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HY Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M.P., F.E.S. >UTHOB or 'PRKinSTORIC TIMES' KfnerTicr>I^.UKN-T or T,„ ETHNOLOGICAL SO.,RTr • n-.LLOW 01. THE LINNEAN, OEOWGICAL, ENTOMOLOGICA., AND OTHER SOCIIflES. SECOND EDITION, WITH ADDJ^IONS Iv^ LIBRAf?' ■\ r--\>l LONDON : LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1870. 91 r PEEFACE. ■r TN my work on ' Prehistoric Times ' I have devoted -^ several cliapters to the description of modern savages, because the weapons and implements now used by the lower races of men throw much liglit on the signification and use of those discovered in ancient tumuli, or in the drift gravels ; and because a knowledge of modern savages and their modes of life enables us more accurately to picture, and more vividly to conceive, the manners and customs of our ancestors in bygone ages. In the present volume, which is founded on a course of lectures delivered at the Eoyal Institution in the spring of 18G8, I propose more particularly to describe the social and mental condition of savages, their art, their systems of marriage and of relationship, their re- ligions, language, moral character, and law^s. Subse- quently I shall hope to publish those portions of my lectures which have reference to their houses, dress, boats, arms, imple-ments, ^c. From the very nature of the subjects dealt with in the present volume, I shall .%> VI have to to us i'UEFACl^: I'ecord m, so tny actions and ideas lat •innation many in fact that if I very abhorrent pass them without comment w- -po^siMe not to mention 1' t::;' r" ' ve.y repugnant to o„r fedinr,. v '""'' '"''' «y -thnents in son.e ^'L ,f' ""*= ' '" «'-« Montesquieu' commenoes with L , PoHion on., great work Which; Jo J^^^^^^^ ^«. ''e say., 'on pent j.,ger pa.„,i jl t M '"°"- <3"i -nf lo, n>oins profon* ai^ l """ ""'' -'- le. .eh-gion. ies eC i .r' f""'^" forme, au bien de la soeiet X o ^"" ^°"- "WpasreffetdeinenerleVho '' '""'"'''"" I'autre vie, peuvent lI7 '"^ ''""^'^^^ ^'"^ ^"-"on/e ep::;::r^""'-^'--rehgion. d- le ciel, ou bien de ceiles quill '" ™"'" terra- The difficulty which I h' . , , ''"' ^''' <^i^erent fo„n, but l\, J /„':::? r t" - ^ivrcLbsaiy to say these .'1 •S ^ ^*'^. j J I 'HE FACE. Vll few words of exi)lanation, lost I should be supposed to approve tliat wliicli I do not expressly condemn. Klenim, in his 'Allgemeinc Culturgeschiclite der Mensclien,' and recently Mr. Wood, in a more populai- manner (' Natural History of Man '), have described tlie various races of man consecutively ; a system which has its advantages, but which does not well bring out the general stages of progress in civilisation. Various other works, amongst which I must specially mention MuUer's ' Geschichte der Americanischen Urreligionen,' 'M'Lennan's Primitive Marriage,' and Bachofen's 'Das Mutterrecht,' ded with particular por- tions of the subject. Maine's interesting work on ' An- cient Law,' again, considers man in a more advanced stage than that which is the special subject of my work. The plan pursued by Tylor in his remarkable work on the 'Early History of Mankind,' more nearly re- sembles that which I have sketched out for myself, but the subject is one which no two minds would viev/ in the same manner, and is so vast that I am sure my friend will not regard me as intruding on a field which he has done so much to make his own. Nor must I omit to mention Lord Kames' ' History of Man,' and Montesquieu's ' Esprit des Lois,' both of them works of great interest, although written at a time when our knowledge of savage races was even 'more imperfect than it is now. VUl I'UEFAtJE. Yet tlie materials for such a work as the present are immense, anci are daily increasing. Those in- terested in the subject become every year more and more numerous ; and while none of my readers can be more sensible (jf my deficiencies than I am myself, yet after ten years of study, I have been anxious to publish this portion of my work, in the hope that it may con- tribute something towards the progress of a science which is in itself of the deepest interest, and which has a peculiar importance to an Empire such as ours, com- prising races in every stage of civilisation yet attained by man. High Elms, Down, Kent ; February, 1870. 'hi 4 Jsent in- ane! I be yet lish on- tice bas m- ed CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Importance of the Subject-Difficulty of the Subjecl^Inactivity of the Savage Intellect-Condition of the Lowest Races of Me^.- Cunou8 Customs with refereiice to ^lothers-in-Law-La Couvade- Reasons for La Couvade-Savage Ideas on the L,fluence ,.f Fuod- sT/ T? ^^"Vtv ''"'-'' '" Portraits-Use of Prayers as .Medicine -Savage Ideas of Dise_asfi-M'edical Treatment among Sava-vs- Fancies about Twins-Life attributed to Inanimate Objects-Sduta- Lions , r.voK CHAPTER n. ART AND ORNAMENTS. Art as an Ethnological Character-Ancient Art-E«quin,aux Drawings -Ihe Qmppu-Picture-writing-Indian Census Roll-Indian Tomb- stones-Indian Biography -Indian Petition - Rock Sculptu^s- sZ% TTr ^^' Studs-Labrets-Omamentation he S^n-lribe Marks-Tattooing-Artifidal Alteration of Forn - Hairdressing— Feejee Head-Dresses , CHAPTER HI, MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIP. The Position of Women among Savages-Absence of Ailection i„ pZ7 t"''^-'"""^^ Savages^Biiferent kluds of M r ia" -lolyandry- Separation of Husband and Wife - Absence of Marriage-Absence of any Xame for Marriage-Absence of AltSage Ceremony-Marriage Ceremonies-Relationships Indepenct^it of Marriage -South Sea System of Relationship^ Xoda Sv tl 30 i! rONTI'lNTS. I'AQR Ilelntionship — Prcvftlence of Adoption— The Milk-tio — Orif>iiiiil or Communal Marriage — Origin of Marriage — JJiiehofun's Viow-s — M'Leminn's Views — The True Ivvplanation — Origin of Marriage by Capture — Prevalence of Marriage by Capture— Originally a Ileality — Subsequently a Form — Ilindostan— Malay Peninsula — Kalmucks — Tonguses — Kamchadales — Mongols — j'^squinmux — South Ameri- cans — Feejee'vns — Polynesians — I'iiilippinu Islanders — Negroes — Mandingos — Circassians — IJussiu — North (Jermany — liritain — Ivxpla- uation of Marriage Ceremonies — Marriage by Confarreatio — Expiation for Marriage — Babylonia — Armenia — .Ethiopia — (t recce — Ilindostan, North America, Greenland — Supplying Guests with I'eniporary AVives — Ivespect for Courtesans — Keligious Character of Courtesans — Exogamy — Origin of Exogamy — I'revalence of Exogamy — Australia — Africa — Ilindostan — Northern Asia — China — Circassia — Exogamy in North America — Exogamy in North and South America — The Causes of Polygamy — Polyandry — Polyandry Exceptional — Endogamy — The Milk-Tie — Inheritance througli Females — lielatiou- ship through Females — Causes and Wide Distribution of the Custom — Neglect of i'aternal delation — Origin of Ilelationship in the ^Inlo Line — Change from Female to Male Kinship — System of Kinship through Males — Neglect of the Maternal delation — The Present System CHAPTER IV. RELIGION. r^s I ( II Mental Inactivity of Savages — Relation of the Lower to the Higher forms of Religion — Religious Characteristics of the Lower Races of Man — Classification of the Lower Religions — Religions according to Sanchoniatho — Absence of Religion — Rudimentary Religion — Reli- gious Ideas as suggested by Sleep — Religious Ideas as suggested by Dreams — Nightmare — The Shadow — Tliunder — Spirits regarded as Evil — Spirits regarded as causing Disease — Disbelief among Savages in the Existence of Natural Death — Low Ideas of Spirits entertained by Savages — Their Low Conception of their Deities as evidenced during Eclipses — Belief in Ghosts — Absence of Belief in a Future State — Future Life dependent on Mode of Death — Belief in the Plurality of Souls — Divination — Sorcery — Confusion of Name and Thing — Confusion of Part and Whole — Similarity of Witchcraft in various Parts of the World — Belief in Witclicraft sliarod by European Travellers— Sorcerers not necessarily Impostors— Fasting a Reliaious Form .... — Religious Dances- -Smoking as 131 / V' CUNTHNTS. xt 1'A(iE CIlAl'TKll V. RELIGION {cotUinued). Objects of Worship — Origin of Animal Worship — Tlio Kohonf,'— The Totem — Totemism in Americn — I lindostim — Sorpunt-^^'orship in Asia — Africa — l">gypt — Abyssinia — Chiiuea — KafVnuia — Ma(hi;j:as('av — Feejee hhmds — Polynesia — America — The Worship of other Animals in America — Pacific Islands — Siberia — India — Africa — Mada^niscar — The Custom of Apoloyisiug to Animals for Killing them — TheWorship of Inanimate Objects — Savage Tendency to Deification — Life Attri- buted to Inanimate Objects — Souls Attributed to Inanimate Objects — Tree- Worship in Europe — Africa —India — Ceylon— Siberia — Sumatra — Philippines^ — Pacific Islands — North America — Peru — Patagonia — America — Europe — Water- Worship in Europe — Asia — Africa — North America — Central America — South America-Thu Worship of Stones iu Asia — Ilindostan— Oreece — liapland — Franco — Ireland — Africa — I'acitic Islands — Sumatra — America — Eire- Worship — \'''stals — Worship of the Heavenly Bodies in Americn — India — Africa — Asia — Worship of other Objects .... PAClE 181 CHAPTER VI. RELIGION {concluded). Religion of Australians— Veddahs — Californians — Bachapins — KalHri* — Fetichism — Explanation of Fetichism — Negroes — Fetichism iu other Races — Hindostan — North America — China — Siberia — Tote- mism — Developmental and Adaptational Modifications of Religion — Shamanism in Siberia — Greenland — Pacific Islands — Africa — India — Idolatry — Absence of Idolatry among the I^ower Races — Origin of Idolatry — Solomon's Explanation — Idols not Mere Emblems — Worship of Anceators — Worship of Men in Asia — Pacific Islands — Africa — The Great Lama — The Worship of I'rinciples — Sacrifices — Confusion of the Victim -with the Deity — Egypt — Mexico — Hindostan — Eating the Fetich — Human Sacrifices — Temples — Q'ombs — Priests — The Soul — Ideas of Heaven — Plurality of Souls — The Future State — Creation— Prayer— Morality — The Nature of Idols — Science and Religion ii35 CHAPTER VII. CHARACTER AND MORALS. Difficulty of ascertaining the Character of Savage Races— Insecurity in Morals — Moral of Life and Property among Savages- -Progree Xll CONTENTS. V.UiK Condition of Stivayea — Coufiision of Family Allectioii and Moral Feel- ing — Absence of Moral Feelin;,' — llelifrion not necessarily connet-tt'd with Morality — Morality and Religion — I^aw and Ri^'ht — (Jrowtli of Moral Feeling — Origin of Moral Feeling 2U3 CIIArTEK VIII. LANGUAGE. Gesture Language— The Origin of Language — All Language reducible to a Few Koot-words — Origin of Root-words — "Wear and Tear of Words — Nicknames and Slang Terms — Origin of the Terms Father and Mother — Words for Father and Mother in various Languages — The Choice of Root-words — Poverty of Savage Langitagos — Deficiency in Terms of Affection— Absence of Abstract Terms — Deficiency in Numerals — Savage Difficulties in Arithmetic — Use of the Fingers in Arithmetic, as shown in the Names of Numerals — The Origin of the Decimal System 313 CHAPTER IX. LAWS. Importance of the Subject— The Character of the Laws of Savages — The Multiplicity of Laws among Savages — Rules relating to Hunting — Salutations and Ceremonies — Conduct of Public Business — Property in Land — Communal Property — Laws of Inheritance — Absence of Wills — Roman Wills — Rights of Children — The Yasu — Custom of Naming Parents after Children — The Punishment of Crime — Regulated Revenge — The I-aws of Property — Manifest and Non-Manifest Thieves — The Wergild — Ceueral Conclusion 341 APPENDIX. PART I. Difficulty of obtaining Conclusive Evidence — The Stationary Condition of Saviiges — No Evidence of Earlier Civilisation — Evidence deriv- able from Domestic iVnimals and Pottery — Indications of Progress among Sa\ ages — Savages not incapable of Civilisation — Indigenous Origin of Mexican Civilisation— Progress as indicated by Language — Traces of Barbaritiui in Civilised Countries — Arbitrary Ciistouis — Unitv of the llunuui Race , 30f) V,\(1H 341 t LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS QUOTED m THIS VOLUME. Adelung, Mitliridiitesi. Arago, Narrative of a Voyage round the World. Asiatic Researclies. Astlcy, Collection of Voyages. Atkinson, Oriental and Western Siberia. Bachofen, Das Mu'terreelit. Baikie, Exploring Voyage up the rivers Kwora and Binue. Bain, Mental and Moral Science, Baker, Albert Nyanza. ,, Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia. Battel, The strange Adventures of, (Pin- korton's Voyages and Travels). Becchey, Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific. Bosnian, Description of Guinea (Pin- kerton's Voyages and Travels). Brett, Indian Tribes of Guiana. Brooke, Lapland. Bruce, Travels in Abyssinia. Burchell, Travels in Southern Africa. Burton, Lake Regions of Africa. ,, First Footsteps in Africa. „ Abbeokuta and the Cameron Mountains. „ City of the Saints. Cailli^, Travels to Timbuctoo. Callaway, Religious System of the Amazulu. Campbell, Tales of the West Highlands. Carver, Travels in North America. Casalis, The Basutos. Catlin, North American Indians. Chapman, Travels in S. Africa. Charlevoix, History of Paraguay. Clarke, Travels. Collins, English Colony in Now S Wales. Cook, Voyage round the World. (In Hawkesworth's Voyages.) , , Second Voyage towards the Soutli Pole. „ Third Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Cox, Manual of Mythology. Crantz, History of Greenland. Darwin, Animals and Plants under Domestication. „ Origin of Species. M Researches in Geology and Natural History. Davis, Dr. J. B., Thesaurus Craniorum. Davis, The Chinese. Davy, Account of Ceylon. De Brosses, Du Cultedos Dieux fetiches. Denham, Travels in Africa. Depons, Travels in South America Dias, Dicciouario da Lingua Tupy. Dioffenbach, New Zealand. Dobrizhoffer, History of the Abipones. Drury, Adventures in Madagascar. Dubois, Description of the People of India. Dunn, The Oregon Territory. Dulaure, Histoire abr^gee des diffe* rents Cultes. D'Urville, Voyage au Pole sud. a •# -^'i XVIU LJST OF WORKS QUOTED. t; Eiirle, Eosidonco in New Zealand. Egwle, Greenliind. Ellis, Three Visits to i'l.idagascar. „ Polynesian Eescarchcs. Erman, Travels in Siberia. ]'>skine, "Western Pacific. I'lyro, Discoveries in Central Austritlia. Farrar, Orifjin of Language. Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship. Fitzroy, Voyage of the 'Adventure' and ' Beagle.' Forbes Leslie, Early Eaces of Scotland. Forster, Observations made during a Voyage roxmd the World. Franklin, Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea. Eraser, Travels in Koordisttm and Me- soiwtamia. Freycinet, Voyage autour du Monde. Gaius, Commentaries on Eoman liaw. Gama, Descripcion historica y crono- logica de las Pedras de Mexico. Gardner, Faiths of the World. Galton, Tropical South Africa. Gibbs, H.H., Eomance of the Chcvelere Assigne. Giraixl-Tculon, La Mere chez certains Peuples do I'Antiquite. Gladstone, Juventus Mundi. Goguet, De I'Origino des Lois, des Arts et des Sciences. Graah, Voyage to Greenland. Gr.ay, Travels in Western Africa. Grey, Sir G., Polynesian Mythology. ,, Journal of two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia. Hale, Ethnology of the United States Exploring Expedition. Ilallam, History of England. Hanway, Travels in Persia. Hayes, Open Polar Sea, Hawkcsworth, Voyages of Discovery in the Southern Hemisphere. Hcarne, Voyage to the Northern Ocenn. Herodotus. Hill, Travels in Siberi.i. Hooper, Tents of the Tuski. Humboldt, Personal Eesearches. Hunter, Comparative Dictionarj' of tlio Non-Aryan Languages of India and High Asia. Hume, Essays. „ History of England. luman. Ancient Faiths Names. in Ancient James, Expedition to the Eocky Moun- tains. Journal of the Eoyal Institution. Jukes, Voyage of the 'Fly.' Karnes, History of Man. Kcnrick, Phoenicia. Keppel, Visit to the Indian Archipelago. ,, Expedition to Borneo. Klemm, Allgemeino Culturgeschichto der Menschheit. „ Werkzeuge und Waffen. Koelle, Polj-glotta Africana. Kolben, History of the Cape of Good Hope. Kolff, Voyage of the 'Dourga.' Kotzobue, Voyage round the World. Labat, Voyage anx lies de I'Anieriquc, Labillurdierc, Voyage in search of La Pe rouse. Lafitau,Mceurs des Sauvages amerieains. Laird, Expedition into the Interior of Africa. Lander (K and J.), Niger Expedition. Lang, Aborigines of Australia, Latham, Descriptive Ethnology. Lecky, History of Eationalism. Lewin, Hill Tracts of Chittagong. Liclitenstein, Travels in South Africa. Locke, On the human understanding. Lubbock, Prehistoric Times. Lyon, Journal during the Voyage of Captain Parry. LIST OF WOIiKS QUOTED. rchps. lomry of flin af India iviul in Ancient ocky Moun- ition. rchipeljigo. 0. rgeschichto tffen. e of Good World. ^nieriqiio. fch of La »ericiiin«i. itorior of edition. Africa, tiding. y»g6 of McGillivray, Voyage of the ' Eattle- snako.' JI'Lennan, Primitive Marriage. Maine, Ancient Law. Marsden, History of Sumatra. Mariner, Tonga Islands. Martins, Von dem Rechtszustande unter den Ureinwohncrn Brasiliens. Merolla, Voyage to Congo (Pinker- ton's Voyages and Travels). Metz, Tribes of the Neilgherries. Metlahkatlah, published by the Church Missionary Society. Middendorf, Sibirische Reise. Monboddo, Origin and Progress of Lan- guage. Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois. Moser, The Caucasus and its People Moor, Notices of the Indian Archi- pelago. Morgan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila- delphia. Mouhot, Travels in the Central Parts ' of Indo-China. i Midler (Max), Chips from a German AVorkshop. „ Lectures on Language, ! First Series. Lectures on Language, Second Series. Midler (F. G.), Geschichte der Ameri- : kanischen Urreligionen. XIX Nilsson, On the Stone Age. Olaus Magnus. Pallas, Voyages en diff^rentes Provinces de I'Empire de Eussie. » Voyages entrepris dans les Gou- vernements mtn-idionaux do I'Empire de Pussie. Park, Travels. Parky ns, Life in Abyssinia. Perouse, Voyage autour du Monde. Pliny, Natural History. Prescott, History of Peru. » History of Mexico. Prichard, Natural History of Man. Proceedings of the American Academy of \rts and Sciences. Proceedings of tJie Boston Society of Natural History. Proy.Mrt, History of Loango (Pinker- ton's Voyages and Travels). Raffles, History of Java, Reade, Savage Africa. Renan, Origine du Langage. Richardson, Journal of a Boat Journey. Robertson, History of America. Rutimeyer, Beitr. zur Konntniss der fossilen Pferde. Scherzer, Voyage of the ' Novara.' Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes. Seemann, A Mission to Fiji. Smith, A., Theory of Moral Sentiments, and Dissertation on tlio Origin of Languages. ,,^ G.^ (Bishop of Victoj'ia), Ton AVeeks in Japan. ,, I. History of Virginia. ,, W., Voyage to Guinea. Smithsonian Reports. Snowden and Prall, Grammar of the Mpongwe Language. New York. Spcke, Discovery of the Source of the Nile. Spencer's Principles of Biology. Spiers, Life in Ancient India. Spix and Martins, Travels in Brazil Sproat, Scenes and Studies of Sava-o Life. ° Squiers, Serpent Symbol in America. Stephens, South Australia. Stevenson, Travels in South America. Stmhlenberg, Description of Russia Siberia, and Great Tartary, Systems of Land Tenure. Published by the Cobdcn Club. Tacitus. Tanner^ Narrative of a Captivity among the North American Indians. Taylor,Ne«rZealand and its Inhabitants. Tortre, History of the Caribby Islands s XX LIST OF WOIfKS QUOTED. a; Tindiill, Grammar and Dictionary of the Namaqua (Hottentot) Language Transactions of the Americ. Antiq. Soe. Transactions of the Ethnological Society Transactions of the R. S. of Victoria. Tylor, Anahuac. ,. Early History of Man. Upham, History and Doctrine of Budd- hism in Ceylon. Vancouver, Voyage of Discovery. Vogt, Lectures on Man. Waitz, Anthropology. Wake, Chapters on Man. Wallace, Travels in the Amazons and Eio Negro. Wallace, Malay Archipelago. Watson and Kayo, The People of India. Wedgwood, Introduction to the Diction- ary of the English Language. Whately (Archbishop of Dublin), Political Economy. Whipple, Report on the Indian Tribes Wilkes, United States' Exploring Expe- dition. Williams, Fiji and the Fijians. Wood, Natural History of Man. Wrangol, Siberia and the Polar Sea. Wright, Superstitions of England. Yate, New Zealand. ) People of the Diction- iRge. f Dublin), Jian Tribes. Soring Expe- ns. Inn. )Iar Sea. jland. THE ORIGIN OF CIVILISATION (J'C. CHAPTER I. : N T H O D U C T I O N. rrm etmly of the lever races of men, apart from the J- direct Luportance which it possesses in an empire like ours, IS of great interest from three points of vieH- In the first place, the condition and habits of existinc^ savages resemble in many, ways, though not in alh- those of our own ancestors in a period now loner .one by: m the second, they illnstrate much of whal is passmg among ourselves, many customs which have evidently no relation to present circumstances ; and even some ideas which are rooted in our minds, as fossils are nnbedded in the soil: while thirdly, we can even by means of them, penetrate some of that mist which separates tlie present from the future In fact, the lower races of men in various parts of the world present us with illustrations of a social con- dition ruder, and more archaic, than any which history records as having ever existed among the more advanced races. Even among civilised peoples, how- ever, we find traces of former barbarism. Not only is B i 2 IMrORTANGE OF THE SUBJECT. language in tliis respect very instructive ; but the laws and customs are often of very ancient origin, and contain symbols which are the relics of former realities. Thus the use of stone knives in certain Egypti.an ceremonies 2X)ints to a time when that people habitually used stone implements. Again, the form of marriage by coem[)tio among the Romans, indicates a period in their history when they habitually bought wives, as so many savage tribes do now. So also the form of capture in weddings can only be explained by the h3'pothesis that che capture of wives was once a stern reality. In such cases as these the sequence is obvious. The use of stone knives in certain ceremonies is evidently a case of survival, not of invention ; and in the same way the form of capture in weddings would naturally survive the actual reality, while we cannot suppose that the reality would rise out of the symbol. The study of savage life is, moreover, of peculiar importance to us, forming as we do part of a great empire, with colonies in every part of the world, and fellow-citizens in every stage of civilisation. Of this our Indian possessions afford us a good illustration. ' AYe have studied the lowland population,' says Mr. Hunter,^ ' as no conquerors ever studied or understood ' a subject race. Their history, their habits, their re- ' quirements, their very weaknesses and prejudices are ' known, and furnish a basis for those political induc- ' tions which, under the titles of administrative foresight ' and timely reform, meet popular movements half-way. ' The East India Company grudged neither honours nor Hunter's Non-Aryan Languages of India, p. 2. TMrORTANCK OF THE SUJUUCT. 3 : the 1m ws id contain 3S. Thus eremonies ised stone cocrnptio ir liistory ny savage weddmgs le capture cases as ne knives 'vival, not )f capture d reality, :1 rise out peculiar a great >rld, and Of this Istration. |ays Mr. lerstood [heir re- ices are induc- )re sight -way. |)urs nor I ' solid rewards to any meritorious effort to illustnite the * peo])le8 whom it ruled.' ' The practical residt now appears. English adini- ' nistrators understand the vVryan, and are almost ' totally ignorant of the non-Aryan, ])opulation of ' India. Thev know with remarkable precision how a ' measure will he received by the higher or purely ' jVryan ranks of the community ; they can foresee ' with less certainty its eil'ect upon the lower or semi- ' Aryan chisses, but they neither know nor venture to ' predict the results of any Hue oi' action among the ' non- Aryan tribes. Political calculations are impos- ' sible without a knowledge of the peo[)le. But the evil ' does not stop here. In the void left by ignorance, ' prejudice has taken up its seat, and the calamity of ' the non- Aryan races is not merely that they are not ' imderstood, but that they are misrepresented.' AYell, therefore, has it been observed by Mr. Maine, in his excellent work on ' xVncient Law,' that, ' even if they gave more trouble than they do, no pains would be wasted in ascertaining the germs out of which has assuredly been unfolded e^'ery form of moral restraint Avhich controls our actions and shapes our conduct at the present moment. The rudiments of the social state,' he adds, ' so far as they are known to us at all, are known through testimony of three sorts — accounts by contemporary observers of civilisations less advanced than their own, the records which jjarticular races have preserved concerning their primitive history, and ancient law. The first kind of evidence is the best we could have expected. As societies do not advance concurrently, but at different rates of progress, there u2 4 nTFFTCULTY OF THE SUBJECT. ' have been epochs at wliich men trained to liahits of ' methodical observation have really been in a position ' to watch and describe the infancy of mankind.'^ He refers particidarly to Tacitns, whom lie praises for having 'made the most of snclian opportunity;' adding, however, ' but the " Germany," unlike most celebrated ' classical books, has not induced others to follow the ' excellent example set by its author, and the amount of ' this sort of testimony which we possess is exceedingly ' small.' This is very far, however, from being the case. At all epochs some ' men trained to habits of methodical ' observ^ation have really been in a position to watch ' and describe the inftmcy of mankind,' and the testi- mony of our modern travellers is of the same nature as that for which we are indebted to Tacitus. It is, indeed, much to be regretted that Mr. Maine, in his admirable work, did not more extensively avail himself of this source of information, for an acquaintance with the laws and customs of modern savages would have enabled him greatly to strengthen his arguments on some points, while it would, I cannot but think, have modified his views on others. Thus he lays it down as an obvious proposition that ' the organisation of primi- * tive societies would have been confounded, if men had ' called themselves relatives of their mother's relatives,' while I shall presently show that, as indeed Mr. McLennan has already pointed out, relationship through females is a common custom of savage communities all over the world. ' ^faine's Ancient Law, p. 120, DIFFICULTY OF THE SUBJECT. il)its of position .:' He Lses for adding, ebrated low the ount of edingly 36. At liodical ) watch e testi- nature It is, 1 in his liinself ce with have nts on have own as primi- en had itives,' 1 Mr. irough ies all I But though our information with reference to the social and moral condition of the lower races of man is much more consideral^le than Mr. Mjiine supposed, it is certainly very far from being satisfactory cither in extent or in accuracy. Travellers naturally find it far easier to describe the houses, boats, food, dress, weapons, and implements of savages than to understand their thouirhts and feelinf^s. The whole mental condition of a savage is so different from ours, that it is often very difficult to follow what is passing in his mind, or to understand the motives by which he is in'kienced. Many things ai)pear natural and almost self-evident to him, which produce a very different impression on us. ' What ! ' said a negro to Burton, ' am I to starve, Avhile ' my sister has children whom she can sell ? ' Though savages always hnve a reason, such as it is, for what they do and what they believe, their reasons often are very absurd. Moreover, the difficulty of ascertaining what is passing in their minds is of course much enhanced by the difficulty of communicating with them. This has produced many laughable mis- takes. Thus, when Labillardiere enquired of the Friendly Islanders the word for 1,000,000, they seem to have thought the question absurd, and answered him by a word which apparently has no meaning ; when he asked for 10,000,000, they said ' laoalai,' which I will leave unexplained ; for 100,000,000, ' laounoua,' that is to say, 'nonsense;' while for the higher numbers they gave Inm certain coarse expressions, which he has gravely published in his table of numerals. A mistake made by Dampier led to more serious results. lie had met some Australians, and ap[)re- i t ! 