 175 _sq._, 192, 193, 194 _sq._, 202, 203, 207, 209 + _sq._, 211 _sqq._, 224, 228 _sq._, 244, 260, 286 _sq._, 292, 299, 305 + _sq._, 307, 322, 326, 345, 350 _sq._, 353 _sq._, 404 _sqq._, 462 + _sqq._; + journeys of the living to the, 207, 355; + way to the, 212 _sq._, 462 _sqq._ + +Landtman, Dr. G., 214 + +Lang, Andrew, 216 _sq._ + +Laos, burial custom in, 459 + +Leaf as badge of a ghost, 391 + +Leaves thrown on scene of murder, 415 + +Leg bones of the dead preserved, 221, 249 + +Legs of corpse broken in order to disable the ghost, 153 + +Lehner, Stefan, 256 + +Lepchis of Sikhim, burial custom of the, 455 + +Le Souef, A. A. C., 40 _sq._ + +Libations to ancestral gods, 430, 438 + +Licence, period of, following circumcision, 427 _sq._; + following initiation, 433, 434 _n._ 1, 436 _sq._ + +Licentious orgy following circumcision, 427 _sq._ + +Life in the other world like life in this, 286 _sq._ + +Lightning, savage theory of, 19 + +Lights, phosphorescent, thought to be ghosts, 198, 258 + +Lime, powdered, used to dust the trail of a ghost, 277 _sq._ + +_Lio'a_, a powerful ghost, 346 + +Liver extracted by magic, 50; + divination by, 54 + +Livers of pigs offered to the dead, 360 _sq._ + +Lizard in divination as to cause of death, 44; + in myths of the origin of death, 60 _sq._, 70, 74 _sq._ + +Lizards, ghosts in, 380 + +Local totem centres, 97, 99, 124 + +Long soul and short soul, 291 _sq._ + +Lost souls, recovery of, 270 _sq._, 300 _sq._ + +Luck, bad, in fishing and hunting, caused by ghosts, 197 + +Luck of a village dependent on ghosts, 198 + +_Lum_, men's clubhouse, 243, 250, 257 + + +Mabuiag, island of, 174 + +Macassars, burial custom of the, 461 + +Macluer Gulf in Dutch New Guinea, 317, 318 + +Mad, stones to drive people, 335 + +Madagascar, ideas as to natural death in, 48 _sq._ + +Mafulu (Mambule), the, of British New Guinea, 198 _sqq._ + +Maggots, appearance of, sign of departure of soul, 292 + +Magic as a cause of death, 34 _sqq._; + Age of, 58; + attributed to aboriginal inhabitants of a country, 193; + homoeopathic or imitative, 288, 335, 336, 338, 376; + combined with religion, 111 _sq._, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 376; + Melanesian conception of, 380 _sq._; + working by means of personal refuse, 413 _sq._ + _See also_ Sorcery _and_ Witchcraft + +---- and religion compared in reference to their destruction of human +life, 56 _sq._ + +Magical ceremonies for increasing the food supply, 102; + ceremonies for the multiplication of totems, 124 _sq._; + intention of dramatic ceremonies in Central Australia, 122 _sq._, 126; + virtues attributed to sacred stones in New Caledonia, 334 _sqq._ + +Magician or priest, 336, 338. + _See also_ Sorcerer + +Magicians, their importance in history, 16; + but no priests at Doreh, 306 + +Malagasy, their ideas as to natural death, 48 _sq._ + +Malanta, one of the Solomon Islands, 350 + +Malayalis, the, of Malabar, 162 + +Malignity of ghosts, 212, 381 + +Malo, island of, 48 + +Man creates gods in his own likeness, 19 _sq._ + +----, grandeur and dignity of, 469 _sq._; + pettiness and insignificance of, 470 _sq._ + +_Mana_, supernatural or spiritual power, 346 _sq._, 352, 371, 380 + +_Manoam_, evil spirits, 321 + +Manoga, a worshipful ghost, 368 + +Manslayers, precautions taken by, against the ghosts of their victims, + 205 _sq._, 258, 279, 323; + secluded, 279 _sq._, + consecration of, 448 _sq._; + restrictions imposed on, 449. + _See also_ Homicides + +_Mari_ or _mar_, ghost, 173 + +_Mariget_, "ghost-hand," 177 + +Mariner, William, 411 + +Mariners, stones to help, 337 + +Markets, native, 394 + +Marotse, burial custom of the, 454 + +Marquesas Islands, 417 + +Married and unmarried, different modes of disposing of their corpses, +162 + +Masai, their myth of the origin of death, 65 _sq._ + +Masked men, dramatic representation of ghosts and spirits by, 176, 179 +_sq._, 180 _sqq._, 185 _sqq._ + +---- dances, 297; + of the Monumbo, 228 + +Masks worn by actors in sacred ceremonies, 179; + used in dances, 233, 297 + +Masquerades, 297 + +Massim, the, of British New Guinea, 206 + +Master of Life, 163 + +Matacos Indians, 165 + +Mate, a worshipful spirit, 239 + +Material culture of the natives of New Guinea, 191; + of the natives of Tumleo, 219 _sq._; + of Papuans, 231; + of the Yabim, 242 _sq._; + of the Noofoor, 304 _sq._; + of the New Caledonians, 339; + of the North Melanesians, 393 _sqq._ + +Mawatta or Mowat, 47 + +_Mbete_, priest, 443, 445 + +Mea, a spiritual medium, 196 + +Mecklenburg, burial custom in, 457 + +Medicine-men, their importance in history, 16; + inspired by spirits of the dead, 322 + +Medium inspired by soul of dead, 308 _sq._ + +Mediums, spiritual, 196 + +Mediums who send their souls to deadland, 300 + +Megalithic monuments, 438 + +Melanesia, Central, belief in immortality among the natives of, 343 + _sqq._ + +----, Northern, belief in immortality among the natives of, 393 _sqq._ + +----, Southern, belief in immortality among the natives of, 324 _sqq._ + +Melanesian myths of the origin of death, 69, 71 _sq._, 83 _sq._; + theory of the soul, 344 _sq._ + +Melanesians, their ideas as to natural deaths, 48, 54 _sq._; + Central, funeral customs of the, 347 _sqq._, 355 _sqq._; + and Papuans in New Guinea, 190 _sq._ + +Memorial trees, 225 + +Men sacrificed to support posts of new house, 446 _sq._; + whipped by women in mourning, 452 + +Men's clubhouses, 221, 225, 226, 243, 256 _sq._, 355 + +Mentras or Mantras of the Malay Peninsula, 73 + +Merivale on Dartmoor, 438 + +Messengers, the Two, myth of origin of death, 60 _sqq._ + +Messou, Indian magician, 78 + +Metals unknown in Northern Melanesia, 395 + +Metempsychosis, widespread belief in, 29 + +Methods of treating natural theology, 1 _sqq._ + +---- of natural knowledge, 11 + +Mexicans, the