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diff --git a/2832-h/2832-h.htm b/2832-h/2832-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b6e8d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/2832-h/2832-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11874 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Myth, Ritual, and Religion, by Andrew Lang + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's Myth, Ritual, and Religion, Vol. 1, by Andrew Lang + +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: Myth, Ritual, and Religion, Vol. 1 + +Author: Andrew Lang + +Release Date: November 12, 2009 [EBook #2832] +Last Updated: November 26, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTH, RITUAL, AND RELIGION, VOL. 1 *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + MYTH, RITUAL, AND RELIGION + </h1> + <h3> + Volume One + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Andrew Lang + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2H_PREF1"> PREFACE TO NEW IMPRESSION. </a><br /> <a + href="#link2H_PREF2"> PREFACE TO NEW EDITION. </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0003"> <b>MYTH, RITUAL, AND RELIGION</b> </a> <a + href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> SYSTEMS OF MYTHOLOGY + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> NEW + SYSTEM PROPOSED <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> THE + MENTAL CONDITION OF SAVAGES—CONFUSION WITH NATURE—TOTEMISM + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> THE + MENTAL CONDITION OF SAVAGES—MAGIC—METAMORPHOSIS—METAPHYSIC—PSYCHOLOGY + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> NATURE + MYTHS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> NON-ARYAN + MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> INDO-ARYAN MYTHS—SOURCES + OF EVIDENCE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> INDIAN + MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> GREEK MYTHS OF THE + ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND MAN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER + X. </a> GREEK COSMOGONIC MYTHS <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> SAVAGE DIVINE MYTHS + <br /><br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DETAILED CONTENTS + </h2> + <blockquote> + <p> + PREFACE TO NEW IMPRESSION. <br /> PREFACE TO NEW EDITION. <br /> CHAPTER + I.—SYSTEMS OF MYTHOLOGY. <br /> Definitions of religion—Contradictory + evidence—"Belief in <br /> spiritual beings"—Objection to Mr. + Tylor's definition—Definition <br /> as regards this argument—Problem: + the contradiction between <br /> religion and myth—Two human moods—Examples—Case + of Greece— <br /> Ancient mythologists—Criticism by Eusebius—Modern + mythological <br /> systems—Mr. Max Muller—Mannhardt. <br /> + CHAPTER II.—NEW SYSTEM PROPOSED. <br /> Chapter I. recapitulated—Proposal + of a new method: Science of <br /> comparative or historical study of man—Anticipated + in part by <br /> Eusebius, Fontenelle, De Brosses, Spencer (of C. C. C., + Cambridge), <br /> and Mannhardt—Science of Tylor—Object of + inquiry: to find <br /> condition of human intellect in which marvels of + myth are parts of <br /> practical everyday belief—This is the + savage state—Savages <br /> described—The wild element of + myth a survival from the savage <br /> state—Advantages of this + method—Partly accounts for wide <br /> DIFFUSION as well as ORIGIN + of myths—Connected with general <br /> theory of evolution—Puzzling + example of myth of the water- <br /> swallower—Professor Tiele's + criticism of the method— <br /> Objections to method, and answer to + these—See Appendix B. <br /> CHAPTER III.—THE MENTAL + CONDITION OF SAVAGES—CONFUSION WITH <br /> NATURE—TOTEMISM. + <br /> The mental condition of savages the basis of the irrational + element <br /> in myth—Characteristics of that condition: (1) + Confusion of all <br /> things in an equality of presumed animation and + intelligence; <br /> (2) Belief in sorcery; (3) Spiritualism; (4) + Curiosity; (5) Easy <br /> credulity and mental indolence—The + curiosity is satisfied, thanks <br /> to the credulity, by myths in + answer to all inquiries—Evidence for <br /> this—Mr. Tylor's + opinion—Mr. Im Thurn—Jesuit missionaries' <br /> Relations—Examples + of confusion between men, plants, beasts and <br /> other natural objects—Reports + of travellers—Evidence from <br /> institution of totemism—Definition + of totemism—Totemism in <br /> Australia, Africa, America, the + Oceanic Islands, India, North Asia— <br /> Conclusions: Totemism + being found so widely distributed, is a proof <br /> of the existence of + that savage mental condition in which no line <br /> is drawn between men + and the other things in the world. This <br /> confusion is one of the + characteristics of myth in all races. <br /> CHAPTER IV.—THE MENTAL + CONDITION OF SAVAGES—MAGIC— <br /> METAMORPHOSIS—METAPHYSIC—PSYCHOLOGY. + <br /> Claims of sorcerers—Savage scientific speculation—Theory + of <br /> causation—Credulity, except as to new religious ideas—"Post + hoc, <br /> ergo propter hoc"—Fundamental ideas of magic—Examples: + <br /> incantations, ghosts, spirits—Evidence of rank and other + <br /> institutions in proof of confusions of mind exhibited in magical + <br /> beliefs. <br /> CHAPTER V.—NATURE MYTHS. <br /> Savage fancy, + curiosity and credulity illustrated in nature myths— <br /> In + these all phenomena are explained by belief in the general <br /> + animation of everything, combined with belief in metamorphosis—Sun + <br /> myths, Asian, Australian, African, Melanesian, Indian, + Californian, <br /> Brazilian, Maori, Samoan—Moon myths, + Australian, Muysca, Mexican, <br /> Zulu, Macassar, Greenland, Piute, + Malay—Thunder myths—Greek and <br /> Aryan sun and moon myths—Star + myths—Myths, savage and civilised, <br /> of animals, accounting + for their marks and habits—Examples of <br /> custom of claiming + blood kinship with lower animals—Myths of <br /> various plants and + trees—Myths of stones, and of metamorphosis <br /> into stones, + Greek, Australian and American—The whole natural <br /> philosophy + of savages expressed in myths, and survives in folk-lore <br /> and + classical poetry; and legends of metamorphosis. <br /> CHAPTER VI.—NON-ARYAN + MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN. <br /> Confusions of myth—Various + origins of man and of things—Myths of <br /> Australia, Andaman + Islands, Bushmen, Ovaherero, Namaquas, Zulus, <br /> Hurons, Iroquois, + Diggers, Navajoes, Winnebagoes, Chaldaeans, <br /> Thlinkeets, Pacific + Islanders, Maoris, Aztecs, Peruvians— <br /> Similarity of ideas + pervading all those peoples in various <br /> conditions of society and + culture. <br /> CHAPTER VII.—INDO-ARYAN MYTHS—SOURCES OF + EVIDENCE. <br /> Authorities—Vedas—Brahmanas—Social + condition of Vedic India— <br /> Arts—Ranks—War—Vedic + fetishism—Ancestor worship—Date of Rig- <br /> Veda Hymns + doubtful—Obscurity of the Hymns—Difficulty of <br /> + interpreting the real character of Veda—Not primitive but <br /> + sacerdotal—The moral purity not innocence but refinement. <br /> + CHAPTER VIII.—INDIAN MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN. + <br /> Comparison of Vedic and savage myths—The metaphysical Vedic + <br /> account of the beginning of things—Opposite and savage fable + of <br /> world made out of fragments of a man—Discussion of this + hymn— <br /> Absurdities of Brahmanas—Prajapati, a Vedic + Unkulunkulu or Qat— <br /> Evolutionary myths—Marriage of + heaven and earth—Myths of Puranas, <br /> their savage parallels—Most + savage myths are repeated in Brahmanas. <br /> CHAPTER IX.—GREEK + MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND MAN. <br /> The Greeks practically + civilised when we first meet them in Homer— <br /> Their mythology, + however, is full of repulsive features—The <br /> hypothesis that + many of these are savage survivals—Are there other <br /> examples + of such survival in Greek life and institutions?—Greek <br /> + opinion was constant that the race had been savage—Illustrations + <br /> of savage survival from Greek law of homicide, from magic, <br /> + religion, human sacrifice, religious art, traces of totemism, and <br /> + from the mysteries—Conclusion: that savage survival may also be + <br /> expected in Greek myths. <br /> CHAPTER X.—GREEK COSMOGONIC + MYTHS. <br /> Nature of the evidence—Traditions of origin of the + world and man— <br /> Homeric, Hesiodic and Orphic myths—Later + evidence of historians, <br /> dramatists, commentators—The Homeric + story comparatively pure—The <br /> story in Hesiod, and its savage + analogues—The explanations of the <br /> myth of Cronus, modern and + ancient—The Orphic cosmogony—Phanes <br /> and Prajapati—Greek + myths of the origin of man—Their savage <br /> analogues. <br /> + CHAPTER XI.—SAVAGE DIVINE MYTHS. <br /> The origin of a belief in + GOD beyond the ken of history and of <br /> speculation—Sketch of + conjectural theories—Two elements in all <br /> beliefs, whether of + backward or civilised races—The Mythical and <br /> the Religious—These + may be coeval, or either may be older than the <br /> other—Difficulty + of study—The current anthropological theory— <br /> Stated + objections to the theory—Gods and spirits—Suggestion that + <br /> savage religion is borrowed from Europeans—Reply to Mr. + Tylor's <br /> arguments on this head—The morality of savages. + <br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF1" id="link2H_PREF1"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + PREFACE TO NEW IMPRESSION. + </h2> + <p> + When this book first appeared (1886), the philological school of + interpretation of religion and myth, being then still powerful in England, + was criticised and opposed by the author. In Science, as on the Turkish + throne of old, "Amurath to Amurath succeeds"; the philological theories of + religion and myth have now yielded to anthropological methods. The centre + of the anthropological position was the "ghost theory" of Mr. Herbert + Spencer, the "Animistic" theory of Mr. E. R. Tylor, according to whom the + propitiation of ancestral and other spirits leads to polytheism, and + thence to monotheism. In the second edition (1901) of this work the author + argued that the belief in a "relatively supreme being," anthropomorphic + was as old as, and might be even older, than animistic religion. This + theory he exhibited at greater length, and with a larger collection of + evidence, in his Making of Religion. + </p> + <p> + Since 1901, a great deal of fresh testimony as to what Mr. Howitt styles + the "All Father" in savage and barbaric religions has accrued. As regards + this being in Africa, the reader may consult the volumes of the New Series + of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, which are full of African + evidence, not, as yet, discussed, to my knowledge, by any writer on the + History of Religion. As late as Man, for July, 1906, No. 66, Mr. Parkinson + published interesting Yoruba legends about Oleron, the maker and father of + men, and Oro, the Master of the Bull Roarer. + </p> + <p> + From Australia, we have Mr. Howitt's account of the All Father in his + Native Tribes of South-East Australia, with the account of the All Father + of the Central Australian tribe, the Kaitish, in North Central Tribes of + Australia, by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen (1904), also The Euahlayi Tribe, + by Mrs. Langley Parker (1906). These masterly books are indispensable to + all students of the subject, while, in Messrs. Spencer and Gillen's work + cited, and in their earlier Native Tribes of Central Australia, we are + introduced to savages who offer an elaborate animistic theory, and are + said to show no traces of the All Father belief. + </p> + <p> + The books of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen also present much evidence as to a + previously unknown form of totemism, in which the totem is not hereditary, + and does not regulate marriage. This prevails among the Arunta "nation," + and the Kaitish tribe. In the opinion of Mr. Spencer (Report Australian + Association for Advancement of Science, 1904) and of Mr. J. G. Frazer + (Fortnightly Review, September, 1905), this is the earliest surviving form + of totemism, and Mr. Frazer suggests an animistic origin for the + institution. I have criticised these views in The Secret of the Totem + (1905), and proposed a different solution of the problem. (See also + "Primitive and Advanced Totemism" in Journal of the Anthropological + Institute, July, 1906.) In the works mentioned will be found references to + other sources of information as to these questions, which are still sub + judice. Mrs. Bates, who has been studying the hitherto almost unknown + tribes of Western Australia, promises a book on their beliefs and + institutions, and Mr. N. W. Thomas is engaged on a volume on Australian + institutions. In this place the author can only direct attention to these + novel sources, and to the promised third edition of Mr. Frazer's The + Golden Bough. + </p> + <p> + A. L. <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF2" id="link2H_PREF2"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + PREFACE TO NEW EDITION. + </h2> + <p> + The original edition of Myth, Ritual and Religion, published in 1887, has + long been out of print. In revising the book I have brought it into line + with the ideas expressed in the second part of my Making of Religion + (1898) and have excised certain passages which, as the book first + appeared, were inconsistent with its main thesis. In some cases the + original passages are retained in notes, to show the nature of the + development of the author's opinions. A fragment or two of controversy has + been deleted, and chapters xi. and xii., on the religion of the lowest + races, have been entirely rewritten, on the strength of more recent or + earlier information lately acquired. The gist of the book as it stands now + and as it originally stood is contained in the following lines from the + preface of 1887: "While the attempt is made to show that the wilder + features of myth survive from, or were borrowed from, or were imitated + from the ideas of people in the savage condition of thought, the existence—even + among savages—of comparatively pure, if inarticulate, religious + beliefs is insisted on throughout". To that opinion I adhere, and I trust + that it is now expressed with more consistency than in the first edition. + I have seen reason, more and more, to doubt the validity of the "ghost + theory," or animistic hypothesis, as explanatory of the whole fabric of + religion; and I present arguments against Mr. Tylor's contention that the + higher conceptions of savage faith are borrowed from missionaries.(1) It + is very possible, however, that Mr. Tylor has arguments more powerful than + those contained in his paper of 1892. For our information is not yet + adequate to a scientific theory of the Origin of Religion, and probably + never will be. Behind the races whom we must regard as "nearest the + beginning" are their unknown ancestors from a dateless past, men as human + as ourselves, but men concerning whose psychical, mental and moral + condition we can only form conjectures. Among them religion arose, in + circumstances of which we are necessarily ignorant. Thus I only venture on + a surmise as to the germ of a faith in a Maker (if I am not to say + "Creator") and Judge of men. But, as to whether the higher religious + belief, or the lower mythical stories came first, we are at least certain + that the Christian conception of God, given pure, was presently entangled, + by the popular fancy of Europe, in new Marchen about the Deity, the + Madonna, her Son, and the Apostles. Here, beyond possibility of denial, + pure belief came first, fanciful legend was attached after. I am inclined + to surmise that this has always been the case, and, in the pages on the + legend of Zeus, I show the processes of degeneration, of mythical + accretions on a faith in a Heaven-God, in action. That "the feeling of + religious devotion" attests "high faculties" in early man (such as are + often denied to men who "cannot count up to seven"), and that "the same + high mental faculties... would infallibly lead him, as long as his + reasoning powers remained poorly developed, to various strange + superstitions and customs," was the belief of Mr. Darwin.(2) That is also + my view, and I note that the lowest savages are not yet guilty of the very + worst practices, "sacrifice of human beings to a blood-loving God," and + ordeals by poison and fire, to which Mr. Darwin alludes. "The improvement + of our science" has freed us from misdeeds which are unknown to the + Andamanese or the Australians. Thus there was, as regards these points in + morals, degeneracy from savagery as society advanced, and I believe that + there was also degeneration in religion. To say this is not to hint at a + theory of supernatural revelation to the earliest men, a theory which I + must, in limine disclaim. + </p> + <p> + (1) Tylor, "Limits of Savage Religion." Journal of the Anthropological + Institute, vol. xxi. + </p> + <p> + (2) Descent of Man, p. 68, 1871. + </p> + <p> + In vol. ii. p. 19 occurs a reference, in a note, to Mr. Hartland's + criticism of my ideas about Australian gods as set forth in the Making of + Religion. Mr. Hartland, who kindly read the chapters on Australian + religion in this book, does not consider that my note on p. 19 meets the + point of his argument. As to the Australians, I mean no more than that, + AMONG endless low myths, some of them possess a belief in a "maker of + everything," a primal being, still in existence, watching conduct, + punishing breaches of his laws, and, in some cases, rewarding the good in + a future life. Of course these are the germs of a sympathetic religion, + even if the being thus regarded is mixed up with immoral or humorous + contradictory myths. My position is not harmed by such myths, which occur + in all old religions, and, in the middle ages, new myths were attached to + the sacred figures of Christianity in poetry and popular tales. + </p> + <p> + Thus, if there is nothing "sacred" in a religion because wild or wicked + fables about the gods also occur, there is nothing "sacred" in almost any + religion on earth. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hartland's point, however, seems to be that, in the Making of + Religion, I had selected certain Australian beliefs as especially "sacred" + and to be distinguished from others, because they are inculcated at the + religious Mysteries of some tribes. His aim, then, is to discover low, + wild, immoral myths, inculcated at the Mysteries, and thus to destroy my + line drawn between religion on one hand and myth or mere folk-lore on the + other. Thus there is a being named Daramulun, of whose rites, among the + Coast Murring, I condensed the account of Mr. Howitt.(1) From a statement + by Mr. Greenway(2) Mr. Hartland learned that Daramulun's name is said to + mean "leg on one side" or "lame". He, therefore, with fine humour, speaks + of Daramulun as "a creator with a game leg," though when "Baiame" is + derived by two excellent linguists, Mr. Ridley and Mr. Greenway, from + Kamilaroi baia, "to make," Mr. Hartland is by no means so sure of the + sense of the name. It happens to be inconvenient to him! Let the names + mean what they may, Mr. Hartland finds, in an obiter dictum of Mr. Howitt + (before he was initiated), that Daramulun is said to have "died," and that + his spirit is now aloft. Who says so, and where, we are not informed,(3) + and the question is important. + </p> + <p> + (1) J. A. I., xiii. pp. 440-459. + </p> + <p> + (2) Ibid., xxi. p. 294. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid., xiii. p. 194. + </p> + <p> + For the Wiraijuri, IN THEIR MYSTERIES, tell a myth of cannibal conduct of + Daramulun's, and of deceit and failure of knowledge in Baiame.(1) Of this + I was unaware, or neglected it, for I explicitly said that I followed Mr. + Howitt's account, where no such matter is mentioned. Mr. Howitt, in fact, + described the Mysteries of the Coast Murring, while the narrator of the + low myths, Mr. Matthews, described those of a remote tribe, the Wiraijuri, + with whom Daramulun is not the chief, but a subordinate person. How Mr. + Matthews' friends can at once hold that Daramulun was "destroyed" by + Baiame (their chief deity), and also that Daramulun's voice is heard at + their rites, I don't know.(2) Nor do I know why Mr. Hartland takes the + myth of a tribe where Daramulun is "the evil spirit who rules the + night,"(3) and introduces it as an argument against the belief of a + distant tribe, where, by Mr. Howitt's account, Daramulun is not an evil + spirit, but "the master" of all, whose abode is above the sky, and to whom + are attributed powers of omnipotence and omnipresence, or, at any rate, + the power "to do anything and to go anywhere.... To his direct ordinances + are attributed the social and moral laws of the community."(4) This is not + "an evil spirit"! When Mr. Hartland goes for scandals to a remote tribe of + a different creed that he may discredit the creed of the Coast Murring, he + might as well attribute to the Free Kirk "the errors of Rome". But Mr. + Hartland does it!(5) Being "cunning of fence" he may reply that I also + spoke loosely of Wiraijuri and Coast Murring as, indifferently, + Daramulunites. I did, and I was wrong, and my critic ought not to accept + but to expose my error. The Wiraijuri Daramulun, who was annihilated, yet + who is "an evil spirit that rules the night," is not the Murring guardian + and founder of recognised ethics. + </p> + <p> + (1) J. A. I., xxv. p. 297. + </p> + <p> + (2) Ibid., May, 1895, p. 419. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid. + </p> + <p> + (4) Ibid., xiii. pp. 458, 459. + </p> + <p> + (5) Folk-Lore, ix., No. iv., p. 299. + </p> + <p> + But, in the Wiraijuri mysteries, the master, Baiame, deceives the women as + to the Mysteries! Shocking to US, but to deceive the women as to these + arcana, is, to the Australian mind in general, necessary for the safety of + the world. Moreover, we have heard of a lying spirit sent to deceive + prophets in a much higher creed. Finally, in a myth of the Mystery of the + Wiraijuri, Baiame is not omniscient. Indeed, even civilised races cannot + keep on the level of these religious conceptions, and not to keep on that + level is—mythology. Apollo, in the hymn to Hermes, sung on a sacred + occasion, needs to ask an old vine-dresser for intelligence. Hyperion + "sees all and hears all," but needs to be informed, by his daughters, of + the slaughter of his kine. The Lord, in the Book of Job, has to ask Satan, + "Whence comest thou?" Now for the sake of dramatic effect, now from pure + inability to live on the level of his highest thought, man mythologises + and anthropomorphises, in Greece or Israel, as in Australia. + </p> + <p> + It does not follow that there is "nothing sacred" in his religion. Mr. + Hartland offers me a case in point. In Mrs. Langloh Parker's Australian + Legendary Tales (pp. 11, 94), are myths of low adventures of Baiame. In + her More Australian Legendary Tales (pp. 84-99), is a very poetical and + charming aspect of the Baiame belief. Mr. Hartland says that I will "seek + to put" the first set of stories out of court, as "a kind of joke with no + sacredness about it". Not I, but the Noongahburrah tribe themselves make + this essential distinction. Mrs. Langloh Parker says:(1) "The former + series" (with the low Baiame myths) "were all such legends as are told to + the black picaninnies; among the present are some they would not be + allowed to hear, touching as they do on sacred things, taboo to the + young". The blacks draw the line which I am said to seek to draw. + </p> + <p> + (1) More Legendary Tales, p. xv. + </p> + <p> + In yet another case(1) grotesque hunting adventures of Baiame are told in + the mysteries, and illustrated by the sacred temporary representations in + raised earth. I did not know it; I merely followed Mr. Howitt. But I do + not doubt it. My reply is, that there was "something sacred" in Greek + mysteries, something purifying, ennobling, consoling. For this Lobeck has + collected (and disparaged) the evidence of Pindar, Sophocles, Cicero and + many others, while even Aristophanes, as Prof. Campbell remarks, says: "We + only have bright sun and cheerful life who have been initiated and lived + piously in regard to strangers and to private citizens".(2) Security and + peace of mind, in this world and for the next, were, we know not how, + borne into the hearts of Pindar and Sophocles in the Mysteries. Yet, if we + may at all trust the Fathers, there were scenes of debauchery, as at the + Mysteries of the Fijians (Nanga) there was buffoonery ("to amuse the + boys," Mr. Howitt says of some Australian rites), the story of Baubo is + only one example, and, in other mysteries than the Eleusinian, we know of + mummeries in which an absurd tale of Zeus is related in connection with an + oak log. Yet surely there was "something sacred" in the faith of Zeus! Let + us judge the Australians as we judge Greeks. The precepts as to "speaking + the straightforward truth," as to unselfishness, avoidance of quarrels, of + wrongs to "unprotected women," of unnatural vices, are certainly + communicated in the Mysteries of some tribes, with, in another, knowledge + of the name and nature of "Our Father," Munganngaur. That a Totemistic + dance, or medicine-dance of Emu hunting, is also displayed(3) at certain + Mysteries of a given tribe, and that Baiame is spoken of as the hero of + this ballet, no more deprives the Australian moral and religious teaching + (at the Mysteries) of sacred value, than the stupid indecency whereby + Baubo made Demeter laugh destroys the sacredness of the Eleusinia, on + which Pindar, Sophocles and Cicero eloquently dwell. If the Australian + mystae, at the most solemn moment of their lives, are shown a dull or + dirty divine ballet d'action, what did Sophocles see, after taking a swim + with his pig? Many things far from edifying, yet the sacred element of + religious hope and faith was also represented. So it is in Australia. + </p> + <p> + (1) J. A. I., xxiv. p. 416. + </p> + <p> + (2) Religion in Greek Literature, p. 259. It is to be regretted that the + learned professor gives no references. The Greek Mysteries are treated + later in this volume. + </p> + <p> + (3) See A picture of Australia, 1829, p. 264. + </p> + <p> + These studies ought to be comparative, otherwise they are worthless. As + Mr. Hartland calls Daramulun "an eternal Creator with a game leg" who + "died," he may call Zeus an "eternal father, who swallowed his wife, lay + with his mother and sister, made love as a swan, and died, nay, was + buried, in Crete". I do not think that Mr. Hartland would call Zeus "a + ghost-god" (my own phrase), or think that he was scoring a point against + me, if I spoke of the sacred and ethical characteristics of the Zeus + adored by Eumaeus in the Odyssey. He would not be so humorous about Zeus, + nor fall into an ignoratio elenchi. For my point never was that any + Australian tribe had a pure theistic conception unsoiled and unobliterated + by myth and buffoonery. My argument was that AMONG their ideas is that of + a superhuman being, unceasing (if I may not say eternal), a maker (if I + may not say a Creator), a guardian of certain by no means despicable + ethics, which I never proclaimed as supernormally inspired! It is no reply + to me to say that, in or out of Mysteries, low fables about that being are + told, and buffooneries are enacted. For, though I say that certain high + ideas are taught in Mysteries, I do not think I say that in Mysteries no + low myths are told. + </p> + <p> + I take this opportunity, as the earliest, to apologise for an error in my + Making of Religion concerning a passage in the Primitive Culture of my + friend Mr. E. B. Tylor. Mr. Tylor quoted(1) a passage from Captain John + Smith's History of Virginia, as given in Pinkerton, xiii. pp. 13-39, 1632. + In this passage no mention occurs of a Virginian deity named Ahone but + "Okee," another and more truculent god, is named. I observed that, if Mr. + Tylor had used Strachey's Historie of Travaile (1612), he would have found + "a slightly varying copy" of Smith's text of 1632, with Ahone as superior + to Okee. I added in a note (p. 253): "There is a description of Virginia, + by W. Strachey, including Smith's remarks published in 1612. Strachey + interwove some of this work with his own MS. in the British Museum." Here, + as presently will be shown, I erred, in company with Strachey's editor of + 1849, and with the writer on Strachey in the Dictionary of National + Biography. What Mr. Tylor quoted from an edition of Smith in 1632 had + already appeared, in 1612, in a book (Map of Virginia, with a description + of the Countrey) described on the title-page as "written by Captain + Smith," though, in my opinion, Smith may have had a collaborator. There is + no evidence whatever that Strachey had anything to do with this book of + 1612, in which there is no mention of Ahone. Mr. Arber dates Strachey's + own MS. (in which Ahone occurs) as of 1610-1615.(2) I myself, for reasons + presently to be alleged, date the MS. mainly in 1611-1612. If Mr. Arber + and I are right, Strachey must have had access to Smith's MS. before it + was published in 1612, and we shall see how he used it. My point here is + that Strachey mentioned Ahone (in MS.) before Smith's book of 1612 was + published. This could not be gathered from the dedication to Bacon + prefixed to Strachey's MS., for that dedication cannot be earlier that + 1618.(3) I now ask leave to discuss the evidence for an early + pre-Christian belief in a primal Creator, held by the Indian tribes from + Plymouth, in New England, to Roanoke Island, off Southern Virginia. + </p> + <p> + (1) Prim. Cult. ii. p. 342. + </p> + <p> + (2) Arber's Smith, p. cxxxiii. + </p> + <p> + (3) Hakluyt Society, Strachey, 1849, pp. xxi., xxii. + </p> + <p> + THE GOD AHONE. + </p> + <p> + An insertion by a manifest plagiary into the work of a detected liar is + not, usually, good evidence. Yet this is all the evidence, it may be + urged, which we have for the existence of a belief, in early Virginia, as + to a good Creator, named Ahone. The matter stands thus: In 1607-1609 the + famed Captain John Smith endured and achieved in Virginia sufferings and + adventures. In 1608 he sent to the Council at home a MS. map and + description of the colony. In 1609 he returned to England (October). In + May, 1610, William Strachey, gent., arrived in Virginia, where he was + "secretary of state" to Lord De la Warr. In 1612 Strachey and Smith were + both in England. In that year Barnes of Oxford published A Map of + Virginia, with a description, etc., "written by Captain Smith," according + to the title-page. There was annexed a compilation from various sources, + edited by "W. S.," that is, NOT William Strachey, but Dr. William Symonds. + In the same year, 1612, or in 1611, William Strachey wrote his Historie of + Travaile into Virginia Britannia, at least as far as page 124 of the + Hakluyt edition of 1849.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) For proof see p. 24. third line from foot of page, where 1612 is + indicated. Again, see p. 98, line 5, where "last year" is dated as "1610, + about Christmas," which would put Strachey's work at this point as + actually of 1611; prior, that is, to Smith's publication. Again, p. 124, + "this last year, myself being at the Falls" (of the James River), "I found + in an Indian house certain clawes... which I brought away and into + England". + </p> + <p> + If Strachey, who went out with Lord De la Warr as secretary in 1610, + returned with him (as is likely), he sailed for England on 28th March, + 1611. In that case, he was in England in 1611, and the passages cited + leave it dubious whether he wrote his book in 1611, 1612, or in both + years.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Mr. Arber dates the MS. "1610-1615," and attributes to Strachey Laws + for Virginia, 1612. + </p> + <p> + Strachey embodies in his work considerable pieces of Smith's Map of + Virginia and Description, written in 1608, and published in 1612. He + continually deserts Smith, however, adding more recent information, + reflections and references to the ancient classics, with allusions to his + own travels in the Levant. His glossary is much more extensive than + Smith's, and he inserts a native song of triumph over the English in the + original.(1) Now, when Strachey comes to the religion of the natives(2) he + gives eighteen pages (much of it verbiage) to five of Smith's.(3) What + Smith (1612) says of their chief god I quote, setting Strachey's version + (1611-1612) beside it. + </p> + <p> + (1) Strachey, pp. 79-80. He may have got the song from Kemps or Machumps, + friendly natives. + </p> + <p> + (2) Pp. 82-100. + </p> + <p> + (3) Arber, pp. 74-79. + </p> + <p> + SMITH (Published, 1612). + </p> + <p> + But their chiefe God they worship is the Diuell. Him they call Oke, and + serue him more of feare than loue. They say they have conference with him, + and fashion themselues as near to his shape as they can imagine. In their + Temples, they have his image euile favouredly carved, and then painted, + and adorned with chaines, copper, and beades; and covered with a skin, in + such manner as the deformity may well suit with such a God. By him is + commonly the sepulcher of their Kings. + </p> + <p> + STRACHEY (Written, 1611-12). + </p> + <p> + But their chief god they worship is no other, indeed, then the divell, + whome they make presentments of, and shadow under the forme of an idoll, + which they entitle Okeus, and whome they worship as the Romans did their + hurtful god Vejovis, more for feare of harme then for hope of any good; + they saie they have conference with him, and fashion themselves in their + disguisments as neere to his shape as they can imagyn. In every territory + of a weroance is a temple and a priest, peradventure two or thrie; yet + happie doth that weroance accompt himself who can detayne with him a + Quiyough-quisock, of the best, grave, lucky, well instructed in their + misteryes, and beloved of their god; and such a one is noe lesse honoured + then was Dianae's priest at Ephesus, for whome they have their more + private temples, with oratories and chauneells therein, according as is + the dignity and reverence of the Quiyough-quisock, which the weroance + wilbe at charge to build upon purpose, sometyme twenty foote broad and a + hundred in length, fashioned arbour wyse after their buylding, having + comonly the dore opening into the east, and at the west end a spence or + chauncell from the body of the temple, with hollow wyndings and pillers, + whereon stand divers black imagies, fashioned to the shoulders, with their + faces looking down the church, and where within their weroances, upon a + kind of biere of reedes, lye buryed; and under them, apart, in a vault low + in the ground (as a more secrett thing), vailed with a matt, sitts their + Okeus, an image ill-favouredly carved, all black dressed, with chaynes of + perle, the presentment and figure of that god (say the priests unto the + laity, and who religiously believe what the priests saie) which doth them + all the harme they suffer, be yt in their bodies or goods, within doores + or abroad; and true yt is many of them are divers tymes (especyally + offendors) shrewdly scratched as they walke alone in the woods, yt may + well be by the subtyle spirit, the malitious enemy to mankind, whome, + therefore, to pacefie and worke to doe them good (at least no harme) the + priests tell them they must do these and these sacrifices unto (them) of + these and these things, and thus and thus often, by which meanes not only + their owne children, but straungers, are sometimes sacrificed unto him: + whilst the great god (the priests tell them) who governes all the world, + and makes the sun to shine, creating the moone and stars his companyons, + great powers, and which dwell with him, and by whose virtues and + influences the under earth is tempered, and brings forth her fruiets + according to her seasons, they calling Ahone; the good and peaceable god + requires no such dutyes, nor needes be sacrificed unto, for he intendeth + all good unto them, and will doe noe harme, only the displeased Okeus, + looking into all men's accions, and examining the same according to the + severe scale of justice, punisheth them with sicknesse, beats them, and + strikes their ripe corn with blastings, stormes, and thunder clapps, + stirrs up warre, and makes their women falce unto them. Such is the misery + and thraldome under which Sathan hath bound these wretched miscreants. + </p> + <p> + I began by calling Strachey a plagiary. The reader will now observe that + he gives far more than he takes. For example, his account of the temples + is much more full than that of Smith, and he adds to Smith's version the + character and being of Ahone, as what "the priests tell them". I submit, + therefore, that Strachey's additions, if valid for temples, are not + discredited for Ahone, merely because they are inserted in the framework + of Smith. As far as I understand the matter, Smith's Map of Virginia + (1612) is an amended copy, with additions, by Smith or another writer of + that description, which he sent home to the Council of Virginia, in + November, 1608.(1) To the book of 1612 was added a portion of "Relations" + by different hands, edited by W. S., namely, Dr. Symonds. Strachey's + editor, in 1849, regarded W. S. as Strachey, and supposed that Strachey + was the real author of Smith's Map of Virginia, so that, in his Historie + of Travaile, Strachey merely took back his own. He did not take back his + own; he made use of Smith's MS., not yet published, if Mr. Arber and I + rightly date Strachey's MS. at 1610-15, or 1611-12. Why Strachey acted + thus it is possible to conjecture. As a scholar well acquainted with + Virginia, and as Secretary for the Colony, he would have access to Smith's + MS. of 1608 among the papers of the Council, before its publication. Smith + professes himself "no scholer".(2) On the other hand, Strachey likes to + show off his Latin and Greek. He has a curious, if inaccurate, knowledge + of esoteric Greek and Roman religious antiquities, and in writing of + religion aims at a comparative method. Strachey, however, took the trouble + to copy bits of Smith into his own larger work, which he never gave to the + printers. + </p> + <p> + (1) Arber, p. 444. + </p> + <p> + (2) Arber, p. 442. + </p> + <p> + Now as to Ahone. It suits my argument to suppose that Strachey's account + is no less genuine than his description of the temples (illustrated by a + picture by John White, who had been in Virginia in 1589), and the account + of the Great Hare of American mythology.(1) This view of a Virginian + Creator, "our chief god" "who takes upon him this shape of a hare," was + got, says Strachey, "last year, 1610," from a brother of the Potomac King, + by a boy named Spilman, who says that Smith "sold" him to Powhattan.(2) In + his own brief narrative Spelman (or Spilman) says nothing about the + Cosmogonic Legend of the Great Hare. The story came up when Captain Argoll + was telling Powhattan's brother the account of creation in Genesis (1610). + </p> + <p> + (1) Strachey, p. 98-100. + </p> + <p> + (2) "Spilman's Narrative," Arber, cx.-cxiv. + </p> + <p> + Now Strachey's Great Hare is accepted by mythologists, while Ahone is + regarded with suspicion. Ahone does not happen to suit anthropological + ideas, the Hare suits them rather better. Moreover, and more important, + there is abundant corroborative evidence for Oke and for the Hare, + Michabo, who, says Dr. Brinton, "was originally the highest divinity + recognised by them, powerful and beneficent beyond all others, maker of + the heavens and the world," just like Ahone, in fact. And Dr. Brinton + instructs us that Michabo originally meant not Great Hare, but "the spirit + of light".(1) Thus, originally, the Red Men adored "The Spirit of Light, + maker of the heavens and the world". Strachey claims no more than this for + Ahone. Now, of course, Dr. Brinton may be right. But I have already + expressed my extreme distrust of the philological processes by which he + extracts "The Great Light; spirit of light," from Michabo, "beyond a + doubt!" In my poor opinion, whatever claims Michabo may have as an unique + creator of earth and heaven—"God is Light,"—he owes his + mythical aspect as a Hare to something other than an unconscious pun. In + any case, according to Dr. Brinton, Michabo, regarded as a creator, is + equivalent to Strachey's Ahone. This amount of corroboration, valeat + quantum, I may claim, from the Potomac Indians, for the belief in Ahone on + the James River. Dr. Brinton is notoriously not a believer in American + "monotheism".(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Myths of the New World, p. 178. + </p> + <p> + (2) Myths of the New World, p. 53. + </p> + <p> + The opponents of the authenticity of Ahone, however, will certainly argue: + "For Oke, or Oki, as a redoubted being or spirit, or general name for such + personages, we have plentiful evidence, corroborating that of Smith. But + what evidence as to Ahone corroborates that of Strachey?" I must confess + that I have no explicit corroborative evidence for Ahone, but then I have + no accessible library of early books on Virginia. Now it is clear that if + I found and produced evidence for Ahone as late as 1625, I would be met at + once with the retort that, between 1610 and 1625, Christian ideas had + contaminated the native beliefs. Thus if I find Ahone, or a deity of like + attributes, after a very early date, he is of no use for my purpose. Nor + do I much expect to find him. But do we find Winslow's Massachusetts God, + Kiehtan, named AFTER 1622 ("I only ask for information"), and if we don't, + does that prevent Mr. Tylor from citing Kiehtan, with apparent reliance on + the evidence?(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Primitive Culture, ii. p. 342. + </p> + <p> + Again, Ahone, though primal and creative, is, by Strachey's account, a + sleeping partner. He has no sacrifice, and no temple or idol is recorded. + Therefore the belief in Ahone could only be discovered as a result of + inquiry, whereas figures of Oke or Okeus, and his services, were common + and conspicuous.(1) As to Oke, I cannot quite understand Mr. Tylor's + attitude. Summarising Lafitau, a late writer of 1724, Mr. Tylor writes: + "The whole class of spirits or demons, known to the Caribs by the name of + cemi, in Algonkin as manitu, in Huron as oki, Lafitau now spells with + capital letters, and converts them each into a supreme being".(2) Yet in + Primitive Culture, ii., 342, 1891, Mr. Tylor had cited Smith's Okee (with + a capital letter) as the "chief god" of the Virginians in 1612. How can + Lafitau be said to have elevated oki into Oki, and so to have made a god + out of "a class of spirits or demons," in 1724, when Mr. Tylor had already + cited Smith's Okee, with a capital letter and as a "chief god," in 1612? + Smith, rebuked for the same by Mr. Tylor, had even identified Okee with + the devil. Lafitau certainly did not begin this erroneous view of Oki as a + "chief god" among the Virginians. If I cannot to-day produce corroboration + for a god named Ahone, I can at least show that, from the north of New + England to the south of Virginia, there is early evidence, cited by Mr. + Tylor, for a belief in a primal creative being, closely analogous to + Ahone. And this evidence, I think, distinctly proves that such a being as + Ahone was within the capacity of the Indians in these latitudes. Mr. Tylor + must have thought in 1891 that the natives were competent to a belief in a + supreme deity, for he said, "Another famous native American name for the + supreme deity is Oki".(3) In the essay of 1892, however, Oki does not + appear to exist as a god's name till 1724. We may now, for earlier + evidence, turn to Master Thomas Heriot, "that learned mathematician" "who + spoke the Indian language," and was with the company which abandoned + Virginia on 18th June, 1586. They ranged 130 miles north and 130 miles + north-west of Roanoke Island, which brings them into the neighbourhood of + Smith's and Strachey's country. Heriot writes as to the native creeds: + "They believe that there are many gods which they call Mantoac, but of + different sorts and degrees. Also that there is one chiefe God that hath + beene from all eternitie, who, as they say, when he purposed first to make + the world, made first other gods of a principall order, to be as + instruments to be used in the Creation and Government to follow, and after + the Sunne, Moone and Starres as pettie gods, and the instruments of the + other order more principall.... They thinke that all the gods are of + humane shape," and represent them by anthropomorphic idols. An idol, or + image, "Kewasa" (the plural is "Kewasowok"), is placed in the temples, + "where they worship, pray and make many offerings". Good souls go to be + happy with the gods, the bad burn in Popogusso, a great pit, "where the + sun sets". The evidence for this theory of a future life, as usual, is + that of men who died and revived again, a story found in a score of widely + separated regions, down to our day, when the death, revival and revelation + occurred to the founder of the Arapahoe new religion of the Ghost Dance. + The belief "works for righteousness". "The common sort... have great care + to avoyde torment after death, and to enjoy blesse," also they have "great + respect to their Governors". + </p> + <p> + (1) Okee's image, as early as 1607, was borne into battle against Smith, + who captured the god (Arber, p. 393). Ahone was not thus en evidence. + </p> + <p> + (2) Journal of Anthrop. Inst., Feb., 1892, pp. 285, 286. + </p> + <p> + (3) Prim. Cult,, ii. p. 342. + </p> + <p> + This belief in a chief god "from all eternitie" (that is, of unexplained + origin), may not be convenient to some speculators, but it exactly + corroborates Strachey's account of Ahone as creator with subordinates. The + evidence is of 1586 (twenty-six years before Strachey), and, like + Strachey, Heriot attributes the whole scheme of belief to "the priestes". + "This is the sum of their religion, which I learned by having speciall + familiaritie with some of their priests."(1) I see no escape from the + conclusion that the Virginians believed as Heriot says they did, except + the device of alleging that they promptly borrowed some of Heriot's ideas + and maintained that these ideas had ever been their own. Heriot certainly + did not recognise the identity. "Through conversing with us they were + brought into great doubts of their owne (religion), and no small + admiration of ours; of which many desired to learne more than we had the + meanes for want of utterance in their language to expresse." So Heriot + could not be subtle in the native tongue. Heriot did what he could to + convert them: "I did my best to make His immortall glory knowne". His + efforts were chiefly successful by virtue of the savage admiration of our + guns, mathematical instruments, and so forth. These sources of an awakened + interest in Christianity would vanish with the total destruction and + discomfiture of the colony, unless a few captives, later massacred, taught + our religion to the natives.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) According to Strachey, Heriot could speak the native language. + </p> + <p> + (2) Heriot's Narrative, pp. 37-39. Quaritch, London, 1893. + </p> + <p> + I shall cite another early example of a New England deity akin to Ahone, + with a deputy, a friend of sorcerers, like Okee. This account is in + Smith's General History of New England, 1606-1624. We sent out a colony in + 1607; "they all returned in the yeere 1608," esteeming the country "a + cold, barren, mountainous rocky desart". I am apt to believe that they did + not plant the fructifying seeds of grace among the natives in 1607-1608. + But the missionary efforts of French traders may, of course, have been + blessed; nor can I deny that a yellow-haired man, whose corpse was found + in 1620 with some objects of iron, may have converted the natives to such + beliefs as they possessed. We are told, however, that these tenets were of + ancestral antiquity. I cite E. Winslow, as edited by Smith (1623-24):— + </p> + <p> + "Those where in this Plantation (New Plymouth) say Kiehtan(1) made all the + other Gods: also one man and one woman, and with them all mankinde, but + how they became so dispersed they know not. They say that at first there + was no king but Kiehtan, that dwelleth far westerly above the heavens, + whither all good men go when they die, and have plentie of all things. The + bad go thither also and knock at the door, but ('the door is shut') he + bids them go wander in endless want and misery, for they shall not stay + there. They never saw Kiehtan,(2) but they hold it a great charge and + dutie that one race teach another; and to him they make feasts and cry and + sing for plenty and victory, or anything that is good. + </p> + <p> + (1) In 1873 Mr. Tylor regarded Dr. Brinton's etymology of Kiehtan as = + Kittanitowit = "Great Living Spirit," as "plausible". In his edition of + 1891 he omits this etymology. Personally I entirely distrust the + philological theories of the original sense of old divine names as a + general rule. + </p> + <p> + (2) "They never saw Kiehtan." So, about 1854, "The common answer of + intelligent black fellows on the Barwon when asked if they know Baiame... + is this: 'Kamil zaia zummi Baiame, zaia winuzgulda'; 'I have not seen + Baiame, I have heard or perceived him'. If asked who made the sky, the + earth, the animals and man, they always answer 'Baiame'." Daramulun, + according to the same authority in Lang's Queensland, was the familiar of + sorcerers, and appeared as a serpent. This answers, as I show, to Hobamock + the subordinate power to Kiehtan in New England and to Okee, the familiar + of sorcerers in Virginia. (Ridley, J. A. I., 1872, p. 277.) + </p> + <p> + "They have another Power they call Hobamock, which we conceive the Devill, + and upon him they call to cure their wounds and diseases; when they are + curable he persuades them he sent them, because they have displeased him; + but, if they be mortal, then he saith, 'Kiehtan sent them'; which makes + them never call on him in their sickness. They say this Hobamock appears + to them sometimes like a man, a deer, or an eagle, but most commonly like + a snake; not to all but to their Powahs to cure diseases, and Undeses... + and these are such as conjure in Virginia, and cause the people to do what + they list." Winslow (or rather Smith editing Winslow here), had already + said, "They believe, as do the Virginians, of many divine powers, yet of + one above all the rest, as the Southern Virginians call their chief god + Kewassa (an error), and that we now inhabit Oke.... The Massachusetts call + their great god Kiehtan."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Arber, pp. 767, 768. + </p> + <p> + Here, then, in Heriot (1586), Strachey (1611-12) and Winslow (1622), we + find fairly harmonious accounts of a polydaemonism with a chief, primal, + creative being above and behind it; a being unnamed, and Ahone and + Kiehtan. + </p> + <p> + Is all this invention? Or was all this derived from Europeans before 1586, + and, if so, from what Europeans? Mr. Tylor, in 1873, wrote, "After due + allowance made for misrendering of savage answers, and importation of + white men's thoughts, it can hardly be judged that a divine being, whose + characteristics are often so unlike what European intercourse would have + suggested, and who is heard of by such early explorers among such distant + tribes, could be a deity of foreign origin". NOW, he "can HARDLY be + ALTOGETHER a deity of foreign origin".(1) I agree with Mr. Tylor's earlier + statement. In my opinion Ahone—Okeus, Kiehtan—Hobamock, + correspond, the first pair to the usually unseen Australian Baiame (a + crystal or hypnotic vision of Baiame scarcely counts), while the second + pair, Okeus and Hobamock, answer to the Australian familiars of sorcerers, + Koin and Brewin; the American "Powers" being those of peoples on a higher + level of culture. Like Tharramulun where Baiame is supreme, Hobamock + appears as a snake (Asclepius). + </p> + <p> + (1) Prim. Cult., ii. 340, 1873, 1892. + </p> + <p> + For all these reasons I am inclined to accept Strachey's Ahone as a + veritable element in Virginian belief. Without temple or service, such a + being was not conspicuous, like Okee and other gods which had idols and + sacrifices. + </p> + <p> + As far as I see, Strachey has no theory to serve by inventing Ahone. He + asks how any races "if descended from the people of the first creation, + should maintain so general and gross a defection from the true knowledge + of God". He is reduced to suppose that, as descendants of Ham, they + inherit "the ignorance of true godliness." (p. 45). The children of Shem + and Japheth alone "retained, until the coming of the Messias, the only + knowledge of the eternal and never-changing Trinity". The Virginians, on + the other hand, fell heir to the ignorance, and "fearful and superstitious + instinct of nature" of Ham (p. 40). Ahone, therefore, is not invented by + Strachey to bolster up a theory (held by Strachey), of an inherited + revelation, or of a sensus numinis which could not go wrong. Unless a + proof be given that Strachey had a theory, or any other purpose, to serve + by inventing Ahone, I cannot at present come into the opinion that he + gratuitously fabled, though he may have unconsciously exaggerated. + </p> + <p> + What were Strachey's sources? He was for nine months, if not more, in the + colony: he had travelled at least 115 miles up the James River, he + occasionally suggests modifications of Smith's map, he refers to Smith's + adventures, and his glossary is very much larger than Smith's; its + accuracy I leave to American linguists. Such a witness, despite his + admitted use of Smith's text (if it is really all by Smith throughout) is + not to be despised, and he is not despised in America.(1) Strachey, it is + true, had not, like Smith, been captured by Indians and either treated + with perfect kindness and consideration (as Smith reported at the time), + or tied to a tree and threatened with arrows, and laid out to have his + head knocked in with a stone; as he alleged sixteen years later! Strachey, + not being captured, did not owe his release (1) to the magnanimity of + Powhattan, (2) to his own ingenious lies, (3) to the intercession of + Pocahontas, as Smith, and his friends for him, at various dates + inconsistently declared. Smith certainly saw more of the natives at home: + Strachey brought a more studious mind to what he could learn of their + customs and ideas; and is not a convicted braggart. I conjecture that one + of Strachey's sources was a native named Kemps. Smith had seized Kemps and + Kinsock in 1609. Unknown authorities (Powell? and Todkill?) represent + these two savages as "the most exact villaines in the country".(2) They + were made to labour in fetters, then were set at liberty, but "little + desired it".(3) Some "souldiers" ran away to the liberated Kemps, who + brought them back to Smith.(4) Why Kemps and his friend are called "two of + the most exact villains in the country" does not appear. Kemps died "of + the surveye" (scurvey, probably) at Jamestown, in 1610-11. He was much + made of by Lord De la Warr, "could speak a pretty deal of our English, and + came orderly to church every day to prayers". He gave Strachey the names + of Powhattan's wives, and told him, truly or not, that Pocahontas was + married, about 1610, to an Indian named Kocoum.(5) I offer the guess that + Kemps and Machumps, who came and went from Pocahontas, and recited an + Indian prayer which Strachey neglected to copy out, may have been among + Strachey's authorities. I shall, of course, be told that Kemps picked up + Ahone at church. This did not strike Strachey as being the fact; he had no + opinion of the creed in which Ahone was a factor, "the misery and + thraldome under which Sathan has bound these wretched miscreants". + According to Strachey, the priests, far from borrowing any part of our + faith, "feare and tremble lest the knowledge of God, and of our Saviour + Jesus Christ be taught in these parts". + </p> + <p> + (1) Arber, cxvii. Strachey mentions that (before his arrival in Virginia) + Pocahontas turned cart-wheels, naked, in Jamestown, being then under + twelve, and not yet wearing the apron. Smith says she was ten in 1608, but + does not mention the cart-wheels. Later, he found it convenient to put her + age at twelve or thirteen in 1608. Most American scholars, such as Mr. + Adams, entirely distrust the romantic later narratives of Smith. + </p> + <p> + (2) The Proeeedings, etc., by W. S. Arber, p. 151. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid., p. 155. + </p> + <p> + (4) Ibid., p. 157. + </p> + <p> + (5) Strachey, pp. 54, 55. + </p> + <p> + Strachey is therefore for putting down the priests, and, like Smith + (indeed here borrowing from Smith), accuses them of sacrificing children. + To Smith's statement that such a rite was worked at Quiyough-cohanock, + Strachey adds that Sir George Percy (who was with Smith) "was at, and + observed" a similar mystery at Kecoughtan. It is plain that the rite was + not a sacrifice, but a Bora, or initiation, and the parallel of the + Spartan flogging of boys, with the retreat of the boys and their + instructors, is very close, and, of course, unnoted by classical scholars + except Mr. Frazer. Strachey ends with the critical remark that we shall + not know all the certainty of the religion and mysteries till we can + capture some of the priests, or Quiyough-quisocks. + </p> + <p> + Students who have access to a good library of Americana may do more to + elucidate Ahone. I regard him as in a line with Kiehtan and the God spoken + of by Heriot, and do not believe (1) that Strachey lied; (2) that natives + deceived Strachey; (3) that Ahone was borrowed from "the God of Captain + Smith". + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + MYTH, RITUAL, AND RELIGION. + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. SYSTEMS OF MYTHOLOGY. + </h2> + <p> + Definitions of religion—Contradictory evidence—"Belief in + spiritual beings"—Objection to Mr. Tylor's definition—Definition + as regards this argument—Problem: the contradiction between religion + and myth—Two human moods—Examples—Case of Greece—Ancient + mythologists—Criticism by Eusebius—Modern mythological systems—Mr. + Max Muller—Mannhardt. + </p> + <p> + The word "Religion" may be, and has been, employed in many different + senses, and with a perplexing width of significance. No attempt to define + the word is likely to be quite satisfactory, but almost any definition may + serve the purpose of an argument, if the writer who employs it states his + meaning frankly and adheres to it steadily. An example of the confusions + which may arise from the use of the term "religion" is familiar to + students. Dr. J. D. Lang wrote concerning the native races of Australia: + "They have nothing whatever of the character of religion, or of religious + observances, to distinguish them from the beasts that perish". Yet in the + same book Dr. Lang published evidence assigning to the natives belief in + "Turramullun, the chief of demons, who is the author of disease, mischief + and wisdom".(1) The belief in a superhuman author of "disease, mischief + and wisdom" is certainly a religious belief not conspicuously held by "the + beasts"; yet all religion was denied to the Australians by the very author + who prints (in however erroneous a style) an account of part of their + creed. This writer merely inherited the old missionary habit of speaking + about the god of a non-Christian people as a "demon" or an "evil spirit". + </p> + <p> + (1) See Primitive Culture, second edition, i. 419. + </p> + <p> + Dr. Lang's negative opinion was contradicted in testimony published by + himself, an appendix by the Rev. Mr. Ridley, containing evidence of the + belief in Baiame. "Those who have learned that 'God' is the name by which + we speak of the Creator, say that Baiame is God."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Lang's Queensland, p. 445, 1861. + </p> + <p> + As "a minimum definition of religion," Mr. Tylor has suggested "the belief + in spiritual beings". Against this it may be urged that, while we have no + definite certainty that any race of men is destitute of belief in + spiritual beings, yet certain moral and creative deities of low races do + not seem to be envisaged as "spiritual" at all. They are regarded as + EXISTENCES, as BEINGS, unconditioned by Time, Space, or Death, and nobody + appears to have put the purely metaphysical question, "Are these beings + spiritual or material?"(1) Now, if a race were discovered which believed + in such beings, yet had no faith in spirits, that race could not be called + irreligious, as it would have to be called in Mr. Tylor's "minimum + definition". Almost certainly, no race in this stage of belief in nothing + but unconditioned but not expressly spiritual beings is extant. Yet such a + belief may conceivably have existed before men had developed the theory of + spirits at all, and such a belief, in creative and moral unconditioned + beings, not alleged to be spiritual, could not be excluded from a + definition of religion.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) See The Making of Religion, pp. 201-210. + </p> + <p> + (2) "The history of the Jews, nay, the history of our own mind, proves to + demonstration that the thought of God is a far easier thought, and a far + earlier, than that of a spirit." Father Tyrrell, S. J., The Month, + October, 1898. As to the Jews, the question is debated. As to our own + infancy, we are certainly taught about God before we are likely to be + capable of the metaphysical notion of spirit. But we can scarcely reason + from children in Christian houses to the infancy of the race. + </p> + <p> + For these reasons we propose (merely for the purpose of the present work) + to define religion as the belief in a primal being, a Maker, undying, + usually moral, without denying that the belief in spiritual beings, even + if immoral, may be styled religious. Our definition is expressly framed + for the purpose of the argument, because that argument endeavours to bring + into view the essential conflict between religion and myth. We intend to + show that this conflict between the religious and the mythical conception + is present, not only (where it has been universally recognised) in the + faiths of the ancient civilised peoples, as in Greece, Rome, India and + Egypt, but also in the ideas of the lowest known savages. + </p> + <p> + It may, of course, be argued that the belief in Creator is itself a myth. + However that may be, the attitude of awe, and of moral obedience, in face + of such a supposed being, is religious in the sense of the Christian + religion, whereas the fabrication of fanciful, humorous, and wildly + irrational fables about that being, or others, is essentially mythical in + the ordinary significance of that word, though not absent from popular + Christianity. + </p> + <p> + Now, the whole crux and puzzle of mythology is, "Why, having attained (in + whatever way) to a belief in an undying guardian, 'Master of Life,' did + mankind set to work to evolve a chronique scandaleuse about HIM? And why + is that chronique the elaborately absurd set of legends which we find in + all mythologies?" + </p> + <p> + In answering, or trying to answer, these questions, we cannot go behind + the beliefs of the races now most immersed in savage ignorance. About the + psychology of races yet more undeveloped we can have no historical + knowledge. Among the lowest known tribes we usually find, just as in + ancient Greece, the belief in a deathless "Father," "Master," "Maker," and + also the crowd of humorous, obscene, fanciful myths which are in flagrant + contradiction with the religious character of that belief. That belief is + what we call rational, and even elevated. The myths, on the other hand, + are what we call irrational and debasing. We regard low savages as very + irrational and debased characters, consequently the nature of their myths + does not surprise us. Their religious conception, however, of a "Father" + or "Master of Life" seems out of keeping with the nature of the savage + mind as we understand it. Still, there the religious conception actually + is, and it seems to follow that we do not wholly understand the savage + mind, or its unknown antecedents. In any case, there the facts are, as + shall be demonstrated. However the ancestors of Australians, or + Andamanese, or Hurons arrived at their highest religious conception, they + decidedly possess it.(1) The development of their mythical conceptions is + accounted for by those qualities of their minds which we do understand, + and shall illustrate at length. For the present, we can only say that the + religious conception uprises from the human intellect in one mood, that of + earnest contemplation and submission: while the mythical ideas uprise from + another mood, that of playful and erratic fancy. These two moods are + conspicuous even in Christianity. The former, that of earnest and + submissive contemplation, declares itself in prayers, hymns, and "the dim + religious light" of cathedrals. The second mood, that of playful and + erratic fancy, is conspicuous in the buffoonery of Miracle Plays, in + Marchen, these burlesque popular tales about our Lord and the Apostles, + and in the hideous and grotesque sculptures on sacred edifices. The two + moods are present, and in conflict, through the whole religious history of + the human race. They stand as near each other, and as far apart, as Love + and Lust. + </p> + <p> + (1) The hypothesis that the conception was borrowed from European creeds + will be discussed later. See, too, "Are Savage Gods borrowed from + Missionaries?" Nineteenth Century, January, 1899. + </p> + <p> + It will later be shown that even some of the most backward savages make a + perhaps half-conscious distinction between their mythology and their + religion. As to the former, they are communicative; as to the latter, they + jealously guard their secret in sacred mysteries. It is improbable that + reflective "black fellows" have been morally shocked by the flagrant + contradictions between their religious conceptions and their mythical + stories of the divine beings. But human thought could not come into + explicit clearness of consciousness without producing the sense of shock + and surprise at these contradictions between the Religion and the Myth of + the same god. Of this we proceed to give examples. + </p> + <p> + In Greece, as early as the sixth century B. C., we are all familiar with + Xenophanes' poem(1) complaining that the gods were credited with the worst + crimes of mortals—in fact, with abominations only known in the + orgies of Nero and Elagabalus. We hear Pindar refusing to repeat the tale + which told him the blessed were cannibals.(2) In India we read the pious + Brahmanic attempts to expound decently the myths which made Indra the + slayer of a Brahman; the sinner, that is, of the unpardonable sin. In + Egypt, too, we study the priestly or philosophic systems by which the + clergy strove to strip the burden of absurdity and sacrilege from their + own deities. From all these efforts of civilised and pious believers to + explain away the stories about their own gods we may infer one fact—the + most important to the student of mythology—the fact that myths were + not evolved in times of clear civilised thought. It is when Greece is just + beginning to free her thought from the bondage of too concrete language, + when she is striving to coin abstract terms, that her philosophers and + poets first find the myths of Greece a stumbling-block. + </p> + <p> + (1) Ritter and Preller, Hist. Philos., Gothae, 1869, p. 82. + </p> + <p> + (2) Olympic Odes, i., Myers's translation: "To me it is impossible to call + one of the blessed gods a cannibal.... Meet it is for a man that + concerning the gods he speak honourably, for the reproach is less. Of + thee, son of Tantalus, I will speak contrariwise to them who have gone + before me." In avoiding the story of the cannibal god, however, Pindar + tells a tale even more offensive to our morality. + </p> + <p> + All early attempts at an interpretation of mythology are so many efforts + to explain the myths on some principle which shall seem not unreasonable + to men living at the time of the explanation. Therefore the pious + remonstrances and the forced constructions of early thinkers like + Xenophanes, of poets like Pindar, of all ancient Homeric scholars and + Pagan apologists, from Theagenes of Rhegium (525 B. C.), the early Homeric + commentator, to Porphyry, almost the last of the heathen philosophers, are + so many proofs that to Greece, as soon as she had a reflective literature, + the myths of Greece seemed impious and IRRATIONAL. The essays of the + native commentators on the Veda, in the same way, are endeavours to put + into myths felt to be irrational and impious a meaning which does not + offend either piety or reason. We may therefore conclude that it was not + men in an early stage of philosophic thought (as philosophy is now + understood)—not men like Empedocles and Heraclitus, nor reasonably + devout men like Eumaeus, the pious swineherd of the Odyssey—who + evolved the blasphemous myths of Greece, of Egypt and of India. We must + look elsewhere for an explanation. We must try to discover some actual and + demonstrable and widely prevalent condition of the human mind, in which + tales that even to remote and rudimentary civilisations appeared + irrational and unnatural would seem natural and rational. To discover this + intellectual condition has been the aim of all mythologists who did not + believe that myth is a divine tradition depraved by human weakness, or a + distorted version of historical events. + </p> + <p> + Before going further, it is desirable to set forth what our aim is, and to + what extent we are seeking an interpretation of mythology. It is not our + purpose to explain every detail of every ancient legend, either as a + distorted historical fact or as the result of this or that confusion of + thought caused by forgetfulness of the meanings of language, or in any + other way; nay, we must constantly protest against the excursions of too + venturesome ingenuity. Myth is so ancient, so complex, so full of + elements, that it is vain labour to seek a cause for every phenomenon. We + are chiefly occupied with the quest for an historical condition of the + human intellect to which the element in myths, regarded by us as + irrational, shall seem rational enough. If we can prove that such a state + of mind widely exists among men, and has existed, that state of mind may + be provisionally considered as the fount and ORIGIN of the myths which + have always perplexed men in a reasonable modern mental condition. Again, + if it can be shown that this mental stage was one through which all + civilised races have passed, the universality of the mythopoeic mental + condition will to some extent explain the universal DIFFUSION of the + stories. + </p> + <p> + Now, in all mythologies, whether savage or civilised, and in all religions + where myths intrude, there exist two factors—the factor which we now + regard as rational, and that which we moderns regard as irrational. The + former element needs little explanation; the latter has demanded + explanation ever since human thought became comparatively instructed and + abstract. + </p> + <p> + To take an example; even in the myths of savages there is much that still + seems rational and transparent. If savages tell us that some wise being + taught them all the simple arts of life, the use of fire, of the bow and + arrow, the barbing of hooks, and so forth, we understand them at once. + Nothing can be more natural than that man should believe in an original + inventor of the arts, and should tell tales about the imaginary + discoverers if the real heroes be forgotten. So far all is plain sailing. + But when the savage goes on to say that he who taught the use of fire or + who gave the first marriage laws was a rabbit or a crow, or a dog, or a + beaver, or a spider, then we are at once face to face with the element in + myths which seems to us IRRATIONAL. Again, among civilised peoples we read + of the pure all-seeing Varuna in the Vedas, to whom sin is an offence. We + read of Indra, the Lord of Thunder, borne in his chariot, the giver of + victory, the giver of wealth to the pious; here once more all seems + natural and plain. The notion of a deity who guides the whirlwind and + directs the storm, a god of battles, a god who blesses righteousness, is + familiar to us and intelligible; but when we read how Indra drank himself + drunk and committed adulteries with Asura women, and got himself born from + the same womb as a bull, and changed himself into a quail or a ram, and + suffered from the most abject physical terror, and so forth, then we are + among myths no longer readily intelligible; here, we feel, are IRRATIONAL + stories, of which the original ideas, in their natural sense, can hardly + have been conceived by men in a pure and rational early civilisation. + Again, in the religions of even the lowest races, such myths as these are + in contradiction with the ethical elements of the faith. + </p> + <p> + If we look at Greek religious tradition, we observe the coexistence of the + RATIONAL and the apparently IRRATIONAL elements. The RATIONAL myths are + those which represent the gods as beautiful and wise beings. The Artemis + of the Odyssey "taking her pastime in the chase of boars and swift deer, + while with her the wild wood-nymphs disport them, and high over them all + she rears her brow, and is easily to be known where all are fair,"(1) is a + perfectly RATIONAL mythic representation of a divine being. We feel, even + now, that the conception of a "queen and goddess, chaste and fair," the + abbess, as Paul de Saint-Victor calls her, of the woodlands, is a + beautiful and natural fancy, which requires no explanation. On the other + hand, the Artemis of Arcadia, who is confused with the nymph Callisto, + who, again, is said to have become a she-bear, and later a star; and the + Brauronian Artemis, whose maiden ministers danced a bear-dance,(2) are + goddesses whose legend seems unnatural, and needs to be made intelligible. + Or, again, there is nothing not explicable and natural in the conception + of the Olympian Zeus as represented by the great chryselephantine statue + of Zeus at Olympia, or in the Homeric conception of Zeus as a god who + "turns everywhere his shining eyes, and beholds all things, and protects + the righteous, and deals good or evil fortune to men." But the Zeus whose + grave was shown in Crete, or the Zeus who played Demeter an obscene trick + by the aid of a ram, or the Zeus who, in the shape of a swan, became the + father of Castor and Pollux, or the Zeus who deceived Hera by means of a + feigned marriage with an inanimate object, or the Zeus who was afraid of + Attes, or the Zeus who made love to women in the shape of an ant or a + cuckoo, is a being whose myth is felt to be unnatural and bewildering.(3) + It is this IRRATIONAL and unnatural element, as Mr. Max Muller says, "the + silly, senseless, and savage element," that makes mythology the puzzle + which men have so long found it. For, observe, Greek myth does not + represent merely a humorous play of fancy, dealing with things religiously + sacred as if by way of relief from the strained reverential contemplation + of the majesty of Zeus. Many stories of Greek mythology are such as could + not cross, for the first time, the mind of a civilised Xenophanes or + Theagenes, even in a dream. THIS was the real puzzle. + </p> + <p> + (1) Odyssey, vi. 102. + </p> + <p> + (2) (Greek word omitted); compare Harpokration on this word. + </p> + <p> + (3) These are the features in myth which provoke, for example, the wonder + of Emeric-David. "The lizard, the wolf, the dog, the ass, the frog, and + all the other brutes so common on religious monuments everywhere, do they + not all imply a THOUGHT which we must divine?" He concludes that these + animals, plants, and monsters of myths are so many "enigmas" and "symbols" + veiling some deep, sacred idea, allegories of some esoteric religious + creed. Jupiter, Paris, 1832, p. lxxvii. + </p> + <p> + We have offered examples—Savage, Indian, and Greek—of that + element in mythology which, as all civilised races have felt, demands + explanation. + </p> + <p> + To be still more explicit, we may draw up a brief list of the chief + problems in the legendary stories attached to the old religions of the + world—the problems which it is our special purpose to notice. First + we have, in the myths of all races, the most grotesque conceptions of the + character of gods when mythically envisaged. Beings who, in religion, + leave little to be desired, and are spoken of as holy, immortal, + omniscient, and kindly, are, in myth, represented as fashioned in the + likeness not only of man, but of the beasts; as subject to death, as + ignorant and impious. + </p> + <p> + Most pre-Christian religions had their "zoomorphic" or partially + zoomorphic idols, gods in the shape of the lower animals, or with the + heads and necks of the lower animals. In the same way all mythologies + represent the gods as fond of appearing in animal forms. Under these + disguises they conduct many amours, even with the daughters of men, and + Greek houses were proud of their descent from Zeus in the shape of an + eagle or ant, a serpent or a swan; while Cronus and the Vedic Tvashtri and + Poseidon made love as horses, and Apollo as a dog. Not less wild are the + legends about the births of gods from the thigh, or the head, or feet, or + armpits of some parent; while tales describing and pictures representing + unspeakable divine obscenities were frequent in the mythology and in the + temples of Greece. Once more, the gods were said to possess and exercise + the power of turning men and women into birds, beasts, fishes, trees, and + stones, so that there was scarcely a familiar natural object in the Greek + world which had not once (according to legend) been a man or a woman. The + myths of the origin of the world and man, again, were in the last degree + childish and disgusting. The Bushmen and Australians have, perhaps, no + story of the origin of species quite so barbarous in style as the + anecdotes about Phanes and Prajapati which are preserved in the Orphic + hymns and in the Brahmanas. The conduct of the earlier dynasties of + classical gods towards each other was as notoriously cruel and loathsome + as their behaviour towards mortals was tricksy and capricious. The + classical gods, with all their immortal might, are, by a mythical + contradiction of the religious conception, regarded as capable of fear and + pain, and are led into scrapes as ludicrous as those of Brer Wolf or Brer + Terrapin in the tales of the Negroes of the Southern States of America. + The stars, again, in mythology, are mixed up with beasts, planets and men + in the same embroglio of fantastic opinion. The dead and the living, men, + beasts and gods, trees and stars, and rivers, and sun, and moon, dance + through the region of myths in a burlesque ballet of Priapus, where + everything may be anything, where nature has no laws and imagination no + limits. + </p> + <p> + Such are the irrational characteristics of myths, classic or Indian, + European or American, African or Asiatic, Australian or Maori. Such is one + element we find all the world over among civilised and savage people, quod + semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus. It is no wonder that pious and + reflective men have, in so many ages and in so many ways, tried to account + to themselves for their possession of beliefs closely connected with + religion which yet seemed ruinous to religion and morality. + </p> + <p> + The explanations which men have given of their own sacred stories, the + apologies for their own gods which they have been constrained to offer to + themselves, were the earliest babblings of a science of mythology. That + science was, in its dim beginnings, intended to satisfy a moral need. Man + found that his gods, when mythically envisaged, were not made in his own + moral image at its best, but in the image sometimes of the beasts, + sometimes of his own moral nature at its very worst: in the likeness of + robbers, wizards, sorcerers, and adulterers. Now, it is impossible here to + examine minutely all systems of mythological interpretation. Every key has + been tried in this difficult lock; every cause of confusion has been taken + up and tested, deemed adequate, and finally rejected or assigned a + subordinate place. Probably the first attempts to shake off the burden of + religious horror at mythical impiety were made by way of silent omission. + Thus most of the foulest myths of early India are absent, and presumably + were left out, in the Rig-Veda. "The religious sentiment of the hymns, + already so elevated, has discarded most of the tales which offended it, + but has not succeeded in discarding them all."