'^ 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. "^* 
 
 Shelf. 
 
 Section _..^S!\\>^, 
 
 Nttmber 
 
RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
[All rights reserved] 
 
RELIGION AI^D MYTH 
 
 Rev. JAMES MACDONALD 
 
 AUTHOl! OF 
 "light in AFKIf'A," KTC. ETC. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 DAVID NUTT, 270-271 STRAND 
 
 1893 
 
TO 
 
 MY FRIEND 
 
 THE REV. JAMES STEWART, M.D. 
 
 OF I;OVEDALE- 
 
 IN 
 
 ADMIRATION OP HIS SERVICES IN THE CAUSE 
 
 OF AFRICAN MISSIONARY WORK 
 
 AND CIVILIZATION 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Thj8 volume is an effort to put into popular form a 
 number of facts connected with the religious ob- 
 servances and social customs of African tribes. No 
 attempt is made to treat the subject exhaustively, 
 and those who have made Ethnology a study will 
 find in it little that is absolutely new. But the 
 ordinary reader, w^ho is interested in questions affect- 
 ing a people slowly emerging from barbarism, may 
 have his sympathies quickened. 
 
 When I first began the stud}- of Ethnology it 
 opened to me a new world of thought. Reading Mr. 
 J. G. Frazer's Golden Bough last winter, I found it 
 touched so many subjects which long residence in 
 Africa had made familiar to me, that the idea of 
 putting the results of my own observations into 
 permanent form took shape. This has been supple- 
 mented by facts gleaned from such authorities as 
 were at hand, and the result is the present volume. 
 
 I have, in foot-notes, acknowledged my indebted- 
 ness to various authors. 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 The facts have l:)een gathered chiefly from Mr. 
 Frazer's volumes ; Bishop Callaway's Nursery Tales, 
 Traditions anel Histories of the Zulus ; Miss C. G. 
 Gordoii-Cummiiiof's In the Neiv Heh rides ; W. 
 Mannhardt's Antike Wald-und Feld KvJte and his 
 other works ; Wiiiterbotham's Tlie Niger and Laire 
 Tribes; Rowley's Africa Unveiled; Dufl:' Macdonald's 
 Africana ; Schweinfiirth's The Heart of Africa ; 
 Chalmers' Tiyo Soga; Brownlee's MS. notes; Felkin's 
 Four Tribes of Central Africa; Ramsey er's and 
 Ktihne's Four Years in Ashantee ; Ashe's Two Kings 
 of Uganda ; Arnot's Garanganze ; the missionaries 
 New and Krapf, G. M. Theal, and several others, 
 without whose works my book could not have been 
 written. 
 
 ThougVi living " at the back of the north wind," 
 I still feel the African fever ; that is to say, tlie 
 charm which it has to draw back to itself all who 
 have tasted its l^itters and sweets. 
 
 My object throughout has been to stimulate an 
 interest in African peoples. 
 
 If the book serves this purpose, I shall be am23ly 
 
 rewarded for the labour bestowed upon it ; in the 
 
 fullest sense a labour of love. 
 
 JAMES MACDONALD. 
 
 Reay Free Manse, 
 
 Christmas, l<Si)2. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. Peimitive Man and the Supernatural 
 
 1. Keligion defined ..... 
 
 2. Incarnate gods ..... 
 
 3. Sympathetic magic .... 
 
 4. Rain-making ..... 
 
 5. Dangers of seeing divine persons 
 
 6. All property and subj ects owned by ruler 
 
 7. Lubare of Uganda .... 
 
 8. Departmental kings .... 
 
 PAGK 
 
 I-iq 
 I 
 2 
 
 12 
 17 
 
 II. Guarding Divinity 
 
 1. Danger to man-god from exposure 
 
 2. The Mikado 
 
 3. Kings of Shark Point and Congo 
 
 4. Divine king may be deposed 
 
 5. Restrictions placed on king and heir to throne 
 
 6. Separation of civil and divine functions 
 
 7. Killing the god . 
 
 III. Evolution of Deity 
 
 1. Doctrine of souls . 
 
 2. Dangers of the soul 
 
 3. Worship of ancestors . 
 
 4. Other spirits than souls 
 
 5. Fetish .... 
 
 6. Sengero selling of women 
 
 7. Confusion of seasons . 
 
 8. Offerings to spirit of vegetation 
 
 9. Oft'erings to goddess of fecundity 
 
 20-32 
 20 
 21 
 23 
 24 
 25 
 27 
 28 
 
 33-60 
 
 33 
 35 
 36 
 37 
 38 
 39 
 39 
 40 
 42 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 in. Evolution of Deity — rontinued. 
 lo. Muansa 
 
 11. Rites at puberty . 
 
 12. Souls dwelling in objects 
 
 13. Toad day 
 
 14. Origin of national festivals 
 
 15. Khond sacrifices to Tari 
 
 16. Story of Balder . 
 
 17. Midsummer fires . 
 
 IV. Sacrifice .... 
 
 1. Putting- king to death . 
 
 2. Substitution 
 
 3. Soul of ancestor entering person . 
 
 4. Kaffir methods of directing course of nature 
 
 5. Propitiation ..... 
 
 6. Thanksgiving ..... 
 
 7. Substitution for murderer 
 
 8. Ofl:'erings to Lubare 
 
 9. Parading victim before sacrifice . 
 
 10. Festival and sacrifices of Bantama 
 
 11. Messages to spirit-land . 
 
 12. Descent of priest to the lowei- world 
 
 V. Taboos 
 
 1. Charms against witchcraft 
 
 2. Banning by curses . 
 
 3. Sprinkling to exorcise evil 
 
 4. Eating in private . 
 
 5. Position of divine persons 
 
 6. Power of superstition . 
 
 7. Ceremonial purity . 
 
 8. Objections to iron . 
 
 9. Power of iron against evil 
 10. Sanctity of objects belonging to sacred persons 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 v. Taboos — continued ■ 
 
 1 1. Dangers of barber's art 
 
 12. Rise of evil spirits . 
 
 VI. Expulsion of Demons .... 
 
 1. Taboos insufficient protection 
 
 2. Animals messengers of evil . 
 
 3. Stone-throwing and cursing . 
 
 4. Expulsion of guile .... 
 
 5. Expulsion by carrying out in wicker basket 
 
 6. " Raising " the devil 
 
 7. " Laying " the devil 
 
 VII. Witchcraft ...... 
 
 1. Crime of witchcraft 
 
 2. Persons presumed to practise the ait 
 
 3. Power of witchcraft 
 
 4. Methods of practising the art 
 
 5. Witch-doctoring .... 
 
 6. Prophetess as discoverer of witches 
 
 7. Magic roots ..... 
 
 8. Witchcraft prosecutions by ordeal 
 
 9. Mosaic trial by ordeal . 
 
 10. History of witchcraft . 
 
 11. Fairyland 
 
 12. Growth of idea of supreme spirits 
 
 VIII. Harvest Festivals 
 
 1. Yam festival .... 
 
 2. Pondo festival of first-fruits 
 
 3. Honour done to powers of nature 
 
 4. Maize mother .... 
 
 5. The "Maiden " a survival 
 
 IX. Prophecy 
 
 I. The office and its development 
 
 94 
 97 
 
 99-112 
 99 
 
 lOI 
 
 102 
 
 103 
 
 105 
 loS 
 no 
 
 1 13-135 
 114 
 
 "5 
 116 
 117 
 iiS 
 121 
 123 
 126 
 128 
 129 
 130 
 132 
 
 136-145 
 136 
 137 
 138 
 139 
 140 
 
 146-172 
 146 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 IX. PliOPHECY — continued. 
 
 2. Causes of its gradual decay . 
 
 3. False prophets 
 
 4. Converse with the unseen 
 
 5. Second sight .... 
 
 6. Foretelling events . 
 
 7. Guarding against soul-snatching 
 
 8. Funeral rites 
 
 9. Guilds and sacred orders 
 
 10. Heading omens . . . 
 
 11. Heresies .... 
 
 12. Reforms among the order 
 
 13. Prejudices against religious teachers 
 
 X. Social Usages .... 
 
 1. Ceremonial acts 
 
 2. Seeking a lady's hand . 
 
 3. Succession to the throne 
 
 4. Courtesies to guests 
 
 5. Sanctuaries 
 
 6. Eating and drinking 
 
 7. Friendship 
 
 XI, Acts op Devotion — Myths . 
 
 1. Acts of ordinary life — religious 
 
 2. Caring for the soul 
 
 3. Soul dwelling apart from body 
 
 4. Giants and their souls . 
 
 5. Sacred animals and objects . 
 
 6. Mermaids ashore . 
 
 XII. WOM.^.N 
 
 1. Woman's position . 
 
 2. Woman as regent . 
 
 3. Danger of touching woman's blood 
 
 4. Dangers of girlhood 
 
 149 
 150 
 152 
 153 
 154 
 155 
 156 
 
 157 
 160 
 164 
 166 
 170 
 
 173-180 
 
 174 
 175 
 176 
 177 
 178 
 179 
 
 180-193 
 180 
 
 185 
 186 
 188 
 190 
 192 
 
 194-203 
 
 • 194 
 
 • 195 
 
 • 19s 
 
 • 197 
 
CONTENTS xiii 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 XII. Woman — continued. 
 
 5. Uncleanness ... ...... 198 
 
 6. Woman's influence 199 
 
 7. Aggressiveness ........ 200 
 
 S. Dog language . i02 
 
 9. Public morality ........ 203 
 
 XIII. Courtesies OF Life — Dress 204-213 
 
 1. Hospitality 204 
 
 2. Loyalty to chief . 205 
 
 3. Right and wrong ........ 206 
 
 4. Cannibalism ......... 208 
 
 5. Clothing 209 
 
 6. Ceremonial courtesy 210 
 
 7. Tein-egin 212 
 
 S. Juju and the fairy bull . . . . . . .213 
 
 XIV. Reforms 214-234 
 
 1. Man's tenacity in holding fa.st all he started with . 214 
 
 2. How wide a gulf between savage and civilised . . 215 
 
 3. Blankets, Bibles, or work .215 
 
 4. Claims of commerce . . . . . . .216 
 
 5. Influence of clothing 219 
 
 6. Work and conditions of soil 220 
 
 7. Missions and how conducted 224 
 
 8. Jews and ancients 225 
 
 9. Difficulty of understanding new ideas .... 229 
 10. Ideas become common as thought advances . . 232 
 
 Index 235-240 
 
RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PRIMITIVE MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL 
 
 Religion in the widest sense may be defined as 
 man's attitude towards the unseen, and the earhest 
 forms of human thought furnish the clue from which 
 / must be traced the development of those great 
 ^ systems of religion that have at different j^eriods 
 been professed by the majority of men. Under the 
 term religion we must include, not only beliefs in 
 unseen spiritual agencies, but numerous customs, 
 superstitions, and myths which have usually been 
 regarded, by both travellers and students, as worth- 
 less and degrading, till within a comparatively recent 
 period. Only by taking account of such, and com- 
 paring usages common among tribes far removed 
 from the influence of civilisation with survivals in 
 other parts of the world, can we arrive at any definite 
 knowledge regarding the world's earliest systems of 
 thought. 
 
 In both ancient Greece and Italy the union of 
 
2 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 royal title with priestly functions was common. At 
 Rome the tradition was, that the sacrificial king had 
 been appointed to perform sacred functions formerly 
 belonging to the ruling monarch, after the overthrow 
 of the ancient dynasty and the exjDulsion of the 
 kings.* In republican Athens the second magistrate 
 of the city was called King, and his wife Queen. The 
 functions of both were religious.! Other examples 
 will occur to readers familiar with the classics. 
 Such traditions and usages leave no doubt but in 
 very early times kings were not only civil rulers, 
 but also the priests who offered the sacrifices and 
 stood between the worshippers and the uiiseen 
 world. 
 
 The kiug would thus be revered as the ruler and 
 father of his peo23le who protected and cared for 
 them. He would be also alternately feared and 
 loved as the ghostly intercessor of men, and re- 
 garded as himself partaking of the ghostly nature, 
 for the divinity which hedged a king in those days 
 was no empty title, but a sober fact. He was re- 
 garded as able to bestow or withhold blessings ; to 
 bring blight and curse, and remove them ; and so, 
 being above and beyond the control of his subjects, 
 reverence and fear would easily pass into adoration 
 and worship. To us this may appear strange, but it 
 is quite consistent with savage thought. To the 
 savao-e African or South Sea Islander the world is 
 largely, if not exclusively, worked by supernatural 
 agents, and these act on impulses similar to those 
 which move and influence men, and with which he 
 
 * Livy. + J. G. Frazer, Golden Bowjh. 
 
PRIMITIVE MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL 3 
 
 is familiar in himself and others. Where the forces 
 of nature are under the control of the khig-priest, 
 the worshipper sees no limit to his power and the 
 influence he can exert on the course of nature, or 
 even upon the material universe itself, as when a 
 man's father's spirit shakes the earth because the 
 kino^ hurt his toe. He holds converse with the i-'ods. 
 From them come abundant crops, fecundity, success in 
 war, and kindred iDlessings, and the king who bestows 
 these is regarded as having the god residing in his 
 own person ; to the savage man he is himself divine. 
 There is another way by which the idea of a man- 
 god may be reached. In all countries we find traces 
 of a system of thought which attributed to sympa- 
 thetic magic events which can only happen in the 
 ordinary course of nature, but which are supposed to 
 be i^roduced by will-power through some object. One 
 of the leading principles of this sympathetic magic 
 is, that any effect may be produced by the imitation 
 of it.* Perhaps the most familiar illustration of this 
 is the Highland " Corp Creadh." This consisted, or 
 consists — for it is said the practice is not extinct — of 
 a clay image of the person to be bewitched being 
 made and placed on a door, taken off the hinges, 
 before a large and constantly replenished fire. 
 Sharp thorns, pins and needles, were pushed into 
 it ; oaths and imprecations were uttered over it, 
 the victim writhing in agony the while ; elf arrows 
 were darted against it, and the fire stirred to a 
 blaze as the image was turned and toasted to make 
 the sufferer feel all the torments of the damned. 
 
 ■ J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough. 
 
4 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 Filially, the "Corp Creadh '' was broken to pieces, 
 when the patient died a horrible death, blue flames 
 issuing from his mouth. In Africa a small bundle, 
 with a charm, tied to a pigeon's leg, keeps the per- 
 son bewitched nervous and restless as the bird flits 
 from twig to twig. If no accident happens to the 
 charm or the bird that carries it, there is no hope 
 for the patient's recovery ; he will simply be worried 
 to death. 
 
 This magic sympathy goes farther. It is supposed 
 to exist between a man and any portion of his per- 
 son that may be severed from the body, as cut nails, 
 hair, saliva, or even the impression left Avhen he sits 
 down on the grass. The same sympathy exists 
 between persons hunting, Ashing, on a journey, or 
 at war, and those left behind. If those who remain 
 at home break any of the prescribed rules, disaster 
 or failure overtakes those of their friends who are 
 absent. According to the same superstition, animals, 
 fowls, and crops may be influenced through tufts of 
 hair, feathers, or green leaves of corn as the case 
 may be, and among savages elaborate precautions 
 are taken for their protection and preservation. 
 "Medicine" poured out on the path by which a 
 man usually approaches his dwelling affects him, 
 should he return by that path, as if he had swal- 
 lowed it. A hair from a cow's tail steeped in the 
 virus of any disease prevalent among cattle will 
 affect the animal from w^iich it was taken, and 
 through it the herd. A green leaf of corn scorched 
 against a Are, or i)laced where it will mildew, will 
 produce drought or l)light in the held or district 
 
PRIMITIVE MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL 5 
 
 from which it was taken. These are illustrations of 
 the evils that may be produced by sympathetic 
 magic, but it is capable of l^eing applied to good 
 purposes also, 
 
 A South African, in calling a village to a hunt, 
 cfoes from hut to hut imitatinof the movements of 
 some Avell-known animal of the chase. The villagers 
 pelt him with cow-dung, which he does his best to 
 avoid. Should he be well bespattered when he has 
 finished his rounds, the hunt will be successful ; if 
 not, it will be entered upon in a heartless manner, 
 as all will expect failure. In Niass when a wild 
 pig falls into a snare it is taken out and rubbed with 
 nine fallen leaves, the l^elief being that this will 
 cause nine other pigs to fall into the pit.* A South 
 Sea Islander when unsuccessful with his nets walks 
 about as if ignorant of their existence, till caught 
 himself, after which he goes home assured of success , 
 on the morrow. As a bov, when hshinof about Loch 
 Aline, we often, when luck went against us, used to 
 make pretence of throwing one of the fellows over- 
 board and haulino- him out of the water. After 
 that trout or sillock began to nibble, according as 
 we were on fresh water or salt. These superstitions 
 are world-wide. Actions are performed or avoided 
 by all peoples because they entail results similar to, 
 or in some way connected with, the action. So it is 
 that a fashionable lady will throw a pinch of salt 
 over her shoulder when any has been spilled. 
 
 Another form of this superstition is securing 
 certain desirable qualities of animals or objects 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, Gohhu Boufjh. 
 
6 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 for oneself. A Kaffir warrior twines tufts of rat 
 hair with his own, as this will give him a rat's 
 chances of escape from the enemy's spears. Bechu- 
 anas use ferret-skins for a similar purpose, or it may 
 be hair from a hornless ox, as being hard to catch 
 and harder to hold. Thieves in South Africa affect 
 the skin of the common wild cat, which is hardly 
 ever caught when making descents on hen-roosts. 
 There is not a savage who does not believe that he 
 can influence nature in some direction, or secure 
 qualities by means of sympathetic magic, and when 
 any one obtains more than a village reputation for 
 his gifts and powers, his deification is merely a 
 question of time or of local accident. He by degrees 
 ceases to be the receiver of divine communications, 
 or the medium through which divine power is exer- 
 cised, for divinity dwells within him ; he is himself 
 divine, and can by a touch or look, or even a wish, 
 produce effects which result from divine power only, 
 and which in their results go vibrating to the 
 farthest confines of the universe. 
 
 The savage ruler who has attained to the honour 
 of divinity is expected to give such evidence of his 
 power as his people need for material prosperity 
 and comfort, but not more than that. Of these, 
 health and strength, victory in war, fecundity and 
 abundant crops, may be regarded as the chief 
 necessities of primitive man. A shrewd ruler might 
 kee[) his reputation unimpaired for a lifetime, as 
 regards l^oth health and success in l^attle amono- a 
 hardv race of })eople, nor A\'ould he be very much 
 troubled by those desirous of issue in a land the 
 
PRIMITIA^E MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL 7 
 
 inhabitants of which are notoriously prolific. But 
 the question of crops in seasons of drought, or when 
 there is too great a rainfall, comjolicates the situa- 
 tion considerably. And when to these are added 
 hailstorms, tornadoes, insect plagues, and the occa- 
 sional frosts of tropical lands, it becomes manifest 
 that the divine king sits on an uncertain throne, 
 for all these phenomena he must direct and control 
 for the benefit of himself and his people. '^ 
 
 When the sky, for example, indicates the ap- 
 proach of a tornado accompanied by hail, the 
 magician repairs to an eminence, where he collects 
 as many people as can be hastily summoned to his 
 assistance. These, under his direction and guid- 
 ance, shout and bellow in imitation of the wind, 
 when with hurricane force it swirls and eddies round 
 the houses and among the forest trees. Then at a 
 signal they imitate the crash of the thunder, after 
 which there is a dead silence for a few seconds ; 
 then another screech, more piercing and long-con- 
 tinued than any that preceded, dying away in a 
 tremulous wail. The priest fills his mouth with his 
 own urine, which he squirts in defiant jets against 
 the approaching storm, as a kind of menace or 
 challenge to the wind spirit, the shouting and wail- 
 ing being intended to frighten the storm spirit from 
 approaching those who resist it. This is continued 
 till the tornado bursts or passes away in another 
 direction. In the former case more powerful magic 
 sent it on the course it took ; nothing more could 
 have been done to avert it. This belongs to a more 
 developed system of thought after the ofiices of 
 
8 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 ruler and priest have been separated. I have 
 scores of times watched South African magicians 
 fiii-htinof the storm, and when successful the tone of 
 })roud arrogance assumed by the priest was most 
 amusing, especially to those who did not believe in 
 liis power, and who at times included his own 
 ])atron and chief. 
 
 This same belief in regard to the power of man to 
 influence the wind by means of magic is found in 
 all parts of the world. The Yakut takes a stone, 
 found inside an animal or fish, and ties it to a stick 
 with a horsehair. This he waves again and again 
 round his head, and a cool breeze springs up.* The 
 New Briton throws burned lime into the air when 
 he wishes to make wind. Highland witches sold wind 
 to credulous skippers in knots : one knot opened and 
 a gentle wind blew ; a second brought a snoring 
 breeze ; the third a full gale. A simple method of 
 raising wind to retard the progress of a vessel was 
 to draw the cat through the fire.t How it came to 
 he, supposed tliat the suftering of poor pussy had an 
 effect on the wind the author quoted failed to ascer- 
 tain. It is well known that a cat scratching table 
 or chair legs is raising wind, and I once heard a 
 Scotch matron order her daughter to " drive out 
 that beast : do ye no see she's making wind, and 
 we'll no get a wisp o' hay hame the day gin she 
 goes on." Our Highland friends, too, could sink a 
 shi]) at sea by placing an egg-shell in a tub of 
 water and raising tiny wavelets to sink it. By 
 sympathy the doomed ship sank. 
 
 * J. G. J-'ra/er, (IoIiUr BoikjU. f A. Poison, Gaelic tSociety Memoirs. 
 
PRIMITIVE MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL 9 
 
 Mariners the world over whistle for wind — by 
 courtesy to Neptune in modern times ; formerly, as 
 an act or exercise of power. I tried it once but 
 that was lonof aofo — I am wiser now — and did raise 
 wind ; a hurricane of it, l^ut it was from the skipper, 
 who cursed me by all the gods he knew, and a good 
 many he did not know, for " interfering- with what 
 ye know nothing about." The fear of that man has 
 haunted me ever since. Hottentots cause the wind 
 to drop by hanging a fat skin on a pole. The 
 Kaffir raises it by exposing his posterior to the 
 clouds. An Austrian during a storm will open his 
 window and throw out a handful of meal, saying : 
 "There, that's for you : stop."^^ Wind-bound fisher- 
 men in the Western Isles of Scotland believe that 
 walking sunwise round the Chapel of Fladda, and 
 pouring water on a particular stone, will bring a 
 favourable breeze. If a mariner in the same region 
 ties knots on a cow-hair tether, he may venture to 
 sea, even during a violent gale, as he can, by means 
 of his tether and knots, control the wind at will. 
 Bedouins of East Africa go out to make war on the 
 desert whirlwind, and drive their weapons into the 
 dusty column to drive away the evil spirit that is 
 beheved to be riding on the storm. The Australians 
 kill their storm-demons with boomerangs ; while the 
 Breton peasant, when a wisp of hay is lifted by the 
 wdnd, throws a knife or fork at the wizard that is 
 supposed to be disporting himself there. 
 
 Other powers of nature are similarly treated by 
 the savage, and the custom is continued by his 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, Golden Bowjh. 
 
lo RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 civilised brother without any clear conception of the 
 sio-nificance of hisown actions. It is unnecessary to 
 discuss the details of locust cursing- and the banning 
 of frosts, but the methods of making and prevent- 
 ing rain occupy such a large place in savage life that 
 a detailed account is necessary if we are to under- 
 stand man's early habits of thought, and how 
 primitive usages developed into elaborate systems of 
 ritual and religion. 
 
 The approved methods of rain-making vary con- 
 siderably according to the fancies of the professors 
 of the art. In Russia, men used to climb lofty trees 
 with a vessel full of water. While seated on their 
 airy perch, two firebrands were struck together to 
 imitate lightning, and a drum beat as a substitute 
 for thunder, during which the rain-maker sprinkled 
 water from his vessel on all sides to produce a 
 miniature shower in sympathy with which rain fell 
 copiously.* This system of producing rain by imita- 
 tion and sympathy is common in parts of South and 
 South-east Africa, as among Hlubies and Swazies. 
 The rain-doctor goes to a river, from which, with 
 much mystic ceremony, he draws water, which he 
 carries to a cultivated field. He then throws jets 
 from his vessel high into the air, and the falling 
 spray draws down the clouds and causes raiu to 
 fall in sympathy. In time of severe drought the 
 Zulus look out for a " heaven bird," which is 
 ordinarily sacred, kill it, and throw it into a pool of 
 water. Then the skies melt in pity for the bird and 
 rain down tears of sorrow upon the earth. t The 
 
 * W. Mannhurdt. f Bishop Callaway. 
 
PRIMITIVE MAN AKD THE SUPERXATURAL ii 
 
 Luljare of the Wagogo is lord of heaven and of 
 earth, and gives or withholds rain according as men 
 conduct themselves towards it. New Caledonians 
 dig up a body recently buried, and after they have 
 removed and cleaned the bones they rejoint them 
 and place the skeleton over taro leaves ; water is 
 then poured over it, whicli the spirit of the man who 
 owned the skeleton takes up and showers down in 
 plenteous rain.* The same motive comes out clearly 
 in the mode of making rain common among peoples 
 of South-eastern Europe. " In times of drought, 
 the Servians strip a girl, clothe her in grass, herbs, 
 and flowers, even her face being hidden with them. 
 Thus disguised, she is called the Dodola, and goes 
 through the village with a troop of girls. Thev 
 stop before every house ; the Dodola dances, while 
 the other girls form a ring round her singing one 
 of the Dodola songs, and the housewife pours a pail 
 of water over her." t Similar customs are observed 
 by Greeks, Bulgarians and others. 
 
 These illustrations, which might be multiplied to 
 any extent, show us clearly that the savage does not 
 place any limitations to his own power over nature, 
 and that early customs, once firmly rooted in the 
 tribal or national mind, are observed by civilised 
 men long after the faith that gave them birth has 
 been forgotten and replaced by systems which, in the 
 interval, may have been changed or modified many 
 times — customs which one moment's reflection 
 shows to be as absurd as they are childish. But 
 absurd as such actions may appear to us, there is 
 
 * Turner, /Samoa. t J. G. Frazer. 
 
12 EELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 behind them a philosophy, and from them we learn 
 the processes of the human mind, as, groping after 
 knowledge, it proceeded on the road to the discovery 
 of all the facts which make up the sum of the world's 
 acquirements. Though at first sight the action of 
 the savage seems as if based on the assumption that 
 nature is a series of caprices, a closer study con- 
 vinces us that his reasonino- is based on the con- 
 stancy of nature, or, as we would say, the persistency 
 of natural laws. The savage expects the same 
 causes to produce the same results at all times, how- 
 ever inadequate the cause may actually be, and the 
 universality of this belief 23roves that it is no mere 
 local philosophy, which is false root and branch, but 
 a universal craving after knowledge on the basis of 
 a philosophy where the premisses are false, but 
 where, this defect apart, the conclusion is based on 
 sound reasoning. What we call natural law the 
 savage ascribes to his own powder over the forces of 
 the physical \\^orld. 
 
 The reason of this boundless confidence in himself 
 on the part of primitive man is, that at first super- 
 natural agents are not regarded as greatly superior 
 to himself, and that at any time he may become 
 one. These supernatural agents dwell in man, and 
 their presence make him divine. To him acts of 
 homage are paid. As the system develops, sacrifices 
 are offered to him, and he is worshipped as a god. 
 The ofiice he holds is, or tends to become, hereditary; 
 m any case, it is elective, and persons holding it are 
 always sacred, frequently divine. Thus, the nominal 
 King of the Monbutto is divine, a veritable man-o-od. 
 
PRIMITIVE MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL 13 
 
 He mav not be seen to eat by any one. What he 
 leaves is thrown into a pit set apart for the purpose. 
 Whatever he handles is sacred and may not again be 
 used for any purpose. A guest of even the highest 
 rank and honour may not light his pipe with an ember 
 from the fire that burns before him. To do so would 
 be punished by instant death.* What the results 
 of shaking hands with his majesty would be it is 
 hard to conjecture ; probably a tremor reaching to 
 the outermost circle of the universe. 
 
 When the Purra, or high priest of the Bulloms, 
 West Africa, goes to a place, all women must, on 
 pain of instant death, kee}) indoors or hide in the 
 depth of the jungle ;t they must keep up a continual 
 clapping of hands while he is pleased to remain, and 
 should any of them be known to have a peep at the 
 Purra, even through a chink, she would l^e executed 
 instanter for her presumption in gazing on divinity. 
 Jaggas, like many other East African peoples, regard 
 their king as divine,;}: and all his people do him 
 reverence. Before a visitor can be admitted to his 
 presence, he must be sprinkled with medicine by the 
 magician. On all occasions his person is guarded 
 with the most jealous care, and whatever touches 
 him or comes from his person is sacred and must be 
 treated with the utmost reverence ; § as something 
 diflPering from what was the king's simply, rather as 
 having in itself the elements of divinity from its 
 havino- belonofed to one who is himself a man-god. 
 
 Engai — that is, the rain-cloud — placed the father of 
 
 * Schweinfurth. t Winterbotham. 
 
 + Krapf. § Ihid. 
 
14 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 the Wakiuxii on the snow mountain, Killlmanjaro. 
 This first ancestor was an incarnation of Engai him- 
 self, and was exalted above all men. His children 
 ^veve demi-gods and the ancestors of tlie present 
 ruling chiefs.* From him, or his incarnations, 
 radiates everything, even the bodies of his subjects, 
 for he is their god. This same form of king adoration 
 and homage exists in Shoa, Abyssinia. The Wadoe 
 address their king as " Lion of Heaven."! When 
 his majesty coughs or sneezes, all Avithin hearing 
 say " Muisa," which means, Lion or Lord of Heaven. 
 The Gingane, or high priest of certain Congo tribes, 
 is divine. + His person is sacred, and he is always 
 accompanied by a novice who, in the event of his 
 death, will receive or catch the divine element or 
 soul which belongs to him in virtue of his office, 
 and which, but for the novice's presence, might be 
 lost or stolen. 
 
 Among the Baralongs all property belongs to the 
 chief, as do also the bodies of his subjects. He acts 
 as his own chief priest ; is invariably called father, 
 often lord. Zulus and Galekas acknowledge the 
 chief as universal owner, and regard themselves as 
 his, body and soul. The Kings of Dahomey and 
 Ashantee are veritable gods, without any gilding to 
 conceal their glory ; as is also the Grand Lama of 
 Thibet. Men pronounce the King of Dahome3^'s 
 name with bated breath, fearing the very walls may 
 whisper of the great name being used profanely. § 
 Among South African tribes there is a marked aver- 
 sion to i)ronouncing the chiefs name, and it is never 
 
 * Krapf. t Jhid. J Tucker. § Kowley. 
 
PRIMITIVE MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL 15 
 
 done when it can l^y any possibility be avoided l^y 
 them. 
 
 Makusa, the spirit par cjcceUeuce of the Wagogo 
 and Waganda, leaves his quarters in Lake Nyanza 
 at intervals, and takes up his abode in a man or 
 woman, who becomes Lubare,* or, in other words, a 
 god. The Lubare is supreme, not only in matters of 
 faith and sacrifice, but in questions of war and 
 state policy. When councillors were questioned by 
 Mackay regarding the nature of the Lubare, or 
 Makusa who dwelt in the Lubare, they replied that 
 the Lubare is a bull — this because the Lubare repre- 
 sents the principle of universal life. Again, the 
 Lubare was described as a w^andering spirit, and 
 finally, as a man who becomes a Lubare. The first 
 is probably the more general belief regarding the 
 Lubare as possessed by Makusa. 
 
 When Makusa enters a man he becomes a Lubare, 
 and is removed, by Makusa presumably, about a 
 mile and a half from the margin of the lake, and 
 there waits the advent of the new moon before 
 beginning operations. When the first faint cres- 
 cent is discerned the king and all his subjects are 
 from that hour under the orders of the Lubare. 
 The kino- orders a flotilla of canoes to start on a 
 trading expedition ; the Lubare hears of it ; coun- 
 termands the king's instructions, and is obeyed. 
 Whatever the divine man orders must be done. If 
 he takes a fancy for a trifle of five hundred heads as 
 a sacrifice, the king's executioners must post them- 
 selves on the highways to catch wayfarers till the 
 
 * Mackay of Uganda. 
 
i6 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 requisite number is made up. Or should his fancy 
 suggest the extermination of a Aveak neiglibouring 
 tribe, the warriors must be called by beat of drum, 
 and be on the war-path before the dawn of day. 
 The king, absolute, despotic, tyrannical as he is, 
 becomes for the time being the agent through whom 
 the executive is carried on by the Lubare. 
 
 The chief Lakonga, at the south end of the lake, 
 calls himself a god, and is treated as such by his 
 people * who prostrate themselves before him as 
 they approach, and perform such acts of worship as 
 are rendered to true divinity. At times, however, 
 there are rival claimants as being descended from 
 the same god ancestor long before, which is a little 
 confusing, and has tended to bring the office into 
 disrepute. Still, the fact remains that the present 
 ruler claims divinity, and his claim is acknowledged, 
 though odd sceptics may exist, especially among 
 those who supported the claims of rivals. 
 
 In Laongo the king is worshipjjed as a god, and 
 is called Sambee and Pango, words which mean 
 god.+ When rain falls and crops are plentiful they 
 load him with gifts and honours. If the seasons are 
 bad, so that crops fail and fish cannot be caught, he 
 is accused of having a bad heart and is deposed ; but 
 this belongs rather to the practice of killing the god, 
 which falls to be discussed in another connection. 
 Traces of the same kingly divinity can still be found 
 lingering among the Celtic races of Europe. The 
 extraordinary sanctity of the chiefs person among 
 Scottish Highlanders of a past generation seems to 
 
 * Mackay of Uganda. t J. G. Frazer. 
 
PRIMITIVE MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL 17 
 
 have been nothing else than a h'ngering survival of 
 divinity in the head of the clan. 
 
 From this rapid and fragmentary survey of the 
 position occupied in the world's earliest religious 
 ordinances by the king or ruler, we may safely infer 
 that the claims put forward to divine and super- 
 natural powers by great monarchs like those of 
 ancient Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Japan, and Chaldea,, 
 as in the time of Daniel, was not so much the pride- 
 of power and the vanity of men accustomed to ful- 
 some flattery and adulation, as a survival of a belief 
 once universal among men. The union of sacred 
 functions and claims to divinity with civil and 
 political power meets us at every turn. It goes to- 
 confirm the traditional account o-iven of the sacri- 
 ficial king at Kome and the origin of the priestly 
 kings in republican Greece, nor does the multi- 
 jDlicity of gods in classical times present the same 
 difficulties which might at first sight be supposed, 
 for among primitive men we find kings who are 
 regarded as divine presiding over particular depart- 
 ments of nature ; departmental kings, as Mr. Frazer 
 calls them.* At the mouth of tlie Congo resides 
 Namvula Ruma as " kingf of the rain and storm." 
 His functions do not extend beyond his own depart- 
 ment, but there he reigns supreme, and is regarded 
 as divine by mariners and agriculturists. In Abys- 
 sinia an office exists known as " the priesthood of 
 the Alfai," which is hereditary and kingly. He, too, 
 is a king of rain, and is suj^posed to avert drought 
 and produce necessaiy showers. Should he in this 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, Golden Bowjh. 
 " B 
 
1 8 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 disappoint the people's expectations, he is stoned to 
 deatli, and a successor chosen ; no easy task when the 
 heavens are as brass and the ground as iron. Tlie 
 offices performed by the mysterious kings of fire and 
 water in the backwoods of Cambodia, seem to have 
 a close resemblance to those of the king of rain and 
 storm at the Congo and the priest of the Alfai in 
 Aljyssinia. Of the mysterious Caml^odian monarchs 
 not much is known, and their existence might have 
 passed as a myth, but for the real king exchanging 
 presents with them annually. No one travelled to 
 their domains, and the gifts were passed on from 
 tribe to tribe till they reached their destination, 
 after which the return present of a Avax candle and 
 two calabashes began an erratic pilgrimage to the 
 king who had despatched the gifts to his mvsterious 
 subjects and equals, or more than equals. The func- 
 tions of the kings of fire and water were purely 
 spiritual. They claimed no civil power or political 
 authority, and lived simply as peasants. Thev lived 
 apart, and gifts were brought furtively and left 
 where they could find them. Their offices are here- 
 ditary and last seven years, but owing to the hard 
 and solitary life many are said to die during their 
 term of office. Naturally the dignity is not coveted, 
 and like the Alfai priesthood there is difficulty in 
 finding suitable candidates from among those who 
 are eligible for office. 
 
 Did the scope of our inquiry permit, a king of 
 the wood and of the sea could be found amonp- 
 primitive men, but enough has been said to show 
 the general relations subsisting between man, as he 
 
PRIMITIVE MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL 19 
 
 first began to look out on the world and wander 
 hither and thither over the face of the fflobe, and 
 the supernatural, which to him was an utterly 
 unknown world. We shall no^v turn to the con- 
 sideration of the care man l^estowed on those who, 
 according to his conception of the constitution of 
 the universe, were its supernatural agents or 
 divinities. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 GUARDING DIVINITY 
 
 We have seen in the preceding chapter that the 
 kino- or divine ruler was endowed with supernatural 
 jDowers, by means of which he was able to regulate 
 rain and sunshine, the growth of crops and the 
 capture of bird, beast, and fish. His power over 
 nature was analogous to that which he exercised 
 over his subjects. He had but to will in order to 
 have his purjoose accomplished, neither nature nor 
 subject having a choice in the matter. But with 
 strange contradiction of thought, while the course 
 of nature was dependent upon and subject to the 
 king's will, phenomena were often supposed to be 
 not only independent of him, but inimical to his 
 interests and dangerous to his life, as were also 
 certain objects, should he touch or even see them. 
 His will was supreme in regard to all conditions of 
 wind and weather, sunshine and shadow ; but his 
 body occupied the anomalous position of at once 
 influencing the forces of nature and being liable to 
 take harm from the simplest elements. His divine 
 organism was so finely balanced that a movement 
 of head or hand might disturb the equilibrium of 
 the universe, and if In an evil moment he gave 
 hidden forces a wrong impulse, it might entail such 
 
GUARDING DIVINITY 21 
 
 wholesale destruction as the falling of the sky or 
 the hurling the world away into limitless space. 
 Even such a simple act as drinking a glass of wine 
 in the presence of another was so fraught with 
 danger that the spectator had to be put to death. 
 One case is on record in which the king's son, a 
 boy of twelve, saw his father drink accidentally. 
 He was seized, finely arrayed, and killed. After 
 that his body was quartered and sent about with 
 a proclamation that he had seen the king drink.* 
 No more was needed. 
 
 Of this class of divine rulers is the Mikado of 
 Japan, a descendant of Izangi, who gave birth to 
 the god of fire. After her death, her spouse, who 
 was her own brother, purified himself by bathing 
 in a stream of running" water. As he threw his 
 garments on the 1:)ank — the gods seem to have been 
 familiar with the modern tailor's art in those days 
 — fresh deities were born from each article. From 
 his left eye emerged the goddess of the Sun, who 
 was the ancestress of all the divine generations of 
 rulers. t The following account of the Mikado was 
 written about two hundred years ago : ;{; 
 
 " Even to this day j^rinces descended of this 
 family, more particularly those who sit on the 
 throne, are looked upon as persons most holy in 
 themselves, and as popes by birth. And in order 
 to preserve those advantageous notions in the minds 
 of their subjects they are obliged to take uncom- 
 mon care of their sacred persons, and to do such 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, Golden BoikjU. t Chamberlain, Things Japanese. 
 
 X Kaempfer, •' History of Japan," in Pinkerton's Votjaejes and Travels. 
 
22 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 things which, examined according to the customs 
 of other nations, would be thought ridiculous and 
 impertinent. He thinks that it would be very pre- 
 judicial to his dignity and holiness to touch the 
 ground with his feet ; for this reason, when he 
 intends to go anywhere he must be carried thither 
 on men's shoulders. Much less will they sufier 
 that he should expose his sacred person to the open 
 air, and the sun is not thought worthy to shine on 
 his head. There is such a holiness ascribed to 
 all the parts of his l^ody that he dares to cut off 
 neither his hair, nor his beard, nor his nails. How- 
 ever, lest he should grow too dirty, they may clean 
 him in the night when he is asleep, because, they 
 say, that which is taken from his body at that 
 time hath been stolen from him, and that sucli a 
 theft does not prejudice his holiness or his dignitv. 
 
 In ancient times he was obliofed to sit on the 
 throne for some hours ever}^ morning with the im23e- 
 rial crown on his head, but to sit altoo-ether like a 
 statue, without stiri'ing either hands or feet, nor, 
 indeed, any part of his body, because by this 
 means it was thought that he could preserve peace 
 and tranquillity in his empire, for if, unfortunately, 
 he turned himself on one side or other, or if he 
 looked a good while towards any part of his 
 doininioiis, it was apprehended that war, famine, 
 fire, or some great misfortune was near at hand to 
 desolate the country. But it having been after- 
 wards discovered that the imperial crown was the 
 palladium which by its mobility could preserve peace 
 in the empire, it was thouglit expedient to deliver 
 
GUARDING DIVINITY 23 
 
 his imperial person, consecrated only to idleness 
 and pleasures, from this burthensome duty, and 
 therefore the crown is at present placed on the 
 throne for some hours every morning. His victuals 
 must be dressed every time in new pots, and 
 served at table in new dishes, both very clean and 
 neat, but made only of common clay, that with- 
 out any considerable expense they may be laid 
 aside, or broken, after they have served once. They 
 are generally broken for fear they should come into 
 the hands of laymen ; for they believe religiously 
 that if a layman should presume to eat his food out 
 of these sacred dishes, it would swell, and inflame 
 his mouth and throat." So much for the Mikado's 
 habits of life. 
 
 But this p'uardino' of I'hi^s is not confined to an 
 advanced cult. Among primitive peoples we find 
 priestly persons and divine kings guarded with equal 
 jealousy and care. At Slmrk Point, West Africa, 
 the king lives alone in a wood. He may never leave 
 his house. He may not touch a woman. On no 
 account must he quit his royal chair, even to sleep, 
 for in that case the wind would die down and all 
 navigation would be stopped.* The supreme ruler at 
 Congo is such another. Regarded as a god on earth, 
 no subject would, on any consideration, taste the 
 new crop till an ofi:ering of it is made to him. When 
 he leaves his residence to visit other parts of his 
 territory, all married persons are under obligation 
 to observe stringent laws of continence, any violation 
 of which would prove immediately fatal to Chitome. 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough. 
 
24 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 Were he to die a natural death, the world would be 
 annihilated.* 
 
 Illustrations mio^ht be multiplied, but whether in 
 Africa, Japan, or the South Sea Islands, the order 
 and regularity of nature is bound up with the life of 
 the ruler. It is evident he must be regarded by his 
 people as at once a source of untold blessing and 
 inexpressible danger to society. The care of his 
 person must be their first consideration in their 
 home and foreign policy, for any accident, through 
 oversight or lack of vigilance, might prove fatal to 
 the State. If he gives them rain, sunshine, genial 
 warmth, successful hunting and fishing, he can also 
 withhold these blessings and reverse the order of 
 nature. When the working of visible phenomena 
 is so closely bound up with his person that hui'ting his 
 toe might set up such a tremor as would overthrow 
 the foundations of the earth, the care bestowed on 
 his safe keeping must be infinite. For their own 
 safety his subjects must surround him with restric- 
 tions and safeguards. There must be set and ac- 
 curate rules for the regulation of his conduct both 
 public and jmvate. So it happens that his life is 
 valuable only in so far as he discharges the functions 
 for which he exists. 
 
 When he fails to order the course of nature so as 
 to benefit his people, his deposition is not only a 
 duty but a necessity. The homage and worship he 
 received is turned into contempt and hatred, for he 
 is not only useless, he is now positively hurtful. 
 Disgraced as a ruler, he is disgraced as a god, and 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, quoting Labat. 
 
GUARDING DIVINITY 25 
 
 then put to an ignominious death. During his hfe, 
 or at least his reign, he Hves hedged in by such 
 restrictions and hmitations that he ceases to be 
 a free agent, even when his people prostrate 
 themselves before him, and offer to him the most 
 costly gifts and sacrifices, perhaps their sons or 
 daughters. 
 
