m 
 



THE 
 
 ORIGIN OF CIVILISATION 
 
 AND THE 
 
 PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAN. 
 
 II 
 
 i MENTAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF SAVAGES. 
 
 SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M.P., P.R.S. 
 
 AUTHOR OP * PREHISTORIC TIMES * ETC. I VICE-PRESIDENT OP THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY i 
 FELLOW OF THE UNNEAN, GEOLOGICAL, ENTOMOLOGICAL, AND OTHER SOCIETIES. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
 
 549 & 651 BROADWAY. 
 
 1871 . 
 

 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 i 
 
 Of all the applications of the scientific method of inquiry* 
 the latest, the highest, and by far the most important, is iU 
 application to the study of man. From the analysis of the indi- 
 vidual, bodily and mental, inquiry passes to the consideration 
 of human nature in its collective and related aspects. Sociol- 
 ogy is the science which treats of the natural laws of human 
 society in all its aspects. Ethnology gives account of the dif- 
 ferent kinds of men, and deals with questions of race. Anthro- 
 pology is the term comprehensively applied to the natural his- 
 tory of the human species, and professes to be the complete 
 science of man, body and soul, in all the modifications of sex, 
 temperament, race, civilization, etc. This vast field is now 
 beginning to be actively cultivated in the true scientific spirit, 
 that is, with a view of simply ascertaining what are the laws 
 of the phenomena. 
 
 Eminent among the inquirers in this domain is the author 
 of the present work, who has devoted himself to researches into 
 the origin of civilization and the primitive condition of man. 
 In his first work, entitled “ Prehistoric Times,” Sir John Lub- 
 bock has presented the evidences that remain of the state of 
 mankind before the period of authentic history. In the present 
 work he enters upon an inquiry into the state of the existing 
 inferior races, and presents a view of the mental and social con- 
 dition of savage tribes. 
 
IV 
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 Besides the curious interest which always pertains to in- 
 formation concerning the lower grades of our species, accurate 
 information of this kind has now come to have a deep philo- 
 sophical interest. It is part of the grand research into the 
 career of humanity upon earth — into the origin, nature, and 
 course of civilization. Is there a definite and assured law of 
 progress in human affairs — a slow and gradual ascent from the 
 lower to the higher ? and was that low condition of humanity, 
 of which we have the prehistoric traces, and which is illustrated 
 by the present condition of savage races, the starting-point of 
 this ascent ? or was primeval man a developed and superior 
 being, who has retrograded and degenerated into the savage 
 state ? These are grave questions now impending in the world 
 of thought, and which are of high practical interest ; for, to 
 know the fundamental law of movement in humanity, is the pre- 
 requisite of all wise and successful measures of social ameliora- 
 tion. 
 
 It is from this point of view that the present work has its 
 highest significance. In giving us a detailed and trustworthy 
 statement of the mental and social condition of the lowest 
 tribes, it contributes indispensable data for conclusions respect- 
 ing the nature and destiny of man upon earth. In methodizing 
 these data, and sifting the multifarious evidence, so as to throw 
 the clearest light upon the art, religion, morals, language, laws, 
 and social habits of the savage races, the author has made a 
 valuable contribution toward the scientific treatment of the 
 subject, and has earned the thanks of all students in this im- 
 portant department of research. 
 
 Kew York, October , 1870. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 TN my work on ‘ Prehistoric Times ’ I have devoted 
 several chapters' to the description of modern 
 savages, because the weapons and implements now 
 used by the lower races of men throw much light 
 on the signification and use of those discovered in 
 ancient tumuli, or in the drift gravels ; and because a 
 knowledge of modern savages and their modes of life 
 enables us more accurately to picture, and more vividly 
 to conceive, the manners and customs of our ancestors 
 in bygone ages. 
 
 In the present volume, which is founded on a course 
 of lectures delivered at the Eoyal Institution in the spring 
 of 1868 , I propose more particularly to describe the 
 social and mental condition of savages, their art, their 
 systems of marriage and of relationship, their religions, 
 language, moral character, and laws. Subsequently I 
 shall hope to publish those portions of my lectures 
 which have reference to their houses, dress, boats, 
 arms, implements, &c. From the very nature of the 
 subjects dealt with in the present volume, I shall 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 have to record many actions and ideas very abhorrent 
 to us ; so many in fact that if I pass them without 
 comment or condemnation, it is because I am reluc- 
 tant to fatigue the reader by a wearisome iteration 
 of disapproval. In the chapters on Marriage and 
 Religion more especially, though I have endeavoured to 
 avoid everything that was needlessly offensive, still it 
 was impossible not to mention some facts which are 
 very repugnant to our feelings. Yet were I to express 
 my sentiments in some cases, my silence in others might 
 be held to imply indifference, if not approval. 
 
 Montesquieu 1 commences with an apology that 
 portion of his great work which is devoted to Religion. 
 As, he says, ‘on pent juger parmi les tenebres celles 
 qui sont les moins epaisses, et parmi les abimes ceux 
 qui sont les moins profonds, ainsi l’on peut chercher 
 entre les religions fausses celles qui sont les plus con- 
 formes au bien de la societe ; celles qui, quoiqu’elles 
 n’aient pas l’effetde mener les homines aux felicites de 
 l’autre vie, peuvent le plus contribuer a leur bonheur 
 dans celle-ci. Je n’examinerai done les diverses religions 
 du monde que par rapport au bien que l’on en tire dans 
 l’etat civil, soit que je parle de celle qui a sa racine 
 dans le ciel, ou bien de celles qui ont la leur sur la 
 terre.’ The difficulty which I have felt has taken a 
 different form, but I deem it necessary to say these 
 
 i 
 
 ) 
 
 \ 
 
 1 ‘Esprit des Lois,’ liv. xxiv. ch. 1. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vli 
 
 few words of explanation, lest I should be supposed to 
 approve that which I do not expressly condemn. 
 
 Klemm, in his ‘Allgemeine Culturgeschichte der 
 Menschen,’ and recently Mr. Wood, in a more popular 
 manner (‘ Natural History of Man ’), have described the 
 various races of man consecutively ; a system which has 
 its advantages, but which does not well bring out the 
 general stages of progress in civilisation. 
 
 Various other works, amongst which I must specially 
 mention Muller’s ‘ Geschichte der Americanischen 
 Urreligionen,’ ‘ M‘Lennan’s Primitive Marriage,’ and 
 Bachofen’s ‘Das Mutterrecht,’ deal with particular por- 
 tions of the subject. Maine’s interesting work on ‘ An- 
 cient Law,’ again, considers man in a more advanced 
 stage than that which is the special subject of my work. 
 
 The plan pursued by Tylor in his remarkable work 
 on the ‘ Early History of Mankind,’ more nearly re- 
 sembles that which I have sketched out for myself, 
 but the subject is one which no two minds would 
 view in the same manner, and is so vast that I am 
 sure my friend will not regard me as intruding on a 
 field which he has done so much to make his own. 
 
 Nor must I omit to mention Lord Karnes’ ‘ History 
 of Man,’ and Montesquieu’s ‘ Esprit des Lois,’ both 
 of them works of great interest, although written at a 
 time when our knowledge of savage races was even 
 more imperfect than it is now. 
 
viii 
 
 PEE FACE. 
 
 Yet the materials for such a work as the present 
 are immense, and are daily increasing. Those in- 
 terested in the subject become every year more and 
 more numerous ; and while none of my readers can be 
 more sensible of my deficiencies than I am myself, yet 
 after ten years of study, I have been anxious to publish 
 this portion of my work, in the hope that it may con- 
 tribute something towards the progress of a science 
 which is in itself of the deepest interest, and which has 
 a peculiar importance to an Empire such as ours, com- 
 prising races in every stage of civilisation yet attained 
 by man. 
 
 High Elms, Down, Kent ; 
 February , 1870 . 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP, PAGB 
 
 I. Introduction . . 1 
 
 » 
 
 II. Art and Ornaments . . 25 
 
 III. Marriage and Relationship. o • • . . 50 
 
 IV. Religion 114 
 
 Y. Religion ( continued) . 158 
 
 VI. Religion ( concluded) 219 
 
 VII. Character and Morals # 257 
 
 VIII. Language 273 
 
 IX. Laws 300 
 
 Appendix 
 
 Notes ..••••••••., 363 
 
 INDEX 867 
 

ILLU STEATION S 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. 
 
 PLATE PAGE 
 
 Group op Sacred Stones in the Dekhan. After Forbes Leslie. ‘ Early 
 
 Races of Scotland,’ vol. ii. p. 460 .... Frontispiece . 
 
 I. Sketch of Mammoth, on a piece of ivory, found in the Rock- 
 
 shelter at La Madelaine, in the Dordogne . . To face 25 
 
 II. Feejeean Modes of Dressing the Hair. After "Williams. * Fiji 
 
 and the Fijians,’ p. 158 To face 48 
 
 III. Australian Marriage Ceremony. After Freycinet. * Voyage 
 
 autour du Monde,’ pi. 104 ..... To face 74 
 
 IV. Indian Sacred Stones. After Forbes Leslie. ‘Early Races of 
 
 Scotland,’ vol. ii. p. 464 To face 206 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 1. Group of Reindeer. From a photograph presented to me* by 
 
 M. le Marquis de Vibraye 26 
 
 2-4. Drawings on Esquimaux Bone Drillbows. Presented to the 
 
 Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, by Captain Beechey . . . 27 
 
 5. North American Indian Census Roll. After Schoolcraft. ‘ His- 
 
 tory of the Indian Tribes,’ vol. ii. p. 222 33 
 
 6. Indian Gravepost. After Schoolcraft. ‘History of the Indian 
 
 Tribes,’ vol. i. p. 356 . . . . . . .35 
 
 7. Indian Gravepost. After Schoolcraft. ‘ History of the Indian 
 
 Tribes,’ vol. i. p. 356 
 
 35 
 
Xll 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 8. Indian Barexetter. After Schoolcraft. * History of the Indian 
 
 Tribes,’ yol. i. p. 338 36 
 
 9. Indian Barkletter. After Schoolcraft. ‘ History of the Indian 
 Tribes,’ vol. i. p. 336 
 
 37 
 
 10. Indian Barkletter. After Schoolcraft, 
 Tribes,’ vol. i. p. 336 
 
 ‘ History of the Indian 
 
 ..... 38 
 
 1 1. Indian Petition. After Schoolcraft. ‘ History of the Indian 
 
 Tribes,’ vol. i. p. 416 .39 
 
 12. Caroline Islander. After Freycinet. ‘ Voyage autour du Monde,’ 
 
 pi. 57 46 
 
 13. New Zealand Head. After Freycinet. ‘Voyage autour du 
 
 Monde,’ pi. 107 47 
 
 14. New Zealand Head. After Freycinet. ‘ Voyage autour du 
 
 Monde,’ pi. 107 47 
 
 15-17. Shoulder-blades prepared for Divination. After Klemm, 
 
 * All. Cultur. d. Mens.’ vol. iii. p. 200 ..... 143 
 
 18. A Sacred Dance of the Virginians. Lafitau, vol. ii. p. 135 . 156 
 
 19. Agoye. An Idol of Whiddah. Astley’s ‘ Coll, of Voyages,’ 
 
 vol. iii. p. 50 178 
 
 20. Sacred Stones. Fiji Islands. Williams, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 220 . 21 1 
 
LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS QUOTED 
 IN THIS VOLUME. 
 
 Adelung. Mithridates. 
 
 Arago, Narrative of a Voyage round 
 the World. 
 
 Asiatic Researches. 
 
 Astley, Collection of Voyages. 
 
 Atkinson, Oriental and Western Siberia. 
 
 Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht. 
 
 Bain, Mental and Moral Science. 
 
 Baker, Albert Nyanza. 
 
 „ Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia. 
 
 Battel, The strange Adventures of, (Pin- 
 kerton’s Voyages and Travels). 
 
 Beechey, Narrative of a Voyage to the 
 Pacific. 
 
 Bosnian, Description of Guinea (Pin- 
 kerton’s Voyages and Travels). 
 
 Brett, Indian Tribes of Guiana. 
 
 Brooke, Lapland. 
 
 Bruce, Travels in Abyssinia. 
 
 Burchell, Travels in Southern Africa. 
 
 Burton, Lake Regions of Africa. 
 
 ,, Pirst Pootsteps in Africa. 
 
 „ Abbeokuta and the Cameron 
 Mountains. 
 
 „ City of the Saints. 
 
 Cailli6, Travels to Timbuctoo. 
 
 Callaway, Religious System of the 
 Amazulu. 
 
 Campbell, Tales of the West High- 
 lands. 
 
 Carver, Travels in North America. 
 
 Casalis, The Basutos. 
 
 Catlin, North American Indians. 
 
 Chapman, Travels in S. Africa. 
 Charlevoix, History of Paraguay. 
 Clarke, Travels. 
 
 Collins, English Colony in New S. 
 Wales. 
 
 Cook, Voyage round the World. (In 
 Hawkesworth’s Voyages.) 
 
 „ Second Voyage towards the South 
 Pole. 
 
 „ Third Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. 
 Cox, Manual of Mythology. 
 
 Crantz, History of Greenland. 
 
 Darwin, Animals and Plants under 
 Domestication. 
 
 „ Origin of Species. 
 
 ,, Researches in Geology and 
 
 Natural History. 
 
 Davis, Dr. J. B., Thesaurus Craniorum. 
 Davis, The Chinese. 
 
 Davy, Account of Ceylon. 
 
 De Brosses, Du Culte des Dieux 
 Fetiches. 
 
 Denham, Travels in Africa. 
 
 Dias, Diccionario da Lingua Tupy. 
 Dieffenbach, New Zealand. 
 
 Dobrizhoffer, History of the Abipones. 
 Drury, Adventures in Madagascar. 
 Dubois, Description of the People of 
 India. 
 
 Dunn, The Oregon Territory. 
 
 Dulaure, Histoire Abregee des diffe- 
 rentes Cultes. 
 
 D’Urville, Voyage au Pole Sud. 
 
 Earle, Residence in New Zealand. 
 
XIV 
 
 LIST OF WORKS QUOTED. 
 
 Egede, Greenland. 
 
 Ellis, Three Visits to Madagascar. 
 
 „ Polynesian Researches. 
 
 Erman, Travels in Siberia. 
 
 Erskine, Western Pacific. 
 
 Eyre, Discoveries in Central Australia. 
 
 Earrar, Origin of Language. 
 
 Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship. 
 
 Fitzroy, Voyage of the ‘Adventure’ 
 and ‘Beagle.’ 
 
 Forbes Leslie, Early Races of Scotland. 
 
 Forster, Observations made during a 
 Voyage round the World. 
 
 Franklin, Journey to the Shores of the 
 Polar Sea. 
 
 Fraser, Travels in Koordistan and Me- 
 sopotamia. 
 
 Freycinet, Voyage autour du Monde. 
 
 Gaius, Commentaries on Roman Law. 
 
 Gama, Descripcion Historica y Crono- 
 logica de las Pedras de Mexico. 
 
 Gibbs, H.H., Romance of the Chevelere 
 Assigne. 
 
 Girad-Teulon, La Mere chez certains 
 Peuples de l’Antiquite. 
 
 Gladstone, Juventus Mundi. 
 
 Goguet, De l’Origine des Lois, desArts, 
 et des Sciences. 
 
 Graah, Voyage to Greenland, 
 
 Gray, Travels in Western Africa. 
 
 Grey, Sir G., Polynesian Mythology. 
 
 „ Journal of two Expeditions 
 of Discovery in North-West and 
 Western Australia. 
 
 Hale, Ethnology of the United States 
 Exploring Expedition. 
 
 Hallam, History of England. 
 
 Hanway, Travels in Persia. 
 
 Hayes, Open Polar Sea, 
 
 Hawkesworth, Voyages of Discovery in 
 the Southern Hemisphere. 
 
 Hearne, Voyage to the Northern Ocean. 
 
 Herodotus. 
 
 Hill, Travels in Siberia. 
 
 Hooper, Tents of the Tuski. 
 
 Humboldt, Personal Researches. 
 
 Hunter, Comparative Dictionary of the 
 Non-Aryan Languages of India and 
 High Asia. 
 
 Hume, Essays; 
 
 „ History of England. 
 
 Inman, Ancient Faiths in Ancien* 
 Names. 
 
 James, Expedition to the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. 
 
 Journal of the Royal Institution. 
 
 Jukes, Voyage of the ‘Fly.’ 
 
 Karnes, History of Man. 
 
 Kenrick, Phoenicia. 
 
 Keppel, Visit to the Indian Archipelago . 
 „ Expedition to Borneo. 
 
 Klemm, Allgemeine Culturgeschichte 
 de’r Menschheit. 
 
 „ Werkzeuge und Waffen. 
 
 Koelle, Polyglotta Africana. 
 
 Kolben, History of the Cape of Good 
 Hope. 
 
 Kolff, Voyage of the ‘Dourga.’ 
 
 Kotzebue, Voyage round the World. 
 
 Labat, Voyage aux Isles de l’Amerique. 
 
 Lafitau, Moeurs des Sauvages Ameri- 
 cains. 
 
 Laird, Expedition into the Interior of 
 Africa. 
 
 Lander (R and J.), Niger Expedition. 
 
 Lang, Aborigines of Australia. 
 
 Latham, Descriptive Ethnology. 
 
 Lecky, History of Rationalism. 
 
 Lewin, Hill Tracts of Chittagong. 
 
 Lichtenstein, Travels in South Africa. 
 
 Lubbock, Prehistoric Times. 
 
 Lyon, Journal during the Voyage of 
 Captain Parry. 
 
 McGillivray, Voyage of the ‘ Rattle- 
 snake.’ 
 
 M‘Lennan, Primitive Marriage. 
 
 Maine, Ancient Law. 
 
 Marsden, History of Sumatra. 
 
LIST OF WORKS QUOTED. 
 
 XV 
 
 Mariner, Tonga Islands. 
 
 Martins, Yon dem Rechtszustande unter 
 den Ureinwohnern Brasiliens. 
 
 Merolla, Voyage to Congo (Pinker- 
 ton’s Voyages and Travels). 
 
 Metz, Tribes of the Neilgherries. 
 
 Metlahkatlah, published by the Church 
 Missionary Society. 
 
 Middendorf, Sibirische Reise. 
 
 Monboddo, Origin and Progress of Lan- 
 guage. 
 
 Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois. 
 
 Moser, The Caucasus and its People. 
 
 Moor, Notices of the Indian Archi- 
 pelago. 
 
 Mouhot, Travels in the Central Parts 
 of Indo-China. 
 
 Muller (Max), Chips from a German 
 "Workshop. 
 
 Lectures on Language, 
 
 First Series. 
 
 ,, Lectures on Language, 
 
 Second Series. 
 
 Muller (F. G.), Geschichte der Ameri- 
 kanischen Urreligionen. 
 
 Nilsson, On the Stone Age. 
 
 Olaus Magnus. 
 
 Pallas, Voyages en differ entes Provinces 
 de l’Empire de Russie. 
 
 „ Voyages entrepris dans les Gou- 
 vernements meridionaux de l’Empire 
 de Russie. 
 
 Park, Travels. 
 
 Parkyns, Life in Abyssinia. 
 
 Perouse, Voyage autour du Monde. 
 
 Pliny, Natural History. 
 
 Prescott, History of Peru. 
 
 „ History of Mexico. 
 
 Prichard, Natural History of Man. 
 
 Proceedings of the American Academy 
 of Arts and Sciences. 
 
 Proceedings of the Boston Society of 
 Natural History. 
 
 Proyart, History of Loango (Pinker- 
 ton’s Voyages and Travels). 
 
 Raffles, History of Java. 
 
 Reade, Savage Africa. 
 
 Renan, Origin du Langage. 
 
 Richardson, Journal of a Boat Journey 
 
 Robertson, History of America. 
 
 Scherzer, Voyage of the ‘ Novara.’ 
 
 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes. 
 
 Seemann, A Mission to Fiji. 
 
 Smith, A., Theory of Moral Sentiments, 
 and Dissertation on the Origin of 
 Languages. 
 
 „ G. (Bishop of Victoria), Ten 
 Weeks in Japan. 
 
 „ I. History of Virginia. 
 
 „ W., Voyage to Guinea. 
 
 Smithsonian Reports. 
 
 Snowden and Prall, Grammar of the 
 Mpongwe Language. New York. 
 
 Speke, Discovery of the Source of the 
 Nile. 
 
 Spiers, Life in Ancient India. 
 
 Spix and Martius, Travels in Brazil. 
 
 Sproat, Scenes and Studies of Savage 
 Life. 
 
 Squiers, Serpent Symbol in America. 
 
 Stephens, South Australia. 
 
 Stevenson, Travels in South America. 
 
 Strahlenberg, Description of Russia, 
 Siberia, and Great Tartary. 
 
 Systems of Land Tenure. Published by 
 the Cobden Club. 
 
 Tacitus. 
 
 Tanner, Narrative of a Captivity among 
 the North American Indians. 
 
 Taylor, New Zealand and its Inhabi- 
 tants. 
 
 Tertre, History of the Caribby Islands. 
 
 Tindall, Grammar and Dictionary of 
 the Namaqua (Hottentot) Language. 
 
 Transactions of the Americ. Antiq. Soc, 
 
 Transactions of the Ethnological Society. 
 
 Transactions of the R. S. of Victoria. 
 
 Tylor, Anahuac. 
 
 „ Early History of Man. 
 
 Upharn, History and Doctrine of Budd- 
 hism in Ceylon. 
 
XVI 
 
 LIST OF WORKS QUOTED, 
 
 Vancouver, Voyage of Discovery. 
 
 Vogt, Lectures on Man. 
 
 Waitz, Anthropology. 
 
 Wallace, Travels in the Amazons and 
 Rio Negro. 
 
 ,, Malay Archipelago. 
 
 Watson and Kaye, The People of 
 India. 
 
 Wedgwood, Introduction to the Diction- 
 ary of the English Language. 
 
 Whately (Archbishop of Dublin), 
 Political Economy. 
 
 Whipple, Report on the Indian Tribes. 
 Wilkes, United States’ Exploring Expe- 
 dition. 
 
 Williams, Fiji and the Fijians. 
 
 Wood, Natural History of Man. 
 Wrangel, Siberia and the Polar Sea. 
 Wright, Superstitions of England. 
 
 Yate, New Zealand. 
 
 Erratum . 
 
 Page $7, for Dulaure, yol. i. p 260 read voL 11 
 
THE ORIGIN OF CIVILISATION 
 
 &c.< 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 T HE study of the lower races of men, apart from the 
 direct importance which it possesses in an empire like 
 ours, is of great interest from three points of view. In the 
 first place, the condition and habits of existing savages 
 resemble in many ways, though not in all, those of our 
 own ancestors in a period now long gone by; in the 
 second, they illustrate much of what is passing among 
 ourselves, many customs which have evidently no relation 
 to present circumstances, and even some ideas which are 
 rooted in our minds, as fossils are imbedded in the soil ; 
 and thirdly, we can even, by means of them, penetrate 
 some of that mist which separates the present from the 
 future. 
 
 Well, therefore, has it been observed by Maine, in his 
 excellent work on c Ancient Law/ that, ‘ even if they gave 
 more trouble than they do, no pains would be wasted 
 in ascertaining the germs out of which has assuredly 
 been unfolded every form of moral restraint which con- 
 trols our actions and shapes our conduct at the present 
 
2 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 moment. The rudiments of the social state, so far as they 
 are known to us at all, are known through testimony of three 
 sorts — accounts by contemporary observers of civilisations 
 less advanced than their own, the records which particular 
 races have preserved concerning their primitive history, 
 and ancient law. The first kind of evidence is the best 
 we could have expected. As societies do not advance con- 
 currently, but at different rates of progress, there have 
 been epochs at which men trained to habits of methodical 
 observation have really been in a position to watch and 
 describe the infancy of mankind . 51 He refers particularly to 
 Tacitus, whom he praises for having ‘made the most of such 
 an opportunity ; 5 adding, however, ‘but the “ Germany , 55 
 unlike most celebrated classical books, has not induced 
 others to follow the excellent example set by its author, 
 and the amount of this sort of testimony which we possess 
 is exceedingly small . 5 
 
 This is very far, however, from being the case ; at all 
 epochs some ‘ men trained to habits of methodical observa- 
 tion have really been in a position to watch and describe 
 the infancy of mankind , 5 and the testimony of our modern 
 travellers is of the same sort as that for which we are in- 
 debted to Tacitus. It is, indeed, much to be regretted that 
 Mr. Maine, in his admirable work, did not more extensively 
 avail himself of this source of information, for an acquaint- 
 ance with the laws and customs of modern savages would 
 have enabled him greatly to strengthen his arguments 
 on some points, while it would certainly have modified his 
 views on others. Thus he lays it down as an obvious 
 proposition that ‘the organisation of primitive societies 
 would have been confounded, if men had called themselves 
 relatives of their mother’s relatives , 5 while I shall pre- 
 
 1 Maine’s Ancient Law, p. 120. 
 
DIFFICULTY OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 3 
 
 sently show that, as indeed Mr. McLennan has already 
 pointed out, relationship through females is a common 
 custom of savage communities all over the world. 
 
 But though our information with reference to the social 
 and moral condition of the lower races of man is much 
 more considerable than Mr. Maine supposed, it is certainly 
 very far from being satisfactory either in extent or in 
 accuracy. Travellers naturally find it far easier to describe 
 the houses, boats, food, dress, weapons, and implements of 
 savages, than to understand their thoughts and feelings. 
 The whole mental condition of a savage is so different from 
 ours, that it is often very difficult to follow what is passing 
 in his mind, or to understand the motives by which he is 
 influenced. Many things appear natural and almost self- 
 evident to him, which produce a very different impression 
 on us. 6 What ! 5 said a negro to Burton, ‘ am I to starve, 
 while my sister has children whom she can sell?’ 
 
 Though savages always have a reason, such as it is, for 
 what they do and what they believe, their reasons often 
 are very absurd. Moreover, the difficulty of ascertaining 
 what is passing in their minds is of course much enhanced 
 by the difficulty of communicating with them. This has 
 produced many laughable mistakes. Thus, when Labil- 
 lardiere enquired of the Friendly Islanders the word for 
 1,000,000, they seem to have thought the question absurd, 
 and gave him one which apparently has no meaning; 
 when he asked for 10,000,000, they said ‘ looole,’ which I 
 will leave unexplained; for 100,000,000 ( laounoua,’ that 
 is to say, ‘ nonsense ; 5 while for the higher numbers they 
 gave him certain coarse expressions, which he has gravely 
 published in his table of numerals. 
 
 A mistake made by Dampier led to more serious results. 
 He had met some Australians, and apprehending an at- 
 tack, he Bays : — ‘ I discharged my gun to scare them, but 
 
4 
 
 INACTIVITY OF THE 
 
 avoided shooting any of them ; till finding the young man 
 in great danger from them, and myself in some, and that 
 though the gun had a little frightened them at first, yet 
 they had, soon learnt to despise it , tossing up their hands, 
 and crying, “ pooh, pooh, pooh ; 55 and coming on afresh 
 with a great noise, I thought it high time to charge again, 
 and shoot one of them, which I did. The rest, seeing him 
 fall, made a stand again, and my young man took the 
 opportunity to disengage himself, and come off to me ; my 
 other man also was with me, who had done nothing all 
 this while, having come out unarmed; and I returned 
 back with my men, designing to attempt the natives no 
 farther, being very sorry for what had happened already . 5 1 
 Pooh, pooh, however, or puff, puff, is the name which 
 savages, like children, naturally apply to guns. 
 
 Another source of error is that savages are often re- 
 luctant to contradict what is said to them. Thus Mr, 
 Oldfield , 2 speaking of the Australians, tells us : — c I have 
 found this habit of non-contradiction to stand very much 
 in my way when making enquiries of them; for, as my 
 knowledge of their language was only sufficient to enable 
 me to seek information on some points by putting sugges- 
 tive questions, in which they immediately concurred, I was 
 frequently driven nearly to my wits 5 end to arrive at the 
 truth. A native once brought me in some specimens of 
 a species of eucalyptus, and being desirous of ascertaining 
 the habit of the plant, I asked, “ A tall tree ? 55 to which 
 his ready answer was in the affirmative. Not feeling quite 
 satisfied, I again demanded, “ A low bush ? 55 to which 
 “ yes 55 was also the response . 5 
 
 Again, the mind of the savage, like that of the child, 
 is easily fatigued, and he will then give random answers to 
 
 1 Pinkerton’s Voyages, yoI. xi. p. 473. 2 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. vol. iii. p. 255, 
 
SAVAGE INTELLECT. 
 
 5 
 
 spare himself the trouble of thought. Speaking of the 
 Ahts (N.W. America), Mr. Sproat 1 * says: — ‘The native 
 mind, to an educated man, seems generally to be asleep ; 
 and, if you suddenly ask a novel question, you have to 
 repeat it while the mind of the savage is awaking, and to 
 speak with emphasis until he has quite got your meaning. 
 This may partly arise from the questioner’s imperfect 
 knowledge of the language; still, I think, not entirely, 
 as the savage may be observed occasionally to become 
 forgetful, when voluntarily communicating information. 
 On his attention being fully aroused, he often shows 
 much quickness in reply and ingenuity in argument. But 
 a short conversation wearies him, particularly if questions 
 are asked that require efforts of thought or memory on 
 his part. The mind of the savage then appears to rock 
 to and fro out of mere weakness, and he tells lies and talks 
 nonsense . 5 
 
 ‘ I frequently enquired of the negroes , 5 says Park, ‘ what 
 became of the sun during the night, and whether we 
 should see the same sun, or a different one, in the 
 morning ; but I found that they considered the question 
 as very childish. The subject appeared to them as placed 
 beyond the reach of human investigation ; they had never 
 indulged a conjecture, nor formed any hypothesis, about 
 the matter . 5 2 
 
 Such ideas are, in fact, entirely beyond the mental 
 range of the lower savages, whose extreme mental in- 
 feriority we have much difficulty in realising. 
 
 Speaking of the wild men in the interior of Borneo, Mr. 
 Dalton says that 3 they are found living ‘ absolutely in a 
 state of nature, who neither cultivate the ground, nor live 
 
 1 Scenes and Studies of Savage 3 Moor’s Notices of the Indian 
 
 Life, p. 120. Army, p. 49. See also Keppel’s Ex- 
 
 * Park’s Travels, vol. i. p. 265. pedition to Borneo, vol. ii. p. x. 
 
6 
 
 CONDITION OF THE 
 
 in huts; who neither eat rice nor salt, and who do not 
 associate with each other, hnt rove about some woods, like 
 wild beasts ; the sexes meet in the jungle, or the man 
 carries away a woman from some campong. When the 
 children are old enough to shift for themselves, they 
 usually separate, neither one afterwards thinking of the 
 other : at night they sleep under some large tree, the 
 branches of which hang low. On these they fasten the 
 children in a kind of swing ; around the tree they make a 
 fire to keep off the wild beasts and snakes, — they cover 
 themselves with a piece of bark, and in this also they wrap 
 their children ; it is soft and warm, but will not keep out 
 the rain. The poor creatures are looked on and treated 
 by the other Dyaks as wild beasts/ 
 
 Lichtenstein thus describes a Bushman : — c One of our 
 present guests, who appeared about fifty years of age, 
 who had grey hair and a bristly beard, whose forehead, 
 nose, cheeks, and chin were all smeared over with black 
 grease, having only a white circle round the eye washed 
 clean with the tears occasioned by smoking — this man had 
 the true physiognomy of the small blue ape of Caffraria. 
 What gives the more verity to such a comparison was 
 the vivacity of his eyes, and the flexibility of his eyebrows, 
 which he worked up and down with every change of 
 countenance. Even his nostrils and the corners of his 
 mouth, nay his very ears, moved involuntarily, express- 
 ing his hasty transitions from eager desire to watch- 
 ful distrust. There was not, on the contrary, a single 
 feature in his countenance that evinced a consciousness of 
 mental powers, or anything that denoted emotions of the 
 mind of a milder species than what belong to man in his 
 mere animal nature. When a piece of meat was given him, 
 and half rising he stretched out a distrustful arm to take 
 it, he snatched it hastily, and stuck it immediately into 
 
LOWEST RACES OF MEN. 
 
 7 
 
 the fire, peering around with, his little keen eyes, as if 
 fearing lest some one should take it away again : — all 
 this was done with such looks and gestures, that anyone 
 must have been ready to swear he had taken the example 
 of them entirely from an ape. He soon took the meat 
 from the embers, wiped it hastily with his right hand upon 
 his left arm, and tore out large half-raw bits with his 
 teeth, which I could see going entire down his meagre 
 throat . 51 
 
 Under these circumstances it cannot be wondered that 
 we have most contradictory accounts as to the character 
 and mental condition of savages. Nevertheless, by com- 
 paring together the accounts of different travellers, we 
 can to a great extent avoid these sources of error ; and 
 we are very much aided in this by the remarkable simi- 
 larity between different races. So striking indeed is this, 
 that different races in similar stages of development often 
 present more features of resemblance to one another 
 than the same race does to itself, in different stages of 
 its history. 
 
 Some ideas, indeed, which seem to us at first inexplicable 
 and fantastic are yet very widely distributed. Thus among 
 many races a woman is absolutely forbidden to speak to 
 her son-in-law. Franklin 2 tells us that among the 
 American Indians of the far North, ‘ it is considered 
 extremely improper for a mother-in-law to speak or even 
 look at him ; and when she has a communication to make 
 to him, it is the etiquette that she should turn her back 
 upon him, and address him only through the medium of a 
 third person . 3 
 
 Further south among the Omahaws, c neither the father - 
 in-law nor mother-in-law will hold any direct communica- 
 
 1 Lichtenstein, yoI. ii. p. 224. 
 
 2 Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, vol. i. p. 137. 
 
8 
 
 CURIOUS CUSTOMS WITH REFERENCE TO 
 
 tion with their son-in-law ; nor will he, on any occasion, or 
 under any consideration, converse immediately with them, 
 although no ill will exists between them ; they will not, on 
 any account, mention each other’s name in company, nor 
 look in each other’s faces ; any conversation that passes 
 between them is conducted through the medium of some 
 other person.’ 1 
 
 Harmon says that among the Indians east of the Eocky 
 Mountains the same rule prevails. Lafitau, 2 indeed, makes 
 the same statements as regards the North American 
 Indians generally. We find it among the Crees and 
 Dacotahs and again in Florida. Eochefort mentions it 
 among the Caribs, and in South America it recurs among 
 the Arawaks. 
 
 In Asia among the Mongols and Calmucks a woman 
 must not speak to her father-in-law nor sit down in his 
 presence. Among the Ostiaks 3 of Siberia, ‘ une fille 
 mariee evite autant qu’l lui est possible la presence du 
 pere de son mari, tant qu’elle n’a pas d’enfant; et le 
 mari, pendant ce terns, n’ose pas paroitre devant la mere 
 de sa femme. S’ils se rencontrent par hasard, le mari 
 lui tourne le dos, et la femme se couvre le visage. On 
 ne donne point de nom aux filles Ostiakes; lorsqu’elles 
 sont mariees, les hommes les nomment Imi, femmes. Les 
 femmes, par respect pour leurs maris, ne les appellent 
 pas par leur nom ; elles se servent du mot de Tahe, 
 hommes.’ 
 
 In China, according to Duhalde, the father-in-law, after 
 the wedding day, c never sees the face of his daughter-in- 
 law again, he never visits her,’ and if they chance to meet 
 
 1 James’s Expedition to the Rocky 8 Pallas, yoL iv. pp. 71, 577. He 
 
 Mountains, yoI. i. p. 232. makes the same statement with refer- 
 
 2 Mceurs des Sauvages Am^ricains, ence to the Samoyedes, loc , cit. p. 99. 
 Yol. i. p. 576. 
 
MOTHERS-IN-LAW. 
 
 9 
 
 he hides himself. 1 A similar custom prevails in Borneo 
 and in the Fiji Islands. In Australia Eyre states that a 
 man must not pronounce the name of his father-in-law 
 his mother-in-law, or his son-in-law. 
 
 In Central Africa Caillie 2 observes that, ‘From this 
 moment the lover is not to see the father and mother of 
 his future bride : he takes the greatest care to avoid 
 them, and if by chance they perceive him they cover 
 their faces, as if all ties of friendship were broken. I 
 tried in vain to discover the origin of this whimsical cus- 
 tom ; the only answer I could obtain was, “ It is our way.” 
 The custom extends beyond the relations; if the lover 
 is of a different camp, he avoids all the inhabitants of the 
 lady’s camp, except a few intimate friends whom he is 
 permitted to visit. A little tent is generally set up for 
 him, under which he remains all day, and if he is obliged 
 to come out, or to cross the camp, he covers his face. He 
 is not allowed to see his intended during the day, but, 
 when everybody is at rest, he creeps into her tent and 
 remains with her till daybreak.’ While among the Bush- 
 men in the far South, Chapman recounts exactly the same 
 thing, yet none of these observers had any idea how 
 general the custom is. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, who has some very interesting remarks on 
 these customs in his 6 Early History of Man,’ observes 
 that ‘ it is hard even to guess what state of things can 
 have brought them into existence,’ nor, so far as I am 
 aware, has anyone else attempted to explain them. In 
 the Chapter on Marriage I shall, however, point out the 
 manner in which 1 conceive that they have arisen. 
 
 Another curious custom is that known in Bearn under 
 
 1 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, vol. iv. p. 91. 
 
 2 Caillie’s Travels to Timbuctoo, vol. i. p. 94. 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 LA COUVADE. 
 
 the name of La Couvade. Probably every Englishman 
 who bad not studied other races would assume, as a mat- 
 ter of course, that on the birth of a child the mother would 
 everywhere be put to bed and nursed. But this is not the 
 case. In many races the father, and not the mother, is 
 doctored when a baby is born. 
 
 Yet though this custom seems so ludicrous to us, it is 
 very widely distributed. Commencing with South America, 
 Dobritzhoffer tells us that 6 ~No sooner do you hear that 
 a woman has borne a child, than you see the husband 
 lying in bed, huddled up with mats and skins, lest some 
 ruder breath of air should touch him, fasting, kept in 
 private, ^md for a number of days abstaining religiously 
 from certain viands ; you would swear it was he who had 
 had the child. ... I had read about this in old times, 
 and laughed at it, never thinking I could believe such 
 madness, and I used to suspect that this barbarian custom 
 was related more in jest than in earnest ; but at last T 
 saw it with my own eyes among the Abipones . 5 
 
 In Brazil among the Coroados, Martius tells us that ‘ As 
 soon as the woman is evidently pregnant, or has been de- 
 livered, the man withdraws. A strict regimen is observed 
 before the birth ; the man and the woman refrain for a 
 time from the flesh of certain animals and live chiefly on 
 fish and fruits . 5 1 
 
 Further north, in Guiana, Mr. Brett 2 observes that some 
 of the men of the Acawoio and Caribi nations, when 
 they have reason to expect an increase of their families, 
 consider themselves bound to abstain from certain kinds 
 of meat, lest the expected child should, in some very 
 mysterious way, be injured by their partaking of it. The 
 A 'ouri (or Agouti) is thus tabooed, lest, like that little 
 
 1 Spix and Martins’s Travels in Brazil, vol. ii. p. 247. 
 
 * Brett’s Indian Tribes of Guiana, p. 355. 
 
LA COUVADE. 
 
 11 
 
 animal, the child should be meagre the Haimara, also, 
 lest it should be blind — the outer coating of the eye of 
 that fish suggesting film or cataract ; the Ldbba , lest the 
 infant’s mouth should protrude like the labba’s, or lest it 
 be spotted like the labba, which spots would ultimately 
 become ulcers. The Marudi is also forbidden, lest the 
 infant be still-born, the screeching of that bird being con- 
 sidered ominous of death . 5 And again : — ‘ On the birth of 
 a child, the ancient Indian etiquette requires the father to 
 tak$ to his hammock, where he remains some days as if he 
 were sick, and receives the congratulations and condolence 
 of his friends. An instance of this custom came under my 
 own observation; where the man, in robust health and 
 excellent condition, without a single bodily ailment, was 
 lying in his hammock in the most provoking manner ; and 
 carefully and respectfully attended by the women, while 
 the mother of the new-born infant was cooking — none 
 apparently regarding her ! 5 1 
 
 Similar statements have been made by various other 
 travellers, including De Tertre, Giliz, Biet, Fermin, and in 
 fact almost all who have written on the natives of South 
 America. 
 
 In Greenland, after a woman is confined, the ‘ husband 
 must forbear working for some weeks, neither must they 
 drive any trade during that time ; 5 2 in Kamskatka, for 
 some time before the birth of a baby, the husband must 
 do no hard work. Similar notions occur among the 
 Chinese of West Yunnan, among the Dyaks of Borneo, in 
 the north of Spain, in Corsica, and in the south of France 
 where it is called 4 faire la Couvade . 5 While, however, I 
 regard this curious custom as of much ethnological 
 interest, I cannot agree with Mr. Tyler in regarding it as 
 evidence that the races by whom it is practised belong to 
 
 * Brett, loc. cit. p. 101. 
 
 2 Egede’s Greenland, p. 196. 
 
12 
 
 REASON FOR LA COUVADE. 
 
 one variety of the human species . 1 On the contrary, I 
 believe that it originated independently, in several dis- 
 tinct parts of the world. 
 
 It is of course evident* that a custom so ancient, and so 
 widely spread, must have its origin in some idea which 
 satisfies the savage mind. Several have been suggested. 
 Professor Max Muller , 2 in his c Chips from a German 
 Workshop/ says : — ‘ It is clear that the poor husband was 
 at first tyrannized over by his female relations, and after- 
 wards frightened into superstition. He then began to 
 make a martyr of himself till he made himself really ill, 
 or took to his bed in self-defence. Strange and absurd as 
 the Couvade appears at first sight, there is something in 
 it with which, we believe, most mothers-in-law can sym- 
 pathise . 5 Lafitau 3 regards it as arising from a dim re- 
 collection of original sin, rejecting the Carib and Abipon 
 explanation, which I have little doubt is the correct one, 
 that they do it because they believe that if the father 
 engaged in any rough work, or was careless in his diet 
 ‘ cela feroit mal a l’enfant, et que cet enfant participeroit 
 a tous les defauts naturels des animaux dont le pere auroit 
 mange . 5 
 
 This idea, namely, that a person imbibes the characteris- 
 tics of an animal which he eats, is very widely distributed. 
 Thus the Malays at Singapore give a large price for the 
 flesh of the tiger, not because they like it, but because 
 they believe that the man who eats tiger c acquires the 
 sagacity as well as the courage of that animal . 54 In 
 ancient times those who wished for children used to eat 
 frogs, because that animal lays so many eggs . 5 
 
 1 Lon. cit. p. 296. 4 Keppel’s Visit to the Indian 
 
 2 Chips from a German Workshop, Archipelago, p. 13. 
 
 toI. ii. p. 281. 5 Inman’s Ancient Faiths in 
 
 3 Mceurs des Sauvages Americains, Ancient Names, p. 383. 
 vol. i. p. 259. 
 
SAVAGE IDEAS ON THE INFLUENCE OF MIND. 13 
 
 ‘The Dyaks of Borneo have a prejudice against the 
 flesh of deer, which the men may not eat, but which 
 is allowed to women and children. The reason given for 
 this is, that if the warriors eat the flesh of deer, they be- 
 come as faint-hearted as that animal/ 1 
 
 The Caribs will not eat the flesh of pigs or of tortoises, 
 lest their eyes should become as small as those of these 
 animals . 2 The Dacotahs eat the liver of the dog, in order 
 to possess the sagacity and bravery of that animal . 3 The 
 Arabs* also impute the passionate and revengeful character 
 of their countrymen to the use of camel’s flesh . 4 
 
 Tyler mentions 5 that c an English merchant in Shang- 
 hai, at the time of the Taeping attack, met his Chinese 
 servant carrying home a heart, and asked him what he 
 had got there. He said it was the heart of a rebel, and 
 that he was going to take it home and eat it to make him 
 brave/ The New Zealanders, after baptising an infant, 
 used to make it swallow pebbles, so that its heart might 
 be hard and incapable of pity . 6 
 
 Even cannibalism is sometimes due to this idea, and the 
 New Zealanders eat their most formidable enemies partly 
 for this reason. It is from the same kind of idea that 
 ‘ eyebright/ because the flower somewhat resembles an 
 eye, was supposed to be good for ocular complaints. 
 
 To us the idea seems absurd. Not so to children. I 
 have myself heard a little girl say to her brother, c If you 
 eat so much goose you will be quite silly ; 9 and there are 
 perhaps few children to whom the induction would not 
 seem perfectly legitimate. 
 
 1 Keppel’s Expedition to Borneo, ii. p. 80. 
 
 vol. i. p. 231. 4 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, 
 
 2 Muller’ s Geschichte der Ameri- vol. ii. p. 143. 
 
 anischen Urreligionem, p. 221. 5 Early History of Man, p. 131. 
 
 * Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, vol. 6 Yate’s New Zealand, p. 82. 
 
14 
 
 • CURIOUS IDEAS WITH 
 
 From tlie same notion the Esquimaux, ‘ to render 
 barren women fertile or teeming, take old pieces of the 
 soles of our shoes to hang about them ; for, as they take 
 our nation to be more fertile, and of a stronger disposition 
 of body than theirs, they fancy the virtue of our body 
 communicates itself to our clothing/ 1 
 
 In fact savages do not act without reason any more 
 than we do, though their reasons may often be bad ones 
 and seem to us singularly absurd. Thus they have a great 
 dread of having their portraits taken. The better the 
 likeness, the worse they think for the sitter ; so much life 
 could not be put into the copy except at the expense of 
 the original. Once when a good deal annoyed by some 
 Indians, Kane got rid of them instantly by threatening 
 to draw them if they remained. Catlin tells an amusing, 
 but melancholy anecdote, in reference to this feeling. On 
 one occasion he was drawing a chief named Mahtocheega, 
 in profile. This when observed excited much commotion 
 among the Indians : ‘ Why was half his face left out ? 5 they 
 asked ; ‘ Mahtocheega was never ashamed to look a white 
 in the face/ Mahtocheega himself does not seem to have 
 taken any offence, but Shonka, 6 the Dog/ took advantage 
 of the idea to taunt him. c The Englishman knows/ he 
 said, c that you are but half a man ; he has painted but 
 one-half of your face, and knows that the rest is good for 
 nothing/ This view of the case led to a fight, in which 
 poor Mahtocheega was shot ; and as ill-luck would have 
 it, the bullet by which he was killed tore away just 
 that part of the face which had been omitted in the 
 drawing. 
 
 This was very unfortunate for Mr. Catlin, who had great 
 difficulty in making his escape, and lived some months 
 
 1 Egede’s Greenland, p, 19E^ 
 
REFERENCE TO PORTRAITS. 
 
 15 
 
 after in fear for his life ; nor was the matter settled until 
 both Shonka and his brother had been killed in revenge 
 for the death of Mahtocheega. 
 
 Franklin also mentions that the North American Indians 
 ‘ prize pictures very highly, and esteem any they can get, 
 however badly executed, as efficient charms . 5 1 
 
 The natives of Bornou had a similar horror of being 
 6 written they said * that they did not like it ; that the 
 Sheik did not like it ; that it was a sin ; and I am quite 
 sure, from the impression, that we had much better never 
 have produced the book at all . 52 In his Travels in Lap- 
 land Sir A. de C. Brooke says : — ‘ I could clearly perceive 3 
 that many of them imagined the magical art to be con- 
 nected with what I was doing, and on this account showed 
 signs of uneasiness, till reassured by some of the mer- 
 chants. An instance of this happened one morning, when 
 a Laplander knocked at the door of my chamber, and 
 entered it, as they usually did, without further ceremony. 
 Having come to Alten to Hammerfest on some business, 
 curiosity had induced him, previously to his return, to pay 
 the Englishman a visit. After a dram he seemed quite at 
 his ease ; and producing my pencil, I proceeded, as he 
 stood, to sketch his portrait. His countenance now 
 immediately changed, and taking up his cap, he was on 
 the point of making an abrupt exit, without my being able 
 to conjecture the cause. As he spoke only his own tongue, 
 I was obliged to have recourse to assistance ; when I found 
 that his alarm was occasioned by my employment, which 
 he at once comprehended, but suspected that, by obtaining 
 a likeness of him, I should acquire over him a certain 
 power and influence that might be prejudicial. He there- 
 
 1 Voyage to the Polar Seas, vol. ii. vol. i. p. 275. 
 
 p. 6. 3 Brooke’s Lapland, p. 354. 
 
 2 Denham’s Travels in Africa, 
 
16 
 
 USE OF PRAYERS AS MEDICINE. 
 
 fore refused to allow it, and expressed a wish, before any 
 other steps were taken, to return to Alten, and ask tlie 
 permission of his master/ Mr. Ellis mentions the exist- 
 ence of a similar feeling in Madagascar . 1 
 
 We can hardly wonder that writing should seem to 
 savages even more magical than drawing. Carver, for 
 instance, allowed the North American Indians to open 
 a book as often as and wherever they pleased, and then 
 told them the number of leaves. 6 The only way they 
 could account/ he says, ‘ for my knowledge, was by con- 
 cluding that the book was a spirit, and whispered me 
 answers to whatever I demanded of it/ 2 Further south 
 the Minatarrees, seeing Catlin intent over a copy of the 
 ‘ New York Commercial Advertiser/ were much puzzled, 
 but at length came to the conclusion that it was a medi- 
 cine-cloth for sore eyes. One of them eventually bought 
 it for a high price . 3 
 
 This use of writing as a medicine prevails largely in 
 Africa, where the priests or wizards write a prayer on a 
 piece of ‘board, wash it off and make the patient drink it. 
 Caillie , 4 met with a man who had a great reputation for 
 sanctity, and who made his living by writing prayers on a 
 board, washing them off, and then selling the water, which 
 was sprinkled over various objects, and supposed to im- 
 prove or protect them. 
 
 Mungo Park on one occasion profited by this idea. 6 A 
 Bambarran having/ he says, ‘ heard that I was a Christian, 
 immediately thought of procuring a saphie ; and for this 
 purpose brought out his walha or writing-board, assuring 
 me that he would dress me a supper of rice, if I would 
 write him a saphie to protect him from wicked men. The 
 
 1 Three Visits to Madagascar, p. 358. 3 American Indians, vol. ii. p. 92. 
 
 2 Travels, p. 2 55. 4 Travels, vol. i. p. 262. 
 
SAVAGE IDEAS OF DISEASE. 
 
 17 
 
 proposal was of too great consequence to me to be refused s 
 I therefore wrote the board full from top to bottom on both 
 sides ; and my landlord, to be certain of having the whole 
 force of the charm, washed the writing from the board 
 into a calabash with a little water, and having said a few 
 prayers over it, drank this powerful draught ; after which, 
 lest a single word should escape, he licked the board until 
 it was quite dry . 51 
 
 In Africa, the prayers written as medicine or as amulets 
 are generally taken from the Koran. It is admitted that 
 they are no protection from firearms, but this does not 
 the least weaken the faith in them, because, as guns were 
 not invented in Mahomet’s time, he naturally provided no 
 specific against them . 1 2 
 
 Among the Kirghiz also, Atkinson tells us that the 
 Mullas sell similar amulets, c at the rate of a sheep for 
 each scrap of paper .’ 3 
 
 The science of medicine indeed, like that of astronomy, 
 and like religion, takes among savages very much the 
 character of witchcraft. Ignorant as they are of the pro- 
 cesses by which life is maintained, of anatomy and of 
 physiology, the true nature of disease does not occur to 
 them. Many savage races do not believe in natural death, 
 and if a man, however old, dies without being wounded, 
 conclude that he must have been the victim of magic. 
 
 Thus then, when a savage is ill, he naturally attributes 
 his sufferings to some enemy within him, or to some foreign 
 object, and the result is a peculiar system of treatment 
 which is very curious both for its simplicity and uni- 
 versality. 
 
 ‘ It is remarkable in the Abiponian (Paraguay) phy- 
 
 1 Park’s Travels, vol. i. pp. 357. vo\ ii. p. 35. 
 
 See also p. 56. 8 Siberia, p. 310. 
 
 * Astley’s Collection of Voyages, 
 
18 
 
 MEDICAL TREATMENT 
 
 sicians/ says Father Dobritzhoffer , 1 ‘that they cure every 
 kind of disease with one and the same medicine. Let us ex- 
 amine this method of healing. They apply their lips to the 
 part affected, and suck it, spitting after every suction. At 
 intervals they draw up their breath from the very bottom 
 of their breast and blow upon that part of the body which 
 is in pain. That blowing and sucking are alternately re- 
 peated . . . This method of healing is in use amongst all 
 the savages of Paraguay and Brazil that I am acquainted 
 with, and, according to Father Jean Grillet, amongst the 
 Galibe Indians. . . . The* Abipones, still more irrational, 
 expect sucking and blowing to rid the body of whatever 
 causes pain or inconvenience. This belief is constantly 
 fostered by the jugglers with fresh artifices. For when 
 they prepare to suck the sick man, they secretly put thorns, 
 beetles, worms, &c. into their mouths, and spitting them 
 out, after having sucked for some time, say to him, point- 
 ing to the worm or thorn, “ See here the cause of your 
 disorder.” At this sight the sick man revives, when he 
 thinks the enemy that has tormented him is at length 
 expelled . 5 
 
 At first one might almost be disposed to think that some 
 one had been amusing himself at the expense of the 
 worthy father, but we shall find the very same mode of 
 treatment among other races. Martius tells us that the 
 cures of the Guaycurus (Brazil) ‘ are very simple, and 
 consist principally in fumigating or in sucking the part 
 affected, on which the Paye spits into a pit, as if he 
 would give back the evil principle which he has sucked 
 out, to the earth and bury it . 52 Father Baegert mentions 
 that the Californian sorcerers suck and blow upon those 
 who are ill, and finally show them some small object, 
 which they assure them has been extracted, and which 
 was the cause of the pain. Wilkes thus describes a scene 
 
 1 History of the Abipones, toI. ii. p. 249. 
 
 2 Travels in Brazil, vol. ii. p. 77. 
 
AMONG SAVAGES, 
 
 19 
 
 at Wallawalla on the Columbia Kiver : — 4 The doctor, who 
 was a woman, bending over the body, began to suck his 
 neck and chest in different parts, in order more effectually 
 to extract the bad spirit. She would every now and then 
 seem to obtain some of the disease and then faint away. 
 On the next morning she was still found sucking the boy’s 
 chest. ... So powerful was the influence operated on the 
 boy that he indeed seemed better. . . . The last time Mr. 
 Drayton visited the doctress, she exhibited a stone, about 
 the size of a goose’s egg, saying that she had taken the 
 disease of the boy out of him.’* 
 
 Among the Prairie Indians also, all diseases are treated 
 alike, being referred to one cause, viz. the presence of an 
 evil spirit, which must be expelled. This the medicine- 
 man 6 attempts, in the first place, by certain incantations 
 and ceremonies, intended to secure the aid of the spirit or 
 spirits he worships, and then, by all kinds of frightful 
 noises and gestures, and sucking over the seat of pain with 
 his mouth .’ 2 Speaking of the Hudson’s Bay Indians, 
 Hearne says: — 4 Here it is necessary to remark, that they 
 use no medicine either for internal or external complaints, 
 but perform all their cures by charms. In ordinary cases, 
 sucking the part affected, blowing and singing .’ 3 
 
 Again, in the extreme north, Crantz tells us that among 
 the Esquimaux old women are accustomed 6 to extract from 
 a swollen leg a parcel of hair or scraps of leather ; they do 
 it by sucking with their mouth, which they had before 
 crammed full of such stuff .’ 4 Passing now to the Lap- 
 landers, we are told that if anyone among them is ill, a 
 wizard sucks his forehead and blows in his face, thinking 
 thus to cure him. 
 
 1 United States Exploring Expedi- 3 Voyage to the Northern Ocean, 
 
 tion, vol. iv. p. 400. p. 189. 
 
 2 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, vol. i. 4 History of Greenland, vol.L p.23 4* 
 
 g>. 250. 
 
20 
 
 MEDICAL TBEATMENT AMONG SAVAGES. 
 
 Ill South. Africa, Chapman thus describes a similar 
 custom : a man having been injured, he says, ‘our friend 
 sucked at the wound, and then . . . extracted from his 
 mouth a lump of some substance which was supposed to be 
 the disease/ 1 
 
 In Australia, we are told by ex-GrOvemor Eyre in his 
 interesting work, that, ‘ as all internal pains are attributed 
 to witchcraft, sorcerers possess the power of relieving or 
 curing them. Sometimes the month is applied to the sur- 
 face where the pain is seated, the blood is sucked out, and 
 a bunch of green leaves applied to the part ; besides the 
 blood, which is derived from the gums of the sorcerer, a 
 bone is sometimes put out of the mouth, and declared to 
 have been procured from the diseased part; on other 
 occasions the disease is drawn out in an invisible form, and 
 burnt in the fire, or thrown into the water / 2 
 
 Another curious remedy practised by the Australians is 
 to tie a line round the forehead or neck of the patient, 
 while some kind friend rubs her lips with the other end of 
 the string, until they bleed freely ; this blood is supposed 
 to come from the patient, passing along the string . 3 
 
 Thus then we find all over the world this primitive cure 
 by sucking out the evil, which perhaps even with our- 
 selves lingers among nurses and children in the universal 
 nursery remedy of ‘ Kiss it and make it well/ 
 
 A dislike of twins is widely distributed. In the Island 
 of Bali 4 (near Java), the natives ‘have the singular idea, 
 when a woman is brought to bed of twins, that it is an 
 unlucky omen, and immediately on its being known, the 
 woman, with her husband and children, is obliged to go 
 and live on the sea-shore, or among the tombs, for the 
 
 1 Travels in Africa, vol. ii. p. 45. 3 English Colony in New South 
 
 2 Discoveries in Central Australia, Wales, pp. 363, 382. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 360. See also Oldfield’s 4 Moor’s Notices of the Indian 
 Trans. Etlin. iii. Soc. N.S. vol. p. 243. Archipelago, p. 96. 
 
FANCIES ABOUT TWINS. 
 
 21 
 
 space of a month, to purify themselves, after which they 
 may return into the village upon a suitable sacrifice being 
 made. Thus an evidence of fertility is considered by them 
 unfortunate, and the poor woman and her new-born babes 
 are exposed to all the inclemency of the weather out of 
 doors, just at the time when they need the most atten- 
 tion . 5 This idea is, however, far from being peculiar to 
 that island. 
 
 Among the Khasias of Hindostan 1 ‘in the case of 
 twins being born, one used frequently to be killed : it is 
 considered unlucky, and also degrading, to have twins, as 
 they consider that it assimilates them with the lower 
 animals . 5 
 
 Among the Ainos of Japan , 2 when twins are born, one is 
 always destroyed. At Arebo in Guinea, Smith and Bosnian 3 
 tell us that when twins are born, both they and the mother 
 are killed, ‘ In Nguru, one of the sister provinces to Unyan- 
 yembe, twins are ordered to be killed and thrown into the 
 water the moment they are born, lest droughts and famines 
 or floods should oppress the land. Should anyone attempt 
 to conceal twins, the whole family would be murdered . 54 
 
 The American Indians , 5 also, on the birth of twins killed 
 one ; perhaps merely under the idea that one strong child 
 was better than two weak ones. 
 
 This is not however, I think, the general cause of the 
 prejudice against twins. I should rather see it in the 
 curious idea that one man would only have one child; so 
 that twins imply infidelity of an aggravated character. 
 Thus in the introduction to the curious old Chevalier 
 Assigne, or Knight of the Swan : — 
 
 1 Steel, Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. vol. kerton, vol. xv. p. 526. Elsewhere 
 
 vii. p. 308. in Guinea twins are welcomed. 
 
 2 Bickmore, Proc. Bost. Soc. of 4 Speke’s Discovery of the Source 
 
 Nat. His., 1867. of the Nile, pp. 541, 542. 
 
 3 Voyage to Guinea, p. 233. Pin- 5 Lafitau vol. i. p. 592. 
 
22 
 
 LIFE ATTRIBUTED TO 
 
 The king and queen are sitting on the wall together : 
 
 The kynge loked adowne, and byhelde under, 
 
 And seygh a pore womman, at the yate sytte, 
 
 Withe two chylderen her byfore, were borne at a byrthe ; 
 
 And he turned hym thenne, and teres lette he falle. 
 
 Sythen sykede he on hyghe, and to the qwene sayde, 
 
 Se ye the yonder pore womman. Now that she is pyned 
 With twynlenges two, and that dare I my hedde wedde. 
 
 The qwene nykked him with nay, and seyde it is not to leve : 
 
 Oon manne for oon chylde, and two wymmen for tweyne ; 
 
 Or ellis hit were unsemelye thynge, as me wolde thenke, 
 
 But eche chylde hadde a fader, how manye so ther were. 1 
 
 Since reading this I have found that the very same idea 
 occurs in Guinea . 2 
 
 Some curious ideas prevalent among savages arise from 
 the fact that as their own actions are due to life, so they 
 attribute life even to inanimate objects. Even Plato as- 
 sumed that every thing which moves itself must have 
 a soul, and hence that the world must have a soul. 
 Hearne tells us that the North American Indians prefer 
 a hook that has caught a big fish to a handful that have 
 never been tried. And that they never put two nets 
 together for fear they should be jealous . 3 
 
 The Bushmen thought Chapman’s big waggon was the 
 mother of his smaller ones ; they ‘ despise an arrow that has 
 once failed of its mark ; and on the contrary, consider one 
 that has hit as of double value. They will, therefore, rather 
 make new arrows, how much time and trouble soever it 
 may cost them, than collect those that have missed, and 
 use them again , 5 4 
 
 The natives of Tahiti sowed some iron nails given them 
 by Captain Cook, hoping thus to obtain young ones. They 
 
 1 The Romance of the Chevelere vol., we find a curious variation of 
 
 Assigne,. edited by H. H. Gibbs, Esq. this idea among the Hottentots. 
 Trubners, 1868. 3 Loc. cit ., p. 330. 
 
 2 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, 4 Lichtenstein’s Travels in South 
 
 vol. iii, p. 83. At p. 358 in the same Africa, vol. ii p. 271. 
 
INANIMATE OBJECTS. 
 
 23 
 
 also believe that * not only all animals, but trees, fruit, and 
 even stones, have souls, which at death or upon being con- 
 sumed, or broken, ascend to the divinity, with whom they 
 , first mix, and afterwards -pass into the mansion allotted to 
 each/ 
 
 The Tongans were of opinion that ‘ if an animal dies , 1 
 ?ts soul immediately goes to Bolotoo ; if a stone or any 
 other substance is broken, immortality is equally its re- 
 ward ; nay, artificial bodies have equal good luck with 
 men, and hogs, and yams. If an axe or a chisel is worn 
 out or broken up, away flies its soul for the service of the 
 gods. If a house is taken down, or any way destroyed, 
 its immortal part will find a situation on the plains of 
 Bolotoo/ 
 
 Lichtenstein relates that the king of the Coussa Kaffirs 
 having broken off a piece of the anchor of a stranded ship, 
 died soon afterwards ; upon which all the Kaffirs made a 
 point of saluting the anchor very respectfully whenever 
 they passed near it, regarding it as a vindictive being. 
 
 Some similar accident probably gave rise to the ancient 
 Mohawk notion that some great misfortune would happen 
 if anyone spoke on Saratoga Lake. A strong-minded 
 English woman on one occasion while being ferried over 
 insisted on talking, and, as she got over safely, rallied her 
 boatman on his superstition ; but I think he had the best 
 of it after all, for he at once replied, ‘ The Great Spirit is 
 merciful, and knows that a white woman cannot hold her 
 tongue / 2 
 
 The forms of salutation among savages are sometimes 
 very curious, and their modes of showing their feelings 
 quite unlike ours. Kissing appears to us to be the 
 natural language of affection. ‘ It is certain , 5 said Steele, 
 ‘ that nature was its author, and it began with the first 
 
 1 Mariner’s Tonga Islands, vol. ii. p. 137. 
 
 2 Burton’s Abbeokuta,vol.i. p. 198. 
 
24 
 
 SALUTATIONS. 
 
 courtship : ’ but this seems to be quite a mistake ; in fact 
 it was unknown to the Australians* the New Zealanders, 
 the Papouans, and the Esquimaux ; the West African 
 negroes, we are told, do not like it, otherwise I should 
 have thought that when once discovered, it would have 
 been universally popular. 
 
 The Polynesians and the Malays always sit down when 
 speaking to a superior ; a Chinaman puts on his hat instead 
 of taking it off. Cook asserts that the people of Mallicollo 
 show their admiration by hissing, and the same is the case, 
 according to Casalis, among the Kaffirs . 1 In some of the 
 Pacific Islands, and some parts of Africa, it is considered 
 respectful to turn your back to a superior. The Todas 
 of the Neilgherry Hills are said to show respect by ‘ rais- 
 ing the open right hand to the brow, resting the thumb 
 on the nose ; 5 and it has been asserted that in one tribe 
 of Esquimaux it is customary to pull a person’s nose as 
 a compliment, though it is but right to say that Dr. Pae 
 thinks there was some mistake on the point ; on the other 
 hand, Dr. Blackmore mentions that c the sign of the Arapa- 
 hoes, and from which they derive their name,’ consists in 
 seizing the nose with the thumb and forefinger . 2 
 
 It is asserted that in China, a coffin is regarded as an 
 appropriate present for an aged relative, especially if he 
 be in bad health. 
 
 1 The Easutos ; by the Key. E. Casalis, p. 234. 
 
 2 Trans. Efchn. Soc., 1869, p. 310. 
 
v- 
 
 * 
 
 V 
 
 
ANCIENT SKETCH OF A MAMMOTH. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ART AND ORNAMENTS. 
 
 T HE earliest traces of art yet discovered belong to 
 the Stone Age, — to a time so early that the Rein- 
 deer was abundant in the south of Prance, and that 
 probably, though on this point there is some doubt, 
 even the mammoth had not entirely disappeared. These 
 works of art are sometimes sculptures, if one may say so, 
 and sometimes drawings or etchings made on bone or 
 horn with the point of a flint. 
 
 They are of peculiar interest, both as being the earliest 
 works of art known to us, — older than any Egyptian 
 statues, or any of the Assyrian monuments, and also 
 because, though so ancient, they show really considerable 
 skill. There is, for instance, a certain spirit about the 
 subjoined group of reindeer (fig. 1), copied from a specimen 
 in the collection of the Marquis de Yibraye. The mam- 
 moth (PI. I.) represented on the opposite page, though less 
 artistic, is perhaps even more interesting. It is scratched 
 on a piece of mammoth’s tusk, and was found in the cave 
 of La Madelaine in the Dordogne. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that while even in the Stone 
 Period we find very fair drawings of animals, yet in the 
 latest part of the Stone Age, and throughout that of 
 Bronze, they are almost entirely wanting, and the ornamen- 
 
26 
 
 ART AS AN 
 
 tation is confined to various combinations of straight and 
 curved lines and geometrical patterns. This, I believe, 
 will eventually be found to imply a difference of race 
 between the population of Western Europe at these 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 GROUP OF REINDEER. 
 
 different periods. Thus at present the Esquimaux (see 
 figs. 2-4) are very fair draughtsmen, while the Poly- 
 nesians, though much more advanced in many ways, and 
 though very skilful in ornamenting both themselves and 
 their weapons, have very little idea indeed of representing 
 animals or plants. Their tattooings, for instance, and 
 the patterns on their weapons, are, like the ornaments 
 of the Bronze Age, almost invariably of a geometrical 
 character. Representations of animals and plants are not, 
 indeed, entirely wanting ; but, whether attempted in draw- 
 ing or in sculpture, they are always rude and grotesque. 
 With the Esquimaux the very reverse is the case ; among 
 them we find none of those graceful spirals, and other 
 geometrical patterns, so characteristic of Polynesia ; but, 
 on the other hand* their weapons are often covered with 
 
ETCHINGS ON ESQUIMAUX WEAPONS. 
 
28 
 
 AKT AS AN 
 
 representations of animals and hunting scenes. Thus 
 Beechey, 1 describing the weapons of the Esquimaux at 
 Hotham’s Inlet, says : — 
 
 ‘ On the outside of this and other instruments there were 
 etched a variety of figures of men, beasts, birds, &c., with 
 a truth and character which showed the art to be common 
 among them. The reindeer were generally in herds ; in 
 one picture they were pursued by a man in a stooping 
 posture, in snow-shoes ; in another he had approached 
 nearer to his game, and was in the act of drawing his 
 bow. A third represented the manner of taking seals 
 with an inflated skin of the same animal as a decoy ; it 
 was placed upon the ice, and not far from it was a man 
 lying upon his belly, with a harpoon ready to strike the 
 animal when it should make its appearance. Another was 
 dragging a seal home upon a small sledge ; and several 
 baidars were employed harpooning whales which had been 
 previously shot with arrows ; and thus, by comparing one 
 with another, a little history was obtained which gave us 
 a better insight into their habits than could be elicited 
 from any signs or intimations. 5 Some of these drawings 
 are represented in figs. 2-4, which are taken from speci- 
 mens presented by Captain Beechey to the Ashmolean 
 Museum at Oxford. 
 
 Hooper 2 also mentions drawings among the Tuski, espe- 
 cially c a sealskin tanned and bleached perfectly white, 
 ornamented all over in painting and staining with figures 
 of men, boats, animals, and delineations of whale-fishing, 
 &c. — a valuable curiosity. 5 
 
 In the same way we may, I think, fairly hope eventually 
 to obtain from the ancient drawings of the bone caves a 
 better insight into the habits of our predecessors in 
 
 1 Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, vol. i. p. 251. 
 
 2 Tents of the Tuski, p. 65. f 
 
ETHNOLOGICAL CHARACTER. 
 
 20 
 
 Western Europe ; to ascertain, for instance, whether their 
 reindeer were domesticated or wild. As yet, however, 
 mere representations of animals have been met with, and 
 nothing has been found to supplement in any way the 
 evidence derivable from the implements, &c. 
 
 But though we thus find art — simple, indeed, but by 
 no means contemptible — in very ancient times, and among 
 very savage tribes, there are also other races who are 
 singularly deficient in it. 
 
 Thus, though some Australians are capable of making 
 rude drawings of animals, &c., others on the contrary, as 
 Oldfield 1 tells us, ‘ seem quite unable to realise the most 
 vivid artistic representations. On being shown a large 
 coloured engraving of an aboriginal New Hollander, 
 one declared it to be a ship, another a kangaroo, and 
 so on ; not one of a dozen identifying the portrait as 
 having any connection with himself. A rude drawing, 
 with all the lesser parts much exaggerated, they can 
 realise. Thus, to give them an idea of a man, the head 
 must be drawn disproportionately large/ 
 
 Dr. Collingwood , 2 speaking of the Kibalans of Formosa, 
 to whom he showed a copy of the ‘ Illustrated London 
 News , 5 tells us that he found it ‘ impossible to interest 
 them by pointing out the most striking illustrations, which 
 they did not appear to comprehend . 5 
 
 Denham, in his ‘ Travels in Central Africa , 5 says that 
 Bookhaloom, a man otherwise of considerable intelligence, 
 though he readily recognised figures, could not under- 
 stand a landscape. ‘ I could not , 5 he says, ‘make him 
 understand the intention of the print of the sand wind 
 in the desert, which is really so well described by Captain 
 Lyon’s drawing ; he would look at it upside-down ; and 
 
 1 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. vol. iii. p. 227. 
 
 2 Ibid, yoI. vi. p. 189. 
 
30 
 
 ART IN AFRICA. 
 
 when I twice reversed it for him, he exclaimed, “ Why ! 
 why ! it is all the same.” A camel or a human figure 
 was all I could make him understand, and at these he 
 was all agitation and delight — “ Gieb ! gieb ! Wonder- 
 ful ! wonderful ! 99 The eyes first took his attention, then 
 the other features ; at the sight of the sword he exclaimed, 
 “ Allah ! Allah ! 99 and, on discovering the guns, instantly 
 exclaimed, “ Where is the powder ? ” 91 
 
 So also the Kaffir has great difficulty in understanding 
 drawings, and perspective is altogether beyond him. 
 Central and Southern Africa seems, indeed, to be very 
 backward in matters of art. Still the negroes are not 
 altogether deficient in the idea. Their idols cannot be 
 called indeed works of art, but they often not only re- 
 present men, but give some of the African characteristics 
 with grotesque fidelity. 
 
 The Kaffirs also can carve fair representations of 
 animals and plants, and are fond of doing so. The handles 
 of their spoons are often shaped into unmistakeable like- 
 nesses of giraffes, ostriches, and other animals. 
 
 As to the Bushmen, we have rather different accounts. 
 It has been stated by some that they have no idea of per- 
 spective nor how a curved surface can possibly be repre- 
 sented on a flat piece of paper ; while, on the contrary, 
 other travellers assert that they readily recognise drawings 
 of animals or flowers. The Chinese, although so advanced 
 in many ways, are, we know, very deficient in the idea of 
 perspective. 
 
 Probably, no race of men in the Stone Age had at- 
 tained the art of communicating facts by means of letters, 
 nor even by the far ruder system of picture-writing ; nor 
 does anything, perhaps, surprise the savage more than to 
 
 1 Denham, Travels in Africa, vol. i. p. 1G7. 
 
THE QUIPPU. 
 
 31 
 
 find tliat Europeans can communicate with one another by 
 means of a few black scratches on a piece of paper. 
 
 Even the Peruvians had no better means of recording 
 events than the Quippu or Quipu, which was a cord about 
 two feet long, to which a number of different coloured 
 threads were attached in the form of a fringe. These 
 threads were tied into knots, whence the name Quippu 
 meaning a knot. These knots served as cyphers, and 
 the various threads had also conventional meanings at- 
 tached to them and indicated by the various colours. 
 This singular and apparently very cumbersome mode of 
 assisting the memory reappears in China and in Africa. 
 Thus, ‘ As to 1 the original of the Chinese characters, 
 before the commencement of the monarchy, little cords 
 with sliding knots, each of which had its particular 
 signification, were used in transacting business. These 
 are represented in two tables by the Chinese , called Ho-tu, 
 and Lo-shu. The first colonies who inhabited Se-chiven 
 had no other literature besides some arithmetical sets 
 of counters made with little knotted cords, in imitation 
 of a string of round beads ; with which they calculated 
 and made up all tlieir accounts in commerce/ Again, 
 in West Africa, we are told that the people of Ardrali 2 
 ‘ can neither write nor read. They use small cords tied, 
 the knots of which have their signification. These are 
 also used by several savage nations in America/ It 
 seems not impossible that tying a knot in a pocket- 
 handkerchief may be the direct lineal representative of 
 this ancient and widely extended mode of assisting the 
 memory. 
 
 The so-called picture-writing is, however, a great ad- 
 vance. Yet from, representations of hunts in general such as 
 those of the Esquimaux (see figs. 2-4), it is indeed but a 
 
 1 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, vol. iv. p. 194. 
 
 2 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 71. 
 
32 
 
 PICTURE-WRITING. 
 
 step to record pictorially some particular hunt. Again, the 
 Esquimaux almost always places his mark on his arrows, 
 but I am not aware that any Polynesian ever conceived the 
 idea of doing so. Thus we get among the Esquimaux a 
 double commencement, as it were, for the representation 
 of ideas by means of signs. 
 
 This art of pictorial writing was still more advanced 
 among the Red Skins. 
 
 Thus Carver tells us that on one occasion his Chipeway 
 guide fearing that the Naudowessies, a hostile tribe, might 
 accidentally fall in with and attack them, ‘ peeled the bark 
 from a large tree near the entrance of a river, and with 
 wood-coal mixed with bear’s grease, their usual substitute 
 for ink, made in an uncouth but expressive manner the 
 figure of the town of the Ottagaumies. He then formed 
 to the left a man dressed in skins, by which he intended 
 to represent a Naudowessie with a line drawn from his 
 mouth to that of a deer, the symbol of the Chipeways. 
 After this he depicted still farther to the left a canoe as 
 proceeding up the river, in which he placed a man sitting 
 with a hat on ; this figure was designed to represent an 
 Englishman, or myself, and my Frenchman was drawn 
 with a handkerchief tied round his head, and rowing the 
 canoe ; to these he added several other significant em- 
 blems, among which the pipe of peace appeared painted 
 on the prow of the canoe. The meaning he intended to 
 convey to the Naudowessies, and which I doubt not ap- 
 peared perfectly intelligible to them, was that one of the 
 Chipeway chiefs had received a speech from some Naudo- 
 wessie chiefs at the town of the Ottagaumies, desiring him 
 to conduct the Englishman, who had lately been among 
 them, up the Chipeway river 3 and that they thereby re- 
 quired, that the Chipeway, notwithstanding he was an 
 avowed enemy, should not be molested by them on his 
 
INDIAN CENSUS-KOLL, 
 
 33 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 1 
 
 II 
 
 L 
 
 3 
 
 y 1 1 F ? 1 
 
 mini 
 
 
 ilm 
 
 0 ^ 
 
 111! 
 
 7 
 
 III 
 
 
 nil 
 
 10 
 
 II 1 11 
 
 u i 
 
 I 
 
 • 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 12 
 
 1 1 1 I 
 
 13 
 
 m 
 
 14 /* 
 
 II 
 
 i 
 
 Mil 
 
 in i 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 19 
 
 ^tfnnTT 
 
 1 
 
 20 o 
 
 f 
 
 21 
 
 111) 
 
 23 
 
 II 
 
 11 
 
 mi 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 ■ 
 
 in 
 
 i 
 
 mm 
 
 "O 
 
 ii it 
 
 1 
 
 ill 
 
 111! 
 
 111 
 
 J 
 
 88 
 
 o> 
 
 11 
 
 34 
 
 h| 
 
 i m 1 1 
 
 36 
 
 
 INDIAN CENSUS-ROLL, 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 INDIAN CENSUS-KOLL. 
 
 passage, as lie had the care of a person whom they esteemed 
 as one of their nation. 5 1 
 
 An excellent account of the Red Skin pictorial art 
 is given by Schoolcraft in his ‘ History of the Indian 
 Tribes in the United States. 5 
 
 Tig. 5 represents the census-roll of an Indian band 
 at Mille Lac, in the territory of Minnesota, sent in to the 
 United States agent by Nago-nabe, a Chippewa Indian, 
 during the progress of the annuity payments in 1849. 
 The Indians generally denote themselves by their 6 totem 5 
 or family sign, but in this case, as they all had the same 
 totem, he had designated each family by a sign denoting 
 the common name of the Chief. Thus No. 5 denotes 
 a Catfish, and the six strokes indicate that the Catfish’s 
 family consisted of six individuals ; 8 is a beaver skin, 9 a 
 sun, 13 an eagle, 14 a snake, 22 a buffalo, 34, an axe, 
 35 the priest, and so on. 
 
 Fig. 6 is the record of a noted chief of the St. Mary’s 
 band, called Shin-ga-ba-was-sin, or the Image-stone, who 
 died on Lake Superior in 1828. He was of the totem of the 
 crane, as indicated by the figure. The six strokes on the 
 rio-ht, and the three on the left, are marks of honour. The 
 latter represent three important general treaties of peace 
 in which he had taken part at various times. 2 Among the 
 former marks are included his presence under Tecumseh, 
 at the battle of Moraviantown, where he lost a brother. 
 
 Fig. 7 represents the adjedatigor tomb-board of Wabo- 
 jeeg, a celebrated war-chief, who died on Lake Superior, 
 about 1793. He was of the family or clan of the reindeer. 
 This fact is symbolized by the figure of the deer. The 
 reverse position denotes death. His own personal name, 
 which was the White Fisher, is not noticed. The 
 
 1 Carver’s Travels, p. 418. 
 
 2 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, vol. i. p. 357. 
 
INDIAN TOMBSTONES. 
 
 35 
 
 seven marks on the left denote that he had led seven 
 war parties. The three perpendicular lines below the 
 totem represent three wounds received in battle. The 
 figure of a moose’s head relates to a desperate conflict 
 
 with an enraged animal of this kind. Fig. 8 is copied 
 from a bark letter which was found above St. Anthony’s 
 Falls, in 1820. ‘It consisted of white birch bark, and 
 the figures had been carefully drawn. No. 1 denotes 
 the flag of the Union : No. 2 the cantonment, then re- 
 cently established at Cold Spring, on the western side of 
 the cliffs, above the influx of the St. Peters : No. 4 is the 
 symbol of the commanding officer (Colonel H. Leaven- 
 worth), under whose authority a mission of peace had been 
 sent into the Chippewa country: No. 11 is the symbol of 
 Chakope, or the Six, the leading Sioux chief, under whose 
 orders the party moved : No. 8 is the second chief, called 
 
 Fig. 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 INDIAN GRAVE posts. (Schoolcraft, vol. i. pi. 50.) 
 
36 
 
 PICTURE-WRITING. 
 
 Wabedatunka, or the Black Pog. The symbol of his 
 name is No. 10; he has fourteen lodges. No. 7 is a chief, 
 Fig 8 subordinate to Chakope, 
 
 with thirteen lodges, 
 and a bale of goods 
 (No. 9) which was de- 
 voted, by the govern- 
 ment, to the objects of 
 the peace. The name 
 of No. 6, whose wigwam 
 is No. 5, with thirteen 
 subordinate lodges, was 
 not given.’ 1 
 
 This was intended to 
 g imply that a party of 
 3 Sioux headed by Cha- 
 
 « kope and accompanied, 
 ” or at least countenanced 
 S by Colonel Leaven- 
 worth, had come to this 
 spot in the hope of 
 meeting the Chippewa 
 hunters and concluding 
 a peace. The Chippewa 
 chief Babesacundabee, 
 who found this letter, 
 read off its meaning 
 without doubt or hesi- 
 tation. 
 
 On one occasion a 
 party of explorers with 
 two Indian guides, saw one morning, just as they were 
 about to start, a pole stuck in the direction they were 
 1 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, yol. i. pp. 352, 353. 
 
PICTURE-WRITING. 
 
 37 
 
 going, and holding at the top a piece of bark, covered 
 with drawings, which were intended for the information 
 of any other Indians who might pass that way. This is 
 represented in fig. 9. 
 
 No. 1 represents the subaltern officer in command of 
 the party. He is drawn with a sword to denote his rank. 
 No. 2 denotes the secretary. He is represented as hold- 
 ing a book, the Indians having -understood him to be an 
 attorney. No. 3 represents the geologist, appropriately in- 
 dicated by a hammer. Nos. 4 and 5 are attaches ; No. 6 
 the interpreter. The group of figures marked 9 repre- 
 
 PlG. 9. 
 
 sents seven infantry soldiers, each of whom, as shown in . 
 group No. 10, was armed with a musket. No. 15 denotes 
 that they had a separate fire, and constituted a separate 
 mess. Figs. 7 and 8 represent the two Chippewa guides. 
 These are the only human figures drawn without the 
 distinguishing symbol of a hat. This was the character- 
 istic seized on by them, and generally employed by the 
 Indians, to distinguish the Red from the White race. Figs. 
 11 and 12 represent a prairie hen and a green tortoise, 
 which constituted the sum of the preceding day’s chase, 
 and were eaten at the encampment. The inclination of the 
 pole was designed to show the course pursued ; and there 
 were three hacks in it below the scroll of bark, to indicate 
 the estimated length of this part of the journey, com- 
 
38 
 
 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 puting from water to water. The following figure (fig. 10) 
 gives the biography of Wingemund, a noted chief of 
 the Delawares. 1 shows that it belonged to the oldest 
 branch of the tribe, which use the tortoise on their 
 symbol. 2 is his totem or symbol; 3 is the sun, and 
 the ten strokes represent ten war parties in which he 
 was engaged. Those figures on the left represent the 
 captives which he made in each of his excursions, the 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 men being distinguished from the women, and the cap- 
 tives being denoted by having heads, while a man with- 
 out his head is of course a dead man. The central 
 figures represent three forts which he attacked; 8 one 
 on lake Erie, 9 that of Detroit, and 10 Fort Pitt at the 
 junction of the Alleghany and the Monongahela. The 
 sloping strokes denote the number of his followers. 1 
 
 Fig. 11 represents a petition presented to the President 
 of the United States for the right to certain Lakes (8) in 
 the neighbourhood of Lake Superior (10). 
 
 No 1 represents Oshcabawis the leader, who is of the 
 
 Schoolcraft, vol. i. p. 353. 
 
II 'Vl& 
 
 INDIAN PETITION. 
 
 39 
 
 INDIAN PETITION. 
 
40 
 
 ROCK SCULPTURES. 
 
 Crane clan. The eyes of his followers are all connected 
 with, his to symbolise unity of views, and their hearts to 
 denote unity of feeling. No 2 is Wai-mit-tig-oazh, whose 
 totem is a Marten 2 No 3 is Ogemageezhig, also a Marten ; 
 4 is another Marten, Muk-o-mis-ud-ains, the little Tor- 
 toise : 5 is O-mush-kose, the little Elk, belonging how- 
 ever to the Bear totem : 6 belongs to the Manfish totem ; 
 and 7 to the Catfish. The eye of the leader has a line 
 directed forwards to the President, and another backwards 
 to the Lakes (8). 
 
 In some places of Western Europe, rock sculptures 
 have been discovered, to which we cannot yet safely ascribe 
 any meaning, but on which perhaps the more complete 
 study of the picture-writing of modern savages may event- 
 ually throw some light. 
 
 We will now pass to art as applied to the purposes of 
 personal decoration. Savages are passionately fond of 
 ornaments. In some of the very lowest races, indeed, the 
 women are almost undecorated, but that is only because 
 the men keep all the ornaments themselves. As a general 
 rule we may say that Southerners ornament themselves. 
 Northerners their clothes. In fact all savage races who 
 leave much of their skin uncovered, delight in painting 
 themselves in the most brilliant colours they can obtain. 
 Black, white, red, and yellow are the favourite, or, 
 rather, perhaps, the commonest colours. Although per- 
 fectly naked, the Australians of Botany Bay were by no 
 means without ornaments. They painted themselves with 
 red ochre, white clay, and charcoal ; the red was laid on 
 in broad patches, the white generally in stripes, or on the 
 face in spots, often with a circle round each eye ; 1 through 
 the septum of the nose they wore a bone, as thick as a 
 man’s finger and five or six inches long. This was of 
 
 1 Ilawkes worth’s Voyages, vol. iii. p. 635. 
 
SAVAGE ORNAMENTS. 
 
 41 
 
 course very awkward, as it prevented them from breathing 
 freely through the nose, but they submitted cheerfully to 
 the inconvenience for the sake of appearance. 
 
 They had also necklaces made of shells, neatly cut and 
 strung together; earrings, bracelets of small cord; and 
 strings of plaited human hair, which they wound round 
 their waists. Some also had gorgets of large shells 
 hanging from the neck across the breast. On all these 
 things they placed a high value. 
 
 Spix and Martius 1 thus describe the ornaments of a 
 Coroado woman. ‘ On the cheek she had a circle, and 
 over that two strokes ; under the nose several marks 
 resembling an M ; from the corners of the mouth to the 
 middle of the cheek were two parallel lines, and below 
 them on both sides many straight stripes; below and 
 between her breasts there were some connected segments 
 of circles, and down her arms the figure of a snake was 
 depicted. This beauty wore no ornaments, except a neck- 
 lace of monkeys 5 teeth . 5 
 
 The savage also wears necklaces and rings, bracelets 
 and anklets, armlets and leglets — even, if I may say so, 
 bodylets. Bound their bodies, round their necks, round 
 their arms and legs, their fingers, and even their toes, 
 they wear ornaments of all kinds. From their number 
 and weight these must sometimes be very inconvenient. 
 Lichtenstein saw the wife of a Beetuan chief wearing no 
 less than seventy-two brass rings. 
 
 Nor are they particular as to the material: copper, 
 brass, or iron, leather, or ivory, stones, shells, glass, bits 
 of wood, seeds, or teeth — nothing comes amiss. In South 
 East Island, one of the Louisiade Archipelago, M/Gillivray 
 even saw several bracelets made each of a lower human 
 jaw, crossed by a collar-bone ; and other travellers have 
 
 1 Travels in Brazil, vol. ii. p. 224. 
 
42 
 
 CHEEK STUDS. LABKETS. 
 
 seen brass curtain rings, the brass plates for keyholes, the 
 lids of sardine cases, and other such incongruous objects, 
 worn with much gravity and pride. 
 
 The Felatah ladies in Central Africa spend several hours 
 a day over their toilet. In fact they begin over-night by 
 carefully wrapping their fingers and toes in henna leaves, 
 so that by morning they are a beautiful purple. The teeth 
 are stained alternately blue, yellow, and purple, one here 
 and there being left of its natural colour, as a contrast. 
 About the eyelids they are very particular; they pencil 
 them with sulphuret of antimony. The hair is coloured 
 carefully with indigo. Studs and other jewellery are worn 
 in great profusion . 1 
 
 Not content with hanging things round their necks, arms, 
 ankles, and in fact wherever nature has enabled them to do 
 so, savages also cut holes in themselves for the purpose. 
 
 The Esquimaux from Mackenzie River westward make 
 two openings in their cheeks, one on each side, which they 
 gradually enlarge, and in which they wear an ornament 
 of stone resembling in form a large stud, and which may 
 therefore be called a cheek stud. 
 
 Throughout a great part of Western America, and 
 again in Africa, we also find the custom of wearing a 
 piece of wood through the central part of the lower lip. 
 A small holq is made in the lip during infancy, and it is 
 then extended by degrees until it is sometimes as much 
 as two inches long. 
 
 Some races extend the lobe of the ear until it reaches 
 the shoulder ; others file the teeth in various manners. 
 
 Dr. J. B. Davis has a Dyak skull in which the six 
 front teeth have each been carefully pierced with a small 
 hole, into which a pin with a spherical brass head has been 
 
 1 Laird, Expedition into the Interior o^ Africa, yol. ii. p. 94. 
 
ORNAMENTATION OP THE SKIN. 
 
 43 
 
 driven. In this way, the upper lip being raised, the shining 
 knob on each tooth would be displayed . 1 Some of the 
 African tribes also chip their teeth in various manners, 
 each community having a fashion of its own. 
 
 Ornamentation of the skin is almost universal among 
 the lower races of men. In some cases every individual 
 follows his own fancy ; in others each clan has a special 
 pattern. Thus, speaking of Abbeokuta, Captain Burton 2 
 says : — ‘ There was a vast variety of tattoos and ornament- 
 ation, rendering them a serious difficulty to strangers. 
 The skin patterns were of every variety, from the diminu- 
 tive prick to the great gash and the large boil-like lumps. 
 They affected various figures — tortoises, alligators, and 
 the favourite lizard, stars, concentric circles, lozenges, 
 right lines, welts, gouts of gore, marble or button-like 
 knobs of flesh, and elevated scars, resembling scalds, 
 which are opened for the introduction of fetish medicines, 
 and to expel evil influences. In this country every tribe, 
 sub-tribe, and even family, has its blazon , 3 whose infinite 
 diversifications may be compared with the lines and ordi- 
 naries of European heraldry.’ 
 
 In South Africa the Nyambanas are characterised by a 
 row of pimples or warts, about the size of a pea, and ex- 
 tending from the upper part of the forehead to the tip of 
 the nose. Among the Bachapin Kaffirs, those who have 
 distinguished themselves in battle are allowed the privilege 
 of marking their thigh with a long scar, which is rendered 
 indelible and of a bluish colour by rubbing ashes into 
 the fresh wound. 
 
 The tribal mark of the Bunns 4 (Africa) consists of three 
 
 1 Thesaurus Craniorum, p. 289. tattoo upon each cheek, combined 
 
 2 Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 104. with the three Egba cuts. 
 
 8 Ogubonna’s family, for instance, 4 Trans. EthnTSoc. vol. v. p. 86. 
 
 have three small squares of blue 
 
44 
 
 TRIBE-MARKS. 
 
 slashes from the crown of the head, down the face, towards 
 the month ; the ridges of flesh stand ont in bold relief. This 
 painful operation is performed by cutting the skin, and 
 taking out a strip of flesh ; palm oil and wood ashes are 
 then rubbed into the wound, thus causing a thick ridge. 
 
 The Bornouese in Central Africa have twenty cuts or 
 lines on each side of the face, which are drawn from the 
 corners of the mouth towards the angles of the lower jaw 
 and cheekbone. They have also one cut in the centre of 
 the forehead, six on each arm, six on each leg, four on 
 each breast, and nine on each side, just above the hips. 
 This makes 91 large cuts, and the process is said to be 
 extremely painful on account of the heat and flies. 1 
 
 The women of Brumer Island, on the south coast of New 
 Guinea, were tattooed on the face, arms, and front of the 
 body, but generally not on the back, in vertical stripes less 
 than an inch apart, and connected by zigzag markings. 
 On the face these are more complicated, and on the fore- 
 arm and wrist they were frequently so elaborate as to 
 resemble lace- work. 2 The men were more rarely tattooed, 
 and then only with a few lines or stars on the right breast. 
 Sometimes, however, the markings consisted of a double 
 series of large stars and dots stretching from the shoulder 
 to the pit of the stomach. 
 
 The inhabitants of Tanna have on their arms and chests 
 elevated scars, representing plants, flowers, stars, and 
 various other figures. c The inhabitants of Tazovan, or 
 Formosa, by a very painful operation, impress on their 
 naked skins various figures of trees, flowers, and animals. 
 The great men in Guinea have their skin flowered like 
 damask ; and in Decan, the women likewise have flowers 
 cut into their flesh on the forehead, the arms, and the 
 
 1 Denham, vol. iii. p. 175. 
 
 2 McGillivray’s Voyage of the Rattlesnake, vol. i. p. 262. 
 
TATTOOING. 
 
 45 
 
 breast, and the elevated scars are painted in colours, and 
 exhibit the appearance of flowered damask . 5 1 
 
 In the Tonga Islands the men are tattooed from the 
 middle of the thigh to above the hips. The women are 
 only tattooed on the arms and fingers, and there very 
 slightly . 52 In the Fiji Islands, on the contrary, the women 
 are more tattooed than the men. When tastefully ex- 
 ecuted, tattooing has been regarded by many travellers as 
 a real ornament. Thus Laird says that some of the tattoo- 
 ing in West Africa 6 in the absence of clothing gives a 
 finish to the skin . 53 
 
 In the Gambier Islands, Beechey says , 4 6 tattooing is so 
 universally practised, that it is rare to meet a man without 
 it ; and it is carried to such an extent that the figure is 
 sometimes covered with small checkered lines from the 
 neck to the ankles, though the breast is generally exempt, 
 or only ornamented with a single device. In some, 
 generally elderly men, the face is covered below the eyes, 
 in which case the lines or net-work are more open than 
 on other parts of the body, probably on account of the pain 
 of the operation, and terminate at the upper part in a 
 straight line from ear to ear, passing over the bridge of 
 the nose. With these exceptions, to which we may add 
 the fashion, with some few, of blue lines, resembling 
 stockings, from the middle of the thigh to the ankle, the 
 effect is becoming, and in a great measure destroys the 
 appearance of nakedness. The patterns which most im- 
 prove the shape, and which appear to me peculiar to this 
 group, are those which extend from the armpits to the 
 hips, and are drawn forward with a curve which seems to 
 contract the waist, and at a short distance gives the figure 
 
 1 Forster’s Observations made during 3 Narrative of an Expedition into 
 
 a Voyage round the World, p. 588. the Interior of Africa, vol. i. p. 291. 
 
 2 Cook’s Voyage towards the South 4 Beechey, vol. i p. 138. 
 
 Pole,yol. i. p. 218. 
 