(1) Just as the poets of the + Rig-Veda prefer to avoid the more offensive traditions about Indra and + Tvashtri, so Homer succeeds in avoiding the more grotesque and puerile + tales about his own gods.(2) The period of actual apology comes later. + Pindar declines, as we have seen, to accuse a god of cannibalism. The + Satapatha Brahmana invents a new story about the slaying of Visvarupa. Not + Indra, but Trita, says the Brahmana apologetically, slew the three-headed + son of Tvashtri. "Indra assuredly was free from that sin, for he is a + god," says the Indian apologist.(3) Yet sins which to us appear far more + monstrous than the peccadillo of killing a three-headed Brahman are + attributed freely to Indra. + </p> + <p> + (1) Les Religions de l'Inde, Barth, p. 14. See also postea, "Indian + Myths". + </p> + <p> + (2) The reasons for Homer's reticence are probably different in different + passages. Perhaps in some cases he had heard a purer version of myth than + what reached Hesiod; perhaps he sometimes purposely (like Pindar) purified + a myth; usually he must have selected, in conformity with the noble + humanity and purity of his taste, the tales that best conformed to his + ideal. He makes his deities reluctant to drag out in dispute old scandals + of their early unheroic adventures, some of which, however, he gives, as + the kicking of Hephaestus out of heaven, and the imprisonment of Ares in a + vessel of bronze. Compare Professor Jebb's Homer, p. 83: "whatever the + instinct of the great artist has tolerated, at least it has purged these + things away." that is, divine amours in bestial form. + </p> + <p> + (3) Satapatha Brahmana, Oxford, 1882, vol. i. p. 47. + </p> + <p> + While poets could but omit a blasphemous tale or sketch an apology in + passing, it became the business of philosophers and of antiquarian writers + deliberately to "whitewash" the gods of popular religion. Systematic + explanations of the sacred stories, whether as preserved in poetry or as + told by priests, had to be provided. India had her etymological and her + legendary school of mythology.(1) Thus, while the hymn SEEMED to tell how + the Maruts were gods, "born together with the spotted deer," the + etymological interpreters explained that the word for deer only meant the + many-coloured lines of clouds.(2) In the armoury of apologetics etymology + has been the most serviceable weapon. It is easy to see that by aid of + etymology the most repulsive legend may be compelled to yield a pure or + harmless sense, and may be explained as an innocent blunder, caused by + mere verbal misunderstanding. Brahmans, Greeks, and Germans have equally + found comfort in this hypothesis. In the Cratylus of Plato, Socrates + speaks of the notion of explaining myths by etymological guesses at the + meaning of divine names as "a philosophy which came to him all in an + instant". Thus we find Socrates shocked by the irreverence which styled + Zeus the son of Cronus, "who is a proverb for stupidity". But on examining + philologically the name Kronos, Socrates decides that it must really mean + Koros, "not in the sense of a youth, but signifying the pure and garnished + mind". Therefore, when people first called Zeus the son of Cronus, they + meant nothing irreverent, but only that Zeus is the child of the pure mind + or pure reason. Not only is this etymological system most pious and + consolatory, but it is, as Socrates adds, of universal application. "For + now I bethink me of a very new and ingenious notion,... that we may put in + and pull out letters at pleasure, and alter the accents."(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Rig-Veda Sanhita. Max Muller, p. 59. + </p> + <p> + (2) Postea, "Indian Divine Myths". + </p> + <p> + (3) Jowett's Plato, vol. i. pp. 632, 670. + </p> + <p> + Socrates, of course, speaks more than half in irony, but there is a + certain truth in his account of etymological analysis and its dependence + on individual tastes and preconceived theory. + </p> + <p> + The ancient classical schools of mythological interpretation, though + unscientific and unsuccessful, are not without interest. We find + philosophers and grammarians looking, just as we ourselves are looking, + for some condition of the human intellect out of which the absurd element + in myths might conceivably have sprung. Very naturally the philosophers + supposed that the human beings in whose brain and speech myths had their + origin must have been philosophers like themselves—intelligent, + educated persons. But such persons, they argued, could never have meant to + tell stories about the gods so full of nonsense and blasphemy. + </p> + <p> + Therefore the nonsense and blasphemy must originally have had some + harmless, or even praiseworthy, sense. What could that sense have been? + This question each ancient mythologist answered in accordance with his own + taste and prejudices, and above all, and like all other and later + speculators, in harmony with the general tendency of his own studies. If + he lived when physical speculation was coming into fashion, as in the age + of Empedocles, he thought that the Homeric poems must contain a veiled + account of physical philosophy. This was the opinion of Theagenes of + Rhegium, who wrote at a period when a crude physicism was disengaging + itself from the earlier religious and mythical cosmogonic systems of + Greece. Theagenes was shocked by the Homeric description of the battle in + which the gods fought as allies of the Achaeans and Trojans. He therefore + explained away the affair as a veiled account of the strife of the + elements. Such "strife" was familiar to readers of the physical + speculations of Empedocles and of Heraclitus, who blamed Homer for his + prayer against Strife.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Is. et Osir., 48. + </p> + <p> + It did not occur to Theagenes to ask whether any evidence existed to show + that the pre-Homeric Greeks were Empedoclean or Heraclitean philosophers. + He readily proved to himself that Apollo, Helios, and Hephaestus were + allegorical representations, like what such philosophers would feign,—of + fire, that Hera was air, Poseidon water, Artemis the moon, and the rest he + disposed of in the same fashion.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Scholia on Iliad, xx. 67. Dindorf (1877), vol. iv. p. 231. "This + manner of apologetics is as old as Theagenes of Rhegium. Homer offers + theological doctrine in the guise of physical allegory." + </p> + <p> + Metrodorus, again, turned not only the gods, but the Homeric heroes into + "elemental combinations and physical agencies"; for there is nothing new + in the mythological philosophy recently popular, which saw the sun, and + the cloud, and the wind in Achilles, Athene, and Hermes.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Grote, Hist, of Greece, ed. 1869, i. p. 404. + </p> + <p> + In the Bacchae (291-297), Euripides puts another of the mythological + systems of his own time into the mouth of Cadmus, the Theban king, who + advances a philological explanation of the story that Dionysus was sewn up + in the thigh of Zeus. The most famous of the later theories was that of + Euhemerus (316 B.C.). In a kind of philosophical romance, Euhemerus + declared that he had sailed to some No-man's-land, Panchaea, where he + found the verity about mythical times engraved on pillars of bronze. This + truth he published in the Sacra Historia, where he rationalised the + fables, averring that the gods had been men, and that the myths were + exaggerated and distorted records of facts. (See Eusebius, Praep. E., ii + 55.) The Abbe Banier (La Mythologie expliquee par l'Histoire, Paris, 1738, + vol. ii. p. 218) attempts the defence of Euhemerus, whom most of the + ancients regarded as an atheist. There was an element of truth in his + romantic hypothesis.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) See Block, Euhemere et sa Doctrine, Mons, 1876. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes the old stories were said to conceal a moral, sometimes a + physical, sometimes a mystical or Neo-platonic sort of meaning. As every + apologist interpreted the legends in his own fashion, the interpretations + usually disagreed and killed each other. Just as one modern mythologist + sees the wind in Aeetes and the dawn in Medea, while another of the same + school believes, on equally good evidence, that both Aeetes and Medea are + the moon, so writers like Porphyry (270 A. D.) and Plutarch (60 A. D.) + made the ancient deities types of their own favourite doctrines, whatever + these might happen to be. + </p> + <p> + When Christianity became powerful, the Christian writers naturally + attacked heathen religion where it was most vulnerable, on the side of the + myths, and of the mysteries which were dramatic representations of the + myths. "Pretty gods you worship," said the Fathers, in effect, "homicides, + adulterers, bulls, bears, mice, ants, and what not." The heathen + apologists for the old religion were thus driven in the early ages of + Christianity to various methods of explaining away the myths of their + discredited religion. + </p> + <p> + The early Christian writers very easily, and with considerable + argumentative power, disposed of the apologies for the myths advanced by + Porphyry and Plutarch. Thus Eusebius in the Praeparatio Evangelica first + attacks the Egyptian interpretations of their own bestial or semi-bestial + gods. He shows that the various interpretations destroy each other, and + goes on to point out that Greek myth is in essence only a veneered and + varnished version of the faith of Egypt. He ridicules, with a good deal of + humour, the old theories which resolved so many mythical heroes into the + sun; he shows that while one system is contented to regard Zeus as mere + fire and air, another system recognises in him the higher reason, while + Heracles, Dionysus, Apollo, and Asclepius, father and child, are all + indifferently the sun. + </p> + <p> + Granting that the myth-makers were only constructing physical allegories, + why did they wrap them up, asks Eusebius, in what WE consider abominable + fictions? In what state were the people who could not look at the pure + processes of Nature without being reminded of the most hideous and + unnatural offences? Once more: "The physical interpreters do not even + agree in their physical interpretations". All these are equally facile, + equally plausible, and equally incapable of proof. Again, Eusebius argues, + the interpreters take for granted in the makers of the myths an amount of + physical knowledge which they certainly did not possess. For example, if + Leto were only another name for Hera, the character of Zeus would be + cleared as far as his amour with Leto is concerned. Now, the ancient + believers in the "physical phenomena theory" of myths made out that Hera, + the wife of Zeus, was really the same person under another name as Leto, + his mistress. "For Hera is the earth" (they said at other times that Hera + was the air), "and Leto is the night; but night is only the shadow of the + earth, and therefore Leto is only the shadow of Hera." It was easy, + however, to prove that this scientific view of night as the shadow of + earth was not likely to be known to myth-makers, who regarded "swift + Night" as an actual person. Plutarch, too, had an abstruse theory to + explain the legend about the dummy wife,—a log of oak-wood, which + Zeus pretended to marry when at variance with Hera.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Pausanias, ix. 31. + </p> + <p> + This quarrel, he said, was merely the confusion and strife of elements. + Zeus was heat, Hera was cold (she had already been explained as earth and + air), the dummy wife of oak-wood was a tree that emerged after a flood, + and so forth. Of course, there was no evidence that mythopoeic men held + Plutarchian theories of heat and cold and the conflict of the elements; + besides, as Eusebius pointed out, Hera had already been defined once as an + allegory of wedded life, and once as the earth, and again as the air, and + it was rather too late to assert that she was also the cold and watery + element in the world. As for his own explanation of the myths, Eusebius + holds that they descend from a period when men in their lawless barbarism + knew no better than to tell such tales. "Ancient folk, in the exceeding + savagery of their lives, made no account of God, the universal Creator + (here Eusebius is probably wrong)... but betook them to all manner of + abominations. For the laws of decent existence were not yet established, + nor was any settled and peaceful state ordained among men, but only a + loose and savage fashion of wandering life, while, as beasts irrational, + they cared for no more than to fill their bellies, being in a manner + without God in the world." Growing a little more civilised, men, according + to Eusebius, sought after something divine, which they found in the + heavenly bodies. Later, they fell to worshipping living persons, + especially "medicine men" and conjurors, and continued to worship them + even after their decease, so that Greek temples are really tombs of the + dead.(1) Finally, the civilised ancients, with a conservative reluctance + to abandon their old myths (Greek text omitted), invented for them moral + or physical explanations, like those of Plutarch and others, earlier and + later.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Praep. E., ii. 5. + </p> + <p> + (2) Ibid., 6,19. + </p> + <p> + As Eusebius, like Clemens of Alexandria, Arnobius, and the other early + Christian disputants, had no prejudice in favour of Hellenic mythology, + and no sentimental reason for wishing to suppose that the origin of its + impurities was pure, he found his way almost to the theory of the + irrational element in mythology which we propose to offer. + </p> + <p> + Even to sketch the history of mythological hypothesis in modern times + would require a book to itself. It must suffice here to indicate the + various lines which speculation as to mythology has pursued. + </p> + <p> + All interpretations of myth have been formed in accordance with the ideas + prevalent in the time of the interpreters. The early Greek physicists + thought that mythopoeic men had been physicists. Aristotle hints that they + were (like himself) political philosophers.(1) Neo-platonists sought in + the myths for Neo-platonism; most Christians (unlike Eusebius) either + sided with Euhemerus, or found in myth the inventions of devils, or a + tarnished and distorted memory of the Biblical revelation. + </p> + <p> + (1) Met., xi. 8,19. + </p> + <p> + This was the theory, for example, of good old Jacob Bryant, who saw + everywhere memories of the Noachian deluge and proofs of the correctness + of Old Testament ethnology.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Bryant, A New System, wherein an Attempt is made to Divest Tradition + of Fable, 1774. + </p> + <p> + Much the same attempt to find the Biblical truth at the bottom of savage + and ancient fable has been recently made by the late M. Lenormant, a + Catholic scholar.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Les Origines de l'Histoire d'apres le Bible, 1880-1884. + </p> + <p> + In the beginning of the present century Germany turned her attention to + mythology. As usual, men's ideas were biassed by the general nature of + their opinions. In a pious kind of spirit, Friedrich Creuzer sought to + find SYMBOLS of some pure, early, and Oriental theosophy in the myths and + mysteries of Greece. Certainly the Greeks of the philosophical period + explained their own myths as symbols of higher things, but the explanation + was an after-thought.(1) The great Lobeck, in his Aglaophamus (1829), + brought back common sense, and made it the guide of his vast, his + unequalled learning. In a gentler and more genial spirit, C. Otfried + Muller laid the foundation of a truly scientific and historical + mythology.(2) Neither of these writers had, like Alfred Maury,(3) much + knowledge of the myths and faiths of the lower races, but they often seem + on the point of anticipating the ethnological method. + </p> + <p> + (1) Creuzer, Symbolik und Mythologie, 2d edit., Leipzig, 1836-43. + </p> + <p> + (2) Introduction to a Scientific System of Mythology, English trans., + London, 1844. + </p> + <p> + (3) Histoire des Religions de la Grece Antique, Paris, 1857. + </p> + <p> + When philological science in our own century came to maturity, in + philology, as of old in physics and later in symbols, was sought the key + of myths. While physical allegory, religious and esoteric symbolism, + verbal confusion, historical legend, and an original divine tradition, + perverted in ages of darkness, have been the most popular keys in other + ages, the scientific nineteenth century has had a philological key of its + own. The methods of Kuhn, Breal, Max Muller, and generally the + philological method, cannot be examined here at full length.(1) Briefly + speaking, the modern philological method is intended for a scientific + application of the old etymological interpretations. Cadmus in the Bacchae + of Euripides, Socrates in the Cratylus of Plato, dismiss unpalatable myths + as the results of verbal confusion. People had originally said something + quite sensible—so the hypothesis runs—but when their + descendants forgot the meaning of their remarks, a new and absurd meaning + followed from a series of unconscious puns.(2) This view was supported in + ancient times by purely conjectural and impossible etymologies. Thus the + myth that Dionysus was sewn up in the THIGH of Zeus (Greek text omitted) + was explained by Euripides as the result of a confusion of words. People + had originally said that Zeus gave a pledge (Greek text omitted) to Hera. + The modern philological school relies for explanations of untoward and + other myths on similar confusions. Thus Daphne is said to have been + originally not a girl of romance, but the dawn (Sanskirt, dahana: ahana) + pursued by the rising sun. But as the original Aryan sense of Dahana or + Ahana was lost, and as Daphne came to mean the laurel—the wood which + burns easily—the fable arose that the tree had been a girl called + Daphne.(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) See Mythology in Encyclop. Brit. and in La Mythologie (A. L.), Paris, + 1886, where Mr. Max Muller's system is criticised. See also Custom and + Myth and Modern Mythology. + </p> + <p> + (2) That a considerable number of myths, chiefly myths of place names, + arise from popular etymologies is certain: what is objected to is the vast + proportion given to this element in myths. + </p> + <p> + (3) Max Muller, Nineteenth Century, December, 1885; "Solar Myths," + January, 1886; Myths and Mythologists (A. L). Whitney, Mannhardt, + Bergaigne, and others dispute the etymology. Or. and Ling. Studies, 1874, + p. 160; Mannhardt, Antike Wald und Feld Kultus (Berlin, 1877), p. xx.; + Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique, iii. 293; nor does Curtius like it much, + Principles of Greek Etymology, English trans., ii. 92, 93; Modern + Mythology (A. L.), 1897. + </p> + <p> + This system chiefly rests on comparison between the Sanskrit names in the + Rig-Veda and the mythic names in Greek, German, Slavonic, and other Aryan + legends. The attempt is made to prove that, in the common speech of the + undivided Aryan race, many words for splendid or glowing natural phenomena + existed, and that natural processes were described in a figurative style. + As the various Aryan families separated, the sense of the old words and + names became dim, the nomina developed into numina, the names into gods, + the descriptions of elemental processes into myths. As this system has + already been criticised by us elsewhere with minute attention, a reference + to these reviews must suffice in this place. Briefly, it may be stated + that the various masters of the school—Kuhn, Max Muller, Roth, + Schwartz, and the rest—rarely agree where agreement is essential, + that is, in the philological foundations of their building. They differ in + very many of the etymological analyses of mythical names. They also differ + in the interpretations they put on the names, Kuhn almost invariably + seeing fire, storm, cloud, or lightning where Mr. Max Muller sees the + chaste Dawn. Thus Mannhardt, after having been a disciple, is obliged to + say that comparative Indo-Germanic mythology has not borne the fruit + expected, and that "the CERTAIN gains of the system reduce themselves to + the scantiest list of parallels, such as Dyaus = Zeus = Tius, Parjanya = + Perkunas, Bhaga = Bog, Varuna = Uranos" (a position much disputed), etc. + Mannhardt adds his belief that a number of other "equations"—such as + Sarameya = Hermeias, Saranyus = Demeter Erinnys, Kentauros = Gandharva, + and many others—will not stand criticism, and he fears that these + ingenious guesses will prove mere jeux d'esprit rather than actual + facts.(1) Many examples of the precarious and contradictory character of + the results of philological mythology, many instances of "dubious + etymologies," false logic, leaps at foregone conclusions, and attempts to + make what is peculiarly Indian in thought into matter of universal + application, will meet us in the chapters on Indian and Greek divine + legends.(2) "The method in its practical working shows a fundamental lack + of the historical sense," says Mannhardt. Examples are torn from their + contexts, he observes; historical evolution is neglected; passages of the + Veda, themselves totally obscure, are dragged forward to account for + obscure Greek mythical phenomena. Such are the accusations brought by the + regretted Mannhardt against the school to which he originally belonged, + and which was popular and all-powerful even in the maturity of his own + more clear-sighted genius. Proofs of the correctness of his criticism will + be offered abundantly in the course of this work. It will become evident + that, great as are the acquisitions of Philology, her least certain + discoveries have been too hastily applied in alien "matter," that is, in + the region of myth. Not that philology is wholly without place or part in + the investigation of myth, when there is agreement among philologists as + to the meaning of a divine name. In that case a certain amount of light is + thrown on the legend of the bearer of the name, and on its origin and + first home, Aryan, Greek, Semitic, or the like. But how rare is agreement + among philologists! + </p> + <p> + (1) Baum und Feld Kultus, p. xvii. Kuhn's "epoch-making" book is Die + Herabkunft des Feuers, Berlin, 1859. By way of example of the disputes as + to the original meaning of a name like Prometheus, compare Memoires de la + Societe de Linguistique de Paris, t. iv. p. 336. + </p> + <p> + (2) See especially Mannhardt's note on Kuhn's theories of Poseidon and + Hermes, B. u. F. K., pp. xviii., xix., note 1. + </p> + <p> + "The philological method," says Professor Tiele,(1) "is inadequate and + misleading, when it is a question of discovering the ORIGIN of a myth, or + the physical explanation of the oldest myths, or of accounting for the + rude and obscene element in the divine legends of civilised races. But + these are not the only problems of mythology. There is, for example, the + question of the GENEALOGICAL relations of myths, where we have to + determine whether the myths of peoples whose speech is of the same family + are special modifications of a mythology once common to the race whence + these peoples have sprung. The philological method alone can answer here." + But this will seem a very limited province when we find that almost all + races, however remote and unconnected in speech, have practically much the + same myths. + </p> + <p> + (1) Rev. de l'Hist. des Rel., xii. 3, 260, Nov., Dec., 1885. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. NEW SYSTEM PROPOSED. + </h2> + <p> + Chap. I. recapitulated—Proposal of a new method: Science of + comparative or historical study of man—Anticipated in part by + Eusebius, Fontenelle, De Brosses, Spencer (of C. C. C., Cambridge), and + Mannhardt—Science of Tylor—Object of inquiry: to find + condition of human intellect in which marvels of myth are parts of + practical everyday belief—This is the savage state—Savages + described—The wild element of myth a survival from the savage state—Advantages + of this method—Partly accounts for wide DIFFUSION as well as ORIGIN + of myths—Connected with general theory of evolution—Puzzling + example of myth of the water-swallower—Professor Tiele's criticism + of the method—Objections to method, and answer to these—See + Appendix B. + </p> + <p> + The past systems of mythological interpretation have been briefly + sketched. It has been shown that the practical need for a reconciliation + between RELIGION and MORALITY on one side, and the MYTHS about the gods on + the other, produced the hypotheses of Theagenes and Metrodorus, of + Socrates and Euemerus, of Aristotle and Plutarch. It has been shown that + in each case the reconcilers argued on the basis of their own ideas and of + the philosophies of their time. The early physicist thought that myth + concealed a physical philosophy; the early etymologist saw in it a + confusion of language; the early political speculator supposed that myth + was an invention of legislators; the literary Euhemerus found the secret + of myths in the course of an imaginary voyage to a fabled island. Then + came the moment of the Christian attacks, and Pagan philosophers, touched + with Oriental pantheism, recognised in myths certain pantheistic symbols + and a cryptic revelation of their own Neo-platonism. When the gods were + dead and their altars fallen, then antiquaries brought their curiosity to + the problem of explaining myth. Christians recognised in it a depraved + version of the Jewish sacred writings, and found the ark on every + mountain-top of Greece. The critical nineteenth century brought in, with + Otfried Muller and Lobeck, a closer analysis; and finally, in the sudden + rise of comparative philology, it chanced that philologists annexed the + domain of myths. Each of these systems had its own amount of truth, but + each certainly failed to unravel the whole web of tradition and of foolish + faith. + </p> + <p> + Meantime a new science has come into existence, the science which studies + man in the sum of all his works and thoughts, as evolved through the whole + process of his development. This science, Comparative Anthropology, + examines the development of law out of custom; the development of weapons + from the stick or stone to the latest repeating rifle; the development of + society from the horde to the nation. It is a study which does not despise + the most backward nor degraded tribe, nor neglect the most civilised, and + it frequently finds in Australians or Nootkas the germ of ideas and + institutions which Greeks or Romans brought to perfection, or retained, + little altered from their early rudeness, in the midst of civilisation. + </p> + <p> + It is inevitable that this science should also try its hand on mythology. + Our purpose is to employ the anthropological method—the study of the + evolution of ideas, from the savage to the barbarous, and thence to the + civilised stage—in the province of myth, ritual, and religion. It + has been shown that the light of this method had dawned on Eusebius in his + polemic with the heathen apologists. Spencer, the head of Corpus, + Cambridge (1630-93), had really no other scheme in his mind in his erudite + work on Hebrew Ritual.(1) Spencer was a student of man's religions + generally, and he came to the conclusion that Hebrew ritual was but an + expurgated, and, so to speak, divinely "licensed" adaptation of heathen + customs at large. We do but follow his guidance on less perilous ground + when we seek for the original forms of classical rite and myth in the + parallel usages and legends of the most backward races. + </p> + <p> + (1) De Legibus Hebraeorum Ritualibus, Tubingae, 1782. + </p> + <p> + Fontenelle in the last century, stated, with all the clearness of the + French intellect, the system which is partially worked out in this essay—the + system which explains the irrational element in myth as inherited from + savagery. Fontenelle's paper (Sur l'Origine des Fables) is brief, + sensible, and witty, and requires little but copious evidence to make it + adequate. But he merely threw out the idea, and left it to be + neglected.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) See Appendix A., Fontenelle's Origine des Fables. + </p> + <p> + Among other founders of the anthropological or historical school of + mythology, De Brosses should not be forgotten. In his Dieux Fetiches + (1760) he follows the path which Eusebius indicated—the path of + Spencer and Fontenelle—now the beaten road of Tylor and M'Lennan and + Mannhardt. + </p> + <p> + In anthropology, in the science of Waitz, Tylor, and M'Lennan, in the + examination of man's faith in the light of his social, legal, and + historical conditions generally, we find, with Mannhardt, some of the keys + of myth. This science "makes it manifest that the different stages through + which humanity has passed in its intellectual evolution have still their + living representatives among various existing races. The study of these + lower races is an invaluable instrument for the interpretation of the + survivals from earlier stages, which we meet in the full civilisation of + cultivated peoples, but whose origins were in the remotest fetichism and + savagery."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Mannhardt op. cit. p. xxiii. + </p> + <p> + It is by following this road, and by the aid of anthropology and of human + history, that we propose to seek for a demonstrably actual condition of + the human intellect, whereof the puzzling qualities of myth would be the + natural and inevitable fruit. In all the earlier theories which we have + sketched, inquirers took it for granted that the myth-makers were men with + philosophic and moral ideas like their own—ideas which, from some + reason of religion or state, they expressed in bizarre terms of allegory. + We shall attempt, on the other hand, to prove that the human mind has + passed through a condition quite unlike that of civilised men—a + condition in which things seemed natural and rational that now appear + unnatural and devoid of reason, and in which, therefore, if myths were + evolved, they would, if they survived into civilisation, be such as + civilised men find strange and perplexing. + </p> + <p> + Our first question will be, Is there a stage of human society and of the + human intellect in which facts that appear to us to be monstrous and + irrational—facts corresponding to the wilder incidents of myth—are + accepted as ordinary occurrences of everyday life? In the region of + romantic rather than of mythical invention we know that there is such a + state. Mr. Lane, in his preface to the Arabian Nights, says that the Arabs + have an advantage over us as story-tellers. They can introduce such + incidents as the change of a man into a horse, or of a woman into a dog, + or the intervention of an Afreet without any more scruple than our own + novelists feel in describing a duel or the concealment of a will. Among + the Arabs the agencies of magic and of spirits are regarded as at least as + probable and common as duels and concealments of wills seem to be thought + by European novelists. It is obvious that we need look no farther for the + explanation of the supernatural events in Arab romances. Now, let us apply + this system to mythology. It is admitted that Greeks, Romans, Aryans of + India in the age of the Sanskrit commentators, and Egyptians of the + Ptolemaic and earlier ages, were as much puzzled as we are by the mythical + adventures of their gods. But is there any known stage of the human + intellect in which similar adventures, and the metamorphoses of men into + animals, trees, stars, and all else that puzzles us in the civilised + mythologies, are regarded as possible incidents of daily human life? Our + answer is, that everything in the civilised mythologies which we regard as + irrational seems only part of the accepted and natural order of things to + contemporary savages, and in the past seemed equally rational and natural + to savages concerning whom we have historical information.(1) Our theory + is, therefore, that the savage and senseless element in mythology is, for + the most part, a legacy from the fancy of ancestors of the civilised races + who were once in an intellectual state not higher, but probably lower, + than that of Australians, Bush-men, Red Indians, the lower races of South + America, and other worse than barbaric peoples. As the ancestors of the + Greeks, Aryans of India, Egyptians and others advanced in civilisation, + their religious thought was shocked and surprised by myths (originally + dating from the period of savagery, and natural in that period, though + even then often in contradiction to morals and religion) which were + preserved down to the time of Pausanias by local priesthoods, or which + were stereotyped in the ancient poems of Hesiod and Homer, or in the + Brahmanas and Vedas of India, or were retained in the popular religion of + Egypt. This theory recommended itself to Lobeck. "We may believe that + ancient and early tribes framed gods like unto themselves in action and in + experience, and that the allegorical softening down of myths is the + explanation added later by descendants who had attained to purer ideas of + divinity, yet dared not reject the religion of their ancestors."(2) The + senseless element in the myths would, by this theory, be for the most part + a "survival"; and the age and condition of human thought whence it + survived would be one in which our most ordinary ideas about the nature of + things and the limits of possibility did not yet exist, when all things + were conceived of in quite other fashion; the age, that is, of savagery. + </p> + <p> + (1) We have been asked to DEFINE a savage. He cannot be defined in an + epigram, but by way of choice of a type:— + </p> + <p> + 1. In material equipment the perfect savage is he who employs tools of + stone and wood, not of metal; who is nomadic rather than settled; who is + acquainted (if at all) only with the rudest forms of the arts of potting, + weaving, fire-making, etc.; and who derives more of his food from the + chase and from wild roots and plants than from any kind of agriculture or + from the flesh of domesticated animals. + </p> + <p> + 2. In psychology the savage is he who (extending unconsciously to the + universe his own implicit consciousness of personality) regards all + natural objects as animated and intelligent beings, and, drawing no hard + and fast line between himself and the things in the world, is readily + persuaded that men may be metamorphosed into plants, beasts and stars; + that winds and clouds, sun and dawn, are persons with human passions and + parts; and that the lower animals especially may be creatures more + powerful than himself, and, in a sense, divine and creative. + </p> + <p> + 3. In religion the savage is he who (while often, in certain moods, + conscious of a far higher moral faith) believes also in ancestral ghosts + or spirits of woods and wells that were never ancestral; prays frequently + by dint of magic; and sometimes adores inanimate objects, or even appeals + to the beasts as supernatural protectors. + </p> + <p> + 4. In society the savage is he who (as a rule) bases his laws on the + well-defined lines of totemism—that is, claims descent from or other + close relation to natural objects, and derives from the sacredness of + those objects the sanction of his marriage prohibitions and blood-feuds, + while he makes skill in magic a claim to distinguished rank. + </p> + <p> + Such, for our purpose, is the savage, and we propose to explain the more + "senseless" factors in civilised mythology as "survivals" of these ideas + and customs preserved by conservatism and local tradition, or, less + probably, borrowed from races which were, or had been, savage. + </p> + <p> + (2) Aglaoph., i. 153. Had Lobeck gone a step farther and examined the + mental condition of veteres et priscae gentes, this book would have been, + superfluous. Nor did he know that the purer ideas were also existing among + certain low savages. + </p> + <p> + It is universally admitted that "survivals" of this kind do account for + many anomalies in our institutions, in law, politics, society, even in + dress and manners. If isolated fragments of earlier ages abide in these, + it is still more probable that other fragments will survive in anything so + closely connected as is mythology with the conservative religious + sentiment and tradition. Our object, then, is to prove that the "silly, + savage, and irrational" element in the myths of civilised peoples is, as a + rule, either a survival from the period of savagery, or has been borrowed + from savage neighbours by a cultivated people, or, lastly, is an imitation + by later poets of old savage data.(1) For example, to explain the + constellations as metamorphosed men, animals, or other objects of + terrestrial life is the habit of savages,(2)—a natural habit among + people who regard all things as on one level of personal life and + intelligence. When the stars, among civilised Greeks or Aryans of India, + are also popularly regarded as transformed and transfigured men, animals + and the like, this belief may be either a survival from the age when the + ancestors of Greeks and Indians were in the intellectual condition of the + Australian Murri; or the star-name and star-myth may have been borrowed + from savages, or from cultivated peoples once savage or apt to copy + savages; or, as in the case of the Coma Berenices, a poet of a late age + may have invented a new artificial myth on the old lines of savage fancy. + </p> + <p> + (1) We may be asked why do savages entertain the irrational ideas which + survive in myth? One might as well ask why they eat each other, or use + stones instead of metal. Their intellectual powers are not fully + developed, and hasty analogy from their own unreasoned consciousness is + their chief guide. Myth, in Mr. Darwin's phrase, is one of the "miserable + and indirect consequences of our highest faculties". Descent of Man, p. + 69. + </p> + <p> + (2) See Custom and Myth, "Star-Myths". + </p> + <p> + This method of interpreting a certain element in mythology is, we must + repeat, no new thing, though, to judge from the protests of several + mythologists, it is new to many inquirers. We have seen that Eusebius + threw out proposals in this direction; that Spencer, De Brosses, and + Fontenelle unconsciously followed him; and we have quoted from Lobeck a + statement of a similar opinion. The whole matter has been stated as + clearly as possible by Mr. B. B. Tylor:— + </p> + <p> + "Savages have been for untold ages, and still are, living in the + myth-making stage of the human mind. It was through sheer ignorance and + neglect of this direct knowledge how and by what manner of men myths are + really made that their simple philosophy has come to be buried under + masses of commentator's rubbish..."(1) Mr. Tylor goes on thus (and his + words contain the gist of our argument): "The general thesis maintained is + that myth arose in the savage condition prevalent in remote ages among the + whole human race; that it remains comparatively unchanged among the rude + modern tribes who have departed least from these primitive conditions, + while higher and later civilisations, partly by retaining its actual + principles, and partly by carrying on its inherited results in the form of + ancestral tradition, continued it not merely in toleration, but in + honour".(2) Elsewhere Mr. Tylor points out that by this method of + interpretation we may study myths in various stages of evolution, from the + rude guess of the savage at an explanation of natural phenomena, through + the systems of the higher barbarisms, or lower civilisations (as in + ancient Mexico), and the sacerdotage of India, till myth reaches its most + human form in Greece. Yet even in Greek myth the beast is not wholly cast + out, and Hellas by no means "let the ape and tiger die". That Mr. Tylor + does not exclude the Aryan race from his general theory is plain + enough.(3) "What is the Aryan conception of the Thunder-god but a poetic + elaboration of thoughts inherited from the savage stage through which the + primitive Aryans had passed?"(4) + </p> + <p> + (1) Primitive Culture, 2nd edit., i. p. 283. + </p> + <p> + (2) Op. cit., p. 275. + </p> + <p> + (3) Primitive Culture, 2nd edit., ii. 265. + </p> + <p> + (4) Pretty much the same view seems to be taken by Mr. Max Muller + (Nineteenth Century, January, 1882) when he calls Tsui Goab (whom the + Hottentots believe to be a defunct conjuror) "a Hottentot Indra or Zeus". + </p> + <p> + The advantages of our hypothesis (if its legitimacy be admitted) are + obvious. In the first place, we have to deal with an actual demonstrable + condition of the human intellect. The existence of the savage state in all + its various degrees, and of the common intellectual habits and conditions + which are shared by the backward peoples, and again the survival of many + of these in civilisation, are indubitable facts. We are not obliged to + fall back upon some fanciful and unsupported theory of what "primitive + man" did, and said, and thought. Nay, more; we escape all the fallacies + connected with the terms "primitive man". We are not compelled (as will be + shown later)(1) to prove that the first men of all were like modern + savages, nor that savages represent primitive man. It may be that the + lowest extant savages are the nearest of existing peoples to the type of + the first human beings. But on this point it is unnecessary for us to + dogmatise. If we can show that, whether men began their career as savages + or not, they have at least passed through the savage status or have + borrowed the ideas of races in the savage status, that is all we need. We + escape from all the snares of theories (incapable of historical proof) + about the really primeval and original condition of the human family. + </p> + <p> + (1) Appendix B. + </p> + <p> + Once more, our theory naturally attaches itself to the general system of + Evolution. We are enabled to examine mythology as a thing of gradual + development and of slow and manifold modifications, corresponding in some + degree to the various changes in the general progress of society. Thus we + shall watch the barbaric conditions of thought which produce barbaric + myths, while these in their turn are retained, or perhaps purified, or + perhaps explained away, by more advanced civilisations. Further, we shall + be able to detect the survival of the savage ideas with least + modification, and the persistence of the savage myths with least change, + among the classes of a civilised population which have shared least in the + general advance. These classes are, first, the rustic peoples, dwelling + far from cities and schools, on heaths or by the sea; second, the + conservative local priesthoods, who retain the more crude and ancient + myths of the local gods and heroes after these have been modified or + rejected by the purer sense of philosophers and national poets. Thus much + of ancient myth is a woven warp and woof of three threads: the savage + donnee, the civilised and poetic modification of the savage donnee, the + version of the original fable which survives in popular tales and in the + "sacred chapters" of local priesthoods. A critical study of these three + stages in myth is in accordance with the recognised practice of science. + Indeed, the whole system is only an application to this particular + province, mythology, of the method by which the development either of + organisms or of human institutions is traced. As the anomalies and + apparently useless and accidental features in the human or in other animal + organisms may be explained as stunted or rudimentary survivals of organs + useful in a previous stage of life, so the anomalous and irrational myths + of civilised races may be explained as survivals of stories which, in an + earlier state of thought and knowledge, seemed natural enough. The + persistence of the myths is accounted for by the well-known conservatism + of the religious sentiment—a conservatism noticed even by Eusebius. + "In later days, when they became ashamed of the religious beliefs of their + ancestors, they invented private and respectful interpretations, each to + suit himself. For no one dared to shake the ancestral beliefs, as they + honoured at a very high rate the sacredness and antiquity of old + associations, and of the teaching they had received in childhood."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Praep. E., ii. 6, 19. + </p> + <p> + Thus the method which we propose to employ is in harmony both with modern + scientific procedure and with the views of a clear-sighted Father of the + Church. Consequently no system could well be less "heretical" and + "unorthodox". + </p> + <p> + The last advantage of our hypothesis which need here be mentioned is that + it helps to explain the DIFFUSION no less than the ORIGIN of the wild and + crazy element in myth. We seek for the origin of the savage factor of myth + in one aspect of the intellectual condition of savages. We say "in one + aspect" expressly; to guard against the suggestion that the savage + intellect has no aspect but this, and no saner ideas than those of myth. + The DIFFUSION of stories practically identical in every quarter of the + globe may be (provisionally) regarded as the result of the prevalence in + every quarter, at one time or another, of similar mental habits and ideas. + This explanation must not be pressed too hard nor too far. If we find all + over the world a belief that men can change themselves and their + neighbours into beasts, that belief will account for the appearance of + metamorphosis in myth. If we find a belief that inanimate objects are + really much on a level with man, the opinion will account for incidents of + myth such as that in which the wooden figure-head of the Argo speaks with + a human voice. Again, a widespread belief in the separability of the soul + or the life from the body will account for the incident in nursery tales + and myths of the "giant who had no heart in his body," but kept his heart + and life elsewhere. An ancient identity of mental status and the working + of similar mental forces at the attempt to explain the same phenomena will + account, without any theory of borrowing, or transmission of myth, or of + original unity of race, for the world-wide diffusion of many mythical + conceptions. + </p> + <p> + But this theory of the original similarity of the savage mind everywhere + and in all races will scarcely account for the world-wide distribution of + long and intricate mythical PLOTS, of consecutive series of adroitly + interwoven situations. In presence of these long romances, found among so + many widely severed peoples, conjecture is, at present, almost idle. We do + not know, in many instances, whether such stories were independently + developed, or carried from a common centre, or borrowed by one race from + another, and so handed on round the world. + </p> + <p> + This chapter may conclude with an example of a tale whose DIFFUSION may be + explained in divers ways, though its ORIGIN seems undoubtedly savage. If + we turn to the Algonkins, a stock of Red Indians, we come on a popular + tradition which really does give pause to the mythologist. Could this + story, he asks himself, have been separately invented in widely different + places, or could the Iroquois have borrowed from the Australian blacks or + the Andaman Islanders? It is a common thing in most mythologies to find + everything of value to man—fire, sun, water—in the keeping of + some hostile power. The fire, or the sun, or the water is then stolen, or + in other ways rescued from the enemy and restored to humanity. The Huron + story (as far as water is concerned) is told by Father Paul Le Jeune, a + Jesuit missionary, who lived among the Hurons about 1636. The myth begins + with the usual opposition between two brothers, the Cain and Abel of + savage legend. One of the brothers, named Ioskeha, slew the other, and + became the father of mankind (as known to the Red Indians) and the + guardian of the Iroquois. The earth was at first arid and sterile, but + Ioskeha destroyed the gigantic frog which had swallowed all the waters, + and guided the torrents into smooth streams and lakes.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Relations de la Nouvelle France, 1636, p. 103 (Paris, Cramoisy, 1637). + </p> + <p> + Now where, outside of North America, do we find this frog who swallowed + all the water? We find him in Australia. + </p> + <p> + "The aborigines of Lake Tyers," remarks Mr. Brough Smyth, "say that at one + time there was no water anywhere on the face of the earth. All the waters + were contained in the body of a huge frog, and men and women could get + none of them. A council was held, and... it was agreed that the frog + should be made to laugh, when the waters would run out of his mouth, and + there would be plenty in all parts." + </p> + <p> + To make a long story short, all the animals played the jester before the + gigantic solemn frog, who sat as grave as Louis XV. "I do not like + buffoons who don't make me laugh," said that majestical monarch. At last + the eel danced on the tip of his tail, and the gravity of the prodigious + Batrachian gave way. He laughed till he literally split his sides, and the + imprisoned waters came with a rush. Indeed, many persons were drowned, + though this is not the only Australian version of the Deluge. + </p> + <p> + The Andaman Islanders dwell at a very considerable distance from Australia + and from the Iroquois, and, in the present condition of the natives of + Australia and Andaman, neither could possibly visit the other. The frog in + the Andaman version is called a toad, and he came to swallow the waters in + the following way: One day a woodpecker was eating honey high up in the + boughs of a tree. Far below, the toad was a witness of the feast, and + asked for some honey. "Well, come up here, and you shall have some," said + the woodpecker. "But how am I to climb?" "Take hold of that creeper, and I + will draw you up," said the woodpecker; but all the while he was bent on a + practical joke. So the toad got into a bucket he happened to possess, and + fastened the bucket to the creeper. "Now, pull!" Then the woodpecker + raised the toad slowly to the level of the bough where the honey was, and + presently let him down with a run, not only disappointing the poor toad, + but shaking him severely. The toad went away in a rage and looked about + him for revenge. A happy thought occurred to him, and he drank up all the + water of the rivers and lakes. Birds and beasts were perishing, + woodpeckers among them, of thirst. The toad, overjoyed at his success, + wished to add insult to the injury, and, very thoughtlessly, began to + dance in an irritating manner at his foes. But then the stolen waters + gushed out of his mouth in full volume, and the drought soon ended. One of + the most curious points in this myth is the origin of the quarrel between + the woodpecker and the toad. The same beginning—the tale of an + insult put on an animal by hauling up and letting him down with a run—occurs + in an African Marchen.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, i. 429, 430; Brinton, American + Hero Myths, i. 55. Cf. also Relations de la Nouvelle France, 1636, 1640, + 1671; (Sagard, Hist. du Canada, 1636, p. 451;) Journal Anthrop. Inst., + 1881. + </p> + <p> + Now this strangely diffused story of the slaying of the frog which had + swallowed all the water seems to be a savage myth of which the more heroic + conflict of Indra with Vrittra (the dragon which had swallowed all the + waters) is an epic and sublimer version.(1) "The heavenly water, which + Vrittra withholds from the world, is usually the prize of the contest." + </p> + <p> + (1) Ludwig, Der Rig-Veda, iii. p. 337. See postea, "Divine Myths of + India". + </p> + <p> + The serpent of Vedic myth is, perhaps, rather the robber-guardian than the + swallower of the waters, but Indra is still, like the Iroquois Ioskeha, + "he who wounds the full one".(1) This example of the wide distribution of + a myth shows how the question of diffusion, though connected with, is yet + distinct from that of origin. The advantage of our method will prove to + be, that it discovers an historical and demonstrable state of mind as the + origin of the wild element in myth. Again, the wide prevalence in the + earliest times of this mental condition will, to a certain extent, explain + the DISTRIBUTION of myth. Room must be left, of course, for processes of + borrowing and transmission, but how Andamanese, Australians and Hurons + could borrow from each other is an unsolved problem. + </p> + <p> + (1) Gubernatis, Zoological Myth. ii. 395, note 2. "When Indra kills the + serpent he opens the torrent of the waters" (p. 393). See also Aitareya + Brahmana, translated by Haug, ii. 483. + </p> + <p> + Finally, our hypothesis is not involved in dubious theories of race. To + us, myths appear to be affected (in their origins) much less by the race + than by the stage of culture attained by the people who cherish them. A + fight for the waters between a monstrous dragon like Vrittra and a heroic + god like Indra is a nobler affair than a quarrel for the waters between a + woodpecker and a toad. But the improvement and transfiguration, so to + speak, of a myth at bottom the same is due to the superior culture, not to + the peculiar race, of the Vedic poets, except so far as culture itself + depends on race. How far the purer culture was attained to by the original + superiority of the Aryan over the Andaman breed, it is not necessary for + our purpose to inquire. Thus, on the whole, we may claim for our system a + certain demonstrable character, which helps to simplify the problems of + mythology, and to remove them from the realm of fanciful guesses and + conflicting etymological conjectures into that of sober science. That + these pretensions are not unacknowledged even by mythologists trained in + other schools is proved by the remarks of Dr. Tiele.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Rev. de l'Hist. des Rel., "Le Mythe de Cronos," January, 1886. Dr. + Tiele is not, it must be noted, a thorough adherent of our theory. See + Modern Mythology: "The Question of Allies". + </p> + <p> + Dr. Tiele writes: "If I were obliged to choose between this method" (the + system here advocated) "and that of comparative philology, it is the + former that I would adopt without the slightest hesitation. This method + alone enables us to explain the fact, which has so often provoked + amazement, that people so refined as the Greeks,... or so rude, but + morally pure, as the Germans,... managed to attribute to their gods all + manner of cowardly, cruel and disorderly conduct. This method alone + explains the why and wherefore of all those strange metamorphoses of gods + into beasts and plants, and even stones, which scandalised philosophers, + and which the witty Ovid played on for the diversion of his + contemporaries. In short, this method teaches us to recognise in all those + strange stories the survivals of a barbaric age, long passed away, but + enduring to later times in the form of religious traditions, of all + traditions the most persistent.... Finally, this method alone enables us + to explain the origin of myths, because it endeavours to study them in + their rudest and most primitive shape, thus allowing their true + significance to be much more clearly apparent than it can be in the myths + (so often touched, retouched, augmented and humanised) which are current + among races arrived at a certain degree of culture." + </p> + <p> + The method is to this extent applauded by a most competent authority, and + it has been warmly accepted by a distinguished French school of students, + represented by M. Gaidoz. But it is obvious that the method rests on a + double hypothesis: first, that satisfactory evidence as to the mental + conditions of the lower and backward races is obtainable; second, that the + civilised races (however they began) either passed through the savage + state of thought and practice, or borrowed very freely from people in that + condition. These hypotheses have been attacked by opponents; the + trustworthiness of our evidence, especially, has been assailed. By way of + facilitating the course of the exposition and of lessening the disturbing + element of controversy, a reply to the objections and a defence of the + evidence has been relegated to an Appendix.(1) Meanwhile we go on to + examine the peculiar characteristics of the mental condition of savages + and of peoples in the lower and upper barbarisms. + </p> + <p> + (1) Appendix B. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. THE MENTAL CONDITION OF SAVAGES—CONFUSION WITH + </h2> + <p> + NATURE—TOTEMISM. + </p> + <p> + The mental condition of savages the basis of the irrational element in + myth—Characteristics of that condition: (1) Confusion of all things + in an equality of presumed animation and intelligence; (2) Belief in + sorcery; (3) Spiritualism; (4) Curiosity; (5) Easy credulity and mental + indolence—The curiosity is satisfied, thanks to the credulity, by + myths in answer to all inquiries—Evidence for this—Mr. Tylor's + opinion—Mr. Im Thurn—Jesuit missionaries' Relations—Examples + of confusion between men, plants, beasts and other natural objects—Reports + of travellers—Evidence from institution of totemism—Definition + of totemism—Totemism in Australia, Africa, America, the Oceanic + Islands, India, North Asia—Conclusions: Totemism being found so + widely distributed, is a proof of the existence of that savage mental + condition in which no line is drawn between men and the other things in + the world. This confusion is one of the characteristics of myth in all + races. + </p> + <p> + We set out to discover a stage of human intellectual development which + would necessarily produce the essential elements of myth. We think we have + found that stage in the condition of savagery. We now proceed to array the + evidence for the mental processes of savages. We intend to demonstrate the + existence in practical savage life of the ideas which most surprise us + when we find them in civilised sacred legends. + </p> + <p> + For the purposes of this inquiry, it is enough to select a few special + peculiarities of savage thought. + </p> + <p> + 1. First we have that nebulous and confused frame of mind to which all + things, animate or inanimate, human, animal, vegetable, or inorganic, seem + on the same level of life, passion and reason. The savage, at all events + when myth-making, draws no hard and fast line between himself and the + things in the world. He regards himself as literally akin to animals and + plants and heavenly bodies; he attributes sex and procreative powers even + to stones and rocks, and he assigns human speech and human feelings to sun + and moon and stars and wind, no less than to beasts, birds and fishes.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) "So fasst auch das Alterthum ihren Unterschied von den Menschen ganz + anders als die spatere Zeit."—Grimm, quoted by Liebrecht, Zur + Volkskunde, p. 17. + </p> + <p> + 2. The second point to note in savage opinion is the belief in magic and + sorcery. The world and all the things in it being vaguely conceived of as + sensible and rational, obey the commands of certain members of the tribe, + chiefs, jugglers, conjurors, or what you will. Rocks open at their order, + rivers dry up, animals are their servants and hold converse with them. + These magicians cause or heal diseases, and can command even the weather, + bringing rain or thunder or sunshine at their will.(1) There are few + supernatural attributes of "cloud-compelling Zeus" or of Apollo that are + not freely assigned to the tribal conjuror. By virtue, doubtless, of the + community of nature between man and the things in the world, the conjuror + (like Zeus or Indra) can assume at will the shape of any animal, or can + metamorphose his neighbours or enemies into animal forms. + </p> + <p> + (1) See Roth in North-West Central Queensland Aborigines, chapter xii., + 1897. + </p> + <p> + 3. Another peculiarity of savage belief naturally connects itself with + that which has just been described. The savage has very strong ideas about + the persistent existence of the souls of the dead. They retain much of + their old nature, but are often more malignant after death than they had + been during life. They are frequently at the beck and call of the + conjuror, whom they aid with their advice and with their magical power. By + virtue of the close connection already spoken of between man and the + animals, the souls of the dead are not rarely supposed to migrate into the + bodies of beasts, or to revert to the condition of that species of + creatures with which each tribe supposes itself to be related by ties of + kinship or friendship. With the usual inconsistency of mythical belief, + the souls of the dead are spoken of, at other times, as if they inhabited + a spiritual world, sometimes a paradise of flowers, sometimes a gloomy + place, which mortal men may visit, but whence no one can escape who has + tasted of the food of the ghosts. + </p> + <p> + 4. In connection with spirits a far-reaching savage philosophy prevails. + It is not unusual to assign a ghost to all objects, animate or inanimate, + and the spirit or strength of a man is frequently regarded as something + separable, capable of being located in an external object, or something + with a definite locality in the body. A man's strength and spirit may + reside in his kidney fat, in his heart, in a lock of his hair, or may even + be stored by him in some separate receptacle. Very frequently a man is + held capable of detaching his soul from his body, and letting it roam + about on his business, sometimes in the form of a bird or other animal. + </p> + <p> + 5. Many minor savage beliefs might be named, such as the common faith in + friendly or protecting animals, and the notion that "natural deaths" (as + we call them) are always UNNATURAL, that death is always caused by some + hostile spirit or conjuror. From this opinion comes the myth that man is + naturally not subject to death: that death was somehow introduced into the + world by a mistake or misdeed is a corollary. (See "Myths of the Origin of + Death" in Modern Mythology.) + </p> + <p> + 6. One more mental peculiarity of the savage mind remains to be considered + in this brief summary. The savage, like the civilised man, is curious. The + first faint impulses of the scientific spirit are at work in his brain; he + is anxious to give himself an account of the world in which he finds + himself. But he is not more curious than he is, on occasion, credulous. + His intellect is eager to ask questions, as is the habit of children, but + his intellect is also lazy, and he is content with the first answer that + comes to hand. "Ils s'arretent aux premieres notions qu'ils en ont," says + Pere Hierome Lalemant.(1) "Nothing," says Schoolcraft, "is too capacious + (sic) for Indian belief."(2) The replies to his questions he receives from + tradition or (when a new problem arises) evolves an answer for himself in + the shape of STORIES. Just as Socrates, in the Platonic dialogues, recalls + or invents a myth in the despair of reason, so the savage has a story for + answer to almost every question that he can ask himself. These stories are + in a sense scientific, because they attempt a solution of the riddles of + the world. They are in a sense religious, because there is usually a + supernatural power, a deus ex machina, of some sort to cut the knot of the + problem. Such stories, then, are the science, and to a certain extent the + religious tradition, of savages.(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Relations de la Nouvelle France, 1648, p. 70. + </p> + <p> + (2) Algic Researches, i. 41. + </p> + <p> + (3) "The Indians (Algonkins) conveyed instruction—moral, mechanical + and religious—through traditionary fictions and tales."—Schoolcraft, + Algic Researches, i. 12. + </p> + <p> + Now these tales are necessarily cast in the mould of the savage ideas of + which a sketch has been given. The changes of the heavenly bodies, the + processes of day and night, the existence of the stars, the invention of + the arts, the origin of the world (as far as known to the savage), of the + tribe, of the various animals and plants, the origin of death itself, the + origin of the perplexing traditional tribal customs, are all accounted for + in stories. At the same time, an actual divine Maker is sometimes + postulated. The stories, again, are fashioned in accordance with the + beliefs already named: the belief in human connection with and kinship + with beasts and plants; the belief in magic; the belief in the perpetual + possibility of metamorphosis or "shape shifting"; the belief in the + permanence and power of the ghosts of the dead; the belief in the personal + and animated character of all the things in the world, and so forth. + </p> + <p> + No more need be said to explain the wild and (as it seems to us moderns) + the irrational character of savage myth. It is a jungle of foolish + fancies, a walpurgis nacht of gods and beasts and men and stars and + ghosts, all moving madly on a level of common personality and animation, + and all changing shapes at random, as partners are changed in some + fantastic witches' revel. Such is savage mythology, and how could it be + otherwise when we consider the elements of thought and belief out of which + it is mainly composed? We shall see that part of the mythology of the + Greeks or the Aryans of India is but a similar walpurgis nacht, in which + an incestuous or amorous god may become a beast, and the object of his + pursuit, once a woman, may also become a beast, and then shift shapes to a + tree or a bird or a star. But in the civilised races the genius of the + people tends to suppress, exclude and refine away the wild element, which, + however, is never wholly eliminated. The Erinyes soon stop the mouth of + the horse of Achilles when he begins, like the horse in Grimm's Goose + Girl, to hold a sustained conversation.(1) But the ancient, cruel, and + grotesque savage element, nearly overcome by Homer and greatly reduced by + the Vedic poets, breaks out again in Hesiod, in temple legends and + Brahmanic glosses, and finally proves so strong that it can only be + subdued by Christianity, or rather by that break between the educated + classes and the traditional past of religion which has resulted from + Christianity. Even so, myth lingers in the folk-lore of the + non-progressive classes of Europe, and, as in Roumania, invades religion. + </p> + <p> + (1) Iliad, xix. 418. + </p> + <p> + We have now to demonstrate the existence in the savage intellect of the + various ideas and habits which we have described, and out of which + mythology springs. First, we have to show that "a nebulous and confused + state of mind, to which all things, animate or inanimate, human, animal, + vegetable or inorganic, seem on the same level of life, passion and + reason," does really exist.(1) The existence of this condition of the + intellect will be demonstrated first on the evidence of the statements of + civilised observers, next on the evidence of the savage institutions in + which it is embodied. + </p> + <p> + (1) Creuzer and Guigniaut, vol. i. p. 111. + </p> + <p> + The opinion of Mr. Tylor is naturally of great value, as it is formed on + as wide an acquaintance with the views of the lower races as any inquirers + can hope to possess. Mr. Tylor observes: "We have to inform ourselves of + the savage man's idea, which is very different from the civilised man's, + of the nature of the lower animals.... The sense of an absolute psychical + distinction between man and beast, so prevalent in the civilised world, is + hardly to be found among the lower races."(1) The universal attribution of + "souls" to all things—the theory known as "Animism"—is another + proof that the savage draws no hard and fast line between man and the + other things in the world. The notion of the Italian country-people, that + cruelty to an animal does not matter because it is not a "Christian," has + no parallel in the philosophy of the savage, to whom all objects seem to + have souls, just as men have. Mr. Im Thurn found the absence of any sense + of a difference between man and nature a characteristic of his native + companions in Guiana. "The very phrase, 'Men and other animals,' or even, + as it is often expressed, 'Men and animals,' based as it is on the + superiority which civilised man feels over other animals, expresses a + dichotomy which is in no way recognised by the Indian.... It is therefore + most important to realise how comparatively small really is the difference + between men in a state of savagery and other animals, and how completely + even such difference as exists escapes the notice of savage men... It is + not, therefore, too much to say that, according to the view of the + Indians, other animals differ from men only in bodily form and in their + various degrees of strength; in spirit they do not differ at all."(2) The + Indian's notion of the life of plants and stones is on the same level of + unreason, as we moderns reckon reason. He believes in the spirits of rocks + and stones, undeterred by the absence of motion in these objects. "Not + only many rocks, but also many waterfalls, streams, and indeed material + objects of every sort, are supposed each to consist of a body and a + spirit, as does man."(3) It is not our business to ask here how men came + by the belief in universal animation. That belief is gradually withdrawn, + distinctions are gradually introduced, as civilisation and knowledge + advance. It is enough for us if the failure to draw a hard and fast line + between man and beasts, stones and plants, be practically universal among + savages, and if it gradually disappears before the fuller knowledge of + civilisation. The report which Mr. Im Thurn brings from the Indians of + Guiana is confirmed by what Schoolcraft says of the Algonkin races of the + northern part of the continent. "The belief of the narrators and listeners + in every wild and improbable thing told helps wonderfully in the original + stories, in joining all parts together. The Indian believes that the whole + visible and invisible creation is animated.... To make the matter worse, + these tribes believe that animals of the lowest as well as highest class + in the chain of creation are alike endowed with reasoning powers and + faculties. As a natural conclusion they endow birds, beasts and all other + animals with souls."(4) As an example of the ease with which the savage + recognises consciousness and voluntary motion even in stones, may be cited + Kohl's account of the beliefs of the Objibeways.(5) Nearly every Indian + has discovered, he says, an object in which he places special confidence, + and to which he sacrifices more zealously than to the Great Spirit. The + "hope" of Otamigan (a companion of the traveller) was a rock, which once + advanced to meet him, swayed, bowed and went back again. Another Indian + revered a Canadian larch, "because he once heard a very remarkable + rustling in its branches". It thus appears that while the savage has a + general kind of sense that inanimate things are animated, he is a good + deal impressed by their conduct when he thinks that they actually display + their animation. In the same way a devout modern spiritualist probably + regards with more reverence a table which he has seen dancing and heard + rapping than a table at which he has only dined. Another general statement + of failure to draw the line between men and the irrational creation is + found in the old Jesuit missionary Le Jeune's Relations de la Nouvelle + France.(6) "Les sauvages se persuadent que non seulement les hommes et les + autres animaux, mais aussi que toutes les autres choses sont animees." + Again: "Ils tiennent les poissons raisonnables, comme aussi les cerfs". In + the Solomon Islands, Mr. Romilly sailed with an old chief who used violent + language to the waves when they threatened to dash over the boat, and "old + Takki's exhortations were successful".(7) Waitz(8) discovers the same + attitude towards the animals among the negroes. Man, in their opinion, is + by no means a separate sort of person on the summit of nature and high + above the beasts; these he rather regards as dark and enigmatic beings, + whose life is full of mystery, and which he therefore considers now as his + inferiors, now as his superiors. A collection of evidence as to the savage + failure to discriminate between human and non-human, animate and + inanimate, has been brought together by Sir John Lubbock.(9) + </p> + <p> + (1) Primitive Culture, i. 167-169. + </p> + <p> + (2) Among the Indians of Guiana (1883), p. 350. + </p> + <p> + (3) Op. Cit., 355. + </p> + <p> + (4) Schoolcraft, Algic Researches, i. 41. + </p> + <p> + (5) Kohl, Wanderings Round Lake Superior, pp. 58, 59; Muller, Amerikan + Urrelig., pp. 62-67. + </p> + <p> + (6) 1636, p. 109. + </p> + <p> + (7) Western Pacific, p. 84. + </p> + <p> + (8) Anthropologie der Natur-Volker, ii. 177. + </p> + <p> + (9) Origin of Civilisation, p. 33. A number of examples of this mental + attitude among the Bushmen will be found in chap. v., postea. + </p> + <p> + To a race accustomed like ourselves to arrange and classify, to people + familiar from childhood and its games with "vegetable, animal and + mineral," a condition of mind in which no such distinctions are drawn, any + more than they are drawn in Greek or Brahmanic myths, must naturally seem + like what Mr. Max Muller calls "temporary insanity". The imagination of + the savage has been defined by Mr. Tylor as "midway between the conditions + of a healthy, prosaic, modern citizen, and of a raving fanatic, or of a + patient in a fever-ward". If any relics of such imagination survive in + civilised mythology, they will very closely resemble the productions of a + once universal "temporary insanity". Let it be granted, then, that "to the + lower tribes of man, sun and stars, trees and rivers, winds and clouds, + become personal, animate creatures, leading lives conformed to human or + animal analogies, and performing their special functions in the universe + with the aid of limbs like beasts, or of artificial instruments like men; + or that what men's eyes behold is but the instrument to be used or the + material to be shaped, while behind it there stands some prodigious but + yet half-human creature, who grasps it with his hands or blows it with his + breath. The basis on which such ideas as these are built is not to be + narrowed down to poetic fancy and transformed metaphor. They rest upon a + broad philosophy of nature; early and crude, indeed, but thoughtful, + consistent, and quite really and seriously meant."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Primtive Culture, i. 285. + </p> + <p> + For the sake of illustration, some minor examples must next be given of + this confusion between man and other things in the world, which will + presently be illustrated by the testimony of a powerful and long diffused + set of institutions. + </p> + <p> + The Christian Quiches of Guatemala believe that each of them has a beast + as his friend and protector, just as in the Highlands "the dog is the + friend of the Maclaines". When the Finns, in their epic poem the Kalewala, + have killed a bear, they implore the animal to forgive them. "Oh, Ot-so," + chant the singers, "be not angry that we come near thee. The bear, the + honey-footed bear, was born in lands between sun and moon, and he died, + not by men's hands, but of his own will."(1) The Red Men of North + America(2) have a tradition showing how it is that the bear does not die, + but, like Herodotus with the sacred stories of the Egyptian priests, Mr. + Schoolcraft "cannot induce himself to write it out".(3) It is a most + curious fact that the natives of Australia tell a similar tale of THEIR + "native bear". "He did not die" when attacked by men.(4) In parts of + Australia it is a great offence to skin the native bear, just as on a part + of the west coast of Ireland, where seals are superstitiously regarded, + the people cannot be bribed to skin them. In New Caledonia, when a child + tries to kill a lizard, the men warn him to "beware of killing his own + ancestor".(5) The Zulus spare to destroy a certain species of serpents, + believed to be the spirits of kinsmen, as the great snake which appeared + when Aeneas did sacrifice was held to be the ghost of Anchises. Mexican + women(6) believed that children born during an eclipse turn into mice. In + Australia the natives believe that the wild dog has the power of speech; + whoever listens to him is petrified; and a certain spot is shown where + "the wild dog spoke and turned the men into stone";(7) and the blacks run + for their lives as soon as the dog begins to speak. What it said was + "Bones". + </p> + <p> + (1) Kalewala, in La Finlande, Leouzon Le Duc (1845), vol. ii. p. 100; cf. + also the Introduction. + </p> + <p> + (2) Schoolcraft, v. 420. + </p> + <p> + (3) See similar ceremonies propitiatory of the bear in Jewett's Adventures + among the Nootkas, Edinburgh, 1824. + </p> + <p> + (4) Brough Smyth, i. 449. + </p> + <p> + (5) J. J. Atkinson's MS. + </p> + <p> + (6) Sahagun, ii. viii. 250; Bancroft, iii. 111. Compare stories of women + who give birth to animals in Melusine, 1886, August-November. The + Batavians believe that women, when delivered of a child, are frequently + delivered at the same time of a young crocodile as a twin. Hawkesworth's + Voyages, iii. 756. Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 17 et seq. + </p> + <p> + (7) Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, i. 497. + </p> + <p> + These are minor examples of a form of opinion which is so strong that it + is actually the chief constituent in savage society. That society, whether + in Ashantee or Australia, in North America or South Africa, or North Asia + or India, or among the wilder tribes of ancient Peru, is based on an + institution generally called "totemism". This very extraordinary + institution, whatever its origin, cannot have arisen except among men + capable of conceiving kinship and all human relationships as existing + between themselves and all animate and inanimate things. It is the rule, + and not the exception, that savage societies are founded upon this belief. + The political and social conduct of the backward races is regulated in + such matters as blood-feud and marriage by theories of the actual kindred + and connection by descent, or by old friendship, which men have in common + with beasts, plants, the sun and moon, the stars, and even the wind and + the rain. Now, in whatever way this belief in such relations to beasts and + plants may have arisen, it undoubtedly testifies to a condition of mind in + which no hard and fast line was drawn between man and animate and + inanimate nature. The discovery of the wide distribution of the social + arrangements based on this belief is entirely due to Mr. J. F. M'Lennan, + the author of Primitive Marriage. Mr. M'Lennan's essays ("The Worship of + Plants and Animals," "Totems and Totemism") were published in the + Fortnightly Review, 1869-71. Any follower in the footsteps of Mr. M'Lennan + has it in his power to add a little evidence to that originally set forth, + and perhaps to sift the somewhat uncritical authorities adduced.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) See also Mr. Frazer's Totemism, and Golden Bough, with chapter on + Totemism in Modern Mythology. + </p> + <p> + The name "Totemism" or "Totamism" was first applied at the end of the last + century by Long(1) to the Red Indian custom which acknowledges human + kinship with animals. This institution had already been recognised among + the Iroquois by Lafitau,(2) and by other observers. As to the word + "totem," Mr. Max Muller(3) quotes an opinion that the interpreters, + missionaries, Government inspectors, and others who apply the name totem + to the Indian "family mark" must have been ignorant of the Indian + languages, for there is in them no such word as totem. The right word, it + appears, is otem; but as "totemism" has the advantage of possessing the + ground, we prefer to say "totemism" rather than "otemism". The facts are + the same, whatever name we give them. As Mr. Muller says himself,(4) + "every warrior has his crest, which is called his totem";(5) and he goes + on to describe a totem of an Indian who died about 1793. We may now return + to the consideration of "otemism" or totemism. We approach it rather as a + fact in the science of mythology than as a stage in the evolution of the + modern family system. For us totemism is interesting because it proves the + existence of that savage mental attitude which assumes kindred and + alliance between man and the things in the world. As will afterwards be + seen, totemism has also left its mark on the mythologies of the civilised + races. We shall examine the institution first as it is found in Australia, + because the Australian form of totemism shows in the highest known degree + the savage habit of confusing in a community of kinship men, stars, + plants, beasts, the heavenly bodies, and the forces of Nature. When this + has once been elucidated, a shorter notice of other totemistic races will + serve our purpose. + </p> + <p> + (1) Voyages and Travels, 1791. + </p> + <p> + (2) Moeurs des Sauvages (1724), p. 461. + </p> + <p> + (3) Academy, December 15, 1883. + </p> + <p> + (4) Selected Essays (1881), ii. 376. + </p> + <p> + (5) Compare Mr. Max Muller's Contributions to the Science of Mythology. + </p> + <p> + The society of the Murri or black fellows of Australia is divided into + local tribes, each of which possesses, or used to possess, and hunt over a + considerable tract of country. These local tribes are united by + contiguity, and by common local interests, but not necessarily by blood + kinship. For example, the Port Mackay tribe, the Mount Gambier tribe, the + Ballarat tribe, all take their names from their district. In the same way + we might speak of the people of Strathclyde or of Northumbria in early + English history. Now, all these local tribes contain an indefinite number + of stocks of kindred, of men believing themselves to be related by the + ties of blood and common descent. That descent the groups agree in + tracing, not from some real or idealised human parent, but from some + animal, plant, or other natural object, as the kangaroo, the emu, the + iguana, the pelican, and so forth. Persons of the pelican stock in the + north of Queensland regard themselves as relations of people of the same + stock in the most southern parts of Australia. The creature from which + each tribe claims descent is called "of the same flesh," while persons of + another stock are "fresh flesh". A native may not marry a woman of "his + own flesh"; it is only a woman of "fresh" or "strange" flesh he may marry. + A man may not eat an animal of "his own flesh"; he may only eat "strange + flesh". Only under great stress of need will an Australian eat the animal + which is the flesh-and-blood cousin and protector of his stock.(1) (These + rules of marriage and blood, however, do not apply among the Arunta of + Central Australia, whose Totems (if Totems they should be called) have + been developed on very different lines.(2)) Clearer evidence of the + confusion between man and beast, of the claiming of kin between man and + beast, could hardly be. + </p> + <p> + (1) Dawson, Aborigines, pp. 26, 27; Howitt and Fison, Kamilaroi and + Kurnai, p. 169. + </p> + <p> + (2) Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia. + </p> + <p> + But the Australian philosophy of the intercommunion of Nature goes still + farther than this. Besides the local divisions and the kindred stocks + which trace their descent from animals, there exist among many Australian + tribes divisions of a kind still unexplained. For example, every man of + the Mount Gambier local tribe is by birth either a Kumite or a Kroki. This + classification applies to the whole of the sensible universe. Thus smoke + and honeysuckle trees belong to the division Kumite, and are akin to the + fishhawk stock of men. On the other hand, the kangaroo, summer, autumn, + the wind and the shevak tree belong to the division Kroki, and are akin to + the black cockatoo stock of men. Any human member of the Kroki division + has thus for his brothers the sun, the wind, the kangaroo, and the rest; + while any man of the Kumite division and the crow surname is the brother + of the rain, the thunder, and the winter. This extraordinary belief is not + a mere idle fancy—it influences conduct. "A man does not kill or use + as food any of the animals of the same subdivision (Kroki or Kumite) with + himself, excepting when hunger compels, and then they express sorrow for + having to eat their wingong (friends) or tumanang (their flesh). When + using the last word they touch their breasts, to indicate the close + relationship, meaning almost a portion of themselves. To illustrate: One + day one of the blacks killed a crow. Three or four days afterwards a + Boortwa (a man of the crow surname and stock), named Larry, died. He had + been ailing for some days, but the killing of his wingong (totem) hastened + his death."(1) Commenting on this statement, Mr. Fison observes: "The + South Australian savage looks upon the universe as the Great Tribe, to one + of whose divisions he himself belongs; and all things, animate and + inanimate, which belong to his class are parts of the body corporate + whereof he himself is part". This account of the Australian beliefs and + customs is borne out, to a certain extent, by the evidence of Sir George + Grey,(2) and of the late Mr. Gideon Scott Lang.(3) These two writers take + no account of the singular "dichotomous" divisions, as of Kumite and + Kroki, but they draw attention to the groups of kindred which derive their + surnames from animals, plants, and the like. "The origin of these family + names," says Sir George Grey, "is attributed by the natives to different + causes.... One origin frequently assigned by the natives is, that they + were derived from some vegetable or animal being very common in the + district which the family inhabited." We have seen from the evidence of + Messrs. Fison and Howitt that a more common native explanation is based on + kinship with the vegetable or plant which bestows the family surname. Sir + George Gray mentions that the families use their plant or animal as a + crest or kobong (totem), and he adds that natives never willingly kill + animals of their kobong, holding that some one of that species is their + nearest friend. The consequences of eating forbidden animals vary + considerably. Sometimes the Boyl-yas (that is, ghosts) avenge the crime. + Thus when Sir George Grey ate some mussels (which, after all, are not the + crest of the Greys), a storm followed, and one of his black fellow + improvised this stave:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Oh, wherefore did he eat the mussels? + Now the Boyl-yas storms and thunders make; + Oh, wherefore would he eat the mussels? +</pre> + <p> + (1) Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 169. + </p> + <p> + (2) Travels, ii. 225. + </p> + <p> + (3) Lang, Lecture on Natives of Australia, p. 10. + </p> + <p> + There are two points in the arrangements of these stocks of kindred named + from plants and animals which we shall find to possess a high importance. + No member of any such kindred may marry a woman of the same name and + descended from the same object.(1) Thus no man of the Emu stock may marry + an Emu woman; no Blacksnake may marry a Blacksnake woman, and so forth. + This point is very strongly put by Mr. Dawson, who has had much experience + of the blacks. "So strictly are the laws of marriage carried out, that, + should any sign of courtship or affection be observed between those 'of + one flesh,' the brothers or male relatives of the woman beat her + severely." If the incestuous pair (though not in the least related + according to our ideas) run away together, they are "half-killed"; and if + the woman dies in consequence of her punishment, her partner in iniquity + is beaten again. No "eric" or blood-fine of any kind is paid for her + death, which carries no blood-feud. "Her punishment is legal."(2) This + account fully corroborates that of Sir George Grey.(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Taplin, The Nerrinyeri. p. 2. "Every tribe, regarded by them as a + family, has its ngaitge, or tutelary genius or tribal symbol, in the shape + of some bird, beast, fish, reptile, insect, or substance. Between + individuals of the same tribe no marriage can take place." Among the + Narrinyeri kindred is reckoned (p. 10) on the father's side. See also (p. + 46) ngaitge = Samoan aitu. "No man or woman will kill their ngaitge," + except with precautions, for food. + </p> + <p> + (2) Op. cit., p. 28. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid., ii. 220. + </p> + <p> + Our conclusion is that the belief in "one flesh" (a kinship shared with + the animals) must be a thoroughly binding idea, as the notion is + sanctioned by capital punishment. + </p> + <p> + Another important feature in Australian totemism strengthens our position. + The idea of the animal kinship must be an ancient one in the race, because + the family surname, Emu, Bandicoot, or what not, and the crest, kobong, or + protecting and kindred animal, are inherited through the mother's side in + the majority of stocks. This custom, therefore, belongs to that early + period of human society in which the woman is the permanent and recognised + factor in the family while male parentage is uncertain.(1) One other + feature of Australian totemism must be mentioned before we leave the + subject. There is some evidence that in certain tribes the wingong or + totem of each man is indicated by a tattooed representation of it upon his + flesh. The natives are very licentious, but men would shrink from an amour + with a woman who neither belonged to their own district nor spoke their + language, but who, in spite of that, was of their totem. To avoid + mistakes, it seems that some tribes mark the totem on the flesh with + incised lines.(2) The natives frequently design figures of some kind on + the trees growing near the graves of deceased warriors. Some observers + have fancied that in these designs they recognised the totem of the dead + men; but on this subject evidence is by no means clear. We shall see that + this primitive sort of heraldry, this carving or painting of hereditary + blazons, is common among the Red Men of America.(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Cf. Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht; M'Lennan, Primitive Marriage, passim; + Encycl. Brit. s. v. Family. + </p> + <p> + (2) Fison, op. cit., p. 66. + </p> + <p> + (3) Among other recent sources see Howitt in "Organisation of Australian + Tribes" (Transactions of Royal Society of Victoria, 1889), and Spencer and + Gillen, Natives of Central Australia. In Central Australia there is a + marked difference in the form of Totemism. + </p> + <p> + Though a large amount of evidence might be added to that already put + forward, we may now sum up the inferences to be drawn from the study of + totemism in Australia. It has been shown (1) that the natives think + themselves actually akin to animals, plants, the sun, and the wind, and + things in general; (2) that those ideas influence their conduct, and even + regulate their social arrangements, because (3) men and women of the + kinship of the same animal or plant may not intermarry, while men are + obliged to defend, and in case of murder to avenge, persons of the stock + of the family or plant from which they themselves derive their family + name. Thus, on the evidence of institutions, it is plain that the + Australians are (or before the influence of the Europeans became prevalent + were) in a state of mind which draws no hard and fast line between man and + the things in the world. If, therefore, we find that in Australian myth, + men, gods, beasts, and things all shift shapes incessantly, and figure in + a coroboree dance of confusion, there will be nothing to astonish us in + the discovery. The myths of men in the Australian intellectual condition, + of men who hold long conversations with the little "native bear," and ask + him for oracles, will naturally and inevitably be grotesque and + confused.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Brough Smyth, i. 447, on MS. authority of W. Thomas. + </p> + <p> + It is "a far cry" from Australia to the West Coast of Africa, and it is + scarcely to be supposed that the Australians have borrowed ideas and + institutions from Ashantee, or that the people of Ashantee have derived + their conceptions of the universe from the Murri of Australia. We find, + however, on the West African Coast, just as we do in Australia, that there + exist large local divisions of the natives. These divisions are spoken of + by Mr. Bowditch (who visited the country on a mission in 1817) as nations, + and they are much more populous and powerful (as the people are more + civilised) than the local tribes of Australia. Yet, just as among the + local tribes of Australia, the nations of the West African Coast are + divided into stocks of kindred, each STOCK having its representatives in + each NATION. Thus an Ashantee or a Fantee may belong to the same stock of + kindred as a member of the Assin or Akini nation. When an Ashantee of the + Annona stock of kindred meets a Warsaw man of the same stock they salute + and acknowledge each other as brothers. In the same way a Ballarat man of + the Kangaroo stock in Australia recognises a relative in a Mount Gambier + man who is also a Kangaroo. Now, with one exception, all the names of the + twelve stocks of West African kindreds, or at least all of them which Mr. + Bowditch could get the native interpreters to translate, are derived from + animals, plants and other natural objects, just as in Australia.(1) Thus + Quonna is a buffalo, Abrootoo is a cornstalk, Abbradi a plantain. Other + names are, in English, the parrot, the wild cat, red earth, panther and + dog. Thus all the natives of this part of Africa are parrots, dogs, + buffaloes, panthers, and so forth, just as the Australians are emus, + iguanas, black cockatoos, kangaroos, and the rest. It is remarkable that + there is an Incra stock, or clan of ants, in Ashantee, just as there was a + race of Myrmidons, believed to be descended from or otherwise connected + with ants, in ancient Greece. Though Bowditch's account of these West + African family divisions is brief, the arrangement tallies closely with + that of Australia. It is no great stretch of imagination to infer that the + African tribes do, or once did, believe themselves to be of the kindred of + the animals whose names they bear.(2) It is more or less confirmatory of + this hypothesis that no family is permitted to use as food the animal from + which it derives its name. We have seen that a similar rule prevails, as + far as hunger and scarcity of victuals permit it to be obeyed, among the + natives of Australia. The Intchwa stock in Ashantee and Fantee is + particularly unlucky, because its members may not eat the dog, "much + relished by native epicures, and therefore a serious privation". Equally + to be pitied were the ancient Egyptians, who, if they belonged to the + district of the sheep, might not eat mutton, which their neighbours, the + Lycopolitae, devoured at pleasure. These restrictions appear to be + connected with the almost universal dislike of cannibals to eat persons of + their own kindred except as a pious duty. This law of the game in + cannibalism has not yet been thoroughly examined, though we often hear of + wars waged expressly for the purpose of securing food (human meat), while + some South American tribes actually bred from captive women by way of + securing constant supplies of permitted flesh.(3) When we find stocks, + then, which derive their names from animals and decline to eat these + animals, we may at least SUSPECT that they once claimed kinship with the + name-giving beasts. The refusal to eat them raises a presumption of such + faith. Old Bosman(4) had noticed the same practices. "One eats no mutton, + another no goat's flesh, another no beef, swine's flesh, wild fowl, cocks + with white feathers, and they say their ancestors did so from the + beginning of the world." + </p> + <p> + (1) The evidence of native interpreters may be viewed with suspicion. It + is improbable, however, that in 1817 the interpreters were acquainted with + the totemistic theory of mythologists, and deliberately mistranslated the + names of the stocks, so as to make them harmonise with Indian, Australian, + and Red Indian totem kindreds. This, indeed, is an example where the + criterion of "recurrence" or "coincidence" seems to be valuable. + Bowditch's Mission to Ashantee (1873), p. 181. + </p> + <p> + (2) This view, however, does not prevail among the totemistic tribes of + British Columbia, for example. + </p> + <p> + (3) Cieza de Leon (Hakluyt Society), p. 50. This amazing tale is supported + by the statement that kinship went by the female side (p. 49); the father + was thus not of the kin of his child by the alien woman. Cieza was with + Validillo in 1538. + </p> + <p> + (4) In Pinkerton, xvi. 400. + </p> + <p> + While in the case of the Ashantee tribes, we can only infer the existence + of a belief in kinship with the animals from the presence of the other + features of fully developed totemism (especially from the refusal to eat + the name-giving animal), we have direct evidence for the opinion in + another part of Africa, among the Bechuanas.(1) Casalis, who passed + twenty-three years as a missionary in South Africa, thus describes the + institution: "While the united communities usually bear the name of their + chief or of the district which they inhabit" (local tribes, as in + Australia), "each stock (tribu) derives its title from an animal or a + vegetable. All the Bechuanas are subdivided thus into Bakuenas + (crocodile-men), Batlapis (men of the fish), Banarer (of the buffalo), + Banukus (porcupines), Bamoraras (wild vines), and so forth. The Bakuenas + call the crocodile their father, sing about him in their feasts, swear by + him, and mark the ears of their cattle with an incision which resembles + the open jaws of the creature." This custom of marking the cattle with the + crest, as it were, of the stock, takes among some races the shape of + deforming themselves, so as the more to resemble the animal from which + they claim descent. "The chief of the family which holds the chief rank in + the stock is called 'The Great Man of the Crocodile'. Precisely in the + same way the Duchess of Sutherland is styled in Gaelic 'The Great Lady of + the Cat,'" though totemism is probably not the origin of this title. + </p> + <p> + (1) E. Casalis, Les Bassoutos, 1859. + </p> + <p> + Casalis proceeds: "No one would dare to eat the flesh or wear the skin of + the animal whose name he bears. If the animal be dangerous—the lion, + for example—people only kill him after offering every apology and + asking his pardon. Purification must follow such a sacrifice." Casalis was + much struck with the resemblance between these practices and the similar + customs of North American races. Livingstone's account(1) on the whole + corroborates that of Casalis, though he says the Batau (tribe of the lion) + no longer exists. "They use the word bina 'to dance,' in reference to the + custom of thus naming themselves, so that when you wish to ascertain what + tribe they belong to, you say, 'What do you dance?' It would seem as if + this had been part of the worship of old." The mythological and religious + knowledge of the Bushmen is still imparted in dances; and when a man is + ignorant of some myth he will say, "I do not dance that dance," meaning + that he does not belong to the guild which preserves that particular + "sacred chapter".(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Missionary Travels (1857), p. 13. + </p> + <p> + (2) Orpen, Cape Monthly Magazine, 1872. + </p> + <p> + Casalis noticed the similarity between South African and Red Indian + opinion about kinship with vegetables and beasts. The difficulty in + treating the Red Indian belief is chiefly found in the abundance of the + evidence. Perhaps the first person who ever used the word "totemism," or, + as he spells it, "totamism," was (as we said) Mr. Long, an interpreter + among the Chippeways, who published his Voyages in 1791. Long was not + wholly ignorant of the languages, as it was his business to speak them, + and he was an adopted Indian. The ceremony of adoption was painful, + beginning with a feast of dog's flesh, followed by a Turkish bath and a + prolonged process of tattooing.(1) According to Long,(2) "The totam, they + conceive, assumes the form of some beast or other, and therefore they + never kill, hurt, or eat the animal whose form they think this totam + bears". One man was filled with religious apprehensions, and gave himself + up to the gloomy belief of Bunyan and Cowper, that he had committed the + unpardonable sin, because he dreamed he had killed his totem, a bear.(3) + This is only one example, like the refusal of the Osages to kill the + beavers, with which they count cousins,(4) that the Red Man's belief is an + actual creed, and does influence his conduct. + </p> + <p> + (1) Long, pp. 46-49. + </p> + <p> + (2) Ibid., p. 86. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid., p. 87. + </p> + <p> + (4) Schoolcraft, i. 319. + </p> + <p> + As in Australia, the belief in common kin with beasts is most clearly + proved by the construction of Red Indian society. The "totemistic" stage + of thought and manners prevails. Thus Charlevoix says,(1) "Plusieurs + nations ont chacune trois familles ou tribus principales, AUSSI ANCIENNES, + A CE QU'IL PAROIT, QUE LEUR ORIGINE. Chaque tribu porte le nom d'un + animal, et la nation entiere a aussi le sien, dont elle prend le nom, et + dont la figure est sa marque, ou, se l'on veut, ses armoiries, on ne signe + point autrement les traites qu'en traceant ces figures." Among the animal + totems Charlevoix notices porcupine, bear, wolf and turtle. The armoiries, + the totemistic heraldry of the peoples of Virginia, greatly interested a + heraldic ancestor of Gibbon the historian,(2) who settled in the colony. + According to Schoolcraft,(3) the totem or family badge, of a dead warrior + is drawn in a reverse position on his grave-post. In the same way the + leopards of England are drawn reversed on the shield of an English king + opposite the mention of his death in old monkish chronicles. As a general + rule,(4) persons bearing the same totem in America cannot intermarry. "The + union must be between various totems." Moreover, as in the case of the + Australians, "the descent of the chief is in the female line". We thus + find among the Red Men precisely the same totemistic regulations as among + the Aborigines of Australia. Like the Australians, the Red Men "never" + (perhaps we should read "hardly ever") eat their totems. Totemists, in + short, spare the beasts that are their own kith and kin. To avoid + multiplying details which all corroborate each other, it may suffice to + refer to Schoolcraft for totemism among the Iowas(5) and the Pueblos;(6) + for the Iroquois, to Lafitau, a missionary of the early part of the + eighteenth century. Lafitau was perhaps the first writer who ever + explained certain features in Greek and other ancient myths and practices + as survivals from totemism. The Chimera, a composite creature, lion, goat + and serpent, might represent, Lafitau thought, a league of three totem + tribes, just as wolf, bear and turtle represented the Iroquois League. + </p> + <p> + (1) Histoire de la France-Nouvelle, iii. 266. + </p> + <p> + (2) Introductio ad Latinam Blasoniam, by John Gibbon, Blue Mantle, London, + 1682. "The dancers, were painted some party per pale, gul and sab, some + party per fesse of the same colours;" whence Gibbon concluded "that + heraldry was ingrafted naturally into the sense of the humane race". + </p> + <p> + (3) Vol. i. p. 356. + </p> + <p> + (4) Schoolcraft, v. 73. + </p> + <p> + (5) Ibid., iii. 268. + </p> + <p> + (6) Ibid., iv. 86. + </p> + <p> + The martyred Pere Rasles, again, writing in 1723,(1) says that one stock + of the Outaonaks claims descent from a hare ("the great hare was a man of + prodigious size"), while another stock derive their lineage from the carp, + and a third descends from a bear; yet they do not scruple, after certain + expiatory rites, to eat bear's flesh. Other North American examples are + the Kutchin, who have always possessed the system of totems.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Kip's Jesuits in America i. 33. + </p> + <p> + (2) Dall's Alaska, pp. 196-198. + </p> + <p> + It is to be noticed, as a peculiarity of Red Indian totemism which we have + not observed (though it may exist) in Africa, that certain stocks claim + relations with the sun. Thus Pere Le Petit, writing from New Orleans in + 1730, mentions the Sun, or great chief of the Natchez Indians.(1) The + totem of the privileged class among the Natchez was the sun, and in all + myths the sun is regarded as a living being, who can have children, who + may be beaten, who bleeds when cut, and is simply on the same footing as + men and everything else in the world. Precisely similar evidence comes + from South America. In this case our best authority is almost beyond + suspicion. He knew the native languages well, being himself a half-caste. + He was learned in the European learning of his time; and as a son of the + Incas, he had access to all surviving Peruvian stores of knowledge, and + could collect without difficulty the testimonies of his countrymen. It + will be seen(2) that Don Garcilasso de la Vega could estimate evidence, + and ridiculed the rough methods and fallacious guesses of Spanish + inquirers. Garcilasso de la Vega was born about 1540, being the son of an + Inca princess and of a Spanish conqueror. His book, Commentarias + Reales,(3) was expressly intended to rectify the errors of such Spanish + writers as Acosta. In his account of Peruvian religion, Garcilasso + distinguishes between the beliefs of the tribes previous to the rise of + the Inca empire and the sun-worship of the Incas. But it is plain, from + Garcilasso's own account and from other evidence, that under the Incas the + older faiths and fetichisms survived, in subordination to sun-worship, + just as Pagan superstitions survived in custom and folk-lore after the + official recognition of Christianity. Sun-worship, in Peru, and the belief + in a Supreme Creator there, seem even, like Catholicism in Mexico, China + and elsewhere, to have made a kind of compromise with the lower beliefs, + and to have been content to allow a certain amount of bowing down in the + temples of the elder faiths. According, then, to Garcilasso's account of + Peruvian totemism, "An Indian was not looked upon as honourable unless he + was descended from a fountain, river,(4) or lake, or even from the sea, OR + FROM A WILD ANIMAL, such as a bear, lion, tiger, eagle, or the bird they + call cuntur (condor), or some other bird of prey ".(5) A certain amount of + worship was connected with this belief in kinship with beasts and natural + objects. Men offered up to their totems "what they usually saw them + eat".(6) On the seacoasts "they worshipped sardines, skates, dog-fish, + and, for want of larger gods, crabs.... There was not an animal, how vile + and filthy soever, that they did not worship as a god," including + "lizards, toads and frogs." Garcilasso (who says they ate the fish they + worshipped) gives his own theory of the origin of totemism. In the + beginning men had only sought for badges whereby to discriminate one human + stock from another. "The one desired to have a god different from the + other.... They only thought of making one different from another." When + the Inca emperors began to civilise the totemistic stocks, they pointed + out that their own father, the sun, possessed "splendour and beauty" as + contrasted with "the ugliness and filth of the frogs and other vermin they + looked upon as gods".(7) Garcilasso, of course, does not use the North + American word totem (or ote or otem) for the family badge which + represented the family ancestors. He calls these things, as a general + rule, pacarissa. The sun was the pacarissa of the Incas, as it was of the + chief of the Natchez. The pacarissa of other stocks was the lion, bear, + frog, or what not. Garcilasso accounts for the belief accorded to the + Incas, when they claimed actual descent from the sun, by observing(8) that + "there were tribes among their subjects who professed similar fabulous + descents, though they did not comprehend how to select ancestors so well + as the Incas, but adored animals and other low and earthly objects". As to + the fact of the Peruvian worship of beasts, if more evidence is wanted, it + is given, among others, by Cieza de Leon,(9) who contrasts the adoration + of the Roman gods with that offered in Peru to brutes. "In the important + temple of Pacha-camac (the spiritual deity of Peru) they worshipped a + she-fox or vixen and an emerald." The devil also "appeared to them and + spoke in the form of a tiger, very fierce". Other examples of totemism in + South America may be studied in the tribes on the Amazon.(10) Mr. Wallace + found the Pineapple stock, the Mosquitoes, Woodpeckers, Herons, and other + totem kindreds. A curious example of similar ideas is discovered among the + Bonis of Guiana. These people were originally West Coast Africans imported + as slaves, who have won their freedom with the sword. While they retain a + rough belief in Gadou (God) and Didibi (the devil), they are divided into + totem stocks with animal names. The red ape, turtle and cayman are among + the chief totems.(11) + </p> + <p> + (1) Kip, ii. 288. + </p> + <p> + (2) Appendix B. + </p> + <p> + (3) See translation in Hakluyt Society's Collection. + </p> + <p> + (4) Like many Greek heroes. Odyssey, iii. 489. "Orsilochus, the child + begotten of Alpheus." + </p> + <p> + (5) Comm. Real., i. 75. + </p> + <p> + (6) Ibid., 53. + </p> + <p> + (7) Ibid., 102. + </p> + <p> + (8) Ibid., 83. + </p> + <p> + (9) Cieza de Leon (Hakluyt Society), p. 183. + </p> + <p> + (10) Acuna, p. 103; Wallace, Travels on Amazon (1853), pp. 481-506. + </p> + <p> + (11) Crevaux, Voyages dans l'Amerique du Sud, p. 59. + </p> + <p> + After this hasty examination of the confused belief in kinship with + animals and other natural objects which underlies institutions in + Australia, West and South Africa, North and South America, we may glance + at similar notions among the non-Aryan races of India. In Dalton's + Ethnology of Bengal,(1) he tells us that the Garo clans are divided into + maharis or motherhoods. Children belong to the mahari of the mother, just + as (in general) they derive their stock name and totem from the mother's + side in Australia and among the North American Indians. No man may marry + (as among the Red Indians and Australians) a woman belonging to his own + stock, motherhood or mahari. So far the maharis of Bengal exactly + correspond to the totem kindred. But do the Maharis also take their names + from plants and animals, and so forth? We know that the Killis, similar + communities among the Bengal Hos and Mundos, do this.(2) "The Mundaris, + like the Oraons, adopt as their tribal distinction the name of some + animal, and the flesh of that animal is tabooed to them as food; for + example, the eel, the tortoise." This is exactly the state of things in + Ashanti. Dalton mentions also(3) a princely family in Nagpur which claims + descent from "a great hooded snake". Among the Oraons he found(4) tribes + which might not eat young mice (considered a dainty) or tortoises, and a + stock which might not eat the oil of the tree which was their totem, nor + even sit in its shade. "The family or tribal names" (within which they may + not marry) "are usually those of animals or plants, and when this is the + case, the flesh of some part of the animal or the fruit of the tree is + tabooed to the tribe called after it." + </p> + <p> + (1) Dalton, p. 63. + </p> + <p> + (2) Ibid., p. 189. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid., p. 166. + </p> + <p> + (4) Ibid., p. 254. + </p> + <p> + An excellent sketch of totemism in India is given by Mr. H. H. Risley of + the Bengal Civil Service:—(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) The Asiatic Quarterly, No. 3, Essay on "Primitive Marriage in Bengal." + </p> + <p> + "At the bottom of the social system, as understood by the average Hindu, + stands a large body of non-Aryan castes and tribes, each of which is + broken up into a number of what may be called totemistic exogamous septs. + Each sept bears the name of an animal, a tree, a plant, or of some + material object, natural or artificial, which the members of that sept are + prohibited from killing, eating, cutting, burning, carrying, using, + etc."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Here we may note that the origin of exogamy itself is merely part of a + strict totemistic prohibition. A man may not "use" an object within the + totem kin, nor a woman of the kin. Compare the Greek idiom (Greek text + omitted). + </p> + <p> + Mr. Risley finds that both Kolarians, as the Sonthals, and Dravidians, as + the Oraons, are in this state of totemism, like the Hos and Mundas. It is + most instructive to learn that, as one of these tribes rises in the social + scale, it sloughs off its totem, and, abandoning the common name derived + from bird, beast, or plant, adopts that of an eponymous ancestor. A + tendency in this direction has been observed by Messrs. Fison and Howitt + even in Australia. The Mahilis, Koras and Kurmis, who profess to be + members of the Hindu community, still retain the totemistic organisation, + with names derived from birds, beasts and plants. Even the Jagannathi + Kumhars of Orissa, taking rank immediately below the writer-caste, have + the totems tiger, snake, weasel, cow, frog, sparrow and tortoise. The + sub-castes of the Khatlya Kumhars explain away their totem-names "as names + of certain saints, who, being present at Daksha's Horse-sacrifice, + transformed themselves into animals to escape the wrath of Siva," like the + gods of Egypt when they fled in bestial form from the wrath of Set. + </p> + <p> + Among the non-Aryan tribes the marriage law has the totemistic sanction. + No man may marry a woman of his totem kin. When the totem-name is changed + for an eponym, the non-Aryan, rising in the social scale, is practically + in the same position as the Brahmans, "divided into exogamous sections + (gotras), the members of which profess to be descended from the mythical + rishi or inspired saint whose name the gotra bears". There is thus nothing + to bar the conjecture that the exogamous gotras of the whole Brahmans were + once a form of totem-kindred, which (like aspiring non-Aryan stocks at the + present day) dropped the totem-name and renamed the septs from some + eponymous hero, medicine-man, or Rishi. + </p> + <p> + Constant repetition of the same set of facts becomes irksome, and yet is + made necessary by the legitimate demand for trustworthy and abundant + evidence. As the reader must already have reflected, this living mythical + belief in the common confused equality of men, gods, plants, beasts, + rivers, and what not, which still regulates savage society,(1) is one of + the most prominent features in mythology. Porphyry remarked and exactly + described it among the Egyptians—"common and akin to men and gods + they believed the beasts to be."(2) The belief in such equality is alien + to modern civilisation. We have shown that it is common and fundamental in + savagery. For instance, in the Pacific, we might quote Turner,(3) and for + Melanesia, Codrington,(4) while for New Zealand we have Taylor.(5) For the + Jakuts, along the banks of the Lena in Northern Asia, we have the evidence + of Strahlenberg, who writes: "Each tribe of these people look upon some + particular creature as sacred, e.g., a swan, goose, raven, etc., and such + is not eaten by that tribe" though the others may eat it.(6) As the + majority of our witnesses were quite unaware that the facts they described + were common among races of whom many of them had never even heard, their + evidence may surely be accepted as valid, especially as the beliefs + testified to express themselves in marriage laws, in the blood-feud, in + abstinence from food, on pillars over graves, in rude heraldry, and in + other obvious and palpable shapes. If we have not made out, by the + evidence of institutions, that a confused credulity concerning the + equality and kinship of man and the objects in nature is actually a ruling + belief among savages, and even higher races, from the Lena to the Amazon, + from the Gold Coast to Queensland, we may despair of ever convincing an + opponent. The survival of the same beliefs and institutions among + civilised races, Aryan and others, will later be demonstrated.(7) If we + find that the mythology of civilised races here agrees with the actual + practical belief of savages, and if we also find that civilised races + retain survivals of the institutions in which the belief is expressed by + savages, then we may surely infer that the activity of beasts in the myths + of Greece springs from the same sources as the similar activity of beasts + in the myths of Iroquois or Kaffirs. That is to say, part of the + irrational element in Greek myth will be shown to be derived (whether by + inheritance or borrowing) from an ascertained condition of savage fancy. + </p> + <p> + (1) See some very curious and disgusting examples of this confusion in + Liebrecht's Zur Volkskunde, pp. 395, 396 (Heilbronn, 1879). + </p> + <p> + (2) De Abst., ii. 26. + </p> + <p> + (3) Nineteen Years in Polynesia, p. 238, and Samoa by the same author. + Complete totemism is not asserted here, and is denied for Melanesia. + </p> + <p> + (4) Journ. Anthrop. Inst., "Religious Practices in Melanesia". + </p> + <p> + (5) New Zealand, "Animal Intermarriage with Men". + </p> + <p> + (6) Description of Asia (1783), p. 383. + </p> + <p> + (7) Professor Robertson Smith, Kinship in Arabia, attempts to show that + totemism existed in the Semitic races. The topic must be left to + Orientalists. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. THE MENTAL CONDITION OF + </h2> + <p> + SAVAGES—MAGIC—METAMORPHOSIS—METAPHYSIC—PSYCHOLOGY. + </p> + <p> + Claims of sorcerers—Savage scientific speculation—Theory of + causation—Credulity, except as to new religious ideas—"Post + hoc, ergo propter hoc"—Fundamental ideas of magic—Examples: + incantations, ghosts, spirits—Evidence of rank and other + institutions in proof of confusions of mind exhibited in magical beliefs. + </p> + <p> + "I mean eftsoons to have a fling at magicians for their abominable lies + and monstrous vanities."—PLINY, ap. Phil. Holland. + </p> + <p> + "Quoy de ceux qui naturellement se changent en loups, en juments, et puis + encores en hommes?"—MONTAIGNE, Apologie pour Raymond de Sebonde. + </p> + <p> + The second feature in the savage intellectual condition which we promised + to investigate was the belief in magic and sorcery. The world and all the + things in it being conceived of vaguely as sensible and rational, are + supposed to obey the commands of certain members of each tribe, such as + chiefs, jugglers, or conjurors. These conjurors, like Zeus or Indra, can + affect the weather, work miracles, assume what shapes, animal, vegetable, + or inorganic, they please, and can metamorphose other persons into similar + shapes. It has already been shown that savage man has regarded all THINGS + as PERSONS much on a level with himself. It has now to be shown WHAT KIND + OF PERSON HE CONCEIVES HIMSELF TO BE. He does not look on men as civilised + races regard them, that is, as beings with strict limitations. On the + other hand, he thinks of certain members of his tribe as exempt from most + of the limitations, and capable of working every miracle that tradition + has ever attributed to prophets or gods. Nor are such miraculous powers, + such practical omnipotence, supposed by savages to be at all rare among + themselves. Though highly valued, miraculous attainments are not believed + to be unusual. This must be kept steadily in mind. When myth-making man + regards the sky or sun or wind as a person, he does not mean merely a + person with the limitations recognised by modern races. He means a person + with the miraculous powers of the medicine-man. The sky, sun, wind or + other elemental personage can converse with the dead, and can turn himself + and his neighbours into animals, stones and trees. + </p> + <p> + To understand these functions and their exercise, it is necessary to + examine what may be called savage science, savage metaphysics, and the + savage theory of the state of the dead. The medicine-man's supernatural + claims are rooted in the general savage view of the world, of what is + possible, and of what (if anything) is impossible. The savage, even more + than the civilised man, may be described as a creature "moving about in + worlds not realised". He feels, no less than civilised man, the need of + making the world intelligible, and he is active in his search for causes + and effects. There is much "speculation in these eyes that he doth glare + withal". This is a statement which has been denied by some persons who + have lived with savages. Thus Mr. Bates, in his Naturalist on the + Amazon,(1) writes: "Their want of curiosity is extreme.... Vicente (an + Indian companion) did not know the cause of thunder and lightning. I asked + him who made the sun, the stars, the trees. He didn't know, and had never + heard the subject mentioned in his tribe." But Mr. Bates admits that even + Vicente had a theory of the configuration of the world. "The necessity of + a theory of the earth and water had been felt, and a theory had been + suggested." Again, Mr. Bates says about a certain Brazilian tribe, "Their + sluggish minds seem unable to conceive or feel the want of a theory of the + soul"; and he thinks the cause of this indolence is the lack "of a written + language or a leisured class". Now savages, as a rule, are all in the + "leisured class," all sportsmen. Mr. Herbert Spencer, too, has expressed + scepticism about the curiosity attributed to savages. The point is + important, because, in our view, the medicine-man's powers are rooted in + the savage theory of things, and if the savage is too sluggish to invent + or half consciously evolve a theory of things, our hypothesis is baseless. + Again, we expect to find in savage myths the answer given by savages to + their own questions. But this view is impossible if savages do not ask + themselves, and never have asked themselves, any questions at all about + the world. On this topic Mr. Spencer writes: "Along with absence of + surprise there naturally goes absence of intelligent curiosity".(2) Yet + Mr. Spencer admits that, according to some witnesses, "the Dyaks have an + insatiable curiosity," the Samoans "are usually very inquisitive," and + "the Tahitians are remarkably curious and inquisitive". Nothing is more + common than to find travellers complaining that savages, in their ardently + inquiring curiosity, will not leave the European for a moment to his own + undisturbed devices. Mr. Spencer's savages, who showed no curiosity, + displayed this impassiveness when Europeans were trying to make them + exhibit signs of surprise. Impassivity is a point of honour with many + uncivilised races, and we cannot infer that a savage has no curiosity + because he does not excite himself over a mirror, or when his European + visitors try to swagger with their mechanical appliances. Mr. Herbert + Spencer founds, on the statements of Mr. Bates already quoted, a notion + that "the savage, lacking ability to think and the accompanying desire to + know, is without tendency to speculate". He backs Mr. Bates's experience + with Mungo Park's failure to "draw" the negroes about the causes of day + and night. They had never indulged a conjecture nor formed an hypothesis + on the matter. Yet Park avers that "the belief in one God is entire and + universal among them". This he "pronounces without the smallest shadow of + doubt". As to "primitive man," according to Mr. Spencer, "the need for + explanations about surrounding appearances does not occur to him". We have + disclaimed all knowledge about "primitive man," but it is easy to show + that Mr. Spencer grounds his belief in the lack of speculation among + savages on a frail foundation of evidence. + </p> + <p> + (1) Vol. ii. p. 162. + </p> + <p> + (2) Sociology, p. 98. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Spencer has admitted speculation, or at least curiosity, among New + Caledonians, New Guinea people, Dyaks, Samoans and Tahitians. Even where + he denies its existence, as among the Amazon tribes mentioned by Mr. + Bates, we happen to be able to show that Mr. Bates was misinformed. + Another traveller, the American geologist, Professor Hartt of Cornell + University, lived long among the tribes of the Amazon. But Professor Hartt + did not, like Mr. Bates, find them at all destitute of theories of things—theories + expressed in myths, and testifying to the intellectual activity and + curiosity which demands an answer to its questions. Professor Hartt, when + he first became acquainted with the Indians of the Amazon, knew that they + were well supplied with myths, and he set to work to collect them. But he + found that neither by coaxing nor by offers of money could he persuade an + Indian to relate a myth. Only by accident, "while wearily paddling up the + Paranamirim of the Ituki," did he hear the steersman telling stories to + the oarsmen to keep them awake. Professor Hartt furtively noted down the + tale, and he found that by "setting the ball rolling," and narrating a + story himself, he could make the natives throw off reserve and add to his + stock of tales. "After one has obtained his first myth, and has learned to + recite it accurately and spiritedly, the rest is easy." The tales + published by Professor Hartt are chiefly animal stories, like those + current in Africa and among the Red Indians, and Hartt even believed that + many of the legends had been imported by Negroes. But as the majority of + the Negro myths, like those of the Australians, give a "reason why" for + the existence of some phenomenon or other, the argument against early + man's curiosity and vivacity of intellect is rather injured, even if the + Amazonian myths were imported from Africa. Mr. Spencer based his disbelief + in the intellectual curiosity of the Amazonian tribes and of Negroes on + the reports of Mr. Bates and of Mungo Park. But it turns out that both + Negroes and Amazonians have stories which do satisfy an unscientific + curiosity, and it is even held that the Negroes lent the Amazonians these + very stories.(1) The Kamschadals, according to Steller, "give themselves a + reason why for everything, according to their own lively fancy, and do not + leave the smallest matter uncriticised".(2) As far, then, as Mr. Spencer's + objections apply to existing savages, we may consider them overweighed by + the evidence, and we may believe in a naive savage curiosity about the + world and desire for explanations of the causes of things. Mr. Tylor's + opinion corroborates our own: "Man's craving to know the causes at work in + each event he witnesses, the reasons why each state of things he surveys + is such as it is and no other, is no product of high civilisation, but a + characteristic of his race down to its lowest stages. Among rude savages + it is already an intellectual appetite, whose satisfaction claims many of + the moments not engrossed by war or sport, food or sleep. Even in the + Botocudo or the Australian, scientific speculation has its germ in actual + experience."(3) It will be shown later that the food of the savage + intellectual appetite is offered and consumed in the shape of explanatory + myths. + </p> + <p> + (1) See Amazonian Tortoise-Myth., pp. 5, 37, 40; and compare Mr. Harris's + Preface to Nights with Uncle Remus. + </p> + <p> + (2) Steller, p. 267. Cf. Farrer's Primitive Manners, p. 274. + </p> + <p> + (3) Primitive Culture, i. 369. + </p> + <p> + But we must now observe that the "actual experience," properly so called, + of the savage is so limited and so coloured by misconception and + superstition, that his knowledge of the world varies very much from the + conceptions of civilised races. He seeks an explanation, a theory of + things, based on his experience. But his knowledge of physical causes and + of natural laws is exceedingly scanty, and he is driven to fall back upon + what we may call metaphysical, or, in many cases "supernatural" + explanations. The narrower the range of man's knowledge of physical + causes, the wider is the field which he has to fill up with hypothetical + causes of a metaphysical or "supernatural" character. These "supernatural" + causes themselves the savage believes to be matters of experience. It is + to his mind a matter of experience that all nature is personal and + animated; that men may change shapes with beasts; that incantations and + supernatural beings can cause sunshine and storm. + </p> + <p> + A good example of this is given in Charlevoix's work on French Canada.(1) + Charlevoix was a Jesuit father and missionary among the Hurons and other + tribes of North America. He thus describes the philosophy of the Red Men: + "The Hurons attribute the most ordinary effects to supernatural + causes".(2) In the same page the good father himself attributes the + welcome arrival of rainy weather and the cure of certain savage patients + to the prayers of Pere Brebeuf and to the exhibition of the sacraments. + Charlevoix had considerably extended the field in which natural effects + are known to be produced by natural causes. He was much more + scientifically minded than his savage flock, and was quite aware that an + ordinary clock with a pendulum cannot bring bad luck to a whole tribe, and + that a weather-cock is not a magical machine for securing unpleasant + weather. The Hurons, however, knowing less of natural causes and nothing + of modern machinery, were as convinced that his clock was ruining the luck + of the tribe and his weather-cock spoiling the weather, as Father + Charlevoix could be of the truth of his own inferences. One or two other + anecdotes in the good father's history and letters help to explain the + difference between the philosophies of wild and of Christian men. The Pere + Brebeuf was once summoned at the instigation of a Huron wizard or + "medicine-man" before a council of the tribe. His judges told the father + that nothing had gone right since he appeared among them. To this Brebeuf + replied by "drawing the attention of the savages to the absurdity of their + principles". He admitted(3) the premise that nothing had turned out well + in the tribe since his arrival. "But the reason," said he, "plainly is + that God is angry with your hardness of heart." No sooner had the good + father thus demonstrated the absurdity of savage principles of reasoning, + than the malignant Huron wizard fell down dead at his feet! This event + naturally added to the confusion of the savages. + </p> + <p> + (1) Histoire de la France-Nouvelle. + </p> + <p> + (2) Vol. i. p. 191. + </p> + <p> + (3) Vol. i. p. 192. + </p> + <p> + Coincidences of this sort have a great effect on savage minds. Catlin, the + friend of the Mandan tribe, mentions a chief who consolidated his power by + aid of a little arsenic, bought from the whites. The chief used to + prophesy the sudden death of his opponents, which always occurred at the + time indicated. The natural results of the administration of arsenic were + attributed by the barbarous people to supernatural powers in the + possession of the chief.(1) Thus the philosophy of savages seeks causas + cognoscere rerum, like the philosophy of civilised men, but it flies + hastily to a hypothesis of "supernatural" causes which are only guessed + at, and are incapable of demonstration. This frame of mind prevails still + in civilised countries, as the Bishop of Nantes showed when, in 1846, he + attributed the floods of the Loire to "the excesses of the press and the + general disregard of Sunday". That "supernatural" causes exist and may + operate, it is not at all our intention to deny. But the habit of looking + everywhere for such causes, and of assuming their interference at will, is + the main characteristic of savage speculation. The peculiarity of the + savage is that he thinks human agents can work supernaturally, whereas + even the Bishop reserved his supernatural explanations for the Deity. On + this belief in man's power to affect events beyond the limits of natural + possibility is based the whole theory of MAGIC, the whole power of + sorcerers. That theory, again, finds incessant expression in myth, and + therefore deserves our attention. + </p> + <p> + (1) Catlin, Letters, ii. 117. + </p> + <p> + The theory requires for its existence an almost boundless credulity. This + credulity appears to Europeans to prevail in full force among savages. + Bosman is amazed by the African belief that a spider created the world. + Moffat is astonished at the South African notion that the sea was + accidentally created by a girl. Charlevoix says, "Les sauvages sont d'une + facilite a croire ce qu'on leur dit, que les plus facheuse experiences + n'ont jamais pu guerir".(1) But it is a curious fact that while savages + are, as a rule, so credulous, they often laugh at the religious doctrines + taught them by missionaries. Elsewhere they recognise certain essential + doctrines as familiar forms of old. Dr. Moffat remarks, "To speak of the + Creation, the Fall and the Resurrection, seemed more fabulous, extravagant + and ludicrous to them than their own vain stories of lions and hyaenas." + Again, "The Gospel appeared too preposterous for the most foolish to + believe".(2) While the Zulus declared that they used to accept their own + myths without inquiry,(3) it was a Zulu who suggested to Bishop Colenso + his doubts about the historical character of the Noachian Deluge. + Hearne(4) knew a Red Man, Matorabhee, who, "though a perfect bigot with + regard to the arts and tricks of the jugglers, could yet by no means be + impressed with a belief of any part of OUR religion". Lieutenant Haggard, + R.N., tells the writer that during an eclipse at Lamoo he ridiculed the + native notion of driving away a beast which devours the moon, and + explained the real cause of the phenomenon. But his native friend + protested that "he could not be expected to believe such a story". Yet + other savages aver an old agreement with the belief in a moral Creator. + </p> + <p> + (1) Vol. ii. p. 378. + </p> + <p> + (2) Missionary Labours, p. 245. + </p> + <p> + (3) Callaway, Religion of Amazulus, i. 35. + </p> + <p> + (4) Journey among the Indians, 1795, p. 350. + </p> + <p> + We have already seen sufficient examples of credulity in savage doctrines + about the equal relations of men and beasts, stars, clouds and plants. The + same readiness of belief, which would be surprising in a Christian child, + has been found to regulate the rudimentary political organisations of grey + barbarians. Add to this credulity a philosophy which takes resemblance, or + contiguity in space, or nearness in time as a sufficient reason for + predicating the relations of cause and effect, and we have the basis of + savage physical science. Yet the metaphysical theories of savages, as + expressed in Maori, Polynesian, and Zuni hymns, often amaze us by their + wealth of abstract ideas. Coincidence elsewhere stands for cause. + </p> + <p> + Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, is the motto of the savage philosophy of + causation. The untutored reasoner speculates on the principles of the + Egyptian clergy, as described by Herodotus.(1) "The Egyptians have + discovered more omens and prodigies than any other men; for when aught + prodigious occurs, they keep good watch, and write down what follows; and + then, if anything like the prodigy be repeated, they expect the same + events to follow as before." This way of looking at things is the very + essence of superstition. + </p> + <p> + (1) II. p. 82. + </p> + <p> + Savages, as a rule, are not even so scientific as the Egyptians. When an + untoward event occurs, they look for its cause among all the less familiar + circumstances of the last few days, and select the determining cause very + much at random. Thus the arrival of the French missionaries among the + Hurons was coincident with certain unfortunate events; therefore it was + argued that the advent of the missionaries was the cause of the + misfortune. When the Bechuanas suffered from drought, they attributed the + lack of rain to the arrival of Dr. Moffat, and especially to his beard, + his church bell, and a bag of salt in his possession. Here there was not + even the pretence of analogy between cause and effect. Some savages might + have argued (it is quite in their style), that as salt causes thirst, a + bag of salt causes drought; but no such case could be made out against Dr. + Moffat's bell and beard. To give an example from the beliefs of English + peasants. When a cottage was buried by a little avalanche in 1772, the + accident was attributed to the carelessness of the cottagers, who had + allowed a light to be taken out of their dwelling in Christmas-tide.(1) We + see the same confusion between antecedence and consequence in time on one + side, and cause and effect on the other, when the Red Indians aver that + birds actually bring winds and storms or fair weather. They take literally + the sense of the Rhodian swallow-song:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The swallow hath come, + Bringing fair hours, + Bringing fair seasons, + On black back and white breast.(2) +</pre> + <p> + (1) Shropshire Folk-Lore, by Miss Burne, iii. 401. + </p> + <p> + (2) Brinton, Myths of New World, p. 107. + </p> + <p> + Again, in the Pacific the people of one island always attribute hurricanes + to the machinations of the people of the nearest island to windward. The + wind comes from them; therefore (as their medicine-men can notoriously + influence the weather), they must have sent the wind. This unneighbourly + act is a casus belli, and through the whole of a group of islands the + banner of war, like the flag of freedom in Byron, flies against the wind. + The chief principle, then, of savage science is that antecedence and + consequence in time are the same as effect and cause.(1) Again, savage + science holds that LIKE AFFECTS LIKE, that you can injure a man, for + example, by injuring his effigy. On these principles the savage explains + the world to himself, and on these principles he tries to subdue to + himself the world. Now the putting of these principles into practice is + simply the exercise of art magic, an art to which nothing seems + impossible. The belief that his Shamans or medicine-men practise this art + is universal among savages. It seriously affects their conduct, and is + reflected in their myths. + </p> + <p> + (1) See account of Zuni metaphysics in chapter on American Divine Myths. + </p> + <p> + The one general rule which governs all magical reasoning is, that casual + connection in thought is equivalent to causative connection in fact. Like + suggests like to human thought by association of ideas; wherefore like + influences like, or produces analogous effects in practice. Any object + once in a man's possession, especially his hair or his nails, is supposed + to be capable of being used against him by a sorcerer. The part suggests + the whole. A lock of a man's hair was part of the man; to destroy the hair + is to destroy its former owner. Again, whatever event follows another in + time suggests it, and may have been caused by it. Accompanying these ideas + is the belief that nature is peopled by invisible spiritual powers, over + which magicians and sorcerers possess influence. The magic of the lower + races chiefly turns on these two beliefs. First, "man having come to + associate in thought those things which he found by experience to be + connected in fact, proceeded erroneously to invert their action, and to + conclude that association in thought must involve similar connection in + reality. He thus attempted to discover, to foretell, and to cause events, + by means of processes which we now see to have only an ideal + significance."(1) Secondly, man endeavoured to make disembodied spirits of + the dead, or any other spirits, obedient to his will. Savage philosophy + presumes that the beliefs are correct, and that their practical + application is successful. Examples of the first of the two chief magical + ideas are as common in unscientific modern times or among unscientific + modern people as in the savage world. + </p> + <p> + (1) Primitive Culture, i. 14. + </p> + <p> + The physicians of the age of Charles II. were wont to give their patients + "mummy powder," that is, pulverised mummy. They argued that the mummy had + lasted for a very long time, and that the patients ought to do so + likewise. Pliny imagined that diamonds must be found in company with gold, + because these are the most perfect substances in the world, and like + should draw to like. Aurum potabile, or drinkable gold, was a favourite + medical nostrum of the Middle Ages, because gold, being perfect, should + produce perfect health. Among savages the belief that like is caused by + like is exemplified in very many practices. The New Caledonians, when they + wish their yam plots to be fertile, bury in them with mystic ceremonies + certain stones which are naturally shaped like yams. The Melanesians have + reduced this kind of magic to a system. Among them certain stones have a + magical efficacy, which is determined in each case by the shape of the + stone. "A stone in the shape of a pig, of a bread-fruit, of a yam, was a + most valuable find. No garden was planted without the stones which were to + increase the crop."(1) Stones with a rude resemblance to beasts bring the + Zuni luck in the chase. + </p> + <p> + (1) Rev. R. H. Codrington, Journ. Anth. Inst., February, 1881. + </p> + <p> + The spiritual theory in some places is mixed up with the "like to like" + theory, and the magical stones are found where the spirits have been heard + twittering and whistling. "A large stone lying with a number of small ones + under it, like a sow among her sucklings, was good for a childless + woman."(1) It is the savage belief that stones reproduce their species, a + belief consonant with the general theory of universal animation and + personality. The ancient belief that diamonds gendered diamonds is a + survival from these ideas. "A stone with little disks upon it was good to + bring in money; any fanciful interpretation of a mark was enough to give a + character to the stone and its associated Vui" or spirit in Melanesia. In + Scotland, stones shaped like various parts of the human body are expected + to cure the diseases with which these members may be afflicted. "These + stones were called by the names of the limbs which they represented, as + 'eye-stone,' 'head-stone'." The patient washed the affected part of the + body, and rubbed it well with the stone corresponding.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Codrington, Journ. Anth. Soc., x. iii. 276. + </p> + <p> + (2) Gregor, Folk-Lore of North-East Counties, p. 40. + </p> + <p> + To return from European peasant-magic to that of savages, we find that + when the Bushmen want wet weather they light fires, believing that the + black smoke clouds will attract black rain clouds; while the Zulus + sacrifice black cattle to attract black clouds of rain.(1) Though this + magic has its origin in savage ignorance, it survives into civilisation. + Thus the sacrifices of the Vedic age were imitations of the natural + phenomena which the priests desired to produce.(2) "C'etait un moyen de + faire tombre la pluie en realisant, par les representations terrestres des + eaux du nuage et de l'eclair, les conditions dans lesquelles celui-ci + determine dans le ciel l'epanchement de celles-la." A good example of + magical science is afforded by the medical practice of the Dacotahs of + North America.(3) When any one is ill, an image of his disease, a boil or + what not, is carved in wood. This little image is then placed in a bowl of + water and shot at with a gun. The image of the disease being destroyed, + the disease itself is expected to disappear. Compare the magic of the + Philistines, who made golden images of the sores which plagued them and + stowed them away in the ark.(4) The custom of making a wax statuette of an + enemy, and piercing it with pins or melting it before the fire, so that + the detested person might waste as his semblance melted, was common in + mediaeval Europe, was known to Plato, and is practised by Negroes. Some + Australians take some of the hair of an enemy, mix it with grease and the + feathers of the eagle, and burn it in the fire. This is "bar" or black + magic. The boarding under the chair of a magistrate in Barbadoes was + lifted not long ago, and the ground beneath was found covered with wax + images of litigants stuck full of pins. + </p> + <p> + (1) Callaway, i. 92. + </p> + <p> + (2) Bergaigne, Religion Vedique, i. 126-138, i., vii., viii. + </p> + <p> + (3) Schoolcraft, iv. 491. + </p> + <p> + (4) 1 Samuel vi. 4, 5. + </p> + <p> + The war-magic of the Dacotahs works in a similar manner. Before a party + starts on the war-trail, the chief, with various ceremonies, takes his + club and stands before his tent. An old witch bowls hoops at him; each + hoop represents an enemy, and for each he strikes a foeman is expected to + fall. A bowl of sweetened water is also set out to entice the spirits of + the enemy.(1) The war-magic of the Aryans in India does not differ much in + character from that of the Dacotahs. "If any one wishes his army to be + victorious, he should go beyond the battle-line, cut a stalk of grass at + the top and end, and throw it against the hostile army with the words, + Prasahe kas trapasyati?—O Prasaha, who sees thee? If one who has + such knowledge cuts a stalk of grass and throws the parts at the hostile + army, it becomes split and dissolved, just as a daughter-in-law becomes + abashed and faints when seeing her father-in-law,"—an allusion, + apparently, to the widespread tabu which makes fathers-in-law, + daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and mothers-in-law avoid each other.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Schoolcraft, iv. 496. + </p> + <p> + (2) Aitareya Brahmana, iii. 22. + </p> + <p> + The hunt-dances of the Red Indians and Australians are arranged like their + war-magic. Effigies of the bears, deer, or kangaroos are made, or some of + the hunters imitate the motions of these animals. The rest of the dancers + pretend to spear them, and it is hoped that this will ensure success among + the real bears and kangaroos. + </p> + <p> + Here is a singular piece of magic in which Europeans and Australian blacks + agree. Boris Godunoff made his servants swear never to injure him by + casting spells with the dust on which his feet or his carriage wheels had + left traces.(1) Mr. Howitt finds the same magic among the Kurnai.(2) + "Seeing a Tatungolung very lame, I asked him what was the matter. He said, + 'Some fellow has put BOTTLE in my foot'. 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." On another occasion + a native told Mr. Howitt that he had seen black fellows putting poison in + his foot-tracks. Bosman mentions a similar practice among the people of + Guinea. In Scottish folk-lore a screw nail is fixed into the footprint of + the person who is to be injured. + </p> + <p> + (1) Rambaud's History of Russia, English trans., i. 351. + </p> + <p> + (2) Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 250. + </p> + <p> + Just as these magical efforts to influence like by like work their way + into Vedic and other religions, so they are introduced into the religion + of the savage. His prayers are addresses to some sort of superior being, + but the efficacy of the prayer is often eked out by a little magic, unless + indeed we prefer to suppose that the words of the supplication are + interpreted by gesture-speech. Sproat writes: "Set words and gestures are + used according to the thing desired. For instance, in praying for salmon, + the native rubs the backs of his hands, looks upwards, and mutters the + words, 'Many salmon, many salmon'. If he wishes for deer, he carefully + rubs both eyes; or, if it is geese, he rubs the back of his shoulder, + uttering always in a sing-song way the accustomed formula.... All these + practices in praying no doubt have a meaning. We may see a steady hand is + needed in throwing the salmon-spear, and clear eyesight in finding deer in + the forest."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Savage Life, p. 208. + </p> + <p> + In addition to these forms of symbolical magic (which might be multiplied + to any extent), we find among savages the belief in the power of songs of + INCANTATION. This is a feature of magic which specially deserves our + attention. In myths, and still more in marchen or household tales, we + shall constantly find that the most miraculous effects are caused when the + hero pronounces a few lines of rhyme. In Rome, as we have all read in the + Latin Delectus, it was thought that incantations could draw down the moon. + In the Odyssey the kinsfolk of Odysseus sing "a song of healing" over the + wound which was dealt him by the boar's tusk. Jeanne d'Arc, wounded at + Orleans, refused a similar remedy. Sophocles speaks of the folly of + muttering incantations over wounds that need the surgeon's knife. The song + that salved wounds occurs in the Kalewala, the epic poem of the Finns. In + many of Grimm's marchen, miracles are wrought by the repetition of + snatches of rhyme. This belief is derived from the savage state of fancy. + According to Kohl,(1) "Every sorrowful or joyful emotion that opens the + Indian's mouth is at once wrapped up in the garb of a wabanonagamowin + (chanson magicale). If you ask one of them to sing you a simple innocent + hymn in praise of Nature, a spring or jovial hunting stave, he never gives + you anything but a form of incantation, with which he says you will be + able to call to you all the birds from the sky, and all the foxes and + wolves from their caves and burrows."(2) The giant's daughter in the + Scotch marchen, Nicht, Nought, Nothing, is thus enabled to call to her aid + "all the birds of the sky". In the same way, if you ask an Indian for a + love-song, he will say that a philtre is really much more efficacious. The + savage, in short, is extremely practical. His arts, music and drawing, + exist not pour l'art, but for a definite purpose, as methods of getting + something that the artist wants. The young lover whom Kohl knew, like the + lover of Bombyca in Theocritus, believed in having an image of himself and + an image of the beloved. Into the heart of the female image he thrust + magic powders, and he said that this was common, lovers adding songs, + "partly elegiac, partly malicious, and almost criminal forms of + incantation".(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Page 395. + </p> + <p> + (2) Cf. Comparetti's Traditional Poetry of the Finns. + </p> + <p> + (3) Kitchi gami, pp. 395, 397. + </p> + <p> + Among the Indo-Aryans the masaminik or incantations of the Red Man are + known as mantras.(1) These are usually texts from the Veda, and are + chanted over the sick and in other circumstances where magic is believed + to be efficacious. Among the New Zealanders the incantations are called + karakias, and are employed in actual life. There is a special karakia to + raise the wind. In Maori myths the hero is very handy with his karakia. + Rocks split before him, as before girls who use incantations in Kaffir and + Bushman tales. He assumes the shape of any animal at will, or flies in the + air, all by virtue of the karakia or incantation.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Muir, Sanskrit Texts, v. 441, "Incantations from the Atharva Veda". + </p> + <p> + (2) Taylor's New Zealand; Theal's Kaffir Folk-Lore, South-African + Folk-Lore Journal, passim; Shortland's Traditions of the New Zealanders, + pp. 130-135. + </p> + <p> + Without multiplying examples in the savage belief that miracles can be + wrought by virtue of physical CORRESPONDANCES, by like acting on like, by + the part affecting the whole, and so forth, we may go on to the magical + results produced by the aid of spirits. These may be either spirits of the + dead or spiritual essences that never animated mortal men. Savage magic or + science rests partly on the belief that the world is peopled by a "choir + invisible," or rather by a choir only occasionally visible to certain + gifted people, sorcerers and diviners. An enormous amount of evidence to + prove the existence of these tenets has been collected by Mr. Tylor, and + is accessible to all in the chapters on "Animism" in his Primitive + Culture. It is not our business here to account for the universality of + the belief in spirits. Mr. Tylor, following Lucretius and Homer, derives + the belief from the reasonings of early men on the phenomena of dreams, + fainting, shadows, visions caused by narcotics, hallucinations, and other + facts which suggest the hypothesis of a separable life apart from the + bodily organism. It would scarcely be fair not to add that the kind of + "facts" investigated by the Psychical Society—such "facts" as the + appearance of men at the moment of death in places remote from the scene + of their decease, with such real or delusive experiences as the noises and + visions in haunted houses—are familiar to savages. Without + discussing these obscure matters, it may be said that they influence the + thoughts even of some scientifically trained and civilised men. It is + natural, therefore, that they should strongly sway the credulous + imagination of backward races, in which they originate or confirm the + belief that life can exist and manifest itself after the death of the + body.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) See the author's Making of Religion, 1898. + </p> + <p> + Some examples of savage "ghost-stories," precisely analogous to the + "facts" of the Psychical Society's investigations, may be adduced. The + first is curious because it offers among the Kanekas an example of a + belief current in Breton folk-lore. The story is vouched for by Mr. J. J. + Atkinson, late of Noumea, New Caledonia. Mr. Atkinson, we have reason to + believe, was unacquainted with the Breton parallel. To him one day a + Kaneka of his acquaintance paid a visit, and seemed loth to go away. He + took leave, returned, and took leave again, till Mr. Atkinson asked him + the reason of his behaviour. He then explained that he was about to die, + and would never see his English friend again. As he seemed in perfect + health, Mr. Atkinson rallied him on his hypochondria; but the poor fellow + replied that his fate was sealed. He had lately met in the wood one whom + he took for the Kaneka girl of his heart; but he became aware too late + that she was no mortal woman, but a wood-spirit in the guise of the + beloved. The result would be his death within three days, and, as a matter + of fact, he died. This is the groundwork of the old Breton ballad of Le + Sieur Nan, who dies after his intrigue with the forest spectre.(1) A tale + more like a common modern ghost-story is vouched for by Mr. C. J. Du Ve, + in Australia. In the year 1860, a Maneroo black fellow died in the service + of Mr. Du Ve. "The day before he died, having been ill some time, he said + that in the night his father, his father's friend, and a female spirit he + could not recognise, had come to him and said that he would die next day, + and that they would wait for him. Mr. Du Ye adds that, though previously + the Christian belief had been explained to this man, it had entirely + faded, and that he had gone back to the belief of his childhood." Mr. + Fison, who prints this tale in his Kamilaroi and Kurnai,(2) adds, "I could + give many similar instances which have come within my own knowledge among + the Fijians, and, strange to say, the dying man in all these cases kept + his appointment with the ghosts to the very day". + </p> + <p> + (1) It may, of course, be conjectured that the French introduced this + belief into New Caledonia. + </p> + <p> + (2) Page 247. + </p> + <p> + In the Cruise of the Beagle is a parallel anecdote of a Fuegian, Jimmy + Button, and his father's ghost. + </p> + <p> + Without entering into a discussion of ghosts, it is plain that the kind of + evidence, whatever its value may be, which convinces many educated + Europeans of the existence of "veridical" apparitions has also played its + part in the philosophy of uncivilised races. On this belief in + apparitions, then, is based the power of the savage sorcerers and + necromants, of the men who converse with the dead and are aided by + disembodied spirits. These men have greatly influenced the beginnings of + mythology. Among certain Australian tribes the necromants are called + Birraark.