 Of the divine King of Loango it is said that the 
 greater his divinitv the more restrictions or taboos 
 he must observe. These regulate all his actions, his 
 walking and his sitting, his eating and drinking, his 
 sleeping and waking.^ To the same restrictions the 
 heir is subjected from infancy, only that the number 
 of observances during childhood are comparatively 
 few, but increasing in number, till on his reaching 
 manhood he is lost in the swaddling-clothes of taboos. 
 The kings of ancient Egypt were, and in fact all rulers 
 now worshipped as divine are, subject to the same life 
 of immobility and inaction. King Egbo, West Africa, 
 when he went abroad was concealed in an ark as 
 became a divine and supernatural being. This was 
 carried on the shoulders of men who were set apart 
 for the sacred office, and were themselves sacred 
 persons. t The sacred bearers still remain, but when 
 Egbo, who has left the palace to the actual ruler, 
 and now lives in a sacred grove that none may 
 enter or explore, goes abroad, the ark contains 
 but a dunnny which is followed by the reigning 
 monarch walking on foot. The king prefers the 
 advantages of substantial power to the honours of 
 divinity, and so does homage to the ghost of his 
 
 * Bastian. t Waddell. 
 
26 KELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 own divinity, rather than enter the sacred box him- 
 self, to be the toy of party poHticians. 
 
 When the office of ruler grew to be at once so 
 burdensome and so useless there could be but one 
 result. Men of action closed up the god in a box 
 and went on foot. Contenting themselves with the 
 substance of power, they left the honour and sem- 
 blance to some nerveless aspirant to the priesthood 
 who was satisfied with homage and honour in his 
 sacred retreat, while his rival ruled the kingdom. 
 This in course of time would lead to a separation 
 between the offices of ruler and high priest, and so 
 we gradually reach a farther stage in the develop- 
 ment of human thought and the evolution of deity 
 as that presented itself to primitive man. So bur- 
 densome did the office of king become, in the days 
 when kings were divine, that we find in West Africa, 
 when a king dies, a family council secretly held to 
 elect his successor. The hapless victim is seized, 
 bound hand and foot, and then thrown into the 
 fetish-house till he consents to accept the kingly 
 honours thus forced upon him. The Gallas of the 
 East elect their king once in eight years. They 
 are selected from five families who are royal, and 
 through whom the succession to the throne is care- 
 fully kept u}). They have a custom called Rab 
 whicli compels the four families out of office to 
 destroy all their children ; those reigning for the 
 time being allowed to rear theirs.* It is doubtless 
 from such examples being common, that facts such 
 as those recorded in the Book of Exodus reo-ardine" 
 
 * Krapf. 
 
GUAKDING DIVINITY 27 
 
 the drowning of infants l3ecame ]3ossible as a politi- 
 cal precaution. Powerful kings like those of ancient 
 Egypt, or of Dahomey and Ashantee in modern 
 times, may succeed in combining a vigorous policy 
 with sacred functions and the idea of a man-god, 
 but the tendency is towards degeneration and ex- 
 tinction. When a man ceases to move from his 
 royal chair, to see any of his subjects except those 
 whose interests it is to tell him only what suits 
 their own purpose ; when a movement of hand or 
 head is dangerous to the stability of the world, and 
 that he must give all needed blessings while care- 
 fuUv wrapped uj) in the swaddling-bands of taboo, 
 his final disappearance cannot be long delayed. His 
 memory lasts, but it becomes a shadow merging into 
 ancestor worship, or kept in a closed ark in the 
 fetish-house. 
 
 There was another, and perhaps a more powerful, 
 reason among primitive men why those who were 
 men of action should decline the honours of 
 divinity, and that was the practice of killing the 
 god.^' Ancient mythology has made us familiar 
 with the idea of the death of the gods, and if divine 
 and spiritual deities were subject to decrepitude, 
 decay, and death, how much more the human gods 
 of primitive man "? It was natural that men in far- 
 away times should bestow the greatest care on their 
 divinities, and surround them with taboos and re- 
 strictions calculated to keep them out of harm's 
 way. But no care could make human gods im- 
 mortal, and thf. worshippers had to take account 
 
 * Frazer, Golden Bouijh. 
 
28 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 of the stern fact and meet it as best they might. 
 If the course of nature depended on the god, what 
 might not old age and imbecihty bring upon the 
 nation :" Should his powers decay and his percep- 
 tions become dimmed, he might in a second precipi- 
 tate calamities which would ^^I'ove disastrous to 
 himself and his subjects. The world itself might 
 be thrown out of place, and projected no one knew 
 where, for in those days the powers of divine per- 
 sons were not restricted to " projecting " bits of 
 flimsy French paper in the form of letters with 
 indifferent spelling. 
 
 There was onl}" one way open by which the danger 
 could be met, and that was by putting the god to 
 death while still in the full possession of his facul- 
 ties or on the first appearance of outward symptoms 
 of decay, as a grey hair or hollow tooth, and thus 
 secure the entrance of his soid or divinity into his 
 successor.* Should lie die a natural death, even in 
 his prime, and before the dangers of decay appeared, 
 his soul might be stolen, or stray away into winter 
 and night to wander for ever. If the world were to 
 collapse on the King of Congo dying a natural 
 death, sucli a contingency could only be averted by 
 dispatching him to the land of shadows by violent 
 means. So it was that when a king fell ill his heir 
 and successor entered his house with a rope and 
 club, and either strangled or clubbed him to death. t 
 " 41ie King of Quiteva, in Eastern Africa, ranked 
 with deity,"+ and this continued till one of the 
 knigs lost a tooth, and feeling no disposition to 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, Golden Bomjh. t Labat. J Dos Santos. 
 
GUARDING DIVINITY 29 
 
 follow the practice of his predecessors by quitting 
 the upper air on the appearance of the first bodily 
 defect, published to his people that he liad lost a 
 front tooth, in order that " when they might behold 
 they might yet be able to recognise him." The his- 
 torian continues : " He declared at the same time 
 that he was resolved on livino- and reiOTiine* as lono- 
 
 O (DO ti 
 
 as he could, esteeming his existence requisite for the 
 welfare of liis subjects. He at the same time loudly 
 condemned the practice of his predecessors, whom 
 he taxed with imprudence, nay, even with madness, 
 for condemning themselves to death for casual acci- 
 dents to their persons ; and abrogating this mortal 
 law, he ordained that all his successors, if sane, 
 should follow the precedent he gave, and the new 
 law established by him.""^ 
 
 This man, whose name is not given, was as l^old a 
 reformer as was Ergamenes of MeroC; There the 
 kings were worshipped as gods, but whenever the 
 priests sent a message that the king must die, he 
 voluntarily submitted to be put to death. When 
 the summons came to Ergamenes he replied to it by 
 putting the priests themselves to the sword, thus 
 reversing the order, and putting an end to the 
 practice once for all. In Unyoro the king is killed 
 by his own wives when seriously ill. 
 
 Nor is the custom of killino- the divine king- con- 
 fined to Africa. The King of Calicut could only 
 rule twelve years, after which he must publicly com- 
 mit suicide according to an approved method ; a 
 method only a little less suggestive of the shambles 
 
 * Dos Santos. 
 
30 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 than the Harakiri of the Japanese. The first modi- 
 fication of the Cahcut law of succession was made 
 towards the end of the seventeenth century, when at 
 the end of the twelve years a tent was pitched, and 
 the king had a great feast lasting ten or twelve 
 davs, at the end of which any one might kill 
 him and gain the crown. ^^ To do so he must 
 cut his way, sword in hand, through the king's 
 bodyguard to reach him in his tent. The des- 
 perate attempt was at times made but never with 
 success. 
 
 Thev were bold men who ventured on drastic 
 reforms in far-away days ; bolder still were those 
 who ventured to curb the power of the j^riests after 
 the offices of ruler and high-priest came to be sepa- 
 rated, as not a few European monarchs discovered to 
 their cost when kept standing, barefooted and bare- 
 headed, waiting the pleasure of an arrogant ecclesi- 
 astic. But limitations were not put to the power of 
 the priesthood without a long period of transition, 
 during which many expedients were adopted to 
 preserve time-honoured usage, and adjust that to 
 the inevitable, as represented by a truculent ruler 
 who wished to enjoy the upper air as long as nature 
 ])ermitted him to do so, and who acquired aAvkward 
 habits of answering the arguments of philosopliers 
 with sword-cut or gallows. To only one of such ex- 
 pedients can we refer, that of temporary kings or 
 substitutes. 
 
 Where kings were put to death at the end of fixed 
 pei'iods or on the appearance of the first signs of 
 
 * Hamilton, quoted by J. G. Frazer. 
 
GUARDING DIVINITY 31 
 
 decay, rulers would anxiously endeavour to discover 
 a means of evadino^ the letter of the law while trivinii' 
 such obedience to its spirit as would satisfy theii- 
 subjects and worshippers. Some boldly set the law 
 at defiance by refusing to submit to its requirements. 
 Others sought out substitutes, and introduced to 
 men's minds the idea of one takinof, in a PTave 
 crisis, the place of another, and being regarded as the 
 person he represented ; his own individuality being 
 lost in the act of self-surrender and substitution. 
 He became the king, the very man-god whom people 
 worshipped, in his office and act. The real king in 
 fact died, and in resuming the government it was a 
 new king who ascended the throne to reign for 
 another stated period. At first a relative of the 
 king would act as substitute, but this could not 
 continue long without the sense of justice inherent 
 in man revolting against such a barbarous practice, 
 and a slave or condemned criminal would be sub- 
 stituted for a brother or son. This substitute, 
 whether son or slave, was for a time clothed with 
 kingly authority and lived in regal state, while the 
 king retired into private life. Even the royal harem 
 might be invaded by the temporary king, a fact, when 
 we consider the extraordinary jealousy with which 
 they were guarded, which shows clearly that only for 
 the most weighty reasons could such a thing be per- 
 mitted. It could only be in order that the temporary 
 king should be invested with full regal authority 
 without restriction or limitation. At the end of the 
 time allowed, the temporary king was put to death — 
 killed as a god — the king resuming office. The 
 
32 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 custom Is in some places softened down still more, 
 and the substitute is not actually put to death, a 
 mock execution being sufficient. This latter custom 
 is observed in Cambodia, where the temporary king 
 receives the revenues during his three days of office, 
 as is also done by the same functionary in Siam, only 
 the latter seizes ships entering harbour, and holds 
 them till redeemed. At the end of his term of office 
 he o-oes to a field and draws nine furrows, where seed 
 is sown by old women. When the nnith furrow is 
 finished, the spectators rush to pick up the seed just 
 sown to mix with tlieir own, and so secure a 
 plentiful crop. This temporary king is known as 
 " Lord of the Heavenly Host."* These customs, and 
 especially the killing of the king or his substitute, 
 introduce us to the earliest form of human sacrifice, 
 a system which developed to such gigantic propor- 
 tions as men's conception of the supernatural ad- 
 vanced from the ideas of human divinities to personal 
 spiritual existences, whether as the spirit of corn or 
 vegetation generally, the powers of nature or the 
 souls of departed ancestors. To the development 
 of this form of religion and worship we shall now 
 turn. 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, quoting Pallegoix. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 EVOLUTION OF DEITY 
 
 To form a correct conception of African and other 
 primitive peoples, it is necessary to have some 
 acquaintance with the doctrine of souls, as that is 
 understood by savage men. This throughout Africa 
 is vague, and the results of inquiry are far from 
 satisfactory. One hears accounts of souls, differ- 
 ing in all essentials, from men who observe the 
 same forms of worshijj and are subject to the same 
 system of government. The facts on which all are 
 agreed are few and easily enumerated. All men 
 have souls, even idiots, though some deny this, and 
 the departure of the soul from the body is death. 
 The soul is air, breath, wind, spirit, or it may be 
 regarded as being all these, or having their essence. 
 It is invisible, but in miniature an exact re23roduc- 
 tion of the man. It is his shadow, reflection, what 
 speaks in him. During sleep, or when a man is in a 
 faint, his soul is absent from the body, but returns 
 with restored animation. Should a person in a faint 
 be removed from one place to another, as taking him 
 out of his house into the oj^en air, he could not 
 recover, as the soul would return to the spot where 
 the man fainted, and not finding him there, would 
 go away. Again, a sleeper must not be rudely or 
 
 c 
 
34 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 hurriedly awakened, lest his soul, like Baal of old, 
 should be on a journey, and have no time to return 
 to re-enter the body. In that case the man might 
 not die, but he would cease to be human, and go to 
 wander for ever in the forest like those corpses 
 raised l^y the art of witchcraft, and who are doomed 
 to an eternal wandering in mist and rain. The 
 spirit or soul, in the case of temporary absence, 
 leaves the body by the natural openings, especially 
 the nostrils, and must re-enter by the way it went ; 
 hence placing a handkerchief over the face of a 
 sleeper would be highly reprehensible, as it might, 
 probably would, lead to certain death. So would 
 closing the mouth, should the soul have left by that 
 door. 
 
 At death the soul leaves the body to return no 
 more. Its leaving is not regarded as voluntary, as 
 death — that is, the expulsion of the soul — is most 
 frequently the work of wizards ; but in any case it 
 cannot re-enter that body " whose eyes shall never 
 see the sun again." Where does the soul go when 
 it leaves the body, either temporarily or perma- 
 nently ? During the absence of sleep it may " visit 
 the sleeper's friend in a dream," or it may " flit about 
 the roof ; " in either case its return is prompt the 
 moment the slumberer begins to move his limbs. 
 " The soul hears even a long breath, should it be 
 with my friend far away," said a Kaffir once to me 
 in a moment of unwonted confidence. At death the 
 soul hovers near the body till the latter is buried, 
 and then takes up its abode in the great world 
 of spirits, except in those cases in which it enters 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 35 
 
 an animal or object to watch over the dohio-s of 
 men. 
 
 But souls are almost as liable to clanu-er from 
 external circumstances as human divinities are. 
 They may be stolen, like a man's purse ; snatched 
 away in a wdiifF of whirlwind, or lost throug-h care- 
 lessness or neglect. Should a South African native 
 see an Incante, his soul would be snatched away and 
 he would die on the spot. When a " river calls," he 
 must enter it, but only to drown in its deep waters. 
 The Hili living there demands his soul. He may be 
 bewitched by wizards, and his soul stolen, leaving 
 him a ghostly wanderer in fen and forest. A Zulu 
 will not look into a dark pool, as there is a creature 
 " behind the reflection " that will steal away his 
 shadow, and he dies. To all mirrors and reflecting 
 surfaces there is the same objection. In either case 
 the soul is snatched away by the devil. So it hap- 
 pens that mirrors being " expressly invented by the 
 devil for his purposes," people in civilised countries 
 cover up theirs whenever there is a death in the 
 house. To this day, in the Highlands of Scotland, 
 all mirrors are carefully covered over with white 
 cloths the moment a person expires. The same is 
 done in Madagascar ; the custom is not extinct in 
 England. 
 
 Such beliefs regarding the nature and habits of 
 souls linger in odd corners of Europe in a much 
 more distinct form tlian the custom of coverino- 
 mirrors. In Greece, when a new house is being 
 built, they have a peculiar method of giving sta- 
 bility to the building. For this purpose a cock Is 
 
36 EELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 killed and its blood allowed to flow on the founda- 
 tion-stone. Another and a more effectual method 
 is for the builder to entice a man, on some pretext, 
 to enter where the builders are at work and then 
 measure his shadow by stealth. This measure 
 placed under the foundation-stone, gives the house 
 absolute stabihty. The person whose shadow was 
 measured " dies within a year," but that is a second- 
 ary matter with the contractor.* This is beyond 
 doubt a survival of an ancient custom, and a belief 
 that a man's soul and his shadow were identical, 
 or in any case indissolubly bound to one another. 
 I remember hearing my father tell of an old High- 
 land tradition that those who practised the black 
 art cast no shadow. They had sold their souls to 
 the devil for supernatural power, and their immor- 
 tal part being his by right and possession, the 
 body cast no shadow from the sun, soul and shadow 
 being one. Another danger of the soul was slow 
 expulsion by sorcery, but this belongs rather to the 
 subject of witchcraft, under which it falls to be 
 considered. 
 
 Havino- thus seen the nature of the soul and a 
 
 o 
 
 few of its dangers as these are conceived by savage 
 men, we can the more easily proceed to the study 
 of spiritual divinities as distinguished from, or 
 evolved out of, incarnate gods. We shall begin with 
 South Africa. There every man worships the spirits 
 of his departed ancestors, especially those recently 
 deceased. In Africa, as elsewhere, old ghosts are 
 not of much account. The father's spirit must 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough. 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 
 
 be worshipped and his wants suppUed by sacrifice ; 
 the trrandfather's must be honoured and his known 
 wishes regarded, but the poor old great-grandfather 
 may sit in his horn in the corner and no one pay 
 any special regard to him, unless, indeed, he hap- 
 pened to be a noted man, as the founder of a family 
 or sept. The clans worship in the same manner the 
 spirits of their departed chiefs, and where all the 
 clans composing a tribe are supposed to be descended 
 from a common ancestor, the spirits of departed 
 tribal chiefs are a kind of supreme, or at least su- 
 perior, deities. When a tribe is composed of differ- 
 ent clans this powerful element of union, the worship 
 of a common ancestor, is wanting, as each clan looks 
 to its hereditary chief as its true divinity. They 
 have no very definite idea of the mode of existence 
 of their deities, only they inhabit the old places and 
 are always at hand. A man cannot perform an 
 action unknown to the gods, though thieves disguise 
 themselves to deceive divinity. This, however, is 
 never effectual, as the wise men will say, "A thief is 
 always known, though we cannot say his name." 
 
 Closely connected with the doctrine of divinity 
 is that of other spirits than the souls of ancestors. 
 Those most commonly met with are water or river 
 spirits, inhabiting deep pools where there are strong 
 eddies and under-currents. These are wicked and 
 malevolent beings, and are never credited with 
 any good. Whatever they possess they keep, and 
 seize on anything which comes within their reach, 
 especially the souls of men. Other spirits reside 
 in forests, mountains and rocky caverns. They 
 
38 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 frequently leave their haunts and assume animal 
 form, as baboon, wolf, wild dog-, snake, or lizard. This 
 is always for pure mischief, and their malevolent 
 designs can only be averted by the use of charms 
 prepared by a magician, and sacrifice. Moremo, the 
 god of the Bechuanas, was malicious and cunning. ^'^ 
 They never hesitated to express their indignation 
 when he disappointed them, by bitter invective and 
 cursino". This same method was suo-o-ested to Job 
 bv his Avife : " Curse God and die," said that virao'o. 
 When they had good crops, Moremo got all the 
 credit of it, and Avas patronised as a generous, good- 
 natured kind of a god after all. Evidently, from 
 the accounts that have reached us, Bechuana re- 
 ligion is not very profound, nor is their god very 
 consistent. 
 
 As we move northwards we find the deities under- 
 going considerable modification, and along the west 
 coast we make the acquaintance of Fetish and 
 Fetish idols, hardly a trace of which is to be found 
 in east and east-central Africa. These totems or 
 sacred animals become the clan badges, and from 
 the animals held sacred we can recoo-uise scattered 
 remnants of tribes separated by hundreds of miles, 
 and having hardly any customs in common except 
 the sacred animal as their clan bado-e. Throuofhout 
 the whole continent we meet ^^'ith customs, ritual, 
 ceremonial acts, and other observances which have 
 at first sight no appearance of being connected with 
 any religious belief, l)ut which have a religious 
 sio-nificance. And this is consistent with savage 
 
 * Livingstone. 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 39 
 
 thought, which always connects the most insignifi- 
 cant action that is unusual with what is supernatural, 
 as a cock crowing in the evening* or a crane alighting 
 on a house-top. Actions done by individuals may 
 influence the whole policy of a tribe for generations 
 either for good or evil. For example, the natives of 
 Senjero, Abyssinia, sell only female slaves, never 
 men or boys, and any one selling a male would 
 bring upon himself the wrath of the gods, even if 
 he could hope to escape a visit from the executioner. 
 The orio-in of the custom is said to have been that a 
 king long ago, when kings were divine, had ordered a 
 man to kill his wife and bring him a piece of her flesh 
 for the cure of an ailment from which he suffered. 
 The man refused to comply with the king's order, 
 and saved his wife alive. She was next sent for and 
 told what had happened, after which she was asked 
 to slay her husband and bring a piece of his flesh to 
 the king. This the ungrateful woman did, and 
 ever since then a Senjero man may sell his daughter, 
 or even his wife, but a man never.t Human sacri- 
 fices to their divinities are common among the people 
 of Senjero. This, so runs the legend, was introduced 
 lono- affo, when the seasons o-ot confused, summer and 
 winter being so mixed up that no crops ripened. 
 The priests " ordered many families to sacrifice their 
 first-born," and the rulers of the town to raze a huge 
 iron pillar which stood outside the gate. The base 
 
 * A lady living in the highlands of Scotland a few years ago had a cock 
 that crowed in the evening. Her peasant neighbours urged her to kill it. 
 She consulted a local gentleman, who replied to her question : " No, no, 
 Mrs. Brown, there is no harm in the creature, none whatever : but I will 
 tell you what, if I were in your place I would wring that cock's neck." 
 
 t Krapf. 
 
40 EELIGIOX AND MYTH 
 
 of the pillar, like " the stump of the roots " of the 
 tree in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, was to be left, and 
 it and the throne to be sprinkled with the blood of 
 the victims. After this was done the seasons re- 
 sumed their normal course ; * l^ut in memory of the 
 event, and to prevent its recurrence, the sacrifices 
 are observed annually, and both throne and the spot 
 where the pillar stood sprinkled with blood. This 
 myth, the iron pillar apart, is probably a transcript 
 of what the historian witnessed with his own eyes. 
 These obscure practices and legends point back to a 
 time when the spirit of vegetation, or creative energy, 
 was worshipped and sacrifices oifered to it. The 
 confusion of the seasons and their readjustment by 
 sacrifice has undoubtedly a close connection with the 
 worship of the spirit of growth. Another curious 
 custom in Senjero is the throwing of a slave into 
 Lake Umo by dealers in men when setting out on a 
 raiding expedition. t The sacrifice is to the deity of 
 the lake, in order that he may, from the victim 
 given as a seed-corn, give a plentiful crop. 
 
 Among the Gallas the priests occupy a position 
 distinct from the magicians or exorcists. They have 
 the highest place in all religious ceremonies, and 
 receive special honour and homage from their 
 votaries. Here we find trees and vegetation oc- 
 cupying a prominent place in all religious obser- 
 vances and acts of worship. So marked is this 
 characteristic that it is more akin to the worship 
 and sacrifice of the Khonds of India than what we 
 are familiar with in most parts of Africa. The 
 
 * Krapf. I IhkJ. 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 41 
 
 Galla priest will sacrifice only under the woda-tree. 
 Ill it, spirit, " even a higher spirit," dwells, and no 
 man dare fell a woda-tree. If he does so, he forfeits 
 his life/^ The tree itself is sacred, and so too is the 
 woda-mabi, or groves where it grows by the River 
 Hawash where the great yearly festivals are held. 
 At these gatherings the tree spirit is worshipped by 
 ofterings and sacrifice.t Nor is the worship of tree 
 spirits pecuhar to the Gallas. We meet with it in 
 Lithuania, in Bavaria, and in Southern Europe. 
 The Ovaons of Bengal have a festival in spring, 
 while the sal-trees are in blossom, because they 
 think that at that time the marriage of earth is 
 celebrated, and sal-flowers are necessary for the cere- 
 mony. On the day appointed, the villagers, accom- 
 panied by their priest, gather the flowers in a forest 
 where a goddess is supposed to dwell. Next day 
 the priest visits each house carrying the flowers with 
 him. The w^omen as he approaches bring out water 
 to wash his feet and do him obeisance. Then he 
 dances with them, placing flowers in their hair, after 
 which they drench him with water. | This ceremony 
 is supposed to have an influence upon the course of 
 the weather, especially the rainfall, and the spirit of 
 the sacred sal-tree is represented by both the flowers 
 and the priest who brings them, introducing us to 
 the double representation of the spirit of ^-egetation, 
 by a person and object, as that survives in the 
 Grass king of Sommerberg or the May Bride of 
 Altmark.§ 
 
 •■• Krapf. t J^'"^- 
 
 ■^- Dalton. S Monnier. 
 
42 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 The Gallas have no Idols, but revere objects and 
 animals, serpents being- specially sacred. One variety 
 of snake they regard as having been the mother of 
 the human famih'. This same belief was a prominent 
 feature of the ancient paganism of Abyssinia. The 
 supreme Galla deity is water ; under him, or her, are 
 two subordinate gods, a masculine, Oglie, to whom 
 cows are sacrificed in June and July, and his consort 
 Atetie, whose offerings are made in September, and 
 may consist of animals or fruits. She is the goddess 
 of fecundity, and women are her principal votaries ; 
 but as she can also make the earth " prolific," ofter- 
 ings are made to her for that purpose.* These 
 divinities represent the creative and fructifying 
 powers of nature, and this nature-worshij) meets us 
 under different forms in all parts of the Continent. 
 Even the Gold Coast moon-dance is an act of homage 
 done to the mother of all. 
 
 Passing from the Gallas to the Waganga, the 
 same essentials are met with in the national worship. 
 There a cocoa-nut is hung up at the village gate 
 while the crops are ripening. This, curiously enough, 
 is to prevent theft, as any one touching the fruits of 
 the earth while it is there would be visited with the 
 vengeance of the earth goddess. A secondary object 
 served is the protection of the crops from injury. 
 An empty cocoa-nut shell is placed on graves, and 
 filled now and then with tembo, for without this the 
 spirit could not exist. Tembo to them represents 
 the spirit or essence of the earth's fruits: the 
 hfe-blood of nature. 
 
 * Kiapf. 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 43 
 
 Of this earth divinity the visible representative is 
 the Muansa. This is simply a log of wood, hollowed 
 out in a particular manner, so that when rubbed it 
 emits sounds resembling the roaring and bellowing 
 of wild animals.^* It is carried about in solemn pro- 
 cession at all great festivals, for in it the god resides. 
 If at such times it were seen by Avomen or children 
 they would fall down dead. Should a woman, after 
 seeing the Muansa, survive, she would become barren. 
 So, when the trod roars, women must hide in the 
 woods till it is carried back to its house. Besides 
 the great festivals, as that of first-fruits, the god 
 roars when the tribe sacrifices for rain, or when men 
 o-o to the forest to strangle a deformed infant, which 
 is invariably done, as is the case also with a cross- 
 birth or abnormal presentation. The Muansa is the 
 centre of the religious life of the tribe, and is a sur- 
 vival akin to the Egbo of the West Coast. The 
 observances connected with it leave no doubt as 
 to the intention of the institution, that is, the 
 deification of nature, especially corn and vegetation 
 o-enerallv. To cut a cocoa-nut tree is equivalent to 
 matricide : " The mother nourishes her infant ; the 
 cocoa-nut tree men. Does an infant destroy its 
 mother '( Should a man kill the spirit of the tree 
 that is the bread of the people ? " Other Waganga 
 and Waneka religious observances will fall to be 
 considered under oaths and ordeals. 
 
 These illustrations of the religious beliefs of East 
 and Central Africa are sufficient for our present 
 purpose, but before passing to the discussion of the 
 
 * Krapf. 
 
44 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 divinities of the West Coast we may glance at one 
 phase of a class of social customs extending- from 
 the Cape of Good Hope to the banks of the Nile, 
 and Avhicli are substantially the same among all 
 peoples over that vast area, though with infinite 
 variety of detail in the manner of their perform- 
 ance. I refer to the ceremonies and usages con- 
 nected with the initiation of young people into 
 manhood and womanhood at the age of puberty. 
 In South Africa circumcision and intonjane are 
 universal. The details of these ceremonies vary, 
 but the object is the same in all. The usual ritual 
 connected with circumcision is as follows : At the 
 season of the year when crops are beginning to 
 ripen, all the young men of a locality are circum- 
 cised by the village doctor, and are then insolated in 
 huts, previously prepared, at some distance from 
 the ordinary dwellings, generally near the edge of a 
 clump of trees. Men are appointed to watch over 
 the neophytes, and to prevent their having inter- 
 course of any kind whatsoever with women. They 
 daul) the young men all over with a pure white 
 clay, which for the period of probation is their dis- 
 tinguishing badge. During their novitiate they are 
 subjected to considerable privations. What butcher's 
 meat they receive they must steal, and as every 
 one is on the alert when "white boys " are about, 
 stealing is by no means a simple art, nor is failure 
 in the attempt the end of the afiair. For failure 
 they are unmercifully beaten by their tutors, while 
 a successful foray is worthy of all praise. Tliey are 
 compelled to do violent bodily exercise in dancing 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 45 
 
 and running, and are often kept awake for several 
 consecutive nights. They are beaten with sapUngs 
 and deprived of food, all of which is meant to render 
 them hardy and indifferent to pain, and also as a 
 privation before they receive that full license which 
 is an essential portion of their initiation. At the 
 close of these preliminary ceremonies the white clay 
 is washed off their bodies ; they receive new gar- 
 ments, and then repair to the residence of the chief, 
 Avhere the elders of the tribe and a great concourse 
 of men and women have already assembled. Their 
 bodies are now anointed with oil. Harangues hj the 
 minister of war, magician, and bards follow as to 
 their duties to their chief in peace and war. Arms 
 are put into their hands, and they thereby receive 
 the privilege of manhood. A great festival follows, 
 continued for several days and nights. The customs 
 sanctioned by law and usage at these festivals are 
 generally described as obscene. They are certainly 
 such as to lead to the inference that the whole 
 ceremony of initiation is based on the principle of 
 doing homage to the powers of nature. 
 
 In the lake region of Central Africa, and espe- 
 cially among the Wayao, the "mysteries" are per- 
 formed at a corresponding period of life, and there, 
 even more than in the South, it is evident the 
 object is to honour the budding powers of nature 
 as a divinity. The corresponding ceremonies 
 through which young women pass do not admit of 
 description in a popular work ; the object is clearly 
 the same. 
 
 When we ask a native to explain the purpose of 
 
46 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 these ceremonial usages, he replies that without 
 them the young folk would always remain children, 
 and never could become men and women in the 
 proper sense. There seems to be no distinct phi- 
 losophy to explain the custom ; "it was always so, 
 and if our people neglected it we would die ; " which 
 means, gradually decay and disappear as a people. 
 Only when the details are carefully studied — the 
 ill-usage and privation of the preliminary stage, 
 the unchecked license of the festival, and manhood 
 not being attained without both — and compared 
 with other customs common everywhere, do we 
 come to understand that the object is to do homage 
 to nature ; that the beatings and fastings may even 
 be symbolical of putting the person, or at least the 
 spirit of creative and reproductive energy, to death, 
 to be revived, honoured, almost worshipped, during 
 the festival which closes the ceremonies. 
 
 These ceremonies are performed while the crojjs 
 are still green but approaching maturity, by sacred 
 persons whose office is religious. Among some 
 tribes, as the Hottentots, circumcision must not l)e 
 performed with a knife, but with a sharp bit of 
 quartz. Blood must be encouraged to flow to a 
 certain extent. The festival marking the close of 
 the ceremonies must be held before harvest opera- 
 tions are officially commenced, and on the part of 
 the performers there must be a display of the 
 utmost vital energy in dancing, wrestling, and 
 other exercises. The homage due to the goddess 
 presiding over, or residing in, such powers is the 
 true significance of the customs and ritual belonging 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 47 
 
 to the period when youth emerges into manhood 
 and womanhood. Nor does this view lack confirm- 
 ation from the usages of other countries and times. 
 Harvest festivals are, and have been, akin to the 
 worship of Bacchus, with the rites of Venus added. 
 Men and women who are modest, well-behaved, and 
 in all respects reputable members of society, abandon 
 themselves at the season of first-fruits to the gods 
 and goddesses of nature till satiety and disgust 
 recall them to their senses again. Such revels are 
 not the exclusive privilege of savages, for the con- 
 duct of the Israelites regarding the Midianites 
 whom they conquered is a case in point. So, too, 
 under other and far difPerent conditions, the wor- 
 ship of the Corinthian Venus and the practice 
 common in Indian temples show the same honours 
 and homage, even worship given to the powers of 
 nature. And this is nothing else than the worship 
 of the spirit of creative or reproductive energy in 
 the animal world, as we have already seen in 
 connection with the growth of trees, corn, and 
 vegetation generally. The deity is Mother Earth ; 
 the worship, to ensure her good offices in continuing 
 her bounteous office of reproduction. 
 
 The West Coast of Africa is the land of fetish. 
 How this system originated it is impossible to deter- 
 mine, but there are indications which seem to point 
 back to its beginnings as a separate religious system. 
 Among many African tribes it is common to pre- 
 serve bones, and especially skulls, of ancestors as 
 relics of the dead.* These were supposed to be the 
 
 * Rowley, Africa Unreiled. 
 
48 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 abode, temporary or permanent, of the departed soul, 
 and were tended and guarded Avith all the reverence 
 due to an ancestral spirit itself. From reverence 
 and filial piety the transition to worship would be 
 natural and easy. The soul dwelling in the skull 
 was able to give or withhold certain blessings, and 
 when treated with the respect due to it, could be of 
 great service to the devout descendants who kept 
 and tended it. In this Avay may have originated at 
 once the worshijj of fetish, and the well-known 
 African habit of giving the aged a help to leave the 
 world, on the assumption that their bones and dis- 
 embodied spirits would be of greater service to the 
 living than their bodily presence, when age and in- 
 firmity had rendered them helpless. The attention 
 bestowed on an invisible spirit residing in a well- 
 cleaned skull, would not be more troublesome than 
 that required by an aged grandfather, while the 
 former in activity and power to benefit his descend- 
 ants was vastly superior. At first each family 
 would preserve and tend its own relics, but with the 
 lapse of time their care would devolve on the 
 priests, and with the accumulation of bones suitable 
 receptacles would be provided, developing gradually 
 into special houses or temples consecrated for this 
 purpose, and sacred. From such relic-reverence and 
 worship to fetish would be such an easy transition 
 that no revolution in religious thought would be 
 needed to accomplish it, and once the departed 
 spirit could take uj) its abode in another object 
 than a bone of its original owner, the growth of 
 fetish objects would proceed apace. The magician, 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 49 
 
 by the exercise of his own supernatural power, could 
 impart to any object a sacred character and make it 
 the home of the soul. For a similar reason he 
 could impart to objects, as necklets, virtues for the 
 protection of the wearer, this object being but a 
 lower form of fetish through which the supernatural 
 influence for protection came to be imparted to the pos- 
 sessor ; only, in this case its virtues were restricted 
 to the person on whom the magician bestowed 
 it. Where relic- worship became common the ob- 
 ject charmed by the magician would naturally be 
 supposed to be the home of a guardian spirit, and if 
 rudely carved into the image of a man the connec- 
 tion between it and a departed ancestor needed no 
 demonstration. Once this principle became estab- 
 lished there would be no limit to the multiplication 
 of fetishes. And so it is that any object in nature 
 may be the abode of spirits. An islet in a lake, a 
 sharp pinnacle of rock, a stone above water in a 
 river, a human bone, a carved image, a ram's horn, 
 or even a man's weapons, may be fetish and have 
 spirits dwelling in them. Fetish brings victory in 
 war, success in fishing, hunting, or trading. It 
 cures all ailments from insanity to sterility."^ It 
 preserves life or destroys it, according to the inten- 
 tion of the votary and the nature of the offering, t 
 Its uses are as wide as are the necessities of man, 
 and it can be adapted to every circumstance of 
 life. 
 
 But this is not much worse than certain cus- 
 toms still lingering in obscure corners of England. 
 
 * Eowley. t Winterbotham. 
 
50 RELICIION AND MYTH 
 
 One of these, known as ''Toad-day," seems to 
 carry us back to the days of the Druids, or even an 
 earHer and pre- Aryan period. On Toad-day people 
 resort to a " wise man," or in other words a wizard, 
 to purchase a charm or fetish which is to protect 
 them and theirs from injury for a year. This charm 
 consists of a leg torn from a living toad, wliich the 
 purchaser devoutly wears about his person.* In 
 Scotland " wise women " cure rheumatism by giving 
 the patient a potato which he must carry in his 
 trousers pocket. While it is in his possession, and 
 carried according to prescription, he is exempt from 
 attack. I once heard a shrewd, long-headed farmer 
 say : " I ha'e haen a twinge o' rheumatics. I had a 
 tatie I got frae a wife, but I slipped it oot o' my 
 pouch amang a wheen twine." The potato being 
 lost or mislaid, his old enemy had returned. 
 
 We have seen how religion, when the king ceases 
 to be worshipped as a man-god, tends to pass over 
 to a deification of the powers of nature, associating 
 with these the reproductive energy of departed 
 priests or ancestors. These, or their spirit, may be 
 present in any object, or they may only occupy the 
 j)Osition of an influence, as w^hen an African says 
 when he escapes from danger, " The soul of my father 
 saved me." This tends to become pantheism — a dei- 
 fication of all nature. Such is the root idea of 
 Mluniru of the Zulus : the father of the race of men 
 among the Sillocks on the Nile ;t Loma of the Bongo ;| 
 heaven fire or lightning of the Mitto,§ and the Lubare 
 of the Lake region. || This is a comparatively late 
 
 * Rowley. t Schweinfurth. % Ibid. § Ibid. \\ Mackay. 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 5j 
 
 development, and can only be elaborated after religion 
 has passed through many phases, and man comes to 
 regard the supernatural as distinct from and inde- 
 pendent of his own will. The older forms may and 
 do persist after philosophy has arrived at the pan- 
 theistic idea, but they are on the wane, and preparing 
 to follow the systems which preceded into the land 
 of forgetfulness. Before considering the doctrines of 
 substitution, sacrifice and sacrificial worship, we may 
 examine traces of nature-worship under the form of 
 the creative or reproductive spirit, as that has sur- 
 vived in civilised lands in popular superstition, cere- 
 monial acts, and national festivals. 
 
 One of the most familiar of festivals is the village 
 May-pole, an undoubted survival from veiy ancient 
 times. We may the better understand its signifi- 
 cance if we compare the yearly merry-making on 
 the village green with the Galla festival of Woda, 
 or, better still, with the annual saciifices to Tari b}^ 
 the Khonds of India. Our knowledo-e of this latter 
 festival is full and accurate. Major MacPherson, 
 who suppressed the custom now over forty years 
 ago, wrote an account of it in all its details, of 
 which what follows is a brief summary : — The 
 sacrifices were intended to ensure good crops and 
 avert accidents of all kinds in connection with the 
 fertility of the soil and yield of crops, as well as 
 fecundity and productiveness among the people. 
 The victim, or Meriah, was acceptable to the 
 goddess only in the event of being purchased or 
 being born of a victim purchased at a previous time. 
 To avoid accidents or difficulty in procuring a suit- 
 
52 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 able Meriah at the time of the festival, a number 
 were always kept on hand to be ready in case of 
 emergency. Of these, many were women, and, as 
 the victims could not be sacrificed if pregnant, many 
 of them managed to escape their fate for years. 
 Their children were, however, doomed as victims 
 from infancy, as were also children of a free woman 
 by a male Meriah. Even free people, Khonds them- 
 selves, at times sold their children as victims. To 
 sell a son or daughter was the highest virtue, as 
 "the child died that all the world might live."* 
 These ghastly sacrifices were offered by tribes and 
 sub-tribes, and were so arranged that each house- 
 holder got a shred of flesh to sow in his fields about 
 the time when the crop was laid down, or as the 
 corn already in the earth began to sprout. 
 
 The sacrifices were performed in the following- 
 manner : — Ten days before the festival the victim's 
 hair was cut off. Thereafter came davs of feastino- 
 dancing, and devilry. On the day preceding the 
 sacrifice the victim was dressed in new and verv 
 fine garments, and then led from the village in 
 grand procession, with every possible circumstance of 
 display and honour. With music, dancing, ex- 
 uberant merriment, and homage done to the victim, 
 the procession wended its w^ay to the sacred grove, 
 at a distance from any dwellings, none of the 
 trees of which might be felled or touched with an 
 axe. Arri^•ed at the grove, the victim was tied to a 
 post, anointed with a mixture of oil and turmeric, 
 and richly adorned with cut flowers. During the 
 
 * MacPherson 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 53 
 
 whole of that da}' a species of reverence equivalent 
 to adoration was paid to the Meriah. There was a 
 constant struggle to obtain a flower, a particle of 
 the turmeric, even a spittle from the victim's person, 
 and these were rei>"arded as soverei^'n and absolute 
 in all cases to secure the end sought by the wor- 
 shipper. On the day of sacrifice the dance was 
 continued till noon, when it ceased, and the assem- 
 l:)led crowd — for young and old were present — pro- 
 ceeded to the final act. The victim was again 
 anointed as before, and at times carried in triumphal 
 procession from house to house. At this stage the 
 Meriah might not be bound nor make any sign of 
 resistance. It was indeed essential that there should 
 be a voluntary surrender and sacrifice. To ensure 
 success and perfect obedience with apparent willing- 
 ness, the priests might, and often did, break the 
 bones of both arms and legs, or, when this was not 
 done, they gave a dose of some narcotic, as opium. 
 
 The method of putting the victim to death was 
 strangulation, and that was performed in the fol- 
 lowinof manner : — A o-reen branch from a tree was 
 cleft for a leno'th of a few feet, and the victim's 
 neck inserted into the fork thus formed, after which 
 the officiating priest closed and secured the free 
 ends. He then wounded the Meriah slightly with 
 his axe, when the crowd rushed forward with knives 
 and bill-hooks to tear the flesh from the bones in 
 shreds and flbres, leaving the head, thorax, and 
 abdomen intact. An alternative method was to 
 fasten the victim to the trunk of a wooden elephant 
 which revolved on a pivot. As it whirled round 
 
54 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 and round the crowd cut strips of flesh from the 
 livinii' Merlah. In each case the flesh was treated 
 in the manner we shall presently see. In one dis- 
 trict the method of death was slow roasting before 
 a large fire. In this case a low stage was formed 
 and on it the victim was placed. Fires were lighted 
 and burning brands applied to make the sacrifice 
 roll and wriggle as long as possible. The more the 
 victim rolled, and the more tears and cries, the more 
 plentiful w^ould be the crop. 
 
 All this looks like a sacrifice to the ofoddess Tari, 
 but when the treatment of the victim while held 
 captive, and the homage paid before being put to 
 death, too^ether with the use made of the shreds of 
 flesh is considered, it is highly probable that the 
 intention was the sacrifice of the goddess herself; 
 the decaying powers of nature put to death in 
 order that the spirit of these powers might re-enter 
 the earth as a creative and reproductive power, in 
 the same manner as the spirit of the slain king- 
 entered his successor and dwelt there. Confirma- 
 tion of this view is derived from the manner in 
 which the flesh was disposed of, which was as })ecu- 
 liar as it is suggestive. 
 
 The strips and shreds of flesh cut from the 
 Meriah were instantly carried away by ap})ointed 
 persons to the several villages represented at tlie 
 festival and sacrifice. To secure prompt arrival, 
 relays of runners Avere posted at short intervals 
 along the roads. Arrived at the village, the runner 
 deposited the flesh in the place of ])ublic assembly, 
 and there the priest divided it into two portions. 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 55, 
 
 One portion he buried in a hole in the ground, to 
 which, while he performed the operation, he kept 
 his back carefully turned. Then each villager, all 
 having rigidly fasted till now, added a little earth 
 till the hole was filled up. The other portion of 
 flesh the priest divided among heads of families, 
 who wrapped up each his share in green leaves and 
 proceeded at once to bury it in their corn-fields. 
 " For three days no house was swept, and silence 
 was generally observed.""^ In three days corn 
 sown sprouts; so, too, by inference, the spirit of corn 
 represented by the Meriah. The head and entrails 
 of the victim, which, as we have seen, had been left 
 intact, were watched by the priests for a night, and 
 next day burned with a whole sheep, and the ashea 
 scattered over the fields. 
 
 These observances clearly show that power was 
 ascribed to the victim other than is associated with 
 sacrifice to secure the favour of deity. But it may 
 he objected that there is no connection between such 
 bloody rites as those represented by Khond sacri- 
 fices and the merry-making on fine summer morn- 
 ings, as ruddy youths and fair maidens dance around 
 the village May-pole. To trace that connection we 
 must go back to a time when May- day festivities 
 meant, not the exuberant energy and frolic of 
 vouth, but the stern realities of a religion observed 
 by men in terrible earnest, and accompanied by the 
 sacrifice of quivering human beings to secure life and 
 favour from the gods. In order to understand this 
 we must trace briefly the history of another form 
 
 * Campbell. 
 