46 
 
 TATTOOING, 
 
 an elegance and outline, not unlike tliat of the figures 
 seen on the walls of the Egyptian tombs/ 
 
 Fig. 12 represents a Caroline Islander, after Ereycinet, 
 and gives an idea of the tattooing, though it cannot 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 CAROLINE ISLANDER. 
 
 be taken as representing tlie form or features charac- 
 teristic of those islanders. 
 
 The tattooing of the Sandwich Islanders is less orna- 
 
ARTIFICIAL ALTERATION OF FORM. 
 
 47 
 
 mental, the devices being, according to Arago, ‘ unmeaning 
 and whimsical, without taste, and in general badly exe- 
 cuted/ 1 Perhaps, however, the most beautiful of all was 
 that of the New Zealanders (see figs. 13 and 14), who were 
 generally tattooed in curved or spiral lines. The process 
 is extremely painful, particularly on the lips ; but to shrink 
 from it, or even to show any signs of suffering while under 
 the operation, would be thought very unmanly. The 
 
 Fig. 13. Fig. 14. 
 
 HEAD OF NEW ZEALANDER. 
 
 HEAD OF NEW ZEALANDER. 
 
 natives used the ‘ Moko 5 or pattern of their tattooing as a 
 kind of signature. The women have their lips tattooed 
 with horizontal lines. To have red lips is thought to be a 
 great reproach. 
 
 Many similar cases might be given in which savages 
 ornament themselves, as they suppose, in a manner which 
 must be very painful. Perhaps none is more remarkable 
 
 1 Arago’s Letters, Pt. II. p. 147. 
 
48 
 
 HAIKDEESSING. 
 
 than the practice which we find in several parts of the 
 world of modifying the human form by means of tight 
 bandages. The small size of the Chinese ladies’ feet is a 
 well-known caae, but is less mischievous than the com- 
 pression of the waist as practised in Europe. Some of the 
 American tribes even modified the form of the head. One 
 would have supposed that any such compression would 
 have exercised a very prejudicial effect on the intellect, 
 but as far as the existing evidence goes, it does not appear 
 to do so. 
 
 The Fijians give a great deal of time and attention 
 to their hair, as is shown in PI. II. Most of the chiefs 
 have a special hairdresser, to whom they sometimes devote 
 several hours a day. Their heads of hair are often more 
 than three feet in circumference, and Mr. Williams mea- 
 sured one which was nearly five feet round. This forces 
 them to sleep on narrow wooden pillows or neck-rests, 
 which must be very uncomfortable. They also dye the 
 hair. Black is the natural and favourite colour, but 
 some prefer white, flaxen, or bright red. 
 
 ‘On one head,’ says Mr. Williams , 1 ‘ all the hair is of a 
 uniform height ; but one-third in front is ashy or sandy, 
 and the rest black, a sharply defined separation dividing 
 the two colours. Not a few are so ingeniously grotesque 
 as to appear as if done purposely to excite laughter. One 
 has a large knot of fiery hair on his crown, all the rest of 
 his head being bald. Another has the most of his hair cut 
 away, leaving three or four rows of small clusters, as if his 
 head were planted with small paint-brushes. A third has 
 his head bare except where a large patch projects over 
 each temple. One, two, or three cords of twisted hair 
 often fall from the right temple, a foot or eighteen inches 
 long. Some men wear a number of these braids so as to 
 
 1 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 158. 
 
FIJI AN MODES OJ 1 DRESSING THE HAIR. 
 
 Plate II. 
 
FIJI HEAD-DRESSES. 
 
 49 
 
 form a curtain at the back of the neck, reaching from one 
 ear to the other. A mode that requires great care, has 
 the hair wrought into distinct locks radiating from the 
 head. Each lock is a perfect cone about seven inches 
 long, having the base outwards ; so that the surface of the 
 hair is marked out into a great number of small circles, 
 the ends being turned in in each lock, towards the centre 
 of the cone.’ 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIP, 
 
 OTHINGr, perhaps, gives a more instructive insight 
 
 into the true condition of savages than their ideas on 
 the subject of relationship and marriage; nor can the 
 great advantages of civilisation be more conclusively 
 proved than by the improvement which it has effected in 
 the relation between the two sexes. 
 
 Marriage, and the relationship of a child to its father 
 and mother, seem to us so natural and obvious, that we are 
 apt to look on them as aboriginal and general to the 
 human race. This, however, is very far from being the 
 case. The lowest races have no institution of marriage ; 
 true love is almost unknown among them ; and marriage, 
 in its lowest phases, is by no means a matter of affection 
 and companionship. 
 
 The Hottentots, says Kolben, 1 ‘are so cold and indiffer- 
 ent to one another that you would think there was no 
 such thing as love between them. 5 Among the Koussa 
 Kaffirs, Lichtenstein asserts that there is ‘no feeling of 
 love in marriage/ 2 In North America, the Tinne Indians 
 had no word for ‘ dear 9 or ‘ beloved ; 9 and the Algonquin 
 language is stated to have contained no verb meaning ‘ to 
 love ; * so that when the Bible was translated by the 
 missionaries into that language it was necessary to invent 
 a word for the purpose. 
 
 1 Kolben’s Hist, of the Cape of 2 Travels in South Africa, vol. I 
 Good Hope, voL i. p. 162. p. 261. 
 
51 
 
 "the position of women among savag'es. 
 
 In Yariba, 1 says Lander (Central Africa), e marriage is 
 celebrated by the natives as unconcernedly as possible : a 
 man thinks as little of taking a wife as of cutting an ear 
 of corn — affection is altogether out of the question.’ The 
 King of Boussa, 2 he tells us in another place, 6 when he is 
 not engaged in public affairs, usually employs all his 
 leisure hours in superintending the occupations of his 
 household, and making his own clothes. The Midiki 
 (queen) and he have distinct establishments, divided for- 
 tunes, and separate interests ; indeed, they appear to have 
 nothing in common with each other, and yet we have 
 never seen so friendly a couple since leaving our native 
 country.’ Among the Mandingoes marriage is merely a 
 form of regulated slavery. Husband and wife ‘ never laugh 
 or joke together.’ 6 I asked Baba,’ says Caillie, ‘ why he 
 did not sometimes make merry with his wives. He replied 
 that if he did he should not be able to manage them, for 
 they would laugh at him when he ordered them to do 
 anything.’ 3 
 
 In India the Hill tribes of Chittagong, says Captain 
 Lewin, regard marriage ‘as a mere animal and con- 
 venient connection ; ’ as the ‘ means of getting their 
 dinner cooked. They have no idea of tenderness, nor of 
 chivalrous devotion.’ 4 
 
 Among the Guyacurus of Paraguay ‘the bonds of 
 matrimony are so very slight, that when the parties do 
 not like each other, they separate without any further 
 ceremony. In other respects they do not appear to have 
 the most distant notions of that bashfulness so natural to 
 the rest of mankind.’ 5 The Guaranis seem to have been 
 in a very similar condition. 6 
 
 1 K. and J. Lander’s Niger Expedi- 4 Hill Tracts of Chittagong, p. 116, 
 
 tion, vol. i. p. 161. 5 Charlevoix, Hist, of Paraguay, 
 
 2 Ibid . vol. ii. p. 106. See also p. 197. vol. i. p. 91. 
 
 * Travels, vol. i. p. 350. 6 Loc. cit . p. 352. 
 
52 
 
 t 
 
 RELATIONSHIP AMONG SAVAGES. 
 
 Among the Samoyedes 1 of Siberia the husbands show 
 little affection for their wives, and, according to Pallas, 
 6 daignent a-peine leur dire une parole de douceur . 5 
 
 In Australia little real affection exists between hus- 
 bands and wives, and young men value a wife principally 
 for her services as a slave ; in fact, when asked why they 
 are anxious to obtain wives, their usual reply is, that they 
 may get wood, water, and food for them, and carry what- 
 ever property they possess . 5 2 The position of women in 
 Australia seems indeed to be wretched in the extreme. 
 They are treated with the utmost brutality, beaten and 
 speared in the limbs on the most trivial provocation. Pew 
 women, says Eyre, 6 will be found, hpon examination, to be 
 free from frightful scars upon the head, or the marks of 
 spear wounds about the body. I have seen a young woman 
 who, from the number of these marks, appeared to have 
 been almost riddled with spear wounds. If at all good- 
 looking their position is, if possible, even worse than 
 otherwise . 5 
 
 Again, our family system, which regards a child as 
 equally related to his father and his mother, seems so 
 natural that we experience a feeling of surprise on meet- 
 ing with any other system. Yet we shall find, I think, 
 reason for concluding that a man was first regarded as 
 merely related to his family ; then to his mother but not 
 to his -father ; then to his father and not to his mother ; 
 and only at last to both father and mother. Even among 
 the Romans, the word 6 familia 5 meant ‘ slaves , 5 and a 
 man’s wife and children only formed a part of his family 
 inasmuch as they were his slaves ; so that a son who was 
 emancipated — that is to say, made free — had no share in 
 the inheritance, having ceased to belong to the family. 
 We shall, however, be better able to understand this part 
 
 1 PaUas’s Voyages, vol. iv. p. 94. 2 Eyre’s Discoveries, vol. ii. p. 321. 
 
DIFFERENT KINDS OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 53 
 
 of the question when we have considered the various 
 phases which marriage presents ; for it is by no means 
 of an uniform character, but takes almost every possible 
 form. In some cases nothing of the sort appears to exist 
 at all; in others it is essentially temporary, and exists 
 only till the birth of the child, when both man and woman 
 are free to mate themselves afresh. In others, the man 
 buys the woman, who becomes as much his property as 
 his horse or his dog. 
 
 In Sumatra there were formerly three perfectly distinct 
 kinds of marriage : the ‘ Jugur,’ in which the man pur- 
 chased the woman; the ‘ Ambel-anak,’ in which the 
 woman purchased the man ; and the 6 Semando,’ in which 
 they joined on terms of equality. In the mode of marriage 
 by Ambel-anak, says Marsden , 1 ‘the father of a virgin 
 makes choice of some young man for her husband, generally 
 from an inferior family, which renounces all further right 
 to, or interest in, him ; and he is taken into the house of his 
 father-in-law, who kills a buffalo on the occasion, and re- 
 ceives twenty dollars from his son’s relations. After this, 
 the buruk baik’ nia (the good and bad of him) is invested in 
 the wife’s family. If he murders or robs, they pay the 
 bangun, or the fine. If he is murdered, they receive the 
 bangun. They are liable to any debts he may contract in 
 marriage ; those prior to it remaining with his parents. 
 He lives in the family, in a state between that of a son and 
 a debtor. He partakes as a son of what the house affords, 
 but has no property in himself. His rice plantation, the 
 produce of his pepper garden, with everything that he can 
 gain or earn, belongs to the family. He is liable to be 
 divorced at their pleasure, and though he has children, 
 must leave all, and return naked as he came.’ 
 
 1 Marsden’s Hist, of Sumatra, p. 262. 
 
54 
 
 DIFFERENT KINDS OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 6 The Semando 1 is a regular treaty between the parties, 
 on the footing of equality. The adat paid to the girl’s 
 friends has usually been twelve dollars. The agreement 
 stipulates that all effects, gains, or earnings are to be 
 equally the property of both ; and, in case of divorce by 
 mutual consent, the stock, debts, and credits are to be 
 equally divided. If the man only insists on the divorce, 
 he gives the woman her half of the effects, and loses the 
 twelve dollars he has paid. If the woman only claims the 
 divorce, she forfeits her right to the proportion of the 
 effects, but is entitled to keep her tikar, bantal, and 
 dandan (paraphernalia), and her relations are liable to 
 pay back the twelve dollars ; but it is seldom demanded. 
 This mode, doubtless the most conformable to our ideas 
 of conjugal right and felicity, is that which the chiefs of 
 the Rejang country have formally consented to establish 
 throughout their jurisdiction, and to their orders the 
 influence of the Malayan priests will contribute to give 
 efficacy.’ 
 
 The Jugur marriage need not be particularly described. 
 
 The Hassaniy’eh Arabs have a very curious form of 
 marriage, which may be called c three-quarter ’ marriage ; 
 that is to say, the woman is legally married for three days 
 out of four, remaining perfectly free for the fourth. 
 
 In Ceylon there were two kinds of marriage —the Deega 
 marriage, and the Beena marriage. In the former the 
 woman went to her husband’s hut ; in the latter the man 
 transferred himself to that of the woman. Moreover, 
 according to Davy, marriages in Ceylon were provisional 
 for the first fortnight, at the expiration of which they 
 were either annulled or confirmed . 2 
 
 Among the Reddies 3 of Southern India a very singular 
 
 1 Marsden’s Hist, of Sumatra, p.263. 8 Shortt, Trans. Ethn. Soc. Ne\t 
 
 * Davy’s Ceylon, p. 286. Series, vol. vit. p. 194. 
 
POLYANDRY. 
 
 55 
 
 custom prevails : — ‘ A young woman of sixteen or twenty 
 years of age may be married to a boy of five or six years ! 
 She, however, lives with some other adult male — perhaps 
 a maternal uncle or cousin — but is not allowed to form 
 a connection with the father’s relatives ; occasionally it 
 may be the boy-husband’s father himself — that is, the 
 woman’s father-in-law ! Should there be children from 
 these liaisons, they are fathered on the boy-husband. 
 When the boy grows up the wife is either old or past 
 child-bearing, when he in his turn takes up with some 
 other “ boy’s ” wife in a manner precisely similar to his 
 own, and procreates children for the boy-husband.’ 
 
 Polyandry, or the marriage of one woman to several 
 men at once, is more common than is generally supposed, 
 though much less so than polygamy, which is almost uni- 
 versally permitted among the lower races of men. One 
 reason — though I do not say the only one — for this is 
 obvious when pointed out. Long after our children are 
 weaned milk remains an important and necessary part of 
 their food. We supply this want with cow’s milk ; but 
 among people who have not domesticated animals this 
 cannot, of course, be done, and consequently the children 
 are not weaned until they are two, three, or even four 
 years old. During all this period the husband and wife 
 generally remain apart, and consequently, unless a man 
 has several wives, he is often left without any at all. 
 Thus in Fiji c the relatives of a woman take it as a public 
 insult if any child should be born before the customary 
 three or four years have elapsed, and they consider them- 
 selves in duty bound to avenge it in an equally public 
 manner .’ 1 
 
 It seems to us natural and proper that husband and 
 
 A Mission to Fiji, p. 191. 
 
56 
 
 RESTRICTION ON CONJUGAL INTERCOURSE. 
 
 wife should enjoy as much as possible the society of one 
 another; but, among the Turkomans, according to Fraser, 
 for six months or a year, or even sometimes two years, 
 after a marriage, the husband was only allowed to visit 
 his wife by stealth. 
 
 Klemm states that the same is the case among the 
 Circassians until the first child is born. Among the- 
 Fijians husbands and wives- do not usually spend the night 
 together. In Chittagong (India), although, ‘ according to 
 European ideas, the standard of morality among the 
 Kyoungtha is low/ yet husband and wife are on no 
 account permitted to sleep together until seven days after 
 marriage . 1 
 
 Burckhardt 2 states, that in Arabia, after the wedding, 
 if it can be called so, the bride returns to her mother’s 
 tent, but again runs away in the evening, and repeats 
 these flights several times, till she finally returns to her 
 tent. She does not go to live in her husband’s tent for 
 some months, perhaps not even till a full year, from the 
 wedding-day. 
 
 Lafitau informs us that among the North American 
 Indians the husband only visits the wife as it were by 
 stealth: — ‘ils n’osent aller dans les cabanes particuliers 
 ou habitent leurs epouses, que durant l’obscurite de la 
 nuit . . . . ce serait une action extraordinaire de s’y pre- 
 senter le jour.’ 3 
 
 In Futa, one of the West African kingdoms, it is said 
 that no husband is allowed to see his wife’s face until he 
 has been three years married. 
 
 In Sparta, and in Crete, according to Xenophon and 
 Strabo, married people were for some time after the 
 wedding only allowed to see one another as it were clan- 
 
 1 Lewin’s Hill Tracts of Chittagong, quoted in M'Lennan’s Primitive Mar- 
 
 p. 51. riage, p. 302. 
 
 2 Burckhardt’s Notes, vol.vi. p. 269, 3 Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 576. 
 
ABSENCE OF MARRIAGE CEREMONY, 
 
 57 
 
 destinely ; and a similar custom is said to have existed 
 among the Lycians. So far as I am aware, no satis- 
 factory explanation of this cnstom has yet been given, I 
 shall, however, presently venture to suggest one. 
 
 There are many cases in which savages have no such 
 thing as any ceremony of marriage. I have said nothing, 
 says Metz, ‘ about the marriage ceremonies of the Badagas 
 (Hindostan), because they can scarcely be said to have 
 any.’ The Kurumbas, another tribe of the Neilgherry 
 Hills, ‘have no marriage ceremony.’ 1 According to 
 Colonel Dalton , 2 the Keriahs of Central India ‘have no 
 word for marriage in their own language, and the only 
 ceremony used appears to be little more than a sort of 
 public recognition of the fact.’ So also the Spanish mis- 
 sionaries found no word for marriage, nor any marriage 
 ceremony, among the Indians of California . 3 Farther 
 north, among the Xutchin Indians, ‘ there is no ceremony 
 observed at marriage or birth .’ 4 
 
 The marital rite, says Schoolcraft, ‘among our tribes’ 
 (i.e. the Redskins of the United States) ‘ is nothing more 
 than the personal consent of the parties, without requiring 
 any concurrent act of a priesthood, a magistracy, or wit- 
 nesses ; the act is assumed by the parties, without the 
 necessity of ’any extraneous sanction.’ 5 
 
 According to Brett, there is no marriage ceremony 
 among the Arawaks of South America . 6 Martius makes 
 the same assertion with reference to the Brazilian tribes 
 generally , 7 and the same is the case with some of the 
 Australian tribes . 8 
 
 There is, says Bruce, ‘ no such thing as marriage in 
 Abyssinia, unless that which is contracted by mutual con- 
 
 1 Trans. Ethn. Soc. yoI. vii. p. 276. 5 Indian Tribes, p. 248, 132. 
 
 2 Ibid. yoI. vi. p. 25. 6 Guiana, p. 101 . 
 
 * Baegart, Smithsonian Report, 1863, 7 Loc. cit. p. 51. 
 
 p. 368. 8 Eyre’s Discoveries, vol. ii. p. 319 
 
 4 Smithsonian Repoit, 1866, p. 326. 4 
 
58 
 
 ABSENCE OF ANY NAME FOB MARRIAGE. 
 
 sent, without other form, subsisting only till dissolved by 
 dissent of one or other, and to be renewed or repeated as 
 often as it is agreeable to both parties, who, when they 
 please, live together again as man and wife, after having 
 been divorced, had children by others, or whether they 
 have been married, or had children with others or not. 
 I remember to have once been at Koscam in presence of 
 the Iteghe (the queen), when, in the circle, there was a 
 woman of great quality, and seven men who had all been 
 her husbands, none of whom was the happy spouse at that 
 time/ 1 And yet c there is no country in the world where 
 there are so many churches/ 2 Among the Bedouin Arabs 
 there is a marriage ceremony in the case of a girl, but 
 the re-marriage of a widow is not thought sufficiently 
 important to deserve one. Speke says, ‘ there are no such 
 things as marriages in Uganda/ 3 
 
 Of the Mandingoes (West Africa), Caiilie 4 says that 
 husband and wife are not united by any ceremony ; and 
 Hutton 5 makes the same statement as regards the Ashan- 
 tees. In Congo and Angola 6 6 they use no peculiar cere- 
 monies in marriage, nor scarce trouble themselves for 
 consent of friends/ La Yaillant says that there are no 
 marriage ceremonies among the Hottentots ; 7 and the 
 Bushmen, according to Mr. Wood, had in their language 
 no means of distinguishing an unmarried from a married 
 girl . 8 
 
 Yet we must not assume that marriage is necessarily 
 and always lightly regarded, where it is unaccompanied by 
 ceremonial. Thus c marriage in this island (Tahiti), as 
 appeared to us/ says Cook, ‘ is nothing more than an 
 
 1 Bruce’s Travels, vol. iv. p. 487. 6 Astley’s Coll, of Voyages, vol. iii. 
 
 2 Ibid. vol. v. p. 1. p. 221, 227. 
 
 3 Journal, p. 361. 7 Voyages, vol. ii. p. 58. 
 
 4 Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 350. 8 Natural History of Man, vol. i, 
 
 5 Klemm, Cultur d. Menschen, vol. p. 269. 
 
 iii. p. 280. 
 
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 
 
 59 
 
 agreement between the man and woman, with which the 
 priest has no concern. Where it is contracted it appears 
 to be pretty well kept, though sometimes the parties sepa- 
 rate by mutual consent, and in that case a divorce takes 
 place with as little trouble as the marriage. But though 
 the priesthood has laid the people under no tax for a 
 nuptial benediction, there are two operations which it has 
 appropriated, and from which it derives considerable ad- 
 vantages. One is tattooing, and the other circumcision/ 1 
 Yet he elsewhere informs us that married women in Tahiti 
 are as faithful to their husbands as in any other part of 
 the world. 
 
 We must bear in mind that there is a great distinction 
 between what may be called 6 lax ’ and 6 brittle * marriages. 
 In some countries the marriage tie may be broken with 
 the greatest ease, and yet, as long as it lasts, is strictly 
 respected; while in other countries the very reverse is 
 the case. 
 
 Perhaps on the whole any marriage ceremony is better 
 than none at all, but some races have practices at mar- 
 riage which are extremely objectionable. Some, also, are 
 very curious, and no doubt symbolical. Thus, among the 
 Canadian Indians, Carver 2 says that when the chief has 
 pronounced the pair to be married, ‘ the bridegroom turns 
 round, and, bending his body, takes his wife on his back, 
 in which manner he carries her, amidst the exclamations 
 of the spectators, to his tent/ Bruce, in Abyssinia, 
 observed an identical custom. When the ceremony is 
 over, he says, ‘the bridegroom takes his lady on his 
 shoulders, and carries her off to his house. If it be at a 
 distance he does the same thing, but only goes entirely 
 round about the bride’s house .’ 3 
 
 1 Cook’s Voyage round the World, loc. cit. vol. iv. p. 299. 
 
 Hawkesworth’s Voyages, vol. ii. p. 240. 2 Travels, p. 374. 
 
 For Caroline Islands, see Klemra, 3 Vol. vii. p. 67. 
 
60 
 
 ABSENCE OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 Iii China, when the bridal procession reaches the bride- 
 groom’s house, the bride is carried into the house by a 
 matron, and ‘ lifted over a pan of charcoal at the door.’ 1 
 
 We shall presently see that these are no isolated cases, 
 nor is the act of lifting the bride over the bridegroom’s 
 threshold an act without a meaning. I shall presently 
 mention many allied customs, to the importance and 
 significance of which our attention has recently been 
 called by Mr. M‘Lennan, in his masterly work on ‘ Primi- 
 tive Marriage.’ 
 
 I will now attempt to trace up the custom of marriage 
 in its gradual development. In the Andaman Islands, 2 
 Sir Edward Belcher states that the custom is for the man 
 and woman to remain together until the child is weaned, 
 when they separate as a matter of course, and each seeks 
 a new partner. The Bushmen of South Africa are stated 
 to be entirely without marriage. Among the Nairs (India), 
 as Buchanan tells us, ‘ no one knows his father, and every 
 man looks on his sister’s children as his heirs.’ The Tee- 
 hurs of Oude ‘live together almost indiscriminately in 
 large communities, and even when two people are re- 
 garded as married the tie is but nominal.’ 3 Although in 
 this state of things marriage, in the proper sense of the 
 term, cannot be said to exist at all, still, for the sake of 
 convenience, we may term it a condition of communal 
 marriage ; and among the numerous cases in which more 
 or less isolated races of men have made considerable pro- 
 gress in some directions, while remaining very backward 
 in others, there is perhaps hardly any more remarkable 
 case than the backwardness (until lately) of the Sand- 
 wich Islanders in their social relations, as manifested 
 
 1 Davis. The Chinese, vol. i. p. 2S5. Watson, and J. W. Kaye, published 
 
 2 Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. v. p. 45. by the Indian Government, vol. ii. pL 
 
 8 The People of India, by J. F. 85. 
 
RELATIONSHIPS INDEPENDENT OF MARRIAGE. G1 
 
 in their language, 
 thus :■ — 
 
 Hawciian. 
 
 Kupuna signifies 
 
 Makua kana = 
 
 Makua waheena= 
 
 Kaikee kana = 
 
 Hunona 
 
 This is shown in the following table 
 
 < 
 
 < 
 
 English . 
 
 ^ Great grandfather 
 Great great uncle 
 Great grandmother 
 Great grand aunt 
 Grandfather 
 Granduncle 
 Grandmother 
 Grandaunt 
 Grandfather 
 Granduncle 
 Grandmother 
 Grandaunt. 
 
 f Father 
 
 I Father’s brother 
 Father’s brother-in-law 
 Mother’s brother 
 Mother’s brother-in-law 
 Grandfather’s brother’s son. 
 
 ^Mother 
 Mother’s sister 
 
 < Mother’s sister-in-law 
 Father’s sister 
 
 ^Father’s sister-in-law. 
 
 -Son 
 
 Sister’s son 
 Brother’s son 
 Brother’s son’s son 
 
 < Brother’s daughter’s son 
 Sister’s son’s son 
 Sister’s daughter’s son 
 Mother’s sister’s son’s son 
 
 ^Mother’s brother’s son’s son. 
 
 { Brother’s son’s wife 
 
 Brother’s daughter’s husband 
 
 Sister’s son’s wife 
 
 Sister’s daughter’s husband. 
 
62 
 
 SOUTHSEA SYSTEM Oh RELATIONSHIP, 
 
 Waheena 
 
 Kana 
 
 Punalua 
 
 Kaikoaka 
 
 < 
 
 fWife 
 
 Wife’s sister 
 Brother’s wife 
 Wife’s brother’s wife 
 Father’s brother’s son’s wife 
 Father’s sister’s son’s wife 
 Mother’s sister’s son’s wife 
 Mother’s brother’s son’s wife. 
 rHusband 
 Husband’s brother 
 LSister’s husband. 
 
 Wife’s sister’s husband (brother-in-law). 
 Wife’s brother. 
 
 The key of this Hawaian or Sandwich Island 1 system is 
 the idea conveyed in the word waheena (woman). Thns — 
 
 { Wife 
 Wife’s sister 
 Brother’s wife 
 Wife’s brother’s wife. 
 
 All these are equally related to each husband. Hence the 
 word — 
 
 Kaikee = Child, also signifies the brother’s wife’s child ; 
 
 and no doubt the wife’s sister’s child, and the wife’s 
 brother’s wife’s child. So, also, as the sister is wife to 
 the brother-in-law (though not to her brother), and as the 
 brother-in-law is husband to his brother’s wife, he is con- 
 sequently a father to his brother’s children. Hence 
 ‘ Kaikee’ also means ‘sister’s son’ and ‘brother’s son.’ 
 In fact ‘ Kaikee ’ and ‘ Waheena ’ correspond to our words 
 ‘ child ’ and ‘ woman,’ and there are apparently no words 
 
 Morgan, Proceedings of the American Association, 1565. 
 
SOUTHSEA SYSTEM OP RELATIONSHIP. 
 
 63 
 
 answering to c son/ ‘ daughter/ 6 wife/ or 6 husband.’ 
 That this does not arise from poverty of language is 
 evident, because the same system discriminates between 
 other relationships which we do not distinguish. 
 
 Perhaps the contrast is most clearly shown in the terms 
 for brother-in-law and sister-in-law. 
 
 Thus, when a woman is speaking — 
 
 Sister-in-law = husband’s brother’s wife = pnnalna 
 Sister-in-law = husband’s sister = kaikoaka. 
 
 But brother-in-law whether sister’s 1 = k husband, 
 
 husband or husband’s brother J 
 
 When, on the contrary, a man is speaking — 
 
 Sister-in-law = wife’s sister = waheena, i.e, wife 
 Sister-in-law = brother’s wife = waheena, i.e. wife. 
 
 And so — 
 
 Brother-in-law = wife’s brother — kaikoaka 
 
 Brother-in-law = wife’s sister’s husband = punalua. 
 
 Thus a woman has husbands and sisters -in-law, but no 
 brothers - in-law ; a man, on the contrary, has wives and 
 brothers-in-law, but no sisters-in-law. The same idea 
 runs through all other relationships : cousins, for instance, 
 are called brothers and sisters. 
 
 So again, while the Romans distinguished between the 
 
 Father’s brother = patruus, and the mother’s brother = 
 avunculus 
 
 Father’s sister = amita, and the mother’s sister = 
 matertera ; 
 
 the first two in Hawaian arc makua kana, which also 
 signifies father ; and the last two are makua waheena, 
 which also means mother. 
 
 Thus the idea of marriage does not* in fact, enter into 
 
64 
 
 TODA SYSTEM OF RELATIONSHIP. 
 
 the Hawaian system of relationship. TJncleship, auntship, 
 cousinship, are ignored ; and we have only — 
 
 Grandparents 
 
 Parents 
 
 Brothers and sisters 
 Children and 
 Grandchildren. 
 
 Here it is clear that the child is related to the group. 
 It is not specially related either to its father or its mother, 
 who stand in the same relation as mere uncles and aunts ; 
 so that every child has several fathers and several mothers. 
 
 There are, I think, reasons in the social habits of these 
 islanders which go far to explain the persistence of this 
 archaic nomenclature. Prom the mildness of the climate 
 and the abundance of food, children soon become inde- 
 pendent; the prevalence of large houses, used as mere 
 dormitories, and the curious prejudice against eating in 
 common, must also have greatly tended to retard the 
 development of special family feelings. Yet the system 
 of nomenclature above mentioned did not correspond with 
 the actual state of society as found by Captain Cook and 
 other early voyagers. 
 
 Among the Todas of the Neilgherry Hills, however, 
 when a man marries a girl she becomes the wife of all 
 his brothers as they successively reach manhood; and 
 they also become the husbands of all her sisters as they 
 become old enough to marry. In this case c the first-born 
 child is fathered upon the eldest brother, the next-born on 
 the second, and so on throughout the series. Notwith- 
 standing this unnatural system, the Todas, it must be con- 
 fessed, exhibit much fondness and attachment towards 
 their offspring ; more so than their practice of mixed 
 intercourse would seem to foster . 5 1 
 
 1 Shortt. Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. vol. vii. p. 240. 
 
PREVALENCE OF ADOPTION. 
 
 65 
 
 In the Tottiyars of India, also, we have a case in which 
 it is actually recorded that ‘ brothers, uncles, and nephews 
 hold their wives in common/ 1 So also, according to 
 Nicolaus , 2 the Galactophagi had communal marriage, 
 ‘ where they called all old men fathers, young men sons, 
 and those of equal age brothers/ ‘ Among the Sioux and 
 some other North American tribes the custom is to buy 
 the eldest of the chiefs daughters, then the others all 
 belong to him, and are taken to wife at such times as the 
 husband sees fit/ 3 Such social conditions as these tend 
 to explain the frequency of adoption among the lower 
 races of men, and the fact that it is often considered to 
 be as close a connection as real parentage. Among the 
 Esquimaux, Captain Lyon tells us that 6 this curious con- 
 nection binds the parties as firmly together as the ties of 
 blood ; and an adopted son, if senior to one by nature, is 
 the heir to all the family riches/ 4 
 
 In Central Africa, Denham states that the practice of 
 adopting children is very prevalent among the Felatahs ; 
 and though they have sons and daughters of their own, 
 the adopted child generally becomes heir to the whole 
 property / 5 
 
 ‘ It is a custom/ says Mariner , 6 c in the Tonga Islands for 
 women to be what they call mothers to children or grown- 
 up young persons who are not their own, for the purpose 
 of providing them, or seeing that they are provided, with 
 all the conveniences of life / this is often done even if the 
 natural mother be still living, in which case the adopted 
 mother 4 is regarded the same as the natural mother/ 
 
 1 Dubois’ Description of the People 5 Denham’s Travels in Africa, vol. 
 
 of India, p. 3. iv. p. 131. 
 
 2 Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht, p. 21. 6 Mariner’s Tonga Islands, vol. iL 
 
 3 Ethn. Journal, 1869, p. 286. p. 98. 
 
 Journal, p. 353. 
 
66 
 
 THE MILK-TIE. 
 
 Among tlie Romans, also, adoption was an important 
 feature, and was effected by the symbol of a mock birth, 
 without which it was not regarded as complete. This 
 custom seems to have continued down to the time of 
 Nerva, who, in adopting Trajan, transferred the cere- 
 mony from the marriage-bed to the temple of Jupiter . 1 
 Diodorus 2 gives a very curious account of the same 
 custom as it existed among the Greeks, mentioning that 
 Juno adopted Hercules by going through a ceremony of 
 mock birth. 
 
 In other cases the symbol of adoption represented not 
 the birth, but the milk- tie. Thus, in Circassia, the woman 
 offered her breast to the person she was adopting. In 
 Abyssinia, Parkyn tells us that ‘ if a man wishes to be 
 adopted as the son of one of superior station or influence, 
 he takes his hand, and, sucking one of his fingers, declares 
 himself to be his “ child by adoption and his new father 
 is bound to assist him as far as he can .’ 3 
 
 The same idea underlies perhaps the curious Esquimaux 
 habit of licking anything which is presented to them, 
 apparently in token of ownership . 4 
 
 Dieffenbach 5 also mentions the practice of licking a 
 present in New Zealand; here, however, it is the donor 
 who does so. In the Tonga Islands, Captain Cook tells us 
 that the natives ‘ have a singular custom of putting every- 
 thing you give them to their heads, by way of thanks as we 
 conjectured .’ 6 
 
 Assuming then that the communal marriage system 
 shown in the preceding pages to prevail, or have prevailed, 
 so widely among races in a low stage of civilisation, repre- 
 sents the primitive and earliest social condition of man, we 
 
 1 Das Mutterrecht, p. 254. p< 34. 
 
 2 IV. 39. See Appendix. 5 New Zealand, vol. ii. p. 104. 
 
 3 Parkyn’s Abyssinia, p. 198. 6 Voyage towards the South Pole, 
 
 4 Franklin’s Journeys, 1819-22, vol. i vol. i. p. 221. 
 
ORIGINAL OR COMMUNAL MARRIAGE. 
 
 67 
 
 Blow come to consider the various ways in which it may 
 have been broken up and replaced by individual marriage. 
 
 Montesquieu lays it down, almost as an axiom, that 
 ‘ ^obligation naturelle qu’a le pere de nourrir ses enfants 
 a fait etablir le mariage, qui declare celui qui doit remplir 
 cette obligation/ 1 Elsewhere he states that ‘il est arrive 
 dans tous les pays et dans tons les temps que la religion 
 s’est melee des manages/ 2 How far these assertions are 
 from the truth will be conclusively shown in the following 
 pages. 
 
 Bachofen 3 and McLennan , 4 the two most recent authors 
 who have studied this subject, both agree that the primi- 
 tive condition of man, socially, was one of pure Hetairism , 5 
 when marriage did not exist ; or as we may perhaps for 
 convenience call it, Communal marriage, where every man 
 and woman in a small community were regarded as equally 
 married to one another. 
 
 Bachofen considers that after awhile the women, shocked 
 and scandalised by such a state of things, revolted against 
 it, and established a system of marriage with female 
 supremacy, the husband being subject to the wife, pro- 
 perty and descent being considered to go in the female 
 line, and women enjoying the principal share of political 
 power. The first period he calls that of c Hetairism ; 5 
 the second of ‘ Mutterrecht, or motherright/ 
 
 In the third stage he considers that the ethereal in- 
 fluence of the father prevailed over the more material idea 
 of motherhood. Men claimed preeminence, property and 
 descent were traced in the male line, sun worship super- 
 seded moon worship, and many other changes in social 
 organisation took place, — mainly because it came to be 
 recognised that the creative influence of the father was more 
 
 1 Esprit des Lois, vol. ii. p. 186. 4 Primitive Marriage. 
 
 2 Loc. cit. p. 299. 5 ibid, xviii. xix. 
 
 8 Das Mutterrecht. 
 
68 
 
 ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE* 
 
 important than the material tie of motherhood. The father 
 in fact was the author of life, the mother a mere nurse. 
 
 Thus, he regards the first stage as lawless, the second 
 as material, the third as spiritual. I believe, however, 
 that communities in which women have exercised the 
 supreme power are rare and exceptional, if indeed they 
 ever existed at all. We do not find in history, as a matter 
 of fact, that women do assert their rights,, and savage 
 women would, I think, be peculiarly unlikely to uphold their 
 dignity in the manner supposed. On the contrary, among 
 the lowest races of men, as, for instance, in Australia, the 
 position of the women is one of complete subjection, 
 and it seems to me perfectly clear that the idea of marriage 
 is founded on the rights, not of the woman, but of the 
 man, being an illustration of 
 
 the good old plan, 
 
 That he should take who has the power, 
 
 And he should keep who can. 
 
 Among low races the wife is indeed literally the pro- 
 perty of the husband ; as Petruchio says of Catherine : 
 
 I will be master of what is mine own. 
 
 She is my goods, my chattels ; she is my house, 
 
 My household stuff, my field, my barn, 
 
 My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything. 
 
 So thoroughly is this the case that, as I have already 
 mentioned a Homan’s ‘ family’ originally, and indeed 
 throughout classical times, meant his slaves, and the chil- 
 dren only formed part of the family because they were his 
 slaves ; so that if a father freed his son, the latter ceased 
 to be one of the family, and had no part in the inherit- 
 ance. Nay, even at the present day, in some parts of 
 Africa, a man’s property goes, not to his children, as such, 
 but to his slaves. 
 
bachofer’s views. 
 
 69 
 
 Hearne tells us, that among the Hudson’s Bay Indians 
 6 it has ever been the custom for the men to wrestle for 
 any woman to whom they are attached ; and, of course, 
 the strongest party always carries off the prize. A weak 
 man, unless he be a good hunter and well beloved, is 
 seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger man 
 thinks worth his notice. . . . This custom prevails 
 throughout all their tribes, and causes a great spirit of 
 emulation among their youth, who are upon all occasions, 
 from their childhood, trying their strength and skill in 
 wrestling .’ 1 Franklin also says that the Copper Indians 
 hold women in the same low estimation as the Chipe- 
 wyans do, 6 looking upon them as a kind of property, which 
 the stronger may take from the weaker ; ’ 2 and Richard 
 son 3 ‘ more than once saw a stronger man assert his right 
 to take the wife of a weaker countryman. Anyone may 
 challenge another to wrestle, and, if he overcomes, may 
 carry off the wife as the prize.’ Yet the women never 
 dream of protesting against this, which, indeed, seems to 
 them perfectly natural. The theory therefore of Dr. 
 Bachofen, and the sequence of social customs suggested by 
 him, although supported with much learning, cannot, I 
 think, be regarded as correct . 4 
 
 McLennan, like Bachofen, starts with a stage of 
 hetairism or communal marriage. The next stage was, 
 in his opinion, that form of polyandry in which brothers 
 had their wives in common ; afterwards came that of the 
 levirate , i.e. the system under which, when an elder brother 
 died, his second brother married the widow, and so on 
 with the others in succession. Thence he considers that 
 some tribes branched off into endogamy, others into 
 
 1 Hearne, p. 104. • p. 24. 
 
 2 Journey to the Shores of the Polar 4 See for instance Lewin’s Hill 
 
 Seas, vol. viii. p. 43. Tracts of Chittagong, pp. 47, 77, 80, 
 
 3 Richardson’s Boat Journey, vol. ii. 3, 98, 101. 
 
70 
 
 m‘lennan’s views. 
 
 exogamy ; 1 that is to say, some forbade marriage out of, 
 others within, the tribe. If either of these two systems 
 was older than the other, he considers that exogamy 
 must have been the most ancient. Exogamy was based 
 on infanticide , 2 and led to the practice of marriage by 
 capture . 3 
 
 In a further stage the idea of female descent, producing 
 as it would a division in the tribe, obviated the necessity 
 of capture as a reality and reduced it to a symbol. 
 
 In support of this view Mr. M‘Lennan has certainly 
 brought forward many striking facts ; but, while admitting 
 that it probably represents the succession of events in 
 some cases, I cannot but think that these are exceptional. 
 * Fully admitting the prevalence of infanticide among 
 savages, it will, I think, be found that among the lowest 
 races, boys were killed as frequently as girls. Eyre ex- 
 pressly states that this was the case in Australia . 4 In 
 fact the distinction between the sexes implies an amount 
 of forethought, and prudence, which the lower races of 
 men do not possess. 
 
 For reasons to be given shortly, I believe that com- 
 munal marriage was gradually superseded by individual 
 marriage founded on capture, and that this led firstly to 
 exogamy and then to female infanticide ; thus reversing 
 M‘Lennan’s order of sequence. Endogamy and regulated 
 polyandry, though frequent, I regard as exceptional, and 
 as not entering into the normal progress of development. 
 
 Like McLennan and Bachofen, I believe that our present 
 social relations have arisen from an initial stage of 
 hetairism or communal marriage. It is obvious, how- 
 ever, that even under communal marriage, a warrior who 
 had captured a beautiful girl in some marauding expe- 
 
 1 Loc. cit. p. 145. 
 
 2 Loc. cit . p. 138. 
 
 3 Loc. cit . p. 140. 
 
 4 Discoveries, &c., vol. ii. p. 324. 
 
THE TEUE EXPLANATION. 
 
 71 
 
 dition would claim a peculiar right to her, and, when 
 possible, would set custom at defiance. We have already 
 seen that there are other cases of the existence of marriage 
 under two forms side by side in one country ; and there 
 is, therefore, no real difficulty in assuming the co-existence 
 of communal and individual marriage. It is true that 
 under a communal marriage system no man could ap- 
 propriate a girl entirely to himself without infringing the 
 rights of the whole tribe. Such an act would naturally 
 be looked on with jealousy, and only regarded as justifiable 
 under peculiar circumstances. A war-captive, however, 
 was in a peculiar position : the tribe had no right to her ; 
 her capturer might have killed her if he chose ; if he pre- 
 ferred to keep her alive he was at liberty to do so ; he 
 did as he liked, and the tribe was no sufferer. 
 
 McLennan , 1 indeed, says that c it is impossible to believe 
 that the mere lawlessness of savages should be consecrated 
 into a legal symbol, or to assign a reason — could this be 
 believed — why a similar symbol should not appear in 
 transferences of other kinds of property/ The symbol of 
 capture, however, was not one of lawlessness, but, on the 
 other hand, of — according to the ideas of the time — lawful 
 possession. It did not refer to those from whom the 
 captive was taken, but was intended to bar the rights of 
 the tribe into which she was introduced. Individual 
 marriage was, in fact, an infringement of communal 
 rights ; the man retaining to himself, or the man and 
 woman mutually appropriating to one another, that which 
 should have belonged to the whole tribe. Thus, among 
 the Andamaners, any woman who attempted to resist the 
 marital privileges claimed by any member of the tribe was 
 liable to severe punishment . 2 
 
 Nor is it, I think, difficult to understand why the symbol 
 
 1 Loc. cit. p. 44. 
 
 2 See Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S. vol. ii. p. 35. 
 
72 
 
 ORIGIN OP MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE. 
 
 of capture does not appear in transferences of other kinds 
 of property. Every generation requires fresh wives ; the 
 actual capture, or at any rate the symbol, needed there- 
 fore repetition. This, however, does not apply to land; 
 when once the idea of landed property arose, the same 
 land descended from owner to owner. In other kinds of 
 property again, there is an important, though different 
 kind of, distinction. A man made his own bow and arrows, 
 his own hut, his own arms ; hence the necessity of capture 
 did not exist, and the symbol would not arise. 
 
 McLennan supposes that savages were driven by female 
 infanticide, and the consequent absence or paucity of 
 women, into exogamy and marriage by capture. I shall 
 presently give my reasons for rejecting this explanation. 
 
 He also considers that marriage by capture followed, 
 and arose from, that remarkable custom, namely, of marry- 
 ing always out of the tribe, for which he has proposed the 
 appropriate name of exogamy. On the contrary, I believe 
 that exogamy arose from marriage by capture, not marriage 
 by capture from exogamy : that capture, and capture alone, 
 could give a man the right to monopolise a woman, to the 
 exclusion of his fellow-clansmen ; and that hence, even 
 after all necessity for actual capture had long ceased, the 
 symbol remained; capture having, by long habit, come 
 to be received as a necessary preliminary to marriage. 
 
 That marriage by capture has not arisen from female 
 modesty is, I think, evident, not only because we have no 
 reason to suppose that such a feeling prevails specially 
 among the lower races of man, but also, firstly, because 
 it cannot explain the mock resistance of the relatives, and 
 secondly, because the very question to be solved is why it 
 has become so generally the custom to win the female 
 not by persuasion but by force. 
 
 M £ Lennan’s view throws no light on the remarkable 
 
PREVALENCE OF MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE. 
 
 73 
 
 ceremonies of expiation for marriage, to which I shall 
 presently call attention. 
 
 I will, however, first proceed to show how widely ‘ cap- 
 ture/ either actual or symbolical, enters into the idea of 
 marriage. Mr. McLennan was, I believe, the first to 
 appreciate its importance. I have taken some of the 
 following evidence from his valuable work, adding, how- 
 ever, several additional cases. 
 
 It requires strong evidence, which, indeed, exists in 
 abundance, to satisfy us that the origin of marriage is 
 independent of all sacred and social considerations ; that 
 it had nothing to do with mutual affection or consent ; 
 that it was invalidated by any appearance of consent; 
 and t hat it is tobe symbolised not by any demonstration 
 of warm affection on the one side, and tender devotion on 
 the other, but by brutal violence and unwilling submission. 
 
 Yet, as already mentioned, the evidence is overwhelm- 
 ing. So completely did the Caribs supply themselves with 
 wives from the neighbouring races, and so little communi- 
 cation did they hold with them, that the men and women 
 actually spoke different languages. So again in Australia 
 (PI. III.) the men, says Oldfield, c are in excess of the other 
 sex, and, consequently, many men of every tribe are unpro- 
 vided with that especial necessary to their comfortable 
 subsistence, a wife ; who is a slave in the strictest sense 
 of the word, being a beast of burden, a provider of food, 
 and a ready object on which to vent those passions that 
 the men do not dare to vent on each other. Hence, for 
 those coveting such a luxury, arises the necessity of steal- 
 ing the women of some other tribe ; and, in their expedi- 
 tions to effect so laudable a design, they will cheerfully 
 undergo privations and dangers equal to those they incur 
 when in search of blood-revenge. When, on such an 
 errand, they discover an unprotected female, their pro- 
 
74 
 
 ORIGINALLY A REALITY. 
 
 ceedings are not of the most gentle nature. Stunning 
 her by a blow from the dowak (to make her love them, 
 perhaps), they drag her by the hair to the nearest thicket 
 to await her recovery. When she comes to her senses 
 they force her to accompany them ; and as at worst it is 
 but the exchange of one brutal lord for another, she gene- 
 rally enters into the spirit of the affair, and takes as much 
 pains to escape as though it were a matter of her own free 
 choice.’ 1 
 
 The following is the manner in which the natives about 
 Sydney used to procure wives : — ‘ The poor wretch is 
 stolen upon in the absence of her protectors. Being first 
 stupified with blows, inflicted with clubs or wooden swords, 
 on the head, back, and shoulders, every one of which is 
 followed by a stream of blood, she is then dragged through 
 the woods by one arm, with a perseverance and violence 
 that it might be supposed would displace it from its socket. 
 The lover, or rather the ravisher, is regardless of the stones 
 or broken pieces of trees which may lie in his route, being 
 anxious only to convey his prize in safety to his own party, 
 when a scene ensues too shocking to relate. This outrage 
 is not resented by the relations of the female, who only 
 retaliate by a similar outrage when they find an oppor- 
 tunity. This is so constantly the practice among them 
 that even the children make it a play-game or exercise.’ 2 
 
 In Bali, 3 one of the islands between Java and New 
 Guinea, also it is stated to be the practice that girls are 
 ‘ stolen away by their brutal lovers, who sometimes sur- 
 prise them alone, or overpower them by the way, and 
 carry them off with dishevelled hair and tattered gar- 
 ments to the woods. When brought back from thence, 
 and reconciliation is effected with enraged friends, the 
 
 1 Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. iii. p. 250. 3 Notices of the Indian Archipelago^ 
 
 2 Collins’s English Colony in New p. 90. 
 
 South Wales, p. 362. 
 
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL MARRIAGE CEREMONY. 
 
SUBSEQUENTLY A FORM. 
 
 75 
 
 poor female becomes tlie slave of her rough lover, by a 
 certain compensation-price being paid to her relatives. 5 
 
 So deeply rooted is the feeling of a connection between 
 force and marriage, that we find the former used as a 
 form long after all necessity for it had ceased ; and it is 
 very interesting to trace, as Mr. McLennan has done, the 
 gradual stages through which a stern reality softens 
 down into a mere symbol. 
 
 It is easy to see that if we assume the case of a coun- 
 try in which there are four certain neighbouring tribes, 
 'who have the custom of exogamy, and who trace pedi- 
 grees through the mother, and not through the father — 
 a custom which, as we shall presently see, is so common 
 that it may be said to be the usual one among the lower 
 races — after a certain time the result would be that each 
 tribe would consist of four septs or clans, representing 
 the four original tribes, and hence we should find com- 
 munities in which each tribe is divided into clans, and a 
 man must always marry a woman of a different clan. But 
 as communities become larger and more civilised, the 
 actual ‘ capture 5 became inconvenient, and at last im- 
 possible. 
 
 Gradually therefore it came to be more and more a mock 
 ceremony, forming, however, a necessary part of the 
 marriage ceremony. Of this many cases might be given. 
 
 Speaking of the Khonds of Orissa, Major-General 
 Campbell says that on one occasion he c heard loud cries 
 proceeding from a village close at hand; fearing some 
 quarrel, I rode to the spot, and there I saw a man bear- 
 ing away upon his back something enveloped in an ample 
 covering of scarlet cloth ; he was surrounded by twenty 
 or thirty young fellows, and by them protected from the 
 desperate attacks made upon him by a party of young 
 women. On seeking an explanation of this novel scene. 
 
76 
 
 HINDOSTAN — MALAY PENINSULA. 
 
 I was told that the man had just been married, and his 
 precious burden was his blooming bride, whom he was 
 conveying to his own village. Her youthful friends (as 
 it appears is the custom) were seeking to regain posses- 
 sion of her, and hurled stones and bamboos at the head of 
 the devoted bridegroom, until he reached the confines of 
 his own village/ 1 
 
 Sir W. Elliot also mentions that not only amongst the 
 Khonds, but also in ‘ several other tribes of Central India, 
 the bridegroom seizes his bride by force, either affected or 
 real ; ’ 2 and the same was customary among the Badagas 
 of the Neilgherry Hills . 3 
 
 Dalton mentions that among the Kols of Central India, 
 when the price of a girl has been arranged, ‘ the bride- 
 groom and a large party of his friends of both sexes enter 
 with much singing and dancing', and sham fighting in the 
 village of the bride, where they meet the bride’s party, 
 and are hospitably entertained. ’ 4 
 
 M. Bourien 5 thus describes the marriage ceremony 
 among the wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula : — ‘ When 
 all are assembled, and all ready, the bride and bride- 
 groom are led by one of the old men of the tribe, towards 
 a circle more or less great, according to the presumed 
 strength of the intended pair ; the girl runs round first, 
 and the young man pursues a short distance behind ; if 
 he succeed in reaching her and retaining her, she becomes 
 his wife ; if not, he loses all claim to her. At other 
 times, a larger field is appointed for the trial, and they 
 pursue one another in the forest. The race, according 
 co the words of the chronicle, “ is not to the swift nor 
 
 1 Quoted in M‘Lennan’s Primitive Tracts of Chittagong, p. 36, 80. 
 
 Marriage, p. 28. 4 Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. vi. p. 24. 
 
 2 Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1869, p. 125. See also p. 27, and the Tribes of India, 
 
 3 Metz. The tribes of the Neilgher- vol. i. p. 15. 
 
 ries, p. 74. See also Lewin’s Hill 5 Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1865, p. 81. 
 
KALMUCKS — TUKGUSES — KAMCHADALES. 77 
 
 the battle to the strong / 5 but to the young man who 
 Las had the good fortune to please the intended bride . 5 
 
 Among the Kalmucks, Dr. Hell tells us that after the 
 price of the girl has been duly agreed on, when the bride- 
 groom comes with his friends to carry off his bride, ‘ a 
 sham resistance is always made by the people of her 
 camp, in spite of which she fails not to be borne away on 
 a richly caparisoned horse, with loud shouts and feu de 
 joie . 5 1 
 
 Dr. Clarke 2 gives a charmingly romantic account of the 
 ceremony. 6 The girl , 5 he says ‘ is first mounted, who 
 rides off in full speed. Her lover pursues ; if he overtakes 
 her, she becomes his wife, and the marriage is consum- 
 mated on the spot; after this she returns with him to his 
 tent. But it sometimes happens that the woman does 
 not wish to marry the person by whom she is pursued ; 
 in this case, she will not suffer him to overtake her. We 
 were assured that no instance occurs of a Kalmuck girl 
 being thus caught, unless she have a partiality to the pur- 
 sued. If she dislikes him, she rides, to use the language 
 of English sportsmen, “ neck or nought , 55 until she has 
 completely effected her escape, or until her pursuer’s horse 
 becomes exhausted, leaving her at liberty to return, and 
 to be afterwards chased by some more favoured admirer . 5 
 
 4 Among the Tunguses and Kamchadales , 5 says Ernan , 3 
 6 a matrimonial engagement is not definitively arranged 
 and concluded until the suitor has got the better of his 
 beloved by force, and has torn her clothes . 5 Attacks on 
 women are not allowed to be avenged by blood, unless 
 they take place within the yourt or house. The man is 
 not regarded as to blame, if the woman ‘ has ventured to 
 
 1 M‘Lennan’s Primitive Marriage, 3 Travels in Siberia, vol. ii. p. 442. 
 
 p. 30. See also Karnes’ History of Man, vol. 
 
 2 Travels, vol. i. p. 332. ii. p. 58. 
 
78 
 
 MONGOLS —ESQUIMAUX. 
 
 leave her natural place, the sacred and protecting hearth . 5 
 Pallas observes that in his time, marriage by capture 
 prevailed also among the Samoyedes . 1 
 
 Among the Mongols 2 when a marriage is arranged, 
 the girl ‘ flies to some relations to hide herself. The 
 bridegroom coming to demand his wife, the father-in-law 
 says, “ My daughter is yours ; go, take her wherever you 
 can find her . 55 Having thus obtained his warrant, he, 
 with his friends, runs about searching ; and having found 
 her, seizes her as his property, and carries her home as it 
 were by force. 
 
 In the Korea when a man marries, he mounts on 
 horseback, attended by his friends, and, having ridden 
 about the town, stops at the bride’s door, where he is 
 received by her relations, who then carry her to his house, 
 and the ceremony is complete . 5 3 
 
 Among the Esquimaux of Cape York (Smith Sound) 
 according to Dr. Hayes , 4 there is no marriage ceremony 
 further than that the boy is required to carry off his 
 bride by main force ; for, even among these blubber-eating 
 people, the woman only saves her modesty by a sham 
 resistance, although she knows years beforehand that 
 her destiny is sealed, and that she is to become the wife 
 of the man from whose embraces, when the nuptial day 
 comes, she is obliged by the inexorable law of public 
 opinion to free herself if possible, by kicking and scream- 
 ing with might and main, until she is safely landed in 
 the hut of her future lord, when she gives up the combat 
 very cheerfully and takes possession of her new abode. 
 
 In Greenland, according to Egede, 6 when a young man 
 likes a maiden he commonly proposes it to their parents 
 
 1 Vol. iv. p. 97. See also Astley’s 3 Ibid. p. 342. 
 
 Collection of Voyages, vol. iv. p. 575. 4 Open Polar Sea, p. 432. 
 
 2 Astley, vol. iv. p. 77. 
 
SOUTH AMERICANS — FIJIANS. 
 
 79 
 
 and relations on both sides; and after he has obtained 
 their consent, he gets two or more old women to fetch the 
 bride (and if he is a stout fellow he will fetch her himself). 
 They go to the place where the young woman is, and carry 
 her away by force/ 1 
 
 We have already seen (p. 69) that marriage by capture 
 exists in full force among the Northern Redskins. 
 
 The aborigines of the Amazon Yalley, says Wallace, 2 
 4 have no particular ceremony at their marriages, except 
 that of always carrying away the girl by force, or making 
 a show of doing so, even when she and her parents are 
 quite willing/ 
 
 M. Bardel, in the notes to D’Urville’s Yoyage, mentions 
 that among the Indians round Conception in South 
 America, after a man has agreed on the price of a girl 
 with her parents, he surprises her, and carries her off to 
 the woods for a few days, after which the happy couple 
 return home. 3 
 
 In Tierra del Fuego, as Admiral Fitzroy tells us, 4 as 
 soon c as a youth is able to maintain a wife by his exer- 
 tions in fishing or birdcatching, he obtains the con- 
 sent of her relations, and .... having built or stolen 
 a canoe for himself, he watches for an opportunity, and 
 carries off his bride. If she is unwilling she hides her- 
 self in the woods until her admirer is heartily tired of 
 looking for her, and gives up the pursuit, but this seldom 
 happens/ 
 
 Williams mentions, as prevailing among the Fijians, 
 the custom ‘ of seizing upon a woman by apparent or 
 actual force, in order to make her a wife. On reaching 
 the home of her abductor, should she not approve of the 
 
 1 History of Greenland, p. 143. 4 Yoyage of the Adventure and 
 
 2 Travels in the Amazons, p. 497. Beagle, vol. ii. p. 182. 
 
 3 Vol. iii. p. 277, and 22. 
 
80 
 
 POLYNESIANS. 
 
 match, she runs to some one who can protect her ; if, how- 
 ever, she is satisfied, the matter is settled forthwith ; a 
 feast is given to her friends the next morning, and the 
 couple are thenceforward considered as man and wife . 5 1 
 
 Earle 2 gives the following account of marriage in New 
 Zealand, which he regards as * most extraordinary , 5 while in 
 reality it is, as we now see, nothing of the sort : 4 The New 
 Zealand method of courtship and matrimony is , 5 he says, 
 4 most extraordinary ; so much so that an observer could 
 never imagine any affection existed between the parties. 
 A man sees a woman whom he fancies he should like for a 
 wife ; he asks the consent of her father, or, if an orphan, 
 of her nearest relation ; which, if he obtains, he carries 
 his 44 intended 55 off by force, she resisting with all her 
 strength; and, as the New Zealand girls are generally 
 pretty robust, sometimes a dreadful struggle takes place ; 
 both are soon stripped to the skin ; and it is sometimes 
 the work of hours to remove the fair prize a hundred yards. 
 If she breaks away she instantly flies from her antagonist, 
 and he has his labour to commence again. We may sup- 
 pose that if the lady feels any wish to be united to her 
 would-be spouse she will not make too violent an opposi- 
 tion ; but it sometimes happens that she secures her re- 
 treat into her father’s house, and the lover loses all chance 
 of ever obtaining her ; whereas, if he can manage to carry 
 her in triumph into his own, she immediately becomes his 
 wife . 5 
 
 Even after a marriage, it is customary in New Zealand to 
 have a mock scuffle. Mr. Yate 3 gives a good illustration. 
 There was, he says, 4 a little opposition to the wedding, 
 but not till it was over, as is always the custom here. 
 The bride’s mother came to me the preceding afternoon, 
 
 1 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 174. 3 Yate’s New Zealand, p. 9ti. 
 
 8 Residence in New Zealand, p. 244. 
 
POLYNESIANS. 
 
 81 
 
 and said she was well pleased in her heart that her daughter 
 was going to be married to Pahau ; but that she must be 
 angry about it with her mouth in the presence of her 
 tribe, lest the natives should come and take away all her 
 possessions, and destroy her crops. This is customary on 
 all occasions. If a chief meets with an accident he is 
 stripped, as a mark of respect ; if he marries a wife he has 
 to lose all his property ; and this is done out of respect — 
 not from disrespect, as it was once printed, inadvertently, 
 in an official publication. A chief would think himself 
 slighted if his food and garments were not taken away 
 from him upon many occasions. To prevent this Manga, 
 the old mother, acted with policy. As I was returning, 
 therefore, from the church with the bridegroom and bride, 
 she met the procession and began to assail us all furiously. 
 She put on a most terrific countenance, threw her garments 
 about, and tore her hair like a fury ; then said to me, “ Ah, 
 you white missionary, you are worse than the devil : you 
 first make a slave-lad your son by redeeming him from his 
 master, and then marry him to my daughter, who is a 
 lady. I will tear your eyes out! I will tear your eyes 
 out ! ” The old woman, suiting the action to the word, 
 feigned a scratch at my face, at the same time saying in 
 an under tone that it was “ all mouth ” and that she did 
 not mean what she said. I told her I should stop her 
 mouth with a blanket. “ Ha, ha, ha ! 55 she replied ; 
 u that was all I wanted : I only wanted to get a blanket, 
 and therefore I made this noise.” The whole affai* went 
 off after this remarkably well; all seemed to enjoy them- 
 selves ; and everyone was satisfied . 5 It is evident, how- 
 ever, that Yate did not thoroughly understand the meaning 
 of the scene. 
 
 Among the Ahitas of the Philippine Islands, when a 
 man wishes to marry a girl, her parents send her before 
 
 5 
 
82 MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE AMONG THE NEGROES, 
 
 sunrise into tlie woods. She has an hour’s start, after 
 which the lover goes to seek her. If he finds her and 
 brings her back before sunset, the marriage is acknow- 
 ledged ; if not, he must abandon all claim to her. 
 
 In the West African kingdom of Euta, 1 2 after all other 
 preliminaries are arranged, c one difficulty yet remains, 
 viz., how the young man shall get his wife home ; for the 
 women-cousins and relations take on mightily, and guard 
 the door of the house to prevent her being carried away. 
 At last, by the bridegroom’s presents and generosity, their 
 grief is assuaged. He then provides a friend, well-mounted, 
 to carry her off; but as soon as she is on horseback the 
 women renew their lamentations, and rush, in to dismount 
 her. However, the man is generally successful, and rides 
 off with his prize to the house prepared for her.’ 
 
 Gray mentions that a Mandingo (West Africa) wishing 
 to marry a young girl at Kayaye, applied to her mother, 
 who c consented to his obtaining her. in any way he could. 
 Accordingly, when the poor girl was employed preparing 
 some rice for supper, she was seized by her intended 
 husband, assisted by three or four of his companions, 
 and carried off by force. She made much resistance, by 
 biting, scratching, kicking, and roaring most bitterly. 
 Many, both men and women, some of them her own rela- 
 tions, who witnessed ‘the affair, only laughed at the farce, 
 and consoled her by saying that she would soon be recon- 
 ciled to her situation.’ Evidently therefore this was not, 
 as G*ay seems to have supposed, a mere act of lawless 
 violence, but a recognised custom, which called for no 
 interference on the part of spectators. 
 
 Denham, 3 describing a marriage at Sockna (North 
 
 1 Astley's Collection of Voyages, p. 56. 
 
 Vol. ii. p. 240. 3 Loo. cit. vol. i. p. 39. 
 
 2 Gray’s Travels in Western Africa, 
 
IN CIRCASSIA, AND IN EUROPE. 
 
 83 
 
 Africa), says that the bride is taken on a camel to the 
 bridegroom’s house, ‘ upon which it is necessary for her to 
 appear greatly surprised, and refuse to dismount; the 
 women scream, the men shout, and she is at length per- 
 suaded to enter.’ 
 
 In Circassia weddings are accompanied by a feast, ‘ in 
 the midst of which the bridegroom has to rush in, and, 
 with the help of a few daring young men, carry off the 
 lady by force ; and by this process she becomes the lawful 
 wife.’ 1 According to Spencer, another important part of 
 the ceremony consists in the bridegroom drawing his 
 dagger and cutting open the bride’s corset. 
 
 As regards Europe, Plutarch 2 tells us that in Sparta 
 the bridegroom usually carried off his bride by force, 
 evidently, however, of a friendly character. The Ro- 
 mans, also, had a very similar custom. In North Fries- 
 land, 6 a young fellow called the bride-lifter lifts the bride 
 and her two bridesmaids upon the waggon in which the 
 married couple are to travel to their home.’ 3 McLennan 
 states that in some parts of France, down to the seventeenth 
 century, it was customary for the bride to feign reluctance 
 to enter the bridegroom’s house. 
 
 In Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and parts of Prussia, 
 according to Seignior Gaya, 4 young men used to carry off 
 their sweethearts by force, and then apply to the parents 
 for their consent. 
 
 Lord Karnes, 5 in his * Sketches of the History of Man,’ 
 mentions that the following marriage ceremony was, in 
 his day, or at least had till shortly before, been customary 
 among the Welsh : — ‘ On the morning of the wedding-day 
 the bridegroom, accompanied with his friends on horse- 
 
 1 Moser, The Caucasus and its 3 M‘Lennan, loc. cit. p. 33. 
 
 People, p. 31 ; quoted by M‘Lennan, 4 Marriage Ceremonies, p. 35, See 
 loc . cit. p. 36. also Olaus Magnus, vol. xiv. chapter 9 
 
 2 See also Herodotus, vi. 65. 5 History of Man, yol. ii. p. 59. 
 
84 
 
 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 back, demands the bride. Her friends, who are likewise 
 on horseback, give a positive refusal, on which a mock 
 scuffle ensues. The bride, mounted behind her nearest 
 kinsman, is carried off, and is pursued by the bridegroom 
 and his friends, with loud shouts. It is not uncommon 
 on such an occasion to see 200 or 300 sturdy Cambro- 
 Britons riding at full speed, crossing and jostling, to the 
 no small amusement of the spectators. When they have 
 fatigued themselves and their horses, the bridegroom is 
 suffered to overtake his bride. He leads her away in 
 triumph, and the scene is concluded with feasting and 
 festivity. 5 
 
 Thus, then, we see that marriage by capture, either as 
 a stern reality or as an important ceremony, prevails in 
 Australia and among the Malays, in Hindostan, Central 
 Asia, Siberia, and Kamskatka; among the Esquimaux, 
 the Northern Eedskins, the Aborigines of Brazil, in Chile 
 and Tierra del Euego, in the Pacific Islands, both among 
 the Polynesians and the Pijians, in the Philippines, among 
 the Arabs and Negroes, in Circassia, and, until recently, 
 throughout a great part of Europe. 
 
 I have already referred to the custom of lifting the bride 
 over the doorstep, which we find in such different and 
 distant races as the Eomans, Eedskins of Canada, the 
 Chinese, and the Abyssinians. Hence, also, perhaps our 
 honeymoon, during which the bridegroom keeps his bride 
 away from her relatives and friends ; hence even, perhaps, 
 as Mr. McLennan supposes, the slipper is in mock anger 
 thrown after the departing bride and bridegroom. 
 
 The curious custom which forbids the father and 
 mother-in-law to speak to their son-in-law, and vice versa , 
 which I have already shown (p. 7) to be very widely 
 distributed, but for which no satisfactory explanation has 
 yet been given, seems to me a natural consequence of 
 
MARRIAGE BY CONFARREATIO. 
 
 85 
 
 marriage by capture. When the capture was a reality, 
 the indignation of the parents would also be real ; when 
 it became a mere symbol, the parental anger would be 
 symbolised also, and would be continued even after its 
 origin was forgotten. 
 
 The separation of husband and wife, to which also I 
 have referred (p. 56), may also arise from the same custom. 
 It is very remarkable indeed, how persistent are all 
 customs and ceremonies connected with marriage. Thus 
 our ‘ bride cake/ which so invariably accompanies a 
 wedding, and which should always be cut by the bride , may 
 be traced back to the old Roman form of marriage by 
 * confarreatio 5 or eating together. So also among the Iro- 
 quois, bride and bridegroom used to partake together of a 
 cake of ‘ sagamite,’ 1 which the bride offered to her hus- 
 band. The Fiji Islanders 2 have a very similar custom. 
 Again among the Tipperahs, one of the Hill tribes of 
 Chittagong, the bride prepares some drink, 6 sits on her 
 lover’s knee, drinks half, and gives him the other half ; they 
 afterwards crook together their little fingers.’ 3 In one 
 form or another a similar custom is found among most of 
 the Hill tribes of India. 
 
 Mr. M‘Lennan conceives that marriage by capture arose 
 from the custom of exogamy, that is to say, from the 
 custom which forbad marriage within the tribe. Exo- 
 gamy, again, he considers to have arisen from the practice 
 of female infanticide. I have already indicated the 
 reasons which prevent me from accepting this explanation, 
 and which induce me to regard exogamy as arising from 
 marriage by capture, not marriage by capture from 
 exogamy. Mr. M‘Lennan’s theory seems to me quite 
 
 1 Lafitau, vol. i. p. 566, 571. 3 Lewin’s Hill Tracts of Chittagong 
 
 2 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. pp. 71, 80 
 
 170 . 
 
86 
 
 EXPIATION FOE, l&TABEIAGE 
 
 inconsistent with the existence of tribes which have 
 marriage by capture and yet are endogamous. The 
 Bedouins, for instance, have unmistakeably marriage by 
 capture, and yet the man has a right to marry his consin, 
 if only he be willing to give the price demanded for her. 
 
 Mr. M‘Lennan, indeed, feels the difficulty which would 
 be presented by such cases, the existence of which he 
 seems, however, to doubt ; adding, that if the symbol of 
 capture be ever found in the marriage ceremonies of an 
 endogamous tribe, we may be sure that it is a relic of an 
 early time at which the tribe was organised on another 
 principle than that of exogamy . 2 
 
 That marriage by capture has not arisen merely from 
 female coyness is I think evident, as already mentioned, 
 firstly, because it does not account for the resistance of 
 the relatives, and secondly, because the very question to 
 be solved is why it has become so generally the custom to 
 win the wife by force rather than by persuasion. 
 
 The explanation which I have suggested derives addi- 
 tional probability from, the evidence of a general feeling 
 that marriage was an act for which some compensation 
 was due to those whose rights were invaded. 
 
 The nature of the ceremonies by which this was effected 
 makes me reluctant to enter into this part of the subject 
 at length ; and I will here therefore merely indicate in 
 general terms the character of the evidence. 
 
 I will firstly refer to certain details 'given by Dulaure 3 
 in his chapter on the worship of Yenus, of which he 
 regards these customs merely as one illustration, although 
 they have, I cannot but think, a signification deeper than, 
 and different from, that which he attributes to them. 
 
 We must remember that the better known savage races 
 
 1 See Klemm, Allg. Culturg. d. 2 Loc . cit. p. 53. 
 
 Menschen, vol. iv. p. 146. 3 Hist. Abregee des diff. Cultes. 
 
IN BABYLONIA, ARMENIA, ^ETHIOPIA, GREECE. 87 
 
 nave, in most cases, now arrived at the stage in which 
 paternal rights are recognised, and hence that fathers 
 can and do sell their daughters into matrimony. The 
 price of a wife is of course regulated by the circumstances 
 of the tribe, and every, or nearly every, industrious young 
 man is enabled to buy one for himself. As long, however, 
 as communal marriage rights were in force this would be 
 almost impossible. That- special marriage was an in- 
 fringement of these communal rights, for which some 
 compensation was due, seems to me the true explanation 
 of the offerings which virgins were so generally compelled 
 to make before being permitted to marry. 
 
 In many cases the exclusive possession of a wife could 
 only be legally acquired by a temporary recognition of 
 the preexisting communal rights. Thus, in Babylonia, 
 according to Herodotus , 1 every woman was compelled to 
 offer herself once in the temple of Yenus, and only after 
 doing so was she considered free to marry. The same 
 was, according to Strabo, the law in Armenia . 2 In 
 some parts of Cyprus also, among the Nasamones , 3 and 
 other ^Ethiopian tribes, he tells us there was a very 
 similar custom, and Dulaure asserts that it existed also 
 at Carthage, and in several parts of Greece. The account 
 which Herodotus gives of the Lydians, though not so 
 clear, seems to indicate a similar law. 
 
 The customs of the Thracians, as described by Hero- 
 dotus , 4 point to a similar feeling. Among races somewhat 
 more advanced, the symbol supersedes the reality of this 
 detestable custom, and St. Augustine found it necessary 
 to protest against that which prevailed, even at his time, 
 in Italy . 5 
 
 Diodorus Siculus mentions that in the Balearic Islands, 
 
 1 Clio, 199. 4 Terpsichore, y. 6. 
 
 2 Strabo, lib. 2. 3 Dulaure, loc. cit. yol. i. p. 160, 
 
 # Melpomene, 172. 
 
88 HINDOSTAN, NORTH AMERICA, GREENLAND. 
 
 Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica, the bride was for one niglit 
 considered as the common property of all the guests 
 present; after which she belonged exclusively to her 
 husband. 
 
 In India, according to Grosse , 1 and particularly in the 
 valleys of the Ganges, virgins were compelled before 
 marriage to present themselves in the temples dedicated 
 to Juggernaut, and the same is said to have been custom- 
 ary in Pondicherry and at Goa . 2 
 
 Among the Sonthals, one of the aboriginal Indian 
 tribes, the marriages take place once a year, mostly in 
 January. 6 For six days all the candidates for matrimony 
 live together in promiscuous concubinage ; 5 after which 
 only are the separate couples regarded as having estab- 
 lished their right to marry . 3 
 
 Carver mentions 4 that while among the Naudowessies, 
 he observed that they paid uncommon respect to one of 
 their women, and found that she was entitled to it on 
 account of a transaction that, in Europe, would have ren- 
 dered her infamous . 5 She invited forty of the principal 
 warriors to her tent, provided them with a feast, and 
 treated them in every respect as husbands. On enquiry 
 he was informed that this was an old custom, but had 
 fallen into abeyance, and ‘ scarcely once in an age any of 
 the females are hardy enough to make this feast, notwith- 
 standing a husband of the first rank awaits as a sure 
 reward the successful giver of it . 5 
 
 Speaking of the Greenland Esquimaux, Egede expressly 
 states that ‘ those are reputed the best and noblest tem- 
 pered who, without any pain or reluctancy, will lend their 
 friends their wives . 5 5 
 
 1 Histoire Abregee des Cultes, vol. i. Watson and J. W. Kaye, vol. i. p. 2. 
 
 p. 431. 4 Travels in North America, p. 245. 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 108. 5 History of Greenland, p. 142. 
 
 8 The People of India, by J. F. 
 
CUSTOM OF SUPPLYING GUESTS WITH TEMPORARY WIVES. 89 
 
 The same feeling, probably, gave rise to the curious 
 custom existing, according to Strabo , 1 among. the (Par- 
 thian) Tapyrians, that when a man had had two or three 
 children by one wife, he was obliged to leave her, so that 
 she might marry some one else. There is some reason to 
 suppose that a similar custom once prevailed among the 
 Homans ; thus Cato, who was proverbially austere in his 
 morals, did not think it right permanently to retain his 
 wife Martia, whom his friend Hortensius wished to marry. 
 This he accordingly permitted, and Martia lived with 
 Hortensius until his death, when she returned to her first 
 husband. The high character of Cato is sufficient proof 
 that he would not have permitted this, if he had regarded 
 it as wrong ; and Plutarch expressly states that the 
 custom of lending wives existed among the Eomans. 
 Akin to this feeling is that which induces so many savage 
 tribes 2 to provide their guests with temporary wives. 
 To omit this would be regarded as quite inhospitable. 
 The practice, moreover, seems to recognise the existence 
 of a right inherent in every member of the community, 
 and to visitors as temporary members ; which, in the case 
 of the latter, could not be abrogated by arrangements 
 made before their arrival, and, consequently, without their 
 concurrence. The prevalence of this custom brings home 
 to us forcibly the difference existing between the savage 
 and the civilised modes of regarding the relation of the 
 sexes to one another. 
 
 Perhaps the most striking case of all is that afforded by 
 some of the Brazilian tribes. The .captives taken by them 
 in war used to be kept for some time and fatted up ; after 
 which they were killed and eaten. Yet even here, during 
 
 1 Strabo, ii. 515, 520. sians, Eastern and Western Negroes, 
 
 2 For instance, the Esquimaux, North Arabs, Abyssinians, Caffirs, Mongols, 
 and South American Indians, Polyne- Tutski, &c. 
 
90 
 
 RESPECT FOR COURTESANS. 
 
 the time that they had to live, the poor wretches were 
 always provided with a temporary wife . 1 
 
 This view also throws some light on the remarkable 
 subordination of the wife to the husband, which is so 
 characteristic of marriage, and so curiously inconsistent 
 with all our avowed ideas ; nay, it also tends to explain 
 those curious cases in which Hetairse were held in greater 
 estimation than those women who were, as we should con- 
 sider properly and respectably, married to a single hus- 
 band . 1 The former were originally fellow-countrywomen 
 and relations ; the latter captives and slaves. And even 
 when this ceased to be the case, the idea would long 
 survive the circumstances which gave rise to it. 
 
 We know that in Athens courtesans were highly re- 
 spected. 6 The daily conversations they listened to/ says 
 Lord Karnes , 3 € on philosophy, politics, poetry, enlightened 
 their understanding and improved their taste. Their 
 houses became agreeable schools, where everyone might 
 be instructed in his ow r n art. Socrates and Pericles met 
 frequently at the house of Aspasia, for from her they ac- 
 quired delicacy of taste, and, in return, procured to her 
 public respect and reputation. Greece at that time was 
 governed by orators, over whom some celebrated courte- 
 sans had great influence, and by that means entered deep 
 into the government/ 
 
 So also it was an essential of the model Platonic Eepub- 
 lic that, c among the guardians, at least, the sexual arrange- 
 ments should be under public regulation, and the monopoly 
 of one woman by one man forbidden / 4 
 
 In the famous Indian city of Yesali c marriage was for- 
 bidden, and high rank attached to the lady who held office 
 
 1 Lafitau, Mceurs des Sauv. Amer. Africa, vol. i. p. 198. 
 
 rol. li. p. 294. 3 History of Man, vol. ii. p. 5C. 
 
 2 Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht, p. 4 Bain’s Mental and Moral Science 
 xix. p. 125. Burton’s Lake Regions of 
 
RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF COURTESANS. 
 
 91 
 
 as Chief of the Courtesans.’ When the Holy Buddha (Sak- 
 yamuni), in his old age, visited Yesali, c he was lodged 
 in a garden belonging to the chief of the courtesans, and 
 received a visit from this grand lady, who drove out to 
 see him, attended by her suite in stately carriages. 
 Having approached and bowed down, she took her seat 
 on one side of him and listened to a discourse on Dharma, 
 .... On entering the town she met the rulers of Yesali, 
 gorgeously apparelled ; but their equipages made way for 
 her. They asked her to resign to them the honour of 
 entertaining Sakyamuni ; but she refused, and the great 
 man himself, when solicited by the rulers in person, also 
 refused to break his engagement with the lady .’ 1 
 
 Until recently the courtesans were the only educated 
 women in India . 2 Even now many of the great Hindoo 
 temples have bands of courtesans attached to them, who 
 c follow their trade without public shame. It is a strange 
 anomaly that, while a courtesan, born of, or adopted 
 into, a courtesan family, is not held to pursue a shame- 
 less vocation, other women who have fallen from good 
 repute are esteemed disgraceful .’ 3 There is in reality, 
 however, nothing anomalous in this. The former con- 
 tinue the old custom of the country, under solemn reli- 
 gious sanction ; the latter, on the contrary, have given 
 way to lawless inclinations, have outraged public feel- 
 ings, have probably broken their marriage vows, and 
 brought disgrace on their families. In Ancient Egypt, 
 again, it would appear that illegitimate children were 
 under certain circumstances preferred over those born in 
 wedlock . 4 
 
 When the special wife was a stranger and a slave, while 
 
 1 Mrs. Spier’s Life in Ancient India, 3 The People of India, by J. P. 
 
 p. 281. Watson and JW. Kaye, vol. iii. p. 165. 
 
 2 Dubois’ People of India, pp. 217, 4 Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht, p* 
 
 402. 125. 
 
92 
 
 EXOGAMY. 
 
 the communal wife was a relative and a freewoman, such 
 feelings would naturally arise, and would, in some cases, 
 long survive the social condition to which they owed their 
 origin. 
 
 I now pass to the curious custom, for which McLennan 
 has proposed the convenient term ‘ exogamy 5 — that, 
 namely, of necessarily marrying out of the tribe. Tylor, 
 who called particular attention to this custom in his 
 interesting work on ‘ The Early History of Man, 5 which 
 was published in the very same year as M‘Lennan’s 
 6 Primitive Marriage, 5 thought that ‘ the evils of marrying 
 near relatives might be the main ground of this series of 
 restrictions. 5 Morgan also considers exogamy as 4 ex- 
 plainable, and only explainable, as a reformatory move- 
 ment to break up the intermarriage of blood relations/ 
 and which could only be effected by exogamy, because all 
 in the tribe were regarded as related. In fact, however, 
 exogamy afforded little protection against the marriage of 
 relatives, and, wherever it was systematised, it permitted 
 marriage even between half brothers and sisters, either 
 on the father’s or mother’s side. Where an objection to 
 the intermarriage of relatives existed, exogamy was un- 
 necessary; where it did not exist, exogamy could not 
 arise. 
 
 McLennan says, ‘ I believe this restriction on marriage 
 to be connected with the practice in early times of female 
 infanticide, which, rendering women scarce, led at once to 
 polyandry within the tribe, and the capturing of women 
 from without. 5 1 He has not alluded to the natural pre- 
 ponderance of men over women. Thus, throughout Europe, 
 the proportion of boys to girls is as 106 to 100. 2 Here, 
 therefore, even without infanticide, we see that there is 
 
 1 Loc . cit. p. 138. 
 
 2 Wait’s Anthropology, p. 111. 
 
ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY. 
 
 93 
 
 no exact balance between tbe sexes. In many savage 
 races, in various parts of tbe world, it has been observed 
 the men are much more numerous, but it is difficult to 
 ascertain how far this is due to an original difference, and 
 how far to other causes. 
 
 It is conceivable that the difference between endogamous 
 and exogamous tribes may be due to the different propor- 
 tion of the sexes : those races tending to become exogamous 
 where boys prevail ; those, on the other hand, endogamous 
 where the reverse is the case . 1 I am not, however, aware 
 that we have any statistics which enable us to determine 
 this point, nor do I believe that it is the true explanation 
 of the custom. 
 
 Infanticide is, no doubt, very prevalent among savages. 
 As long, indeed, as men were few in number, enemies 
 were scarce and game was tame. Under these circum- 
 stances, there was no temptation to infanticide. There 
 were some things which women could do better than 
 men, some occupations which pride and laziness, or 
 both, induced them to leave to the women. As soon, 
 however, as in any country population became even 
 slightly more dense, neighbours became a nuisance. They 
 invaded the hunting grounds, and disturbed the game. 
 Hence, if for no other reason, wars would arise. Once 
 begun, they would continually break out again and again, 
 under one pretence or another. Men for slaves, women 
 for wives, and the thirst for glory, made a weak tribe 
 always a temptation to a strong one. Under these cir- 
 cumstances, female children became a source of weakness 
 in several ways. They ate, and did not hunt. They 
 weakened their mothers when young, and, when grown- 
 up, were a temptation to surrounding tribes. Hence female 
 infanticide is very prevalent, and easily accounted for, 
 
 1 See Das Mutterrecht, p. 109. 
 
94 GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OP INDIVIDUAL MARRIAGE. 
 
 Yet I cannot regard it as the true cause of exogamy. 
 On the" other hand, we must remember that under the 
 communal system the women of the tribe were all com- 
 mon property. No one could appropriate one of them to 
 himself, without infringing on the general rights of the 
 tribe. Women taken in war were, on the contrary, in a 
 different position. The tribe, as a tribe, had no right to 
 them, and men surely would reserve to themselves ex- 
 clusively their own prizes. These captives then would 
 naturally become the wives in our sense of the term. 
 
 Several causes would tend to increase the importance of 
 the separate, and decrease that of communal marriage. 
 The impulse which it would give to, and receive back 
 from, the development of the affections ; the convenience 
 with reference to domestic arrangements, the natural 
 wishes of the wife herself, and last, not least, the inferior 
 energy of the children sprung from ‘ in and in 9 marriages, 
 would all tend to increase the importance of individual 
 marriage. 
 
 Even were there no other cause, the advantage of cross- 
 ing, so well known to breeders of stock, would soon give a 
 marked preponderance to those races by whom exogamy 
 was largely practised, and hence we need not be surprised 
 to find exogamy very prevalent among the lower races 
 of man. 
 
 When this state of things had gone on for some time, 
 usage, as McLennan well observes, would ‘ establish a 
 prejudice among the tribes observing it — a prejudice 
 strong as a principle of religion, as every prejudice 
 relating to marriage is apt to be — against marrying 
 women of their own stock/ 1 
 
 We should not, perhaps, have a priori expected to 
 find among savages any such remarkable restriction, yet 
 
 1 Loc. cit . p. 140. 
 
RESTRICTIONS ON MARRIAGE AMONG SAVAGES. 95 
 
 it is very widely distributed ; and from this point of view 
 we can, I think, clearly see how it arose. 
 
 In Australia, where the same family names are common 
 almost over the whole continent, no man may marry a 
 woman whose family name is the same as his own, and 
 who belongs therefore to the same tribe . 1 2 ‘No man , 5 
 says Mr. Lang, ‘ can marry a woman of the same clan, 
 though the parties be no way related according to our 
 ideas . 5 2 
 
 In Eastern Africa, Burton 3 says that ‘ some clans of the 
 Somal will not marry one of the same, or even of a 
 consanguineous family ; 5 and the Bakalari have the same 
 rule . 4 
 
 Du Chaillu , 5 speaking of Western Equatorial Africa, 
 says, ‘the law of marriages among the tribes I have 
 visited is peculiar ; each tribe is divided into clans ; the 
 children in most of the tribes belong to the clan of 
 the mother, and these cannot by any possible laws marry 
 among themselves, however removed in degree they may 
 have been connected : it is considered an abomination 
 among them. But there exists no objection to possessing 
 a father’s or brother’s wife. I could not but be struck 
 with the healthful influence of such regulations against 
 blood marriages among them . 5 
 
 In India the Warali tribes are divided into sections, 
 and no man may marry a woman belonging to his own 
 section. In the Magar tribes these sections are called 
 Thums, and the same rule prevails. Col. Dalton tells us 
 that ‘ the Hos, Moondahs, and Oraons are divided into 
 clans or keelis, and may not take to wife a girl of the 
 
 1 Eyre’s Discoveries in Australia, 4 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N, S. vol. i. p. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 329 . Grey’s Journal, p. 242 . 321 . 
 
 2 The Aborigines of Australia, p. 10. 5 Ibid . p. 307. 
 
 3 Eirst Footsteps, p. 120. 
 
96 
 
 EXOGAMY IN HINDOSTAN. 
 
 same keeli . 5 Again the Garrows are divided into *Ma- 
 liaris , 5 and a man may not marry a girl of his own 
 c Mahari . 5 
 
 The Munnieporees and other tribes inhabiting the 
 hills round Mnnniepore — the Koupooees, Mows, Murams, 
 and Murrings — as McLennan points out on the authority 
 of McCulloch, ‘ are each and all divided into four families : 
 Koomrul, Looang, Angom, and Ningthaja. A member 
 of any of these families may marry a member of any 
 other, but the intermarriage of members of the same 
 family is strictly prohibited . 5 The Todas, says Metz , 1 2 
 c are divided into five distinct classes, known by the 
 names Peiky, Pekkan, Kuttan, Kennae, and Tody; of 
 which the first is regarded as the most aristocratic. 
 These classes do not even intermarry with each other, 
 and can therefore never lose their distinctive characteris- 
 tics . 5 
 
 The Khonds, says General Campbell, regard it as de- 
 grading to bestow their daughters in marriage on men 
 of their own tribe ; and consider it more manly to seek 
 their wives in a distant country . 53 Major McPherson 
 also tells us that they consider marriage between people 
 of the same tribe as wicked, and punishable with death. 
 The Kalmucks, according to De Hell, are divided into 
 hordes, and no man can marry a woman of the same 
 horde. The bride, says Bergman, is always chosen from 
 another stock ; c among the Dubets, for instance, from the 
 Torgot stock, and among the Torgots from the Dubet 
 stock . 5 
 
 The same custom prevails among the Circassians and 
 the Samoyeds . 4 The Ostiaks regard it as a crime to 
 
 1 Account of the Valley of Munnie- 3 M‘Lennan, p. 95. 
 
 pore, 1859, pp. 49-89. 4 Pallas, vol. iy. p. 96. 
 
 2 Tribes of theNeilgherry Hills, p.21. 
 
EXOGAMY IN SIBERIA AND NORTH AMERICA. 97 
 
 marry a woman of the same family or even of the same 
 name . 1 
 
 When a Jakut (Siberia) wishes to marry, he must, 
 says Middendorf , 2 * choose a girl from another clan. No 
 one is permitted to marry a woman from his own clan. 
 In China, says Davis , 3 6 marriage between all persons of 
 the same surname being unlawful, this rule must of course 
 include all descendants of the male branch for ever ; and 
 
 as, in so vast a population, there are not a great many 
 more than one hundred surnames throughout the empire, 
 the embarrassments that arise from so strict a law must 
 be considerable/ 
 
 Amongst the Tinne Indians of North-west America, 
 ‘ a Chit-sangh cannot, by their rules , 4 marry a Chit-sangh, 
 although the rule is set at naught occasionally ; but when 
 it does take place the persons are ridiculed and laughed 
 
 at. The man is said to have married his sister, even 
 though she may be from another tribe, and there be not 
 the slightest connection by blood between them. The 
 same way with the other two divisions. The children are 
 of the same colour as their mother. They receive caste 
 from their mother ; if a male Chit-sangh marry a Nah- 
 tsingh woman, the children are Nah-tsingh, and if a male 
 Nah-tsingh marry a Chit-sangh woman, the children are 
 Chit-sangh, so that the divisions are always changing. As 
 the fathers die out the country inhabited by the Chit-sangh 
 becomes occupied by the Nah-tsingh, and so vice versa . 
 They are continually changing countries, as it were/ 
 
 Among the Kenaiyers (N. W. America), 4 it was the 
 custom that the men of one stock should choose their 
 wives from another, and the offspring belonged to the 
 
 1 Pallas, yoI. iv. p. 69. 4 Notes on the Tinneh. Hardisty, 
 
 2 Sibirische Reise, p. 72. Smithsonian Report, 1866, p. 315. 
 
 * The Chinese, vol. i. p. 282. 
 
98 
 
 EXOGAMY IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 race of tlie mother. This custom has fallen into disuse, 
 and marriages in the same tribe occur ; but the old people 
 say that mortality among the Kenaiyer has arisen from 
 the neglect of the ancient usage. A man’s nearest heirs 
 in this tribe are his sister’s children .’ 1 The Tsimsheean 
 Indians of British Columbia 2 are similarly divided into 
 tribes, and totems or c crests, which are common to all the 
 tribes. The crests are the whale, the porpoise, the eagle, 
 the coon, the wolf, and the frog. In connection with 
 these crests, several very important points of Indian 
 character and law are seen. The relationship existing 
 between persons of the same crest is nearer than that 
 between members of the same tribe, which is seen in this 
 that members of the same tribe may marry, but those of 
 the same crest are not allowed to do so under any circum- 
 stances ; that is, a whale may not marry a whale, but a 
 whale may marry a frog, &c.’ 
 
 Indeed, as regards the Northern Redskins generally, it 
 is stated 3 in the Archseologia Americana that c every 
 nation was divided into a number of clans, varying in the 
 several nations from three to eight or ten, the members of 
 which respectively were dispersed indiscriminately through- 
 out the whole nation. It has been fully ascertained that 
 the inviolable regulations by which these clans were per- 
 petuated amongst the southern nations were, first, that no 
 man could marry in his own clan ; secondly, that every 
 child should belong to his or her mother’s clan.’ 
 
 The Indians of Guiana 4 e are divided into families, each 
 of which has a distinct name, as the Siwidi , Karuafudi , 
 Onisidi , &c. Unlike our families, these all descend in the 
 female line, and no individual of either sex is allowed to 
 
 1 Richardson’s Boat Journey, vol. i. 3 M‘Lennan, p. 121. Lafitau, vol. i. 
 p. 406. See also Smithsonian Report, p. 558. Tanner’s Narrative, p. 313. 
 1866, p. 326. 4 Brett’s Indian Tribes of Guiana, 
 
 2 Metlahkatlah, published by the p. 98. 
 
 Church Missionary Soc. 1869, p. 6. 
 
THE CAUSES OF POLYGAMY. 
 
 99 
 
 marry another of the same family name. Thus, a woman 
 of the Siwidi family bears the same name as her mother, 
 but neither her father nor her husband can be of that 
 family. Her children and the children of her daughters 
 will also be called Siwidi, but both her sons and daughters 
 are prohibited from an alliance with any individual bear- 
 ing the same name; though they may marry into the 
 family of their father, if they choose. These customs are 
 strictly observed, and any breach of them would be con- 
 sidered as wicked . 5 
 
 Lastly, the Brazilian races, according to Martius, differ 
 greatly in their marriage regulations. In some of the very 
 scattered tribes, who live in small families far remote from 
 one another, the nearest relatives often intermarry. In more 
 populous districts, on the contrary, the tribes are divided 
 into families, and a strict system of exogamy prevails . 1 
 
 Thus, then, we see that this remarkable custom of 
 exogamy prevails throughout Western and Eastern Africa, 
 in Circassia, Hindostan, Tartary, Siberia, China, and 
 Australia, as well as in North and South America. 
 
 The relations existing between husband and wife in the 
 lower races of Man, as indicated in the preceding pages, 
 are sufficient to remove all surprise at the prevalence of 
 polygamy. There are, however, other causes, not less 
 powerful, though perhaps less prominent, to which much 
 influence must be ascribed. Thus in all tropical regions 
 girls become marriageable very young ; their beauty is 
 acquired early, and soon fades, while men, on the con- 
 trary, retain their full powers much longer. Hence 
 when love depends, not on similarity of tastes pursuits or 
 opinions, but entirely on external attractions, we cannot 
 wonder that every man who is able to do so, provides 
 himself with a succession of favourites, even when the first 
 
 1 Loc. cit . p. 63. 
 
100 
 
 POLYANDRY. 
 
 wife remains not only nominally tlie head, but really his 
 confidant and adviser. Another cause has no doubt exer- 
 cised great influence. Milk is necessary for children, and 
 in the absence of domestic animals it consequently follows 
 that they are not weaned until they are several years old. 
 The effect of this on the social relations has been already 
 referred to (ante, p. 55). 
 
 Polyandry, on the contrary, is far less common, though 
 more frequent than is generally supposed. McLennan and 
 Morgan, indeed, both regard it as a phase through which 
 human progress has necessarily passed. If, however, we 
 define it as the condition in which one woman is mar- 
 ried to several men, but (as distinguished from communal 
 marriage) to them exclusively, then I am rather disposed 
 to regard it as an exceptional phenomenon, arising from 
 the paucity of females. 
 
 McLennan, indeed, 1 gives a long list of tribes which 
 he regards as polyandrous, namely, those of Thibet, Cash- 
 meer, and the Himalayan regions, the Todas, Coorgs, 
 Nairs, and various other races in India, in Ceylon, in New 
 Zealand 2 and one or two other Pacific islands, in the 
 Aleutian Archipelago, among the Koryaks, the Saporogian 
 Cossacks, on the Orinoco, in parts of Africa, and in Lan- 
 cerota. To these he adds the ancient Britons, some of the 
 Median cantons, the Piets, and the Getes, while traces of 
 it occurred among the ancient Germans. To these I may 
 add that of some families among the Iroquois. On the 
 other hand, several of the above cases are, I think, merely 
 instances of communal marriage. Indeed, it is evident 
 that where our information is incomplete, it must often be 
 far from easy to distinguish between communal marriage 
 and true polyandry. 
 