ancient, 163 + +Meyer, H. E. A., 42 + +Migration of villages, 339 + +Migratory cultivation, 243 + +Miklucho-Maclay, Baron N., 235 + +Milky Way, Central Australian belief as to the, 140; + souls of dead go to, 153 + +Milne Bay, 207 + +Mimika district in Dutch New Guinea, 318 + +Minnetaree Indians, 163 + +Misfortunes of all kinds caused by ghosts, 306 _sq._ + +Moanus, the, of the Admiralty Islands, 400 + +Monarchical government, rise of, 141 _sq._ + +Monsoon, south-east, festival at, 255 + +Monsoons, seasons determined by, 216 + +Monster supposed to swallow lads at initiation, 251 _sq._, 255, 260, +261, 290 _sq._, 301 _sq._ + +Monumbo, the, of German New Guinea, 227 _sq._ + +Monuments of the dead, 225 + +Moon, the waxing and waning, in myths of the origin of death, 60, 65 +_sqq._ + +---- in relation to doctrine of resurrection, 67 _sq._; + worship of the, 68 + +Moral restraint afforded by a fear of ghosts, 175 + +---- depravity of the Fijians, 409 + +Morality, superstition a crutch to, 175 + +Mortuary dramas, 189 + +_Mos_, a disembodied soul, 224 + +Mota, island of, 387 + +Motlav, in the Banks' Islands, 357 + +Motu, the, of British New Guinea, 192 + +Mound erected in a totemic ceremony, 110 _sq._ + +Mounds on graves, 150, 164 + +Mourners, professional, 136 + +---- smeared with white clay, 158, 177; + painted black, 178, 293, 403; + garb of, 184, 198; + cut their hair, 183, 204, 320, 451; + abstain from certain foods, 198, 208, 209, 230, 314, 360, 452; + restrictions observed by, 313 _sq._; + tattooed, 314; + purified by bathing, 314, 319; + plastered with mud, 318; + cut or tear their ears, 183, 272, 327; + secluded, 360; + smeared with ashes, 361; + anoint themselves with juices of putrefying corpse, 403; + amputate their fingers, 199, 451; + burn their skin, 154, 155, 157, 327, 451. + _See also_ Cuttings _and_ Seclusion + +Mourning, hair cut in, 135; + extravagant demonstrations of grief in, 135 _sq._; + for a father-in-law, 155; + amputation of fingers in, 199; + varying period of, 274, 293; + for a king, 451 _sq._ + +---- costume, 249, 274, 320; + a protection against ghosts, 241 _sq._; + of widower and widow, 259 _sq._ + +Mowat or Mawatta, 47 + +Mud, mourners plastered with, 318 + +Mukden, burial custom in, 460 + +Mukjarawaint tribe, 155 + +Mummies of dead preserved in houses, 188 + +Mummification of the dead, 184, 185, 313 + +_Mungai_, places associated with totems, 117, 124 + +Murder, leaves thrown on scene of, 415 + +---- highly esteemed in Fiji, 447 _sq._ + +Murdered man, ghost of, haunts murderer, 248 + +Murimuria, a second-rate heaven, 466 + +Murray Island, 174 + +Mutilations, bodily, at puberty, 303 + +Myth of the prelogical savage, 266 + +---- of the continuance of death, 472 + +Myths of the origin of death, 59 _sqq._ + + +_Nai_, souls of the dead, 240 + +Nai Thombothombo, in Fiji, 463 + +Nails of dead detached, 145; + preserved, 339 + +Naindelinde in Fiji, 465 + +Naiteru-kop, a Masai god, 65 + +Namaquas, their myth of the origin of death, 65 + +Nambanaggatai, in Fiji, 465 + +Nambi and the origin of death, 78 _sqq._ + +Name of mythical water-snake not uttered, 105 + +Names of the dead not mentioned, 135, 210, 246 + +Nandi, their myth of the origin of death, 66 + +_Nanga_, sacred stone enclosure, 428 _sqq._; + description of, 437 _sq._ + +Nangganangga, the foe of unmarried ghosts, 464 + +_Nanja_ tree or stone, 98 + +---- spot, 164, 165 + +Narrinyeri tribe of South Australia, 43; + their beliefs as to the dead, 134 _sqq._ + +Nassau, Rev. R. H., 51 + +Native beliefs influenced by European teaching, 142 _sq._ + +Natural theology defined, 1, 8 + +---- death, disbelief of savages in, 33 _sqq._ + +---- causes of death recognised by some savages, 55 _sq._ + +---- features of landscape associated with traditions about the dead, +115 _sqq._ + +Nature, gods of, 20; + souls of the dead identified with spirits of, 130; + two different views of human, 469 _sqq._ + +Nayars, the, of Cochin, 162 _sq._ + +Ndengei, Fijian god in form of serpent, 445, 462, 464, 465, 466 + +Necklaces worn in mourning, 198 + +Negen Negorijen in Dutch New Guinea, 316, 317 + +Negrito admixture in New Guinea, 198 + +Nemunemu, a creator, 240 + +Nether world, the lord of the, 286; + abode of the dead in the, 292, 299, 322, 326, 353 _sq._; + descent of the living into the, 300; + _See also_ Land of the Dead + +Nets worn by widows in mourning, 249, 260, 274, 293; + worn by women in mourning, 241 + +New birth at initiation, pretence of, 254 + +New Britain (New Pomerania), 48, 69, 393, 394, 402, 404 + +---- Caledonia, natives of, 324; + their beliefs and customs concerning the dead, 325 _sqq._; + their system of family prayers, 332 _sq._, 340; + material culture of the, 339 + +---- Georgia, 48 + +---- Guinea, aborigines of, their ideas as to natural death, 47; + the races of, 190 _sq._; + belief in immortality among the natives of British, 190 _sqq._; + belief in immortality among the natives of Dutch, 303 _sqq._; + belief in immortality among the natives of German, 216 _sqq._ + +New Hebrides, myth of the origin of death in, 71, 343, 353 + +---- Ireland (New Mecklenburg), 393, 397 + +---- South Wales, aborigines of, their ideas as to the causes of death, + 45 _sq._; + as to the home of the dead, 133 _sq._ + +Newton, Alfred, 90 _n._ 1 + +Neyaux, the, of the Ivory Coast, 52 + +_Ngai_, human spirit, 129 + +Ngoc, the, of Annam, 69 + +Ngoni, the, 61 + +Nias, island of, 70 + +Nigeria, Northern, 28 _n._ 1, 49 + +Niggardly people punished in the other world, 405 + +Noblemen alone immortal, 33 + +Noofoor, the, of Dutch New Guinea, 303 + +Noomfor, island, 303 + +Norse burial custom, 453 + +Noses bored, ghosts should have their, 192, 194 _sq._ + +Novices presented to ancestral spirits at initiation, 432 _sq._, 434 + +Nukahiva, one