6 INACTIVITY OF Till: 11 hcndiiif,^ an attack, lie says: — '1 (lischargctl my gun to ' scare tlicni, })Ut avoided sliooting any of them ; till ' finding tlie young man in great danger from them, ' and myself in some, and that though the gun had a ' little frightened them at first, yet they had soon learnt ' to despise it^ tossing up their hands, and crying " pooh, ' " pooh, pooh!" and coming on afresh with a great noise, ' I thought it high time to charge again, and shoot one ' of them, which I did. The rest, seeing him fall, made ' a stand again, and my young man took the opportunity ' to disengage himself, and come off to me ; my other ' man also was with me, who had done nothing all this ' while, having come out unarmed ; and I returned ' back with my men, designing to attempt the natives ' no farther, being very sorry for what had happened 'already.'^ ' Pooh, pooh,' however, or 'puff, puff,' is the name which savages, like children, naturally apply to ixuns. Another source of error is, that savages arc often reluctant to contradict what is said to them. Thus Mr. Oldfield,'' speaking of the Australians, tells us : — ' I have found ihis habit of non-contradiction to stand ' very much in my way when making enquiries of them, ' for, as my knowledge of their language was only ' sufficient to enable me to seek information on some ' points by putting suggestive questions, in which they ' immediately concurred, I was frequently driven nearly ' to my wits' end to arrive at the truth. A native once ' l)rouglit me in some specimens of a species of euca- ' hl)tus, and beh>'>' desirous of asccrtaininix the habit of ' Pinlcortou's Voyagow, vol. xi. ]i. 473. ~ Trans. Etliii. Sue X. S. vol. iii. p. 2.>5. SA VACJE INTELLECT. >' gun to ( jm ; till i n tlicni, i m had .'i i m learnt * " pooh, is at noise, t( loot one 1 ^^ ill, made 1 ortunity 1 ly other ^ all this ■'i , •eturned natives J • appened puff,' is y apply •e often Thus 1 us : — ^ 3 stand 1 ' f them, i IS only n some h they '.'1 nearly ^e once ,?. ' f cuca- •I ' abit of 1 ' the plant, 1 asked, " A tall tree?" to which his ready answer was in the aHirmativc. Not feeling quite satisfied, I again demanded, " A low bush ?" to which " yes " was also the resj)onse.* Auaui, the mind of the savaire, like that of the child. 'n^i rs. ; easily fatigued, and he will then give random answc 3 spare himself the trouble of thought. Speaking of le Ahts (N.W. America), Mr. Sproat' says: — ' The native mind, to an educated man, be asleep; and, if you suddenly asl seems generally to novel question, you have to repeat it while the mind of the savage is awaking, and to speak with emphasis until he has quite got your meaning. This may partly arise from the questioner's imperfect knowledge of the language ; still, 1 think, not entirely, as the savage may be observed occasionally to become forgetful when volun- tarily conmiunicating information. On his attention being fully aroused, he often shows nuich quickness in reply and ingenuity in argument. But a short conversation Avearios him, piu'ticularly if questions are asked that require efforts of thought or memory on his part. The mind of the savage then appears to rock to and fro out of mere weakness, and he tells lies and talks nonsense.' ' I frequently enquired of the negroes,' says Park, what became of the sun during the night, and whether we should see the same sun, or a different one, in the morning; but I found that they considered the ques- tion as very childish. The subject appeared to them as placed beyond the reach of human investigation ; . viil. iii. ^ Scenes autl Studies of Savage liife, p. 120. I ' ' 8 CONDITION OF Till': i: II' I, I I i; ' ' they had never uidiilged a conjecture, nor formed any ' liypothesis, about tlie matter." Such ideas are, in fact, entirely beyond the mental range of the lower savages, whose extreme mental in- feriority we have much difficulty in realising. Speaking of the wild men in the interior of Borneo, ^Ir. Dalton says that'^ they are found living 'absolutely in a state of nature, who neither cultivate the ground nor live in huts ; who neither eat rice nor salt, and who do not associate with each other, but rove about some woods, like wild beasts ; the sexes meet in the jungle, or the man carries away a woman from some campong. When the children are old enough to shift for them- selves, they usually separate, neither one afterwards tliinking of the other. At night they sleep under some large tree, the branches of which hang low ; on these they fasten the children in a kind of swing ; around the tree they make a fire to keep off the wild beasts and snakes. They cover themselves with a piece of bark, and in this also they wrap their children ; it is soft and warm, but will not keep out the rain. The poor creatures are looked on and treated by the other Dyaks as wild beasts.' Lichtenstein describes a Bushman as presenting ' the true physiognomy of the small blue ape of Caffraria. What gives the more verity to such a comparison was the vivacity of his eyes, and the flexibility of his eye- brows. . . . Even his nostrils and the corners of his moutli, nay his very ears, moved involuntarily. There was not, on the contrary, a single ' Park's Travels, vol. i. p. 2Uo. * Moor's Notices of the Indian Archipelago, p. 49. Sec also Keppel's Expedition to Borneo, vol. ii. p. x. i V LOWEST It ACES OF MKX. i) mod any ! mental ental in- Borneo, )solutely i ground uid wlio ut some ! jungle, impong. ►r them- er wards er some )n these around I boasts )iece of ; it is The e other ig ' the ft'raria. |on was is eye- lers of tarily. single Keppel's p. X. I i ' feature in his countenance that evinced a consciousness ' of mental powers. Under these circumstances it cannot be wondered at that we have most contradictory accounts as to tlie cha- racter and mental condition of savages. Nevertheless, by comparing together the accounts of different travellers, we can to a great extent avoid these sources of error ; and we are very much aided in this by the remarkable similarity betv;een different races. So striking indeed is this, that different races in similar stages of development often present more features of resemblance to one am)ther than the same race does to itself in different stages of its history. Some ideas, indeed, which seem to us at first inex- plicable and fantastic, are yet very widely distributed. Thus among many races a woman is absolutely forbidden to speak to her son-in-law. Franklin' tells us that among the American Indians of the far North, ' it is considered ' extremely improper for a mother-in-law to speak or ' even look at him ; and when she has a communication ' to make to him it is the etiquette that she should turn ' her back upon him, and address him only through the ' medium of a third person.' Further south, among the Omahaws, ' neither the ' father-in-law nor mother-in-law will hold any direct ' communication with their son-in-law ; nor will he, on ' any occasion, or under any consideration, converse im- ' mediately with them, although no ill-will exists between ' them ; they v/ill not, on any account, mention each ' other's name in company, nor look in each other's faces ; ' Lichtenstoiii, vol. ii. p. 224. - Journey to the Shore.s of the Polar Sea, vol. i. p. 137. I !ii 10 CUinOUS CUSTOMS WITH REFERENCE TO ' any conversation tlmt passes between them is conducted * through the medium of some other person.' ^ Harmon says that among the Indians east of the liocky jMountains the same rule prevails. Baegert"- mentions that among the Indians of California ' the son-in-law was not allowed, for some time, to look ' into the face of his mother-in-law, or his wife's nearest ' relations, but had to step on one side, or to hide him- ' self when these women were present.' Laiitau,^ indeed, makes the same statements as regards the North American Indians generally. We find it amono' the Crees and Dacotahs and ao-ain in Florida, Ivochefort mentions it among the Caribs, and in South America it recurs anions; the Arawaks. In xVsia, among the Mongols and Kalmucks, a woman must not speak to her farher-in-law nor sit down in his presence. Among the Ostiaks^ of Siberia, ' une fille ' mariee evite autant qu'il lui est possibk ui presence du ' pere de son mari, tant qu'elle n'a pas d'enfant ; et le ' mari, pendant ce tems, n'ose pas paroitre devant la mere ' de sa femme. S'ils se rencontrent par hasard, le mari lui ' tourne le dos, et la femme se couvre le visage. On ne ' donne point de nom aux filles Ostiakes ; lorsqu'elles sont • mariees, les homnies les nominent Imi, fenmies. Les ' femnies,par respect pour leurs maris, ne les a])pellent pas ' par leur noni; elles se servent du mot de Tahe, hommes.' Dubois mentions that in certain districts of Hindo- stan a woman ' is not [)crmittetl to speak to her motlier- 1 James's Expedition to the Iioclvy Mountains, v-'. i. p. 2;')2. - Account c.f Calit'nrnia, 177-'). Trnnslatoil by C. rJtiu,iu ^'niitlidonian liop. for I8G0-4, p. 3{i6. '-^ Moeursdes SauvagosAnieiicains vol. i. p. •')7(). •' Talla.s, vol. iv. pp. 71, 577. Ife nialies the same ptateuicnt with ivf'or- cuce to the SaiuoyctUs, /. c. p. 09. I 4 MO TIIEIiS-IN-LA W. 11 ' iii-Liw. AVhen any task is prescribed to her, she shows 'her acquiescence only by signs;' a contrivance, he sarcastically adds, ' well adapted for securing domestic ' tranquillity. ' ^ In China, according to Duhalde, the father-in-law, after the wedding-day, ' never sees the face of his ' daughter-in-law again ; he never visits her,' and if they chance to meet he hides himself.^ A similar custom prevails in liorneo and in the Fiji Islands. In Australia, Eyre states that a man must not pronounce the name of his father-in-law, his mother-in-law, or his son-in-l:iw. In central iVfrica, Caillie '' observes that, ' from this moment the lover is not to see the father and mother of his future bride : he takes the greatest care to avoid them, and if by chance they perceive him they cover their faces, as if all ties of friendship were broken. I tried in vain to discover tlie orioin of this whimsical custom ; the only answer I could obtain was, " It's our " way." The custom extends beyond the relations : if the lover is of a different camp, he avoids all the in- habitants ot the lady's camp, except a few intimate friends whom he is permitted to visit. A little tent is generally set up for him, under which he remains all day, and if he is obliged to come out, or to cross the camp, he covers his face. He is not allowed to see his intended during the day, T)ut, when e^'ery^)ody is at rest, he creeps into her tent and remains with her till daybreak.' I.astly, among ^he Bushmen in the far South, Chapman recounts exactly the same thing, yet ^ On the Poople of India, p. i)3o. ^ Caillie's Travelii to Timbuctoo, - Astley's Collection of \'oyiiassionate 3n to the in Shang- is Chinese him what 3f a rebel, I eat it to ;er baptis- es, so that idea, and e enemies e kind of somewhat hv ocular ildren. I Dther, ' If y ; ' and induction :o render ;es of the as they stronger le virtue tig. »5 m, p. 131. p. 82. .. 198. In fact savages do not act without reason Jiny more than we do, though their reasons may often be bad ones and seem to us singularly absurd. Thus they have a great dread of having their portraits taken. The better the likeness, the wor-^e they think for the sitter ; so much life could not be put into the copy except at the expense of the original. Once when a good deal an- noyed by some Indians, Kane got rid of them instantly by threatening to draw them if they remained. CatUn tells an amusing, but melancholy anecdote, in reference to this feeling. On one occasion he was drawing a chief named Mahtocheega, in profile. This when ob- served excited much commotion among the Indians : ' Why was half his face left out ? ' they asked ; ' Mah- ' tocheega was never ashamed to look a white in the ' face.' Mahtocheega himself does not seem to have taken any offence, but Shonka, ' the Dog,' took advan- tage of the idea to taunt him. ' The Englishman knows,' he said, ' that you are but half a man ; he has painted ' but one-half of your face, and knows that the rest is ' good for nothing.' This view of the case led to a fight, in which poor Mahtocheega was shot ; and as ill- luck would have it, the bullet by which he was killed tore away just that part of the face which had been omitted in the drawing. This was very unfortunate for Mr. Catlin, who had great difficulty in making his escape, and lived some months after in fear for his life ; nor was the niatter settled until both Shonka and his brother had been killed in revenge for the death of Mahtocheega. Franklin also mentions that the North American Lidians ' prize pictures very highly, and esteem any c 18 CURIOUS IDEAS WITH llEFEBENCE TO PORTUAITS. w they can get, however badly executed, as efficient charms.' ^ The natives of Bornou had a simiLir liorror of beinjr written ; ' they said ' that they did not like it ; that the Slieik did not like it ; that it was a sin ; and I am quite sure, from the impression, that we had much better never have produced the book at all.' "^ In his Travels in Lapland Sir A. de C. Brooke says : — ' I could clearly perceive ^ that many of them imagined the magical art to be connected with what I was doing, and on this account showed signs of uneasiness, till reassured by some of the merchants. An instance of this happened one morning, when a Laplander knocked at the door of my chamber, and entered it, as they usually did, without further ceremony. Having come from Alten to Hammerfest on some business, curiosity had induced him, previously to his return, to pay the Englishman a visit. After a dram he seemed quite at his ease ; and producing my pencil, I proceeded, as he stood, to sketch his portrait. His countenance now immediately changed, and taking up his cap, he was on the point of making an abrupt exit, without my being able to conjecture the cause. As he spoke only his own tongue, I was obliged to have recourse to as- sistance ; when 1 found that his alarm was occasioned by my employment, which he at once comprehended, but suspected that, by obtaining a likeness of him, I should acquire over him a certain power and influence that might be prejudicial. He therefore refused to allow it, and ex[)rcssed a wish, before any other steps * Voyage to the Polar Seas, ii, 0. ^ Donbani's Travels in Africa, vol. i. p. 21 ~). ■' Brooke's Lapland, p. 354. VATTS. fficient ' being : ; that i I am much In his s:— 'I laffii^ed doing, ess, till ance of :nocked as tliey Iff come uriosity pay the ^uite at 1, as he ce now he was 3ut my ke only to as- sioned ended, him, I fluence sed to r steps 154. USE OF rJ?AYET?S AS mWTf'TKT:. 19 * wore taken, to return to Alton, and ask the permission ' of his master.' Mr. Ellis mentions tlic existence ol' a similar feeling in Madagascar.* We can hardly wonder that writing should seem to savages even more magical than drawing. Carver, for instance, allowed the North American Indians to open a book as often as and wherever they pleased, and then told them the number of leaves. ' The only way they * could account,' he says, ' for my knowledge, was by ' concluding that the book was a spirit, and whispered * me answers to whatever I demanded of it.' '■^ Father Bacgert mentions'^ that ' a certain missionary ' sent a native to one of his colleagues, with some loaves ' of bread and a letter stating their number. The mos- * senger eat a part of the bread, and his theft was con- ' sequently discovered ; another time when he had to ' deliver four loaves, he ate two of them, but hid the ' accompanying letter luider a stone while he was thus ' engaged, believing that his conduct would not be ' revealed this time, as the letter had not seen him in ' the act of eating the loaves.' Further north the Minatarrees, seeing Catlin intent over a copy of the ' Xew York Commercial Advertiser,' were much puzzled, but at length came to the conclu- sion that it was a medicine -cloth for sore eyes. One of them eventually bought it for a high price.* This use of writing as a medicine prevails largely in Africa, where the priests or wizards write a prayer on a piece of board, wash it off and make the patient drink it. ' Three Visits to Afadagasciir, p. ^ Smithsonian IJoport, 18{J4, p. nr,8. .S70. ^ Travels, p. 2r)r). ^ Anioricnn Indians, vol. ii. p. 02. c '2 1 20 USE OF PRAYERS AS MEDICINE. II Caillio ' met witli a man who had a p^rcat reputation for sanctity,. and who made liis livhig by writing prayers on a board, washing them off, and then selling the water, which was sprinkled over various objects, and supposed to improve or protect them. Mungo Park on one occasion profited by this idea. * A Bambarran having,' he says, ' heard that I was a ' Christian, immediately thought of procuring a saphie ; * and for this purpose brought out his walha or writing- ' board, assuring me that, he would dress me a supper * of rice, if I would write him a saphie to protect him * from wicked men. The proposal was of too great con- ' sequence to me to be refused : I therefore wrote the * board full from top to bottom on both sides ; and my ' landlord, to be certain of having the whole force of * the charm, washed the writing from the board into a * calabash with a little water, and having said a few ' prayers over it, drank this powerful draught ; after * which, lest a single word should escape, he licked the * board until it was quite dry.' ^ In Africa, the prayers written as medicine or as amulets are generally taken from the Koran. It is admitted that they are no protection from firearms, but this does not the least weaken the faith in them, because, as guns were not invented in Mahomet's time, he naturally provided no specific against them." Among the Kirghiz also, Atkinson tells us that the Mullas sell similar amulets, ' at the rate of a sheep for * each scrap of paper.' M ' Travels, vol. i. p. 202. ^ Astley's Collection of Voyarros, 2 Park's IVavela, vol. i. p. .%?. vol. ii. p. 85. See also p. 5(5. ■' Siberia, p. .".10. d SAVAaiJ iniJAS OF JHSFASIl 21 311 for ravers cT the i, and idea, was a [iphie ; riting- 5upper ct him it coll- ate the nd my orce of into a a few ; after ed tlie or as It is [is, but them, time, lat tlie |ep for ' oyn.p'os, The science of medicine, indeed, like that of astro- nomy, and like religion, takes among savages very much the character of witchcraft. Among the Kaffirs, 'diseases are all attributed to ' three causes — either to being enchanted by an enemy, ' to the anger of certain beings Avhose abode appears to ' be in the rivers, or to the power of evil si)irits." So, again, in Guinea, the native doctors paint their patients different colours in honour of the spirit.^ Ignorant as they are of the processes by which life is maintained, of anatomy and of physiology, the true nature of disease does not occur to them. Many savage races do not believe in natural death, and if a man, however old, dies without being wounded, concUidc that he must have been the victim of magic. Thus, then, when a savage is ill, he naturally attributes his sufferings to some enemy within him, or to some foreign object, and the result is a })eculiar system of treatment, curious both for its simplicity and uni- versality. ' It is remarkable in the Abiponian (Paraguay) phy- ' sicians,' says Father Dobritzhoffer,"' ' that they cure ' every kind of disease with one and the same medicine. ' Let us examine this method of healing. They apply ' their lips to the part affected, and suck it, spitting ' after every suction. At intervals they draw up their * breath from the very bottom of their breast and blow • upon that part of the body which is in pain. That ' blowing and sucking are alternately repeated. . . . ' Lichtenstein, vol. i. p. So/J, ' History of the Abiponos, vol. ii. - Astley's Collection of Voyages, p. 24U. vol. ii. p. 43'J. II 22 MEDWAL TREATMENT ! !i i>i Tlii.s method of healing is in use amongst all tlie savages of l*araguay and Brazil that J am ac(iuaiiit('4;J. - Englis^h Culoiiy ir New South Wales, pp. 3G3, .382. ^ Moor's Notices of the Indian Archipelago, p. 90. " Steel, Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. vol. vii. p. 308. .Ml i I? t 1 t I: i t i 1 1 ■ , 26 FANCIES ABOUT TWINS. * twins bcin^ born, one used frequently to be killed : it ' is considered unlucky, and also degrading, to have ' twins, as they consider that it assimilates them with ' the lower animals.' Among the Ainos of Japan,^ when twins are born, one is always destroyed. At Arebo in Guinea, Smith and Bosnian ^ tell us that when twins are born, both they and the mother are killed. ' In >Tguru, one of the sister ' provinces to Unyanyembe, twins are ord^^red to be ' killed and thrown into the water the moment they ai'e *■ bom, lest droughts and famines or floods should op- * press the land. Should anyone attempt to conceal * twins, the whole family would be murdered.' ^ The American Indians,* also, en the birth of twins, killed one j perhaps merely under the idea that one strong child was better than two weak ones. This is not, however, I think, i'^ . ^ oral cause of the prejudice against twins. I should rather see it in the curious idea that one man would only have one child ; so that twins imply infidelity of an aggravp^ed character. Thus in the iixiiroduction to the curious old Chevalier Assig .J, or Knight of the Swan (the king and queen are sitting on the wall together) : — The kynge loked adowne, and byhelde under, And seygh a pore womman, at the yate sytte, Withe two chyldeien her byfore, were borne at a byvtlie ; And he turned hyni thenne, and teres lettc he fallo Sythen sykcde he on hyghe, and to the qwene sayd . So ye the yonder pore womman. Now that she i.- p; iii •. With twyiilenges two, and that dare I my hedde wedde. ' liickmore, Proc. Bost. Soc. of in Guuioa twins are welcomed. Nat. His. 1807. ^ Speke'a Discovery of the Sourco 2 Voyage to fiiiinoa, p. 2.")3. IMii- of the Nile, pp. '}i\, HIS. k'-rton, vol. xv. ]>. '')2(), Filsewhere ' liafilaii, vol. i. p. niVJ, Wi I LIFE ATTRIBUTED TO INANIMATIJ OBJECTS. 27 Soiirco Tlio qweiic nykked him with nay, and seyde it ia not to love : Oon nianiie for oon chylde, md two wymmen for tweyne ; Or ellis hit were unsemelye Ihynge, as me wo! '.e thenke, But eche chvlde hadde a fader, how manye so ther were.' Since reading this I have found that the very same idea occurs in Guinea.^ Some curious ideas prevalent among savages arise from the fact that as their own actions are due to life, so they attribute life even to inanimate objects. Even Plato assumed that every thing which moves itself must have a soul, and hence that the world must Lave a soul. Hearne tells us that the North American Indians prefer a hook that has caught a big fish to a handful that have never been tried. And that they never put two nets together for fear they should be jealous.^ The Bushmen thought Chapman's big waggon was the mother of his smaller ones ; they ^ despise an arrow that ' has once failed of its mark ; and on the contrary, con- * sider one that has hit as of double value. They ^vill, ' therefore, rather make new arrows, how much time and ' trouble soever it may cost them, than collect those ' that have missed, and use them again.' * The natives of Tahiti sowed some iron nails given them by Captain Cook, hoping thus to obtain young ones. They also believe that ' not only all pnimals, but ' trees, fruit, and even stones, have souls, which at death, '• or upon being consumed or broken, ascend to the di- ' vinity, with whom they first mix, and afterwards pass ' into the mansion allotted to each.' ' Tlie Romance of the Chevelere Assigue, edited by H. H. Gibbs, Esq. Tnibners, 18G8. - Astley's Collection of Voyages, vol. iii. p. 8.']. At p. '-ioS in the suuie vol., we find a curious variation of this idea among the Hottentots. " Loc. cit. p. 330. ^ Lichtenstoin's Travels in South Africa, vol. ii. p. 27 1 . :>« LIFE ATT Till !UTED TO INANIMATE OBJECTS. The Tongaiis were of opinion that ' if an animal dies,' ' its soul inmiediately goes to Bolotoo ; if a stone or any ' otaer substance is broken, immortality is equally its ' reward ; nay, artificial bodies have equal good luck ' with men, and hogs, and yams. If an axe or a chisel ' is worn out or broken up, away flies its soul for the ' service of the gods. If a house is taken down or any ' way destroyed, its immortal part will find a situation ' on the plains of Bolotoo.' Hence probably the custom of breaking the implements, &c. buried with the dead. This was not done to render them useless, for the savage would not dream of violating the tomb, bringing on himself the wrath of its occupant ; but because the im- plements required to be ' killed,' so that their spirits, like those of the wives and slaves, might accompany their master to the land of shadows. Lichtenstein relates that the king of the Coussa Kaffirs having broken off a piece of the anchor of a stranded ship, died soon afterwards; upon which all the Kaffirs made a point of saluting the anchor very respectfully whenever they pa^>sed near it, regarding it as a vindictive being. Some similar accident probably gave rise to the an- cient Mohawk notion that some great misfortune would happen if anyone spoke on Saratoga Lake. A strong- minded Englishwoman, on one occasion, while being ferried over, insisted on talking, and, as she got across safely, rallied her boatman on his superstition ; but I think he had the best of it after Ul, for he at once re- plied, ' The Great Spirit is merciful, and knows that a *■ white woman cannot liold her tonjrue.' ^ * Mariner's Toiigii I&lund.s, vol. ii. p. 137. - T3urton's Abbcokutji, vul. i. p 198. vs. SALUTATTOXS. 29 al dies,' 3 or any I ally its xl luck a chisel for the i or any ituation custom le dead. } savage ^ing on the im- •its, like ly their I Kaffirs tranded Kaffirs lectfully idictivc Ithe an- woidd Istrong- beiiig across but I Uce re- tliat a V- The forms of salutation among savages are sometimes very curious, and their modes of showing their feelings quite unlike ours. Kissing appears to us to be tlie natural language of affection. ' It is certain,' says Steele, 'tliat nature was its author, and it began ' with the first courtship:' but this seems to be quite a mistake. In fact it was unknown to the Australians, the New Zealanders, the Papouans, and the Esquimaux ; the West African negroes, we are told, do not like it, other- wise I should have thought that, when once discovered, it Avould have been universally popular. The Polynesians and the IMalays always sit down when speaking to a superior ; a Chinaman puts on his hat in- stead of taking it off. Cooke asserts that the people of IMallicollo show their admiration by hissing, and the same is the case, according to Casalis, among the Kaffirs.^ In some of the Pacific Islands, in parts of Hindostan'"^ and some parts of Africa, it is considered respectful to turn )'our back to a superior. The Todas of the Xeilgherry Hills are said to show respect by ' raising the open right ' hand to the brow, resting the thumb on the nose ' ; and it has been asserted that in one tribe of Esquimaux it is customary to pull a person's nose as a compliment, though it is but right to say that Dr. Rae thinks there was some mistake on the point ; on the other hand, Dr. JUackmore mentions that 'the sign of the Arapahoes, ' and from which they derive their name,' consists in seizing the nose with the thumb and forefinger.^ It is asserted that in China a coffin is regarded as an appropriate present for an aged relative, especially if he be in bad health. ' The Basutos, by the Itev. K - Dubois, he. cit. p. 210. Casnlis, p. 2:54. ' Trans. I-^thn. Soc. IHCO, p. ;^.10. ii' 30 CHAPTHK II. AET AND ORNAMENTS. THE earliest traces of art yet discovered belong to the Stone Age — to a time so remote that the rein- deer was abundant in the south of France, and that pro- bably, though on this point there is some doubt, even the nuimmoth had not entirely disappeared. These works of art are sometimes sculptures, if one may say so, and sometimes drawings or etchings made on bone or horn with the point of a flint. They are of peculiar interest, both as being the ear- liest works of art known to us — older than any Egyp- tian statues, or any of the Assyrian monuments, and also because, though so ancient, they show really con- siderable skill. There is, for instance, a certain spirit about the subjoined group of reindeer (tig. 1), copied from a specimen in the collection of the Marquis de Mbraye. The mammoth (pi. I.) represented on the opposite page, though less artistic, is perhaps even more interesting. It is scratched on a piece of mam- moth's tusk, and was found in the cave of La Madelaine hi the Dordogne. It is somewhat remarkable that while even in the Stone Period we find very fair drawings of anim.nls, yet in the latest jiart of the Stone Age, nnd tliroughout tliat of Bronze, they are ahnost entirely wanting, and I '3 ^ ong to le rcin- lat pro- ven tlie i works •;o, {ind )r liorn he car- Epyp- ts, and y con- i spirit coi)ied [uis dc ^. the even iiiam- elnine m the liintds, o'hont T^, and m ;=: -I WJ rn -i O I a H :r .