(1) "The Kurnai tell me," says Mr. Howitt, "that a Birraark was + supposed to be initiated by the 'Mrarts (ghosts) when they met him + wandering in the bush.... It was from the ghosts that he obtained replies + to questions concerning events passing at a distance or yet to happen, + which might be of interest or moment to his tribe." Mr. Howitt prints an + account of a spiritual seance in the bush.(2) "The fires were let go down. + The Birraark uttered a cry 'coo-ee' at intervals. At length a distant + reply was heard, and shortly afterwards the sound as of persons jumping on + the ground in succession. A voice was then heard in the gloom asking in a + strange intonation, 'What is wanted?' Questions were put by the Birraark + and replies given. At the termination of the seance, the spirit-voice + said, 'We are going'. Finally, the Birraark was found in the top of an + almost inaccessible tree, apparently asleep."(3) There was one Birraark at + least to every clan. The Kurnai gave the name of "Brewin" (a powerful evil + spirit) to a Birraark who was once carried away for several days by the + Mrarts or spirits.(4) It is a belief with the Australians, as, according + to Bosman, it was with the people of the Gold Coast, that a very powerful + wizard lives far inland, and the Negroes held that to this warlock the + spirits of the dead went to be judged according to the merit of their + actions in life. Here we have a doctrine answering to the Greek belief in + "the wizard Minos," Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus, and to the Egyptian idea of + Osiris as judge of the departed.(5) The pretensions of the sorcerer to + converse with the dead are attested by Mr. Brough Smyth.(6) "A sorcerer + lying on his stomach spoke to the deceased, and the other sitting by his + side received the precious messages which the dead man told." As a natural + result of these beliefs, the Australian necromant has great power in the + tribe. Mr. Howitt mentions a case in which a group of kindred, ceasing to + use their old totemistic surname, called themselves the children of a + famous dead Birraark, who thus became an eponymous hero, like Ion among + the Ionians.(7) Among the Scotch Highlanders the position and practice of + the seer were very like those of the Birraark. "A person," says Scott,(8) + "was wrapped up in the skin of a newly slain bullock and deposited beside + a waterfall or at the bottom of a precipice, or in some other strange, + wild and unusual situation, where the scenery around him suggested nothing + but objects of horror. In this situation he revolved in his mind the + question proposed and whatever was impressed on him by his exalted + imagination PASSED FOR THE INSPIRATION OF THE DISEMBODIED SPIRITS who + haunt these desolate recesses." A number of examples are given in Martin's + Description of the Western Islands.(9) In the Century magazine (July, + 1882) is a very full report of Thlinkeet medicine-men and metamorphoses. + </p> + <p> + (1) Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 253. + </p> + <p> + (2) Page 254. + </p> + <p> + (3) In the Jesuit Relations (1637), p. 51, we read that the Red Indian + sorcerer or Jossakeed was credited with power to vanish suddenly away out + of sight of the men standing around him. Of him, as of Homeric gods, it + might be said, "Who has power to see him come or go against his will?" + </p> + <p> + (4) Here, in the first edition, occurred the following passage: "The + conception of Brewin is about as near as the Kurnai get to the idea of a + God; their conferring of his name on a powerful sorcerer is therefore a + point of importance and interest". Mr. Howitt's later knowledge + demonstrates an error here. + </p> + <p> + (5) Bosman in Pinkerton, xvi. p. 401. + </p> + <p> + (6) Aborigines of Australia, i. 197. + </p> + <p> + (7) In Victoria, after dark the wizard goes up to the clouds and brings + down a good spirit. Dawkins, p. 57. For eponymous medicine-men see + Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 231. + </p> + <p> + (8) Lady of the Lake, note 1 to Canto iv. + </p> + <p> + (9) P. 112. + </p> + <p> + The sorcerer among the Zulus is, apparently, of a naturally hysterical and + nervous constitution. "He hears the spirits who speak by whistlings + speaking to him."(1) Whistling is also the language of the ghosts in New + Caledonia, where Mr. Atkinson informs us that he has occasionally put an + able-bodied Kaneka to ignominious flight by whistling softly in the dusk. + The ghosts in Homer make a similar sound, "and even as bats flit gibbering + in the secret place of a wondrous cavern,... even so the souls gibbered as + they fared together" (Odyssey, xxiv. 5). "The familiar spirits make him" + (that Zulu sorcerer) "acquainted with what is about to happen, and then he + divines for the people." As the Birraarks learn songs and dance-music from + the Mrarts, so the Zulu Inyanga or diviners learn magical couplets from + the Itongo or spirits.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Callaway, Religious System of the Amazules, p. 265. + </p> + <p> + (2) On all this, see "Possession" in The Making of Religion. + </p> + <p> + The evidence of institutions confirms the reports about savage belief in + magic. The political power of the diviners is very great, as may be + observed from the fact that a hereditary chief needs their consecration to + make him a chief de jure.(1) In fact, the qualities of the diviner are + those which give his sacred authority to the chief. When he has obtained + from the diviners all their medicines and information as to the mode of + using the isitundu (a magical vessel), it is said that he often orders + them to be killed. Now, the chief is so far a medicine-man that he is lord + of the air. "The heaven is the chief's," say the Zulus; and when he calls + out his men, "though the heaven is clear, it becomes clouded by the great + wind that arises". Other Zulus explain this as the mere hyperbole of + adulation. "The word of the chief gives confidence to his troops; they + say, 'We are going; the chief has already seen all that will happen in his + vessel'. Such then are chiefs; they use a vessel for divination."(2) The + makers of rain are known in Zululand as "heaven-herds" or "sky-herds," who + herd the heaven that it may not break out and do its will on the property + of the people. These men are, in fact, (Greek text omitted), + "cloud-gatherers," like the Homeric Zeus, the lord of the heavens. Their + name of "herds of the heavens" has a Vedic sound. "The herd that herds the + lightning," say the Zulus, "does the same as the herder of the cattle; he + does as he does by whistling; he says, 'Tshu-i-i-i. Depart and go yonder. + Do not come here.'" Here let it be observed that the Zulus conceive of the + thunder-clouds and lightning as actual creatures, capable of being herded + like sheep. There is no metaphor or allegory about the matter,(3) and no + forgetfulness of the original meaning of words. The cloud-herd is just + like the cowherd, except that not every man, but only sorcerers, and they + who have eaten the "lightning-bird" (a bird shot near the place where + lightning has struck the earth), can herd the clouds of heaven. The same + ideas prevail among the Bushmen, where the rainmaker is asked "to milk a + nice gentle female rain"; the rain-clouds are her hair. Among the Bushmen + Rain is a person. Among the Red Indians no metaphor seems to be intended + when it is said that "it is always birds who make the wind, except that of + the east". The Dacotahs once killed a thunder-bird(4) behind Little Crow's + village on the Missouri. It had a face like a man with a nose like an + eagle's bill.(5) + </p> + <p> + (1) Callaway, p. 340. + </p> + <p> + (2) Callaway, Religions System of the Amazules, p. 343. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid., p. 385. + </p> + <p> + (4) Schoolcraft, iii. 486. + </p> + <p> + (5) Compare Callaway, p. 119. + </p> + <p> + The political and social powers which come into the hands of the sorcerers + are manifest, even in the case of the Australians. Tribes and individuals + can attempt few enterprises without the aid of the man who listens to the + ghosts. Only he can foretell the future, and, in the case of the natural + death of a member of the tribe, can direct the vengeance of the survivors + against the hostile magician who has committed a murder by "bar" or magic. + Among the Zulus we have seen that sorcery gives the sanction to the power + of the chief. "The winds and weather are at the command" of Bosman's + "great fetisher". Inland from the Gold Coast,(1) the king of Loango, + according to the Abbe Proyart, "has credit to make rain fall on earth". + Similar beliefs, with like political results, will be found to follow from + the superstition of magic among the Red Indians of North America. The + difficulty of writing about sorcerers among the Red Indians is caused by + the abundance of the evidence. Charlevoix and the other early Jesuit + missionaries found that the jongleurs, as Charlevoix calls the Jossakeeds + or medicine-men, were their chief opponents. As among the Scotch + Highlanders, the Australians and the Zulus, the Red Indian jongleur is + visited by the spirits. He covers a hut with the skin of the animal which + he commonly wears, retires thither, and there converses with the bodiless + beings.(2) The good missionary like Mr. Moffat in Africa, was convinced + that the exercises of the Jossakeeds were verily supernatural. "Ces + seducteurs ont un veritable commerce avec le pere du mensonge."(3) This + was denied by earlier and wiser Jesuit missionaries. Their political power + was naturally great. In time of war "ils avancent et retardent les marches + comme il leur plait". In our own century it was a medicine-man, Ten Squa + Ta Way, who by his magical processes and superstitious rites stirred up a + formidable war against the United States.(4) According to Mr. Pond,(5) the + native name of the Dacotah medicine-men, "Wakan," signifies "men + supernaturally gifted". Medicine-men are believed to be "wakanised" by + mystic intercourse with supernatural beings. The business of the wakanised + man is to discern future events, to lead and direct parties on the + war-trail, "to raise the storm or calm the tempest, to converse with the + lightning or thunder as with familiar friends".(6) The wakanised man, like + the Australian Birraark and the Zulu diviner, "dictates chants and + prayers". In battle "every Dacotah warrior looks to the Wakan man as + almost his only resource". Belief in Wakan men is, Mr. Pond says, + universal among the Dacotahs, except where Christianity has undermined it. + "Their influence is deeply felt by every individual of the tribe, and + controls all their affairs." The Wakan man's functions are absorbed by the + general or war-chief of the tribe, and in Schoolcraft (iv. 495), Captain + Eastman prints copies of native scrolls showing the war-chief at work as a + wizard. "The war-chief who leads the party to war is always one of these + medicine-men." In another passage the medicine-men are described as + "having a voice in the sale of land". It must be observed that the + Jossakeed, or medicine-man, pure and simple, exercises a power which is + not in itself hereditary. Chieftainship, when associated with inheritance + of property, is hereditary; and when the chief, as among the Zulus, + absorbs supernatural power, then the same man becomes diviner and chief, + and is a person of great and sacred influence. The liveliest account of + the performances of the Maori "tohunga" or sorcerer is to be found in Old + New Zealand,(7) by the Pakeha Maori, an English gentleman who had lived + with the natives like one of themselves. The tohunga, says this author,(8) + presided over "all those services and customs which had something + approaching to a religious character. They also pretended to power by + means of certain familiar spirits, to foretell future events, and even in + some cases to control them.... The spirit 'entered into' them, and, on + being questioned, gave a response in a sort of half whistling, + half-articulate voice, supposed to be the proper language of spirits." In + New South Wales, Mrs. Langlot Parker has witnessed a similar exhibition. + The "spirits" told the truth in this case. The Pakeha Maori was present in + a darkened village-hall when the spirit of a young man, a great friend of + his own, was called up by a tohunga. "Suddenly, without the slightest + warning, a voice came out of the darkness.... The voice all through, it is + to be remembered, was not the voice of the tohunga, but a strange + melancholy sound, like the sound of a wind blowing into a hollow vessel. + 'It is well with me; my place is a good place.' The spirit gave an answer + to a question which proved to be correct, and then 'Farewell,' cried the + spirit FROM DEEP BENEATH THE GROUND. 'Farewell,' again, FROM HIGH IN AIR. + 'Farewell,' once more came moaning through the distant darkness of the + night." As chiefs in New Zealand no less than tohungas can exercise the + mystical and magical power of tabu, that is, of imparting to any object or + person an inviolable character, and can prevent or remit the mysterious + punishment for infringement of tabu, it appears probable that in New + Zealand, as well as among the Zulus and Red Indians, chiefs have a + tendency to absorb the sacred character and powers of the tohungas. This + is natural enough, for a tohunga, if he plays his cards well, is sure to + acquire property and hereditary wealth, which, in combination with magical + influence, are the necessary qualifications for the office of the + chieftain. + </p> + <p> + (1) Pinkerton, xvi. 401. + </p> + <p> + (2) Charlevoix, i. 105. See "Savage Spiritualism" in Cock Lane and Common + Sense. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid., iii. 362. + </p> + <p> + (4) Catlin, ii. 17. + </p> + <p> + (5) In Schoolcraft, iv. 402. + </p> + <p> + (6) Pond, in Schoolcraft, iv. 647. + </p> + <p> + (7) Auckland, 1863. + </p> + <p> + (8) Page 148. + </p> + <p> + Here is the place to mention a fact which, though at first sight it may + appear to have only a social interest, yet bears on the development of + mythology. Property and rank seem to have been essential to each other in + the making of social rank, and where one is absent among contemporary + savages, there we do not find the other. As an example of this, we might + take the case of two peoples who, like the Homeric Ethiopians, are the + outermost of men, and dwell far apart at the ends of the world. The + Eskimos and the Fuegians, at the extreme north and south of the American + continent, agree in having little or no private property and no chiefs. + Yet magic is providing a kind of basis of rank. The bleak plains of ice + and rock are, like Attica, "the mother of men without master or lord". + Among the "house-mates" of the smaller settlements there is no head-man, + and in the larger gatherings Dr. Rink says that "still less than among the + house-mates was any one belonging to such a place to be considered a + chief". The songs and stories of the Eskimo contain the praises of men who + have risen up and killed any usurper who tried to be a ruler over his + "place-mates". No one could possibly establish any authority on the basis + of property, because "superfluous property, implements, etc., rarely + existed". If there are three boats in one household, one of the boats is + "borrowed" by the community, and reverts to the general fund. If we look + at the account of the Fuegians described in Admiral Fitzroy's cruise, we + find a similar absence of rank produced by similar causes. "The perfect + equality among the individuals composing the tribes must for a long time + retard their civilisation.... At present even a piece of cloth is torn in + shreds and distributed, and no one individual becomes richer than another. + On the other hand, it is difficult to understand how a chief can arise + till there is property of some sort by which he might manifest and still + increase his authority." In the same book, however, we get a glimpse of + one means by which authority can be exercised. "The doctor-wizard of each + party has much influence over his companions." Among the Eskimos this + element in the growth of authority also exists. A class of wizards called + Angakut have power to cause fine weather, and, by the gift of second-sight + and magical practices, can detect crimes, so that they necessarily become + a kind of civil magistrates. These Angekkok or Angakut have familiar + spirits called Torngak, a word connected with the name of their chief + spiritual being, Torngarsak. The Torngak is commonly the ghost of a + deceased parent of the sorcerer. "These men," says Egede, "are held in + great honour and esteem among this stupid and ignorant nation, insomuch + that nobody dare ever refuse the strictest obedience when they command him + in the name of Torngarsak." The importance and actual existence of belief + in magic has thus been attested by the evidence of institutions, even + among Australians, Fuegians and Eskimos. + </p> + <p> + It is now necessary to pass from examples of tribes who have superstitious + respect for certain individuals, but who have no property and no chiefs, + to peoples who exhibit the phenomenon of superstitious reverence attached + to wealthy rulers or to judges. To take the example of Ireland, as + described in the Senchus Mor, we learn that the chiefs, just like the + Angakut of the Eskimos, had "power to make fair or foul weather" in the + literal sense of the words.(1) In Africa, in the same way, as Bosman, the + old traveller, says, "As to what difference there is between one negro and + another, the richest man is the most honoured," yet the most honoured man + has the same magical power as the poor Angakuts of the Eskimos. + </p> + <p> + (1) Early History of Institutions, p. 195. + </p> + <p> + "In the Solomon Islands," says Dr. Codrington, "there is nothing to + prevent a common man from becoming a chief, if he can show that he has the + mana (supernatural power) for it."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Journ. Anth. Inst., x. iii. 287, 300, 309. + </p> + <p> + Though it is anticipating a later stage of this inquiry, we must here + observe that the sacredness, and even the magical virtues of barbarous + chiefs seem to have descended to the early leaders of European races. The + children of Odin and of Zeus were "sacred kings". The Homeric chiefs, like + those of the Zulus and the Red Men, and of the early Irish and Swedes, + exercised an influence over the physical universe. Homer(1) speaks of "a + blameless king, one that fears the gods, and reigns among many men and + mighty, and the black earth bears wheat and barley, and the sheep bring + forth and fail not, and the sea gives store of fish, and all out of his + good sovereignty". + </p> + <p> + (1) Od., xix. 109. + </p> + <p> + The attributes usually assigned by barbarous peoples to their medicine-men + have not yet been exhausted. We have found that they can foresee and + declare the future; that they control the weather and the sensible world; + that they can converse with, visit and employ about their own business the + souls of the dead. It would be easy to show at even greater length that + the medicine-man has everywhere the power of metamorphosis. He can assume + the shapes of all beasts, birds, fishes, insects and inorganic matters, + and he can subdue other people to the same enchantment. This belief + obviously rests on the lack of recognised distinction between man and the + rest of the world, which we have so frequently insisted on as a + characteristic of savage and barbarous thought. Examples of accredited + metamorphosis are so common everywhere, and so well known, that it would + be waste of space to give a long account of them. In Primitive Culture(1) + a cloud of witnesses to the belief in human tigers, hyaenas, leopards and + wolves is collected.(2) Mr. Lane(3) found metamorphosis by wizards as + accredited a working belief at Cairo as it is among Abipones, Eskimo, or + the people of Ashangoland. In various parts of Scotland there is a tale of + a witch who was shot at when in the guise of a hare. In this shape she was + wounded, and the same wound was found on her when she resumed her human + appearance. Lafitau, early in the last century, found precisely the same + tale, except that the wizards took the form of birds, not of hares, among + the Red Indians. The birds were wounded by the magical arrows of an old + medicine-man, Shonnoh Koui Eretsi, and these bolts were found in the + bodies of the human culprits. In Japan, as we learn from several stories + in Mr. Mitford's Tales of Old Japan, people chiefly metamorphose + themselves into foxes and badgers. The sorcerers of Honduras(4) "possess + the power of transforming men into wild beasts, and were much feared + accordingly". Among the Cakchiquels, a cultivated people of Guatemala, the + very name of the clergy, haleb, was derived from their power of assuming + animal shapes, which they took on as easily as the Homeric gods.(5) + Regnard, the French dramatist, who travelled among the Lapps at the end of + the seventeenth century (1681), says: "They believe witches can turn men + into cats;" and again, "Under the figures of swans, crows, falcons and + geese, they call up tempests and destroy ships".(6) Among the Bushmen + "sorcerers assume the forms of beasts and jackals".(7) Dobrizhoffer + (1717-91), a missionary in Paraguay, found that "sorcerers arrogate to + themselves the power of transforming themselves into tigers".(8) He was + present when the Abipones believed that a conversion of this sort was + actually taking place: "Alas," cried the people, "his whole body is + beginning to be covered with tiger-spots; his nails are growing". Near + Loanda, Livingstone found that a "chief may metamorphose himself into a + lion, kill any one he choses, and then resume his proper form".(9) Among + the Barotse and Balonda, "while persons are still alive they may enter + into lions and alligators".(10) Among the Mayas of Central America + "sorcerers could transform themselves into dogs, pigs and other animals; + their glance was death to a victim".(11) The Thlinkeets think that their + Shamans can metamorphose themselves into animals at pleasure; and a very + old raven was pointed out to Mr. C. E. S. Wood as an incarnation of the + soul of a Shaman.(12) Sir A. C. Lyall finds a similar belief in + flourishing existence in India. The European superstition of the were-wolf + is too well known to need description. Perhaps the most curious legend is + that told by Giraldus Cambrensis about a man and his wife metamorphosed + into wolves by an abbot. They retained human speech, made exemplary + professions of Christian faith, and sent for priests when they found their + last hours approaching. In an old Norman ballad a girl is transformed into + a white doe, and hunted and slain by her brother's hounds. The + "aboriginal" peoples of India retain similar convictions. Among the + Hos,(13) an old sorcerer called Pusa was known to turn himself habitually + into a tiger, and to eat his neighbour's goats, and even their wives. + Examples of the power of sorcerers to turn, as with the Gorgon's head, + their enemies into stone, are peculiarly common in America.(14) Hearne + found that the Indians believed they descended from a dog, who could turn + himself into a handsome young man.(15) + </p> + <p> + (1) Vol. i. pp. 309-315. + </p> + <p> + (2) See also M'Lennan on Lykanthropy in Encyclopedia Britannica. + </p> + <p> + (3) Arabian Nights, i. 51. + </p> + <p> + (4) Bancroft, Races of Pacific Coast, i. 740. + </p> + <p> + (5) Brinton, Annals of the Cakchiquels, p. 46. + </p> + <p> + (6) Pinkerton, i. 471. + </p> + <p> + (7) Bleek, Brief Account of Bushman Folk-Lore, pp. 15, 40. + </p> + <p> + (8) English translation of Dobrizhoffer's Abipones, i. 163. + </p> + <p> + (9) Missionary Travels, p. 615. + </p> + <p> + (10) Livingstone, p. 642. + </p> + <p> + (11) Bancroft, ii. + </p> + <p> + (12) Century Magazine, July, 1882. + </p> + <p> + (13) Dalton's Ethnology of Bengal, p. 200. + </p> + <p> + (14) Dorman, pp. 130, 134; Report of Ethnological Bureau, Washington, + 1880-81. + </p> + <p> + (15) A Journey, etc., p. 342. + </p> + <p> + Let us recapitulate the powers attributed all over the world, by the lower + people, to medicine-men. The medicine-man has all miracles at his command. + He rules the sky, he flies into the air, he becomes visible or invisible + at will, he can take or confer any form at pleasure, and resume his human + shape. He can control spirits, can converse with the dead, and can descend + to their abodes. + </p> + <p> + When we begin to examine the gods of MYTHOLOGY, savage or civilised, as + distinct from deities contemplated, in devotion, as moral and creative + guardians of ethics, we shall find that, with the general, though not + invariable addition of immortality, they possess the very same + accomplishments as the medicine-man, peay, tohunga, jossakeed, birraark, + or whatever name for sorcerer we may choose. Among the Greeks, Zeus, + mythically envisaged, enjoys in heaven all the attributes of the + medicine-man; among the Iroquois, as Pere le Jeune, the old Jesuit + missionary, observed,(1) the medicine-man enjoys on earth all the + attributes of Zeus. Briefly, the miraculous and supernatural endowments of + the gods of MYTH, whether these gods be zoomorphic or anthropomorphic, are + exactly the magical properties with which the medicine-man is credited by + his tribe. It does not at all follow, as Euemerus and Mr. Herbert Spencer + might argue, that the god was once a real living medicine-man. But + myth-making man confers on the deities of myth the magical powers which he + claims for himself. + </p> + <p> + (1) Relations (1636), p. 114. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. NATURE MYTHS. + </h2> + <p> + Savage fancy, curiosity and credulity illustrated in nature myths—In + these all phenomena are explained by belief in the general animation of + everything, combined with belief in metamorphosis—Sun myths, Asian, + Australian, African, Melanesian, Indian, Californian, Brazilian, Maori, + Samoan—Moon myths, Australian, Muysca, Mexican, Zulu, Macassar, + Greenland, Piute, Malay—Thunder myths—Greek and Aryan sun and + moon myths—Star myths—Myths, savage and civilised, of animals, + accounting for their marks and habits—Examples of custom of claiming + blood kinship with lower animals—Myths of various plants and trees—Myths + of stones, and of metamorphosis into stones, Greek, Australian and + American—The whole natural philosophy of savages expressed in myths, + and survives in folk-lore and classical poetry; and legends of + metamorphosis. + </p> + <p> + The intellectual condition of savages which has been presented and + established by the evidence both of observers and of institutions, may now + be studied in savage myths. These myths, indeed, would of themselves + demonstrate that the ideas which the lower races entertain about the world + correspond with our statement. If any one were to ask himself, from what + mental conditions do the following savage stories arise? he would + naturally answer that the minds which conceived the tales were curious, + indolent, credulous of magic and witchcraft, capable of drawing no line + between things and persons, capable of crediting all things with human + passions and resolutions. But, as myths analogous to those of savages, + when found among civilised peoples, have been ascribed to a psychological + condition produced by a disease of language acting after civilisation had + made considerable advances, we cannot take the savage myths as proof of + what savages think, believe and practice in the course of daily life. To + do so would be, perhaps, to argue in a circle. We must therefore study the + myths of the undeveloped races in themselves. + </p> + <p> + These myths form a composite whole, so complex and so nebulous that it is + hard indeed to array them in classes and categories. For example, if we + look at myths concerning the origin of various phenomena, we find that + some introduce the action of gods or extra-natural beings, while others + rest on a rude theory of capricious evolution; others, again, invoke the + aid of the magic of mortals, and most regard the great natural forces, the + heavenly bodies, and the animals, as so many personal characters capable + of voluntarily modifying themselves or of being modified by the most + trivial accidents. Some sort of arrangement, however, must be attempted, + only the student is to understand that the lines are never drawn with + definite fixity, that any category may glide into any other category of + myth. + </p> + <p> + We shall begin by considering some nature myths—myths, that is to + say, which explain the facts of the visible universe. These range from + tales about heaven, day, night, the sun and the stars, to tales accounting + for the red breast of the ousel, the habits of the quail, the spots and + stripes of wild beasts, the formation of rocks and stones, the foliage of + trees, the shapes of plants. In a sense these myths are the science of + savages; in a sense they are their sacred history; in a sense they are + their fiction and romance. Beginning with the sun, we find, as Mr. Tylor + says, that "in early philosophy throughout the world the sun and moon are + alive, and, as it were, human in their nature".(1) The mass of these solar + myths is so enormous that only a few examples can be given, chosen almost + at random out of the heap. The sun is regarded as a personal being, + capable not only of being affected by charms and incantations, but of + being trapped and beaten, of appearing on earth, of taking a wife of the + daughters of men. Garcilasso de la Vega has a story of an Inca prince, a + speculative thinker, who was puzzled by the sun-worship of his ancestors. + If the sun be thus all-powerful, the Inca inquired, why is he plainly + subject to laws? why does he go his daily round, instead of wandering at + large up and down the fields of heaven? The prince concluded that there + was a will superior to the sun's will, and he raised a temple to the + Unknown Power. Now the phenomena which put the Inca on the path of + monotheistic religion, a path already traditional, according to + Garcilasso, have also struck the fancy of savages. Why, they ask, does the + sun run his course like a tamed beast? A reply suited to a mind which + holds that all things are personal is given in myths. Some one caught and + tamed the sun by physical force or by art magic. + </p> + <p> + (1) Primitive Culture, i. 288. + </p> + <p> + In Australia the myth says that there was a time when the sun did not set. + "It was at all times day, and the blacks grew weary." Norralie considered + and decided that the sun should disappear at intervals. He addressed the + sun in an incantation (couched like the Finnish Kalewala in the metre of + Longfellow's Hiawatha); and the incantation is thus interpreted: "Sun, + sun, burn your wood, burn your internal substance, and go down". The sun + therefore now burns out his fuel in a day, and goes below for fresh + firewood.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, i. 430. + </p> + <p> + In New Zealand the taming of the sun is attributed to the great hero Maui, + the Prometheus of the Maoris. He set snares to catch the sun, but in vain, + for the sun's rays bit them through. According to another account, while + Norralie wished to hasten the sun's setting, Maui wanted to delay it, for + the sun used to speed through the heavens at a racing pace. Maui therefore + snared the sun, and beat him so unmercifully that he has been lame ever + since, and travels slowly, giving longer days. "The sun, when beaten, + cried out and revealed his second great name, Taura-mis-te-ra."(1) It will + be remembered that Indra, in his abject terror when he fled after the + slaying of Vrittra, also revealed his mystic name. In North America the + same story of the trapping and laming of the sun is told, and attributed + to a hero named Tcha-ka-betch. In Samoa the sun had a child by a Samoan + woman. He trapped the sun with a rope made of a vine and extorted + presents. Another Samoan lassoed the sun and made him promise to move more + slowly.(2) These Samoan and Australian fancies are nearly as dignified as + the tale in the Aitareya Brahmana. The gods, afraid "that the sun would + fall out of heaven, pulled him up and tied him with five ropes". These + ropes are recognised as verses in the ritual, but probably the ritual is + later than the ropes. In Mexico we find that the sun himself (like the + stars in most myths) was once a human or pre-human devotee, Nanahuatzin, + who leapt into a fire to propitiate the gods.(3) Translated to heaven as + the sun, Nanahuatzin burned so very fiercely that he threatened to reduce + the world to a cinder. Arrows were therefore shot at him, and this + punishment had as happy an effect as the beatings administered by Maui and + Tcha-ka-betch. Among the Bushmen of South Africa the sun was once a man, + from whose armpit a limited amount of light was radiated round his hut. + Some children threw him up into the sky, and there he stuck, and there he + shines.(4) In the Homeric hymn to Helios, as Mr. Max Muller observes, "the + poet looks on Helios as a half god, almost a hero, who had once lived on + earth," which is precisely the view of the Bushmen.(5) Among the Aztecs + the sun is said to have been attacked by a hunter and grievously wounded + by his arrows.(6) The Gallinomeros, in Central California, seem at least + to know that the sun is material and impersonal. They say that when all + was dark in the beginning, the animals were constantly jostling each + other. After a painful encounter, the hawk and the coyote collected two + balls of inflammable substance; the hawk (Indra was occasionally a hawk) + flew up with them into heaven, and lighted them with sparks from a flint. + There they gave light as sun and moon. This is an exception to the general + rule that the heavenly bodies are regarded as persons. The Melanesian tale + of the bringing of night is a curious contrast to the Mexican, Maori, + Australian and American Indian stories which we have quoted. In Melanesia, + as in Australia, the days were long, indeed endless, and people grew + tired; but instead of sending the sun down below by an incantation when + night would follow in course of nature, the Melanesian hero went to Night + (conceived of as a person) and begged his assistance. Night (Qong) + received Qat (the hero) kindly, darkened his eyes, gave him sleep, and, in + twelve hours or so, crept up from the horizon and sent the sun crawling to + the west.(7) In the same spirit Paracelsus is said to have attributed + night, not to the absence of the sun, but to the apparition of certain + stars which radiate darkness. It is extraordinary that a myth like the + Melanesian should occur in Brazil. There was endless day till some one + married a girl whose father "the great serpent," was the owner of night. + The father sent night bottled up in a gourd. The gourd was not to be + uncorked till the messengers reached the bride, but they, in their + curiosity, opened the gourd, and let night out prematurely.(8) + </p> + <p> + (1) Taylor, New Zealand, p. 131. + </p> + <p> + (2) Turner, Samoa, p. 20. + </p> + <p> + (3) Sahagun, French trans., vii. ii. + </p> + <p> + (4) Bleck, Hottentot Fables, p. 67; Bushman Folk-Lore, pp. 9, 11. + </p> + <p> + (5) Compare a Californian solar myth: Bancroft, iii. pp. 85, 86. + </p> + <p> + (6) Bancroft, iii. 73, quoting Burgoa, i. 128, 196. + </p> + <p> + (7) Codrington, Journ. Anthrop. Inst., February, 1881. + </p> + <p> + (8) Contes Indiens du Bresil, pp. 1-9, by Couto de Magalhaes. Rio de + Janeiro, 1883. M. Henri Gaidoz kindly presented the author with this work. + </p> + <p> + The myths which have been reported deal mainly with the sun as a person + who shines, and at fixed intervals disappears. His relations with the moon + are much more complicated, and are the subject of endless stories, all + explaining in a romantic fashion why the moon waxes and wanes, whence come + her spots, why she is eclipsed, all starting from the premise that sun and + moon are persons with human parts and passions. Sometimes the moon is a + man, sometimes a woman and the sex of the sun varies according to the + fancy of the narrators. Different tribes of the same race, as among the + Australians, have different views of the sex of moon and sun. Among the + aborigines of Victoria, the moon, like the sun among the Bushmen, was a + black fellow before he went up into the sky. After an unusually savage + career, he was killed with a stone hatchet by the wives of the eagle, and + now he shines in the heavens.(1) Another myth explanatory of the moon's + phases was found by Mr. Meyer in 1846 among the natives of Encounter Bay. + According to them the moon is a woman, and a bad woman to boot. She lives + a life of dissipation among men, which makes her consumptive, and she + wastes away till they drive her from their company. While she is in + retreat, she lives on nourishing roots, becomes quite plump, resumes her + gay career, and again wastes away. The same tribe, strangely enough, think + that the sun also is a woman. Every night she descends among the dead, who + stand in double lines to greet her and let her pass. She has a lover among + the dead, who has presented her with a red kangaroo skin, and in this she + appears at her rising. Such is the view of rosy-fingered Dawn entertained + by the blacks of Encounter Bay. In South America, among the Muyscas of + Bogota, the moon, Huythaca, is the malevolent wife of the child of the + sun; she was a woman before her husband banished her to the fields of + space.(2) The moon is a man among the Khasias of the Himalaya, and he was + guilty of the unpardonable offence of admiring his mother-in-law. As a + general rule, the mother-in-law is not even to be spoken to by the savage + son-in-law. The lady threw ashes in his face to discourage his passion, + hence the moon's spots. The waning of the moon suggested the most + beautiful and best known of savage myths, that in which the moon sends a + beast to tell mortals that, though they die like her, like her they shall + be born again.(3) Because the spots in the moon were thought to resemble a + hare they were accounted for in Mexico by the hypothesis that a god smote + the moon in the face with a rabbit;(4) in Zululand and Thibet by a fancied + translation of a good or bad hare to the moon. + </p> + <p> + (1) Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, i. 432. + </p> + <p> + (2) Tylor, Primitive Culture, i. 353. + </p> + <p> + (3) Bleek, Reynard in South Africa, pp. 69-74. + </p> + <p> + (4) Sahagun, viii. 2. + </p> + <p> + The Eskimos have a peculiar myth to account for the moon's spots. Sun and + moon were human brother and sister. In the darkness the moon once + attempted the virtue of the sun. She smeared his face over with ashes, + that she might detect him when a light was brought. She did discover who + her assailant had been, fled to the sky, and became the sun. The moon + still pursues her, and his face is still blackened with the marks of + ashes.(1) Gervaise(2) says that in Macassar the moon was held to be with + child by the sun, and that when he pursued her and wished to beat her, she + was delivered of the earth. They are now reconciled. About the alternate + appearance of sun and moon a beautifully complete and adequate tale is + told by the Piute Indians of California. No more adequate and scientific + explanation could possibly be offered, granting the hypothesis that sun + and moon are human persons and savage persons. The myth is printed as it + was taken down by Mr. De Quille from the lips of Tooroop Eenah (Desert + Father), a chief of the Piutes, and published in a San Francisco + newspaper. + </p> + <p> + (1) Crantz's History of Greenland, i. 212. + </p> + <p> + (2) Royaume de Macacar, 1688. + </p> + <p> + "The sun is the father and ruler of the heavens. He is the big chief. The + moon is his wife and the stars are their children. The sun eats his + children whenever he can catch them. They flee before him, and are all the + time afraid when he is passing through the heavens. When he (their father) + appears in the morning, you see all the stars, his children, fly out of + sight—go away back into the blue of the above—and they do not + wake to be seen again until he, their father, is about going to his bed. + </p> + <p> + "Down deep under the ground—deep, deep, under all the ground—is + a great hole. At night, when he has passed over the world, looked down on + everything and finished his work, he, the sun, goes into his hole, and he + crawls and creeps along it till he comes to his bed in the middle part of + the earth. So then he, the sun, sleeps there in his bed all night. + </p> + <p> + "This hole is so little, and he, the sun, is so big, that he cannot turn + round in it; and so he must, when he has had all his sleep, pass on + through, and in the morning we see him come out in the east. When he, the + sun, has so come out, he begins to hunt up through the sky to catch and + eat any that he can of the stars, his children, for if he does not so + catch and eat he cannot live. He, the sun, is not all seen. The shape of + him is like a snake or a lizard. It is not his head that we can see, but + his belly, filled up with the stars that times and times he has swallowed. + </p> + <p> + "The moon is the mother of the heavens and is the wife of the sun. She, + the moon, goes into the same hole as her husband to sleep her naps. But + always she has great fear of the sun, her husband, and when he comes + through the hole to the nobee (tent) deep in the ground to sleep, she gets + out and comes away if he be cross. + </p> + <p> + "She, the moon, has great love for her children, the stars, and is happy + to travel among them in the above; and they, her children, feel safe, and + sing and dance as she passes along. But the mother, she cannot help that + some of her children must be swallowed by the father every month. It is + ordered that way by the Pah-ah (Great Spirit), who lives above the place + of all. + </p> + <p> + "Every month that father, the sun, does swallow some of the stars, his + children, and then that mother, the moon, feels sorrow. She must mourn; so + she must put the black on her face for to mourn the dead. You see the + Piute women put black on their faces when a child is gone. But the dark + will wear away from the face of that mother, the moon, a little and a + little every day, and after a time again we see all bright the face of + her. But soon more of her children are gone, and again she must put on her + face the pitch and the black." + </p> + <p> + Here all the phenomena are accounted for, and the explanation is as + advanced as the Egyptian doctrine of the hole under the earth where the + sun goes when he passes from our view. And still the Great Spirit is over + all: Religion comes athwart Myth. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Tylor quotes(1) a nature myth about sun, moon and stars which + remarkably corresponds to the speculation of the Piutes. The Mintira of + the Malayan Peninsula say that both sun and moon are women. The stars are + the moon's children; once the sun had as many. They each agreed (like the + women of Jerusalem in the famine), to eat their own children; but the sun + swallowed her whole family, while the moon concealed hers. When the sun + saw this she was exceedingly angry, and pursued the moon to kill her. + Occasionally she gets a bite out of the moon, and that is an eclipse. The + Hos of North-East India tell the same tale, but say that the sun cleft the + moon in twain for her treachery, and that she continues to be cut in two + and grow again every month. With these sun and moon legends sometimes + coexists the RELIGIOUS belief in a Creator of these and of all things. + </p> + <p> + (1) Primitive Culture, i. 356. + </p> + <p> + In harmony with the general hypothesis that all objects in nature are + personal, and human or bestial, in real shape, and in passion and habits, + are the myths which account for eclipses. These have so frequently been + published and commented on(1) that a long statement would be tedious and + superfluous. To the savage mind, and even to the Chinese and the peasants + of some European countries, the need of an explanation is satisfied by the + myth that an evil beast is devouring the sun or the moon. The people even + try by firing off guns, shrieking, and clashing cymbals, to frighten the + beast (wolf, pig, dragon, or what not) from his prey. What the hungry + monster in the sky is doing when he is not biting the sun or moon we are + not informed. Probably he herds with the big bird whose wings, among the + Dacotahs of America and the Zulus of Africa, make thunder; or he may + associate with the dragons, serpents, cows and other aerial cattle which + supply the rain, and show themselves in the waterspout. Chinese, + Greenland, Hindoo, Finnish, Lithunian and Moorish examples of the myth + about the moon-devouring beasts are vouched for by Grimm.(2) A Mongolian + legend has it that the gods wished to punish the maleficent Arakho for his + misdeeds, but Arakho hid so cleverly that their limited omnipotence could + not find him. The sun, when asked to turn spy, gave an evasive answer. The + moon told the truth. Arakho was punished, and ever since he chases sun and + moon. When he nearly catches either of them, there is an eclipse, and the + people try to drive him off by making a hideous uproar with musical and + other instruments.(3) Captain Beeckman in 1704 was in Borneo, when the + natives declared that the devil "was eating the moon". + </p> + <p> + (1) Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i.; Lefebure, Les Yeux d'Horus. + </p> + <p> + (2) Teutonic Mythology, English trans., ii. 706. + </p> + <p> + (3) Moon-Lore by Rev. T. Harley, p. 167. + </p> + <p> + Dr. Brinton in his Myths and Myth-Makers gives examples from Peruvians, + Tupis, Creeks, Iroquois and Algonkins. It would be easy, and is perhaps + superfluous, to go on multiplying proofs of the belief that sun and moon + are, or have been, persons. In the Hervey Isles these two luminaries are + thought to have been made out of the body of a child cut in twain by his + parents. The blood escaped from the half which is the moon, hence her + pallor.(1) This tale is an exception to the general rule, but reminds us + of the many myths which represent the things in the world as having been + made out of a mutilated man, like the Vedic Purusha. It is hardly + necessary, except by way of record, to point out that the Greek myths of + sun and moon, like the myths of savages, start from the conception of the + solar and lunar bodies as persons with parts and passions, human loves and + human sorrows. As in the Mongolian myth of Arakho, the sun "sees all and + hears all," and, less honourable than the Mongolian sun, he plays the spy + for Hephaestus on the loves of Ares and Aphrodite. He has mistresses and + human children, such as Circe and Aeetes.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Gill, Myths and Songs, p. 45. + </p> + <p> + (2) See chapter on Greek Divine Myths. + </p> + <p> + The sun is all-seeing and all-penetrating. In a Greek song of to-day a + mother sends a message to an absent daughter by the sun; it is but an + unconscious repetition of the request of the dying Ajax that the heavenly + body will tell his fate to his old father and his sorrowing spouse.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Sophocles, Ajax, 846. + </p> + <p> + Selene, the moon, like Helios, the sun, was a person, and amorous. Beloved + by Zeus, she gave birth to Pandia, and Pan gained her affection by the + simple rustic gift of a fleece.(1) The Australian Dawn, with her present + of a red kangaroo skin, was not more lightly won than the chaste Selene. + Her affection for Endymion is well known, and her cold white glance shines + through the crevices of his mountain grave, hewn in a rocky wall, like the + tombs of Phrygia.(2) She is the sister of the sun in Hesiod, the daughter + (by his sister) of Hyperion in the Homeric hymns to Helios. + </p> + <p> + (1) Virgil, Georgics, iii. 391. + </p> + <p> + (2) Preller, Griech. Myth., i. 163. + </p> + <p> + In Greece the aspects of sun and moon take the most ideal human forms, and + show themselves in the most gracious myths. But, after all, these retain + in their anthropomorphism the marks of the earliest fancy, the fancy of + Eskimos and Australians. It seems to be commonly thought that the + existence of solar myths is denied by anthropologists. This is a vulgar + error. There is an enormous mass of solar myths, but they are not caused + by "a disease of language," and—all myths are not solar! + </p> + <p> + There is no occasion to dwell long on myths of the same character in which + the stars are accounted for as transformed human adventurers. It has often + been shown that this opinion is practically of world-wide distribution.(1) + We find it in Australia, Persia, Greece, among the Bushmen, in North and + South America, among the Eskimos, in ancient Egypt, in New Zealand, in + ancient India—briefly, wherever we look. The Sanskrit forms of these + myths have been said to arise from confusion as to the meaning of words. + But is it credible that, in all languages, however different, the same + kind of unconscious puns should have led to the same mistaken beliefs? As + the savage, barbarous and Greek star-myths (such as that of Callisto, + first changed into a bear and then into a constellation) are familiar to + most readers, a few examples of Sanskrit star-stories are offered here + from the Satapatha Brahmana.(2) Fires are not, according to the Brahmana + ritual, to be lighted under the stars called Krittikas, the Pleiades. The + reason is that the stars were the wives of the bears (Riksha), for the + group known in Brahmanic times as the Rishis (sages) were originally + called the Rikshas (bears). But the wives of the bears were excluded from + the society of their husbands, for the bears rise in the north and their + wives in the east. Therefore the worshipper should not set up his fires + under the Pleiades, lest he should thereby be separated from the company + of his wife. The Brahmanas(3) also tell us that Prajapati had an unholy + passion for his daughter, who was in the form of a doe. The gods made + Rudra fire an arrow at Prajapati to punish him; he was wounded, and leaped + into the sky, where he became one constellation and his daughter another, + and the arrow a third group of stars. In general, according to the + Brahmanas, "the stars are the lights of virtuous men who go to the + heavenly world".(4) + </p> + <p> + (1) Custom and Myth, "Star-Myths"; Primitive Culture, i. 288, 291; J. G. + Muller, Amerikanischen Urreligionen, pp. 52, 53. + </p> + <p> + (2) Sacred Books of the East, i. 283-286. + </p> + <p> + (3) Aitareya Bramana, iii. 33. + </p> + <p> + (4) Satapatha Brahmana, vi. 5, 4, 8. For Greek examples, Hesiod, Ovid, and + the Catasterismoi, attributed to Eratosthenes, are useful authorities. + Probably many of the tales in Eratosthenes are late fictions consciously + moulded on traditional data. + </p> + <p> + Passing from savage myths explanatory of the nature of celestial bodies to + myths accounting for the formation and colour and habits of beasts, birds + and fishes, we find ourselves, as an old Jesuit missionary says, in the + midst of a barbarous version of Ovid's Metamorphoses. It has been shown + that the possibility of interchange of form between man and beast is part + of the working belief of everyday existence among the lower peoples. They + regard all things as on one level, or, to use an old political phrase, + they "level up" everything to equality with the human status. Thus Mr. Im + Thurn, a very good observer, found that to the Indians of Guiana "all + objects, animate or inaminate, seem exactly of the same nature, except + that they differ by the accident of bodily form". Clearly to grasp this + entirely natural conception of primitive man, the civilised student must + make a great effort to forget for a time all that science has taught him + of the differences between the objects which fill the world.(1) "To the + ear of the savage, animals certainly seem to talk." "As far as the Indians + of Guiana are concerned, I do not believe that they distinguish such + beings as sun and moon, or such other natural phenomena as winds and + storms, from men and other animals, from plants and other inanimate + objects, or from any other objects whatsoever." Bancroft says about North + American myths, "Beasts and birds and fishes fetch and carry, talk and + act, in a way that leaves even Aesop's heroes quite in the shade".(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xi. 366-369. A very large and rich collection + of testimonies as to metamorphosis will be found in J. G. Muller's + Amerikanischen Urreligionen, p. 62 et seq.; while, for European + superstitions, Bodin on La Demonomanie des Sorciers, Lyon, 1598, may be + consulted. + </p> + <p> + (2) Vol. iii. p. 127. + </p> + <p> + The savage tendency is to see in inanimate things animals, and in animals + disguised men. M. Reville quotes in his Religions des Peuples + Non-Civilise's, i. 64, the story of some Negroes, who, the first time they + were shown a cornemuse, took the instrument for a beast, the two holes for + its eyes. The Highlander who looted a watch at Prestonpans, and observing, + "She's teed," sold it cheap when it ran down, was in the same + psychological condition. A queer bit of savage science is displayed on a + black stone tobacco-pipe from the Pacific Coast.(1) The savage artist has + carved the pipe in the likeness of a steamer, as a steamer is conceived by + him. "Unable to account for the motive power, he imagines the paddle to be + linked round the tongue of a coiled serpent, fastened to the tail of the + vessel," and so he represents it on the black stone pipe. Nay, a savage's + belief that beasts are on his own level is so literal, that he actually + makes blood-covenants with the lower animals, as he does with men, + mingling his gore with theirs, or smearing both together on a stone;(2) + while to bury dead animals with sacred rites is as usual among the + Bedouins and Malagasies to-day as in ancient Egypt or Attica. In the same + way the Ainos of Japan, who regard the bear as a kinsman, sacrifice a bear + once a year. But, to propitiate the animal and his connections, they + appoint him a "mother," an Aino girl, who looks after his comforts, and + behaves in a way as maternal as possible. The bear is now a kinsman, + (Greek text omitted), and cannot avenge himself within the kin. This, at + least, seems to be the humour of it. In Lagarde's Reliquiae Juris + Ecclesiastici Antiquissimae a similar Syrian covenant of kinship with + insects is described. About 700 A. D., when a Syrian garden was infested + by caterpillars, the maidens were assembled, and one caterpillar was + caught. Then one of the virgins was "made its mother," and the creature + was buried with due lamentations. The "mother" was then brought to the + spot where the pests were, her companions bewailed her, and the + caterpillars perished like their chosen kinsman, but without extorting + revenge.(3) Revenge was out of their reach. They had been brought within + the kin of their foes, and there were no Erinnyes, "avengers of kindred + blood," to help them. People in this condition of belief naturally tell + hundreds of tales, in which men, stones, trees, beasts, shift shapes, and + in which the modifications of animal forms are caused by accident, or by + human agency, or by magic, or by metamorphosis. Such tales survive in our + modern folk-lore. To make our meaning clear, we may give the European + nursery-myth of the origin of the donkey's long ears, and, among other + illustrations, the Australian myth of the origin of the black and white + plumage of the pelican. Mr. Ralston has published the Russian version of + the myth of the donkey's ears. The Spanish form, which is identical with + the Russian, is given by Fernan Caballero in La Gaviota. + </p> + <p> + (1) Magazine of Art, January, 1883. + </p> + <p> + (2) "Malagasy Folk-Tales," Folk-Lore Journal, October, 1883. + </p> + <p> + (3) We are indebted to Professor Robertson Smith for this example, and to + Miss Bird's Journal, pp. 90, 97, for the Aino parallel. + </p> + <p> + "Listen! do you know why your ears are so big?" (the story is told to a + stupid little boy with big ears). "When Father Adam found himself in + Paradise with the animals, he gave each its name; those of THY species, my + child, he named 'donkeys'. One day, not long after, he called the beasts + together, and asked each to tell him its name. They all answered right + except the animals of THY sort, and they had forgotten their name! Then + Father Adam was very angry, and, taking that forgetful donkey by the ears, + he pulled them out, screaming 'You are called DONKEY!' And the donkey's + ears have been long ever since." This, to a child, is a credible + explanation. So, perhaps, is another survival of this form of science—the + Scotch explanation of the black marks on the haddock; they were impressed + by St. Peter's finger and thumb when he took the piece of money for + Caesar's tax out of the fish's mouth. + </p> + <p> + Turning from folk-lore to savage beliefs, we learn that from one end of + Africa to another the honey-bird, schneter, is said to be an old woman + whose son was lost, and who pursued him till she was turned into a bird, + which still shrieks his name, "Schneter, Schneter".(1) In the same way the + manners of most of the birds known to the Greeks were accounted for by the + myth that they had been men and women. Zeus, for example, turned Ceyx and + Halcyon into sea-fowls because they were too proud in their married + happiness.(2) To these myths of the origin of various animals we shall + return, but we must not forget the black and white Australian pelican. Why + is the pelican parti-coloured?(3) For this reason: After the Flood (the + origin of which is variously explained by the Murri), the pelican (who had + been a black fellow) made a canoe, and went about like a kind of Noah, + trying to save the drowning. In the course of his benevolent mission he + fell in love with a woman, but she and her friends played him a trick and + escaped from him. The pelican at once prepared to go on the war-path. The + first thing to do was to daub himself white, as is the custom of the + blacks before a battle. They think the white pipe-clay strikes terror and + inspires respect among the enemy. But when the pelican was only half + pipe-clayed, another pelican came past, and, "not knowing what such a + queer black and white thing was, struck the first pelican with his beak + and killed him. Before that pelicans were all black; now they are black + and white. That is the reason."(4) + </p> + <p> + (1) Barth, iii. 358. + </p> + <p> + (2) Apollodorus, i. 7 (13, 12). + </p> + <p> + (3) Sahagun, viii. 2, accounts for colours of eagle and tiger. A number of + races explain the habits and marks of animals as the result of a curse or + blessing of a god or hero. The Hottentots, the Huarochiri of Peru, the New + Zealanders (Shortland, Traditions, p. 57), are among the peoples which use + this myth. + </p> + <p> + (4) Brough Symth, Aborigines of Australia, i. 477, 478. + </p> + <p> + "That is the reason." Therewith native philosopy is satisfied, and does + not examine in Mr. Darwin's laborious manner the slow evolution of the + colour of the pelican's plumage. The mythological stories about animals + are rather difficult to treat, because they are so much mixed up with the + topic of totemism. Here we only examine myths which account by means of a + legend for certain peculiarities in the habits, cries, or colours and + shapes of animals. The Ojibbeways told Kohl they had a story for every + creature, accounting for its ways and appearance. Among the Greeks, as + among Australians and Bushmen, we find that nearly every notable bird or + beast had its tradition. The nightingale and the swallow have a story of + the most savage description, a story reported by Apollodorus, though + Homer(1) refers to another, and, as usual, to a gentler and more refined + form of the myth. Here is the version of Apollodorus. "Pandion" (an early + king of Athens) "married Zeuxippe, his mother's sister, by whom he had two + daughters, Procne and Philomela, and two sons, Erechtheus and Butes. A war + broke out with Labdas about some debatable land, and Erechtheus invited + the alliance of Tereus of Thrace, the son of Ares. Having brought the war, + with the aid of Tereus, to a happy end, he gave him his daughter Procne to + wife. By Procne, Tereus had a son, Itys, and thereafter fell in love with + Philomela, whom he seduced, pretending that Procne was dead, whereas he + had really concealed her somewhere in his lands. Thereon he married + Philomela, and cut out her tongue. But she wove into a robe characters + that told the whole story, and by means of these acquainted Procne with + her sufferings. Thereon Procne found her sister, and slew Itys, her own + son, whose body she cooked, and served up to Tereus in a banquet. + Thereafter Procne and her sister fled together, and Tereus seized an axe + and followed after them. They were overtaken at Daulia in Phocis, and + prayed to the gods that they might be turned into birds. So Procne became + the nightingale, and Philomela the swallow, while Tereus was changed into + a hoopoe."(2) Pausanias has a different legend; Procne and Philomela died + of excessive grief. + </p> + <p> + (1) Odyssey, xix. 523. + </p> + <p> + (2) A Red Indian nightingale-myth is alluded to by J. G. Muller, Amerik. + Urrel., p. 175. Some one was turned into a nightingale by the sun, and + still wails for a lost lover. + </p> + <p> + These ancient men and women metamorphosed into birds were HONOURED AS + ANCESTORS by the Athenians.(1) Thus the unceasing musical wail of the + nightingale and the shrill cry of the swallow were explained by a Greek + story. The birds were lamenting their old human sorrow, as the honey-bird + in Africa still repeats the name of her lost son. + </p> + <p> + (1) Pausanias, i. v. Pausanias thinks such things no longer occur. + </p> + <p> + Why does the red-robin live near the dwellings of men, a bold and friendly + bird? The Chippeway Indians say he was once a young brave whose father set + him a task too cruel for his strength, and made him starve too long when + he reached man's estate. He turned into a robin, and said to his father, + "I shall always be the friend of man, and keep near their dwellings. I + could not gratify your pride as a warrior, but I will cheer you by my + songs."(1) The converse of this legend is the Greek myth of the hawk. Why + is the hawk so hated by birds? Hierax was a benevolent person who + succoured a race hated by Poseidon. The god therefore changed him into a + hawk, and made him as much detested by birds, and as fatal to them, as he + had been beloved by and gentle to men.(2) The Hervey Islanders explain the + peculiarities of several fishes by the share they took in the adventures + of Ina, who stamped, for example, on the sole, and so flattened him for + ever.(3) In Greece the dolphins were, according to the Homeric hymn to + Dionysus, metamorphosed pirates who had insulted the god. But because the + dolphin found the hidden sea-goddess whom Poseidon loved, the dolphin, + too, was raised by the grateful sea-god to the stars.(4) The vulture and + the heron, according to Boeo (said to have been a priestess in Delphi and + the author of a Greek treatise on the traditions about birds), were once a + man named Aigupios (vulture) and his mother, Boulis. They sinned + inadvertently, like Oedipus and Jocasta; wherefore Boulis, becoming aware + of the guilt, was about to put out the eyes of her son and slay herself. + Then they were changed, Boulis into the heron, "which tears out and feeds + on the eyes of snakes, birds and fishes, and Aigupios into the vulture + which bears his name". This story, of which the more repulsive details are + suppressed, is much less pleasing and more savage than the Hervey + Islanders' myth of the origin of pigs. Maaru was an old blind man who + lived with his son Kationgia. There came a year of famine, and Kationgia + had great difficulty in finding food for himself and his father. He gave + the blind old man puddings of banana roots and fishes, while he lived + himself on sea-slugs and shellfish, like the people of Terra del Fuego. + But blind old Maaru suspected his son of giving him the worst share and + keeping what was best for himself. At last he discovered that Kationgia + was really being starved; he felt his body, and found that he was a mere + living skeleton. The two wept together, and the father made a feast of + some cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit, which he had reserved against the last + extremity. When all was finished, he said he had eaten his last meal and + was about to die. He ordered his son to cover him with leaves and grass, + and return to the spot in four days. If worms were crawling about, he was + to throw leaves and grass over them and come back four days later. + Kationgia did as he was instructed, and, on his second visit to the grave, + found the whole mass of leaves in commotion. A brood of pigs, black, white + and speckled, had sprung up from the soil; famine was a thing of the past, + and Kationgia became a great chief in the island.(5) + </p> + <p> + (1) Schoolcraft, ii. 229, 230. + </p> + <p> + (1) Boeo, quoted by Antoninus Liberalis. + </p> + <p> + (3) Gill, South Sea Myths, pp. 88-95. + </p> + <p> + (4) Artemidorus in his Love Elegies, quoted by the Pseud-Eratosthenes. + </p> + <p> + (5) Gill, Myths and Songs from South Pacific, pp. 135-138. + </p> + <p> + "The owl was a baker's daughter" is the fragment of Christian mythology + preserved by Ophelia. The baker's daughter behaved rudely to our Lord, and + was changed into the bird that looks not on the sun. The Greeks had a + similar legend of feminine impiety by which they mythically explained the + origin of the owl, the bat and the eagle-owl. Minyas of Orchomenos had + three daughters, Leucippe, Arsippe and Alcathoe, most industrious women, + who declined to join the wild mysteries of Dionysus. The god took the + shape of a maiden, and tried to win them to his worship. They refused, and + he assumed the form of a bull, a lion, and a leopard as easily as the + chiefs of the Abipones become tigers, or as the chiefs among the African + Barotse and Balonda metamorphose themselves into lions and alligators.(1) + The daughters of Minyas, in alarm, drew lots to determine which of them + should sacrifice a victim to the god. Leucippe drew the lot and offered up + her own son. They then rushed to join the sacred rites of Dionysus, when + Hermes transformed them into the bat, the owl and the eagle-owl, and these + three hide from the light of the sun.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Livingstone, Missionary Travels, pp. 615, 642. + </p> + <p> + (2) Nicander, quoted by Antoninus Liberalis. + </p> + <p> + A few examples of Bushman and Australian myths explanatory of the colours + and habits of animals will probably suffice to establish the resemblance + between savage and Hellenic legends of this character. The Bushman myth + about the origin of the eland (a large antelope) is not printed in full by + Dr. Bleek, but he observes that it "gives an account of the reasons for + the colours of the gemsbok, hartebeest, eland, quagga and springbok".(1) + Speculative Bushmen seem to have been puzzled to account for the wildness + of the eland. It would be much more convenient if the eland were tame and + could be easily captured. They explain its wildness by saying that the + eland was "spoiled" before Cagn, the creator, or rather maker of most + things, had quite finished it. Cagn's relations came and hunted the first + eland too soon, after which all other elands grew wild. Cagn then said, + "Go and hunt them and try to kill one; that is now your work, for it was + you who spoilt them".(2) The Bushmen have another myth explanatory of the + white patches on the breasts of crows in their country. Some men tarried + long at their hunting, and their wives sent out crows in search of their + husbands. Round each crow's neck was hung a piece of fat to serve as food + on the journey. Hence the crows have white patches on breast and neck. + </p> + <p> + (1) Brief Account of Bushmen Folk-Lore, p. 7. + </p> + <p> + (2) Cape Monthly Magazine, July, 1874. + </p> + <p> + In Australia the origins of nearly all animals appear to be explained in + myths, of which a fair collection is printed in Mr. Brough Symth's + Aborigines of Victoria.(1) Still better examples occur in Mrs. Langloh + Parker's Australian Legends. Why is the crane so thin? Once he was a man + named Kar-ween, the second man fashioned out of clay by Pund-jel, a + singular creative being, whose chequered career is traced elsewhere in our + chapter on "Savage Myths of the Origin of the World and of Man". Kar-ween + and Pund-jel had a quarrel about the wives of the former, whom Pund-jel + was inclined to admire. The crafty Kar-ween gave a dance (jugargiull, + corobboree), at which the creator Pund-jel was disporting himself gaily + (like the Great Panjandrum), when Kar-ween pinned him with a spear. + Pund-jel threw another which took Kar-ween in the knee-joint, so that he + could not walk, but soon pined away and became a mere skeleton. "Thereupon + Pund-jel made Kar-ween a crane," and that is why the crane has such + attenuated legs. The Kortume, Munkari and Waingilhe, now birds, were once + men. The two latter behaved unkindly to their friend Kortume, who shot + them out of his hut in a storm of rain, singing at the same time an + incantation. The three then turned into birds, and when the Kortume sings + it is a token that rain may be expected. + </p> + <p> + (1) Vol. i. p. 426 et seq. + </p> + <p> + Let us now compare with these Australian myths of the origin of certain + species of birds the Greek story of the origin of frogs, as told by + Menecrates and Nicander.(1) The frogs were herdsmen metamorphosed by Leto, + the mother of Apollo. But, by way of showing how closely akin are the + fancies of Greeks and Australian black fellows, we shall tell the legend + without the proper names, which gave it a fictitious dignity. + </p> + <p> + (1) Antoninus Liberalis, xxxv. + </p> + <p> + THE ORIGIN OF FROGS. + </p> + <p> + "A woman bore two children, and sought for a water-spring wherein to bathe + them. She found a well, but herdsmen drove her away from it that their + cattle might drink. Then some wolves met her and led her to a river, of + which she drank, and in its waters she bathed her children. Then she went + back to the well where the herdsmen were now bathing, and she turned them + all into frogs. She struck their backs and shoulders with a rough stone + and drove them into the waters, and ever since that day frogs live in + marshes and beside rivers." + </p> + <p> + A volume might be filled with such examples of the kindred fancies of + Greeks and savages. Enough has probably been said to illustrate our point, + which is that Greek myths of this character were inherited from the period + of savagery, when ideas of metamorphosis and of the kinship of men and + beasts were real practical beliefs. Events conceived to be common in real + life were introduced into myths, and these myths were savage science, and + were intended to account for the Origin of Species. But when once this + train of imagination has been fired, it burns on both in literature and in + the legends of the peasantry. Every one who writes a Christmas tale for + children now employs the machinery of metamorphosis, and in European + folk-lore, as Fontenelle remarked, stories persist which are precisely + similar in kind to the minor myths of savages. + </p> + <p> + Reasoning in this wise, the Mundas of Bengal thus account for + peculiarities of certain animals. Sing Bonga, the chief god, cast certain + people out of heaven; they fell to earth, found iron ore, and began + smelting it. The black smoke displeased Sing Bonga, who sent two king + crows and an owl to bid people cease to pollute the atmosphere. But the + iron smelters spoiled these birds' tails, and blackened the previously + white crow, scorched its beak red, and flattened its head. Sing Bonga + burned man, and turned woman into hills and waterspouts.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Dalton, pp. 186, 187. + </p> + <p> + Examples of this class of myth in Indo-Aryan literature are not hard to + find. Why is dawn red? Why are donkeys slow? Why have mules no young ones? + Mules have no foals because they were severely burned when Agni (fire) + drove them in a chariot race. Dawn is red, not because (as in Australia) + she wears a red kangaroo cloak, but because she competed in this race with + red cows for her coursers. Donkeys are slow because they never recovered + from their exertions in the same race, when the Asvins called on their + asses and landed themselves the winners.(1) And cows are accommodated with + horns for a reason no less probable and satisfactory.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Aitareya Brahmana, ii. 272, iv. 9. + </p> + <p> + (2) iv. 17. + </p> + <p> + Though in the legends of the less developed peoples men and women are more + frequently metamorphosed into birds and beasts than into stones and + plants, yet such changes of form are by no means unknown. To the + north-east of Western Point there lies a range of hills, inhabited, + according to the natives of Victoria, by a creature whose body is made of + stone, and weapons make no wound in so sturdy a constitution. The blacks + refuse to visit the range haunted by the mythic stone beast. "Some black + fellows were once camped at the lakes near Shaving Point. They were + cooking their fish when a native dog came up. They did not give him + anything to eat. He became cross and said, 'You black fellows have lots of + fish, but you give me none'. So he changed them all into a big rock. This + is quite true, for the big rock is there to this day, and I have seen it + with my own eyes."(1) Another native, Toolabar, says that the women of the + fishing party cried out yacka torn, "very good". A dog replied yacka torn, + and they were all changed into rocks. This very man, Toolabar, once heard + a dog begin to talk, whereupon he and his father fled. Had they waited + they would have become stones. "We should have been like it, wallung," + that is, stones. + </p> + <p> + (1) Native narrator, ap. Brough Smyth, i. 479. + </p> + <p> + Among the North American Indians any stone which has a resemblance to the + human or animal figure is explained as an example of metamorphosis. Three + stones among the Aricaras were a girl, her lover and her dog, who fled + from home because the course of true love did not run smooth, and who were + petrified. Certain stones near Chinook Point were sea-giants who swallowed + a man. His brother, by aid of fire, dried up the bay and released the man, + still alive, from the body of the giant. Then the giants were turned into + rocks.(1) The rising sun in Popol Vuh (if the evidence of Popol Vuh, the + Quichua sacred book, is to be accepted) changed into stone the lion, + serpent and tiger gods. The Standing Rock on the Upper Missouri is adored + by the Indians, and decorated with coloured ribbons and skins of animals. + This stone was a woman, who, like Niobe, became literally petrified with + grief when her husband took a second wife. Another stone-woman in a cave + on the banks of the Kickapoo was wont to kill people who came near her, + and is even now approached with great respect. The Oneidas and Dacotahs + claim descent from stones to which they ascribe animation.(2) Montesinos + speaks of a sacred stone which was removed from a mountain by one of the + Incas. A parrot flew out of it and lodged in another stone, which the + natives still worship.(3) The Breton myth about one of the great stone + circles (the stones were peasants who danced on a Sunday) is a well-known + example of this kind of myth surviving in folk-lore. There is a kind of + stone Actaeon(4) near Little Muniton Creek, "resembling the bust of a man + whose head is decorated with the horns of a stag".(5) A crowd of myths of + metamorphosis into stone will be found among the Iroquois legends in + Report of Bureau of Ethnology, 1880-81. If men may become stones, on the + other hand, in Samoa (as in the Greek myth of Deucalion), stones may + become men.(6) Gods, too, especially when these gods happen to be + cuttlefish, might be petrified. They were chased in Samoa by an Upolu + hero, who caught them in a great net and killed them. "They were changed + into stones, and now stand up in a rocky part of the lagoon on the north + side of Upolu."(7) Mauke, the first man, came out of a stone. In short,(8) + men and stones and beasts and gods and thunder have interchangeable forms. + In Mangaia(9) the god Ra was tossed up into the sky by Maui and became + pumice-stone. Many samples of this petrified deity are found in Mangaia. + In Melanesia matters are so mixed that it is not easy to decide whether a + worshipful stone is the dwelling of a dead man's soul or is of spiritual + merit in itself, or whether "the stone is the spirit's outward part or + organ". The Vui, or spirit, has much the same relations with snakes, owls + and sharks.(10) Qasavara, the mythical opponent of Qat, the Melanesian + Prometheus, "fell dead from heaven" (like Ra in Mangia), and was turned + into a stone, on which sacrifices are made by those who desire strength in + fighting. + </p> + <p> + (1) See authorities ap. Dorman, Primitive Superstitions, pp. 130-138. + </p> + <p> + (2) Dorman, p. 133. + </p> + <p> + (3) Many examples are collected by J. G. Muller, Amerikanischen + Urreligionen, pp. 97, 110, 125, especially when the stones have a likeness + to human form, p. 17a. "Im der That werden auch einige in Steine, oder in + Thiere and Pflanzen verwandelt." Cf. p. 220. Instances (from Balboa) of + men turned into stone by wizards, p. 309. + </p> + <p> + (4) Preller thinks that Actaeon, devoured by his hounds after being + changed into a stag, is a symbol of the vernal year. Palaephatus (De Fab. + Narrat.) holds that the story is a moral fable. + </p> + <p> + (5) Dorman, p. 137. + </p> + <p> + (6) Turner's Samoa, p. 299. + </p> + <p> + (7) Samoa, p. 31. + </p> + <p> + (8) Op. cit., p. 34. + </p> + <p> + (9) Gill, Myths and Songs, p. 60. + </p> + <p> + (10) Codrington, Journ. Anthrop. Inst., February, 1881. + </p> + <p> + Without delaying longer among savage myths of metamorphosis into stones, + it may be briefly shown that the Greeks retained this with all the other + vagaries of early fancy. Every one remembers the use which Perseus made of + the Gorgon's head, and the stones on the coast of Seriphus, which, like + the stones near Western Point in Victoria, had once been men, the enemies + of the hero. "Also he slew the Gorgon," sings Pindar, "and bare home her + head, with serpent tresses decked, to the island folk a stony death." + Observe Pindar's explanatory remark: "I ween there is no marvel impossible + if gods have wrought thereto". In the same pious spirit a Turk in an isle + of the Levant once told Mr. Newton a story of how a man hunted a stag, and + the stag spoke to him. "The stag spoke?" said Mr. Newton. "Yes, by Allah's + will," replied the Turk. Like Pindar, he was repeating an incident quite + natural to the minds of Australians, or Bushmen, or Samoans, or Red Men, + but, like the religious Pindar, he felt that the affair was rather + marvellous, and accounted for it by the exercise of omnipotent power.