of the Marquesas Islands, 417 + + +Objects offered to the dead broken, 276 + +Offering, soul of, consumed by deity or spirit, 297, 298 + +Offerings of food and water to the dead, 174; + of food to the dead, 183, 201, 208, 211, 214, 232, 241, 332, 338, + 364 _sq._, 367 _sq._, 372 _sq._, 396 _sq._, 429, 442, 467; + of blood and hair to the dead, 183; + of game and fish to the dead, 226; + to the dead, 239, 276, 292; + of first-fruits to the dead, 259; + to ancestors, 298; + of food to ghosts, 348 _sq._; + to ghosts, 364 _sq._; + of first-fruits to ancestral spirits, 429; + of cloth and weapons to ancestral spirits, 430 _sq._ + _See also_ Sacrifices + +----, burnt, to the dead, 294 + +_Oknanikilla_, local totem centre, 97, 99, 124 + +Old and young, difference between the modes of burying, 161, 162 _sq._ + +Old people buried alive, 359 + +Olympia, Pelops at, 159 + +Omens after a death, 319 + +Opening, special, for carrying dead out of house, 452 _sqq._ + +Oracles of dead kings, 151 + +---- of the dead, 151, 176, 179, 235 + +Oracular responses of Fijian priests, 443 _sqq._ + +Oranges, spirits of the dead play with, 326 + +Ordeal to detect sorcerer, 50 _sqq._ + +Orgy, licentious, following circumcision, 427 _sq._ + +Origin of belief in immortality, 26 _sqq._ + +---- of death, myths of the, 59 _sqq._ + +Orion's belt, 368 + +Ornaments of corpse removed before burial, 223, 234, 241 + + +Pahouins, the, 54 + +Palsy, a Samoan god, 72 + +Pandanus, reason for planting, 362 + +---- and ghosts, 463 + +Panoi, Melanesian land of the dead, 83, 345, 353 _sq._, 355, 356 + +Papuan art, 220 + +Papuans, animistic views of the, 264 + +---- and Melanesians in New Guinea, 190 _sq._ + +_Paraks_, temples, 220 + +Parents deified, 439 + +Parkinson, R., 219, 221 + +Pelops, human blood offered on grave of, 159 + +Penates in New Guinea, 308, 317 + +Pennefather River, natives of the, their belief in reincarnation of the +dead, 128 + +Perche, burial custom in, 458 + +Personal refuse, magic working through, 386, 413 _sq._ + +Personification of natural phenomena, 20; + of death, 81 + +Phosphorescent lights supposed to be ghosts, 198, 258 + +_Physostigma venenosum_ in poison ordeal, 52 + +Piety, two types of, 23; + co-operative system of, 333 + +Pigs, blood of, smeared on skulls and bones of the dead, 200; + sacrificed to the dead, 201; + sacrificed to monster who swallows lads at initiation, 251, 253, 260, + 290, 301; + sacrificed at grave, 356; + sacrificed at burial, 359; + sacrificed to ghosts, 365 _sq._; + sacrificed vicariously for the sick, 373, 374, 375; + sacred, 433 + +----, livers of, offered to the dead, 360 _sq._ + +Pines, Isle of, 325, 330, 337 + +Pirnmeheel, good spirit, 143 + +Place of sacrifice to ghosts, 370 + +Planting, sacrifices to ghosts at, 375 + +Platforms, dead laid on, 199, 203, 205 + +Plato, on death, 33 + +Pleiades, the, 368 + +Plum-tree people, 94 + +---- totem, dramatic ceremony connected with, 120, 121 + +Poison ordeal to detect sorcerers, 50 _sqq._ + +Political constitution of the Fijians, 407 + +Pollution, ceremonial, of gravediggers, 327 + +Polynesian blood, infusion of, in New Guinea, 291 + +---- race, 406 + +Polytheism and monotheism, 11 + +Polytheism discarded, 20 _sq._ + +Population, belief in sorcery a cause of keeping down the, 38, 40, 46 +_sq._, 51 _sqq._ + +Port Lincoln tribe of S. Australia, 42 + +---- Moresby, 193, 195 + +Poso in Celebes, 72 + +Posts of new house, men sacrificed to support, 446 _sq._ + +Potsdam Harbour, in German New Guinea, 218, 227 + +Pottery, native, 220; + in New Guinea, 305 + +----, Fijian, 407 + +---- unknown in Northern Melanesia, 395 + +Practical character of the savage, 274 + +Prayer-posts, 333 _sq._ + +Prayers to the dead, 201 _sq._, 214, 222 _sq._, 259, 288, 307, 329 + _sq._, 332 _sqq._, 340, 376 _sq._, 401, 403 _sq._, 427, 441; + to ghosts, 348 + +Precautions taken against ghosts, 152 _sq._, 258; + against a wife's ghost, 197; + against ghosts of the slain, 205 _sq._ + +Predominance of the worship of the dead, 297 _sq._ + +Prelogical savage, myth of the, 266 + +Pretence of attacking persons engaged in attending to a corpse, 177, 178 + +---- of avenging the dead, 136 _sq._, 282, 328 + _See also_ Sham fight + +Priest, family, 332, 340 + +----, chief or high, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434 + +---- or magician, 336, 338 + +Priests, Fijian, 433 _sqq._ + +Private or tame ghosts, 369 _sq._, 381, 382, 386 + +---- property, rights of, consolidated by taboo, 390 + +Problem of death, 31 _sqq._ + +Progress partly determined by competition, 89 _sq._ + +----, social, stimulated by favourable natural conditions, 148 _sq._ + +Promiscuity, temporary, 427 _sq._, 433, 434 _n._ 1, 436 _sq._ + +Property displayed beside the corpse, 397 + +----, rights of private, consolidated by taboo, 390; + temporarily suspended, 427 _sq._ + +Property of dead deposited in grave, 145 _sqq._, 359, 397; + motive for destroying, 147 _sq._; + hung up on trees, 148; + destroyed, 327, 459; + burnt, 401 _sq._ + +Prophecy inspired by ghosts, 388 + +Prophets inspired by ghosts, 388 _sq._ + +----, Hebrew, 14 + +Propitiation of the dead, 201, 307, 338; + of ghosts and spirits, 226, 239, 348 + +Puberty, initiation at, 254 _sq._; + bodily mutilations at, 303 + +Public ghosts, 367, 369 + +Purification of homicides, 206, 229 + +---- by bathing and shaving, 208 + +---- of mourners by bathing, 314, 319 + + +Queensland, belief in reincarnation of the dead among the aborigines of, + 127 _sqq._; + burial customs in, 147 + + +Rain sent by a mythical water-snake, 112, 114; + prayers for, 288; + stones to make, 336 _sq._ + +---- and sunshine caused by a ghost, 375 + +---- -ghost, 375 + +---- -making, 288; + by the bones of the dead, 341 + +Rat in myth of the origin of death, 67 + +Rationality