•■-1'..i: ■■«;Ci'-.' ■>;,,. -.. - vsfl' ■■'■■-.. ■■"■'•' M tS^ SiKil^i. *»V'''«^';?C' ■ ' ■■•■••■ - ' ■ ■■• ■■'■ ■ ■ ■■"■ ^i'-'-''''wlil«'t ■loured engraving of an ab- ' original New Hollander, one declared it to be a ship, ' another a kangaroo, and so on ; not one of a dozen ' identifying the portrait as having any connection with * himself. A rude drawing, with all the lesser parts ' much exaggerated, they can realise. Thus, to give ' them an idea of a man, the head must be drawn dis- * proportionately large.' Dr. Collingwood,^ speaking of the Kibalans of For- mosa, to whom he showed a copy of the ' Illustrated London News,' tells us that he found it ' impossible to » Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S. vol. iii. p. 227. 2 Ibid. vol. vi. p. 139. ) « Aivr IX A Fine J. 85 of ' iiiterot tlicMii l)v |)()intiii«; out (lie; most strikin«>' illiis- ' trations, which they did not a|)[)('iu' to comprchuncl.' DciiliJini, ill hi8 'Travels in Central Africa,' says that nookhalooni, a man otherwise of considerable intelli- gence, though he readily recognised figures, could not understand a landscape. ' I could not.' he says, ' make ' him understand the intention of the i)rint of the sand- ' wind in the desert, which is I'jally so well described ' by Ca})tain Lyons' drawing; he would look at it up- ' side down ; and when I twice reversed it for him, he ex- ' claimed, " Why ! why ! it is all the same." A camel or ' a human figure was all I could make him understand, ' and at these he was all aojitation and deli";ht — " (jieb! ' " gieb ! " — Wonderful ! wonderful ! The eyes first too'. ' his attention, then the other features ; at the sight of 'the sword he exclaimed, "Allah! Allah!" and, on ' discovering the guns, instantly exclaimed, " Where is ' •' the poAvder ? " ' i So also the Kaffir has great difficulty in understanding drawings, and perspective is altogether beyond him. Central and Southern Africa seem, indeed, to l)e very backward in matters of art. Still the negroes are not altoixetlier deficient in the idea. Their idols cannot be called indeed works of art, but they often not only represent men, but give some of the African charac- teristics with grotesque fidelity. The Kaffirs also can carve fair representations of animals and plants, and are fond of doing so. The handles of their spoons are often shaped into unmistake- able likenesses of giraffes, ostriches, and other animals. As to the Bushmen, we have rather different ' Denham, Travels in Africa, vol. i. p. 107. 1)2 'I 80 THE QUirPV. accounts. It has been stated by some tliat they have no ideii of perspective, nor of how a curved surface can possibl}'^ be represented on a flat piece of paper ; wliile, on the contrary, other travellers assert that they readily recognise drawings of animals or flowers. The Chinese, although so advanced in many ways, are, we know, ver}^ deficient in the idea of perspective. Probably no race of men in the S',:one Age had at- tained the art of communicating facts by means of letters, nor even by the far ruder system of picture- writing ; nor does anything, perhaps, surprise the savage more than to find that Ivuropeans can com- municate with one another by rieans of a few black scratches on a piece of paper. Even the Peruvians had no better means of recording events thar the Quippu or Quipu, which was a cord about two feet long, to which a number of different coloured threads were attached in the form of a fringe. These threads were tied into knots, whence the name Quippu, meaning a knot. These knots served as cyphers, and the various threads had also conventional meanings attached to them, indicated by tlie various coloiu's. This singular and apparently very cumbersome mode of assisting the memory reappears in China and in Africa. "J'hus, 'As to ^ the original of the Chinese characters, ' before the conunencement of the monarchy, little cords ' with sliding knots, each of which had its particular ' signification, were used in transacting business. These ' are rejiresented in two tables l)y the Chinese^ called I/o- ' tti^ and Lo-slni. The first colonies who inhabited aS'.'<, vol. iv. p. 104. of riCTUUE. WHITING. 37 * sets of counters made with little knotted cords, in inii- ' tation of a string of round beads, with which they cal- ' culated and made up all their accounts in commerce/ Again, in West Africa, we are told that the people of Ardrah' 'c{.n neither write nor read. They use small ' cords tied, the knots of which have their signification. * These are also used by several savage nations in Ame- ' rica.' It seems not impossible that tyiog a knot in a pocket-handkerchief may be the direct lineal representa- tive of this ancient and widely extended mode of assist- inof the memorv. The so-called picture-writing is, however, a great ad- vance. Yet from representations of hunts in general, such us those of the Esquimaux (see tigs. 2-4), it is indeed but a step to record pictorially some particular hunt. Again, the Kscpnmaux almost always places his mark on his arrows, but I am not aware that any Poly- nesian ever conceived the idea of doing so. Thus we get among the Esquimaux a double commencement, as it were, for the representation of ideas l)y means of signs. This art of pictorial writing wjis still more advanced among the Red Skins. Thus Carver tells us that on one occasion his Chipe- way guide, fearing that the Xaudowcssies, a hostile tribe, might accidently fall in with and attack them, ' peeled ' the bark from a large tree near the entrance of a river, ' and with wood-coal mixed with bear s grease, their ' usual subfe'^itute for ink, made in an uncouth but ex- ' pressive manner the figure of the town of the C-.ta- Ile then formed to the left a man dressed ' AstK-y's Collection ol' Vuyftges, vol. iii. p. 71. gaumies. >i 1 IJM : I 38 pTCTniE'WnrriNG. ' in skins, b}' which he intended to represent u Xau- ' dowessi'', with a line drawn from his mouth to tliat of ' a deer, the symbol of the Chipeways. After this he ' depicted still farther to the left a canoe as proceedini^ ' np the river, in ^\hich he placed a man, sitting with ' a hat on; this figure was designed to represent an ' Englishman, or m}self, and my Frenchman was drawn ' with a handkerchief tied round his head, and rowing * the canoe ; to these he added several other significant ' emblems, among which the pipe of peace appeared ' painted on the prow of the canoe. The meaning he ' intended to convey to the Naudowessies, and which I ' doubt not appeared perfectly intelligible to them, was ^ that one of the Chipeway chiefs had received a speech ' from some Naudowessie chiefs at the town of the Otta- ' gaumies, desiring him to conduct the Englishman, who ' had lately been among them, up the Chipeway river; * and that they thereby required that the Chipeway, ' notwithstanding he was an avowed enemy, should not ' be molested by them on his passage, as he had the ' care of a person whom they esteemed as one of their ' nation.' ^ An excellent account of the Ked Skin pictorial art is given b}' Schoolcraft in his ' History of the Indian * Tribes in the United States.' Fig. 5 represents the census-roll of an Indian band at Mille Lac, in the territory of Minnesota, sent in to the United States agent by Nago-nabe, a Chippewa Indian, during the progress of the annuity payments in 1841). The Indians generally denote themselves by their ' totem,' or family sign, but in this case, as they all had ' Carver's Travels, p. -118. I INDIAN CENSUS ROLL. 89 Fig. 6. I \A n 40 INDIAN TOMBSTONES. I'. the same totem, he had designated eacli family by a sign denoting the common name of the Chief. Thus iiumber b denotes a catfish, and the six strokes indicate that the.Catfisli's family consisted of six individuals; 8 is a beaver skin, 9 a sun, 13 an eagle, 14 a snake, 22 a buffalo, 34 an axe, 35 the medicine-man, and so on. Fig. is the record of a noted chief of the St. jMary's band, called Shin-ga-ba-was-sin, or the Image-stone, who died on Lake Superior in 1828. lie was of the totem of the crane, as indicated by the figure. The six strokes on the right, and the three on the left, are marks of honour. The latter represent three important general Fic. (>. Fig. 7. INDIAN oRAVK-rosTs. (Sclioolcraft, vol. i. pi. 50.) treaties of peace in wliich he had taken part at various thnes.^ Amonir the former marks are included his ' Schoolcrnft, Indian Tribes, vol. i. p. '557. PICTURE-WRITING. 4] I presence under Tecums. at the battle of Moraviantown, where lie lost a brother. ' Fig. 7 represents the adjedutig, or tomb-board, of VV abojeeg, a celebrated Fig. a war-chief, who died ou Lake Siii:)erior, about 1793. He was of the family or clan of tlie reindeer. Tliis fact is symbolized by the figure of tlie deer. The reverse position denotes death. His own personal name, which was the White Fisher, is not noticed. The seven marks on the left denote that he had led seven war ])arties. The three perpendicular lines be- low the totem repre- sent three wounds re- ceived in battle. The figure of a moose's head relates to a des- perate conflict with an enraged animal of this tind. Fig. 8 is copied from a bark letter which was found above St. Anthony's Falls, in 18'>0 It consisted of white birch bark, and the figures Imd ;j^ I i i ' 1 1 ' ► 1 1 > J ■ 1 i 1 i i \l 42 TICTURE-WBITING. * been carefully drawn. No. 1 denotes the flag of the ' Union: No. 2 the cantonment, then recently established ' at Cold Spring, on the western side of the cliffs, above ' the influx of the St. Peters : No. 4 is the symbol of the ' commanding officer (Colonel H. Leavenworth), under ' whose authority a mission of peace had been sent into ' the Chippewa country : No. 1 1 is the symbol of Cha- ' kope, or the Six, the leading Sioux chief, under whose " orders the party moved: No. 8 is the second chief, ' called Wabedatunka, or the Black Dog. The symbol ' of his name is No. 10; he has fourteen lodges. No. 7 * is a chief, subordinate to Chakope, with thirteen * lodges, and a bale of goods (No. 9), which was devoted ' by the government to the objects of the peace. The ' name of No. 6, whose wigwam is No. 5, with thirteen ' subordinate lodges, was not given.' ^ This was intended to imply that a party of Sioux, headed by Chakope, and accompanied or at least coun- tenanced by Colonel Leavenworth, had come to this spot in the hope of meeting the Chippewa hunters and concluding a peace. The Chippev/a chief Babesacundabee, who found this letter, read off:* its meaning without doubt or hesitation. On one occasion a party of explorers, with two Indian guides, saw one morning, just as they were about to start, a pole stuck in the direction they were going, and holdmg at the top a piece of bark, covered with draw- ings, which were intended for the information of any other Lidians who might pass that way. This is repre- sented in fig. 9. ' Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, vol. i. pp. 352, '363, PICTURE. WRITING. 43 iian to ind iw- Ire- No. 1 represents tlie subaltern officer in command of the party. He is drawn with a sword to denote his rank. No. 2 denotes the secretary. He is represented as holding a book, the Indians having understood him to be an attorney. No. 3 represents the geologist, appropriately indicated by a hammer. Nos. 4 and 5 are attache's ; No. 6 the interpreter. The group of figures marked 9 represents seven infantry soldiers, Fig. 9. ^ 'fi*^ INDIAN BAKK LETTER. each of whom, as shown in group No. 10, was armed with a musivct. No. 15 denotes that they had a sepa- rate fire, and constituted a separate mess. Figs. 7 and 8 represent the two Chippewa guides. These are the only human figures drawn without the distinguishing symbol of a hat. This was the characteristic seized on by them, and generally employed by the Indians, to distinguish the Bed from the White race. Figs. 11 and 12 represent a prairie hen and a green tortoise, which constituted the sum of the preceding day's chase, and Avere eaten at the encampment. The inclination of the pole was designed to show the course pursued, and there were three hacks in it below the scroll of bark, to indicate the estimated length of this part of the journey, computing from water to water. The following figure r f ' ii il 41 INDIAN BIOailArUY. (fig. 10) gives the biography of Wiiigemund, a noted chief of the Delawares. 1 shows that it belonged to tlie oldest branch of the tribe, which use the tortoise on their symbol ; 2 is his totem or symbol ; 3 is the sim, and the ten strokes represent ten war parties in which he was engaged. Those figures on the left rei)resent the captives which he made in each of his excursions, Fig. 10. INIUAN BARK LETTER. the men being distinguished from the women, and the captives being denoted by having heads, while a man without his head is of course a dead man. The central figures represent three forts which he attacked ; 8 one on Lake Erie, 9 that of Detroit, and 10 Fort Pitt, at the junction of the Alleghany and the Monongahela. The sloping strokes denote the number of his followers.^ Fig. 11 represents a petition presented to the Presi- dent of the United States for the right to certain lakes (8) in the neighbourhood of Lake Superior (10). No. 1 represents Oshcabawis, the leader, who is of the " Schookraft, vol. i. p. .'»53. INDIAN VETITIOX 45 f5 o H g it a h^. 'I 4. 04. . J. •I hi OhN.UrEXTATTOX OF THE SKIN. 40 3d tor id, nd a lip. A small hole is made in the lip during infancy, and it is then extended by doii'recs until it is sometimes as much as two inches long. Some races extend the lobe of the oar until it reaches the shoulder ; others tile the teeth in various manners. Thus, among the Rejangs of Sumatra, 'both sexes ' have the extraordinary custom of filing and otherwise ' disfiguring their teeth, which are naturally very white ' and bejiutiful, from the simplicity of their food. For ' files they make use of small whetstones of difierent ' degrees of fineness, and the patients lie on their backs ' during the operation. Many, particularly women of ' the Lampong country, have their teeth rublicd down ' quite even with the gums ; others have them formed ' in points, and some file off no more than the outer ' coat and extremities, in order that they may the ' better receive and retain the jetty blackness with ' which they almost universally adorn them.' ^ Dr. J. B. Davis has a Dyak skull in which the six front teeth have each been carefully pierced with a small hole, into which a pin Avith a spherical brass head has been driven. In this way, the upper lip behig raised, the shining knob on eacli tooth would be dis- played.' Some of the African tribes also chip their teeth in various manners, each comnmnity luiving a fashion of its own. Ornamentation of the skin is almost universal amonjr the lower races of men. In some cases every individual follows his own fancy ; in others, each clan has a special pattern. Thus, speaking of Abeokuta, Captain ' Mnrsdeu's History of Sumatra, p o2. , - Thesaurus Craniorum, p. 289. E ii ,'i h^ il t I I r>{) TRTDE MAVKS. liiirtun^ says : — ' There was a vast variety of tattcjos ' and oriiaiiieiitation, ren(!(;rin^tliein a serious difficulty ' to strauf^ers. The skin patterns were of every variety, ' from the diminutive prick to the ffriat j>asli and the arge boil-like h They affected figures — )ou-.>'Ke lumps, iliey atrectea various ' tortoises, alligators, and the favourite lizard, stars, ' concentric circles, lozenges, right lines, welts, gouts of ' gore, marble or button-like knobs of flesh, and ele- ' vated scars, resembling .scalds, wliicli are opened for ' tlie intrt)duction of fetisli medicines, and to expel evil ^ influences. In tliis country every tribe, sul>-tribe, and ' evei family, has its bhizon,- whose infinite diversifi- ' cations maybe compared with the lines and ordinaries ' of I'^uropean heraldry.' In South Africa the Nyambanas are characterised by ;i row of pimples or warts, about the size of a pea, and extending from tlic upper part of the forehead to tlie tip of the nose. Among the l>achapin Kaffirs, those who liave disthiguislied themselves in battle are allowed the pri\ilege of marking their thigh with a long scar, Avhieh is rendered indelible and of a bluish colour by rul>bing ashes into the fresh wound. The tribal mark of the Bunns*' (Africa) consists of tlu'cc slashes from the crown of the head, down tlie face towards the mouth ; the ridges of flesh stand out in I)()ld relief. This painful ()[>eration is performod by cutting the skin, and taking out a strip of flesh ; palm oil and wood aslies are then rubbed into tlie wound,, thus causing a thick ridge. ' Abook.itn, vol. i. p. lot. ciiiUy 450. '^ iSiMi also IJisikir's ]vv|iloriiiL:' "' Trims. Mlliii, Sue. vol. v, p. SO, \ iiviific. ])|i. 77. i".il. •J'lO. !•!'.;! i'si»('- TATTOOING. 51 .rti, >y i>y dm id, ti The Bornouese in Central Africa have twenty cuts or lines on eacli side of the face, which are drawn from tiie corners of tlie mouth towards the angles of the lower jaw and cheekbone. They have also one cut in tlie centre of tlie foreliead, six on each arm, six on each leg, four on oacli breast, and. nine on each side, just al)ove the liips. Tliis makes 91 large cuts, and the process is said to be extremely painful on account of the heat and flies/ The islanders of Torres Straits ornament themselves by a large oval scar, slightly raised, and neatly made. It is situated on the riglit shoulder, but some of them have a second on the left. At Cape York many of the natives also had two or three long transverse scars on the chest. Manv had also a two-Lorned mark on each breast, but these difl'erenccs seemed to depend on the taste of each individusd. The custom of tattooing is foi.nd almost all over tlie world, though, as might be expected, it is most de- veloped in hot countries. In Siberia, however, the Ostiak women tattoo the backs of the hands, tlie fore- arm, and the front of the leg. Th>^ men only tattoo, on the wrist, the mark or sign which stands as their siii'nature.'"^ Among the Tuski "^ ' the faces of the women are tat- * tooed on the chin in diverging lines; men only make ' a ]>ermanent mark on the face for an act of prowess ' or success, such as killing a bear, capturing a whale, ' tVc, and ]H)ssibly also, in war time, for the death of ' an encmv.' II |S(). ' Di'dIuiiii, Vol. iii. p. 175 ^ I'jlUllH, V. J. 11. *»<5. Iloopor. The iauin of the Tuski, K 2 I I ! ! " A rj2 TATTOOINC. The women of P>rumer Islaiirl, on the south coast of New Guinea, Avere tattooed on the face, arms, and front of the body, but generally not on the back, in vertical strij)es less than an incli apart, and connected by zigzag markings. On the face these are more complicated, and on the forearm and wrist they were frequently so elaborate as to resemble lace-work.' The men were more rarely tattooed, and then only with a few lines or stars on the right breast. Sometimes, however, the markings consisted of a double series of large stars and dots stretching from the shoulder to the pit of the stomach. The inhabitants of Tanna have on their arms and chests elevated scars, representing plants, flowers, stars, and various other figures. ' The inhabitants of Tazo- ' van, or Formosa, by a very })ainful operation, impress ' on their naked skins various figures of trees, flowers, ' and animals. The great men in Guinea have their ' skin flowered like djunask ; and in Decan, the women *■ likewise have flowers cut into their flesh on the fore- ' head, tlie arms, and the breast, and the elevated scars ' are painted in colours, and exhibit the appearance of ' flowered damask.' "■^ In the Tonga Islands ' the men are tattooed from the ' middle of the tliigh to above the hips. The women ' arc only tattooed on the arms and fingers, and there ' very slightly.' ^ In the Feejee Islands, on the contrar}', the women are more tattooed than the men. When tastefully executed, tattooing has been regarded by • Mc(tillivr.av'.s Voyage of the iugaVoynge round tlio World, p. 588. IJattlosnalit', V(d. i, p. 2(i2. ^ Cook's Voyage towards the - I''i)rster'.'?<>l}.servnlionsuindL'diir South Toh', vol. i. p. L'ls. I TATTOO rxa. 53 ire len iiany travellers as a real ornament. Tluis Laird says that some of the tattooing in West Africa ' in the ab- sence of clothincf srives a finish to Ihe skin ' I 'O P) In the Gambier Islands, Beechey says,^ ' tattooing is so universally practised, that it is rare to meet a man without it ; and it is carried to sueli an extent that the figure is sometimes covered with small checkered lines from the neck to the ancles, though the breast is generally exempt, or only ornamented with a single device. In some, generally elderly men, the face is covered below the eyes, in which case the lines or net- work are more open than on other parts of the body, probably on account of the pain of the operation, and terminate at the upper part in a straight line fvoui ear to ear, passing over the bridge of the nose. With these exceptions, to which we may add the fashion, with some few, of blue lines, resembling stockings, from the middle of the thigh to the ankle, the eflect is becoming, and in a great measure destroys the a[)pear- ancc of nakedness. The patterns which most improve the shape, and which appear to me peculiar to this group, are those which extend from the armpits to the hips, and are drawn forward with a curve whicli seems to contract the waist, and at a short distances gives the figure an elegance and outline, not unlike that of the figures seen on the walls of the Egyptian tombs.' Fig. 12 represents a Caroline Islander, after Fre}'- cinet, and gives an idea of the tattooing, though it [88. ' NaiTiitive of an I'.xpodition into the InloriDr of Afrioa. vol, i. p. 'JOl. ^ Beechey, vol. i. p. 1:58. I 'I! I'l I 54 TATTOOlSd. cannot be taken as representing the I'unn or features characteristic of those islanders. The tattooing of the San(hvieh Islanders is less orna- Fio. 12. CAK(»LIXK ISLAXDKIl. mental, the devices being, according to Arago, ' un- ' meaning and whimsical, without taste, and in general ' badly executed.' ' Perhiips, hov.cver, the most beau- * tiful of all was that of the Xew Zealunders (see iigs. ' VmfTo's LotttMs. I't. II. p. 117. I V i . 1 RTTFTCI. \L A LTEn. I TION OF FORM. OS a- 1/5 and 14), who were ffenernlly tattooed in curved or spiral lines. Tlie process is extremely i»ainfiil, |»arti- cularly on the rn)s ; l)nt to shrink from it, or even to show any signs of snffering while under the operation, Fio. l;j. Ki.i. 14. rillAI) OK X1,\V ZKAt.AXItKH. in: \i> •ti' Ni:\v /i:ai.ani)i:i!. n- al n- would he thouiiht verv unmaidx'. The natives used the ' Moko ' or pattern of their tattooing' as a kind of signature. The women have their lips tattooed with horizontal lines. To have red lips is thought to he m great reproach. Manv similar cases miftht be iriven in which suvaaes ornament themselves, as they suppose, in a niamiei* which nuist be very painful. IV'rhaps none is more remarkable than the ])ra('tiee which we find in several parts of the world t>f modifying the human form by means ot' tight b.'uidaues. The small size of the Chinese ladies' fci t is a well-known case, but is scarcely less mischiexDus than i i i ! 56 ITA IRDRESSIXa. II k the compres.sioii of tlie waist as practised in I'.urope. Some of the Ainericiin tribes even modified the form of the head. One wo(dd have supposed that any such compression would havo exercised a Xiivy prejudicial effect on the inteHect, but as far as the existing evidence goes, it does not appear to do so. Tlie mode of dealing Avith the hair varies very nnich in diiferent races. Some races remove it almost entirely, some leave a ridge along the top of the head ; the Catfre wears a round ring of hair; the Xorth American Indian regards it as a point of honour to leave one tuft, in case he ever has the misfortune of being defeated, for it would be mean to cheat his victor of the scal[), the recognised emblem of con((uest. The Islanders of Torres Straits twist their hair into long pipe-like ringlets, and .also wet./ a kind of wig pre- pared in the same fashion. Sometimes they shave the head, leaving a transverse crest of hair. At Cape York the hair is almost always kept short. ^ The Feejeeans give a great deal of time and attention to their hair, as is shown in PI. II. Most of the chiefs have a special hairdresser, to whom they sometimes devote several hours a day. Their heads of hair are often more than three feet in circumference, and ^Ir. Williams measured one which was nearly five feet round. This forces them to sleep on narrow wooden pillows or neck rests, which must be very uncomfortable. They also dye the hair. Black is the natural and favourite colour, but some ju'efer white, flaxen, or bright red. ' On one head,' says Mr. Williams,- ' all the hair is of ' Mcriillivray's Voyago of tlip linttlesimke, 11, l.'{. ^ l''iji nnd the Fijiaiis, vol. i. p. loH. n J-'EE.IEEAN .aODES OF DKEStJINC- TH3 HAIR. 1:' /'/,/', // 1 r ii FEEJEE TIEAD-DUESSES. 57 ' a uniform lieiolu ; but one-third in front is ashy or ' sandy, un.l the rest bhick, a sharply defiued separation ' dividing tlie two colours. Not a few are so ingeniously ' gTotesrpie as to appear as if done purposely to excite ' laughter. One has a large knot of fiery hair r . hig ' crown, all the rest of his head being bald. Another ' has the most of his hair cut away, leaving three or four ' rows of small clusters, as if his head were -lanted with ' small paint brushes. A third has his head'bare except ' where a large patch projects over each temple. One, ' two, or three cords of twisted hair often fall from the ' right temple, a foot or eighteen inches long. Some ' men wear a number of these braids so as to form a ' curtain at the back of the neck, reaching from one ear ' to the other. A mode that requires great care, has ' the hair brought into distinct locks radiating from the ' head. Each lock is a perfect cone about seven inches ' long, having the base outwards ; so that the surface of ' the hair is marked out into a great number of small ' circles, the ends being turned in in each lock, towards ' the centre of the cone.' ft« I rilAPTEH Til. MAHKIAGE AND IJELATIONSIIM'. 'YI'OTITIXri, pcrhaj)s, fjivos a more instnictivo iiisifrjit -^^ into tlie true condition of siivaircs tlmn tlioir ideas on the subject of relationship and marriage ; nor cjui tlie great advantages of civilisation be more coi.clnsivcly [)roved than by the imj)rovement which it has effected in the rehition between the two sexes. Marriage, and tlie relationshi]) of a child to its fatlier and mother, seem to us so natural and obvious, that we are apt to look on them as aboriginal and general to the human race. This, however, is very far from being the case. The lowest races have no institution of marriafje ; true love is almost unknown among them; and marriage in its lowest phases, is by no means a matter of affection and companion8hi[). The Hottentots, says Kolben,' ' are so cold and indif- ' ferent to one another that you would think there was ' no such thing as love between them.' Among the Koussa Kaffirs, Lichtenstein asserts that there is ' no ' feeling of love in marriage.'- In North America, the Tinne Indians had no word for 'dear' or 'beloved;' and the Algoiuiuin language is stated to have contained no verb meaning ' to love ;' so that when the Uible was • Kolbeii's Hist, of the Capo of - Travels in ^oiith Africa, vol. i. (lood Hope, vol. i. p. 1(52. p. i*(il. Tlfl'] POSITION OF WOMI'JX A MONO SAVAOHS. •.'