 If we examine the above instances, some of them will, 
 * Loc , cit. p, 180. 2 Lafltau, loc. cit. voL i. p. 555. 
 
POLYANDRY EXCEPTIONAL. 
 
 101 
 
 I think, prove untenable. The passage referred to in 
 Tacitus 1 does not appear to me to justify us in regarding 
 the Germans as having been polyandrous. 
 
 Erman is correctly referred to by McLennan, as men- 
 tioning the existence of 6 lawful polyandry in the Aleutian 
 Islands/ He does not, however, give his authority for the 
 statement. The account he gives of the Koryaks by no 
 means, I think, proves that polyandry occurs among them. 
 The case of the Kalmucks, to judge from the account 
 given by Clarke , 2 is certainly one in which brothers, but 
 brothers only, have a wife in common. 
 
 For Polynesia, McLennan relies on the Legend of 
 Bupe, as told by Sir G. Grey . 3 Here, however, it is merely 
 stated that two brothers named Ihuatamai and Ihuware- 
 ware, having found Hinauri, when she was thrown by the 
 surf on the coast at Wairarawa, ‘ looked upon her with 
 pleasure, and took her as a wife between them both . 5 This 
 seems to me rather a case of communal marriage than of 
 polyandry, especially when the rest of the legend is borne 
 in mind. Neither does the evidence as regards Africa seem 
 to me at all satisfactory. Eeade, in the passage referred to 
 by Mr. M‘Lennan, merely says that ‘ the sisters of the king 
 may negotiate with whom and with as many as they please 
 for the contribution of royal heirs ; provided always that 
 the man is strong, good-looking, and of a decent position 
 in life : conditions which these ladies cannot, I am sure, 
 find very harsh . 54 This implies lax morality, but is not 
 even an indication of regular polyandry. 
 
 Polyandry is no doubt very widely distributed over 
 India, Thibet, and Ceylon. In the latter island the joint 
 husbands are always brothers . 5 But, on the whole, law- 
 ful polyandry (as opposed to mere laxness of morality) 
 
 1 Germ. xx. 4 Reade’s Savage Africa, p. 43. 
 
 2 Travels, vol. i. p. 241. 5 Davy’s Ceylon, p. 286. 
 
 3 Polynesian Mythology, p. 81. 
 
102 
 
 ENDOGAMY. 
 
 seems to be an exceptional system, generally intended to 
 avoid tbe evils arising from monogamy where the number 
 of women is less than that of men. 
 
 Passing on now to the custom of endogamy, McLennan 
 remarks that c the separate endogamous tribes are nearly 
 as numerous, and they are in some respects as rude, as 
 the separate exogamous tribes. 5 1 
 
 So far as my knowledge goes, on the contrary, endogamy 
 is much less prevalent than exogamy, and it seems to me 
 to have arisen from a feeling of race-pride, and a disdain 
 of surrounding tribes which were either really or hypo- 
 thetically in a lower condition. 
 
 Thus pjnong the Ahts of 1ST. W. America, as mentioned 
 by Sproat, ‘ though the different tribes of the Aht nation 
 are frequently at war with one another, women are not 
 captured from other tribes for marriage, but only to be kept 
 as slaves. The idea of slavery connected with capture is 
 so common, that a free-born Aht would hesitate to marry 
 a woman taken in war, whatever her rank had been in her 
 own tribe. 5 2 
 
 Some of the Indian races, as the Kocchs and the Hos, are 
 forbidden to marry excepting within the tribe. The latter 
 at leasts however, are not truly endogamous, for, as already 
 mentioned, they are divided into ‘ keelis, 5 or clans, and 
 ‘ may not take to wife a girl of their own keeli. 5 3 Thus 
 they are in fact exogamous, and it is possible that some 
 of the other cases of endogamy might, if we were better 
 acquainted with them, present the same duplex pheno- 
 menon. 
 
 Among the Yerkalas 4 of Southern India c a custom pre- 
 vails by which the first two daughters of a family may be 
 
 1 Loc. cit . p. 145. 8 Ante, p. 95. 
 
 2 Sproat, Scenes and Studies of 4 Shortt. Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S. 
 
 Savage Life, p. 98. vol. vii. p. 187. 
 
ENDOGAMY. 
 
 103 
 
 claimed by tbe maternal uncle as wives for bis sons. Tbe 
 value of a wife is fixed at twenty pagodas. The maternal 
 uncle’s right to the first two daughters is valued at 
 eight out of twenty pagodas, and is carried out thus : — if 
 he urges his preferential claim, and marries his own sons 
 to his nieces, he pays for each only twelve pagodas ; and, 
 similarly, if he, from not having sons, or any other cause, 
 forego his claim, he receives eight pagodas of the twenty 
 paid to the girls’ parents by anybody else who may marry 
 them.’ 
 
 The Doingnaks, a branch of the Chukmas, appear also 
 to have been endogamous, and Captain Lewin mentions 
 that they 6 abandoned the parent stem during the chief- 
 ship of Jaunbux Khan about 1782. The reason of this 
 split was a disagreement on the subject of marriages. The 
 chief passed an order that the Doingnak should intermarry 
 with the tribe in general. This was contrary to ancient 
 custom, and caused discontent and eventually a break 
 in the tribe.’ 1 This is one of the very few cases where 
 we have evidence of a change in this respect. The 
 Kalangs of Java, who have some claim to be regarded as 
 the aborigines of the island, are also endogamous, and 
 when a man asks a girl in marriage he must prove his 
 descent from their peculiar stock. 2 
 
 The Mantchu Tartars forbid marriages between those 
 whose family names are different. 3 In Guam brothers 
 and sisters used to intermarry, and it is even stated that 
 such unions we.re preferred as being most natural and 
 proper. 4 Endogamy would seem to have prevailed in the 
 Sandwich Islands, 5 and in New Zealand, where, as Yate 
 mentions, c great opposition is made to anyone taking, 
 
 1 Lewin’s Hill Tracts of Chittagong, 3 M‘Lennan, loc. cit. p. 146. 
 
 p. 65. Arago’s Letters. Freycinet’s Voy* 
 
 2 Raffles’ History of Java, vol. i. age, vol. ii. p. 17. 
 
 p. 328. 5 Ibid. p. 94. 
 
104 
 
 THE MILK-TIE. 
 
 except for some political purpose, a wife from another 
 tribe ; so tliat such intermarriages seldom occur. 5 1 
 
 The idea of relationship as existing amongst us, founded 
 on marriage, and implying equal connection of a child to 
 its father and mother, seems so natural and obvious that 
 there are, perhaps, many to whom the possibility of any 
 other has not occurred. The facts already recorded will, 
 however, have prepared us for the existence of peculiar 
 ideas as to relationship. The strength of the foster- 
 feeling — the milk-tie — among the Scotch Highlanders, is 
 a familiar instance of a mode of regarding relationship 
 very different from that prevalent amongst us. 
 
 We have also seen that, under the custom of communal 
 marriage, a child was regarded as related to the tribe, 
 but not specially to any particular father or mother. 
 It is evident that under communal marriage — and little 
 less so wherever men had many wives — the tie between 
 father and son must have been very slight. Obviously, 
 however, there are causes in operation which always tend 
 to strengthen the connection between the parent and off- 
 spring, and especially between the mother and her child. 
 Among agricultural tribes, and under settled forms of 
 government, the chiefs often have very large harems, and 
 their importance even is measured by the number of their 
 wives, as in other cases by that of their cows or horses. 
 
 This state of things is in many ways very prejudicial. 
 It checks, of course, the natural affection and friendly 
 intercourse between man and wife. The King of Ashantee, 
 for instance, always has 3,333 wives; but no man can love 
 so many women, nor can so many women cherish any per- 
 sonal affection for one man. 
 
 Even among hunting races, though men were unable to 
 maintain so many wives, still, as changes are of frequent 
 occurrence, the tie between a mother and child is much 
 
 1 New Zealand, p. 99. 
 
INHERITANCE THROUGH females. 
 
 105 
 
 stronger than that which binds a child to its father. 
 Hence we find that among many of the lower races re- 
 lationship through females is the prevalent custom, and 
 we are thus able to understand the curious practice that 
 a man’s heirs are not his own, but his sister’s children. 
 
 Montesquieu 1 regarded relationship through females as 
 intended to prevent the accumulation of landed property 
 in few hands — an explanation manifestly inapplicable to 
 many, nay the majority, of cases in which the custom exists, 
 and the explanation above suggested is, I have no doubt, 
 the correct one. 
 
 Thus, when a rich man dies in Guinea, his property, 
 excepting the armour, descended to the sister’s son, 
 expressly, according to Smith, on the ground that he 
 must certainly be a relative. 2 Battel mentions that 
 the town of Longo (Loango) ‘ is governed by four chiefs, 
 which are sons of the king’s sisters ; for the king’s 
 sons never come to be kings.’ 3 Quatremere mentions that 
 ‘ Chez les Nubiens, dit Abou Selah, lorsqu’un roi vient a 
 mourir et qu’il laisse un fils et un neveu du cote de sa soeur, 
 celui-ci monte sur le trone de preference a 1’heritier naturel.’ 4 
 
 In Central Africa, Caillie 5 says that ‘ the sovereignty 
 remains always in the same family, but the son never suc- 
 ceeds his father ; they choose in preference a son of the 
 king’s sister, conceiving that by this method the sovereign 
 power is more sure to be transmitted to one of the blood 
 royal ; a precaution which shows how little faith is put 
 m the virtue of the women of this country.’ 
 
 In Northern Africa we find the same custom among the 
 Berbers ; 6 and Burton mentions it as existing in the East. 
 
 1 Esprit des Lois, vol. i. p. 70. 4 Mem. geogr. sur l’Egypte et sur 
 
 2 Smith’s Voyage to Guinea, p. 143. quelques contrees voisines. Paris, 1811. 
 See also Pinkerton’s Voyages, yoI. xy. Quoted in Bachofen’s Mutterrecht, p. 
 p. 417, 421, 528. Astley’s Collection 108. 
 
 of Voyages, vol. ii. p. 63, 256. 5 Caillie’s TraYels, vol. i. p. .153. 
 
 3 Pinkerton’s Voyages, yoI. xvi. p. 6 La Mere, ckez certains peuples de 
 
 331. l’Antiquite, p. 45. 
 
 6 
 
106 
 
 RELATION SHIP THROUGH FEMALES. 
 
 Even Herodotus 1 liad observed a case in point. ‘ The 
 Lycians,’ be says, ‘have one custom peculiar to them- 
 selves, in which they differ from all other nations; for 
 they take their name from their mothers, and not from 
 their fathers ; so that if anyone asks another who he is, 
 he will describe himself by his mother’s side, and reckon 
 up his maternal ancestry in the female line . 5 Polybius 
 makes the same statement as regards the Locrians ; and 
 on Etruscan tombs descent is stated in the female line. 
 In India the Kasias, the Kocch, and the Hairs have the 
 system of female kinship. Buchanan 2 tells us that among 
 the Buntar in Tulava a man’s property does not descend 
 to his own children, but to those of his sister. Sir W. 
 Elliot states that the people of Malabar, ‘ notwithstanding 
 the same diversity of caste as in other provinces, all agree 
 in one remarkable usage — that of transmitting property 
 through females only .’ 3 He adds, on the authority of 
 Lieutenant Conner, that the same is the case in Travan- 
 core, among all the castes except the Ponans and the 
 Hamburi Brahmans. 
 
 As Latham states, ‘ no Hair son knows his own father, 
 and, vice versa , no Hair father knows his own son. What 
 becomes of the property of the husband ? It descends to 
 the children of his sisters .’ 4 
 
 Among the Limboos (India), a tribe near Darjeeling , 5 the 
 boys become the property of the father on his paying the 
 mother a small sum of money, when the child is named, 
 and enters his father’s tribe: girls remain with the 
 mother, and belong to her tribe.’ 
 
 Marsden tells us , 6 that among the Battas of Sumatra, 
 
 1 dio, 173. 5 Campbell, Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S. 
 
 2 Vol. iii. p. 16. vol. vii. p. 155. 
 
 3 Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1869, p. 119. 6 Marsden’s History of Sumatra, 
 
 4 Descriptive Ethnology, vol. ii. p. p. 376. 
 
 463. 
 
CAUSES AND WIDE DISTRIBUTION OF THE CUSTOM. 107 
 
 ‘ the succession to the chiefships does not go, in the first 
 instance, to the son of the deceased, but to the nephew 
 by a sister ; and that the same extraordinary rule, with 
 respect to the property in general, prevails also amongst 
 the Malays of that part of the island, and even in the 
 neighbourhood of Padang. The authorities for this are 
 various and unconnected with each other, but not suffi- 
 ciently circumstantial to induce me to admit it as a gener- 
 ally established practice/ 
 
 Among the Kenaiyers of Cook’s Inlet, Sir John Rich- 
 ardson tells us that a man’s property descends not to 
 his own children, but to those of his sister . 1 The same 
 is the case with the Kutchin . 2 
 
 Carver 3 mentions that among the Hudson’s Bay Indians 
 the children ‘ are always distinguished by the name of the 
 mother; and if a woman marries several husbands, and 
 has issue by each of them, they are all called after her. 
 The reason they give for this is, that as their offspring 
 are indebted to the father for their souls, the invisible 
 part of their essence, and to the mother for their corporeal 
 and apparent part, it is more rational that they should be 
 distinguished by the name of the latter, from whom they 
 indubitably derive their being, than by that of the father, 
 to which a doubt might sometimes arise whether they are 
 justly entitled.’ A similar rule prevailed in Haiti and 
 Mexico . 4 
 
 As regards Polynesia, Mariner states that in the Friendly 
 or Tonga Islands ‘ nobility descends by the female line, 
 for when the mother is not a noble, the children are not 
 nobles .’ 5 It would seem, however, from another passage, 
 that these islanders were passing the stage of relation- 
 
 1 Boat Journey, vol. i. p. 406. 4 Miiller, Americanischen Urreligio- 
 
 2 Smithsonian Report, 1866, p. 326. nen, p. 167, 539. 
 
 3 Carver, p. 378. See also p. 259. 5 Tonga Islands, vol. ii. pp. 89, 91. 
 
108 
 
 NEGLECT OF THE PATERNAL RELATION. 
 
 ship through females to that through males. The exist- 
 ence of inheritance through females is clearly indicated in 
 the Fijian custom known as Yasu. 
 
 So also in Western Australia, ‘children, of either sex, 
 always take the family name of their mother/ 1 
 
 Tacitus , 2 speaking of the Germans, says c children are 
 regarded with equal affection by their maternal uncles 
 as by their fathers ; some even consider this as the more 
 sacred bond of consanguinity, and prefer it in the re- 
 quisition of hostages/ He adds, ‘ a person’s own children, 
 however, are his heirs and successors ; no wills are made/ 
 From this it would appear as if female inheritance had 
 been recently and not universally abandoned. 
 
 Among the ancient Jews, Abraham married his half- 
 sister, Nahor married his brother’s daughter, and Amram 
 his father’s sister ; this was permitted because they were 
 not regarded as relations. Tamar also evidently might 
 have married Amnon, though they were both children 
 of David : ‘ Speak unto the king,’ she said, c for he will 
 not withhold me from thee ; ’ for, as their mothers were 
 not the same, they were no relations in the eye of the law. 
 
 Solon also permitted marriage with sisters on the 
 father’s side, but not on the mother’s. 
 
 Here, therefore, we have abundant evidence of the 
 second stage, in which the child is related to the mother, 
 and not to the father; whence a man’s heir is his sister’s 
 child, who is his nephew, — not his own child, who is in 
 some cases regarded as no relation to him at all* 
 
 When, however, marriage became more respected, and 
 the family affections stronger, it is easy to see that the 
 rule under which a man’s property went to his sister’s 
 children, would become unpopular, both with the father, 
 
 Eyre, loc. cit. p. 330. 
 
 2 De Mor. Germ. xx. 
 
RELATIONSHIP IN THE MALE LINE. 109 
 
 who would naturally wish his children to inherit his 
 property, and equally so with the children themselves. 
 
 M. Girard Teulon, indeed, to whom we are indebted for 
 a very interesting memoir on this subject, 1 regards the first 
 recognition of his parental relationship as an act of noble 
 self-devotion on the part of some great genius in ancient 
 times. 
 
 4 Le premier, 5 he says, ‘ qui consentit a se reconnaitre 
 pere fut un homme de genie et de coeur, un des grands 
 bienfaiteurs de l’humanite. Prouve en effet que l’enfant 
 t’appartient. Es-tu sur qu’il est un autre toi-meme, ton 
 fruit ? que tu 1’as enfante ? ou bien, a 1’aide d’une gene- 
 reuse et volontaire credulite, marches-tu, noble inven- 
 teur, & la conquete d 5 un but superieur ? 5 2 
 
 Bachofen also, while characterising the change from 
 male to female relationship as the 6 wichtigsten Wende- 
 punkt in der Geschichte des Geschlechts-verhaltnisses, 5 
 explains it, as I cannot but think, in an altogether erro- 
 neous manner. He regards it as a liberation of the spirit 
 from the deceptive appearances of nature, an elevation of 
 human existence above the laws of mere matter, as a 
 recognition that the creative power is the most impor- 
 tant, and, in short, as a subordination of the material to 
 the spiritual part of our nature. By this step, he says, 
 6 Man durchbricht die Banden des Tellurismus und 
 erhebt seinen Blick zu den hohern Begionen des Kosmos.’ 3 
 
 This seems to me, I confess, a very curious notion, and 
 one with which I cannot at all agree. The recognition 
 of paternal responsibility grew up, I believe, gradually 
 and from the force of circumstances, aided by the impulses 
 of natural affection. On the other hand, the adoption of 
 relationship through the father’s line, instead of through 
 
 1 La M&re chez certains penples 2 Loc. cit. p. 32. 
 de l'AntiquitA 3 Bachofen, Das Mutterreeht, p. xxviu 
 
110 CHANGE FEOM FEMALE TO MALE SYSTEM OF KINSHIP. 
 
 the mother’s, was probably effected by the natural wish 
 which every one would feel that his property should go to 
 his own children. It is true that we have scarcely any 
 actual records of this change, but as it is easy to see how 
 it might have been brought about, and difficult to suppose 
 that the opposite step can ever have been made ; as more- 
 over we find relationship through the father very general, 
 not to say universal, in civilised races, while the opposite 
 system is very common among savages, it is evident that 
 this change must frequently have been effected. 
 
 Taking all these facts then into consideration, whenever 
 we find relationship through females only, I think we may 
 safely look upon it as the relic of an ancient barbarism. 
 
 As soon as the change was made, the father would take 
 the place held previously by the mother, and he, instead 
 of she, would be regarded as the parent. Hence on the 
 birth of a child, the father would naturally be very careful 
 what he did, and what he ate, for fear the child should be 
 injured. Thus, I believe, arises the curious custom to 
 which I referred in my first chapter. 
 
 Eelationship to the father at first excludes that to the 
 mother, and from having been regarded as no relation to 
 the former, children came to be looked on as none to the 
 latter. 
 
 In South America, where it is customary to treat captives 
 well in every respect, for a certain time, giving them clothes, 
 food, a wife, &c., and then to kill and eat them, any children 
 they may have are killed and eaten also . 1 In North 
 America, as we have seen, the system of relationship through 
 females prevails among the rude races of the North. 
 Further south, as Lafitau long ago pointed out, we find 
 a curious, and so to say intermediate, system among the 
 Iroquois and Hurons, to whom, as Mr. Morgan has shown. 
 
 1 Lafitau, yol. ii. p. 307. 
 
SYSTEM OF KINSHIP THEOUGH MALES. 
 
 Ill 
 
 we may add the Tamils of India. 1 — A man’s brother’s 
 children are reckoned as his children, but his sister’s 
 children are his nephews and nieces, while a woman’s 
 brother’s children are her nephews and nieces, and her 
 sister’s children are her children . 2 
 
 The curious system thus indicated is shown more fully 
 in the following table, extracted from Mr. Morgan’s very 
 interesting memoir : 3 — 
 
 Bed Skin . 
 
 Hanih 
 
 Noyeh 
 
 Haje 
 
 Harakwuk = 
 
 r Father, and also 
 Father’s brother 
 
 L Father’s father’s brother’s son, and so on. 
 
 { Mother, and also 
 Mother’s sister 
 
 Mother’s mother’s sister’s daughter, and 
 so on. 
 
 f Brother (elder), and also 
 s Father’s brother’s son 
 L Mother’s sister’s son, and so on. 
 f Son 
 
 s Brother’s son (male speaking) 
 l Sister’s son (female speaking). 
 
 Takkappan 
 
 Tay 
 
 Tamaiyan 
 
 Makan 
 
 Tamil . 
 
 { Father, and also 
 Father’s brother 
 
 Father’s father’s brother’s son, and so on 
 Mother’s sister’s husband. 
 rMother, and also 
 1 Mother’s sister 
 Father’s brother’ wife 
 1 Mother’s mother’s sister’s daughter, and 
 L so on. 
 
 { Brother elder, and also 
 Father’s brother’s son 
 Mother’s sister’s son, and so on. 
 
 f Son 
 
 < Brother’s son (male speaking) 
 L Sister’s son (female speaking). 
 
 1 Proe. American Academy of Arts 2 Lafitau, vol. i. p. 552. 
 and Sciences, 1866, p. 456. 3 Loc, cit . p. 456. 
 
112 
 
 NEGLECT OF THE MATERNAL RELATION. 
 
 That these names really imply ideas as to 'relationship, 
 and have not arisen from mere poverty of language, is 
 shown by the fact that in other respects their nomencla- 
 ture is even richer than ours. Thus they have different 
 words for an elder brother and a younger brother; an 
 elder sister and a younger sister ; so again the names for 
 a brother’s son, a brother’s daughter, a sister’s son, and a 
 sister’s daughter, depend on whether the person speaking 
 is a man or a woman. Thus they distinguish relation- 
 ships which we correctly regard as equivalent, and con- 
 found others which are really distinct. Moreover, as the 
 languages of distinct and distant races, such as the Iro- 
 quois of America and the Tamil of Southern India, agree 
 in so many points, we cannot dismiss these peculiarities as 
 mere accidents, but must regard them as founded on 
 similar, though peculiar, views on the subject of relation- 
 ship. 
 
 That in the case of the Iroquois this system arose from 
 that of relationship through females, and did not degene- 
 rate from ours, is evident ; because in it, though a man’s 
 sister’s children are his nephews and nieces, his sister’s 
 grandchildren are also his grandchildren ; indicating the 
 existence of a period when his sister’s children were his 
 children, and, consequently, when relationship was traced 
 in the female line. A man’s brother’s children are his 
 children, because his brother’s wives are also his wives. 
 
 How completely the idea of relationship through the 
 father, when once recognised, might replace that through 
 the mother, we may see in the very curious trial of Orestes. 
 Agamemnon, having been murdered by his wife Clytem- 
 nestra, was avenged by their son Orestes, who killed his 
 mother for the murder of his father. For this act he was 
 prosecuted before the tribunal of the gods by the Erinnyes, 
 whose function it was to punish those who shed the blood 
 
THE PKESTCJrr SYSTEM. 
 
 113 
 
 of relatives. In his defence, Orestes asks them why they 
 did not punish Clytemnestra for the murder of Agamem- 
 non ; and when they reply that marriage does not con- 
 stitute blood relationship, — ‘ She was not the kindred of 
 the man whom she slew/ — he pleads that by the same 
 rule they cannot touch him, because a man is a relation to 
 his father, but not to his mother. This view, which seems 
 to us so unnatural, was supported by Apollo and Minerva, 
 and being adopted by the majority of the gods, led to the 
 acquittal of Orestes. 
 
 Hence we see that the views prevalent on relationship — 
 views by which the whole social organisation is so pro- 
 foundly affected — are by no means the same among diffe- 
 rent races, nor uniform at the same historical period. We 
 ourselves still confuse affinity and consanguinity ; but into 
 this part of the question it is not my intention to enter : 
 the evidence brought forward in the preceding pages is, 
 however, I think sufficient to show that children were not 
 in the earliest times regarded as related equally to their 
 father and their mother, but that the natural progress of 
 ideas is, first, that a child is related to his tribe generally; 
 secondly, to his mother, and not to his father ; thirdly, to 
 his father, and not to his mother ; lastly, and lastly only, 
 that he is related to both. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 T HE religion of savages, though, of peculiar interest, is 
 in many respects, perhaps, the most difficult part of 
 my whole subject. I shall endeavour to avoid, as far as 
 possible, anything which might justly give pain to any 
 of my readers. Many ideas, however, which have been, 
 or are, prevalent on religious matters are so utterly 
 opposed to our own that it is impossible to discuss the 
 subject without mentioning some things which are very 
 repugnant to our feelings. Yet, while savages show us a 
 melancholy spectacle of gross superstitions and ferocious 
 forms of worship, the religious mind cannot but feel a 
 peculiar satisfaction in tracing up the gradual evolution of 
 more correct ideas and of nobler creeds. 
 
 M. Arbrousset quotes the following touching remarks 
 made to him by Sekesa, a very respectable Kaffir : 1 c Your 
 tidings , 5 he said, 6 are what I want ; and I was seeking 
 before I knew you, as you shall hear and judge for your- 
 selves. Twelve years ago I went to feed my flocks. The 
 weather was hazy. I sat down upon a rock and asked 
 myself sorrowful questions ; yes, sorrowful, because I was 
 unable to answer them. “Who has touched the stars 
 with his hands ? On what pillars do they rest ? 55 I asked 
 myself. “The waters are never weary: they know no. 
 other law than to flow, without ceasing, from morning till 
 
 1 The Basutos. Casalis, p. 239. 
 
MENTAL INACTIVITY OF SAVAGES. 115 
 
 night, and from night till morning ; but where do they 
 stop? and who makes them flow thus? The clouds also 
 come and go, and burst in water over the earth. Whence 
 come they ? Who sends them ? The diviners certainly 
 do not give us rain, for how could they do it ? and why 
 do I not see them with my own eyes when they go up to 
 heaven to fetch it ? I cannot see the wind, but what is 
 it ? Who brings it, makes it blow, and roar and terrify 
 us ? Do I know how the corn sprouts ? Yesterday there 
 was not a blade in my field; to-day I returned to the 
 field and found some. Who can have given to the earth 
 the wisdom and the power to produce it ? 55 Then I buried 
 my face in both my hands . 5 
 
 This, however, was an exceptional case. As a general 
 rule savages do not set themselves to think out such ques- 
 tions, but adopt the ideas which suggest themselves most 
 naturally ; so that, as I shall attempt to show, races in a 
 similar stage of mental development, however distinct 
 their origin may be, and however distant the regions they 
 inhabit, have very similar religious conceptions. Most of 
 those who have endeavoured to account for the various 
 superstitions of savage races have done so by crediting 
 them with a much more elaborate system of ideas than 
 they in reality possess. Thus Lafitau supposes that fire was 
 worshipped because it so well represents ‘ cette supreme 
 intelligence degagee de la nature, dont la puissance est 
 toujours active . 5 1 Again, with reference to idols, he ob- 
 serves 2 that ‘ La dependance que nous avons de Pimagina- 
 tion et des sens, ne nous permettant pas de voir Dieu 
 autrement qu 5 en Enigme, comme parle saint Paul, a cause 
 une espece de necessity de nous le montrer sous des images 
 sensibles, les-quelles fussent autant de symboles, qui nous 
 
 1 Moeurs des Sauvages Americains, vol. i. p. 152. 
 
 2 Loc. oit. p. 121. 
 
116 
 
 CHARACTER OF RELIGION 
 
 elevassent jusqu’a lui, comme le portrait nous remet dans 
 l’idee de celui dont il est la peinture.’ Plutarch., again, 
 supposed that the crocodile was worshipped by Egypt 
 because, having no tongue, it was a type of the Deity 
 who made laws for nature by his mere will ! Explanations, 
 however, such as these are radically wrong. 
 
 I have felt doubtful whether this chapter should not be 
 entitled 6 the superstitions 5 rather than ‘ the religion * of 
 savages ; but have preferred the latter, partly because 
 many of the superstitious ideas pass gradually into nobler 
 conceptions, and partly from a reluctance to condemn 
 any honest belief, however absurd and imperfect it may 
 be. It must, however, be admitted that religion, as 
 understood by the lower savage races, differs essentially 
 from ours ; nay, it is not only different, but even opposite. 
 Thus their deities are evil, not good ; they may be forced 
 into compliance with the wishes of man; they require 
 bloody, and rejoice in human, sacrifices ; they are mortal, 
 not immortal ; a part of, not the author of nature ; they 
 are to be approached by dances rather than by prayers ; 
 and often approve what we call vice, rather than what we 
 esteem as virtue. 
 
 In fact, the so-called religion of the lower races bears 
 somewhat the same relation to religion in its higher forms 
 that astrology does to astronomy, or alchemy to chemistry. 
 Astronomy is derived from astrology, yet their spirit is 
 in entire opposition ; and we shall find the same difference 
 between the religions of backward and of advanced races. 
 We regard the Deity as good ; they look upon him as 
 evil; we submit ourselves to him; they endeavour to 
 obtain the control of him ; we feel the necessity of ac- 
 counting for the blessings by which we are surrounded ; 
 they think the blessings come of themselves, and attribute 
 all evil to the interference of malignant beings. 
 
AMONG THE LOWER RACES OF MAN. 117 
 
 These characteristics are not exceptional and rare. On 
 the contrary I shall attempt to show that, though the reli- 
 gions of the lower races have received different names, 
 they agree in their general characteristics, and are but 
 phases of one sequence, having the same origin, and pass- 
 ing through similar, if not identical, stages. This will 
 explain the great similarities which occur in the most 
 distinct and distant races, which have puzzled many eth- 
 nologists, and in some cases led them to utterly untenable 
 theories. Thus even Eobertson, though in many respects 
 he held very correct views as to the religious condition 
 of savages, remarks that sun-worship prevailed among 
 the Natchez and the Persians, and observes , 1 ‘this sur- 
 prising coincidence in sentiment between two nations in 
 such different states of improvement is one of the many 
 singular and unaccountable circumstances which occur 
 in the history of human affairs . 5 
 
 Although however we find the most remarkable coin- 
 cidences between the religions of distinct races, one of 
 the peculiar difficulties in the study of religion arises from 
 the fact that, while each nation has generally but one 
 language, we may almost say that in religious matters, 
 quot homines tot sententice ; no two men having exactly the 
 same views, however much they may wish to agree. 
 
 Many travellers have pointed out this difficulty. Thus 
 Captain Cook, speaking of the South Sea Islanders, says : 
 ‘ Of the religion 2 of these people we were not able to ac- 
 quire any clear and consistent knowledge ; we found it 
 like the religion of most other countries — involved in 
 mystery and perplexed with apparent inconsistencies . 5 
 Many also of those to whom we are indebted for informa- 
 tion on the subject, fully expecting to find among savages 
 
 1 History of America, book iv. p. 2 Hawkeswortb’s Voyages, vol. ii« 
 
 127. p, 237. 
 
118 
 
 DIFFICULTY OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 ideas like our own, obscured only by errors and supersti- 
 tions, have put leading questions, and thus got misleading 
 answers. We constantly hear, for instance, of a Devil, 
 but in fact no spiritual being in the mythology of any 
 savage race possesses the characteristics of Satan. Again, 
 it is often very difficult to determine in what sense an 
 object is worshipped. A mountain, or a river, for instance, 
 may be held sacred either as an actual Deity or merely 
 as his abode ; and in the same way a statue may be 
 actually worshipped as a god, or merely reverenced as 
 representing the Divinity. 
 
 To a great extent, moreover, these difficulties arise from 
 the fact that when Man, either by natural progress or the 
 influence of a more advanced race, rises to the conception 
 of a higher religion, he still retains his old beliefs, which 
 long linger on, side by side with, and yet in utter opposi- 
 tion to, the higher creed. The new and more powerful 
 Spirit is an addition to the old Pantheon, and diminishes 
 the importance of the older deities ; gradually the wor- 
 ship of the latter sinks in the social scale, and becomes 
 confined to the ignorant and the young. Thus a belief in 
 witchcraft still flourishes among our agricultural labourers 
 and the lowest classes in our great cities, and the deities 
 of our ancestors survive in the nursery tales of our children. 
 We must therefore expect to find in each race traces — 
 nay, more than traces, of lower religions. Even if this 
 were not the case we should still be met by the difficulty 
 that there are few really sharp lines in religious systems. 
 It might be supposed that a belief in the immortality of 
 the soul, or in the efficacy of sacrifices, would give us good 
 lines of division ; but it is not so : these and many other 
 ideas rise gradually, and even often appear at first in a 
 form very different from that which they ultimately 
 assume. 
 
CLASSIFICATION OF THE LOWER RELIGIONS. 119 
 
 Hitherto it has been usual to classify religions accord- 
 ing to the natureof the object worshipped : Fetichism, for 
 instance, being the worship of inanimate objects, Sabspism 
 that of the heavenly bodies. The true test, however, seems 
 to me to be the estimate in which the Deity is held. The 
 first great stages in religious thought may, I think, be 
 regarded as — 
 
 Atheism ; understanding by this term not a denial ol 
 the existence of a Deity, but an absence of any definite 
 ideas on the subject. 
 
 Fetichism; the stage in which man supposes he can 
 force the Deity to comply with his desires. 
 
 Nature-worship , or Totemism; in which natural objects, 
 trees, lakes, stones, animals, &c. are worshipped. 
 
 Shamanism ; in which the superior deities are far more 
 powerful than man, and of a different nature. Their 
 place of abode also is far away, and accessible only to 
 Shamans. 
 
 Idolatry , or Anthropomorphism ; in which the gods take 
 still more completely the nature of men, being, however, 
 more powerful. They are still amenable to persuasion ; 
 they are a part of nature, and not creators. They are 
 represented by images or idols. 
 
 In the next stage the Deity is regarded as the author, 
 not merely a part, of nature. He becomes for the first 
 time a really supernatural being. 
 
 The last stage to which I will refer is that in which 
 morality is associated with religion. 
 
 Since the above was written my attention was called by 
 De Brosse’s c Culte des Dieux Fetiches 5 to a passage in 
 Sanchoniatho, quoted by Eusebius. From his description 
 of the first thirteen generations of men I extract the 
 following passages : — 
 
 Generation 1 . — The ‘ first men consecrated the plants 
 
120 SEQUENCE OF RELIGIONS ACCORDING TO SANCHONIATHO. 
 
 sliooting out of the earth, and judged them gods, and 
 worshipped them, upon whom they themselves lived. 5 
 
 Gen. 2.— The second generation of men ‘were called 
 Genus and Genea, and dwelt in Phoenicia ; but when great 
 droughts came, they stretched their hands up to heaven 
 towards the sun, for him they thought the only Lord of 
 Heaven. 5 
 
 Gen. 3. — Afterwards other mortal issue was begotten, 
 whose names were Phos, Pur, and Phlox (i.e. Light, Eire, 
 and Flame). These found out the way of generating fire 
 by the rubbing of pieces of wood against each other, and 
 taught men the use thereof. 
 
 Gen. 4. — The fourth generation consists of giants. 
 
 Gen. 5. — With reference to the fifth he mentions the 
 existence of communal marriage, and that ITsous 6 con- 
 secrated two 'pillars to Fire and Wind, and bowed down to 
 them, and poured out to them the blood of such wild 
 beasts as had been caught in hunting. 5 
 
 Gen. 6. — Hunting and fishing are invented ; which 
 seems rather inconsistent with the preceding statement. . 
 
 Gen. 7. — Chrysor, whom he affirms to be Yulcan, 
 discovered iron and the art of forging. ‘ Wherefore he 
 also was worshipped after his death for a god, and they 
 called him Diamichius (or Zeus Michius). 5 
 
 Gen. 8. — Pottery was discovered. 
 
 Gen. 9.— How comes Agrus, ‘ who had a much- 
 worshipped statue, and a temple carried about by one or 
 more yoke of oxen in Phoenicia. 
 
 Gen. 10. — Tillages were formed, and men kept flocks. 
 
 Gen. 11. — Salt was discovered. 
 
 Gen. 12. — Taautus or Hermes discovered letters. The 
 Cabiri belong to this generation. * 
 
 Thus then we find mentioned in order the worship of 
 plants, heavenly bodies, pillars, and men ; later still comes 
 
RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE LOWEST RACES. 121 
 
 Idolatry coupled with Temples. It will be observed that 
 he makes no special mention of Shamanism, and that he 
 regards the worship of plants as aboriginal. 
 
 The opinion that religion is general and universal has 
 been entertained by many high authorities. Yet it is op- 
 posed to the evidence of numerous trustworthy observers. 
 Sailors, traders, and philosophers, Roman Catholic priests 
 and Protestant missionaries, in ancient and in modern 
 times, in every part of the globe, have concurred in stating 
 that there are races of men altogether devoid of religion. 
 The case is the stronger because in several instances the 
 fact has greatly surprised him who records it, and has been 
 entirely in opposition to all his preconceived views. On 
 the other hand, it must be confessed that in some cases 
 travellers denied the existence of a religion merely because 
 the tenets were unlike ours. The question as to the general 
 existence of religion among men is, indeed, to a great ex- 
 tent a matter of definition. If the mere sensation of fear, 
 and the recognition that there are probably other beings 
 more powerful than man, are sufficient alone to constitute 
 a religion, then we must, I think, admit that religion is 
 general to the human race. But when a child dreads the 
 darkness, and shrinks from a lightless room, we never 
 regard that as an evidence of religion. Moreover, if this 
 definition be adopted, we cannot longer regard religion as 
 peculiar to man. We must admit that the feeling of a 
 dog or a horse towards its master is of the same character ; 
 and the baying of a dog to the moon is as much an act of 
 worship as some ceremonies which have been so described 
 by travellers. 
 
 In Prehistoric Times, 51 I have quoted the following 
 writers as witnesses to the existence of tribes without 
 
 1 Prehistoric Times, 2nd edition, p. 564. 
 
122 
 
 ABSENCE OF RELIGION. 
 
 religion. For some of the Esquimaux tribes, Captain 
 Ross; 1 for some of the Canadians, Hearne; for the Cali- 
 fornians, Baegert, who lived among them seventeen years, 
 and La Perouse ; for many of the Brazilian tribes, Spix 
 and Martius, Bates and Wallace ; for Paraguay, Dobritz- 
 hoffer ; for some of the Polynesians, Williams 5 Missionary 
 Enterprises, the Voyage of the Novara, and Dietfenbach ; 
 for Damood Island (north of Australia), Jukes (Voyage 
 of the Fly) ; for the Pellew Islands, Wilson; for tbe Aru 
 Islands, Wallace ; for the Andamaners, Mouatt ; for 
 certain tribes of Hindostan, Hooker and Shortt ; for some 
 of the eastern African nations, Burton and Grant ; for the 
 Bachapin Kaffirs, Burchell ; and for the Hottentots, Le 
 Vaillant. 1 will here only give a few instances. 
 
 ‘ It is evident,’ says M. Bik, 2 * that the Arafuras of 
 Vorkay (one of the Southern Arus) possess no religion 
 whatever. ... Of the immortality of the soul they have 
 not the least conception. To all my enquiries on this 
 subject they answered, “No Arafura has ever returned to 
 us after death, therefore we know nothing of a future 
 state, and this is the first time we have heard of it.” Their 
 idea was, Mati, Mati sudah (When you are dead there is 
 an end of you). Neither have they any notion of the 
 creation of the world. They only answered “ None of us 
 are aware of this ; we have never heard anything about it, 
 and therefore do not know who has done it all.” To con- 
 vince myself more fully respecting their want of knowledge 
 of a Supreme Being, I demanded of them on whom they 
 called for help in their need, when, far from their homes, 
 engaged in the trepang fishery, their vessels were over- 
 taken by violent tempests, and no human power could 
 save them, their wives and children, from destruction. The 
 
 1 See also Franklin’s Journey to the 2 Quoted in Kollf’s Voyages of the 
 Polar Sea, vol. ii. p. 266. Dourga, p. 169. 
 
ABSENCE OP RELIGION. 
 
 123 
 
 eldest among them, after having consulted the others, 
 answered that they knew not on whom they could call for 
 assistance, hut begged me, if I knew, to be so good as to 
 inform them . 5 
 
 ‘ The wilder Bedouins , 51 says Burton, c will enquire where 
 Allah is to be found : when asked the object of the ques- 
 tion, they reply, u If the Eesa could but catch him they 
 would spear him upon the spot,— who but he lays waste 
 their homes and kills their cattle and wives ? 55 Yet, con- 
 joined to this truly savage incapability of conceiving the 
 idea of a Supreme Being, they believe in the most ridicu- 
 lous exaggerations : many will not affront a common 
 pilgrim, for fear of being killed by a glance or a word . 5 
 
 Burton also considers that atheism is ‘the natural 
 condition of the savage and uninstructed mind, the night 
 of spiritual existence, which disappears before the dawn of 
 a belief in things unseen. A Creator is to creation what 
 the cause of any event in life is to its effect ; those familiar 
 to the sequence will hardly credit its absence from the 
 minds of others . 5 2 
 
 Among the Koossa Kaffirs, Lichtenstein 3 affirms that 
 ‘ there is no appearance of any religious worship what- 
 ever . 5 
 
 ‘ It might be the proper ^ime now , 5 says Bather Baegert, 
 ‘ to speak of the form of government and the religion of the 
 Californians previous to their conversion to Christianity ; 
 but neither the one nor the other existed among them. 
 They had no magistrates, no police, and no laws ; idols, 
 temples, religious worship or ceremonies, were unknown 
 to them, and they neither believed in the true and only 
 God, nor adored false deities. ... I made diligent en- 
 quiries, among those with whom I lived, to ascertain 
 
 1 Pirst Pootsteps in East Africa, 
 p. 52. 
 
 2 Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 179. 
 
 3 Lichtenstein, rol. i. p. 253. 
 
124 
 
 ABSENCE OF RELIGION. 
 
 whether they had any conception of God, a future life and 
 their own souls, but I never could discover the slightest 
 trace of such a knowledge. Their language has no words 
 for “ God ” and “ soul.” ’ 1 
 
 Although, as Captain John Smith 2 quaintly put it, 
 there was 6 in Virginia no place discovered to be so savage 
 in which they had not a religion, Deere, and bows and 
 arrows/ still, the ruder tribes in the far North, according 
 to the testimony of Hearne, Vvho knew them intimately, 
 had no religion. 
 
 Several tribes, says Eobertson , 3 c have been discovered 
 in America, which have no idea whatever of a Supreme 
 Being, and no rites of religious worship. Inattentive to 
 that magnificent spectacle of beauty and order presented 
 to their view, unaccustomed to reflect either upon what 
 they themselves are, or to enquire who is the author of 
 their existence, men, in their savage state, pass their days 
 like the animals round them, without knowledge or vener- 
 ation of any superior power. Some rude tribes have not 
 in their language any name for the Deity, nor have the 
 most accurate observers been able to discover any practice 
 or institution which seemed to imply that they recognised 
 his authority, or were solicitous to obtain his favour.’ 
 
 In the face of such a crowd of witnesses it may at first 
 sight seem extraordinary that there can still be any 
 difference of opinion on the subject. This, however, arises 
 partly from the fact that the term ‘Beligion’ has not 
 always been used in the same sense, and partly from a 
 belief that, as has no doubt happened in several cases, 
 travellers may, from ignorance of the language, or from 
 shortness of residence, have overlooked a religion which 
 really existed. 
 
 1 Baegert. Smithsonian Trans., 3 History of America, book iv. 
 
 1863-4, p. 390. 122. 
 
 2 Voyages in Virginia, p. 138. 
 
RUDIMENTARY RELIGION. 
 
 125 
 
 For instance, the first describers of Tahiti asserted that 
 the natives had no religion, which subsequently proved to 
 be a complete mistake ; and several other similar cases 
 might be quoted. As regards the lowest races of men, how- 
 ever, it seems to me, even a priori, very difficult to suppose 
 that a people so backward as to be unable to count their 
 own fingers should be sufficiently advanced in their intellec- 
 tual conceptions as to have any system of belief worthy of 
 the name of a religion. 
 
 We shall, however, obtain a clearer view of the ques- 
 tion if we consider the superstitions of those races which 
 have a rudimentary religion, and endeavour to trace these 
 ideas up into a more developed condition. 
 
 Here again we shall perhaps be met by the doubt 
 whether travellers have correctly understood the accounts 
 given to them. In many cases, however, when the narra- 
 tor had lived for months, or years, among those whom he 
 was describing, we need certainly feel no suspicion, and in 
 others we shall obtain a satisfactory result by comparing 
 together the statements of different observers and using 
 them as a check one upon the other. 
 
 The religious theories of savages are certainly not the 
 result of deep thought, nor must they be regarded as con- 
 stituting any elaborate or continuous theory. A Zulu 
 candidly said to Mr. Callaway , 1 ‘ Our knowledge does not 
 urge us to search out the roots of it ; we do not try to see 
 them ; if anyone thinks ever so little, he soon gives it up, 
 and passes on to what he sees with his eyes ; and he does 
 not understand the real state of even what he sees/ 
 Dulaure truly observes, that the savage ‘ aime mieux 
 soumettre sa raison, sou vent revoltee, a ce que ses institu- 
 tions ont de plus absurde, que se livrer a Texamen, par- 
 ceque ce travail est toujours penible pour celui qui ne s’y 
 
 The Religious System of the Amazulu, p. 22. 
 
126 RELIGIOUS IDEAS AS SUGGESTED BY DREAMS. 
 
 est point exerce . 5 With this statement I entirely concur, 
 and I believe that through all the various religious systems 
 of the lower races may be traced a natural and unconscious 
 process of development. 
 
 Dreams are intimately associated with the lower forms of 
 religion. To the savage they have a reality and an import- 
 ance which we can scarcely appreciate. During sleep the 
 spirit seems to desert the body ; and as in dreams we visit 
 other localities and even other worlds, living as it were a 
 separate and different life, the two phenomena are not 
 unnaturally regarded as the complements of one another. 
 Hence the savage considers the events in his dreams to be 
 as real as those of his waking hours, and hence he natu- 
 rally feels that he has a spirit which can quit the body. 
 ‘ Dreams/ says Burton, 6 according to the Yorubans and 
 to many of our fetichists, are not an irregular action 
 and partial activity of the brain, but so many revelations 
 brought by the manes of the departed . 5 2 So strong 
 was the North American faith in dreams that on one 
 occasion, when an Indian dreamt he was taken captive, 
 he induced his friends to make a mock attack on him, to 
 bind him and treat him as a captive, actually submitting 
 to a considerable amount of torture, in the hope thus to 
 fulfil his dream . 3 The Greenlanders 4 also believe in the 
 reality of dreams, and think that at night they go hunting, 
 visiting, courting, and so on. It is of course obvious that 
 the body takes no part in these nocturnal adventures, and 
 hence it is natural to conclude that they have a spirit 
 which can quit the body. 
 
 In Madagascar 5 ‘the people throughout the whole island 
 pay a religious regard to dreams, and imagine that their 
 
 1 Histoire des Cultes, vol. i. p. 22. 4 Crantz, loc. cit. toI. i. p. 200. 
 
 2 Abbeokuta, toI. i. p. 204. 5 The Adventures of Robert Drury 
 
 5 Lafitau, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 366. p. 171. See also pp. 176, 272. 
 
RELIGIOUS IDEAS AS SUGGESTED BY DREAMS. 127 
 
 good demons (for I cannot tell what other name to give 
 their inferior deities, which, as they say, attend on their 
 owleys,) tell them in their dreams what ought to be done, 
 or warn them of what ought to be avoided . 5 
 
 Lastly, when they dream of their departed friends or 
 relatives, savages firmly believe themselves to be visited 
 by their spirits, and hence believe, not indeed in the im- 
 mortality of the soul, but in its survival of the body. 
 Thus the Manganjas, South Africa, expressly ground their 
 belief in a future life on the fact that their friends visit 
 them in their sleep. Again, savages are rarely ill ; their 
 sufferings generally arise from wounds ; their deaths are 
 generally violent. As an external injury received in war 
 causes pain, so when they suffer internally they attribute 
 it to some internal enemy. Hence whence the Australian, 
 perhaps after too heavy a meal, has his slumbers disturbed, 
 he never doubts the reality of what is passing, but con- 
 siders that he is attacked by some being whom his com- 
 panions cannot see. 
 
 This is well illustrated in the following passage from 
 the f United States Exploring Expedition : 5 1 ‘ Sometimes, 
 when the Australians are asleep, Koin makes his appear- 
 ance, seizes upon one of them and carries him off. The 
 person seized endeavours in vain to cry out, being almost 
 strangled. At daylight, however, he disappears, and the 
 man finds himself conveyed safely to his own fireside. 
 From this it would appear that the demon is here a sort 
 of personification of the night-mare — a visitation to which 
 the natives, from their habits of gorging themselves to 
 the utmost when they obtain a supply of food, must be 
 very subject . 5 
 
 Speaking of the Horth- Western Americans, Mr. Sproat 
 
 ' Loc. cit . yoI. vi. p. 110. 
 
128 
 
 THE SHADOW. 
 
 says : 1 c The apparition of ghosts is especially an occasion 
 on which the services of the sorcerers, the old women, and 
 all the friends of the ghost-seer are in great request. 
 Owing to the quantity of indigestible food eaten by the 
 natives, they often dream that they are visited by ghosts. 
 After a supper of blubber, followed by one of the long 
 talks about departed friends, which take place round the 
 fire, some nervous and timid person may fancy, in the 
 night time, that he sees a ghost. 5 
 
 In some cases the belief that man possesses a spirit 
 seems to have been suggested by the shadow. Thus, 
 among the Fijians, 2 c some speak of man as having two 
 spirits. His shadow is called “ the dark spirit, 55 which 
 they say goes to Hades. The other is his likeness reflected 
 in water or a looking-glass, and is supposed to stay near 
 the place in which a man dies. Probably this doctrine of 
 shadows has to do with the notion of inanimate objects 
 having spirits. I once placed a good-looking native 
 suddenly before a mirror. He stood delighted. “ How, 5 ' 
 said he softly, “ 1 can see into the world of spirits. 55 5 
 
 The North American Indians also consider a man’s 
 shadow as his soul or life. c I have, 5 says Tanner, ‘ heard 
 them reproach a sick person for what they considered im- 
 prudent exposure in convalescence, telling him that his 
 shadow was not well settled down in him. 5 3 
 
 The natives of Benin c call a man’s shadow his passadoor, 
 or conductor, and believe it will witness if he lived well or 
 ill. Xf well, he is raised to great happiness and dignity in 
 the place before mentioned ; if ill, he is to perish with 
 hunger and poverty. 5 4 They are indeed a most super- 
 
 h Scenes and Studies of Savage Life, 4 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, vol. 
 p. 172. iii. p. 99. Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. 531. 
 
 2 Williams’ Piji and tlie Pijians, See also Callaway On the Religious 
 
 vol. i. p. 241. System of the Amazulu, p. 91. 
 
 3 Tanner’s Captivity, p. 291. 
 
SPIRITS AT FIRST REGARDED AS EVIL. 
 
 129 
 
 stitious race ; and Lander mentions a case in which, an 
 echo was taken for the voice of a Fetich . 1 
 
 Thunder, also, was often regarded either as an actual 
 deity, or as a heavenly voice. 6 One night/ says Tanner, 
 6 Picheto (a North American chief) becoming much alarmed 
 at the violence of the storm, got up and offered some tobacco 
 to the thunder, entreating it to stop . 5 2 
 
 I have already mentioned that savages almost always 
 regard spirits as evil beings. We can, I think, easily 
 understand why this should be. Amongst the very lowest 
 races every other man — amongst those slightly more ad- 
 vanced, every man of a different tribe, is regarded as 
 naturally, and almost necessarily hostile. A stranger 
 is synonymous with an enemy, and a spirit is but a 
 member of an invisible tribe. 
 
 The Hottentots, according to Thunberg, have very 
 vague ideas about a good Deity. ‘ They have much 
 clearer notions about an evil spirit, whom they fear, be- 
 lieving him to be the occasion of sickness, death, thunder, 
 and every calamity that befalls them . 5 3 The Bechuanas 
 attribute all evil to an invisible god, whom they call 
 Murimo, and c never hesitate to show their indignation 
 at any ill experienced, or any wish unaccomplished, by 
 the most bitter curses. They have no religious worship, 
 and could never be persuaded by the missionaries that 
 this was a thing displeasing to God . 5 4 
 
 The Abipones of South America, so well described by 
 Dobritzhoffer, had some vague notions of an evil spirit, 
 but none of a good one . 5 The Coroados 6 of Brazil ‘ acknow- 
 
 1 Niger Expedition, yoI. iii. p. 242. 366. 
 
 2 Tanner’s Narrative of a Captivity 4 Lichtenstein, vol. ii. p. 332. 
 
 among the Indians, p. 136. 5 Dobritzhofferj loc. cit. vol. ii. pp. 
 
 3 Thunberg. Pinkerton’s Voyages, 35, 64. 
 
 vol. xv. p. 142. Astley, loc . cit. p. 6 Spix and Martins, vol. ii. p. 243. 
 
 1 
 
130 
 
 SPIRITS REGARDED AS EVIL. 
 
 ledge no cause of good, or no God, but only an evil prin- 
 ciple, wliich . . . • leads liim astray, vexes him, brings 
 him into difficulty and danger, and even kills him . 5 
 
 In Virginia and Florida the evil spirit was worshipped 
 and not the good, because the former might be propitiated, 
 while the latter was sure to do all the good he could . 1 * 
 So also the ‘ Cemis 5 of the West Indian Islands were 
 regarded as evil, and ‘reputed to be the authors of. every 
 calamity that affects the human race . 52 The Redskin, 
 says Carver , 3 ‘ lives in continual apprehension of the 
 unkind attacks of spirits, and to avert them has recourse 
 to charms, to the fantastic ceremonies of his priest, or the 
 powerful influence of his manitous. Fear has of course a 
 greater share in his devotions than gratitude, and he pays 
 more attention to deprecating the wrath of the evil than 
 securing the favour of the good beings . 5 The Tatars of 
 Katschiutzi also considered the evil spirit to be more 
 powerful than the good . 4 The West Coast Negroes, accord- 
 ing to Artus , 5 represent their deities as ‘ black and mis- 
 chievous, delighting to torment them various ways . 5 
 They said 6 that the Europeans’ God was very good, who 
 gave them such blessings, and treated them like his 
 children. Others asked, murmuring, why God was not as 
 kind to them ? Why did not he supply them with woollen 
 and linen cloth, iron, brass, and such things, as well as 
 the Dutch ? The Dutch answered, that God had not 
 neglected theip, since he had sent them gold, palm-wine, 
 fruits, corn, oxen, goats, hens, and many other things 
 necessary to life, as tokens of his bounty. But there was 
 no persuading them these things came from God. They 
 
 1 Muller’s Americaniselien Urreli- 3 Travels, p. 388. 
 
 gionen, p. 151. 4 Pallas, vol. iii. p. 433. 
 
 1 Robertson’s America, book iv. 5 A sPey’s Collection of Voyages, vol. 
 
 p. 124. ii. p. CGI. 
 
SPIRITS REGARDED AS CAUSING DISEASE. 131 
 
 said the earth, and not God, gave them gold, which was 
 dug out of its bowels : that the earth yielded them maize 
 and rice; and that not without the help of their own 
 labour ; that for fruits they were obliged to the Portuguese, 
 who had planted the trees ; that their cattle brought them 
 young ones, and the sea furnished them with fish ; that, 
 however, in all these their own industry and labour was 
 required, without which they must starve ; so that they 
 could not see how they were obliged to God for any of 
 those benefits.’ 
 
 When Burton spoke to the Eastern Negroes about the 
 Deity, they eagerly asked where he was to be found, in order 
 that they might kill him ; for they said, ‘ Who but he lays 
 waste our homes, and kills our wives and cattle P’ 
 
 The following expression of Eesa feelings, overheard by 
 Burton, gives a dreadful illustration of this idea. An old 
 woman, belonging to that Arab tribe, having a toothache, 
 offered up the following prayer : ‘ Oh, Allah, may thy teeth 
 ache like mine ! Oh, Allah, may thy gums be as sore as 
 mine ! ’ Can this be called ‘ religion 5 ? Surely in spirit 
 it is the very reverse. 
 
 In New Zealand 1 each disease was regarded as being 
 caused by a particular god ; thus ‘ Tonga was the god who 
 caused headache and sickness : he took up his abode in the 
 forehead. Moko-Tiki, a lizard god, was the source of all 
 pains in the breast ; Tu-tangata-kino was the god of the 
 stomach ; Titi-hai occasioned pains in the ankles and feet ; 
 Rongomai and Tuparitapu were the gods of consumption ; 
 Koro-kio presided over childbirth.’ 
 
 ‘ Sickness,’ says Yate , 2 ‘is brought on by the “ Atua,” who, 
 when he is angry, comes to them in the form of a lizard, 
 enters their inside, and preys upon their vitals till they 
 
 1 Taylor’s New Zealand and its Inhabitants, p. 34. 
 
 2 Yate’s New Zealand, p. 141. 
 
132 
 
 DISBELIEF AMONG SAVAGES IN THE 
 
 die. Hence they use incantations over the sick, with the 
 expectation of either propitiating the angry deity or of 
 driving him away ; for the latter of which purposes they 
 make use of the most threatening and outrageous 
 language/ The Stiens of Cambodia believe ‘ in an evil 
 genius, and attribute all disease to him. If anyone be 
 suffering from illness, they say it is the demon tormenting 
 him ; and, with this idea, make, night and day, an insup- 
 portable noise around the patient / 1 
 
 The Koussa Kaffirs , 2 says Lichtenstein, ascribe all their 
 diseases to one of three causes : either to being enchanted 
 by an enemy ; to the anger of certain beings, whose abode 
 appears to be in the rivers ; or to the power of evil spirits/ 
 Among the Kols of Nagpore, as Colonel E. T. Dalton 
 tells us, ‘ all disease in men and in cattle is attributed to one 
 or two causes, the wrath of some evil spirit who has to be 
 appeased, or the spell of some witch or sorcerer 3 the Cir- 
 cassians and some of the Chinese have also the same belief . 4 
 
 Hence it is that mad people are in many countries 
 looked on with so much reverence, since they are looked 
 on as the special abode of some Deity. Savages who 
 believe that diseases are owing to magic, naturally con- 
 clude that death is so too. Far from having realised to 
 themselves the idea of a future life, they have not even 
 learnt that death is the natural end of this. We find a 
 very general conviction among savages that there is no such 
 thing as natural death, and that when a man dies without 
 being wounded, he must be the victim of magic. 
 
 Thus, Mr. Lang , 5 speaking of the Australians, says, that 
 whenever a native dies, 6 no matter how evident it may be 
 
 1 Mouhot’s Travels in the Central 4 Klemm, Aleg. Cult. d. Menschen. 
 Parts of Indo-China, vol. i. p. 250. vol. iv. p. 36. 
 
 2 Lichtenstein, vol. ii. p. 2 55. 5 Lecture on the Aborigines of Aus- 
 
 8 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. 1868, p. tralia, p. 14. See also Oldfield, Trans. 
 
 30 ; 1870, p. 21. Ethn. Soc. N.S. vol. iii. p. 236. 
 
EXISTENCE OF NATURAL DEATH. 
 
 133 
 
 that death has been the result of natural causes, it is at 
 once set down that the defunct was bewitched by the 
 sorcerers of some neighbouring tribe . 5 Among the natives 
 of Southern Africa no one is supposed to die naturally . 1 
 The Bechuanas, says Philip, ‘ and all the Kaffir tribes, have 
 no idea of any man dying except from hunger, violence, 
 or witchcraft. If a man die even at the age of ninety, if 
 he do not die of hunger or by violence, his death is im- 
 puted to sorcery or to witchcraft, and blood is required 
 to expiate or avenge it . 5 2 So also Battel tells us that 
 ‘none on any account dieth, but that some other has 
 bewitched them to death . 5 3 Dobritzhoffer 4 tells us that, 
 
 ‘ If an Abipon die from being pierced with many wounds, 
 or from having his bones broken, or his strength exhausted 
 by extreme old age, his countrymen all deny that wounds 
 or weakness occasioned his death, and anxiously try to 
 discover by which of the jugglers, and for what reason, he 
 was killed . 5 Stevenson 5 states that in South America, 
 * The Indians never believe that death is owing to natural 
 causes, but that it is the effect of sorcery and witchcraft. 
 Thus on the death of an individual one or more diviners are 
 consulted, who generally name the enchanter, and are so 
 implicitly believed, that the unfortunate object of their 
 caprice or malice is certain to fall a sacrifice . 5 Wallace 6 
 found the same idea among the tribes of the Amazons ; 
 Muller 7 mentions it as prevalent among the Bacotahs ; 
 Hearne 8 among the Hudson’s Bay Indians. 
 
 But though spirits are naturally much to be dreaded on 
 various accounts, it by no means follows that they should be 
 
 1 Chapman’s Travels in Africa, vol. 4 Log. cit . vol. ii. p. 84. 
 
 i. p. 47. 5 Travels in South America, vol. i. 
 
 2 Philip’s South Africa, vol. i. p. 1 18. p. 60. 
 
 3 Adventures of Andrew Battel, Pin- 6 Loc. cit. p. 500. 
 
 kerton, vol. xvi. p. 334. See also Astley, 7 Amer. Urreligionen, p. 82. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 300. 8 Loc. cit. p. 338. 
 
134 
 
 LOW IDEAS OF SPIRITS 
 
 conceived as necessarily wiser or more powerful than men. 
 Of this our table-turners and spirit-rappers give a modern 
 illustration. The natives of the Nicobar Islands were in 
 the habit of putting up scarecrows to frighten the c Eewees 5 
 away from their villages . 1 The inhabitants of Kamt- 
 schatka, according to Kotzebue , 2 insult their deities if 
 their wishes are unfulfilled. They even feel a contempt 
 for them. If Kutka, they say, had not been so stupid, 
 would he have made inaccessible rocks, and too rapid 
 rivers ? 3 The Lapps, according to Klemm, made idols 
 for their deities, and placed each in a separate box, on 
 which they indicated the name of the deity, so that 
 each might know its own box . 4 5 
 
 Vancouver 5 mentions that the inhabitants of Owhyhee. 
 were seriously offended with their deity for permitting 
 the death of a popular young chief named Whokaa. Yate 
 observes 6 that the New Zealanders, attributing certain 
 diseases to the attacks of the Atua, endeavour either to 
 propitiate or drive him away ; in the latter case 6 they 
 make use of the most threatening and outrageous language; 
 sometimes telling their deity that they will kill and eat 
 him . 5 
 
 The negro of Guinea beats his Fetish if his wishes are 
 not complied with, and hides him in his waist-cloth if 
 about to do anything of which he is ashamed, so that the 
 Fetish may not be able to see what is going on . 7 
 
 During a storm the Bechuanas cursed the deity for 
 sending thunder ; 8 and the Namaquas shot poisoned 
 
 1 Voyage of the Novara, vol. ii. p. 6 Account of New Zealand, p. 141. 
 
 66. D’Urville’s Voyage de 1’ Astrolabe, vol. 
 
 2 Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 13. iii. pp. 245, 440, 470. 
 
 9 Klemm, Cult. d. Menschen, vol. ii. 7 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, vol. 
 p. 318. ii. p. 668. 
 
 4 Loc. cit. vol. iii. p. 81. 8 Chapman’s Travels in Africa, vol. 
 
 5 Voyage of Discovery, vol. iii. p. 14. i. p. 45. 
 
ENTEETAINED BY SAVAGES. 
 
 135 
 
 arrows at storms to drive them away . 1 When the Basnto 
 (Kaffir) is on a marauding expedition, he ‘ gives utterance 
 to those cries and hisses in which cattle drivers indulge 
 when they drive a herd before them; thinking in this 
 manner to persuade the poor divinities (of the country 
 they are attacking) that he is bringing cattle to their wor- 
 shippers, instead of coming to take it from them . 52 
 
 According to Thomson , 3 the natives of Cambodia as- 
 sumed that the Deity did not understand foreign languages. 
 Franklin 4 says that the Cree Indians treat their Deity, 
 whom they call Kepoochikawn, ‘with considerable fa- 
 miliarity, interlarding their most solemn speeches with 
 expostulations and threats of neglect if he fails in com- 
 plying with their requests/ 
 
 The North Australian native 5 will not go near graves 
 ‘ at night by himself ; but when they are obliged to pass 
 them they carry a fire-stick to keep off the spirit of dark- 
 ness/ 
 
 The Kyoungtha of Chittagong are Buddhists. Their 
 village temples contain a small stand of bells and an 
 image of Boodh, which the villagers generally worship 
 morning and evening, ‘first ringing the bells to let him 
 know that they are there / 6 The Sinto temples of the 
 Sun Goddess in Japan also contain a bell, ‘ intended to 
 arouse the goddess and to awaken her attention to the 
 prayers of her worshippers/ 7 
 
 According to the Brahmans , 8 ‘two things are indispen- 
 sably necessary to the sacrificer in performing the cere- 
 mony : several lighted lamps, and a bell/ 
 
 The Tartars of the Altai picture to themselves the Deity 
 
 1 Wood’s Natural History of Man, 5 Keppel’s Visit to the Indian Arcki- 
 
 vol. i. p. 307. pelago, vol. ii. p. 182. 
 
 2 Casalis’ Basutos, p. 253. 6 Lewin’s Hill Tracts of Chittagong, 
 
 3 Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. vi. p. 250. p. 39. 
 
 4 Visit to the Polar Seas, vol. iv. 7 Smith’s Ten Weeks in Japan, p. 49. 
 
 p. 146. 8 Dubois, The People of India, p. 400. 
 
136 THEIR LOW CONCEPTION OF THEIR DEITIES 
 
 as an old man, with a long beard, and dressed in the uni- 
 form of a Eussian officer of Dragoons . 1 
 
 Even the Greeks and Eomans believed stories very 
 derogatory not only to the moral character, but to the 
 intellect and power, of their deities. Thus they were 
 liable to defeat from mortals : Mars, though the God of 
 War, was wounded by Diomede and fled away howling 
 with pain. They had little or no power over the elements, 
 they had no foreknowledge, and were both morally and 
 mentally often represented as inferior to men. Even Homer 
 does not seem to have embraced the idea of Omnipotence . 2 
 In fact, it may truly be said that the savage has a much 
 greater respect for his chief than for his god . 3 
 
 This low estimate of spirits is shown in a very striking 
 manner by the behaviour of savages during eclipses. All 
 over the world we find races of men who believe that the sun 
 and moon are alive, and who consider that during eclipses 
 they are either quarrelling with each other or attacked by 
 the evil spirits of the air. Hence it naturally follows, 
 although to us it seems absurd, that the savage endeavours 
 to assist the sun or moon. The Greenlanders 4 regard the 
 sun and moon as sister and brother ; the former being the 
 female, and being constantly pursued by the latter. During 
 an eclipse they think the moon 6 goes about among the 
 houses to pilfer their skins and eatables, and even to kill 
 those people that have not duly observed the rules of 
 abstinence. At such times they hide away everything, 
 and the men carry chests and kettles on the top of the 
 house, and rattle and beat upon them to frighten away 
 the moon, and make him return to his place. At an 
 eclipse of the sun the women pinch the dogs by the ears ; 
 
 1 Klemm, Cult. d. Mens. vol. iii. 3 See Burton’s Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 
 
 p. 86. 180. Dubois, loc. cit. pp. 304, 430. 
 
 2 Gladstone’s Juventus Mundi, pp. 4 Crantz, yol. i. p. 232. 
 
 198, 228. 
 
AS EVIDENCED BY THEIR BEHAVIOUR DURING ECLIPSES. 137 
 
 if they cry, 5 tis a sure sign that the end of the world is 
 not yet come . 5 The Caribs, says Lafitau, accounted for 
 eclipses by supposing either that the moon was ill, or 
 that she was attacked by enemies ; these they endeavoured 
 to drive away by dances, by cries, and by the sacred 
 rattle . 1 The Chiquito Indians , 2 according to Dobritzhoffer, 
 think that the sun and moon during eclipses are e cruelly 
 torn by dogs, with which they think that the air abounds, 
 when they see their light fail ; attributing their blood-red 
 colour to the bites of these animals. Accordingly, to 
 defend their dear planets from those aerial mastiffs, they 
 send a shower of arrows up into the sky, amid loud 
 vociferations, at the time of the eclipse . 5 When the 
 Guaycurus, says Charlevoix, ‘ think themselves threatened 
 with a storm, they sally out of their towns, the men armed 
 with their mancanas, and the women and children howling 
 with all their might ; for they believe that, by so doing, 
 they put to flight the devil that intended to excite it . 5 3 
 The ancient Peruvians, also, used to beat their dogs during 
 eclipses, in order, apparently, that by their howlings they 
 might frighten away the evil spirits . 4 The Chinese of 
 Kiatka thought that eclipses were caused by the evil 
 spirit placing his hand on the moon, in whose defence 
 they immediately made as much noise as possible . 5 The 
 Stiens of Cambodia , 6 like the Cambodians themselves, 
 account for eclipses by the hypothesis ‘ that some being 
 has swallowed up the sun and the moon ; and, in order to # 
 deliver them, they made a frightful noise, beat the tam- 
 tam, uttered savage cries, and shot arrows into the air, 
 until the sun reappeared . 5 
 
 1 Lafitau, vol. i. pp. 248, 252. Tertre, * Martius, loc. cit. p. 32. 
 
 History of the Caribby Islands, p. 272. 5 Pallas, vol. iv. p. 220. 
 
 2 Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 84. 6 Mouhot’s Travels in Indo-China* 
 
 3 History of Paraguay, vol. i. p. 92. vol. i. p. 253. 
 
 See also p. 203. 
 
13S 
 
 BELIEF IN GHOSTS. 
 
 During an eclipse the Sumatrans 1 also ‘make a loud 
 noise with sounding instruments, to prevent one luminary 
 from devouring the other, as the Chinese, to frighten 
 away the dragon ; a superstition that has its source in 
 the ancient systems of astronomy (particularly the Hindu), 
 where the nodes of the moon are identified with the 
 dragon’s head and tail. They tell of a man in the moon 
 who is continually employed in spinning cotton, but that 
 every night a rat gnaws his thread, and obliges him to 
 begin his work afresh.’ 
 
 ‘In Eastern Africa,’ Speke 2 mentions that on one 
 occasion, ‘as there was a partial eclipse of the mpon, all 
 the Wanguana marched up and down from Rumanika’s 
 to Nnanagi’s huts, singing and beating our tin cooking- 
 pots to frighten off the spirit of the sun from consuming 
 entirely the chief object of reverence, the moon.’ Lander 3 
 mentions that at Boussa, in Central Africa, an eclipse 
 was attributed to an attack made by the sun on the 
 moon. During the whole time the eclipse lasted the 
 natives made as much noise as possible, ‘ in the hope of 
 being able to frighten away the sun to his proper sphere, 
 and leave the moon to enlighten the world as at other 
 times.’ 
 
 One of the difficulties in arriving at any clear concep- 
 tion of the religious system of the lower races arises from 
 a confusion between a belief in ghosts and that in an im- 
 mortal spirit. Yet the two are essentially distinct ; and 
 the spirit is not necessarily regarded as immortal because 
 it does not perish with the body. The negroes, for instance, 
 says one of our keenest observers, Captain Burton, ‘ believe 
 in a ghost, but not in spirit ; in a present immaterial, but 
 not in a future .’ 4 
 
 1 Marsden’s History of Sumatra, p. 3 R. and I. Lander’s Niger Expedi- 
 
 194. tion, vol. ii. pp. 180, 183. 
 
 2 Speke, p. 243. 4 Trans. Ethn. Soc.N.S. vol. i. p. 323 
 
ABSENCE OP BELIEF IN FUTURE LIFE. 
 
 139 
 
 Counting on nothing after the present life, there is for 
 them no hope beyond the grave. They wail and sorrow 
 with a burden of despair. ‘ Amekwisha 5 ‘ he is finished ’ 
 — is the East African’s last word concerning parent or 
 friend. ‘All is done for ever/ sing the West Africans. 
 The least allusion to loss of life makes their black skins 
 pale. ‘ Ah/ they exclaim, ‘ it is bad to die ; to leave house 
 and home, wife and children ; no more to wear soft cloth, 
 nor eat meat, nor smoke tobacco .’ 1 
 
 The Hudson’s Bay Indians, according to Hearne , 2 a 
 good observer and one who had ample means of judging, 
 had no idea of any life after death. 
 
 In other cases, the spirit is supposed to survive the 
 body for a certain time, and to linger about its old abode. 
 
 Ask the negro, says M. Du Chaillu , 3 c where is the 
 spirit of his great-grandfather, he says he does not know ; 
 it is done. Ask him about the spirit of his father or 
 brother who died yesterday, then he is full of fear and 
 terror ; he believes it to be generally near the place where 
 the body has been buried, and among many tribes the 
 village is removed immediately after the death of one of 
 the inhabitants.’ The same belief prevails among the 
 Amazulu Kaffirs, as has been well shown by Mr. Callaway . 4 
 They believe that the spirits of their deceased fathers 
 and brothers still live, because they appear in dreams ; by 
 inverse reasoning, however, grandfathers are generally 
 regarded as having ceased to exist. 
 
 Bosman mentions that on the Guinea Coast, when ‘ any 
 considerable person dies, they perplex one another with 
 horrid fears, proceeding from an opinion that he appears 
 for several nights successively near his late dwelling .’ 5 
 
 1 Burton, Trans. Ethn. Soc., vol. i. 309. 
 
 p.323. 4 The Religious System of the Ama- 
 
 2 Loc. cit . p. 344. zulu, 1869. 
 
 8 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. vol. i. p. 5 Bosman, loc. cit. p. 402. 
 
140 FUTURE LIFE DEPENDENT ON MODE OF DEATH. 
 
 Thus it seems that the power of a ghost after death bears 
 some relation to that which the man possessed when alive. 
 Other negroes think that after death they become white 
 men 1 2 — a curious idea, which also occurs in Australia. 
 Among the Tipperahs of Chittagong, if a man dies away 
 from home, his relatives stretch a thread over all the 
 intermediate streams, so that the spirit of the dead man 
 may return to his own village ; it being supposed that 
 ‘ without assistance spirits are unable to cross running 
 water; therefore the stream here had been bridged in 
 the manner aforesaid. 5 2 We know that a somewhat 
 similar idea existed in Europe, and it occurs also, as we 
 shall see (p. 145), in the Fegee Islands. 
 
 Again, some modes of death are supposed to kill not 
 only the body but the spirit also. Thus a Bushman 
 who was a magician, having put to death a woman, dashed 
 the head of the corpse to pieces with large stones, buried 
 her, and made a large fire over the grave, for fear, as 
 he explained to Lichtenstein, lest she should rise again 
 and c trouble him. 5 3 Even the New Zealanders believed 
 that a man who was eaten was destroyed both body and 
 spirit. The same idea evidently influenced the Californian 
 who, as recorded by Mr. Gibbs, did not dispute the immor- 
 tality of the whites who buried their dead, but could not 
 believe the same of his own people because they were in 
 the habit of burning them. 4 
 
 In these cases it will be observed that the existence of 
 the ghost depends upon the manner of death. This is no 
 doubt absurd, but it is not illogical. The savage’s idea of 
 a spirit is something ethereal indeed, but not altogether 
 immaterial, and consequently it may be injured by violence. 
 
 1 Loc.cit. p. 401. 3 Lichenstein, vol. ii. p. 61. 
 
 2 Lewin’s Hill Tracts of Chittagong, 4 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, Pt» 
 
 p. 84. HI. p. 107. 
 
BELIEF IN THE PLURALITY OF SOULS. 141 
 
 Some races believe in gliosts of the living as well as of the 
 dead. For instance, the Fijians 1 believe ‘ that the spirit 
 of a man who still lives will leave the body to trouble 
 other people when asleep. When anyone faints or dies, 
 their spirit, it is said, may sometimes be brought back by 
 calling after it. 
 
 Even when the ideas of a soul and of future life are more 
 developed, they are far from always taking the direction of 
 our beliefs. 
 
 Thus the Caribs and Redskins believe that a man has 
 more than one soul ; to this they are probably led by the 
 pulsation of the heart and the arteries, which they regard 
 as evidences of independent life. Thus also they account 
 for inconsistencies of behaviour. 
 
 The belief in ghosts, then, is essentially different from our 
 notions of a future life. Ghosts are mortal, they haunt 
 burial-grounds and hover round their own graves. Even 
 when a higher stage has been gained, the place of 
 departed souls is not a heaven, but merely a better 
 earth. 
 
 Divination and sorcery are very widely distributed. 
 Their characteristics are so well known and so similar all 
 over the world, that I shall only give a few suggestive 
 illustrations. 
 
 Whipple 2 thus describes a scene of divination among 
 the Cherokees. The priest having concluded an eloquent 
 address, took ‘ a curiously wrought bowl, alleged to be of 
 great antiquity ; he filled it with water and placed the 
 black substance within, causing it to move from one side to 
 the other, and from bottom to top, by a word. Alluding, 
 then, to danger and foes, the enchanted mineral fled from 
 the point of his knife ; but as he began to speak of peace 
 
 1 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 
 
 242. 
 
 2 Report on the Indian Tribes, p. 35. 
 
142 
 
 DIVINATION. 
 
 and security, it turned toward and clung to it, till lifted 
 entirely from the water. The priest finally interpreted 
 the omen by informing the people that peace was in the 
 ascendant, no enemy being near.’ 
 
 In West Africa 1 they have a mode of divination with 
 nuts, ‘ which they pretend to take up by guess, and let fall 
 again ; after which they tell them, and form their answers 
 according as the numbers are even or odd.’ The negroes 
 of Egba 2 consult Shango by 6 throwing sixteen pierced 
 cowries : if eight fall upwards and eight downwards, it 
 is peace ; if all are upwards, it is also a good sign ; and 
 vice versa , if all fall with their teeth to the ground, it is 
 war.’ 
 
 The Lapps have a curious mode of divination. They 
 put a shoulder-blade in the fire, and then foretell the 
 future by the arrangement of the cracks (figs. 15-17). 
 The same custom exists among the Mongols 3 and Tun- 
 guses of Siberia, 4 and the Bedouins. The lines vary 
 of course greatly, still there are certain principal cracks 
 which usually occur. The following figures of Kalmuck 
 specimens are copied from Klemm, who explains, after 
 Pallas, the meaning of the various lines. The Chipewyans 
 of North America also make their magic drawings on 
 shoulder-blades, which they then throw into the fire. 5 
 Williams 6 describes various modes of divination practised 
 in Fiji. 
 
 In New Zealand, before a warlike expedition is under- 
 taken, sticks are sometimes stuck up in the ground in two 
 rows, one of which denotes their own party, the other that 
 of the enemy. If the wind blows the enemy’s sticks 
 
 1 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, 4 Ibid. p. 109. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 674. 5 Tanner’s Narrative, p. 192. 
 
 2 Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 188. 6 Fiji and the Fijians, vol, i. p. 
 
 3 Klemm, Cult, der Mens., vol. iii. 228. See also Mariner’s Tonga 
 
 p. 199. Islands, vol. ii. p. 239. 
 
DIVINATION. 
 
 143 
 
 backwards, they will be defeated ; if forwards, they will be 
 victorious ; if obliquely, the expedition will be indecisive. 
 The same criterion is applied to their own sticks . 1 
 
 This is a case of divination, but from it to sorcery is a 
 short and obvious step. When once it is granted that the 
 fall of a stick certainly preludes that of the person it 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 shoulder-blades prepared FOR diyination. (Klemm, Culturg. der Menscheit, 
 
 vol. iii. p. 200.) 
 
 represents, it follows that by upsetting the stick, his death 
 can he caused. 
 
 We find a very similar idea in the western Highlands 
 of Scotland. In the ‘ Sea Maiden ’ a mermaid appears 
 to a fisherman, and gives him three seeds, which are to 
 produce three trees, which ‘ will he a sign, when one of 
 
 1 Yates New Zealand, p. 91. 
 
144 
 
 SORCERY. 
 
 the sons dies, one of the trees will wither and this 
 accordingly took place . 1 
 
 A supposed prophet of the Shawneese (North America) 
 sent word to Tanner that the fire in his lodge was inti- 
 mately connected with his life. ‘ Henceforth/ said he, 
 ‘ the fire must never be suffered to go out in your lodge. 
 Summer and winter, day and night, in the storm, or when 
 it is calm, you must remember that the life in your body 
 and the fire in your lodge are the same. If you suffer 
 your fire to be extinguished, at that moment your life will 
 be at an end .’ 2 
 
 Father Merolla mentions a case in which a Congo 
 (negro) witch tried to destroy him. With this object 
 she dug a hole in the ground, and I resolved, says 
 the worthy Father , 3 ‘not to stand long in one place, 
 thereby to avoid the design she had upon me to bewitch 
 me to death, that having been the reason of her making a 
 hole in the earth. It seems their custom is, that when 
 they have a mind to bewitch anyone mortally, they put a 
 certain herb or plant into the hole they have so dug; 
 which, as it perishes or decays, so the vigour and spirits 
 of the person they have a design upon will fail and decay . 5 
 In Fiji 4 ‘ one mode of operating is to bury a cocoa-nut, 
 with the eye upwards, beneath the temple-hearth, on 
 which a fire is kept constantly burning ; and as the life of 
 the nut is destroyed, so the health of the person it repre- 
 sents will fail, till death ensues. At Matuku there is a 
 grove sacred to the god Tokalau, the wind. The priest 
 promises the destruction of any hated person in four days 
 if those who wish his death bring a portion of his hair, 
 dress, or food which he has left. This priest keeps a fire 
 burning, and approaches the place on his hands and knees. 
 
 1 Campbell’s Tales of the "West 3 Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. 290. 
 
 Highlands, vol. i. p. 71. 4 Fiji and the Pijians, vol. i. p. 
 
 2 Tanner’s Narrative, p. 156. 248. 
 
SORCERY. 
 
 145 
 
 If tlie victim bathe before the fourth day, the spell is broken. 
 The most common method, however, is the Yakadranikau, 
 or compounding of certain leaves supposed to possess a 
 magical power, and which are wrapped in other leaves, or 
 put into a small bamboo case, and buried in the garden of 
 the person to be bewitched, or hidden in the thatch of 
 his house. The native imagination is so absolutely under 
 the control of the fear of these charms, that persons, 
 hearing that they were the objects of such spells, have 
 lain down on their mats, and died through fear. Those 
 who have reason to suspect others of plotting against 
 them, avoid eating in their presence, or are careful to 
 leave no fragment of food behind ; they also dispose their 
 garments so that no part can be removed. Most natives 
 on cutting their hair hide what is cut off in the thatch of 
 their own houses. Some build themselves a small house, 
 and surround it with a moat, believing that a little water 
 will neutralise the charms which are directed against 
 them/ In North America, to ensure a successful war, 
 courtship, or hunt, the Indians make a rude drawing, or 
 a little image to represent the man, woman, or animal ; 
 then medicine is applied to it, or, if the design is to cause 
 death, the heart is pierced . 1 In India also the magicians 
 make small figures of mud, on the breasts of which they 
 write the names of those whom they wish to annoy. They 
 then ‘ pierce the images with thorns, or mutilate them, so 
 as to communicate a corresponding injury to the person 
 represented/ 2 
 
 In other cases, the possession of a person’s name is suffi- 
 cient, and indeed, all over the world we find more or less 
 confusion between a thing or a person, and its or his name. 
 Hence the importance attached among the North American 
 
 1 Tanner’s Narrative, p. 174. 
 
 2 Dubois, The People of India, p. 347. 
 
146 CONFUSION OF NAME AND THING. 
 
 Indians and South Sea Islanders to an exchange of names. 
 Hence, as already mentioned, we often find a person’s 
 real name concealed, lest a knowledge of it should give 
 a power over the person. Even the Romans when they 
 besieged a town, had a curious ceremony founded on the 
 same idea. They invoked the tutelar deity of the city, 
 and tempted him by the offer of rewards and sacrifices 
 6 to betray his friends and votaries. In that ceremony 
 the name of the tutelar deity was thought of importance, 
 and for that reason the tutelar deity of Rome was a pro- 
 found secret .’ 1 
 
 Sumatra gives us a curious instance of long survival of 
 this idea in a somewhat advanced community. 6 A Suma- 
 tran 2 ever scrupulously abstains from pronouncing his own 
 name ; not, as I understand, from any motive of super- 
 stition, but merely as a punctilio in manners. It occasions 
 him infinite embarrassment when a stranger, unacquainted 
 with their customs, requires it of him. As soon as he 
 recovers from his confusion, he solicits the interposition 
 of his neighbour. He is never addressed, except in 
 the case of a superior dictating to his dependant, in the 
 second person, but always in the third ; using his name 
 or title instead of the pronoun; and when these are un- 
 known, a general title of respect is substituted, and they 
 say, for instance, “ apa orang kaya punia suka,” ee what is 
 his honour’s pleasure,” for “ what is your, or your honour’s 
 pleasure.” When criminals or other ignominious persons 
 are spoken to, use is made of the pronoun personal kau 
 (a contraction of angkau), particularly expressive of con- 
 tempt . 5 
 
 Generally, however, it was considered indispensable 
 that the sorcerer should possess ‘ something connected 
 
 1 Lord Karnes’ History of Man, vol. 2 Marsden’s History of Sumatra, 
 
 \v. p. 226. p. 286. 
 
CONFUSION OF PAST AND WHOLE. 147 
 
 with the body of the object of vengeance. The parings of 
 the nails, a lock of the hair, the saliva from the mouth, or 
 other secretions from the body, or else a portion of the food 
 which the person was to eat. This was considered as the 
 vehicle by which the demon entered the person, who after- 
 wards became possessed. It was called the tubu, growing 
 or causing to grow. When procured, the tara was per- 
 formed ; the sorcerer took the hair, saliva, or other sub- 
 stance that had belonged to his victim, to his house, or 
 marae, performed his incantations over it, and offered his 
 prayers ; the demon was then supposed to enter the tubu, 
 and through it the individual, who afterwards became 
 possessed . 51 
 
 In New Zealand 1 2 also the sorcerers ‘ use the saliva of the 
 people whom they intend to bewitch ; and visitors care- 
 fully conceal their spittle, to give them no opportunity of 
 working their evil . 5 Tylor 3 also says that a ‘ person who 
 wished to bewitch another, sought to obtain something' 
 belonging to him — a lock of hair, a portion of his garment, 
 or even some of his food ; this being possessed, he uttered 
 certain karakias over it, and then buried it ; as the 
 article decayed, the individual also was supposed to 
 waste away. This was sure to be the case if the 
 victim heard of it ; fear quickly accomplishing his enemy’s 
 wish. The person who bewitched another, remained 
 three days without eating ; on the fourth he ate, and his 
 victim died . 5 
 
 So also Seemann 4 tells us that ‘ if a Fijian wishes to 
 cause the destruction of an individual by other means than 
 open violence or secret poison, the case is put in the hands 
 of one of these sorcerers, care being taken to let this fact 
 
 1 Williams’ Polynesian Researches, 9 New Zealand and its Inhabitants, 
 
 vol. ii. p. 228. pp. 89, 167. 
 
 * Dieffenbach, vol. ii. p. 69. 4 A Mission to Yiti, p. 189. 
 
L48 
 
 SIMILARITY OF WITCHCRAFT 
 
 be generally and widely known. The sorcerer now pro- 
 ceeds to obtain any article that has once been in the 
 possession of the person to be operated npon. These 
 articles are then burnt with certain leaves, and if the 
 reputation of the sorcerer be sufficiently powerful, in nine 
 cases out of ten the nervous fears of the individual to be 
 punished will bring on disease, if not death : a similar 
 process is applied to discover thieves . 5 
 
 Sir G. Grey thus describes a scene of witchcraft in New 
 Zealand : 6 The priests 1 then dug a long pit, termed the pit 
 of wrath, into which by their long enchantments they 
 might bring the spirits of their enemies, and hang them 
 and destroy them there ; and when they had dug the pit, 
 muttering the necessary incantations, they took large 
 shells in their hands to scrape the spirits of their enemies 
 into the pit with, whilst they muttered enchantments ; 
 and when they had done this they scraped the earth into 
 the pit again to cover them up, and beat down the earth 
 with their hands, and crossed the pit with enchanted 
 cloths, and wove baskets of flax-leaves to hold the spirits 
 of the foes which they had thus destroyed, and each of 
 these acts they accompanied with proper spells . 5 
 
 In North America, also, c a hair from the head of the 
 victim 5 is supposed to increase greatly the efficacy of 
 charms. 
 
 We cannot wonder that savages believe in witchcraft, 
 since even the most civilised races have not long, nor 
 entirely, ceased to do so. 
 
 Like our spirit-rappers and table-turners, the Chinese 
 magicians , 2 though they have never seen the person who 
 consults them, they tell his name, and all the circum- 
 stances of his family ; in what manner his house is situated, 
 
 1 Polynesian Mythology, p. 168. 
 
 2 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, vol. iv. p. 205. 
 
m VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD. 149 
 
 liow many children lie has, their names and age ; with a 
 hundred other particulars, which may be naturally enough 
 supposed known to the demons, and are strangely sur- 
 prising to weak and credulous minds among the vulgar. 
 
 6 Some of these conjurers, after invoking the demons, 
 cause the figures of the chief of their sect, and of their 
 idols, to appear in the air. Formerly they could make a 
 pencil write of itself, without anybody touching it, upon 
 paper or sand, the answers to questions. They likewise 
 cause all people of any house to pass in review in a large 
 vessel of water ; wherein they also show the changes that 
 shall happen in the empire, and the imaginary dignities 
 to which those shall be advanced who embrace their sect. 
 
 In all parts of India, says De Faira, 1 c there are pro- 
 digious wizards. When Yasco de Gama was sailing upon 
 that discovery some of them at Kalekut showed people, in 
 basins of water, the three ships he had with him. When 
 Don Francisco de Almeyda, the first viceroy of India, was 
 returning to Portugal, some witches of Kochin told him 
 he should not pass the Cape of Good Hope ; and there he 
 was buried. (This is strained a little ; for he did pass the 
 Cape, and was buried at the bay of Saldanna, some leagues 
 beyond, as will be seen hereafter.) What follows is still 
 more extraordinary. At Maskat there are such sorcerers 
 that they eat the inside of a thing, only fixing their eyes 
 upon it. With their sight they draw out the entrails of 
 any human body, and so kill many people. One of these 
 fascinators, fixing his eyes on a bateka, or water melon, 
 sucked out the inside; for, being cut open to try the 
 experiment, it was found empty ; and the wizard, to 
 satisfy the spectators, vomited it up again.’ 
 
 Father Merolla, 1 2 a Capuchin ‘ missioner,’ tells quite 
 
 1 Quoted in Astley’s Collection of 2 Voyage to Congo, Pinkerton, vol. 
 
 Voyages, vol. i. p. 63. xv. p. 229. 
 
150 BELIEF m WITCHCRAFT 
 
 gravely the following story. The army of Sogno having 
 captured a neighbouring town, found in it a large cock 
 with a ring of iron round one leg. This they killed, cut 
 in pieces, and put into a pot to boil ; when, however, they 
 thought to eat it, 6 the boiled pieces of the cock, though 
 sodden, and near dissolved, began to move about, and 
 unite into the form they were in before, and being so 
 united, the restored cock immediately raised himself up, 
 and jumped out of the platter upon the ground, where he 
 walked about as well as when he w r as first taken. After- 
 wards he leaped upon an adjoining wall, where he became 
 new-feathered all of a sudden, and then took his flight to 
 a tree hard by, where, fixing himself, he, after three claps 
 of his wings, made a most hideous noise, and then dis- 
 appeared. Everyone may easily imagine what a terrible 
 fright the spectators were in at this sight, who, leaping 
 with a thousand Ave-Marias in their mouths from the 
 place where this had happened, were contented to observe 
 most of the particulars at a distance . 5 
 
 To doubt the reality of witchcraft, says Lafitau , 1 ‘ est 
 une industrie des athees, et un effet de cet esprit d’irre 
 ligion qui fait aujourd’hui des progres si sensibles dans 
 le monde, d’avoir detruit en quelque sorte dans l’idee de 
 ceux meme qui se piquent d’avoir de la religion ; qu 5 il se 
 trouve des hommes, qui ayent commerce avec les demons 
 par la voye des enchantemens et de la magie. On a 
 attache a cette opinion une certaine faiblesse d’esprit a 
 la croire, qui fait qu’on ne la tolere plus, que dans les 
 femmelettes et dans le bas peuple, ou dans les pretres 
 et dans les religieux, qu 5 on suppose avoir interet a 
 entretenir ces visions populaires, qu’un homme de sens 
 auroit honte d’avouer. Pour etablir cependant cet esprit 
 
 1 Loc. cit . yoI. i. p. 374. 
 
SHARED BY EUROPEAN TRAVELLERS. 151 
 
 d’incredulite, il fant qne ces pretendus esprits forts veuil- 
 lent s’aveugler an milieu de la lumiere, qu’ils renversent 
 1’Ancien et le Nouveau Testament; qu’ils contredisent 
 toute l’antiquite, l’histoire sacree et la profane. On 
 trouve partout des temoignages de ce commerce des 
 hommes avec les divinites du paganisme, ou pour mieux 
 dire avec les demons/ 
 
 He does not deny that some wizards were impostors, 
 but he maintains that ‘ ce seroit rendre le monde trop sot, 
 que de vouloir le supposer pendant plusieurs siecles, la 
 dupe de quelques miserables joureurs de gobelets.’ Nay, 
 he even maintained 1 that America was, for some myste- 
 rious reason, handed over to the devil, and accounted for 
 the remarkable similarity between some of the religious 
 ceremonies, &c., in the new and old worlds, by the hy- 
 pothesis that 6 le demon, jaloux de la gloire de Dieu, et 
 du bonheur de l’homme, a toujours ete attentif a derober 
 a Tun le culte qui lui est du, et a perdre 1’autre, en le 
 rendant son Adorateur. Pour cela il a erige Autel contre 
 Autel, et a affecte de maintenir le culte, qu’il vouloit se 
 faire rendre par les effets d’une puissance sur-humaine, 
 qui imposassent par le merveilieux, et qui fussent unites 
 et copies d’apres ceux, dont Dieu donnait a son peuple 
 des temoignages si autentiques, par l’evidence des miracles 
 qu’il faisoit en sa faveur.’ 
 
 Labat 2 also, while admitting ‘ qu’on exagere souvent 
 dans ce qu’on en dit ; mais je croi qu’il faut convenir que 
 tout ce qu’on dit n’est pas entierement faux, quoiqu’il ne 
 soit peut-etre pas entierement vrai. Je suis aussi per- 
 suade qu’il y a des faits d’une verite tres-constante ; ’ 
 and after mentioning four of these supposed facts, he 
 concludes, ‘ il me semble que ces ouatre faits suffisenl 
 
 1 Vol. i. p. 355. 
 
 2 Voyage aux Isles de l’Am^rique, vol. ii. p. 57- 
 
152 
 
 SORCERERS NOT NECESSARILY IMPOSTORS. 
 
 pour prouver qu ? il y a veritablement des gens qui ont 
 commerce avec le diable, et qui se servent de lui en bien 
 des choses . 5 
 
 Some, even of our recent missionaries, according to 
 Williams, believed tbat the Polynesian wizards really 
 possessed supernatural powers, and were ‘ agents of the 
 infernal powers . 5 1 Nay, Williams himself thought it ‘ not 
 impossible . 5 
 
 We may well be surprised that Europeans should believe 
 in such things, and missionaries so credulous and ignorant 
 ought, one might suppose, rather to learn than to teach ; 
 on the other hand, it is not surprising that savages should 
 believe in witchcraft, nor even that the wizards should 
 believe in themselves. 
 