of the savage, 264 _sqq._ + +Rebirth of the dead, 93 _sq._, 107, 127 _sq._ + _See also_ Reincarnation + +---- of parents in their children, 315 + +Recovery of lost souls, 194, 270 _sq._, 300 _sq._ + +Red, skulls painted, 178 + +Red bark in poison ordeals, 50, 52 + +---- paint, manslayers smeared with, 448, 449 + +---- roses, corpse crowned with, 233, 234 + +Reflection or shadow, soul associated with, 207, 267 + +Refuse, personal, magic working by means of, 413 _sq._ + +Reincarnation, widespread belief in, 29. + _See also_ Rebirth + +---- doctrine of, unknown in Torres Straits, 172 + +---- of the dead, belief of Central Australians in, 92 _sqq._, 107 + +---- of the dead, 124 _sq._, 127 _sq._; + of Australian aborigines in white people, 130, 131 _sqq._; + of parents in their children, 315; + of grandfather in grandchild, 417, 418 + +Relics of the dead as amulets, 332, 370; + preserved, 348 + +Religion, importance of the history of, 3; + embryology of, 88 + +Religion and magic compared in reference to their destruction of human + life, 57 _sq._; + combined in ritual, 111 _sq._, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 376 + +---- and theology, how related, 9 + +Resemblance of children to the dead, a source of belief in the +transmigration of souls, 28 _sq._ + +Restrictions observed by mourners, 313 _sq._; + ceremonial, laid on gravediggers, 327; + imposed on manslayers, 449 + +Resurrection, ceremony of, among the Akikuya, 254 + +---- from the dead after three days, 67 _sq._; + of the dead, steps taken to prevent the, 144; + as an initiatory rite at puberty, 254 _sq._, 261, 302, 431, 434 _sq._ + +Return of the ghosts, 195, 198, 246, 300 + +Revelation, the question of a supernatural, 8 _sq._ + +Revival, temporary, of primitive communism, 436 _sq._ + +Rheumatism attributed to sorcery, 45 + +Rhodesia, 77 + +Ribs of dead distributed among relatives, 400 + +Ridgeway, W., on the origin of Greek tragedy, 189 + +Rights of property temporarily suspended, 427 _sq._ + +Ritual combining elements of religion and magic, 111 _sq._ + +Rivalry between man and animals for gift of immortality, 74 _sq._ + +River crossed by souls of the dead, 299, 462 + +Rocking stone, 213 + +Roro-speaking tribes of British New Guinea, 47, 196, 198 + +Roth, W. E., 128 + +Run or Ron, island, 303, 311 + +Russia, burial custom in, 453 + + +Saa, in Malanta, 350, 351, 372, 378 + +Sacrament of pork and water at initiation, 432 _sq._ + +Sacred stones in New Caledonia, magical virtues attributed to, 334 +_sqq._ + +---- enclosure of stones (_Nanga_) in Fiji, 428 _sqq._, 437 _sq._ + +---- pigs, 433 + +Sacrifice, crude motives for, 298 _sq._; + place of, 332 + +---- of dogs in epidemics, 296; + of foreskins and fingers in honour of the dead, 426 _sq._ + +Sacrifices to the dead, economic loss entailed by, 149 + +---- to the dead, 239, 307, 338. + _See also_ Offerings + +Sacrifices, burnt, reasons for, 348 _sq._; + burnt, to ghosts, 366, 367 _sq._, 373 + +---- to ghosts, 328; at planting, 375 + +----, human, to ghosts, 371 _sq._; + human, in Fiji, 446 _sq._ + +Sacrificial ritual in the Solomon Islands, 365 _sq._ + +Saddle Mountain in German New Guinea, 262 + +St. Joseph River in New Guinea, 196, 198 + +Sakalava, the, of Madagascar, 49; + burial custom of, 461 + +Saleijer, island of, burial custom in, 461 + +Samoa, 406 + +---- Harbour, in German New Guinea, 256 + +Samoan myth of the origin of death, 72 + +Samoyeds, burial custom of the, 457 + +Samu-yalo, the killer of souls, 465 + +San Cristoval, one of the Solomon Islands, 347, 376 + +Sanctuaries, primitive, 99 + +---- of ghosts, 377 _sq._ + +Sanctuary, grave of worshipful dead becomes a, 347 + +Sanitation based on fear of sorcery, 386 _sq._, 414 + +Santa Cruz Islands, 343 + +Santa Cruz, in the Solomon Islands, burial customs at, 352; + sacrifices to ghosts in, 374 _sq._ + +Savage, myth of the prelogical, 266 + +----, practical character of the, 274 + +----, rationality of the, 264 _sqq._ + +---- notions of causality, 19 _sq._; + conception of death, 31 _sqq._; + disbelief in death from natural causes, 33 _sqq._; + thought vague and inconsistent, 143 + +---- religion, the study of, 7 + +Savagery, importance of the study of, 6 _sq._; + a case of arrested or retarded development, 88 _sq._; + rise of monarchy essential to emergence from, 142 + +Savages pay little attention to the stars, 140; + strength and universality of belief in immortality among, 468 + +Savo, one of the Solomon Islands, 347 + +Scarf, soul caught in a, 412 _sq._ + +Scenery of Fiji, 409 _sq._ + +Schomburgk, Richard, 38 + +Schuermann, C. W., 42 _sq._ + +Scientific conception of the world as a system of impersonal forces, 20 +_sq._ + +Scotland, burial custom in, 453, 458 + +Sea, land of the dead at the bottom of the, 307, 326 + +---- -burial, 397 + +---- -burial and land-burial, 347 _sq._ + +---- -ghosts and land-ghosts, 348 + +Seclusion of widow and widower, 204, 248 _sq._, 259, 275; + of relatives at grave, 209; + of mourners, 223 _sq._, 313 _sq._, 360; + of novices at circumcision, 251 _sq._, 260 _sq._, 302; + of manslayers, 279 _sq._; + of gravediggers, 327, 451; + of female mourners, 398 + +Seclusion and purification of manslayer, 229 _sq._ + +Second death of the dead, 195, 287, 299, 345, 350, 351, 354 + +Secret societies, 395 + +---- Society (_Asa_), 233 + +Seemann, Berthold, 439 _sq._ + +Seer describes ghosts, 204 _sq._ + +Seget Sele, the, of Dutch New Guinea, 317 + +Seligmann, Dr. C. G., 47, 191, 197, 206 + +Selwyn, Bishop, 363 + +Serpent and his cast skin in myths of the origin of death, 60, 69 +_sqq._, 74 _sq._, 83 + +----, god in form of, 445, 462 + +Serpents, souls of the dead in the form of, 300 + +Setting sun, ghosts attracted to the, 175 _sq._ + +Sexual licence following initiation, 433, 434 _n._ 