.t 1 ti'iiiislatod by tlio niissionsiries into that ]siii<^niag'o it was lUH'os.sary to invent a word for the i)ur|)osc'. Thouiili till' s()n;,^s of savn^'es arc generally devoted to the ehase, wnr, or women, they can very rarely be called love songs. J)r. Mitchell, for instance, who was I'or several years chairman of the Tnited States Sennte Committee on Indian Affairs, mentions that ^ neither amoncf the Osages nor the Cherokees, conld there be fonnd a single poetical or mnsical sentiment, fonnded on the tender i)assion between the sexes. Thon^h often asked, they produced no songs of love.' ' In Yariba,'*^ says Lander (Centnd Africa), ' marriage is celebrated by the natives as unconcernedly as pos- sible : a man thinks as little of taking a wife as of cutting an ear of corn — affection is altogether out of the question.' The King of 15oussa,^ he tells us in another place, ' when he is not engaged in public affairs, usually employs all his leisure hours in superintendifig the occup.'itions of his household, and making his own clothes. The Midiki (queen) and he have distinct estaV)lishments, divided fortunes, and separate inter- ests ; indeed, they appear to have nothing in common with each other, and yet we have never seen so friendly a couple since leaving our native country.' Among the Mandingoes marriage is merely a form of regulated slavery. Husband and wife ' never laugh or joke to- gether.' ' I asked Baba,' says Caillie, ' why he did not sometimes make merry with his wives. He replied that if he did he should not be able to manage them, ' Archneol. Americana, v. i. p. '{17. ^ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 100. See also p. ^ 11. and J. Lander's Niger Expe- 107. dition, vol. i. p. ]CA. (JO Ansj':\(!i<: of affectios is mauuluh:. I ' for tlicy would luiigli at liim when he ordered them ' to do aiivthiii^i-.' ' In Inlantation, the produce of his pepper garden, ' with everything that he can gain or earn, belongs ' to the family. lie is liable to be divorced at their ' pleasure, juid though he has children, must leave all, ' and return naked as he caine.' ' The Semando'"* is a regular tretity between the *■ parties, on the footing of e([uality. The adat paid to ' the girl's friends has usually been twelve dollars. ' The agreement stipulates that nil effects, gains, or ' earnings are to be equally the property of both; and, ' in case of divorce by mutual consent, the stock, debts, ' and credits are to be equally divided. If the man ' onl}' insists on the divorce, he gives the woman he'* ' .MnrMtlfM's llif.1. of Smuatrii. p. L'(5L'. ■' lhi\f. ]\ -JC.:;. hlFFEUEST KIXDS OF MJniiTA(JE. 0:1 'ir ill, ic to •s. or K I, ts. llll ■(.>»• 1 ' liiilf of tlio cffect8, jiiid loses the twelve dolhirs lie hits ' paid. If the woniiin only elniins tiie divoree. sht fortnight, at the expiration of which they were either annulled or conlirmed.' Among the Keddies^ of Southern India a very .singular custom prevails: — 'A young woman of six- ' teen or twenty years of age may be riarried to a boy ' ot live or six years! She, however, lives with some I'livv'p ('evil HI, p. '2M. Sliorll, 'I'liiii'-. I'ltlm. S N ew Scrio, \<<\. \ ii. jt I'.U. 1 04 POLY AN DRY. \ I U I * otiier adult male — perhaps a maternal unele or cou.siii ' — l)nt is not allowed to form a connection with the ' fatlier's relatives; occasionally it may be the boy- ' husband's father himself — that is, the woman's father- ' in-law! Should tliere be children fnmi these liaisons, ' they are fathered on the boy-hursband. When the boy ' grows u}) the wife is either old or past child-bearing, * when he in his turn takes up with some other "boy's" ' wife in a manner ])recisely simihu* to his own, and ' pnjcreates children for the boy-husband.' Polyandry, or the marriage of one woman to several men at once, is more common than is generally sup- posed, thoiigh jnuch less so than polygamy, which is almost imiversally permitted among the lower races of men. One reason — though I do not say the only one — for this is obvious when pointed out. Long after our chiMren are weaned milk remains an imi)ortant and necessary part of their food. We supply this want with cow's milk ; but among people who have no domes- ticated animals this cannot, "f course, be done, and c()nse(|uentlv the chihlren are not weaned until thev are two, three, or even four years ohl. During all this period the husband and wife gener.iUy reinjiin apart, and consecpiently, unhss a man has several wives, he is often left without any at all. Thus in lu;ejce ' the rela- * tives of a woman take it as a public insult if any child * should be worn bcfon* the custoMiary three or four * years have elapsed, and they considcM' themselves in ' duty bound to avenge it in an e(pially public manner.'^ It seems to us natural ;iiid projter that husband and wife sliouhl enjoy as much as possible the society of ' .St'fniitiui, A Mission tn Fiji, \\. Ivj. Si:rARATlON OF JirsilAMt AM) WIFE i>o is ii- ild Mir ill n \u\ of \i oiiL' anollier; but, ainon.ir tlic Turkomans, accordtni;' to Fraser, tor sixniuntlis or a year, or (.'vcu sometimes two ye.'U'.s, ath-r a marriaLie, the luislnuid was ouly allowed to vi^it his wi fe 1)V stealth IS wiie oy sre; Klenim states that tlie same is the ease amoiiu" *^he Circassians until the lirst ehild is horn. Amonii" the Feejeeans hu>1)ands and wives do not usually s[)end. the nisj'ht tou'ether. in rhiiiau'onu" ( India), although, "ae- ' eordiu,!"" to European ideas, the standard of nioridity ' anion^ii' the Kyounu'tha is low,' yet liushand and wife are oil no ueeounr Mei'mitted to slee}) togetlier until seven days after !:iarria,ui'.' ihu'ekhardl -' states, that in Arahia, after ihe weddinu", if it eau he ealled so. the fi'ide returns to hei* mother's tent, but ai^aiii rui:< away in the ewuiuL'', and re[)eats these fli, it is said that no husband is allowed lu sen.' hi- wife's faee iur.il he !i;:s been ihree years married. in Sparta, iuid in Crete, aci-urdiug' to Xintv[)hon an' rriiiiiliv' M;iriiii;jf, ]). .'lOl'. ' /.. i; \r\, i. p. ."irCi. It* (iC AiisUxci': (ft'' MAinnAdi: rEUEMoxy. |ft«H Striilx), married peoj>lo wore for some time after the Avecldin*>' oiih' allowed to sec one another as it were elandestinely; and a similar eiistom is said to liavc existed among the Lyeians, So far as I am aware, no satisiju'tory cxj)lanation of this eustom has yet heen j^iven. I shall, however, presently venture to suggest one. There are man\' cases in whieli savages have no sncli thin.i((ii"uiii IJi'|ii'it. ' Siiiillisniiiiiii 1».^ .»rt,1-i;c».j».:!L']t. "Jl^. l;iJ. ' < iiiiiina, p. 'f'l. Isd."., .•{CS. I yl7?s7vAT'7? OF MAIUUAGE CEREMOSY. 67 hiiy [kcs 4 1^ % 1 yi i I \ t]i(» s.'iino assertion with reference to the I'ra/iliini trihes LreneriiUy,^ jiiid it is also the case Avith sonic of the Australian tril)es.'' Til lere is, savs TV.'uce, ' no si ich tl unir as niarriairc ni Ahyssinia, nnless that which is contracted hy nuitual consent, without otlier lonu, snhsistin;^' only till dis- solved hy dissi'nt of one or other, and to hi; renewed or repeated as often iis it is nurceahle to bcfh parties, who, when tlu'V idciisc, live tofxether aunin ;;s man and wife, after havini;" been divorced, had children hy others, or whether thev havo been married, or had children with others or not. I rememher lo have once hccn at Koscnm in j)resence of the Ite^ulie (tlic queen), when, in the circle, tln-re wns a woman of <4"reat quality, and .seven men who had all been her husbnnds, none of Avhom was the h:!p[)y s])ouse at that time.''' '>\iid yet there is no country in the world where there are so manv c hurcl les. Aminiir the licdonin Arabs thei'e i; a niari'iiige cerenivjuy in the case of a Li'irl, but the re- m.-ii'riauc of a widow is not thouiiht sutlicientK' i;n- portant (o deserve one. Speke says, 'there an; no such ll nuiTs as marriau'cs ui I iianda I d: Of the jNIandinii'oes (West Africa), ('ailli;'-'' says that husband and wife are not r.niti'd bv an\' (•« '" .non\": and jlutton ' makes the same statement .iS re_;ards the Ash- antces. In ('oii2(> and AiiL!;>la '^ ' iliev nse no jieculiar ' ceremonies in marri.iue, nor scarce trouble tlu-mselvos ' for consent of friends.' I a N'aillant says thnt there ar(^ V.:l. 1. n. :;■)( 2 KyroV I)i!*cov('i'ii'.«,»('l. ii.p, .^10. ' Kl.'miu, Ciilnird. Mi'iisclion, vol. ' Hnicr's Travels, vol. i\, p. 4- ' Ii>ill. V..1. V. p. I. ■ iiHIlllI, ]) ■■JOl. 1!1 vv 11. UK). * A.xllt'y'i'Ciill. i>f \'iiv;i.i.'t'^, vol.iii r » ; , 1 , ■ 1 1 ' T li: cs }tAKUL\(lE CElU:.M(iXli:s. girl.'' no marrhigc ceremonies jiinong the Hottentots; ' and the Uusiimen, acconHii"; to Mr. Wood, iiad in theii hinuua<:e no means of distinii-nishin;!^ an unmarried from a married 2 Vet we must not assume that marriage is necessarily and always lightly regarded, where it is unaccompanied hy ceremonial. Thus 'marriage in this island (Tahiti), ' as aj)})eared to us,' says Cook, "is nothing more than ' an agreement between the man and woman, with which ' the priest has no concern. Where it is contracted it ' aj)[)ears to Ijc pretty well kept, though sometimes ' the parties separate l)y mutual consent, and in that ' case a divorce takes j)lace witli ms little trouble as * the marriage. Ihit though the j)riesth(>od has laid ' tlie people under no tax for a nuj)ti;d benediction, 'thi're are two o])erations wliith it has appropriated, ' and fi'om which if derives considerable advantages*. 'One is tattooing, ;uid the other circumcisioi.' ' Vet he elsewhei'c inibrms us that married women in Tahiti are as faithful to their husband.s as in any other part of the world. A\'e nni." t bear in mind that there Is a great di.>tinction b(.'tween what UKiy be called 'liix'and 'brittle' mar- riages. In some countries the mar.'iage tie may be br(;Itoiy nl' Man, veil. i. ' L'odIv's N'nva'jf K'Uiml thf Wmlil. Uawki'-wiU'tli'.-, \'iiyai:L'.>, vol. ii. p. :'|i>. I'ur ( 'ariiliiHi Islands, aco l\!fiaui, ('(/<. lit, vi)!. i\\ ]). SiD'J. Ansicxci: or MAUuiAdi:. ' J uo (liiiii none at all, but some races liavi' practices at mar- rinue which are extremely ohjectionable. Some, also, are very curious, and no doubt symholienl. Thus, amoii<'- the Caniuliaii Indiims, Carver' says thai wlicn ihe ehiet" ha-; pronounced the |);iir to he m;M'rIe(l, ' the l)i'i(l cases, nor is the act of liftini;" the bride over the brideuroom's threshold an act without a meaning. I shall shoi'ilv mentit)n many allied customs, t«) the importance and sig- nificance of which our ill tention has recently been ciiUed 1)V l\Ii'. M'l.emian, in his masterly work on ' Primitive ' Marriage.' I will now attempt to trace up the custom of marriiigc in its lii'avlual (leyeloi)ment. There is slroni; evidence that the lowest races of men live, or did live, in a stiite of wiiat mny i)erha|)s bi' cnlh'd ' Conumuud ^larria<''e.' In the Andiiiuan islands,' Sir ildward lieleher stales that the ctistom is lor the man and woman to remain ' Triivols, 1). .".r I Vi.l. vii. p. i'u. I>avis. ■Cli most', vol. 1 ■_'s.' 'I'raii.s. ]')tliii. Sue. vol. v. \>. 4*'>, 111 ! 70 .inSh'Xri'] OF AXY SAM/-: FOR MARltLXai:. ' >. ^ to^a'ther until tlic child is wciuicmI, wlieii tlioy f^eparato as a matter of course, and each socks a new partner. The Itushnien of South Africa are stated to be entirely without marriage. Among the Xairs (hulia),as JUichnnan tells us, ' no one knows his father, and evciy man looks ' on his sister's children as his heirs.' The Teehurs of Oude ' live together almost indiscriminately in large ' connnunities, and even wlnni two peo[)le are regardeert ,'' the sexes met without any Ibrmalities, and their vocabuhu'y did not even contain the words ' to marry.' The backwardness (until lately) of the Sandwich Islanders in their social relations, is manifested in their lanuuaue. Tiiis is shown from the followin;^ table ex- tracted from a longer one, given by ^Ir. ^Morgan in a most interesting memoir on the Origin of the Classifi- catory System of llelationship." 1 The IVoplo (if India, h\ J. F. Watfjon. and .1. W. Kavr, puldislicd by tilt" IikUiiu UovuinniLiit, vul.ii. pi. '^ (idgiifl, li'Oii^ine di'n Loi.-, dos Arts ct dos >ScicuLe.-<, vol. iii. p. .'ii'S. => (iio. i. 21(5. ' .Mt.diioiui'iio, iv. ISO. ^ Lw: lit. \\ :J(W. " i'mc. of (liu AnnT. Acatl. of Arl.-i and Sciences, I SOS. EELATIONSlTfl'S INDIJl'JLMJhWT OF M.lh'RLU;!:. 7\ llawaUiu, Kiipuna sin-iii/ies F.niflitih. 'Great jjjrjindfatlior (iroat groat mu;lo Groat j;raii(Iinotlii'i' (Jroat .i!;raii(laiint GraiKllathor GraiMluncIe (Jraiulinotlior .Ciraiidauiit Makua kaiia = Malvua wall CO na = Kalkoc kaiia = Father Father's brother Father's hrothor-in-hiw Mother's brother ."Mother's brother-iu-Iaw LGrandfatlier's brollier's son. 'Mother Mother's sister ! brother's sister-in-law Father's sister t. Father's sister-in-law. ''Son Sister's son Brother's son lirother's son's son IJrother's daughter's son Sister's son's son Sister's daughter's son Mother's sister's son's son I Mother's brother's son's son. Ilun ona rUrotlier's son's wife = I JJrother's daughter's husband j Sister's son's wife I Sister's daughter's husband. '\ [k 72 SOJ'TIl SKA SYSTEM nl' HELATIOXSIirV. rWifc- Wife's sister lirolhor's wile AVal u'on.'i - Wifi •! >tl c s nrotiiers wile Father's brother's son's wife Father's sister's son's wife Mother's sister's son's wile .MotI ler's hr<»lher s son s wilt Ilushiind ana =r 'II nsi)anil is ister hroll hns))an(I. I or I'unalna Kaikoaka =: Wirc'ssister'shnshan(l(l)rotlicr-in-law). =: AVife's hrollier. Tlio key of tills Iliiwainii or SiiiKlwicli Ishmd ' systoin is tile idcii c'oiiN i'\('^i'\-\ f \ V). Ill o SOUTH si:a sYSTi:.y i>r ui:i,atihssiuv. 7.1 no wonls aiHworlii;? to 'son,' ' fliiunlitcr,' ' wii'c,' or ' liuslianil.' Th:il iJils docs not iirisi' iVoni poverty ol" lMn!j;uii_ir(' is cviilcnt, lu'cansc the s.iiuc system dis- rriniinulcs lu'tv/cpii oilier i'eliitionsliips wliieli we do not distiii^ni.^li. ]*erli)i[»s the contnist is most cleMrly sliown in the tiM'ms i'or hrother-indaw and sister-in-hi w 'J'lms, when a woman is speakin*:^- SiHter-iii-lnw = liusl»;iii(rs hroilicr's wire = pimahia. Si'Jtcr-iii-law = luishand's sister = kaiknuk.'i. l>iit hr(»lher-iii-l;i\v whetiicr si~!(>r s 1 , • i i i \ = kaiKi, !.(>. Iuisl)aiiil. Iiiishiiiul or liusi)iin(l s hrotlu-r J When, oil tlu' e<^iitrary. a man is speaking" — Sister-in-law = wile's sister = waheonn. I.e. wife. Sister-in-law = hrotlier's wife = wahecna, i.e. wll'e. And BO Pii'otlier-in-law = wi fci's hrolli er = kalkoaka. lirother-in-law = wile's sister's Imshand = pu'ialua. Tims a woman has hnshmids and sisters-in-law, bnt no l)i-otliers-iii-Iaw ; a man, on the contrary, has wives a!imans distin^Miished between tlie Father's hrothcr = patnius. and the mother's hrotlier = avnneiihis Father's sister = ainita. and the mother's sister — niatertiM'a ; the first two in llawaiiin are niakna, kaiia, which also 'I ■>. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 It: UiM2^ |2.5 |50 "^ !■■ U 11.6 u WUu >♦■ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREE: WEBSTER, N.Y. \45K (716) •72-4503 z ^ 7i TOD A SYSTEM OF RELATIONSHIP. f » ii ii ;1 ['!!" '■ higiiilies fVither ; and the last two are makua waheeiia, which also means mother. Thus the idea of marriage does not, in fact, enter into the llawaian system of relationship. Uncleship, auntship, cousinsliip, are ignored ; and we have only — Grandparents Parents Brothers and sisters Children and Grandchildren. Here it is clear that the child is related to the group. It is not specially related either to its father or its mother, who stand in the same relation as mere uncles and aunts ; so that every child has several fathers and several mothers. There are, I think, reasons in the social habits of these islanders which go far to explain the persistence of this archaic nomenclature. From the mildness of the climate and the abundance of food, children soon become independent ; the prevalence of large houses, used as mere dormitories, and the curious prejudice against eating in common, must also have greatly tended to retard the development of special family feelings. Yet the system of nomenclature above men- tioned did not correspond with the actual state of society as found by Captain Cook and other early voyagers. Among the Todas of the Xeilgherry Hills, however, when a man marries a girl she becomes the wife of all his brothers as they successively reach manhood, and they also become the husbands of all her sisters as they become old enough to marry. In this case ' the first- ii >. I ^ PBEVALENGE OF ADOPTION. 75 ly 1- )f iy ' ' born child is fathered upon the eldest brother, the ' next-born on the second, and so on thronghont the ' ser'^s. Notwithstanding this unnatural sj'-stem, the ' Todas, it must be confessed, exhibit much fondness ' and attachment towards their offspring, more so than ' their practice of mixed intercourse would seem to * foster.' ^ In the Tottiyars of India, also, we have a case in which it is actually recorded that ' brothers, uncles, ' and nephews hold their wives in common.' ' So also, according to Nicolaus,'' the Galactophagi had commu- nal marriage, 'where they called all old men fathers, ' young men sons, and those of equal age brothers.' ' Among the Sioux and some other North American ' tribes the custom is to buy the eldest of the chiefs ' daughters ; then the others all belong to him, and are ' taken to wife at such times as the husband sees fit.'"* Such social conditions as these tend to explain the frequency of adoption among the lower races of men, and the fact that it is often considered to be as close a connection as real parentage. Among the Esquimaux, Captain Lyon tells us that 'this curious connection ' binds the parties as hrmly together as the ties of ' blood ; and an adopted son, if senior to one by nature, ' is the heir to all the family riches.' ^ In Central Africa, Denham states that ' the practice ' of adopting children is very prevalent among the ' Felatalis, and though they have sons and daughters of m 'y > Shortt, Trans. Ethu. Soc. N.S. vol. vii. p. 240. * Dubois' Description ot the People of India, p. 3. ' Bachofen, Das Mutterreclit,p. lU. ■* Ethn. Journal, 18GU, p. 280. * Journal, p. 353. ISee 3^5. ,1 m H i; ^0 T/fT;; MTLK-TIE. ' tlieir own, tlie aclopted child generally becomes heir ' to the Avhole property.' ^ ' It is a custom,' says Mariner,^ ' in the Ton<>;a Islands ' for women to be what tliey call mothers to children or ' grown-ii]) young pei'sons who are not their ow^i, for ' the purpo.^e of providing them, or seeing that they ' are provided, with all tiie conveniences of life ;' this is often done even if the natural mother be still living;, iu wliich case the adopted mother ' is regarded the same ' as tlic natural mother.' Among the liouinns, also, adoption was an important featui'e, and was effected by the S3'mbol of a mock birth, without which it was not regarded as complete. This custom seems to have con- tinued dowm to the time of Nerva, Avho, in adopting Trajan, transferred the ceremony from the marriage- bed to the temple of Jupiter.^ Diodorus^ gives a \Q.vy curious account of the same custom as it existed anions: the Greeks, mentioning that Juno adopted Hercules by going through a ceremony of mock birth. In other cases the symbol of adoption represented not the birth, but the milk-tie. Tims, in Circassia, the woman offered her breast to the person she was adopting. In Abyssinia, Parkyn tells us that ' if a man * wdshes to be adopted as the son of one of superior ' station or influence, he takes his hand, and, sucking ' one of his fingers, declares himself to be his " child by ' " adoption," and his new father is bound to assist him ' as far as he can.' ^ The same idea underlies, perhaps, tlie curious ' Donlmm's Travels in Africa, vol. iv. p. 181. '^ Mariner's Tonga Islands, vol. ii. p. 08. ^ Das jMutterrecht, p. 254. ^ IV. .•'.'.>. See Notes. * Parkyn's Abyssinia, p. 108. OliiaiNAL OR COMMUNAL MARiilAClB. ing J^squiinaiix Labit of licking anytiiiiig \vliicli is presented to them, apparently in token of ownership. ' Dieffenbacli ■^ also mentions the practice of licking ;i present in Xew Zealand ; here, however, it is the donor who does so. In the Tonga Islands, Captain Cook tells us that tlie natives 'have a singular custom of putting ' everything you give them to their heads, b}' way of ' thanks, as we conjectured.'"' Assuming, then, that the communal marriage system shown in the preceding pages to prevail, or have pre- vailed, so widely among races in a low stage of civilisa- tion, represents the primitive and earliest social con- dition of man, we now come to consider the various ways in which i ma}' have been broken up and replaced by individual marriage. Montesquieu lays it down almost as an axiom, that ' Tobligation naturelle qu'a le pere de nourrir ses ' enfants n fait etablir le mariage, qui declare celui qui ' doit remplir cette oblio'ation.''^ Elsewhere he states that ' 11 est arrive dans tons les pays et dans tons les ' temps que la religion s'est melee des mariages.'^ How far these assertions are from the truth will be conclu- sively shown in the following pages. Bachofen," M'Lennan," and Morgan, tlie most recent authors who have studied this subject, all agree i\\vX the primitive condition of nuui, soci tdly, was one of pure Iletairism,** when marriage did not exist, or, as or convenience call it, of Connnunal ay perhap » Franklin's Journeys, 181U-22, veil. i. p. 34. - Now Zealand, V(>1. ii. p. 104. ^ Voyng'L' towards the Souili Pole, •^ Esprit dcs L lis, vol. ii. p. ISO. ^ Loc. cit. p. 2U0. '' i)i!s MuLterrcclit. " I'liniitive lUairiiijie. V( :]. .)•) 1. Ihid. xvni. -MX. i 1 w T !! I! ' ' i ^1 78 omam of mabbiage. m iiiaiTian:c, where fill the men and women in a small community were regarded as equally married to one another. Bachofen considers that after a while the women, shocked and scandalised by such a state of things, revolted against it, and established a system of marriage with female supremacy, the husband being subject to the wife, property and descent being considered to go in the female line, and women enjoying the principal share of political power. The first period he calls that of ' Hetairism,' the second of ' Mutterrecht,' or ' mother- ' right.' In the third stage he considers that the ethereal influence of the father prevailed over the more material idea of motherhood. Men claimed pre-eminence, pro- perty and descent were traced in the male line, sun worship superseded moon worship, and many other changes in social organisation took place, — mainly because it came to be recognised that the creative influence of the father was more important than the material tie of motherhood. The father, in fact, was the author of life, the mother a mere nurse. Thus he regards the first stage as lawless, the second as material, the third as spiritual. I believe, however, that communities in which women have exercised the supreme power are rare and exceptional, if indeed they ever existed at all. We do not find in history, as a matter of fact, that women do assert their rights, and savage women would, I think, be peculiarly unlikely to uphold their dignity in the manner supposed. On the contrary, nmong the lowest races of men, as, for instance, in Australia, the i)osition of the women is one ! OlUaiN OF MART! r ACE. 70 of com})letc subjection, and it seems to me perfectly clear that the idea of marriage is founded on the rights, not of the v\''oman, but of the man, being an illus- tration of the good old plan, That lie should take who has the i)owcr, And he shoukl keep who can. Among low races the Avifc is indeed b'terally the property of the husband. As Petruchio sa}'s of Catherine : I will be master of what is mine own. She is my fjoods, my chattels ; she is my house, My household stuff, my field, my harn, ISIy horse, my ox, my ass, my anything. So thoroughly is this the case that, as I have already mentioned, a Roman's ' family ' originally, and indeed throughout classical times, meant his slaves, and the children only formed part of the family because they were his slaves ; so that if a father freed his son, the latter ceased to be one of the family, and had no part in the iidieritance. Nay, even at the present day, in some parts of Africa, a man's property goes, not to his children, as such, but to his slaves. Ilearne tells us, that among the Hudson's Bay Indians ' it has ever been the custom for the men to wrestle for ' any woman to whom they are attiiched ; and, of course, ' the strongest party alwaj's carries off the prize. A ' weak man, miless he be a o'ood hunter and well •mitted tc ' pel :ccp strono'cr man thuiks worth his notice. o Th IS cus- tom prevails throughout all their tribes, and causes a great S])irit of enudation among their youth, who are W I 80 JJACHOFEN'S VUnVS. ' upon iiU occasions, from their childhood, trying their ' strength and skill iii wrestling.' ' Franklin also says that tlie Copper Indians hold women in tlie same low estimation as the Chipewyans do, ' looking upon them ' as a kind of pro])erty, which the stronger may take ' from the weaker ; ' '-' and liichardson^ ^ more tlian once ' saw a stronger man assert his riu'ht to take the wife ' of a weaker countryman, .\iiyone mav challenirc an- ' other to wrestle, and, if he overcomes, may carry oif ' the wife as tlie pri;:e.' Yet tlie women never dream of protesting agahist this, which, indeed, seems to them perfectly natural. The theory therefore of Dr. Bacho- fen, and. the sequence of social customs suggested by him, although supported with much learning, cannot, I think, be reu'ardecl as correct.'^ }.rLemian, like Bachofen and ^lorgan, starts with a stau'e of Iletairism or communal marriage. The next stage was, in his opinion, tliat form of polyandry in which brothers had their v/ivcs in common ; afterwards came that of the levirate, i.e. the system under which, when an elder brotiier died, his second brother married the widow, and so on with tlie others in succession. Thence he considers that some tribes branched off into endogamy, otliers into exogamy ; '^ that is to sa}', some forbade marriage out of, others within, the tribe. If either of these two s\stems was older than the otlier, he considers that exogamy must have been the most %\ » Ilearne, p. 10-1-. - .ioiirney to tlia Shores of tlie PoIiU' Soiis, vol. viii. p. 4'-\, •' KicliiirJsuii'c Ijoid Joiiruey, vul. ii. p. 2-1. ^ SfO for iiist.'inco Lewiu's Hill Tracts of Cbittaguuir, pp. 47. 77, 80, {.'-•J, 'JS, lOi. '•' Zoc. cit. p. lit). .V„ M'LENNAN'S VIEWS. 8J 11. Ito tic If St tu ancient. Exogamy was based on infanticide,^ and led to the practice of marriage by capture.''^ In a further stage the idea of female descent, pro- duchig as it would a division in the tribe, obviated the necessity of capture as a reality and reduced it to a symbol. In support of this view Mr. M'Lennan has certainly brought forward many striking facts ; but, while ad- mitting that it probably represents the succession of events in some cases, I cannot but think that these are exceptional. Fully admitting the prevalence of in- fanticide among savages, it will, I think, be found that among the lowest races, boys w^ere killed as frequently as girls. Eyre expressly states that this was the case in Australia.^ In fact the distinction between the sexes implies an amount of forethought, and prudence, which the lower races of men do not possess. For reasons to be given shortly, I b?lieve that com- munal marriage was gradually superseded by individual marriage founded on capture, and that this led firstly to exogamy and then to female infanticide ; thus reversing M'Lennan's order of sequence. Endogamy and regu- lated polyandry, though frequent, I regard as excep- tional, and as not entering into the normal progress of development. Like M'Lennan and Bachofen, I believe that our present social relations have arisen from an initial stage of Hetairism or communal marriage. It is obvious, however, that even under communal marriage, a warrior who had captured a beautiful girl in some marauding 1 Loc. cit. p. 188. 2 l^^^ ^.-f p J4Q * Discoveries, &c., vol. ii. p. 324. G •»i| 1 1 J- I I ■ h ] iiji H'J TTTE TRUE EXP LAN AT I ON. c*,\[)edition would cljiim a, peculiar i'ii2,iit to her, and, when possible, would set custom at detiancc. We have already seen that there are other cases of the existence of marriage under two forms side by side in one coun- try; and there is, therefore, no real difficulty in as- suming the co-existence of connnunal and individual marriage. It is true that under a communal marriage system no man could appropriate a girl entirely to him- self without infringing the rights of the whole tribe. Such an act would naturally be looked on with jealousy, and only regarded as justilial le under peculiar circum- stances. A war-captive, however, was in a peculiar position : the tribe had no right to her ; her capturer might have killed her if he chose ; if he preferred to keep her alive he was at liberty to do so ; he did as he liked, and the tribe was no sufferer. M'Lennan,^ indeed, says that ' it is impossible to ' believe that the mere lawlessness of savtiges should ' be consecrated into a legal symbol, or to assign a ' reason — cout is be believed — why a similar symbol ' should not appear in transferences of other kinds of ' property.' The symbol of capture, however, was not one of lawlessness, but, on the other hand, of — accord- ing to the ideas of the time — lawful possession. It did not refer to those from whom the captive was taken, but was intended to bar the rights of the tribe into which she was introduced. Individual marriage was, in fact, an infringement of communal rights ; the man retaining to himself, or the man and woman mutually appropriating to one another, that which should have belonged to the whole tribe. Thus, among the Anda- ' Loe. cit. p. 44. I ll II ORlillN OF MARIUAGE BY CAVTUIiE. m is e to lOlllcl Til a Tibol of not ord- did ■ken, into *vas, an I'y ave da- .