56 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 of sacrifice and development of divinity common 
 among the Celtic tribes of Europe. 
 
 The story of the death of Balder, the good 
 and beautiful god, is familiar to all readers of Pro- 
 fessor Rhys' Celtic Heathenism. The goddess Frigg 
 obtained an oath from fire, water, metals, trees, 
 beasts of all kinds, birds, and creej^ing things, that 
 they would not touch or injure Balder. When this 
 was done the trod was reo-arded as invulnerable and 
 immortal. Loke, the evil- worker, was displeased 
 at what Frigg had done, and sought to discover if 
 anything had been omitted from the oath by which 
 he could injure or kill the god. He discovered that 
 the mistletoe had not been included, as beino- too 
 young to swear. So Loke went and pulled the 
 mistletoe, which he brought to the assembly of the 
 gods. A twig of it was given to Hodur, who made it 
 into an arrow, which he shot at Balder. It pierced 
 him through the heart and he fell down dead. The 
 assembled gods stood speechless for a great space, 
 and then lifted up their voices and wept, for the 
 best and bravest had fallen. Then Balder's ship 
 was launched bv a giantess who came ridino- on a 
 wolf, and his body placed on board on a funeral pile. 
 When his wife Nanna saw what was done her heart 
 burst for sorrow and she died. Her body was laid 
 beside her husband, and so too were his horse and 
 trappings. The ship having been fired, was sent to 
 sea witli its sad freight, and so ended the life of 
 Balder. This is briefly the story which in the 
 original Edda is told with great amplification of 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY 57 
 
 circumstance. Its very minuteness suggests that it 
 belonofs to that class of myths which are invented to 
 explain ritual ; for a myth is never so graphic as 
 when it is a transcript of what the narrator has 
 seen.* The main incidents are : first, the pulling of 
 the mistletoe ; and secondly, the death and burning of 
 the god. Both these incidents appear to have formed 
 an essential part of Celtic ol)servances, as cut flowers 
 and the death of the Meriah did of the ritual of the 
 Khonds. We may now turn to May-day customs. 
 In all parts of Europe the peasantry, from time 
 immemorial, have been in the habit of kindling fires 
 and performing ceremonial acts on certain days of 
 the year. It is a universal custom to dance round 
 Midsummer fires, leap over them, and treat them as 
 in a manner sacred. These customs can be traced 
 back to the time of the Druids. They, in various 
 forms, survived all and every change, and still per- 
 sist, though thousands of years have elapsed since 
 the reasons which gave them birth have passed 
 away from the public mind. In Caithness, withni 
 the last seventy years, each family in the neighbour- 
 hood of Watten carried bread and cheese, before 
 sunrise on May morning, to the top of a hill called 
 Heathercow, and left it there. + After sunrise the 
 cowherds might take away the spoil for their own 
 use. No one could explain the origin of the prac- 
 tice ; it was unlucky to neglect it, that was all. 
 Here we have a survival of an offering to the earth 
 o-oddess, which in Druidical times was accompanied 
 
 * J. G. Frazer. t Rev. A. Gunn, MS. Notes. 
 
58 EELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 with bloody rites and sacrifices, in which the sacred 
 mistletoe played an important part. It seems to 
 carry us back to the days of Balder, when men killed 
 the spirit of vegetation and creative energy in the 
 person of their god, that it might re-enter the growing 
 corn and make the earth fruitful once more. In 
 the Western Isles the people on a given day poured 
 out libations to the sea-god Shony, and then held 
 a festival with curious rites, which w^ere observed 
 not more than two centuries ago. There is an 
 account of the practice, written about 1690, as per- 
 formed at that date, and with w^hich the writer 
 seems to have been familiar : — " The inhabitants of 
 this island (Lewis) had an ancient custom to sacri- 
 fice to the sea-god called Shony at Hallowtide, in 
 the manner following. The inhabitants round the 
 island came to the Church of St. Malvay, having 
 each man his provision along with him ; every 
 family furnished a peck of malt, and this was 
 brewed into ale. One of their number was picked 
 out to wade into the sea up to the middle, and, 
 standing still in that posture, cried out with a loud 
 voice : ' Shony, I give you this cup of ale, hoping 
 that you'll be so kind as to send us plenty of sea- 
 ware for enriching our land for the ensuing year ;' 
 and so threw the cu]3 into the sea. At his return to 
 the land, they all went into the church, where there 
 was a candle burning upon the altar ; and then, 
 standing silent for a time, one of them gave a signal 
 at which the candle was put out, and immediatelv 
 all of them went to the fields, where they fell 
 a-drinking their ale, and spent the remainder of the 
 
EVOLUTION OF DEITY. 59 
 
 night in dancing, singing, &c."'^ One would very 
 much hke to know what the worthy chronicler 
 meant to convey by " &c.," and whether here, as in 
 savagedom generally, the worship of Venus formed 
 an essential part of the ceremony as performed at 
 that time. He does tell us that the reformed 
 pastors had spent years trying to su|)press the prac- 
 tice, but with indifferent success. Corresponding 
 acts of devotion, now represented by ceremonial 
 usages, were performed by the Celts in early spring 
 and at Midsummer. 
 
 Similar customs are common in every country 
 in Europe. For example. In Bohemia the Spring 
 Queen is dressed with garlands and crowned with 
 flowers. She then, accompanied by a band of girls, 
 who whirl round her continually, singing as they go, 
 proceeds from house to house announcing that spring 
 has come, and wishing them the blessings of the 
 year. " In Iluhea, as soon as the trees begin to 
 grow green in spring, the children assemble on 
 Sunday and go out into the woods, where they 
 choose one of their playmates to be the Little Leaf 
 Man. They break branches from the trees and 
 twine them about the child till only his shoes pee}) 
 out from the leafy mantle. Singing and dancing, 
 they take him from house to house asking for gifts 
 of food. Lastly, they sprinkle the Leaf Man with 
 water, after which they feast on the food they have 
 collected." t A somewhat similar custom is observed 
 in England, where a chimney-sweep walks about 
 encased in holly and ivy, and accompanied by his 
 
 * Martin. t J. G. Frazer, quoting Mannhardt. 
 
6o RELIC ION AND MYTH 
 
 fellow-craftsmen, who collect money with which to 
 have a carouse. 
 
 These customs, which might be illustrated indefi- 
 nitely, are all analot-'ous to the settino- up and 
 
 o 
 
 up 
 
 decoration of the village May-pole. Formerly it 
 had to be renewed from year to year, the carrying 
 of the new pole into the town being accompanied by 
 crowds in holiday attire, who kept up a continual 
 singing and clapj^ing of hands with whirling and 
 dancing. The object of t-he custom undoubtedly was 
 to bring in the fructifying spirit of vegetation newly 
 awakened, and for this purpose a newly cut pole and 
 freshly gathered flowers were necessary. As the 
 ancient Druidical sacrifices were abolished under the 
 influence of an advancing conception of divinity, the 
 festivals remained, merely changing their outAvard 
 form and expression. What was stern reality 
 became a pleasant pastime, and so came to be 
 continued through the centuries, after men had 
 forgotten the object served by them in a ruder age. 
 And this affords an illustration of how amono- a 
 savage people customs change so slowly. Two or 
 three generations of literature do more to change 
 thought and obliterate myth than thousands of 
 years of tradition. Hence it is that in Africa, 
 Australia, parts of India, and the South Sea Islands, 
 we have at present time conditions similar to what 
 obtained in Europe long before the rise of the Greek 
 Kepublic. From this long digression we must now 
 return to the consideration of African sacrifices, 
 substitutionary and propitiatory. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 SACRIFICE 
 
 We have already seen that the earHest form of 
 human sacrifice was associated in the minds of men 
 with kiUing the god himself The divine King of 
 Congo was put to death bv his successor. In the 
 Fiji Islands old people are l^urned alive. When a 
 kino- of Kabono-a is near his end the maoicians 
 quietly strangle him. Certain tribes of East Africa 
 put their kings to death as soon as wrinkles or grey 
 hairs appear.* A modification of the custom of king- 
 killing was introduced when the expedient of tem- 
 porary kings was reached. These could be put to 
 death at stated intervals. We have met with 
 examples of this in Sofala and Calicut. Ancient 
 Babvlonia affords another illustration. There, when 
 the time drew near that the king should be put to 
 death, he abdicated for a few days, during which a 
 temporary monarch reigned and suffered in his 
 stead. " A prisoner condemned to death was 
 dressed in the king's robes, seated on the king's 
 throne, allowed to issue whatever commands he 
 pleased, to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, and to lie 
 with the kinof's concubines. But at the end of the 
 
 * Isaacs, Travels and Adventures in East Africa. 
 
62 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 five days he was stripped of liis royal robes, scourged 
 and crucified." * This same custom, softened down, 
 is observed in Cambodia, where the king abdicates 
 annually for a few days. The substitute performs 
 all functions of State, and receives the revenues for 
 the time he reigns. At the close of his brief term of 
 office he goes and does homage to the king, and 
 then, as his last act, orders the elephants to trample 
 the "mountain of rice." This is a large scaiFold hung 
 round with rice-sheaves. When they are trampled 
 down the people gather up the rice, each man taking- 
 home a portion to mix with his seed-corn and so 
 secure a gfood harvest, t 
 
 Once the idea of substitution was reached, sacri- 
 fice as an institution would develop rapidly, and the 
 curious thing is, that a trace of the original system of 
 killino- the o-od has remained to tell the world of an 
 older and ruder conception of divinity. To the 
 ancient man-god it was so convenient to have 
 another take his place, that we can fancy the inno- 
 vation being hailed with joy by the ruling castes, 
 ■who by it were freed from the uncertainties of 
 popular discontent and the accidental advent of 
 signs of decay. But the doctrine of substitution 
 had its disadvantages, and these in course of time 
 w^ould be felt and have far-reaching effects. Under 
 tlie old order men were accustomed to offer homage 
 to the living king ; and their supreme and final act 
 of worship was when he was put to death that his 
 S[)irit might enter his successor as the creative, 
 fructifying and preserving power of the world. 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, quoting Atheiiicus. f Ajmonier. 
 
SACRIFICE 63 
 
 Worshippers who associated such ideas with sacrifice 
 could not be prevented from viewing the real victim 
 offered, even as a substitute, as in some sort divine 
 by inherent right. If divine by inherent right, the 
 question of the spirit's return to the real king might 
 be raised. Advanced thinkers would ask whether 
 the spirit of the god, or the god-life, left the king to 
 enter the substitute, slave or criminal, when the 
 former abdicated, and if so, whether other causes 
 mio-ht not lead to the same result ? Could a sue- 
 cessful revolt, headed by a bold and fearless man, 
 secure to the usurper the god-life the moment the king 
 was deposed or slain ? If so, revolt and revolution 
 might be, if not lawful, at all events possible, with- 
 out the collapse of the world. Again, was there a 
 true transference of divinity to the temporary king, 
 his mean and common spirit taking the place of the 
 god in the hereditary monarch ? If so, might not 
 men of ambition become substitutes, and at the last 
 act rally their friends in order to retain the divine 
 spirit permanently ? Would the substitute's spirit, 
 which dwelt in the king, give place to the returning 
 god-spirit, " poor fluttering thing," after the victim 
 was slain ? With such questions pressing for solu- 
 tion — and for a question to be raised among savage 
 men is to find an answer — kings and their advisers 
 would naturally seek to foster faith in an hereditary 
 principle of divinity apart from the actual sacrifice 
 of the god himself We call this the divine right of 
 kings. When this conception of hereditary divinity 
 was reached, men would sacrifice to the king-god as 
 a personal and hereditary spirit— a spirit dwelling 
 
64 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 ill the king in virtue of his office, or whom he repre- 
 sented to men — rather than to the spirit of creative 
 and reproductive energy and vegetation which, in 
 an earlier and ruder age was undoubtedly the 
 savage's conception of his divine king. He was 
 divine, not because he was a personal immortal 
 spirit, but because in him was contained that spirit 
 or power which ensured the orderly continuance of 
 the course of nature. 
 
 The sacrifice made in former days of the king 
 himself by the priests, would, under the advance of 
 thought, be made in the first instance to the king, 
 and the more costly the sacrifices, and the more 
 elaborate the ritual, the greater would be the virtue, 
 and by consequence his influence and power. Kings 
 attaining to great eminence as conquerors and 
 administrators would be greatly honoured with 
 sacrificial ofiierings during their lives, and revered 
 after their death. Their successors, especially if 
 weaker men, would, in order to secure the continued 
 allegiance of their people, pay respect to their 
 memory. This, without any revolution of thought, 
 would take the form of offerings, prayer, and sacri- 
 fice. Then the spirit of the departed king visited 
 his successor in dreams and visions. At such times 
 he entered his person ; hence the common saying, 
 " He got the spirit of his father." By such means 
 he kept his successor informed of his wishes, which 
 were respected and obeyed ; thus enabling a weak- 
 ling to retain power which otherwise would have 
 dro})ped from his nerveless grasp. That this is no 
 pliantasv is clearlv ]:)roved bv beliefs common among- 
 
SACRIFICE 65 
 
 Africans at the present day. A Kaffir who has a 
 remarkable dream will begin to tell it next day by 
 saying : " My father's soul was Avithin me last 
 night." Prophets claim to be god-possessed, or, 
 in other words, to have within them the souls of 
 departed priests or chiefs. In this case they work 
 themselves into, or through long practice assume, a 
 state of semi-coma. During their paroxysms and 
 the succeeding unconsciousness they are treated as 
 objects of worship ; in other words, they are truly 
 divine for the time beincr. 
 
 Let us now proceed to illustrate these general 
 statements by an examination of the sacrificial system 
 common throughout the continent, and in doing so 
 it will be well to select a few places, widely apart, as 
 typical illustrations. The natives of South Africa 
 discontinued human sacrifices before they had much 
 contact with Europeans, and, being of mixed origin, 
 we study their religious institutions at a disad- 
 vantage. But an examination of their system of 
 thought leads us up to a time when their rites and 
 sacrifices differed in no essential from what is com- 
 mon to the vast majority of the tribes inhabiting 
 the continent, from 10° of north latitude to the 
 farthest promontory of the south. 
 
 When the course of nature is not to a Kaffir's 
 mind, as during drought, floods, sickness among 
 men or cattle, misfortune in war, failure in hunting 
 or a visitation of locusts, he oflers propitiatory sacri- 
 fices to the offended deities. Each man sacrifices to 
 his own ancestors ; each clan, through the magician, 
 to the heads of the clan ; the tribe to the ancestors 
 
66 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 of its chief ; l3iit in the latter case the sacrifice can 
 only be oftered by the tribal priest, or by the chief 
 in those rare instances in which he is not only the 
 ruler but the high priest also. I am not aware of 
 any ruler at present in South Africa being his own 
 high priest, but the combination is not unknown. 
 The chief Makoma used to offer the sacrifices on 
 important occasions himself. 
 
 Here we have the curious anomaly of sacrifices to 
 minor divinities made by ordinary householders, 
 while those to superior deities can only be ofiered by 
 the high priest if they are to be acceptable to the 
 ofod. Those whose function it is to stand between 
 men and the unseen, approach divinity with an 
 offering for men's sins. They stand there as repre- 
 sentatives or substitutes, taking the place of the 
 worshippers. For a tribal offering may be made by 
 the priest without a muster of the tribe or even the 
 army. The sacred functions belong to sacred per- 
 sons, and they determine how and when these are 
 to be performed, and only obey certain general prin- 
 ciples, without which no sacrifice is a genuine 
 offering. One of these is that all sacrifices must 
 be made by fire. Unless portions of the animal 
 slain are burned, there has been no true offering, 
 and the gods view the whole ceremony in grief and 
 anger. Another is, that the animal must be honestly 
 come by. A man may purchase a sacrifice, but this 
 is rare, and, I think, regarded as irregular ; but no 
 man would sacrifice a beast that had been stolen. 
 The most acceptable sacrifice is that which is a 
 man's very own. There is also one phrase in the 
 
SACRIFICE 67 
 
 dedicatory prayer which is never omitted. It is 
 this : " We do not ofter the dead ; it is blood. We 
 offer Kfe. Behold, O ye hosts." During the time 
 when the sacrifice is offered the priest stands as 
 intercessor for the people in room of the chief His 
 orders are obeyed as the chief's, and his deliverances 
 accepted as the very oracles of God. 
 
 It may at first sight be difficult to connect this 
 doctrine of propitiatory sacrifice with that of substi- 
 tution, as we have seen that in the case of the 
 killing of the temporary king. And if this pro- 
 pitiary system of sacrifice were our only guide, it 
 would be impossible to do so. But there is another 
 system, complete in all its parts and distinct from 
 the idea of propitiation, observed by the same people 
 alongside of this doctrine. It is that of thank- 
 offering and sacrificial thanksgiving. For every 
 supposed benefit a man makes a thank-offering. It 
 may be but a single grain of corn, or even an article 
 of no value, as a tuft of grass, but it is never 
 omitted. When a father ofters a sheep as a thank- 
 offering for the birth of a child, his idea is not only 
 to recompense the soul of his father for good offices 
 by so much burning fat, but to " give to those who 
 were before " the keeping of the child's soul ; giving 
 the soul to them in homage and thankfulness. This 
 is undoubtedly the dedicatory offering of the soul 
 by the sacrifice of a sheep as a substitute for the 
 firstborn, a custom with which we are only too 
 familiar elsewhere. Besides, the first child of a 
 widow who re -marries, should her husband liave 
 fallen in war, is put to death : offered to the gods 
 
68 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 as " the child of the assegai." ^ In making thank- 
 offerings for good offices a man adds to the portion 
 of the sacrifice that is burned something from his 
 own person, and men have been known to cut oif a 
 finger or toe for this purpose, to enhance the value 
 of the offering. The Israelitish practice of shaving, 
 as a sio-n of havino- made a vow or formed a resolve, 
 is not unknown.t Adopting peculiar garments as a 
 head-dress, in token of anything remarkable having 
 happened to a man, is common. 
 
 When a tribe is at war, or preferably before 
 entering upon hostilities, if an enemy can be caught 
 he is put to death. The warriors eat his heart 
 raw. J Various parts of his body, supposed to be the 
 seat of particular virtues, are used in the prepara- 
 tion of the compound known as war medicine^ 
 while shreds of fat from his kidneys are burned in 
 the fire. Much the same is done in the case of a 
 slain enemy who has distinguished himself for 
 bravery and feats of strength. § This, though the 
 people do not say so, is undoubtedly an oftering 
 made to the gods. The explanation given is, " Our 
 people always did so," and that war medicine, with- 
 out the fat burning in the fire while it is being 
 prepared, would not act.|| For the true significance 
 of such acts we must seek an explanation, not from 
 the people, who can give none, but from analogy, 
 and their resemblance to other acts performed by 
 the same people, or by others having customs in 
 common with them. The fat burned in the fire 
 
 * J. Sutton, MS. notes. t Ibid, X G. M. Theal, Boers and Bantu. 
 
 § Ibid. 11 J. Sutton, MS. notes. 
 
SACRIFICE 69 
 
 when oxen are sacrificed in time of war, drought, or 
 the great annual festival of firstfruits, is avowedly 
 a gift to the gods,* the odour of which they inhale ; t 
 and when we find the burning- of human fat in 
 almost identical circumstances — i.e., war — and the 
 preparation of a magic decoction into which calcined 
 human flesh largely enters, and on which depends 
 its efficacy, the conclusion is forced upon us that 
 here we have the last lingering traces of human 
 sacrifice. Nor is this the only use made of portions 
 of the human body in connection with the religious 
 ritual of the people. The dried fingers of a man's 
 hand is an essential portion of a magician's outfit 
 when he goes to curse his chief's enemies. j Wizards 
 deal laro-elv in human flesh. § 
 
 The multiplication of sacrifices is acceptable to all 
 the gods II of heathendom, and one case is on record 
 in which tribes killed every hoof of cattle and 
 destroyed every peck of corn to secure the favour of 
 their ancestors. True, the priest who ordered this 
 to be done promised that there should be a general 
 resurrection of both ancestors and cattle on a given 
 day, that of full moon ; but this only adds to the 
 completeness of the faith reposed in his predictions 
 as the oracles of God. On the appointed day 
 thousands of men and women gathered for a moon 
 dance ; folds had been erected for the cattle that 
 were to rise ; stores for the corn which men were 
 to pfather ; houses for the ancestors who were to 
 come clad in armour. In honour of the great event 
 
 * Chalmers, J. Sutton, Hon. C. Brownlee. t Chalmers. 
 
 X Hon. C. Brownlee, Christian Mej^^^^^- § Dr. Elmslie, MS. notes. 
 
 II J. Sutton, MS. notes. 
 
70 KELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 the sun was to rise double on the resurrection morn- 
 ing. During that night sounds of revehy were 
 heard far and near, but when day came the sun rose 
 alone while his companion lagged behind. Black 
 fear entered every heart. Starvation stared men in 
 the face. Umlanjeni declared they had mistaken 
 the day of full moon, and urged a resumption of the 
 dance with assured triumph on the morrow. But 
 men had no heart left, and the next twenty-four 
 hours were but a sorry time. Once more the sun 
 rose in lonely majesty, and men's worst fears were 
 realised ; the gods had betrayed them. By such 
 experiences did men learn to differentiate the natural 
 and supernatural. 
 
 When a chief dies, one at least, or it may be 
 many persons are put to death for having killed 
 the king by the exercise of the unlawful art of 
 witchcraft ; but this falls rather under maofic and 
 divination than under sacrifice. The only connec- 
 tion it has with the latter is, that amono- most 
 tribes the chief is never allowed "to go alone." A 
 few of his wives, servants and slaves must be killed 
 to accompany him and attend to his wants. It 
 may also be noted that the ruling chief may order, 
 even in the case of accusations of having caused his 
 father's death, the substitution of an ox for the 
 condemned person.^' The ox is sacrificed, not killed, 
 as a criminal substitute for the wizard, who is set at 
 liberty. This seems to point to the victims of 
 witchcraft, whom we generally regard as criminals 
 under native law, being in reality a sacrifice to the 
 
 * Hon. C. Brownlee, MS. notes. 
 
SACRIFICE 71 
 
 gods. The substitution of an animal, which is killed 
 as a sacrifice, is common in cases where the patient 
 has recovered, though causing sickness with intent 
 to kill is a capital crime. 
 
 When we leave South Africa and pass into the 
 Lake region all doubt about substitutionary human 
 sacrifice is set at rest. If a Wayao murderer is 
 caught he may make compensation by giving a few 
 slaves to be put to death, so that they may accom- 
 pany the murdered man, taking his place to attend 
 upon him,* Should the murderer escape, one of his 
 relatives is caug-ht and treated as if he were the 
 murderer. The object here is not so much the 
 punishment of crime as an offering to the deceased, 
 whose spirit would naturally be enraged at his own 
 relatives were they not to pay due honour to it by 
 sending, either the murderer to be his slave, or such 
 of his relatives or slaves as may make amends for 
 his absence. Of departed spirits some have con- 
 siderable influence amonsf the g-ods. Matang-a of 
 the Wayao has many powerful servants, and ar- 
 ranges most of the details of the spirit world in 
 that region. ■*' He is capricious and easily offended, 
 but can be coaxed by judicious flattery. Men having 
 ghostly relations with him, or with lesser divinities 
 through him, can compound for personal service by 
 substitution. So, instead of betaking themselves to 
 the land of shades, as in duty bound, when a rela- 
 tive to whom they owe allegiance dies, they send a 
 number of slaves as their representatives to do duty 
 by proxy. 
 
 * Rev. Duff MacDonald. t /'''''"'• 
 
72 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 But it is when we enter the territories of power- 
 ful kings, like Mr. Stanley's friend Mtesa, that we 
 can study primitive sacrificial institutions to best 
 advantacre. Broken and scattered tribes like those 
 round Lake Nyassa, or bands of marauding warriors 
 like the ancestors of the tribes inhabitinof South 
 Africa, do not retain the institutions of their fore- 
 fathers in their unblemished splendour. In the one 
 case, poverty, oppression, and the constant fear of 
 death or captivity, slowly but surely undermine and 
 modify original institutions. In the latter, daring 
 warriors learn by degrees to defy even the gods, or 
 at least neglect them. That stout old Roman who 
 threw the sacred chickens into the sea was not a 
 bolder reformer than the Zulu monarch who srave 
 battle to the army of Moselekatse when all the 
 omens of heaven and earth warned him of defeat. 
 More fortunate than the Ptoman, a decisive victory 
 saved both his own head and his country's freedom. 
 
 Among the Wagogo the simplest form of human 
 sacrifice is when the magician comes to the palace 
 with two bunches of grass dipped in the blood 
 of a victim slain quietly and without ostentation.* 
 These he lays on the lintel or threshold, where they 
 are touched bv the kino-, and so offered to the g-ods. 
 Of these gods the principal is Makusa, who, as we 
 have seen, claims a right highei- than the king over 
 the Lake, as the embodiment of the powers of 
 nature. He it is that is personified by the Lubare, 
 who is the real object of worship. Makusa as a 
 sort of Neptune is but a chief Lubare. t He enters 
 
 * Mackay, of I'ganda. t Felkin. 
 
SACRIFICE 73 
 
 a person ; that person is god, and to him sacrifices 
 are offered. Closely bound up with the worship of 
 the Lubare is the care of the place where the king's 
 predecessors are kept, or rather of these predecessors 
 themselves, for the Lubare holds converse with the 
 dead as with the living. "^^ 
 
 Associated with, or subordinate to the Lubare 
 are Nende, Kajangeyewe, and Kubuka, who are a 
 kind of national guardian spirits. These appear in 
 persons who are god-possessed, and such persons are 
 always accompanied by magicians, priests, and exe- 
 cutioners ; t that is to say, those who slay victims for 
 the sacrifices. The god -possessed person has but to 
 demand a victim, when a wayfarer is caught, bound, 
 beheaded, and offered in sacrifice. Every person 
 holding the sacred office of priest or magician claims 
 to have the spirit of the king dwelling in him, or at 
 least visiting him at intervals.;}: The head wife 
 of every great man's harem is called " Kuda 
 Lubare "§ — i.e., slave of the spirit, meaning one in 
 whom the god dwells. The same terms are apjDlied 
 to the child of a woman long barren, and who 
 offered sacrifice and prayed to the Lubare for off- 
 spring. This is a true dedication of issue at the 
 shrine when the offering is made. Of this we have 
 an illustration, in widely different circumstances, 
 when Hannah said : " O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt 
 indeed look on the affiiction of thine handmaid, and 
 give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will 
 give him unto the Lord all the days of his life," || 
 
 * Felkin. t Mackay, of Uganda. + Ihid. 
 
 § Ihkl. 1! I Samuel. 
 
74 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 which vow Eli, worthy man, thougfht to be but the 
 ravings of a drunken votary. 
 
 Mention has been made of the tombs of the king's 
 predecessors. This is a large hut, of comparatively 
 slight construction, and needing frequent repair or 
 renewal. Connected with it is a laro-e colleg-e of 
 sorceresses, whose chief duty it is to tend the spirits 
 of the departed and guard the sacred place. When 
 the king decides that it must be repaired, he issues 
 his orders to the members of this colleo-e, who see 
 the work done, and report when it is completed. 
 OfiPerings must now be made to their majesties as a 
 kind of solatium for the trouble they were put to, 
 owing to the disturbance in connection with the 
 repair of their quarters. As many as two thousand 
 victims have been offered on such occasions. These 
 are to the Lubare as the earth god, rather than to 
 the kings, for the Lubare is the genius of the 
 country, the object of universal worship. So general 
 is the worship of Lubare that no one leaves his hut 
 in the morning without lirst throwing out an offer- 
 ing, as a wisp of grass, saying, " Here, Lubare, take 
 that.* 
 
 To them Katonga, or Creator, and Lubare mean 
 the same, for every phenomenon is subject to 
 Lubare. Crops, famine, food, rain, thunder, storms 
 on the lake, day, night ; everything in nature has 
 its Lubare, and still Lubare is one and not many. 
 It is the spirit of Makusa, who is all and is every- 
 where — a kind of universal deification of nature as 
 animate. Wlien sacrifices are offered to the Lubare, 
 
 * Mackay, L'ganda. 
 
SACRIFICE 75 
 
 as on the completion of repairs of the " house of 
 the king's ancestors " or the death of a great man, 
 the method of procuring victims is at once simple 
 and sufficient. If victims were selected by choice 
 from the sub-tribes and clans, difficulties of no 
 ordinary kind would be met with in the case of a 
 sudden demand for a parcel of five hundred or a 
 thousand ; if chosen by lot, expedients would be 
 adopted to avoid the ordeal. All these inconveni- 
 ences are avoided by the executioners, of which a 
 small army is kept, posting themselves on the great 
 highways approaching the capital and seizing 
 travellers on their way to the palace. At such 
 times the gods send the proper victims, and when a 
 sufficient number has been caught the sacrifices are 
 offered. These victims go as royal messengers, 
 or more properly pages, to attend on the king's 
 ancestors. 
 
 Turning to West Africa, where all religious in- 
 stitutions are modified by Fetish, the systems at 
 first seem distinct, not only in details, but in 
 original conception of what is due to divinity. A 
 closer examination shows that the conceptions of 
 Central and West Africa regarding the unseen 
 world are substantially the same, and that the 
 intention in sacrifice is the same. From killing the 
 god they passed to substitution, thence to propitia- 
 tory sacrifice and thank-offerings. Each kingdom 
 has its own particular customs and yearly festivals, 
 presenting an infinite variety of detail, but in their 
 general features the same ; marking the steady 
 advance of thought from the rude conceptions of 
 
76 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 the days ^vheii the world was young, to a conception 
 of divniity akin to Pantheism, and passing over into 
 that system at various points. 
 
 In Gomba, when a sacrifice is offered, the victim 
 is paraded about the streets after the manner of the 
 Lord Mayor's show. He is decked out in finery, 
 adorned with jewels, and wearing a crown and other 
 insignia of royalty. From being a slave, he becomes 
 something more than a king ; he becomes a demi- 
 god. He may do whatever he pleases and have all 
 he fancies, should his tastes be like those of the 
 damsel who asked the Baptist's head. Nothing is 
 denied him, as long as it does not imply his escaping 
 his doom at the appointed hour. As he parades the 
 streets he receives and accepts the homage due to 
 a god, and when slain, men prostrate themselves 
 before the body. The body itself is taken up by 
 the women, decorated and honoured as divine, and 
 finallv treated more as cr-od than an offering- to a 
 god. The object seems to be, not so much an offer- 
 ing to the god as the killing of the god himself by 
 substitutionary sacrifice. The King of Ashantee, 
 when holding the great annual Fetish festival, calls 
 it the festival of his fathers,* and is himself for the 
 time regarded as the personification of the gods. 
 His actions are not so much that of their delef^-ate. 
 which he claims at all times to be, but their actions, 
 their words, and their very movements. If the kino- 
 rises, the gods stand ; if he rechnes, they sleep ; 
 should he dance, they too caper about with the 
 movements of his arms and legs. For the festival 
 
 * Ramsever and Kiihne. 
 
SACRIFICE 7 7 
 
 he arrays himself with scrupulous care and with 
 extraordinary grandeur. Whatever of wealth and 
 splendour his palace holds is wrapped round his 
 person or attached to his garments. He is literally 
 loaded with precious gems and the most costly orna- 
 ments. The drums that are to accompany him in 
 procession are decorated with human skulls, while 
 soldiers, priests and executioners deck themselves 
 with what is acceptable to the gods and on which 
 they love to gaze. During the festival, sheep, goats, 
 and human beings are indiscriminately sacrificed. The 
 king, during the pageant procession, is carried by the 
 priests, and must on no account walk or even touch 
 the ofround. He receives homao-e on behalf of his 
 fathers, and it is impossible to determine how much 
 the intention is to sacrifice to them or to the king 
 himself. They reside in him as the god in the 
 Fetish, and in virtue of such possession he is divine. 
 But the o-reat festival of the vear is the yam 
 festival. Before the day appointed for the king to 
 eat fresh yams there are processions, reviews, dances, 
 and general rejoicing, in which the king takes an 
 active part. On the fifth day of the festival a 
 human sacrifice is oftered, or, to be correct, a 
 " messenger" is despatched by the king to the spirit 
 world. As this messenger is not designed for any 
 of his ancestors, nor charged with any commission 
 to them, the inference is that like the Khond sacri- 
 fices to Tari, the sacrifice is to the world of life and 
 reproduction. After the sacrifice is made, the king 
 eats fresh yams from a dish held by the chief cook^ 
 who keeps stirring the contents with a gold fork. 
 
78 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 while the nobles stand before him uncovered.* At 
 this and the palm-wine festival the honours of 
 adoration are all done to the king, and the progress 
 of the festival is consecrated by any stray person 
 about the palace doors being seized and . slain as an 
 act of reverence to his majesty.t The treatment of 
 such victims after execution is thus described by 
 Klihne, who frequently witnessed such scenes. 
 
 " One took a finger, another an arm or foot, and 
 whoever obtained the head danced in crazy ecstasy, 
 painted its forehead red and white, kissed it on the 
 mouth, laughing, or with mocking words of pity, 
 and finally hung it round his neck or seized it with 
 his teeth. Another took out the heart and washed 
 it, carried it in one hand and a loaf of maize bread 
 in the other, and walked about as if he were eating 
 his breakfast. 
 
 " In the evening they brought the skulls of their 
 most important enemies from the mausoleum at 
 Bantama, and placed them, in the stillness of the 
 night, in front of the Fetish. Among them was the 
 skull of Sir Charles Macarthy, kept in a brass basin 
 
 and covered with a white cloth On the next 
 
 day all laws were abrogated, and every one drinking 
 freely was permitted to do what was good in his 
 own eyes. Even funerals were celebrated for those 
 who had suffered capital punishment." 
 
 Here we have, in the extreme west, the common 
 Pondo custom of the abrogation of all law at the 
 feast of firstfruits. From the last sentence, which 
 Klihne does not explain, it is to be inferred that 
 
 * Ramseyer and Kiihne. f Ihkl. 
 
SACRIFICE 79 
 
 holding- funerals for persons executed is, according 
 to Ashantee notions, the farthest extreme of license 
 to which men can go. 
 
 The festival of Bantama affords the king an 
 opportunity of sending a messenger to his fathers. 
 He delivers his charge slowly and deliberately, as if 
 giving a diplomatic commission, and then the execu- 
 tioners cut off the victim's head, a knife having been 
 previously run through his cheek and left there. 
 Should the king remember anything he wished to 
 say after the victim is slain, he orders another to be 
 brought, and sends him with a hurried postscript 
 lest his ancestors should be offended at the matter 
 not beincr referred to in the oriofinal communication. 
 
 Bantama is the resting-place or mausoleum of 
 the departed kings, and when Kiihne was in Ashan- 
 tee there were fourteen of the king's predecessors 
 within its walls. It is a long l^uilding, divided into 
 small cells, each of which contains the skeleton of a 
 king ;^^ the coffins containing these, as well as the 
 skeletons themselves, being connected together with 
 gold wires. Each cell contains such articles as the 
 tenant loved best during his life. At the festival 
 of Bantama the skeletons are placed on chairs in 
 the audience hall to receive the royal visitor. This 
 they do in the order of seniority. The king on enter- 
 ing offers each skeleton food, and as he does so, pass- 
 ing from one to another, the victim selected for each 
 is decapitated in the approved manner by the exe- 
 cutioners. During the succeeding night, and after 
 the monarchs are returned to their cells and coffins, 
 
 * Kiihne. 
 
8o RELIGION AKD MYTH 
 
 victims are slain at intervals by beat of drum or 
 sound of horn. With the reofularitv of the minute- 
 gun, the horn sounds a double blast, which means 
 "death" ; then three rapid blasts, which signify an 
 order to cut oif a victim's head ; followed by one long 
 blast to tell that the head has dropped. When 
 the building needs repair, the king pays it a visit of 
 inspection, after which the same ritual as we saw 
 among the Wagogo is observed, the victims being 
 counted by hundreds. Should the king dance with 
 his wives, a messenger must be sent to his fathers 
 to explain why he is at that particular time engaged 
 in the light pastime.* 
 
 But it is not necessary to go so far afield as 
 Ashantee to find illustration of messag-es beincr sent 
 to the spirit world. My father, Avho over seventy 
 years ago resided for some years in the Highlands 
 of Perthshire, used to tell how at that time the 
 people of Glenlyon and Glendochart charged their 
 dying relatives with messages beyond the grave, 
 and that people came long distances to ask, as an 
 extreme favour, that their wishes should be made 
 known " beyond " about certain particulars, one of 
 the most common requests being to explain away 
 shady transactions : "If you meet such an one, tell 
 him how we are, and all that is going on. I 
 gave every penny he left to his daughter. Mind 
 you tell him the dun horse, which I kept to get a 
 better price for, died." Such were the commis- 
 sions entrusted to the dying by pious Calvinists as 
 late as the second decade of the present century ; 
 
 * Kiihne. 
 
SACRIFICE 8i 
 
 commissions from which even elders of the kirk were 
 not exempt. If this may happen in the green tree 
 of Puritanism, what may not be done in the dry 
 tree of Pag-anism. 
 
 In Dahomey the customs observed are in their 
 main characteristics identical with those of Ashan- 
 tee and other West African kingdoms. One pecu- 
 liarity of Dahomeyan religion is — and in this, so far 
 as I know, it is singular — that the Fetish priest is 
 supposed to be able to visit the regions of the dead 
 in jyropria iJer.^ona, as the substitute or representa- 
 tive of the living, and there act for them as if they 
 were themselves present in the land of shades."* 
 For example, a man falls ill and believes that he is 
 l:)eing warned by some ancestral spirit that his pre- 
 sence is required beyond the bourne. He consults 
 the priest, who on receipt of a suitable fee agrees 
 to descend and make reconciliation on his behalf, so 
 that he may continue to enjoy the upper air for a 
 further period. When this is done the patient 
 recovers ; if not, he is killed by evil persons ; the 
 spirits never called at all, for the intervention of the 
 priest is, within limits, effectual in all cases when 
 the matter is in the hands of the gods. But this 
 leads us to the verge of the doctrine of devils, which 
 is an advanced form of savag-e religious thought ; 
 the worship of devils being a late development as 
 compared with that of the beneficent gods. After 
 spirits were multiplied, men, in seasons of drought 
 and times of disaster and stress of circumstances, 
 would endeavour to conciliate the demon that 
 
 * Winterbotham, Kowley. 
 
82 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 brought calamity. Hence it is that demon worship 
 is always propitiatory, while the worship of the 
 gods is devotional and sympathetic, as in thank- 
 ojBPerings and tokens of goodwill and fellowship 
 towards the unseen, whether regarded as personal or 
 as the earth-god, nature, the mother of all. When 
 a king of Dahomey dies he must enter the lower 
 world in such regal state as became his dignity 
 while he lived. The number of victims is almost 
 incredible in order to make a grand procession, 
 Durino- his life he sends substitutes and messeno-ers 
 to spirit-land on the most slender pretext, or on no 
 pretext at all. 
 
 Similar illustrations of the doctrine of substitu- 
 tion by sacrifice might be given from the observ- 
 ances of American Indians, South Sea Islanders, 
 ancient Mexicans, and the Teutonic peoples of 
 Europe. In tracing the system we have seen how 
 the original practice of killing the god, as the spirit 
 of vegetation and creative energy, passed into the 
 form of substitution. Even in propitiatory sacrifice 
 we see the same idea of the earth sjjirit reappearing 
 whenever we can catch a glimpse of society under 
 primitive conditions. Sacrifices to kings or Fetish 
 are more to the earth-goddess than to the object to 
 which they are immediately presented ; that is, to 
 the powers of nature as in vegetation and repro- 
 duction generally. This points back to the time 
 when the divine element of natural force resided in 
 kings, and was sacrificed to ensure a new resurrec- 
 tion with the opening year. Our inquiry has led us 
 away from that original conception of primitive 
 
SACRIFICE 83 
 
 man to a more elaborate system of thought, which, 
 grackially expanding, inchided within its range 
 factors and forces, spirits personal and impersonal, 
 and conceptions of man himself, of which the earlier 
 philosophy took no account. To understand the 
 further development of human thought, and how 
 spirits came to be classified as good and bad, we 
 must consider the restrictions under which divine 
 and sacred persons were placed, and the reasons 
 for such restrictions so far as these may be dis- 
 covered. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 TABOOS 
 
 We have already seen how the Mikado of Japan 
 and the divine King of Laondo hved surrounded 
 with safeguards and restrictions. The dangers to 
 which souls are exposed have also been touched 
 upon. We shall now consider how these were 
 guarded, and the fresh dangers to which taboos 
 gave rise as restrictions were multiplied. 
 
 To the savage, as we know him, the great danger 
 of existence is witchcraft and the action of charms 
 and spells ; and to secure himself against these he 
 adopts such precautions as the nature of the case 
 suggests. But witchcraft itself is a system which 
 must have had an origin, and developed, from one 
 or more simple conceptions, to be an art practised 
 by persons who claimed to have communication with 
 the iniseen world. With the art we generally 
 associate the ideas of pure mischief, l)ut it was 
 capable of being turned to good account, and the 
 Scotch witches who l^anned rats from farmers' Ijarns 
 were thought worthv of a night's quarters and a 
 substantial honorarium for their service. It has 
 l^een hastily inferred that they learned the art from 
 ecclesiastics, who, with bell, book and candle could 
 ban the devil himself; but it is far more likelv that 
 
TABOOS 85 
 
 priests learned the art of banning from an older 
 cult coming down from the ages before the Flood. 
 
 With great persuasion I once induced an old 
 woman to repeat to me a form of words for the 
 banning- of rats, which she had learned from " a 
 woman that had the second sight and could do 
 things." It is many years since I heard the dog- 
 o-erel, and can remember but one sentence of it, 
 which, wedged in between imprecations and curses, 
 was, that they should " shed the hair off their 
 skulls " if they did not betake themselves to other 
 quarters. This freed the farmer of the pest, but 
 unfortunately the same power could be turned 
 against any one who offended the witch. She in 
 that case brought an army of rats down upon him, 
 " to eat his corn and cut his sacks, and teach him to 
 rue the day that he shut his door on Shoanad." 
 This I heard from a Morven woman nearly thirty 
 years ago, when quite a boy. If Andrew Lang, 
 who in those days was a frequent visitor at Ard- 
 tornish, had but known Gaelic, we should have had 
 a store of legends, rhymes and charms preserved to 
 us which are now finally lost. I have travelled in 
 all parts 01 the Highlands of Scotland, but no- 
 where have I met w4th such variety and richness 
 of legend and myth as along the shores of the 
 Sound of Mull. 
 
 If men need to miard ao-ainst witchcraft in Scot- 
 land, how much more necessary must it be to do so 
 in savagedom. Lives of great importance to the 
 community we may expect to find guarded with 
 special care, in the same way as w^e guard royalty 
 
86 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 ill Europe, from attack by evil-disposed persons, 
 sane and insane. There are not only the dangers 
 which may lurk unseen near at hand, but also 
 unknown dangers from a distance, and w^hich are 
 associated with the arrival of foreigners. Besides, 
 there are districts specially charged with such 
 malign influences, and any one visiting these must 
 be purged and purified before he has any communi- 
 cation with others. Thus the missionary New and 
 his party were, on their return from Killimanjaro, 
 sprinkled by a " professionally prepared liquor " on 
 arriviiiof on the borders of the inhabited countrv. 
 This was done by the priest, and before they had 
 had any communication with the tribe. In the 
 Yoruba country there is a custom of keeping 
 strangers standing outside the gate of the town till 
 sundown, lest evil spirits should enter Avith them if 
 admitted during the day.* In South Africa the 
 traveller must halt at a distance from the " crreat 
 place," and is invited to the chief's presence only 
 after the magician has performed the necessary 
 incantations. Dinka and Bong-o tribes on the Nile, 
 take the like precautions against the advent of evil 
 spirits when visited by strangers, t The South Sea 
 Islanders subject those landing on their shores to a 
 process of purgation to expel any evil which may 
 hang about them. These are all general precau- 
 tions taken for the benefit of the comnjunity. But 
 do what he may, the savage cannot absolutely ex- 
 clude evil from the tribe. Spirits do enter in the 
 most unexpected manner, and witches will prowl 
 
 * Hinderer. t Schweinfurth. 
 