1, 436 _sq._ + +Shadow or reflection, human soul associated with, 129, 130, 173, 207, +267, 395, 412 + +Shadows of people seized by ghosts, 378, 383 + +Shaking of medium a symptom of inspiration, 308, 309, 311 + +Sham attack on men engaged in attending to a corpse, 177, 178 + +---- burial, 356 + +---- fight to appease ghost, 136 _sq._; + as a funeral ceremony, 235 _sq._, 327 _sq._; + as a ceremony to promote the growth of yams, 330. + _See also_ Pretence + +Sharks animated by ghosts, 348 + +----, ghosts incarnate in, 373, 380; + images of, 373 + +Shaving heads of mourners, 208 + +Sheep in story of the origin of death, 64 + +Shell-money, 394; + laid on corpse and buried with it, 398 + +Shortlands Islands, 71 + +Shrine of warrior ghost, 365 + +Shrines for ancestral spirits, 316, 317 + +Siamese, burial custom of the, 456 + +Siasi Islands, 244 + +Sick and old buried alive in Fiji, 420 _sqq._ + +Sickness caused by demons, 194; + caused by ghosts, 56 _sq._, 195, 197, 222, 269 _sq._, 271, 279, 300, + 305, 322, 372, 381 _sqq._, 389 + +---- supposed to be an effect of witchcraft, 35 _sqq._ + +Sickness and death set down to sorcery, 240, 257 + +---- and disease recognised by some savages as due to natural causes, + 55 _sq._ + _See also_ Disease + +Sido, his journey to the land of the dead, 211 _sq._ + +Sins, confession of, 201 + +Skin cast as a means of renewing youth, 69 _sqq._, 74 _sq._, 83 + +Skull-shaped stones in rain-making, 336 _sq._ + +Skulls, spirits of the dead embodied in their, 338 + +---- and arm-bones, special treatment of the, 199 _sq._; + carried by dancers at funeral dance, 200 + +---- of the dead preserved, 199 _sqq._, 209, 249, 318, 328, 339, 347, + 351 _sq._, 398, 400 _sq._, 403; + preserved and consulted as oracles, 176, 178 _sq._, 179; + used in divination, 213; + kept in men's clubhouses, 221, 225; + inserted in wooden images, 311 _sq._, 321; + religious ceremonies performed with the, 329 _sq._; + food offered to the, 339 _sq._, 352; + used to fertilise plantations, 340; + used in conjurations, 402 + +Sky, souls of the dead thought to be in the, 133 _sq._, 135, 138 _sq._, +141, 142 + +Slain, ghosts of the, especially dreaded, 205, 258, 279, 306, 323 + +Sleep, soul thought to quit body in, 257, 291, 395, 412 + +Smith, E. R., 53 + +Smyth, R. Brough, 43 _sq._ + +Snakes, ghosts in, 380 + +Sneezing, omens from, 194 + +Social progress stimulated by favourable natural conditions, 141 _sq._, +148 _sq._ + +---- ranks, gradation of, in Fiji, 408 + +Solomon Islands, 343, 346 _sqq._; + sacrificial ritual in the, 365 _sq._ + +Somosomo, one of the Fijian islands, 425, 441, 442 + +Sorcerers, their importance in history, 16 + +---- catch and detain souls, 267, 268 _sq._, 270 + +---- put to death, 35, 35 _sq._, 37 _sq._, 40 _sq._, 44, 50, 136, 250, + 269, 277, 278 _sq._, 341 _sq._ + _See also_ Magician + +Sorcery as the supposed cause of natural deaths, 33 _sqq._, 136, 268, + 270, 402; + sickness and death ascribed to, 257 + +---- a cause of keeping down the population, belief in, 38, 40, 46 + _sq._, 51 _sqq._ + +---- Fijian dread of, 413 _sq._; + _See also_ Magic _and_ Witchcraft + +Sores ascribed to action of ghosts, 257 + +_Soro_, atonement, 427 + +Soul, world-wide belief in survival of soul after death, 24, 25, 33 + +Soul of sleeper detained by enemy, 49; + human, associated with shadow or reflection, 173, 267, 395, 412; + pretence of carrying away the, 181 _sq._; + detained by demon, 194; + recovery of a lost, 194, 270 _sq._; + thought to quit body in sleep, 257, 291, 395, 412; + resides in the eye, 267; + thought to pervade the body, 267; + two kinds of human, 267 _sq._; + caught and detained by sorcerer, 267, 268 _sq._, 270; + long soul and short soul, 291 _sq._; + of offering consumed by deity or spirit, 297, 298; + thought to reside in the blood, 307; + Melanesian theory of the, 344 _sq._; + of sick tied up by ghost, 374; + North Melanesian theory of the, 395 _sq._; + in form of animals, 396; + Fijian theory of the, 410 _sqq._; + caught in a scarf, 412 _sq._; + of grandfather reborn in grandchild, 417; + of offerings consumed by gods, 443 + +---- -stuff or spiritual essence, 267 _sq._, 270, 271, 279. + _See also_ Spirit + +Souls, recovery of lost, 300 _sq._; + River of the, 462; + the killer of, 464 _sq._ + +---- of animals, sacrifices to the, 239; + of animals offered to ghosts, 246 + +---- attributed by the Fijians to animals, vegetables, and inanimate +things, 410 _sq._ + +---- of the dead identified with spirits of nature, 130; + turned into animals, 229; + as falling stars, 229; + live in trees, 316 + +---- carried off by ghosts, 197, 383; + of sorcerers in animals, 39 + +---- of noblemen only saved, 33; + of those who died from home called back, 311 + +Spells or incantations, 385 + +Spencer and Gillen, 46 _sq._, 91 _sq._, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 116 +_sqq._, 123 _sq._, 140, 148, 156, 157, 158 + +Spider and Death, 82 _sq._ + +Spirit, human, associated with the heart, 129; + associated with the shadow, 129, 130. + _See also_ Soul + +Spirits, ancestral, help hunters and fishers, 226; + worshipped in the _Nanga_, 428 _sq._; + cloth and weapons offered to, 430 _sq._; + novices presented to, at initiation, 432 _sq._, 434 + +---- of animals go to the spirit land, 210 + +---- consume spiritual essence of sacrifices, 285, 287, 297, 298 + +---- of the dead thought to be strengthened by blood, 159; + reborn in women, 93 _sq._; + give information to the living, 240; + give good crops, 247 _sq._; + thought to be mischievous, 257 + +Spirits and ghosts, distinction between, in Central Melanesia, 343, 363 + +---- and gods, no certain demarcation between, 441 + +----, grand concert of, 340 _sq._; + represented by masked dancers, 297; + in tree-tops, 313 + +----, guardian, 