(1) + The Greek example of Niobe and her children may best be quoted in Mr. + Bridges' translation from the Iliad:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + And somewhere now, among lone mountain rocks + On Sipylus, where couch the nymphs at night + Who dance all day by Achelous' stream, + The once proud mother lies, herself a rook, + And in cold breast broods o'er the goddess' wrong. + —Prometheus the fire-bringer.(2) +</pre> + <p> + In the Iliad it is added that Cronion made the people into stones. The + attitude of the later Greek mind towards these myths may be observed in a + fragment of Philemon, the comic poet. "Never, by the gods, have I + believed, nor will believe, that Niobe the stone was once a woman. Nay, by + reason of her calamities she became speechless, and so, from her silence, + was called a stone."(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Pindar, Pyth. x., Myers's translation. + </p> + <p> + (2) xxiv. 611. + </p> + <p> + (3) The Scholiast on Iliad, xxiv. 6, 7. + </p> + <p> + There is another famous petrification in the Iliad. When the prodigy of + the snake and the sparrows had appeared to the assembled Achaeans at + Aulis, Zeus displayed a great marvel, and changed into a stone the serpent + which swallowed the young of the sparrow. Changes into stone, though less + common than changes into fishes, birds and beasts, were thus obviously not + too strange for the credulity of Greek mythology, which could also believe + that a stone became the mother of Agdestis by Zeus. + </p> + <p> + As to interchange of shape between men and women and PLANTS, our + information, so far as the lower races are concerned, is less copious. It + has already been shown that the totems of many stocks in all parts of the + world are plants, and this belief in connection with a plant by itself + demonstrates that the confused belief in all things being on one level has + thus introduced vegetables into the dominion of myth. As far as possessing + souls is concerned, Mr. Tylor has proved that plants are as well equipped + as men or beasts or minerals.(1) In India the doctrine of transmigration + widely and clearly recognises the idea of trees or smaller plants being + animated by human souls. In the well-known ancient Egyptian story of "The + Two Brothers,"(2) the life of the younger is practically merged in that of + the acacia tree where he has hidden his heart; and when he becomes a bull + and is sacrificed, his spiritual part passes into a pair of Persea trees. + The Yarucaris of Bolivia say that a girl once bewailed in the forest her + loverless estate. She happened to notice a beautiful tree, which she + adorned with ornaments as well as she might. The tree assumed the shape of + a handsome young man— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + She did not find him so remiss, + But, lightly issuing through, + He did repay her kiss for kiss, + With usury thereto.(3) +</pre> + <p> + J. G. Muller, who quotes this tale from Andree, says it has "many + analogies with the tales of metamorphosis of human beings into trees among + the ancients, as reported by Ovid". The worship of plants and trees is a + well-known feature in religion, and probably implies (at least in many + cases) a recognition of personality. In Samoa, metamorphosis into + vegetables is not uncommon. For example, the king of Fiji was a cannibal, + and (very naturally) "the people were melting away under him". The + brothers Toa and Pale, wishing to escape the royal oven, adopted various + changes of shape. They knew that straight timber was being sought for to + make a canoe for the king, so Pale, when he assumed a vegetable form, + became a crooked stick overgrown with creepers, but Toa "preferred + standing erect as a handsome straight tree". Poor Toa was therefore cut + down by the king's shipwrights, though, thanks to his brother's magic + wiles, they did not make a canoe out of him after all.(4) In Samoa the + trees are so far human that they not only go to war with each other, but + actually embark in canoes to seek out distant enemies.(5) The Ottawa + Indians account for the origin of maize by a myth in which a wizard fought + with and conquered a little man who had a little crown of feathers. From + his ashes arose the maize with its crown of leaves and heavy ears of + corn.(6) + </p> + <p> + (1) Primitive Culture, i. 145; examples of Society Islanders, Dyaks, + Karens, Buddhists. + </p> + <p> + (2) Maspero, Contes Egyptiens, p. 25. + </p> + <p> + (3) J. G. Muller, Amerik. Urrel., p. 264. + </p> + <p> + (4) Turner's Samoa, p. 219. + </p> + <p> + (5) Ibid.. p. 213. + </p> + <p> + (6) Amerik. Urrel., p. 60. + </p> + <p> + In Mangaia the myth of the origin of the cocoa-nut tree is a series of + transformation scenes, in which the persons shift shapes with the alacrity + of medicine-men. Ina used to bathe in a pool where an eel became quite + familiar with her. At last the fish took courage and made his declaration. + He was Tuna, the chief of all eels. "Be mine," he cried, and Ina was his. + For some mystical reason he was obliged to leave her, but (like the White + Cat in the fairy tale) he requested her to cut off his eel's head and bury + it. Regretfully but firmly did Ina comply with his request, and from the + buried eel's head sprang two cocoa trees, one from each half of the brain + of Tuna. As a proof of this be it remarked, that when the nut is husked we + always find on it "the two eyes and mouth of the lover of Ina".(1) All + over the world, from ancient Egypt to the wigwams of the Algonkins, plants + and other matters are said to have sprung from a dismembered god or hero, + while men are said to have sprung from plants.(2) We may therefore perhaps + look on it as a proved point that the general savage habit of "levelling + up" prevails even in their view of the vegetable world, and has left + traces (as we have seen) in their myths. + </p> + <p> + (1) Gill, Myths and Songs, p. 79. + </p> + <p> + (2) Myths of the Beginning of Things. + </p> + <p> + Turning now to the mythology of Greece, we see that the same rule holds + good. Metamorphosis into plants and flowers is extremely common; the + instances of Daphne, Myrrha, Hyacinth, Narcissus and the sisters of + Phaethon at once occur to the memory. + </p> + <p> + Most of those myths in which everything in Nature becomes personal and + human, while all persons may become anything in Nature, we explain, then, + as survivals or imitations of tales conceived when men were in the savage + intellectual condition. In that stage, as we demonstrated, no line is + drawn between things animate and inanimate, dumb or "articulate speaking," + organic or inorganic, personal or impersonal. Such a mental stage, again, + is reflected in the nature-myths, many of which are merely "aetiological,"—assign + a cause, that is, for phenomena, and satisfy an indolent and credulous + curiosity. + </p> + <p> + We may be asked again, "But how did this intellectual condition come to + exist?" To answer that is no part of our business; for us it is enough to + trace myth, or a certain element in myth, to a demonstrable and actual + stage of thought. But this stage, which is constantly found to survive in + the minds of children, is thus explained or described by Hume in his Essay + on Natural Religion: "There is an universal tendency in mankind to + conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object those + qualities... of which they are intimately conscious".(1) Now they believe + themselves to be conscious of magical and supernatural powers, which they + do not, of course, possess. These powers of effecting metamorphosis, of + "shape-shifting," of flying, of becoming invisible at will, of conversing + with the dead, of miraculously healing the sick, savages pass on to their + gods (as will be shown in a later chapter), and the gods of myth survive + and retain the miraculous gifts after their worshippers (become more + reasonable) have quite forgotten that they themselves once claimed similar + endowments. So far, then, it has been shown that savage fancy, wherever + studied, is wild; that savage curiosity is keen; that savage credulity is + practically boundless. These considerations explain the existence of + savage myths of sun, stars, beasts, plants and stones; similar myths fill + Greek legend and the Sanskrit Brahmanes. We conclude that, in Greek and + Sanskrit, the myths are relics (whether borrowed or inherited) of the + savage mental STATUS. + </p> + <p> + (1) See Appendix B. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. NON-ARYAN MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN. + </h2> + <p> + Confusions of myth—Various origins of man and of things—Myths + of Australia, Andaman Islands, Bushmen, Ovaherero, Namaquas, Zulus, + Hurons, Iroquois, Diggers, Navajoes, Winnebagoes, Chaldaeans, Thlinkeets, + Pacific Islanders, Maoris, Aztecs, Peruvians—Similarity of ideas + pervading all those peoples in various conditions of society and culture. + </p> + <p> + The difficulties of classification which beset the study of mythology have + already been described. Nowhere are they more perplexing than when we try + to classify what may be styled Cosmogonic Myths. The very word cosmogonic + implies the pre-existence of the idea of a cosmos, an orderly universe, + and this was exactly the last idea that could enter the mind of the + myth-makers. There is no such thing as orderliness in their mythical + conceptions, and no such thing as an universe. The natural question, "Who + made the world, or how did the things in the world come to be?" is the + question which is answered by cosmogonic myths. But it is answered + piecemeal. To a Christian child the reply is given, "God made all things". + We have known this reply discussed by some little girls of six (a Scotch + minister's daughters, and naturally metaphysical), one of whom solved all + difficulties by the impromptu myth, "God first made a little place to + stand on, and then he made the rest". But savages and the myth-makers, + whose stories survive into the civilised religions, could adhere firmly to + no such account as this. Here occurs in the first edition of this book the + following passage: "They (savages) have not, and had not, the conception + of God as we understand what we mean by the word. They have, and had at + most, only the small-change of the idea God,"—here the belief in a + moral being who watches conduct; here again the hypothesis of a pre-human + race of magnified, non-natural medicine-men, or of extra-natural beings + with human and magical attributes, but often wearing the fur, and fins, + and feathers of the lower animals. Mingled with these faiths (whether + earlier, later, or coeval in origin with these) are the dread and love of + ancestral ghosts, often transmuting themselves into worship of an + imaginary and ideal first parent of the tribe, who once more is often a + beast or a bird. Here is nothing like the notion of an omnipotent, + invisible, spiritual being, the creator of our religion; here is only la + monnaie of the conception." + </p> + <p> + It ought to have occurred to the author that he was here traversing the + main theory of his own book, which is that RELIGION is one thing, myth + quite another thing. That many low races of savages entertain, in hours of + RELIGIOUS thought, an elevated conception of a moral and undying Maker of + Things, and Master of Life, a Father in Heaven, has already been stated, + and knowledge of the facts has been considerably increased since this work + first appeared (1887). But the MYTHICAL conceptions described in the last + paragraph coexist with the religious conception in the faiths of very low + savages, such as the Australians and Andamanese, just as the same + contradictory coexistence is notorious in ancient Greece, India, Egypt and + Anahuac. In a sense, certain low savages HAVE the "conception of God, as + we understand what we mean by the word". But that sense, when savages come + to spinning fables about origins, is apt to be overlaid and perplexed by + the frivolity of their mythical fancy. + </p> + <p> + With such shifting, grotesque and inadequate fables, the cosmogonic myths + of the world are necessarily bewildered and perplexed. We have already + seen in the chapter on "Nature Myths" that many things, sun, moon, the + stars, "that have another birth," and various animals and plants, are + accounted for on the hypothesis that they are later than the appearance of + man—that they originally WERE men. To the European mind it seems + natural to rank myths of the gods before myths of the making or the + evolution of the world, because our religion, like that of the more + philosophic Greeks, makes the deity the fount of all existences, causa + causans, "what unmoved moves," the beginning and the end. But the + myth-makers, deserting any such ideas they may possess, find it necessary, + like the child of whom we spoke, to postulate a PLACE for the divine + energy to work from, and that place is the earth or the heavens. Then, + again, heaven and earth are themselves often regarded in the usual + mythical way, as animated, as persons with parts and passions, and + finally, among advancing races, as gods. Into this medley of incongruous + and inconsistent conceptions we must introduce what order we may, always + remembering that the order is not native to the subject, but is brought in + for the purpose of study. + </p> + <p> + The origin of the world and of man is naturally a problem which has + excited the curiosity of the least developed minds. Every savage race has + its own myths on this subject, most of them bearing the marks of the + childish and crude imagination, whose character we have investigated, and + all varying in amount of what may be called philosophical thought. + </p> + <p> + All the cosmogonic myths, as distinct from religious belief in a Creator, + waver between the theory of construction, or rather of reconstruction, and + the theory of evolution, very rudely conceived. The earth, as a rule, is + mythically averred to have grown out of some original matter, perhaps an + animal, perhaps an egg which floated on the waters, perhaps a handful of + mud from below the waters. But this conception does not exclude the idea + that many of the things in the world, minerals, plants and what not, are + fragments of the frame of a semi-supernatural and gigantic being, human or + bestial, belonging to a race which preceded the advent of man.(1) Such + were the Titans, demi-gods, Nurrumbunguttias in Australia. Various members + of this race are found active in myths of the creation, or rather the + construction, of man and of the world. Among the lowest races it is to be + noted that mythical animals of supernatural power often take the place of + beings like the Finnish Wainamoinen, the Greek Prometheus, the Zulu + Unkulunkulu, the Red Indian Manabozho, himself usually a great hare. + </p> + <p> + (1) Macrobius, Saturnal., i. xx. + </p> + <p> + The ages before the development or creation of man are filled up, in the + myths, with the loves and wars of supernatural people. The appearance of + man is explained in three or four contradictory ways, each of which is + represented in the various myths of most mythologies. Often man is + fashioned out of clay, or stone, or other materials, by a Maker of all + things, sometimes half-human or bestial, but also half-divine. Sometimes + the first man rises out of the earth, and is himself confused with the + Creator, a theory perhaps illustrated by the Zulu myth of Unkulunkulu, + "The Old, Old One". Sometimes man arrives ready made, with most of the + animals, from his former home in a hole in the ground, and he furnishes + the world for himself with stars, sun, moon and everything else he needs. + Again, there are many myths which declare that man was evolved out of one + or other of the lower animals. This myth is usually employed by tribesmen + to explain the origin of their own peculiar stock of kindred. Once more, + man is taken to be the fruit of some tree or plant, or not to have emerged + ready-made, but to have grown out of the ground like a plant or a tree. In + some countries, as among the Bechuanas, the Boeotians, and the Peruvians, + the spot where men first came out on earth is known to be some + neighbouring marsh or cave. Lastly, man is occasionally represented as + having been framed out of a piece of the body of the Creator, or made by + some demiurgic potter out of clay. All these legends are told by savages, + with no sense of their inconsistency. There is no single orthodoxy on the + matter, and we shall see that all these theories coexist pell-mell among + the mythological traditions of civilised races. In almost every mythology, + too, the whole theory of the origin of man is crossed by the tradition of + a Deluge, or some other great destruction, followed by revival or + reconstruction of the species, a tale by no means necessarily of Biblical + origin. + </p> + <p> + In examining savage myths of the origin of man and of the world, we shall + begin by considering those current among the most backward peoples, where + no hereditary or endowed priesthood has elaborated and improved the + popular beliefs. The natives of Australia furnish us with myths of a + purely popular type, the property, not of professional priests and poets, + but of all the old men and full-grown warriors of the country. Here, as + everywhere else, the student must be on his guard against accepting myths + which are disguised forms of missionary teaching.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Taplin, The Narrinyeri. "He must also beware of supposing that the + Australians believe in a creator in our sense, because the Narrinyeri, for + example, say that Nurundere 'made everything'. Nurundere is but an + idealised wizard and hunter, with a rival of his species." This occurs in + the first edition, but "making all things" is one idea, wizardry is + another. + </p> + <p> + In Southern Australia we learn that the Boonoorong, an Australian coast + tribe, ascribe the creation of things to a being named Bun-jel or + Pund-jel. He figures as the chief of an earlier supernatural class of + existence, with human relationships; thus he "has a wife, WHOSE FACE HE + HAS NEVER SEEN," brothers, a son, and so on. Now this name Bun-jel means + "eagle-hawk," and the eagle-hawk is a totem among certain stocks. Thus, + when we hear that Eagle-hawk is the maker of men and things we are + reminded of the Bushman creator, Cagn, who now receives prayers of + considerable beauty and pathos, but who is (in some theories) identified + with kaggen, the mantis insect, a creative grasshopper, and the chief + figure in Bushman mythology.(1) Bun-jel or Pund-jel also figures in + Australian belief, neither as the creator nor as the eagle-hawk, but "as + an old man who lives at the sources of the Yarra river, where he possesses + great multitudes of cattle".(2) The term Bun-jel is also used, much like + our "Mr.," to denote the older men of the Kurnai and Briakolung, some of + whom have magical powers. One of them, Krawra, or "West Wind," can cause + the wind to blow so violently as to prevent the natives from climbing + trees; this man has semi-divine attributes. From these facts it appears + that this Australian creator, in myth, partakes of the character of the + totem or worshipful beast, and of that of the wizard or medicine-man. He + carried a large knife, and, when he made the earth, he went up and down + slicing it into creeks and valleys. The aborigines of the northern parts + of Victoria seem to believe in Pund-jel in what may perhaps be his most + primitive mythical shape, that of an eagle.(3) This eagle and a crow + created everything, and separated the Murray blacks into their two main + divisions, which derive their names from the crow and the eagle. The + Melbourne blacks seem to make Pund-jel more anthropomorphic. Men are his + (Greek text omitted) figures kneaded of clay, as Aristophanes says in the + Birds. Pund-jel made two clay images of men, and danced round them. "He + made their hair—one had straight, one curly hair—of bark. He + danced round them. He lay on them, and breathed his breath into their + mouths, noses and navels, and danced round them. Then they arose + full-grown young men." Some blacks seeing a brickmaker at work on a bridge + over the Yarra exclaimed, "Like 'em that Pund-jel make 'em Koolin". But + other blacks prefer to believe that, as Pindar puts the Phrygian legend, + the sun saw men growing like trees. + </p> + <p> + (1) Bleek, Brief Account of Bushman Mythology, p. 6; Cape Monthly + Magazine, July, 1874, pp. 1-13; Kamilaroi and Kurnai, pp. 210, 324. + </p> + <p> + (2) Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 210. + </p> + <p> + (3) Brough Smyth, Natives of Victoria, vol. i. p. 423. + </p> + <p> + The first man was formed out of the gum of a wattle-tree, and came out of + the knot of a wattle-tree. He then entered into a young woman (though he + was the first man) and was born.(1) The Encounter Bay people have another + myth, which might have been attributed by Dean Swift to the Yahoos, so + foul an origin does it allot to mankind. + </p> + <p> + (1) Meyer, Aborigines of Encounter Bay. See, later, "Gods of the Lowest + Races". + </p> + <p> + Australian myths of creation are by no means exclusive of a hypothesis of + evolution. Thus the Dieyrie, whose notions Mr. Gason has recorded, hold a + very mixed view. They aver that "the good spirit" Moora-Moora made a + number of small black lizards, liked them, and promised them dominion. He + divided their feet into toes and fingers, gave them noses and lips, and + set them upright. Down they fell, and Moora-Moora cut off their tails. + Then they walked erect and were men.(1) The conclusion of the adventures + of one Australian creator is melancholy. He has ceased to dwell among + mortals whom he watches and inspires. The Jay possessed many bags full of + wind; he opened them, and Pund-jel was carried up by the blast into the + heavens. But this event did not occur before Pund-jel had taught men and + women the essential arts of life. He had shown the former how to spear + kangaroos, he still exists and inspires poets. From the cosmogonic myths + of Australia (the character of some of which is in contradiction with the + higher religious belief of the people to be later described) we may turn, + without reaching a race of much higher civilisation, to the dwellers in + the Andaman Islands and their opinions about the origin of things. + </p> + <p> + (1) Gason's Dieyries, ap. Native Tribes of South Australia, p. 20. + </p> + <p> + The Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal, are remote from any shores, and + are protected from foreign influences by dangerous coral reefs, and by the + reputed ferocity and cannibalism of the natives. These are Negritos, and + are commonly spoken of as most abject savages. They are not, however, + without distinctions of rank; they are clean, modest, moral after + marriage, and most strict in the observance of prohibited degrees. Unlike + the Australians, they use bows and arrows, but are said to be incapable of + striking a light, and, at all events, find the process so difficult that, + like the Australians and the farmer in the Odyssey,(1) they are compelled + "to hoard the seeds of fire". Their mythology contains explanations of the + origin of men and animals, and of their own customs and language. + </p> + <p> + (1) Odyssey, v. 490. + </p> + <p> + The Andamanese, long spoken of as "godless," owe much to Mr. Man, an + English official, who has made a most careful study of their beliefs.(1) + So extraordinary is the contradiction between the relative purity and + morality of the RELIGION and the savagery of the myths of the Andamanese, + that, in the first edition of this work, I insisted that the "spiritual + god" of the faith must have been "borrowed from the same quarter as the + stone house" in which he is mythically said to live. But later and wider + study, and fresh information from various quarters, have convinced me that + the relative purity of Andamanese religion, with its ethical sanction of + conduct, may well be, and probably is, a natural unborrowed development. + It is easy for MYTH to borrow the notion of a stone house from our recent + settlement at Port Blair. But it would not be easy for RELIGION to borrow + many new ideas from an alien creed, in a very few years, while the noted + ferocity of the islanders towards strangers, and the inaccessibility of + their abode, makes earlier borrowing, on a large scale at least, highly + improbable. The Andamanese god, Puluga, is "like fire" but invisible, + unborn and immortal, knowing and punishing or rewarding, men's deeds, even + "the thoughts of their hearts". But when once mythical fancy plays round + him, and stories are told about him, he is credited with a wife who is an + eel or a shrimp, just as Zeus made love as an ant or a cuckoo. Puluga was + the maker of men; no particular myth as to how he made them is given. They + tried to kill him, after the deluge (of which a grotesque myth is told), + but he replied that he was "as hard as wood". His legend is in the usual + mythical contradiction with the higher elements in his religion. + </p> + <p> + (1) Journ. Anthrop. Soc., vol. xii. p. 157 et seq. + </p> + <p> + Leaving the Andaman islanders, but still studying races in the lowest + degree of civilisation, we come to the Bushmen of South Africa. This very + curious and interesting people, far inferior in material equipment to the + Hottentots, is sometimes regarded as a branch of that race.(1) The + Hottentots call themselves "Khoi-khoi," the Bushmen they style "Sa". The + poor Sa lead the life of pariahs, and are hated and chased by all other + natives of South Africa. They are hunters and diggers for roots, while the + Hottentots, perhaps their kinsmen, are cattle-breeders.(2) Being so + ill-nourished, the Bushmen are very small, but sturdy. They dwell in, or + rather wander through, countries which have been touched by some ancient + civilisation, as is proved by the mysterious mines and roads of + Mashonaland. It is singular that the Bushmen possess a tradition according + to which they could once "make stone things that flew over rivers". They + have remarkable artistic powers, and their drawings of men and animals on + the walls of caves are often not inferior to the designs on early Greek + vases.(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) See "Divine Myths of the Lower Races". + </p> + <p> + (2) Hahu, Tsuni Goam, p. 4. See other accounts in Waitz, Anthropologie, + ii. 328. + </p> + <p> + (3) Custom and Myth, where illustrations of Bushman art are given, pp. + 290-295. + </p> + <p> + Thus we must regard the Bushmen as possibly degenerated from a higher + status, though there is nothing (except perhaps the tradition about + bridge-making) to show that it was more exalted than that of their more + prosperous neighbours, the Hottentots. The myths of the Bushmen, however, + are almost on the lowest known level. A very good and authentic example of + Bushman cosmogonic myth was given to Mr. Orpen, chief magistrate of St. + John's territory, by Qing, King Nqusha's huntsman. Qing "had never seen a + white man, but in fighting," till he became acquainted with Mr. Orpen.(1) + The chief force in Bushmen myth is by Dr. Bleek identified with the + mantis, a sort of large grasshopper. Though he seems at least as + "chimerical a beast" as the Aryan creative boar, the "mighty big hare" of + the Algonkins, the large spider who made the world in the opinion of the + Gold Coast people, or the eagle of the Australians, yet the insect (if + insect he be), like the others, has achieved moral qualities and is + addressed in prayer. In his religious aspect he is nothing less than a + grasshopper. He is called Cagn. "Cagn made all things and we pray to him," + said Qing. "Coti is the wife of Cagn." Qing did not know where they came + from; "perhaps with the men who brought the sun". The fact is, Qing "did + not dance that dance," that is, was not one of the Bushmen initiated into + the more esoteric mysteries of Cagn. Till we, too, are initiated, we can + know very little of Cagn in his religious aspect. Among the Bushmen, as + among the Greeks, there is "no religious mystery without dancing". Qing + was not very consistent. He said Cagn gave orders and caused all things to + appear and to be made, sun, moon, stars, wind, mountains, animals, and + this, of course, is a lofty theory of creation. Elsewhere myth avers that + Cagn did not so much create as manufacture the objects in nature. In his + early day "the snakes were also men". Cagn struck snakes with his staff + and turned them into men, as Zeus, in the Aeginetan myth, did with ants. + He also turned offending men into baboons. In Bushman myth, little as we + really know of it, we see the usual opposition of fable and faith, a kind + creator in religion is apparently a magician in myth. + </p> + <p> + (1) Cape Monthly Magazine, July, 1874. + </p> + <p> + Neighbours of the Bushmen, but more fortunate in their wealth of sheep and + cattle, are the Ovaherero. The myths of the Ovaherero, a tribe dwelling in + a part of Hereraland "which had not yet been under the influence of + civilisation and Christianity," have been studied by the Rev. H. + Reiderbecke, missionary at Otyozondyupa. The Ovaherero, he says, have a + kind of tree Ygdrasil, a tree out of which men are born, and this plays a + great part in their myth of creation. The tree, which still exists, though + at a great age, is called the Omumborombonga tree. Out of it came, in the + beginning, the first man and woman. Oxen stepped forth from it too, but + baboons, as Caliban says of the stars, "came otherwise," and sheep and + goats sprang from a flat rock. Black people are so coloured, according to + the Ovaherero, because when the first parents emerged from the tree and + slew an ox, the ancestress of the blacks appropriated the black liver of + the victim. The Ovakuru Meyuru or "OLD ONES in heaven," once let the skies + down with a run, but drew them up again (as the gods of the Satapatha + Brahmana drew the sun) when most of mankind had been drowned.(1) The + remnant pacified the OLD ONES (as Odysseus did the spirits of the dead) by + the sacrifice of a BLACK ewe, a practice still used to appease ghosts by + the Ovaherero. The neighbouring Omnambo ascribe the creation of man to + Kalunga, who came out of the earth, and made the first three sheep.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) An example of a Deluge myth in Africa, where M. Lenormant found none. + </p> + <p> + (2) South African Folk-Lore Journal, ii. pt. v. p. 95. + </p> + <p> + Among the Namaquas, an African people on the same level of nomadic culture + as the Ovaherero, a divine or heroic early being called Heitsi Eibib had a + good deal to do with the origin of things. If he did not exactly make the + animals, he impressed on them their characters, and their habits (like + those of the serpent in Genesis) are said to have been conferred by a + curse, the curse of Heitsi Eibib. A precisely similar notion was found by + Avila among the Indians of Huarochiri, whose divine culture-hero imposed, + by a curse or a blessing, their character and habits on the beasts.(1) The + lion used to live in a nest up a tree till Heitsi Eibib cursed him and + bade him walk on the ground. He also cursed the hare, "and the hare ran + away, and is still running".(2) The name of the first man is given as + Eichaknanabiseb (with a multitude of "clicks"), and he is said to have met + all the animals on a flat rock, and played a game with them for copper + beads. The rainbow was made by Gaunab, who is generally a malevolent + being, of whom more hereafter. + </p> + <p> + (1) Fables of Yncas (Hakluyt Society), p. 127. + </p> + <p> + (2) Tsuni Goam, pp. 66, 67. + </p> + <p> + Leaving these African races, which, whatever their relative degrees of + culture, are physically somewhat contemptible, we reach their northern + neighbours, the Zulus. They are among the finest, and certainly among the + least religious, of the undeveloped peoples. Their faith is mainly in + magic and ghosts, but there are traces of a fading and loftier belief. + </p> + <p> + The social and political condition of the Zulu is well understood. They + are a pastoral, but not a nomadic people, possessing large kraals or + towns. They practise agriculture, and they had, till quite recently, a + centralised government and a large army, somewhat on the German system. + They appear to have no regular class of priests, and supernatural power is + owned by the chiefs and the king, and by diviners and sorcerers, who + conduct the sacrifices. Their myths are the more interesting because, + whether from their natural scepticism, which confuted Bishop Colenso in + his orthodox days, or from acquaintance with European ideas, they have + begun to doubt the truth of their own traditions.(1) The Zulu theory of + the origin of man and of the world commences with the feats of + Unkulunkulu, "the old, old one," who, in some legends, was the first man, + "and broke off in the beginning". Like Manabozho among the Indians of + North America, and like Wainamoinen among the Finns, Unkulunkulu imparted + to men a knowledge of the arts, of marriage, and so forth. His exploits in + this direction, however, must be considered in another part of this work. + Men in general "came out of a bed of reeds".(2) But there is much + confusion about this bed of reeds, named "Uthlanga". The younger people + ask where the bed of reeds was; the old men do not know, and neither did + their fathers know. But they stick to it that "that bed of reeds still + exists". Educated Zulus appear somewhat inclined to take the expression in + an allegorical sense, and to understand the reeds either as a kind of + protoplasm or as a creator who was mortal. "He exists no longer. As my + grandfather no longer exists, he too no longer exists; he died." Chiefs + who wish to claim high descent trace their pedigree to Uthlanga, as the + Homeric kings traced theirs to Zeus. The myths given by Dr. Callaway are + very contradictory. + </p> + <p> + (1) These legends have been carefully collected and published by Bishop + Callaway (Trubner & Co., 1868). + </p> + <p> + (2) Callaway, p. 9. + </p> + <p> + In addition to the legend that men came out of a bed of reeds, other and + perhaps even more puerile stories are current. "Some men say that they + were belched up by a cow;" others "that Unkulunkulu split them out of a + stone,"(1) which recalls the legend of Pyrrha and Deucalion. The myth + about the cow is still applied to great chiefs. "He was not born; he was + belched up by a cow." The myth of the stone origin corresponds to the + Homeric saying about men "born from the stone or the oak of the old + tale".(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Without anticipating a later chapter, the resemblances of these to + Greek myths, as arrayed by M. Bouche Leclercq (De Origine Generis Humani), + is very striking. + </p> + <p> + (2) Odyssey, xix. 103. + </p> + <p> + In addition to the theory of the natal bed of reeds, the Zulus, like the + Navajoes of New Mexico, and the Bushmen, believe in the subterranean + origin of man. There was a succession of emigrations from below of + different tribes of men, each having its own Unkulunkulu. All accounts + agree that Unkulunkulu is not worshipped, and he does not seem to be + identified with "the lord who plays in heaven"—a kind of fading Zeus—when + there is thunder. Unkulunkulu is not worshipped, though ancestral spirits + are worshipped, because he lived so long ago that no one can now trace his + pedigree to the being who is at once the first man and the creator. His + "honour-giving name is lost in the lapse of years, and the family rites + have become obsolete."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) See Zulu religion in The Making of Religion, pp. 225-229, where it is + argued that ghost worship has superseded a higher faith, of which traces + are discernible. + </p> + <p> + The native races of the North American continent (concerning whose + civilisation more will be said in the account of their divine myths) + occupy every stage of culture, from the truly bestial condition in which + some of the Digger Indians at present exist, living on insects and + unacquainted even with the use of the bow, to the civilisation which the + Spaniards destroyed among the Aztecs. + </p> + <p> + The original facts about religion in America are much disputed, and will + be more appropriately treated later. It is now very usual for + anthropologists to say, like Mr. Dorman, "no approach to monotheismn had + been made before the discovery of America by Europeans, and the Great + Spirit mentioned in these (their) books is an introduction by + Christianity".(1) "This view will not bear examination," says Mr. Tylor, + and we shall later demonstrate the accuracy of his remark.(2) But at + present we are concerned, not with what Indian religion had to say about + her Gods, but with what Indian myth had to tell about the beginnings of + things. + </p> + <p> + (1) Origin of Primitive Superstitions, p. 15. + </p> + <p> + (2) Primitive Culture, 1873, ii. p. 340. + </p> + <p> + The Hurons, for example (to choose a people in a state of middle + barbarism), start in myth from the usual conception of a powerful + non-natural race of men dwelling in the heavens, whence they descended, + and colonised, not to say constructed, the earth. In the Relation de la + Nouvelle France, written by Pere Paul le Jeune, of the Company of Jesus, + in 1636, there is a very full account of Huron opinion, which, with some + changes of names, exists among the other branches of the Algonkin family + of Indians. + </p> + <p> + They recognise as the founder of their kindred a woman named Ataentsic, + who, like Hephaestus in the Iliad, was banished from the sky. In the upper + world there are woods and plains, as on earth. Ataentsic fell down a hole + when she was hunting a bear, or she cut down a heaven-tree, and fell with + the fall of this Huron Ygdrasil, or she was seduced by an adventurer from + the under world, and was tossed out of heaven for her fault. However it + chanced, she dropped on the back of the turtle in the midst of the waters. + He consulted the other aquatic animals, and one of them, generally said to + have been the musk-rat, fished(1) up some soil and fashioned the earth.(2) + Here Ataentsic gave birth to twins, Ioskeha and Tawiscara. These represent + the usual dualism of myth; they answer to Osiris and Set, to Ormuzd and + Ahriman, and were bitter enemies. According to one form of the myth, the + woman of the sky had twins, and what occurred may be quoted from Dr. + Brinton. "Even before birth one of them betrayed his restless and evil + nature by refusing to be born in the usual manner, but insisting on + breaking through his parent's side or arm-pit. He did so, but it cost his + mother her life. Her body was buried, and from it sprang the various + vegetable productions," pumpkins, maize, beans, and so forth.(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Relations, 1633. In this myth one Messon, the Great Hare, is the + beginner of our race. He married a daughter of the Musk-rat. + </p> + <p> + (2) Here we first meet in this investigation a very widely distributed + myth. The myths already examined have taken the origin of earth for + granted. The Hurons account for its origin; a speck of earth was fished + out of the waters and grew. In M. H. de Charencey's tract Une Legende + Cosmogonique (Havre, 1884) this legend is traced. M. de Charencey + distinguishes (1) a continental version; (2) an insular version; (3) a + mixed and Hindoo version. Among continental variants he gives a Vogul + version (Revue de Philologie et d'Ethnographie, Paris, 1874, i. 10). Numi + Tarom (a god who cooks fish in heaven) hangs a male and female above the + abyss of waters in a silver cradle. He gives them, later, just earth + enough to build a house on. Their son, in the guise of a squirrel, climbs + to Numi Tarom, and receives from him a duck-skin and a goose-skin. Clad in + these, like Yehl in his raven-skin or Odin in his hawk-skin, he enjoys the + powers of the animals, dives and brings up three handfuls of mud, which + grow into our earth. Elempi makes men out of clay and snow. The American + version M. de Charencey gives from Nicholas Perrot (Mem. sur les Moers, + etc., Paris, 1864, i. 3). Perrot was a traveller of the seventeenth + century. The Great Hare takes a hand in the making of earth out of + fished-up soil. After giving other North American variants, and comparing + the animals that, after three attempts, fish up earth to the dove and + raven of Noah, M. de Charencey reaches the Bulgarians. God made Satan, in + the skin of a diver, fish up earth out of Lake Tiberias. Three doves fish + up earth, in the beginning, in the Galician popular legend (Chodzko, + Contes des Paysans Slaves, p. 374). In the INSULAR version, as in New + Zealand, the island is usually fished up with a hook by a heroic angler + (Japan, Tonga, Tahiti, New Zealand). The Hindoo version, in which the boar + plays the part of musk-rat, or duck, or diver, will be given in "Indian + Cosmogonic Myths". + </p> + <p> + (3) Brinton, American Hero-Myths, p. 54. Nicholas Perrot and various + Jesuit Relations are the original authorities. See "Divine Myths of + America". Mr. Leland, in his Algonkin Tales, prints the same story, with + the names altered to Glooskap and Malsumis, from oral tradition. Compare + Schoolcraft, v. 155, and i. 317, and the versions of PP. Charlevoix and + Lafitau. In Charlevoix the good and bad brothers are Manabozho and + Chokanipok or Chakekanapok, and out of the bones and entrails of the + latter many plants and animals were fashioned, just as, according to a + Greek myth preserved by Clemens Alexandrinus, parsley and pomegranates + arose from the blood and scattered members of Dionysus Zagreus. The tale + of Tawiscara's violent birth is told of Set in Egypt, and of Indra in the + Veda, as will be shown later. This is a very common fable, and, as Mr. + Whitley Stokes tells me, it recurs in old Irish legends of the birth of + our Lord, Myth, as usual, invading religion, even Christian religion. + </p> + <p> + According to another version of the origin of things, the maker of them + was one Michabous, or Michabo, the Great Hare. His birthplace was shown at + an island called Michilimakinak, like the birthplace of Apollo at Delos. + The Great Hare made the earth, and, as will afterwards appear, was the + inventor of the arts of life. On the whole, the Iroquois and Algonkin + myths agree in finding the origin of life in an upper world beyond the + sky. The earth was either fished up (as by Brahma when he dived in the + shape of a boar) by some beast which descended to the bottom of the + waters, or grew out of the tortoise on whose back Ataentsic fell. The + first dwellers in the world were either beasts like Manabozho or Michabo, + the Great Hare, or the primeval wolves of the Uinkarets,(1) or the + creative musk-rat, or were more anthropomorphic heroes, such as Ioskeha + and Tawiscara. As for the things in the world, some were made, some + evolved, some are transformed parts of an early non-natural man or animal. + There is a tendency to identify Ataentsic, the sky-woman, with the moon, + and in the Two Great Brethren, hostile as they are, to recognise moon and + sun.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Powell, Bureau of Ethnology, i. 44. + </p> + <p> + (2) Dr. Brinton has endeavoured to demonstrate by arguments drawn from + etymology that Michabos, Messou, Missibizi or Manabozho, the Great Hare, + is originally a personification of Dawn (Myths of the New World, p. 178). + I have examined his arguments in the Nineteenth Century, January, 1886, + which may be consulted, and in Melusine, January, 1887. The hare appears + to be one out of the countless primeval beast-culture heroes. A curious + piece of magic in a tradition of the Dene Hareskins may seem to aid Dr. + Brinton's theory: "Pendant la nuit il entra, jeta au feu une tete de + lievre blanc et aussitot le jour se fit".—Petitot, Traditions + Indiennes, p. 173. But I take it that the sacrifice of a white hare's head + makes light magically, as sacrifice of black beasts and columns of black + smoke make rainclouds. + </p> + <p> + Some of the degraded Digger Indians of California have the following myth + of the origin of species. In this legend, it will be noticed, a species of + evolution takes the place of a theory of creation. The story was told to + Mr. Adam Johnston, who "drew" the narrator by communicating to a chief the + Biblical narrative of the creation.(1) The chief said it was a strange + story, and one that he had never heard when he lived at the Mission of St. + John under the care of a Padre. According to this chief (he ruled over the + Po-to-yan-te tribe or Coyotes), the first Indians were coyotes. When one + of their number died, his body became full of little animals or spirits. + They took various shapes, as of deer, antelopes, and so forth; but as some + exhibited a tendency to fly off to the moon, the Po-to-yan-tes now usually + bury the bodies of their dead, to prevent the extinction of species. Then + the Indians began to assume the shape of man, but it was a slow + transformation. At first they walked on all fours, then they would begin + to develop an isolated human feature, one finger, one toe, one eye, like + the ascidian, our first parent in the view of modern science. Then they + doubled their organs, got into the habit of sitting up, and wore away + their tails, which they unaffectedly regret, "as they consider the tail + quite an ornament". Ideas of the immortality of the soul are said to be + confined to the old women of the tribe, and, in short, according to this + version, the Digger Indians occupy the modern scientific position. + </p> + <p> + (1) Schoolcraft, vol. v. + </p> + <p> + The Winnebagoes, who communicated their myths to Mr. Fletcher,(1) are + suspected of having been influenced by the Biblical narrative. They say + that the Great Spirit woke up as from a dream, and found himself sitting + in a chair. As he was all alone, he took a piece of his body and a piece + of earth, and made a man. He next made a woman, steadied the earth by + placing beasts beneath it at the corners, and created plants and animals. + Other men he made out of bears. "He created the white man to make tools + for the poor Indians"—a very pleasing example of a teleological + hypothesis and of the doctrine of final causes as understood by the + Winnebagoes. The Chaldean myth of the making of man is recalled by the + legend that the Great Spirit cut out a piece of himself for the purpose; + the Chaldean wisdom coincides, too, with the philosophical acumen of the + Po-to-yan-te or Coyote tribe of Digger Indians. Though the Chaldean theory + is only connected with that of the Red Men by its savagery, we may briefly + state it in this place. + </p> + <p> + (1) Ibid., iv. 228. + </p> + <p> + According to Berosus, as reported by Alexander Polyhistor, the universe + was originally (as before Manabozho's time) water and mud. Herein all + manner of mixed monsters, with human heads, goat's horns, four legs, and + tails, bred confusedly. In place of the Iroquois Ataentsic, a woman called + Omoroca presided over the mud and the menagerie. She, too, like Ataentsic, + is sometimes recognised as the moon. Affairs being in this state, + Bel-Maruduk arrived and cut Omoroca in two (Chokanipok destroyed + Ataentsic), and out of Omoroca Bel made the world and the things in it. We + have already seen that in savage myth many things are fashioned out of a + dead member of the extra-natural race. Lastly, Bel cut his own head off, + and with the blood the gods mixed clay and made men. The Chaldeans + inherited very savage fancies.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Cf. Syncellus, p. 29; Euseb., Chronic. Armen., ed. Mai, p. 10; + Lenormant, Origines de l'Histoire, i. 506. + </p> + <p> + One ought, perhaps, to apologise to the Chaldeans for inserting their + myths among the fables of the least cultivated peoples; but it will + scarcely be maintained that the Oriental myths differ in character from + the Digger Indian and Iroquois explanations of the origin of things. The + Ahts of Vancouver Island, whom Mr. Sproat knew intimately, and of whose + ideas he gives a cautious account (for he was well aware of the limits of + his knowledge), tell a story of the usual character.(1) They believe in a + member of the extra-natural race, named Quawteaht, of whom we shall hear + more in his heroic character. As a demiurge "he is undoubtedly represented + as the general framer, I do not say creator, of all things, though some + special things are excepted. He made the earth and water, the trees and + rocks, and all the animals. Some say that Quawteaht made the sun and moon, + but the majority of the Indians believe that he had nothing to do with + their formation, and that they are deities superior to himself, though now + distant and less active. He gave names to everything; among the rest, to + all the Indian houses which then existed, although inhabited only by birds + and animals. Quawteaht went away before the apparent change of the birds + and beasts into Indians, which took place in the following manner:— + </p> + <p> + "The birds and beasts of old had the spirits of the Indians dwelling in + them, and occupied the various coast villages, as the Ahts do at present. + One day a canoe manned by two Indians from an unknown country approached + the shore. As they coasted along, at each house at which they landed, the + deer, bear, elk, and other brute inhabitants fled to the mountains, and + the geese and other birds flew to the woods and rivers. But in this + flight, the Indians, who had hitherto been contained in the bodies of the + various creatures, were left behind, and from that time they took + possession of the deserted dwellings and assumed the condition in which we + now see them." + </p> + <p> + (1) Sproat, Scenes and Studies of Savage Life, pp. 210, 211. + </p> + <p> + Crossing the northern continent of America to the west, we are in the + domains of various animal culture-heroes, ancestors and teachers of the + human race and the makers, to some extent, of the things in the world. As + the eastern tribes have their Great Hare, so the western tribes have their + wolf hero and progenitor, or their coyote, or their raven, or their dog. + It is possible, and even certain in some cases, that the animal which was + the dominant totem of a race became heir to any cosmogonic legends that + were floating about. + </p> + <p> + The country of the Papagos, on the eastern side of the Gulf of California, + is the southern boundary of the province of the coyote or prairie wolf. + The realm of his influence as a kind of Prometheus, or even as a demiurge, + extends very far northwards. In the myth related by Con Quien, the chief + of the central Papagos,(1) the coyote acts the part of the fish in the + Sanskrit legend of the flood, while Montezuma undertakes the role of Manu. + This Montezuma was formed, like the Adams of so many races, out of + potter's clay in the hands of the Great Spirit. In all this legend it + seems plain enough that the name of Montezuma is imported from Mexico, and + has been arbitrarily given to the hero of the Papagos. According to Mr. + Powers, whose manuscript notes Mr. Bancroft quotes (iii. 87), all the + natives of California believe that their first ancestors were created + directly from the earth of their present dwelling-places, and in very many + cases these ancestors were coyotes. + </p> + <p> + (1) Davidson, Indian Affairs Report, 1865, p. 131; Bancroft, iii. 75. + </p> + <p> + The Pimas, a race who live near the Papagos on the eastern coast of the + Gulf of California, say that the earth was made by a being named + Earth-prophet. At first it appeared like a spider's web, reminding one of + the West African legend that a great spider created the world. Man was + made by the Earth-prophet out of clay kneaded with sweat. A mysterious + eagle and a deluge play a great part in the later mythical adventures of + war and the world, as known to the Pimas.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Communicated to Mr. Bancroft by Mr. Stout of the Pima Agency. + </p> + <p> + In Oregon the coyote appears as a somewhat tentative demiurge, and the men + of his creation, like the beings first formed by Prajapati in the Sanskrit + myth, needed to be reviewed, corrected and considerably augmented. The + Chinooks of Oregon believe in the usual race of magnified non-natural men, + who preceded humanity. + </p> + <p> + These semi-divine people were called Ulhaipa by the Chinooks, and Sehuiab + by the Lummies. But the coyote was the maker of men. As the first of + Nature's journeymen, he made men rather badly, with closed eyes and + motionless feet. A kind being, named Ikanam, touched up the coyote's crude + essays with a sharp stone, opening the eyes of men, and giving their hands + and feet the powers of movement. He also acted as a "culture-hero," + introducing the first arts. (1) + </p> + <p> + (1) (Frauchere's Narrative, 258; Gibb's Chinook Vocabulary; Parker's + exploring Tour, i. 139;) Bancroft, iii. 96. + </p> + <p> + Moving up the West Pacific coast we reach British Columbia, where the + coyote is not supposed to have been so active as our old friend the + musk-rat in the great work of the creation. According to the Tacullies, + nothing existed in the beginning but water and a musk-rat. As the animal + sought his food at the bottom of the water, his mouth was frequently + filled with mud. This he spat out, and so gradually formed by alluvial + deposit an island. This island was small at first, like earth in the + Sanskrit myth in the Satapatha Brahmana, but gradually increased in bulk. + The Tacullies have no new light to throw on the origin of man.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Bancroft, iii. 98; Harmon's Journey, pp. 302, 303. + </p> + <p> + The Thlinkeets, who are neighbours of the Tacullies on the north, incline + to give crow or raven the chief role in the task of creation, just as some + Australians allot the same part to the eagle-hawk, and the Yakuts to a + hawk, a crow and a teal-duck. We shall hear much of Yehl later, as one of + the mythical heroes of the introduction of civilisation. North of the + Thlinkeets, a bird and a dog take the creative duties, the Aleuts and + Koniagas being descended from a dog. Among the more northern Tinnehs, the + dog who was the progenitor of the race had the power of assuming the shape + of a handsome young man. He supplied the protoplasm of the Tinnehs, as + Purusha did that of the Aryan world, out of his own body. A giant tore him + to pieces, as the gods tore Purusha, and out of the fragments thrown into + the rivers came fish, the fragments tossed into the air took life as + birds, and so forth.(1) This recalls the Australian myth of the origin of + fish and the Ananzi stories of the origin of whips.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Hearne, pp. 342, 343; Bancroft, iii. 106. + </p> + <p> + (2) See "Divine Myths of Lower Races". M. Cosquin, in Contes de Lorraine, + vol. i. p. 58, gives the Ananzi story. + </p> + <p> + Between the cosmogonic myths of the barbarous or savage American tribes + and those of the great cultivated American peoples, Aztecs, Peruvians and + Quiches, place should be found for the legends of certain races in the + South Pacific. Of these, the most important are the Maoris or natives of + New Zealand, the Mangaians and the Samoans. Beyond the usual and + world-wide correspondences of myth, the divine tales of the various South + Sea isles display resemblances so many and essential that they must be + supposed to spring from a common and probably not very distant centre. As + it is practically impossible to separate Maori myths of the making of + things from Maori myths of the gods and their origin, we must pass over + here the metaphysical hymns and stories of the original divine beings, + Rangi and Papa, Heaven and Earth, and of their cruel but necessary divorce + by their children, who then became the usual Titanic race which constructs + and "airs" the world for the reception of man.(1) Among these beings, more + fully described in our chapter on the gods of the lower races, is Tiki, + with his wife Marikoriko, twilight. Tane (male) is another of the + primordial race, children of earth and heaven, and between him and Tiki + lies the credit of having made or begotten humanity. Tane adorned the body + of his father, heaven (Rangi), by sticking stars all over it, as disks of + pearl-shells are stuck all over images. He was the parent of trees and + birds, but some trees are original and divine beings. The first woman was + not born, but formed out of the sun and the echo, a pretty myth. Man was + made by Tiki, who took red clay, and kneaded it with his own blood, or + with the red water of swamps. The habits of animals, some of which are + gods, while others are descended from gods, follow from their conduct at + the moment when heaven and earth were violently divorced. New Zealand + itself, or at least one of the isles, was a huge fish caught by Maui (of + whom more hereafter). Just as Pund-jel, in Australia, cut out the gullies + and vales with his knife, so the mountains and dells of New Zealand were + produced by the knives of Maui's brothers when they crimped his big + fish.(2) Quite apart from those childish ideas are the astonishing + metaphysical hymns about the first stirrings of light in darkness, of + "becoming" and "being," which remind us of Hegel and Heraclitus, or of the + most purely speculative ideas in the Rig-Veda.(3) Scarcely less + metaphysical are the myths of Mangaia, of which Mr. Gill(4) gives an + elaborate account. + </p> + <p> + (1) See "Divine Myths of Lower Races". + </p> + <p> + (2) Taylor, New Zealand, pp. 115-121; Bastian, Heilige Sage der + Polynesier, pp. 36-50; Shortland, Traditions of New Zealanders. + </p> + <p> + (3) See chapter on "Divine Myths of the Lower Races," and on "Indian + Cosmogonic Myths" + </p> + <p> + (4) Myths and Songs from the South Pacific, pp. 1-22. + </p> + <p> + The Mangaian ideas of the world are complex, and of an early scientific + sort. The universe is like the hollow of a vast cocoa-nut shell, divided + into many imaginary circles like those of mediaeval speculation. There is + a demon at the stem, as it were, of the cocoa-nut, and, where the edges of + the imaginary shell nearly meet, dwells a woman demon, whose name means + "the very beginning". In this system we observe efforts at metaphysics and + physical speculation. But it is very characteristic of rude thought that + such extremely abstract conceptions as "the very beginning" are + represented as possessing life and human form. The woman at the bottom of + the shell was anxious for progeny, and therefore plucked a bit out of her + own right side, as Eve was made out of the rib of Adam. This piece of + flesh became Vatea, the father of gods and men. Vatea (like Oannes in the + Chaldean legend) was half man, half fish. "The Very Beginning" begat other + children in the same manner, and some of these became departmental gods of + ocean, noon-day, and so forth. Curiously enough, the Mangaians seem to be + sticklers for primogeniture. Vatea, as the first-born son, originally had + his domain next above that of his mother. But she was pained by the + thought that his younger brothers each took a higher place than his; so + she pushed his land up, and it is now next below the solid crust on which + mortals live in Mangaia. Vatea married a woman from one of the under + worlds named Papa, and their children had the regular human form. One + child was born either from Papa's head, like Athene from the head of Zeus, + or from her armpit, like Dionysus from the thigh of Zeus. Another child + may be said, in the language of dog-breeders, to have "thrown back," for + he wears the form of a white or black lizard. In the Mangaian system the + sky is a solid vault of blue stone. In the beginning of things the sky + (like Ouranos in Greece and Rangi in New Zealand) pressed hard on earth, + and the god Ru was obliged to thrust the two asunder, or rather he was + engaged in this task when Maui tossed both Ru and the sky so high up that + they never came down again. Ru is now the Atlas of Mangaia, "the + sky-supporting Ru".(1) His lower limbs fell to earth, and became + pumice-stone. In these Mangaian myths we discern resemblances to New + Zealand fictions, as is natural, and the tearing of the body of "the Very + Beginning" has numerous counterparts in European, American and Indian + fable. But on the whole, the Mangaian myths are more remarkable for their + semi-scientific philosophy than for their coincidences with the fancies of + other early peoples. + </p> + <p> + (1) Gill, p. 59. + </p> + <p> + The Samoans, like the Maoris and Greeks, hold that heaven at first fell + down and lay upon earth.(1) The arrowroot and another plant pushed up + heaven, and "the heaven-pushing place" is still known and pointed out. + Others say the god Ti-iti-i pushed up heaven, and his feet made holes six + feet deep in the rocks during this exertion. The other Samoan myths + chiefly explain the origin of fire, and the causes of the characteristic + forms and habits of animals and plants. The Samoans, too, possess a + semi-mythical, metaphysical cosmogony, starting from NOTHING, but rapidly + becoming the history of rocks, clouds, hills, dew and various animals, who + intermarried, and to whom the royal family of Samoa trace their origin + through twenty-three generations. So personal are Samoan abstract + conceptions, that "SPACE had a long-legged stool," on to which a head + fell, and grew into a companion for Space. Yet another myth says that the + god Tangaloa existed in space, and made heaven and earth, and sent down + his daughter, a snipe. Man he made out of the mussel-fish. So confused are + the doctrines of the Samoans.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Turner's Samoa, p. 198. + </p> + <p> + (2) Turner's Samoa, pp. 1-9. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps the cosmogonic myths of the less cultivated races have now been + stated in sufficient number. As an example of the ideas which prevailed in + an American race of higher culture, we may take the Quiche legend as given + in the Popol Vuh, a post-Christian collection of the sacred myths of the + nation, written down after the Spanish conquest, and published in French + by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) See Popol Vuh in Mr. Max Muller's Chips from a German Workshop, with a + discussion of its authenticity. In his Annals of the Cakchiquels, a nation + bordering on the Quiches, Dr. Brinton expresses his belief in the genuine + character of the text. Compare Bancroft, iii. p. 45. The ancient and + original Popol Vuh, the native book in native characters, disappeared + during the Spanish conquest. + </p> + <p> + The Quiches, like their neighbours the Cakchiquels, were a highly + civilised race, possessing well-built towns, roads and the arts of life, + and were great agriculturists. Maize, the staple of food among these + advanced Americans, was almost as great a god as Soma among the + Indo-Aryans. The Quiches were acquainted with a kind of picture-writing, + and possessed records in which myth glided into history. The Popol Vuh, or + book of the people, gives itself out as a post-Columbian copy of these + traditions, and may doubtless contain European ideas. As we see in the + Commentarias Reales of the half-blood Inca Garcilasso de la Vega, the + conquered people were anxious to prove that their beliefs were by no means + so irrational and so "devilish" as to Spanish critics they appeared. + According to the Popol Vuh, there was in the beginning nothing but water + and the feathered serpent, one of their chief divine beings; but there + also existed somehow, "they that gave life". Their names mean "shooter of + blow-pipe at coyote," "at opossum," and so forth. They said "Earth," and + there WAS earth, and plants growing thereon. Animals followed, and the + Givers of life said "Speak our names," but the animals could only cluck + and croak. Then said the Givers, "Inasmuch as ye cannot praise us, ye + shall be killed and eaten". They then made men out of clay; these men were + weak and watery, and by water they were destroyed. Next they made men of + wood and women of the pith of trees. These puppets married and gave in + marriage, and peopled earth with wooden mannikins. This unsatisfactory + race was destroyed by a rain of resin and by the wild beasts. The + survivors developed into apes. Next came a period occupied by the wildest + feats of the magnified non-natural race and of animals. The record is like + the description of a supernatural pantomime—the nightmare of a god. + The Titans upset hills, are turned into stone, and behave like Heitsi + Eibib in the Namaqua myths. + </p> + <p> + Last of all, men were made of yellow and white maize, and these gave more + satisfaction, but their sight was contracted. These, however, survived, + and became the parents of the present stock of humanity. + </p> + <p> + Here we have the conceptions of creation and of evolution combined. Men + are MADE, but only the fittest survive; the rest are either destroyed or + permitted to develop into lower species. A similar mixture of the same + ideas will be found in one of the Brahmanas among the Aryans of India. It + is to be observed that the Quiche myths, as recorded in Popol Vuh, contain + not only traces of belief in a creative word and power, but many hymns of + a lofty and beautifully devotional character. + </p> + <p> + "Hail! O Creator, O Former! Thou that hearest and understandest us, + abandon us not, forsake us not! O God, thou that art in heaven and on the + earth, O Heart of Heaven, O Heart of Earth, give us descendants and + posterity as long as the light endures." + </p> + <p> + This is an example of the prayers of the men made out of maize, made + especially that they might "call on the name" of the god or gods. Whether + we are to attribute this and similar passages to Christian influence (for + Popol Vuh, as we have it, is but an attempt to collect the fragments of + the lost book that remained in men's minds after the conquest), or whether + the purer portions of the myth be due to untaught native reflection and + piety, it is not possible to determine. It is improbable that the ideas of + a hostile race would be introduced into religious hymns by their victims. + Here, as elsewhere in the sacred legends of civilised peoples, various + strata of mythical and religious thought coexist. + </p> + <p> + No American people reached such a pitch of civilisation as the Aztecs of + Anahuac, whose capital was the city of Mexico. It is needless here to + repeat the story of their grandeur and their fall. Obscure as their + history, previous to the Spanish invasion, may be, it is certain that they + possessed a highly organised society, fortified towns, established + colleges or priesthoods, magnificent temples, an elaborate calendar, great + wealth in the precious metals, the art of picture-writing in considerable + perfection, and a despotic central government. The higher classes in a + society like this could not but develop speculative systems, and it is + alleged that shortly before the reign of Montezuma attempts had been made + to introduce a pure monotheistic religion. But the ritual of the Aztecs + remained an example of the utmost barbarity. Never was a more cruel faith, + not even in Carthage. Nowhere did temples reek with such pools of human + blood; nowhere else, not in Dahomey and Ashanti, were human sacrifice, + cannibalism and torture so essential to the cult that secured the favour + of the gods. In these dark fanes—reeking with gore, peopled by + monstrous shapes of idols bird-headed or beast-headed, and adorned with + the hideous carvings in which we still see the priest, under the mask of + some less ravenous forest beast, tormenting the victim—in these + abominable temples the Castilian conquerors might well believe that they + saw the dwellings of devils. + </p> + <p> + Yet Mexican religion had its moral and beautiful aspect, and the gods, or + certain of the gods, required from their worshippers not only bloody + hands, but clean hearts. + </p> + <p> + To the gods we return later. The myths of the origin of things may be + studied without a knowledge of the whole Aztec Pantheon. Our authorities, + though numerous, lack complete originality and are occasionally confused. + We have first the Aztec monuments and hieroglyphic scrolls, for the most + part undeciphered. These merely attest the hideous and cruel character of + the deities. Next we have the reports of early missionaries, like Sahagun + and Mendieta, of conquerors, like Bernal Diaz, and of noble half-breeds, + such as Ixtlilxochitl.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Bancroft's Native Races of Pacific Coast of North America, vol. iii., + contains an account of the sources, and, with Sahagun and Acosta, is + mainly followed here. See also J. G. Muller, Ur. Amerik. Rel., p. 507. See + chapter on the "Divine Myths of Mexico". + </p> + <p> + There are two elements in Mexican, as in Quiche, and Indo-Aryan, and + Maori, and even Andaman cosmogonic myth. We find the purer religion and + the really philosophic speculation concurrent with such crude and childish + stories as usually satisfy the intellectual demands of Ahts, Cahrocs and + Bushmen; but of the purer and more speculative opinions we know little. + Many of the noble, learned and priestly classes of Aztecs perished at the + conquest. The survivors were more or less converted to Catholicism, and in + their writings probably put the best face possible on the native religion. + Like the Spanish clergy, their instructors, they were inclined to explain + away their national gods by a system of euhemerism, by taking it for + granted that the gods and culture-heroes had originally been ordinary men, + worshipped after their decease. This is almost invariably the view adopted + by Sahagun. Side by side with the confessions, as it were, of the clergy + and cultivated classes coexisted the popular beliefs, the myths of the + people, partaking of the nature of folk-lore, but not rejected by the + priesthood. + </p> + <p> + Both strata of belief are represented in the surviving cosmogonic myths of + the Aztecs. Probably we may reckon in the first or learned and speculative + class of tales the account of a series of constructions and + reconstructions of the world. This idea is not peculiar to the higher + mythologies, the notion of a deluge and recreation or renewal of things is + almost universal, and even among the untutored Australians there are + memories of a flood and of an age of ruinous winds. But the theory of + definite epochs, calculated in accordance with the Mexican calendar, of + epochs in which things were made and re-made, answers closely to the + Indo-Aryan conception of successive kalpas, and can only have been + developed after the method of reckoning time had been carried to some + perfection. "When heaven and earth were fashioned, they had already been + four times created and destroyed," say the fragments of what is called the + Chimalpopoca manuscript. Probably this theory of a series of kalpas is + only one of the devices by which the human mind has tried to cheat itself + into the belief that it can conceive a beginning of things. The earth + stands on an elephant, the elephant on a tortoise, and it is going too far + to ask what the tortoise stands on. In the same way the world's beginning + seems to become more intelligible or less puzzling when it is thrown back + into a series of beginnings and endings. This method also was in harmony + with those vague ideas of evolution and of the survival of the fittest + which we have detected in myth. The various tentative human races of the + Popol Vuh degenerated or were destroyed because they did not fulfil the + purposes for which they were made. In Brahmanic myth we shall see that + type after type was condemned and perished because it was inadequate, or + inadequately equipped—because it did not harmonise with its + environment.(1) For these series of experimental creations and inefficient + evolutions vast spaces of time were required, according to the Aztec and + Indo-Aryan philosophies. It is not impossible that actual floods and great + convulsions of nature may have been remembered in tradition, and may have + lent colour and form to these somewhat philosophic myths of origins. From + such sources probably comes the Mexican hypothesis of a water-age (ending + in a deluge), an earth-age (ending in an earthquake), a wind-age (ending + in hurricanes), and the present dispensation, to be destroyed by fire. + </p> + <p> + (1) As an example of a dim evolutionary idea, note the myths of the + various ages as reported by Mendieta, according to which there were five + earlier ages "or suns" of bad quality, so that the contemporary human + beings were unable to live on the fruits of the earth. + </p> + <p> + The less philosophic and more popular Aztec legend of the commencement of + the world is mainly remarkable for the importance given in it to objects + of stone. For some reason, stones play a much greater part in American + than in other mythologies. An emerald was worshipped in the temple of + Pachacamac, who was, according to Garcilasso, the supreme and spiritual + deity of the Incas. The creation legend of the Cakchiquels of Guatemala(1) + makes much of a mysterious, primeval and animated obsidian stone. In the + Iroquois myths(2) stones are the leading characters. Nor did Aztec myth + escape this influence. + </p> + <p> + (1) Brinton, Annals of the Cakchiquels. + </p> + <p> + (2) Erminie Smith, Bureau of Ethnol. Report, ii. + </p> + <p> + There was a god in heaven named Citlalatonac, and a goddess, Citlalicue. + When we speak of "heaven" we must probably think of some such world of + ordinary terrestrial nature above the sky as that from which Ataentsic + fell in the Huron story. The goddess gave birth to a flint-knife, and + flung the flint down to earth. This abnormal birth partly answers to that + of the youngest of the Adityas, the rejected abortion in the Veda, and to + the similar birth and rejection of Maui in New Zealand. From the fallen + flint-knife sprang our old friends the magnified non-natural beings with + human characteristics, "the gods," to the number of 1600. The gods sent up + the hawk (who in India and Australia generally comes to the front on these + occasions), and asked their mother, or rather grandmother, to help them to + make men, to be their servants. Citlalicue rather jeered at her + unconsidered offspring. She advised them to go to the lord of the homes of + the departed, Mictlanteuctli, and borrow a bone or some ashes of the dead + who are with him. We must never ask for consistency from myths. This + statement implies that men had already been in existence, though they were + not yet created. Perhaps they had perished in one of the four great + destructions. With difficulty and danger the gods stole a bone from Hades, + placed it in a bowl, and smeared it with their own blood, as in Chaldea + and elsewhere. Finally, a boy and a girl were born out of the bowl. From + this pair sprang men, and certain of the gods, jumping into a furnace, + became sun and moon. To the sun they then, in Aztec fashion, sacrificed + themselves, and there, one might think, was an end of them. But they + afterwards appeared in wondrous fashions to their worshippers, and + ordained the ritual of religion. According to another legend, man and + woman (as in African myths) struggled out of a hole in the ground.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Authorities: Ixtlil.; Kingsborough, ix. pp. 205, 206; Sahagun, Hist. + Gen., i. 3, vii. 2; J. G. Muller, p. 510, where Muller compares the + Delphic conception of ages of the world; Bancroft, iii. pp. 60, 65. + </p> + <p> + The myths of the peoples under the empire of the Incas in Peru are + extremely interesting, because almost all mythical formations are found + existing together, while we have historical evidence as to the order and + manner of their development. The Peru of the Incas covered the modern + state of the same name, and included Ecuador, with parts of Chili and + Bolivia. M. Reville calculates that the empire was about 2500 miles in + length, four times as long as France, and that its breadth was from 250 to + 500 miles. The country, contained three different climatic regions, and + was peopled by races of many different degrees of culture, all more or + less subject to the dominion of the Children of the Sun. The three regions + were the dry strip along the coast, the fertile and cultivated land about + the spurs of the Cordilleras, and the inland mountain regions, inhabited + by the wildest races. Near Cuzco, the Inca capital, was the Lake of + Titicaca, the Mediterranean, as it were, of Peru, for on the shores of + this inland sea was developed the chief civilisation of the new world. + </p> + <p> + As to the institutions, myths and religion of the empire, we have copious + if contradictory information. There are the narratives of the Spanish + conquerors, especially of Pizarro's chaplain, Valverde, an ignorant + bigoted fanatic. Then we have somewhat later travellers and missionaries, + of whom Cieza de Leon (his book was published thirty years after the + conquest, in 1553) is one of the most trustworthy. The "Royal + Commentaries" of Garcilasso de la Vega, son of an Inca lady and a Spanish + conqueror, have often already been quoted. The critical spirit and sound + sense of Garcilasso are in remarkable contrast to the stupid orthodoxy of + the Spaniards, but some allowance must be made for his fervent Peruvian + patriotism. He had heard the Inca traditions repeated in boyhood, and very + early in life collected all the information which his mother and maternal + uncle had to give him, or which could be extracted from the quipus (the + records of knotted cord), and from the commemorative pictures of his + ancestors. Garcilasso had access, moreover, to the "torn papers" of Blas + Valera, an early Spanish missionary of unusual sense and acuteness. + Christoval de Moluna is also an excellent authority, and much may be + learned from the volume of Rites and Laws of the Yncas.