« nianers, any woman who attempted to resist the marital privileges claimed by any member of the tribe was liable to severe punishment.^ Nor is it, I think, difficult to understand why the symbol of capture does not appear in transferences of other khids of property. Every generation requires fresh wives ; the actual capture, or at any rate the sym- bol, needed therefore repetition. This, however, does not apply to land ; when once the idea of landed pro- perty arose, the same land descended from owner to owner. In other kinds of property again, there is an important, though different kind of, distinction. A man made his own bow and arrows, his own hut, his own arms ; hence the necessity of capture did not exist, and the symbol would not arise. M'Lennan supposes that savages were driven by fe- male infanticide, and the consequent absence or paucity of women, into exogamy and marriage by capture. I shall presently give my reasons for rejecting this explanation. He also considers that marriage by capture followed, and arose from, that remarkable custom, — namely, of marrying always out of the tribe, for which he has pro- posed the appropriate name of exogamy. On the con- trary, I believe that exogamy arose from marriage by capture, not marriage by capture from exogamy : that capture, and capture alone, could give a man the right to monopolise a woman, to the exclusion of his fellow- clansmen; and that hence, even after all necessity for actual capture had long ceased, the symbol remained ; ' See Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S. vol. ii. p. ,'i5. u 2 r i [i 84 ruEVALF.NrE OF MATfj^r.uir: jiv cm'TiiU'I. i 'i^i capture having, by long habit, come to be received ns a necessary preliminary to marriage. That marriage by capture has not arisen from female modesty is, I think, evident, not only because we have no reason to suppose that such a feeling i)revails spe- cially among the lower races of man, but also, firstly, because it cannot explain the mock resistance of the relatives, and secondly, because the very question to be solved is why it became so generally the custom to win the female not by persuasion but by force. Mr. M'Lennan's view throAvs no light on the remark- able ceremonies of expiation for marriage, to which I shall presently call attention. I will, however, first proceed to show how widely * capture,' either actual or symbolical, enters into the idea of marriage. Mr. M'liCnnan was, I believe, the first to appreciate its importance. I have taken some of the followini>' instances from his valuable work, adding, however, several additional cases. It requires strong evidence, which, indeed, exists in abundance, to satisfy us that the origin of marriage was independent of all sacred and social considerations; that it had nothing to do with mutual affection or sym- pathy ; that it was invalidated by any appearance of con- sent; and that it was symbolised not by any demon- stration of warm affection on the one side and tender devotion on the other, but by brutal violence and unwilling submission. Yet, as already mentioned, the evidence is overwhelm- ing. So completely, for instance, did the Caribs supply themselves with wives from the neighbouring races, and so little communication did they hold with them, that I II ii ' ft 1^ OiiWINALLY A UKALITY. H') on- on- Im- )lv |nd Vi the men 'a\\(\. women actuiilly spoke different languages. 80 again in Australia the men, says Oldfield, ' are in excess of t!ie other sex, and, eonsecjuently, many men of every tribe are unprovided with that especial necessary to their comfortable subsistence, a wife ; who is a slave in the strictest sense of the word, being a beast of burden, a provider of food, and a ready ooject ou which to vent those passions that the men do not dare to vent on each other. Jlence, for tliose covethig such a luxury, arises the necessity of stealing the women of some other tribe ; and, in their expedi- tions to effect so laudable a design, they will cheerfully undergo privations and dangers equal to those they incur when in search of blood-revenge. When, on such an errand, they discover an unprotected female, their proceedings are not of the most gentle nature. Stunning her by a blow from the dowak (to make her love them, perhaps), they drag her by the hair to the nearest thicket to await her recovery. When she comes to her senses they force her to accompany them ; and as at worst it is but the exchange of one brut.'d lord for another, she generally enters into the spirit of the affair, and takes as much pains to escape as though it were a matter of her own free choice.' ^ The following is the manner in which the natives about Sydney used to procure wives: — ' The poor ' wretch is stolen upon in the absence of her protectors. ' Being first stupefied with blows, inflicted with clubs or ' wooden swords, on the head, back, and shoulders, ' every one of which is followed by a stream of blood, ' f?he is then dragged through the woods by one arm, ^ Trans. Ethn, Soc. vol. iii. p. 250, ?1EK1!;1 &P 1 i jii l' 'mS 1 : tfi 86 SUBSEQUENTLY A FORM. ' with a perseverance and violence that it nnight be snp- ' posed would displace it from its socket. The lover, ' or rather the ravisher, is regardless of the stones or ' broken pieces of trees which may lie in his route, ' being anxious only to convey his prize in safety to his ' own party, when a scene ensues too shocking to relate. ' This outrage is not resented by the relations of the ' female, who only retaliate by a similar outrage when * they find an opportunity. This is so constantly the ' practice among them that even the children make it a ' play-game, or exercise.' ^ In Bali also,^ one of the islands between Java and New Guinea, it is stated to be the practice that girls ' are stolen away by their brutal lovers, who sometimes ' surprise them alone, or overpower them by the way, ' and carry them off with dishevelled hair and tattered ' garments to the woods. When brought back from ' thence, and reconciliation is effected with enraged ' friends, the poor female becomes the slave of her rough ' lover, by a certain compensation-price being paid to ' her relatives.' So deeply rooted is the feeling of a connection between force and marriage, that we find the former used as a form long after all necessity for it had ceased ; and it is very interesting to trace, as Mr. M'Lennan has done, the gradual stages through which a stern reality softens down into a mere symbol. It is easy to see that if we assume the case of a coun- try in which there are four neighbouring tribes, who have the custom of exogamy, and who trace pedigrees ^ Collins's English Colony in New ^ Notices of the Indian Archi- South Wales, p. 302. P^higo^ p. 90. I I SUBSEQUENTLY A FORM. 87 to fchi- through the mother, and not through the father — a custom which, as we shall presently see, is so common that it may be said to be the usual one among the lower races — after a certain time the result would be that each tribe would consist of four septs or clans, re- presenting the four original tribes, and hence we should find communities in which each tribe is divided into clans, and a man must always marry a woman of a different clan. But as communities become larger and more civilised, the actual ' capture ' became inconvenient, and at last impossible. Gradually therefore it came to be more and more a mock ceremony, forming, however, a necessi;ry part of the marriage ceremony. Of this many cases might be given. Speaking of the Khonds of Orissa, Major-General Campbell says that on one occasion he 'heard loud cries proceeding from a village close at hand ; fearing some quarrel, I rode to the spot, and there I saw a man bearing away u}X)n his back something enveloped in an ample covering of scarlet cloth ; he was sur- rounded by twenty or thirty young fellows, and by them protected from the desperate attacks made upon him by a party of young women. On seeking an ex- planation of this novel scene, I was told that the man had just been married, and his precious burden was his blooming bride, whom he was conveying to his own village. Her youthful friends (as it appears is the custom) were seeking to regain possession of her, and hurled 8):ones and bamboos at the head of the devoted bridegroom, until he readied the confines of his own village.' ^ ' Quoted ill M'Leiinau'tJ Primitive Maningc, p. 28. il! 1 1 88 HINDOSTAN— MALAY PF.N INSULA . Ii! ri t-l : i ;r^ i1 Sir W. Elliot also mentions tliat not only amongst the Khonds, but also in 'several other tribes of Central ' India, the bridegroom seizes his bride by force, either ' affected or real ;' ^ and the same was customary among the Badagas of the Neilgherry Hills.'^ Dalton mentions that among the Kols of Central India, when the price of a girl has been arranged, ' the ' bridegroom and a large party of his friends of both ' sexes enter with much singing and dancing, and ' sham fighting in the village of the bride, where they ' meet the bride's party, and are hospitably entertained.'^ M. Bourien^ thus describes the marriage ceremony among the wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula: — ' When all are assembled, and all ready, the bride and ' bridegroom are led by one of the old men of the ' tribe, towards a circle more or less great, according ' to the presumed strength of the intended pair ; the ' girl runs round first, and the young man pursues a ' short distance behind ; if he succeed in reaching her ' and retaining her, she becomes his wife ; if not, he ' loses all claim to her. At other times, a larger field ' is appointed for the trial, and they pursue one another ' in the forest. The race, according to the words of the ' chronicle, " is not to the swift nor the battle to the ' " strong," but to the young man who has had the good * fortune to please the intended bride.' Among the Kalmucks, Dr. Hell tells us that, after the price of the girl has been duly agreed on, when the I- ' ' Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1809, p. 125. ^ Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. vi. p. 24. "^ Metz. The tribes of the Neil- See also p. 27, and the 'J'ribea of glierries, p. 74. See also Lewin's India, vol. i. p. lo. Jlill Traet.^^ of Chittagong, pp. 3(5, >^0. ' Trans. Ethn. Soc. 18U5, p. 81. fli I! KALM UGKS—TUNG USES— KAMCII AD ALES. 80 the .68 a her he eld her the the :ood the the 24. 39 of bridegroom comes with his friends to carry off his bride, ' a sham resistance is always made by the people of her ' camp, in spite of which she fails not to be borne away ' on a richly caparisoned horse, with loud shouts and ' feu de joie.' ^ Dr. Clarke ^ gives a charmingly romantic account of the ceremony. ' The girl,' he says, ' is first mounted, ' who rides off at full speed. Her lover pursues ; if he ' overtnkes her, she becomes his wife, and the marriage ' is consummated on the spot ; after this she returns ' with him to his tent. But it sometimes happens that ' the woman does not wish to marry the person by ' whom she is pursued ; in this case, she will not suffer ' him to overtake her. AVe were assured that no in- ' stance occurs of a Kalmuck girl being thus caught, ' unless she have a partiality to the pursuer. If she ' dislikes him, she rides, to use the language of English * sportsmen, "neck or nought," until she has completely ' effected her escape, or until her pursuer's horse be- ' comes exhausted, leaving her at liberty to return, and ' to be afterwards chased by some more favoured ' admirer.' ' Among the Tunguses and Kamchadales,' says Ernan,"' ' a matrimonial engagement is not definitely arranged ' and concluded until the suitor has got the better of his ' beloved by force, and has torn her clothes.' Attacks on women are not allowed to be avenged by blood un- less they take place within the yourt or house. The man is not ref!:arded as to blame, if the woman ' has ^ M'Lennan's Primitive Marriage, " Travels in Siberir, vol. ii. p. 442. p. 30. See also Kaines' History of Man, vol. '^ Travels, vol. i. p. ;J.32. ii. p. 58. I f 1 !t3 (! •■ 'I;! 90 MONGOLS - ESQ UIMA UX. * ventuvQcl to leave her natural place, the sacred and '• protecting hearth.' Pallas observes that in his time, marriage by capture prevailed also among the Samo- vedes.' ^ Among the Mongols''^ when a marriage is arranged, the q\v\ ' flies to some relations to hide herself. The ' bridegroom coming to demand his wife, the father- ' in-law says, " My daughter is yours ; go, take her ' " wherever you can find her." Having thus obtained ' his warrant, he, with his friends, runs about searching, ' and having found her, seizes her as his property, and * carries her home as it were by force. ' In the Korea when a man marries, he mounts on ' horseback, attended by his friends, and, having ridden ' about the town, stops at the bride's door, where he is ' received by her relations, who then carry her to his ' house, and the ceremony is complete.' ^ Among the Esquimaux of Cape York (Smith Sound), according to Dr. Hayes,* ' there is no marriage cere- * mony further than that the boy is required to carry ' off his bride by main force ; for, even among these * blubber-eating people, the woman only saves her mo- ' desty by a sham resistance, although she knows years ' beforehand that her destiny is sealed, and that she is ' to become the wife of the man from whose embraces, * when the nuptial day comes, she is obliged by the ' inexorable law of public opinion to free herself if pos- * sible, by kicking and screaming with might and main, * until she is safely landed in the hut of her future lord, • Vol. iv. p. 07. See also Astley'a Collection of Voyages, vol. iv. p. ^>1~>. * Astley, vol. iv. p. 77. " Ihid. p. 342. ' Open Polar Sea, p. 4.^2. ^ ImI|I fl ' r-- SO UTII AMER WANS—FEEJEEANS. 91 ' when she gives up the combat very cheerfully and takes ' possession of her new abode.' In Greenland, according to Egede, ' when a young ' man likes a maiden he commonly proposes it to their ' parents and relations on both sides ; and after he has * obtained their consent, he gets two or more old women ' to fetch the bride (and if he is a stout fellow he will * fetch her himself). They go to the place where the * young woman is, and carry her away by force.' ^ We have already seen (p. 69) that marriage by cap- ture exists in full force among the Northern Redskins. The Aborigines of the Amazon Valley, says Wallace,^ ' have no particular ceremony at their marriages, except ' that of always carrying away the girl by force, or ' making a show of doing so, even when she and her * parents .ire quite willing.' M. Bardel, in the notes to D'Urville's Voyage, men- tions that among the Indians round Conception, in South America, after a man has agreed on the price of a girl with her parents, he surprises her, and carries her off to the woods for a few days, after which the happy couple return home.^ In Tierra del Fuego, as Admiral Fitzroy tells us,* as soon ' as a youth is able to maintain a wife by his ' exertions in fishing or birdcatching, he obtains the ' consent of her relations, and .... having built or ' stolen a canoe for himself, he watches for an oppor- ' tunity, and carries off his bride. If she is unwilling ' she hides herself in the woods until her admirer is '\ i ' Ilistoiy of Greenland, p. 143. '^ Travels in the Amazons, p. 407. » Vol. iii. p. 277, and 22. * Voyage of the Adventure and Beagle, vol. ii. p. 182. .* if no rOLYxWESIANS. 1 '■ .1 t -.1 ■ 1 , 1 ■ 1 : j 1 11 i ' heartily tired of looking for her, and gives up the pur- ' suit, but this seldom happens.' Williams mentions that among the Feejeeans, the cus- tom prevails ' of seizing upon a woman by apparent or ' actual force, in order to make her a wife. On reaching ' the home of her abductor, should she not approve of ' the match, she runs to some one who can protect her ; ' if, however, she is satisfied, the matter is settled forth- ' Avith ; a feast is given to her friends the next morning, ' and the couple are thenceforward considered as man ' and wife.' ^ Earle^ gives the following account of marriage in New Zeal.'uid, which he regards r s ' most extraordinary,' while in reality it is, as we now see, nothing of the sort : ' The New Zealand method of courtship and ma- trimony is,' he says, ' most extraordinary ; ,.o much so that an observer could never imagine any affection existed between the parties. A man sees a woman whom he fancies he should like for a wife ; he asks the consent of her father, or, if an orphan, of her nearest relation ; which, if he obtains, he carries his " intended" off by force, she resisting with all her strength ; and, as the New Zealand girls are generally pretty robust, sometimes a dreadful struggle takes place ; both are soon stripped to the skin ; and it is sometimes the work of hours to remove the fair prize a hundred yards. If she breaks away she instantly flies from her antago- nist, and he has his labour to commence again. We may suppose that if the lady feels any wish to be united to hei* would-be spouse she will not make too violent an opposition ; l)Mt it sometimes happens that ' Fijiaiul theFijiinitJ, vol.i. p. 17-1. - IIosi(lenceinNewZealiuid,p. 244. 1 i ^ : I. ,V': POLYNESIANS. m igo- IWc be I too mat I4. I * she secures her retreat into her father's house, and the ' lover loses all chance of ever obtaining her ; whereas, ' if he can manage to carry her in triumph into his own, ' she immediately becomes his wife.' Even after a marriage, it is customary in New Zea- land to have a mock scuffle. Mr. Yate ' gives a good illustration. There was, he says, ' a little opposition to the wedding, but not till it was over, as is always the custom here. The bride's mother came to me the preceding afternoon, and said she was well pleased in her heart that her daughter was going to be married to Pahau ; but that she must be angiy about it with her mouth in the presence of her tribe, lest the natives should come and take away all her possessions, and destroy her crops. This is customary on all occasions. If a chief me< ts with an accident he is stripped, as a mark of respect ; if he marries a wife he has to lose all his property ; and this is done out of respect — not from disrespect, as it was once printed, inadvertently, in an official publication. A chief would think himself slighted if his food and garments were not taken away from him upon many occasions. To prevent this Manga, the old mother, acted with policy. As I was returning, therefore, from the church with the bride- groom and bride, she met the procession and began to assail us all furiously. She put on a most terrific countenance, threw her garments about, and tore her hair like a fury ; then said to me, " Ah, you white " missionary, you are worse than the devil : you first " make a slave-lad your son by redeeming him from his " master, and then marry him to my daughter, who is a 1 Yate's New Zealand, p. 96. .< ' i H i ' { ,1 i: 1 1'" I 111 • n ;!!( 94 riiiLirriNE islanvehs—neghoes. ' " lady. 1 will tear your eyes out ! I will tear your eyes ' " out ! " The old woman, suiting the action to the word, '' feigned a scratch at my face, at the same time saying ' in an under tone that it was " all mouth " and that ' she did not mean what she said. I told her I should ' stop her mouth with a blanket. " Ha, ha, ha ! " she ' replied ; " that was all I wanted : I only wanted to ' " get a blanket, and therefore I made this noise." The ' whole affair went off after this remarkably well ; all ' seemed to enjoy themselves ; and everyone was satis- ' lied.' It is evident, however, that Yate did not thoroughly understand the meaning of the scene. Among the Ahitas of the Philippine Islands, when a man wishes to marry a girl, her parents send her before sunrise into the woods. She has an hour's start, after which the lover goes to seek her. If he finds her and brings her back before sunset, the marriage is acknow- ledged ; if not, he must abandon all claim to her. In the West African kingdom of Futa,^ after all other preliminaries are arranged, ' one difficulty yet remains, ' viz., how the young man shall get his wife home ; for ' the women-cousins and relations take on mightily, ' and guard the door of the house to prevent her being ' carried away. At last, by the bridegroom's presents ' and generosity, their grief is assuaged. He then pro- ' vides a friend, well mounted, to carry her off; but as ' soon as she is on horseback the women renew their * lamentations, and rush in to dismount her. However, ' the man is generally successful, and rides off with his ' prize to the house prepared for her.' I I ■:. i ;'i i ' Astlcj-'s Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. p. 240. .t>; MANDINGOS^CIRCASSIANS. 05 for tily, eing ints )ro- as leir ^er, his Gray mentions' that aMandingo (West Africa) wish- ing to marry a young girl at Kayaye, applied to her mother, Avho ' consented to his obtaining her in any ' way he could. Accordingly, when the poor girl was ' employed preparing some rice for supper, she was ' seized by her intended husband, assisted by three or ' four of his companions, and carried off by force. She * made much resistance, by biting, scratching, kicking, ' and roaring most bitterly. Many, both men and ' women, some of them her own relations, who ^vit- ' nessed the affair, only laughed at the farce, and con- ' soled her by saying that she would soon be reconciled * to her situation.' Evidently therefore this was not, as Gray seems to have supposed, a mere act of lawless violence, but a recognised custom, which called for no interference on the part of spectators. Denham,'^ describing a marriage at Sockna (North Africa), says that the bride is taken on a camel to the bridegroom's house, ' upon which it is necessary for her ' to appear greatly surprised, and refuse to dismount; ' the women scream, the men shout, and she is at ' length persuaded to enter.' In Circassia weddings are accompanied by a feast, ' in ' the midst of which the bridegroom has to rush in, and, ' with the help of a few daring young men, carry off the ' lady by force ; and by this process she becomes the * lawful wife.' ^ According to Spencer, another im- portant part of the ceremony consists in the bridegroom drawing his dagger and cutting open the bride's corset. ' Gray's Travels in Western Africa, ^ Moser, Tlie Caucasus and its p. 50. People, p. 31 j quoted by M'Lennan, 2 L. c. vol. i. p. 39. /. c. p. 3G. 96 U USSIA— NORTH GERMANY— Jih'ITA IN. 'I : I \l i ;;/ As regards Europe, Plutarch ' tells us that in Sparta the bridegroom usually carried off his bride by force, evidently, however, of a friendly character. The Ro- mans, also, had a very similar custom. In North Friesland, ' a young fellow called the bride-lifter lifts ' the bride and her two bridesmaids upon the waggon ' in which the married couple are to travel to their ' home.' ^ M'TiCnnan states that in some parts of France, down to the seventeenth century, it was cus- tomary for the bride to feign reluctance to enter the bridegroom's house. In Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and parts of Prussia, according to Seignior Gaya,^ yowiig "^cn used to carry off their sweethearts by force, and then apply to the parents for their consent. Lord Karnes,* in his ' Sketches of the History of Man,' mentions that the following marriage ceremony was, in his day, or at least had till shortly before, been customary among the Welsh : — ' On the morning of ' the wedding-day the bridegroom, accompanied by his ' friends on horseback, demands the bride. Her friends, ' who are likewise on horseback, give a positive refusal, ' on which a mock scuffle ensues. The bride, mounted ' behind her nearest kinsman, is carried off, and is pur- ' sued by the bridegroom and his friends, with loud ' shouts. It is not uncommon on such an occasion to ' see 200 or 300 sturdy Cambro- Britons riding at full ' speed, crossing and jostling, to the no small amusement ' of the spectators. When they have fatigued them- ' See alfo Herodotus, vi. G5. also Olaiis Magnus, vol. xiv. chap- 2 M'l.oiiiiiin, I. ('. p. m. ter 9. ^ Marriage Ceremonies, p. 35. See * History of Man, vol. ii. p. 59. UXl'LAXATfON OF MAUniACil'] CUSTn}fS. 0" r of ony een of his ds, sal, ted ur- ud to •ull nt m- [ap- * selvGH and their horses, the bridegroom is suffered to ' overtake liis bride. He leads her uway in triumph, ' and the scene is conchided with feasting and festivity.' Tluis, then, we see that marriage by capture, eithei' as a stern reality or as an important ceremony, prevails in Australia and among the Malays, in Ilindostan, Central Asia, Siberia, and Kamskatka; among the ]*]squimaux, the Northern Kedskins, the Aborigines of lirazil, in Chile and Tierra del Fuego, in the Pacific Islands, both among the Polynesians and the Feejeeans, in the Phill})pines, among the Arabs and Negroes, in Circassia, and until recently, throughout a great part of Europe. I have already referred to the custom of lifting the bride over the doorstep, which we find in such different and distant races as the Uomans, Ivcdskins of Canada, the Chinese, and the Abyssinians. Hence, also, i)erhiips our honeymoon, during which the bridegroom keei)s his bride away from her relatives and friends; hence even, perhaps, as Mv. M'Leiman supposes, the slipper is in mock anger thrown after the departing bride and bridegroom. The curious custom which forbids the father and mother-in-law to speak to their son-in-law, and vice versa, which I have already shown (p. 9) to be very widely distributed, but for which no satisfactory ex- planation has yet been given, seems to me a natural consequence of marriage by capture. When the capture was a reality, the indignation of the parents "vvould also be real; when it became a mere symbol, the parental anger would be sj'mbolised also, and would be con- tinued even after its origin was forgotten. 11 >i fl ((. « t.'i f I 1 i [ III ! ' I 08 MAimiAatl BY CONFAJih'EATIO. The separation of husband and wife, to which also I liavc referred (p. 05), may also arise from the same custom. It is very remarkable indeed, how persistent are all customs and ceremonies connected with marria<;c. Thus our * bride cake,' which so invariably accompanies a wedding, and which must always be cut by the bride ^ may be traced back to the old Roman form of marriage by ' confarreatio ' or eating together. So also among the Iroquois, bride and bridegroom used to partake to- gether of a cake of ' sagamitc,' ^ which the bride offered to her husband. The Feejee Islanders ^ have a very similar custom. Again among the Tipperahs, one of the Hill tribes of Chittagong, the bride prepares some drink, * sits on her lover's knee, drinks half, and gives him the ' other half ; they afterwards crook together their ' little fingers.' ^ In one form or another a similar custom is found among most of the Hill tribes of India. Mr. M'Lennan conceives that marriage by capture arose from the custom of exogamy, that is to say, from the custom which forbad marriage within the tribe. Exogamy, again, he considers to have arisen from the practice of female infanticide. I have already indicated the reasons which prevent me from accepting this explanation, and which induce me to regard exogamy as arising from mariiage by capture, not marriage by capture from exogamy. Mr. M'Lennan's theory seems to me quite inconsistent with the existence of tribes which have marriage by capture and yet are endoga- mous. The Bedouins, for instance, have unmistake- ubly marriage by capture, and yet the man has a right Lafitau, vol. i. pp. o'JO, 071. Fiji uud the Fijians, vol. i. p. 17 \ ^ Lewin's Hill Tincts of Cliitta- ooiijr, pp. 71, 80. I'JXJ'IATION IVU MAlililAai:. 00 if only he be willing to give tl ic |»gamy '•e hv seems tribes loga- ttake- iriglit Chitta- to marry liis cousin price demanded for her.