227 + +---- of nature identified with souls of the dead, 130. + _See also_ Dead _and_ Ghost + +Spiritual essence or soul-stuff, 267 _sq._, 279. + _See also_ Soul-stuff + +Squatting posture of corpse in burial, 207 + +Stanbridge, W. E., 44 + +Stars associated with the souls of the dead, 134, 140; + little regarded by savages, 140; + falling, the souls of the dead, 229 + +Steinen, K. von den, 35 + +Sternberg, L., 15 _n._ 1 + +Stick, cleft, used in cure, 271 + +Stillborn children, burial of, 458 + +Stocks, wooden, as representatives of the dead, 374, 386 + +Stolz, Mr., 238, 239 + +Stomach, soul seated in, 291 _sq._ + +Stone, a rocking, 213 + +---- used in rain-making, 288 + +---- of Famine, 334 + +---- of the Sun, 336 + +Stonehenge, 438 + +Stones, sacred, in New Caledonia, magical virtues attributed to, 334 + _sqq._; + sacred, in sanctuaries, 377 _sq._ + +---- used as altars, 379 + +Stones inhabited by ghosts, 383 _sq._ + +Store-houses, sacred, in Central Australia, 99, 101 + +Strangling the sick and aged in Fiji, 423 _sq._ + +_Sua_, human spirit or ghost, 193 + +Suicide to escape decrepitude of old age, 422 _sq._ + +Suicides, burial of, 164, 453, 458 + +Sulka, the, of New Britain, 398 _sq._ + +Sumatra, the Gajos of, 455 + +Sun and the origin of death, 77 + +----, ghosts attracted to the setting, 175 _sq._ + +----, Stone of the, 336 + +Sunshine, the making of, 336 + +---- and rain caused by a ghost, 375 + +Supernatural or spiritual power (_mana_) acquired from ghosts, 346 +_sq._, 352, 371, 380 + +Superstition a crutch to morality, 175 + +Supreme Being unknown among aborigines of Central Australia, 91 _sq._; + among the Monumbo, 228 + +Survival of human soul after death, world-wide belief in, 24, 25, 33 + +Swallowed by monster, pretence that candidates at initiation are, 251 +_sqq._, 260 _sq._, 290 _sq._, 301 _sq._ + +Swine sent to ravage fields by ghosts, 278 + +Symbolism of prayer-posts, 333 _sq._ + + +Taboo, meaning of, 390; + in Central Melanesia based on a fear of ghosts, 390 _sq._; + a prop of monarchical power, 408 + +_Tabu_, demon, 194 + +Tago, spirits, 297 + +Tahiti, 439 + +Tamanachiers, an Indian tribe, 70 _sq._ + +Tami Islanders of German New Guinea, 291 _sqq._ + +Taming a ghost, 370 + +Tamos, the, of German New Guinea, 230 + +Tanna, one of the New Hebrides, 369, 439 + +Tanoa, king of Fiji, 425 + +Taplin, Rev. George, 43, 134 _sqq._ + +_Tapum_, guardian spirits, 227 + +Taro, prayer for good crop of, 289 + +Tasmanians, the, 89 + +Tattooing as sign of mourning, 314 + +Teeth of dead worn by relatives, 314 _sq._, 400, 404; + used as amulets, 332; + preserved as relics, 339; + used to fertilise plantations, 340 + +Temples (_paraks_) in Tumleo, 220 _sq._ + +----, Fijian, 439, 441 _sq._ + +Terer, a mythical being, 181 + +Thapauerlu, a pool, 105, 108 + +Theology, natural, defined, 1, 8 + +---- and religion, how related, 9 + +Thomson, Basil, 408, 414, 428 _n._ 1, 429 _n._ 1, 434 _n._ 1, 436 + +Threats of the dying, 273 + +Three days, resurrection after, 67 _sq._ + +Threshold, the dead carried out under the, 453, 457; + movable, 457 + +Thrush in story of the origin of death, 61 _sq._ + +Thunder the voice of a mythical being, 112, 114, 143 + +_Tindalo_, a powerful ghost, 346 + +Tinneh or Dene Indians, their ideas as to death, 39 _sq._ + +Tlaloc, Mexican rain-god, 163 + +Tlingit Indians, 163; + burial custom of the, 455 + +To Kambinana, 69 + +To Korvuvu, 69 + +Togoland, West Africa, 81 + +Toll exacted from ghosts, 224 + +Tollkeeper, ghostly, 224 + +Tonga, 406, 411 + +Tongans, their limited doctrine of immortality, 33 + +Torres Islands, 343, 353 + +---- Straits Islanders, their ideas as to sickness and death, 47; + their belief in immortality, 170 _sqq._; + their ethnological affinity and social culture, 170 _sqq._; + funeral ceremonies of the, 176 _sqq._ + +Totem, a dominant, 113; + design emblematic of, 168 + +Totemic ancestor developing into a god, 113; + ancestors, traditions concerning, 115 _sqq._ + +---- animals, imitation of, 177 + +---- clans, 104; + animals and plants eaten, 120 _sq._; + animals and plants dramatically represented by actors, 121 _sq._ + +Totemism, 95; + possibly developing into ancestor worship, 114 _sq._; + in Torres Straits, 172 + +Totems, dramatic ceremonies connected with, 119 _sqq._; + eaten, 120 _sqq._; + magical ceremonies for the multiplication of, 124 _sq._ + +Tracking a ghost, 277 _sq._ + +Traditions of the dead associated with conspicuous features of the +landscape, 115 _sqq._ + +Transmigration, widespread belief in, 29; + of dead into animals, 242, 245; + of souls, 322; + Fijian doctrine of, 467 + +Travancore, burial custom in, 456 + +Tree of immortality, 74 + +Tree-burial, 161, 166, 167, 199, 203; + of young children, 312 _sq._ + +---- -tops, spirits in, 313 + +Trees, property of dead hung up on, 148; + as monuments of the dead, 225; + huts built in, 263; + souls of the dead live in, 316 + +Tremearne, Major A. J. N., 28 _n._ 1 + +Truth of the belief in immortality, question of the, 469 _sqq._ + +Tsiabiloum, the land of the dead, 326 + +Tube inserted in grave, 277 + +Tubes, magical, 269, 270 + +Tubetube, island of, 206, 209, 210 + +Tugeri or Kaya-Kaya, the, of Dutch New Guinea, 255 + +Tully River in Queensland, 130 + +Tulmeng, lord of the nether world, 286 + +Tumleo, island of, 218 _sqq._ + +Tumudurere, a mythical being, 207 + +Tumupasa, burial custom of the Indians of, 457 + +Turner, Dr. George, 325, 339, 369 + +Turrbal tribe, 146 + +Tuski of Alaska, burial custom of the, 456 + +Two Messengers, the, myth of the origin of death, 60 _sqq._ + + +Uganda, first man in, 78; + dead kings of, worshipped, 151; + jawbones of dead kings of, preserved, 235; + war-god of, 366. + _See also_ Baganda + +Unburied dead, ghosts of the, 349 + +Unfruitful wife, mode