TABOOS 87 
 
 about and follow their unlawful calling^ while men 
 sleep. So he takes special precautions to guard 
 those whose lives are of great value ; precautions 
 which, in their own language, " cannot be taken for 
 commoners." 
 
 The arts of witchcraft are so subtle that those 
 marked for its victims can be aflPected throuMi the 
 
 o 
 
 food they eat, if the wizard can but get his fingers 
 into it, or even see it ; throuofh articles taken from 
 their persons, as cut nails, hair, arms, ornaments, 
 saliva, and also through all those articles which 
 sacred persons may not see or touch. Thus it 
 happens that those whose lives are so guarded may 
 not eat in public, nor must their food be seen except 
 by trusted personal attendants. In Gondokoro a 
 guest asked to a marriage sends a present of food, 
 liut it must be carefully covered with a napkin to 
 protect it from the influence of wizards and witches,* 
 through whom the whole bridal party might be 
 affected. A Wanyoro will not return by the way 
 he went ; his very footprints may in the interval be 
 bewitched. The King of Loango may not be seen 
 eating or drinking, on pain of death. In Dahomey 
 the same law exists, and Cameron in his walk across 
 Africa paid men to let him see them eat or drink. 
 
 By judiciously extending these taboos life may be 
 made a burden too grievous to be borne by the 
 persons so guarded, and a day comes when, utterly 
 wearied and goaded to madness, the king defies the 
 gods and asserts his own independence. Such defi- 
 ance is the herald of reform and a further advance 
 
 * Felkin. 
 
SS RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 of thought. Those having charge of sacred mys- 
 teries must adapt their teaching to the stern facts 
 of Hfe, and adopt such ritual as will be submitted 
 to by those who have the civil power in their hands. 
 And this illustrates a curious trait of religious life 
 the world over, viz. , that reforms are forced on sacred 
 persons from without. From within it does not 
 come. They cling to tradition and usage, and 
 when a custom or dogma has outlasted its time, 
 instead of boldly throwing it aside, an attempt is 
 made to prop and buttress it up by fresh legislation 
 and more extended ritual, till some one comes and 
 shivers the structure, and it falls crumbling to dust 
 and nothingness by its own weight. 
 
 But there is another side to this mystery of 
 taboos, for if the sacred person must be guarded 
 from harm from without, so must others be pro- 
 tected from receiving hurt from him. He is neither 
 in heaven nor on earth, and it is men's interests 
 that he should be suspended as evenly as may iDe 
 between the two. His divinity will be injured by 
 too much contact with earth and with men ; but 
 then this very divinity is a source of danger should 
 men be brought, in the ordinary relations of life, 
 into too close contact with him. He is a source of 
 blessing under proper conditions, but let these be 
 violated, and his divinity becomes a source of 
 greatest danger ; a lire which, if touched, Avill burst 
 forth to scorch and burn. Should any one wear 
 the Mikado's clothes without his leave, he would 
 have swellings all over his body.* Nor is this 
 
 * Kaempfer. 
 
TAEOOS 89 
 
 confined to Japan. The following quotation from 
 J. G. Frazer, quoting the authority of W. Brown 
 and a Paheka Madri, illustrates the leno-ths to 
 which taboos were carried in New Zealand. 
 
 " It happened that a New Zealand chief of high 
 rank and great sanctity had left the remains of his 
 dinner by the wayside. A slave, a stout hungry 
 felloM^, coming up, saw the unfinished dinner, and 
 eat it up without asking any questions. Hardly 
 had he finished when he was informed by a horror- 
 stricken sjjectator that the food of which he had 
 
 eaten was the chief's ' No sooner did he 
 
 hear the fatal news than he was seized by the most 
 extraordinary convulsions and cramp in the stomach, 
 which never ceased till he died about sundown the 
 same day. He was a strong man, in the prime of 
 life, and should any one have said he was not killed 
 by the taboo of the chief, he would have been 
 listened to with feelings of contempt for his ignor- 
 ance and inability to understand plain and direct 
 evidence.' " This is not a solitary case. Mr. Frazer 
 quotes several others, and in each case it is plain 
 the persons died of sheer fright, so all-powerful can 
 a fixed belief become among an ignorant and super- 
 stitious people. 
 
 With such results before his eyes, it is not to be 
 wondered at if we find the savage placing sacred 
 persons among the dangerous classes, and that he 
 should extend taboos to persons and things supposed 
 to be danoferous. Those who touch the dead are, in 
 New Zealand and Africa, unclean till purified by 
 magicians. Indeed, the rules of ceremonial purity 
 
90 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 are so strict amon^ some tribes that cases are on 
 record where men have killed their wives for 
 lying down on their mats at forbidden jjeriods,* 
 Hence it is that at such times women are secluded, 
 as also after child-birth. In the former case they 
 may be even rolled up in mats and suspended as in 
 a hammock for a period of six or seven days, to be 
 unstrap2:)ed and conveyed to a stream of water for 
 necessary sanitary purposes. 
 
 " The rules of ceremonial purity observed by 
 divine kings, chiefs, and priests ; by homicides, 
 women at child-birth, and so on, are in some 
 respects alike. To us these classes of persons appear 
 to differ totally in character and condition. Some 
 of them we should call holy, others unclean and 
 polluted. But the savage makes no such moral 
 distinction between them. .... To him they are 
 dangerous and in danger, and the danger in which 
 they stand and to which they expose others is what 
 w^e should call spiritual or supernatural — that is, 
 imaginary." + One of the substances most com- 
 monly tabooed by savages is iron. No iron may 
 touch a sacred person's body. He may die when 
 a simple incision might save his life, but the incision 
 must not be made. A Hottentot priest never uses 
 a knife in performing the operation of circumcision ; 
 he uses a sharp bit of quartz instead. Gold Coast 
 natives remove all iron from their persons when 
 consulting Fetish.J Scottish Highlanders never use 
 iron nails or hammers in makino^ the fire-wheel 
 
 * Journal Anthrop Ax. t J. G. Frazer. 
 
 X C. J. Gordon Cummino-. 
 
TABOOS 91 
 
 apparatus for the celebration of certain Yule fef 
 tivals ; they use wooden pegs and stone hammers 
 instead. The Jews used no iron tools in building 
 their Temple in Jerusalem, nor in making an altar. 
 
 The objection to iron arose in all probability when 
 the metal was new and scarce, and so regarded 
 with superstitious awe and reverence. But soon, 
 daring spirits like Lamech arose, who, defying 
 custom and taboo, and believing only in the strength 
 of his own arm and the trusty weapons his son had 
 forged for him, turned the dreaded metal to good 
 account. A substance charged with such power 
 that spirits could not endure it in their presence, 
 and before wdiich kings might fall down dead, put 
 into men's hands a terrible weapon Avhich could be 
 used with disastrous effects even against the gods 
 themselves. But if iron could be used against the 
 gods, they in turn could use it against evil-doers, 
 and the priesthood would not be slow in availing 
 themselves of so potent a weapon. Apart from its 
 obvious utility as an arm, when properly forged and 
 shaped, it would be regarded as having magic and 
 miraculous power, when properly used, for the expul- 
 sion of evil. And so we find iron, and the metals 
 generally, occupying a prominent place in the 
 superstitions of all countries. When a Scottish 
 fisherman hears "the unclean animal" — a pig — men- 
 tioned, he feels for the nails in his boots and mutters 
 " cauld iron." So, too, if one of the crew utters 
 certain oaths or curses when at sea. He bans the 
 devil of ill-luck and disaster by nailing a horse- 
 shoe, preferably that of a stallion, to the stern of 
 
92 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 liis boat. A Golspie fisherman a few years ago 
 had a small boat with which he had an extraordinary 
 run of luck in the prosecution of his calling. Inside 
 the stem was nailed an entire horse's shoe, ofiven to 
 him by "a wise person" As he prospered his 
 ambition grew till he purchased a larger boat, 
 selling the small one and its belongings to a neigh- 
 bour. From the first day he went to sea with his 
 new boat luck forsook him, nor would fickle fortune 
 be wooed. He bethought him of his horse-shoe, 
 and went to his neighbour to demand restitution. 
 This was denied, the new owner coxitendino- success- 
 fully that he had purchased the " boat and its 
 gear." * To this day that man believes that to 
 pai-ting with an old shoe was due the entire failure 
 of his season's fishing. Whether returning luck — 
 for he still lives and prospers — had an educative 
 eftect upon his mind, I do not know. 
 
 Sutherlandshire crofters and cottars ban, or expel, 
 the spirit of death from a house after one dies, by 
 placing bits of iron in the meal chest, the butter jar, 
 whisky bottle, and other articles of food, without 
 Avhich precaution they would speedily " go to rotten- 
 ness and corruption." Whisky not treated so has been 
 known to turn white as milk and curdle. Among 
 savages iron is held in the same veneration. The 
 Baralongs, who are famous smiths, regard the black- 
 smith's trade as a sacred art. Furnaces are placed 
 at a distance from the houses, and none dare 
 approach when the metal begins to flow, except 
 those versed in the mysteries of the craft. 
 
 * Rev. A, Mackay, MS. notes. 
 
TABOOS 93 
 
 But in Africa it is on articles from the person, or 
 which have belonged to one regarded as sacred, that 
 the greatest care is bestowed. This is common to 
 the Zulu and the Dinka, to the Galla and Dahomeyan. 
 We meet with it in every possible relation of life. 
 For example, a'young Zulu soldier, who was travel- 
 ling to join his regiment with a companion, arrived 
 at a village where they were to spend the night. 
 They were directed to the "travellers' hut," where 
 they found a mat such as natives sleep upon. The 
 soldier took the mat and unrolled it, \\'hen, to his 
 dismav, he found it contained head ornaments and 
 other articles of female dress, such as is only used 
 by the king's household. Seeing this, he rolled the 
 mat up again and put it aside. It belonged to a girl 
 of the king's harem, on her way to the capital, who 
 had stayed there a few nights before. She had for- 
 gotten her mat and ornaments. On arriving at 
 headquarters he was at once detailed for cattle- 
 guard, but on his return in the evening he was met 
 by a young man of his regiment, who told him his 
 companion had been put to death, and that he was 
 to he killed for having touched articles belonging to 
 sacred persons.* He fled, but was overtaken and 
 put to death. If touching ornaments is a capital 
 offence, stepping over the head of a recumbent 
 African is a yet more serious crime, if the sleeper be 
 a person sacred in virtue of position or office. The 
 head is peculiarly sacred, and to step over it is the 
 most sfrievous offence that a man can commit, if it 
 be not excelled in enormity by pulling his hair. 
 
 * Hon. C. Brownlee. 
 
94 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 When this sanctity of the head and the consequent 
 (Hfficulty of disposing of shorn locks is borne in 
 mind, it will be seen that the barber's vocation is, 
 if an honourable one, a dangerous office. Suppose 
 an artist is called to perform a necessary office for 
 his chief, whose ample locks have become too secure 
 a retreat for the colonies that take shelter under 
 them, he must be first purified with sprinkling, and 
 have the tools of his craft cleansed by the magi- 
 cians. He then proceeds to the royal residence, and, 
 in presence of the king's guards and officers of State, 
 removes the mass close to the skull. If after the 
 operation the king takes a chill the poor barber is 
 accused of something more than neglect of duty :* 
 he bewitched the king-, or he mav have criven a hair 
 to his friend the wizard to enable the latter to do 
 the evil deed. In either case the barber must 
 stand his trial, in the first case as a principal, in 
 the second as an accessory, and failing his divulging 
 the wizard's name, must take the consequences of 
 his guilt if the magicians decide the case as one of 
 bewitching. 
 
 But should he honestly perform his office and no 
 \nitoward events follow, there remains the difficulty 
 of disposing of the shorn locks. Burn them, says 
 common sense ; but to the savage common sense 
 often is what the law w^as to the elder Weller, " a 
 hass." To burn shorn locks would be to invite all 
 the demons of a locality to secure and treasure up 
 the very essence they are in search of in the ascend- 
 ing smoke. To them the smell of burning hair or 
 
 * J. Sutton, MS. notes. 
 
TABOOS 95 
 
 nail clippings is what the carcase is to the vulture. 
 Nor is it safe to keep them by one, for who can 
 cuard aofainst rats and white ants, not to speak of 
 accidents of fire, war, and theft. The only prudent 
 course is to bury them.* But how and where 7 
 And here the sacred and lawful art of the magician 
 comes to the aid of the perplexed. Sacred spots 
 are set apart for such purposes — a kind of conse- 
 crated ground where the chief can bury his shorn 
 locks and cut nails, as well as dispose of other neces- 
 sary superfluities in the most approved fashion 
 prescribed in Deuteronomy xxiii. 1 3 ; there as a wise 
 sanitary precaution ; in Africa as a sacred function ; 
 at the lowest as a precaution against the works of 
 the devil. 
 
 And here I may say that those who had charge 
 of my own youth were most remiss in a necessary 
 and most important particular, evidence of which I 
 have to go before any jury of Celts over seventy 
 years of age with. One of my earliest recollections 
 is having my hair cut by an itinerant tailor, who 
 combined the art of clothing one's limbs with that 
 of unclothing^ the head. I remember him still : a 
 gaunt, lean-looking man, with hollow eyes and a 
 sepulchral voice. When the operation was finished 
 he directed that the severed locks should be gathered 
 up and burned, because, should the birds — it was 
 spring-time, and the danger was real — get the 
 smallest particle, even a single hair, to build 
 their nests, I should be grey at twenty-one. This 
 he insisted upon with the strongest asseveration 
 
 * Livingstone. 
 
96 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 of its truth ; while 1, evil imp as I must have been, 
 gathered up a handful of hair, which I threw over 
 the window for the robins. The deed was done. 
 The artist stood aghast, and now, though a good 
 decade from the time when grey hairs should appear, 
 I carry the evidence of my own folly to kirk and 
 market. 
 
 The gods of the Dakota Indians are mortal, and 
 propagate their kind. Their Onkteri resemble a 
 bull, and can extend their tails and horns to the 
 sky, the seat of their power.* The earth is believed 
 to be animated by the spirit of the female Onkteri, 
 while the water and the earth beneath the water is 
 the abode of the male god. The Onkteri have power 
 to issue from their bodies an essence, signifying a 
 o'od's arrow, which can work wholesale destruction.t 
 The j)riests possess or claim all the power ascribed 
 to the gods, and are believed to pass through a 
 series of inspirations by which they receive the god- 
 spirit. They lay hold on all that is mysterious, 
 predict events, and declare that they bring about 
 events of which they made no prediction. They have 
 duplicate souls, one of which remains with the body, 
 while the other wanders at will. Clearly it is neces- 
 sary that such persons should be surrounded by such 
 restrictions as will ensure the peace and safety of tlie 
 community. And so we find in Africa, America, Asia, 
 and the South Seas the same system of taboo ; the 
 same objections to certain objects and animals, and 
 the same sanctit}' of others, running into clan badges 
 and totems, which are at once sacred and to be cared 
 
 * Schoolcraft. t Bettany. 
 
TABOOS 
 
 97 
 
 lor, while they afford protection to those whose 
 symbols they are. 
 
 But let men guard as they may ; let them sur- 
 round divinities with restrictions, and take every 
 precaution against evil persons getting possession 
 of objects dangerous to their lives, accidents will 
 happen and evils will accumulate, with a correspond- 
 ing increase among those spirits who cause them. So, 
 as we have a jDrocess of evolution going on among the 
 gods, we have also a development of the doctrine of 
 devils. This I do not propose to trace fully, but it 
 is necessary to refer to the subject in general terms 
 before we consider the methods adopted for their 
 expulsion. 
 
 How man arrived at the idea of good and evil 
 spirits as personal beings is impossible to determine 
 with accuracy. It is probable after he reached the 
 conception of a soul separate from the body, per- 
 sonal and immortal, or at least capable of existence 
 in a distinct spirit-world, he began to attribute 
 to such souls the same character as was borne by 
 the man while he lived. The soul of a seditious 
 man would foment sedition on earth amonsf those 
 whom he could influence after his death. So, too, 
 the soul of a murderer, a thief, or a contentious man 
 would incite to similar crimes. These would be 
 regarded as evil spirits, to be dealt with as men of 
 like disposition are dealt with. To secure society 
 against their Influence, only two ways were open to 
 primitive man : one, to defy them, as is often done 
 In the case of men of evil disposition, and so make 
 them practically outcasts ; another to conciliate 
 
98 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 them, and so by acts of bribery and flattery secure 
 their good offices, or at least their neutrahty. 
 Both these methods are found wherever savage man 
 dwells. Devils are cursed, defied, expelled the 
 country, and treated as we do our dangerous classes. 
 At other times they are flattered, cozened, and 
 feasted with sacrifice, in order that the largeness of 
 the offering may be a sufficient inducement for them 
 to refrain from evil. We shall in the present inquiry 
 meet frequently with devil-worship, but here it 
 may be well to inquire how primitive man sought 
 to rid himself of spirits which he both feared and 
 hated. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 EXPULSION OF DEMONS 
 
 When man found his steps dogged by demons, he 
 sought for means by which he could rid himself of 
 those imps of evil which rendered his life an insup- 
 portable burden. His first impulse was to surround 
 himself with safeguards, as a warrior in mail armour. 
 But this necessitated an increase of restrictions each 
 time evil spirits or daring men discovered means of 
 breaking through his taboos. With the discovery of 
 gunpowder mail armour became useless. Bullets 
 could only be resisted by an increase in the weight 
 and thickness of the protecting coat of mail, and 
 warriors found it necessary to change their methods. 
 So the savage whose taboos are rendered useless by 
 a Lamech, finds it necessary to re-examine the whole 
 surrounding. Must he add to the number of re- 
 strictions, to the weight of the already over- 
 burdened taboos, till they become like swaddling 
 clothes in which he cannot move or breathe ? Are 
 his movements to be restricted as dangers multiply? 
 Does the advent of each fresh enemy necessitate a 
 re-adjustment of his whole philosophy ? 
 
 The savage, feeling the awkwardness of his position 
 bv ever-increasinof restrictions, arrived at the con- 
 -ception that, by a supreme eftbrt made periodically, 
 
loo RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 or as occasion might arise, he could rid himself, 
 for a time at least, of the evils which surrounded 
 him. And when we come to this doctrine of devils 
 and their expulsion, we arrive at a point which 
 marks a distinct advance in thought. Under the 
 earlier forms the king or earth spirit did good or evil 
 according to humour or caprice ; but with the con- 
 ception of j^ersonal spirits, divided into a good class 
 and a bad, we find men projecting into the super- 
 natural what they experienced in the natural world. 
 Their philosophy, crude as it was, was based on 
 observation, and embodied the results of experience 
 so far as savage man could formulate his experience 
 into a system. When taboos failed to meet the case^ 
 men adopted the bolder policy of making war on 
 devils. Nor is the savage singular in the methods 
 adopted to expel evils. When fasts and prayers 
 failed the inhabitants of European cities in the 
 expulsion of the devils of epidemic diseases, they 
 made war upon them in sewers and cellars, and 
 to far better purpose than by the older and more 
 pious method of priestly intercession. A comparison 
 of the methods adopted for the expulsion of evils in 
 Africa, and survivals amongst ourselves, gives one 
 the impression that popular imagination is not yet 
 far removed from the age of Balac, whose only hope 
 lay in having a powerful magician, like the prophet 
 Balaam, to curse his enemies before he joined his 
 forces in battle with theirs. 
 
 Taking South Africa — with the practice of which 
 I was long familiar — first, it may be said in a general 
 way that no " commoner " dare interfere with spirits 
 
EXPULSION OF DEMONS ioi 
 
 either good or bad, beyond offering such sacrifices 
 as are sanctioned by custom. Demons may haunt a 
 man, and render his Hfe a burden, but he must 
 submit to their machinations until the case is taken 
 in hand by the proper authorities. A baboon may 
 be the messenger of evil spirits, and perch itself on 
 a tree within easy gunshot, or regale itself in his 
 maize field ; but to pull a trigger at the brute would 
 be worse than suicide. As long as the man remains 
 a solitary sufierer he has little chance of redress. It 
 is assumed he has been guilty of some crime, and 
 that the ancestors have in their wrath sent the 
 demon to torment him. But should his neighbours 
 sufter ; should the baboon from choice or necessity — 
 for men do pluck up courage to scare the brutes — 
 select a fresh field in which to glean its supper, or 
 another man's barn roof for its perch, the case alters 
 its complexion. The magicians now take the matter 
 up seriously. One man may be visited by the 
 ancestors with severe reproof, as being haunted by 
 a demon, but a whole community is another matter. 
 Clearly in that case there is something amiss, and a 
 remedy must be found. To shoot the baboon will 
 not serve the purpose. African spirits are not amen- 
 able to powder and lead, as Scottish witches are to 
 powder and silver l^uUets, and to kill the baboon 
 would only be to enrage the demon and increase the 
 dano-er. The first thine: to do is to discover where 
 the devil has his permanent abode. This is generally 
 a deep pool of water with overhanging banks and 
 dark recesses. There the villagers gather with 
 priests and magicians. Under the direction of their 
 
I02 RELIGIOX AND MYTH 
 
 ghostly counsellors, and secured from harm by their 
 presence, men, women, and children pelt the demon 
 with stones. Drums are beaten and horns blown at 
 intervals, and when all are worked ujd into a frenzy 
 of excitement, as one after another catches a glimpse 
 of the imp as he tries to avoid the missiles, he takes 
 his flight at a sino-le bound, and the villaoe is free 
 from his influence for a time. Baboons may now 
 be killed and crops jDrotected. While the stone 
 throwing goes on, all present, and esjDecially the 
 women, hurl the most abusive ejoithets at the object 
 of their fear and veno-eance. 
 
 o 
 
 There is no periodic purging of devils, nor are more 
 spirits than one expelled at a time. I have noticed 
 frequently a connection between the quantity of grain 
 that could be spared for making beer, and the 
 frequency of gatherings for the purging of evils and 
 other necessary purposes. No large gathering can 
 be held in Africa without feastino- and drinkino- 
 especially the latter. Like the Scotch factor, 
 anxious to let a barren moor with hardly a feather 
 on it, to an Englishman, as " one of the finest bits o' 
 ground i' the north," and who after the second 
 tumbler of "toddy," suggested a third before closing 
 the bargain, on the ground that " it's dry wark 
 talking," the African finds all public functions, even 
 his devotions, " dry wark," and needs his pombe. If 
 this is not to be had, the assured result is failure. 
 
 There are demons who are not amenable to stone- 
 throwing and abuse. Such methods would only give 
 them further opportunity for mischief by an increased 
 knowledge of village affairs. They in that case could 
 
EXPULSION OF DEMONS 103 
 
 adapt their methods to the new conditions, and the 
 end of that place would be worse than the first, for 
 they would enter it clean swept of all effectual means 
 of defence. So the Dinka and Bongo expel their 
 devils by guile.* There the exorcist begins by 
 holding a conversation with the demon. He ascer- 
 tains his name ; how long he has been there ; where 
 he belongs to ; his permanent residence ; kinsfolk, 
 acquaintances, and other particulars, all the while 
 disguising his own identity as a devil-doctor. When 
 he ascertains all he wishes to know, he hurries to the 
 woods to collect such medicines as are effectual for 
 the expulsion of demons of the class to which the one 
 in question belongs. After this his course is clear : 
 he sends the evil one beyond the bounds of his 
 diocese by bell, book, and candle, or, to be literal, 
 by horn, calabash, and torch. 
 
 The Wazeramas, more tender of heart towards 
 their demons, expelled them by gentler means than 
 a shower of stones or a drastic purge. Suppose a 
 patient is devil-possessed, he is taken out of his hut 
 and propped up against a tree in presence of the 
 assembled villag-ers. An ancient crone ladles out 
 beer to all who wish a draught. When she has 
 completed her round of the crowd, drums are beaten, 
 horns blown, and all manner of musical instruments 
 played. The demon, captivated by the music, has 
 his senses — " 'cuteness " — dulled for the time, and at 
 the auspicious moment, when the noise has reached 
 a maddening pitch, the magician entices him to enter 
 a stool, wooden pillow, or any other object that can 
 
 * Schweinfurth. 
 
I04 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 be easily carried about.* This he conveys to a safe 
 place, where he can deal with the demon at will 
 and prevent his re-entering the j^atient. He, poor 
 beggar, standing on one leg propped against the tree, 
 is either killed outright by noise and excitement, or 
 by a process of reaction obtains sleep, and frequently 
 recovers within a few days or even hours. 
 
 When a Galla exorcist is called upon to exercise 
 his powers over the unseen world, against any one 
 of the eighty-eight demons that haunt the tribe,t he 
 kills a goat, the entrails of which he hangs about 
 his neck. Thus arrayed, he carries in one hand a 
 bell, which he rings " to waken the demon," and in 
 the other a whip. After he has capered about for 
 a time ringing his bell, he suddenl}^ raises his whip, 
 with which he gives the patient several sharp cuts. 
 The demon, not liking such treatment, takes to his 
 heels ; a final flourish of the whip in the air as the 
 demon flies past completes the process, and the 
 magician goes his way carrying his fee along with 
 him. which is the only guarantee ao-ainst the demon's 
 return. I recommend this method to European 
 physicians whose accounts are of long standing ! 
 
 Of all methods employed for the expulsion of evil 
 spirits that found among the Wanika is the gentlest 
 I have met with. There they are treated with the 
 care and consideration with which ladies of quality 
 were treated when they walked abroad a century 
 ago. This method may be illustrated by taking the 
 case of a patient who is devil-possessed, as has been 
 done with the preceding. A mortar filled with water 
 
 * J. Thomson. t Krapf. 
 
EXPULSION OF DEMONS 105 
 
 is placed at his bedside. Next a gaudily-coloured 
 stick, richly ornamented with beads, bits of glass, 
 and ornaments, is stuck in the ground close at hand. 
 A boy dips a bundle of twigs in the water, with 
 which he sprinkles the head of the })atient. The 
 people beat drums, dance, sing, and play as if round 
 a May-pole. The demon loves music, and he loves 
 beads and gewgaws. As the merriment proceeds he 
 tliinks people are off their guard, and he looks at 
 the stick. As he looks he becomes fascinated and 
 leans towards it. Finally, he leaves the patient and 
 enters the stick, when it is promptly pulled from the 
 o-round bv the macncian."^ What he does with the 
 demon so tenderly treated the historian does not 
 record. He probably mars all his previous kindness 
 by throwing the stick, devil and all, into lake or 
 river. 
 
 But the demons of South and East Africa are as 
 water to whisky when compared to those of the 
 West Coast, where their expulsion wholesale, at 
 stated intervals is a necessity of existence. So 
 potent are they for evil that the people of Dahomey, 
 w^ho may in a few weeks thereafter exj^el them 
 wholesale, sacrifice sheep and goats to them before 
 sowing their crops.t If they neglected this pre- 
 caution, so powerful are evil spirits, no corn would 
 ripen, even should every demon be expelled before 
 it comes into ear. Along the coast, where large 
 towns have to be purged, the ceremonies are both 
 elaborate and protracted. Rude wicker figures of 
 elephants, tigers, cows, and other animals are made, 
 
 * Krapf. t Winterbotham. \ 
 
io6 KELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 and carefully covered over with cloth. Of these, one 
 is set up before every house door.* Each family 
 needs a figure, and the animals are selected from a 
 supposed connection between them and the spirits 
 of departed ancestors. Old Tiger-face's son would 
 naturally select the animal whose name his father 
 bore when taking part in the great ceremony of 
 expelling devils from the town and from his own 
 fireside. The figures are intended as receptacles or 
 places of temporary retreat for the demons when 
 the process of })urgatioii begins. 
 
 At 3 A.M. a tempest of noise begins simultaneously 
 in all parts of the town. Drums beat, bugles bray, 
 horns roar, bells tingle, whistles screech. Every- 
 thing which can be made to emit sound is brought 
 into requisition and kept going till the owner is 
 exhausted, or the instrument gives way, a frequent 
 occurrence. This pandemonium of noise continues 
 till high noon. At that hour floors are swept, dusty 
 corners turned out, the ashes of the previous day's 
 fires carefully collected, and everything where a 
 demon could lurk removed and placed inside the 
 wicker fio-ure at the door. The imagoes are then 
 carried in tumultuous procession to the river and 
 tossed into the \^'ater with beat of drum. The 
 demons dare not return ; they are now beyond the 
 boundaries of the town, and but for untoward 
 accidents men might live in peace for an indefinite 
 time. But as ill-luck will have it, the next tribe 
 may be expelling their own devils, and these, turned 
 out of comfortal)le quarters, may enter the newly 
 
 * Wad dell. 
 
EXPULSION OF DEMONS 107 
 
 purged territory and finding it unoccupied, take up 
 their abode there till once more carried to the river 
 and so cast out. Illustrations of this might be 
 multiplied indefinitely, but what has been given 
 may be taken as characteristic of a particular phase 
 of thouo-ht. 
 
 Now this belongs to an early and very rude state 
 of society — to the time before man had differen- 
 tiated clearly between the natural and supernatural, 
 and when he still believed himself to have power 
 over the unseen world. The condition has continued 
 among peoples far removed from the flowing current 
 of civilisation, and who had not invented the art of 
 writing. It has survived through the hunting, 
 pastoral, and agricultural stages of progress among 
 rude peoples, and seems to persist wherever man is 
 unable to record his thoughts in symbols readily 
 understood by his fellows. But although this 
 peculiar belief in man's powers over the world of 
 spirits persists in barbarous countries, to use a 
 common expression, we should hardly be prepared 
 for its persistency in Christian times in Europe, and 
 among the most highly educated communities in 
 civihsed lands. Few peoples have enjoyed greater 
 educational advantages, so far as the bulk of the 
 peasantry is concerned, than the Scotch, and still we 
 find among them, even at the present day, many 
 persons who believe in man's power to call the devil 
 at will. That such faith should be found universal 
 amono- savag-es is consistent with all we know of the 
 progress of human thought ; that Christian commu- 
 nities should continue, generation after generation, 
 
io8 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 through millenniums of years, to believe in the power 
 of their religious teachers on the one hand, and of 
 their wizards and witches on the other, to control 
 demons and influence nature, is one of those curious 
 phenomena which show how narrow are the limits 
 which divide savage man from civilised, and make us 
 pause to ask, how much of truth, absolute truth, we, 
 any of us, know concerning ourselves, and the 
 mysterious, unsatisfied yearnings of our souls for a 
 fuller, truer, and clearer knowledge of the unseen. 
 
 Not more than a century ago it was no uncommon 
 thing to appeal to priest or presbyter to visit this 
 village or that to " lay the devil," and the curious 
 thing is, that men of education and experience of the 
 world went through the mummeries supposed to 
 have that effect. A priest of the Braes of Lochaber 
 " laid " the devil about what is now Spean Bridge, 
 and the Reformed faith proceeded no farther up the 
 glen of the Spean. A successor of his, however, 
 doubted whether he had but half laid him in 
 Inveroy, the next district to Spean Bridge, the 
 inhabitants of which, according to the worthy father, 
 did justice neither to God nor man. This " laying " 
 of the devil was rendered necessary through his 
 being " raised " by persons who had that power 
 being: in leag-ue with him, and without whose aid he 
 " could not leave his hole." How this was done I 
 have failed to discover with certainty. The "lay- 
 ing " was by bell, book and candle, or within Refor- 
 mation times " by prayer and the exercise of the 
 power of prayer," a phrase as difficult of interpreta- 
 tion as anv African oracle of them all. Praver one 
 
EXPULSION OF DEMONS 109 
 
 can understand, but what is the " power of prayer " 
 as appUed to the " laying " of the devil ? As to the 
 " raising " of his majesty, one old man told me the 
 following incident, for the truth of which he vouched 
 on personal knowledge, " for," said he, " it happened 
 when I was a good bit o' a callant." I give his own 
 words as nearly as I can remember. 
 
 " It's a long time since, but I mind it as if it were 
 yesterday. The boys were having a wild night. 
 Two old men had just finished wi' a pickle malt for 
 the new year like, and there was plenty going. 
 About the middle of the night, at the turn as you 
 would say, one of the young men began to curse and 
 swear awful. He called on the devil, and said he 
 mio-ht come and take him. Some o' them were a 
 wee sober, and bade him keep quiet, but he gaed 
 worse, and defied a' the devils in hell, and said he 
 would like to smell their brimstone. That moment 
 there was an awful flash of lightning, and a w^oman, 
 said no to be canny, or the likes o' her, came down 
 the chimney and stood afore him. She stood facing 
 him, and said : ' Ye want to see the devil : he may be 
 here sooner nor ye think.' Sorry a word more did she 
 say when the house was filled wi' burning brimstone, 
 and something going up and down in a blue flame on 
 the crook" — [i.e., the chain for hanging pots over the 
 fire]. " Then it made a noise such as the like was 
 never heard, and gaed out o' sight. The gun- 
 barrels in the house were twisted and broken, and 
 the next day the smell o' brimstone was strong on 
 their clothes. None of them could ever tell right 
 how it happened, but there's nae doubt about it. 
 
no RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 It's as true as gospel." And then the old man pro- 
 ceeded to detail other experiences of his youth, and 
 to bemoan the scepticism of the age, which was sure 
 to bring the curse of God down upon the world. 
 This was not an ignorant man, but one fairly well 
 informed ; a man who knew his Bible, and could 
 correct preachers on points of Calvinistic theology. 
 I knew him well, and he represented current opinion 
 among middle-aged and old people in parts of the 
 Highlands about twenty years ago. How the devil 
 was "laid" in this case my informant did not re- 
 member, but he was fully informed how it was done 
 in other cases, and believed as firmly as he did in his 
 own existence that the art " was known to many of 
 the godly in olden times." 
 
 There is a woman of my acquaintance in lleay who 
 can " do things." Some years ago she asked a 
 coach-driver for a " sail " in his vehicle. He re- 
 fused. " Very well," said Annie ; " I will be in 
 Thurso before you," A mile farther on one of his 
 horses fell stone dead, and he had the mortification 
 of seeing the witch pass with an air of triumj^h. The 
 owner has never refused her a " sail " since then. 
 
 A former minister of the parish of Reay in Caith- 
 ness, a Mr. Pope, was a man of more than local re- 
 putation. He came to the parish when the people 
 were largely pagan, and being a man of herculean 
 strength, used gentle physical persuasion by means 
 of an oaken cudgel, known as the "bailiff," to bring 
 his parishioners to church. His feats of strength, 
 and especially his having first thrashed, and then 
 driven before him to church, a local character re- 
 
EXPULSION OF DEMONS iii 
 
 t>-arded with dread as a giant in strength and a tiger 
 in temper, gave him an extraordinary influence over 
 his unruly flock. Supernatural powers were freely 
 attributed to him, and this for reasons of his own he 
 may have encouraged. Among other powers he 
 possessed he was regarded as being able to " lay the 
 devil " at will. It so happened that the people of 
 Strath}^, in the neighbouring parish, " raised " the 
 fiend but could not get him " laid " again. In dire 
 extremity they went to Mr. Pope, and on some pre- 
 text induced him to visit Strathy. When nearing 
 the place "he got the smell of the fiend," and knew 
 why they had sent for him. He was excessively 
 angry, but having gone so far he proceeded to the 
 place, and so eflectually did he dispose of their 
 troublesome visitor, that, as I was told last summer, 
 "the devil has never since been raised in the district." 
 Did the scope of our inquiry permit, illustrations 
 of the same practice of expelling the devil could be 
 drawn from the usages of the Teutonic peoples of 
 Europe. This is represented by such practices as 
 are observed among the Finns of Eastern Russia. 
 There on the last day of the year a band of young 
 girls march through the streets and stop at each 
 house corner, which they beat with wands they carry 
 for the purpose. As they beat each house they say^ 
 in chorus, " We are driving Satan out of the village." 
 After they have in this manner visited all the 
 houses, they march in procession to the river, singing 
 as they go, and when they arrive there throw their 
 wands, devils and all, into the water to float away 
 down stream. "At Brunnen, in Switzerland, the boys 
 
112 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 go about fn procession on Twelfth Night, carryino- 
 torches and lanterns, and makino- a o-reat noise with 
 horns, cowbells, and whips. This is said to frighten 
 away two female spirits of the wood — Strudeli and 
 Striitteli." * These are but illustrations of the simjDler 
 forms of a custom observed by all the peoj^les of 
 Europe ; a custom which in many cases became 
 grafted on to the services of the Christian Church, t 
 no man can tell how, but which clearly carry us l^ack 
 to an age when the jieoples of Europe were, b}^ 
 painful experience, groping their way towards a 
 knowledge of truth, as the Central African of to-day 
 is undoubtedly doino-. For what are all relio-ions 
 
 •JO o 
 
 but a searching after truth ; the expression of man's 
 desire to attain to a true and final knowledsfe of 
 causes, and his own relation to these ? 
 
 * Usener, quoted by J. G. Frazer. 
 
 t In Eoss-shire there is a common custom when drinking from a road- 
 side spring to tie a bit of rag to a branch or tuft of grass. This I have 
 heard explained as an offering to the spirit of the spring, while others say 
 it is to ban evil from the water. In either case it is a survival of a long- 
 forgotten past — a simple action, carrying us back to a time when spirits 
 inhabited every grove and running stream. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 WITCHCRAFT 
 
 When man reached the coiicei^tion of good and evil 
 spirits as personal and separate existences— that is 
 to say, beings capable of being influenced by him 
 and having an influence over him — it needed but the 
 advent of a Milton to set the gods by the ears. But 
 before the Miltonic conception was reached there 
 was a long transition period during which the gods 
 set men by the ears. We have seen that kings and 
 divine priests claimed to have in their own persons : 
 flrst, the spirit of the creative and reproductive 
 powers of nature ; next, that of their ancestors and 
 predecessors, this latter passing over to the idea of 
 an impersonal god. These were the beneficent 
 patrons of men, w^ho gave them rain, sunshine, 
 crops, fecundity, successful hunting, and kindred 
 blessings. During the world's youth the want of 
 these was attributed to the negligence of the king, 
 and w ith the laj^se of time, perhaps to his malice or 
 ill-will, as when the king was said " to have a bad 
 heart." It was no uncommon experience for the 
 king to be called sharply to task when the course of 
 nature trot into confusion and disorder, and men 
 began to feel the pinch of want or the inconvenience 
 of having to travel far afield for game. With the 
 
114 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 advent of evil spirits the blame could be laid on 
 their shoulders for all the ills that afflicted humanity. 
 Evil persons were supposed to be in league with 
 those evil spirits, and to be their agents in carrying 
 out their nefarious purposes. As the good spirits 
 acted for men's benefit through the king or tribal 
 priest, so other malign spirits acted through persons 
 whose whole object was pure mischief for its own 
 sake, except when bribed to do good actions by 
 large gifts. The expulsion of spirits had not yet 
 occurred to man ; propitiation did not always suit 
 his purpose ; and yet the case required that drastic 
 remedies should be adopted. It was obviously a 
 matter of the first importance that means should be 
 discovered for the detection and extermination, if 
 possible, of the class of persons who brought the ills 
 from which men suffered upon them. 
 
 In earlier times the king himself was frequently 
 put to death when he failed to order the course of 
 nature regularly, and give the blessings expected 
 from him, and if so, there could be no hesitation or 
 doubt about the art of those who wilfully disturbed 
 the course of nature being a capital crime, or rather 
 the capital crime beyond all others even by com- 
 parison. For to savage man there is no crime com- 
 parable to witchcraft in malignity of purpose and 
 object. Here, then, we have the origin of that system 
 of jurisprudence and religious ritual which, j^roject- 
 ing itself into civilised and Christian times, pursued 
 its victims, under the sanction of civil law and 
 church judicatories, as persons who ought not to 
 live. Primitive faith, or superstition as we call it 
 
WITCHCRAFT 115 
 
 now, clung for generations to men professing to be 
 disciples of Him \vho came to show the higher and 
 better way, so tenaciously that they could, without 
 pity or compunction, see their fellows amidst blazing 
 faggots for an imaginary crime. If the growth of 
 thought has been so slow within historic times, and 
 among a people with a written language, what must 
 it have been among primitive men ? When religion, 
 with all the sanction it received from the sacred 
 books of Christianity, took so many centuries to 
 realise such elementary facts regarding man's rela- 
 tion to the supernatural, do we wonder that millen- 
 niums pass without any appreciable difference in 
 custom and myth among savages ? 
 
 But how were wizards and witches to be dis- 
 covered when the world Avas young, and before men 
 learned to recognise the " witch's mark ? " Spirits 
 bent on evil gave no outward token of their 
 presence so far as that could possible he avoided. 
 These spirits would only l)e harboured by persons of 
 the most malignant disposition, or who for some 
 reason had a grudge against their kind. S<^ the 
 spirits sought out those who, through neglect or ill- 
 treatment, had been soured and rendered bitter in 
 heart against their fellows.* Thus it happened 
 that deformed persons, and those who through any 
 infirmity were unable to take their place and act 
 their part in life like their fellows, were believed to 
 be possessed of the devil, or, in other words, were 
 wizards and witches. Dwarfs, dumb persons, women 
 who never were sought in marriage, and those with 
 
 * J. Sutton, MS. notes. 
 
ii6 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 any facial peculiarities or defects which made them 
 conspicuous, were most frequently regarded as the 
 incarnation of the evil spirit of the world. From 
 them it was impossible to expel or allure the demon 
 as in the case of a patient who was devil-possessed, 
 for, unlike the sick, the devil dwelt within the 
 wizards by their own w411 and choice. They were 
 themselves devils incarnate as the king or high 
 priest was incarnate god. Such being the case, the 
 only hope of safety, the sole means of security, lay 
 in the rigfid enforcement of that curious Mosaic 
 enactment : " Thou shall not suffer a witch to 
 live."* 
 
 Let us now consider how man, as he groped his 
 way towards a higher conception of truth and the 
 facts with which he found himself surrounded in the 
 world, sought to protect himself against the malign 
 influences exercised by those persons who entered 
 into league with evil spirits, for the purpose of 
 injuring their kind. And here it will be better to 
 begin with the southern portion of Africa, with the 
 customs of which I am familiar, and which have 
 been studied and recorded with a greater degree of 
 minuteness than those of any other part of the 
 continent. In any study of witchcraft it must be 
 borne in mind that the wizard's power is unlimited, 
 or only bounded by such limitations and restrictions 
 as the gods are subject to. Evil spirits are as 
 powerful as good ; hence it follows that the good 
 must have assistance from man himself, if they are 
 to cope successfully with evil. Man and the gods. 
 
 • * Exod. xxii. 18. 
 
WITCHCRAFT 117 
 
 may keep evil in check. Either of them alone would 
 be unequal to the task. Can the beneficent god 
 give rain ? The wizard can thwart his purpose by 
 the simplest of expedients. Can he make domestic 
 animals prolific ? The wizard has but to get a hair 
 out of a cow's tail to bring murrain among them. 
 Does the " father of men " give easy delivery to 
 mothers? The wizard causes death in childbed 
 or blights the offspring with a curse. Throughout 
 the whole circle of social and domestic life the good 
 designs of Providence and the gods can be frustrated 
 by the art of witchcraft, and, indeed, the wizard may 
 in a sense, be said to be more powerful than the 
 gods. To them belong the initiative ; all things 
 are under their control and ordered by them ; and 
 the wizard has but to lie in wait till the gods act, 
 and then, by the practice of his art, frustrates their 
 intentions by marring their work. He, on the other 
 hand, is safe from assault by the gods, for he never 
 initiates any original work on his own account. His 
 business is to watch their doings, and when they 
 favour men to bring calamity and death. 
 
 So the Hottentot priest, wdien he sacrifices for 
 any purpose, takes the most extraordinary precau- 
 tions against malign influences. He keeps his 
 purpose a profound secret, lest his intentions should 
 l3ecome known to some " suspect person." At the 
 sacrifice none must be present except such as can be 
 fully trusted. And here lies his chief difiiculty. 
 Wizards are as cunning as are evil spirits themselves^ 
 and adopt every kind of disguise so as to remain 
 unsuspected. He can guard against the presence of 
 
\r 
 
 ii8 EELIGIOX AND MYTH 
 
 reputed wizards and suspect persons. But these 
 have " friends " who are neither known nor sus- 
 pected, and should one of them be present to inform 
 the wizard of what goes on, and convey to him as 
 much as a single hair from the sacrifice, or even a 
 blade of grass from the spot on which an important 
 person, as the chief or priest, sat, he can accomplish 
 all the evil that he could have done by his presence 
 among the crowd. For some reason, which I never 
 could discover, suspect persons cannot be, or at all 
 events are not, put on trial till specific acts can l^e 
 charged against them before a properly consti- 
 tuted tribunal. They cannot even be shut up by 
 such methods as we have often found so convenient 
 beyond St. George's Channel. 
 