 We must indeed by no means suppose that sorcerers 
 were always, or indeed generally, impostors. 
 
 The Shamans of Siberia are, says Wrangel , 1 2 by no 
 means ‘ ordinary deceivers, but a psychological pheno- 
 menon, well deserving of attention. Whenever I have 
 seen them operate they have left with me a long-continued 
 and gloomy impression. The wild look, the bloodshot 
 eyes, the labouring breast and convulsive utterance, the 
 seemingly involuntary distortion of the face and the whole 
 body, the streaming hair, even the hollow sound of the 
 drum, all contributed to the effect ; and I can well under- 
 stand that the whole should appear to the uncivilised 
 spectator as the work of evil spirits . 5 
 
 Speaking of the Ahts in North-west America, it is 
 undoubtedly a fact, says Mr. Sproat , 3 ‘ that many of the 
 sorcerers themselves thoroughly believe in their own 
 supernatural powers, and are able, in their preparations 
 
 1 Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. p. 3 Scenes and Studies of Savage Life, 
 
 226. p. 170. 
 
 2 Siberia, p. 124. 
 
FASTING. 
 
 153 
 
 and practices, to endure excessive fatigue, want of food, 
 and intense prolonged mental excitement . 5 
 
 Dobritzhoffer also concludes that the sorcerers of the 
 Abipones 1 themselves ‘ imagine that they are gifted with 
 superior wisdom ; 5 and Muller also is convinced that they 
 honestly believe in themselves . 2 
 
 We should, says Martius , 3 c do them an injustice if 
 we regarded the Brazilian sorcerers as mere impostors/ 
 though, he adds, they do not scruple to cheat where they 
 can. 
 
 Williams, also, who was by no means disposed to take 
 a favourable view of the native sorcerers, admits that they 
 believed in themselves, a fact which it is only fair to bear 
 in mind . 4 
 
 This self-deception was much facilitated by, if not 
 mainly due to, the very general practice of fasting by 
 those who aspired to the position of wizards. The Green- 
 lander, says Cranz , 5 who would be an angekok, 6 must 
 retire from all mankind for a while into some solitary 
 recess or hermitage, must spend the time in profound 
 meditation, and call upon Torngarsuk to send him a 
 torngak. At length, by abandoning the converse of men, 
 by fasting and emaciating the body, and by a strenuous 
 intenseness of thought, the man’s imagination grows dis- 
 tracted, so that blended images of men, beasts, and 
 monsters appear before him. He readily thinks these 
 are real spirits, because his thoughts are full of spirits, 
 and this throws his body into great irregularities and 
 convulsions, which he labours to cherish and augment . 5 
 
 Among the North American Indians , 6 when a boy reaches 
 
 1 Loc. cit. yol. ii. p. 68. 226. 
 
 2 Ges. d. Am. IJrr. p. 80. 5 History of Greenland, yol. i. p. 
 
 3 Von d. Rechtszus. unter den Ur. 210. 
 
 Brasiliens, p. 30. 6 Catlin’s North American Indians, 
 
 4 Polynesian Researches, yol. ii. p. yol. i. p. 36. 
 
 8 
 
154 
 
 FASTING. 
 
 maturity, lie leaves home and absents himself for some 
 days, during which he eats nothing, but lies on the ground 
 thinking. When at length he falls asleep the first animal 
 about which he dreams is, he thinks, ordained to be his 
 special protector through life . 1 The dream itself he looks 
 on as a revelation. Indeed the Bedskins fast before any 
 great expedition, thinking that during their dreams they 
 receive indications as to the course of action which they 
 should pursue . 2 
 
 Among the Cherokees also fasting is very prevalent, 
 ‘ and an abstinence of seven days renders the devotee 
 famous.’ 3 
 
 The Flatheads of Oregon have a very similar custom. 
 Here, however, a number of youths retire together. 
 4 They spend three days and nights in the performance 
 of these rites, without eating or drinking. By the languor 
 of the body and the high excitement of the imagination 
 produced during this time, their sleep must be broken 
 and visited by visions adapted to their views .’ 4 These, 
 therefore, they not unnaturally look on as the visits of 
 spirits. 
 
 Those who by continued fasts have thus purified and 
 cleared their minds from gross ideas, are supposed to be 
 capable of a clearer insight into the future than that which 
 is accorded to ordinary men, and are called 6 Saiotkatta ’ 
 by the Hurons, and 6 Agotsinnachen ’ by the Iroquois, 
 terms which mean literally ‘ seers.’ 5 
 
 In Brazil, a young man who wishes to be a paje dwells 
 alone in some mountain, or in some lone place, and fasts 
 for two years, after which he is admitted with certain 
 
 1 Lafitau, loc. cit. vol. i. pp. 267, 290, Tribes, p. 36. 
 
 331, and especially pp. 336 and 370. 4 Dunn’s Oregon, p. 329. 
 
 2 Carver’s Travels, p. 285. 5 Lafitau, vol. i. p. 371. 
 
 3 Whipple’s Eeport on Indian 
 
RELIGIOUS DANCES. 
 
 155 
 
 ceremonies into tlie order of pajes . 1 Among the Abipones 2 
 and Caribs 3 4 those who aspire to be 6 keebet ’ proceed in a 
 similar manner. Among the South American Indians of 
 the Rio de la Plata the Medicine-men were prepared for 
 their office by a long fast . 4 Among the Lapps, also, 
 would-be wizards prepare themselves by a strict fast . 5 
 
 At first sight the introduction of the 6 dance 9 may seem 
 out of place here. Among savages, however, it is no mere 
 amusement. It is, says Robertson , 6 ‘ a serious and im- 
 portant occupation, which mingles in every occurrence of 
 public or private life. If any intercourse be necessary 
 between two American tribes the ambassadors of the one 
 approach in a solemn dance and present the calumet or 
 emblem of peace ; the sachems of the other receive it with 
 the same ceremony. If war is denounced against an 
 enemy, it is by a dance, expressive of the resentment which 
 they feel, and of the vengeance which they meditate. If 
 the wrath of their gods is to be appeased, or their benefi- 
 cence to be celebrated — if they rejoice at the birth of a 
 child, or mourn the death of a friend, they have dances 
 appropriated to each of these situations, and suited to the 
 different sentiments with which they are then animated. 
 If a person is indisposed a dance is prescribed as the most 
 effectual means to restore him to health ; and if he him- 
 self cannot endure the fatigue of such an exercise, the 
 physician or conjurer performs it in his name, as if the 
 virtue of his activity could be transferred to his patient/ 
 
 Among the Kols of Nagpore Colonel Dalton 7 describes 
 
 1 Martius, Becht. unter d. Ur. Bras p. So. 
 
 p. 30. 6 Bobertson’s America, bk. iv. p. 
 
 2 Dobritzhoffer, yoI. ii. p. 67. 133. See also Schoolcraft, loc. eit. vol. 
 
 3 Du Tertre, History of the Caribby iii. p. 488, on the Sacred Dances of the 
 
 Islands, p. 342. Bedskins. 
 
 4 Lafitau, vol. i. p. 335. 7 Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. vi. p. 30. 
 
 5 Klemm, Cult, der Mens., vol. iii. 
 
156 
 
 RELIGIOUS DANCES, 
 
 dance. (From Lafitau’s ‘ Mceurs des Sauvages.’) 
 
SMOKING AS A RELIGIOUS FORM. 157 
 
 several dances which, he says, ‘ are all more or less con- 
 nected with some religious ceremony. 5 
 
 The Ostyaks also perform sacred sword dances in honour 
 of their god Yelan. 1 
 
 Fig. 18 represents a sacred dance as practised by the 
 natives of Virginia. It is very interesting to see here a 
 circle of upright stones, which, except that they are rudely 
 carved at the upper end into the form of a head, exactly 
 resemble our so-called Druidical temples. 
 
 The idea is by no means confined to mere savages. 
 Even Socrates 2 regarded the dance as a part of religion, 
 and David, we know, did so too. 3 
 
 As sacrificial feasts so generally enter into religious cere- 
 monials, we need not wonder that smoking is throughout 
 America closely connected with all religious ceremonies, 
 just as incense is used for the same purpose in the Old 
 World. 4 Among the Sonthals also, one of the aboriginal 
 tribes of India, the whole of their religious observances 
 c are generally performed and attended to by the votaries 
 whilst in a state of intoxication ; a custom which reminds 
 us of the worship of Bacchus among the Greeks and 
 Bomans. 5 5 
 
 1 Erman,vol. ii. p. 52. 4 Lafitau, vol. ii. p. 133. 
 
 2 Soc. apud Athen. lib. 14, p. 628. 5 The People of India, by J. F% 
 
 Quoted in Lafitau, vol. i. p. 200. Watson and J. W. Kaye, yoI. i. p. 1. 
 
 3 2 Sam. vi. 14, 22. 
 
158 
 
 RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF AUSTRALIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 religion [continued). 
 
 I N tracing up tlie gradual evolution of religious beliefs 
 we may begin with the Australians, who possess 
 merely certain vague ideas as to the existence of evil 
 spirits, and a general dread of witchcraft. This belief 
 cannot be said to influence them by day, but it renders 
 them very unwilling to quit the camp fire by night, or to 
 sleep near a grave. They have no idea of creation, nor 
 do they use prayers ; they have no religious forms, cere- 
 monies, or worship. They do not believe in the existence 
 of a Deity, nor is morality in any way connected with 
 their religion, if it can be so called. The words ‘ good 3 
 or ‘ bad 9 had reference to taste or bodily comfort, and did 
 not convey any idea of right or wrong. 1 Another curious 
 notion of the Australians is that white men are blacks 
 who have risen from the dead. This notion was found 
 among the natives north of Sydney as early as 1795, and 
 can scarcely, therefore, be of missionary origin. 2 It occurs 
 also among the negroes of Guinea. 3 The ideas of the 
 Australians on the subject, however, seem to have been 
 very various and confused. . They had certainly no general 
 and definite view on the subject. 
 
 As regards the North Australians we have trustworthy 
 accounts given by a Scotchwoman, Mrs. Thomson, who 
 
 1 Loc. cit. pp. 354, 355, 356. 3 Smith’s Guinea, p. 215. Bosnian, 
 
 2 Collins’ English Colony in N.S. Pinkerton’s Voyages, vol. xv. p. 40. 
 Wales, p. 303. 
 
RELIGION OF AUSTRALIANS. VEDDAHS. 159 
 
 was wrecked on the Eastern Prince of Wales Island. Her 
 husband and the rest of the crew were drowned, but she 
 was saved by the natives, and lived with them nearly five 
 years, until the visit of the 4 Rattlesnake , 5 when she escaped 
 with some difficulty. On the whole she was kindly treated 
 by the men, though the women were long jealous of her, 
 and behaved towards her with much cruelty. These people 
 have no idea of a Supreme Being . 1 2 They do not believe in 
 the immortality of the soul, but hold that they are c after 
 death changed into white people or Europeans, and as 
 such pass the second and final period of their existence ; 
 nor is it any part of their creed that future rewards and 
 punishments are awarded . 5 2 
 
 Mrs. Thomson was supposed to be the ghost of Giom, 
 a daughter of a man named Piaquai, and when she was 
 teased by children, the men would often tell them to leave 
 her alone, saying, ‘ Poor thing ! she is nothing — only a 
 ghost . 5 This, however, did not prevent a man named 
 Boroto making her his wife, which shows how little is 
 actually implied in the statement the Australians believe 
 in spirits. They really do no more than believe in the 
 existence of men, somewhat different from, and a little 
 more powerful than, themselves. The South Australians 
 as described by Stephens had no religious rites, ceremonies, 
 or worship ; no idea of a Supreme Being ; but a vague 
 dread of evil spirits . 3 
 
 TheTeddahs of Ceylon, according to Davy, believe in 
 evil beings, but ( have no idea of a supreme and beneficent 
 God, or of a state of future existence, or of a system of 
 rewards and punishments ; and, in consequence, they are of 
 opinion that it signifies little whether they do good or evil . 54 
 
 1 Me Gillivray’s Voyage of the 3 Stephens’ South Australia, p. 78. 
 
 Rattlesnake, vol. ii. p. 29. 4 Davy’s Ceylon, p. 118. 
 
 2 Log „ cit . p. 29. 
 
160 
 
 RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE CALIFORNIANS. 
 
 The Indians of California have been well described by 
 Father Baegert, a Jesuit missionary, who lived among them 
 no less than seventeen years . 1 As to government or 
 religion, he says , 2 * neither the one nor the other existed 
 among them. They had no magistrates, no police, and no 
 laws ; idols, temples, religions worship or ceremonies were 
 unknown to them, and they neither believed in the true 
 and only God, nor adored false deities. They were all 
 equals, and everyone did as he pleased, without asking 
 his neighbour or caring for his opinion, and thus all vices 
 and misdeeds remained unpunished, excepting such cases 
 in which the offended individual or his relations took the 
 law into their own hands and revenged themselves on the 
 guilty party. The different tribes represented by no 
 means communities of rational beings, who submit to laws 
 and regulations and obey their superiors, but resembled 
 far more herds of wild swine, which run about according 
 to their own liking, being together to-day and scattered 
 to-morrow, till they meet again by accident at some future 
 time. 
 
 6 In one word, the Californians lived, salva venia , as 
 though they had been freethinkers and materialists. 
 
 ‘ I made diligent enquiries, among those with whom I 
 lived, to ascertain whether they had any conception of 
 God, a future life, and their own souls, but I never could 
 discover the slightest trace of such a knowledge. Their 
 language has no words for “ God ” and “ soul,” for which 
 reason the missionaries were compelled to use in their 
 sermons and religious instructions the Spanish words Dios 
 and alma. It could hardly be otherwise with people who 
 thought of nothing but eating and merry-making and 
 
 1 Naehrichten yon der Amer. Halb. 2 Smithsonian Reports, 1864, p. 
 
 Califomie, 1773. Translated in Smith- 390. 
 sonian Reports, 1863-4. 
 
CALIFORNIANS. BACHAPINS. 
 
 161 
 
 never reflected on serious matters, but dismissed every- 
 thing that lay beyond the narrow compass of their con- 
 ceptions with the phrase aipekeriri, which means “who 
 knows that?” I often asked them whether they had 
 never put to themselves the question who might be the 
 Creator and Preserver of the sun, moon, stars, and other 
 objects of nature, but was always sent home with a vara, 
 which means “ no ” in their language/ They had, how- 
 ever, certain sorcerers, whom they believed to possess 
 power over diseases, to bring small-pox, famine, &c., and 
 of whom, therefore, they were in much fear. 
 
 Mr. Gibbs, speaking of the Indians living in the valleys 
 drained by the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, says : 
 6 One of this tribe, who had been for three or four years 
 among the whites, and accompanied the expedition, on 
 being questioned as to his own belief in a Deity, ac- 
 knowledged his entire ignorance on the subject. As 
 regarded a future state of any kind, he was equally unin- 
 formed and indifferent ; in fact, did not believe in any for 
 himself. As a reason why his people did not go to another 
 country after death, while the whites might, he assigned 
 that the Indians burned their dead, and he supposed there 
 was an end of them / 1 
 
 The religion of the Bachapins, a Kaffir tribe, has been 
 described by Burchell. They had no outward worship, 
 nor, so far as he could learn, any private devotion ; indeed, 
 they had no belief in a beneficent Deity, though they 
 feared an evil Being called * Muleemo,’ or c Murimo/ They 
 had no idea of creation. Even when Burchell suggested it 
 to them, they did not attribute it to Muleemo, but c asserted 
 that every thing made itself, and that trees and herbage 
 grew by their own will / 2 They believed in sorcery, and 
 in the efficacy of amulets. 
 
 1 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, toI. iii. p. 107. 2 Travels, voL p. 550. 
 
162 
 
 KAFFIKS. 
 
 Dr. Yanderkemp, the first missionary to the Kaffirs, 
 4 never could perceive that they had any religion, or any 
 idea of the existence of God/ Mr. Moffat also, who lived 
 in South Africa as a missionary for many years, says that 
 they were utterly destitute of theological ideas ; 5 and 
 Dr. Gardner, in his ‘ Faiths of the World, 5 concludes as 
 follows / 6 From all that can be ascertained on the religion 
 of the Kaffirs, it seems that those of them who are still 
 in their heathen state have no idea, (1) of a Supreme 
 Intelligent Kuler of the universe ; (2) of a Sabbath ; (3) 
 of a day of judgment ; (4) of the guilt and pollution of 
 sin ; (5) of a Saviour to deliver them from the wrath to 
 come/ 
 
 The Rev. Canon Callaway has recently published a 
 very interesting memoir on ‘ The Religious System of the 
 Amazulu, 5 who are somewhat more advanced in their 
 religious conceptions. The first portion is entitled 6 Un- 
 kulunkulu or the Tradition of Creation/ It does not, 
 however, appear that Unkulunkulu is regarded as a 
 Creator, or even as a Deity at all. It is simply the first 
 man, the Zulu Adam. Some complication arises from the 
 fact that not only the ancestor of all mankind, but also 
 the first of each tribe, is called Unkulunkulu, so that 
 there are many Onkulunkulu, or Unkulunkulus. None of 
 them, however, have any of the characters of Deity; no 
 prayers or sacrifices are offered to them ; 1 2 indeed, they no 
 longer exist, having been long dead. 3 Unkulunkulu was 
 in no sense a Creator, 4 nor, indeed, is any special power 
 attributed to him. 5 He, i.e. man, arose from c Umklanga, 5 
 that is ‘ a bed of reeds/ but, how lie did so, no one knew. 6 
 Mr. Callaway agrees with Casalis, that ‘ it never entered 
 
 1 Loc. cit. p. 260. 4 Loo . cit. p. 187. 
 
 2 Loc. cit . pp. 9, 25, 34, 75. 5 Loc. cit. p. 43. 
 
 r Loc . cit. pp. 15, 33, 62. 6 loc . Ciu pp. 9. 40. 
 
KAFFIRS. 
 
 163 
 
 the heads of the Zulus that the earth and sky-might be 
 the work of an invisible Being/ 1 One native thought the 
 white men made the world . 2 They had, indeed, no idea of, 
 or name for, God . 3 When Moffat endeavoured to explain 
 to a chief about God, he exclaimed, 6 Would that I could 
 catch it! I would transfix it with my spear;’ yet this 
 was a man ‘ whose judgment on other subjects would 
 command attention .’ 4 
 
 Yet they are not without a belief in invisible beings. 
 This is founded partly on the shadow, but principally on 
 the dream. They regard the shadow as in some way the 
 spirit which accompanies the body (reminding us of the 
 similar idea among the Greeks), and they have a curious 
 notion that a dead body casts no shadow . 5 
 
 Still more important has been the influence of dreams. 
 When a dead father or brother appears to a man in his 
 sleep, he does not doubt the reality of the occurrence, and 
 hence concludes that they still live. Grandfathers, however, 
 are by inverse reasoning regarded as generally dead . 6 
 
 Diseases are regarded as being often caused by the 
 spirits of discontented relatives. In other respects these 
 spirits are not regarded as possessing any special powers ; 
 though prayed to, it is not in such a manner as to indicate 
 a belief that they have any supernatural influence, and 
 they are clearly not regarded as immortal. In some cases 
 departed relatives are regarded as reappearing in the form 
 of snakes , 7 which may be known from ordinary snakes by 
 certain signs , 8 such as their frequenting huts, not eating 
 mice, and showing no fear of man. Sometimes a snake 
 is recognised as the representative of a given man by some 
 
 1 Loc. cit . pp, 54, 108, 5 Loc. cit . p. 91. 
 
 2 Loc . cit . p. 55. • Loc. cit. p. 15, 
 
 3 Loc. cit. pp. 107, 113, 136. 7 Loc. cit. p. 8. 
 
 4 Loc. cit. p. 111. 8 Loc. cit. pp. 198, 199. 
 
164 
 
 FETICHISM. 
 
 peculiar mark or scar, the absence of an eye, or some other 
 similar point of resemblance. 
 
 In such cases sacrifices are sometimes offered to the 
 snake, and when a bullock is killed part is put away for 
 the use of the dead or Amatongo, who are specially invited 
 to the feast, whose assistance is requested, and whose 
 wrath is deprecated. Yet this can hardly be called ‘ an- 
 cestor worship. 5 The dead have, it is true, the advantage 
 of invisibility, but they are not regarded as omnipresent, 
 omnipotent, or immortal. There are even means by which 
 troublesome spirits may be destroyed or c laid. 5 1 
 
 In such cases as these, then, we see religion in a very 
 low phase ; that in which it consists merely of belief in 
 the existence of evil beings, less material than we are, but 
 mortal like ourselves, and if more powerful than we are in 
 some respects, even less so in others. The Fetichism of the 
 negro is a decided step in advance. Beligion, if it can be 
 so called, is systematised, and greatly raised in importance. 
 Nevertheless from another point of view Fetichism may 
 almost be regarded as an anti-religion. For the negro 
 believes that by means of the fetich he can coerce and 
 control his deity. In fact Fetichism is mere witchcraft. 
 We have already seen that magicians all over the world 
 think that if they can obtain a part of an enemy the pos- 
 session of it gives them a power over him. Even a bit 
 of his clothing will answer the purpose, or, if this cannot 
 be got, it seems to them natural that an injury even to an 
 image would affect the original. That is to say, a man who 
 can destroy or torture the image, thus inflicts pain on the 
 original, and, this being magical, is independent of the 
 power of that original. Even in Europe and in the eleventh 
 century some unfortunate Jews were accused of having 
 
 1 Loc. cit. p. 160. 
 
NEGROES. 
 
 165 
 
 murdered a certain Bishop Eberhard in this way. They 
 made a wax image of him, had it baptised, and then burnt 
 it, and so the bishop died. 
 
 Lord Kames says that at the time of Catherine de 
 Medicis ‘ it was common to take the resemblance of enemies 
 in wax, in order to torment them by roasting the figure at 
 a slow fire, and pricking it with needles . 5 1 
 
 In India, says Dubois , 2 4 a quantity of mud is moulded 
 into small figures, on the breasts of which they write the 
 name of the persons whom they mean to annoy. . . They 
 pierce the images with thorns, or mutilate them, so as to 
 communicate a corresponding injury to the person repre- 
 sented . 5 
 
 Now it seems to me that Fetichism is an extension 
 of this belief. The negro supposes that the possession of a 
 fetich representing a spirit, makes the spirit his servant. 
 We know that the negroes beat their fetich if their prayers 
 are unanswered, and I believe they seriously think they 
 thus inflict suffering on the actual deity. Thus the 
 fetich cannot fairly be called an idol. The same image 
 or object may indeed be a fetich to one man and an idol 
 to another; yet the two are essentially different in their 
 nature. An idol is indeed an object of worship, while, on 
 the contrary, a fetich is intended to bring the Deity 
 within the control of man, an attempt which is less absurd 
 than it at first sight appears, when considered in con- 
 nection with their low religious ideas. 
 
 If then witchcraft be not confused with religion, as I 
 think it ought not to be, Fetichism can hardly be called a 
 religion ; to the true spirit of which it is indeed entirely 
 opposed. 
 
 Anything will do for a fetich ; it need not represent the 
 
 1 Lord Kames’ History of Man, vol. iv. p. 261 2 Loc. cit . p. 347. 
 
168 
 
 FETICHISM IH OTHER RACES. 
 
 human figure, though it may do so. Even an ear of 
 maize will answer the purpose. If, said an intelligent negro 
 to Bosnian , 1 * any of us is c resolved to undertake anything 
 of importance, we first of all search out a god to prosper our 
 designed undertaking ; and going out of doors with this 
 design, take the first creature that presents itself to our 
 eyes, whether dog, cat, or the most contemptible animal in 
 the world, for our god : or perhaps, instead of that, any 
 inanimate object that falls in our way, whether a stone, 
 or piece of wood, or anything else of the same nature. 
 This new-chosen god is immediately presented with an 
 offering, which is accompanied with a solemn vow, that if 
 he pleaseth to prosper our undertakings, for the future we 
 will always worship and esteem him as a god. If our 
 design prove successful, we have discovered a new and 
 assisting god, which is daily presented with fresh offer- 
 ings ; but if the contrary happen, the new god is rejected 
 as a useless tool, and consequently returns to his primitive 
 estate . 5 He went on in these following words, ‘We make 
 and break our gods daily, and consequently are the masters 
 and inventors of what we sacrifice to.’ 
 
 Even Europeans, extraordinary as it may seem, believed 
 in these superstitions delusions. 
 
 The term Eetichism is generally connected with the 
 negro race, but a corresponding state of mind exists in 
 many other parts of the world. In fact, it may almost be 
 said to be universal, since it is nothing more nor less than 
 witchcraft ; and in the most advanced countries— even in 
 our own — the belief in witchcraft has but recently been 
 eradicated. 
 
 The Badagas (Hindostan), according to Metz, are 
 still in a ‘ condition little above' fetichism. Anything 
 
 1 Bosnian’s Guinea, Pinkerton’s Loyer (1701), Astley’s Collection, vol. 
 
 Voyages, vol. xvi. p. 493. See also ii. p. 440. 
 
HIND OS TAN. 
 
 167 
 
 with them may become an object of adoration, if the 
 head man or the village priest should take a fancy to 
 deify it. As a necessary consequence, however, of this 
 state of things, no real respect is entertained towards their 
 deities, and it is not an uncommon thing to hear the 
 people call them liars, and use opprobrious epithets 
 respecting them . 5 1 Again, speaking of the Chota Nag- 
 pore tribes of Central India, Colonel Dalton observes that 
 certain 6 peculiarities in the paganism of the Oraon, and 
 only practised by Moondahs who live in the same village 
 with them, appear to me to savour thoroughly of feti- 
 chism . 5 2 
 
 In Jeypore 3 the body of a small musk-rat is regarded 
 as a powerful talisman. 6 The body of this animal, dried, 
 is inclosed in a case of brass, silver, or gold, according to 
 the means of the individual, and is slung abound the neck, 
 or tied to the arm, to render the individual proof against 
 all evil, not excepting sword and other cut, musket- 
 shot, &c . 5 
 
 In all these cases the tribes seem to me to be naturally 
 in the state of Fetichism, disguised however and modified 
 by fragments of the higher Hindoo religions, which they 
 have adopted without understanding. 
 
 Though the Eedskins of North America have reached a 
 higher stage of religious development, they still retain 
 fetiches in the form of c medicine-bags . 5 ‘ Every Indian , 5 
 says Catlin , 4 6 in his primitive state, carries his medicine- 
 bag in some form or other , 5 and to it he looks for pro- 
 tection and safety. The nature of the medicine-bag is 
 thus determined. At fourteen or fifteen years of age the 
 boy wanders away alone upon the Prairie, where he 
 
 1 The Tribes of the Neilgherries, 8 Shortt, Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. vi. 
 
 p. 60. p. 278. 
 
 2 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. yol. yi. 4 American Indians, vol. i. p. 36. 
 
168 
 
 NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 remains two, three, four, or even five days, lying on the 
 ground musing and fasting. He remains awake as long 
 as he can, but when he sleeps the first animal of which he 
 dreams becomes his ‘ medicine . 5 As soon as possible he 
 shoots an animal of the species in question, and makes a 
 medicine-bag of the skin. Unlike the fickle Negro, how- 
 ever, the Eedskin never changes his fetich. To him it be- 
 comes an emblem of success, like the shield of the Greek, 
 or the more modern sword, and to lose it is disgrace. The 
 Columbian Indians have small figures in the form of a 
 quadruped, bird, or fish. These, though called idols, are 
 rather fetiches, because, as all disease is attributed to 
 them, when anyone is ill they are beaten together, and 
 the first which loses a tooth or claw is supposed to be the 
 culprit.- 
 
 In China , 2 also, c if the people, after long praying to 
 their images, do not obtain what they desire, as it often 
 happens, they turn them off as impotent gods ; others use 
 them in a most reproachful manner, loading them with 
 hard names, and sometimes with blows. “ How now, dog 
 of a spirit ! 55 say they to them ; 66 we give you a lodging in a 
 magnificent temple, we gild you handsomely, feed you well, 
 and offer incense to you ; yet, after all this care, you are so 
 ungrateful as to refuse us what we ask of you . 35 Hereupon 
 they tie this image with cords, pluck him down, and drag 
 him along the streets, through all the mud and dunghills, 
 to punish him for the expense of perfume which they have 
 thrown away upon him. If in the meantime it happens 
 that they obtain their request, then, with a great deal of 
 ceremony, they wash him clean, carry him back, and 
 place him in his niche again ; where they fall down to 
 him, and make excuses for what they have done. “ In a 
 
 1 Dunn’s Oregon, p. 125. 
 
 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, vol. iv. p. 218. 
 
CHINA. SIBERIA. 
 
 169 
 
 truth.” say they, “ we were a little too hasty, as well as 
 you were somewhat too long in your grant. Why should 
 you bring this beating on yourself? But what is done 
 cannot be now undone ; let us not therefore think of it 
 any more. If you will forget what is past, we will gild 
 you over again .” 5 
 
 Pallas, speaking of the Ostiaks, states that, ‘ Malgre la 
 veneration et le respect qu’ils ont pour leurs idoles, 
 malheur a elles lorsqu’il arrive un malheur a TOstiak, et 
 que Tidole n’y remedie pas, II la jette alors par terre, la 
 frappe, la maltraite, et la brise en morceaux. Cette 
 correction arrive frequemment. Cette colere est commune 
 a tous les peuples idolatres de la Siberie . 5 1 
 
 In Whydah (W. Africa), and I believe generally, the 
 negroes will not eat the animal or plant which they 
 have chosen for their fetich . 2 
 
 In Issini, on the contrary, c eating the fetich 5 is a 
 solemn ceremony on taking an oath, or as a token of 
 friendship . 3 
 
 Petichism, strictly speaking, has no temples, idols, 
 priests, sacrifices, or prayer. It involves no belief in 
 creation or in a future life, and a fortiori none in a state 
 of rewards and punishments. It is entirely independent 
 of morality. In most, however, of the powerful negro 
 monarchies religion has made some progress in organisa- 
 tion ; but though we find both sacred buildings and priests, 
 the religion itself shows little, if any, intellectual im- 
 provement. 
 
 The next stage in religious progress is that which may 
 be called Totemism. The savage does not abandon his 
 belief in fetichism, from which indeed no race of men has 
 yet entirely freed itself, but he superinduces on it a belief 
 
 1 Pallas’s Voyages, vol. iv. p. 79. p. 411. 
 
 2 Phillips, 1693. Astley, yol. ii. 3 Loyer, 1701, loc. cit. p. 436. 
 
170 
 
 TOTEMISM. 
 
 in beings of a higher and less material nature. In this 
 stage everything may be worshipped — trees, stones, rivers, 
 mountains, the heavenly bodies, plants, and animals. 
 
 How ready savages are to deify objects, both animate 
 and inanimate, I shall presently bring forward abundant 
 evidence ; for the present, I will only quote the following 
 story from Lander’s c Niger Expedition.’ 
 
 In most African towns and villages, says Lander, 1 ‘ I 
 was treated as a demigod.’ On one occasion, having 
 landed at a village which white men had never visited 
 before, his party caused great terror. When they suc- 
 ceeded in establishing a communication with the natives, 
 the chief gave the following account of what had 
 taken place. 6 A few minutes,’ 2 he said, c after you first 
 landed, one of my people came to me and said, that a 
 number of strange people had arrived at the market-place. 
 I sent him back again to get as near to you as he could, 
 to hear what you intended doing. He soon after returned 
 to me and said that you spoke a language which he could 
 not understand. Not doubting it was your intention to 
 attack my village at night and carry off my people, I 
 desired them to get ready to fight. We were all prepared 
 and ready to kill you, and came down breathing vengeance 
 and slaughter, supposing that you were my enemies, and 
 had landed from the opposite side of the river. But when 
 you came to meet us unarmed, and we saw your white 
 faces, we were all so frightened that we could not pull our 
 bows, nor move hand or foot ; and when you drew near 
 me, and extended your hands towards me, I felt my heart 
 faint within me, and believed that you were “ children of 
 Heaven,” and had dropped from the skies.’ 
 
 The worship of animals is very prevalent among races 
 
 1 R. and J. Lander’s Niger Expedition, vol. iii. p. 198. 
 
 2 Loc. cit. yoI. iii. p. 78. 
 
ANIMAL WORSHIP. 
 
 171 
 
 of men in a somewhat higher stage of civilisation than 
 that characterised by Eetichisin. Plutarch, long ago, 
 suggested that it arose from the custom of representing 
 animals upon standards ; and it is possible that some few 
 cases may be due to this cause, though it is manifestly 
 inapplicable to the majority, because animal worship much 
 precedes the use of standards in the scale of human de- 
 velopment. Diodorus explains it by the myth that the 
 gods, being at one time hard pressed by the giants, con- 
 cealed themselves for a while under the form of animals, 
 which in consequence became sacred, and were worshipped 
 by men. This absurd theory needs no refutation. 
 
 Another ancient suggestion was that the Egyptian 
 chiefs wore helmets in the form of animals 5 heads, and 
 that hence these animals were worshipped. This theory, 
 however, will not apply generally, because the other races 
 which worship animals do not use such helmets, and even 
 in Egypt there can be little doubt that the worship of 
 animals preceded the use of helmets. 
 
 Plutarch, as already mentioned, supposed that the croco- 
 dile was worshipped because, having no tongue, it was 
 a type of the Deity, who makes laws for nature by his 
 mere will ! This far-fetched explanation shows an entire 
 misconception of savage nature. 
 
 The worship of animals is, however, susceptible of a 
 very simple explanation, and has, I believe, really originated 
 from the practice of naming, first individuals, and then 
 their families, after particular animals. A family, for 
 instance, which was called after the bear, would come to 
 look on that animal first with interest, then with respect, 
 and at length with a sort of awe. 
 
 The habit of calling children after some animal or plant 
 is very common. 
 
 The Issinese of Guinea name their children ‘ after some 
 
172 
 
 ORIGIN OF ANIMAL WORSHIP. 
 
 beast, tree, or fruit, according to their fancy. Sometimes 
 they call it after their fetich or some white, who is a 
 Mingo, that is friend to them / 1 
 
 The Hottentots also generally named their children after 
 some animal . 2 In Congo 3 ‘ some form of food is forbidden 
 to everyone : in some it is a fish, in others a bird, and so 
 on. This is not, however, expressly stated to be connected 
 with the totem/ 
 
 In China also the name is frequently ‘ that of a flower, 
 animal, or such like thing / 4 In Australia we seem to find 
 the totem, or, as it is there called, kobong, almost in the 
 very moment of deification. Each family, says Sir G. Grey , 5 
 ‘ adopts some animal or vegetable, as their crest or sign, 
 or kobong as they call it. I imagine it more likely that 
 these have been named after the families, than that the 
 families have been named after them, 
 
 * A certain mysterious connection exists between the 
 family and its kobong, so that a member of the family will 
 never kill an animal of the species to which his kobong 
 belongs, should he find it asleep ; indeed, he always kills it 
 reluctantly, and never without affording it a chance of 
 escape. This arises from the family belief, that some one 
 individual of the species is their nearest friend, to kill 
 whom would be a great crime, and to be carefully avoided. 
 Similarly a native who has a vegetable for his kobong, may 
 not gather it under certain circumstances, and at a 
 particular period of the year/ 
 
 Here we see a certain feeling for the kobong or totem, 
 though it does not amount to worship . 6 In America, on 
 
 1 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, vol. 4 Ibid. vol. iv. p. 91. 
 
 ii. p. 436. 5 Two Expeditions in Australia, vol. 
 
 2 Ibid . vcl. iii. p. 357. ii. p. 228. 
 
 8 Ibid. p. 282. 6 See Eyre, vol. ii. p. 328. 
 
REDSKINS. KHONDS. 173 
 
 the other hand, it has developed into a veritable 
 religion. 
 
 The totem of the Redskins, says Schoolcraft , 1 ‘is a 
 symbol of the name of the progenitor, — generally some 
 quadruped, or bird, or other object in the animal kingdom, 
 which stands, if we may so express it, as the surname of 
 the family. It is always some animated object, and seldom 
 or never derived from the inanimate class of nature. Its 
 significant importance is derived from the fact, that 
 individuals unhesitatingly trace their lineage from it. 
 By whatever names they may be called during their life- 
 time, it is the totem, and not their personal name, that is 
 recorded on the tomb, or adjedatig, that makes the place 
 of burial. Families are thus traced when expanded into 
 bands or tribes, the multiplication of which, in North 
 America, has been very great, and has increased, in like 
 ratio, the labours of the ethnologist. The turtle, the bear, 
 and the wolf appear to have been primary and honoured 
 totems in most of the tribes, and bear a significant rank 
 to the traditions of the Iroquois and Lenapis, or Delawares ; 
 and they are believed to have more or less prominency in 
 the genealogies of all the tribes who are organised on the 
 tctemic principled 
 
 Thus again the Osages 2 believe themselves to be de- 
 scended from a beaver, and consequently will not kill that 
 animal. 
 
 So also among the Khonds of India, the different tribes 
 ‘ take their designation from various animals, as the bear 
 tribe, owl tribe, deer tribe , 5 &c. &c. 
 
 The Kols of Nagpore also are divided into ‘ keelis 5 or 
 clans, generally called after animals, which in consequence 
 
 1 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, vol. ii. 2 Schoolcraft, vol. i. p. 320. 
 
 p. 49. See also Lafitan, vol. i. pp. 464, 3 Early Races of Scotland, vol. ii 
 
 467. P- 495 - 
 
174 
 
 BECHTTANAS. 
 
 they do not eat. Thus the eel, hawk, and heron tribe 
 abstain respectively from the flesh of these animals . 1 
 
 In Southern Africa the Bechuanas are subdivided into 
 men of the crocodile, men of the fish, of the monkey, of 
 the buffalo, of the elephant, porcupine, lion, vine, and so 
 on. No one dares to eat the flesh, or wear the skin, of the 
 animal to the tribe of which he belongs. In this case 
 however, the totems are not worshipped . 2 
 
 If, moreover, we bear in mind that the deity of a savage 
 is merely a being of a slightly different nature from— and 
 generally somewhat more powerful than — himself, we 
 shall at once see that many animals, such as the bear or 
 elephant, fulfil in a great measure his conception of a 
 Deity. 
 
 This is still more completely the case with nocturnal 
 animals, such as the lion and tiger, where the effect is 
 heightened by a certain amount of mystery. As the 
 savage crouching at night by his camp fire, listens to 
 the cries and roars of the animals prowling round, or 
 watches them stealing like shadows round and round 
 among the trees, it would surely be difficult for him to 
 resist the feeling that there is something mysterious 
 about them ; and if in his estimate of animals he errs in 
 one direction, we perhaps have fallen into the opposite 
 extreme. 
 
 As an object of worship, however, the serpent is pre- 
 eminent among animals. Not only is it malevolent and 
 mysterious, but its bite — so trifling in appearance and 
 yet so deadly — producing fatal effects, rapidly, and ap- 
 parently by no adequate means, suggests to the savage 
 almost irresistibly the notion of something divine, accord- 
 ing to his notions of divinity. There were also some 
 
 1 Dalton, Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. vol. 2 The Basutos, Bey. E. Oasalis, p. 
 
 vi. p. 36. 2U. 
 
SERPENT-WORSHIP. 
 
 175 
 
 lower, but powerful, considerations which tended greatly 
 to the development of serpent-worship. The animal is 
 long-lived and easily kept in captivity ; hence the same 
 individual might be preserved for a long time, and easily 
 exhibited at intervals to the multitude. In other respects 
 the serpent is a convenient god. Thus in Guinea, where 
 the sea and the serpent were the principal deities, the 
 priests, as Bosnian expressly tells us, encouraged offerings 
 to the serpent rather than to the sea, because, in the latter 
 case, ‘ there happens no remainder to be left for them .’ 1 
 
 We are indebted to Mr. Fergusson for a special work cm 
 tree and serpent-worship. I cannot, however, agree with 
 my friend in supposing that the beauty of the serpent, or 
 the brilliancy of its eye, had any part among the causes of 
 its original deification. Nor do I believe that serpent- wor- 
 ship is to be traced up to any common local origin, but, 
 on. the contrary, that it sprang up spontaneously in many 
 places, and at very different times. In considering the 
 wide distribution of serpent-worship, we must remember 
 that in the case of the serpent we apply one name to a 
 whole order of animals ; and that serpents occur all over 
 the world, except in very cold regions. On the contrary, 
 the lion, the bear, the bull, have less extensive areas, and 
 consequently their worship could never be so general. 
 If, however, we compare, as we ought, serpent-worship 
 with quadruped-worship, or bird- worship, or sun-worship, 
 we shall find that it has no exceptionally wide area. 
 
 Mr. Fergusson, like previous writers, is surprised to find 
 that the serpent-god is frequently regarded as a beneficent 
 Being. Muller, in his Scientific Mythology, has en- 
 deavoured to account for this by the statement that the 
 serpent typified, not only barren, impure, nature, but also 
 youth and health. This is not, I think, the true explanation. 
 
 1 Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. 000. 
 
176 
 
 ASIA. AFRICA. 
 
 It may be the serpent-god commenced as a malevolent 
 being, wbo was flattered, as cruel rulers always are, and 
 tliat, in process of time, this flattery, which was at first the 
 mere expression of fear, came to be an article of faith. 
 If, moreover, the totemic origin of serpent-worship, as 
 above suggested, be the correct one, the serpent, like 
 other totemic deities, would, from its origin, have a benevo- 
 
 lent character. 
 
 As mentioned in Mr. Fergusson’s work, the serpent was 
 worshipped anciently in Egypt , 1 in India , 2 Phoenicia , 3 
 Babylonia , 4 Greece , 5 as well as in Italy , 6 where, however, 
 it seems not to have prevailed much. 
 
 We may now pass onto those cases in which the serpent 
 is now worshipped, or was so until lately. Among the 
 Lithuanians ‘ every family entertained a real serpent as a 
 household god / 7 
 
 In Asia evidence of serpent-worship has been found in 
 Persia 2 8 Cashmere , 9 Cambodia, Thibet , 10 India , 11 China, 
 (traces ), 12 Ceylon , 13 and among the Kalmucks . 14 
 
 In Africa the serpent was worshipped in some parts of 
 Upper Egypt , 15 and in Abyssinia . 16 Among the negroes on 
 the Guinea coast it used to be the principal deity . 17 
 
 1 Herodotus, Euterpe, 74. 
 
 2 Tertullian, de Prescript. Heretico- 
 rum, c. xlvii. Epiphanius, lib. 1, 
 Heres, xxxvii. p. 267, et seq. 
 
 3 Eusebius, Prse. Evan., vol. i. p. 9. 
 Maurice, Ind. Antiq., vol. vi. p. 273. 
 
 4 Bel and the Dragon, v. 23. 
 
 5 Pausanias, vol. ii. pp. 137, 175. 
 iElian de Animal, xvi. 39. Herodo- 
 tus, viii. p. 41. 
 
 6 JElian, Var. Hist., ix. p. 16. Pro- 
 pertius, Eleg. viii. p. 4. 
 
 7 Lord Karnes’ History of Man, vol. 
 iv. p. 193. 
 
 8 Mogruil, 156, Windischmann, 37, 
 Shah Nam eh, Atkinson’s Translation, 
 p. 14. 
 
 9 Asiatic Res. vol. xv. pp. 24, 25. 
 
 Ayeen Akbaree, Gladwin’s Trans., p. 
 
 137. 
 
 10 Hiouen-Thsang, vol. i. p. 4. 
 
 11 Eergusson’s Tree and Serpent 
 Worship, p. 56. 
 
 12 Ibid. p. 51. 
 
 13 History and Doctrine of Buddhism 
 in Ceylon, Upham. 
 
 14 Klemm, Cult, der Mens., vol. iii. 
 
 p. 202. 
 
 15 Pococke, Pinkerton’s Voyages, 
 vol. xv. p. 269. 
 
 16 Dillmann in Zeitsch. der Mor- 
 genlandischen Gesells. vol. vii. p. 338. 
 Ludolf. Comment, vol. iii. p. 284 ; 
 Bruce’s Travels, vol. iv. p. 35. 
 
 17 Astley’s Voyages, vol. iii. p. 489 , 
 Burton, vol. ii. p. 139 ; Smith, loc . tit 
 p. 195. 
 
AFRICA. 
 
 177 
 
 Smith, in his Voyage to Guinea , 1 says that the natives 
 6 are all Pagans, and worship three sorts of deities. The 
 first is a large beautiful kind of snake, which is inoffensive 
 in its nature. These are kept in fittish-houses, or churches, 
 built for that purpose in a grove, to whom they sacrifice 
 great store of hogs, sheep, fowls, and goats, &c., and if 
 not devoured by the snake, are sure to be taken care of 
 by the fetish-men or pagan priests . 5 Prom Liberia to 
 Benzuela, if not farther, the serpent was the principal 
 deity , 2 and, as elsewhere, is regarded as being on the whole 
 beneficent. To it they resort in times of drought and 
 sickness, or other calamities. No negro would intentionally 
 injure a serpent, and anyone doing so by accident would 
 assuredly be put to death. Some English sailors once 
 having killed one which they found in their house, were 
 furiously attacked by the natives, who killed them all, and 
 burned the house. All over the country are small hats, 
 built on purpose for the snakes , 3 which are attended and 
 fed by old women. These snakes are frequently consulted 
 as oracles. 
 
 In addition to these small huts were temples, which, 
 judged by a negro standard, were of considerable magni- 
 ficence , 4 with large courts, spacious apartments, and 
 numerous attendants. Each of these temples had a 
 special snake. That of Whydah was supposed to have 
 appeared to the army during an attack on Ardra. It was 
 regarded as a presage of victory, which so encouraged the 
 soldiers that they were perfectly successful. Hence this 
 fetich was reverenced beyond all others, and an annual 
 pilgrimage was made to its temple with much ceremony. 
 It is rather suspicious that any young women who may be 
 
 1 Smith’s Voyage to Guinea, p. 195. Smith, loc. cit. p. 195. 
 
 See also Bosnian, Pinkerton’s Voyages, 3 Astley, loc. cit. pp. 27, 32. 
 rol. xvi. p. 494, et seq. 4 Ibid. p. 29. 
 
 2 Bosnian, loc. cit. pp. 494-499. 
 
 9 
 
178 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
 ill are taken off to the snake’s house to be cured. For this 
 questionable service the attendants charge a high price to 
 the parents. 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 It is observable that the harmless snakes only are thus 
 worshipped. ‘ Agoye,’ the fetich of Whydah, which has 
 
MADAGASCAR. POLYNESIA. AMERICA. 
 
 179 
 
 serpents and lizards coming out of its head 1 (fig. 19), 
 presents a remarkable similarity to some of the Hindoo 
 idols. 
 
 The Kaffirs of South Africa have a general belief that 
 the spirits of their ancestors appear to them in the form of 
 serpents. 2 
 
 Ellis mentions that in Madagascar the natives regard 
 them 6 with a sort of superstition/ 3 
 
 In Eeejee, ‘ the god 4 most generally known is Ndengei, 
 who seems to be an impersonation of the abstract idea of 
 eternal existence. He is the subject of no emotion or 
 sensation, nor any appetite except hunger. The serpent — 
 the world-wide symbol of eternity — is his adopted shrine. 
 Some traditions represent him with the head and part of 
 the body of that reptile, the rest of his form being stone, 
 emblematic of everlasting and unchangeable duration. 
 He passes a monotonous existence in a gloomy cavern ; 
 evincing no interest in anyone but his attendant, Uto, 
 and giving no signs of life beyond eating, answering his 
 priest, and changing his position from one side to the 
 other/ 
 
 In the Friendly Islands the water snake was much 
 respected. 5 
 
 In America serpents were worshipped by the Aztecs, 6 
 Peruvians, 7 Natchez, 8 Caribs, 9 Monitarris, 10 Mandans, 11 &c. 
 
 Alvarez, during his attempt to reach Peru from Paraguay, 
 
 1 Astley, loc. cit. vol. iii. p. 50. 
 
 2 Casalis’ Basutos, p. 246. Chap- 
 • man’s Travels, vol. i. p. 195. Calla- 
 way’s Religious System of the Ama- 
 zulu. 
 
 3 Three Visits to Madagascar, p. 
 
 143. 
 
 4 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. ii. p. 217. 
 
 5 Mariner, vol. ii. p. 106. 
 
 6 Squier’s Serpent Symbol in Ame- 
 
 rica, p. 162. Gama, Descripcion His- 
 torica y Cronologica de las Pedras do 
 Mexico, 1832, p. 39 ; Bernal Diaz, p. 
 125. 
 
 7 Muller, Ges. d. Amer. Urreligi- 
 onen, p. 366. 
 
 8 Ibid. p. 62. 
 
 9 Ibid. p. 221. 
 
 10 Klemm, vol. ii p. 162. 
 
 11 Ibid. p. 163. 
 
180 
 
 THE WORSHIP OF OTHER ANIMALS. 
 
 is reported 1 to have seen the c temple and residence of a 
 monstrous serpent, whom the inhabitants had chosen for 
 their divinity, and fed with human flesh. He was as thick 
 as an ox, and seven- and- twenty feet long, with a very 
 large head, and very fierce though small eyes. His jaws, 
 when extended, displayed two ranks of crooked fangs. 
 The whole body, except the tail which was smooth, was 
 covered with round scales of a great thickness. The 
 Spaniards, though they could not be persuaded by the 
 Indians that this monster delivered oracles, were exceed- 
 ingly terrified at the first sight of him ; and their terror 
 was greatly increased, when, on one of them having fired 
 a blunderbuss at him, he gave a roar like that of a lion, 
 and with a stroke of his tail shook the whole tower.’ 
 
 The worship of serpents being so widely distributed, 
 and presenting so many similar features, we cannot won- 
 der that it has been regarded as something special, that 
 attempts have been made to trace it up to one source, and 
 that it has been regarded by some as the primitive re- 
 ligion of man. 
 
 I will now, however, proceed to mention other cases of 
 zoolatry. 
 
 Animal worship was very prevalent in America . 2 The 
 Redskins reverenced the bear , 3 the bison, the hare , 4 and 
 the wolf , 5 and some species of birds . 6 The jaguar was 
 worshipped in some parts of Brazil, and especially in La 
 Plata . 7 In South America birds and jaguars seem to have 
 been the specially sacred animals. The owl in Mexico 
 was regarded as an evil spirit f in South America eagles 
 
 1 Charlevoix’s History of Paraguay, 5 Muller, loc. cit. p. 257. 
 
 vol. i. p. 110. 6 Muller, Am. Urr.,p. 134. Klcmm 
 
 2 Muller, Am. Urr., p. 60, et seq. loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 164. 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 61. 7 Loc. cit. p. 256. 
 
 4 Schoolcraft, vol. i. p. 316. 8 Prescott, vol. i. p. 48. 
 
AMERICA. 
 
 181 
 
 and goatsuckers were much venerated . 1 2 The Abipones 
 think that certain little ducks ‘which fly about at night, 
 uttering a mournful hiss, are the souls of the departed.’ 
 
 In Yucatan it was customary to leave an infant alone in 
 a place sprinkled with ashes. Next morning the ashes 
 were examined, and if the footprints of any animals were 
 found on them, that animal was chosen as the deity of the 
 infant . 3 
 
 The semi-civilised races of Mexico 4 and Peru were more 
 advanced in their religious conceptions. In the latter the 
 sun was the great deity . 5 Yet in Peru , 6 even at the time 
 of the conquest, many species of animals were still much 
 reverenced, including the fox, dog, llama, condor, eagle, 
 and puma, besides the serpent. Indeed, every species 
 of animal was supposed to have a representative, or arche- 
 type, in heaven . 7 In Mexico a similar feeling prevailed, 
 but neither here nor in Peru can it truly be said that ani- 
 mals at the time of the conquest were nationally regarded 
 as actual deities. 
 
 The Polynesians, also, had generally advanced beyond 
 the stage of Totemism. The heavenly bodies were not 
 worshipped, and when animals were regarded with ven- 
 eration, it was rather as representatives of the deities, 
 than with idea that they were really deities. Still the 
 Tahitians 8 had a superstitious reverence for various kinds 
 of fish and birds ; such as the heron, kingfisher, and 
 woodpecker, the latter apparently because they frequented 
 the temples. 
 
 The Sandwich Islanders 9 seem to have regaided the raven 
 
 1 Muller, Amer. Urr., p. 237. 8 Muller, p. 366. 
 
 2 Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 74. 7 Prescott’s History of Peru, p. 87. 
 
 3 He Brosses, Hu Culte des Hieux 8 Polynesian Researches, yoL ii. p. 
 
 Fetiches, p. 46. 202. 
 
 4 Miiller, loc. cit. p. 481. 9 Cook’s Third Voyage, vol. iii. p. 
 
 5 Prescott’s History of Peru, p. 88. 160. 
 
182 
 
 PACIFIC ISLANDS. SIBERIA. 
 
 as sacred, and the New Zealanders, according to Forster, 
 regarded a species of tree-creeper as the 6 bird of the 
 divinity / 1 The Tongans considered that the deities ‘ some- 
 times come into the living bodies of lizards, porpoises, and 
 a species of water snake ; hence these animals are nruch 
 respected / 2 
 
 The Bishop of Wellington informs ns that 6 spiders were 
 special objects of reverence to Maoris, and as the priests 
 further told them that the sonls of the faithful went to 
 heaven on gossamer threads, they were very careful not to 
 break any spiders’ webs, or gossamers. Lizards were 
 also supposed to be chosen by the Maori gods as favourite 
 abodes/ 3 
 
 In the Feejee 4 Islands, besides the serpent , 6 certain birds, 
 fish and plants, and some men, are supposed to have deities 
 closely connected with or residing in them. At Lakemba, 
 Tui Lakemba, and on Yanua Levu, Bavuravu, claim the 
 hawk as their abode ; Yiavia, and other gods the shark. 
 One is supposed to inhabit the eel, and another the common 
 fowl, and so on, until nearly every animal becomes the 
 shrine of some deity. He who worships the' god dwelling 
 in the eel must never eat of that fish, and thus of the rest ; 
 so that some are Tabu from eating human flesh, because 
 the shrine of their god is a man/ 
 
 In Siberia Erman mentions that ‘the Polar bear, as 
 the strongest of God’s creatures, and that which seems to 
 come nearest to the human being, is as much venerated 
 by the Samoyedes, as his black congener by the Ostyaks. 
 They even swear by the throat of this strong animal, whom 
 they kill and eat ; but when it is once killed, they show 
 their respect for it in various ways .’ 5 
 
 1 Voyage round the World, vol. i. 4 Williams’ Fiji and the Fijians^ 
 
 p. 519. vol. i. p. 219. 
 
 2 Mariner, loo. cit. vol. ii. p. 106. 5 Erman, vol. ii. p. 55. 
 
 8 Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1870, p. 867. 
 
INDIA. AFRICA. MADAGASCAR. 
 
 183 
 
 Each tribe of the Jakuts ‘ looks oh some particular 
 creature as sacred, e.g., a swan, goose, raven, &c., and 
 such is not eaten by that tribe, though the others may eat 
 it / 1 The same feeling extends even to plants, and in 
 China, when the sacred apricot tree is broken to make the 
 spirit pen, it is customary to write an apology on the bark . 2 
 
 The Hindus, says Dubois , 3 ‘ in all things extravagant, 
 pay honour and worship, less or more solemn, to almost 
 every living creature, whether quadruped, bird, or reptile/ 
 The cow, the ape, the eagle (known as garuda), and the 
 serpent, receive the highest honours ; but the tiger, ele- 
 phant, horse, stag, sheep, hog, dog, cat, rat, peacock, cock, 
 chameleon, lizard, tortoise, fish, and even insects, have 
 been made objects of worship. 
 
 The ox is held especially sacred throughout most of 
 India and Ceylon. Among the Todas 4 the 6 buffaloes and 
 bell are fused into an incomprehensible mystic whole, or 
 unity, and constitute their prime object of adoration and 
 worship.’ .... 
 
 ‘ Towards evening the herd is driven back to the tuel, 
 when such of the male and female members of the family 
 as are present assemble, and make obeisance to the ani- 
 mals.’ The goose is worshipped in Ceylon , 5 and the 
 alligator in the Philippines. 
 
 The ancient Egyptians were greatly addicted to animal’ 
 worship, and even now Sir S. Baker states that on the 
 White Nile the natives will not eat the ox . 6 The common 
 fowl also is connected with superstitious ceremonies among 
 the Obbo and other Nile tribes . 7 
 
 The King of Ardra, on the Guinea Coast, had certain 
 
 1 Strahlenberg, p. 383. 250, 253. See also Ethn. Journ. 1869, 
 
 2 Tylor, Roy. Inst. Journ., yol. y. p. 97. 
 
 p. 527. 5 Tennent’s Ceylon, yol. i. p. 484. 
 
 3 Loc. cit. p. 445. 6 Albert N’yanza, yol. i. p. 69. 
 
 4 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S.voI. yii.pp. 7 Baker, loc . cit. yol. i. p. 327. 
 
184 
 
 THE CUSTOM OF APOLOGISING 
 
 black birds for bis fetiches , 1 and the negroes of Benin also 
 reverence several kinds of birds. 
 
 The negroes of Guinea regard 2 e the sword-fish and the 
 bonito as deities, and such is their veneration for them, 
 that they never catch either sort designedly. If a sword-fish 
 happen to be taken by chance, they will not eat it, till the 
 sword be cut off, which, when dried, they regard as a fetis- 
 so.’ They also regard the crocodile as a deity. On the Guinea 
 Coast, says Bosman, ‘ a great part of the negroes believe 
 that man was made by Anansie, that is, a great spider/ 3 
 
 In Madagascar, Ellis 4 tells us that the natives regard 
 crocodiles 6 as possessed of supernatural power, invoke 
 their forbearance with prayers, or seek protection by 
 charms, rather than attack them ; even the shaking of a 
 spear over the waters would be regarded as an act of 
 sacrilegious insult to the sovereign of the flood, imperilling 
 the life of the offender the next time he should venture 
 on the water/ 
 
 The nations of Southern Europe had for the most part ad- 
 vanced beyond animal worship even in the earliest histori- 
 cal times. The extraordinary sanctity attributed, in the 
 Twelfth Odyssey, to the oxen of the sun, stands almost 
 alone in Greek mythology, and is regarded by Mr. Glad- 
 stone as of Phoenician origin. It is true that the horse is 
 spoken of with mysterious respect, and that deities on 
 several occasions assumed the form of birds ; but this does 
 not amount to actual worship. 
 
 The deification of animals explains probably the curious 
 fact that various savage races habitually apologise to the 
 animals which they kill in the chase ; thus, the Vogulitzi 5 
 
 1 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, vol. 4 Three Visits to Madagascar, p. 
 
 iii. pp. 72, 99. 297. 
 
 2 Astley, yoI. ii. p. 667. 5 Strahlenberg’s Voyage to Siberia, 
 
 3 Pinkerton, loo, cit . vol. xvi. p. p. 97. 
 
 396. 
 
TO ANIMALS FOR KILLING THEM. 
 
 185 
 
 of Siberia, when they have killed a bear, address it 
 formally, and maintain c that the blame is to be laid on 
 the arrows and iron, which were made and forged by the 
 Russians/ Pallas 1 narrates a similar action on the part of 
 an Qstyak. Schoolcraft 2 mentions a case of an Indian on 
 the shores of Lake Superior begging pardon of a bear 
 which he had shot. 
 
 Before engaging in a hunt the Chippeways have a 
 6 medicine 5 dance in order to propitiate the spirits of the 
 bears or other game . 3 So also in British Columbia , 4 when 
 the fishing season commences, and the fish begin coming 
 up the rivers, the Indians used to meet them, and c speak 
 to them. They paid court to them, and would address 
 them thus : 66 You fish, you fish ; you are all chiefs, you 
 are ; you are all chiefs.” 5 
 
 The Koussa Kaffirs 5 had a very similar custom. 
 4 Before a party goes out hunting, a very odd ceremony 
 or sport takes place, which they consider as absolutely 
 necessary to ensure success to the undertaking. One of 
 them takes a handful of grass into his mouth, and crawls 
 about upon all- fours to represent some sort of game. The 
 rest advance as if they would run him through with their 
 spears, raising the hunting cry, till at length he falls upon 
 the ground as if dead. If this man afterwards kills a 
 head of game, he hangs a claw upon his arm as a trophy, 
 but the animal must be shared with the rest/ Lichtenstein 
 also mentions that if an elephant is killed after a very 
 long and wearisome chase, as is commonly the case, they 
 seek to exculpate themselves towards the dead animal, 
 by declaring to him solemnly, that the thing happened 
 entirely by accident, not by design / 6 To make the 
 
 1 Voyages, vol. iv. p. 85. 4 Metlahkatlah, p. 96. 
 
 2 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, vol. 5 Lichtenstein’s Travels, vol. i. p* 
 
 iii. p. 229. 269. 
 
 £ Catlin’s Amer. Ind. vol. ii. p. 248. 6 Ibid. vol. i. p. 254. 
 
18 G 
 
 CAMBODIA. SUMATEA. SIBEEIA. 
 
 apology more completely they cut off the trunk and bury 
 it carefully with much flattery. 
 
 Speaking of a Mandingo who had killed a lion, Gray 
 says : ‘ As 1 I was not a little surprised at seeing the man, 
 whom I conceived ought to be rewarded for having first 
 so disabled the animal as to prevent it from attacking us, 
 thus treated, I requested an explanation ; and was in- 
 formed that being a subject only, he was guilty of a great 
 crime in killing or shooting a sovereign, and must suffer 
 this punishment until released by the chiefs of the village 
 who, knowing the deceased to have been their enemy, 
 would not only do so immediately, but commend the man 
 for his good conduct. I endeavoured to no purpose to 
 find out the origin of this extraordinary mock ceremony, 
 but could only gain the answer, frequently given by an 
 African, 66 that his forefathers had always done so/’ ’ 
 
 The Stiens of Cambodia 2 believe that ‘ animals also 
 have souls which wander about after their death; thus, 
 when they have killed one, fearing lest its soul should 
 come and torment them, they ask pardon for the evil they 
 have done to it, and offer sacrifices proportioned to the 
 strength and size of the animal.’ 
 
 The Sumatrans speak of tigers 3 c with a degree of awe, 
 and hesitate to call them by their common name (rimau 
 or machang), terming them respectfully satwa (the wild 
 animals), or even nenek (ancestors) ; as really believing 
 them such, or by way of soothing and coaxing them. 
 When an European procures traps to be set, by means 
 of persons less superstitious, the inhabitants of the 
 neighbourhood have been known to go at night to the 
 place, and practise some forms, in order to persuade the 
 animals that it was not laid by them, or with their consent.’ 
 
 1 G-ray’s Travels in Western Africa, Parts of Indo-China, vol. i. p. 252. 
 
 p. 143 3 Marsden’s Hist, of Sumatra, p 
 
 2 Mouliot’s Travels in the Central 292. 
 
THE WORSHIP OP INANIMATE OBJECTS. 187 
 
 Tlie deification of inanimate objects is perhaps some- 
 what more difficult to understand than that of animals. 
 The names of individuals, however, would be taken not 
 only from animals, but also from inanimate objects, and 
 would thus, as suggested at p. 171, lead to the worship of 
 the latter as well as of the former. Some of them, moreover, 
 are singularly lifelike. No one, I think, can wonder that 
 rivers should have been regarded as alive. The constant 
 movement, the ripples and eddies on their surface, the 
 vibrations of the reeds and other water plants growing in 
 them, the murmuring and gurgling sounds, the clearness 
 and transparency of the water, combine to produce a 
 singular effect on the mind even of civilised man. 
 
 The savage also is susceptible to such influences, and is 
 naturally prone to personify not only rivers but also other 
 inanimate objects. 
 
 Seneca long ago observed, that ‘ if you walk in a grove, 
 thick planted with ancient trees of unusual growth, the 
 interwoven boughs of which exclude the light of heaven ; 
 the vast height of the wood, the retired secrecy of the 
 place, the deep unbroken gloom of shade, impress your 
 mind with the conviction of a present deity/ 
 
 Again, who can wonder at that worship of the sun, 
 moon, and stars, which has been regarded as a special 
 form of religion, and is known as Sabseism ? It does not 
 however, in its original form, essentially differ from 
 mountain or river worship. To us with our knowledge 
 of the sun, it seems naturally a more sublime form 
 of religion, but we must remember that the lower races 
 who worship the heavenly bodies have no idea of their dis- 
 tance, nor consequently of their magnitude. Hence the 
 curious ideas with reference to eclipses which I have 
 already mentioned (p. 136). Again, the New Zealanders 
 believed that Mawe, their ancestor, caught the sun in a 
 
188 
 
 SAVAGE TENDENCY TO DEIFICATION. 
 
 noose, and wounded it so severely that its movements 
 have been slower, and the days consequently longer, ever 
 since . 1 
 
 According to another account, Mawe ‘ tied a string to 
 the sun and fastened it to the moon, that as the former 
 went down, the other, being pulled after it by the superior 
 power of the sun, may rise and give light during his 
 absence .’ 2 
 
 We must always bear in mind that the savage notion of 
 a deity is essentially different from that entertained by 
 higher races. Instead of being supernatural, he is merely 
 a part of nature. This goes far to explain the tendency 
 to deification which at first seems so strange. 
 
 A good illustration, and one which shows how easily 
 deities are created by men in this frame of mind, is men- 
 tioned by Lichtenstein. The king of the Koussa Kaffirs 
 having broken off a piece of a stranded anchor, died 
 soon afterwards, upon which all the Kaffirs looked upon 
 the anchor as alive, and saluted it respectfully whenever 
 they passed near it . 3 Again, the natives near Sydney 
 made it an invariable rule never to whistle when beneath 
 a particular cliff, because on one occasion a rock fell from 
 it and crushed some natives who were whistling under- 
 neath it . 4 
 
 A very interesting case is recorded by Mr. Fergusson . 5 
 ‘ The following instance of tree-worship,’ he says, { which 
 I myself witnessed, is amusing, even if npt instruc- 
 tive. While residing in Tessore, I observed at one 
 time considerable crowds passing near the factory I then 
 had charge of. As it might be merely an ordinary fair 
 they were going to attend, I took no notice ; but as the 
 
 1 Polynesian Mythology, p. 35. 4 Collins’s English Colony in N.S. 
 
 2 Yate, loc. cit . p. 143. Wales, p. 382. 
 
 8 Travels, vol. i. p. 254. 5 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 74 
 
LIFE ATTRIBUTED TO INANIMATE OBJECTS# 189 
 
 crowd grew daily larger, and assumed a more religious 
 character, I enquired, and was told that a god had appeared 
 in a tree at a place about six miles off. Next morning I 
 rode over, and found a large space cleared in a village I 
 knew well, in the centre of which stood an old decayed 
 date tree, hung with garlands and offerings. Around it 
 houses were erected for the attendant Brahmins, and a 
 great deal of business was going on in offerings and Puja. 
 On my enquiring how the god manifested his presence, I 
 was informed that soon after the sun rose in the morning 
 the tree raised its head to welcome him, and bowed it down 
 again when he departed. As this was a miracle easily 
 tested, I returned at noon and found it was so ! After a 
 little study and investigation, the mystery did not seem 
 difficult of explanation. The tree had originally grown 
 across the principal pathway through the village, but at 
 last hung so low, that in order to enable people to pass 
 under it, it had been turned aside and fastened parallel to 
 the road. In the operation the bundle of fibres which 
 composed the root had become twisted like the strands of 
 a rope. When the morning sun struck on the upper 
 surface of these, they contracted in drying, and hence a 
 tendency to untwist, which raised the head of the tree. 
 With the evening dews they relaxed, and the head of the 
 tree declined, thus proving to the man of science as to the 
 credulous Hindu, that it was due to the direct action of 
 the Sun God . 5 
 
 The savage, indeed, accounts for all movement by life. 
 Hence the wind is a living being. Nay, even motionless 
 objects are regarded in a particular stage of mental pro- 
 gress as possessing spirits. The chief of Teah could 
 hardly be persuaded but that Lander’s watch was alive and 
 had the power of moving . 1 It is probably for this reason 
 that in most languages inanimate objects are distinguished 
 1 Niger Expedition, vol. ii, p. 220. 
 
190 SOULS ATTRIBUTED TO INANIMATE OBJECTS. 
 
 by genders, being at first regarded as either male or female. 
 Hence also the practice of breaking or burning the 
 weapons, &c. buried with the dead. It has been gener- 
 ally supposed that this was merely to prevent them from 
 being a temptation to robbers. This is not so, how- 
 ever; savages do not invade the sanctity of the tomb* 
 Just, however, as they kill a man’s wives and slaves, and 
 favourite horse, that they may accompany him to the 
 other world, so do they ‘ kill ’ the weapons, that the spirits 
 of the bows, &c. may also go with their master, and that he 
 may enter the other world armed 'and provided as a chief 
 should be. Thus the Tahitians 1 believed ‘ that not only all 
 other animals, but trees, fruit, and even stones, have souls 
 which at death, or upon being consumed, or broken, ascend 
 to the divinity, with whom they first mix, and afterwards 
 pass into the mansion allotted to each.’ 
 
 The Feejeeans 2 considered that ‘ if an animal or a plant 
 die, its soul immediately goes to Bolotoo ; if a stone or 
 any other substance is broken, immortality is equally its 
 reward ; nay, artificial bodies have equal good luck with 
 men and hogs, and yams. If an axe or a chisel is worn 
 out or broken up, away flies its soul for the service of the 
 gods. If a house is taken down, or any way destroyed, its 
 immortal part will find a situation on the plains of Bolotoo.’ 
 
 Sproat , 3 speaking of N. W. America, says, that ‘when 
 the dead are buried, the friends often burn blankets with 
 them, for by destroying the blankets in this upper world, 
 they send them also with the departed soul to the world 
 below.’ 
 
 In China , 4 ‘ if the dead man was a person of note, the 
 Bonzes make great processions; the mourners following 
 them with candles and perfumes burning in their hands. 
 
 1 Cook’s Third Voyage, vol. ii. p. 3 Sproat’s Scenes and Studies of 
 
 166. Savage Life, p. 213. 
 
 2 Mariner, loc . cit. vol. ii. p. 137. 4 Astley, vol. iv. p. 94. 
 
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF SAVAGES. 
 
 191 
 
 Tliey offer sacrifices at certain distances, and perform the 
 obsequies 5 in which they bum statues of men, women, 
 horses, saddles, and other things, and abundance of paper 
 money : all which, they believe, in the next life, are con- 
 verted into real ones, for the use of the party deceased. 5 
 
 Thus then by man in this stage of progress everything 
 was regarded as having life, and being more or less a Deity. 
 
 In India, says Dubois, 1 c a woman adores the basket 
 which serves to bring or to hold her necessaries, and offers 
 sacrifices to it ; as well as to the rice-mill, and other im- 
 plements that assist her in her household labours. A 
 carpenter does the like homage to his hatchet, his adze, 
 and other tools ; and likewise offers sacrifices to them. A 
 Brahman does so to the style with which he is going to 
 write ; a soldier to the arms he is to use in the field ; a 
 mason to his trowel, and a labourer to his plough. 5 
 
 Sir S. Baker 2 says, ‘ Should the present history of the 
 country be written by an Arab scribe, the style of the de- 
 scription would be purely that of the Old Testament, and 
 the various calamities or the good fortunes that have in the 
 course of nature befallen both the tribes and the individ- 
 uals, would be recounted either as special visitations of 
 Divine wrath, or blessings for good deeds performed. If 
 in a dream a particular course of action is suggested, the 
 Arab believes that God has spoken and directed him. The 
 Arab scribe or historian would describe the event as the 
 66 voice f)f the Lord 55 (Kallam el Allah) having spoken unto 
 the person : or, that God appeared to him in a dream and 
 “ said , &c” Thus, much allowance would be necessary, on 
 the part of a European reader, for the figurative ideas and 
 expressions of the people. 5 
 
 Mr. Eergusson, indeed, regards tree-worship, in associa- 
 
 1 People of India, p. 373. See also 2 The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, 
 pp. 383, 386. by Sir S. W. Baker, p. 130. 
 
192 
 
 TREE-WORSHIP. 
 
 fcion with, serpent-worship, as the primitive faith of man- 
 kind. Mr. Wake 1 also says, ‘ How are we to account for the 
 Polynesians also affixing a sacred character to a species of 
 the banyan, called by them the ava tree, and for the same 
 phenomenon being found among the African tribes on the 
 Zambesi and the Shire, among the negroes of Western 
 equatorial Africa, and even in Northern Australia? Such 
 a fact as this cannot be accounted for as a mere coinci- 
 dence . 5 
 
 Since, however, tree-worship equally prevails in America, 
 we cannot regard it as any 6 evidence of the common origin 
 of the various races which practise 5 it. It is, however, one 
 among many illustrations that the human mind, in its up- 
 ward progress, everywhere passes through the same or very 
 similar phases. 
 
 Tree-worship formerly existed in Assyria, Greece , 2 
 Poland , 3 Prance. In Persia the Homa or Soma worship 
 was perhaps a case in point ; Tacitus 4 mentions the sacred 
 groves of Germany, and those of England are familiar to 
 everyone. In the eighth century, St. Boniface found it 
 necessary to cut down a sacred oak, and even recently an 
 oak copse at Loch Siant, in the Isle of Skye, was held so 
 sacred that no person would venture to cut the smallest 
 branch from it . 5 
 
 At the present day tree-worship prevails throughout 
 Central Africa, south of Egypt and the Sahara. The 
 Shangallas in Bruce’s 6 time worshipped ‘ trees, sSrpents 
 the moon, planets, and stars . 5 
 
 The negroes of Guinea 7 worshipped three deities, 
 
 1 Chapters on Man, p. 250. 6 Travels, vol. iv. p. 35. See also 
 
 2 Baum cultus der Hellenen, Bot- vol. vi. p. 344. 
 
 tidier. 1856. 7 Voyage to Guinea, p. 195. Bos- 
 
 3 Olaus Magnus, bk. iii. Ch. I. man, Pinkerton’s Voyages, vol. xvi. 
 
 4 Tacitus, Germania, ix. p. 494. Merolla, Pinkerton’s Voyages, 
 
 5 Early Races of Scotland, vol. i. vol. xvi. p. 236. 
 p. 171. 
 
AFRICA. INDIA. CEYLON. 
 
 193 
 
 — serpents, trees, and the sea. Park 1 observed a tree on 
 the confines of Bondou, hung with innumerable offerings, 
 principally rags. c It had/ he says ‘ a very singular 
 appearance, being decorated with innumerable rags or 
 strips of cloth, which persons travelling across the wilder- 
 ness had tied to the branches. 5 
 
 Chapman mentions a sacred tree among the Kaffirs, 
 which was hung with numerous offerings. 2 
 
 The negroes of Congo 3 adored a sacred tree called 
 ‘Mirrone. 5 One is generally planted near the houses, as 
 if it were the tutular god of the dwelling, the Gentiles 
 adoring it as one of their idols. They place calabashes of 
 palm wine at the feet of these trees, in case they should 
 be thirsty. Bosman also states that along the Guinea 
 coast almost every village has its sacred grove. 4 At 
 Addacoodah, Oldfield 5 saw a c gigantic tree, twelve yards 
 and eight inches in circumference. I soon found it was 
 considered sacred, and had several arrows stuck in it, 
 from which were suspended fowls, several sorts of birds, 
 and many other things, which had been offered by the 
 natives to it as a deity. 5 
 
 The Bo tree is much worshipped in India 6 and Ceylon. 7 
 c The planting of the Eajayatana tree by Buddha, 5 says Fer- 
 gusson , 6 has already been alluded to, but the history of the 
 transference of a branch of the Bo tree from the Buddh-gya 
 to Anuradhapura, is as authentic and as important as any 
 event recorded in the Ceylonese annals. Sent by Asoka 
 (250 b.c.), it was received with the utmost reverence by 
 
 1 Travels, 1817, vol. i. pp. 64, 106. 97. 
 
 See also Cailli6, vol. i. p. 156. 4 Loc . cit. p. 399. See also Astley’s 
 
 2 Travels, vol. ii. p. 50. Klemm Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. p. 20. 
 
 quotes also Villault, Rel. des Costes 5 Expedition, vol. ii. p. 117. 
 d’Afrique S., pp. 263, 267. 6 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 56 , 
 
 8 Merolla’s Voyage to Congo. Pin- ct seq. 
 kerton, vol. xvi. p. 236. Astley’s 7 Ibid. p. 56. 
 
 Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. pp. 95, 
 
194 
 
 SIBERIA. 
 
 Devanampiyatisso, and planted in tlie most conspicuous 
 spot in the centre of his capital. There it has been 
 reverenced as the chief and most important “numen” 
 of Ceylon for more than 2,000 years, and it, or its lineal 
 descendant sprung at least from the old root, is there 
 worshipped at this hour. The city is in ruins ; its great 
 dagobas have fallen to decay ; its monasteries have disap- 
 peared ; but the great Bo tree still flourishes according to 
 the legend, — Ever green, never growing or decreasing, but 
 living on for ever for the delight and worship of mankind. 
 Annually thousands repair to the sacred precincts within 
 which it stands, to do it honour, and to offer up those 
 prayers for health and prosperity which are more likely to 
 be answered if uttered in its presence. There is probably 
 no older idol in the world, certainly none more venerated. 5 
 
 Some of the Chittagong Hill Tribes worship the bamboo. 1 
 In Siberia the Jakuts have sacred trees on which they 
 ‘hang all manner of nicknacks, as iron, brass, copper, 
 &c.’ 2 The Ostyaks also, as Pallas informs us, used to 
 worship trees. 3 
 
 ‘ There was pointed out to us, 5 says Erman, 4 6 as an 
 important monument of an early epoch in the history of 
 Beresov, a larch about fifty feet high, and now, through 
 age, flourishing only at the top, which has been preserved 
 in the churchyard. In former times, when the Ostyak 
 rulers dwelt in Beresov, this tree was the particular object 
 of their adoration. In this, as in many other instances, 
 observed by the Russians, the peculiar sacredness of the 
 tree was due to the singularity of its form and growth, for 
 about six feet from the ground, the trunk separated into 
 two equal parts ; and again united. It was the custom of 
 
 1 Lewin’s Hill Tracts of Chittagong, 3 Loc. cit. vol. iv. p. 79. 
 
 p. 10. 4 Erman’s Travels in Siberia, vol. i. 
 
 2 Strahlenberg, Travels in Siberia, p. 464. 
 
 p. 381. 
 
SUMATRA. PHILIPPINES. 
 
 195 
 
 tlie superstitions natives to place costly offerings of every 
 kind in the opening of the trunk ; nor have they yet aban- 
 doned the usage ; a fact well known to the enlightened 
 Kosaks, who enrich themselves by carrying off secretly 
 the sacrificial gifts . 5 ‘ Hanway , 1 in his Travels in Persia, 
 mentions a tree to which were affixed a number of rags 
 left there as healtti-offerings by persons afflicted with 
 ague. This was beside a desolate caravanserai where the 
 traveller found nothing but water . 5 
 
 In some parts 2 of Sumatra c likewise they super stitiously 
 believe that certain trees, particularly those of venerable 
 appearance (as an old jawi-jawi or banian tree), are the 
 residence, or rather the material frame of spirits of the 
 woods; an opinion which exactly answers to the idea 
 entertained by the ancients of the dryades and hama- 
 dryades. At Benkunat, in the Lampong country, there is 
 a long stone, standing on a flat one, supposed by the 
 people to possess extraordinary power of virtue. It is 
 reported to have been once thrown down into the water, 
 and to have raised itself again into its original position ; 
 agitating the elements at the same time with a prodigious 
 storm. To approach it without respect, they believe to be 
 the source of misfortune to the offender . 5 
 
 Among the natives of the Philippines we also find the 
 worship of trees . 3 They also c believed that the world 
 at first consisted only cf sky and water, and between these 
 two a glede ; which, weary with flying about, and finding 
 no place to rest, set the water at variance with the sky, 
 which, in order to keep it in bounds, and that it should 
 ‘ not get uppermost, loaded the water with a number of 
 islands, in which the glede might settle and leave them 
 at peace. Mankind, they said, sprang out of a large cane 
 
 1 Quoted in tlie Early Races of Scot- 2 Marsden’s History of Sumatra 
 
 land, yoI. i. p. 163. See also De p. 301. 
 
 Brosses, loc. cit. pp. 144, 145. 3 Ibid . p. 303. 
 
196 
 
 PACIFIC ISLANDS. MEXICO. 
 
 with two joints, that, floating about in the water, was at 
 length thrown by the waves against the feet of the glede, 
 as it stood on shore, which opened it with its bill, the man 
 came out of one joint, the woman out of the other. These 
 were soon after married by consent of their god, Bathala 
 Meycapal, which caused the first trembling of the earth ; 
 and from thence are descended the different nations of the 
 world.’ 
 
 The Fijians also worshipped certain plants . 1 Tree- 
 worship was less prevalent in America. Trees and plants 
 were worshipped by the Mandans and Monitarees . 2 A 
 large ash was venerated by the Indians of Lake Superior . 3 
 
 In North America, Franklin 4 describes a sacred tree on 
 which the Crees ‘had hung strips of buffalo flesh, and 
 pieces of cloth.’ They complained to him of some ‘ Stone 
 Indians, who, two nights before, had stripped their revered 
 tree of many of its offerings.’ 
 
 In Mexico Mr. Tylor 5 observed an ancient Cyprus of 
 remarkable size : 6 all over its branches were fastened 
 votive offerings of the Indians, hundreds of locks of coarse 
 black hair, teeth, bits of coloured cloth, rags and morsels 
 of ribbon. The tree was many centuries old, and had 
 probably had some mysterious influence ascribed to it, 
 and been decorated with such simple offerings long before 
 the discovery of America.’ In Nicaragua not only large 
 trees, but even maize and beans, were worshipped . 6 Maize 
 was also worshipped in the Peruvian province of Huanca . 7 
 
 In Patagonia Mr. Darwin 8 mentions a sacred tree 
 
 1 Fiji and the Fijians, yol. i. p. 219. p. 265. 
 
 2 Muller, Amer. Urrel. p. 59. 6 Muller, loc. cit. p. 494. See also 
 
 3 Muller, loc . cit. p. 125. p. 491. 
 
 4 Journeys to the Polar Sea, vol. i. 7 Martius, loc. cit. p. 80. 
 
 p, 221. 8 Researches in Geology and Natu- 
 
 5 Anahuac, p. 215. He mentions ral History, p. 79. 
 
 & second case of the same sort on 
 
PATAGONIA* NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 197 
 
 * which the Indians reverence as the altar of Walleechn. 
 It is situated on a high part of the plain, and hence is a 
 landmark visible at a great distance. As soon as a tribe 
 of Indians come in sight of it, they offer their adorations 
 by lond shouts. ... It stands by itself without any 
 neighbour, and was indeed the first tree we saw ; after- 
 wards we met with a few others of the same kind, but 
 they were far from common. Being winter the tree had 
 no leaves, but in their place numberless threads, by which 
 the various offerings, such as cigars, bread, meat, pieces 
 of cloth, &c., had been suspended. Poor people not 
 having anything better, only pulled a thread out of their 
 ponchoo, and fastened it to the tree. The Indians, more- 
 over, were accustomed to pour spirits and mate into a 
 certain hole, and likewise to smoke upwards, thinking 
 thus to afford all possible gratification to Walleechu. To 
 complete the scene, the tree was surrounded by the 
 bleached bones of the horses which had been slaughtered 
 as sacrifices. All Indians, of every age and sex, made their 
 offerings ; they then thought that their horses would not 
 tire, and that they themselves should be prosperous. 
 
 6 The Gaucho who told me this, said that in the time of 
 peace he had witnessed this scene, and that he and others 
 used to wait till the Indians had passed by, for the sake 
 of stealing their offerings from Walleechu. The Gauchos 
 think that the Indians consider the tree as the god itself ; 
 but it seems far more probable that they regard it as the 
 altar,’ — a distinction, however, which a Patagonian Indian 
 would hardly perceive. 
 
 The Abenaquis also had a sacred tree . 1 
 
 Trees were worshipped by the ancient Celts, and 
 De Brosses 2 even derives the word kirk, now softened into 
 
 1 De Brosses, Du Culte des Dieux 2 Loc. cit. p. 175. 
 
 Fetiches, p. 51. Lafitau, vol. i. p. 146. 
 
198 
 
 EUROPE. 
 
 church, from quercus an oak, that species being peculia: 
 sacred. 
 
 The Lapps also used to worship trees. 1 
 
 Thus, then, this form of religion can he shown to l 
 general to most of the great races of men at a certr^ 
 stage of mental development. 
 
 We will now pass to the worship of lakes, rivers, andl 
 springs, which we shall find to have been not less widely 
 distributed. It was at one time very prevalent in Western 
 Europe. According to Cicero, Justin, and Strabo, therei 
 was a lake near Toulouse in which the neighbouring 
 tribes used to deposit offerings of gold and silver. Tacitus./ 
 Pliny, and Yirgil also allude to sacred lakes. In thi 
 sixth century, Gregory of Tours mentions a sacred lab 
 on mount Helanus. 
 
 In Brittany there is the celebrated well of St. Anne of 
 Auray, and the sacred fountain at Lanmeur in the cryp^ 
 of the church of St. Melars to which crowds of pilgrims\ 
 still resort. 2 
 
 In our own country traces of water-worship are also 
 abundant. It is expressly mentioned by Gildas, 3 and is 
 said to be denounced in a Saxon homily preserved in 
 Cambridge. 4 ‘At St. Fillans 5 well at Comrie, in Perth- 
 shire, numbers of persons in search of health, so late as 
 1791, came or were brought to drink of the waters and 
 bathe in it. All these walked or were carried three 
 times deasil (sunwise) round the well. They also threw 
 each a white stone on an adjacent cairn, and left behind a 
 scrap of their clothing as an offering to the genius of the 
 place.’ In the Scotch islands also are many saored wells, 
 and I have myself seen the sacred well in one of the 
 
 1 De Brosses, loc. cit. p. 169. 
 
 2 Early Eaces of Scotland, vol. i. 
 p. 158. 
 
 3 Mon. Hist. Brit. vii. 
 
 4 Wright’s Superstitions of England. 
 
 5 Early Eaces of Scotland, yol. i. 
 p. 156. 
 
WATER- WORSHIP. EUROPE. 
 
 199 
 
 < slands of Loch Maree, surrounded by the little offerings 
 of the peasantry, consisting principally of rags and half- 
 pence. 
 
 Colonel Forbes Leslie even says that in Scotland ‘ there 
 are few parishes without a holy well ; 5 nor was it much 
 less general in Ireland. The kelpie, or spirit of the 
 waters, assumed various forms, those of a man, woman, 
 horse, or bull being the most common. Scotland and 
 Ireland are full of legends about this spirit, a firm belief 
 in the existence of which was general in the last century, 
 and is even now far from abandoned. 1 
 
 Of river- worship we have many cases recorded in Greek 
 history. 2 Peleus dedicated a lock of Achilles’ hair to the 
 river Spercheios. The Pulians sacrificed a bull to Alpheios ; 
 Themis summoned the rivers to the great Olympian 
 assembly. Okeanos the Ocean, and various fountains, 
 were regarded as divinities. Water- worship in the time of 
 Homer was however gradually fading away ; and belonged 
 rather I think to an earlier stage in development, than to 
 a different race as supposed by Mr. Gladstone. 3 
 
 In Northern Asia the Tunguses worship various springs. 4 
 He Brosses mentions that the river Sogd was worshipped 
 at Samarcand. 5 Whipple 6 states that ‘ in the tenth century 
 a schism took place in Persia among the Armenians ; one 
 party being accused of despising the holy well of Yagars- 
 chiebat.’ 
 
 The Bouriats Also, though Buddhists, have sacred lakes. 
 Atkinson thus describes one. In an after-dinner ramble, 
 he says, 7 6 1 came upon the small and picturesque lake of 
 Ikeougoun, which lies in the mountains to the north of 
 
 1 See Eorbes Leslie’s Early Races 4 Pallas, yoI. iv. p. 641. 
 
 of Scotland, yoI. i. p. 145. Campbell’s 5 Loc. cit. p. 146. 
 
 Tales of the West Highlands. 6 Report on the Indian Tribes, p, 
 
 2 Juventus Mundi, p. 190. 44. 
 
 3 Loc . cit. pp. 177, 187. 7 Siberia, p. 445. 
 
200 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 San-ghin-dalai, and is held in veneration. They have 
 erected a small wooden temple on the shore, and here 
 they come to sacrifice, offering np milk, butter, and 
 the fat of the animals, which they burn on the little 
 altars. The large rock in the lake is with them a sacred 
 stone, on which some rude figures are traced ; and on the 
 bank opposite they place rods with small silk flags, having 
 inscriptions printed on them.’ Lake Ahoosh also is 
 accounted sacred among the Bashkirs . 1 
 
 The divinity of water, says Dubois, ‘ is recognised by all 
 the people of India/ Besides the well-known worship of 
 the holy Ganges, the tribes of the Neilgherry Hills 2 
 worship rivers under the name of Gangamma, and in 
 crossing them it was usual to drop a coin into the water 
 as an offering, and the price of a safe passage. In the 
 Deccan and in Ceylon, trees and bushes near springs may 
 often be seen covered with votive offerings . 3 The Khonds 
 also worship rivers and fountains . 4 The people of Sumatra 
 ‘ are said to pay a kind of adoration to the sea, and to 
 make it an offering of cakes and sweetmeats on their be- 
 holding it for the first time, deprecating its power of doing 
 them harm . 55 
 
 The negroes on the Guinea Coast worshipped the sea . 6 
 
 Herodotus mentions the existence of sacred fountains 
 among the Libyans . 7 In the Ashantee country, Bosman 
 mentions ‘the Chamascian river, or Bio de San Juan, 
 called by the Negroes Bossum Pra, which they adore as a 
 god, as the word Bossum signifies . 58 The Eufrates, the 
 principal river of Whydah, is also looked on as sacred, 
 
 1 Atkinson’s Oriental and Western 5 Marsden, loc. cit. p. 301. 
 
 Siberia, p. 141. 6 Bosman, Pinkerton’s Voyages, vol. 
 
 2 The Tribes of the Neilgherry Hills, xvi. p. 494. Smith’s Voyage to Guinea, 
 
 p. 68. p. 197. Astley’s Collection of Voyages, 
 
 3 Early Races of Scotland, vol. i. vol. ii. p. 26. 
 
 p. 163. • 7 Melpomene, elviii., clxxxi. 
 
 4 Ibid . vol. ii. p. 497. 8 Loc. cit. p. 348. 
 
AFRICA. 
 
 201 
 
 and a yearly procession is made to it. 1 Phillips 2 men- 
 tions, that on one occasion in 1693, when the sea was 
 unusually rough, the Kabosheers complained to the king, 
 who c desired them to be easy, and he would make the sea 
 quiet next day. Accordingly he sent his fetishman with a 
 jar of palm oil, a bag of rice and corn, a jar of pitto , a 
 bottle of brandy, a piece of painted calico, and several 
 other things to present to the sea. Being come to the sea- 
 side (as the author was informed by his men, who saw the 
 ceremony), he made a speech to it, assuring it that his 
 king was its friend, and loved the white men ; that they 
 were honest fellows, and came to trade with him for what 
 he wanted ; and that he requested the sea not to be angry, 
 nor hinder them to land their goods ; he told it, that if it 
 wanted palm oil, his king had sent it some ; and so 
 threw the jar with the oil into the sea, as he did, with the 
 same compliment, the rice, corn, pitto, brandy, calico, &c. 5 
 Again, Yillault 3 mentions that ‘ lakes, rivers, and ponds 
 come in also for their share of worship. The author was 
 present at a singular ceremony paid to a pond not far from 
 the Danish fort, near Akkra, to entreat rain of it, the season 
 having been very dry. A great number of blacks assembled 
 about the pond, bringing with them a sheep, whose throat 
 the priests cut in the banks of the salt pond, so that the 
 blood ran into it, and mingled with the water. Then 
 they made a fire, while others cut the beast in pieces 
 which they broiled on the coals, and eat as fast as it was 
 ready. This being over, some of them threw a gallipot 
 into the pond, muttering some words. A Dane who was 
 present, and spoke their language fluently, informed the 
 author, in the name of the blacks, that this lake, or pond, 
 being one of their deities, and the common messenger of 
 
 1 Astley, loc. cit. p. 26. ii. p. 411. 
 
 2 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, yoI. 3 Ibid. p. 668. 
 
 10 
 
202 
 
 NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 all the rivers of their country, they threw in the gallipots 
 with these ceremonies to implore his assistance ; and to beg 
 him to carry immediately that pot in their name, to the 
 other rivers and lakes to buy water for them, and hoped, 
 at his return, he would pour the pot-full on their corn, 
 that they might have a good crop . 5 
 
 Some of the Negroes on the Guinea Coast 1 ‘ looked on 
 the Whites as the gods of the sea ; that the mast was a 
 divinity that made the ship walk, and the pump was 
 a miracle, since it could make water rise up, whose natural 
 property is to descend . 5 
 
 In North America the Dacotahs 9 worship a god of the 
 waters, under the name of IJnktahe. They say that c this 
 god and its associates are seen in their dreams. It is the 
 master-spirit of all their juggling and superstitious belief. 
 From it the medicine-men obtain their supernatural 
 powers, and a great part of their religion springs from 
 this god . 5 Franklin 3 mentions that the wife of one of his 
 Indian guides being ill, her husband 6 made an offering to 
 the water- spirits, whose wrath he apprehended to be the 
 cause of her malady. It consisted of a knife, a piece of 
 tobacco, and some other trifling articles, which were tied 
 up in a small bundle, and committed to the rapid . 5 
 Carver 4 observes that when the Eedskins arrive on the 
 borders of Lake Superior, on the banks of the Mississippi, 
 or any other great body of water, they present to the 
 spirit who resides there some kind of offering, as the 
 prince of the Winnebagoes did when he attended me to 
 the Falls of St. Anthony . 5 Tanner also gives instances of 
 this custom . 5 On one occasion a Eedskin, addressing 
 
 1 Astley, vol. ii. p. 105. Sea, 1819-22, yol. ii. p. 245. 
 
 2 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, pt. iii. 4 Carver’s Travels, p. 383. 
 
 p. 485. 5 Narrative of the Captivity of John 
 
 8 Journey to the Shores of the Polar Tanner, p. 46. 
 
CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 203 
 
 the spirit of the waters * told him that he had come a long 
 way to pay his adorations to him, and now would make 
 him the best offerings in his power. He accordingly first 
 threw his pipe into the stream ; then the roll that con- 
 tained his tobacco ; after these, the bracelets he wore on 
 his arms and wrists ; next an ornament that encircled his 
 neck, composed of beads and wires ; and at last the earings 
 from his ears ; in short, he presented to his god every part 
 of his dress that was valuable/ 1 
 
 The Mandans also were in the habit of sacrificing to the 
 spirit of the waters. 2 * 
 
 In North Mexico, near the 35th Parallel, Lieutenant 
 Whipple found a sacred spring which from time immemo- 
 rial 4 had been held sacred to the rain-god. No animal 
 may drink of its waters. It must be annually cleansed 
 with ancient vases, which, having been transmitted from 
 generation to generation by the caciques, are then placed 
 upon the walls, never to be removed. The frog, the 
 tortoise, and the rattlesnake, represented upon them, are 
 sacred to Montezuma, the patron of the place, who would 
 consume by lightning any sacrilegious hand that should 
 dare to take the relics away. In Nicaragua rain was 
 worshipped under the name of Quiateot. The principal 
 water-god of Mexico, however, was Tlaloc, who was wor- 
 shipped by the Toltecs, Chichimecs, and Aztecs. 4 In New 
 Mexico, not far from Zuni, Dr. Bell 5 describes a sacred 
 spring 4 about eight feet in diameter, walled round with 
 stones, of which neither cattle nor men may drink : 
 the animals sacred to water (frogs, tortoises, and snakes) 
 alone must enter the pool. Once a year the cacique and 
 his attendants perform certain religious rites at the spring: 
 
 1 Loc. cit. p. 67. 
 
 2 Gatlin’s North American Indians, 
 
 vol. i. p. 160. 
 