of impregnating, 417 + +Unkulunkulu, 60 + +Unmarried ghosts, hard fate of, 464 + +Umatjera tribe, 68, 166 + +Urabunna, the, of Central Australia, 95 + + +Vagueness and inconsistency of savage thought, 143 + +_Vale tambu_, the Sacred House, 438 + +Vanigela River, 202, 203 + +Vanua Lava, mountain, 355 + +---- -levu, one of the Fijian Islands, 416, 417, 418, 426 + +Vate or Efat, one of the New Hebrides, 359, 376 + +Vengeance taken on enemies by means of a ghost, 258; + ghost calls for, 278, 310, 468 + +Vetter, Konrad, 242, 244, 245, 248, 255 + +Vicarious sacrifices of pigs for the sick, 372, 374, 375 + +Victoria, aborigines of, their ideas as to natural death, 40 _sq._, 42; + their beliefs as to the dead, 142; + their burial customs, 145, 145 _sq._; + cuttings for the dead among the, 154 _sq._ + +Views of human nature, two different, 469 _sqq._ + +Village of ghosts, 231 _sq._, 234 + +---- deserted after a death, 275 + +Viti Levu, one of the Fijian Islands, 419, 428, 435, 445 + +Vormann, Franz, 228 _sq._ + +Vuatom, island, 70 + + +Wagawaga, in British New Guinea, 206 _sqq._ + +Wainimala in Fiji, 436 + +Wakelbura, the, 152 + +Wallace, Alfred Russel, on death, 85 _sq._ + +War, ancestral images taken to, 310, 315; + perpetual state of, 339 + +---- -god of Uganda, 366 + +Warramunga, the, of Central Australia, 94; + their totem the Wollunqua, 103 _sqq._, 108 _sqq._; + dramatic ceremonies connected with totems among the, 123 _sq._; + cuttings for the dead among the, 156 _sqq._; + burial customs of the, 167 _sq._ + +Warrior ghost, 363 _sq._ + +Warriors pray to ghosts, 288 + +Wars among savages undertaken to appease angry ghosts, 468 + +Wa-Sania, tribe of E. Africa, 66 + +Washing body a rain-charm, 375 + +Watch-an-die, tribe of W. Australia, 41 + +Watch at the grave, 293 + +---- of widow or widower on grave, 241 + +Water as a barrier against ghosts, 152; + poured as a rain-charm, 375 _sq._ + +---- great, to be crossed by ghosts, 224 + +---- -snake, great mythical (Wollunqua), 104 _sqq._, 108 _sqq._ + +Way to the land of the dead, 212 _sq._ + +Weakening of religious faith, 4 + +Weapons deposited with the dead, 145 _sqq._; + deposited at grave, 211; + of dead broken, 399 + +Weather regulated by ghosts and spirits, 384 _sq._ + +---- -doctors, 385 _sq._ + +Weaving in New Guinea, 305 + +Weismann, August, on death, 84 _sq._ + +Wemba, the, of Northern Rhodesia, 77 + +Western Australia, beliefs as to death among the natives of, 41 _sq._ + +Whale's teeth as offerings, 420, 421, 429, 443, 444 + +Whip of souls, 270 + +Whipping men in mourning, 452 + +White ants' nests, ghosts turn into, 351 + +---- clay smeared on mourners, 158, 177 + +---- men identified with the spirits of the dead, 342 + +---- people, souls of dead Australian aborigines thought to be reborn +in, 130, 131 _sqq._ + +Whitened with chalk, bodies of lads after circumcision, 302 + +Widow, mourning costume of, 184, 204; + seclusion of, 204; + killed to accompany the ghost of her husband, 249, 275; + drinks juices of putrefying corpse, 313 + +Widower exposed to attacks of his wife's ghost, 197; + costume of, 204; + seclusion of, 204, 248 _sq._, 259 + +Widows cut and burn their bodies in mourning, 176 + +Wigs worn by Fijians, 451 + +Wiimbaio tribe, 145 + +Wilkes, Charles, 424 _sq._ + +Williams, Thomas, 408, 412, 413, 452, 467 + +Williamson, R. W., 201 + +Wind, ghosts float down the, 176 + +Windessi, in Dutch New Guinea, burial customs at, 318 _sq._ + +_Wingara_, early mythical times, 116 + +Witchcraft, fear of, 244; + death ascribed to, 277, 402; + Fijian terror of, 413 _sq._; + benefits derived from, 414 + +Witchcraft or black magic in Central Melanesia, 386 _sq._ + +---- as a cause of death, 34 _sqq._ + _See also_ Sorcery + +Witchetty grub totem, dramatic ceremonies concerned with, 121 _sq._, 123 + +Wives of the dead killed, 399; + strangled or buried alive at their husbands' funerals in Fiji, 424 + _sq._ + +Woibu, the land of the dead, 211 + +Wolgal tribe, 146 + +Wollunqua, mythical water-snake, totem of the Warramunga, 103 _sqq._, + 108 _sqq._, 125; + ceremonies in honour of the, 108 _sqq._ + +Woman, old, in myths of the origin of death, 64, 71 _sq._ + +----, the Great, 464 + +Women thought not to have immortal spirits, 92; + cut and burn their bodies in mourning, 154 _sqq._, 196, 203; + excluded from circumcision ground, 291, 301; + dance at deaths, 293; + drink juices of putrefying corpse, 355; + not allowed to be present at sacrifices, 367; + whip men in mourning, 452; + burial of childless, 458; + the cause of death, 472 + +---- dying in childbed, special treatment of their ghosts, 358; + their ghosts specially feared, 212, 458 _sqq._ + +Wordsworth on immortality, 26 _n._ 1 + +Worship of ancestors, 221, 328 _sqq._, 338; + predominance of the, 297 _sq._; + possibly evolved from totemism, 114 _sq._ + _See also_ Worship of the dead. + +---- of ancestors in Central Australia, possible evolution of, 125 + _sq._; + of ancestral spirits in the _Nanga_, 428 _sq._ + +---- of the dead, 23 _sqq._, 328 _sqq._, 338; + in part based on a theory of dreams, 27 _sq._; + elements of it widespread, 31; + in British New Guinea, 201 _sq._; + predominance of the, 297 _sq._ + +---- of the dead, incipient, in Australia, 149, 150, 168 _sq._ + +---- of the dead in Torres Straits, elements of a, 189; + among the Yabim, elements of a, 255 + +Worshipful ghosts, 362 _sq._ + +Wotjobaluk, the, 67, 139 + +Wraiths, 396 + +Wurunjerri, the, 146 + + +Yabim, the, of German New Guinea, 242 _sqq._; + their ideas as to death, 47 + +Yams, prayers for, 330; + stones to make yams grow, 337 _sq._ + +Young children buried on trees, 312 _sq._ + +Young and old, difference between the modes of burying, 161, 162 _sq._ + +Youth supposed to be renewed by casting skin, 69 _sqq._, 74 _sq._, 83 + +Ysabel, one of the Solomon Islands, 350, 372, 379, 380 + +Yule Island, 196 _n._ 2, 197 + + +Zahn, Heinrich, 242, 244 + +Zend-Avesta, 453 + +Zulus, their story of the origin of death, 60 _sq._ + + +END OF VOL. I + + + + * * * * * + + + +Works by J. G. FRAZER, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D. + + +THE GOLDEN BOUGH + +A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION + +Third Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo. + +Part I. The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings. Two volumes, 20s. net. + +II. Taboo and the Perils of the Soul. One volume. 