 Under such circumstances it is necessary to have 
 a method by which guilt can be easily and surely 
 brought home to those practising the unlawful art. 
 This is done by a class of men known as witch- 
 doctors. These are really magicians or priests, who, 
 because of the dignity of their calling, occupy a 
 premier position among the religious teachers of 
 Africa. They are permitted to have armed retainers, 
 and to rank on an equality with heads of clans. 
 Their places of residence are sanctuaries ; they 
 hold court and try causes ; their persons are 
 sacred, and in virtue of their office they are entitled 
 to receive fees in connection with all cases and trials. 
 The following may be taken as illustrative of the 
 witch-doctor's method of procedure : — When any 
 one, say a man in middle life, falls ill, his friends, 
 believing him to be bewitched, repair to the witch- 
 
WITCHCRAFT 119 
 
 doctor's house, and sit down outside in a waiting- 
 attitude. After a brief interval the doctor appears, 
 says " Good morning," and then sitting down, takes a 
 leisurely pinch of snuff. If the visitors ask for 
 tobacco, he knows it is but an ordinary call, and 
 enters into conversation on current topics. If they 
 do not ask a pinch, he retires to his house, and 
 returns with a dry hide and a small bundle of sticks 
 which he throws down before his visitors. He then 
 says, " You have come about a child ? " 
 
 They, beating softly on the hide, reply : " We 
 a^iTee. " 
 
 The doctor proceeds : " You are going to speak 
 about a woman ? " 
 
 " We agree," say the strangers, while they con- 
 tinue their gentle beating. 
 
 " The man you have come about is very ill," may 
 be the doctor's next remark. 
 
 " We agree, we agree," cry out the visitors, this 
 time beating violently. 
 
 On such lines the doctor proceeds till he has 
 learned all he wishes to know : the man's age ; 
 whether of a strong or weakly constitution; how 
 long he has been ill ; whether he has any known 
 enemy, and his means. After this he sits a long 
 while in silence, and then says, oracularly, " You are 
 beino' killed." When asked how and by whom, he 
 replies that he cannot tell ; they must return on the 
 following day, and meantime the gods may divulge to 
 him the secret. He mentions his fee, generally an 
 ox, as a retainer, and this must be brought when 
 they return next day, otherwise no revelations will 
 
I20 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 be made to him. He is the servant of the gods, 
 and what is oiven to him is offered to them. The 
 deputation then retire, and when they go home a 
 trusted friend receives a hint as to whom they sus- 
 pect of bewitching the patient. This neighbour 
 goes at dead of night, and has an interview with 
 the doctor, who is now in a position to act. A muster 
 of villagers is duly called, attendance at which is 
 compulsory on pain of confessed guilt. The accused 
 marches, in ignorance of his doom, with the caval- 
 cade On the way he may be casually asked, 
 " What does the person bewitching our brother 
 deserve ? " and he of course promptly replies, " He 
 must die." 
 
 The ritual follow^ed at the meeting varies, but the 
 following is one method. All the villagers give up 
 their arms to the doctor's guard, and then seat them- 
 selves in a semicircle. The doctor sings, dances, 
 capers and mutters incantations within the circle of 
 expectant sitters ; then rushing up to the doomed 
 man cries out, " This is the wizard who bewitched 
 so and so, the gods name him." He then runs in 
 among his armed guards, and all the people jump up, 
 leaving the culprit sitting alone. He must not 
 move, nor will any one go near him. No one is 
 allowed to plead his cause even if they wished. His 
 friends are disarmed and cannot strike a blow for 
 him. The man's doom is inexorably fixed, and his 
 only chance of escape is the somewhat slender one 
 of the chief ordering an ox to be substituted and 
 offered as a sacrifice ; this, or a clean pair of lieels, if 
 he can show them. On crossing the border of the 
 
WITCHCRAFT 121 
 
 tribal territory he is safe, there being no extradition 
 treaty for wizards. 
 
 As we move northwards we find the same or 
 even greater precautions taken against witchcraft, 
 but the system of jurisprudence is modified. In the 
 Nyassa region, for example, the ofiice of discovering 
 persons who practise the illegal art falls not to the 
 priest, but to the prophetess, who is frequently the 
 principal wife of the chief, and one of the most for- 
 midable and justly dreaded persons met with in 
 Africa. It is to the prophetess the ancestral spirits 
 make known the will of the gods. When she sees 
 these face to face, which always happens at the dead 
 hour of night, she begins by raving and scream- 
 ing, which she continues till the whole village is 
 astir, and she herself utterly prostrated by her 
 exertions ; she then throws herself on the ground in 
 a kind of trance, during which the villagers gather 
 round her, awe-stricken, waiting for the oracle of the 
 god, for she is now god-possessed. After such posses- 
 sion and revelations she may impose impossible tasks 
 on men, and these they will attempt without ques- 
 tion as their destiny.* She may demand human 
 sacrifices, and no one dare deny her victims. 
 Suppose she declares a victim must be offered to a 
 mountain deity — for there are gods of the valleys and 
 gods of the hills, deities of the river and of the forest 
 — the victim is conducted to the spot indicated and 
 bound hand and foot to a tree, If during the first 
 night he is killed by beasts of prey, the gods have 
 accepted the sacrifice ; if not, he is left to die of 
 
 * Rev. Duff Macdonald. 
 
122 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 starvation or thrown into a pool. The slave was not 
 worthy the god's acceptance ; he is of no further use 
 to any one. 
 
 It is, however, as a detective of wizards and 
 witches the proj^hetess is in most constant demand. 
 When she travels on such duty she is accompanied 
 by a strong guard ; and when she orders a meeting 
 of a clan or tribe attendance is compulsory. When 
 all are assembled, our friend, who is clad with a 
 scanty loin cloth and literally covered from head to 
 heels with rattles and fantasies, rushes about among 
 the crowd in the most frantic manner. She shouts 
 and raves and rants like one demented. After 
 which, assuming a calm judicial manner, she goes 
 from one to another touching each person's hand. 
 As she touches the hand of the bewitcher, she starts 
 back with a loud shriek and yells, " This is him, the 
 murderer. Blood is in his hand.""^' Havino- discovered 
 the culprit, she next proceeds to prove his guilt. 
 This she does by " finding the horns " he used in the 
 prosecution of the unlawful art. These are generally 
 the horns of a small species of antelope which are 
 par excellence "witches' horns." She finds the 
 horns by going along the bank of the stream from 
 which the family of the bewitched person got water. 
 At intervals she lifts water from the stream, which 
 she pours upon the ground, and then stoops to listen. 
 Spirit voices direct her to the wizard's hiding-place. 
 Arrived there, she begins to dig with a hoe she car- 
 ries, muttering incantations as she works, and there 
 she finds the incriminating horns, t 
 
 * Kev. Duff ]\Iacdonal(]. f Ibid. 
 
WITCHCRAFT 123 
 
 Now, how does the prophetess find the horns? 
 B\' what devil's art does she hit upon the spot 
 where they are concealed ? The explanation is to 
 us very simple, but the African has not yet 
 discovered it, or if he has, no one has dared 
 to say so. Wherever she is employed she must 
 spend a night at the village before she begins 
 operations. She does not retire to rest with the 
 other villagers, but wanders about the live-long 
 night listening to spirit voices. If she sees a villager 
 outside his door after the usual hour for retiring, she 
 brings' that up against him next day as evidence 
 of guilty intention, and that, either on his own 
 account or the wizard's, he meant to steal away 
 to dig up the horns. The fear of such consequences 
 keeps all persons within doors, and leaves the 
 prophetess free to arrange for the tableau of the 
 next day. So far is the fear of witchcraft carried, 
 that whole villages have been known to partake of 
 the ordeal poison in order to root out evil persons.* 
 If a man is guilty, he dies ; if not guilty, even if 
 cauo-ht in the act red-handed, he recovers — he was in 
 that case not a thief, he was bewitched to make him 
 steal. Such is the Wayao philosophy of trial by 
 ordeal. 
 
 Amono- the Bonuo on the White Nile no communi- 
 cation can be had with the spirit world except by 
 means of certain roots which are known to the 
 maoicians.t These are of service, not only in hold- 
 ing communication with the gods, but in warding 
 off all evil influences. Had the secret been kept, the 
 
 * Kev. Duff Macdonald. 1 Schweinfurth. 
 
124 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 Bongo would have been the happiest people under 
 the sun, but m an evil hour some noted wizard 
 discovered it and made the world unhappy. With 
 this knowledge in their possession, old peojole may ap- 
 parently be lying peaceably in their beds while their 
 spirits range the forest by moonlight in search of the 
 magic roots.* These spirits assume animal form, 
 which remind us of the familiar stories of farmers 
 wounding hares, and hearing of old women in the 
 next village having broken arm or leg mysteriously, 
 which they set and dressed without aid of doctor ; 
 assured sig-n that the fear of his seeing" the bullet- 
 mark prevented their seeking his aid. 
 
 The Bongo jDriest who has obtained the coveted 
 roots, can only hold communication with the gods in 
 the approved manner by falling into a trance and 
 receiving their commands in dreams and visions. The 
 wizard, wielding equally potent spells, and restricted 
 by no canons of custom, can leave the visible body, 
 as the soul does in sleep, his only risk being the 
 body being stolen during the sjjirit's absence, enter 
 a hysena, and range over mountain and plain, 
 working evil as he goes. When a people are 
 exposed to such dangers, to exorcise ghosts, demons, 
 M'ood goblins, and all evil spirits and persons, must 
 ever be their chief religious duty. When the destiny 
 of a nation depends on guarding against evil in- 
 fluences of a spiritual nature, that people must 
 be regarded as deeply religious, however little their 
 rites may attract the attention of those who visit 
 them. 
 
 ■•* Schweinfurth. 
 
WITCHCRAFT 
 
 125 
 
 Dr. Schweinfurth, who is one of our best authori- 
 ties on the usages of tribes Hving- on the upper 
 reaches of the Nile, sa^^s that some of them have 
 hardly any religion. The Niam-niam, he says, have 
 no religion, and use for divinity the word for 
 lightning.* It is curious so observant a traveller 
 should have been so far misled as to what constitutes 
 religious observances. We are familiar in Zululand, 
 Nyassa region, and in Uganda with the use of the 
 term for lightning — in each case a different word — ■ 
 for heaven, thunder, or the god, and these peoples 
 are among the most religious communities in Africa. 
 When a man cannot knock his foot against a tree 
 stump without attaching to it a supernatural sig- 
 nificancet that man is religious whether he has a 
 separate word for his god or not. The statement 
 seems all the more inexplicable when we find the 
 doctor himself saying that the same Niam-niam, who 
 have no religion, "have a word for prayer"; that 
 they practise augury, and believe in goblins, ghosts, 
 and witches, the latter of which are treated by them 
 as they have always been by persons with properly 
 constituted minds — that is, by getting rid of them in 
 the manner most approved for the extermination of 
 the pestilent race. If the Niam-niam have no reli- 
 gion, to whom do they pray ? Whence came their 
 goblins ? How do their witches attain their power 
 except by spirit agency ? These are questions wliich 
 must be satisfactorily disposed of before we can 
 accept a general statement that a peo23le have 
 
 * Schweinfurth. 
 
 t Rev. Duff Macdonald ; Dr. Elmslie, MS. notes. 
 
126 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 been found who have no rehgion — that is, no faith in 
 regard to supernatural powers or agents. 
 
 If the Nile tribes conduct their witch prosecutions, 
 and religious services generally, in so perfunctory a 
 manner as to attract the attention of travellers but 
 slightly, their deficiency is more than made up by the 
 Bullom tribes of the West Coast. When they drink 
 beer they pour out a few drops as a religious act ; 
 when they eat, particles of food are allowed to 
 fall on the ground for the same purpose. "^^ They 
 can neither walk nor sit, sow nor reap, hunt nor 
 fish, without performing acts of devotion and duti- 
 ful obedience to the gods. They move among 
 divinities, and these may be disturbed by loud 
 laughter, by improper movements, or by words which 
 can imply disparagement of the gods or their works. 
 Each day has its ow^n religious duties, but it is 
 in the " witch palaver " their true devotion and 
 fidelity to the will of the gods is seen to best 
 advantagfe. 
 
 Their three great palavers are, " sauce palaver," 
 "woman palaver," and "witch palaver." t In 
 the first, w^hich refers to all ordinary offences, the 
 case is conducted according to the ordinary rules 
 of evidence, either by witnesses or the ordeal. The 
 accused is held as guilty, and he must prove his 
 innocence. If he have witnesses, good ; if not, then 
 the poison bowl. The same remarks apply to 
 " woman palaver," only that in this case the accused 
 must submit to the ordeal. What that ordeal is we 
 
 * Walker. t Winteibotham. 
 
WITCHCRAFT 127 
 
 shall see in another connection ; our present business 
 is with the " witch palaver." In this case the 
 accused can prove his innocence by no other means 
 than the ordeal. When the offence was committed 
 he may have been on a journey, at sea, asleep, sick 
 and unable to move, on the war path ; in any con- 
 dition or circumstances. None of these things can 
 be admitted in evidence nor in mitigation of sentence. 
 Persons who have the power of transforming them- 
 selves into animals or insects, feigning sleep, or even 
 death, so perfectly as to deceive the very elect — that 
 is to say, the authoritative religious guides of the 
 community — are not to be trifled with. So it is, 
 when a suspect is on trial for specific acts of witch- 
 craft, a red hot-iron is ajDplied to his skin, partly to 
 jog his memory, but principally that the brand may 
 be examined to determine how" much skin adheres 
 to the hot metal, whether the wound bleeds, and 
 how its edofes "curl.""^ To each of these signs o-reat 
 importance is attached in determining presumption 
 of guilt. This ordeal may be final and satisfactory, 
 but the probabilities are against it. The show is 
 too good to be over so soon, and the red-hot poker 
 is succeeded by a jar of oil, which is j^laced on the 
 fire till it boils. Into this boiling oil a stone, made 
 red hot in the fire, is now dropped and the culprit 
 directed to fish it out with his naked hand.t 
 Accordinof to the condition of the hand after the 
 ordeal is the presumption of guilt or innocence. If 
 
 ■* Winterbotham. 
 
 t Ibid.; Rev. Duff Macdonald. 
 
128 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 these means do not conclusively prove the case, he 
 must drink " red water." ^ This is a decoction which 
 is prepared by the priest in public from poisonous 
 substances. After the preparation is made the priest 
 washes his hands, as well as the mortar and pestle 
 used, as a ceremonial act. The accused for a similar 
 reason must rinse his mouth with clean water. He 
 is then given a quantity of boiled rice which he must 
 eat ; after it he drinks the poison. If the red water 
 acts as an emetic, and that vomiting continues till 
 he brings up particles of rice, he is innocent and 
 escapes ; the red water ran away from him. AVhen 
 it does not act as an emetic, even if the man does not 
 die from the effects of the poison, he is guilty ; the 
 red w^ater clung to him. Sometimes the drug causes 
 purging. In this case the culprit has " spoiled the 
 red water " ; the augury is doubtful, and to remove 
 all difficulties he is sold — out of the territory, it is 
 needless to say. 
 
 This latter form of ordeal is common in cases of 
 supposed adultery among many tribes of the West 
 Coast, as well as throughout the whole of the Lake 
 region of Central Africa, and is specially worthy of 
 note because of its close lesemlDlance to, if not 
 identity with, the practice of trial by ordeal for the 
 same offence among the Jews : " If a man's wife go 
 aside, and commit a trespass against him, and a man 
 lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes 
 of her husband, and be kept close .... And the 
 spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous 
 of his wife, and she be defiled ; or, if the spirit of 
 
 * Winterbotham. 
 
WITCHCRAFT 129 
 
 jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his 
 wife, and she be not defiled, then shall the man bring 
 his wife unto the priest .... And the priest shall 
 take holy water in an earthen vessel ; . . . . And 
 the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water 
 that causeth the curse .... And the priest shall 
 Avrite three curses in a book, and he shall blot them 
 out with the bitter water, and he shall cause the 
 woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the 
 curse .... And when he hath made her to drink the 
 water, then it shall come to pass, if she be defiled, 
 and have done trespass against her husband, that 
 the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her 
 and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her 
 thio-h shall rot, and the woman shall be a curse 
 among her people. And if the woman be not defiled 
 but be clean, then she shall be free."^"^ The connec- 
 tion between this enactment in the Mosaic legisla- 
 tion and the practice among primitive men, it is not 
 my province to trace in the present essay, but the 
 resemblance is so striking that the inference seems 
 
 plain enough. 
 
 Turning to the history of witchcraft among 
 civilised peoples, we have in it perhaps the best 
 illustration of the persistency in popular imagina- 
 tion of the belief in the supreme power of evil 
 spirits, and in man's power to influence the course of 
 nature by necromancy and magic. It would be easy 
 to cite examples from every country in Europe to 
 show how the same belief in the power of evil, 
 personified in wizards and witches, influenced the 
 
 * Numbers, v. 12-28. 
 
 I 
 
I JO RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 whole domestic and social life of the people. In Jut- 
 land a rowan growing out of the top of another tree 
 is exceedingly efficacious against witchcraft.* This 
 tree has the same virtue in Scotland, and I knew a 
 worthy farmer's wife, who died only a few years ago, 
 and who annually, in early summer, had a St. 
 Andrew's cross made of rowan twigs, which she 
 placed in the cowhouse as a talisman against the 
 arts of witches. German farmers use the mistletoe 
 for a similar purpose. In the island of Rum it was 
 believed that if one of the family of Lachlin — a local 
 family of note — shot a deer on the mountain of 
 Finchra, he would either die on the spot or contract 
 a distemper from which he could not recover. t 
 This may belong to the class of totems rather than 
 to witchcraft. Traces of clan totems are frequently 
 met with in the north and west of Scotland. 
 
 Confining ourselves to this country, we have ample 
 evidence, in the witch and fairy cult still current, 
 of the ancient belief in man's power to influence 
 nature and the lives of his fellow-men. And not the 
 least curious thing is, that the persons accused of 
 witchcraft often claimed to possess the power 
 ascribed to them, though this meant an alternative 
 between faggots and a deep pool. Among savage 
 men, on the contrary, denial is all but universal 
 when one is accused of having communication with 
 evil spirits, or exercising the art of witchcraft. 
 Among Scottish witches and fairy folk we get 
 glimpses of persons of diflerent grades, some of them 
 holding high office and directing the afl'airs of the 
 
 * Kamp. t Martin. 
 
WITCHCRAFT 131 
 
 peculiar community to which they belong. Thus, in 
 the confessions of Isabella Gowdie, indicted for witch- 
 craft at Nairn in 1662, we have a King and Queen of 
 Fairyland. " I was," said Isabella when in the 
 dock, " in Downie hill, and got meat from the Queen 
 of the Fairies, and more that I could eat. The queen 
 is brawly clothed in white linen and in white and 
 brown cloth ; and the king is a braw man, well- 
 favoured and broad-faced. There were plenty of 
 elf bulls, rowting and skoyling up and down, and 
 affrighted me."* Mr. Kirk, from whom I quote, 
 adds, that on the authority of local tradition, fairy- 
 land is well supplied with musical instruments and 
 books of history, travel, plays, novels, biography, 
 but no Bibles — the lack of the latter owing to the 
 fairy folk being in league with the devil, from whom 
 they receive their government and power. 
 
 Before our familiar fairy cult was evolved, the evil 
 spirits of primitive man had crystallised into a 
 personal devil, supreme and all-powerful, with 
 numerous attendant angels or messengers, and it is 
 curious to note that something very nearly akin to 
 this is met with in Ashantee, where the king has a 
 thousand " Kra," or souls.j The Kra are the king's 
 spies, a kind of secret service guild, and are called the 
 king's souls, because when he dies they are all put 
 to cleath that they may attend upon him in the land 
 of shades. To strike, or even touch a Kra, is not 
 only a deadly insult, but a serious capital crime. It is 
 doino" it to the king himself; and it is quite consistent 
 with savage thought to regard a powerful king and his 
 
 * Kirk. t Klihne and Rameyer. 
 
132 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 Kra as still actively engaged in connection with the 
 world's affairs long after they have quitted the upper 
 air. He is chief dictator, and each of his souls do 
 his behests in the affairs of men. This is the 
 common doctrine of witchcraft as that lives in 
 popular imagination. The black art is something 
 carried on under the direction of a supreme evil 
 spirit, who is assisted by a countless host of minor 
 devils or angels ; that is to say, messengers, Kra, or 
 souls. This doctrine must have been developed 
 when man reached the conception of a supreme 
 spirit of good, opposed by a supreme spirit of 
 evil. But in tracing the growth of the idea of 
 one supreme spirit of good, or god, we are met by 
 greater difficulties than in tracing the doctrine of 
 devils, for the latter took shape and colour from the 
 former. When man found a supreme spirit among 
 the e-ods, he had to account for the fact that he did 
 not, or could not, at all times order events for the good 
 of man. Evil still persisted ; so he concluded there 
 must be a supreme and personal devil, who com- 
 manded such agencies in the unseen world as were 
 at the disposal of the good god himself 
 
 The difficulty of tracing the growth of the idea of 
 a supreme god arises from the impossibility of deter- 
 mining with certainty what was originally a local 
 or tribal deity, and what a spirit regarded 
 generally as supreme. We have seen that the Zulu 
 term Mlungu, and its equivalents may mean, great 
 ancestor, lightning, the powers of nature generally, 
 or pfod, and we have at least one instance which 
 seems to show how such ideas as that of Mlungu first 
 
WITCHCRAFT 133 
 
 take hold of the popular imagination, and become 
 almost universal myth, for myth it is when all has 
 ))een said, but myth which describes a sober fact of 
 human faith and the progress of thought. The Rev. 
 I )uff Macdonald, a careful observer, who lived several 
 years in Central Africa, says of the Wayao, that 
 they not only worship their own ancestors, as is 
 common to most Africans, but also invoke by prayer 
 and sacrifice the gods of the country who were 
 worshipped by the people they expelled. The older 
 inhabitants were compelled to retire before the 
 advance of the Wayao, but their great god Kan- 
 gomba remained undisturbed on Mount Socki, nor 
 would he be displaced by the newer divinities, 
 or the arts of magic* So it is that the j^resent 
 chief, Kapeni, when making annual supplication and 
 sacrifice, asks some noted Wanyasa priest to- 
 come to his assistance. The Wanyasa are related 
 to the people whose god Kangomba originally was, 
 and their presence is acceptable to him. Such a god 
 as this, though originally a local tribal deity — some 
 remote ancestor of a chief — gradually gathers more 
 than a local reputation. The Wanyasa priests 
 ofiiciating at his annual festivals will carry his fame 
 to their own people, and bring the Wanyasa tribe, 
 through association with the Wayao at his festivals, 
 to worship him in times of stress and trial at 
 their own homes. If he grants their prayer his 
 reputation will speedily spread as both powerful and 
 good. Besides, every African who returns from a 
 journey exaggerates all his experiences, and adorns 
 
 * Rev. Dull' JIacdonald. 
 
134 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 his narratives with gorgeous imagery. In this way 
 Kangomba will lose nothing of his glory and power 
 by distance. He will be spoken of in every Wanyasa 
 village as great beyond all local deities, and may, 
 in a few generations, occupy a place second only to 
 Mlungu himself. 
 
 Such probably was the origin of Mlungu when 
 first men worshipped him, and if so, it furnishes us 
 with the key we have been striving to find as to how 
 primitive men arrived at the idea of a supreme god, 
 and from that deduced the doctrine of a supreme 
 devil, on which he hangs all the traditions he has 
 reofardinof witchcraft and kindred evils. It will also 
 help us to understand much with which we have 
 long" been familiar, though we may not have under- 
 stood the relation of facts to one another. Sucli 
 conceptions of deity and of evil ai'e consistent with 
 the acknowledgment of Nebuchadnezzar, that the 
 God of Daniel was supreme among the gods — greater 
 than those of the mighty empire itself 
 
 We have now arrived at an advanced period of 
 the world's progress in thought. If the theory 
 suggested is correct, the African, starting with the 
 crude idea that men could influence the course of 
 nature, and that the power to do so was vested in 
 his king, who was god — the personification of nature 
 herself — advanced a long way when he conceived 
 his chief, whose body he had buried or burned, still 
 living and taking an active interest in the world's 
 affairs. As thought progressed and man began to 
 difterentiate more accurately, he reached the doctrine 
 of all human souls living in a land of spirits, thus 
 
WITCHCRAFT 135 
 
 making his way towards the conception of 
 immortahty, and that instead of the world's forces 
 being regulated by caprice, there were good and evil 
 spirits at work. To secure success to the good, good 
 men sought for means of thwarting the evil. The evil, 
 on the other hand, not to be baulked of their object, 
 sought out agents on whom they conferred super- 
 natural powers. This war of good and evil could 
 not long continue before certain of the good spirits, 
 or evil, attained to a place of supreme power. In 
 tracing the history of witchcraft and the methods 
 adopted to eradicate its votaries, we hnd how naturally 
 man came to believe in persons possessing super- 
 natural powers for evil. We have also seen, casually, 
 the growth and development of another order, 
 magicians and prophets; but before endeavouring to 
 trace the history of prophecy among primitive 
 peoples, it may be best to consider some of their 
 festivals, as those of first-fruits and harvest, where 
 magicians or prophets are seen to best advantage in 
 the exercise of their functions ; after which we can 
 the better understand the development of the order 
 and the importance attached to the office. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 HARVEST FESTIVALS 
 
 The festivals and ceremonial acts of any people 
 o-ive a clue to the original form of their institu- 
 tlons, and when these can be compared with what 
 still exists, in its original form, among untutored 
 nations, it affords evidence which is of the first im- 
 portance in tracing the develoj)ment of religion and 
 the growth of civilisation. 
 
 The Yam festivals, as observed in Ashaiitee, were 
 referred to in considering substitutionary sacrifice, 
 and we saw how closely bound up with the religious 
 life of the people are all the facts relating to the 
 ripening of crops and the gathering in of the harvest. 
 Nor is this peculiar to Ashantee. Everywhere the 
 feasts of first-fruits are intimately associated with 
 the religious observances of the people and the 
 homage which they render to the gods. Among 
 savages this homage is to the powers of nature, 
 whose efibrts are crowned with success when the 
 creative and reproductive spirit of vegetation yields 
 its increase to man. When a Pondo chief is to hold 
 tlie feast of first-fruits, some of his people 2:)rocure 
 a ripe plant of the gourd family, pumpkin or cala- 
 bash, from another tribe. This is cooked ; the 
 inside cleaned out, and the rind made ready for use 
 
HARVEST FESTIVALS 137 
 
 as a vessel. It is then presented to the chief with 
 much ceremony.* The first-fruits are now brought 
 forward, and a sacrifice, generally a young bull, is 
 offered, after which the feast commences. The 
 chief issues certain orders for the conduct of the pro- 
 ceedino-s, tastes the fruits which are served in the 
 gourd dish with which he has been presented, and then 
 abdicates all his functions while the festival lasts. 
 
 The cattle from all the neighbouring villages are 
 collected in the vicinity, and now they are brought 
 together, and the bulls hicited to fight to determine 
 which is to be king among them for the next year. 
 The young people engage in games and dances, feats 
 of strength and running. After these are over the 
 whole community give themselves over to disorder, 
 debauchery, and riot. In their bull-fights and games 
 they but did honour to the powers of nature, and 
 now, as they eat and drink, the same powers are 
 honoured in another form and by other rites. There 
 is no one in authority to keep order, and every man 
 does what seems good in his own eyes. Should a 
 man stab his neighbour he escapes all punishment, 
 and so too with all other crimes against the person, 
 property, and morality. People are even permitted to 
 abuse the chief to his face, an offence which at any 
 other time would meet with summary vengeance 
 and an unceremonious dispatch to join the ancestors. 
 While the feast continues a deafening noise is kept 
 up by drumming, shouting, hand-clapping, and every 
 kind of instrument that can be made to emit sound. 
 Men advance to the chief and explain their origin, 
 
 *■ J. Sutton, MS. notes. 
 
138 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 and also the object they hold sacred, b}" imitating 
 the sounds and movements of their most sacred 
 animal. This is the person's totem. Others imitate 
 the gurgling- made by an enemy when stabbed in 
 the throat. Those who adopt this latter emblem are 
 known as " children of the spear," 
 
 When the ceremonies, revels, and munnneries are 
 ended, the chief repairs to his accustomed place, and 
 sitting down there, by that act resumes his kingly 
 functions. He calls the bravest of his braves before 
 him, who is immediately clothed and decorated with 
 skins of animals suggestive of courage and strategy. 
 He performs a dance amid the frenzied shouting of 
 the multitude, after which the chief declares the 
 festival at an end and harvest commenced."^ 
 
 The facts deserving of special notice here are the 
 sacrifice, the fighting of the bulls, and the honour 
 done to the reproductive powers of nature. These, 
 and the abdication of the chief, would lead to the 
 inference that the festival is a true survival of what, 
 in earlier times and under a ruder system, existed 
 when a temporary king was appointed and killed as 
 a sacrifice, the incarnate god himself being slain that 
 nature might revive in spring. Whether from such 
 facts men came at last to infer a resurrection of 
 the body, it is impossible to determine. The Pondos 
 are not singular in their observance of harvest 
 customs. The Hos of North-east India have a 
 
 notion that at this period men and women are 
 so overcharged with vicious propensities that it is 
 absolutely necessary to let off steam b}^ allowing 
 
 * J. Sutton, MS. notes. 
 
HARVEST FESTIVALS 139 
 
 for a time full vent to their passions.* For the time 
 they give themselves up to feasting, drinking, and 
 debauchery. The men lose all respect for the women 
 and for themselves, and the women all notions of 
 modesty. Usually the Hos are a quiet, reserved, 
 and well-behaved moral people, but at the harvest 
 festival all this is reversed, and their nature seems to 
 undergo a complete change. The curious thing is, 
 that when all is over they settle down into their old 
 steady, sober habits as if nothing had happened. 
 
 But what is most peculiar about harvest festivals 
 and feasts of first-fruits is, their close resemblance to 
 one another among all peoples the world over, and 
 how near those of civilised man are to the savage ; 
 differing not in kind, but only in the manner of con- 
 ducting them ; thus showing to us, that they are 
 among the most ancient and primitive of man's ritual 
 and customs. For example. The Peruvians believe 
 that all useful plants are animated by a divine 
 being, that is spirit, who causes their growth. t 
 These divine beings are named after the particular 
 plant, as the Maize mother, the Rice mother, or the 
 Potato mother. Figures of these mothers made from 
 the stalks of the respective plants, and dressed in 
 women's clothes, are worshipped. As the mother, 
 these figures had power of giving birth to or pro- 
 ducing much rice, maize, or potatoes, as the case 
 might he,\ and in this acted according as they were 
 treated. The Peruvian mother of the Maize was 
 kept a whole year, and burned at the time of harvest : 
 
 * Talton, " Ethnology of Bengal," quoted by J. G. Frazer. 
 t J. G. Frazer. t Mannhardt. 
 
I40 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 when a fresh one took her place. During the 
 festival, eating drinking and general rejoicing goes 
 on. In Ashantee all laws are abrogated for one 
 day at the Yam festival, and for the time every man 
 does whatever he pleases. One custom observed is 
 to bring out, to be placed before the fetish house, 
 the skulls of noted enemies killed in war, and it is 
 said the skull of an English baronet did duty for 
 manv years — in fact, was still in existence, kept in a 
 brass basin, when the late king's power was over- 
 thrown by the English. The people during the day 
 of liberty give themselves up to dancing and revelry. 
 Executioners caper about, ornamented with necklets 
 made from the jaws of victims they slew as offer- 
 ings or king's " messengers " to the nether world, 
 and with o-irdles of skulls. Before eating the new 
 
 O CI 
 
 yams the king bathes in fetish water as a ceremonial 
 act ; when all is over he resumes his authority as 
 we saw done by the chief of Pondoland. 
 
 These customs, of which examples might be 
 multiplied from every region of Africa and the 
 heathen world generally, differ in no essential 
 feature, and are singularly like the survivals we have 
 in Europe. In Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the last 
 sheaf cut, or " maiden," is carried home in merry pro- 
 cession by the harvesters. It is then presented to 
 the mistress of the house, who dresses it up to be 
 preserved till the first mare foals. The maiden is 
 then taken down and presented to the mare as its 
 first food.* The neglect of this would have untoward 
 effects ujjon the foal, and disastrous consequences 
 
 ■■■ Miss J. Ligertwood, MS. notes. 
 
HARVEST FESTIVALS 141 
 
 upon farm operations generally for the season. In 
 Caithness the person who cuts the last sheaf is 
 called " winter," and so remains till next harvest. 
 The sheaf itself is carefully preserved till it is dis- 
 placed by another the following year. The Celts of 
 the west country attached great importance to 
 cutting the last sheaf All the harvesters stood 
 round in a circle while the youngest girl among the 
 reapers cut a few straws left standing at the corner 
 of the field for that purpose. This sheaf was 
 ultimately used, as I have been assured by old 
 people, for making Brlid's bed, which was as fol- 
 lows : — On Candlemas day the mistress and servants 
 of each family take a sheaf of oats, and dress it 
 up in women's apparel. They put it in a large 
 basket, and beside it a club of wood. They then 
 cry three times in chorus, " Briid is come, Brlid is 
 welcome." This is done just before they retire to 
 rest, and in the morning they examine the ashes ; 
 expecting to find among them the mark of Brild's 
 club. If they do, it is an indication of a prosperous 
 year and good crops ; if not, the opposite."^ 
 
 In the district of Lochaber, where dancing and 
 merry-making on the last night of harvest used to be 
 universal, and is still generally observed, the cere- 
 monies without the " maiden " would be like a 
 wedding: without the bride. The maiden is carried 
 home with tumultuous rejoicing, and after being 
 suitably decorated is hung up in the barn, where 
 the dancing usually takes place. After supper, 
 which is served in the barn ball-room, and before 
 
 * Martin. 
 
142 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 dancing begins, one of the company, generall}^ the 
 oldest man present, fills himself a glass of whisky, 
 which he drinks, after he has turned his face to the 
 suspended sheaf and said : " Here's to the maiden." 
 The company follow his example, each in turn drink- 
 ing" to the " maiden." This I have seen done more 
 than once. Shall I add that I have myself done it ? 
 Very similar to this is the custom observed in 
 the neighbourhood of Dantiz, as recorded by Frazer, 
 who follows Mannhardt. He says : " When the 
 winter corn is cut and mostly bound up in sheaves, 
 the portion which still remains to be bound is divided 
 amongst the women binders, each of whom receives 
 a swath of equal length to bind. A crowd of 
 reapers, children, and idlers gathers round to witness 
 the contest, and at the word ' Seize the old man,' 
 the women fall to work, all binding their allotted 
 swaths as hard as they can. The spectators watch 
 them narrowly, and the woman who cannot keep 
 pace with the rest, and consequently binds the last 
 sheaf, has to carry the ' old man ' (the last sheaf) 
 to the farm-house and deliver it to the farmer with 
 the words : ' Here I bring you the old man.' At 
 the supper which folio vvs the 'old man' is placed 
 at the table and receives an abundant portion of 
 food, which, as he cannot eat it, falls to the share of 
 the woman who carried him. Afterwards the ' old 
 man ' is placed in the yard, and all the people dance 
 round him. Further, the woman who bound the 
 last sheaf goes herself by the name of the ' old man ' 
 till the next harvest ; and is often mocked with the 
 crv, ' Here comes the old man.'" 
 
HARVEST FESTIVALS 143 
 
 In Bavaria each reajDer, as they are about to finish, 
 has a patch to cut. They reap as fast as they can, 
 and he who has to cut the last few handfuls " drives 
 out the old man." Near Stettin the woman who 
 binds the last sheaf has " the old man," and bears 
 the nickname for a year. Formerly she was herself 
 dressed up in pease-straw and carried home, when 
 the harvesters danced with her till the straw fell 
 off. 
 
 These examples illustrate the contests in reaping 
 and binding, as well as the subsequent treatment of 
 the sheaf and the person cutting it ; and when it is 
 remembered that the person who is last at reaping 
 represents the corn spirit, the idea is fully expressed 
 bv dressing- him in corn straw. That it is the corn 
 spirit that is represented is clearly seen from the 
 customs of parts of Germany, where a man and 
 woman, called the "oats' wife" and the "oats' 
 man " dance at the harvest festival, after which the 
 corn stalks are plucked from their bodies till not a 
 particle is left. In these cases the idea is that the 
 corn spirit — the " old man " — the woman, or maiden, 
 is the last sheaf, and that the spirit lives in the 
 barn during the winter. At sowing time it goes out 
 to the fields again to resume its functions And, as 
 we saw, in the giving of the maiden to the first mare 
 that foals, in Aberdeenshire, and as is done in parts 
 of the West Highlands, where it is distributed 
 amonof the cows at Christmas, these functions 
 include reproduction among cattle as well as growth 
 of corn. 
 
 This points to our harvest customs as being a 
 
144 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 survival from primitive times, and that in one form 
 or another they have passed down from generation 
 to generation, adapting themselves to all conditions 
 of life and of faith. They carry us back to the wild 
 revelry that surrounded the man-o-od when he o^ave 
 his people the gifts of harvest. They still have an 
 echo — faint it may be but real — of the days when the 
 chief abdicated for a time that he and his people 
 might do homage to the corn spirit, and to other 
 darker rites when a victim was slain as the personi- 
 fication of that spirit, to ensure a resurrection in 
 spring. Even in Christian times, and before ovu' 
 forefathers had freed themselves from the ling-erino- 
 customs of paganism, they preserved the maiden as 
 an act of faith and religious duty. What is now 
 a pleasant ending to the labours of the season was 
 formerly a serious fact, a rite wliich, if omitted, 
 might entail the entire subversion of the order of 
 nature for the season. Formerly the o-od was 
 present among men, and could give or withhold 
 blessings, and on that account his rites could not be 
 neglected with impunity. Man has travelled far in 
 his conceptions of divinity since then, but the facts 
 of the present connect the life and knowledge of 
 modern times with a long- forgotten past, which carries 
 us back to the youth of the world, when man first 
 began to make his way, by slow and painful steps, 
 to an understanding of the fticts of the universe 
 around him, and the supernatural which he felt must 
 exist somewhere. The significance of his acts has 
 changed, and the ideas which are associated with 
 them have no resemblance to what an earlier people 
 
HARVEST FESTIVALS 145 
 
 conceived, but the acts remain. They are the same 
 substantially the world over. It is impossible they 
 could have been so universally borrowed, and the 
 only conclusion is, that they existed from earliest 
 times. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 PROPHECY 
 
 The office of magician is to jDi'imitive man what that 
 of prophet is to a more advanced people. He is the 
 teacher of the ignorant ; he dehvers to men the 
 oracles of the gods ; he foretells events, and explains 
 what is mysterious. The term magician, as that is 
 ordinarily understood, does not cover the idea savage 
 man has regarding his religious teachers. His con- 
 ception is that of one possessed of supernatural know- 
 ledge, wisdom, and power ; power which he has in 
 virtue of his office, and which he can exercise in the 
 discharge of it. He is in reality what the prophets 
 of Israel were to the Jews ; so I adopt the terms pro- 
 phet and prophecy rather than magician and magic. 
 Under witchcraft frequent reference was made to 
 magicians and recognised diviners. These magicians, 
 or prophets as we shall call them, are among primitive 
 men a distinct class, who, dating their origin from 
 the very beginnings of society, developed into guilds 
 or colleges with the growth of thought and early 
 human institutions. As man's conceptions of deity 
 and the physical facts around him expanded, the 
 necessity of special insight into the spiritual sphere 
 was felt. The king was no longer the only god ; he 
 had ceased to be god at all ; his father, and the 
 
PROPHECY 147 
 
 fathers of countless thousands, passed in long array 
 before the worshipper's imagination as objects of 
 worship ; true divinities, whom he was bound to 
 honour and obey on pain of dire physical calamity. 
 But while under the necessity of doing homage to 
 departed ancestors, he knew nothing of their condi- 
 tion, could hold no converse with them, nor ascertain 
 their wants and wishes. The more he longed for a 
 glimpse beyond the portals of this mortal life, the 
 denser the darkness closed around him. The king, 
 content with temporal power and a more secure 
 tenure of office than in former days, left such matters 
 to those who might find it more easy to quit the 
 upper air, should the gods call. In any case, it 
 was more convenient for him that they should enter 
 the home of the gods, than that he himself should 
 be compelled to change substantial and tangible 
 honours, even if necessarily temporary, for those 
 shadowy if permanent glories of which he knew 
 little and understood less. 
 
 The circumstances demanded men of boldness of 
 conception and clearness of vision. The necessities 
 of the case were urgent, and could not be met by 
 half measures or halting compromises. Men must 
 know something of the unseen, and if their just 
 aspirations were to be met, a new departure was the 
 only alternative to the collapse of all institutions and 
 the overthrow of the physical universe. This being 
 the condition of society in those far-away times of 
 transition, there is no doubt but the earlier prophets 
 were simply men who could see farther than 
 their fellows, and who, piecing together the meagre 
 
148 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 philosophies of the past, boldly struck out a new 
 system, and appealed to men as the interpreters of 
 all that was essential and permanent in the past. 
 The temporary and passing they abolished, as they 
 understood it, while they retained what was truth 
 and permanent. At first their efforts would be 
 wholly devoted to giving an explanation of the facts 
 of life and natural phenomena as these from time to 
 time presented themselves. An attempt would be 
 made to reconcile man's original conception of deity 
 and providence with the changed conditions and 
 more advanced thought. For a time this would be 
 sufficient, and the religious teachers would flatter 
 themselves, as has so often been done in the history 
 of the church, that they had arrived at a complete 
 and final solution of all questions regarding both 
 gods and men. But this could not be. Fresh compli- 
 cations would arise, and each, as it pressed on men's 
 minds, necessitated fresh explanations. The succes- 
 sive oracles needed to be consistent with fact and with 
 one another, which, as they accumulated, they were 
 not. The prophets themselves needed to be inter- 
 preted as well as the facts they sought to explain. 
 
 Besides, new claimants would arise, outbidding the 
 old for popular favour and official recognition. The 
 office, at first hereditary, or at least confined to a 
 close guild or college, would become vulgarised as 
 dishonest or ignorant men found their way into 
 office. Apart from this, daring and speculative 
 spirits among the community would not be per- 
 manently silenced. Sooner or later their conclusions 
 would reach the multitude, and the new thoughts, 
 
PROPHECY 149 
 
 sti'uggling for recognition, would compel the pro- 
 phets to adjust their system to that which men had 
 discovered independently of their order. Should 
 the oracles delivered by two persons claiming the 
 prophetic gift differ, the bolder or less scrupulous of 
 the two would naturally assert that he had held 
 communication with the gods, and that his oracle 
 must be accepted as final. But this would establish 
 a dangerous precedent, and the next time a difficulty 
 arose his rival would be prepared with a revelation 
 at the initial stage. Here we have two elements 
 which would of necessity lead to a vast extension of 
 the order in point of numbers, and a great widening 
 of the scope of prophecy itself, tending to convert 
 what began as a philosophy into an occult art. 
 This in process of time would lead to a subdivision 
 of function ; one would become the prophet or doctor 
 of war ; another of rain ; a third of witchcraft ; a 
 fourth of lightning. The multiplication of offices 
 and prophets to fill them would be regulated hj 
 man's necessities on the one hand, and his ability to 
 support such an army of ghostly councillors on the 
 other; these being periodically thinned out, when, 
 as in the case of the King of Babylon's vision, it was 
 made abundantly plain that the whole college was a 
 huge imposition and fraud. 
 
 If this is a correct or even probable explanation of 
 the origin and development of the office, it would be 
 natural to infer a steady and sustained deterioration 
 or deofradation of the order both in character and 
 influence. And this is what we do find. For while 
 amono- those tribes farthest removed from civilisation 
 
I50 EELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 the prophet is sacred, and his every word received 
 as the oracle of heaven, amonof those who have 
 advanced in tlieir philosophy a chief has been known 
 to sacrifice his whole colleof© in one holocaust. The 
 King of Moreo, referred to in an earlier chapter, is a 
 case in point. Nebuchadnezzar would have been 
 another but for the timely intervention of Daniel ; 
 while we have recent examples in Zululand and in 
 the country of Moselekatse of the same thing. 
 