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) A more complete list of authorities, including the garrulous Acosta, + is published by M. Reville in his Hibbert Lectures, pp. 136, 137. + Garcilasso, Cieza de Leon, Christoval de Moluna, Acosta and the Rites and + Laws have all been translated by Mr. Clements Markham, and are published, + with the editor's learned and ingenious notes, in the collection of the + Hakluyt Society. Care must be taken to discriminate between what is + reported about the Indians of the various provinces, who were in very + different grades of culture, and what is told about the Incas themselves. + </p> + <p> + The political and religious condition of the Peruvian empire is very + clearly conceived and stated by Garcilasso. Without making due allowance + for that mysterious earlier civilisation, older than the Incas, whose + cyclopean buildings are the wonder of travellers, Garcilasso attributes + the introduction of civilisation to his own ancestors. Allowing for what + is confessedly mythical in his narrative, it must be admitted that he has + a firm grasp of what the actual history must have been. He recognises a + period of savagery before the Incas, a condition of the rudest barbarism, + which still existed on the fringes and mountain recesses of the empire. + The religion of that period was mere magic and totemism. From all manner + of natural objects, but chiefly from beasts and birds, the various savage + stocks of Peru claimed descent, and they revered and offered sacrifice to + their totemic ancestors.(1) Garcilasso adds, what is almost incredible, + that the Indians tamely permitted themselves to be eaten by their totems, + when these were carnivorous animals. They did this with the less + reluctance as they were cannibals, and accustomed to breed children for + the purposes of the cuisine from captive women taken in war.(2) Among the + huacas or idols, totems, fetishes and other adorable objects of the + Indians, worshipped before and retained after the introduction of the Inca + sun-totem and solar cult, Garcilasso names trees, hills, rocks, caves, + fountains, emeralds, pieces of jasper, tigers, lions, bears, foxes, + monkeys, condors, owls, lizards, toads, frogs, sheep, maize, the sea, "for + want of larger gods, crabs" and bats. The bat was also the totem of the + Zotzil, the chief family of the Cakchiquels of Guatemala, and the most + high god of the Cakchiquels was worshipped in the shape of a bat. We are + reminded of religion as it exists in Samoa. The explanation of Blas Valera + was that in each totem (pacarissa) the Indians adored the devil. + </p> + <p> + (1) Com. Real., vol. i., chap. ix., x. xi. pp. 47-53. + </p> + <p> + (2) Cieza de Leon, xii., xv., xix., xxi., xxiii., xxvi., xxviii., xxxii. + Cieza is speaking of people in the valley of Cauca, in New Granada. + </p> + <p> + Athwart this early religion of totems and fetishes came, in Garcilasso's + narrative, the purer religion of the Incas, with what he regards as a + philosophic development of a belief in a Supreme Being. According to him, + the Inca sun-worship was really a totemism of a loftier character. The + Incas "knew how to choose gods better than the Indians". Garcilasso's + theory is that the earlier totems were selected chiefly as distinguishing + marks by the various stocks, though, of course, this does not explain why + the animals or other objects of each family were worshipped or were + regarded as ancestors, and the blood-connections of the men who adored + them. The Incas, disdaining crabs, lizards, bats and even serpents and + lions, "chose" the sun. Then, just like the other totemic tribes, they + feigned to be of the blood and lineage of the sun. + </p> + <p> + This fable is, in brief, the Inca myth of the origin of civilisation and + of man, or at least of their breed of men. As M. Reville well remarks, it + is obvious that the Inca claim is an adaptation of the local myth of Lake + Titicaca, the inland sea of Peru. According to that myth, the Children of + the Sun, the ancestors of the Incas, came out of the earth (as in Greek + and African legends) at Lake Titicaca, or reached its shores after + wandering from the hole or cave whence they first emerged. The myth, as + adapted by the Incas, takes for granted the previous existence of mankind, + and, in some of its forms, the Inca period is preceded by the deluge. + </p> + <p> + Of the Peruvian myth concerning the origin of things, the following + account is given by a Spanish priest, Christoval de Moluna, in a report to + the Bishop of Cuzco in 1570.(1) The story was collected from the lips of + ancient Peruvians and old native priests, who again drew their information + in part from the painted records reserved in the temple of the sun near + Cuzco. The legend begins with a deluge myth; a cataclysm ended a period of + human existence. All mankind perished except a man and woman, who floated + in a box to a distance of several hundred miles from Cuzco. There the + creator commanded them to settle, and there, like Pund-jel in Australia, + he made clay images of men of all races, attired in their national dress, + and then animated them. They were all fashioned and painted as correct + models, and were provided with their national songs and with seed-corn. + They then were put into the earth, and emerged all over the world at the + proper places, some (as in Africa and Greece) coming out of fountains, + some out of trees, some out of caves. For this reason they made huacas + (worshipful objects or fetishes) of the trees, caves and fountains. Some + of the earliest men were changed into stones, others into falcons, condors + and other creatures which we know were totems in Peru. Probably this myth + of metamorphosis was invented to account for the reverence paid to totems + or pacarissas as the Peruvians called them. In Tiahuanaco, where the + creation, or rather manufacture of men took place, the creator turned many + sinners into stones. The sun was made in the shape of a man, and, as he + soared into heaven, he called out in a friendly fashion to Manco Ccapac, + the Ideal first Inca, "Look upon me as thy father, and worship me as thy + father". In these fables the creator is called Pachyachachi, "Teacher of + the world". According to Christoval, the creator and his sons were + "eternal and unchangeable". Among the Canaris men descend from the + survivor of the deluge, and a beautiful bird with the face of a woman, a + siren in fact, but known better to ornithologists as a macaw. "The chief + cause," says the good Christoval, "of these fables was ignorance of God." + </p> + <p> + (1) Rites and Laws of the Yncas, p. 4, Hakluyt Society, 1873. + </p> + <p> + The story, as told by Cieza de Leon, runs thus:(1) A white man of great + stature (in fact, "a magnified non-natural man") came into the world, and + gave life to beasts and human beings. His name was Ticiviracocha, and he + was called the Father of the Sun.(2) There are likenesses of him in the + temple, and he was regarded as a moral teacher. It was owing apparently to + this benevolent being that four mysterious brothers and sisters emerged + from a cave—Children of the Sun, fathers of the Incas, teachers of + savage men. Their own conduct, however, was not exemplary, and they shut + up in a hole in the earth the brother of whom they were jealous. This + incident is even more common in the marchen or household tales than in the + regular tribal or national myths of the world.(3) The buried brother + emerged again with wings, and "without doubt he must have been some + devil," says honest Cieza de Leon. This brother was Manco Ccapac, the + heroic ancestor of the Incas, and he turned his jealous brethren into + stones. The whole tale is in the spirit illustrated by the wilder romances + of the Popol Vuh. + </p> + <p> + (1) Second Part of the Chronicles of Peru, p 5. + </p> + <p> + (2) See Making of Religion, pp. 265-270. Name and God are much disputed. + </p> + <p> + (3) The story of Joseph and the marchen of Jean de l'Ours are well-known + examples. + </p> + <p> + Garcilasso gives three forms of this myth. According to "the old Inca," + his maternal uncle, it was the sun which sent down two of his children, + giving them a golden staff, which would sink into the ground at the place + where they were to rest from wandering. It sank at Lake Titicaca. About + the current myths Garcilasso says generally that they were "more like + dreams" than straightforward stories; but, as he adds, the Greeks and + Romans also "invented fables worthy to be laughed at, and in greater + number than the Indians. The stories of one age of heathenism may be + compared with those of the other, and in many points they will be found to + agree." This critical position of Garcilasso's will be proved correct when + we reach the myths of Greeks and Indo-Aryans. The myth as narrated + north-east of Cuzco speaks of the four brothers and four sisters who came + out of caves, and the caves in Inca times were panelled with gold and + silver. + </p> + <p> + Athwart all these lower myths, survivals from the savage stage, comes what + Garcilasso regards as the philosophical Inca belief in Pachacamac. This + deity, to Garcilasso's mind, was purely spiritual: he had no image and + dwelt in no temple; in fact, he is that very God whom the Spanish + missionaries proclaimed. This view, though the fact has been doubted, was + very probably held by the Amautas, or philosophical class in Peru.(1) + Cieza de Leon says "the name of this devil, Pachacamac, means creator of + the world". Garcilasso urges that Pachacamac was the animus mundi; that he + did not "make the world," as Pund-jel and other savage demiurges made it, + but that he was to the universe what the soul is to the body. + </p> + <p> + (1) Com. Real., vol. i. p. 106. + </p> + <p> + Here we find ourselves, if among myths at all, among the myths of + metaphysics—rational myths; that is, myths corresponding to our + present stage of thought, and therefore intelligible to us. Pachacamac + "made the sun, and lightning, and thunder, and of these the sun was + worshipped by the Incas". Garcilasso denies that the moon was worshipped. + The reflections of the sceptical or monotheistic Inca, who declared that + the sun, far from being a free agent, "seems like a thing held to its + task," are reported by Garcilasso, and appear to prove that solar worship + was giving way, in the minds of educated Peruvians, a hundred years before + the arrival of Pizarro and Valverde with his missal.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Garcilasso, viii. 8, quoting Blas Valera. + </p> + <p> + From this summary it appears that the higher Peruvian religion had wrested + to its service, and to the dynastic purposes of the Incas, a native myth + of the familiar class, in which men come ready made out of holes in the + ground. But in Peru we do not find nearly such abundance of other savage + origin myths as will be proved to exist in the legends of Greeks and + Indo-Aryans. The reason probably is that Peru left no native literature; + the missionaries disdained stories of "devils," and Garcilasso's common + sense and patriotism were alike revolted by the incidents of stories "more + like dreams" than truthful records. He therefore was silent about them. In + Greece and India, on the other hand, the native religious literature + preserved myths of the making of man out of clay, of his birth from trees + and stones, of the fashioning of things out of the fragments of mutilated + gods and Titans, of the cosmic egg, of the rending and wounding of a + personal heaven and a personal earth, of the fishing up from the waters of + a tiny earth which grew greater, of the development of men out of beasts, + with a dozen other such notions as are familiar to contemporary Bushmen, + Australians, Digger Indians, and Cahrocs. But in Greece and India these + ideas coexist with myths and religious beliefs as purely spiritual and + metaphysical as the belief in the Pachacamac of Garcilasso and the Amautas + of Peru. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. INDO-ARYAN MYTHS—SOURCES OF EVIDENCE. + </h2> + <p> + Authorities—Vedas—Brahmanas—Social condition of Vedic + India—Arts—Ranks—War—Vedic fetishism—Ancestor + worship—Date of Rig-Veda Hymns doubtful—Obscurity of the Hymns—Difficulty + of interpreting the real character of Veda—Not primitive but + sacerdotal—The moral purity not innocence but refinement. + </p> + <p> + Before examining the myths of the Aryans of India, it is necessary to have + a clear notion of the nature of the evidence from which we derive our + knowledge of the subject. That evidence is found in a large and + incongruous mass of literary documents, the heritage of the Indian people. + In this mass are extremely ancient texts (the Rig-Veda, and the + Atharva-Veda), expository comments of a date so much later that the + original meaning of the older documents was sometimes lost (the + Brahmanas), and poems and legendary collections of a period later still, a + period when the whole character of religious thought had sensibly altered. + In this literature there is indeed a certain continuity; the names of + several gods of the earliest time are preserved in the legends of the + latest. But the influences of many centuries of change, of contending + philosophies, of periods of national growth and advance, and of national + decadence and decay, have been at work on the mythology of India. Here we + have myths that were perhaps originally popular tales, and are probably + old; here again, we have later legends that certainly were conceived in + the narrow minds of a pedantic and ceremonious priesthood. It is not + possible, of course, to analyse in this place all the myths of all the + periods; we must be content to point out some which seem to be typical + examples of the working of the human intellect in its earlier or its later + childhood, in its distant hours of barbaric beginnings, or in the senility + of its sacerdotage. + </p> + <p> + The documents which contain Indian mythology may be divided, broadly + speaking, into four classes. First, and most ancient in date of + composition, are the collections of hymns known as the Vedas. Next, and + (as far as date of collection goes) far less ancient, are the expository + texts called the Brahmanas. Later still, come other manuals of devotion + and of sacred learning, called Sutras and Upanishads; and last are the + epic poems (Itihasas), and the books of legends called Puranas. We are + chiefly concerned here with the Vedas and Brahmanas. A gulf of time, a + period of social and literary change, separates the Brahmanas from the + Vedas. But the epics and Puranas differ perhaps even still more from the + Brahmanas, on account of vast religious changes which brought new gods + into the Indian Olympus, or elevated to the highest place old gods + formerly of low degree. From the composition of the first Vedic hymn to + the compilation of the latest Purana, religious and mythopoeic fancy was + never at rest. + </p> + <p> + Various motives induced various poets to assign, on various occasions the + highest powers to this or the other god. The most antique legends were + probably omitted or softened by some early Vedic bard (Rishi) of noble + genius, or again impure myths were brought from the obscurity of oral + circulation and foisted into literature by some poet less divinely + inspired. Old deities were half-forgotten, and forgotten deities were + resuscitated. Sages shook off superstitious bonds, priests forged new + fetters on ancient patterns for themselves and their flocks. Philosophy + explained away the more degrading myths; myths as degrading were suggested + to dark and servile hearts by unscientific etymologies. Over the whole + mass of ancient mythology the new mythology of a debased Brahmanic + ritualism grew like some luxurious and baneful parasite. It is enough for + our purpose if we can show that even in the purest and most antique + mythology of India the element of traditional savagery survived and played + its part, and that the irrational legends of the Vedas and Brahmanas can + often be explained as relics of savage philosophy or faith, or as + novelties planned on the ancient savage model, whether borrowed or native + to the race. + </p> + <p> + The oldest documents of Indian mythology are the Vedas, usually reckoned + as four in number. The oldest, again, of the four, is the Sanhita + ("collection") of the Rig-Veda. It is a purely lyrical assortment of the + songs "which the Hindus brought with them from their ancient homes on the + banks of the Indus". In the manuscripts, the hymns are classified + according to the families of poets to whom they are ascribed. Though + composed on the banks of the Indus by sacred bards, the hymns were + compiled and arranged in India proper. At what date the oldest hymns of + which this collection is made up were first chanted it is impossible to + say with even approximate certainty. Opinions differ, or have differed, + between 2400 B.C. and 1400 B.C. as the period when the earliest sacred + lyrics of the Veda may first have been listened by gods and men. In + addition to the Rig-Veda we have the Sanhita of the Sama-Veda, "an + anthology taken from the Rik-Samhita, comprising those of its verses which + were intended to be chanted at the ceremonies of the soma sacrifice".(1) + It is conjectured that the hymns of the Sama-Veda were borrowed from the + Rig-Veda before the latter had been edited and stereotyped into its + present form. Next comes the Yajur-Veda, "which contains the formulas for + the entire sacrificial ceremonial, and indeed forms its proper + foundations," the other Vedas being devoted to the soma sacrifice.(2) The + Yajur-Veda has two divisions, known as the Black and the White Yajur, + which have common matter, but differ in arrangement. The Black Yajur-Veda + is also called the Taittirya, and it is described as "a motley undigested + jumble of different pieces".(3) Last comes Atharva-Veda, not always + regarded as a Veda properly speaking. It derives its name from an old + semi-mythical priestly family, the Atharvans, and is full of magical + formulae, imprecations, folk-lore and spells. There are good reasons for + thinking this late as a collection, however early may be the magical ideas + expressed in its contents.(4) + </p> + <p> + (1) Weber, History of Indian Literature, Eng. transl., p. 63. + </p> + <p> + (2) Ibid., p. 86. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid, p. 87. The name Taittirya is derived from a partridge, or from a + Rishi named Partridge in Sanskrit. There is a story that the pupils of a + sage were turned into partridges, to pick up sacred texts. + </p> + <p> + (4) Barth (Les Religions de l'Inde, p. 6) thinks that the existence of + such a collection as the Atharva-Veda is implied, perhaps, in a text of + the Rig-Veda, x. 90, 9. + </p> + <p> + Between the Vedas, or, at all events, between the oldest of the Vedas, and + the compilation of the Brahmanas, these "canonised explanations of a + canonised text,"(1) it is probable that some centuries and many social + changes intervened.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Whitney, Oriental and Linguistic studies, First Series, p. 4. + </p> + <p> + (2) Max Muller, Biographical Essays, p. 20. "The prose portions presuppose + the hymns, and, to judge from the utter inability of the authors of the + Brahmanas to understand the antiquated language of the hymns, these + Brahmanas must be ascribed to a much later period than that which gave + birth to the hymns." + </p> + <p> + If we would criticise the documents for Indian mythology in a scientific + manner, it is now necessary that we should try to discover, as far as + possible, the social and religious condition of the people among whom the + Vedas took shape. Were they in any sense "primitive," or were they + civilised? Was their religion in its obscure beginnings or was it already + a special and peculiar development, the fruit of many ages of thought? Now + it is an unfortunate thing that scholars have constantly, and as it were + involuntarily, drifted into the error of regarding the Vedas as if they + were "primitive," as if they exhibited to us the "germs" and "genesis" of + religion and mythology, as if they contained the simple though strange + utterances of PRIMITIVE thought.(1) Thus Mr. Whitney declares, in his + Oriental and Linguistic Studies, "that the Vedas exhibit to us the very + earliest germs of the Hindu culture". Mr. Max Muller avers that "no + country can be compared to India as offering opportunities for a real + study of the genesis and growth of religion".(2) Yet the same scholar + observes that "even the earliest specimens of Vedic poetry belong to the + modern history of the race, and that the early period of the historical + growth of religion had passed away before the Rishis (bards) could have + worshipped their Devas or bright beings with sacred hymns and + invocations". Though this is manifestly true, the sacred hymns and + invocations of the Rishis are constantly used as testimony bearing on the + beginning of the historical growth of religion. Nay, more; these remains + of "the modern history of the race" are supposed to exhibit mythology in + the process of making, as if the race had possessed no mythology before it + reached a comparatively modern period, the Vedic age. In the same spirit, + Dr. Muir, the learned editor of Sanskrit Texts, speaks in one place as if + the Vedic hymns "illustrated the natural workings of the human mind in the + period of its infancy".(3) A brief examination of the social and political + and religious condition of man, as described by the poets of the Vedas, + will prove that his infancy had long been left behind him when the first + Vedic hymns were chanted. + </p> + <p> + (1) Ibid., Rig-Veda Sanhita, p. vii. + </p> + <p> + (2) Hibbert Lectures, p. 131. + </p> + <p> + (3) Nothing can prove more absolutely and more briefly the late character + of Vedic faith than the fact that the faith had already to be defended + against the attacks of sceptics. The impious denied the existence of Indra + because he was invisible. Rig-Veda, ii. 12, 5; viii. 89, 3; v. 30, 1-2; + vi. 27, 3. Bergaigne, ii. 167. "Es gibt keinen Indra, so hat der eine und + der ander gesagt" (Ludwig's version). + </p> + <p> + As Barth observes, the very ideas which permeate the Veda, the idea of the + mystic efficacy of sacrifice, of brahma, prove that the poems are + profoundly sacerdotal; and this should have given pause to the writers who + have persisted in representing the hymns as the work of primitive + shepherds praising their gods as they feed their flocks.(1) In the Vedic + age the ranks of society are already at least as clearly defined as in + Homeric Greece. "We men," says a poet of the Rig-Veda,(2) "have all our + different imaginations and designs. The carpenter seeks something that is + broken, the doctor a patient, the priest some one who will offer + libations.... The artisan continually seeks after a man with plenty of + gold.... I am a poet, my father is a doctor, and my mother is a grinder of + corn." Chariots and the art of the chariot-builder are as frequently + spoken of as in the Iliad. Spears, swords, axes and coats of mail were in + common use. The art of boat-building or of ship-building was well known. + Kine and horses, sheep and dogs, had long been domesticated. The bow was a + favourite weapon, and warriors fought in chariots, like the Homeric Greeks + and the Egyptians. Weaving was commonly practised. The people probably + lived, as a rule, in village settlements, but cities or fortified places + were by no means unknown.(3) As for political society, "kings are + frequently mentioned in the hymns," and "it was regarded as eminently + beneficial for a king to entertain a family priest," on whom he was + expected to confer thousands of kine, lovely slaves and lumps of gold. In + the family polygamy existed, probably as the exception. There is reason to + suppose that the brother-in-law was permitted, if not expected, to "raise + up seed" to his dead brother, as among the Hebrews.(4) As to literature, + the very structure of the hymns proves that it was elaborate and + consciously artistic. M. Barth writes: "It would be a great mistake to + speak of the primitive naivete of the Vedic poetry and religion".(5) Both + the poetry and the religion, on the other hand, display in the highest + degree the mark of the sacerdotal spirit. The myths, though originally + derived from nature-worship, in an infinite majority of cases only reflect + natural phenomena through a veil of ritualistic corruptions.(6) The rigid + division of castes is seldom recognised in the Rig-Veda. We seem to see + caste in the making.(7) The Rishis and priests of the princely families + were on their way to becoming the all-powerful Brahmans. The kings and + princes were on their way to becoming the caste of Kshatriyas or warriors. + The mass of the people was soon to sink into the caste of Vaisyas and + broken men. Non-Aryan aborigines and others were possibly developing into + the caste of Sudras. Thus the spirit of division and of ceremonialism had + still some of its conquests to achieve. But the extraordinary attention + given and the immense importance assigned to the details of sacrifice, and + the supernatural efficacy constantly attributed to a sort of magical + asceticism (tapas, austere fervour), prove that the worst and most foolish + elements of later Indian society and thought were in the Vedic age already + in powerful existence. + </p> + <p> + (1) Les Religions de l'Inde, p. 27. + </p> + <p> + (2) ix. 112. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ludwig, Rig-Veda, iii. 203. The burgs were fortified with wooden + palisades, capable of being destroyed by fire. "Cities" may be too + magnificent a word for what perhaps were more like pahs. But compare + Kaegi, The Rig-Veda, note 42, Engl. transl. Kaegi's book (translated by + Dr. Arrowsmith, Boston, U.S., 1886) is probably the best short manual of + the subject. + </p> + <p> + (4) Deut. xxv. 5; Matt. xxii. 24. + </p> + <p> + (5) Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, i. 245. + </p> + <p> + (6) Ludwig, iii. 262. + </p> + <p> + (7) On this subject see Muir, i. 192, with the remarks of Haug. "From all + we know, the real origin of caste seems to go back to a time anterior to + the composition of the Vedic hymns, though its development into a regular + system with insurmountable barriers can be referred only to the later + period of the Vedic times." Roth approaches the subject from the word + brahm, that is, prayer with a mystical efficacy, as his starting-point. + From brahm, prayer, came brahma, he who pronounces the prayers and + performs the rite. This celebrant developed into a priest, whom to + entertain brought blessings on kings. This domestic chaplaincy (conferring + peculiar and even supernatural benefits) became hereditary in families, + and these, united by common interests, exalted themselves into the Brahman + caste. But in the Vedic age gifts of prayer and poetry alone marked out + the purohitas, or men put forward to mediate between gods and mortals. + Compare Ludwig, iii. 221. + </p> + <p> + Thus it is self-evident that the society in which the Vedic poets lived + was so far from being PRIMITIVE that it was even superior to the higher + barbarisms (such as that of the Scythians of Herodotus and Germans of + Tacitus), and might be regarded as safely arrived at the threshold of + civilisation. Society possessed kings, though they may have been kings of + small communities, like those who warred with Joshua or fought under the + walls of Thebes or Troy. Poets were better paid than they seem to have + been at the courts of Homer or are at the present time. For the tribal + festivals special priests were appointed, "who distinguished themselves by + their comprehensive knowledge of the requisite rites and by their + learning, and amongst whom a sort of rivalry is gradually developed, + according as one tribe or another is supposed to have more or less + prospered by its sacrifices".(1) In the family marriage is sacred, and + traces of polyandry and of the levirate, surviving as late as the epic + poems, were regarded as things that need to be explained away. Perhaps the + most barbaric feature in Vedic society, the most singular relic of a + distant past, is the survival, even in a modified and symbolic form, of + human sacrifice.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Weber, p. 37. + </p> + <p> + (2) Wilson, Rig-Veda, i. p. 59-63; Muir, i. ii.; Wilson, Rig-Veda i. p. + xxiv., ii. 8 (ii. 90); Aitareya Brahmana, Haug's version, vol. ii. pp. + 462, 469. + </p> + <p> + As to the religious condition of the Vedic Aryans, we must steadily + remember that in the Vedas we have the views of the Rishis only, that is, + of sacred poets on their way to becoming a sacred caste. Necessarily they + no more represent the POPULAR creeds than the psalmists and prophets, with + their lofty monotheistic morality, represent the popular creeds of Israel. + The faith of the Rishis, as will be shown later, like that of the + psalmists, has a noble moral aspect. Yet certain elements of this higher + creed are already found in the faiths of the lowest savages. The Rishis + probably did not actually INVENT them. Consciousness of sin, of + imperfection in the sight of divine beings, has been developed (as it has + even in Australia) and is often confessed. But on the whole the religion + of the Rishis is practical—it might almost be said, is magical. They + desire temporal blessings, rain, sunshine, long life, power, wealth in + flocks and herds. The whole purpose of the sacrifices which occupy so much + of their time and thought is to obtain these good things. The sacrifice + and the sacrificer come between gods and men. On the man's side is faith, + munificence, a compelling force of prayer and of intentness of will. The + sacrifice invigorates the gods to do the will of the sacrificer; it is + supposed to be mystically celebrated in heaven as well as on earth—the + gods are always sacrificing. Often (as when rain is wanted) the sacrifice + imitates the end which it is desirable to gain.(1) In all these matters a + minute ritual is already observed. The mystic word brahma, in the sense of + hymn or prayer of a compelling and magical efficacy, has already come into + use. The brahma answers almost to the Maori karakia or incantation and + charm. "This brahma of Visvamitra protects the tribe of Bharata." "Atri + with the fourth prayer discovered the sun concealed by unholy + darkness."(2) The complicated ritual, in which prayer and sacrifice were + supposed to exert a constraining influence on the supernatural powers, + already existed, Haug thinks, in the time of the chief Rishis or hymnists + of the Rig-Veda.(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Compare "The Prayers of Savages" in J. A. Farrer's Primitive Manners, + and Ludwig, iii. 262-296, and see Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique, vol. i. + p. 121. + </p> + <p> + (2) See texts in Muir, i. 242. + </p> + <p> + (3) Preface to translation of Aitareya Brahmana, p. 36. + </p> + <p> + In many respects the nature of the idea of the divine, as entertained by + the Rishis of the Rig-Veda, is still matter for discussion. In the chapter + on Vedic gods such particulars as can be ascertained will be given. + Roughly speaking, the religion is mainly, though not wholly, a cult of + departmental gods, originally, in certain cases, forces of Nature, but + endowed with moral earnestness. As to fetishism in the Vedas the opinions + of the learned are divided. M. Bergaigne(1) looks on the whole ritual as, + practically, an organised fetishism, employed to influence gods of a far + higher and purer character. Mr. Max Muller remarks, "that stones, bones, + shells, herbs and all the other so-called fetishes, are simply absent in + the old hymns, though they appear in more modern hymns, particularly those + of the Atharva-Veda. When artificial objects are mentioned and celebrated + in the Rig-Veda, they are only such as might be praised even by Wordsworth + or Tennyson—chariots, bows, quivers, axes, drums, sacrificial + vessels and similar objects. They never assume any individual character; + they are simply mentioned as useful or precious, it may be as sacred."(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) La Religion Vedique, vol. i. p. 123. "Le culte est assimilable dans + une certaine mesure aux incantations, aux pratiques magiques." + </p> + <p> + (2) Hibbert Lectures, p. 198. + </p> + <p> + When the existence of fetish "herbs" is denied by Mr. Max Muller, he does + not, of course, forget Soma, that divine juice. It is also to be noted + that in modern India, as Mr. Max Muller himself observes, Sir Alfred Lyall + finds that "the husbandman prays to his plough and the fisher to his net," + these objects being, at present, fetishes. In opposition to Mr. Max + Muller, Barth avers that the same kind of fetishism which flourishes + to-day flourishes in the Rig-Veda. "Mountains, rivers, springs, trees, + herbs are invoked as so many powers. The beasts which live with man—the + horse, the cow, the dog, the bird and the animals which imperil his + existence—receive a cult of praise and prayer. Among the instruments + of ritual, some objects are more than things consecrated—they are + divinities; and the war-chariot, the weapons of defence and offence, the + plough, are the objects not only of benedictions but of prayers."(1) These + absolute contradictions on matters of fact add, of course, to the + difficulty of understanding the early Indo-Aryan religion. One authority + says that the Vedic people were fetish-worshippers; another authority + denies it. + </p> + <p> + (1) Barth, Les Religions de l'Inde, p. 7, with the Vedic texts. + </p> + <p> + Were the Rishis ancestor-worshippers? Barth has no doubt whatever that + they were. In the pitris or fathers he recognises ancestral spirits, now + "companions of the gods, and gods themselves. At their head appear the + earliest celebrants of the sacrifice, Atharvan, the Angiras, the Kavis + (the pitris, par excellence) equals of the greatest gods, spirits who, BY + DINT OF SACRIFICE, drew forth the world from chaos, gave birth to the sun + and lighted the stars,"—cosmical feats which, as we have seen, are + sometimes attributed by the lower races to their idealised mythic + ancestors, the "old, old ones" of Australians and Ovahereroes. + </p> + <p> + A few examples of invocations of the ancestral spirits may not be out of + place.(1) "May the Fathers protect me in my invocation of the gods." Here + is a curious case, especially when we remember how the wolf, in the North + American myth, scattered the stars like spangles over the sky: "The + fathers have adorned the sky with stars".(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Rig-Veda, vi. 52,4. + </p> + <p> + (2) Ibid., x. 68, xi. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Whitney (Oriental and Linguistic Studies, First Series, p. 59) gives + examples of the ceremony of feeding the Aryan ghosts. "The fathers are + supposed to assemble, upon due invocation, about the altar of him who + would pay them homage, to seat themselves upon the straw or matting spread + for each of the guests invited, and to partake of the offerings set before + them." The food seems chiefly to consist of rice, sesame and honey. + </p> + <p> + Important as is the element of ancestor-worship in the evolution of + religion, Mr. Max Muller, in his Hibbert Lectures, merely remarks that + thoughts and feelings about the dead "supplied some of the earliest and + most important elements of religion"; but how these earliest elements + affect his system does not appear. On a general view, then, the religion + of the Vedic poets contained a vast number of elements in solution—elements + such as meet us in every quarter of the globe. The belief in ancestral + ghosts, the adoration of fetishes, the devotion to a moral ideal, + contemplated in the persons of various deities, some of whom at least have + been, and partly remain, personal natural forces, are all mingled, and all + are drifting towards a kind of pantheism, in which, while everything is + divine, and gods are reckoned by millions, the worshipper has glimpses of + one single divine essence. The ritual, as we have seen, is more or less + magical in character. The general elements of the beliefs are found, in + various proportions, everywhere; the pantheistic mysticism is almost + peculiar to India. It is, perhaps, needless to repeat that a faith so very + composite, and already so strongly differentiated, cannot possibly be + "primitive," and that the beliefs and practices of a race so highly + organised in society and so well equipped in material civilisation as the + Vedic Aryans cannot possibly be "near the beginning". Far from expecting + to find in the Veda the primitive myths of the Aryans, we must remember + that myth had already, when these hymns were sung, become obnoxious to the + religious sentiment. "Thus," writes Barth, "the authors of the hymns have + expurgated, or at least left in the shade, a vast number of legends older + than their time; such, for example, as the identity of soma with the moon, + as the account of the divine families, of the parricide of Indra, and a + long list might be made of the reticences of the Veda.... It would be + difficult to extract from the hymns a chapter on the loves of the gods. + The goddesses are veiled, the adventures of the gods are scarcely touched + on in passing.... We must allow for the moral delicacy of the singers, and + for their dislike of speaking too precisely about the gods. Sometimes it + seems as if their chief object was to avoid plain speaking.... But often + there is nothing save jargon and indolence of mind in this voluntary + obscurity, for already in the Veda the Indian intellect is deeply smitten + with its inveterate malady of affecting mystery the more, the more it has + nothing to conceal; the mania for scattering symbols which symbolise no + reality, and for sporting with riddles which it is not worth while to + divine."(1) Barth, however, also recognises amidst these confusions, "the + inquietude of a heart deeply stirred, which seeks truth and redemption in + prayer". Such is the natural judgment of the clear French intellect on the + wilfully obscure, tormented and evasive intellect of India. + </p> + <p> + (1) Les Religions de l'Inde, p. 21. + </p> + <p> + It would be interesting were it possible to illuminate the criticism of + Vedic religion by ascertaining which hymns in the Rig-Veda are the most + ancient, and which are later. Could we do this, we might draw inferences + as to the comparative antiquity of the religious ideas in the poems. But + no such discrimination of relative antiquity seems to be within the reach + of critics. M. Bergaigne thinks it impossible at present to determine the + relative age of the hymns by any philological test. The ideas expressed + are not more easily arrayed in order of date. We might think that the + poems which contain most ceremonial allusions were the latest. But Mr. Max + Muller says that "even the earliest hymns have sentiments worthy of the + most advanced ceremonialists".(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 556. + </p> + <p> + The first and oldest source of our knowledge of Indo-Aryan myths is the + Rig-Veda, whose nature and character have been described. The second + source is the Atharva-Veda with the Brahmanas. The peculiarity of the + Atharva is its collection of magical incantations spells and fragments of + folklore. These are often, doubtless, of the highest antiquity. Sorcery + and the arts of medicine-men are earlier in the course of evolution than + priesthood. We meet them everywhere among races who have not developed the + institution of an order of priests serving national gods. As a collection, + the Atharva-Veda is later than the Rig-Veda, but we need not therefore + conclude that the IDEAS of the Atharva are "a later development of the + more primitive ideas of the Rig-Veda". Magic is quod semper, quod ubique, + quod ab omnibus; the ideas of the Atharva-Veda are everywhere; the + peculiar notions of the Rig-Veda are the special property of an advanced + and highly differentiated people. Even in the present collected shape, M. + Barth thinks that many hymns of the Atharva are not much later than those + of the Rig-Veda. Mr. Whitney, admitting the lateness of the Atharva as a + collection, says, "This would not necessarily imply that the main body of + the Atharva hymns were not already in existence when the compilation of + the Rig-Veda took place".(1) The Atharva refers to some poets of the Rig + (as certain hymnists in the Rig also do) as earlier men. If in the Rig (as + Weber says) "there breathes a lively natural feeling, a warm love of + nature, while in the Atharva, on the contrary, there predominates an + anxious apprehension of evil spirits and their magical powers," it by no + means follows that this apprehension is of later origin than the lively + feeling for Nature. Rather the reverse. There appears to be no doubt(2) + that the style and language of the Atharva are later than those of the + Rig. Roth, who recognises the change, in language and style, yet considers + the Atharva "part of the old literature".(3) He concludes that the Atharva + contains many pieces which, "both by their style and ideas, are shown to + be contemporary with the older hymns of the Rig-Veda". In religion, + according to Muir,(4) the Atharva shows progress in the direction of + monotheism in its celebration of Brahman, but it also introduces + serpent-worship. + </p> + <p> + (1) Journal of the American Oriental Society. iv. 253. + </p> + <p> + (2) Muir, ii. 446. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid., ii. 448. + </p> + <p> + (4) Ibid., ii. 451. + </p> + <p> + As to the Atharva, then, we are free to suppose, if we like, that the dark + magic, the evil spirits, the incantations, are old parts of Indian, as of + all other popular beliefs, though they come later into literature than the + poetry about Ushas and the morality of Varuna. The same remarks apply to + our third source of information, the Brahmanas. These are indubitably + comments on the sacred texts very much more modern in form than the texts + themselves. But it does not follow, and this is most important for our + purpose, that the myths in the Brahmanas are all later than the Vedic + myths or corruptions of the Veda. Muir remarks,(1) "The Rig-Veda, though + the oldest collection, does not necessarily contain everything that is of + the greatest age in Indian thought or tradition. We know, for example, + that certain legends, bearing the impress of the highest antiquity, such + as that of the deluge, appear first in the Brahmanas." We are especially + interested in this criticism, because most of the myths which we profess + to explain as survivals of savagery are narrated in the Brahmanas. If + these are necessarily late corruptions of Vedic ideas, because the + collection of the Brahmanas is far more modern than that of the Veda, our + argument is instantly disproved. But if ideas of an earlier stratum of + thought than the Vedic stratum may appear in a later collection, as ideas + of an earlier stratum of thought than the Homeric appear in poetry and + prose far later than Homer, then our contention is legitimate. It will be + shown in effect that a number of myths of the Brahmanas correspond in + character and incident with the myths of savages, such as Cahrocs and + Ahts. Our explanation is, that these tales partly survived, in the minds + perhaps of conservative local priesthoods, from the savage stage of + thought, or were borrowed from aborigines in that stage, or were moulded + in more recent times on surviving examples of that wild early fancy. + </p> + <p> + (1) Muir, iv. 450. + </p> + <p> + In the age of the Brahmanas the people have spread southwards from the + basin of the Indus to that of the Ganges. The old sacred texts have begun + to be scarcely comprehensible. The priesthood has become much more + strictly defined and more rigorously constituted. Absurd as it may seem, + the Vedic metres, like the Gayatri, have been personified, and appear as + active heroines of stories presumably older than this personification. The + Asuras have descended from the rank of gods to that of the heavenly + opposition to Indra's government; they are now a kind of fiends, and the + Brahmanas are occupied with long stories about the war in heaven, itself a + very ancient conception. Varuna becomes cruel on occasion, and hostile. + Prajapati becomes the great mythical hero, and inherits the wildest myths + of the savage heroic beasts and birds. + </p> + <p> + The priests are now Brahmans, a hereditary divine caste, who possess all + the vast and puerile knowledge of ritual and sacrificial minutiae. As life + in the opera is a series of songs, so life in the Brahmanas is a sequence + of sacrifices. Sacrifice makes the sun rise and set, and the rivers run + this way or that. + </p> + <p> + The study of Indian myth is obstructed, as has been shown, by the + difficulty of determining the relative dates of the various legends, but + there are a myriad of other obstacles to the study of Indian mythology. A + poet of the Vedas says, "The chanters of hymns go about enveloped in mist, + and unsatisfied with idle talk".(1) The ancient hymns are still "enveloped + in mist," owing to the difficulty of their language and the variety of + modern renderings and interpretations. The heretics of Vedic religion, the + opponents of the orthodox commentators in ages comparatively recent, used + to complain that the Vedas were simply nonsense, and their authors "knaves + and buffoons". There are moments when the modern student of Vedic myths is + inclined to echo this petulant complaint. For example, it is difficult + enough to find in the Rig-Veda anything like a categoric account of the + gods, and a description of their personal appearance. But in Rig-Veda, + viii. 29, 1, we read of one god, "a youth, brown, now hostile, now + friendly; a golden lustre invests him". Who is this youth? "Soma as the + moon," according to the commentators. M. Langlois thinks the sun is meant. + Dr. Aufrecht thinks the troop of Maruts (spirits of the storm), to whom, + he remarks, the epithet "dark-brown, tawny" is as applicable as it is to + their master, Rudra. This is rather confusing, and a mythological inquirer + would like to know for certain whether he is reading about the sun or + soma, the moon, or the winds. + </p> + <p> + (1) Rig-Veda, x. 82, 7, but compare Bergaigne, op. cit., iii. 72, + "enveloppes de nuees et de murmures". + </p> + <p> + To take another example; we open Mr. Max Muller's translation of the + Rig-Veda at random, say at page 49. In the second verse of the hymn to the + Maruts, Mr. Muller translates, "They who were born together, + self-luminous, with the spotted deer (the clouds), the spears, the + daggers, the glittering ornaments. I hear their whips almost close by, as + they crack them in their hands; they gain splendour on their way." Now + Wilson translates this passage, "Who, borne by spotted deer, were born + self-luminous, with weapons, war-cries and decorations. I hear the + cracking of their whips in their hands, wonderfully inspiring courage in + the fight." Benfey has, "Who with stags and spears, and with thunder and + lightning, self-luminous, were born. Hard by rings the crack of their whip + as it sounds in their hands; bright fare they down in storm." Langlois + translates, "Just born are they, self-luminous. Mark ye their arms, their + decorations, their car drawn by deer? Hear ye their clamour? Listen! 'tis + the noise of the whip they hold in their hands, the sound that stirs up + courage in the battle." This is an ordinary example of the diversities of + Vedic translation. It is sufficiently puzzling, nor is the matter made + more transparent by the variety of opinion as to the meaning of the "deer" + along with which the Maruts are said (by some of the translators) to have + been born. This is just the sort of passage on which a controversy + affecting the whole nature of Vedic mythological ideas might be raised. + According to a text in the Yajur Veda, gods, and men, and beasts, and + other matters were created from various portions of the frame of a divine + being named Prajapati.(1) The god Agni, Brahmans and the goat were born + from the mouth of Prajapati. From his breast and arms came the god Indra + (sometimes spoken of as a ram), the sheep, and of men the Rajanya. Cows + and gods called Visvadevas were born together from his middle. Are we to + understand the words "they who were born together with the spotted deer" + to refer to a myth of this kind—a myth representing the Maruts and + deer as having been born at the same birth, as Agni came with the goat, + and Indra with the sheep? This is just the point on which the Indian + commentators were divided.(2) Sayana, the old commentator, says, "The + legendary school takes them for deer with white spots; the etymological + school, for the many-coloured lines of clouds". The modern legendary (or + anthropological) and etymological (or philological) students of mythology + are often as much at variance in their attempts to interpret the + traditions of India. + </p> + <p> + (1) Muir, Sanskrit Texts, 2nd edit., i. 16. + </p> + <p> + (2) Max Muller, Rig-Veda Sanhita, trans., vol. i. p. 59. + </p> + <p> + Another famous, and almost comic, example of the difficulty of Vedic + interpretation is well known. In Rig-Veda, x. 16, 4, there is a funeral + hymn. Agni, the fire-god, is supplicated either to roast a goat or to warm + the soul of the dead and convey it to paradise. Whether the soul is to be + thus comforted or the goat is to be grilled, is a question that has + mightily puzzled Vedic doctors.(1) Professor Muller and M. Langlois are + all for "the immortal soul", the goat has advocates, or had advocates, in + Aufrecht, Ludwig and Roth. More important difficulties of interpretation + are illustrated by the attitude of M. Bergaigne in La Religion Vedique, + and his controversy with the great German lexicographers. The study of + mythology at one time made the Vedas its starting-point. But perhaps it + would be wise to begin from something more intelligible, something less + perplexed by difficulties of language and diversities of interpretation. + </p> + <p> + (1) Muir, v. 217. + </p> + <p> + In attempting to criticise the various Aryan myths, we shall be guided, on + the whole, by the character of the myths themselves. Pure and elevated + conceptions we shall be inclined to assign to a pure and elevated + condition of thought (though such conceptions do, recognisably, occur in + the lowest known religious strata), and we shall make no difficulty about + believing that Rishis and singers capable of noble conceptions existed in + an age very remote in time, in a society which had many of the features of + a lofty and simple civilisation. But we shall not, therefore, assume that + the hymns of these Rishis are in any sense "primitive," or throw much + light on the infancy of the human mind, or on the "origin" of religious + and heroic myths. Impure, childish and barbaric conceptions, on the other + hand, we shall be inclined to attribute to an impure, childish, and + barbaric condition of thought; and we shall again make no difficulty about + believing that ideas originally conceived when that stage of thought was + general have been retained and handed down to a far later period. This + view of the possible, or rather probable, antiquity of many of the myths + preserved in the Brahmanas is strengthened, if it needed strengthening, by + the opinion of Dr. Weber.(1) "We must indeed assume generally with regard + to many of those legends (in the Brahmanas of the Rig-Veda) that they had + already gained a rounded independent shape in tradition before they were + incorporated into the Brahmanas; and of this we have frequent evidence in + the DISTINCTLY ARCHAIC CHARACTER OF THEIR LANGUAGE, compared with that of + the rest of the text." + </p> + <p> + (1) History of Indian Literature, English trans., p. 47. + </p> + <p> + We have now briefly stated the nature and probable relative antiquity of + the evidence which is at the disposal of Vedic mythologists. The chief + lesson we would enforce is the necessity of suspending the judgment when + the Vedas are represented as examples of primitive and comparatively pure + and simple natural religion. They are not primitive; they are highly + differentiated, highly complex, extremely enigmatic expressions of fairly + advanced and very peculiar religious thought. They are not morally so very + pure as has been maintained, and their purity, such as it is, seems the + result of conscious reticence and wary selection rather than of primeval + innocence. Yet the bards or editors have by no means wholly excluded very + ancient myths of a thoroughly savage character. These will be chiefly + exposed in the chapter on "Indo-Aryan Myths of the Beginnings of Things," + which follows. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. INDIAN MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN. + </h2> + <p> + Comparison of Vedic and savage myths—The metaphysical Vedic account + of the beginning of things—Opposite and savage fable of world made + out of fragments of a man—Discussion of this hymn—Absurdities + of Brahmanas—Prajapati, a Vedic Unkulunkulu or Qat—Evolutionary + myths—Marriage of heaven and earth—Myths of Puranas, their + savage parallels—Most savage myths are repeated in Brahmanas. + </p> + <p> + In discussing the savage myths of the origin of the world and of man, we + observed that they were as inconsistent as they were fanciful. Among the + fancies embodied in the myths was noted the theory that the world, or + various parts of it, had been formed out of the body of some huge + non-natural being, a god, or giant, or a member of some ancient mysterious + race. We also noted the myths of the original union of heaven and earth, + and their violent separation as displayed in the tales of Greeks and + Maoris, to which may be added the Acagchemem nation in California.(1) + Another feature of savage cosmogonies, illustrated especially in some + early Slavonic myths, in Australian legends, and in the faith of the + American races, was the creation of the world, or the recovery of a + drowned world by animals, as the raven, the dove and the coyote. The + hatching of all things out of an egg was another rude conception, chiefly + noted among the Finns. The Indian form occurs in the Satapatha + Brahmana.(2) The preservation of the human race in the Deluge, or the + creation of the race after the Deluge, was yet another detail of savage + mythology; and for many of these fancies we seemed to find a satisfactory + origin in the exceedingly credulous and confused state of savage + philosophy and savage imagination. + </p> + <p> + (1) Bancroft, v. 162. + </p> + <p> + (2) Sacred Books of the East, i. 216. + </p> + <p> + The question now to be asked is, do the traditions of the Aryans of India + supply us with myths so closely resembling the myths of Nootkas, Maoris + and Australians that we may provisionally explain them as stories + originally due to the invention of savages? This question may be answered + in the affirmative. The Vedas, the Epics and the Puranas contain a large + store of various cosmogonic traditions as inconsistent as the parallel + myths of savages. We have an Aryan Ilmarinen, Tvashtri, who, like the + Finnish smith, forged "the iron vault of hollow heaven" and the ball of + earth.(1) Again, the earth is said to have sprung, as in some Mangaian + fables, "from a being called Uttanapad".(2) Again, Brahmanaspati, "blew + the gods forth like a blacksmith," and the gods had a hand in the making + of things. In contrast with these childish pieces of anthropomorphism, we + have the famous and sublime speculations of an often-quoted hymn.(3) It is + thus that the poet dreams of the days before being and non-being began:— + </p> + <p> + (1) Muir, v. 354. + </p> + <p> + (2) Rig-Veda, x. 72, 4. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid., x. 126. + </p> + <p> + "There was then neither non-entity nor entity; there was no atmosphere nor + sky above. What enveloped (all)?... Was it water, the profound abyss? + Death was not then, nor immortality: there was no distinction of day or + night. That One breathed calmly, self-supported; then was nothing + different from it, or above it. In the beginning darkness existed, + enveloped in darkness. All this was undistinguishable water. That One + which lay void and wrapped in nothingness was developed by the power of + fervour. Desire first arose in It, which was the primal germ of mind (and + which) sages, searching with their intellect, have discovered to be the + bond which connects entity with non-entity. The ray (or cord) which + stretched across these (worlds), was it below or was it above? There were + there impregnating powers and mighty forces, a self-supporting principle + beneath and energy aloft. Who knows? who here can declare whence has + sprung, whence this creation? The gods are subsequent to the development + of this (universe); who then knows whence it arose? From what this + creation arose, and whether (any one) made it or not, he who in the + highest heaven is its ruler, he verily knows, or (even) he does not + know."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Muir, Sanskrit Texts, 2nd edit., v. 357. + </p> + <p> + Here there is a Vedic hymn of the origin of things, from a book, it is + true, supposed to be late, which is almost, if not absolutely, free from + mythological ideas. The "self-supporting principle beneath and energy + aloft" may refer, as Dr. Muir suggests, to the father, heaven above, and + the mother, earth beneath. The "bond between entity and non-entity" is + sought in a favourite idea of the Indian philosophers, that of tapas or + "fervour". The other speculations remind us, though they are much more + restrained and temperate in character, of the metaphysical chants of the + New Zealand priests, of the Zunis, of Popol Vuh, and so on. These belong + to very early culture. + </p> + <p> + What is the relative age of this hymn? If it could be proved to be the + oldest in the Veda, it would demonstrate no more than this, that in time + exceedingly remote the Aryans of India possessed a philosopher, perhaps a + school of philosophers, who applied the minds to abstract speculations on + the origin of things. It could not prove that mythological speculations + had not preceded the attempts of a purer philosophy. But the date cannot + be ascertained. Mr. Max Muller cannot go farther than the suggestion that + the hymn is an expression of the perennis quaedam philosophia of Leibnitz. + We are also warned that a hymn is not necessarily modern because it is + philosophical.(1) Certainly that is true; the Zunis, Maoris, and Mangaians + exhibit amazing powers of abstract thought. We are not concerned to show + that this hymn is late; but it seems almost superfluous to remark that + ideas like those which it contains can scarcely be accepted as expressing + man's earliest theory of the origin of all things. We turn from such ideas + to those which the Aryans of India have in common with black men and red + men, with far-off Finns and Scandinavians, Chaldaeans, Haidahs, Cherokees, + Murri and Maori, Mangaians and Egyptians. + </p> + <p> + (1) History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 568. + </p> + <p> + The next Vedic account of creation which we propose to consider is as + remote as possible in character from the sublime philosophic poem. In the + Purusha Sukta, the ninetieth hymn of the tenth book of the Rig-Veda + Sanhita, we have a description of the creation of all things out of the + severed limbs of a magnified non-natural man, Purusha. This conception is + of course that which occurs in the Norse myths of the rent body of Ymir. + Borr's sons took the body of the Giant Ymir and of his flesh formed the + earth, of his blood seas and waters, of his bones mountains, of his teeth + rocks and stones, of his hair all manner of plants, of his skull the + firmament, of his brains the clouds, and so forth. In Chaldean story, Bel + cuts in twain the magnified non-natural woman Omorca, and converts the + halves of her body into heaven and earth. Among the Iroquois in North + America, Chokanipok was the giant whose limbs, bones and blood furnished + the raw material of many natural objects; while in Mangaia portions of Ru, + in Egypt of Set and Osiris, in Greece of Dionysus Zagreus were used in + creating various things, such as stones, plants and metals. The same ideas + precisely are found in the ninetieth hymn of the tenth book of the + Rig-Veda. Yet it is a singular thing that, in all the discussions as to + the antiquity and significance of this hymn which have come under our + notice, there has not been one single reference made to parallel legends + among Aryan or non-Aryan peoples. In accordance with the general + principles which guide us in this work, we are inclined to regard any + ideas which are at once rude in character and widely distributed, both + among civilised and uncivilised races, as extremely old, whatever may be + the age of the literary form in which they are presented. But the current + of learned opinions as to the date of the Purusha Sukta, the Vedic hymn + about the sacrifice of Purusha and the creation of the world out of + fragments of his body, runs in the opposite direction. The hymn is not + regarded as very ancient by most Sanskrit scholars. We shall now quote the + hymn, which contains the data on which any theory as to its age must be + founded:—(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Rig-Veda, x. 90; Muir, Sanskrit Texts, 2nd edit., i. 9. + </p> + <p> + "Purusha has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. On every + side enveloping the earth, he overpassed (it) by a space of ten fingers. + Purusha himself is this whole (universe), whatever is and whatever shall + be.... When the gods performed a sacrifice with Purusha as the oblation, + the spring was its butter, the summer its fuel, and the autumn its + (accompanying) offering. This victim, Purusha, born in the beginning, they + immolated on the sacrificial grass. With him the gods, the Sadhyas, and + the Rishis sacrificed. From that universal sacrifice were provided curds + and butter. It formed those aerial (creatures) and animals both wild and + tame. From that universal sacrifice sprang the Ric and Saman verses, the + metres and Yajush. From it sprang horses, and all animals with two rows of + teeth; kine sprang from it; from it goats and sheep. When (the gods) + divided Purusha, into how many parts did they cut him up? What was his + mouth? What arms (had he)? What (two objects) are said (to have been) his + thighs and feet? The Brahman was his mouth; the Rajanya was made his arms; + the being (called) the Vaisya, he was his thighs; the Sudra sprang from + his feet. The moon sprang from his soul (Mahas), the sun from his eye, + Indra and Agni from his mouth, and Yaiyu from his breath. From his navel + arose the air, from his head the sky, from his feet the earth, from his + ear the (four) quarters; in this manner (the gods) formed the world. When + the gods, performing sacrifice, bound Purusha as a victim, there were + seven sticks (stuck up) for it (around the fire), and thrice seven pieces + of fuel were made. With sacrifice the gods performed the sacrifice. These + were the earliest rites. These great powers have sought the sky, where are + the former Sadhyas, gods." + </p> + <p> + The myth here stated is plain enough in its essential facts. The gods + performed a sacrifice with a gigantic anthropomorphic being (Purusha = + Man) as the victim. Sacrifice is not found, as a rule, in the religious of + the most backward races of all; it is, relatively, an innovation, as shall + be shown later. His head, like the head of Ymir, formed the sky, his eye + the sun, animals sprang from his body. The four castes are connected with, + and it appears to be implied that they sprang from, his mouth, arms, + thighs and feet. It is obvious that this last part of the myth is + subsequent to the formation of castes. This is one of the chief arguments + for the late date of the hymn, as castes are not distinctly recognised + elsewhere in the Rig-Veda. Mr. Max Muller(1) believes the hymn to be + "modern both in its character and in its diction," and this opinion he + supports by philological arguments. Dr. Muir(2) says that the hymn "has + every character of modernness both in its diction and ideas". Dr Haug, on + the other hand,(3) in a paper read in 1871, admits that the present form + of the hymn is not older than the greater part of the hymns of the tenth + book, and than those of the Atharva Veda; but he adds, "The ideas which + the hymn contains are certainly of a primeval antiquity.... In fact, the + hymn is found in the Yajur-Veda among the formulas connected with human + sacrifices, which were formerly practised in India." We have expressly + declined to speak about "primeval antiquity," as we have scarcely any + evidence as to the myths and mental condition for example, even of + palaeolithic man; but we may so far agree with Dr. Haug as to affirm that + the fundamental idea of the Purusha Sukta, namely, the creation of the + world or portions of the world out of the fragments of a fabulous + anthropomorphic being is common to Chaldeans, Iroquois, Egyptians, Greeks, + Tinnehs, Mangaians and Aryan Indians. This is presumptive proof of the + antiquity of the ideas which Dr. Muir and Mr. Max Muller think relatively + modern. The savage and brutal character of the invention needs no + demonstration. Among very low savages, for example, the Tinnehs of British + North America, not a man, not a god, but a DOG, is torn up, and the + fragments are made into animals.(4) On the Paloure River a beaver suffers + in the manner of Purusha. We may, for these reasons, regard the chief idea + of the myth as extremely ancient—infinitely more ancient than the + diction of the hymn. + </p> + <p> + (1) Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 570. + </p> + <p> + (2) Sanskrit Texts, 2nd edit., i. 12. + </p> + <p> + (3) Sanskrit Text, 2nd edit., ii. 463. + </p> + <p> + (4) Hearne's Journey, pp. 342-343. + </p> + <p> + As to the mention of the castes, supposed to be a comparatively modern + institution, that is not an essential part of the legend. When the idea of + creation out of a living being was once received it was easy to extend the + conception to any institution, of which the origin was forgotten. The + Teutonic race had a myth which explained the origin of the classes eorl, + ceorl and thrall (earl, churl and slave). A South American people, to + explain the different ranks in society, hit on the very myth of Plato, the + legend of golden, silver and copper races, from which the ranks of society + have descended. The Vedic poet, in our opinion, merely extended to the + institution of caste a myth which had already explained the origin of the + sun, the firmament, animals, and so forth, on the usual lines of savage + thought. The Purusha Sukta is the type of many other Indian myths of + creation, of which the following(1) one is extremely noteworthy. + "Prajapati desired to propagate. He formed the Trivrit (stoma) from his + mouth. After it were produced the deity Agni, the metre Gayatri,... of men + the Brahman, of beasts the goat;... from his breast, and from his arms he + formed the Panchadasa (stoma). After it were created the God Indra, the + Trishtubh metre,... of men the Rajanya, of beasts the sheep. Hence they + are vigorous, because they were created from vigour. From his middle he + formed the Saptadasa (stoma). After it were created the gods called the + Yisvadevas, the Jagati metre,... of men the Vaisya, of beasts kine. Hence + they are to be eaten, because they were created from the receptacle of + food." The form in which we receive this myth is obviously later than the + institution of caste and the technical names for metres. Yet surely any + statement that kine "are to be eaten" must be older than the universal + prohibition to eat that sacred animal the cow. Possibly we might argue + that when this theory of creation was first promulgated, goats and sheep + were forbidden food.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Taittirya Sanhita, or Yajur-Veda, vii. i. 1-4; Muir, 2nd edit., i. 15. + </p> + <p> + (2) Mr. M'Lennan has drawn some singular inferences from this passage, + connecting, as it does, certain gods and certain classes of men with + certain animals, in a manner somewhat suggestive of totemism (Fornightly + Review), February, 1870. + </p> + <p> + Turning from the Vedas to the Brahmanas, we find a curiously savage myth + of the origin of species.(1) According to this passage of the Brahmana, + "this universe was formerly soul only, in the form of Purusha". He caused + himself to fall asunder into two parts. Thence arose a husband and a wife. + "He cohabited with her; from them men were born. She reflected, 'How does + he, after having produced me from himself, cohabit with me? Ah, let me + disappear.' She became a cow, and the other a bull, and he cohabited with + her. From them kine were produced." After a series of similar + metamorphoses of the female into all animal shapes, and a similar series + of pursuits by the male in appropriate form, "in this manner pairs of all + sorts of creatures down to ants were created". This myth is a parallel to + the various Greek legends about the amours in bestial form of Zeus, + Nemesis, Cronus, Demeter and other gods and goddesses. In the Brahmanas + this myth is an explanation of the origin of species, and such an + explanation as could scarcely have occurred to a civilised mind. In other + myths in the Brahmanas, Prajapati creates men from his body, or rather the + fluid of his body becomes a tortoise, the tortoise becomes a man + (purusha), with similar examples of speculation.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Satapatha Brahmana, xiv. 4, 2; Muir, 2nd edit., i. 25. + </p> + <p> + (2) Similar tales are found among the Khonds. + </p> + <p> + Among all these Brahmana myths of the part taken by Prajapati in the + creation or evoking of things, the question arises who WAS Prajapati? His + role is that of the great Hare in American myth; he is a kind of demiurge, + and his name means "The Master of Things Created," like the Australian + Biamban, "Master," and the American title of the chief Manitou, "Master of + Life",(1) Dr. Muir remarks that, as the Vedic mind advances from mere + divine beings who "reside and operate in fire" (Agni), "dwell and shine in + the sun" (Surya), or "in the atmosphere" (Indra), towards a conception of + deity, "the farther step would be taken of speaking of the deity under + such new names as Visvakarman and Prajapati". These are "appellatives + which do not designate any limited functions connected with any single + department of Nature, but the more general and abstract notions of divine + power operating in the production and government of the universe". Now the + interesting point is that round this new and abstract NAME gravitate the + most savage and crudest myths, exactly the myths we meet among Hottentots + and Nootkas. For example, among the Hottentots it is Heitsi Eibib, among + the Huarochiri Indians it is Uiracocha, who confers, by curse or blessing, + on the animals their proper attributes and characteristics.(2) In the + Satapatha Brahmana it is Prajapati who takes this part, that falls to rude + culture-heroes of Hottentots and Huarochiris.(3) How Prajapati made + experiments in a kind of state-aided evolution, so to speak, or evolution + superintended and assisted from above, will presently be set forth. + </p> + <p> + (1) Bergaigne, iii. 40. + </p> + <p> + (2) Avila, Fables of the Yncas, p. 127. + </p> + <p> + (3) English translation, ii. 361. + </p> + <p> + In the Puranas creation is a process renewed after each kalpa, or vast + mundane period. Brahma awakes from his slumber, and finds the world a + waste of water. Then, just as in the American myths of the coyote, and the + Slavonic myths of the devil and the doves, a boar or a fish or a tortoise + fishes up the world out of the waters. That boar, fish, tortoise, or what + not, is Brahma or Vishnu. This savage conception of the beginnings of + creation in the act of a tortoise, fish, or boar is not first found in the + Puranas, as Mr. Muir points out, but is indicated in the Black Yajur Veda + and in the Satapatha Brahmana.(1) In the Satapatha Brahmana, xiv. 1, 2, + 11, we discover the idea, so common in savage myths—for example, in + that of the Navajoes—that the earth was at first very small, a mere + patch, and grew bigger after the animal fished it up. "Formerly this earth + was only so large, of the size of a span. A boar called Emusha raised her + up." Here the boar makes no pretence of being the incarnation of a god, + but is a mere boar sans phrase, like the creative coyote of the Papogas + and Chinooks, or the musk-rat of the Tacullies. This is a good example of + the development of myths. Savages begin, as we saw, by mythically + regarding various animals, spiders, grasshoppers, ravens, eagles, + cockatoos, as the creators or recoverers of the world. As civilisation + advances, those animals still perform their beneficent functions, but are + looked on as gods in disguise. In time the animals are often dropped + altogether, though they hold their place with great tenacity in the + cosmogonic traditions of the Aryans in India. When we find the Satapatha + Brahmana alleging(2) "that all creatures are descended from a tortoise," + we seem to be among the rude Indians of the Pacific Coast. But when the + tortoise is identified with Aditya, and when Adityas prove to be solar + deities, sons of Aditi, and when Aditi is recognised by Mr. Muller as the + Dawn, we see that the Aryan mind has not been idle, but has added a good + deal to the savage idea of the descent of men and beasts from a + tortoise.(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Muir, 2nd edit., vol. i. p. 52. + </p> + <p> + (2) Muir, 2nd edit., vol. i. p. 54. + </p> + <p> + (3) See Ternaux Compans' Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, lxxxvi. p. 5. For + Mexican traditions, "Mexican and Australian Hurricane World's End," + Bancroft, v. 64. + </p> + <p> + Another feature of savage myths of creation we found to be the + introduction of a crude theory of evolution. We saw that among the + Potoyante tribe of the Digger Indians, and among certain Australian + tribes, men and beasts were supposed to have been slowly evolved and + improved out of the forms first of reptiles and then of quadrupeds. In the + mythologies of the more civilised South American races, the idea of the + survival of the fittest was otherwise expressed. The gods made several + attempts at creation, and each set of created beings proving in one way or + other unsuited to its environment, was permitted to die out or degenerated + into apes, and was succeeded by a set better adapted for survival.(1) In + much the same way the Satapatha Brahmana(2) represents mammals as the last + result of a series of creative experiments. "Prajapati created living + beings, which perished for want of food. Birds and serpents perished thus. + Prajapati reflected, 'How is it that my creatures perish after having been + formed?' He perceived this: 'They perish from want of food'. In his own + presence he caused milk to be supplied to breasts. He created living + beings, which, resorting to the breasts, were thus preserved. These are + the creatures which did not perish." + </p> + <p> + (1) This myth is found in Popol Vuh. A Chinook myth of the same sort, + Bancroft, v. 95. + </p> + <p> + (2) ii. 5, 11; Muir, 2nd edit., i. 70. + </p> + <p> + The common myth which derives the world from a great egg—the myth + perhaps most familiar in its Finnish shape—is found in the Satapatha + Brahmana.(1) "In the beginning this universe was waters, nothing but + waters. The waters desired: 'How can we be reproduced?' So saying, they + toiled, they performed austerity. While they were performing austerity, a + golden egg came into existence. It then became a year.... From it in a + year a man came into existence, who was Prajapati.... He conceived progeny + in himself; with his mouth he created the gods." According to another + text,(2) "Prajapati took the form of a tortoise". The tortoise is the same + as Aditya.(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) xi. 1, 6, 1; Muir, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1863. + </p> + <p> + (2) Satapatha Brahmana, vii. 4, 3, 5. + </p> + <p> + (3) Aitareya Brahmana, iii. 34 (11, 219), a very discreditable origin of + species. + </p> + <p> + It is now time to examine the Aryan shape of the widely spread myth about + the marriage of heaven and earth, and the fortunes of their children. We + have already seen that in New Zealand heaven and earth were regarded as + real persons, of bodily parts and passions, united in a secular embrace. + We shall apply the same explanation to the Greek myth of Gaea and of the + mutilation of Cronus. In India, Dyaus (heaven) answers to the Greek Uranus + and the Maori Rangi, while Prithivi (earth) is the Greek Gaea, the Maori + Papa. In the Veda, heaven and earth are constantly styled "parents";(1) + but this we might regard as a mere metaphorical expression, still common + in poetry. A passage of the Aitareya Brahmana, however, retains the old + conception, in which there was nothing metaphorical at all.(2) These two + worlds, heaven and earth, were once joined. Subsequently they were + separated (according to one account, by Indra, who thus plays the part of + Cronus and of Tane Mahuta). "Heaven and earth," says Dr. Muir, "are + regarded as the parents not only of men, but of the gods also, as appears + from the various texts where they are designated by the epithet Devapatre, + 'having gods for their children'." By men in an early stage of thought + this myth was accepted along with others in which heaven and earth were + regarded as objects created by one of their own children, as by Indra,(3) + who "stretched them out like a hide," who, like Atlas, "sustains and + upholds them"(4) or, again, Tvashtri, the divine smith, wrought them by + his craft; or, once more, heaven and earth sprung from the head and feet + of Purusha. In short, if any one wished to give an example of that + recklessness of orthodoxy or consistency which is the mark of early myth, + he could find no better example than the Indian legends of the origin of + things. Perhaps there is not one of the myths current among the lower + races which has not its counterpart in the Indian Brahmanas. It has been + enough for us to give a selection of examples. + </p> + <p> + (1) Muir, v. 22. + </p> + <p> + (2) iv. 27; Haug, ii. 308. + </p> + <p> + (3) Rig-Veda, viii. 6, 5. + </p> + <p> + (4) Ibid., iii. 32, 8. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. GREEK MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND MAN. + </h2> + <p> + The Greeks practically civilised when we first meet them in Homer—Their + mythology, however, is full of repulsive features—The hypothesis + that many of these are savage survivals—Are there other examples of + such survival in Greek life and institutions?