10s. net. + +III. The Dying God. One volume. Second Impression. 10s. net. + +IV. Adonis, Attis, Osiris. One volume. Second Edition. 10s. net. + +V. Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild. Two volumes. 20s. net. + +VI. The Scapegoat. (_Spring_, 1913.) + +VII. Balder the Beautiful. (_Spring_, 1913.) + + _TIMES._--"The verdict of posterity will probably be that _The + Golden Bough_ has influenced the attitude of the human mind + towards supernatural beliefs and symbolical rituals more + profoundly than any other books published in the nineteenth + century except those of Darwin and Herbert Spencer." + + +LECTURES ON THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE KINGSHIP. 8vo. 8s. 6d. net. + + _ATHENAEUM._--"It is the effect of a good book not only to teach, + but also to stimulate and to suggest, and we think this the best + and highest quality, and one that will recommend these lectures + to all intelligent readers, as well as to the learned." + + +PSYCHE'S TASK. A Discourse concerning the Influence of Superstition on +the Growth of Institutions. 8vo. 2s. 6d. net. + + _TIMES._--"Dr. Frazer has answered the question of how the moral + law has been safeguarded, especially in its infancy, with a + wealth of learning and a clearness of utterance that leave + nothing to be desired. Perhaps the uses of superstition is not + quite such a new theme as he seems to fancy. Even the most + ignorant of us were aware that many false beliefs of a religious + or superstitious character had had very useful moral or + physical, or especially sanitary, results. But if the theme is + fairly familiar, the curious facts which are adduced in support + of it will be new to most people, and will make the book as + interesting to read as the lectures must have been to hear." + + +THE SCOPE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY. 8vo. Sewed. 6d. net. + + _OXFORD MAGAZINE._--"In his inaugural lecture the new Professor + of Social Anthropology in the University of Liverpool defines + his Science, states its aims, and puts in a spirited plea for + the scientific study of primitive man while there is still time, + before the savage in his natural state becomes as extinct as the + dodo." + +TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY. A Treatise on Certain Early Forms of Superstition +and Society. With Maps. Four vols. 8vo. 50s. net. + + Mr. A. E. Crawley in _NATURE_.--"Prof. Frazer is a great artist + as well as a great anthropologist. He works on a big scale; no + one in any department of research, not even Darwin, has employed + a wider induction of facts. No one, again, has dealt more + conscientiously with each fact; however seemingly trivial, it is + prepared with minute pains and cautious tests for its destiny as + a slip to be placed under the anthropological microscope. He + combines, so to speak, the merits of Tintoretto and + Meissonier.... That portion of the book which is concerned with + totemism (if we may express our own belief at the risk of + offending Prof. Frazer's characteristic modesty) is actually + 'The Complete History of Totemism, its Practice and its Theory, + its Origin and its End.'... Nearly two thousand pages are + occupied with an ethnographical survey of totemism, an + invaluable compilation. The maps, including that of the + distribution of totemic peoples, are a new and useful feature." + + +PAUSANIAS'S DESCRIPTION OF GREECE. +Translated with a Commentary, Illustrations, and Maps. +Second Edition. Six vols. 8vo. 126s. net. + + _ATHENAEUM._--"All these writings in many languages Mr. Frazer + has read and digested with extraordinary care, so that his book + will be for years _the_ book of reference on such matters, not + only in England, but in France and Germany. It is a perfect + thesaurus of Greek topography, archaeology, and art. It is, + moreover, far more interesting than any dictionary of the + subject; for it follows the natural guidance of the Greek + traveller, examining every town or village which he describes; + analysing and comparing with foreign parallels every myth or + fairy tale which he records; citing every information which can + throw light on the works of art he admires." + + +PAUSANIAS AND OTHER GREEK SKETCHES. +Globe 8vo. 4s. net. + + _GUARDIAN._--"Here we have material which every one who has + visited Greece, or purposes to visit it, most certainly should + read and enjoy.... We cannot imagine a more excellent book for + the educated visitor to Greece." + + +LETTERS OF WILLIAM COWPER. Chosen and +Edited with a Memoir and a few Notes by J. G. Frazer, +D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D. Two vols. Globe 8vo. 8s. net. + +(_Eversley Series._) + + Mr. Clement Shorter in the _DAILY CHRONICLE_.--"To the task Dr. + Frazer has given a scholarly care that will make the edition one + that is a joy to possess. His introductory Memoir, of some + eighty pages in length, is a valuable addition to the many + appraisements of Cowper that these later years have seen. It is + no mere perfunctory 'introduction' but a piece of sound + biographical work.... 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