 Nor is the explanation offered inconsistent with 
 the history of the Jewish prophetic order as given in 
 the sacred books of the Hebrews themselves. The 
 older prophets are giants, men both before and above 
 their time, and who left the impress of their own 
 character on the life and institutions of their country. 
 The later prophets, like the later judges, mark a fatal 
 deterioration. Whole schools of them fell from their 
 own standard of office, and sought to bear the name of 
 prophet when everything but the name had perished. 
 Those the sacred writers describe uniformly as " false 
 prophets." They were men who sought office not be- 
 cause they had a message for men, but because they 
 could calculate on the ignorance and credulity of the 
 people for gain. To such prophets it is said : " Will 
 ye pollute Me among My people for handfuls of barley 
 and pieces of bread ? " * Not content with such 
 imposition as false prophecy, as understood in their 
 own day, they fell back on older superstitions, and 
 appealed to lingering beliefs which had long jjassed 
 away. They revived the primitive doctrines regard- 
 ing human souls and the power of divine or sacred 
 
 * Ezek. xiii. 19. 
 
PKOPHECY 151 
 
 persons over these ; for it is made clear that, like 
 their ancestors in the primeval jungle, they professed 
 to catch and retain souls. " Woe to the women that 
 sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon 
 the head of every stature to hunt souls. Will ye hunt 
 the souls of My people, and will ye save the souls alive 
 that come unto you ? " * Compare this with the 
 following account of a common custom in the South 
 Seas ; " Two young wizards were passing a house 
 where a chief lay very sick ; they saw a company 
 of gods from the mountains sitting in the doorway. 
 They were handing from one to another the soul of 
 the dying chief. It was wrapped in a leaf, and had 
 been passed from the gods inside the house to those 
 at the doorway. One of the gods handed the soul 
 to one of the wizards, taking him for a god in the 
 dark, for it was night. Then all the gods rose up 
 and went away ; but the wizard kept the chiefs 
 soul. In the morning some women went with a 
 present of very line mats to fetch a famous phy- 
 sician. The wizards were sitting on the shore as 
 the women passed, and they said to the women ; 
 ' Give us the mats, and we will heal him.' So they 
 went to the chief's house. He was very ill; his jaw 
 hung down and his end seemed very near. But the 
 wizards undid the leaf, and let the soul into him 
 again, and forthwith he brightened up again and 
 lived." t 
 
 The false Hebrew prophets thus carry us back to 
 a practice which existed in early days— for wizards 
 could steal as well as restore — when souls were 
 
 ■■ Ezek. xiii. t J. G. Frazer, quoting G. Turner : Samoa. 
 
152 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 hunted and caught ; a clear proof that the office had 
 fallen so low that its original conception was lost or 
 forgotten. Of this we shall see farther illustration 
 when considering the duties of prophets among 
 primitive men, and how these were performed 
 at various stages of culture during the world's 
 progress. 
 
 Every prophet claims to hold converse with the 
 world of spirits, ;uid to act in discharge of his sacred 
 functions only in obedience to the will of the gods. 
 Does he carry the soul of a sick person back to 
 the invalid's bedside ? * It is because the gods 
 reveal to him that the sick is to recover. Does 
 he offer sacrifice for rain ? He does it to appease 
 the wrath of the oifended ancestors, or because 
 they are hungry and are crying out for food.t 
 When he, by his arts, secures places and persons 
 against the thunderbolt, after being struck by 
 lightning, he assuages the anger of the gods, who 
 have visited their children with affliction because of 
 some neglect of filial duty. Should the prophet be 
 called upon to discover a witch or wizard, he "smells 
 them out " ; but it is the gods who reveal to him who 
 they are, a knowledge which they deny to all others. 
 
 The subject of prophecy and magic is too wide for 
 full discussion in a single chapter, and can be best 
 illustrated by selecting one or two particulars, as the 
 treatment of the sick and the methods adopted to 
 detect crime. We have already seen the methods 
 by which wizards are detected when considering 
 the subject of witchcraft. Other criminals are 
 
 * Gill: JL/tJis and Songs of the Sovth Pacific. 
 t Hon. C. Brownlee, MS. Notes. 
 
PROPHECY 153 
 
 discovered by means of a magic horn.^' This may be 
 the horn of a domestic sheep or that of an antelope, 
 and the prophet, by looking into it and examining 
 its contents, can discover a thief or murderer. By 
 the same means he is supposed to know the where- 
 abouts of the stolen property, if not removed beyond 
 the tribal boundaries — a necessary qualification in 
 this branch of the profession. Readers of Highland 
 traditions will recognise in this the well-known 
 " second sight " of Celtic legend. Those possessing 
 this gift could foretell events, especially deaths and 
 calamity, and in doing so used the shoulder-blade of a 
 sheep, through which the}^ looked, and saw the future 
 in panorama before them. I once met, at Paible, 
 North Uist, a man who was said to " see things." 
 The old man, who derived his living, partly at 
 least, from propitiatory gifts, had quite a reputation 
 for prophecy, and if he suggested to any one by a 
 dark hint that he had seen a shroud, that family 
 was plunged into grief, knowing that he referred to 
 one of their number, though no name was mentioned.^ 
 The prophet, among savage men, explains the 
 cause of drought and floods, and must devise a 
 remedy for these visitations. Among the Zulu 
 tribes, if the spring rains are late, a black ox is sent 
 to the doctor, who being warned of the approaching 
 visit, sits in his hut covered with a thick layer of 
 mud. If there are no indications of rain, he may 
 direct them to come after the lapse of a few days ; 
 but if things are propitious, he at once orders a 
 muster of the tribe. There is much feasting and 
 dancing, mystic ceremonies are performed, sacrifices 
 
 * Speke. 
 
154 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 are offered, and then the prophet announces that 
 before a g-iven day rain will fall. Should the predic- 
 tion prove correct, well ; if not, the prophet must 
 account for his failure. This he does by charging 
 some one high in authority, as the chief's principal 
 wife, with working against him, and raising a dry 
 wind which drives the clouds away. This she does 
 by exposing her posterior to the skies. 
 
 In time of war the prophet has to perform rites to 
 ensure victory. Among the Waganda, when the 
 case is urgent, a child is flayed and placed on the 
 path, and the warriors made to step over it,* or a 
 child and a fowl are placed on a grating over a pot 
 with water in it. Another pot, inverted, is used as 
 a cover, and a fire kindled to heat the water. After 
 a given time the contents are examined, and if found 
 dead the war must be delayed as the omen is against 
 the expedition. t 
 
 But the prophet's services are not confined to the 
 living; they extend to the dead. In Akra when 
 ^ young person dies the body is placed on a 
 bier. This is raised on two men's heads, and carried 
 to a place indicated by the prophet, who accom- 
 panies the procession. Arrived at the spot, he takes 
 his stand in front of the corpse. He holds in his 
 hand a magic reed, which he shakes over the body, 
 and at the same time asks the question, " Was your 
 death caused by age and infirmities ? '•" If this is 
 answered in the aflirmative by the body impelling 
 the bearers forward, no more is said, and the funeral 
 proceeds ; if not, the prophet continues : " Was it 
 caused by your bad actions ? " Corpse answers 
 
 * Speke. t Ihkl. 
 
PEOPHECY 155 
 
 "No" by remaining perfectly still. "By whose 
 witch was it caused, so and so, or so and so ? " 
 namino' the head men of the district.* When the 
 
 o 
 
 right name is mentioned the dead impels the bearers 
 forward. It is the duty of the head man indicated, 
 or rather his magicians, to discover the culprit by 
 the approved methods. 
 
 The danp-ers to the dead are not over when the 
 soul has left the body, and the Angoni prophet must 
 see to it that the devil, to use a Highland phrase, is 
 cheated of his own. Did evil spirits know a man's 
 grave in that unhappy land, they would undoubtedly 
 steal his soul to be educated in their own evil 
 college. So every precaution must be taken for the 
 repose of the departed. Till burial the soul of an 
 Angoni hovers near the body, seeking an opportunity 
 to re-enter its former abode. A soul does not at 
 first know death. To it death is sleep. " Death 
 and sleep," said a Kaffir once to me, "are one word." 
 This being the case, a lay figure is made before the 
 funeral. At the hour announced this figure is carried 
 out, followed by a great concourse of people, who 
 weep and wail, mourning for the dead. As soon as 
 the corteo-e leaves the house drums are beat, horns 
 blown, and guns fired to drive away evil spirits. 
 These, kept back by the noise, hover about the out- 
 skirts of the crowd, lured on by the signs of mourn- 
 inp-, till the ^rave is reached. There the figure is 
 buried with all the respect and honour due to the 
 departed, and as the crowd disperse the devils swoop 
 down upon the grave to snatch away tlie soul, but 
 only to find they have been outwitted and betrayed. 
 
 * Winterbotham. 
 
156 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 Meantime the corpse has been quietly and expe- 
 ditiously buried without beat of drum or sound of 
 horn.* By using such precautions the prophets 
 outwit the devil, and do an important service to the 
 dead and the ancestral spirits, who wait the arrival 
 of their brother spirit with much anxiety. 
 
 When a Wahunga chief dies, his prime minister is 
 killed and buried with him, to be his councillor in the 
 dangers of the passage. All his wives are also killed 
 except one. For her a pit is dug in the ground, just 
 large enough to hold her. In this she is placed and 
 covered over with earth, a small breathing aperture 
 being left. A spear is passed down this hole, 
 which she holds in her hand ; if at the end of 
 the second day she is alive and holds the spear, she 
 is taken out and allowed to live. If her fingers 
 are too nerveless to grasp the spear, no farther 
 ceremony is needed; she is buried already.t 
 
 The Congo natives keep the bodies of their chiefs 
 for years, wrapping them in successive layers of cloth 
 till the mass is so heavy as to be hardly portable. 
 The same was done in the case of the queen-mother 
 of Uganda, for whom Mackay made the famous 
 copper coffin, and with whom, within and around her 
 three coffins, ^^1500 worth of cloth and copper was 
 buried ; a fact which proves that the Waganda do 
 not wish royal personages to be restricted in the 
 matter of apparel in ghostland. 
 
 When King Eyambo (Congo) died, the prophets 
 ordered thirty of his wives to be burned the first 
 day,j and before the funeral rites were over several 
 
 * Dr. Elmslie, MS. notes, I J. Thomson, Tliroiujh 31asai Land. 
 
 X AVaddell. 
 
PROPHECY 157 
 
 hundreds were sent to accompany him. Should he 
 have gone without a respectable following, or with 
 only a few, the spirits would ask, " What poor slave 
 is this who is coming alone ? " and on the discovery 
 that it w^as a king, his people would be visited 
 with every form of calamity for having allowed 
 their monarch to cro from them like an unknown 
 waif 
 
 Prophets regulate functions of government, and 
 in some cases determine the succession to the 
 throne. In TJo-anda three chiefs or councillors, who 
 are magicians or semi-divine, elect the new king 
 from among the late monarch's sons, and generally 
 select a young son — if an infant so much the better — 
 for the regency is theirs, and the younger the king 
 the longer will be their term of office. The elder 
 sons are kept in confinement till the heir is of age, 
 and then burned, except two or three reserved with 
 the view of keepmg up the succession should the 
 young king die without issue.* This, though in 
 theory an excellent system to prevent disputes, was 
 apt to lead to awkward consequences for the three 
 who held the regency. A son, when his father fell 
 sick, might retire to another tribe, and, returning 
 suddenly seize supreme power and send the regents 
 to join their late master. This was done by the 
 Batetwa chief Dingiswayo.t who fled to the Cape 
 Colony, to return in a few years to claim his rights 
 with direst results to his rival's patrons. 
 
 Prophets experiencing such vengeance now and 
 then, sought to secure their order against untimely 
 accidents by organising guilds or colleges, the 
 
 * Wilson. t G. M. Theal, Boers and Bantu. 
 
158 EELIGIOX AND MYTH 
 
 members of which were reo-ardecl as sacred m virtue 
 
 o 
 
 of their otHce. Under such a svstem a kino- mio-ht be 
 slain bv a rival, but the maoficians were sacred, and 
 their divinity would be respected. The rules of 
 their order permitted them to be the supporters of 
 the, de facto king, apart from oaths of allegiance to 
 one who mio^ht be a fuo-itive. Thus the BuUoms 
 have an institution binding its members to keep the 
 sacred mysteries secret for ever, and to yield prompt 
 and unquestioning obedience to the superior of the 
 order ; ^ rules which raise a doubt as to whether 
 Loyola's conceptions were marked with that degree 
 of originality which is generally attributed to them. 
 New members are admitted after a long novitiate, 
 during which the most severe tests are put upon 
 their loyalty and resolution. Even then they can- 
 not be admitted till friends of theirs, already 
 members, bind themselves by an oath to put the 
 novice to death instanter, should he make known 
 anv forbidden secret. The manner of execution is 
 as secret as it is expeditious and effective. There 
 is no escaphig the ordeal of the giiild. Similar 
 institutions, with local modifications, exist among 
 the Soosoms, Timmanes, Basutos, and many other 
 tribes. Among the Timmanes a woman prophetess 
 is general of the order, and a kind of inquisition or 
 confessional exists among them. To the care of this 
 hag fathers and husbands confide their daughters 
 and wives, and the methods pursued by her and her 
 college is highly characteristic. When a penitent 
 appears she is smeared witli Avhite clay, and asked 
 
 * Winterbotham. 
 
PROPHECY 159 
 
 to confess, on pain of death. If her confession is 
 deemed satisftictoiy she is dismissed with an admoni- 
 tion, and injunctions to perform certain acts, unless 
 her sin is witchcraft, in which case she is sold into 
 slavery. If any one refuse to confess, nothing more 
 is heard of her. Should the confession be unsatis- 
 factory in itself, a decoction is given to force a fuller 
 statement from the penitent. This, if the confession 
 was not full, causes intolerable pains which can only 
 be relieved by the priestess. If pains follow, she 
 proceeds to discover the concealed crime by means of 
 divination. The penitent is then charged with it, 
 and asked to plead. If she deny the crime, she is 
 sold ; if she refuse to plead, she is poisoned.^^ 
 
 These guilds exist wherever religion has deve- 
 loped into a system. The chief priest assumes 
 functions to himself which belong to royalty, and 
 so reduces the kingly office to a shadow. This is 
 the case with the Egbo of Calabar,t the Lubare of 
 Uganda,! and the Moro of the Waneka.§ The same 
 abnormal development of the power of the priestly 
 office took place in Europe during the Middle Ages. 
 The temptation and danger of all religious systems 
 is to claim power and authority over men's lives and 
 actions outside its own proper sphere. The result 
 in such cases has always been a degrading of the 
 sacred office, and ultimate disaster to the system 
 itself 
 
 But there is another permanent function of pro- 
 phecy, important in itself, and universal among 
 savage men, which has been touched upon only 
 
 * Winterbotham. t Waddell. t Mackay. § New. 
 
i6o RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 incidentally, and that is foretelling the future. 
 When a tribe goes to war a great many details 
 cannot be arranged by the chief and his councillors ; 
 they must be determined by augury. Such details 
 seem to us to be of the very essence of practical 
 affairs, to be decided by generals, but to savage men 
 the case presents itself in an entirely different 
 aspect. The prophet must decide the strength of 
 the expedition, the clans who are to send their 
 contingents, the sacred place where the army is to 
 be charmed, and the route that is to be taken. Nor 
 can a general go into action, even against a handful, 
 should the oracles be unfavourable. In 1879, during 
 a period of disturbance in South Africa, a chief, 
 Umhlonhlo, was marching leisurely across country 
 with his whole army. The day was hot, and not a 
 cloud could be seen. Presently the magicians, ever 
 on the alert for omens, noticed a peculiarly shaped 
 cloud on the horizon. It rose rapidly in one mass, 
 and was observed " to roll upon itself." Its progress 
 was intently watched till it reached the zenith and 
 passed over the sun. This was an evil omen. The 
 spirits were offended, and had passed in shadow 
 over the chief and his army. Their backs were 
 turned upon their children. There was, however, 
 no immediate danger, for their scouts had reported 
 that no soldiers were within many miles of 
 their line of march, and they could retire to some 
 sacred spot to have their warriors re-charmed. 
 While they were discussing which place to resort 
 to, the van of a small column of cavalry appeared 
 unexpectedly over a rising ground. Dismay was 
 
PROPHECY i6i 
 
 written on every countenance ; black fear was in every 
 heart. The war minister, one of the bravest of men, 
 urged the troops to form into order of battle. No 
 one answered his summons. A fatal paralysis had 
 crept over chief and people. He did his best to 
 organise an orderly retreat, but in vain ; not a blow 
 was struck ; every man took to his heels, and the 
 army never reassembled. 
 
 On another occasion a chief, Oba, led an army 
 against some people of the Fingoe tribe. He knew 
 their place of encampment, and sent a trusted spy 
 to find out all he could and report. This man crept 
 up close to their camp fires, and there saw a diviner 
 pronouncing an incantation against Oba and his 
 army. This was reported to the chief who paid no 
 regard to it. But on the following morning two 
 ospreys flew over the army uttering piercing cries. 
 This the prophets declared to be an evil omen which 
 boded defeat, but Oba was not to be frightened 
 by Fingoe curses or the screams of birds, and 
 advanced boldly. From the crest of a hill they 
 saw the Fingoe camp, and a number of cattle 
 grazing between. Six men tended the herd, and 
 these advanced shouting "Basolieve," meaning " they 
 are cursed." Qwarana was ordered to advance, 
 which he did at the head of his men. When quite 
 near the Fingoes fired a volley, shooting Qwarana 
 through the body. This was enough ; the army 
 turned and fled. Oba did his best to stay the 
 panic ; he begged his soldiers to act like men, he 
 called them cowards and women. It was in vain. 
 They had been warned by the ospreys, and now a 
 
i62 EELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 body of nearly two thousand warriors fled in panic 
 before six cowherds. 
 
 But the future cannot be left to such acci- 
 dents as a midday shadow, or the flight of eagles. 
 Methods that can be resorted to at any time must 
 be found. These difier among most tribes, but the 
 following may be taken as illustrative. The Bongo 
 consult the oracle thus : — A stool of a particular 
 wood is made, the surface of which is rubbed per- 
 fectly smooth, a block of the same wood is then 
 prepared to lie flat on the stool. When a response is 
 wanted a few drops of water are placed between the 
 stool and the block, the latter is then moved back- 
 wards and forwards. If it moves easily, and begins 
 to o-lide without friction, the oracle is favourable ; if 
 not, the undertaking proposed cannot prosper. Or 
 an oily fluid from the bengeye-tree is given to a 
 hen. If the bird dies there will be misfortune ; if 
 not, success.* Another method, which the same 
 observer records, is to dip a cock again and again in 
 water till it is senseless. It is then left in the sun, 
 and should it revive the augury is favourable. By 
 such means men determine war and peace, as well as 
 the guilt or innocence of accused persons. 
 
 The BuUom tribes determine the future by " cast- 
 ing the sand." t This may be to discover if a sick 
 person is to recover or not. The diviner takes a goat- 
 skin on which he carefully spreads a layer of fine dry 
 sand ; he then shuts his eyes, and with the three first 
 fino-ers of his rioht hand makes lines and dots in 
 the sand. According to the position of these, the 
 
 * Schweinfurth. t Winterbotham. 
 
PROPHECY 163 
 
 patient will live or die. The same result may be 
 obtained by taking a number of palm nuts, and 
 arranging them in groups with the eyes closed. 
 Gallas divine from the appearance of the entrails of 
 slaughtered animals,* while almost every action a 
 Basuto or Baralong performs is determined by the 
 fall of dice. So it happens, that when a man goes 
 to commit a crime, he lays aside his fetish, and 
 does not consult the oracle, as he could not in that 
 case obtain a favourable response. He covers his 
 god with a cloth, that he may not know what the 
 worshipper is doing.t The Wayao determine the 
 future by a flour cone. When a man has determined 
 on an undertaking, as a journey, his magician takes 
 a quantity of flour, and lets it fall in a steady stream 
 at the head of his bed. If it forms a perfect cone as 
 it falls, the omen is good ; if not, that is an end of 
 the matter by the flour-cone test. Should the cone be 
 perfect, it is covered by an inverted pot and left for the 
 night. In the morning, when the pot is removed, 
 the cone is examined, and if found perfect, there is 
 nothing further needed beyond oflering the custo- 
 mary sacrifice. But if there has been a falling down 
 of the flour, even a small slip, it is a sign not to be 
 disregarded. An equally eflective method is to pour 
 out beer on the ground, which if it sinks at one spot 
 is a good omen, but if it runs along the ground, bad.| 
 Three bits of stick may be laid on the ground, two 
 parallel and one across. If found, after an interval of 
 some hours, in position as left, the oracle has granted 
 the worshipper's prayer. 
 
 * Krapf. t Tucker. t Duff Macdonald. 
 
i64 HELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 When prophecy descended to such trivialities as 
 those represented by the auguries and observances 
 referred to, it was doomed as a system. While it con- 
 tented itself with exposition, purgation of demons, 
 expanding philosophic conceptions and the enuncia- 
 tion of principles in an abstruse form, it commanded 
 men's respect, and the prophet was regarded as a 
 divinely commissioned messenger. But when it de- 
 scended to the petty details of village life, it could 
 not escape the fate of any great institution which is 
 hopelessly vulgarised. When the prophet became 
 little better than the court fool he could only receive 
 a fool's treatment. When a man who hurt his toe 
 against a stump could command the services of the 
 expounders of the supernatural to explain the fact, 
 it was not surprising that other men, despising at 
 once tree stumps and prophets, should introduce a 
 new and more vigorous, if less reverent, form of 
 government. 
 
 As men's conception of divinity expanded from 
 the crude unformed idea of a divine king to local 
 deities, reaching gradually towards one supreme god, 
 the world needed a philosophy to correspond with 
 the new-born faith. This, prophecy did not as a 
 system supply. Instead of advancing with the 
 growth of thought to a higher and truer conception 
 of life, it pursued a course which could only lead to 
 deterioration and final extinction. But though 
 prophecy as a system became moribund, and so 
 continues among savage men, it was from it the new 
 philosophy took its rise. This philosophy springing 
 out of what was once a system in advance of current 
 
PROPHECY 165 
 
 thought, led to the development of the great 
 religious systems which at different periods became 
 world wide. While the old-world prophet " cast the 
 sand," or fumbled among the entrails of an expiring 
 cock, there were men among his disciples who con- 
 ceived bolder notions, and only waited for a favour- 
 able opportunity to give practical effect to their 
 thoughts. They had to wait many weary years, 
 generations, centuries, but their opportunity came 
 at last. Such men in the early days could do little 
 beyond raising a protest against the most glaring 
 abuses among their own order and in society. Even 
 in this they would meet with treatment similar to 
 that experienced by the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah, 
 and many of them would share the fate of all bold 
 reformers — the gallows or the fire. One after 
 another would quietly disappear as unworthy of their 
 office and subverters of the faith of men. But the 
 ashes of such men do more to fertilise the soil of 
 human thought than their wisdom while they live. 
 Like the dragon's teeth, they produce a fresh and 
 ever-increasing number of souls with like thoughts 
 and aspirations. The words of such men are 
 treasured by a few. They are pondered, digested, 
 made fruitful of new thoughts. As the years pass, 
 and the angry passions raised by the heretic's teach- 
 ing- die awav, men first view him as one who meant 
 well, next as a true prophet, and finally as a sacred 
 being whose memory is cherished as a divine heri- 
 tage. Posterity places him among the gods. He 
 was incarnate. 
 
 No sooner is the popular mind led to regard such 
 
i66 EELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 men as saints and martyrs, than a web of romance 
 is woven round their hves, and the philosophy they 
 taught becomes a new reHgion. Those of their suc- 
 cessors who cherish their memories and keep their 
 teaching ahve, seize the opportunity, and boldly 
 claim divine sanction for their doctrine. This is one 
 way. There is another. All such reformers do not 
 share the martyr's fate. A powerful king, weary 
 of the inanities taught and practised by his college 
 of magicians ; weary too of the endless sacrifices 
 and the ever-deepening stream of human blood ; 
 blood it may be, as in the case of a king of Ashantee, 
 in which to float the royal canoe,* throws the pro- 
 tection of his stronof arm over the reformer, as the 
 king of Babylon did to Daniel, and so encourages 
 the movement. Or, it may be, the reformer, finding 
 the current too strong, retires to a lonely place 
 where he lives a life of meditation and privation. 
 Such a man, especially after the invention of writing, 
 formulates doctrines into aphorisms. These, brief, 
 wise, practical, as they must be in his circumstances, 
 he communicates to the few faithful disciples 
 admitted to his sanctuary and confidence. They 
 carry them from hamlet to hamlet, thence from 
 house to house, where they pass into the current 
 language of the people. These, when received with 
 favour, the popular imagination connect with a 
 direct revelation from the gods ; ultimately it deifies 
 the man who utters them. 
 
 Such a life as this would lead a man to introspec- 
 tion and a comparison between himself, with his 
 
 * Kiihne, 
 
PROPHECY 167 
 
 half-uttered wisdom, and the folly of popular beliefs. 
 There was nothing more natural than for him to 
 conclude that he was god-possessed, and that his 
 words and actions were those of the god. When 
 this was asserted and boldly proclaimed, men in a 
 primitive age, when the old order and the worship 
 of ancestral spirits was discredited, and the new still 
 unsettled and fluctuating, would readily seize upon 
 the idea as giving a clue to the solution of the per- 
 plexities with which they were surrounded. The very 
 multiplicity of ancestral gods complicated the 
 situation. The presence of demons, as powerful and 
 more subtle than the gods themselves, made matters, 
 worse. The great, or one god, was too shadowy 
 and remote to be approached, and his existence, if 
 he did exist, gave no relief to the pious. Thus 
 the incarnation of divinity, in the person of a 
 prophet, would be hailed as giving a hope that the 
 mysteries of the spirit world would at length be 
 solved. 
 
 But we are now approaching a stage of develop- 
 ment which carries us beyond the bounds of our 
 inquiry. In Africa there has been no great incarna- 
 tion of deity as in Brahmanism and in Buddhism, An 
 examination of these, however brief, would lead to 
 the discussion of Vedic religion, which is foreign to 
 my present purpose. The fact to be noted is, that 
 earlier forms led to the incarnation of the founders 
 of the respective systems, and that myth surrounded 
 them with a halo which makes it impossible to dis- 
 tineruish the true from the false, so as to get at the 
 man and the philosophy he taught in its simplicity 
 
i6§. y EELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 and truth. For it is the truth which those systems 
 contained that has given them vitahty to exist 
 throug-h so many thousands of j^ears. 
 
 Thus, from the rude conception of a divine king 
 who ruled nature, thoug-ht advanced to a doctrine 
 of souls, thence to separate and personal divinities, 
 slowly gravitating towards the idea of one supreme 
 god, unknown and unknowable. Pursuing its 
 inquiries, never resting for a moment, the human 
 mind reached the conce^ition of the one god becom- 
 ing incarnate in time. And here it is curious to 
 note, that those in whom deity became incarnate, so 
 far as we can discover, put forward comparatively 
 modest claims, and that these were expanded by 
 their disciples into a cumbrous mass of doctrinal 
 teaching which, in some cases, fell to pieces by the 
 very weight of its ritual and ordinances. Men 
 could not bear the burden. 
 
 In Africa, always excepting ancient Egypt and 
 tlie countries bordering upon it, there is nothing 
 which corresponds with the Asiatic development of 
 religion. The art of writing JDeing unknown would, 
 apart from other causes, have made that impossible. 
 But our inquiries have, so far, tended in the direction 
 of a development not unlike that through which the 
 great systems of the east must have passed. Tradition- 
 does not preserve tlie words of wise men, as is done 
 where there is a literature. The words may be said 
 to remain, or a faint echo of them, but tradition gives 
 them a local setting and myth adapts them to local 
 circumstances. Still, the position occupied by the 
 God of the Wayao, as the God of the original 
 
PROPHECY 169 
 
 Inhabitants, and his reputation as a beneficent and 
 powerful deity, points to a deification of a prophet 
 whose soul was developed into a principal god. 
 Mlunou is doubtless such another. A great man 
 whose memory has waxed dim, and whose words 
 cannot be recalled as those of Brahma may. Myth 
 itself has almost died away in the course of ages, yet 
 Mluno-u lives as a faded memorv though the tradi- 
 tions of his life have perished. 
 
 The sketch attempted of the growth and decay of 
 the prophetic order is consistent with what we are 
 familiar with. In a highly developed state of society 
 the prophetic function ceases to be exercised as we 
 meet with it in primitive times. But it is still pre- 
 sent. The wise men of a nation are its prophets. 
 Its poets, philosophers, preachers, reformers, scien- 
 tists, and discoverers, are as truly the guides of men's 
 thouo-hts and actions as were the magicians of Ancient 
 Egypt or Chaldea. They are the descendants of 
 humble ancestors who determined the fate of indi- 
 viduals and nations by casting the sand, or by the 
 spots found on the entrails of a decapitated cock. 
 Men may imagine themselves independent of all 
 external circumstances, but we are the creatures of 
 our surroundinofs as were those who sacrificed their 
 god that his spirit might enter his successor. We 
 may make it our boast that we have freed ourselves 
 from the thraldom of superstition, but tliere are 
 still curious survivals among us. And of these, one 
 of the most remarkable is the suspicion with which 
 religious teachers are regarded in popular ima- 
 gination. 
 
I70 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 There is a deeply rooted prejudice against religious 
 teachers among the peasantry of Europe, and not 
 unfrequently those who are most devout in the dis- 
 charge of their own religious duties, have the most 
 pronounced superstitions regarding clergymen. 
 Fishermen will not go to sea with a minister on board, 
 as in that case no success would attend their labours ; 
 they will not even have one enter their boats, if 
 possible, as that is apt to take the boat's luck away. 
 Skippers fear to have them as passengers, and 
 voyagers expect contrary winds if a priest should 
 happen to be among their fellow voyagers. I 
 remember one, Rob MacLauchlin, the owner of a 
 smack that plied between Oban and Morven, having 
 on one occasion a very boisterous passage, to the 
 intense alarm of his passengers. On his arrival one 
 of the villagers remarked on the state of the weather 
 and how suddenly the storm had sprung up. Kob, 
 who had had a sail carried away and was in no good 
 humour, replied, garnishing his sentences with exple- 
 tives which I shall omit, *' How could we escape 
 wind with three ministers on board." These worthies 
 were on their way to a local meeting of Presbytery. 
 One of them, ignorant of seamen and their ways, 
 offered a remonstrance, and tried to enlighten the 
 skipper, but had to beat a hasty retreat. Hob knew 
 all about it by long experience, and all his prede- 
 cessors, from the days of Jonah at least, had been 
 conversant of the fact. That was final and admitted 
 of no appeal, and the villagers to a man sympathised 
 with the ski})per who was compelled to carry such 
 carffo. 
 
PROPHECY 171 
 
 Nor is this fear confined to traditions of 
 the sea. The minister is feared because he can 
 bless or ban, and village children regard him 
 as a being to be avoided when that is possible. 
 When at play, if he happens to pass, there is 
 a hurried and fearful whisper of " There's the 
 minister," and play ceases till he is well out of 
 reach. If they must present themselves before this 
 august presence, they cease to be children as by 
 instinct, and a word or movement becoming the age 
 of five or six meets with the awful maternal reproof, 
 " Do ye no ken that's the minister ? " Clergymen 
 themselves are, perhaps, largely to blame. The 
 Church has played so many parts on the stage of 
 European politics and social life that much of the 
 present suspicion may be owing to her arrogance and 
 avarice. But this is not all. Like our harvest customs, 
 this superstitious reverence and fear, is doubtless a 
 survival from primitive times, when the magician 
 was a being- to be at once feared and honoured. The 
 primitive man who offended one of those power- 
 ful beings who directed all his life's actions, might 
 expect to be the next victim when a case of witch- 
 craft had to be disposed of, or, if no case cropped up 
 the gods might require his presence among them, 
 and so demand him as a sacrifice. And so it is that 
 in spite of respectability, unblemished reputation, 
 great services to mankind, honour, place and influence, 
 religious teachers have never been able to free them- 
 selves from the suspicion and fear with wdiich their 
 humble ancestors, the priests of the jungle, were 
 regarded in popular imagination. 
 
172 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 This is perhaps an extreme instance of the persis- 
 tency of early beHefs, but it goes to show how slowly 
 the human mind parts with ideas once universal, 
 and the vast intervals that must elapse before a 
 complete revolution in thought is possible under the 
 most favourable circumstances. There could be no 
 condition more likely to obliterate the past than 
 that created by Christianity, and yet these customs, 
 myths, and superstitious fears have lived through 
 millenniums of literature and careful oral teachino-. 
 The process has been slow, and is not yet completed. 
 And what has taken Europe from the dawn of 
 history to accomplish, with the aid of literature, 
 philosophy and Christianity, could not be done 
 by the African groping his way through oral 
 tradition and universal usage through many 
 thousands of years. The customs which we study 
 to-day, and which at first sight appear to be local 
 or tribal, carry us back in their original form to a 
 period long anterior to the first dawn of traditional 
 history in the East. They bring us into contact 
 with the condition of the world before the families 
 of men began to scatter themselves hither and 
 thither over the face of the earth. They are our 
 only record of the condition of the world when it 
 was young, and of man in his first struggles with 
 the problems with wliich he found himself sur- 
 rounded as he began to look out upon the works of 
 nature as these could be seen in his immediate 
 locality. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 SOCIAL USAGES 
 
 It may at fii-st appear as If there were no connec- 
 tion between the rehgion of primitive peoples and 
 their social usages. The latter, according to Euro- 
 pean ideas, have so little of the nature of religious 
 rites that they are seldom associated with piety and 
 devotion to the gods. Some men spend their lives 
 among savages and never look below the surface, 
 nor do they suspect that those whom they daily 
 meet have any forms of religious observance. I was 
 once told by a missionary of twenty years' standing 
 in Africa that certain ceremonial acts performed by 
 natives had no religious significance. In fact, he 
 went so far as to say, " These people have no reli- 
 gion ; they live a purely animal existence ; whatever 
 they do is just custom." How the worthy man, for 
 he was a truly pious soul, could ever get into sym- 
 pathy with them, or make any impression u23on their 
 minds, I have often wondered. I have long ceased 
 to wonder how a man of such unblemished life and 
 absolute devotion to duty, but so totally blind to 
 the facts of savage life, should have to Confess with 
 a sigh and the shadow of a life's sorrow, that " the 
 people about here are very hardened ; few of them 
 have come under the ijifluence of the Gospel. It is 
 
174 RELIGIOI^ AND MYTH 
 
 very sad, and I at times doubt if I should be here, 
 but I try to labour on in faith." Being at the time a 
 novice in Africa, I accepted both statements without 
 question. Since then I have learned a good deal, and 
 amono- other things, that my aged friend's faith must 
 have often been sorely tried as he endeavoured to 
 do his duty in a sphere that never could have been 
 congenial, but having made the mistake of becoming 
 a missionary, he heroically stuck to the guns he had 
 not learned the art of using. To gain any influence 
 over savages one must first of all master their 
 system of thought, and learn how to connect the 
 most trivial acts with their philosophy, and such 
 conceptions as they have of the supernatural. It 
 is impossible to know what an act of devotion is 
 till one has learned something of social usage and 
 myth. To illustrate. 
 
 When a Dongolowa belle is to be married the 
 eligible young men assemble, each armed with a 
 kurbach or slave-whip. The elders of the tribe and 
 a number of women gather as spectators and judges 
 of the contest that is to follow. The young men, 
 stripped stark naked, begin a mutual process of 
 floefg-inof, and he who stands this ordeal best is the 
 successful wooer.* No other consideration or feeling 
 is allowed to interfere with custom, as that would 
 be displeasing to the gods. Should a woman marry 
 without such a contest, her prospects would be poor 
 indeed, having despised an ordinance of heaven. 
 At times there is a tie between two young men in 
 the flogging match, and in that case the girl has to 
 
 * Felkin. 
 
SOCIAL USAGES 175 
 
 decide the matter between them. This she does, 
 not by choosing one, for that would be to despise 
 another equally worthy suitor whose hide in the 
 end might prove the toughest. The matter must be 
 decided in a more excellent way. It is done thus : — 
 The coy maiden straps a knife to each of her arms, 
 the blades projecting an inch or two below her 
 elbows. She then sits down on a log-, a suitor on 
 either side sittino- close beside her. At a oiven 
 signal she raises her arms from the elbows, and lean- 
 ing slowly forward rests her weight upon the young- 
 men's thighs, into which she steadily presses the 
 knife blades. He who does not wince, or winces 
 least under the ordeal, wins the bride and carries 
 her off triumphant. 
 
 In Unyoro, the relatives of the late king fight for 
 the throne. Here, too, it is a case of the toughest 
 skin, but it is no vulgar contest, but a sacred function 
 conformable to the will of the gods who delio-ht in 
 manly vigour. A Mitto chief warns those entering 
 his country of war being made upon them, should 
 they persist, by displaying on a tree near the jDath, 
 an ear of corn, a feather and an arrow.* He who 
 touches corn, or cock will receive an arrow. In that 
 country, too, a man wishing to marry applies to his 
 chief for a wife. If thought worthy one is bestowed 
 upon him, as all persons and property within the 
 territory belong to the king. Both Mitto and Niam- 
 Niam bury their dead, with strict regard to the 
 points of the compass ; men being buried with the 
 face towards the east ; women looking to the west.t 
 
 * Schweinfurth. t Ihid. 
 
176 RELIGIOK AND MYTH 
 
 This is conformable to the rule that women must eat 
 alone, and not come near men at meals, unless it be 
 to attend upon them. When a Waneka arrives at 
 the age of puberty, he is smeared with white clay 
 and decorated, after which he betakes himself to the 
 woods, either alone or in company with others of his 
 own age. There they must remain till they meet 
 and kill a man, after which they wash off their clay 
 and return home to be feasted and honoured.^' They 
 are now men, not boys. A Waneka prophetess 
 begins operations at midnight by frantic screams. 
 When all are astir she declares, "E,oma, i.e., S2:>irit 
 or the god, is here, and demands the sacrifice of a 
 black ox." This is at once provided, and men heave 
 a sigh of relief to find it is not a more costly victim. 
 The men of Jagga spit on a departing guest as 
 an act of courtesy, and to l3id him God speed. By 
 so doing, they bestow on him their highest mark 
 of honour, for it is a religious act. A Wakamba 
 must carry away his bride by strategy, and for this 
 purpose may have to lie in wait for months. Before 
 he begins his vigil he pays the parents the dower. 
 Hottentots preserve a certain membrane at birth, a 
 bit of which is worn through life. Its loss would 
 entail evil here and hereafter, t Common people in 
 Dahomey may not grow grain except for domestic 
 purposes, as all property belongs to the king. So, 
 too, the persons of his subjects. At certain annual 
 festivals he holds a sale of marriageable young 
 women, j Court favourites receive wives free, but all 
 others pay. Unlawful wounding is an injury done 
 
 * Krapf. i Moody. J Eowley. 
 
SOCIAL USAGES 177 
 
 to the king's person in that of his subject. All things 
 merge in him as the head of the State and the ol^ject 
 of reverence. To his people he is divine. 
 
 The house of the Bodio or high priest of the 
 Kroomen is a sanctuary to which criminals may flee 
 for refuge. From it they cannot be removed except 
 by his orders, and, as he gives no reason for his 
 decision, he shelters a large number of ruffians, who, 
 inore secure under his protection than ever Jew was 
 in a city of refuge, live and enjoy themselves, doing 
 all the dirty work and throat-cutting for the Bodio 
 in their nightly prowlings. A Manganga magician, 
 or even wizard, can soar aloft on the wings of the 
 wind like a Highland beldam on her broomstick. 
 The prophet among the same people can discover a 
 criminal in the following manner. He calls a muster 
 of the tribe, and then taking a bundle of reeds in 
 his hand rushes round the circle of the assembled 
 tribesmen. If the criminal is among them, one of 
 the reeds flies out of his hand as he approaches him. 
 This reed he picks up, as the magic reed, and lays 
 the bundle aside. He then presses it against the 
 man indicated, when, if he is guilty, the rod revolves 
 in his hand.* When an earthquake occurred at 
 Accra, the king issued a proclamation that his father's 
 spirit was giving the earth a shake, because the 
 children were not obeying the customs, and giving- 
 due reverence to the reigning monarch. After this, 
 he called for three of his principal chiefs, gave each 
 a drink of rum, delivered to them a message for his 
 father to the eftect that his wishes would be attended 
 
 * Elms]i3. Krapf. Perry. 
 
178 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 to, and then had them beheaded. Thirty-four others 
 were enclosed in jar-hke baskets, their heads joro- 
 jecting from the neck. These were brought in one 
 by one and promptly beheaded, to go as an escort 
 with the chiefs who carried the king's dutiful 
 message. He then retired to his gardens, satisfied 
 he had done an act of most reverent devotion. His 
 conduct will not seem so strange and horrible as 
 at first sight appears, when it is borne in mind that 
 as late as 1230 human sacrifices were offered in 
 Prussia in honour of the goddess of corn and fruits. ^^ 
 When old King Chop of Calabar drank, a chief 
 held his great toe. The chief of Old Town kept 
 his soul in a sacred grove near a spring of water. 
 Some Europeans, in frolic or ignorance, cut down part 
 of the grove, to the intense indignation of the spirit, 
 who, according to the king, would visit them with 
 all manner of evil.t A successor is not chosen till 
 the king is buried and all the ceremonies completed. 
 These are elaborate and protracted. What becomes 
 of the soul in the grove I do not know ; probably it 
 enters the new king, who in turn deposits it in the 
 wood for safe keeping. For, after all, this is the great 
 object of savage man in guarding divinity, and if a 
 perfectly safe place could be found for the purpose of 
 depositing the soul there, he would be supremely 
 happy. But as love laughs at locksmiths, so do 
 wizards at man's arts in concealing the whereabouts 
 of souls. To enter the council of government among 
 the Waneka, the candidate is placed in an enclosure 
 where he lies down as if stone dead. His head is 
 
 * Dr. Maclear. t New. 
 
SOCIAL USAGES 179 
 
 then covered with a thick layer of mud. A mixture 
 of clay and hair is spread over his face. Horns are 
 mounted over his eyes, and his body decked with 
 feathers. He is then led to the edge of the forest, 
 where he wanders till he has killed a man, after which 
 he returns and has a ring of rhinoceros hide placed 
 upon his arm as a badge of office and to indicate 
 that he is now a sacred person,* Some tribes regard 
 twins as the greatest good luck, others as monsters to 
 be killed — the harbingers of calamity. Most, if not 
 all Africans have some sacred animal which they do 
 not kill, and with which their lives are in some way 
 bound up. This is in reality fetish, totem or clan 
 badcre, accordingf to the stag-e of civilization at 
 which a peojole has arrived. Among the Majame 
 strangers are received in the following manner : — A 
 goat is brought forward by the tribal priest, which 
 the chief takes by the horns and spits on its fore- 
 head, saying, " As this stranger has come into our 
 land, and says he is our friend ; if he lies may he 
 perish, he and all his caravan." The stranger then 
 takes the goat, and doing as the chief has done, says, 
 " If I practise any evil against Maganine, him or his 
 people, his cattle or his lands, may I utterly perish, 
 and this caravan." + The ofoat's head is then cut off 
 " that blood and saliva may mingle." The skin of 
 its forehead is divided into two parts and one given 
 to each of the parties to the contract. A small slit 
 is made in this and worn as a ring on the middle 
 finger in token of brotherhood. Tlie Wagorengo 
 of the same region practise blood brotherhood to 
 
 * New. t Myer. 
 
i8o RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 cement friendship/'-' The peoi)le of Kiwendo never 
 sacrifice a goat, but at their great rehgious meetings 
 thev turn one adrift to wander where it will. The 
 animal has a collar of cowries tied round its neck, by 
 which it is distinguished from a strayed animal. "'' 
 This is the only approach to the idea of a scapegoat, 
 as understood bv the Jews, I know of in Africa. 
 The goat is devoted to Lubare. Of old, when a 
 Scottish king gave an unjust judgment his neck 
 took a twist, and so remained till justice was done. 
 African chiefs have boils/|; in such a case as this. 
 