—Greek opinion was + constant that the race had been savage—Illustrations of savage + survival from Greek law of homicide, from magic, religion, human + sacrifice, religious art, traces of totemism, and from the mysteries—Conclusion: + that savage survival may also be expected in Greek myths. + </p> + <p> + The Greeks, when we first make their acquaintance in the Homeric poems, + were a cultivated people, dwelling, under the government of royal + families, in small city states. This social condition they must have + attained by 1000 B.C., and probably much earlier. They had already a long + settled past behind them, and had no recollection of any national + migration from the "cradle of the Aryan race". On the other hand, many + tribes thought themselves earth-born from the soil of the place where they + were settled. The Maori traditions prove that memories of a national + migration may persist for several hundred years among men ignorant of + writing. Greek legend, among a far more civilised race, only spoke of + occasional foreign settlers from Sidon, Lydia, or Egypt. The Homeric + Greeks were well acquainted with almost all the arts of life, though it is + not absolutely certain that they could write, and certainly they were not + addicted to reading. In war they fought from chariots, like the Egyptians + and Assyrians; they were bold seafarers, being accustomed to harry the + shores even of Egypt, and they had large commercial dealings with the + people of Tyre and Sidon. In the matter of religion they were + comparatively free and unrestrained. Their deities, though, in myth, + capricious in character, might be regarded in many ways as "making for + righteousness". They protected the stranger and the suppliant; they + sanctioned the oath, they frowned on the use of poisoned arrows; marriage + and domestic life were guarded by their good-will; they dispensed good and + evil fortune, to be accepted with humility and resignation among mortals. + </p> + <p> + The patriarchal head of each family performed the sacrifices for his + household, the king for the state, the ruler of Mycenae, Agamemnon, for + the whole Achaean host encamped before the walls of Troy. At the same + time, prophets, like Calchas, possessed considerable influence, due partly + to an hereditary gift of second-sight, as in the case of Theoclymenus,(1) + partly to acquired professional skill in observing omens, partly to the + direct inspiration of the gods. The oracle at Delphi, or, as it is called + by Homer, Pytho, was already famous, and religion recognised, in various + degrees, all the gods familiar to the later cult of Hellas. In a people so + advanced, so much in contact with foreign races and foreign ideas, and so + wonderfully gifted by nature with keen intellect and perfect taste, it is + natural to expect, if anywhere, a mythology almost free from repulsive + elements, and almost purged of all that we regard as survivals from the + condition of savagery. But while Greek mythology is richer far than any + other in beautiful legend, and is thronged with lovely and majestic forms + of gods and goddesses, nymphs and oreads ideally fair, none the less a + very large proportion of its legends is practically on a level with the + myths of Maoris, Thlinkeets, Cahrocs and Bushmen. + </p> + <p> + (1) Odyssey, xx. 354. + </p> + <p> + This is the part of Greek mythology which has at all times excited most + curiosity, and has been made the subject of many systems of + interpretation. The Greeks themselves, from almost the earliest historical + ages, were deeply concerned either to veil or explain away the blasphemous + horrors of their own "sacred chapters," poetic traditions and temple + legends. We endeavour to account for these as relics of an age of + barbarism lying very far behind the time of Homer—an age when the + ancestors of the Greeks either borrowed, or more probably developed for + themselves, the kind of myths by which savage peoples endeavour to explain + the nature and origin of the world and all phenomena. + </p> + <p> + The correctness of this explanation, resting as it does on the belief that + the Greeks were at one time in the savage status, might be demonstrated + from the fact that not only myths, but Greek life in general, and + especially Greek ritual, teemed with surviving examples of institutions + and of manners which are found everywhere among the most backward and + barbarous races. It is not as if only the myths of Greece retained this + rudeness, or as if the Greeks supposed themselves to have been always + civilised. The whole of Greek life yields relics of savagery when the + surface is excavated ever so slightly. Moreover, that the Greeks, as soon + as they came to reflect on these matters at all, believed themselves to + have emerged from a condition of savagery is undeniable. The poets are + entirely at one on this subject with Moschion, a writer of the school of + Euripides. "The time hath been, yea, it HATH been," he says, "when men + lived like the beasts, dwelling in mountain caves, and clefts unvisited of + the sun.... Then they broke not the soil with ploughs nor by aid of iron, + but the weaker man was slain to make the supper of the stronger," and so + on.(1) This view of the savage origin of mankind was also held by + Aristotle:(2) "It is probable that the first men, whether they were + produced by the earth (earth-born) or survived from some deluge, were on a + level of ignorance and darkness".(3) This opinion, consciously held and + stated by philosophers and poets, reveals itself also in the universal + popular Greek traditions that men were originally ignorant of fire, + agriculture, metallurgy and all the other arts and conveniences of life, + till they were instructed by ideal culture-heroes, like Prometheus, + members of a race divine or half divine. A still more curious Athenian + tradition (preserved by Varro) maintained, not only that marriage was + originally unknown, but that, as among Australians and some Red Indians, + the family name, descended through the mother, and kinship was reckoned on + the female side before the time of Cecrops.(4) + </p> + <p> + (1) Moschion; cf. Preller, Ausgewahlte Aufsatze, p. 206. + </p> + <p> + (2) Politics, ii. 8-21; Plato, Laws, 667-680. + </p> + <p> + (3) Compare Horace, Satires, i. 3, 99; Lucretius, v. 923. + </p> + <p> + (4) Suidas, s.v. "Prometheus"; Augustine, De Civitate Dei, xviii. 9. + </p> + <p> + While Greek opinion, both popular and philosophical, admitted, or rather + asserted, that savagery lay in the background of the historical prospect, + Greek institutions retained a thousand birth-marks of savagery. It is + manifest and undeniable that the Greek criminal law, as far as it effected + murder, sprang directly from the old savage blood-feud.(1) The Athenian + law was a civilised modification of the savage rule that the kindred of a + slain man take up his blood-feud. Where homicide was committed WITHIN the + circle of blood relationship, as by Orestes, Greek religion provided the + Erinnyes to punish an offence which had, as it were, no human avenger. The + precautions taken by murderers to lay the ghost of the slain man were much + like those in favour among the Australians. The Greek cut off the + extremities of his victim, the tips of the hands and feet, and disposed + them neatly beneath the arm-pits of the slain man.(2) In the same spirit, + and for the same purpose, the Australian black cuts off the thumbs of his + dead enemy, that the ghost too may be mutilated and prevented from + throwing at him with a ghostly spear. We learn also from Apollonius + Rhodius and his scholiast that Greek murderers used thrice to suck in and + spit out the gore of their victims, perhaps with some idea of thereby + partaking of their blood, and so, by becoming members of their kin, + putting it beyond the power of the ghosts to avenge themselves. Similar + ideas inspire the worldwide savage custom of making an artificial "blood + brotherhood" by mingling the blood of the contracting parties. As to the + ceremonies of cleansing from blood-guiltiness among the Greeks, we may + conjecture that these too had their primitive side; for Orestes, in the + Eumenides, maintains that he has been purified of his mother's slaughter + by sufficient blood of swine. But this point will be illustrated + presently, when we touch on the mysteries. + </p> + <p> + (1) Duncker, History of Greece, Engl. transl., vol. ii. p. 129. + </p> + <p> + (2) See "Arm-pitting in Ancient Greece," in the American Journal of + Philology, October, 1885, where a discussion of the familiar texts in + Aeschylus and Apollonius Rhodius will be found. + </p> + <p> + Ritual and myth, as might be expected, retained vast masses of savage + rites and superstitious habits and customs. To be "in all things too + superstitious," too full of deisidaimonia, was even in St. Paul's time the + characteristic of the Athenians. Now superstition, or deisidaimonia, is + defined by Theophrastus,(1) as "cowardice in regard to the supernatural" + ((Greek text omitted)). This "cowardice" has in all ages and countries + secured the permanence of ritual and religious traditions. Men have always + argued, like one of the persons in M. Renan's play, Le Pretre de Nemi, + that "l'ordre du monde depend de l'ordre des rites qu'on observe". The + familiar endurable sequence of the seasons of spring, and seed-sowing, and + harvest depend upon the due performance of immemorial religious acts. "In + the mystic deposits," says Dinarchus, "lies the safety of the city."(2) + What the "mystic deposits" were nobody knows for certain, but they must + have been of very archaic sanctity, and occur among the Arunta and the + Pawnees. + </p> + <p> + (1) Characters. + </p> + <p> + (2) Ap. Hermann, Lehrbuch, p. 41; Aglaophamus, 965. + </p> + <p> + Ritual is preserved because it preserves LUCK. Not only among the Romans + and the Brahmans, with their endless minute ritual actions, but among such + lower races as the Kanekas of New Caledonia, the efficacy of religious + functions is destroyed by the slightest accidental infraction of + established rules.(1) The same timid conservatism presides over myth, and + in each locality the mystery-plays, with their accompanying narratives, + preserved inviolate the early forms of legend. Myth and ritual do not + admit of being argued about. "C'etait le rite etabli. Ce n'etait pas plus + absurde qu'autre chose," says the conservative in M. Renan's piece, + defending the mode of appointment of + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The priest who slew the slayer, + And shall himself be slain. +</pre> + <p> + (1) Thus the watchers of the dead in New Caledonia are fed by the sorcerer + with a mess at the end of a very long spoon, and should the food miss the + mouth, all the ceremonies have to be repeated. This detail is from Mr. J. + J. Atkinson. + </p> + <p> + Now, if the rites and myths preserved by the timorousness of this same + "cowardice towards the supernatural" were originally evolved in the stage + of savagery, savage they would remain, as it is impious and dangerous to + reform them till the religion which they serve perishes with them. These + relics in Greek ritual and faith are very commonly explained as due to + Oriental influences, as things borrowed from the dark and bloody + superstitions of Asia. But this attempt to save the native Greek character + for "blitheness" and humanity must not be pushed too far.(1) It must be + remembered that the cruder and wilder sacrifices and legends of Greece + were strictly LOCAL; that they were attached to these ancient temples, old + altars, barbarous xoana, or wooden idols, and rough fetish stones, in + which Pausanias found the most ancient relics of Hellenic theology. This + is a proof of their antiquity and a presumption in favour of their freedom + from foreign influence. Most of these things were survivals from that + dimly remembered prehistoric age in which the Greeks, not yet gathered + into city states, lived in villages or kraals, or pueblos, as we should + translate (Greek text omitted), if we were speaking of African or American + tribes. In that stage the early Greeks must have lacked both the civic and + the national or Panhellenic sentiment; their political unit was the clan, + which, again, answered in part to the totem kindred of America, or Africa, + or Australia.(2) In this stagnant condition they could not have made + acquaintance with the many creeds of Semitic and other alien peoples on + the shores of the Levant.(3) It was later, when Greece had developed the + city life of the heroic age, that her adventurous sons came into close + contact with Egypt and Phoenicia. + </p> + <p> + (1) Claus, De Antiq. Form. Dianae, 6,7,16. + </p> + <p> + (2) As C. O. Muller judiciously remarks: "The scenes of nine-tenths of the + Greek myths are laid in PARTICULAR DISTRICTS OF GREECE, and they speak of + the primeval inhabitants, of the lineage and adventures of native heroes. + They manifest an accurate acquaintance with individual localities, which, + at a time when Greece was neither explored by antiquaries, nor did + geographical handbooks exist, could be possessed only by the inhabitants + of these localities." Muller gives, as examples, myths of bears more or + less divine. Scientific Mythology, pp. 14, 15. + </p> + <p> + (3) Compare Claus, De Dianae Antiquissima Natura, p. 3. + </p> + <p> + In the colonising time, still later—perhaps from 900 B.C. downwards—the + Greeks, settled on sites whence they had expelled Sidonians or Sicanians, + very naturally continued, with modifications, the worship of such gods as + they found already in possession. Like the Romans, the Greeks easily + recognised their own deities in the analogous members of foreign + polytheistic systems. Thus we can allow for alien elements in such gods + and goddesses as Zeus Asterios, as Aphrodite of Cyprus or Eryx, or the + many-breasted Ephesian Artemis, whose monstrous form had its exact + analogue among the Aztecs in that many-breasted goddess of the maguey + plant whence beer was made. To discern and disengage the borrowed factors + in the Hellenic Olympus by analysis of divine names is a task to which + comparative philology may lawfully devote herself; but we cannot so + readily explain by presumed borrowing from without the rude xoana of the + ancient local temples, the wild myths of the local legends, the sacra + which were the exclusive property of old-world families, Butadae or + Eumolpidae. These are clearly survivals from a stage of Greek culture + earlier than the city state, earlier than the heroic age of the roving + Greek Vikings, and far earlier than the Greek colonies. They belong to + that conservative and immobile period when the tribe or clan, settled in + its scattered kraals, lived a life of agriculture, hunting and + cattle-breeding, engaged in no larger or more adventurous wars than border + feuds about women or cattle. Such wars were on a humbler scale than even + Nestor's old fights with the Epeians; such adventures did not bring the + tribe into contact with alien religions. If Sidonian merchantmen chanced + to establish a factory near a tribe in this condition, their religion was + not likely to make many proselytes. + </p> + <p> + These reasons for believing that most of the wilder element in Greek + ritual and myth was native may be briefly recapitulated, as they are often + overlooked. The more strange and savage features meet us in LOCAL tales + and practices, often in remote upland temples and chapels. There they had + survived from the society of the VILLAGE status, before villages were + gathered into CITIES, before Greeks had taken to a roving life, or made + much acquaintance with distant and maritime peoples. + </p> + <p> + For these historical reasons, it may be assumed that the LOCAL religious + antiquities of Greece, especially in upland districts like Arcadia and + Elis, are as old, and as purely national, as free from foreign influences + as any Greek institutions can be. In these rites and myths of true + folk-lore and Volksleben, developed before Hellas won its way to the pure + Hellenic stage, before Egypt and Phoenicia were familiar, should be found + that common rude element which Greeks share with the other races of the + world, and which was, to some extent, purged away by the genius of Homer + and Pindar, pii vates et Phaebo digna locuti. + </p> + <p> + In proof of this local conservatism, some passages collected by K. F. + Hermann in his Lehrbuch der Griechischen Antiquitaten(1) may be cited. + Thus Isocrates writes,(2) "This was all their care, neither to destroy any + of the ancestral rites, nor to add aught beyond what was ordained". + Clemens Alexandrinus reports that certain Thessalians worshipped storks, + "IN ACCORDANCE WITH USE AND WONT".(3) Plato lays down the very "law of + least change" which has been described. "Whether the legislator is + establishing a new state or restoring an old and decayed one, in respect + of gods and temples,... if he be a man of sense, he will MAKE NO CHANGE IN + ANYTHING which the oracle of Delphi, or Dodona, or Ammon has sanctioned, + in whatever manner." In this very passage Plato(4) speaks of rites + "derived from Tyrrhenia or Cyprus" as falling within the later period of + the Greek Wanderjahre. On the high religious value of things antique, + Porphyry wrote in a late age, and when the new religion of Christ was + victorious, "Comparing the new sacred images with the old, we see that the + old are more simply fashioned, yet are held divine, but the new, admired + for their elaborate execution, have less persuasion of divinity,"—a + remark anticipated by Pausanias, "The statues Daedalus wrought are + quainter to the outward view, yet there shows forth in them somewhat + supernatural".(5) So Athenaeus(6) reports of a visitor to the shrine of + Leto in Delos, that he expected the ancient statue of the mother of Apollo + to be something remarkable, but, unlike the pious Porphyry, burst out + laughing when he found it a shapeless wooden idol. These idols were + dressed out, fed and adorned as if they had life.(7) It is natural that + myths dating from an age when Greek gods resembled Polynesian idols should + be as rude as Polynesian myths. The tenacity of LOCAL myth is demonstrated + by Pausanias, who declares that even in the highly civilised Attica the + Demes retained legends different from those of the central city—the + legends, probably, which were current before the villages were + "Synoecised" into Athens.(8) + </p> + <p> + (1) Zweiter Theil, 1858. + </p> + <p> + (2) Areop., 30. + </p> + <p> + (3) Clem. Alex., Oxford, 1715, i. 34. + </p> + <p> + (4) Laws, v. 738. + </p> + <p> + (5) De. Abst., ii. 18; Paus., ii. 4, 5. + </p> + <p> + (6) xiv. 2. + </p> + <p> + (7) Hermann, op. cit., p. 94, note 10. + </p> + <p> + (8) Pausanias, i. 14, 6. + </p> + <p> + It appears, then, that Greek ritual necessarily preserves matter of the + highest antiquity, and that the oldest rites and myths will probably be + found, not in the Panhellenic temples, like that in Olympia, not in the + NATIONAL poets, like Homer and Sophocles, but in the LOCAL fanes of early + tribal gods, and in the LOCAL mysteries, and the myths which came late, if + they came at all, into literary circulation. This opinion is strengthened + and illustrated by that invaluable guide-book of the artistic and + religious pilgrim written in the second century after our era by + Pausanias. If we follow him, we shall find that many of the ceremonies, + stories and idols which he regarded as oldest are analogous to the idols + and myths of the contemporary backward races. Let us then, for the sake of + illustrating the local and savage survivals in Greek religion, accompany + Pausanias in his tour through Hellas. + </p> + <p> + In Christian countries, especially in modern times, the contents of one + church are very like the furniture of another church; the functions in one + resemble those in all, though on the Continent some shrines still retain + relics and customs of the period when local saints had their peculiar + rites. But it was a very different thing in Greece. The pilgrim who + arrived at a temple never could guess what oddity or horror in the way of + statues, sacrifices, or stories might be prepared for his edification. In + the first place, there were HUMAN SACRIFICES. These are not familiar to + low savages, if known to them at all. Probably they were first offered to + barbaric royal ghosts, and thence transferred to gods. In the town of + Salamis, in Cyprus, about the date of Hadrian, the devout might have found + the priest slaying a human victim to Zeus,—an interesting custom, + instituted, according to Lactantius, by Teucer, and continued till the age + of the Roman Empire.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Euseb., Praep. Ev., iv. 17, mentions, among peoples practising human + sacrifices, Rhodes, Salamis, Heliopolis, Chios, Tenedos, Lacedaemon, + Arcadia and Athens; and, among gods thus honoured, Hera, Athene, Cronus, + Ares, Dionysus, Zeus and Apollo. For Dionysus the Cannibal, Plutarch, + Themist., 13; Porphyr., Abst., ii. 55. For the sacrifice to Zeus + Laphystius, see Grote, i. c. vi., and his array of authorities, especially + Herodotus, vii. 197. Clemens Alexandrinus (i. 36) mentions the Messenians, + to Zeus; the Taurians, to Artemis, the folk of Pella, to Peleus and + Chiron; the Cretans, to Zeus; the Lesbians, to Dionysus. Geusius de + Victimis Humanis (1699) may be consulted. + </p> + <p> + At Alos in Achaia Phthiotis, the stranger MIGHT have seen an extraordinary + spectacle, though we admit that the odds would have been highly against + his chance of witnessing the following events. As the stranger approaches + the town-hall, he observes an elderly and most respectable citizen + strolling in the same direction. The citizen is so lost in thought that + apparently he does not notice where he is going. Behind him comes a crowd + of excited but silent people, who watch him with intense interest. The + citizen reaches the steps of the town-hall, while the excitement of his + friends behind increases visibly. Without thinking, the elderly person + enters the building. With a wild and un-Aryan howl, the other people of + Alos are down on him, pinion him, wreathe him with flowery garlands, and, + lead him to the temple of Zeus Laphystius, or "The Glutton," where he is + solemnly sacrificed on the altar. This was the custom of the good Greeks + of Alos whenever a descendant of the house of Athamas entered the + Prytaneion. Of course the family were very careful, as a rule, to keep at + a safe distance from the forbidden place. "What a sacrifice for Greeks!" + as the author of the Minos(1) says in that dialogue which is incorrectly + attributed to Plato. "He cannot get out except to be sacrificed," says + Herodotus, speaking of the unlucky descendant of Athamas. The custom + appears to have existed as late as the time of the scholiast on Apollonius + Rhodius.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) 315, c.; Plato, Laws, vi. 782, c. + </p> + <p> + (2) Argonautica, vii. 197. + </p> + <p> + Even in the second century, when Pausanias visited Arcadia, he found what + seem to have been human sacrifices to Zeus. The passage is so very strange + and romantic that we quote a part of it.(1) "The Lycaean hill hath other + marvels to show, and chiefly this: thereon there is a grove of Zeus + Lycaeus, wherein may men in nowise enter; but if any transgresses the law + and goes within, he must die within the space of one year. This tale, + moreover, they tell, namely, that whatsoever man or beast cometh within + the grove casts no shadow, and the hunter pursues not the deer into that + wood, but, waiting till the beast comes forth again, sees that it has left + its shadow behind. And on the highest crest of the whole mountain there is + a mound of heaped-up earth, the altar of Zeus Lycaeus, and the more part + of Peloponnesus can be seen from that place. And before the altar stand + two pillars facing the rising sun, and thereon golden eagles of yet more + ancient workmanship. And on this altar they sacrifice to Zeus in a manner + that may not be spoken, and little liking had I to make much search into + this matter. BUT LET IT BE AS IT IS, AND AS IT HATH BEEN FROM THE + BEGINNING." The words "as it hath been from the beginning" are ominous and + significant, for the traditional myths of Arcadia tell of the human + sacrifices of Lycaon, and of men who, tasting the meat of a mixed + sacrifice, put human flesh between their lips unawares.(2) This aspect of + Greek religion, then, is almost on a level with the mysterious cannibal + horrors of "Voodoo," as practised by the secret societies of negroes in + Hayti. But concerning these things, as Pausanias might say, it is little + pleasure to inquire. + </p> + <p> + (1) Pausanias, viii. 2. + </p> + <p> + (2) Plato, Rep., viii. 565, d. This rite occurs in some African coronation + ceremonies. + </p> + <p> + Even where men were not sacrificed to the gods, the tourist among the + temples would learn that these bloody rites had once been customary, and + ceremonies existed by way of commutation. This is precisely what we find + in Vedic religion, in which the empty form of sacrificing a man was gone + through, and the origin of the world was traced to the fragments of a god + sacrificed by gods.(1) In Sparta was an altar of Artemis Orthia, and a + wooden image of great rudeness and antiquity—so rude indeed, that + Pausanias, though accustomed to Greek fetish-stones, thought it must be of + barbaric origin. The story was that certain people of different towns, + when sacrificing at the altar, were seized with frenzy and slew each + other. The oracle commanded that the altar should be sprinkled with human + blood. Men were therefore chosen by lot to be sacrificed till Lycurgus + commuted the offering, and sprinkled the altar with the blood of boys who + were flogged before the goddess. The priestess holds the statue of the + goddess during the flogging, and if any of the boys are but lightly + scourged, the image becomes too heavy for her to bear. + </p> + <p> + (1) The Purusha Sukhta, in Rig-Veda, x. 90. + </p> + <p> + The Ionians near Anthea had a temple of Artemis Triclaria, and to her it + had been customary to sacrifice yearly a youth and maiden of transcendent + beauty. In Pausanias's time the human sacrifice was commuted. He himself + beheld the strange spectacle of living beasts and birds being driven into + the fire to Artemis Laphria, a Calydonian goddess, and he had seen bears + rush back among the ministrants; but there was no record that any one had + ever been hurt by these wild beasts.(1) The bear was a beast closely + connected with Artemis, and there is some reason to suppose that the + goddess had herself been a she-bear or succeeded to the cult of a she-bear + in the morning of time.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Paus., vii. 18, 19. + </p> + <p> + (2) See "Artemis", postea. + </p> + <p> + It may be believed that where symbolic human sacrifices are offered, that + is, where some other victim is slain or a dummy of a man is destroyed, and + where legend maintains that the sacrifice was once human, there men and + women were originally the victims. Greek ritual and Greek myth were full + of such tales and such commutations.(1) In Rome, as is well known, + effigies of men called Argives were sacrificed.(2) As an example of a + beast-victim given in commutation, Pausanias mentions(3) the case of the + folk of Potniae, who were compelled once a year to offer to Dionysus a + boy, in the bloom of youth. But the sacrifice was commuted for a goat. + </p> + <p> + (1) See Hermann, Alterthumer., ii. 159-161, for abundant examples. + </p> + <p> + (2) Plutarch, Quest. Rom. 32. + </p> + <p> + (3) ix. 8, 1. + </p> + <p> + These commutations are familiar all over the world. Even in Mexico, where + human sacrifices and ritual cannibalism were daily events, Quetzalcoatl + was credited with commuting human sacrifices for blood drawn from the + bodies of the religious. In this one matter even the most conservative + creeds and the faiths most opposed to change sometimes say with Tartuffe:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Le ciel defend, de vrai, certains contentements, + Mais on trouve avec lui des accommodements. +</pre> + <p> + Though the fact has been denied (doubtless without reflection), the fact + remains that the Greeks offered human sacrifices. Now what does this + imply? Must it be taken as a survival from barbarism, as one of the proofs + that the Greeks had passed through the barbaric status? + </p> + <p> + The answer is less obvious than might be supposed. Sacrifice has two + origins. First, there are HONORIFIC sacrifices, in which the ghost or god + (or divine beast, if a divine beast be worshipped) is offered the food he + is believed to prefer. This does not occur among the lowest savages. To + carnivorous totems, Garcilasso says, the Indians of Peru offered + themselves. The feeding of sacred mice in the temples of Apollo Smintheus + is well known. Secondly, there are expiatory or PIACULAR sacrifices, in + which the worshipper, as it were, fines himself in a child, an ox, or + something else that he treasures. The latter kind of sacrifice (most + common in cases of crime done or suspected within the circle of kindred) + is not necessarily barbaric, except in its cruelty. An example is the + Attic Thargelia, in which two human scape-goats annually bore "the sins of + the congregation," and were flogged, driven to the sea with figs tied + round their necks, and burned.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Compare the Marseilles human sacrifice, Petron., 141; and for the + Thargelia, Tsetzes, Chiliads, v. 736; Hellad. in Photius, p. 1590 f. and + Harpoc. s. v. + </p> + <p> + The institution of human sacrifice, then, whether the offering be regarded + as food, or as a gift to the god of what is dearest to man (as in the case + of Jephtha's daughter), or whether the victim be supposed to carry on his + head the sins of the people, does not necessarily date from the period of + savagery. Indeed, sacrifice flourishes most, not among savages, but among + advancing barbarians. It would probably be impossible to find any examples + of human sacrifices of an expiatory or piacular character, any sacrifices + at all, among Australians, or Andamanese, or Fuegians. The notion of + presenting food to the supernatural powers, whether ghosts or gods, is + relatively rare among savages.(1) The terrible Aztec banquets of which the + gods were partakers are the most noted examples of human sacrifices with a + purely cannibal origin. Now there is good reason to guess that human + sacrifices with no other origin than cannibalism survived even in ancient + Greece. "It may be conjectured," writes Professor Robertson Smith,(2) + "that the human sacrifices offered to the Wolf Zeus (Lycaeus) in Arcadia + were originally cannibal feasts of a Wolf tribe. The first participants in + the rite were, according to later legend, changed into wolves; and in + later times(3) at least one fragment of the human flesh was placed among + the sacrificial portions derived from other victims, and the man who ate + it was believed to become a were-wolf."(4) It is the almost universal rule + with cannibals not to eat members of their own stock, just as they do not + eat their own totem. Thus, as Professor Robertson Smith says, when the + human victim is a captive or other foreigner, the human sacrifice may be + regarded as a survival of cannibalism. Where, on the other hand, the + victim is a fellow tribesman, the sacrifice is expiatory or piacular. + </p> + <p> + (1) Jevons, Introduction to the Science of Religion, pp. 161, 199. + </p> + <p> + (2) Encyc. Brit., s. v. "Sacrifice". + </p> + <p> + (3) Plato, Rep., viii. 565, D. + </p> + <p> + (4) Paus., viii. 2. + </p> + <p> + Among Greek cannibal gods we cannot fail to reckon the so-called "Cannibal + Dionysus," and probably the Zeus of Orchomenos, Zeus Laphystius, who is + explained by Suidas as "the Glutton Zeus". The cognate verb ((Greek text + omitted)) means "to eat with mangling and rending," "to devour + gluttonously". By Zeus Laphystius, then, men's flesh was gorged in this + distressing fashion. + </p> + <p> + The evidence of human sacrifice (especially when it seems not piacular, + but a relic of cannibalism) raises a presumption that Greeks had once been + barbarians. The presumption is confirmed by the evidence of early Greek + religious art. + </p> + <p> + When his curiosity about human sacrifices was satisfied, the pilgrim in + Greece might turn his attention to the statues and other representations + of the gods. He would find that the modern statues by famous artists were + beautiful anthropomorphic works in marble or in gold and ivory. It is true + that the faces of the ancient gilded Dionysi at Corinth were smudged all + over with cinnabar, like fetish-stones in India or Africa.(1) As a rule, + however, the statues of historic times were beautiful representations of + kindly and gracious beings. The older works were stiff and rigid images, + with the lips screwed into an unmeaning smile. Older yet were the bronze + gods, made before the art of soldering was invented, and formed of beaten + plates joined by small nails. Still more ancient were the wooden images, + which probably bore but a slight resemblance to the human frame, and which + were often mere "stocks".(2) Perhaps once a year were shown the very early + gods, the Demeter with the horse's head, the Artemis with the fish's + tails, the cuckoo Hera, whose image was of pear-wood, the Zeus with three + eyes, the Hermes, made after the fashion of the pictures on the walls of + sacred caves among the Bushmen. But the oldest gods of all, says Pausanias + repeatedly, were rude stones in the temple or the temple precinct. In + Achaean Pharae he found some thirty squared stones, named each after a + god. "Among all the Greeks in the oldest times rude stones were worshipped + in place of statues." The superstitious man in Theophrastus's Characters + used to anoint the sacred stones with oil. The stone which Cronus + swallowed in mistake for Zeus was honoured at Delphi, and kept warm with + wool wrappings. There was another sacred stone among the Troezenians, and + the Megarians worshipped as Apollo a stone cut roughly into a pyramidal + form. The Argives had a big stone called Zeus Kappotas. The Thespians + worshipped a stone which they called Eros; "their oldest idol is a rude + stone".(3) It is well known that the original fetish-stone has been found + in situ below the feet of the statue of Apollo in Delos. On this showing, + then, the religion of very early Greeks in Greece was not unlike that of + modern Negroes. The artistic evolution of the gods, a remarkably rapid one + after a certain point, could be traced in every temple. It began with the + rude stone, and rose to the wooden idol, in which, as we have seen, + Pausanias and Porphyry found such sanctity. Next it reached the hammered + bronze image, passed through the archaic marbles, and culminated in the + finer marbles and the chryselephantine statues of Zeus and Athena. But + none of the ancient sacred objects lost their sacredness. The oldest were + always the holiest idols; the oldest of all were stumps and stones, like + savage fetish-stones. + </p> + <p> + (1) Pausanias, ii. 2. + </p> + <p> + (2) Clemens Alex., Protrept. (Oxford, 1715). p. 41. + </p> + <p> + (3) Gill, Myths of South Pacific, p. 60. Compare a god, which proved to be + merely pumice-stone, and was regarded as the god of winds and waves, + having been drifted to Puka-Puka. Offerings of food were made to it during + hurricanes. + </p> + <p> + Another argument in favour of the general thesis that savagery left deep + marks on Greek life in general, and on myth in particular, may be derived + from survivals of totemism in ritual and legend. The following instances + need not necessarily be accepted, but it may be admitted that they are + precisely the traces which totemism would leave had it once existed, and + then waned away on the advance of civilisation.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) The argument to be derived from the character of the Greek (Greek text + omitted) as a modified form of the totem-kindred is too long and complex + to be put forward here. It is stated in Custom and Myth, "The history of + the Family," in M'Lennan's Studies in Early history, and is assumed, if + not proved, in Ancient Society by the late Mr. Lewis Morgan. + </p> + <p> + That Greeks in certain districts regarded with religious reverence certain + plants and animals is beyond dispute. That some stocks even traced their + lineage to beasts will be shown in the chapter on Greek Divine Myths, and + the presumption is that these creatures, though explained as incarnations + and disguises of various gods, were once totems sans phrase, as will be + inferred from various examples. Clemens Alexandrinus, again, after + describing the animal-worship of the Egyptians, mentions cases of zoolatry + in Greece.(1) The Thessalians revered storks, the Thebans weasels, and the + myth ran that the weasel had in some way aided Alcmena when in labour with + Heracles. In another form of the myth the weasel was the foster-mother of + the hero.(2) Other Thessalians, the Myrmidons, claimed descent from the + ant and revered ants. The religious respect paid to mice in the temple of + Apollo Smintheus, in the Troad, Rhodes, Gela, Lesbos and Crete is well + known, and a local tribe were alluded to as Mice by an oracle. The god + himself, like the Japanese harvest-god, was represented in art with a + mouse at his foot, and mice, as has been said, were fed at his shrine.(3) + The Syrians, says Clemens Alexandrinus, worship doves and fishes, as the + Elians worship Zeus.(4) The people of Delphi adored the wolf,(5) and the + Samians the sheep. The Athenians had a hero whom they worshipped in the + shape of a wolf.(6) A remarkable testimony is that of the scholiast on + Apollonius Rhodius, ii. 124. "The wolf," he says, "was a beast held in + honour by the Athenians, and whosoever slays a wolf collects what is + needful for its burial." The burial of sacred animals in Egypt is + familiar. An Arab tribe mourns over and solemnly buries all dead + gazelles.(7) Nay, flies were adored with the sacrifice of an ox near the + temple of Apollo in Leucas.(8) Pausanias (iii. 22) mentions certain + colonists who were guided by a hare to a site where the animal hid in a + myrtle-bush. They therefore adore the myrtle, (Greek text omitted). In the + same way a Carian stock, the Ioxidae, revered the asparagus.(9) A + remarkable example of descent mythically claimed from one of the lower + animals is noted by Otfried Muller.(10) Speaking of the swan of Apollo, he + says, "That deity was worshipped, according to the testimony of the Iliad, + in the Trojan island of Tenedos. There, too, was Tennes honoured as the + (Greek text omitted) of the island. Now his father was called Cycnus (the + swan) in an oft-told and romantic legend.(11)... The swan, therefore, as + father to the chief hero on the Apolline island, stands in distinct + relation to the god, who is made to come forward still more prominently + from the fact that Apollo himself is also called father of Tennes. I think + we can scarcely fail to recognise a mythus which was local at Tenedos.... + The fact, too, of calling the swan, instead of Apollo, the father of a + hero, demands altogether a simplicity and boldness of fancy which are far + more ancient than the poems of Homer." + </p> + <p> + (1) Op. cit., i. 34. + </p> + <p> + (2) Scholiast on Iliad, xix. 119. + </p> + <p> + (3) Aelian, H. A., xii. 5; Strabo, xiii. 604. Compare "Apollo and the + Mouse, Custom and Myth, pp. 103-120. + </p> + <p> + (4) Lucian, De Dea Syria. + </p> + <p> + (5) Aelian, H. A., xii. 40. + </p> + <p> + (6) Harpocration, (Greek text omitted). Compare an address to the + wolf-hero, "who delights in the flight and tears of men," in Aristophanes, + Vespae, 389. + </p> + <p> + (7) Robertson Smith, Kinship in Early Arabia, pp. 195-204. + </p> + <p> + (8) Aelian, xi. 8. + </p> + <p> + (9) Plutarch, Theseus, 14. + </p> + <p> + (10) Proleg., Engl. trans., p. 204. + </p> + <p> + (11) (Canne on Conon, 28.) + </p> + <p> + Had Muller known that this "simplicity and boldness of fancy" exist + to-day, for example, among the Swan tribe of Australia, he would probably + have recognised in Cycnus a survival from totemism. The fancy survives + again in Virgil's Cupavo, "with swan's plumes rising from his crest, the + mark of his father's form".(1) Descent was claimed, not only from a swan + Apollo, but from a dog Apollo. + </p> + <p> + (1) Aeneid, x. 187. + </p> + <p> + In connection with the same set of ideas, it is pointed out that several + (Greek text omitted), or stocks, had eponymous heroes, in whose names the + names of the ancestral beast apparently survived. In Attica the Crioeis + have their hero (Crio, "Ram"), the Butadae have Butas ("Bullman"), the + Aegidae have Aegeus ("Goat"), and the Cynadae, Cynus ("Dog"). Lycus, + according to Harpocration (s. v.) has his statue in the shape of a wolf in + the Lyceum. "The general facts that certain animals might not be + sacrificed to certain gods" (at Athens the Aegidae introduced Athena, to + whom no goat might be offered on the Acropolis, while she herself wore the + goat skin, aegis), "while, on the other hand, each deity demanded + particular victims, explained by the ancients themselves in certain cases + to be hostile animals, find their natural explanation" in totemism.(1) Mr. + Evelyn Abbott points out, however, that the names Aegeus, Aegae, Aegina, + and others, may be connected with the goat only by an old + volks-etymologie, as on coins of Aegina in Achaea. The real meaning of the + words may be different. Compare (Greek text omitted), the sea-shore. Mr. + J. G. Frazer does not, at present, regard totemism as proved in the case + of Greece.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Some apparent survivals of totemism in ritual will be found in the + chapter on Greek gods, especially Zeus, Dionysus, and Apollo. + </p> + <p> + (2) See his Golden Bough, an alternative explanation of these animals in + connection with "The Corn Spirit". + </p> + <p> + As final examples of survivals from the age of barbarism in the religion + of Greece, certain features in the Mysteries may be noted. Plutarch speaks + of "the eating of raw flesh, and tearing to pieces of victims, as also + fastings and beatings of the breast, and again in many places abusive + language at the sacrifices, and other mad doings". The mysteries of + Demeter, as will appear when her legend is criticised, contained one + element all unlike these "mad doings"; and the evidence of Sophocles, + Pindar, Plutarch and others demonstrate that religious consolations were + somehow conveyed in the Eleusinia. But Greece had many other local + mysteries, and in several of these it is undeniable the Greeks acted much + as contemporary Australians, Zunis and Negroes act in their secret + initiations which, however, also inculcate moral ideas of considerable + excellence. Important as these analogies are, they appear to have escaped + the notice of most mythologists. M. Alfred Maury, however, in Les + Religions de la Grece, published in 1857, offers several instances of + hidden rites, common to Hellas and to barbarism. + </p> + <p> + There seem in the mysteries of savage races to be two chief purposes. + There is the intention of giving to the initiated a certain sacred + character, which puts them in close relation with gods or demons, and + there is the introduction of the young to complete or advancing manhood, + and to full participation in the savage Church with its ethical ideas. The + latter ceremonies correspond, in short, to confirmation, and they are + usually of a severe character, being meant to test by fasting (as Plutarch + says) and by torture (as in the familiar Spartan rite) the courage and + constancy of the young braves. The Greek mysteries best known to us are + the Thesmophoria and the Eleusinia. In the former the rites (as will + appear later) partook of the nature of savage "medicine" or magic, and + were mainly intended to secure fertility in husbandry and in the family. + In the Eleusinia the purpose was the purification of the initiated, + secured by ablutions and by standing on the "ram's-skin of Zeus," and + after purifications the mystae engaged in sacred dances, and were + permitted to view a miracle play representing the sorrows and consolations + of Demeter. There was a higher element, necessarily obscure in nature. The + chief features in the whole were purifications, dancing, sacrifice and the + representation of the miracle play. It would be tedious to offer an + exhaustive account of savage rites analogous to these mysteries of Hellas. + Let it suffice to display the points where Greek found itself in harmony + with Australian, and American, and African practice. These points are: (1) + mystic dances; (2) the use of a little instrument, called turndun in + Australia, whereby a roaring noise is made, and the profane are warned + off; (3) the habit of daubing persons about to be initiated with clay or + anything else that is sordid, and of washing this off; apparently by way + of showing that old guilt is removed and a new life entered upon; (4) the + performances with serpents may be noticed, while the "mad doings" and + "howlings" mentioned by Plutarch are familiar to every reader of travels + in uncivilised countries; (5) ethical instruction is communicated. + </p> + <p> + First, as to the mystic dances, Lucian observes:(1) "You cannot find a + single ancient mystery in which there is not dancing.... This much all men + know, that most people say of the revealers of the mysteries that they + 'dance them out'" ((Greek text omitted)). Clemens of Alexandria uses the + same term when speaking of his own "appalling revelations".(2) So closely + connected are mysteries with dancing among savages, that when Mr. Orpen + asked Qing, the Bushman hunter, about some doctrines in which Qing was not + initiated, he said: "Only the initiated men of that dance know these + things". To "dance" this or that means to be acquainted with this or that + myth, which is represented in a dance or ballet d'action(3) ((Greek text + omitted)). So widely distributed is the practice, that Acosta, in an + interesting passage, mentions it as familiar to the people of Peru before + and after the Spanish conquest. The text is a valuable instance of + survival in religion. When they were converted to Christianity the + Peruvians detected the analogy between our sacrament and their mysteries, + and they kept up as much as possible of the old rite in the new ritual. + Just as the mystae of Eleusis practised chastity, abstaining from certain + food, and above all from beans, before the great Pagan sacrament, so did + the Indians. "To prepare themselves all the people fasted two days, during + which they did neyther company with their wives, nor eate any meate with + salt or garlicke, nor drink any chic.... And although the Indians now + forbeare to sacrifice beasts or other things publikely, which cannot be + hidden from the Spaniardes, yet doe they still use many ceremonies that + have their beginnings from these feasts and auntient superstitions, for at + this day do they covertly make their feast of Ytu at the daunces of the + feast of the Sacrament. Another feast falleth almost at the same time, + whereas the Christians observe the solempnitie of the holy Sacrament, + which DOTH RESEMBLE IT IN SOME SORT, AS IN DAUNCING, SINGING AND + REPRESENTATIONS."(4) The holy "daunces" at Seville are under Papal + disapproval, but are to be kept up, it is said, till the peculiar dresses + used in them are worn out. Acosta's Indians also had "garments which + served only for this feast". It is superfluous to multiply examples of the + dancing, which is an invariable feature of savage as of Greek mysteries. + </p> + <p> + (1) (Greek text omitted), chap. xv. 277. + </p> + <p> + (2) Ap. Euseb., Praep. Ev., ii, 3, 6. + </p> + <p> + (3) Cape Monthly Magazine, July, 1874. + </p> + <p> + (4) Acosta, Historie of the Indies, book v. chap. xxviii. London, 1604. + </p> + <p> + 2. The Greek and savage use of the turndun, or bribbun of Australia in the + mysteries is familiar to students. This fish-shaped flat board of wood is + tied to a string, and whirled round, so as to cause a peculiar muffled + roar. Lobeck quotes from the old scholia on Clemens Alexandrinus, + published by Bastius in annotations on St. Gregory, the following Greek + description of the turndun, the "bull-roarer" of English country lads, the + Gaelic srannam:(1) (Greek text omitted)". "The conus was a little slab of + wood, tied to a string, and whirled round in the mysteries to make a + whirring noise. As the mystic uses of the turndun in Australia, New + Zealand, New Mexico and Zululand have elsewhere been described at some + length (Custom and Myth, pp. 28-44), it may be enough to refer the reader + to the passage. Mr. Taylor has since found the instrument used in + religious mysteries in West Africa, so it has now been tracked almost + round the world. That an instrument so rude should be employed by Greek + and Australians on mystic occasions is in itself a remarkable coincidence. + Unfortunately, Lobeck, who published the Greek description of the turndun + (Aglaophamus, 700), was unacquainted with the modern ethnological + evidence. + </p> + <p> + (1) Pronounced strantham. For this information I am indebted to my friend + Mr. M'Allister, schoolmaster at St. Mary's Loch. + </p> + <p> + 3. The custom of plastering the initiated over with clay or filth was + common in Greek as in barbaric mysteries. Greek examples may be given + first. Demosthenes accuses Aeschines of helping his mother in certain + mystic rites, aiding her, especially, by bedaubing the initiate with clay + and bran.(1) Harpocration explains the term used ((Greek text omitted)) + thus: "Daubing the clay and bran on the initiate, to explain which they + say that the Titans when they attacked Dionysus daubed themselves over + with chalk, but afterwards, for ritual purposes, clay was used". It may be + urged with some force that the mother of Aeschines introduced foreign, + novel and possibly savage rites. But Sophocles, in a fragment of his lost + play, the Captives, uses the term in the same ritual sense— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Greek text omitted). +</pre> + <p> + (1) De Corona, 313. + </p> + <p> + The idea clearly was that by cleansing away the filth plastered over the + body was symbolised the pure and free condition of the initiate. He might + now cry in the mystic chant— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Greek text omitted). + Worse have I fled, better have I found. +</pre> + <p> + That this was the significance of the daubing with clay in Greek mysteries + and the subsequent cleansing seems quite certain. We are led straight to + this conclusion by similar rites, in which the purpose of mystically + cleansing was openly put forward. Thus Plutarch, in his essay on + superstition, represents the guilty man who would be purified actually + rolling in clay, confessing his misdeeds, and then sitting at home + purified by the cleansing process ((Greek text omitted)).(1) In another + rite, the cleansing of blood-guiltiness, a similar process was practised. + Orestes, after killing his mother, complains that the Eumenides do not + cease to persecute him, though he has been "purified by blood of + swine".(2) Apollonius says that the red hand of the murderer was dipped in + the blood of swine and then washed.(3) Athenaeus describes a similar + unpleasant ceremony.(4) The blood of whelps was apparently used also, men + being first daubed with it and then washed clean.(5) The word (Greek text + omitted) is again the appropriate ritual term. Such rites Plutarch calls + (Greek text omitted), "filthy purifications".(6) If daubing with dirt is + known to have been a feature of Greek mysteries, it meets us everywhere + among savages. In O-Kee-Pa, that curiously minute account of the Mandan + mysteries, Catlin writes that a portion of the frame of the initiate was + "covered with clay, which the operator took from a wooden bowl, and with + his hand plastered unsparingly over". The fifty young men waiting for + initiation "were naked and entirely covered with clay of various + colours".(7) The custom is mentioned by Captain John Smith in Virginia. + Mr. Winwood Reade found it in Africa, where, as among the Mandans and + Spartans, cruel torture and flogging accompanied the initiation of young + men.(8) In Australia the evidence for daubing the initiate is very + abundant.(9) In New Mexico, the Zunis stole Mr. Cushing's black paint, as + considering it even better than clay for religious daubing.(10) + </p> + <p> + (1) So Hermann, op. cit., 133. + </p> + <p> + (2) Eumenides, 273. + </p> + <p> + (3) Argonautica, iv. 693. + </p> + <p> + (4) ix. 78. Hermann, from whom the latter passages are borrowed, also + quotes the evidence of a vase published by Feuerbach, Lehrbuch, p. 131, + with other authorities. + </p> + <p> + (5) Plutarch, Quaest. Rom., 68. + </p> + <p> + (6) De Superstitione, chap. xii. + </p> + <p> + (7) O-Kee-Pa, London, 1867, p. 21. + </p> + <p> + (8) Savage Africa, case of Mongilomba; Pausanias, iii. 15. + </p> + <p> + (9) Brough Smyth, i. 60. + </p> + <p> + (10) Custma and Myth, p. 40. + </p> + <p> + 4. Another savage rite, the use of serpents in Greek mysteries, is + attested by Clemens Alexandrinus and by Demosthenes (loc. cit.). Clemens + says the snakes were caressed in representations of the loves of Zeus in + serpentine form. The great savage example is that of "the snake-dance of + the Moquis," who handle rattle-snakes in the mysteries without being + harmed.(1) The dance is partly totemistic, partly meant, like the + Thesmophoria, to secure the fertility of the lands of the Moquis of + Arizonas. The turndum or (Greek text omitted) is employed. Masks are worn, + as in the rites of Demeter Cidiria in Arcadia.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) The Snake-Dance of the Moquis. By Captain John G. Bourke, London, + 1884. + </p> + <p> + (2) Pausanias, viii. 16. + </p> + <p> + 5. This last point of contact between certain Greek and certain savage + mysteries is highly important. The argument of Lobeck, in his celebrated + work Aglaophamus, is that the Mysteries were of no great moment in + religion. Had he known the evidence as to savage initiations, he would + have been confirmed in his opinion, for many of the singular Greek rites + are clearly survivals from savagery. But was there no more truly religious + survival? Pindar is a very ancient witness that things of divine import + were revealed. "Happy is he who having seen these things goes under the + hollow earth. He knows the end of life, and the god-given beginning."(1) + Sophocles "chimes in," as Lobeck says, declaring that the initiate alone + LIVE in Hades, while other souls endure all evils. Crinagoras avers that + even in life the initiate live secure, and in death are the happier. + Isagoras declares that about the end of life and all eternity they have + sweet hopes. + </p> + <p> + (1) Fragm., cxvi., 128 H. p. 265. + </p> + <p> + Splendida testimonia, cries Lobeck. He tries to minimise the evidence, + remarking that Isocrates promises the very same rewards to all who live + justly and righteously. But why not, if to live justly and righteously was + part of the teaching of the mysteries of Eleusis? Cicero's evidence, + almost a translation of the Greek passages already cited, Lobeck dismisses + as purely rhetorical.(1) Lobeck's method is rather cavalier. Pindar and + Sophocles meant something of great significance. + </p> + <p> + (1) De Legibus ii. 14; Aglaophamus, pp. 69-74. + </p> + <p> + Now we have acknowledged savage survivals of ugly rites in the Greek + mysteries. But it is only fair to remember that, in certain of the few + savage mysteries of which we know the secret, righteousness of life and a + knowledge of good are inculcated. This is the case in Australia, and in + Central Africa, where to be "uninitiated" is equivalent to being + selfish.(1) Thus it seems not improbable that consolatory doctrines were + expounded in the Eleusinia, and that this kind of sermon or exhortation + was no less a survival from savagery than the daubing with clay, and the + (Greek text omitted), and other wild rites. + </p> + <p> + (1) Making of Religion, pp. 193-197, 235. + </p> + <p> + We have now attempted to establish that in Greek law and ritual many + savage customs and usages did undeniably survive. We have seen that both + philosophical and popular opinion in Greece believed in a past age of + savagery. In law, in religion, in religious art, in custom, in human + sacrifice, in relics of totemism, and in the mysteries, we have seen that + the Greeks retained plenty of the usages now found among the remotest and + most backward races. We have urged against the suggestion of borrowing + from Egypt or Asia that these survivals are constantly found in local and + tribal religion and rituals, and that consequently they probably date from + that remote prehistoric past when the Greeks lived in village settlements. + It may still doubtless be urged that all these things are Pelasgic, and + were the customs of a race settled in Hellas before the arrival of the + Homeric Achaeans, and Dorians, and Argives, who, on this hypothesis, + adopted and kept up the old savage Pelasgian ways and superstitions. It is + impossible to prove or disprove this belief, nor does it affect our + argument. We allege that all Greek life below the surface was rich in + institutions now found among the most barbaric peoples. These + institutions, whether borrowed or inherited, would still be part of the + legacy left by savages to cultivated peoples. As this legacy is so large + in custom and ritual, it is not unfair to argue that portions of it will + also be found in myths. It is now time to discuss Greek myths of the + origin of things, and decide whether they are or are not analogous in + ideas to the myths which spring from the wild and ignorant fancy of + Australians, Cahrocs, Nootkas and Bushmen. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. GREEK COSMOGONIC MYTHS. + </h2> + <p> + Nature of the evidence—Traditions of origin of the world and man—Homeric, + Hesiodic and Orphic myths—Later evidence of historians, dramatists, + commentators—The Homeric story comparatively pure—The story in + Hesiod, and its savage analogues—The explanations of the myth of + Cronus, modern and ancient—The Orphic cosmogony—Phanes and + Prajapati—Greek myths of the origin of man—Their savage + analogues. + </p> + <p> + The authorities for Greek cosmogonic myth are extremely various in date, + character and value. The most ancient texts are the Iliad and the poems + attributed to Hesiod. The Iliad, whatever its date, whatever the place of + its composition, was intended to please a noble class of warriors. The + Hesiodic poems, at least the Theogony, have clearly a didactic aim, and + the intention of presenting a systematic and orderly account of the divine + genealogies. To neither would we willingly attribute a date much later + than the ninth century of our era, but the question of the dates of all + the epic and Hesiodic poems, and even of their various parts, is greatly + disputed among scholars. Yet it is nowhere denied that, however late the + present form of some of the poems may be, they contain ideas of extreme + antiquity. Although the Homeric poems are usually considered, on the + whole, more ancient than those attributed to Hesiod,(1) it is a fact worth + remembering that the notions of the origin of things in Hesiod are much + more savage and (as we hold) much more archaic than the opinions of Homer. + </p> + <p> + (1) Grote assigns his Theogony to circ. 750 A.D. The Thegony was taught to + boys in Greece, much as the Church Catechism and Bible are taught in + England; Aeschines in Ctesiph., 135, p. 73. Libanius, 400 years after + Christ (i. 502-509, iv. 874). + </p> + <p> + While Hesiod offers a complete theogony or genealogy of deities and + heroes, Homer gives no more than hints and allusions to the stormy past of + the gods. It is clear, however, that his conception of that past differed + considerably from the traditions of Hesiod. However we explain it, the + Homeric mythology (though itself repugnant to the philosophers from + Xenophanes downwards) is much more mild, pure and humane than the + mythology either of Hesiod or of our other Greek authorities. Some may + imagine that Homer retains a clearer and less corrupted memory than Hesiod + possessed of an original and authentic "divine tradition". Others may find + in Homer's comparative purity a proof of the later date of his epics in + their present form, or may even proclaim that Homer was a kind of + Cervantes, who wished to laugh the gods away. There is no conceivable or + inconceivable theory about Homer that has not its advocates. For + ourselves, we hold that the divine genius of Homer, though working in an + age distant rather than "early," selected instinctively the purer mythical + materials, and burned away the coarser dross of antique legend, leaving + little but the gold which is comparatively refined. + </p> + <p> + We must remember that it does not follow that any mythical ideas are later + than the age of Homer because we first meet them in poems of a later date. + We have already seen that though the Brahmanas are much later in date of + compilation than the Veda, yet a tradition which we first find in the + Brahmanas may be older than the time at which the Veda was compiled. In + the same way, as Mr. Max Muller observes, "we know that certain ideas + which we find in later writers do not occur in Homer. But it does not + follow at all that such ideas are all of later growth or possess a + secondary character. One myth may have belonged to one tribe; one god may + have had his chief worship in one locality; and our becoming acquainted + with these through a later poet does not in the least prove their later + origin."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Hibbert Lectures, pp. 130, 131. + </p> + <p> + After Homer and Hesiod, our most ancient authorities for Greek cosmogonic + myths are probably the so-called Orphic fragments. Concerning the dates + and the manner of growth of these poems volumes of erudition have been + compiled. As Homer is silent about Orpheus (in spite of the position which + the mythical Thracian bard acquired as the inventor of letters and magic + and the father of the mysteries), it has been usual to regard the Orphic + ideas as of late introduction. We may agree with Grote and Lobeck that + these ideas and the ascetic "Orphic mode of life" first acquired + importance in Greece about the time of Epimenides, or, roughly speaking, + between 620 and 500 B.C.(1) That age certainly witnessed a curious growth + of superstitious fears and of mystic ceremonies intended to mitigate + spiritual terrors. Greece was becoming more intimately acquainted with + Egypt and with Asia, and was comparing her own religion with the beliefs + and rites of other peoples. The times and the minds of men were being + prepared for the clear philosophies that soon "on Argive heights divinely + sang". Just as, when the old world was about to accept Christianity, a + deluge of Oriental and barbaric superstitions swept across men's minds, so + immediately before the dawn of Greek philosophy there came an irruption of + mysticism and of spiritual fears. We may suppose that the Orphic poems + were collected, edited and probably interpolated, in this dark hour of + Greece. "To me," says Lobeck, "it appears that the verses may be referred + to the age of Onomacritus, an age curious in the writings of ancient + poets, and attracted by the allurements of mystic religions." The style of + the surviving fragments is sufficiently pure and epic; the strange unheard + of myths are unlike those which the Alexandrian poets drew from fountains + long lost.(2) But how much in the Orphic myths is imported from Asia or + Egypt, how much is the invention of literary forgers like Onomacritus, how + much should be regarded as the first guesses of the physical + poet-philosophers, and how much is truly ancient popular legend recast in + literary form, it is impossible with certainty to determine. + </p> + <p> + (1) Lobeck, Aglaophamus, i. 317; Grote, iii. 86. + </p> + <p> + (2) Aglaophamus, i. 611. + </p> + <p> + We must not regard a myth as necessarily late or necessarily foreign + because we first meet it in an "Orphic composition". If the myth be one of + the sort which encounter us in every quarter, nay, in every obscure nook + of the globe, we may plausibly regard it as ancient. If it bear the + distinct marks of being a Neo-platonic pastiche, we may reject it without + hesitation. On the whole, however, our Orphic authorities can never be + quoted with much satisfaction. The later sources of evidence for Greek + myths are not of great use to the student of cosmogonic legend, though + invaluable when we come to treat of the established dynasty of gods, the + heroes and the "culture-heroes". For these the authorities are the whole + range of Greek literature, poets, dramatists, philosophers, critics, + historians and travellers. We have also the notes and comments of the + scholiasts or commentators on the poets and dramatists. Sometimes these + annotators only darken counsel by their guesses. Sometimes perhaps, + especially in the scholia on the Iliad and Odyssey, they furnish us with a + precious myth or popular marchen not otherwise recorded. The regular + professional mythographi, again, of whom Apollodorus (150 B.C.) is the + type, compiled manuals explanatory of the myths which were alluded to by + the poets. The scholiasts and mythographi often retain myths from lost + poems and lost plays. Finally, from the travellers and historians we + occasionally glean examples of the tales ("holy chapters," as Mr. Grote + calls them) which were narrated by priests and temple officials to the + pilgrims who visited the sacred shrines. + </p> + <p> + These "chapters" are almost invariably puerile, savage and obscene. They + bear the stamp of extreme antiquity, because they never, as a rule, passed + through the purifying medium of literature. There were many myths too + crude and archaic for the purposes of poetry and of the drama. These were + handed down from local priest to local priest, with the inviolability of + sacred and immutable tradition. We have already given a reason for + assigning a high antiquity to the local temple myths. Just as Greeks lived + in villages before they gathered into towns, so their gods were gods of + villages or tribes before they were national deities. The local myths are + those of the archaic village state of "culture," more ancient, more + savage, than literary narrative. Very frequently the local legends were + subjected to the process of allegorical interpretation, as men became + alive to the monstrosity of their unsophisticated meaning. Often they + proved too savage for our authorities, who merely remark, "Concerning this + a certain holy chapter is told," but decline to record the legend. In the + same way missionaries, with mistaken delicacy, often refuse to repeat some + savage legend with which they are acquainted. + </p> + <p> + The latest sort of testimony as to Greek myths must be sought in the + writings of the heathen apologists or learned Pagan defenders of Paganism + in the first centuries during Christianity, and in the works of their + opponents, the fathers of the Church. Though the fathers certainly do not + understate the abominations of Paganism, and though the heathen apologists + make free use of allegorical (and impossible) interpretations, the + evidence of both is often useful and important. The testimony of ancient + art, vases, statues, pictures and the descriptions of these where they no + longer survive, are also of service and interest. + </p> + <p> + After this brief examination of the sources of our knowledge of Greek + myth, we may approach the Homeric legends of the origin of things and the + world's beginning. In Homer these matters are only referred to + incidentally. He more than once calls Oceanus (that is, the fabled stream + which flows all round the world, here regarded as a PERSON) "the origin of + the gods," "the origin of all things".(1) That Ocean is considered a + person, and that he is not an allegory for water or the aqueous element, + appears from the speech of Hera to Aphrodite: "I am going to visit the + limits of the bountiful earth, and Oceanus, father of the gods, and mother + Tethys, who reared me duly and nurtured me in their halls, when far-seeing + Zeus imprisoned Cronus beneath the earth and the unvintaged sea".(2) Homer + does not appear to know Uranus as the father of Cronus, and thus the myth + of the mutilation of Uranus necessarily does not occur in Homer. Cronus, + the head of the dynasty which preceded that of Zeus, is described(3) as + the son of Rhea, but nothing is said of his father. The passage contains + the account which Poseidon himself chose to give of the war in heaven: + "Three brethren are we, and sons of Cronus whom Rhea bare—Zeus and + myself, and Hades is the third, the ruler of the folk in the underworld. + And in three lots were all things divided, and each drew a domain of his + own." Here Zeus is the ELDEST son of Cronus. Though lots are drawn at + hazard for the property of the father (which we know to have been + customary in Homer's time), yet throughout the Iliad Zeus constantly + claims the respect and obedience due to him by right of primogeniture.(4) + We shall see that Hesiod adopts exactly the opposite view. Zeus is the + YOUNGEST child of Cronus. His supremacy is an example of jungsten recht, + the wide-spread custom which makes the youngest child the heir in + chief.(5) But how did the sons of Cronus come to have his property in + their hands to divide? By right of successful rebellion, when "Zeus + imprisoned Cronus beneath the earth and the unvintaged sea". With Cronus + in his imprisonment are the Titans. That is all that Homer cares to tell + about the absolute beginning of things and the first dynasty of rulers of + Olympus. His interest is all in the actual reigning family, that of the + Cronidae, nor is he fond of reporting their youthful excesses. + </p> + <p> + (1) Iliad, xiv. 201, 302, 246. + </p> + <p> + (2) In reading what Homer and Hesiod report about these matters, we must + remember that all the forces and phenomena are conceived of by them as + PERSONS. In this regard the archaic and savage view of all things as + personal and human is preserved. "I maintain," says Grote, "moreover, + fully the character of these great divine agents as persons, which is the + light in which they presented themselves to the Homeric or Hesiodic + audience. Uranus, Nyx, Hypnos and Oneiros (heaven, night, sleep and dream) + are persons just as much as Zeus or Apollo. To resolve them into mere + allegories is unsafe and unprofitable. We then depart from the point of + view of the original hearers without acquiring any consistent or + philosophical point of view of our own." This holds good though portions + of the Hesiodic genealogies are distinctly poetic allegories cast in the + mould or the ancient personal theory of things. + </p> + <p> + (3) Iliad, xv. 187. + </p> + <p> + (4) The custom by which sons drew lots for equal shares of their dead + father's property is described in Odyssey, xiv. 199-212. Here Odysseus, + giving a false account of himself, says that he was a Cretan, a bastard, + and that his half-brothers, born in wedlock, drew lots for their father's + inheritance, and did not admit him to the drawing, but gave him a small + portion apart. + </p> + <p> + (5) See Elton, Origins of English History, pp. 185-207. + </p> + <p> + We now turn from Homer's incidental allusions to the ample and systematic + narrative of Hesiod. As Mr. Grote says, "Men habitually took their + information respecting their theogonic antiquities from the Hesiodic + poems." Hesiod was accepted as an authority both by the pious Pausanias in + the second century of our era—who protested against any attempt to + alter stories about the gods—and by moral reformers like Plato and + Xenophanes, who were revolted by the ancient legends,(1) and, indeed, + denied their truth. Yet, though Hesiod represents Greek orthodoxy, we have + observed that Homer (whose epics are probably still more ancient) steadily + ignores the more barbarous portions of Hesiod's narrative. Thus the + question arises: Are the stories of Hesiod's invention, and later than + Homer, or does Homer's genius half-unconsciously purify materials like + those which Hesiod presents in the crudest form? Mr. Grote says: "How far + these stories are the invention of Hesiod himself it is impossible to + determine. They bring us down to a cast of fancy more coarse and + indelicate than the Homeric, and more nearly resemble some of the holy + chapters ((Greek text omitted)) of the more recent mysteries, such, for + example, as the tale of Dionysus Zagreus. There is evidence in the + Theogony itself that the author was acquainted with local legends current + both at Krete and at Delphi, for he mentions both the mountain-cave in + Krete wherein the newly-born Zeus was hidden, and the stone near the + Delphian temple—the identical stone which Kronos had swallowed—placed + by Zeus himself as a sign and marvel to mortal men. Both these monuments, + which the poet expressly refers to, and had probably seen, imply a whole + train of accessory and explanatory local legends, current probably among + the priests of Krete and Delphi." + </p> + <p> + (1) Timaeeus, 41; Republic, 377. + </p> + <p> + All these circumstances appear to be good evidence of the great antiquity + of the legends recorded by Hesiod. In the first place, arguing merely a + priori, it is extremely improbable that in the brief interval between the + date of the comparatively pure and noble mythology of the Iliad and the + much ruder Theogony of Hesiod men INVENTED stories like the mutilation of + Uranus, and the swallowing of his offspring by Cronus. The former legend + is almost exactly parallel, as has already been shown, to the myth of Papa + and Rangi in New Zealand. The later has its parallels among the savage + Bushmen and Australians. It is highly improbable that men in an age so + civilised as that of Homer invented myths as hideous as those of the + lowest savages. But if we take these myths to be, not new inventions, but + the sacred stories of local priesthoods, their antiquity is probably + incalculable. The sacred stories, as we know from Pausanias, Herodotus and + from all the writers who touch on the subject of the mysteries, were myths + communicated by the priests to the initiated. Plato speaks of such myths + in the Republic, 378: "If there is an absolute necessity for their + mention, a very few might hear them in a mystery, and then let them + sacrifice, not a common pig, but some huge and unprocurable victim; this + would have the effect of very greatly diminishing the number of the + hearers". This is an amusing example of a plan for veiling the horrors of + myth. The pig was the animal usually offered to Demeter, the goddess of + the Eleusinian mysteries. Plato proposes to substitute some "unprocurable" + beast, perhaps a giraffe or an elephant. + </p> + <p> + To Hesiod, then, we must turn for what is the earliest complete literary + form of the Greek cosmogonic myth. Hesiod begins, like the New Zealanders, + with "the august race of gods, by earth and wide heaven begotten".(1) So + the New Zealanders, as we have seen, say, "The heaven which is above us, + and the earth which is beneath us, are the progenitors of men and the + origin of all things". Hesiod(2) somewhat differs from this view by making + Chaos absolutely first of all things, followed by "wide-bosomed Earth," + Tartarus and Eros (love). Chaos unaided produced Erebus and Night; the + children of Night and Erebus are Aether and Day. Earth produced Heaven, + who then became her own lover, and to Heaven she bore Oceanus, and the + Titans, Coeeus and Crius, Hyperion and Iapetus, Thea and Rhea, Themis, + Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys, "and youngest after these was born Cronus of + crooked counsel, the most dreadful of her children, who ever detested his + puissant sire," Heaven. There were other sons of Earth and Heaven + peculiarly hateful to their father,(3) and these Uranus used to hide from + the light in a hollow of Gaea. Both they and Gaea resented this treatment, + and the Titans, like "the children of Heaven and Earth," in the New + Zealand poem, "sought to discern the difference between light and + darkness". Gaea (unlike Earth in the New Zealand myth, for there she is + purely passive), conspired with her children, produced iron, and asked her + sons to avenge their wrongs.(4) Fear fell upon all of them save Cronus, + who (like Tane Mahuta in the Maori poem) determined to end the embraces of + Earth and Heaven. But while the New Zealand, like the Indo-Aryan myth,(5) + conceives of Earth and Heaven as two beings who have never previously been + sundered at all, Hesiod makes Heaven amorously approach his spouse from a + distance. This was the moment for Cronus,(6) who stretched out his hand + armed with the sickle of iron, and mutilated Uranus. As in so many savage + myths, the blood of the wounded god fallen on the ground produced strange + creatures, nymphs of the ash-tree, giants and furies. As in the Maori + myth, one of the children of Heaven stood apart and did not consent to the + deed. This was Oceanus in Greece,(7) and in New Zealand it was Tawhiri + Matea, the wind, "who arose and followed his father, Heaven, and remained + with him in the open spaces of the sky". Uranus now predicted(8) that + there would come a day of vengeance for the evil deed of Cronus, and so + ends the dynasty of Uranus. + </p> + <p> + (1) Theog., 45. + </p> + <p> + (2) Ibid., 116. + </p> + <p> + (3) Ibid., 155. + </p> + <p> + (4) Ibid., 166. + </p> + <p> + (5) Muir, v. 23, quoting Aitareya Brahmana, iv. 27: "These two worlds were + once joined; subsequently they separated". + </p> + <p> + (6) Theog., 175-185. + </p> + <p> + (7) Apollod., i, 15. + </p> + <p> + (8) Theog., 209. + </p> + <p> + This story was one of the great stumbling-blocks of orthodox Greece. It + was the tale that Plato said should be told, if at all, only to a few in a + mystery, after the sacrifice of some rare and scarcely obtainable animal. + Even among the Maoris, the conduct of the children who severed their + father and mother is regarded as a singular instance of iniquity, and is + told to children as a moral warning, an example to be condemned. In + Greece, on the other hand, unless we are to take the Euthyphro as wholly + ironical, some of the pious justified their conduct by the example of + Zeus. Euthyphro quotes this example when he is about to prosecute his own + father, for which act, he says, "Men are angry with ME; so inconsistently + do they talk when I am concerned and when the gods are concerned".(1) But + in Greek THE TALE HAS NO MEANING. It has been allegorised in various ways, + and Lafitau fancied that it was a distorted form of the Biblical account + of the origin of sin. In Maori the legend is perfectly intelligible. + Heaven and earth were conceived of (like everything else), as beings with + human parts and passions, linked in an endless embrace which crushed and + darkened their children. It became necessary to separate them, and this + feat was achieved not without pain. "Then wailed the Heaven, and exclaimed + the Earth, 'Wherefore this murder? Why this great sin? Why separate us?' + But what cared Tane? Upwards he sent one and downwards the other. He + cruelly severed the sinews which united Heaven and Earth."