* Mr. ]\I'Lennan, indeed, feels the difficulty which wotdd be presented by such cases, the existence of which he seems, however, to doubt; adding, that if the symbol of capture be ever found in the marriage ceremonies of an endogamous tribe, we may be sure that it is a relic of an early time at which the tribe was organised on another princi[)le than that of exogamy.'"' That marriage by capture has not arisen merely from female coyness is I think evident, as already mentioned, firstly, because it does not account for the resistance of the relatives, and secondly, because the very question to be solved is why it has become so generally the custom to win the wife b}' force rather than by persuasion. The explanation which I have suggested derives addi- tional probability from the evidence of a general feeling that marriage was an act for which some compensation was due to those whose rights were invaded. The nature of the ceremonies bv which this was effected makes me reluctant to enter into this part of the subject at length ; and I will here therefore merely indicate in general terms the character of the evidence. I will firstly refer to certain details given by Dulaure^ in his chapter on the worship of Venus, of which he re2:ards these customs merelv as one CD ^ illustration, although they have, I cainiot but think, a signification deeper than, and different from, that which he attributes to them. ^ See Kleuim, AUg. Cultarg. d. Meuscli. vol. iv. p. 140. '^ Loc. cit. p. 53. '' Ilidt. nbregoo dos dilF. Cultes. u 2 m K u 'i< ll i Vl, 100 BABYLON: i, AliMENI i, JiJTITIOriA, GREECE. We must remember that the better known savage races have, in most cases, now arrived at the stage in which j^aternal rights are recognised, and hence that fathers can and do sell their daughters into matrimony. The price of a wife is of course regulated by the circumstances of the tribe, and ever}^ or nearly every, industrious young man is enabled to buy one for liim- self. As long, however, as communal marriage rights were in force this would be almost impossible. That special marriage was an infringement of these com- munal rights, for which some compensation was due, seems to me the true explanation of the offerings which virgins were so generally compell(>d to make before being permitted to marry. In many cases the exclusive possession of a wife could only be legally acquired by a temporary recogni- tion of the pre-existing communal rights. Thus, in Babylonia, according to Herodotus,^ every woman was compelled to offer herself once in the temple of A enus, and only after doing so was she considered free to marry. The same was, according to Strabo, the law in Armenia.*'^ In some parts of Cyprus also, among the Nasamones,^ and other ^Ethiopian tribes, he tells us there was a very similar custom, and Dulaure asserts that it existed also at Carthage, and in several parts of Greece. The account which Plciodotus gives of the Lydians, though not so clear, seems to indicate a similar law. The customs of the Thracians, as described by Hero- dotus,'^ point to a similar feeling. Among races somc- ^ Clio, 100. « Strabo, lib. 2. * ^lolponiciio, 17:,'. ■* Terpsichoi'o, v. U. "If %#■ ^ TIINDOSTAN, NORTH AMERICA, GREENLAND. 101 m of the U'o- iic- 5 what more advanced, the symbol supersedes the reality of this custom, and St. Augustine found it necessary to protest against that which prevailed, even at his time, in Italy. ^ Diodorus Sicuhis mentions that in the Balearic Islands, Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica, the bride was for one night considered as the common property of all the guests present ; after which she belonged exclusively to her husband.^ In India, according to Grosse,^ and particularly in the valleys of the Ganges, virgins were com[)elled before marriage to present themselves in the temples dedicated to Juggernaut, and the same is said to liave been cus- tomary in Pondicherry and at Goa.* Among the Sonthals, one of the aboriginal Indian tribes, the marriages take place once a year, mostly iii January. ' For six days all the candidates for ' matrimony live together ....;' after which only are the separate couples regarded as having established their right to marry .^ Carver mentions^ that while among the Naudowessies, he observed that they paid uncommon respect to one of their women, and found that she w^as considered to be a person of high distinction, because on one occasion she invited forty of the principal w\arriors to her tent, pro- vided them with a feast, and treated them in every respect as husbands. On enquiry he was informed that this was an old custom, but had fallen into abeyance, and 1 Dulaure, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 160. See App. 2 Diodorus, v. 18. ' Ilistoire abr^gee des Ciiltes, vol. i. p. 431. •» Ihid, vol. ii. p. 108. 5 The People of India, by J. F. Watson and J. W. Kaye, vol. i. p. 2. ° Travels in North America, p. 245, See also Notes. tl 4 i Jk (I hi 102 surriYiNa guests with tempobary wives. * scarcely once in an age any of the females are hardy ' enough to make this feast, notwithstanding a husband ' of the first rank awaits as a sure reward the success- ' ful giver of it.' Speaking of the Greenland Esquimaux, Egede ex- pressly states that 'those are reputed the best and ' noblest tempered who, without any pain or reluctancy, ' Avill lend their friends their wives.' ^ The same feeling, probably, gave rise to the curious custom existing, according to Strabo,^ among the (Par- thian) Tapyrians, that when a man had had two or three children by one wife, he was obliged to leave her, so that she might marry some one else. There is some reason to suppose that a similar custom once prevailed among the Romans; thus Cato, who was proverbially austere in his morals, did not think it right permanently to retain his wife Martia, whom his friend Hortensius wished to marry. This he accordingly permitted, and Martia lived with Hortensius until his death, when she returned to her first husband. The high character of Cato is sufiicient proof that he would not have per- mitted this, if he had regarded it as wrong; and Plutarch expressly states that the custom of lending wives existed among the Romans. Akin to this feeling is that which induces so many savage tribes ^ to provide their guests with temporary wives. To omit this would be regarded as quite inhospitable. The practice, moreover, seems to recognise the existence of a right inherent in every ' History of Greenland, p. 142. ^ Strabo, ii. pp. 516, o20. ^ For instance, the Esquimaux, North and South American Indians, Polynesians, Australians, Eastern and Western Xegroes,Arabs, Abyssinians, Catllrs, Mongols, Tutski; &c. >l \ f ij ; f 1(1 » I ind 1 RESPECT FOR COUnTESANS. 103 member of the community, and to visitors as temporary members; which, in the case of the latter, could not be abrog.ated by arrangements made before their arrival, nnd, consequently, without their concurrence. The prevalence of this custom brings home to us forcibly the difference existing between the savage and the civilised modes of reGfardinn^ the relation of the sexes to one another. Perhaps the most striking case of all is that afforded by some of the Brazilian tribes. Tlie captives taken by them in war used to be kept for some time and fatted up; after which they were killed and eaten. Yet even here, during the time that they had to live, the poor wretches were always provided with a temporary wife.^ This view also throws some light on the remarkable subordination of the wife to the husband, which is so characteristic of marriage, and so curiously inconsistent with all our avowed ideas ; moreover it tends to explain those curious cases in which Hetaira? were held in greater estimation than those women who were, as we should consider, properly and respectably married to a single husband.^ The former were originally fellow- countrywomen and relations; the latter captives and slaves. And even when this ceased to be the case, the idea would long survive the circumstances which gave rise to it Wek now that m Athens courtesans we spected. ' The daily conversation they listened highly re- to,' says * Lafitau, Mceurs des Sauv. anier. vol. ii. p. 294. - Bachofon, Das Mutterrecbt, pp. 125. XIX. l'^'). Burton's Lake Regiona of Africa, vol. i. p. 198. V II 1 ■ (f lii f I Ui .V 101 liESPKCT FOR COURTESANS. Lord Karnes/ 'on philosopliy, politics, poetry, en- ' lightened their understanding and improved their taste. ' Their houses became agreeable schools, where everyone ' might be instructed in his own art. Socrates and ' Pericles met frequently at the house of Aspasia, for ' from her they acquired delicacy of taste, and, in ' return, procured to her public respect and reputation. ' Greece at that tune was governed by orators, over ' whom some celebrated courtesans had great in- ' flncnce, and by that means entered deep into the ' government.' So also it was an essential of the model Platonic Republic that * among the guardians, at least, the ' sexual arrangements should be under public regu- ' lation, nnd the monopoly of one woman by one man ' forbidden.' ^ In Java, we are told that courtesans are by no means despised, and in some parts of Western Africa the negroes are stated to look on them with respect; while, on the other hand, oddly enough, they have a strong feeling against musicians, who are looked on as ' infamous, but ' necessary tools for their pleasure.' They did not even permit then to be buried, lest they should pollute the earth.'' So also in India, various occupations which we regard as useful * and innocent, if humble, are considered to be deoradino; in the highest deo:ree. On the other hand, in the famous Indian city of Vesali, ' marriage was forbid- ' den, and high rank attached to the huly who held office * as Chief of the Courtesans.' When the Holy Buddha ' History of Man, vol. ii. p. 50. ■■* r»ain'.s Meiitnl and >[ornl Science. ^ Wait's Anthropology, p. 317. ' Astley, V. ii. p. 279. 1 I he rd be in d- le !; t ! RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF COURTESANS. 105 (Sakyamuni), in his old age, visited Vesali, 'he was ' lodged in a garden belonging to the chief of the ' courtesans, and received a visit from this grand lady, ' who drove out to see him, attended by her suite ' in stately carriages. Having approached and bowed ' down, she took her seat on one side of him and listened ' to a discourse on Dharma On entering the town ' she met the rulers of A^esali, gorgeously apparelled ; but ' tlieir equipages made way for her. They asked her to ' resign to them the honour of entertaining Sakyamuni; ' but she refused, and the great man himself, when soli- ' cited by the rulers in person, also refused to break his ' engagement with the lady.' ^ Until recently the courtesans were the only educated women in India.^ Even now many of the great Hindoo temples have bands of courtesans attached to them, who * follow their trade without public shame. It is a strange ' anomaly that, while a courtesan, born of, or adopted ' into, a courtesan family, is not held to pursue a shame- ' less vocation, other women who have fallen from good ' repute are esteemed disgraceful.' ^ There is in reality, however, nothing anomalous in this. The former con- tinue the old custom of the country, under solemn reli- gious sanction; the latter, on the contrary, have given way to lawless inclinations, have outraged public feel- ings, have probably broken their marriage vows, and brought disgrace on their families. In Ancient Egypt, again, it would appear that illegitimate children were. Life in Ancient ^ Mrs. Spier's India, p. 281. 2 Dubois' People of India, pp. 217, 402. ^ The People of India, by J. F. Watson and J. W. Kaye, vol. iii. p. 105. II V ■;i PI' i I'l m^ 106 EXOGAMY. under certjiiu circumstances, preferred over those born in wedlock.^ When the speci.al wife was a stranger and a shive, while the communal wife was a relative and a freewoman, such feelings would naturally arise, and would, in some cases, long survive the social condition to which they owed their origin. I now pass to the curious custom, for which IM'Lennan has proposed the convenient term 'exogamy' — that, namely, of necessarily marrying out of the tribe. Tylor, who called particular attention to this custom in his interesting work on ' The Early History of Man,' which was published in the very same year as M'Lennan's 'Primitive Marriage,' thought that 'the evils of niar- ' rying near relatives miglit be the main ground of this ' series of restrictions.' Morgan^ also considers exogamy ' as explainable, and oidy explainable, as a reformatory ' movement to break up the intermarriage of blood re- ' lations,' and which could only be effected by exogamy, because all in the tribe were regarded as related. In fact, however, exogamy afforded little protection against the marriage of relatives, and, wherever it was systematised, it permitted marriage even between half brothers and sisters, either on the father's or mother's side. Where an objection to the intermarriage of relatives existed, ex- ogamy was unnecessary ; where it did not exist, exogamy could not arise. M'Lennan says, ' I believe this restriction on marriage ' to be connected with the practice in early times of ' female infanticide, which, rendering women scarce, led * Bachofen, Das Mutterreclit, p. " Proc. Amer. Acad, of Arts and 125. Sciences, 186G. > 4 V e born , while ri, such 1 cases, J owed ^ennan — that, Tylor, in his ' which [innan's )f niar- of this oogamy matory ood re- ogamy, n fact, nst the atised, rs and lere an d, ex- ogamy image Lrts and ORKUN OF J'JXOGAMY. 107 ' at once to polyandry within the tribe, and the captur- ' ing of women from without.' ^ He has not alluded to the natural preponderance of men over women. Thus, throughout Europe, the proportion of boys to girls is as lOG to 100.' Here, therefore, even without infanticide, we see that there is no exact balance between the sexes. In many savage races, in various parts of the world, it has been observed the men are much more numerous, but it is difficult to ascertain how far this is due to an oria;inal difference, and how far to other causes. It is conceivable that the difference between endo- gamous and exogamous tribes may have been due to the different proportion of the sexes : those races tend- ing to become exogamous where boys prevail ; those, on the other hand, endogamous where the reverse is the case.^ I am not, however, aware that we have any statistics which enable us to determine this point, nor do I believe that it is the true explanation of the custom. Infanticide is, no doubt, very prevalent among savages. As long, indeed, as men were few in number, enemies were scarce and game was tame. Under these circumstances, there was no temptation to infanticide. There were some things which women could do better than men, some occupations which pride and laziness, or both, induced them to leave to the women. As soon, however, as in any country population became even slightly more dense, neighbours became a nuisance. They invaded the hunting grounds, and disturbed the Hence, if for no other reason, wars would arise. game. ' Loc. cit. p. 138. See Das Mutterrecht, p. 109. Wait's Anthropology, p. 111. i ■\y II |:: i \h ' i II ■■: ' (1 F ■1 ■, : ' n 1 V, ii: ^ ' 1 108 ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY. I! '■ . ' I) I Once begun, tliey would continually break out again and again, under one pretence or anotlier. Men for slaves, women for wives, and the thirst for glory, made a weak tribe always a temptation to a strong one. Under these circumstances, female children became a source of weakness in several ways. They ate, and did not hunt. They weakened their mothers when young, and, when grown-up, were a temptation to surrounding tribes. Hence female infjxnticide is very prevalent, and easily accounted for. Yet I cannot regard it as the true cause of exogamy. On the other hand, we must remember that under the communal system the women of the tribe were all common property. No one could appropriate one of them to himself without infringing on the general rights of the tribe. Women taken in war were, on the contrary, in a different position. The tribe, as a tribe, had no right to them, and men surely would reserve to themselves exclusively their own prizes. These captives then would naturally become the wives in our sense of the term. Several causes would tend to increase the importance of the separate, and decrease that of communal mar- riage. The impulse which it would give to, and re- ceive back from, the development of the affections ; the convenience with reference to domestic arrangements, the natural wishes of the wife herself, and last, not least, the inferior energy of the children sprung from ' in and in ' marriages, would all tend to increase the importance of individual marriage. Even were there no other cause, the advantage of crossing, so well known to breeders of stock, would soon give a marked preponderance to those races by I P!' ,ii. >, ts. VREVALENCE OF EXOGAMY— AUSTIiALIA. 109 whom exogamy was largely practised, and for several reasons therefore we need not be surprised to find exo- gamy very prevalent among the loAver races of man. When this state of things had gone on for some time, usage, as M'Lennan well observes, would ' establish a ' prejudice among the tribes observing it — a prejudice ' strong as a principle of religion, as every prejudice ' relating to marriage is apt to be — against marrying ' women of their stock.' ^ We should not, perhaps, have a priori expected to find among savages any such remarkable restriction, yet it is very widely distributed ; and from this point of view we can, I think, clearly see how it arose. In Australia, where the same family names are com- mon almost over the whole continent, no man may marry a woman whose family name is the same as his own, and who belongs therefore to the same tribe.^ ' No man,' says Mr. Lang, ' can marry a woman of the * same clan, though the parties be no way related ac- ' cording to our ideas.' ^ In Eastern Africa, Burton* says that ' some clans of ' the Somal will not marry one of the same, or even of ' a consanguineous family ; ' and the Bakalari have the same rule.^ Du Chaillu,^ speaking of W^estem Equatorial Africa, says, ' the law of marriages among the tribes I have ' visited is peculiar; each tribe is divided into clans; ' the children in most of the tribes belong to the clan of 1^ * Loc. cit, p. 140. "^ Eyre's Discoveries in Australia, vol. ii. p. .'^•20. frvpy's Joiirnfil, p. 242, ^ The Aborigines of Australia, p. 10. ^ First Footsteps, p. 120. ^ Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S., vol. i. p. .121 . « IhUl. p. 307. N I! I 110 AFJ?ICA~1IJ^W0STAN. !■ f/ * tlic inotlicr, and these cannot l)y any possible laws * marry among themselves, however removed in degree * they may have been connected : it is considered an * abomination among them. But there exists no ob- 'jection to possessing a father's or brother's wife. I ' could not but be struck with the healthful influence ' of such re t ^ ■Itl 120 INHERITANCE THROUGH FEMALES. tween the parent and offspring, and especially between the mother and her child. Among agricultural tribes, and under settled forms of government, the chiefs often have very large harems, and their importance even is measured by the number of their wives, as in other cases by that of their cows or horses. This state of things is in many ways very prejudicial. It checks, of course, the natural affection and friendly intercourse between man and wife. The King of Ashantee, for instance, always has 3,333 wives, but no man can love so many women, nor can so many women cherish any personal affection for one man. Even among hunting races, though men were unable to maintain so many wives, still, as changes are of frequent occurrence, the tie between a mother and child is much stronger than that which binds a child to its father. Hence we find that among many of the lower races relationship through females is the prevalent custom, and we are thus able to understand the curious practice that a man's heirs are not his own, but his sister's children. Montesquieu ^ regarded relationship through females as intended to prevent the accumulation of landed pro- perty in few hands — an explanation manifestly inap- plicable to many, nay the majority, of cases in which the custom exists, and the explanation above suggested is, I have no doubt, the correct one. Thus, when a rich man dies in Guinea, his property, excepting the armour, descended to the sister's son, expressly, according to Smith, on the ground that he ■ Esprit des Lois, vol. i. p. 70. ' \\\ JtELATIONSnir THROUail FEMALES. 121 lap- lich sted must certainly be a relative.^ Battel mentions that tlie town of Longo ( Loango) ' is governed by four chiefs, ' which are sons of the king's sisters ; for the king's ' sons never come to be kings.' ^ Quatremere mentions that ' Chez les Nubiens, dit Abou Selah, lorsqu'un roi ' vient a mourir et qu'il laisse un fils et un neveu du ' cote de sa scDur, celui monte sur le trone de prc- * ference a I'heritier naturel.' ^ In Central Africa, Caillie * says that ' the sovereignty ' remains always in the same family, but the son never ' succeeds his father ; tliey choose in preference a son of ' the king's sister, conceiving that by this method the ' sovereign power is more sure to be transmitted to ' one of the blood royal ; a precaution which shows how ' little faith is put in the virtue of the women of this ' country.' In Northern Africa we find the same custom among the Berbers;'' and Burton mentions it as existing in the East. Herodotus^ supposed that this custom was peculiar to the Lycians, who have, he says, ' one custom peculiar to ' themselves, in which they differ from all other nations ; ' for they take their name from their mothers, and not ' from their fathers ; so that if anyone asks another who ' he is, he will describe himself by his mother's side, and * reckon up his maternal ancestry in the female line.' Polybius makes the same statement as regards the Lo- \ •ty. ton, he ^ Smith's Voyage to G uinea, p. 143. See also Pinkerton'3 Voj'nges, vol. XV. pp. 417, 421, 528. Astley's Col- lection of Voyages, vol, ii. pp. 6.3, 256. * Pinkerton's A'oyages, vol. xvi. p. 331. M^m. g^ogr. sur I'Egypte et sur " Clio, 173. quelques contrives voisines. Paris, 1811. Quoted in Bachofen's Mut- ter reclit, p. 108. " Caillie's Travels, vol. i. p. 163. '' La Mere chez certains peuples de I'Antiquit^, p. 45. 4 1 i V 1 \ * H i 1 1 i. it II { ! !i I * i^} 122 RELATIONSIITF TIinOUGH FEMALES. criaus; and on l']trnscan tombs descent is stated in the female line. In Athens, also, relationship thron<,di fem.'des pre- vailed down to the time of Cecrops. Tacitus,^ speakinij^ of the Germans, says, ' children * are regarded with equal affection by their maternal * uncles as by their fathers ; some even consider this as * the more sacred bond of consanguinity, and prefer it * in the requisition of hostages.' He adds, ' a person's * own children, however, are his heirs and successors ; * no wills are made.' From this it would appear as if female inheritance had been recently and not universally abandoned. Again, ' In the Pictish Kingdom, until the ' close of the eighth centurj', no son is recorded to have ' succeeded his father.' ^ In India the Kasias, the Kocchs, and the Nairs have the system of female kingship. Buchanan ^ tells us that among the Bantar in Tulava a man's property does not descer i to his own children, but to those of his sister. Sir W. Elliot states that the people of Malabar all ' ajxree in one remarkable usaoe — that of transmittino; ' property through females only.' ^ He adds, on the authority of Lieutenant Conner, that the same is tlie case in Trivancore, among all the castes except the Ponai.s and the Namburi Brahmans. As Latham states, ' no Nair son knows his own father, * and, vice versa., no Xair father know\s his own son. ' What becomes of the property of the husband? It ' descends to the children of his sister.' ^ ' De Mor, Germ. xx. 2 Crania Britannica. 3 Vol. iii. p. 10. •* Trans. Ethn. Soc. 18G9, p. 110. ^ Descriptive Ethnology, vol. ii. p. 40.^ CAUSES AND WIDE DISTRIBUTION OF THE CUSTOM. 123 Among the Limboos (India), a tribe near Darjeeling,' the boys become the property of the father on his paying the mother a small sum of money, when the child is named, and enters his father's tribe : girls remain with the mother, and belong to her tribe. Marsden tells us,^ that among the Battas of Sumatra, ' the succession to tlic chiefshi])s does not go, in tlic ' first instance, to the son of the deceased, but to the ' ne})hew by a sister; and that the same extraordinary ' rule, with respect to the property in general, prevails ' also amongst the ]\[alays of that part of the island, and ' even in the neifjhbourhood of Padan<»;. The authori- ' ties for this are various and unconnected with each ' ^"kher, but not sutBciently circumstantial to induce me ' to admit it as a generally established practice.' Among the Kenaiyers at Cook's Inlet, according to Sir John Richardson, property descends not to a man's own children, but to those of his sis^3r.^ The same is the case w^ith the Kutchin.'* Carver^ mentions that among the Hudson's Bay Indians the children ' are always distinguished by the ' name of the mother ; and if a woman marries several ' husbands, and has issue by each of them, they are all ' called after her. The reason they give ?o^ this is, ' that as their offspring are indebted to the father for ' their souls, the invisible part of their essence, and to ' the mother for their corporeal and apparent part, it is ' more rational that they should be distinguished by the ' Campbell, Trans. Etlin. Soc. N. S, vol. vii. p. 155. ' Marsden's History of Sumatra, p. 37G. '^ Boat Journey, vol. i. p. 40O. * Smithsonian Report, 18GG. p. 320. 5 Carver, p. 378. See also p. 250; also antb, p. 08. II I'M til 4; ■1.' i ;1! ^ H ll>i NEOL KC/V OF r. I TFRN. I /> /,' IJLA 77n.V. it I J I * m ! * Uiunc of tlie latter, from win mi tlicy indubitably derive * their beinnf, than by that of the father, to whieh a ' doul)t mif,dit sometimes arise whether they are justly * entitled.' A similar rule prevailed in Haiti and IVIexico. ' As regards Polynesia, ^Mariner states that in the Friendly or Tonga Islands ' no1)ility descends by the ' female line, for when the mother is not a noble, the ' children are not nobles.' - It Avoidd seem, however, from another passage, that these islanders were passhig the stage of relationship through females to that through males. The existence of inheritance through females is clearly indicated in the Feejeean custom known as Vasu. So also in Western Australia, ' children, of either sex, ' always take the family name of their mother.'^ Among the ancient Jews, Abraham married his half- sister, Xalior married his brother's daughter, and Amram his father's sister ; this was permitted because they were not regarded as relations. Tamar also evi- dently might have married Amnon, though they were both children of David : ' Speak unto the king,' she said, ' for he will not withhold me from thee ; ' for, as their mothers were not the same, they were no relaLions in the eye of the law. Solon also permitted marriage with sisters on the father's side, but not on the mother's. Here, therefore, we Lave abundant evidence of the second stage, in which the child is related to the mother, and not to the father; whence a man's heir is his sister's ' Miiller, Gescli d. American. Ur- religionen, pp. 167, 539. 2 T(Miga Islands, vol. ii. pp. 89, 91. ^ Eyre, luc. cit. p. 330. OliliUN OF UELATlONSmV IN THE MALE LINE. 125 as he he ir's |91. child, who is his ne[)hL'W, — not his own chikl, who is in some cases regarded as no reUition to him at alL When, however, marriage became more respected, and the family aii'ections stronger, it is easy to see that the rnle nnder which a man's property went to his sister's children, wonld become nn])opnlar, both with the father, who wonld naturally wish his children to inherit his property, and not less so with the children themselves. M. Girard Tenlon, indeed, to whom we are indebted for a very interesting memoir on this snbject, ^ regards the first recognition of his parental relationship as an act of noljle self-devotion on the part of some great genius in ancient times. ' Le premier,' he says, ' qui ' consentit a se reconnaitre pere fut un homme de genie ' et de ccrur, un des grands bienfaiteurs de I'humanite. ' Prouve en effet que Tenfant t'appartient. Es-tu sur ' qu'il est un autre toi-mcme, ton fruit ? que tu I'as ' enfante ? on bien, a I'aide d'une genereuse et volon- ' taire credulite, marches-tu, noble inventeur, a la ' conquete d'un but superieur ?'" Bachofen also, while characterisino- the chanoe from male to female relationship as the ' wichtigsten Wende- ' pimkt in der Geschichte des Geschlechts verhiiltnisses,' explains it, as I cannot but think, in an altogether erro- neous manner. He regards it as a liberation of the spirit from the deceptive appearances of nature, an elevation of human existence above the laws of mere matter, as a recognition that the creative power is the most important ; and, in short, as a subordination of the ' La Mere chez certains peuples de rAntiquite. "^ Loc. cit. p. 32. Ifi \h '% [ i I ii I ' I ! 120 CIlANai'] FROM FEMALE TO MALE KINSHIP. material to the spiritual part of our nnture. IJy this step, he says, ' Mau durchbricht die Bandcn des Tellur- ' isiuus und erliebt scineu Blick zu den luihern Regionen ' des KosMios.'