 3 Report on the Indian Tribes, p. 40. 
 
 4 Muller, Amer. Urrel., p. 496. 
 
 5 Ethn. Journ. 1869, p. 227. 
 
204 
 
 SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 it is thoroughly cleared out ; water-pots are brought as an 
 offering to the spirit of Montezuma, and are placed bottom 
 upwards on the top of the wall of stones. Many of these 
 have been removed ; but some still remain, while the 
 ground around is strewn with fragments of vases which 
 have crumbled into decay from age/ 
 
 In Peru the sea, under the name of Mama Cocha, was 
 the principal deity of the Chinchas ; 1 one branch of the 
 Collas deduced their origin from a river, the others from 
 a spring : there was also a special rain-goddess. • 
 
 In Paraguay 2 also the rivers are propitiated by offer- 
 ings of tobacco. 
 
 We will now pass to the worship of stones and moun- 
 tains, a form of religion as general as those already 
 described. 
 
 M. Dulaure, in his ‘ Histoire Abregee des Cultes/ explains 
 the origin of Stone-worship as arising from the respect 
 paid to boundary stones. I do not doubt that the worship 
 of some particular stones may thus have originated. 
 Hermes or Termes was evidently of this character, and 
 hence we may perhaps explain the peculiar characteristics 
 of Hermes or Mercury, whose symbol was an upright 
 stone. 
 
 Mercury or Hermes, says Lempriere, ‘was the mes- 
 senger of the gods. He was the patron of travellers and 
 shepherds; he conducted the souls of the dead into the 
 infernal regions, and not only presided over orators, mer- 
 chants, and declaimers, but he was also the god of thieves, 
 pickpockets, and all dishonest persons/ He invented the 
 letters and the lyre, and was the originator of arts and 
 sciences. 
 
 It is difficult at first to see the connection between 
 
 1 Muller, Ajner. Urrel., p. 368. 
 
 2 Loc. cit. p. 258. 
 
THE WORSHIP OF STONES. 
 
 205 
 
 tliese various offices, characterised as they are by such 
 opposite peculiarities. Yet they all follow from the 
 custom of marking boundaries by upright stones. Hence 
 the name Hermes, or Termes the boundary. In the 
 troublous times of old it was usual, in order to avoid 
 disputes, to leave a tract of neutral territory between the 
 possessions of different nations. These are called marches ; 
 hence the title of Marquis, which means an officer appointed 
 to watch the frontier or 6 march. 5 These marches not 
 being cultivated served as grazing grounds. To them 
 came merchants in order to exchange on neutral ground the 
 products of their respective countries ; here also for the 
 same reason treaties were negotiated. Here again inter- 
 national games and sports were held. Upright stones 
 were used to indicate places of burial ; and lastly on them 
 were engraved laws and decrees, records of remarkable 
 events, and the praises of the deceased. 
 
 Hence Mercury, represented by a plain upright stone, 
 was the god of travellers because he was a landmark, of 
 shepherds as presiding over the pastures ; he conducted 
 the souls of the dead into the infernal regions, because even 
 in very early days upright stones were used as tombstones ; 
 he was the god of merchants because commerce was 
 carried on principally at the frontiers ; and of thieves out 
 of sarcasm. He was the messenger of the gods, because 
 ambassadors met at the frontiers; and of eloquence for 
 the same reason. He invented the lyre and presided over 
 games, because contests in music, &c. were held on 
 neutral ground ; and he invented letters, because inscrip- 
 tions were engraved on upright pillars. 
 
 Stone-worship, however, in its simpler forms has, I 
 think, a different origin from this, and is merely a form 
 of that indiscriminate worship which characterises the 
 human mind in a particular phase of development. 
 
206 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 Pallas states that the Ostyaks 1 and Tunguses worship 
 mountains/ 2 and the Tatars stones . 3 Near Lake Baikal 4 5 
 is a sacred rock which is regarded as the special abode of 
 an evil spirit, and is consequently much feared by the 
 natives. In India stone-worship is very prevalent. The 
 Asagas of Mysore c worship a god called Bhnma Devam, 
 who is represented by a shapeless stone .’ 5 6 One thing is 
 certain/ says Mr. Hislop, c the worship (of stones) is spread 
 over all parts of the country, from Berar to the extreme 
 east of Bustar, and that not merely among the Hinduised 
 aborigines, who had begun to honour Khandova, &c., but 
 among the rudest and most savage tribes. He is generally 
 adored in the form of an unshapely stone covered with 
 vermilion .’ 6 c Two rude slave castes in Tulava (Southern 
 India), the Bakadara and Betadara, worship a benevolent 
 deity named Buta, represented by a stone kept in every 
 house .’ 7 Indeed, 6 in every part of Southern India, four or 
 five stones may often be seen in the ryots’ field, placed in 
 a row and daubed with red paint, which they consider as 
 guardians of the field and call the five Pandus .’ 8 Colonel 
 Forbes Leslie supposes that this red paint is intended to 
 represent blood . 9 The god of each Khond village is 
 represented by three stones . 10 PL IY. represents a group 
 of sacred stones, near Delgaum in the Dekkan, from a 
 figure given by Colonel Forbes Leslie in his interesting 
 work . 11 The three largest stood c in front of the centre of 
 two straight lines, each of which consisted of thirteen 
 stones. These lines were close together, and the edges of 
 
 1 Voyages de Pallas, vol. iv. p. 79. in Ethnol, Journ. vol. yiii. p. 96. 
 
 2 Ibid. pp. 434, 648. 7 Journ. Ethnol. Soc. vol. viii.p. 115. 
 
 3 Ibid. pp. 514, 598. 8 Ibid. vol. ix. p. 125. 
 
 4 Hill’s Travels in Siberia, vol. ii. 9 Early Kaces of Scotland, voL ii. 
 
 p. 142. p. 462. 
 
 5 Buchanan’s Journey, vol. i. p. 338. 10 Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 497. 
 
 Quoted in Ethnol. Journ. vol. viii. p. 96. 11 Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 464. 
 
 * Aboriginal Tribes, p. 16. Quoted 
 
INDIAN SACRED STONES. 
 

 
 . 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
HINDUSTAN. 
 
 207 
 
 the stones were placed as near to each other as it was 
 possible to do with slabs which, although selected, had 
 never been artificially shaped. The stone in the centre of 
 each line was nearly as high as the highest of the three 
 that stood in front, but the others gradually decreased in 
 size from the centre, until those at the ends were less than 
 a foot above the ground, into which they were all secured. 
 Three stones, not fixed, were placed in front of the centre 
 of the group ; they occupied the same position, and were 
 intended for the same purposes, as those in the circular 
 temple just described. All the stones had been selected of 
 an angular shape, with somewhat of an obelisk form in 
 general appearance. The central group and double lines 
 faced nearly east, and on that side were whitewashed. 
 On the white, near, although not reaching quite to the 
 apex of each stone, nor extending altogether to the sides, 
 was a large spot of red paint, two-thirds of which from 
 the centre were blackened over, leaving only a circular 
 external belt of red. This gave, as I believe it was 
 intended to do, a good representation of a large spot of 
 blood . 5 
 
 In connection with these painted stones it is remarkable 
 that in New Zealand red is a sacred colour, and ‘ the way 
 of rendering anything tapu was by making it red. When 
 a person died, his house was thus painted ; when the tapu 
 was laid on anything, the chief erected a post and painted 
 it with the kura ; wherever a corpse rested, some memo- 
 rial was set up ; oftentimes the nearest stone, rock, or tree 
 served as a monument ; but whatever object was selected, 
 it was sure to be painted red. If the corpse was conveyed 
 by water, wherever they landed a similar token was> v left ; 
 and when it reached its destination, the canoe was 
 dragged on shore, painted red, and abandoned. When the 
 hahunga took place, the scraped bones of the chief thus 
 
208 
 
 HINDOSTAN. 
 
 ornamented, and wrapped in a red-stained mat, were de- 
 posited in a box or bowl smeared with the sacred colour, 
 and placed in a painted tomb. Near his final resting- 
 place a lofty and elaborately carved monument was erected 
 to his memory ; this was called the tiki, which was also 
 thus coloured / 1 Bed was also a sacred colour in Congo . 2 
 
 Colonel Dalton describes 3 a ceremony which, as he truly 
 observes, curiously resembles the well-known scene in the 
 life of Elijah, when he recalled Israel to the old faith by 
 producing rain when the priests of Baal had failed to do 
 so. The Sonthals worship a conspicuous hill called c Ma- 
 rang Boroo/ In times of drought they go to the top of 
 the sacred mountain, and offer their sacrifices on a large 
 flat stone, playing on drums and beseeching their god for 
 rain. ‘ They shake their heads violently, till they work 
 themselves into a phrensy, and the movement becomes 
 involuntary. They go on thus wildly gesticulating, till a 
 “ little cloud like a man’s hand” is seen. Then they 
 arise, take up the drums, and dance the kurrun on the 
 rock, till Marang Boroo’s response to their prayer is heard 
 in the distant rumbling of thunder, and they go home 
 rejoicing. They must go “fasting to the mount,” and 
 stay there till “ there is a sound of abundance of rain,” 
 when they get them down to eat and drink. My informant 
 tells me it always comes before evening/ 
 
 The Arabians also down to the time of Mahomet wor- 
 shipped a black stone. The Phoenicians also worshipped a 
 deity under the form of an unshaped stone . 4 The god 
 Heliogabalus was merely a black stone of a conical form. 
 Upright stones were worshipped by the Bomans and the 
 Greeks under the name of Hermes or Mercury. The 
 
 1 Taylor’s New Zealand and the 3 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S. vol. vi. 
 
 New Zealanders, p. 95. p. 35. 
 
 2 Merolla, Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. 4 Kenrick’s Phoenicia, p. 323. 
 
 273. 
 
GREECE. LAPLAND. FRANCE. 
 
 209 
 
 Thespians had a rude stone which they regarded as a 
 deity, and the Boeotians worshipped Hercules under the 
 same form. 1 The Laplanders also had sacred mountains 
 and rocks. 2 
 
 In Western Europe during the middle ages we meet 
 with several denunciations of stone-worship, proving its 
 deep hold on the people. Thus ‘ the worship 3 of stones was 
 condemned by Theodoric, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 
 the seventh century, and is among the acts of heathenism 
 forbidden by King Edgar in the tenth, and by Cnut in the 
 eleventh century. In a council held at Tours in a.d. 567 
 priests were admonished to shut the doors of their churches 
 against all persons worshipping upright stones, and Mah6 
 states that a manuscript record of the proceedings of a 
 council held at Nantes in the seventh century makes 
 mention of the stone- worship of the Amoricans. 5 
 
 ‘Les Eran§ais/ says Dulaure, 4 ‘adorerent des pierres 
 plusieurs siecles apres I’etablissement du christianisme 
 parmi eux. Diverses lois civiles et religieuses attestent 
 l’existence de ce culte. Un capitulaire de Charlemagne, 
 et le concile de Leptine, de l’an 743, defendent les cere- 
 monies superstitieuses qui se pratiquent aupres des pierres 
 et aupres des Fans consacres a Mercure et Jupiter. Le 
 concile de Nantes, cite par Reginon, fait la meme defense. 
 II nous apprend que ces pierres etaient situees dans des 
 lieux agrestes, et que le peuple, dupe des tromperies des 
 demons, y apportait ses voeux et ses offrandes. Les 
 conciles d’ Arles, de Tours, le capitulaire d’Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle, de Tan 789, et plusieurs synodes, renouvellent ces 
 prohibitions. 5 
 
 In Ireland in the fifth century, King Laoghaire wor- 
 shipped a stone pillar called the Crom-Cruach, which was 
 
 1 See De Drosses, loc. cit. p. 1 55. 1 Forbes Leslie, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 256. 
 
 2 Diuaure, loc. cit. p. 50. 4 Bulaure, loc . cit. vol. i. p. 304. 
 
210 
 
 IRELAND. AFRICA. 
 
 overthrown by St. Patrick. Another stone at Clogher was 
 worshipped by the Irish under the name of Kermand- 
 Kelstach. 1 There was a sacred stone in Jura 2 round 
 which the people used to move c deasil, 5 i.e. sunwise. * In 
 some of the Hebrides 3 the people attributed oracular 
 power to a large black stone. 5 In the island of Skye c in 
 every district there is to be met with a rude stone conse- 
 crated to Gruagach or Apollo. The Eev. Mr. McQueen of 
 Skye says that in almost every village the sun, called 
 Grugach or the Fair-haired, is represented by a rude stone ; 
 and he further states that libations of milk were poured 
 on the gruaich-stones. 5 
 
 Passing to Africa, Caillie observed near the negro village 
 of N 5 pal a sacred stone, on which everyone as he passed 
 threw a thread out of his e pagne 5 or breech cloth, as a sort 
 of offering. The natives firmly believe that when any 
 danger threatens the village, this stone leaves its place 
 and ‘ moves thrice round it in the preceding night, by 
 way of warning. 54 
 
 Bruce observes that the pagan Abyssinians c worship a 
 tree, and likewise a stone. 5 5 
 
 The Tahitians believed in two principal gods ; 6 the 
 Supreme Deity, one of these two first beings, they call 
 Taroataihetoomoo, and the other, whom they suppose to 
 have been a rock, Tepapa. 56 
 
 In the Feejee 7 Islands ‘ rude consecrated stones (fig. 20) 
 are to be seen near Yuna, where offerings of food are 
 sometimes made. Another stands on a reef near Naloa 
 to which the natives tama ; and one near Thokova, Na 
 Viti Levu, named Lovekaveka, is regarded as the abode of 
 
 1 Dr. Todd’s St. Patrick, p. 127. 5 Bruce’s Travels, vol. vi. p. 343. 
 
 2 Martin’s Western Isles, p. 241. 6 Hawkes worth’s Voyages, vol. ii. 
 
 8 Forbes Leslie, loc. cit. vol. i. p. p. 238. 
 
 257. 7 Williams’ Fiji and the Fijians, 
 
 4 Caillie, vol. i. p. 25. . vol. i. p. 220. 
 
PACIFIC ISLANDS, 
 
 211 
 
 a goddess, for whom food is provided. This, as seen in the 
 engraving, is like a round black milestone, slightly inclined, 
 and having a liku (girdle) tied round the middle. The shrine 
 of 0 Rewau is a large stone, which, like the one near hTaloa, 
 hates mosquitoes, and keeps them from collecting near 
 where he rules ; he has also two large stones for his wives, 
 one of whom came from Yandua, and the other from 
 
 Fig. 20. 
 
 sached stones. (Feejee Islands.) 
 
 Yasawa. Although no one pretends to know the origin 
 of Ndengei, it is said that his mother, in the form of two 
 great stones, lies at the bottom of a moat. Stones are 
 also used to denote the locality of some other gods, and 
 the occasional resting places of others. On the southern 
 beaches of Yanua Levu, a large stone is seen which has 
 fallen upon a smaller one. These, it is said, represent the 
 gods of two towns on that coast fighting, and their quarrel 
 
212 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 has for years been adopted by those towns. The Suma- 
 trans also, as already mentioned (ante, p. 195), had sacred 
 stones. 
 
 Prescott 1 says, that a Dacotah Indian ‘ will pick up a 
 round stone, of any kind, and paint it, and go a few rods 
 from his lodge, and clean away the grass, say from one to 
 two feet in diameter, and there place his stone, or god, as 
 he would term it, and make an offering of some tobacco 
 and some feathers, and pray to the stone to deliver him 
 from some danger that he has probably dreamed of, oi 
 from imagination. 5 
 
 The Monitarris also before any great undertaking were 
 in the habit of making offerings to a sacred stone named 
 Mih Choppenish. 2 In Florida a mountain called Olaimi 
 was worshipped, and the Natchez of Louisiana had a deity 
 which was a conical stone. 3 
 
 Fire-worship is so widely distributed as to be almost 
 universal. Since the introduction of lucifer matches we 
 can hardly appreciate the difficulty which a savage has in 
 obtaining a light, especially in damp weather. It is said, 
 however, that some Australian tribes did not know how 
 to do so, and that others, if their fire went out, would 
 go many miles to borrow a spark from another tribe, 
 rather than attempt to produce a new one for themselves. 
 Hence in several very widely separated parts of the 
 world we find it has been customary to tell off some one 
 or more persons whose sole duty it should be to keep up 
 a continual fire. Hence, no doubt, the origin of the Vestal 
 virgins, and hence also the idea of the sacredness of fire 
 would naturally arise. 
 
 According to Lafitau, 4 M. Huet, in a work which I have 
 
 1 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, vol. p. 178. 
 
 ii. p. 229. Lafitan, yoI. ii. p. 321. 3 Lafitau, yoI. i. p. 146. 
 
 2 Klemm, Cultur. geschichte, vol. ii. 4 Loc. cit . vol. i. p. 153. 
 
FIRE-WORSHIP. 
 
 213 
 
 not been able to see, ‘ fait nne longue enumeration des 
 
 peuples qui entretenoient ee feu sacre, et il cite partout 
 
 ses autorites, de sorte qu’il. paroit qu’il n’y avoit point de 
 
 partie du monde connu, ou ce culte ne fut universellement 
 
 repandu. Dans FAsie, outre les Juifs et les Chaldeens 
 
 dont nous venons de parler, outre les peuples de Phrygie, 
 
 de Lycie, et de FAsie-Mineure, il etoit encore chez les 
 
 Perses, les Medes, les Scythes, les Sarmates, chez toutes 
 
 les nations du Ponte et de la Cappadoce, chez toutes celles 
 
 des Indes, ou P on se faisoit un devoir de se jeter dans les 
 
 flammes, et de s’y consumer en holocauste, et chez toutes 
 
 celles des deux Arabies, ou chaque jour a certaines heures 
 
 on faisoit un sacrifice au feu, dans lequel plusieurs per- 
 
 sonnes se devouoient. Dans FAfrique il etoit non-seulement 
 * 
 
 chez les Egyptiens, qui entretenoient ce feu immortel dans 
 chaque temple, ainsi que Fassure Porphyre, mais encore 
 dans FEthiopie, dans la Lybie, dans le temple de Jupiter 
 Ammon, et chez les Atlantiques, ou Hiarbas, roy des Gara- 
 mantes et des Getules, avoit dresse cent autels, et consacre 
 autant de feux, que Yirgile appelle des feux vigilans et les 
 gardes eternelles des dieux. Dans FEurope le culte de 
 Yesta etoit si bien etabli, que, sans parler de Pome et de 
 FItalie, il n’y avoit point de ville de la Grece qui n’eut un 
 temple, un pry tanee, et un feu eternel, ainsi que le remarque 
 Casaubon dans ses “ Notes sur Athenee.” Les temples 
 celebres d’Hercule dans les Espagnes, et dans les Gaules, 
 celui de Yulcain au Mont Ethna, de Yenus Erycine, avoient 
 tous leurs pyrethes ou feux sacres. On peut citer de sembla- 
 bles temoignages des nations les plus reculees dans le nord, 
 qui etoient toutes originates des Scythes et des Sarmates. 
 Enfin M. Huet pretend qu’il n’y a pas encore long-temps que 
 ce culte a ete aboli dans FHybernie et dans la Moscovie, 
 qufil est encore aujourd’hui, non-seulement chez les Gaures, 
 mais encore chez les Tartares, les Chinois, et dans FAme- 
 
211 
 
 WORSHIP OP THE HEAVENLY BODIES. 
 
 rique chez les Mexiquains. II pouvoit encore en ajouter 
 d 5 autrcs . 5 
 
 The Natchez had a temple in which they kept up a 
 perpetual fire . 1 The Ojibwas 2 maintained 6 a continual fire 
 as a symbol of their nationality. They maintained also 
 a civil polity, which, however, was much mixed up with 
 their religious and medicinal beliefs . 5 In Mexico also 
 we find the same idea of sacred fire. Colonel McLeod 
 has seen the sacred fire still kept burning in some of the 
 valleys of South Mexico . 3 At the great festival of Xiuh- 
 molpia, the priests and people went in procession to the 
 mountain of Huixachtecatl ; then an unfortunate victim 
 was stretched on the ‘ stone of sacrifice , 5 and killed by a 
 priest with a knife of obsidian ; the dish made use of to 
 kindle the new fire was then placed on the wound, and 
 fire was obtained by friction . 4 
 
 In Peru 5 ‘ the sacred flame was entrusted to the care of 
 the virgins of the sun ; and if, by any neglect, it was 
 suffered to go out in the course of the year, the event was 
 regarded as a calamity that boded some strange disaster 
 to the monarchy . 5 
 
 Pire is also regarded as Sacred in Congo. 
 
 No one can wonder that the worship of sun, moon, and 
 stars is very widely distributed. It can, however, scarcely 
 be regarded as of a higher character than the preceding 
 forms of Totemism ; it is unknown in Australia, and almost 
 so in Africa. 
 
 In hot countries the sun is generally regarded as an 
 evil, and in cold as a beneficent, being. It was the chief 
 
 1 Lafitau, vol. i. p. 167. also p. 246. 
 
 2 Warren in Schoolcraft’s Indian 4 Humboldt’s Researches, London, 
 Tribes, vol. ii. p. 138. See also Whip- 1824, vol. i. pp. 225, 382. Lafitau. 
 
 pie’s Report on Indian Tribes, p. 36. vol. j. p. 170. 
 
 * Jour. Ethn. Soc. 1869, p. 225. See 6 Prescott, vol. i. p. 99. 
 
AMERICA. 
 
 215 
 
 object of religious worship among the Natchez , 1 and was 
 also worshipped by the Navajos, and other allied tribes in 
 N. America . 2 Among the Comanches of Texas * the sun, 
 moon, and earth are the principal objects of worship .’ 3 
 Lafitau observes that the Americans did not worship the 
 stars and planets, but only the sun . 4 The Ahts of North- 
 west America worship both the sun and moon, but 
 especially the latter. They regard the sun as feminine 
 and the moon as masculine, being, moreover, the husbanil 
 of the sun . 5 It has been said that the Esquimaux of 
 Greenland used to wprship the sun. This, however, seems 
 more than doubtful, and Crantz 6 expressly denies the 
 statement. 
 
 In South America the Coroados worship the sun and 
 moon, the moon being the greatest . 7 The Abipones 8 
 thought that they were descended from the Pleiades, and 
 * as that constellation disappears at certain periods from 
 the sky of South America, upon such occasions they 
 suppose that their grandfather is sick, and are under a 
 yearly apprehension that he is going to die : but as soon 
 as those seven stars are again visible in the month of May, 
 they welcome their grandfather, as if returned and re- 
 stored from sickness, with joyful shouts, and the festive 
 sound of pipes and trumpets, congratulating him on the 
 recovery of his health.’ 
 
 In Central India ‘ the worship of the sun as the Supreme 
 Deity is the foundation of the religion of the Hos and 
 
 1 Robertson’s America, bk. iv. p. 4 Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 146. 
 
 126. 5 Sproat’s Scenes and Studies of • 
 
 2 Whipple’s Report on Indian Tribes, Savage Life, p. 206. 
 
 p. 36. Lafitau, vol ii. p. 189. Tertre’s 6 Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 196. See also 
 History of the Caribby Islands, p. 236. Graah’s Voyage to Greenland, p. 124. 
 
 * Neighbors in Schoolcraft’s Indian 7 Spix and Martius, vol. ii. p. 243. 
 Tribes, vol. ii. p. 127. 8 Loc. cit . vol. ii. p. 65. 
 
216 
 
 INDIA. POLYNESIA. 
 
 Oraons as well as of the Moondahs. By the former he is 
 invoked as Dhurmi, the Holy One. He is the Creator and 
 the Preserver, and with reference to his purity, white 
 animals are offered to him by his votaries / 1 The sun and 
 moon are both regarded as deities by the Khonds, though 
 no ceremonial worship is addressed to them . 2 In Northern 
 Asia the Samoyedes are said to have worshipped the sun 
 and moon. 
 
 As might naturally be expected from their habits, and 
 particularly from their partiality for nocturnal ceremonies, 
 we find traces of moon-worship among the Negroes. In 
 Western Africa, according to Merolla , 3 c at the appearance 
 of every new moon, these people fall on their knees, or else 
 cry out, standing and clapping their hands, “ So may I 
 renew my life as thou art renewed / 5 5 They do not, how- 
 ever, appear to venerate either the sun or the stars. Bruce 
 also mentions moon-worship as occurring among the 
 Shangallas . 4 
 
 It is remarkable that the heavenly bodies do not appear 
 to be worshipped by the Polynesians. 
 
 According to Lord Karnes, ‘ the inhabitants of Celebes 
 formerly acknowledged no gods but the sun and moon / 5 
 The people of Borneo also are said to have done the same. 
 
 Thus, then, I have attempted to show that animals and 
 plants, water, mountains and stones, fire. and the heavenly^ 
 bodies, are, or have been, all very extensively worshipped. 
 
 These, indeed, are the principal deities of man in this 
 stage of his religious development. They are, however, 
 by no means the only ones. The Scythians worshipped 
 an iron scimetar as a symbol of Mars ; ‘ to this scimetar 
 
 1 Colonel Dalton, Trans. Ethn. Soc., xv. p. 273. 
 
 vol. yi. p. 33. 4 Travels, vol. iv. p. 35, vol. vi. p. 
 
 2 Forbes Leslie. Early Kaces of 344. 
 
 Scotland, vol. ii. p. 496. 5 History of Man, vol. iv. p. 252. 
 
 3 Voyage to Congo, Pinkerton, vol. 
 
SUNDRY WORSHIPS. 
 
 217 
 
 they bring yearly sacrifices of cattle and horses ; and 
 to these scimetars they offer more sacrifices than to the 
 rest of their gods.* 1 In the Sagas many of the swords 
 have special names, and are treated with the greatest 
 respect. Similarly the Feejeeans regarded 6 certain clubs 
 with superstitious respect;* 2 and the Negroes of Irawo, 
 a town in Western Yoruba, worshipped an iron bar with 
 very expensive ceremonies. 3 The New Zealanders and 
 some of the Melanesians worshipped the rainbow. 4 
 
 In Central India, as mentioned in p. 191, a great variety 
 of inanimate objects are treated as deities. The Todas are 
 said to worship a buffalo-bell. 5 The Kotas worship two 
 silver plates, which they regard as husband and wife; 
 ‘they have no other deity.* 6 The Kurumbas worship stones, 
 trees, and anthills. 7 The Toreas, another Neilgherry Hill 
 tribe, worship especially a c gold nose-ring, which probably 
 once belonged to one of their women.* 8 Many other in- 
 animate objects have also been worshipped. De Brosses 
 even mentions an instance of a king of hearts being made 
 into a deity. 9 According to Nonnius, the sacred lyre 
 sang the victory of Jupiter over the Titans without being 
 touched. 10 
 
 According to some of the earlier travellers in America, 
 even the rattle was regarded as a deity. 11 ‘ Thevet, 
 Hierome Staad, et le Sieur de Leri, qui nous ont donne 
 les premieres relations des moeurs des Bresiliens, parois- 
 sent persuadee que ces peuples regardent ces Maraca ou 
 Tamaraca comme une espece de divinite ; qu*ils les hono- 
 
 1 Her. iv. 62. See also Klemm, 6 Ibid. p. 114. 
 
 Werkzeuge und Waffen, p. 225. 7 Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. vii. p. 278. 
 
 2 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 219. 8 The Tribes of the Neilgherries, 
 
 3 Burton’s Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 192. p. 67. 
 
 4 Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1870, p. 367. 9 Loc. cit. p. 52. 
 
 5 The Tribes of the Neilgherries, 10 Lafitau, vol. i. p. 205. 
 
 p. 15. 11 P- 211. 
 
21S 
 
 WORSHIP OP THE RATTLE. 
 
 rent d’un culte religieux ; qu’ils s’en servent dans toutes 
 les occasions ou la religion a quelque part; que cliaque 
 menage a le sien, a qni il offre constamment des offrandes; 
 et snrtout que leur usage est tellement consacre a la divi- 
 nation, que ces sauvages semblent croire que ces Maraca 
 font le siege, le lieu de la residence de resprit, qui les 
 inspire, et qui de-la parle d’une maniere claire, distincte, 
 et leur fait savoir toutes ses volontes.* 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 religion ( concluded ). 
 
 I N order to realise clearly tlie essential characteristics of 
 the religions of different races, we must bear in mind 
 that in the stage at which we have now arrived in the 
 course of our enquiry, the modifications of which a 
 religion is susceptible may be divided into two classes, 
 viz., developmental and adaptational. I use the term ‘ de- 
 velopmental 5 to signify those changes which arise from 
 the intellectual progress of tlie race. Thus a more 
 elevated idea of the Deity is a developmental change. On 
 the other hand, a northern people is apt to look on the 
 sun as a beneficent deity, while to a tropical race he would 
 suggest drought and destruction. Again, hunters tend to 
 worship the moon, agriculturists the sun. These I call 
 adaptational modifications. They are changes produced, 
 not by difference of race or of civilisation, but by 
 physical causes. 
 
 In some cases the character of the language has pro- 
 bably exercised much influence over that of religion. No 
 one, for instance, can fail to be struck by the differ- 
 ences existing between the Aryan and Semitic religions. 
 All Aryan races have a complicated mythology, which is 
 not the case with the Semitic races. Moreover, the 
 character of the gods is quite different. The latter have 
 El, Strong; Bel or Baal, Lord; Adonis, Lord; Shet, 
 Master ; Moloch, King ; Ram and Rimmon, the Exalted ; 
 and other similar names for their deities. The Aryans, on 
 
220 DEVELOPMENT AND ADAPTATIONAL MODIFICATIONS. 
 
 the contrary, Zeus, the sky ; Phoebus Apollo, the sun ; 
 Neptune, the sea; Mars, war; Yenus, beauty, '&c. Max 
 Muller 1 has very ingeniously endeavoured to explain this 
 difference by the different character of the language in 
 these two races. 
 
 In Semitic words the root remains always distinct and 
 unmistakeable. In Aryan, on the contrary, it soon becomes 
 altered and disguised. Hence Semitic dictionaries are 
 mostly arranged according to the roots, a method which in 
 Aryan languages would be most inconvenient, the root 
 being often obscure, and in many cases doubtful. Now 
 take such an expression as 6 the sky thunders . 5 In any 
 Semitic tongue the word c sky 5 would remain unaltered, 
 and so clear in its meaning, that it would with difficulty 
 come to be thought of as a proper name. But among the 
 Aryans the Sanskrit Dyaus,the sky, became the Greek Zeus, 
 and when the Greek said Zsvs fipovra his idea was not the 
 sky thunders, but ‘ Zeus thunders . 5 When the Gods were 
 thus once created, the mythology follows as a matter of 
 course. Some of the statements may be obscure, but 
 when we are told that Hupnos, the god of sleep, was the 
 father of Morpheus, the god of dreams; or that Yenus 
 married to Yulcan, lost her heart to Mars, and that the 
 intrigue was made known to Yulcan by Apollo, the sun, 
 we can clearly see how such myths might have arisen. 
 
 The attitude of the ancients towards them is very 
 interesting. Homer and Hesiod relate them, appa- 
 rently without suspicion, and we may be sure that the 
 uneducated public received them without a doubt. So- 
 crates, however, explains the story that Boreas carried 
 off Oreithyia from the Hissos, to mean that Oreithyia was 
 blown off the rocks by the north wind. Ovid also says 
 
 1 See Muller’s Chips from a German Workshop, vol. i. p. 363. 
 
ORIGIN OP MYTHS. 
 
 221 
 
 that under the name of Yesta, mere fire is to he under- 
 stood. We can hardly doubt that many others also must 
 have clearly perceived the origin of at any rate a portion 
 of these myths, but they were probably restrained' from 
 expressing their opinion by the dread of incurring the 
 odium of heterodoxy. 
 
 One great charm of this explanation is that we thus 
 remove some of the revolting features of ancient myths. 
 Thus as the sun destroys the darkness from* which it 
 springs, and at evening disappears in the twilight; so 
 (Edipus was fabled to have killed his father, and then 
 married his mother. In this way the whole of that terrible 
 story may be explained as arising, not from the depravity 
 of the human heart, but from a mistaken application of 
 the statement that the sun destroys the darkness, and 
 ultimately marries, as it were, the twilight from which it 
 sprang. 
 
 But although Poetry may thus throw much light on the 
 origin of the myths which formed the religion of Greece 
 and Home, it cannot explain the origin or character of 
 religion among the lower savages, because a mythology such 
 as that of Greece and Rome can only arise amongst a people 
 which have already made considerable progress. Tempting, 
 therefore, as it may be to seek in the nature of language 
 and the use of poetical expressions, an explanation of the 
 religious systems of the lower races, and fully admitting 
 the influence which these causes have exercised, we must 
 look deeper for the origin of religion, and can be satisfied 
 only by an explanation which is applicable to the lowest 
 races possessing any religious opinions. In the preceding 
 chapters I have attempted to do this, and to show how 
 certain phenomena, as for instance sleep and dreams, pain, 
 disease, and death, have naturally created in the savage 
 mind a belief in the existence of mysterious and invisible 
 
222 
 
 SHAMANISM. 
 
 Beings. The last chapter was devoted to Totemism, and 
 we now pass to what may be most conveniently termed 
 ‘ Shamanism . 5 
 
 SHAMANISM. 
 
 As Totemism overlies Fetichism so does Shamanism 
 overlie Totemism. The word is derived from the name 
 used in Siberia, where the ‘ Shamans 5 work themselves up 
 into a fury, supposing or pretending that in this condition 
 they are inspired by the Spirit in whose name they speak, 
 and through whose inspiration they are enabled to answer 
 questions and to foretell the future. In the phases of 
 religion hitherto considered (the deities, if indeed they 
 deserve the name), are regarded as visible to all, and 
 present amongst us. Shamanism is a considerable advance, 
 inasmuch as it presents us with a higher conception of 
 religion. Although the name is Siberian, the phase of 
 thought is widely distributed, and seems to be a necessary 
 stage in the progress of religious development. Those 
 who are disposed to adopt the view advocated in this work 
 will not be surprised to find that c Shamanism 5 is no 
 definite system of theology. Wrangel, however, regarding 
 Shamanism as religion in the ordinary sense, was astonished 
 at this : 6 it is remarkable , 5 he says, ‘ that Shamanism has 
 no dogmas of any kind; it is not a system taught or 
 handed down from one to another ; though it is so widely 
 spread, it seems to originate with each individual sep- 
 arately, as the fruit of a highly excited imagination, acted 
 upon by external impressions, which closely resemble each 
 other throughout the deserts of Northern Siberia . 51 
 
 It is far from easy in practice always to distinguish 
 Shamanism from Totemism on the one hand, and Idolatry 
 
 1 Siberia and Polar Sea, p. 123. 
 
SIBERIA. GREENLAND. 
 
 223 
 
 on the other. The main difference lies in the conception 
 of the Deity. In Totemism the deities inhabit our earth, 
 in Shamanism they live generally in a world of their own, 
 and trouble themselves little about what is passing here. 
 The Shaman is occasionally honoured by the presence 
 of Deity, or is allowed to visit the heavenly regions. 
 Among the Esquimaux the 6 Angekok * answers precisely 
 to the Shaman. Graah thus describes a scene in Greenland. 
 
 The Angekok came in the evening, and, ‘ the lamps 1 
 being extinguished, and skins hung before the windows 
 (for such arts, for evident reasons, are best practised in 
 the dark), took his station on the floor, close by a well- 
 dried seal-skin there suspended, and commenced rattling 
 it, beating the tambourine and singing, in which last he 
 was seconded by all present. From time to time his chant 
 was interrupted by a cry of “ Goie, Goie, Goie, Goie, Goie, 
 Goie ! ” the meaning of which I did not comprehend, 
 coming first from one corner of the hut, and then from 
 the other. Presently all was quiet, nothing being heard 
 but the angekok pulling and blowing as if struggling with 
 something superior to him in strength, and then again a 
 sound resembling somewhat that of castanets, whereupon 
 commenced once more the same song as before, and the 
 same cry of “ Goie, Goie, Goie ! 99 In this way a whole 
 hour elapsed before the wizard could make the torngak, 
 or spirit, obey his summons. Come he did, however, at 
 last, and his approach was announced by a strange rushing 
 sound, very like the sound of a large bird flying beneath 
 the roof. The angekok still chanting, now proposed his 
 questions, which were replied to in a voice quite strange 
 to my ears, but which seemed to me to proceed from the 
 entrance passage, near which the angekok had taken 
 
 Graak’s Voyage to Greenland, p. 123 See also Egede’s Greenland, p. 183. 
 
224 
 
 PACIFIC ISLANDS. 
 
 his station. These responses, however, were somewhat 
 oracnlar, insomuch that Ernenek’s wives were obliged to 
 request some more explicit answer, whereupon they received 
 the comfortable assurance that he was alive and well, and 
 would shortly make his appearance . 5 
 
 The account given by Crantz agrees with the above in all 
 essential particulars . 1 
 
 Williams 2 gives the following very similar account of a 
 scene in Fiji : — 6 Unbroken silence follows ; the priest 
 becomes absorbed in thought and all eyes watch him with 
 unblinking steadiness. In a few minutes he trembles ; 
 slight distortions are seen in his face, and twitching move- 
 ments in his limbs. These increase to a violent muscular 
 action, which spreads until the whole frame is strongly 
 convulsed, and the man shivers as with a strong ague fit. 
 In some instances this is accompanied with murmurs and 
 sobs, the veins are greatly enlarged and the circulation of 
 the blood quickened. The priest is now possessed by his 
 god, and all his words and actions are considered as no 
 longer his own, but those of the deity who has entered into 
 him. Shrill cries of “ Koi au, Koi* au ! 55 “ It is I, It is I ! 55 
 fill the air, and the god is supposed thus to notify his 
 approach. While giving the answer, the priest’s eyes 
 stand out and roll as in a frenzy ; his voice is unnatural, 
 has face pale, his lips livid, his breathing depressed, and 
 his entire appearance like that of a furious madman ; the 
 sweat runs from every pore, and tears start from his 
 strained eyes ; after which the symptoms gradually disap- 
 pear. The priest looks round with a vacant stare, 
 and, as the god says, “ I depart , 55 announces his actual 
 departure by violently flinging himself down on the mat, 
 or by suddenly striking the ground with his club, when 
 
 1 History of Greenland, voL i. p. 2 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p.224. 
 210 . 
 
IDOLATRY. 
 
 225 
 
 those at a distance are informed by blasts on the conch, or 
 the firing of a musket, that the deity has returned into 
 the world of spirits. The convulsive movements do nor 
 entirely disappear for some time . 5 The process described 
 by Dobritzhoffer 1 as occurring among the Abipones is also 
 somewhat similar. 
 
 Among the Negroes of W. Africa Brue 2 mentions a ‘ pro- 
 phet 5 who pretended ‘ to be inspired by the Deity in such 
 a manner as to know the most hidden secrets ; and go 
 invisible wherever he pleased, as well as to make his voice 
 be heard at the greatest distance. His disciples and ac- 
 complices attested the truth of what he said by a thousand 
 fabulous relations; so that the common people, always 
 credulous and fond of novelty, readily gave in to the cheat . 5 
 
 Colonel Dalton states that ‘the paganism of the Ho 
 and Moondah in all essential features is shamanistic .’ 3 
 
 IDOLATRY. 
 
 The worship of Idols characterises a somewhat higher 
 stage of human development. We find no traces of it 
 among the lowest races of men ; and Lafitau 4 says truly, 
 ‘ On peut dire en general que le grand nombre des peuples 
 sauvages n 5 a point d’idoles . 5 The error of regarding 
 Idolatry as the general religion of low races, has no doubt 
 mainly arisen from confusing the Idol and the Fetich. 
 Fetichism, however, is an attack on the Deity, Idolatry is 
 an act of submission to him; rude, no doubt, but yet 
 humble. Hence Fetichism and Idolatry are not only 
 different, but opposite, so that the one could not be 
 developed directly out of the other. We must therefore 
 
 1 History of the Abipones, vol. ii. 3 Trann. Ethn. Soc. 1 868, p. 32. 
 
 p. 73. 4 Mceurs des Sauvages Americains, 
 
 2 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, vol. vol. i. p. 151. 
 
 ii. p. 83. 
 
 11 
 
226 
 
 ABSENCE OF IDOLATBY 
 
 expect to find between them, as indeed we do, a stage of 
 religion without either the one or the other. 
 
 Neither among the Esquimaux nor the Tinne/ says 
 Richardson, ‘did I observe any image or visible object of 
 worship / 1 Carver states that the Canadian Indians had 
 no idols ; 2 and this seems to have been true of the North 
 American Indians generally. Lafitau mentions as an ex- 
 ception the existence of an idol named Oki in Yirginia . 3 
 
 In Eastern Africa Burton states that he knows ‘ but one 
 people, the Wanyika, who have certain statuettes called 
 Kisukas/ Nor do the West African negroes worship idols . 4 
 It is true that some writers mention idols, but the con- 
 text almost always shows that fetiches are really meant. 
 In the kingdom of Whydah ‘ Agoye 9 was represented 
 under the form of a deformed black man from whose head 
 proceed lizards and snakes , 5 offering a striking similarity 
 to some of the Indian idols. This is, however, an excep- 
 tional case. Battel only mentions particularly two idols f 
 and Bosnian 7 expressly says that 6 on the. Gold Coast the 
 natives are not in the least acquainted with image-worship ; 
 adding, 6 but at Ardra there are thousands of idols/ i.e. 
 fetiches. At Loango there was a small black image named 
 Chikokke, which was placed in a little house close to the 
 port . 8 These, however, were merely fetiches in human 
 form. Thus we are told by the same author that in 
 Kakongo, the kingdom which lies to the south of Loango, 
 the natives during the plague 6 burnt their idols, saying. 
 If they will not help us in such a misfortune as this , when can 
 we expect they should?’* Thus, apparently, doubting not 
 so much their power as their will. Again, in Congo, the 
 
 1 Boat Journey, vol. ii. p. 44. pp. 26 and 50. 
 
 2 Travels, p. 387. 6 Adventures of A. Battel. Pinkej- 
 
 3 Vol. i*p. 168. on, vol. xvi. p. 331. 
 
 4 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, 7 Bosnian’s Guinea. Pinkerton, 
 vol. ii. p. 240 for Futa, and for Guinea oc. cit. p. 403. 
 
 as far as Ardrah. p. 666. 8 Astley, loc. cit. p. 216. 
 
 6 Astley’s Collection of Voyages, 9 Astley, loc. cit. p. 217. 
 
AMONG THE LOWER RACES. 
 
 227 
 
 so-called idols are placed in fields to protect the growing 
 crops . 1 This is clearly the function of a fetich, not of a 
 true idol. 
 
 Idolatry, says Williams of the Fijian, ‘ he seems never 
 to have known; for he makes no attempt to fashion 
 material representations of his gods / 2 As regards the 
 New Zealanders, Yate 3 says, that ‘though remarkably 
 superstitious, they have no gods that they worship ; nor 
 have they anything to represent a being which they call 
 God/ Dieffenbach also observes that in New Zealand 
 ‘ there is no worship of idols, or of bodily representations 
 of the Atoua/ 4 
 
 Speaking of the Singe Dyaks , 5 Sir James Brooke says, 
 
 Religion they have none ; and although they know the 
 name for a god ? (which is probably taken from the Hindoos), 
 ‘ they have no priests nor idols, say no prayers, offer no 
 offerings/ He subsequently modified this opinion on some 
 points, but as regards the absence of idols it seems to be 
 correct. 
 
 The Kols of Central India worship the sun, ‘ material 
 idol worship they have none / 6 Originally, says Dubois, 
 the Hindoos did not resort ‘ to images of stone or other 
 materials. . . . but when the people of India had deified 
 their heroes or other mortals, they began then, and not 
 before, to have recourse to statues and images / 7 In China 
 ‘it is observable 8 that there is not to be found, in the 
 canonical books, the least footstep of idolatrous worship 
 till the image of Fo was brought into China, several ages, 
 after Confucius/ 
 
 The Ostyaks never made an image of their god 
 
 1 Astley, loc.'cit. vol. iii. p. 229. vol. i. p. 231. 
 
 2 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 216. 6 Dalton, Trans. Ethn. Soc., N. S., 
 
 8 Loc. cit. p. 141. vol. vi. p. 32. 
 
 4 Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 118. 7 Dubois, The People of India, p. 379 
 
 5 Keppel’s Expedition to Borneo, ~ 8 Astley, vol. iv. p. 203. 
 
228 
 
 ORIGIN OF IDOLATRY. 
 
 ‘ Toruim .’ 1 In fact, idols do not occnr until we arrive at 
 the stage of the highest Polynesian Islanders. Even then 
 they are often, as Ellis expressly tells us , 2 mere shapeless 
 pieces of wood ; thus leaving much to the imagination. It 
 may, I think, he laid down almost as a constant rule, that 
 mankind arrives at the stage of monarchy in government 
 before he reaches idolatry in religion. 
 
 The idol usually assumes the human form, and idolatry 
 is closely connected with that form of religion which 
 consists in the worship of ancestors. We have already 
 seen how imperfectly uncivilised man realises the concep- 
 tion of death; and we cannot wonder that death and sleep 
 should long have been intimately connected together in 
 the human mind. The savage, however, knows well that 
 in sleep the spirit lives, even though the body appears to 
 be dead. Morning after morning he rouses himself, and 
 sees others rise, from sleep. Naturally therefore he 
 endeavours to rouse the dead. Nor can we wonder at the 
 very general custom of providing food and other necessaries 
 for the use of the dead. Among races leading a settled 
 and quiet life this habit would tend to continue longer 
 and longer. Prayers to the dead would reasonably follow 
 from such customs, for even without attributing a greater 
 power to the dead than to the living, they might yet, from 
 their different sphere and nature, exercise a considerable 
 power whether for good or evil. But it is impossible to 
 distinguish a request to an invisible being from prayer ; 
 or a powerful spirit from a demi-god. 
 
 The nations of Mysore at the new moon c observe a feast 
 in honour of deceased parents .’ 3 The Kurumbars of the 
 Deccan also ‘ sacrifice to the spirits of ancestors,’ and the 
 
 1 Erman, loc. cit . vol. ii. p. 50. 3 Buchanan, quoted in Trans. Ethn. 
 
 2 Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. p. Soc., N.S., vol. viii. p. 96. 
 
 220 . 
 
ORIGIN OP IDOLATRY. 
 
 229 
 
 same is the case with, the Santals . 1 Indeed, the worship 
 of ancestors appears to be more or less prevalent among 
 all the aboriginal tribes of Central India. 
 
 Burton 2 * considers that some of the Egba deities are 
 c palpably men and women of note in their day . 5 
 
 The Kaffirs also sacrifice and pray to their deceased 
 relatives, although ‘ it would perhaps be asserting too 
 much to say absolutely that they believe in the existence 
 and the immortality of the soul . 53 In fact, their belief 
 seems to go no further than this, that the ghosts of the 
 dead haunt for a certain time their previous dwelling- 
 places, and either assist or plague the living. No special 
 powers are attributed to them, and it would be a misnomer 
 to call them c Deities . 5 
 
 Other races endeavour to preserve the memory of the 
 dead by rude statues. Thus Pallas 4 mentions that the 
 Ostyaks of Siberia c rendent aussi un culte a leurs morts. Ils 
 sculptent des figures de bois pour representer les Ostiaks 
 celebres. Dans les repas de commemoration on place 
 devant ces figures une partie des mets. Les femmes qui 
 ont cheri leurs maris ont de pareilles figures, les couchent 
 avec elles, les parent, et ne mangent point sans leur pre- 
 senter une partie de leur portion . 5 Erman 5 also mentions 
 that when a man dies ‘ the relatives form a rude wooden 
 image representing, and in honour of, the deceased, which 
 is set up in their yurt, and receives divine honours 5 for a 
 certain time. ‘At every meal they set an offering of food 
 before the image; and should this represent a deceased 
 husband, the widow embraces it from time to time and 
 lavishes on it every sign of attachment . 5 In ordinary 
 
 1 Elliott, Trans. Ethn. Soc., N.S., also Callaway’s Religious System of 
 
 vol. yiii. pp. 104, 106. the Amazulu. 
 
 2 Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 191. 4 Pallas’ Voyages, vol. iv. p. 79. 
 
 The Basutos; Casalis, p. 243. See 5 Erman, loc . tit. vol. ii. p. 51. 
 
230 
 
 ORIGIN OF IDOLATRY. 
 
 cases this semi- worship only lasts a few years, after which 
 the image is buried. ‘ But when a Shaman dies, this custom 
 changes, in his favour, into a complete and decided canon- 
 isation ; for it is not thought enough that, in this case, 
 the dressed block of wood which represents the deceased 
 should receive homage for a limited period, but the priest’s 
 descendants do their best to keep him in vogue from 
 generation to generation; and by well-contrived oracles 
 and other arts, they manage to procure offerings for these 
 their families’ penates, as abundant as those laid on the 
 altars of the universally acknowledged gods. But that 
 these latter also have an historical origin, that they were 
 originally monuments of distinguished men, to which 
 prescription and the interest of the Shamans gave by 
 degrees an arbitrary meaning and importance, seems to 
 me not liable to doubt ; and this is, furthermore, corro- 
 borated by the circumstance that of all the sacred yurts 
 dedicated to these saints, which have been numerous from 
 the earliest times in the vicinity of the river, only one has 
 been seen (near Samarovo) containing the image of a 
 woman.’ 
 
 It seems to me that in other countries also, statues have 
 in this manner come to be worshipped as Deities. 
 
 Solomon, 1 long ago, observed truly of idols that 
 
 ‘ 13. Neither were they from the beginning, neither shall 
 they be for ever. 
 
 6 14. For by the vain glory of men they entered into the 
 world, and therefore shall they come shortly to an end. 
 
 ‘15. For a father afflicted with untimely mourning, 
 when he hath made an image of his child soon taken 
 away, now honoured him as a god, which was then 
 a dead man, and delivered to those that were under him 
 ceremonies and sacrifices. 
 
 1 Wisdom, ch. xiv. p. 12. 
 
IDOLS NOT MEEE EMBLEMS. 
 
 231 
 
 4 16. Thus, in process of time, an ungodly custom grown 
 strong was kept as a law, and graven images were wor- 
 shipped by the commandments of kings : 
 
 c 17. Whom men could not honour in presence, because 
 they dwelt far off, they took the counterfeit of the visage 
 from far, and made an express image of a king whom they 
 honoured, to the end that by this their forwardness, they 
 might flatter him that was absent, as if he were present. 
 
 ‘ 18. Also the singular diligence of the artificer did help 
 to set forward the ignorant to more superstition. 
 
 ‘ 19. For he, perad venture willing to please one in 
 authority, forced all his skill to make the resemblance of 
 the best fashion. 
 
 6 20. And so the multitude, allured by the grace of the 
 work, took him now for a god, which a little before was 
 but honoured as a man. 5 
 
 The idol is by no means regarded as a mere emblem. 
 In India, 1 when the offerings of the people have been less 
 profuse than usual, the Brahmans sometimes c put the 
 idols in irons, chaining their hands and feet. They ex- 
 hibit them to the people in this humiliating state, into 
 which they tell them they have been brought by rigorous 
 creditors, from whom their gods had been obliged, in 
 times of trouble, to borrow money to supply their wants. 
 They declare that the inexorable creditors refuse to set 
 the god at liberty, until the whole sum, with interest, shall 
 have been paid. The people come forward, alarmed at the 
 sight of their divinity in irons ; and thinking it the most 
 meritorious of all good works to contribute to his deliver- 
 ance, they raise the sum required by the Brahmans for 
 that purpose. 5 
 
 ‘ A statue of Hercules 2 was worshipped at Tyre, not as a 
 
 1 Dubois, The People of India, p. 2 History of Man, vol, iv. p. 316. 
 4.C7. 
 
232 
 
 WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS. 
 
 representative of the Deity but as the Deity himself ; and 
 accordingly when Tyre was besieged by Alexander, the 
 Deity was fast bound in chains, to prevent him from 
 deserting to the enemy/ 
 
 It is hard for us to appreciate the difficulty which an 
 undeveloped mind finds in raising itself to any elevated 
 conception. Thus Campbell mentions that a Highlander 
 wishing to describe a castle of the utmost possible mag- 
 nificence, ended with this climax : c That was the beautiful 
 castle ! There was not a shadow of a thing that was 
 for the use of a castle that was not in it, even to a herd 
 for the geese/ As, however, civilisation progresses, and 
 the chiefs, becoming more despotic, exact more and more 
 respect, the people are introduced to conceptions of power 
 and magnificence higher than any which they had pre- 
 viously entertained. In many of the cases above quoted 
 the religion is merely in the stage of Totemism, but as 
 men advanced in civilisation they became more and more 
 impressed by the mystery of existence, and gradually 
 acquired more elevated conceptions of Deity. 
 
 Hence, though the worship of ancestors occurs among 
 races in the stage of Totemism, it long survives, and may 
 be regarded as characterising Idolatry, which is really a 
 higher religion; and generally, though not always, indicates 
 a higher mental condition than the worship of animals or 
 even of the heavenly bodies. At first sight the reverse 
 would appear to be the case : most would regard the sun 
 as a far grander deity than any in human form. As a 
 matter of fact, however, this is not so, and sun-worship is 
 generally, though not invariably, associated with a lower 
 idea of the Deity than is the case with Idolatry. This 
 arises partly from the fact that the gradually increasing 
 power of chiefs and kings has familiarised the mind with 
 the existence of a power greater than any which had been 
 
WOKSHIP OF MEN. 
 
 233 
 
 previously conceived. Tims in Western Africa, the slave 
 trade having added considerably to the wealth and conse- 
 quently to the power of the chiefs or kings, they maintained 
 much state, and insisted upon being treated with servile 
 homage. No man was allowed to eat with them, nor to 
 approach them excepting on his knees with an appear- 
 ance of fear, which no doubt was in many cases suffi- 
 ciently well-founded. . 
 
 These marks of respect so much resembled adoration, 
 that 4 the individuals 1 of the lower classes are persuaded 
 that his (the king’s) power is not confined to the earth, 
 and that he has credit enough to make rain fall from 
 heaven: hence they fail not, when a continuance of 
 drought makes them fearful about the harvest, to re- 
 present to him that if he does not take care to water the 
 lands of his kingdom, they will die of hunger, and will 
 find it impossible to make him the usual presents.’ 
 
 Battel also mentions that the king of Loango c is 
 honoured among them as though he were a god ; and is 
 called Sambee and Pango, which means God. They believe 
 he can let them have rain when he likes .’ 2 He is so holy 
 that no one is allowed to see him eat or drink. The 
 tyrants of Natal, says Casalis, 6 exacted almost divine 
 homage .’ 3 
 
 The king and queen of Tahiti were regarded as so sacred 
 that nothing once used by them, not even the sounds 
 forming their names, could be used for any ordinary pur- 
 pose . 4 The language of the court was characterised by 
 the most ridiculous adulation. The king’s ‘ houses were 
 called the aarai, the clouds of heaven ; anuanua, the rain- 
 
 1 Proyart’s History of Loango, Pin- 2 Pinkerton’s Travels, vol. xvi. p. 
 kerton, vol. xvi. p. 577. See also Bos- 330. 
 man, loc. cit. pp. 488, 491. Astley’s 3 The Basutos, p. 21 9. 
 
 Collection of Voyages, vol. iii. pp. 70, 4 Ellis’ Polynesian Besearches, vol 
 
 223, 226. ii. pp. 348, 360. 
 
234 
 
 WORSHIP OF MEH. 
 
 bow was the name of the canoe in which he voyaged ; his 
 voice was called thunder ; the glare of the torches in his 
 dwelling was denominated lightning ; and when the people 
 saw them in the evening, as they passed near his abode, 
 instead of saying the torches were burning in the palace, 
 they would observe that the lightning was flashing in the 
 clouds of heaven. 5 
 
 Man- worship would not, indeed, be long confined to the 
 dead. In many cases it extends to the living also. 
 Indeed, the savage who worships an animal or a tree, would 
 see no absurdity in worshipping a man. His chief is, in 
 his eyes, almost as powerful, if not more so* than his 
 Deity. Yet man-worship does not prevail in altogether 
 uncivilised communities, because the chiefs, associating 
 constantly with their followers, lack that mystery which 
 religion requires, and which nocturnal animals so emi- 
 nently possess. As, however, civilisation progresses, and 
 the chiefs separate themselves more and more from their 
 subjects, this ceases to be the case and man- worship 
 becomes an important element of religion. 
 
 The worship of a great chief seems quite as natural as 
 that of an idol. ( Why, 5 said a Mongol 1 to Friar Ascelin, 
 ‘ since you Christians make no scruple to adore sticks and 
 stones, why do you refuse to do the same honour to Bayoth 
 Hoy, whom the Khan hath ordered to be adored in the 
 same manner as he is himself ? 5 This worship is, however, 
 almost always accompanied by a belief in higher beings. 
 We have already seen that the Hew Zealanders and some 
 other nations have entirely abandoned the worship of 
 animals, &c., without as yet realising the higher stage of 
 Idolatry, owing probably in great measure to their political 
 condition. In other cases where Shamanism has not so 
 
 Astley, yoI. iv. p. 551.* 
 
ASIA. PACIFIC ISLANDS. AFRICA. 
 
 235 
 
 effectually replaced Totemism, the establishment of mon- 
 archical government with its usual pomp and ceremonial, 
 led to a much more organised worship of the old gods. 
 Of this the serpent-worship in Western Africa, and the 
 sun-worship in Peru, are striking examples. 
 
 I do not therefore wonder that white men should have 
 been so often taken for deities. This was the case with 
 Captain Cook in the Pacific, with Lander in Western 
 Africa, and, as already mentioned, Mrs. Thomson was 
 regarded by the North Australians as a spirit, though 
 she lived with them for some years. 
 
 6 Tuikilakila , 1 the chief of Somosomo, offered Mr. Hunt 
 a preferment of the same sort. “ If you die first , 55 said he, 
 
 I shall make you my god . 55 In fact there appears to be 
 no certain line of demarcation between departed spirits and 
 gods, nor between gods and living men, for many of the 
 priests and old chiefs are considered as sacred persons, and 
 not a few of them will also claim to themselves the right 
 of divinity. “ I am a god , 55 Tuikilakila would sometimes 
 say ; and he believed it too. They were not merely the 
 words of his lips ; he believed he was something above a 
 mere man . 5 
 
 It seems at first sight hard to understand how men can 
 be regarded immortal. Yet even this belief has been 
 entertained in various countries. 
 
 Merolla tells us 2 that in his time the wizards of Congo 
 were called Scinghili, that is to say Gods of the Earth. 
 The head of them is styled c Ganga Chitorne, being reputed 
 God of all the Earth . 5 c He further asserts that his body 
 is not capable of suffering a natural death ; and, therefore, 
 to confirm his adorers in that opinion, whenever he finds 
 his end approaching, either through age or disease, he calls 
 
 1 Prskine’s Western Pacific, p. 246. 
 
 2 Pinkerton, yol. xyi. p. 226, et seq* 
 
236 
 
 THE GEEAT LAMA. 
 
 for such a one of his disciples as he designs to succeed 
 him, and pretends to communicate to him his great powers : 
 and afterwards in public (where this tragedy is always 
 acted) he commands him to tie a halter about his neck 
 and to strangle him therewith, or else to take a club, and 
 knock him down dead. This command being once pro- 
 nounced, is soon executed, and the wizard thereby sent a 
 martyr to the devil. The reason that this is done in public, 
 is to make known the successor ordained by the last breath 
 of the predecessor, and to show that it has the same power 
 of producing rain, and the like. If this office were not 
 thus continually filled, the inhabitants say that the earth 
 would soon become barren, and mankind consequently 
 perish. In my time, one of these magicians was cast into 
 the sea, another into a river, a mother and her son put to 
 death, and many others banished by our order, as has 
 been said/ 
 
 So also the Great Lama of Thibet is regarded as im 
 mortal; though his spirit occasionally passes from one 
 earthly tenement to another. 
 
 These, then, are the lowest intellectual stages through 
 which religion has passed. It is no part of my plan to des- 
 cribe the various religious beliefs of the higher races. I have, 
 however, stopped short sooner perhaps than I should other- 
 wise have done, because the -worship of personified prin- 
 ciples, such as Fear, Love, Hope, &c., could not have been 
 treated apart from that of the Phallus or Lingam with 
 which it was so intimately associated in Greece, India, 
 Mexico, and elsewhere ; and which, though at first modest 
 and pure, as all religions are in their origin, led to such 
 abominable practices, that it is one of the most painful 
 chapters in human history. 
 
 I will now therefore pass on to some points intimately 
 
THE WORSHIP OP PRINCIPLES. 237 
 
 connected with religion, but which could not be conve- 
 niently treated in the earlier part of this work. 
 
 There is no difficulty in understanding that when once 
 the idea of Spiritual Beings had become habitual — when 
 once man had come to regard them as exercising an im- 
 portant influence, whether for good or evil — he would 
 endeavour to secure their assistance and support. Before 
 a war he would try to propitiate them by promising a 
 share of the spoil after victory ; and fear, even if no higher 
 motive, would ensure the performance of his promise. 
 
 We, no doubt, regard, and justly regard, sacrifices as 
 unnecessary. ‘ I will take no bullock , 5 says David , 1 2 3 ‘ out of 
 thine house, nor he-goat out of thy folds . 5 This sentiment, 
 however, was far in advance of its time, and even Solomon 
 felt that sacrifices, in the then condition of the Jews, were 
 necessary. They are, indeed, a stage through which, in 
 any natural process of development, religion must pass. 
 At first it is supposed that the Spirits actually eat the food 
 offered to them. Soon, however, it would be observed 
 that animals sacrificed did not disappear ; and the natural 
 explanation would be that the Spirit ate the spiritual part 
 of the victim, leaving the grosser portion to his devout 
 worshipper. Thus the Limboos near Darjeeling eat their 
 sacrifices, dedicating, as they forcibly express it, ‘ the life- 
 breath, to the gods, the flesh to ourselves . 52 
 
 So also, as Sir G. Grey tells us, the New Zealand fairies, 
 when Te Kanawa gave them his jewels, carried off the 
 shadows only, not caring for the earthly substance . 3 In 
 Guinea, according to Bosman, ‘the idol hath only the 
 
 blood, because they like the flesh very well themselves . 54 
 
 • 
 
 1 Psalm 1. 4 Bosman. Pinkerton’s Voyages, 
 
 2 Campbell, in Trans. Etkn. Soc., vol.xvi. p. 531. Astley’s Collection of 
 
 N.S., yoI. vii. p. 153. Voyages, vol. ii. p. 97. 
 
 3 Polynesian Mythology, p. 294. 
 
238 
 
 SACRIFICES. 
 
 Iii other cases the idols were smeared with the blood, while 
 the devotees feasted on the flesh. The Ostyaks when they 
 kill an animal rub some of the blood on the mouths of their 
 idols. Even this seems at length to be replaced in some 
 cases, as Mr. Tylor has suggested, by red paint. Thus the 
 sacred stones in India, as Colonel Eorbes Leslie has shown, 
 are frequently ornamented with red . 1 So also in Congo it 
 is customary to daub the fetiches with red every new 
 moon . 2 Atkinson 3 thus describes a Kirghiz sacrifice : — ‘ A 
 ram was led up by the owner, who wished for a large 
 increase of his flocks and herds. It was handed to an 
 assistant of the priest, who killed it in the usual manner. 
 His superior stood near, looking towards the east, and 
 began chanting a prayer, and beating on his large tam- 
 bourine to rouse up his god, and then made his request 
 for multitudes of sheep and cattle. The ram was being 
 flayed ; and when the operation was completed, the skin 
 was put on a pole as shown in the accompanying sketch, 
 raised above the framework, and placed with its head 
 towards the east. The tambourine thundered forth its 
 sound, and the performer continued his wild chant. The 
 flesh was cooked in the large cauldron, and the tribe held 
 a great festival.’ 
 
 Of the great offerings of food among the Eijians, says 
 Williams , 4 ‘ native belief apportions merely the soul 
 thereof to the gods, who are described as being enormous 
 eaters ; the substance is consumed by the worshippers.’ 
 
 Ellis 5 mentions an indication of this in Tahiti, when 
 human sacrifices prevailed but cannibalism was abandoned. 
 The priest handed a portion of the victim to the king, 
 
 1 See, for instance, Early Races of 4 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 231. 
 
 Scotland, vol. ii. p. 464. See also p. 223. 
 
 2 See anth , p. 208. 5 Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. p. 
 
 * Siberia, p. 383. 214. 
 
CONFUSION OF THE VICTIM WITH THE DEITY. 239 
 
 c who raised it to his mouth as if desirous to eat it/ but 
 then handed it to an attendant. 
 
 In many cases, indeed, it seems to be a necessary portion 
 of the ceremony that the victim should be eaten by those 
 present. Thus, in India , 1 when the sacrifice is over, the 
 priest comes out, and distributes part of the articles which 
 had been offered to the idols. This is received as holy, 
 and is eaten immediately . 5 
 
 Among the Redskins , 2 at the feast held when the hunting 
 season begins, the victim ‘ must be all eaten and nothing 
 left . 5 It is remarkable that among the Algonkins, another 
 rule at the same feast is that not a bone of the victim 
 must be broken . 3 
 
 In many cases a curious confusion arises between the 
 victim and the Deity, and the former is worshipped before 
 it is sacrificed and eaten. Thus in ancient Egypt, Apis 
 the victim was also regarded as the God , 4 and Iphigenia 
 was supposed by some to be the same as Artemis . 5 
 
 In Mexico 6 at a certain period of the year the priest of 
 Quetzalcoatl made an image of the Deity of meal mixed 
 with infants 5 blood, and then, after many impressive cere- 
 monies, killed the image by shooting it with an arrow, and 
 tore out the heart, which was eaten by the king, while the 
 rest of the body was distributed among the people, every 
 one of whom was most anxious to procure a piece to eat, 
 however small . 7 
 
 1 Dubois, The people of India, p. 
 
 401. 
 
 2 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, vol. 
 :ii. p. 61. Tanner’s Narrative, p. 
 ?87. 
 
 s Tanner’s Narrative, p. 195. 
 
 4 Cox’s Manual of Mythology, p. 
 213. 
 
 6 Ibid., p. 158. 
 
 6 See Muller, Ges. d. Amer. Urr. 
 p. 605. 
 
 ‘ 7 Die Priester verfertigen namlich 
 sein Bild von allerlei Samen, die mit 
 dem Blute geopferter Kinder zusam- 
 mengebacken wurden. Mancherlei 
 religiose Keinigungen und Siihnungen, 
 Waschungen mit Wasser, Aderlassen, 
 Fasten, Prozessionen, Kaucherungen, 
 Wachtelopfer, Menschenopfer bereite- 
 ten zur Feier vor. Alsdann schoss ein 
 Priester Quetzalcoatls einen Pfeil 
 gegen jenes Bild Huitzilopochtlis, und 
 
240 
 
 HUMAN SACRIFICES. 
 
 The great yearly sacrifice in honour of Tezcatlipoca was 
 also very remarkable. Some beautiful youth, usually a 
 war captive, was chosen as the victim. For a whole year 
 he was treated and worshipped as a god. When he went 
 out he was attended by a numerous train of pages, and 
 the crowd as he passed prostrated themselves before him, 
 and did him homage as the impersonation of the good 
 Deity. Everything he could wish was provided for him, and 
 at the commencement of the last month, four beautiful girls 
 were allotted to him as wives. Finally, when the fatal day 
 arrived, he was placed at the head of a solemn procession, 
 taken to the temple, and after being sacrificed with much 
 ceremony and every token of respect, he was eaten by 
 the priests and chiefs. 
 
 Again, among the Klionds 2 of Central India human 
 sacrifices prevailed until quite lately. c A stout stake is 
 driven into the soil, and to it the victim is fastened, seated, 
 and anointed with ghee, oil, and turmeric, decorated with 
 flowers, and worshipped during the day by the assembly. 
 At nightfall the licentious revelry is resumed, and on the 
 third morning the victim gets some milk to drink, when 
 the presiding priest implores the goddess to shower her 
 blessings on the people, that they may increase and multi- 
 ply, prosperity attend their cattle and poultry, fertility 
 their fields, and happiness to the people generally. The 
 priest recounts the origin and advantage of the rite, as 
 previously detailed, and concludes by stating that the 
 goddess has been obeyed and the people assembled. 
 «•••*.. 
 
 clurclischoss den Gott. So gait dieser Quartiere der Stadt so, dass jeder 
 nun fur todt, es wurde ihm wie den Mann ein Stiickchen erhielt/ 
 Menschenopfern vOm Priester das 1 Miiller, loc. cit. p. 617. Prescott, 
 ITerz ausgesclinitten, und vom Konige, loc. cit. vol. l. p. 5. 
 deni Stellvertreter des Gottes auf 2 Dr. Shortt, Trans. Ethn. Soc.,N.S., 
 Erden, gegessen. Den Leib aber vol. vi. p. 273. 
 vertheilten sie fur die verschiedenen 
 
EATING THE FETICH. 
 
 241 
 
 ‘ Other softening expressions are recited to excite the 
 compassion of the multitude. After the mock ceremony, 
 nevertheless, the victim is taken to the grove where the 
 sacrifice is to be carried out ; and, to prevent resistance, 
 the bones of the arms and legs are broken, or the victim 
 drugged with opium or datura, when the janni wounds his 
 victim with his axe. This act is followed up by the crowd ; 
 a number now press forward to obtain a piece of his 
 flesh, and in a moment he is stripped to the bones/ 
 
 So also in some parts of Africa e eating the fetich ’ is a 
 solemn ceremony, by which women swear fidelity to their 
 husbands, men to their friends. On a marriage in Issini, 
 the parties c eat the fetish together, in token of friendship, 
 and as an assurance of the woman’s fidelity toher husband .’ 1 
 In taking an oath also the same ceremony is observed. To 
 know, says Loyer, c the truth from any negro, you need only 
 mix something in a little water, and steeping a bit of bread, 
 bid him eat or drink that fetish as a sign of the truth. If 
 the thing be so, he will do it freely ; but if otherwise, he 
 will not touch it, believing he should die on the spot if he 
 swore falsely. Their way is to rasp or grate a little of 
 their fetish in water, or on any edible, and so put it in 
 their mouth without swallowing it.’ 
 
 The sacrifices, however, were as a general rule not eaten 
 by all indiscriminately. In Eeejee they were confined to 
 the old men and priests; women and young men being 
 excluded from any share. 
 
 Gradually the priests established their claim to the 
 whole, a result which could not fail to act as a consider- 
 able stimulus to the practice of sacrifice. It also affected 
 the character of the worship. Thus, as Bosnian tells us, 
 
 1 Loyer, in Astley’s Collection of Voyages, vol, ii. pp. 436, 441, 
 
242 
 
 HUMAN SACRIFICES. 
 
 the priests encouraged offerings to the Serpent rather than 
 to the Sea, because, in the latter case, as he expresses it, 
 
 6 there happens no remainder to be left for them . 5 
 
 As already mentioned, the feeling which has led to the 
 sacrifice of animals would naturally culminate in that of 
 men. So natural, indeed, does the idea of human sacrifice 
 appear to the human mind in this stage, that we meet it in 
 various nations all over the world. 
 
 Human sacrifices occurred in Guinea , 1 and Burton 2 saw 
 c at Benin city a young woman lashed to a scaffolding 
 upon the summit of a tall blasted tree, and being devoured 
 by the turkey buzzards. The people declared it to be a 
 “ fetish 55 or charm for bringing rain . 5 
 
 Our early navigators describe them as taking place 
 occasionally in the Pacific Islands. War captives were 
 frequently sacrificed in Brazil. 
 
 Various nations in India, besides the Khonds who have 
 been already mentioned, used to offer up human sacrifices 
 on extraordinary occasions ; and even now in some places, 
 though the actual sacrifice is no longer permitted, they 
 make human figures of flour, paste, or clay, and then cut off 
 the heads in honour of their gods . 3 
 
 Many cases of human sacrifice are mentioned in ancient 
 history. The Carthaginians after their defeat of Agathocles 
 burnt some of their captives as a sacrifice ; the Assyrians 
 offered human sacrifices to the god Nergal. Many cases 
 are on record in Greek history, and among the Romans 
 even down to the time of the emperors. In Rome a statue 
 of Jupiter was sprinkled every year with human blood, down 
 to the second or third century after Christ, and in Northern 
 Europe human sacrifices continued to a much later period. 
 In Mexico and Peru they seem to have been peculiarly 
 
 1 Astley s Collection of Voyages, vol. 
 iii. p. 113. 
 
 2 Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 19. 
 8 Dubois, loc. cit . p. 490. 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 243 
 
 numerous. Muller 1 has suggested that this may have 
 partly arisen from the fact that these races were not 
 softened by the possession of domestic animals. Various 
 estimates have been made of the number of human victims 
 annually sacrificed in the Mexican temples. Muller thinks 
 2,500 is a moderate estimate ; but in one year it appears 
 to have exceeded 100,000. 
 
 Among the Jews we find a system of animal sacrifices 
 on a great scale, and symbols of human sacrifices, which 
 can, I think, only be understood on the hypothesis that 
 they were once usual. The case of J ephtha’s daughter 
 is generally looked upon as quite exceptional, but the 
 twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth verses of the twenty- 
 seventh chapter of Leviticus appear to indicate that hu- 
 man sacrifices were at one time habitual among the Jews. 2 
 
 The lower savages have no Temples or sacred buildings. 
 Throughout the New World there was no such thing as 
 a temple, excepting among the semi-civilised races of 
 Central America and Peru. 
 
 The Stiens of Cambodia ‘ have neither priest nor 
 temples.’ 3 We should seek in vain, says Casalis, 4 ‘from the 
 extremity of the southern promontory of Africa to the 
 country far beyond the banks of the Zambesi, for anything 
 like the pagodas of India, the maraes of Polynesia, or the 
 fetish huts of Nigritia.’ The people of Madagascar, as we 
 are informed by Drury, 5 who resided fifteen years among 
 them, although they have settled abodes, keep large herds 
 of cattle, and are diligent agriculturists, ‘ have no temples, 
 no tabernacles, or groves for the public performance of 
 their divine worship ; neither have they solemn fasts, or 
 
 1 Geschichte der Americanishen 3 Mouhot’s Travels in the Central 
 
 Urreligionem, p. 23. Parts of Indo-China, vol. i. p. 250. 
 
 2 But see Kalisch, Commentary on 4 The Basutos, p. 237. 
 
 the Old Testament, Lev. Pt. I. p. 409. 5 Adventures of Robert Drury, p. x. 
 
244 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 festivals, or set days or times, nor priests to do it for 
 them/ 
 
 Professor Nillson was, I believe, the first to point ont that 
 certain races buried the dead in their houses, and that the 
 chambered tumuli of Northern Europe are probably copies 
 of the dwellings then used, sometimes perhaps the actual 
 dwellings themselves. We know that as the power of 
 chiefs increased, their tombs became larger and more 
 magnificent, and Mr. Eergusson has well shown how in 
 India the tumulus has developed into the temple. 
 
 In some cases, as for instance in India, it is far from 
 easy to distinguish between a group of stone gods and a 
 sacred fane. In fact, we may be sure that the very same 
 stones are by some supposed to be actual deities, while 
 others more advanced regard them as sacred only because 
 devoted to religious purposes. Some of the ruder Hindostan 
 tribes actually worship upright stones ; but Colonel Eorbes 
 Leslie regards the sacred stones represented in PL IV. 
 as a place of worship, rather than as actual deities ; and 
 this is at any rate the case with another group (Frontis- 
 piece) similarly painted, which he observed near Andlee, 
 also in the Dekhan, and which is peculiarly interesting from 
 its resemblance to the stone circles of our own country. 
 
 Pig. 18, p. 156, represents, after Lafitau, 1 a religious 
 dance as practised by the Bedskins of Virginia. Here, also, 
 as already mentioned, we see a sacred circle of stones, 
 differing from those of our own country and of India only 
 in having a human head rudely carved on each stone. 
 
 The lower races of men have no Priests properly so called. 
 Many passages, indeed, may be quoted which, at first sight, 
 appear to negative this assertion. If, however, we examine 
 more closely the true functions of these so-called ‘ priests/ 
 we shall easily satisfy ourselves that the term is a misno- 
 
 1 Mceurs des Sauv. Amer., vol. ii. p. 136. 
 
THE SOUL. 
 
 245 
 
 mer, and that wizards only are intended. Without temples 
 and sacrifices there cannot he priests. 
 
 Even the New Zealanders 1 had ‘ no regular priesthood.’ 
 Mr. Gladstone 2 observes that the priest was not, ‘as such 
 a significant personage in Greece at any period, nor had 
 the priest of any one place or deity, so far as we know, 
 any organic connection with the priest of any other ; so 
 that if there were priests, yet there was not a priesthood.’ 
 
 I have already pointed out (. ante , p. 138) the great differ- 
 ence between the belief in ghosts and in the existence 
 of a soul. Even, however, those races which have so far 
 advanced as to believe in the latter, yet differ from us very 
 much in their views ; and in fact the belief in an universal, 
 independent, and endless existence is confined to the very 
 highest races of men. The New Zealanders believe that 
 a man who is eaten as well as killed, is thus destroyed 
 both soul and body. 3 Even, however, those who have 
 proper interment are far from secure of reaching the 
 happier regions in the land of spirits.* The road to them 
 is long and dangerous, and many a soul perishes by the 
 way. In the Tonga Islands the chiefs are regarded as 
 immortal, the Tooas or common people as mortal ; with 
 reference to the intermediate class or Mooas there is a 
 difference of opinion. 
 
 A friend of Mr. Lang’s 4 ‘ tried long and patiently to 
 make a very intelligent docile Australian black understand 
 his existence without a body, but the black never could 
 keep his countenance and generally made an excuse to get 
 away. One day the teacher watched and found that he 
 went to have a hearty fit of laughter at the absurdity of 
 the idea of a man living and going about without arms, 
 legs, or mouth to eat ; for a long time he could not believe 
 
 1 Yate, p. 146. 2 Juventus Mundi, p. 181. 
 
 3 Taylor, New Zealand and its Inhabitants, p. 101. 
 
 4 The Aborigines of Australia, p. 31. 
 
246 
 
 SOULS OF INANIMATE OBJECTS. 
 
 that the gentleman was serious, and when he did realise 
 it, the more serious the teacher was the more ludicrous the 
 whole affair appeared to the black . 5 
 
 The resurrection of the body as preached by the mission- 
 aries , 1 * appeared to the Tahitians ‘ astounding 5 and ‘ in- 
 credible ; 5 and ‘ as the subject was more frequently brought 
 under their notice in public discourse, or in reading the 
 Scriptures, and their minds were more attentively exercised 
 upon it in connection with their ancestry, themselves, and 
 their descendants, it appeared invested with more than 
 ordinary difficulty, bordering, to their apprehension, on 
 impossibility . 5 
 
 Although the Feejeeans believe that almost everything 
 has a spirit, few spirits are immortal : the road to Mbulu 
 is long, and beset with so many difficulties, that after all 
 ‘ few attain to immortality . 52 As regards Central India, 
 Colonel Dalton says , 3 ‘I do not think that the present 
 generation of Kols have any notion of a heaven or a hell 
 that may not be traced to Brahminical or Christian teach- 
 ing. The old idea is that the souls of the dead become 
 “ bhoots , 55 spirits, but no thought of reward or punish- 
 ment is connected with the change. When a Ho swears, 
 the oath has no reference whatever to a future state. He 
 prays that if he speak not the truth he may be afflicted in 
 this world with the loss of all — health, wealth, wife, 
 children ; that he may sow without reaping, and finally 
 may be devoured by a tiger ; but he swears not by any 
 happiness beyond the grave. He has in his primitive 
 state no such hope ; and I believe that most Indian 
 aborigines, though they may have some vague ideas of 
 continuous existence, will be found equally devoid of 
 original notions in regard to the judgment to come . 5 
 
 1 Ellis’ Polynesian Researches, yoI. 2 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 24 7. 
 
 ii p. 165. 3 Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1867, p. 38. 
 
IDEAS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 247 
 
 Even when the spirit is supposed to survive the body, 
 the condition of souls after death is not at first con- 
 sidered to differ materially from that during* life. Heaven 
 is merely a distant part of earth. Thus the ‘ seats of 
 happiness are represented by some Hindu writers to be 
 vast mountains on the north of India . 5 1 Again, in Tonga 
 the souls are supposed to go to Bolotoo, a large island to 
 the north-west, well stocked 2 with all kinds of useful and 
 ornamental plants, ‘ always bearing the richest fruits and 
 the most beautiful flowers according to their respective na- 
 tures; that when these fruits or flowers are plucked, others 
 immediately occupy their place . . . the island is also well 
 stocked with the most beautiful birds of all imaginable 
 kinds, as well as with abundance of hogs, all of which are 
 immortal, unless they are killed to provide food for the 
 hotooas or gods, but the moment a hog or bird is killed, 
 another hog or bird immediately comes into existence to 
 supply its place, the same as with the fruits and flowers ; 
 and this, as far as they know or suppose, is the only mode 
 of propagation of plants and animals. The island of 
 Bolotoo is supposed to be so far off as to render it danger- 
 ous for their canoes to attempt going there ; and it is 
 supposed, moreover, that even if they were to succeed in 
 reaching so far, unless it happened to be the particular 
 will of the gods, they would be sure to miss it . 5 
 
 They believe, however, that on one occasion a canoe 
 actually reached Bolotoo. The crew landed, but when 
 they attempted to touch anything, ‘they could no more 
 lay hold of it than if it had been a shadow . 5 Consequently 
 hunger soon overtook them, and forced them to return, 
 which they fortunately succeeded in doing. 
 
 A curious notion, already referred to, is the belief that 
 each man has several souls. It is common to various 
 
 1 Dubois, loc. cit. p. 485. 2 Mariner, loc. cit. yoI. ii. p. 108. 
 
248 
 
 PLURALITY OP SOULS. 
 
 parts of America , 1 and exists also in Madagascar. It 
 apparently arises from tlie idea that each pulse is the 
 seat of a different life. It also derives an appearance of 
 probability from the inconsistencies of behaviour to which 
 savages are so prone. The Feejeeans also believed that 
 each man has two spirits . 2 Among the ancient Greeks 
 and Romans there are some indications of the existence 
 of a similar belief . 3 
 
 The belief in a future state, if less elevated than our 
 own, is singularly vivid among some barbarous races. Thus 
 Caesar assures us that among the ancient Britons money 
 was habitually lent on what may strictly be termed 
 ‘ postobits * — promises to pay in another world. 
 
 The Feejeeans believe that ‘ as they die, such will be their 
 condition in another world ; hence their desire to escape 
 extreme infirmity . 5 4 The way to Mbulu, as already men- 
 tioned, is long and difficult; many always perish, and 
 no diseased or infirm person could possibly succeed in sur- 
 mounting all the dangers of the road. Hence as soon as 
 a man feels the approach of old age, he notifies to his 
 children that it is time for him to die. If he neglects to 
 do so, the children after a while take the matter into their 
 own hands. A family consultation is held, a day appointed, 
 and the grave dug. The aged person has his choice of 
 being strangled or buried alive. Mr. Hunt gives the 
 following striking description of such a ceremony once 
 witnessed by him. A young man came to him and in- 
 vited him to attend his mother’s funeral, which was just 
 going to take place. Mr. Hunt accepted the invitation, 
 and joined the procession, but, surprised to see no corpse, 
 
 1 Tertre’s History of the Caribby 2 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 241. 
 
 Islands, p. 288. It prevails also in 8 Lafitau, vol. ii. p. 424. 
 
 Greenland. Muller, Ges. der Am. 4 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 183. 
 
 Urreligionem, p. 66. 
 
THE FUTURE STATE. • 
 
 249 
 
 he made enquiries, when the young man pointed out his 
 mother, who was walking along with them, as gay and 
 lively as any of those present, and apparently as much 
 pleased. Mr. Hunt expressed his surprise to the young 
 man, and asked how he could deceive him so much by 
 saying his mother was dead, when she was alive and well. 
 He said, in reply, that they had made her death-feast, and 
 were now going to bury her ; that she was old, that his 
 brother and himself had thought she had lived long 
 enough, and it was time to bury her, to which she had 
 willingly assented, and they were about it now. He had 
 come to Mr. Hunt to ask his prayers, as they did those of 
 the priest. 
 
 ‘ He added, that it was from love for his mother that he 
 had done so ; that, in consequence of the same love, they 
 were now going to bury her, and that none but themselves 
 could or ought to do such a sacred office ! Mr. Hunt did 
 all in his power to prevent so diabolical an act ; but the 
 only reply he received was that she was their mother, and 
 they were her children, and they ought to put her to death. 
 On reaching the grave, the mother sat down, when they 
 all, including children, grandchildren, relations and friends, 
 took an affectionate leave of her ; a rope, made of twisted 
 tapa, was then passed twice around her neck by her sons, 
 who took hold of it and strangled her ; after which she 
 was put in her grave, with the usual ceremonies / 1 
 
 So general was this custom that in one town containing 
 several hundred inhabitants Captain Wilkes did not see 
 one man over forty years of age, all the old people having 
 been buried. 
 
 In Dahomey the king sends constant messages to his 
 deceased father, by messengers who are killed for the 
 
 1 Wilkes’ Exploring Expedition. Condensed edition, p. 211. 
 
 12 
 
250 
 
 CREATION. 
 
 purpose. The same firm belief which leads to this reconciles 
 the messengers to their fate. They are well treated before- 
 hand, and their death being instantaneous is attended 
 with little pain. Hence we are assured that they are quite 
 cheerful and contented, and scarcely seem to look on their 
 death as a misfortune. 
 
 The North American Indian, as Schoolcraft tells us, has 
 little dread of death. c He does not fear to go to a land 
 which, all his life long, he has heard abounds in rewards 
 without punishments . 51 
 
 We know that the Japanese commit suicide for the 
 most trifling causes ; and it is said that in China, if a rich 
 man is condemned to death, he can always purchase a 
 willing substitute at a very small expense. 
 
 The lower races have no idea of Creation, and even among 
 those somewhat more advanced, it is at first very incom- 
 plete. Their deities are part of, not the makers of, the 
 world ; and even when the idea of creation dawns upon the 
 mind, it is not strictly a creation, but merely the raising 
 of land already existing at the bottom of the original sea. 
 
 The Abipones had no theory on the subject; when 
 questioned by Dobritzhoffer , 2 c my father, replied Yehoalay 
 readily and frankly, our grandfathers, and great-grandfa- 
 thers, were wont to contemplate the earth alone, solicitous 
 only to see whether the plain afforded grass and water for 
 their horses. They never troubled themselves about what 
 went on in the heavens, and who was the creator and 
 governor of the stars . 5 
 
 Father Baegert , 3 in his account of the Californian 
 Indians, says, ‘ I often asked them whether they had never 
 put to themselves the question who might be the Creator 
 and Preserver of the sun, moon, stars, and other objects of 
 
 1 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, vol. 
 li. p. 68. 
 
 2 Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 59. 
 
 3 Loc. cit. p. 390. 
 
CREATION. 
 
 251 
 
 nature, but was always sent home with a “vara,” which 
 means “ no ” in their language/ 
 
 The Chipewyans 1 thought that the world existed at 
 first in the form of a globe of water, out’ of which the 
 Great Spirit raised the land. The Lenni Lenape 2 say 
 that Manitu at the beginning swam on the water, and 
 made the earth out of a grain of sand. He then made a 
 man and woman out of a tree. The Mingos and Ottawwaws 
 believe that a rat brought up a grain of sand from the 
 bottom of the water, and thus produced the land. The 
 Crees 3 had no ideas at all as to the origin of the world. 
 
 Stuhr, who was, as Muller says, a good observer of such 
 matters, tells us that the Siberians had no idea of a 
 Creator. When Burchell suggested the idea of Creation 
 to the Bachapin Kaffirs, they ‘ asserted that everything 
 made itself, and that trees and herbage grew by their 
 own will / 4 It also appears from Canon Callaway’s re- 
 searches that the Zulu Kaffirs have no notion of Creation. 
 Casalis makes the same statement: all the natives, he 
 says, c whom we questioned on the subject have assured us 
 that it never entered their heads that the earth and sky 
 might be the work of an Invisible Being / 5 The same is 
 also the case with the Hottentots. 
 
 The Australians, again, had no idea of Creation. Accord- 
 ing to Polynesian mythology, heaven and earth existed from 
 the beginning . 6 The latter, however, was at first covered 
 by water, until Mawe drew up New Zealand by means of an 
 enchanted fish-hook . 7 This fish-hook was made from the 
 jawbone of Muri-ranga-whenna, and is now the cape 
 forming the southern extremity of Hawkes’ Bay. The 
 
 1 Dunn’s Oregon, p. 102. 4 Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 550. 
 
 2 Muller, Gres. d. Amer. Urr., p. 5 The Basutos, p. 238. 
 
 107. 6 Polynesian Mythology, p. 1. 
 
 3 Pranklin’s Journey to the Polar 7 Ibid. p. 45. 
 
 Sea, vol. i. p. 143. 
 
252 
 
 CREATION. 
 
 Tongans 1 have a very similar tale. Here the islands were 
 drawn up by Tangaloa, ‘ but the line accidentally breaking, 
 the act was incomplete, and matters were left as they now 
 are. They show a hole in the rock, about two feet 
 in diameter, which quite perforates it, and in which 
 Tangoloa’s hook got fixed. It is moreover said that 
 Tooitonga had, till within a few years, this very hook in his 
 possession . 5 
 
 As regards Tahiti, Williams 2 observes that the ‘ origin 
 of the Gods, and their priority of existence in comparison 
 with the formation of the earth, being a matter of uncer- 
 tainty even among the native priests, involves the whole 
 in the greatest obscurity . 5 Even in Sanskrit there is no 
 word for creation, nor does any such idea appear in the 
 Eigveda, in the Zendavesta, or in Homer. 
 
 When the Capuchin missionary Merolla 3 asked the 
 queen of Singa, in Western Africa, who made the world, she 
 ‘ without the least hesitation, readily answered, “ My ances- 
 tors . 55 “ Then , 55 replied the Capuchin, “ does your majesty 
 enjoy the whole power of your ancestors ? 55 “ Yes , 55 an- 
 swered she, “ and much more, for over and above what they 
 had, I am absolute mistress of the kingdom of Matamba ! 55 
 A remark which shows how little she realised the meaning 
 of the term “ Creation . 55 5 The negroes in Guinea thought 
 that man was created by a great black spider . 4 Other 
 negroes, however, have more just ideas on the subject, 
 probably derived from the missionaries. 
 
 The Kumis of Chittagong believe that a certain Deity 
 made the world and the trees and the creeping things, and 
 lastly ‘ he set to work to make one man and one woman, 
 forming their bodies of clay ; but each night, on the com- 
 
 1 Mariner, loc. cit . vol. i. p. 284. 3 Pinkerton’s Voyages, vol. xvi. p, 
 
 2 Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. 305. 
 
 p. 191. 4 Loc. cit. p. 469. 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 253 
 
 pletion of his work, there came a great snake, which, while 
 God was sleeping, devoured the two images / 1 At length 
 the Deity created a dog, which drove away the snake, and 
 thus the creation of man was accomplished. 
 
 We cannot fail also to be struck with the fact that the 
 lower forms of religion are almost independent of prayer. 
 To us prayer seems almost a necessary part of religion. 
 But it evidently involves a belief in the goodness of God, 
 a truth which, as we have seen, is not early recognised. 
 
 Of the Hottentots Eolben says, ‘ It is most certain they 
 neither pray to any one of their deities nor utter a word 
 to any mortal concerning the condition of their souls or a 
 future life. ... Preparation for death, in a spiritual sense, 
 is a thing they never appeared to me to have any notion of / 2 
 And again : 6 It does not appear that they have any insti- 
 tution of worship directly regarding the supreme God. I 
 never saw, nor could I hear, that any one of them paid any 
 act of devotion immediately to him / 3 Even those negroes, 
 says Bosman, who have a faint conception of a higher 
 Deity c do not pray to him, or offer any sacrifices to him ; 
 for which they give the following reasons : “ God,” say they, 
 “is too high exalted above us, and too great to condescend 
 so much as to trouble himself, or think of mankind.” ?4 
 
 The Mandingoes, according to Park, regard the Deity 
 as 6 so remote, and of so exalted a nature, that it is idle to 
 imagine the feeble supplications of wretched mortals can 
 reverse the decrees, and change the purposes, of unerring 
 Wisdom / 5 They seem, however, to have little confidence 
 in their own views, and generally assured Park, in answer 
 to his enquiries about religion and the immortality of the 
 soul, that c no man knows anything about it/ 6 Neither 
 
 1 Lewin’s Hill Tracts of Chittagong, 3 Loc. cit. p. 95. 
 
 p. 90. 4 Hosman, loc. cit . p. 493. 
 
 2 Loc . cit . p. 315. 5 Park’s Travels, vol. i. p. 267. 
 
254 
 
 MORALITY. 
 
 among the Eskimos nor Tinne,* says Richardson, 6 could I 
 ascertain that prayer was ever made to the “ Kitche Manito ,** 
 the Great Spirit or “ Master of Life .”* 1 Mr. Prescott, in 
 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, also states that the North 
 American Indians do not pray to the Great Spirit . 2 The 
 Caribs considered that the Good Spirit c is endued with so 
 great goodness, that it does not take any revenge even of 
 its enemies : whence it comes that they render it neither 
 honour nor adoration .* 3 
 
 According to Metz, the Todas (Neilgherry Hills) never 
 pray. Even among the priests, he says, ‘ the only sign of 
 adoration that I have ever seen them perform is lifting the 
 right hand to the forehead, covering the nose with the 
 thumb, when entering the sacred dairy : and the words, 
 “ May all be well,** are all that I have ever heard them utter 
 in the form of a prayer .’ 4 
 
 The connection between morality and religion will be 
 considered in a later chapter. Here, I will only observe 
 that the deities of the lower races being subject to the same 
 passions as man, and in many cases, indeed, themselves 
 monsters of iniquity, regarded crime with indifference, so 
 long as the religious ceremonies and sacrifices in their 
 honour were not neglected. Hence it follows that through 
 all these lower races there is no idea of any being corre- 
 sponding to Satan. So far, indeed, as their, deities are evil 
 they may be so called; but the essential character of 
 Satan is that of the Tempter ; hence in the order of suc- 
 cession. this idea cannot arise until morality has become 
 connected with religion. 
 
 Thus, then, I have endeavoured to trace the gradual 
 development of religion among the lower races of man. 
 
 1 Richardson’s Boat Journey, vol. ii. 3 Tertre’s History of the Caribby 
 
 p. 44. Islands, p. 278. 
 