 These customs 1 have set down at random, select- 
 ing them from the observances of peoples wideh" 
 apart. My object is not to trace the development 
 of any idea, but to show that all these are in the 
 savao-e mind associated with relioion and the 
 worship of the gods. This will be better understood 
 if we now consider acts of devotion, and tlie object 
 aimed at l)v the performance of these acts. 
 
 * Ashe. t Ihid. Z- Grant Stewart. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 ACTS OF DEVOTION— MYTHS 
 
 To the savage who is constantly surrounded with 
 spiritual beings, and whose life is dependent on secur- 
 ing their continued favoui-, no actions can be per- 
 formed without a relio-ious siy'nificance. He has not 
 arrived at the idea of natural law apart from agents 
 which regulate phenomena. To these agents he owes 
 allegiance, because of the benefits he receives at 
 their hands, and according to his conceptions of 
 their wants and wishes, their tastes and fancies, will 
 his life and actions be ordered. At first sio-fit it 
 would appear as if the whole business of religion 
 were left to its avowed professors, for these are in 
 evidence in connection with everv event which 
 happens. But there could be no greater error than 
 to conclude that the magician's vocation represents 
 the domestic religious life of the people. We may 
 take it as a general rule that the magician's services 
 are required only in connection with what is unusual 
 in village life, as births, marriages, deaths, accidents, 
 evil omens or any circumstance the meaning of 
 which may be doubtful. The religion of ordinary 
 life, of eating and drinking, sleeping and walking, 
 w^orking and talking is conducted by each individual 
 according to the approved method of the tribe. In 
 
i82 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 the details of this reho-ion he has been instructed 
 from childhood. His intellectual faculties lie dor- 
 mant, but the ritual of life has been burned into his 
 very soul and become part of his being. An 
 African is no more likely to forget the minutest 
 detail of private devotion than a European is to 
 foro-et to undress when he retires to rest. The 
 chief, as in the case of the Barotsi, may be a demi- 
 god,* and his people flock to his village for protection 
 during a thunderstorm, but it would be an error to 
 suppose the Barotsi devoid of a religion and ritual, 
 because of this simple childish trust in the divinity of 
 the chief They have a peculiar method of present- 
 ing their offerings. A sacred horn is stuck into the 
 ground, and when they sacrifice they pour the blood 
 of the victim over the horn. It is also customary 
 to tie pieces of cloth devoted to the gods round it. 
 The horn is generally placed in a sacred grove, and 
 is really an altar to which the worshipper repairs to 
 do his private devotions. + 
 
 There seems but little religion in a number of 
 love-sick swains batterino- one another with slave 
 whijDS, nor in a maiden running knife-blades into 
 their thighs, but in a land where the Indl is the 
 emblem of universal life the gods rejoice to see a 
 display of vigour and virile power. That and heroic 
 endurance are the cardinal virtues. A free fight 
 with bare sabres for a crown is not consistent with 
 our ideas of succession, and the suggestion of 
 weapons of war banishes all thoughts of devotion 
 from our minds. But he who is to sit ujjon the 
 
 * Arnot, Garanyanze. t Ibid. 
 
ACTS OF DEVOTION— MYTHS 183 
 
 throne favoured by the gods must, as an act he 
 owes to them, win his position by giving evidence 
 of the physique as well as mental vigour necessary 
 for upholding the dignity of the tribe. A chief 
 hanging on to the toe of old King Chop as he 
 regaled himself with trade rum is not suggestive of 
 altars and incense, but then King Chop himself was 
 divine and represented the god-life to his people. 
 To hold his toe was a sacred office, an act of dutiful 
 obedience to the gods. Who could tell but, as he 
 poured the " devil water " down his throat, the god 
 spirit might escape by his toes if these were not 
 held by a sacred person '{ The Waneka who 
 wandered in woods with murderous intent during 
 his novitiate believed himself to be doing a religious 
 duty of the most sacred nature, and that without 
 this preliminary the gods would never give him 
 wisdom in council nor strategy in war. By 
 obedience he was qualifying himself to advise 
 reo-ardino- the affairs of orods and men, so diiferent 
 are savage man's conceptions of qualification for 
 office from ours. 
 
 The King of Dahomey while doing homage to 
 the gods would to us appear to be engaged in a pro- 
 fitable commercial transaction, and but for his being 
 himself divine there would be a strong suspicion 
 that considerations of profit influenced him. All 
 the women of the country are his by divine right. 
 It is an act of divine favour to bestow a wife on a 
 subject, and when he does bestow one he expects 
 handsome black mail. It is he who gives to men 
 all they possess. They must toil for the corn which 
 
1 84 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 the king- gives through regulatmg the course of 
 nature, and if they must pay by toil for the lower 
 gifts, it would be impiety not to labour also for the 
 higher — that is, for their wives. The king has 
 given his subjects fecundity ; the}- in return must 
 reward him for the blessing-, else the voun^-er o-enera- 
 tion of women will be barren. 
 
 Thus we see that many acts, which according to 
 Western ideas are far removed from the region of 
 devotion and worship, are in reality parts of a life 
 every act, word, and movement of which has a signi- 
 ficance in a religious sense. I have seen natives of 
 Africa perform acts of devotion before the eyes of 
 men who declared that they had no idea of worship 
 nor of gods. When a native glances at the sun or 
 moon, he prays ; when he drops a small particle of 
 food on the ground before he begins to eat, he offers 
 an oblation ; if he throws a tuft of grass, a bit of 
 stick, or a stone, out of his hut door in the morning 
 before he emerges himself, he has said matins. 
 Nor does he neglect to sing vespers when he turns 
 his face to the bright constellations overhead be- 
 foi'e rolling himself up in his skin blanket for the 
 night. These are all acts of devotion, and represent 
 forms of worship common among a large proportion 
 of primitive men. They are performed by each 
 individual on his own account, apart from the more 
 formal religious rites which are the proper functions 
 of the magician. And this is consistent with what 
 we know of the growth of religious ritual among 
 those nations where the evolution of relio-ion can be 
 best studied. The earliest forms of devotion of 
 
ACTS OF DEVOTION— MYTHS 185 
 
 which we have an account among the Jews were 
 very simple and acts of sacrifice were exceptional 
 and rare. With the development of the religions 
 life of the people different orders sprung up, and 
 these confined themselves to particular functions. 
 But thou oh M^e know but little of domestic and 
 individual religion among the mass of the people, 
 such indications as we have go to show that each 
 man did perform acts of devotion however simjjle 
 these mio'ht be. 
 
 We have seen that the king of Old Town kept his 
 soul in a sacred grove, and that this was an act of 
 devotion. It, however, gives the clue to a class of 
 myths which are common from the Ganges to the 
 Atlantic, and that is the soul dwelling apart from 
 the body. It is difticult to classify the legends and 
 folkdore tales in which these myths are met with. 
 They partake of magic certainly ; but are more of 
 the nature of devotion, and the caring for the soul's 
 welfare by placing it in such safe keeping as to defy 
 the enemies of mankind to obtain access to it. 
 
 In a former chapter reference was made to the 
 soul's absence during sleep or fainting. Some of the 
 dangers of soul-snatching by ghosts, wizards, and 
 evil spirits have also been noticed. The dangers of 
 the soul during its temporary absence were consider- 
 able. While resident in a man's body it was com- 
 paratively safe ; but even then there w^ere dangers, 
 and dangers of such nature as to be difiicult to 
 fuard against. While a man remained in sound 
 vigorous health his soul was safe, but should he be 
 taken ill his soul was then in danger, for it could 
 
i86 EELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 be reached and injured, perhaps stolen, through his 
 body, as in the case of the soul which the wizard 
 got as it was handed about among the gods at the 
 sick man's door. This being an admitted and recog- 
 nised fact, it would be of the utmost importance for 
 a man to have a place of safe keeping where he could 
 deposit his soul in time of danger, and if this place 
 were very secure, it would be a manifest advantage 
 to have his soul kept there permanently. This 
 would make a man indej^endent of wizards on the 
 one hand and of mag-icians on the other. The former 
 could no longer hurt him ; the latter he could dis- 
 pense with when freed from the fear of witchcraft. 
 Such a man could boldlv strike out a new course, 
 and become a reformer by a defiance of the powers 
 of evil, and a total neglect of the gods. Hence it is 
 that such men, in popular imagination, are regarded 
 as giants, monsters of impiety, cruel and cunning, 
 regardless of all interests except their own, and 
 oppressing all who come into their power. Evidence 
 of this is found in the folk-lore tales taken from the 
 traditions of peoples living widely apart, and the 
 number and variety of such tales is proof that, at 
 one time, this was a sober belief widely diffused 
 throughout the world, and is a faithful reflection of 
 the facts of life, in relation to the unseen, as these 
 appeared to primitive man. These tales would in 
 the first instance be preserved and recited as a 
 true statement of the facts, and, handed down 
 through millemiiums of years, told at one time to 
 warn the impious, at another as nursery rhymes, or 
 by the fitful light of a blazing log on a winter's 
 
ACTS OF DEVOTION— MYTHS 187 
 
 night, to amuse the curious, they would preserve 
 much of their original form, though places and cir- 
 cumstances would change. 
 
 Such was the story of " Headless Hugh," of my 
 own nursery days. I still, when the winds howl 
 about the enables and amono- the trees, find mv mind 
 running back to the time when Headless Hugh was 
 a real living man, who on stormy nights rode along 
 the sea shore "between wave and sand," and 
 watched whether little boys went to sleep quietly. 
 If they did not he took them away on " the grey 
 filly that never had a bridle." It must be nearly 
 thirty years since I heard old Betty Miles tell the 
 story. I could repeat it word for word now, so per- 
 sistent are the impressions of childhood, especially 
 when accompanied by a wholesome state of terror. 
 
 Hugh was a prince of Lochlin, and was long held 
 captive by a giant who lived in a cave overlooking 
 the Sound of Mull, and known by his name to this 
 day. For many years Prince Hugh lived in the 
 dismal recess of this grotto. One night there was 
 a violent altercation between the giant and his wife, 
 and Hugh who lay very still listening, knowing that 
 he would be killed and eaten if it was known that 
 he overheard their conversation, discovered that the 
 giant's soul was in a great pearl — literally precious 
 o-em — which he always wore on his forehead. The 
 prince watched his opportunity, seized the pearl, and 
 havinc>- no means of escape or concealment, hastily 
 swallowed the gem. Like the lightning from the 
 clouds, the giant's sword flashed from its scabbard 
 and flew between Hugh's head and his body to 
 
i88 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 intercept the gem before it could be swallowed. It 
 was too late, and the giant fell down, sword in hand, 
 and ex})ired without a gasp. Hugh had lost his head, 
 but having the giant's soul in his body, saved his 
 life and gained his liberty. He took the giant's 
 sword, slew his wife, and then with the trusty 
 weapon buckled to his side he mounted " the grey 
 tilly that never had a bridle, and swifter than the 
 east wind," and made his way home unconscious of 
 the loss of his head. His friends did not recoo^nise 
 him, declared he was a ghost, and refused to admit 
 him to the palace, and so " he wanders in shades of 
 darkness for ever, riding the grey filly faster than the 
 east wind." On stormy nights he is seen riding along 
 the shore " between waves and sand." He has taken 
 many boys who would not go quietly to bed, and 
 none of them have ever returned. This is the outline 
 of a story I often heard from an old beldam who 
 made my young life a long-continued torment while 
 she had the opportunity of doing it. 
 
 Compared with it, the following Hindoo tale 
 betrays a common origin in the days when such facts 
 M'ere soberly believed. The story is of a giant or 
 magician who had held a beautiful queen captive for 
 twelve years. At last the queen's brother came to 
 visit her, and they both spoke the magician fair. 
 He told them, in a moment of confidence, that he 
 ke})t his soul thousands of miles away in a desolate 
 country covered with jungle. In this jungle there 
 was a circle of palm trees ; within the circle six 
 water tanks, piled one above another ; under the 
 ]oA\'est a birdcage \\itli a small green parrot in it. 
 
ACTS OF DEVOTION— MYTHS 189 
 
 The parrot was his soul, or rather he kept his soul 
 in the parrot. The queen's brother hearing this 
 sought out the jungle, and at last found the cage 
 which he brought to the magician's palace. When 
 the magician saw it, he cried, " Give me my ])arrot." 
 The boy tore otf a wing; the magician lost an arm. 
 In this way he was torn limb from limb, and, finally, 
 when the parrot's neck was wrung he fell down 
 dead, his neck broken. ^'^ In another Hindoo story 
 the soul is in a necklet. In a well-known High- 
 land stor)' the giant says : " There is a great Hag- 
 stone under the threshold ; under the flagstone 
 is a wether ; in the wether's belly is a duck ; in 
 the duck's crop an egg, and that egg contains my 
 soul."+ The egg, as usual, is found and crushed 
 and the captive is set free. The giant dies, of 
 course. 
 
 The same form of superstition and myth is common 
 to Teutons, Norse, Slavonians, Ancient Greeks, and 
 Jews. The history of Samson, + as recorded in the 
 Book of Judges, is a case in point. He remained 
 invulnerable till, through the wiles of his wife, he was 
 shorn of his locks, and then his strength departed. 
 The variations in this case from the Hindoo and 
 Celtic tales is nothing more than might be expected, 
 when the national characteristics of the Jews and 
 their peculiar history is taken into account. This 
 form of myth is as wide as humanity. I was on one 
 occasion sitting in a Hlubi chief's house waiting for 
 the appearance of the great man, who was doing his 
 toilet, to hold a palaver. Several of his chiefs and 
 
 * Mary Frere, Old Deccan Days. t Campbell. % Judges. 
 
igo RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 councillors were present, and entered freely into con- 
 versation with my attendants. I did not pay any 
 particular attention to what passed till one of my 
 own people said, in English, " Ntame has his soul in 
 these horns," at the same time pointing to a pair of 
 magnificent ox-horns placed in the roof by the 
 lightning doctor to protect the house and its in- 
 mates from the thunderbolt. The horns were those 
 of an animal offered in sacrifice and were sacred. I 
 took the statement at the time to mean that to hold 
 a palaver with Ntame was equivalent to holding con- 
 verse with an ox, and made no farther inquiries. 
 Whether my factotum spoke a parable, or stated a 
 sober fact gathered from the councillors present, I 
 cannot say. He addressed me in English, which he 
 spoke fluently, and as no one else present understood 
 a word of what he said I took his statement to be 
 a hint to be careful what I said, and how I received 
 our host's promises and professions of friendship. I 
 have had no opportunity of verifying the statement, 
 but the idea is in no way foreign to South African 
 thought. A man's soul there may dwell in the roof 
 of his house,* in a tree, by a spring of water, or on 
 some mountain scaur. 
 
 This form of superstition leads by an easy tran- 
 sition to totemism, and it is on this account I regard 
 it as more religion than magfic or witchcraft. The 
 object where the soul dwells is sacred, and it gets 
 its sanctity because it is the home of the soul. This 
 may be a bird, as the tufted crane among Kaflirs ; an 
 animal, as the crocodile, among Bechuanas ; an insect, 
 
 * J. Sutton, MS. notes. 
 
ACTS OF DEVOTION— MYTHS 191 
 
 as among the Hottentots, who regard the mantis 
 religiosa as a divinity. All tliese objects are sacred 
 because either a person's life is bound up with a 
 particular specimen, or the tribal life with a class. 
 The horns of a lightning sacrifice are sacred, and 
 must not be touched except by the doctor, but this 
 does not extend beyond the family in whose interests 
 the sacrifice was offered, while animals that are 
 sacred to the tribe are sacred to each individual 
 member of it. To shoot a crane would be a more 
 heinous offence than to shoot a fox before the 
 hounds. Again, tribes are named after animals or 
 objects, as the elephant people, the swimmers, men 
 of the wood, and such other names or titles de- 
 scriptive of supposed qualities as tradition has 
 preserved. 
 
 In Sutherlandshire at the present day there is a 
 sept of Mackays known as "the descendants of the 
 seal." These claim as their ancestor a laird of 
 Borgie, who married a mermaid, and as the legend 
 has never been in print, I give it here as recently 
 told me by one well versed in north-country 
 mythology.* It is as follows : — The laird was in the 
 habit of going down to the sea rocks under his castle 
 to bathe and drink salt water. One day he saw a 
 mermaid close in shore, combing her hair and 
 swimming" about as if anxious to land. After 
 watching her for a time, he noticed her cowl on the 
 rocks beside him, and knowing she could not go to 
 sea without it he carried it up to the castle, hoping 
 she would follow him. This she did ; but he refused 
 
 * Rev. A. Mackay. 
 
192 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 to give up the cowl and detained the maid herself, 
 whom he made his wife. To this she consented with 
 great reluctance, and told him her life was bound uj) 
 Avith the cowl, and if it rotted or was destroyed she 
 w(juld instantly die. The cowl was placed for 
 safety in the centre of a large hay-stack, and there it 
 lav for years. One day, during- the master's absence, 
 the servants were working among the hay and found 
 the cowl. They showed it to the lady of the house, 
 not knowing what it was. She took it, and then, 
 strapping her child securely in its cot, she left and 
 went to sea never to return again to Borgie. For 
 years she used to come close in shore that she mio-ht 
 see her boy, and then she would weep because he was 
 not of her own kind so that she might have him at 
 sea with her. The boy grew to be a man, and his 
 descendants have always been exempt from drowning. 
 They are famous swimmers, and are known locally 
 to this day as " Sliochd an roin," that is, the descen- 
 dants of the seal. 
 
 It is difficult to give an explanation of such myths 
 as this, but when I first heard it I began to make 
 inquiries, and discovered that there are floating- 
 traditions of shipwrecked crews having settled 
 down among the native population, and I ha^-e 
 thought that the Borg-ie mermaid may have been a 
 cast-away maiden. If so, was she detained against 
 her will '^. Did she make her escape ? Were there 
 negotiations about the custod}^ of her child between 
 her friends and the wild septs of the Eea}- country ? 
 And did local tradition weave these facts into the 
 legend as it was current half a century ago ? An 
 
ACTS OF DEVOTION— MYTHS 193 
 
 answer to these questions is made all the more diffi- 
 cult by the existence of other local traditions. There 
 is a sept known as " the men of the hide" in the 
 same district, and the tradition regarding their 
 name, if not their origin, is this : — The devil visited 
 the district to get the names of all those who were 
 willing to aid him. The laird of Cobachy met the 
 stranger, whom he found a "nice-spoken gentleman," 
 albeit he was attired in a bull-hide with the horns 
 attached. The laird noticed that his visitor kept 
 his feet concealed, but in leaping a bog he got a 
 glimpse of the cloven hoof, and to get rid of him 
 recommended a visit to Melness. The devil put 
 to sea in his bull-hide, and raised the Kyle of 
 Tonofue into foam and furrow as he crossed. After 
 an interval he returned, and called to pay his 
 respects to his friend Cobachy. The latter asked 
 how he had succeeded. " Oh," said he, " that is 
 the place to go to ; I have covered my hide with 
 names. I got so many that some are marked on 
 the horns."* The men of the district are known 
 as Fir-na-Sioch — the men of the hide. This the 
 present generation resent, and are apt to fly to their 
 fists if bull-hides are mentioned. 
 
 * Rev. A. Mackay, MS. notes. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 WOMAN 
 
 In any Inquiry into the religion of primitive men, 
 it is necessary, if we are to understand the signifi- 
 cance of many actions and famihar customs, to take 
 account of woman's position and her true sphere in 
 savage Hfe. Many travellers describe woman 
 among untutored tribes as a beast of burden pure 
 and simple ; an animal to be driven while it lasts and 
 can do useful work ; then left neglected to die, some- 
 times of hunger, but oftener by means still more 
 equivocal. There could be no greater error than to 
 accept such statements as correct, or as giving a 
 clue to woman's position and influence among the 
 community. That labour, which, according to 
 western ideas, belongs exclusively to men, falls to 
 the lot of women is true. Nor do they have a voice 
 In village councils and palavers. Even domestic 
 arrangements as brewing beer, the food for the day, 
 washing and the like are regulated by the men, but 
 this Is largely accounted for by the system of poly- 
 gamy. It is, however, this outward and apparent 
 joosltion of woman, which makes her appear to the 
 stranger of so little consequence In the affairs of the 
 community. She seems to be a mere drudge ; a beast 
 of burden with intelligence, and whose duty it is to 
 
WOMAN 195 
 
 labour for her husband; bear children and rear them, 
 but take nothing to do with the produce of her own 
 labour or the training of her offspring. 
 
 We have already seen the prophetess at her work 
 in the Lake Region. We might find a woman 
 regent in South Africa, The wife of the noted chief 
 Makoma acted as regent during the minority of her 
 son, Sandili, and with conspicuous success. A 
 woman was once war doctor to Hintsa, and among 
 the Khonds a woman is not supposed to be unworthy 
 of representing the god life of creative energy and 
 reproduction. But it is more in the code of restric- 
 tions or taboos to which Avomen are subject that we 
 learn the important place assigned to them in the 
 moral and religious codes of savage men. Indivi- 
 dual women rising to eminence might prove too much 
 if that were taken by itself, but when we place such 
 facts beside the general treatment they receive, we 
 see how important is the place they occupy and the 
 influence they have on national life and religion. 
 For example. Among the objects placed under taboo 
 is blood, and especially woman's blood. So great is 
 the dread of its touching any part of the person, 
 and especiallv the head, which, in savage philosophy 
 is peculiarly sacred, that an Australian will not pass 
 under a leaning tree or the rails of a fence lest a 
 woman should have been on it, and that blood from 
 her, resting on the tree, might fall on him.* The 
 Siamese think it unlucky to pass under a rope on 
 which women's clothes are suspended. In New 
 Zealand the blood of women is supposed to have 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, quoting E. M. Curr. 
 
196 KELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 disastrous effects upon males. If a South African 
 touches the blood of woman at certain periods his 
 bones become soft. If a woman steps over him, 
 or even over his spears he cannot hit his enemy 
 in battle. In Burmah it is an indignity to have 
 a woman overhead in a house of more than one 
 story, hence it is that most houses have but one 
 floor. In a house raised on piles, a servant will 
 not go in below the house for any purpose lest a 
 woman should be in the rooms over his head. 
 
 With divine and sacred persons a number of rules 
 have to be observed for their own safety and the 
 safety of the community. One of these is that the 
 sun may not shine upon them. The Mikado might 
 not touch the ground with his foot, nor was the sun 
 thought worthy to shine on his royal head. The heir 
 to the throne of Bogota forfeited his right to the suc- 
 cession if the sun shone direct upon him. In Sogomoso 
 the heir-apparent is shut up in seclusion for seven 
 years without seeing the light of the sun.* Now, 
 it is remarkable that girls at jDuberty and women 
 at regular intervals and after delivery are subjected 
 to the same rule of restrictions during a variable 
 period. In Laondo, a purely negro State, girls at 
 puberty are confined in separate huts, and may on 
 no account touch the ground during the period with 
 any part of their body. Among the Zulus and 
 kindred tribes, when the first signs of womanhood 
 show themselves, a girl, should she l^e walking or 
 workine: in the fields, runs to the river and hides her- 
 self for the day among the reeds that she may not be 
 
 * J. G. Frazer, quoting Alonzo de Zurita. 
 
WOMAN 
 
 197 
 
 seen by men. Her head she covers with her blanket 
 that the sun may not shine on it and shrivel her up 
 into a withered skeleton, an assured result of any 
 disregard of custom. At night she returns home 
 and is closely secluded for a period of seven days. 
 She then resumes her work. New Ireland crirls are 
 confined for four or five years in small cages and 
 kept in the dark.* 
 
 Customs akin to these are world-wide, and have 
 left in the folk-lore of all nations evidence of their 
 being once universal. For example. A Greek story 
 warns a princess to be careful in her fifteenth year 
 lest the sun should shine on her. A Tyrolese legend 
 tells how a lovely maiden was doomed to be trans- 
 ported to the belly of a whale, Jonah fashion, if ever 
 a sunbeam fell upon her. Old Highland women, 
 when I was a boy, always made a great ado if girls 
 went, say to a hayfield, with bare heads. Boys 
 might, but it was not good for girls. It was not 
 altogether because they would get sunburned. 
 There were " other things," all of which was con- 
 veyed to them in hints of Delphic ambiguity, but 
 which was very awful to our youthful imagination. 
 
 The ground of this seclusion and guarding from 
 sunlight lies in the dread primitive man has of 
 woman's blood. Hence a woman must live apart 
 during the period; she is then unclean, and, should 
 any one come near her inadvertently, she must give 
 them warning not to approach. Similar restrictions 
 are imposed on women after delivery, when they 
 are secluded and guarded for weeks. Nor are 
 
 * Rev. B. Banks. 
 
198 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 restrictions confined to the periods referred to. 
 Precautions must be taken ao-ainst accidents, as 
 these may happen at any moment. Scores of times 
 did I 23ut the question to South Africans : " Why 
 do your women never enter the village by the paths 
 the men follow ? " before I could o-et a satisfac- 
 tory answer. I was told it was custom ; women 
 must be taught obedience ; people always did it; 
 or that the master made rules and all must obey; 
 that it was to keep wives from quarrelling if they 
 saw the head of the village walking frequently with 
 a favourite wife ; because men are greater, that is, 
 more sacred, than women ; " the woman is to a man 
 a child." Gradually and indirectly I came to know 
 that the restriction was designed to avoid accidents 
 such as might happen with the advent of woman- 
 hood unexpectedly. The object of all such restrictions 
 is to neutralise the daug-erous influences which are 
 supposed to be connected with women at certain 
 periods. The woman is viewed as charged with 
 certain propei'ties ; properties productive of evil in 
 themselves, and which, in certain circumstances, she 
 can use with infinite power for mischief These 
 must be kept within bounds. If not, they may 
 prove destructive to the woman herself, as in the 
 Zulu shrivelling up, and to all with whom she comes 
 into contact. 
 
 The uncleanness of woman and the sanctity of the 
 sacred or divine man do not, to primitive men, differ 
 from one another. Both must be guarded against 
 and avoided when that is possible. Both must be 
 surrounded by taboos for this object as well as for 
 
WOMAN . 199 
 
 their own sakes, so that their properties, which are 
 good or bad as they are directed, may be guided to 
 be conducive of grood to man. 
 
 Persons charged with such properties, and having 
 at their disposal such powers for good or evil, cannot 
 be without influence upon the community. Where 
 every action has a supernatural significance, it is 
 impossible to have any force in existence without 
 its tendino- to o-ive colour to all the institutions 
 existing^ anion o- men. 
 
 In a land where a woman may not touch a cow's 
 udder "^ on pain of direst results, we may expect to 
 find her wielding power however harshly she may 
 be treated. Even from the most closely guarded 
 harem come influences which go to make or mar the 
 state. The Lubare of Uganda may be under the 
 direction of a prophetess. In the Lake Region, the 
 prophetess is all powerful, and may determine peace 
 or war, as she often does in the south. The women 
 of most African tribes are modest and retiring, and 
 seldom address strangers except when they bring 
 articles for sale, and even then it is not uncommon 
 to find a husband or father accompany the woman 
 to do the actual trading while she carries the burden. 
 But this is not universal. There are tribes where 
 the women are bold, aggressive and self-assertive. 
 The Monbutto women are independent, obtrusive 
 and immodest."*" They do the field work as is done 
 by all African women, but in other respects assert 
 their independence in a manner rarely met with. 
 The Monbutto are an island of humanity, in the very 
 
 * Felkin. t Schweinfurth. 
 
200 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 heart of Africa, differing in customs and habits from 
 all the surrounding tribes. Their laws and observ- 
 ances resemble, and especially the aggressive im- 
 modesty of their women, those of certain minor 
 tribes inland from Inhambane more than that of any 
 other African people. Dr. Schweinfurth does not 
 give in detail an account of their behaviour, but 
 leaves the reader to infer that as regards public 
 morality there is much to be desired. Our informa- 
 tion regarding the Inhambane tribes referred to is 
 also meagre. A few years ago, a Lieut. Underwood 
 and a German missionary were travelling together 
 through the country. Both were new to African 
 travel, and their ignorance of the language may 
 have prevented their understanding the meaning of 
 facts which came under their notice with painful 
 prominence. So obtrusive did they find the women 
 that they were compelled to get some of their own 
 Swazi women camp-followers to mount guard over 
 their persons in their tents while they slept.* 
 Whether this was a natural afifm-essiveness of 
 character, or the ordinary courtesies of the country 
 I do not know. It is common enouofh for a chief 
 to order one of the members of his harem to be 
 given to a distinguished stranger during his stay, 
 but the women will only repair to his tent at night 
 and as if by stealth. Though not objecting to a 
 temporary change of husband, they cannot effect the 
 change during the day lest the gods should be 
 offended, t When Dr. Felkin pressed King Mtesa 
 to replenish tlie mission larder, the king wearied 
 
 * Underwood, MS. notes. f Winterbotham. 
 
WOMAN .201 
 
 with similar demands and anxious to settle the 
 question once for all, sent the doctor a parcel of 
 eighteen wives to attend upon him, and supply his 
 wants. The ungrateful man refused the kingly gift. 
 The subject of public morality it is impossible to 
 discuss in a popular work. But though not suitable 
 for the pages of a book intended for general readers, 
 its value in forming an estimate of the people's 
 character is considerable, and the man whose lot is 
 cast in Africa, cannot, without grave loss to his own 
 usefulness, dispense with an intimate acquaintance 
 with much that is unsavoury. To indicate the diffi- 
 culty of dealing with this, I transcril^e the first note 
 I made in collecting material for a separate chapter 
 on the subject. It is as follows : — " Before a Kordufan 
 girl consents to marry, she stipulates how many free 
 nights per week she may enjoy, and generally secures 
 every fourth night to do as she pleases." So 
 different are African standards from ours that 
 any thing said could only be suited for the pages of 
 a scientific iournal, as Is illustrated by the followino- 
 incident : — A missionary was one day addressing a 
 crowd of natives, many of whom had taken part in a 
 regular saturnalia held in the vicinity a few days 
 before. As he proceeded to denounce their customs 
 and their doings, I noticed a curious restlessness 
 among them. The climax was reached when he com- 
 pared their behaviour, in search of drink and other 
 enjoyments, to that of strange dogs arriving at a 
 village, and sniffing about the places frequented by 
 local curs. To the natives this was not preaching ; 
 it was moral turpitude, and their feelings were tersely 
 
202 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 expressed by an old chief, who, when outside, uttered 
 the single word " filth," and walked away. The 
 reason of this was plain. If there is one thing 
 beyond all others against which the soul of an 
 African rebels, it is to be compared to a dog, or to 
 have it suggested that there can be anything in 
 common between himself and his dog. A thief, it is 
 true, is a wolf, but then thieves like wolves are made 
 to be destroyed. So far is the aversion carried that 
 there is a distinct " dog language," and the words 
 composing it are never applied to men, except in 
 defiance, or as the language of insult. To bid a man 
 begone by the use of the word one applies to a dog, 
 would be equivalent to throwing a glass of wine in 
 a gentleman's eyes in the days when Irish steeple- 
 chasing was in its glory. In a land where cowdung 
 and urine are necessary requisites of the toilet, bury- 
 ing a dog would prevent the growth of the season's 
 crops.* It is by a knowledge of such customs and 
 prejudices we can reach the minds of such peoples, 
 and come to have an understanding of their domestic 
 life. By beginning with what they can understand, 
 we can gradually advance leading them to higher 
 conceptions both of man and of God. 
 
 But while it is imjDossible to discuss the details of 
 their moral code, there are broad outlines common to 
 all primitive peoples which help us to an understand- 
 ing of the progress of thought among them. The 
 harem and zenana we may regard as a compara- 
 tively late development ; the product of an advancing 
 civilisation, and the growth of exclusive political 
 
 * Scillocks and Dinka. 
 
WOMAN 203 
 
 power in the hands of the chief. The exclusiveness 
 and sanctity of the harem could only be the product 
 of settled government, permanent residence, and 
 suitable buildings. Among a nation of hunters, 
 wandering from place to place, a zenana would be an 
 impossibility. Seclusion of any considerable number 
 of persons would entail settled residence. At the 
 same time, we find among primitive races that 
 infidelity on the part of any of the king's wives is a 
 capital offence, even if the custom is all but universal 
 among the lower orders. To them a lapse on the 
 part of a member of the royal household is a serious 
 crime, while their opinion regarding other orders is 
 faithfully expressed in the reply of the Kaffir to whom 
 his missionary said, " I know many of you spend 
 your nights roaming about afler other men's wives." 
 "No, master," he answered, "we do not do that, we 
 have our own wives at night ; it is during the day our 
 people go to see other women they love."* Another 
 Scotch parson was asked, " How many wives have 
 you," and on his replying that he had none, his 
 interrogator asked sympathetically, " Was that 
 because you could not get the cattle ? " 
 
 * Rev. J, Lundie. MS. notes. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 COURTESIES OF LIFE — DRESS 
 
 A MORE savoury subject than public morality is 
 courtesy, which in Africa is all that could be desired 
 Hospitality hardly knows any bounds, and the chief 
 who receives a stranger as his guest treats him with 
 courtesy and kindness. Many chiefs, on the great 
 caravan routes, are now demoralised quite, and 
 demand blackmail as one enters their territory, a 
 demand sure to be repeated as he leaves. Man in 
 the early days of the world regarded his neighbour as 
 having a claim upon him, and in the age of hunting, 
 food, while it lasted, w^as practically common 
 property. To this day in times of great scarcity 
 food is hardly ever stored up by families for their 
 own use ; they share it with their more needy neigh- 
 bours. They reason in this way : — The gods are 
 good to men. They give them their food. They 
 watch over the actions of their children, and as the 
 fathers, who are now above, were good and kind to 
 the stranger and the poor, it is their will that their 
 children should obey custom. The whole of the 
 past is wrapped in a halo of glory which myth 
 weaves round it, and each man feels that he falls 
 short of the ideal life if the stranger leaves his house 
 hungry or empty-handed. When the native bards 
 
COURTESIES OF LIFE— DRESS 205 
 
 sing- the praises of the mighty dead, their deeds of 
 valour occupy a secondary place, as if that were 
 the necessary accompaniment of hospitality and the 
 courtesies of life to the hungry wayfarer. 
 
 The king, as the father of his people, is responsible 
 for village hospitality, and by a kind of fiscal ar- 
 rangement he levies a tax for this purpose on those 
 of his people best able to bear a burden. His acts 
 of kindness to strangers are representative acts, and 
 any failure on his part is a disgrace to the tribe.* I 
 remember once visiting a man of some local standing. 
 He sent me a fowl for my supper, and the councillor 
 who brought it seemed to be ashamed of his com- 
 mission. Little was said, but I felt the reception I 
 met with did not promise success to my mission. I 
 was mistaken. After the clatter of tongues by the 
 camp fire ceased and all was still, the door of the hut 
 I occupied was cautiously opened, and the councillor 
 who had brought the fowl entered. In a low whisper 
 he said, " Here is meat," at the same time taking a 
 whole sheep's carcase from a young man who accom- 
 panied him. I asked what it meant ; and the old 
 man's reply I shall never forget, " It is," he said 
 " nothing. You have bought it. Brandy has killed 
 my chief." Here was loyalty ; loyalty to a chief whose 
 whole soul was in strong drink, to the neglect of all 
 the functions of royalty. He, as a councillor, could 
 not offer to do what his chief neglected, but his sense 
 of honour, and particularly the honour of his chief 
 and tribe, prompted him to do by stealth what he 
 felt was necessary to uphold ancient tradition, though 
 
 * J. Sutton, M.S. notes. 
 
2o6 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 by doing it he put his neck in some dang-er. Very 
 pathetic too were his words, " Brandy has killed my 
 chief." The chief had not chano-ed ; had not neg-- 
 lected the stranger ; did not forget the honour of 
 his tribe. No. He was dead, that was all, and for 
 his dead chief this loyal man did the courtesies of 
 hospitality. 
 
 Philosophers and traditional theologians never 
 weary of discussing the savage's moral sense and his 
 innate ideas of right and wrong. They iind it diffi- 
 cult to agree as to whether conscience is an inherent 
 faculty, uniform in its manifestations among all 
 classes and conditions of men, or an education of the 
 moral sense which is capable of development accord- 
 ing to man's stage of progress. I am not a 
 philosopher nor a professed theologian. I am simply 
 an observer of facts as these are met with every day 
 in Savagedom. But as an observer I have often 
 puzzled over the philosopher's right and wrong, and 
 the ideas attached to these terms ; over his uniform 
 manifestations, and the theologian's sweeping 
 generalisations regarding all classes and conditions 
 of men. I have wondered whether the philosopher's 
 ideas of right and wrong are based on our Western 
 conceptions — saturated as we have been by centuries 
 of Christian ethics — of a well-ordered state and social 
 system, or whether he would admit the Mosaic code 
 as a correct expression of the innate ideas of right 
 and wrong among the Jews at that time. And if 
 so, whether conscience as such, apart from education, 
 can have anything to say to such questions as 
 arise about a plurality of wives, for example ? I 
 
COUETESIES OF LIFE— DRESS 207 
 
 have asked in vain if the traditional theologian 
 would admit within the sphere of men acting 
 according to their conscience, those who give their 
 property, their subjects, and even their children to 
 propitiate gods which to us are purely imaginary ? 
 Or whether we must regard them as wilfully violating 
 the most sacred instincts of human nature in 
 obedience to requirements which their sense of 
 right and wrong calls vanity ? Here again one asks, 
 and asks in vain. No light is offered, or it is deeper 
 than the mirk. 
 
 The one thino- of which I am certain is this : — 
 
 o 
 
 That these African races, whose religion we have 
 been studying, not only profess their faith in its 
 doctrines but really regulate their conduct by them, 
 and that down to the minutest details of life. Their 
 philosophy may be crude, but it is a philosophy. 
 Nor is it altogether a false philosophy. It is the 
 premises that are wrong, not the conclusion. It is 
 their want of knowledge, not their lack of moral 
 purpose. Their religion may be worse than none, 
 but it is the form of it and the channels in which it 
 runs which vitiate it, for the sincerity of the wor- 
 shippers is infinitely more real than that of men who 
 meet in Christian temples or worship God by proxy. 
 The code of ethics practised by primitive man may 
 shock our sensibilities, but he has reached it slowly, 
 painfully, and prayerfully notwithstanding. To him 
 religion is no pastime with which to amuse himself, 
 but a matter of the most terrible reality ; a matter 
 on which depends his present fortune and his future 
 place among the ancestors. Does he bring his women 
 
2o8 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 to market ? He knows no better way, and must 
 observe the prescribed rule for his own protection 
 and theirs. Is his slain enemy's heart found in his 
 broth pot { This is not necessarily for love of human 
 flesh, but to give him qualities which will ensure his 
 own and his tribe's safety in war. Cannibalism I 
 regard as a late development relatively ; a taste 
 acquired in times of famine when men died like 
 sheep and were devoured by their famished com- 
 panions. This oi3inion I base on the partial distri- 
 bution of the practice and its entire absence among 
 most of the older races with which we have, in 
 recent times, been brought into contact. For 
 example : — 
 
 The Monbutto have no domestic animals, except 
 dogs, and they are among the most pronounced 
 cannibals in Africa. Such a people would suffer 
 terribly if the crops failed even for a single season, 
 and a succession of bad harvests would reduce them 
 to actual starvation. What more natural than that 
 this practice should have originated during a period 
 of dire distress and want, and so became a national 
 habit almost unconsciously. Stanley's forest canni- 
 bals seem, so far as we know, to depend entirely on 
 vegetable substances for food. To them a few sea- 
 sons of drought might mean extermination if they 
 did not resort to human carrion. Abnormal develop- 
 ments do not belong to the ordinary progTess of 
 thought as I have attempted to trace it ; and the 
 acts to which necessity has driven civilised men 
 should warn us against hasty conclusions. Especialh^ 
 should it warn us against assuming that cannibalism 
 
COURTESIES OF LIFE— DRESS 209 
 
 was derived from any system of philosophy rather 
 than from necessity and dire distress. 
 
 When primitive men walk abroad in nature's robes, 
 and women adorn themselves with a tail of ofrass 
 behind their backs as their sole o-arment after the 
 manner of the Baris,"* we are shocked at their im- 
 modesty, and cry out that they must be devoid of 
 all sense of morality. This is exactly what a Mon- 
 butto mother would say to her daughter, if she 
 appeared arrayed in the ample loin cloth worn by 
 lier brother rather than in her own bit of leaf 
 attached lightly to her girdle. These are nature's 
 own children doing nature's own bidding. They are 
 advancing by steps so slow as to be imperceptible, 
 by the same road by which our ancestors travelled 
 thousands of years ago. They are at a stage of 
 development now corresponding to that of the 
 remote ancestors of the Ancient Greeks. To the 
 primitive European, as to the primitive African, a 
 simple code of morals was not only sufficient, it was 
 complete, wise, and good ; the will of the gods. Only 
 as he advanced did his moral perceptions grow, and 
 so too will the primitive African's ; only let not the 
 European expect too much, or look for permanent 
 good on a large scale from a precocious and abnormal 
 development of an individual here and there. Such 
 individuals may do something within the sphere of 
 their personal influence to raise their fellow country- 
 men. But only when new conceptions come to 
 permeate the mass of the people, and the new philo- 
 sophy commends itself as true for all classes, can 
 
 * Felkin. 
 
3IO RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 there be a general upward movement. Such move- 
 ments, when permanent, are by way of evolution 
 rather than revolution. 
 
 We are far from exhausting the religious aspect 
 of custom and myth when we have disposed of 
 public morals and the relation of the sexes. Religion 
 enters into the prosecution of the industrial arts and 
 even the amusements of life. The hunter has his 
 religious rites which he performs before he enters 
 the forest, and after he kills the first animal of the 
 chase. His return from a successful expedition must 
 be signalised by performing ceremonial acts. Even 
 the manner of carrying home the game is prescribed 
 by ritual. 
 
 When iron ore is dug and smelted, the smith 
 must observe certain rules and conform to the 
 necessary religious observances."^ His forge must 
 be placed at a distance from the village dwellings, 
 and no one dare approach at the critical moment 
 when the molten metal begins to flow, except those 
 versed in the mysteries of the art. t The fire 
 used to cook first-fruits must not be kindled by a 
 vulofar brand snatched from the domestic hearth, 
 but must be sacred fire made by the magician in the 
 time-honoured way.;}: While the crops are growing 
 and before the feast of first-fruits is held, no forest 
 tree may be cut, as that would be to wound the 
 spirit of vegetation, which, to primitive man, would 
 be equivalent to wounding the god. 
 
 The sanctity of fire I have touched upon only 
 incidentally, but in connection with it there is an 
 
 * Mj-er, Killlmanjaro. + G. M. Tlieal. t J. Sutton, MS. notes. 
 
COURTESIES OF LIFE— DRESS 211 
 
 elaborate ritual and endless restrictions. Fire as such 
 is venerated. To kindle fire in an enemy's country 
 during war is to invite sunshine and prosperity on 
 one's foes. The sun is reo^arded as the father of fire. 
 The moon too has her votaries and the devil dances 
 of the Damaras are usually observed when the moon 
 is full. So too the moon dances of West Africa, 
 where their devil-houses are roofed with human 
 skulls.* Dances before engaging in war are held 
 durino- moonlio-ht, and must not be neo'lected on 
 pain of defeat and dire calamity. These and a 
 thousand other minute observances enter into the 
 daily religious life of the African, as they do into 
 that of all primitive peoples. And the curious thing 
 is, not that they resemble customs once common 
 among civilised men, for the human mind in its 
 search for knowledge works by the same methods 
 in all lands, but that so much of what is ancient, 
 dating back far beyond historic time, should survive 
 among the nations of Europe. 
 
 A number of the observances referred to have 
 been illustrated by survivals in civilised countries. 
 These could be multiplied almost indefinitely. 
 Even the Pondomise law forbidding the cutting of 
 green wood while the crops are growing, has, or had 
 recently, its corresponding custom in the remote 
 Hitrhlands of Scotland. I recollect hearincr a Gaelic 
 rhyme which enumerated the trees which might not 
 be cut after " the opening of the leaf" The moun- 
 tain ash, if to be used as a talisman, must be cut 
 "while the leaf is in the bud." The willow must 
 
 * Waddell. 
 