* This seems to me, I confess, a very curious notion, mid one with which I cannot at all af^rree. The recoff- nition of paternal responsibility grew up, I believe, gradually and from the force of circumstances, aided by the impulses of natural affection. On the other hand, the adoption of relationship through the father's line, instead of through the mother's, was probably effected by the natural wish which everyone would feel that his property should go to his own children. It is true that we have very few cases like that of Athens, in which there is any record of this change, but as it is easy to see how it might have been brought about, and difficult to suppose that the opposite step can ever have been made ; as, moreover, we find relationship through the ftither very general, not to say universal, in civilised races, while the opposite system is very common among savages, it is evident that this change must frequently have been effected. Taking all these facts, then, into consideration, when- ever we find relationship through fem.'des only, I think we may safely look upon it as the relic of an ancient barbarism. As soon as the change was inade, the father would take the place held previously by the mother, and he, instead of she, would be regarded as the parent. Hence, on the birth of a child, the father would naturally be ' Lacliofou, Dus Muttcrruclit, p. xxvii. ll:V u V'- I \ SYSThJM OF KLXSIlll' Til ROUGH MALllS, 127 )ng Ibe very curc'tul wliat lie did, juid what lie ate, for fear the child should be injured. Thus, I believe, arises the curious custom to which I referred in my first chapter. Relationship to the father at first excludes that to the mother, and from having been regarded as no relation to the former, children came to be looked on as none to the latter. In South America, where it is customary to treat ca[)tives well in every res[)ect for a certain time, giving them clothes, food, a wife, &c., and then to kill and eat them, any children they may have arc killed and eaten also.' In North America, as we have seen, the system of relationship through females prevails among the rude races of the North. Further south, as Lafitau long ago pointed out, we find a curious, and, so to say, interme- diate, system among the Iroquois and Hurons, to whom, as Mr. jMor;Tjan has shoAvn, we mav add the Tamils of India.* — A man's brother's children are reckoned as his children, but his sister's children are his nephews and nieces, while a woman's brother's children are her nephews and nieces, and her sister's children are her children.'^ The curious system thus indicated is shown more fidly in the following table, extracted from Mr. Mor- gan's very interesthig memoir : ^ — Ilauih Red Skin, ' Father, and also Father's brother Father's father's brother's son, and so on. ^ Lafitau, vol. ii. p. 307. "^ I'roc. American Academy of Arta and Sciences, 1800^ p. -iOU. 3 Lafitau, vol. i. p. 552. ■* Loc, cit. p. 450, > 1 ' 'I 128 SYSTEM OF KINSHIP THROUGH MALES. r. * I' ■ (,' Noyeh Ilaje Ilarakwuk Takkappan Tay Tamaiyan IMakj m (Mother, und also _ j Mother's sister "~ I Mother's ivother's sister's (laughter, [ and so on. ''Brother '''^Ider), and also = -! Father's brother's son I (^Mother's sister's son, and so on. Son = J. Brother's son (male speaking) [Sister's son (female speaking) Tamil. 'Father, and also Father's brother = -! Father's father's brother's son, and I so on. (^ Mother's sister's husband. Mother, and also Mother's sister Father's brother's wife Mother's mother's sister's daughter, and so or. jf Brother (elder), and also = -I Father's brother's son 1^ Mother's sister's son, and so on rSon =. -i Brother's son (male speaking) 1^ Sister's son (female speaking) That the.:e names really imply ideas as to relation- ship, and have not arisen from mere poverty of language, is shown by the fact that in other respects their nomen- clatni'e is even richer than ours. Thus they have different words for an elder brother and a younger ])rother, an elder sister and a j'oungcr sister ; so again the names for a brother's son, a brother's daughter, a sister's son, and a sister's daughter depend on whether the ])erson speaking is a man or a woman. Thus they NEGLECT OF THE ^[ATEBNAL RELATION. 120 lon- in- Lve \\n II distinguish rclatioiisliips which wc correctly regard as C([uivaleiit, and confound others which are really distinct. Moreover, as the languages of distinct and distant races, such as the Iroquois of America and the T.'.mil of Southern India, agree in so many points, we canixvjt dismiss these peculiarities as mere accidents, but must regard them as founded on similar, though pecu- liar, views on the subject of relationsliip. That in the case of the Iroquois this system arose from that of relationsliip throtigh females, and did not degenerate from ours, is evident, because in it, though a man's sister's children ore his nephews and nieces, his sister's grai'dchildren are also his grandchildren, indi- cating the existence of a period when his sister's children were his children, and, consequently, when relationship was traced in the female line. A man's ])rotlier's children are his children, because his brother's wives are also his wive;,. I have already mentioned {ante^ p. 113) that relatioriship through females is the rule amoni? the American tribes. How com})letely the idea of relationship through the father, when once recognised, miglit re[)lace that through the mother we may see in the very curious trial of (h'estes. Agamenuion, having been murdered by his wife Clytemnestra, was avenged l)y their son Orestes, who killed his mother for the murder of his father. For this act he v/as prosecuted before the tribunal of the gods by the Krinnyes, whose function it was to those who shed the blood of relatives puni.' In I us defence, Orestes asks tiiem why they did not punisli Clytenniestra for the nuu'der of Agamemnon, and when they reply that miU'rlMge does not constitute ])lood rela- K JC ?1 J \ ■"■■ » U ' It , ^ I IM THE VEESENT 8 /STEM. tionslii]^, — ' Sho Avas not the kindred of the mnn ' M'hoin she ^^le\v,' — he pleads that by the same rule they cannot touch liiw,, because a man is a relation to his father, but not to his mother. This view, 'vhich seems to us so unnatural, was supported by Apollo and Minerva, and l)eing adopted by the majority of the gods, led to the acquittal of Orestes. Hence we see that the views prevalent on relationship — views ';y wliich the whole social organisation is so profoundly affected — are by no means the same among difi'erent races, nor uniform at the same historical period. AVe ourselves still confuse affinity and consanguinity ; but into this part of the question it is not my intention to enter : the evidence brought forward in the pre- ceding pages is, however, I think sufficieni to show that children Avere not in the earliest times rei''arded as re- lated equally to their father and tlieir mother, but that the natural progress of ideas is, first, that a child is re- lated to his tribe generally ; secondly, to his mother, and not to his father ; thirdly, to his father, and not to his motlier; lastly, and lastly only, that he is related to both. i I .f !li I 131 CHAPTEK IV. RELIGION. rrilE religion of ravages, though of peculiar interest .. ni n,any respects, perhaps, the most difficul part of n,y whole subject. I shall endeavour to avoid as far as possible, anything which might justly give pain to any of mv readers Htn.,,, ; i i ^ " ^ y ly leaueis. Jlany ideas, however, which have been, or are, prevalent on religious matters are so utterly opposed to our own that it is impossible to dis- cuss the subject without mentioning some things which are very repugnant to our feelings. Yet, while savages show us a melancholy speet.aele of gross supcrstitio", and ferocious forms of worshi,., the religious mind can- not but fee a peculiar satisfaction in tracing „p the gradual evolution of more correct ideas nn,l ^.f nobl creeds. ^ ^ M. Arbronsset quotes the following tou,l,i„„- remarks made to im by Sekesa, a very respectable Kaifi;' . , ^ t. Iiugs, be said, ' arc what I want ; an,. I was seeking before I knew you, a. you shall l,ear and ju.l.re ft,; J^nrsclves. Twelve years ago I went to fee.l , iv [lock, J e weather was hazy. I sat down upon a r^l- a ,i : "^'"'^ '"^•^^■'f — vf" 1"-tions ; ye ' sorrowful be- cause I w.as u.ml.le to answer them. " Who has ' 1''h- IJusut().s. CasalLs, p. >2:\[). K 2 f! I f, I ;/i f) I ». u m !■ 132 MENTAL INACTIVITY OF tAVAr/L'S. ' '* tou'jhed the stnrs with his luiiids ? On what pillars ' " do they rest ? " I asked myself. " The waters are ' " never weary : they know no other law than to flow, ' " witliout ceasing, from morning till night, and from ' "night till morning; but where do they stop? and ' " who makes them flow thus ? The clouds also come ' " and go, and burst in water over the earth. AVhence ' " come they ? AVho sends tliem ? The diviners cer- ' " tainly do not give us rain, for how could they do it ? ' " and why do I not see them with my own eyes ' " when they go up to heaven to fetcli it ? I cannot '*" sec the wind, but what is it ? Who brings it, makes ' " it blow, and roar and terrify us ? Do I know how ' " the corn sprouts ? Yesterday there was not a blade ' " in my field ; to-day I returned to the held and found ' " some. AVho can have given to the earth the wisdom ' "and the power to produce it?" Then I buried my ' face in both my hands.' This, however, was an exceptional case. As Ji general rule savages do not set tliemselves to thhik out such questions, but ado[)t the ideas which suggest them- selves most naturally ; so that, as 1 shall attempt to show, races in the similar state of mental development, however distinct their origin ma}- be, and however distant the regions they inhabit, have very similar re- ligious conceptions. Most of those wlio have endea- voured to account for the various superstitions of savage races have done so l)y cnMlitinu them witli a nuich more elaborate system of ideas tlian they in reality possess. Tiius Lafitau supposes tliat fire was worshipped because it so Avell rei)rcsents 'cetfe supreme ' intelligence degagee de la nature, dont la ])uissaiieeest i I i 't « i »■ ( I }!ELTaiOUS CIIAnACTEniSTirS OF SAVAaES. 133 ' toujoiirs active.'^ Again, "witli rcic'rence to idols, he observes '^ tliat ' La cU'peiidance que nous avons de ' rimagination et des sens nc nous permettaut pas de ' voir ])ieu autrement qu'eu enignic, connne parle saint ' Paul, a cause une espece de necessite de nous le ' montrer sous des images sensibles, lesquelles fiissent ' autai t de syniboles, qui nous elevassent jusipia lui, ' conime le portrait nous reniet dans I'idee de celui ' dont il est la peinture.' l*lutarch, again, supposed that the crocodile was worshipped by Egypt because, having no toigue, it was a type of ^he Deity who made laws for naU;re by his mere will! Explanations, how- ever, such as these are radically wrong. I have felt doubtful whether this chapter should not be entitled ' the superstitions ' rather than ' the re- ' ligion' of savages ; but havo preferred the latter, partly because many of the superstitious ideas pass gradually into nobler conce})tions, and partly from a reluctance to condemn any honest belief, however absurd and imperfect it may be. It nuist, however, be admitted that religion, as understood by the lower savage races, differs essentially from ours ; nay, it is not only different, but even opposite. Thus their deities are evil, not good ; they may be forced into compliance with the wishes of man ; they reipjire bloody, and rejoice in human, sacrihces ; they are mortal, not immortal ; a part, not the author, of nature : ley appr( i-y than by })rayers ; and often approve what we call vice, rather than what we esteem as virtue. In fact, the so-called religion of the lower races bear;: Manila ties Suuvagos nnioiicaiiii», vol. i. p. 102. - L. c. p. li'l._ w'i <] i \ ■ I I ! \, t J h\ '■ 1 1' lU llELiaiOUS CIIARACTf'Jh'ISTICS OF Bomewliat the same relation to rc^ligioii in its higher forms that astrology does to astrononi}', or alchemy to chemistry. Astronomy is derived from astrology, yet their spirit is in entire opposition ; and we shall find the same difference between the relimons of backward and of advanced races. We regard the Deity as good ; they look upon him as evil ; we submit ourselves to him; they endeavour to obtain the control of him ; we feel the necessity of accounting for the bless- ings by which we are surrounded ; they think the blessings come of themselves, and attribute all evil to the interference of malignant beings. These characteristics are not excei)tional and rare. On the contrary I shall attempt to show that, though the religions of the lower races have received different names, they agree in their general characteristics, and are but phases of one sequence, having the same origin, and passing through similar, if not identical, stages. This will explain the great similarities which occur in the most distinct and distant races, which have puzzled many ethnologists, and in some cases led them to utterly untenable theories. Thus even Robertson, though in many respects he held very correct views as to the religious condition of savages, remarks that Sun- worship prevailed among the Natchez and the Persians, and observes,^ ' this surprising coincidence in senti- ' ment between two nations in such different states of ' improvement is one of the many singular and unac- ' countable circumstances which occur in the history of ' human affairs.' Although however we find the most remarkable ' History of America, book iv. p. 127. |yii tut: lower Pi aces oe man. 185 as lin- ^ti- of ic- of )le coiiicuk'nces between tlie reH.u^Mons of distinct races, one of the peculiar dilHculties in the study of reliuion arises from the fact that, while each nation has generally but one language, we may almost say that in religious matters, (jitot Jiomines tot sententicv ; no two men having exactly the same views, however much they may wish to agree. Many travellers have pointed out this difficulty. Thus Captain Cook, speaking of the Soutli Sea Islanders, says: ' Of the religion' of tliese peo|)le we ' were not able to accpiire any clear and consistent ' knowledge ; we found it like the religion of most other ' countries — involved in mystery and perplexed Avith * apparent inconsistencies.' Many also of those to whom we are indebted for information on the subject, fully expecting to find among savages ideas like our own, obscured only by errors and supersiition, have put leading questions, and thus got misleading answers. We constantly hear, for instance, of a Devil, but in fact no s[)iritual being in the mythology of any savage races possesses the characteristics of Satan. Agjiin, it is often very diiTicult to determine in what sense an object is worshipped. A mountain, or a river, for instance, may be held sacred either as an actual Deity or merely as his abode ; and in the same way a statue may be actually worsliipped as a god, or merely reverenced as representing the Divinity. To a gi'eat extent, moreover, these difficulties arise from the fact that when Man, either by natural [)rogress or the influence of a more advanced race, rises to the conception of a iiighcr religion, he still retains liis old * ira\vktM\voith'.s Voviigt's, vol. ii. p. :.''»7. m\ w ' i I 1 1 i ! II h l^i; CLASSIFICATION OF THE LOWEll liETJOIOXS. beliefjs, wliicli long liuoer on, side l)y side with, and }'ct ill ulter opposition to, tlic higher creed. Tlie new and more powerful Spirit is an addition to the ohl Paniheon, and diminishes tl\e importance of the older deities ; gnulually the worsliip of the Litter sinks in the social scale, and becomes confined to the ignorant and the young. Thus a belief in -witchcraft still flourishes among our agricultural labourers and the lowest classes in our great cities, and the deities of our ances- tors survive in the nursery tales of our children. We must therefore expect to find in each race traces — nay, more than traces, of lower religions. Iwen if this were not the case we should still be met by the diiliculty that there are few really sharp lines in religious systems. It might be supposed that a belief in the im- mortality of the soul, or in the eiiicacy of sacrifices, would give us good lines of division ; but it is not so : these and many other ideas rise gradually, and even often appear at first in a form very different from that wliicli they ultimately assume. Hitherto it has been usual to classif\' religions accord- ing to the nature of the object worshipped : ^^Y'tichism, for instance, being the worship of inanimate objects, Sa- bieism that of the heavenly bodies. The true test, how- ever, seems to me to be the estimate in which the Deity is held. The first great stages in religious thought may, I think, be regarded as — Atheism ; understanding by tlils term not a denial of the existence of a Deity, but an absence of any definite ideas on the subject. Fetichism; the stage in which man supposes he can force the Deity to comj)ly with his desires. ' i i :* k RELJaiONS AcronniKn to SAKcnoNJATiin. vat of itc »■ k \. t= * M Nature-icorship, or Toteinism ; m 'svliicli iiatnr{\l objects, trees, lakes, stones, uiiiiiials, &:c., are worshipped. ShanKwi.sin ; in whicli the superior deities are f'jir more powerful than man, and of a different .'latnre. Their place of abode also is I'ar away, and accessible only to Shamans. Iilolatnj^ or Antlirojnmiorphi^ni) in which the g(»ds take still more com^^etely the nature of men, be'ng, how- ever, more powerful. They are still amenable to j)er- suasion ; they are a part of nature, and not creators. They are represented b}' images or idols. In the next stage the Deity is regarded as the author, not merely a part, of nature, lie becomes for the first time a reall}' supernatural being. The last stage to which I will refer is that in which morality is associated with religion. Since the above was written, my attention was called by De Brosse's ' Culte des Dieux fetiches' to a passage in Sanchoniatho, quoted by Eusebius. From his de- scri[)tion of the first thirteen generations of men I extract the following passages : — Generation 1. — The 'first men consecrated the plants ' shooting out of the earth, and judged them gods, and * worshi})ped them, ui)on whom they themselves lived.' Gen. 2. — The second generation of men ' were called ' GenusandCiienea,and dwelt in Phoenicia; but when great ' droughts came, they stretched their hands up to heaven ' towards the sun, for him they thought the only Lord of ' Heaven.' Gen. 3. — Afterwards other mortal issue was begotten, whose names were Plios, Pur, and Phlox (i.e. Light, Lire, and Flame). These found out the way of generating fire ! li! w I; « ! I 1 . I - hi I , i;5« in:Lj(irn^s Accomnxr; to s.ixcrroxrATno. liy lliL' rubbing of [ncccs of wood ngaiiist eacli other, and tiiii;4lit men tlie use tliereof. (Jen. 4. — The fourth generation consists of giants. Gen. 5. — Witli reference to tlie iifth he mentions the existence of conminnal marriage, and tliat Usous 'con- ' secrated two piUar.s to Fire and Wind, and bowed down ' to tliem, and poured out to them tlie blood of such Avild ' beasts as had been caught in hunting.' Gen. G. — Hunting and fishing are invented; which seems rather hiconsistcnt with the preceding statement. Gen. 7. — Chrysor, whom he affirms to ])e Vulcan, discovered iron and the art of forn-inu:. ' AVherefore he ' also was Avorshipped after his death for a god, and they ' called him Diamichius (or Zeus Alichius).' Gen. 8. — Pottery was discovered. Gen. \). — Now comes Agrus, * who had a mueh- ' worshipped statue, and a temple carried about by one ' or more yoke of Oxen in Phariicia.' Gen. 10. — Villages were formed, and men kept flocks. Gen. 11. — Salt was discovered. Gen 12. — Taautus or Hermes discovered letters. The Cabiri belonii' to this ^-eneration. Thus then we find mentioned in order the worship of plants, heavenly bodies, i)illars, and men; later still comes Idolatry coupled with Temples. It will be observed that he makes no special mention of Sha- manism, and that he regards the worship of plants as aboriginal. The opinion that religion is general and universal has been entertained by many high authorities. Yet it is op|)Oj;'d to the evidence of numerous trustworthy if JiELTOrorS CONDITION OF THE LOWEST h'ACES. l.V.i trs. of ill Ibc llJl- as ias it iiy \n ol).survers. Sailors, tnulcrs, {ind philosophersi, KomMii Catliolic priests and Protestant missionaries, in ancient and in modern times, in every part of the glol)e, luue concurred in stating tliat there are races of men alto- jzether devoid of reliachapin Kaffirs, Ijurchell; and for the Hottentots, Lc Vaillant. 1 will liere only give a few instances. ' It is evident,' says M. liik,^ ' that the Arafuras of ' Vorkay (one of the Southern Arus) pos "ess no religion ' whatever. ... Of the immortality of the soul they ' liave not the least conception. To all my enquiries ' on this subject they answered, " No Arafura has ever ' " returned to us after death, therefore we know nothing ' " of a future state, and this is the first time we have ' " heard of it." Their idea was, Mati, Mati sudah ' (AVhcn you are dead there is an end of you). Xeithcr ' have they any notion of the creation of the world. ' To convince myself more fully respecting their want ' of knowledge of a Supreme Being, I demanded of ' them on whom they called for help in their need, when ' their vessels were overtaken by violent tempests. The ' eldest among them, after having consulted the others, ' answered that they knew not on whom they could call ' for assistance, but begged me, if 1 knew, to be so good ' as to inform them.' 'The v.'ilder Bedouins,'-^ says Burton, 'will enquire 1 Quoted in ]volfl"8 Voyages of the Dourgn, p. 150. * J'"irst l''iM)lsi!'i)s ill lOust AlVicfi. \^. r»i>. It: Anstixri'! OF ni'irjarny. I'U of lien lie )0d lire 1 i where Alliih is to be found : wlien asked the object of the qnehtlon, they reply, " If the l''.esa could but catcli '' him they would spear liini upon tlie s[)ot,— wlio but " lie lays waste their lionien and kills their ealtle and "wives?" He also eoiisiders that atheism is 'the natural condition of the savage and uninstructed mind, the night of s[)iritual existence, which disaj)i)ears be- fore the dawn of a belief in things unseen. A Creator is to creation what the ciiusc of any event in life is to its etfect ; those familiar to the .se(]uence will hardly credit its absence from the minds of others.'^ Among the Koossa KalHrs, Lichtenstein''^ atTirms that there is no ap[>earance of any religious worshi[) what- ever.' ' It miglit be the proper time now,' says Father Iiaegert, 'to speak of the form of Government and the religion of the Calil'ornians previous to their conversion to Christianity; but neither the one nor tlie other ex- isted among them. They had no magistrates, no police, and no laws; idols, temples, religious worship or cere- monies, "were unknown to the'vi, and they neither believed in the true .'ind only (lod, nor adored false deities. ... I made dilige'it enrpiiries, among those with whom I lived, to ascertain whether they had any conce[)tion of God, a future life, and their own souls, but I never could discover the slightest trace of such a knowledge. Their langunge has no words for " God " n 3 aiK u sou Although, as Captain John Smith * quaintly puts it, there was ' in Virginia no place discovered to be so Aheolviita, vol. i. p. 170. ' Baoirort. Rinitli«Joiii;m Tr.iii*. Lielitt iis'.ein, vo 111. i. p. 'Jo.']. 18( I.)- P !)0 i^il 1 i iivniros 111 \ irLriiiM, lit 112 JJISENCLJ OF RELJaiON. f f I ill ' savapjc in wliicli tliey had not u rcli^Lrion, Decrc, and ' bows and arrows,' still the ruder tribes in the far North, according to the testimony of Ilearnc, who knew tlieni intimately, had no religion, Several tribes, snys Robertson,' ' have been vliscovered ' in America, which bnve no idea whatever of a Supreme ' Being, and no rites of religious worship ' Some rule tribes have not in their language any name ' for the ])eity, nor have the most accurate observers ' been abL* to discover any practice or institution which ' seemed ta imply that they recognised his authority, or ' were solicitous to obtain his favour.' Tn tlie 'ace of such a crowd of witnesses it may at first Fjight seem extraordinary that there can still be any difference of opinion on the sulyect. Tliis, however, arises partly from the fact that the term ' Religion' Ikis not always been used in the same sense, and })artly from a belief thiit, as has no doubt happened in several cases, travellers may, from ignorance of the Inngunge, or from sliortnc^^s of residence, hnvc overlooked u religion which reall}^ exist(Ml. For instance, the first describers of Tahiti asserted that Tiie natives had no religion, whicli subsequently proved to be a coin[>lete mistake ; and several other similar cases nught be quoted. As regards the lowest races of men, however, it seems to me. even a priori^ verydiihcult tu suppose tliat a ])eo[)le so bnckward as to 1)0 unahle to count their own hngers should be sul^'ciently Jidvanced in tlieir intellectual concept'ons as to have any system of belief worMi) of the name of a religion. We shal , however, obl-iln a clearer view of tlie (pies- ' Hisliirv nf All' 'vidi. l)'«il< iv. ". li'i'. R UDIMKNTAUY RELHUOX, 1:5 licli 'ted :itly ilier 'est ()1)C ,tly ('S- If fi ti(jn if wc codsitler tlio superstitions of tliosc races wliicli liave a riKliineiitary religion, and endeavour to trace these ideas up into a more developed condition. Here again we shall perhaps be met by the doubt whether travellers have correctly understood the ac- counts given to them. In many cases, however, when the nari'ator had lived for months, or years, among those whom he was describing, we Ticed certainly feel no suspicion, and in otliers we sliall obtain a satis- factory result by comparing together the statements of diilerent observers and using tiiem as a check one upon tlie otlier. Tlie religious theories of savages are certainly not tlie result of deep thouglit, nor nuist tliey be regarded as constituting any elal)orate or continuous theorv. A Zulu candidlv said to Mr. Callawav/ ' Our kiiowledi»-e ' docs not urge us to search out the roots of it ; we do ' not try to see them; if anyone thinks ever so little, ' he soon gives it up, and i)asses on to what lie sees ' with his eyes; and he docs not understand tlie real ' state of even what he sees.' Hulaure- trulv observes, that the savage 'aime mieux soumettre sa raison, souvent ' revoltee, a ce que ses iiistitutions ont (h' plus absiirde, ' que (le se livrer a Texamen, parce (pie ce travail est ' toujoursp('nil)le [)our celui qui ne s'y est point exerce.' A\'ith this statement I entirely concur, and 1 l)elieve tliat through all the vai'ious reliiiious svstems of the lower rac'?s may be traced a natural and unconscious process of devel(,pment. The ideas of religion among the lower races of man ' I'll!' Iti'liirious System of the Amiiziilii, )). I'J. % \^ - in>tnir,. il,.> Ciiltci vui. 1, |i, J: » I li ■.: I : I I l' II i ili s; 111. uI'UjKhous ideas as suaoESTinj uy sleep arc intiiuatdy associated witli, if indeed they have not oi'i<^inatcd from, the condition of man during sleep, and especially from dreams. Sleep and death have always been regarded as nearly related to one another. Thus, in classical mythology, Somnus, the god of sleep, and Mors, the god of death, were both fabled to have been the children of Xox, the goddess of night. So, also, the savage would naturally look on death as a kind of sleep, and woul*l expect — hoping on even ngjiinst hope — to see his friend awake from the one as he had so often done from the other. Hence, probably, one reason for the great importance ascribed to the treatment of the body alter d(jath. But what happens to the spirit during sleep? The body lies lifeless, and the savage not unnaturally concludes that the spirit has left it. In tliis he is confirmed by the phe- nomena of di'cams, wiiich consequently to the savage have a renlity and an importance which we can scarcely a[)prcciatc. During sleep the spii'it seems to desert the body; and as in dreams we visit other localities and even other Avorlds, living, as it were, a se[)arate and different life, the two [)henomena are not unnaturally regarded as the com[)lements of one another. Hence the savage con- siders tlie events in his dreams to be as real as those of his waking Ijours, and hence he naturally feels that lie has a spirit which can quit the body. ' Dreams,' says liurton, ^according to the Vorubans (West Africa) and •• to nuuiy of our fetichists, are not an irregular action ' and partial activity of the brain, but so many revela- ' lions broui^ht bv the nuiiies of the dcparteil." So ' A1)L'. kulil, Vnl. i, p. -Joj. il ;arccly rt the I even Fere lit led as cou- rse of lat lie Hays I) and etioii vela- So liFTAGIOnS IDEAS AS SUGGESTED J;Y DR]':A}[S. Mo strong- was the Xorth American faith in dreams that on one occasion, when an In lian dreamt he was taken ca[)tive, he indnced his friends to make a mock attack on him, to bind liim and treat liim as a captive, actually submittinii; to a considendjle amount of torture, in the hope thus to fuUil his dream.' The Greenlanders''^ also believe in the reality of dreams, and think that at nig-ht tliey go hunting, visiting, courthig, and so on. It is of course obvious that the body takes no ]:art in these nocturnal adventures, and hence it is natural to conclude that they have a spirit which can quit the body. In !