(2) The Greek + myth too, contemplated earth and heaven as beings corporeally united, and + heaven as a malignant power that concealed his children in darkness. + </p> + <p> + (1) Euthyphro, 6. + </p> + <p> + (2) Taylor, New Zealand, 119. + </p> + <p> + But while the conception of heaven and earth as parents of living things + remains perfectly intelligible in one sense, the vivid personification + which regarded them as creatures with human parts and passions had ceased + to be intelligible in Greece before the times of the earliest + philosophers. The old physical conception of the pair became a metaphor, + and the account of their rending asunder by their children lost all + significance, and seemed to be an abominable and unintelligible myth. When + examined in the light of the New Zealand story, and of the fact that early + peoples do regard all phenomena as human beings, with physical attributes + like those of men, the legend of Cronus, and Uranus, and Gaea ceases to be + a mystery. It is, at bottom, a savage explanation (as in the Samoan story) + of the separation of earth and heaven, an explanation which could only + have occurred to people in a state of mind which civilisation has + forgotten. + </p> + <p> + The next generation of Hesiodic gods (if gods we are to call the members + of this race of non-natural men) was not more fortunate than the first in + its family relations. + </p> + <p> + Cronus wedded his sister, Rhea, and begat Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, + and the youngest, Zeus. "And mighty Cronus swallowed down each of them, + each that came to their mother's knees from her holy womb, with this + intent that none other of the proud sons of heaven should hold his kingly + sway among the immortals. Heaven and Earth had warned him that he too + should fall through his children. Wherefore he kept no vain watch, but + spied and swallowed down each of his offspring, while grief immitigable + took possession of Rhea."(1) Rhea, being about to become the mother of + Zeus, took counsel with Uranus and Gaea. By their advice she went to + Crete, where Zeus was born, and, in place of the child, she presented to + Cronus a huge stone swathed in swaddling bands. This he swallowed, and was + easy in his mind. Zeus grew up, and by some means, suggested by Gaea, + compelled Zeus to disgorge all his offspring. "And he vomited out the + stone first, as he had swallowed it last."(2) The swallowed children + emerged alive, and Zeus fixed the stone at Pytho (Delphi), where + Pausanias(3) had the privilege of seeing it, and where, as it did not + tempt the cupidity of barbarous invaders, it probably still exists. It was + not a large stone, Pausanias says, and the Delphians used to pour oil over + it, as Jacob did(4) to the stone at Bethel, and on feast-days they covered + it with wraps of wool. The custom of smearing fetish-stones (which + Theophrastus mentions as one of the practices of the superstitious man) is + clearly a survival from the savage stage of religion. As a rule, however, + among savages, fetish-stones are daubed with red paint (like the face of + the wooden ancient Dionysi in Greece, and of Tsui Goab among the + Hottentots), not smeared with oil.(5) + </p> + <p> + (1) Theog., 460, 465. + </p> + <p> + (2) Theog., 498. + </p> + <p> + (3) x. 245. + </p> + <p> + (4) Gen. xxviii. 18. + </p> + <p> + (5) Pausanias, ii. 2, 5. "Churinga" in Australia are greased with the + natural moisture of the palm of the hand, and rubbed with red ochre.—Spencer + and Gillen. They are "sacred things," but not exactly fetishes. + </p> + <p> + The myth of the swallowing and disgorging of his own children by Cronus + was another of the stumbling-blocks of Greek orthodoxy. The common + explanation, that Time ((Greek text omitted)) does swallow his children, + the days, is not quite satisfactory. Time brings never the past back + again, as Cronus did. Besides, the myth of the swallowing is not confined + to Cronus. Modern philology has given, as usual, different analyses of the + meaning of the name of the god. Hermann, with Preller, derives it from + (Greek text omitted), to fulfil. The harvest-month, says Preller, was + named Cronion in Greece, and Cronia was the title of the harvest-festival. + The sickle of Cronus is thus brought into connection with the sickle of + the harvester.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Preller, Gr. Myth., i. 44; Hartung, ii. 48; Porphyry, Abst., ii. 54. + Welcker will not hear of this etymology, Gr. gott., i. 145, note 9. + </p> + <p> + The second myth, in which Cronus swallows his children, has numerous + parallels in savage legend. Bushmen tell of Kwai Hemm, the devourer, who + swallows that great god, the mantis insect, and disgorges him alive with + all the other persons and animals whom he has engulphed in the course of a + long and voracious career.(1) The moon in Australia, while he lived on + earth, was very greedy, and swallowed the eagle-god, whom he had to + disgorge. Mr. Im Thurn found similar tales among the Indians of Guiana. + The swallowing and disgorging of Heracles by the monster that was to slay + Hesione is well known. Scotch peasants tell of the same feats, but + localise the myth on the banks of the Ken in Galloway. Basutos, Eskimos, + Zulus and European fairy tales all possess this incident, the swallowing + of many persons by a being from whose maw they return alive and in good + case. + </p> + <p> + (1) Bleek, Bushman Folk-lore, pp. 6, 8. + </p> + <p> + A mythical conception which prevails from Greenland to South Africa, from + Delphi to the Solomon Islands, from Brittany to the shores of Lake + Superior, must have some foundation in the common elements of human + nature.(1) Now it seems highly probable that this curious idea may have + been originally invented in an attempt to explain natural phenomena by a + nature-myth. It has already been shown (chapter v.) that eclipses are + interpreted, even by the peasantry of advanced races, as the swallowing of + the moon by a beast or a monster. The Piutes account for the disappearance + of the stars in the daytime by the hypothesis that the "sun swallows his + children". In the Melanesian myth, dawn is cut out of the body of night by + Qat, armed with a knife of red obsidian. Here are examples(2) of + transparent nature-myths in which this idea occurs for obvious explanatory + purposes, and in accordance with the laws of the savage imagination. Thus + the conception of the swallowing and disgorging being may very well have + arisen out of a nature-myth. But why is the notion attached to the legend + of Cronus? + </p> + <p> + (1) The myth of Cronus and the swallowed children and the stone is + transferred to Gargantua. See Sebillot, Gargantua dans les Traditions + Populaires. But it is impossible to be certain that this is not an example + of direct borrowing by Madame De Cerny in her Saint Suliac, p. 69. + </p> + <p> + (2) Compare Tylor, Prim. Cult., i. 338. + </p> + <p> + That is precisely the question about which mythologists differ, as has + been shown, and perhaps it is better to offer no explanation. However + stories arise—and this story probably arose from a nature-myth—it + is certain that they wander about the world, that they change masters, and + thus a legend which is told of a princess with an impossible name in + Zululand is told of the mother of Charlemagne in France. The tale of the + swallowing may have been attributed to Cronus, as a great truculent deity, + though it has no particular elemental signification in connection with his + legend. + </p> + <p> + This peculiarly savage trick of swallowing each other became an inherited + habit in the family of Cronus. When Zeus reached years of discretion, he + married Metis, and this lady, according to the scholiast on Hesiod, had + the power of transforming herself into any shape she pleased. When she was + about to be a mother, Zeus induced her to assume the shape of a fly and + instantly swallowed her.(1) In behaving thus, Zeus acted on the advice of + Uranus and Gaea. It was feared that Metis would produce a child more + powerful than his father. Zeus avoided this peril by swallowing his wife, + and himself gave birth to Athene. The notion of swallowing a hostile + person, who has been changed by magic into a conveniently small bulk, is + very common. It occurs in the story of Taliesin.(2) Caridwen, in the shape + of a hen, swallows Gwion Bach, in the form of a grain of wheat. In the + same manner the princess in the Arabian Nights swallowed the Geni. Here + then we have in the Hesiodic myth an old marchen pressed into the service + of the higher mythology. The apprehension which Zeus (like Herod and King + Arthur) always felt lest an unborn child should overthrow him, was also + familiar to Indra; but, instead of swallowing the mother and concealing + her in his own body, like Zeus, Indra entered the mother's body, and + himself was born instead of the dreaded child.(3) A cow on this occasion + was born along with Indra. This adventure of the (Greek text omitted) or + swallowing of Metis was explained by the late Platonists as a Platonic + allegory. Probably the people who originated the tale were not Platonists, + any more than Pandarus was all Aristotelian. + </p> + <p> + (1) Hesiod, Theogonia, 886. See Scholiast and note in Aglaophamus, i. 613. + Compare Puss in Boots and the Ogre. + </p> + <p> + (2) Mabinogion, p. 473. + </p> + <p> + (3) Black Yajur Veda, quoted by Sayana. + </p> + <p> + After Homer and Hesiod, the oldest literary authorities for Greek + cosmogonic myths are the poems attributed to Orpheus. About their probable + date, as has been said, little is known. They have reached us only in + fragments, but seem to contain the first guesses of a philosophy not yet + disengaged from mythical conditions. The poet preserves, indeed, some + extremely rude touches of early imagination, while at the same time one of + the noblest and boldest expressions of pantheistic thought is attributed + to him. From the same source are drawn ideas as pure as those of the + philosophical Vedic hymn,(1) and as wild as those of the Vedic Purusha + Sukta, or legend of the fashioning of the world out of the mangled limbs + of Purusha. The authors of the Orphic cosmogony appear to have begun with + some remarks on Time ((Greek text omitted)). "Time was when as yet this + world was not."(2) Time, regarded in the mythical fashion as a person, + generated Chaos and Aether. The Orphic poet styles Chaos (Greek text + omitted), "the monstrous gulph," or "gap". This term curiously reminds one + of Ginnunga-gap in the Scandinavian cosmogonic legends. "Ginnunga-gap was + light as windless air," and therein the blast of heat met the cold rime, + whence Ymir was generated, the Purusha of Northern fable.(3) These ideas + correspond well with the Orphic conception of primitive space.(4) + </p> + <p> + (1) Rig-Veda, x. 90. + </p> + <p> + (2) Lobeck, Aglaophamus, i. 470. See also the quotations from Proclus. + </p> + <p> + (3) Gylfi's Mocking. + </p> + <p> + (4) Aglaophamus, p. 473. + </p> + <p> + In process of time Chaos produced an egg, shining and silver white. It is + absurd to inquire, according to Lobeck, whether the poet borrowed this + widely spread notion of a cosmic egg from Phoenicia, Babylon, Egypt (where + the goose-god Seb laid the egg), or whether the Orphic singer originated + so obvious an idea. Quaerere ludicrum est. The conception may have been + borrowed, but manifestly it is one of the earliest hypotheses that occur + to the rude imagination. We have now three primitive generations, time, + chaos, the egg, and in the fourth generation the egg gave birth to Phanes, + the great hero of the Orphic cosmogony.(1) The earliest and rudest + thinkers were puzzled, as many savage cosmogonic myths have demonstrated, + to account for the origin of life. The myths frequently hit on the theory + of a hermaphroditic being, both male and female, who produces another + being out of himself. Prajapati in the Indian stories, and Hrimthursar in + Scandinavian legend—"one of his feet got a son on the other"—with + Lox in the Algonquin tale are examples of these double-sexed personages. + In the Orphic poem, Phanes is both male and female. This Phanes held + within him "the seed of all the gods,"(2) and his name is confused with + the names of Metis and Ericapaeus in a kind of trinity. All this part of + the Orphic doctrine is greatly obscured by the allegorical and + theosophistic interpretations of the late Platonists long after our era, + who, as usual, insisted on finding their own trinitarian ideas, commenta + frigidissima, concealed under the mythical narrative.(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Clemens Alexan., p. 672. + </p> + <p> + (2) Damascius, ap. Lobeck, i. 481. + </p> + <p> + (3) Aglaoph., i. 483. + </p> + <p> + Another description by Hieronymus of the first being, the Orphic Phanes, + "as a serpent with bull's and lion's heads, with a human face in the + middle and wings on the shoulders," is sufficiently rude and senseless. + But these physical attributes could easily be explained away as types of + anything the Platonist pleased.(1) The Orphic Phanes, too, was almost as + many-headed as a giant in a fairy tale, or as Purusha in the Rig-Veda. He + had a ram's head, a bull's head, a snake's head and a lion's head, and + glanced around with four eyes, presumably human.(2) This remarkable being + was also provided with golden wings. The nature of the physical + arrangements by which Phanes became capable of originating life in the + world is described in a style so savage and crude that the reader must be + referred to Suidas for the original text.(3) The tale is worthy of the + Swift-like fancy of the Australian Narrinyeri. + </p> + <p> + (1) Damascius, 381, ap. Lobeck, i. 484. + </p> + <p> + (2) Hermias in Phaedr. ap. Lobeck, i. 493. + </p> + <p> + (3) Suidas s. v. Phanes. + </p> + <p> + Nothing can be easier or more delusive than to explain all this wild part + of the Orphic cosmogony as an allegorical veil of any modern ideas we + choose to select. But why the "allegory" should closely imitate the rough + guesses of uncivilised peoples, Ahts, Diggers, Zunis, Cahrocs, it is less + easy to explain. We can readily imagine African or American tribes who + were accustomed to revere bulls, rams, snakes, and so forth, ascribing the + heads of all their various animal patrons to the deity of their + confederation. We can easily see how such races as practise the savage + rites of puberty should attribute to the first being the special organs of + Phanes. But on the Neo-Platonic hypothesis that Orpheus was a seer of + Neo-Platonic opinions, we do not see why he should have veiled his ideas + under so savage an allegory. This part of the Orphic speculation is left + in judicious silence by some modern commentators, such as M. Darmesteter + in Les Cosmogonies Aryennes.(1) Indeed, if we choose to regard Apollonius + Rhodius, an Alexandrine poet writing in a highly civilised age, as the + representative of Orphicism, it is easy to mask and pass by the more stern + and characteristic fortresses of the Orphic divine. The theriomorphic + Phanes is a much less "Aryan" and agreeable object than the glorious + golden-winged Eros, the love-god of Apollonius Rhodius and + Aristophanes.(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) Essais Orientaux, p. 166. + </p> + <p> + (2) Argonautica, 1-12; Aves, 693. + </p> + <p> + On the whole, the Orphic fragments appear to contain survivals of savage + myths of the origin of things blended with purer speculations. The savage + ideas are finally explained by late philosophers as allegorical veils and + vestments of philosophy; but the interpretation is arbitrary, and varies + with the taste and fancy of each interpreter. Meanwhile the coincidence of + the wilder elements with the speculations native to races in the lowest + grades of civilisation is undeniable. This opinion is confirmed by the + Greek myths of the origin of Man. These, too, coincide with the various + absurd conjectures of savages. + </p> + <p> + In studying the various Greek local legends of the origin of Man, we + encounter the difficulty of separating them from the myths of heroes, + which it will be more convenient to treat separately. This difficulty we + have already met in our treatment of savage traditions of the beginnings + of the race. Thus we saw that among the Melanesians, Qat, and among the + Ahts, Quawteaht, were heroic persons, who made men and most other things. + But it was desirable to keep their performances of this sort separate from + their other feats, their introduction of fire, for example, and of various + arts. In the same way it will be well, in reviewing Greek legends, to keep + Prometheus' share in the making of men apart from the other stories of his + exploits as a benefactor of the men whom he made. In Hesiod, Prometheus is + the son of the Titan Iapetus, and perhaps his chief exploit is to play + upon Zeus a trick of which we find the parallel in various savage myths. + It seems, however, from Ovid(1) and other texts, that Hesiod somewhere + spoke of Prometheus as having made men out of clay, like Pund-jel in the + Australian, Qat in the Melanesian and Tiki in the Maori myths. The same + story is preserved in Servius's commentary on Virgil.(2) A different + legend is preserved in the Etymologicum Magnum (voc. Ikonion). According + to this story, after the deluge of Deucalion, "Zeus bade Prometheus and + Athene make images of men out of clay, and the winds blew into them the + breath of life". In confirmation of this legend, Pausanias was shown in + Phocis certain stones of the colour of clay, and "smelling very like human + flesh"; and these, according to the Phocians, were "the remains of the + clay from which the whole human race was fashioned by Prometheus".(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Ovid. Metam. i. 82. + </p> + <p> + (2) Eclogue, vi. 42. + </p> + <p> + (3) Pausanias, x. 4, 3. + </p> + <p> + Aristophanes, too, in the Birds (686) talks of men as (Greek text + omitted), figures kneaded of clay. Thus there are sufficient traces in + Greek tradition of the savage myth that man was made of clay by some + superior being, like Pund-jel in the quaint Australian story. + </p> + <p> + We saw that among various rude races other theories of the origin of man + were current. Men were thought to have come out of a hole in the ground or + a bed of reeds, and sometimes the very scene of their first appearance was + still known and pointed out to the curious. This myth was current among + races who regarded themselves as the only people whose origin needed + explanation. Other stories represented man as the fruit of a tree, or the + child of a rock or stone, or as the descendant of one of the lower + animals. Examples of these opinions in Greek legend are now to be given. + In the first place, we have a fragment of Pindar, in which the poet + enumerates several of the centres from which different Greek tribes + believed men to have sprung. "Hard it is to find out whether Alalkomeneus, + first of men, arose on the marsh of Cephissus, or whether the Curetes of + Ida first, a stock divine, arose, or if it was the Phrygian Corybantes + that the sun earliest saw—men like trees walking;" and Pindar + mentions Egyptian and Libyan legends of the same description.(1) The + Thebans and the Arcadians held themselves to be "earth-born". "The black + earth bore Pelasgus on the high wooded hills," says an ancient line of + Asius. The Dryopians were an example of a race of men born from ash-trees. + The myth of gens virum truncis et duro robore nata, "born of tree-trunk + and the heart of oak," had passed into a proverb even in Homer's time.(2) + Lucian mentions(3) the Athenian myth "that men grew like cabbages out of + the earth". As to Greek myths of the descent of families from animals, + these will be examined in the discussion of the legend of Zeus. + </p> + <p> + (1) Preller, Aus. Auf., p. 158. + </p> + <p> + (2) Virgil Aen., viii. 315; Odyssey, xix. 163; Iliad, ii. xxii. 120; + Juvenal, vi. 11. Cf. also Bouche Leclerq, De Origine Generis Humani. + </p> + <p> + (3) Philops. iii. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. SAVAGE DIVINE MYTHS. + </h2> + <p> + The origin of a belief in GOD beyond the ken of history and of speculation—Sketch + of conjectural theories—Two elements in all beliefs, whether of + backward or civilised races—The Mythical and the Religious—These + may be coeval, or either may be older than the other—Difficulty of + study—The current anthropological theory—Stated objections to + the theory—Gods and spirits—Suggestion that savage religion is + borrowed from Europeans—Reply to Mr. Tylor's arguments on this head—The + morality of savages. + </p> + <p> + "The question of the origin of a belief in Deity does not come within the + scope of a strictly historical inquiry. No man can watch the idea of GOD + in the making or in the beginning. We are acquainted with no race whose + beginning does not lie far back in the unpenetrated past. Even on the + hypothesis that the natives of Australia, for example, were discovered in + a state of culture more backward than that of other known races, yet the + institutions and ideas of the Australians must have required for their + development an incalculable series of centuries. The notions of man about + the Deity, man's religious sentiments and his mythical narratives, must be + taken as we find them. There have been, and are, many theories as to the + origin of the conception of a supernatural being or beings, concerned with + the fortunes of mankind, and once active in the making of the earth and + its inhabitants. There is the hypothesis of an original divine tradition, + darkened by the smoke of foolish mortal fancies. There is the hypothesis + of an innate and intuitive sensus numinis. There is the opinion that the + notion of Deity was introduced to man by the very nature of his knowledge + and perceptions, which compel him in all things to recognise a finite and + an infinite. There is the hypothesis that gods were originally ghosts, the + magnified shapes of ancestral spectres. There is the doctrine that man, + seeking in his early speculations for the causes of things, and conscious + of his own powers as an active cause, projected his own shadow on the + mists of the unknown, and peopled the void with figures of magnified + non-natural men, his own parents and protectors, and the makers of many of + the things in the world. + </p> + <p> + "Since the actual truth cannot be determined by observation and + experiment, the question as to the first germs of the divine conception + must here be left unanswered. But it is possible to disengage and examine + apart the two chief elements in the earliest as in the latest ideas of + Godhead. Among the lowest and most backward, as among the most advanced + races, there coexist the MYTHICAL and the RELIGIOUS elements in belief. + The rational factor (or what approves itself to us as the rational factor) + is visible in religion; the irrational is prominent in myth. The + Australian, the Bushman, the Solomon Islander, in hours of danger and + necessity 'yearns after the gods,' and has present in his heart the idea + of a father and friend. This is the religious element. The same man, when + he comes to indulge his fancy for fiction, will degrade this spiritual + friend and father to the level of the beasts, and will make him the hero + of comic or repulsive adventures. This is the mythical or irrational + element. Religion, in its moral aspect, always traces back to the belief + in a power that is benign and works for righteousness. Myth, even in Homer + or the Rig-Veda, perpetually falls back on the old stock of absurd and + immoral divine adventures.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) M. Knappert here, in a note to the Dutch translation, denies the + lowest mythical element to the Hebrews, as their documents have reached + us. + </p> + <p> + "It would be rash, in the present state of knowledge, to pronounce that + the germ of the serious Homeric sense of the justice and power of the + Divinity is earlier or later than the germ of the Homeric stories of gods + disguised as animals, or imprisoned by mortals, or kicked out of Olympus. + The rational and irrational aspects of mythology and religion may be of + coeval antiquity for all that is certainly known, or either of them, in + the dark backward of mortal experience, may have preceded the other. There + is probably no religion nor mythology which does not offer both aspects to + the student. But it is the part of advancing civilisation to adorn and + purify the rational element, and to subordinate and supersede the + irrational element, as far as religious conservatism, ritual and priestly + dogma will permit." + </p> + <p> + Such were the general remarks with which this chapter opened in the + original edition of the present work. But reading, reflection and certain + additions to the author's knowledge of facts, have made it seem advisable + to state, more fully and forcibly than before, that, in his opinion, not + only the puzzling element of myth, but the purer element of a religious + belief sanctioning morality is derived by civilised people from a remote + past of savagery. It is also necessary to draw attention to a singular + religious phenomena, a break, or "fault," as geologists call it, in the + religious strata. While the most backward savages, in certain cases, + present the conception of a Being who sanctions ethics, and while that + conception recurs at a given stage of civilisation, it appears to fade, or + even to disappear in some conditions of barbarism. Among some barbaric + peoples, such as the Zulus, and the Red Indians of French Canada when + first observed, as among some Polynesians and some tribes of Western and + Central Africa little trace of a supreme being is found, except a name, + and that name is even occasionally a matter of ridicule. The highest + religious conception has been reached, and is generally known, yet the + Being conceived of as creative is utterly neglected, while ghosts, or + minor gods, are served and adored. To this religious phenomenon (if + correctly observed) we must attempt to assign a cause. For this purpose it + is necessary to state again what may be called the current or popular + anthropological theory of the evolution of Gods. + </p> + <p> + That theory takes varying shapes. In the philosophy of Mr. Herbert Spencer + we find a pure Euhemerism. Gods are but ghosts of dead men, raised to a + higher and finally to the highest power. In the somewhat analogous but not + identical system of Mr. Tylor, man first attains to the idea of spirit by + reflection on various physical, psychological and psychical experiences, + such as sleep, dreams, trances, shadows, hallucinations, breath and death, + and he gradually extends the conception of soul or ghost till all nature + is peopled with spirits. Of these spirits one is finally promoted to + supremacy, where the conception of a supreme being occurs. In the lowest + faiths there is said, on this theory, to be no connection, or very little + connection, between religion and morality. To supply a religious sanction + of morals is the work of advancing thought.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Prim. Cult., ii. 381. Huxley's Science and Hebrew Tradition, pp. + 346,372. + </p> + <p> + This current hypothesis is, confessedly, "animistic," in Mr. Tylor's + phrase, or, in Mr. Spencer's terminology, it is "the ghost theory". The + human soul, says Mr. Tylor, has been the model on which all man's ideas of + spiritual beings, from "the tiniest elf" to "the heavenly Creator and + ruler of the world, the Great Spirit," have been framed.(1) Thus it has + been necessary for Mr. Tylor and for Mr. Spencer to discover first an + origin of man's idea of his own soul, and that supposed origin in + psychological, physical and psychical experiences is no doubt adequate. By + reflection on these facts, probably, the idea of spirit was reached, + though the psychical experiences enumerated by Mr. Tylor may contain + points as yet unexplained by Materialism. From these sources are derived + all really "animistic" gods, all that from the first partake of the nature + of hungry ghosts, placated by sacrifices of food, though in certain cases + that hunger may have been transferred, we surmise, by worshippers to gods + not ORIGINALLY animistic. + </p> + <p> + (1) Prim. Cult., ii. 109 + </p> + <p> + In answer to this theory of an animistic or ghostly origin of all gods, it + must first be observed that all gods are not necessarily, it would seem, + of animistic origin. Among certain of the lowest savages, although they + believe in ghosts, the animistic conception, the spiritual idea, is not + attached to the relatively supreme being of their faith. He is merely a + powerful BEING, unborn, and not subject to death. The purely metaphysical + question "was he a ghost?" does not seem always to have been asked. + Consequently there is no logical reason why man's idea of a Maker should + not be prior to man's idea that there are such things as souls, ghosts and + spirits. Therefore the animistic theory is not necessary as material for + the "god-idea". We cannot, of course, prove that the "god-idea" was + historically prior to the "ghost-idea," for we know no savages who have a + god and yet are ignorant of ghosts. But we can show that the idea of God + may exist, in germ, without explicitly involving the idea of spirit. Thus + gods MAY be prior in evolution to ghosts, and therefore the animistic + theory of the origin of gods in ghosts need not necessarily be accepted. + </p> + <p> + In the first place, the original evolution of a god out of a ghost need + not be conceded, because in perhaps all known savage theological + philosophy the God, the Maker and Master, is regarded as a being who + existed before death entered the world. Everywhere, practically speaking, + death is looked on as a comparatively late intruder. He came not only + after God was active, but after men and beasts had populated the world. + Scores of myths accounting for this invasion of death have been collected + all over the world.(1) Thus the relatively supreme being, or beings, of + religion are looked on as prior to Death, therefore, not as ghosts. They + are sometimes expressly distinguished as "original gods" from other gods + who are secondary, being souls of chiefs. Thus all Tongan gods are Atua, + but all Atua are not "original gods".(2) The word Atua, according to Mr. + White, is "A-tu-a". "A" was the name given to the author of the universe, + and signifies: "Am the unlimited in power," "The Conception," "the + Leader," "the Beyond All". "Tua" means "Beyond that which is most + distant," "Behind all matter," and "Behind every action". Clearly these + conceptions are not more mythical (indeed A does not seem to occur in the + myths), nor are they more involved in ghosts, than the unknown absolute of + Mr. Herbert Spencer. Yet the word Atua denotes gods who are recognised as + ghosts of chiefs, no less than it denotes the supreme existence.(3) These + ideas are the metaphysical theology of a race considerably above the + lowest level. They lend no assistance to a theory that A was, or was + evolved out of, a human ghost, and he is not found in Maori MYTHOLOGY as + far as our knowledge goes. But, among the lowest known savages, the + Australians, we read that "the Creator was a gigantic black, once on + earth, now among the stars". This is in Gippsland; the deities of the + Fuegians and the Blackfoot Indians are also Beings, anthropomorphic, + unborn and undying, like Mangarrah, the creative being of the Larrakeah + tribe in Australia. "A very good man called Mangarrah lives in the sky.... + He made everything" (blacks excepted). He never dies.(4) The Melanesian + Vui "never were men," were "something different," and "were NOT ghosts". + It is as a Being, not as a Spirit, that the Kurnai deity Munganngaur (Our + Father) is described.(5) In short, though Europeans often speak of these + divine beings of low savages as "spirits," it does not appear that the + natives themselves advance here the metaphysical idea of spirit. These + gods are just BEINGS, anthropomorphic, or (in myth and fable), very often + bestial, "theriomorphic".(6) It is manifest that a divine being envisaged + thus need not have been evolved out of the theory of spirits or ghosts, + and may even have been prior to the rise of the belief in ghosts. + </p> + <p> + (1) See Modern Mythology, "Myths of Origin of Death". + </p> + <p> + (2) Mariner, ii. 127. + </p> + <p> + (3) White, Ancient History of the Maoris, vol. i. p. 4; other views in + Gill's Myths of the Pacific. I am not committed to Mr. White's opinion. + </p> + <p> + (4) Journal Anthrop. Inst., Nov., 1894, p. 191. + </p> + <p> + (5) Ibid., 1886, p. 313. + </p> + <p> + (6) See Making of Religion, pp. 201-210, for a more copious statement. + </p> + <p> + Again, these powerful, or omnipotent divine beings are looked on as + guardians of morality, punishers of sin, rewarders of righteousness, both + in this world and in a future life, in places where ghosts, though + believed in, ARE NOT WORSHIPPED, NOR IN RECEIPT OF SACRIFICE, and where, + great grandfathers being forgotten, ancestral ghosts can scarcely swell + into gods. This occurs among Andamanese, Fuegians and Australians, + therefore, among non-ghost-worshipping races, ghosts cannot have developed + into deities who are not even necessarily spirits. These gods, again, do + not receive sacrifice, and thus lack the note of descent from hungry + food-craving ghosts. In Australia, indeed, while ghosts are not known to + receive any offerings, "the recent custom of providing food for it"—the + dead body of a friend—"is derided by the intelligent old aborigines + as 'white fellow's gammon'".(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Dawson, Australian Aborigines, p. 51, 1881. + </p> + <p> + The Australians possess no chiefs like "Vich Ian Vohr or Chingachgook" + whose ghosts might be said to swell into supreme moral deities. "Headmen" + they have, leaders of various degrees of authority, but no Vich Ian Vohr, + no semi-sacred representative of the tribe.(1) Nor are the ghosts of the + Headmen known to receive any particular posthumous attention or worship. + Thus it really seems impossible to show proof that Australian gods grew + out of Australian ghosts, a subject to which we shall return. + </p> + <p> + (1) Howitt, Organisation of Australian Tribes, pp. 101-113. "Transactions + of Royal Society of Victoria," 1889. + </p> + <p> + Some supporters of the current theory therefore fall back on the + hypothesis that the Australians are sadly degenerate.(1) Chiefs, it is + argued, or kings, they once had, and the gods are surviving ghosts of + these wholly forgotten potentates. To this we reply that we know not the + very faintest trace of Australian degeneration. Sir John Lubbock and Mr. + Tylor have correctly argued that the soil of Australia has not yet yielded + so much as a fragment of native pottery, nor any trace of native metal + work, not a vestige of stone buildings occurs, nor of any work beyond the + present native level of culture, unless we reckon weirs for fish-catching. + "The Australian boomerang," writes Mr. Tylor, "has been claimed as derived + from some hypothetical high culture, whereas the transition-stages through + which it is connected with the club are to be observed in its own country, + while no civilised race possesses the weapon."(2) + </p> + <p> + (1) See Prof. Menzie's History of Religion, pp. 16, 17, where a singular + inconsistency has escaped the author. + </p> + <p> + (2) Prim. Cult., i. 57, 67. + </p> + <p> + Therefore the Australian, with his boomerang, represents no degeneration + but advance on his ancestors, who had not yet developed the boomerang out + of the club. If the excessively complex nature of Australian rules of + prohibited degrees be appealed to as proof of degeneration from the stage + in which they were evolved, we reply that civilisation everywhere tends + not to complicate but to simplify such rules, as it also notoriously + simplifies the forms of language. + </p> + <p> + The Australian people, when discovered, were only emerging from + palaeolithic culture, while the neighbouring Tasmanians were frankly + palaeolithic.(1) Far from degenerating, the Australians show advance when + they supersede their beast or other totem by an eponymous human hero.(2) + The eponymous hero, however, changed with each generation, so that no one + name was fixed as that of tribal father, later perhaps to become a tribal + god. We find several tribes in which the children now follow the FATHER'S + class, and thus paternal kin takes the place of the usual early savage + method of reckoning kinship by the mother's side, elsewhere prevalent in + Australia. In one of these tribes, dwelling between the Glenelg and Mount + Napier, headmanship is hereditary, but nothing is said of any worship of + the ghosts of chiefs. All this social improvement denotes advance on the + usual Australian standard.(3) Of degeneration (except when produced + recently by European vices and diseases) I know no trace in Australia. + Their highest religious conceptions, therefore, are not to be disposed of + as survivals of a religion of the ghosts of such chiefs as the Australians + are not shown ever to have recognised. The "God idea" in Australia, or + among the Andamanese, must have some other source than the Ghost-Theory. + This is all the more obvious because not only are ghosts not worshipped by + the Australians, but also the divine beings who are alleged to form links + between the ghost and the moral god are absent. There are no departmental + gods, as of war, peace, the chase, love, and so forth. Sun, sky and earth + are equally unworshipped. There is nothing in religion between a Being, on + one hand (with a son or sons), and vague mischievous spirits, boilyas or + mrarts, and ghosts (who are not worshipped), on the other hand. The + friends of the idea that the God is an ancient evolution from the ghost of + such a chief as is not proved to have existed, must apparently believe + that the intermediate stages in religious evolution, departmental gods, + nature gods and gods of polytheism in general once existed in Australia, + and have all been swept away in a deluge of degeneration. That deluge left + in religion a moral, potently active Father and Judge. Now that conception + is considerably above the obsolescent belief in an otiose god which is + usually found among barbaric races of the type from which the Australians + are said to have degenerated. There is no proof of degeneracy, and, if + degeneration has occurred, why has it left just the kind of deity who, in + the higher barbaric culture, is not commonly found? Clearly this attempt + to explain the highest aspect of Australian religion by an undemonstrated + degeneration is an effort of despair. + </p> + <p> + (1) Tylor, preface to Ling Roth's Aborigines of Tasmania, pp. v.-viii. + </p> + <p> + (2) Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 231. + </p> + <p> + (3) Kamilaroi and Kurnai, pp. 277, 278. + </p> + <p> + While the current theory thus appears to break down over the deities of + certain Australian tribes and of other low savages to be more particularly + described later, it is not more successful in dealing with what we have + called the "fault" or break in the religious strata of higher races. The + nature of that "fault" may thus be described: While the deities of several + low savage peoples are religiously regarded as guardians and judges of + conduct both in this life and in the next, among higher barbarians they + are often little, or not at all, interested in conduct. Again, while among + Australians, and Andamanese, and Fuegians, there is hardly a verifiable + trace, if any trace there be, of sacrifice to any divine being, among + barbarians the gods beneath the very highest are in receipt even of human + sacrifice. Even among barbarians the highest deity is very rarely + worshipped with sacrifice. Through various degrees he is found to lose all + claim on worship, and even to become a mere name, and finally a jest and a + mockery. Meanwhile ancestral ghosts, and gods framed on the same lines as + ghosts, receive sacrifice of food and of human victims. Once more, the + high gods of low savages are not localised, not confined to any temple or + region. But the gods of higher barbarians (the gods beneath the highest), + are localised in this way, as occasionally even the highest god also is. + </p> + <p> + All this shows that, among advancing barbarians, the gods, if they started + from the estate of gods among savages on the lowest level, become + demoralised, limited, conditioned, relegated to an otiose condition, and + finally deposed, till progressive civilisation, as in Greece, reinstates + or invents purer and more philosophic conceptions, without being able to + abolish popular and priestly myth and ritual. + </p> + <p> + Here, then, is a flaw or break in the strata of religion. What was the + cause of this flaw? We answer, the evolution, through ghosts, of + "animistic" gods who retained the hunger and selfishness of these + ancestral spirits whom the lowest savages are not known to worship. + </p> + <p> + The moral divine beings of these lowest races, beings (when religiously + regarded) unconditioned, in need of no gift that man can give, are not to + be won by offerings of food and blood. Of such offerings ghosts, and gods + modelled on ghosts, are notoriously in need. Strengthened and propitiated + by blood and sacrifice (not offered to the gods of low savages), the + animistic deities will become partisans of their adorers, and will either + pay no regard to the morals of their worshippers, or will be easily bribed + to forgive sins. Here then is, ethically speaking, a flaw in the strata of + religion, a flaw found in the creeds of ghost-worshipping barbarians, but + not of non-ghost-worshipping savages. A crowd of venal, easy-going, + serviceable deities has now been evolved out of ghosts, and Animism is on + its way to supplant or overlay a rude early form of theism. Granting the + facts, we fail to see how they are explained by the current theory which + makes the highest god the latest in evolution from a ghost. That theory + wrecks itself again on the circumstance that, whereas the tribal or + national highest divine being, as latest in evolution, ought to be the + most potent, he is, in fact, among barbaric races, usually the most + disregarded. A new idea, of course, is not necessarily a powerful or + fashionable idea. It may be regarded as a "fad," or a heresy, or a low + form of dissent. But, when universally known to and accepted by a tribe or + people, then it must be deemed likely to possess great influence. But that + is not the case; and among barbaric tribes the most advanced conception of + deity is the least regarded, the most obsolete. + </p> + <p> + An excellent instance of the difference between the theory here advocated, + and that generally held by anthropologists, may be found in Mr. + Abercromby's valuable work, Pre-and Proto-Historic Finns, i. 150-154. The + gods, and other early ideas, says Mr. Abercromby, "could in no sense be + considered as supernatural". We shall give examples of gods among the + races "nearest the beginning," whose attributes of power and knowledge can + not, by us at least, be considered other than "supernatural". "The gods" + (in this hypothesis) "were so human that they could be forced to act in + accordance with the wishes of their worshippers, and could likewise be + punished." These ideas, to an Australian black, or an Andamanese, would + seem dangerously blasphemous. These older gods "resided chiefly in trees, + wells, rivers and animals". But many gods of our lowest known savages live + "beyond the sky". Mr. Abercromby supposes the sky god to be of later + evolution, and to be worshipped after man had exhausted "the helpers that + seemed nearest at hand... in the trees and waters at his very door". Now + the Australian black has not a door, nor has he gods of any service to him + in the "trees and waters," though sprites may lurk in such places for + mischief. But in Mr. Abercromby's view, some men turned at last to the + sky-god, "who in time would gain a large circle of worshippers". He would + come to be thought omnipotent, omniscient, the Creator. This notion, says + Mr. Abercromby, "must, if this view is correct, be of late origin". But + the view is not correct. The far-seeing powerful Maker beyond the sky is + found among the very backward races who have not developed helpers nearer + man, dwelling round what would be his door, if door he was civilised + enough to possess. Such near neighbouring gods, of human needs, capable of + being bullied, or propitiated by sacrifice, are found in races higher than + the lowest, who, for their easily procurable aid, have allowed the Maker + to sink into an otiose god, or a mere name. Mr. Abercromby unconsciously + proves our case by quoting the example of a Samoyede. This man knew a + Sky-god, Num; that conception was familiar to him. He also knew a familiar + spirit. On Mr. Abercromby's theory he should have resorted for help to the + Sky-god, not to the sprite. But he did the reverse: he said, "I cannot + approach Num, he is too far away; if I could reach him I should not + beseech thee (the familiar spirit), but should go myself; but I cannot". + For this precise reason, people who have developed the belief in + accessible affable spirits go to them, with a spell to constrain, or a + gift to bribe, and neglect, in some cases almost forget, their Maker. But + He is worshipped by low savages, who do not propitiate ghosts and who have + no gods in wells and trees, close at hand. It seems an obvious inference + that the greater God is the earlier evolved. + </p> + <p> + These are among the difficulties of the current anthropological theory. + There is, however, a solution by which the weakness of the divine + conception, its neglected, disused aspect among barbaric races, might be + explained by anthropologists, without regarding it as an obsolescent form + of a very early idea. This solution is therefore in common use. It is + applied to the deity revealed in the ancient mysteries of the Australians, + and it is employed in American and African instances. + </p> + <p> + The custom is to say that the highest divine being of American or African + native peoples has been borrowed from Europeans, and is, especially, a + savage refraction from the God of missionaries. If this can be proved, the + shadowy, practically powerless "Master of Life" of certain barbaric + peoples, will have degenerated from the Christian conception, because of + that conception he will be only a faint unsuccessful refraction. He has + been introduced by Europeans, it is argued, but is not in harmony with his + new environment, and so is "half-remembered and half forgot". + </p> + <p> + The hypothesis of borrowing admits of only one answer, but that answer + should be conclusive. If we can discover, say in North America, a single + instance in which the supreme being occurs, while yet he cannot possibly + be accounted for by any traceable or verifiable foreign influence, then + the burden of proof, in other cases, falls on the opponent. When he urges + that other North American supreme beings were borrowed, we can reply that + our crucial example shows that this need not be the fact. To prove that it + is the fact, in his instances, is then his business. It is obvious that + for information on this subject we must go to the reports of the earliest + travellers who knew the Red Indians well. We must try to get at gods + behind any known missionary efforts. Mr. Tylor offers us the testimony of + Heriot, about 1586, that the natives of Virginia believed in many gods, + also in one chief god, "who first made other principal gods, and then the + sun, moon and stars as petty gods".(1) Whence could the natives of + Virginia have borrowed this notion of a Creator before 1586? If it is + replied, in the usual way, that they developed him upwards out of sun, + moon and star gods, other principal gods, and finally reached the idea of + the Creator, we answer that the idea of the Maker is found where these + alleged intermediate stages are NOT found, as in Australia. In Virginia + then, as in Victoria, a Creator may have been evolved in some other way + than that of gradual ascent from ghosts, and may have been, as in + Australia and elsewhere, prior to verifiable ghost-worship. Again, in + Virginia at our first settlement, the native priests strenuously resisted + the introduction of Christianity. They were content with their deity, + Ahone, "the great God who governs all the world, and makes the sun to + shine, creating the moon and stars his companions.... The good and + peaceable God... needs not to be sacrificed unto, for he intendeth all + good unto them." This good Creator, without sacrifice, among a settled + agricultural barbaric race sacrificing to other gods and ghosts, + manifestly cannot be borrowed from the newly arrived religion of + Christianity, which his priests, according to the observer, vigorously + resisted. Ahone had a subordinate deity, magisterial in functions, + "looking into all men's actions" and punishing the same, when evil. To + THIS god sacrifices WERE made, and if his name, Okeus, is derived from Oki + = "spirit," he was, of course, an animistic ghost-evolved deity. + Anthropological writers, by an oversight, have dwelt on Oki, but have not + mentioned Ahone.(2) Manifestly it is not possible to insist that these + Virginian high deities were borrowed, without saying whence and when they + were borrowed by a barbaric race which was, at the same time, rejecting + Christian teaching. + </p> + <p> + (1) Prim. Cult., ii. 341. + </p> + <p> + (2) History of Travaile into Virginia, by William Strachey, 1612. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Tylor writes, with his habitual perspicacity: "It is the widespread + belief in the Great Spirit, whatever his precise nature and origin, that + has long and deservedly drawn the attention of European thinkers to the + native religions of the North American tribes". Now while, in recent + times, Christian ideas may undeniably have crystallised round "the Great + Spirit," it has come to be thought "that THE WHOLE DOCTRINE of the Great + Spirit was borrowed by the savages from missionaries and colonists. But + this view will not bear examination," says Mr. Tylor.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Prim. Cult, ii. pp. 339, 340 (1873). For some reason, Mr. Tylor + modifies this passage in 1891. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Tylor proceeds to prove this by examples from Greenland, and the + Algonkins. He instances the Massachusett God, Kiehtan, who created the + other gods, and receives the just into heaven. This was recorded in 1622, + but the belief, says Winslow, our authority, goes back into the unknown + past. "They never saw Kiehtan, but THEY HOLD IT A GREAT CHARGE AND DUTY + THAT ONE AGE TEACH ANOTHER." How could a deity thus rooted in a + traditional past be borrowed from recent English settlers? + </p> + <p> + In these cases the hypothesis of borrowing breaks down, and still more + does it break down over the Algonkin deity Atahocan. + </p> + <p> + Father Le Jeune, S.J., went first among the Algonkins, a missionary + pioneer, in 1633, and suffered unspeakable things in his courageous + endeavour to win souls in a most recalcitrant flock. He writes (1633): "As + this savage has given me occasion to speak of their god, I will remark + that it is a great error to think that the savages have no knowledge of + any deity. I was surprised to hear this in France. I do not know their + secrets, but, from the little which I am about to tell, it will be seen + that they have such knowledge. + </p> + <p> + "They say that one exists whom they call Atahocan, who made the whole. + Speaking of God in a wigwam one day, they asked me 'what is God?' I told + them that it was He who made all things, Heaven and Earth. They then began + to cry out to each other, 'Atahocan! Atahocan! it is Atahocan!'" + </p> + <p> + There could be no better evidence that Atahocan was NOT (as is often said) + "borrowed from the Jesuits". The Jesuits had only just arrived. + </p> + <p> + Later (1634) Le Jeune interrogated an old man and a partly Europeanised + sorcerer. They replied that nothing was certain; that Atahocan was only + spoken of as "of a thing so remote," that assurance was impossible. "In + fact, their word Nitatohokan means, 'I fable, I tell an old story'." + </p> + <p> + Thus Atahocan, though at once recognised as identical with the Creator of + the missionary, was so far from being the latest thing in religious + evolution that he had passed into a proverb for the ancient and the + fabulous. This, of course, is inconsistent with RECENT borrowing. He was + neglected for Khichikouai, spirits which inspire seers, and are of some + practical use, receiving rewards in offerings of grease, says Le Jeune.(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Relations, 1633, 1634. + </p> + <p> + The obsolescent Atahocan seems to have had no moral activity. But, in + America, this indolence of God is not universal. Mr. Parkman indeed + writes: "In the primitive Indian's conception of a God, the idea of moral + good has no part".(1) But this is definitely contradicted by Heriot, + Strachey, Winslow, already cited, and by Pere Le Jeune. The good + attributes of Kiehtan and Ahone were not borrowed from Christianity, were + matter of Indian belief before the English arrived. Mr. Parkman writes: + "The moment the Indians began to contemplate the object of his faith, and + sought to clothe it with attributes, it became finite, and commonly + ridiculous". It did so, as usual, in MYTHOLOGY, but not in RELIGION. There + is nothing ridiculous in what is known of Ahone and Kiehtan. If they had a + mythology, and if we knew the myths, doubtless they would be ridiculous + enough. The savage mind, turned from belief and awe into the spinning of + yarns, instantly yields to humorous fancy. As we know, mediaeval popular + Christianity, in imagery, marchen or tales, and art, copiously illustrates + the same mental phenomenon. Saints, God, our Lord, and the Virgin, all + play ludicrous and immoral parts in Christian folk-tales. This is + Mythology, and here is, beyond all cavil, a late corruption of Religion. + Here, where we know the history of a creed, Religion is early, and these + myths are late. Other examples of American divine ideas might be given, + such as the extraordinary hymns in which the Zunis address the Eternal, + Ahonawilona. But as the Zuni religion has only been studied in recent + years, the hymns would be dismissed as "borrowed," though there is nothing + Catholic or Christian about them. We have preferred to select examples + where borrowing from Christianity is out of the question. The current + anthropological theory is thus confronted with American examples of ideas + of the divine which cannot have been borrowed, while, if the gods are said + to have been evolved out of ghosts, we reply that, in some cases, they + receive no sacrifice, sacrifice being usually a note of ghostly descent. + Again, similar gods, as we show, exist where ghosts of chiefs are not + worshipped, and as far as evidence goes never were worshipped, because + there is no evidence of the existence at any time of such chiefs. The + American highest gods may then be equally free from the taint of ghostly + descent. + </p> + <p> + (1) Parkman, The Jesuits in North America. p. lxxviii. + </p> + <p> + There is another more or less moral North American deity whose evolution + is rather questionable. Pere Brebeuf (1636), speaking of the Hurons, says + that "they have recourse to Heaven in almost all their necessities,... and + I may say that it is, in fact, God whom they blindly adore, for they + imagine that there is an Oki, that is, a demon, in heaven, who regulates + the seasons, bridles the winds and the waves of the sea, and helps them in + every need. They dread his wrath, and appeal to him as witness to the + inviolability of their faith, when they make a promise or treaty of peace + with enemies. 'Heaven hear us to-day' is their form of adjuration."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Relations, 1636, pp. 106, 107. + </p> + <p> + A spiritual being, whose home is heaven, who rides on the winds, whose + wrath is dreaded, who sanctions the oath, is only called "a demon" by the + prejudice of the worthy father who, at the same time, admits that the + savages have a conception of God—and that God, so conceived, is this + demon! + </p> + <p> + The debatable question is, was the "demon," or the actual expanse of sky, + first in evolution? That cannot precisely be settled, but in the analogous + Chinese case of China we find heaven (Tien) and "Shang-ti, the personal + ruling Deity," corresponding to the Huron "demon". Shang-ti, the personal + deity, occurs most in the oldest, pre-Confucian sacred documents, and, so + far, appears to be the earlier conception. The "demon" in Huron faith may + also be earlier than the religious regard paid to his home, the sky.(1) + The unborrowed antiquity of a belief in a divine being, creative and + sometimes moral, in North America, is thus demonstrated. So far I had + written when I accidentally fell in with Mr. Tylor's essay on "The Limits + of Savage Religion".(2) In that essay, rather to my surprise, Mr. Tylor + argues for the borrowing of "The Great Spirit," "The Great Manitou," from + the Jesuits. Now, as to the phrase, "Great Spirit," the Jesuits doubtless + caused its promulgation, and, where their teaching penetrated, shreds of + their doctrine may have adhered to the Indian conception of that divine + being. But Mr. Tylor in his essay does not allude to the early evidence, + his own, for Oki, Atahocan, Kiehtan, and Torngursak, all undeniably prior + to Jesuit influence, and found where Jesuits, later, did not go. As Mr. + Tylor offers no reason for disregarding evidence in 1892 which he had + republished in a new edition of Primitive Culture in 1891, it is + impossible to argue against him in this place. He went on, in the essay + cited (1892) to contend that the Australian god of the Kamilaroi of + Victoria, Baiame, is, in name and attributes, of missionary introduction. + Happily this hypothesis can be refuted, as we show in the following + chapter on Australian gods. + </p> + <p> + (1) See Tylor, Prim. Cult., ii. 362, and Making of Religion, p. 318; also + Menzies, History of Religion, pp. 108,109, and Dr. Legge's Chinese + Classics, in Sacred Books of the East, vols. iii., xxvii., xxviii. + </p> + <p> + (2) Journ. of Anthrop. Inst., vol. xxi., 1892. + </p> + <p> + It would be easy enough to meet the hypothesis of borrowing in the case of + the many African tribes who possess something approaching to a rude + monotheistic conception. Among these are the Dinkas of the Upper Nile, + with their neighbours, whose creed Russegger compares to that of modern + Deists in Europe. The Dinka god, Dendid, is omnipotent, but so benevolent + that he is not addressed in prayer, nor propitiated by sacrifice. Compare + the supreme being of the Caribs, beneficent, otiose, unadored.(1) A + similar deity, veiled in the instruction of the as yet unpenetrated + Mysteries, exists among the Yao of Central Africa.(2) Of the negro race, + Waitz says, "even if we do not call them monotheists, we may still think + of them as standing on the boundary of monotheism despite their + innumerable rude superstitions".(3) The Tshi speaking people of the Gold + Coast have their unworshipped Nyankupon, a now otiose unadored being, with + a magisterial deputy, worshipped with many sacrifices. The case is almost + an exact parallel to that of Ahone and Oki in America. THESE were not + borrowed, and the author has argued at length against Major Ellis's theory + of the borrowing from Christians of Nyankupon.(4) + </p> + <p> + (1) Rochefort, Les Isles Antilles, p. 415. Tylor, ii. 337. + </p> + <p> + (2) Macdonald, Africana, 1, 71, 72, 130, 279-301. Scott, Dictionary of the + Manganja Language, Making of Religion, pp. 230-238. A contradictory view + in Spencer, Ecclesiastical Institutions, p. 681. + </p> + <p> + (3) Anthropologie, ii. 167. + </p> + <p> + (4) Making of Religion, pp. 243-250. + </p> + <p> + To conclude this chapter, the study of savage and barbaric religions seems + to yield the following facts:— + </p> + <p> + 1. Low savages. No regular chiefs. Great beings, not in receipt of + sacrifice, sanctioning morality. Ghosts are not worshipped, though + believed in. Polytheism, departmental gods and gods of heaven, earth, sky + and so forth, have not been developed or are not found. + </p> + <p> + 2. Barbaric races. Aristocratic or monarchic. Ghosts are worshipped and + receive sacrifice. Polytheistic gods are in renown and receive sacrifice. + There is usually a supreme Maker who is, in some cases, moral, in others + otiose. In only one or two known cases (as in that of the Polynesian + Taaroa) is he in receipt of sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + 3. Barbaric races. (Zulus, monarchic with Unkulunkulu; some Algonquins + (feebly aristocratic) with Atahocan). Religion is mainly ancestor worship + or vague spirit worship; ghosts are propitiated with food. There are + traces of an original divine being whose name is becoming obsolescent and + a matter of jest. + </p> + <p> + 4. Early civilisations. Monarchic or aristocratic. (Greece, Egypt, India, + Peru, Mexico.) Polytheism. One god tends to be supreme. Religiously + regarded, gods are moral; in myth are the reverse. Gods are in receipt of + sacrifice. Heavenly society is modelled on that of men, monarchic or + aristocratic. Philosophic thought tends towards belief in one pure god, + who may be named Zeus, in Greece. + </p> + <p> + 5. The religion of Israel. Probably a revival and purification of the old + conception of a moral, beneficent creator, whose creed had been involved + in sacrifice and anthropomorphic myth. + </p> + <p> + In all the stages thus roughly sketched, myths of the lowest sort prevail, + except in the records of the last stage, where the documents have been + edited by earnest monotheists. + </p> + <p> + If this theory be approximately correct, man's earliest religious ideas + may very well have consisted, in a sense, of dependence on a supreme moral + being who, when attempts were made by savages to describe the modus of his + working, became involved in the fancies of mythology. How this belief in + such a being arose we have no evidence to prove. We make no hint at a + sensus numinis, or direct revelation. + </p> + <p> + While offering no hypothesis of the origin of belief in a moral creator we + may present a suggestion. Mr. Darwin says about early man: "The same high + mental faculties which first led man to believe in unseen spiritual + agencies, then in fetichism, polytheism and ultimately monotheism, would + infallibly lead him, so long as his reasoning powers remained poorly + developed, to various strange superstitions and customs".(1) Now, + accepting Mr. Darwin's theory that early man had "high mental faculties," + the conception of a Maker of things does not seem beyond his grasp. Man + himself made plenty of things, and could probably conceive of a being who + made the world and the objects in it. "Certainly there must be some Being + who made all these things. He must be very good too," said an Eskimo to a + missionary.(2) The goodness is inferred by the Eskimo from his own + contentment with "the things which are made".(3) + </p> + <p> + (1) Darwin, Descent of Man, i. p. 66. + </p> + <p> + (2) Cranz, i. 199. + </p> + <p> + (3) Romans, i. 19. + </p> + <p> + Another example of barbaric man "seeking after God" may be adduced. + </p> + <p> + What the Greenlander said is corroborated by what a Kaffir said. Kaffir + religion is mainly animistic, ancestral spirits receive food and sacrifice—there + is but an evanescent tradition of a "Lord in Heaven". Thus a very + respectable Kaffir said to M. Arbrousset, "your tidings (Christianity) are + what I want; and I was seeking before I knew you.... I asked myself + sorrowful questions. 'Who has touched the stars with his hands?... Who + makes the waters flow?... Who can have given earth the wisdom and power to + produce corn?' Then I buried my face in my hands." + </p> + <p> + "This," says Sir John Lubbock, "was, however, an exceptional case. As a + general rule savages do not set themselves to think out such + questions."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Origin of Civilisation, p. 201. + </p> + <p> + As a common fact, if savages never ask the question, at all events, + somehow, they have the answer ready made. "Mangarrah, or Baiame, Puluga, + or Dendid, or Ahone, or Ahonawilona, or Atahocan, or Taaroa, or Tui Laga, + was the maker." Therefore savages who know that leave the question alone, + or add mythical accretions. But their ancestors must have asked the + question, like the "very respectable Kaffir" before they answered it. + </p> + <p> + Having reached the idea of a Creator, it was not difficult to add that he + was "good," or beneficent, and was deathless. + </p> + <p> + A notion of a good powerful Maker, not subject to death because + necessarily prior to Death (who only invaded the world late), seems easier + of attainment than the notion of Spirit which, ex hypothesi, demands much + delicate psychological study and hard thought. The idea of a Good Maker, + once reached, becomes, perhaps, the germ of future theism, but, as Mr. + Darwin says, the human mind was "infallibly led to various strange + superstitions". As St. Paul says, in perfect agreement with Mr. Darwin on + this point, "they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish + heart was darkened". + </p> + <p> + Among other imaginations (right or wrong) was the belief in spirits, with + all that followed in the way of instituting sacrifices, even of human + beings, and of dropping morality, about which the ghost of a deceased + medicine-man was not likely to be much interested. The supposed nearness + to man, and the venal and partial character of worshipped gods and + ghost-gods, would inevitably win for them more service and attention than + would be paid to a Maker remote, unbought and impartial. Hence the + conception of such a Being would tend to obsolescence, as we see that it + does, and would be most obscured where ghosts were most propitiated, as + among the Zulus. Later philosophy would attach the spiritual conception to + the revived or newly discovered idea of the supreme God. + </p> + <p> + In all this speculation there is nothing mystical; no supernatural or + supernormal interference is postulated. Supernormal experiences may have + helped to originate or support the belief in spirits, that, however, is + another question. But this hypothesis of the origin of belief in a good + unceasing Maker of things is, of course, confessedly a conjecture, for + which historical evidence cannot be given, in the nature of the case. All + our attempts to discover origins far behind history must be conjectural. + Their value must be estimated by the extent to which this or that + hypothesis colligates the facts. Now our hypothesis does colligate the + facts. It shows how belief in a moral supreme being might arise before + ghosts were worshipped, and it accounts for the flaw in the religious + strata, for the mythical accretions, for the otiose Creator in the + background of many barbaric religions, and for the almost universal + absence of sacrifice to the God relatively supreme. He was, from his + earliest conception, in no need of gifts from men. + </p> + <p> + On this matter of otiose supreme gods, Professor Menzies writes, "It is + very common to find in savage beliefs a vague far-off god, who is at the + back of all the others, takes little part in the management of things, and + receives little worship. But it is impossible to judge what that being was + at an earlier time; he may have been a nature god, or a spirit who has by + degrees grown faint, and come to occupy this position." + </p> + <p> + Now the position which he occupies is usually, if not universally, that of + the Creator. He could not arrive at this rank by "becoming faint," nor + could "a nature-god" be the Maker of Nature. The only way by which we can + discover "what that being was at an earlier time" is to see what he IS at + an earlier time, that is to say, what the conception of him is, among men + in an earlier state of culture. Among them, as we show, he is very much + more near, potent and moral, than among races more advanced in social + evolution and material culture. We can form no opinion as to the nature of + such "vague, far-off gods, at the back of all the others," till we collect + and compare examples, and endeavour to ascertain what points they have in + common, and in what points they differ from each other. It then becomes + plain that they are least far away, and most potent, where there is least + ghostly and polytheistic competition, that is, among the most backward + races. The more animism the less theism, is the general rule. Manifestly + the current hypothesis—that all religion is animistic in origin—does + not account for these facts, and is obliged to fly to an undemonstrated + theory of degradation, or to an undemonstrated theory of borrowing. That + our theory is inconsistent with the general doctrine of evolution we + cannot admit, if we are allowed to agree with Mr. Darwin's statement about + the high mental faculties which first led man to sympathetic, and then to + wild beliefs. We do not pretend to be more Darwinian than Mr. Darwin, who + compares "these miserable and indirect results of our higher faculties" to + "the occasional mistakes of the instincts of the lower animals". + </p> + <p> + The opinion here maintained, namely, that a germ of pure belief may be + detected amidst the confusion of low savage faith, and that in a still + earlier stage it may have been less overlaid with fable, is in direct + contradiction to current theories. It is also in contradiction with the + opinions entertained by myself before I made an independent examination of + the evidence. Like others, I was inclined to regard reports of a moral + Creator, who observes conduct, and judges it even in the next life, as + rumours due either to Christian influence, or to mistake. I well know, + however, and could, and did, discount the sources of error. I was on my + guard against the twin fallacies of describing all savage religion as + "devil worship," and of expecting to find a primitive "divine tradition". + I was also on my guard against the modern bias derived from the + "ghost-theory," and Mr. Spencer's works, and I kept an eye on + opportunities of "borrowing".(1) I had, in fact, classified all known + idola in the first edition of this work, such as the fallacy of leading + questions and the chance of deliberate deception. I sought the earliest + evidence, prior to any missionary teaching, and the evidence of what the + first missionaries found, in the way of belief, on their arrival. I + preferred the testimony of the best educated observers, and of those most + familiar with native languages. I sought for evidence in native hymns + (Maori, Zuni, Dinka, Red Indian) and in native ceremonial and mystery, as + these sources were least likely to be contaminated. + </p> + <p> + (1) Making of Religion, p. 187. + </p> + <p> + On the other side, I found a vast body of testimony that savages had no + religion at all. But that testimony, en masse, was refuted by Roskoff, and + also, in places, by Tylor. When three witnesses were brought to swear that + they saw the Irishman commit a crime, he offered to bring a dozen + witnesses who did NOT see him. Negative evidence of squatters, sailors and + colonists, who did NOT see any religion among this or that race, is not + worth much against evidence of trained observers and linguists who DID + find what the others missed, and who found more the more they knew the + tribe in question. Again, like others, I thought savages incapable of such + relatively pure ideas as I now believe some of them to possess. But I + could not resist the evidence, and I abandoned my a priori notions. The + evidence forcibly attests gradations in the central belief. It is found in + various shades, from relative potency down to a vanishing trace, and it is + found in significant proportion to the prevalence of animistic ideas, + being weakest where they are most developed, strongest where they are + least developed. There must be a reason for these phenomena, and that + reason, as it seems to me, is the overlaying and supersession of a rudely + Theistic by an animistic creed. That one cause would explain, and does + colligate, all the facts. + </p> + <p> + There remains a point on which misconception proves to be possible. It + will be shown, contrary to the current hypothesis, that the religion of + the lowest races, in its highest form, sanctions morality. That morality, + again, in certain instances, demands unselfishness. Of course we are not + claiming for that doctrine any supernatural origin. Religion, if it + sanctions ethics at all, will sanction those which the conscience accepts, + and those ethics, in one way or other, must have been evolved. That the + "cosmical" law is "the weakest must go to the wall" is generally conceded. + Man, however, is found trying to reverse the law, by equal and friendly + dealing (at least within what is vaguely called "the tribe"). His + religion, as in Australia, will be shown to insist on this unselfishness. + How did he evolve his ethics? + </p> + <p> + "Be it little or be it much they get," says Dampier about the Australians + in 1688, "every one has his part, as well the young and tender as the old + and feeble, who are not able to get abroad as the strong and lusty." This + conduct reverses the cosmical process, and notoriously civilised society, + Christian society, does not act on these principles. Neither do the + savages, who knock the old and feeble on the head, or deliberately leave + them to starve, act on these principles, sanctioned by Australian + religion, but (according to Mr. Dawson) NOT carried out in Australian + practice. "When old people become infirm... it is lawful and customary to + kill them."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) Australian Aborigines, p. 62. + </p> + <p> + As to the point of unselfishness, evolutionists are apt to account for it + by common interest. A tribe in which the strongest monopolise what is best + will not survive so well as an unselfish tribe in the struggle for + existence. But precisely the opposite is true, aristocracy marks the more + successful barbaric races, and an aristocratic slave-holding tribe could + have swept Australia as the Zulus swept South Africa. That aristocracy and + acquisition of separate property are steps in advance on communistic + savagery all history declares. Therefore a tribe which in Australia + developed private property, and reduced its neighbours to slavery, would + have been better fitted to survive than such a tribe as Dampier describes. + </p> + <p> + This is so evident that probably, or possibly, the Dampier state of + society was not developed in obedience to a recognised tribal interest, + but in obedience to an affectionate instinct. "Ils s'entr' aiment les une + les autres," says Brebeuf of the Hurons.(1) "I never heard the women + complain of being left out of feasts, or that the men ate the best + portions... every one does his business sweetly, peaceably, without + dispute. You never see disputes, quarrels, hatred, or reproach among + them." Brebeuf then tells how a young Indian stranger, in a time of want, + stole the best part of a moose. "They did not rage or curse, they only + bantered him, and yet to take our meat was almost to take our lives." + Brebeuf wanted to lecture the lad; his Indian host bade him hold his + peace, and the stranger was given hospitality, with his wife and children. + "They are very generous, and make it a point not to attach themselves to + the goods of this world." "Their greatest reproach is 'that man wants + everything, he is greedy'. They support, with never a murmur, widows, + orphans and old men, yet they kill hopeless or troublesome invalids, and + their whole conduct to Europeans was the reverse of their domestic + behaviour." + </p> + <p> + (1) Relations, 1634, p. 29. + </p> + <p> + Another example of savage unselfish ethics may be found in Mr. Mann's + account of the Andaman Islanders, a nomad race, very low in culture. "It + is a noteworthy trait, and one which deserves high commendation, that + every care and consideration are paid by all classes to the very young, + the weak, the aged, and the helpless, and these being made special objects + of interest and attention, invariably fare better in regard to the + comforts and necessaries of daily life than any of the otherwise more + fortunate members of the community."(1) + </p> + <p> + (1) J. A. I., xii. p. 93. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Huxley, in his celebrated Romanes Lecture on "Evolution and Morality," + laid stress on man's contravention of the cosmic law, "the weakest must go + to the wall". He did not explain the evolution of man's opposition to this + law. The ordinary evolutionist hypothesis, that the tribe would prosper + most whose members were least self-seeking, is contradicted by all + history. The overbearing, "grabbing," aristocratic, individualistic, + unscrupulous races beat the others out of the field. Mr. Huxley, indeed, + alleged that the "influence of the cosmic process in the evolution of + society is the greater the more rudimentary its civilisation. Social + progress means a checking of the cosmic process at every step and the + substitution for it of another, which may be called the ethical + process.... As civilisation has advanced, so has the extent of this + interference increased...."(1) But where, in Europe, is the interference + so marked as among the Andamanese? We have still to face the problem of + the generosity of low savages. + </p> + <p> + (1) Ethics of Evolution, pp. 81-84. + </p> + <p> + It is conceivable that the higher ethics of low savages rather reflect + their emotional instincts than arise from tribal legislation which is + supposed to enable a "tribe" to prosper in the struggle for existence. As + Brebeuf and Dampier, among others, prove, savages often set a good example + to Christians, and their ethics are, in certain cases, as among the + Andamanese and Fuegians, and, probably among the Yao, sanctioned by their + religion. But, as Mr. Tylor says, "the better savage social life seems but + in unstable equilibrium, liable to be easily upset by a touch of distress, + temptation, or violence".(1) Still, religion does its best, in certain + cases, to lend equilibrium; though all the world over, religion often + fails in practice. + </p> + <p> + (1) Prim. Cult., i. 51. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Myth, Ritual, and Religion, Vol. 1, by Andrew Lang + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTH, RITUAL, AND RELIGION, VOL. 1 *** + +***** This file should be named 2832-h.htm or 2832-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/3/2832/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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