 2 Prescott. Schoolcraft’s Indian 4 Tribes of the Neilgherries, p. 27. 
 Tribes, vol. iii. p. 226. 
 
<m TIIE NATURE OF IDOLS. 
 
 255 
 
 The lower savages regard their deities as scarcely more 
 powerful than themselves ; they are evil, not good ; they 
 are to be propitiated by sacrifices, not by prayer ; they are 
 not creators ; they are neither omniscient nor all-powerful ; 
 they neither reward the good nor punish the evil ; far from 
 conferring immortality on man, they are not even in all 
 cases immortal themselves. 
 
 Where the material elements of civilisation developed 
 themselves without any corresponding increase of know- 
 ledge, as for instance in Mexico and Peru, a more correct 
 idea of Divine power, without any corresponding enlight- 
 enment as to the Divine nature, led to a religion of terror, 
 which finally became a terrible scourge of humanity. 
 
 Gradually, however, an increased acquaintance with the 
 laws of nature enlarged the mind of man. He first sup- 
 posed that the deity fashioned the earth, raising it out of 
 the water, and preparing it as a dwelling-place for man ; 
 and subsequently realised the idea that land and water 
 were alike created by Divine power. After regarding 
 spirits as altogether evil, he rose to a belief in good as well 
 as in evil deities, and gradually subordinating the latter to 
 the former, worshipped the good spirits alone as gods, the 
 evil sinking to the level of demons. Prom believing only 
 in ghosts, he came gradually to the recognition of the soul : 
 at length uniting this belief with that in a beneficent and 
 just Being, he connected Morality with Religion, a step 
 the importance of which it is scarcely possible to over-esti- 
 mate. 
 
 Thus we see that as men rise in civilisation their religion 
 rises with them. The Australians dimly imagine a being, 
 spiteful, malevolent, but weak, and dangerous only in the 
 dark. The Negro’s deity is more powerful, but not less 
 hateful. Invisible, indeed, but subject to pain, mortal like 
 himself, and liable to be made the slave of man by enchant- 
 ment. The deities of the South Sea Islanders are some 
 good, some evil ; but on the whole, more is to be feared 
 
256 
 
 SCIENCE AND EELIGION. 
 
 from the latter than to he hoped from the former. They 
 fashioned the land, but are not truly creators, for earth and 
 water existed before them. They do not punish the evil, 
 nor reward the good. They watch over the affairs of men ; 
 but if, on the one hand, witchcraft has no power over 
 them, neither, on the other, can prayer influence them, — 
 they require to share the crops or the booty of their wor- 
 shippers. 
 
 It appears, then, that every increase in science — that is, 
 in positive and ascertained knowledge — brings with it an 
 elevation of religion. Nor is this progress confined to the 
 lower races. Even within the last century, science has 
 purified the religion of Western Europe by rooting out the 
 dark belief in witchcraft, which led to thousands of execu- 
 tions, and hung like a black pall over the Christianity of 
 the middle ages. 
 
 The immense service which Science has thus rendered to 
 the cause of Religion and of Humanity, has not hitherto 
 received the recognition which it deserves. Science is still 
 regarded by many excellent, but narrow-minded, persons 
 as hostile to religious truth, while in fact she is only op- 
 posed to religious error. No doubt her influence has al- 
 ways been exercised in opposition to those who present 
 contradictory assertions under the excuse of mystery, and 
 to all but the highest conceptions of Divine power. The 
 time, however, is approaching when it will be generally 
 perceived that so far from Science being opposed to Reli- 
 gion, true religion is, without Science, impossible ; and if 
 we consider the various aspects of Christianity as under- 
 stood by different nations, we can hardly fail to perceive 
 that the dignity, and therefore the truth, of their religious 
 beliefs is in direct relation to their knowledge of Science 
 and of the great physical laws by which our universe is 
 governed. 
 
 ) 
 
CHAPTER YIT. 
 
 CHARACTER A HD MORALS, 
 
 IHE accounts which we possess of the character of savage 
 
 races are both conflicting and unsatisfactory. In some 
 cases travellers have expressed strong opinions for which 
 they had obviously no sufficient foundation. Thus the unfor- 
 tunate La Perouse, who spent only one day on Easter Island, 
 states his belief that the inhabitants c are as corrupt as the 
 circumstances in which they are placed will permit them 
 to be . 5 1 On the other hand, the Friendly Islanders were 
 so called by Captain Cook on account of the apparent 
 kindness and hospitality with which they received him. 
 Yet, as we now know, this appearance of friendship was 
 entirely hypocritical. The natives endeavoured to lull him 
 into security, with the intention of seizing his ship and 
 massacring the crew, which design a fortunate accident 
 alone prevented them from carrying into effect ; yet Captain 
 Cook never had the slightest suspicion of their treachery, 
 or of the danger which he so narrowly escaped. 
 
 In some cases the same writer gives accounts at 
 variance with one another. Thus Mr. Ellis , 2 the excellent 
 missionary of the Pacific, speaking of the Tahitians, states 
 that their moral character was c awfully dark, and not- 
 withstanding the apparent mildness of their disposition, 
 and the cheerful vivacity of their conversation, no portion 
 
 1 Perouse’s Voyage, English edition, vol. ii. p. 327. 
 
 2 Polynesian Researches, vol, ii. p. 25. 
 
258 
 
 CONTRADICTORY ACCOUNTS. 
 
 of the human race was ever, perhaps, sunk lower in brutal 
 licentiousness and moral degradation/ Yet, speaking of 
 this same people, and in the very same volume, he 
 states that they were most anxious to obtain Bibles: 
 on the day when they were to be distributed, the natives 
 came from considerable distances, and ‘the place was 
 actually thronged until the copies were expended. In 
 their application at our own houses, we found it impossible 
 to restrain the people, so great was their anxiety/ Under 
 these circumstances we cannot wonder that Captain Cook 
 and other navigators found in them much to admire as 
 well as to condemn. 
 
 The Kalmouks, again, have been very differently described 
 by different travellers. Pallas, speaking of their character, 
 says, ‘ II m’a paru infiniment meilleur que ne Font depeint 
 plusieurs de nos historiens voyageurs. II est infiniment pre- 
 ferable a celui des autres peuples nomades. Les Kalmouks 
 sont affables, hospitaliers efc francs ; ils aiment a rendre 
 service ; ils sont toujours gais et enjoues, ce qui les distingue 
 des Kirguis, qui sont beaucoup plus flegmatiques. Telles 
 sont leurs bonnes qualites ; voici les mauvaises. Ils sont 
 sales, paresseux et fort ruses ; ils abusent tres-souvent de ce 
 dernier defaut / 1 So also the aboriginal tribes of India, 
 a 3 pointed out by M. Hunter , 2 have been painted in the 
 blackest colours by some, and highly praised by others. 
 
 Mariner gives an excellent account of the state of man- 
 ners among the Tongans, and one which well illustrates 
 the difficulty of arriving at correct ideas on such a subject, 
 especially among a people of a different race from ourselves 
 and in a different state of civilisation. He describes them 
 as loyal 3 and pious , 4 obedient children , 5 affectionate 
 
 1 Voyages, vol. i. p. 499. 3 Loc. cit. yol. ii. p. 155. 
 
 2 Comparative Dictionary of the 4 P. 154. 
 
 Non- Aryan Languages of India and 5 P. 155. 
 
 High Asia, pp. 5, 9. 
 
CONTRADICTORY ACCOUNTS. 
 
 259 
 
 parents/ kind husbands/ modest and faithful wives/ 
 and true friends . 4 
 
 On the other hand, they seem to have little feeling of 
 morality. They have no words for justice or injustice, for 
 cruelty or humanity . 5 * Theft, revenge, rape, and murder 
 under many circumstances are not held to be crimes.’ 
 They have no idea of future rewards and punishments. 
 They saw no harm in seizing ships by treachery and 
 murdering the crew. The men were cruel, treacherous, 
 and revengeful. Marriages were terminable at the whim 
 of the husband , 6 and excepting in married women chastity 
 was not regarded as a virtue, though it was thought im- 
 proper for a woman frequently to change her lover. Yet 
 we are told that on the whole , 7 this system, although 
 so opposed to our feelings, had ‘ not the least appearance 
 of any bad effect. The women were tender kind mothers, 
 the children well cared for.’ Both sexes appeared to be 
 contented and happy in their relations to each other, and 
 ‘as to domestic quarrels they were seldom known.’ We 
 must not judge them too hardly for their proposed treachery 
 to Captain Cook. Even in Northern Europe shipwrecks 
 were long considered fair spoil, the strangers being con- 
 nected with the natives by no civil or family ties, and the 
 idea of natural right not being highly developed . 8 
 
 Lastly, if in addition to the other sources of difficulty, 
 we remember that of language, we cannot wonder that the 
 characters of savage races have been so differently de- 
 scribed by different travellers. We all know how difficult 
 it is to judge an individual, and it must be much more so 
 to judge a nation. In fact, whether any given writer 
 
 1 P. 179. 6 P. 167. 
 
 2 P. 179. 7 Loc. cit . vol. ii. p. 177. 
 
 8 P. 170. 8 See Montesquieu, Esprit des 
 
 4 P. 152. Lois, toI. ii. p. 119. 
 
 a P. 148. 
 
260 
 
 DIFFICULTY OF ASCERTAINING 
 
 praises or blames a particular race, depends at least as much 
 on the character of the writer as on that of the people. 
 
 On the whole, however, I think we may assume that 
 life and property are far less secure in savage than in 
 civilised communities ; and though the guilt of a murder 
 or a theft may be very different under different circum- 
 stances, to the sufferer the result is much the same. 
 
 Mr. Galbraith, who lived for many years, as Indian agent, 
 among the Sioux (North America), thus describes them : l 
 They are ‘ bigoted, barbarous, and exceedingly super- 
 stitious. They regard most of the vices as virtues. Theft, 
 arson, rape, and murder are among them regarded as the 
 means of distinction ; and the young Indian from child- 
 hood is taught to regard killing as the highest of virtues. 
 In their dances, and at their feasts, the warriors recite 
 their deeds of theft, pillage, and slaughter as precious 
 things ; and the highest, indeed the only, ambition of a 
 young brave is to secure “the feather,” which is but a 
 record of his having murdered or participated in the 
 murder of some human being — whether man, woman, or 
 child, it is immaterial; and, after he has secured his 
 first “ feather,” appetite is whetted to increase the number 
 in his cap, as an Indian brave is estimated by the number 
 of his feathers . 5 
 
 In Tahiti the missionaries considered that ‘ not less than 
 two-thirds of the children were murdered by their parents . 52 
 Mr. Ellis adds, c I do not recollect having met with a 
 female in the islands during the whole period of my resi- 
 dence there, who had been a mother while idolatry pre- 
 vailed, who had not imbrued her hands in the blood of 
 her offspring . 5 Mr. Nott also makes the same assertion. 
 
 J Ethn. Journal, 1869, p. 304. 
 
 2 Polynesian Researches, vol. i. pp. 334, 340. 
 
THE CHARACTER OP SAVAGE RACES. 
 
 261 
 
 Girls were more often killed than boys, because they 
 were of less use in fishing and in war. 
 
 Mr. Wallace maintains that savages act up to their 
 simple moral code at least as well as we do ; but if a man’s 
 simple moral code permits him to rob or murder, that may 
 be some excuse for him, but it is little consolation to the 
 sufferer. 
 
 As a philosophical question, however, the relative cha- 
 racter of different races is less interesting than their moral 
 condition. 
 
 Mr. Wallace, in the concluding chapter of his interesting 
 work on the Malay Archipelago, has expressed the opinion 
 that while civilised communities ‘ have progressed vastly 
 beyond the savage state in intellectual achievements, we 
 have not advanced equally in morals . 5 Nay, he even goes 
 further : in a perfect social state, he says, c every man 
 would have a sufficiently well-balanced intellectual organi- 
 sation to understand the moral law in all its details, and 
 would require no other motive but the free impulses of his 
 own nature to obey that law. Now, it is very remarkable 
 that among people in a very low stage of civilisation, we 
 find some approach to such a perfect social state j 5 and he 
 adds, ‘it is not too much to say that the mass of our 
 populations have not at all advanced beyond the savage 
 code of morals, and have in many cases sunk below it . 5 
 
 Far from thinking this true, I should rather be disposed 
 to say that Man has, perhaps, made more progress in 
 moral than in either material or intellectual advancement ; 
 for while even the lowest savages have many material and 
 intellectual attainments, they are, it seems to me, almost 
 entirely wanting in moral feeling, though I am aware that 
 the contrary opinion has been expressed by many eminent 
 authorities. 
 
262 
 
 PROGRESS IN MORALS. 
 
 Thus Lord Karnes 1 assumes as an undoubted fact ‘ that 
 every individual is endued with a sense of right and wrong, 
 more or less distinct; 5 and after admitting that very 
 different views as to morals are held by different people 
 and different races, he remarks, * these facts tend not to 
 disprove the reality of a common sense in morals : they 
 only prove that the moral sense has not been equally 
 perfect at all times, nor in all countries. 5 
 
 Hume expresses the same opinion in very decided 
 language. ‘ Let a man’s insensibility, 5 he says, ‘ be ever 
 so great, he must often be touched with the images of 
 right and wrong ; and let his prejudices be ever so obsti- 
 nate, he must observe that others are susceptible of like 
 impressions. 52 Nay he even maintains that c those who 
 have denied the reality of moral distinctions, may be 
 ranked among the disingenuous disputants ; nor is it con- 
 ceivable that any human creature could ever seriously 
 believe that all characters and actions were alike entitled 
 to the affection and regard of every one. 5 
 
 Mr. Wallace draws a charming picture of some small 
 savage communities which he has visited. Each man, he 
 says, scrupulously respects the rights of his fellow, and 
 any infraction of those rights rarely or never takes place. 
 In such a community all are nearly equal. There are none 
 of those wide distinctions of education and ignorance, 
 wealth and poverty, master and servant, which are the 
 product of our civilisation ; there i3 none of that wide- 
 spread division of labour, which, while it increases wealth, 
 produces also conflicting interests ; there is not that severe 
 competition and struggle for existence, or for wealth, 
 which the population of civilised countries inevitably 
 creates. 5 
 
 1 History of Man, vol. ii. p. 9, yoI. 2 Hume’s Essays, vol. ii. p. 203. 
 iv. p. 18. 
 
FAMILY AFFECTION AND MORAL FEELING. 
 
 263 
 
 But does this prove that they are in a high moral con- 
 dition ? does it prove even that they have any moral sense 
 at all? Surely not. For if it does, we must equally credit 
 rooks and bees, and most other gregarious animals, with 
 a moral state higher than that of civilised man. I would 
 not indeed venture to assert that the ant or the bee is not 
 possessed of moral feelings, but we are surely not in a posi- 
 tion to affirm it. In the very passage quoted, Mr. Wallace 
 has pointed out that the inducements to crime are in small 
 communities much less than in populous countries. The 
 absence of crime, however, does not constitute virtue, and, 
 without temptation, mere innocence has no merit. 
 
 Moreover, in small communities almost all the members 
 are related to one another, and family affection puts on 
 the appearance of virtue. But though parental and filial 
 affection possesses a very moral aspect, they have a totally 
 different origin and a distinct character. 
 
 We do not generally attribute moral feelings to quad- 
 rupeds and birds, yet there is perhaps no stronger feeling 
 than that of the mother for her offspring. She will submit 
 to any sacrifices for their welfare, and fight against almost 
 any odds for their protection. No follower of Mr. Darwin 
 will be surprised at this ; because for generation after 
 generation, those mothers in whom this feeling was most 
 strong have had the best chance of rearing their young. 
 It is not, however, moral feeling in the strict sense of the 
 term ; and she would indeed be a cold-hearted mother who 
 cherished and protected her infant only because it was 
 right to do so. 
 
 Family affection and moral feeling have indeed been 
 very generally confused together by travellers, yet there is 
 some direct testimony which appears to show that the 
 moral condition of savages is really much lower than has 
 been generally supposed. 
 
264 
 
 ABSENCE OF MORAL FEELING. 
 
 Thus, Mr. Dove, speaking of the Tasmanians, asserts 
 that they were entirely without any ‘ moral views and 
 impressions . 5 
 
 Governor Eyre says of the Australians that 6 having no 
 moral sense of what is just and equitable in the abstract, 
 their only test of propriety must in such cases be, whether 
 they are numerically or physically strong enough to brave 
 the vengeance of those whom they may have provoked, or 
 injured . 51 
 
 ‘ Conscience , 5 says Burton, does not exist in Eastern 
 Africa, and ‘ repentance 5 expresses regret for missed 
 opportunities of mortal crime. Bobbery constitutes an 
 honourable man; murder — the more atrocious the mid- 
 night crime the better — makes the hero . 2 
 
 The Yoruba negroes, on the west coast of Africa, accord- 
 ing to the same author , 3 c are covetous, cruel, and wholly 
 deficient in what the civilised man calls conscience ; 5 
 though it is right to add that some of his other statements 
 with reference to this tribe seem opposed to this view. 
 
 Mr. Neighbors states, that among the Comanches of 
 Texas ‘no individual action is considered a crime, but 
 every man acts for himself according to his own judgment, 
 unless some superior power, for instance, that of a popular 
 chief, should exercise authority over him. They believe 
 that when they were created, the Great Spirit gave them 
 the privilege of a free and unconstrained use of their in- 
 dividual faculties . 54 
 
 Speaking of the Kaffirs, Mr. Casalis, who lived for 
 twenty-three years in South Africa, says 5 that ‘ morality 
 among these people depends so entirely upon social order, 
 
 1 Discoveries in Central Australia, also vol. ii. p. 218. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 384. 4 Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, vol. ii. 
 
 2 Burton’s First Footsteps in East p. 131. 
 
 Africa, p. 176. 5 The Basutos, p. 300. 
 
 * Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 303. See 
 
MORALITY AND RELIGION. 
 
 265 
 
 that all political disorganisation is immediately followed 
 by a state of degeneracy, which the re-establishment of 
 order alone can rectify/ Thus then, although their lan- 
 guage contained words signifying most of the virtues, as 
 well as the vices, it would appear from the above passages 
 that their moral quality was not clearly recognised; it 
 must be confessed, however, that the evidence is not very 
 conclusive, as Mr. Casalis, even in the same chapter, ex- 
 presses an opinion on the point scarcely consistent with 
 that quoted above. 
 
 The Tongans, or Friendly Islanders, had in many res- 
 pects made great advances, yet Mariner 1 states that, ‘ on a 
 strict examination of their language, we discover no words 
 essentially expressive of some of the higher qualities of 
 human merit : as virtue, justice, humanity, nor of the con- 
 trary, as vice, injustice, cruelty, &c. They have, indeed, 
 expressions for these ideas, but they are equally applicable 
 to other things. To express a virtuous or good man, they 
 would say cc tangata lille,” a good man, or “ tangata loto 
 lille,” a man with a good mind ; but the word lille, good 
 (unlike our virtuous) is equally applicable to an axe, canoe, 
 or anything else ; again, they have no word to express 
 humanity, mercy, &c., but afa, which rather means friend- 
 ship, and is a word of cordial salutation/ 
 
 Mr. Campbell observes that the Soors (one of the abori- 
 ginal tribes of India), 6 while described as small, mean, and 
 very black, and like the Santals naturally harmless, peace- 
 able, and industrious, are also said to be without moral 
 sense / 2 
 
 Indeed, I do not remember a single instance in which a 
 savage is recorded as having shown any symptoms of 
 remorse ; and almost the only case I can at this moment 
 
 1 Tonga Islands, vol. ii. p. 147. 
 
 2 Gr. Campbell. The Ethnology of India, p. 37. 
 
266 FUTURE LIFE NOT NECESSARILY CONNECTED 
 
 call to mind, in which a man belonging to one of the 
 lower races has accounted for an act, by saying explicitly 
 that it was right, was when Mr. Hunt asked a young 
 Feejeean why he had killed his mother . 1 
 
 It is very clear that religion, except in very advanced 
 races, has no moral aspect or influence. The deities are 
 almost invariably evil. 
 
 In Feejee* c the names of the gods indicate their charac- 
 ters. Thus, Tunambanga is the adulterer. Ndauthina 
 steals women of rank and beauty by night or torch-light. 
 Kumbunavanua is the rioter ; Mbatimona, the brain-eater ; 
 Kavuravu, the murderer ; Mainatavasara, fresh from the 
 cutting-up or slaughter ; and a host besides of the same 
 sort . 5 
 
 The character of the Greek gods is familiar to us, and 
 was anything but moral. Such Beings would certainly 
 not reward the good, or punish the evil. Hence, it is not 
 surprising that Socrates saw little connection between 
 ethics and religion, or that Aristotle altogether separated 
 morality from theology. Hence also we cannot be sur- 
 prised to find that, even when a belief in a future state has 
 dawned on the uncivilised mind, it is not at first associated 
 with reward or punishment. 
 
 The Australians, though they had a vague belief in 
 ghosts, and supposed that after death they become white- 
 men ; that, as they say ‘ Fall down blackman, jump up 
 whiteman/ have no idea of retribution . 3 The Guinea 
 negroes 4 have no idea of future rewards or punishments, 
 for the good or ill actions of their past life / 4 Other negro 
 races, however, have more advanced ideas on the subject. 
 
 ‘ The Tahitians believe the immortality of the soul, at 
 least its existence in a separate state, and that there are 
 
 1 Wilkes’ Voyage, p. 95. 3 Voyage of the ‘Fly,’ vol. ii. p. 29. 
 
 2 Fiji and the Fijians vol. i. p. 218. 4 Bosnian, loo . cit. p. 401. 
 
"WITH REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 267 
 
 two situations of different degrees of happiness, somewhat 
 analogous to our heaven and hell : the superior situation 
 they call 66 Tavirua Ferai,” the other “ Tiahoboo.” They 
 do not, however, consider them as places of reward and 
 punishment, but as receptacles for different classes ; the 
 first for their chiefs and principal people, the other for 
 those of inferior rank ; for they do not suppose that their 
 actions here in the least influence their future state, or 
 indeed that they come under the cognizance of their deities 
 at all. Their religion, therefore, if it has no influence upon 
 their morals, is at least disinterested : and their expressions 
 of adoration and reverence, whether by words or actions, 
 arise only from a humble sense of their own inferiority, 
 and the ineffable excellence of divine perfection / 1 
 
 In Tonga and at hTukahiva the natives believe that their 
 chiefs are immortal, but not the common people . 2 The 
 Tonga people, says Mariner, c do not indeed believe in any 
 future state of rewards and punishments / 3 
 
 Williams 4 tells us that € offences, in Fijian estimation, 
 are light or grave according to the rank of the offender. 
 Murder by a chief is less heinous than a petty larceny com- 
 mitted by a man of low rank. Only a few crimes are 
 regarded as serious ; e.g., theft, adultery, abduction, witch- 
 craft, infringement of a tabu, disrespect to a chief, incen- 
 diarism, and treason ; 3 and he elsewhere mentions that the 
 Fijians , 5 though believing in a future existence, * shut out 
 from it the idea of any moral retribution in the shape either 
 of reward or punishment/ The Sumatrans, according to 
 Marsden, c had some idea of a future life, but not as a state 
 of retribution ; conceiving immortality to be the lot of a 
 rich rather than of a good man. I recollect that an 
 
 1 See Cook’s Voyage round the 3 Tonga Islands, vol. ii. pp. 147, 148. 
 
 World in Hawkesworth’s Voyages, yoL 4 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 28 . 
 
 ii. p. 239. 5 Ibid. p. 243. 
 
 * Klemm, vol. iv. p. 351. 
 
268 
 
 MORALITY AND RELIGION. 
 
 inhabitant of one of the islands farther eastward observed 
 to me, with great simplicity, that only great men went to 
 the skies ; how should poor men find admittance there ? 51 
 
 In the Island of Bintang , 2 ‘ the people having an idea of 
 predestination, always conceived present possession to con- 
 stitute right, however that possession might have been 
 acquired ; but yet they made no scruple of deposing and 
 murdering their sovereigns, and justified their acts by this 
 argument ; that the fate of concerns so important as the 
 lives of kings was in the hands of God, whose vicegerents 
 they were, and that if it was not agreeable to him, and the 
 consequence of his will, that they should perish by the 
 daggers of their subjects, it could not so happen. Thus it 
 appears that their religious ideas were just strong enough 
 to banish from their minds every moral sentiment . 1 2 3 4 5 
 
 The Kookies of Chittagong 6 have no idea of hell or 
 heaven, or of any punishment for evil deeds, or rewards 
 for good actions . 53 According to Bailey, again, the Yeddahs 
 of Ceylon ‘ have no idea of a future state of rewards and 
 punishments . 54 
 
 The Hos in Central India 6 believe that the souls of the 
 dead become “ bhoots , 55 spirits, but no thought of reward 
 or punishment is connected with the change . 55 
 
 Speaking of South Africa Kolben 6 says, that the Hot- 
 tentots believe the immortality of the soul has been shown 
 in a foregoing chapter. But they have no notion, that ever 
 I could gather, of rewards and punishments after death . 5 
 
 Among the Mexicans 7 and Peruvians , 8 again, the religion 
 
 1 Marsden’s History of Sumatra, p. p. 38. 
 
 289. 6 History of the Cape of Good Hope, 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 412. yoI. i. p. 314. 
 
 3 Rennel, quoted in Lewin’s Hill 7 Muller, Ges. der Amer. Urreligion., 
 
 Tracts of Chittagong, p. 110. p. 565. 
 
 4 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S., vol. ii. p. 8 Ibid. p. 410. Hut see Prescott, 
 
 300. i. p. 83. 
 
 a Dalton, Trans. Ethn. Soc., 18G8, 
 
LAW AND EIGHT. 
 
 269 
 
 was entirely independent of moral considerations, and in 
 some other parts of America the future condition is sup- 
 posed to depend not on conduct, but on rank . 1 In North 
 America 4 it is rare/ says Tanner, 4 to observe among the 
 Indians any ideas which would lead to the belief that 
 they look upon a future state as one of retribution .’ 2 
 
 The Arabs conceive that a broken oath brings misfortune 
 on the place where it was uttered . 3 
 
 In fact, I believe that the lower races of men may be 
 said to be deficient in any idea of right, though quite 
 familiar with that of law. This leads to some curious, 
 though not illogical results. Thus at Jenna , 4 and in the 
 surrounding districts, 4 whenever a town is deprived of its 
 chief, the inhabitants acknowledge no law — anarchy, 
 troubles, and confusion immediately prevail, and till a 
 successor is appointed all labour is at an end. The 
 stronger oppress the weak, and consummate every species 
 of crime, without being amenable to any tribunal for their 
 actions. Private property is no longer respected; and 
 thus before a person arrives to curb its licentiousness, a 
 town is not unfrequently reduced from a flourishing 
 state of prosperity and of happiness to all the horrors of 
 desolation . 5 
 
 That there should be any races of men so deficient in 
 moral feeling, was altogether opposed to the preconceived 
 ideas with which I commenced the study of savage life, 
 and I have arrived at the conviction by slow degrees, and 
 even with reluctance. I have, however, been forced to 
 this conclusion, not only by the direct statements of 
 travellers, but also by the general tenor of their remarks, 
 
 1 Muller, Ges.desAmer. Urreligion., p. 190. 
 
 | p. 139. See also pp. 289, 565. 4 R. and J. Lander’s Niger Expedi. 
 
 2 Tanner’s Narrative, p. 369. tion, vol. i. p. 96. 
 
 3 Klemm, Culturgeschichte, vol. iv. 
 
270 
 
 ORIGIN OF MORAL FEELING. 
 
 and especially by tbe remarkable absence of repentance 
 and remorse among the lower races of men. 
 
 On the whole, then, it appears to me that the moral 
 feelings deepen with the gradual growth of a race. 
 
 External circumstances, no doubt, exercise much in- 
 fluence on character. We very often see, however, that 
 the possession of one virtue is counterbalanced by some 
 corresponding defect. Thus the North American Indians 
 are brave and generous, but they are also cruel and reck- 
 less of life. .Moreover, in the early stages of law, motive 
 is never considered ; a fact which shows how little hold 
 morality once had even on communities which have made 
 considerable progress. Some cases which have been quoted 
 as illustrating the contrast between the ideas of virtue en- 
 tertained by different races seem to prove the absence, 
 rather than the perversity, of sentiment on the subject. 
 I cannot believe, for instance, that theft and murder have 
 ever been really regarded as virtues. In a barbarous 
 state they were, no doubt, means of distinction, and 
 in the absence of moral feelings were regarded with no 
 reprobation. I cannot, however, suppose that they could 
 be considered as c right/ though they might give rise to a 
 feeling of respect, and even of admiration. So also the 
 Greeks regarded the duplicity of Ulysses as an element 
 in his greatness, but surely not as a virtue in itself. 
 
 What, then, is the origin of moral feeling ? Some regard 
 it as intuitive, as an original instinct implanted in the 
 human mind. Herbert Spencer , 1 on the contrary, main- 
 tains that ‘ moral intuitions are the results of accumulated 
 experiences of utility ; gradually organised and inherited, 
 they have come to be quite independent of conscious 
 experience. Just in the same way that I believe the 
 intuition of space, possessed by any living individual, to 
 
 1 Bain’s Mental and Moral Science, p. 722. 
 
ORIGIN OF MORAL FEELING, 
 
 271 
 
 have arisen from organised and consolidated experiences 
 of all antecedent individuals, who bequeathed to him their 
 slowly-developed nervous organisation ; just as I believe 
 that this intuition, requiring only to be made definite and 
 complete by personal experiences, has practically become 
 a form of thought apparently quite independent of ex- 
 perience ; so do I believe that the experiences of utility, 
 organised and consolidated through all past generations of 
 the human race, have been producing corresponding ner- 
 vous modifications, which, by continued transmission and 
 accumulation, have become in us certain faculties of moral 
 intuition — certain emotions responding to right and wrong 
 conduct, which have no apparent basis in the individual 
 experiences of utility/ 
 
 I cannot entirely subscribe to either of these views. The 
 moral feelings are now, no doubt, intuitive, but if the lower 
 races of savages have none, they evidently cannot have 
 been so originally nor can they be regarded as natural to 
 man. Neither can I accept the opposite theory ; while 
 entirely agreeing with Mr. Spencer that ‘ there have been, 
 and still are, developing in the race, certain fundamental 
 moral intuitions/ I feel, with Mr. Hutton, much difficulty 
 in conceiving that, in Mr. Spencer’s words, ‘ these moral 
 intuitions are the results of the accumulated experiences 
 of Utility,’ that is to say, of Utility to the individual. It 
 is evident, indeed, that feelings acting on generation after 
 generation might produce a continually deepening convic- 
 tion, but I fail to perceive how this explains the difference 
 between right’ and ‘ utility.’ Yet utility in one sense 
 has , I think, been naturally and yet unconsciously selected 
 as the basis of morals. Mr. Hutton, if I understand him 
 correctly, doubts this. 
 
 Honesty, for instance, he says , 1 6 must certainly have 
 1 Macmillan’s Magazine, 1869, p. 271. 
 
272 
 
 ORIGIN OF MORAL FEELING. 
 
 been associated by our ancestors with, many unhappy as 
 well as many happy consequences, and we know that in 
 ancient Greece dishonesty was openly and actually as- 
 sociated with happy consequences, in the admiration for 
 the guile and craft of Ulysses. Hence the moral associ- 
 ations slowly formed, according to Mr. Spencer, in favour 
 of honesty, must have been, in fact, a mere predominance 
 of association with a balance on one side . 5 
 
 This seems to me a good crucial case. Honesty, on their 
 own part, may, indeed, have been, and no doubt was, ‘ as- 
 sociated by our ancestors with many unhappy, as well as 
 many happy consequences ; 5 but honesty on the part of 
 others could surely have nothing but happy consequences. 
 Thus, while the perception that e Honesty is the best policy 5 
 was, no doubt, as Mr. Hutton observes, ‘long subsequent 
 to the most imperious enunciation of its sacredness as a 
 duty , 5 honesty would be recognised as a virtue so soon as 
 men perceived the sacredness of any duty. As soon as 
 contracts were entered into between individuals or states, 
 it became manifestly the interest of each that the other 
 should be honest. Any failure in this respect would 
 naturally be condemned by the sufferer. It is precisely 
 bee ause honesty is sometimes associated with unhappy con- 
 sequences, that it is regarded as a virtue. If it had always 
 been directly advantageous to all parties, it would have 
 been classed as useful, not as right ; it would have lacked 
 the essential element which renders it a virtue. 
 
 Or take respect for Age. We find, even in Australia, 
 laws, if I may so term them, appropriating the best of 
 everything to the old men. Naturally the old men lose no 
 opportunity of impressing these injunctions on the young ; 
 they praise those who conform, and condemn those wdio 
 resist. Hence the custom is strictly adhered to. I do 
 not say, that to the Australian mind, this presents 
 
ORIGIN OF MORAL FEELING. 
 
 273 
 
 itself as a sacred duty, but it would I think in the course 
 of time have come to be so considered. 
 
 For when a race had made some progress in intellec- 
 tual development, a difference would certainly be felt 
 between those acts which a man was taught to do as con- 
 ducive to his own direct advantage, and those which 
 were not so, and yet which were enjoined for any other 
 reason. Hence would arise the idea of right and duty , as 
 distinct from mere utility. 
 
 How much more our notions of right depend on the 
 lessons we receive when young than on hereditary ideas, 
 becomes evident if we consider the different moral codes 
 existing in our own country. Nay, even in the very same 
 individual two contradictory systems may often be seen 
 side by side in incongruous association. Thus the 
 Christian code and the ordinary code of honour seem 
 to be opposed in some respects, yet the great majority of 
 men hold, or suppose that they hold, them both. 
 
 Lastly it may be observed tnat in our own case religion 
 and morality are closely connected together. Yet the 
 sacred character, which forms an integral part in our con- 
 ception of duty, could not arise until Beligion became 
 moral. Nor would this take place until the Deities were 
 conceived to be beneficent beings. As soon, however, as this 
 was the case, they would naturally be supposed to regard 
 with approbation all that tended to benefit their wor- 
 shippers, and to condemn all actions of the opposite 
 character. This step was an immense benefit to mankind, 
 since that dread of the ui;seen powers which had previously 
 been wasted on the production of mere ceremonies and 
 sacrifices, at once invested the moral feelings with a 
 sacredness, and consequently with a force, which they had 
 not until then possessed. 
 
 Authority, then, seems to me the origin, and utility, 
 
 13 
 
274 
 
 ORIGIN OF MORAL FEELING. 
 
 though, not in the iftanner suggested by Mr. Spencer, the 
 criterion, of virtue. Mr. Hutton, however, in the conclud- 
 ing paragraph of his interesting paper, urges that surely 
 by this time ‘ some one elementary moral law should be as 
 deeply ingrained in human practice as the geometrical 
 law that a straight line is the shortest way between two 
 points. Which of them is it ? 5 I see no such necessity. 
 A child whose parents belong to different nations, with 
 different moral codes, would, I suppose, have the moral 
 feeling deep, and yet might be without any settled ideas 
 as to particular moral duties. And this is in reality our 
 own case. Our ancestors have, now for many generations, 
 had a feeling that some actions were right and some were 
 wrong, but at different times they have had very different 
 codes of morality. Hence we have a deeply-seated moral 
 feeling, and yet, as anyone who has children may satisfy 
 himself, no such decided moral code. Children have a 
 deep feeling of right and wrong, but no such decided or 
 intuitive conviction which actions are right and which are 
 wrong. 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 LANGUAGE, 
 
 LTHOUGrH it has been at various times stated that 
 
 certain savage tribes are entirely without language, 
 none of these accounts appear to be well authenticated, and 
 they are a priori extremely improbable. 
 
 At any rate, even the lowest races of which we have any 
 satisfactory account possess a language, imperfect though 
 it may be, and eked out to a great extent by signs. I do 
 not suppose, however, that this custom has arisen from the 
 absence of words to represent their ideas, but rather 
 because in all countries inhabited by savages the number 
 of languages is very great, and hence there is a great ad- 
 vantage in being able to communicate by signs. 
 
 Thus James, in his expedition to the Rocky Mountains, 
 speaking of the Kiawa-Kaskaia Indians, says, 6 These 
 nations, although constantly associating together and 
 united under the influence of the Bear-Tooth, are yet 
 totally ignorant of each other’s language, insomuch that 
 it was no uncommon occurrence to see two individuals of 
 different nations sitting upon the ground, and conversing 
 freely by means of the language of signs. In the art of 
 thus conveying their ideas they were thorough adepts ; and 
 their manual display was only interrupted at remote inter- 
 vals by a smile, or by the auxiliary of an articulated word 
 of the language of the Crow Indians, which to a very 
 
276 
 
 GESTURE LANGUAGE. 
 
 limited extent passes current among them .’ 1 Fisher , 2 also, 
 speaking of the Comanclies and various surrounding tribes, 
 says that they have ‘ a language of signs, however, by 
 which all Indians and traders can understand one another ; 
 and they always make these signs when communicating 
 among themselves. The men, when conversing together, 
 in their lodges, sit upon skins, cross-legged like a Turk, 
 and speak and make signs in corroboration of what they 
 say, with their hands, so that either a blind or a deaf man 
 could understand them. For instance, I meet an Indian, 
 and wish to ask him if he saw six waggons drawn by 
 horned cattle, with three Mexican and three American 
 teamsters, and a man mounted on horseback. I make these 
 signs : — I point “you,” then to his eyes, meaning “ see ; ” 
 then hold up all my fingers on the right hand and the fore 
 finger on the left, meaning “ six ; ” then I make two circles 
 by bringing the ends of my thumbs and forefingers 
 together, and, holding my two hands out, move my wrists 
 in such a way as to indicate waggon wheels revolving, mean- 
 ing “ waggons ;” then, by making an upward motion with 
 each hand from both sides of my head, I indicate “ horns,” 
 signifying horned cattle ; then by first holding up three 
 fingers, and then by placing my extended right hand below 
 my lower lip and moving it downward stopping in midway 
 down the chest, I indicate “ beard,” meaning Mexican ; and 
 with three fingers again, and passing my right hand from 
 left to right in front of my forehead, I indicate “ white 
 brow” or “pale face.” I then hold up my fore finger, 
 meaning one man, and by placing the fore finger of my 
 left hand between the fore and second finger of my right 
 hand, representing a man astride of a horse, and by moving 
 my hands up and down give the motion of a horse gallop- 
 
 1 See James’s Expedition to the 2 Trans. Ethn. Soe. 1869, vol. i. 
 Rocky Mountains, vol. iii. p. 52. p. 283. 
 
GESTURE LANGUAGE. 
 
 277 
 
 ing with, a man on liis back. I in this way ask the Indian, 
 “ Yon see six waggons, horned cattle, three Mexicans, three 
 Americans, one man on horse-back ? 55 If he holds np his 
 fore finger and lowers it quickly, as if he was pointing at 
 some object on the ground, he means “ Yes ; 55 if he moves it 
 from side to side, upon the principle that people sometimes 
 move their head from side to side, he means “ No.” The 
 time required to make these signs would be about the same 
 as if you asked the question verbally . 5 The Bushmen also 
 are said to intersperse their language with so many signs 
 that they are unintelligible in the dark, and when they 
 want to converse at night, are compelled to collect round 
 their camp fires. So also Burton tells us that the Arapahos 
 of North America, 6 who possess a very scanty vocabulary, 
 can hardly converse with one another in the dark ; to make 
 a stranger understand them they must always repair to the 
 camp fire for pow wow . 5 1 
 
 A very interesting account of the sign-language, espe- 
 cially with reference to that used by the deaf and dumb, 
 is contained in Tylor’s 6 Early History of Man . 5 But 
 although signs may serve to convey ideas in a manner 
 which would probably surprise those who have not studied 
 this question ; still it must be admitted that they are far 
 inferior to the sounds of the voice; which, as already 
 mentioned, are used for this purpose by all the races of men 
 with whom we are acquainted. 
 
 Language, as it exists among all but the lowest races, 
 although far from perfect, is yet so rich in terms, and 
 possesses in its grammar' so complex an organisation, that 
 we cannot wonder at those who have attributed to it a 
 divine and miraculous origin. Nay, their view may be 
 admitted as correct, but only in that sense in which a ship 
 
 1 City of the Saints, p. 151. 
 
278 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE. 
 
 or a palace may be so termed : they are human insofar as 
 they have been worked out by man ; divine, inasmuch as 
 in doing so he has availed himself of the powers which 
 Providence has given him . 1 
 
 M. Penan 2 draws a distinction between the origin of 
 words and that of language, and as regards the latter, says : 
 ‘ Je persiste done, apres dix ans de nouvelles etudes, a 
 envisager le langage comme forme d’un seul coup, et 
 comme sorti instantanement du genie de chaque race/ a 
 theory which involves that of the plurality of human 
 species. No doubt the complexity and apparent perfection 
 of the grammar among very low races, is at first sight very 
 surprising, but we must remember that the language of 
 children is more regular than ours. A child says, ‘X goed/ 
 ‘ I corned/ badder, baddest, &c. Moreover the preservation 
 of a complicated system of grammar among savage tribes 
 shows that such a system is natural to them, and not 
 merely a survival from more civilised times. Indeed, we 
 know that the tendency of civilisation is towards the sim- 
 plification of grammatical forms. 
 
 Nor must it by any means be supposed that complexity 
 implies excellence, or even completeness, in a language. 
 On the contrary, it often arises from a cumbersome mode 
 of supplying some radical defect. Adam Smith long ago 
 pointed out that the verb c to be 5 is c the most abstract and 
 metaphysical of all verbs ; and consequently could by no 
 means be a word of early invention . 5 And he suggests that 
 
 1 Lord Monboddo in combating to the opinions of some divines.’ He 
 those who regard language as a reve- forgets, however, that those who regard 
 lation, expresses a hope that he will not, language as a revelation, do so in the 
 on that account, be supposed to * pay teeth of the express statement in Gene- 
 no respect to the account given in our sis that God brought the animals 
 sacred-books of the origin of our species ; ‘ unto Adam to see what he would call 
 
 but it does not belong to me,’ he adds, them : and whatsoever Adam called 
 ‘as a philosopher or grammarian, every living creature, that was the name 
 to enquire whether such account is to thereof.’ 
 
 be understood allegorically, according 2 De l’Origine du Langage, p. 16. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE. 
 
 279 
 
 the absence of this verb probably led to the intricacy of con- 
 jugations. 4 When 5 he adds, ‘ it came to be invented, how- 
 ever, as it had all the tenses and modes of any other verb, 
 by being joined with the passive participle, it was capable 
 of supplying the place of the whole passive voice, and of 
 rendering this part of their conjugations as simple and 
 uniform, as the use of prepositions had rendered their 
 declensions . 5 1 He goes on to point out that the same re- 
 marks apply also to the possessive verb ‘ I have , 5 which 
 affected the active voice, as profoundly as ‘ I am 5 influenced 
 the passive; thus these two verbs between them, when 
 once suggested, enabled mankind to relieve their memories, 
 and thus unconsciously, but most effectually, to simplify 
 their grammar. 
 
 In English we carry the same principle much further, 
 and not only use the auxiliary verbs ‘ to have 5 and ‘ to be , 5 
 but also several others — as do, did ; will, would ; shall, 
 should ; can, could ; may, might . 2 Adam Smith was, 
 however, mistaken in supposing that the verb ‘to be 5 
 exists ‘in every language ; 5 3 on the contrary, the complexity 
 of the North American languages is in a great measure 
 due to its absence. The auxiliary verb ‘to be 5 is en- 
 tirely absent in most American languages, and the conse- 
 quence is that they turn almost all their adjectives and 
 nouns into verbs, and conjugate them, through all the 
 tenses, persons, and moods . 4 
 
 Again, the Esquimaux, instead of using adverbs, conju- 
 gate the verb ; they have special terminations implying ill, 
 better, rarely, hardly, faithfully, &c. ; hence, such a word 
 as aglekkigiartorasuarniarpok, ‘he goes away hastily and 
 exerts himself to write . 5 5 
 
 1 Smith’s Moral Sentiments, vol. ii. 4 See Gallatin, Trans. Amer. Antiq. 
 
 p. 426. Soc., vol. ii. p. 176. 
 
 2 Smith, loc. cit. p. 432. 4 Crantz, His. of Greenland, vol. l 
 
 Loc. cit . p. 426. p. 224. 
 
280 
 
 ROOT-WORDS. 
 
 The number of words in the languages of civilised races 
 is no doubt immense. Chinese, for instance, contains 
 40,000; Todd’s edition of Johnson, 58,000; Webster’s 
 Dictionary, 70,000 ; and Flugel’s more than 65,000. ] The 
 great majority of these, however, can be derived from cer- 
 tain original words, or roots, which are very few in number. 
 In Chinese there are about 450, Hebrew has been reduced 
 to 500, and Muller doubts whether there are more in 
 Sanskrit. M. D’Orsey even assures us that an ordinary 
 agricultural labourer has not 300 words in his vocabulary. 
 
 Professor Max Muller 2 observes, that ‘ this fact simplifies 
 immensely the problem of the origin of language. It has 
 taken away all excuse for those rapturous descriptions of 
 language which invariably preceded the argument that 
 language must have a divine origin. We shall hear no 
 more of that wonderful instrument which can express all 
 we see, and hear, and taste, and touch, and smell ; which 
 is the breathing image of the whole world ; which gives 
 form to the airy feelings of our souls, and body to the 
 loftiest dreams of our imagination ; which can arrange in 
 accurate perspective the past, the present, and the future, 
 and throw over everything the varying hues of certainty, 
 of doubt, of contingency.’ 
 
 This, indeed, is no new view, but was that generally 
 adopted by the philologists of the last century, and is fully 
 borne out by more recent researches. 
 
 In considering the origin of these root-words, we must 
 remember that most of them are very ancient, and much 
 worn by use. This greatly enhances the difficulty of the 
 problem. 
 
 Nevertheless, there are several large classes of words with 
 reference to the origin of which there can be no doubt. 
 
 1 Saturday Review, November 2, 1861. Lectures on Language, p. 268. 
 
 2 Loc . cit. p. 359. 
 
ONOMATOPOEIA. 
 
 281 
 
 Many names of animals, such as cuckoo, crow, peewit, &c., 
 are evidently derived from the sounds made by those 
 birds. Everyone admits that such words as bang, crack, 
 purr, whizz, hum, &c., have arisen from the attempt to 
 represent sounds characteristic of the object it is intended 
 to designate . 1 Take, again, the inarticulate human sounds 
 — sob, sigh, moan, groan, laugh, cough, weep, whoop, 
 shriek, yawn : or of animals ; as cackle, chuckle, gobble, 
 quack, twitter, chirp, coo, hoot, caw, croak, chatter, neigh, 
 whinny, mew, purr, bark, yelp, roar, bellow: the collision of 
 hard bodies; clap, rap, tap, knap, snap, trap, flap, slap, 
 crack, smack, whack, thwack, pat, bat, batter, beat, butt ; 
 and again, clash, flash, plash, splash, smash, dash, crash, 
 bang, clang, twang, ring, ding, din, bump, thump, plump, 
 boom, hum, drum, hiss, rustle, bustle, whistle, whisper, mur- 
 mur, babble, &c. So also sounds denoting certain motions 
 and actions ; whirr, whizz, puff, fizz, fly, flit, flow, flutter, 
 patter, clatter, crackle, rattle, bubble, guggle, dabble, 
 grapple, draggle, rush, shoot, shot, shut, &c. Many words 
 for cutting, and the objects cut, or used for cutting &c., 
 are obviously of similar origin. Thus we have the sound 
 sh — r with each of the vowels ; share, a part cut off; shear, 
 an instrument for cutting ; shire, a division of a country ; 
 shore, the division between land and sea, or as we use it 
 in Kent, between two fields; a shower, a number of 
 separate particles ; again scissors, scythe, shread, scrape, 
 shard, scale, shale, shell, shield, skull, shaist, shatter, 
 scatter, scar, scoop, score, scrape, scratch, scum, scour, 
 scurf, surf, scuttle, sect, shape, sharp, shave, sheaf, shed, 
 shoal, shred, split, splinter, splutter, &c. Another impor- 
 tant class of words is evidently founded on the sounds by 
 which we naturally express our feelings. Thus from Oh ! 
 
 1 Wedgwood, Introduction to Die. of English Etymology. Earrar, Origin of 
 Language, p. 89. 
 
282 
 
 ABSTRACT TERMS. 
 
 Ah ! the instinctive cry of pain, we get woe, vse, Latin, 
 wail, ache, a^os Gr. 
 
 From the deep guttural sound ugh, we have ugly, huge, 
 and hug. 
 
 From pr, or prut, indicating contempt or self-conceit, 
 comes proud, pride, &c. 
 
 From fie, we have fiend, foe, feud, foul, Latin putris, 
 Fr. puer, filth, fulsome, fear. In addition I will only 
 remark that, 
 
 From that of smacking the lips we get <y \ VKV9 , dulcis, 
 lick, like. 
 
 Under these circumstances I cannot but think that we 
 may look upon the words above mentioned as the still re- 
 cognisable descendants of roots which were onomatopoeic 
 in their origin ; and I am glad to see that Professor Max 
 Muller in his second series of lectures on language , 1 wishes 
 to be understood as offering no opposition to this theory, 
 although for the present c satisfied with considering roots 
 as phonetic types . 5 
 
 It may be said, and said truly, that other classes of 
 ideas are not so easily or naturally expressible by corre- 
 sponding sounds ; and that abstract terms seldom have any 
 such obvious derivation. We must remember, however, 
 firstly, that abstract terms are wanting in the lowest 
 languages, and secondly, that most words are greatly worn 
 by use, and altered by the difference of pronunciation. 
 Even among the most advanced races a few centuries suffice 
 to produce a great change ; how then can we expect that 
 any roots (excepting those which are preserved from 
 material alteration by the constant suggestion of an obvious 
 fitness) should have retained their original sound through- 
 out the immense period which has elapsed since the origin 
 
 1 Loc. cit. p. 92. 
 
NICKNAMES AND SLANG TEEMS. 283 
 
 of language? Moreover everyone who has paid any atten- 
 tion to children, or schoolboys, must have observed how 
 nicknames, often derived from slight and even fanciful 
 characteristics, are seized on and soon adopted by general 
 consent. Hence even if root-words had remained with 
 little alteration, we should still be often puzzled to account 
 for their origin. 
 
 Without, then, supposing with Farrar that all our root- 
 words have originated from onomatopoeia, I believe that 
 they arose in the same way as the nicknames and new 
 slang terms of our own day. These we know are often 
 selected from some similarity of sound, or connection of 
 ideas, often so quaint, fanciful, or far-fetched, that we are 
 unable to recall the true origin even of words which have 
 arisen in our own time. How then can we wonder that 
 the derivations of root-words which are thousands of years 
 old should be in so many cases lost, or at least undeter- 
 minable with certainty. 
 
 Again, the words most frequently required, and especially 
 those used by children, are generally represented by the 
 simplest and easiest sounds, merely because they are the 
 simplest. Thus in Europe we have papa and daddy, 
 mamma, and baby ; poupee for a doll ; amme for a nurse, 
 &e. Some authorities, indeed, have derived Pater and 
 Papa from a root Pa to cherish, and Mater, Mother, from 
 Ma to make ; this derivation is accepted by writers repre- 
 senting the most opposite theories, as for instance by 
 Penan, Muller, and even apparently by Farrar. 
 
 Professor Max Muller says that ‘ the name father was 
 coined at that early period, shows that the father acknow- 
 ledged the offspring of his wife as his own, for thus only 
 had he a right to claim the title of father. Father is de- 
 rived from a root Pa, which means, not to beget but to 
 protect, to support, to nourish. The father, as genitor, was 
 
284 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TERMS 
 
 called in Sanskrit ganitar, but as protector and supporter 
 of bis offspring he was called pitar ; hence, in the Yeda, 
 these two names are used together, in order to express the 
 full idea of father. Thus the poet says : — 
 
 Dyaus me peta ganita 
 J ovis mei pater genitor 
 Zevg ij uov Trarrjp yeverrip. 
 
 In a similar manner matar, mother, is joined with 
 ganitu, genitrix, which shows that the word matar must 
 soon have lost its etymological meaning, and have become 
 an expression of respect and endearment. For among the 
 early Arians, matar had the sense of maker, from Ma, to 
 fashion / 1 
 
 Now let us see what are the names for father and 
 mother among some other races, omitting all languages 
 derived from Sanskrit. 
 
 Language. 
 
 AFRICA. 
 Father . 
 
 Mother . 
 
 Bola (N. W. Africa) 
 
 Papa 
 
 Ni 
 
 Sarar 
 
 Paba 
 
 Ne 
 
 Pepel 
 
 Papa 
 
 Nana 
 
 Biafada 
 
 Baba 
 
 Na 
 
 Baga 
 
 Bapa 
 
 Mana 
 
 Timne 
 
 Pa 
 
 Kara 
 
 Mandenga 
 
 Fa 
 
 Na 
 
 Kabunga 
 
 _ 5) 
 
 
 Toronka 
 
 
 
 D salmika 
 
 
 
 Kankanka 
 
 J? 
 
 5) 
 
 Bambara 
 
 
 Ba 
 
 Kono 
 
 
 Nde 
 
 Vei 
 
 
 Ba 
 
 Soso 
 
 Fafe 
 
 Nga 
 
 Kisekise 
 
 
 5) 
 
 1 Comparative Mythology. Oxford Essays, 1856, p. 14. 
 
FATHER AHD MOTHER. 
 
 285 
 
 Language. 
 
 Tene 
 
 Dewoi (Guinea) 
 
 Basa 
 
 Gbe 
 
 Dahome 
 
 Mahi 
 
 Ota 
 
 Egba 
 
 Idsesa 
 
 Yoruba 
 
 Yagba 
 
 Eki 
 
 Dsumu 
 
 Oworo 
 
 Dsebu 
 
 Ife 
 
 Ondo 
 
 Mose (Higb Sudan) 
 Gurma 
 
 Sobo (Niger District) 
 
 Udso 
 
 Nupe 
 
 Kupa 
 
 Esitako 
 
 Musu 
 
 Basa 
 
 Opanda 
 
 Igu_ 
 
 Egbira 
 
 Buduma (Central Africa) 
 
 Bomu 
 
 Munio 
 
 Nguru 
 
 Kanem 
 
 Karebare 
 
 Ngodsin 
 
 Doai 
 
 Basa 
 
 Kamuku 
 
 Songo (S. W. Africa) 
 
 Father. 
 
 Mother. 
 
 Eafa 
 
 Nga 
 
 Ba 
 
 Ma 
 
 
 Ne 
 
 99 
 
 De 
 
 Da 
 
 Noe 
 
 „ also Dadye 
 
 99 
 
 Baba 
 
 lya 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 Yeye 
 
 99 
 
 Ye 
 
 Ba 
 
 Ma 
 
 5 ) 
 
 Na 
 
 Wawa 
 
 Nene 
 
 Dada 
 
 Ayo 
 
 Nda 
 
 Nna 
 
 Dada 
 
 Mo 
 
 Da 
 
 Na 
 
 Nda 
 
 Meya 
 
 Ba 
 
 Nno 
 
 Ada 
 
 Onyi 
 
 99 
 
 Onya 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 Bawa 
 
 Ya 
 
 Aba 
 
 99 
 
 Bawa 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 lya 
 
 Mba 
 
 99 
 
 Baba 
 
 Nana 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 Aye 
 
 Ada 
 
 Am 
 
 Baba 
 
 Bina 
 
 Papa 
 
 Mama 
 
286 "WORDS FOR FATHER AND MOTHER 
 
 Language. 
 
 Father. 
 
 Mother. 
 
 Kiriman (S. E. Africa) 
 
 Baba 
 
 Mma 
 
 Bidsogo (Unclassified languages) „ 
 
 Ondsunei 
 
 Wnn 
 
 
 Omsion 
 
 Gadsaga 
 
 55 
 
 Ma 
 
 Gura 
 
 Da 
 
 Kye 
 
 Banyun 
 
 Aba 
 
 Aai 
 
 Kalu 
 
 Baba 
 
 Nya 
 
 Bulanda 
 
 
 m 
 
 Limba 
 
 Papa 
 
 Ka 
 
 Landoma 
 
 
 Mama 
 
 Barba 
 
 Baba 
 
 Inya 
 
 Timbuktu 
 
 55 
 
 Nya 
 
 Bagrmi 
 
 Babi 
 
 Kunyun 
 
 Kadzina 
 
 Baba 
 
 Ua 
 
 Timbo 
 
 55 
 
 Kene 
 
 Salum 
 
 55 
 
 Yuma 
 
 Goburu 
 
 55 
 
 Inna 
 
 Kano 
 
 55 
 
 Ina 
 
 Yala 
 
 Ada 
 
 Ene 
 
 Dsarawa 
 
 Tada 
 
 Kga 
 
 Koro 
 
 Oda 
 
 Ma 
 
 Yasgua 
 
 Ada 
 
 * Ama 
 
 Kambali 
 
 Dada 
 
 Omo 
 
 Soa (Arabic group) 
 
 Aba 
 
 Aye 
 
 Wadai 
 
 Abba 
 
 Omma 
 
 NON-ARYAN NATIONS 
 
 OP EUROPE 
 
 AND ASIA. 
 
 Turkish 
 
 Baba 
 
 Ana 
 
 Georgian 
 
 Mama 
 
 Deda 
 
 Mantsbu 
 
 Ama 
 
 Erne 
 
 Javanese 
 
 Bapa 
 
 Ibu 
 
 Malay 
 
 Bapa 
 
 Ibu 
 
 Syami (Thibet) 
 
 Dhada 
 
 Ma 
 
 Thibetan 
 
 Pha 
 
 Ama 
 
 Serpa (Kepal) 
 
 Aba 
 
 Ama 
 
 Murmi „ 
 
 Apa 
 
 Amma 
 
 Pakhya „ 
 
 Babai 
 
 Ama 
 
 Lepcha (Sikkim) 
 
 Abo 
 
 Amo 
 
 Bhutani 
 
 Appa 
 
 Ai 
 
IN’ VARIOUS LANGUAGES. 
 
 287 
 
 Language . 
 
 
 Father . 
 
 Mother. 
 
 Dhimal (N. E. Bengal) 
 
 
 Aba 
 
 Ama 
 
 Kocch * „ 
 
 
 Bap 
 
 Ma 
 
 Garo „ 
 
 
 Aba 
 
 Ama 
 
 Burman (Bur mail) 
 
 
 Ahpa 
 
 Ami 
 
 Mru 
 
 
 Pa 
 
 An 
 
 Sak 
 
 
 Aba 
 
 Anu 
 
 Talain (Siam) 
 
 
 Ma 
 
 Ya 
 
 Ho (Central India) 
 
 
 Appu 
 
 Enga 
 
 Santhali 
 
 
 Baba 
 
 Ayo 
 
 Uraon „ 
 
 
 Babe 
 
 Ayyo 
 
 Gayeti „ 
 
 
 Baba 
 
 Dai 
 
 Khond 
 
 
 Abba 
 
 Ayya 
 
 Tuluva (Southern India) 
 
 
 Amme 
 
 Appe 
 
 Badaga „ 
 
 
 Appa 
 
 Awe 
 
 Irula „ 
 
 
 Amma 
 
 Awe 
 
 Cinghalese 
 
 
 Appa 
 
 Amma 
 
 Chinese 
 
 
 Eu 
 
 Mu 
 
 
 ISLANDERS. 
 
 
 New Zealand 
 
 
 Pa-Matuatana 
 
 Matua wahina 
 
 Tonga Islands 
 
 
 Tamny 
 
 Fae 
 
 Erroob (N. Australia) 
 
 
 Bab 
 
 Ama 
 
 Lewis’ Murray Island 
 
 
 Baab 
 
 Hammah 
 
 
 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 
 Jajowrong (N. W. Australia) 
 
 Marmook 
 
 Barbook 
 
 Knenkorenwurro „ 
 
 
 Marmak 
 
 Barpanorook 
 
 Burapper „ 
 
 
 Marmook 
 
 Barbook 
 
 Taungurong „ 
 
 
 Warredoo 
 
 Barbanook 
 
 Boraipar (S. Australia) 
 
 
 Marmme 
 
 Parppe 
 
 Murrumbidgee 
 
 < 
 
 Kunny 
 
 Mamma 
 
 Western Australia 
 
 
 Mammun 
 
 Ngangar 
 
 Port Lincoln 
 
 
 Pappi 
 
 Maitya 
 
 
 ESQUIMAUX. 
 
 
 Esquimaux (Hudson’s Bay) 
 
 Atata 
 
 Amama 
 
 Tshuktchi (Asia) 
 
 
 Atta 
 
 ? 
 
288 
 
 THE WORDS BA, MA, AND PA, 
 
 The American languages seem at first sight opposed to 
 the view here suggested ; on close examination, however, 
 this is not the case, since the pronunciation of the labials 
 is very difficult to many American races. Thus, La Hontan 
 informs us that the Hurons do not use the labials, and 
 that he spent four days in attempting without success to 
 teach a Huron to pronounce b, p, and m. Garcilasso de 
 la Vega tells us that the Peruvian language wanted the 
 letters b, d, f, g, s, and x, and the Indians of Port au 
 Franjais, according to M. Lamanon, made no use of the 
 consonants b, d, f, j, p, v, or x. 1 Still even in America we 
 find some cases in which the sounds for father resemble 
 those so general elsewhere ; thus 
 
 Language. 
 
 J Father. 
 
 Mother. 
 
 Costanos (N. W. America) 
 
 Ah Pah 
 
 Ah nah 
 
 Tahkali „ 
 
 Apa 
 
 
 Tlatskanai „ 
 
 Mama 
 
 Naa 
 
 Nasqually „ 
 
 Baa 
 
 Sogo 
 
 Nootka ,, 
 
 Api 
 
 Una 
 
 Athapascans (Canada) 
 
 Appa 
 
 Unnungcool 
 
 Omahas (Missouri) 
 
 Dadai 
 
 Eehong 
 
 Minnetarees „ 
 
 Tantai 
 
 Eeka 
 
 Choctas (Mississippi) 
 
 Aunkke 
 
 Iskeh 
 
 Caribs 
 
 Baba 
 
 Bibi 
 
 Uainamben (Amazons) 
 
 Pai 
 
 Ami 
 
 Cobeu „ 
 
 Ipaki 
 
 Ipako 
 
 Tucano „ 
 
 Pagui 
 
 Maou 
 
 Tariana „ 
 
 Paica 
 
 J^aca 
 
 Baniwa 
 
 Padjo 
 
 JSTadjo 
 
 Barre 
 
 Mbaba 
 
 Memi 
 
 Finding, then, that the easiest sounds which a child can 
 produce denote father and mother almost all over the 
 world ; remembering that the root ba or pa indicates baby 
 as well as father ; and observing that in some cases the 
 
 i See also Gallatin, in Trans. Am. Antiq. Soc. vol. i. p. 63. 
 
THE CHOICE OP ROOT-WORDS. 
 
 289 
 
 usual sounds are reversed; as for instance in Georgian, 
 where mama stands for father, and dada for mother ; or in 
 Tuluva, where amme is father, and appe mother ; or some 
 of the Australian tribes, in which combinations of the 
 sound mar stands for father, and bar for mother ; we must 
 surely admit that the Sanskrit verb Pa, to protect, comes 
 from pa, father, and not vice versa. 
 
 There are few more interesting studies than the steps 
 by which our present language has been derived from 
 these original roots. This subject has been admirably 
 dealt with by my friend Professor Max Muller in his 
 ‘ Lectures on Language,’ and, tempting as it would be to do 
 so, I do not propose to follow him into that part of the 
 science. As regards the formation of the original roots, 
 however, he declines to express any opinion. Rejecting 
 what he calls the pooh-pooh and bow-wow theories 1 (though 
 they are in reality but one), he observes that ‘the theory 
 which is suggested to us by an analysis of language carried 
 out according to the principles of comparative philology is 
 the very opposite. We arrive in the end at roots, and 
 every one of these expresses a general, not an individual 
 idea.’ But the whole question is how were these roots 
 chosen ? How did particular sounds come to be allotted 
 to particular things ? 
 
 Here, however, Professor Max Muller stops. Nothing, 
 he admits , 2 ‘would be more interesting than to know 
 from historical documents the exact process by which 
 the first man began to lisp his first words, and thus to be 
 rid for ever of all the theories on the origin of speech. 
 But this knowledge is denied us; and, if it had been 
 otherwise, we should probably be quite unable to under- 
 stand those primitive events in the history of the human 
 mind.’ 
 
 1 Science of Language, p. 373. 
 
 2 Loc . cit, p. 346. 
 
290 
 
 THE CHOICE CP ROOT-WORDS. 
 
 Yet in his last chapter he says, 1 ‘ and now I am afraid I 
 have hut a few minutes left to explain the last question of 
 allin our science,namely — How can sound express thought ? 
 How did roots become the signs of general ideas ? How 
 was the abstract idea of measuring expressed by ma, the 
 idea of th inkin g by man? How did ga come to mean 
 going, stha standing, sad sitting, da giving, mar dying, 
 char walking, kar doing? I shall try to answer as briefly 
 as possible. The 400 or 500 roots which remain as the 
 constituent elements in different families of language are 
 not interjections, nor are they imitations. They are 
 phonetic types produced by a power inherent in human 
 nature. They exist, as Plato would say, by nature ; though 
 with Plato we should add that, when we say by nature, 
 we mean by the hand of God. There is a law which runs 
 through nearly the whole of nature, that everything which 
 is struck rings. 
 
 , • • • • * 
 
 ‘ Man, in his primitive and perfect state, was not only 
 endowed, like the brute, with the power of expressing his 
 sensations by interjections, and his perceptions by onoma- 
 topoeia. He possessed likewise the faculty of giving 
 more articulate expression to the natural conceptions of 
 his mind. That faculty was not of his making. It was 
 an instinct, an instinct of the mind as irresistible as any 
 other instinct. So far as language is the production of 
 that instinct, it belongs to the realm of nature. 
 
 This answer, though expressed with Professor Max 
 Muller’s usual eloquence, does not carry to my mind any 
 definite conception. On the other hand, it appears to 
 me that at any rate as regards some roots, we have, as 
 already pointed out, a satisfactory explanation. Professor 
 Max Muller, 2 indeed, admits that ‘there are some names, 
 
 2 Science of Language, p. 363. 
 
 1 Loc. cit. p. 386. 
 
POVERTY OF SAVAGE LANGUAGES. 
 
 291 
 
 such as cuckoo, which are clearly formed by an imitation 
 of sound. But/ he adds, ‘ words of this kind are, like 
 artificial flowers, without a root. They are sterile, and 
 are unfit to express anything beyond the one object which 
 they imitate. If you remember the variety of derivatives 
 that could be formed from the root spac, to see, you will at 
 once perceive the difference between the fabrication of such 
 a word as cuckoo, and the true natural growth of words. 5 
 
 It has, however, been already shown that such roots, far 
 from being sterile, are on the contrary very fruitful, and 
 we must remember that savage languages are very poor in 
 abstract terms. Indeed the vocabularies of the various 
 races are most interesting from the indications which they 
 afford with reference to the condition of those by whom 
 they are used. Thus we get a melancholy idea of the 
 moral state and family life of tribes which are deficient ir 
 terms of endearment. Colonel Dalton 1 tells us that the 
 Hos of Central India have no ‘ endearing epithets. 5 The 
 Algonquin language, one of the richest in North America, 
 contained no verb 6 to love, 5 and when Elliot translated 
 the Bible into it in 1661, he was obliged to coin a word 
 for the purpose. The Tinne Indians on the other side of 
 the Bocky Mountains had no equivalent for ‘ dear 5 or ‘ be- 
 loved. 5 c I endeavoured, 5 says General Lefroy, c to put this 
 intelligibly to Nanette, by supposing such an expression 
 as ma chere femme $ ma chere fille. When at length she 
 understood it, her reply was (with great emphasis), “I 5 
 disent jamais §a; i 5 disent ma femme, ma fille. 55 5 The 
 Kalmucks and some of the South Sea Islanders are said to 
 have had no word for 6 thanks. 5 Lichtenstein, 2 speaking of 
 the Bushmen, mentions it as a remarkable instance of the 
 total absence of civilisation among them that ‘ they have 
 
 1 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S., vol. yi. 2 Vol. i. p. 119; yol. ii. p. 49. 
 p. 27. 
 
292 
 
 DEFICIENCY OF TERMS OF AFFECTION. 
 
 no names, and seem not to feel the want o£ such a means 
 of distinguishing one individual from another. 5 Pliny 1 
 makes a similar statement concerning a race in Northern 
 Africa. Freycinet 2 also asserts that some of the Australian 
 tribes did not name their women., I confess that I am 
 inclined to doubt these statements, and to refer the 
 supposed absence of names to the curious superstitions 
 already referred to {ante, p. 145), and which make savages 
 so reluctant to communicate their true names to strangers. 
 The Brazilian tribes, according to Spix and Martius, had 
 separate names for the different parts of the body, and for 
 all the different animals and plants with which they were 
 acquainted, but were entirely deficient in such terms as 
 ‘ color, 5 c tone, 5 ‘ sex, 5 6 genus, 5 spirit, 5 &c. 
 
 Bailey 3 mentions that the language of the Yeddahs 
 (Ceylon) ‘ is very limited. It only contains such phrases 
 as are required to describe the most striking objects of 
 nature, and those which enter into the daily life of the 
 people themselves. So rude and primitive is their dialect 
 that the most ordinary objects and actions of life are 
 described by quaint periphrases. 5 
 
 According to missionaries the Fuegians had c no abstract 
 terms. 5 In the North American languages a term c suffi- 
 ciently general to denote an oak-tree is exceptional. 5 Thus 
 the Choctaw language has names for the black oak, white 
 oak, and red oak, but none for an oak ; still less for a tree. 
 
 The Tasmanians, again, had no general term for a tree, 
 though they had names for each particular kind ; nor could 
 they express ‘ qualities such as hard, soft, warm, cold, long, 
 short, round, 5 &c. 
 
 Speaking of the Coroados (Brazil), Martius observes 
 that ‘ it would be in vain to seek among them words for 
 
 3 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S., vol. ii. p. 
 298; see also p. 300. 
 
 1 Nat. His., 1. y. s. viii. 
 
 2 Vol. ii. p. 749. 
 
ABSENCE OP ABSTRACT TERMS. 
 
 293 
 
 tlie abstract ideas of plant, animal, and tlie still more 
 abstract notions colour, tone, sex, species, &c. ; such a 
 generalisation of ideas is found among them only in the 
 frequently used infinitive of the verbs to walk, to eat, to 
 drink, to dance, to see, to hear, &c. They have no con- 
 ception of the general powers and laws of nature, and 
 therefore cannot express them in words / 1 
 
 There is perhaps no more interesting part of the study 
 of language than that which concerns the system of nume- 
 ration, nor any more striking proof of the low mental 
 condition of many savage races than the undoubted fact 
 that they are unable to count their own fingers, even of 
 one hand. 
 
 According to Lichtenstein the Bushmen could not count 
 beyond two ; Spix and Martins make the same statement 
 about the Brazilian Wood-Indians. The Cape Yorkers of 
 Australia count as follows : — 
 
 Speaking of the Lower Murray nations Mr. Beveridge 
 says, 6 their numerals are confined to two alone, viz. ryup, 
 politi, the first signifying u one 55 and the second “ two.” To 
 express five, thay say ryup murnangin, or one hand, and to 
 express ten, politi murnangin, or two hands/ 2 Indeed, no 
 Australian can go beyond four, their term for five simply 
 implying a large number. The Dammaras, according to 
 Galton, used no term beyond three. He gives so admirable 
 and at the same time so amusing an account of Dammara 
 
 1 Spix and Martius, Travels in Brazil, 2 Trans, of the R. S. of Victoria, vol. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 253. vi. p. 151. 
 
 One 
 
 Two 
 
 Three 
 
 Four 
 
 Five 
 
 Six 
 
 Yet at. 
 
 Yaes. 
 
 Yaes-netat. 
 
 Yaes-naes. 
 
 Yaes-naes-netat. 
 
 Yaes-naes-naes. 
 
294 
 
 DEFICIENCY IN NUMERALS. 
 
 difficulties in language and arithmetic that I cannot resist 
 quoting it in full. ‘ We had/ he says/ 6 to trust to our 
 Dammara guides, whose ideas of time and distance were 
 most provokingly indistinct ; besides this they have no 
 comparative in their language, so that you cannot say to 
 them, “ which is the longer of the two, the next stage or 
 the last one ? ” but you must say, “ the last is little ; the 
 next is it great ? ” The reply is not, it is a “ little longer,” 
 or “very much longer,” but simply, “it is so,” or “it is not 
 so.” They have a very poor notion of time. If you say 
 “ suppose we start at sunrise, where will the sun be when 
 we arrive?” they make the wildest points in the sky, 
 though they are something of astronomers, and give names 
 to several stars. They have no way of distinguishing days, 
 but reckon by the rainy season, or the pig-nut season. 
 When inquiries are made about how many days’ journey 
 off a place may be, their ignorance of all numerical ideas 
 is very annoying. In practice, whatever they may possess 
 in their language, they certainly use no numeral greater 
 than three. When they wish to express four, they take to 
 their fingers, which are to them as formidable instruments 
 of calculation as a sliding rule is to an English school-boy. 
 They puzzle very much after five, because no spare hand 
 remains to grasp and secure the fingers that are required 
 for units. Yet they seldom lose oxen ; the way in which 
 they discover the loss of one is not by the number of the 
 herd being diminished, but by the absence of a face they i 
 know. When bartering is going on, each sheep must be J 
 paid for separately. Thus, suppose two sticks of tobacco 
 to be the rate of exchange for one sheep, it would sorely 
 puzzle a Dammara to take two sheep and give him four | 
 sticks. I have done so, and seen a man put two of the 
 
 Galton, Tropical South Africa, p. 132. 
 
SAVAGE DIFFICULTIES IE" ARITHMETIC. 
 
 295 
 
 sticks apart, and take a sight over them at one of the 
 sheep he was about to sell. Having satisfied himself that 
 that one was honestly paid for and finding to his surprise 
 that exactly two sticks remained in hand to settle the 
 account for the other sheep, he would be afflicted with 
 doubts ; the transaction seemed to come out too “ pat 55 to 
 be correct, and he would refer back to the first couple of 
 sticks 5 and then his mind got hazy and confused, and 
 wandered from one sheep to the other, and he broke off 
 the transaction until two sticks were put into his hand, 
 and one sheep driven away, and then the other two sticks 
 given him, and the second sheep driven away. When a 
 Dammara’s mind is bent upon number, it is too much 
 occupied to dwell upon quantity ; thus a heifer is bought 
 from a man for ten sticks of tobacco, his large hands 
 being both spread out upon the ground, and a stick placed 
 upon each finger. He gathers up the tobacco, the size of 
 the mass pleases him, and the bargain is struck. You then 
 want to buy a second heifer ; the same process is gone 
 through, but half sticks instead of whole sticks are put 
 upon his fingers ; the man is equally satisfied at the time, 
 but occasionally finds it out, and complains the next day. 
 
 4 Once while I watched a Dammara floundering hope- 
 lessly in a calculation on one side of me, I observed Dinah, 
 my spaniel, equally embarrassed on the other. She was 
 overlooking half-a-dozen of her new-born puppies, which 
 had been removed two or three times from her, and her 
 anxiety was excessive, as she tried to find out if they were 
 all present, or if any were still missing. She kept puzzling 
 and running her eyes over them, backwards and forwards, 
 but could not satisfy herself. She evidently had a vague 
 notion of counting, but the figure was too large for her 
 brain. Taking the two as they stood, dog and Dammara, 
 the comparison reflected no great honour on the man. 5 
 
296 USE OF THE FINGERS IN ARITHMETIC, 
 
 All over the world the fingers are used as counters, and 
 although the numerals of most races are so worn down by 
 use that we can no longer detect their original meaning, 
 there are many savage tribes in which the words used 
 are merely the verbal expressions of the signs used in 
 counting with the fingers. 
 
 Of this I have just given one instance. In Labrador 
 ‘Tallek , 5 a hand, means also ‘five , 5 and the term for 
 twenty means hands and feet together. Speaking of 
 the Ahts, Mr. Sproat 1 says, ‘it may be noticed that 
 their word for one occurs again in that for six and 
 nine, and the word for two in that for seven and eight. 
 The Aht Indians count upon their fingers. They always 
 count, except where they have learnt differently from their 
 contact with civilisation, by raising the hands with the 
 palms upwards, and extending all the fingers, and bending 
 down each finger as it is used for enumeration. They begin 
 with the little finger. This little finger, then, is one. 
 Now six is five (that is, one whole hand) and one more. 
 We can easily see then, why their word for six compre- 
 hends the word for one. Again, seven is five (one whole 
 hand) and two more — thus their word for seven compre- 
 hends the word for two. Again, when they have bent down 
 the eighth finger, the most noticeable feature of the hand 
 is that two fingers, that is, a finger and a thumb, remain 
 extended. Now the Aht word for eight comprehends atlah, 
 the word for two. The reason for this I imagine to be as 
 follows : — Eight is ten (or the whole hands) wanting two. 
 Again, when the ninth finger is down, only one finger is 
 left extended. Their word for nine comprehends tsow- 
 wauk, the word for one. Nine is ten (or two whole hands) 
 wanting one . 5 2 
 
 1 Scenes and Studies of Savsge Life, 2 Scenes and Studies of Savage Life’ 
 
 p. 121. p. 121-122. 
 
AS SHOW IN THE NAMES OP NUMERALS. 297 
 
 The Zamuca and Muysca Indians 1 have a cumbrous, but 
 very interesting system of numeration. For five they say, 
 ‘ hand finished.’ For six, ‘one of the other hand,’ that 
 is to say take a finger of the other hand ; for ten they say, 
 ‘ two hands finished,’ or sometimes more simply ‘ quicha,’ 
 that is ‘foot.’ Eleven is foot-one; twelve, foot-two, 
 thirteen, foot-three, and so on : twenty is the feet finished ; 
 or in other cases ‘ Man,’ because a man has ten fingers and 
 ten toes, thus making twenty. 
 
 Among the Jaruroes the word for forty is ‘noenipume,’ 
 i.e. two men, from noeni, two, and canipune, men. Hence, 
 no doubt, the prevalence of the decimal system in arithme- 
 tic ; it has no particular advantage ; indeed, either eight 
 or twelve would, in some respects have been more con- 
 venient ; eight, because you can divide it by two, and then 
 divide the result again by two ; and twelve because it is 
 divisible by six, four, three, and two. Ten, however, has 
 naturally been selected, because we have ten fingers. 
 
 Speaking of the Guiana natives, Mr. Brett observes 2 
 that, ‘ Another point in which the different nations agree 
 is their method of numeration. The first four numbers are 
 represented by simple words, as in the table above given. 
 Five is “ my one hand,” abar-dakabo in Arawak. Then 
 comes a repetition, abar timen, biam timen, &c., up to nine. 
 Biam-dahabo, “ my two hands,” is ten. From ten to twenty 
 they use the toes (kuti or olcuti), as abar-huti-bana, 
 “ eleven,” biam-huti-bana, “ twelve,” &c. They call twenty 
 abar-loJco, one lolco or man. They then proceed by men or 
 scores ; thus forty-five is laboriously expressed by biam- 
 loJco-abardahabo tajeago, “ two men and one hand upon it.” 
 For higher numbers they have now recourse to our words, 
 hundred and thousand .’ So also among the Caribs, the word 
 
 ' Humboldt’s Personal Researches, 2 Brett’s Indian Tribes of Guiana, 
 vol. ii. p. 117. p. 417. 
 
 14 
 
298 
 
 USE OP THE FINGERS IN ARITHMETIC. 
 
 for 6 ten/ Chonnoucabo raim, meant literally ‘ the fingers 
 of both hands ; ’ and that for ‘ twenty 5 was Chonnougouci 
 raim, i.e. the fingers and toes . 1 
 
 The Coroados 2 * generally connt only by the joints of the 
 fingers, consequently only to three. Every greater number 
 they express by the word ‘ mony/ 
 
 According to DobritzhofFer c the Guaranies when ques- 
 tioned respecting a thing exceeding four, immediately 
 reply ndipapahabi, or ndipapahai, innumerable . 5 3 So also 
 ‘ the Abipones 4 can only express three numbers in proper 
 words. Initdra , one, Inoaka , two, Inoaka yekaini , three. 
 They make up for the other numbers by various arts; 
 thus, geyenk nate , the fingers of an emu, which, as it has 
 three in front and one turned back, are four, serves to 
 express that number : neenhalek , a beautiful skin spotted 
 with five different colours, is used to signify the number 
 five/ 6 Hanambegem , the fingers of one hand, means five : 
 lanam rihegem , the fingers of both hands, ten ; landm 
 rihegem , cat gracherhaka anamichirihegem , the fingers of 
 both hands and both feet, twenty/ 
 
 Among the Malays and throughout Polynesia the word 
 for five is ima, lima, or rima. In Bali, lima also means a 
 hand ; this is also the case in the Bugis, Mandhar, and 
 Ende languages ; in the Makasar dialect it is liman ; in 
 Sasak it is ima ; in Bima it is rima ; in Sembawa it is 
 limang . 5 
 
 In the Mpongwe language ‘ tyani 5 or c tani 5 is five, 
 6 ntyame 5 is 6 hand/ 6 The Koossa Caffres make little use 
 of numerals. Lichtenstein could never discover that 
 
 1 Tertre’s History of the Caribby 4 Loc. cit. p. 169. 
 
 Islands. 5 Raffles’s History of Java, Appen- 
 
 2 Spix and Martius, Travels in Brazil, dix F. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 255. 6 Grammar of the Mpongwe Lan- 
 
 ? History of the Abipones, vol. ii. p. guage. New York, Snowden andPrall, 
 171. 1847. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE DECIMAL SYSTEM. 299 
 
 tliey had any word for eight, few could reckon beyond ten, 
 and many did not know the names of any numerals. Yet 
 if a single animal was missing out of a herd of several 
 hundred, they observed it immediately . 1 This, however, as 
 Mr. Galton explains, is merely because they miss a face 
 they know. Among the Zulu ‘ talitisupa ’ six, means 
 literally ‘ take the thumb,’ i.c. having used the finger of 
 one hand, take the thumb of the next. ‘ The numbers,’ 
 says Lichtenstein, ‘ are commonly expressed among the 
 Beetjuans by fingers held up, so that the word is rarely 
 spoken ; many are even unacquainted with these numerals 
 and never employ anything but the sign. It therefore 
 occasioned me no small trouble to learn the numerals, 
 and I could by no means arrive at any denomination for 
 the numbers five and nine. Beyond ten even the most 
 learned could not reckon, nor could I make out by what 
 signs they ever designated these higher numbers .’ 2 
 
 Even in our own language the word ‘ five ’ has a simi- 
 lar origin, since it comes from the Greek 7 tsvts, which 
 again is evidently connected with the Persian pendji ; now 
 in Persian ‘pentcha,’ means a hand, as Humboldt has 
 already pointed out . 3 
 
 These examples appear to me very instructive ; we seem 
 as it were to trace up the formation of the numerals ; we 
 perceive the true cause of the decimal system of notation ; 
 and we obtain interesting if melancholy, evidence of the 
 extent to which the faculty of thought lies dormant among 
 the lower races of man. 
 
 1 Lichtenstein, vol. i. p. 280. See 3 Personal Researches, London, 
 
 also App. 1814, vol. ii. p. 116. 
 
 2 Loc. tit. yoI. ii. App. 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 LAWS. 
 
 T HE customs and laws of the lower races, so far as re- 
 ligions and family relations are concerned, have 
 already been discussed. There are, however, some other 
 points of view with reference to which it seems desirable 
 to make some remarks. The progress and development of 
 law is indeed one of the most interesting as well as import- 
 tant sections of human history. It is far less essential, as 
 Goguet 1 truly observes, ‘de savoir le nombre des dynasties 
 et les noms des souverains qui les composoient; mais il 
 est essentiel de conuoitre les loix, les arts, les sciences et 
 les usages d’une nation que toute Pantiquite a regardee 
 comme un modele de sagesse et de vertu. Voilales objets 
 que je me suis proposes, et que je vais traiter avec le plus 
 d’exactitude qu’il me sera possible.’ It is, however, im- 
 possible thoroughly to understand the laws of the most 
 advanced nations, unless we take into consideration those 
 customs of ruder communities from which they took their 
 origin, by which they are so profoundly influenced. 
 
 The subject is, moreover, of peculiar importance to us, 
 forming as we do part of a great and composite empire. 
 
 It is, therefore, very much to be regretted that we are 
 not more thoroughly acquainted with the laws and customs 
 of savage races. At the time Goguet published his cele- 
 
 De l’Origine des Loix, des Arts et des Sciences, vol. i. p. 45. 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 301 
 
 brated work, our knowledge was even more defective than 
 is now the case. 
 
 Still I am surprised that with the evidence which was 
 before him, and especially as he was one of the first to 
 point out that much light is thrown by the condition 
 of modern savages on that of our ancestors in times now 
 long gone by, 1 * he should have regarded the monarchical 
 form of government as the most ancient and most univer- 
 sally established. 2 ( C’est, sans contredit,’ be says, ‘ le plus 
 anciennement et le plus universellement etabli.’ 
 
 A more careful consideration of the evidence afforded by 
 the lower races of man would probably have modified his 
 views on some other points. For instance, 3 he observes that 
 6 il n’est pas difficile de faire sentir par quelles raisons le 
 gouvernement monarchique est le premier dont l’idee a du 
 se presenter. II etoit plus aise aux peuples, lorsqu’ils ont 
 pense a etablir 1’ordre dans la societe, de se rassembler 
 sous un seul chef, que sous plusieurs: la royaute est 
 d’ailleurs une image de Tautorite que les peres avoient 
 originairement sur leurs enfants : ils etoient dans ces 
 premiers terns les chefs et les legislateurs de leur famiHe.’ 
 
 Whereas it has been already shown in the earlier 
 chapters of this work that the family is by no means so 
 perfectly organised among the lowest races. 
 
 1 M. Goguet remarks that some 
 races, being ignorant of the art of 
 ■writing, even now, * pour constater 
 leurs ventes, leurs achats, leurs, em- 
 prunts, etc., emploient certains mor- 
 ceaux de hois entailles diversement. 
 On les coupe en deux : le creancier en 
 garde unemoitie, et le debiteur retient 
 1’ autre. Quand la dette ou la promesse 
 est acquittee, chacun remet le morceau 
 qu’il avoit par devers lui ’ (p. 26). 
 
 This method of keeping accounts is 
 
 not confined to savage races. It was 
 
 practised by the English Government 
 down to the commencement of the 
 present century, and I myself possess 
 such a receipt given by the English 
 Government to the East India Com- 
 pany in the year 1770, and duly pre- 
 served in the India House, until within 
 the last ten years. It represents 
 24,000/., represented by twenty-four 
 equal notches in a rod of wood. 
 
 2 Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 9. 
 
 3 Loc . cit. p. 10. 
 
302 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF THE 
 
 Sir G. Grey, 1 speaking of the Australians, truly says that 
 the 6 laws of this people are unfitted for the government of 
 a single isolated family, some of them being only adapted 
 for the regulation of an assemblage of families ; they could, 
 therefore, not have been a series of rules given by the first 
 father to his children : again, they could not have been 
 rules given by an assembly of the first fathers to their 
 children, for there are these remarkable features about 
 them, that some are of such a nature as to compel those 
 subject to them to remain in a state of barbarism. 5 
 
 Again Goguet 2 states that ‘ les loix du mariage ont mis 
 un frein a une passion qui n 5 en voudroit reconnoitre aucun. 
 Elies ont fait plus : en determinant les degres de consan- 
 guinity qui rendent les alliances illegitimes, elles ont appris 
 aux homines a connoitre et a respecter les droits de la 
 nature. Ce sont ces loix enfin qui, en constatant la condi- 
 tion des enfans, ont assure des citoyens a l’Etat, et donne 
 aux societes une forme fixe et assuree, 5 which is very far from 
 being the case. I have already observed (ante, p. 2) that 
 even Mr. Maine would doubtless have modified in some 
 points the views expressed in his excellent work, 3 if he had 
 paid more attention to the manners, customs, and laws of 
 savages. But, although the progress and development of 
 law belong, for the most part, to a more advanced stage of 
 human society than that which is the subject of this work, 
 still, in one sense, as already mentioned, even the lowest 
 races of savages have laws. Nay, every action of their 
 lives is regulated by numerous rules, none the less strin- 
 gent because unwritten. Thus Mr. Lang, speaking of the 
 Australians, 4 tells us that ‘instead of enjoying perfect 
 persona] freedom, as it would at first appear, they are 
 
 1 Grey’s Australia, vol. ii. p. 222. 4 Aborigines of Australia, p. 7. Eyre, 
 
 2 Loc. cit. p. 20. loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 385. 
 
 * Ancient Law. 
 
LAWS OF SAVAGES. 
 
 303 
 
 governed by a code of rules and a set of customs which 
 form one of the most cruel tyrannies that has ever, perhaps, 
 existed- on the face of the earth, subjecting not only the 
 will, but the property and life of the weak to the dominion 
 of the strong. The whole tendency of the system is to 
 give everything to the strong and old, to the prejudice of 
 the weak and young, and more particularly to the detri- 
 ment of the women. They have rules by which the best 
 food, the best pieces, the best animals, &c., are prohibited 
 to the women and young men, and reserved for the old. 
 The women are generally appropriated to the old and 
 powerful, some of whom possess from four to seven wives ; 
 while wives are altogether denied to young men, unless 
 they have sisters to give in exchange, and are strong and 
 courageous enough to prevent their sisters from being 
 taken without exchange.’ 
 
 This is no peculiar case. No savage is free. All over 
 the world his daily life is regulated by a complicated and 
 apparently most inconvenient set of customs (as forcible as 
 faw T s), of quaint prohibitions and privileges; the prohibi- 
 tions as a general rule applying to the women, and the 
 privileges to the men. 
 
 ‘ To believe,’ says Sir G. Grey, 1 ‘ that man in a savage 
 state is endowed with freedom, either of thought or action, 
 is erroneous in the highest degree.’ 
 
 In Tahiti, 2 ‘ the men were allowed to eat the flesh of the 
 pig, and of fowls, and a variety of fish, cocoa-nuts, and 
 plantains, and whatever -was presented as an offering to 
 the gods, which the females, on pain of death, were for- 
 bidden to touch, as it was supposed they would pollute 
 them. The fires on which the men’s food was cooked, were 
 also sacred, and were forbidden to be used by the females. 
 
 4 Grey’s Australia, y-oL ii. p„ 217. 2 Polynesian Researches, vol. i. p. 222. 
 
304 THE MULTIPLICITY OP LAWS AMONG SAVAGES. 
 
 The baskets in which their provisions were kept, and the 
 house in which the men ate, were also sacred, and pro- 
 hibited to the females under the same cruel penalty ; hence 
 the inferior food, both for wives, daughters, &c., was 
 cooked at separate fires, deposited in distinct baskets, 
 and eaten in lonely solitude by the females, in little huts 
 erected for the purpose/ 
 
 ‘ Nothing , 5 says the Bishop of Wellington, e can be more 
 mistaken than to represent the New Zealanders as a people 
 without law and order. They are, and were, the slaves of 
 law, rule, and precedent . 5 1 
 
 If savages pass unnoticed many actions which we should 
 consider as highly criminal, on the other hand they strictly 
 forbid others which we should consider altogether im- 
 material. 
 
 The natives of Russian America, near the Yukon river, 
 ‘ have certain superstitions with regard to the bones of 
 animals, which they will neither throw on the fire nor to 
 the dogs, but save them in their houses or caches. When 
 they saw us careless in such matters, they said it would 
 prevent them from catching or shooting successfully. 
 Also, they will not throw away their hair or nails just cut 
 short, but save them, hanging them frequently in packages 
 on the trees . 5 
 
 The Mongols 3 think it a fault with a knife to touch the 
 fire, or take flesh out of the pot ; or to cleave wood with a 
 hatchet near the hearth, imagining it takes away the fire’s 
 power. It is no less faulty to lean on a whip, or touch 
 arrows with it ; to kill young birds ; or pour liquor on the 
 ground: to strike a horse with the bridle; or break one bone 
 against another. Mr. Tylor has already pointed out 4 that 
 almost exactly the same prohibitions occur in America. 
 
 1 Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1870, p. 367. 8 Astley’s Coll., vol. iv. p. 548. 
 
 Whymper, Trans. Ethn. Soc.,N.S. 4 Early History of Man, p. 136. 
 
 vol, vii. p. 174. 
 
RULES RELATING TO HUNTING. 305 
 
 Some of these rules are very sensible. Thus Tanner 
 states that the Algonkin Indians, when on a war-path, 
 must not sit upon the naked ground ; but must, at least, 
 have some grass or bushes under them. They must, if 
 possible, avoid wetting their feet ; but if they are com- 
 pelled to wade through a swamp, or to cross a stream, they 
 must keep their clothes dry, and whip their legs with 
 bushes or grass, when they come out of the water.’ 1 Tor 
 others the reason is not so obvious. Thus the small bowls 
 out of which they drink are marked across the middle, 
 in going out they must place one side to their mouth ; in 
 returning, the other. The vessels must also on their 
 return be thrown away, or hung up in a tree. 
 
 Hunting tribes generally have rules, well understood, 
 with reference to game. Thus among the Greenlanders, 
 should a seal escape with a hunter’s javelin in it, and be 
 killed by another man afterwards, it belongs to the former. 
 But if the seal is struck with the harpoon and bladder, and 
 the string breaks, the hunter loses his right. If a man 
 finds a seal dead with a harpoon in it, he keeps the seal 
 but returns the harpoon. In reindeer hunting, if several 
 hunters strike a deer together, it belongs to the one whose 
 arrow is nearest the heart. The arrows are all marked, so 
 that no dispute can arise, but since guns have been intro- 
 duced, many quarrels have taken place. Any man who 
 finds a piece of drift wood (which in the far North is ex- 
 tremely valuable), can appropriate it by placing a stone on 
 it, as a sign that some one has taken possession of it. No 
 other Greenlander will then touch it. 
 
 Again, far from being informal or extemporary, the 
 salutations, ceremonies, treaties, and contracts of savages 
 are characterised by the very opposite qualities. 
 
 Eyre mentions that in Australia ‘ in their intercourse 
 
 1 Tanner’s Narrative, p. 123. 
 
306 
 
 SALUTATIONS AND CEREMONIES. 
 
 with each other, natives of different tribes are exceedingly 
 punctilious. 5 1 
 
 Mariner gives a long account of the elaborate ceremonies 
 practised by the Tongans, and of their regard for rank . 5 * 
 
 Thus the king 3 was by no means of the highest rank. 
 The Tooitonga, Veachi, and several others preceded him. 
 Indeed the name Tooitonga means King of Tonga ; the 
 office, however, was wholly of a religious character : the 
 Tooitonga being regarded as descended from the gods, if 
 not a deity himself. He was so sacred that some words 
 were retained for his exclusive use. 
 
 Below Tooitonga and Yeachi came the priests, while 
 civil society was divided into five ranks, the king, the 
 nobles, the Matabooles, the Mooas, and the Tooas. The 
 child took the rank of the mother among the nobles, but 
 the Matabooles were succeeded by the eldest son. 
 
 It is curious that the use of the third person in token of 
 respect occurs in Tonga, as well as some other countries. 
 