^^adagascar^ ' the people throughout the whole ' island ])av a reliixious reu'ard to dreams, and ima2:inc ' that their good demons (for I cannot tell what other ' name to give their inferior deities, which, as they say, ' attend on their owleys,) tell them in their dreams ' what ought to be done, or warn them of what ought to ' be avoided.' Lastly, when they dream of their dei>arted friends or rehatives, savages firmly believe themselves to be visited by their spirits, and hence believe, not indeed in the immortalitv of the soul, but in its survival of the body. Thus the \'eddahs of Ceylon believe in sjnrits, because their deceased relatives visit them in dreams,'* and the ^langanjas (South Africa), exju'essly ground their belief in a future life on the same fact. Au'ain, savau'es are rarely ill; their suilerings generally arise irom wounds; their deaths are u'enerallv violent. As an ex- tenial injury received in war causes pain, so when they ' Lafitnu. lor. cit. vol. i. p. "(SO. Prurv, p. 171. Sconlsopp. 17(», '272, ' rrant/, l'n\ cit. vol. i. p. L'OO. ' Huilcy in Tmiiy. Mtli. Soc. X. S. ' TiiL' Adveutuiv.'- ol' Koljoi't v>l ii. p. :]()i. % r J;i i Mi i 5 I ;■ 140 NiailTMAliE. suffer internally tlicy attribute it to some internal enemy. Hence wlien tlie Australian, perhaps after too lieavy a meal, has his slumbers disturbed, he never doubts the reality of what is passing, but considers that he is attacked by some being whom his companions cannot see. Tliis is well illustrated in the following passage from the ' United States Exploring Expedition :'^ ' Sometimes, ' when the Australians are asleep, Koin makes his ap- ' pearance, seizes upon one of them and carries him off. * The person seized endeavours in vain to cry out, being ' almost strangled. At daylight, however, he disappears, ' and the man linds himself conve}'ed safely to his own ' fireside. From this it woidd appear that the demon ' is here a sort of personification of the nightmare — a ' visitation to which the natives, from their habits of ' gorging themselves to the utmost when they obtain a ' supply of food, must be very subject.' Speaking of the North-Western Americans, jNIr. Sproatsays:^ ' The apparition of ghosts is es})ecially an occasion on which the services of the sorcerers, the old women, and all the friends of the ghost-seer ure in great rccpiest. Owhig to the cpiantit}' of indigestible food eaten by the natives, they often dream that they are visited by ghosts. After a supper of blubber, fol- lowed by one of the long talks about departed friends, which take place round the fire, some nervous and timid })erson may fancy, in the night time, that he sees a ghost.' In some cases the belief that man possesses a spirit • T.nt . . '■' Sceiius uikl Sliiuii;.- ui' Savtijii; Lil\'. \). 17-'. THE SIT ADO ir- THUNDER. U7 orruil iT too never s tliJit iiuoiis i from itimcs, Ills ap- im otF. , being ppeai'f^, 118 own demon Hire — a ibits of )btaiii a IS, ^Ir. ^)ecially Ts, the are in iiestible at tliev |)er, fol- Iriends, Ills and liat he la s[)irit scorns to liavc been sugircsted by the shadow. Tluis, among the Feejeeans/ ' some speak of man as liaving ' two s})irits. His shadow is called " the dark spirit," ' which they say goes to 1 hides. The other is his like- ' ncss reflected in water or a h)oking-g]ass, and is sup- ' posed to stay near the place in which a man dies. ' Probably tliis doctrine of shadows lias to do with the ' notion of inanimate o])jects having spirits. I once ' placed a good-looking native snddenly Ijefore a mirror. ' lie stood delighted. " Now," said he softly, " I can ' " see into the world of s])irits.'' ' The North American Indians also consider a man's slijidow as his soul or life. ' I have,' says Tanner, ' heard them rei)roacli a sick person for what they ' considered imprudent ex})Osure in convalescence, tell- ' iiig him that his shadow was not well settled down ' in him.' ^ The natives of Benin ' call a man's shadow his pass- ' adoor, or conductor, and believe it will witness if he ' li\ ed well or ill. If well, ho is raised to great happi- ' ness and dignity in the place Ijefore mentioned ; if ill, ' he is to perish with hunger and poverty.' ^ They are indeed a most superstitious race ; and Lander mentions a case in which an echo Avas taken for the voice of a Fetich.'' Thunder, also, was often regarded either as an actual deity, or as a iieavenly voice. ' One night," says Tanner, ' JMcheto (a North American chief) becoming ' Williimis' Fiji and the Fijiiins, rj31. See also CalLnvny On tlio vol. i. p. 'J 11. liulijriiuia System of the Ania/ulii, •' Tanm>r'8 Captivity, p. 2SU. •' .Vstlcy's Ci'llocliiiii of Vityn. '•>{), riiikcrtuii, vnl. xvi. p. ■i' 1 p. 01. ■• Niger E.xpeditioai, vol. iii. p. lis SriniTS REG Alii) El) AS EVIL. W II ,1 ^ I 1 ii ^1 ii ' ' w i I ' mucli aliirmcd at the violence of tlie storm, got up ' and offered some tobacco to the thunder, entreating it ' to stoj).' ' I have ah'eady mentioned that savages ahnost always regard spirits as evil i)eings. We can, I think, easily understand why this should be. Amongst the very lowest races every other man — amongst those slightly more advanced, every man of a different tribe — is regarded as naturally, and almost iiecessarily hostile. A stranger is synonymous with an enemy, and a spirit is but a member of an invisible tribe. The Hottentots, according to Thunberg, have very vague ideas about a good Deity. ' They have much ' clearer notions about an evil spirit, whom they fear, ' believing him to be the occasion of sickness, deatli, ' thunder, and every calamity that befalls them.'- The Bechuanas attribute all evil to an invisible god, whom they call Murimo, and ' never hesitate to show their ' indignation at any ill experienced, or any wish uiiac- ' complished, by the most bitter curses. They haA'c no ' religious worship, and could never be persuaded by ' the missionaries that this was a thing dis[)leasing to God.'3 The Abi])ones of Souti; America, so well described by Dobritzhoffer, had some vague notions of an evil spirit, but none of a good one.'* The Coroados^ of 1 Brazil ' acknowledge no cause of good, or no God, but only an ' evil principle, which .... leads him astray, vexes ! ' Tanner's Xavrntivo of n Cap- ti\ity among the lmlian,«, p. l-'JC). '■* Tliiinljcrg. I'iiikerlon's A'ny- ngos, vol. .\v, p. 142. A.xtlt'v, A'c vU, p. oUO, •' liichtenstfin, vol. ii. p. .182. ' DobritzholU'i', lov. cit. vol ii, pp. '•]'}, (!4. ■' Spix and .Martin.s, vol. ii. p. 21."J. I I," .11' to o y an L'XGS 2 ol ii. 1. 2-1;]. i SriT?TTS JlEaAUDlW AS EVIL 11) ' liiin, brings him into difficulty and danger, and tven ' kills liiin.' \n A'irginia and Florida tlic evil spirit was wor- slii]t])('d and not the good, because the former might be ju-opitiated, Avhile the latter was sure to do all the good he could/ So also the ' Cemis ' of the West Indian Islands were regarded as evil, and ' re[)utetl to be the ' authors of every calamity that allects the Inunan ' race."' The Hedskiu, says Carver,'"^ ' lives in continual ' ap])r('hension of tlie unkind attacks of sj)irits, and to ' avert them has recourse to ch:u'ms, to the fantastic ' ceremonies of his priest, or the powerful influence of * his manitous. Fear has of course a greater share in ' his devotions than gratitude, and he pays more atten- ' tion to dejirecating the wrath of the evil than securing ' the favour of the ean8' God was very good, who gave them * such blessings, and treated them like his children. ' Others asked, munnuring, why God was not as kind to ' them? Why did not l^c sup[)ly them with woollen ' and linen cloth, iron, bmss, and such things, as well as ' the Dutch? The Dutch answered, that God had not ' neglected them, since he had sent them gold, palm- ' wine, fruits, corn, oxen, goats, hens, and many other ' thinirs necessai T ' Miillcr's Gosch. d. Americnn. Ur- mty ut 3 Travels, 1S8. rel iifionon lol Kobortsou's America, book iv, 124. < Pallas, vol. iii. p. 4.1.3. •'' Astley's Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. p. 004. \ 5i^ r I . I li lo(j srilUTS UKUAliDEl) AS CAUSING JJfSEASIJ. ' there was no persuading them these thhigs came from ' God. 1'hey said the earth, and not God, gave them ' ffohl, which was du^f out of its bowels : that the eartli ' yichled them maize and rice ; and that not without ' tlie liel[) of tlieir own labour; that for fruits they were ' obliged to the Portuguese, who had planted the trees ; ' that tlieir cattle brought them young ones, and the ' sea furnished them with fish ; that, however, in all ' tlicsc their own industry and labour was required, with- ' out which thev must starve; so that they could not sec ' how they were obliged to God for auy of tliose benefits.' When Burton spoke to the Eastern Negroes about the Deitv, they ea^'erlv asked where he was to be found, in order that they might kill hhn ; for they said, 'AVho ' but he lays waste our homes, and kills our wives and cattle ?' The following expression of Eesa feelings, overheard bv r)urton, iiives a dreadful illustration of this idea. An old woman, belongiug to that Arab tribe, having a toothache, offered up the following prayer : 'Oh, Allah, ' may thy teeth ache like mine ! Oh, Allah, may thy ' gums be as sore as mine!' Can this l)e called 'religion' ? Surely in spirit it is the very reverse. In New Zealand ^ each disease was re^jarded as beinii: caused by a particular god; thus ' Tonga was the god ' who caused headache and sickness : he took up his ' abode in the forehead. Mako-Tiki, a l.zard god, was ' the source of all pains in the breast ; Tu-tangata-kino ' was the god of the stomach; Titi-hai occasioned j)ains 'in the ankles iuid feet; Uongomai and Tuparitapu ■ Tiiylor'a Now Zouliind and its Inhabitants, p. 31. i SPIIi'ITS UEaAnVKD AS CAUSINd JUSEASl-:. \'A • were tliL'^ods ol' t'<)iisiiin|>tinn ; Korokio presided over ' childhlrtli.' ' Sickness,* snys Yate,' ' is broui^lit on by tlio ' " Atuii," wlio, wliGii he is JiDi^'ry, comes to them in tlie ' form of Ji lizard, enters tlieir insi(h3, and preys ui)on ' tlieir vitals till they die. Hence they nse incantations ' over the sick, with the expectation of either })ropi- ' tiatinu' the aniiry deitv or of drivinn" him away ; for ' the latter of which pnrposes they make nse of the ' most iiireatcninf? and (Mitrai^'cons lanL!'naii-e.' The Stiens of Cambodia believe, ' in an evil genius, and ' attribute all disease to him. If anyone be suffering ' from illness, they say it is the demon tormenting ' him; and, with this idea, mnkc, night and day, an ' insupportable noise around the patient.' '^ The Koussa Kaffirs,'^ says Lichtenstein, ascribe all their diseases 'to one of three causes : either to being ' enchanted by an enemy; to the anger of certain beings, ' whose abode appears to be in the ri\ers : or to the ' power of evil sjnrits.' Among the Kols of Nag[)ore, as Coh)nel E. T. Dalton tells us, 'all disease in men ' and hi cattle is attributed to one of two causes, the ' wrath of son)e evil spirit who has to be a])peased, or ' the spell of some witch or sorcerer ; ' ** the Circassians*'' and some of the Chinese^ have also the same belief. Hence it is that mad peo[)le are in many countries looked on with so nnicli reverence, since they are re- m !l ' Yato's New Zealand, p. 141. ' Mouhot's Travels in the Cen- tral i'urta of ludo-China, vol. i. p. 250. * Lichtenstein, vol. ii. p. 2')o. ^ Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. 18GS, p. 80. ^ Klemin, All},'. Cult. d. Mensch., vol. iv. p. .'50, « Trans, lilthn. Soc. 1870, p. 21. \ U2 DISltKLlEF AMON(} SAVAdKS IN TJIl'J h r' l! ' fjardcd ms the special abode of some Deity.' Savaj^vs wlio believe that diseases are owing to magic, naturally con- clude that death is so too. Far from havini>" realised to themselves the idea of a I'uture lil'e, they have not even learnt that death is the natural end (tf this. We fuid a very ii'eneral conviction am()n;x savau'es that there is no such thing as natural death, and that when a man dies without being wounded, he must be the victim of magic. Thus, Mr. Lang,^ speaking of the AuNtralians, says, that whenever a native dies, ' no m.itter how evident it ' may be that death has been the result of natural ' causes, it is at once set down that the defunct was ' bewitched ])y the sorcerers of some neighl)ouring tribe.' Among the natives of Southern Africa no one is sup- posed to die naturally. •'' The licchuanas, says IMiilip, ' and all the Kaflir ti-lbes, have no idea of any man ' dying except from hunger, violence, or witchcraft. ' If a man die even at the age of nine! if he do not die ' of hunger or by violence, his death is imputed to ' sorcery or to witchcraft, and blood is recpiired to ' expiate or avenge it.' '^ So also IJattel tells us that on the Guinea Coast ' none on any account dieth, ' but that some other has bewitched them to death.'* Dobritzhoifer ^ mentions that, 'even if an vVbi[)on die ' from being [)ierced with many wounds, or from hav- ' ing his house broken, or his strength exhausted by ' Hee Cook, \'oyago to the I'lvcilio, vol. i. p. 47. vol. ii. p. 18. ■* Philip's South Allien, vol. i. p. '-' Lecture on the Abovinino.s of IIS. Au.-traliii, p. 14. See a!*-.) Oldlicld.s ■'■ A'lvonturoa of Andrew ra'tol, 'i'lau!?. Ethu. tSoc. N.S. vol. iii. p. rinkerton, vol. xvi.p. ."J-U. .See als t 2m. Astley, vol. ii. p. .'iUO. ^ Chnpuian'a Travels in Afii( a, *^' Lov. cif. vol. ii. p. 84. t' Mi I I' i! \ JJXISTl'JXCl-J OF NATirh'Ah PHATlf. \:,\i ' 5 >y :t.-l, I ,♦ ' oxtrcmc old .•iav Indians. ]iut though spirits are natiu'ally much to he dreaded on various accounts, it by no means ibllows that they should be conceived as necessarily wiser or more power- ful than men. Of this our table-turners and spirit- rap[)ers give a modern illustration. The natives of the Xicobar Islands were in the habit of }>utting \i\) scarecrows to frighten the ' Eewecs ' away from their villages."'* The iidiabitants of Kamtschiitka, according to Kotzebue,^ insult their deities if their wishes are unfullilled. They even feel a contempt for them. If Kutka, they say, had not ])een so stupid, would he have made inaccessil)le rocks, and too rapid rivers ?'' The La])ps, according to Klemm, made idols for their deities, and placed each in a separate box, on which ' Travels in South America, vol. i. •' Voyage of the Xovara, vol. ii. p. GO. p. (iO. - Loc. (it. p. r)()0. c j^y(._ ,./^ y„i ji p ];3 ^ Amor. Urrelifiioiien, p. 82. ' Klcium, Cult. d. MuiLsclieii, vul. ' Loc. (it. p. :j:38. ii. p. :U8. I : I .'. I mw //)/;. IN OF sriii'iTs f i ) I I II I t\wy iii(licjitc'04. "^ Voyiigo of Discovery, vol. iii. p. •' Astley's Collection of V^oyages, 14. * ' vol. ii. p. COS. ^ Account of New Zoalnml, p. 111. " Chnpnian's Travels in \fricca, D'Urville's \'oynge de rAstiolabe, vol. i. p. 45. vol. iii. pp L>4o, 4-J(>, 470. EXTl'l /.' T. UN!-: If II Y SA VA( ! i:s. \:,r, arrows iit storms to drive tliein uwuy.' When tliu liusuto (Kjiffir) is on a maraudin;,^ expedition, lie '*]ri\'es utter- ' ancc to those cries and hisses in which cattk! di'ivers ' indulge wlien they drive a herd before thein ; thiid^iii;^* ' in this maimer to persnadc the [)()or divinities (of the ' conntry tliey arc attaekin^z) that he is l)rin;;in_«;' cattle ' to their worshippers, instead (jf coming to take it from ' them.' '-^ Accordiii<^ to Thomson,*^ the natives of Camljodia assnmed that the Deity did not nnderstand foreign hmgnni^es. Franklin"* says tliat the Crec Indians treat their deity, whom they call Kepoochikawn, ' with con- ' siderable familiarity, interlardin*^ their most solenni ' s[)eeches with exi)ostulations and threats of neglect if ' he fails in complying with their rcqnests.' The Xorth Anstralian native^ will not . 50. •* Vi.-^it to the Pohir Seas, vol. iv. I. 140. ' Smith's Ten Weeks in .fapan, 4\). ^] 1 I ^lf' 1 1 ir,r, TJii-:in f.ovr rnxr>:i"n(h\ or rin-uit deities Accordliiii" to tlic lirjihniaus/ 'two thiiiixs are indis- ' pcnsjibly iieoessiiry to the sacrifice!' in performing tlie * ceremony : several lighted lamps, and a bell.' The Tartars of the Altai picture to themselves the I)eity as an old man, with a long beard, and dressed in the uniform of a IJussian ollicer of Oragoons.'^ Even the Oreeks and liomans belit'vcd stories verv derogatory not only to the moral character, but to the intellect and power, of their deities. Thus they were liable to defeat from mortals : Mai's, though the (Jod of War, was wounded by Diomede and fled away ho "litig with pain. They had little or no power over tlu; ele- ment's, they had no foreknowle jm\ and were often represented as infei'ior, both morally and mentally, to men. I'.ven Homer does not seem to have endjraced the idea of ()nmi[)otence.'' In fact, it may truly be said that the savage has a much greater respect for his chief than for his god. * This low estimate of spirits i shown in a very striking manner by the l)ehaviour of savages during eclipses. All ON er the world we find races of men who believe th/it the sun and moon are alive, a^d who consider that during eclipses they are either (piarrelling witli each othei' or attacked by the evil spirits of the air. Hence it naturally follows, altiiough to us it seems abstu'd, that the savage endeavours to assist the sun or moon. The (Ireen- landers^ regard the sun and nuum as sister and brother ; the former being the female, and being constantly pur- ' Dubois, The Peoiilo .il" I.i-lin, p. 1\)S, L^i^S. •l(i(). * Sco llurtoirs Al)b(Mil(iita, vnl i. - Kl.'imii, Cult. (I. Mou.srli. nl. p. IsO. Dulxiis, lor. tit. pn. :!0t, iii. p. SC. |;!0. ^ (JliMlstone's.Iuventua JIuutIi, pp. - Crantz, vol. i. p. '2l\'2. u or [illy \vn- \vv ; n] I I AS EVIDENCED DUIUXC ECfJ.'SEH. ir,7 sued ly the hitter. During an eclipse they think the moon '<^oes about among" the liouses to pilfer their skins ' iuid eatables, and even to kill those })e<)[)le that have ' not duly observed the rules of abstinence. At such ' times they hide away everything, and the men carry ' chests and kettles on the top of the house, and rattle ' and beat upon them to frighten away the moon, and ' make him return to his place. At an eclii)se of the ' sun the Avomen })iucli the dogs by the ears ; if the\ ' cry, 'tis a sign that the end of the world is not yet ' come.' The Iiwjuois, says Dr. ]Mitchili,' believe th:it eclipses are caused bv a bad si)irli,, 'who mischievouslv inter- ' cepts the light intended to be sli d upon the earth and ' its inliabitants. I'pon such occasions tiie greatest ' solicitude exists. All the individuals of the tribe feel ' a strong desire to drive away the demon, and to re- ' move tlierel)}- the impediment to the transmission of ' bimiuous rays. For this ])ur[)Ose they go Ibi-th, and, ' bv cr\ing, shoutini'', drunmiiui!-. ;iiid the iiriim'of iiuus, ' endeavour to friiihten him. 'rhe\' never I'ail in iheir ' object ; i'or by courage ,Md perseverance, they iniliHi- ' bl\" drive him off. His retieat is succee)!' lliL' ('aribliy I.-liiti(Is, |). \17-. l>t'ji(i:is' Tiav. S, A;'i"iici\, v.il. i >). IVl . •' y.uc. < i 1 A ir>8 77//;//.' /.()]r roNCEPTroN of tiieiu deittes. think tlijit tlic sun aii-J. >^w also p. i'();5. •■ Martin^ Ice lory of Stiiiiatra, II. liJ-J. % I I* 1 ii ' \ Ill: LIEF IN ^, HOSTS. 150 one h to I ' IVIglitcn Jiwriy the dragon ; a Mipcrstitioii tliat lias its ' .source in tlie ancient systems of astronomy ([nirticularly ' ihe Hindu), where the nodesoftlie mfton are identified ' with the dragon's liead and tail. They tell of a man ' in the moon who is continually employed in spinning ' cotton, but that every night a rat gnaws his thread, ' and oljlii-es him to bei>'in his work afresh.' ' In I'astern Africa,' Speke' mentions that on one occasi(jn, 'as there was a j^artial eclipse of the moon, all ' the Wanguana marche(l up and down from IJumunika's ' to Xnanimi's huts, sinirinn- and heating our tin cookini''- ' pots to frighten off the sjiirit of the sun from consum- ' ing entirely the chief (;hject of reverence, the moon.' l^ander- mentions that at IJoussa, in Central Africa, an eclipse was attributed to an attack made by the sun on the moon. J)uring the whole time the eclipse lasted the natives made as nuicli noise as possible, ' in the hope of ' being able to frighten away the sun to his ])r()per s[»here, ' and leave the moon to enlighten the world sis at other ' times.' One of the ditiiculties in ari'iviiigat any eh'.ir concep- tion of tlie religions system of the lower races arises tVom a confusion betA\ecn a l»eHef in ghosts and tliat in an immurlid s])iril. ^ el the two are essentially distinct; and the spirit is not necessarily regarded as iinmortal becauise it dues not perish with the l»od\'. The iKvroes, i\>y instance, sa}'s one t)f our kr('ne>t ohservi'rs. Captain Burton, 'believe in a ghost, l)nt not in spirit; in a i pr 'sent innnatei'ial, but not in a future. iilni, ' Snel ■■' 1 ilitiiii l>eUf, p. 'jr.i I I'illl.s. .tliii. Si X.S. vol. 1. p. k. am I I. IhIIi.1 I. N I HI. is; ,u,.,- .X- ]<:o ADSKNCE OF lUUJF.F IN A ll'TlJUF STATE. \ " Counting on nothing uf'tc!!' the present life, there is for tliem no ho})e beyond the grave. They wail find sorrow wi til u burden of despair. 'Amekwisha' — 'he * is finished' — is the I'^ast Afriean's last word concern- ing ])arent or friend. ' All is done f(^r ever,' sing the West Africans. The least allusion to loss of life makes their black skins pale. ' Ah,' they exclaim, 'it is bad * to die: to leave house and home, wife and children ; ' no more to wear soft cloth, nor eat meat, nor smoke ' tobacco.' ' The Hudson's ])ay Indians, according to llearne," a good observer and one who had ample means of judging, had no idea of any life after death. In othrr cases the s[)ii'it is su[)j)osed to survive the bodv for a certain time, and to liiiLier about its old abode. Ask the negro, says i\I. Du (Miaillu,'' 'where is the ' spirit of his grert-grandfather? he says he does not * know ; it is . :iJ;i. 11 FfTUnr: JJl'E DEPKNVENT ON MODE OF DF \TTI. If.l -1) ICI'O IS il a; id _' he icern- lii' the mnkes is l)acl kh'cii : smoke rue," a (Iging, vc the its ohl is the )cs not of his is full y near among y {\i\vr ' ])elicf u well it the 11 live, oniug, Ynl. i. )). nf the lio-\vevcr, trrand fathers arc i^encrallv roijarded as haviiifj coiisod to exist. liosman mentions tliat on tlic Ciiiinea Coast, when ' any considerahle [)ers(m dies, tliey perplex one another ' with liorrid fears, ja-oceeding from an o[ani(m tlnit lie ' a])pears for se\'eral niglits snecessively near Ills late ' dwelling.'^ Tims it seems that the power of a ghost after dejilh benrs some relation to that whieh the man possessed when alive. Ot'ier negroes think that after death they become white men' — a cnrions idea, whieh also occurs in Anstrnliju Among the Tippcrahs of Chittngong, if a man dies away from home, his relatives stretch a thread over nil the intermediate streams, so that the s[)irit of the d<:i<1 mnn may retui'n to his own village; it being supj-'oscd that 'without assistance ' spirits are nnable to cross running water ; therefore; ' the stream here had been bridged in the manner afoi'c- ' said.'^ Wc know that a somewhat similar idea existed in Murope, and it occurs also, as we shall see (p. Kw), in the Feejee Islands. Again, some modes of deatli are supjiosed to kill not only the body but the spirit also. Thus a Ihislmian liaving put to death a woman, who was a magician, dashed the head of the corpse to pieces with large stones, buried her, and made a large lire over the grave, for fear, as he explained to Lichtenstein, lest she should rise again ;md ' tro'd)le him.' ' ICven the New Zenland(!rs believed that a ma.\ Avho was eaten was destroyed both body and spirit. The same idea evidently inlluenced the Cali- > 1 • r...s,,in, ,'(.". (if. p. 102. ' I, (■ win's Hill rriu'fs (if ('lii(ta{ronj-, \>. Si, ' >,i('ht. i stfiii. vipI, ii. p. ('>|, -' Lor. (it. p. 10 1, il' H 1 f l»i llHLIi:!'' IS' THE rLVUAI.lTY OF SOTLS. loniiuii wlio, as rccordt'd hy Mr. (iil)l)L% tlid nut (lis[)nte tlie iinmortality of tlic whites wlio buried their dead, but could not believe the same of his own people, because they were in the habit of burning them.^ In these cases it will be observed that the existence of the ghost depends upon the manner of death, and tlie mode of burial. This is no doubt absurd, but it is not illogical. The savage's idea of a spirit is something ethereal indeed, but not altogether immaterial, and con- sefpiently it may be injured by violence. So.nc races believe in "jhosts of the livinjj^ as well as of the dead. For instance, the Foejeeans'^ believe 'that tJie spirit of ' a man who stili lives will leave the body to trouble ' other people when asleep. When anyone faints or ' dies, their spirit, it is said, m.ty sometimes be brouglit ' back by calling after it.' Even when the ideas of a soul and of future life arc more developed, they are liir from always taking the direction of our beliefs. Thus the Caribs and IJedskins l)c'lieve that a man has more than one soul ; to this they are probably led by the pulsation of the heart and the arteries, which they regard as evidences of independent life. Thus also they account for inconsistencies of behaviour. The belief in ghosts, then, is essentially different from our notions of a future life, (ihosts are mortal, they haunt burial-grounds and hover round their own graves, I'^ven when a higher stage lias been gained, the place of departed souls is not a heaven, but merely a better earth. ' Sc'ho()lnal;'s liidiaii Tiibt'H, I't. III. p. 107. • Fiji ftiul tlu' Fijiiuis, vol. i. j) i 1>IVL\ATI()X. ir.:{ iispiite (k'iul, icciiusc istencc [Xh\ the is not lething id coh- e racers i (lend, spirit of trouble lints or brouglit I lie arc ing tlie a man il)ly led which Thus r. it from il, they Igraves. llacc of better Divination .'ind sorcery arc very widely distributed. Their characteristics are so well known and so similar all over the world, tiiat 1 shall only give a few suggestive illustrations. Wiiipple' thus describes a scene of divination among the Cherokees. The priest having concluded an elo- quent address, took 'a curiously wrought l)uwl, alleged ' to be of great anticpiity ; he tilled it with water and ' placed th. * A.xtloy's C\illi«c'tio!i of Voyngo-', vol. ii. p. 074. •' Abla'dkiitii, vol. i. p. ISS. M •_' t I. 1(1 Pf li hi I DIVINATION. The same ciiHtom exists ainoiij^' the ^lon^^ols' and Tuii- *5U.ses of Siberia,'^ and the IJedouins. Tlie Hues vary of conrse greatly, still there arc certain principal cracks which usually occur. The following figures of Kalmuck Fi.i. w. '^).l\iA\W j^^^^^^'tr _J:T;^v' ' ~:f{''''^:E. I-'IG. 10 Bnoi'LDER-nLAnEs ruF.i'ARr.n for rvixATioy. (Klt'uiiii, Culturjj. dor Menscfibi'it, vol. iii. p. 200.) specinions are copied from Klemm, who cxj)lains, after l*allas, the meaning of the various lines. The Chipe- wyans of Xorth America also make their magic drawings ou shoulder-blades, which they then throw into the fire.^ Williams'* describes various modes of divination practised in Feejec. ' Kk'iiini, Cult, dor Monsch., vol. • Fiji niul (ho Fijiims, vol. i. p. iii. p. 101). '■22K. See aho Miiiinor'd Toiijja ■' Ihid. p. 100. I. ■elands, vol. ii. p. SV.). •• 'I'iUiiU'r's Nanativc, p. l!>2. 1' i'. \ HOnCEUY. If, „ after ^'liipc- hvii\i;'s lo tlic latiou [)1. i. p. % 111 New Zej'.hiiKl, i)cfore a warlike expedition is under- taken, sticks are sometimes stuck \\\) in the ground in two rows, one of wliich denotes their own party, the other that of tlie enemy. I i' tlie wind l)lows the enemy's sticks l)aekwar(ls, tliey Avill be defeated ; if forwards, tliey will he victorious ; if ol>liquely, the expedition will he indecisive. The same criterion is applied to their own sticks.' This is a case of divination, but from it to sorcery is a short and obvicnis step. When once it is granted that the fall of a stick certainly preludes that of the person it re})resents, it follows that by U[)settin