212 EELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 not be touclied " after April diiy." I have no 
 means of recovering the rhyme, but the woman who 
 used to repeat it declared that in her young-er days 
 its directions were always observed bv " wise 
 people," but were now neglected l3y " a generation 
 whose end was near." The worth v matron had the 
 reputation of "knowing more than others." 
 
 Another custom which survived in Scotland till 
 within the last seventy years, and which was doubt- 
 less a survival from very early times, was the 
 Tein egin or forced fire. This was kindled on May- 
 day, and each villager, all domestic fires having 
 been extinguished the previous evening, received a 
 brand from the sacred j^ile with which to kindle 
 their domestic hearths. Men who had failed to pay 
 their debts, or had been guilty of notorious acts of 
 meanness were refused the sacred fire, and this was 
 equivalent to expulsion from one's club. It was for 
 the time social ostracism. Nor were our Hip'hlanders 
 ignorant of trial by ordeal. They tied their witches 
 hand and foot, after which thev tossed them into a 
 pond. If they floated they were taken out as the 
 oracle proclaimed their innocence, Ixit those of them 
 who sank were allowed to drown. No farther trial 
 was needed, for the ordeal never lied. So, too, the 
 Felata of West Africa ascertains if the king-'s death 
 was caused by his own wives by giving each member 
 of the harem a dose of poison. These same Felata 
 women, should they see the Juju or great fetish, 
 Avhen carried in procession, had such accidents 
 as occasionally happen to pregnant mothers, and 
 became sterile from that time. A similar fate 
 
COURTESIES OF LIKE— DRESS 213 
 
 happened to Highland women who saw the fairy 
 bull. Blood brotherhood, which is so common in 
 Africa, bears a close resemblance to foster brotlier- 
 hood as between the heir to the chieftainship and 
 the clansman with whom he was reared. But to 
 enumerate more of such minor customs would be 
 tedious. Their general tendency is all in one direc- 
 tion, and goes to show how slow is the process of 
 evolution through which religious thought must 
 pass before it reaches the higher conception of one 
 supreme God, and the substitution of a single Incar- 
 nation, revealing the wdll of God to man, for the 
 multitude of prophets who claim to hold converse 
 with the unseen. From the ranks of these prophets, 
 as the order recedes from its original ideal and 
 purpose, men arise who strike into new paths and 
 lead their fellows into the light of a higher concep- 
 tion of human life and the destiny that awaits 
 humanity. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 REFORMS 
 
 The foregoing pages are but the barest outline of* a 
 subject of absorbing interest, not only to the eth- 
 nologist, but to all who wish to have an acquaintance 
 with early processes of human thought. The facts 
 are culled from the literature of Africa with occa- 
 sional reference to the customs of other countries. 
 These are few in number, and detached from their 
 local setting, but they go to show that most of the 
 customs that have survived must at one time have 
 been common to the human family. From the 
 days of the great dispersion, man has wandered 
 hither and thither over the face of the earth, but 
 he has never relaxed his hold of the few facts with 
 which he started. To his little stock-in-trade of 
 ideas he has clung with a tenacity only equalled by 
 that with which he clung to life. He has added to 
 his knowledge, adapted his ideas to new circum- 
 stances, discovered new facts and taken possession 
 of them, but parted with nothing. This of itself 
 shows how equally balanced his knowledge and his 
 necessities must have been in the early days. He 
 could part with nothing, and continue to exist till 
 he had replaced it by something higher and better. 
 The inventive faculty with which he was endowed 
 
EEFORMS 215 
 
 enabled him to widen his knowledge, and call to his 
 aid factors and forces which has made a o-ulf between 
 savage men and civilised which is almost, if not 
 altogether, absolute and impassable. 
 
 But is the gulf unfathomable, or even as deep as 
 it appears to many earnest students to be ? Is 
 there not much common to both which seems to 
 bind them, over a long-forgotten past, into one 
 whole ? May not the present gulf be bridged, and, 
 if bridged, how ? By what means can civilised man 
 most easily and speedily bring within reach of his 
 savage brother's understanding those facts which 
 constitute the difference between them ? How is pri- 
 mitive man to be persuaded that those forces which 
 civilised man calls to his aid are natural forces, con- 
 trolled by industrious application of what is ready 
 to any man's hand, rather than a more powerful 
 species of magic ? Is it possible to convince an 
 African railway stoker that he is not generating 
 magic as he shovels coals into the fire-box ? And, 
 if possible, how is it to be done ? 
 
 " Supply him with blankets and flannel shirts," 
 says one. In other words, extend European com- 
 merce to the remotest forest hut in Africa, and the 
 farthest headland of the northern seas, so that by a 
 mutual exchange of the African's ivory and gums, 
 and the Lapp's oil and tallow, for our manufactures, 
 they may, wearing our garments, be endowed with 
 our spirit. " Send him Bibles," says a second, and 
 make known to him the revealed Will of God. 
 You only demoralise him by your trade ; he 
 ceases to be nature's nobleman, and he does not 
 
2i6 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 become a creature of civilisation. Your trade and 
 dress do not suit his condition ; his only hope is in 
 being supplied with mental food and that food Divine 
 truth." " Leave him to himself," says a third ; " he 
 o-ot on verv well before the Bristol merchant found 
 him out and plantations yearned for his presence 
 among the sugar-canes. Besides, he made good pro- 
 gress in the interval until the Manchester spinner 
 re-discovered liim, and the Hamburg rum merchant 
 began to pity his thirst." It is the old story of 
 too many physicians. Like the Sick Man on the 
 Bosphorus, every nation in Europe has a remedy, 
 but the patient is seldom consulted, if at all. 
 
 The last class of physicians may be summarily 
 dismissed. No man, if he be not a dreamer of inj- 
 possible dreams, imagines it possible for one moment 
 for civilised man to leave savage man alone. The 
 inexorable evolution of events has brought them 
 together after thousands of years of separation and 
 wandering. Brothers still, re-united by a common 
 destiny, they stand face to face, and on the races 
 who know^ most, who can command agents to do 
 their will, and who can calculate the probable cur- 
 rents of the future, will depend the fate of those 
 wdio are still in the throes of the early struggles of 
 the human mind. The cry out to leave savage man 
 alone is but the language of ignorance or unchris- 
 tian sloth. Tlie apathy it implies is foreign to the 
 healthy pulse of public opinion, and it may be left 
 to the oblivion it deserves. 
 
 Of those who advocate commerce and industry 
 apart from mental and moral training, or moral 
 
REFORMS 217 
 
 and religious instruction divorced from industry and 
 commerce, each is earnest in the advocacy of the 
 methods which appear to promise success, and be- 
 Heves that in the adoption of its theories a panacea 
 would be found for all the ills that afflict savagedom. 
 Make him work, says the latest gospel, and then he 
 will come to feel his need of European commodities 
 and luxuries. This will extend our commerce and 
 benefit the savage, for then our business men and 
 great capitalists will have an interest in him. These 
 are not the exact words of introduction used by 
 men preaching this gospel, but they express its 
 purpose and meaning much more clearly than the 
 approved definitions. T should be sorry if anything 
 I may say should be construed against commercial 
 enterprise and the introduction of a knowledge of 
 the industrial arts into savage lands. On the con- 
 trary, I believe in both as powerful factors in the 
 elevation of the human race, and that the spirit of 
 persevering industry and trade, when it lays hold of 
 a people, spurs them on towards both material and 
 mental development. But it is well to look at the 
 conditions fairly, and estimate things at their true 
 value. The savage is nature's own child. He may 
 have the cunning of the fox and the keenness of the 
 lynx's eye when in his native forest, but bring him 
 to a factory, and the glitter of a handful of glass 
 beads fills his imagination with dreams of wealth. 
 It may be that, being given to pombe, he asks for a 
 stimulant. The princi2)al articles of barter being- 
 trade rum and Holland square-face, he is treated to 
 a drink of one of these, and tastes the fiery flavour. 
 
2i8 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 He feels their prompt action, and from that day he 
 is a doomed man. He has not the moral resolution 
 to resist this demon of devil-Avater, which is more 
 powerful than all his ancestral ghosts. In fact, he 
 does not know the meanino- of moral control ag-ainst 
 such a foe, and can see no good reason why he 
 should not indulge in a daily carouse. He has sat 
 by his chief's pombe-pot for hours and hours, and, 
 beyond a slight drowsiness, felt no other ill-effects, 
 and he does not understand why he should restrict 
 himself to a limited measure of the drink provided 
 by his friend the white man, whose commerce is to 
 elevate him to take his place in the comity of 
 nations. The evil is done, and the man who visits 
 the factory adds one more life to the victims which 
 must be slain that our commerce may extend, and an 
 outlet be found for our surjolus stock of bad spirits. 
 
 Nor is this all. The traffic that is carried on with 
 drink as the medium of barter has far reaching effects 
 beyond the moral deterioration of the native races. 
 For rum a man will part with all he possesses, and 
 the tribe where the trade is introduced is speedily 
 reduced to beggary. This puts an end to profits, for 
 there is nothing to exchange for our commodities. 
 Where there was a roaring' trade and men con- 
 gratulated themselves on the advent of prosperous 
 times, the fountains of supply suddenly dry up, and 
 the only evidence of European influence left is moral 
 ruin — this and a few blackened brick walls. It 
 is the old nurserv fable of the g-oose that laid the 
 golden Qgg, only in Africa it is no fable but stern fact. 
 
 But ruin apart, and admitting trade to be carried 
 
REFORMS 219 
 
 on in the most approved manner with useful goods 
 and ornamental articles, is savage man likely to be 
 improved by it to the extent the advocates of this 
 exclusive gospel of commerce seem to expect ? 
 There is a distinct limit to the influence the glitter of 
 beads and even cotton loincloths have. The former 
 please only till thev become common ; the latter, 
 though an undoubted improvement upon bark cloth, 
 is but an indifferent substitute for a comfortable skin 
 garment, while it is less durable. As to industry 
 prospering to a large extent under present condi- 
 tions, every man who knows Africa knows that is 
 impossible. To suppose that there is a moral virtue 
 in European garments, or in elaborate clothing of 
 any kind, as compared with a scanty covering of bark 
 cloth or skin, is to make the same mistake as was 
 made by the Government of the good King George, 
 wdien they concluded there must be a connection 
 between loyalty and In-eeches, and so put the High- 
 landers in trews by Act of Parliament. 
 
 So far as our knowledge of African peoples goes, 
 the kind and amount of clothing worn does not seem 
 to have any influence on public morals. The 
 Waganda clothe from head to foot, and put a man 
 to death if he walks about naked in a public place, 
 liut their morality is very low, and offences against 
 the Seventh Commandment are common every- 
 where*. The Baris go almost naked, and they are 
 in no way noted for immodesty, but rather the 
 opposite. The Gowane are exceptionally well clad, 
 but this does not prevent their having a custom that 
 
 * P'elkin. 
 
2 20 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 a girl may not maiTy till she has borne a child. The 
 paternity of this child is not inquired into. That is 
 her own affair, and the husband has nothing to do 
 with it. The child is sold as a slave. Among the 
 Dyoor, with their scanty aprons, hardly equal to fig 
 leaves, domestic affection is very marked, and the 
 Bongo, who wear little clothing beyond a tail hang- 
 ing down behind, limit their men to a maximum of 
 three wives, a rare virtue in Africa. 
 
 It seems then that the gospel of cloth is not likely 
 to raise the African to a perceptibly higher level 
 than he is at present, if it be not accompanied by 
 other influences moi-e real and lasting, even if these 
 cannot be measured out in fathoms or weighed by 
 pounds avoirdupois. 
 
 And it is those other influences which in the 
 ultimate result go to widen the market for European 
 commodities, and to make the demand steady and 
 sustained. Provinces which have been brought 
 under a measure of Christian influence are our best 
 customers. Every man who discards the savage 
 life has wants which only civilised men can supply. 
 These multiply as Christianity spreads, and when 
 it has gained something more than toleration for 
 itself, the influence it has upon the community is in 
 proportion to the general appreciation of the changed 
 conditions. The newly created wants develop new 
 industries, and these go to build up the general 
 prosperity of the community. This is not merely 
 speculative opinion as to what we might expect, but 
 a fact which has again and again been verified, and 
 of which Basutoland is a conspicuous example. 
 
REFORMS 231 
 
 But there is the great gospel of work. Teach the 
 African to work ; compel him to labour, and then 
 the products of his country will flow^ into our M^are- 
 houses, iron and coffee, rubber and coal, copper and 
 cotton, nuts and oils, all valuable products which lie 
 ready to his hand if he would only believe the gospel — 
 of work. It is of no consequence that his wants are 
 few, and that he can supply them with little labour ; 
 that he neither knows our luxuries nor desires to 
 become acquainted with them. If he onlv takes 
 to labour as the love of his soul, all these things will 
 adjust themselves to our satisfaction and his own 
 benefit. His soil has the habit of yielding crops 
 with little labour and hardly any tillage, but this is 
 onlv the e'reater reason whv he should be tauo-ht the 
 dignity of steady agricultural labour. And when 
 the land is barren ; where rain seldom falls and 
 crops cannot be grown except in a few favoured 
 spots — well, make him work ; give him a spade and 
 teach him to till the land. The sober truth is that 
 this gospel of work taken by itself is arrant nonsense. 
 Men must have a motive for work before thev exert 
 themselves, and when that is present no people fail 
 to respond to the calls of duty. The Ancient 
 Greeks worked and that to some purpose, but they 
 were the most civilised people in the world, and 
 worked in response to the ideas which were current 
 among them. Englishmen work, and so do 
 Americans, but do Englishmen manufacture cloth 
 simply because they have the spinning and 
 weaving instinct ? Do they refrain from build- 
 ino' baths such as the Romans built because the 
 
2 22 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 architectural instinct is Ivin*^ dormant ? Do they 
 not manufacture because of an ulterior motive, the 
 accumulation of wealth ? And are not our cities 
 without such baths as the Ancients had, simply 
 because we do not wash so often, and there is not 
 the same demand for them ? These things we do, 
 and refrain from doing, not from any instincts or 
 love of work for its own sake, but l3ecause it suits 
 our purposes so to act. 
 
 So the African can and does work when there is 
 an adequate motive to spur him on. He can labour 
 for Europeans when such labour is within his reach, 
 and when he sees that he can procure what is of 
 value in his eyes with the product of his labour. He 
 can produce articles of commerce when these can 
 be disposed of to advantage. But suppose the 
 Waganda, in obedience to the call to work, produce 
 thousands of tons of surplus grain annually, will 
 their labour benefit either Europe or Africa ? Cer- 
 tainly not. It will simply rot, and even Waganda 
 are not mad enough for that. Or, if Mr. Stanley's 
 pigmies collect ground-nuts by the ton ; what next ? 
 Is each little man to walk a thousand miles, carry- 
 inof three or four nuts, worth about a o-roat, to 
 market, and run the risk of being eaten for his 
 pains ? Should the Baralongs produce iron to build 
 a fleet, what is to become of it ? Or of the ships 
 should they build them ? Lie on the stocks by the 
 edofe of the forest waitino^ for a second Noah's 
 Deluge to float them ? When we talk of the African 
 beinof tauofht to work, our ideas somehow run alonof 
 
 OCT' O 
 
 the coast line, and apply not so much to Africa as 
 
REFORMS 223 
 
 such as to Africa in relation to our own commerce 
 and profit. We forget that we labour because power- 
 ful motives impel us, and that these motives are 
 within ; the result of thought, and our appreciation 
 of the true proportions of things. Such motives are 
 absent in Africa, and the intelligence to understand 
 as we do is absent. That we must first supply. I 
 once asked a steady and active farm-labourer if he 
 was fond of work, when the following colloquy took 
 place. 
 
 " I likes master weel enow, and tha'es geye guid 
 neeps." 
 
 "Yes," I replied; "but do you like just to be 
 at work, because you do not want to sit at home ; to 
 get up in the morning and come out to the field." 
 
 " We's never axed, we hae our oors o' wark," 
 was his laconic reply. No farther information was 
 to be had, so T bid my friend good morning, and 
 tried a group of women working in the next field 
 with even more disappointing results. Would 
 a nation of such men practise all the industrial 
 virtues the gospel of work expects, nay, demands in 
 the African ? Before men exert themselves in 
 industrial work they must realise that by such 
 means it is possible for them to advance in domestic 
 comfort, political importance, and national wealth. 
 And they must have an understanding that these 
 are desirable things to possess. In the case of the 
 African this last question is an important one. Does 
 he know or understand a condition of domestic 
 comfort higher than being allowed to live at peace 
 and cultivate his fields ? Do his ideas of political 
 
2 24 EELIGIOX AND MYTH 
 
 importance go beyond his tribe being in a j^osition 
 to make raids with safety and success upon his 
 neighbours ? And as for national wealth, when that 
 consists of cattle liable to be stolen or driven awav 
 wholesale before his very eyes, he is not likely to 
 exert himself, as is demanded of him, to increase their 
 number. Only after a long preliminary training, 
 extendinof over several o-enerations, will men livinp- 
 in primitive simplicity understand the value of 
 labour as civilised men have learned to under- 
 stand it. 
 
 Thought has always preceded material improve- 
 ments, and these have often come halting centuries 
 behind. The man who gave birth to the new 
 thought saw his contemporaries despise his wisdom, 
 while they looked upon himself as a fanatic or mad- 
 man. Seventy years ago it was proposed to fertilise 
 soil by means of electricity. The project was turned 
 to ridicule by a practical farmer who described the 
 process as " muckin' the Ian' wi' thunner." It is 
 now admitted tardily that there was truth in the 
 thinker's idea, though he did not understand much 
 of the practical mysteries of" muckin' Ian'." At the 
 present day the gospel of work is to the African 
 simply " muckin' the Ian' wi' thunner." 
 
 Another method for the elevation of the savao-e is 
 to send him the Bible, or in other words to preach to 
 him the doctrines of the various European Churches, 
 using the Bible as an authoritative text-book from 
 which there can be no ajipeal, and whose everv 
 precept must be accepted once for all on pain of 
 Heaven's displeasure. " Teach him," say they, " the 
 
REFORMS 225 
 
 Word of God and leave it to work its own purposes. 
 It is the leaven, the only leaven, that can affect for 
 good the whole lump of heathenism." Let it be 
 candidly admitted that such statements contain 
 important truth. Let not the place occupied by 
 Holy Scripture in the moral and spiritual elevation 
 of mankind be minimised or disparaged. It is the 
 only objective revelation of God we have, and the 
 experience of two thousand years has shown it to 
 be adapted to the needs of the human conscience. 
 What philosophy failed to do has been done by 
 the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth ; teaching at 
 once so simple and sublime that no other has ever 
 approached it. It stands unrivalled among all 
 systems as He stands peerless among men. In 
 any attempt made to raise men to a higher and 
 purer life, the Gospel, in the full catholic sense, 
 must ever be the chief factor. Without it civilisa- 
 tion lacks the most powerful of motives, and is apt 
 to be but a thin veneer hiding unsightly rents and 
 scars. But though the statement contains an im- 
 portant truth, it is not the whole truth. It is 
 true, no doubt, we have the Apostles who preached 
 the doctrines of the Gospel in their entirety, and 
 insisted on an immediate and full acknowledgment 
 of their lofty claim. Nor did they, to any con- 
 siderable extent, insist on other branches of know- 
 ledo-e. These were, however, assumed. But wath 
 all this, few of their converts reached the ideal of 
 the Christian life as the Apostles understood it, 
 and as it is accepted in modern times. 
 
 Then the Apostles addressed, not primitive men 
 
2 26 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 still in the shackles of barbarism, but the most 
 advanced and cultured peoples on the face of the 
 earth. The Jews had a unique history and 
 experiences, and the lofty morality taught by their 
 prophets put them in a position to understand, even 
 if they did not appreciate, apostolic doctrines and 
 the purity of life demanded by the teaching of the 
 founder of Christianity. They were widely scat- 
 tered throughout the East. Their sacred books 
 were known everywhere, and thus the Apostles had 
 the nucleus of an attentive congregation wherever 
 they went. They invariably entered into the 
 Jewish synagogue on their arrival in a strange 
 town. 
 
 There they found an audience already familiar 
 with prophetic revelation, and eagerly waiting for 
 a farther development of it. No Jew regarded 
 Old Testament Scripture as having reached finality. 
 They were, besides, saturated with the civilisation of 
 the East. A long captivity made them familiar 
 with Babylonian astronomy. It gave them that 
 taste for trade and finance which is still charac- 
 teristic of their race ; an illustration of the per- 
 sistency of ideas when once firmly rooted in the 
 national mind. 
 
 The influence of Jewish thought and literature 
 must have been considerable, and men in no way 
 friendly to Messianic hopes would be influenced by 
 it less or more. When a new form of religion was 
 presented to such men they would, in the first 
 case at least, give it a respectful hearing and care- 
 fully weigh its claims. The civilised habit of 
 
REFORMS 227 
 
 thought current at the time would ensure a full 
 measure of discussion from the philosophical stand- 
 point. This g-ave it an undoubted advantage. 
 Truth seeks the light and courts discussion, and 
 the more the teaching and claims of Jesus were 
 subjected to criticism and discussed on their merits, 
 the wider would the sphere of His usefulness 
 become. 
 
 Then the Apostles made it their business to 
 thoroughly know the peoples they addressed. 
 Whether Jews, Greeks, Syrians, or E.omans, the 
 early teachers of Christianity met them on their 
 own ground, and adapted their methods to suit 
 the peculiarities of each district or town. Their 
 writings clearly show that they made themselves 
 familiar with the thought, religion, and superstitions 
 of those they sought to influence, and when they 
 advanced the claims of their Master to universal 
 dominion over the hearts of men, it was to displace 
 beliefs the folly of which they were able to show. 
 
 Nor was this all. The Greeks, who ruled the 
 world of thought, were the most learned people in 
 the world. Poetry, art, sculpture and architecture 
 attained among them a degree of excellency which 
 has never been surpassed, while their philosophy 
 commands the admiration of the world after a lapse 
 of thousands of years. A philosophy which lives 
 still. Such were the people to whom the apostles 
 addressed the message they had for the world. A 
 people saturated with religious and philosophic 
 thought, and fully alive to all the advantages of 
 civilised habits of life. 
 
228 EELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 Very different were those to whom Moses 
 addressed his prophetic message when he went 
 from Horeb to dehver them out of bondage. But 
 even they were far removed from the stage at which 
 the savage stands to-day. If they had lost the 
 early traditions of their own race they were 
 familiar with all that Egyptian religion and ritual 
 could teach them, and knew what of civilisation the 
 land of their sojourn contained. They were at that 
 stage of development when new ideas would be 
 seized upon, and held tenaciously by a large number, 
 and so become in time part of the national thought. 
 At an earlier period and in a ruder age, the father 
 and founder of the Hebrew nation, moved by an 
 impulse which struggled for expression, left his own 
 country and became a wanderer in obedience to this 
 conviction which he had. What thoughts of deity 
 struggled within him and found expression in words 
 seem to have been lost or forgotten by his descend- 
 ants, till revived by Moses, whose ethical teaching 
 during the early days of the wilderness journey was 
 of the most elementary kind. " Hear, O Israel, the 
 Lord our God is one God." 
 
 Round this central truth he grouped his doctrines 
 and expanded their conceptions of deity. These were 
 the spirituaHty of God ; His purity and holiness. 
 The cloud and the fire were the familiar emblems of 
 his teaching. By such means did he lead their 
 minds away from the Egyptian worship to a truer 
 and higher conception of the One God. 
 
 Now to savage man these are absolutely new con- 
 ceptions, but they are such as he can reach by way 
 
REFORMS 229 
 
 of analogy and comparison. His own ideas of public 
 and individual morality, on certain lines, help him, 
 and his conceptions of the spirits of greatly revered 
 ancestors lead up to an appreciation of the idea of a 
 holy, just, and upright God. " The ancestors never 
 do wrong " is a cardinal article of African faith. 
 Beyond this he cannot travel unaided. A man god 
 he can understand, and one may develop any day 
 under his very eyes. A God man is beyond his 
 mental vision. Nothing corresponding to this was 
 ever known to happen. Nor did the Hebrews for 
 many a weary generation after the Exodus reach 
 the point at which we expect to find the savage 
 ready to join us. It is true many embrace Chris- 
 tianity, and are in some respects patterns worthy of 
 our imitation, because they regulate their conduct by 
 the religion they profess, but as regards an intel- 
 lectual understanding of, or an attempt at under- 
 standing, the conceptions of deity common in Europe, 
 few attain to that on first emerging from savage life 
 and the faith of millenniums. The form of their 
 thought is something like this : — " The Lord Jesus 
 was holy, pure, sinless, good. God loved him above 
 all other men. The spirit of God w^as his, God dwelt 
 in him, and he speaks to us the words of God." If in 
 this estimate of the conceptions of the Incarnation 
 by men emerging from the savage life, I can be shown 
 to be in error, no one will be better pleased than I 
 shall be myself That many native Christians can 
 glibly repeat our church formulas I am aware, and 
 the missionary who is content with that as an 
 evidence of an understanding of Christian doctrine is 
 
230 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 a happy man. He will burn with indignation at 
 native Christians being ti'aduced, as he will feel 
 certain they are, by what has been said. But if he 
 will take the trouble to occupy the same hut, with 
 half a dozen of his deacons or other office-bearers on 
 a Sunday night, and, pretending to be fast asleep, 
 listen to a discussion of his own sermon, he will 
 sfet a rude awakenino-. The oftener he does this the 
 clearer will be his light if the greater his surprise. 
 By such means, and by casual questions to men off 
 their guard, did I learn what little I know of native 
 thought pure and unadulterated. The results of my 
 experience I have faithfully portrayed so far as that 
 could be done in a few sentences. 
 
 Standing face to face with such facts the questions 
 which meet us on the threshold are not to be 
 answered in the airy manner suggested by those who 
 would send Bibles in countless thousands to savage 
 lands, or who would supply each man with a pick and 
 a mattock. To make an impression on any people it 
 is necessary to reach down to their level of 
 thought, and become literally what St. Paul pro- 
 fessed to be, " all things to all men." If we are to 
 win primitive man to a higher and better life, or 
 in other words, if he is to escape extermination, 
 we must first of all know him. It is said there is a 
 bit of the savage in every man, but this has been 
 covered over with so many layers of lacquer that 
 the child of the forest fails utterly to recognise as a 
 brother his civilised visitor. 
 
 When we have arrived at such knowledge of the 
 savage's thought as we can attain to, our next care 
 
REFORMS 231 
 
 is to bring before his mind such conceptions as he 
 can appreciate. The gulf between civihsed man 
 and savaofe is too oreat for the latter to realise at a 
 bound, that it is possible for him to attain to all that 
 the former has attained to. We, on the other hand, 
 are so impatient of results that we expect the native 
 to take kindly, in a single generation, to what it has 
 taken us millenniums to reach. We forget how long 
 it took the world to make a sewing-machine, and that 
 we live in the age of Singers', while the African 
 represents that of awls and sinews. 
 
 But if the first facts and truths presented to savage 
 man must be simple, they must be none the less 
 practical on that account. It is not necessary to 
 denounce his customs as wrong and all wrong, for in 
 point of fact they are not. There are certain facts 
 and ideas common to all men, and these can be made 
 the basis of instruction. For example. All natives 
 regfard theft as an evil and a crime ; theft from a 
 fellow tribesman, or superior being a special ag- 
 gravation indicative of deepest depravity. So, too, 
 are acts leading to war, arson, murder, and many 
 more. Here we have something with which to begin. 
 A moral foundation, based on a native philosophy, 
 which all admit as true. But even here the savage 
 has to learn much. It is wrong for a neighbouring- 
 tribe to cross the border and steal his cattle, but it 
 somehow does not occur to primitive man that it is 
 wrontr for himself to cross that same border and 
 
 o 
 
 steal his neighbour's cattle. 
 
 Passing from the moral code to conceptions of 
 deity, we are on less solid ground, and opinions may 
 
232 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 differ as to the best methods to be followed. It 
 seems to accord with reason that the same steps 
 should be followed as in the moral code. One God, 
 supreme, and omnipotent. Men responsible to Him, 
 and their actions having a moral value are ideas 
 which the savage can readily grasp. When we come 
 to deal with the future, and the connection between 
 this life and man's destiny, we are on less familiar 
 ground, and primitive man is utterly at sea. The 
 ideas are new, and nothing in his philosophy helps 
 to explain them. The whole is a " white man's 
 thing." The white man has, unfortunately, so many 
 incomprehensible "things," some of them wise, some 
 foolish, that this is apt to be the end of argument and 
 of effort. If it is a " white man's thing," pure and 
 simple, it is no use to try, for his magic is the more 
 powerful. An intelligent and, I believe, truly pious 
 man once said to me, " Master tells us to do, do; try 
 again till we can be like the white man, we, or our 
 grandchildren. How can that be ? I heard my 
 missionary say many times we are the race of Ham, 
 and in the Bible a curse was upon them. That curse 
 is on us. That is why we are not like the wdiite 
 men. It is no use to try." These were his exact 
 words, and if they prove nothing else they prove 
 this : — That ethnology is not a suitable study for 
 primitive man, nor for some missionaries. Perhaps, 
 it is not suitable for public preaching to civilised man 
 or savage. It may prove too much or too little. 
 
 With the growth of thought, when new ideas 
 become common property, j)rimitive men will move 
 
REFORMS 233 
 
 forward with the progress of the world. The pro- 
 gress should now be much more rapid than when the 
 Greek mind worked its way to a philosophy which 
 still lives. The results and experience of the past 
 affords an immense leverage, and what we need is, 
 that the Christian thought of the Western world, 
 and with it, the ideas of life, private and national 
 which are consistent with such thought, should be 
 presented to the savage mind in the form most 
 attractive to men, and as they advance the dawn of 
 a new intelligence will come with the opening up of 
 a new world of thought and work. As new ideals 
 fill the mind, the old will be displaced and forgotten, 
 as has already happened to systems which crumbled 
 under their own weight. The traces of these 
 vanished systems carry us back to a period so remote, 
 and conceptions so simple, that the philosophy of 
 the Africa of to-day is an advanced system com- 
 pared to it. 
 
 Much of this work will fall to the lot of the 
 Christian Church, and on her wisdom, and the pru- 
 dence and practical sagacity of her agents, the 
 progress of the native races largely depends. Eth- 
 nology may not be a suitable study for savage man, 
 but he who would teach his primitive brother can 
 have no better mental equipment than a thorough 
 understanding of the processes by which nations 
 develop, and the paths that have in the past led to 
 progress. The Church that first adopts for her 
 intending missionaries the study of Comparative 
 Religion as a substitute for subjects now taught, will 
 
234 RELIGION AND MYTH 
 
 lead the van in the path of true progress in that 
 department of Christian work which has in it the 
 greatest possibiHties for the future of the world. It 
 will save the missionary years of comparatively use- 
 less labour in the discovery of facts for himself, and 
 from the first bring him into touch with the thought 
 of savage men. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abyssinia, priest of Alfai, 17 ; Paganism in, 42 
 
 Accra, king's father's spirit causes earthquakes, 177 ; consequent sacri- 
 fices, 178 
 
 Acts of worship, 1S4 
 
 Africans regulate conduct by faith, 207 
 
 Alfai, priest of, 17, 18 
 
 Ancestors, worship of, 36 
 
 Animals, sacred, making compact by, 1 79 
 
 Ashantee, annual festivals of, 76 ; messengers to spirit land, 77 ; dances 
 and abrogation of law, 78 
 
 Athens, 2 
 
 Australians, 9 
 
 Austrian, 9 
 
 Balaam, iod 
 
 Babylonia, temporary king crucified, 61 
 
 Bacchus worship, 47 
 
 Balac, 100 
 
 Balder, death of, 56 
 
 Bantama, festival, 79 ; mausoleum of kings, 79; messages to spirit land, 80 
 
 Baralongs, subjects, persons the king's, 14 ; oracles, 163 
 
 Barber's art, its dangers, 94 
 
 Bards sing of valour, 204 
 
 Baris, no clothing. 209 
 
 Bavaria, tree worship, 41 
 
 Bechuanas, 6 ; religion, 38 
 
 Bedouins, fighting wind, 9 
 
 Bible, 224 
 
 Black art, votaries cast no shadow, 30 
 
 Bodio, house of sanctuary, 177 
 
 Bongo, expulsion of demons, 124 ; oracle, 163 
 
 Borgie, mermaid of, 191 
 
 Brahmanism, 167 
 
 Breton, fighting wind, 9 
 
 Briid's bed, making, 141 
 
 Buddhism, i67 
 
 Bulgarians, making rain, 1 1 
 
 Bullfights, 137 
 
 Bullom, oracles, 162 
 
 Burmah, woman's position, 196 
 
 Calicut, king killed every twefth year, 29 
 Cannibalism, acquired taste, 208 
 Cattle-killing, mania. 69 
 Ceremonial, purity, 90 
 
236 INDEX 
 
 Chief, loyalty to. 205 
 
 Circumcision, 44 : not performed with knife, 46, 90 
 
 Clothing, influence of, 219 
 
 Corn spirit, killed, 144 
 
 Corp Creadh, 3, 4 
 
 Courtesies. 204 
 
 Dahomey, king's name not mentioned, 14; priest descends to lower 
 regions, 81 ; king enters lower world in state, 82 ; demons driven out 
 wholesale, 105 ; bestowing wives, 183 
 
 Dakota, gods of mortal, 96 
 
 Dances, moon, 42; Ashantee, 76; warrior, 138 
 
 Death and sleep same, 34 
 
 Deification of king, 6 
 
 Demons, enter animals, 102; expelled by magicians, 102; by guile, 103 
 
 Devils, doctrine of, 81; "laid," 108; "raised," 109; driven out by 
 girls, III ; incarnate, 116; water, 218 
 
 Divine man, killed to prevent loss of god spirit, 28 
 
 Diviner, incantations, fear of, 161 
 
 Dinka, guarding against evils, 86 ; expel demons by guile, 103 
 
 Doctor, witch, 118; rain, 10 
 
 Dodola, II 
 
 Dongolowa belle, how sought in marriage, 174 
 
 Dream, Kaffir, 65 
 
 Dress, Monbutto, 209 
 
 Drinking, King Chop, 178 
 
 Druids, Midsummer fires, 57 
 
 Egbo, concealed in an ark, 25 
 
 Engai, creator of men, 13 
 
 Ergamenes, killed priests, 29 
 
 Executioners, how they procure sacrificial victims, 75 
 
 Fairies, 130 
 
 Fecundity, 6 ; goddess of, 42 
 Festivals, yam. 136 ; Pondo, 136 
 Fetish, human skulls, 47 ; power, 49 
 Finns, girls drive out devil, 1 1 1 
 Fire, sacred, not kindled. 211 
 Fladda, 9 
 
 Funerals, mock, cheating the devil, 155 ; Congo, Uganda, killing of 
 wives, 156 
 
 Gallas, kill the king every eight years, 26 ; priests, snake mother of 
 men, 40; sacrifices, 41 sacred animals, 42; gods, 42; expel demons 
 by horse- whipping, 104 
 
 Gingane, high priest, 14 
 
 God man, 229 
 
 Gods, compounding with, 71 
 
 Gomba. sacrifice paraded, 76 
 
 Gondokoro, food bewitched, 87 
 
 Go wane marriage, 219 
 
 Grass, king, 41 
 
 Greece, i ; house-building, 35 
 
 Greeks, 11 ; legend. 197; ruled thought, 227 
 
 Guilds, secret, 158; priestly, 159 
 
INDEX 237 
 
 Ham, 232 
 
 Hannah, her prayer, 73 
 
 Harvest festivals, maiden, 140-143 
 
 Head, sanctity of. 93 ; sanctity of hair, 94 
 
 Headless Hugh, story of, 1S7 
 
 Hebrews, prophets of, 150 
 
 Hili, river spirit, calls souls, 35 
 
 Hlubies, 10 
 
 Hos, customs, 13S 
 
 Hospitality, king responsible for, 205 
 
 Hottentots, 9; sacrifices, 117 
 
 Hunt, 5 
 
 INCANTI, river spirit, 35 
 
 Incarnation, of founders of religion, 167 
 
 Inferno, descent to, 81 
 
 Iron, its dangers, 90 ; utility, 91 ; smelting, 210 
 
 Jagg AS, king of, divine, 13 ; spit on guests, 176 
 Jews, building temple, 91 ; sacred books, 226 
 
 Kaffir, 6, 9 ; dreams, 65 
 
 Kangomba, god of Mount Socki, 133 
 
 Kanjangeyerne, 73 
 
 Khonds, 40 
 
 Killimanjaro, 14 ; witchcraft, 86 
 
 King, 2; divine monarchs, 17; delicacy of organism, 20; refusing 
 
 divinity, 26 
 King-priest, 3 ; temporary, 32 
 Kings, departmental, 17 ; of fire and water, 18 
 Kordufan marriages, 201 
 Kra, kings' spies or souls, 131 
 Kuda Lubare, head wife of great harems, 73 
 
 Labour, 222 ; love of, 223 
 
 Lakonga, succession law, 16 
 
 Lamech, 91 ; defied taboo, 99 
 
 Laongo, king worshipped called God, 16 ; his restrictions, 25 ; may not be 
 
 seen eating, 87 
 Lightning, doctor of, 149 
 Lithuania, tree worship, 41 
 Loch Aline, 5 
 Loma, God of Bongo, 50 
 
 Lubare, 1 1 ; person possessed by Makusa, 1 5 ; offerings to, 74 
 Luck, 5 
 
 Magic, S; roots, 123 
 
 Magician, 78 ; Manganga can soar in air, detect by divination, 177 
 
 Maiden, Scottish, 140; Lochaber, 141 ; Dantiz, 142; Bavaria, 143 
 
 Makusa, spirit of Nyanza, 15 
 
 Man-god, 3 ; sacrificed, 62 ; substitution, 6;^ 
 
 Mariners, 8 
 
 Marriage, earth, 40; Dongolwa, 174; Kordufan, 201 ; price of wives, 203 
 
 IMay-pole, a survival, 51 ; ceremonies, 60 
 
238 INDEX 
 
 Men of hide, devil bought, 193 
 
 Meriah, sacrifice to Tari, 51 ; how offered, 52 
 
 Mermaid, descendant of, 191 
 
 Mikado, descent of, 21 ; sanctity of clothes, 88 ; of food, 89; not to touch 
 
 ground, 196 
 Ministers, prejudice against, 170 
 Mirrors, dread of, 35 
 Mitto, burial, signs, 175 
 Mlungu, 50; ancestor, god, 132 
 Monbuttu, king divine, 12 ; women aggressive, 199 ; no domestic animals, 
 
 cannibalism, 208 
 Morality, 201 
 
 Morema, Bechuana god, cunning, 38 
 Moreo, king of, 150 
 Moses, teaching, 228 
 
 Mtesa, his ancestors' tombs, 74 ; his generosity, 200 
 Muansa, earth divinity, 43 
 Murder, compounding for, 7 1 
 
 Nanna, wife of Balder, 56 
 
 Nende, 73 
 
 Neptune, 9 
 
 New Briton, 8 
 
 New Zealand, superstition of, 87 
 
 Niam-Niam, no religion, 125 ; burial custom, 175 
 
 Niass, 5 
 
 Old Town, king's soul kept in grove, 178 ; devotion, 185 
 
 Omens, Zulu, Wagogo, 70 
 
 Oracles, Bongo, BuUom, 162 ; Gallas, Baralong, Wayao, 163 
 
 Ordeal, trial by, 123-126 
 
 Ovaons, tree worship, earth marriage, 41 
 
 Palaver, witch, woman, sauce, 126 
 Perthshire, messages to spirit land, 80 
 Peruvians, 139 
 
 Kg. 5 
 
 Pondo, abrogation of law, 78 ; festivals, 136 
 
 Priest, 7 
 
 Prophetess, detective of wizards, 122 ; Wanika, 176 ; may direct Lubare, 199 
 
 Prophets, God-possessed, 65 ; ghostly counsellers, 66 ; growth of order, 146 ; 
 rivalry, 148; functions, 148; Jewish, 150; false, 150; foretelling 
 events, 153, 160; practising augury, 154 ; duty to dead, 154 ; wise men 
 of nation, 169; prejudice against, 170 
 
 Purra, processions of, 13 
 
 Queen, spring, of Bohemia, 59 
 
 Rab, Galla custom, 26 
 
 Rain-doctor, 10 ; Servian, 1 1 
 
 Rat hair, 6 ; banning rats, 84 
 
 Reforms, works, blankets, Bibles, 215 
 
 Religion, i ; none, 125 ; acts of, 126 ; ordinary life, 181 
 
 Rice, mother, Peruvian, 139 
 
 Rome, 2 
 
 Roots, magic, 123 
 
INDEX 239 
 
 Ross-shire, rag on branch bans evil from water, 112 
 Ruhea, little leaf man of, 59 
 Russia, 10 
 
 Sacred Animals, 38 
 
 Sacred horn, 182 
 
 Sacrifice, human, 39 ; animal, 66 ; thank-offering, 67 ; Gomba, 76 ; Hot- 
 tentot, 117 
 
 Samson, 189 
 
 Savage, 6, 11 
 
 Second sight, 153 
 
 Senjero, women only sold as slaves, 39 ; iron pillar, 39; slave drowning, 41 
 
 Servians, rain-making, 1 1 
 
 Shark Point, king of, secluded, 23 
 
 Shoa, worship of king of, 14 
 
 Shony, Celtic god, 58 
 
 Siamese, 195 
 
 Sleep and death same, 34 ^ 
 
 Sogomoso, heir secluded, 196 
 
 Sorcery, expulsion of soul, 36 
 
 Soul, stolen or strayed, 28, 35 ; journeying, 34 ; selling, 36 ; expulsion, 36 ; 
 danger of, 185: safe keeping, 186; in pearl, 188; in parrot, 189; in 
 egg, 189 
 
 South Sea islander, 2, 5 
 
 Spirits, worship of, 36 ; inhabiting rivers, 37 ; evil, 37 
 
 St. Paul, 230 
 
 Stimulant, 217 
 
 Substitutes, sought by kings, 3 1 
 
 Swazies, 10 
 
 Sympathetic magic, 3, 4, 6 
 
 Talisman, for witchcraft, 130 
 
 Tari, goddess of Khonds. 5 1 
 
 Tein egin, customs connected with, 212 
 
 Theft, prevention, 42 
 
 Thieves, 6 ; disguises, 37 
 
 Thunder, 7 
 
 Toad-day, 50 
 
 Tornado, 7 
 
 Totems, 38, 190 
 
 Tradition, persistency of, 170 
 
 Transformation to animals, 127 
 
 Trees may not be cut, 210; customs of Scotland, 211 
 
 Trial by ordeal, 123, 126 
 
 Tyrolese legend, 197 
 
 Uganda, funerals, 156 ; succession, 157 
 
 Unyoro, king killed by his wives, 29 ; claimants fight for successior, 175 
 
 Urine, 7 
 
 Vedic, religion, 167 
 
 Waganda, omens, 154; clQthing, 219 
 Wagogo, II ; omens, 72 
 
240 INDEX 
 
 Wahunga, killing councillors to accompany dead chief, burying wife 
 alive, 156 
 
 Wakamba, steal brides, 1 76 
 
 Waneka, expel devils by music, 104 ; arrival at manhood, 176 ; pro- 
 phetess, 176; entering council, 17S 
 
 Wanyoro, bewitched by footmarks, 87 
 
 War, enemies' heart eaten, 68 ; odour of sacrifice inhaled by gods, 69 
 
 Warrior, dance, 138 
 
 Water, red, 128 ; bitter, 129 
 
 Wathen, Druid offerings, 57 
 
 Wayao, oracles, 163 
 
 Wazeramas, expel demons by music, 103 
 
 Witchcraft, causing death, 70 ; punishment, 70 ; dangers of, 84 
 
 Witches, 8 ; who were? 115 ; doctors, 118 ; palaver, 126; trial, 212 
 
 Wizard, 9; discovered, 115, 120 
 
 Woman, palaver, 126, 194 ; regents, war doctor, may represent god-life, 195 ; 
 danger of blood, 196 
 
 Work, panacea for ills, 217 
 
 Yam festivals, Ashantee, 136; laws abrogated, 140 
 
 Yatuk, 8 
 
 Yoruba, evil spirits kept outside gates, 86 
 
 Zenana, 202 
 
 Zulus, 10 ; subjects' persons the king's, 14; dread of reflecting surfaces, 35 ; 
 omens, 72 ; girls, 196 
 
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