 Thus the King of Tonga addressing the Tooitonga says, 
 
 “ Ho egi Tooitonga , 55 that is, literally, thy Lord Tooi- 
 tonga, in which the possessive pronoun thy, or your, is 
 used instead of my : or, if the word egi be translated lord- 
 ship, or chiefship, the term of address will be more con- 
 sistent and similar to ours, your lordship, your grace, your 
 majesty. The title, ho egi, is never used but in addressing 
 a superior chief, or speaking of a god, or in a public j 
 speech. Ho egi ! also means chiefs, as in the commence- 
 ment of Finow’s speech . 54 
 
 The Egbas, a negro race of West Africa, who are, says 
 Burton , 5 ‘ gifted with uncommon loquacity and spare time, 
 have invented a variety of salutations and counter-saluta- 
 
 1 Discoveries in Australia, vol. ii. 3 Loc. cit K vol. ii. p. 79. 
 
 p. 214. 4 Mariner, vol. ii. p. 142. 
 
 2 Tonga Islands, vol. ii. pp. 185, 199, 5 Burton, Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 113. 
 
 207. 
 
SALUTATIONS AND CEREMONIES. 
 
 307 
 
 lions applicable to every possible occasion. For instance, 
 Oji re, did you wake well ? Akwaro, good morning ! 
 Akuasan, good day ! Akwale, good evening ! Akware, to 
 one tired. Akushe, to one at work. Akurin (from rin, 
 to walk), to a traveller. Akule, to one in the house. 
 Akwatijo, after a long absence. Akwalejo, to a stranger. 
 Akurajo, to one in distress. Akujiko, to one sitting. 
 Akudaro to one standing. Akufa, to one selling. Wolebe 
 (be careful) to one met, and so forth. The servile shash- 
 tanga or postration of the Hindus is also a universal custom. 
 It is performed in different ways ; the most general is, 
 after depositing the burden, and clapping hands once, 
 twice, or thrice, to go on all-fours, touch the ground with 
 the belly and breast, the forehead, and both sides of the 
 face successively ; kiss the earth, half rise up, then pass 
 the left over the right forearm, and vice versa , and finally, 
 after again saluting mother Hertha, to stand erect. The 
 inferior prostrates to the superior, the son to the mother, 
 the younger to the elder brother, and I have been obliged 
 to correct a Moslem boy of the evil practice of assuming a 
 position in which man should address none but his Maker. 
 The performance usually takes place once a day on first 
 meeting, but meetings are so numerous that at least one 
 hour out of the twenty- four must thus be spent by a man 
 about town. Equals kneel, or rather squat, before one- 
 another, and snap the fingers in the peculiarly West 
 African way, which seems to differ in every tribe.’ 
 
 In the religious customs of Tahiti , 1 ‘ however large or 
 costly the sacrifices that had been offered, and however near 
 its close the most protracted ceremony might be, if the 
 priest omitted or misplaced any word in the prayers with 
 which it was always accompanied, or if his attention was 
 diverted by any means, so that the prayer was hai, or broken, 
 
 1 Ellis’ Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. p. 157- 
 
308 
 
 PROPERTY IN LAND. 
 
 the whole was rendered unavailable, he must prepare other 
 victims, and repeat his prayers over from the commence- 
 ment/ 
 
 In Feegee 1 ‘ public business is conducted with tedious 
 formality. Old forms are strictly observed, and innova- 
 tions opposed. An abundance of measured clapping of 
 hands, and subdued exclamations, characterise these 
 occasions. Whales’ teeth and other property are never 
 exchanged or presented without the following or similar 
 form : “ A ! woi ! woi! woi ! A ! woi ! woi ! woi !! A tabua 
 levu ! woi ! woi ! A mudua, mudua, mudua ! ” (clapping)/ 
 But little consideration is required to show that this is quite 
 natural. In the absence of writing, evidence of contracts 
 must depend on the testimony of witnesses, and it is 
 necessary therefore to avoid all haste which might lead to 
 forgetfulness, and to imprint the ceremony as much as 
 possible on the minds of those present. 
 
 Passing on to the question of property, c La premiere loi,’ 
 says Goguet , 2 ‘ qu’on aura etablie, aura ete pour assigner et 
 assurer a chaque habitant une certaine quantite de terrein. 
 Dans les terns ou le labourage n’etoit point encore connu, 
 les terres etoient en commun. H n’y avoit ni bomes ni 
 limites qui en reglassent le partage, chacun prenoit sa 
 subsistance ou il jugeoit a-propos. On abandonnoit, on 
 reprenoit successivement les memes cantons, suivant qu’ils 
 etoient plus ou moins epuises : cette maniere de vivre n’a 
 plus ete praticable quand l’agriculture a ete introduite. II 
 fallut alors distinguer les possessions et prendre les 
 mesures necessaires pour faire jouir chaque citoyen du fruit 
 de ses travaux. II etoit dans l’ordre que celui qui avoit 
 seme du grain fut sur de le recueillir, et ne vit pas les 
 autres profiter des peines et des soins qu’ils s’etoit donnes. 
 
 1 Williams’ Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 28. 2 Loc. cit. 
 
PEOPEETY IK LAND. 
 
 309 
 
 De-la, sont emanees les loix sur la propriety des terres, 
 sur la maniere de les partager et d’en jouir.’ 
 
 The same view has been taken by other writers. It does 
 not, however, appear that property in land implies, or 
 necessarily arose from, agriculture. On the contrary, it 
 exists even in hunting communities. Usually, indeed, 
 during the hunting stage, property in land is tribal, not 
 individual. The North American Indians seem, as a gene- 
 ral rule, to have had no individual property in land. It 
 appears, therefore, at first sight remarkable, that among 
 the Australians , 1 who are in most respects so much lower 
 in the scale, ‘ every male has some portion of land, of which 
 he can always point out the exact boundaries. These 
 properties are subdivided by a father among his sons 
 during his own lifetime, and descend in almost hereditary 
 succession. A man can dispose of or barter his lands to 
 others, but a female never inherits, nor has primogeniture 
 among the sons any peculiar rights or advantages.’ Nay, 
 more than this, there are some tracts of land, peculiarly 
 rich in gum, &c., and over which, at the period when the 
 gum is in season, numerous families have an acknowledged 
 right, although they are not allowed to come there at other 
 times . 2 Even the water of the rivers is claimed as pro- 
 perty by some of the Australian tribes. ‘ Trespass for the 
 purpose of hunting ’ is in Australia regarded as a capital 
 offence, and is, when possible, punished with death . 3 
 
 The explanation seems to be that the Eedskins depended 
 mainly on the larger game, while the Australians fed on 
 opossums, reptiles, insects, roots, &c. The Eedskin, there- 
 fore, if land had been divided into individual allotments, - 
 might have been starved in the vicinity of abundance ; 
 
 1 Eyre, Discoveries in Australia, * Grey’s Australia, vol. ii. p. 298. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 297. See also Lang in 3 Lor, cit. p. 236. 
 
 Grey’s Australia, vol. ii. p. 232. 
 
310 
 
 COMMUNAL PROPERTY. 
 
 while the Australian could generally obtain food on his 
 own property. 
 
 In Polynesia , 1 where cultivation was carefully attended 
 to, as in Tahiti, ‘ every portion of land has its respective 
 owner ; and even the distinct trees on the land had some- 
 times different proprietors, and a tree, and the land it 
 grew on, different owners/ 
 
 Even, however, an agricultural condition does not 
 necessarily require individual property in land; in the 
 Russian { Mirs , 5 or communal villages, moveable property 
 alone was individual ; the land was common . 2 
 
 In other parts of Russia, ‘ after the expiration of a given, 
 but not in all cases of the same, period, separate owner- 
 ships are extinguished, the land of the village is thrown 
 into a mass, and then it is re-distributed among the 
 families composing the community, according to their 
 number. This repartition having been effected, the rights 
 of families and of individuals are again allowed to branch 
 out into various lines, which they continue to follow till 
 another period of division comes round . 5 3 
 
 It is stated to have been a principle of the earliest 
 Sclavonian laws that the property of families could not be 
 divided for a perpetuity. Even now in parts of Servia, 
 Croatia, and Austrian Sclavonia, the entire land is culti- 
 vated by the villagers, and the produce is annually divided. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus states that the Celtiberians divided their 
 land annually among individuals, to be laboured for the 
 use of the public ; and that the product was stored up, and 
 distributed from time to time among the necessitous . 4 
 
 In New Zealand there were three distinct tenures of 
 land : 5 viz., by the tribe, by the family, and by the indi- 
 
 1 Ellis’ Polynesian Researches, vol. 3 Maine’s Ancient Law, p. 267. 
 
 ii. p. 362. Dieffenbach, vol. ii. p. 4 Lord Karnes’ History of Man, vol, 
 114. i. p. 93. 
 
 2 Faucher, in Systems of Land 5 Taylor, New Zealand 'ind its In- 
 
 Tenure, p. 362, et seq. habitants, p. 384. 
 
LAWS OF INHERITANCE. 
 
 311 
 
 vidual. The common rights of a tribe were often very ex- 
 tensive, and complicated by intermarriages. The eel cuts, 
 also, are strictly preserved as private property. Children, 
 as soon as they were born, had a right to a share of the 
 family property. 
 
 It does not, however, necessarily follow that property in 
 land involves the power of sale. ‘We are too apt/ says 
 Campbell , 1 ‘ to forget that property in land, as a transferable 
 mercantile commodity absolutely owned and passing from 
 hand to hand like any chattel, is not an ancient institution, 
 but a modern development, reached only in a few very ad- 
 vanced countries.’ ‘ It may be said,’ he adds , 2 ‘ of all landed 
 tenures in India previous to our rule, that they were prac- 
 tically not transferable by sale; and that only certain 
 classes of the better-defined claims were to some extent 
 transferable by mortgage. The seizure and sale of land 
 for private debt was wholly and utterly unknown, — such an 
 idea had never entered into the native imagination.’ 
 
 Still less does the possession of land necessarily imply 
 the power of testamentary disposition, and we find as a 
 matter of fact that the will is a legal process of very late 
 origin. 
 
 I have already mentioned the state of entire lawlessness 
 which exists in Africa, between the death of one ruler and 
 the election of his successors. 
 
 It is stated that formerly, when a Greenlander died, if 
 he had no grown-up children, his property was regarded 
 as having no longer an owner, and every one took what he 
 chose, or at least what he could get, without the slightest 
 regard to the wretched widow or children . 3 
 . There is, indeed, no more interesting chapter in Mr. 
 Maine’s work than that on the early history of testa- 
 
 1 Systems of Land Tenure, p. 151. 3 Crantz, History of Greenland, vol, 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 171. i. P- 192. 
 
S12 
 
 ABSENCE OF WILLS. 
 
 mentary succession. He points out that the essence of 
 a will, as now understood, is, firstly, that it should take 
 effect at death ; secondly, that it may he preserved secret ; 
 and thirdly, that it is revocable. Yet in Homan law wills 
 acquired these characteristics but slowly and gradually, 
 and in the earlier stages of civilisation wills were entirely 
 unknown. 
 
 In Athens the power of willing was introduced by Solon, 
 only, however, in cases when a person died childless. The 
 barbarians on the north of the Homan Empire were, says 
 Maine, 1 c confessedly strangers to any such conception as 
 that of a Will. The best authorities agree that there is no 
 trace of it in those parts of their written codes which com- 
 prise the customs practised by them in their original seats 
 and in their subsequent settlement on the edge of the 
 Roman, Empire. 5 
 
 And again in studying the ancient German laws, c one 
 result has invariably disclosed itself — that the ancient 
 nucleus of the code contains no trace of a will. 5 2 
 
 The Hindoos also were entire strangers to the will. 3 
 
 It is therefore remarkable in Australia, c a father divides 
 his land during his lifetime, fairly apportioning it amongst 
 his several sons, and at as early an age as fourteen or 
 fifteen they can point out the portion which they are 
 eventually to inherit. If the males of a family become 
 extinct, the male children of the daughters inherit their 
 grandfather’s land. 54 
 
 Again, in Tahiti, the system of willing was (I presume 
 when there were no children), in full force, 5 ‘ not only with 
 reference to land, but to any other kind of property. Un- 
 acquainted with letters, they could not. leave a written 
 
 1 Loc . cit . p. 172. p. 177. 
 
 2 Loc . cit. p. 196. 4 Eyre’s Australia, vol. ii. p. 236. 
 
 3 Maine’s Ancient Law, p. 193. 5 Ellis’ Polynesian Researches, vol 
 
 Campbell in Systems of Land Tenure, ii. p. 362. 
 
ROMAN WILLS. 
 
 313 
 
 will, but during a season of illness, those possessing pro- 
 perty frequently called together the members of the family, 
 or confidential friends, and to them gave directions for the 
 disposal of their effects after their decease. This was 
 considered a kind of sacred charge, and was usually 
 executed with fidelity.’ 
 
 For the modern will, however, we are mainly indebted to 
 the Romans. At first, indeed, even Roman wills, if so 
 they may be called, were neither secret, deferred, nor 
 revocable. • On the contrary, they were made in public, 
 before not less than five witnesses, they took effect at once, 
 and were irrevocable. Hence it is probable that they were 
 only made just before death. 
 
 It seems probable that the power of willing was con- 
 fined to those who had no natural heirs £ such was cer- 
 tainly the case in Athens. So also in Rome, the will 
 does not seem to have been used as a means of disinheriting, 
 or of effecting an unequal distribution of the property. 
 
 Under these circumstances it appears at first sight 
 remarkable that the Romans should have regarded for- 
 feiture of testamentary privileges as one of the greatest 
 misfortunes, and should have regarded as a bitter curse 
 the wish that a man might die intestate. The explanation 
 of this seems to lie in the ideas of family relationship. 
 Children being slaves, and as such incapable of holding 
 property , 1 it would naturally be the wish of the father to 
 emancipate his favourite sons ; but as soon as this was 
 effected they ceased to belong to the family, and could not 
 consequently inherit as heirs at law. On the death of a 
 Roman citizen, in the absence of a will, the property des- 
 cended to the unemancipated children, and after them to 
 the nearest grade of the agnatic kindred. Hence the same 
 feeling which induced a Roman to emancipate his sons, 
 
 1 Maine’s Ancient Law, p. 180. 
 
314 
 
 RIGHTS OP CHILDREN. 
 
 impelled him also to make a will, for if lie did not do so, 
 emancipation involved disinheritance. 
 
 The turning point in the history of the Roman will 
 appears to have been the period at which the presence of 
 the true heir was dispensed with when the will was made. 
 When this was first permitted does not seem to be exactly 
 known, but it was sanctioned in tlie time of Gaius, who 
 lived during the reigns of the Antonines ; at this period 
 also wills had become revocable , 1 and even in the time of 
 Hadrian a testament was rendered invalid when a ‘ post- 
 humus suus 5 arose, i.e. when a child was born after the 
 will was made . 2 
 
 In the absence of wills, the interests of the children were 
 in some cases secured by customs resembling those of the 
 Russian village communities, or ‘ Mirs,’ in which children 
 have a right to their share as soon as they are born. Nor 
 are such rights confined to communal properties. In some 
 countries the children have a vested right to a portion of 
 their father’s estate. Here therefore, in the absence of 
 children, the will is replaced by adoption, the importance 
 attached to which is, as I have already mentioned, one of 
 the reasons for the inaccuracy of thought among the lower 
 races on the subject of relationship. 
 
 Among the Hindoos, ‘the instant a son is born 3 he 
 acquires a vested right in his father’s property, which 
 cannot be sold without recognition of his joint-ownership. 
 On the son’s attaining full age, he can sometimes compel 
 a partition of the estate even against the consent of the 
 parent; and, should the parent acquiesce, one son can 
 always have a partition even against the will of the others. 
 On such partition taking place, the father has no advantage 
 over his children, except that he has two of the shares 
 
 1 Tomkin’s and Lemon’s Commen- 
 
 taries of Gaius, com. 11, sec. cxliv. 
 
 2 loc. cit. com. 11, sec. cxliii. 
 
 3 Maine’s Ancient Law, p, 228. 
 
THE VASU. 
 
 315 
 
 instead of one, dhe ancient law of the German tribes was 
 exceedingly similar. The Allod or domain of the family 
 was the joint property of the father and his sons.’ Ac- 
 cording to ancient German law, also, children were co- 
 proprietors with their father, and the family endowment 
 could not be parted with except by general consent. 
 
 This probably explains the remarkable custom that in 
 Tahiti the king abdicated as soon as a son was born to 
 him ; and landowners under similar circumstances lost the 
 fee-simple of their land, and became mere trustees for the 
 infant possessors . 1 
 
 The Basutos have a strict system of primogeniture, and, 
 even during the father’s life, the eldest son has consider- 
 able power both over the property and the younger 
 children . 2 
 
 The same system, in combination with inheritance 
 through females, is also in full force in Feejee, where it is 
 known as Vasu. The word means a nephew or niece, 
 
 ‘ but becomes a title of office in the case of the male, who, 
 in some localities, has the extraordinary privilege of 
 appropriating whatever he chooses belonging to his uncle, 
 or those under his uncle’s power .’ 3 This is one of the most 
 remarkable parts of Feejee despotism. ‘ However high a 
 chief may be, if he has a nephew he has a master,’ and 
 resistance is rarely thought of. Tliakonauto, while at war 
 with his uncle, actually supplied himself with ammunition 
 from his enemies’ stores. 
 
 Perhaps also the curious custom of naming the father 
 after the child, may have originated from some such regu- 
 lation. Thus in Australia , 4 when a man’s eldest child is 
 named, the father takes 4 the name of the child, Kadlit- 
 
 1 Ellis’ Polynesian Kesearches, vol. 3 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 34. 
 
 ii. pp. 346, 347. 4 Eyre, loc. cit, vol. ii. p. 325. 
 
 2 Casalis’ Basutos, p. 179. 
 
316 THE CUSTOM OF NAMING- PARENTS AFTER CHILDREN 
 
 pinna* the father of Kadli ; the mother is called Kadling- 
 angki* or mother of Kadli* from ngangki* a female or 
 woman . 5 This custom seems very general throughout the 
 continent. 
 
 In America we find the same habit . 1 Thus ‘with the 
 Kutchin the father takes his name from his son or daughter, 
 not the son from the father as with us. The father’s 
 name is formed by the addition of the word tee to the end 
 of the son’s name; for instance* Que-ech-et may have a 
 son and call him Sah-neu. The father is now called Sah- 
 neu-tee* and the former name of Que-ech-et is forgotten.’ 
 
 In Sumatra* ‘ the father * 2 in many parts of the country* 
 particularly in Passum-mah* is distinguished by the name 
 of his first child* as “ Pa-Ladin*” or “ Pa-Eindu,” (Pa for 
 bapa* signifying “the father of”) and loses, in this acquired* 
 his own proper name. This is a singular custom* and 
 surely less conformable to the order of nature than that 
 which names the son after the father. There* it is not usual 
 to give them a galar on their marriage* as with the Eejangs* 
 among whom the filionymic is not so common, though 
 sometimes adopted* and occasionally joined with the 
 galar ; as Eadin-pa-Chirano. The women never change the 
 name given them at the time of their birth ; yet frequently 
 they are called through courtesy, from their eldest child, 
 “ Ma si ano,” the mother of such an one ; but rather as a 
 polite description than a name.’ 
 
 As a general rule property decends to the eldest son* if 
 any* but Duhalde mentions that among the Tartars the 
 youngest son inherited the property* because the elder 
 ones as they reach manhood leave the paternal tent* 
 and take with them the quantity of cattle which their 
 father chooses to give them. A similar custom existed 
 
 1 Smithsonian Report, 1866, p. 2 Marsden’s History of Sumatra, 
 326. p. 286. 
 
 I 
 
THE PUNISHMENT OP CHIME. 
 
 317 
 
 among the Mrus of the Arrawak hills also , 1 and even in 
 some districts of our own country, during ante-Norman 
 times, under the name of Borough English . 2 3 
 
 There are also cases, as for instance among the Hindoos, 
 in which the rule of primogeniture is followed as regards 
 office or power, politically, but not with reference to 
 property. 
 
 Among the lower races of men, the chiefs scarcely take 
 any cognisance of offences, unless they relate to such things 
 as directly concern, or are supposed to concern, the inter- 
 ests of the community generally. As regards private in- 
 juries, every one must protect or avenge himself. The 
 administration of justice, says Hu Tertre,® c among the 
 Caribbians is not exercised by the captain, nor by any 
 magistrate ; but, as it is among the Tapinambous, he who 
 thinks himself injured gets such satisfaction of his adver- 
 sary as he thinks fit, according as his passion dictates to 
 him, or his strength permits him: the public does not 
 concern itself at all in the punishment of criminals, and if 
 any one among them suffers an injury or affront, without 
 endeavouring to revenge himself, he is slighted by all the 
 rest, and accounted a coward, and a person of no esteem.’ 
 
 Among the North American Indians , 4 if a man was mur- 
 dered, £ the family of the deceased only have the right of 
 taking satisfaction ; they collect, consult, and decree. The 
 rulers of a town or of the nation have nothing to do or say 
 in the business.’ Indeed, it would seem that the object of 
 legal regulations was at first not so much to punish the 
 offender, as to restrain and mitigate the vengeance in- 
 flicted by the aggrieved party. 
 
 1 Lewin’s Hill Tracts of Chittagong, 
 p. 194. 
 
 4 Wren Hoskyns in Customs of Land 
 Tenure, p. 104. 
 
 3 History of the Caribby Islands, 
 
 p. 316. Labat also makes a very 
 similar statement. Voyage aux Isles 
 d’Amerique, vol. ii. p. 83. 
 
 4 Trans. Amer. Antiq. Soc. vol. i. 
 p. 2S1. 
 
318 
 
 THE LAWS OF PROPERTY. 
 
 The amount of legal revenge, if I may so call it, is often 
 strictly regulated, even where we should least expect to 
 find such limitations. Thus in Australia , 1 crimes ‘may 
 be compounded for by the criminal appearing and submit- 
 ting himself to the ordeal of having spears thrown at him 
 by all such persons as conceive themselves to have been 
 aggrieved, or by permitting spears to be thrust through 
 certain parts of his body ; such as through the thigh, or 
 the calf of the leg, or under the arm. The part which is 
 to be pierced by a spear, is fixed for all common crimes, 
 and a native who has incurred this penalty sometimes 
 quietly holds out his leg for the injured party to thrust his 
 spear through . 5 So strictly is the amount of punishment 
 limited, that if in inflicting such spear wounds, a man, 
 either through carelessness or from any other cause, ex- 
 ceeded the recognised limits — if, for instance, he wounded 
 the femoral artery — he would in his turn become liable to 
 punishment. 
 
 Such cases as these seem to me to throw great light on 
 the origin of the idea of property. Possession de facto 
 needs of course no explanation. When, however, any rules 
 were laid down regulating the amount or mode of ven- 
 geance which might be taken in revenge for disturbance ; 
 'or when the chief thought it worth while himself to settle 
 disputes about possession, and thus, while increasing his 
 own dignity, to check quarrels which might be injurious 
 to the general interests of the tribe ; the natural effect 
 would be to develop the idea of mere possession into that 
 of property. 
 
 Since, then, crimes were at first regarded merely as per- 
 sonal matters, in which the aggressor and the victim alone 
 were interested, and with which society was not concerned, 
 any crime, even murder, might be atoned for by the pay- 
 1 Sir G. Grey’s Australia, vol. ii. p. 243. 
 
THE LAWS OF PEOPEHTY. 
 
 319 
 
 ment of such, a sum of money as satisfied the representa- 
 tives of the murdered man. This payment was proportioned 
 to the injury done, and had no relation to the crime as a 
 crime. Hence, as the injury was the same whether the 
 death was accidental or designed, so also was the penalty. 
 Hence our word ‘pay/ which comes from the Latin 
 6 pacare/ to appease or pacify. 
 
 The Eomans, on the contrary, based any claim for com- 
 pensation on the existence of a culpa ; ’ and hence laid 
 down that where there had been no ‘culpa/ no action 
 for reparation could lie. This led to very inconvenient 
 consequences. Thus, as Lord Karnes 1 has pointed out, 
 ‘ Labeo scribit, si cum vi ventorum navis impulsa esset 
 in funes anchorarum alterius, et nautse funes prsecidissent ; 
 si, nullo alio modo, nisi prsecisis funibus, explicare se po- 
 tuit, nullam actionem dandam ; ’ b. 29, § 3, ad leg. Aquil. 
 6 Quod dicitur damnum injuria datum Aquilia persequi sic 
 erit accipiendum, ut videatur damnum injuria datum quod 
 cum damno injuriam attulerit ; nisi magna vi cogente, fuerit 
 factum. Ut Celsus scribit circa eum, qui incendii arcendi 
 gratia vicinas sedes intercidit : et sive pervenit ignis, sive 
 antea extinctus est, extimat legis Aquilise actionem cessare.’ 
 b. 49, § 1, eod. In English thus : In the opinion of Labeo, 
 if a ship is driven by the violence of a tempest among the 
 anchor-ropes of another ship and the sailors cut the ropes, 
 having no other means of getting free, there is no action 
 competent. The Aquilian law must be understood to apply 
 only to such damage as carries the idea of an injury along 
 with it, unless such injury has not been wilfully done, but 
 from necessity. ‘ Thus Celsus puts the case of a person 
 who, to stop the progress of a fire, pulls down his neigh- 
 bour’s house ; and whether the fire had reached that house 
 which is pulled down, or was extinguished before it got 
 
 1 History of Man, vol. iv. p. 34. 
 
320 
 
 MANIFEST AND NON-MANIFEST THIEVES. 
 
 to it, in neither case, lie thinks, will an action he com- 
 petent from the Aqnilian law. 5 
 
 It would however appear that, even in Roman law, the 
 opposite and more usual principle originally prevailed. 
 This is indicated, for instance, by the great difference 
 in the penalties imposed by ancient laws on offenders 
 caught in the act, and those only detected after consider- 
 able delay. In the old Roman law, as in that of some 
 other countries, thieves were divided into manifest, and 
 non-manifest. The manifest thief who was caught in the 
 act, or at any rate with the stolen goods still in his pos- 
 session, became, according to the law of the twelve tables, 
 the slave of the person robbed, or if he was already a slave, 
 was put to death. The non-manifest thief, on the other 
 hand, was only liable to return double the value of the 
 goods he had stolen. Subsequently, the very severe 
 punishment in the case of the manifest thief was miti- 
 gated, but he was still forced to pay four times the value 
 of what he had stolen, or twice as much as the non-mani- 
 fest thief. 
 
 The same principle was followed by the North American 
 Indians. 1 Again, in the German and Anglo-Saxon codes, 
 a thief caught in the act might be killed on the spot. 
 Thus the law followed the old principles of private ven- 
 geance, and in settling the amount of punishment, took as 
 a guide the measure of revenge likely to be taken by an 
 aggrieved person under the circumstances of the case. 2 
 
 In the South* Sea Islands, according to Williams, 3 cases 
 of theft were seldom brought before the king or chiefs, 
 but the people avenged their own injuries. The rights of ! 
 retaliation, however, had almost a legal force, for c although 1 
 
 I 
 
 1 Trans. Amer. Antiq. Soc. vol. i. 3 Polynesian Kesearches, yol. ii. pp. 
 
 p. 285. 369, 372. 
 
 2 See Maine, loc . cit. p. 378. 
 
THE WERGILD. 
 
 321 
 
 tlie party thus plundered them, they would not attempt to 
 prevent the seizure : had they done so, the population of 
 the district would have assisted those, who, according to 
 the established custom, were thus punishing the aggressors. 
 Such was the usual method resorted to for punishing the 
 petty thefts committed among themselves. 5 
 
 So also as regards personal injuries. Among the Anglo- 
 Saxons the c wergild, 5 or fine for injuries, was evidently 
 a substitute for personal vengeance. Every part of the 
 body had a recognised value, even the teeth, nails, and 
 hair. Nay, the value assigned to the latter was propor- 
 tionately very high; the loss of the beard being estimated 
 at twenty shillings, while the breaking of a thigh was only 
 fixed at twelve. In other cases also the effect on personal 
 appearance seems to have carried great weight, for the loss 
 of a front tooth was estimated at six shillings, while the 
 fracture of a rib was only fixed at three. In the case of a 
 slave the fine was paid to the owner. 
 
 The amount varied according to the rank of the person 
 injured. All society below the royal family and the Eal- 
 dorman was divided into three classes ; the Tywhind man, 
 or Ceorl, was estimated at 200 shillings according to the 
 laws of Mercia ; the Sixhind man at 600 shillings, while 
 the death of a royal thane was estimated at 1,200 
 shillings. 1 
 
 The severity of early codes, and the uniformity in the 
 amounts of punishment which characterises them, is pro- 
 bably due to the same cause. An individual who felt 
 himself aggrieved would not weigh very philosophically the 
 amount of punishment which he was entitled to inflict ; and 
 no doubt when in any community some chief, in advance of 
 his time, endeavoured to substitute public law for private 
 
 1 Student. Hum. p. 74. Haliam, yoI. i. p. 272. 
 
 15 
 
322 
 
 GENERAL CONCLUSION. 
 
 vengeance, his object would be to induce those who had 
 cause of complaint to apply to the law for redress, rather 
 than to avenge themselves ; which of course would not be 
 the case if the penalty allotted by the law was much 
 less than that which custom would allow them to inflict 
 for themselves. 
 
 Subsequently, when punishment was substituted for 
 pecuniary compensation, the same rule was at first applied, 
 and the distinction of intention was overlooked. Nay, so 
 long had the importance of intention been disregarded, 
 that although it is now recognised in our criminal courts, 
 yet, as Mr. Bain points out , 1 c a moral stigma is still 
 attached to intellectual error by many people, and even by 
 men of cultivation . 5 
 
 In this, as in so many of our other ideas and tastes, we 
 are still influenced by the condition of our ancestors in 
 bygone ages. What that condition was I have in this 
 work attempted to indicate, believing as I do that the j 
 earlier mental stages through which the human race has 
 passed, are illustrated by the condition of existing, or 
 recent, savages. The history of the human race has, I 
 feel satisfied, on the whole been one of progress. I do 
 not of course mean to say that every race is necessarily 
 advancing : on the contrary, most of the lower ones are 
 almost stationary ; and there are, no doubt, cases in which 
 nations have fallen back; but it seems an almost invariable 
 rule that such races are dying out, while those which 
 are stationary in condition, are stationary in numbers 
 also; on the other hand, improving nations increase in 
 numbers, so that they always encroach on less progres- 
 sive races. 
 
 In conclusion then, while I do not mean for a moment to 
 
 1 Mental and Moral Science, p. 718. 
 
GENERAL CONCLUSION. 
 
 323 
 
 deny that there are cases in which nations have retro- 
 graded, I regard these as exceptional instances. The facts 
 and arguments mentioned in this work afford, I think, 
 strong grounds for the following conclusions ; namely, — 
 
 That existing savages are not the descendants of civilised 
 ancestors. 
 
 That the primitive condition of man was one of utter 
 barbarism. 
 
 That from this condition several races have indepen- 
 dently raised themselves. 
 
 These views follow, I think, from strictly scientific con- 
 siderations. We shall not be the less inclined to adopt 
 them, on account of the cheering prospects which they 
 hold out for the future. 
 
 In the closing chapter of 6 Prehistoric Times/ while 
 fully admitting the charms of savage life, I have en- 
 deavoured to point out the immense advantages which we 
 enjoy. Here I will only add that if the past history of 
 man has been one of deterioration, we have but a ground- 
 less expectation of future improvement : on the other hand, 
 if the past has been one of progress, we may fairly hope that 
 the future will be so also ; that the blessings of civilisation 
 will not only be extended to other countries and to other 
 nations, but that even in our own land they will be rendered 
 more general and more equable ; so that we shall not see 
 before us always, as now, countrymen of our own living in 
 our very midst a life worse than that of a savage ; neither 
 enjoying the rough advantages and real, though coarse, 
 pleasures of savage life, nor yet availing themselves of the 
 far higher and more noble opportunities which lie within 
 the reach of civilised Man. 
 
 i 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ON THE PRIMITIVE CONDITION OP MAN. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Being the substance of a Paper read before the British Association 
 
 at Dundee. 
 
 S IDE by side with the different opinions as to the origin of man, 
 there are two opposite views with reference to the primitive con- 
 dition of the first men, or first beings worthy to be so called. Many 
 writers have considered that man was at first a mere savage, and that 
 the course of history has on the whole been a progress towards civili- 
 sation, though at times — and at some times for centuries — some races 
 have been stationary, or even have retrograded. Other authors, of 
 no less eminence, have taken a diametrically opposite view. Accord 
 ing to them, man was, from the commencement, pretty much what 
 he is at present ; if possible, even more ignorant of the arts and 
 sciences than now, but with mental qualities not inferior to our 
 own. Savages they consider to be the degenerate descendants of far 
 superior ancestors. Of the recent supporters of this theory, the late 
 Archbishop of Dublin was amongst the most eminent. 
 
 Dr. Whately enunciates his opinions in the following words : l — 
 
 4 We have no reason to believe that any community ever did, 
 or ever can emerge, unassisted by external helps, from a state of 
 utter barbarism unto anything that can be called civilisation.’ 4 Man 
 has not emerged from the Ravage state ; the progress of any com- 
 munity in civilisation, by its own internal means, must always have 
 begun from a condition removed from that of complete barbarism, 
 out of which it does not appear that men ever 4 did or can raise 
 themselves.’ 
 
 Thus, he adds, 4 the ancient Germans, who cultivated corn — though 
 
 1 Whately. Political Economy, p. 68. 
 
326 
 
 DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING- 
 
 their agriculture was probably in a very rude state — who not only 
 had numerous herds of cattle, but employed the labour of brutes, 
 and even made use of cavalry in their wars, . . . these cannot with 
 propriety be reckoned savages ; or if they are to be so called (for it 
 is not worth while to dispute about a word), then I would admit 
 that, in this sense, men may advance, and in fact have advanced, by 
 their own unassisted efforts, from the savage to the civilised state.’ 
 This limitation of the term 4 savage ’ to the very lowest representatives 
 of the human race no doubt renders Dr. Whately’s theory more 
 tenable by increasing the difficulty of bringing forward conclusive 
 evidence against it. The Archbishop, indeed, expresses himself 
 throughout his argument, as if it would be easy to produce the 
 required evidence in opposition to his theory, supposing that any 
 race of savages ever had raised themselves to a state of civilisation. 
 The manner, however, in which he has treated the case of the Man- 
 dans — a tribe of North American Indians — effectually disposes of 
 this hypothesis. This unfortunate people is described as having 
 been decidedly more civilised than those by which they were 
 surrounded. Having, then, no neighbours more advanced than 
 themselves, they were quoted as furnishing an instance of savages 
 who had civilised themselves without external aid. In answer to 
 this, Archbishop Whately asks,— * 
 
 1 1st. How do we know that these Mandans were of the same race 
 as their neighbours ? ’ 
 
 ‘ 2ndly. How do we know that theirs is not the original level from 
 which the other tribes have fallen ? ’ 
 
 4 3rdly and lastly. Supposing that the Mandans did emerge from 
 the savage state, how do we know that this may not have been 
 through the aid of some strangers coming among them — like the 
 Manco-Capac of Peru- — from some more civilised country, perhaps 
 long before the days of Columbus ? ’ 
 
 Supposing, however, for a moment, and for the sake of argument, 
 that the Mandans, or any other race, were originally savages, and had 
 civilised themselves, it would still be manifestly — from the very 
 nature of the case — impossible to bring forward the kind of evidence 
 demanded by Dr. Whately. No doubt he c may confidently affirm 
 that we find no onp recoi'ded instance of a tribe of savages, properly 
 so styled, rising into a civilised state without instruction and 
 assistance from a people already civilised.’ Starting with the pro- 
 viso that savages, properly so styled, are ignorant of letters, and 
 
CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE. 
 
 327 
 
 laying it down as a condition that no civilised example should be 
 placed before them, the existence of any such record is an impos- 
 sibility : its very presence would destroy its value. In another 
 passage, Archbishop Whately says, indeed, 4 If man generally, or 
 some particular race, be capable of self-civilisation, in either case it 
 may be expected that some record, or tradition, or monument of the 
 actual occurrence of such an event should be found.’ So far from 
 this, the existence of any such record would, according to the very 
 hypothesis itself, be impossible. Traditions are short-lived and 
 untrustworthy. A * monument ’ which could prove the actual 
 occurrence of a race capable of self-civilisation, I confess myself 
 unable to conceive. What kind of a monument would the Arch- 
 bishop accept as proving that the people by whom it was made 
 had been originally savage ? that they had raised themselves, and 
 had never been influenced by strangers of a superior race ? 
 
 But, says Archbishop Whately, 4 We have accounts of various 
 savage tribes, in different parts of the globe, who have been visited 
 from time to time at considerable intervals, but have had no settled 
 intercourse with civilised people, and who appear to continue, as far 
 as can be ascertained, in the same uncultivated condition ; ’ and he 
 adduces one case, that of the New Zealanders, who 6 seem to have 
 been in quite as advanced a state when Tasman discovered the 
 country in 1642, as they were when Cook visited it one hundred 
 and twenty-seven years after.’ We have been accustomed to see 
 around us an improvement so rapid that we forget how short a 
 period a century is in the history of the human race. Even taking 
 the ordinary chronology, it is evident that if in 6,000 years a 
 given race has only progressed from a state of utter savagery to the 
 condition of the Australian, we could not expect to find much change 
 in one more century. Many a fishing village, even on our own 
 coast, is in very nearly the same condition as it was one hundred 
 and twenty-seven years ago. Moreover, I might fairly answer that, 
 according to Whately ’s own definition of a savage state, the New 
 Zealanders would certainly be excluded. They cultivated the 
 ground, they had domestic animals, they constructed elaborate forti- 
 fications and made excellent canoes, and were certainly not in a state 
 of utter barbarism. Or I might argue that a short visit, like that of 
 Tasman, could give little insight into the true condition of a people. 
 I am, however, the less disposed to question the statement made by 
 Archbishop Whately, because the fact that many races are now 
 
328 THE STATIONARY CONDITION OE SAVAGES. 
 
 practically stationary is in reality an argument against the theory of 
 degradation, and not against that of progress. Civilised races are 
 the descendants of races which, I believe, were once in a state of 
 barbarism. On the contrary, argue our opponents, savages are 
 the descendants of civilised races, and have sunk to their present 
 condition. But Archbishop Whately admits that the civilised 
 races are still rising, wdiile the savages are stationary ; and, oddly 
 enough, seems to regard this as an argument in support of the very 
 untenable proposition, that the difference between the two is due, not 
 to the progress of the one set of races — a progress which every one 
 admits — but to the degradation of those whom he himself maintains 
 to be stationary. The delusion is natural, and like that which 
 every one must have sometimes experienced in looking out of a 
 train in motion, when the woods and fields seem to be flying from 
 us, whereas we know that in reality we are moving and they are 
 stationary. 
 
 But it is argued, ‘ If man, when first created, was left, like the 
 brutes, to the unaided exercise of those natural powers of body and 
 mind which are common to the European and to the New Hollander, 
 how comes it that the European is not now in the condition of the 
 New Hollander ?’ The answer to this is, I think, the following: — In 
 the first place, Australia possesses neither cereals nor any animals 
 which can be domesticated with advantage ; and in the second, we 
 find even in the same family — among children of the same parents — 
 the most opposite dispositions ; in the same nation, there are families 
 of high character, and others in which every member is more or less 
 criminal. But in this case, as in the last, the Archbishop’s argument, 
 if good at all, is good against his own view. It is like an Australian 
 boomerang, which recoils upon its owner. The Archbishop believed 
 in the unity of the human race, and argued that man was originally 
 civilised (in a certain sense). 1 How comes it, then,’ I might ask 
 him, 6 that the New Hollander is not now in the condition of the 
 European ? ’ In another passage, Archbishop Whately quotes, with 
 approbation, a passage from President Smith, of the college of New 
 Jersey, who says that man, 1 cast out an orphan of nature, naked 
 and helpless into the savage forest, must have perished before he 
 could have learned how to supply his most immediate and urgent 
 wants. Suppose him to have been created, or to have started into 
 being, one knows not how, in the full strength of his bodily powers ; 
 how long must it have been before he could have known the proper 
 
NO EVIDENCE OF EARLIER CIVILISATION. 
 
 329 
 
 use of his limbs, or how to apply them to climb the tree ! ’ &c. &c. 
 Exactly the same, however, might be said of the gorilla or the 
 chimpanzee, which certainly are not the degraded descendants of 
 civilised ancestors. 
 
 Having thus very briefly considered the arguments brought 
 forward by Archbishop Whately, I will proceed to state, also very 
 briefly, some facts which seem to militate against the view advocated 
 by him. 
 
 Firstly, I will endeavour to show that there are indications of 
 progress even among savages. 
 
 Secondly, That among the most civilised nations there are traces 
 of original barbarism. 
 
 The Archbishop supposes that men were, from the beginning, 
 herdsmen and cultivators. We know, however, that the Australians, 
 North and South Americans, and several other more or less savage 
 races, living in countries eminently suited to our domestic animals, 
 and to the cultivation of cereals, were yet entirely ignorant both of 
 the one and the other. It is, I think, improbable that any race of 
 men who had once been agriculturists and herdsmen should 
 entirely abandon pursuits so easy and advantageous ; and it is still 
 more improbable that, if we accept Usher’s very limited chronology, 
 all tradition of such a change should be lost. Moreover, even if in 
 the course of time the descendants of the present colonists in (say) 
 America or Australia were to fall into such a state of barbarism, still 
 herds of wild cattle, descended from those imported, would probably 
 continue to live in those countries ; and even if these were exter- 
 minated, their skeletons Would testify to their previous existence ; 
 whereas, we know that not a single bone of the ox or of the 
 domestic sheep has been found either in Australia or in America. 
 The same argument applies to the horse, since the fossil horse of 
 South America did not belong to the same species as our domestic race. 
 So, again, in the case of plants. We do not know that any of our 
 cultivated cereals would survive in a wild state, though it is highly 
 probable that, perhaps in a modified form, they would do so. But 
 there are many other plants which follow in the train of man, and 
 by which the botany of South America, Australia, and New Zealand, 
 has been almost as profoundly modified as their ethnology has been 
 by the arrival of the white man. The Maoris have a melancholy 
 proverb, that the Maoris disappear before the white man, just 
 as the white man’s rat destroys the native rat, the European 
 
330 ABSENCE OF POTTEEY AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
 
 fly drives away the Maori fly, and the clover kills the New Zealand 
 fern. 
 
 A very interesting paper on this subject, by Dr. Hooker, whose 
 authority no one will question, is contained in the 4 Natural History 
 Review ’ for 1864 : — ‘ In Australia and New Zealand,’ he says, 4 for 
 instance, the noisy train of English emigration is not more surely 
 doing its work, than the stealthy tide of English weeds, which are 
 creeping over the surface of the waste, cultivated, and virgin soil, 
 in annually increasing numbers of genera, species, and individuals. 
 Apropos of this subject, a correspondent, W. T. Locke Travers, Esq., 
 F.L.S., a most active New Zealand botanist, writing from Canter- 
 bury, says, 44 You would be surprised at the rapid spread of European 
 and foreign plants in this country. All along the sides ot the main 
 lines of road through the plains, a Polygonum {aviculare\ called 
 cow-grass, grows most luxuriantly, the roots sometimes two feet in 
 depth, and the plants spreading over an area from four to five feet in 
 diameter. The dock ( Eumex obtusifolius or E. crispus ) is to be 
 found in every river-bed, extending into the valleys of the mountain- 
 rivers, until these become mere torrents. The sow-thistle is spread 
 all over the country, growing luxuriantly nearly up to 6,000 feet. 
 The watercress increases in our still rivers to such an extent as to 
 threaten to choke them altogether.” ’ The cardoon of the Argentine 
 Republics is another remarkable instance of the same fact. We may 
 therefore safely assume that if Australia, New Zealand, or South 
 America had ever been peopled by a race of herdsmen and agri- 
 culturists, the fauna and flora of those countries would almost 
 inevitably have given evidence of the fact, and differed much from 
 the condition in which they were discovered. We may also assert, 
 as a general proposition, that no weapons or implements of metal 
 have ever been found in any country inhabited by savages wholly 
 ignorant of metallurgy. A still stronger case is afforded by pot- 
 tery. Pottery is very indestructible ; when used at all, it is always 
 abundant, and it possesses two qualities — those, namely, of being 
 easy to break and yet difficult to destroy, which render it very 
 valuable in an archaeological point of view. Moreover it is, in most 
 cases, associated with burials. It is therefore a very significant 
 fact, that no fragment of pottery has ever been found in Australia, 
 New Zealand, or the Polynesian Islands. It seems to me extremely 
 improbable that an art so easy and so useful should ever have been 
 lost by any race of men. Moreover, this argument applies to several 
 
INDICATIONS OP PEOGEESS AMONG SAVAGES. 331 
 
 other arts and instruments. I will mention only two, though 
 several others might be brought forward. The art of spinning and 
 the use of the bow are quite unknown to many races of savages, and 
 yet would hardly be likely to have been abandoned when once 
 known. The absence of architectural remains in these countries is 
 another argument. Archbishop Whately, indeed, claims this as 
 being in his favour ; but the absence of monuments in a country is 
 surely indicative of barbarism, and not of civilisation. 
 
 The mental condition of savages also seems to me to speak 
 strongly against the 4 degrading ’ theory. Not only do the religions 
 of the low races appear to be indigenous, but, as already shown 1 — 
 according to many trustworthy witnesses, merchants, philosophers, 
 naval men, and missionaries alike — there are many races of men 
 who are altogether destitute of a religion. The cases are, perhaps, 
 less numerous than they are asserted to be ; but some of them rest 
 on good evidence. Yet I feel it difficult to believe that any people 
 who once possessed a religion would ever entirely lose it. Religion 
 appeals so strongly to the hopes and fears of men, it takes so deep a 
 hold on most minds, in its higher forms it is so great a consolation 
 in times of sorrow and sickness, that I can hardly think any nation 
 would ever abandon it altogether. Moreover, it produces a race of 
 men who are interested in maintaining its influence and authority. 
 Where, therefore, we find a race which is now ignorant of religion, 
 I cannot but assume that it has always been so. 
 
 I will now proceed to mention a few cases in which some 
 improvement does appear to have taken place, though, as a general 
 rule, it may be observed that the contact of two races tends to 
 depress rather than to raise the lower one. According to Mac- 
 Gillivray, the Australians of port Essington, who, like all their 
 fellow-countrymen, had formerly bark-canoes only, have now com- 
 pletely abandoned them for others hollowed out of the trunk of a 
 tree, which they buy from the Malays. The inhabitants of the 
 Andaman Islands have recently introduced outriggers. The 
 Bachapins, when visited by Burchell, had just commenced working 
 iron. According to Burton, the Wajiji negroes have recently 
 learned to make brass. In Tahiti, when visited by Captain Cook, 
 the largest morai, or burial-place, was that erected for the then 
 reigning queen. The Tahitians, also, had then very recently 
 
 ! Ante , p. 121 ; and Prehistoric Times, 2nd ed. p. 564. 
 
332 SAVAGES NOT INCAPABLE OF CIVILISATION. 
 
 abandoned tbe habit of cannibalism. Sha-gwaw-koo-sink, an 
 Ottawwaw, who lived at the beginning of this century, first intro- 
 duced the cultivation of corn among the Ojibbeways. 1 Moreover, 
 there are certain facts which speak for themselves. Some of the 
 American races cultivated the potato. Now, the potato is an 
 American plant, and we have here, therefore, clear evidence of a 
 step in advance made by these tribes. Again, the Peruvians had 
 domesticated the llama. Those who believe in the diversity of 
 species of men may endeavour to maintain that the Peruvians had 
 domestic llamas from the beginning. Archbishop Whately, however, 
 would not take this line. He would, I am sure, admit that the first 
 settlers in Peru had no llamas, nor, indeed, any other domestic 
 animal, excepting, probably, the dog. The bark-cloth of the 
 Polynesians is another case in point. Another very strong case is 
 the boomerang of the Australians. This weapon is known to no 
 other race of men. 2 We cannot look on it as a relic of primeval 
 civilisation, or it would not now be confined to one race only. The 
 Australians cannot have learnt it from any civilised visitors, for the 
 same reason. It is, therefore, as it seems to me, exactly the case we 
 want, and a clear proof of a step in advance — a small one, in- 
 deed, but still a step made by a people whom Archbishop Whately 
 would certainly admit to be true savages. The Cherokees afford a 
 remarkable instance of progress, and indeed — alone among the North 
 American hunting races — have really become agriculturists. As 
 long ago as 1825, wuth a population of 14,000, they possessed 
 2,923 ploughs, 7,683 horses, 22,500 black cattle, 46,700 pigs, and 
 2,566 sheep. They had 49 mills, 69 blacksmiths’ shops, 762 looms, 
 and 2,486 spinning-wheels. They kept slaves, having captured 
 several hundred negroes in Carolina. Nay, one of them, a man of 
 the name of Sequoyah, invented a system of letters, wdiich, as far as 
 the Cherokee language is concerned, is better than ours. Cherokee 
 contains twelve consonants and five vowels, with a nasal sound 1 ung.’ 
 Multiplying, then, the twelve consonants by the six vowels, and adding 
 the vowels which occur singly, but omitting any sign for ‘mung,’ as 
 that sound does not occur in Cherokee, he acquired seventy-seven cha- 
 racters, to which he added eight — representing the sounds s, ka, hna, 
 nah, ta, te, ti, tla — making, altogether, eighty-five characters. This 
 alphabet, as already mentioned, is superior to ours. The characters 
 are indeed more numerous, but, when once learnt, the pupil can read 
 
 Tanner’s Narrative, p. 180. 
 
 2 With one doubtful exception. 
 
INDIGENOUS ORIGIN OF MEXICAN CIVILISATION. 
 
 333 
 
 at once. It is said that a boy can learn to read Cherokee, when 
 thus expressed, in a few weeks ; while, if ordinary letters were used, 
 two years would be required. Obviously, however, this alphabet is 
 not applicable to other languages. Again, the rude substitutes for 
 writing found among various tribes — the wampum of the North 
 American Indians, the picture-writing and quippu of Central 
 America — must be regarded as of native origin. In the case of 
 the system of letters invented by Mohammed Doalu, a negro of the 
 Yei country, in West Africa, the idea was no doubt borrowed 
 from the missionaries, although it was worked out independently. 
 In other cases, however, I think this cannot be. Take the case 
 of the Mexicans. Even if we suppose that they are descended 
 from a primitively civilised race, and had gradually and com- 
 pletely lost both the use and tradition of letters — to my mind, a 
 most improbable hypothesis — still we must look on their system of 
 picture-writing as being of American origin. Even if a system of 
 writing by letters could ever be altogether lost, which I doubt, it 
 certainly could not be abandoned for that of picture-writing, which 
 is inferior in every point of view. If the Mexicans had owed their 
 civilisation, not to their own gradual improvement, but to the in- 
 fluence of some European visitors, driven by stress of weather or the 
 pursuit of adventure on to their coasts, we should have found in 
 their system of writing, and in other respects, unmistakable proofs 
 of such an influence. Although, therefore, we have no historical 
 proof that the civilisation of America was indigenous, we have in 
 its very character evidence, perhaps more satisfactory, than any his- 
 torical statements would be. The same argument may be derived 
 from the names used for numbers by savages. I feel great diffi- 
 culty in supposing that any race which had learned to count up to 
 ten would ever unlearn a piece of knowledge so easy and yet so useful. 
 Yet, as has been already pointed out, few, perhaps none, of those 
 whom Archbishop Whately, would call savages can count so far. 
 
 In many cases, where the system of numeration is at present some- 
 what more advanced, it bears on it the stamp of native and recent 
 origin. Among civilised nations, the derivations of the numerals 
 have long since been obscured by the gradual modification which 
 time effects in all words — especially those in frequent use, and before 
 the invention of printing. And if the numerals of savages were 
 relics of a former civilisation, the waifs and strays saved out of the 
 general wreck, they would certainly have suffered so much from the 
 
334 PEOGEESS AS INDICATED BY LANGUAGE. 
 
 wear and tear of constant use, that their derivations would be obscured 
 or wholly undiscoverable, instead of which they are often perfectly 
 clear and obvious, especially among races whose arithmetical attain- 
 ments are lowest. These numerals, then, are recent, because they 
 are uncorrupted ; and they are indigenous, because they have an evi- 
 dent meaning in the language of the tribes by whom they are used . 1 
 
 Again, as I have already pointed out , 2 many savage languages 
 are entirely deficient in such words as 4 colour,’ 4 tone,’ 4 tree,’ Ac., 
 having names for each kind of colour, every species of tree, but 
 not for the general idea. I can hardly imagine a nation losing such 
 words, if it had once possessed them. 
 
 Other similar evidence might be extracted from the language of 
 savages ; and arguments of this nature are entitled to more weight 
 than statements of travellers, as to the objects found in use among 
 savages. Suppose, for instance, that an early traveller mentioned 
 the absence of some art or knowledge among a race visited by him* 
 and that later ones found the natives in possession of it. Most people 
 would hesitate to receive this as a clear evidence of progress, and 
 rather be disposed to suspect that later travellers, with perhaps better 
 opportunities, had seen what their predecessors had overlooked. 
 This is no hypothetical case. The early Spanish writers assert that 
 the inhabitants of the Ladrone Islands were ignorant of the use of 
 fire. Later travellers, on the contrary, find them perfectly well 
 acquainted with it. They have, therefore, almost unanimously 
 assumed, not that the natives had made a step in advance, but that 
 the Spaniards had made a mistake ; and I have not brought this case 
 forward in opposition to the assertions of Whately, because I am 
 inclined to be of this opinion myself. I refer to it here, however, as 
 showing how difficult it would be to obtain satisfactory evidence of 
 material progress among savages, even admitting that such exists. 
 The arguments derived from language, however, are liable to no such 
 suspicions, but tell their own tale, and leave us at liberty to draw 
 our conclusions. 
 
 I will now very briefly refer to certain considerations which seem 
 to show that even the most civilised races were once in a state of bar- 
 barism. Not only throughout Europe — not only in Italy and Greece 
 — but even in the so-called cradle of civilisation itself, in Palestine, 
 and Syria, in Egypt, and in India, the traces of a stone age have been 
 
 1 See Chapter VIII. This argument new words are coined from time to time 
 
 would be conclusive were it not that in all languages. 2 Ch. VIII. 
 
TRACES OF BARBARISM IN CIVILISED COUNTRIES. 335 
 
 discovered. It may, indeed, be said that these were only the frag- 
 ments of those stone knives, &c., which we know were used in 
 religious ceremonies long after metal was in generalise for secular 
 purposes. This, indeed, resembles the attempt to "account for the 
 presence of elephants’ bones in England by supposing that they 
 were the remains of elephants which might have been brought over 
 by the Romans. But why were stone knives used by the Egyptian 
 and Jewish priests? evidently because they had been at one time in 
 general use, and there was a feeling of respect which made them 
 reluctant to use the new substance in religious ceremonies. 
 
 There are, moreover, other considerations; for instance, the gradual „ 
 improvement in the relation between the sexes, and the development 
 of correct ideas on the subject of relationship, seem to me strongly 
 to point to the same conclusion. . 
 
 In the publications of the Nova Scotian ‘Institute of Natural 
 Science ’ is an interesting paper, by Mr. Haliburton, on 4 The Unity 
 of the Human Race, proved by the universality of certain super- 
 stitions connected with sneezing.’ 4 Once establish,’ he says, 4 that 
 a large number of arbitrary customs — such as could not have 
 naturally suggested themselves to all men at all times — are uni- 
 versally observed, and we arrive at the conclusion that they are 
 primitive customs which have been inherited from a common source, 
 and, if inherited, that they owe their origin to an era anterior to the 
 dispersion of the human race.’ To justify such a conclusion, the 
 custom must be demonstrably arbitrary. The belief that two and 
 two make four, the decimal system of numeration, and similar co- 
 incidences of course prove nothing ; but I very much doubt the ex- 
 istence of any universal, or even general, custom of a clearly arbitrary 
 character. The fact is, that many things appear to us arbitrary and 
 strange because we live in a condition so different from that in which 
 they originated . Many things seem natural to a savage which to ns 
 appear absurd and unaccountable. 
 
 Mr. Haliburton brings forward, as his strongest case, the habit of 
 saying 4 God bless you !’ or some equivalent expression, when a 
 person sneezes. He shows that this custom, which, I admit, appears 
 to us at first sight both odd and arbitrary, is ancient and widely ex- 
 tended. It is mentioned by Homer, Aristotle, Apuleius, Pliny, and 
 the Jewish rabbis, and has been observed in Koordistan, in Florida, 
 in Otaheite, and in the Tonga Islands. It is not arbitrary, however, 
 and it does not, therefore, come under his rule. 
 
 A belief in invisible beings is very general among savages ; and 
 
336 
 
 ARBITRARY CUSTOMS. 
 
 while they think it unnecessary to account for blessings, they 
 attribute any misfortune to the ill-will of these mysterious beings. 
 Many savages regard disease as a case of possession. In cases of 
 illness, they do not suppose that the organs are themselves affected, 
 but that they are being devoured by a god ; hence their medicine- 
 men do not try to cure the disease, but to extract the demon. Some 
 tribes have a distinct deity for every ailment. The Australians do 
 not believe in natural death. When a man dies, they take it 
 for granted that he has been destroyed by witchcraft, and the 
 only doubt is, who is the culprit ? Now, a people in this state 
 of mind — and we know that almost every race of men is passing, 
 or has passed, through this stage of development — seeing a man 
 sneeze, would naturally, and almost inevitably, suppose that he 
 was attacked and shaken by some invisible being ; equally natural 
 is the impulse to appeal for aid to some other invisible being more 
 powerful than the first. 
 
 Mr. Haliburton admits that a sneeze is 1 an omen of impending 
 evil ; ’ but it is more — it is evidence, which to the savage mind would 
 seem conclusive, that the sneezer was possessed by some evil-dis- 
 posed spirit ; evidently, therefore, this case, on which Mr. Haliburton 
 so much relies, is by no means an 1 arbitrary custom,’ and does not, 
 therefore, fulfil the conditions which he himself laid down. He has 
 incidentally brought forward some other instances, most of which 
 labour under the disadvantage of proving too much. Thus, he 
 instances the existence of a festival in honour of the dead, 1 at or near 
 the beginning of November.’ Such a feast is very general ; and as 
 there are many more races holding such a festival than there are 
 months in the year, it is evident that, in several cases, they must be 
 held together. But Mr. Haliburton goes on to say : 1 The Spaniards 
 were very naturally surprised at finding that, while they were cele- 
 brating a solemn mass for All Souls, on November 22, the 
 heathen Peruvians were also holding their annual commemoration of 
 the dead.’ This curious coincidence would, however, not only prove 
 the existence of such a festival, as he says, 1 before the dispersion ’ 
 (which Mr. Haliburton evidently looks on as a definite event rather 
 than as a gradual process), but also the ancestors of the Peruvians 
 were at that epoch sufficiently advanced to form a calendar, and 
 that their descendants were able to keep it unchanged down to 
 the present time. This, however, we know was not the case. Again 
 Mr. Haliburton says : 1 The belief in Scotland and equatorial 
 
UNITY OF THE HUMAN FACE. 
 
 337 
 
 Africa is found to be almost precisely identical respecting there 
 being ghosts, even of the living, who are exceedingly troublesome 
 and pugnacious, and can be sometimes killed by a silver bullet.’ 
 Here we certainly have what seems at first sight to be an arbitrary 
 belief ; but if it proves that there was a belief in ghosts of the living 
 before the dispersion, it also proves that silver bullets were then in 
 use. This illustration is, I think, a very interesting one ; because 
 it shows that similar ideas in distant countries owe their origin, not 
 1 to an era before the dispersion of the human race,’ but to the fun- 
 damental similarity of the human mind. While I do not believe that 
 similar customs in different nations are 1 inherited from a common 
 source,’ or are necessarily primitive, I certainly do see in them an 
 argument for the unity of the human race, which, however (be it 
 remarked), is not necessarily the same thing as the descent from a 
 single pair. 
 
 On the other hand, I have attempted to show that ideas, which 
 might at first sight appear arbitrary and unaccountable, arise naturally 
 in very distinct nations as they arrive at a similar stage. of progress ; 
 and it is necessary, therefore, to be extremely cautious in using such 
 customs or ideas as implying any special connection between different 
 races of men. 
 
 PART II. 1 
 
 At the Dundee Meeting of the British Association, I had the 
 honour of reading a Paper ‘ On the Origin of Civilisation and the 
 Primitive Condition of Man,’ in answer to certain opinions and argu- 
 ments brought forward by the late Archbishop of Dublin. The 
 views therein advocated met with little opposition at the time. The 
 then Presidents of the Ethnological and Anthropological Societies 
 both expressed their concurrence in the conclusions to which I 
 arrived ; and the Memoir was printed in extenso by the Association. 
 It has, however, subsequently been attacked at some length by the 
 Duke of Argyll ; 2 and as the Duke has in some cases strangely 
 
 1 The substance of this was read 2 Good Word£ : March, April, May, 
 
 before the British Association, during and June, 1868. Also since repub- 
 their meeting at Exeter in 1869. lished in a separate form. 
 
333 MENTAL DIFFERENCES IN DIFFERENT RACES. 
 
 misunderstood me, and in others (I am sure unintentionally) misrepre- 
 sented my views — as, moreover, the subject is one of great interest 
 and importance — I am anxious to make some remarks in reply to 
 his Grace’s criticisms. The Duke has divided his work into four 
 chapters : — I. Introduction ; II. The Origin of Man ; III. and IY. 
 His Primitive Condition. 
 
 I did not in my first Memoir, nor do I now propose to, discuss 
 the subjects dealt with in the first half of the Duke’s 1 Speculations.’ 
 I will only observe that in attacking Prof. Huxley for proposing to 
 unite the Bimana and Quadrumana in one Order, 1 Primates,’ the 
 Duke uses a dangerous argument ; for if, on account of his great 
 mental superiority over the Quadrumana, Man forms an Order or even 
 Class by himself, it will be impossible any longer to regard all men 
 as belonging to one species or even genus. The Duke is in error 
 when he supposes that 1 mental powers and instincts ’ afford tests of 
 easy application in other parts of the animal kingdom. On the con- 
 trary, genera with the most different mental powers and instincts 
 are placed, not only in the same Order, but even in the same family. 
 Thus our most learned hymenopterologist (Mr. Frederick Smith) 
 classes the Hive-bee, the Humble-bee, and the parasitic Apathus, in 
 the same subfamily of Adidas. It seems to me, therefore, illogical to 
 separate man zoologically from the other primates on the ground of 
 his mental superiority, and yet to maintain the specific unity of the 
 human race, notwithstanding the mental differences between different 
 races of men. 
 
 I do not, however, propose to discuss the origin of man, and pass 
 on therefore at once to the Duke’s third chapter ; and here I congra- 
 tulate myself at the outset that the result of my paper has been to 
 satisfy him that 1 Whately’s argument , 1 though strong at some points, 
 is at others open to assault, and that, as a whole, the subject now 
 requires to be differently handled, and regarded from a different 
 point of view.’ L I do not, therefore,’ he adds in a subsequent page , 2 
 ‘ agree with the late Archbishop of Dublin, that we are entitled to 
 assume it as a fact that, as regards the mechanical arts, no savage 
 race has ever raised itself.’ And again: 3 ‘The aid which man had 
 from his Creator may possibly have been nothing more than the aid 
 of a body and of a mind, so marvellously endowed, that thought was 
 an instinct, and contrivance a necessity.’ 
 
 1 Good Words, 1868, p. 156. 
 
 * Ibid. June, p. 386. 
 
 * P. 3J?2. 
 
THE WEAPONS OP MONKEYS. 
 
 339 
 
 I feel, however, less satisfaction on this account than would other- 
 wise have been the case, because it seems to me that, though the 
 Duke acknowledges the Archbishop’s argument to be untenable, 
 he practically reproduces it with but a slight alteration and some- 
 what protected by obscurity. What Whately called 4 instruction ’ 
 the Duke terms 4 instinct and he considers that man had instincts 
 which afforded all that was necessary as a starting ground. He 
 admits, however, that monkeys use stones to break nuts; he might 
 have added that they throw sticks at intruders. But he says, 
 4 between these rudiments of intellectual perception and the next 
 step (that of adapting and fashioning an instrument for a particular 
 purpose) there is a gulf in which lies the whole immeasurable dis- 
 tance between man and brutes.’ I cannot agree with the Duke in 
 this opinion, nor indeed does he agree with himself, for he adds, 
 in the very same page, that — 4 The wielding of a stick is, in all 
 probability, an act equally of primitive intuition, and from this to 
 throwing of a stick, and the use of javelins, is an easy and natural 
 transition.’ 
 
 He continues as follows : — 4 Simple as these acts are, they involve 
 both physical and mental powers which are capable of all the 
 developments which we see in the most advanced industrial arts. 
 These acts involve the instinctive idea of the constancy of natural 
 causes and the capacity of thought, which gives men the conviction 
 that what has happened under given conditions will, under the same 
 conditions, always occur again.’ On these, he says, 4 as well as on 
 other grounds, I have never attached much importance to Whately’s 
 argument.’ These are indeed important admissions, and amount to 
 a virtual abandonment of Whately’s argument. 
 
 The Duke blames the Archbishop of Dublin for not having 
 defined the terms 4 civilisation ’ and 4 barbarism.’ It seems to me 
 that Whately illustrated his meaning better by examples than he 
 could have done by any definition. The Duke does not seem to have 
 felt any practical difficulty from the omission ; and it is remark- 
 able that, after all, he himself omits to define the terms, thus being 
 himself guilty of the very omission for which he blames Whately. In 
 truth, it would be impossible in a few words to define the complex 
 organisation which we call civilisation, or to state in a few words 
 how a civilised differs from a barbarous people. Indeed, to define 
 civilisation as it should be, is surely as yet impossible, since 
 we are far indeed from having solved the problem how we may 
 
340 
 
 TRUE NATURE OF BARBARISM. 
 
 best avail ourselves of our opportunities, and enjoy the beautiful 
 world in which we live. 
 
 As regards barbarism, the Duke observes, 4 All T desire to point 
 out here is, that there is no necessary connection between a state of 
 mere childhood in respect to knowledge and a state of utter bar- 
 barism, words which, if they have any definite meaning at all, imply 
 the lowest moral as well as the lowest intellectual condition.’ To 
 every proposition in this remarkable sentence I entirely demur. 
 There is, I think, a very intimate connection between knowledge and 
 civilisation. Knowledge and barbarism cannot coexist — knowledge 
 and civilisation are inseparable. 
 
 Again, the words i utter barbarism ’ have certainly a very de- 
 finite signification, but as certainly, I think, not that which the Duke 
 attributes to them. The lowest moral and the lowest intellectual 
 condition are not only, in my opinion, not inseparable, they are not 
 even compatible. Morality implies responsibility, and consequently 
 intelligence. The lower animals are neither moral nor immoral. The 
 lower races of men may be, and are, vicious; but allowances must 
 be made for them. On the contrary ( corruptio optimi , pessima est) % 
 the higher the mental power, the more splendid the intellectual en- 
 dowment, the deeper is the moral degradation of him who wastes the 
 one and abuses the other. 
 
 On the whole, the fair inference seems to be that savages are more 
 innocent, and yet more criminal, than civilised races ; they are by 
 no means in the lowest possible moral condition, nor are they capa- 
 ble of the higher virtues. 
 
 In the first part of this paper I laid much stress on the fact that even 
 in the most civilised nations we find traces of early barbarism. The 
 Duke maintains, on the contrary, that these traces afford no proof, or 
 even presumption, that barbarism was the primeval condition of 
 man. He urges that all such customs may have been not primeval, 
 but medieval; and he continues: 1 Yet this assumption runs 
 through all Sir J. Lubbock’s arguments. Wherever a brutal or 
 savage custom prevails, it is regarded as a sample of the original 
 condition of mankind. And this in the teeth of facts which prove 
 that many of such customs, not only may have been, but must have 
 been, the result of corruption.’ 
 
 Fortunately, it is unnecessary for me to defend myself against this 
 criticism, because in the very next sentence the Duke directly con- 
 tradicts himself, and shows that I have not done that of which he 
 
SEQUENCE OF CUSTOMS. 
 
 341 
 
 accuses me. He continues his argument thus : — ‘Take cannibalism 
 as one of these. Sir J. Lubbock seems to admit that this loathsome 
 practice was not primeval.’ Thus, by way of proof that I regard all 
 brutal customs as primeval, he states, and correctly states, that I do 
 not regard cannibalism as primeval. It would be difficult, I think, 
 to find a more curious case of self-contradiction. 
 
 The Duke refers particularly to the practice of Bride-catching, 
 which he states ‘ cannot possibly have been primeval.’ He omits, 
 however, to explain why not ; and of course, assuming the word 
 ‘ primeval ’ to cover a period of some length, I am of opinion, 
 in opposition to his Grace, that capture was the early form of 
 marriage in our sense of the term. As the Duke correctly ob- 
 serves, I laid some stress on this custom, and am sorry that his 
 Grace here meets me with a mere contradiction, instead of an argu- 
 ment. It may perhaps, however, be as well to state emphatically 
 that all brutal customs are not, in my opinion, primeval. Human 
 sacrifices, for instance, were, I think, certainly not so. 
 
 My argument, however, was that there is a definite sequence of 
 habits and ideas; that certain customs (some brutal, others not so), 
 which we find lingering on in civilised communities, are a page of 
 past history, and tell a tale of former barbarism, rather on account 
 of their simplicity than of their brutality, though many of them are 
 brutal enough. Again, no one would go back from letter- writing 
 to the use of the quippu or hieroglyphics ; no one would abandon 
 the fire-drill and obtain fire by hand-friction. 
 
 Believing, as he does, that the primitive condition of man was one 
 of civilisation, the Duke accounts for the existence of savages by 
 the remark that they are ‘ mere outcasts of the human race,’ descen- 
 dants of weak tribes which were ‘ driven to the woods and rocks.’ 
 But until the historical period these ‘ mere outcasts ’ occupied almost 
 the whole of North and South America, all Northern Europe, the 
 greater part of Africa, the great continent of Australia, a large part 
 of Asia, and the beautiful islands of the Pacific. Moreover, until 
 modified by man the great continents were either in the condition of 
 open plains, such as heaths, downs, prairies, and tundras, or they 
 were mere ‘ woods and rocks.’ Now everything tends to show that 
 mere woods and rocks exercised on the whole a favourable influence. 
 Inhabitants of great plains rarely rose beyond the pastoral stage. In 
 America the most advanced civilisation was attained, not by the 
 occupants of the fertile valleys, not along the banks of the Miss's- 
 
342 
 
 THE DIFFUSION OF MANKIND. 
 
 sippi or the Amazon, but among the rocks and woods of Mexico and 
 Peru. Scotland itself is a brilliant proof that woods and rocks are 
 compatible with a high state of civilisation. 
 
 My idea of the manner in which, and the causes owing to which, 
 man spread over the earth, is very different from that of the Duke. 
 He evidently supposes that new countries have been occupied by 
 weaker races, driven there by more powerful tribes. This I believe 
 to be an entirely erroneous notion. Take for instance our own 
 island. We are sometimes told that the Celts were driven by the 
 Saxons into Wales and Cornwall. On the contrary, however, we 
 know that Wales and Cornwall were both occupied long before the 
 Saxons landed on our shores. Even as regards the rest of the 
 country, it would not be correct to say that the Celts were driven 
 away ; they were either destroyed or absorbed. 
 
 The gradual extension of the human race has not in my opinion 
 been effected by force acting on any given race from without, but by 
 internal necessity, and the pressure of population ; by peaceful, not 
 by hostile force ; by prosperity, not by misfortune. I believe that 
 of old, as now, founders of new colonies were men of energy and 
 enterprise ; animated by hope and courage, not by fear and despair ; 
 that they were, in short, anything but mere outcasts of the human 
 race. 
 
 The Duke relies a good deal on the case of America. ‘ Is it not 
 true,’ he asks, 4 that the lowest and rudest tribes in the population of 
 the globe have been found at the furthest extremities of its great 
 continents, and in the distant islands which would be the last refuge 
 of the victims of violence and misfortune ? “ The New World” is 
 
 the continent which presents the most uninterrupted stretch of habi- 
 table land from the highest northern to the lowest southern latitude. 
 On the extreme north we have the Esquimaux, or Inuit race, main- 
 taining human life under conditions of extremest hardship, even 
 amid the perpetual ice of the Polar Seas. And what a life it is ! 
 Watching at the blow-hole of a seal for many hours, in a tempera- 
 ture of 75° below freezing point, is the constant work of the Inuit 
 hunter. And when at last his prey is struck, it is his luxury to feast 
 upon the raw blood and blubber. To civilised man it is hardly 
 possible to conceive a life so wretched, and in many respects so 
 brutal as the life led by this race during the long lasting night of 
 the arctic winter.’ 
 
 To this question, I confidently reply, No, it is not true ; it is not 
 true as a general proposition that the lowest race^ are found furthest 
 
THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL CONDITIONS. 343 
 
 from the centres of continents ; it is not true in the particular case 
 of America. The natives of Brazil, possessing a country of almost 
 unrivalled fertility, surrounded by the most luxuriant vegetation, 
 watered by magnificent rivers, and abounding in animal life, were 
 yet unquestionably lower than the Esquimaux , 1 whom the Duke 
 pities and despises so much . 2 More, indeed, I think than the case 
 requires. Our own sportsmen willingly undergo great hardships in 
 pursuit of game ; and hunting in reality possesses a keen zest which 
 it can never attain when it is a mere sport. 
 
 ‘ When we rise,’ says Mr. Hill , 3 4 twice or thrice a day from a full 
 meal, we cannot be in a right frame either of body or mind for the 
 proper enjoyments of the chase. Our sluggish spirits then want 
 the true incentive to action, which should be hunger, v^ith the hope 
 before us of filling a craving stomach. I could remember once 
 before being for a long time dependent upon the gun for food, and 
 feeling a touch of the charm of a savage life (for every condition 
 of humanity has its good as well as its evil), but never till now did 
 I fully comprehend the attachment of the sensitive, not drowsy 
 Indian.’ 
 
 Esquimaux life, indeed, as painted by gur Arctic voyagers, is by 
 no means so miserable as the Duke supposes. Capt. Parry, for 
 instance, gives the following picture of an Esquimaux hut. 4 In the 
 few opportunities we had in putting their hospitality to the test we 
 had every reason to be pleased with them* Both as to food and 
 accommodation, the best they had were always at our service ; and 
 their attention both in kind and degree, was everything that hospi- 
 tality and even good breeding could dictate. The kindly offices of 
 drying and mending our clothes, cooking our provisions and thawing 
 snow for our drink, were performed by the women with an obliging 
 cheerfulness which we shall not easily forget, and which demanded 
 its due share of our admiration and esteem. While thus their guest 
 I have passed an evening not only with comfort, but with extreme 
 gratification ; for with the women working and singing, their 
 husbands quietly mending their lines, the children playing before the 
 door, and the pot boiling over the blaze of a cheerful lamp, one might 
 
 1 See Martius, p. 77. Dr. Rae ranks life is possible on the borders of a 
 
 the Esquimaux above the Red Indians, frozen sea/ he forgot for the moment 
 Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1866. the inhabitants of Lapland and of 
 
 2 When the Duke states that Siberia. 
 
 ‘neither an agricultural nor pastoral 3 Travels in Siberia, vol. ii. p. 288. 
 
344 
 
 THE ESQUIMAUX. 
 
 well forget for the time that an Esquimaux hut was the scene of this 
 domestic comfort and tranquillity ; and I can safely affirm with Cart- 
 wright that, while thus lodged beneath their roof, I know no people 
 whom I would more confidently trust, as respects either my person 
 or my property, than the Esquimaux.’ Dr. Kae , 1 who had ample 
 means of judging, tells us that the Eastern Esquimaux ‘are sober, 
 steady, and faithful. .... Provident of their own property and 
 
 careful of that of others when under their charge Socially 
 
 they are a lively, cheerful, and chatty people, fond of associating with 
 each other and with strangers, with whom they soon become on 
 
 friendly terms, if kindly treated In their domestic relations 
 
 they are exemplary. The man is an obedient son, a good husband, 
 
 and a kind father The children when young are docile. . . 
 
 The girls have their dolls, in making dresses and shoes for which 
 they amuse and employ themselves. The boys have miniature 
 
 bows, arrows, and spears When grown up they are dutiful 
 
 to their parents Orphan children are readily adopted and 
 
 well cared for until they are able to provide for themselves.’ He 
 concludes by saying, ‘ the more I saw of the Esquimaux the higher 
 was the opinion I formed of them.’ 
 
 Again, Hooper 2 thus describes a visit to an Asiatic Esquimaux 
 belonging to the Tuski race : ‘ Upon reaching Mooldooyah’s habita- 
 tion, we found Captain Moore installed at his ease, with every pro- 
 vision made for comfort and convenience. Water and venison were 
 suspended over the lamps in preparation for dinner ; skins nicely 
 arranged for couches, and the hangings raised to admit the cool air ; 
 our baggage was bestowed around us with care and in quiet, and we 
 were free to take our own way of enjoying such unobtrusive hospi- 
 tality without a crowd of eager gazers watching us like lions at 
 feed ; nor were we troubled by importunate begging such as de- 
 tracted from the dignity of Metra’s station, which was undoubtedly 
 high in the tribe.’ 
 
 I know no sufficient reason for supposing that the Esquimaux were 
 ever more advanced than they are now. The Duke indeed considers 
 that before they were ‘ driven by wars and migrations * (a somewhat 
 curious expression) they ‘ may have been nomads living on their 
 docks and herds ; ’ and he states broadly that ‘ the rigours of the 
 region they now inhabit have reduced this people to the condition in 
 
 1 Trans. Eth. Soc. 1866, p. 138. 
 
 2 The Tents of the Tuski, p. 102. 
 
ORIGINAL AND UNIVERSAL BARBARISM. 345 
 
 which we now see them a conclusion for which I know no reason, 
 particularly as the Tinne and other Indians living to the south of the 
 Esquimaux are ruder and more barbarous. 
 
 It is my belief that the great continents were already occupied by a 
 widespread, though sparse population, when man was no more ad- 
 vanced than the lowest savages of to-day ; and although I am far from 
 believing that the various degrees of civilisation which now occur 
 can be altogether accounted fori by the external circumstances as 
 they afi present exist, still these circumstances seem to me to throw 
 much light on the very different amount of progress which has been 
 attained by different races. 
 
 In referring to the backwardness of the aboriginal Australians, I 
 had observed that New Holland contained 1 neither cereals nor any 
 animals which could be domesticated with advantage,’ upon which 
 the Duke remarks that ‘ Sir John Lubbock urges in reply to 
 Whately that the low condition of Australian savages affords no 
 proof whatever that they could not raise themselves, because the 
 materials of improvement are wanting in that country which affords 
 no cereals, nor animals capable of useful domestication. But Sir J. 
 Lubbpck does pot perceive that the same argument which shows 
 how improvement could not possibly be attained, shows also how 
 degradation could not possibly be avoided. If with the few re- 
 sources of the country it was impossible for savages to rise, it 
 follows that with those same resources it would be impossible for 
 a half-civilised race not to fall. And as in this case again, unless 
 we are to suppose a separate Adam and Eve for Vah Diemen’s Land, 
 its natives must originally have come from countries where both corn 
 and cattle were to be had, it follows that the low condition of these 
 natives is much more likely to have been the result of degradation 
 than of primeval barbarism.’ 
 
 But my argument was that a half-civilised race would have 
 brought other resources with them. The dog was, I think, certainly 
 introduced into that country by man, who would have brought with 
 him other animals also if he had possessed any. The same argument 
 applies to plants ; the Polynesians carried the sweet potato and the 
 yam, as well as the dog, with them from island to island; and 
 even if the first settlers in Australia happened to have been with- 
 out them, and without the means of acquiring them, they would 
 certainly have found some native plants which would have been 
 
 16 
 
346 SUPPOSED INEVITABILITY OF DEGRADATION. 
 
 worth the trouble of cultivation, if they had attained to the agricul- 
 tural stage. 
 
 This argument applies with even more force to pottery ; if the 
 first settlers in Australia were acquainted with this art, I can see no 
 reason why they should suddenly and completely have lost it. 
 
 The Duke, indeed, appears to maintain that though the natives of 
 Van Diemen’s Land (whom he evidently regards as belonging to the 
 same race as the Australians and Polynesians, from both of which 
 they are entirely distinct) 1 must originally have come from countries 
 where both com and cattle were to be had,* still 1 degradation could 
 not possibly be avoided.’ This seems to be the natural inference 
 from the Duke’s language, and suggests a very gloomy feature for 
 our Australian fellow-countrymen. The position is, however, so 
 manifestly untenable, when once put into plain language, that I 
 think it unnecessary to dwell longer on this part of the subject. 
 Even the Duke himself will hardly maintain that our colonists must 
 fall back because the natives did not improve. Yet he extends and 
 generalises this argument in a subsequent paragraph, saying, 1 there 
 is hardly a single fact quoted by Sir J. Lubbock in favour of his own 
 theory, which when viewed in connection with the same indisputable 
 principles, does not tell against that theory rather than in its favour.’ 
 So far from being ‘ indisputable,’ the principle that when savages 
 remained savages, civilised settlers must descend to the same level, 
 appears to me entirely erroneous. On reading the above passage, 
 however, I passed on with much interest to see which of my facts I 
 had so strangely misread. 
 
 The great majority of facts connected with savage life have no 
 perceptible bearing on the question, and I must therefore have been 
 not only very stupid, but also singularly unfortunate, if of all those 
 quoted by me in support of my argument there was 1 hardly a single 
 one,’ which read aright was not merely irrelevant, but actually told 
 against me. In support of his statement the Duke gives three illus- 
 trations, but it is remarkable that not one of these three cases was 
 referred to by me in the present discussion, or in favour of my 
 theory. If all the facts on which I relied told against me, it is 
 curious that the Duke should not give an instance. The three illus- 
 trations which he quotes from my 1 Prehistoric Times ’ seem to me 
 irrelevant, but as the Duke thinks otherwise, and many may agree 
 with him, it will be worth while to see how he uses them, and 
 
SURVIVAL OF CUSTOMS. 
 
 347 
 
 to enquire whether they give any real support to his argument. As 
 already mentioned, they are three in number. 
 
 1 Sir J. Lubbock,’ he says, 1 reminds us that in a cave on the north- 
 west coast (of Australia), tolerable figures of sharks, porpoises, turtles, 
 lizards, canoes, and some quadrupeds, &c. were found, and yet that the 
 present natives of the country where they were found were utterly 
 incapable of realising the most artistic vivid representations, and 
 ascribe the drawings in the cave to diabolical agency.’ This does 
 not prove much, because the Australian tribes differ much in their 
 artistic condition ; some of them still make rude drawings like those 
 above described. 
 
 Secondly, he says, 1 Sir J. Lubbock quotes the testimony of Cook, 
 in respect to the Tasmanians, that they had no canoes. Yet their 
 ancestors could not have reached the island by walking on the sea.’ ' 
 This argument would equally prove that the kangaroo and the 
 Echidna must have had civilised ancestors ; they inhabit both 
 Australia and Tasmania, and it would have been impossible for 
 their ancestors to have passed from the one to the other, ‘ by walking 
 on the sea.’ The Duke, though admitting the antiquity of man, 
 does not I think appreciate the geological changes which have taken 
 place during the human period. 
 
 The only other case which he quotes is that of the highland 
 Esquimaux who had no weapons nor any idea of war. The Duke’s 
 comment is as follows. ‘No wonder, poor people! They had been 
 driven into regions where no stronger race could desire to follow 
 them. But that the fathers had once known what war and violence 
 meant, there is no more conclusive proof than the dwelling place of 
 their children.’ It is perhaps natural that the head of a great High- 
 land Clan should regard with pity a people who having 1 once known 
 what war and violence meant,’ have no longer any neighbours to 
 pillage or to fight, but a lowlander can hardly be expected seriously 
 to regard such a change as. one calculated to excite pity, or as any 
 evidence of degradation. 
 
 In my first paper I deduced an argument from the condition of reli- 
 gion among the different races of man, a part of the subject which has 
 since been admirably dealt with by Mr. Tylor in a lecture at the Eoyal 
 Institution. The use of flint for sacrificial purposes long after the 
 introduction of metal, seemed to me a good case of what Mr. Tylor has 
 aptly called 1 Survival.’ So also is the method of obtaining fire. 
 The brahman will not use ordinary fire for sacred purposes, he does 
 
343 
 
 THE KELIGION OF SAVAGES. 
 
 not even obtain a fresh spark from flint and steel, but reverts to, or 
 rather continues the old way of obtaining it by friction with -a 
 wooden drill, one brahman pulling the thong backwards and forwards 
 while another watches to catch the sacred spark. ^ 
 
 I also referred to the non-existence of religion among certain 
 savage races, and as the Duke correctly observes, I argued that this 
 was probably their primitive condition, because it is difficult to 
 believe that a people which had once possessed a religion would ever 
 entirely lose it . 1 
 
 This argument filled the Duke with L astonishment.’ Surely, he 
 says, 1 if there is one fact more certain than another in respect to 
 the nature of Man, it is that he is capable of losing religious know-* 
 ledge, of ceasing to believe in religious truth, and of falling away 
 from religious duty. If by “ religion ” is meant the existence 
 merely of some impressions of powers invisible and supernatural, 
 even this, we know, can not only be lost, but be scornfully disavowed 
 by men who are highly civilised.’ Yet in the very same page, the 
 Duke goes on to say, 4 the most cruel and savage customs in the 
 world are the direct effect of its “ religions.” And if men could 
 drop religions when they would, or if they could even form the 
 wish to get rid of those which sit like a nightmare on their life, 
 there would be many more nations without a “ religion ” than there 
 are found to be. But religions can neither be put on nor cast off 
 like garments, according to their utility, or according to their beauty, 
 or according to their power of comforting.’ 
 
 With this I entirely agree. Man can no more voluntarily abandon 
 or change the articles of his religious creed than he can make one 
 hair black or white, or add one cubit to his stature. I do not deny 
 that there may be exceptional cases of intellectual men entirely 
 devoid of religion ; but if the Duke means to say that men who are 
 highly civilised, habitually or frequently lose, and scornfully disavow 
 religion, I can only say that I should adopt such an opinion with 
 difficulty and regret. There is, so far as I know, no evidence on 
 record which would justify such an opinion, and as far as my private 
 experience goes, I at least have met with no such tendency. It is 
 indeed true that from the times of Socrates downwards, men in 
 advance of their age have disavowed particular dogmas, and parti- 
 cular myths ; but the Duke of Argyll would, I am sure, not con- 
 
 1 It is hardly necessary to explain question the possibility of a change in. 
 to anyone that I did not intend to but a total loss of religion. 
 
PROGRESS OP RELIGIOUS IDEAS. FETICHISM. 349t 
 
 fuse a desire for reformation with the scornful disavowal of religion 
 as a whole. Some philosophers may object to prayers for rain, hut 
 they are foremost in denouncing the folly of witchcraft ; they may 
 regard matter as aboriginal, but they would never suppose with the 
 Redskin that land was created while - water existed from the be- 
 ginning ; nor would anyone now suppose with the South- Sea 
 Islanders that the Peerage were immortal, but not commoners. If, 
 indeed, there is c one fact more certain than another in. respect to the 
 nature of man,’ I should have considered it to be the gradual diffu- 
 sion of religious light, and of nobler cohceptions as to the nature of 
 God. 
 
 The lowest savages have no idea of a deity at all. Those slightly 
 more advanced regard him as an enemy to be dreaded, but who may 
 be resisted with a fair prospect of success, who may be cheated by 
 the cunning and defied by the strong. Thus the natives of the 
 Nicobar islands endeavour to terrify their deity by scarecrows, and 
 the Negro beats his fetish if his prayers are not granted. As tribes 
 advance in civilisation, their deities advance in dignity, but t\\eit 
 power is still limited ; one governs the sea, another the land ; one 
 reigns over the plains, another among the mountains. The most 
 powerful are vindictive, cruel, and unjust. They require humilia- 
 ting ceremonies and bloody sacrifices. But few races have arrived 
 at the conception of an omnipotent and beneficent Deity. 
 
 Perhaps the lowest form of religion may be considered to be that 
 presented by the Australians, which consists of a mere unreasoning 
 belief in the existence of mysterious "beings. The native who has in 
 his sleep a nightmare, or a dream, does not doubt the reality of that 
 which passes, and as the beings by whom he is visited in his sleep 
 are unseen by his friends and relations, he regards them as invisible. 
 
 In Fetichism this feeling is more methodized. The Negro, by means 
 of witchcraft, endeavours to make a slave of his deity. Thus Fetich- 
 ism is almost the opposite of Religion; it stands towards it in the 
 same relation as Alchemy to Chemistry, or Astrology to Astronomy ; 
 and shows how fundamentally our idea of a deity differs from that 
 which presents itself to the savage. The Negro does not hesitate to 
 punish a refractory Fetish, and hides it in his waistcloth if he does 
 not wish it to know what is going on. Aladdin’s lamp is, in fact, 
 a well-known illustration of a Fetish. 
 
 A further stage, and the superiority of the higher deities is more 
 fully recognised. Everything is worshipped indiscriminately — 
 
350 
 
 TOTEM1SM. 
 
 animals, plants, and even inanimate objects. In endeavouring to 
 account for the worship of animals, we must remember that names 
 are very frequently taken from them. The children and followers 
 of a man called the Bear or the Lion would make that a tribal 
 name. Hence the animal itself would be first respected, at last 
 worshipped. This form of religion can be shown to have existed, 
 at one time or another, almost all over the world. 
 
 i The Totem,’ says Schoolcraft, 1 is a symbol of the name of the 
 progenitor, — generally some quadruped, or bird, or other object in 
 the animal kingdom, which stands, if we may so express it, as the 
 surname of the family. It is always some animated object, and 
 seldom or never derived from the inanimate class of nature. Its 
 significant importance is derived from the fact that individuals un- 
 hesitatingly trace their lineage from it. By whatever names they 
 may be called during their life-time, it is the totem, and not their 
 personal name, that is recorded on the tomb or “ adjedating ” that 
 marks the place of burial. Families are thus traced when expanded 
 into bands or tribes, the multiplication of which, in North America, 
 has been very great, and has decreased, in like ratio, the labours of 
 the ethnologist.’ Totemism, however, is by no means confined to 
 America. In Central India 1 the Moondah “ Enidhi,” or Oraon 
 “ Minijrar,” or Eel tribe, will not kill or eat that fish. The Hawk, 
 Crow, or Heron tribes will not kill or eat those birds. Livingstone, 
 quoted in Latham, tells us that the sub tribes of Bitshaunas (or 
 Bechuanas) are similarly named after certain animals, and a tribe 
 never eats the animal from which it is named, using the term u ila,” 
 hate or dread, in reference to killing it.’ 1 
 
 Traces, indeed, of Totemism, more or less distinct, are widely 
 distributed, and often connected with marriage prohibitions. 
 
 As regards inanimate objects, we must remember that the savage 
 accounts for all action and movement by life ; hence a watch is to 
 him alive. This being taken in conjunction with the feeling that 
 anything unusual is 1 great medicine,’ leads to the worship of any re- 
 markable inanimate obj ect. Mr. Fergusson has recently attempted to 
 show the special prevalence of Tree and Serpent worship. He might, 
 I believe, have made out as strong a case for many other objects. 
 It seems clear that the objects worshipped in this stage are neither 
 to be legarded as emblems, nor are they personified. Inanimate 
 
 1 Trans. Ethnological Soc. N. S., vol. vi. p. 36. 
 
IDOLATRY. 
 
 351 
 
 objects have spirits as well as men ; hence when the wives and 
 slaves are sacrificed, the weapons also are broken in the grave, so 
 that the spirits of the latter, as well as of the former, may accompany 
 their master to the other world. 
 
 The gradually increasing power of chiefs and priests led to 
 Anthropomorphism, with its sacrifices, temples, and priests, &c. To 
 this stage belongs idolatry, which must by no means be regarded as 
 the lowest state of religion. Solomon , 1 indeed, long ago pointed out 
 how it was connected with monarchical power. 
 
 i Whom men could not honour in presence, because they dwelt 
 far off, they took the counterfeit of his visage from far, and made an 
 express image of a king, whom they honoured, to the end that by 
 this, their forwardness, they might flatter him that was absent, as if 
 he were present. 
 
 4 Also the singular diligence of the artificer did help to set forward 
 the ignorant to more superstition. 
 
 ‘ For he, perad venture willing to please one in authority, forced 
 all his skill to make the resemblance of the best fashion. 
 
 * And so the multitude, allured by the grace of the work, 
 took him now for a God, which a little before was but honoured as 
 a man.’ 
 
 The worship of principles may be regarded as a still further~stage 
 in the natural development of religion. 
 
 It is important to observe that each stage of religion is superim- 
 posed on the preceding, and that bygone beliefs linger on among the 
 children and the ignorant. Thus witchcraft is still believed in by 
 the ignorant, and fairy tales flourish in the nursery. 
 
 It certainly appears to me that the gradual development of 
 religious ideas among the lower races of men is a fair argument in 
 opposition to the view that savages are degenerate descendants of 
 civilised ancestors. Archbishop Whately would admit the con- 
 nexion between these different phases of religious belief but I think 
 he would find it very difficult to show any process of natural 
 degradation and decay which could explain the quaint errors and 
 opinions of the lower races of men, or to account for the lingering 
 belief in witchcraft, and other absurdities, &c., in civilised races, ex- 
 cepting by some such train of reasoning as that which I have 
 endeavoured to sketch. 
 
 1 Wisdom, xiy. 17. 
 
352 
 
 THE TRUE THEORY OF 
 
 There is another case in this memoir wherein the Duke, although 
 generally a fair opponent, brings forward an unsupportable accusa- 
 tion. He criticises severely the ‘ Four Ages,’ generally admitted by 
 archaeologists, especially referring to the terms ‘Palaeolithic’ and 
 ‘ Neolithic,’ which are used to denote the two earlier. 
 
 I have no wish to take to myself in particular the blame which 
 the Duke impartially extends to archseologists in general, but having 
 suggested the two terms in question, I will simply place side by side 
 the passage in which they first appeared, and the Duke’s criticism, 
 and confidently ask whether there is any foundation for the sweeping 
 accusation made by the noble Duke. 
 
 The Duke says : ‘ For here I 
 must observe that Archseologists 
 are using language on this sub- 
 ject which, if not positively erro- 
 neous, requires, at least, more 
 rigorous definitions and limita- 
 tions of meaning than they are 
 disposed to attend to. They talk 
 of an Old Stone Age (Palaeoli- 
 thic), and of a Newer Stone Age 
 (Neolithic), and of a Bronze Age, 
 and of an Iron Age. Now, there 
 is no proof whatever that such 
 Ages ever existed in the world. 
 It may be true, and it probably 
 is true, that most nations in the 
 progress of the Arts have passed 
 through the stages of using stone 
 for implements before they were 
 acquainted with the use of metals. 
 Even this, however, may not be 
 true of all nations. In Africa 
 there appear to be no traces of 
 any time when the natives were 
 not acquainted with the use of 
 iron, and I am informed by Sir 
 Samuel Baker that iron ore is 
 so common in Africa, and of a 
 
 My words, in proposing the 
 terms, were as follows : — 
 
 ‘ From the careful study of 
 the remains which have come 
 down to us, it would appear that 
 the prehistoric archaeology may 
 be divided into four great epochs. 
 
 ‘ Firstly, that of Drift, when 
 man shared the possession of 
 Europe with the Mammoth, the 
 cave-bear, the woolly-haired rhi- 
 noceros and other extinct animals. 
 This we may call the “ Palaeoli- 
 thic” period. 
 
 ‘ Secondly, the later or polished 
 Stone Age; a period characterized 
 by beautiful weapons and instru- 
 ments made of Hint and other 
 kinds of stone, in which, however ? 
 we find no trace of the knowledge 
 of any metal, excepting gold, 
 which seems to have been some- 
 times used for ornaments. This 
 we may call the Neolithic period. 
 
 ‘ Thirdly, the Bronze Age, in 
 which bronze was used for arms 
 and cutting instruments of all 
 kinds. 
 
THE FOUR AGES. 
 
 853 
 
 kind so easily reducible by heat, 
 and its use might well be dis- 
 covered by the rudest tribes, 
 who were in the habit of lighting 
 fires. Then again it is to be re- 
 membered that there are some 
 countries in the world where 
 stone is as rare and difficult to 
 get as metals. 
 
 ‘ The great alluvial plains of 
 Mesopotamia are a case in point. 
 Accordingly we know from the 
 remains of the first Chaldean 
 monarchy that a very high civili- 
 sation in the arts of agriculture 
 and of commerce coexisted with 
 the use of stone implements of a 
 very rude character. This fact 
 proves that rude stone imple- 
 ments are not necessarily any 
 proof whatever of a really barba- 
 rous condition. And even if it 
 were true that the use of stone 
 has in all cases preceded the use 
 of metals, it is quite certain that 
 the same age which was an 
 Age of Stone in one part of the 
 world was an Age of Metal in 
 the other. As regards the 
 Eskimo and the South Sea 
 islanders, we are now, or were 
 very recently, living in a 'Stone 
 Age.’ 
 
 ‘ Fourthly, the Iron 1 Age, in 
 which that metal had superseded 
 bronze for arms, axes, knives, 
 &c. ; bronze, however, still being 
 in common use for ornaments, 
 and frequently also for the 
 handles of swords and other 
 arms, but never for the blades. 
 
 ‘ Stone weapons, however, of 
 many kinds were still in use 
 during the Age of Bronze, and 
 even during that of Iron. So 
 that the mere presence of a few 
 stone implements is not in itself 
 sufficient evidence that any 
 given “ find ” belongs to the 
 Stone Age. 
 
 1 In order to prevent misappre- 
 hension, it may be as well to 
 state at once, that I only apply 
 this classification to Europe, 
 though in all probability it might 
 also be extended to the neigh- 
 bouring parts of Asia and Africa. 
 As regards other civilised coun- 
 tries, China and J apan for instance, 
 we, as yet, know nothing of their 
 prehistoric archaeology. It is 
 evident, also, that some nations, 
 such as the Fuegians, Anda- 
 maners, &c., are even now only 
 in an Age of Stone.’ 
 
 I cannot, of course, on this occasion repeat the arguments adduced 
 in my first memoir. I will, however, now bring forward one or two 
 additional reasons in support of my view. There is a considerable body 
 of evidence tending to show that the offspring produced by crossing 
 different varieties tends to revert to the type from which these 
 varieties are descended. Thus Tegetmeier states that 1 a cross 
 
354 
 
 EVIDENCE DERIVED FROM CROSSED RACES, 
 
 between two non-sitting varieties (of the common fowl) almost 
 invariably produces a mongrel that becomes broody, and sits with 
 remarkable steadiness.’ Mr. Darwin gives several cases in which 
 such hybrids or mongrels are singularly wild and untameable, the 
 mule being a familiar instance. Messrs. Boitard and Corbie state 
 that, when they crossed certain breeds of pigeons, they invariably 
 get some young ones coloured like the wild C . livia. Mr. Darwin 
 repeated these experiments, and found the statement fully confirmed. 
 
 So again the same is the case with fowls. Tens of thousands of 
 the Black Spanish and the white silk fowls might be bred without 
 a single red feather appearing, yet Mr. Darwin found that on crossing 
 them he immediately obtained specimens with red feathers. Similar 
 results have been obtained with ducks, rabbits, and cattle. Mules 
 also have not unfrequently barred legs. It is unnecessary to give 
 these cases in detail, because Mr. Darwin’s work on ‘ Animals and 
 Plants under Domestication ’ is in the hands of every naturalist. 
 
 Applying the same test to man, Mr. Darwin observes that crossed 
 races of men are singularly savage and degraded. 4 Many years ago,’ 
 he says, £ I was struck by the fact that in South America men of 
 complicated descent between Negroes, Indians, and Spaniards, seldom 
 had, whatever the cause might be, a good expression. Livingstone 
 remarks that “ it is unaccountable why half-castes are so much more 
 cruel than the Portuguese, but such is undoubtedly the case.” A 
 native remarked to Livingstone “.God made white men, and God 
 made black men, but the devil made half-castes !” When two races, 
 both low in the scale, are crossed, the progeny seems to be eminently 
 bad. Thus the noble-hearted Humboldt, who felt none of that 
 prejudice against the inferior races now so current in England, speaks 
 in strong terms of the bad and savage disposition of Zambas, or 
 half-castes between Indians and Negroes, and this conclusion has 
 been arrived at by various observers. From these facts we may 
 perhaps infer that the degraded state of so many half-castes is in part 
 due to reversion to a primitive and savage condition, induced by the 
 act of crossing, as well as to the unfavourable moral conditions 
 under which they generally exist.’ 
 
 I confess, however, that I am not sure how far this may not he 
 accounted for by the unfortunate circumstances in which half-breeds 
 are generally placed. The half-breeds between the Hudson’s Bay 
 Company’s servants and the native women, being well treated ancf 
 looked after, appear to be a creditable and well-behaved set. 1 
 
 1 Dunn's ‘ Oregon Territory/ p. 147. 
 
SAVAGES, AND CHILDREN. 
 
 355 
 
 1 would also call particular attention to the remarkable similarity 
 between' the mental characteristics of savages and those of children. 
 4 The Abipones,’ says Dobritzhoffer , 1 4 when they are unable to com- 
 prehend anything at first sight, soon grow weary of examining it, 
 and cry 4 orqueenam ?’ what is it after all ? Sometimes the Guaranies, 
 when completely puzzled, knit their brows and cry 44 tupa oiquaa,” 
 God knows what it is. Since they possess such small reasoning 
 powers, and have so little inclination to exert them, it is no wonder 
 that they are neither able nor willing to argue one thing from another.* 
 
 Richardson says of the Dogrib Indians, 4 that however high the 
 reward they expected to receive on reaching their destination, they 
 could not be depended on to carry letters. A slight difficulty, the 
 prospect of a banquet on venison, or a sudden impulse to visit some 
 friend, were sufficient to turn them aside for an indefinite length of 
 time.’* Le Vaillant 3 also observes of the Namaquas, that they 
 closely resembled children in their great curiosity. 
 
 M. Bourien , 4 speaking of the wild tribes in the Malayan Peninsula, 
 says that an 4 inconstant humour, fickle and erratic, together with a 
 mixture of fear, timidity, and diffidence, lies at the bottom of their 
 character, they seem always to think that they would be better 
 in any other place than in the one they occupy at the time. Like 
 children, their actions seem to be rarely guided by reflection, and 
 they almost always act impulsively.’ The tears of the South- Sea 
 Islanders, 4 like those of children, were always ready to express any 
 passion that was strongly excited, and, like those of children, they 
 also appeared to be forgotten as soon as shed.’ 5 
 
 At Tahiti Captain Cook mentions that Oberea, the Queen, and 
 Tootahah, one of the principal chiefs, amused themselves with two 
 large dolls. D’Urville tells us that a New Zealand chief, Tauvarya 
 by name, 4 cried like a child because the sailors spoilt his favourite 
 cloak by powdering it with flour.’ 6 Williams 7 mentions that in 
 Feejee not only the women, but even the men give , vent to their 
 feelings by crying. Burton even says that among East Africans the 
 men cried more frequently than the women . 8 
 
 Not only do savages closely resemble children in their general 
 
 * His. of the Abipones, vol. ii. p. 59. 5 Cook’s first Voyage, p. 103. 
 
 2 Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 23. 6 Vol. ii. p. 398. See also ‘ Yate's 
 
 8 Travels in Africa, 1776, vol. iii. New Zealand,’ p. 1.01. 
 
 p. 12. 7 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. ii. p. 121. 
 
 4 Trans, Ethn. Soc. N. S.yoL iii. p. 78- 8 Lake Regions, p. 332. 
 
356 
 
 LANGUAGE OF SAVAGES. 
 
 character, but a curious similarity exists between them in many 
 small points. For instance, the tendency to reduplication, which is 
 so characteristic of children, prevails remarkably also amongst 
 savages. The first 1000 words in Kichardson’s dictionary (down to 
 allege), contain only three, namely, adscititious, adventitious, agi- 
 tator, and even in these it is reduced to a minimum. There is not 
 a single word like ahi ahi , evening ; ake alee, eternal ; aki aki , a 
 bird ; aniwaniwa , the rainbow ; anga anga , agreement ; angi angi y 
 aboard ; aro aro , in front; aruaru , to. woo ; ati ati , to drive out ; 
 awa awa , a valley ; or awanga wanga , hope, words of a class which 
 abound in savage languages. 
 
 The first 1000 words in a French dictionary I found to contain 
 only two reduplications, namely, anana and assassin, both of which 
 are derived from a lower race, and cannot, strictly speaking, be 
 regarded as French. 
 
 Again 1000 German words, taking for variety the letters C andD, 
 contain six cases, namely, Cacadu (Cockatoo), cacao , cocon (cocoon), 
 cocosbaum , a cocao tree, cocosnuss , cocao nut, and dagegen , of which 
 again all but the last are foreign. 
 
 Lastly, the first 1000 Greek words contained only two redupli- 
 cations, one of which is d/lap/lapoc*. 
 
 For comparison with the above I have examined the vocabularies 
 of seventeen savage tribes, and the results are given in the following 
 Table 
 
LANGUAGE OF SAVAGES. 
 
 357 
 
 Languages 
 
 Number 
 of words 
 
 Number 
 of redu- 
 plications 
 
 Propor- 
 tion per 
 mil. 
 
 
 Europe. 
 
 
 
 
 
 English . 
 
 1000 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 Both foreign. 
 
 French . 
 
 1000 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 German . 
 
 1000 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 All but one foreign. 
 One being afiapfiapos. 
 
 Greek 
 
 1000 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Africa. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Beetjuan , 
 
 188 
 
 7 
 
 37 
 
 Lichtenstein. 
 
 Bosjesman 
 
 129 
 
 5 
 
 38 
 
 JJ 
 
 Namaqua Hottentot 
 
 1000 
 
 75 
 
 75 
 
 H. Tindall. 
 
 Mpongwe 
 
 1264 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 Snowdon and Prall. 
 
 Fulup 
 
 204 
 
 28 
 
 137 
 
 Koelle. 
 
 Mbofon . . 
 
 267 
 
 27 
 
 100 
 
 
 America. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Darien Indians 
 
 184 
 
 13 
 
 70 
 
 Trans. Eth. Soc. vol. vi. 
 
 Ojibwa . 
 
 283 
 
 21 
 
 74 
 
 Schoolcraft. 
 
 Tupy (Brazil) . 
 
 1000 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 Gonsalvez Dias. 
 
 Negroid. 
 
 Brumer Island 
 
 214 
 
 37 
 
 170 
 
 M'Gillivray. 
 
 Redscar Bay . 
 
 125 
 
 10 
 
 80 
 
 >» 
 
 Louisiade 
 
 138 
 
 22 
 
 160 
 
 )> 
 
 Erroob . 
 
 513 
 
 23 
 
 45 
 
 Jukes. 
 
 Lewis Murray Island 
 
 506 
 
 19 
 
 38 
 
 „ 
 
 Australia. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kowrarega 
 
 720 
 
 26 
 
 36 
 
 M'Gillivray. 
 
 i Polynesia. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tonga 
 
 1000 
 
 166 
 
 166 
 
 Mariner. 
 
 New Zealand . 
 
 1300 
 
 220 
 
 169 
 
 Dieffenbach. 
 
 For African languages I have examined the Beetjuan and Bos- 
 jesman dialects, given by Lichtenstein in his 4 Travels in Southern 
 Africa ; ’ the Namaqua Hottentot, as given by Tindall in his 
 4 Grammar and Vocabulary of the Namaqua Hottentot ; ’ the Me- 
 pongwe of the Gaboon, from the Grammar of the Mpongwe language 
 published by Snowden and Prall of New York ; and lastly the 
 Fulup and Mbofon languages from Koelle’s 4 Polyglotta Africana.’ 
 For America, the Ojibwa vocabulary, given in Schoolcraft’s 4 Indian 
 Tribes ; ’ the Darien vocabulary, from the 6th vol. N. S. of the 
 Ethnological Society’s Transactions ; and the Tupy vocabulary, 
 given in A. Gonsalves Dias’s 4 Diccionaria da Lingua Tupy chamada 
 lingua geral dos indigenas do Brazil.’ To these I have added the 
 languages spoke on Brumer Island, at Redscar Bay, Kowrarega, 
 and at the Louisiade, as collected by M 4 Gillivray in the 4 Voyage of 
 the Rattlesnake ; ’ and the dialects of Erroob and Lewis Murray 
 Island, from Jukes’s 4 Voyage of the Fly.’ Lastly, for Polynesia, the 
 
858 
 
 TENDENCY TO REDUPLICATIONS. 
 
 Tongan dictionary given by Mariner, and that of New Zealand by 
 Dieffenbach. 
 
 The result is, that while in the four European languages we get 
 about two reduplications in 1000 words, in the savage ones the 
 number varies from thirty-eight to 170, being from twenty to 
 eighty times as many in proportion. 
 
 In the Polynesian andFeejee Islands they are particularly numerous; 
 thus, in Feejee, such names as Somosomo, Eaki raki, Raviravi, Luma- 
 luma are numerous. Perhaps the most familiar New Zealand words 
 are meremere, patoo patoo, and kivi kivi. So generally, however, is 
 reduplication a characteristic of savage tongues that it even gave rise 
 to the term * barbarous.’ 
 
 The love of pets is very strongly developed among savages. Many 
 instances have been given by Mr. Galton in his Memoir on the 
 * Domestication of Animals.’ 1 
 
 Among minor indications may be mentioned the use of the rattle. 
 Originally a sacred and mysterious instrument, as it is still among 
 some of the Siberian Red-skin and Brazilian 2 tribes, it has with us 
 degenerated into a child’s toy. Thus DobritzhofFer tells us, the A bi- 
 pones at a certain season of the year worshipped the Pleiads. The 
 ceremony consisted in a feast accompanied with dancing and music, 
 accompanied with praises of the stars, during which the principal 
 priestess * who conducts the festive ceremonies, dances at intervals, 
 rattling a gourd full of hardish fruit-seeds to musical time, and 
 whirling round to the right with one foot, and to the left with 
 another, without ever removing from one spot, or in the least varying 
 her motions.’ 3 Spix and Martius 4 thus describe a Coroado chief : 
 — * In the middle of the assembly, and nearest to the pot, stood the 
 chief, who, by his strength, cunning, and courage, had obtained 
 some command over them, and had received from Marlier the title 
 of Captain. In his right hand he held the maraca, the above-men- 
 tioned castanet, which they call gringerina, and rattled with it, beat- 
 ing time with his right foot.’ * The Congo Negroes had a great 
 wooden rattle, upon which they took their oaths.’ 5 The rattle also 
 
 1 Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. iii. p. 122. 4 Travels in Brazil. London, 1824, 
 
 2 Martius, Yon dem Rectszustand. vol. ii. p. 234. 
 
 Ur. Brasiliens, p. 34. 5 Astley’s Coll, of Voyages, vol. iii 
 
 3 DobritzhofFer, vol. ii. p. 65. See p. 233. 
 
 alsop. 72. 
 
ANCIENT CEREMONIES AND MODERN GAMES. 359 
 
 is very important among the Indians of North America . 1 When any 
 person is sick, the sorcerer or medicine-man brings his sacred 
 rattle and shakes it over him. This, says Prescott, ‘ is the principal 
 catholicon for all diseases.’ Catlin 2 also describes the ‘ rattle’ as 
 being of great importance. Some tribes have a sacred drum, closely 
 resembling that of the Lapps . 3 When an Indian is ill, the magician, 
 says Carver , 4 ‘sits by the patient day and night, rattling in his ears 
 a gourd-shell filled with dried beans, called a chichicone.’ 
 
 Klemm 5 also remarks on the great significance attached to the 
 rattle throughout America, and Staad even thought that it was 
 worshipped as a divinity . 6 
 
 Schoolcraft 7 also gives a figure of Oshkabaiwis, the Redskin 
 medical chief, 1 holding in his hand the magic rattle,’ which is indeed 
 the usual emblem of authority in the American pictographs. I 
 know no case of a savage infant using the rattle as a plaything. 
 
 Tossing halfpence, as dice, again, which used to be a sacred and 
 solemn mode of consulting the oracles, is now a mere game for 
 children. 
 
 So again the doll is a‘ hybrid between the baby and the fetish, and 
 exhibiting the contradictory characters of its parents, becomes singu- 
 larly unintelligible to grown-up people. Mr. Tylor has pointed 
 out other illustrations of this argument, and I would refer those 
 w\ho feel interested in this part of the subject to his excellent 
 work. 
 
 Dancing is another case in point. With us it is a mere amuse- 
 ment. Among savages it is an important and, in some cases, re- 
 ligious ceremony. 1 If,’ says Robertson , 8 ‘ any intercourse be 
 necessary between two American tribes, the ambassadors of the one 
 approach in a solemn dance, and present the calumet or emblem of 
 peace ; the sachems of the other receive it with the same ceremony. 
 If war is denounced against an enemy, it is by a dance, expressive of 
 the resentment which they feel, and of the vengeance which they 
 meditate. If the wrath of their gods is to be appeased, or their 
 beneficence to be celebrated, if they rejoice at the birth of a child, or 
 mourn the death of a friend, they have dances appropriated to each 
 
 1 Prescott in Schoolcraft’s ‘Indian 5 Culturgechichte, vol. ii. p. 172. 
 
 Tribes,’ vol. ii. pp. 179, 180. 6 Mceurs des Sauvages Americains, 
 
 2 American Indians, vol. i, pp: 39, vol. ii. p. 297. 
 
 40, 163, &c. 7 Indian Tribes, pt.iii. pp. 490-492. 
 
 3 Catlin, l. c. p. 40. 8 Robertson’s America, bk. iv. p. 
 
 4 Travels, p. 385. 133. 
 
360 DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL, 
 
 of these situations, and suited to the different sentiments with which 
 they are then animated. If a person is indisposed, a dance is pre- 
 scribed as the most effectual means of restoring him to health : and 
 if he himself cannot endure the fatigue of such an exercise, the 
 physician or conjuror performs it in his name, as if the virtue of his 
 activity could be transferred to his patient.’ 
 
 But it is unnecessary to multiply illustrations. Every one who 
 has read much on the subject will admit the truth of the statement. 
 It explains the capricious treatment which so many white men have 
 received from savage potentates; how they have been alternately 
 petted and illtreated, at one time loaded with the best of everything, 
 at another neglected or put to death. 
 
 The close resemblance existing in ideas, language, habits, and 
 character between savages and children, though generally admitted, 
 has usually been disposed of in a passing sentence, and regarded 
 rather as a curious accident than as an important truth. Yet from 
 several points of view it possesses a high interest. Better under- 
 stood, it might have saved us many national misfortunes, from the 
 loss of Captain Cook down to the Abyssinian war. It has also a 
 direct bearing on the present discussion. 
 
 The opinion is rapidly gaining ground among naturalists, that the 
 development of the individual is an epitome of that of the species, a 
 conclusion which, if fully borne out, will evidently prove most 
 instructive. Already many facts are on record which render it, to 
 say the least, highly probable. Birds of the same genus, or of 
 closely allied genera, which, when mature, differ much in colour, 
 are often very similar when young. The young of the Lion and the 
 Puma are often striped, and foetal whales have teeth. Leidy has 
 shown that the milk-teeth of the genus Equus resemble the perma- 
 nent teeth of Anchitherium, while the milk-teeth of Anchitherium 
 again approximate to the dental system of Merychippus .* Butimeyer, 
 while calling attention to this interesting observation, adds that the 
 milk-teeth of Equus cahallus in the same way, and still more those 
 of E . fossilis , resemble the permanent teeth of Hipparion . 1 2 
 
 Agassiz, according to Darwin, regards it as a ‘law of nature,’ that 
 the young states of each species and group resemble older forms of 
 the same group ; and Darwin himself says , 3 that ‘ in two or more 
 
 1 Proc. Acad. Nat. Soc. Philadelphia, Pferde. Basle, 1863. 
 
 1858, p. 26. 3 Origin of Species, 4th edition, 
 
 2 Beitrage zur kenntniss der fossilen p. 532. 
 
AND THAT OF THE SPECIES. 
 
 361 
 
 groups of animals, however much they may at first differ from each 
 other in structure and habits, if they pass through closely similar 
 embryonic stages, we may feel almost assured that they have 
 descended from the same parent form, and are therefore closely 
 related.’ So also Mr. Herbert Spencer says , 1 4 Each organism 
 exhibits within a short space of time, a series of changes which, when 
 supposed to occupy a period indefinitely great, and to go on in 
 various ways instead of one way, gives us a tolerably clear concep- 
 tion of organic evolution in general.’ 
 
 It may be said that this argument involves the acceptance of the 
 Darwinian hypothesis ; this would, however, be a mistake ; the 
 objection might indeed be tenable if men belonged to different 
 species, but it cannot fairly be urged by those who regard all 
 mankind as descended from common ancestors ; and, in fapt, it is 
 strongly held by Agassiz, one of Mr. Darwin’s most uncompromising 
 opponents. Regarded from this' point of view, the similarity ex- 
 isting between savages and children assumes a singular importance 
 and becomes almost conclusive as regards the question now at issue. 
 
 The Duke ends his work with the expression of a belief that man, 
 4 even in his most civilised condition, is capable of degradation, that 
 his knowledge may decay, and that his religion may be lost.’ That 
 this is true of individuals, I do not of course deny ; that it holds 
 good with the human race, I cannot believe . 1 2 * Far more true, far 
 more noble, as it seems to me, are the concluding passages of Lord 
 Dunraven’s opening address to the Cambrian Archaeological Associ- 
 ation, 4 that if we look back through the entire period of the past 
 history of man, as exhibited in the result of archaeological investiga- 
 tion, we can scarcely fail to perceive that the whole exhibits one 
 grand scheme of progression, which, notwithstanding partial periods 
 of decline, has for its end the ever-increasing civilisation of man, 
 and the gradual development of his higher faculties, -anff for its 
 
 1 Principles of Biology, vol. i. p. 349. Genesis not only as naked, and subse- 
 
 2 The Duke appears to consider that quently clothed with leaves, but as 
 the first men, though deficient in unable to resist the most trivial temp- 
 knowledge of the mechanical arts, tation, and as entertaining very gross 
 were morally and intellectually supe- and anthropomorphic conceptions of 
 
 rior, or at least equal, to those of 'the the Deity. In fact in all three cha- 
 present day ; and it is remarkable racteristics — in his mode of life, in his 
 that supporting such a view he should moral condition, and in his intellectual 
 regard himself as a champion of ortho- conceptions — Adam was a typical 
 
 doxy. Adam is represented to us in Savage. 
 
362 
 
 DEVELOPMENT of the individual. 
 
 object the continual manipulation of the design, the power, the 
 wisdom, and the goodness of Almighty God.’ 
 
 I confess therefore that, after giving the arguments of the Duke of 
 Argyll my most attentive and candid consideration, I see no reason 
 to adopt his melancholy conclusion, but I remain persuaded that the 
 past history of man has, on the whole, been one of progress, and 
 that, in looking forward to the future, we are justified in doing so 
 with confidence and with hope. 
 
NOTES 
 
 Page 52 . 
 
 Position of Women in Australia} 
 
 i Foeminae sese per totam pene vitam prostituunt. Apud plurimas 
 tribus juventutem utriusque sexus sine discrimine concumbere 
 in usus est. Si juyenis forte indigenorum cuetum quendam in 
 castris manentem adveniat, ubi quae vis sit puella innupta, mos 
 est: nocte veniente et cubantibus omnibus, illam ex loco ex- 
 surgere et juvenem accidentem cum illo per noctem manere 
 unde in sedem propriam ante diem redit. Cui foemina sit, earn 
 amicis libenter praebet ; si in itinere sit, uxori in castris manenti 
 aliquis supplet illi vires. Advenis ex longinquo accedentibus 
 foeminas ad tempus dare hospitis esse boni judicatur. Yiduis et 
 foeminis jam senescentibus saepe in id traditis, quandoque etiam 
 invitis et insciis cognatis, adolescentes utuntur. Puellae tenerse a 
 decimo primum anno, et pueri a decimo tertio vel quarto, inter se 
 miscentur. Senioribus mos est, si forte gentium plurium castra 
 appropinquant, viros noctu hinc inde transeuntes, uxoribus alienis 
 uti et in sua castra ex utraque parte mane redire. 
 
 6 Temporibus quinetiam certis, machina quaedam ex ligno ad formam 
 ovi facta, sacra et mystica, nam foeminas aspicere haud licitum, decern 
 plus minus uncias longa et circa quatuor lata, insculpta ac figuris 
 diversis omata, et ultimam perforata partem ad longam (plerumque 
 e crinibus humanis textam) inserendam chordam cui nomen “ Moo 
 yumkarr,” extra castra in gyrum versata, stridore magno e percusso 
 aere facto, libertatem coeundi juventuti esse turn concessam omnibus 
 indicat. Parentes saepe infantum, viri uxorum quae stum corporum 
 faciunt. In urbe Adelaide panis praemio parvi aut paucorum 
 denariorum meretrices fieri eas libenter cogunt. Facile potest 
 
 1 Eyre’s Discoveries , &c., ii. 320. 
 
I 
 
 364 NOTES. 
 
 intelligi, amorem inter nuptos vix posse esse grandem, quum omnia 
 quae ad foeminas attinent, hominum a'rbitrio ordinentiir et tanta 
 sexuum societal laxitas, et adolescentes quibus ita multae ardoris 
 explendi dantur occasiones, haud magnopere uxores, nisi ut servos 
 desideraturos.’ 
 
 Page 66. 
 
 Adoption. 
 
 1 Adjiciendum et hoc, quod post evectionem ad Deos, Juno, Jovis 
 suasu, filium sibi Herculem adoptavit, et omne deinceps tempus 
 materna ipsum benevolentia complexa fuerit. Illam adoptionem 
 hoc - modo factam perhibent : J uno lectum ingressa, Herculem v 
 corpori suo admotum, ut verum imitaretur partum, subter vestes 
 ad terram demisit. Quern in hoc usque tempus adoptionis ritum 
 barbari observant . 1 1 
 
 ' . 1 ' 
 Page 87. 
 
 Expiation for Marriage . 
 
 Mela 2 tells uS that among the Auziles, another ^Ethiopian tribe, 
 
 * Feminis solemne est, nocte, qua nubunt, omnium stup^o patere, 
 qui cum munere advenerint : et turn, cum plurimis concubuisse, 
 maximum decus ; in reliquum pudicitia insignis est.’ 
 
 Speaking of the Nasamonians, Herodotus observes : 
 
 TTpdtTOV yapiorrog NcKraputvog urfipog, i opog kar\ rrjy vijpcprjy 
 vvkti ri] Trpu)Tr\ diu 7rc tvrojv ^Le^eXOeir tCjv ^aiTvporojy pKTyoperrjv m t&v 
 S e ujg eKCKFTog ol Suipov to av (j>ep6pevog k£, o'lkov . 3 
 
 Diodorus 4 also gives a very similar account of marriage in the 
 Balearic Islands. 
 
 The passage in St. Augustin is as follows : 
 
 1 Sed quid hoc dicam, cum ibi sit et Priapus himius masculus, 
 super cujus immanissimum et turpissimum fascinum sedere nova 
 nupta jubeatur, more honestissimo et religiosissimo matronarum .’ 5 
 
 Lastly, in his description of Babylonian customs, Herodotus says : 6 
 
 O Si) alcrx^Tog rtiv vopiav tari roicri BafivXujyioKTi oCe. m fii 
 
 1 Diodorus, iv. 39. 2 Mela, i. 8. 3 Melpomene, iv. 172. 
 
 4 Diodorus, v. 18. 4 Civit. Dei, vi. 9. 6 Clio, 1. 199. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 365 
 
 iraffav yvvaitca en iyu>plr)v l£opevrjv eg Ipov 'A^poblrrjg, an a£ ev rrj £otj 
 puyQr\vai avbj pi £f Ivu). IIoXAai be Kai ovk a £ievpevai avaplay eodai 
 rrjoi aXXrjoi , ola n Xovtio vneptypoveoyodi , enl ^evyetov ev Kapaprjoi 
 tXaoaoai, npog to Ipov eoTaoi' depanrjirj be o(pi onioOev enerai noXXrj. 
 a l be n Xeyveg noievoi tube' ev repevei ’Atypobirrjg Karearai ore(j>avov 
 7 repi Trjai KeftaXrjoi eyovaai Qtopiyyog, n oAAcu ywatKeg* al pev yap 
 npooep\ovTai, al be anep^ovTai • oyoivoreveeg be bie£oboi ndvra rponov 
 ooaitvv eyovoi bici rtov yvvaiKtov , Si utv ol £eivoi bie^iovreg eicXeyovrai. 
 evQa eneav l^rjrai yvvrj , ov nporepov dnaXXaooerai eg ra olKia , 7 / rig 
 ol £elvi ov apyvptov epfiaXiov eg ra yovvara pi\0rj e£u) rov Ipov' 
 epfiaXovra be bei elnelv rooovbe * 6 eniKaXeto tol ryv Oeov MvAirra*’ 
 MvXirra be KaXeovoi rrjv * A(j>pobirrjv ’A oovpioi* to be apyvpiov peyaOog 
 eon ooovCjv * ov yap py antboyrai' ov yajb oi Oepig eon' ylverai yap 
 Ipov rovro to apyvptov * ra > be nptortv ep/3aX6vTi enerai , ovbe cur obo~ 
 Kipcj. ovbeva' eneciv be piX^i dnooavoapevrj rrj Qeu> anciXXaooeTai eg 
 ra otKta , Kai rune tovtov ovk ovrto pey a tL ol bufoeig * wg piv Xap\peai, 
 ooai pev vvv e’ibeog re enappevai elol feat peyadeog, ra^u anaXXao- 
 oovTat * ooai be dpop(f)oi avreutv elol, yjpovov noXXov npoopevovoi 
 ov bvvapevai rov ropov eKnXrjoai • Kai yap t pierea Ka\ rerpaerea 
 peTe^erepai xporov perovoi. ivM\rj be kcu t fjg Kunpov eon napanXyoiog 
 TovTtf vopog. 
 

 
 
 
 
INDEX. 
 
' 
 
INDEX 
 
 ABB 
 
 A BBEOKUTA, tattoos of the people 
 of, 43 
 
 Abipones, their disbelief in natural 
 death, 133 
 
 — sorcerers among them, 153, 155 
 • — their worship of the Pleiades, 215 
 — their Shamanism, 225 
 — no idea among them of creation, 250 
 — their method of numeration, 298 
 Abyssinians, absence of tho marriage 
 ceremony among the, 57 
 — practice of adoption among them, 66 
 — their stone-worship, 210 
 Adoption, prevalence among the lower 
 races of men, 65 
 
 — among the Greeks and Romans, 66 
 — the milk tie, 66 
 ^Ethiopia, marriage customs in, 87 
 Africa, customs as to fathers- and mo- 
 thers-in-law, 9 
 
 — writing used as medicine in, 16, 17 
 — drawings not understood in, 29, 30 
 — personal ornamentation of various 
 tribes, 42, 43 
 
 — their tattoos and tribal marks, 43, 45 
 — marriage and relationship in, 51 
 — practice of adoption in, 65 
 — marriage customs of the Eutans, 82 
 
 and of the North Africans, 83 
 
 — restrictions on marriage in Eastern 
 and Western Africa, 95 
 — inheritance through females in, 105 
 — how dreams are regarded by^ .some 
 tribes, 127 
 
 — their notions of a man’s shadow, 128 
 — and o#the Deity, 130 
 — behaviour of the people during 
 eclipses, 136 
 
 — Totemism in, 170-172, 174 
 — serpent- worship in, 176, 177 
 — animal-worship in, 178, 182 
 — tree-worship in, 192 
 — water- worship in, 201 
 — stone-worship in, 210 
 
 AME 
 
 Africa — continued . 
 
 — worship of men in, 235 
 
 — ceremony of eating the fetich in, 241 
 
 — human sacrifices in, 242 
 
 — no notion of* creation among the 
 people of, 252 
 
 — absence of moral feeling in, 264 
 
 — poverty of the language of, 293 
 
 — methods of numeration in, 298, 299 
 
 — salutations of the people in, 306 
 
 Age, respect paid to, 27 2 
 
 Ages, the Eour, true theory of, 352 
 
 Agoye, an idol of Whydah, 178 
 
 Ahitas of the Phillippines, marriage 
 customs of the, 81 
 
 Ahoosh, Lake, held sacred by the 
 Bashkirs, 200 
 
 Ahts, inactivity of their intellect, 5 
 
 — slavery of female captives among 
 the, 102 
 
 — their sorcerers, 152 
 
 — their worship of the sun and moon, 
 215 
 
 Algonkins, their rules and ceremonies, 
 305 
 
 Alii gator- worship, 183 
 
 Amazon Valley, marriage by capture 
 among the tribes of the, 79 
 
 America, South, custom of La Couvade 
 in, 10, 11 
 
 American Indians, customs among the, 
 in reference to mothers-in-law, 7 
 
 — custom of La Couvade among the, 
 
 11 
 
 — their ideas with reference to por- 
 traits, 14, 15 
 
 — their use of writing as medicine, 16 
 
 — their mode of curing diseases, 19 
 
 — their treatment of twins, 21 
 
 — their picture-writings, 32-34, 36-39 
 
 — their grave-posts, 35 
 
 — their personal ornamentation, 42 
 
 — marriage and relationship among 
 them, 50 
 
370 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 AME 
 
 American Indians — continued . 
 
 — absence of marriage ceremony, 57 
 
 — system of relationship among some 
 tribes, 65 
 
 — custom among the Hudson’s Hay 
 Indians of wrestling for a wife, 69 
 
 — marriage customs of the South Ame- 
 ricans, 79 
 
 — restrictions on marriage among some 
 of them, 97, 98 
 
 — importance of their totems, or crests, 
 98 
 
 — relationship through females among 
 them, 107 
 
 — how dreams are regarded by them, 
 128 
 
 — their notion of a man’s shadow, 128 
 
 — and of a Deity, 13t) 
 
 — absence of religion among some 
 tribes, 124 
 
 — spirits, how regarded by some, 129 
 
 — how they regard death, 133 
 
 — their belief in a plurality of souls, 
 141 
 
 in divination, 142 
 
 — their sorcery, 144, 145 
 
 — their fasting and supposed revela- 
 tions, 154 
 
 — their religious ideas, 161 
 
 — their belief in fetiches, 167 
 
 — their totemism, 172, 173 
 
 — their worship of the serpent, 179, 
 
 180 
 
 — prevalence of animal worship among 
 them, 180 
 
 - — their tree-worship, 196 
 
 — their water- worship, 202, 203 
 
 — their stone-worship, 210 
 
 — their fire-worship, 210 
 
 — their worship of the sun and moon, 
 215 
 
 — absence of idolatry among them, 
 226 
 
 — their sacrifices, 239 
 
 — fearless of death, 250 
 
 — their ideas of creation, 251 
 
 — their notion of a future state, 269 
 
 — their languages, 279, 288 
 
 — their property in land, 309 
 
 — names taken by parents from their 
 children, 316 
 
 — their punishment of crime, 317 
 
 Ancestors, worship of, 228, 232 
 
 Andaman Islands, relationship between 
 
 the sexes in the, 60, 71 
 
 Anglo-Saxons, their wergild, 321 
 
 Animal-worship considered as a stage 
 of religious progress. 171 
 
 AUS 
 
 Animal-worship — continued. 
 
 — explanations of the ancients, 171 
 
 — among the ancient Egyptians, 183 
 
 — custom of apologising to animals for 
 killing them, 184 
 
 Apis regarded by the Egyptians as a 
 god, 239 
 
 Arabs, their ideas as to the influence of 
 food, 13 
 
 — singular marriage of the Hassanyeh, 
 54 
 
 — relations of husband and wife, 56 
 
 — their ancient stone-worship, 208 
 
 — their notions of a broken oath, 269 
 
 Arawaks, absence of the marriage cere- 
 mony among the, 57 
 
 Arithmetic, difficulties of savages in, 
 295 
 
 — use of the fingers in, 296, 299 
 
 Armenia, marriage customs in, 87 
 
 Art, earliest traces of, 24 
 
 — in the Stone Age, 25 
 
 — almost absent in the Bronze Age, 
 25 
 
 — as an ethnological character, 28, 29 
 
 Aryan religions contrasted with Semitic, 
 
 219, 220 
 
 Ashantee, king of, his harem, 104 
 
 Ashantees, absence of the marriage 
 ceremony among the, 58 
 
 — their water- worship, 200 
 
 — Assyrians, their human sacrifices, 
 242 
 
 Atheism defined, 119 
 
 — the natural condition of the savage 
 mind, 123 
 
 Australians, Dampier’s mistake with 
 the, 33 
 
 — their habit of non -contradiction, 4 
 
 — their customs as to fathers- and mo- 
 thers-in-law, 9 
 
 — their modes of curing diseases, 19, 
 20 
 
 — some of them unable to understand 
 a drawing, 29 
 
 — their personal ornaments, 40 
 
 — marriage among them, 52 
 
 — condition of their women, £2, 68 
 
 — their practice of marriage by capture, 
 73,74 
 
 — restrictions on marriage among them, 
 95 
 
 — how dreams are regarded by them, 
 127 
 
 — their belief in an evil spirit, 132 
 
 — think they become white men after 
 death, 140 
 
 — their religious ideas, 158 
 
INDEX. 
 
 371 
 
 AUS 
 
 Australian s— continued. 
 
 — Mrs. Thomson’s residence among 
 them, 158 
 
 — their totemism, 172 
 
 — had no idea of creation, 251 
 
 — their absence of moral feeling, 264 
 
 — no notion of future rewards and 
 punishments, 266 
 
 — character of their laws, 303 
 
 — their salutations, 306 
 
 - — their property in land, 309 
 
 — division of property into portions, 
 312 
 
 — their custom of taking the names of 
 their children, 315 
 
 — condition of women among them, 36 3 
 
 B ABYLONIA, marriage customs in, 
 87 # 
 
 Bachapins, their religious ideas, 161 
 Balearic Islands, marriage customs in 
 the, 88 
 
 Bali, fancies of the natives of, respecting 
 twins, 20 
 
 — practice of marriage by capture in, 74 
 Bamboo, the, worshipped, 194 
 Basutos, system of primogeniture of the, 
 315 
 
 Battas of Sumatra, relationship through 
 females among the, 106 
 Bear, worship of the, 182 
 Bearn, custom of La Couvade in, 9, 10 
 Bechuanas, their ideas regarding evil 
 spirits, 129, 134 
 
 — their notions of the causes of death, 
 133 
 
 — their totemism, 174 
 Bedouins, absence of religion among the 
 wilder, 123 
 
 — their mode of divination, 142 
 Bells, use of, by the Buddhists, 135 
 — and by the Japanese, 135 
 Berbers, their custom of inheritance 
 through females, 105 
 Bintang Islanders, absence of moral 
 sense among the, 268 
 Bird-worship, 184 
 
 Bo tree, worship of the, in India and 
 Ceylon, 193 
 
 Borneo, condition of the wild men of 
 the interior of, 5, 6 
 — customs as to mothers-in-law, 9 
 — and of La Couvade, 1 1 
 Bornouese, tribe marks of the, 44 
 Bouriats, their sacred lakes, 199 
 Brazilians, their custom of killing and 
 eating captives, 89 
 
 cm 
 
 Brazilians — continued. 
 
 — their marriage regulations, 99 
 
 — their notion of evil spirits, 130 
 
 — sorcerers among them, 153 
 Britons, postobits among the, 248 
 Brumer Island, tattooing among the 
 
 women of, 44 
 
 Bunns of Africa, tribal marks of the, 
 43 
 
 Bushmen, Lichtenstein’s description 
 of the, quoted, 6 
 
 — their customs as to fathers- and 
 mothers-in-law, 9 
 
 — unable to understand perspective, 30 
 
 — absence of the marriage ceremony 
 among them, 58, 60 
 
 — their notions of ghosts, 140 
 
 C ALIFORNIANS, absence of religion 
 and government among the, 3 23 
 — their belief in the destruction of 
 body and spirit, 140 
 — their religious ideas, 160 
 — absence of ideas respecting creation, 
 250 
 
 Cambodians, their low ideas regarding 
 spirits, 135 
 
 — their notion of eclipses, 137 
 Caribs, their ideas respecting the influ- 
 ence of food, 13 
 
 — their practice of marriage by cap- 
 ture, 73 
 
 — their behaviour during eclipses, 137 
 — their belief in the plurality of souls, 
 HI 
 
 — their fasting and supposed revela- 
 tions, 155 
 
 — their notion of the Deity, 264 
 Caroline Islander, tattooing of a, 46 
 Carthaginians, their human sacrifices, 
 242 
 
 Celts, their tree-worship, 196 
 Census roll, an American Indian, 22 
 Ceylon, two kinds of marriage in, 54 
 — polyandry in, 101 
 — religious ideas of the Veddahs of, 
 159 
 
 — tree-worship in, 193 
 
 the sacred Bo tree, 193 
 
 Cheek studs, 42 
 
 Cherokees, divination practised by the, 
 143. . 
 
 — their practice of fasting, 154 
 — their progress in civilisation, 332 
 Chinese, their customs as to daughters* 
 in-law, 8 
 
 — their custom of La Couvade 11 
 
372 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 CHI 
 
 Chinese — continued . 
 
 — their notions as to the influence of 
 food, 13 
 
 — their mode of salutation, 24 
 
 — their presents of coffins, 24 
 
 — their deficiency in the art of perspec- 
 tive, 30 
 
 — their knots for transacting business, 
 
 31 
 
 — their compression of ladies’ feet, 48 
 
 — their. marriage customs, 60 
 
 — restrictions on marriage amongst 
 them, 97 
 
 — notions of the people of Kiatka with 
 reference to eclipses, 137 
 
 — their idea of the man in the moon, 
 138 
 
 — witchcraft of the magicians, 148, 
 149 
 
 — their fetiches, 168 
 
 — life attributed by them to inanimate 
 objects, 190 
 
 — their idolatry, 227 
 
 — their language, 280 
 Chipewyans, their idea of creation, 251 
 Chiquito Indians, their behaviour dur- 
 ing eclipses, 137 
 
 Chittagong, marriage among the hill 
 tribes of, 51, 56 
 
 Circassians, the milk tie among them, 
 66 
 
 — marriage by force among them, 83 
 
 — exogamy among them, 96 
 Coffins, presents of, 24 
 Comanches, their worship of the sun, 
 
 moon, and earth, 215 
 
 — absence of moral feeling among the, 
 264 
 
 Communal marriage, 62, 66, 70 
 Coroados, custom of La Couvade among 
 the, 10 
 
 Coroados, personal ornaments of a 
 woman, 41 
 
 — their worship of the sun and moon, 
 215 
 
 — their method of numeration, 298 
 Courtesans, respect paid in Greece to, 
 
 90 
 
 — their religious character in India, 
 
 91 
 
 Couvade, La, custom of, in Bearn, 10 
 
 — its wide distribution, 10, 11 
 
 — origin of the custom, 1 2 
 Creation, no idea of, among the lower 
 
 races, 250 
 
 Crocodile -worship, 171, 184 
 
 F AM 
 
 ACOTAHS, their notions as to the 
 influence of food, 1 3 
 
 — their w’ater-god, Unktahe, 202 
 
 — their stone-worship, 210 
 Dahomejq king of, his messengers to his 
 
 deceased father, 249 
 Dampier, his mistake with Australians, 
 3 
 
 Dances, religious, among savages, 155, 
 359 
 
 — a dance among the Redskins of Vir- 
 ginia, 244 
 
 Death, disbelief among savages in the 
 existence of natural, 132, 133 i 
 
 Decan, tattooing of the women of, 44 
 Deification, savage tendency to, 188 
 Dekkan, sacred stones in the, 206, 244 
 Disease, how regarded by savages, 17 
 
 — various modes of curing, 1 8 
 
 — causes of, according to the Kaffirs, 
 163 
 
 Divination among savage races, 141 
 
 — modes of, described, 141-143 
 Doingnaks, endogafhy of the, 103 
 Dreams, religious ideas suggested by, 
 
 126 
 
 Dyaks of Borneo, custom of La Couvade 
 among the, 1 1 
 
 — their ideas respecting the influence 
 of food, 13 
 
 E AR ornaments, 42 
 
 Eclipses, behaviour of savage. 5 
 during, 136, 137 
 Endogamy, origin of, 102 
 England, water- worship in, 198 
 — worship of stones in, 209 
 Esquimaux, their attempts to rend el 
 barren women fertile, 14 
 — their mode of curing diseases, 19 
 — their mode of salutation, 24 
 — their skill in drawing, 26, 27 
 — their picture-writings, 32 
 — their personal ornamentation, 42 
 — their habit of licking presents, 66 
 — their capture of brides, 78 
 — their Shamanism, 223 
 — their language, 27 9 
 — Capt. Parry’s picture of a hut of the 
 343 
 
 Eyebright, the, used for ocular com 
 plaints, 13 
 
 Exogamy, or marriage out of a tribe, 9 
 
 1 7 AMILIA, the, of the Romans, 52 
 . 68 
 
INDEX. 
 
 373 
 
 FAS 
 
 Fasting practised by savages, 153 
 Feejeeans, their custom of Yasu, 108, 
 315 
 
 — their tattooing, 45 
 
 — their hair-dressing, 48 
 
 — their polyandry, 55 
 
 — their marriage customs, 56 
 
 — their marriage by capture, 79 
 
 — their mode of sorcery, 144, 145, 147 
 
 — ‘their serpent-worship, 179 
 
 — and worship of other animals, 182 
 
 — their worship of plants, 196 
 
 — their stone-worship, 210 
 
 — their Shamanism, 224 
 
 — their offerings of food to the gods, 
 238 
 
 — their notions of a future state, 246 
 
 — their practice of putting old people 
 to death, 248 
 
 — names and character of their gods, 
 266 
 
 — have no notion of future rewards and 
 punishments, 267 
 
 — their ceremonies, 308 
 Felatah ladies, toilet of, 42 
 Fetichism, defined, 119 
 
 — considered as a stage of religious 
 progress, 164 
 
 — belief of the negroes in, 165 
 
 - — believed in Europe and in other 
 races, 165-167 
 
 — eating the fetich, 169, 241 
 Fire-worship, 212 
 
 Flatheads of Oregon, their fasts and 
 supposed revelations, 154 
 Formosa, tattooing in, 44 
 France, worship of stones in, 209 
 Friendly Islanders, their explanations 
 to Labillardiere, 3 
 
 — their treachery, 257 
 Friesland, marriage by force in, 83 
 Futans, marriage customs of the, 82 
 Future life, absence of belief in a, 
 
 among savages, 139 
 
 /'I ALACTOPHAGI, communal mar- 
 riage of the, 65 
 
 Gambier Islands, tattooing in the, 45 
 Gangamma, or rivers worshipped in 
 India, 200 
 
 Ganges, worship of the, 200 
 Germans, ancient, relationship among 
 the, 108 
 
 Ghosts, belief of savages in, 138, 140, 
 
 141 
 
 — difference in the belief in ghosts and 
 in the existence of a soul, 245 
 
 HUR 
 
 Goguet, on property, 308 
 
 — on laws, 300 
 
 Goose, the, worshipped, 183 
 Grave-posts of American Indians, 33 
 Greeks, their marriage customs, 87 
 
 — their notions respecting their deities, 
 136 
 
 — their water-worship, 199 
 
 — their stone-worship, 208 
 
 — origin of their myths, 220, 221 
 
 — character of their gods, 266 
 
 — their power of willing property, 31> 
 Greenlanders, their custom of La Cou- 
 
 vade, 11 
 
 — their notions respecting dreams, 1% 
 
 — their behaviour during eclipses, 136 
 
 — fasting and sorcery among them, 153 
 
 — seizure of property after a man’s 
 death, 311 
 
 Gruaich-stones in Skye, 210 
 
 Guam, endogamy in, 103 
 
 Guiana, custom of La Couvade in, 10 
 
 — restrictions on marriage among the, 
 98 
 
 — native method of numeration, 297 
 Guinea, New, tattooing among the wo- 
 men of, 44 
 
 Guinea, tattooing in, 44 
 
 — human sacrifices at, 242 
 Guyacurus of Paraguay, matrimony 
 
 among the, 51 
 
 *p|~ AIR-DRESSING of the Feejeeans, 
 
 Hawaii, system of relationship in, 
 61-64 
 
 — low ideas of the natives respecting 
 spirits, 134 
 
 Head, compression of the, among some 
 American tribes, 48 
 
 Heaven, ideas of, among the lower races, 
 247 
 
 Heliogabalus, form of the god, 208 
 
 Hermes, or Termes, worship of stones 
 under the name of, 205, 208 
 » Hottentots, marriage among the, 50 
 
 — their evil spirits, 129 
 
 — their notion of prayer, 253 
 
 — but no idea of future rewards and 
 punishments, 268 
 
 Hudson’s Pay Indians, relationship 
 through females among the, 107 
 
 Hunting laws of savages, 305 
 
 Huron s, system of relationship among 
 the, 110-112 
 
374 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 IDO 
 
 [ DOLATBY, or anthropomorphism, 
 119 
 
 — considered as a stage of religions 
 development, 225 
 
 — unknown to the lower races, 226, 227 
 — origin of, 228 
 — Solomon on idols, 230 
 — idols not regarded as mere emblems, 
 231 
 
 India, absence of the marriage ceremony 
 among some tribes in, 57 
 — marriage customs among others, 75, 
 76 , 88 
 
 — respect paid to courtesans at Yesali, 
 90, 91 
 
 - — restrictions on marriage in some 
 races, 95, 96 
 — polyandry in, 101 
 — endogamy, 102 
 
 sorcery of the magicians of, 145 
 — witchcraft in, 149 
 — religious dances in, 157 
 — Fetichism in, 165-167 
 — animal- worship in, 183 
 — inanimate objects worshipped in, 191 
 — tree -worship in, 193, 194 
 — water-worship in, 200 
 « — stone-worship in, 206 
 — worship of the sun in, 215 
 — various other worships in, 217 
 — idolatry in, 227 
 — worship of ancestors in, 228 
 — human sacrifices in, 240, 242 
 — notions of future rewards and pun- 
 ishment among various races of, 268 
 — salutations and ceremonies in, 307 
 — rights of children in, 314 
 — primogeniture in, 317 
 Infanticide, causes of, among savages, 93 
 Inheritance, custom of, through females, 
 105 
 
 Ireland, water- worship in, 199 
 — stone-worship in, 209 
 Iroquois, svstem of relationship among 
 the, 110-112 
 
 Italy, marriage custom in, 87 
 
 AKUTS, restrictions on marriage 
 among the, 97 
 
 — their worship of animals, 1 82 
 
 — their worship of trees, 194 
 Jews, relationship among the, 108 
 * — , sacrifices among the, 237, 243 
 
 'AFFIBS, unable to understand draw- 
 . ings, 30 
 
 KOL 
 
 Kaffirs — continued. 
 
 — ornamentation of the skin of the 
 Bachapins, 43 
 
 — marriage among the. 50 
 
 — remarks of the chief Seseka to Mr. 
 Arbrousset, 114 
 
 — absence of religion among the 
 Koussas, 123 
 
 — a Zulu’s notions of religion, 125 
 
 — disease attributed by the Koussas to 
 three causes, 132 
 
 — their notion of the causes of death, 
 133 
 
 — and of evil spirits, 135 
 
 — religious ideas, 161, 162 
 
 — curious hunting custom of the 
 Koussas, 185 
 
 — their worship of ancestors, 229 
 
 — their notions of creation, 251 
 
 — absence of moral feeling among the, 
 264. 
 
 — their method of numeration, 298, 299 
 Kalangs of Java, restrictions on mar- 
 riage among the, 103 
 
 Kalmucks, marriage ceremonies of the, 
 
 77 
 
 — restrictions on marriage among the, 
 96 
 
 — their character, 256 
 Kamchadales, marriage by capture 
 
 among the, 77 
 
 — their low ideas of spirits, 134 
 Kamskatka, custom of La Couvade in, 
 
 11 
 
 Kenaiyers, restrictions on marriage 
 among the, 97 
 
 — relationship through females among 
 the, 107 
 
 Khasias of Hindostan, their fancies 
 respecting twins, 21 
 Konds of Orissa, marriage customs 
 among the, 7 5 
 
 — restrictions on marriage among they 
 96 
 
 — their totemism, 173 
 
 — their water- worship, 200 
 *)• — and stone-worship, 206 
 
 — their worship of the sun and moon, 
 216 
 
 — human sacrifices among them, 240 
 Kirghiz, sacrifices among the, 238 
 Kissing, not universally practised, 24 
 Knots used as records, 31 
 
 Kols of Central India, marriage cert* 
 monies of the, 76 
 
 — their belief in an evil genius, 133 
 
 — their religious dances, 155 
 
 — their totemism, 173 
 
INDEX. 
 
 375 
 
 KOO 
 
 Kookies of Chittagong, have no notion 
 of future rewards and punishments, 
 268 
 
 L ABBETS of the Americans and 
 Africans, 42 
 Lake-worship, 199-201 
 Lama, Great, of Thibet, worship of the, 
 236 
 
 Land, property in, among savages. 308 
 — communal property, 310 
 Language, figurative, of savages, 191 
 — the language of the lowest races, 275 
 — gesture language, 276, 277 
 — origin of languages, 277 
 — root-words, 280 
 — onomatopoeia, 281 
 — abstract names, 282 
 — nicknames and slang terms, 283 
 — origin of the terms ‘ father ’ and 
 ‘mother,’ 283 
 
 — choice of root-words, 289 
 — poverty of savage languages, 291- 
 298 
 
 — table of seventeen languages, 357 
 Laplanders, their ideas with reference 
 to portraits, 15 
 
 — their mode of divination, 142 
 — fasting of wizards among the, 155 
 Law, connection of, with right, 269 
 Laws of the lower races, 300 
 — character of their laws, 302 
 — their multiplicity, 304 
 — their rules and ceremonies, 305 
 — hunting laws, 305 
 — salutations, 306 
 — property in land, 308 
 — land tenures, 311 
 — wills, 312 
 
 — punishment of crime, 318 
 Letters, bark, of the American Indians, 
 37, 38 
 
 Licking presents, habit of, 66 
 Life, how regarded by savages, 20 
 Limboos, customs of relationship 
 among the, 106 
 
 Lycians, relationship through females 
 among the, 106 
 
 — animals worshipped in, 184 
 
 — absence of temples in, 243 
 M‘Lennan on marriage, vii. 57-60, et seq. 
 Maine, Mr., remarks on his * Ancient 
 
 Law, 2 
 
 HEX 
 
 Maine — continued. 
 
 — on wills, 311 
 
 Malays, their ideas respecting the in - 
 fluence of food, 12 
 
 — their marriage ceremonies, 76 
 
 — Mr. Wallace’s picture of a savago 
 community, 262 
 
 — their method of numeration, 298 
 Mammoth, ancient drawing of a, 25 
 Mandans, their water-worship, 203 
 Mandingoes, marriage among the, 51 
 
 — absence of marriage ceremony among 
 the, 58 
 
 — custom at marriage, 59 
 
 — marriage by force among the, 82 
 
 — animal-worship among the, 186 
 
 — their notion of prayer, 253 
 Mantchu Tartars, restrictions on mar- 
 riages among the, 103 
 
 Maoris, their worship of animals, 182 
 Marriage among savages, 50 
 
 — different kinds of, 53, 54 
 
 — • provisional marriages in Ceylon, 54 
 
 — absence of marriage ceremony, 57 
 and of any word for marriage, 58 
 
 — distinction between ‘lax’ and 
 ‘ brittle ’ marriages, 59 
 
 — gradual development of the custom 
 of marriage, 60 
 
 — - — communal marriage, 60, 67 
 Bachofen’s views, 67-69 
 
 marriage with female supre- 
 macy, 67 
 
 wrestling for wives, 69 
 
 M‘Lennan’s views, 69 
 
 the true explanation, 70, 71 
 
 the prevalence of marriage by 
 
 capture, 72 
 
 which becomes subsequently 
 
 a form, 75 
 
 custom of lifting the bride over 
 
 the doorstep, 84 
 
 marriage by confarreatio, 85 
 
 expiation for marriage in various 
 
 countries, 86, 364 
 
 temporary wives, 89-91 
 
 exogamy and its origin, 92 
 
 restrictions against marrying 
 
 women of the same stock, 94 
 — - — endogamy, 102 
 
 — marriage with half-sisters, 108 
 Mercury, his offices, 204, 205 
 Mexicans, animal worship among th^ 
 
 181 
 
 — their tree-worship, 196 
 
 — their water-worship, 203 
 
 — their fire-worship, 214 
 
 — their human sacrifices, 239, 240, 248 
 
876 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 MIL 
 
 Milk tie, the, in Circassia, 66 
 
 — strength of the relationship among 
 the Scotch Highlanders, 1 04 
 
 Mongols, marriage customs of the, 78 
 
 — their mode of divination, 142 
 
 — their laws, 304 
 Moon, worship of the, 214 
 Moral feeling, origin of, 270 
 
 — connection of religion and morality, 
 273 
 
 Mothers-in-law, customs in reference 
 to, 7 
 
 AIRS of India, relationship among 
 the, 60 
 
 — relationship through females among 
 the, 106. 
 
 Naples, feti chism in, 255 
 Natchez, their stone-worship, 210 
 
 — their fire-worship, 214, 215 
 Nature-worship defined, 119 
 Naudowessies, custom of polyandry 
 
 among the, 88 
 
 Negroes, inactivity of their intellect, 5 
 
 — their notion of evil spirits, 130, 131 
 
 — their belief in ghosts, 138 
 
 — their absence of belief in a future 
 life, 139 
 
 — become white men after death, 
 140 
 
 — their mode of divination, 142 
 
 — their sorcery, 144 
 
 — their belief in fetichism, 1 64 
 
 — their tree-worship, 192, 193 
 
 — their worship of the sea, 200 
 
 — and of white men, masts, and pumps, 
 202 
 
 — tb^ir moon-worship, 216 
 
 — and worship of an iron bar, 217 
 
 — Shamanism among them, 225 
 
 — have no notion of creation, 252 
 
 — nor of prayer to the Deity, 253 
 
 « — absence of moral feeling among the, 
 264 
 
 — their salutations, 306 
 Nicaragua, rain-worship in, 203 
 Nicknames, origin of, 283 
 
 Nicobar Islands, ideas of the natives of, 
 of spirits, 134 
 
 Numerals, savage names of, 296, 297 
 Nyambanas, ornamentation of the skin 
 of the, 43 
 
 0 JIBWAS, their fire-worship, 214 
 
 Omahaws, their customs respecting 
 Mons-in-law, 7 
 
 QUI 
 
 Ornaments, personal, of savages, 40 
 Ostiaks, their customs as to daughters- 
 in-law, 8 
 
 — exogamy among them, 96 
 
 — their religious dances, 157 
 
 — their fetiches, 169 
 
 — their tree- worship, 194 
 
 — and stone- worship, 206 
 
 — their statues in memory of the 
 dead, 229 
 
 Ox, the, held sacred in India and 
 Ceylon, 183 
 
 P ARAGUAY, sea-worship in, 204 
 Parents, custom of naming them 
 after children, 316 
 Patagonians, their tree- worship, 196 
 Petition, an American Indian, 39 
 Peruvians, their mode of recording 
 events, 31 
 
 — their notions of eclipses, 137 
 — their animal worship, 181 
 — their sea-worship, 204 
 — their fire-worship, 214 
 — their notion of religion and morals, 
 268, 269 
 
 Phillippine Islands, worship of trees in 
 the, 195 
 
 Phoenicians, their stone -worship, 208 
 Picture-writing, 31, 32 
 Pleiades, worship of the, 2 1 
 Polyandry, reasons for, 55 
 — causes of, 100 
 
 — list of tribes regarded as polyandrou©, 
 100 
 
 — considered as an exceptional pheno- 
 menon, 100, 101 
 
 — widely distributed over India, Thibet, 
 and Ceylon, 101 
 Polygamy, causes of, 99, 100 
 Polynesians, relationship through fe- 
 males in, 107 
 — their drawings, 26 
 — polyandry among them, 101 
 — their powers of witchcraft, 152 
 — animal- worship among them, 181 
 — their worship of men, 235 
 — their method of numeration, 298 
 — their property in land, 310 
 — their laws, 320 
 Pond-worship, 201 
 
 Priests, absence of, among the lower 
 races, 244 
 
 QUIPPU, the, of the Peruvians, 31 
 
INDEX. 
 
 377 
 
 RAI 
 
 R ainbow, worship of the, 217 
 
 Rain-worship, 203 
 
 Reddies of Southern India, marriage 
 customs of the, 54 
 
 Reindeer, ancient drawing of a, 25, 2G 
 Relationship among savages, 50 
 Relationships independent of marriage, 
 
 61 
 
 — adoption, 65 
 — the milk-tie, 66 
 
 — change in the relationship female 
 •to the male line, 109, 110 
 — system of kinship of the Iroquois 
 and Huron Indians, 110-112 
 — through females, 105 
 
 males, 110 
 
 * — present system, 113 
 Religion of savages, 114 
 — their mental inactivity, 115 
 — character of their religion, 116 
 — classification of the lower religions, 
 119 
 
 — sequence of religions according to 
 Sanchoniatho, 119 
 
 — religious condition of the lowest 
 races, 121 
 
 — tribes among whom religion is absent, 
 122 
 
 — rudimentary religion, 125 
 
 dreams, 126 
 
 a man’s shadow, 128 
 
 spirits at first regarded as evil, 
 
 129 
 
 and causing disease, 131 
 
 — — low ideas of spirits entertained 
 by savages, 134 
 
 belief in ghosts, 138 
 
 absence of belief in a future state, 
 
 139 
 
 plurality of souls, 141 
 
 divination and sorcery, 141-147 
 
 • witchcraft, 148 
 
 religious dances, 155 » 
 
 — gradual development of religious 
 ideas, 158-163 
 
 fetichism, 164 
 
 totemism, 169 
 
 animal worship. 171 
 
 *— — deification of inanimate objeets, 
 
 187 
 
 — — tree-worship, 191 
 
 * water-worship, 198 
 
 worship of stones and mountains, 
 
 204 
 
 fire-worship, 212 
 
 worship of the sun, moon, and 
 
 stars, 214 
 
 sundry other worships, 216, 217 
 
 SAV 
 
 Religion of Savages — continued. 
 
 developmental and adaptational 
 
 changes, 219 
 
 Shamanism, 222 
 
 idolatry, 225 
 
 worship of ancestors and of men 
 
 232, 233 
 
 worship of principles, 237 
 
 sacrifices, 237, 23-8 
 
 temples, 248 
 
 the soul, 245-24-8 
 
 the future state, 249 
 
 creation, 250 
 
 prayer, 253 
 
 the nature of idols, 255 
 
 — • — connection of religion and mo- 
 rality, 273 
 
 — progress of religious ideas among 
 savages, 348, 349 
 
 Right, connection of, with law, 269 
 River- worship, 201 
 Rock sculptures, 40 
 
 — of Western Europe, 40 
 
 Romans, their notions respecting their 
 deities, 136 
 
 — sorcery among them, 146 
 
 — origin of their myths, 221 
 
 — their wills, 313 
 
 — their laws of property, 319 
 
 — property in land in, 310 
 
 ABJEISM, 187 
 
 Sacrifices, human, 237-242 
 
 — confusion of the victim with th? 
 Deity, 239 
 
 — in ancient times, 242 
 Salutation, forms of, among savages 
 
 23, 24 
 
 Samoyedes, marriage among the, 52 
 
 — marriage by capture among the, 78 
 
 — exogamy among the, 96 
 Sanchoniatho, sequence of religions ac 
 
 cording to, 1 19 
 
 Sandwich Islander, tattooing of a, 46 
 
 — relationship among the, 60, 61 
 
 — endogamy among them, 103 
 
 — their animal worship, 181 
 Savages, their reasons for what they do 
 
 and believe,’ 3 
 
 — difficulties of communicating witn 
 them, and consequent mistakes, 3 
 
 — inactivity of their intellect, 4 
 
 — condition of the lowest races of men, 
 5-7 
 
 — resemblance of different races in 
 similar stages of development to one 
 another, 7 
 
378 
 
 •INDEX. 
 
 SAV. 
 
 Savages — continued. 
 
 — wide distribution of tlie custom of 
 La Couvade, 10, 11 
 
 — ideas on the influence of food, 12 
 
 — their notions with reference to por- 
 traits, 14 
 
 — and as to the value of writing, 16, 17 
 
 — their ideas of disease, 1 7 
 
 — their fancies respecting twins, 21 
 
 — how life is regarded by them, 22 
 
 — their forms of salutation, 23 
 
 — art among them, 24 
 
 — their personal ornaments, 40 
 
 — marriage and relationship among 
 them, 50 et seq. 
 
 — their religion, 114 et seq. 
 
 — their figurative language, 191 
 
 — their character and morals, 257 
 difficulty of ascertaining the cha- 
 racter of savage races, 260, 261 
 
 their progress in morals, 262 
 
 their family affection and moral 
 
 feeling, 263. 
 
 have no notion of a future state, 
 
 266 
 
 origin of moral feeling, 270 
 
 — language of the lowest races, 275 
 - — their laws, 300 
 
 — true nature of barbarism, 340 
 
 — general conclusions respecting savage 
 races, 323 
 
 — • papers on the primitive condition of 
 man, 325, 337 
 
 Science, services of, to the cause of re- 
 ligion and humanity, 256 
 Scotland, water- worship in, 198 
 
 — stone-worship in Skye, 210 
 Scythians, their worship of a scimetar, 
 
 216 
 
 Sea, worship of the, 200, 204 
 Semitic religions contrasted with Aryan, 
 219, 220 
 
 Serpent, worship of the, 174 
 
 — races in which the serpent was and 
 is worshipped, 176 
 
 Shadow, how regarded by savages, 128, 
 163 
 
 Shamanism defined, 119 
 
 — origin of the word Shaman, 222 
 
 — account of, 222 
 
 Shamans of Siberia, their supernatural 
 powers, 152 
 
 Siberia, stone-worship in, 206 
 
 — worship of ancestors in, 229 
 
 — notions of the people of, as to Crea- 
 tion, 251 
 
 Sio'^s, system of relationship among 
 the, 65 
 
 TAC 
 
 Skin, ornamentation of the, 43 
 Skye, worship of stones in, ’210 
 Slang terms, origin of, 283 
 Smoking in religious ceremonies, 157 
 Snakes, departed relatives tl the form 
 of, 163 
 
 Sneezing, custom at, 336 
 Sonthals, marriage customs of the, 88 
 
 — their religious observances during 
 intoxication, 157 
 
 — their mode of praying for rain, 208 
 Soors, absence of moral sense among 
 
 the, 265 ' 
 
 Sorcery among savages, 143, 144 
 
 — various modes of, 144-147 
 
 — sorcerers not necessarily impostors, 
 
 152 # 
 
 Soul, difference between the belief in 
 ghosts and in the existence of a soul, 
 245 
 
 — souls of inanimate objects, 246 
 
 — belief that each man has several 
 souls, 247 
 
 South Sea Islanders, their religion, 117 
 Spartans, their marriages by capture, 
 83 
 
 Spiders worshipped, 182 
 Spirits, always regarded by savages as 
 evil, 129 
 
 — the authors of diseases, 131 
 Stars, worship of the, 214 
 
 Statues, worshipped as deities, 229, 
 230 
 
 Stiens of Cambodia, their belief in an 
 evil genius, 132 
 
 — their behaviour during eclipses, 137 
 
 — their animal-worship, 186 
 
 — absence of temples among the, 243 
 Stones, worship of, 204 
 Sumatrans, three kinds of marriage 
 
 among the, 53, 54 
 — - sorcery among them, 146 
 
 — their behaviour during an eclipse, 
 136 
 
 — their animal- worship, 186 
 
 — their tree-worship, 195 
 
 — their water-worship, 200 
 
 — their notion of a future state, 267 
 
 — their names taken from their chil- 
 dren, 316 
 
 Sun, the, worshipped by the Peruvians, 
 181 
 
 — original form of sun-worship, 1 87 
 
 — worship pi the, 214 
 Swords, worship of, 216, 217 
 
 T ACITUS, his observations on the an 
 cient Germans, 2 
 
IHDEX. 
 
 379 
 
 TAH 
 
 Tahiti, marriage customs in, 58, 59 
 • — animal-worship in, 181 
 
 — worship of the king and queen of, 
 233 
 
 — absence of ideas as to creation in, 
 253 
 
 — character of the natives, 257, 260 
 
 — character of the laws of, 303 
 
 — and of the ceremonies of, 307 
 
 — property in land in, 310 
 
 — property left by will in, 313 
 
 — custom of abdication of the king of, 
 
 315 . . 
 
 — stone-worship in, 210 
 
 — notions of the people as to future 
 rewards and punishments, 266 
 
 Tamils, system of relationship among 
 the, 111, 112 
 
 Tanna, tattooing among the women of, 
 44 
 
 Tapyrians, marriage custom of the, 89 
 Tartars, their notion of God, 135 
 
 — inheritance in the youngest son 
 among the, 316 
 
 Tattooing, among the Africans, 43, 44 
 
 — among other races, 44-47 
 Teehurs of Oude, relationship of the 
 
 sexes among the, 60 
 Teeth filed, 42 
 
 — pierced and ornamented, 42, 43 
 Temples, unknown mostly to the lower 
 
 races, 243 
 
 Thibet, polyandry in, 101 
 Thomson, Mrs., worshipped as a deity 
 in Australia, 235 • 
 
 Thracians, marriage customs of the, 87 
 Tierra del Euego, marriages in, 79 
 Tinne Indians, restrictions on marriage 
 among the, 97 
 
 Tipperahs of Chittagong, their notions 
 respecting the spirits of the dead, 
 140 
 
 Todas of the Neilgherry Hills, their 
 system of relationships, 64 
 
 — their restrictions on marriage, 96 
 
 — their worship of the ox, 183 
 
 — never pray, 254 
 
 Tombstones of American Indians, 33 
 Tonga Islands, tattooing in the, 45 
 
 — practice of adoption in the, 65 
 
 — relationship through females in, 107 
 
 — worship of animals in the, 182 
 
 — immortality of their chiefs, 245 
 
 — their notion of a future state, 247 
 
 . — character of the islanders, 256, 257 
 
 — their absence of moral feeling, 265 
 
 — and of the idea of future rewards 
 and punishments, 267 
 
 WOM 
 
 Tonga Islands — continued. 
 
 — ceremonies of the people of, 306 
 Totemism defined, 119 
 
 — considered as stage of religious pro- 
 gress, 169 
 
 Totems, or crests, importance of, 98 
 Tottigars of India, system of relation- 
 ship of the, 65 
 
 Tree- worship, universality of, 192 
 Tribe marks of various African races, 44 
 Tunguses, marriage by capture among 
 the, 77 
 
 — their mode of divination, 142 
 
 — their water-worship, 199 
 Turkomans, marriage among the, 56 
 Tuski, their skill in drawing, 26 
 Twins, fancies respecting, 20, 21 
 
 — cause of the general prejudice against, 
 
 21, 22 
 
 Tylor, Early History of Man, vii. 
 
 Tyre, worship of a statue of Hercules 
 at, 231 
 
 Y EEDAHS of Ceylon, their religious 
 ideas, 159 
 
 Vesali, religious character of the 
 courtesans of, 91 
 
 Virginia, religious dance of the natives 
 of, 156 
 
 W ALES, marriage customs in, 83 
 
 Warali tribes, restrictions on 
 marriage in the, 95 
 Water- worship, in Europe, 198, 199 
 Wells, sacred, in Scotland, 198, 199 
 Wergild of the Anglo-Saxons, 321 
 Whately, Dr., Archbishop of Dublin, 
 his views as to the condition of 
 savages, 325 
 
 — answers to his arguments, 329 
 Whydah, an idol of, 178 
 — water-worship at, 200 
 Wills, modern origin of, 312 
 Witchcraft among savages, 148 
 — its similarity in various parts of the 
 world, 148, 149 
 
 — the belief in, shared by Europeans, 
 150 
 
 Wives, custom of supplying guests with, 
 88, 89 
 
 Women, position of, among savages, 
 51, 68 
 
 — communities in which women have 
 exercised the supreme power, 67, 68 
 — origin of exogamy, 92 
 — causes of polygamy, 99 
 
S80 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 WOM 
 
 W omen — continued . 
 
 — endogamy, 102 
 
 — inheritance through females, 105 
 
 — position of women in Australia, 363 
 Wrestling for a wife, custom of, 69 
 Writing, used as medicine, 16 
 
 — surprise of savages at, as a mode of 
 communication, 30 
 
 — picture-writing, 32 
 
 Indian hark letters, 36-39 
 
 — application of art to purposes of 
 personal decoration, 40 
 
 F RKALAS of Southern India, mar- 
 riage customs of the, 102 
 
 Z EALANDERS, New, their tattooing, 
 47 
 
 ZEA 
 
 Zealanders, New — continued . 
 
 — their courtship and marriage, 80 
 
 — endogamy among them, 103 
 
 — evil spirits, how regarded by them, 
 131 
 
 — sorcery and witchcraft among them, 
 147, 148 
 
 — custom of hardening the heart to 
 pity, 13 
 
 — causes of their cannibalism, 13 
 
 — their belief in the destruction of 
 body and spirit, 140 
 
 — their mode of divination, 142 
 
 — their worship of animals, 182 
 
 — red a sacred colour with them, 207 
 
 — their worship of the rainbow, 217 
 
 — their belief in the destruction of 
 both body and soul, 245 
 
 — their absence of moral feeling, ‘262 
 
 — their three tenures of land, 310 
 
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 In the whole history of the progress of knowledge there is no case so re- 
 markable of a system of doctrines, at first generally condemned as false and 
 absurd, coming into general acceptance in the scientific world in a single 
 decade. From the following statements, the reader will infer the estimate 
 that is now placed upon the man and his works by the highest authorities. 
 
 “Personally and practically exercised in zoology, in minute anatomy, in 
 geology ; a student of geographical distribution, not on maps and in museums 
 only, but by long voyages and laborious collection ; having largely advanced 
 each of these branches of science, and having spent many years in gathering 
 and sifting materials for his present work, the store of .accurately-registered 
 facts upon which the author of the ‘ Origin of Species’ is able to draw at 
 will is prodigious.” — Prof. T. H. Huxley. 
 
 “ Far abler men than myself may confess that they have not that untiring 
 patience in accumulating, and that wonderful skill in using, large masses of 
 facts of the most varied kind — that wide and accurate physiological knowl- 
 edge — that acuteness in devising, that skill in carrying out experiments, and 
 that admirable style of composition, at once clear, persuasive, and judicial, 
 qualities which, in their harmonious combination, mark out Mr. Darwin as 
 the man, perhaps of all men now living, best fitted for the great work he 
 has undertaken and accomplished.” — Alfred Bussell Wallace. 
 
 In Germany these views are rapidly extending. Prof. Giekie, a distin- 
 guished British geologist, attended the recent Congress of German Natural- 
 ists and Physicians, at Innspruck, in which some eight hundred savants 
 were present, and thus writes : 
 
 “What specially struck me was the universal sway which the writings 
 of Darwin now exercise over the German mind. You see it on every side, in 
 private conversation, in printed papers, in all the many sections into which 
 such a meeting as that at Innspruck divides. Darwin’s name is often men- 
 tioned, and always with the profoundest veneration. But even where no al- 
 lusion is specially made* to him, nay, even more markedly, where such allusion 
 is absent, we see how thoroughly his doctrines have permeated the scientific 
 mind, even in those departments of knowledge which might seem at first 
 sight to be farthest from natural history. ‘You are still discussing in Eng- 
 land,’ said a German friend to me, ‘ whether or not the theory of Darwin can 
 be true. We have got a long way beyond that here. His theory is now our 
 common starting-point.’ And, so far as my experience went, I found it to 
 be so.” 
 
 3D. APPLETON Sc CO.. IMTblislierjs. 
 
SPENCER'S SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF EVOLUTION. 
 
 By HERBERT SPENCER. 
 
 This great system of scientific thought, the most original and important men- 
 tal undertaking of the age, to which Mr. Spencer has devoted his life, is now well 
 advanced, the published volumes being : First Principles, The Principles of Bi- 
 ology, two volumes, and The Principles of Psychology, vol. i., which will be 
 shortly printed. 
 
 This philosophical system differs from all its predecessors in being solidly 
 based on the sciences of observation and induction ; in representing the order 
 and course of Nature ; in bringing Nature and man, life, mind, and society, under 
 one great law of action ; and in developing a method of thought which may serve 
 for practical guidance in dealing with the affairs of life. That Mr. Spencer is the 
 man for this great work will be evident from the following statements : 
 
 “ The only complete and systematic statement of the doctrine of Evolution 
 with which I am acquainted is that contained in Mr. Herbert Spencer’s ‘ System 
 of Philosophy ; ’ a work which should be carefully studied by all who desire to 
 know whither scientific thought is tending.”— T. H. Huxley. 
 
 “ Of all our thinkers, he is the one who has formed to himself the largest new 
 scheme of a systematic philosophy.”— Prof. Masson. 
 
 “ If any individual influence is visibly encroaching on Mills in this country, it 
 is his.”— Ibid. 
 
 “Mr. Spencer is one of the most vigorous as well as boldest thinkers that 
 English speculation has yet produced.” — John Stuart Mill. 
 
 “ One of the acutest metaphysicians of modem times.”— Ibid. 
 
 “ One of our deepest thinkers.”— Dr. Joseph D. Hooker. 
 
 It is questionable if any thinker of finer calibre has appeared in our coun- 
 try.”— George Henry Lewes. 
 
 “He alone, of all British thinkers, has organized a philosophy.”— Ihid. 
 
 “ He is as keen an analyst as is known in the history of philosophy ; I do not 
 except either Aristotle or Kant.”— George Eipley. 
 
 “ If we were to give our own judgment, we should say that, since Newton, 
 there has not in England been a philosopher of more remarkable speculative and 
 systematizing talent than (in spite of some errors and some narrowness) Mr. Her- 
 bert Spencer.”— London Saturday Review . 
 
 “We cannot refrain from offering our tribute of respect to one who, whether 
 for the extent of his positive knowledge, or for the profundity of his speculative 
 insight, has already achieved a name second to none in the whole range, of Eng- 
 lish philosophy, and whose works will worthily sustain the credit of English 
 thought in the present generation.” — Westminster Review, 
 
D. Appleton & Company's Publications . 
 
 LAY SERMOYS, 
 
 ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS, 
 
 By THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY. 
 
 Cloth, 12mo. 390 pages. Price, $1.75 
 
 This is the latest and most popular of the works of this in- 
 trepid and accomplished English thinker. The American edition 
 of the work is the latest, and contains, in addition to the English 
 edition, Professor Huxley’s recent masterly address on “ Spon- 
 taneous Generation,” delivered before the British Association for 
 the Advancement of Science, of which he was president. 
 
 The following is from an able article in the Independent : 
 
 The “ Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews ” is a book to be read 
 by every one who would keep up with the advance of truth — as well by 
 those who are hostile as those who are friendly to his conclusions. In 
 it, scientific and philosophical topics are handled with consummate abil- 
 ity. It is remarkable for purity of style and power of expression. No- 
 where, in any modern work, is the advancement of the pursuit of that 
 natural knowledge, which is of vital importance to bodily and mental 
 well-being, so ably handled. 
 
 Professor Huxley is undoubtedly the representative scientific man of 
 the age. His reverence for the right and devotion to truth have estab- 
 lished his leadership of modern scientific thought. He leads the beliefs 
 and aspirations of the increasingly powerful body of the younger men of 
 science. His ability for research is marvellous. There is possible no more 
 equipoise of judgment than that to which he brings the phenomena of 
 Nature. Besides, he is not a mere scientist. His is a popularized phi- 
 losophy ; social questions have been treated by his pen in a manner most 
 masterly. In his popular addresses, embracing the widest range of top- 
 ics, he treads on ground with which he seems thoroughly familiar. 
 
 There are those who hold the name of Professor Huxley as synony- 
 mous with irreverence and atheism. Plato’s was so held, and Galileo’s, 
 and Descartes’s, and Newton’s, and Faraday’s. There can be no greater 
 mistake. No man has greater reverence for the Bible than Huxley. No 
 one more acquaintance with the text of Scripture. He believes there is 
 definite government of the universe ; that pleasures and pains are distrib- 
 uted in accordance with law ; and that the certain proportion of evil 
 woven up in the life even of worms will help the man who thinks to bear 
 his own share with courage. 
 
 In the estimate of Professor Huxley’s future influence upon science, 
 his youth and health form a large element. He has just passed his forty, 
 fifth year. If God spare his life, truth can hardly fail to be the gainer 
 from a mind that is stored with knowledge of the laws of the Creator’s 
 operations, and that has learned to love all beauty and hate *3 rileness of 
 Nature and art. 
 
Works of Herbert Spencer published by D. Appleton & Co. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF UNIVERSAL PROGRESS. 
 
 A SERIES OF DISCUSSIONS. 
 
 1 Vol Large 12 mo. 470 Pages. Price $2.50. 
 
 CONTENTS : 
 
 American Notice of Spencer’s New System of Philosophy. 
 
 1. Progress : its Law and Cause. 
 
 II Manners and Fashion. 
 
 III. The Genesis of Science. 
 
 IV. The Physiology of Laughter. 
 
 V. The Origin and Function of Music. 
 
 VI. The Nebular Hypothesis. 
 
 VII. Bain on the Emotions and the Will. 
 
 VIII. Illogical Geology. 
 
 IS. The Development Hypothesis. 
 
 X. The Social Organism. 
 
 XL Use and Beauty. 
 
 XII. The Sources of Architectural Types. 
 
 XIII. The Dse of Anthropomorphism. 
 
 These Essays constitute a body of massive and original thought upon a 
 large variety of important topics, and will be read with pleasure by all who 
 appreciate a bold and powerful treatment of fundamental themes. The 
 general thought which pervades this book is beyond doubt the most impor- 
 tant that the human mind has yet reached. — N. Y. Independent . 
 
 Those who have read the work on Education, will remember the ana- 
 lytic tendency of the author’s mind — his clear perception and admirable ex- 
 position of hrst principles — his wide grasp of facts — his lucid and vigorous 
 style, and the constant and controlling bearing of the discussion on practical 
 results. These traits characterize all Mr. Spencer’s writings, and mark, in 
 an eminent degree, the present volume. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 We regard the distinguishing feature of this work to be the peculiarly 
 Interesting character of its matter to the general reader. This is a great 
 literary as well as philosophic triumph. In the evolution of a system of 
 Philosophy which demands serious attention, and a keen exercise of the in- 
 tellect to fathom and appreciate, he has mingled much that is really popuiaJ 
 and entertaining . — Rochester Democrat. 
 
Woiks of Herbert Spencer published by I). Appleton & Co. 
 
 A NEW SYSTEM OP PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 FIRST PRINCIPLES. 
 
 9 YoL h&rge 12mo. 515 Pages. Price $2 50. 
 
 Contents : 
 
 Past First. — The Unknowable . 
 
 £foaptei i. Religion and Science; II. Ultimate Religious Ideas; III 
 Ultimate Scientific Ideas; IV. The Relativity of all Knowledge; V Tha 
 Reconciliation. 
 
 Part Second. — Laws of the Know able. 
 
 I. Laws in General; II. The Law of Evolution; III. The same con- 
 tinued ; IV. The Causes of Evolution ; V. Space, Time, Matter, Motion, and 
 Force ; VI. The Indestructibility of Matter ; VII. The Continuity of Motion ; 
 VIII. The Persistence of Force ; IX. The Correlation and Equivalence of 
 Forces ; X. The Direction of Motion ; XI. The Rhythm of Motion ; XII. The 
 Conditions Essential to Evolution ; XIII. The Instability of the Homoge- 
 neous ; XIV. The Multiplication of Effects ; XV. Differentiation ^nd Inte- 
 gration ; XVI. Equilibration ; XVII. Stunmary and Conclusion. 
 
 In the first part of this work Mr. Spencer defines the province, limits, and 
 relations of religion and science, and determines the legitimate scope of 
 philosophy. 
 
 In part second he unfolds those fundamental principles which have been 
 arrived at within the sphere of the knowable ; which are true of all orders 
 of phenonema, and thus constitute the foundation of all philosophy. The 
 law of Evolution, Mr. Spencer maintains to be universal, and he has here 
 worked it out as the basis of his system. 
 
 These First Principles are the foundation of a system of Philosophy 
 bolder, more elaborate, and comprehensive perhaps, than any other which 
 oat been hitherto designed in England. — British Quarterly Review. 
 
 A work lofty in aim and remarkable in execution — Cornhill Magazine. 
 
 In the works of Herbert Spencer we have the rudiments of a positive 
 Theology, and an immense step toward the perfection of the science of Psy- 
 ch ology. — Christian Examiner. 
 
 If we mistake not, in spite of the very negative character of his own re- 
 mits, he has foreshadowed some strong arguments for the doctrine of a posi- 
 tive Christian Theology. — New Englander . 
 
 As far as the frontiers of knowledge, where the intellect may go, there fi 
 ao living man whose guidance may more safely be trusted. — 
 tfontMu. 
 
Works of Herbert Spencer published by JD. Appleton & Oo 
 
 A NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OP BIOLOGY. 
 
 TV is work is now in course of publication in quarterly numbers (from 80 
 iOO pages each), by subscription, at $2 per annum. It is to form two vok 
 anies, of which the first is nearly completed, four numbers having been 
 .ssued. While it comprises a statement of those general principles and laws 
 s>f life to which science has attained, it is stamped with a marked originality* 
 both in the views propounded and in the method of treating the subject. It 
 will be a standard and invaluable work. Some idea of the discussion may 
 be formed by glancing over a few of the first chapter headings. 
 
 Part First.— Data of Biology. 
 
 I. Organic Matter; II. The actions of Forces on Organic Matter; III 
 The Reactions of Organic Matter on Forces ; IY. Proximate Definition of 
 Life ; Y. The Correspondence between Life and its Circumstances ; YI. The 
 Degree of Life Yaries with the Degree of Correspondence; VII Scope of 
 Biology. 
 
 Part Second. — Inductions of Biology. 
 
 L Growth; II. Development; III. Function; IY. Waste and Repair, 
 Y. Adaptation; YI. Individuality; YII. Genesis; YIII. Heredity; IX. 
 Yariation; X. Genesis, Heredity, and Variation; XI. Classification; XIL 
 Distribution. 
 
 Mr. Spencer is equally remarkable for his search after first principles ; 
 kat his acute attempts to decompose mental phenomena into their primary 
 elements ; and for his broad generalizations of mental activity, mind in con- 
 nection with instinct, and all the analogies presented by life in its universal 
 * speHa, — Medico - Chirurgicat Review . 
 
Works of Herbert fencer published by D. App eton Ac Co. 
 
 ESSAYS: 
 
 MO UAL, POLITICAL, AND ESTHETIC. 
 
 la one Volume. Large 12mo. 380 pages. 
 
 contents: 
 
 I. The Philosophy of Style. 
 
 II. Over-Legislation. 
 
 III. Morals of Trade. 
 
 IV. Personal Beauty. 
 
 V. Representative Government. 
 
 VI. Prison-Ethics. 
 
 VII. Railway Morals and Railway Policy. 
 
 VIII. Gracefulness. 
 
 IX. State Tamperings with Money and Banks. 
 
 X. Reform ; the Dangers and the Safeguards. 
 
 “ These Essays form a new, and if we are not mistaken, a most popular installment 
 ef the intellectual benefactions of that earnest writer and profound philosopher, Her- 
 bert Spencer. There is a remarkable union of the speculative and practical in these 
 papers. They are the fruit of studies alike economical and psychological ; they touch 
 the problems of the passing hour, and they grasp truths of universal application ; they 
 will be found as instructive to the general reader as interesting to political and social 
 students .’ 1 — Boston Transcript. 
 
 “ These Essays exhibit on a.most every page the powers of an independent human- 
 itarian thinker. Mr. Spencer’s ethics are rigid, his political views liberalistic, and hia 
 aim is the production of the highest earthly good"— Methodist Quarterly Review. 
 
 “It abounds in the results of the sharp observation, the wide reach of knowledge, 
 *nd the capacity to write clearly, forcibly, and pointedly, for which this writei Is pre- 
 eminent. The subjects are 'all such.as concern us most intimately, and they are treated 
 with admirable tact and knowledge. The first essay on the Philosophy of Style is 
 worth the cost of the volume ; it would be a deed of charity to print it by itself, and 
 send it to the editor of every newspaper in the land .” — Hew Englander. 
 
 “ Spencer is continually gaining ground with Americans ; he makes a book fbr on, 
 more serious moods. His remarks upon legislation, upon the nature of political insti- 
 tutions and of their fundamental principles; his elucidation of those foundation truths 
 which control the policy of government, are of peculiar value to the American stu 
 •len V'— Boston Post. 
 
 “This volume will receive the applause of every serious reader tor the proround 
 earnestness and thoroughness with which its views are elaborated, the infinite scientific 
 knowledge brought to bear on every question, and the acute and subtle thinking dis- 
 mayed in every chapter.” — H. W. Christian Advocate. 
 
 “A more instructive, suggestive, and stimulating volume has not reached us i* e 
 mi \ time,” — P) evidence Jourvu. 
 
B. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 THE 
 
 Correlation and Conservation of Forces. 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 . INTRODUCTION AND BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES 
 
 By EDWARD L. YOUMANS, M.D. 12mo, 490 pages. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 L By W. R. Grove. The Correlation of Physical Forces. 
 
 II. By Prof. Helmholtz. The Interaction of Natural Forces. 
 
 HI. By J. R. Mayer. 1. Remarks on the Forces of Inorganic Nature. 
 
 2. On Celestial Dynamics. 
 
 3. On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat. 
 
 IV. By Dr. Faraday. Some Thoughts on the Conservation of Forces. 
 
 Y. By Prof. Liebig. The Connection and Equivalence of Forces. 
 
 VI. By Dr. Carpenter. The Correlation of the Physical and Vital Forces 
 
 K This work is a very welcome addition to our scientific literature, and will be 
 particularly acceptable to those who wish to obtain a popular, but at the same time 
 precise and clear view of what Faraday justly calls the highest law in physical science, 
 the principle of the conservation of force. Sufficient attention has not been paid to the 
 publication of collected monographs or memoirs upon special subjects. Dr. Youmans’ 
 work exhibits the value of such collections in a very striking manner, and we earnestly 
 hope his excellent example may be followed in other branches of science.” — American 
 Journal of Science. 
 
 “ It was a happy thought which suggested the publication of this volume. The 
 question is often asked, and not so easily answered, What are the new doctrines of the 
 Correlation and Conservation of Forces? In this volume we have the answer, and 
 with the reasons of its chief expounders ; those who are ignorant on that theme, can 
 thus question the original authorities.” — New Englander. 
 
 “We here have the original expositions of the new Philosophy cf Forces, accompa- 
 nied by an excellent exposition of both the expositions and the expositors; the whole 
 will be a rare treat to the lovers of advancing scientific thought .” — Methodist 
 Quarterly Review. 
 
 “This is, perhaps, the most remarkable book of the age. We have here the latest 
 discoveries, and the highest results of thought concerning the nature, laws, and con- 
 nections of the forces of the universe. No higher or more sublime problem can engage 
 the intellect of man than is discussed by these doctors of science intent alone on aniv- 
 tag at the truth.” — Detroit Free Press. 
 
 ‘Tliis work presents a praiseworthy specimen of complete and faithful authorship, 
 and its publication at this time will form an epoch in the experience of many thinking 
 minda.”— ibun e. 
 
Works published by D. Appleton dc Co, 
 
 THE CORRELATION AND CONSERVATION 
 
 OF 
 
 FORCES. 
 
 I SERIES OF EXPOSITIONS BY GROVE, MAYER, HELMHOLTZ, 
 FARADAY, LIEBIG, AND CARPENTER. 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION. 
 
 BY E. L. YOUMANS 
 
 The work embraces : 
 
 I. — THE CORRELATION" OF PHYSICAL FORCES. Bi 
 W. R. Geove. (The complete work.) 
 
 H. — CELESTIAL DYNAMICS. By De. J. R. Mate*. 
 
 III. — THE INTERACTION OF FORCES. By Peof. Helm- 
 holtz. 
 
 IT. — THE CONNECTION AND EQUIVALENCE OF 
 FORCES. By Peof. Liebig. 
 
 V.— ON THE CONSERVATION OF FORCE. Br Du. 
 Faeaday. 
 
 ?L— ON THE CORRELATION OF PHYSICAL AND VI 
 TAL FORCES. By De. Caepenteb. 
 
WorZs of Herbert Spencer published by D . Appleton t& Co. 
 
 In One Yolnmc, 8yo., Cloth. Price $2.50. 
 
 SOCIAL STATICS; 
 
 OE, 
 
 THE CONDITIONS ESSENTIAL TO HUMAN HAPPINESS SPECI- 
 FIED, AND THE FIRST OF THEM DEYELOPED. 
 
 BY HERBERT SPENCER. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 Mr. Spencer, in his able and logical work on “ Social Statics ” . . . . Edin - 
 burgh Review. 
 
 It deserves very high praise for the ability, clearness, and force with which 
 it is written, and which entitle it to the character, now so rare, of a really sub- 
 stantial book. — North British Review. 
 
 A remarkable work Mr. Spencer exhibits, and exhibits with re- 
 
 markable force and clearness, many social equalizations of a just and right 
 species which remain yet to be effected. — British Quarterly Review. 
 
 An inquiry conducted throughout with clearness, good temper, and strict 
 
 logic We shall be mistaken if this book do not assist in organising that 
 
 huge mass of thought which, for want of a more specific name, is now called 
 Liberal Opinion. — Athenwum. 
 
 It is the most eloquent, the most interesting, the most clearly-expressed and 
 logically-reasoned work, with views the most original, that has appeared in the* 
 science of social polity. — Literary Gazette. 
 
 The author of the present work is no ordinary thinker, and no ordinary wri- 
 ter ; and he gives us, in language that sparkles with beauties, and in reasoning 
 at once novel and elaborate, precise and logical, a very comprehensive and 
 
 complete exposition of the rights of men in society The book will 
 
 mark an epoch in the literature of scientific morality. — Economist. 
 
 We remember no work on ethics since that of Spinoza to be compared with 
 it in the simplicity of its premises, and the logical rigour with which a com- 
 plete system of scientific ethics is evolved from them A work at once 
 
 so scientific in spirit and method, and so popular in execution, we shall look in 
 vain for through libraries of political philosophy. — Leader. 
 
 The careful reading we have given it has both afforded us intense pleasure, 
 and rendered it a duty to express, with unusual emphasis, our opinion of its 
 gres-t ability and excellence. — Nonconformist. 
 
 New York: D. Appleton and Company, 
 
y 
 
i 
 
INSTITUTE